Near full-blown panic again, Deidre was midway through her second step towards the door when the creature snatched her. At first, the thick leather around her neck felt like a whip. A second settled across the lower half of her face and two more around her torso. They adjusted around her like fingers, leathery and long enough to wrap around her body.
I can do this for Gabriel. She repeated the sentence over and over to try to block out what her senses told her about the size of the monster.
The fingers around her mouth and neck maneuvered her head to the side until her ear was near her shoulder to expose the delicate area before both fell away. She stayed in place. At the touch of the first fang, her eyes flew open. There was no pain, as promised, but the canine was vcmthe size of butcher knife.
It slid into her neck, the sound making her nauseous. The second canine slid into her body, just below her collarbone. The creature took a sip of her like from a straw. It left her lightheaded. The second sucked the strength out of her body and brought tunnel vision. Instead of a third drink, a flash of cold fire was forced through the fangs into her body. She felt the cold circulating but no pain.
The creature's third sip drove her into the darkness between consciousness and sleep. Her body no longer under her control, Deidre sank into the state, clinging to the words of Fate about helping Gabriel. She registered nothing but darkness and cold for a while before the cold began to fade, and the night behind her eyelids lightened. Her head felt heavy and like it was stuffed with cotton, the way she felt when she came to after surgery.
"Deidre?" Dr. Wynn's voice penetrated the haze.
What had he tried this time? Deidre didn't remember what this operation was supposed to do.
"If you can hear me, give me a sign."
She gave him the same sign she always did: a small smile.
"Good. Relax. Come back when you're ready."
She knew if she woke up too fast, she'd feel like she had a hangover. So, she hovered in the quiet darkness for a while, until the sounds of the outside world were too loud for her to ignore.
Deidre opened her eyes and blinked rapidly, realizing the black she tried to clear from her sight was the black ceiling of the operating room. Confused, she tried again to remember what procedure Dr. Wynn was performing today. She'd been through so many …
"Good news or bad news?" he asked, appearing in her vision.