In the morning, the drugs wore off, and the pain and the metal burns got worse. I couldn't move or breathe properly, and when Damon came to the door, I was sleepy. Only when the door closed did I let the convulsions that shook my body come on and tried to hold on.
Silver burned, platinum weakened, and poisoned me all the time, making me feel worse and worse as the hours passed; gold wouldn't let me heal and sped my metabolism even higher. I did not know the time at all.
There was just a wrenching torment that ravaged my body. A helplessness that slowly intensified as the platinum continued to toxify me. Then, at some point, I heard Adam's voice. I wanted him next to me.
I reached out, grabbed my phone, and texted him. " Damon stabbed me two weeks in a row with silver, platinum, and gold. The knives drove those metals in. I don't want him to touch me. Can you come to me and take me in your arms?"
After a while, the door opened. I heard Adam lock it, remove his shirt, and say nothing. He came to the bed, gathered me in his arms, and stroked me. He felt my body trembling, my heat as my metabolism was racing, the wet bandages from the blood all over my body.
He asked at some point, " Are you getting any better? I feel you're not; somebody should look at you, missy. I've been with you for four days now, and you're not any better; you're worse. "
I said, " No, Damon, he doesn't deserve it. If he destroys me in this state because of some stupid paintings, then it's time he learned the lesson and the consequences. He won't regret the lesson. I know that, and I just don't want to."
Adam sighed and continued stroking me. I then told him what had happened at the gig just before Damon had grabbed me.
Adam said, " You poor thing, it's never easy to stop suffering, but you did the right thing; it's a loss that Harrison left, it really is, but people get bored sometimes."
I was in some kind of hell most of the time now. My liver felt boiling and tingling all over. It was filled with platinum; it ached and tingled, but when it hit all over, I couldn't tell where it affected the most.
Adam was always showering and eating. He was trying to change the bandages; he was pretty damn horrified at my condition.
He said, "I need to get some more bandages, and I'll deal with all your wounds when I get there."
I nodded and stayed shivering in bed. A week had gone by, and my condition had deteriorated quite a bit. Adam's rage was getting the better of him.
Adam went to the medbay to find more bandages. He had showered and washed her blood off his skin. He knew her heart was beating, but he couldn't hear any sounds from her digestive tract, so she had no organs. Adam cursed as he wasn't a doctor, and he had tried to tape the wounds, but the blood soaked the tapes, and they wouldn't hold.
Damon walked up to him with a frown. "Where have you gone, Hauptmann, and where's Mimi? I haven't even seen her eating. Have you two been busy in the bedroom? Well, she must be pissed off from that lesson of mine."
Adam took a deep breath. He tried to control himself as he went to the medbay and took the latest order, used a carpet knife to tear the tape, and started taking out thick bandages and supplies.
Damon watched for a while; he understood that there was no sex happening between Mimi and Adam. He smelled the air more carefully and scented Mimi's blood on Adam.
His pulse was picking up, and he said, " Don't tell me those are for Mimi. I gave her two capsules of dried blood, a healing booster, and a powerful anesthetic. I assumed she was asleep and recovering. "
Adam said, "Mimi didn't sleep. You didn't understand what you did to that girl, and I'm so furious with you because I know you're not sorry. Mimi doesn't want you to help. She's deeply pissed off at you. You used her memories against her. I could have understood just stabbing her for a few days, but for two weeks. You metalled her, poisoned her, destroyed her, and hit her with everything you could think of. And you, the fool, did not know what had just happened to her at the gig when you grabbed her; how the fuck could you be so cruel as to dig up all those memories you had erased? And now she won't let you do it anymore. Ever. The actions and their consequences, you fucking Salvatore. "
His hands were shaking slightly; he was gripping a carpet knife in his hand. His temper was flaring up and for good. Damon was silent. He knew he had gone way too far, and now it was time to learn the consequences.
Damon said, " You are not a doctor. I am, and if she is not healed in a week, then maybe I should look her over, too. Whether she likes it or not. I am not asking. I am telling."
Adam grunted, saying, " A knife like that releases maybe 5ml per strike. Now, start counting how much metal is in her. What was it? There were at least 660 strikes in total. She has no internal organs, just a bloody mass that leaks through the bandages, and the metals come out with it. She's weakened and lost so fucking much weight as gold accelerates the metabolism of werewolves. Her body temperature is now about 43.5 degrees Celsius. She's clinging to me, shuddering all the time because she's in pain. I haven't given her any medicine because she's weakening. Hasn't Samuel told you that platinum poisons Mimi and can eventually kill her over and over again? "
Damon sighed. He raked his hand through his hair and said, " Come on, I screwed up, I overreacted, but when my rage hits, I don't care about anything but getting that rage out. But now Mimi needs to get treatment. Now, I can no longer let her decide whether or not to take the treatment. I'm her doctor, and she's not going to get better without more effective treatment; Samuel is stuck in Africa, Colin is stuck in Ireland, and I'm here."
