Disclaimer: Just the usual gang. If you recognize them they’re not mine, and if you don’t then guess what they belong to me so :oP
Author’s Note: Well let me just thank you if you have taken the time to read this story. If you have even left me a review then I give you much love. I live to write and write because I love it. But it makes it much more worth while when I get feed back from those of you that review my work. Also if you don’t like this story the back button is ^^^^^^^^^^^^ there feel free to use it.
Side Note: Also at the time I would like to say a very special to Songbird and Lady Night Wind for your continued patients and understanding. You are helping to keep me motivated to keep writing. I sincerely hope that my meager efforts at writing continue to amuse and delight you. Angelfangs :o)
As soon as we got back to my room I laid Eili on the bed. I got my first look at the room. And boy was it something to behold. It looked like someone from the Philadelphia Eagles had decorated my room. Yeah, I’m an eagles’ fan so sue me. The room was done in dark greens and silver with touches of black and white here and there. In one corner of the room was a loveseat and two chairs all of which were overstuffed. And done in a dark green check pattern, the carpet was black and thick enough to sink in.
I walked over to the loveseat and flopped down on it. The boys followed me like shadows but they seemed uncertain. I motioned for them to take a seat and they did gratefully. I noticed that Gregory sat down somewhat stiffly. I was instantly on alert again. I cocked my head and looked at him consideringly. He finally noticed that I was watching him and immediately looked down at the floor. Now I was sure that he was hiding something. Then I finally noticed the tears in Gregory’s shirt.
I looked hard at Gregory and said, “Take your shirt off!” My tone leaving no room to argue.
Jason never missing a beat said, “You don’t waste any time do you?” He laughed after that.
A dark look from me quickly shut him up. My eyes were all for Gregory, “Don’t make me tell you again,” it was the same voice I used with my sister when she had done something that was going to mean that someone got their ass beat. I would usually take the fall. My parents, I love them I do, but they were more willing to believe that I had done something awful rather than Dayla. And to be fair to my parents I had given them no reason to believe that what I told them wasn’t the complete and honest truth.
Gregory shot me a dark look of his own but complied with my demand. He moved like things hurt badly. I didn’t know if I could help him but we’d need to know how serious the damage was and if it was going to need medical attention. After watching Gregory struggle I turned to Jason and said, “Help him,” yeah I knew I was being bitchy but sometimes that got things done. I was too tired to even try to be nice. I was all out of patients today. Seeing Diego in the flesh had brought a surge of despair over me and I wanted him to hurt as much as I was hurting. But I learned that life is nothing if not unfair. So that meant that even though I was hurting I could almost bet that Diego wasn’t hurting. Bitchy but me!
After some struggles between the two men they finally got Gregory’s shirt off. And I noticed a set of claw marks on his, I had to pause because I was looking at him and my first inclination was to say right, but it was his left side. He was healing but it was going so slowly. Shit! That meant that whatever attacked him was a lycanthrope too.
I knelt in front of him and looked him in the eye and said, “I want to get a closer look and I am going to have to touch it. I’m going to try to be gentle but I don’t know if I can.” I cocked my head to one side then asked, “Do you think it’s infected?” I was pretty sure that if it was I would smell it but I wasn’t sure because I couldn’t smell much over the scent of fresh blood. Gregory shook his head. Okay he didn’t think it was infected.
I should have left well enough alone. Because as soon as I thought of fresh blood I couldn’t help myself. I braced myself with my hands on his thighs and leaned in and licked the deepest part of the wound. I heard him suck air and knew not all of that was a pain sound. As soon as the blood touched my tongue I spit it out. It had tasted vile like rotted something or other. I couldn’t describe the taste it was just that disgusting. I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand and said, “It’s infected with something because that shit was gross!”
