14 XIV

Samty let out a pained rumble as a start.

His head feels like it's rocking against the waves of the rampaged sea while his body is numb from all of it. His forehead knotted in such despair as he wasn't even opening his eyes yet the unforgivable bright light of the sun already blinds him behind his close lids. His body stiff like lead nailed to where he lies and heat crawling up under his skin that burns every corner of his body. With a frown marring his already crumpled face, Samty desperately tried to shed off the burning feeling by thrashing helplessly on where he lies, hoping the blanket he guessed that's suffocating him would tear off and let him breathe.

With the found strength from too much moving and the will to get some cool air, he shift his position from laying to his back onto his left side—and life really had no mercy to spare him.

"Ah!"

"Careful"

Slit eyes squints down to where the window is perched with the old curtain fluttering merrily from the cool breeze that didn't do much from replacing the fire engulfing his whole body when an invisible knife seems to slice open his flesh. Not really registering the concerned voice earlier, he inhaled sharply that painfully cuts through his chest while he immediately snaps his foggy eyes to where a hand found its place near his steaming skin. From the sudden harmless movement, Samty felt like air had been squeezed out his system. Vision circling madly with his head pulsing like he had hit it somewhere hard that shakes all his insides. Much enough to cause a nauseating feeling that he indeed summon the food he have in his stomach.

He rolled over his sudden cooperating body to his other side that's not giving him a hard time and let his trembling right arm support his weight on the edge of the bed. There he sticks his head out the bed and retch a bile worth of a meal that left a string of sting on his throat. His stomach churns from the sudden loss and his chest desperately heaves in a breath of air to calm his nerves that spiked up. The sour taste melts in his mouth as he slumps down on the bed that surprisingly creaks under him. His bleary eyes from sleep and tears watch with disgust the pool of mixed colors on the wooden floor. Left arm limply laying beside him.

"Why do you keep on presenting yourself as disgusting as possible?"

"Well, have you swallowed one back to keep clean?"

Samty retort with his scratchy throat. Voice cracking on and off from how exhausted he already felt and somewhat of how long he had last used it. The movement itself is tiring but he went to face the difficulty it gave, defending himself from humiliation that seems to love every inch of him. Closing his eyes to block the still insanely moving surrounding that pains him deeply, he will his self down in even breaths to calm down for his own sake. Even when he felt hands pulled him to lay on his back, he still didn't bother to open them and continued his task. But even behind the safety of his lids, the darkness around him also moved in an insufferable phase.

"Relax, it's just from the loss of blood"

He heard a soft whisper far his hearing range, or maybe it's close and it was only him that's far from the present happenings. Either the two, he doesn't bother to pick on out when his left arm is currently being manhandled by the same hands who moved the blankets back up to his chest.

Samty unconsciously whined from the breathless hug of the sprawled fabric on his burning body paired with the pain that shoots up to his arm. The prickling on his skin came more itchy and unbearable once the cloth that seems to be wrapped around it had been peeled off.

With great difficulty on doing so from all the ache he is receiving all at once, he crack open his eyes and rests his head slightly on sideways. Vision focusing first on Amtari, an ugly grimace drawn to his face, before he followed where his eyes is locked onto that caused the latter his disgruntled expression. And if he wasn't feeling spent and there's enough strength left on him, he would have pushed his self up into a sitting position and finish unwraping it himself the cloth that was substituted as a bandage when the tip of his wound peeked out on the living. But there he was, left to peer down to his arm that's marring a clean long cut from his elbow up to his shoulder.

"It's not healed"

"Wa..."

He blinks in utter bewilderment, mind completely blank.

"W-what happened?"

He stared silently unbelieving to his left arm. The ugly purple and black color of where the two flesh meets, courtesy by the stitches, horrifyingly stared back. Bits of fresh crimson blood slides contrastingly across his even paler skin together with the other dried ones that made it more painfully to look at of how grotesque the image had come off.

Samty immensely wrack his brain from any inhuman happenings he might have gotten himself into from the last time he was all but a mess like this that made this wound on him be possible. It's long and deep and hurts like hell. But all he can remember from his shock state of mind is the unfathomable news of him being a vampire and blood everywhere.

"Ow!"

He flinched back with all his might though he only manage to inch it away on the peering hands. The finger that's poking the tortured end of his skin halts on its curious jolts on his wound.

"It still hurts?"

It was a bewildered question and Samty can't help but grit his teeth so much that it threatens to smash out. Letting out a growl in the process and throws the man one of his distasteful glare. Hoping he looks intimidating against his current situation.

"Oh no, of course it doesn't! Don't worry, I'm certainly a wood that feels nothing at all!"

He barks out and was ready to bite the hand that came rushing in aid when he cradled his opened wound close to his chest that squeeze out more blood. But the latter must of have seen the giddiness of him to inflict pain if he ever go even a single soft touch to his skin that he quickly retracted back his limb, mindful of his intact hand much to Samty's displeasure.

Greatful that the other let him be but not entirely considering he's that close into tearing those tissues, he shifts to lie on his right side away from the range and lost look of the other. Hand pressing down on the wound in attempt to stop the now small stream of blood drizzling out.

