Indecent Folks

"Go take him to his room before he wakes up," Paige ordered Sawyer while two vamps walked into the lab.

I fell on the chair beside me and watched them carry him by his arms. This was the second time he fell unconscious before me, and I still don't get why. "Did I do that?" I whispered.

"Hey," Cooper showed himself from behind me and took my hand to wrap it with a handkerchief. "It is not your fault-"

"It's her fault," Paige cut in, shoving her gun inside the coat hanging on the rack by the door. "She's not welcome here, so we must do everything to get rid of her as soon as possible. Take that damn towel off her hand and get her blood!" she yelled.

Cooper sighed and looked at me, obviously apologetic. "It's okay," I said and pulled the handkerchief so I could pour more of my blood into the beaker. The cut hurt so much, reminding me of Rougan again.

"Rougan smelled my blood from outside?" I asked. No one responded, so I looked up and found Lauren and Cooper near a shelf while he checked on her. Paige sat back in her chair, continuing where she left off. As if nothing happened. "Has he always been like that?" I asked again.

Paige gave me a cold gaze. "We prepared, and we know what to do, but that doesn't mean that it's always like this. You're the first curse ever to set foot in this village."

I blinked and looked at my dripping blood. "Curse, huh..." I mumbled. "That's the most recent insult I've received." I chuckled sarcastically and balled my fist to pour more blood.

I wrapped my hand with the handkerchief when I finished and stood up. "Do you still need me here?" I asked Cooper.

He took his hand off Lauren's neck and turned to me. "I will come to your room if I ever need anything else."

"Come to Rougan's room," I corrected him before walking towards the door.

Paige laughed, prompting me to throw a look at her. "You must have noticed his obsession with you already, so you're now playing the good wife card to step up your game?" she asked.

I smiled at her and shook my head. "I fucked him all night, Paige, and I'm still sore. So there are no more games to step up."

I left the lab and went into Rougan's room. Two handmaids cleaned his wound while he slept on his chest. I stood by the end of the bed and noticed the bullet on a metal plate beside him. "What's in there?" I asked.

A handmaid turned to me, then to the bullet. "Just like the arrow yesterday, it was laced with a mixture that makes a vampire instantly lose consciousness, Miss Dani."

"And you have a lot of those?" I asked. This is a weapon against them. It makes little sense to have them.

"This is the first time that the village purchased this kind of mixture. Doctor Banford told us it's for Sir Rougan," she replied hesitantly.

I sighed and waited on the couch as I fixed the handkerchief around my hand. Rougan rushed to me yesterday when Sawyer tossed me on a tree and earlier when he smelled my blood. I'm not comfortable that he was hurting his fellow vamps. Paige hates it so much what's happening to him, so the reason behind it must be awful, more awful than I could imagine.

When they finished, I sat on the edge of the bed and watched Rougan in his sleep. They cut his upper garment, so I took it off and tossed it on the floor. I stared at his long lashes and thick eyebrows while I caressed his hair with all gentleness so that I won't wake him up, but he moved his hand to hold mine and rested his cheek on it.

"You're awake all this time?" I asked.

He smiled and shook his head. "I woke up when I picked up your scent."

"Which is when?"

"When you're in the hallway." His hand went to my hip as he opened my eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

My heart thumped at the sight of his apologetic eyes. "You should say that to Sawyer, Cooper and Lauren. You hurt them. What happened back there, Rougan?"

He opened his mouth and shut it before he could even speak. "It's complicated."

"One day, I'm a fugitive, then the next, I'm in a village full of vampires where I found out that I'm a so-called kingmage. I'm fucking a vampire leader and sleeping in his bed. What makes you think I couldn't grasp the idea?" I whispered. He smiled and poked my nose. "You enjoy your status here that much, huh?"

"What status?"

"My queen," he said before kissing me. I gasped both from the softness of his lips and the force of his kiss.

He tried to position himself above me, but I nuzzled his chest. "Don't you have work today?" Instead of answering, his eyes landed on my hands. He gently took the wounded one and removed the fabric. "It's still bleeding," I said before pulling my hand, but he held my wrist.

"Do you want to see something nice?"

"Depends on what's nice for you," I replied, a little hesitant. He casually bit his thumb, so I jolted in shock. "What are you doing?!"

