Chương 20: 20. Smells Like Teen Spirit.
I woke up, and I shouldn't have. Everything was still a mess. None of my senses were working, and I knew it was because of those damn grenades. I had experienced them once before and from a much longer distance, and yet I had spent a week recovering. Wulfe and Colin had tried to help but nothing really helped and I had had a minor issue with bloodlust as well that time.
I felt a fucking strong sedative or anesthetic on me, and likewise, I felt my wounds inflicted by the demon. I tried to be still and felt better with my rage. I knew then that I could at least function in some way. I needed to act. To do something about myself, no time to lie in bed and wait for the miracle.
I had learned again that I was best helper what it came to myself; I had to get myself moving and do something. Try to make my state of being a little more tolerable. Not much, but some even.
It took me a while; I don't know how fucking long, to be able to keep my eyes open, then slowly so that I could sit up. I was still in my work gear on. I was satisfied that no one had interfered with me, that this pack was still full of fuckers. I had been down for just 14 hours. I was too drugged and messed up fully. My head felt twice the size, and my teeth ached. I knew I should put collectors, as they would come out whatever. Quite many grenades, close distance, meant that this would take time and effort as well.
I went into the other room first thing and grabbed my spare clothes. Dressing myself took some time. Then I sat down again for a while because the dizziness, nausea, and vertigo from the grenade were pretty fucking bad. Confusion as well. It took time for me to get my mind focused enough. One thing at the time. I should get to one of the specific rooms to get my first aid kit, and then I should do surgery on myself. Luckily, I had some numbing agents in that bag.
I didn't know what was going to come of it if Alaric knew about the sheds or those release gigs, but the future would tell. Maybe it would be a good thing. Maybe it would go horribly wrong. I did not see it in the future. I knew Damon didn't have his radar on yet. He looked at me strangely at the gig, but I couldn't help that. If it's a case that he's no longer entitled to be my protector after he abandoned me. How the fuck does one know everything? Too many freaking questions and not any answers.
I got up and walked very slowly. My walking was unsure, staggering as I would have been drunk or drugged, which I was. Teleporting in this state was terrible. It was going to blow the symptoms as full as they could be. It was not nice to be fully sedated, drugged and, with Sark's drugs, the feeling was not nice. Made me feel so damn helpless, limp and these grenades. I had to use quite a lot of my powers to make myself act.
I tried to remember if there was any antibiotic concentrate in this first aid kit. It might be in order. Because it was pretty fucking cold already. I sat down now and then and balanced myself. There were some sofas or chairs in lobbies and spaces before that room. My mind was fuzzy, my vision was all over the place, my head hurt so many different ways, and my nose was still slightly bloody. As well as my ears, too. My senses were dulled by drugs, by those grenades.
I got into the room eventually. I just thought, oh fuck, this is my life. I had a moment of peace. I got to be with my babies, and now I'm back to doing gigs and everything that goes with it. Eternity is a long time sometimes. No rest for the wicked. Not really, no. This is my life. I sat on the bed, stabilizing myself at least a bit.
I got out of bed and went to the wall. I opened the panel, punched in the code, then took the heavy first aid kit and put it on the bed. I closed the panel and sat down next to the briefcase. I took my time. Breathing, just being not sure how long it took me to start to act again. This should be done so damn slowly. I was trying to open the briefcase when I heard a faint cough from the door. I was so damn drugged and since those grenades messed everything up, my mind could not get rid of those drugs or my body.
"Are you okay?" I looked up to see Samuel watching me pretty damn close. My hands were shaking. I was trying to get those damn latches open.
His voice was worried, and his brows crunched slightly as he watched me. He was in good shape. This was his new body, not the original one. He had now darker hair; he was not so tall, his eyes were brown instead of green and he was younger looking almost, cuter too. He had his doctor's expression, though now.
He said, "I assume that's not a money case. What happened to you?"
