People: There's a little button at the bottom of the page where you can review the story. Please! Please! Please! For my sake?

For Iznil: I think I have time to write another chapter before I go to work. . Not that I don't like work (it gives me some spending money), but I have so much more fun writing.

Chapter 15

She could hear a car door open through the buzzing in her ears. She couldn't see anything clearly anymore. Her vision was red with pain. Objects swam, making them impossible to identify. Arms gripped her tightly and lifted her into a seat. She must have been in the back seat, because her body lounged painfully across the length of the cushioning object.

She gritted her teeth as another shot exploded through the air. Porter slammed the door behind her and she could hear him dropping to avoid the missile with her acute hearing. Glass shattered. Tiny objects rained down on her, biting into her legs like little mosquitoes.

Porter darted around the side of the car and jumped inside. The car revved to life just as another shot burst through the air. Jamie was jolted backward as the car took a steep turn. She felt the bump as the car tires plopped back onto the highway. The car swung in a wide arc and steadied itself in what must have been the correct lane.

Jamie tried to lull her body into the sound of the engine as the car sped away. As long as she could focus outward, then she wouldn't have to feel this pain. It felt as though acid was running through her veins. The idea of falling unconscious seemed very tempting at the moment. The only thing that kept her from falling into the oblivion that was threatening to take her was the worry that she'd never wake up again.

"Porter?" She coughed.

"It's okay, Jamie," Porter called back. She could hear the uncertainty in his voice and feel it in his mind. "You'll be all right. My father's a doctor. He'll look at you. Everything will be okay."

Jamie decided not to respond. It took too much effort. She reached out with her mind as Porter took a sharp turn. She tried to enshroud him in a blanket full of comfort. She could feel him reaching back to her as well.

The car spun another turn and stopped. Jamie could make out bright lights penetrating her closed eyelids. She suspected she was in a driveway. Porter's probably. Porter was suddenly at her door. He lifted her into the air and carried her toward the house. There was the deafening sound of conversations and laughter as the door to the house was opening.

"Porter? Is that you? You deliberately disobeyed my expressed wishes!" Mrs. Maxwell's voice increased in volume as she neared. Suddenly, she gasped. "Oh, my—"

"Mom?" Porter managed between heaving breaths. "Where's dad? I need him right now!"

"Bring her to the couch!" Mrs. Carlyle's voice broke through the noise.

Jamie felt her body being moved swiftly. Porter laid her into the soft folds of the couch. The wound stung as he accidentally bumped it with his elbow. She took a sharp intake of breath.

His hand was on her forehead, pushing her hair back from her face. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."

"Move back, Porter." She heard a gentle male voice command. She felt him move off a distance. The heat from his form was replaced by cool, uninhabited air. Then another figure stepped into the space, probing the wound at her side. Despite his gentle touch, she felt an excruciating amount of pain. She cried out.

"Now this is really going to hurt," the doctor soothed, "but I want you to bear with me. Okay?"

She nodded sightlessly, gritting her teeth.

The hand moved down again, reaching into the open wound. She couldn't help the cry that escaped her lips. She had never felt something so terrible in her entire life.

The doctor gripped something and pulled it from her flesh. "Silver," he commented grimly.

"But she's human," Porter commented hopefully. "She'll be okay, right?"

"A human would die from a bullet wound like this. She should already be dead." The doctor commented darkly. "She's been bitten more than once. Porter?"

She could feel a tinge of embarrassment seeping from the boy. It was all the father needed to know.

"You bit her again."

"Yes," Porter agreed. "So we'd be able to communicate tonight."

"Do you know how much pain you're putting her through?" The doctor asked darkly, anger emanating from his form. "She could have died outright, but now she'll have to suffer through hours of pain before she dies!"

"No!" Porter snapped. "You have to do something! You have to save her! Turn her into a werewolf or something!"

"Porter," Mr. Maxwell argued, speaking more softly now. There was pain in his mind as he watched his son, foretelling the hurt Porter would feel. He wanted to protect his son from that. "She's got silver in her blood. It will inhibit her ability to heal. It's probably already reacted with her blood to form the healing inhibitor."

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Mrs. Maxwell asked softly.

The doctor sighed. "I can put some TriptoKeri formula in her blood stream. It will steal the silver from her blood molecules. Then she'll need to be turned pure 'wolf to heal the damage. But there's no guarantee. She'll probably die before the TriptoKeri is able to work."

"We have to do it," Porter said. "We have to try."

Jamie felt a large hand reach down and land comfortingly on her shoulder. "Is this what you want, child?" The doctor asked. "Are you willing to become a 'wolf to save your life?"

Jamie swallowed hard as another bout of pain washed over her body. Slowly she nodded. She didn't want to become a werewolf. But she didn't want to die either. It wasn't time for her to go. She had so much to do first.

"Okay," she managed.

"Get the TriptoKeri from the cabinet," the doctor ordered. He was holding a piece of cloth over her wound to staunch the blood flow.

There was the sound of pattering feet and then the person returned. "Here father," Porter said with a nervous tinge to his voice.

A gentle hand gripped her arm, swabbing something over the surface. Then she felt a sting of pain as a needle was pushed into her arm. The needle was pulled from her arm after the liquid had been released into her bloodstream.

"I'll bite her," Porter offered.

Jamie nodded. There was no one else she wanted to do it. She felt safe with Porter. Loved. And if there was no guarantee…If there was a chance she had to die tonight…she wanted to connect minds one last time.

Gentle arms pulled her up into a sitting position. His arms were around her, holding her as if she were a fragile china doll about to shatter. She could feel his warm breath on her throat.

Then he struck.

There was momentary pain overruled by the warmth of his arms and his mouth nuzzling her neck. Then the world heightened once again. In fact, it nearly disappeared. The pain was too much to pay attention to the outside world. Porter was the only thing that was real and alive, blazing in her mind like a bright torch. He spread warmth and comfort through her, holding on with fierce determination. An image spanned the distance between their two minds, racing from his to hers. It was Porter looking down at her with fierce anger in his eyes, emotions running wild beneath the surface of his tanned features. Her mind interpreted the image into words in an instant.

Don't you dare die on me, Jamie.

She sent back an image of effort. She was trying, it meant.

She lapped in the peace of his golden light filtering her mind. It felt so good just to lie there. The pain had nearly been pushed away completely. She felt a sleepy haze overtake her body. If she had to die, this was the perfect way to do it.

Porter sent her one thought. No.

She drifted into unconsciousness.