As they neared fifth and cleared traffic with relative ease Stella found herself elaborating about her life. The apartment had been a tough thing for her Dad to accept. It was almost as if he’d expected her to stay there until he died, a tough prospect for a girl who could be restless. Stella’s compromise was in using the apartment as a showcase of her work initially, before moving in on a part time basis when she needed time to work on a project. When she was asked to design a house on a contract basis, which did occasionally happen, she would spend a weekend there, awake and working with her textiles and chips until the vision came to life and she knew what she wanted. The rest was all touch and came with time as she searched her favorite antique stores for other bits of inspiration and unique pieces. It was a joy, on top of the charity. And she did well for herself. They had a line in the works now of home goods, linens and other original furniture pieces. Most of the proceeds would loop back and feed into a housing project that she and her father were starting to commit to. Or try to. Building anything low budget and for people living in poor conditions was a hard sell.

“What else do you want to know?” she found herself asking. They cleared the apartment’s parking security with her pass and code. As they entered the underground parkade Raziel responded.

"Well I want to know you. So what it is that makes you tick, What you like, what you hate," He said, pausing as he turned to look at her. Stella’s skin erupted in goose flesh as his eyes looked at her and turned sullen. Had she said something? Done something? "How you feel about what I have been forced to do to you?" he asked suddenly and he was pained to say it. Stella edged away from him in her seat, swallowing before looking out the window and away from him. Slowly her hand moved to the bandage on her neck, her fingers moving to peel away the adhesive. Just hours before it had pained her to do so. Now, as she pulled it back there was barely a scratch. When she held the bandage in her hand she could see the bloody residue. Pulling down the passenger mirror, Stella eyed her neck, running her fingers over the residual scar. Two small freckles appeared on her neck where he had bitten her, spaced apart but not obscene looking. Beneath her touch she could feel her jugular pulsing. Her heart was racing again.

“I hated you this morning,” she admitted. “I was scared. I remember being kidnapped and drugged. I remember the pain and the pleasure. But I was confused. And part of me still is.” Stella paused, turning to face him in her seat again, licking her lips as her words sank in. “Now there’s an attraction that seems to cover up whatever I hate. I can’t make myself hate you. I can only hate what this is and what it will make me do. I will have to lie to my family and friends and drink something that….makes me feel sick. I’m at war with this side of me that you’ve given me, the vampire,” she paused again. The word vampire sounded funny as she said it, almost as if it were foreign only it felt fake. She couldn’t believe her own words. “The side of me that wants to kill scares me. I’ve never wanted to hurt a soul in my life and now I want to tear the throat out of a man who walks by me on the street. I hate that. I hate myself for thinking that.”

Biting her lip she cleared her throat again, squeezing her legs tightly and clutching her purse tighter in her hands. “But I don’t hate you,” she reaffirmed. It just wasn’t there anymore. She’d wanted to kill him that morning and yet now, the longer she was around him the more she wanted to be with him. It felt so backwards.

Raziel listened as she scribed the pain of being a vampire. "I was scared. I remember being kidnapped and drugged. I remember the pain and the pleasure. But I was confused. And part of me still is.” Stella paused, turning to face Raziel in her seat again, licking her lips. Raziel felt so dirty for being a part of a kidnapping. But he had to do what he had to do to save more people he had to sacrifice one life.“Now there’s an attraction that seems to cover up whatever I hate. I can’t make myself hate you. I can only hate what this is and what it will make me do. I will have to lie to my family and friends and drink something that….makes me feel sick. I’m at war with this side of me that you’ve given me, the vampire," Raziel still felt so bad for what he was forced to do to her. "I am sorry" Raziel whispered. He pulled into a parking space as she continued. “The side of me that wants to kill scares me. I’ve never wanted to hurt a soul in my life and now I want to tear the throat out of a man who walks by me on the street. I hate that. I hate myself for thinking that.” Stella said with pain and anger in her voice. "But I don't hate you." as those words left Stella's lips Raziel felt a weight lift off of his chest. Raziel put the car into park and turned off the ignition. Raziel turned and looked at her. "I know how it feels to never want to kill but have the urges to do so. My whole life is trying to save people, yet my very existence says that I must kill to survive. But you learn how to not feel that way any more. As long as you keep yourself fed with me then those urges will disappear much easier." Raziel said then leaned in a little softening up. "As for the attraction, That feeling is very much mutual." Raziel leaned in and kissed Stella on the lips wrapping his right arm around her waist and moving his left hand around to her back. Raziel figured that if he didn't take this shot he wouldn't do it later ether.

When he turned to look at her she could barely look at him. Instead, Stella stared at her fingers, finding her nails oddly perfect. She’d cut them so short before the bachelorette party. It hadn’t necessarily been for the party per se but more she was annoyed by them when she texted or typed. When he spoke, his voice was almost sullen. The quiet lull of it made her close her eyes again. Without thinking she leaned towards him, her weight sinking into her left shoulder and into the seat. Squeezing her legs tightly she exhaled. The tension between them was just…so there.

It was something that often was critiqued in books, she knew. There was the Twilight electric current example, for one. A human girl in love with a century old vampire – nearly at first sight. The description Stephenie Meyer had used for their romance was a much shredded topic amongst her friends. Electric, really? Sounds like Snow White. She just saw him and fell in love, she could hear one of her friends saying. But it was there now. While it wasn’t electric, she felt like her body was vibrating around him. She was lively and filled with an energy that he brought out in her. Few people did. But it was also more than that. It was an innate chemistry and natural click. It’s the blood bond speaking, she reminded herself. Blinking twice she looked up from her hands to his eyes.

Eyes I can fall into. Is this really the bond?

She had to wonder then, as she swallowed and looked at him. There was no desire for her to hurt him or drink from him. Stella had no urge to run from him or to kill herself to severe the connection he’d been forced to make. She liked that he was there. The prospect of getting to know him excited her.

"I know how it feels to never want to kill but have the urges to do so. My whole life is trying to save people, yet my very existence says that I must kill to survive. But you learn how to not feel that way any more. As long as you keep yourself fed with me then those urges will disappear much easier," Raziel told her, shifting in his seat then. Stella watched his facial expression change as he moved towards her. At once she tensed, realizing then that she was leaning her elbow on the center console, her shoulders towards and close to him. She was flushed again and hanging onto the sound of his voice. What am I doing?

"As for the attraction, That feeling is very much mutual," he confessed. Stella inhaled sharply, watching as he closed the gap between them. When his lips pressed against hers they were cool, as was his touch which immediately enveloped her. Stella felt his hands run over the fabric of her dress, one reaching over her shoulder while the other snaked around to the small of her back around her waist. He pulled her closer to him and the force of it made her gasp.

The proximity had her drowning in a pool of emotions, desire and lust topping concern and hesitation. But she frozen. Her lips responded at first and she found herself kissing back. There was a pull and very strong need that her mind conjured one the one hand. She did want to do more. But this was a man who’d stolen her life from her. She was bound to drink from his blood. If he died, she died. He had caused enough trouble to have this happen. But he saved people. Yet he killed too. She couldn’t move.

I just met him. I don’t even know him, she reminded herself in thought. And it was that recognition that gave her the strength to turn her cheek to his lips, tucking her chin into her shoulder while he kissed her. Licking her lips, she blushed profusely, finding herself panting and cursing herself for breaking contact. He’s likely a very skilled lover, her conscience reminded her. Think of the bliss!

