"We'll go home today. As long as you make sure you rest. Nothing case related and I'll arrange for the doctor to come see you in a week to make sure you’re okay to go back on the field. Deal?" Jaxson offered.
I gave him an appreciative smile and nodded. "Deal...thank you Jaxson." I leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips. He smiled against my lips and we pulled back to press our foreheads together.
The sound of the door unlocking caught our attention. "Jax? Update on the fire burst that happened this weekend," Ethan announced. Jaxson sighed, giving me a quick kiss on the forehead before he moved off the bed. He quickly fixed his shirt and used some hand sanitizer to clean his hands, which made me grin.
"Coming,” he announced, looking back at me and noticing my amused smile. He blushed slightly, as if just now realizing what he'd done earlier in his lustful daze.
"I'll be back later. Just make sure you eat and rest. I'll get the doctor to approve of your discharge, kay?" he whispered.
I quickly nodded. "Kay. Jax?" I asked, making him pause midway through leaving the curtained section of the room.
"Yes, Scar?"
"I love you. Thanks for caring," I whispered, meaning every word.
His eyes softened and a serene smile formed on his lips. "I love you more, Scarlet. Be good for me." Then he disappeared behind the curtain. I heard his footsteps, followed by his voice on the phone, which faded when the door closed.
I heard a different set of footsteps and then Ethan poked his head through the space between the curtains. He smiled, lifting up a large box of Chinese food.
"Hungry?" he hummed.
"Famished," I replied. He walked up to my right side, and before I could think, he kissed me. I blushed and was a little surprised when his tongue slipped into my mouth. He moaned and I closed my eyes, kissing him right back in a passionate exchange.
I was left breathless yet again when he pulled back with a knowing grin on his face. "Sweet,” he whispered and my face burned with embarrassment.
"Ethan!" I snapped.
He laughed, walking over to get the wheeled table to place our food on. "That's your punishment for having fun without me." He winked and I groaned.
"We didn't...I mean... UGH!" I grumbled, picking up the little stuffed whale I had on my bed and throwing it at him.
"Ah. Don't harm the whale, dammit,” he huffed, but laughed. I was embarrassed but I couldn't help but join in on the laughter.
"Feeling better?" he asked.
"A lot. Thanks, Ethan. I love you as well," I said quietly. He grinned in understanding before he moved the tablet over to my left side. He walked up and gave me a quick kiss.
"I love you too, Scarlet. Don't hesitate to tell us if something is bothering you, okay?" he whispered.
I nodded. "Okay."
He smiled, his eyes twinkling with happiness before he looked back at the container of food. "Let's eat."
"Dad, I need to see Christian," I declared. Kendrick turned to look at me as I tapped my foot. I was wearing my blue jeans and white shirt that said "Claimed by Five Investigators" on it in red glitter. It was a shirt Christian found in the mall during one of his breaks and decided it matched our relationship perfectly. It even had a little police car and handcuffs, which made me think more about the bedroom than anything.
I wore it just to annoy Kendrick, which was not helping my plea to get him to drive me to Christian's place. It was Saturday and I was stuck being watched by Kendrick while the others were called into another fire outbreak.
The fire outbursts that had been going on across the city were getting out of control and starting to wear down the fire departments. Even with us being on break, today's outbreak was in the middle of an event with humans and shifters, so Kendrick had no choice but to request Team Seven's assistance, even if I couldn't participate and Christian was MIA. Now they were helping deal with the crazy aftermath, while Ethan tried tracking down the suspects on surveillance. I was stuck here at my place, attempting to catch up on all my Netflix shows, but couldn't concentrate for the life of me.
If Kendrick wasn't here, I would have hopped into the nearest Uber and gone straight to Christian's, seeing as I wasn't allowed to drive until my energy levels picked up.
My initial wounds were healed thanks to Michael, but the risk of me blacking out due to a vision was still rather high, which put me at risk while driving.
"Scarlet, you haven't been following the doctor's orders of 'resting' at all," Kendrick complained, eyeing me as he looked away from his iPad, clearly working on paperwork involved with everything that was happening.