They both looked at me. “What!” I practically screamed at them. Jason just shook his head and looked away from me. I looked up at Gregory and he didn’t want to meet my eyes but was forcing himself to do just that. I definitely didn’t like not knowing what was going on. So I tried one more time, “What! What am I missing, did I do something wrong?” I was starting to blush and could do nothing to stop it.
Gregory sighed and looked at me and asked, “How do you know that just isn’t how blood tastes?” I gave him a withering look. And he kind of chuckled and then asked, “No Luna this is serious. How do you know that what you just tasted wasn’t what blood is suppose to taste like?”
Now it was my turn to sigh, then I said, “Haven’t you ever cut your finger and put it in your mouth? I know that blood has a coppery taste to it but it also has a sweet quality to it that you don’t normally notice. Unless you’re a freak like me I guess.” I wasn’t going to tell them that at my lowest point I had been a cutter. Now to those of you that don’t know I would cut myself, for me it was a way to remind myself that I was alive, but it has a variety of meanings to other people. But part of the reason I didn’t want to tell them that was because, that once the blood had started to flow I would lap it up. I knew that it was weird and I was ashamed of the fact that I had done it at all but that didn’t mean I had to share that with everyone.
I watched as Gregory and Jason exchanged looks. And then they both looked at me and asked simultaneously asked me, “Well what exactly did it taste like?”
I thought about it. What I wanted to say was gross. But that wasn’t going to help them out. And I was guessing that they would need to know exactly because they maybe able to say what it was that Gregory was infected with. Finally I said, “It tasted like tainted meat smells like.” At their blank looks I went on, “You know what tainted meat smells like?” When they nodded, “Well that’s about what this tasted like. I can’t say for certain that it what it was, cuz I’ve never eaten tainted meat but if I had to guess that was as close as you get.”
They looked as if they finally understood what I was telling them. Then I watched as Jason’s eyes widen then he dropped his gaze to the floor. But in that one glimpse of his eyes I could tell that he was afraid. Which in turn made me afraid. I turned to Gregory and asked, “Can you stand?” He looked at me puzzled but nodded his head and tried to stand but he only got half way up before he fell back into the chair. I looked at him as he looked at me. His eyes were wide with fear and showing a lot of white. Taking control I said to him, “I’m going to take you back out there, Okay? Now I going to have to carry you and I don’t know any way that isn’t going to hurt you so I’m just going to carry you in a fireman’s carry, Okay?” He nodded and I stood up and then pulled Gregory up onto my right shoulder.
I spared a glance to Eili who had slept through the entire incident. I was worried about leaving her alone here but I needed to get Gregory some help. I couldn’t leave Jason I needed him to show me the way back out there. I finally decided that she would be safe enough. And if any one harmed her then not even Anita would be able to save them from my wrath. I motioned Jason out of the room ahead of me. Then I got a stroke of intelligence and I asked Jason if he had a key to the door he nodded. I told him to lock the door he looked at me quizzically but did as I told him to.
We hurried back the way we had come and when we got back to the main room not a soul was in sight. I set Gregory down on the couch and sent Jason for Anita; I suggested he look for Jean-Claude, as that would probably be the most likely place to start. He nodded and went in search of them.
Gregory was losing color as I watched. Jesus, how was I going to be able to help him? What I needed was Dayla. When I thought of my sister I felt my gut clench she didn’t know about my attack. And I don’t know how long I had been out of it. I don’t think it was too long but then again you never know. I had told her I would be back tomorrow, on the night of her attack, and if I missed the next day she would be worried sick.
Quickly pushing those thoughts aside I concentrated all my attention on Gregory he looked like he was fading in and out of consciousness. I knelt down in front of him and started asking him questions. You know the kind of stuff that you know without thinking about it. Like what’s your name, how old are you, and where are you? I even threw in what’s today and who is president? I kept that up until I could hear people approaching in two different directions. I was praying that the sounds from the stairs meant that Cherry was here. While I was hoping the sounds off to my left were Anita.
