Personal Demon [Cassie]

[Rickie Connery]

It was almost time for him to go; exhaustion was fast catching up to Rickie. His eyes were growing heavy and the voices of both Cassie and Dacian seemed so far away. He again nodded and smiled at Cassie. By the sound of her voice she sounded frustrated when she said she couldn’t sew, being nothing more than a bystander was hard. It was human instinct to help the loved one or ones that were in trouble. “You’re probably good at other things,” he said barely above a whisper, still not looking at her. He watched Dacian take out all the IVs that had been strategically placed but the man was too tired to protest. He knew the vampire would get the blood either way now he knew where to find it.

Grudgingly he took in what Dacian said, frowning at the idea of having someone spit or rub spit in an open wound. It went against every hygiene code that Rickie had been taught and he was just a field medic. Trying to ignore the voice of his training officer in the back of his mind Rickie handed Dacian what he asked for then guided the blind vampire’s hand to his wound. His touch was less than soft and it caused the Rickie to hiss sharply in pain, even the numbing cream couldn’t disguise the sting. He took the pad off of Dacian and continued to wipe the bite himself, at least he knew his touch was a little softer, soft hands kind of came with the job description.

For the first time in a long time Rickie did as he was told and repeated to lather the wound in vampire saliva. Calling it saliva in his mind had made the task easier to grasp. It was a strange feeling to see your own skin healing at ten times its normal rate right in front of his eyes. Still, to make sure it healed together properly he’d stitch it later; it wasn’t like he’d be sleeping tonight. With a lot of effort and snorting the man picked himself up off the floor and went to leave. “Goodnight,” he muttered with one final nod of his head at Cassie.

[Cassie Vimes]

Cassie winced as Dacian huffed at her, feeling instantly guilty for not trusting him. ”I didn’t mean…” She trailed off, voice almost pleading as she forced herself to shift closer and prove her trust. Her gaze dropped away from his face, her lip trembling pathetically, even as her heart betrayed her by beating doubletime. ”You’re right, I’m sorry.” She was too exhausted to argue any more, too afraid that she’d jeopardise the tentative truce they’d reached since their last big argument.

As Dacian and Rickie set about tending to the wound in Rickie’s stomach, Cassie again began to feel utterly helpless. Rickie, bless him, had tried to comfort her, but his assurance was hardly convincing. Probably. Her lips twitched into a sad smile. No, she was useless. To keep her hands busy she settled for fussing over the dressing-gown Dacian was still only half wearing. She pulled the fabric back over his torso, ignoring the way it was matted with blood and smoothed it out.

Besides staring at the pink fabric was easier than watching Rickie scrub at his stomach, the way the bloodied gauze was wiping roughly over torn skin that had started to knit together where the vampire saliva worked it’s magic. It made Cassie feel slightly sick and she was glad it had been dark and the angle all wrong for her to see the wound in her neck heal over. Yet another downfall on her part, being squeamish around blood probably wasn’t a good idea when she was choosing to associate with a vampire.

Rickie clambering unsteadily to his feet prompted her to look up and Cassie rose too, hurrying to his side so she could at least help support him out the door. ”Thank you,” She whispered, not sure Dacian would be quite so keen to show gratitude to the bartender-come-medic. Cassie hesitated for a moment, hovering awkwardly close to Rickie before she relented and pulled him into a tight hug. ”Really, I’m sorry I doubted you, you saved his life.”

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