Eclipse of the Warrior: The Interdimensional Saga (Book 1) (5 page)

“Did you find out anything else? Do you know what I should
expect?” I was starting to get a bit nervous and flustered thinking about the
procedure and wondered if I would survive it.

Lancer started to explain what he learned, and it turned out
to be what Ash had already told me.

I needed some space and time to think. So I went back to my
room, alone. Ash offered to join me, but I just smiled up at him and said I
needed some time to think about all of this. He said he would come get me when
it was time for dinner if I was still in my room.

____

The next morning I woke up feeling awful, and my left arm
was killing me. Before showering I decided I needed coffee first and maybe some
more Tylenol. That was where Lancer and Ash both found me.

“Good morning”. Ash looked at me smiling while he greeted
me.

“Morning”. I grumbled back.

Lancer looked closely at me and started asking me what was
wrong.

“You mean besides being a prisoner here with the threat of
immediate death over my head all the time? Not much. Well… except for the pain
in my arm from that stupid ripper and an overall feeling that I am already
dead.” I glumly replied while keeping my eyes right on my coffee.

Ash dropped his coffee and ran over to me and started
checking me for a fever. When he put his hand on my forehead he pulled it back
right away and picked me up like I weighed nothing. Not that I am fat or
anything, but I am a grown woman. So he should have been feeling at least some
strain.

He put his right arm around my back and his left under my
knees and carried me all the way to the infirmary. I did tell him he could put
me down and let me walk, but he was not hearing any of that so I just enjoyed
the ride.

Lancer ran ahead of us calling out for the commander, who
came into the infirmary right after we did.

“What’s going on, why is Ash holding B’Lana?” The commander
looked a bit peeved, almost like he expected something untoward might be going
on between Ash and me. “Ash you can put her down now.”

“Sir, B’Lana woke up feeling awful, is running a fever and
has a high level of pain in her left arm. I am worried that the ripper scratch
might be infecting her somehow.” Lancer was searching for a thermometer and the
med kit while he answered the commander.

Ash laid me down on the bed but sat next to my right side
and held my hand while Lancer stood on the other side and started to take my
temperature. Then he took off the bandage from the injury and noticed it was
indeed infected.

I looked at the spot and gasped when I saw pus where I was
scratched. It should have been scabbing over by this time, but it wasn’t. There
was even some fresh blood.

“Guys, do you have any anti-biotics? That should help stop
the infection. Also, you will need to clean the wound and re-dress it. Within a
few days it should be fine. Most likely that ripper had some pretty dirty
fingernails which caused the infection.” I was pretty sure that was all it was.

“We don’t carry human medicine. Ash you need to go out and
find a pharmacy where you can get her the proper medicine.” The commander
seemed to want to keep Ash away from me. I was not sure he was the best choice
to go out and find the right medicine since he only arrived yesterday.

Turned out Ash was very quick about finding what I needed.
He picked up several bottles of painkillers and antibiotics. I wasn’t sure how
he got ahold of them as both required prescriptions.
Better not to ask
,
I thought. He wasn’t sure what would work on me or if I had any allergies. I
informed them that I didn’t have any allergies to medicine that I knew of.

I suggested that I start with the Azithromycin for the antibiotics
as that was a strong, all around kind that would take care of most any
infections. Then I told them to hand me the bottle of Norco for the pain. I
thought it was a good thing that I remembered what DeeDee’s brother got from
the doctor when he fell out of that tree and
sprained his arm while
landing on a rusty bucket.

After Lancer cleaned my wound and re-dressed it, I went back
to the kitchen for breakfast of a bagel and coffee. All three men joined me and
started asking me all kinds of questions about how I feel. I told them it was
too soon to feel any better. The pain pills would take a little while to kick
in, and the antibiotics would take a couple of days to see a difference, maybe
longer since it was such a bad infection.

I went back to bed after breakfast. And I didn’t get up
much, except to eat and take medicine.

