Julian POV:
“Uh… She kinda woke up, and she sprained her ankle, and uh… she’s looking for her brother?” I babbled sheepishly.
“But why are you keeping her here? You should know that she’s a prisoner, and prisoners need to be kept in the cells.” Will replied coolly, tilting his head to indicate her. I winced as she glared at me, the word ‘prisoner’ ringing in my mind.
“You know how your father dislikes humans running all around the house, and very intolerant about prisoners misbehaving…” Will gave me a frown.
“I know, I know…” I muttered, head bowed low.
Will studied my guilty face, and gave a small sigh, as if he were saying “Fine, but just this once”. I whispered a silent “Thank you”, and gave him a genuine smile.
Will nodded and replied “I’ll get the doctor.” He left the room, his brisk footsteps echoing down the hallway. I let go a huge sigh of relief, all the tension and worry left my body.
She was sitting at the edge of the bed, her pale blue eyes taking in the minute details of the room. I approached her, my footsteps soundless, and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hey.”
She gave a sharp squeal and jumped back, standing up from the bed and trying to balance on one foot. She stumbled for a moment and I caught her.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” I said, as she pushed herself away from my arms. Don’t… my mind was whispering. I felt little tingles down my spine, and my face heated up slightly.
“So… you wanna clean up first?” I stared at her torn and slightly filthy uniform, at the same time having a good look at her. She was so tiny and skinny, especially in that uniform. So fragile and beautiful… it made me want her even more. Those pale eyes widened faintly, in suspicion and surprise, why would he ask me such a thing? her eyes seemed to ask. She followed my gaze, her delicate eyebrows furrowing as she frowned at her uniform.
“The bathroom’s there.” I gestured over to the direction of the bathroom. She advanced slowly, keeping her eyes on me all the while as she limped on one foot. My eyes unknowingly followed her movements across the room and I quickly looked away.
I heard the bathroom door close softly with a creak, and I went to sit down on the bed. Picking up a book, I tried to concentrate on the storyline but my eyes kept straying to the bathroom door, willing her to quickly come out. My book was carelessly thrown aside as I lay deeper into my soft bed, my ears guessing what she was doing.
The shower was turned off. A long pause as she looked at all the labels of the bottles of bathing products. I hear the ‘click!’ of the cover as she opened the bottle. The sound of her washing her hair. Shower on. The water sounded a little more noisier than usual, and I heard quite a lot of splashing. Hmm… Another ‘click!’ as she opened the bottle of soap. Washing her body. She was scrubbing quite hard. Shower on again. Huge gust of water, it sounded like there was a thunderstorm in there, minus the thunder. A small “Oops!” as the water stopped. The ruffling sound of a towel.
Just then, Will came into the room, his expression kind. “The doctor’s coming in about 5 minutes.”
“Thanks.” I replied with a smile.
“Here.” Will handed some clothes to me.
“Whaat? I don’t need these!” I exclaimed. Will was just so nice; sometimes, he would randomly buy clothes and little gifts for me. How I loved that guy, no wonder my father choose him as his personal assistant. He really was like an uncle of sorts to me.
“No, silly, there’re not for you.” It was then I realised that what he gave me were girl clothes. My face reddened slightly from embarrassment.
“Thanks, I’ll hand it over to her.” I walked over to the bathroom door just as Will walked out of the room. I paused for a moment. It was mostly quiet inside besides a swishing sound, very vague in comparison to the rumpling sound of the towel. I gave the door three quick knocks.
Nothing happened. Then, after a few seconds, the door unlocked and opened slightly. A pair of grey-blue eyes peered cautiously at me.
I showed the clothes to her, putting it closer to the door. A pair of hands appeared from behind the door, snatching the clothes away from my hand in a moment. Following that, the door whisked shut. I gave a little sigh, but I was unable to control the little smile at the corner of my mouth as I dragged my feet to the bed. I heard the rustling sound of clothes being worn, and I tried to imagine how she would look like when she came out.
