Vampire Agent (English Version)

Chapter 5

Widow

I resisted the urgent need to move. I knew that if I so much as lifted a finger, a sharp pain would run through me, so I just lay there. I didn't even know where I was. I kept my eyes closed and I wasn't planning on opening them anytime soon. This filthy stuff had been tormenting me in my sleep the whole time.
I hadn't had a quiet minute until I woke up, and I enjoyed it all the more that now it was only a slight tugging under my skin and not the burning throughout my body that I felt.
There was a knock. I did not answer it, however. It was usually just a chaperone knock anyway, after which the person came in anyway. And as careful as the knocking had been, it could only be a woman. Nurses didn't knock and the only one who would come into question then would be Jennifer.
The door was opened. I still kept my eyes closed.
"Widow?" Jennifer asked softly and carefully.
Again, I had known. Sometimes I wished I wasn't right so often. Somehow it took away a lot of the spontaneity. Especially since I really didn't feel like talking to any of them right now.
"I know you probably don't feel like talking to me. But I didn't know about any of this. Max was out of line, too."
The corners of my mouth twitched unintentionally. I hadn't been here long and had made myself pretty unpopular with him.
And he with me as well.
I suspect it would have even played on him if I had croaked. So if I hadn't been weakened, I would have been laughing heartily right now.
"Well at least now I know how to find out if you're awake. Do you care what all that fun did there?", Jenny said now and just sat down next to the bed.
"Not really," I grumbled with my lips almost closed.
"I'll tell you anyway, you can try to listen away if you're not interested. The stuff that caused you such pain and could have killed you, on the sidelines, was so you could look at the sun again. And that's without your sunglasses, coat, hat, and gloves."
I opened my eyes and turned my head with a snort.
"Sure," again I could have laughed out, but I was too busy not showing that my head was starting to throb with pain and tried to keep my gaze focused.
"You don't believe me?", She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms with a superior look. I gathered my strength and sat up.
As I had already guessed, an unbearable pain now ran through my entire body, finding its way through my spine. I winced and clawed at the sheet to compensate for the pain.
No, I didn't believe her.
Like hell I believed.
I'd take my stuff and leave now, it was as simple as that.
"Widow, the doctors said you can't move yet...",

'BANG!

