Music Recommendation: Just stay- Hyolyn
The snowstorm had finally stopped, and when the wind blew again, it gently pushed the mist in the air away from where Vincent lay flat on the snowy ground, while Eve sat next to him. The cold temperature was catching up to them, but neither moved to get up from where they were.
Eve looked at Vincent with a worried look on her face. He hadn't stopped bleeding from the wound he had received, and the snow on the right side of his body turned redder every minute.
"This was more tiring than I thought it to be," Vincent murmured. Closing his eyes, he said, "Let me take a quick nap, mind lending your lap for me to sleep?"
Eve responded, "We must fix your torn hand back to your body. Let me get it and heal you."
She got up from where she had been sitting on her knees, which had turned numb because of the cold. Walking to one side of the snow, her eyes fell on Vincent's hand, frozen above the snow-covered ground. For a moment, her head felt dizzy because she hadn't expected to see any severed body parts of Vincent when he had left the inn's room earlier.
Carefully picking it up, Eve returned to where Vincent looked like he was taking a nap.
Eve hoped her mermaid abilities would come to help. She placed his severed hand next to him. She started to concentrate and use her ability to heal him, and several minutes passed, but she couldn't attach his severed hand back to his body. Instead, she was greeted with more blood on the snow.
When Vincent didn't make an effort to move or respond, she called his name in concern, "Vincent?"
"Mm, I am still alive," Vincent hummed before opening his tired eyes to look at her. She noticed the shadow underneath his eyes were turning darker than the time she had last noticed, as if fatigue was quickly catching up to him. He said, "One cannot heal and fix something so big. It is impossible for you when you are still in the beginning stage."
"W--what do we do then?" Eve looked around the deserted place, where it looked like no one was in the town or they were in a deep sleep. She would have suggested travelling to the next town, but with the snowy weather, she didn't know how long it would take for them to reach and find a physician to close his wound.
"You should get inside the inn. I will be fine," Vincent suggested, his voice as soft as the snow and his eyes slightly droopy. Eve shook her head. He closed his eyes for a moment, before opening his eyes, and asked, "Are you opposed to the idea of us being together now that you refuse to offer your lap? One arm vampire isn't as attractive as two arms."
"I would never do that--"
"Like one arm man? I understand that yo--"
"No! I will take you one arm or one leg," Eve confessed, and she stared at Vincent for a second more. She got up and sat behind his head. She placed his head on her lap, letting it rest there than freeze on the ground.
Now that his head rested on Eve's lap, a content smile appeared on Vincent's lips, as if ready to spend the rest of his life like this. The pain in his shoulder didn't stop, but everything turned bearable with her next to him.
"Vincent..."
Eve didn't know if he was playing with her by stressing her now, but this wasn't a time to joke. She was worried, while they stared at each other. She heard him ask,
"Are you cold?"
Eve shook her head, "I am not. Are you?" But Vincent was a vampire, so the cold temperature wasn't harsh to him compared to the effect it had on her mermaid body.
Instead of answering her question, Vincent said, "If we were both ordinary people like humans, we would have had a tragic story. Me dying in your lap, and you shedding tears that was only salt water without any pearls."
A crooked smile appeared on his lips that led Eve to furrow her eyebrows further, and he used his left hand to touch his right shoulder and the remaining arm still there. He groaned in pain, his face contorting when he turned to his right side, picking up the severed hand and placing it where it was meant to be.
Soon Eve curiously noticed the way the severed arm started to attach itself back to Vincent's arm where blood had been dripping from a few seconds ago. When she looked closely at it, it was as if there were invisible needles and the skin behaved like threads, sewing in and out until it was completely attached to the way it originally was.
Vincent's earlier severed hand, the fingers stretched and a mischievous smile appeared on his lips. He said, "But we aren't ordinary people to have an ordinary story, do we, little girl?"
Eve was relieved that Vincent had an ability she had never seen or heard of before him. She sighed, "You could have told me that it would go back to how it was."
"And miss seeing you worried for me?" Vincent asked her, and even though he had fixed his hand, he didn't make an effort to get up and rather enjoyed comfortably resting in his lover's warm lap.
Eve wanted to glare at him, but she was too tired to do it, and she continued to stay in the same position, being his pillow. When she looked towards the inn, she saw Mr. Briggs stepped out of the inn, carrying her trunk and bag towards the carriage without being bothered that Vincent was on the ground. But it wasn't that the coachman wasn't worried, it was just that compared to all the other times, this time, his master had the person he cared for and cared back for him.
"What are we going to do about this place?" Eve asked him, because innocent lives had been sacrificed while the werewolves had tried to set Vincent up for a rampage murder.
"I will speak to the town's head if he is still alive or inform the nearest authorities. You can go with Briggs, I will catch up with you soon," Vincent suggested and Eve gave it a thought and agreed. As he had wings, he could fly back and catch up to the carriage.
"Okay," Eve responded to his words and heard him hum. She ran her fingers through his silver hair, pushing it backwards, where he appeared to be at peace. Out of curiosity, she asked him, "Do you always get attacked out of blue?"
"Sometimes," Vincent hummed, barely bothered by being attacked and he smiled.
"You have made too many enemies," Eve pointed and Vincent didn't deny it.
"Mm someone isn't impressed with me. You either eliminate or be erased from here. Makes you envy the ignorant who are blessed, while the ones who know barely survive above the surface of the water," listening to the words from Vincent that Eve was already aware of, she wondered who had sent their men today.
Eve wondered how strong Vincent was, and as strong as he appeared to be, what was his limit. Because as easily as he had fixed his arm, she knew he had pushed himself today while fighting the werewolves and was tired now. After all, he hadn't been in great shape when they had met at Berkshire.
After some time, Mr. Briggs drove the carriage from the place with Eve inside it. Vincent stayed back to fix things here.
Hours passed before Vincent joined Eve and Mr. Briggs in the carriage after he was done dealing with the deaths in the previous town they had stopped at. Now inside the carriage, the pureblooded vampire sipped blood from the fourth pouched bag.
Sensing Eve staring at him, Vincent stopped drinking and asked, "I am sorry, do you want some?"
Eve shook her head, "No, thank you. I am good." She asked him, "What did the magistrate say about the deaths?"
"He will be sending the werewolves' bodies for identification. First to Woodlock as that is where the werewolves are concentrated and then to the Council. I need to find the person behind it," Vincent's lips twitched in a nonchalant tone and slurped the blood from the small pouch.
"Anyone you have on your mind?" Eve asked. But Vincent didn't know who it was and he shook his head.
"No clue yet, but the closest related suspects are Sylvester and Walsh. They are the only recent ones, and considering how Walsh isn't aware that I had a hand framing him, that leaves Sylvester. Someone he works for, and someone who believes he is important enough to send werewolves after me," Vincent stated, and licked the corner of his lips.
His eyes subtly narrowed, while he ran his tongue across his fang. If he were being followed and kept an eye on, it would mean that it wouldn't be too far when Eve would be part of the same game he was part of, as she was important to him.
