Okie dokie my loyal readers. Bad news I'm afraid, this in the penultimate chapter. And no, I wont be doing a sequel… its not something I'm interested in doing unless I have a strong storyline in my head, and I feel I have reached as far as I can go with this. Enjoy Chapter 29 x
Chapter 29
Okay, it's time to open your eyes. I thought to myself. My ears had picked up the noise of people and instruments in a room that smelled of disinfectant and death. A hospital. My brain informed. What the fuck am I dong in a hospital? I panicked, but kept myself still as I heard footsteps approaching. A door opened and someone entered – I kept my eyes closed – They smelt of the same disinfectant smell as the building, overlaid with citrus cologne. A scribbling of pen on paper as they walked to the other side of the bed and moved some things around. I felt a tugging sensation on my forearm; I had to make a conscious effort not to grimace at the feeling. Then the footsteps retreated, the door closed.
I flexed my fingers, gripping onto the feel of wool underneath my touch. A rustling of material stopped me short. But they left… I heard the door close.
"Reese."
I started at my name, my eyes opening to the glaring light as I recoiled away from it, bringing my hand to my face as something pulled off from my finger sending an alarm sounding off to my left. Instinctively I shied away from the noise as a crippling pain shot through my abdomen, forcing me to stay still, flat on my back – exposed to attack and unable to defend myself.
Jeremy cursed and quickly reattached the heart rate monitor clip to my index finger. I used the other hand to rub at my eyes, this time they hit something moulded and plastic laid over my nose and mouth.
"Easy." Jeremy pulled my arm away and went to close the blinds on the window. "You're in a hospital." He told me as I looked around at my surroundings, I could hear my heart rate beeping more frantically thanks to the machine next to my bed. "Staffed by supernaturals." He gave me a look that told me to relax. And I did.
"Rachel." I rasped, pulling the mask away from my mouth and inhaled deeply.
Jeremy nodded, pulling his chair up next to the bed. "We found her. She's outside with the others." He pulled his hair back from his forehead. "It's you we're worried about."
I nodded, rolling my eyes. The image after I was stabbed would be burned on my retina forever; my vision fluttering, Rachel's blurry form being carried off by Sean Marshall, and thrown into the back of a truck. And not being able to do a dammed thing about it.
"How long?" I asked. My stomach flared in pain as I tried to speak. I couldn't help but wince.
Jeremy lent over to the self medication button resting beside my head and pressed it down. A few minutes later the pain eased – marginally.
"You've been here a week." My heart jumped, and thanks to the stupid machine it gave my shock away, as I growled at it. "They had to keep you in a medically induced coma – you lost a lot of blood, and had to undergo surgery to stop the bleeding."
"Shit."
"That's pretty much how I thought about it." A wry smile.
I gingerly felt the area where I had been stabbed, and felt the padded bandages underneath the hospital blanket where a dark stain had formed into a thin line in the middle of the white dressing.
There was a knock at the door, as Jeremy turned to see the visitor.
"Forgive me." A stranger's voice said – his scent gave him away as the doctor from earlier. "But someone heard our patient had woken up." The man strode into the room, and took my vitals once again asking me some questions.
Jeremy answered some of the questions on my behalf as I looked to the woman hovering in the doorway. Leaning round the doctor's form, Jeremy saw it was causing me some distress and led Rachel into the room. She was wearing blue hospital scrubs that crackled as she moved when Jeremy sat her down in the chair he had vacated. I couldn't get over how small she looked.
My blood pressure tweaked as I saw the bruising on her neck and a couple of scratches leading down her cheek. Her arm had been bandaged from where Marshal had no doubt nearly broken the bone from his initial attack. There were heavy bags under her eyes, her hair was tied in a scruffy knot, and hung limply over her shoulder in need of a wash.
She had a haunted look in her eyes as Jeremy asked the doctor to provide some privacy and made an excuse as he too, left the room.
"I'm glad you're alright." I managed a wan smile as the haunted look softened as she looked to my face.
"I'm glad you're alive." She smirked scooting forward to take hold of my hand. Half of her fingernails had been ripped off to reveal bloody scabs. I felt my stomach churn at the thought of her being manhandled in such a way. "How are you feeling?" She asked stopping my from grinding my teeth.
I shrugged tentatively. "Like a regular shish kebab."
She fixed me with a look. "That's not funny."
I tried not to laugh. "It kind of is…" Eventually she settled for shaking her head trying not to smile as I laughed at my own joke.
Rachel Narrative;
"So how did they find you?" Reese asked me.
It pained me to see him still confined to the hospital. For the first couple of days after Jeremy brought me here I was too stressed to shift back to my human form. He was so anxious he confined me to a private room by myself; for the hospitals safety… and my own. He called in Antonio to guard me, but still struggled to leave me alone for more than a few hours. Some part of me could tell it wasn't fair on him to be committing half of his time with me to make sure I didn't injure myself (even though Antonio was there), whilst it was more important he watch over Reese as he went through his treatment. So, I calmed myself down and focused on reverting back to my human self. I got there with Antonio's help, eventually.
After a few days the smell alone of the hospital was nearly enough to make me sick, the chemicals stung my nose – even Jeremy stuck close to the window when he was in Reese's room – and he's the most tolerable of smells out of everyone I know. The doctors had assured us they had brought in non scented cleaning chemicals for Reese's room, but it didn't help much. The smell permeated the very air we breathed.
I pulled my legs under me as I tried not to see how gaunt Reese was looking. His blue eyes no longer looked warm and inviting; instead they were pale, washed out. "Oh, you know Jeremy and his special vibes." I smiled sheepishly playing with his fingers. "I think he had a bit of spiritual guidance though with the help of Jaime. He won't be bothering us any more." The memory of Marshall collapsing flashed into the foreground of my mind, but I shunted it back.
Reese nodded. "Good." His voice trailed off as he closed his eyes.
I made a move to stand up as his eyes flared open. Stupid noisy clothes. "Go back to sleep. Get some rest." I stood over him, kissing his forehead. "I'll be here when you wake up."
