The nurse shrieked, catching Lily's attention. "Ma'am, please lay back down on the bed. The doctor says you're still in a bad condition," she said meekly. With a deep sniff, Lily could smell the other woman's fear. Prey. She turned towards the nurse, using scent and sound as her guide. Delicious little prey. With a beastly roar, Lily leapt at her causing the nurse to gasp in surprise. A gasp that quickly changed to a scream when Lily sunk her claws into her flesh.
My prey. Delicious prey. She jerked the woman's head to the side while holding her tightly. With a hiss, Lily prepared to feast when another scent hit her suddenly. "Lily stop!" Someone demanded. Someone familiar. Gripping the prey by the neck, Lily lifted her nose to smell the scent. Familiar... very familiar... James! Like a cloud gliding through the afternoon sky to reveal the sun, Lily came back to herself. "Let her go," James ordered.
Realizing she was holding the woman, Lily let go as if burned. She heard the nurse coughing and trying to get away from her as quick as possible if the sounds she heard were to be the judge. With that darkness, whatever it was, gone Lily felt all the pain. She managed a groan and felt herself sway. Strong arms caught her when she started to fall and set her back on the bed. Was he alright? He smelled alright. The only blood she smelled was hers and the nurse's.
James took her hand in his as he asked, "Are you okay now?"
Am I okay? James Lacrosse, have you lost your mind? She wanted to yell at him but the only sound she managed to make was a gurgling sound.
"Right. Ask a dumb question..." he said with a quick dry laugh. "Have they given you blood?" He asked and she squeezed his hand twice. "Is that a no?" He asked again and she squeezed it once. "Okay, gotcha. God, I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now," he said and this time, she squeezed his hand as hard as she could. "I have a feeling that's not a good squeeze. Do you think you could drink? I can give you some blood."
Lily squeezed his hand for yes, she could drink then hesitated. She needed blood, but Lily still wasn't happy about drinking from live people especially James. After what had just happened with that poor nurse, she didn't have much of a choice. If Lily didn't drink, she'd end up attacking someone again. So, again with hesitation, she squeezed his hand a second time. She felt James help sit her up so he could move in behind her.
Resting on his chest, she felt his wrist press against her lips. The warmth and his scent enticing. Her blood lust spiked and took over as Lily grabbed on to James' wrist. She shoved it into her mouth, biting down hard and taking long pulls of it so that she could get the blood quicker. She couldn't get to it fast enough! Warmth spread through her, followed by tingling pin pricks.
Lily heard James groan and she could tell it was a pained sound. Horror, quickly followed by guilt bubbled up in her when she realized that she was hurting him. She pulled his wrist away from her in disgust. Feeling very much the monster, Lily tried to get up and get away from him when the pin pricks turned into stabbing knives of pain. She tensed, falling back against James, with a silent scream.
Having the tissue rebuild itself and burns heal over hurt almost as bad as when she got hurt. Lily could hear James speaking but the pain of her body beginning to rebuild itself took over all her senses. That leech is going to pay! She vowed as white spots danced before her eyes, growing larger until her vision was now a blobby mess of greys. Slowly the pain receded until it was a dull throb. Lily sighed and relaxed.
"Lily... Lily, talk to me," James said, the worry evident in his voice.
"I-I'm okay," she rasped, sounding like a lifetime habitual chain smoker. Not exactly in the mood to be in more pain, but tired of being the vampiric version of Heller Keller, Lily started shifting the balance back to the beast. She stiffened as the painful pin pricks spread through her body.
As she groaned, James took her hand in his. "Are you healing or is there still silver somewhere?"
"H-healing," she rasped, gripping his hand tightly as she tried not to focus on just how much his touch was helping her. When it finally receded, Lily slump against James feeling exhausted. "How do I look," she asked tiredly.
"Beautiful," he said in a soft tone that sent warmth spiking through her.
Sweet talker, she thought with a smile. "You're wasting your breath, James. I don't have enough energy for sex." James' chest vibrated against her back as he laughed.
"I wasn't thinking of sex," he told her. "But in brownie points. I figure I can stockpile them and cash them in later for sex." It was now her that was laughing. "Lily, I..." James started, emotion now filling his voice.
Lily laced her fingers with hers, the mismatch of their skin tone a striking difference yet appealing to her on some level. "I know James," she told him. Lily hesitated for a moment, but remembered the feeling of panic when she was in the car and didn't know if James was alive or dead. "I, uh... you know, you too," she said, feeling like a coward.
James' arms wrapped around her, holding her close and making her relax in a way she wasn't sure she'd ever been able to before. He gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Yeah, Lily. I know," he told her and Lily, unable to resist any longer, fell asleep.
