Chapter 190

"Are you seriously going to go through with this?" Prince Leo questioned Vorbuk's action. "We could probably find someone else if we just ask-!"

"We don't have time to worry about finding someone else for this." Vorbuk rejected the thought of wasting time to ask others to do it. No matter who it was if they agreed or not did not matter to him. The more time they wasted the more Ashley had to endure the pain and it put his life at risk further.

"We could even try asking Daryl.." Prince Leo tried suggesting someone else.

"Why should we force Daryl to take on the duty of helping Ashley? I am his master anyways. I will do it!" Vorbuk rejected his suggestion once again more firmly.

When he had accepted Ashley as his servant he took on the responsibility of taking care of him. To the continent he might be a slave but that was not how Vorbuk considered him. He had earned the right to be considered a comrade. He would not allow Ashley to die when he could simply be his cure. What use is wasting time to find someone else? This responsibility was something he was meant to carry himself.

"Very well," Priestess Mai responded when she noticed that the prince was left speechless at Vorbuk's words. "we should do this quickly. The more he is in this state the worse it gets. The more he will end up needing to help him heal."

A chair was brought over beside Ashley for Vorbuk to sit down. Handing him a bowl and a knife to begin the process. Vorbuk raised the knife to his wrist he cut carefully. He only needed to slit enough that blood would drip out while being careful not to put his own life at risk. If anything went wrong he had the priestess beside him so he was not worried for his own life at the moment.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Vorbuk's blood began to drain into the bowl where he sat. A hissing sound coming from the weak Ashley. His mouth was beginning to water at the scent of fresh blood as his sharp fangs were visible. With closed eyes he could smell the scent growing stronger the more Vorbuk's blood filled the bowl. Heavy thirst coming over him as he swallowed down his own saliva.

"M-Master?" Ashley stuttered as his eyes forced open when he realized what he was smelling. It was master's blood! Master hurt himself! The vampire felt startled when he realized what Vorbuk was doing for him. "You don't need to-!"

"Shut up!" Vorbuk scolded the injured Ashley to stop talking. "Are you going to reject your master's gift?"

Ashley could see a dark shadow over Vorbuk's expression as he spoke. There was no room for him to reject him. An ache was in his heart as he watched his master dripping his own blood into the bowl. Sweat and exhaustion on Vorbuk's face from over doing himself. Whether it was the fight or using his own blood to fill a bowl for Ashley to drink. It was impossible that Vorbuk was not feeling the heavy fatigue.

The priestess grabbed Vorbuk's hand that was bleeding and pulled it in to herself. Healing him quickly as she glanced between him and the bowl of blood that was in his other hand. "That should be enough! If you keep going you are going to collapse from blood loss. You are already low on mana from going outside the temple. Are you trying to deliberately make yourself sick at this rate?"

"I will be fine. My life isn't the one at risk right now." Vorbuk muttered as he watched the light from the priestess heal his cut. Her healing was more then enough to avoid even leaving so much as a scar behind. Nobody outside of the temple would ever be able to tell that he'd been wounded. Though Ashley would never be able to forget what his master had done for him. For someone who's life was considered worthless to others.

Moving the bowl to Ashley he brought it to the vampire's lips. His free hand guiding his head to tilt it upwards so that he could drink. The blood was warm unlike the aura he gave off that was always cold like the dark shadows he could control.

Gulp. Gulp.

Ashley drank the blood down slowly. He could feel the warmth circulating inside his body as it began to go to work. Running throughout his body it fought against the dead man's blood that was poisoning him. It was painful but in a different way. It was counter acting against the poison. Fighting it off would take time but the process was almost instantly visible. The more he drank the more the strength in his grasp came back as his hand grabbed hold of Vorbuk's wrist in order to help hold the bowl steady.

"Master," Ashley's voice was raspy. "Thank you."

Ashley felt he could not forget to say those two words. Weak as he was it did not matter to him. He had to thank his master for doing something like that for him. If it was anyone else that had become his master they would surely have left him alone to die without a second glance. That was something he knew deep in his heart.

"If you want to thank me you should get better quickly." Vorbuk said without looking at Ashley and sitting the empty bowl aside. "Now rest and recuperate properly."

Vorbuk stood up from where he sat and walked away. Behind him was the sound of the prince's steps as he followed him. The prince was worried as he saw Vorbuk was staggering in his steps. There was a pounding in his head that made Vorbuk feel uncomfortable.

"Vorbuk! Are you alright?!" Prince Leo caught Vorbuk's arm just as he was about to fall.

Vorbuk felt like the world was spinning around him. Everything was going dark as he realized he'd run out of mana once again. It had been a while since he had felt this weak. He had not ran completely out of mana in a long time. He had always tried to be careful of over using his mana. To maintain his human form and help Ashley he had pushed himself to the limit. In the end it came down to him fainting yet again as the world faded into darkness and his eyes closed.

"Vorbuk!" "Sir!" Prince Leo and the priestess both shouted as they were startled.

He collapsed unconscious in the arms of prince Leo. His human form fading away as he returned to his wolf form. Snoozing quietly as the prince collapsed to his knees holding the heavy body of the large wolf in his arms.

The prince tightly held onto the wolf as he sighed realizing that the wolf had only fallen asleep due to over exhaustion and over using mana. He paid no attention to the sound of the priestess and he knew Ashley was asleep as well as his condition needed time to recuperate. All that mattered to him was that Vorbuk was alright and they had avoided a crisis since Ashley would be fine.

What am I supposed to do with you in this situation? Prince Leo pondered what he should do about the sleeping wolf in his arms.