Silent Shadows

I’m pretty sure death isn’t supposed to feel like someone disemboweled you and then put everything back. I guessed that I wasn’t dead then.

“I think she’s coming round.” Zacky said above my head.

“Aw shit.” I groaned, holding my stomach. I could feel the puncture wounds still.

“You are in deep fucking shit Ronnie.” Brian was hanging over me when I managed to open my eyes.

“Where’s Danny?” I demanded.

“Zin’s working on him.” Jimmy said. We were in a hotel room as far as I could tell. Jimmy was sitting on a chair close to the door, arms folded over his chest.

“What happened?” The last thing I remember was a bright light filling the room.

“Once we figured out you two fuckheads were gone Zin used that charm she gave you to find out where you were. We got there just as you decided to go all Rambo on a vampire.” Brian explained. They all looked pretty pissed.

“How could you be so stupid?” Jimmy shook his head. I explained the whole thing, which didn’t make them any less pissed off at me.

Zinnia came in, face drawn and pale. “Oh, you’re awake.”

“How’s Danny?” I winced when sitting up pulled on my stomach.

“Better now. The vampire broke all the bones on the right side of his body. He’s lucky to be alive. So are you actually.” Zinnia glared at me. “How could you have risked both your lives like that?” Brian filled her in for me.

“It wasn’t my intention.” I pulled the blanket back to look at the bandages wrapped around my stomach. Fresh blood stained the white fabric. “Fuck, I’m bleeding.”

“I don’t think I have enough power to fix them. I used most of it to stop it the first time, and then what I had left for Danny.” Zinnia looked a little dizzy actually. “I’ll try my best.” She put her hand over my stomach and spoke some words in that same weird language that I assumed was the Fae language.

Matt came in just as the bleeding stopped. He looked furious and I shrank back into the pillows.

“Ronnie, I don’t even know where to goddamn start.” He growled. “You steal the car, take our medic on a fucking road trip to California, nearly get both of you murdered and beat to shit!” He threw his hands up. “I don’t know what to do with you.”

“Matt, I-” I started to say but he cut me off.

“I don’t wanna hear it Ronnie. The minute we get back to the house, you are doing hard fucking labor until I goddamn say stop.” Matt slammed the door after him.

“I’d get some rest while you can, kid.” Jimmy said before following Matt out.

I sighed, running my hand over my face. I could feel some stiches on the cut above my eyes. “Are they dead?”

“Zinnia took care of Eleazar. Tasha was dead when they got there.” Zacky said.

“Veronica, can you stand?” I’d never heard Zinnia use my full name. “Come with me.” She had to support me but we made it to the bathroom.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, sinking down on the edge of the tub.

“I am so incredibly disappointed in you.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You put yourself and Daniel in danger. You should have come to us and asked our opinions.”

“If you thought for a long time that your mother was dead and then there was a chance that she was alive, wouldn’t you jump to see her again?” I wiped my eyes. “She had been alive. They told me she was alive for the first week after the attack. They probably made her write the note before she died.”

“It was still a rash decision and one that nearly cost you both your lives.”

“I was lucky that Danny caught me. If he hadn’t I would have been dead before you could get there. Now are we done here? I think Matt yelled at me enough for one day.”

“No, we are not done. Ronnie, you don’t seem to understand the gravity of what you did. You disobeyed Matthew, you put your life in danger and you made Daniel disobey Matthew as well. You almost died.”

“I get it for fucks sake! I did something stupid and rash, I almost got Danny killed and I almost ended up dead. Now will you leave me the fuck alone? I just had my hopes that maybe, just maybe my mom would be alive to meet Danny and to see me shift for the first time, completely crushed all over again.” I wiped the tears away roughly. “I don’t need this right now Zinnia.” I hobbled back out to the bed, one arm wrapped around my perforated stomach.

The next morning Jimmy drove the SUV with Arin, Danny and me. Matt had procured a car from the little town to get here and that’s where everyone else was. The ride back was almost completely silent, aside from the radio playing.
My stomach ached horribly still. Zinnia needed time to recharge before she could fix it. She said she’d stopped the internal bleeding and the punctures in my organs, but the holes in my stomach were still there. None of the painkillers they’d given me had been strong enough to dull the pain. My metabolism was just burning them off too quickly.

“Shit, Ronnie, you’re bleeding.” Arin said, looking at the stains blooming across my shirt. I let a curse out between my teeth, putting pressure on the wounds as best I could.

“Give the phone to Zinnia, Johnny.” Jimmy said into his phone. “Zin? She’s bleeding again. We’re gonna get off on the next exit and pull over. See you in a bit.” He hung up and directed the car to the nearest freeway exit. Arin and I were trying to keep pressure on the wounds while Danny flopped around helplessly in the front seat, trying to keep me in his line of sight.

Zin almost ripped the door off its hinges when their car pulled over behind us. “I don’t have enough strength to fix it. We’ll have to take her to the hospital.” Zinnia said.

“They’re gonna start asking some tough questions about how she got those holes and the scratches on her face.” Jimmy reminded her.

“We’ll have to take the chance. Either that or we have to stitch the holes here without anesthetic.” Zinnia rubbed her eyes.

“I can take it.” I was trying to sound brave. I don’t think it worked very well. “We have three options: do it here, let me bleed to death, or go to a hospital where we’ll have some tough questions to answer. I’m a tough girl. I can handle it.”

“All right, but you asked for it. Arin, keep her still.” Zinnia whipped out the needles and thread and got to work stitching the wounds.

By the end of it I was biting down on one knuckle to keep from screaming, but the holes were stitched and we could keep going.

“Switch with me.” Danny hobbled out of the passenger seat. Arin shrugged and traded with him. I knew that Danny would be healed way before I was, since he had the advantage of his werewolf genes already online. Mine were dormant still and I would take longer to heal up, especially with all the internal damage.

“What’s the date today?” I asked.

“August 9th.” Arin supplied.

Only a few more weeks and I would be a werewolf. What a scary thought.