Adam nodded reluctantly, bandages still in his hands, and said, "Miss is not in a good mood. I shouldn't reveal this, but I'll say it anyway. Mimi's gig was a Krycheck facility, and when she went in to rescue the people, she found had been victims of the latest procedure in Krycheck. They'd had lobotomies and bad brain surgery, and all that was left were living dolls, bodies that were alive but had no mind. Mimi had to end their suffering because Krycheck was selling these dolls elsewhere, and even if they hadn't survived long after they blew up the building, they had a doctor with them who told Mimi that there was no hope. Mimi let the doctor assume that she was just putting the victims to sleep and they would die in the explosion, but Mimi broke all their necks."
Damon put his hand over his mouth; now he felt like a monster. Mimi would have probably needed his support, and instead...
Adam didn't give in; he continued, "There were like eight or six patients per room and quite a few rooms Mimi went through. They only saved 16. They got drugs and information. Mimi took a picture of each one, fingerprinted them, too, and sent them to the authorities just before she came out of her room. Instead of helping her to see she was doing the right thing, you kidnapped and used her to vent your rage when you could have chosen the bad guys as your victims, but when you have to have your lesson."
Damon sat down and said, "I got a pretty fucking bad lesson here myself, dammit, and fucking fuck. I wonder what will become of our relationship. How can I help Mimi, or should I? Do I have the right to interfere with her?"
Adam said quietly. " Actions and consequences. A tough lesson, but can you be a doctor or not? Now tell me straight so I know what to do with Mimi."
Damon pulled himself together and said, "I can be. Let me get the place in order first."
He went through Adam's order, took those dressings from Adam, put them neatly onto the table, and went to the medicine cabinet to make cocktails for Mimi. From what he had heard, she was in agony, and pain relief was the first thing in order. He made several syringes full of cocktails, telling Adam all the time what he was doing.
Adam said, " Mimi's bandages need changing; the blood has come through again, and she's in pain so that the transfer won't be easy. "
Damon nodded and said, "I'm going to go and see what's going on and bring her in."
The men headed towards the bedroom.
I was in bed; the cramps were still going through my body, and I felt my strength slowly but surely weakening. Even though Adam said the metals kept coming out with the blood, they were doing their damage, and I started to feel somewhat full; I didn't know if I was full of blood clots or what, but my body felt full when I gently felt it.
I heard footsteps approaching, and I didn't pay attention until the door opened and I smelled passionfruit.
I said, "I'm still studying. I'm still not well. You can leave."
I didn't want Damon anywhere near me. I tried to gather my strength to stop shaking. Damon came closer and opened the blanket. He sat on the edge of the bed.
Damon took my hand and said, " Darling, your attitude isn't helping at all. The lesson has been taught. It was too raw. My apologies for that and it was obviously learned. Now, we can probably move on. Now I'm going to see what on earth is stopping you from getting better."
He took the blanket off my head, saw my bloody bandages and the bloody bed, and said, "Miss, I was too rough. I don't regret the lesson, but I know I overstepped my boundaries. Adam also told me what had happened at your gig, and I acted as wrong as I could. But now I'm your doctor and you need help and in a hurry and pretty damn much, Colin and Samuel are not available and I'm not leaving you in this condition. You can be sure of that."
Damon wrapped me in a clean sheet, lifted me into his arms, and bit my lip to keep from crying. I tried to stay conscious.
He said, "Hang in there, missy, we'll be there soon."
He carried me to the medbay and opened the sheet. He had stocked up on supplies. Then he opened one wound on my thighs and found that I was not really healed.
He said, "How come those capsules didn't help? They had about 500 ml of dried blood per capsule, a healing booster, and a painkiller. Apparently, you're sensitive as hell to metals, but let's see if I can help you at all."
He drained his own blood, and it did nothing. It didn't heal.
Damon looked up with a frown and said, " You're the weird one; how come my blood doesn't heal you?"
Mimosa got bored and jumped out of sight, making both men gasp in surprise. Mimosa sat down on the floor and looked at the men haughtily.
And said, "Mimi is a special creature with a strong fucking will. Right now, Mimi is so pissed off at you she won't let your blood heal. You went too far. This is a warning. This can happen again. She might even develop an allergy to you if you go far enough again. Mimi will heal in her own time, and now you can do nothing. This is now Damon, your lesson too. Actions and consequences."
Then Mimosa jumped back into my head.
