Drogo arrives shortly after I hung up on him. He stops near me with squeaking brakes. He rushes over me while I am still on the ground. That son of a bitch Blake really got to me good.
Drogo: "Nic! Can you get up?"
"Don't know, bro, he hit me really hard!"
Drogo: "Hang on, be right back!"
Drogo rushes over to his car and I can see him opening the trunk of his car. There he takes out a small cooler and he rushes over to me. I see him opening the cooler and when he comes rushing back to me, I see Drogo holding a blood pack in his hands. I look at him utterly surprised.
Drogo: "Here, I was planning on telling you later. You can drill me all you want later on, but now you have to regain your strength to help me to get Elizabeth back."
"How did you..."
Drogo: "Now is not the time for trivial questions, brother! Here, drink it!"
I reluctantly take the blood pack from Drogo and I take a few sips. Man, I really forgot how wonderfully sweet and tasty human blood can taste like. I am not very proud of myself, but within seconds I've downed the entire blood pack. And what I am feeling right now, is a bit too much. I feel confident, really strong, invictive!
Drogo: "Okay, the next thing: do you know where Blake might have taken Elizabeth?"
"No, but I was smart enough to add Elizabeth's iPhone to my Find My Friends app on my phone.
Drogo: "Great thinking, bro! Now, get your phone out, so we can check!"
"Ohw, will you try to get a hold on Peter for me? Tell him that he has to pick Lorie up from school."
Drogo: "He already has picked her up. He was done early with college, so he picked her up and took her into town."
"Okay, let's see... Oh, they are nearby! But they are still on the move."
Drogo: "Can you get up? If so, let's go! I've got some ass and balls to kick!"
Drogo helps me up from the ground and although I am fine, he supports me all the way over to the car. He helps me get in and soon after he takes a seat behind the stearing wheel.
Drogo: "Buckle up, it's gonna be a hell of a ride."
"Okay, but just be careful Drogo! I don't want you to cause an unnecessary accident."
Drogo: "Come on, you know that I am a great driver, especially in situations like this."
While Drogo goes full throttle and drives off like crazy, I keep looking on my app. All of a sudden I see that Elizabeth has stopped moving.
"They have stopped, Drogo!"
Drogo: "All right, let's get Elizabeth back!
-------
After a short drive, we see my car. It's abandoned at the side of the road. It seems like Blake dragged her out of the car, into the woody area, because there are traces of a struggle. Elizabeth didn't go with him without putting up a fight. At this moment, our stealth-like vampire skills really come in handy. Not to mention that we can communicate without words. At times like these we don't even need telepathy: a look says more than a thousand words. After a short sprint we stumble upon a wooden cabin and we approach it dead silent. I can see Drogo pointing towards the back of the cabin and I signal that I stay in front of it. I approach really careful and I make my way up the porch. I roam it with even more care, because I don't want any board plank to creak underneath my weight. All of a sudden I hear Blake screaming and yelling at Elizabeth. Drogo comes back around to were I am standing and we decide to break into the cabin, but what happens next we both could not have predicted it. Glass is breaking just a few inches away from us both and we instinctively cover our head with our arms as we cower. Blake is thrown out of the cabin's window with such a tremendous force,that Drogo and I are set back for a brief moment and left speechless. Then we look at each other and Drogo heads over to Blake, who is still on the ground. I rush into the cabin, only to find Elizabeth enraged. She has a fierce look in her eyes that almost scares me for a moment. I want to grab her and take her into my arms, but I decide to talk to her instead, because she seems to be in a trance-like state of mind.
"Elizabeth, can you hear me?"
I get no answer from her. I put my arm in front of me and I slowly approach her, like you would approach a scared animal of prey that is cornered. Then I speak to her again, asking if she is allright. She still doesn't answer me. When I am almost standing next to her, the floor underneath me creaks and she is torn from her trance-like state. And then I see recognition in her eyes. Thank god!
Elizabeth: "Nicolae?"
"Elizabeth! Thank god, are you okay?"
