Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 69: Nice

Luna awkwardly obliged as Tom turned her arm around, poking it at places where the bruises were most apparent. She flinched, and he took note of it.

"Well?" she asked as he'd checked her ribs and moved on to her back. "What do you think?"

Tom returned to face her with a frown, and Luna mimicked his expression while putting her shift on again.

"You took quite the beating it seems."

"Yes, like I already said." Luna's lip curled, and Tom was unimpressed.

"But you still managed all those feats you told me about earlier afterwards?" He proceeded to move hair out of the way to look at her head. "Your body must have protested at some point."

"Well... Yes? In the beginning..." Luna narrowed her eyes to think back. "But I guess I... Somehow stopped feeling it? Or, I'm feeling it now of course but..."

Tom backed away to look at her, chewing on his lip as he cocked an eyebrow.

"They say the body can do some quite amazing things when in danger. That it somehow makes you stronger or more agile, or... More resilient perhaps."

"Ah." Luna's eyes widened, one of them twitching as she adjusted her position on the chair. "I did pull Noah up from that hole! Maybe—Maybe that was it. Except—Except I was glowing. That's when my arms started looking like this."

"Yes, you did mention the glow." Tom nodded, still not looking any wiser. "Perhaps your nature aided your body somehow. Making it able to perform things you usually can't."

Luna reluctantly agreed.

"I... Guess I can't usually pull a grown man up onto a platform with one arm... While holding on for my life as well."

"So it somehow increased your strength."

Luna couldn't help but doubt it.

"... More like the mere action hurt like fuck but I also just didn't need to stop? I think it had more to do with my inability to be exhausted? Or—Or maybe both?"

"Well... Whatever it was, it seems like your human body couldn't quite keep up." Tom nodded at her arms. "Good thing you're healing, or you could've—"

He paused as he noticed Luna's troubled expression and he cleared his throat, scribbling something down on another piece of paper.

"At least you're healing."

Luna looked around at his various notes.

"Wouldn't it be easier to write all this down on one paper?"

"No."

She sighed, but awkwardly fiddled with her new bracelets. It was a good thing she always had backups ready in case of inconvenient bleeding.

Isn't all bleeding inconvenient though?

"Tom... Do you—Do you know about this sort of poison Catherine's got?" she asked, and Tom adjusted his glasses as he looked up at her with a frown.

"I can't imagine I'd ever be able to keep track of every poison Lady Marberry's got."

"It's just..." Luna shrugged. "... She gave it to me for the journey, so I wouldn't bleed and I—I guess I was wondering if you could, I don't know... Somehow find a way to modify it so it would do just that but... Not kill me, maybe?"

Tom pursed his lips, and Luna could guess what he was thinking. Catherine's knowledge and sources weren't necessarily of their world, and it wasn't as easy as just mixing things together with it. Someone had to test it, and that alone could be life threatening.

"I... Get why you'd want it," he began, and Luna's hopes sank. "And it's not like I couldn't try but... Without trying to be insensitive, I just wouldn't get my hopes up, you know? Anything that'd stop your bleeding would probably not be healthy."

"But even if it was just... Survivable, I'd take it." Luna's soft laugh was bitter. "I'm so tired of this cursed blood. I can't be around supernatural beings without wondering if I'm bleeding from somewhere and I've had my entire family invested in my cycles ever since I was thirteen. Not to mention what it does to my bracelets, I... I just don't want it."

"And I understand that." Tom tried talking in a calming voice. Something he wasn't very good at. Tom wasn't great at dealing with emotions in general. "I just don't want to make any promises. I... I'm also just not... That proficient around those specific bleeding parts. It's... I don't know. Regardless of how well it would go, it would still take a while."

Luna let out a resigned breath and her shoulders slouched, but she nodded slowly.

"I'll just... Keep managing then," she muttered as she stood up, and Tom turned his gaze towards the papers again. "For what it's worth I live in a place that doesn't have supernatural beings nearby, so I'm safe when I'm home."

"And you'll at least not have to worry about your bleedings for a while longer in your condition," Tom filled in, but Luna shook her head.

"I stopped taking that poison when we got to the island. It's dangerous after all."

Tom shook his head as well.

"No, not that. Your other condition."

Luna eyes moved around in confusion.

"My glowing blood?"

Tom rolled his eyes and looked up at her again, then his expression slowly switched to what Luna guessed was some kind of horror as they both stared at each other.

"No," he said, and suddenly looked as though he wanted to run away. "No. No, you can't be serious."

"I'm... Sorry?"

"Five weeks!" Tom suddenly stood up and Luna backed away, always at least a little cautious around supernatural beings. She'd also never seen Tom yell or even show strong emotions before. "You spent five weeks on a ship full of vampires but no one cared to say anything?"

"I—"

"No. No, I'm not doing this. I'm not having this conversation with you."

Luna opened her mouth to protest, feeling awfully offended all of a sudden.

"What the Waste—"

"Luna." Tom held up a hand, removing his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. "You—I... Really? Ethan didn't say anything?"

"Well, how should I know?" Luna threw her hands out. "I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

Tom sucked in a deep breath, then he let it out and sat down as if admitting defeat.

"Luna..." he said, and if Luna wasn't mistaken he almost looked remorseful. "Sit down."

Luna paled. What was going on?

She reluctantly sat down.

"See, I..." Tom began but paused again, muttering the next part. "... I really don't want to have this talk."

"Just—Just out with it."

"All right." Tom drew another deep breath. "Luna... I can hear two heartbeats in you."

Luna blinked, mouth opening slightly.

"I..." She shook her head in confusion. "... Is that—Do you think it's because of my blightish nature? Did I—Have I always had that? But why would—"

"No." Tom put his hands over his face. "No, it's not that."

"But..."

Luna's eyes suddenly widened in realization. She thought back to the sickness she'd assumed was from the poison and being on the ship, as well as her having been outstandingly emotional the entire journey.

"Oh." She wrinkled her nose in horror. "Oh no."