“I need to change,” she blurted out suddenly, her voice a crack. Stella was hard pressed to leave his embrace. The touch of his hands on her body made her muscles sing. It reminded her of the bite, however, a touch that made her teeth clench and her fingers nearly tighten into fists. There was fear there. Fear of what he’d done to her. And his proximity reminded her of that moment then, in the council’s chambers, as she clambered at his feet and tried to escape him. It was suffocating.

As she forced herself to breath, Stella lashed a hand out for the handle of her door. Opening it, she pulled away from him more so, out of his arms and onto her own shaky legs. She immediately knelt to remove her heels, collecting her purse and hurrying for the elevator. Punching the call button she was surprised to find it waiting. Ushering herself inside, she punched her floor number, a detail she hadn’t told him. Would he wait or follow? Or wallow? Would her reaction hurt his feelings? Was she proud of herself for…restraining herself? Was this restraint or merely fear? She couldn’t say.

Raziel was not surprised that she had pulled away. He figured with today's society he may have gone to far to fast. "Then again for all I know there will never be a good time for it." He said to himself after she left the car to change.

Raziel sat in the car as she entered the elevator, when the door closed he got out of the car and stretched his old flesh and bones. "Though I be an imortal there are times that I feel so very old." He talked to himself, Raziel had mastered the technique of talking to himself to keep himself from going completely insane throughout his life. "Did I do the right thing? Should I have just not done anything?" Raziel turned to look at the elevator door. "Maybe I should just be a distant life line for her. I think that is the best choice for both of us. I will say I am sorry when she returns and finish this night, bring her home, then all she will hear from me from this day on will be the wine that I send to her weekly, that is all that she truly needs from me." Raziel paused "Maybe I should get somebody's oppinion who has been here before." He said.

Raziel returned to the car and pulled out his cell phone to call an old friend. As the line was answered he heard Judai's (Pronounced: Jude aw I) voice speaking. "Hey Raziel what is up mon!" Raziel slipped into the drivers seat as he said "Hey Judai, I need more wine 30 bottles 15 special 15 normal reds." Judai responded "Why are you ordering so much normal brudda?" Raziel sighed "I have a charge to keep living if you know what I mean." Judai gasped "Your kiddin me brudda! You had to get teh bond?" Raziel tilted his head back in to the head rest "Yeah it was the only way to get the god damn council off of my back. I made them a deal and it involved getting a bond. But there is another reason I called Judai." Raziel paused, Judai cut in during the pause. "Well! Out wit it mon!" Raziel chuckled "Alright alright calm down old friend. I need advice. Stella my bond... Well she and I seem to be developing the attraction and I don't think she is exactly ecstatic about it... like at all. So I don't know what I should do. Any ideas?" Judai was silent for a moment then came back with the simple answer "Talk to her about it mon. Don't assume her feelins, allow her to tell you what she be feelin." Raziel sighed "Your right my friend. Alright I'll talk to her when she gets back from her apartment." Though he couldn't see it Raziel could tell that Judai was simling on the other end of the line "There you go brudda. So that was 30 bottles yes?" Raziel was now smiling as well "That is right." "Alright then burdda, Oh and are we still on for tis weekend mon?" Raziel sat up straight "Oh yeah that is this weekend huh? Yeah midnight to midnight my place." Judai held the phone away from his face and shouted "YEAH BRUDDA! IT'S GONNA BE GREAT TO SEE ALL OF YOU AGAIN MON!" Raziel laughed "Yeah it will old friend. See you then. Bye" Judai returned the phone to his head and said "Yeah mon. Talk to you then"

Raziel hung up the phone and put it down in the center compartment then let out a large sigh. "But how am I supposed to start a conversion like that my brudda?" Raziel said taking on the accent of Judai. "I guess I'll just have to wait for her to come back and just start it off. Eh mon?" Raziel said with a grin. Then he put his seat back as far as it would go, as he did he also put it down all the way and rested his feat up on the wheal as he waited for Stella.

Raziel let his mind wonder back to that kiss. Stella had kissed him back at first. That feeling felt so good having her lips meat his and having them both move and connect in such away that it was like they where meant to be together forever. He wished that they could have been, But she had ended it long before it needed to be. "Will it ever happen again I wonder?"

When the elevator doors opened to her floor, she was close to shaking. Stepping out from the steel contraption, Stella clutched her bag as if it was the link she had to her sanity. Shakily she walked across the small foyer to the double walnut doors of her apartment. There was a small table and vase of flowers to her left and a lamp to the right, standing and left on. As she unlocked the door she had a hard time of it. Her fingers trembled and twice Stella ended up dropping her keys. When the doors finally opened it was to a sigh of relief on her part. Stepping into the entrance way she was greeted with the smell of fresh lavender. As she closed the door behind her, Stella was grateful that Raziel had not rushed after her. For a moment she leaned into it, tilting her head into the cool wood and bringing a hand to cover her eyes.

Slowly she drew her fingers over her lips, feeling the linger of his touch. Her body seemed to sing in response and Stella began to moan, a noise that grew into a grunt of dissatisfaction. Slowly she slid her feet out of her heels, sliding them into the closet before she moved across the elegant and modern apartment to the stairs leading to her bedroom.

As she entered her room, she tossed her purse onto the mattress. Rather quickly she stripped herself of the clubbing dress, tossing it into a hamper she knew the housekeeper would be sure to send off to the dry cleaners. As she stepped into her walk-in closet she was hard pressed to pick something and continue speaking to the vampire who waiting in the parking garage below. He had kissed her for pete’s sake. Would he try to again? Or would he run with his tail between his legs given her rejection?

Sighing she moved beyond her flashier attire to a long dresser at the far end. The wall space above had a large mirror that stretched to the ceiling. As she shuffled through drawers, Stella had more than a few chances to catch a glimpse at herself.

The blond was still flushed like a silly teenager but her skin was undeniably flawless looking. Her hair was a mass of long blond locks and while she had braided it to the side, covering her bandaged neck, many strands were now loose from the hair tie and hung idle on her shoulders. Pushing the locks from her face she began to move quicker, ignoring the sheen of her skin her reflection or the fully color to her eyes.

The outfit she chose was simple and thought out given the hot weather. She’d selected a black top with spaghetti straps and a pair of dark denim shorts. With it went a pair of feather earrings and a pair of black decorate sandals – flat as she felt tired of heels. Dragging a brush through her hair, Stella glanced once more at her neck. The bite marks had truly faded into what looked like freckles. She wondered if they were the only ones that would stay or if he continued to bite her more would come. “Wouldn’t that look absurd after awhile,” she thought lowly.

As she stood there she felt a swirl of emotions, some of them seemingly from nowhere. She felt wonder and sadness, a fear of losing something too. As she washed her face and left the bathroom refreshed, there was a small glimmer of hope in her stomach. Was she hopeful or was she feeling what Raziel felt? As she recollected her purse, tossing the contents of her clutch into a larger over the shoulder orange Gaby bag, Stella stopped to think. She was only a few feet away from the door when she stopped herself.

