Chapter 8:

• Trisha’s P.O.V:
• The bathroom was smaller than the one I had in my house, but there was enough space to move around without being cramped. I placed the clothes on top of the counter next to the sink and began peeling off my bloodied and torn clothing and dumped them in the bin. Getting under the shower, I turned it to warm and began washing off all the dried blood clinging to my skin. The wounds still stung, but mostly they had gone numb because of the Holly and Buckthorn. If I didn’t use Lavender or Yarrow to neutralize the poison, my leg may never heal back properly. There were several other cuts on my leg from where I’d fallen on the shattered glass and even they weren’t healed properly yet.
• Using the new bar of soap in the bathroom, I cleaned myself and got out of the shower carefully. Then I dried myself off with a towel, deciding to let my hair down so it dried on its own and put on the clothes provided for me, a pair of red shorts that reached just above my knee and a black t-shirt that was a size or two bigger than mine. But at least I had something to wear and Lucas was helping me protect Neema. It was way more than what anything I could’ve asked for.
• I stepped out of the bathroom and found Mark already waiting for me outside the door. “This way please.” He said curtly and turned to lead me into a different hallway with me limping after him.
• “Where’s Neema?” I asked him. I knew I was the one who got us here, but I didn’t trust them enough to leave Neema completely in their care.
• “The boy seems to have fallen asleep from exhaustion.” Mark replied in that same curt tone, his voice coming out gruff, like he was more accustomed to growling than talking. “I’ve been ordered to take you to him only after the healer has a look at you.”
• “Alright.” I said as we came to a stop in front of a set of double doors at the end of another hallway.
• Mark pushed the doors open and stepped back, letting me pass through before he shut the door behind me. I looked around the room, surprised to find some state of the art equipments as well as the herb garden growing on two of the walls running parallel to each other. There was another room behind the small examination table, but the curtains were drawn so I couldn’t see what lay behind them.
• How on earth did Lucas get the funding required to buy these equipments? Some of these coasted thousands of dollars.
• “Oh! There you are!” A cheerful male voice came from behind me as the entrance door was opened and shut once again. “Hi! My name is Dylan, you must be Trisha.”
• I turned around to find a man in his early thirties, blonde haired, golden eyed with the same huge built as the rest of them, but he didn’t stiffen around me like most of the werewolves were doing ever since I walked in. In fact, he looked far too cheerful and kind to be a werewolf.
• “My, you do not look the least bit intimidating as the rumor mill suggested. In fact, you look really pretty.” His smile stretched from ear to ear. “How old are you, little vamp?”
• I felt my lips tug up at the nickname. “Why are you calling me little vamp when you don’t know how old I am?”
• “Well...if I had to guess I’d say you were in you early 200’s.” He placed a hand on my back and led me to the table before helping me sit on it. “That looks like a nasty wound.” He said after inspecting my leg.
• “It is,” I told him. “A stake containing Holly and Buckthorn was shot through my leg and I landed on a heap of broken glass. The wounds would’ve started to close up but the herbs are acting as a poison and messing with the natural healing process.” He was a doctor; keeping things from him would be harmful for me if he mistakenly applied the wrong kind of herbs to my wounds.
• “Ah! So that’s why you asked for Calendula, lavender and Yarrow.” He moved back towards his herb garden and brought back a small bowl with a purplish-yellow mixture. “I had soaked the flowers and leaves in warm water for about ten minutes before making a paste. Is that what you needed? Sorry, but I’m not that familiar with Vampire anatomy...” He said a bit awkwardly in the end.
• “No problem, you got it right.” I motioned towards the paste. “Just put them on top of the wound on my leg and wrap it up with a bandage and it’ll start counteracting the poison immediately. It’ll be a lot better by tomorrow morning.”
• “Sounds great!” He put the salve down on the table next to me and started gathering bandages. He took a cotton swab and poured some hydrogen peroxide on to it, then he dabbed it around all the cuts on my hands and legs before focusing on cleaning the stake wound. I winced as the cotton touched the wound but it wasn’t as bad as getting hit by the stake. He applied the salve all around the wound and then tied it up with clean bandages. He then dabbed the salve on the angry red lines on my palms and knees before bandaging up my knees as well. My palms weren’t as bad as my knees so he let it go as is.
• “All done!” He sounded satisfied with his results as he stepped back and looked me over. “You seem better already. But I’ll have one of the tubbies deliver some lavender tea for you before you head to bed. Or would you prefer to have it mixed in the blood?”
• “No, tea’s fine.” I told him. Lavender was a strong herb, if I drank it with blood; I’d be half-dead for two days straight. And I didn’t trust anyone enough to be that vulnerable for so long. “But go easy on the Lavender.”
• “Sure. And here’s your dinner.” He handed me a couple of bags of blood from a fridge near the herb garden. It was cold but at least I had blood.
• I twisted the pot off and took a sniff of the blood, just to be sure of the contents and then I drowned both the bags within a few minutes while Dylan studied me like a lab rat. But I couldn’t blame him, I was equally curious about werewolves and how they seemed to have everything I needed, but right now I was too exhausted to ask questions.
• “Thanks.” I told him as I threw the bags in the trash at the bottom of the table and got off it.
• “Right. Off you go, Mark’s waiting outside to show you to your room.” He waved me goodnight as Mark opened the doors and silently led me to a room down several hallways. Thankfully the herbs have started to work and I no longer felt the pain, but since the wound wasn’t healed yet, I still had to limp my way through the hallways.
• “Here you go.” He stood in front of a bright pink door and motioned me in. “I’ll be nearby if you need something. You can just call out my name too, we have good hearing.”
• “I will. Thank you.” I gave him a slight smile before I entered the room and locked the door shut.
• I felt like collapsing then and there as I closed my eyes and leaned my back against the door. It had been one very eventful day. Even I was surprised that I was still breathing by the end of it.
• Stepping away from the door, I went to check if Neema was still asleep…and bit back a scream of horror.
• Because Neema was still asleep, soundly so. But that’s not what had gotten me so horrified. What I was afraid of however, was that sitting at the foot of the bed, right next to Neema, was none other than The Vampire King.
• Damien Vandolff.