Magnum called later and confirmed what I already knew. Adam was celebrating hard. He now had one little pussy to spend time with. Oh, how Damon can isolate me from the pack when I don't need it. I called Samuel and warned him. I got him to swear and he said Charles was out partying and wouldn't be available. Charles had been eager to party. Of course, Salvatore wants to get my assistant out. Colin had been forced to return to Ireland earlier and he wouldn't be any use either. I wasn't going to involve my new friends in this at all because I didn't want Damon to take a swing at them. Samuel went to drive to my place. But then he called to say he was going to a party, too, because he couldn't be babysitting. The voice in my head said "I'll give you Magnum, you can have him for protection, but no one else really. Soon baby, soon I'll have had enough of my drugs again. "

Magnum arrived the next day and came inside, dragging his flight bag behind him. He lifted it up on the couch and opened it. He showed me my protective suit. It reached up to my ears at the neck but was made of a supple material. My hands were covered up to the fingers, like my feet. He showed me how to put on the armor and then helped me into it. Going to the toilet was no problem as the armor could be divided into a trouser and a shirt. Damon would have a very hard time getting this off me without waking me up. In addition, Magnum fitted my bedroom with a few more accessories. He had also informed Dresden who promised to make a potion base already if need be. I might not shower quite so diligently but the security the armor provided was worth its weight in gold. The voice in my head had now been silent. I wondered if Mr. Salvatore had a little problem. I had been with Magnum for four days now when I went to breakfast again and Magnum was making coffee and swearing. He showed me his arms. Full of teeth marks. Magnum was also noticeably pale and I told him to drink some of my blood and that would help. Then I told Magnum to go away because that one was close. Magnum was human and if Damon had had a little more to drink... I didn't even want to think. I had my armor.

I showered happily and wrapped a towel around me as I went to dry off. On my bed was my armor that had been torn into little pieces and I hadn't heard a thing. The door had been closed and the water was running. Oh fuck. The panic started to creep in once again. Then Adam called. He was on his way back after Nick had broken Damon's compulsion. He had also given Adam his own blood which would prevent Damon from getting into Adam's head for a couple of days at least. He had given him his blood to go with it. l rushed into Adam's arms when he arrived and told him everything. Magnum armor, amber alert, everything. Adam calmed me down and we ended up defusing the tension in bed again. Once again I climbed on top of Adam to sleep. I woke up to someone tickling my nose. Damon. Adam was still under me, but deeply asleep. Damon was holding his hand over my mouth. I felt a prick in my neck as he whispered " Sleepy time, baby".

I woke up tied to the table again. Damon was dressed in black. Black tee shirt, black jeans. There was still bad lighting here and lots of shadows. Damon would blend in with the shadows every now and then. He put another drip in and saw a row of bottles and jars on the walls of the shed. My chest was being squeezed by a belt. Damon said "It's a rib crusher. I'll show you this version. There are magnetic balls in here. On both sides and really strong. When you put a current in here the magnets are activated and attract each other. There's a little spring under each ball that lifts the ball into this pocket that it's sewn into. So these are where your ribs are and the balls want to come together. This belt compresses as much as your chest will allow, as these springs move the balls back and forth. See one of these pockets is made to fit the rib of your rib cage, so the ball moves over your Rib all the time. Somewhere along the way, breaking it. Watch." Damon put the plug in the belt into the wall and the vest shrunk into a pile. Damon looked like he really couldn't get the balls off until he unplugged the plug. "Now I've got that vest pretty damn tight already and now I'm putting it on. Enjoy." The feeling of pressure was ridiculous. It ran down my ribs and the pain started to come pretty soon. Knowing that at some point something was going to give. Then Damon put some more stuff on. Reality started to blur again. The smell of wet dog, the pain in my ribs, the passionfruit vines that wrapped around me and kept me from escaping. I began to fear again, and hard. Sometimes I would come back to reality for a moment only to feel my ribs cracked and the ball still grinding them to pieces puncturing my lungs over and over again. Then again some substance and everything went cloudy.

Adam and Magnum had been looking for Mimi for another three weeks. Then Adam got bored and went to a party and took Charles and made him drink Nick's blood. Charles got sober and cursed. The same thing was done to Samuel. Charles once again went to investigate with his computer and Samuel cursed himself for being so fucking weak. But it didn't matter. After five days of research, they discovered again that Damon had taken Mimi somewhere in Missouri. Charles, Samuel and Adam went on the trail. This time Adam got the first whiff of fear from the wind and went off to follow it. In the woods again, they found piles of dirty bedding . And Bran's cabin. Charles had asked Bran if he had told Damon about his cottage and Bran had said he hadn't. But when Damon had been revealed to be a telepath. So it wasn't too hard to guess. Magnum brought another set of darts, a tranquilizer. Samuell had his own medicine for the Mimi in reserve. Then they attacked. Charles jumped through the window on Damon again and Magnum fired three shots of vervain. Damon collapsed.

Magnum and Charles went to get Damon treated while Adam and Samuel tended to Mimi Samuel pulled out the plug and carefully removed the infernal belt from Mimi's head. Mimi's chest was misshapen, badly crushed, almost as thin as her waist. Mimi moaned faintly. Adam gathered clean blankets and quilts. Together they moved Mimi with extreme care into the quilts. Adam started to collect all the dental materials again and Samuel got the supplies from the car. He took a good strong painkiller and gave Mimi a good dose. Then he drew a syringe of pentobarbital. It still worked. A large dose and slowly injected it into the vein. Mimi was completely relaxed and deeply anesthetized by the time Adam was finished. Samuel slipped another sheet under Mimi and they used it to carry her to the car.

