One wish alone have I

Chapter 9 (part 1)
The escape

The night’s cold air whistled by my ears as I fell. Above me, Marilena’s infuriated voice echoed madly from the broken window:

“You will pay for this with your life, Antanasia! Be damned! BE DAMNED!”

My eyes frantically searched the darkness underneath me. From what I had seen, Marilena had thrown Severus so hard against the window that it had barely slowed his fall. She had done that on purpose; she wanted him to have a long fall all the way down the cliff so he would really have time to witness and feel his death, just like she had told him. Indeed, to my relief, I did not see his body anywhere on the ground near the castle’s walls. I had a few extra seconds left.

Abandoning any hope of finding him with my own eyes, I decided to try feeling his presence by magic instead. I quickly felt the faint, oh so faint vibration of life, a few meters underneath me. Not wasting a second, I aimed and threw a Levitating spell at him, then Transfigured into the largest eagle I could think of. Snapping my wings as tight as I could against my sides, I plunged faster down the cliff and finally got him in sight.

“Damn you with your preference for black clothing, Severus!” I thought, trying to discern his head from his feet and find a proper spot to aim to.

My Levitating spell was considerably slowing his fall, enough for me to fully reach his level and clutch my claws around his arms. I doubted that he would be able to grip my feathers and stay on my back if I flew underneath him. I arrived a bit too late, unfortunately. In horror, I heard the dismaying sound of cracking bones when his lower extremities hit the ground. For the first time of my afterlife, I heard him yell in pain.

I did not have the luxury to take the time to check his injuries; I had to find us a place to hide, and I had to find it quickly. But I had had grasped his body in time to save him. I felt the pulse of life vibrate through his flesh, between my claws, very feeble but very present. My heart gave a jolt of relief. He was alive!

I chose to let us glide down the rest of the mountain, floating above the top of the trees. I had not had the chance to throw him any spell that would make his body lighter and, despite his feeble efforts to clutch to my legs and hold himself, he could not help me much and represented a considerable burden. My strength would soon abandon me if I did not find us any place to land on.

After what felt like hours but probably represented a dozen of minutes, I finally discerned a darker spot, among the trees underneath us. I knew the region by heart and immediately recognized the clearing in which Ivantie and I had once spent some time after a ride with the hippogriff. Landing there represented a risk; Marilena had surely sent people after us, and Ivantie might have the idea to check there. But I had no choice. Severus was making sounds that started to really worry me and I had to check him quickly.

But as I started to go down towards the clearing, it occurred to me that his injured leg would not be able to support him during the landing. In addition, his general weakness would not allow him to compensate for the shock when we would touch the ground, not even with his good leg, if there were one. I tried to talk to him.

“Severus? Can you hear me?” I asked.

“Yes…” he answered, still panting intensely.

“The landing will be tricky. I think you broke your leg when I finally caught you.”

“Yes… I… it… hurts!” he panted.

“I cannot count on your legs to take the shock of touching the ground, but I need us to land quickly; I want to check your vital signs properly.”

He did not reply.

“Ok, here is what I want you to do. When I scream, I want you to let go of my legs.”

His fingers clutched my leg desperately.

“Do not worry, I will not let you fall. I just need to us to change positions. I wish we could land in water, that would make things easier, but the next lake is located some thirty miles away from here. I do not think you can wait until we reach it, and me neither.”

“Ok… do it!” he huffed.

“So when I scream, I want you to let go of my legs at once. I want you to spread your arms and legs as wide as you can. I will dive underneath you; when my back touches you, put your arms and legs around me and hold tight. I will land within minutes after that. Ready?”

“Y… yes!” he articulated.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm down and focus on the tricky task I had to do. As planned, I let out a scream and released my grip on his arms. As soon as he let go of my legs, I dived and spread my wings underneath him. With a hoarse gasp, he landed on my back and almost strangled me when he circled his arms around my neck. I adjusted my landing on the most horizontal angle I could manage, and then finally touched the ground with him still badly clutching my neck. He slowly slid off my back and fell on the ground, as if all the muscles in his body finally gave in and refused to obey him any longer.

I did not waste my time. I quickly Transfigured back into myself and conjured a pile of pillows, to help him remain in a sitting position. I began my health check, incessantly talking to him while doing so.

“Severus, your blood pressure is very low, that’s why you feel so feeble. Don’t try to move or get up, it will make you even dizzier and you will fall. You have lost more than half of your blood, but the wound on your neck is not bleeding anymore, I have controlled that, you will not lose more blood,” I explained, while checking that Marilena’s bite was indeed securely closed.

