The Star Children's Destiny

Chapter Eight

Aletta sat in the middle of the room. All kinds of things lay scattered about her; some of them broken, and some of them not. Tears of blood streamed down her face as she sat there oblivious to the world. All she knew was that she was hurting inside. She didn't even notice the platinum-haired man walk by with Carlos in his arms. Nor did she notice when he came back into the room and sat down next to her.

"Kitten?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Aletta looked up at him before breaking out in another fit of crying. The young man pulled her close as sobs wracked her slim body. He gently rubbed her back and her sobs began to cease. After a few more minutes, he picked her up and carried her to his room. He placed her on the bed before tucking the blue comforter around her. He placed a kiss on the sleeping hybrid's brow before dealing with the injured Carlos.

He went into the room where the brown-haired boy laid. He placed Carlos facedown on the bed, but turned his head to the side so he could breathe. Going over to the far wall, the indigo-eyed man pulled out a bundle of herbs, a small earthen bowl, a small knife, and a long roll of bandages. He sat the things down on a table next to the bed and lit a few candles before getting to work.

He first burned any infection out with the red-hot knife and was mildly surprised when Carlos didn't stir. Next he filled the bowl with some fresh, clean water and crushed the herbs into a fine powder. After adding the paste to Carlos's cuts and then finally bandaged them once that was done.

Finally, he turned Carlos over to get to the thing that worried him the most: the cut made by the whip over the blue-eyed boy's right eye. Cleaning away the remaining blood, he notice that it was a clean hit that didn't rip the skin. It sliced down over his eyelid, but didn't seem to go all the way through. Still, he was worried about any damage that might have been done to the eye itself. Being extremely careful, he applied some of the paste to the three-inch wound and bandaged the one eye so as not to frighten the boy when he awoke. Just as the young man was finished, Carlos began to awaken.

"Wha...?" Carlos mumbled as he tried to sit up, only to weakly fall back down.

"Careful," the young man warned. "I don't want you to do any more damage than what's already been done."

Carlos looked up at the man for a second before reaching up to touch the bandage covering his eye. "Am I... am I blind?"

The young man studied him for a moment. "I'm not sure. I'll have to wait for the medicine to heal the wound itself before you start to panic. I'm going to go get some pizza. Do you mind if I say that's all I can offer you?"

"No, that would be great."

The platinum-haired man turned to leave when Carlos stopped him.

"Wait."

The indigo-eyed man turned to face him again. "Yeah?"

"I don't mean to pry, but you did save my life and everything, and I was just wondering if you could tell me your name." Carlos scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "I just want to thank you properly."

The young man smiled as he turned and began to walk out, but not before giving his name to Carlos.

"They call me Blade."