Thanks very much, Oemi. Your story is progressing very well. I must say that your characters are in much more dire straights than mine. They've got owls coming after them, I've only got a supernatural being and two maniacal possessed wraiths to contend with. This is really a lot of fun. I based a lot of the technology that Serafina uses on stuff from Star Trek (It helps to have a copy of the Next Generation Technical Manual next to me when I write.) The next scene starts where the last part left off. Shiva is going to have her wound stabilized by Serafina, and I've pretty much assumed that she'll need stitches.

Shiva lay down on the antiseptic mat, spreading her wings fully. Serafina picked up a scanner and swept it's red beam over her body, looking at the results. "Minor arterial bleeding. It was a good thing that your fathers teeth and claws are sharp or this would be a jagged cut, and this would be very dangerous indeed." She pressed some more buttons and spoke aloud. "The incision is 00.3 inches deep and extends 7 inches along Shiva's abdomen, just grazing her cheek." She picked up a cotton swab and opened a bottle. She pressed the mouth of the bottle against the cotton swab. "I am now applying Hydrogen peroxide solution to the incision to remove any possible microbial threats This…may sting slightly."

Serafina gently lowered the swab toward Shiva's side and squeezed, releasing a clear liquid that fizzed on contact. Shiva's jaw clenched, and Aries looked at the human questioningly. "This is standard procedure. If she gets an infection and the wound becomes septic…it would be very difficult to cure without surgery." She repeated the procedure until the wound showed no more of the bubbly discharge when the Hydrogen Peroxide came in contact with the wound. She then scanned her and said, "Wound sterilized, applying liquid stitches." Serafina replaced the bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide and pulled a small bottle of a clear gel from the table. "These are what human doctors call, 'liquid stitches'; these can be used to close a wound without causing stress to the patient." She pulled the stopper from the bottle, and poured a thin stream of green gel into the wound. Shiva grimaced, and locked her eyes with Aries. He held her in his gaze, his eyes shimmering with concern and a protective streak that made her heart tremble. Finally she said, "Just one more thing." Serafina stooped and opened the second suitcase, withdrawing what looked like a large metal disc. She pressed a few buttons on it's side and it chirped merrily, and whirred into the air, hovering on antigravity micro drives. "This is a bio-ethylic laser. Used to accelerate the healing process. A wound like that would usually take a month or two to heal, with this the time is shortened to two weeks , and there is no visible scar." The device hovered over Shiva's body and a beam of golden light shot out from the underside and began to sweep the length of Shiva's body.

As Aries watched in amazement, the blood which had stained Shiva's body began to disappear with each sweep of the beam. After about a minute or so of this, Serafina held out her hand and the device chimed merrily and then zipped over to her hand and dropped within her grasp. She pulled one of the field emitters from it's position, and it's button automatically popped back up and the field disengaged. Serafina asked Shiva, "How do you feel?" Shiva said, groggily, "The pain is still there…but it's lessened somewhat." Serafina smiled gently, "You'll be up and about in no time. I'd guess that you three would like to be alone? "Shiva suddenly said, "If you don't mind I'd like to stay with Aries tonight…." Her voice trailed off and Sago nodded after a moment. "Serafina…if it's alright with you I'd like to speak with you some more. We have much to learn from each other." Serafina nodded, and grabbed the laptop from out on the balcony, opening her bedroom door and stepping inside. Sago flew in after her and the door closed. Shiva carefully raised herself to a sitting position. A slight twinge, but nothing that would make her consider stopping. She lifted off and made it easily over to an open closet filled with heavy garments. She bustled in among the clothes, Aries right behind her.

The two roosted, clinging to one of the heavy wire hangars. Shiva's head dropped and she felt the emotions trapped inside her begin to gush out.

"Please…" she sobbed, "Hold me…I can't go through this alone."

Aries wrapped his wings around her tightly, holding her still. He turned her to look at him, searching her face. "It was…strange. When I was attacking him…I felt so angry…." She turned to look at Aires. "What if I did something like that when I was around you? I might…hurt you." Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She's in shock. Aries realized. "I couldn't stop myself. " she whispered, her eyes filled with self loathing.

"And deep down…some part of me enjoyed it…the action of killing him…"

She looked away from him, ears pressed flat against her skull. He gently turned her face to look at his. Her eyes fell, Shiva could not bring herself to make eye contact with Aires.

"Look at me." He said gently.

"Please, Shiva." Her eyes slowly turned to meet his and he gently stroked her tear stained face.

"You are stronger than me, in more ways in one. The fact that you held back that anger for all of those years without unloading on someone is a testament to your strength of character. Your anger was not mere rage but the righteous fury that would be felt by anyone who was treated in that manner." Shiva looked at him and sniffed. "I never thought you to be the intellectual type." She gently pressed her nose against his chin, breathing in gently. Aries chuckled, "You're worth studying." "In what way?"

He looked at her and said… "You're…you. I can't explain it…" He trailed off. Shiva gently rubbed her nose against the side of his neck, tracing the line of his jaw. "You'll be there for me right?" "I'll be there for you…If you're there for me." He nuzzled her face gently and she giggled. Then they both simultaneously yawned. "Sleep…we must." Shiva murmured. She lay her head against her chest. " Thanks Aires…for everything." They fell asleep.

"I didn't know it…but a part of me had become connected with Aries, Whether I knew it or not…I had fallen in love with him." Excerpt from Shiva's Autobiography Pg 227 SONIX File 234.221