22. Losing my religion.

He lifted Mimi into his arms. She was unconscious again and teleported to the medbay. She felt so damn fragile in his arms. Cooled down, deeply unconscious. 

Mariella was already there and wrapped herself around Damon and said, " 18 hours and I missed you like crazy."

Damon gave a pleasurable pheromone, and Mariella was on his neck for fifteen minutes. Then they made up.

Mariella tried to get Mimi to wake up, in just under a day, and she crashed. This was not good. Mariella made Mimi just a little bit moan and said, "That's not good that she's in such a coma, but first, a blood tube and see what it says."

Damon nodded, and two and five came over to the medbay. They stroked Mimi. They had missed her deeply, and no one could do anything until number one had gotten himself together. And Mimi was in terrible shape once again. 

They sniffed the blood and started making antibiotics, painkillers, and some binders for those parts of the anesthetic that Mimi's blood was full of. Mariella put a feeding tube and nutritional concentrates on her because they didn't have the visceral supplies yet.

And the other thing they were missing was Mimi's enzymes. They had, or number one, given it all to the sarks and used it all up. Mimi didn't have any enzymes, and Damon knew how fucking much it meant to the whole fucking thing. But now it was time for the operation first.

Damon now knew what cocktail he could make, but the likelihood was that Mimi would be deeply sedated for a long time. But Damon made the cocktail, went and put it in Mimi's cannula, pressed the plunger, and felt his wife fall into a deep, deep coma. Then he went to set up the operating theatre and wondered about the new supplies that had arrived there, too.

But it didn't matter. He got everything in order, and number two was already gently carrying Mimi into the theatre. Mariella and Damons were cutting away an incredible amount of tissue and had a preliminary binder in case this ever came up again. They had analyzed that the dagger and gotten done binding agent for rose thistle which was crude and not perfect, but it was better than nothing. 

That was one damn nasty herb, and they knew the binder would help a bit, but it would not be good for them to get it in their system as well.

They then put the antibiotic drip and all their other bags into Mimi's incubator, where an infusion pump ensured the drugs dripped, and there were plenty in stock.

Then Mariella said, " Come on dear, let's go unload again. You need a good unloading, and I'll show you." She was getting back to be sex addict, not pack member but bed beckoned her. 

Damon didn't resist as he let Mariella take him into her bedroom, and they had brutal animal sex that released Damon's inner pathos and rage. Mariella was incited and excited. Nothing was too much now. Mariella fired up, sensing Damon's passion and responding with her own.

They were going to have to unload and fight for power, and then Mariella would feel like she was being defeated and properly so. It was liberating to be completely in control, to be controlled by Damon, to trust this as completely as she could.

Lepard was walking down the corridor when something bothered him. He went into the medbay. There was Mimi in the incubator. She was so incredibly delicate-looking, and Lepard went closer. He took a couple of steps and then paced hurriedly, opened the lid of the incubator, lifted Mimi onto the bed, put his teeth into her neck, and started giving her straps.

He said to Damon, " What's your situation? You've been fucking for days. I have now had my teeth on Mimi's neck for 24 hours as the strap bags are not enough, and she is trying to drip her straps. I can do this for a while longer, but when the demon is with the wolves."

Damon said, " Fine. We're going to take a shower, and then we'll be on our way. Let's see what's wrong with the lady trying to drip her straps off."

Mariella asked, " What do you think is causing this now? "

Damon grunted and said, "I don't know. We'll have to see when we get there."

They went into a frantic shower and stayed there for a couple of hours, then got dressed and went to the medbay.

Lepard was lying topless on the bed with Mimi in his arms; his teeth were all over her neck, and the bags were dripping all the time down Mimi's heart. Damon went to the bedside, took Mimi's hand, and bit her wrist, tasting her blood. When he let go, the wrist was bleeding and not healing. Mariella also came in for a taste.

