28. All Rise.

Mariella got her memory back the next morning and knew what she and the rest of the pack had to do. This would not be easy and as she felt her and Damon's bond, she felt satisfaction. She was a little confused, but she thought she could talk to him at some point, and help him do what was necessary. 

After breakfast, she said to Adam and Charles. "We need to talk, and this is going to be hard to hear, but you need, really need, to hear this thing through before you say a word. Please?"

Charles and Adam looked at each other and nodded.

"Okay," Adam said shortly.

Mariella smiled sweetly and innocently.

She said, "I know, Adam, you have a temper, and this might blow it, but you need to hear the entire story. But first, excuse me."

Mariella said and went to the basement, where she released Mimosa and gave her from her savior's teeth a substance that bound the small amount of silver and herbs that had been spilled on Mimosa. She released Shadow too, who had just awakened and was quite confused. 

Mariella then returned with the wolves to the kitchen and said. "Are you ready now?"

Charles nodded.

Mariella took a deep breath and began.

Her voice was firm. "You probably don't know everything Damien has done to Mimi and what he did during this last session. That is, he has embedded Mimi full of nano molecules coated with some kind of polymer, plastic, or even metals. They are embedded everywhere in Mimi, in the brain, in the eyes, in the bones, in the muscles, and these are causing these medical problems in Mimi. Because when this kind of shell breaks down, whatever it contains is released and causes problems. It's got everything from pathogens on it."

She took a big breath before continuing.

"Well, Damien was leaking them on me as well as you know, and Damon finally got them off me when he pissed me off completely. The same unfortunately didn't work for Mimi, her white-hot rage was not enough doesn't break those triple shells. This hasn't been a straightforward decision, and it won't be easy for anyone, but this is the only way to get the shells off Mimi. If these shells are not broken or gotten off, Mimi will be constantly sick, weak, weigh well under 50 kilos, and worst of all, Damien will continue to have shed sessions, and we cannot keep Mimi safe. I have spoken to God about this, and quite frankly, this is the only way to help Mimi, even though it may not seem like it at the moment."

Charles looked at Mariella for a while and said, " What are you talking about? What to do with Mimi?"

Mariella continued wearily. " This is the hard part. At the moment, Damon is with Mimi and is giving her a shed session, a bad one. As bad as he can. Damon can sense when the shells are cracking, and he'll keep working until the shells don't crack anymore or..." Mariella sighed.

"Or Mimi is dead," Adam stated dangerously.

Mariella looked Adam straight in the eye and said, "Yes, this is difficult for you, not fair to Mimi, but I won't even try to convince you that this is hard for Damon. I have to deal with him when this is over because Damon is in a terrible place. Getting Mimi well, or at least getting her well, is then your responsibility."

Charles snarled, " How can Damon even do that to Mimi? I don't think he loves Mimi anymore."

Mariella replied, "It is out of love that he is sacrificing for Mimi's future. Believe me, no one would want Mimi to suffer for the next 50 years. Now if Mimi dies, she will be on your head. I have adjusted the energy grid in that way. We need to make a place there where we can get her to rest and be at peace and recover. I will help you create that place in your head."

Mariella continued matter-of-factly.

"Believe me, there was no other way. I looked too, and this was the only one," Mimosa said quietly.

Charles sighed. He was not now sure, and Damon might take this the wrong way, but then Mariella had to know.

He said to Mariella, "Little one, sit down and let me tell a few things about Damon. You can look into the past then and see that I am not lying. But Damon might not be in that kind of crisis that you think. He might be in a place where you have no access and then he is very dangerous. "

Mariella frowned. Of course, Damon would be full of self-blame and hate after he had to do that to Mimi. But as Charles showed her in snippets in the past as he had procured several victims for Damon, Mariella could see the whole new dangerous side of Damon, not Damien but this old creature who loved to hurt. And he was cruel. His victims did not live long. And she had told Damon to be as cruel as possible.

She said to Charles, "Thanks for the warning. I have a few things that I can do if it comes to that he has unleashed that part wholly. it will be your job to take care of Mimi as will take him. "

Her voice was determined, but she had a cold pit of dread in her belly. Only time would tell her where he was going. 