“Why… breath… though breathing!” he panted, clutching my blouse.

“You are out of breath because your red cells are no longer able to provide your vital organs with sufficient oxygen supplies. This is not good, but this is not what worries me the most for now. I have to keep you in a sitting position; it will help you breathe better than if I let you lie down. If it gets worse, tap my arm or raise your hand. From now on, try to speak as little as possible.”

I checked his pulse. His heart was racing madly, trying to compensate for the blood loss he had endured, but his pulse remained very faint under my fingers. I thought it good to keep informing him, so he would know what his symptoms meant and would not panic. Not too much, at least.

“Severus, the symptoms you are experiencing right now are all normal given what Marilena has done to you. You probably feel nauseous, your heart is beating really fast, you are out of breath, you feel cold, you are shivering but you sweat a lot. All of this is just your body trying to compensate; these symptoms are not dangerous in themselves. I need to check your fracture, now. Show me which of your legs is hurting.”

He pointed his left leg with a shaky hand. With a wave of my hand, the left leg of his trousers, along with his left shoe and sock vanished. It revealed a very nasty open fracture, on his tibia. His ankle and foot had probably received a shock too, but a quick check did not reveal any sign that he might have fractured a bone there.

“You have a very serious fracture on your tibia. I cannot remove the pain from that, I am sorry. You need medical assistance right now, but I do not have anything with me. We will need to find a hospital. In the meantime…”

The words I wanted to say got stuck in my throat. I had been so concerned by his physical state that I had not paid any attention to the more expressive parts of his body. As I was turning my attention away from his injured leg to focus back on the wound on his neck, my glance got completely engulfed in a fathomless darkness. His eyes were fixing me with feverishness, even more intensely than I had seen them look at me right before his execution.

He looked so helpless! And yet, his own personal way of totally loathing that position gave him a dignity that shook me to the very depths of my soul. It struck me that, though he was a knowledgeable man and wizard, all these symptoms were totally new to him and were probably terribly frightening. I had seen –and treated– these symptoms so many times during the beginning of my afterlife that it had lost its frightening and mysterious aspect, for me.

I took both of his hands in mine and murmured a warming spell. They were as cold as ice, which was not surprising but far more intense than usual, because of the vasoconstriction in his extremities. Marilena’s hypnotic jinx was still operating on him, keeping him fully awake. Alas! it also made him very conscious of the excruciating pain in his left leg. My heart felt sorry for him, yet before I forced myself back into a more composed attitude, I brought my face to his and, putting a comforting hand on his sweaty forehead, I murmured, with all the warmth and care I could retrieve from my troubled heart:

“You will be all right, believe me. I know it hurts and I am sorry! But you are alive, Severus! And you are free! Everything will feel much better soon, I promise. For now, I just need you to hold on a little longer, until I can conjure a few things and fly you to a hospital.”

A quick but firm clutch from his trembling hand around mine reassured me about his determination. I first took care of his leg. With a snap of my fingers, a splint wrapped itself around his tibia, avoiding the site of the open wound but preventing his leg from moving during the transport. I conjured a stretcher, which appeared next to me and floated above the ground. I brushed my fingers against his ripped shirt and Transfigured it into a long woollen black cloak. I wrapped him tight with it, from his shoulders down to the tip of his toes, and then placed the hood over his head. Through his quick panting breathing, I distinctly heard a soft moan of satisfaction as the cloak, after a quick wave of my hand, started to really warm him up.

“Mobilicorpus!” I exclaimed.

His body slowly rose above the ground and landed, guided by both of my hands, on the stretcher. A last move of my hands made large straps wrap around his body, holding him firmly in place. I was about to Transfigure back into a great eagle when his feeble voice whispered something almost inaudible to me.

“Please, say it again, I did not hear what you said,” I asked, leaning down and putting my ear next to his mouth.

“Too heavy… Levitating spell!” he murmured.

“Yes! Of course! I almost forgot that one!” I exclaimed hurriedly, correcting my mistake.

A last wave of my hands rendered him almost weightless, before I finally Transfigured. I grabbed the stretcher by a strap at the level of his upper chest in order to keep him as vertical as possible during the transport and, most importantly, in order to keep contact with his body so I could monitor his vital signs with more accuracy.

