As soon as Victoria gasped at the feeling of his fangs, Vail could tell something was wrong. Though she had flinched at his bite before, she had never responded as if she was in that much pain. Wary that she wasn’t handling it as well as usual, he kept her in the corner of his vision as he retracted his teeth from her neck. The blood that followed flowed more freely than usual, albeit noticeably slower. It was just as addicting to him as always though, and it didn’t take long before he was distracted by the rich taste that wetted his tongue. Surely she was fine anyway. Even if the puncture had hurt her more this time, it was over now. The rest of his feed couldn’t do any more damage than the initial bite already had, so he relaxed again.

However, it wasn’t long before he began to feel suspicious that something else was wrong with her. Her blood, though delicious as always, had a strange consistency as if it had been mixed with water. He pulled back slightly, confused. He had never fed on a human who had already been drained of her blood in such excess before, so he hadn’t known about the effect it was going to have on her. He was quick to make the connection though. What else could have caused a reaction like this aside from what Spencer had done to her days before? He was certain that the other vampire was to blame.

He was just about to tell her that he was going to stop so she could treat the bite, when suddenly, he smelled a spike in her fear pheromones, and she grasped at his shirt. The unexpected movement made him tense, just in time for him to brace her as she fell into his arms. It appeared she had been too weak for him to feed on after all. He studied her still-bleeding wound with a frown, absently wondering why she had offered her neck to him if she couldn’t withstand the blood loss. There wasn’t time to ponder over it now though. Her punctures weren’t clotting. She needed something to put pressure on the injury.

As she moaned and whispered his name, he hushed her gently. “Just lie still,” he murmured, carefully laying her down on the floor. He would have moved her to the lounge, where she would have been more comfortable, but he didn’t want to jostle her too much, so he set her where she was while he looked over the room for something he could use to treat her wound. There wasn’t much, but after a moment, his eyes landed on the table. It was lined with a decorative cloth that looked easy enough to tear.

He stood up from where he had been kneeling and stepped over to the furniture, gripping the edge of the cloth firmly as he ripped off a piece lengthwise. With the makeshift bandage in hand, he crouched down by Victoria again and got to work patching her injury. It didn’t take long—he merely tied the fabric around her neck like a choker—and when it was done, he picked her up to move to the chaise lounge. He set her down gingerly and sat beside her, resting one hand over the cloth to add more pressure.

Gazing down at her, his expression softened slightly, and he trailed his free hand against her cheek. She looked so frail to him, and he was reminded that she was more fragile than one of his kind. He needed to remember to be more careful with her in the future, so he wouldn’t cause her to become this weak again.

“Victoria, how are you feeling?” he asked in a quiet tone. He was unsure if she was fully conscious or not, but either way, he hoped the sound of his voice would bring her some comfort in the midst of her pain.