Damon said, " How long has Mimosa been doing that?"
I said, "Since she was taken away and became a puppy."
Damon was silent and said, "I'm not apologizing for the lesson. You can rest assured that was my reaction, but you didn't understand it as you don't know the relationship between me and the originals, and I'm not going to go through it here. I cannot now magically heal you. But I'm going to dress those wounds, anyway. I am your doctor. I won't stitch you up, but I'll see what I can do about those metals."
The first thing he did was jab some satanic syringe into my arm and said, " That's a powerful painkiller; it might help you sleep. "
He piled up the supplies and started on my thighs, cramps ripping all over my body, and slowly, the medicine began to take the worst of the pain away. I felt a few more jabs, and then I blacked out.
When Damon finally got Mimi unconscious and out of pain, he started to clean and dress the wound; even though he had been pouring blood into the wound for a long time, it didn't heal.
He only bandaged Mimi's thighs and felt through her. Then he decided to take a quick scan to see where things were going and if she had any organs still growing. He carried her to the scanner and wondered how she was pretty heavy for the circumstances, close to 60 kilos. He put the scanner on. It whirred to life as scanning began, and Damon was wondering about the severity of the whole situation. It was time for him to learn new things about Mimi and her will.
Adam carried her back to bed when Damon gave the go-ahead. Damon looked at the scan result in amazement and sent it to Samuel.
Quite soon, Damon's phone rang as Samuel called, "Damon, what's happened to Mimi?"
Damon told him about his lesson. About how Mimi hasn't improved in a week and now this scan result. He couldn't make any sense of that mass that was filling Mimi's insides; there were tissues everywhere and blood vessels around.
He could count six livers, five spleens, 12 pairs of kidneys, seven hearts, and ten pancreas. There were bowels and stomachs, too, maybe lungs. It was hard to find and all the organs were small and damaged looking, bright spots like bullets told him just how much there was metal was inside her still.
Samuel said, "Mimi's amplification enzyme has been activated too much. It helps her grow a new organ when the old one is destroyed. Many supernaturals have one, but it usually has limitations that prevent it. In the case of Mimi, you have to operate and remove all the excess. I can't yet, and my flight takes time. So you'll just have to operate yourself."
Damon said, " Fine, then get to work. I'll use Adam to help me."
He hung up the phone and explained to Adam what they would do, and Damon then went to get the operating room ready.
He carried Mimi into the theatre and opened her up. He was always teaching Adam, showing him instruments, techniques, and where the organs were. Adam noticed sarcastically in his mind that Damon was actually a wonderful teacher.
Mimi's insides were a mess, and Damon was cursing to himself; he had planned to make puree from Mimi's own internal organs and get all these nutrients back into her body, but for some reason, he knew they wouldn't be adequately absorbed at all.
When he explained this to Adam, Adam replied, "Yes, but Mimosa can eat these, which are very good for her."
Damon furrowed his brows and got back to work. He didn't know how Adam knew that, as he didn't get any information from Mimosa. He himself got a little out of Mimosa's needs, and often Adam had told him where he stood with Mimosa, so maybe Adam was the protector of Mimosa as much as he was of Mimi.
Every little organ and mass was collected. Damon had put a chemical in the collection container that would suck the metals out and make the mass edible for Mimosa. Eventually, the organ growth stopped when Damon made a dental solution to stop it.
Once he had normal organs for Mimi, he also put a metal binder still dripping into her veins and examined Mimi's stomach himself. He had read Samuel's studies on the computer and his teeth couldn't tell. There were still a few living nerves in Mimi's stomach, but they had nothing to do with hunger.
The operation took 33 hours, and finally, his blood healed Mimi, and he got all those ugly, gaping wounds to close without scarring. Another 24 hours before, there was no trace of metals in Mimi's system.
Damon was cursing as he examined Mimi's mind. She had gotten angry and put her memories away so he could no longer help fade them, and he cursed his own cruelty for his impulsiveness when he had gone to do it. And now he was powerless to help his beloved, to protect her. He knew that although he had now put her body in order, healed all the physical damage, the mental damage he could no longer touch, and he now truly understood the actions and the consequences.
He kept her asleep for two or three days. After the operation, she had only weighed 29 kilos, so the support feeding was worthwhile. He was in the kitchen diligently making food for Mimi and vowed in his mind that their wedding would come at some point.
Damon's self-reproach was awakening the evil within him and he saw an opportunity, he continued to manipulate Damon, making him suffer even more and the self-loathing he felt in his mind weakened him, giving the evil power. For so long, he had been dormant and weak, but now he was regaining his strength, getting stronger and plotting his own schemes, preparing for the future, being ready to surface as soon as he could. Soon, it would be his time.