Chapter Seven: How is he?

Dr. Karin Chakwas spent almost an hour running a series of medical scans. Kasumi could tell that something was wrong and by the look on the doctor's face, it was something she had never seen before. Kasumi's eyes glanced in Shepard's direction. The Commander leaned against a wall, nervously biting her thumb. Shepard knew something was up too, and like the rest of them, she didn't know what to say.

Kasumi's eyes returned to Jason. It hurt to see him wounded and unconscious, and she couldn't get the image of when she had found him out of her head. They had turned him over after they noticed the pool of blood he was sitting in, and what she saw would haunt her for a long time. Jason's back was torn open like someone had tried to rip the skin off of him. It was just as gruesome as when she found Keji, after Hawk had ripped open his skull.

Shepard cleared her throat before she said, "Karin, I've seen that look before."

Chakwas gave Shepard a deadly glare and said, "Yes, you have been on the receiving end of my looks many times over the years."

Shepard nodded and said, "every time you did, it was because I messed up big time. What's the prognosis?"

Chakwas turned Jason on his side, exposing the bloodied bandages that covered his back as she said, "I counted at least ten avulsions while I was disinfecting and covering the wound. My scan shows that they're about an inch across, and they're an inch and a half deep, running from three inches long at the smallest and the longest wound is thirteen inches long. The wound pattern matches human fingernails, but if that was what actually happened, there would be DNA left behind. There isn't."

Chakwas rolled Jason back over and fluffed his pillow. She pointed at his neck and said, "I immediately recognized the wound on his neck. If you look at the scar tissue, you'll notice that there are two separate sets of punctures. Let's talk about the first set of punctures. If you look closely you'll notice that there are 32 individual marks, and the pattern matches human teeth. The second set of punctures are spaced out evenly, suggesting that it was an object that punctured his neck this time."

Chakwas gently opened Jason's mouth and pointed at the missing tooth as she said, "I didn't notice this during my initial examination, but the detailed scan showed that his right maxillary canine was recently and violently removed. His other teeth are intact, and I can order a synthetic replacement for him once we return to the citadel."

"So, he's going to live?" Shepard's question took the words right out Kasumi's mouth.

Chakwas shifted he stance just enough to make Kasumi worry. Chakwas said, "that's a difficult question to answer right now. If his body continues to do what it's doing right now, he should recover within the week."

"I get the sense that there's a but," Kasumi said.

"There is," Chakwas said with a terse nod, "Jason claimed that he was a Cerberus test subject when you first met him, correct?"

Kasumi blinked several times in surprise. She looked at Shepard, who nodded in affirmation at Chakwas. Why hadn't Jason told her about that?

Shepard gave Kasumi a sympathetic look and said, "could you give us the room? I'd like to keep this information private, at least until Jason wakes up. You can ask him yourself."

Kasumi wanted to protest, but she knew that Shepard was right. That didn't stop the hurt in her stomach. She left the room.


CAMILLA - 9 Days later.


Camilla pushed the busty redhead against the wall. The redhead moaned as Camilla's hands roamed across the redhead's body. Camilla's finger traced patterns from the woman's breast to her neck where she stopped at every woman's weakness, a soft and erogenous spot just begging to be kissed, just under the jaw. Red lips explored it before moving down, where perfectly white teeth moved to playfully nip at the redhead's collarbone.

The redhead nearly collapsed as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes. It was too much for her to handle. If she knew a woman could offer her this kind of pleasure, she would have jumped ship a long time ago.

Camilla loved the way the redhead squirmed in pleasure, but what she loved more was the woman's ginger red hair. It reminded her of a certain woman that she had seen before at a party. The moment Camilla had seen this particular redhead, it was like a spell had been cast on her. Camilla returned the favor, making sure that the woman was thoroughly charmed before they left the bar. Camilla's fingers made circles through the woman's hair as she imagined all of the things that she was going to do to that hair once she finally found Ms. Blood.

Camilla shuttered at the sudden sound of breaking bone. She realized that while distracted by her vivid imagination, she accidentally broke the redhead's neck. Camilla's eyes noticed the way that the spine pressed against the woman's neck, almost piercing it from the inside out.

Camilla was slightly disturbed by the macabre image, but that wasn't going to stop her from feeding. Camilla held the dying woman's throat with one hand like one would do with an apple and she took a deep bite, causing a spray of blood to coat her face.

"Hel-" Camilla crushed the woman's jaw to stop her from making any more noise, she did so with an admiration for the amount of strength it must have taken to speak with a broken neck and half a body's worth of blood missing. Camilla couldn't see it, but she imagined the shine in the woman's eyes disappearing as she finally exsanguinated to death. She imagined what it would feel like to get her hands on the real object of her desire.

Camilla entered the bar through the back door, where she washed off in the restroom while she thought about Mr. Blood. She wondered if Mr. Blood survived, after all, she had been quite rough with him, especially when he made her orgasm. She could still remember with vivid clarity the way his flesh ripped into long confetti-like pieces as her fingernails ran across his back. Camilla was bound to find out eventually because her next target was a certain redhead.

Author's Notes: That's a wrap for this chapter. Thank you for taking the time to read it, and I hope to see you again at the next update.