Chapter 40: Chapter Forty

"Sinclair, please wake up!" I said, looking at his painfully beautiful face. There was a horrid gash on his forehead, something that would have been fatal to any human, from his hairline to his eyebrow. His right arm was snapped and nearly severed off as I could see the bone separate of the rest of the arm. There were various other injuries, but none were nearly as bad as his forehead and arm.

I was beginning to think he was dead, until a barely audible groan escaped his lips.

"Sinclair!" I exclaimed, my heart thumping in newfound hope.

"Bast, please back away now." Damien said as he stood, and tried to pull me away from Sinclair.

"No, he won't hurt me." I argued, holding tightly to Sinclair.

"He's a recreant!"

"And you're an uneducated idiot!"

"Lucifer, what... What is going on here?" Sam said as he walked closer to the three of us, his eyes darting from Damien, to Sinclair and me. When his eyes landed on me grasping tightly to Sinclair, the shock on his face was evident, it was clear he had no idea what to do.

I looked up at Sam, and noticed he was holding a bottle of blood. Without a second's hesitation I grabbed the bottle and sat behind Sinclair, putting his head in my lap before I slowly tilted the bottle down, pouring the thick liquid into his mouth. When the liquid touched his tongue, his eyes darted open, earning a warning snarl from Damien who kept his hand on my shoulder, ready to yank me away.

Once he'd drunken his first sip, I watched the gash on his forehead heal. The second sip, I watched as the bone in his right arm snapped itself into place. With the third sip, Sinclair was nearly completely healed, drinking the blood as quickly as I could pour it. He put his hand on top of mine and tilted the bottle back, gulping down the blood. He groaned when he'd finished, and leaned back to look at me, a small smile on his face.

"Thank you, little human." he said as he lifted himself off of my lap, and looked around at the men, waiting to attack.

I stood as well, looking at the three men who'd nearly killed him, who stood only a few feet away watching us curiously. I turned around to face Damien, who was watching Sinclair intently, waiting for him to make a move. "Damien, he won't attack you." I said as I finally allowed myself to relax against him, breathing in his scent as I placed my head on his chest.

"Then it will be easier to kill him." One of the men said, an impish grin on his face as he came closer to Sinclair.

I turned around and glared at the man, standing in front of Sinclair, a growl coming from the depths of my core as I watched him closely. Wait a second... Am I growling? At a vampire? I knew I didn't imagine it when the man stopped, then took a few steps back, his eyes wide as he watched me.

Everyone was sober as we all waited in silence, for someone to act first. Damien remained standing next to me, watching Sinclair, his red eyes unblinking and unwavering. Sam was still just in front of us, watching me, uncertain of what to do or say. And the three men remained off to the side, watching the four of us.

Suddenly laughter broke the silence, as Sinclair found something about the situation amusing.

"Are you really growling, little human?" He chuckled out as he watched me, his laughter only growing louder as he spoke.

I rolled my eyes at Sinclair before turning to face Damien. "I promised I would explain everything, can we please go home?" I asked him, taking his hand in one of mine.

"What do you propose I do with him?" Damien asked, not taking his eyes off of Sinclair as he spoke to me.

"He comes with us." I said with a shrug, looking back at Sinclair, then at Sam. "But I can't do that vampire speed thing again, did you bring a car?" I asked as I took Sinclair's hand, and walked with them both back towards the barn.

"You're kidding, right kitten?" Damien stopped, forcing me to nearly fall backwards from the sudden resistance.

"Damien, please. We have a lot to talk about, and we can't do it out here with everyone trying to kill him. I promise, I will explain everything and Sinclair has some things you need to know too." I said, releasing Sinclair's hand to put my arms around Damien's shoulders. I tried to stand on the tips of my toes to kiss him, but he remained a statue as he stared at Sinclair. "You aren't going to kiss me?" I asked, trying to get him to look at me instead.

After a few moments Damien finally looked down at me, his eyes returning to blue as he leaned down and kissed me softly. "You really want to bring him back with us?"

"Yes. But he's not going back in that cage." I said as I put my head on his chest, and looked at Sinclair who was waiting patiently, looking down at the ground with his eyebrows raised.

"As you wish, my love." Damien said as he kissed the top of my head, then took my hand and walked with me back towards the barn. "You three, leave." he said as we walked past the three men, who hadn't yet moved.

"Sam, you should come too." I said as we arrived at the Barn, where Damien had a car waiting.

Sam sat in the drivers seat, and Damien began to sit in the back with me, until I told him to sit in the front with Sam, and let Sinclair sit next to me. Damien growled at the idea, and sat on the other side of me instead. The drive was agonizingly silent as no one wanted to speak first, with all three of the vampires still on edge being in proximity with each other, unable to attack. I sighed and looked from Damien to Sinclair, who were both gripping my hands a little too tightly, making my hands numb.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to keep my hands." I finally said, trying to steal them back from the seemingly deathlike grip. Sinclair released my hand, with a short apology. Damien kissed the side of my forehead and pulled me against him, glaring at Sinclair.

After what seemed like an eternity of riding bitch next to two very pissed off vampires, we finally arrived back to Damien's mansion.

"Thank god!" I exclaimed when I finally stepped out of the car. I took Sinclair's hand and led him into the library, before looking at Damien who'd followed us, and pointed to the couch across from Sinclair. He began to say something, but stopped when he saw I wasn't in the mood to argue. So instead he sat where I told him to and waited. I pulled Sam off to the side out of Damien and Sinclair's hearing, I asked him to get drunk blood to make this situation less tense.

"What are we doing?" Damien asked when I returned to the library, and sat on the chair between the two couches.

"Don't you realize that for an out of control recreant, Sinclair seems to have a lot of control?" I asked him, wishing I'd remembered to grab alcohol from the kitchen.

Damien looked at Sinclair, then back at me. It was clear he hadn't been paying any mind to it, but realized now what I was saying. "How?" He asked, turning to face Sinclair.

"Recreants are much like newly made vampires. The difference being we have the tendency to kill a lot more. Regardless, we can regain our control." Sinclair explained.

"You slaughtered hundreds of humans, in the span of ten years. You expect me to believe you're just like us?" Damien asked spitefully, his eyes flashing red quickly before returning to blue.

"I'm not saying we are the same. Us recreants are stronger and faster, for instance." Sinclair responded, a wicked grin playing at the corner of his mouth.

"Play nice kids." I said when I heard Sam return. I stood and went to greet Sam who had three wine bottles in hand, walking towards the library. "Thank you, Sam." I said, then grabbed his arm as he was beginning to leave. "Oh no, I'm not doing this shit on my own. Go sit down." I said before walking into the kitchen to get a bottle of wine.

When I returned, Sam was sitting next to Damien as Sinclair continued explaining about recreants. I sat back down as I tried to pop the cork from the bottle, but groaned in frustration when I couldn't. Damien took the bottle and popped the cork, all without his eyes leaving Sinclair, before handing it back to me. I watched as the three men chatted, and drank their blood. The more they drank, the more at ease the three of them became. I felt like I could finally breathe as the air became less tense.

Sinclair spoke for a while, only stopping to answer Damien and Sam's various questions until he'd explained everything.

"I think Sinclair could be a sort of teacher." I cut in. "He's the oldest vampire, isn't he? Who better to train recreants, than the oldest surviving one?"

Damien nodded in agreement, then looked back at Sinclair. "You are not forgiven. But I do apologize for my part in everything."