Nico's POV:

I set the phone down, having ordered what I needed for Khloe.

Another one of Khloe's groans sounded as I turned to face her.

She had been like this all morning.

"Geez Khloe, what did you eat last night?"

She barely opened her eyes, peering up at me from her curled up position on the bed.

"Too much," she groaned again, tightening the hold her arms had around her stomach," of everything."

I hummed a response.

That explains it.

Her body hasn't gotten used to that much food in such a short amount of time.

Although I wish she would have been more careful, I couldn't really blame her.

"OK, Well I ordered you something that should help ease the pain a little," I said, making my way back onto the bed.

I laid myself back down next to her, figuring that I could at least hold her while we waited for my order.

She seemed to be already one step ahead of me, hooking her arms under mine and grabbing my shoulders before pressing her head against my chest.

I stayed still for a moment before gently wrapping my arms around her, trying to get her to relax.

Some of the pain should go away if I could get her to relax and focus on something else for a little bit.

Part of me was upset that the morning after an excellent night had to start like this, but I guess that feeling I had last night couldn't last forever.

Little by little, Khloe began to relax in my grasp. Enough to where her grip on me didn't feel like her life depended on it.

"You're really different." She spoke softly, breaking the silence.

My brows furrowed in confusion at her sudden words, not knowing what she could have been thinking of that made her say that.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

She carefully shifted herself back enough to where she could meet my eye.

"I mean, you're just really different now, then how you were when you first bought me."

"Really?" I asked.

I really didn't think that I had really changed much since then.

She let out a quiet laugh, much to my surprise given her current situation.

"Well, I guess you haven't changed since you got me, but you were very different when I first met you in the pet store," She clarified.

I tried to focus more on what she had said instead of on the smile that was now on her face.

"Is that bad?"

She shook her head, "No. Just the things that you said at the pet store made you really off-putting."

I took a moment to respond, trying to think back on what I had said. To be honest I really didn't remember those details of that day.

"Like what?"

She responded with her voice deepened as if it were supposed to be mine, "I like a pet that knows how to scream."

I just stared at her, my eyes round.

I had forgotten that I said that.

Geez no wonder she took so long to warm up to me.

"Well yea, the Pet Master wouldn't get off my ass about why I wanted you out of all the other choices, So I just told him what he wanted to hear," I explained.

The Pet Masters always asked too many questions.

"Oh..." She responded, curling herself up a bit more.

"I guess I didn't make a very good first impression," I concluded.

Again, she laughed. She had a very nice laugh.

"I don't know," She paused for a moment, "Thinking back on it, your first impression was really weird. Sure, you said that, but you also stopped the Pet Master from kicking me."

I felt myself involuntarily tighten my grip on her as I recalled that.

I remember finding it ridiculous that he was going to kick her for trying to be able to breathe.

It was obvious that he didn't really like her, but what kind of salesman injures something right after it's been bought?

Thinking back on how scared she was and the way she was cowering... I couldn't help but feel angry.

I didn't even know if I wanted to know what else he might have done to her during that time.

"Yeah, he was an asshole."

"Yeah..." is all she responded.

The tone of her voice caused me to look down at her.

She looked troubled like she was trying to figure something out.

I didn't think it was anything too major until I felt her grip tighten on me.

"Why did you chose me?" She asked almost silently.

I could tell by how she sounded that this was the first time this question had come to her mind. I could also tell that she couldn't fathom why I had chosen her in the first place.

So, I wanted her to share her thinking first.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean," she hesitated, "Out of all the normal, healthy, easy-to-take-care-of pets, you chose the one that was wounded, stained with her own blood, and known for being difficult to handle."

That's not exactly how I would have explained her...

Regardless, turned my body so that I was laying on my back, allowing Khloe to lay on my chest.

"I was wondering when you were finally going to ask that question," I told her.

"Really?" She asked.

I nodded. Most all pets do ask that, but my previous pets have never had this much of an effect on me.

"Yup, but ill tell you that story after you tell me why your family decided to leave the town."

She stiffened up almost immediately.

I knew that was kind of a touchy subject, but I just wanted to know what events happened that lead up to our present situation.

"Deal?"

"Deal," she said reluctantly.

A knock came from the door soon after she spoke, forcing me to sigh.

Really? They decide to come right when I get comfortable?

Still, I got up and answered the door, meeting some slave that I had never seen before.

I gave him a quick thanks as he handed me the glass teacup, followed shortly by me turning and closing the door.

Khloe eyed the cup curiously as I made my way back towards the bed.

"What is it?" she asked as she slowly sat up, cris-crossing her legs.

I handed it off to her before getting back onto the bed, leaning back against the headboard, "Its ginger tea."

She carefully held the cup in two hands, bringing the warm liquid up to her nose.

Her nose crinkled before she lowered the cup a bit and took a sip, followed by another longer one.

Her body didn't show any indication that she didn't like it so I guess it was okay.

She was silent for a couple of moments longer, taking short sips before she finally began to speak.

"My father was a very interesting man," she began, "He had strange beliefs about how our world should work and didn't mind sharing it with other people. He was one of the people who would revolt against the vampires, but he would never do it whenever one was around."

I didn't fail to notice when her finger nervously began drumming against the side of the cup, not how she refused to meet my eye.

"He would spend his days writing out plans that contradicted with the laws, claiming that they would be how we could gain our independence from the vampires. My mother would try to tell him that his plans wouldn't work, but he was committed and insisted that they had to. He tried to tell about his plans on the streets, trying to gain some sort of team from it, but nobody did anything but mock him for what he thought."

She paused, taking an extra long drink from the glass, nearly finishing all of it.

"My mother tried to keep me and my sister out of it, out of the hole he was digging himself, but she couldn't do it forever. Eventually, the people began to see my family as a danger to the safety that they had been promised. They thought that if any vampire found out about what he was planning, they would all be punished. So, he decided that we should try to leave. He said that he was going to give his family the life we deserved one way or another, so despite what we wanted to do, we followed him."

I could see the small amount of liquid remaining in the cup begin to tremble.

"We didn't even make it past the outskirts of town before we were-" She cut herself off as soon as her voice cracked.

One of her hands quickly went to cover her mouth as tears began to swim in her eyes.

And that's when I decided that I had heard all that I needed to hear.

I gently took the glass from her, setting it on the nightstand before gently taking hold of her hand.

Her eyes flickered from me to her hand before she let out a sigh, wiping her eyes.

"That's all I wanted to hear," I said quietly.

She nodded, clearing her throat as she scooted closer towards me.

I took the opportunity to get us to lay how we were before we were so rudely interrupted, my hand now calmly running itself through her soft hair while her hand softly held my shirt.

There was a reason why I made her tell her story first, I knew that it would most likely have her end up like this

And I really hoped that my story would help her feel better.