Elizabeth: "WHERE IS HE?!? WHERE IS THAT RAT BASTARD???"
"He is outside, laying on the ground. Drogo is 'taking care' of him as we speak."
Elizabeth: "Oh, but I'm not done with that jerk!"
"Okay, now, try to calm down, Elizabeth. Drogo is handling everything just fine with Blake."
Elizabeth: "CALM DOWN?!? DO YOU HAVE ANY CLUE OF WHAT HE TRIED TO PULL?!?"
"Do I want to know?"
Elizabeth: "I think you do! First, he took you down. Second, he abducted me in your car. Third, he beat the crap out of me. Fourth: HE TRIED TO FEED ON ME!!!"
"I am so sorry, Elizabeth!"
Elizabeth: "Sorry? It's a little late for that, don't you think?!?"
"I didn't knew he would do such a thing!"
Elizabeth: "Ohw yeah... Well... I beg to differ. I think you knew extremely well what that asshole is capable of!"
And there she got me. I don't answer back because I don't know what to say. She is right, I shouldn't have taken her along on transfer day, not with Blake. But I have been ignorant and blind. I've learned my lesson, that's for sure. And I intend on making things right between her and me.
Elizabeth: "Luckily I know a little bit how to defend myself! Or else, things could have ended way different than they ended just now."
"And I am more than proud of you, for dealing with Blake the way you did."
Elizabeth: "You have to promiss me one thing, Nicolae. Stop doing business with this liability! We'll find another way to get Lorie's blood."
"You are amazing, you know that?"
Elizabeth: "Why? What have I said now?"
"It's not what you've said. It's that you are thinking about others, even though you got attacked and hurt."
Elizabeth: "Well, change that into 'almost got killed'".
"Now, my love, can I take you and hold you in my arms?"
Elizabeth: "I thought you'd never ask!"
I grab her by the shoulders and pull her in. I wrap my arms around her and I honestly never ever want to let go of her. I shower the top of her head with kisses and she snuggles her head against my chest. As long as she does this, I don't give a fuck where we are. After a few minutes I hear someone approaching the cabin. I divert my attention from Elizabeth to the door, but I don't let go of her. It's Drogo, and he's is holding Blake by his collar. Or I should say, he is dangling by it.
Drogo: "Nic, I am done with this lowlife, this nitwit. Where do you want him?"
"I have an idea..."
-------
As we pull up next to Blake's car, which is still parked where we met, Drogo gets out of his car. I took my car and I've put Elizabeth on the passenger's seat. I walk over to Elizabeth's cardoor, I open it and I tell her to stay put. She obliges without a fuss and I walk over to Drogo's car, which he pulled up to the right of my car.
Drogo: "Where do you want this douchebag?"
"I have a perfect place in mind."
Drogo goes to the trunk of his car and he pops it open. Before we left the cabin, Drogo duct taped Blake's mouth and he put tie-wraps around his hands, which are behind his back. He pulls Blake out and he is being dropped on the ground. Drogo feigns an "Oops, did I do that?" He leaves him laying there for a brief moment, but I tell Drogo to follow me, he takes Blake by his collar and drags him over to his car, that he left there. There I pop open Blake's trunk and I tell Drogo to put him in there.
"This will be your solitary confinement. You'll be in here for a couple of days, just enough for you to be weakened just about to the right amount of fatigue. And then I will call the cops, to find you. I'll make sure you'll suffer, because you've messed with the wrong brothers. Also, forget of doing business with me EVER AGAIN! If you EVER come near Mystery Spell, I'll hunt you down and make sure you'll die an agonizing, slow and painful death. Do I make myself clear?"
Blake can only nod and I am pleased that he got the message. I think the message was crystal clear at the cabin, after Drogo was done with him. You had to look very good to see it is Blake, because Drogo had beaten the crap out of him. After having said those words to Blake, I close the trunk and I walk over to my car.
Drogo: "You sure you don't want me to give you two a ride home?"