My mind was in effervescence as I gracefully rose up, as easily as if I was not carrying anything. I scanned my memory, trying to remember where the nearest hospital would be. The nearest hospital, in the Magical world, was at fifty miles from where we were. Taking that in consideration, Zaharia was very badly located, but then my kind does not need Mediwitches or wizards too often, so it had never been an issue. The nearest Muggle hospital, however, was located at a dozen of miles southwest, near Targu Mures.

I had a choice to make. I knew the techniques used by both species to treat a case like this. Blood-Replenishing potion seemed to be a far better option to me. Not that the idea of injecting blood from different people into somebody’s organism seemed repulsive to me, on the contrary. But I was far more concerned about the way they would treat his fracture, especially if it involved a general anaesthesia. The way these Muggles keep their patients alive with their ridiculous and useless machines during their surgeries sounded awfully barbaric to me.

Nevertheless, the desperate attempts of Severus’ heart to keep his blood pressure up started to seriously tax his endurance. He was young; he was probably not risking any serious damage, but I was worried all the same. The things that worried me the most were his kidneys. I knew that the vasoconstriction would cause them to stop their filtering activities, especially given the fact that Severus had lost an important amount of his blood almost at once. The damages would be negligible within twenty minutes, reversible during roughly forty more, but beyond that… I preferred not to imagine how it would look in there. I headed southwest at once.

The look on these Muggles’ face, when they saw a gigantic eagle land on their hospital roof with a stretcher, was really something to see. Luckily for me, I was only seen by two nurses. They had come there to take a break and smoke. I quickly Transfigured back into myself and, before they could even begin to think of heading towards the roof door, I hit them both with a Stunning spell. After dragging them both to the sitting position they had when I landed, I went through the door, with Severus floating behind me.

Getting him down such a narrow staircase was not an easy business and it made me waste a copious amount of precious time. These stairs were absolutely not designed to accommodate a stretcher, certainly not one specifically adapted for so tall of a man. I finally managed to find a quiet floor and brought him in a deserted corridor, but by that time I had lost most of my patience. As I looked around for indications to help me find the emergency room, I abruptly realised that I simply could not go there with a floating stretcher without causing a considerable commotion. Fortunately for me, I found one similar to the one I had conjured, and completed the Transfiguration charm to make it look like the Muggle exemple I had in front of me.

The emergency room was on the main floor and a quick look around me informed me that I was on the third floor. I knew what I had to do, yet felt totally reluctant to do so. I had to travel in one of these eccentric boxes that go up and down Muggle buildings. Vasile had often spent time laughing about these, but I was in no laughing mode at the moment. Nevertheless, Vasile’s descriptions greatly helped me figure out what to do. I walked to two large metallic doors and hesitantly pushed one of the two little plastic squares that were next to them. I waited for ages and almost took the decision to try the infernally narrow staircase again when the doors opened and made me startle.

There were a few Muggles in there. The suspicious look on their faces puzzled me for a second before I realised that I was still moving the stretcher by magic; I quickly corrected my mistake, trying to look as relaxed as I possibly could. When the doors closed, everybody in there looked at me, instantly raising the level of my irritability. I returned each and every one of them a defensive glance, until a Muggle, all dressed in what looked like blue pyjamas (I understood later that it is the way MediMuggles dress) asked me:

“Which floor are you going, Miss?”

“Oh! right… main floor, emergency room?” I answered, wishing that my canines were not too salient despite my anger.

He extended one of his arms towards a panel covered with a dozen of plastic buttons and pushed one of them. I grabbed the edges of the stretcher, trying to stay calm as I felt the big box we were in move down. I looked at Severus; he returned my glance with a sparkle of mockery in his eyes! It did reassure me about the good preservation of his cognitive functions; that seemed to be in perfect state! Luckily for me, the big box stopped at my level after only one trying minute or so. Pushing Severus’ stretcher out I uttered, under my breath:

“I hope I never have to use that dreadful Muggle thing again!”

I walked as quickly as I could, pushing Severus in front of me. Within minutes, I reached a rather large room, where a dozen of beds were placed around a central desk. The place was buzzing with people, many of which were dressed in white, purple or blue pyjamas. I figured they were part of the hospital staff. Emerging from between two curtains, a man wearing short white robes caught my attention. I left Severus near the desk and went straight to him.

“Are you a healer?” I asked, impatiently.

“A what?” he replied, looking at me as if I was speaking Goblin.

“A healer… do you heal people who are sick?” I explained, articulating each word as if I was talking to a particularly stupid fledgling.