Damon was ruthless. He didn't allow recovery time if he went to rest. He made sure I was hurting and felt my strength waning. His equipment differed from Damien's. He used those damn songs all the time, so my mind started to connect my favorite songs to pain and fear in this damn session. 

Where Damien crushed and destroyed without regard for power, Damon was cold, efficient, and calculating. He knew exactly what to do. He always knew how to do maximum damage and inflict maximum pain and panic. Now he didn't do this slowly, like there in the hospital, that teaching session.

No, he did this now so brutally and badly as he could, making me suffer as much as he could. And it was a lot. He used his protector radar to ensure that suffering was as maximum as possible, and the same went with my panels. He made me as weak as possible. 

The CPAP mask was the worst. One night, or whatever it was, when he left me alone, he poured wax in my ears so I couldn't hear, wrapped me in numbing jelly so I couldn't feel, and covered my eyes so I couldn't see, then he put the mask on and left me to panic for what seemed like forever.

He took away almost all my senses except pain, fear, and panic. He didn't put the fear and terror in because he wanted me to be present. I feel and am aware of everything. He was cruel.

Damon drained me one morning, first thing in the morning, full of concentrated tomato jelly. Cat Stevens's Morning Has Broken played in the background. Not a good morning for me. Then he brushed crushed coriander over my skin and wrapped me in some kind of self-adhesive bandages. I was moaning weakly and tried to get away from the pain, but his voice hissed in my ears. No mercy, not at all. 

He enjoyed tearing them off in the evening. I had no skin left, and Damon put me in molten metal for the night and a CPAP mask on.

My life was nothing but pain. I couldn't get the pain out anywhere. The pain was always changing shape and place, and fear and horror were now and then. I noticed the difference between Damien and Damon.

Where Damien was almost chatting, almost talking to himself in a normal voice, Damon was different. He was always talking to me, in a dangerous, cruel voice that oozed anger.

He knew how to say the cruelest phrases and make everything hurt the hardest it ever hurt. He crushed my body as he crushed my will to fight. Every time I tried to come up with some distraction in my head to hide. He came into my mind and crushed my shield. He put his own will in my head, so I had no place of protection.

Damon came up to me once again and said, "I would have imagined that this would be difficult, but no. When I know you will not die, I mean die. That's how you provide excellent entertainment. Plus, baby, you can be naughty sometimes. You have no respect for anyone or anything." 

I was sitting in some kind of dentist chair almost, full of drugs, metals, and poisons and he had now several little syringes with him as he came closer. He walked around me, as he talked, casually, like this was nothing. I was very weak. I thought I had an infection or several. My temp was not what was it supposed to be. The vortex was even worse inside me; it made me feel I was almost about to explode. 

" You should have thought about that road trip and especially those safe deposit boxes. Maybe then, sometimes when I tell you I want all that stuff for the pack and you give it to me, maybe you should remember this before you say no. Maybe this will teach you a lesson. I can and will do this again if ever, ever I feel the need. Remember, baby, I don´t lie."

Damon was serious. He saw nothing wrong with this. After all, I couldn't die. I tried to wrap my head around this for a moment. I have to remember.

Next, he came near me and tilted my head, so my ear was so exposed.

He said to me." See in this syringe I have liquid vanadium, it is heated so it stays liquid, but as you know or then not, vanadium needs to be really hot, 1910 degrees Celsius to be liquid, so this is hot, I am gonna drip this into your ear, and baby, please beg, so I might stop. Depending on how well you beg." 

Hot pain that lanced through my head made me scream, drop after drop.

I tried to beg, "Please don't. It hurts, please. I beg you, I beg of you, please stop this.."

A few more drops and I lost consciousness when I woke up. I was on my back and now he injected that vanadium into my knees, as I had begged. Pain hit next to my knees, making me scream out loud, and many times. He loved it when I screamed. 

And he did the creepy things, too. He came over to me and stroked my hair. He kissed my forehead. He smiled like he cared. I would have much rather endured the flesh-cutting and the scorn, but this broke inside me in a way I never thought possible.

He came at me at one point, took a sheet and wrapped me in it, took me in his arms, stroked me, and same time hit herb implant regulators so convulsed from pain, he just let his passionfruit stank and properly so. Calling me his little wife.

