Some Protector

Damien’s eyes fluttered open once more. He looked around, not being able to tell what time it was. He faintly heard voices around him. He grew fearful, thinking he was fading again. He looked around frantically, pushing the covers off of himself and getting up. He went to the door, opened it and slipped outside. He ran through the hallways, turning down each different one. Doctors looked at him, nurses jumped out of his way as he continued his frantic run. He was fueled by the fear that he was fading again, and his eyes had a savage look in them. There was a garbled voice on the loudspeaker calling out that a patient was running about and that he was most likely a little deranged. He continued his frantic run, trying to escape from something that wasn’t there.

||From the mind of Nathaniel||

Nathaniel went into Damien’s room the next morning to find him missing. He went down several hallways, asking around for him. He followed on Damien’s path, finally catching him at the end of it, where he lay on the ground, crying out in what Nathaniel assumed was fear. He slowly approached Damien, hands outstretched, and he touched his arm gently. “Stay away!” He cried out. “Leave me be!”

“Damien,” He said in a voice that was quiet. Damien looked up at him, his eyes wild with fear. “You’re all right. Come back to your room now.” He gently lifted Damien up and helped him back to his room, all the while murmuring soothing words to calm the other. He lay Damien down and gently closed the door. He placed his hands on his chest, letting the golden light envelop his patient once more. He felt his life energy slipping into Damien, but he didn’t much care now. Damien needed it more than he did. By the time Damien’s was near full, Nathaniel was near passing out. He swayed on his feet and fell to the floor with a crash.

||From the mind of Damien||

“No!” He cried, jumping up and kneeling next to Nathaniel. “Why’d you do that?!” He asked, worry filling his eyes and voice.

“I can recover mine faster than you can recover yours. I’ll be all right in about an hour or so. Just let me rest a bit,” Nathaniel said, and he closed his eyes and rested in the chair. Sure enough, about an hour later, Nathaniel was well again, his life energy completely restored. Damien’s was as well, and both were glad that the other was okay. “You stay out of trouble now, you hear?” Nathaniel said.

“I’ll try, but Gabriel’s a tough opponent to fight. It’s hard to protect someone from an opponent who seems invincible,” Damien said.

“You’ll find a way,” Nathaniel said confidently. Damien waved and left the hospital once more.

||FF: At Jamie’s house||

Damien could see that no one was home, so he went inside and sat in his room. He heard a crash from downstairs, which caused him to jump up and creep down to see what had caused it. He saw Gabriel in the kitchen. “Damien... Where are you?” He called in a sing song voice. Damien stayed hidden where he was, pressed up against the wall next to the staircase. He crouched down, keeping out of Gabriel’s sight. He watched as the other looked all over the kitchen and living room area, but he never spotted Damien. After staying hidden for one moment more, gathering his courage, he leapt out of his hiding spot.

“Try looking behind you,” He said, and Gabriel whirled around, startled, only to be greeted by Damien’s fist in his face. He flew backward and jumped up, but not fast enough to avoid Damien’s kick, which landed in his stomach. He hit the wall as his breath whooshed out of his body, and he lay crumpled on the floor. Damien lifted Gabriel up by the front of his shirt and slammed him into the wall. He punched at the other, finally ending up tossing him out of the house.

“Well done, Damien,” Ann’s voice came to him.

“That couldn’t have been Gabriel,” He replied simply.

“It was.”

“No, he was too weak to really be Gabriel. I didn’t weaken him that much.”

“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong, Damien. You fought him hard enough to weaken him severely.”

“I couldn’t have.”

“Damien, don’t look down on yourself so much.”

“If I was able to do that, I would have been able to protect Chris better. I would have been able to protect all of my other charges better.” He closed off his mind, retreating to his room. He sat at the desk, staring out at the world, until he grew tired of sitting there, alone. He couldn’t bear the thought of it really being Gabriel he had fought off so easily, so effortlessly. His mind brought up pictures of his other charges, most strongly of Chris. He saw the boy’s mangled body lying on the ground once more. And he saw something even more terrifying: the sight of Jamie’s body lying on the ground. He grew sickened by this image. He couldn’t take it anymore; the emotional pain was too much for him to bear. He flew down the stairs, looking for a knife or anything else with a sharp edge on it. He found a knife he could use, and then he went back up to his room. He sat at the desk for a while, staring at the knife in his hand. He then brought up his left hand and slid the blade slowly across his wrist. He winced at the pain, but then he welcomed it; the physical pain was more bearable than the emotional pain. He slid the blade across his wrist, steadily working his way to the elbow, until his arm was covered in blood. He then took the knife in his left hand and slid it across his right wrist until he felt weakness pass through him, and he passed out from blood loss.

