He carried me to the car and the car pulled out of the plane. Now I was still fully medicated, in pain and desperately trying to conserve my strength in case there was any chance of escape at some point. I tried to think of an escape plan but I couldn't feel any of my rage and I wasn't sure if it was a drug or if I was just using up my rage in the gym and the ability of that prick to control me and my rage.
When the car finally stopped and Damon carried me straight into the shed and strapped me down to the table, I still hadn't come up with a sensible plan. Damon was sitting on a chair after he had brought his bag inside and undressed he looked at me for a moment and said " Aren't they great drugs, we had that cocktail I poured in you on the plane that was such a rage blocker, then there were neuroleptics, antipsychotics and a couple of new ones that take your concentration and logical thinking pretty much out of the game. As you can see baby, there's not really an escape plan forming is there? "
He stood up and went to turn on the satanic devices. I was all bruised up already, helpless, my head was all messed up with drugs. And Damon was enjoying himself, he was enjoying himself so fucking much and so fucking uninhibited. He really let it show.
Then he came and carried me into the first shuttle, and it was another one where I went inside the machine completely. Damon said " This device is new, you've never had one before, it's going to medicate you, so I've programmed in certain parameters of what you should be, body temperature, breathing, and so on and now this device is going to start adjusting you with different drugs. Those drugs can come anywhere, the brain, the spinal cord, muscles, bones, internal organs, we'll see how long it takes before the drugs have done their job, I won't tell you what condition I want you to be in, baby, I won't tell you much more, but enough to let the machine play with you, you won't even have to think about fear and terror, you'll just concentrate on what the machine wants your body to do. Give in to the power of the drugs and you might not suffer quite so long." Oh fuck this individual is able to talk.
The machine started working and I was injected and injected with various drugs and I felt my pulse quicken and my breathing quicken, apparently, my metabolism was supposed to be elevated I also felt that I was getting cold so my body temperature was being raised, fine interesting, then I didn't know where I was or even who I was when the machine injected enough psychiatric drugs into me. When the lid finally opened I was exhausted beyond belief.
The drugs were starting to wear off but they had put my body on such a high level of consumption that I felt like I couldn't move at all. Damon carried me to the next machine again and said. "That machine, I think I'll call it the exhaustor because it exhausted you. But now baby let's try some new things again."
Damon reached up to the ceiling and pulled down some kind of plate. The plate was full of quite small sharp hooks and he took one hook and stuck it into the skin of my ankle he kept sticking the hook through the skin and there were lots of hooks. He put them all the way down the body and said 'Let's see baby how tough your skin is but first I need to put a couple of things in place. See in a minute, this plate will start to come up and you'll be on all those hooks with it, but then how much your skin can take before it starts to break down and the solution to that baby is jelly, that plate won't lift you up very much, I'm just going to move this table a little bit to the side so you're on the hooks and in the air and if it looks like your skin is holding up okay then I'll start jellying your feet, your arms, as long as you're heavy enough that your skin starts to tear away from the hooks, I'll also put a cannula in your abdomen and then I'll drain in there as well and I'll do it very slowly"
He put the tube in my abdomen and made sure it was in place. Then he put a number of drip tubes ready and also some green medicine to drip into my cannula. He pressed the button and I felt the plate start to rise and the hooks tightened around my skin and then I rose up in the air on them my legs and arms were separated so that Damon could gel every limb as he pleased he moved the table out from under me and brought in some kind of tub or basin with some kind of gel in it, for some reason I suspected that gel wouldn't feel too good if I fell into it. He started experimenting, pulling on my leg and testing what kind of strain my skin was under, and then he started gelling
He started on my left leg and jellied my whole leg I felt the hooks start to feel more as my leg got heavier and then he moved to my other leg he said "Not yet baby, but soon, see, then when one hook breaks then the balance of the whole will change you will see and experience then, but as you can see, you have a jelly reserved for where you drop. Then when you drop in there you'll be there for a while and then we'll repeat this interesting experiment where I'll hang you from your back"
He was now gelling my arms and the medicine that had been poured into me was muscle relaxant so I didn't tense up at all but hung on the hooks. I could feel the sedative jelly slowly coming on. After he had gelled my arm it was getting pretty fucking hard pressure and I felt my skin wasn't going to last much longer he got to pour the jelly into my abdomen and first I felt my leg move as my skin started to break, Damon saw it and let the jelly drain into me as he went to see where I started to give in. He took another tank and started jelling some more on that limb and a sharp pain informed me as hook after hook started to tear through my skin and I felt my leg drop down.
