Dreams & Nightmares

Chapter 3

Rating: R for disturbing scenes

Disclaimer: This should be fairly obvious…

            "Nefertina!" The scream whipped toward the two struggling figures on the ground with the same wind that brought a winged salvation.

            Scarab whipped his head to the sound and an ugly snarl contorted his now smooth features that smoothed again immediately when he gazed back down at her with a dark smile.  "I shall be sure to finish this later, my dear," he purred in an oily voice as he trailed a fingertip down her cheek.  He froze her blood with his words and made her shudder in fear and dread.

            Then he vanished, simply vanished.  No light, no sound, no clichéd glimmer of stardust, he just winked out like a candle that was suddenly snuffed by the wind.

            She couldn't move she was so weak and in so much pain and her bitter tears raged in a floodtide down her ashen face as anguished sobs she could no longer control tore from her raw throat.  There was little she could do when the sound of steady wings grew closer and she felt more than heard her angel land beside her.  She didn't want him to see her so weak; it shamed her that he did.  Nefertina fell into blackness with the thought that he already did think her weak.

            He didn't like this.  She should not be so still, not her, not the girl who was nearly irrepressible in her energy and love of life.  Who else had been here with her just now?  Had he imagined it?  He couldn't have, else she would not be laying here in this state. 

            "Nefertina?"

            A touch at her shoulder brought no response.  She was unconscious then, but why?  What had happened?  Who did this to her?

            She shuddered violently and drew in a breath like a sob when he drew back from her to take a closer look for injuries.  Without thought, the hunter gathered her into his arms and tried to ease her trembling, thinking it was caused by chill until he heard her moan softly.  She's in pain?

            "Nef… I'll get you help…" He whispered near her ear before he caught the unmistakable scent of blood and he felt something too warm to be rain where his arm looped under her thighs.  "Hn?"  Jakal held his hand up and gasped at the sight of blood, her blood, running down his forearm.  "Oh gods…" he whispered in a soft, uncharacteristically worried tone, no hint of the calm authority he was known for.

            This scared him, scared him mightily.  He had never seen her so weak, and the blood, it frightened him to see her bleed.  Much more than it ever had when she was 'Nefer.'

            He had to get her help, he promised her he would.  She wouldn't want Rath to see her, not if she was bleeding from where he fearfully suspected she was.  It needed to be another woman, one whom she trusted.  There was only one that he knew of.  He prayed the woman would understand his showing up after midnight.

            His mind set on its course, Jakal lifted Nefertina, holding her close to him, and unfurled his golden wings to take to the skies, which roiled and writhed with dark rain and booming thunder and crashing lightning.

            Doctor Geraldine French ran a family clinic from her home after she retired from the hectic, migraine-inducing world of hospital work to go into a private practice and teach.  She was a tall, thin, stern-looking British-woman in her late fifties that many would call matronly handsome of Amazonian standards, but she was kind.  The elder woman was once the pediatrician of the Carnovans and was now a family friend.  She had accidentally been introduced to those mummies the Carnovan boy hangs out with when they had all showed up on her doorstep. 

            Still half-asleep at two in the morning, she was reminded of that night by the insistent knocking on her front door.  It had to be the worst thunderstorm in recent history, the rain battering against the roof and windows, lightning sounding as if to rend the sky.

            The sight that greeted her when she yawning opened her door startled her into full waking.  She would have never dreamed of seeing a fully armoured Jakal carrying an unconscious Nefertina standing soaked on her doorstep in the pouring rain.  It was the look in the strong hunter's eyes that startled her the most however.  She had never seen him look so frightened.

            "Please, Dr. French, she's bleeding… I― she― can you please help her?" His strong voice faltered and died off as he struggled with emotions foreign to him.

            "I can't if you just stand there, come in.  Come in," she stepped out of the way to allow him entrance. "Please, take her into that first room, I'll be there shortly."

            She went to wash up and pull on a housecoat and to get her glasses so she could see what she was doing.  When she returned to them, it was to find that Jakal had not left the girl's side though he had placed her on the table and recalled his armour.  He was waiting tensely for her to arrive.

            Dr. French sighed deciding there could be no way the girl would want him in here while she was being examined and that he probably not want to see the examination.  He would not be happy about getting kicked out, especially if he was in a protective mood.

            "Please wait out in the living room.  And do try not to argue."

            The hunter's mouth clicked shut, stifling the argument he was undoubtedly going to make and he nodded, meekly leaving the two women alone.  It surprised her that he was so cooperative.

            Nefertina was unconscious, remaining that way throughout the exam she was put through, staunching the flow of blood and even requiring stitches.  What had done this to her?  There were few possibilities and all of them grizzly.  Rape had been the first thing she had thought of, it was the most heinous crime that could have been committed and she shuddered at the mere thought of such a thing.  The terrible possibility of it was quickly discounted during the pelvic examination when she found no bruising and no semen on the girl.  But something horrible had happened, of that there was no question.  What was it though?

