Ever After

Chapter 40



Winds of Change



Sometime later, a few days I figured. I finally woke up from my deep sleep. It was dark in my room, not unusual, as the curtains were old and heavy. I looked around the room, and despite the dark, I could see amazingly well. I knew then it was my night vision, a benefit of being a vampire.

I slowly sat up, ready for a wave of pain or nausea but I felt nothing like that at all. I felt perfect, no pain no anything. I felt great. I looked at the clock on the fireplace mantel, and it read seven o clock. I figured it was in the evening.

I was desperate to know how William was and where he was right away. I cautiously slid out of bed, not knowing if my legs might give out on me. I was fine though, as I padded in my bare feet across the wood floor to the window. I pulled back the heavy curtain, which was probably older than I was and peeked outside. It was nearly dark, the ground two stories below my window was coated in ice, the massive tree’s surrounding the house were as well. It must have been the ice storm Doc was worried about earlier when we got here.

“Corrine!” A voice squealed and made me jump nearly out of my skin. “You’re up and out of bed.” It was Sayann’s excited voice; she rushed to my side and wrapped her arms around me happily. Quickly she let go and held me at arm’s length looking into my eyes knowingly.

“You’ve changed, I felt it when I touched you, this is wonderful!” She giggled. I winced as her high-pitched laugh hurt my newly enhanced hearing. I quickly covered my ears.

“Oh sorry, I forgot the first few day’s your ears are crazy sensitive.”

“It’s ok I feel great.” I gave her a weak smile. “How is Will doing? Can I see him yet?”

“Doc and Pratt have been so worried about you both, they run back and forth all day between your room and his.” She patted my leg and smiled.

“How long have I been asleep or out or whatever?”

“A week, we were all getting worried about you.”

“So Will is up now?” I said as I stretched, feeling very stiff from my long nap. I could see she didn’t want to answer me as she looked at her feet and avoided my eyes. “Sayann what is it, you must tell me.”

“He’s not awake yet, but don’t worry Pratt is with him. I won’t lie to you, he is very sick and Doc and Pratt have worked nonstop trying to get him better.” I knew she meant well, and I trusted Pratt but I worried about him anyway.

“I was out for four days when I changed. Pratt said Will’s just about doing the phasing thing again. I think he said the dead blood that Vincent gave him, set him back. They were saying he has to nearly phase all over again to recover, it’s complicated.” She frowned.

“Doc and Pratt can tell you all the details. I forget stuff all the time.” I looked at the clock and hoped they would at least let me see him tonight any way. I shivered as I felt a cold draft suddenly.

“I felt hot tears welling up in my eyes, thinking of the pain Will must be in, and how sick he was right now.”

“You’ll need a robe, the house is freezing. The power went out a few hours ago and they are having trouble with the generators.” She got up and pulled a think red robe out of the closet for me to wear. “You can’t get a chill, you might get sick, you are a half blood remember, you can still get ill.”

“Yes I remember that.” I smiled, as I pulled on the furry warm robe. I walked over to the window again, and looked at the frozen trees visible now only in the dim security lights.

“It’s as bad as it looks; everything’s frozen the roads the power lines. We are all stuck here, couldn’t leave if we wanted to, most of the roads are closed.” I could see her studying me as I sat there listening to her. “Corrine are you ok?” I forced a smile and nodded, fighting off the tears.

“Sure I’m ok. I’m just so worried about Will that’s all. I should have seen this coming. I should have known he was sick.”

“You couldn’t have known. Doc said he must have been hiding it for a long time. They think the deal in the woods just drained him; the cold gave him pneumonia as well. He told Doc he was trying to medicate himself so he wouldn’t worry any of us.” I sighed that was just like Will, to try to protect me from worrying about him.

“That sounds like him, never wanting to bother anyone with things that concern him.”

“Corrine don’t beat yourself up, Doc and Pratt feel to blame. Doc has been beside himself all week, so upset he didn’t see Will was sick. You were trying to recover yourself; you couldn’t have known how ill he was.” She patted my hand and smiled reassuringly at me.

