We heard footsteps and people walking our way, out in the hallway. Damon was instantly on his feet and pulled me up.
I hadn't noticed him tying up my wrist in my dazed state of mind, but now I saw a cloth around my bleeding wrist. "Ouch," I winced when I tried to put pressure on my hurt ankle.
He swooped me up in his arms and we headed out.
"No wait; I got to have that document." I pointed at the piece of paper on the floor and he managed to bend down while holding me. In a few minutes we were out the door after having locked the storage unit. He grabbed us a cab as soon as we got outside and we were quickly at our hotel, where he carried me upstairs. Soon I was on my back on the bed, watching him getting a blood-bag out and gulping it down before he called room-service for some bandages.
I fell in and out of sleep while he bandaged my wrist, talking on the phone and while he took a shower and changed clothes. When I woke up, a doctor was examining me.
"We were attacked," I heard Damon explain. "I think she needs blood."
The doctor eyed Damon with something between suspicion and caution. "Doctor Fell explained the circumstances," he revealed slowly and his constant glances towards Damon was a give-away.
"That I'm a vampire?"
"Yes."
Damon was quiet for a while, just watching the doctor examining me; checking my pulse and listening to my heart. "She was saving me." His voice was sad and he said it quietly. "I think she's anaemic, her pulse is weaker than usual."
We looked both a bit puzzled at him.
The doctor took my hand and I looked up at the two men by my bed. "I'll examine this first, do you need to leave?" He was eyeing Damon in a hard way.
"No; I did that, I need to see it," he said filled with guilt.
"I made you do it," I objected weak.
He stroked my cheek. "I know sweetie, but you can't be held responsible for that." His tone was caring but guilty.
The doctor eyed us suspicious. "You really care about her." He sounded like that was too hard to believe.
Damon watched me. "Yes I do. The right thing to do would be to get the hell out and let her live her life, but I just can't." Our eyes locked and the feelings between us made me both want to smile and cry; I didn't know in which order.
My wrist got unwrapped and the doctor commented on Damon's handy work. "The bleeding has stopped."
"Yes, I put pressure on it right from the start."
The Doctor was once again watching us intently. All of a sudden he started to chuckle. "I have treated vampire bites before, but never had the vampire responsible standing next to me, looking like you do."
Damon looked puzzled.
"The guilt is eating you."
I smiled weak. "You better watch yourself, or you will turn into your brother," I teased him and got a glare back.
"Don't tell him that!"
Once again Doctor Martin interrupted our connection. "You have a sprained ankle, probably a cracked rib and your... friend is right; you need some blood to feel better," he summarized. "If you could get to my clinic tomorrow, I can easily help you." He smiled, then he seemed to realise something. "Can you go there during the day," he asked Damon who smiled.
"Yes, that won't be a problem." He smiled before he got serious again. "Thank you for coming and checking on her, I didn't want to give her my blood to heal her without a thorough examination first."
"Your blood... Meredith was talking about that."
"Yes, vampire-blood can heal humans, just as human-blood can heal vampires," Damon explained. "Doctor Fell drugged and 'blood-napped' me." His voice had a clear sarcastic tone. "All she had to do was ask."
The doctor looked puzzled again. "This has been an interesting night." He put a supportive bandage on my sprained ankle and then he told us the address for his clinic and a time where we could come the following day. He also gave me some pain killers before he left us.
* * * * *
The next morning Damon had to help me to get out of bed and into the bathroom. He offered to help me with the shower as well, but that felt a bit weird considering our current relationship.
The hot waters sprinkling down over my body was helping; it warmed my muscles up and made them relax a bit.
The reflection in the mirror didn't look like me at all; there were cuts and bruises on my face and my lip was cut, I was really pale and there were black circles under my eyes.
I felt sore, wincing a little when I did my best to get dressed. The pain made it nearly impossible to get the shirt on and I gasped for air which only made it worse. I shut my eyes for a moment and then continued the struggling to get dressed while biting my lower lip.
"How are you?" I couldn't even count how many times we had asked each other that over the last two days.
"I'm sure I'll be fine," I answered bravely just as I had done the last times he had asked.
The hunger was reminding me it was time to eat, but all I could do was watch my horrid reflection from the bathroom mirror; I really didn't want to go down to the dining room at the hotel for breakfast. Damon arranged for us to have room-service bring it to us, where I could eat in bed. He did his best to help me with everything I needed.
He supported me down through the main areas and out to a cab that took us to the doctor. It wasn't really a hospital but a private clinic, an exclusive private clinic.
The receptionist called for my doctor as soon as we got inside, and they put me in a wheelchair. Had I been more embarrassed?
"Mr Salvatore, Miss Riccitelli." Our doctor came and greeted us.
"Doc." Damon shook his hand.
"And how are you today, miss?"
"I'm fine doctor Martin. Those pain killers did the trick." I did my best to smile.
"Well, I say she's not fine at all, doc," Damon objected.
"I can see that and I'm more obliged to agree with you Mr Salvatore," doctor Martin said and showed us to a room. "But we'll fix that."
The examination room had needles, syringes and a bed for me to lie on. A nurse stood up and nodded a hello at us when we got in. She looked very nervous to be there.
"We have to do a cross-test first; don't want to give you the wrong blood, now do we?" The doctor tried to enlighten the mood a bit. "So, do you need to go before this?"
"No, I'm not a blood o'holic," Damon said through his clenched teeth's. "I'll stay."
"Well I don't how these things work," the good doctor muttered and started working.
Staying by my side was really what Damon did; the entire time he stood supportive with a hand on my shoulder. Throughout the drawing of blood, testing and refuelling my blood system. I caught Damon glancing up to the blood-bag a few times and finally I whispered. "You're not getting hungry are you?"
He gave me a weak smile. "No, I'm not." He kissed my forehead.
I did my best just to relax during the blood transfusion, there was nothing else I could do.
When this whole refuelling was done I felt a lot better. Both Damon and I were really grateful to doc Martin and asked him how we could pay him.
"Well..." He was a bit reluctant to reveal his wishes and he sent the nurse away. "You were talking about healing blood..."
What; did he want to watch me suck blood out of Damon's arm? That felt a little too personal, I thought.
Damon gave me a look and then he asked if we could get some test- or sampling-tube which the doctor handed over pretty fast.
"Do you want me to heal you?" Damon asked me tenderly and I gave a short nod. People around town would probably think he was beating the crap out of me if we walked down town.
His eyes were fixed on mine as he took a quick bite of his arm and let the blood drip down in the test-tube. I saw in the corner of my eye how the curious doctor took a couple of steps closer to see what was happening.
Damon handed me the tube with a: "Cheers honey," and I downed it.
Doctor Martin looked first intensely at Damon's bite wound that healed quickly and then he watched me to see the bruises slowly fade away and even the cut on my lip heal. "Wow, that's amazing!" He was totally blown away.
"So, how many tubes do you need?" Damon had figured the doctors desires out long before this and was not going to wait for him to ask; he wanted to get us back to the hotel that was obvious.
Doctor Martin got a few tubes out and handed them to Damon. "You don't need more than a few drops?" he asked and Damon answered with a smile before he filled up the tubes and handed them back to the good doc.
"I suggest you don't tell anyone, though. It's not like we exist more than in books and horror movies." he added with a smirk.
"No, no of course; I won't say anything," he assured.
"Because you don't wanna get on my bad side." In a split second Damon showed the doc his vampire-face.
.