I pressed the gauze to the bite, and closed my robe up with the other hand. I'd need two hands to retie, so all I could do was hold the robe closed. That let Cisco know I'd noticed what he'd been doing. He suddenly met my eyes, and he was embarrassed. It showed in the almost panic in his own eyes, and the dark blush that crawled up his neck. The panic turned to anger, and he looked away, as if I'd seen too far into his soul.
Remus took the first-aid stuff from him. «Go to the coffin room and tell Nazareth to send someone to take your place on this detail.»
Cisco protested, «Why?»
«You're staring at her chest. She's not a piece of ass, kid. When you're on the job, you're on the fucking job. You can notice she's pretty, but you don't stare, you don't get distracted.»
«I'm sorry, Remus, it won't happen again.»
«No, it won't,» Remus said. «Go to the coffin room.»
«Please, Remus…»
«I gave you an order, Cisco, follow it.»
Cisco lowered his head, not a bow, but dejection. The gesture itself, at something so small, said how young he was. But he didn't argue again. He went for the door.
When it closed behind him, Remus turned to me. «Are you still bleeding?»
I let go of the gauze; it stayed in place, pasted there by blood. «Hard to tell,» I said.
He started to touch the gauze, then stopped, letting his hand drop to his side. I actually looked down to make sure my chest was completely covered. Nothing was showing. So why did Remus seem as reluctant as Cisco to touch me?
«Can you take the gauze away?» he asked.
I didn't argue, just pulled it off. It didn't hurt to move it, so I wasn't bleeding that badly. Good.
«Turn your head to the side so I can see.» He added, «Please.»
I did what he asked, which put me watching Jean-Claude. He looked way too solemn for comfort. «What's wrong now?» I asked.
«Are you so ashamed of us that you would hide our mark of favor under bandages and tape?»
I frowned at him. «What are you talking about?»
Remus touched more gauze to my neck. «Can you hold it in place while I get tape?»
I put my hand up to the gauze, automatically.
Jean-Claude motioned at my hand, at Remus, who had his back mostly to the other man.
Remus moved in to tape the gauze in place. I stopped him with a hand on his arm. He stepped back immediately, out of reach, the tape still in his fingers. I glanced up at his face, but he wouldn't give me a direct look, so I didn't know what was in his eyes. He'd stepped back like I'd hurt him. I hadn't.
I turned away from the guard, to Jean-Claude. Remus's problems were Remus's problem, not mine. I had enough problems. «You mean why am I bandaging the bite?»
He nodded.
«I always bandage the bites.»
«Pourquoi?» he asked. Why?
I opened my mouth, closed it, and thought about it. «It's a wound. It usually pierces a vein or artery. You smear antiseptic on it, and slap a bandage on it to keep it from getting infected.»
«Have you ever known a vampire bite to become infected?» he asked.
I frowned, and thought about it. It took me nearly a minute to say, «No.»
«Why is that, ma petite?»
«Because vampires have a natural antiseptic in their saliva. Vampires actually have fewer types of bacteria in their saliva than the average human.»
«You are quoting now,» he said.
I nodded, and stopped because the bite was a little tight. It didn't exactly hurt, but it let me know it was there. «Yeah, they had an article in The Animator. Some doctor actually wondered why vampire bites don't get infected like an ordinary human bite, or an animal bite. They've known for a while that you guys have an anticoagulant in your saliva, but this was the first study on other properties of vampire saliva.»
«So, I ask again, why are you hiding our mark of favor?»
I thought about it, then shrugged. «Habit.» I took the gauze off the bite mark. It had two small round red circles on it, but it had almost stopped bleeding. They usually did unless you were cut up. A violent vamp bite was more like a dog bite; it bled. The two neat holes stopped sooner than you'd think, and rarely re-bled without the wound being reopened. I'd known vampire junkies who tried to hide their habit by having a vampire bite the same wound several times. It didn't really work if you knew enough about vamps to know what a bite should look like, but it fooled the tourists, or the boss at work on Monday. Repeated trauma to an area is still repeated trauma, and that was one of the few times outside of violent attacks when a vamp bite started to bruise and tear.
I handed the used gauze to Remus, who took it gingerly from me as if he didn't want to touch my fingers. «I don't need the bandages. Thanks anyway, Remus.»