The penthouse sure was amazing, but seeing Sirius’ excitement really was the best part about it. I watched him closely, enjoying his sparkling eyes and a big smile. This definitely was the right apartment for him. But once the tour was over, and they started going through the papers, it became really clear really fast that Sirius was getting exhausted.

And he was in pain. He did his best to hide it, but he couldn’t stop himself from taking small, sharp breaths every time he moved. The sounds were so small I doubted I would’ve noticed them if I hadn’t already learned that when a creature who didn’t need air was breathing, it was a sign of something – good or bad.

But there wasn’t much I could do. I wanted to ask him if we should head back to the clinic, but I was sure he wouldn’t listen. And I didn’t want to let Silas know Sirius was injured. I had no idea how much this elf knew about him – or me – but for as long as Sirius had enemies in this city, every bit of information was too much.

When it was finally time to leave, I held back a relieved sigh. Sirius was turning pale now, and he was quite silent on our way back to my car. As I helped Sirius in the car, he was already in so much pain he was barely able to focus on me.

I called Mike to let him know we were on our way back home. I didn’t need to tell him about Sirius’ condition since he could tell just by the sound in my voice that he was not well. I tried my best to focus on driving, but no matter how carefully I tried to drive, every little bump and turn made Sirius feel worse.

Once we got back to the clinic, Mike was already waiting for us by the street, and hurried to help Sirius out the second I stopped the car.

“You guys… Making a fuss about nothing…” Sirius muttered, barely keeping his eyes open.

“Let’s just get you inside,” Mike replied patiently.

I felt horrible. I shouldn’t have agreed to take him to the penthouse so soon. We should’ve waited until he was strong enough… Seeing him so weak made me fear this was a massive setback in his recovery. My fear grew worse after we’d taken Sirius back into his room, and he nearly passed out from pain when we helped him back into his bed.

“I’m… fine…” he whispered between heavy breaths.

“Yeah, you’re just fine,” Mike said, keeping his voice cheerful, but he clearly shared my worry. “You just try to get some rest, okay?”

“Do you need blood?” I asked, already pulling my sleeves up, but Sirius shook his head.

“I… This isn’t… a vampire body…” he mumbled.

“He doesn’t have fangs,” Mike explained.

“I’ll cut myself,” I offered, searching for something sharp, but Mike let out a grim snort.

“Slow down there, pup. He can’t heal you either,” he said, giving me a weird glance before turning his attention back to Sirius. “We’ll wake you up to eat once you’re back in your own body, okay?”

Sirius nodded and tried to smile at me when I sat down next to him.

“The apartment is beautiful,” he said, and even now, he was excited.

I smiled back at him. “It sure is. I can’t wait to see it once you’ve moved in.”

“I’ll need to… I need…”

“Let’s talk about it once you’ve rested, okay?” I said quietly, brushing his hair back.

“Furniture.”

“Yes, you need furniture,” I agreed, watching him close his eyes.

He fell asleep in seconds. Or passed out from exhaustion and pain. Once he’d fallen completely immobile and stopped breathing, I turned my attention to Mike. He was still giving me odd looks.

“What?”

“You’ll cut yourself? Really? Just like that?” he asked.

“What? He doesn’t have fangs,” I shrugged.

“Boy, sometimes you’re scaring me,” he said with a sigh.

“Why? I just want to help.”

“And that’s the scary part. How far are you willing to go to help someone else?” he asked.

“To be fair, I didn’t realize he can’t heal me,” I pointed out.

“That’s not really the answer I was looking for, but fair enough,” Mike said. “I’m assuming you’ll stay to keep an eye on him?”

“Obviously.”

“Good, because I have other patients to look after. The potion takes a few hours before it wears off, but when it does, it is a good idea to make him eat. Let me know when he wakes up so I can check the wound.”

“Sure,” I said, waited for him to leave the room, and then turned to take a closer look at Sirius.

I had used to seeing Sirius lying in his bed, not moving or breathing, looking like he was dead. But now it was somehow freaky. I mean, he looked really old, he was pale, he didn’t breathe… Just… Freaky.