“I know, but I was the one with him all the time. I just feel I should have seen him acting weird or sensed something was going on with him.” I got up, walked over to the bed, and sat back down. “Can I see him?”

“I’m sure you can, let me call Doc and ask him if I can bring you upstairs.” Sayann flipped open her cell phone and asked Doc to come to my room and see me now that I was awake.”

The door swung open minutes later, and a very tired Doc and Pratt walked in to my room.

“Corrine, you’re awake and you look wonderful.” Doc smiled.

“Yes look at you, I can tell you have made the complete change.” Pratt smiled. “This is exceptional!”

“How do you feel?” Doc asked as he pulled out his stethoscope and Pratt got out his blood pressure cuff.

“I feel great it’s really amazing.” I smiled at them all. They all were staring at me as if I was a miracle on two feet or something. “How’s William though? Sayann said he was really sick right now.” I saw Pratt and Doc exchange worried glances.

“Yes Corrine, she is correct William is very ill right now unfortunately. Pratt and I are doing all we can to get him better as soon as possible.” Doc went on to check my vital signs and the typical things.

“She said he had pneumonia, can he get over that?” I sat back in the love seat. Sayann handed me a blanket seeing me shiver. The old house was very cold, due to the freakish ice storm still going on outside.

“Yes, with time we feel he will recover fully, he just need time.” Doc began to put away his medical things he folded up his black bag slowly.

“You’ve successfully fazed Corrine. You are now an official half blood, are you ready for all the changes?” I forced a fake smile, wondering why he was asking me this now. It was too late even if I was having second thoughts, which I wasn’t.

“Sure I think I know what I’m getting into, and I have no problems with it.” I joked giving Sayann a wink.

“Very good, but remember if you have any questions just ask any of us and we can help you.” I nodded, but my mind was consumed with William. I needed to see him with my own eyes. That’s the only thing that would put my mind at ease.

“Didn’t the blood I gave him help at all?” I asked. Pratt walked over and sat next to me on the couch.

“Yes, it did just as we hoped it would Corrine. The human virus, pneumonia is what’s causing the delay in his recovery. You must remember as half bloods you and Will are both susceptible to human illnesses. In normal cases, that virus wouldn’t hit even a half blood as hard as it did William, but he was worn down on top of that. The fact his system was weakened made him get sick very quickly.”

“What about the Dark coven and Leo? Are we even safe here?” I had a million questions running through my head and I had to know what was going on. If it had been a full week that I had been “out” a lot could change and probably not for the good.

“No” Doc said in a quick sharp tone. “None of us are safe here or any place for that matter. Leo seems to be in a rage. I am to meet with him in two weeks to discuss if we can arrange some kind of treaty. This needs to end as soon as possible.” Doc sighed and looked at Pratt who sat down in the armchair next to the fireplace.

“Leo for some reason has become obsessed with getting William back with him in the Dark coven. I have spoken with him very briefly over the past few days and he is hell bent to get Will back.” He paused and took a deep breath.

“It worries me even more with his view regarding you. He said he feels you should be destroyed for getting involved with William; he thinks you have broken some rule he has about humans and vampires not being together. I can’t begin to think what insane rule that is.” Doc frowned.

The room was silent for a long time. I was getting scared now, more so than I was five minutes ago. Leo the headcheese of the most hated evil coven of vamps wanted me dead and the love of my life back in his coven. I couldn’t think of anything worse. It felt like I was in a nightmare, but sadly I was wide-awake.

“What do we do now?” I asked softly, not to anyone in particular. I just said it aloud hoping one of them had a plan or some idea of what we would do.

“We are bracing for some form of attack by the Dark coven.” Doc said he sighed deeply and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I haven’t much faith in this meeting we have planned. Leo is power hungry and insane, two very lethal combinations for a vampire to have. The Dark coven worships him and will do exactly what he tells them to do.” Doc finished speaking and looked very tired. I couldn’t imagine how much stress he had been under since this all began and I could see it in his face.