"I have! I've slept, I’ve eaten, and have been attempting to watch the new season of Cardcaptors on Netflix, but I can't concentrate! I even tried calling Mako and she's not picking up. This is killing me, Kendrick. I need to see if Christian's okay, even if it's only for a minute," I stressed.
I had no idea what was going on with Mako and we'd been too busy for me to even get an update from Junho, who I knew talked to Marcus regularly. With everything going on, we essentially hadn’t had time for anything.
"The Princess is probably busy with her knights in Heila, Scar. As for Christian, he probably just needs his space," Kendrick suggested.
"No...it doesn't feel that way?! You always tell me to follow my instincts. Well, my instincts tell me something is wrong. No one has gone to check on him. He's not even answering my text messages, and he ALWAYS replies to me. Even if he's fucking driving, which is illegal!"
Kendrick frowned and glanced away, looking unsure how to respond.
"Give him a few more days, Scarlet."
"No," I declared. He looked back at me and stood up.
"If you won't drive me, I'll fucking walk there," I insisted.
Kendrick sighed. "Scar, it would take you a good five hours to get there, especially with everything going on with the outbursts."
"You think I care?! Dad, if I just randomly disappeared and didn't text you, what would you do?" I suggested.
He stared at me for a long time before he answered. "Search the whole realm until I found you,” he mumbled.
"Then can you try and picture how I feel right now? I'm still new at this five boyfriend thing, but imagine how Christian must feel, being all alone in his flat with no one to even check on him ‘cause the world feels like hell is taking over? It's not like I'm unconscious and don't know what's going on. I'm here, and the other guys have had the reassurance that I'm safe and well, and I can give them support if they're struggling. Christian isn't getting that support and that's just unfair. I have to be able to share myself properly, Dad, and I'm doing a really shitty job by sitting here watching a damn show when one of my men could be seriously hurt," I vented.
I bit my lip, beginning to wonder if he really was okay. "What if he's hurt? Or depressed, or both? What if he's in a really dark place and we're just acting like everything's okay but he really needs someone to talk to?" I whispered, fighting off tears.
Kendrick put his iPad down and stood up. I looked away, blinking back my tears and clenched my fists. "Please, Dad. I need to make sure he's okay. I love him too...I don't want him feeling like because of the accident our relationship isn't okay. Even if it's only a minute to make sure he's breathing and not hurt. Please," I begged, lifting my head to meet his eyes as tears rolled down my cheeks.
His shoulders sank and a sad expression formed on his face. He walked over and pulled me into a hug, allowing me to cry on his shoulder. I had been trying to ignore the fear in the pit of my stomach whenever I thought about Christian, but it was getting to be too much to bear. I missed him. I wanted to hold him and kiss him. I yearned for our little conversations and I even longed to hear him complain about Moonlight destroying another piece of furniture of his.
I knew Risuki was trying to act like he was okay with Christian's absence, but I had noticed his rather depressed mood and hadn't seen his doll for a few days, but he looked like he didn't even care. Everything was a mess a
nd I wasn't being given the opportunity to fix it. I knew sitting here wasn't helping me one bit.
Kendrick rubbed my back and sighed. "Okay. We'll go. You can stay there as long as you need to, but if there's a problem, you have to call me immediately,” he urged me, pulling back to look into my glossy eyes.
I nodded in agreement. "I will. Thanks, Dad," I whispered.
He nodded, giving me another comforting hug. "Anything for you, Scar."
"Meow?"
We pulled away to see Moonlight standing at my feet, looking anxious to tag along. I smirked, kneeling down to pick him up. "I guess you're coming?"
"Meow," Moonlight replied. "He has my doll...and I think he's lonely," Risuki admitted quietly in my mind.
I nodded in agreement. I feel that too. Can you at least tell me he isn't physically hurt?
"He's not necessarily hurt. But he's not in good shape either," Risuki replied, sounding worried. Kendrick noticed how quiet I was and gently pressed his hand against my cheek, pulling me out of our mental conversation.