I went to grab my laptop so I could work on an essay or something, but most of the time, I kept checking if Sirius was turning back. It did take about two hours before I started noticing changes in his appearance. The transformation back to a vampire was much, much slower than when he was turning into a human. It took almost fifteen minutes until he was in his own beautiful body.

But he didn’t wake up. I went to sit down on the edge of his bed, not really knowing what to do. He needed to rest, but he needed to eat, too. I didn’t have the heart to wake him up, but I didn’t have the heart to let him starve.

“Sirius?” I murmured quietly, touching his hand gently. “Wakey wakey…”

I rubbed the back of his hand gently, and little by little, he started waking up. He seemed so tired when he finally opened his big blue eyes, and I immediately felt bad for waking him up.

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly. “But you should eat now.”

It seemed to take him a moment to understand where he was and who I was. He stared at me in confusion, but then he smiled drowsily.

“Hey, you,” he mumbled. “I didn’t know you were coming to visit me.”

I frowned at his words. “Are you all right? I was already here when you fell asleep.”

“Really?” he asked, frowning as well.

“Yeah? We went to see the penthouse, remember?”

He stared at me for a brief moment, and to my relief, his excitement returned and he smiled widely.

“Oh yeah! It was amazing.”

“But are you all right?” I asked again.

“I’m fine. Sorry, I don’t think I’m fully awake yet,” he said, and laughed lightly.

He at least seemed to be fine…

“Maybe you’ll feel stronger once you’ve eaten,” I said, taking the spot right next to him.

“You’re spoiling me…” he muttered.

“You deserve it,” I said, offering my wrist.

The fact that he was happy made me happy. He was still smiling as he licked my skin. I took a comfortable position next to him and watched him closely while he ate. His cheeks started gaining color almost right away, and his body relaxed. He didn’t seem like he was in pain, and since his white shirt stayed white, I assumed his wound was fine.

Once he was done eating, he tossed his head back with a happy little groan escaping his lips.

“I shouldn’t get used to this,” he said, licking his lips clean, still holding my hand. “You taste so divine…”

“I wouldn’t mind if you got used to it,” I said.

He took a careful look at me, and didn’t say a word.

“So, you loved the penthouse?” I asked to change the subject.

“I loved it,” he said. “I can’t believe it’s been on the market for so long already.”

“Perhaps it was meant to be yours,” I said with a smile.

“Perhaps,” he said and smirked. “I can’t wait to move in. But first I’ll need new furniture.”

“How are you going to do that?”

He hummed lightly and focused on studying my hand for a bit. “I can order everything online.”

“But you can’t be there when they arrive, in case someone could recognize you.”

“Exactly.”

“So you’ll need someone else to be there to open the door.”

“I assume so, yes.”

He avoided looking at me. His entire posture had turned shy all of a sudden, so I knew that could mean only one thing.

“I would gladly help with the furniture,” I said, wrapping my free arm around his shoulders. “And you know I will, so there is no point in trying to object.”

He let out a small chuckle, then glanced at me. “You’d do that for me?”

“You already know the answer to that,” I said and hugged him.

He rested his head on my shoulder and placed his arm gently around my stomach. And I… I tried to shake off the weird feeling that tried to rise inside me. But I had to admit… It felt good to hold him.

It felt really good to hold him.

He wasn’t in a hurry to move away either. I let my hold on him grow stronger as the time went by. Neither of us said anything. It was so calm and peaceful. I enjoyed his scent. I enjoyed his soft body against mine. It was surprisingly soft. I wasn’t sure why that was surprising. Maybe because in the stories their kind were described as strong, nearly invincible creatures, so I’d pictured their bodies hard as iron. But no… He felt really soft… Everything about him was soft.

I nearly melted in my spot when he snuggled closer to me, making himself comfortable. The weird feeling in me intensified, and I allowed it to happen. Who would’ve thought vampires were cuddly creatures? At least this one was.

“Are you feeling better?” I asked quietly.

He nodded. “Much better now…” he spoke drowsily.