That chest would take some time to repair. They drove to Missouri's house and Samuel took Mimi straight to the operating theatre. He began the slow and precise work. He removed quite a bit of everything. Mimi's heart had taken a beating so he removed the lungs and the heart, all the ribs, the sternum. He put in a temporary support structure that gave the lungs and heart that Mimi had grown, support. The ribs were mostly cartilage. Samuel infused Mimi with lots of calcium and phosphorus, slowly strengthening the cartilage into bone. Mimi was in a deep coma in the incubator because Samuel wanted Mimi to be completely painless. Damon returned three days later very remorseful and full of self-loathing.

Damon drank bourbon for two days straight and Adam came to Damon and said " How is that going to help Mimi? It doesn't. Stop drinking and go help, I'm sure you can do something." Damon put the bottle down and walked to the infirmary. Mimi was back in the incubator. Of course. Samuel's favorite thing to do. He sat and read through Samuel's notes. I'll have to go and get some action then, he thought. First Mimi out of the incubator. He changed Mimi's tranquilizer so as not to keep her in a coma. Samuel had to leave for the clinics and Damon continued. He drained Mimi's ribs with his blood and removed the metal frame because it was slowing the healing process. Then he continued in the same way, giving her a couple of bags of the stuff his teeth wanted to give her. Damon was angry with himself because he was weak. Dresden had removed the evil spirit that had been harboring inside him. Probably come back during the vampire wedding. If it would help him stop doing this to Mimi.

When I woke up I was in a hospital bed but I wasn't attached and I didn't have any tubes in me. Thank God. All the work Samuel had done to slowly get me used to being in a drip, was all gone after those few times. I was at the starting point so I couldn't stand injections, IVs, or anything. And I was terrified of Damon again. I got out of bed and started staggering along, all medicated, to somewhere safe. I found one of the bedrooms and went into the air conditioning duct. At least Damon wouldn't find me there. I fell asleep there. I was safe. I woke up to Adam swearing. I retreated to the back and Adam couldn't reach me. I said, " Leave me alone so Damon doesn't.." Adam sighed and said " Salvatore ran off again when he got you in shape. Just get out of there. It's all right. " I crawled closer and Adam caught me and carried me to the bed. "You're cold, well I'll warm you up. " Adam went to sleep next to me. I fell asleep safe and sound. I woke up feeling dirty again. Now I'd like a bath. I went and drew myself a lovely bath and went in. Oh, how lovely. I closed my eyes and enjoyed it. I fell asleep.

Adam was in the kitchen making dinner. He had given Mimi a heavy sedative in the morning so Mimi wouldn't wake up for a few hours and when she did she would still be pretty medicated. This was another new anesthetic developed by Samuel's team and it worked well. Mimi was not yet resistant to this. Adam finished his meal and decided to go and see Mimi. She was probably still asleep, but he made sure. The bed was empty. Oh, fuck. Adam spun around for a moment and found that the bathroom door was open.

Mimi was in the tub unconscious, her lips blue. Adam tried the water. It was cold. Adam got a big pile of towels from the bed and put the hair dryer on the wall. He grabbed an ice-cold Mimi from the bath and carried her to the bed. He began rubbing her vigorously dry, warming her all over with the hair dryer. Mimi's heart was beating but slowly and softly and her breathing was non-existent. Adam picked up his phone and put it on speaker and called Samuel, explaining the situation. Samuel told him to keep going and when Mimi came to, hot liquid, soup, anything to get the core temperature up.

I found someone repeating my name and rubbing me frantically. At the same time blowing some more hot air at me. I opened my eyes. Adam was furious and worried. Oh, I must have fallen asleep in the bath and gotten a little cold. Well, I'll warm up in a minute. I started to change my position and run away from my hair dryer Adam had rigged my hair dryer to blow at me. I said, "I'm already awake take that hair dryer off and let me get dressed." Adam said firmly " Your core temperature, look at that 34 degrees, the hair dryer stays on. I'll wrap you up in blankets and then I'll bring hot liquids, soup, cocoa, or anything until your core temperature is close to normal. What in the world were you doing taking a bath in your medicated state? And you don't have any sense." Adam was agitated.

I said "I didn't feel that medicated. I didn't even really notice that when I was dirty." Adam said. " Now every tub in this house has had the plugs removed until you get your wits about you. You only go to the bath when you're properly conscious and you don't fall asleep in there. " I nodded. Adam continued to massage me and made sure my hair was dry. Then he turned off the hair dryer and wrapped me in at least six blankets or so. I was left waiting in a wrap for the broth. The first one was a magnified chicken soup and it was lovely. I ate it ravenously. Then there was a meat stew with chunks of meat and quite a lot of fat. Next was cocoa. Hot kind of cocoa. My core temperature went up I was already 37 degrees when I started shivering. Now I got a cold. Again warm soup which I drank greedily as it was so damn cold. Finally, I warmed up. Adam brought me another steaming cup of cocoa and I drank it eagerly, I started to feel sleepy and very sleepy. Adam came next to me and held me against him. I fell asleep again when I was safe