22. Spending My Time.

I called Magnum as Nick had driven me back to pack house, and I packed my bags and put my Aston Martin ready for me to enjoy Australia. I was just informing that I would not be around. So I was quite surprised when he told me to wait for him at the house. He had something he wanted to discuss before I left.

I packed as much food to go with me as possible; I had my jet that would fly me and my Aston Martin there. I had bought this. This was luxury jet. So then, when Jake dropped off Magnum, and he had a few big sports bags with him, I raised my eyebrows. Magnum came at me, smirked, and told me he would go with me on holiday to Australia. He hugged me very tightly.

Fine, I made then some lunch for him too to be eaten on the plane as I knew that even though there was a fridge full of drinks, coffee machine, and such. Flying in Australia would take time, and since I had reserved a lot of food for me, I did not want Magnum to be hungry when he would have to watch me gorge myself. I had freezer full of baked goods and it did not take too long for me make meatballs and filled meat pies for him. 

I had nothing against having company. Having someone to share this wonderful experience with was nice. Again, this surprised me. It really did. He was not just work buddy, but he was very dear friend, bodyguard and occasional bedfellow as well.

I told him what had happened and how Nick and Elias put me back together. I was surprised because Magnum would not go after those witches; he told me that wizards were on it, and he wanted to have a holiday with his friend. He was sorry that he had noticed nothing during the wedding when I told him about them, but when I told him what Damon was capable of, he understood even originals would not have the chance to help me. 

We talked about a lot of things during the flight work, of course, but then again, a lot of other stuff, too. Magnum swore that if he ever had to take care of me, he would chain me to the bed and not let me crawl onto the floor. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about, and I told him it was so awful to have to pick me up from the floor like ten times a day.

He looked at me and said, "I hope that was sarcasm, hummingbird. Seeing you thin as a skeleton, in fever, crawling onto the floor when you are supposed to be resting is hardly anything I want to witness anytime soon, at least."

Well, I was all innocent and sweet and promised to take care of Magnum if he ever got sick. Magnum told me how awful it had been to see me in such terrible shape after my abortion in New York then.

I said, "I seem to inspire the men around me to take care of me. But I try not to get any infections right now, so I could enjoy my holiday properly for once." Magnum grunted.

We ate, and then I told him what Nick and Elias had said to Damon and told him the story, too. Magnum was quite sure that it was about Damon and that Damien was a genuine threat, but as he had been inside Damon for so long, it would not be easy to separate them. I told him about my suspicions, too. What if Damon and Damien had merged somehow, that Damien had been corrupting Damon, making him do bad things, too? And if Damon had influenced Damien, making him some sort stalker almost? Too many question with not really good answers.

Only the future would show me, so until then, all I could do was watch out for the Stink of Wet Dog. It might be best to leave and go somewhere else if that happened. Magnum told me he would tell the story to Dresden and Constantine; maybe they could help with this problem, too.

Australia was wonderful. First, I did a long road trip driving around this fascinating continent. Magnum was with me as I recounted once again what the Pack put me through. Magnum was good in bed. We had dabbled over the years, but now I wasn't interested. I wanted my freedom.

We went to fairs. I had found them, and there was a lot of interesting stuff to see. When I told Magnum about my passion for Formula, we found a Formula course and went to have a few laps. My skills genuinely impressed him, but then again, his protective side came out too; even though I am immortal, unkillable. He did not want to see me drive into a wall or something.

He did not let me race anymore, we could do this for fun but not races, too risky as Sark knew my career. He had never seen me drive; he had only heard and found out Sark's nefarious plan's to sabotage me and it had been Jake and Rob who had stopped me back then. 

We had few quick work jobs, or missions, meaning, I had had headache for a few days and then I told it about Mimosa who said that I had my radar full. It seemed that I had quite a few things to find here so Magnum kept me literally on leash; I had belt in my waist and it had short belt, Constantine was free to make this trip and get all of 18 items into safety. That damn belt was specially made, I could get it off, only Magnum could get, and he was strong enough to keep me in line. 

Our trip was wonderful, but then, being a very special creature, there were some minor mishaps along the way. Like I said, I liked to go to fairs and see things, from books and clothes to plants and animals, too. They knew me, American Sweetheart here as well, so I got quite many deals, they wanted to make me stuff, like customized cars, even few rifles, and Magnum was with me, telling to them what to have in those.