The next day I was not any better. Lancer again cleaned and
re-dressed my wound and I stayed mostly in bed. But this day Ash came in and
sat by my bed off and on all day. I think he was reading to me. It sounded like
Pride & Prejudice.

By the third day the rest of the squad came back and were
disheartened to see my condition. They were all convinced that the infection
was going to kill me.

Benden believed that while the scratch was not enough to
start the transformation, it was enough to put the ripper DNA in my system and
to start killing me. He believed I would not feel any better.

That was when Ash decided it was time to start my change.

“If we do nothing, she dies. If we try to change her and it
doesn’t work she dies. But if it works she lives. So why not try and help her.
We owe her that much at least.” He argued.

Lancer pretty much agreed with Ash; as did the rest of Squad
1. But the commander did not. He saw this as providence’s way of taking care of
the issue that was me. He told me he would hate to see me die, but this was
probably for the best as they weren’t even sure they could change me. Either
way it would be very painful. If they killed me now they could do it quickly
and painlessly.

I was not ready to die. I had started to want to become a
hybrid fae. It sounded like it could be a really cool thing to be the only one
of my kind in existence. Plus I could be the champion for the humans; which
they really needed.

These past three days, when I was awake, gave me time to
think about this. The fae were only concerned with keeping hybrid rippers from
crossing over. They did not care about the innocent humans who were dying every
day. I believed that they might have even been killing those they caught.

The commander had said something about wiping memories of
those not changed. But I remembered that Lancer said it usually just fried
their brains instead. That was not the solution either. We needed to find
someone who would be the champion for the innocent humans, and I thought it was
me.

“Ash, if you are willing, I want to try the transformation.
Will you change me?” He looked a bit embarrassed and he started to look down at
his fidgeting hands and I wondered if he was going to change his mind about
wanting me to become a fae hybrid.

“Actually, I will be the one who performs the change on you
B’Lana. Since you are my responsibility I will take care of you.” Lancer
surprised me when he said this. I had the impression that he was tired of
having me around and didn’t want to change me.

“Okaaaayyyy”, I said somewhat mystified at his desire to mix
his blood with mine. “Will my infection cause you any issues?”

“No, I will be fine. And if it does we have medicine to
help.” Lancer suggested I move to the infirmary and lay on the bed. Then he
proceeded to tie me down to the bed.

“Wait, why are you tying me down? I am not going to get up
and run away at this point.”

Ash told me it was for my safety as they weren’t sure if I
would start convulsing or rolling around so much I would fall off the bed. I
wasn’t too sure about this, but decided it didn’t matter. If I didn’t come out
of the change right it would be better if I wasn’t able to hurt them. Also, it would
be faster and easier for them to behead me if I was already tied up.

“B’Lana, when you wake and are feeling better, we might want
to try this for fun.” Ash said as he raised his eyebrows suggestively at me.

“Thanks Ash! I needed a laugh.” I looked up at him and smiled
as I let out a small giggle. “I hope I come out alright and there isn’t a need
for these restraints when I awake.

“If I look to be in a lot of pain you can smash up a couple
of the pain tablets and put them in a small bottle of water and have me drink
it. That should help with my pain levels.” I was really trying to get away from
his inappropriate flirting.

At this point, Lancer took out a surgical knife that had
been sterilized and cut the inside of my left forearm. It was about a two inch
gash. Then he turned the knife on his forearm and cut a similar length on
himself.

He placed his arm against mine and had Ash tie our arms
together. What happened next really surprised me. He laid down in bed with me
and said he would stay there for a while. He thought it was best to keep our
blood mixing as long as possible.

Lancer got up after about 15 minutes and cleaned my wrist
and bandaged it. His wrist was cleaned and bandaged next, but it looked like
his was already starting to heal.

While I was lying there, all eyes were on me. It was a very
weird feeling. I was also starting to feel more pain so I asked for 3 of the
Norco’s. They did tell me I would be in a lot of pain, so I figured I should
try and stop it before it got too out of hand.

