Love Immortal (39 page)

* * *

Collin lay on the floor, his eyes closed and
his neck bared to the sword’s killing blow. He thought of Jewell,
and in his head, told her over and over again how much he loved
her. He could feel her pain through his own. He felt her tears
tickling her cheeks as he waited. When the expected cut didn’t
come, he opened his eyes and looked at the man who no longer had
his sword raised. He looked tired, and a little sick. The green
pallor of his skin made him look less like a killer, and more like
someone who belonged in bed. Suddenly, the man lifted his head and
looked Collin in the eye. There was no remorse, only resolve. As he
took two steps forward, he raised the sword over his head again.
Just as the man shifted his weight, preparing for the killing blow,
Collin heard a loud blast and saw a blinding flash of light. Then
he heard only silence. He couldn’t see or hear anything. He found
it interesting, the effect of decapitation, and wondered how long
he would be able to continue his thoughts before he died. He
briefly wondered if his body was still moving. He tried to move his
left arm and felt a searing pain through his side. He wondered that
he could still feel his body, but he had heard of phantom limbs,
maybe he had a phantom body.

Slowly, as his hearing and sight returned, he
saw two men in body armor wrestling with the limping man. Another
man in body armor was carefully cutting Jewell’s restraints. In the
corner, another man wearing a dark blue pair of pants and light
blue shirt was inserting an IV into the man on the ground. A woman,
dressed like the man in dark blue pants and a light blue shirt, was
carefully examining Jewell’s injuries. Before he could take it all
in, including the fact that he was not yet dead, he passed out.

* * *

As Jewell struggled against her restraints,
screaming Collin’s name, his muddled European accent cut through
her distress with the only words she wanted to hear. “I love you,”
over and over again. She tried to think the thoughts back to him,
letting his love wash away the hate she felt. As she listened to
his words and let them calm her and take away the pain of her
injuries, she heard a loud blast, and through the blindfold, she
could see a bright light. She couldn’t hear anything, but within
seconds, her blindfold was removed and she saw a man in full body
armor with gentle eyes carefully examining the restraints, looking
for the areas where he could insert the cutters to release her.

As she realized that these people were here
to help her, she glanced quickly around the room, seeking out
Collin. She couldn’t hear him in her thoughts anymore, and the
possibility that he was dead frightened her more than the
possibility of her own death ever had. Finally, she saw him against
the wall, his eyes wandering blankly around the room, looking, but
not really seeing anything that was going on. In front of him, two
more men in black body armor were putting E Z Cuffs on the man with
the leg brace.

The next several hours went by in a blur.
Collin was carried out on a stretcher while another stretcher was
brought in for Jewell. As they carefully lifted her out of the
chair and gently laid her on the stretcher, she marveled at how
good it felt to lay down and stretch out despite the pain it
caused. Regardless of her pain, and the people hovering around her,
cleaning her injuries, checking her vital signs and inserting IVs,
she felt herself slipping toward sleep. She struggled to keep her
eyes open, to see if she could catch a glimpse of Collin, but she
only saw the multitude of police cars, S.W.A.T. vehicles, and a
single ambulance. Apparently, she had been the last victim taken
from the scene. As the ambulance started up and pulled away from
the warehouse, the gentle hum of the engine, and the rocking of the
ambulance as it moved down the road lulled her into a deep sleep.
Of course, the morphine may have had something to do with that
too.

Chapter 51

Jewell licked her dry lips as she started to
wake from her drug induced sleep. Above her she could see the soft
glow of hospital lights reflecting off of yellow walls. There was a
vase with flowers on the table next to her bed along with a cup
filled with water and a pitcher. She started to reach for it, but
as she did, a moan escaped her lips as she worked her bruised
muscles. She heard a noise, and saw someone stirring in the corner.
As she watched, the shadowy shape got up and moved toward the bed.
Her eyes were out of focus, and it took several minutes to
recognize who was standing vigil in her room.

Ashley smiled down at Jewell. “How are you
feeling?”

“Like I just did a triple shift in the ER.”
Jewell laughed lightly invoking a cough from her damaged body.

