Samuel and Colin drove into the driveway of a house in Chicago.
Colin said, "I'll take the lady in my arms; it's easier to go when you don't have to play with the stretcher."
Samuel, for some reason, felt the idea was disturbing, and he himself felt a pretty damn powerful urge to protect and defend Mimi, almost nesting with her. He was very taken aback, but he controlled himself tightly and was now thinking clinically; it was very important for them to get Mimi to the medbay quickly, the incubator to warm up, and the girl to rest there.
This would be a long and difficult battle, heartbreaking because of Mimi's poor condition. It would be a long wait-and-see at first. Mimi was far too fragile for Samuel to have dared to give her strong antibiotics, and now she had to gain weight and strength.
The infection was already in the sepsis, probably because she was so damn cold, so this would take a lot of nerves and a lot from all of them. It might be likely that if Damon got himself under control somewhere in between, he would sink his teeth into Mimi's throat and give her his details, but when Samuel couldn't, just trust it.
So Samuel went to open the back door; Colin jumped in, wrapped Mimi's blanket around her as best he could, and lifted this non-existent weight into his arms very gently. He jumped down from the car and followed Samuel, who had already opened the front door, into the house. Colin hadn't been in this house much either, but he knew where to go. However, Samuel was ahead of him.
They arrived at the medbay. Samuel turned on the lights and went straight to the strongest incubator to warm it up. He gestured to Collin to put Mimi on one of the hospital beds.
They changed into their scrubs, although this was not surgery. Samuel took one of the movable tables and began piling supplies on it as Colin unrolled Mimi from her scroll and cut all the clothes off of her.
Mimi was a skeleton with skin on top. She was pale. Every breath seemed to be labor and pain. Colin took the bandages off Mimi's wound and off Mimi's neck. Samuel was still gathering supplies when they heard footsteps approaching. Damon and Adam had arrived.
Damon sat anxiously in the car, his trembling hands in his lap. The rhythmic hum of the engine seemed to echo the turmoil in his mind. As they drove, each passing moment felt like an eternity, amplifying the range of emotions that consumed Damon. Despair and joy intertwined, battling for control, while disbelief and hopelessness fought for dominance. Amidst it all, a flicker of love burned steadfastly. He was trying to keep it together and not tell Adam to drive faster. Mimosa was sitting in the backseat, panting, too. Her tongue lolling.
The ache in Damon's soul, where their once unbreakable bond had lived, remained unrelenting. He felt incomplete, as if a vital part of him was missing. Without that connection, he feared he wouldn't be able to carry on. Finally, they reached Chicago, where Samuel had already rushed Mimi to the Medbay. He needed a true soulmate bond back on. Mimi had to be alive. He had to have hope for them.
Adam's words pierced the tense atmosphere. "Mimi's in critical condition, Damon. We can only wait and hope for the best."
Damon met Adam's gaze, determination shining in his eyes. "Mimi is alive, and that's all that matters. I will do everything I can to nurse her back to health."
Adam nodded in agreement, sharing Damon's desire to be by Mimi's side. They stepped out of the car, their urgency propelling them forward as they hurried towards the Medbay.
They arrived at the door, their eyes fixated on the heartbreaking sight before them. Mimi, once vibrant and full of life, now appeared as if she had been drained of all vitality. Samuel estimated her weight to be a mere 18 kilos, a stark reminder of the incubi's relentless feeding. They hadn't seen her condition in that dim cellar where they had been trapped for a week. Adam gasped.
Samuel diligently stockpiled fluids and food to prepare for her recovery, while the incubator hummed with warmth. Colin stood by his side, checking supplies. Mimosa stood at the door, a silent pillar of support. Her muzzle was red and irritated by Mimi's earlier biting, but it did not bother her. Her gaze was fixed on Mimi, too.
Damon, unable to believe what he had heard, cautiously approached Mimi. Her feeble heartbeat resonated in his ears, a sound that initially seemed impossible to him. Now, Mimi lay naked in bed, her every breath a painful struggle, her ribs rising and falling with great effort. The deep, infected gash that stretched from her shoulder to her hip oozed with poison. He stepped closer. Damon's voice trembled as he took Mimi's hand in his, his words heavy with emotion.
"Hey baby," he whispered, his voice thick with emotions. "Don't you ever, ever think of leaving me like this? I cannot bear to exist without you."
I fought to open my eyes, the heaviness of my body weighing me down. My memory flashed back to the car, where I had awakened to find Mimosa beside me. I had turned her over, savoring the taste of her wonderful muzzle skin. Now, the scent of passionfruit filled the air, a bittersweet reminder of the week I had spent lifeless. Damon's desperation was clear, his emotions on the verge of overflowing. I couldn't blame him. This was hard. I struggled with each breath I took, but I persisted.