Samty bit his lip harshly, nearly tearing the skin and have another wound to let more blood escape his system. With the knowledge of it now, it began to throbs heavily and the wicked pain envelopes him like hellfire throughout his back and chest. The poor fingers on his left hand felt numb and exceeds down to a purplish color as he swallow down his whines of agony. More tears gathered on the rim of his eyes but none is successful to free itself.

He can feel the dipping edge of the mattress as the other kneels on it to reach over his back after leaving him for a couple of seconds. But before he can have it on his shoulder, the door of the room swings slapping open on the wall with a loud cracking sound.

"I've been screaming Amtari! Fermon is wounded!"

Samty found half of his attention on his arm got snatch away as he look with furrowed brows on the doorway where Tarim is panting like she had run a mile, and perhaps she did.

Her hair is disheveled and there are scratches on her cheeks that's slowly closing in, healing themselves without any help. Some lone leaves and twigs stuck on her pants and shirt that is somewhat too much crinkled in every corner. There's even a huge spot of he considers as mud on her left sleeve if the cake of wet soil on her palms it not a great give away. His eyes then went to the man that quickly scurries out the room and sight, paying no glance to him nor to the woman who slumps down against the oak door once those words were shouted in urgency.

He wasn't really sure how he can manage to study the state of the other above his also not-so-best state, but when you see a distress person—or vampire at the moment—you can't just possibly ignore it and continue your sleep. So rather than closing his eyes to get more rest, Samty scoots forward on the edge of the bed and flails down his legs on the floor before sluggishly sitting up. Mindful about his quickly draining energy as right hand still putting pressure on his arm.

Upon his careful movements, he still winced from the ache it causes to his arm and whole body when he finally pulled himself up into his full height. Muscles and joints seems to be only awaken once he fully stretched up. Samty blinks away the sleep on his eyes and completely ignores the dull headache starting at the back of his head and slowly padded his way on the silent woman that found herself on the floor.

"Tarim?"

His throat still have that sting and the sour taste of the bile he had thrown up didn't vanished. He didn't hide the grimace from all this, not like he'll hide it the same if the other is looking, and sits with her on the cold floor. The pain is not leaving and seems to be increasing tenfold as seconds ticks by.

"I can't believe I let that happen"

She started and Samty listens. He listens because he doesn't understand and is too tired to voice out any means of him wanting to hear the whole story. Besides, his breath smells disgusting from the prior happenings.

"If...I-If only I l-listened"

Her voice crack at the middle, shattering any resolve she had before the dam broke, and he was left watching her break down on the corner of his eyes. Back leaning on the wall with his legs sprawled in front of him unlike to the fatal position the other had shrink herself in. With a hidden jolt, Samty went stiff as board on his seat when Tarim's head went to settle down on his unwounded shoulder that left a small trail of blood on the floor. Her legs folded to her chest as she silently bare her heart on the silence of the morning.

Well, not entirely.

"Celo?! What happened to you two?!"

"Enough with the interrogation! Just pull that thing out of him!"

"How—How the fuck Celo?! You're only against some harmless hunters! Why did you let this—shit!"

Samty can cleary hear the loud argument of them. From the hollow sound, it seems like they were downstairs on the opposite side of where the room they are currently in. The wails of the kids also echoed on the whole house, probably got woken up and scared by the screaming of the two.

His attention then got pulled up by the footsteps that's nearing their place coming from somewhere and almost got a heart attack when the opposite wall of where the door of his room is located bursts open and there a man steps out.

"What's the shout—Tarim? You're back!"

It was a sullen gruff first, the tall 'human' man must be got stirred up also by the shouts and the wails of the kids, before his half-lidded eyes went to fully wide open as it gaze down on the heap of a body next to him. His sleepy face brighten then but he quickly frowns when the latter didn't said anything back and just continued her silent mourning over something.

Suddenly, they lock eyes and Samty got taken aback by the harsh color of dark green pinning him down.

"I didn't do anything—"

But his words of quick justification got cut out when a loud crash resounded onto the whole building followed by a sudden silence. The wails of the kids also dies down as another pair of feet padded across the dim hallway between them carrying a red-rimmed eyed boy on her arms.

"Onpil? Are all the kids up?"

Dowem, from what he can remember Fermon had address him, picks up the boy when he turned to him and pleaded to get carried by him instead.

"No, Feri is still sleeping. Did they found Serpin?"

An unexpected cry of frustration was again been echoed on the house that startled all of them, Tarim being an exemption for she hides herself even more. Eyes went to look on the other end of the halllway where the upper part of the staircase begins.

"From the looks of it, they haven't"

Dowem fill them as he gently sways the young boy in his arms, eyes fluttering close in a way to continue his cut slumber. But that wasn't the one he needs to focus at the moment nor the rapidly increasing tension building on his left arm.

"She's missing?"

Samty can't handle the questions piling up in his head. From the missing scenes he forgot about earlier, he doesn't want another missing person—'vampire', he lamely corrects himself—to think at the moment.

"Serpin went wild yesterday and until now she hasn't come back. I hope she's fine"

He looks up at the girl standing before them all still wearing her sleeping clothes as she worriedly look down the hallway, perhaps silently hoping everything is okay.

But he doesn't found the will to sympathize with them at the moment as all Samty did is blink owlishly.

'Yesterday...?!'

"No, we...w-we found her"