Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Hello ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: EvilAngels 
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.07.2013 | Pages: 2 | Words: 7.8K | Visits: 155 | Status: Completed
Miscellaneous: Original Stories Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Fantasy / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.07.2013 | Pages: 2 | Words: 7.8K | Visits: 155 | Status: Completed
Chapter 6
Scott was too busy fending off Karen that he didn’t see The Leader take off through the emergency exit, that when he finally noticed the Leader had fled was enough of a distraction that allowed Karen to get in a very strong hit to the face knocking Scott out cold. With both her cousin and her brother knocked out there was no one in New York that would be able to stop her, except for this mysterious man that had nothing to do with her family walked up and attacked Karen head on and blindsided her landing her on the floor, though she got up faster than she would have if she had not been in her powerful state then lunged at her attacker, knowing that it was time for round two.
“You are a mere child, with little if any experience you cannot defeat me.”
“I can try.” Karen managed to say slowly as she whirled a kick into the man’s stomach.
“Well, it looks like you have some skill after all” The man said laughing as he grabbed Karen by the neck to stop her cold, just as Scott was getting back on his feet to stop his sister to find that his sister had already been stopped by this man that seemed to come out of nowhere.
At the sight of his sister’s plight whether she was in her powerful state ran to her side to try and pull the man off her so she can try to return to her normal state. “Let her go.”
“Would you rather her to run free in this state, the people would be safe with her dead.” The man said tightening his hold on Karen chocking her. “Who is she, to you?”
“She’s my sister.” Scott said trying to explain the reason with the man who was trying to kill his sister.
“But you are human, a witch no less how can you be related to this non-human,” the man said scanning Scott’s appearance and energies to that of Karen’s. “Who are you parents?”
“Thomas and Ann Reid,” Scott said noticing the man’s hesitation and also noticing that Karen’s hair was changing back to its usual color. “Look, she coming back now please let her go.”
The man did as Scott asked and let Karen go as she finished her transformation back into her normal state. Karen who almost had the life choked out of her was coughing as the air around filled her empty lungs once again, taking her a minute to regain the memory of what had happened, and once she did everything flooded back to her at once overloading her emotions.
Scott noticed his sister’s distress and went straight to her side to keep her calm and collected. “You’re okay, everyone’s safe.”
“No, um. . . John and Leah were hurt, Scott go check on them.” Karen said taking slow breaths as her brother began to argue with her about both her physical and mental state. “I’ll be fine as long as I remain calm and I can’t do that knowing that the both of them are injured.”
“I’ll look after her.” The man said walking up to the siblings as Scott simply nodded and went to check on his cousin and John.
“So who are you?” Karen asked, thinking that she had seen him before but was unsure as to where.
“My name isn’t that important at this time.” He said setting of Karen’s mental alarms to be very wary of a person that didn’t want to give their name when asked for it. “I am more curious as to how you are unable to control you powerful form?”
“My father believes that I am not strong enough to handle the training, however I know that my family is afraid of the power that I have.” Karen said sadly recalling her father suggesting her to not transform into her powerful state because of her inability to control the power. “I better go and help my brother.”
“Let me help you up?” The man said holding his hand and Karen reluctantly took his hand knowing that she would not be able to pick herself off the floor alone not while she was still recovering from her mental battle.
Karen slowly made her way to where Scott was currently checking John for any injuries that he would be hospitalized for unfortunately it was Leah and Karen that would be the only ones hospitalized from this ordeal thankfully they had a friend in the medical world that could keep their secret and not report it to the police.
“So how are they?” Karen asked causing Scott to jump a bit when Karen spoke and Leah began to regain conciseness.
“Well the good news is that only you and Leah need a doctor and the newbie will only have a headache and a few bruises but that’s it.” Scott said began to move and get a sense of his surroundings at least until he noticed the man that was standing behind Karen.
“Dad, I thought you were in Europe?” John said slowly standing on his own two feet as everyone else just looked at the man that had helped calm Karen out of her powerful form. “Where’s mom?”
“We had a disagreement so she took a separate flight.” The man said ignoring the six pairs of eyes that were staring at him.
“Now it makes sense I’ve seen your picture on that wall of your house.” Karen said not really thinking about what was coming out of her mouth but John’s father just gave her a look that questioned why she was in his house.
“That’s where she picked up Leah and me, for the fight; which I’m guessing we won.” John said seeing that they were still alive and in one piece sort of anyway. “We did win right.”
“Actually he got away.” Leah said still sitting in her spot breathing slowly. “Someone else came and scared him off I don’t know who it was, I was only alert for long enough to get a cryptic response as to who hired the vampires to attack us.” She continued as John noticed that she was severely injured and helped her get to her feet and continued to be her crutch. Though Leah’s announcement caught Karen’s news worthy radar, which had to get to her father immediately, so they could investigate further but Scott cut her off by suggesting that they go to the hospital.
“I don’t need any damn hospital.” Karen protested as Scott picked her up and threw her over his shoulder taking all her kicks to the stomach and punches to the back until she was safe in the car. “You know I hate hospitals, and besides I feel fine.”
“I don’t care how you feel. Dad would kill me if he found out that you transformed and didn’t see a doctor afterwards.” Scott said as he helped Leah into the back seat next to Karen to try and keep her in check, and not freak out when they closed in on the hospital. “I don’t think you guys would want to come with, she’ll get a little more violent than usual once the hospital comes into view.”
“Karen, you have lost the argument and I’m able to fight you right now,” Leah said starting to get annoyed at her cousin’s childish antics and the tone of her voice shut Karen up from panicking about the hospital long enough for Scott to start Tom’s classic car so their injuries could be looked at and accessed because Leah thought that one of her ribs may have poked a hole into her lung because she was once again fighting against the darkness and wasn’t sure if she could wake up again.
John could tell something was wrong with Leah but he wasn’t sure if it was because she was in pain or the fact that she may have been hiding something important from everyone about her injuries. “Leah, you’re sure that everything’s okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll probably be home later tonight.” Leah said blowing John a kiss as Scott drove off toward the closest city hospital.
“I should smack you for not telling me about how serious you injury is.” Karen said softly so only Leah could hear her.
“Please, I don’t want John to know otherwise he would be even more worried than he already is.” Leah said though making a valid point knowing that Karen would and probably had done the same thing to Adam.
“Ok, Scott you better hurry to the hospital.” Karen said keeping an eye on her cousin though she could tell Leah wasn’t going to last much longer.
“Right,” Scott said speeding the last few miles to the emergency bay where they were greeted by some angry doctors; at least until they saw Leah’s injuries they called for supplies. The doctors tried to get answers when they took the girl away on the gurney Karen just continued to ask for Doctor Michaels when the others finally took a hint they put her and Scott in the room with Leah to wait for Doctor Michaels. Nurses checked on them periodically giving them some food and explaining that Doctor Michaels had other patients and would get to them as soon as he could.
“What’s taking so long?” Karen asked getting angry with the nurse that was checking on Leah’s vitals and how she was healing causing the poor woman to jump slightly.
“Calm down Karen.” Scott said standing in his sister’s face before she decided to charge at the nurse. “See what the media is calling this incident.”
“I already know what they are calling it,” Karen said glaring at the muted T.V. broadcasting the news alert at the airport. “A terrorist attack, at least they got the terror part right.”
“So dad did get to his police chief friend.” Scott said as Doctor Michaels entered the room. Doctor Michaels was a tall thin man with olive colored skin from Italy though he spoke American English well enough to keep a medical job but you could tell that there was a strong accent that made talking to him interesting; at least that’s what Karen thought; but many people found talking to him to be frustrating.
“I should have known that you two were involved with the attack at the airport.” Doctor Michaels said checking Leah’s vitals once again just to keep Karen calm so she wouldn’t cause a ruckus. “Leah seems to be healing all on her own; I thought she was a witch?”
“She is; do you think she is healing herself?” Scott said trying to piece together their cousin’s actions. “Like mentally saying an incantation so she could heal her own injuries.”
