The one who can’t get away

She had this thing. Call it keeping practicing. The afternoons were often spend in Southside in a fighting pit she had created for her own sake of fun. Even through she always won her fights, she didn’t really heal that fast and thereby was a mess leaving the pit. Her blood was in the air, the sweet smell l. She bleed from her lip and her knuckles where almost ripped up. Bruised and battled but stubborn as she was - she walked down the street with no fear. The ally was dark and no doubt vampires would catch up with her sooner or later. She was dressed in a pair of black jeans and a white tank top - or it used to be white now it was soaked in blood. She had a minor injury on her left leg after the last fight today, so her walking game could have been stronger. Valeria hates waiting and waiting for Anastasia to change time was killer, she regretted not just taking her place back then. But it was two years ago by now.

Malachite hadn't been here long. As usual, he did what his father and sister wanted him to, and stayed behind. Even after Valeria had left their time, he had stayed because it was what his family wanted. He didn't took any pride in being so dependable of his family, but he didn't really have anyone else. After Valeria had discovered who his parents were, she had lost interest in him. Perhaps he had felt distanced to her as well. Things just didn't work out. He was okay though. She had been important to him, but it wasn't because he had loved her like he would die without her. He didn't love anyone like that. He sometimes thought he wasn't able to love anyone so much. He was walking on the southside, when a familiar smell hit him. Valeria was near. Of course she was. He walked towards the smell of her blood and stopped a little while from her. She was really bloody. He felt his heart beat a little faster for just a second. He was scared she was not okay. But he had been taught such feelings was a weakness, so he drowned it within himself before he walked closer. He was only wearing a grey t-shirt and jeans, and shoes and socks of course. "Red is a good color for you," he said and crossed his arms. "Don't tell me you have been fighting without me." A smirk fell to his lips. It was his classic expression. Either a smirk or stone face. It was rarely something in between. Valeria was one of the few who had experienced other sides to him.

A familiar voice echoed in the alley and made her stop. She turned her gaze to him, not looking very pleased. But the past years that had been her to-go expression. And she seemed to have lost her sense of humour after her parents died, in some ways at least. She spit some blood out on the ground before running a hand through her hair. Her eyes where locked onto his.
”Screw you,” she said before running the back of her hand over her lower lip to remove the blood. Her jaw was sore from the beating, but she was okay - considered everything. ”what the hell are you doing here Mala? if he was here it screamed like trouble in the nearest future. She had enough problems as it was already. She took a step forward but her face escaped an expression of pain, and moved her hand to her leg. Valeria returned her eyes to him and moved her arms out to the side.
”Oh please don’t tell me I’m the reason you are here. Because I appreciate the gesture, but it’s a bit stalkerish.”

The smell of her blood intensified, as she spit some of the ground. He could always recognize her smell. That was the good thing about hybrids, they had a unique smell. Her attitude had only become more edgy. He enjoyed it. She had been sweet when he first met her, but then hell broke lose and the sweetness was replaced with salt. ”No, that used to be your thing,” he said with a slight laugh. She was curious to why he was here. She should be. ”I would much rather surprise you.” He could see the pain on her face as she stepped forward. It made his heart jump a beat, although he didn’t let it show. His expression remained the same. A mask of what he wanted people to see. ”Don’t think so highly of yourself. Arrogance always looked better on me than you,” he claimed. Malachite walked all the way to her. ”I can help you. All you have to do is ask.” He knew she didn’t like asking for her help. She was too stubborn.

She rolled her eyes at his comment. Valeria narrowed her eyes to the next. "Oh sweetheart. You know I tend to stab people who surprise me," she pointed out and shook her head at him. He kept on pushing her bottoms, and right now she wasn't really in the mood. She had to get to the mansion. Valeria was way to stubborn for asking for his help. It was confusing for her, all these mixed signals. But perhaps that was what kept her drawn to him. He walked closer to her, and she stopped and felt her breath get taken away for a second.
"I can handle myself," she said, pretty convincing but she was more trying to convince herself than him. She looked into his eyes, and took a deep breath in. Her vision seemed to blur and the dizziness kicked in. "I ca -," she passed out and fell directly into his arms.

