She only had the outfit she came her in, which she was sure had been discarded after all the blood loss. She glanced around the room for any sign of her clothes or her shoes, and saw two neat stacks of clothing on the bed. She walked carefully over and sat next to them, pulling off the yellow sticky note on top of the first pile.
Thought you'd want your own clothes back.
Underneath the note was the blue jeans and grey t-shirt she had worn three days earlier, but they were freshly washed and free of any blood stains. Her white sneakers were placed neatly on the floor, with a fresh pair of socks. Adelaide felt a smile come to her face as she reached for the second pile, pulling off an identical yellow sticky note.
Your flannel was beyond cleaning, so I hope this will work as a replacement.
When she moved the sticky note Adelaide saw a different flannel shirt than hers, and quickly recognized it as Stefan's. He'd worn it the day they met in the woods. She remembered how he threw it on the ground in frustration when he showed her his scars. Adelaide glanced behind her at the door to the bathroom, smiling at his gesture. She could still hear the shower running, and some faint humming, so she figured she had a minute of privacy to change into the new clothes.
She slipped the jeans on pretty easily, silently grateful she hadn't chosen to wear skinny jeans. The t-shirt swap was a little hard to maneuver on her own, but Adelaide pushed through the soreness in her arms and got the clean shirt on. She decided to skip the shoes for now, her stomach already hurting at the idea of bending over to put them on.
Adelaide slipped Stefan's flannel on over the t-shirt. The sleeves were too long, so she folded them up and cuffed it at her wrist. It was clearly too long for her, but she didn't mind. It smelled like laundry soap and faintly of amber. It reminded her of the feeling of calm she got around Stefan.
Feeling refreshed in clean clothes, Adelaide wandered around the room, browsing Stefan's large collection of books. She wondered if any of them were books about magic, like the textbooks she used to have to study accounting. Adelaide couldn't read the titles of a lot of the books - many of them were in Czech, but she recognized others as French, Greek, and German. There were some English titles as well, and they were mostly classical literature books. She wondered if he had really read all of the books in his room, or he just liked to collect them.
Adelaide's train of thoughts was cut off when she heard the shower cut off in the other room. She had wandered over to the small sitting area next to the windows, and had taken up a spot in one of the green armchairs. She picked up the book nearest to her on the coffee table, pretending to read it as Stefan exited the bathroom.
Stefan didn't seem surprised to see her as he waltzed out of the bathroom wearing a pair of boxer shorts and using a towel to dry off his dark hair. He nodded his head towards her, making his way across the room to his dresser.
"Nice shirt." He commented, throwing a glance over his shoulder as he dug through the drawers. Adelaide felt her cheeks heat up as she looked down at the flannel she had on.
"Thanks." She mumbled, resisting the urge to smile. She shut the book she had been reading, and set it back where she found it. She watched Stefan pick out a pair of jeans and a plain t-shirt. He pulled on the jeans in a swift motion, and pulled the shirt over his head and covered up the muscles in his back. When he moved to turn around she looked away quickly, the blush on her face intensifying
"So," Stefan said, his face expressionless as he made his way to the seating area. He plopped down in the chair next to her, propping his feet up on the coffee table, "did you and your boyfriend kiss and make up?"
"He's not my boyfriend." Adelaide found herself saying, her face heating up again when she realized how quickly she had responded. She liked Christoph a lot, and the feeling was definitely mutual, but they'd also known each other a week. She wasn't sure she was ready to refer to him as her boyfriend.
"My bad." Stefan put his hands up in defense, but he didn't seem too interested in whatever tile she chose. Adelaide was quick to change the subject.
"Ready to teach me how to fight?" She raised her eyebrows in anticipation, eager to learn more magic that she could use to defend herself. Stefan chuckled to himself, pulling his feet down off of the table.
"In a little bit. We need to do another treatment first." He told her, nodding his head towards the bed. Adelaide listened, pulling herself up and laying back on the bed instead. She pulled her shirt up enough so he could look at the biggest wound on her stomach. The smaller cuts on her arms and hands were healing much quicker, but where the key had impaled her was the slowest.
