Ordained (11 page)

Emily had long given up on sleep by the time the sun crept over the horizon. Morning practice was due to start shortly. She figured after last night, the least she could do was attend and burn the alcohol out of her system.

“Darby?”

Emily rolled her back and forth but she stubbornly moaned and hid underneath the covers.

“Fine. You leave me no choice.”

She picked up the clock and blared the music into Darby’s ear. Her body jolted to life.

“Oh, you witch!” she cried out. Suddenly sick, she added, “Oh, God. What the hell did I drink last night?”

“I think the better question is what
didn’t
you drink last night.” She threw Darby’s covers to the floor as she tried to bury herself again. Still freezing after curling into the fetal position, Darby determined it wasn’t worth fighting and reluctantly sat herself up in bed.

A few minutes later they entered the arena. The Chancellor, along with a few advisors and hunters, had made their way there before them. Mira and her roommate Calley were amongst them.

Calley was stretching on the floor. Once a natural brunette, her bleached hair looked odd with her dark brown eyebrows. All the trips to the tanning beds made her skin look raw and older than she really was. Emily had always found her prissy but had honestly never bothered to know her.

“Morning,” Calley offered, but more out of habit than caring.

“Good morning, Calley,” Darby answered while yawning.

Mira was lying on her stomach trying desperately to catch a few more minutes of sleep. Emily playfully nudged her in the side with her foot. Mira moaned.

“Mira?”

She mumbled, “Too early. Need sleep.”

“Oh, come on. Abby goes out every night, all night and still trains with me in the morning.”

“Yeah, well, she can. She doesn’t get hurt as easily as we do. She’s indestructible.”

Emily didn’t answer. Her attention was drawn to the double doors in the back, to the fair skinned body draped limply in Noel’s arms. A red stain was smeared all over her body.

“My God! What happened?” cried the Chancellor.

Noel didn’t stop but coolly responded as he passed, “She just hit her head. Most of this was the demon’s blood.”

“But she’s cut!” he cried, following behind.

“They’re superficial.”

“We have an in-house doctor. I’ll send for him.”

“No!” exclaimed Noel. “I’ll take care of it. It’s just a few scratches.”

The Chancellor fell back. His mouth ajar, his eyes stricken with worry for his last line of defense. “What demon?!” he yelled out.

Noel paused by Emily and quietly asked her what her blood type was.

“O-negative.”

“Come with me.”

Abby’s frail and tired body sank heavily into the bed. Her face was expressionless and her skin paler than normal, almost gray. A needle was placed inside her arm, blood flowing inward from a sterile, plastic pouch. Across the room Emily was sitting, staring in disbelief. Her body swayed back and forth, as if she lost her sense of balance. She pulled the cotton ball away from her arm. A tiny prick of blood surfaced.

Noel emerged from the bathroom wiping his dampened hands with a towel, now stained light pink.

Emily was tired; really tired – and dizzy. She lifted her head to face him and slowly formed the question, “Have you ever had to do this before?”

“Yeah. Long time ago.”

“So it works?”

“To an extent.”

Confused, Emily asked, “You guys are the same. Why can’t you just transfer your own blood into her?”

“We need fresh cells. Our bodies no longer make them.”

He squeezed the pouch of blood and forced it to flow through faster.

“And O-negative? What type of blood does Abby have?”

“We don’t know. Either of us. The whole blood group system thing didn’t get created until long after we had turned. We choose O-negative blood because it’s the only blood type lacking antigens. It doesn’t seem to cause any problems when it comes into contact with our tainted blood.”

He picked up a jar with a home-made remedy in it, unwrapped Abby’s bandages and spread it across her wounds.

“I thought your cells were immortal,” Emily said.

“They are, but they don’t have the ability to make more. She has to be given fresh cells to make up for what she’s lost. What blood she has left will transfect your live cells and make them immortal too. When the process is complete, she’ll be back to normal.”

The information seemed to go right over her head. It literally went in one ear and out the other without allowing her to process it. Emily tried to shake the dizziness away.

“How long will that take?”

“This much blood loss? A few days.”

Noel replaced the cap on the jar and wiped his hands with the towel again.

“Abby said you can’t bleed to death.” She said it mostly to herself. Abby looked pretty much on death’s doorstep.

“She’s right. Should we lose all our blood, we would lay dormant, but not dead. I would imagine we would just be too weak to move.

“God help us if we ever get that far. Once our bodies reach that point, it would be really hard physically to come back from. Months at least. Then there’s also the risk we’ll never gain back the same amount of strength we had to begin with.”

The smell of the cream circulated around her and made her extremely nauseous. Her hand covered her scrunched-up face and moaned, “God! That’s awful! What is that?” A rising feeling of queasiness traveled from her stomach up through her throat. She gagged, but nothing but air was released.