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Blood dripped onto his fingers before he pressed his thumb onto my palm. I winced in pain, but I let him keep on with it. Suddenly, I could feel my skin pulsating before the pain from the cut vanished. He wiped my palm with the handkerchief, and my mouth hung open when my wound has healed. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Is this real?" I stared at my palm and moved my fingers to make sure that the wound was gone. "Does every Sunken can do this?" I asked.

"Just me," he whispered. "But it's our little secret."

I gently nodded and smiled at him. "I will forget this after taking the Sapper, so your little secret will remain safe."

He blinked and smiled at me before nodding. "I'll see you tonight then." He kissed my forehead before getting off the bed.

I helped him prepared and tied half of his hair into a bun. When we finished, he wrapped his arms around me to kiss me. "Are you going back to the lab?" he asked.

I gave him a sharp look and pointed my finger at him. "No more tricks like that again," I warned.

He clenched his jaw as he sighed and nodded, a little more determined than he usually is. "I'll try."

I smiled at him and nodded as well. "You're going to tell me everything eventually, aren't you? Before I lose my memories, you'd let me know what's happening to us?"

He furrowed his brows, and sadness suddenly filled his eyes. His mouth was slightly open while he tried to find the words to say. "I promise," he whispered before turning his back on me, but I caught his arm.

"Because this isn't loving, is it?" I asked. I could no longer hide the dread in my voice. He turned to me, and I saw the same apologetic eyes as he gulped. I forced a smile and shrugged. "I've always known that there's some witchcraft going around here, but not as mystical as love."

His eyes landed on the floor, and I just got the confirmation that I needed. I was right all along. This isn't because he was falling in love. Something made him do this; something changed him, and I don't know what to call it.

I watched him step out of the room, and when he closed the door, I fell on the chair behind me as I turned to face the dressing table. My chest painfully throbbed as I gasped for air that I badly needed. This isn't real, after all.

Suddenly, the rain started falling, followed by a rumbling noise of thunder. I went to the window and was about to close it, but I froze when I saw the dome had changed into a grey colour along with the clouds in the sky. The Sunkens ran towards the shed of their houses as they stared at the sky. Some of them were worried.

I put gauze in my hand to pretend that I'm still wounded before I headed back to the lab to check on Paige and Cooper, and I found them standing beside each other as they leaned on the edge of the table. All I saw was their backs, but they seemed like they were staring at something on the floor, so I walked past the table.

"Jesus!" I almost fell on the floor when I saw a man lying on his face on the floor. I choked on my saliva, so I held my neck and shot a look at the two. "What happened here?"

Cooper shook his head calmly. "Your blood didn't work. It even fastened the poisoning."

"So his death was my fault now?"

"For Christ's sake, Dani. He's a prisoner," Paige cut in. "So let me remind you again that he's waiting on death row. He's meant to die," she overly defended.

"What was his crime?" I asked, couldn't even take a step closer despite wanting to see his face.

"He killed a group of queers in a tavern. Shot them all point blank in broad daylight just because, and I quote, men are not supposed to wear fancy colours in their faces," she said, rolling her eyes.

I looked away and turned to lean against the end of the table. My temple throbbed from the stress as I stared at the wall in front of me. "You said my blood works, Cooper," I mumbled in frustration.

"It's supposed to, but the thing is, we're not sure how much. We can't keep testing a dose to the criminals, or they will all be dead until we get the right amount."

Silence filled the room, and it gave me some time to think about my mother. "There's something that my mom used to tell me before. Magic exists because science doesn't always work."

"Hmm, I bet she wished that magic healed her," Paige taunted.

"Shut the fuck up," I blurted and turned to face them. "What I'm trying to say is, what if we add magic to the Sapper? Maybe a witch could help us with some spell."

Paige sighed and gave me a stern look. "First of all, we're not sure if a witch can do something about this. Second, it's been decades since people tried to make a Sapper. Do you think none of them tried magic?" "What do we do then?"

"Give us a few more days. Testing the Sapper on a human was a bad move. It's just because we thought that the mixture was good. We're going trial and error from here, so while we're at it, try not to cause trouble within these walls," said Paige.

Cooper turned to face the table and dragged a beaker. "Go put a hundred grams of your blood."

I took the beaker and moved a little far from them so he won't see my healed palm. Then, when they weren't looking, I grabbed a knife and slit my skin. Trial and error, huh. I sighed as my blood dripped into the beaker-what a horrible day.