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| Jackson |
Jackson watched Doctor Everston like a hawk. He twiddled his fingers while he waited on the examination bed; Everston was grabbing all kinds of things that sent a shiver down his spine. He took something that looked like a pair of pliers and filled two syringes with different liquids—one clear, another purple.
"Uh...what are those?" he asked as Everston made his way over to him.
"These are extraction forceps," he said, shaking the pliers. He stopped beside Jackson and looked down at him. As he held up the syringe with the clear liquid inside, he said, "This one is anaesthetic; it'll make it so you can't feel a thing." He held up the syringe containing the purple liquid. "And this is a healant. It'll kickstart and speed up your healing process so your new fangs come through much faster."
Jackson's eyes widened a little as he stared at the sharp needles. "That's gonna hurt though...right? Injecting it."
"You'll feel a little scratch, yeah. But that's it."
His heart started beating a little harder in response to his anxiety. But he did his best not to freak out. "O-okay." He turned his head and looked up at the ceiling.
Everston handed Jackson what looked like a pair of sunglasses. "Put these on."
He did as he said and put the glasses on.
The doctor then placed his things down on the nearby table and adjusted the light so that it was shining down on Jackson's face. "All right, I'm gonna do the anaesthetic right now. You ready?"
"Mm-hmm," he mumbled nervously.
"All right, just open your mouth and we'll get this done in no time."
Jackson opened his mouth and clenched his fists as he closed his eyes. He frowned when he felt the anaesthetic needle pierce his gum, but it worked faster than any anaesthetic he'd had before; in half a second, his entire jaw went numb.
"You feel this?" Everston asked.
He tried to reply, but his attempt to tell him that he couldn't feel a thing came out as a bunch of jumbled words, and so did his attempt to tell him that he was surprised at how fast it worked.
"Good," the doctor said. "So, you're gonna hear a crack or two, maybe feel a tiny bit of pressure, but that's it."
Jackson nodded. He heard a crack a few moments later, and when he felt the pressure, he frowned and tried his best not to grunt and gag. He hated every second of this. All he wanted to do was get up and—
"All done," Everston said.
He opened his eyes and looked at him. "Ca I coe ma muth?" he asked.
"No, no," the doctor said as he placed the pliers down and then picked up the syringe with the purple liquid in. "I still gotta get your new fangs to come through. It'll just take a sec."
With a nod, Jackson closed his eyes again. He didn't want to see what the guy was doing.
"Okay," Everston drawled. "And...we're done."
Jackson opened his eyes. "Re-ey?"
He nodded as he put the empty syringe down. "You're gonna be numb for a little. Oh—" he snatched a mirror and offered it to him—"you can watch them come in, if you like."
"Uh..." Jackson uttered as he sat up, keeping his mouth open.
"Here."
Jackson took the mirror from him. He felt hesitant to see the state his mouth was probably in, but he was curious to see his fangs appear. So, he slowly lifted the mirror to his face...and stared at the two holes where his canines once were.
At first, he felt horrified, but then he spotted the sharp tips of new teeth gradually making their way through.
"Pretty cool, huh?" Everston said with a smirk, standing beside him. "You know, it was a common practice a few hundred—maybe a thousand—years back for people to capture demons and farm them for fangs and venom."
Jackson grimaced uncomfortably as he looked at him. "At's awul."
"It is awful, yeah. But demon venom and fangs were a very expensive ingredient—very hard to come by. It's used in a lot of medicine today. Of course, we get the stuff from much more humane—I guess you'd call it—methods. Just like humans donate blood, demons and vamps and whatever else donate what's needed."
The anaesthetic was starting to wear off. Jackson could feel a little of his tongue, and when he looked in the mirror again, he stared at his new fangs. They looked like canines, but they were slightly longer and much sharper. If he didn't know he was a demon, he'd assume he was a vampire.
"Ca I...r...retrac em?" he asked, glancing at Everston.
"Uh no. Only some vampires can retract their fangs. Sorry. But hey, at least you don't have four...or six. I don't know how Alucard does anything with a mouth full of fangs," he mumbled, rubbing one of his own teeth.
"Alucard?" Jackson questioned.
Everston adorned an expression which made it look like he'd said something he wasn't supposed to. "Uh...shit. Lord Caedis." He sighed heavily and waved his hand around. "It's hard to remember all these names, man. I ain't a demon. I don't have to use his title, but I'm supposed to do it around outsiders." He looked at Jackson. "Whatever you do—if you wanna keep the skin on your body—you'd better forget you heard it."