“Shhhh.” Ashley sat carefully on the bed and
brushed Jewell gently across her forehead. “Your dad is downstairs
getting us some food. I offered to go, but he’s been here since
they brought you in, and I think he wanted to stretch his legs. He
should be back in a minute. I came in this morning.”

“How long have I been out?” Jewell felt
disoriented and dizzy from the medicine. The fact that she was in a
hospital bed in a room she faintly recognized helped a bit, but she
had lost all sense of time since she had been abducted.

Ashley laughed. “You’ve been sleeping for
almost twenty-two hours lazy bones!”

“What day is it?”

“Sunday.” There was a hint of strain in her
voice. Jewell had been abducted on Thursday morning. Only three
days, she marveled. It had seemed so much longer than that.

“Collin?”

“He’ll be fine,” Ashley assured her. “He’s in
intensive care…again. He’s unconscious, but it’s not a coma. He’s
only in there for another couple of hours. They just wanted to make
sure that his injuries weren’t life threatening. If that boy
continues to get himself into messes like this, it’s a good thing
he’s dating a nurse. He’s going to need you! I mean really, what
sort of guy gets hacked up by a sword? Don’t most people around
here just use guns? What was up with those people anyway?”

“Well, they didn’t tell me a whole lot,”
Jewell sighed. “For the most part, they said that they kidnapped me
to get to Collin because he drank from the Holy Grail and was
immortal or something.” Jewell shrugged but the idea brought up
some interesting, unanswered questions. Why was Dr. Babineaux so
interested in Collin? How did Collin survive that first night in
the ER? Why did he move around so much? Why was his uncle so
unhappy with their relationship? All these questions were pieces to
a puzzle with a picture that didn’t make any sense. Immortality was
impossible. The science just wouldn’t allow it to work. Of course,
there were examples of immortality in nature. There was a jellyfish
that was immortal, hydras, bacteria, some plants. Was it possible
that science had tapped into that capability? And if they had, was
Collin a part of an experiment? Did Collin know? Jewell’s mind was
spinning, partially from the morphine and partially from her
thoughts, when her father came in.

“Oh!” Tommy McKean walked into the room and
set a couple of sandwiches and drinks down next to the flowers. “It
lives,” he said in his best imitation of Dr. Frankenstein as he
leaned over to kiss her forehead, one of the only places that
showed no evidence of her recent ordeal.

“Nice flowers.” Jewell said, seeing her
father looking at them smugly.

“You like those? I bought ‘em.” He smiled and
pointed toward the window. “But I sure didn’t buy all of those.”
Jewell carefully turned her head to look in the direction her
father was pointing. Any movement was painful, so she hadn’t really
examined her surroundings. Beside the window were rows of flowers,
piles of stuffed animals, and enough balloons to carry her away.
She smiled. “I think every public servant in both Covington and
Orleans Parrish bought you something, and that big one in the back
is from your friends down in the ER.”

As Jewell marveled at this outpouring of
compassion, Dr. Babineaux walked in. “Well, look at that, she
finally woke up.” He was dressed in a pair of khaki pants and a
white Polo button down shirt. “How are you feeling?”

“Hey, Doc. I know you’re not my doctor, and I
can see by the way you’re dressed that you’re off duty. You don’t
have to play doctor with me.”

“She’s still acting like she knows
everything, and has a bit of a sharp wit too. I reckon that’s a
good sign. Just humor me for a minute, would you? The x-rays and
the MRI came out clean. I’m surprised considering the amount of
bruising and swelling. You have several deep tissue bruises that
will hurt for a while, and those cuts on your wrist aren’t going
away anytime soon. I’m a bit concerned about the cut on your arm
though. It did some nerve and muscle damage. Fortunately, whatever
you were cut with was as sharp as a scalpel so the cut is clean. We
poked around in there to make sure and then put in some stitches.
You may feel some tingling or loss of sensation in your hand, but I
don’t think that’ll be permanent. We’ll keep an eye on it anyway.
So, besides all that, how are you feeling?”

Jewell was surprised at how superficial her
injuries really were considering how much pain she was feeling. “I
guess I hurt a little.”

