The OtherWorlders

Chapter 13

"Rebeccah. Wake up."

I moaned and turned away from the amazing, awful, wonderful, terrifying dream that I was having; and the man that I loved and trusted with my life but for whom I had countless questions about my past and my future. I didn't want to wake up. Someone poked at my head and I sucked in a breath at the same that the someone snatched their hand back with a yelp.

Justin chuckled. "It looks as though she doesn't like that. She can't control it yet, be cautious." Then, to me, "Rebeccah, I realize that you don't want to wake up, but you just burned Andy."

My eyes snapped open and found Andy, holding his big hand and watching me warily. I sat up slowly, looking around myself back in Justin's bedroom, lying on the bed.

"I have an idea" said Justin. "Andy, give me your hand."

He didn't hesitate an instant, placing his hand in Justin's, palm side up. I looked down, gasping in distress as I saw the angry red welt over the three of his fingers that must have been on my scalp.

"Don't fret ma'am, I've had worse." His voice was warm creole honey, strong and soothing, the most words I had heard him speak since I met him-not counting when I had been unconscious.

"You checked on me, when I was...er, transforming? You told Justin that I had a concussion, and that I needed the ankle restraints too." Justin's face got a little tighter as his suspicions were confirmed; I had heard what was spoken in that room near death.

He bowed low. "My apologies, ma'am. It was for your safety, as well as ours."

"Were you a doctor?" It was the only way all his medical knowledge made any sense, he must also have been the one inserting the needle to draw my blood

"In another lifetime ma'am, yes. A medic."

"Rebeccah, I want you to try something for me." He pulled my own hands out, placing Andy's in my palms facing up. "Look at the burn and gently, very gently, picture it healing. See it in your head, the way a burn heals, the redness fading and the skin returning to normal."

I looked at two pairs of eyes, one vampyric and one something else, watching me with complete confidence and I chewed on my lip as I dropped my attention to his hand. Ok, so I wasn't 100% on board with the whole demon/faerie thing yet, but lets just pretend it was true, then the only option was learning to control it so that I didn't injure those I cared for.

I closed my eyes, taking a deep and steadying breath, picturing a burn healing like Justin had asked of me; one that I had gotten while cooking as a child, that had been a bright and shiny red before fading slowly over a matter of days, becoming a blister and then finally flattening back down to fade into the surrounding skin. I sped it up in my minds eye, squinting one of my real eyes open to glance at Andy's hand, gasping as I watched the burn slowly fade. The process accelerated even more at my amazement and I popped my eyes open quickly, cutting off my thoughts and thus the healing process.

Andy whistled. "I tell ya ma'am, you'd be better than a plastic surgeon."

We all looked down, taking in his pristine hand, with no wrinkles or marks marring the perfect skin, as though it was the hand of a much younger man.

"What would have happened to his hand if I hadn't stopped?" My question sat in silence, and I looked up to find them watching me.

"I'm not sure." Justin admitted, and Andy shook his head. "You're the only one of your kind, we don't know how your powers work or how extensive they are, and some may continue to slowly manifest over the next few days or weeks."