Ever After (46 page)

“If you need anything let me or Libby know we are your nurses now. We will be in the next room ok?” Sayann smiled at me.

“I never got to really thank you for, saving me from Leo and the Dark coven.” I smiled back at her, truly grateful for her kindness.

“No need to thank me Corrine. I wanted to thank you. I would never have been brave enough to leave on my own. I saw how desperately you wanted to be with William again and how much you loved him. It gave me the drive to get you out of there. You are the reason I am now with the coven I should always have been with. I had heard of the Followers and how they honored human life but I never knew how to find them. I will always be thankful to you forever.”

“And I you Sayann, we saved each other.” I waved her in for a hug. She carefully wrapped her arms around me as if I were made of porcelain.

“I’m so happy you are going to be ok.” She said to me as she and Libby left the room. I watched Doc and Pratt now, bent over my charts, in a deep discussion about my treatment no doubt.

“What happened to Leo and Todd?” I asked Will as he sat on the edge of my bed, and held me in his arms lovingly.

“You need to rest love, don’t worry about all that now.” He rubbed my arm softly.

“No really. I will feel better if I know, please tell me.”

“Well. Ok then, if you must know. Todd is dead; Roth forced him to drink a vial of dead blood in the woods after he attacked you.” I was shocked, was I finally rid of that varmint after all the hell he put me through?

“Really, he’s gone?” I said in shock.

“Yes, he was working with Leo, he was to kill you and bring me back to Leo and the Dark coven. If he succeeded, he would be Leo’s right hand man or something like that. I was shocked they wanted an idiot like that in their coven really.” Will laughed and so did I, Todd had always been moron.

“I still can’t believe he was a vampire!”

“That makes two of us. It all made sense though; we never could track him down all those months after he last attacked you in your room. It was all because we were looking for a human, not a vampire and he was turned not very long after he ran off.”

“Leo?”

“Doc’s dealing with him; he won’t ever come out where we can get at him. Doc told us he always has his vampires do his dirty work for him. He directs them, but never really gets his hands dirty. The house here is on lock down, so if he sends any of his grunts to try to get us, they won’t have a chance.”

I snuggled in closer to William, trying to block out the fact Leo was still out there, but glad to know Todd was finally gone for good. I would not have to worry about him trying to kill me anymore. Doc and Pratt finished their conversation, and walked back over to my bedside. I was starting to feel tired and hoped they might let me sleep a little bit soon.

“Pratt and I have brain stormed and we feel we know how to handle your recovery Corrine.”

“Yes, we both feel we have the best way to handle this. My good friend Xavier is coming tomorrow and he also will advise us further as he his very educated on changing issues. The course of action is to begin the serum treatments again. I ran a blood panel earlier, and your cancer seems to be re surfacing. The serum will once again set it back to remission, and we can continue with the process to change you to a half blood.” Pratt folded up my chart thoughtfully as he looked at me.

“I feel we can safely see you through the change Corrine, and all will be well.”

“Yes, and with Pratt’s friend coming, we will have even more help to make sure things go the right way.” Doc added. I wanted to jump up and hug them both. I would not have a chance in hell if those two were not here.

“You are certain all of this will work then? It’s not just educated guessing or anything like that is it?” Will’s ever present worrying jumped in. I couldn’t blame him after all the problems I had, he had a right to be cautious.

“Yes, William Doc and I are very confident this process will see Corrine safely to compete her changing process.”

“Then we will do it!” I added smiling. I was ready for some god news now. I was over depressing stuff. Doc seemed edgy as he cleared his throat, to let us know he needed to say something.

“We do have one more thing to discuss quickly, as I want Corrine to get some rest. I feel though we should speak about it briefly right now.

“What’s that?” Will asked, seeming somewhat annoyed. I think he was like me; we just wanted some peace for now, no more drama.

“Corrine’s father, he has called at least five times a day, ever since your abrupt departure back to Maine.” He shook his head, as we all knew that was a bogus story. I have been keeping him at bay, so far, but he wants’ to speak to you Corrine. The manner in which we left so quickly has him a bit upset, understandably.”

I was not surprised. Dad had expected to have some more time with me after he got back from the benefit dinner the night of my kidnapping. I to want that, he and I had always been close; we were our own little family with Gram, before Sara came along.

“What do we do about it then?” I was baffled; it would be too hard to stage another fake clinic, so quickly right now.

“We will handle it very carefully, Corrine. I know he is going to want to see you.” Doc frowned as he looked at Pratt.

“She can’t make the trip home right now, even across town to her own home. She needs complete rest for a few days than we can discuss it.” Pratt added.

“We can’t stage another clinic either. Corrine doesn’t need to be in Maine in the winter season. The weathers unstable already.

Chapter
34

More
complications

I knew this was once again going to be a problem, just as it was in the fall. I did not think we could pull another fake clinic off either. I really didn’t want to anyway. I was tired and sore, and dealing with the drama between dad and Sara was the last thing I wanted to do.

“I don’t think it’s wise to be moving her at all, in fact for the next week, it is not an option.” Pratt’s words were firm, and not up for negotiation.

I knew this but I also knew my dad. He would have the cops called if Doc refused to let me come home, or let him visit me. I could not risk the coven’s privacy again. I had to do what I could to protect them, as they were my family as well now.

