Shadow

by Jan Stryvant

  “Hang on, Shadow!” Jimmy said kneeling down next to him. “You can make it!”

  “No ... no regrets ... Saving innocents ... worth it ... always.” Shadow’s eyesight was fading fast; his cat was with him, as always. Animals did not fear death; he would not fear it either. Even if it had not been his daughter, he would still have paid the price, he had saved many children in his life from predators, possibly at the cost of his soul. But some deals were worth the cost.

  “Hang on, Shadow!” Jimmy yelled shaking him.

  Shadow’s eye’s glazed over as he passed out. His last thought was one of sadness at missing his mate.

  Shirley had known something was wrong, very wrong. She had left Circe at the hospital, Circe had surprised her and the doctors by coming around, Shirley was sure Circe could fend for herself for a little while at least. Shirley couldn’t ignore Shadow; the spell that tied them together could not ignore the massive amounts of damage he was taking, even at this distance. She left the hospital in a panic and took to the air immediately, knowing that he needed her.

  The need of him pulled her directly towards him as it worsened; she passed Tomas like a rocket, heading in the opposite direction. She smashed through the skylight ignoring the cuts to herself and landed next to his body as Jimmy shook Shadow, crying, trying to get him to respond. He was nearly dead, she immediately recognized his healing form, and knew it was running out of power. She began casting immediately, she couldn’t cure him, but she could prolong him, and hopefully that would be enough. She wasn’t going to let her mate die without a struggle.

  “Don’t you dare die on me, you bastard!” She cried as she worked, “you still haven’t gotten me pregnant!”

  She was still working on him when help finally arrived.

  Shirley and Circe

  Sometimes they talked to each other, which was strange because they really were both one, but here things were a bit blurry and disconnected. They had been together for such a long time, neither really could do without the other, each took pleasure in the other, supported the other. The man used words, the animal used emotions. There was a great deal of discomfort, bad smells, bad sounds. But every so often there was the good smell, one that both man and animal recognized, even craved.

  Shadow came to slowly, his body hurt, there was no doubt about that, and the scent of hospital filled his nose. He was pleasantly surprised to still be alive, as his last thoughts he recalled being those of dying.

  He lay there with his eyes closed, taking stock of himself. He was in his attack form oddly enough, but everything felt like it was there. Lord knows it all hurt enough to still be there. His nose was sorting out scents and Shirley’s came through rather strong, he swiveled an ear towards her.

  “The doctor said you’d be coming around about now.”

  Shadow opened his eyes and smiled at Shirley who was smiling down at him. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you again, Hon,” Shadow purred.

  “I’m pretty happy too love,” she said and leaned over the bed and hugged him, kissing him.

  “Also how much I hurt,” he said sucking in a breath.

  “Oops, Sorry,” she said letting him go.

  “So what happened? Where am I? And is it safe to talk here?”

  “We’re in the medical facility in the basement of the building I work at. It’s safe, I checked, twice. As for what happened,” Shirley growled at him! “You damn near died you asshole! I don’t care about what you had to do, or what you thought you were doing! You’re my mate, and you have a responsibility to me! Next time you will take me with you, and wait for help if need be! Understand?”

  Shadow blinked as the ferocity of it. “I’m sorry, Hon, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Shirley bent over the bed and hugged him again, a bit lower where it didn’t hurt so much. “When I showed up you were dying, it took everything I had to hold on to you, until Tomas got back with help. Even then they weren’t sure you were going to make it, Tomas had a specialist flown in by the feds.” She lowered her voice, “Your healing powers were draining you, killing you. I had to take over your mind and switch you to something else. Sorry, Hon.”

  Shadow purred and hugged her with his left arm. His right he found was in a cast and tied to a board with an IV into it. For that matter his right leg was in a cast as well. “Don’t worry about it, Hon, we are mates, you had the right. And I’ll try not to let things take me over if there is a next time. But I don’t have a lot of control over that sometimes.”