The gel that was in the tank burned like acid, and even so, the jelly kept dripping into my stomach and now hook after hook started to tear all over so that I was dripping in the burning gel all the time. My skin did not heal immediately it was literally shredded and eventually every single hook had torn through my skin, I was full of soothing jelly and lay helpless in the gel which hurt like swimming in acid.
Damon said "Now that baby, that was great to watch then none of the hooks held anymore, now you can lie there for a while and let the jelly soak in really nicely and then we can do the same to the backside" He rubbed the jelly in my stomach and enjoyed the pain so much, but I didn't care as I tried and just took my time lying in the jelly, I don't know, it burned and stung, it hurt so damn much all the time.
Then Damon took me to a shredding machine with lots of different blades that started to shred me from all sides Damon came up next to me and said " Scream for me, come on b a good girl scream " I was silent. He was using me on the machines, hanging me on the fucking hooks as soon as my skin healed up and I was really medicated, helpless all the time and yet I remembered almost everything I'd been through. Because he wanted me to remember. He had hooks of different sizes to test me with, but then the game would get boring every now and then and I'd be put back inside some device that would shred or tear or gouge, twist, turn, bruise.
At this moment I remember every single shed session Damon ever did to me. Even though he's put me in a deep deep coma several times over the years and tried with all his might to dig them out for good so they wouldn't be in my nightmares, I just remember. And I don't want to remember, but something inside me wants me to know, to remember, to experience them over and over again every time I have a nightmare.
Then I was finished. I didn't really react to anything anymore. I was thin, helpless, powerless, and feverish for several days. Damon came up to me and said "It's been a wonderful 12 weeks. Baby, you're doing great. And then if one day I don't wear out your rage and I'm a little more patient, maybe I'll get that six months. That's one of my goals. But for now, your lesson in humility will continue for a bit longer once we get to the house. Then when I've deemed that lesson complete, baby, I'm outta here. But for now. Now we're going to the house to do one last thing and then ..."
He lifted me into his arms and carried me into the trunk of his car and tucked me in. I was torn apart everywhere, with wounds, and this position hurt every second. I didn't even know what country we were in, if we were in America or what and I didn't really care. I was medicated up to my eyes, with so many different sedatives or anesthetics that it was really a job to stay conscious. He had been pouring these drug dreams into me every day, blue dreams, red dreams, orange dreams, black dreams. My system was in a mess and I wasn't even sure what on earth was keeping me conscious at all.
