Unknown Spare Room ((Where Armando Keeps a Vampire in Captivity))

"Yes... but I can't...." He repeated. He sighed. "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" The words were out of his mouth before he could really analyzed that they meant.

"..." Calista remained where she was a slight frown of confusion on her face.

"What the-------What?"

But a small distinct blush appeared on her cheeks...for a moment.

Not knowing what to say next. Armando left.

Leaving her all alone in her room for about the third time.

Calista watched him leave, still very confused.
And slightly flattered...
In fact rather flattered...

In fact...-Calista silenced the voice that seemed to voice her feelings all the time. It's constant monologue of mind-changing was getting annoying.

You can't deny it...
Yes I can, because you are just a voice!
So are you.
Well I'm a metaphorically taller voice.
...Still...He is good-lookin-
ENOUGH! He is a slayer! And he's probably lying anyway.
Didn't look like it.
Shut up! I'm in charge! And I say he was lying! And even if he wasn't-I say that your little monologue is discounted!
Bah humbug. That's why you're blushing then...

Calista made an annoyed noise and lay down again. Stupid emotions. And why the hell was she blushing?! Vampires don't blush! They just don't!

Yeah right. You just did.
Again, SHUT UP!

Needless to say, Calista's sleep was confused and argumentative.

Outside the room...

Armando was having a similar argument in his head.

What the hell was that?

I have no idea.

That's why you couldn't kill her! Because she was pretty?!

No... because... I don't know why I didn't kill her!

What the hell kind of slayer are you?

A bad one.

Dang... you might want to find a new occupation.

Gee thanks self, thank you for your confidence in me.

No problem. You are so screwed. You better get yourself back on track.

And how do you propose to do that?

Easy... kill her...

I can't!

Because she's pretty?

No!

Because you like her?

NO!

Admit it. You like her.

No.

We are so screwed. What the hell kind of slayer likes a vampire.

A bad one. AND I don't like her!

Yes, new occupation.

Armando decided to work out.

When Calista woke up the first thing she noticed was the light blurring.
Blurry light? What the-

She stood up, and fell forwards. Her normally instant reflexes only kicked in after she hit the floor.

What was wrong with her?!
...No...not now...She hoped.

She slowly rolled onto her back and raised her right arm slowly. Closing her eyes, she opened them again as the room spun slightly. The light slowly became less blurred. And she saw her arm was white. All over. And stiff.

Fear hit her and she coudn't move.
She was running out of energy...
She managed to haul herself up into a sitting position, back against the wall.
Sighing, she let her arms fall to her sides and focused on trying to think of a plan.

But her brain was slower than normal.

Swearing in her head, she cursed her stupidity.

Hey, at least you can't blush now! The lack of blood seemed not to be effecting that one stupid monologuing voice in her head.
Unfortunantly.

Armando walked in, in his usual time carrying yet another food tray.

He was rather stunned to find his captive in apparent pain.

He placed the food on the desk and approached the vampire. "What's wrong?" He tried not to put that much concern in his voice.

"Nothing." Calista's voice was full of pain.

She winced as a wave of pain burned through her.

And she swore as she sensed his blood.

"S-Stay away from me." She hissed through clenched teeth. Not that she could have overpowered him in this state-but she didn't want to end up biting him...

And you know why...
SHUT UP!

He blatantly ignored her, and edged closer. "You're pale..."

She was pale before, but this time, well it looked a little like all of the blood rushed out of her...

Armando paled. He knew what was wrong.

"Blood... that's what you need isn't it?"

"...yes." Her shoulders slumped.

She nervously chuckled. "Hey, just what you wanted. One dead vampire."

Calista closed her eyes as two more waves of pain washed over her.

Armando moved back.

She must be telling the truth - about nothing killing anyone else. He's met starved Vampires before and they attacked like mindless zombies... but she...

No. He wouldn't. That was a line he could not cross. Sure keeping a vampire in captivity was one thing but... sharing one's blood... that was another matter all together.

