Xander's POV:

"So that blood in the hallway the other day was yours?" Nico perplexed, placing his drink back on the bar.

I'd told him... most of the story, only leaving out the really emotional parts so I wouldn't start crying again.

And it still took nearly an hour to get through it all.

"Mhm," I simply responded, nursing the most recent drink Nico had gotten me.

I let him order since he knew more about what he was doing, so he did so all throughout my story.

They kept getting stronger as the story continued, but this one was good. It had baileys and some kind of fruit syrup in it from what I could tell.

I felt that I had a slight buzz going on, but with tonight's conversation, it helped me truly calm down and defuse.

"She just kinda," I flicked my hand in the same way she must have done to get the blood to splatter onto the marble like that, "After aiming for Doe and slicing me up instead."

He winced at the mental image, and he didn't even know how deep she managed to cut.

Even though that excruciating pain wasn't my main focus at that moment, I was just so unbelievably grateful that she didn't hit Doe.

"So then what?" He rose his glass by the rim with the pads of his fingers.

"She went on some sort of rant of how I kept delaying what needed to be done, and then she tried to grab Doe from behind me and I," I paused, laughing slightly, "I actually used one of those subdue methods you used to use on me when we would fight when we were younger."

"Where you pin their arms against their back?"

"That's the one," I confirmed.

Another proud smirk from my brother.

"Works like a charm, doesn't it?" you could even hear it in his voice.

It felt...amazing to be back to talking to him like this.

"Mixed with a little bit of threatening and blackmail, it had her running off scared, and hopefully never to return."

I didn't want to spill her entire secret to Nico yet.

"I bet that felt good." he commented.

"It did, just because it felt like it was finally over, but I still have quite the journey to get the forgiveness I want."

"Forgiveness from a pet," he began, shaking his head. It wasn't really in disbelief but just... amusement, "That truly is the Xander I know. Although to me it sounds like she was the reason you started to distance yourself from Layla, so maybe I should thank her while you're at it."

That was the realization I had as well while I retold the story.

"She was," I admitted, "She grew a lot since I got her and turned into her own person that... I ended up caring for a lot more than I was ready to admit at the time."

It felt strange to say out loud, but nice to get off my chest to someone else.

"I guess when you live with someone for as long as we have, it's only natural for something like that to happen. If half of these vampires controlled themselves for long enough, I think that they'd realize that's there's more to them than just... the blood they have or what they were trained for."

That sick feeling came over me again as I thought about Doe's upbringing that I was completely oblivious to until she told me.

I didn't grow up relying on humans like that, and thus everything was just... new to me.

It made me wonder just what kind of things she was expecting from me during our early days.

I drew in a deep breath, the ache of her absence reawakening.

She comes back tomorrow...

I looked back to Nico, the wide-eyed look he heald was not one I saw on him very often.

I nearly panicked, thinking that I may have said too much.

I know my thought process concerning these things wasn't a common one, but with the alcohol, it just slipped out.

"You have a point," He ended up saying.

"Wha- I mean... Really?" I was shocked to hear him agree with me, "Is Khloe the same way? I know you took her to the ball and all that."

He took a drink. A very long one.

"Khloe is... Yeah kind of like that. She was actually a rogue, so her upbringing was a bit different. Her life after she got forced into this is one was anything but pleasant, but she eventually opened up."

He cleared his throat and lifted his drink until it was gone.

Well, it was nice to hear that we were somewhat on the same page, but I don't think he knew how much deeper mine was for Doe.

I don't think even I knew.

There were just some things I was trying to ignore and disregard the second they appeared out of respect for her.

After all I've put her through... I didn't have a right to even have her in my mind for longer than a minute.

We were friends, and I didn't even find myself worthy of that title.

Which I why I came up with some... plans that would help her live her life the way she should.

I slumped, staring at the ice floating in my cup.

"I hope they're alright out there. I know it can get rough over there." I muttered.

Nico blew out a long breath, "They should be fine. Doe's done it before, and Khloe's got some percautions."

I noticed the waver in his normal, confident way of speaking.

Seemed none of us were happy about this event.