Mariella started swearing pretty well, and Damon said, " Well, darling, what do you say? What's the reason?"

Mariella said," Enzymes, the damn enzymes still haven't improved, and the lady's DNA has changed so much over the years that even your enzymes won't help now. Of course, it will change the DNA of one of you again that you are each other's half, but it will take time and a lot. How the hell are we going to get enzymes for this in this condition? Her infection is fully on. There is still that damn drug in her blood, but we need enzymes."

Damon thought for a moment and said, " Platinum for the liver and wake the lady up. The straps will hold once she's awake, and we will have to platinum again. Oh fuck, I'm pissed off. We can't give antibiotics, nothing, but pain."

Mariella sighed. She didn't see any other way, either. Garlic would be too mild, and enzyme foods hadn't worked for Mimi for many years. Since her body and physiology have changed over the years, platinum would be the most effective. But Mimi would have to be put away again, and this would be so fucking hard on the entire pack once again.

Damon was silent, and Mariella sensed the pain. He had just gotten Mimi back, at least a little of her trust in him, and now he would have to do this. Damon put the anesthetic down, concentrated, squeezed the can of antidote, pulled it into the syringe, put Mimi in the cannula, and pushed in.

He knew he had to do this, but that didn't mean he would enjoy it. Mimi woke up half an hour later, and lepard removed her teeth. Mimi's straps held while she was awake.

They were not in place, not even close, and Mimi was weak, still in the deep grip of infection. Damon would so much have wanted to hold Mimi, take care of her, and help her. Instead, he would have to poison his future wife with platinum, cause her great pain, and isolate her from the pack again completely. Damon wondered why everything in the world had to be so fucking wrong for Mimi, why nothing can be right and help Mimi.

But it is what it is, and you just have to go with the flow and hope for the best that Mimi's enzymes get fixed quickly and that he can help her. Then they'd have a wedding and a honeymoon, too. Babies, puppies, a wonderful pack life, but it seemed so fucking far away, even at the moment, that he couldn't believe in everything all the time. He would just torture Mimi all the time and couldn't help her like he should.

I woke up, and I was still pretty fucking weak. I had a fever, my mind was confused, and drugged, still some effects of that damn grenade were in my mind. Lepard was next to me and stroking me all the time. Damon's expression was stern, and Mariella was trying to be neutral, but I could see a hint of satisfaction in her expression. Why on earth?

Damon came over to me, sent the leopard away, and said, " Baby, you've been in treatment for a couple of days now, but when your enzymes don't kick in. We are too different from each other for my enzymes to help you, so sorry, baby, platinum for your liver. Garlic is not working for you, and I really would have liked to do this another way, but there is no other option. You are in a terrible state to do this, but you need those damn enzymes."

I nodded and said, " Fine, platinum me and send me elsewhere. Like Monaco. I'll be fine."

I started to feel more refreshed. I knew I was really weak, but I would not show them that, especially not to Mariella, and I steeled myself. I was very sick, and in horrible condition, but as Mariella watched me closely, I used my pretender skills to make myself healthier looking. 

Damon leaned on the end of the bed a little and said. "Fine, I'll get the platinum. I'll give you one more drug to keep you from getting hyper, and then I'll teleport you to Monaco. We'll see in a couple of weeks, then."

I nodded and steeled myself. Mariella was looking pleased, and I realized she smelled like vampire lust. Well, at least they'll have something to do while I'm suffering. This was nothing new, what it came to pack life. 

Damon got up and went to the cupboard. He took out a big bag of pure platinum and syringes.

Mariella said, "Damon dear, put the entire bag on, and it'll work faster. It could be ready in a couple of weeks."

Damon grunted and said, "I wonder if it's a bit much, darling?"

Mariella said, " Mimi is so enzyme deficient that we need to get some and lots of it, then we can get on with it."