But she could die!

So be it. Let her die. She killed Elicia. Let her starve. A fitting end for someone who fed on innocent life.

But she's sorry about that!

How do you know that? She could be lying.

Looking at her hapless, vulnerable form, Armando took a silver blade out.

Calista felt relief.

At least this pain would stop.

Stabbing was faster and much less painful than this...

She winced and kept her eyes shut, strength ebbing away. Pain washed over her again and again...

Calista prayed for the silver blade to end it.

Something came over him. He had no idea what he was doing. It was like... one of those out of body experiences.

With his other hand, the free hand, he pulled the sleeves up to expose his forearm. He then proceed to make a cut across of it.

"Feed."

Calista opened her eyes blearily. "What?" She whispered.

The scent of blood hit her, and her vampire senses urged her to drink the slayer's blood. In her weakened state, she could barely reisist.

She tried not to breathe, and the room swam.

"Feed." He repeated, sitting on the bed next to her.

What the heck? Was wrong with him?

"Feed." He found himself saying again.

Calista's eyes closed, and when they opened a split second later, they were gleaming. The pupils dilated and she pounced on the blood immediately.

Slowly, Calista felt her strength grow.

She hadn't fed in so long...

And slayer's blood was really really good...

Her eyes opened again and she noticed the human looked pale. Fear gripped her...for some reason.
You know why...
SILENCE!

Calista yanked her mouth away from the blood and landed about a metre away on her feet. It felt so good to have blood in her once more...

"...Are you alright?" Her eyes were wide with fear as she approached the Slayer.

Please, please don't let me have taken too much...

Armando braced himself when he felt lips on his self inflicted wound.

He felt pain, initially, then he felt like he was floating... he felt his life slowly ebb away from him... but he didn't want her to stop... What was this? Why was he feeling like this? It felt a bit like a dream...

Suddenly he felt the dream stop... as the Vampire turned away from him. His mind was bombarded with what had just happened. He just shared his blood with a vampire. And he felt weak... oh so very weak. He collapsed on the bed he was sitting.

Calista darted over.

IDIOT! STUPID IDIOT! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE NOW! YOU'VE KILLED HIM!
...Wait he's still breathing...isn't he?

"Um...Just um...don't move. At all."

I knew I should've learnt first aid...
What kind of vampire learns first aid?!
Shut up!

She moved the slayer onto his back and dragged him up to the top of the bed, placing a pillow under his head.

"...Sorry...I'm so sorry, I didn't mean--I..."

He couldn't really speak. He felt very weak...

Instead he groaned.

"Um...erm...Um..." Calista wished she had her wand.

Which gave her an idea.

"Do you have a wand? Or a blood-replenishing potion? Or something?" Her voice was strained.

I really shouldn't be this worried...
Yes you should.
Shut up.
No! You're always repressing me! Just admit it!
What? That I may have schiz-
NO! Admit-
Silence! Thinking!
...

Perhaps due to the fact, he's just lost a considerable amount of blood, Armando, against what would be his normal judgement, managed to gesture to Calista that his wand was in fact in his robe pocket.

"Okay..." Calista extracted the wand from the pocket and muttered, "Accio blood replenishing potion."

Try saying that ten times when you're drunk.
...No.

A potion soared into the room, and Calista turned to the Slayer.

"Drink this..."

She put it to his lips.

Again really, if Armando was in his right state of mind, a state he hadn't been in since the day he decided to take Calista in, he wouldn't have been drinking from something a vampire was giving him. But he wasn't. So he drank.

The last thing he thought of was... she isn't pretty, she's beautiful... before he drifted off into unconsciousness, the Potion taking its effect.

Calista placed the slayer's wand on the table and glanced at the food he'd brought in.

She'd save it for when he woke up.

She stood in the shade near the balcony, out of the midday sun, and waited...

A few minutes later, Armando started to speak... but he was in some sort of a delirium.

"I'm sorry..." He mumbled, his eyes still closed.