Relief was the first thing that washed through him as her voice came through. He heard her moving around and couldn’t help but wonder if it was something else for the briefest of moments. Until the gentle notes of her soft and almost musical voice came through his ears. He gasped slowly, struggling to regain his composure and get his bearings, something that was so much more difficult without his eyes.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“I… I’m fine… my body is better…” </span>he managed through gritted teeth. The broken bones were healing but still not properly set; his leg worst of all where the bone had pierced through his flesh. Still, she’d done a good job.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“It was a dream… just a dream… and you’re not a figment of my imagination. He’s dead. We killed him.”</span>he repeated the last part a few more times as if desperately trying to convince himself that it was true.<br/><br/>When Ceiro had finally regained his composure, he forced himself into a sitting position, his back against the wall of the cave. What he needed right now was blood. But he owed her at least for the fright he’d given her.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“I dreamed that all this, that you, it had all been a dream. That i still had my eyes…”</span>he took a deep breath, as if recalling what he’d seen was too horrific for words.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“The vampire… he had me… he wanted me to join him. He wanted to make me kill my little sister… my star flower…”</span>he moaned.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff"> “So i could join him.”</span>he was so grateful that had been the point where he’d awoken. If he hadn’t, he couldn’t imagine what would have come next.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“I was so afraid… afraid that he’d killed my little Valla. He used to hold her on his shoulders. He loved the way she laughed… we were friends, he and I, and I wrongly thought she could keep us both from the darkness. But if he could fall… is that all that awaits me? Will the unconditional love of my sister never be enough?” </span>his voice caught in his throat, resting his head on his hands.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“I need blood” </span>he broke the silence he’d left to linger for a while.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“Animal will do. I don’t think theres a settlement near here, and i could never ask you to do that… to lure a person back here. It would put both of us in too much danger.”</span>he knew there was little chance that her father had ever allowed her to lure a person and erase herself from their mind. Nearly every man he knew did that for his children, and only when the daughter was married did that job pass to her husband.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“A deer… three if we need them. You should feed while you’re out, and just lure back here what we need for me… I wouldn’t want to draw suspicions…” </span>he didn’t realize how much his instructions sounded like orders. But the last thing he wanted was for her to get in over her head. This would never have been something that she’d done before.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4da6ff">“I’m sorry… I know i’m asking so much of you…”</span>