The vampire and the assassin

Chapter 16

As fast as they came around my throat and I struggled to breathe, he was dragged off me. I began to cough where I was as I used my right arm to push myself up, wincing from the pain in my chest as I found a short woman standing with her foot on his throat.

"You ok?" Her tone was void of any emotion. I felt a little dizzy from the speed at which everything had happened, but as I got my bearings, I realized that this was Marie. Xander's second in command, which meant Xander wouldn't be far behind her. I only remembered her because I'd seen her when I'd first arrived at the house, but my path hadn't crossed with her before today.

"Rosetta?" She asked as she looked at me.

"I'm... ok," I murmured as I carefully moved my left arm close to my chest, not wanting to move it too much as it hurt.

"Good, now, vampire, talk." I watched as Marie seemed to move her foot a little; that was when I realized she was wearing high heels, and she had the heel stuck into the other vampire's throat. "Who sent you rogue?"

"Marie? What's going on?" The sound of his voice sent a shiver up my spine. No, no, no, I'd been hiding from him. He can't be here now... However, I suspected he'd come with Marie being here.

"A rogue decided to climb in through your window; by the way, how many times must I ask you not to leave your balcony door open?" Marie scolded. "And to add to it, it seems like one of your maids decided to try and be a hero." Marie's eyes darted over to mine, as did Xander's. At that moment, I lowered my head quickly to look at my wrist, feeling the full extent of all the pain in my body. Even if I'd escaped out of the room, I'd not have gotten far with blood trickling down my arm.

"Rosetta." I heard footsteps walking towards me as I closed my eyes, but it was too late, he'd knelt next to me. "Rosetta, are you ok?"

I just simply nodded, as I didn't want to look at him. So much for keeping a low profile and staying out of trouble. I knew I was certainly going to get into trouble with Housekeeper Glenda. For the whole week, she'd been scolding me about keeping out of trouble, keeping my head down, and just getting on with the job and keeping out of trouble, yet here I was, right smack bang in the middle of trouble, doing the exact opposite of everything she'd been telling me all week.

"Rosetta, I can see your arm is bleeding." I opened my eyes to look at my arm and realized that it was cut pretty badly from being thrown into the desk and having whatever it was break under me. "Are you bleeding anywhere else?"

I shrugged a little. I had no clue. I knew my arm hurt, but I wasn't sure if it was my arm, my shoulder, or both, and my whole body hurt from the impact too.

"I'm going to help you up, okay? Then we'll go and get you looked at."

"I think your maid is broken." The tone in Marie's voice sounded like she'd found it funny that I hadn't spoken to Xander at all.

"I think Rosetta is in shock. How about you take your new play friend?" Xander muttered as he took my good arm, held me tight to him, and helped me stand up. I leaned against him, pleased that he was a vampire and was strong; otherwise, I wouldn't have leaned as heavily on him as I had. Xander led me to his bed and sat me down. I wasn't sure if he thought I'd not make it any further than that, but I was pleased I wasn't moving anywhere else.

The door shut, and I stole a glance up to see that Marie and the other vampire had gone.

"Please excuse Marie; her bedside manner isn't that great. I keep telling her that, but she won't listen to me." He laughed a little as he put his head into my view and smiled a little, but as he did, I lowered my head again.

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble," I whispered quietly. "I heard movement, and I thought it was Sarah," I muttered. I wasn't sure why I was explaining myself to Xander. He'd not asked me what had happened, yet here I was jumping to my own defense.

Xander lifted my head and looked me in the eyes. "I don't care about why you were in here; I am more bothered about your well-being." He told me softly. "Now, I want you to stay there, and I'll ask someone to get the doctor to come over quickly so he can check you over and make sure you're alright. I won't forgive myself if you're not ok." He took his hand away from my face and then got up and headed to the door.

I lowered my head as I closed my eyes to keep myself together, as I really wanted to start crying at the moment because of his words. Why was he so hell-bent on making sure I was ok? I was just a human and nothing else; there were millions of other humans out in the world. I clenched my right hand into a fist as I turned my head away from myself. Maybe he was just feeling like he was responsible for me because of Lucian? I wasn't sure, but I couldn't let myself feel safe in his presence after all. I knew what I was going to do in about three weeks and six days, and I certainly was counting.

Xander came back in and headed through the door near his now trashed desk. I lifted my head to watch for him coming out, wondering what he was up to. I heard him rummaging around a little in what I guessed was the bathroom; he then came back with a bottle and some cotton wool. He then sat next to me on the bed. He took the lid off the glass bottle, poured the clear solution on the cotton wool, and took my left arm carefully.

"This will sting. I apologise." He told me as he kept focused on the cuts and began to clean them with the wet cotton wool. As soon as the solution touched my broken skin, I wanted to scream in pain, as it really did sting. I closed my eyes for a moment and bit my lip hard to distract my head from the stinging.

"Rosetta, why didn't you run when you saw that there was someone in here? You could have shouted, and someone would have come and dealt with him." I opened my eyes and looked at Xander as he worked, the stinging slowly going away as my body almost seemed used to it.

"I didn't think. I just acted." I whispered as I felt my heart hammering hard in my chest. I had no idea where that truth had been pulled from, but it had scared me just how easily it had slipped out of my mouth and how calm Xander had seemed about the situation; he certainly was nothing like Lucian.

"You need to think more and not act. I do not expect anyone to put their life on the line for me, not even the vampires in my house." He stopped cleaning the first cut and looked up at me. I could feel the wave of his frustration washing over me and sweeping me up. I couldn't look at Xander for long before I lowered my head quickly. Xander let out a sigh of frustration and then went back to cleaning the next cut on my arm, which had begun to sting all over again.