            The older woman leaned over her when she noticed the small charioteer's eyes flickering as if to open.  Her storm-gray eyes had transformed to glittering silver with the promise of unspent tears, fear, and pain.  She was also confused as her eyes began to focus on her surroundings.

            "Nefertina?  Dear, can you tell me what happened?"

            Large, frightened, silver eyes looked up at her.  "D-Dr. French?"  Her voice was much smaller than it normally was, barely a whisper, "What― h-h-how did I get here?"

            "Jakal brought you," the girl squeezed her eyes shut and moaned dejectedly, clearly upset by the news, "Don't worry, I made him wait in another room.  He hasn't seen anything; he doesn't know what's happening.  I don't believe he does anyway… I need to know what happened to you in case there's anything else I can do.  Can you tell me?"

            She didn't want to.  She tried not to, avoiding it as long as she could, hesitating endlessly until she finally told everything that had happened tonight, from taking the prince home, to driving to the cliff on the ocean, and on to the nightmare with Scarab.  It had shaken her into a frightened, shaking wreak of her former self. 

            By the end, Dr. French's face was drawn and flushed with bright outrage.  It wasn't technically rape but it nearly the same thing in her mind.  That monster had really overstepped the bound this night, using an innocent girl to become younger.  It was the most disgusting thing she'd heard of him doing.  Jakal must not suspect anything, must not know, or he would not still be in her living room; he would be hunting down the bastard and tearing him limb from misbegotten limb.  She hoped he did.

            "The others will have to be told this.  You―"

            "NO!  Please, don't tell them.  Don't make me tell them what happened.  Please," Nefertina was begging, close to blubbering, frightened they would somehow blame her for it all, that they would think her even weaker that before.  She especially did not want Jakal to know.  She was even more frightened of what he would say or think. 

            "He won't think you weak or inept or any of the things you believe he will.  He has too much respect for you to do that and he cares too much about you― yes he does, dear, no matter what you may say.  He needs to be told.  Once he finishes worrying to death and pacing a trench in my carpet, he'll want to go after Scarab.  Can't say as I blame him for that… Now, I've done everything I can for you," she patted the girl's hand comfortingly, "but perhaps Rath could better undo the physical damage with a spell since it was magic that caused this."  Her face regained its paniced expression at the thought of telling the others and Dr. French was quick to reassure her.  "Don't get upset or distraught, no one in their right mind could blame you for what Scarab did―"

            "They will."  She said quietly.

            The physician sighed; the three she lived with must either ignore her or constantly berate her for every little thing she did or didn't do for her to so adamantly believe they all barely tolerated her.  She needed support now.  Strong emotional support or she would never fully recover.  If she didn't receive it from them, there was no one else she could get it from that she was around with any regularity.

            "They won't but it's no use arguing with you… I'm going to fetch Jakal so he can take you home.  Calm down now," she began seeing the fear crash back in, "I won't tell him anything that happened here.  You should be the one to do that."

            Jakal nearly pounced on her when she came out of the room, the look of impatient worry appearing so out of place on his normally stoic features, his eyes holding a naked fear she had never seen in their depths before.

            "How is she?"  It held an urgency that was hard to mistake, bespeaking of a deeper caring than he would admit to.

            Geraldine backed up a step.  "Not exactly fine but she'll survive.  When you rush in, go gently with her, she's been through hell," and has yet to return from it, she added silently, "and do not press her too harshly this time."

            His gaze had been resting imploringly on the closed door behind her but it then snapped to her face and darkened considerably, his ire rising noticeably, "What are you talking about 'this time?' I've never done such a thing to her, nor would I ever."

            He swept past her indignantly.  She had managed to anger him when that was the last thing they needed.  If he turned that anger to Nefertina, meaning to or not, the girl would collapse in on herself and hide behind wall of stubbornness.  And he would continue questioning and prodding her for answers because of his own proclivity towards stubbornness.

            Lord those willful fools are a perfect match.

            When she walked into the room, the two of them were not acting as expected.  Neither was speaking, neither argued, there was no yelling, if anything, Jakal― who had transformed at some point― was doting on the little charioteer, holding onto her as she eased off the table, keeping a firm hand around her waist, scooping her into his arms when her legs sagged beneath her, refusing to hold.  From the pinkish colour on her cheeks, it was fairly clear she found this pleasantly embarrassing and very confusing if the rather helpless look she focused on Dr. French was any indication, and she could only arch an eyebrow in response.  After all it wasn't as if she could do anything to him or fathom why he was suddenly acting so chivalrous towards her. 

            In the young charioteer's mind, he wouldn't think of even giving the time of day let alone carry her when she was too weak to walk.

            Jakal spared her a dissenting glance as he strode past her and headed for the door to go back out to the torrential storm with a still-puzzled driver in his arms who waved at her slightly when the hunter leapt up into the air.

End.

Sorry it took so long to do this, I've been rather busy with school and the other stories and this one simply didn't seem to be that popular. 

Please review; I'm begging you.  Let me know what you think.