Enlightenment

Part 48

I sat by his bedside for the next few hours watching intently for any sign of change. After the first few minutes I had to struggle to remain awake. The blood I had taken in had done a lot to improve the state I was in but my body still needed time to recover. Every inch of me ached where the silver had poisoned my cells.

              I was sure the steady sound of his heartbeat was slowly growing stronger which reassured me. Beatrice came in once to tell me that they were going to a hotel not very far away. Her eyes analyzed the scene curiously, trying to understand my concern. I ignored her, simply agreeing and telling her I would see her soon.

              Nurses came and went, some glancing at me curiously but never saying anything. I knew when he began to wake up; my ears could monitor the processes in his body better than the machines. The speed of his breathing picked up incrementally making me drag myself out of my chair and take his hand. I had refrained from holding it before as I thought my skin would make it too cold.

“Jamie?” I said anxiously, he didn’t respond so I said it again a little louder; “Jamie?” I rubbed his hand in mine, anxiously waiting for him to respond.

              The first flutter of his eyelids was barely noticeable, just the tiniest movement that would probably have been undetectable to the human eye. Suddenly his eyes snapped open and he looked around blindly for a moment until his gaze focused on my face. The corner of his mouth pulled up a small smile;

“Jade?”

I almost laughed in relief; “how do you feel?”

He tried not to grimace in pain as he thought about it; “I’m ok.” He said, rather unconvincingly before frowning, “What happened?”

“You don’t remember?” I asked anxiously.

“The details are… fuzzy…”

“You remember the club?”

“Yeah… we went to the club and… oh! The hunters! Are you ok?” I watched as his eyes widened with the memories.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me.”

His eyes travelled over my face, worriedly appraising whether I was telling the truth. “Clare!” he suddenly chocked in horror. “Clare was there! She did something to you, I didn’t see what but you- you looked bad… very bad...” with alarm I realized he was trying to get up so I hurriedly pushed him back down,

“Don’t worry, everything’s fine now. I don’t know how she was lucky enough to survive the first time but I’m certain that she’s dead now.” I carefully brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes.

“What about you? What did she do?”

I shuddered at the memory, “she poisoned me with silver. Luckily it wasn’t enough.”

              At this point an army of nurses and doctors flooded into the room, having finally realized that he was conscious. Giving him a reassuring look I stepped back out of their way so they would be done sooner. I watched with gritted teeth as they checked his wound, the smell of blood heavy in the air. One of the nurses glanced at me with a kind smile;

“Squeamish hun?”

I made myself nod and pasted a slightly bashful smile onto my face. She didn’t think any more of it as she continued her job.

              Once they had left and we were safely alone again I continued filling him in on the rest of the events. Once I’d told him everything he frowned;

“What I don’t get is how they managed to find the club in the first place?”

I went cold; how could I have forgotten something so important? “You have a tracking chip in your arm.” I stated.