The door flew open.
Max stood in the frame, glaring at me. I wrinkled my nose and sparkled back. Jenny looked surprised, but quickly turned her attention away from her brother and back to me.
"Lie back down, you're strictly forbidden to get up," she then said coldly to me.
"Am I interrupting?", Max then asked sweetly as his sister ignored him. I didn't bother paying attention to him either and swung my legs over the side of the bed. Honestly, the guy was pretty much the last I just ... No, there was someone in whose presence I would feel an even greater dislike. The guy who had decreed this and sat at the top of the chain of command.
"You are not, Max. Widow, I'm warning you, I'm about to get one of the doctors," Jennifer threatened.
"You've got paperwork to do and the boss wants to see you," Max ordered when she still didn't pay him any attention.
"Get over yourself, I'm going. Make sure he doesn't get up. I'll send someone to shut him up again," Jenny muttered, getting up and disappearing.
"So, let's start with topic of conversation number one: Hands off my sister!", He slammed the door and hissed at me after she disappeared.
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. It couldn't get any more absurd than that. Had I ever shown even the slightest interest in her?
"What would I want from her, please?", I laughed mockingly. He was silent for a moment, his face contorted with resentment.
"What do you mean from her?! She's one of the most kind-hearted people I know, in fact, people like you should grovel before her!"
I laughed out.
"I thought I wasn't supposed to just now? Didn't you just ask me to keep my hands off her?", I asked provocatively.
"If you're half as smart as you act here, you know what's good for you and stay away from her, or you'll have a problem. A huge problem."
"Next you'll be threatening your father, right? Have you taken out his car yet today?", I snorted. This guy was ridiculous.
"But as you might have noticed from my statement, I don't harbor the slightest kind of affection for your god-like sister, so retract your claws."
He fell silent, and I heard how much he struggled with not responding to my teasing.
"All right." he then finally said and turned back around, but stopped at the door, "Besides, I was ordered to avoid that kind of conversation."
"You mean chatting with the enemy?", I asked, amused.
"Generally speaking, rather the immoral conversations with a vampire. Though my father often says that battles are better fought with words, I generally prefer to use bullets. And until I have the clearance to kill you, I will hold off. You, I would advise the same."
"I'm looking forward in disappointing you," I said coldly as he opened the door again, "One second, before you go, what were those injections for?", I asked probingly.
"Didn't my sister tell you?" he wanted to know gloatingly.
"Of course she did."
"And you don't believe her?"
I smiled coldly.
"I don't even trust my own shadow here. I just want to hear some answers from a few different sources to see if they agree and then form my own opinion.", I eyed him and also how he narrowed his eyes.
"My sister has many qualities. Those of a liar are not among them.", He looked around the room briefly and gestured to the other side of the room, "There's a window. The sun is still shining, so see for yourself. However, you'll have to push the curtains away, not that you'll collapse in the process.", Max said arrogantly, turned around and disappeared as well. But not without slamming the door again. It was clear to me that he would not check whether I stayed in bed. His arrogant ass was much too important to him.
For a moment I just sat on the edge of the bed.
Finally I lifted my eyes and looked around, something I hadn't done at all until now.
The room was painted orange and creamy white. The bedspread was bright orange as well.
So were the curtains by the window. They were glowing.
Sun.
Longing pierced through me. If Jenny's words were really true and I could step back into the sunlight without passing out from pain a few minutes later.... Then I had a problem, because then I owed those fuckers something.
After much deliberation, I got up. Groaning and shaking, I went to the window, and had to brace myself against the wall after staggering the first few steps. Then I opened the curtain a crack, so that I was protected if necessary.
I took a deep breath
Then I carefully stretched my pale hand into the rich yellow of the sun's rays.
No pain.
No burning.
No need to withdraw my hand because of the old-fashioned stinging. I stared at the thin strip of light and decided to open the curtains a little bit wider. Then I ventured a look outside. I squinted my eyes at the first moment, as everything seemed to burn my sight with brightness. Slowly I got used to the bright colors and opened my eyes a little further.
Dense forest. The house I was in stood in a sunlit clearing. I frowned.
How had I gotten here? Where was I? And how long had I been asleep?
But these questions receded into the background as I felt the warmth of the sun on my skin. I closed my eyes and simply enjoyed the moment. The tingling feeling that I had not even remembered. I had thought I would never have that feeling again, but here I was. And how I loved it. Oh, how I loved it.
Of course, I would never admit this to the agents and they could count on me to give them hell for the unasked-for interference with my genetics.
I opened my eyes again and enjoyed the fresh colors of nature outside. The lush grass, the blossoming trees, the sun that made everything glow a rich yellow-green.
I was jolted out of my thoughts by another knock. I sighed in annoyance.
The best thing I could do was play dead, then maybe they would finally leave me alone.
Jenny had been here, as had Max, and both surely had better things to do than come back.
The probability between a doctor with an anesthetic or the company manager was about 50/50. Hopefully the doctor, at least I wouldn't have to talk to him.
"Can I come in?" asked Jonas Duman.
"No.", I growled. Besides, I only noticed now that I wasn't wearing anything but sweatpants.
Not that I should be ashamed of that with my body, actually quite the opposite. Nevertheless, it didn't suit me.
The door opened anyway, and the vinyl monkey in suit entered the room without responding to my refusal. I was really glad that I could go out again during the day, without disguise and all that shit, but still, I was REALLY pissed off. Especially at those assholes who had instigated this without informing me. And in the first place was Jonas Duman, who now stepped next to me and impatiently rocked back and forth on his shoes.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well, what?", I wanted to know coldly.
"How does it look? Do you like the sun?"
"Why do I even answer you, anyway?", I muttered to myself, ignoring his question entirely.
"Because I'm in a position, where you should-", I didn't wait for him to finish this sentence.
"What do you want?", I asked, my eyes unfocused outside on a tree.
"You're resentful, aren't you?"
"You think so??", I looked at him with raised eyebrows and feigned surprise. He nodded.
"And you don't think it's justified to be pissed off after waking up on an operating table and then being tortured with some shit?", I asked, angrily turning my attention back to nature.
Three birds flew past the window.
Two squirrels were chasing each other through the canopy of an oak tree.
And an asshole stood next to me, harassing me with his shit.
He didn't answer, but directed his gaze outside as well.
"How long have you been torturing yourself with this life?" he then changed the subject.
"... Excuse me?", I looked at him uncomprehendingly, "Do you think that's any of your business at all?"
"I was just asking. Simply out of interest.", He replied and I no longer heard any of the previous arrogance from his voice. I hesitated for a long time, teeth clenched. Then after a while I growled softly, "Rounded up two hundred years."
"How did that happen? There aren't many people who have survived a vampire bite."
"What's this about?", I snorted annoyed, "If I want to talk about my life I'll find a fucking therapist."
"I want to know who I'm dealing with, and the past is a crucial part of character," he said, a little more detached than before.
"There was a trap, a vampire, they chopped his head off while he was still busy with me, and I survived the mess," I summoned coldly.
"So you became a vampire involuntarily," he stated.
"Who the fuck would do that shit to themselves voluntarily?!", Again I looked at him uncomprehendingly. What kind of ideas did this off-world idiot have, please?
"You swear a lot."
"Rightly so."
Then I felt his hand on my shoulder.
Before I could even respond, he said, "Well then, first of all, welcome to team Widow." he smiled at me and then disappeared without another word. Without quite registering what had just happened, I glanced after him.
Then I turned my eyes in disgust to the place where his hand had been.
Had he just really put his hand on my shoulder?!
I swept the imaginary stain away with a simple wave of my hand and took a step back from the window.
"I think I might've been in the sun for too long already...", I muttered and closed the curtain again.