Chapter 381
By the time my sister walked in, everyone was on their cots, and the Healers were meeting in the back of the room, talking about who would administer what to whom. I heard Jamie mention he had some extra syringes, just in case something happened, like a spill or a drop. “It can get a little violent,” he said, and I wondered what made him say that—until I realized how ferocious my own Transformation had been. I realized Tara’s had been, too, though Cadence and Elliott had undergone theirs with some form of grace. I had an idea Aaron’s had been pretty vicious, too.
“How are you?” Cadence asked Brandon.
“Never better,” my boyfriend replied dryly.
“You’ll be fine.”
He nodded and looked at the door. I was about to ask Cadence if she had any idea where Elliott was when it flew open and he rushed in. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, stopping next to Brandon’s bed. “Got my arm caught in a vending machine again.”
Brandon laughed, and the tension on my hand lessened slightly. “It’s okay. Nothing has happened yet.”
Elliott’s green eyes traced around the room. Landing on Jamie and the others, he asked, “They havin’ a medical powwow over there?”
“Yep. Trying to figure out the best way to not kill anyone,” I replied, watching Jamie carefully. He had the syringes divided up so that there were four in each container. Except for the one he still had his hands on, which I assumed was his. That one had six or eight in it. I couldn’t quite tell from where I was standing.
“Good luck, buddy,” Cadence said to Brandon, drawing my eyes only briefly. “It’s really not that bad. After the pain subsides.”
Brandon wasn’t fooled. “Uh, I was there when you underwent yours, so I’m gonna call bull on that one. But thanks.”
“Hey, it didn’t hurt me at all,” Elliott lied. Cadence looked at him like he was crazy. “Well, not much anyway,” he amended. “Not like you, cry baby.”
My sister punched him hard in the arm and then leaned down to hug Brandon. “We’ll be right here.” She kissed him on the cheek and then moved on to the next bed, which happened to be Aurora. She had been silent since she arrived, only mumbling a hello when she came in the door, and I imagined she was scared. I couldn’t blame her. I was scared, too.
Cadence went from one bed to the next as Jamie continued to answer questions, and Brandon’s grip on my hand increased. Elliott launched into a story we hadn’t heard before, something about a Vampire at the zoo, and I pretended to listen. The rest of the room was fairly still until Lucy and Tara came in. They were laughing loudly, but when they saw our stoic faces, they went quiet.
“Sorry,” Lucy muttered.
“It’s all right,” I assured her. I hadn’t heard Lucy laugh enough lately, so I didn’t mind that she was doing so at an inappropriate time, and I don’t think anyone else did either.
“You okay, Brandon?” Lucy asked, giving him a supportive smile.
“I’m great.” He flashed a thumbs up and then settled back against his pillows. I think she could tell he didn’t mean it, and he’d rather be alone.
“See you when you wake up.” She took a few steps toward Dax’s bed, and Tara bent over and hugged Brandon telling him it’d be over before he knew it, and then she headed over to her boyfriend as well.
Cadence was still making her rounds, and Jamie was divvying up the containers with the serum in it. I tried to look through his hands at the one he was carrying our direction to make sure I’d counted correctly, but I didn’t know for sure how many there were. I thought there were at least two extra, though, and that’s all I really needed. That, and a distraction.
Elliott was talking again, which was nothing new, and once again, my mind wandered off. I was glad Jamie would be the one giving Brandon his shots, and I figured that was arranged by Elliott. It was convenient for me. I felt a little bad about what I was about to do, but if they had any idea what we were up against in a creature like Daunator, they’d understand.
I watched my sister cross over to Christian, which I thought was weird. She didn’t stand there very long before she walked over to the front of the room where she could see everyone. Jamie was next to me now, and my heart rate doubled. I glanced over his shoulder to see he was setting up the shots on a little table placed between Aurora and Brandon, and I figured that meant these two patients were his.
Trying to sound nonchalant, I asked the doctor, “So what happens if you don’t hit a vein?”
“I don’t know,” Jamie replied, distracted. “But I wouldn’t want to find out.”
I had read online that it depended upon the substance being injected, but of course WebMD had no answer for Transformation serum. “Do you think it would kill the person?” I continued, undeterred by his first answer.
“I don’t know,” he repeated. “But we’re not going to find out.”
I realized I was in his way, so I moved aside, repositioning myself on the far side of Brandon’s bed. I took his hand as Jamie readied the first syringe, and I concluded I was more nervous about Brandon undergoing the procedure than I was about what I was trying to pull off. I remembered how Elliott and Cadence had reacted and knew Brandon was afraid of looking weak in front of me, but something told me there would be no way to avoid tears of some sort with the intense pain this procedure entailed. I hated to see him that way not because I found it a weakness but because the thought of him suffering killed me inside.
“You ready, Brandon?” Jamie asked in a soothing tone, and he nodded but didn’t look at the Healer.
“Look at me,” I said, standing right in his line of vision. “You’re going to be just fine, okay? It’ll hurt for a bit, but then it’ll all be over.”
He nodded, and then his face changed dramatically as I realized Jamie was putting the first shot in. Brandon sucked in air through his teeth and then closed his eyes tightly. His eyes were watering, and I felt my heart lurch within my chest. I reached up and smoothed back his hair. “You’re all right. You’re all right,” I said over and over again, not realizing until I’d said it several times that it was exactly what my mom used to say to me whenever I’d fall and skin my knee or hit my head. She’d rock me gently in her arms, run her hands through my hair, kiss my head and tell me I was all right. I had been a real jerk to my mom lately, and remembering that made me wish I could change it. Instead, I was contemplating doing something else that would tear her world apart.
I couldn’t think about that at the moment because Jamie put in the second dose, and Brandon began to jerk around violently on the table. Elliott jumped up to his other side and we both tried to hold him still. He didn’t actually make a sound, though. Part of me wanted him to just scream that it hurt, to let it out, but instead he vibrated on the bed, similarly to the way that Tara had. Tears streamed down my face as I did my best to remind him I was there with him, and he was going to be okay.
Jamie looked sympathetic, but he had to move on to Aurora who muttered, “Great,” as soon as she saw Brandon’s reaction. I couldn’t blame her. I would’ve felt the same way if I wasn’t so focused on the benefits of this procedure.
