“Damon had a scanner like that.” Why had she brought him up?
“We have the same scanner; we designed it together.”
“Where is he? They came and took him.” Her voice shook a little, and she bit her bottom lip. It’s not like she cared about him, but he had been responsible for saving her life.
His look of intense concentration crossed her mind when he scanned her. His eyes had gone from the lightest of blue to black and then back again as if they didn’t know what color they wanted to be. His red hair had black streaks that crawled through it changing how he looked continually. She had dreamed about him, dreamed they were talking. Dreamed he was interested in her. Stop it River; she scolded herself. Males today didn’t want the original model they wanted perfection and she was far from that.
“Looks like you are keeping the water down. I think we can try moving you.”
“Does that mean I can have some more water?”
“In a little while, I don’t want to overwork you newly healed digestive system.”
“I guess that means no food for me.”
She cringed for a minute expecting the remarks she used to get. Then she remembered that she didn’t care she loved herself just like she was.
“Once you drink some apple juice and your system doesn’t reject it we will try food maybe soup.”
“Nicolas makes a great soup you’ll enjoy it.” Janis came to stand on her other side.
“I thought you would feel better if there was a female in the room with you. I would have brought the other females in my family, but Aran said I needed to heal you without drawing attention. So Janis and I decided we wanted to sin a bit.”
He smiled down at her as he helped her sit, Janis placed her hands on River’s back to help give her support. Nicolas lowered the side of the medbed and helped her swing her legs over. Together he and Janis got her on her feet, and the room began to spin around her.
“That’s normal I’d be concerned if it didn’t happen. We’re all going to take slow steps until we reach the bed and then you are going to lay down.”
He took his time never rushing her. When they came to the bed, he leaned downed and picked her up and placed her on it.
“If all the males around me keep this up, I’m going to get used to being picked up.”
Janis laughed and winked at her. “I love that he can pick me up. I call him strong while he calls me light.”
River smiled the love between them was obvious. Her heart ached for a love like theirs. It hadn’t escaped her attention that he never told her about Damon.
“I want you to get some sleep, and I will be back a little later, and then you’ll try to keep this apple juice down.”
He walked to the door with his arm wrapped around Janis’s waist.
“River, Damon is alive. Now I just have to see if he can overcome what happened to him.”
Her arms came around her waist while her heart broke for Damon.
Chapter Six
Pain devoured him, no matter how he twisted and turned it followed him like a heat seeking missile. He would never be free of the torment. Nicolas submerged him in ice water, and his mind was at peace.
“How long will you have to do this?” Julian stood in the room watching Nicolas submerging Damon’s body.
“As long as it takes,” Nicolas responded his blue eyes focused on Damon.
“How long will you leave him in there?”
“Thirty minutes, he needs longer, but his body can’t take it.” Nicolas frowned the damage done to Damon was enough to make him want to hunt down the perpetrator but Aran his oldest brother and leader of the Dare’s ordered him to stand down. He said that if Damon wanted a chance to live then he needed to defeat this on his own, all they could do was watch on the sidelines and help at times like these.
“Do you want me to take over for a while so you can get some sleep?” Julian offered. The same offer he made for the last six days. The Created were able to go without sleep for weeks, but in this case, Nicolas didn’t have to, besides he had a mate that was worried about him.
“Not yet Julian, let me get him through this, then you can have a turn caring for him.”
“You’re never going to let him live it down are you?”
Nicolas gave his first genuine smile in days. “Every chance I get I’m going to remind him that I pulled him back from death's door thus making me the best physician ever and him the second best.”
Julian laughed he could hear Damon’s voice in his head as he argued with Nicolas. There were going to be fun times ahead.
“Why now?” Nicolas turned his blue gaze to focus on Julian.
Julian frowned, he knew what Nicolas was asking. Why had they suddenly met two of their mates now when centuries had passed, and none of them had shown up? With Jaz, it was a simple case of her not being cloned yet. He wondered although he never asked, why was Jaz, Mick’s mate and not the original. That was a question that haunted him, but when he wanted to bring it up, he knew it would add more confusion and not solve anything, so he kept it close to his chest, but still he wondered.
“I don’t know. Maybe this is the year of the mates.” Julian said giving a flippant answer to a question that no one could answer.
Nicolas ignored his remark, if he wanted to do something, figure out what was happening, then Julian wanted it more. These were his brothers, he grew up with them, fought with them, killed for them. He couldn’t blame Julian for his shortness; he would be the same if his brothers were being pursued. He felt that way about Ash and Brook and what they went through and the fact that he had been too many light years away to come and protect them.
“Come help me take him out of the ice.”
Julian crossed the room and shoved his hands deep into the ice allowing the coldness of it to calm him down. Together they lifted Damon and placed him on the medbed. Immediately he began to murmur again complaining of the fire that was burning him alive.
Julian lifted his eyes to Nicolas.
