Vampire World (VAMPIRE WORLD #1)

Part 9 Recovery

Chapter 8: Recovery

I woke up in horrifying pain and with several tubes attached to me. Fresh blood was being squirted into my arms, chest, legs and head. The hospital room twirled as I saw Mr. FreeCut; he was calling out my name. Then I passed out again.

After waking a second time, I could finally see straight, though the pain was still gut-wrenching. New blood was still being pumped into me. I focused on Mr. FreeCut clearly now.

“Janice, can you hear me?”

I tried to speak, but was unable. Then I saw a vampire dressed in a bloody smock. He must have been a doctor.

“She’s going to make it,” he said. “In twenty degrees her bones and organs should all be healed. In thirty, her cuts and bruises will be gone too.”

Mr. FreeCut was ecstatic. “Thank goodness!”

“She was very lucky. That fall almost killed her.”

As the grueling degrees ticked by, gradually the pain lessened and my memory returned. I was able to talk a little too. I remembered the terrifying fall. I must have gone down like two hundred feet. How the hell was I still alive?

Mr. FreeCut tried to communicate with me again. I could tell by looking into the old man’s eyes how desperately he was yearning for me to respond.

“I’m okay,” I managed to say.

His pale face turned lava-like. Mine did as well, but not for the same reason. After all the sneaky things I’d done that he now knew about, I was ready for him to kill me. But he didn’t look mad. In fact, his face was suddenly split by a wide smile.

“Well, I do have a lot of questions to ask you,” he said. “But those will come later. Right now, I’m just so happy that you’re alive.”

As the degrees passed and more blood flowed into me, the pain eased further. It felt like someone was inside of me, taking my broken bones and putting them perfectly back together. What a miracle.

The doctor came in and removed the tubes from my body. “You can go home now,” he said. “Just take it easy for the rest of the day. Your interior wounds have all healed thanks to the additional blood. But your exterior wounds may take a few more degrees to mend.”

I stood up, wobbly at first but okay. I glanced in a mirror. Wow I looked trashed; there were cuts and bruises all over my face.

Following Mr. FreeCut down the lengthy central hall of the hospital, we exited back into the refreshing outside air and walked to his car. Shockingly, there wasn’t a scratch on it. He remained silent as he started the engine. Guess he got it fixed. God, I was in trouble.

I was dead silent most of the drive home, and for good reason. So was Mr. FreeCut. But despite my fear of him exploding at me, I asked the first question. My curiosity was too great.

“How did I survive the fall?”

“You were very lucky,” he said. “You broke half the bones in your body, yet you still survived. And you were also lucky that somebody found you before you'd lost too much blood.”

I thought about who that might have been. Could my stalker actually have felt bad over what he'd done and called for help?

Putting this thought to one side, I asked: “How did I heal so quickly?”

“Fresh blood can do wonders for a wounded vampire, Janice. It can heal the brain, bones, heart - you name it.”

Damn. Thank goodness for blood.