Gazing at Damon, tears streaming down his face, I mustered the strength to squeeze his hand.
"I will not leave," I said through the pain and anguish. My voice was barely a whisper, a weak and feeble attempt to express my thoughts.
Damon looked up, relief washing over his tear-stained face. "Oh, you're awake...baby, that was just awful," he stammered. "Hold on, fight, and never leave me again... ever. Darling, never again, you hear me. You don't do that ever again to me. "
I tried to offer a reassuring smile, but the torment in my body hindered me. I tightened my grip on Damon's hand. Samuel and Colin came nearer, their presence providing a glimmer of hope.
Samuel addressed Damon. His voice filled with determination. "We need to look at Mimi's wound and administer some painkillers. She needs rest," he explained.
Damon, his eyes still wet, nodded in agreement. He remained rooted in place, never breaking his gaze from me, his constant reassurance echoing in my ears.
"I'm here, baby. I won't leave you. I'm here... always," he whispered.
I squeezed his hand, finding solace in his touch. Adam, too, wiped away tears as the weight of the situation settled upon us.
Samuel gently spoke, breaking the somber silence. "Okay, I'm going to give you more painkillers. We will get you the help you need, my lady. But it will take time."
I nodded, feeling the medicine flow through the cannula, numbing my senses. The last sensation I registered was Damon's unwavering grip on my hand.
Samuel and Colin cleaned Mimi's wound, but Damon's increasing psychological pressure on Colin's head made him turn his attention to Mimosa and her bitten muzzle skin; he then treated Mimosa.
Damon got himself together a bit, at least to the extent that he needed a collector, as his teeth spilled quite a lot of different substances. Velvet and whatnot. Samuel cleaned a nasty, really deep gash, and Damon drained his wrist of blood directly into it; it did little yet, but he healed Mimi's neck completely with his blood. That helped, too.
Damon tasted some of Mimi's blood, then said to Samuel, "So that doesn't even taste like blood, but now I know how to make a cocktail that she can tolerate."
Samuel said, "Fine, show me, and I'll know."
The men lifted Mimi into the incubator, a thick bandage was over the infected wound, the incubator was specially padded and they put another blanket over Mimi. Then Damon went to make a cocktail of painkillers, sedatives, two anesthetics, and one muscle relaxant. He put them all in small doses, but they would reinforce each other, and she wouldn't break them too much.
Meanwhile, Colin had been working on Mimosa's skin. It was quite sore and not healing so well before.
Damon came to see and said to Adam, "Try your own blood. Will it help?"
Adam did as he was told, and it helped. Mimosa's muzzle healed considerably.
Samuel said to Damon, "Now, we just had to wait and see."
He was trying to get Damon to eat, shower, and maybe rest a bit, but he sat in a dimly lit room next to the incubator. Mimi's labored breathing filled the air, raspy and filled with pain. Damon could hear the struggle in her every breath, each one a battle against her weakened state.
Determined, Damon quietly muttered words of encouragement, hoping they would reach her. His emotions fluctuated from clinical analysis to overwhelming despair, knowing that he might lose her once again. The passing hours seemed endless, as Damon observed her breaths growing fainter.
With each passing moment, she fought harder, her pulse slowing down. Despite the incubator running at full capacity, her body temperature barely reached 30 degrees Celsius. Damon's mind raced, searching for any solution. There had to be something he could do. He was her vampire husband, her biological half. He remembered, long ago, when he'd been turned into a vampire, he and Stefan. Katherine.
He'd woken up in Katherine's house, a vampire, and he'd remembered the whole transition, how Annaliese had fed her own blood to him and Stefan many times, to make sure they became vampires.
It didn't work as simply as in the TV series, where you sip blood, and when someone kills you within 24 hours so that blood is in your system when you die, you wake up as a vampire. No.
He remembered how Katherine had first gotten them drunk, then started drinking Annaliese's own blood, and stabbed them both in the heart with a dagger. Her blood had always healed them, and Annaliese had done this many times. To become a vampire, a human must have vampire blood directly into their heart, and many times, strong vampire blood.
He remembered the pain of how blood had turned him and Stefan finally into vampires, and it had taken a week. He remembered the bloodlust, how he killed without mercy, and how Stefan went off somewhere, returning in a couple of weeks to announce that he had been to slaughter their parents.
Damon had felt nothing. He remembered how Katherine had sat on his lap and shown him an ancient book, a vampire wedding, and asked, "Damon, will you ever take me as your vampire wife?"
Katherine had then flipped through the book, showing everything a vampire husband could or would be allowed to do. She had tried her best to seduce Damon. Katherine had shown him one ritual. It could be the solution that he was desperately seeking. Damon was awakened from his thoughts when Samuel spoke.
He said, " Damon, this is terrible, but Mimi may get worse before she gets better."
