Serum

-Twenty-One-

“You’re doing very well.” I heard Lana’s voice say. Startled, I stood quickly, whirling in place to face her, my ribs stretching painfully and making me hiss.

“Lana,” I greeted her begrudgingly, inclining my head but keeping my eyes on her the entire time. Not only did I just plain not like the woman, but she’d just interrupted a rather personal moment that still had me rattled. I wanted time to process, not have to deal with her nonsense. Conner abruptly returned from his make-shift kitchen area, carrying a bottle and two glasses. At least I now knew where he’d disappeared to. As he approached, I tried to discreetly check him for signs of what had just happened having an effect on him. But his face was like stone, and his body language gave nothing away. He came over and poured me a glass of what I already knew was blood, the smell reaching me before he did. Thirstily, I drank quickly, eyes bouncing from Lana to Conner. Meanwhile, Lana was curiously examining the bottle, then me.

“I always try to put a bit back every once in a while.” Conner was explaining casually, it almost seemed to the room in general. “Just in case something comes up, I figured we could spare it.”

“Conner, I really came here to see you. May I speak with you in private please?” Lana requested. Was it just me, or did the request seem a little too sweet? Conner merely nodded his head between gulps from his own glass, his expression still blank. Leaving the bottle with me, he and Lana went towards the kitchen area as I shifted from foot to foot restlessly. Conner gestured at the bottle on his way out, indicating that if I needed more I could take some. I mouthed a thank you and poured another fourth of a glass. I forced myself to drink it slowly this time, letting it settle in my body and race through my system, warming me, trying to ‘test’ myself to see if I was hungry or just had an appetite. Deciding I was sated, I set the glass and bottle down on a pew and wandered around the room, and then I picked up soft murmurings from the other room.

“But is she fully adjusted?” I heard Lana ask. “I noticed she didn’t even bat an eye when you gave her the glass full of…” The voices faded again into background noise as I moved away with a look of disgust. I didn’t really want to eaves-drop on a conversation about how ‘well’ I was adjusting to vampire life and blood drinking from the person who caused it all like I was still her little science experiment. Frankly it made me angry enough that I heard myself let out a disgruntled hiss. But then Lana’s voice rose sharply.

“Shot?! What do you mean shot?! I thought when I left her with you that you were going to protect her, not let her get killed!” Lana’s voice grew louder as she entered the room and headed straight for me.

“Aw shit.” I mumbled

“Off with the shirt.” She commanded.

“But Lana, she’s all healed now, besides she might not be comfortable…” Conner protested.

“Now, Adrian! I’ve had plenty of medical experience, I wish to see. NOW!” She emphasized when I didn’t move. I glanced at Conner and he shrugged exasperatedly, then nodded with a helpless expression. Lana’s gaze bounced between us. “It’s not like Conner hasn’t seen it, someone had to clean the wound!” Lana barked. I looked at Conner again, who ducked his head sheepishly, refusing to meet my eyes.

“Crap.” I muttered, and though the comment was less about what Conner had done while I was unconscious, and more about Lana’s demands, Conner started stammering excuses.

“I kinda had to look before so I could see how much damage was done, and as Lana said, clean the wound. I tried not to peek at, you know, anything else.” Conner mumbled into his shirt, still not looking at me. I merely shook my head, somewhat shocked, then burst out laughing. At the sound, Conner raised his eyes to mine, and there was relief and embarrassment there, but also.. Was that lust? Maybe he wasn’t so unaffected after all. I peeled the shirt from my skin and Conner turned his back to look away. Grimly amused, I let out a small huff of laughter. Lana lightly ran her fingers over the light scar tissue remaining on my ribs, then along the muscle tissue.

“It looks like everything has pretty much healed correctly. Your muscles are still in the right place anyway.” I twitched slightly. That could be a problem? They could end up in the wrong place? “You don’t know how lucky you are that this bullet missed your organs. It’s a near impossibility! It looks as if it should have pierced the bottom of your lung at the very least! Unbelievable! And it went all the way through?” Lana turned me around, again running her fingers lightly over the scar tissue and muscles.

“You should be dead! Or else severely wounded! How did this not hit any internal organs? By the blood girl are you lucky!” Lana exclaimed.

“Well, I was moving at the time.” I replied bleakly as I pulled my shirt back on. “Maybe that had something to do with it.”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it. Are you sure one of her organs wasn’t damaged?” She shot at Conner.

“Well I checked as much as possible for the eye to see. There were no air bubbles in the wound by the time I got her back here, the bleeding had slowed, and there were no “spurts” or “rushes” to indicate an artery had been nicked. I couldn’t smell anything that suggested digestive tract involvement, and when I checked for bullet fragments, there didn’t appear to be any organ damage. But again, that was just, you know, touch and sight. I don’t have any machinery here to do more thorough testing.” Conner paused. “Though, she did nearly drain me dry while I was taking care of her, which might suggest a near-fatal wound.” He mused. “I just don’t know Lana, it didn’t suggest itself to me, so either she healed incredibly fast, or the shot missed her organs. You decide, you created her after all.” Conner’s voice had hardened by the end of the statement. His expression as he turned around was wry, one brow c****d as if in question. I grinned wolfishly.

“Does the mad scientist deem her creation worthy for strenuous activities?” I taunted brazenly. Lana started, then turned back to me, a look of incredulity on her face.

“My how you have changed!” Lana exclaimed. I blanched, then smugly agreed internally that it was true, though part of me still ferociously blamed her for it all. “I should say. Just take it a bit easy for a while, keep working those muscles and they’ll be back in perfect performing abilities within a few weeks. It might give you a bit of a twinge every now and then, but that is because this is new and repaired muscle tissue you’re going to be working out.” Lana stated. I nodded, already having gathered as much from what I’d already been dealing with. Lana turned again to Conner.

“I’m going to want to check up on Adrian again, if that’s all right.” She said it like we had a choice. “Could you bring her to my house within the next week or two? You know my schedule, and where I keep the spare key in case I’m not there…” Their voices began to be more distant as they neared the door, and I blocked out the rest. There was a part of me that was already tired of having this mad-woman dictate my life.