Noel tried not to laugh, but he was amused by her sensory overload. “The smell will go away when it dries. Our bodies can’t make fresh white blood cells either. The cream will fight infection.”

She leaned forward and buried her head into her legs. Muffled, she asked, “How can you stand that smell? I’m way over here and I’m gonna be sick!”

“You get used to it.”

Emily slowly lifted her head back up. The burning in her stomach returned and she groaned. “I’ve gotta get outta here.”

“Freeze!” Noel cried. He actually pointed at her. “I found some blood in their clinic but I had to take more from you than you realize. If you stand up now you’ll hit the floor.”

Ignoring his command, Emily dropped heavily to the floor. “I’m fine,” she said stubbornly. Her yearning for fresh air far outweighed her vertigo.
Oh, maybe not!
Her legs jiggled like jelly and gave way. She smacked the floor hard, knees first, then palms and chest. She moaned in pain.

“What the hell did I just tell you?” Noel berated as he picked her up off the floor and helped her toward the bed.

“Head rush,” she said breathlessly. The room was spinning violently and her legs kept trying to fold underneath her. Emily’s body fell heavily into bed, head buried face first. Though she couldn’t see it, she felt every spin the world made around her and the massive pressure building up behind her eyes.

“You’re not going anywhere until your body recovers.”

“But the smell is awful!” she cried through the blanket.

“It’ll be gone in ten minutes. Until then, suck it up.”

He dropped a pillow on the back of her head. Emily roughly rotated stomach side up and embraced the pillow over her face.

Emily’s eyes fluttered slowly, focusing in and out on the blurriness until they opened all the way. Her vision was slow to sharpen. When it did, she could read the clock on the wall - ten-thirteen. Morning? Night? The curtains were drawn shut.

The transfusion equipment lay on the nightstand. Cotton was taped on the inside of her and Abby’s arms. Abby’s color was returning to her normal ivory shade.

Noel was situated in an arm chair reading another book. She recognized the chair from one of the nearby common rooms.

“How long was I out?” she asked, her voice dry and scratchy.

“Really long time. Guess the Order doesn’t factor sleeping into your schedules anymore.” He passed her a bottle of water.

“Not really. How’s she doing? She looks better.”

“It’s still going to be a while.”

Emily tried lifting her body but it ached and fell heavily back into bed. Instead she rolled sideways to drink, finishing half of it with five large gulps.

“Why don’t you get some fresh air? I’ll watch her.” She sank back into bed.

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. I’m too tired to go anywhere.”

“All right. I won’t be long,” he said tiredly, stretching and yawning as he stood.

Noel gathered his coat and slipped his shoes on. Just as he prepared to open the door, Emily quietly asked, “Vampires can sense fear, right?”

“Yeah. It’s how they choose their victims. Why struggle with one when you know the other will buckle in your arms?”

“Do you guys have that type of sensory perception?”

“Somewhat,” Noel said. “But it’s not as profound as our twisted descendents.”

Emily gazed softly at Abby. Her wounds had already begun to heal but the original damage to her body still lingered; ripped muscles and loose skin – the pain she must have endured.

“Then why weren’t you able to find her earlier? Why was she out there bleeding, struggling to get back here before the sun came up?”

Noel released a heavy sigh. He rubbed his eyebrows, searching for the right words.

“This beating may seem severe to you and I but it wasn’t to Abby. I didn’t know to help her because she never once feared for her life.” A moment later he added, “Abby’s not afraid to die.”

Emily reviewed Abby’s body once again. How could someone on the brink of death with this much damage not fear for her survival?

“Is she afraid of anything?”

Hesitant, Noel responded, “Yeah. One thing.”

“What?” asked Emily, mostly in disbelief.

“Did she tell you about her parents yet?”

“No,” replied Emily. “I didn’t think any hunter knew their family. We were all brought here after birth.”

Noel slowly sat down in the arm chair again.
“Not Abby. The Order never even knew she existed until the day I brought her here when she was three.”

“Yeah, she mentioned that to me. So you didn’t work for the Order then?”

“No. They only made me her honorary advisor when we left.”

“How’d they miss her?” inquired Emily.

“Her mother cast a protection spell to hide Abby from her father, which incidentally, hid her from the Order.”

“Why?”

“Because, her mother was a good witch and her father – well, he was an evil warlock.”

“Her mother married a warlock?” cried Emily, shooting up in bed. She wished she hadn’t for she immediately felt nauseous and dizzy.

“
Evil
warlock. There’s a difference. And she was seduced,” Noel explained as he got up and went to the bathroom.

Emily lay back down again and blew out several breaths until the sickness subsided. “So what happened to her mother?”