Damon was making all the antics between us creepy now. All of them and I would know never to have anything to do with Damon again. He told me how I had no choice, how he'd always find me and wouldn't be happy if I tried to run away. Then he said I'd have to be taught again. Now, I didn't know what to think. He played all my favorite songs for so long that I hated them, as they were now linked to this pain and suffering. I tried to think of something, some other song, but no chance. He ruined all of my songs. Even Eternal Flame and Bertie Higgins Casablanca, as it was now useless. 

After three and a half weeks, Damon thought he'd had enough. Mimi would never look at him again. He wouldn't feel her touch, her kiss, her love. He'd heard every thought Mimi ever had, every single one, and he'd hated having to destroy every touch, everything. But the darkness inside him had gotten so much stronger. He had done what he could so that one day he would get this out of Mimi's mind. Thus the songs. They would be a link that Mimi could not hide from him. 

He was sorry for what he had done to them. Mimi deserved only happiness and a good time and he did not give it to her. They had grown so close in the Heat that their bond had strengthened. Damon had to tear that apart, too. He'd so hoped to have another relationship with Mimi, but no. Not in a long time. They were history now, and Damon couldn't even remember the last time they'd had a truly happy or wonderful moment. Before that heat. 

The entire pack probably hated or feared him, except for Mariella. Mariella was the only anchor that kept Damon going. Days went by. Soon, this would be over. The shells kept breaking. Mimi's straps had started to fall off yesterday, and he knew Mimi wouldn't last much longer, but he hated those shells. She had been really strong. He had literally given her the worst possible handling, and it had been almost a month. 

He did nothing to help her keep her straps because some instinct told him that the maximum effect would be when Mimi would die. He wanted to destroy them as much as he could. He hated Damien. When he talked to Mimi, he talked to those shells. But Mimi believed he was talking to her.

I was lying on my back in another pool, this time with aconitum and battery acid, and there was a little motor in the pool that kept the liquid moving so that it burned evenly on all sides. I could feel or had been seeing my straps for 24 hours. Shakira's La Tortura played in the background, embedding this feeling, this pain in my mind, so deep that I could never listen to one of these songs. Damon had told me that all he had to do was play one of these songs and I would be back in here, in my memories, and he could keep me here in the future if I was naughty again.

Damon gave me the ability so that I would see my situation better. Now there were 18 left, no, 17. One strap once an hour fell off, and I thought another 17 hours. Salvatore sat on the edge of the pool and stroked my hair again. 

I couldn't even tremble with fear anymore, even though I was terrified. I had been all this for almost a month. Damon admired the pool. There were floating tissue pieces, my skin was peeled off, I had no hair left, and I was a living skeleton. 

He said, "I see our time is running out. I told you, baby, you can't take much more of my treatment, but we'll see what kind of tolerance you get over the years. Damien was right about that. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Just remember that. I must say, you are stronger than I expected. I should keep you safe and try to get you in fantastic shape and then play with you. I bet we could play for at least two months. "

Damon heard another enormous pile of shells crack as Mimi realized what he had just promised. That had been an effective phrase because another terrible pile of shells was now cracked. Just how many would there be, and would he have to do this to Mimi more than once? But then he wouldn't be able to tell why.

It was over. Damon walked slowly and shut the songs down. He had put bombs in place so he could destroy this place. He was so edge, and he had hoped to be a little more stable so he might be able to help Mimi, but not now. He fetched a special blanket he had infused with his blood and a strong anesthetic. It would ease Mimi even a bit, even though he knew she wouldn't survive.

He put a blanket on the table and lifted her onto it, wrapping it around her body. She was almost just a skeleton. Her bones were visible in so many places, too. Damon lifted his now wife into his arms, and the shells hadn't broken again for a couple of hours. The shells that were left over would be. Damon would never do another session like this again. Mimi had one weak strap left. She was barely awake, bruised, torn, and poisoned.

Damon stroked Mim's hair and said, his voice a mere gentle whisper, he was not sure if would Mimi be awake enough to understand, "Baby, I had a reason, I truly did, for everything, there was a reason. I would do anything for love."

He held her in his arms. He could smell still her faint strawberry even though he had torn away her pheromone glands. He smiled at her and stroked her hair. She convulsed slightly. Damon could feel this living skeleton stiffening, then wholly relaxing. Her head turned slightly, her gaze was lifeless. The last strap had broken, and Mimi was free.