Damon grunted and drew 750 ml of platinum refined with magic into syringes. It was about 100% pure, so pure that you wouldn't even get it normally. He went over to Mimi and injected all this into her liver, first turning off his radar, then concentrating on what he was doing, and then teleported Mimi to Monaco.

They hadn't even been to Monaco in years, hadn't been to anything but Moldovan Castle, and all of Mimi's houses interested Mariella. Yes, but now Damon belonged to her and only her.

As Damon injected liquid pain into my liver and with devotion, I smelled, yes, vampire heat, but fine, yes, I'm doing just fine, and I have no problem. It's just a white-hot pain that started spreading from my liver around my body. Damon gave me another substance to prevent a hyper-reaction.

Then he teleported me to Monaco and disappeared. I understood he put his radar on and went to concentrate on the vampire fever. That was okay with me. I had just learned to hide my weaknesses so well that when I got to Monaco; I went to bed and curled up in a ball to suffer and freeze. I was so cold, my fever ran high, I was sick as a dog, and I wondered how long it would take for me to get over this.

This infection hadn't been conquered yet, and now it raised the fever on top of that. Oh, fuck if I didn't say it better, but I am immortal. I can't vanish, even if I grow back from one cell to the next. I lay in bed for 24 hours at least, then always tried to move. Not wanting to eat, or drink. I could tolerate pulling saline in a syringe and injecting it under my skin, to keep me a little more hydrated. I tried to keep up some sort of fitness because this would be hard work and still infected.

The vampire fever lasted a month. It was fucking fierce, and Damon only allowed vampire fever once a year. But now it would be time to stop again, and it would last another year. Then Damon realized that Mimi had been platinum in her liver for a month.

But it would help if Mimi had been lacking them for so long that the enzymes would kick in properly, and as soon as he had the chance, he would collect the enzymes from Mimi properly and always. And then they would have a good collection of them. 

He went to Mariella when she had woken up. He said, "Morning darling, how are you feeling?"

Mariella stretched and said, " I am tremendously wonderful. Oh, I want to help Mimi get fit and pack life on properly. "

Damon smiled, and they headed off to breakfast. Mimi might have a bit of a recovery, but they would help. Then there would be the wedding, and oh, what a wedding it would be. And a honeymoon. And maybe the pupil would need a few lessons now, and then, if the same defiant behavior continued, Mimi would learn quickly.

I was in Monaco, and I knew that the pack would have a wild vampire fever, so this could last. My enzymes kicked in after two weeks, and after the third week, I buzzed with them. I extracted one unit of them. I would hold out for another week and then see.

I had been taking drips of some nutrients, but this was consuming my calories and, most of all, my strength. The infection hadn't gone away yet, but my condition was what it was. Grenade symptoms, or infection symptoms, did not go anywhere. Drug pieces were too still in my blood. I was more or less pretty much messed up.

I knew good enzymes would help with that, too. Then, after a month, I got fed up, and I could feel Damon in my thoughts now and then. He must have realized I had a hell of a lot of enzymes already. I had already taken eight units of my enzymes. I had considered taking the rage out a bit. I still had a fever and a cruel one. But I had gotten to this point. It was just a matter of recovering and resting, regaining my strength because this month had been exhausting.

After the pack had eaten, Damon said, "Fine. I'll get Mimi and see if we can extract any enzymes from her already. Darling, you're coming with me."

Mariella said, " Of course, I'll come with you. I want to see what the lady has been doing in Monaco."

Damon went to medbay first and picked up the enzyme collection supplies and a few other supplies. As not all of Mimi's houses had been linked in every way, he wanted to be ready and prepared for anything.

They went through the portal room, and Damon gave a low whistle. He had only been downstairs to the study to get a dagger and hadn't seen all the changes. There were value paintings on the walls, fancy carpets on the floors, and everywhere you looked, you could see how fucking rich Mimi was. Rich.

They headed downstairs, and Damon wondered aloud, "I wonder where Miss is? Darling, you tell me."

