My Familiar Stranger (40 page)

Kay and Storm had just arrived the infirmary as Operations was delivering the flowers to the nurses’ station. Kay picked up the bouquet to carry into Elora’s room. When Storm opened the door what they found was Elora with her head buried in the uninjured side of Ram’s chest, sobbing like there was nothing left to lose. In truth, she had lost home, family, the world as she knew it, perhaps even her former identity and sense of self.

Storm felt like a voyeur as he watched without revealing his presence. He remembered an early October day when he had been the one to hold and comfort her while she wept. His emotions were in turmoil, struggling with the conflict between compassion for Elora and the bite of jealousy he felt from being replaced as her protector. That was Storm’s job.
He
was Elora Laiken’s anchor to this world. Or should be. He motioned to Kay and they backed out, quietly closing the door.

After a long time she quieted and let herself fall back on the pillow. Looking up at Ram with puffy, red rimmed eyes she said, “I guess I’m the one who’s not so pretty anymore.”

He looked at her in that way he had that said she was the most precious thing in the world and said, “Darlin’ girl, you could no’ be more beautiful, inside and out.”

“There was nothing I could do, Ram.” She held tissue to her eyes for a minute. “There’s nothing worse than being helpless. It got so cold. I was shivering. The cold was worse than the pain.”

“T’was probably loss of blood.” He ran his hand over her head. “But, ‘tis over now, you know. Soon you’re goin’ to be good as new.”

“For a person who never cried until I came here, it seems like I’ve been doing it a lot.”

“Aye. We’re goin’ to be changin’ that.”

When the nurse came in trying to get Ram back into his own bed, Elora joined forces with her, insisting on it. So he crawled into the bed next to hers. A few minutes later, the other half of B Team returned carrying flowers. Kay set them down on the rolling table at the end of Elora’s bed and handed her the card.

Elora looked at Ram. Who else would know exactly what to put in her bouquet? “Rammel,” she said softly, “it’s the most beautiful bouquet in the history of flowers.” She read the card and then started crying again.

Ram looked too tired to pick his head up off the pillow, but managed to sound exasperated for her benefit. After an enormous sigh, he said, “For Great Paddy’s sake, woman, you can no’ possibly have any more tears in there to shed. Will someone please have mercy on me and put a bit of chocolate in her pretty mouth?”

That made her laugh, which hurt, and made her laugh all the more, but it broke the tension and caused all three of her teammates to breathe a sigh of relief. Storm and Kay had dinner brought to the hospital room so that all four of them could eat together. Elora still wasn’t hungry which worried Ram, but he knew she was getting nourishment from the I.V.

Eventually she got around to asking what happened to Ghost. They told her he died in the explosion and that, so far as E Team was concerned, he gave his life in the line of duty, a credit to The Order. She caught the glances they exchanged and read between the lines.

“And Baka?” she asked.

“No decision yet.” Storm said. “I recommended some sort of new arrangement. Probation maybe. I mean, he was singlehandedly responsible for bringing the crisis to an end and, in the process, he probably took out more vampire than anyone in the history of this organization. I guess I sort of vouched for him. If you can believe that.”

The late night nurse came in for a round of charting vitals. Elora and Ram compared blood pressure stats. The nurse commented that Elora’s temperature was half a degree higher than “normal”.

Ram smiled at Elora. “Aye. To be sure she is perpetually hot and that is normal for her.”

The nurse chuckled at his double entendre, then turned to Elora and said, “You’re a lucky girl.”

Elora didn’t know if the nurse meant she was lucky because she survived or because she received a compliment from legendary fem magnet, Rammel the Erotic.

“Okay kids. Lights out. This is not a slumber party. You both need sleep if you want to get well.” She flipped the light switch, closed the door and left the room in darkness except for the LED lights from the machine read outs.

“Ram?”

“Hmmm?”

“Thank you for telling me stories.”

“You heard me.”

“Yes.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I especially liked it when the elf tied scissors to Rapunzel’s hair and sent them up to the tower so she could cut her braid, tie it off and use it to climb down. I also liked it when the miller’s daughter got Rumpelstiltskin in a choke hold and told him that he had a choice: he could either make her a new offer or pass out in forty seconds. Your fairy tales were wonderful.”

“Elf tales,” he corrected.

And she smiled in the darkness.

The next morning Ram and Elora were awakened by a flurry of activity that included doctors, nurses, and Monq looking like he hadn’t been to bed.

“Good morning, Ms. Laiken.” Monq seemed lively for someone who was bloodshot, rumpled and sporting Einstein hair.

“Lady Laiken,” Ram corrected.

“Whatever.” Monq said, turning back to Elora, “You seem to be having a little reaction to the bites you sustained. We’ve determined that the inoculation you received wasn’t up to the task of combating the concentrated levels of virus that were introduced to your body. Even though females have a hormone based antitoxin that aids immunity, it still wasn’t enough to avoid infection altogether. We’re going to give you a booster and believe that it will reverse any side effect of the virus still in your system.”

“Okay,” she said. “Go ahead.”

Monq administered the injection himself.

“What side effect might that be?”

“No matter. It’s about to be irrelevant. The effect of this booster will not be instantaneous, but it is relatively fast acting. By noon you’ll be good as new. I’ll be back in four hours to make sure of it.”

After Monq left, Elora told Elsbeth she wanted to take a shower. Instead of answering Elora directly, she looked at Ram. He knew Elora would press to know what that was about.

“Can we have a minute, please?” Ram asked Elsbeth.

“Sure,” she said to Elora. “Be back in a few.”

When she closed the door behind her, Ram turned to face her. “You heard what Monq said. By lunch time you will be your perfect self.”