Jackson nodded slowly. "Wight...yeah. Ne'er 'eard it."
"Good. All right, you wanna rinse?"
As Everston handed him a cup of mouthwash, he took it and carefully tipped some into his mouth. He swished it around, and once he spat it out into the sink, he stared in the mirror again.
"Wa...what..." he struggled, trying to fight the fading numbness. "What...do I...use them for?"
"Lucian's probably the one who'll teach you this stuff. What I can tell you, though, is that you should never underestimate the use of your fangs. Your venom can do a whole bunch of different things. When you bite someone, you gotta do it with intention to get the right effect, you know?"
"Like...what?"
"Well, if you wanna cause someone the worst kind of pain they're ever gonna feel in their life, that's one thing. You can use it to knock someone out...or cause extreme pleasure," he said with a smirk and a wink.
Jackson rolled his eyes, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"As for the blood...well, you need to feed on it, and then after some training, you might be able to learn to do what Lord Caedis does and use the blood to either heal yourself faster, replenish your ethos faster, or even use it to manipulate others. That's blood magic, though. I don't know shit about that. I'm sure Lucian does, though. He'll get you up to spe—"
"Everston," came a man's voice as the door burst open. "Silver."
They both looked over there to see a man helping Sebastien walk into the room. But Sebastien looked terrible. There were two bullet wounds in his right side, his blood was spilling onto the floor, and he looked like he was moments from passing out.
"Fuck," Everston said as he ushered Jackson out of the way. "Get him on the bed."
Jackson backed off and watched as the soldier helped Sebastien get onto the bed. Everston rushed around gathering medical stuff he couldn't name, and Sebastien groaned in a way that made him sound annoyed. The bullet wounds were smoking, though. Why?
"No exit wounds," Everston uttered as he examined Sebastien.
"Is he going to be okay?" the soldier asked.
"Yeah, yeah," Everston said, waving his hand dismissively. "Go."
The soldier nodded and left, pulling the door shut behind him.
"All right, Sebastien. This is gonna hurt like hell, but I gotta get them out now before they cause permanent damage; your body's gonna burn off any anaesthetic I got on me right now, so I'm sorry," Everston explained hastily as he grabbed a pair of tweezers and moved them towards one of Sebastien's wounds.
"Just get it over with," Sebastien growled.
Everston didn't hesitate. He pushed the tweezers into Sebastien's bullet wound and started fishing around.
Jackson grimaced and looked away as Sebastien grunted and yelped painfully. He didn't want to stick around and watch or listen; he wanted to go back to Damon, but just as he was about to head for the door, it opened again, and this time, it was Lord Caedis who walked in.
"'Ow bad is zhis?" he asked, stopping a few feet from Everston.
"Not...too bad," Everston answered slowly as he pulled a shimmering silver fragment from Sebastien's body. "That's one. Not sure how many more to go."
Sebastien groaned and dragged his hand over his face.
"Captain Barkley said you 'ad a vun in vith 'unters out zhere," Lord Caedis said, looking at Sebastien. "I need zhe details."
Jackson frowned. Wasn't he going to at least let Everston finish taking the bullets out?
"The same group we took Wilson from," Sebastien answered through gritted teeth.
"Riker's group?" Jackson asked.
"Yeah," Sebastien confirmed. "They're looking for us. They want revenge or something, I don't fucking kn—hey!" he snapped angrily as Everston yanked a silver fragment from his wound.
"Sorry," the doctor mumbled.
Sebastien exhaled irritably. "One of the guys managed to radio something back to the rest of their hunter buddies, but I didn't hear exactly what. It's probably best to assume that they're gonna cause problems on our way to the lab."
Lord Caedis snarled quietly. "Zhat's all ve fucking need. All vight. Everston, you vix 'im. Jackson, talk to your Alpha about zhis mission and your vriend, Vilson. I vill come up vith a vay to deal vith zhese 'unters. Per'aps your vriend might know someving zhat could 'elp us," he suggested, looking at Jackson.
He frowned unsurely. "Uh...like what?"
"Zheir plans, zheir numbers, and vhatever veapons zhey 'ave."