I must have done something right because the first person through the doorway leading to the outside was Cherry. I quickly waved her over. Her nurse’s training must have kicked in because her face became set as she looked at Gregory. And Anita was threw the curtain just as Cherry started working on Gregory. Anita stopped as she took in the scene before her.
She didn’t say anything except, “Explain!”
I didn’t even hesitate I told her everything that had happened when we got back to my room and I watched as her face hardened. I didn’t need a mirror to know that my own face matched hers perfectly. In a voice so cold that it caused everyone else to look at me warily I said, “Take me to him.” I didn’t have to explain the HIM I meant. Anita nodded and waved me through the curtain.
We must have made a pair because anyone who passed us quickly got out of the way without a word. Anita stopped in front of a door where I could hear shouts of pain. I smiled evilly as I entered the room. “Ahhhh, are they hurting you Diego?” My tone was out of sync with my facial expression. I watched as his eyes searched for and finally land on me. His eyes were pleading with me. I laughed and it was a bitchy sound.
I took a moment to look around the room. I could see Diego chained to what looked like a cement table and was just wearing a pair of pants and had numerous shallow cuts covering his chest. Jean-Claude was sitting in one corner of the room on what appeared to be a throne or something similar. Edward was standing near Diego with a sawed off shotgun in his hands. Richard, Jamil and Shang-Da were no where to been seen I wondered if they were still here but pushed that thought aside as unimportant. I noticed Asher standing near Jean-Claude as if waiting for orders and Jason was curled around Jean-Claude’s feet.
I walked down the three steps and into the room. Into that walk I put every ounce of sexuality. I molded my face to show the same thing as I walked towards Diego. His eyes were all for me. I crawled up onto the table. I straddled his waist and leaned down to his face. As I spoke our lips kept brushing, “Diego, Honey. What kind of poison did you use on Gregory?”
Diego chuckled and you knew he was thinking of things done in the dark. “Why do you want to know,” he asked his voice low and seductive. Under normal circumstances it would have had me trying to get his clothes off. But we were so far from normal circumstances that it wasn’t funny. I laughed too and it was blatantly sexual.
I was beginning to scare myself with this act. Diego’s eyed me as if I had finally come to my sense and would let him go. He of all people should have known better. I sucked his bottom lip and nipped it playfully and said, “Cuz I want to know.” I drew one nail down his chest and circled the nipple. And heard him suck air in a sound that let me know he was enjoying my attentions.
His breath rushed out of his lungs as he sighed, “I can’t tell you that Luna.”
Seeing as how this tactic was getting me nowhere I jumped down off the table and walked over to Edward. He watched me approach warily. He wasn’t going to like what I was going to do to him but I needed to show Diego that I wasn’t playing around here. I hit the bottom of the shotgun and grabbed the barrel just above Edward’s hands and had it in the crook of my shoulder pointed at Diego in one swift motion.
I watched Diego’s eyes widen as he realized that I would shoot him. “Now Diego,” I purred, “tell me what poison you used!” Diego’s eyes were wide showing a lot of white, he was afraid and he should be! I could pull the trigger and not lose a bit of sleep over it. He had the nerve to shake his head at me. I knew that until I knew what poison he had used I couldn’t kill him. I moved around the table telling Edward to move. Edward for his part didn’t ask any questions and I briefly wondered if he knew what I was planning or if he just guessed. I was going to hurt Diego and some sick and twisted part of me still felt sorry for the SOB.
I took careful aim because I didn’t want the shot to ricochet off the cement and hurt some one in the room. I squeezed the trigger and his hand was gone. Diego’s scream was high and pain filled. I smiled evilly at him and again purred at him, “Diego, honey, this can all stop. All you have to do is tell me what poison you used.”
He was breathing heavily and he resolutely shook his head again. Poor Diego he was still under the delusion that I wouldn’t hurt him again. I walked around the other side of the table again took aim and said to him, “This is your last chance to tell me.” Again he shook his head. I sighed then sighted and squeezed the trigger. The blast was deafening but I could still hear Diego scream and I watched with apathy as the tears rolled down his face.