“That’s rare, but not uncommon especially with her family history.” Doctor Michaels stated as he went towards Karen who was still pacing. “As for you Karen, I need to check your mental function as well as your heart vitals.”
“Oh really, is it that time already, what about Leah?” Karen said slowly backing away from him and towards the only door to and from the room.
Scott saw his sisters distress and knew that she had to get examined for any issues before they finished the job they were sent here to do and before they talked to their father who was driving into the city at any second, but figured that he would let Karen know that secret until later when she was even headed and not worried about the rest of her family.
“Leah will be fine; you know how important your health is to me more so after your powerful state.” Doctor Michaels said as Scott used his abilities to barricade the door.
“That’s not fair,” she said as Michaels sat her into the nearest comfortable chair. “As for you Scott Jonathan, mom is going to kill you.”
“Actually she may kill you first.” Scott sneered, trying to keep his focus on the door and not Karen as she had planned. “Nice try though.”
“Knock it off the both of you.” Doctor Michaels scolding the pair as if they were little children fighting over a toy, he wanted to begin the session with Karen as soon as possible because he knew that he was going to have to look extensively into her mind and into places that Karen herself didn’t know about and he knew that delving that deeply into someone’s mind took many hours. Moving between the two siblings Doctor Michaels pulled up an identical chair to the one Karen had and placed each hand on the sides of her head and closing his eyes as he began to access Karen’s most private and personal thoughts mostly focusing on the disturbance that he felt from her.
The session lasted for almost an hour and both siblings were getting extremely bored and they knew that neither of them could talk to Doctor Michaels or each other until the session ended. Another hour seemed to pass by before Doctor Michaels came out of his trance startling Scott and Karen who were starting to fall asleep.
“Everything okay in there doc," Karen joked until she got a stern look from the man that held her medical confidence in his hands.
“Scott, may I speak to your sister alone.” Doctor Michaels asked quietly so to not alarm Karen to such extent that she lost control again.
“Sure, I probably let mom and dad know that we’re okay.” Scott said heading out the door.
“Hey I could use a soda, aim for a Mountain Dew please.” Karen said catching her brother before Scott before he left. Knowing that the reason Doctor Michaels told him to leave was because the next step was the emotional examination, and she figured they were going to pick up from their last session and that was talking about Adam.
“Alright,” Scott said reluctantly through reassured by his sister, he went to find the nearest vending machine though he doubted that the hospital that the hospital carried Mountain Dew,
“Doc, I don’t think that Leah should wake and hear any of this,” Karen said laughing that if Leah woke up during the session would she laugh along with Karen or think that she had gone crazy perhaps both, the thought made her giggle.
“We placed Leah into a medically induced coma so she could heal in peace.” Doctor Michaels stated in a tone that Karen had not heard from him before and it slightly worried her as to the severity of what he was about to tell her.
“Should I be worried about something Doctor Michaels?” Karen questioned getting nervous as he sat next to her in another leather chair.
“When we last spoke; why didn’t you tell me that you and Adam were having sex,” Doctor Michaels said rather bluntly catching Karen off guard.
“That’s because the last time we talked was two years ago and we had just started dating.” Karen said starting to feel slightly violated and starting to get very defensive about her personal life. “And for the record why is any of this your business.”
“Because you are a 17 year old girl and should not be having a baby.” Doctor Michaels once again blurted and once again caught Karen off guard.
“Did you use protection?”
“Yes, every time.” Karen said trying to figure out where and when the pair didn’t use protection, “Wait, there was a party over spring break last month, oh crap, Adam and I were drinking a lot and one thing led to another, well you know how it happens you’re a doctor for peat’s sake.” Karen said starting to get a little concern about how she was going to tell Adam that he was going to be a father.
“Because you are a patient, I won’t tell your parents or Adam for that matter. That is something that you have to do.” Doctor Michaels said shifting his weight and thinking of how to console Karen who just found herself in a very difficult and impossible situation.
“I know that this is not the best timing because of your current objective here, however I think that it would be best for you to take some time off and relax for both your health and the health of the baby.” Michaels suggested not expecting the laughter that came from Karen. Though she knew what Doctor Michaels meant by telling her to take things slow, she also knew that the only time people in her line of work relax is when they are either hospitalized or dead and at the moment she was neither only pregnant. “Karen, this isn’t fun and games anymore.” Doctor Michaels scolded trying to get this 17 year old girl to understand the life changes and consequences of her choices involving her and the baby.
“I’m not stupid Doctor. I know that this changes everything however you expect me to relax in a place where I have something to do and possibly kill is not an options at this moment and quite frankly I’m not too keen on taking your advice either way.” Karen said protesting the implication that she didn’t or couldn’t understand what this pregnancy meant to everyone in her life not just her and Adam. Taking a deep breath she continued to talk to Doctor Michaels lightly. “Scott should be back soon and I have to let Adam know that I’m okay.”
“Very well,” Doctor Michaels said leaving his seat and checking Leah’s vitals once more before he left the room leaving Karen alone with her own thoughts and plans.
Once Karen knew that she was alone she reached for her phone just as Leah’s phone began to play a ringtone that she obviously set for John just by the way it sounded, and when Karen picked it up to answer John’s name and number were displayed giving the teenager even more proof that the pair were meant for each other. Karen wasn’t sure if her cousin would be okay with her answering the phone and embarrassing the newbie but she also knew that if she didn’t John would worry about Leah even more than he already was. “Hello?” Karen answered hearing a gasp from the boy on the other end and then a tsunami of questions mostly pertaining to Leah’s health.
“John, relax and breathe slowly.” She said waiting for boy to calm down before she explained what was happening to his girlfriend. “Are you good?”
“Yes thank you.” John said trying to remain calm and collected so he could find out how bad Leah was injured. “Where’s Leah?”
“She’s sleeping, but she’ll be fine the doctor’s say that there is only some bruising,” Karen said lying because just like her, Leah had to tell John the truth about how serious the injuries were.
“As long as she’s safe,” John said sounding relieved and not noticing the fact that Karen was lying through her teeth. “Oh, by the way, my dad was offering for you and Leah to stay at the house until you both recover.”
Karen smiled slightly at the offer but decided to add that her brother and her boyfriend were with them as well. “Thank you for the offer John but you know I can’t leave Scott and Adam alone in a house full of weapons.” She knew all too well what could possibly happen because it almost did when she announced that her and Adam were seeing each other, Tom, Bryan, and Scott decided to take Adam on a hunting trip and try to get to know that person who was dating the only daughter of the Reid family, and Adam still won’t talk about it to anyone and neither will her siblings or father. Though she’s not sure as to what it happened she’s pretty sure that they threatened him on some level.
“Oh right,” John said pausing and talking to someone in the background as she figured that it was his father, the man who refused to give her his name which was still bugging her because she was always told by her father to be wary of people she didn’t know and people who refused to introduce themselves, and though she trusted John she didn’t trust his father no matter how much money he had you cannot buy trust. “Alright, it’s okay with us. My mom’s still in Europe checking on some stuff with the businesses in Rome and Moscow and my brother is off the grid which is normal; anyway what do you say?”
“Alright, once we get discharged, I’ll go and get Adam and head over.” Karen said accepting the young non-human’s offer and disconnecting her cousin’s phone while she dialed the safe house number to inform Adam of the new sleeping arrangements.
“Where are you?” Adam said tripping over something in what sounded to be the kitchen so she figured that it was some type of grocery.
“Are you ok honey,” Karen questioned cringing at the noise and the fact that it sound as if Adam hit the tile floor hard and the fact that possibly more than one thing fell onto that floor.
“Yeah, I’m fine, but the dozen eggs that I just bought didn’t make it to breakfast.” He said with a sigh then rebounding back to his original question. “Please tell me that you weren’t at the airport massacre that I saw on the news this morning.”
“Wish I could, but when vampires attack a heavily populated place, you know I can’t just sit by and watch innocent people getting slaughtered. I mean it’s me Adam, and I may have found some new sleeping arrangements.”