"I mean...maybe," he said as he glanced at Everston, who pulled another piece of shrapnel from Sebastien's wound. "He's not gonna tell me anything until I can convince the pack to let him come with us."
"Do vhatever you 'ave to. I vant invormation by two." Then, he turned around and left the room.
Jackson felt a little confounded. He had to convince Damon to let Wilson come with them—well...he didn't have to anymore. Lucian already got the information from him. But he wanted Wilson to come. He only just got his best friend back and he didn't want to lose him again.
Sebastien suddenly exhaled in relief. "God...fucking damn it," he grumbled. "Remind me to never get shot with silver again."
Everston chuckled. "At least it wasn't salt."
"Right," he muttered.
Salt? Was that what Sebastien's species was most vulnerable to?
"You best get to it," Everston said, looking at Jackson.
He frowned and shook his head. "Uh...yeah. I'll get that guy to take me back to Damon."
"I'll close these up for you," the doctor said to Sebastien. "They ain't gonna heal until the silver's poison wears off."
"Whatever," Sebastien mumbled.
Jackson left the room and looked around for Stan. Damon's room was literally a minute or so away, but he didn't want to be caught walking around without his escort and get in trouble. "Oh, Stan," he said as he set his eyes on the guy, who was standing by a vending machine.
A vending machine.
"Wait," he insisted as he hurried over to the guard and then gawped at all the snacks and sodas inside the machine. "Do you have a half silver?" he pleaded, looking up at Stan.
The guard fished around inside his pocket and pulled out a silver coin.
"That works," Jackson said excitedly. He could get two things with a full silver. "Thanks," he said, glancing at Stan as he put the coin into the machine. Then, he eyed each item and tried to decide what to get. But he already knew. He selected the options for a can of soda and a bag of chips, and once he fetched them from the drawer, he smiled contently and started following Stan back to Damon's room.
When he got into the waiting area, those of the pack who weren't sleeping looked over at him.
"How'd it go?" Tokala asked as he made his way over.
Jackson stopped walking. "Uh...okay, I guess. I didn't really feel anything."
"Can we see?" Julian asked excitedly, standing beside Tokala.
"Uh...." He grinned, showing them his new fangs.
"Ooh, so cool!" Julian exclaimed.
"They look pretty threatening," Tokala said with a smirk.
Wesley appeared beside Julian. "Can you like...tear people's throats out now? Like...as a person, of course. You can already do it as a wolf."
Jackson frowned unsurely. "Well...I guess...if I needed to?"
"Are you still going to train with that Lucian guy?" Tokala asked as Julian and Wesley started comparing their canines.
"I think so, yeah," Jackson said with a nod. "I just need to talk to Damon about something. I kinda just...wanna spend some time with him, too," he said quietly, looking down at his can of soda and chip packet.
"Oh, yeah, sure. I don't mean to keep you. Everyone's just..." he paused and looked back at the rest of the sleeping pack. "They're getting a little on edge being cooped up in here."
Before Jackson could reply, Stan said, "Someone will be down here to advise soon."
Tokala looked at the guard. "Oh, all right. Thanks."
"I'm gonna...go see Damon now," Jackson said.
Tokala nodded and stepped aside. "No worries. See you in a bit, yeah?"
He nodded. Then, he followed Stan over to Damon's room, and when he headed inside, the guard pulled the door shut behind him, leaving him alone with the Alpha.
Jackson didn't immediately head over, though. For a moment, he stood there and stared at Damon. He was asleep—at least...that was what Jackson hoped he was. A part of him dreaded that he might have fallen back into a coma, and it kept him from calling Damon's name...because what if he didn't respond?
He exhaled deeply and tried to calm himself. Then, he headed over to the bed and put his things on the bedside table. "Damon?" he asked softly as he slowly took hold of the Alpha's hand. His skin was warm again—as warm as it should be—and he had his colour back, too. "Hey," he then whispered when he saw Damon opening his eyes.
It took the Alpha a moment to come around, but once he set his eyes on Jackson, he smiled a little. But his smile quickly faded, and a confused frown appeared on his fatigued face.
Jackson frowned, too. "What?"
"What...happened to your teeth?"
"Oh. Uh, Everston—the doctor guy—fixed them. He said I had my demon fangs filed down when I was a kid or something, so he had to pull the old ones out so some new ones could come in. And look." He grinned so Damon could see them better. "Pretty cool, right?"