  “Why?”

  “It has to do with how I came to be, and it’s rather nasty and this is not the time to discuss it, Hon.”

  Shirley nodded.

  “Where are Circe and our daughter?”

  “She’s in the next room. They’re trying to decide what to do with her, Tomas and the rest haven’t told anyone who she is, I’m not sure anyone other than Tomas is sure who she is, we’re calling her Janet. Your daughter is with her. I’ve been keeping an eye on them and not letting anyone get near them. She’s still recovering, but she wasn’t as bad as you were, she’s been getting out of bed and sitting up for two days now.”

  “Two days? How long have I been unconscious?” Shadow asked concerned.

  “Five days.”

  “Wow. Let’s go home.”

  Shirley laughed, “I think not. You’re pretty weak still.”

  “Bring me some food, meat preferably and lots of it. Then I can start healing faster and we can go home. I want to lay in my own bed, with you. Not here, by myself,” He grumbled.

  “Let me get the doctor, and then we’ll see.”

  Shirley left and came back with the doctor, who was apparently rather well versed in Supers and also seemed less than crazy to be dealing with Shadow.

  “Don’t like cats, Doc?” Shadow asked.

  “Cat’s are fine; it’s you I’m not too crazy about. Violence never solves anything.”

  Shadow rolled his eyes, “Well at least you’re upfront. So, when can I leave?”

  “Another two weeks I think.”

  “I was thinking about now.”

  “You’re way too weak. Your system is depressed, you could get seriously ill. You have a broken leg, an arm, six ribs, cracked half your vertebrae, punctured and collapsed a lung, cracked your skull bad, had a serious concussion, took two shots in the abdomen, one in the stomach, and two in the chest. Then there are the contusions, your body was covered about fifty percent in them, and I won’t even go over the number of cuts, slashes, and stab wounds. ”

  “If I turn my healing powers back on I could by fully healed in a week doc.”

  “Your body doesn’t have the reserves for that though.”

  “Give me about ten pounds of meat and I can change that pretty quickly,” he smirked.

  “I’m not so sure about that, besides I can see you’re still in a lot of pain.”

  “I’m half animal, Doc, my body reacts differently. As for the pain, well sedatives and painkillers work differently on cats than on people. Too much of them and my body is going to start freaking out on me. So I’ll live with the discomfort for now.”

  “Well I want you to stay here where I can keep an eye on you.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “For all that you may be a vicious sociopath in my opinion; it appears that my superiors want to be sure that you make a full recovery. The sooner you do that, the sooner I can go back home.”

  Shadow looked at Shirley questioningly.

  “Tomas pulled in some favors,” she said. “You did take out a guy they’ve connected to over a dozen murders so far, and more keep turning up. Then there are a few other things Tomas isn’t mentioning, but says you’re owed for.”

  Shadow ahh’ed. “Now go get me some meat, Woman!” He grinned, “Raw is fine, but cooked rare would be better.”

  “I will not have that in my area!” The doctor protested.

  “Uh-huh,” Shirley smiled and left.

  “Now
just what is your relationship with the woman in the next room?” the doctor asked him.

  “I don’t think that’s really any of your business, Doc.” Shadow sighed leaning back into his pillow.

  “She has been giving me a lot of difficulty, demanding to see you and be let out to go home. I can’t allow either of course.”

  “Doc, put her in a wheelchair and bring her in here, before she gets angry. She knows I’m awake and if you think I’m bad, you haven’t seen anything yet!” Shadow snickered.

  At that very moment Shirley re-entered the room pushing a wheelchair containing Circe. “Surprise!” She called out and wheeled it over to Shadow’s bed, “Keep an eye on him would you?” Shirley said to Circe, “I have to run out for a few.”

  Shadow blinked surprised as Circe nodded to Shirley, who turned and left, then smiled at him, “You know, I’m actually getting to like her.”

  Shadow looked at Circe, she was in a robe with slippers on and she looked a lot worse than normal, though better than the last time he’d seen her.