“I know, but I just worry that one night you might not come home.” He said skipping the fact that she said ‘vampires’ and then ran back to the noun once he realized what she said. “Vampires, are you ok? What about Scott and Leah?”
“Yeah, we’re all fine, Leah’s a little more beat up than normal and I went into my powerful state but other than that we’re fine.” Karen said as she heard more commotion which she figured was Adam dropping the phone to the floor out of shock and anger. “Now don’t start panicking, we are in the hospital now, Leah’s recovering and I have been given a clean bill of health so don’t worry.” Even though she knew that the last statement was pointless she felt that it needed to be said anyway.
“Because that would be the last thing on my mind me being worried about the woman that I love.” Adam said sarcastically and Karen picked up on it quickly. “So what are these new sleeping arrangements, what’s wrong with your dad’s safe house?”
Once she heard the words ‘your dad’ about five different alarms went off in her head and she was immediately worried about Adam’s safety. Even if Tom never admitted it Karen knew that he didn’t like the new man in his daughter’s life. And ever since they started to see each other ‘your dad’ was always their safe word. “Please tell me that he is not there.”
“No not yet,” Adam said trying to calm down now that Karen had caught on, “but he did call and I stupidly answered thinking that it was you, so he’s on his way out here.”
“Shit.” Karen cursed, “And he’s going to be here faster than any normal considering that he is friends with the state troopers and every police force in all 50 states.” As she spoke she turned her back to Leah so she could have somewhat of a private conversation with her boyfriend.
“Tell me about it.” Adam sighed keeping his guard up incase her father walking in right as their coming up with a plan about what to do.
“There’s nothing I can do about it now, not with everything that has gone down in the past couple days but I’ll figure something out. Either way John offered some spare rooms for us at his place so I was thinking that everyone would be able to keep an eye on Leah once she recovers and we are all discharged and I can do some recon on his father.” Karen said not noticing that Leah was starting to come out of her coma and pulling everything out of her arm just as Scott came back with a can of Mountain Dew to her surprise.
“There must be something you really don’t trust if you’re doing recon and someone.” Adam said as Karen heard the commotion behind her.
“I got to go Adam; I’ll pick you up later.” Karen said hanging up before Adam could finish the ‘I love you’ he started, as Karen rushed to her cousin’s side.
“Let me out of here.” Leah said getting panicked that she was in a hospital bed with and I.V. and other wires attached to her.
“Calm down, your fine,” Karen said trying to get Leah back from the nightmare that she was in.
The nightmares only occurred when she had been admitted into the hospital for too long of a time, the cause was her fragmented memories from the car accident that killed her parents and they didn’t come back in pieces her memories flooded her mind turning her back into the terrified three year old girl wanting her mom and dad.
“No I have to get out.” Leah said still pulling the wires off her head as she began to struggle against her cousin’s hold.
“Scott, go get Doctor Michaels.” Karen ordered as her cousin became more frantic. “Now!”
“Ok, don’t yell.” Scott shot back as he ran to the nurse’s station and told them to page Doctor Michaels about Leah and he ran back to help his sister. “Doctor Michaels is on his way.”
“No, no more doctors please I want my mommy.” Leah said crying when Scott gave the announcement.
“Leah, its 2001 Terry and Stacy died 1988 that was thirteen years ago.” Karen said softly as she noticed her cousins reverse mentality as Doctor Michaels rushed through the door to aide his horrified patient.
“Leah, Leah, its Doctor Michaels do you remember me.” He questioned as Karen quickly sidestepped the man before he pushed her into the wall.
“No. No more doctors please.” Leah said crying even more once Doctor Michaels placed his hands on each side of her head to try and clam the girl down.
Leah continued to cry while the doctor traveled through her mind to suppress the horrible memories of her parent’s death. It was Karen’s own memories that haunted her as she continued to watch her cousin relive the experience; Karen remembered the carnage that she saw on that day. Though she was a year older than Leah, when it happened in her father’s eyes she was old enough to understand the dangers that came with this job and life they adopted.
Aunt Celia and Uncle Terry were the only relatives that Karen or Bryan ever knew and they loved them despite the family feud between Celia’s family and theirs. When the accident occurred Karen was the only one of the siblings there because there was a hunt and Tom decided that it was too dangerous for a four year old girl to accompany them to the Northwest wilderness. So it was Karen, Ann, Celia, Terry, and Leah to pass the time until the boys came back from their trip. She remembered how much fun they were having that day when they went to the closest city and went to every store and every mall buying what seemed to be everything in a child’s eyes but was only priced to the amount of five hundred dollars per store. They took separate cars the adults knowing that all they were getting would not fit into one car with five people trying to get home too. The day had gone so well until there was a confrontation at a flower shop between her uncle and another man that it took her many years and lots of connections into the local police department to realize that the man she saw her uncle arguing with was the relative of a local drug king that he had sent to prison for murder a month sooner. After that flower shop they headed home and began to unload all things that they had bought to decorate not just her house but Celia and Terry’s as well. She assumed that it happened sometime after she and Ann headed inside their car unpacked and about to start finding places for their new items when she heard something that sounded like a fire cracker going off in the afternoon sun which she knew to be strange because for one it was the afternoon and two it sounded a lot different from the fireworks that she had been used to. It only took her two seconds to notice that her mother was no longer at her side holding her hand like she had been before the explosion went off; but rather outside looking panicked. Karen ran to her mother’s side trying to get some answers as to what happened but all that caught her attention was the cries of Leah who was sitting on the driveway next to Ann’s car.
It was the silence from the cries that brought Karen back to the hospital room that they currently occupied. And she knew that even though she knew through times in the past when they recalled the accident, all Leah could really remember was a warm light surrounding her as she saw the hood of their small car burst into flames. Karen saw Leah relax and that made her relax as well knowing that Doctor Michaels had everything under control.
When she was once again sleeping, he stepped away to explain what happened to the siblings that had witnessed the distress with his patient. “I managed to suppress the memories again but they won’t stay that way for long.”
“And what does that mean?” Karen asked as she once again became nervous of her cousins condition and once Doctor Michaels picked up on her fear, he made a quick move to calm her down, “She’s going to be fine. Her memory of the accident is coming back and there is no way to stop it.”
“So she’s going to be fine.” Scott said repeating the doctor’s statement for his sister, who was still on edge.
“That’s good. When can we take her home?” Karen said quickly and quietly so not to wake Leah who was still sleeping and trying to recuperate.
“As soon as she wakes up; AND is lucid enough to understand where she is.” Doctor Michaels said remembering the last time Karen had a head injury and left without a neurological exam.
“Damn,” she muttered softly knowing why he put and emphasis on ‘and.’ “Well how long will that take?”
“That depends on Leah, and how long she wants to recover from both her physical and mental injuries.” The doctor said noticing the impatience on Karen’s face. “And you Karen stay put.”
“Fine,” Karen said sitting down in the leather chair next to Leah’s bed waiting for her to wake up which she hoped was soon as Doctor Michaels left again. “This sucks.”
“And what do you expect me to do about it.” Scott said looking at his sister as he sat under the T.V. “What’s the news saying about the airport?”
“What makes you think I care, I just want to get out of this damn hospital and get everyone home safe, before dad gets here.” Karen said getting more pissed off at herself that her brother.
The fact that Karen knew their father was coming into New York shocked Scott because as far as he knew, he was the only one besides the rest of their family back in Arizona who knew that Tom was heading this way. “How do you know that dad’s heading out here?”
“He called the safe house to let us know he was leaving home and Adam answered. So he’s probably speeding through half the country.” That’s when the little light bulb once again went off in her head and she realized that her brother knew that their father was on his way out here. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“What?” Scott said trying to think that his sister couldn’t see through his mask to show the guilt that was written all over his face.
“Don’t play this bullshit with me Scott, I don’t have the patience nor am I in the mood to put up with it.” Karen said starting to get very annoyed that her little brother hid a vital piece of information that may have kept her boyfriend safe from the wrath of Tom.
