Joseph retrieved the cleaning supplies to work on dusting the eastern wing, but just as he reached the area, he received the call from Alexi. For a moment, his heart felt lodged in his throat, for he knew that despite his master's almost jocular tone, he knew that it was a grave emergency. Alexi rarely used the cell phone within the house, and most times when a person says “don't freak out” there is in fact ample reason to freak out. He took two deep breaths to calm himself before dropping the bucket of supplies and sprinting to grab the first aid kit, frantically wondering exactly what had happened.
He got out... it's my fault... how?! Surely Alexi wouldn't have gone close enough without me there. How could he have gotten out of those chains?! Goddammit.
~*~*~
Erik was confused by Alexi's laughter, and for the first time, wondered just how insane this man was, or if he was just going into shock from the loss of blood. The thought of sharing the emotions of someone who seemed so... off-kilter caused him no small amount of trepidation, but he knew that he would risk just about anything to end the subjugation of magicals.
Quite apart from his trepidation, he felt rather inadequate once again, in the idea that he could not accomplish in over two centuries what this human claimed to be able to accomplish in a much shorter time. Compared to Erik, Alexi was a child, appearing only in his early thirties at best, and yet he was confident in promising the one thing the Resistance, tens of thousands strong, had not done. It seemed completely unbelievable.
“I suppose you have a point,” he muttered, watching the human's blood flow down his arm. It had already soaked the entire bandage. “The bleeding is not a problem. It's actually a pretty pleasant smell for me now, akin to smelling your favorite food when you are only a little hungry, rather than starving. I'm … more worried about how much blood you are losing. It's dangerous for a human to lose that much in that short of a time. I wish you would let me help.”
Just as he said that, however, Joseph entered the room, seeming perfectly calm despite the fact that he was terrified for his master and friend, and had just run halfway across the expansive mansion.
“What the he-,” he began, his voice sounding harsh, but he corrected it mid-sentence. “What happened?” he asked again, much more calmly, striding towards Alexi with haste, the proper gauze and bandage already out. The elder vampire had smelled the blood, and easily recognized it as Alexi's, long before he saw it. He began to clean the wound, shooting Erik a dirty look with eyes that flashed a bright red. He saw that the male was tied more securely, and had the smell of blood on him. On the other hand, the wound was clearly made by a blade, not a pair of fangs. Vampire bites did not bleed this much.
“Your crazy master here sliced his own wrist open. It wasn't my fault,” Erik began, trying to defend himself. “He decided to give me untainted blood. It's not my fault that he picked such a stupidly dramatic way to do it.”
“You'll need stitches, or skin sealant glue at the very least. But first I want to get the blood flow down,” he declared, placing a thick piece of gauze over the wound and wrapping it. As he applied pressure with the palm of his hand, he asked again.
“Now, explain, Master Alexi. Is what he's saying true?” he ordered, his voice sounding calm, but there were undertones of anger and chastisement, because he had to admit, the evidence pointed towards Erik's veracity. In a way, his tone was not unlike the voice he had used on Mois and Alexi when they had been children and had gotten into some mischief.