Chapter Text
We’re likely a sight in the doctor’s office. The group of us, in various states of disarray, all taking up a corner of the waiting room. I sit between Vox and Lucy, going back and forth between resting my head on either of their shoulders, a fact that neither of them seem willing to comment on. Mysta stands across from Vox, and the two of them are having a conversation I can’t catch - something about “we shouldn’t have let this happen” and “it’s my fault”, a mix of guilt that I can’t process. Why were they insisting it was their fault? When the conversation gets too confusing for me, I tune out and go back to snuggling Lucy. When I hear something that raises my suspicions, I turn back to Vox. It’s a back and forth cycle, us in our corner.
After a while of waiting, I hear somebody clear their throat, and look up to see Luca standing next to the nurse’s station. He gestures to us, and I tug on Vox’s sleeve to get his attention.
“Luca wants us,” I croak. Vox looks to me and over me; I can see the worry in his eyes. After a moment, he looks to Lucy, and the two of them help me stand. Mysta leads the way to Luca, who then leads us down a series of halls. I don’t memorize the route, or even try to keep my eyes open; I just let Vox and Lucy lead me.
Eventually we’re taken into a small bright room, barely big enough for us all. It ends up with me being placed on the side of the bed, while Lucy and Vox sit next to me again, as if to shield me. Luca takes the chair next to the doctor, who’s typing away details on a computer screen. Mysta just stands by the door, staring at his shoes.
“Alright,” the doctor turns to me in his chair and leans forward. In his white lab coat, I’m reminded of that demon, so I focus on the man’s face - clean-shaven, with curly dark hair. Young for a doctor - likely on Luca’s payroll. His Australian accent gives it away, too. “You’re Tanaka, right? I heard you’ve gone through an ordeal. Vampires, huh?”
He knows a lot. I nod, and tilt my head to one side to show the numerous bite marks left. Next to me, Vox curses. I feel his hand on the opposite side of my waist, but he seems to resist pulling me into him for now. The doctor wheels closer on his office chair, looking them over.
“Well,” he starts. “Those are bites, alright.”
“I feel lucky to be alive,” I whisper.
I hear somebody sob. I don’t know who. The doctor ignores it. “You’ll likely need a blood transfusion at the very least. Some rigger fluid too - don’t worry, we’ll just do it here in my office and get it over with. No hospital for you, if we can help it,” the doctor insists. “We’ll take a blood test as well, just to check on your nutrients and all as well. When did you last eat?”
“We got some food into them a few hours ago,” Lucy insists. I don’t quite remember it, but I take her word for it: she would remember better than I do.
“Good,” the doctor goes back to the drawer and starts pulling out little supplies. A band - a small needle - a few vials. He takes the band and turns to me, and asks me to hold out my arm. I do.
The moment he approaches, a dark shadow suddenly shoots up from the ground between us, knocking him back and making me snatch my arm back. A hiss goes through the room; Mysta starts. Luca stands up and yanks his gun out; Lucy holds onto me tighter, and Vox goes tense. I stare at the demon in front of me. It was . . . protecting me?
“It’s . . . alright?” I say aloud. The demon seems to turn to me in its shadowy shape. I clear my throat and assert again, “It’s alright, he can touch me. You can . . . go, or something.”
The demon makes a sort of motion as if to nod. Then it retreats down again, back into the floor - or wherever it had come from. The doctor looks wide-eyed, as do Mysta and Luca; I shudder and just whisper, “Sorry . . . I guess they’re . . . protective.”
“The hell was that?” Luca asks, still not putting his gun away. Lucy sighs.
“That was a demon, you idiot,” she points out. “They were surrounding Tanaka when I got there. They were responsible for killing that vampire.”
The doctor doesn’t say anything; he just obediently starts going about his duties, wrapping up my arm and starting the process for taking my bloodwork. I look away, nuzzling my face into Vox’s shoulder. His arm around me tightens, but he doesn’t pull me any closer, keeping me still. “Vox,” I mumble. “Did you send them?”
“Me?” he asks. He seems uncertain; there’s a long pause, and then a sigh. “No. I . . . regretfully, I didn’t. The only demon under my control is Onigiri, and he’s not strong enough to do much of anything yet. He hasn’t re-manifested like I have.”
I nod and hum, unworried about pushing the point any farther. Nobody speaks for a long moment. Then I hear Mysta sigh.
“Something to ask Shoto about when he gets back,” he says. I look up at him, and he explains, “He went to Scotland to look into the death of the vampire and make sure she’s really dead. And to tie up loose ends. If she was the murderer that we think-”
“She confessed as much to me,” I whisper.
“-well, she likely is, but we have to be sure.”
It reminds me. I don’t have it anymore, but- “Thank you for putting that tracker on my phone,” I mumble. “It- I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t.”