"We'll be fine, don't wait up for us."
Drogo: "Can I speak to her before I go?"
"As long as you don't kiss her again, you idiot!"
Drogo: "You noticed?"
"Yeah, I could smell your scent on her even before I saw her earlier today! You have somehow Blake to thank that I don't want to rip your heart out."
Drogo: "Got the message, Nic! I just want to talk to her really brief and give her a hug."
Drogo approaches the car door that I left open. I can hear him whisper a few things to her and he gives her a quick hug. After that, he gently closes the door and walks over to me.
Drogo: "I am really glad you called me. Believe me or not, I really care for Elizabeth. She's lucky to have you in her life, Nic."
"Thanks, Drogo. And she's lucky to have both you and Peter in her life."
Drogo: "Then I guess I'll be heading back home. Someone has to tell Peter she's alright. He has been ringing me non-stop. I'll talk to him as soon as I arrive back home."
"Okay, we are going to take our time, if that's alright with you. I'll even take her to the hospital, to get her checked up."
Drogo: "That's probably a great idea. I just hope the doctors will buy your and her version of this all."
"They will, don't worry!"
And with that, Drogo gets into his car and takes off. When he is out of my field of vision, I walk over to the car, I close Elizabeth's door and I get in.
"Elizabeth, I am going to drive us back to Mystery Spell. We have the blood for Lorie, it's in the back. But before I take you home, I'm going to make a brief stop at the hospital."
Elizabeth: "Why, you already have enough blood..."
"Darling, I want you to get checked up by a doctor. To see if you didn't got hurt or worse, if you broke something."
Elizabeth: "If I have broken something, I would have know about it already."
"I beg to differ you on that one. Your body is still spiked with adrenaline and it sometimes happens to be, that people don't know that they have broken something because of the adrenaline. Once that wears off, it is only then when they experience pain."
Elizabeth: "Okay, that sounds plausible."
"Ready?"
Elizabeth: "Yeah, let's get the hell away from this place!"
-------
As we pass the sign of "Welcome to Mystery Spell", I drive straight to the hospital. Once inside, we are being led to a vacant room, where Elizabeth is handled with the uttermost care possible there is on this planet. They tell her in a calm manner what she has to do and she goes into the bathroom, only to come out of it in a hospital gown. The nurses support her, because she has a limp to her leg. They gently make her sit down on the bed and one of the nurses lifts her feet up, so that she is gently forced to lay down on the bed. The second nurse covers her with a blanket, takes her vitals while the first one prepares Elizabeth for a drip.
Nurse: "The doctor will be with you in a moment, to check up on you."
Elizabeth: "Thank you, ma'am."
The nurse nods at her and she leaves with her colleague. I take a chair and put it next to Elizabeth's bed, where I take her hand careful into mine.
"You really need to know that it never was my intention to put you at risk. If I had known what kind of liability Blake was, I would never have taken you with me."
Elizabeth: "It's okay, Nicolae, it wasn't your fault. It was all Blake's wrongdoing."
"But still, I am very very sorry!"
Elizabeth: "Please, don't beat yourself up for it. If someone has to beat himself up for it, it is Blake. And Drogo has done the beating up part for Blake."
"Blake will be off the list of our middle men. Now I only have two years to find a reliable new middle man, who I can trust. If I can't, I am forced to contact Father."
Elizabeth: "We'll find a way, Nicolae! I might have an idea..."
But before Elizabeth wants to let me in onto her train of thoughts about a new middle man, the doctor enters the room and introduces himself. He looks at her chart and asks Elizabeth a bunch of questions. I am surprised about her credibility, because he believes whatever she tells him.
Doctor: "If you don't mind, miss, I would like to take an X-ray of your right hand and arm. The adrenaline is wearing off as we speak and you must be in a lot of pain. Am I right?"
Elizabeth: "Yes, sir, I really could use something for the pain."
Doctor: "On a scale of 1 to 10, how painful is it?"
Elizabeth: "I don't like to admit it, but the pain is a good 8, doctor."
