Alexandrite

School wouldn't start again for another month, and if this girl went home like all the others Owen would never find her. But two days later he found her. She was singing in the greenhouse as she watered the plants. She was dressed in a hunter green, medieval style dress. Her long black hair was tied in a braid that lay over her shoulder. The back of the dress was low enough to show the knife wound. It looked red and angry.

"Good afternoon, Owen."

"Afternoon. How are you feeling?"

"Great! How are you feeling?"

Owen got a confused look on his face. 'Great!? She should be in major pain or on her deathbed right now.' "Fine," he said after a moment.

"That's good. Will you do me a favor?"

He nodded wondering what kind of last wish she wanted granted. For Holly it had been to die in his arms. He was surprised when she handed him a leaf that felt like sandpaper and asked him to rub it over the scab until it was bleeding really good. He did and watched the blood start to drip down her back. It did not travel far, before it started to return to the wound it came from. Black smoke rose from the blood before it entered her body once more. The knife wound scabbed over again, the redness gone from her skin. How…? Owen looked at the leaf in his hand.

"Foxglove?"

"Comfrey," the girl replied. "They look similar, but the foxglove has tall stalks of bell flowers, where Comfrey has small groups of hanging bell flowers."

Owen nodded to himself. "…How can you not be in pain?"

"Should I be?"

"You should be on your deathbed writhing in pain!"

She just shrugged her shoulders and finished watering the plants.

"What is your name?"

"Alexandrite."

Owen kept tabs on her after that, waiting for Alexandrite to drop dead. At the end of the week he lost track of her and couldn't find her the rest of the break.

Classes started and in all of his classes they called for Alexandrite, but she wasn't there. He wondered if she had died without him knowing. On the second day of class when they called her name a gloved hand was raised.

'She's still alive?' Owen was amazed.

In between classes she would disappear, so he didn't have a chance to talk to her. At the end of the day, she handed him a small folder.

"I believe this is what you want."

It was a typed report on how she got rid of the poison.

'That's two of three Bruce has used recently,' he thought, remembering that Persimmon also had neutralized one.

He sat in the library and was reading over the report when a small stapled packet was tossed on top of the report. He was about to put it aside when he saw the name. Persimmon Ivory Black. Glancing through it, it was the report for the poison Persimmon had been poisoned with after she had woken up Bruce. But he found it odd that she had written segments in Ivory's handwriting as well as her own. He hadn't thought she had that duality when he first met her.

"Two sides of the same person," a woman said. "Persimmon on the surface and Ivory who had a deeper reach into her soul."

He looked up into Alexandrite's sunglasses. "How do you know all this?"

Alexandrite turned her head as if to look at something and he noticed four dents equally spaced on her neck. Then she turned back to him. "I can remember things that would surprise even you."

"Wait," he said, standing. "Turn your head again."

He moved to the other side of the table and positioned himself so it looked like he was giving her a hickey as he measured the dents with his teeth. They matched the spacing of his teeth and he pulled away.

"I… but…," he sputtered.

"I gotta run. I'll see you later." Then she was gone, leaving him more lost.

Owen watched the doors she had disappeared through for several minutes confused about the marks on her neck. He hadn't met Alexandrite until this semester, yet the bite scars on her neck matched his bite exactly. He had not met two vampires who had the same bite measurements. So, how was it that she had his measurements?

Shaking his head, Owen picked up the reports and took them home. The library was not the place to be wondering about the bite scars. After adding the anti-toxin reports to their respective poisons, he lay down on his bed. He still wondered about the marks on Alexandrite's neck and how much she knew about his past. Pulling his small hand notebook out he read through the names and added Persimmon Ivory Black to the list and Alexandrite. Was Alexandrite, Persimmon? And if they were one and the same, like Ivory and Persimmon, then how was she still alive?

"Hey, pretty boy! Get down here!" Bruce yelled.

Owen cringed, he didn't like when Bruce got mad. He ended up getting cut by a garlic knife most of the time. "Yeah, Bruce?"

"Isn't that the girl I poisoned four weeks ago?"

Owen glanced out the window and saw Alexandrite feeding some birds out of her hand. "Looks like."

"Grr. Did you find an antitoxin to it?"

"No, I didn't."

"Liar!"

