Chapter 9

A sensation of comfortable warmth was what first permeated Red Dragon's senses as she began to stir from her hypnotic-induced sleep. With this came the touch of soft sheets and a firm mattress underneath her with her head supported by comfortable pillow. She then became aware that she was lying on her back, with a number of crisp blankets tucked around her lithe form. As she groggily questioned what she was doing in a bed that was not her own, she realised that someone had wrapped bandages around her shoulder. She flinched as she attempted to move and felt a dull ache emanate from that area. Instantly she stilled, and loosed an uncomfortable whine at what she was feeling. Instead of trying to leave the bed, she slowly opened her eyes, realising that the room was in darkness. However, she was pleasantly surprised to discover that her sight was almost as clear as it was in daylight. As she stared at the ceiling, she heard the sound of faint footsteps advancing towards the room she was in. A door that she could only partially see was opened and as he advanced towards the bed, she realised that it was the Headmaster. He frowned as he noticed that her eyes were open and took note of her tensed muscles and slightly clouded eyes.

"I did not expect you to wake so quickly, otherwise I would have ensured you would not have felt the pain you are experiencing now."

He moved away from her and she heard him cross to the other side of the room before he returned to her side.

"Ordinarily, I would have injected morphine into your system in order to dull the pain, but since your skin will snap any needles I use, that is not possible. Luckily I anticipated this and have condensed the drug into a liquid form."

He held a glass out towards her, but she was alarmed to see that her hands shook so much when she attempted to take the glass that it almost slipped from her hands. Luckily, the Headmaster was watching her closely and caught the glass before it fell. Red Dragon saw worriedly that the aura around him was starting to turn red, signalling that he was becoming irritated. "I am sorry, Sir" she mumbled, ashamed at her clumsiness. The Headmaster frowned at her comment.

"Your apology is unnecessary. Since the bullet wound has greatly weakened you it is logical to assume that you have not the normal control over your muscles."

He then held the glass up towards her lips and she began to drink the contents, grimacing at the taste. Once she had finished he moved the glass away, wondering if the drug would work in liquid form.

"Is the pain you are experiencing being diminished or dulled in any way?"

Red Dragon frowned in concentration and raised her shoulder slightly to gauge the level of pain. "The pain is fading Sir" she reported, settling herself fully on her bed. The Headmaster nodded thoughtfully to himself, and then fixed his prefect with a stern gaze. "You are not to leave this room without permission, and you are to stay in bed until I allow you to get out of it. Your wound could become infected if you move about too much. Now, I suggest you sleep. You are clearly still drained of energy."

Since she was feeling somewhat drained, Red Dragon decided it was best to obey and obediently closed her eyes. Almost immediately she began to feel incredibly drowsy and fully relaxed. Just was she was drifting off she heard a clipped "Goodnight" from the Headmaster and answered in a voice somewhat slurred with sleep "g'night sir". There was the thud of a door closing close at hand, and she reasoned that the Headmaster had left her room. As she was thinking this she at last succumbed to sleep.

She was abruptly woken when a significant amount of light assaulted her eyes. With her eyes still shut she snarled furiously; she was not a morning person at the best of times and the fact that someone had woken her up only aggravated her further. After a few seconds she opened her eyes and glared furiously at the whitecoat who was standing at the uncovered window. Becoming intensely un-nerved by her glare, the whitecoat decided it was best to deliver his message promptly and began reciting it in the emotionless voice used by all of the Headmaster's white-coats.

"The Director requires the use of your enhanced senses. He has been experimenting with the creeper he developed and has been attempting to accelerate its growth even further. Two of these samples here to all appearance seem dead, but he is uncertain whether they actually are. You are to us-"

The whitecoat was unable to finish reciting commands as Red Dragon had hurled herself at him. Her temper, which was already strained, now snapped and she was unable to control herself any longer. A combination of bestial instinct, simmering irritation and the light stinging her eyes tipped her over the edge. Her blankets had crumpled to the floor in her sudden eruption from the bed and now were scattered around the floor. As she slammed the whitecoat into the wall, the impact caused a chair (which the whitecoat had placed the samples upon) to fall over and the glass bottles which held the samples shattered. Into this scene of devastation strode the Headmaster, who stiffened just inside the door as his gaze took in the mess around him. His jaw tightened in suppressed anger as he saw that his troublesome prefect had disobeyed him by getting out of bed, and was now engaged in the activity of banging the head of one of his white-coats against the wall. His anger manifested itself even further when he saw that his samples were ruined and his hands fisted. Suddenly he began to move towards his Prefect, intent on demonstrating his displeasure...