It was wonderful to have someone to share this with. We went quite many movies too; we were critical of those movies and some of them were better than others. We discussed them afterwards, what had been wrong in them and what had been good. I was living a life, and I saw just wonderful it would have a real boyfriend or even husband to share this but Damon being who is he and Adam too, this was just not for me with them. 

Fairs were being our specialty. We had gone to several ones and were at one gardening fair. It was a vast hall, and there was an amazing collection of very lovely plants and flowers—orchids and everything else, too. We toured the entire hall, and we went to our car. The plan was to continue to my ranch and maybe sleep in there a few nights before continuing our trip.

I was walking back to the car when I noticed I was getting a little breathless, and my throat itched slightly. I said nothing. Mimosa jumped out. She wanted to be a little while out, to enjoy driving around. I went to sit in the car. It was not too bad yet, and I wanted to enjoy.

It was Magnum's turn to drive, and we went on. My throat felt even more sore, and I was noticing tightness in my chest, like I was not getting enough oxygen. My body is peculiar in that way that I don't need to breathe or have a pulse. My cells could absorb oxygen directly, and specialized cells all around my lungs took extra oxygen from the air in my lungs if needed.

We had been driving a while when my breathing got worse. I realized I was having some sort of allergic reaction, anaphylaxis, triggered by pollen from some flower. Magnum looked at me sharply when my breathing rattled and wheezed noticeably. It was getting harder to breathe.

He said, "Are you ok with your breathing?"

I just nodded. I thought this would be over soon and my body would restore itself. I had to keep my cool. But no, my breathing wheezed even more, and I realized that there was no air in my lungs to get oxygen. I was getting feeling of suffocating. My throat was swelling up, and it was hard not to panic.

Something, I guess it was a distinct blue hue on my lips and in my fingers, made Magnum curse and find a suitable rest spot.

Mimosa told him, "This is a loaded-up car; we have adrenaline and other stuff in our system, but you need to get Mimi to open it."

Magnum said, "God damn it when I told her to get someone else in that opening system too. After this, I am not asking; I will make it so."

Magnum stopped the car, opened the booth, and did not say a word when he yanked me out of the car. I was dizzy, fighting against panic, trying to pull air in someway in. He took my hand and pressed my pinky into the scanner, so it took blood, and the car's locker opened. Magnum carried me to the backseat to sit while he looked through the locker and found first aid supplies.

He took some serious, strong adrenaline, came at me, and jabbed two doses into my thigh, and he found some synthetic versions of antihistamine and corticosteroids, too; I got several jabs for those, too. It took a few minutes me to start to feel some relief. Then my breathing improved, the blue hue disappeared, and panic receded.

I took my first decent deep breath in two hours. He had given me five doses of adrenaline and two extra doses of antihistamine and cortisone, too. He had called Colin and explained things to him. Colin had not been impressed, and it was quite clear now that gardening and flower fairs were out of the question. Colin made a note in my medical records about this incident, too. 

Colin gave Magnum an update on the pack. We had been on our trip for three weeks already. I didn't care if the men were with the witches or not, and Magnum simply announced that Dresden and Constantine had killed all the witches, and the men were now back to partying and drowning their stupidity in booze and women.

Our trip continued still. Magnum swore to me he would make it so that he would have access to that locker, too. He was visibly upset, but as days went by and I showed him what I do with my money, he got over it, at least to some extent. 

I bought a castle in Australia and another island, mine. Magnum was furious half the trip when I told him little details about the cage, my recovery, or other times the pack had put me through. Mimosa was furious, too, and the kangaroos got their comeuppance at the full moon.

Magnum asked me, "Why are you in that pack, in God's name? I mean, you can be wife to Damon and mate to Adam, but why live with those abusers, especially with Bran? He has done very little good to you over the years and, then again, very many bad things."

I answered, "Bran is nothing. I guess it is a werewolf thing that needs to be part of the pack, but then again, I have been on myself and managed. Bran is dick; you are right on the money on that one, but then again, the pack, it feels, I can feel pack bond almost in my soul, and it brings me security too."

