You’re Safe Now

***

Axel woke up with a sharp gasp that ended in a wince.

"Here, brother." Angalo murmured. Axel looked from his brother then to the offered blood that he took with a sigh as he tore into the bag. The silence between them was heavy, thick. The only sound that could be heard was rapid slurping as the innocent bag's contents was being devoured.

It was a silence that spoke louder than words could.

The thought made Axel wary, this was the kind of silence that tales of loss and woe were gently whispered in.

'Did someone get hurt?' He wondered as he felt the blood give life to his aching body. 'Did someone die?' The heavier question only paved the way for worry to grasp at his heart and mind, filling it with more questions which he knew would not be answered in this moment.

Axel sighed when he finished downing the bag and he looked at his brother for a long moment. he took his elder's appearance in; Angalo's clothes were rumpled and wrinkled. His hair, normally tended was knotted and sticking out at all ends. His pale skin looked sickly, and Axel knew: Angalo had yet to feed. He had yet to even sleep...

Based on his appearance he had to have been in that outfit maybe three days, if not longer. But... why would he have stayed in his clothes for so long... clearly he was fine. Axel had to have been fine after all he was feeding....

'What could have left my brother in such a state?'

"Brother, you look horrid." Axel blurted as he started to kick the blanket off of himself, determined to find what was vexing his brother. What kept him from tending to himself? Axel stilled as he looked around; Where is Atoli? Normally she would twirl in after Angalo or she would be at his side before her mate. She would have scolded him for not taking care of himself... 'Did they fight?' Axel shook the absurd thought away, Atoli and Angalo were the very definition of a sappy romance book.

The male lead who catered to his heroine... and the heroine that firmly stood by her hero. It sickened him... but It also gave him hope.

Axel noted that his body was stiff, "How long was I out for?" He asked as he lightly stretched his arms to feel tension fight his movements. Angalo sighed, "A few days." Axel sighed again as he leaned forward with his legs over the bed that he was sleeping in. After another glance around, Axel noticed that he wasn't in his room, but in a makeshift bed that was in the sitting room.

'Why am I here? Where are the others?'

As he tried to stand, his vision became blurry and his world started to tilt and shift. Axel gave up standing with a heavy sigh. Perhaps he was weaker than he thought.... The thought was met with a scoff. 'me weak? ha.'

"Here." Anglao intoned as he extended another bag toward Axel who eyed the bag warily.

The red liquid took him places he did not wish to go...."You were mortally wounded." The elder vampires voice snapped him from morbid memories, "Drink." Angalo ordered, his silver eyes shifted from commanding to concerned when Axel still didn't reach for the offered bag, "This will help sustain you, brother. You won't become a monster after a second or third bag..." Angalo murmured in soothing tones, "You are safe now."

Axel closed his eyes and he bowed his head, were any of them really ever safe? Where was Atoli? Why had she not come to them yet? Better: Why wasn't she here when he woke up?... She was always the one scolding him, and forcing him to drink his fill when he got hurt...The last time Angalo was at his side almost forcing him to drink was when he was a child....

HIs mind wondered to the lavender eyed vixen that haunted his every thought. She had yet to make an appearance either. Did she choose to leave? Did she get hurt?

No. Angalo would have told him... right? Axel looked at his brother, a whole new worry gripping his mind. Part of him berated himself in that she wasn't his first thought... however that red liquid took him places that he prayed she would never know about...

Angalo at his side, in day old clothes with no traces of rest or care took him to memories he never wanted to remember...

"Where is she?" Axel whispered, he wasn't sure who he was asking about: Myriah or Atoli, however Angalo sighed again, "Shes with Atoli." If Myriah was with Atoli did that mean that Atoli got hurt? It would explain Angalo state of stoic duress... Axel waited for Angalo to say more, however his rugged appearance told him more than he needed to know. Atoli got hurt and Myriah was tending to her per Angalo's insistence. Axel nodded, thinking his conclusion was spot on as he took the second bag and tore into it. He would drink. And then he would be there when Atoli wakes so that he could scold her and force feed her blood the way that she did him and when she got up later in the day, everyth...

"Do you worry that she will detest you, little brother?" Angalo's murmured question halted Axel's mischievous thoughts. Silence was all that Axel could answer with. "Do you worry that she will think you a monster?" Angalo asked again, and Axel bit harder into the bag. "Do you worry... that she will leave you?" The question gripped at Axel's heart. It strummed the slowly beating organ to beat faster. "What do you think you would do, little brother....if she left you?" Angalo whispered as he bowed his head and allowed his bangs to shield his eyes.

Did Atoli leave him? Why would Angalo, a hopeless romantic, ask such foreboding questions?

Did Atoli detest him? Their bond?

'What is going on?'

Axel drained the bag with closed eyes. He had to find Myriah. Atoli. He had to know if they were okay... He needed to know what happened... last he knew, he was fighting beside the boy. He came between a bullet and said creature, an action he dared to say he regretted. Before his world went black, he killed the soldier that originally aimed for the white haired male...

'no... if that boy is alive, then I bear no regrets.'

"Myriah is the moon." The younger vampire whispered, "she is pure, a celestial being..." Axel's ever changing thoughts left his lips when he pulled the empty bag from his mouth. "The type of creature has nothing to do with-"

"Axel..." Myriah murmured his name after quietly stepping into the sitting room where Axel rested. "You're finally awake... I'm glad."

Axel's eyes snapped open and his onyx eyes clashed with her lavender ones. "I'm glad to know that Angalo was right and the blood would heal the last of your wounds..." There was a pregnant silence in which Angalo cleared his throat, "Myriah..." "I-I..." Her words were choked by sob that threatened to voice its self. The silence stretched and Axel shifted from the awkward lack of conversation.

Myriah took a deep breath and whispered: "Atoli is asking for you, Angalo." as she laced her fingers together, eyes sparkling with fresh tears, Angalo's expression softened, "I should be on my way then, Goddess."

Axel tilted his head in confusion as his eyes held onto Myriahs. Trying to get answers for the many questions that filled his mind. He was met with mirrored turmoil.

Angalo nodded to himself as he took both empty bags and left with a gentle pat to Myriah's shoulder on his way out.

"I am in your debt, Goddess."

'Why would he be in her debt?' "You shouldn't be trying to get up so soon." Myriah chided gently. Her eyes were filled with tears and her smile was shaky. "Angalo says bagged blood doesn't have the same potency as fresh blood..."

"Don't speak of such things, Myriah." Axel murmured as he wiped his mouth the back of his hand, "but you're-"

"it's nothing." Axel murmured, "thank you for what you've done. I'll be okay from here. What I really want to know is.... Why is my brother in your debt?"