My Precious Nightmare

17: Life Moves On

Her gaze prickled his skin as she watched him gather his various poultices and concoctions into a delivery bag. Time waited for no one and he still had an income to earn, not to mention there were patients depending on him. Her curiosity tickled him, though. He felt himself soften even more than he already had towards her.

"Do you want to come?"

This caught her off guard, and he pushed to explain.

"I am plenty capable of stopping you should you try to run, and I wouldn't advise you run in this part of the city." He hated how he sounded, as well as how her expression seemed to dull into a sad 'oh.'

"I've lived in poor parts of the city all my life," she said.

"Then you'll know no one will take a second look when a girl screams for help as a man drags her away."

Her lashes lowered. They emphasized her pallor, which made his chest clench. Sunshine would do her good. So would the exercise. His instincts had already learned her taste well, so the faster she recovered her blood the better.

"If you'll take a shower, being sure to use the soaps in there, I'll take you. We can even pick out your food while we're at it," he said, offering the carrot mostly for himself. She hadn't wanted to take a shower before, and that made perfect sense. She didn't know his infected body could only see a naked woman as food.

She wrinkled her nose. "Why are the soaps so important?"

"They cover your scent from vampires. The one I was hunting has already smelled you. He could track me via you."

Her shocked look made him smile.

"You're in the world of monsters, dear. This is how it is."

"It's Lea," she said. "I mean, you haven't asked..."

Because he was already too involved with her as it was. Even before knowing her name, the sight of her supposedly dead in his arms had broken him. The monster within always hunted those close, as those familiar would be less on guard and quicker sources of blood. Thus, Husani had woken up to dead family and friends in his arms enough times to wonder how he had kept sane all these years.

He had learned quick and separated himself early.

Still, he bowed his head down, keeping his back straight, in proper acknowledgement, an old habit he never bothered to grow out of from his Egyptian roots.

"Lea," he repeated.

She left him then, slowly, and with her hand to the wall. He frowned as he realized he hadn't accounted for the amount of blood that would be drawn by her digestive track when she'd eaten, lowering her blood pressure elsewhere. Hopefully she'd be okay in the shower.

Just in case, he took his work closer to the bathroom door so he could keep an ear open for her.

Thankfully, she didn't pass out, and she came out shortly in his too big clothes. He dug out a hijab and a pair of sunglasses which he usually wore to hide her identity, just in case.

"And the exercise will do you good," he told her as he taught her the proper way to twist the hijab about. "It will help stimulate the production of blood cells faster than sitting around would. Even so, let me know if you need to rest."

When her eyes looked up at him, waiting for the sunglasses, he hesitated. She really did have such a pretty face. It reminded him of cherubim, or the round faces of angels he had once viewed in the chapels of Europe. Had that really been so long ago?

Then he donned a spare pair of heavy tinted sunglasses (his eyes were made for the night after all), took up his basket of goods, and headed out. He kept half an eye on her to make certain she kept close, so he managed to catch the way her foot shook stepping over the threshold. She had noticed, then, that he had turned the doorknob and jam around to be locked from the inside. He don't that while she slept, hence one reason why he had sedated her.