  “You have no idea how happy I am to see you,” He purred.

  “Not as much as I am. I saw you when they brought you in, you looked like shit. Had us all worried there, Hon.”

  “Where’s Mace?” Shadow asked.

  “She’s asleep. I didn’t want to wake her; this was rougher on her than you’d have thought.”

  “She’s okay though?” Shadow asked concerned.

  “Yes, she’s fine, Shadow.”

  Shadow sighed and settled back into the bed smiling, “That makes it all worthwhile.”

  “I wouldn’t have pictured you as the caring type,” the doctor remarked sarcastically.

  “I’m not,” Shadow laughed softly, “but for every man I’ve killed, I’ve saved at least a dozen kids.” Shadow turned his head and smiled at the doctor evilly, “and I’ve killed a lot of men.”

  “Then why are you here? This is a place for the good guys, not killers.”

  “The problem with you doctor,” Circe said softly, “is that you don’t really know good from evil. You just think you do. Anyone Shadow ever killed had it coming. In spades.” She turned slowly in the chair and looked up at the doctor, “Now I on the other hand ...”

  “Janet!” Shadow growled.

  Circe stopped and looked at him.

  “Don’t. He saves people’s lives, he’s entitled to his opinion.”

  “Spoilsport!” Circe grumped.

  “Doctor, we’re tired, and rather grumpy. Why don’t you go someplace else and leave us to chat.”

  The doctor nodded and withdrew then, apparently realizing that maybe he had duties elsewhere.

  The talked a little bit after that, Circe climbing into his bed on his left side and curling up a bit. Shadow dozed rather happily for a while then.

  “Hey, what are you doing with my man there?”

  Shadow yawned and woke up; Shirley was smiling and had a package under her arm.

  “Nothing, he passed out on me. Maybe next time though?” Circe smirked.

  “Wait your turn, I got dibs. Let me help you back to your room before the staff has a heart attack.”

  Shadow sniffed and smelled steak.

  “Food!” he growled, mouth watering.

  Shirley nodded, “Of course, what did you think I was getting? Now take your time and don’t rush or make a mess. I’ll be back in a minute to help.”

  She smacked his hand as he reached for it.

  “Slowly!”

  “Yes, Dear,” he sighed, but he was already drooling up a storm.

  Shadow took her advice and started on the food carefully while she helped Circe back to her room. By the time she came back he was gnawing pieces off of the first steak which he was holding in his good hand.

  “Shadow! Haven’t you heard of silverware?”

  “Kind of hard to use with only one hand. Besides, this is easier.” He grinned.

  Shirley sighed and helped clean him up a bit; he’d gotten quite a bit of the juices from the steak down his chin and all over his hand.

  “Glad I got them cooked. If this was blood people would be screaming. I’ll feed you. Just relax.”

  Shadow nodded as she adjusted the bed and started cutting pieces off for him. She had six rather large steaks in the bag and he went through each of them.

  “Someone was hungry!” She laughed.

  “Yeah, now let’s see about some healing. Crawl up here and keep me company why don’t you?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” She said happily.

  “I have to ask?” he asked with a look.

  “I’d smack you one, but I’m afraid I’d hurt you. You sure this is safe?”

  “Won’t know until I try.”

  Shadow shifted then into his healing form. He was dizzy almost immediately, and rather glad he’d eaten as much as he had. His body was in pretty bad shape, and even in this form he could tell it was going to take many days to heal.

  “How bad is it?”

  “Worse than I thought. Give me a few hours and I think I can lose the casts, but it’s still going to be at least a week before I’m close to normal. There’s a lot of damage and I don’t have the power to heal this much this quickly.”

  “Just make sure you don’t over do it,” She warned him.

  “I won’t. Wake me up around six and we’ll go home.”

  “You sure?” Shirley asked concerned.

  “Yeah, this place makes me nervous, and I’d hate to see what Circe does in a few more days. We need to get her out of here before they realize who she is.”