||From the mind of Nathaniel||

Nathaniel’s head came up with a jerk. Something was wrong, he could sense it. He jumped up and ran out of the hospital amid calls from nurses and other doctors. He ran to Jamie’s house. He paused outside briefly then he ran inside and up to Damien’s room. He spotted Damien at the desk, the bloody knife on the floor, and the blood dripping from his wrists. He slowly walked toward the desk, gently touching the limp arm. He felt the life energy in him was strong, a good sign. He lifted Damien gently and laid him on his bed. He heard footsteps on the stairs and turned to see Jamie standing in the doorway. She said nothing, simply looking at the bloodstained carpet and the bloody knife. She stopped him as he tried to heal Damien’s wounds. “Don’t. It’ll look strange if there are no wounds to match the blood,” She said. He nodded; it was sound advice. He sat next to Damien, gently pushing the hair back from Damien’s eyes, and he leaned down suddenly, kissing Damien’s cheek lightly. He straightened and glanced at Jamie, judging her reaction. She said nothing; she simply sat there staring at him. He took out some bandages from his pocket and bound the wounds to prevent further blood loss, then turned to Jamie. She motioned him out of the room, so he left. He walked down the stairs and turned to see her follow him, closing the door softly behind her. She led him to the couch. “So, do you have any idea what might have caused this?” She asked. He shook his head.

“The only logical thing I can think of is depression,” He said softly.

“Depression? Vampires can feel it, too?” She asked in surprise. He laughed.

“Yes, we can feel depression, too. We can feel most human emotions, be it happiness, sadness, depression, love...” His voice trailed off, and Jamie stared at him.

“You love him, don’t you?” She said in a low voice. He nodded, his eyes traveling to the closed door at the top of the stairs.

“He reminds me of my brother. The love I feel for him is the same as it was for my younger brother,” He said softly. She saw the gentleness in his eyes, and she knew he spoke the truth. There were no romantic feelings, just the concern of an older brother for his younger sibling. His shoulders began to shake, and she gently laid her hand on his arm, attempting to comfort him. “I don’t want him to die like my brother did,” He whispered in a hoarse voice.

||From the mind of Jamie||

Jamie felt tears pressing against her eyes as she listened to Nathaniel cry. She didn’t want to lose Damien, either. She jumped up and ran up the stairs, Nathaniel following close behind her. “Jamie! Come back!” He cried to her, but she pushed the door open and ran into Damien’s room. She knelt next to his bed, grasped his hand and pressed it to her cheek, sobbing. She rested her head next to his and sobbed into the pillow.

||From the mind of Damien||

Damien awoke to Jamie sobbing next to him. He looked at his wrists and saw the bandages on them. He looked to the door and saw Nathaniel standing there. He looked over at Jamie and pulled her into his arms. She grabbed at him, pressing her face into his chest and he stroked her hair softly as she cried. “Shhh, it’s okay,” He whispered to her. “I’m all right.” He murmured soothing words to her as he gently rocked her back and forth until she fell asleep in his arms. Kissing her lightly, he carried her to her room and laid her on her bed. He sat next to her, watching her sleep, until he heard Nathaniel walk into the room and stand behind him.

“She loves you,” He said softly. “I can see it when she looks at you.”

“I know. I can see it, too,” Damien responded, and his eyes drifted toward her. “I love her, too,” He said, his voice barely audible. Nathaniel said nothing, he simply stood and watched Damien as he gently tucked her in and kissed her again. He stood and walked slowly out of the room, thinking of how to tell her he loved her.

||From the mind of Gabriel||

Gabriel watched in amusement as Damien tried to sort out his conflicted feelings about Jamie. He was angry still with Damien for defeating him in battle twice now, but he would get what he deserved. Gabriel planned on paying another visit to his former charge very soon. And, he thought with a grin, I’ll have a little surprise waiting for my little charge. The secret about who changed him. He laughed out loud to himself, and the laugh had an eerie, cold, mocking sound to it, and he disappeared into the night.