Dimitri was still mummified when Nikola woke up. The vampire's mouth was still behind a cast. The brunette didn't doubt one bit that the nurses knew what he was, and that was why they had sealed his mouth shut.
So, as if that was going to help them should Dimitri decide to free himself.
Nikola could see in the man's shining red eyes that he wanted to let him have it, but he wasn't ready to get his tongue lashing.
No. Nikola pulled out a chair and then sat down. He smiled at Dimitri, laid his hand over the vampire's bound one, and then began to talk.
"I think I saw a fire demon who thinks himself a god," Nikola began. It was easier to make sense of everything that had happened in the last couple of days.
The vampire he had been worried about was probably behind bars by now. Or if not, then on the run.
"Look, I have my mana back," Nikola took one of the roses from the vase by his bed and then made it bloom. The small bud which had refused to unfurrow when it was picked, blooming into a rich white blossom.
"I know you are angry," Nikola would have been angry as well, if his lover ended up jumping through a fire.
Dimitri's eyes narrowed.
"But you probably don't want me to tell you the obvious things. So, I will tell you how I will lead my live from now on."
If he had been targeted by the Wild Hunt. If he had been hunted like a fox, then he was certain that others were as well.
"I will travel, with or without you," a part of Nikola wanted for Dimitri to ask him to pack and go. To take the easy way out and to never threaten the vampire's life again.
But that part was so small that Nikola barely paid it any attention.
What they had was in its infancy. He knew that to call it love so soon was to jinx it.
And yet, he still placed a hand over Dimitri's muzzle, that binding which was made so, as if the vampire would stop having fangs if it were in place, and he pulled it down.
"Darn it, Niki!" Dimitri said. The fact that he was using the man's shorter pet name calmed the brunette somewhat. "Magic is not a toy!"
"I know that… now," and the fact that he had thought it is a toy once made his ears color in shame.
Of his foolishness. Of his own broken dreams.
"I need to get stronger. You were right about the first death being the Selkie. I died the third death as well. Now only the second one remains."
Nikola looked out of the window. The trees looked so as if someone had been draining them of moisture.
He chuckled.
"And I don't think we can live with the humans, but the forest holds its dangers," Nikola continued. Not wanting to be interrupted. "So, I guess that we can be nomads! I know, I'll buy a tent, and…!"
"Niki!" Dimitri yelled, as he took hold of Nikola's hand. He shook him gently. "It is ok to say you are scared."
Nikola chuckled.
"Yes, that is what I am feeling," he leaned in, placing a kiss on the vampire's forehead. "I fear the mad scientists, who would love nothing else but to study a druid. I fear the cool forests with their ghosts. But do you know what? You are with me. That is one thing I don't fear."
Nikola kissed his lover on the forehead once more, just as the nurse walked inside.
"Sir, are you feeling better?" The woman had two glasses with pills in them. Nikola figured those were painkillers.
But he was not in pain. And he wanted his mind to be as awake as it was at that moment.
"Yes! Thank you! By the way, he is feeling better as well." Nikola nodded at Dimitri, who was in the process of unwrapping himself.
"Oh, yes. Mr. Popescu, we would like to run some tests on you," the nurse said. There was something small in her left hand.
Dimitri sighed. Oh, he should have known that the nurses would try to get some of his blood.
"Good woman," Dimitri began, as he propped himself on his elbow. He tore the system out of his arm. Finally got his legs free. "I am fine. Besides, I am a full citizen. If you detain me, you will end up on the news."
The nurse wavered so, as if she were considering the backlash.
"Not to mention, the council will let you all have it if my blood ends up being researched."
Even Nikola knew that Dimitri was speaking about the vampire council. But the nurse didn't budge.
"We believe that your blood is the cure for cancer," the woman said. It was what she was asked to say, should the patients want to leave.
"Sure, it is," Dimitri said with a snort. "Would you like me to tell you what will happen if someone gets injected with my blood?"
Dimitri opened his mouth, letting his fangs grow.
"You can have my blood," Nikola said, as he placed the now blossomed rose back in the vase. "I am just as immortal as he is."
Dimitri took hold of his hand, but Nikola just stood up and began to walk towards the door.
"I have no idea if my blood will cure cancer, but I would like for you to leave Dimitri be. He has been through enough."
The nurse was told to take one of these monsters to the lab. She was asked to do it at any cost.
"If you give us 500 milligrams of blood, we will give you a check for 10,000 dollars."
She knew that it wasn't right of a hospital to buy blood like that, but she had seen the mess the man had been when his equally banged up lover had brought him in.
Burns to the fat layer. His nails black and broken.
Of that horror, there was nothing left.
Better the one who came willingly, than to deal with the vampire council.
Nikola followed the nurse out. Not knowing that his blood would start a revolution.