We didn't get on a plane now and the car was driving, I had no idea what time it was, but then it stopped and Damon carried me into the house, I was wrapped up so I couldn't even see where I was in the house right away. He carried me into the basement into a silver cage and took the blanket off me. He said. "'Now for the last part of your lesson. Humility. Now you must ask Bran for help, no one else. You know that you need help. Adam and Charles are in God knows where with the switches still off. Samuel and Colin are dealing with world crises elsewhere and here's, baby, a phone with only one number, Bran's personal cell phone. You can make maybe that one call and I'll wait here and make sure you finish your lesson. This is also a pretty good punch in the nose for Bran. We're at the New Mexico house. Well call and ask Bran personally to help you. "
I thought fine, let's call him. In good time we'll get raped on top of this. I picked up the phone or tried to pick up the phone and Damon said "Fine, let me put it on, like, speakerphone so you can talk. " He put the phone on. It rang "Bran Cornick, who the hell is this and how did you get my number?" I concentrated on talking and said "Mimi here. Is there any way you can get to New Mexico to help me? Damon just put me in a 12-week shed session and I'm in really bad shape. He took Adam and Charles off their switch before this and that's why they beat me up three weeks before this started. I don't know how much longer I can take being conscious. I'm in the basement naked in a silver cage and I weigh less than 30 kilos. Please, Bran. "
Bran was quiet and said "I'm coming, little girl and you're going to be conscious, you understand? I am coming, in one hour I will be there and you will endure the hour. I'll see what I can do then but I need to call Dresden about Adam and Charles. One hour, Mimi. " I said, "Thank you, I'll try to hold on."
Then Damon hung up the phone and put it in his pocket and said " Good girl now you have learned your lesson. Now I'm going to Europe and enjoy myself there, and I'm leaving my phone and wallet in the hallway over there so I don't get caught so easily if I decide to change my mode or I mean if my conscience gets the better of me again. We'll see each other, baby, one day again and I have no way of knowing which part of me will be on display."
He brushed the hair from my forehead and made sure I was properly against the silver and put the cage shut and the key in his pocket and said "I don't know if there are spare keys for these cages anywhere. " He walked away.
I lay on the silver and the pain was all I could concentrate on to stay awake. The cellar door opened and Bran stepped in. He came to the cage and dug a key out of his pocket, muttering something about fucking Salvatore and everything else. I turned my head and said " Help me to medbay and get me a phone and I'll call the flea market to help. "
Bran flinched when I spoke and came to me. He had nothing with him and he said "You weren't lying about your condition and the fleas, Mimi, still can't do anything to you. Mimosa is showing signs of preheat, so even if Adam and Charles get well, they may have other activities, but I will see what I can do for you now as first aid."
He lifted me into his arms and I felt my skin tearing at my back where it was already burnt to silver. Bran was silent and the muscle in his cheek now twitched. He had a strange aura about him and he seemed to be very focused. I had never really seen him like this.
When I looked into his eyes then I saw the reason. They were glowing yellow. He had a really close under-the-surface rage. He carried me to the medbay and turned on the lights. then he went to put on his scrubs and came over to me and said "Now tell me what I can do for first aid, I'll call Samuel and Colin in a minute but what will help the most."
I said "Turn on the incubator, I have a fever, but not for long, my strength will run out and then my body temperature will drop. Plus Damon stuffed me with drug dreams that drop my sugar and temperature to rock bottom. You need to get me my vein connection but is my heart beating, do I have circulation?" Bran listened for a moment and said "You do have a pulse, it's weak but there, fine go put the incubator on, and then I'll look at that vein thing. "
Bran had actually never seen what condition Mimi was in after the shed session. He'd looked the other way over the years, seeing where Damon was going and hearing how hard it had been for Mimi to recover from them, but seeing the naked skeleton with the skin, smelling the burning skin of this girl, this woman and feeling it tears away as he lifted her into his arms. Feel how miserably thin it is.
How damn weak. And to see the scariest thing of all. When he'd come to the cage Mimi had had 90 straps left, now an hour later there were 88 would the straps only ever fall off at two an hour or would the pace quicken? So he tried to find some way of stabilizing Mimi while Samuel or Colin got on with Mimi. Now he would then have to get Mimi into an IV and what he would do if Mimi went unconscious.
What would he do then? He got the incubator on and, following Mimi's instructions, got the supplies and got a cannula inserted into Mimi's heart where he put a drip of Damon's bump. The medicine cabinet was locked and he didn't know where the key was. He cursed harshly in his mind and tried to be calm.
