Disclaimer: No one belongs to me, they belong to someone else including myself. Not making any money, this is just for your enjoyment while waiting on the next book.
Warning:
Chapter 20
I ran through a mountain of fire on all fours. The trees were crying in pain, as they hit the forest floor. Smoke rose up and around me, closing off all escape routes. I kept moving forward, not knowing if I was going around in circles. It began to rain violently, coming down through the clouds of pollution, like bats out of hell. The rain helped clear some of the smog away, making things in front of me somewhat visible. Voices came to me on the wind, telling me to lie still, help was on the way. My paws struck water and I waded into it, waist deep. I began to swim across, only to get a few feet before my body went numb. I didn't have the strength to go on, letting the cold water drag me under in complete darkness.
I was in and out of unconsciousness, hearing different voices every time my spirit came back to the surface. I found myself mumbling something strange before going back into a deep sleep. My vitality finally decided to wake up and was greeted in the face with a bright light. Once my eyes had adjusted to the overhead lamp. I became aware of my surroundings, finding myself laying face down on a gurney. The sounds of machines were going off towards my right.
I lifted myself up off the bed and slowly rolled over. A sharp pain shot through my back as soon as it hit the mattress. I groaned in agony, reached for the buttons on the side of the bed, and pushed the raise button to heighten the bed into an upright position. As the angle of the bed became comfortable, the door came opened. Cherry walked in with a bunch of supplies and a stethoscope around her neck. She looked at me, smiled then went to put the supplies away without saying a word. I watched her as she checked the monitors and machines, stopping at my IV stand to change the bag. Once that was done, she walked around to the end of the bed and picked up a clipboard with my chart on it. She scanned over it, then walked around to stand beside my bed on the left. Most all the machines were on the right side of the room.
"Glad to see you awake. How you doing Alexandra?" She asked.
"I hurt a little, but doing ok," I answered.
She looked at me, smiled, shook her head, and said, "You're as bad as Anita."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"Dr. Lillian sent for your medical records when you were brought in," she said.
"Uh oh. Glad I was out of it, when she went through them," I replied
"You have Anita beat with the hospital visits. She mumbled something about not having a file that big, when she looked at yours," Cherry said.
"Well shucks didn't know this was a contest to see who can get the bigger medical file," I replied sarcastically. "What was Anita doing looking at my file anyway? Those are confidential," I continued with irritation to my voice.
"Dr. Lillian was shocked at your record and was mumbling under her breath about it. She was also mumbling too loud, plus Anita saw how big it was when your father brought it in, "Cherry stated.
"My father was here?" I asked.
"Yes. He was the one who recommended that you be moved from St. Louis General too here," She answered.
"Where exactly is here?" I asked out of curiosity.
"You're in a private medical facility that is owned by Dr. Lillian. It's under a apartment complex that most of the weres in town live in," Cherry stated matter of factly.
"Ah," I said, then continued with, "So how long have I been in here?"
"Three days," she stated.
"You're kidding right?" I asked.
"No, I wish I was," she retorted with a smirk.
I sat there digesting the information, before asking, "Is Anita and Nathaniel all right?"
She looked at me and said, "Yes. They are fine. They were a little scratched up when you came in, but no major damage."
"That's good to hear," I stated. I sat there watching Cherry fiddle with the machines before asking, "By the way, why was my father here?"
"Anita had to call your father. Dr. Lillian needed your medical records from the councils, so your father sent word to your grandfather about obtaining the records. They were in her hands in three hours later," she told me.
"Yeah the government works fast when the councils are involved," I mumbled under my breath.
She came over to me after writing down the readings from the monitors. " I need you to try and sit up. I need to check your vitals and take off the bandages from the wounds, so Dr. Lillian can come in and take a look at them," she said with tiredness in her voice.
I slowly sat up on the bed, trying not to scream from the pain in my back. I'd been in here for three days and still hadn't completely healed. It would be no use to change, the scars are permanent and the fire that was burning through my back, would be worse if I tried to shift. With Cherry's help I finally got my legs over the edge of the bed, so I could sit up straight. She checked my vitals and scribbled down the results on the clipboard.
Before putting it back at the end of the bed she stated, "Your lungs sound clearer today than they were yesterday. Your pulse and heart rate are normal. Your temperature is a little high still, but we can take care of that with plenty of ice."