Malachite watched her as her face showed plenty of expressions. In that regard, they were pretty much opposites. Where she had no trouble showing certain emotions, he usually showed none. Her comment made him tilt his head a little to the side. "Well darling. You must know my heart is anything but sweet," he commented. She wasn't going to take his help. What a surprise. She always were stubborn. He almost believed her, if it wasn't because he could smell the blood. He knew there was more than he could see. He caught her as she fainted into his arm. His heart felt as if it had sunk to his stomach. He didn't always show it, but he cared for her deeply. Malachite picked her up and started to walk towards a building he pretty much owned. Being evil and showing no mercy could have it perks. He ordered the owners of the small motel to get him access to a room. He put her down on a bed and left the room to get her something to eat and drink. He didn't show this courtesy to just anyone. Hopefully she knew that by now. If not, he might have to tell her of his feelings, and he wasn't up for that at all.

She hated being weak like this, hearing how fast her heart was fighting to keep pumping blood around her system. As she got back to her senses, she got her control back. She needed her blood back in her system and not all over everything. So she focused, and she was pretty good with her abilities, so manipulating the parts of the blood that belonged to her and made it return to her system was easy. As she slowly opened her eyes she got up pretty quick. She was alone, but she knew who had brought her here. The thought made her heart skip a beat, he wasn't a good person to love - but she loved him, and she hated herself for it. Valeria went to the bathroom and took off her shirt.  Looking at the ripped flesh and the bruises that showed the signs of extreme fights. She was to stubborn for her own good. She opened the draw behind the mirror to find a first aid kid, and got herself cleaned up. She took a look at her bloody shirt before putting it back on, for now - that was all she had anyways. Valeria took off her pants and sat down on the bathtub to look at her bruised leg. She was lucky it wasn't broken, but it still hurt like hell. It was a stab wound, and it looked infected, maybe it was posion? Valeria tried to clean it, but just touching it hurt like hell. She clenched her teeth as she tried to remove some leftovers from the knife - looked like a sign of posion. If she just had the equipment she could analyze the sample. She didn't have time to be battle and bruised, not if she had to stop her world from spinning around. She heard the door open and looked up.
"Don't worry.. I didn't run away- or maybe you would know that, taken I don't really would be that fast," she sighed and tried to keep herself calm pulling the small pieces out of her thigh.

Malachite was maybe a little to fond of the power he could get through intimidating and violence. He had gone to the motel’s kitchen and ordered what he knew to be Valeria’s favorite foods. Or at least food they were able to prepare. They weren’t exactly five stars, so he couldn’t get them to make a lobster or anything too complicated. He was the first in line to get his order, even though some of the guests had ordered before him. He didn’t care, he owned the employees. He walked back to the hotel with the dish covered in a metal bowl to keep it warm. He entered the room. She was no longer in the bed. He knew she was still there though. The blood smell was too thick in the air for her not being here still. And the employees wouldn’t have let her leave without his permission. He put down the food by the bed and walked to the bathroom. Before he had a chance to knock, she talked through the closed door. ”I know,” he said and took in a sharp breath. He didn’t know if it was love he felt for Valeria. But it was definitely strong. Their passion was so intense, it was hard to contain. It usually resulted in them either being drawn to each other physically or wanting to tear each other’s hearts out. Was it perfect? No, but he wouldn’t want it any other way. He had purposely left out his relationship with her to his parents. After seeing what happened to Amethyst as she fell in love, he was afraid it would not be okay with especially his father. ”I brought you food. Your favorite,” he said in an unusual real way. There were no hidden intentions, not agenda she didn’t knew of. He just wanted to feed her. ”I know you don’t want my help, but you can still get it, if you need it.” Her being part human, had been a little troublesome considering what type of life they had led back in their own time. It seemed she was still living it. He was as well, just not with her anymore.

