Distinctly Different

Chapter 6 ~ Problems

She dimly registered Alexander standing in a corner away from all the commotion. His eyes didn’t leave his friend; Arabella didn’t even think he noticed that she was there. A loud moan from the guard made her return her attention to the situation at hand.

Arabella strode over to him and touched his forehead. She immediately withdrew it, his skin was very hot. She spotted some rags in a bucket of water and took one out to put on his forehead. It wasn’t looking good for the guard. A very high fever usually meant that the body was rejecting the wolf bite. A wolf bite didn’t mean that it will turn the person into a werewolf but the body had to accept the wolf bite to survive. She hoped that she was wrong about this, maybe it wasn’t what she thought. The guard can still make it through this, she thought.

“What should we do?” she asked Alistair. He frowned and handed her a vial of medicine. She took the vial of cloudy pink liquid and just looked at it for a moment. Alistair nodded and walked away but Arabella didn’t really notice; she was focusing on the familiar liquid in her hand.

She knew this particular medicine very well considering the many times she’d administered it to wolf attack victims. The physician gave it to wolf victims when there was no hope of them recovering. The purpose it served was putting the victims in a coma like sleep to ensure they felt no pain when they died. If Alistair was giving the guard this then he must have been sure the guard would not live.

She bit her lip as she parted the guard’s lips and tipped the vial, allowing liquid to enter the guard’s mouth. The guard swallowed and relaxed soon after. The guard sighed and then Alexander was at her side.

“What was that?” Alexander asked. Arabella looked into his tired eyes and put her hand on his shoulder.

“It’s a medicine that makes sure he won’t feel anything,” Arabella whispered sadly.

“Will it make him get better?” Alexander persisted stubbornly. Arabella sighed and looked at the guard, not able to bear looking at him as she explained.

“Alexander,” she paused, unsure how to go on. “I’m sorry but I’m afraid that the wolf bite was just to much-,”

“-No, it can’t be,” Alexander interrupted. He looked at his friend and then at the window furiously trying to remain strong and not show emotion.

“He’s dying, there’s nothing more we can do for him,” she said to his back. Alexander remained silent and she took that to mean he didn’t want to talk to her. He was trying hard to seem like a strong guy. She didn’t really understand why most guys felt they needed to appear this way but she accepted it.

On the mattress the guard took in a shaky deep breath and then breathed out. Arabella waited for the guard to take another breath but he never did. She glanced down and saw with a sinking feeling that he’d died. The medicine always made dying painless so one moment they were breathing and the next they weren’t. That was the only way you could tell they died.

Alexander still hadn’t turned around but she could tell he knew his friend had died. She sighed and corked the medicine vial. She handed Alistair the empty vial and gave him a sad smile then turned to the door and froze.

Leaning against the door frame was Rowan. He gave her a look that she wasn’t able to figure out the meaning of and then stepped aside allowing her to pass. She took a deep breath and walked past him and down the stairs. Behind her she heard footsteps, Rowan was following her. She kept walking for a bit and then turned around to face him.

“Do you need something?” Arabella asked proud her voice was normal. Rowan shook his head. “Why were you there?” she asked hoping that this time she’d get an answer.

“I heard you come inside my room and tend to the fire. I was having trouble sleeping and I felt like I needed to go for a walk,” Rowan replied his grey eyes disinterested.

“So you decided to follow me?” Arabella asked surprised. She didn’t like the idea of the youngest hunter following her places; he might discover something she wanted to keep secret. Rowan laughed a bit surprised at her boldness.

“I can see how it might seem that way,” Rowan started explaining. Arabella raised an eyebrow and Rowan went on. “Truth is I just picked a direction and started walking. Then I saw you going up the stairs to the tower and I was curious to know what you were doing.” Arabella fought the urge to sigh, it was only the first day and already she had attracted the attention of a hunter. “Was that the guard that was attacked by the wolf?” Arabella nodded.

“Yeah, its too bad he didn’t make it,” Arabella replied sadly.

“Huh, I would never have guessed it,” Rowan stated.

“Why?” Arabella asked starting to walk back to Rowan’s room.

“Well usually when someone with a werewolf bite dies they spasm and shake uncontrollably,” Rowan answered. Arabella looked at him and saw that he seemed very sad. “Their lungs fill with fluid and they have trouble breathing, it’s all very gruesome. The guard didn’t do anything like that, he just died peacefully…,” Rowan trailed off confused.

“Yeah the physician gave him a specially concocted medicine to make his death painless,” Arabella replied.

“How come I’ve never heard of it,” Rowan inquired suspiciously. His eyes seemed darker in this hallway and Arabella was inexplicably worried that something might happen. She shrugged trying to act normal.

“I don’t know, there are many medicines in the world, it’s very likely that not even the physicians know each different medicine,” Arabella said. “That medicine is very hard to make and it takes quite a while to prepare. It’s not that hard to believe that it’s not well known knowledge.” She spotted Rowan’s room and almost sighed in relief, she did not like the way this talk was going. “Well here’s your room,” Arabella said pausing in front of it. “I’ll see you tomorrow; do you need anything right now?” Rowan shook his head once again acting disinterested. “Alright,” Arabella said. She smiled at Rowan as he entered his room and then started walking to her room.

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Sorry i haven't updated in a while, i've just been feeling lazy over summer break, but now school's started so i'll try to post chapters of my stories more regularly. also for this story i've been thinking of adding one of the hunters point of view but i'm not sure if i should. comment below on if you think i should, if you want.