As I fell in to bed that night so many questions flew round my head, “Where was he? Was he okay? Was the person he was feeding on okay? How did he feed? What did he mean one hundred and nine?” It was a very fitful night of sleep. When I woke I really began to worry, it was the middle and Lucas hadn't returned giving me flash backs to when he left me first time. I soothed my wandering mind by convincing myself he was just stuck somewhere because of the sun and he was fine.
I opened the bar as usual that evening but there was still know sign of Lucas, I was starting to feel sick.
“Has he left you again? Comfort?” One of my regulars asked.
“Sorry? What Sweetie? I had completely zoned out there.” I replied.
“Yeah I noticed” he laughed “your watching that door again, has he left again?”
“No, no he's just running a errand. He'll be back later, I hope,” I sighed. The night crawled on with people coming and going but still no sign of Lucas, till at about 11 when I was calling for last orders. The door swung open and Lucas stumbled in topless, he was obviously beaten and was bleeding but most worryingly he was severely burnt.
“Oh my god Lucas, what's happened?” I gasped,
“He caught up with me, caught me off guard,” he croaked.
“Right, everyone out the bar is now closed. I'm really sorry but I obviously have things to deal with.” shouted to the people still sat in the bar and now gawking at him. As everyone was leaving the bar I helped Lucas over to a bench, he was struggling to walk and obviously in extreme pain. When everyone had left I locked the door and turned to see Lucas laid out on the bench where I put him.
“Could you get me a drink please?” he uttered,
“Yes of course babe,” I went behind the bar and poured him a glass of water “there you go” I said handing him the glass.
“I meant a proper drink” he responded,
“By the look of you, you've been in the sun, so its likely you will at the very least be dehydrated if not have heat stroke and alcohol will help neither.” Lucas let out a low growl, “Oh sush and just drink it”. He did as he was told downing the water in one.
After I had let him rest for a while and had given him more water I asked “Do you think you can make it upstairs, it'll more comfortable and I can have a proper look at your burns”
“Yes I think so, I am feeling stronger now. Thank you my love” Lucas responded. He stood slowly and flinching with pain, I put my arm round him to support him,
“leave me I can manage” he said in a low dangerous voice,
I laughed “yes and I used to do this for a living, so stop trying to be such a hard man and let me help,” He growled again but let me help and slowly but surely we made it up the stairs and he sat down on our bed flinching again. Grabbing a jar of mayonnaise from the fridge I joined him on the bed,
“Mayonnaise?” Lucas asked raising his eyebrows and sound sceptical.
“Yes I will help to cool and soothe the burns,” I responded shifting behind him “so what happened then, I assume this is the work of Bailey.”
Lucas took a deep breath and explained what had happened the night before “Yes it was, I had finished feeding and was ensuring that the woman I had fed on was safe, that is when he attacked, catching me off guard. He easily managed to knock me out and handcuffed me to a lamppost to wait for the sun to come up. I was lucky I had just fed so I was at my strongest and I broke free from the handcuffs, if not I would be dead by now.”
“I can see now why you want to catch him so bad, he a psychopath” I responded
“I do not want to simply catch him, I want him dead” Lucas responded in that dangerously low voice he has, “anyway enough of him. Why did you ever quit nursing? Your good at this.” he asked catching my hand.
I smiled and pulled my hand away “oh its a long story,”
“Well we have all night don't we? Please, it will take my mind off things” I sighed and closed my eyes for a second before responding,
“fine, okay and I suppose you have told me some fairly major things so it is only fair that I tell you my biggest. For me leaving was a long time coming but the night I finally did I remember as vividly as if it had just lived through it. I was working in A+E and it was a typical Friday night the drunks were rolling in and generally causing agro. But the night really started to go down the shit-hole at about eleven, it was mid-winter and a homeless kid, only about eighteen was rushed in. He had taken a heroin overdose.” I had to paused to gather myself as I had begun to cry, Lucas just held my hand and waited, “Yea an overdose, we managed to save him but when came to examine the rest of him we discovered he had frost bite and we had to amputate four of his toes. I never found out what happened but I assume it ruined his life because I don't imagine he went to physio, without that he would never have walked properly again. Seeing such suffering in one so young was like a kick in the stomach for me, I wanted to scream out for his parents to take him and wrap him up in love and never let him go. No matter how we felt, we had to continue with to work even if we were screaming inside, so that's what I did just kept going. Really that's when the night went from bad to worse and is the reason I am here, not nursing any more.” I sighed again I didn't enjoy telling this story and definitely not this part, “Again the paramedics rushed in an emergency, I was pulled out of my break to help it was of those all hands on deck emergencies. When I got there I almost collapsed, the patient was seven years old and he had been beaten within an inch of his life. We tried to save him, working on him for over an hour but at 2:23am we called time of death and that was the moment I knew I couldn't do that job any longer. Just to reinforce that I had to go with the doctor to tell the mother of that child that he was dead and that we had to call the police because he had been murdered. When we saw her she had been beaten herself two black eyes and obviously terrified, the doctor told her son was dead and we were going to call the police as his injuries were suspicious. S-she just looked into my eyes and shook her head to tell me that she wouldn't have testified against the man who beat her son to death and terrorised her. The next morning I handed in my noticed and I have never been back in that hospital.” I broke down and said no more that night. Lucas held me all night as I cried and woke from nightmares of that horrible night all those years ago.
I yawned as I woke resting on his cold chest, it was mid-afternoon and the sun was trying to poke through the curtains, “well hello gorgeous” I said stretching and turning to look at Lucas. Although the previous night had been stressful and my sleep had been tortured by nightmares I felt fantastic that morning, like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
“How are you feeling? You had a stressful night and I do not think you slept to well” Lucas asked,
“No not brilliantly but knowing you were here with me made everything better and me stronger” I smiled and kissed him “Anyway we must get up, things to do and I've got to sort out the bar after your dramatic entrance I never got round to it” I pulled him up and he growled “Oh shush you don't scare me with your growling.” Before I knew what was happening he jumped up and grabbed me around the waist pulling me down on top of him, I screamed and laughed before turning to see he was grimacing.
“Oh god Lucas I forgot are you okay, how are your shoulders? Did you catch them?” I asked as I jumped up off him,
“Yes I am fine, it was my fault I am not used to pain. Vampires lead a hard life but we are tough people don't often get injured in any serious way, so I am not used to having to be careful, it is very strange” he sighed
“Well you'll just have to learn to be a little bit human for a while, how long do you think this will take to heal?” I asked
“Oh not long a week at most,” he replied “yes humans are so fragile aren't they, have to be so careful everyday” a strange look passed over his eyes as he said that, it was just for a split second but I saw it.
Lucas was acting strangely all night I kept catching watching me with that strange look in his eyes. The evening was subdued, after all the excitement of the previous night I think that the customer were a little wary seeing that half dead man sat in front of the bar quietly drinking scotch and whispering to me. After the last costumer left Lucas turned to me and said,
“Comfort, my love I have been thinking, human life is so fragile you are so easily hurt or or worse killed” he sighed,
“Is this going somewhere or are just enjoying pointing out the flaws of mankind?” I responded distracted by cleaning the bar.
“Give me a second this is a difficult subject at the best of times, will you sit down while I talk” his voice had an impatient that I had never heard before “My worry is that if Bailey can damn near kill me what would he do if he ever got hold of you, therefore to protect you and because I want to be with you for the rest of your life, but I couldn't bear watch you grow old. I think I should change you” he let out a big sigh as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders, unfortunately it felt like it had fallen squarely on mine.