But thank god that it was almost over.

~~~

Doe's POV:

The sun stung my eyes as it reflected off of the snow, the vampires yelling at each other and at us to hurry up so we could all go home.

I didn't sleep great last night, and one look at Khloe told me that she didn't sleep at all.

Probably out of precaution, but either way I felt bad.

The cold nipped at the exposed skin of my back thanks to my shredded-up shirt and thus helped it reach the rest of my body.

Though I will admit, the lashes did feel better than I was expecting them to.

Still painful and irritating, but better nonetheless.

I looked up again once my eyes adjusted to the light around me, stopping the carts we arrived in.

I was just one, awful ride away from that blanket I loved so much.

And the vampire that wouldn't leave me alone this whole trip.

Though... I guess I'll be happy to see him again too.

I stopped walking on an instinct once the vampire behind me did, a hand on my arm catching my attention.

"I'll take her from here," Erik insisted.

I was surprised to see him again and confused as to why he was here.

The vampire currently beside me obviously didn't care enough to argue, unclipping the leash from my neck and walking off with nothing more than an eye roll.

He watched as the vampire went back inside, facing me once he was out of view.

Drawing his hand back, he gestured off to the side before turning in that direction, "Follow me,"

Well... I guess.

Why not at this point.

I didn't have the energy to question his motives, even though I'm pretty sure I already knew what they were.

He wordlessly lead me over to one of the still-empty carts, the engines of the vehicle pulling it already blaring and permeating the air with that stench.

There was no one else around that I could see.

We approached the right side of the actual vehicle, and he opened the single door that entered into it.

I peaked into it once he did, seeing the tan leather chairs.

I'd been in vehicles many times, but the driver was rarely ever seen, let alone the mechanisms that actually controlled it.

Weird.

He stepped into it, leaning a knee on the chair and grabbing something that sat above the wheel.

After exiting it again, he handed it to me.

It was a new shirt. A soft one too.

"The windows are tinted, so go ahead and change in there. I'm in charge of this one so I'll be back before we're supposed to leave," he instructed.

I rose a brow, unfolding the shirt to look it over.

It looked about my size, but black wasn't something I wore on the top half of my body too often.

But an intact, warm shirt like this would be preferable. And an immediate sign to Xander that something happened since he's mostly aware of my fashion preferences.

I can figure all of that out later. With the hectic nature of everything, I haven't yet decided how I was gonna handle breaking the news to him.

Or if I was going to.

No... I probably should. Even if I didn't want to, hiding things from vampires, and especially Xander, never worked out.

I just still wasn't too keen on him fretting over me.

Actually, since Layla was no longer an issue, maybe it would feel different.

Like that calm, but cutthroat kind of edge he had when dealing with Layla.

A chill ran down my spine at the memory, kicking me into gear.

I hoisted myself into the car before I could think about that any further, Erik closing the door after me and walking back to where I assume he was actually supposed to be.

It took me no time at all to notice the warm air blowing from one of the vents in front of me, and even less to scoot forward so I was closer to it.

I let it blow away my shivering before I went ahead and switched my shirt, moving carefully as to not anger my back.

Okay... I'll admit, that felt better.

It took Erik about half an hour until he came back, and I spent that time curiously inspecting and trying to figure out how to actually drive this thing.

I had to keep myself distracted unless my mind would just so happen to wander back to Xander.

When he came back, I was expecting him to lead me out and set me up with the other girls, but he just looked me over before sitting in front of the wheel and turning the key even further.

The engine grew louder while he pushed a few buttons and pulled back the lever that sat between us.

"Put your seatbelt on... Please," He said as a vehicle drove past us.

My eyes widened at the realization that he planned on driving me back in here.

Hmmm, 4/10 then. Maybe 3.

I followed his orders, clicking it into its place before scooting myself as far to the other side as I could to look out the window.

His posture was still stiff as we finally began to move, and I wondered if it still had to do with me.

Probably, but I want going to complain.

I still had to lean forward to not let my back touch the back of the seat.

Not that it hurt too bad, it was just better if I didn't.

"I'll take you back to Alexander myself once we get there," By the way he spoke, I could tell that the words terrified him, "I'll tell him what happened and uh..."

He went silent after that, his lips forming a thin line.

I was half expecting him to try to run from this after I was returned.

I guess I just wasn't used to vampires taking responsibility for what they did.

Although, Erik didn't really do anything to me per see. Except fixing me up.

Giving me a bed for a night, and bringing good food, and then letting me ride like this back to the palace.

All because I belonged to a royal, sure, but this was the first I've heard that their name meant anything to the people here.

I couldn't blame him for just simply not being there when it all went down.

But he was an idiot for thinking that it would be better if he tried explaining that to Xander rather than letting me do it, not that there was any reason for him to know that.

Ian though... Yeah, he was still done for.

I didn't say anything, just turned back towards the window to plan out how I was going to handle all of this.

Just how long the conversation was going to be before I could relive that feeling of safety his arms now brought to me.

...

Ugh.