“Should I even go back down there?” she thought suddenly. “Can I go down there and deny him again if he makes a move?” The weak feeling in her knees and a need to squeeze her thighs together said otherwise. Swallowing back her fear, Stella moved beyond the small apartment, locking it behind her before punching the elevator call button. What am I doing? I don’t even know, she thought, shaking her head as she stepped into the elevator and found she was not alone.

“Steven? Back from Berlin?” she asked. The man who stood next to her was the equivalent to her neighbor, or more the individual who lived on the floor above her. She was not the penthouse suite, his was instead. He’d met her last year upon moving into the area from Europe. He’d been kind enough to let her design his place. Stella would be lying if she’d said he’d never found him attractive. He was a wealthy businessman and financier. With the 2008 recession he’d been flying worldwide and participating in panels and research into state affairs.

“Yes!” he replied. When he smiled Stella felt her stomach flutter. It didn’t help that Raziel had her in the mood that she was. If anything her neighbor was fanning her lust. “I got in last night. Heard the girls come looking for you this morning. Mona thought that maybe I was your mystery man…” he laughed, trailing at the comment as if the prospect of another man annoyed him. Stella chuckled and shook her head, knowing full well her hungover bride to be friend would have pounded on Steven's door that morning, likely still in her tutu and tiara. “No, no. Nothing like that. She’s got this whole thing built up in her head about this guy. It’s nothing.” Was it?

As they stepped out into the parking garage, Steven moved to hug her, the elevator having been too small. As his arms embraced her, she in turn hugged him back. “Welcome home,” she smiled.

“I’m glad to hear it’s nothing,” he commented, pulling back to place his hands on her shoulders. “You look good. Better than I remember,” he added, raising his eyebrows as he look in her face. Stella stepped back, placing a hand over his in order to slid them off her gently. “We’ll catch up later. For now I have a dinner thing. Send me a text,” she explained. He nodded and watched her over his shoulder as he moved towards his white Audi R8 in the far corner. As Stella re-approached Raziel she wasn’t sure what he would do. What would be think? Steven’s never made a move like that before, she thought, pursing her lips at the untimely event. “Then again, I haven’t dated anyone in the time that I’ve known him.

Tapping her hand on the window, Stella moved to open the passenger door of Raziel’s car. Stepping into his vehicle she sighed, leaning back into her seat and feeling the comfort of it. Had she been so tense? Was he so relaxing?

“Sorry,” she said lowly, not really sure what for.

Raziel sat in his car relaxing hoping he could calm himself down. He had figured that he would start the conversation with just jumping into by asking her what it was she really wanted right then and there, he figured that would be the best way to just get it all done with so that there pains could end here and now. That was when he saw the elevator door open and Stella standing there going into a hug with some man.

Raziel watched the embrace between Stella and this new man who entered his view. As he did he truly realized what it was that he had done to her. He had taken so many things from her, her chance to have a normal life, her chance to be with who ever that was, her chance to have a chance at doing so many other things in her life. As she walked toward the car Raziel decided to start there conversation off with a much different flavor than he had intended.

When Stella had sat down and said "Sorry" Raziel simply sat there and looked at her, not longingly, not even a caring look, just with a look of shame. "You have nothing to be sorry for Stella, I do. I never should have done what I did back... well back here" He said with a chuckle. "Look I know that what I did was wrong. I would understand if you would just rather stay here alone away from me, if for no other reason than to simply get away from me. Believe me I would completely and totally understand." Raziel said as he turned back to the steering wheal. "That way you can start thinking about trying to get back to the life that I tore from you. You deserve more than the life that I have been forced to throw you into but at least you can live the next 10-15 years possibly even longer like you would have before this happened. No need for your life to change." Raziel said then looking up through the windshield at the wall that was in front of them. "No reason, not yet." he thought to himself.

When he turned to look at her, it wasn’t with the expression Stella anticipated. In fact, the blond was taken aback by the sullen shame in his eyes and she shifted in her seat immediately to face him.

"You have nothing to be sorry for Stella, I do. I never should have done what I did back... well back here," He began, referencing to his kiss. Stella flushed without even trying. Now that he was there before her, she could feel it all over again. Her body felt so at ease with the prospect. "Look I know that what I did was wrong. I would understand if you would just rather stay here alone away from me, if for no other reason than to simply get away from me. Believe me I would completely and totally understand," he continued. His eyes moved away from her and she shook her head, bringing a hand to cover her eyes and exhale deeply. “Did I do something wrong? Did I take too long? Was it Steven?” she thought. This vampire was practically bi-polar. One moment he was kissing her and the next he was shoving her away. Though, she was no better. That morning she had wanted to die rather than drink from him. She had wanted him to disappear. He’d kidnapped her and stolen the living part of her. But the more she’d been around him that day, the more the anger faded. The hunger was wretched but he’d proven that could be managed. If only it didn’t feel so wretched. As she continued thinking, Raziel continued speaking.

"That way you can start thinking about trying to get back to the life that I tore from you. You deserve more than the life that I have been forced to throw you into but at least you can live the next 10-15 years possibly even longer like you would have before this happened. No need for your life to change," he concluded, almost nodding to himself as his eyes looked straight beyond the windshield to a concrete wall. Stella bit on her lower lip, turning to look over her shoulder. Steven was pulling out in his car but his eyes were undoubtedly glued to back of Raziel’s head. She turned to look at her blood bond, trailing her eyes over his features attentively.

He did look like he’d lived in another time. He was confident, sure, but his features had an old look to them, like you would expect statues to have been made of him. His hair, being long and curly, was not normally something she found attractive. It was well kept nonetheless and lively. The perfect quality to his skin was more than attention grabbing. She’d seen a few nurses trail him at the hospital when they had been there. He was well liked and loved by many. She could feel the pull, just the same as she had that morning – a pull he was very much trying to break. That and he was so tall, very tall. Now that she was in sandals she felt puny beside him. And like a little girl again, she thought, raising her eyebrows and swallowing.

“I pulled away from the kiss because I don’t know you,” she said suddenly. “Not because I didn’t like it or feel something. I pulled away because I don’t know what this is and it scares me….it’s intense.”

Her fingers curled into fists as if to explain how much she almost wanted out of the car. Being in a closed space with him was still near suffocating. She wanted nothing but to be on top of him and just as she came to like him more, the longer she was around him the more she wanted him. But what for?

“I thirst for you,” she said uncomfortably. Admitting it was hard. It made her squirm. “And I know you do me too. It just seems so…weird. But erotic and something desirable.”

The confession had her blushing like noneother. She felt ridiculous, and she crossed her legs as if to stop herself from thinking about it anymore. “This all intimidates me,” Stella concluded. “It’s like I said earlier. I only don’t like what it makes me feel. I’m uncomfortable right now but considering how I felt about it this morning…wanting to kill myself than live this…I’d like to think that I’ve made progress and will continue to if you're here to guide me.”

Raziel continued to focus on the wall as Stella explained her actions "I pulled away from the kiss because I don’t know you, Not because I didn’t like it or feel something. I pulled away because I don’t know what this is and it scares me…. it’s intense." Raziel agreed it was intense "That is why I am trying now to get us apart" He thought "I thirst for you, And I know you do me too. It just seems so…weird. But erotic and something desirable.” Raziel thought "Well she got that right. I haven't been able to keep her off my mind completely since she flirted with Cho." Stella continued saying "This all intimidates me,It’s like I said earlier. I only don’t like what it makes me feel. I’m uncomfortable right now but considering how I felt about it this morning…wanting to kill myself than live this…I’d like to think that I’ve made progress and will continue to if you're here to guide me."