Cherry came around the bed to stand behind me, so she could unwrap the bandages. She was trying to be careful, but it still hurt like hell. I was hissing and clenching my teeth, while she uncovered my back. She finally got the last piece of gauze off when the door opened.
A woman in her mid fifties stood in the door's frame. She was wearing a white overcoat and a pair of brown slacks, with shoes to match. She was a small woman, with salt and pepper hair that was cut in a neat, no-nonsense style. She glanced between me and Cherry smiling.
"Alexandra, I see you finally woke up after a three-day rest. So how are you feeling tonight?" She asked.
Before I could get a word in, the door flew open and hit the wall. Anita must have heard that I was awake, cause she stormed through the frame like a mad tempered rhino. Anita looked between the three of us. Dr. Lillian had joined Cherry and was looking at the burns. Anita walked over to stand in front of me and placed a hand on my shoulder. She looked at me with concern and said, "How are you feeling? Are you all right?"
"Yes," I answered, not expecting an outburst of venomous speech.
"What the hell were you thinking? You could have gotten yourself killed," she exploded, scaring the ladies behind me nearly to death. One of them in return dropped something hard onto my back making me cry out in pain.
"Oh I'm sorry," It was Cherry.
"Anita, calm down. What's been done has been done. There's nothing we can do about it now. She's a special agent, whose trained for things like this, remember. She was only doing her job," said Dr. Lillian.
Anita turned on the good doctor, "I know that, but she could have warned me, instead of taking it upon herself to push me out of the way."
I was tired and irritable and let it show, by facing off with Anita. Which probably wasn't smart on my part, but dammit I saved her life and she has the nerve to jump down my throat, "I could have told you, but you still would have been dead, if I didn't do anything. You wouldn't have gotten out of the way in time. It was triggered by your key in the door."
"Well if you knew this, why didn't you say something before I put my key in the car?" She yelled.
I got off the bed and looked her square in the face and that was hard since I was three inches taller than she was. If it's a fight she wanted, then a fight she's gonna get.
"I didn't know until you stuck the key in the door, that it was there. It had another spell on top of it, to prevent any one of my expertise of discovering it until it's to late. So I didn't have much time to tell you and to save you. If I waited until after telling you, you would be dead right now. I was doing my job, so get off my back," I said through clenched teeth.
Anita glared at me, then crossed her arms. "You scared the shit out of me with that stunt. Richard is your Ulfric and for right now I'm your lupa. We are responsible for your safety. You almost died on us. How am I supposed to keep you safe, if your going around pulling stunts like this all the time?" She said with concern.
"It's not your place to protect me, Anita. You have enough to deal with, without taking in more strays. I'm a big girl and supposed to be able to take care of myself. I'm a special agent for four councils. I'm trained to deal with this kind of pressure and haven't been executed yet. So stop worrying," I told her.
"Protect yourself. Have you seen your medical records lately? Your father brought in two huge files folders, that was nothing but hospital visits," She shrieked.
"Yes I'm well aware at how large my file is, but I'm still standing aren't I," I yelled back.
"I can't believe there is actually someone else out there who is as stubborn as I am," she admitted.
"If I'm as stubborn as you, then drop it. You know you're not going to get anywhere, but to headache ville," I smirked.
"Oh yeah, you want to make a bet. If you can protect yourself like you say you can, then why couldn't you take care of yourself when it came to your father and Jean-Claude?" She asked with a sarcastic smile, knowing she got me on that one by the look I gave her.
"Now how did I know you were going to throw that in my face," I shouted.
"Well do you have an answer?" She asked.
I stood my ground and stated, "I beat the shit out of Jean-Claude and was about to set his ass on fire, until my father drowned me with a bucket of cold water. I thought my father was going to take care of matters, but instead he betrayed me. I tried my best to fight your so-called bed toy off, but it's hard when you have memories coming back to haunt you. I have the same problems you do Anita, when it comes to controlling the gifts I was born with. The arduer is what kept me from fighting harder. It wanted release and I tried to control it, but lost the fight. You should know what it's like, so how dare you throw that in my face."
I sat back down on the bed and started to cry, then just laid down taking a pillow and hugged it to me. The only thing that could be heard in the room was my sobs. Anita came over and sat down beside me. She moved the hair out of my face and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. You just scared me that's all." She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me. "You forgive me," She asked.