Doctor: "Then I am going to take you to X-rays right now and after that, we'll put you on some strong painkillers. Do you have any questions?"
Elizabeth: "Uhm... yes... will the X-rays be painful?"
Doctor: "The X-rays themselves not at all, but there might be a slight chance the nurses have to put your hand or arm in a certain position that can be really painful to you. I'm not going to lie about that."
Elizabeth: "Okay, I understand doctor."
After that, the doctor greets us and tells us that he will be back within an hour. Shortly after the doctor left the room, a nurse comes in with a wheel chair, to put Elizabeth in. She takes us to X-rays and I have to stay outside because of possible harmful X-rays. If they only knew, but I decide to just play along. As the nurse turns to me to tell me to stay outside, I can Elizabeth giggling behind the nurse's back. I try to ignore her, but in that moment I am relieved to see her smile. After that she is taken into the room and the nurse closes the door. I take a seat and shortly after I am on high alert: Elizabeth is letting out screams out of pain. I want to rush in, but I have to stay outside. After a few minutes the door to the X-ray room opens and Elizabeth is wheeled out of the room, with tears still in her eyes. I kneel down beside her and tell her if everything is alright.
Elizabeth: "One position that I had to put my hand and arm in, was really painful."
"I heard, my love, my heart did bleed for a moment."
Elizabeth: "I'm going to be fine, don't worry about it."
"Still, I can't help myself from feeling guilty."
Nurse: "I am going to take you back to your room and then the doctor will see you within 45 minutes, okay. Miss, try to get some rest while you wait for the doctor. I'll give you some morfine, to take the worst pain away for the moment."
When we are back into the hospital room, the nurse helps Elizabeth back into bed. She hangs a little device on the drip pole and she connects a small tube to the needle that is taped onto Elizabeth's hand. She turns the device on and explains that it's a pump to administer a strong pain killer called morfine. After that, she leaves to room and I go sit next to Elizabeth in my chair. I gently caress her head and I tell her to close her eyes for a bit. She does without making a fuss and soon she's fast asleep.
After 40 minutes the doctor enters the room and I gently try to wake Elizabeth. She wakes up, very groggy, but she's still awake enough to hear what the doctor has to tell her. He tells her that her right arm is broken and that the bones in her right arm, the radius and ulna, have to get aligned. He tells her that the procedure is going to be very painful, but thanks to the morfine she will not experience the sharp edges of that pain.
Shortly after that we are brought to another doctor, who is responsible for the alignment of the radius and ulna. Luckily, this time I am allowed to stay with Elizabeth, to support her. When the doctor aligns the bones, she screams out of pain. With her left hand, she holds my hand and she squeezes it real good. So good that I almost believe that she just broke my hand. But I don't make a sound, because Elizabeth is the one who is in real pain here. After a few moments that seem to last an eternity, the doctor is done aligning the bones and immediately applies a cast. He tells us, after he applied the cast, that he has to take another X-ray, to see if the alignment was successful. He then asks Elizabeth which colour she would like to have on the outside of the cast. She opts for purple and she is all smiles when the colour is applied onto the cast.
When Elizabeth's cast is finished, we are brought back to her room and shortly after her doctor enters the room. He tells us the alignment went very well and that both of the bones are neatly in place. He tells Elizabeth that it takes approximately six weeks for the bones to heal. After six weeks she has to come here for her check up and if the bones need a longer time to heal, Elizabeth will need her cast for eight to ten weeks. She nods and she receives a prescription for a powerful painkiller. She has to take it during the first two weeks of recovery. After that she has to reduce her medication in the third and fourth week of her recovery, by replacing it with over the counter painkillers.
At last, the doctor gives her a bit of advice, like how to shower with a cast, and then he signs the release papers. Shortly after that we depart and Elizabeth and I are on our way to my car. I help her to get into the car and I buckle her up. Then I get in on the driver's side and I look at her.
"Home, my love?"
Elizabeth: "I'd love nothing more!"