I managed to guide Bran to put a cannula in my heart, I could have had veins somewhere but Bran's hands were shaking so badly I didn't think he would hit any veins. I figured the bump would at least give me something, at least some energy or fluids because at the moment I was in such bad shape I hadn't even got a plan in my head where to start. I was still pretty fucking medicated.
Bran went into the other room to call for help and I thought if the bump doesn't help, what happens to me if I run out of, say straps? Where am I going to end up? I just have to try to hang on and survive long enough to have one less crisis. I'd had Bran put sugar drip directly into my heart and it seemed to give me strength. And then I needed caffeine, Coke, or coffee.
Fine, this is starting to work. When Bran came back he said "Samuel will call in a couple of hours as he's in surgery and I left a message for Colin. What's next?" I said "Go and make some fucking strong coffee and bring it to me, and Coke. I need caffeine and it has to be from those two sources. After that, we'll take a scan of me and see if I can take the visceral suspension."
I had the coffee and we took the scan in the end, not easy to direct someone else to take it when Bran didn't understand anything at first. He said " Fine the result came but I don't understand any of this. We have to, little girl, one day make it so that all of us, I mean myself, should be able to do some of these things. I mean the use of the scanner. They should learn how to do them if it ever gets that tight. "
I said "Take that tablet and turn it on and bring it to me and I'll look through the scan. " He brought me the tablet and walked over and sat next to me and watched the scan closely. I said "Fine, I seem to have functioning organs, but some of them are damaged but I can take an intestinal infusion, now Bran. You will do the surgery on me and fit a feeding tube. I'll guide you. "
First I had to show the scan again at a time when I have damage and others. My liver was destroyed, and so were my kidneys, spleen, and pancreas also, but the visceral puree had actually spleen in it, so it digested itself, my intestines seemed to be okay, and my lungs were not, but I'll get through this at some point.
The caffeine seemed to help a lot. First I directed Bran to the cupboard where I could find the recipe and put him in the kitchen to make the base, I could hear him on the phone talking frantically to someone there. The fever was still on and I was feeling really restless but I held on.
Then Bran came with the bucket and I said "Samuel is coming as well Colin, they'll take 24 hours and then they'll see what they can do for you. Are you sure about this puree?" I nodded and said " It gives me strength, I need it, the caffeine and sugar will help the absorption but then we will continue to finish the puree. "
I directed him to pour Damon's blood and concentrate on it. And then I finally got him to direct me to put a feeding tube and the puree to drip into my stomach. I had a coffee and Bran said " How are you feeling, what else can I do next?"
I said "There's nothing else to do now but hang in there and wait for me to get my strength back or these damn drugs will disappear somewhere so I can think. "
Bran was worried. The straps were only 45 and Samuel and Colin were still hours away. He went to call again and Samuel said " Da, now I can't do anything while I'm on the plane, you understand? I'll be there as fast as I can but Mimi had one human colleague who might be able to help, I think his name was Will but I don't know. Put some more sugar on, and keep her warm, as I said the medicine cabinets have personal keys and they are burglar-proof. " Samuel gave his father some more instructions and leaned back on the bench.
Bran came over and put more sugar in the drip and gave blankets. he said "Samuel is already on the plane with maybe 8-10 hours to go but you had a human colleague who could also treat supernaturals, Will. Samuel just said about him ."
I smiled. Will is a hothead. I said "Yeah Will is a competent guy but he won't last in any job when he doesn't follow protocols. He wants to save everyone without caring how it's supposed to be done and Will is therefore quite often at the fleas to help. He's got some meds on hand but I don't know if they'll work for me."
I gave Bran the number of Will and a couple of other medical fleas so he'd have something to do. I could feel the stimulant effect of the caffeine and sugar starting to wear off, a sign that I was really running out of steam. It was no longer cold and I knew I might not be able to stay awake much longer.
