Chapter 3
Lauren
"Lauren? Lauren, wake up." The voice called to me sweetly through the dark, pulling me to consciousness. I opened my eyes slowly, Bo's face being the first thing I saw. Her hands gently slid down the side of my face, stopping to caress my face gently. "Hey there Sleeping Beauty." She smiled and I sighed contently, knowing there was definitely morphine dripping into my veins, numbing the agony I was positive was there and calming me down
. What had happened wasn't lost on me. I'd seen the manticore, I remember it's human-like face snarling, three rows of teeth sharp like a sharks glinting behind it's lips…
I blinked slowly, noticing the roof wasn't the one I'd been staring at a few hours ago. They must've brought me to Trick's bar, bottom level. It would make sense; he would have everything here that he's need to help me. "Hey." I breathed, looking around at the other face hovering over me. Kenzi looked over Bo's shoulder while Hale, Trick, and Dyson stood side by side, watching me carefully.
"How're you feeling?" she asked and I raised my hand to my forehead, stopping when I felt a slight tug on the inside of my elbow. Two tubes ran into either arm, one an IV the other a blood bag. I put my arm back by my side and looked back up at the ceiling. The spines were definitely still lodged in my body, the one going through my midsection was throbbing dully. My chest had been stitched together, the entire upper half of my body wrapped completely in a bandage. I felt the skin pull tight when I shifted slightly and mentally winced. Not from pain, but the disgusting feeling of knowing that, we're you to move just a little too much, you'd tear your skin apart.
"Like hell." Bo looked away, Dyson rolled his eyes, Tricks and Hale laughed quietly and Kenzi shoved a brownie into her mouth.
"You lost a lot of blood." Trick said, "we stopped by your lab, made it seem like we were looking for you, got blood and morphine and we also brought the manticore in so we could examine it, figure out where it came from." I pushed myself up, which was difficult at first until a certain succubus helped me, letting me lean back against her as she sat behind my back on the couch.
"I know where it came from." Everyone looked at me, eyes as wide as silver dollars. "It's voice was distorted."
"Wait, hold the hell up!" Kenzi said around a mouth full of food. "Its 'voice'? What are you? The manticore whisperer?" I heard the solid thud of Bo elbowing the younger girl in the stomach and I continued.
"Like Sphinxes, manticores often challenge their prey with a riddle before killing them."
"That's really screwed up." Kenzi muttered
"Yeah, well, this one couldn't speak. It just made strange mumbling sounds. And, the way it attacked me wasn't the same as the attack patterns of a wild manticore. This one clawed me first then shot its spines at me as I made a run for it. Manticores taught to hunt by their parents will shoot the spines first to paralyze their prey before eating it." I felt Bo shudder.
"So, you think it was domesticated?" Trick asked, seeming intrigued by the idea and sat on the opposite arm of the couch.
"Definitely."
"So," Dyson started, an honestly curious look on his face "if the spines are supposed to paralyze someone, why are you moving around? And why were you able to drag yourself up a flight of stairs?"
"Most 'breeders' of manticore think that breeding them by artificial selection creates a more deadly creature, stronger and more toxic. But, in reality, natural selection works differently than in the human world. Manticore bred by humans are often far less poisonous because they don't know what they're looking for when they try to create a stronger underfae."
"A human breeder?" Bo asked and I nodded.
"It's rare, but I've heard of them from fae who pass through the clinic. They're bred like fighting dogs, the more aggressive creatures are allowed to live, and the passive ones are killed off." I sighed and looked down at the needle-like projectile embedded in my shoulder. "The one sent to the hide out was only a cub, which made its poison even less potent."
"Will it still have a serious effect?" Trick asked and I waited a moment before nodded.
"Most likely if the spines aren't removed in three days or so."
"Then why don't we just pull them out already?" Kenzi asked, walking around and sitting on the coffee table. I sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Lucky for me, Trick felt like answering the question instead.
