Victoria shivered under his coat but as soon as his hand had touched her side, she seemed to stop as it brought her some comfort. As he said she wasn’t dreaming, she sighed and almost shed tears but she refrained and shut her eyes tight. Figures. She was still in this hell. She pushed herself up as Vail explained he in fact did come to find her. No doubt he had those cravings for her blood. If that was what he came for he would be sorely disappointed that her blood would not be as easily drawn from lack of it. He quizzed her why she was out here in the middle of the night. She suddenly remembered everything. She tried to push herself off the seat. “Have to…find weapons…” She dizzily stood up and looked around the lodge. She spotted the crossbow in the corner. Claiming she’d used it for hunting out in the grounds was a good enough story but her mother never came out here anymore anyway. Only she used this space recently. She panted and hobbled to the crossbow. She bent down but it was a lot heavier than usual and she couldn’t even pick it up. “Not safe…” She rambled on then ventured to the box under the table to get her new gun out. She opened the box to reveal the silver bullet arsenal. She trembled as she picked up the gun, then shut the box so it wouldn’t sting Vail’s senses. She held the gun shakily as she panted for energy. “It’s not safe…for you…here. He’ll be…back soon..” She fell to her knees trying to get the gun barrel open without much grip in her cold fingers. “He knows….Spencer knows about us!” She couldn’t help the tears fall from her eyes and they trickled down her soft cheeks. “He’ll kill you…I won’t…let him….” She sniffled. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing Vail. Not seeing his face, not hearing his voice. He even brought her out from the cold and warmed her up. She hated to admit it, but he was her weakness. Despite her weakness and the fact she was mere mortal, here she was vowing to protect Vail, a strong vampire capable of protecting himself, because she wanted to. She had to.