  “True.”

  Shadow yawned, “I need to sleep. Wake me at six.”

  Shirley kissed him, “Sure thing, love.”

  “Wake up dear,” Shirley whispered in his ear.

  Shadow yawned, he was doing a lot of that lately, and slowly stretched. He still hurt, and he could tell his body was still weak, but his leg and arm felt strong enough, same for the six ribs. The rest would take some time. At least he wasn’t bleeding.

  “Help me get these casts off, then go get Circe.”

  Shirley nodded and they set to it, though a lack of tools made it take a bit longer than he thought it would. He was rather dizzy when he stood up, definitely rather weak.

  “You sure you’re alright?” Shirley asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Go get Circe.” He said grabbing on to his bed and shifting to his dex form. He figured that would give him the best odds of navigating his way out of the place.

  He took a few minutes to get his balance back, and then made his way to the door. He wasn’t naked; Shirley had brought him some shorts to wear in bed. But that was all he had and for once he would liked to have had more. In his weakened state he was actually feeling a little cold.

  “And just what do you think you’re doing?” The nurse at the desk asked standing up. Shadow looked up and down the hall; the place looked fairly empty actually.

  “How many patients are here anyway?” He asked curious.

  “Just the two of you currently.” She said coming around the table. “Now just where do you think you’re going? Get back in there to bed!”

  “No, I’m going home.”

  “You’re too sick to go home! I’m calling the doctor.”

  “Call whomever you like,” Shadow growled. “This isn’t a prison, I’m not under arrest. I’m going home.”

  At that point Shirley wheeled out Circe who was holding their daughter.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” The nurse said picking up the phone.

  “Leaving, Rose,” Shirley told her. “Anyone needs to talk to us; they can call me at home. Tomas has our number. Now be a dear and get the door for me.”

  “I’m not being a party to this! I’ll lose my job!”

  “Fine, then just sit over there,” Shadow said walking over to get the door for Shirley.

  Shirley pushed the chair though and turned to Shadow, “Freight elevator, back this w
ay.”

  “Why that way?”

  “Less people. I don’t want anyone trying to stop us.”

  “You think they would?”

  “You? Probably not. Her? Maybe.” Shirley nodded to Circe who was half-asleep in the chair. “They’ve been keeping her a bit doped up lately except at nursing times. I think someone is getting suspicions about who she is.”

  “I’m surprised Tomas hasn’t said anything.”

  “I asked him not to, as a favor. You said she’s been improving, and well, we had a little talk. I actually like her, and would rather not see her end up in jail just yet.”

  Shadow looked surprised. “I thought you two would be at each other’s throats.”

  “It’s kind of hard to want to kill each other when the man you love is dying in the next room, Hon.” Shirley said looking a little weary. “So we talked instead.”

  He nodded.

  The elevator trip was uneventful and Shadow slumped against the wall rationing his strength, getting just this far had winded him and he wasn’t sure he could make it much farther. Once the doors opened Shirley led them out the back way. They got a bunch of looks but Shirley and Shadow were well known in the building so no one said anything other than ‘Hi’ and ‘Glad to see you’re up and around’ to Shadow. Janet was sitting in the minivan around back and they got in without any further ado.

  Janet was also very pleased to see him, and helped him into the van as Shirley dealt with Circe and Mace. She got a little emotional once he was seated, so Shirley ended up having to drive while Shadow assured Janet he was okay. When they got home Shirley got them all inside and Shadow dragged himself to the kitchen and proceeded to demolish a good deal of what was in the fridge, his stomach was empty and his body was screaming for food. When he’d made his healing form, he’d never considered the price he’d have to pay if he ever got so seriously injured, that it would actually take so much out of him. At least he had a high pain threshold so all the aches from his injuries weren’t bothering him too much. After he finished eating he headed straight for bed, he was exhausted and he told Janet what time he wanted to be woken for breakfast. He gave them each a kiss and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.