“A doctor, you mean? Yes, I am a doctor indeed,” he answered, a faint smile curling his lips.

“Then come at once; I have an emergency here!” I exclaimed, grabbing him by his robe and pulling him with me towards Severus.

Someone was next to him already. She was all dressed in white; I figured she was some kind of nurse. She was talking to him while undoing the stretcher’s straps. I walked faster.

“What is it?” asked the man who accompanied me.

“I don’t know how this man made it here, but he seems to be in shock. He told me he has lost a lot of blood and that his leg hurts, but I did not have the time to get more information.”

“I brought him here. His condition is serious and requires immediate assistance. He has an open fracture on his left tibia and he has roughly lost half of his blood.”

“What do you mean… how come he has lost so much…?” asked the doctor.

“He has lost 3.27 litres of blood and has a capacity of 5.89. His pressure is at 80/50, his pulse is at 109 and his haemoglobin is at… wait a second… 60,” I completed, after sliding a hand in his cloak hood to press the tip of my fingers against the wound Marilena had made him.

“But how do you know…?” asked the nurse, looking at me with complete astonishment.

“I know, that’s all. Won’t you do something? He needs a transfusion and he needs it NOW! Don’t stay here looking at me like a dumb house-elf!” I retorted, knowing that my eyes had just flashed red for a second.

The doctor and the nurse looked at each other and seemed to agree on something. The nurse went to the desk, picked up a little device and talked in it. Her voice resounded everywhere in the room.

“Trauma room number two, code 1111! I repeat, trauma room number two, code 1111!”.

Quite a few people emerged from doors or curtains and came to us at once. The nurse took the stretcher in charge and pushed it into a room nearby, where all the others followed. I tried to go in as well, but someone stopped me on the doorstep, telling me that I was not allowed. I did not like that at all. I had not anticipated that those people would keep me away from Severus when they would treat him and I was relying pretty much on the hope that I would be able to watch their moves all the time. I found a window on the adjacent wall, which allowed me to see a bit of what was going on inside when I got small glimpses of the action between their moving bodies.

A few nurses had opened his cloak and one of them was cutting what was left of his trousers with a pair of scissors, and then had his underpants meet the same fate. Another nurse seemed concentrated on his arm, while one of her colleagues placed strange devices all over his chest. The doctor I had talked to was giving orders to everybody else, while checking luminous devices in a corner of the room. He seemed to know what he was doing, but that did not reassure me. I made a quick Legilimency test, which confirmed my doubts. In his mind, I sensed that he did not trust me at all. I used all my concentration and grasped a few words by reading on his lips. “Hypovolumic… gothic freak… probably high on cocaine” were the only things I got before he turned me his back.

The last bits of patience that had survived my journey there completely vanished. In quick steps, I went back on the doorstep.

“Out! I want everybody OUT! Except you two,” I imperiously cried, pointing the doctor and one of the nurses.

Responding to my hypnotic order, all the others left at once. The sight I got when I fully saw what they had done to poor Severus felt like a complete nightmare. I do not know if the worst thing was how they had linked his chest to a machine, the strange device around his arm, the other one on the tip of his finger or the…

“What have you done with his penis? Have you gang of medieval buffoons completely lost your minds?”

“It’s just a urinary probe!” said the doctor defensively. “It will tell us if his kidneys are working properly! Anyway, he will faint if he gets up, so he is in no state of going to the washroom by himself right now. It’s not dangerous, don’t worry!”

I turned to Severus. He looked like they had stabbed him directly on the stretcher’s mattress… through a most cherished body part, in addition.

“You will remove that immediately,” I ordered the nurse. “I am perfectly able to monitor his kidneys without it and for the rest, I will take care of that too.”

I walked to the doctor and brought my face to his, while the nurse removed the disgraceful apparatus from a very relieved Severus.

“Tell me the truth, human. You do not believe a word I said earlier, don’t you?” I growled in a low voice.

“Look, I have never seen something like that… the blood loss, I mean. I need to know what happened,” he admitted.

“You do not need to know. I am a… doctor myself. I came here because I had no choice and needed supplies rapidly. I know exactly what to do with a case like him. So you will give me your expert advice only when I ask a question, or you will listen to me and do exactly what I tell you. Is that clear?”

“Yes, that is very clear,” he obediently replied, fully trapped in my hypnotic spell.

“Fine, that is much better. I have wasted enough of my time already,” I said, walking towards Severus’ injured leg. “That man is suffering a lot right now, I want this to end. What anaesthetics do you use here?”