“You would’ve wandered your way to the nearest village and gotten help, that’s what you would’ve done,” Lucy insists.
“Yeah,” Luca finally puts away his gun as the doctor finishes with the bloodwork and unwraps my arm. “I finally have eyes and ears pretty much across the UK now. We would’ve found you eventually.”
If I didn’t die first, I think, but I keep it to myself. No need to worry anybody about that at this point.
“What matters now is that you’re safe,” Lucy tells me. “I’ll stay with you and Vox until you’re feeling back to your normal self. I’m tough enough to keep any strangers away, and Mysta,” she looks over at him, “Can stay on the couch.”
“Why am I on the couch?!” he asks.
“Because I need my beauty sleep. You know how much I . . .” she yawns. “Speaking of which, I haven’t had a restful night of sleep in days. I’ve been looking after this one,” she pats my shoulder, and I’m tempted to lean into her again, if not for the doctor standing and catching my attention.
“We’ll get that IV started promptly. We’ll also take a look at the bloodwork while we’re at it. If you’ll excuse me.”
As he leaves, I turn to Vox. He’s been so quiet, and I find myself tugging on his sleeve like a child. He looks to me. His make-up is smudged from crying, and I find myself frowning. “Are you okay?” I ask in a whisper.
He frowns. His hand comes up to part the hair from my face, and he leans forward to plant a kiss on my forehead. “I’m more worried about you,” he says with a rasp in his lovely voice.
“Okay,” I whisper. After a moment, I part from Lucy and towards Vox, shifting so I can sit in his lap. His arms wrap around me tight; it almost hurts, but I don’t care.
I’m home.
***
I’m relieved to be back at the apartment, and that Vox pulls me into the bathroom with him as soon as he can. “Let’s get you cleaned up,” he says with a soft voice, and I nod, too tired to argue. I start stripping off my dirty clothes as he gets the water in the shower started, checking the temperature once or twice. Then he grabs a sponge and some nice-smell soap from under the sink and adds them to the shelf. By the time I’m naked, he’s starting to strip too, hanging his jacket on the back of the door and pulling his turtleneck over his head.
“Are you showering with me tonight?” I ask. He doesn’t say anything. Regardless, I step forward and help him undo his trousers, pulling them and his boxers down until we’re both bare. I let him help me into the shower, then pull him in with a weak smile. He joins me under the spray and closes the shower curtain. He grabs the sponge and soap and lathers it up.
“I’ll be gentle, okay?” he says. I nod. He starts with my face, going over first one cheek, then the other, and across my forehead. I’m surprised by how much muck comes away; I’m truly a mess. He lifts my chin with a crooked finger and starts going down my neck, delicate across the multiple bite wounds on either side of my neck and shoulders. I can see him frowning at them, at the way they marr my skin.
“Hey,” I catch his attention. “She’s dead now, right? She can’t hurt me anymore.”
“Right,” he nods and continues. He’s so quiet and so thorough, taking first one arm and lathering it up, then the other. The water splattering onto the shower floor is grimy at first, then washed away with suds. The true color of my skin starts to come through. There’s still dirt under my nails and in my cuticles, but he works away at them, cleaning them. Then he starts working down my torso and hips.
Vox is so quiet while he works, and it worries me. I realize he didn’t even take off his make-up before getting in the shower with me, though so much of it was smeared earlier anyway. His eyes are clearer to me now, monolid and still that gorgeous golden color. They’re entirely focused on my body, on getting me clean. Still, I’m surprised that he’s not more talkative. I would’ve thought he’d be all over me after an ordeal like this, but he hadn’t even kissed me very much, just the once at the airport.
And then I remember the conversation he’d been having with Mysta at the doctor’s office.
It hits me like a ton of bricks. The look in his eye - the way he held me close and apologized -
He feels guilty. Guilty that he couldn’t help me, that it took Mysta and Luca and Lucy to find me rather than him. I imagine how helpless he must’ve felt, unable to do anything until they got a sense of my location. Even as he works down my legs, kneeling on the floor, I can see the way his hair drips over and hides his face, the way his head is bowed. Ache pangs through my heart. He’s ashamed.
“Love . . .”
Before he can stop me, I’m kneeling in the shower and taking his face in my hands. He looks at me with sadness, looking almost as tired as I feel. He looks so pale - a little skinner - had he not been eating? I lean forward and start peppering kisses across his face, over his cheeks, at the corners of his eyes. I kiss him firmly, and I pull him against me.
“It’s okay,” I whisper, holding him against my chest. “It really is. It was never your fault, I promise. It . . . it was nobody’s fault. I’m okay, now. I’m right here.”
I hear a strange, animalistic sound. It only occurs to me as he wraps his arms tight around me that it’s him crying.
I bury my face in his hair and hold him as tears overwhelm me, too.