The next morning, Nick was sitting at the kitchen table pushing his uneaten fried egg around with his cold piece of slightly burnt toast. His mind was a thousand miles away. Conflict was never something Nick Carter enjoyed and this morning thoughts were tugging at his mind. It had come down to the point where he had to start taking care of more family matters. He didn’t want to part with either of his parents’ businesses but he just couldn’t run them any longer. It wasn’t like he had much to do with them in particular. It was more the stress of them running smoothly hanging over his head. The young man was running on steam the last few years. He pretty much paid for things using the life insurance money he received. There was no work involved. He was in one of those stupors that the town’s folk left him in. Things had to start changing and fast – Nick realized this morning when he woke up right before day break how unhappy he had been.

Scrapes were scrapped into the garbage and dishes were put into the sink. Nick made his way through the house and into his bedroom. He changed quickly, not needing a shower today. It took a minute to dig through his closet to find all of his cameo gear. Once suited up, he went out to the back garage and started to collect a few of his old hunting rifles. Nick carried them swiftly out back to the storage shed that held his unused ATV. After making sure there was plenty of gas, he checked all the other fluids and then securely fastened the guns on the rack behind his head. A small cooler with drinks and power bars was placed on the floor of the passenger seat. He was ready to go, go out and clear his head.

The bump trail was a little over grown from not being used in several years but Nick could make it to his post with his eyes closed. His dad used to take him out in the woods behind their house every season to shoot at last one deer. Some days they would be up on that perch in the tree for thirteen or fourteen hours. Nick didn’t care. He was there with his head, enjoying the quiet and the scenery. It was exactly what he needed today. He just hoped his dad was with him. At just the thought, Nick’s eyes started to rim with tears and he was quick to push the thoughts away. He took a deep breath and pressed firmer on the gas pedal.

Once he parked his vehicle, Nick grabbed his supplies and climbed up the tree to sit on his platform. He set up his station with his guns and got a drink out of the cooler. Nick had originally thought to do some foot hunting but then knew how rusty he was. It was best to take things slow. Maybe he could convince Aaron to go out when he comes home from break at school. Aaron wasn’t much of a hunter though he probably wouldn’t mind spending the time with his older brother. The two didn’t see much of each other.

Hours passed as Nick sat up in the tree waiting. He saw a few does with some young but nothing where he could raise his gun. He was getting tired and the sun would be setting in about thirty minutes. It was time to start packing up his things. He placed his Gatorade back into the smaller cooler when he heard some rustling below. Freezing in place, Nick grabbed the closest rifle and peered over the edge. There stood a eight point buck in plain site. It seemed to Nick that the creature just walked out and was waiting for him to make the shot. He fumbled with getting himself aimed up. The setting sun was casting shadows that played with his eyes and so Nick ended up squinting to see better. It was getting dark fast and Nick knew he need to take the shot. One last check to make sure everything was aligned and right as he was about to pull the trigger the buck darted off into the woods. Nick cursed loudly. He started to roll onto his side and remove the shells, pack up and head home. This day had been shit. Being a little too close to the edge, Nick slid off the side of his small platform and started to fall down the tree, hitting branches and the trunk as he went. He tried to hold onto his gun as his other hand attempted to frantically grab at whatever it could reach. Nick knew he needed to stop himself some how before he hit the ground or else he’d be seriously injured.

After a few seconds, it was too late. Nick crashed through the last few branches and landed on the hard ground below with a loud thud. He groaned loudly, pain searing through his body. All the man wanted to do was close his eyes but he had to see if he could move. His head rolled to the side and he saw a one inch branch sticking out of his shoulder. Nick cursed out in pain and tried to grab it, rip it out but it was no use. He closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them to see his rifle falling towards him. It must have gotten snagged on a branch as he was falling. Putting his hands up to try and catch the gun, Nick realized it was useless. The gun was out of his reach and landed five feet away. When it hit the dirt, something triggered it to fire and Nick screamed as a bullet ripped through his upper thigh. The pain of everything was beginning to be too much for him and he felt his eyes wanting to close more and more. He should have told Brian where he was going, he should have brought some one along. All of these shoulda, woulda, couldas were going through his mind as he gritted his teeth and tried to stay away. When he felt himself started to doze, he tipped his head back and screamed. He was scared and alone and knew that he would die out there now that night had fallen.

“Nick…” A voice said in Nick’s groggy head. “Nick wake up.”

He blinked slowly ,seeing a hazy figure in front of him. His eyes wouldn’t focus and the voice sounded far away. He must be dead.

“Can you hear me?” The figure asked, moving to touch his face. It was apparent that the person was looking over him and checking out his wounds. Maybe he wasn’t dead after all.

Nick swallowed hard and tried to blink a few times to get his vision back in order. It was becoming a little more clear. He swallowed again and mumbled out a groan. With all the pain soaring through him, he started to wish he would die.

“I’m going to help you…fix you.”

His vision was becoming more clear. Oh no, no not him. The vampire that had been almost stalking him was in his view and Nick screamed, trying to bring his hands up to push himself away.

“Nick stop! You’ll die if I don’t help you.”

“You fucker! You’re going to suck my blood and kill me any way!” Nick shouted, trying to squirm away no matter how much it hurt. He was sick of seeing AJ appearing out of the blue and for no real reason. Why was the vampire there that night? Did he have a tracking device on him? Was he really stalking him? Nick didn’t know, but he wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

“I heard your scream. I knew you were hurt so I came to help,” AJ said frantically trying to stop Nick from moving. “I’m not going to kill you. Just trust me.”

Nick had lost quite a bit of blood and was feeling more and more woozy by the moment. His fighting had taken a lot of energy and now his moments were slowing down. AJ could see the human was going under if he didn’t do something quick. There was no way that he’d let this human die. The vampire knew what he had to do, even if he was punished for it later.

“Take a deep breath. This is going to hurt…”

Before Nick could ask what he was going to do, he screamed. AJ pulled the branch from the man’s shoulder and tossed it aside. Nick had tears running down his cheeks from the pain. It was embarrassing to be seen like this but at this moment he didn’t care. He was on the verge of death and AJ could see the signs written all over his human’s face. He moved to Nick’s side and got flat on his stomach in the dirt. Two of his long skinny fingers went inside Nick’s camo pants where the bullet had entered and pulled the fabric sideways to rip a hole. Once it was big enough, the vampire leaned in and put his mouth to the human’s leg. He sucked hard and after a good twenty seconds the bullet was removed. Nick was too shocked to say anything.

“Now I need you to do rink,” AJ explained, sitting back up. He rolled up his shirt sleeve and bite onto his wrist. His lips were lined with his own blood and the hole on his wrist was obviously healing itself pretty quietly.

“No fucking way am I drinking that shit from you,” Nick muttered in a soft voice. His energy was almost depleted.

“Do it now!” AJ commanded, putting his wrist to Nick’s mouth. “Or die!”

The first taste snaked its way into Nick’s mouth and the taste was incredible. His tongue darted out and gathered some more. Pretty soon, his weak hands came up to grasp the vampire’s small arm to suck firmer. The more he drank the better he felt. This was amazing. Nick didn’t have to think about what he was doing but focused on the healing. After a few minutes of drinking from AJ, he was pushed away. AJ looked a little more grayer but the vampire didn’t seem to mind. A smile was on his face as he saw how much life the human before him was shining with.

“Let’s get you home.”

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