Raziel sat in silence for a moment while he mulled it all over in his mind. "But wouldn't it be easier to focus on what these changes will bring to you if you didn't have the confusion of what this bond has done to us? I mean how do we know that this isn't just the bond completely pulling us together? What if there is just the connection and it isn't actually you or me, but rather what we share?" Raziel asked both himself and her.

Raziel looked at his rear view mirror as the man that Stella had hugged drove out of the parking lot with his eyes fixated on Stella and himself. "A bit of a creep if you ask me." He thought to himself. "Then again am I any different with the way that I feel?"

The more he spoke, the more it became obvious that he was pulling away. Stella leaned her head into the seat, wondering why she was so disappointed by his desire to leave her to her own devices. She’d done a shit job of that this morning, running into a hospital when she’d barely had anything in her system. Who was to say she wouldn’t forget again? Or not hurt someone? “And my actions reflect on him,” she recalled in thought.

"But wouldn't it be easier to focus on what these changes will bring to you if you didn't have the confusion of what this bond has done to us? I mean how do we know that this isn't just the bond completely pulling us together? What if there is just the connection and it isn't actually you or me, but rather what we share?" Raziel asked. He seemed confused. Stella knew she was. As Steven’s car pulled out of the garage, Stella noted that they were once again alone. When she turned to look at Raziel, she saw his eyes follow the Audi out out the exit. “If Steven and Cho bother him, just wait until he sees the Danish architect who’s working with me on our development in the Bronx,” she thought with a shake of her head. “If you don’t want to be around me, that’s fine,” she said suddenly. He didn’t have to say so. It was in his words. “Just deliver the wine to my apartment here and that’s that.”

Moving to collect her bag from where she’d set it by her feet, Stella pulled open the passenger door to his car. She felt almost bitter, and a tad self deprecating given that she had been the one to pull away. And if I hadn’t? she wondered. But it was no use. As she stood, the blond held onto the door for a moment, fingering the rubber weather stripping as if to hold onto one more second with him. “This shouldn’t bother me so much. I really don’t know him,” she reminded her.

“Good-bye Raziel,” she told him, keeping her eyes low before she closed the door and turned back to the elevators.

ooc: || If you want we can have them go back to their respective lives for a few weeks until something happens that brings them back together. I have an idea if you have him working at the hospital on shift one night.

Raziel sighed "Good-bye Stella" Then as she closed the door and walked back toward the elevator he turned on the car, put it in reverse, pulled out, put the car in drive and pulled out of the car lot below her apartment building. As he left Raziel memorized the building's address then he drove home.

Over the course of the next few weeks Raziel made sure to send Stella the blood that was required for sustaining her life. But other then that he kept his distance. He watched her through the news, the help of friends, and simply by sense. But only to keep her from doing anything stupid that would ultimately screw him over... Or at least that is what he told himself.

ooc: Please take it away. Control the time, day, and location to your hearts content.

What had it been, two weeks? No. Three. When Stella rose it was June 26th. The city was lively with people preparing for their Hamptons escape for the summer. The kids were more than excited to flee the school buildings. Herself, she intended to stay in as always. While her father had done as recommended and slowly pulled away from work to relax, she found herself more immersed in her work than ever. That night had been a hard one, leaving Raziel. When she walked around she half expected him to appear or show up places.

That night, that she’d promptly returned upstairs, she’d called the girls over. Mona and a select few were still coddling hangovers. They all ended up on the couch drinking pop and eating ice-cream rather than drinking in their sophisticated way. As she sat where she did, Stella allowed herself to let loose with her friends. When they questioned her about the mystery man she had spent the night with, she brushed him off as nothing.

“A one night stand?” Mona said, raising her eyebrow. Stella shook her head. “No Mona, not even that. I just hope I don’t run into him. Would be awkward.”

The girls left her alone around two in the morning and Stella found herself at her desk, contemplating what she was going to do with herself. Finally alone for the first time as a half vampire, she began to analyze the changes to her body.

As she had noticed earlier, her skin was undeniably smoother and flawless. The natural dark color to her skin seemed to have faded, not to the point of pale but enough to screw with her shades of make-up. Her nails were perfect and her teeth seemed straighter…whiter. And her hair! It was smoother, less frizz and less mess on her head. When she’d gone to bed she’d laid on her mattress, contemplating myth and reality. She could go out in the day. She didn’t sparkle. The garlic in her kitchen hadn’t bothered her. But she was definitely more emotional, easily feeling the intensity of her moods bear down on her more so than ever before. And she needed blood. The thought made her chest hurt.

The delivery came the next day, seven bottles of blood laced wine for the week. She’d kept to herself for meals, downing it in the morning in order to face the office without wanting to eat one of her associates. Work progressed as was normal, and shifts at the kitchens came and went quickly. Three weeks disappeared with ease and she found herself in no different place than she was before. Wherever she went, she felt like he would suddenly show up and when he wasn’t there she missed him.

Stella found herself in the midst of one of their charity’s smallest soup kitchens the night of June 26th. As she donned a hair net and apron, chatting to their staff with a smile, she still thought of him weakly. When they opened the doors, the lines seemed longer than usual. The heat had made a lot of their patrons restless. They were in the middle of a heat wave though Stella didn’t feel it as much as she used to. Still, she sympathized with them. As she counted the people lining up for food, it went without question that there wouldn’t be enough. She hated to turn people away.

“Luane, I’m going to the back to make a call for more food from the Downside location. If you need me, holler,” Stella told her head chef, a stout dark haired woman with kind eyes and a warm smile. Most of the patrons called her Nona, or the Italian word for Grandmother. “Go on, hurry, before we run out and these guys get restless,” Luane coddled her, smacking her away with a wooden spoon into the tiny office. As she pulled out her phone and punched in the number, she settled into a chair. An unease rose in her stomach however. She felt oddly…on edge. Which didn’t make sense as she’s drank a bottle of Raziel’s wine that morning. Still, her skin rippled with apprehension. Setting the phone down, the line still ringing, Stella moved beyond the office and back out to the front. What she saw made her heart drop.

“Give me more! I gots to eat Bitch!” a man screamed. He was dressed in ragged layers of clothing, torn khaski shorts and a stained white t-shirt topping a thin tank top and basketball shorts underneath. His dark beard was overgrown and his regular hair a long ratted ponytail. He was snarling at one of the volunteers, asking for seconds. “We can’t offer seconds today, I’m so sorry,” the girl stuttered. He flipped his tray in response. “I need to eat!” he stuttered, his voice becoming angrier. “I need to eat. I need to eat.” He began to ramble and shake, anger taking over. “Hey man, sit down. I wanna eat too and you got your share,” the patron next to him said, shoving an elbow into the distressed man’s side. Stella didn’t recognize either of them. Normally their patrons weren’t so hostile. And the hostility did bloom into something more. Suddenly the angry man stepped back from his turned over tray, reaching into the folds of his clothes to withdraw a Glock 22 from the waistband of his pants. “GIVE ME MORE NOW!” he shouted, moving the gun across the glass to aim it straight into the forehead of the volunteer. Stella’s heart was racing.

