Blood Rebel [COMPLETED]

Chapter Thirty Nine - Loyalty

"Make her a cup of tea," said Virgil, as he carefully placed Selene's body on the dirty blue sofa.

"How the hell am I going to make tea in here? Have you seen a tea bag?" Asked Xander, gesticulating to encompass the filth of the room around him.

Virgil looked over his shoulder at Xander as he crouched on his knees, his hand moving dark strands of Selene's hair from her face. He turned back to face Selene, whispering to her:

"Are you alright? We're safe now." He clasped her hand in both of his, pressing his forehead against them.

"Where are we?" She asked, blinking, her eyes rolling at the ceiling.

"We're home," he responded, and her heart juddered as it anticipated Cadogan Place, and Hector, and then stopped, realising they were only in the underground hideout.

"Not home," she whispered.

Virgil's lips folded in on one another as he looked down at her.

"We have to wait out the day here. We'll go back to Central Control when the sun sets." He jutted his chin as he finished speaking, in a gesture that was supposed to reassure.

"You take the bed," said Xander, looking at Virgil. "It's not big enough for both of us, and Selene doesn't look as though she's going to move."

One look at Xander's face showed there was no room for objection, and Virgil nodded, creaking up from his knees and moving through to the bedroom. The sound of his gun and belt of bullets being removed clinked through to where they sat, and then fell silent.

Selene stared at Xander as he moved a small wooden chair to sit opposite her, and leaned forward, his legs splayed and his elbows propped up on his knees, his hands clasped in the middle.

"What?" She asked.

"You tell me," he said.

"I don't know what to tell you. I don't know what you want to know."

"Whose side are you on Selene?"

She rolled onto her side to look at him properly, her head balanced on the armrest. She took a deep breath and bit her lip.

"It's not that easy."

"It is that easy. Human or Vampire, Selene."

She lowered a hand and began to twist her fingers in the crusted satin of her dress. Xander barely moved, never taking his eyes off her, but she heard him sigh.

"Why did you do it Selene?"

"What?"

"Why did you kiss me?"

She shook her head and made a small noise, a tiny groan, in her closed mouth.

"You can't do that to people Selene. You can't just kiss them because you feel like it."

She watched him as he spoke, and there was a pain in his eyes that she had never expected.

"You did it first. You kissed me in the park."

"I didn't know you then. It's not the same." He raised one hand and cupped his chin.

Selene began to fiddle with a loose thread on the sofa piping, pulling at it until it came free, and then she wrapped it round her finger.

"I'm sorry," she said, without raising her eyes to look at him.

"Sorry? Is that it? Is that all you can say?" He stood now, his chair scraping on the concrete floor. "Blood, Selene." He raised his hands to his temples and threaded his fingers through his hair.