Ever After

by Heather McBride

  I was afraid it would cause problems for the coven. I had no idea how we could pull off a visit, I felt like hell, and I had to look like it too no doubt. I was supposed to be here getting better, at least that’s what dad thought. That was not the case; each hour seemed to bring more pain and more suffering for me.

  Chapter 2

  Complications

  I could hear raised voices down stairs, jolting me from my sleep. It was two in the morning, but that meant nothing in a house full of vampires. They all slept very little and someone was always awake at any hour, of the night. I was getting use to that, slowly.

  “You can’t expect him to stay away from her Doc, she is his child. He will demand to see her, and if we don’t allow him, he will call the authorities.” Lydia’s voice sounded strained, not light, and soft as usual. “You know it only took William three days to recover from Vincent’s attack, and I never left his side. You take Mr. Whitmore’s only child off for some medical treatment, he’s probably not even sure of, and you think he will not demand to see her?”

  I could hear Lydia talking, and her words were very true. I knew my dad; he was not going to be put off much longer by Doc.

  Lydia went on.“I don’t blame him for being irate. His child is deathly ill, and he naturally wants to see her.” I could hear other members of the coven down stairs also. They seemed to be having a meeting about me.

  I felt guilty bringing this on them all, the followers were peaceful vampires and never wanted to draw attention. My relationship with William, was definitely giving them more contact with humans than I figured they wanted. I worried the other coven members might be mad at me. I strained to hear the rest of their conversation.

  “Well we will have to move her to real clinic, won’t we?” I heard Roth asked.

  “It’s too dangerous to move her Roth; she’s much too fragile right now.” Doc replied firmly.

  “What about the clinic in Shelton, we could use it just for a few hours, while her dad visits.” Riley added, he was the youngest vampire and vey soft spoken. I hadn’t realized they had all come out to Doc’s home in Maine, until now.

  “That’s a good idea, but we have to keep her away from all human doctors or nurses, if they were to examine her.” Doc sighed loudly. “It could expose us all; it would only take one nurse checking her pulse or temperature, while one of us was not looking. It would be all over CNN, she would be a medical headline in no time, a freak of nature. The simple fact her body temperature, alters between 81 degrees and 109 is enough to rule that whole idea out. That’s hard to hide from human medical staff.”

  “We need to stage a clinic then, that’s the only way.” William’s smooth voice calmly announced.

  “Good Idea!” Roth agreed.

  “We could do it; he would never suspect a thing!” Riley added his voice excited.

  “Yes, well I think that may be the answer.” Doc smiled as he looked around the room. “I think we can pull it off, and get some medical equipment up here. We could stage some patients, and medical staff. It would only be for a short time and I can work up some medical documents to show Corrine’s progress.”

  I had to smile now, it was a brilliant idea, and it would be so wonderful to see dad again and maybe Gran if she could make the trip. I felt so disconnected from her and dad, it made me sad. I knew it was just the ways things had to be for now, but it still made be cry sometimes. I was happy to know they had a plan to get us all through this, nice thing about vampires they have a lot of experience at covering up weird things.

  “Let’s set it up then, and get this done so we can focus on getting Corrine better.” I heard Lydia announce. I could hear the other coven members talking and agreeing with her. The coven was very large but many of the members did not all live together, but in typical single-family homes as “normal” people. They gathered when the coven faced problems and always came to agreements together as one unit.

  William came in later and kissed my forehead, and smiled at me. “Well we have to get you ready to see your father.” I smiled up at him losing myself in his deep blue eyes.

  “Can we see if Gran can come up too? I miss her so much.”

  He nodded and smiled. “I’m sure we can see if she would like to come up.”

  Chapter 3

  The Set Up

  The other good thing about vampires is they have really big bank accounts too. Being immortal had some pretty sweet advantages, like you got to amass a huge pile of money over several life times. The coven brought in everything needed to transform the grand old mansion into a full-fledged cancer treatment center. They moved at an amazing pace, they had the whole thing set up in two days. I on the other hand was the only thing they couldn’t “re- vamp” pardon the pun.

  I was really not doing well at all as Friday morning arrived, (the morning before the visit). I was in horrific pain. I woke up curled into a ball. My chest hurt and the air stung my lungs when I inhaled. William of course was camped out in my new mock “hospital” room, so he saw everything I went through. I gasped in pain, my head swimming as I broke out into a sweat. I felt like I was on a roller coaster that was out of control.

  I could only take short panting breaths that morning, as I had a death grip on Williams arm. Doc was in my room before we even had a chance to agree to call him. Another good thing about vampires, they sensed human pain from a mile away. I guessed that’s why so many of them went into the medical field. They were gifted at helping humans, at least Followers were.

  Libby, one of the younger coven members came into my room. She had been a nurse in her human life and was now assisting Doc in my care. The pain, Doc told me after another morphine shot, was my body’s way of resisting the change. My system was fighting it, and I was losing the battle. I spent all afternoon in a haze of drugs, all meant to ease the excruciating pain I was in. The only problem was they were hurting me too, making me sicker by the day.