“He’ll make it; it won’t be easy, but he will make it.” Nicolas closed the medbed and imputed directions, the medbed began to cover Damon with small beams healing him even as he suffered.
The doors to Damon’s medical wing opened and Janis, Nicolas’s mate walked in.
“I brought you something to eat,” she smiled at him love in her eyes.
Julian felt a pang in his chest, was it because he envied what Nicolas had or was he scared that he might find it and The Darkness waiting for him?
He excused himself because, in the end, he didn’t have control over that part of his life.
*~*~*~*
Damon opened his eyes and sighed as he took in the yellow walls of his medical wing. He was correct the yellow was calming. He turned his head a little to find Nicolas sprawled out in a chair his head was back, eyes closed.
“I know your awake, Nicolas.”
“I knew when you woke up also, but I wanted to give you some space. How do you feel?”
“Weak, but at least I’m not burning.”
“I’ve never seen anything like that, Damon. It was like the fire from the hell planet seeped into your very being and claimed you as its own. It was a war without weapons.”
Damon nodded he was the battleground, and he felt every salvo the fire aimed at him, and he felt every response from Nicolas.
“I’m impressed that you managed to defeat the hell planets fire I have a feeling it wasn’t easy. Of course, I could have defeated it sooner.”
Nicolas threw back his head laughing. Now he knew Damon was going to be okay.
“Nicolas?”
He stopped laughing and stood to cross the floor, so he was at Damon’s bedside.
“She’s alive. Dante dug into his bag of tricks, I’d say he dug deep, but I doubt it, he increased her ability to self-heal and also proclaimed that you had done an excellent job operating on her. Then like the leader he is he delegated her recovery to me. I looked in on her a short w
hile ago she is doing fine.”
“Thank you.”
“For what? Taking care of your mate? No thanks needed for that. Or proving once again that I’m the best? If you keep trying you might be able to catch up someday.”
It was Damon’s turn to throw back his head and laugh. His laughter ended in coughing and Nicolas made him lie down and act like a patient.
“There are a couple of Created here to see you, but they can’t stay long, besides I have seen too much of them lately.”
The door opened, and his brothers walked in the worried expressions on their faces morphing to one of joy when they saw his eyes open looking at them.
Mick walked over to him, bending down he pulled Damon into a hug.
“You made it through the hell planet I’m proud of you. It’s one of the hardest tests I ever went through.”
“How’d you do it, Mick? I was so proud that you had somehow managed to defeat The Darkness, now that I’m where you were I’m not so confident.”
“I don’t know how I did it. So many things happened all I can tell you is not to give up. I’m proud of you, Damon, you escaped the hell planet do you remember how?”
Damon pulled away and looked into Mick’s eyes. There were flashes of memory, but he didn’t know what was real and what was a figment of his imagination.
“I don’t know.”
Mick nodded, he had gone through the same thing. They hugged again before the other brothers pushed in.
“No private conversations,” Julian teased, “Remember your other brothers are here too.”
“That’s why it needed to be private; I never get a word in when we are all together.”
They pushed and shoved and talked over each other, each brother making sure he took the time to tell Damon they were proud of him for defeating the Army of Darkness.
Damon smiled, but he knew that it was only the first shot, and the war was nowhere near over. He mentally walked through as much of Mick’s journey as he could. Remembering what he went through and reimagining the things he wasn’t sure about, and then he thought of Jaz which led him to thoughts of River.
She was well now, but the memory of her broken would haunt him. Was there a way he could spirit her away, hide her from The Darkness? He would be willing to live his life in loneliness if she were alive in the world somewhere. Then he remembered the look on Elandra’s face as he demanded Damon give her up.
That male would never stop searching, and he would kill her when he found her unless someone tied his hands. Damon was fighting a war, and he didn’t know the boundaries, for now, he had to believe that it was all out warfare, and nothing was considered foul.
He raised his eyes when the chatter in the room stopped abruptly. Dante walked in; his brother’s presence was different than the rest of theirs. Silently his other brothers left the room after throwing him a glance that said I’m glad not to be you right now. Nicolas was the last to leave. He stopped to stare at Dante it was his don’t mess with my patient look, and then Damon was alone in the room with his oldest brother.
*~*~*~*
“How do you feel?” Rena asked as River walked into the kitchen.
Nicolas took her to meet Aran and Rena when he needed to take care of another patient. He never said who it was, but it had to be Damon. She waited most days on pins and needles hoping he would come back so she could drop the innocent question about his welfare.
They had taken her in like she was a member of the family taking care of her and introducing her to Alexei their son and Amber his mate.
She needed breathing treatments that would help to heal her lungs because whatever Sloan’s voice had done to her had poisoned her and her lungs suffered greatly from it. But Nicolas knew what he was doing and never flinched when she took a turn for the worse. He’d only smile and say that was part of the healing process, after a while, she grew to believe him.