“Morphine, Dilodid…” the doctor answered.

“Fine. Dilodid, then. I want him to receive 2mg subcutaneous right now.”

The nurse went to a glass cupboard to retrieve what she needed. Unfortunately, my last training in general Muggle medical sciences dated from the 19th century, so I was a little bit behind in that regard. However, I had received very specific training in Muggle medical science for that particular type of situation. I was always the reference when cainites got in trouble for taking too much blood from a Muggle vessel and did not want him or her to die, back in the time when we still fed on humans. By professional concern, I had always remained up to date, just in case. Therefore, the next steps were completely falling in my speciality field. I felt some confidence come back into my heart.

“Now, the transfusion. He needs red cells and a saline solution. I think you call it crystalloids?”

“Yes, that’s it.”

The nurse came back and started injecting the solution in Severus’ shoulder. I felt an immense relief, knowing that it would ease his suffering a bit.

“I want him to receive 1000cc of crystalloids, flush, stat. Add one unit of red cells simultaneously, then give him a second one right after and I want you to inject it directly in with the pump, both times. Is it an appropriate use of your solutions, doctor?”

“I have already gave instructions for him to receive 1000cc of Lactate Ringer; that is the perfusion you see in his arm. For the rest, I cannot be certain,” he answered hesitantly.

“How so?”

“I do not possess any information about him. I would need to know his age, his blood type… whether he has antecedents of kidney or heart disease… giving him 1000cc in such a short time could damage his heart if it cannot take it.”

“Of course, give me one second,” I replied, bending toward Severus.

“I’m sorry, I will have to make a check on your blood. I will reopen Marilena’s bite, but it will not hurt and I will only need a little drop, ok?” I whispered next to his ear.

He nodded and tilted his head to the side to let me take some blood. I pressed one finger on his neck and, with a little push, broke the charm that held the wound close and received a little drop on my fingertip. I discreetly put my finger in my mouth and sucked it. I tried to ignore the shiver that ran down my spine, that very second.

“It is an A positive, 1960. Does that help you?”

“Yes,” said the nurse. “I am going to call the blood bank to have your request sent down here at once.”

“Thank you,” I said, turning back to Severus. “Any heart or kidney disease in the past?”

“No,” he answered feebly.

“Good. That will make things much easier to manage. How is the pain in your leg?”

“Improving,” he simply said.

“Super! How do you people prepare your patients before surgery?” I asked to the doctor.

“Roughly… if their blood tests are satisfying, we put them on a perfusion, we disinfect the area where the surgery has to be performed and we either perform a local or general anaesthesia. That depends on the type of surgery that has to be performed and the patient’s age.”

“Would you recommend a general anaesthesia for that type of fracture?”

“Yes, most certainly. A local anaesthesia might not block the pain properly. In addition, he is young and he can take a general anaesthesia. If he has fractures in his articulations, the surgery might be long.”

“How long do you expect it to last?”

“I don’t know… it depends on the number of fractures he has.”

“I have already probed his bone structure; he does not have any other fracture, but most probably has a severe sprain on his ankle and knee,” I replied.

“Then I estimate the surgery to last about one hour; if everything goes very well. And then he will have to spend a certain time in the waking room; that might take over an hour, maybe far more depending on how well he recovers.”

“That is far too long! I do not have that much time!” I retorted, feeling my irritation come back at a dangerous rate.

“Are you telling me that you do not even plan to stay here?”

“Exactly. I would prefer us to be gone in less than an hour,” I replied, trying to consider other options.

“That man needs more than just a quick fix!” he protested. “The transfusion will take some time, about twenty minutes for the crystalloids and the first unit, then probably an hour for the second unit… You don’t want him to have blood clots! We absolutely cannot perform surgery if his kidneys are not working properly and he is not homodynamically stable! His vital signs need to be monitored, we have to check that his haemorrhage does not start again, he needs to rest—”

“Look human, I can perfectly do all that myself. Let me think for a second, here.”

I leaned my hands against the edge of the stretcher, letting out a big sigh. I was very concerned. We had left Zaharia less than an hour previously and I knew that, if Marilena had sent some of the Clan’s warriors after us, they would check hospitals sooner or later. To be honest, I was surprised that they had not already come to that particular Muggle hospital. Maybe they did not think I would opt for the Muggle world. I congratulated myself for that choice.

“Stun me, Antanasia,” said a quiet voice, next to me.