  My dad’s flight to Maine was to come in at nine thirty Saturday morning. I tried my best to be in a good mood, as Lydia and Libby did my hair and helped me into my “hospital gown”. I was hurting so bad, even dressing was a job. I had to try to at least look like I felt good though.

  That’s what dad was expecting to see. I groaned as Libby brought in a makeup kit. In addition, she began to add some much needed color to my cheeks. I hoped I could look good enough so dad would not suspect anything was weird. I knew if Sara was with him, she would be watching my like a hawk, and that wasn’t going to be a good thing. This pain I was in was nearly impossible to hide.

  “It will be ok Corrine; your dad’s flight is scheduled to leave here at one o’ clock. So you won’t have to fake feeling great for too long.” Lydia smiled reassuringly at me.

  I could never seem to get over the fact she was Williams mom, she looked all of about maybe 26 years old. I admired her long wavy black hair and porcelain skin. I had to imagine when she did get around humans; the guys went nutty over her. I never asked how old she was when she became a vampire. I did know in the time of William’s birth, women had kids at a very young age and married young too. I figured she was probably in her twenty’s at the time of her human death.

  Chapter 4

  The Visit

  I waited nervously for my dad’s limo to arrive from the airport. The weather had been pretty bad lately so it was delayed due to snow and ice on the runway. Doc, William, and Dr.Pratt (or just Pratt as the coven called him) and Lydia waited in the room with me. My room’s window faced the circle drive so we would all know when the limo arrived. My stomach was in knots as we all waited.

  “Stay calm Corrine, be strong for the next few hours, and remember the pain killer unit has a pump.” Doc spoke softly to me. “If you feel a pain attack coming push the button and you will have pain relief, nobody will even know. Any medical questions I will handle, so don’t worry about that at all.” Doc’s voice was calm and collected as usual, he was always in control.

  “I’m just worrie
d he’s going to tell I don’t look to good. I mean he knows me pretty well. Lydia and Libby did a great job, but I’ve lost so much weight.” I looked at my skinny white arm and shook my head in disgust.

  Doc laughed at my concern, which surprised me.“Well obviously, you have not looked in the mirror have you? The changes you have made, have given your skin the customary vampire glow of perfection, you look rather stunning.” Doc said looking at William, who nodded in agreement.

  “You look great Corrine, really the makeup added just enough color to your face, your father will not suspect a thing.” Lydia said smiling at me.

  I smiled back, and then looked to William. I felt better now; at least I looked like I was getting better. I noticed then that William had the exact rich shade of black hair his mother had. I wondered if Sara was coming, she would die when she found out Lydia was Will’s mother. I fully expected that if she did come, she would probably pull Lydia aside and ask who her plastic surgeon was.

  I nearly laughed aloud with that thought. Even Doc who was suppose to be Williams “grandfather” looked maybe forty if that, probably more like thirty five. He was a very young looking and really handsome. He looked like an actor, with his perfect sandy blonde hair and striking green eyes. The entire coven was insanely good looking; it really amazed me when I stopped to look at each one of them.

  My father arrived only an hour late due to the flight delay. Sara was along with him but Gran could not make it due to a minor cold. I saw the car pull into the driveway, and I was promptly tucked into bed, and dressed in a standard issue hospital gown. Libby was dressed as a nurse, and several other coven members were dressed as hospital staff and patients.

  It seemed they actually were having fun pretending, which made me feel better. I hated to think I was messing up any of their quiet lives, with all this. I lay down and tried to look relaxed. I thumbed through a magazine as the TV ran in the background. It was hard to act casual, as if I wasn’t in the care of an entire coven of vampires. It wasn’t exactly “normal”.

  “I’ll have to go sweetie.” William said softy as he kissed my cheek lovingly. “I wish I could stay but it wouldn’t look right with me being here, your dad might flip. He’s already freaked out by all this.” He sighed and shook his head.

  “Yeah your right. He still thinks you are in Cambridge, at school right now.”

  “I’ll be just upstairs in the “non hospital” area if you need me.” He grinned.

  “Ok I will see you when he leaves. I love you.” I squeezed his hand.

  “Ok, I love you. Be tough ok? It will all be over soon.” He kissed my cheek again, before he left the room. I waited as Libby led my father and Sara into my room not long after Will left. It was suppose to be an upscale treatment center, so my lavish room fit the scene.

  “Corrine!” My dad’s excited voice made me jump, as I quickly put down the magazine, I wasn’t really reading. He hugged me tight. I hid the fact it hurt due to my stupid bruised ribs. “Oh I worried about you so much. I called Dr.Parker daily to see how you were doing.” I could see his eyes as he scanned my appearance, he slowly smiled. “You look great this place is really making a difference for you.”

  “I feel really good, much better really.” I forced a happy grin; he took a seat next to my bed and held my hand. I watched Sara look around the room, she seemed to be looking for something, and I couldn’t imagine what.