“I promised to let Mike know when you wake up so he can check your wound,” I said.

“Sure thing…” was the only reply I got.

He sounded so sleepy it made me melt even faster now.

“Can I see the wound?” I asked, and he nodded.

He didn’t move a muscle when I carefully lifted his shirt. The wound seemed fine, but the edges were red and raw. Sirius was so comfortable I didn’t really have the heart to call Mike just because of this.

“I’ll let you rest for a bit before I’ll ask him to drop by,” I ended up saying, and let the shirt fall back down.

“Okay…”

“You just rest now,” I muttered in his ear. “I’ll watch over you.”

He rubbed his cheek against my shoulder for a little bit, then let out a deep breath. I had a big smile on my face as I watched him fall asleep. I kept staring at him much longer than that, feeling happy and content. And when I remembered his excitement over the penthouse, my smile returned. I was happy for him, and I couldn’t wait to see him recover and grow strong and gain his life back, so he didn’t have to hide anymore.

I wanted to be there to see it. I couldn’t even imagine not being there to see it anymore.

About half an hour later, Mike stepped into the room. When his eyes landed on us, he immediately gave me a stern look.

“You were supposed to come get me,” he said quietly, making his way to the bed.

“Sorry – he was so sleepy,” I muttered.

Mike snorted at me, then carefully moved Sirius’ shirt to see the wound. He clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“He shouldn’t have used the potion,” he said with a sigh.

“Is it bad? It doesn’t look bad?”

“It could be worse, but this is a setback we could’ve avoided.”

“We can’t keep him here forever,” I noted. “You should’ve seen how happy he was.”

He glanced at me, then at Sirius. “You’re right. It’s not a big setback.”

“Good.”

Mike took another look at me. He clearly had something in his mind, but he wasn’t in a hurry to say it out loud, not until I asked him about it, and even then, he was hesitant.

“How far are you willing to go to help him?” he asked slowly.

“I’ll do anything for him,” I said without hesitation.

“Right, you keep saying that, but I don’t think you understand the entire situation yet,” he said.

“Then enlighten me,” I said.

“You do understand that for as long as you stay with him, your life is in actual danger? And I’m not talking about just death. There are far worse fates than death, and I’m sure his enemy won’t treat you kindly if they find out about you.”

I looked at Sirius.

“I want to help him,” I said. “I want to protect him.”

“But do you understand how dangerous it will be?”

The image of Sirius bleeding out in the backseat of my car popped into my head. I knew this wasn’t children’s play. I knew I could end up looking the same, or even worse. Or even worse than worse.

I looked back at Mike.

“I understand,” I said.

He nodded slowly. I had the feeling he didn’t believe me, and to be honest, maybe I didn’t completely understand the danger we were in. But I was not turning my back on Sirius.

“He won’t be able to protect himself for as long as he’s recovering,” Mike said. “And… He’s not a fighter. Vampires are strong, but that doesn’t help if he’s up against another vampire who knows how to fight. So he may not be able to protect himself or you even in full health.”

“So what can we do?” I asked quietly.

“Wait here,” Mike said and left the room.

I used that moment to stare at Sirius and think about Mike’s words. I felt something big and ugly in my stomach. Suddenly, I couldn’t get rid of the image of Sirius dying in the backseat of my car.

What could I do? What could I, a mere human, do?

Mike returned only a few minutes later, carrying a big gray briefcase. He gave me a grim stare when he stopped next to the bed and sat down.

“How far are you willing to go to protect him?”

“All the way,” I replied.

Mike still doubted me, but he placed the briefcase on the bed next to me and opened it.

I stared at the two guns resting inside it.

“Do you know how to shoot?”

I forced my eyes up to meet Mike’s gaze.

“No.”

“Then you need to learn. Fast,” he said.

I turned my attention back to the guns. I took a deep breath, then reached out to touch one of them. The cold metal under my fingers felt harmless but threatening at the same time.

“Do you understand how far you may need to go to protect him and yourself?” Mike asked one more time.

Now I did.