It didn’t help much. I was writhing in pain within an hour
of the procedure. And then I started to sweat. Ash was looking down on me with
fear in his eyes. It looked like he thought I was going to die.

“Ash… I… am… not… going… to… die.” I said between clinched
teeth. The pain was so excruciating, I truly felt like someone had taken my
insides and put them through a grinder and then put them back inside my body.

At that point, someone picked up my arm and put a needle
with something inside me. I looked over to see that it was Lancer. “B’Lana I
found some morphine to help with your pain. Hopefully you won’t have to keep
this up for long.”

The morphine helped. After about thirty minutes I could
barely feel anything at all. It was as though my whole body went to sleep and
all I could feel was that tingling sensation.

I started to fall asleep about an hour after that. The last
thing I remember hearing was Ash whispering into my ear, “Sleep tight my
sleeping beauty. And don’t worry; I’ll be here when you wake up.”

What a flirt!

What’s next? Check out Eclipse of the Soul, Book 2 in The
Interdimensional Saga coming soon! Keep reading for a sneak peek at the first
chapter.

Want more? Follow me on Facebook:
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Do you want to be notified when I have a new book release or
major information updates? Check out my blog:
https://jlhendricksblog.wordpress.com/blog/

I have written a couple of extra scenes from this book. For
every 25 reviews I receive on Amazon, I will post on my webpage
https://jlhendricksblog.wordpress.com/
a short story or outtake from the book (up to 2 outtakes for the first book). The
first outtake is from early on in this story. It was a great scene between
B’Lana and DeeDee before the book actually started. But it didn’t help to get
the story started so I took it out. That one will go up after the first 25 reviews.
Then after the next 25 I will upload another short story with one of the other
characters from this book.

I need your help to get 50 reviews. That seems to be the
magic number. If this helps me to get reviews I will continue to do this for my
future books as well. All reviews count. While I hope to only receive good
ones, I appreciate feedback even if it isn’t something I want to hear.

And if that isn’t enough to get you to write a review,
starting in Book 3 I will include some of the reviews from Amazon at the back
of my book. Who knows, you might see your name in my next book!

Thank you so much to everyone who read this book! I hope you
really liked it and want to keep going on this journey with me.

I look forward to riding this crazy roller coaster will all
of you!

J.L. Hendricks

This book would not have happened if not for the
encouragement and help from Michael Anderle. He mentored me during the process
of writing this book and helped me to find my voice. The difference between my
first draft and what you read here is like the difference between a paper
written by a 3
^rd
grader and someone who went to college. That’s not
to say this is college level work, my book is written so that you can read it
fast and enjoy a few laughs. I am embarrassed to look back at my first draft.
But I learned a lot working with Michael on the re-writes. Thank you so much
Michael!!!!! (Yes I know that is too many “!”) LOL

I was also blessed with some great Beta Readers: Dorene
Johnson, Diane Velasquez and Dawnya Goode. You ladies rock!!! Thank you so much
for the advice and suggestions! It all really helped to move the story along.

I have always wanted to write a book. Stories have been
floating around in my head for longer than I can recall. But I never felt like
I had what it takes. Michael suggested to a group of us dreamers that we should
write. Only with his encouragement was I able to finish it. In the past I have
started writing stories only to stop and put them aside. I finally finished a
story!

I want to encourage anyone who has ever thought about
writing a book or short story to do so. You never know if you might be the next
J.K. Rowling or Michael Anderle! If you have a passion for anything at all just
do it. If it doesn’t work out at least you tried. I have always wondered about
writing and now I am doing it. Even if it doesn’t work out for me at least I
tried it. There is nothing worse than not fulfilling your destiny just because
you didn’t try.

Come join my Facebook page if you want to discuss your ideas
for anything at all.

Book cover images purchased from Dreamstime:
http://dreamstime.com

Cover design by Michael Anderle

Cover font by Dawnya Goode