“Does it hurt too much?” I asked empathically. “You should have told me before, there is no shame in—”

“The pain is perfectly manageable since the beginning,” he interrupted gruffly. “You might consider Stunning me for the surgery, though.”

“Severus, that could be an option, but not in your state!”

“Just do it,” he repeated, riveting his eyes to mine.

“You really think you could endure that?” I asked, incredulously.

“Yes. Do it,” he resolutely said.

“That would allow me to perform surgery, it is true. I would only need a moderate Stun, in addition. Let us wait until your pressure gets better, at least. We are in no need to rush yet. Can you wait half an hour or so?”

“Yes.”

“Ok. We will wait for the crystalloids and first two red cells unit to be in. Then I will Stun you, ok? Now just try to relax.”

“I will,” he said, still out of breath but with more steadiness in his voice; his pressure was improving.

Somebody knocked at the door, making me jump and turn back, ready for an attack. It was only one of the other nurses, bringing the red cells bags.

“Here is what you requested, Marianna.”

“Thanks,” said the nurse, taking the bags and walking quickly back to us.

After she installed her transfusion apparatus in the perfusion and I saw the slow and steady moves of her hand pumping the precious and sticky liquid into his veins, I finally found a way to relax a little. I sat on a stool, next to his head, and simply kept a comforting hand on his right shoulder. That is when a strange detail struck me. With a startle, I realised that my right hand was covered with thick blood, which started to stain the sheets underneath Severus’ shoulder. That sight came with a stinging pain in my right shoulder.

I rose from my stool and walked behind him, hiding myself from his glance. I unbuttoned the top of my blouse and delicately uncovered my shoulder. To my surprise, I discovered a very deep cut, probably made by a sharp edge of glass in the broken window when I had jumped. I winced. The doctor saw me and walked to me, opening his mouth to speak but just in time, I uttered:

“Silencio!”

His lips kept moving but at least, Severus did not hear what he had to say. From the state of my blouse, I concluded that I had lost a respectable amount of blood, but not enough to seriously threaten me. Ordering the doctor to be quiet about it, I released the charm on him. The cut was, unfortunately for me, too badly placed for me to magically stitch it myself. The doctor and I exchanged a meaningful glance and he went to a cupboard in a corner of the room to get what he needed.

Having my skin literally sewed together with a physical thread was most unpleasant, in addition to my worries that the human might come in contact with my blood. Especially given the fact that I refused to be injected with morphine; I needed my senses to be at their best. But the doctor did work as quickly and painlessly as he could and accepted to wear two pairs of gloves. By the time he was finished with me, the crystalloids had all been administered, along with the first red cells unit and half of the second unit. My patient was responding well: a quick check told me that his haemoglobin had risen from 60 to 75 and his symptoms were slowly diminishing. It relieved me to hear his breathing coming back slowly to normal.

Trying to ignore the pain that had become very insistent and irradiated from my shoulder to my elbow, I went back to Severus’ side. I took a few minutes to really examine the wound. It was not too large and the broken bone was not immeasurably salient; the surgery would not take long. Nevertheless, I needed to make him unconscious one way or the other; there was no way that I was going to inflict him such cruel pain with just a minimal anaesthesia.

“How do you feel?”

“Better,” he said, in a stronger voice. “I am ready for a Stun, I think.”

“I guess you disinfect yourselves, before you proceed for surgery?” I asked, turning to the doctor.

“Of course. We also perform surgeries in sterile rooms with sterile instruments. That helps us control the infection risk, too.”

“Can we have access to that now?”

“I will call to check if the emergency surgery room is available,” said the nurse, going out of the room once again.

“We should undress him,” the doctor suggested.

“What for?” I asked.

“We are not performing emergency battlefield surgery, here! Bringing his clothing inside the sterile environment will contaminate it!”

“Merlin’s beard! You guys really have complicated lives, don’t you?” I cried in exasperation.

The nurse came back while we were helping Severus remove the woollen cloak. I folded it and was placing it strategically over a part of him that was not too glorious at the moment when the nurse said:

“I have called the emergency surgery room; we are lucky, the last surgery ended two hours ago. Everything has been sterilized; it is ready for us. Do you need a team, doctor?” she asked me.

“That will not be necessary. I will only need you two with me. I cannot let you wander around alone just yet,” I answered, removing Severus’ right boot and sock.

“As you wish, doctor. I have brought this for your patient,” she said, showing me a piece of blue fabric.