“He said good as new.”

Ram’s mouth twitched at the edges. “So he did. Will you trust me in this? Please. Just wait until after lunch to take your shower.”

“I feel grungy.”

“And will you have whine with that?”

“Oh. And I’m not entitled to a little whine? What have you got to entertain me then?”

Ram looked around. “I could make my six pack dance. I know you like that one.”

She snorted. He picked up the room phone, called Kay and asked him to grab Elora’s laptop and bring it.

“How about shoppin’? All that stuff you wanted at Bloomin’dale’s that we could no’ carry? You can buy it and have it delivered.” She smiled brightly. “See? There’s nothin’ like spendin’ money on shite you do no’ need to change your outlook.”

When Kay brought the computer, he stood in the hall and talked to Ram for a little while. “You’ve changed, Ram. You strike me as mated and mature.”

Ram grinned. “Tis cruel of you to insult me so when I can no’ defend myself.”

Kay laughed, started to slap him on the shoulder, and stopped his hand mid air just in time. It wasn’t easy to think of Ram as fragile.

While Elora shopped online, Ram stayed in bed like a good boy, answering occasional questions about what he thought of this or that. Truthfully, he was so relieved she was alive and getting well, he was happy to be close to her no matter what she was doing.

A little after eleven he turned his head to answer a question about whether she looked better in gray or black and found himself peering into turquoise eyes with a kaleidoscope of golden and yellow flecks.
Sunlight shining on a Bahamian sea.
He would have laughed with joy, but the sight had taken his breath away.

“What?” she asked.

He reached for the call button. A female voice said, “Yes?”

“Get Monq up here now.” Turning back to Elora he said, “Your eyes had temporarily lost their very fetchin’ color. But, thank Paddy, you appear for all the world to be well. Take a shower when you wish.”

She blinked at Ram. “I looked like a vamp?”

“Aye,” he said flatly.

She processed that. “Wow. Everybody did a pretty good job of covering that up.”

“Tis how much they care about you.”

The nurse staff gathered some soap and shampoo for Elora’s shower. Afterward, she put on a clean gown and left her hair combed out to air dry.

Monq was waiting when she returned to the room. The first thing he wanted to know is if she was hungry. She thought about it for a second and realized she was.

“Can I get the I.V. out if I eat?”

“Yes,” Monq said. She sat down on the bed and pulled a blanket over her lap. “And I have more good news,” Monq went on. “The Order has been actively seeking a cure for the vampire virus ever since we had enough scientific understanding to know that it is a virus. It seems this incident made you an accidental catalyst. We believe your blood will serve as the basis for an antidote.”

“You can cure Baka?”

“Definite possibility and we need a test subject.”

“Let me ask him. I want to do it in person. Can you arrange for him to come here?”

“Given Sir Storm’s surprisingly stellar recommendation, I don’t think there will be a problem with that.”

“Thank you. Will somebody bring me my phone?”

Ram was aghast. “Please tell me you do no’ have his bloody phone number!”

Elora looked sheepish. “He’s so lonely, Ram. He’s got no one.”

“Great Paddy Shits in the Mornin’, Elora! He’s a vampire! No’ a stray dog!”

“See? I knew that’s how you would react which is exactly why I didn’t tell you.” Ram was too agitated to respond so she added. “Do not even think about hyperventilating.”

He shot her a look of pure venom.

She laughed at him, but paid for it. “Ow.”

“The death of me, Elora.”

Two hours later Baka arrived at Elora’s hospital room, surprised to be escorted with courtesy and without chains. He suspected that her request to see him was a thinly disguised trap to get him back into custody, but he didn’t really care one way or the other. His hell was having to live inside his own body. It didn’t matter that much where he was.

All four members of B Team were present. He nodded at Storm and Kay as he entered then turned his attention toward Elora, but didn’t move closer to the bed.

“Hi,” she said. The back of her bed was raised so that she was half sitting.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. I want to thank you for your part in this. And, I have a question.”

He shrugged with an elegant roll of one shoulder. “Ask.”

“What do you want more than anything?”

He looked around the room at the faces fixed on him and then back at Elora. “That’s a strange question. Certainly one I never expected to be asked. What is it you’re after? Just speak it plain.”

“It is a strange question, but humor me please. Pretend I have a magic wand and anything is possible. Would you want to be CEO of a Fortune 500 company? A Broadway star? Professional athlete? Hugh Hefner?”

He smiled sadly and shook his head. He didn’t need a lot of time to compose an answer. Abject loneliness is fertile ground for self-awareness.

“Very well. You want soul baring. Sure. What difference does it make?” He glanced at the men in the room again.

“Nothing like any of those things. What I want is just to have back what was taken from me: a wife, children, a trade I can be proud to work every day with a sense of purpose and accomplishment, a bowl of stew at night, a warm bed with a soft and willing woman who thinks she loves me, a chance at old age, and people to mourn me when I’m gone.”

Elora nodded. “Baka. You don’t disappoint me. Nobody was ever more deserving of having their wish come true. Monq thinks something good may have come from this.” She gestured toward her body. “He thinks he has a cure for the virus and needs a test subject. We suggested you.”

Baka was speechless. A couple of times he opened his mouth and then closed it. When he finally said, “Thank you,” his voice broke and the men of B Team looked away, moved by the palpable depth of this vampire’s longing to be nothing more than a simple man with a simple life. Once again.

Elora asked Storm and Kay to show him the way to Monq’s lab and then said to Baka, “I hope you get what you want, Istvan.”

He smiled. “My Lady.” He inclined his head in a gesture that was a marriage of nod and a bow.