Damon raised an eyebrow but nodded as best he could. "Why would someone have your fangs filed down?"
"To hide me or that I was a demon or whatever." He sat down and squeezed Damon's hand. "How are you feeling?"
The Alpha turned his head so that he could see Jackson better. "I don't know," he mumbled. "It doesn't hurt anymore, but I feel...tired."
"Do you want me to let you get some more sleep?"
"No," he said with a sigh as he turned his head to look up at the ceiling. "I keep having these...dreams, I guess," he grumbled.
"Dreams?"
"Of my past. I think something is trying to tell me something...but I have no idea what."
"Like The Herald?"
"It's not The Herald, though. The next Herald isn't until...I don't know. What day is it?"
Jackson thought to himself for a moment. "Uh...Tertium...sixteenth, I think. You were only out for...I think a few hours."
"The last full moon was on the thirteenth, so The Herald started on the sixth."
"So...if it's not The Herald, then could it just be normal dreams?"
Damon sighed again.
"What are you seeing? If you don't mind me asking."
The Alpha did seem to mind, though. He grunted dismissively and glanced at him. "How's everyone doing?"
Jackson wasn't going to pry where Damon didn't want him to. "Most of them are asleep. I think Tokala's keeping watch. They're all getting restless or something, though."
"They would be," he said quietly. "There's nothing we hate more than being cooped up inside for too long."
He didn't really know what to say to that. In fact, he was supposed to be asking if Wilson could come when they left this place to find the lab. "Damon, there's actually something I need to talk to you about."
Damon frowned and looked at him. "What?"
He wasn't sure why he felt so nervous about asking; maybe it was because Damon had been a little weird about Wilson from the very start. "Well...I talked to Wilson last night—to try and find out where the lab is—and he asked...if he could come with us."
A hostile look appeared on Damon's face. "Come with us? No."
Jackson frowned. "Why not?"
"Because he's a muto, Jackson. Taking a creature that is a natural foe to wolf walkers with us is the worst idea imaginable," he exclaimed irritably.
"But he's my friend, Damon."
"I don't care, Jackson. He can't come wi—"
"I just got him back...after all of this," he interjected as he started feeling a little distressed by Damon's reaction. "I came all the way out here to find him and I'm not going to leave him now."
Damon frowned at him. "Isn't knowing that he's alive and well enough? He's not one of us, Jackson. If he were a demon or a wolf walker, then maybe I'd consider it, but—"
"Consider it? What's that supposed to mean?"
"We can't just take anyone we want with us, Jackson," he said sternly. "We have no idea who Wilson is or what he's capable of. We don't know his motives or—"
"Actually...we do," he interjected again.
Damon waited for him to speak.
Jackson glanced at his lap and huffed in an attempt to calm himself down. "Heir Lucian went through his head and found out that Wilson's parents were taken by some El'Vorian Industries people, and that's the pharmaceutical company that's a front for Lyca Corp., the people who are responsible for this cadejo stuff, trying to create hybrids for the Diabolus, who the Nosferatu are currently at war with. Wilson thinks that—"
"—He'll find his parents at this lab."
"Or at least an indication as to where they are."
Damon sighed heavily and glared at the ceiling again. "This isn't a good idea, Jackson."
"Please, Damon," he pleaded, standing up so he could see his face. "He's my best friend. I know him. He isn't going to do anything that could ruin the mission or get in the way. He just wants to find his parents."
The Alpha looked reluctant. He scowled and frowned, evidently thinking it over. But he soon relented, huffed irritably, and glanced at Jackson. "I'm not going to pry you away from your friend. But if he starts anything with any of my wolves, I'm going to have to teach him to behave himself."
Jackson smiled a little, relieved that he said yes. "He isn't going to start anything, I promise."
Damon grunted quietly. "I'll believe that when I see it."
He had to go and tell Wilson the good news, as well as inform Sebastien and Lord Caedis. But before he did that, he wanted to spend a little more time with Damon. He sat back in his seat and relaxed. He'd go tell everyone in an hour or so.
And he hoped that Wilson would behave. He knew how his friend got sometimes, especially around the people Jackson used to date. But Damon was different. Damon wasn't just some fling. And that might make Wilson act worse. He was a very cautious, protective friend. However, there was no need for him to feel that way about Damon, and Jackson hoped he'd see that.
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