A Forbidden Romance (The Originals)

Chapter Nine

Waking up was not pleasant for Niall. From the moment that he regained consciousness, all he felt was pain. The burning sensation he had felt hours earlier when he was attacked was more intense than it had been last night. It felt as if his blood was on fire. It was a terrible feeling and it was pain he had never felt before until this very moment.

He was lying on his back, staring up at the sky and wondering if his friends discovered that he wasn't at camp. It was cloudy, which he was grateful for since he was sure he had a concussion; he was finding it hard to keep his eyes open. Lifting his head slightly, he took stock of his injuries and saw that his leg was still bleeding sluggishly.

Trying to push himself up, Niall realised that he had fallen into a hole in the ground. It looked manmade, almost like those traps he'd seen in movies. The sudden movement he made jostled his leg and sent daggers of pain shooting through him and he groaned, falling back onto the leaf littered ground. Minutes passed and Niall was close to passing out from pain alone, when he heard ringing.

My phone, Niall thought sluggishly. Patting himself down, he tried not to move too much; not finding it on his person, through his hazy mind, he came to the realization that it must have fallen out of his pocket when he fell. He saw it a few feet to his left, just barely out of his reach.

"Fuck."  He cursed under his breath. Taking a few deep breaths, Niall prepared himself for the pain he was about to put himself through. If he wanted help, he was going to have to push through the pain to get to his phone. Slowly pushing himself onto his stomach, he began pulling his body across the ground towards his phone. Holding back tears, even as he cried out, he kept going; even though it hurt, his determination to call for help was stronger than the pain.

The phone rang one last time, just as he was able to grab it. Answering it, he tried to calm his racing heart as he rolled back over so he was lying on his back. His breathing was erratic and his body was betraying him.

"Niall, where are you?!" Zayn's voice filtered through the speaker by his ear. "We woke up and you weren't here!"

Niall was shaking from the exertion of crawling to get to his phone and from shock. He must have opened up the wound in his leg again, making it wider. It was bleeding more freely now and he knew if shock didn't kill him, blood loss would.

"Help me . . . Zayn, I-I'm trapped."

"Oh my God! Niall, tell me where you are! We're coming," There was a pause and Zayn spoke to someone else. "Harry, call Klaus!"

"I fell . . . in a hole by the road." Niall told him, his eyesight becoming fuzzy as he felt himself losing his ability to stay awake. "Zayn, I'm scared."

Niall thought he heard the other boy sob but his brain could have been playing tricks on him. "It's going to be okay, Niall. We're going to find you, and you're going to be just fine."

"Okay." Niall whispered. Unable to keep holding onto his phone, he let it drop onto the ground next to him. He could hear Zayn and the others yelling at him to talk to them but he was just so tired. He took a shaky breath and stared up into the clouds, wondering if the weightlessness he was feeling was because he was dying or because of the blood loss. Either way, he just wanted to rest his eyes.

Closing his eyes, he prayed it wasn't the last time he'd be awake. Then, the darkness enveloped him and dragged him under.

~TO~

The next time Niall woke up, he was lying in a bed with someone else. He knew it was Klaus before he saw him; Niall was pressed flush against the man, with his arms wrapped around his waist, keeping him in place. They were under the duvet and their legs were entangled. Niall found himself smiling softly; he'd been rescued.

"I can't seem to leave you alone." Klaus' voice startled Niall, since she thought he had been asleep. Then again, Klaus was a vampire, he would sense if he was awake. "Trouble just seems to follow you, love."

Niall didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say. Klaus' wasn't wrong. Everywhere Niall turned something was trying to hurt him, or kill him. He was starting to believe that he really was literally a trouble magnet. His curiosity almost got him killed and knowing that, he knew that he needed to change that about himself. As soon as possible.

"What happened, love?" Klaus' asked, his voice gentle. Niall took a deep breath to calm himself as flashbacks of last night invaded his mind. He really just wants to forget about it but he knew Klaus and his friends would just press for answers.

"I heard something outside my tent and went to investigate. I should've just gone back to sleep but my curiosity got the best of me." Niall sighed and rolled over so that he was facing Klaus. "A few minutes later, I was being attacked by something that had the body of a lion and a spiked tail. I ran and then I fell in a hole."

Klaus was frowning deeply. "You were attacked by a manticore?"

Niall hid his face in the hybrids chest, nodding. "It shot a spike at me. My whole body felt horrible, like my blood was boiling under my skin."

Klaus nodded absentmindedly. "A manticore's spike is highly poisionous. The simple fact that you survived long enough for us to get to you is a miracle, Niall."

Feeling a blush creeping up his neck, Niall shied away and hid his face under the duvet. Still tired from his ordeal, he mumbled under his breath knowing that Klaus would hear him. "I'm going back to sleep."

Klaus smiles down at the blond he had grown so find of. "That's alright, love. Get some rest. I'll be here when you wake."

Niall sighs contentedly and falls asleep in the arms of the once feared hybrid, who'd do anything to protect the ones he loved.