“If I have to go home for a few days, I can do it. I can be tough.” I sighed. Dr. Pratt moved closer to me and looked me in the eyes, a frown on his perfect pale face.

“Corrine it’s not about being tough. You can’t push yourself, for anybody for any reason. I understand your father may want you home, but until you are stronger, I will not allow you. If need be I will pay your father a visit and help him to understand why you cannot be home right now. I am sure I can help him to understand me.”

“Yes, Pratt can be very persuasive; he has a way of handling human minds. It’s a gift very few vamps have.” Doc chuckled.

“Ok than.” I smiled. “We will see if we can stall him. I really think I do need a few days before I can get around anyway.”

I spent the next few days three to be exact recovering. It seemed my life had become and endless merry go round of accidents and recovery periods. I was really getting over it. I wanted the drama to end, the stress and all the uncertainty as well. I knew Doc was dealing with Leo as everyone else focused on me.

I could hear him speaking with the elders about threats Leo was making against the Followers. It seemed since the incident in the woods, Leo was totally ticked off at Doc, and he wanted to kill him and any of the Followers he could get to. It was hard to believe that he and Doc were brothers. The two were so drastically different, it was crazy.

I also learned that Todd had angered Leo and the Dark coven as well. It seems Todd was to have kid napped William, not me that night. Todd had defied Leo. He devised his own plan, which Leo later approved of, to use me as bait to lure the Followers to the stone house to rescue me.

Leo knew how much Doc cared about William so he wanted him. Leo wanted to hurt or kill anyone or anything that Doc loved, to get at him. Doc and the coven were now extremely worried about William’s safety. Leo would steal him or kill him now, and take whatever chance he had to do so. Doc had Will and I guarded at all times. We were never to be alone.

Lydia was stressed tremendously, knowing the risks her only child was facing. I could see the strain on her beautiful face as she watched William whenever he was in the room. It hurt me to see her stare at him, as if she was trying to etch every detail of him in her mind in case something happened.

I watched Will myself now, each day. I could see he was weak and tired; he dozed off all the time. I talked to Doc and Pratt, and they too were worried about him. Will would not let them examine him at all, no matter how much they asked. Doc was worried about how much danger Will was in and with him so weak, he was vulnerable to an attack by the Dark coven.

Pratt confided in me that the only way for Will to fully recover, was to consume human blood from a living donor. The amount he would need would kill any human. I knew he would rather die than take a human life. I loved that he was so noble, but I could not watch him get weaker by the day. I knew he was trying hard to hide how bad he felt in front of me.

I could see the strain in his eyes, he was suffering, and he wouldn’t let me help him. Pratt sat Lydia and me down one afternoon a few days later to talk to us about Will. Roth had Will preoccupied with a game on his x-box along with Taylor and Riley. This was a conversation I had been dreading.

Pratt told us it would be a full year before Will would re cover without the human blood. A year was a very long time. It was especially dangerous for Will since he was a target for the Dark coven. It was highly possible they would try to kidnap him, or even kill him, and with him so weak, he could never fight them off.

Pratt also told us he was prone to becoming sick, even from simple human illness. He was also showing more and more traits of becoming human. It would make him more vulnerable to illness and death, the longer he went without human blood.

The fourth morning of my recovery dawned. I woke as the sun was rising, a slice of sunlight shone through the heavy red velvet drapes on to my bed. Will was curled up in the armchair next to the fireplace, which was blazing. It was now early December and the weather was bitterly cold.

I could hear the wind beating the house and it made me shiver. I watched Will sleeping, he looked like an angel. His thick eyelashes fanned out on his perfect cheekbones. He looked like a Greek sculpture motionless and peaceful. I sighed softly, thinking back to our carefree summer.

I guess the cold weather made me think of all the picnics and warm afternoons we spent together. I had to wonder if we would ever get to be that way again. If it was even possible to be, worry free, and just simply happy. I wanted a quiet life, not one like a roller coaster.

The recent discussion we had with Doc, Pratt and some of the other coven members just yesterday rolled around in my head. My dad was getting very hard to deal with now; he was calling Doc five or six times a day. I had called him, each day since my resurfacing (or whatever) but he was desperate to have me come home.

I told him it would be hard, but he wouldn’t stop, he seemed to think I joined a cult or something. I know he was wanting to see if I came home wearing black eye liner and sporting tribal tattoos no doubt. I imagined Sara was putting doubts in his head about Doc and what he was doing with me so far from home.

This brought about the decision for me to return home, briefly for a visit right before Christmas. Dad could not be put off any longer and I really felt strong enough to handle the trip and even Sara. It being the holidays explained a lot of why dad was so hell bent on getting me home. My mother had died shortly after Christmas, and it was always a very emotional time for both of us, but especially him.

Will was extremely upset. He was afraid I would get sick while we traveled home, or the Dark coven might try to kidnap me again or worse. I had to admit those things were on my mind too. It was only a short trip home of course but still risky.

Pratt had increased my serum doses to make me stronger, and medically I was cleared to go. I was really excited to see dad again. I worried after I completely transformed it might be hard to see him if at all.

Pratt as we had originally planned wanted to take me back to France to complete my change. It was safer there, he said. He had a laboratory and a full medical staff to assist him. Emma assured me I would love their estate in France. Will had been there many times, with his mother when they were hiding from Vincent over the years.