Chapter 32
Bellis’ gut twisted with worry. Something bad was happening, and it wasn’t just that Sam had been attacked and wasn’t waking up.
During the battle, he’d seen that fucker, Odium, stab her with that strange knife, but Sam had been recovering. When Odium spun on Sam and tried to rip out her throat, Bellis’ heart had slammed to a stop. He’d gotten Odium off his injured Sam, but the wound had been bad. In the transport vehicle to North Fortress, Keo helped him hold Sam’s mouth open as he’d ripped open his own wrist and poured his blood into her mouth. Sam hadn’t woken up though, and she couldn’t swallow. Panic had taken him at that point and the drive to the North Fortress had felt like an eternity.
Jenny had been awaiting their arrival and they’d rushed Sam to the infirmary. There were tubes and needles, and then Bellis was attached to Sam in some sort of rapidly set up blood transfusion. It didn’t work. When Jenny got scared, Bellis became terrified. Jenny was never scared, but he knew the Doctor still didn’t know what Sam was or how she worked. When she told him nothing was working, and that Sam was bleeding out, he’d demanded she think of something. He wasn’t ready to lose Sam, not now, not like this. Jenny had pulled a long syringe and directed Bellis to be ready. She gave Sam a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart, and when Sam gasped to life, Bellis guided her mouth to his throat and forced her to drink. At first she’d fought, then she bit him hard and choked. It took what felt like forever for him to feel her lips lock around his skin, mouth tugging. She drank weakly at first, but then more strongly. Needing to make sure it was enough, Jenny didn’t break them apart even when Sam drank from him for so long that Bellis grew weak.
Sometime during the feeding Jenny stopped checking on Sam’s vitals and started checking on Bellis’, but he shook her off. If Sam needed all of his blood, she’d have it. Bellis kept Jenny from separating them until he finally passed out. When he woke, he was alone in a med bed in a curtained off section of the infirmary.
Rolling to his side, he fell off the bed and struggled to his feet. He was weak as hell, but he had to find Sam, had to know she was okay.
Jenny rounded the curtain and held up her hands, rushing to him to help hold him up. “She’s alive!” were her first words, and while they were a relief, they weren’t enough to soothe his inner beasts. He had to see Sam, had to confirm with his own eyes.
“Get back in bed,” Jenny commanded, and when he tried to shove her aside she yelled, “Somebody help me get this big bastard back in bed!”
Keo jerked the curtain back and stepped toward him, but then slammed to a halt, his eyes going round as he asked, “Who’s…who’s he?”
Who’s he? What in the fuck does that mean? Bellis snarled in annoyance at both Keo’s dumb question and the fact that his legs still weren’t working properly.
“Keo, help me!” Jenny chastised. “It’s Bellis!”
Something about the fact that Jenny needed to explain to Keo who he was made him wonder what in actual fuck was going on. He tried to take a step around Jenny, but his leg buckled and he was going down until Keo rushed him and slipped under his arm, helping Bellis back on to the med bed.
Once he was settled, Keo stood over him and breathed, “Holy fuck! What happened to him?” He turned accusing eyes on Jenny and growled, “What did you do?”
Was he scarred? He didn’t remember being seriously injured in the battle. He watched as Jenny crossed to a table, retrieving something before coming back. In her matter-of-fact doctor voice, she stood over Bellis and explained calmly. “Sam drank from you, do you remember?”
He nodded.
“She was badly injured, Bellis, and she had to take more blood from you than normal. She took more than she ever has before, but she lives. That’s what’s important, right?”
Fuck yes.
Jenny frowned hard. “The transfusion didn’t work, so she had to feed directly from you. She…drew you into her. I’m running tests, but whatever happened went both ways. She’s been affected as well. Know that I believe it’s only temporary. I’m still waiting on test results.”
Her remark had him struggling to sit up, but Jenny and Keo’s hands on his shoulders kept him pinned down.
“Listen!” Jenny demanded. “She’s okay, Bellis! So are you, aside from…” She lifted the object she held and handed it to him. When he saw he held a mirror, he didn’t understand. He lifted it while frowning at Jenny in confusion, but when it was in front of his face his eyes slid to it and his heart stopped.
Slowly, his hand lifted and once his fingers were visible in the mirror he turned and looked down at them. This wasn’t him, but it…was. Looking back in the mirror, he sat up and touched his face, unsure of what he was seeing. His black skin was gone. In its place was tan-colored flesh. His hair was still black, but his eyes were no longer inky wells. They were neon-blue like Sam’s. He didn’t recognize himself, but he was sitting here touching his own face, so he knew it was real.
