Beyond that, here's your eye candy.
* * *
The hands of the
clock near the door showed a few seconds past four when the ever-perky Nurse
Joy sailed through for Gail’s hourly check. Every hour on the hour Joy swept
into the room with her cute little chipmunk cheeks dimpled in a happy smile and
began the process of poking, prodding and monitor checking. True to form, the cartoon
clad nurse shone a light in her eyes and grabbed a wrist lightly humming in
tune to the piped in music still circulating over the speakers.
“I thought the
reason people stayed was to get rest,” Gail was pissed. Her voice still slurred,
her head still hurt and things seemed to have a weird aura to them. She was
starting to look forward to seeing the big orderly who pushed her bed around
with all the empathy of a grocery cart. He at least, still appeared perfectly
normal when she looked at him. The doctor had this funny glow and good old Joy
practically gave off light in the dark, it was an odd greenish glow that didn’t
touch her skin or looks but was just there. Like a nimbus or a corona. After a
few seconds of staring the haze faded and Gail felt her hopes rise. Maybe it
was just a side effect of the concussion or the anesthetic.
“I am sorry, but I
do have to wake you every hour to
make sure you sleep normally and don’t fall into a coma.” Gail stared slack
jawed at the peevish teacher-like voice. Hello? Just because she had a
concussion didn’t mean she was knocked brainless. She was pissy and hurt, she
should be allowed to bitch. Joy picked that moment to poke her fingers at the
base of Gail’s skull. Reflexively, she grabbed the smaller woman’s wrist and
squeezed. Hard.
“I do unnerstan’.
But let me explain somethin’ to you.” Gail fought to keep her voice strong; her
traitorous tongue wanted to do the Tequila Tango. “That fuckin’ hurts, it hurt
an hour ago, and it’ll hurt an hour from now. Leave it the fuck alone.” Gail
nearly dropped the woman’s wrist as the glow flared back into existence turning
from lime green to a weird pumpkin. Instead of shimmering it pulsed in time to
Joy’s heartbeat. Slightly freaked she dropped her grip.
“Jesus…nurse Joy
and pumpkin bolts of lightning...Raichu isn’t it? I see it now, this is like a
joke. I am stuck in some Pokémon nightmare.” Almost instantly the glow steadied
and resumed the green shimmer before fading.
“I hear the
Pokémon thing a lot more when I work pediatrics. That’s my regular beat if you
can tell.” The younger woman attempted a strained smile as she indicated her
cartooned uniform. “I didn’t know you had a kid. You know, to know about Nurse
Joy.” Gail’s eyes drooped. The need for sleep was winning out over her pain and
irritation.
“No kids, guys on
crew…I babysit some…go birthdays.” It seemed like all she did was blink and the
clock went from reading quarter past four to five and again to six. Someone
must have taken pity because the next time Gail pried her eyes open sunlight
flooded the room through half-closed window slats.
“Gail,” breathed a
voice from the shadows, “how are you girl?” She squinted at the dark shape in
the chair.
“Mr. Seiff?” her
voice sounded froggy. Reaching unsteadily she found a small plastic cup, beaded
with moisture sporting a straw. The water tasted better than it should have and
she nearly forgot about her visitor as she looked around for a way to refill
the now empty cup.
“Ah, here you go,
Gail.” He stood up and set something on her knees as he picked up a mauve
colored plastic pitcher and refilled her cup. “I wanted to ask you what you
remembered from yesterday. And to show you how lucky you were just to have a
concussion.”
Gail struggled to work
the confusing buttons on the bed to allow her to sit without turning
contortionist. Something of her feelings must have shown on her face because
the careworn features of her boss broke into a huge smile. “Hospital beds
bite,” he agreed as she wrestled with the sheet and alleged blanket.
“What’s this?” she
gripped a broken piece of bloody plastic in her hand.
“That, Ms.
Hardesty, is what is left of your hard hat.” The voice came from her left,
startling her so much she nearly fell out of the bed as she jerked in reaction.
It was an incredible voice, dark and deep like an opera singer, full bodied.
The man, however, was unusually ordinary. Dark brown hair framed an almost perfect
face. The lines of his cheeks, nose and jaw had a rugged cast rather than
scalpel smooth flawlessness turning what could have been breath-taking male
beauty down the road to regular Joe.
Yet, there was
something that drew her gaze, changed her heartbeat and made her hormones want
to howl at the moon. Blinking, Gail tried to understand her reaction to the
stranger sitting relaxed at her bedside. Then it struck her, the weird aura
thing she’d been experiencing didn’t just surround him like an indelible line,
it played along his features like a lover’s paintbrush. There was a bluish cast
to the skin of his tented fingers and relaxed face. Yet around his eyes and
mouth there was a crimson film. For a moment she could have sworn that the gold
of his irises actually glowed under his dark brows.