I glared at her and said, "Are You sure you didn't get hit in the head with a piece of flying metal."
She glared at me and said, "You know you're as stubborn as Richard is sometimes and I just meet you last night. I'm going to leave so Lillian can do her job. After that we're going to sit down and have a long talk."
She glanced around the room at everyone else. Cherry had run for the door, when the argument started and hadn't returned. Dr. Lillian was standing against the wall watching the show in silence. Anita got up and left the room, leaving me and the doctor to our business.
She picked up where she left off, coating my spine with something cold and smelly. The she began to re-bandage my back. She was quick, efficient, and didn't say much. My back was completely covered and wrapped, when the door came opened again. To my surprise, it was Richard, Jamil, and Shang-Da, that walked through the entry way. He walked over and stopped right in front of me, leaving Jamil and Shang-Da at the opening. Lifting my chin so I would meet his gaze, he shook his head and let go of me, glancing behind at the doctor.
"Is she going to be all right now Lillian?" He asked.
"Oh she's going to be fine, but the scars are for life," She said.
"I don't understand how she can scar. She's half-vamp. They are supposed to be able to heal themselves," He stated.
"Excuse me you forgot werewolf," I reminded him.
He glared at me and it was one of those don't piss me off glares. He went back to speaking to Lillian, leaving me wondering what crawled up his butt and died.
"She's more human than you think, Richard. She has limits, but apparently they haven't stopped her. You should see her medical records," She answered, while cleaning up the medical supplies.
"What's with the damn medical records?" I stated coldly.
Richard glanced at me and I shut up then and there. His beast was showing through and his nostrils had flared. So I sat there waiting for the doctor to tell me whether I could go home or not.
" May I go home now? I have work to do," I asked.
There was no answer. Only silence filled the room. Lillian finished her clean-up and left with Richard behind her. Before Richard got all the way out the door, he turned back toward me, then looked at his Jamil and Shang-Da. "Watch her till I get back. If she makes a move, sit on her," He commanded them, then left.
I glanced over at the two of them and they were smiling from ear to ear. I wonder what they thought was so funny. It seemed forever since Richard and Lillian left, and I was getting bored. It didn't help matters that I was being watched like a hawk and couldn't move, specially since the bathroom was calling my name.
Finally the silence was broken when I heard someone say, "You know, I could hear you and Anita yelling at each other all the way from the entrance way."
The voice startled me and I glanced over at the door. Richard was standing there with my bags and broomstick in his hands.
"No, I didn't know. Were we that loud?" I asked, wondering why he had my things.
He smiled at me and smirked, "You two could have woken the dead, as loud as you two were."
I glared at him, "That's so not funny and what are you doing with my things."
"You want to get out of here, don't you?" He asked.
"Yes," I answered.
"Then what's the problem?" he inquired.
"I thought Anita was going to bring them in," I mumbled.
"Lillian and I thought it best to split you two up until after you both have cooled off some," he replied.
"Oh," I said.
"Well get dressed. Lillian's going to release you into my care for now," He commented.
That got my attention, "Do what?"
"You heard me. Your coming home with me tonight, so get dressed. I don't have all night," He demanded.
"Well if you want me to get ready, then get out," I grumbled for no apparent reason.
He just smiled, motioned for Jamil and Shang-Da to follow and left, leaving me alone to get dressed. I was tired, hungry, and very upset at this point. Don't know what made me do it, but I screamed, blew some things up, punched holes in the wall, and went raving star crazy mad. Once it was all out of my system, I pulled some clothes out of my bag to put on. Dr. Lillian was standing in the entranceway when I turned around to leave. She had her arms crossed, standing up against it waiting patiently for me. She looked at me then gestured around the room at the mess that was made. I sighed, pulled out my wand that someone had stuck in the bag and cleaned up the mess. After the area was spotless, I picked up my things and walked out the room. Lillian walked me to the front doors and out into the night to where Richard was waiting. He was leaning up against his car, a 69 mustang that was painted orange with a black racing stripe down its side. His enforcers were standing beside him watching every step I made. Something was sitting at the back at my mind wondering what would they do if I took off running down the street, but didn't do it. I was too tired for a foot race with the wolf packs two lead enforcers, not tonight anyway.