It took some time for her to wake up again. As she slowly opened her eyes, the dim candlelight made her head throb. Her head had hit the ground, hard.

She stretched her fingers only to find that there was no cold smooth floor beneath them. Instead, she felt the soft warm touch of a sheet. Opening her eyes again she found herself looking at the spot on her ceiling that she used to look at during sleepless nights.

She was in her bed.

Moving her fingers again, she felt the soft and warm duvet above them. Somehow she hadn't felt the weight of her duvet on top of her or that her heavy jacket was no longer on her. She was surprisingly warm, wrapped in her feather duvet, and felt no urge to leave from her spot. Instead, she turned her head to look around the room.

The room was still and empty. No sounds could be heard other than the howling of the wind outside. A blizzard must have moved in. She looked at one of the bedside tables and examined the candles upon it. They were now half burned and had shrunken to half their size. This meant that she had been out for at least 3 hours.

It took her a moment to realize what had happened before she had hit the floor. She reached her fingers to her lips to examine them. They didn't feel any different than before, only cold and smooth. A little too cold for her liking, but this was expected after having been exposed to the freezing cold for so long.

Gathering some courage to face the cold, she propped herself up on one elbow to get a better look around the room. This confirmed that she was indeed alone.

Her coat was hanging off of the chair that stood in front of her mirrored dresser. She boots were placed beside the chair. With a wince of pain, she strained her eyes to try and catch a glimpse at herself in the mirror. What she saw did not delight her.

A dark coloured smudge ran from her bottom lip to the bottom of her chin. She knew exactly what it was.

Springing out of her bed and tossing the comforting warmth aside, she rushed over to the dresser mirror to examine herself more thoroughly. What she saw disgusted her. The blood of the people that she had known, those that had helped her, was pressed against her skin. The thought of this made her want to throw up.

Reaching into her dresser drawer she pulled out a small bottle of alcohol spray and a tissue. She doused the tissue in the alcohol and went to work at cleaning the blood off of her face. It was at that moment that she felt a strong stinging pain from her bottom lip. A small incision had appeared on the bottom left. It was too clean of a wound for it to have happened when her head had hit the ground. She immediately knew that it had come from something sharp. Teeth.

She examined the wound in the mirror, making sure to take extra care in cleaning it. Once the wound and her face were clean and blood free, she looked at herself. Small dark circles had formed under her eyes. Her hair was dishevelled and dry from the cold. Her skin looked much paler than usual. All and all, she looked like shit. She felt like it too.

Reaching into the dresser again, she pulled out a small bottle of pain medication, shook two pills into her palm, and tried her best to swallow them down. She realized too late that her mouth was too dry and she had nothing near her that she could use to wash them down.

She froze in place at the sound of a door creaking open slowly. Slow footsteps entered the room, the sound of them making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. A bitterness rose in her mouth that she could only hope was from the pills. Her eyes wandered to the mirror, trying to catch a glimpse of whoever may be in the room with her. Yet she had no luck, since the only door into her room was at an angle beside her that the mirror could not see.

The footsteps came closer, seeming to slow down as they drew near. She took a shallow breath and closer her eyes.

When she dared to open her eyes, a hand with long curved, blood stained nails, held a glass of a clear liquid in front of her. She stared at it, dazed.

Snapping out of her frozen state, she fumbled to take the glass from the hand and said a broken "Thank you", quickly downing what she now discovered to be a glass of water.

After finishing the entire glass she looked in the direction of where the hand had come from. Turning her head and body, she looked at the man from earlier. His dark piercing eyes examined her.

"Thank you for the water" she choked out.

He just stared at her. Unmoving.

"Did you put me to bed?"

He didn't respond.

"What about my jacket?" She pointed to the chair.

His eyes didn't follow.

"My boots?"

Nothing. He said and did nothing.

She placed the glass on her dresser then looked down at the floor, defeated "Well um, thanks."

The sound of a footstep made her jump. Her head and eyes darted up in the direction of the sound.

He had turned his back on her and had taken a step toward the door. Turning his head slightly back, a small creeping smile could be seen on the edge of his face "You should sleep."

A few more steps were taken before it hit her that she was about to be left alone again. As his hand reached the door knob her brain kicked into action.

"Wait!"

He stood unmoving, hand resting on the doorknob.

Her words failed her again. They stood in silence for a minute, after which he turned the knob.

"No wait! I...don't want to be alone..."

His hand slowly left the doorknob and went to rest at his side. His next movements were swift and rhythmic. He turned to face her, glancing at her with a tilted head. His eyes fixed to her every movement.

She watched him intently, waiting for something, anything to happen.

For a few moments, nothing happened. They stood, looking at each other, not saying a word or moving. The first movements came in the form of her body giving into the cold. She began to shiver, realizing that her sock covered feet felt like they were touching ice beneath her.

He lifted his arm and pointed at her bed. Tilting his head in the opposite direction, his face was expressionless as he commanded "Sleep."

Dazed and confused she looked from his outstretched hand to her bed then back at him.

"Sleep" he repeated.

It took her a second to register the command and the situation. Taking a breath, she nodded and made her way to her bed, looking over her shoulder to make sure that he didn't make any other movements. She sat down on the open edge of her bed and watched him.

He seemed pleased with her, nodded, and moved toward the door. Turning away slightly, he closed the door to the dark hallway, sealing them off from the world.

He made his way over to her dresser, pulling out the chair "Lie down."

She obeyed, lying down on her bed, pulling her duvet over her and tucking it under her feet so that they could unthaw. She then arranged herself and her pillows in such a way that she could lie on her side and see him clearly. Once she was curled up, he sat down on the chair. His dark eyes never left her.

"Are you going to stay?" she shivered.

Narrowing his eyes ever so slightly, he nodded, crossing one leg over the other and sinking back slightly into the chair.

She felt a small warmth crawl over her body as her duvet did its job "Thank you."

He just nodded again, watching her intently.

It was at that moment that she realized something. The blood that had coated his face just hours ago, was gone. Had he washed it off?

Seemingly understanding that she had noticed, he just looked at her and smiled.

She shivered again, this time in fear.

"Sleep" he whispered from across the room. The candlelight casting shadows over his face.

She tried to fight every urge she had, but her eyes began to flutter closed. She looked at him, gathering the courage to speak, "Thank you for staying Zurial."

He just nodded.

Her body gave way to the warmth and her eyes closed. She felt herself slipping into what felt like a deep sleep, losing the ability to control her arms and legs.

She heard a sound but couldn't force herself to open her eyes. She heard the sound of footsteps drawing near, followed by the gentle thump of wood hitting the floor. He had moved the chair?

Drawing the last bit of her strength, she managed to crack open one of her eyes.

He sat around a meter away from the bed, looking directly down at her, leaning down slightly, arms crossed over his chest, with one long clawed hand resting on his bicep. His head was slightly tilted and was poised to look directly down at her.

Fear gripped her and yet she could not find the strength to get up or fully open her eyes.

He made a sound, almost as if he knew that she was struggling. A gentle "tsk tsk tsk" came from his lips. This was followed by him gently whispering to her "Sleep".

As if on command, her eye fluttered closed again and she felt herself drift off into a deep sleep. The last thing she head, was the sound of her duvet being pulled over her shoulders and against her ear.