Author's notes- I genuinely apologize to anyone who was traumatized by the last chapter. I sort of have a twisted mind, and tend to write things that are pretty dark...I tried to use more foreboding tags this time! But just as a general warning- this is not a lighthearted story or a romance. It's basically science fiction/horror with a lot of deviant, sometimes violent, often disturbing sex. It's fucked up. But if you have a twisted imagination like mine and appreciate that sort of thing- read on! And thanks for the feedback. I know this is a relatively short chapter- the next chapter will be much longer, but it might be a few weeks before I submit it.
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I couldn't have been out for more than a few seconds. When I opened my eyes again, the shower had been turned off and I was lying prone on the floor, dripping. But the water on me was still warm and steam billowed out of the open shower door in the bathroom. The light seemed way too bright. I did a quick mental assessment of my physical state, wiggling my fingers and toes slightly. One very broken arm. One dizzy, achy head that was just starting to pound. A few bruises here and there. Everything else appeared intact. I pushed myself up and stood on shaky legs. I felt vaguely unattached to my own body.
Some of the steam cleared and I saw him standing in front of the sink, drying his very lean, naked body. He looked so relaxed, so casual about everything. He was no longer giving off his crazy evil vibes. He turned and looked at me, and I just blinked at him, unsure what to do. Afraid of doing the wrong thing. He studied me for a moment. I was reminded of Brent in his lab, meticulously filling a latex glove with water and checking for leaks. That was how the vampire was looking at me right now. When he didn't find what he was looking for, he frowned and thrust the towel towards me. I took it and began to dry off the best I could with one hand, avoiding my bad arm.
When he stepped towards me I flinched, but otherwise managed to stay still as he approached. I didn't think I could remain upright if I moved around too much anyway.
"Easy. I'm just going to help you out."
He took the towel from me and began wiping me down gingerly, being careful with my broken arm. I didn't know the cause for this sudden gentleness, and it made me nervous. I felt like there was no way to guess what he might do next. Then he was wrapping me in a big white robe, leaving the broken arm on the inside, because it was way too swollen now to put through a sleeve. I allowed myself to be led into the living room and positioned on the couch, but I just stared at the ground, slouched there. Other than the persistent throb of my cradled arm, my mind was blissfully blank. I heard him moving around, getting dressed, opening doors and shuffling things, but I kept my eyes fixed on the carpet. I wasn't planning on doing anything unless he specifically instructed me to.
I heard the window being unlocked and opened behind me, and after a few seconds I heard Lex's sigh.
"Are you going to come in or are you just going to stay out there judging me?"
A moment of silence passed. I heard another exasperated sigh from Lex, then the window shutting. I didn't even completely look up when I felt the couch dip beside me as he sat down, hauling some kind of bag with him. Only when he started removing what looked like medical supplies and setting them on the coffee table did I turn my full attention to what he was doing.
He had the makeshifts of a splint, and a syringe full of orange liquid, which sat ominously on the table in front of us. I tried not to think about why he might be keeping a full medical kit in the locked room. But as he picked up the syringe and flicked it a few times, getting the bubbles out, my anxiety got the better of me.
"What is that?" I asked, voice shaky.
He smiled at me gently. "It's just something to help the swelling go down. I can't set it until then."
Oh, he was going to patch me up himself. I had a moment of more extreme dismay, questioning his medical expertise, but then I pushed it aside. At least something was being done about it. At least he wasn't breaking the other one yet.
He carefully removed the robe from my left side, and I sat motionless as he jabbed the needle in my arm and injected the liquid. It must have hurt, but my body was working overdrive making its own natural pain killers, and it wasn't even registering. I wasn't terribly surprised when the swelling started to recede visibly as he watched it, until within a few minutes most of it had disappeared, just leaving a gruesome, awkwardly angled excuse for an arm. Vampires were as brilliant with their pharmaceuticals as they were stingy with them. The scope of their drugs was so beyond that of anything humans had attempted. He picked up the makings of a splint and put them in his lap. I watched with a growing sense of alarm as he picked out a vile and filled another syringe with a milky white fluid. Great, I had gone right from the hands of a mad scientist to the care of a vampire with a mad doctor fetish. I wasn't positive which was worse, but I was pretty sure it was the latter. He turned his head halfway back towards me and met my eyes briefly.
"I'm going to set the bone. It will be quick, but you'll probably pass out again."
His tone was matter of fact. Before I could react, he grabbed my broken arm with both hands and wrenched it. For a moment I didn't even feel pain, just numbness, and a slight tingling sensation. Then it hit, in a great red wave and I lost consciousness.
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I woke to a rich, heady smell of meat, onions and some kind of spice. I blinked and sat up slowly, pushing a fuzzy blanket off me as I did so. He had covered me up? Everything seemed bright and dark at the same time, and I felt weightless. There was no pain. I glanced at my arm and jerked. It was completely healed, if not well healed. There was a slight but visible ridge in the bone. I felt slightly sick, and I wondered what the hell he had given me to knit bone that quickly. Granted, it was better than having a broken arm, and I flexed my fingers experimentally. I experienced no pain at all, and I was a bit dizzy, but otherwise I was unfortunately alert. I closed my eyes again as a wave of nausea passed through me, but tried to focus on the sounds of the television, before realizing that was pointless. It was a vampire channel, and the Vamps on the show were speaking their indecipherable alien language. I opened my eyes to see Lex lounging in his armchair, and again I was reminded of lions in nature documentaries, content, full and resting after a sizeable kill. And indeed, in light of previous events, that probably wasn't far from the truth.
The way his eyes slid toward me and his head turned as if it was on a hinge was so creepily inhuman that I shuddered. Then he was looking at me with that strange expression again, like he was waiting for something, like he was checking for leaks.
"You've been out for a while. You needed the sleep, though, to heal. I gave you something for the pain. You have extraordinary tolerance, but that was a bit much, even for you."
He gestured towards my arm, and was silent for a beat, watching my reaction. I wondered if he expected me to thank him, or compliment his repair job. I said nothing, just fought another wave of dizziness. Then in a blur he was sitting on the couch beside me and I jumped, then slumped back into the cushion. I really wished he'd stop doing that. Why couldn't he just walk like a normal person? It was only a few feet away. Gently, he pulled me into his side and stroked my hair in a soothing manner. I tried not to cringe too much. I really didn't want him to touch me now. He kept stroking me until I relaxed slightly, and then he started to speak.
"Let's just get a few things straight, OK? I don't expect this to be a regular thing." He patted my shoulder slightly. "Last night, when you drank one of the most valuable items in my house"- I turned and looked at him, stunned- "you did it because you're impulsive and because you're an addict, but you also did it because you wanted to know what the stakes were."
He sighed then, staring at the far wall, rubbing my side now, as if I were a dog he was petting distractedly. His tone had been gentle, even it didn't quite match his words. He turned and looked at me,thoughtfully, and through the haze of painkillers and shock, fear started to rise full force. One of the most valuable items in his house? How could it have possibly been that expensive? I tried to remember more about what happened the previous night, but encountered nothing between drinking the wine and waking up next to him.
"Now you know the stakes." he said softly. He began running a finger over the side of my face. "You do what I tell you, when I tell you to do it, or you will be punished. You intentionally provoke me with your actions, and you will be punished."
He encircled his hand around my arm at the site of the break and squeezed, and I cringed, even though I felt not the slightest unpleasant sensation.
"This is a punishment."
