Christmas Healing Read online

  Chapter 6

  When Annalise awoke, she wasn’t quite sure where she was. She rolled over and almost fell out of the bed, before she remembered. She wasn’t in her king size bed at the Bugresson house. She was in the double bed in the downstairs of the Hever’s health clinic, just off from the living room where everyone tended to gather. On either side of her, there were monitors, although they were off.

  As soon as she sat up, a knock came at her door. Dr. Hever, having clearly heard that she was awake, was coming to check on her.

  Two months of living with the Guard had made her forget about vampires. She could actually hear every single movement and breath a human made. All she had to do was cough in the middle of the night and someone would be at her side.

  “How did you sleep?” he asked her, gently. She sat up a bit more, leaning her head against the headboard and adjusting her pillows. She felt like she had been lying down forever. As soon as she could transported, she was released from one hospital and brought to another. And then, when she was finally discharged, probably sooner than she should be, she was brought to the Hever’s house and set up with enough equipment that she might as well have been in the hospital.

  Dr. Hever was a wonderful doctor, she admitted that. He obviously had years of experience, of trial and error, and she wouldn’t want anyone else treating her. He knew that throughout the years, ginger worked better than anything on the market. He knew that listening to a patient’s body was much more important than following textbook guidelines in terms of minimum doses. Annalise was supposed to be receiving chemo every day, but with her body already weakened, it was every day and a half, and even that was hard for her.

  “Fine,“ she replied and he stepped into the room. Within a moment of him stepping inside, Tony was suddenly at the door as well.

  Annalise gave him a smile. She had missed him, of course, but she still felt jerked away from the place where she had come to love.

  “Tony, give me a moment, will you?” Dr. Hever asked. Tony gave him a look, but relented. Annalise smirked, glad to see some things didn’t change.

  “I’m just going to check your vitals, and make sure things are still strong, okay? You were a little lower than I liked last night.”

  She held out her left arm, reaching for her phone with the other hand. He wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm as she scrolled to her text messages.

  Skype meeting confirmed, 10 am.

  It was from Gregory, who had been kind enough to allow her to continue to communicate with Arthur through him. She hadn’t succeeded in getting Arthur a phone yet, although it was her next mission before it was too late.

  Too late.

  She didn’t like to think like that, but if things didn’t change soon, it would be true.

  “Hmmm,” Dr. Hever muttered to himself. “Your blood pressure is still really low. Do you feel alright?”

  “A bit light headed,” she admitted.

  “Are you hungry?”

  “No,” of this she was sure. Chemo this round seemed to take her appetite completely.

  “You have to eat, Annalise. It’s almost 10 am. Dinner will be served at 5.”

  “I uh …” she brought her knees up to her chest. “Alright, I’ll be out in a bit. I’m going to shower and try to look decent today.”

  “Call if you need help,” he said, and let her alone.

  She reached for her phone, booting up Skype, and trying to fix her hair to make it not look like a rat’s nest, and wiped away sleep from her eyes, just as the Bugresson’s account popped up. Smiling and feeling better already, she pressed call.

  It was Rosa’s face that filled the screen, adjusting the webcam so that it properly captured what she wanted. With her own image in the bottom right corner, Annalise felt inadequate, messy and sloppy. The ballerina still looked perfect, as always, her red locks splayed around her face, and her large eyes surrounded by perfect makeup.

  “Well, you look like shit,” was Rosa’s greeting. “You should still be asleep.”

  “You’re kindness astounds me, Rosa, but let me talk to Arthur.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Rosa turned around from the computer and drew in a deep breath. “ARTHUR!” she bellowed, echoing through the house.

  Annalise looked around the living room of their mansion, taking in every detail. It wasn’t so long ago that she was sitting on the couch in the background, her legs curled up under her, and Arthur sitting by her side.

  They had put up some Christmas decorations since she left, one of the things that she had instructed Arthur to do. But mostly, the place still looked the same.

  Arthur’s long legs came into view in the background and Rosa vacated the chair. When his face filled the screen, Annalise broke into a grin.

  “Hey,” she said. Arthur was still a bit nervous around technology, but seeing Annalise made him forget most of his fear.

  “Annalise. How are you?”

  “I’m good,” she lied through her teeth, leaning her head back and trying to relax. All that sitting forward made her dizzy. “You look like you were coming from somewhere.”

  “Yes, we went out,” he said, hesitantly.

  “Who’s we?”

  “My brothers and I,” Arthur replied. “Just for a visit to a coven.”

  “Oh,” she said, sensing that it was official vampire prince business. Gregory had expressed his pain a few times that Arthur, his regent, closest brother and once best friend, was not up to taking up his old duties. Annalise was glad to see progress in this area. “How was that?”

  “I am glad we finished on time, so I could be home for our talk,” he replied, formally, although she could hear the emotion in his voice.. She tried to brighten the mood.

  “You know, if you got a Smartphone, you could have just turned on Skype and called me from there.”

  His brow furrowed.

  “But only with a phone that has intelligence?”

  “Er … phones are only as smart as you, Arthur.”