The door creaked open gradually, a sound so quiet that my immortal ears almost missed. I whipped my head around, and there she was, wrapped in a huge white towel that was much too large for her, and the sides dragged along the carpeted floor. In her hands were the dirty uniform, and she looked like a little kid wearing an oversized ball of cloth, struggling with the heavy towel and almost tripping over it. Once again, I caught her and steadied her, and for once, she let me. Her scent overwhelmed me, and it smelled like kiwi and ice cream. Hmm. I bet that was my favourite kiwi-flavoured shampoo.
“Why are you wearing the towel?” I half-spoke, half-laughed as she got tangled in the fluffy white towel. She was like a tiny baby insect trapped in a cocoon, struggling to come out. I took the dirty clothes out of her hand, placing it on the floor, and helped to untangle her hands from the towel, laughing as I did so.
She glared at me, as if she were saying, “Do you even know how dangerous a fluffy white towel is?!”, which made me laugh even more. The towel was almost untangled from her. I gave it a pull, but it did not budge. Strange. I gave a harder tug, and the towel budged by an inch. Then I realised that she was holding the towel tightly, which explained why the towel resisted when I pulled.
“Let go.” I uttered, shaking my head in disbelief.
“No!” She protested and tried to wrap the towel around her tighter.
“Why not?” I chuckled at her, as her cheeks pinkened.
“This… thing… is… unbelievable… short!” She muttered, pulling under her towel.
“Here, let me see it.” I took off the towel just as she was pulling, and it fell onto the floor with a thud. Her eyes widened as she realised what I had done. She was wearing the clothes that Will had bought, a pale pink cotton dress with frills at the sleeves. It was perfect on her, and it made her look angelic and sweet.
“Pretty…” I commented. She glowered at me and picked up the towel, folding it into a neat square as well as picking up the dirty clothes to fold as well. I watched as her elegant fingers folded, she herself transfixed in the task. She looked so beautiful when she was serious. Her coffee-brown hair fell into her face, and she swept it away, tucking it behind her ears. It was perfectly dry, like she did not wash her hair, but the smell of shampoo told me otherwise. Oh... waterbender. Wait. Weren't they extinct already?
“Done!” She exclaimed happily, like a child who’d finally learnt how to do something. The clothes were in a somewhat neat pile. I smiled at her innocence as she proudly put the stacked piles on a chair, hobbling along to do so.
The sound of footsteps alerted me that the doctor was coming, so I told her to sit down on the bed. She looked at me warily, still not trusting, as she made her way to the bed, shrugging away my attempts to help her.
The doctor was a man that looked like he was in his late-twenties, with russet hair and a warm smile, but his body language gave him away. He looked normal at first glance, almost human, but one look at his scarlet eyes told me another story. They spoke of harsh experiences, of knowledge, of age and time themselves. When I stared into his eyes for a moment too long, I felt slightly giddy, and the little hairs on my arms pricked up. I felt uneasy around that man. His movements were quick and jerky, as if he was trying not to move too fast but failed. Something was off about him. He wasn't the usual vampires I often saw.
I noticed how his eyes widen at the sight of her, the scarlet developing into a deep burgundy. I glared at him, daring him to even try, but all he did was raise an eyebrow at me, looking very amused. She however, just looked at him in fascination, as if he were a neon signboard that was saying “Look here!”. He chuckled at her, giving her a bright smile as he squat down beside her, looking at her with those burgundy eyes.
“Well well well… What can I do for you, miss?” He asked.
“Her foot. It’s injured.” I quickly cut in before she could say anything. He glanced up at me, humour glinting in his eyes.
“Let me take a look…” He took her right foot, examining it and pressing it at certain points, earning some yelps of pain from her as he hit the bruised parts. I winced. The doctor gave me a look that said what's your problem? I glowered at him.
“Prince Julian! Your father wishes to see you immediately!” Will popped his head around the door, beckoning me to come over. Rayne looked at Will, then at me, then at the doctor, her expression somewhat confused.
I sighed, shooting a distrustful glare at the doctor as I walked out of my room.
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A/N: Tsk, tsk... Pervertic Julian... XD
So how do you like the characters so far?