Picture Perfect Love

Chapter 23: Evolution

The screaming had subsided, much to the boys' appreciation. On multiple occasions Xander  actually had to check to make sure they weren't bleeding from the ear-piercing decibels. Thankfully not, though that wasn't much of a reprieve. No, she'd either exhausted herself to sleep or lost consciousness from the pain of her body's ongoing transformation. 

The infirmary ward was cold and unforgiving- a professional sterile environment and nothing more. No pictures lined the walls, no music played in the background. The only sound to be heard was the incessant buzzing of the fluorescent lighting above and the monitors reassuring the men she still had a heartbeat. Every now and then the lighting would flicker, just briefly, barely unnoticeable to the human eye, but enough to make Jerry wonder if it was going to induce a seizure from the flashing.

Her temperature would fluctuate from overly hot to unnervingly cold with seemingly no in between. Hot, cold. Hot, cold. They'd all but given up rotating out warm blankets after the half hour mark of sitting there. Arguing and debating back and forth if they should wait for her to wake to start the process or go ahead had them all on edge and ready to bash their heads in to the nearest wall repeatedly. 

An IV was protruding from her skin, attempting to supply essential vitamins and fluids to her overly stimulated body. Though Lucian couldn't feel her pain any longer, he empathized for the woman laying before him; hoping beyond hope she'd pull through this and they could return to their former glory. Her lips were cracked, scaly almost from the stress, screaming and harsh weather she'd encountered lately. Her hair a diabolical mess of twigs, now dried patches of dirt and excess oil. Even in her sleep her subconscious wouldn't let anyone around her except the damn vampire- an ordeal Xander seemed awfully keen with- that didn't set well with the pack.

"Why do all infirmaries smell like piss and bleach?" Ben whined. "Would it kill em to spray some Febreeze in this hell hole?"

Jerry nodded in agreement, not even lifting his head from his hands. He'd had more than enough stress for one day and was drained, emotionally and physically. He was ashamed they hadn't been able to protect possibly the most important member of the pack. But most of all he was flat out devastated. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see his leaders' bond was all kinds of fucked up- which meant catastrophe for everyone else should it not mend itself. 

How had this all happened? How had she come to the point in her life where she faced such dire consequences? Because she tried to help, that's how. They wouldn't be surprised if she shunned the planet when she awoke, even if fully marked still. At what point do you say 'fuck the world' and do your own thing, everyone else be damned? Surely she was there by now.

-)(-

Deciding they could worry about the future later, Lucian wanted to waste no more time in initiating The Change. It was never supposed to be like this, non-consensual; hell, not even coherent...but time was of the essence and he was losing it fast.

"Everyone out," he declared. "If we're going to do this, we'll do it now. Give us some privacy."

Xander looked like he was about to object until he saw it wasn't Lucian speaking, but his wolf. His eyes flashed between black, to brown to gold and the vampire decided there'd been enough drama for today; no need to escalate it even more. They nodded and quietly slipped from the room, careful to latch the door behind them as they went.

He sighed heavily, running his calloused hands through his hair as he wondered if this would even work... not that he had much choice but to try. Incidents had been recorded where even under the best circumstances, the blood feeding killed the recipient; not even considering changing them... This here clearly was not the best of circumstances.

Carefully, methodically, he bent down to lathe the place his mark once stood, ignoring the absence of tingles and moans on her end. He restrained her arms as part of her twitched, trying to get him away from her and quickly bit down on the tender flesh once again. This brought about a loud hiss reverberating across the white room- alerting him part of her was very much aware of the happenings around her. It felt as if he were poking a stick at a coiled viper... unsure if it was asleep or waiting to strike with a deadly bite.

As gently as he could manage, he used one hand to keep her restrained, and the other to puncture the skin on his own wrist and hold it above her parted mouth. She'd need to drink his blood, need to get the lycanthrope blood in her system to begin combatting the vampire venom. Clearly unable to do so in her state, he groaned, bit a little deeper and dripped it, bit by bit in to her mouth. It'd eventually get the job done, but not as quickly as he'd like. Debating his options, he decided to grab a nearby syringe from the medical table beside the hospital bed.

He located a prominent line in his arm and stuck, slowing drawing out his own blood. Lucian then injected the blood directly in to her carotid, hoping he'd chosen wisely. For good measure, he added the last of the syringe in to the IV itself. He'd give it a few minutes to spread throughout her circulatory system and try not to pass out from the unknown result. This was the moment of truth. She was either gone for good, or coming back... with or without memories of the last week together.