Neither of us said anything as the tension hung between us, and I didn't like it one bit. "I'm sorry." I finally whispered, as my hands had begun to shake a little. I felt Xander pull his hand away that had been holding my arm steady; he'd also stopped cleaning my cuts.

"Rosetta, I'm not angry; I promise... I'm just..." Xander began but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in." He called and then cleared his voice.

I felt Xander get up from next to me as the weight on the bed shifted, so it was only me sitting on it. I heard him talking, but the words just seemed hazy and distant to me. I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts to take in anything that was being said around me. He wasn't angry at me; he was just... I had a feeling I'd never find out the rest of the sentence in a hurry.

Xander just made me feel confused on every single level; I had more questions than answers, and I just wanted to know even more about why Lucian had wanted to get rid of Xander. None of it made sense. Lucian had said he was horrible like him and that I would be able to let my stress and frustration of what he'd done to me out on Xander, yet here Xander was, worrying about me and getting frustrated by my actions, yet he had no need to get this way; I was simply hired and paid to help, that was all.

"Rosetta?" Xander had lifted my head and looked at me full of worry as I blinked a couple of times to clear the haze away and focus on what was going on.

"S...S...Sorry." I stuttered. I saw the way relief washed over his face, which made my heart flutter a little. Why was he so bent on being worried about me? I wasn't his responsibility to worry about.

"The doctor wants to know what happened. Where did you hurt other than your arm?" I could see the hesitation in Xander's eyes as he pulled his hand away, clearly unwillingly, as he also took a step back. I lowered my head for a moment as I processed the question and then looked at the short, bold, and round doctor who was wearing what I guessed was his day off clothes, as he didn't look professional in any way.

"Ummm..." I retold the story to the doctor of what had happened as he nodded to me.

"How does your back feel?" He moved in front of me so that I'd focus on him, which I couldn't help but mentally thank him for. I'd prefer to look at anyone other than Xander at that moment.

"Just a little sore; I've had something similar happen to me in the past, so I know it's nothing bad. Last time, I was told by a doctor to carry on as normal unless it got really bad, then go back. Other than that, use ice for the first day to help with the muscles and any bruising, and then warmth for the rest of the time. I wasn't allowed to bend or twist or anything like that; that could make it worse."

The doctor nodded to me in agreement. "That would be my advice; also take some painkillers." He touched my forehead with the back of his hand. "Although I might tell you that tomorrow you are to rest and not work as you seem hot and flushed as if you're coming down with something," The doctor looked at Xander, who nodded. "Did Lord Xander clean all of your cuts up?" He asked.

"No, I did not finish," Xander answered from behind the doctor.

"Do you wish for me to finish it up and bandage it up?"

"I think that would be best, yes. That way, if she's hurt her arm further, you can deal with it." I looked up at Xander as I watched him walk away towards the open balcony windows. It hadn't been for that reason at all. I wasn't sure what it was, but I had a feeling it had something to do with guilt, and that had been why Xander had walked away.

"Has your arm been hurting?"

"My shoulder hurts a little, but I just thought it was bruising from landing on it."

"May I check it for you?" He asked as he got up, and I simply nodded as he got up, stood in front of me, and put his hand on my shoulder. I let out a small squeak of pain as he touched it. I kept my gaze forward, but at the edge of my vision, I saw Xander come back inside.

"You've dislocated your shoulder. You'll need ice on it, and we'll need to get that sorted for you." I let out a slow sigh as I knew it was going to be very painful to do it. "Lord Xander..."

"I'll go and get some ice now." Xander left. I wasn't sure if he was in a rush to get out because he knew how much it was going to hurt, because he was angry, or because of something else. I sure as hell wasn't brave enough to ask him. I wasn't brave enough to ask what he'd been feeling the whole time, even though I was curious.

"Let's get this over with." I don't remember much of what the doctor did; I just remember that it hurt like hell, and the pain also made me want to be sick because it hurt. By the time Xander had come back into the room with an ice bag, the doctor had popped my shoulder back in, finished cleaning the cuts, and was finishing up bandaging them.

"Light duty for you for a little while. Keep your arm in the sling for a few days just so it doesn't pop straight out, and then you'll be good to go, but like I said, light duties for a little while."

"Thank you," I told him quietly as he helped put my arm carefully into the makeshift slink. "I'll make sure to use ice on my shoulder to help with the swelling, and the same with my back."

"Any problems, come and see me. I'll drop some painkillers into your room for you." The doctor got up, bowed a little to Xander, and then left, shutting the door.

"I will make sure to tell Glenda you're on light duty." Xander passed me the ice pack, and I put it on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry for causing so much trouble," I muttered as I held it to my shoulder. I could feel all the adrenaline beginning to leave my system now that everything had calmed down. "I'm sorry for whatever I broke as well." I looked up at Xander. He looked at me, came to me, and knelt down in front of me as he stroked my cheek as if trying to keep me calm. I wasn't sure what mess I looked like, but I didn't care. I guessed that my adrenaline rush was leaving me big time now.

"You caused me no trouble as for what you broke; it's just items. I have lots of other things." Xander shrugged. "Your human life is more important to me than things."

"Why..." I'd begun to try to form my words, but I could feel everything around me beginning to spin. I lowered my head in hopes that I'd make the dizzy feeling go away, but it didn't. I lifted my head again to look at Xander, but all I heard was a hiss in my ears, and then I blacked out.