  “Well, I feel like an idiot most days, so what does that tell you.”

  It was the most natural sounding sentence that she had ever heard come out of his mouth in English, and it made her feel like she had accomplished something. Although it was demeaning, at least he was learning to throw off words without intense concentration.

  “Well then, you’d be smarter than most people who own an iPhone,” she smiled at him, wishing she could reach out and touch him. “I could put together a lesson on the iPhone if you wanted.”

  “And we could talk any time?”

  “Sure,” she shrugged. “It’s modern technology, after all. All the time, any time.”

  “Hmm,” she could see the thoughts turning over in his head. “It would be appealing.”

  “What are you going to do the rest of the day?” she asked.

  “Brock has invited me to a bonfire.”

  “Don’t burn anybody,” she replied.

  “And you? What are you up to?”

  “Not much,” she shrugged. “I feel pretty crappy today, and the Hevers are famous for being overprotective.”

  “I see,” his face twisted to one of concern. “Are you taking care of yourself?”

  “I don’t have to, everyone is doing it for me,” she answered ruefully and they both fell into silence for awhile. “I miss you.”

  His eyes were brimming with emotion and she could see him trying to hold back.

  “I miss you too. Do you think you will return?”

  “Oh, Arthur …” she didn’t know what to say to that.

  “Gregory said it was a possibility, if you recover.”

  She took a deep breath.

  “Do you want to do a lesson on cancer, Arthur? I can make one up, if you want.”

  He shook his head.

  “I’d rather not know how the things modernity tells me. But I do miss you almost every hour.”

  Her heart almost cracked at that, and she wiped her eyes, this time trying
to avoid the tears.

  “I miss you too. I’m going to have to go eat breakfast now, but I’ll email you a lesson in a few hours.”

  “Please also send me a letter,” he asked. “I want to know how you are truly feeling, to be able to understand completely.”

  “Ok,” she nodded. It was a sweet notion. She knew some words still got lost in Arthur’s brains, and there was a translation program she had showed him that could translate emails so he could understand every word. Gregory had banned it, but they still stuck it in for him now and again when they were feeling lazy.

  After the call ended, she hurried to make herself decent before shakily heading out into the kitchen. Tony opened his arms and she snuggled right into them, closing her eyes. He planted a kiss on the top of her head.

  “You’re awfully warm, baby.”

  “Because I was just in bed,” she replied, closing her eyes. Tony felt familiar, Tony felt like home. But she missed the danger and the edge that came with Arthur, the power in his muscles, his tall and broad frame. She kept expecting to find Brock’s mischievous grin around the corner, or one of Knox’s elegant paintings. “You didn’t go to school today?”

  He shook his head, a smart ass grin coming to his face when Dr. Hever came back into the room, giving Tony a look. Of all of his adoptive children, Tony was the one who probably gave him the most headaches.

  “He didn’t go to school because he showed up at 7 am as the bus arrived, smelling like a brewery.”

  “Oh, that Kardiash party!” she grinned at Tony and that got both of them disapproving looks. “How was it?”

  “Annalise, can you please get some nourishment into you so that I don’t feel like a complete failure as both a doctor and a parent?” he asked. She poured herself a bowl of cereal, sitting on one of the high backed kitchen chairs. Once Dr. Hever left the kitchen again, she turned to Tony.

  “How was it?”

  “King of the keg, as usual,” Tony answered, leaning against the counter. Now that she looked at him, she could see he was paler than normal, wavering a bit even against the counter.

  “Your father is going to kill you.”

  “It'll be worth it,” he replied.

  Annalise rummaged through her cereal bowl, picking out a few marshmallows to eat.

  “Arthur is going to his first bonfire tonight, with his youngest brother.”

  “Oh,” Tony responded, not super enthusiastically.

  “Yeah. Brock’s the trouble maker of the bunch, so I hope that he keeps things under control. Arthur and controlling bloodlust doesn’t always work, especially if he’s been drinking. But I hope he has a good time.”

  Tony fidgeted on the counter a bit.

  “You sure talk about them a lot.”

  She shrugged. “I spent two months there.”

  “You spent two months as a prisoner with the most dangerous and controlling vampires on the face of the planet. They make rules and break them themselves. They have spent a thousand years in a reign of terror. And you come home talking like we sent you on a vacation.”

  “Tony,” she was a bit surprised at this. “What did you want me to do? Just stay closed off the whole time.””

  “I didn’t expect you to fall in love,” he snapped.

  “What?” she colored at this. “What are you talking about?”

  “Do you think I’m an idiot, Annalise?” he asked. “This isn’t one of those lessons you give us and sugar coat the truth. It’s written all of your face. You fell in love with the enemy, and half the time, I think you’re dying because you’re heartbroken. The other times, I’m sure it’s because he poisoned you.”

  “What?” this almost made her heart stop. “Have you lost your mind? You’re drunk, Tony.”