“Ok, ok. I called dad and told him about the airport before I called you.” Scott said seeing his sister calm down some but not enough to keep her within her normal limits, though she knew that Scott didn’t tell her father about Adam being in New York with them she was still uneasy about the time when her father and she had to talk about his being here.
The funnier part was that neither of them noticed that Leah was starting to once again come out of her coma. “We’re not even out and you two are still fighting.” Though she laughed when she saw Karen jump into the air she noted the distance that her cousin leapt.
“Oh, thank god.” Karen said hugging her cousin who looked more confused at Karen’s reaction than the reason as to why they were still in the hospital, but it was the look on her face with she pulled away that scared Leah the most because the she had meant only one thing and that was when someone died. “What happened; is John okay?”
“Don’t worry he’s fine, it was you we were more worried about.” Karen said as Scott got up and hugged his cousin before he headed for the door.
“I’m going to go and get Doctor Michaels,” Scott said leaving the two girls to talk about whatever it was that girls talked about.
“So what did I miss?” Leah asked as she ignored Scott slipping out of the room and focusing on Karen, who seemed to have some of the answers about what happened, knowing that she hadn’t been injured, physically anyway, and could probably give her more answers than any doctor could.
“You don’t remember?” Karen said stunned about what her cousin had said putting more question about what Dr. Michaels had done to her when she began to relive her childhood trauma.
“I remember pulling into the ambulance bay but then nothing else until I woke up.” Leah said giving her cousin strange looks curious as to what happened after she lost consciousness. “What did I miss?”
“You went into a coma, and you began healing yourself, they only gave you morphine for the pain.” Karen explained leaving out the fact she had gone through her childhood memories from when her mother and father died.
“Really,” Leah said sounding surprised by what her cousin was explaining to her, because she knew that it was not normal for a witch to be able to heal such severe injuries that could have killed her.
Then Karen continued to explain that they were all surprised when Doctor Michaels told them that he had never had someone like Leah who was able to heal their injuries and only needing morphine to dull the pain.
“Yes, we were all quite worried about you young lady.” He said taking Karen’s seat in front of Leah. “Nice to finally meet you Leah. I’m Doctor Michaels.” Though Karen knew he was lying she left her thoughts to herself, though she knew that he had hidden her memories.
“Are you sure that we have never met before?” Leah asked curious of the fact that seemed to remember his face fairly well but she couldn’t remember where they had met.
“I’m sure. I would definitely remember someone as cute as you.” He stated trying to convince everyone in the room including himself that none of them had met before. “But I need to do a neurological exam.”
“Ok, do you want me to remember some names or numbers?” Leah asked recalling what she had seen on the television.
Doctor Michaels simply laughed slightly before taking a serious tone toward the young girl that had just emerged from a very deep coma. “No, my exams are slightly different from other doctors and also more personal. You see my ways are different because I mentally project myself into your mind to see firsthand where there are problems and if they can be fixed. However, I need to make sure that you are ok, with me entering your mind.”
As Leah listened to his explanation she immediately said no based on the fact that she did not want a complete stranger to enter a space that not ever her cousins were allowed to enter and the fact that she had thoughts in her mind that would make every question her sanity in some areas of her young life. “I know how you feel Leah, but you are in complete control of the surroundings, if you feel uncomfortable all you have to do is just block me from entering.” Karen shifted her weight from side to side getting very annoyed that she had not been told this hours ago because of the fact that he found out she was pregnant from her own neurological exam, though she knew not to say anything for the fact that she knew who he was and what he had done.
It took a few moments before Leah gave a small but visible nod for the doctor to begin his exam that still made her a little nervous, seeing as to the fact that she didn’t panic as it began. Once again the siblings had to keep their mouths shut once it began so the doctor could concentrate on the task at hand. So the siblings tried pacing to take the edge off waiting and eventually that became boring enough that they started playing the games they would play as children when they were in trouble with their father and were ordered to stay quiet until they were allowed to speak again, and when it came to their father that punishment would sometimes go on for days and to keep themselves entertained they learned sign language from their mother and became fluent in the language. Their language was something that no one but them could decipher; not even their parents knew what they were saying. It came in very handy when they were all on hunts together and needed the silence between them to concentrate on the intended target. Of course it was only Karen, Scott, and Bryan, who were the only ones able to sign in fact they became so experienced they made up voices for each other when they had to sign.
‘How are you able to stand this silence for so long?’ Scott signed the question but the voice that Karen had for him was one of a child about the age of 6 years whining like his parents had taken away his favorite toy.
‘I have no idea. All I know is that I’m daydreaming about something or another while he investigates my thoughts. He’s so much worse than a psychologist.’ Karen signed back knowing that Scott had a voice that was just as insulting to her as hers was to him.
To Scott his sister’s voice sounded much like the adults on the Peanuts cartoons and though he could still read what Karen was signing and understood what she was saying well enough to reply and the insulting cycle started again. ‘What could you possibly be daydreaming about?’
‘There’s nothing wrong with thinking of settling down with someone you love and having a family is there?’ She asked trying to be vague enough to where he wouldn’t catch on to who she was talking about, but she saw the light bulb go off in his head anyway.
‘You can’t possibly assume that Adam and you will be one of the few high school sweethearts that will make it.’ Scott said hearing his sister’s silence in his head indicating that she had thought of about them being high school sweethearts. ‘Karen, you can’t be serious. With our line of work we don’t have the chance to have normal lives.’
‘Well I don’t plan on doing this for the rest of my life.’ Karen snapped back. They both knew what this life has been doing to their family, when they turned into teenagers the three of them could hear their parents arguing over the job. Their father said it would just be until they turned eighteen years old and could move out and live their own lives, but once Karen had her accident Ann continued to fight harder despite all the sense that Tom was making at the time saying that Karen just needed training to refine her non-human abilities and Ann let it slide for a time and even though he was right about Karen’s training she was not going to be sucked into hunting for the rest of her life, she wasn’t like her father or her brothers.
‘Does dad know that you’re going to leave after school?’ Scott asked knowing how their father would have felt about her choice and would have never let her come out to New York.
‘No, I haven’t told anyone but you.’ She giggled as she signed to her brother, ‘not even Adam knows that I want to leave all this.’
‘But you want to leave and spend the rest of your life with him; I’m surprised that you two aren’t jumping for joy.’ Scott replied noticing that the doctor had finished his exam and both he and Leah were just staring.
“If you two are finished, you all are cleared to leave at any time.” He said rising from his seat and leaving them to their own discussion.
“How long were we signing?” Karen asked Leah who was beginning to gather her own things as fast as she could not want to stay any longer than she already had been.
“Not sure, by the time I came around the doctor was just watching you two signing and I think it was about an hour after I came around you two finished your secret conversation.” Leah said handing her bag to Scott as the three of them went to the reception desk to fill out the discharge papers.
All the paper work took another half hour and both Leah and Scott could tell that Karen was starting to get antsy about staying when she was so close to the door. As soon as she was ten feet out the door she raised her over her head, “Finally!” she screamed feeling the straight city breeze passing by at the speed of a subway train. Even though it had been a little over thirty hours since the three of them had arrived at the hospital all been admitted; to what Karen considered the deepest part of hell; after their airport misadventure. Karen wanted to drop everyone at John’s mansion before speeding to the safe house and retrieving Adam praying that she made it before Tom got there and she found her boyfriend skinned and hanging upside down by his ankles.
“So back to the safe house,” Leah asked not paying attention to the buildings but focusing more on the breeze they were in relieved as her cousin was to be out of a hospital she closed her eyes and focused on the man that she had supposedly just met though she didn’t believe a word he said. When she gained nothing from her meditation she began to see the fancy homes that she had passed only once before and that was when John had escorted her to him home. “What are we doing here?”