It was difficult to explain what being part of the pack and belonging felt like, but I tried to get my point across. I told him about my feline sides peculiarity and hissy fits as well. He promised he will have always good strong catnip with me if I ever hiss at me. It was something that he found hilarious; he questioned me long and hard to my feline behaviour. He told me I had purred when Damien had delivered me to his hotel room. Trying to calm myself down. 

We toured in my castle. Magnum looked at the grand hall when I explained my vision of what I would like. He had a few good ideas, too, and it was an inspiration to have someone to share my vision with. I had bought nothing there yet. I was just planning and getting different ideas on about what to do with the things already there. He was less impressed when I told him how I could hang stuff in the wall; he did not want to me to fall and hurt myself.

There were enormous sofas, but they weren't good to sit, they were hard and uncomfortable so I could dump them. But Magnum actually liked them so that he could have them then. He was very surprised as he explained to me that those sofas were antique and expensive, and he had not expected me just to give them away.

Well, I did not like them. I had money, so there was no need to sell them. I gave them to Magnum and called a few fleas to come and deliver them. Magnum wanted them delivered. He gave them addresses and instructions, too.

I wanted comfort; that was the first thing that I always looked for. I wandered around the castle, not looking at anything specific yet, not even looking through each and every nook and cranny or even every room. I now have time to take things slowly and enjoy my life. I went with the flow. Not let my rage for men to come out. 

Mimosa was saving her strength because all this was draining her strength, too. She had to see the kill lists and possible Europe gigs, so she wasn't always so out of it for me. But that didn't bother me. We were in a castle; we had huge grounds, and there was prey for us. Mimosa wanted us to have some fun, too.

I knew that Mimosa would be fully free from me someday, and that day would be bittersweet, as we were very close. But I knew that day would come and I would have to let her go, it be her own person too. To have a life of her own. But until then, I enjoyed our connection as I changed my shape into Mimosa and went out to have some kangaroo meat for us.

Catching a kangaroo is difficult if you don't know what you're doing, and Mimosa and I did. We had done this before, and we were now in good shape. It helped to be hybrid; you could get a little more speed when using your vampire speed, but as said, it needed to have open space so we wouldn't run into things.

One of our fun things, though, was to rush with vampire speed at the kangaroo so that the impact was quite often enough to kill our prey. Still, we hunted from time to time, ran them over, bite in their necks; Mimosa would suck their blood, getting her blood meal as I had my supply in the car and then delivered into the castle too.

Magnum did always clean up after us, though, and packed all the meat he always cleaned up. When kangaroos are a bit too plentiful in Australia, a little stock management doesn't hurt. Of course, we cooked quite a lot of kangaroo too; some of them were quite fatty, but I ate my wagyu too. There were a lot of farms in Australia where one could get a decent amount of wagyu, and I ate a lot. Magnum liked to eat kangaroo, but we also caught quite a lot of rabbits; there were plenty of those.

Then we went to the island. I had told Magnum what had happened to my other island, and I hadn't even renovated it yet. Magnum promised to take care of it, and I gave him the location and a couple of contacts at the fleas. This island was paradise, for me, at least. The house was enormous and well stocked, as I had gotten quite a lot of deliveries here. I also had a few witches who made special magic so no food would spoil in the fridge or freezer. The same witches cleared the island of all the nasty bugs and poisonous snakes and such, so there would not be any kind of danger for me.

I had quite a lot of jungle on my island; birds were chirping and singing, and at night, I saw a different species of bats flying into the sky. I sat on a beach with Magnum and looked at the stars. Both of us felt little. It made one feel very minor when you see all those stars in the night sky, knowing that most of them are actually just memories, and the light that reached us was dimmed times ago. We literally looked at the past. 

My island was lovely, a paradise. There were waterfalls behind which were caves and jungle, orchids. I figured I could live here for a couple of years without a care in the world. I'd wander around and relax. I felt my energy restored day after day, and maybe sometime it would be good to be back in the States, to pack life knowing that I have paradise waiting for me and whoever I choose to bring here.

This was really a paradise for me. I know that with Damon; we had the Azores, but with Adam, maybe this could be our place, that is, if he wants to come with me or if he has time if he is not too busy to be Bran's lap poodle all the time. Maybe one day I'd come here to Adam, and this would be the place for the two of us.