I took it in my hands and deployed it in front of me. I hardly figured how that strange square of fabric with two short sleeves and small white laces could ever be called a piece of clothing, but the nurse seemed to expect him to wear it. I turned to Severus and immediately saw, with the expression of total repulsion on his face that making him wearing it was going to be a very, very trying experience. I think what really did it was the way the nurse explained me how it had to be tied in the back, obviously leaving some tricky parts completely vulnerable to the evening breeze.

“There is no way that you are going to make me wear this. No way,” he resolutely declared.

“I am afraid that we do not have the choice… unless you prefer to go there naked?”

“I would.”

“Don’t be such a childe, Severus! You are going to be unconscious most of the time anyway!”

“Who cares? I will not wear that. At any price.”

“Don’t worry, about his attitude” said the doctor condescendingly, “it might only be the consequences of the shock he went through.”

“My dear doctor, I am afraid that, in his case, it is a rather permanent personality trait,” I said, looking at the ceiling, then closing my eyes in a long sigh.

“Seriously, would you really wear that ridiculous thing?” insisted his voice, in my mind.

“Ah, your faculties are coming back to normal too! Splendid!”

“Yes. Would you?”

“I would prefer not to, but we do not have the choice! Do not make us waste time; I am worried that Marilena might have sent warriors after us!” I replied irritably.

“Would they think of coming here?”

“Absolutely. After the general Magical hospital in Cluj-Napoca, they are going to check here, no doubt. I am surprised they have not already found us, if you must know.”

“Pass it on,” he said grumpily, after a short pause.

I helped Severus with his right sleeve, while the nurse managed to pass the perfusion tubes and bags through his other sleeve. I let her tie the laces in his back and took a few steps back to look at the result. If you have ever seen the grudge-loaded look on a cat’s face after a good bath, then you will have an idea of the expression he displayed as I looked at him. I do not know if it is that, the outfit, the way I imagined how a Slytherin scarf would add a nice little touch to it or the constant tension that my nerves had endured, but I burst out laughing all of a sudden.

“I’m sorry!” I squeaked, between uncontrollable giggles, “I’m really sorry! I just… cannot… help it!”

“Stop it. Just stop it! Stop it right now, woman!” he spat, his eyes gleaming with fury.

And I did. I was gasping for air, wiping a little tear at the corner of my eye, when I froze and lost all capacity to laugh. In a flash, something had reached my mind. I was not certain about what it was, but I had a strong doubt.

“You are the one who talks about not wasting our time, and yet—”

“Sshht!” I interrupted. “Let me concentrate.”

It happened again. That time, there was no doubt left.

“Severus, they have found us. They are coming here.”

~*~

Severus got his revenge the second I entered the surgery room. He had gotten the mini-robes only; I was given the complete sleeping outfit: blue pyjamas, strange fluffy slippers, gloves, mask and even a funny-looking shower cap. In a word, I looked like a complete idiot and Severus’ glance and smirk most completely confirmed my doubts. At the time, though, I had lost any disposition for joking about it.

We had decided to take the risk of performing the surgery in the hospital. From what I had sensed, the Zaharia soldiers were still at a respectable distance from us, about ten miles. They had most probably searched forests in the area first, as I had expected. In addition, one of them had to travel on the ground as a lynx because he or she could not Transfigure into any flying animal. In addition, they would have to search the whole place before they would find us, which gave us enough time to stabilize Severus’ condition and escape. I clearly felt that Ivantie was among them, flying towards us as a Varvaki falcon; I did not tell Severus about it.

I secured the surgery room with my best spells, in order to camouflage our presence the best I could. I also placed a few strategic spells that would warn me if anybody Apparated in the department. The nurse prepared Severus’ leg for surgery by rubbing a very stinky liquid around his wound during several minutes. I threw a Sterilization spell when they were not looking, just in case. After she was done, the nurse placed numerous blue sheets around the wound and checked the rate of his perfusion, which was administering his third and last blood unit. The doctor declared:

“I still don’t figure out how you’re going to do that surgery without any anaesthetic, but go ahead, he’s ready.”

“Thank you doctor,” I answered, turning to Severus.

“Ready?”

“Yes,” he said, with a voice that started to sound normal.

“I will Stun you as softly as I can; the spell will only hit your hand. That should give me enough time to mend your bone and close the wound. When you wake up, try not to move. If you really feel trapped, that is because I have strapped you on the stretcher and we are flying again. However, if I can find a shelter for the day, I will Apparate there with you and have you installed as comfortably as possible. Whatever happens, trust me; I will not let them get you.”