“There’s been a change in plans; we aren’t going back to the safe house.” She began not thinking of the reaction that Leah would have considering that Mary lived in a similar part of town. Once she saw Leah’s eyes she pulled off the calm her cousin “John offered his spare rooms until you had fully recovered, I’m not taking you back to Mary’s I promise.”
Scott was too busy fending off Karen that he didn’t see The Leader take off through the emergency exit, that when he finally noticed the Leader had fled was enough of a distraction that allowed Karen to get in a very strong hit to the face knocking Scott out cold. With both her cousin and her brother knocked out there was no one in New York that would be able to stop her, except for this mysterious man that had nothing to do with her family walked up and attacked Karen head on and blindsided her landing her on the floor, though she got up faster than she would have if she had not been in her powerful state then lunged at her attacker, knowing that it was time for round two.
“You are a mere child, with little if any experience you cannot defeat me.”
“I can try.” Karen managed to say slowly as she whirled a kick into the man’s stomach.
“Well, it looks like you have some skill after all” The man said laughing as he grabbed Karen by the neck to stop her cold, just as Scott was getting back on his feet to stop his sister to find that his sister had already been stopped by this man that seemed to come out of nowhere.
At the sight of his sister’s plight whether she was in her powerful state ran to her side to try and pull the man off her so she can try to return to her normal state. “Let her go.”
“Would you rather her to run free in this state, the people would be safe with her dead.” The man said tightening his hold on Karen chocking her. “Who is she, to you?”
“She’s my sister.” Scott said trying to explain the reason with the man who was trying to kill his sister.
“But you are human, a witch no less how can you be related to this non-human,” the man said scanning Scott’s appearance and energies to that of Karen’s. “Who are you parents?”
“Thomas and Ann Reid,” Scott said noticing the man’s hesitation and also noticing that Karen’s hair was changing back to its usual color. “Look, she coming back now please let her go.”
The man did as Scott asked and let Karen go as she finished her transformation back into her normal state. Karen who almost had the life choked out of her was coughing as the air around filled her empty lungs once again, taking her a minute to regain the memory of what had happened, and once she did everything flooded back to her at once overloading her emotions.
Scott noticed his sister’s distress and went straight to her side to keep her calm and collected. “You’re okay, everyone’s safe.”
“No, um. . . John and Leah were hurt, Scott go check on them.” Karen said taking slow breaths as her brother began to argue with her about both her physical and mental state. “I’ll be fine as long as I remain calm and I can’t do that knowing that the both of them are injured.”
“I’ll look after her.” The man said walking up to the siblings as Scott simply nodded and went to check on his cousin and John.
“So who are you?” Karen asked, thinking that she had seen him before but was unsure as to where.
“My name isn’t that important at this time.” He said setting of Karen’s mental alarms to be very wary of a person that didn’t want to give their name when asked for it. “I am more curious as to how you are unable to control you powerful form?”
“My father believes that I am not strong enough to handle the training, however I know that my family is afraid of the power that I have.” Karen said sadly recalling her father suggesting her to not transform into her powerful state because of her inability to control the power. “I better go and help my brother.”
“Let me help you up?” The man said holding his hand and Karen reluctantly took his hand knowing that she would not be able to pick herself off the floor alone not while she was still recovering from her mental battle.
Karen slowly made her way to where Scott was currently checking John for any injuries that he would be hospitalized for unfortunately it was Leah and Karen that would be the only ones hospitalized from this ordeal thankfully they had a friend in the medical world that could keep their secret and not report it to the police.
“So how are they?” Karen asked causing Scott to jump a bit when Karen spoke and Leah began to regain conciseness.
“Well the good news is that only you and Leah need a doctor and the newbie will only have a headache and a few bruises but that’s it.” Scott said began to move and get a sense of his surroundings at least until he noticed the man that was standing behind Karen.
“Dad, I thought you were in Europe?” John said slowly standing on his own two feet as everyone else just looked at the man that had helped calm Karen out of her powerful form. “Where’s mom?”
“We had a disagreement so she took a separate flight.” The man said ignoring the six pairs of eyes that were staring at him.
“Now it makes sense I’ve seen your picture on that wall of your house.” Karen said not really thinking about what was coming out of her mouth but John’s father just gave her a look that questioned why she was in his house.
“That’s where she picked up Leah and me, for the fight; which I’m guessing we won.” John said seeing that they were still alive and in one piece sort of anyway. “We did win right.”
“Actually he got away.” Leah said still sitting in her spot breathing slowly. “Someone else came and scared him off I don’t know who it was, I was only alert for long enough to get a cryptic response as to who hired the vampires to attack us.” She continued as John noticed that she was severely injured and helped her get to her feet and continued to be her crutch. Though Leah’s announcement caught Karen’s news worthy radar, which had to get to her father immediately, so they could investigate further but Scott cut her off by suggesting that they go to the hospital.
“I don’t need any damn hospital.” Karen protested as Scott picked her up and threw her over his shoulder taking all her kicks to the stomach and punches to the back until she was safe in the car. “You know I hate hospitals, and besides I feel fine.”
“I don’t care how you feel. Dad would kill me if he found out that you transformed and didn’t see a doctor afterwards.” Scott said as he helped Leah into the back seat next to Karen to try and keep her in check, and not freak out when they closed in on the hospital. “I don’t think you guys would want to come with, she’ll get a little more violent than usual once the hospital comes into view.”
“Karen, you have lost the argument and I’m able to fight you right now,” Leah said starting to get annoyed at her cousin’s childish antics and the tone of her voice shut Karen up from panicking about the hospital long enough for Scott to start Tom’s classic car so their injuries could be looked at and accessed because Leah thought that one of her ribs may have poked a hole into her lung because she was once again fighting against the darkness and wasn’t sure if she could wake up again.
John could tell something was wrong with Leah but he wasn’t sure if it was because she was in pain or the fact that she may have been hiding something important from everyone about her injuries. “Leah, you’re sure that everything’s okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll probably be home later tonight.” Leah said blowing John a kiss as Scott drove off toward the closest city hospital.
“I should smack you for not telling me about how serious you injury is.” Karen said softly so only Leah could hear her.
“Please, I don’t want John to know otherwise he would be even more worried than he already is.” Leah said though making a valid point knowing that Karen would and probably had done the same thing to Adam.
“Ok, Scott you better hurry to the hospital.” Karen said keeping an eye on her cousin though she could tell Leah wasn’t going to last much longer.
“Right,” Scott said speeding the last few miles to the emergency bay where they were greeted by some angry doctors; at least until they saw Leah’s injuries they called for supplies. The doctors tried to get answers when they took the girl away on the gurney Karen just continued to ask for Doctor Michaels when the others finally took a hint they put her and Scott in the room with Leah to wait for Doctor Michaels. Nurses checked on them periodically giving them some food and explaining that Doctor Michaels had other patients and would get to them as soon as he could.
“What’s taking so long?” Karen asked getting angry with the nurse that was checking on Leah’s vitals and how she was healing causing the poor woman to jump slightly.
“Calm down Karen.” Scott said standing in his sister’s face before she decided to charge at the nurse. “See what the media is calling this incident.”
“I already know what they are calling it,” Karen said glaring at the muted T.V. broadcasting the news alert at the airport. “A terrorist attack, at least they got the terror part right.”
“So dad did get to his police chief friend.” Scott said as Doctor Michaels entered the room. Doctor Michaels was a tall thin man with olive colored skin from Italy though he spoke American English well enough to keep a medical job but you could tell that there was a strong accent that made talking to him interesting; at least that’s what Karen thought; but many people found talking to him to be frustrating.
“I should have known that you two were involved with the attack at the airport.” Doctor Michaels said checking Leah’s vitals once again just to keep Karen calm so she wouldn’t cause a ruckus. “Leah seems to be healing all on her own; I thought she was a witch?”
“She is; do you think she is healing herself?” Scott said trying to piece together their cousin’s actions. “Like mentally saying an incantation so she could heal her own injuries.”
“That’s rare, but not uncommon especially with her family history.” Doctor Michaels stated as he went towards Karen who was still pacing. “As for you Karen, I need to check your mental function as well as your heart vitals.”