"Hmm." Stefan hummed to himself as he inspected it. His fingers brushed against her skin lightly, and Adelaide felt a shiver run through her.
"What? Is something wrong?" Adelaide asked with worry in her voice. She wasn't sure how the krvavá wounds were supposed to heal. Could they get infected, like regular wounds? Should she be cleaning it more?
"Not really, it's just healing a lot slower than I anticipated," He answered, gently running his fingers across her arm at the already healing cuts there, "you just need to keep taking it easy and getting more rest. It's a lot deeper than most of the krvavá wounds I've healed, so it will take more time."
"But we don't have time, Stefan...isn't there something else you can do? Another spell?" Adelaide asked, propping herself up on her elbows to look at him. He shook his head at her.
"There are stronger spells, but it's too risky. This kind of healing magic is powerful, but it's complicated and can go wrong. I've only read about them before, I've never practiced them. I can't risk trying something more powerful and it going wrong." Stefan shook his head, leaning away from her on the bed. Adelaide shot up, wincing at her stomach. He gave her a annoyed look, but she ignored it.
"Stefan, I can't just sit around here and wait knowing they have my brother," Adelaide was practically begging him at this point. He didn't seem too convinced, and when he stayed silent, she kept talking, "You know better than anyone they're not afraid to hurt people to get what they want. We have to save him. Please, Stefan, just try it."
His face remained blank as he looked back at her, and she was sure he was going to say no again. Just as Adelaide was about to give up, he slowly nodded his head.
"Okay, I'll try it," Stefan answered slowly. Adelaide grinned at him, but he still looked worried, "but it's going to hurt, Adelaide. Even worse than the last time."
"That's okay, I can handle it." She told him with a nod, though she silently dreaded experiencing pain like that again. She knew she had to do it, because James would have done the same thing for her. Stefan grabbed a pillow from the head of the bead and told Adelaide to lay down. She listened intently and watched patiently as he sped around the room and gathered supplies.
He pulled over several candles from his stash and placed them around the room, lighting them with a flick of his finger as he went along. Then he pulled a stick of sage out of a drawer, lighting it and waving it in the air above her while mumbling under his breath.
Lastly, Stefan took a glass mason jar full of some oil out of a drawer on the bookshelf and brought it over to the bed. He carefully lifted up Adelaide's shirt and removed the bandage they'd had over the wound. He opened the jar and pulled a small circle of the oil onto the open wound, and Adelaide winced as it made contact. Stefan recited some more under his breath, and spread the oil around her abdomen. It stung her wound, but smelled of an herb she couldn't identify.
"Okay, I'm ready." Stefan announced, taking a spot on the bed next to her and crossing his legs underneath him. Adelaide put her hands by her sides, taking in a deep breath as she prepared herself.
"Ready?" He asked, with his eyebrows raised. Adelaide didn't look up at him, but nodded eagerly. She was convincing herself that temporary pain was going to be worth not being in pain every time she took in a deep breath.
She felt Stefan's hands hover over the wound, and he started to recite the spell under his breath. It started out just like the other times, as a dull pain on the edge of her stomach. But it grew much faster this time, and within seconds, Adelaide felt like all of her breath had been knocked out of her. She couldn't help when a surprised gasp escaped her mouth. The pain was sudden and strong, and it only kept increasing. It felt like someone was stabbing her in the stomach again and again, only worse.
Just as Adelaide was sure it had stopped getting worse and she would be okay, Stefan's voice grew louder and he chanted a new line of the spell. A pain like she'd never felt before shot up her spine, and her back arched underneath her. She cried out in pain, her hands clenched into tight fists at her side. As fast as it came, it disappeared, and all the tension in her stomach left.
"Are you okay?" Stefan stopped the spell, his hands going to Adelaide's face to look her in the eyes before moving down her body and checking for any new injuries. His normally bored expression was gone, and instead his eyes were wild as he looked at her with concern. Adelaide couldn't respond as she got control of her breathing, but the crazed look in his eyes scared her briefly. She'd never seen him look so worked up.
