The Guilty Innocent (18 page)

“You're going to need stitches...or, if you're not as squeamish with vampire blood as you are with the saliva of shape-shifters, you could wait for one of them to heal you.” She said, with moderate concern. I'll admit, I was taken aback by her sudden interest in my well-being, but I did not question it.

I nodded. “I think that would be a good idea as long as
I
don't have to drink it.” I said, I remembered what Darian had told me the time when he had given me his blood to save my life. He told me that humans can become addicted to vampire blood, just like any other drug and one would have to be broken from the bloodlust. I did not want to experience anything called “bloodlust” and I was grateful that I had not.

Elise laughed, the back of her hand going to her mouth, covering it slightly. Her laughter soon subsided, she looked at me more seriously, her expression becoming more curious. “I don't understand you, I don't pretend to. You feel for both Darian and Xavier, you may even love them. You're a human, your life could be so easily snuffed out and yet you are here...” her words drifted off, she made an offhanded gesture as if to dismiss her statement. “I sent Sergio to the store for some first aid items for you.” She said then she turned and exited the bathroom. I was in a state of shock now. She had not been nice to me since the day we met, it was actually a relief to exchange words without hostility.

“Elise?” I called out, she turned around to face me.

“Yes?”

“Thank you. I believe I do love them, I know I don't want to lose either one of them...” I trailed off, I looked down at my hands. “I don't want to lose anyone else anymore,” I said, unable to disguise my sadness and not really wanting to.

Elise looked at me for a long moment. “We will save him, besides Darian is a survivor if nothing else,” she said then she left the bathroom.

I pondered her last statement.
“Darian is a survivor if nothing else.”
He must be to have survived sixteen hundred and fifty years! Darian was an enigma to me, I did not know much about him, but I truly believed that he would answer any questions I might have with the upmost honesty. If we could, no...when we save Darian and clear his name, I will appease my curiosity about him. I wrapped a towel around my hand and walked out of the bathroom. I spotted a comfortable chair by the window and sat down. Devin lay curled in a fetal position on the bed, napping.

“He looks absolutely adorable!” I said chuckling as I looked at him. Elise glanced at me then to Devin she smiled slightly.

“He's even more adorable in his animal form,” she said.

Her eyes slowly panned over my face, I believe she was interested in my reaction. I looked at her then Devin, I thought about it and I found that I was curious. I had only seen one shape-shifter in animal form and that shape-shifter was in a half-animal, half-man form, not to mention he almost killed me. I sat in the chair and tried to imagine what they would look like in their animal form, how would they behave? Elise was watching me from across the room, I think she knew what I was pondering and I heard her chuckle.

“He's a beautiful white leopard,” she said as she climbed onto the bed, brushing her fingertips lightly over Devin's cheek. “The only one in our Pride.”

He stirred slightly under her touch, but did not wake up. Both Elise and I looked up when we heard the door of our hotel room open then close. She sniffed the air, I saw her relax. I assumed by her reaction that it was Sergio returning from the store. The bedroom door opened and Sergio entered, he was wearing a grey t-shirt now. He looked at me, then handed me the brown paper bad he was carrying. I thanked him, he nodded. He was definitely a man of few words from what I could tell. I looked inside bag, there was a box of band-aids, gauze, peroxide, anti-bacterial cream and stitching equipment. I swallowed hard when I saw the stitching equipment. I looked at Sergio and Elise, I frowned. I was not a good candidate for pain and the thought of having to be sewn up was terrifying to me.

“Are you sure I need stitches!?” I asked nervously.

Sergio looked at me and for the first time since I met him, he laughed outright. Devin awoke and looked at him with sleepy eyes. He sat up on the bed and looked at Elise then me.

“What's so funny?” he asked curiously, like a child almost.

“Natasha here is afraid of receiving stitches,” Elise said as humor spread across her face.

“Oh,” Devin said then he looked at me and smiled.

I was definitely missing the joke. “What's so damn funny!?” I asked as I looked at them, Sergio was beginning to regain his composure and only his shoulders shook slightly as his laughter died away.

“Aww, Natasha, don't worry. Sergio can sew you up so fast and painlessly, you won't even know he's doing it.” Devin said encouragingly.

I wasn't buying it. “Sure, how is he going to manage that, by punching me in the jaw and knocking me out cold!? I don't see any painkillers or numbing medication in this bag.” I stated as I shook the bag above my head.

Sergio laughed again as he walked slowly towards his suitcase. He opened the suitcase and pulled out a small black leather pouch. He walked over to me and opened it up. I looked inside and saw five sanitized needles and two little glass bottles with some sort of clear liquid in them.

I looked up at Sergio. “So what's that?” I asked.

Sergio smiled. “Elise figured you might be injured on this little venture and suggested I bring some medications with me...though I did forget to pack my doctor's kit. But don't worry, the needles have never been used and I have painkillers. I also have something that will numb you so I could sew you up without you feeling anything.” He sat on the armrest of the chair. He looked down at me and waved the black bag in front of me. “Don't worry Natasha, I'm a professional doctor.”

Oh, how comforting,
I thought sarcastically to myself. I looked at Elise. “Didn't you say that I could let one of the vampires heal my wound?” I asked, she nodded. “Okay... okay...That sounds like a better idea. I can wait for one of them.” I said, nodding my head.