“Oh really, is it that time already, what about Leah?” Karen said slowly backing away from him and towards the only door to and from the room.
Scott saw his sisters distress and knew that she had to get examined for any issues before they finished the job they were sent here to do and before they talked to their father who was driving into the city at any second, but figured that he would let Karen know that secret until later when she was even headed and not worried about the rest of her family.
“Leah will be fine; you know how important your health is to me more so after your powerful state.” Doctor Michaels said as Scott used his abilities to barricade the door.
“That’s not fair,” she said as Michaels sat her into the nearest comfortable chair. “As for you Scott Jonathan, mom is going to kill you.”
“Actually she may kill you first.” Scott sneered, trying to keep his focus on the door and not Karen as she had planned. “Nice try though.”
“Knock it off the both of you.” Doctor Michaels scolding the pair as if they were little children fighting over a toy, he wanted to begin the session with Karen as soon as possible because he knew that he was going to have to look extensively into her mind and into places that Karen herself didn’t know about and he knew that delving that deeply into someone’s mind took many hours. Moving between the two siblings Doctor Michaels pulled up an identical chair to the one Karen had and placed each hand on the sides of her head and closing his eyes as he began to access Karen’s most private and personal thoughts mostly focusing on the disturbance that he felt from her.
The session lasted for almost an hour and both siblings were getting extremely bored and they knew that neither of them could talk to Doctor Michaels or each other until the session ended. Another hour seemed to pass by before Doctor Michaels came out of his trance startling Scott and Karen who were starting to fall asleep.
“Everything okay in there doc," Karen joked until she got a stern look from the man that held her medical confidence in his hands.
“Scott, may I speak to your sister alone.” Doctor Michaels asked quietly so to not alarm Karen to such extent that she lost control again.
“Sure, I probably let mom and dad know that we’re okay.” Scott said heading out the door.
“Hey I could use a soda, aim for a Mountain Dew please.” Karen said catching her brother before Scott before he left. Knowing that the reason Doctor Michaels told him to leave was because the next step was the emotional examination, and she figured they were going to pick up from their last session and that was talking about Adam.
“Alright,” Scott said reluctantly through reassured by his sister, he went to find the nearest vending machine though he doubted that the hospital that the hospital carried Mountain Dew,
“Doc, I don’t think that Leah should wake and hear any of this,” Karen said laughing that if Leah woke up during the session would she laugh along with Karen or think that she had gone crazy perhaps both, the thought made her giggle.
“We placed Leah into a medically induced coma so she could heal in peace.” Doctor Michaels stated in a tone that Karen had not heard from him before and it slightly worried her as to the severity of what he was about to tell her.
“Should I be worried about something Doctor Michaels?” Karen questioned getting nervous as he sat next to her in another leather chair.
“When we last spoke; why didn’t you tell me that you and Adam were having sex,” Doctor Michaels said rather bluntly catching Karen off guard.
“That’s because the last time we talked was two years ago and we had just started dating.” Karen said starting to feel slightly violated and starting to get very defensive about her personal life. “And for the record why is any of this your business.”
“Because you are a 17 year old girl and should not be having a baby.” Doctor Michaels once again blurted and once again caught Karen off guard.
“Did you use protection?”
“Yes, every time.” Karen said trying to figure out where and when the pair didn’t use protection, “Wait, there was a party over spring break last month, oh crap, Adam and I were drinking a lot and one thing led to another, well you know how it happens you’re a doctor for peat’s sake.” Karen said starting to get a little concern about how she was going to tell Adam that he was going to be a father.
“Because you are a patient, I won’t tell your parents or Adam for that matter. That is something that you have to do.” Doctor Michaels said shifting his weight and thinking of how to console Karen who just found herself in a very difficult and impossible situation.
“I know that this is not the best timing because of your current objective here, however I think that it would be best for you to take some time off and relax for both your health and the health of the baby.” Michaels suggested not expecting the laughter that came from Karen. Though she knew what Doctor Michaels meant by telling her to take things slow, she also knew that the only time people in her line of work relax is when they are either hospitalized or dead and at the moment she was neither only pregnant. “Karen, this isn’t fun and games anymore.” Doctor Michaels scolded trying to get this 17 year old girl to understand the life changes and consequences of her choices involving her and the baby.
“I’m not stupid Doctor. I know that this changes everything however you expect me to relax in a place where I have something to do and possibly kill is not an options at this moment and quite frankly I’m not too keen on taking your advice either way.” Karen said protesting the implication that she didn’t or couldn’t understand what this pregnancy meant to everyone in her life not just her and Adam. Taking a deep breath she continued to talk to Doctor Michaels lightly. “Scott should be back soon and I have to let Adam know that I’m okay.”
“Very well,” Doctor Michaels said leaving his seat and checking Leah’s vitals once more before he left the room leaving Karen alone with her own thoughts and plans.
Once Karen knew that she was alone she reached for her phone just as Leah’s phone began to play a ringtone that she obviously set for John just by the way it sounded, and when Karen picked it up to answer John’s name and number were displayed giving the teenager even more proof that the pair were meant for each other. Karen wasn’t sure if her cousin would be okay with her answering the phone and embarrassing the newbie but she also knew that if she didn’t John would worry about Leah even more than he already was. “Hello?” Karen answered hearing a gasp from the boy on the other end and then a tsunami of questions mostly pertaining to Leah’s health.
“John, relax and breathe slowly.” She said waiting for boy to calm down before she explained what was happening to his girlfriend. “Are you good?”
“Yes thank you.” John said trying to remain calm and collected so he could find out how bad Leah was injured. “Where’s Leah?”
“She’s sleeping, but she’ll be fine the doctor’s say that there is only some bruising,” Karen said lying because just like her, Leah had to tell John the truth about how serious the injuries were.
“As long as she’s safe,” John said sounding relieved and not noticing the fact that Karen was lying through her teeth. “Oh, by the way, my dad was offering for you and Leah to stay at the house until you both recover.”
Karen smiled slightly at the offer but decided to add that her brother and her boyfriend were with them as well. “Thank you for the offer John but you know I can’t leave Scott and Adam alone in a house full of weapons.” She knew all too well what could possibly happen because it almost did when she announced that her and Adam were seeing each other, Tom, Bryan, and Scott decided to take Adam on a hunting trip and try to get to know that person who was dating the only daughter of the Reid family, and Adam still won’t talk about it to anyone and neither will her siblings or father. Though she’s not sure as to what it happened she’s pretty sure that they threatened him on some level.
“Oh right,” John said pausing and talking to someone in the background as she figured that it was his father, the man who refused to give her his name which was still bugging her because she was always told by her father to be wary of people she didn’t know and people who refused to introduce themselves, and though she trusted John she didn’t trust his father no matter how much money he had you cannot buy trust. “Alright, it’s okay with us. My mom’s still in Europe checking on some stuff with the businesses in Rome and Moscow and my brother is off the grid which is normal; anyway what do you say?”
“Alright, once we get discharged, I’ll go and get Adam and head over.” Karen said accepting the young non-human’s offer and disconnecting her cousin’s phone while she dialed the safe house number to inform Adam of the new sleeping arrangements.
“Where are you?” Adam said tripping over something in what sounded to be the kitchen so she figured that it was some type of grocery.
“Are you ok honey,” Karen questioned cringing at the noise and the fact that it sound as if Adam hit the tile floor hard and the fact that possibly more than one thing fell onto that floor.
“Yeah, I’m fine, but the dozen eggs that I just bought didn’t make it to breakfast.” He said with a sigh then rebounding back to his original question. “Please tell me that you weren’t at the airport massacre that I saw on the news this morning.”
“Wish I could, but when vampires attack a heavily populated place, you know I can’t just sit by and watch innocent people getting slaughtered. I mean it’s me Adam, and I may have found some new sleeping arrangements.”
“I know, but I just worry that one night you might not come home.” He said skipping the fact that she said ‘vampires’ and then ran back to the noun once he realized what she said. “Vampires, are you ok? What about Scott and Leah?”