I sighed and said, "It's a long job and an even longer recovery that no one can help with. This is just my life. Better get to learning that with me. Chaos is usual." I was again trying to focus and get my kit open.
Samuel said, " Why don't you tell me a little bit more? Maybe you'd like us to teleport to medbay?"
I sighed and said, " No teleportation. This will be fine. I was at a couple of gigs, and I got a bit wound up. I have a few wounds, done with a demon sword. My state is because there are these very nasty stun grenades; they don't take you out, but everything goes haywire, your senses, everything, brutal headaches, confusion, nausea, blew your eardrums, and for the shifter that is nasty. My teeth are full of something as they will go cuckoo from this too, vertigo, dizziness. And it's just a reaction to that. I got hit by three grenades. And close proximity. Plus a brutal dose of Sarks sedatives that my body is now unable to rip apart fast enough, so I am drugged up to my eyes."
Samuel came over to me and said, " Now lie down. I assume that's a first aid kit. Do you have any wounds, then?"
I nodded and said, "A few demons sliced and diced me a bit on that first gig. A new herb that burns like acid and keeps going. Rose thistle. There's no neutralizer developed for it, and it's been damaging for a while now. Colin had tried, even Wulfe tried. Nothing is working, even his magic. I need to cut out all the damage, but as it's fucking effective in exposing you to infection, and I've already got a fever. I had some smoldering infection, and they nearly got it out, and then this gig came along. Now, I don't know if that infection has gone down or if I've got another one. I've got some numbing agents in there, and I was going to have a little bit of surgery on myself, a proper cosmetic surgery because there's probably a pretty drastic margin to remove. I need to cut a hell of a lot away, but my numbing agents work."
My hands were shaking. I was trying to open that damn briefcase. My mind was not operating that much what it takes for me to get those latches open. Samuel came closer, took the briefcase, and put it on the table. He opened it and took his time examining it. He took the jar of a drug, read it, put it away, and took another, frowning as most of them were Colin's little concoctions.
He said, " First of all, I'm going to look through those wounds, and you, my lady, are in no condition to cut anything. Your hands are shaking, and your eyes are not stationary, meaning you are dizzy as hell. I am not letting you anywhere near anything sharp. You can be sure of that. Then I'll see what I have to do. I'll go to medbay and get the supplies. Won't Damon's blood help?"
I shook my head a little and said, "There is no cure, and I can't drink or eat anything at this stage. He is not anymore my biological half, his blood has done to me very little anymore."
That made it all just worse when I shook my head. I suppressed my need to throw up, as it would just make things worse. I had collectors reserved, and I put them in my fangs, feeling something gushing out. It evened a bit of pressure inside my skull, not much, but even a bit.
Samuel grunted and continued to rummage around. Then he took some supplies and said, " Now you undress. I'll help, and we'll have a good look at those wounds."
He came to help and almost undressed me himself. It was not so easy to get all of my tactical gear out of me. He whistled low when my stomach wound came out.
It went right across my stomach, almost eviscerating me, and I said, "There's one on my back, too. I've got this foam in them that just comes off with alcohol. binds them a bit, so I don't rip them open all the time."
I was sitting as he went on my back, wiped the foam off, and poked and prodded his time. Then he came back in front of me.
Samuel grunted and said, " Now I'd like to put you to sleep, but whatever Sark shot you with is still in your blood and a lot, plus you've probably blown it all over the fucking place, so the medication side of things isn't that simple. The wound on your back is relatively superficial, but there's an awful lot of tissue damage already. But are you tolerating being on your back? I would need to get some sort of tox screen on your blood and as I have not worked on you in years, it is not so simple, but my nose smells still and you reek of sedatives, anesthetics, and several kinds of them. Before I could even try to come up with a way to knock you out. "
I nodded.
Samuel said, "Now the thing is, I'm going to cut away the tissue that's been destroyed and visit Mariella. I've done it from time to time, and I won't tell them unless they make me. But I'll see if Mariella's teeth can do anything."
Samuel looked at me and said, " This is not a negotiating point."