Bruce started beating him and cutting him with the garlic knife. Old fears overcame Owen and he pleaded for Bruce to stop until he did. Grabbing his other knives, Bruce went out to get Alexandrite. After Bruce left, Owen wept. It didn't register that he didn't feel any pain from the garlic.

"Now you have a body to bury for sure, pretty boy," Bruce said a few moments later.

Owen moved to the window and saw Alexandrite's body crumpled on the ground. "No!" he said under his breath, running out the door. He ran to her side. There were several knife holes in her chest.

"Alexandrite?"

"Owen...I..."

"Shh, don't talk. I'm going to get you help."

"You are...my help. Bag...black salve."

Owen dug through her bag and pulled out the black salve. Its pungency made him crinkle his nose, but he covered all the wounds with it. Then he carried her out of sight from the house and pulled out his phone.

"No, Owen!" she groaned. "They can't help me."

"There must be something we can do!"

"Just wait." Alexandrite's breathing was shallow and she closed her eyes. While he waited he dug through the bag and found a jar of strong garlic oil.

"Yes! Use that," she said, glancing at him,

He was hesitant then poured a little over each wound and gently massaged it in. When he finished she asked, "How's your hand?"

"Fine. It...." He looked at it then at the jar then back to his hand. "It's not burning." He looked at Alexandrite who had rolled over to try and stand.

"No, no. Lay back down. The movement will only spread the poison faster."

"We need to move to a less public area," she panted.

So, Owen picked her up and carried her to her room on campus, on the opposite side of where Ivory had stayed the semester before. When he laid her down, she was struggling to stay conscious.

"Alexandrite?"

"Body...heal...sleep."

Her body relaxed and she slept. Owen ran home for the three anti-toxin reports then returned to Alexandrite's room. Carefully, he checked each wound to see which knives Bruce had used.

"Slaughter, Silencer, Heart attack, Sleeper, and Foxglove," he whispered to himself. All five of them were quick killers.

Owen wrote out the poisons contained in each before opening the anti-toxin reports to give him some idea on what he could do to help pull out one of the other toxins.

Alexandrite slept for three hours before waking up long enough to ask him to apply more Garlic oil and black salve to the knife wounds. Then she went back to sleep for another two before she tried to get out of bed. Owen tried to stop her, but she brushed him off and stumbled to the bathroom. Turning on the water as hot as she could stand it, she filled the tub then climbed in. She didn't resurface. Owen pulled her up enough that her head was above water and watched as the water turned darker and darker until it looked muddy. Her head gave a slight nod before Owen lifted her from the tub. Alexandrite was so weak that Owen had to cut her wet dress off before he lay her back in bed in just her undergarments. She slept for the rest of the night and late into the morning. Owen sat vigil the entire time, not daring to try and remove the nightshade while she was so weak.

"You're awake!" he said, when she opened her eyes.

"What time is it?"

"Five to nine."

"You need to go to class." Her voice sounded weak and full of pain.

"No. You need help to get the poisons out."

"I'm leaving the poisons alone today." Alexandrite rolled over and sat up.

"But..."

"No buts, Owen. That 'but' is why you couldn't get rid of Night's Hell without the cells dying." Then she got out of bed and walked slowly into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and sank to her knees. She sat there staring away until Owen came in.

"What are you looking for?"

"Go to class, Owen."

"No. You need help."

"I'll get you when I need you."

"How?"

"I have my ways. Now go."

Owen was hesitant, but Alexandrite would not yield. He went to class and his mind wandered. After each class he was sure to get the assignment for her. It wasn't until halfway through the last class that a note came to him from Alexandrite. Running to her room, he found her dressed in a green tunic, lying on the floor. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow and beads of sweat slid slowly down her forehead.

"Alexandrite, how long have you been like this?"

"Minute and a half."

He reached down to pick her up.

"Wait! I need to know what poisons he used."

Owen grabbed the notebook of all the listed poisons and handed it to her.

"Okay," she said, after looking over the list. Then she set the notebook on the floor and got up. Unsteadily she went into the bathroom. For the next hour he heard the water turn on for a minute then turn off for a few seconds. This repeated a couple times. When all was silent he waited, but she didn't come out.

"Alexandrite?"

"Give me another minute."