Seconds later, the door flew open, and Christoph appeared, with Lorenzo in tow. He quickly scanned the room until he spotted her laying on the bed, and he rushed towards her.
"Adelaide? What happened? We heard you scream." Christoph leaned over her, aggressively looking over every inch of her body for something wrong. When he didn't find anything obvious, he looked towards Stefan angrily, "what did you do?"
"I'm okay, it's okay" Adelaide breathed out to calm him down. She pushed herself up on her elbows, putting a hand on Christoph's chest to ease him away from Stefan. Once he had calmed down half a step, she turned her attention to Stefan, who was analyzing the wound on her stomach, "well, did it work?"
Stefan had grabbed a piece of cloth from the first aid kit and wiped off the oil so they could see clearly. As he swiped at the sticky substance, Adelaide's mouth fell open at the sight in front of her. The wound that had moments before been gaping, inflamed, and just barely scabbed over had shrunk to half the size, and the angry, red scab had calmed to a more normal pink tinged one. It was still sore, but much less than it had been moments earlier.
"Holy shit," Stefan muttered under his breath, poking and prodding at the wound to make sure it was real, "I can't believe it worked."
"Of course it worked, Stefan! You're amazing!" Adelaide exclaimed, a grin appearing on her face. She was so excited about the healing wound, the pain she felt moments earlier felt worth it. She couldn't believe Stefan was able to do that with just some oil, candles, and a spell.
"What did he do?" Lorenzo asked curiously, his Italian accent filling up the room as he stepped closer to the bed. He and Christoph peered at her wound, their eyebrows raising when they saw how much it had healed.
"Damn." Lorenzo whistled, with a soft chuckle. He held his hand up and clapped Stefan on the shoulder, as if congratulating him on a good play. Stefan didn't respond, his eyes still on the hole that had shrunk half its size. Lorenzo didn't stick around once he knew there was no threat of danger, and he sauntered out of the room and back to the TV.
"How did you do that?" Christoph asked in an skeptical tone, "Are you sure this is safe?"
"It's safe." Stefan responded simply, looking up at Christoph. Their eyes met and they seemed to be staring at the other, daring them to challenge first. Adelaide looked between the two grown men on either side of her, wishing they wouldn't choose this moment to have it out.
"It's safe, Christoph, I promise. It hurts like hell but it's worth it," Adelaide told him. He looked away from Stefan at her words, his face softening when he looked at her. She offered a small smile to comfort him, before turning to look at Stefan, "you have to do it again. You stopped in the middle of it but you need to finish it."
"Yeah I stopped cause you screamed in pain, Adelaide." Stefan told her, shaking his head. He moved back, but she reached out and put a hand on his arm before he could get up.
"Come on, Stefan, please. Just one more time. Christoph will be here this time, and he can hold my hand. I won't scream again." Adelaide pleaded. She knew he could do it and fully close the wound, and that's what she needed if she was going to learn magic and be ready to fight.
"I'm not worried about you screaming, Adelaide, I'm worried about making it worse." Stefan told her, narrowing his dark eyes at her. She didn't back down, grasping onto his arm and looking into his face.
"You're not, Stefan, I promise. You're making it better - see?" Adelaide urged, gesturing to the half-closed wound on her exposed stomach. Stefan glanced at it, then looked back at her face. He seemed deep in thought, but she couldn't tell from his expression what he was thinking.
"Okay, fine. But just one more time." Stefan agreed with a sigh. Adelaide grinned, squeezing his arm gratefully before laying back down on the bed. Stefan repositioned himself on the bed, and gathered his supplies again for another go. Meanwhile, Christoph knelt down at the foot of the bed and clutched her hand.
"You are...absolutely crazy," He breathed out, shaking his head as he laughed at her, "but in a good way."
Adelaide laughed at him, grateful he'd be here this time to make the pain a little more bearable. She squeezed his hand before settling into position, and preparing for another wave of unbearable pain for hopefully the last time.