His voice was quite sharp. Oh, he's in a good mood, fine. It was new to me that someone was telling to me what would happen next, and it was not me who gave the orders. Well, Colin had been pretty much like this, but still, this was a little unnerving for me.
Samuel took a knife and a small jar into which he cut a strip of my skin. Then he covered the wound with a bandage as he had covered my back wound. He helped me to lie on my back. He felt my forehead, too.
He said, "There is a blanket for you. You've got a cruel fever, so at least you'll be a bit more comfortable. This would not take too long. "
He took the jar and teleported with it somewhere. I tried to contain my shaking under the blanket and keep my eyes closed. I felt the medicine was all over me and only intensified the effect of the grenade. I tried to use a combo of my powers to keep me going and keep symptoms manageable, but I knew that this would take me in quite poor shape. I needed to save my powers, not use them up right away.
Samuel teleported to the bedroom door and knocked. He was quite worried about Mimi though, but he kept his expression neutral, kept his thoughts neutral too, and did not refer to her in his mind any other than the patient. He felt helpless and it would take time for him to come up with a decent plan of action.
Mariella came to answer, wearing only a robe, and the entire room reeked of sex. it was quite thick smell, making Samuel breathe through his mouth.
Samuel said, "A brief consultation. "
He gave her the jar with a strip of skin that he had excised on Mimi before.
Mariella took the jar in her hand and opened the lid. She sniffed and said, " Yuck, my God, what on earth is this?"
Samuel said, "I have here skin of a patient who reacted to the Rose Thistle. Can you do anything to help? Otherwise, I have to have a very, very extensive operation. There has been no help in traditional medicine. This is something that we should look into too, as we do not know that a reaction this bad could occur."
Mariella sniffed and thought. She said, "Nope, the teeth are just suggesting anesthetics. You'll probably have to operate on then, but let Damon sniff. Mine are too empathetic and want to put this poor creature into a deep coma. Damon is less empathetic and more practical. His teeth might do something."
Samuel didn't have time to stop or say anything as Mariella took the jar to Damon. He kept his expression neutral, hoping that Salvatore would not notice it was from Mimi. He hoped that these two were way too lustful to notice everything around them.
He opened the jar, sniffed, grimaced, and said, "Yikes indeed, I've smelt nothing like this. This must be as awful to the poor creature as this stinks. You must have this poor thing under anesthetic already."
Samuel did not reply. Mariella looked at Samuel. He looked a little pensive, and thoughtful, too.
Damon thought as he tried to clear his sinuses. " Yes, that smell went to my head."
His head hurt, and it turned fast into a hard pounding. Headache was brutal, and it had come on fast. The pain spread to his teeth, and Damon grunted. It was such a pain that he had not felt in ages. Pressure rose inside his skull.
He said to Mariella," Ah fuck, yes, my teeth were going to do something. "
He reached for the collectors and put them on his teeth. The black velvet rushed in with a vengeance. He was pretty amazed as he had not done black velvet in ages, not in years, not since that divorce, and somehow he had known that black velvet was only done to Mimi, no one else. Suddenly, a bad feeling spread to his gut.
Mariella said, " Interesting reaction. You've never done that to anyone that we have helped or tried to, except for Mimi..."
She looked up and asked Samuel, " Tell me that's not from Mimi, that sample. "
Samuel was silent. He looked at the floor, not wanting to answer. And Damon had his eyes white he was looking at the past, and cursing under his breath same time, then his eyes returned to normal but his expression was angry, annoyed as he said, " Oh fuck, well, of course, at the liberation gig, there were demons, and look at the past, darling. Who gets a few good hits from a demon sword and then doesn't tell anyone?"
Samuel said, " That's not all. Look how Mimi got those darts in her skin."
Damon and Mariella watched. Their eyes were eerie bright white, and both of them gasped. Then their eyes got some color back on. But Damon's expression was still a furious one.