“Yeah, we’re all fine, Leah’s a little more beat up than normal and I went into my powerful state but other than that we’re fine.” Karen said as she heard more commotion which she figured was Adam dropping the phone to the floor out of shock and anger. “Now don’t start panicking, we are in the hospital now, Leah’s recovering and I have been given a clean bill of health so don’t worry.” Even though she knew that the last statement was pointless she felt that it needed to be said anyway.
“Because that would be the last thing on my mind me being worried about the woman that I love.” Adam said sarcastically and Karen picked up on it quickly. “So what are these new sleeping arrangements, what’s wrong with your dad’s safe house?”
Once she heard the words ‘your dad’ about five different alarms went off in her head and she was immediately worried about Adam’s safety. Even if Tom never admitted it Karen knew that he didn’t like the new man in his daughter’s life. And ever since they started to see each other ‘your dad’ was always their safe word. “Please tell me that he is not there.”
“No not yet,” Adam said trying to calm down now that Karen had caught on, “but he did call and I stupidly answered thinking that it was you, so he’s on his way out here.”
“Shit.” Karen cursed, “And he’s going to be here faster than any normal considering that he is friends with the state troopers and every police force in all 50 states.” As she spoke she turned her back to Leah so she could have somewhat of a private conversation with her boyfriend.
“Tell me about it.” Adam sighed keeping his guard up incase her father walking in right as their coming up with a plan about what to do.
“There’s nothing I can do about it now, not with everything that has gone down in the past couple days but I’ll figure something out. Either way John offered some spare rooms for us at his place so I was thinking that everyone would be able to keep an eye on Leah once she recovers and we are all discharged and I can do some recon on his father.” Karen said not noticing that Leah was starting to come out of her coma and pulling everything out of her arm just as Scott came back with a can of Mountain Dew to her surprise.
“There must be something you really don’t trust if you’re doing recon and someone.” Adam said as Karen heard the commotion behind her.
“I got to go Adam; I’ll pick you up later.” Karen said hanging up before Adam could finish the ‘I love you’ he started, as Karen rushed to her cousin’s side.
“Let me out of here.” Leah said getting panicked that she was in a hospital bed with and I.V. and other wires attached to her.
“Calm down, your fine,” Karen said trying to get Leah back from the nightmare that she was in.
The nightmares only occurred when she had been admitted into the hospital for too long of a time, the cause was her fragmented memories from the car accident that killed her parents and they didn’t come back in pieces her memories flooded her mind turning her back into the terrified three year old girl wanting her mom and dad.
“No I have to get out.” Leah said still pulling the wires off her head as she began to struggle against her cousin’s hold.
“Scott, go get Doctor Michaels.” Karen ordered as her cousin became more frantic. “Now!”
“Ok, don’t yell.” Scott shot back as he ran to the nurse’s station and told them to page Doctor Michaels about Leah and he ran back to help his sister. “Doctor Michaels is on his way.”
“No, no more doctors please I want my mommy.” Leah said crying when Scott gave the announcement.
“Leah, its 2001 Terry and Stacy died 1988 that was thirteen years ago.” Karen said softly as she noticed her cousins reverse mentality as Doctor Michaels rushed through the door to aide his horrified patient.
“Leah, Leah, its Doctor Michaels do you remember me.” He questioned as Karen quickly sidestepped the man before he pushed her into the wall.
“No. No more doctors please.” Leah said crying even more once Doctor Michaels placed his hands on each side of her head to try and clam the girl down.
Leah continued to cry while the doctor traveled through her mind to suppress the horrible memories of her parent’s death. It was Karen’s own memories that haunted her as she continued to watch her cousin relive the experience; Karen remembered the carnage that she saw on that day. Though she was a year older than Leah, when it happened in her father’s eyes she was old enough to understand the dangers that came with this job and life they adopted.
Aunt Celia and Uncle Terry were the only relatives that Karen or Bryan ever knew and they loved them despite the family feud between Celia’s family and theirs. When the accident occurred Karen was the only one of the siblings there because there was a hunt and Tom decided that it was too dangerous for a four year old girl to accompany them to the Northwest wilderness. So it was Karen, Ann, Celia, Terry, and Leah to pass the time until the boys came back from their trip. She remembered how much fun they were having that day when they went to the closest city and went to every store and every mall buying what seemed to be everything in a child’s eyes but was only priced to the amount of five hundred dollars per store. They took separate cars the adults knowing that all they were getting would not fit into one car with five people trying to get home too. The day had gone so well until there was a confrontation at a flower shop between her uncle and another man that it took her many years and lots of connections into the local police department to realize that the man she saw her uncle arguing with was the relative of a local drug king that he had sent to prison for murder a month sooner. After that flower shop they headed home and began to unload all things that they had bought to decorate not just her house but Celia and Terry’s as well. She assumed that it happened sometime after she and Ann headed inside their car unpacked and about to start finding places for their new items when she heard something that sounded like a fire cracker going off in the afternoon sun which she knew to be strange because for one it was the afternoon and two it sounded a lot different from the fireworks that she had been used to. It only took her two seconds to notice that her mother was no longer at her side holding her hand like she had been before the explosion went off; but rather outside looking panicked. Karen ran to her mother’s side trying to get some answers as to what happened but all that caught her attention was the cries of Leah who was sitting on the driveway next to Ann’s car.
It was the silence from the cries that brought Karen back to the hospital room that they currently occupied. And she knew that even though she knew through times in the past when they recalled the accident, all Leah could really remember was a warm light surrounding her as she saw the hood of their small car burst into flames. Karen saw Leah relax and that made her relax as well knowing that Doctor Michaels had everything under control.
When she was once again sleeping, he stepped away to explain what happened to the siblings that had witnessed the distress with his patient. “I managed to suppress the memories again but they won’t stay that way for long.”
“And what does that mean?” Karen asked as she once again became nervous of her cousins condition and once Doctor Michaels picked up on her fear, he made a quick move to calm her down, “She’s going to be fine. Her memory of the accident is coming back and there is no way to stop it.”
“So she’s going to be fine.” Scott said repeating the doctor’s statement for his sister, who was still on edge.
“That’s good. When can we take her home?” Karen said quickly and quietly so not to wake Leah who was still sleeping and trying to recuperate.
“As soon as she wakes up; AND is lucid enough to understand where she is.” Doctor Michaels said remembering the last time Karen had a head injury and left without a neurological exam.
“Damn,” she muttered softly knowing why he put and emphasis on ‘and.’ “Well how long will that take?”
“That depends on Leah, and how long she wants to recover from both her physical and mental injuries.” The doctor said noticing the impatience on Karen’s face. “And you Karen stay put.”
“Fine,” Karen said sitting down in the leather chair next to Leah’s bed waiting for her to wake up which she hoped was soon as Doctor Michaels left again. “This sucks.”
“And what do you expect me to do about it.” Scott said looking at his sister as he sat under the T.V. “What’s the news saying about the airport?”
“What makes you think I care, I just want to get out of this damn hospital and get everyone home safe, before dad gets here.” Karen said getting more pissed off at herself that her brother.
The fact that Karen knew their father was coming into New York shocked Scott because as far as he knew, he was the only one besides the rest of their family back in Arizona who knew that Tom was heading this way. “How do you know that dad’s heading out here?”
“He called the safe house to let us know he was leaving home and Adam answered. So he’s probably speeding through half the country.” That’s when the little light bulb once again went off in her head and she realized that her brother knew that their father was on his way out here. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“What?” Scott said trying to think that his sister couldn’t see through his mask to show the guilt that was written all over his face.
“Don’t play this bullshit with me Scott, I don’t have the patience nor am I in the mood to put up with it.” Karen said starting to get very annoyed that her little brother hid a vital piece of information that may have kept her boyfriend safe from the wrath of Tom.