“I feel well, truly well.” When she woke this morning, there was no burning in her chest and no weakness in her legs. Her breathing was smooth, and she didn’t feel the need to take a breathing treatment.
Rena looked her over frowning but didn’t disagree with her.
“You’re just in time Aran made breakfast.”
She went to take a seat at the table before she reached into her pocket of her jeans. Rena had given her a lot of clothes with the tags still on, and they fit her. When she asked where they had come from she just smiled and mentioned her, and her girls might like to shop.
A mint was in her hand. Dante had given her a bag full and told her to keep them close by. She ate one before every meal; somehow it helped to keep what she ate down.
Aran slid a plate in front of her it had an egg on it and one slice of bacon. She wanted to devour it, but her body wanted to throw up at the sight of food. Whatever had been done to her made it almost impossible for her to eat.
She might think she was well, but her body was telling her otherwise.
Chapter Seven
Was there ever a time he would stop looking up to his oldest brother? He didn’t think so; this wasn’t about birth order it was about who Dante was in his life and what he did on a daily basis. Respect was given to those who deserved it, and his brother deserved it.
He reached out and took his brother's hand when it was offered to him. Dante pulled him up embracing him. Power and strength rushed through his body rejuvenating him in a way that would have taken months even with his advanced ability to heal.
“I feel better than I did before The Darkness took me.”
“You’ll need every bit of strength you have for the upcoming fight.”
Damon’s half smile dropped as he remembered standing on the hell planet. Death had been imminent, and it was still coming for him.
“Why?”
“I’d have to be able to explain the universe to answer that question. Long before the Scientists had need of us, our fates were sealed. Now we have no choice but to change what the universe expects of us.”
“It’s been foretold that we would fall to The Darkness?”
Dante smiled, “There are songs about our epic failures.”
“Will I fall?”
Dante looked at him and shrugged but refused to answer his question.
Dante couldn’t lie what he said became truth, and it was as simple as that. As much as Damon would have loved his ringing endorsement of faith, he was simply happy that his brother didn’t seal his fate as a member of the Army of Darkness.
Damon moved to the side of the bed and stood he was still in nothing except his boxers. With a flick of his fingers, he cleaned and clothed himself. He was wearing black jeans with a red tee paired with boots. Now he stood silent and looked at Dante. His arms crossed over his chest, the muscles in his arms bulging against the tee.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Dante said and left the room with Damon on his heels.
Dante’s idea of a walk always meant they were taking to some part of the sky. That’s where they felt most at home, the ground under their feet even if it was ground they placed in the sky felt unnatural. They were Created, but they were meant to be airborne.
The moon shone bright illuminating the world with its light as Damon followed Dante through the air until they hovered far above the earth. The lights below their feet looked like mini stars illuminating the heavens. There was a bite to the air this far up even as the part of the earth they were on enjoyed summer.
“Thank you,” Damon said. He knew his brother would understand.
Dante threw him a look that said no thanks needed we’re family.
Damon nodded he knew his brother wasn’t looking for his thanks but he saved Rivers life, and he needed to say it for himself.
“She’s not safe,” Dante told him. “There’s a force coming after her. They shredded her insides for a reason. Someone besides The Darkness wants her dead.”
Damon agreed, this was the first time he had seen someone torn up on the inside without visible bruising
on the outside.
His mate. How easy it had been for him to think of River that way. He never questioned what she was to him. She probably wouldn’t be as quick to think of him as a mate.
“Where is she?” He knew that Dante would not have left her in the cave, and Nicolas was treating her, so she was somewhere safe.
“She is staying with Aran and Rena.”
His lips quirked up on the sides. River was somewhere extremely safe.
He wanted to see her, but the moon was too high in the sky, he would have to wait until morning.
“Come with me I have something to show you.”
He came closer to his brother until he was standing in his shadow. Dante moved taking Damon with him. Dante didn’t need a ship to travel the galaxy he was able to go where he wanted by the force of his will. That was not the case for Damon and the rest of his brothers. They could travel the planet they were on and even survive the space around it by the force of their will, but they couldn’t go to the moon or any other planet by simply willing themselves there. They used openings in the time-space continuum to go where they needed.
Dante stopped on a planet that was wrapped in a coat of blackness, but it wasn’t night. The blackness hovered over Damon crawling over his skin. He watched as women and children ran screaming, pleading for their lives. The males of the planet were equipped with weapons, not as advanced as what Damon fought with, but that didn’t stop them. They marched towards the invading force, the minions of The Darkness. Damon turned to look at Dante.
“We have to help them.” He watched a child fall to be trampled to death by the mass of beings following it. The mother's wail went up in the air as she dropped to the ground trying to reunite with her child soon her dead body was reaching out to the child’s her hand a hairs breath away from reaching her baby.
“Dante,” he screamed trying to move closer to the beings that needed his help.
Dante reached out and pulled him back. “You can’t stop this Damon and neither can I.”
Damon: The A'rouk Brothers: A BBW Paranornal Page 4
