"Laura? Is everything okay? Can I get you anything?" Greyson doesn't like how sad Laura seems to be as she looks out the window into the garden. "Would you like to go outside and sit for a bit?"

He goes to her side and is more than a little alarmed  when he sees her with tears once more. "What happened? Has someone said or done something to make you upset?" Greyson demands.  After her bout of crying a week ago, Laura has more or less shut herself off emotionally once more.

"No. Darius has told me that he hoped the third time he gave me his blood that it would heal me enough for my arms and possibly my hands would heal. Then again he gave me some more blood and it still hasn't healed my arms or hands. I'm completely useless."

Greyson rubs her hand with his thumb.

Laura gasps. "I feel that. I feel you rubbing my hand." That's the first time she's felt anything since her accident. At least that part of her body.

"Try to move your finger," Greyson says focusing intently on Laura and her hand that he is now holding.

Laura concentrates to the point where she starts to sweat and manages to lift her finger a few centimeters. She bursts into tears frustrated that she couldn't even lift her finger up.

"That's wonderful, Laura," Greyson tells her thrilled for her. "That's more than expected."

"I barely lifted the finger. How can you say that I am doing great?" Laura says bitterly.

"Laura, you have to reestablish the nerve connections. That you have done enough to move that much is wonderful."

"I don't see it, Greyson. I am alive and have my looks changed, but that's all I've seen."

"Would you like some more blood, Laura?" Darius asks startling both of the other occupants of the room.

"I didn't hear you knock, Darius." Laura says more than a little acidly.

"You were rather focused on making your finger move, both you and Micah. I did knock and just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

"What's the use of taking more blood?" Laura is frustrated and if she could she would be throwing things to the floor.

Darius moves closer to Laura and takes her hand. "The blood is helping. I have ordered you to not feel the pain of the healing nerves. Even now your body feels the stress of the pain, that's why your heart is racing like it is."

Darius kneels down, "If you take more blood, it will help the healing process even faster. Now that you are starting to feel again your therapy will begin in earnest. If you take more of my blood you will regain what you lost faster. I've been over this with you before and I'm offering my blood to you once again and as often as you wish it. Will you drink from me?"

After Laura thinks about it she gives a short nod. Darius bites his arm and offers it to her. "Drink then, Laura and the blood will help to accelerate the healing process."

Laura feels his wrist and starts drinking the blood as he holds it to her mouth. Laura drinks deeply of the blood until Darius removes his arm.

Greyson is quick to clean the blood that is on her face. "Sleep now, Laura and as you sleep you will regain even more of your body ability." Shortly Laura falls asleep, her last sight that of Greyson's eyes watching her intently.

"Is that the best thing, Darius?" Greyson asks once Laura is asleep.

Darius shrugs, "For me?  I have no idea, but for her, yeah, I think so. This body being broken has taken more of a physical and mental problem than she has let on. She is starting to become depressed at her lack of healing. There was a great deal of damage that her body needed to heal before she makes visual improvements. I wonder just how much inner damage there truly had been? I think there had been far more than the doctors had realized."

Darius smirks, "She hadn't rejected taking my blood directly and didn't make a face at the taste of it. I think that she will shortly be asking me for even more blood. If she gets like this again or requests more blood let me know immediately. I will come as soon as possible to give it to her."

"You still hope to have her turn." Greyson says without any inflection in his tone.

"More now than ever before." Darius looks hard at Greyson. "Take good care of her, but be careful as well."

Greyson feels the threat in Darius's words. "It won't matter who it is, if they hurt her, they will pay."

"I have no intentions of ever hurting her. Darius, if you trust me to take care of her, then why are you doubting me at this time?"

Darius gives him a smile that makes Greyson's hackles rise. "I do trust you, Micah, if I didn't you wouldn't be near her. I trust you and Castielle both and I trust that  you won't betray me, either of you."

Only then did Greyson realize that Castielle is in the room as well. "I have no  desire to cross you Lord Darius. I will not betray you." Castielle avers.

"There is nothing that would make me betray you, Darius. I have gone through torture and remained true to you, I have nothing for any to turn me from you."

Darius snorts in amusements. "I have no doubt of that, either of you. But there are other kinds of betrayal. Do not hurt her in any way, unless it's in the course of her therapy and helping her regain her health."

"I would not, Darius," Greyson is upset that Darius would think that he would hurt Laura.

"Perhaps not intentionally, but there are ways of hurting people unintentionally. If that happens you better do all that you can to get her to forgive you or you won't live to regret it." There is promise of death in Darius's words.

Castielle and Greyson look at each other wide eyed at the unspoken promise. It would not be an easy death. Darius never went easy on those that hurt his family. What he did to those that killed the majority of Darius's blood kin still gives him nightmares and is the main reason Darius's maker keeps his distance from him and has done for centuries.

And it's the main reason he wasn't challenged for the head of the vampire council. It had been an unanimous decision by all. None of them want to go against Darius, even if he hides himself behind his Liberace persona.