9. Holding Out For Hero.

Eventually, the car stopped. I was drifting in and out of consciousness, and pain was the only thing that kept me awake. He came and opened the trunk, and picked me up, all wrapped up in this moldy, smelly blanket that was rough and hurt my skin. I could feel my open sores throbbing as mold rubbed into them. Mold-caused skin infections are difficult to treat, and I was in terrible shape. I got worse by the minute. 

I had just enough energy to open my eyes as the chilly night air hit my face as he walked into the house. I recognized the Michigan house. I knew it wasn't a very fancy medbay around here. But this one had now made it his life's work to torture me so much for the good times. While I was going to recover from this, I knew a little separation might be in order.

The pain and the whole shed session messed me up and once again, there was no Damien, only Damon who had hurt me and a long time, brutally, while enjoying it. I needed my time, but when and how? I just wasn't sure how to do it. He carried me off to Medbay and put me in the spiked cuffs and it did not take the moldy blanket out from under me.

He just opened it and let all the open sores on my back be against those moldy spots and whatever else seeped into this rough blanket. He had gotten me tiny spiked cuffs so that my skeletal wrist was tightly clasped. He once again pressed them carefully in my flesh so they were tight around my wrists are hot throbbing pain started to run in my arms and my palms too. 

He said. " We were in the shed for over two months, eleven weeks. Isn't that quite a long time? Yes, I have strengthened you well."

Unbelievable. He tortured me for over two months. He went on first to eat himself and put a sheet over my naked body. The sheet was turning red and yellow with blood and pus from these sores. He said nothing. He just left to eat and go shower, to freshen up.

He came back much later and took the sheet off. He had put scrubs on and a plastic apron, three pairs of gloves, and he took some swabs, and saline and came to clean my wounds. He poured saline concentrate into the bowl and got water from a spigot to it, diluting it, but he measured nothing.

As he poured saltwater into my wound, I screamed from pain; He got up with a huff, took a dental syringe, and came at me, paralyzing my vocal cords as he continued to pour saltwater in my wounds, then tapping them with swabs, not gentle and careful manner, he didn't even cleaned them fully. He did that just to hurt me. 

He cannulated me and put me on pure saline drip or some drug that made me feel very confused and helpless, not sedating but just tiring me out. Wound cleaning continued, he pressed and pushed, as he removed pus out of them but not much as he hated my secretions, I had a diaper because he didn't want to catheterize me, and empty the bag, my pee was something that repulsed him, as all of my bodily fluids. 

He put my bones in some sort of alignment, and he took a lot of breaks. I was most of the time alone, seeing the IV stand, the cannula was now on my elbow, so I saw that all the time. And then, on top of that. I had wounds he had to clean; it was done without painkillers, or if he gave me something, it was about the equivalent of human ibuprofen. It helped a little. Day after my condition got worse, and he cursed, he was upset as his ministrations wouldn't get me any better and I was more and more out of it, not really reacting, and his grand plan to get me in shape slowly didn't really work at all.

He had paralyzed my voice box so I wouldn't scream so much. I had a diaper on because my bowels were leaking all the time. He had me catheterized, eventually because I made no pee and he could feel my bladder being full of concentration, but he didn't have to change the bag very often. He gave me very dilute nutrient solutions and didn't use his blood at any time.

Daily he came at me, pressed hard on my lower belly, on my bladder and thick bloody concentrated urine seeped into the catheter. It was often more or less blocked, but he enjoyed causing me pain. I was most of time out of it unless he was not torturing me.

Just dressing the wounds made them throb for hours. It was as if he had the knowledge and theoretical skill to do what needed to be done, but a complete lack of empathy and caring. He cleaned nothing very carefully or properly. It was like he didn't bother to do it. He was a cold, distant clinician and enjoyed how weak, helpless, and in pain I was.

He didn't monitor my condition or ensure care I was warm enough. He didn't give me caffeine or blood to drink. He was not so dexterous as usual and his grips were painful, his handling of instruments clumsy. It was like he knew what he was supposed to be doing but had no hands-on expertise. It was like he was a first-year medical student. 

He had used his hands to hurt, not heal, so he had no idea. I could see that he was angry, as this is not going as it should. first of all I was too silent, too out of it, not begged him or talked at him. I was just being there. Getting weaker so there was no gratitude in me, no pleading for him to continue and I did not tell him what to do, i could have, but I chose not to.