It all happened so fast. It was like an animal was unleashed with her. Leaping across the floor behind the kitchen, Stella hurled her staff away with a violent shove. As the thug saw her move, he let off a shot without even hesitating. The bullet missed the volunteer, hitting Stella instead in the chest close to her heart. The impact of it took the breath out of her lungs but adrenalin had her snarl and reach out for the smoking glock, wrenching it from his hands so hard that his head slammed into the small glass guard of their hot plates. His forehead split open, blood gushing from the wound. Yells and screamed took over as Stella staggered back, bumping into a cart of cutlery before her knees gave out and she looked down at the blood soaking through her shirt. She could feel her heart beat slowly and erratically. It hurt. Too much. Almost too much. “Call an ambulance please!” Luane shrieked above the throng of voices. Stella reached out to touch the floor as her ears began to ring. She hiccupped and felt the blood in her throat. “I guess I can die,” she thought lowly then before her eyelashes fluttered and she fell unconscious.

* * *

The snarl. All she could hear was her own growl coming from her throat in her head. The pain was there, so violently there. She could hear the rush of voices again, this time they weren’t concerned or angry. This time she could smell the antiseptic and bleach of the hospital. They must have called an ambulance. Gasping, Stella tried to move. As she inhaled she felt as if she had been stuck under water without air. The pain in her chest felt heavy. She wheezed when she tried to breath again, fighting to keep her eyes open. “She looked like an animal,” she heard someone say. “Her eyes went dark and she just seemed inhuman. But she saved us!”

The day of June 26th was a very busy one for the hospital. The summer heat got to a lot of people and they went ballistic... literally. Just in the aria that the hospital serviced there had been five shootings of one sort or another.

• One major bank heist, six shot, four injured, two killed, of the four injured one was in critical condition.
• Two simple shop robberies, two shot, no serious injuries.
• One back ally shooting/rape, three shot, two killed, third in critical condition, rapped then shot.
• One "Kids having fun" A bunch of kids got together one had a gun and showed it off, the safety wasn't on and somebody accedentaly pulled the trigger, two shot, one simple graze to the shoulder, the other in the chest, critical condition.

Hospital report

• Seven patients admitted, three in critical condition, two died on the operating table.
• Four patients non serious wounds, two released soon after treatment, two will be watched for one night and let go in the morning.

Raziel sat and read through the reports he had finished for the day. Because it had been so buisy he took on a a double shift. "DAMN IT!" He shouted as he slammed his fists into the table. "Why does the human race have to be so fucking moronic?!" Raziel put his head down on his desk as his eyes began to tear up. "Whats the point? He whispered in distress to himself. "What is the god damn point of it all?" Just then Carla came bursting into the room "Doctor! There has been another shooting, a young girl needs surgery quick!" Raziel sat up and looked at her in a slightly angry looking way "Get Dr. Sternen to take her." Carla glared right back "This young woman took a bullet near the heart we need you Kain!" Raziel stood up and ran after Carla as she left the room. When he caught up with Carla he began to say"Very well. After this I am goin..." He came upon his patient. "No." He whispered under his breath. "STELLA!" He ran to her and checked her wound. "Carla go tell the O.R. to get ready for me." Raziel yelled back to her. "They already are Dr." Raziel turned and looked at her. "No. Go tell them to get ready for ME." Carla looked stunned and just stood there for a moment. "CARLA!" Raziel yelled. "Yes Dr." Carla said as she ran to the O.R.

Raziel then looked at the woman who brought Stella in "Tell me what happened." The woman looked very frightened as she begain to describe it. They also started to move the gurney toward the O.R. "A man came into the our soup kitchen where she was working, He yelled for seconds and began to waive a gun. Then Stella jumped over the food. She looked like an animal, her eyes went dark and she just seemed inhuman. But she saved us! But the man shot her too so she is here.” The woman rushed out quickly. "Well thank you. Now if you will please wait in here I will be out with the results when I am finished." With that Raziel ran into the O.R.

The O.R. had been cleared except for Carla and the rest of the surgical team, This was Raziels personal surgical team. He had hand picked each one and intrusted them with the information of his true nature. They where five of the ten people who knew what he was without being it them selves. The cameras had been turned off and the windows had all been covered. "Carla, Nana, Thank you both for being here. This is my bond I need to fix what has happened then I will need to give her a... Drink." He said quickly. "Okay?" Everybody nodded "Good. Lets get started." Raziel went to wash his hands as everybody else began to do what the needed to begin the surgery.

(OOC: Sooooo not going into detail of surgery. SO jump to post operation in Stella's hospital room.)

Raziel had called Stella's father. Luckily his driver answered, the same one that had driven that first day of there meeting. "I am calling to inform you that Stella has been hurt, If you would please come down to the hospital that would be wonderful. DO NOT! I repeat do not tell her father what happened. He doesn't need that stress." with that Raziel hung up ad went to Stella's room. It had been long enough that with her new body she could come out of the dream state any time now. So Raziel went and sat next to her until she woke on her own.

(OOC: Sooooo long. :P srry it took so long to get up.)

The pain in her chest was monumental. As the gurney peeled through the halls she could see the lights flashing overhead. It make her head feel fuzzy and her vision began to blur as she chortled on her own spit and phlegm. Her hands reached out, bloodied, for the bars of the gurney as if to sit herself up. When she even tried to lift herself however, the pain erupted in her chest. Someone grabbed for her hand, one colder than hers. Stella’s eyes danced up as they passed through a set of doors and a slew of nurses and scrub clad surgical staff began to busy themselves with her.

Confused and dazed she watched them cut away her shift, something already shredded by the paramedics it seemed. Crying out, Stella tried to attract their attention. It was almost as if they didn’t hear her but she heard them. She could hear their hearts and a blur of voices. Everything smelt so clean except for the blood pouring out of her chest just then. She was the dirty one. Pain rippled through her and she felt her heart struggle to beat. Her hands tensed and she cried out again, feeling her eyes flutter from the pain. She gasped and watched as they lowered a mask over her face. She tried to tear it away only for them to hold her hands down. It took so little at that point.

* * *

The lights over her bed were blinding. Groggily Stella titled her head to the left, batting her eyelashes and inhaling sharply. As her lungs filled with air she could feel a tug and pain over her left side. Unsteadily she flopped a hand over her heart area, now covered by a blue and white hospital gown, feeling the bandage texture of gauze and tape underneath. Groaning, she moved to sit only to regret the motion as her head spun and she fought to keep her stomach settled. When she turned to look the other way she saw him there, sitting in scrubs and rather disheveled. He looked tired, like he had been there for hours and working hard all the while.

“Where is he?” she asked, her voice crackled as she’d been intubated during the surgery. Stella found her throat dreadfully sore and dry, scorching with renewed thirst. “Where’s the man who shot me?”