“I’ll let Dr. Wilson make the decision, but I
think that we can take you off that morphine drip. She’ll probably
agree with me. You should be up and around in no time.”

“What about Collin?” Jewell choked on his
name. He had survived a life threatening injury once, she was
afraid that he wouldn’t survive again.

“Collin? He’s a trooper, that one. He lost a
lot of blood, and he had a concussion with minor hemorrhaging. He
had several cuts that needed to be repaired, along with a shattered
collarbone, three broken ribs and a collapsed lung.” Dr. Babineaux
stopped talking when he realized that all of the blood had drained
from Jewell’s face, and a tear was marking its path from her eye to
her chin. “He’s going to be alright though, don’t worry!” Dr.
Babineaux smiled. “It’s going to take a lot more than a little
bleeding and a few broken bones to kill that one.” His voice had
become distant. He looked down at Jewell. “Don’t worry. I’m taking
care of him personally.”

“Why are you so interested in him?”

Dr. Babineaux caught his breath. Jewell was
observant. He carefully considered his words. “As you may know,
much of my research is dedicated to healing injuries faster.
Collin, well, I’m sure you noticed that Collin heals faster than
the average person. This is due to a rare genetic anomaly. I
suspected it when he was with us the last time.”

“Can he die?”

Dr. Babineaux laughed. “Of course he can die.
Everyone dies eventually Jewell. It’s a part of life.” He smiled
and patted her hand. “I’d better get going. I have a golf game
scheduled in forty-five minutes.” He touched his forehead
reminiscent of when men would tip their hats, and walked briskly
from the room.

After Dr. Babineaux had left, Ashley turned
and looked at Jewell. “Can he die? What kind of question was that?
That morphine must really be making you loopy!” Jewell smiled
weakly. “I’m afraid I need to get going. Work you know.” She leaned
down and gave Jewell a loose hug trying not to hurt her, and then
she gave Tommy a hug too. “I know you’ll take care of her.” She
whispered. Tommy just nodded.

When Jewell woke up, the room was empty.
There was a cot against the wall that looked as if it had been
slept in. Before Jewell was able to sit up and look around her
father came striding in pushing a wheelchair. “Collin’s awake. He
was asking about you. Are you up to a wheel chair ride across the
hall?”

Jewell thought about it for a few seconds.
She really wasn’t, but she wanted to see Collin so badly that she
couldn’t resist the offer. She nodded and her dad helped her as she
moved slowly from the bed to the chair. Her legs supported her,
that was a welcome surprise, and she found that moving actually
helped to loosen some of the muscles and made some of her injuries
feel better. Once she was settled, her father stepped behind and
pushed her around the nurses’ station to the other side of the hall
where Collin was resting.

As her father pushed her through the door,
she braced herself for what she was going to see. She briefly
flashed back to the first time he came into the hospital, reliving
the moment of what she had thought was his death. His face had been
so distorted by his injuries. As she approached the bed, he was
facing away from her, just like the first time she entered his
room. His right arm was bandaged, and he had a square of gauze
taped onto his left shoulder where the doctors had inserted the
pins to repair his collarbone. His torso was taped tightly. The
sheet on his bed was pulled up to his waist so she couldn’t see his
legs. The scene was so familiar to her that she almost wondered if
she had imagined the past few months.

When she reached the side of his bed, he
turned to look at her. Her breath caught. His face was unmarred and
more beautiful than she remembered. She wanted so badly to reach
out and touch his cheek, to kiss his lips but as she started to
reach her hand toward his face, she was brought up short. At first,
she didn’t recognize the emotion in his face. It wasn’t joy, or
even relief. It was guilt. “Collin?” Jewell moved her arm
uncertainly to touch him lightly on the hand. He turned back to
look at her. “What’s wrong?”

“If it hadn’t been for me, this would’ve
never happened to you. I tried, but I couldn’t save you.” A tear
trickled down his cheek and soaked into his pillow. “I’m so
sorry.”

“What are you talking about? This isn’t your
fault. How can you blame yourself for something that you had no
control over? How were you supposed to know?”

“I didn’t. I couldn’t. But I should have. I
should’ve known that something was…” his voice trailed off.