Bran came back and said "Colin will be here in three hours and Will said he'd be here in half an hour so we'll see if they're any help, just hang in there a bit longer. " I nodded and said "It's not cold anymore, you'll have to get me up to the incubator soon, and I don't know how much longer I can stay awake. "
Bran went pale and said, "Now try to hold on for half an hour and then two and a half hours so Colin can get here." He came over to me and took my hand and said "You're freezing cold already, but I'm going to try and stabilize you with a little bit of power marrok, it won't work miracles but it will give you time and you'll be conscious. " I nodded. I felt the power of the marrok and let it do whatever it was doing. Then Bran stood up and said, "Will is here, let's see what he can do."
Will arrived after Bran, a tall thin man with red hair who always seemed to be in a good mood. He said "You're in pretty wild shape, let's see what we can do first. Did you have any scanning results or what?" Bran showed the result on the computer and Will looked through it seriously.
He knew the basics of my physiology because, on a couple of gigs, I had always had to take a bit of help. Then he went through the cupboards and drawers and collected the supplies. And rummaged through his bag and took something from there too. I was getting so damn tired and I just wanted to go to a warm bed.
Will came over to me and said "Miss, first an adrenaline drip, we need to get your blood pressure up, then I'll get you a better vascular connection, and I'll give you some medicine that will probably help a little." ' He hung a drip tray with the centrifugal fluid he'd put a generous amount of adrenaline in and gave me a shot of the same stuff first. Fine then not yet asleep.
He cannulated my central line and Bran watched watchfully by the side. I just thought I must be a bit short of straps because Bran had a bit of a watchful look on his face. Then Will put in an adrenaline drip and more fluids. He felt my stomach and took out my visceral fluid and also the feeding tube. I said " Why did you do that? It could be useful."
Will said " Because digestion uses up energy, which you don't have much to share right now. You're still on so many drugs you probably don't think about every single thing, plus you've got an ungodly infection, which I think is on the sepsis side and that's another problem, but I'm not taking you up to the incubator yet, not until Colin gets here. He'll have to look you over. But for now, I'm just going to give you fluids and adrenaline and a couple of other kinds of sugar concentrate.
Bran sat next to me and gave another marrok power and then he sighed as his phone rang he went elsewhere to talk. After a while, he and Colin came to the medbay and Will explained his findings to Colin first apparently. I felt sleepy again and thought now Colin is here I can go to sleep.
They didn't talk for long when Colin looked at me sharply and came to me. He picked up his bag and started digging out the bottles again. He said " Remember, I'm going to put these in your mouth again, just let them soak in. I said "Now I'm going to sleep, I'm so damn tired, I should probably go to the incubator. " Colin said " Don't go to sleep just yet, let's have some drops and see you through. You'll get to sleep, missy, there's no question about it, but it's better to be awake now. " He began to brush various drops on the inside of my cheeks and gums, looking at me carefully. I said "I think we're running out of straps, aren't we? Bran is a bit nervous." Colin smiled tightly and said " Don't worry about anything and just take it easy, everything will be fine. " I had told Bran about all the things Damon did to me in the shed and then he had gone to vomit somewhere in between. Well, he's the one who's always shoving me in there.
Colin brushed drops into my mouth several times, Will keep my drip going, and gave me an adrenaline shot, then Samuel arrived. They again had a little chat while Bran sat next to my bed and gave the marrok power. Samuel opened the medicine cabinets and the three doctors started rummaging around in there, cursing because apparently there wasn't everything. Samuel came over to me and said "Are you feeling wise now?" I smiled and said "They won't let me go to sleep. I'm tired, I'm exhausted, I'm exhausted and no, no one is going to put me in an incubator to rest. " Samuel said " Let's see if we can get you a little more stable and then you'll be fine, because you, my lady, like to drop your straps hard before something always helps. " They put more different drugs in the drip and kept me awake with adrenaline. Finally, Samuel said "We'll have to put her in an incubator if it's going to help at all. " They lifted me into the incubator and Samuel said "Now you can rest, don't worry about anything. Just rest." I closed my eyes and I fell asleep.