SEVENTY-EIGHT | SPARK

I wake up in my bed, head throbbing, body aching in that now-familiar way it does. The metallic taste of blood hangs in the back of my mouth. My own, and not that of the usual sustenance. My throat's raw as I try to swallow and so unbearably dry I almost gag. A groaning sound comes from my chest, crawling up my throat until the rush of pained air pushes past my lips.

"Wisty?" Mom's suddenly hovering over me, her icy blue eyes red-rimmed and worried. "It's alright, honey," She pulls a blood bag from somewhere and holds the tube to my lips. I make another sound of pain as I force my mouth to work and begin drinking.

"What," I finally manage to ask the question swirling around my addled brain. " Happened?" The words come out disjointedly, rough and aching.

"It was a trap." Mom frowns, her eyes becoming so sad, I'm afraid she'll start crying again. "They were late because they took out our back up before meeting up with us." Her voice is bitter and eyes so cold as she says this I shiver - only making my already aching muscles burn. I blink a few times, processing what she's just said and frown.

"Took out?" I echo slowly, fear churning in my chest and stomach. Yuri and Cole were part of our back up team. "Yuri and Cole?" I ask hesitantly, terrified she's going to tell me they didn't make it.

"They were in really bad shape by the time we found them, but we think most of them will be alright in a few days." Mom replies emptily, the echoes of pain in her eyes making me wince. A wave of relief flows over me and I let out a breath.

"Blue and Hale?" I ask, already knowing they're most likely alive. Blue because I can still sense him, somewhere nearby, and Hale's a vamp... Neither would die so easily.

"Hale's been recovering at the Coven. Blue's in the Azure's infirmary." Mom begins carefully and I try to sit up, but she stops me. "They're almost completely healed, but Doc Blythe and Doctor Quinn have been insisting they remain under observation for at least another day."

"That bad?" I croak, settling back down.

"That bad." Mom echoes hollowly and gives me a watery smile. I reach over and squeeze her hand gently, not sure I can comfort her any other way.

"How long have I been out?" I ask after another minute.

"A few hours." Mom sighs, stroking the back of my hand. "When you're ready, we can go visit Zane if you'd like." She offers. I pause before answering, honestly wanting to visit my mate, but at the same time thinking about the possible reason for him being confined to medical observation.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." I tell her, frowning as I say it. The words taste bitter on my tongue. "I'd hate to loose control if he's bleeding." I explain when she raises her eyebrows at me in surprise. I don't know the full extent of my current circumstances. I'd lost control after Paris attacked me. All it took was the threat of death for the vampiric side to take over. Nausea turns my churning gut into a roaring cyclone.

The events of this morning are on repeat in my mind, everything I did - wanted to do. The shiver of coldness and lack of empathy reverberate in the back of my head. Is that how it'll be after the Blooming? Will my entire personality be crueler, colder? More ruthless and unfeeling?

"Alright. Well, I was planning on checking on your father. Would you like to come?" She asks.

"Yeah." I nod, sure I won't attack another vamp, though I really haven't been around an injured one before.

"I'll bring you a blood bag or two." Mom tells me, a look of relief on her face as she gets up and leaves the room. I lean back more comfortably on my pillow and glance at the IV drip. It's not the normal hospital IV, there's a tinge of red in the clear bag. I sigh to myself and glance at Mom as she comes back with a couple of blood bags.

I finish them off in seconds, surprisingly thirsty. My body's closer to feeling normal after the impromptu meal. Everything still hurts, but it's duller now. I pull the IV from my forearm and set the thing on the metal pole before turning to Mom.

"Ready," I tell her and she nods, giving me another little smile. My body's tired still, Mom has to help me stand and walk to the car. I don't think we can walk all the way to the Coven right now. I hadn't noticed before, but Mom's got some healing bruises and scars. Her arms are riddled with mottled greens and yellows, a thick scar stretching from her jaw to collarbone. And she's limping. It's almost imperceptible, but I hear the change in her gait when we walk through the Coven foyer.

"Lady M," Mikyle meets us at the door, hands full of a messy array of documents and assorted bottles of multicolored liquids. "Princess," He nods at me, his red eyes carefully searching over my body before he frowns. "Should you be up?"

"I'm fine," I tell him, fighting an eye roll. "We're here to see Hale."

"He's in his office." Mikyle grimaces, his eyes flicking to Mom briefly before returning to watch me. "He's got company at the moment." Mom's eyes narrow as she seems to understand whatever Mikyle's not telling us.

"Neither of them should be-" Mom sighs, moving towards the staircase. That's when I hear shouting and the unmistakable crash of something breaking. Both Mom and Mikyle rush up the stairs, leaving me to struggle behind them. They're both faster than me, making it to Hale's office before I do. When I finally walk into my father's office, I stop in the doorway, eyes wide.

Hale's being pulled away from Blue, equal looks of barely restrained anger on their faces. Mom pulling Hale back, and Mikyle shoving Blue towards the opposite end of the room.

Hale's got a bit of blood leaking from an already healing cut on his lip, shaking out his right hand. Blue snarling at Mikyle, his silvery-grey eyes cold and close to feral. Mikyle's face is unreadable, but an echo of annoyance flickers in his red gaze. I step between the two and the looks instantly disappear.

"What's going on?" I demand, glaring from Hale to Blue to Mikyle. I've manages to get the two to separate, stretching my arms between them to force space before dropping my hands.

