2

After the pain in my neck began to go away, I managed to peel my eyes open, which wasn't a good idea and definitely wasn't worth the effort , because as soon as I did the room started spinning.

I groaned and tried to touch my neck, but that was like trying to touch the sun while on Earth; it wasn't going to happen. Even the slightest move I made sent jolts of paralyzing pain shoot throughout my body.

" Lucia?" a comforting voice called from the shadows that clouded the room.

I tried to talk, but my mouth felt like it was glued together. I could taste the faint tang of metal in my mouth. I tried to swallow away the bad taste, but it felt like I was swallowing nails, so I stopped.

" Mhm?" I answered to the best of my ability. The shadowy figure left the penumbra of the corner of the room and kneeled down next to me.

" Thank god you're okay, Lucia. I was so afraid I had killed you."

Kill me? What is he talking about?

I fought away the pain as I started to talk, " Davide?" I asked, my voice cracking. He nodded. "What are you talking about?" I asked in a sorry attempt to keep my voice stable.

" I did the only thing I could to save you." He answered bluntly as if that answered all my questions. I looked up at him but I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he was wearing a grim expression. I could hear it in his voice.

" You 'turned' me?" I asked turbidly.

He nodded again.

I didn't know what to say. Thank you, didn't seem right to say; it just seemed rude, and sorry didn't seem to do it either, so I stayed quite.

He stood up and brought me a glass that had been situated on a nightstand on the opposite side of the bed. Bed? Where was I? I thought fuzzily, as I glanced around the room franticly I noticed a picture frame perched on a dark gray bookshelf. It was the one Davide had taken of me on his birthday, but why was it still out? Wasn't he mad at me? Earlier it seemed like he hated me...

" You need to drink this." He said thrusting the glass towards me, as if he had just remembered to be mad at me. He slunk over to a chair by the window, that was adorned with thick black curtains, but the light the Italian street lights gave off still flooded in through the sides of the curtains.

" Davide, I'm sorry." I could tell he was becoming harrowed. The air in the room had become tense. He leered at the wall and gave me looks that made me uncomfortable and like I shouldn't even be in the same room as him. I began to sweat, even though the room was freezing, the silence was becoming unnerving. I looked down at the glass and began to fidget with it. His glare was intensifying.

I was shocked when he finally said something, " Lucia, sorry means nothing unless you mean it, other than that it's just a bull shit word, and if you were sorry, you wouldn't have done what you did in the first place." He said callously. I could feel the resentment in his voice, whether it was directed at me or elsewhere, I wasn't sure.

I flinched, from the mercilessness in the tone his voice was wrapped in. Sure he had a reason to be mad, but he didn't have to take it out on me, I thought choking back tears. I drank whatever was in the glass, and the taste of melted rust came back... It tasted familiar... I stared at the glass's contents. It was red. I then immediately knew what it was. It's blood, I thought placidly. I drank what was left of the rich crimson liquid happily, and felt my strength come back bit by bit. I could finally move to the point where I wasn't put in agony, just to the point of feeling sore.

" You know," I started, he managed to tear his glare away from the colorless wall and place it on me, " you didn't have to save me. You could've let me die. I'm not your responsibility anymore, you've made that perfectly clear," I said rashly," you're in a pissy mood, because you turned me and you didn't want to. I'm not that important Davide, you could've let me die and no one would notice, and that way I would be out of your life, just like you wanted." I finished, instantly regretting what I said, when I saw him cringe.

The look of pain only lasted for a second, but the image branded itself into my mind. I was about to get up and apologize, but he had already stood up and was walking towards me. I could see his eyes perfectly clear, and what I saw in them made my stomach lurch and contort into tangled knots. He wasn't mad, but furious. It wasn't easy to see but I could tell by how tense he had gotten.

" Lucia, you really are being audacious towards someone you should be grateful to." Oh yes, furious was the word. When he got mad he didn't scream, yell, or bitch and moan about things. He would get very calm and his voice wouldn't rise above a whisper.

I looked at him for a long time. His eyes dark and cold, holding the black circles that had crept under them. His broad shoulders were as tense as I've ever seen them, rising and falling with the shallow breaths he was taking. His dark brown hair looked black and was disheveled from where he had been running his hand through it. He looked like a young boy who was afraid of something and I realized his eyes always seemed to deceive him. He was acting angry, but deep down you could see he was pain stricken and scared.

I didn't realize it until now that he had been staring at me just as intensely as I had been at him. I looked down nervously, his watchful stare becoming ardent. I hadn't detected it until now but his jacket had been covering me completely, but it was now just a black mass that was askew on my legs. My gaze then crawled over to his hand. There was a white bandage that bound his wrist. It then dawned on me, I hadn't even thought about where the blood had come from. Little pangs of guilt began to stab my heart. How stupid am I? He did care about me. I was just blind to it.

I peeled his jacket off me and crawled off the bed, to stand next to him. I was tall for a girl, 5'9 to be exact, but he towered over me. He made me feel like a little girl standing next to him... I felt in a way... safe.

Tears seared my eyes, taking there sweet old time to fall, and when they did, he winced. " I'm sorry." He said, finally letting the wall he put up between us fall and shatter. He was vulnerable, the tenseness in the room slinking away.

I smiled weakly and wrapped my arms around his strong shoulders and leaned against him. He rocked back on his feet, as though the impact of my embrace had surprised him. He stood motionless for a long time, and then hesitantly he enfolded me in his arms bringing me closer to him. He stroked my back affectionately as I entwined my fingers in his hair. All the pain in my heart had over flown as comfort and reassurance flowed into it, replacing all the pain. I had to fight the urge to giggle happily as I nuzzled into the side of his neck.

" That's funny, usually I apologize when, there's nothing to apologize for." I said weakly as his arms around me tightened and he let his head drop and lay lightly on top of mine.