But Damon knew what he had to do. He remembered the book and the ritual. There was an old vampire way that vampires used to save their mates. Energy transfer. Heart to heart.
Damon said, " Yeah, she has already gotten worse, but I'm not waiting anymore. I'm trying to do a thing, an ancient ritual, and it's at the point now where it won't take if it gives nothing. I want to help Mimi,"
Samuel sighed and said, "Fine, I'm going to go get something to eat, and I was going to suggest you do the same, but when I see what shape you're in."
As Samuel went to eat, Damon went to the medbay and lifted Mimi into bed from the incubator. He stripped naked and got next to Mimi so that their hearts were facing each other. Now he was old and strong enough. The book had told him that only an ancient and strong vampire husband could do this.
Then Damon concentrated and felt the first ribbon form between their hearts. It worked. Damon concentrated harder. Soon, another one formed. The straps grew stronger and stronger, and soon, they had a chord of energy, and Damon drifted off to sleep holding Mimi.
Samuel came in from eating and realized what had happened. He had heard of this vampire ritual at one time, but had never seen it. This was interesting to watch and investigate.
I woke up in a hospital bed in someone's arms. Damon. This is weird. I still felt the demon wound burning, and I was really weak, but not as weak as I had been since the incubus attack. I was still in a lot of pain. I could smell that we were in Chicago. I remembered Damon holding my hand.
But now Damon was sleeping next to me and holding on pretty tight. I was still pretty damn skinny, powerless, but I tried to move, and the grip tightened around me. Damon moved, to be in distress in his sleep.
Damon muttered in my ear, "No, you're not taking her. She's alive. No funeral; Mimi's mine; I'm not putting her down. I'm not losing her anymore."
Poor thing was really stressed out in her dream. I continued my cautious twisting and finally freed my arm.
I started stroking Damon and talking to him. "Shh, I'm not running away. I'm alive. There will be no funeral. Damon, I'm right here. You feel me. It's ok."
I let my wrist be close to his nose so he could smell my pheromone. They work. Damon calmed down, coughed, opened his eyes, and looked at me like he hadn't seen me in centuries. He held on to me as if to make sure I wasn't lost somewhere.
Then he said, "Mimi, darling, don't you ever fucking do that again. You were dead for a week. I didn't feel you anymore. Now, I will not let you go anywhere for a while. Like a century."
I smiled and said, "I'm not going. I remember when you came by earlier. I don't think I'm quite up to it yet. How did that demon sword cut go so deep? It hurts like a son of a bitch. But you know what? No regrets. I saved, you know, without caring about myself, and if that piece of fucking concrete hadn't hit my neck, I might have survived."
Damon said, " Never again. I got our bond back. I gave the energy to transfer my heart to you, but you are still very weak."
I just grunted. Damon just held on to me, and then I heard it again. He started purring, and loudly. So loud that I fell asleep.
Samuel came back to check on the situation and found that Mimi was stable, but weak and in desperate need of food and warmth. Well, she was in Damon's arms, and he was purring all the time, keeping Mimi asleep with his purring.
Damon's warmth wasn't quite enough, and that wound would be good to examine and wash again. Damon had removed Mimi's cannula, wrapped himself around her, and was about to nest with her.
They had been like this for several days now, and the energy transfer had taken three days. Mimi had gained no weight at all. Samuel sighed. He ran his hand through his hair irritably and went to look at the blood test results. Well, he has had no new ones taken yet. Bran came over to Samuel and watched for a moment.
He asked, "What's Mimi's condition? What should we do next?"
He looked at the couple in bed, feeling jealousy spill over, when he heard Damon purring. He could never purr himself, and that...that vampire who was barely a wolf was purring and well. Bran could feel the marrok reacting to the purring, and it also seemed to calm his rage.
Samuel sighed and said, "Mimi could take nourishment, and that wound should be looked at, but as you can see, Salvatore won't let go. Growls if you get too close and causes mental pressure."
Samuel was clearly irritated and wanted to treat, but Damon was about to nest with Mimi, and then no one would come near. Damon was a very strong, traumatized creature, and he was now defending Mimi with everything he had in him.
Bran sighed and said, "Fine, do what you have to do, then put Damon to sleep. Take care of Mimi."
Bran knew Adam had not intervened and was resting with Mimosa, so he decided. Mimi was still very weak and needed a lot of care.
Then Bran left. When Samuel had come upstairs the day before in frustration, it had taken Bran almost a day to get Samuel to tell him what the problem was.
Well, at least now it would be sorted and not cause any problems. He went to call Charles and ask about the incubus kings' status. One had just been killed, Magnum was chasing another, and the strongest was in Australia.
Now, he would direct Salvatore to go after them. He would be the most ruthless with Charles, and Bran wanted the bastards dead. Charles promised to come and get Salvatore and take him to Australia to hunt the bastards down. Now, it would all be sorted.