Damon managed to control himself as he felt the cavities where Mimi's vampire fangs had been filled with tomato concentrate. Mimi's face had been broken when Bran had beaten her. Her jaw had been broken, and the allergic reaction caused by Coleus had not yet completely gone away. Samuel had administered two potent drugs before Mimi was completely unconscious and painless.
They lifted Mimi onto the examination table. The men took the blankets off Mimi, and Damon could see in the bright light his wife's broken, bruised body even more clearly than on the plane when he had kept Mimi warm and just slipped the ultrasound probe into the blankets when he had scanned.
Still, now the bright lights showed Mimi's damage in full, and Damon could feel his blood boiling. He could smell Adam's rage, too, and knew Adam was going to do something properly with it, but not yet. Samuel pulled the blankets completely off Mimi as Damon lifted her very gently.
Samuel knew now he had to start slowly and watch Damon's reaction so as not to trigger his protective instinct towards Mimi, and then it could be that no one would get near Mimi. The most important thing would be to let Mimi recover, but first, this had to be operated on.
Damon and Samuel both felt extensive visceral damage, and some of the bone fractures might be slightly ossified if Damon were to bleed into them. They took the vacuum splints out now; they had time to manipulate the bones into place even better, and it became apparent that they would need surgery.
When Samuel tried to suggest that some might need a metal plate temporary or external support, Damon wouldn't. He felt that the metal in Mimi's body was not a good thing, and he was sure that he could heal Mimi partly with his own blood, and once they got the healing ability of Mimi better, it would then help.
Samuel set the broken bones as Damon took the most urgent blood tests. Adam was able to help Samuel with some of the bones. Adam was about to boil over, too, but he controlled himself. Now was not the time for that.
Damon set up the operating room, and then they moved Mimi into the operating room and started the surgery. Adam was there, watch closely and Damon found himself teaching Adam in passing, he had no more intention than that.
Mimi was opened up. Her internal organs were drained first with Damon's blood and most of the damage healed. Mimi was still very thin, only 31 kilos, and this recovery would take time.
Then all the broken bones were opened up, limbs first, and again, Damon gave blood directly from his vein. He had cannulated himself, and Samuel drained the cannula over the bones so that they started to work a little.
Damon had the collectors in his teeth, drained the healing booster, and Samuel saw it as precious and had taken a sample; he would send it to his research team in the hope that they could copy it, maybe make their own version, just in case, for the future.
Once Samuel had all the bones aligned, he started the healing booster that Damon had made for his teeth. He had to give quite a few doses. But slowly, the bones started to come together a little bit.
When they got Mimi out of surgery, they took X-rays of her face and teeth. Then they started treating his face once they knew what was going on. Samuel put the broken bones in Mimi's face, draining the healing booster and Damon's blood while Damon focused on Mimi's vampire teeth and flushing the tomato concentrate out of there. Then Adam started taking more blood from Mimi, something he already knew how to do when Samuel gave him the tubes.
Damon was rinsing Mimi's dental cavities when he took the X-ray and saw that there was tomato everywhere. Damon was gentle, and his teeth had made a flushing substance, but he didn't give a sample of it.
He had also made a bag of concentrate, which had to be diluted, and then finally, Mimi would be immersed in it for a while, helping with the extensive blisters and the nasty-looking red rash that was still caused by Coleus.
Samuel looked at the blood test results.
He said, "There are more deficiencies than I care to count, but I'm surprised no normal inflammatory markers are increasing."
Damon grunted and said, "That may change too, but let's hope for the best and keep her asleep if the infection strikes. She's in such a state now that I won't allow her to crawl around on the floor."
Samuel grumbled. Adam was already getting several bags out of the cupboard for the drip when Samuel told him what was needed. He was preparing a bath for Mimi. The basin or box where Mimi would be put was filled with hot water and a preparation solution. It smelled of passionfruit.
Eventually, the cavities were clean, and Damon noticed new pink teeth growing. Good. Damon had already bitten Mimi's long, blood-red hair and put it in a braid.
Mimi was lifted into the pool, and slowly but surely, the rash disappeared and the blisters dried up. The men turned Mimi around in the pool, draining the spots that hadn't healed yet. It took five hours, and then Mimi's skin was completely healed.
Samuel saw for himself how pale and tired Damon was. This had made several very demanding dental substances; they had been cutting Mimi for over 13 hours and rinsing the cavities on top of that, and this skin healing. He knew now they should all get some rest, and so should Mimi.
It was time to let Mimi recover in the gentle warmth of the incubator, and Samuel was more than happy to have the incubator delivered to him. His team was manufacturing them, and slowly, he was getting them to every house. Just so that if there were a problem, they wouldn't always have to go to Chicago for treatment, and the other houses would be fine and could be treated.
Samuel said, "I think it's time for the lady to rest in the incubator and get some strength. We need food and rest, too. There's nothing to do now, but there's work to be done, given time."
Adam nodded. The faint hum of the incubator could be heard in the room. Samuel had already prepared it, and there was a soft, thick mattress so that Mimi's frail, bony body would not be harmed. She might lose weight more before she would get over the shock. Her cortisol had been so high that it was not measured. Her stress would strain her body.
Damon sighed and said, " I guess that's it, but if we can get her stronger, then maybe I can get her to sweat off the cilantro. I don't know yet, and then there are some other herbs in her blood."
