Blood dripped down the arm Vincent had wrapped around her back. He was thankful she had fainted. He hadn't wanted to hurt her but carrying her home was hard. He had to put his arm across the welts on her back and he was sure if she had been awake, she would be screaming. Kicking the door of the chemical plant open he rushed up the stairs and laid her on the bed. Wanting to look at her stomach first, he was afraid she could have internal bleeding, he pulled the two pieces of her shirt apart.
Immediately the veins in his neck darkened and started to pulse. Her entire stomach was a tie dyed pattern of black, red and blue. Marks from the low volt taser they used on her were interwoven through the bruises on her stomach and spattered across her arms. He counted at least 15 of them. And he was sure there would be some on her back too. Probing her stomach, he winced when he heard her moan. Finding no signs of internal bleeding, he got up to grab two syringes, morphine, anesthetic, gloves, a sterilized surgical needle and thread from the cabinet were he had gotten the gloves earlier when he went looking for evidence.
He filled the first syringe with enough morphine to knock Cat out and keep her pain free for a few hours. After injecting it, he waited 15 minutes before pulling off her shirt and turning her on her stomach. He filled the second syringe with just enough lidocaine to numb the area he needed to work on. After injecting the lidocaine in several areas across her back, he threaded the needle and got to work.
Sitting up and cracking his back, he inspected his work. Almost a hundred stitches in all. The worst being the foot long slice going down her back which required nearly half of them. He cleaned up his mess and then covered her back with gauze and tape.
"I'm so sorry, Cat. This is all my fault. And I'll hate myself for the rest of my life for causing this." He whispered.
Looking at the clock, he realized that JT would be home in two hours. He knew that as soon as JT saw Catherine, he was going to flip but there was nothing he could do about that but wait. So he paced and he beat the crap out of his punching bag and then paced again. By the time JT arrived Vincent was sitting at the table.
"Oh good, you're home. Got that book you wanted. Used my Bio-chem Professor of The Semester... What the hell is she doing here?" JT said when he saw her.
"Damn it, Vincent! I never thought you were stupid but now..."
"Muirfield got to her, JT!" Vincent says hoarsely.
"I'm sorry, what?" JT looked back over to the form laying over on Vincent's bed. "Oh my god. Oh my god. Is she okay?"
Eyes slowly turning yellow, "No, she's not. They tortured her, JT!" He grabbed her shirt and handed it to him.
JT turned white as he opened it. Not wanting to see the bloodied strips of shirt any longer, he waded it up and threw it on the table. Not knowing what to say, he sat down and just stared back into Vincent's yellow eyes.
Vincent trying to keep from roaring dropped his head into his hands and whispered, his voice grief-stricken. "They beat her and electrocuted her, JT. God, they even waterboarded her! You've already seen what they did to her back. It took almost 100 stitches just to close her wounds. And she still wouldn't tell them anything!."
Veins started crawling up his neck and face. Vincent's breathing got heavier and growls started to escape his throat. "I need to get out of here and blow off some steam. Can you stay here and watch her?"
JT nodded even though Vincent was already gone. Walking over he sat near Catherine careful not to disturb her, grabbing her hand just as he heard a pain filled roar and smashing coming from out back.
They had filled the back with abandoned cars and random junk that way whenever Vincent lost control at home he could go out and destroy things, which is where he went now. Picking up a thick wood coffee table, he threw it at an old grey station wagon 50 yards away. Turning around, he grabbed the base of an old broken down suburban with broken windows and missing seats and flipped it over. Metal garbage cans flew through the air like birds taking flight. Old shopping carts were ripped apart as if they were pieces of paper and tears rained down his cheeks. An hour of this went by before he was kneeling on the ground back to normal.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry ." Gut-wrenching sobs came out of his mouth as he rocked back and forth. "I was supposed to protect you. This should have never happened. What kind of man lets this happen to the woman he loves. I was right. I'm a monster. I should have died that day 10 years ago. You would have been safe. Never again. This will never happen again. I'll make sure of it. You can go back to your life Cat, move on be happy. Get married, have kids. Live a normal life. It's not like you're in love with me. You'll be able to move on." Standing up, he started walking back inside. "You'll be safe and they'll have no reason to go after you again. I'll make sure of it, no matter what."