She turned her head to the door as she heard him on the other side of it. A part of her wanted to ask him to help her, but the other part knew going down this road would be a disaster in the end. And who would get most hurt on that trip, most likely her. A smile reached her lips as he said he brought her food. A soft chuckle left her, and seemed to mask the pain for a little while. Looking at her leg, she knew it would take time for her to even manipulate the blood clean - and it would be super painful. She wasn't even sure she was strong enough to handle the process. She had done it once to help a friend, but never herself.  Valeria got on her feet, holding on to the wall and trying way to hard. She was way to hard on herself. She opened the door to face him.
"Okay. I need you," she admitted and looked into his eyes. She wasn't proud of it. "I need to clean my blood, one of the fighters played dirty - and the wound is infected," she gave the information, quick and simple. The area around the wound was almost black, and the veins around it seemed to grow darker and darker - it was spreading. Being optimistic, she was happy it was her thigh that had the stab and not her upper body. She grabbed his arm as she felt like she lost touch with the leg. Like it was paralyzed. "I can't feel it. I can't feel my leg," she looked at him with panic in her eyes, they needed to act fast. Because she wasn't going to lose her leg. Maybe if she hadn't been so bloody stubborn, and ask for help earlier on - they could have handled it more gently.

Malachite wasn’t good at love. He had never been. It was just easier to keep people at a distance, so he didn’t got hurt. He had seen what it could do to others, and taking that leap was scarier than he cared to admit. Valeria was the one closets to get him to jump into the unknown. But before he was really ready to, they had taken a break, or something has pulled them apart. He stood at the door waiting for her response. Her words meant more to him than he realized. He really just wanted to feel like he mattered to someone, that his existence wasn’t wasted.
He walked to her and watched the wound on her leg. It was definitely infected, and if they didn’t clean it, it might poison her blood. He swallowed when she said she couldn’t feel his leg. He didn’t hesitate to pick her up and go put her down on the bed. ”I’ll be right back,” he said and walked back to the bathroom to find whatever helpful he could. He grabbed a cloth, rubbing alcohol and an injection that apparently could help with infection. He returned to her side. Since she couldn’t feel her leg, he hoped she wouldn’t feel it when he started to clean her wound. He used the cloth and rubbing alcohol first, before using the injection. He looked into her eyes. She was scared, which he really didn’t blame her for. He wasn’t good at telling people what they needed to hear in situations like this. He usually deflected with humor or arrogance. It was the only way he knew how to react. ”If you wanted to get back in my arms, you could’ve just said so. You didn’t need to go and get hurt,” he joked and let his hand brush up against hers. He was still trying to figure out how to show compassion and show that he cared. She knew he was terrible at that stuff, but he still tried. With her at least.

He picked her up and put her down on the bed. She knew his intentions were good around her, she could see that. She hated that she could see it, if she couldn't it would be easier to just give up and walk away - but here she was giving in and staying. Valeria gave him a sort nod as he said he would be right back. She inspected her wound, and put her hand over, just to collect all the toxic stuff in one place and keeping it from spreading. It helped a little on getting her feeling back - just a little. Valeria wasn't immune to pain, but since she seemed to have cleaned most of the posion out, she still needed the wound to be clean. He returned to her side, and she took a deep breath in. She turned her eyes back at his when he cracked a joke, and she laughed instead of freaking out. She knew he tried. And somehow it was all that really mattered. Because she knew he cared. Otherwise they would have a totally different conversation. Valeria put her head back close to his chest as he cleaned the wound. The pain burned on her thigh and made her want to scream, but pain was an illusion or at least she tried to push it down. All she did was biting the pain in her pushing herself closer to him - as if it was her only comfort at this point - which it was. But she let him clean it, not that she was happy about crying out in pain - but she had to in the end. Valeria fought not to pass out, she was still just part human.