"Broken wrist," Derlin said, feeling his way over Lissa's body. "Cracked skull. Three broken ribs. Multiple contusions." He laid Lissa flat on her back on the floor and looked up at Wlodek.
"She must be more fragile than the males," Sebastian shrugged. "I've never beaten a female before." Gavin, off to the side, curled his fingers in to hide the claws that were threatening to grow.
"I believe I'll allow Gavin to deliver one blow, as punishment," Wlodek said, leaning back in his chair. Gavin came forward and took the baton from Sebastian, who stood at the ready in front of Wlodek. "Gavin," Wlodek nodded. Gavin delivered the blow, right to the back of Sebastian's neck, knocking him unconscious to the floor and cracking several vertebrae in the process. He tossed the baton onto Sebastian's back when he was finished and walked back to his spot.
"That was enlightening," Wlodek nodded. "Derlin, perhaps you should go with the girl and make sure the bones are in the proper position to heal while she sleeps. Is there any further business?" Nobody said anything. "Very well. The meeting is adjourned."
"You'll have to be careful; if she wakes while you're carrying her, the pain will be quite intense," Derlin gave Merrill and Gavin instruction. Merrill removed his coat and covered Lissa with it; Gavin lifted her in his arms. Lissa didn't show any signs of waking. None at all.
* * *
"You let them beat her." It was a statement and not a question as Griffin looked at Merrill across Merrill's desk.
"What was I supposed to do?" Merrill rubbed his face and looked out the window at the darkness beyond. The view during daylight was quite spectacular but his night vision was nearly as good.
"I don't know. Argue harder?" Griffin wasn't happy and Merrill knew it. "And who let that thug beat her to begin with?"
"None of the others wanted the job."
"So, of course the one who wants it is going to do his worst," Griffin grumbled. "I've had enough of this place for a while. Try not to get her killed, all right?" Griffin vanished before Merrill's eyes.
* * *
"Don't move her, the bones are set," Derlin warned Gavin as he watched the vampire physician closely. "Don't even sit on the bed; the ribs and the wrist are fragile right now and the slightest movement will cause them to come out of alignment." Dawn was close, so Derlin planned to stay for the day, as did Gavin, just to make sure Lissa didn't move before she went into the rejuvenating sleep. Derlin went to the bedroom Merrill had given him at the last possible moment. Gavin slept in Lissa's room on the sofa.
* * *
There was still pain when I woke on Saturday, February twenty-seventh. I moaned as I moved a little. My entire body ached, but my wrist, ribs and head were the worst. "Don't move, cara, if it hurts I will bring the physician." Just the sound of his voice had me off the bed and crouching across the room, claws out. "Cara, it is only me," Gavin walked toward me. Well, he needed to stay away. Far, far away.
"Get the hell away from me," I threatened, my claws still out. My rush to get off the bed hadn't helped my aches any. Gavin stopped in his tracks a few feet away.
"What's going on?" Merrill and another vampire I didn't recognize rushed into the room. I knew the strange vampire's scent from the night before, however. He'd been there to witness the whole thing. He drew back a little when he saw my claws. "Lissa put those claws away!" Merrill ordered. Yeah. Right. They stayed out.
"Stay away from me. All of you," I hissed. Right then, they needed to get as far away from me as they could go. I wanted nothing to do with vampires. I hated vampires. I'd never wanted to be a vampire in the first place. Didn't want to be one now. Nothing but pain had come of it. I think I was shouting that at them before I realized what I was saying. "Get out!" I yelled as loudly as I could. "Get the f**k out!"
"Lissa! Stop that this instant!" Merrill's words held compulsion again and not a weak one, either. Would they beat me again or kill me if they found out compulsion no longer worked? I hung my head and wept while I retracted my claws.
"You will allow the physician to examine you," Merrill ordered. The strange vampire knelt down and ran his hands over me, beginning with my skull and then going to my wrist and ribs. I was still naked and I didn't like his hands on me. I didn't want another vampire to touch me. Ever. I shuddered.
"The bones are healed; I expect that she still aches but that will go away with one or two more sleeps," he said and stood. I remained huddled in the floor. I wanted to tell him to f**k off. I wanted to tell Merrill to f**k off. And Gavin.
"Lissa, clean up, get dressed and eat, I want you in my study in an hour," Merrill said as he forced Gavin and the other vampire away from my room. I did all those things as ordered, crying most of the time before making my way to Merrill's study just under the wire. I had a pocket full of tissues with me too. I couldn't stop the tears. I hadn't put any shoes on so my knees were up to my chest in my favorite chair.
Merrill had his back turned to me, staring out the window. At least my nose didn't run any more when I wept. Not worth becoming vampire over, I assure you. Merrill didn't turn around when he spoke. "The Council has to maintain order, Lissa," he began. "They have to be fair in their dealings with all vampires. If a rule is broken then punishment is given. It's as simple as that." Good for them. I'm sure they never made a mistake. I wanted to say it out loud but I didn't.
So far, too, I hadn't been on the receiving end of too much fairness, I don't think. From the idiots who'd turned me to Gavin hunting me down, preparing to eliminate me the moment the Council gave the word. And now this. No good deed truly goes unpunished. "You should be thankful they didn't require your life," Merrill went on. If they'd killed me, it would have been quicker and less painful and it would save me from listening to this crap now. I remained silent, wiping tears away with a tissue. Yeah. See if I ever put any effort into saving their worthless hides again. They reminded me of a bunch of stuffed parrots. The kind you can pull the string on and get one of a handful of pre-recorded words and sayings. Had I cared for Merrill? That wouldn't happen again.
"Lissa, you should make every effort to follow the rules from this point forward," Merrill went on. "You have two strikes against you. I can only imagine what one more will do."
As lectures go, this one was sucking just as much as quite a few others I'd gotten. I wondered if we were anywhere close to being done. Merrill had come around his desk and knelt down beside my chair. He reached out to touch my cheek and I jerked away from him. "Don't touch me," I said sullenly. He pulled his hand back and stood. If someone beat me, that didn't mean I had to love them. If they watched while someone else beat me, it didn't mean I loved them for that, either. And they certainly weren't going to put their hands on me afterward like everything was all right and nothing had happened.