Warmth
A/N: fluff, vampire master and their bloodbag, hurt/comfort, references to drowning
Erin didn't expect to be pulled from the river. Didn't expect the cold, relentless hands administering CPR.
"Shit. Shit." They knew that voice so well. Their master, their rescuer, ran fingers along their cheek before moving to fumble off the wet layers.
"Stay with me."
They felt the layers pull away and soon were half bare and pulled tight against a solid chest. The familiar arms were safe but provided no body heat, the little Erin still had seeping away as shivering tremors wracked their entire body
"It's alright, Erin. I'll make sure you're alright. I promise."
Erin opened their eyes enough to see the bare treetops criss-crossing the grey sky like veins, cloudy and dark even though it was still early evening. The winter air was full of the promise of snow. Their master glanced down and managed a pinched smile when he saw they were lucid in his arms.
"How...?"
"Shh shh, I've got you, sweetheart." He rubbed a thumb in soothing circles where one hand supported their back.
"I'm sorry I ran, I--" Erin's voice was weak and raspy from their near-death drowning experience.
Their master pulled them tighter and hummed soothing reassurances. Erin couldn't resist turning into the embrace, burrying their face in the vampire's neck, all tough sinew and skin like marble but comforting all the same.
It had been a routine day up until their master's guests had asked if he planned to share his pet. It had been a long time since Master Handel had called them that: pet. Erin could still feel the primal urge to run, get as far from the immortal predators as they could, lingering at the base of their spine. Their control of their prey instincts had grown over the years with Handel as their master but having four sets of unfamiliar supernatural gazes turn on them, thirsty, violent, insatiable, their rationality had crumbled. The ice over the river couldn't take their weight and before they could do anything the current had sucked them under.
When the two of them arrived back home, there was no sign of Handel's guests. Wordlessly, their master carried them upstairs, starting a bath. He eased the last soaked through clothes off of them and gently set them in the soothing water. Erin felt their shivering tremors ease and their chest relax enough to actually breathe fully as the warm water rose around them. Handel peeled off his own wet clothes and slipped into the tub behind Erin. They stayed like that, Handel keeping his hands warm with the water so he could rub down all of Erin's aching muscles without renewing their shaking and Erin leaning into his chest.
"I'm sorry," Erin murmured, once their heart had settled to a normal beat.
Handel hummed. "What are you sorry for?" he asked gently, pulling them flush against his chest until Erin's head rested on his shoulder.
"I--" They weren't sure what to say, how to articulate the emotions swirling in their gut. They felt guilty, troublesome, weak. They tried so hard to be useful, to be there for Handel. They knew what it was to be alone in the world. They couldn't imagine doing it on and off for centuries. "I broke a rule. I probably ruined your dinner party. Your guests...I'm sure I offended them. They might take it out on you, if they didn't already."
A laugh rumbled through Handel. It died out then he sighed, one of the few human habits he still indulged in. "Always more worried about me than yourself," he murmured into Erin's ear, a hand reaching up to brush through their damp curls, smooth out the snarls.
Erin felt themself melt into the touch, once again turning into Handel's familiar neck. They knew better than to respond with the typical 'you're more important than me', especially if they wanted the cuddling to continue. And the thought of Handel releasing them or leaving made them sick.
"I don't want to die. I didn't-- Well, I didn't realize I was on the ice until it was too late." They were grateful for the hiding place of Handel's neck even if the vampire could hear every minute change in their breath and pulse, every subtle shift, the water betraying their movements further as they shivered at the memory.
Handel slipped their hands into his, leaned into their neck and wrapped their arms up around them both, together. "I don't want to lose you, sweetheart," Handel whispered to them, voice honey. "Especially not like that. Cold can be such a terrible, vicious thing." The vampire made a strangled noise in his throat that squeezed Erin's heart.
Erin peppered soft kisses along his master's neck and jaw, anywhere they could reach without releasing their arms. "Thank you for saving me."
Handel made a soft sound, the tension leaving his body in a way only Erin was privy to.
"How do you feel, sweetheart? Ready to leave the water?"
Handel helped Erin out of the tub, immediately wrapping them in an oversized luxury towel before blow drying their hair. Then he wrapped them up in an old hoodie and carried them to the living room couch. Handel left briefly to get dressed himself, barely gone a heartbeat with his supernatural speed, before returning with a pile of blankets and hot chocolate. Erin took the drink dutifully, sipping at it with inordinate gratitude.
"Up to a movie, sweet?"
Erin managed a nod before Handel disappeared in another blur, returning a blink later with the tv lighting up behind him. Handel kneeled in front of Erin, placing his head in their lap and snaking his arms around their waist. Erin felt a tremor go through their master and realized, with a start, that he was crying. They abandoned their drink on the side table.
"Handel?" they asked softly, running tender fingers through their master's hair and in soothing circles on his shoulders, neck, back.
"I was almost too late..."
The words, muffled as they were in Erin's blankets, sent a new kind of shiver down their spine. "Oh. Oh." A surge of warmth for their master bloomed in their chest. They leaned down to kiss the back of his head, soft blond locks completely dry. Erin breathed his scent in, so faint to his human senses but tangibly Handel's, something earthy and wild.
The movie eventually clicked on in the background as they held each other, nervous systems slowly relaxing from the tense day.
Handel pulled himself up and gave Erin a shaky smile. His tear tracks were a blood stained milky color, familiar to Erin but still a rare sight. Erin smiled in response and gently swiped away the tears, leaning their foreheads together.
"You always take care of me. You always will, yeah?"
Handel nodded, fingers tangling in Erin's hair. "Always."
"Always," Erin echoed. "There is something I need from you now, though."
Handel's eyes snapped to his attentively.
"Come up here with me?" They patted the seat beside them, a playful smile on their lips.
Handel huffed a laugh and in a flash had them arranged on the couch laying down with Erin wrapped firmly in his arms, their back pressed against his chest. The sudden movement left Erin a little breathless but they snuggled in deeper, wrapping the blankets tighter. Handel was cool against them but he'd warm up as the blankets did.
Erin offered their neck with a questioning sound. Handel hummed, elegant fingers brushing the skin there, sending pleasant shivers through Erin. Handel pressed a searing kiss to their neck, breathing in deeply. There was a soft scrape of fangs accompanied by a flood of warm tingling calm as Handel's venom hit them. But it was over before it began, Handel licking the wound closed before drinking. Just a taste.
"Thank you, sweetheart."
Erin hummed happily at the words, feeling lulled and drowsy from the venom even without the bloodloss.
"Master Handel?" Erin mumbled, already half asleep.
"Yes, Erin?"
"I'm sorry I left you."
"Oh, sweet," Handel rubbed circles into their chest. "Just rest. Together always, yeah?"
"Yeah..."
They drifted off, lost to sleep, safe in the embrace of the only man who had ever protected them.