Samuel said, "The lady can't eat, keeps herself going with rage, and has a fever because that rose thistle makes her prone to infection. Her whole body, senses, and everything is all messed up, and the lady tries to operate on herself. Her hands were shaking, her eyes were not stationary, so she must be dizzy as hell. There is confusion. Her body does not process those sedatives efficiently, meaning they are all over her. Her fangs gushed out. God knows what. Her eardrums are busted, and her nose is bloody. "
Damon was silent for a moment and said: " The lady has a fever of 47 degrees Celsius, and it is rising, her metabolic rate is jumping between 6.5 and 8.9, her sugars are crashing because her system is in chaos, and there is no caffeine in her at all. She is flooding her vitamins and minerals out of her fangs as her system is messed up. The drug cocktail, eight different ones, Sark shot her with is still 78% whole, and she's in danger of slipping into a coma or even a hibernation if the infection accelerates any further. She is using her powers at that rate so she can hold on to them for maybe a day, a little more, and then she is out of juice, so to speak. There is the danger of her energy tanks exploding, too. "
Mariella was pleased, and Damon took the collectors away when the black velvet ran out.
Mariella said, " Look, who's Mimi's protector again? You can't get that information from anywhere but your radar. I put your teeth down. I think we have enough black velvet for now. I think we'll take a shower and then come and see what we have to do about the lady. "
Damon stood up and said, " Oh, I'm going to teach her a bit, and then we'll see if she does any more of her little tricks. Let's see if I can persuade her to be a little more open if she gets banged up in gigs." His voice was determined.
Mariella sighed in her mind. Damon had changed. He had changed so much, and mostly for the better. But with change came a whole new confidence, a confidence in being the leader of the pack, and if Damon couldn't stand something, he sure as hell expressed it pretty fucking firmly. They all had to experience this. All of them had to spend some time in the cage, even salvatores because they had not believed that Damon would throw them into the cage too, but he had. Even number two.
And Mimi was going to learn this lesson very effectively. Mariella didn't know yet how Damon was going to teach Mimi, but she knew it was inevitable. She couldn't and wasn't even going to interfere because it would give Mimi a proper eye-opener into who Damon was now. Damon was not feeling very gentle in this moment.
They showered, and then Damon went to get the medbay ready. He stocked up on some meds, syringes, and needles. He didn't make a cocktail yet, but he took an anti-hibernation drug with him. Mariella had been trying to figure out where to get it all off, but they hadn't found it yet. Damon also reserved a blocker of the amplification enzyme in case it threatened to activate.
They made up the bed, and Mariella sensed a charge in Damon. He wouldn't put up with that stunt again. It could also be that Mimi's gigs stopped altogether. Mariella was very proud of Damon. He had grown as a man, as a pack leader, and as a husband. Then they were ready.
Samuel had followed, as Damon had shown just a little head gesture that he should follow, and he obeyed.
Damon said, "Lead the way, let's see little Miss Innocent."
There was a sharp edge in his voice.
Samuel said, "This way, follow me. The lady's got some secret compartment in the wall where she took a big fucking first aid kit. You can see for yourself what's in it. It is pretty extensive, in terms of first aid, Colin's stuff, and meant to let her operate on herself, a lot of numbing agents and antibiotics that I had not heard of, so they must new or that kind that we had not gotten them. She is a top doctor in the shifter field, so she has access to that stuff."
Damon grunted. He had gotten most of that information out of her mind, so he was as good as she was, or better as he had a sharper mind, genius more or less, so he would see those antibiotics.
Samuel was one of Damon's conquests, and Damon had the men doing whatever he wanted in front of him.
I lay in bed and listened or tried to. Everything was still so fucked up, and I had lowered my rage a little less, just enough to suffer. Steps, several of them. I turned my rage on a little more and sighed when I felt at least a little more tolerable. I knew that this would use all of my power pretty well, but I could make them go less fast if I could get myself in a good dark place to be, just not moving, tolerating. Maybe in time, I would be fine, get over this, by myself as always.
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