"Let's go. No point in worrying any longer when you can go check for yourself," he reassured me. I nodded, giving him a small smile before I bent down to pet Moonlight.
Let's go check on Christian.
"Christian?" I called out as I cautiously opened the door to his condo.
Kendrick had dropped me off and said he'd be going to the office to get some work done. He'd keep his phone on him so if I needed him to come to pick me up, he'd be able to come right away. It was nice to have his support, but I wanted to spend the rest of the day and night with Christian, especially knowing that he wasn't really "okay."
Moonlight sat on my shoulder and when I slowly walked into the dark apartment, he jumped off, running into the dark room. I looked for a light switch with my narrowed eyes, but then one his lamps went on. I looked to my right to see Moonlight on the table, next to the little lamp, which I noticed still had the price tag attached to it.
I frowned, noticing how unkempt the room was compared to Christian's normal neat lifestyle. All of the guys kept their places rather clean and tidy, normally because they barely stay there between assignments. We generally chilled at my place or at Jaxson's when we needed to be closer to work.
Christian's was next on the list and I'd only been to Ethan's place once to pick up a few of his electronics for another case. It had been so clean it could have been a showroom or an open house. Junho had so many places, it was more of a luxury to choose where you wanted to relax for the weekend and he had private cleaners to maintain such cleanliness.
Michael's was the only place I hadn't visited yet, but from the pictures he showed me when he was getting renovations done, it looked just as perfect as Junho's.
"Christian," I called out again, walking into his living room. Moonlight jumped off the table and ran down the hall towards Christian's room. I followed, stopping by the kitchen. I noticed it was the only place in the apartment that was spotless, which didn't make me feel any better. His living room was filled with blankets and the duvet pillows were on the floor like he'd been laying there all wrapped up in a cocoon in the dark.
Yet, for the kitchen to be spotless meant he hadn't been eating. My suspicions were confirmed when I opened the fridge and found absolutely nothing. Shit.
I closed the fridge, turning to walk down the hall when I noticed a bottle of pills on the counter. The label looked funny, which caught my attention. I reached out to take a better look. It was empty, but the bottle read "BLOOD TABLETS - Twice daily. Three times if required."
I turned the bottle to look at the back, reading the instructions and caution label. "Do not exceed four tablets a day. If ineffective, seek blood bank for further examination and instructions," I whispered.
I frowned, closing my eyes to take a calming breath. I'd suspected this was the issue after Ethan and the others had explained about a group of vampire shifters targeting Christian, which apparently was the reason they had come after us. I hadn't said anything to the others, wanting to discuss the matter with Christian myself, but when I hadn't seen him since the accident, I took the matter in my own hands and reviewed the recent medical records.
Sure, it was a total breach of his privacy, but I just couldn't live with myself or continue to be patient unless I knew he was physically okay and his injuries had been healed. Those documents included the details of exactly what he was: a vampire shifter with a demon spirit, which I knew was Cyrus.
Even though I'd seen on the paper what he was, it didn't really sink in until now as I held the empty pill bottle. It now made me worried about his well being because he had nothing in the fridge, no pills left and I had no idea when he'd ran out, which put him at risk.
I put the bottle back where I'd picked it from before speed walking down the hall, straight to his room. When I arrived, the door was half open, which could have been due to Moonlight's entry. I poked my head inside, noticing a dim light coming from the lamp on the corner stand next to Christian's bed.
I squinted my eyes, noticing he wasn't in bed and I immediately looked to the floor, seeing a bundle of blankets in the opposite side of the room.
"Christian?" I asked, a little louder than I had intended, but he didn't budge.
Moonlight was sitting in front of him, looking concerned as he nudged his head at Christian's hand that poked out of the cocoon of blankets. I noticed Christian stir slightly and as I took a step closer, I watched as he opened his eyes that were bright red.
"What you doing here, Moko? Hmm..." He hummed, reaching out to pet Moonlight.
Moko?
"Previous cat." Risuki's calm voice flowed through my mind.
