Chapter 308: For safety
Silas threaded his fingers through her hair and cupped both of her cheeks before pulling her face for his lips to connect with her forehead.
After that, he kept his eyes shut while tracing the bridge of her nose with the tip of his.
"I really need to see Ada and-"
"They are all alive and safe. Even Katherine," he cut her off to whisper those words.
By then, the vampire had moved her back to his room where he mostly just held her in his arms.
"Was I unconscious for very long?" she murmured.
"Something of that sort, yes," he nodded, keeping her as close as possible to himself.
"In that case, I am really sorry for worrying you,"
Silas literally broke into laughter. Not a bitter or manufactured one, but one from the heart.
The kind that invited tears along. Still, he fought his hardest to remain calm and just hugged her tighter until she complained again.
Only a few seconds after that, the door flew open without any prior notice before slamming against the wall behind it.
Soon, Ada’s crazed and glistening eyes appeared through the curtains.
"Oh, my Lord! It is real! They weren’t lying," covering her mouth, she whispered, choking back a cry.
"Who wasn’t lying?" Arabella turned to her, head tilted.
From the looks of it, it had become clear to Silas that Arabella held no recollection of what truly happened. Namely the fact that she’d been dead for more than twelve hours straight.
"Oh Lord!" Ada repeated while running and throwing herself in Arabella’s arms.
"Please, don’t cry like that," Arabella rubbed gentle circles on Ada’s back, "What did you think was going to happen?"
"You are alive!" Ada’s entire body shook as she sniveled into Arabella’s dress.
"Of course, I am alive!" a sweet little laugh escaped the young woman, "Why would you say that?"
Abigail, Astrid, Grace and Allegra stood not far behind. All looked shaken and out of wit. They huddled together and stared expectantly at what would be said next.
Both Grace and Allegra visibly shrunk upon noting Silas’s glare on them, but their demeanor quickly shifted when Arabella ran to them and hugged them.
"Oh! You are both alright!" she smiled, "I feared the worst had happened when I didn’t see either of you two,"
"We... We are fine," Grace nodded profusely and uttered between tears, "We thought...,"
"Now this is certainly something," next came Persephone.
As soon as her voice rose in the room, the girls made space for her to walk forward. The Lady made her way towards Arabella and took her face between her hands.
Her pitch-black eyes darted from left to right, inspecting every inch of the young woman’s visage.
"I...," Arabella started, "Is there a way for me to see Katherine?"
"No!"
Arabella leaped in her spot and spun around upon hearing Silas’ cutthroat response.
Persephone raised a hand, "Not for now, girl. You may not, but later, yes, for sure," she nodded.
Arabella’s face lit up a little, "I see that Ada is alright," she smiled at her friend, "And I assume Madame Arumina has been taken care of," she half asked.
"Yes, indeed," Ada answered, "She is resting for the time being,"
"Yes, of course," Arabella nodded, "She is older, and her injuries were deeper so that makes sense, but what about Katherine?"
"Worry not," Persephone interfered, "She’s also been taken care of,"
A man and a woman donning white coats made their appearance in the room. Judging by the scarlet color of their eyes, Arabella assumed they were vampires.
"Now, fear not for what is about to happen is quite normal-"
Persephone hadn’t yet finished speaking that her son cut her off, "No, mother! That isn’t happening now! Give it time,"
"The sooner we learn what is happening with her, the better for her sake," she again raised a hand to calm him, "You wouldn’t want anything to happen to her again, would you? Be reasonable, Silas,"
"I do not understand," Arabella looked between all of their faces for answers.
"We simply want to conduct a few tests on you in order to know whether or not you are out of danger, my dear," the female doctor explained.
"But...," her eyes kept on moving between all of theirs, "I assure you, I am alright,"
By then, even Silas saw reason and stopped protesting.
"Bear with us, my dear. If not for yourself then for the people that care for you,"
Persephone’s words left her without a thing to say and so, she compiled.
The doctors guided her towards the bed and the first thing they examined were her eyes and skin.
"Anything out of the ordinary?" the Lady inquired.
"Absolutely nothing," the male doctor spoke.
"Straighten your arm for me, darling," the other told her, "I will just take a small blood sample from you,"
The two doctors prepared a small vial, but upon holding the syringe, they exchanged that sort of look that left Arabella a little perplexed.
The way everyone surrounded her did not help calm her nerves either.
Very delicately, the doctor pushed the tip of the syringe into Arabella’s veins which sank inside without any sort of resistance.
Once again, the vampires in the room exchanged that same kind of look as minutes prior.
Once done, the male doctor held the full vial of her blood up at eye level and examined it, swirling its content from time to time.
"Anything suspicious?" the Lady asked.
"We will have to conduct more tests but... For the time being, nothing seems out of place for a human," his eyes traveled onto her at those words.
The doctors exited the room as soon as their work was done, soon followed by Persephone and the rest, finally leaving Silas and Arabella alone together.
"That was quite odd," she whispered, "Did something else happen at all?"
"A lot has happened since yesterday," he said. Although he spoke those words more to himself than her.