“Ok, ok. I called dad and told him about the airport before I called you.” Scott said seeing his sister calm down some but not enough to keep her within her normal limits, though she knew that Scott didn’t tell her father about Adam being in New York with them she was still uneasy about the time when her father and she had to talk about his being here.
The funnier part was that neither of them noticed that Leah was starting to once again come out of her coma. “We’re not even out and you two are still fighting.” Though she laughed when she saw Karen jump into the air she noted the distance that her cousin leapt.
“Oh, thank god.” Karen said hugging her cousin who looked more confused at Karen’s reaction than the reason as to why they were still in the hospital, but it was the look on her face with she pulled away that scared Leah the most because the she had meant only one thing and that was when someone died. “What happened; is John okay?”
“Don’t worry he’s fine, it was you we were more worried about.” Karen said as Scott got up and hugged his cousin before he headed for the door.
“I’m going to go and get Doctor Michaels,” Scott said leaving the two girls to talk about whatever it was that girls talked about.
“So what did I miss?” Leah asked as she ignored Scott slipping out of the room and focusing on Karen, who seemed to have some of the answers about what happened, knowing that she hadn’t been injured, physically anyway, and could probably give her more answers than any doctor could.
“You don’t remember?” Karen said stunned about what her cousin had said putting more question about what Dr. Michaels had done to her when she began to relive her childhood trauma.
“I remember pulling into the ambulance bay but then nothing else until I woke up.” Leah said giving her cousin strange looks curious as to what happened after she lost consciousness. “What did I miss?”
“You went into a coma, and you began healing yourself, they only gave you morphine for the pain.” Karen explained leaving out the fact she had gone through her childhood memories from when her mother and father died.
“Really,” Leah said sounding surprised by what her cousin was explaining to her, because she knew that it was not normal for a witch to be able to heal such severe injuries that could have killed her.
Then Karen continued to explain that they were all surprised when Doctor Michaels told them that he had never had someone like Leah who was able to heal their injuries and only needing morphine to dull the pain.
“Yes, we were all quite worried about you young lady.” He said taking Karen’s seat in front of Leah. “Nice to finally meet you Leah. I’m Doctor Michaels.” Though Karen knew he was lying she left her thoughts to herself, though she knew that he had hidden her memories.
“Are you sure that we have never met before?” Leah asked curious of the fact that seemed to remember his face fairly well but she couldn’t remember where they had met.
“I’m sure. I would definitely remember someone as cute as you.” He stated trying to convince everyone in the room including himself that none of them had met before. “But I need to do a neurological exam.”
“Ok, do you want me to remember some names or numbers?” Leah asked recalling what she had seen on the television.
Doctor Michaels simply laughed slightly before taking a serious tone toward the young girl that had just emerged from a very deep coma. “No, my exams are slightly different from other doctors and also more personal. You see my ways are different because I mentally project myself into your mind to see firsthand where there are problems and if they can be fixed. However, I need to make sure that you are ok, with me entering your mind.”
As Leah listened to his explanation she immediately said no based on the fact that she did not want a complete stranger to enter a space that not ever her cousins were allowed to enter and the fact that she had thoughts in her mind that would make every question her sanity in some areas of her young life. “I know how you feel Leah, but you are in complete control of the surroundings, if you feel uncomfortable all you have to do is just block me from entering.” Karen shifted her weight from side to side getting very annoyed that she had not been told this hours ago because of the fact that he found out she was pregnant from her own neurological exam, though she knew not to say anything for the fact that she knew who he was and what he had done.
It took a few moments before Leah gave a small but visible nod for the doctor to begin his exam that still made her a little nervous, seeing as to the fact that she didn’t panic as it began. Once again the siblings had to keep their mouths shut once it began so the doctor could concentrate on the task at hand. So the siblings tried pacing to take the edge off waiting and eventually that became boring enough that they started playing the games they would play as children when they were in trouble with their father and were ordered to stay quiet until they were allowed to speak again, and when it came to their father that punishment would sometimes go on for days and to keep themselves entertained they learned sign language from their mother and became fluent in the language. Their language was something that no one but them could decipher; not even their parents knew what they were saying. It came in very handy when they were all on hunts together and needed the silence between them to concentrate on the intended target. Of course it was only Karen, Scott, and Bryan, who were the only ones able to sign in fact they became so experienced they made up voices for each other when they had to sign.
‘How are you able to stand this silence for so long?’ Scott signed the question but the voice that Karen had for him was one of a child about the age of 6 years whining like his parents had taken away his favorite toy.
‘I have no idea. All I know is that I’m daydreaming about something or another while he investigates my thoughts. He’s so much worse than a psychologist.’ Karen signed back knowing that Scott had a voice that was just as insulting to her as hers was to him.
To Scott his sister’s voice sounded much like the adults on the Peanuts cartoons and though he could still read what Karen was signing and understood what she was saying well enough to reply and the insulting cycle started again. ‘What could you possibly be daydreaming about?’
‘There’s nothing wrong with thinking of settling down with someone you love and having a family is there?’ She asked trying to be vague enough to where he wouldn’t catch on to who she was talking about, but she saw the light bulb go off in his head anyway.
‘You can’t possibly assume that Adam and you will be one of the few high school sweethearts that will make it.’ Scott said hearing his sister’s silence in his head indicating that she had thought of about them being high school sweethearts. ‘Karen, you can’t be serious. With our line of work we don’t have the chance to have normal lives.’
‘Well I don’t plan on doing this for the rest of my life.’ Karen snapped back. They both knew what this life has been doing to their family, when they turned into teenagers the three of them could hear their parents arguing over the job. Their father said it would just be until they turned eighteen years old and could move out and live their own lives, but once Karen had her accident Ann continued to fight harder despite all the sense that Tom was making at the time saying that Karen just needed training to refine her non-human abilities and Ann let it slide for a time and even though he was right about Karen’s training she was not going to be sucked into hunting for the rest of her life, she wasn’t like her father or her brothers.
‘Does dad know that you’re going to leave after school?’ Scott asked knowing how their father would have felt about her choice and would have never let her come out to New York.
‘No, I haven’t told anyone but you.’ She giggled as she signed to her brother, ‘not even Adam knows that I want to leave all this.’
‘But you want to leave and spend the rest of your life with him; I’m surprised that you two aren’t jumping for joy.’ Scott replied noticing that the doctor had finished his exam and both he and Leah were just staring.
“If you two are finished, you all are cleared to leave at any time.” He said rising from his seat and leaving them to their own discussion.
“How long were we signing?” Karen asked Leah who was beginning to gather her own things as fast as she could not want to stay any longer than she already had been.
“Not sure, by the time I came around the doctor was just watching you two signing and I think it was about an hour after I came around you two finished your secret conversation.” Leah said handing her bag to Scott as the three of them went to the reception desk to fill out the discharge papers.
All the paper work took another half hour and both Leah and Scott could tell that Karen was starting to get antsy about staying when she was so close to the door. As soon as she was ten feet out the door she raised her over her head, “Finally!” she screamed feeling the straight city breeze passing by at the speed of a subway train. Even though it had been a little over thirty hours since the three of them had arrived at the hospital all been admitted; to what Karen considered the deepest part of hell; after their airport misadventure. Karen wanted to drop everyone at John’s mansion before speeding to the safe house and retrieving Adam praying that she made it before Tom got there and she found her boyfriend skinned and hanging upside down by his ankles.
“So back to the safe house,” Leah asked not paying attention to the buildings but focusing more on the breeze they were in relieved as her cousin was to be out of a hospital she closed her eyes and focused on the man that she had supposedly just met though she didn’t believe a word he said. When she gained nothing from her meditation she began to see the fancy homes that she had passed only once before and that was when John had escorted her to him home. “What are we doing here?”
“There’s been a change in plans; we aren’t going back to the safe house.” She began not thinking of the reaction that Leah would have considering that Mary lived in a similar part of town. Once she saw Leah’s eyes she pulled off the calm her cousin “John offered his spare rooms until you had fully recovered, I’m not taking you back to Mary’s I promise.”