Bane of My Existence

Chapter 23

Kinsey woke up to a blinding white light piercing through her eyelids. Moaning, she tried to cover her eyes with her hand--but she couldn't. Her wrists were tied down to the side of the bed she lay on. That was enough to panic her and let her forget all about the harsh light.

Eyes wide, she peered around the operating room. It was so bright, she could barely see--aside from all the silver operating utensils on a tray only a few feet away from her. That wasn't even the most alarming thing. Not only was she tied down, there was an IV running into the crook of her elbow with a dark red, almost black, liquid pumping into her.

She opened her mouth to scream, but suddenly Victor came out of the dark corner of the room, which Kinsey hadn't been aware of before, assuming the light reached the far corners of the room; it apparently didn't and she was, in fact, only in a small pool of light in the center.

Victor brushed her hair out of her eyes, haggard and concerned. "You're all right, Kinsey."

"Am I? What happened?" She felt strange, hyper aware of her body, of his touch, of the fluid entering her body via the IV, but of nothing else. Honestly, there could be a monster hidden somewhere in the shadows and she wouldn't know it.

"You were attacked by a bear shifter," Victor replied, stroking her hair. It was wet and sticky, but he didn't seem to care, even when his palm came away stained with blood. "You suffered a broken arm and deep lacerations here."

He removed his hand from her face and traced her ribs. That's when she realised she wasn't wearing a shirt. Her restraints clashed against the metal frame of the bed when she tried to cover up.

Victor caught her movements and immediately began to unbuckle the restraints.

"Why am I tied up?" She rubbed her wrists once they were free. They were surprisingly sore; she didn't think she had struggled against the restraints that hard.

"We weren't sure how you would react to the Serum. . ." Victor's gaze went down to her raw wrists. "And you had a particularly harsh reaction. I've actually never seen anything like that before. We thought you were going to Turn." His eyes met hers, quizzical and curious; she felt like a lab rat who didn't perform as expected. It made her skin crawl.

"Who's we? Where am I, Victor? What the hell do you mean, Turn?"

"Hey, now, don't start getting hysterical on me, Kinsey. You're doing well. Really, well."

What did he expect? Her memories were coming back. That bear had been big and majorly pissed at her. His giant claws. She remembered all the blood--her blood-- warm and sticky in a puddle beneath her. To only wake up in a room that looked too much like a laboratory. . .

It was a lot.

Victor cupped her cheeks, holding her, forcing her to look at him. "You're okay, Kinsey. I'm here."

She didn't want him to be here. She wanted Damon. He was the only one who truly made her feel safe.

"Here, let me take this out--it doesn't look like you need it anymore--then we can go for a walk and talk. Sound good?"

His tone was coaxing, gentle, but firm. She didn't have a choice. Victor had decided what was going to happen.

Just as well it was what she wanted.

He relieved her arm of the IV, not bothering to reach for a bandage to stop the bleeding--because the wound closed immediately.

Kinsey's eyes bugged. Damon had healed her wounds before, but they had only been bruises. Watching the small hole zip shut. . . it made her feel woozy.