Julia Lelieveld and the battle with the underworld

~15~

"Julia? Where are you? I feel you are here and I smell blood. Come on, I won't hurt you." It was Lucas, I was shocked. Could I trust him? What choice did I have? If I didn't do anything I'd be unconscious and probably worse.

"Lucas?"

I heard the footsteps speeding up and before I knew it he was standing in front of me. His face worried. I had not seen this before.

"Jesus, what happened?"

"I was attacked. There are two in the alley around here."

He looked the other way and ran to the alley, less than five seconds later he was back.

"Come on, you have to get out of here. Can you stand?"

I tried to get up, but I lost feeling in my leg and I felt light-headed. Like I could pass out at any moment. The pain shot through my body, but I couldn't give up now.

Before I knew it Lucas was standing in front of me and lifting me. He carried me to his bike and carefully set me on the back. "Can you hold yourself to me? Is that going to work?" I nodded. He got up quickly and we left the deserted stretch of old town at high speed. I recognized the center where we were driving. I felt really bad now, I felt my grip loosening. I couldn't take it any longer and with those thoughts I felt myself slip off the bike.

Just before I hit the street I felt a strong hand pull me up again. I heard Lucas swear under his breath. He stopped his engine.

"There's no other way, come on."

What did he mean? He picked me up again and walked to the deserted shopping street. He stopped in front of a narrow gray door between the shops. Renzo!

He pressed the bell impatiently. I heard the intercom creak and a tired voice came out. "Who is there?"

"Lorenzo, it's me. Lucas. And listen to me before you hang up."

He waited a moment, but the creaking continued.

"It's Julia, she's hurt, I've got her here with me. She couldn't make it to the hospital anymore."

I leaned my head against Lucas' chest, I felt myself go completely limp. "Come on, Julia. Hang in there, stay awake." I heard Lucas say in a concerned but urgent tone. Before I knew it I felt Lucas walk up the stairs to Renzo's apartment and I felt him lay me on the bed. I twisted my face and heard a moan escape from my mouth. "What happened?" Renzo asked Lucas. A little accusatory.

"I found her like this. She's been attacked. She's in bad shape."

I heard a lot of stumbling and felt someone come and sit next to me on the bed. I felt someone carefully lift my shirt, I heard Renzo curse. "Hand me that first aid kit." I heard him say to Lucas.

"Julia, this won't feel good." And as he said that I felt a hard pressure on my wound in my side, the pain stabbed through my whole body. I felt myself gasping for breath and the tears ran down my cheeks. The blood rushed through my ears, so I couldn't hear Lucas and Renzo talking clearly anymore. And as if it couldn't get any worse, I felt the same pain in my leg. This became too much for me and as if the light went out I sank into the darkness.

It was light outside, the sun shone brightly through the window. I saw the dust flying through the air. I was at home and smelled a familiar smell coming from the kitchen, Mama's apple pie. I turned carefully and walked to the kitchen. There she stood, removing the apple pie from the oven. She turned and looked at me with her sweet smile. "Hi sweetie, there you are. I baked pie. Shall we grab a slice?" she asked with a wink. I smiled and nodded. I just didn't know what to say? How could this be, what had happened? I didn't want to ruin this moment so I just pretended it was okay, like it was a year ago.