Kyra nodded, some of the tension bleeding from her shoulders. “Do you know how hard it is to knock out a vampire? We found the wood splintered in both your hands, we think it’s why you weren't waking up.”
Eva glanced at her palms, seeing nothing but perfect skin.
“The doctor said you’re going to need more blood due to the pretty severe damage to your head. So we expected you to wake up ravenous, so I’m pretty surprised how relaxed you are considering.” Kyra paused, hesitant. “And we decided to wait until you were awake before they could examine you… more intimately.”
“More intimately?” Eva frowned, taking a second to understand. “No.”
“I think you should be checked. After everything you’ve been through, and for how long…”
Eva sat back on her heels, licking the salt from her top lip. “Why? I can’t get pregnant and can no longer suffer from the same diseases as humans.”
“Eva…”
“He didn’t get that far,” she said, not entirely lying. Augustine didn’t get that far, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t done other things. Things that have broken her. Things she wanted to forget.
Xander was a storm cloud in the corner, his presence alone drawing her attention. She couldn’t look him in the eye, so she stared at the swelling just beneath, moving down to trace the bruises across his jaw. He looked like he had picked a fight with a steam train, and the train won.
“I have super healing now, so I’ll be fine once I’ve fed anyway.”
“There’s more than just physical damage,” Xander said, his tone so calm and careful Eva wanted to hiss at him.
“I said no,” she said, closing her eyes to calm her spiked pulse. “No doctors. I’m fine, I promise. I don’t want or need a pity party.” She tried to smile, hoping it was warm and comforting unlike the intense cold that settled like a vice around her lungs. “Did Kace get out?”
Kyra and Xander exchanged a look, one Eva couldn’t read.
“What?”
“He’s recovering downstairs,” Kyra said quietly.
“Recovering? Is he okay?” Pain fluttered, the urge to find him growing. “Did he get hurt?”
“He’s fine, but you should stay away from him right now,” Xander added, crossing his arms. “Kace is… volatile.”
Eva flicked her gaze across Xander’s bruises again, eye narrowing. “What happened?”
Kyra cleared her throat. “We have some of your stuff,” she said as a distraction, and Eva pursed her lips to stop from pressing. Kyra’s face was an open book, and something was clearly wrong. “Pictures and jewellery. Your car too, it’s safe in the garage.”
“My car?” Eva’s smile was genuine. Some of her favourite memories were of her father teaching her basic mechanical skills on the same white BMW. He had bought it before she was even born, and Eva adored it. She had thought it was lost along with everything else, just something from her past life.
“There’s clothes in the wardrobe, and once it’s safe you can return to your flat if you want.”
“Return? You know how the landlord was, he would have already sold anything he could get his hands on to pay the rent by now.”
Kyra’s smile was small. “Kace has been paying your rent.”
Eva paused, the cold on her chest lessening. “Oh.”
Why would he do that?
“I think we should leave Eva to rest.” Xander gently pulled Kyra into his arms. “Come on, Princess. You can watch those terrible tv shows with her tomorrow.”
Kyra’s eyes brightened, her words aimed at Eva. “I’m so happy you’re safe.” She turned with Xander to the door, hesitating at the threshold. “You always had such a beautiful soul, even when you were human. Now it’s even brighter.”
Eva couldn’t speak, so she simply nodded instead.
She found herself standing there for a while, the dark amber turning to pitch black outside the window. The room was bathed in a soft glow, the lamp in the corner left on. It was strange, she hadn’t been left alone in so long, and she thought she would love it. Instead she was just surrounded in silence, trying to shift the uneasy feeling. She was out, safe. So why didn’t she feel it?
Kyra had placed all her photographs on the dresser. Memories of her smiling, laughing and dancing. Memories of a girl that no longer existed. It made the uneasy feeling grow, expand until it was a hollow weight in the centre of her chest, as if her heart was missing.