  “Corrine it’s so good to see you.” Sara said with a forced smile. “We have all been so worried about you at home, and your friends call all the time and some of your professors from school too. You might call them; they would love to hear from you.”

  I could see it was killing her to be so nice to me, but dad was watching her so she was pouring it on thick. I was amazed to see her pull my cell phone out, and the charger cord, along with my pink overnight bag. “Gran packed these for you; she sends her love and will visit as soon as she gets over her cold.” I was shocked at first; but when she said Gran packed the stuff, I was not so much. Sara would never be so thoughtful.

  “Thanks so much for bringing it all. I had to be rushed off so quickly I could not pack even a sock.” I forced a weak smile as a twinge of pain edged down my back. I discreetly pushed the button in my hand for the pain meds.

  “How Gran’s cold dad? Is she getting better?” I knew Gran was actually fine just the sniffles, she just could not bear to fly down with Sara. She did her best to stay clear of her. I had called her the night before and she was fine, just missing me. Doc had been keeping her posted on my recovery since I arrived in Maine. She knew every detail of what was going on.

  “Quiet a place they have here, you seem comfortable.” Sara said sarcastically as she eyed the plush surroundings. She ran her hands over the satin bedspread and raised her brow. “Very nice.”

  “A lot better than the state run mental hospital.” I smiled winking at dad. I was not really joking though. I had not forgotten when Sara was going to have me sent there after Todd’s last attack, when the doctors thought I might become a vegetable for life.

  Libby stayed in the room with me. She adjusted my IV lines silently, and she sat back down watching me. If she saw I was having trouble, I would sniff once and she would move dad and Sara on for a tour of the “clinic”.

  “Mr. Whitmore, Dr.Parker will be in to speak with you shortly they are currently on rounds.” I smiled at Libby, she was so professional.

  Dad and Sara never suspected a thing as they waited. The years she spent as a nurse in Florida helped her now, as she dealt with patients family’s all the time. I wasn’t feeling too bad. I was feeling pretty confident the visit would go smoothly. I hoped Doc wouldn’t take too long though, I was running out of things to say. I was really hoping Sara wouldn’t have come. Dad made small talk and asked how the food was and if I had met any of the other patients and so on.

  I nearly choked when a wheel chair occupied by one sneaky vampire named Taylor came into my room. He was being pushed by none other than Roth, dressed as a nurse’s aid. It was all I could do not to break out laughing, as I looked at Taylor in a hospital gown and blue robe.

  Roth looked so funny in scrubs. He had a wicked grin on his face as he winked at me, his green eyes sparkling, he knew I was about to lose it. Libby quickly turned to look at my chart covering her mouth to hide a laugh. After she pulled it together, she turned around and resumed her professional attitude. I knew it was hard for her, with those tow jokers around.

  “Mr. Roth, Ms. Whitmore has guests right now. Taylor will need to come back later to visit please.”

  “Oh I’m sorry. Taylor here just wanted to stop in and say hello to Corrine for a second if that’s ok?” Roth said calmly.

  “Hi Corrine, how are you today?” Taylor smiled innocently at me.

  “Uh… I’m good, glad you stopped by Taylor, are your parents visiting today too?” I couldn’t think of anything else to say on the spot.

  “Yeah they will be here later.” Libby gave him a quick dirty look. “Well I better go. I have therapy in a few minutes, see you later.” He smiled and waved as Roth pushed him out the door. I was so going to kill those two later, what a bunch of dorks they were. I had to admit they did a good acting job, dad and Sara never suspected a thing.

  “Well then, have a good day you two.” Libby quickly ushered them out, and seemed relieved to see them go. I figured they would hear it from her too, later on.

  “Well it seems you have some admirers here Corrine.” Sara said as she watched Roth’s butt as he wheeled Taylor out the door. I couldn’t believe she was doing that right in front of my dad. I looked at him but he was watching a news blurb on TV as CNN was on. “Has William been to see you at all here, or are you two broken up?” I couldn’t believe she was asking me this after I nearly died and was suppose to be trying to beat cancer. I should have expected it from her.

  “Sara really.” Dad hissed. “That’s not why we’re here, to ask personal questions, that’s between those t
wo.” Dad snapped giving her a dirty look shaking his head.

  “Well… I just figured that when things got difficult, he might not stick around to support Corrine. I didn’t want to see that happen to her.” I so wanted to tell her he was just upstairs and never left my side, and never would.

  “He calls me every day so things are fine, and I’m not into that Taylor guy either, he’s just a friend to me here.”

  “Well then ladies enough of that.” Dad shook his head. “So Corrine any idea how long Dr.Parker plans to keep you here?” Dad asks, as he hold’s my hand. I tried not to give Sara the evil eye. “I’d love to have you home for Thanksgiving at least. It’s not right for you to be all the way up here during the holidays. If you are doing so much better, perhaps Doc will let you come home for a few days?”

  “We will have to ask. I haven’t thought about it much really. I just take it a day at a time.” I smiled nervously.