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“Cleo?”
“Oh, hello doctor,” they didn’t bother to hide the exhaustion that seeped into their voice, not from him.
He knelt down next to them in the shade of an old dark oak tree they had been resting under. The sun was still a ways from setting and they thought they deserved a moment of silence before struggling through the sunlight back to the castle.
“Are you alright?” asked the doctor. He was always asking that. He seemed to care for them in a way they hadn’t known for more years than they were willing to admit.
“I-,” they cut themself off with a scoff that was almost a sigh, they didn’t need to hide from the doctor.
“No, not really. I don’t want to hurt anyone and-and I don’t want to see people I care about get hurt and…” they sighed again and turned to look at the doctor, “I’m so tired.”
“Yeah, yeah…I get that,” his voice was tight with stress and concern, his eyes looking far into the past, present and future as they leaned their head against his shoulder.
He seemed to relax as their fingers intertwined. If nothing else, if only for this moment, at least they knew the other was safe.
“They want Pearl turned,” Cleo admitted softly, “And I’m not all that against it really. I just want her safe,”
“I know you do, but we need to let people choose what they want to be. Forcing anything on anyone won’t help,” it was a sentiment the doctor had shared more times than he could count, it was almost automatic at this point.
“I’m not going to turn her,” they assured him, “I couldn’t,”
“You wouldn’t”
The two fell into a comfortable silence, taking a moment to breathe while they still could. Fighting to stop the fighting was an exhausting loop of protection, attempts to convince those who wouldn’t listen, and proving loyalty to whoever demanded it. He never demanded anything from them nor them from him. They could rest now.
They leaned into him, tucking their head into his neck as they wrapped their arms around each other. He pulled them in until they rested their head under his chin on his chest in response.
“Do you think we’re safe here?” They whispered to him.
“I’m not sure safe anywhere,” he replied honestly, “but I don’t were in much danger either,”
“I suppose that's the best we can really ask for, huh?” they scoffed.
“Apparently,” he said with a humorless laugh, “At least we’re not Avid,” he added after a moment.
“Oooh do NOT get me started on him right now,” they fists clenched just a bit tighter as their voice raised.
“Not a fan?”
“Ha ha no not quite!” Cleo hated that cowardly little liar
“I’m a bit worried about him honestly. I think there’s something…else…going on with him,”
“Whatever it is it makes him rather annoying,” Cleo couldn’t muster up all that much sympathy for him, he really annoyed them, “I’m not really interested in talking about him at the moment,”
“Fair enough, he seems to have some tie to every problem in this cursed town,”
The pair fell back into silence with the banter having taken just a bit of weight off of both their shoulders. As problematic as Avid could be, he was certainly an entertaining liability.
He curled their hair between his fingers as he thought until Cleo spoke again, refusing to let Avid intrude when he wasn’t even here, “Some of the vampires have been working on the interior of the castle. They’re actually pretty good,”
“Really?”
“Yeah. They put even the best architects shame,”
“Hm. I take that personally,”
They laughed as they turned towards him, his tired eyes now paired with a small smile.
He leaned down slowly and pressed a kiss into the bridge of their nose. He kissed so carefully, so gently, it was nothing like the rough kisses they’d grown used to over the past half a decade.
He had no fangs to slit open their lips and no claws to dig into their arms and they knew even if he did he would never dream of hurting them. The gentle hands of the surgeon rated carefully on their waist and loosely tangled in their hair.
They tilted their head to the side and brought their lips to his. They were careful to leave the rest up to the doctor not wanting to send him back to town with a bloody lip. His hands tightened on their waist as his other hand drifted to their back pulling them carefully closer. He was pleasantly warm against their cold body. It was nice to be warm again, even if they knew the heat was stolen.
He pulled away after a few moments of warmth and placed another quick kiss into their forehead.
“We should probably go back to town soon,” He said softly
They knew he was right, as much as they wanted to stay here, just a bit longer, with him, they knew people would get suspicious if they disappeared into the woods with no explanation for too long.
“I think I need to go to the castle,” they said sadly, “I’ve spent too long in town. They’re already a bit suspicious of me,”
“Ah…” disappointment evident in his voice.
“I’ll visit you and Pearl when I can,” they said gently
“Of course, well,” The doctor stood and extended a hand to help them up, “Be safe. Be good,”
Cleo stole a quick kiss before turning towards the castle. They leaned forward as their wings emerged from under their curly white hair. They let their arms fall to their sides as their legs disappeared beneath them and dark reddish-orange fur grew all over their body. They flapped their wings as the rest of their body shrunk away and a bat flew in their place.
They glanced back, their voice somehow unchanged in their bat form,
“I will doc,” they said before they flew off into the dusk, back to a castle filled with people they both knew neither could trust.
Legs sighed when he could no longer see them and headed back to a town filled with people they both knew neither could be trusted by.