Magnum called Dresden and reported Damon's behavior and sent a video clip. Dresden suspected that Damon had at some point taken off his switch himself. He would make a magic potion to get it back on. Good thing he just happened to be in Ohio. Colin gave Damon a very strong sedative and lots of vervain. Damon would be weak. Magnum promised to take Damon to Dresden to be fixed. Charles and Colin would go and treat Mimi. Colin cursed, as he didn't really have any medicine that would work for Mimi. He would have preferred to put Mimi under a deep anesthetic, but Mimi was Mimi. Colin called Samuel and Samuel gave him the name and dosage of one of the drugs. He said that Mimi probably wouldn't sleep long on it. Colin took all the help he could get. He found the medicine and took an even bigger dose than Samuel said. He asked Charles to hold Mimi for a while. He went over to Mimi and tried to talk calmly. He put the medicine on her shoulder and rubbed it for a while. The medicine would take effect in about ten minutes, if not sooner considering how thin Mimi was once again. If you're held captive for two weeks without food on Mimi's metabolism, no wonder, Colin thought to himself. After 6 minutes Mimi was already leaning heavily against Charles and asleep. They wrapped Mimi in blankets and put her in the back of the car. Colin took Mimi to the Ohio house with Charles and there he put Mimi on IV fluids and more powerful drugs so that Mimi could sleep and rest.
I woke up in the Ohio house and remembered the fear, the terror of being chased. Damon. Just the thought of him made my heart pound and a cold sweat surface. I was terrified. Well, that's what he had planned to do. Well done. Very well done. Now I just didn't know what was going to happen to pack life anymore because the mere thought of him being in the same house was unbearable. I knew that if he came into this house I would run away and fast. Colin and Charles came to see me and explained everything. Oh, the switch off. Go ahead. I still couldn't bear the thought of him coming to me, the smell of passionfruit alone made me shiver. When Colin and Charles were happy with the way I'd recovered and was eating and acting. They went about their business.
A week had passed. Every day Damon scared me just as much. I couldn't help it. Adam called and asked how I was doing and when I told him I was physically fine, he hung up. Didn't invite me back to the same house. Fine then, not by force. Now I began to understand what Rebecca had been talking about. The bad side of Damon. The dark side. The side without a switch. There had been rumors at the wedding, or I had heard, of women telling horror stories of how Damon had tortured many women in his time, including vampires. Even humans. Now I had no doubts. And I was committed to him forever. No wonder he'd been happy. To be bound by a creature that can't die. To whom he could do whatever he pleased. Just flip his switch to the other position and let it go. Would that be my fate? To be a victim of Damon's torture. I didn't bother to speculate further because I can't see into the future so I couldn't know if this was just a coincidence and whether the women's speeches were true or not. The only fact I knew was that I was so afraid of Damon that I had never been afraid of anything before. Never. And no amount of reminiscing about our good times was going to help, it wasn't going to take the fear away at all. I concentrated on other things. But as is often the case in life, there comes a time when fear must be faced.
Magnum called me and said he was coming over, he had something he wanted to talk to me about, maybe over coffee. I welcomed him and went about my business. Magnum would have a key, so he could let himself in. I was downstairs in one of the rooms where I was planning a greenhouse when I smelled him. Damon. I saw from the reflection in the window that he was standing in the doorway. Now I couldn't get away. Fucking Magnum. Damon came closer and said "Baby, I'm really sorry for what I did. Magnum showed me the video. I'm okay now. I had the switch off too. I'm like that then, I didn't react too well to your velveting me. I understand you don't want to have anything to do with me, but baby, please, say something." I swallowed and said in a quiet voice. "Damon, right now I can't move, I'm paralyzed with terror. You made a number out of me. I've never been so scared of anything in my life as I am of you. Please. Don't come any closer. I can't even look at you. Now I don't know if I ever will. Are there any more of us?" Damon sighed.
Damon slid his mind into Mimi's head. He was an existentially strong, if not very strong telepath and it had been a great advantage in his day, but he didn't want to spy on the thoughts of others or get anyone's delusions in his head, so he controlled himself and kept his abilities hidden. Part of that ability was that he could project fear and terror into the minds of his victims. It had once been his favorite trick. Especially if he was eating from a human. the fact that the victim was absolutely terrified when he ate from them had given him a sense of power. but he had gone on to do it to Mimi and still under the enhanced effect of the dental substances. Colin had tested the substances found in the shed and most of them were psychotropic. He had, in a way, brainwashed Mimi into fearing him. He felt a huge black ball of fear and terror in Mimi's mind. Damon knew he could get that ball out, but it would take time and he needed to be as close to Mimi as possible while restoring the sense of security he had taught his wife.
He went to wrap his arms around Mimi and his heart almost broke when he smelled Mimi pissing her pants in fear. Self-loathing reared its head once again but that would come later. He tightened his grip and bit down on the new anesthetic his teeth had just made. Mimi went limp in his arms.
Damon came closer and closer and spoke in a low voice. "Mimi, now I will come and hold you, we will go to the bedroom and you will come into my arms again, clinging to me like you do every night. I will start to take that huge ball of fear out of your mind at the same time. It will take time and you have to try to hold on, but this will help. I promise. ' Damon was behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I felt my bladder empty with fear. The smell of my urine was clear. I had peed my pants when I was so scared. Damon soothed me and I felt him brush the hair away from my neck. He was quick. He tightened his grip and sunk his teeth into my veins and let the substance drain out, it felt like satin and my knees started to buckle out from under me and the world went black.
He carried Mimi into one of the bedrooms and undressed. He walked over next to Mimi holding her tightly against him so that if and when she woke up she couldn't escape but she wouldn't be in too uncomfortable a position. He began to untie the black ball in Mimi's mind, one strap at a time. When Mimi would wake up he would persistently continue to dismantle this horrible ball of fear. He had never seen such a ball in anyone's head. When Mimi woke up, she was trembling. Damon put it out of his mind and concentrated on the ball. Eventually, he got the whole ball out and Mimi's trembling had finally stopped Damon took his time to calm her down and soon he found Mimi relaxing completely and falling into a healing deep sleep.
I woke up and remembered and smelled. I began to shiver. I was paralyzed with fear and I couldn't do anything, Damon held me, close to him, and spoke in a low soothing voice "Mimi, listen to my heartbeats, concentrate on the sound of them, just listen to them, don't think about anything else, everything will be alright, just listen. Take your time. Good girl. Everything's going to be all right. You're safe, I'll take care of you, there's nothing to be afraid of." He kept going on and slowly the fear began to fade. It took a while but it went away. I was able to concentrate fully on Damon's calming rhythm and I was no longer shaking, I finally started to relax. This was a relief. This was safety. I was safe. All the fear and terror had gone out of my head. No longer afraid of Damon's passionfruit scent at all, I let it lull me into a peaceful sleep. When I woke up, I was alone on the bedside table with his phone and wallet again. I had noticed that he always left this wallet at home because it had pictures of the two of us. Fine. Now I was no longer afraid of him, so when he would come back then we could have a good time.