Then Samuel came to visit with Colin. As he heard them coming, he went to the drug cabinet, took out some drugs, drew them into a syringe, and came and pressed it into my cannula. My mind went blurry and my eyes were heavy. He took the clean sheet and put it over me. Then he tried to make everything look like he actually was treating me.

I heard men come in and Damon tried to get them to leave, telling them I was asleep and weak still. And oh, how he put on a show. He explained to them how he tried to fix me when his rage led to him torturing me. He told them how he had gotten enraged with me when I didn't want to spice up our sex life by getting a few more girls on. How I had attacked him and called then Jarod and complained to him about my husband. 

But neither Colin nor Samuel believed him after Samuel and Damon had gone to the other end of the medbay to talk about me.

Colin came up to me and said, "Damon's not well, is he? Don't worry. We'll get him to Dresden, or Dresden will be here. He'll want to curse you for being infertile, but just keep eating those contraceptives, anyway. Young lady, your straps are not fine and you are almost in a critical state."

I was a little more lucid and said to Colin, my voice was weak but I did get some out, "Colin that is Damien, smell him, wet dog, astray, could your leprechaun sense him, is he different from Damon, because he has no skills to care for me, he has a theory but no practice, I suspect he is his own person and he is somehow put inside Damon's mind."

I was so damn tired all the time. Not much strength for me to be awake.

Colin frowned. He got very tense, as he glanced at Damien. Once again I smelled fresh grass, and clovers in the sun, and his pupils were four-leaved clovers as he said, his leprechaun said, "Child, rest now, you need to rest, that is evil being. I can sense it, but I cannot help you with your quest of removing him. He is not your husband, but a close one. Beware, child, he can manipulate your mind too."

Colin shuddered, and he was normal. He blinked a few times, patted my shoulder, and said, "Rest, your straps are really cranky."

I watched as Colin went behind Damon and quickly took and snapped his neck. Then they carried Damon out of the medbay. I was thinking of trying to sleep as throbbing pain all over me was easing or then I was just getting so much weaker.

After some time, Samuel returned and came up to me and said, " First things first. Where does it hurt the most? You are very weak, and Damon's treatment was already getting on your straps and badly. Luckily we happened to come here when Dresden was asking where you were and I happened to catch up with the Salvatore. Do you believe he first said you were in New Mexico, but Dresden did a trace on the day, so he was a little surprised when we got here? But I have a feeling that you, my lady, are going to get some rest and then I'm going to get you well. You need some serious work, I see." 

I said, "It was Damien, not Damon. He tortured me for eleven weeks. But I try to remind myself that it was Damien, not Damon, but god that is hard. He can be so Damon like, it is downright creepy."

Samuel said, "Now don't think about it. Try to rest. Nothing bad is gonna happen anymore. We got you. Let's get you now little more comfortable."

Samuel walked over to the medicine cabinet and began to curse harshly. He came over to me and said, "Little delay. it seems there's no medicine to put you to sleep, but don't worry, I've got some painkillers in the car." 

I said," I saw him flush some drugs down the drain and he has the substance that he used to empty his teeth and mine too, so no dentals." 

Samuel stomped off, muttering something. It sounded like a very long and quite inventive string of very harsh and descriptive curse words aimed at Salvatore and his person and also his body, too. I was amazed that gentle Samuel knew that kind of language. 

I was still lying in the restraints, helpless, weak, tired, tortured. And I knew I couldn't punish Damon for this if he got on the surface and got Damien under control because he couldn't always help himself. When he got upset or blamed himself, that gave Damien the power to get on the surface and do this kind of torture. I just had to keep believing in good times.

I hated my state of being; I saw damn IV stand, felt these damn shackles on my wrists, this moldy blanket that was still under me, I could feel how full of something my diaper was once again, my powerless my body was when I looked my body, I was a skeleton with skin on. My skin was on fire, there was so much pain all over me.

Samuel finally came back with the syringe and said, "This will help with the pain, at least for a couple of hours, so I can get you transferred to somewhere where I have some medicine."

I was silent for a moment, and then I remembered. I said, " Well, we have warehouses where they've brought in medicines from the pharmaceutical facilities. One warehouse is about 5 kilometers from this house. Is there anything there? You have seen a few of these lots that we have acquired, the nearest base is about a 45-minute drive, and there will be drugs to put me out, but this warehouse is closer, The keys are in my bag, it is that little green plastic flag what opens the warehouse door."