  “So that means I’m an idiot?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because I’ve been high out of my mind and you still trust me to wrap my arms around you and carry you home someday. Now, you don’t trust me with a thought in your head. So what am I supposed to think, when you come home like this? The Bugressons have always had a thing against the Hever clan. And when I came to live here, it was double the war, because I was the one vampire they couldn’t fully control. How do I know they didn’t get into your head and mind control you?”

  She got off the chair, leaving her bowl of cereal untouched on the counter.

  “I’m not having this conversation.”

  “Why? Are you afraid of the truth?” he roared after her and she turned on her heel.

  “Tony. Stop this, and stop it now. You’re married, and sooner or later, she was going to find out what was happening and then I’d be out of here, forever. I don’t belong to you, I’m not your pet, your ghoul, your human, nothing. I’m my own person. And so what if that’s the truth? The Bugressons were not what you made them out to be, and you’re terrified that I found something outside of this protective little world you’ve created for me.”

  “So you don’t deny it then,” he spit, sarcastically. “He got into your head.”

  “He got into my heart,” she answered. “Don’t be so afraid of that.”

  She slammed back to her room, shutting the door and hyperventilating, the tears spilling down her face.

  What did it matter if he was right about Arthur? He was right about one thing, and that was that she was dying, and rapidly. She knew that this round of chemo wouldn’t likely work.

  So what was facing her on the other side? And was she so ready to leave this world, now that there was a reason to stay?

  Unfortunately, with her medical condition the way it was, and even though she was making an obscene amount of money off the vampires, there was still no way she could pay for her medical treatment without their help, and so she couldn’t leave.

  She spent the next few days hauled up in her room, clicking away at her laptop and only teaching when she was required to. And talking to Arthur, who found typing easier than writing now that Gregory had plastered Latin characters on their keyboard which Annalise slightly disproved of.

  Her first day back at school, however, she learned just how powerful her influence was when her phone rang as she was walking in the building. Looking down, she saw it was a Skype video call from an Unknown ID.

  Curious, she slipped into a side stairway and then pressed connect.

  “Hello?” she said, cautiously as the camera loaded on the other end.

  “Annalise?” Arthur’s face came through and she squinted at the connection.

  “Hey! Whose phone are you using?”

  “Mine,” he responded and she almost fell over.

  “Whaaa? Really? Seriously? When did you get a phone? What convinced you to get a phone?”

  “You did,” his answer was clear. He got a phone with this capability, probably the only capability he knew how to use, because then he could speak to her whenever he wanted.

  “Hallelujah!” she grinned at him. “Something I did finally sunk in.”

  “Of course,” he replied, and she saw his eye glimmer. “A few of them did.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “At the phone store,” he said and she giggled. Gregory and Knox were in the background, clearly handling the actual details of Arthur’s phone purchase, credit cards and IDs out, and even seemed to be arguing over something. But Annalise ignored them, wishing that she could stay where she was standing all day to talk to him.

  “I have to go to class,” she said, reluctantly and he seemed surprised.

  “You’ve returned to school? How are you feeling?’”

  “I didn’t tell you?” she was a bit baffled, thinking over their conversations. She didn’t really spend a lot of time talking about her life. Mostly, it was what he was doing, things he had questions about, and examples she could use from his own life to illustrate modern day inventions. “Yeah, I’ve missed quite a bit. They always send homework, and I only take half my classes here. The rest are online, so I can keep up.”

  He paused a minute, tilting hi
s head.

  “Are you feeling well enough?”

  She smiled, as the bell rang.

  “Why don’t you call me at 11:30 and see. That’s when lunch is. There’s a Christmas concert so it’s an extended lunch.”

  “Will do,” he agreed, and she saw him glancing at the clock, trying to calculate it out. She hung up, now more excited about her day than she was before.

  The calls continued throughout the day and in weeks down the line. He called her when they were out at the most ridiculous places, the bank lines and the highway and even the Christmas tree place. She felt like she was still there, able to weigh in on choices like the tree and even watched idly as she did her homework while Gregory taught Arthur where the Christmas lights were.

  Her favorite call came when her phone was under the desk in math class. Carefully, so the teacher didn’t notice, she slipped an ear bud in her ear.

  “Arthur, I’m in class,” she whispered into the microphone, glancing at the screen.

  “What’s this?” he asked, clearly disregarding her situation. She raised an eyebrow.

  “That’s a turkey baster. To season meat. What are you doing?”

  “I thought it was some sort of miniature flimsy sword. Everything in the modern age is so flimsy.”

  She snorted, covering her mouth. Tony, at the front of the class, gave her a look.

  “Goodbye, Arthur. Leave it alone.”

  But her heart panged with missing him, and she shifted in pain, rubbing her chest. She’d been having chest pain all day, and she wondered if it was related to her disease or just reflux.

  Regardless, the only thing that got her through math class was the memory of Arthur’s phone call, keeping her in a good mood all day.

  The first day the calls went unanswered was a Wednesday. He remembered it clearly. He was calling to ask whether wrapping presents was ridiculous or expected. But she didn’t answer, despite it being 4 in the afternoon. And she didn’t answer at 6, 8, 10, or 12. By the time Arthur figured out that he could get contact information for someone else in the household, it was well past 2 am.