There was no hello or tension between them, at least for her. Stella didn't feel a pull for him in that moment. She knew he was there only because he was a doctor and she'd been stupid enough to defend one of their volunteers. A shot to the heart undeniably meant that he'd had his hands in her chest, seeing beyond the half dead parts of her to fix the one thing that still beat so slowly inside her. Had he felt the pain too? How much it hurt? Did he feel her fear in that moment? Or was he as dead as he had been the day he'd left her in the car? She flushed at the thought of him seeing her so naked on his table. She swallowed and winced, turning her head away from him, her hand flopping to the guardrail of the gurney again to haul herself up to sit. As she fought to right herself, biting her lip through the pain, she didn't care what he thought. She just didn't want him there, seeing her like this.

Raziel had had his head resting in his hands trying to keep himself awake. He may be a vampire but that whole myth about not needing sleep, total crock. They have a longer tolerance and a need for less sleep but they still needed sleep. He had acquainted the slight pain that he had felt yesterday to his mind putting the imaginary pain of emotion. It had been a minor pain. During the surgery Raziel had figured that the reduced pain had come from the fact that they had kept the distance for the extended period of time, the bond must have... Weakened? this was just so new to him so he didn't actually know why.

Raziel's head shot up when Stella spoke "Where is he? Where's the man who shot me?" Raziel sighed in relief as she began to sit up. Although the pain was rather annoying. Raziel sat back in his chair to get in a more comfortable position. "The man? Oh yes he was taken by Sternen. He is alive but has the potential for serious brain damage. He will be taken ether into police custody or to a psychiatric facility. Depending on the state of his mind. Why do you ask?" Raziel asked as he ran a hand through his hair brushing it all away from his face.

Where Raziel was one of the top heart surgeons of the world, Sternen was one of the top Neuro surgeons of the nation, not quite world but nation. So hopes where high on him making a full recovery. But not likely.

As she fought to sit up the pain bloomed in her chest, causing her to groan through it. She coughed and sputtered as her legs felt like dead weight until she began to move them. The anesthetic was harder on her than she remembered. For a moment she watched him sit back. He didn’t seem to feel as she did, the horrible wrenching of stitches and skin pulling apart as she lowered the guard rail on her gurney, forcing her legs over the side and onto the floor.

"The man? Oh yes he was taken by Sternen. He is alive but has the potential for serious brain damage. He will be taken ether into police custody or to a psychiatric facility. Depending on the state of his mind. Why do you ask?" Raziel asked nonchalantly. He didn't seem to care at all and that bothered her.

When Stella stood on her own two feet she could feel her knees quiver before she steadied herself. Reaching a hand out to the wall, she grabbed for a small blanket that had been put on top of her bed. Slowly Stella wrapped it around her wait, knotting it over her chest before she tore out the IV in her hand. The needle pinched and she looked irritated, far from herself. “He’s alive,” she said, shaking her head. It wasn’t okay that he was alive. The thought didn’t sit well with her and she practically growled when she heard the news.

“I can’t be here,” she confessed, still forced to hold onto the wall to remain standing. “I can’t be here with him, I want to kill him. I want you to want to kill him and you don’t because you don’t care. I can’t be here with you either,” she rambled, shaking her head and feeling her body grow weak. The doors to her room suddenly opened and a wide eyed nurse stepped inside. “You’re awake?” she stammered. It was inconceivable. Stella’s eyes dilated as she stared at the woman. At once her throat was on fire. If she had the energy she was sure she would have launched herself at her.

As Stella stood Raziel felt the pain as she tried to stabilize her self. "Well that isn't the most comfortable feeling" Raziel muttered to himself. “He's alive, I can’t be here, I can’t be here with him, I want to kill him. I want you to want to kill him and you don’t because you don’t care. I can’t be here with you either,” Stella said. Raziel nodded and begain to stand when the nurse barged in. "You're awake?" Said the nurse. Raziel felt the hunger. He launched himself up to stand between the nurse and Stella "WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" Raziel yelled at the nurse "I will watch the patient! Now get out!" The nurse looked frightened and left the room. Raziel then turned to Stella. "I can understand you not wanting to be here with him here... and me. However until you drink I can not allow you to leave." He motioned his hand toward her bed side table where two bottles sat with a letter saying "Get well soon Stella." Raziel moved himself back to his chair. "Please sit and drink. You need to keep yourself from taking the lives of those who are innocent."

Raziel’s response to the nurse’s entrance was vehement. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" Raziel yelled at the nurse, "I will watch the patient! Now get out!" As he loped across the room in two strides. The way he imposed himself upon her was more than enough. Her eyes widened and she immediately backed away, closing the door behind her with a quick and jarring slam.

Stella couldn’t help but turn away from the scene. Swallowing, she slid back along the room’s wall to sit back onto the gurney. Her thoughts were racing and the proximity of humans was agitating. Her skin crawled with anticipation. So quickly she could just move past that door and take what she wanted. The blunt truth of it was scary to her. Her body was capable of it, that much she knew. Her limbs ached to run and move but at the same time the dull ache in her chest reminded her of the near catastrophic shot she’d suffered. As she pressed a hand to her chest again, Stella winced at the pressure it made her feel. As Raziel closed the door behind the nurse she could only guess he felt it too.

"I can understand you not wanting to be here with him here... and me. However until you drink I can not allow you to leave," he explained, gesturing to the small beside table beside her gurney on which sat two bottles of his blood laced wine. The card next to them was a nice touch but as she examined the writing she noted it was simply a card from the gift shop, propped up beside a small white clock. “I was shot so badly the average person would be dead. People saw that! And you want me to walk out of here hours later. Even I know better than that,” she shot back, her eyebrows furrowing as the intense heat in her throat bloomed into a violent burn. "Where am I going to go? Everyone expects me to be dead or dying in bed for weeks."

"Please sit and drink. You need to keep yourself from taking the lives of those who are innocent," he begged her. She looked at him with narrowed eyes, snatching the neck of a wine bottle in her left hand. “The man whose throat I can visualize myself tearing apart is not innocent,” she snarled. Her glare was stark and she turned it onto the bottle in her hand as she took the fresh cork in hand and tossed it onto the floor. Taking the bottle straight to her lips she tilted her head back, feeling the soothing wine slide down her throat without so much as swallow. When she’d downed it in it’s entirety she held it out to him, her lips bleeding with his blood and the wine. “Happy now?” she growled, opening her arms to him as if to bow like this was a sight he wanted to see.

Raziel grimmest. "Never. But that is not your fault." Standing and going over to the wall farthest away from her trying to distance himself from both her anger and the pain she was feeling he leaned up against the wall and began to explain a few things. "First off you will need to drink more than the allotment then I have been sending you for the next couple of weeks, Even though you do heal quicker there is still internal damage and the more blood you have the faster it will heal. Second you will need to stay in bed for the next two to three days, after that I can release you into home care. You won't be working for the next two to two and a half weeks. Other than that I have nothing to do here except expedite the removal of the man who you don't want to be around, I will be sure to see that he is taken to a sort of half way house between here and jail." Raziel sighed for the annoyance and anger that the presence of a human life, how ever crazed it may have been, brought upon her. "Is there anything else that you need Stella?" Raziel asked as he removed himself from the wall.

