I tugged the brush through my hair as carefully as possible, working out the many tangles that had formed throughout the day.

I usually brush through my hair after I get out of the shower, but Nico was adamant on coming into the bathroom as soon as I turned the shower off this morning, barely giving me time to put some clothes on.

From then on I guess I just got distracted and forgot.

I sighed as the brush caught on yet another large tangle.

Turning my head towards where Nico was, I began to gently brush it out.

He's been a bit off ever since this morning. Ever since his nightmare.

He still hadn't offered to talk about it, and I'm pretty sure that he never will.

If something scared him that much, I don't think he'd want to admit it to anybody.

He had even refused to leave the room today, having the slaves bring us all three of today's meals.

Still, he was sitting comfortably on his bed, flipping through a large book that he had been looking at pretty much all day. When I asked him what it was he just told me that it was something that he was hoping to find answers in.

And then he changed the subject when I tried to figure out what he wanted to be answered.

Which was a little weird, but I left it alone.

He's obviously going through something that he wants to figure out himself, and even if he doesn't want any help from me, ill be there for him.

It's the least I could do.

I turned my head back towards the mirror, having successfully removed that knot from my hair, and continued on to the rest of it.

The sound of Nico's book slamming shut, followed by his harsh sigh filled the air.

That couldn't be a good sign.

Still, I hoped for the best.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" I asked, looking back towards him.

His hand was held in a fist and pressed against his mouth.

"No." is all he replied, obviously feeling defeated because of it.

I felt myself slouch from his answer.

Before I could even respond there was a knock at the door.

Xander's knock.

Both of our eyes turned to the door before turning to each other.

It was obvious that Nico didn't want to deal with this right now, but he still got up from the bed.

He gestured for me to stay there with his hand as he approached the door.

"What do you want?" He asked as soon as he opened the door.

I peaked at them from behind the doorway, seeing that surprisingly, Doe wasn't with Xander.

I thought for sure that he was coming here unannounced because she was hurt again.

"Ah, yes. A warm hello to you too brother who I love so much." He replied, even adding a smile.

Nico didn't react at all from his words, just kept staring at him with that annoyed look in his eye.

It took a couple more seconds before Xander dropped the smile, realizing that whatever he was trying wasn't going to work.

"Really dude? Not even a 'Hi'?" He asked.

Nico sighed, grabbing the door and taking a step back as he began to close it

"If all you wanted was to bother someone go do it to someone else." He barked.

Xander quickly stopped the door with his foot, "Wait wait okay I do actually have to tell you something." He finally admitted, forcing the door back open.

Nico took another step back, crossing his arms to silently tell Xander to hurry up and talk.

And luckily he did.

"Since you weren't at dinner I thought that id tell you about the announcement that they made during it."

This caught Nico's attention as well as mine.

As long as I've been here they had never announced anything at dinner, so I found this to be a bit strange.

I also found it strange that Xander was actually being considerate.

"Its that time of the year again so the pet doctors will arrive tomorrow afternoon to collect all the pets in the castle. They said to get as much use out of them as we can tonight because they'll be at the clinic for two days before they're returned."

I didn't even realize that I had dropped the brush until the sound of it hitting the ground scared me out of my own shock.

I had forgotten about the annual checkups. I thought they only happened when we were in the pet shops.

My stomach began to feel heavy and my head began to feel light, forcing me to stumble forward out of the bathroom.

The pet doctors took very little pride in their work because its such a low-level job. Because of this, they weren't even very considerate or gentle with us pets.

I was going to have to experience all of that again.

Away from Nico.

I looked back up at him, trying to ignore the sudden panic I was feeling and the lump in my throat.

Even he looked visibly tense, his eyes now wide

"Oh." Is all he said.

Xander reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.

"Yep. They passed out the forms to fill out as usual so I grabbed Khloe's for you."

Nico took it and hastily opened it and examined it.