They put Mimi in the incubator for an IV and to rest. Samuel opened the lid as Damon lifted his wife into his arms and gently carried her to the incubator to rest. Samuel finally put the lid on. Damon covered the lid to keep Mimi safe in the dim light, and he removed his tee shirt. Put it next to Mimi so she could smell him and not have nightmares.
They left the medbay for dinner, a shower, and then a rest. Now, they should let time pass again. It was time to wait and see. There is not much else to be done.
On the way to the kitchen, Adam said, " Brace yourselves, this will feel, now Mimi is being taken care of, so I will act."
Adam made his decision and once again ripped his own pack out from under Bran. Bran had once done it for political reasons, but Adam did it for purely personal ones.
Damon and Samuel felt like they had been hit by a sledgehammer, but the feeling faded pretty quickly.
Adam said to Samuel, "I understand if you don't want to be in the pack, he's your father, but he's not my pack marrok anymore."
Samuel grunted and said, " That's right what you did. I know my father, and I know what a fucking bastard he is. That felt, and my father will not appreciate it when he finds out you were strong enough to tear your pack free. If there's one thing my father can't stand, it's someone that strong."
Adam's phone rang; it was Bran. "What the fuck, Hauptmann? You'd better call that off, and fast. You don't just walk out on me, and it would be fucking polite to turn it in so I could have done it more painlessly. Now I'm sitting in a car, in a ditch, and I have a goddamn headache and a nosebleed."
Damon looked cold, and Adam realized that the headache and nosebleed were from Damon.
He said in an arctic voice to Bran, " You are no longer The Marrok to me; the headache and nosebleed are Damon's greetings to you, strong old telepath, so I won't order him to stop. Now you fucking sadistic pig will suffer for a long time. You attack my pack so directly, and I'll fucking make sure I tear my pack to safety. You won't fuck do that again and don't say it was a reaction; it was planned a long time ago, the food was specially prepared for Mimi, and the whole thing was the result of a long time of planning. Mimi's mishap only gave you an opportunity or an excuse to act."
Bran was furious but could do nothing about it.
Bran said, "Fine, then be outraged, Hauptman; I'm always prepared when it comes to powerful creatures. You'll learn that, and now you've revealed how fucking strong you are yourself, but I suspect Mimi and Damon will give you quite a boost when they're in your pack."
The call went dead. Adam smiled in satisfaction. Mimi and Damon gave the pack a boost, and what's more, that boost was now gone from Bran, and Adam knew Bran hated losing his power and control.
Adam, Mimi, Damon, and Samuel, well, they would be their own pack and not be under Marrok. It also meant that the marrok power wouldn't work quite as strongly on them as it had before.
They went to eat, showered, and went to bed, Samuel looking at the pale Salvatore and hoping that he, too, would get some rest and a good night's sleep. He tried to make sure that Damon ate and ate well.
He said, "Remember how much you put out from your teeth, and if the need arises, you need to be well."
Damon grunted and said, "Yeah, glad you reminded me; I'll try to remember to load my teeth."
He ate everything from vinegar to weird other stuff. He found a place in his mind where he had these needs. He realized that he actually had an instinct that told him to eat different things, and so he did. He ate whatever that instinct told him to eat.
After the meal, Damon went to their bedroom to sleep, hugged Mimi's pillow in his sleep, and slept for 18 hours straight; then he went to the medbay. Samuel had taken extensive blood tests, and they were watching the levels of tomato poisons and other herbs. As well as her cortisol levels, a marker of stress.
Mimi was stable, and Damon put her on feeding with visceral puree to help her gain weight and fitness. The men lived roughly in the medbay; yes, they went to eat and sleep, but at waking time, all three were in the medbay.
Mimi slept for two weeks or was kept asleep, at which time they got most of their symptoms to subside. The bruising from the coriander had pretty much gone, and Mimi's skin and bones were completely healed.
They took blood tests every other day, and the tomato just wouldn't leave Mimi's blood. But there was no infection, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Her cortisol level dropped as she was getting better and she was safe. There was still a huge amount of tomato poison. Something had to be done about it.
Damon took Mimi out of the incubator two weeks later, lifted her into bed, and laid her down on top of him. He sank his teeth into her neck and started chopping away at the poison. This was the fastest and most effective way. Mimi didn't gain weight so terribly fast that he couldn't make her sweat the poison out.
He hadn't been able to get any kind of sample done on Samuel, even though he had tried. And for a long time. Samuel cursed. It would have cost more than gold to get the neutralizer in the tomato. But only Mimi's vein got the stuff.
Samuel theorized that Damon's teeth were making the substance on the spot, reacting with Mimi's blood at that moment. He knew that the teeth had taken over when Damon relaxed on top of Mimi and went into hibernation again.
Now, Samuel and Adam were spending time elsewhere, too. Samuel went to the clinics during the day while Adam cooked and also directed Mimi and his network.
He kept in touch with Magnum, telling him of his decision to rip them out of Bran, and Magnum was pleased with him, too. Bran's reputation with Mimi's network was terrible. You don't do that to the Flea.
Damon was on Mimi for a week. He got all the tomatoes chopped up, all the chloral hydrate and all the cilantro. Samuel had been dripping Mimi with a lot of nutrients at the same time, and the warm viscera puree helped so that Mimi weighed 40 kilos when Damon finished his work. The lady would soon be ready to wake up.