Without thinking
she shook her head to clear it and nearly bit off the tip of her tongue as pain
exploded behind her eyes. Like the night before it seemed to want to rip
through the top of her head at the one spot on the left. “Son of a bitch,” she
moaned massaging her fingers around her eyes and cheeks trying to loosen some
of the excruciating pressure-pain.
“Ms. Hardesty?”
the incredibly sexy voice drew her like a magnet, regardless of the throbbing. His
voice had texture, she marveled between heartbeats of misery. Then she nearly
lost the battle between her heaving stomach and the titling room as she looked
at the unknown man again. The burst of aural color had fled and this time his
skin tinged blue, eyes glowed gold and the sharp, bloodstained teeth of a
predator smiled at her as the shadows coalesced into the shape of dark wings.
Gail screamed in terror before her mind short circuited sending her into
oblivion.
“Women
don’t usually fall at my feet,” Kyle Atwood joked. He had just barely managed
to grab the woman’s shoulders before she could tumble out of the bed. She had
been as much a surprise to the vampire prince.
“Damn,
I hope that head injury didn’t screw her up permanently. We need her,” Sieff
patted a pale hand, tucking it beneath the covers as he pushed the alert button
next to the bed summoning a nurse. Kyle arched a dark brow at the other man’s
skewed sense of concern. For millennia humanity had accused his people of being
unfeeling, but nothing compared to modern America for a true lack of
compassion.
“Oh
don’t get me wrong,” the older man caught the look of amused disgust on Kyle’s
face. “Gail is a great lady. She’s more than just a construction project
manager to me. Almost like a daughter, I’ve known her so long, but I know how
bad she hates being laid up. Last year some fool accidentally shot her in the
leg with a nail gun.” With a shake of his salt and pepper head over the memory,
Sieff grinned in pride at the limp woman. “Never known for her fainting, she’s
plenty tough. That day she gritted her teeth, glared down the cowboy with the gun
and picked up a claw hammer cool as you please and pulled the nail out.”
Kyle
stepped back from the bed, at once repulsed by the casual pride the other man
took in the woman’s unfeminine spirit yet oddly attracted to her strength. It
seemed like only yesterday that women were feted and cosseted, every whim
indulged and every injury fretted over with the greatest of care in regard to
their more delicate constitution. In the space of a mere handful of years woman
had truly evolved into the more deadly of the species of man.
Curiously
he stared at her true face revealed under the duress of pain and wondered if
she would be the one. Marble cool skin the color of unpainted porcelain slid
smoothly under a questing fingertip. She glowed with life, energy and potential
as brilliantly as the moon. For all he knew, she could be equally unattainable.
A
heavyset nurse bustled into the room with a scowl on her face. Breathing deeply
Kyle read the woman in consternation. She was more concerned with merely
shutting off the alarm and returning to her romance novel secreted in the stock
closet where she was supposed to be doing inventory. Disregard and a lack of
caring flowed from her pores like a tang of filth.
Stepping
to the side he allowed the slovenly woman to brush against his clothes and
stiffened in revulsion. She was utterly focused on the value of her paycheck
and the expensive quality to the ‘harlot’s’ visitors. The woman had a penchant
for “tidying” the personal effects of patients and visitors alike. A sudden
wave of protective warmth rose and flooded his mind with the need to keep the
greedy thief from inflicting harm on the woman before him. Instinctively Kyle
stepped forward and plucked the sweaty plump hand from Gail’s.
“Get
a doctor. Now.” He growled through teeth bared in a parody of a smile.
Incredibly the woman still tried a pathetic attempt at an old pickpocket
maneuver, the bump and dip, as she moved to leave the room. Kyle forced icy
calm through his veins and allowed the foolish woman to win a small token piece
of jewelry, a gold cufflink. His dogs would track the scent back and render
proper judgment.
A
younger harried looking doctor walked into the door and paused, staring wide-eyed.
Kyle gave an imperceptible nod and the young neurologist hastened forward
frowning lightly. Even to one of the lesser bloods Kyle mused, her identity was
revealed by scent, appearance and her very touch. Lightly her eyes fluttered
and opened. Dilated with shock and something more, the warm hazel orbs had
drained in color showing only the brilliant red-gold threads gleaming fire,
bright against the muddy green humanity boiling away from her very soul.
Silently
he stared, considering Gail Hardesty, the future and all it could hold.
Clasping Sieff’s shoulder in a gesture of support he turned directing a final
fulminating glance at the dazed prone woman before leaving. There were many,
interesting things for his attention. Things like the worm Cody Barnett and his
unusual hold over men who should have been more loyal to the stricken Gail
Hardesty.
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