Bringing the back of her hand to her lips, Stella wiped her mouth of any residual wine and blood. The blond sat back down onto the bed, setting the empty bottle and cork on the table closest to her. Raziel’s response to her demanding question had her unsettled. "Never. But that is not your fault," he said grimly, standing and moving away from her to the far corner of her small room. Was that even possible, to never be happy? Her anger in the moment dissipated as the blood settled her irritation. With her throat soothed, she felt calmer but the bitterness remained. He had left her after all. Twenty minutes alone and he’d come to some conclusion about her. He had created her, made her into his Halfling in order to remain alive and a doctor. He hadn’t explained to her just what he had done in order to be punished with her but she did know that she felt abandoned and almost exposed as she realized he’d likely seen the whole of her naked torso. His hands had undeniably been in her chest. She’d been shot in the heart and he was currently specializing in cardio. Laying back into bed she brought her knees to her chest and the blankets over her shoulders as if to cover herself.

"First off you will need to drink more than the allotment then I have been sending you for the next couple of weeks. Even though you do heal quicker there is still internal damage and the more blood you have the faster it will heal,” he explained. The casual air to his voice made her feel as if she was nothing to him, no more than a patient being lectured on how to take care of herself. Just like those initial moments in his apartment she felt like she was being schooled. This was far from the intimacy he had shown her when she’d spoken about herself, answering his various questions about what she did for a living and what she liked. In that moment Stella had to wonder where that curiosity had disappeared. He no longer seemed remotely interested in her. As he spoke, she merely nodded, casting her eyes away from him and toward the plain bedding that covered her. “Second you will need to stay in bed for the next two to three days, after that I can release you into home care. You won't be working for the next two to two and a half weeks. Other than that I have nothing to do here except expedite the removal of the man who you don't want to be around, I will be sure to see that he is taken to a sort of half way house between here and jail."

"I want him dead," she muttered but her tone was different. It was bitter and angry, her vampire side bleeding through.

His news made her uncomfortable. Three days in a hospital seemed excessive. Closing her eyes she could only wonder what her father would do with her when he learned of her state. He wouldn’t let her leave the penthouse suite. She wouldn’t see her apartment or another soup kitchen if he had a say in things. He wouldn’t close down their charity but he would certainly change the screening process for people at the door. The idea of turning people away, even those crazed and delusional, made her heart sink. But some people were beyond help. Was she though? Was Raziel?

Paling at the idea of extended time at home, being coddled, in the hospital, watched and likely avoided by her maker, Stella felt sick. She could feel the roiling in her stomach and the discomfort of the blood as she processed it. It made her gag slightly but she held her mouth closed, turning her head away from him completely to rest her left cheek on her knees.

"Is there anything else that you need Stella?" Raziel asked. She heard him move but she didn’t look back towards him. The offer was substantial and she could hear his concern, however irritated he was with the situation. She could feel that he was tired. It make her all the more exhausted.

“I need you,” she confessed. “I have felt like a newborn tossed in the gutter these past few weeks. I haven’t been able to focus. All I can think about is you and how I know nothing about you and yet you did this to me, and I don’t even know why. This is confusing enough as it is and now I won’t even be able to try and occupy myself with work. I want you to care.”

Raziel stood shocked, stunned, unimaginably perplexed. "She wants me to care?" He though. He stood there for a moment allowing his brain to start working again, Then he softened and walked toward her kneeling at her bed. and looking up at her "Stella I never stopped caring. I have been watching you. I have been keeping track of you making sure that you where doing well. And you seemed to be doing fine that's why I chose to not approach you again. I am sorry that you have felt alone, I didn't mean to hurt you, I never wanted that. I just thought that maybe you needed time to yourself to think without me being a constant looming figure about you." Raziel sighed and stood up. "You reminded me that I didn't tell you the reason that the counsel forced me to take on a blood bond. Well" He turned to look at her "If you wish to know why I will tell you. I will tell you anything you want. I will be what ever you need me to be. If me being here is what you want then I will gladly stay." Raziel took a seat. "Tell me what you want." His tone was simple and caring, not forceful and wanting. As he spoke he leaned forward putting his elbows on his knees, lacing his fingers together and putting his mouth to his hands.

The unsettled state of her stomach had Stella sitting quite still. As she leaned her weight into her legs a pressure rose in her chest, however, and quicker than she would have liked she slid her legs back out into the sheets and reclined back into the various pillows stacked on her gurney. As she pulled the blankets away from her shoulders she caught sight of her left hand and the one in which she’d been given her IV. The small spot from the needle was visible for a moment, with dried blood surrounding it, but as she looked at it she could have sworn she watched it face and close before her. Swallowing, she tucked her hand back beneath the blankets.

As Raziel began to move, she turned to watch him. He was coming back to her side, even kneeling by her bed side. From her bed she couldn’t help but think of him as near obscenely tall. When he was eye level to her again she felt her skin tingle. Her body was at attention with him so close. He had saved her, yes. And while she felt somewhat revealed to him in that he’d been the doctor on her case, she was grateful. If she had never met him, she would have been dead, without question.

"Stella I never stopped caring,” he began. He was softer in his voice, his eyes looking at her as if he hadn’t imagined her wanting him close. He really does take rejection hard, she thought, turning onto her side to look directly at him. “I have been watching you. I have been keeping track of you making sure that you where doing well. And you seemed to be doing fine that's why I chose to not approach you again. I am sorry that you have felt alone, I didn't mean to hurt you, I never wanted that,” he explained.

“When you practically kick a girl out of your car, you hurt a person,” she said bluntly.

“I just thought that maybe you needed time to yourself to think without me being a constant looming figure about you," Raziel replied with a sigh before moving to stand. Her eyes followed him and her lip twitched. It was odd to think that she had been followed. Then again, she’d never truly watched out for a stalker. While she was wealthy and essentially a celebrity the paparazzi had never truly intruded. They likely would that day, however. The idea made her close her eyes for a moment, exhaling deeply as well. He did care.

"You reminded me that I didn't tell you the reason that the counsel forced me to take on a blood bond. Well, if you wish to know why I will tell you. I will tell you anything you want. I will be what ever you need me to be. If me being here is what you want then I will gladly stay," he concluded, turning to sit in a chair against the wall. As he settled his head into his hands she could see how wary he looked. "Tell me what you want," he asked her.

He was giving her the chance to ask for anything and her mind seemed to be immediately at war with itself. The subdued and satiated vampire within her demanded the death of the man who had shot her. It was such a strange feeling, knowing that a side of her wanted the impaired man dead for what he’d done – if anything not for revenge but to prevent it from happening to a person who could not survive such wounds. Then the other side, the small human side to her conscience simply wanted a night’s rest with him there and the reassurance that he wouldn’t just leave.

“I want to stay with you,” she admitted. “I don’t think I can handle my father coddling me when I’m like this, but I don’t know what kind of excuse to use. I want to get to know you and understand what being what I am entails. And I want to sleep,” Stella concluded with a yawn and half smile. She could see he was sleepy and she knew her own exhaustion paired with him own had her eyelids feeling heavy despite having only been awake for less than an hour.

Raziel stood up, picked up his chair and moved it over next to the hospital bed that Stella was resting on. As he sat down he grabbed one of her hands and holding it in both of his. "Then how about I stay right here and you sleep. I can't give you any kind of guarantees on my state of consciousness when you wake up, but I'll be here." He said the last part with a small humerus tint to his voice. Raziel would stay there as long as she wished him to be there. The only thing that he would have done was go home and sleep anyway so there is nothing bad about trading the commute for a chair. It felt good to be close to her, even with all the pain she was feeling Raziel felt so much happier and just all around better now then he had since he... forced her to leave his side. Now he felt two things in his chest, first off an extreme pain which had been growing with his allowing himself to soften up, second a feeling of happiness and joy. All of these feelings topped on top of the horrible day that he just had made him feel more tired then when she had woken up.