Stretching as she woke, Lily felt as if she'd been hit by a semi truck. Groaning, she shambled into the bathroom to take care of nature's call and the most disgusting morning breath she had ever smelled... and tasted. A glance in the mirror showed not even a scar or any sign that Lily had earlier been country fried and coughing her lungs up, literally. Well, that's a plus I suppose, she thought while leaving the bathroom.
Just as she started changing the door opened and James walked in, he hesitated for a moment with a look of surprise. "Oh you're up," he said, sounding just as surprised. "We all thought you might be out of it for a few more hours."
"We don't have time for me to lay in bed. We lost the morning thanks to those damn traps, not to mention the loss of life. Which by the way, how bad did we fare?" She asked.
"We lost two, the beta with you and a tracker from Chris' team and, uh, Lily," James replied but Lily cut him off.
"They seemed like good people, but it could've been worse. We've got to get something ready for tomorrow night. That leech, Vincent. He's a real bastard! I never thought I'd meet anyone who'd make Silvano look like a boy scout,' she said and finished dressing in a t-shirt and jeans. She frowned as she saw James in the mirror of the dresser, his arms crossed over his large chest with an amused half-smile on his face. "What?"
"I was going to say before you railroaded me," he started, the half smile growing a little more. "The full moon is tonight, not tomorrow. You've been out for about thirty hours now. Lord Etienne said it would be expected for you to go to ground as he called it after major injuries like you suffered, but don't worry. We've not been sitting on our hands while you've been catching up on your beauty sleep."
She narrowed her gaze as she glared at him, but Lily couldn't bring herself to be irritated with James. Relief was still thrumming through her that he wasn't hurt. An icy chill ran down her spine at how bad the situation could've been. Old panic swam up from some dark place inside her. Lily closed her eyes and tried to dispel it. There was no reason for the panic now. James set his hands on her shoulders, causing her to jump slightly.
"Are you alright?" He asked, the concern shining brightly in his eyes.
"Yeah," she said the let out a breath as if she could expel the unwanted emotions that way. "It's just... it's just yesterday could've gotten very ugly," she said. The right words, the words to accurately express how she was feeling, seemed beyond her grasp. "We've been through kidnappings, unwanted bonds, and more, but none of that was like this... none it made me feel so..."
"I know," he said and his hands slid down her back to wrap around her waist. He pulled her back against him until her back rested against his chest. "It scared me too."
Lily stiffened, the old need to keep her distances rearing its ugly head. Memories of the pain, the isolation of her injuries, and fear of losing him helped silence that old demon. She rested her head against his chest. "It wasn't just that," she said then swallowed. Please don't let this bite me in the ass, she prayed silently. "It was the very real possibility that... you could be... that I could've lost you."
Lily turned to face him so she could wrap her arms around him. "James, I know I'm not a easy person to be around. Hell, I know I'm not even a nice person to be around..."
"I keep telling you, Lily. I know," he said, interrupting her.
A hot rush of irritated flooded her as she glared at him. "Good! So shut up and let me say it, damn it! I need to say it! I should say it," she snapped at him, earning a dry laugh from him. "As I was saying I know I'm not easy or nice to be around, but thank you for being here. Thank you for giving me all those chances that I totally didn't deserve. I want you to know that I appreciate it," she said then took a deep breath, trying to pump herself up.
Lily tried to think of the last time she'd said those powerful little words to someone that wasn't A. J. Determination filled her when she couldn't think of a single moment. She wasn't sure she'd ever said them to Andrew, Sandy, or Tony. She didn't tell them to Lacy and that might have changed what happened between her best friend/sister and her.
Resting her cheek against his chest with a downcast gaze, Lily took a long, slow breath before speaking. "Jame, I..." she paused and took another breath. "I... love you."
James cupped her other cheek in his hand, guiding her face up towards his. "I know and I love you too, Lily," he replied with a tone, that left her with no doubt that he meant every word of it. A smile slide across his face as he looked down at her. "Of course, you know what this means?" He asked, but before she could reply he reached down and lifted her up to sit on the dresser.
The smile turned mischievous as he answered for her, "We're not leaving this room for at least a couple of hours, possibly more depending on how creative we can get." Then gave her one of those amazing kisses, only he seemed capable of giving. James and Lily were, of course, late to the meeting. They had managed to get very creative after Lily's announcement. Just remembering her tell him she loved him had him wanting to puff out his chest with pride and a smug grin plastered over his face. As they walked to the conference room, holding hands like to teens in the throws in puppy love, he really hoped that this change in Lily was lasting.
James didn't realize how much he really wanted her acceptance until she finally had. If she changed back it would really suck for him. When they walked in, more than a little fashionably late, and Lily didn't try to rip her hand away from his or yell at him, or something very Lily-ish, he took it as a good sign.
"About time you two made it," Nick complained, grumpily.