Previous cat…?
I immediately walked up to where Moonlight sat and bent to my knees. "Christian?" I whispered, noticing how weak he looked. He was extremely pale, making him look really sick and his red eyes were almost droopy, like he could barely stay conscious. Fuck, this is bad.
I reached out and moved the damp strands of his purple locks away from his face. Upon closer inspection, the strands of hair were more silver than purple. "Christian, baby. Look at me," I whispered, swallowing the lump in my throat. I was seriously scared he was dying from how clammy his skin was, and his dry lips that were beginning to turn purple didn't help one bit.
He met my gaze, looking up and staring at me, almost like he was in a daze. It took him a full minute before he spoke. "Scar?" he whispered. I almost broke at his weak response and lowered to kiss his dry lips.
"Christian. Dammit, what's wrong? Why did you isolate yourself like this? You need blood," I pointed out. He was quiet, his confused expression made me more concerned he might be close to delirious.
"Scar...you know?" he asked. I noticed the fear that flashed in his eyes and he looked like he was about cry.
"Oh, Christian. I'm sorry. You can be mad later, but I panicked. I knew something was wrong when I woke up and you weren't there. We'll talk about it later, but first you need blood."
I noticed Moonlight wasn't in the room anymore, having run off who knows where, but I suspected he wanted to give us privacy.
"Scar, I...don't think I can...go to the...bank,” he confessed and I knew he meant blood bank.
I nodded in understanding, glancing over to the bed. "Can you make it to the bed?"
His gaze moved to the bed that must have looked pretty inviting compared to the hard floor. "Is it warm?"
"I'll be in it, so it will be," I offered. He gave me a weak smirk and the idea of me in a comfy warm bed with him seemed to give him the motivation to move. I helped him up, with his left arm resting on my shoulders and my right arm wrapped around his waist. We moved slowly to the bed and sat down.
"Can we sit for a bit?" he asked.
"Sure," I agreed, my mind already pondering what I could do to help him. I bit my lip, an idea popping into my head. That could work.
"Christian," I whispered, lifting my hand to brush against his left cheek. He turned his head
to stare at me and we shared a look.
"No,” he mumbled.
"I didn't say anything," I replied.
"We can read you like a book, Scar. You have that look."
"What look?" I questioned.
"The 'I have a stupid idea that I think will work' look,” he grumbled.
I grinned. "That's a rather unique look to have," I hummed, my hand lowering down to his chin so I could use my thumb to trail along his dry lips.
"Scar. Don't."
"Why?" I asked, intrigued that he'd caught onto my plan, even in his weak state.
"Because...I...I'm the reason you got hurt. Why aren't you mad?" he whispered.
"Christian...is that why you've cooped yourself in here? As some kind of punishment just because I got hurt?" I asked.
He lowered his gaze and I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. Then I reached out and placed my hands on his cheeks. Before he could react, my bloodstained lips were on his and my eyes locked on his shocked ones.
His hands wrapped around my wrists, attempting to stop me but I was stronger than him, pushing him down onto the dark purple sheets as I slipped my tongue into his mouth. He groaned, but greedily kissed me back, sucking the blood from my self-inflicted bite.
In seconds, my back was pressed against the sheets as Christian hovered over me, his hands holding my wrists as he sucked on my bottom lip.
I gasped when he released my lip and moved down my neck, finding the perfect spot. I could feel the sharpness of what I knew were fangs and I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain as their sharp edges sank into my flesh, but he paused.
"Scar...I shouldn't,” he whispered. His husky voice was winded and I opened my eyes to see him move up to meet my gaze, pain and fear flickering in his red eyes.
"Bite now, talk later," I said quietly, leaning up to give him a gentle kiss.
He closed his eyes, returning the tender kiss with one of his own before he pulled back and nodded in agreement. I knew he wouldn't hurt me intentionally and though I expected some pain from the bite, it was a sacrifice I was happy to make for him and he looked a lot better than he had moments ago.
Visionary Awakened (Paranormal INC Series Book 2) Page 18