Peeling back his teeth, he found his elongated incisors were still there, thank fuck! Still, shock tore through him. He’d been too young when he’d first shifted to remember what he looked like in his normal skin. In fact, he’d grown to see his dark skin as his normal skin, so it was alarming to see himself like this now. Words escaped him and he simply stared, gape mouthed, at his reflection.
It wasn’t like he’d expected when he’d imagined his coloring coming back. He thought he’d feel relief or pride, but right now the only thing he felt was disjointed. His hand moved to his shorn hair, and Jenny spoke quietly. “While you were out, I cleaned that up for you. It must have gotten hacked off during battle? Anyway, this looks better than it was.”
His hair was shorter than he’d ever had it. Clipped closed to his head on the sides, it was longer on top with a fringe of bangs hanging into his eyes. He didn’t know this person, but he swallowed hard and lowered the mirror. “Sam?” She was his only concern right now. He’d deal with his appearance later. Right now, he had to see that she was in fact alright.
Jenny’s voice was quiet as she replied. “As I said, she was affected as well.”
Dropping the mirror on the bed, he was shoving to his feet when the sound of footfalls made him lift his head to snarl at the approaching figure.
“You’re coloring is hideous, Demon Walker. You look sick!” Fatal frowned at Bellis, his eyes flicking around the small exam room before he turned to Keo. “Where is my prisoner? In a cell, I hope?”
Bellis’ expression hardened, his words drawing Fatal’s attention. “Fuck your cell, she’s injured. Where is Monroe?”
“Who cares, and not here.” Fatal looked down his nose at Bellis, thick arms crossing over his chest.
“Monroe is on his way,” Jenny quickly interjected.
“I want Sam released,” Bellis demanded, knowing that without Monroe, there was no way Fatal would believe Bellis or Jenny’s truth about how Sam was working with them.
“And I want her locked up.” Fatal countered, before turning.
He was halfway out the door when Bellis’ deafening roar jerked the ruling Keeper to a halt. “Stay away from my Angel!”
Fatal flashed a sinister smile over his shoulder. “Angel? She is no mate of yours.”
“She is, and I will fight for her.”
“I assume you’re speaking of the Keeper’s mate challenge. There is no one to fight. No one challenges your claim.” Sinister eyes slid to Keo. “No Skin Walker wants her, no Keeper either.”
Keo tensed, but kept his mouth shut.
“I want her.” Bellis challenged. “My claim is legitimate! There isn’t any reason I can’t have her.”
“She’s tainted. You know she is Megalya.”
Bellis steeled himself. “I know. I don’t care.”
“You should! We are still finding out what happens when mating with humans. Mating with a Megalya is unacceptable, and will not be permitted. On this, both Monroe and I agree. They don’t want her, and neither do I, but I’ll keep her to ensure she’s no threat. Perhaps some experimentation, to find easier ways to defeat our enemy.”
Bellis hopped off the table and staggered. He still wasn’t one hundred percent, so physically challenging Fatal right now wasn’t the best course of action. Still, there was no way in hell he was letting the Keepers experiment on Sam. “We should test to see what happens when one of us mates with one of them. If they can be changed, to be like us.” Bellis was grasping now, he knew it, but he just needed to stall until Monroe arrived, or until his strength came back. Challenging Fatal over Sam would only get her hurt.
“Not worth it,” Fatal shrugged. “She’s the only female of their kind. We shouldn’t even experiment on her, we should just kill her and be done with it. But,” his gaze slid to Jenny. “Your Doctor is persistent.”
“I’ll fight to have her, Fatal, and I’ll kill to protect her.”
“Why?” Anger flashed in the eyes of the ruling Keeper as he fully turned to face Bellis. “Find another! What is your fascination with this one?”
“She has marked me.”
The ruling Keepers eyes traced up and down Bellis’ frame. “I see no mark.”
“She has marked my soul.” He dipped his head, his eyes narrowing. “They are marks that cannot and will not be removed. She is mine!” For emphasis he added, “And as long as my halo is on her, you’ll keep your fucking hands off her or face the wrath of the entire Skin Walker population!”
Fatal’s eyes shot to Bellis’ throat. His high-collared shirt had been removed, he assumed when Jenny tended his wounds, but just to make sure, he lifted his chin, exposing the brand that circled his throat where his halo once lay.
Fatal’s angry eyes shot to his, and the ruling Keeper hissed, long and loud.