Samuel rubbed his chin and said, "I'll go and have a look, but now I'm going to give you this medicine. Will you suffer trying to sleep, or will you have nightmares? Your straps are very weak and you are in a critical state. Did Damon give you anti-hibernation? " I shook my head.

I said, " Take these shackles off my wrists. They hurt too."

Samuel lifted the blanket and saw the spiked chains only then. His eyes were yellow when he looked at me. Then he twisted the chains open, got some bandages from the cupboard, and bandaged my wrists. He gave me an anti-hibernation drug and turned me gently on my side so he could inject it into my brain. Then he put a pain relief injection in my cannula and pressed the plunger. The pain stopped or lessened considerably, and I felt how powerless I was. I let my eyes close and fell asleep.

Damon could feel himself returning to normal or getting a good grip on himself. He felt Damien fall asleep or go down. But he also remembered everything he did to Mimi, including the treatment, and he knew he had gone too far. Now he couldn't. Eleven weeks and that stunt with Adam and Mimi's heat and when he had brought those whores in the house and fucked them.

He had no right to interfere with her care. Even if it had been Damien, how did he feel it, too? Was Damien just part of him? He felt and remembered too much, also Mimi's revulsion when he had brushed her hair out of her forehead. He didn't say a word, he just went and drove away. On the way, he called a couple of women already. He needed to unload, to forget. He was a sick bastard and Mimi deserved better than him. 

Damien was happy, even Dresden's potion put him to sleep he knew that once he would be awakened, things would carry on, the damage had been already done, he could feel it in Damon's mind and a few little hints so that Damon went to fuck women and not care for Mimi.

When Damon cared for Mimi or fixed what he broke, it gave Damon power because it was Damon's purpose, to mend what he took apart and that was something he just prevented. When he prevented Damon fulfill his purpose, he weakened him. Keeping Damon out of the picture would have also an effect on Mimi. Mimi would drift closer to Adam, causing her and Damon's love to take a good hit.

When Samuel came back with the drugs, Colin and Dresden told him how Damon had just driven off. Samuel rolled his eyes. But fine. He'll fix Mimi without Salvatore. He used the drugs and made sure Mimi was under a deep anesthetic, then asked Charles to fly them to Chicago.

Now, Mimi would rest in the incubator, and he and Colin would take care of her alone. Mimosa and Mirella were fine but asleep. Samuel found this interesting: Damon never wanted to hurt either of those two, just Mimi. Samuel and Colin talked a lot about Damien, too. How this could be prevented, and how could they help Damon?

But once again Samuel knew Damon was a rat race of self-blame, and self-loathing, giving unwillingly Damien power. He and Colin weren't sure that could Damien actually corrupt Damon. Could he influence Damon so much that Damon would become a monster himself, too? 

Mimi was kept asleep, and slowly but surely, Samuel got her better. It was difficult as the moldy blanket had gotten sores on her back in a terrible state and Mimi had to be turned every few hours because the whole girl was one big wound. Mimi's bones were in splints first and Damon's blood seemed to help. Samuel had it limited supply though, so he healed only the most critical wounds with that.

First two weeks he and Colin lived in Medbay, Colin had his supply of leprechaun substances that he gave her through a feeding button in her stomach. Mimi was operated on in the third week and her organs were replaced with those obtained from Adam. They strengthened Mimi's straps, fed her, and gave her as much as her fragile system could absorb. 

It was most important to keep her fully pain-free and sedated, in a deep, dreamless state, so her straps got stronger. Day by day, her body began to heal, sores scabbed over, and infection started to lose its grip. Mimi got weight and was less skeletal and weak. 

After eight weeks in Chicago, Samuel and Colin knew Mimi could safely wake up. They had done extremely hard work and both of them were tired but extremely happy. Mimi was not in the best shape, but she was infection-free, healed, and she was well enough to start waking up.

There had been no word from Damon other than a few rumors Salvatore was in a shagging mood again, and the ladies were getting a ride. Samuel wanted so badly to shout at Damon, but what good would that do? Worst-case scenario, he would throw a hissy fit. Damien would wake up, and then Dresden would be back in business.