Bites & Bruises (ManxMan)

Twenty

I blew softly against the paper before holding it up to the dim light. I let my gaze wander over the image I had just drawn before I shook my head and let out a soft curse, something wasn't right, I couldn't recall the love struck expression he used to wear anymore, I could only remember the look he gave me before I walked out on him. 

It was the fact I was slowly forgetting how he looked that frightened me to my very core.

The memory haunted my dreams, making a good night's rest impossible and as I flung the drawing and note pad across the room, I couldn't help but flop back onto the bed with a growl of annoyance. 

Ninety one days. 2190 hours. Twelve weeks...  Three long, agonizing months. 

The sound of cars outside snapped me from my thoughts and I slowly slid my gaze to the open balcony doors. For the last little while I had been staying in the high end hotel, flitting from place to place until I had stumbled across this busy part of New York. 

It wasn't like the eerily quiet town I had grown to love in the middle of nowhere and I couldn't help but sigh as a pang of sadness bloomed in my chest. 

For a while I could feel the connection between Marius and I, his blood still running through my veins and the bound we shared still there until a couple of weeks ago. The memory still had tears springing to my eyes and I recalled that dreadful night... 

I was laying in bed, tossing and turning with images of him in my head when a sudden sharp pain had me bolting upright. A groan tore from my lips and my back arched, the hot pain seeming to travel from my heart to then spread to every vein in my body. 

I broke out into a sweat, shivering and whimpering until it eventually passed and I was left exhausted and feeling incomplete. It was in that moment that I knew for sure that our bond had been broken and Marius had finally moved on. 

Pain bloomed in my chest as I thought about him with someone else, hell, my eyes even watered and I found myself rolling onto my side; pulling the blankets up over my head as if that would stop the pain I was feeling.

With an irritated sigh, I then closed my eyes and relived the memory, unable to fight it off as I thought about the first time Marius and I had spent the night together, doing anything but sleeping... 

It had been dark, cold and quiet that night in the house. Rosá was out and Marius was warming blood bags whilst I sat by the open fire, praying for the chills to leave my aching body. We had been on our shifts, the elements of winter relentless as we patrolled the grounds. 

Marius' strong hand on my shoulder brought me from my dwindling thoughts and I looked away from the blazing fire to find him watching me, the smallest of smiles flickering onto those lips that I just loved to kiss. 

"Here," He handed me a warm bag of blood before dragging the thick, heavy cover from off the back of the chair to then drape it over my shoulders. "Wouldn't want you to freeze to death now would we?"

"Whys that? Miss me too much would you?"

He rolled his eyes and came to sit beside me, leaning back against the front of the sofa. "I wouldn't want to have to deal with another dead body."

I couldn't help but scoff at his comment though I found myself leaning into him anyway as he chuckled to myself. He then shifted and brought his arm around my shoulders and down my back to settle at my waist, dragging me closer. I was instantly enveloped by his scent and resisted the urge to moan. 

"You'd miss me really... Wouldn't you?"

Marius chuckled and pressed his lips to my temple. "Of course I would, silly little vampire." His thumb dragged along my hip bone and my pulse leaped. "Sometimes I wonder how you manage to function with all that uncertainty."