The process of removing any piece of silver from one’s body was never a pleasant thing. Vail ground his teeth as his father fished the bullet out of his shoulder while his mother looked on with a worried expression. He was grateful that Peter was as skilled as he was when it came to dealing with such serious injuries, otherwise the procedure might have been even more painful. As it was, the elder Hygrace was efficient in his work and dislodged the silver in no time at all before moving on to treat the now freely bleeding wound.

Vail endured the sterilization without complaint. Even though it was arduous, he knew any leftover bits of the metal would just poison him slowly over time. If he was to recover properly, the injury needed to be fully cleansed of silver.

“There.” He was relieved to hear Peter’s confident voice announce that the worst was over. His father used a rag to mop up the blood that had trailed down his chest and arm during the process. “That should be all of it. Let me know if you start to feel ill though, just in case I missed anything.”

“I will,” Vail assured him, taking his father’s hand to sit up from where he had been laying on the bed.

“I’m just glad you got away before that Saint killed you,” his mother shook her head while her husband went on to bandage his shoulder. “If you didn’t come home last night, I don’t know what I would do.”

“The Order shouldn’t even be targeting our family in the first place,” Peter muttered with an edge of bitterness. “We stopped killing humans centuries ago. They [i]know[/i] that, and yet they continue to treat us like we’re just as much of a threat as someone from any other clan. It’s absurd.”

Vail just shrugged his good shoulder in response. In truth, he was just as frustrated with the situation as Peter and Katherine were. The Hygraces went out of their way to compromise with the Order, even foregoing full meals by letting their victims live rather than bleeding them dry. In return, the Saints attacked them anyway. Of course, there were some members who did respect his family’s efforts to make peace, such as Alexander Crest. Hunters like him were the reason why the Hygraces still bothered to hold up their end of the deal. They might not have been able to convince every Saint to leave them be, but there were still enough who turned a blind eye that it was worth the effort.

However, there was no point in discussing the issue since complaining wouldn’t solve anything, so he didn’t say anything more about it.

“Thank you for treating me,” Vail said to his father as he rose from the bed. He picked up the clothes he’d discarded in order for Peter to clean his shoulder effectively, though he had a feeling he was just going to throw them away tomorrow. Everything he’d been wearing on his upper body was stained with his blood. It was probably unsalvageable. Still, tossing out a few articles of clothing was a minor loss considering he’d been shot with a gun, so he wasn’t upset about it.

“You’re welcome,” Lord Hygrace nodded, collecting the rags he’d used that were just as bloody as his son’s shirt.

“Please don’t forget to let either of us know if you don’t feel right in the morning,” his mother added with a frown.

“Of course,” Vail promised, ignoring her concern. He knew he wasn’t in any danger now that the worst of his injury had been taken care of. Even if Peter had missed a flake or two of silver, the miniscule amount wasn’t enough to do him serious harm very fast. As long as he caught it within a few days, he was sure he would be fine.

“Goodnight,” he tipped his head courteously to his parents before retiring to his bedchamber for the night.

--

The previous morning had been unpleasant, but it was nothing compared to the discomfort Vail felt when he woke up today. He groaned as consciousness brought along with it a series of aches throughout his body. The fresh wounds in his shoulder and leg refused to be forgotten, paining him as he shifted on his bed. Though they had both been cleaned and bandaged the night before, he had a feeling they were going to take some time to heal. Injuries inflicted by silver had a nasty habit of lingering longer than they were welcome that way.

Even worse than the pangs from his wounds, however, were the withdrawal symptoms. After going another night without feeding, his jaw was incessantly sore and he was beginning to feel generally uncomfortable. He couldn’t even think about anything other than going out to hunt, which put his wounds at the back of his mind. It was a survival instinct, he was sure, since it would allow him to take a victim without being held back by his injuries; but at the moment, he would have rather suffered physical pain than deal with the agonizing lust for blood that had replaced it.

He stretched his jaw, attempting to ease the ache. This was all [i]her[/i] fault, that nosey Crest heiress, Victoria. If she had just walked away at the tavern, he could have fed on the woman he’d been targeting and gone back to the Hygrace manor without any trouble. Instead, she just had to taunt him with that potent blood of hers, fragrant, tantalizing… irresistible. In spite of himself, his mind wandered back to the moment when she had waved her cut beneath his nose. Even though it had been the cause of his frenzy and something he knew he should be mad about, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Perhaps it was just because he was ravenously hungry, but he found it difficult not to be drawn to seeking her out again. He’d been stopped the last time, but maybe, if he tried again, he could get just a taste of that piquant blood…

A knock at the door drew Vail from his thoughts. Glancing up, he saw his father enter the room with a clinical look on his face. “How are you feeling?” he asked, straight to the point.

“Awful,” Vail admitted with another groan.

“Should I check your shoulder for more silver?”

“What? No,” Vail blinked, realizing that Peter had been asking about his injuries. “I’m healing fine. It’s just the [i]cravings[/i]. I can’t get them off my mind.” He sat up on his bed and rubbed his eyes. “It’s getting unbearable. I need to hunt.”

Peter studied him with a frown, “I don’t think you’re in any condition to go out, Vail. If a member of the Order catches you as you are, you’ll die.”

“I don’t think I have much of a choice,” he shook his head, which felt a bit foggy from the lack of blood. “If I wait much longer, I’m going to lose my senses. I’d rather go out while I still have some reason left, especially while there are Saints around.”

The older Hygrace hesitated for a moment before he sighed, “I suppose you’re right. It wasn’t your fault that you were stopped before you could feed last time… Just be [i]careful[/i]. You’re next in line to lead this family, Vail. I need you to take care of yourself, so you can succeed me when it comes time for you to take over.”

“I know,” Vail averted his gaze. The thought of stepping up to be the next leader of the Hygraces had always overwhelmed him, so he chose not to think about it often. “I slipped up once. I won’t let it happen again.”

“I’m sure you won’t,” Peter nodded. He turned to leave, but then paused. “Oh, and Vail.” He tapped the corner of his own mouth with his index finger.

Vail stared at him for a moment before the gesture clicked in his head. Hurriedly, he dragged the back of his hand across his mouth, where a thin trail of saliva had collected beneath his lower lip. With some embarrassment, he realized he must have been drooling when he’d been thinking about feeding earlier. He [i]really[/i] needed to hunt.

Exhaling irritably, he laid back down on his bed, deciding to get some more sleep as his father left the room. If he was going out, he was going to need all the strength he could get.