#redac

The door slammed shut behind them, back pressed hard against the wood as the slowly sank to the floor, cradling their bleeding wounds. They looked down at their side, drenched in deep red blood and the first thought in their mind was "fuck, where's Sam?"

They felt a spark of pride in that, pushing themself up, moving for the bathroom. They weren't good enough with magic to heal themself, but instead of thinking about how to hide it or something, the first thought they had was to find help. Oh how much things had changed.

Pain was still coursing through every inch of their body, but it had become easier and easier to ignore. They continued slowly, grabbing the house phone on the way. It was something Sam insisted on having that was now coming in handy with their phone in pieces somewhere in the middle of the woods.

It went to voicemail which didn't surprise them since Sam was doing his job as a healer so they just left him a message "hey, Sam. Quinn set up a little gift for me apparently. I'm not too bad hurt, I can patch myself up till you get here. They destroyed my phone though, so don't try reaching me there. See you soon, love you." With that out of the way they limped to the bathroom to clean their wounds till they could be properly healed

To no one's surprise, Sam was distressed. When he got a message from his mate telling him that their dead, psycho ex had "left them a gift" he was already half way across town by the time the voicemail finished. He liked driving, but fuck that would take too long. So he ran home, making a mental note to get his truck the next day.

(⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

When he got to their little house in the woods he practically threw the door open, panic singing in his core. He smelt blood, and saw it too. Drips on the porch, coating the door handle and now on the floor of their home. He couldn't see them, couldn't hear them and it scared him.

"Darlin? Darlin where are you?" He was able to search the house in seconds using his vamp speed, ending up in front of one of the bathrooms, blood on the handle, locked from the inside. It had to be them. He knocked on the door

"Darlin! Are you alright? What happened? Are ya hurt?"

"I'm fine Sam, nothing big." Their voice sounded off, strained and scared. Something was wrong. But at least they were talking and alive.

He scoffed "I'll be the judge of that." They slowly opened the door and he felt a chill sweep through his body.

They looked almost as bad as that first night he showed up to heal them. Their clothes were barely hanging on, every inch of them covered in blood, a giant purple bruise over one of their eyes. "Shit Darlin-"

"I know it looks bad, but I'm not really hurt-"

"like hell you aren't! You're drenched in blood, and don't try lyin sayin none of it's yours!"

"ok, yes, some of it was mine but I'm not hurt. I promise."

"show me" they sighed, rolling their eyes

"this again? I'm fine." He crossed his arms in response.

"you said you were hurt on the phone, now you insist you're fine. I know you. you aren't. Now strip."

They grumbled something about how he could at least try to make it sexy as they pulled off their clothes. Sam opted to focus on grabbing a cloth, running it under warm water so he could wipe the blood away.

To his surprise and relief, a few bruises seemed to be the worst of it. He let out a sigh "thank God. But why'd you say over the phone that ya got hurt?"

"cause I did"

"I'm not seeing anything, did ya break something?"

They nod "I did."

"where? Can I touch?"

They nodded again "some ribs and my leg"

He ran his hand over the side of their ribs, gently pressing to search for the breaks. Nothing. He knelt down to check over their legs, both fully intact "Darlin, im not finding anythin."

"I'm not hurt anymore"

He meets their eyes before standing back up "did ya heal yourself? I'm impressed if s-"

"I didn't."

He paused for a moment "then how the hell-"

The mask finally broke. Fear, confusion and exhaustion etched into their face. He pulled them to his chest, their shoulders slumped in exhaustion.

"I don't know, I was hurt, pretty badly! I was all cut up, and bleeding and I could barely breathe or move my leg without wanting to scream, but it just-... started getting better! It doesn't make sense, but I watched them heal, I don't know how!"

He squeezed them gently, rubbing small circles into their back "hey, hey, it's alright Darlin, you're ok. Your magic probably just took over without you noticin."

He could tell they didn't believe him, he didn't either. But they didn't argue for now. "Any chance ya can tell me what happened now? Or is that a later thing?"

Tank sighed "I went out for a run and got ambushed by vamps. Apparently when Quinn realized he wasn't making it out alive, he decided to call some friends for an attack long after he died. That way my guard would be down."

"Jesus Darlin, how many?"

"four." He stared at them, unsure if he heard that right

"pardon? You got ambushed by four vamps!? Jesus Darlin." He lifted them off the ground before they could protest, sitting them on the bathroom counter, meeting their eyes just in time to watch as the bruise over their left eye started to shrink and fade

"The hell?"

Their hand came up to lightly poke at their face where the bruise had been "yeah, that's what they all did. Just... Faded away like they were never there. I didn't even get any new scars out of it. It doesn't feel like my magic. I can feel something, but it's different." They sounded so tired, no longer confused or scared. Hell, they'd probably been confused and scared for hours before he got to them.

Sam gently pulled his mate back into his arms "I'll ask around. See if anyone heard of something similar. For now, let's get you to bed, Darlin. Healed or not, you need rest."