I walked over to him and kissed his forehead. “Diego, all you have to do to stop this is tell me. You’re the one causing yourself all this pain. Please Diego tell me what you used.” Maybe it was the please or maybe he didn’t want me to shoot him again.
Finally Diego breathed, “Hemlock.” Then he sobbed. I kissed his forehead again and turned back to the room. Anita looked horrified at what I had done. Jean-Claude, Asher and Edward looked grim but they also looked like they knew I had done only what I needed to, to get the job done. Jason wouldn’t even look at me.
It was at that point that I looked down at myself. The shirt I was wearing was ruined and I could feel blood drying on my face. I could feel myself gripping the shotgun so hard that it was making my hands hurt. I let go of the bottom and started to hand it back to Edward, he shook his head and said, “Keep it.” I nodded my thanks.
Diego was still whimpering and the sound was getting to me. I would like to say that I was heartless enough to ignore it but I’m not. I asked Jean-Claude if he was done with him.
Jean-Claude looked to Asher and Asher said, “Yes for tonight we’re done with him. He won’t tell us anything else. And to do anymore tonight would just break his mind.”
Personally I was thinking it couldn’t happen to a nicer person but I kept my opinion to myself. Walked back over to Diego and looked down into his brown eyes and felt a single tear slid down my cheek to mingle with the blood already there. I whispered my apologies and with the butt of the shotgun hit him in the temple. Blessedly he passed out. I knew it was only passed out because for a long time I just watched the rise and fall of his chest.
Once again I faced the room and said, “We need to tell Cherry what was used. That is if she doesn’t already know.” Anita nodded and started to leave the room. I followed her out. But I heard Edwards comment to Jean-Claude as I was leaving.
“If I was Anita I would want her on my side. I’ve never seen a lycanthrope so comfortable with a weapon.” Then I could feel Edward’s presence as he hurried to catch up with Anita and I. And for the second time in as many days I was praying to God that I would be in time to save someone. We were all but running and still I didn’t feel like we were moving fast enough to save him.
We finally reached the main room Cherry looked grim Zane was standing by her as if he were the nurse and Cherry was the doctor. Their eyes turned to us as we entered. Both Zane and Cherry noticed the shotgun I was holding limply in my right hand. No one said anything for a moment Cherry said bitterly, “I hope he’s hurting as much as Greg.”
I nodded and said, “Don’t worry,” I felt a cruel smile twist my lips and said, “He’s in more pain than Gregory.” She nodded satisfied.
Then she looked at us and said, “I can’t figure out what it is Anita.” She sounded close to crying.
“Hemlock,” my voice was flat. I was drained I didn’t know Greg that well but I didn’t want him to die. But I knew that if hemlock was delivered in a large enough dose that he might.
Cherry looked shocked, “Where did they,” Anita cut her off in mid sentence.
“It doesn’t matter where they got it. We need to get him to the hospital.” Her voice was cold and I wanted to look at her but I didn’t she was Nimir-Ra here not me.
To Cherry I asked, “Do we have a stretcher?” She nodded and Zane brought it over we laid Greg on the floor and quickly secured him to it. Cherry over saw the whole procedure and even gave pointers as we were loading him. When he was secured and stabilized we turned to Anita who was already moving towards the stairs. Zane and I picked up the stretcher and after a few moment of discussion it was decided that Zane would back up the stairs.
We were racing to the hospital and I was wondering what the hell else could go wrong. I kept an eye on Cherry and Gregory who were in the back of the jeep. And handed her whatever she asked for. I knew that we flew past several stop signs and stoplights and wondered if Anita had even seen them. I wasn’t going to ask however I’m not as blonde as I look thank you very much. I kept up the prayer the entire way to the hospital, ‘Please God let us save him.’ I’m not sure he heard me but I prayed anyway. It gave me something to do.