"Its a little different from the past forms and they explained them to us but," he shrugged, "You're a doctor I'm sure you can figure them out." He finished.

"Yeah..." Nico mumbled still looking down at the paper, "Thank you."

Xander nodded, stepping backward back into the hallway, taking the door with him.

"Consider it payment for fixing my pets shoulder," he said before closing the door.

I stared down at the form, failing to read a single word.

Instead, my mind was racing over the fact that Khloe was going to be taken away from me.

For two days.

I could feel my heart begin to thunder in my chest.

I've over-seen pet doctor's procedures and they're anything but professional or ethical.

They run their tests with whips and chains,

Most of them aren't even medically trained, and it shows in how they handle the girls there

Now the thought of them lifting a single finger towards Khloe...

My Khloe.

The paper crinkled as my grip tightened on it.

I could barely handle not being around her while she was in the shower. Now I was supposed to go two days without even seeing her.

Without being able to protect her.

Without being able to calm her down or somehow prevent her nightmares.

I couldn't even begin to worry about how I was going to be able to deal with her being gone, I was busy worrying about how she was going to be able to get through being gone.

She's probably not handling it very well right now.

That was the thought that got me to snap out of my rushing mind and finally turn to face Khloe.

She was already looking right at me, holding her hands tight near her chest and her eyes already full of fear.

I didn't even hesitate before heading over to her, setting the form on the table on the way.

She didn't move when I first embraced her. She didn't even lift her eyes to meet with mine.

I just held her for the time being, knowing that I couldn't really say anything to comfort her.

"C-cant you do the check-up or something?" she asked quietly, finally moving to grab the back of my shirt.

I sighed, wishing more than anything that I could.

I know for a fact that Khloe is healthy enough not to need this check-up. But my word isn't enough apparently.

"Not legally," I responded.

There wasn't really any way to avoid this. They already had Khloe on file.

Every city I know of does these kinds of check-ups ever since an outbreak of the plague spread amongst the humans, effectively killing some of the vampires that drank their toxic blood.

Even though that was hundreds of years ago and nothing like that has happened since.

"Then, can you do me a favor?" She asked, finally looking up to meet my eye

I hesitated, remembering what she had asked for the last time she asked me for a favor.

"Anything," I replied soon after, smoothening back her hair.

She looked down for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip like she was debating whether or not she really wanted this favor. Her grip even tightened on my shirt

I rose a brow as she looked back up at me, those beautiful icy blue eyes staring back at me.

"Can you um... drink from me?"

I immediately took a step back away from her as soon as she spoke, my eyes wide in all different sorts of confusion.

Did I hear her right?

Did she really just ask what I think she asked?

She looked just as surprised that I took a step back as I did at her question.

"I'm sorry... What?" I asked.

She wanted me to drink from her... The last time I did that I almost killed her why on earth would she want that?

I didn't even want to drink from her. No matter how good her blood is, I didn't want to hurt her again.

She took a small step towards me.

"I know it's an odd request but," she paused for a moment, looking at the ground, "all the times I've been at the clinic, they treated the pets that had visible markings of ownership better than the ones that didn't. I guess they didn't want to damage someone else's property as much or something but I-" she choked on her last word, obviously fighting back her urge to cry.

Dammit.

"Khloe," I responded softly, reaching out my hand to tilt her head up.

God, I swear I'll do anything to keep this girl from crying.

She watched I tucked her hair away from her neck, examining the places where I had bitten her before.

Sure enough, they were difficult to see.

Dammit.

"Fine. I'll do it."

Thankfully a small relieved smile appeared on her face. "Thank you."

I sure hope she's right about how the Pet doctors treat them. I'd hate to have done this for nothing.

My tongue ran over my fangs.

"We have until tomorrow afternoon. We can wait till then if you want to." I told her.

She shook her head, intertwining her hands near her stomach.

"No," she cleared her throat and took in a shaky breath, "Let's get it over with."