Deceptive in Truth

Candy walked slowly, barely picking up her feet as she moved back. The fight had been over, but she couldn't bring herself to go home. More than likely, Devin would be there. To scold her like a little child, to swat the back of her hand. She rolled her eyes, and kept her stare downwards. Candy missed Gaspard. She needed him. Her jaw clenched at the thought of hi, his face slowly focusing in her mind. She could have been Candy Blackstone. Married to him, and not dealing with this at the moment.

"Candy."

She froze in her spot on the abandoned street. That French voice. Candy spun around on her toes, seeing him. This time, she couldn't have been hallucinating. Gaspard looked to real to even possibly be her imagination. "Gaspard....?" She whimpered.

He looked so desperate. So dead. So wounded. "Candy...." he breathed out in a slow and uneven breath. "Candy it's me. Help me." he coughed, blood spilling out of the corner of his perfectly traced lips. His sea blue eyes were hollow and empty. Hurting.

Candy's lips parted in the pain she felt. How could he even be alive? He was dead. She had seen his throat slit. There was no way this could have been him. Tears brimmed her eyes, and spilled past almost as soon as they formed. Her hands clutched around her stomach as she knelt over. "No. You can't be real. I watched you die."

Gaspard tried to get up, but collapsed. "Candy. Candy, look at me. I'm not fake. Please. Believe me."

Candy took a breath in and a wavering step forward. Maybe he was real. Maybe Gaspard wasn't dead. Maybe she wouldn't have to spend all her life alone. Cautiously, she knelt down in front of him. His head fell into her open palms, exhausted no doubt. He was real. The way the blood clung to his hair, matted and hardened from laying in it. He was beautiful even in the lowest of his life. Candy slowly wrapped her arms around his head, gently and held him whilst rocking back and forth. How beautifully destiny could work out.

"It's really you." she choked out in a sob, holding him even tighter. The whole experience suddenly solidified when his arms wrapped around her waist, holding her to him. Gaspard hadn't died.

"I couldn't live without you." he responded. He coughed again, and Candy didn't even care what the contents of it were.

"We need to get you out of here. This isn't safe. You need to be fed." Candy said, suddenly filled with the desire to protect him. To cradle him so lovingly in her arms again. For him to tell her that he loved her, needed her, longed to be with her. Candy stood, hefting him up slowly. Gaspard had loomed over her like he once had when he was healthy. When he hadn't had his throat slit.

Candy moved with ease back to her apartment, scaling the stories and pressing open her window. Stepping down she pulled Gaspard as easily as she could in through. He stumbled and fell with his weight against her body, almost knocking her over. Candy held her ground though. She needed to be strong for him. Half dragging him to the bathroom, she maneuvered him into the bathtub of porcelain. Gaspard's head slumped against his shoulders, his eyes closing for periods of time.

"Don't do this to me Gaspard." Candy hissed, touching his cheek. The electric feel of her cold hand against him must have been enough to jolt his eyes open. His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, but it didn't have nearly the strength behind it as it once did. Her heart started to break all over again.

She needed to get him clean though. His blood stained clothes were doing nothing. She moved to rip the cloth from his body, and realized how beat up and bloody underneath his shirt was. He must have been through more than just a war. Candy kept her face blank, and stripped him of his garments. The water began to run, steaming up the mirrors. Candy took a washcloth and began to run it over his body. Despite the various wounds his body still remained as beautiful as she could remember.

The water turned from a clear to a dark pink as the blood ran off of him. It was saddening, to see him so torn apart. But Candy knew what she needed to do. Needed to feed him her blood, needed to give him the ability to regenerate himself. Once his entire body had been cleaned, Candy bit her wrist and held it out to him. Gaspard's vampire instincts took over and he hungrily grabbed at her bleeding limb.

Candy gasped in pain as he sank his row of teeth into her body. The absence of being bitten sent shock waves through her body. The absence of being bitten by Gaspard sent erotic notions through her. He drank. And drank.