“Oh, don't be ridiculous!” Sergio exclaimed as he rose from the chair. “It's at least three hours till Xavier wakes up. You could start to have an infection by that time!”

“I don't think so, just keep it clean and when he wakes up, he could heal me, infection and all...please,” I said. I must have seemed like a wimp to them, but I didn't care. I don't like needles either, needles caused pain. If there was another avenue, then by god, I was going to take it!

He looked down at me and shook his head. He took my hand and unwrapped the towel I had used and examined my wound. “It's deep, I know it has to hurl. But if you want to wait for one of them, then so be it.” Sergio said as he released my hand. “At least allow me to wrap it up properly,” he suggested.

I nodded and he reached into his medic bag and pulled out some white gauze and disinfectant. He began to cleanse the cut then he wrap my wound carefully. Sergio was so meticulous that I did not feel any pain as he bandaged my hand. When he finished, he put his medical bag back into his suitcase. Sergio climbed onto the bed next to Devin and laid down. Elise turned on the television and crawled onto the bed on the opposite side of Devin. It just so happened that one of those cheesy vampire movies were playing. It was in Russian, so I couldn't understand what the characters were saying, but by looking at it, I could tell it wasn't a quality movie.

“What do you think one of them would think if they saw this?” Devin asked with a giggle.

Sergio shrugged. “Who gives a fuck.” Sergio replied nonchalantly.

“I do, or else I wouldn't have asked. I know that I look at shape-shifter movies and think 'yeah, right, whatever!' when I see some of the plots and characters they come up with. Not to mention the cheesy special effects.” Devin said as he laughed at a characters antics in the film. Sergio only shrugged again.

“I know what you mean. I find myself wondering the same thing whenever I see these types of films. Though I love vampire and werewolf movies.” I said with a giggle.

“Oh, just the werewolf movies?” Devin teased.

“Well, I did like that new movie that came out this past weekend about shape-shifters that changed into tigers. Though you guys might find it cheesy.” I stated. Devin chuckled. I looked at Sergio, he looked to be very composed. I thought about the incident in the restaurant and had questions I hoped he wouldn't mind answering.

“Did it hurt when you got shot?” I asked Sergio. He looked at me, his expression blank. Maybe he thought it was a stupid question, but I was curious. I've never seen a shape-shifter get shot and heal.

“It hurt like a son-of-a-bitch! Luckily, they were not silver bullets. If they
were
silver bullets, then I might have been killed,” he answered.

It brought me to another question. “But I thought regular silver bullets could not kill you?” I stated. He chuckled, Devin laughed as well, Elise only rolled her eyes and smiled as she shook her head slightly.

“If someone shoots a shape-shifter in a vital area with a silver bullet and this is true with all shape-shifters, we can die unless the matron can heal us in time. The matron in our case is, Elise,” he said as he pointed to Elise.

“Oh! I know what a matron does!” I said excitedly, happy to know a little supernatural trivia, so to speak.

“How did you find out about the responsibilities of the Matron?” Sergio asked, he sat up on the bed and looked at me. “Could this information have been passed on to you by your little wolf friend?”

“Yeah, we became friends when I helped him solve a murder case. I began to ask him all kinds of questions about shape-shifters. I used to be scared of the supernatural race, but four months ago, I realized I had this ability of the visions,
I
began to see the people murdered by two rampaging supernatural serial killers in my visions. So I told Warren and his partner Matthew and with the help of Darian, we were able to end their reign.
I
also realized that
I
had a lot of misconceptions about the supernatural race. But now,
I
am learning about all the things that make us similar and different. The truth of the situation is...humans are just as dangerous as any other being,” I said then shrugged my shoulders.

The three shape-shifters seemed to reflect on what
I
said, hell
I
was reflecting on what I said. I felt comfortable around them,
I
did not have any fears that they might see me as food, but then again, they
were
in their human form. I might feel differently if I was in a room full of shape-shifters in animal form.

“You're an interesting person, Natasha.” Sergio said as he laid back down on the bed.

About thirty minutes passed before we all drifted back off to sleep. Various visions flashed through my mind like a movie being fast forwarded on a screen. Unfortunately, none of the visions were from Nikolai or anyone else that could lead us to more clues. I blocked off all of the visions and slept deeply.

I began to feel someone lapping my shoulder which prompted me to wake up.
I
opened my eyes slowly to see Xavier standing over me, his skin was flushed and
I
knew he had just fed, probably from Devin again.
I
sat up in the chair and looked around the room. Everyone was awake, Sergio, Devin and Elise were eating again.

“How are you feeling?
I
heard you were injured, let me see.” Xavier said as he kneeled down in front of me.

I wiped my eyes with the back of my left hand and held out my injured right hand towards Xavier. He unwrapped the gauze and looked at the wound carefully, it bled slightly and throbbed painfully.

“How did this happen?” he asked concerned. He looked at me, his eyes soft with worry.

“Oh Xavier, you would not
believe
the day we have had!” I exclaimed. I told him about the vision I saw of Nikolai and Dmitri and he listened, calmly nodding his head now and then as I spoke. “Then he shot Nikolai and we grabbed him before he could leave. Elise asked him some questions...that reminds me, what did you ask him?” I looked at Elise. She began to tell me, when Xavier interrupted.