When he moved closer to the bed Stella’s heart fluttered. When she looked into his eyes it was with apprehension however. He’d come close before and all of a sudden gone running with his metaphorical tail between his legs. When he took her hand in his, Stella could do nothing but look down at where he held her.

"Then how about I stay right here and you sleep. I can't give you any kind of guarantees on my state of consciousness when you wake up, but I'll be here," Raziel assured her, laughing lightly to himself afterward. Stella watched him smile and she felt at ease to see him relaxed. “I count on it,” she replied lowly with a small yawn. As she lounged into her pillows she couldn’t help but smile sweetly to herself as well, squeezing his hand lightly before she closed her eyes. Allowing herself to settle into the gurney, it didn’t take long for her drift into slumber.

* * *

“How long has she been here?” her father asked. Stella could sense his frantic concern when she batted open her eyes. As she took in the room she could see that she was surrounded by interns. When she squeezed her hand, it was her father’s who held hers. As she looked up at him she could hear the stress his heart felt. “Daddy,” she asked lowly with a deep and tired exhale. “What is it sweetheart?” he replied, looking down at her with concern and warm eyes. It was the same look she’d been given so many times as a child when she’d fallen or had something ridiculous happen. He was worried. I almost died and he knows it.

“Just exhale for me,” she smiled, watching as Max Lucerne sighed and ran his free hand to push his short hair back. Without question she’d picked up that habit from him and seeing it only made her smile widen as she moved to shift up along the bed. One of the interns nearly panicked, rushing to shift her pillows with shaky hands. Stella looked into the eyes of the young man. He was around her age with dark short black hair and light blue scrubs signifying that he was still a student at practice. “I’m fine,” she said, gratitude in her tone. When she looked up she saw Raziel at the foot of her bed, consulting her clipboard.

“How long will she be on rest? How long will she be here?” her father added, the question causing the blond to recline into the bed again and roll her eyes. When she looked up at Raziel it was with a wide eyed plea to not be so closed in by people and more so for some excuse to keep her away from her father's clutches for months at home. She wasn't six and he was nearly treating her as such. The interns were learning, no question, but they fumbled with her like she was glass. Was Raziel the one changing her bandages? Would they even need changing? She was resigned to being silent as they reviewed her information.

"I count on it" Stella said as she rested her head onto her pillow and went to sleep. Raziel did not bother trying to stay awake he laid his head onto the arm that was resting upon her bed and fell asleep.

Carla came into the room 6 hours later and woke Raziel up. "Kain. Kain wake up" She said while nudging him. Raziel woke with a start still holding onto Stella's hand "What what!?" he said sitting up straight and looking up at Carla. As his eyes cleared up a bit he said "Oh Carla it's you. What's up?" He asked. Carla responded "Well since you are still here Steeve thought it would be a good idea for you to show our interns your patient here. After her wounds she would be a good lesson for them." Raziel sighed, "Very well bring them in but tell them to be quiet." Raziel stood up and took up her chart. As Carla was about to leave Raziel said "When you get back with the interns run these tests again will you?" He said handing her Stella's chart with three tests highlighted. "Yes Doctor." She responded and left the room. When the interns entered the crowded around her. Raziel gently showed them the wound while checking it for infection. There of course was none but it was better to be safe than sorry even with a half vampire. Raziel talked and asked questions but all in a hushed voice.

Just as Raziel had finished talking to the interns Stella's father walked in and started demanding information from Raziel "Why wasn't I told she was here? What happened? How long has she been here?" Raziel was about to answer when Stella spoke up saying "Daddy," Raziel let her handle her father as Carla came in with Stella's chart "Here you are Doctor." She said handing the chart to him. "Thank you Carla." He responded "You're welcome." Carla said as she left the room. Raziel turned back just in time to be asked yet another question by Max "How long will she be on rest? How long will she be here?" Raziel took a step toward the bed turning to all of the interns. "You may all leave now." They all rushed out not wanting to be there for the *Violent* part. Then Raziel turned to Max "Look Max I understand your worry but I need to check a few things before I can answer your questions. So if you will please wait outside so I may talk with Stella I will get back to you as soon as possible. okay?" He asked Max hopeing that he would just say yes and leave. Which is almost exactly what he did. "Okay fine. But as soon as you have an answer I want to hear it. You got that?" "Yes sir" Raziel responded.

After he left Raziel sat back down next to Stella and looked at her charts. "Well Stella you are of course healthy and ready to go. I would still sugjest staying here for the next couple of days if for no other reason than for good cover." Then he turned to her and smiled. "So what do you want me to tell your father?"

A flurry of activity had her nearly dizzy. Stella rubbed away the sleep from her eyes as Raziel asked for his interns to depart. The man who’d seemed so concerned for her turned to look twice over his shoulder as they scattered. Her father seemed to grudgingly remain, staring down at his daughter with concern. Stella squeezed his hand again in reassurance again, watching him with her own discerning eyes.

"Look Max, I understand your worry but I need to check a few things before I can answer your questions. So if you will please wait outside so I may talk with Stella I will get back to you as soon as possible. Okay?" Raziel asked, his words fluid and far happier than she would have anticipated. Stella watched her father flinch at the request that he step outside, turning to look his daughter straight in the eye. "Okay fine. But as soon as you have an answer I want to hear it. You got that?" Max said gruffly.

“I’m good,” she reassured him as Raziel responded with a curt, “Yes Sir.” Stella smiled at her father as he sighed and stepped out of the small room hesitantly, the tension in his shoulders evident and visible beneath the dark blue dress shirt he wore. So much for time off from work. When the door closed behind him, she could hear her father bickering with the same nurse Raziel had yelled at hours before for entering when she’d been awake, words that had her nearly climbing from the bed to shut him up. Poor woman, she thought with sympathy. I’ll have to do something to make up for all this later.

As the squabble died down, Stella’s gaze returned to her blood bond as he stood next to her bedside, his clipboard still in hand. He was reviewing it with a quick glance as he addressed her, his words bringing out a smile. He seemed happy and rested while she still felt tired, and strangely thirsty.

"Well Stella you are of course healthy and ready to go. I would still suggest staying here for the next couple of days if for no other reason than for good cover," he told her. The news was good, a relief though she expected no less. He smiled and she returned the gaze weakly, combing her fingers through her hair if only to busy herself. "So what do you want me to tell your father?" he asked gently. His smile was curious and she sensed a side of mischief there. His seriousness wasn’t present, seeming to fade the more he spoke to her.

“I am stressed at the very notion of telling him that I can go home,” she admitted, sighing heavily as her cheeks flushed with warmth. The blond pushed away the extra blankets that covered her legs, keeping a thin sheet over her as she remarked that she was in a standard hospital gown.

“I don’t want to go home,” she explained, biting her lower lip as she sat back into the pillows to look up at him. “I’d rather fall under your care. My father can be…suffocating. I love him to pieces but I’m twenty-four and his anxiety is practically contagious. I wish he didn’t worry.”