14

I stayed quiet and still as Xander strut right into Masters room, practically dragging Doe behind him.

My eyes widened when I saw her. She looked physically drained like she was going to pass out any second now.

Xander looked around the room as master shut the door, taking in a deep breath.

"Did you do something with the place? it looks different." Xander said.

Master rolled his eyes, "That's not why you're here."

Xander's's eyes furrowed for a moment.

"Hm? Oh yea. Where do you want this?" He asked, lifting the edge of Doe's leash.

Master groaned as he walked into the bathroom.

"Just take off her leash and have her sit on that couch." He said, pointing to the one that I woke up on.

Xander nodded as he made his way over to the couch.

Apparently, Doe was too out of it because She ended up being choked by the leash before she started stumbling over to Xander.

Now I really felt bad for her.

Doe weakly climbed onto the couch before Xander took forever to unclip her leash.

Master walked back into the room, now with the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows.

His eyes met with mine for a second before he turned to Xander.

He started to speak, but Xander beat him to it.

"You let your pet on the bed?" Xander asked, now facing me as he sat himself on one of the other couches.

I shifted my head down, looking at the now very interesting blanket.

"Not usually," Master said, walking over to the couch, "but I didn't need her catching whatever Doe has, so I decided to make an exception."

Xander's eyes furrowed as he looked at me.

"Shes gonna start disobeying if you keep letting her up there." He said.

I curiously tilted my head up towards Master.

"Believe me, she knows better," Master replied, "Now whats wrong with yours?"

I looked towards Doe as soon as Xander did, trying not to make eye contact with him.

"I don't know. She told me that she was feeling really hot last night but I thought that she was just trying to make up some lame excuse so I wouldn't drink from her. Her blood tasted a little different than usual so I guess she wasn't totally making it up. And this morning I had to force her to wake up, which was weird because she's always up before me, and then her breathing started getting all weird and her body wouldn't stop shaking."

Master just stared at him for a second before letting out a long sigh.

Doe didn't even flinch when Master reached his hand towards the back of her neck.

Maybe she just didn't care at this point.

Masters eyes widened.

"How did you not feel this fever?" He asked.

Xander pursed his lips out a bit.

"What fever?"

Master just stared at him, annoyance evident in his face.

"She's literally burning, Xander. I'm surprised that she was able to make it over here without collapsing."

Master went through what seemed like a routine, opening her mouth, checking various parts of her body, checking her pulse.

"My room is like right down the hall, it's not even that far." Xander retorted.

Master glared at him.

"That's not the point."

Xander groaned in annoyance as he slouched himself against the couch.

"So what should I do, all-powerful wise one?"

I almost snickered at the confused look on Masters' face.

"Just take her back to your room. Give her a blanket and some water and just let her sleep for a while. She'll get better naturally over the next few days. Oh, and keep her in your room until she's better, she's most likely contagious."

Master glanced over at me as he finished.

Xander just groaned.

"So you're saying that I can't get her branded tomorrow?" He whined.

"Not unless you want to get every other pet there sick."

Xander huffed out a big sigh.

"But I got Layla to agree to go with me."

"That sucks. Maybe you should have taken better care of your pet. "

Xander looked towards Doe for a moment.

"Fine, I'll just do it the next time the Branders come." He said.

"Good choice," Master responded.

I was kind of surprised that Xander planned on having her that long. He kinda seemed like he went through a pet every month despite how old Doe's scars looked

"Oh, also," Master started, "Don't drink from her for at least three days. "

This made Xander's eyes went wide.

"What!?"

Doe actually showed some form of relief from that.

"You heard me," Master replied.

Xander seemed to be at a loss for words like that was the most terrible news he had ever heard.

"Well, then how else am I going get blood?"

Master rolled his eyes.

"You could just, you know, drink the stuff that the castle provides for us."

Xander looked at him like he was stupid.

"That stuff is nasty compared to live blood."

Master sighed once again, he seemed to do that a lot when Xander was around.

"Yea I'm aware. But it's not my fault you got yourself addicted to it."

Xander leaned forward in the couch, setting his head on his hand as he looked at Master.

"Just get some from one of your friend's pets if you really must, but give Doe a break for a while" Master finished as he leaned back against the bed.

My breath caught in my throat as Xander looked at me before setting his eyes back onto Master.

"Okay." He said with a grin, "is that it?"

Master nodded.

"Yea, now get out, I have things to do."

Xander hummed as he stood from the couch.

"Of course you do," He said as he clipped Doe's leash on, " come along, pet."

Doe hurried off of the couch the best of her ability before she could get choked.

She seemed to be happy with how things ended up.

Master just watched as he left.

Despite my efforts to not make eye contact, I still noticed the last glance Xander sent me before the door closed behind him.

I felt myself shrink up as my stomach began to feel weird.

I really did not like him.

Master relaxed his shoulders as he pushed himself forward off of the bed.

"Idiot."

I still couldn't get the grin Xander sent me out of my head.

It was like he had some devious plan.

"N-Nico?" I asked, planning on telling him what happened.

He turned his head towards me.

"Oh yeah, I need to order you some food." He said as he walked towards his desk.

I held my tongue, not wanting to interrupt him.

It's probably not a big deal anyways.

I'm probably just overreacting.