Chapter 48
The lab guy returned to the emergency room and did Katelina's IV, again saying almost nothing. Then she and Jorick were left alone in silence. They watched the television while the bags ran dry. The doctor returned with a different nurse and gave her a tetanus shot before he numbed her shoulder and stitched it up. She squeezed Jorick's hand tightly and swore to herself that despite the Lidocain she could still feel the needle slipping through her skin. Even so, it wasn't as terrible as she thought it would be.
When the doctor finished the stitches, he cleaned the scrapes on her arms and face with alcohol pads and took a moment to examine the two different marks she bore. He clicked his tongue but made no comment. "I'll write you a prescription for some pain pills and some antibiotics. It's not infected, but better to be on the safe side." He peeled off his gloves and threw them in the biohazard bin as he glanced at Jorick. "Could I have a word with you?"
Katelina stiffened, but Jorick only nodded calmly. He paused next to the bed, brushed a kiss over her forehead, and murmured, "I'll be right back."
The door had barely shut when the nurse was at her side; a short, pudgy woman with kind eyes and short hair. She leaned close and asked softly, "Do you need some help honey?"
Katelina blinked at her stupidly. "With what?"
The older woman looked at her sympathetically and laid a hand on her arm. "Getting away from him."
"What?"
"It's all right," the nurse said gently. "You don't have to be ashamed, honey. It's not your fault what he's done, it's his fault."
"What who's done? Jorick?" The woman nodded and then, in a rush, Katelina realized what she meant. "He didn't do anything." She'd been so worried about them guessing the truth that she hadn't thought they'd come up with an idea like domestic abuse. Strangely, it was almost a relief to have the woman asking her about something as common place and mundane as that. She suddenly realized how strange her world had become when she considered something horrible like domestic abuse mundane. "It's nothing like that."
"It never is, is it?" the nurse asked. Her eyes attempted to penetrate Katelina's mind but failed. "We can help you, if you want us to. There are ways."
"No, seriously it isn't - it wasn't him." She shook her head and wondered what would happen if they tried to arrest Jorick.
"You fell down the stairs?" The nurse looked disbelievingly at her. "And a dog attacked you? And you were at a party and now have two sets of puncture marks?"
Katelina nodded dumbly, panicking inside. For one crazed moment she was tempted to break into maniacal laughter and tell them the truth, but she was pretty sure that they'd send her to a mental institution if she did.
The nurse shook her head, increasing the pressure on her arm. "Let us help you. We can get you free from him and send you home."
"Send me home?" Katelina asked, catching her breath.
The woman looked her in the eyes. "Honey, you're listed as a missing person, as a probable kidnapping - "
Katelina's mouth dropped open and her eyes bulged. "Kidnapping? I'm not kidnapped!"
"You can tell that to the police," she said crisply. "We can help you, but you have to let us. We can't make you accept help - "
"Police?"
The nurse gave her a pitying look. "Of course. We called them after you were checked in. They're talking with him right now and - "
Katelina fought panic and fury. "I don't need any help! I'm not kidnapped! And I don't need anyone calling the police! I'm an adult, I can do what I want. They can leave us both alone. The last time I looked I had the freedom to go anywhere I wanted to, and do whatever I wanted to, after I turned eighteen."
When the nurse continued to press her, Katelina got angry and loudly demanded to see her superiors and be released. Just then, the door opened and Jorick came in quietly - sans the police escort she expected to see. His eyes flicked from her to the nurse as he walked to the bed. He handed her the coat and then nodded to the IV and addressed the nurse. "You can take this out now or I will."
"You can't just take her!" the woman spat, outraged. "Where are the police at?"
"I can leave if I want to," Katelina said angrily. "I'll sign the waver of treatment."
"That won't be necessary," a voice said from the doorway and they looked to see the doctor and a police officer. Fear shot through Katelina, but the doctor simply said, "You can go." He glanced at the angry nurse. "Unhook her."
The nurse stared, open mouthed, "But sir -" she stopped mid-sentence as Jorick turned and looked at her. "Yes sir," she said meekly and then hurried to complete the task.
When Katelina was unhooked, they passed the doctor and the officer - neither of which tried to stop them - and made their way through the emergency section. Katelina kept staring back at the policeman, but Jorick walked casually to the nurses' station to get her prescription slips, care instructions, and a packet of pain pills to last her through the night. Katelina didn't understand how he could be so calm, or what he could have said to the police and the doctor. It had to be something other than just suave words for them to allow her to go! She suddenly wondered if he was doing what Kateesha had done to her and, though she was grateful for it at the moment, a shiver went down her spine at the idea that he could control people.
She signed the release papers and Jorick scooped her up. The hospital gown peeped through the opening of the coat, but the woman at the counter didn't notice it.
They started towards the doors, but she squeezed his shoulder sharply to make him stop. "She said I'm reported as a missing person," she hissed fearfully. "A probable kidnapping!"
He nodded quickly, and pretended to be staring up at the news running across the TV screen in the corner. "Yes, I know. I'm not surprised. Your friend was taken a day or two after you left and Claudius' men destroyed your apartment. It undoubtedly looks like a kidnapping."
"But-" she began, and he cut her off.
"It's fine," he assured her. "We need to get going, the others are waiting."
His words, "the others", made her think of Kateesha and she quickly caught her breath, squeezing his shoulder again. "No, wait. Kateesha."
"What about Kateesha?" he asked patiently, eyes still on the television.
She answered quickly, her voice low, "She killed Arowenia, and was waiting for them - for Troy and his friends. She turned me over to them - they had some sort of deal -"
"I know," he whispered back. He shifted her weight in his arms started for the door again. "I'll deal with her later."
Not content, she had to ask, "How? And how are you doing this? Are you -"
"We need to go," he murmured and then, as if in confession he added, "My influence won't last forever."
The night air was cool against her exposed skin, and she huddled farther under the coat. She thought about the painkillers in Jorick's pocket and about the prescriptions. She wasn't sure how she was going to get them filled.
As they approached the car, Oren climbed out and assisted them while Torina hung out the front passenger window looking annoyed. "Can we go now, or would you rather spend more time amongst the humans?"
"Yes, Torina, we can go now," Jorick replied. "Perhaps if you'd gotten the information faster we wouldn't have been so late and then this little trip wouldn't have been necessary." He gave her a dirty look as he climbed into the backseat. He got settled and then reached for Katelina.
"I got the information as fast as I could," the sexpot retorted angrily. "It wasn't easy since Elsa's quit helping us! Do you know I had to sleep with that guy to get the location of the den? You haven't even shown me any appreciation! I went to a lot of trouble for that stupid little human-"
"Enough of this," Oren snapped. He shut the door loudly and then climbed into the driver's seat. He looked at his sister as he turned the key in the ignition. "Be quiet Torina, we're leaving now."
"Yes, but-"
"This is no longer my coven, Torina," Oren's voice was emotionless. "Jorick is older than us, and as long as we travel with him he is the master."
The redhead started to say something, but snapped her mouth closed and turned in her seat huffily, her eyes fixed on the window.
Kateesha laughed softly from her corner of the backseat. The sound made Katelina shiver. The dark woman gave Jorick a knowing look. "Yes, let us go before the pathetic human police come to their senses and try to arrest our new coven master."
Katelina shot her a dirty look. She suspected that she'd been prying in her mind again, and so she purposefully imagined Kateesha's mangled corpse. Kateesha's only response to the mental image was another bout of silvery laughter.