Mariella wondered and wandered. Then she saw Mimi. Mimi was outside, walking towards the edge of the shelter. There was a sark on the other side. He looked like Jewel Sark, dressed the same way, in his hair. Everything was just right.

Mariella asked the Sark, " Oh, what are you doing in Monaco? We are here, too."

Jewel Sark said, " What are you talking about? We are not in Monaco. If there is a sark, then he is naughty."

Damon heard that and stormed out. He moved over to Mimi, grabbed and threw her behind him to safety. Sark watched for a moment and fired. Mariella screamed.

Damon came out of nowhere, threw me behind him, and said, " That's a naughty sark. "

I was surprised and didn't have time to react. Damon held on to me. His grip on my arm was tight. And then there was a muffled pop. Damon stiffened. He looked at me and then turned to ash.

Mariella screamed; that scream seemed to go to my soul, and Mariella's pain was real, as real as pain can be and can be. She collapsed on the ground and cried inconsolably.

But the energy net had caught Damon, and he ended up on Mariella's head. She began to calm down and regain control of herself. My hand tingled; I could still feel Damon's ghostly touch, and after a moment, Mariella stood up and came to me. Damon's cells were in my arm, alive. I put my chaos, my will surrounding them. My fault. I had the last bit of him. I wanted to save it. I had the power to do this. I had to have.

She said, " You son of a... because of you, Damon has no body. He sacrificed himself for you, you, you worthless smug freak. He should have known better than to stay away from you. At least he'd still have a body. Now, I'll make sure that if Damon needs another body, it's one of your bastards. Fucking whore. Look what the fuck you did when you came back to the pack. I'll fucking make sure you leave this pack, you stupid fucking bitch, and leave it good."

If I would be wise, I would have slapped her across the face, tell her about those cells in my arm, but I am not wise. I am self sacrificing, reckless being who takes blame when it does not belong to me. But if someones blames me, I am more than willing to bear the burden. Instead of saying anything, I just stood there, a living skeleton, silent, letting her blame me. 

Then Mariella teleported away. I went inside and concentrated. I felt that one cell of Damon. With my arm, I fed it energy, chaos, my willpower. The cell divided, and I continued. I went to medbay, put myself on as strong a nutritional drip as possible, a painkiller, and recovered my enzymes. I needed a little bit of help to get his body back. I took more enzymes out of me, 12 enormous bags of enzymes, packed them skillfully, and tried to grow Damon back. 

I focused on the cells. At first, it was easy. Not a cell or more requires that much energy, but the cell grew and developed, and I persevered. Damon sacrificed himself for me, and I helped. I would not tell the pack because it was my fault. Again, not much intelligence on my part. My life was nothing more than growing this cell. I got a tissue out of it, then the tissue grew. I continued; I didn't tell anyone anything and knew I was still in the pack, but only because the number two was now the pack leader. 

Mimosa told me that Mariella was helping number one; he had been quite confused, and she was fixing this in her mind. I knew she was also probably poisoning number one against me, but that's okay. Weeks went by, and soon it would be done. My body withered, and I will hold on. No amount of nutrition was enough. I was the most resilient creature in the universe. This was just my job, to take the hit that no one else could take.

I was already so exhausted, but Damon's body was perfect, ready. I still used my chaos, willpower, and everything I had to ensure he didn't smell like strawberries. Then I teleported the body into the pack and went to sleep. I had done my duty and paid my dues. Not sure when I would wake up, if I would wake up ever, or if anyone was even worried about me. It did not really matter. Damon did not love me, not really. He saw me as a challenge, as something to have, but he loved Mariella, not me.

I weighed 11 kilos, my strength was gone, and the hibernation blocker could do nothing as I went into a deep hibernation. Deepest ever. My health was gone, the infection had taken over the last of my strength; it was time to rest now, and a long time too. I had earned my rest. My tissues were drying up, my heart was beating rarely and faintly, and I was breathing even less. I told no one anything.