"Nothing." Blue grits out, narrowing his eyes at Hale. At the same time Hale says:

"We had a disagreement." Hale's letting Mom hold him back, their arms wrapped around each other gently, though there's more venom in Hale's eyes than I've ever seen.

"Careful, princess. You'll catch his rabies-" Mikyle says to me when Blue tries to close the small distance between us.

"Fuck off-" Blue growls, narrowing his eyes at Mikyle. I roll my own eyes at Mikyle's antics. Werewolves don't get rabies...not really. And Mikyle'd know that, he's just trying to get a rise out of Blue for some reason. Blue's irritability is shuddering through the connection between us, mashing and melding into my own emotions until I'm starting to get angry.

"Enough!" I hiss at the guys, leaning into Blue and glaring at Mikyle. Blue's annoyance is quickly soothed as I press my body against his, and he winds an arm around me protectively. Mikyle grimaces at us, but says nothing. "You two should be resting." I tell Blue and Hale, looking between the two pointedly.

"There's no bed-rest for our kind, sunshine." Hale says to me softly, his jade eyes a little hazy now that he's calmed down a bit. He looks worse than death. Skin deathly pale, heavy bags under his eyes, and a hollowing in his cheeks. For a vamp, he's in pretty rough shape.

I roll my eyes and nod to my Mom. She smirks, patting Hale's chest and leading him out of the room. Mikyle hesitates, looking at me and Blue once more, before following after the two.

"We were just talking about the attack-" Blue begins sullenly. I shake my head, cutting him off.

"Resting." I repeat to him firmly. "I'll walk back with you." I tell Blue, wrapping an arm around his waist as he scowls at the door. I can feel the bandages under his clothes, thick dressings that must run across the expanse of his torso.

"I can get back on my own. You should be resting-"

"I want to make sure you don't start another fight," I cut him off with a smirk. He presses his lips together, trying not to smile, and lets out a heavy sigh.

"Fine. But only because I'm almost positive I'm going to pass out." He grumbles, and really, he doesn't look great. Like Hale, his tan skin's got a ghostly paleness to it and his eyes, though sharp, are heavy-lidded.

"Why'd you even leave the infirmary if you knew you weren't fit to go anywhere?" I scold him, leading us down the stairs slowly. His body is leaning on me now, not all of his weight, but a good chunk of it. He groans.

"You sound like my mother." He growls at me. I smirk and think about the Azure's Luna.

"She seems like a sensible lady." I reply and he grumbles something I can't hear as we reach the last step. We pause, Blue's knuckles white against the railing. He's breathing heavily, each thud of his heart like a drum beat. "Sorry, didn't get that." I tell him, quirking an eyebrow at him. Blue's narrowed silvery-grey eyes traverse between mine, a slight luminous glow to them.

"Nothing." He finally huffs and begins walking again. I frown, unsure what he'd said - but sure it wasn't 'nothing'.

We manage to make it back to the Azure's infirmary without Blue passing out - though he did come close a few times. He's heavy. Most of his weight's baring down on me by the time as shuffle up the steps of the cabin steps. He's barely conscious, mumbling unintelligible things as each of his sluggish steps *thunk* against the wood. My aching body has begun screaming at me, an intense coldness rising from my chest.

"We're almost there," I tell Blue, fumbling with the door knob as Blue leans against me. He's buried his face in my neck by the time I've gotten the door open. The warmth of his body and electric shiver from his touch has my entire body tense and my skin prickling with awareness. "You're going to pay me back for this." I inform him quietly as I practically drag the both of us through the doorway and to an empty cot.

The scent of blood hangs thickly in the air, cloyingly sweet and *mouth watering*-

"You smell good," Blue groans into my skin. Hi words snap me back to reality and away from darker thinking. I shiver involuntarily, not because of the direction of my thoughts, but at the heat from his breath and touch of his skin. "Never known a vamp to smell like apple pie." He chuckles after another minute. I let out a breath and roll my eyes, shoving his body against the cot and hurriedly wipe at the warmed spot on my skin. Blue grumbles more nonsense into the pillow on the cot, groaning a little as his turns to face me.

"Stop spouting nonsense." I tell him, looking around for one of the Docs. The other cots are currently taken, In the far corner, I see the hulking form of Yuri under an insane amount of bandages with two IV bags. Across the way, Cole's fast asleep, propped up on a set of fluffy pillows, head bandaged and glasses perched precariously on the tip of his nose. An open book in his lap.

"Not nonsense, Red." Blue grumbles, pulling the covers over his body and letting his eyelids droop. He lets out a yawn, teeth briefly flashing at me before he closes his mouth and looks at me drowsily. "Makes me wonder what our kids'll smell like. Pine or apple pie. Maybe both?" He gives me a cheeky smirk and wink. I blink at him a few times before my mind registers what the hell he's talking about. My skin suddenly feels like it's been scorched by the sun, a heavy blush climbing up my neck to coat my face.

"Shut up." I mutter to him, reaching over to pull the sheet up to his neck.

"We're gonna talk about this in a few days, Red." He reminds me, his smirk turning into a smug smile, though his eyes are becoming sleepier with each second. "Stay for a little while?" He asks around another yawn, reaching a hand out to me. I freeze, looking between his hand and eyes as I think of all the reasons I should say no. "Just until I fall asleep?" He asks soberly, expression suddenly wide open and afraid. The vast vulnerability there tears at my heart and I ignore the voice in my head telling me this is a bad idea.

"Just until you fall asleep." I huff. I pull up a chair from the wall and sit beside him, my back to the door. Blue takes my hand before looking into my eyes-