"the manticore's spines are laced with microscopic poisonous barbs. When the needles have been lodged into the flesh of a human, the barbs sink in. Removing the spines before an antidote is ready will allow those barbs to sink into the soft tissue and begin infecting the body, causing death in little less than a day with no hope of recovery."
"Oh." The gothic girl mumbled, popping the last of my brownies into her mouth. Bo's fingers pulled through my hair gently as sudden exhaustion swept over me, her thigh suddenly becoming amazingly comfortable under my head.
"Hey, guys," she said, looking at the group around us "why don't you all go out to the bar? I'll get Lauren set up to sleep and join you guys in a second." Hesitantly, they all slowly shifted from the room and I let my eyes drift closed. We sat in silence for a while, Bo's fingers soothingly combing my hair. "so," she began after a long moment of quiet, with me nearly asleep. I cracked an eye and looked up at her face.
"Are you going to tell me what happened? Or are you going to leave me in suspense?" I laughed once, turning on my side to alleviate some of the pressure on the impalements, taking a moment to nuzzle my face into Bo's stomach and rest there for a little bit.
"Can we just stay here for a little bit?" I asked softly, hiding my face against her and breathing in the smell that was distinctly Bo. I felt her laugh and couldn't keep from smiling.
"Fine. For a little bit." Her hands played with my hair and lips touched my head. After a few minutes, I pulled myself up so I was over her lap, face to face while propping myself up on my elbow. She looked drowsy, like I just woke her up. I reached out and touched the locket around her neck gently as she rubbed her eyes. "Okay," she mumbled "now you have to tell me stuff." Her voice was slightly slurred with sleep and I nodded.
"I don't remember every detail." I said gently, tugging at the bandage around my chest. One of her hands pulled it away and weaved her fingers in mine. "I remember walking from the kitchen towards the living room and seeing something run into your bedroom. I thought that maybe a squirrel had gotten inside or something, so I went to go see and…" I motioned to my gauze packed chest "it caught me by surprise."
"ok, well, that doesn't explain the disaster area that's my bedroom." I looked away for a second and then back to her. "When Trick was bandaging you, he said there was severe bruising on your back and slight rib fractures." I muttered a feeble 'so?' under my breath and she rolled her eyes. "You gonna tell me what that's about?"
"When it hit me, I flew back into your room and into the canopy's posts."
"Wait, that's why they're all broken? That thing threw you into them?"
"and then I rammed one through its chest cavity and its spine. I'd say it's about even."
"Except for the part where you almost bled out on my floor."
"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?"
"Why aren't you?" I looked away, gathering myself before looking back at her. "You know how I found you? I found you, half dead on my bathroom floor, pressing a blood soaked tenser bandage to the massive cuts on your chest."
"I can't heal like you or Trick can, Bo. I'm human. My form is fragile. Cuts like those go deep, the skin is thin, bones are close to the surface. I should've known better to let my guard down."
"There is nothing wrong with letting your guard down, Lauren." She said, cupping my cheek and forcing me to look at her. I nodded half-heartedly, laying my hand over hers and leaned into it for a moment.
"Helllooooo" Kenzi called from the bar "if lady-lovin' is over now, we could really use everyone's favourite succubus up here." Bo rolled her eyes and I smiled, though a sadness washed over me. I pushed it away, I'd have plenty of time to deal with feelings with the morphine numbing the pain.
"I'll be there in a second!" she called out and then looked back at me "you gonna be ok?" I nodded, willing my smile to be genuine than it was.
"Yeah," I squeezed her hand before removing it from my cheek. "Yeah, I'm going to take a nap anyways, you might as well go and plot your next move."
"Ok" she said hesitantly, carefully lifting me so she could slide out and the resting me back down, slipping a pillow beneath my head. "You take it easy though, alright?" With a peck on the cheek, Bo walked out towards the group of people huddled around a table. I sighed and pulled the throw blanket around me more, willing sleep to come fast than it did.