He nodded then, looking straight at me, waited for the spell to hit him. I put my hand in his and, after a comforting hug, murmured:

“Stupefy!”

Severus’ piercing glance escaped behind his eyelids, which fell down at once. The fracture was quite neat, but small pieces of bone were incrusted in the surrounding tissues and retrieving them was a tricky thing to do. For that part, the doctor proved to be a valuable surgical assistant. The nurse provided each of us with a pair of magnifying goggles to help us in the task. That really added to the outfit; I was glad that Severus was Stunned at that moment.

When both of us were reassured that the wound was clean, I asked the doctor to step back and held my hand over his exposed bone. A white light emerged from my palm and irradiated it when I uttered the spell; it slowly pushed the bone back in place. A few expert moves secured the broken edges firmly together under the doctor and nurse’s astonished eyes. They felt the emergency of the situation, I think, because they did not ask any question and let me concentrate on what I had to do. Moving my fingers most delicately, I closed the wound with fine but extremely resistant magical bounds, which worked their way through the various layers of tissues leaving tiny blue sparkles.

“If it heals well, he might even get out of this without any scar!” I declared, when I was finally satisfied with my work and disinfected the wound with Sterilization spells.

“I have never seen something like this, in fifteen years of practice!” said the doctor, still completely taken aback.

“And I doubt you will ever see it again,” I commented darkly, while wrapping sterile bandages around Severus’ leg with the nurse’s help. “In fact, I do not think either of you will remember anything about what you saw tonight.

“How so?” asked the nurse, looking up from the surgery table.

“Because I do not want you to, that’s all. I will kindly ask you to go out of the room and wash yourselves as you normally do after a surgery. But before, if you would be so kind as to provide me with additional supplies of Lactate Ringer, Dilodid and fresh bandages, I would be extremely grateful.”

The nurse retrieved all I wanted from various cupboards, adding a few syringes as well. She was helping me put everything in a large bag when we heard it. First, a cracking sound and then a soft, hissing sound that resounded only in the surgery room. A cainite had Apparated in the surgery department. From the sound, I deduced that the intruder was only a couple of rooms away from where we all were. Fear started to creep inside of me, forming a nervous lump in my throat, but I ignored it. I quickly wrapped everything that the nurse generously gave me and secured it on the stretcher, which I had Summoned in an adjacent room, just in case. I came back with the stretcher just in time; a louder cracking sound warned me that the intruder was making his or her way through my protective spells and was coming closer to us.

My first preoccupation was Severus; I quickly made him levitate to the stretcher and Transfigured the doctor’s white robe into the warm woollen black cloak that had been left downstairs, in the emergency room. After Severus was securely wrapped in the cloak, strapped to the stretcher and magically reduced to a feather-like weight, I turned to the doctor and the nurse.

“I wish I could repay you for that… your help has been invaluable to us. Thank you so much!”

“Not at all,” said the doctor, eyeing the door suspiciously as the sounds grew louder.

“Come here, both of you. We do not have much time left,” I added, moving them to walk towards me.

They obediently did what I had asked and, pressing two fingers from each of my hands on their forehead, I pronounced the incantation:

“Obliviate!”

At once, their glances looked at me blankly for a couple of seconds and then retrieved a more normal glitter. The sounds on the other side of the door started to really be recognizable as distinct footsteps.

“Thank you so very much, doctor, for allowing me to witness the brilliant surgery you just performed! That was really something to see!” I said, in the most admiring tone that I could find.

“You’re welcome,” said the doctor, incredulously, having absolutely no idea of what I was talking about.

“Now, if you two will most kindly turn back to the wall, I would really like to know what this device is used for.”

“But certainly,” said the doctor, “this is called a cardiac monitor, or EKG—”

I did not hear the rest of his sentence. I quickly Disapparated from the surgery room with Severus and found my way through my protective spells to land on the hospital roof, hoping that the two nurses I had Stunned would have waken up and gone back to work by then. Indeed, no nurse was present on the roof when I Apparated there. I found myself practically nose to nose with Ivantie instead. I should have known that my old friend would obviously guess exactly what my strategy would be in a case like this and expect me to Transfigure from the roof into an eagle.

None of us said anything. I walked in front of the stretcher, putting myself between Severus and him, ready for a fight. But Ivantie merely looked at me, with a glance that betrayed mixed feelings. I distinctively saw love in his eyes; the kind of love you develop when you go through numerous hard times walking faithfully at each other’s side. The other things I saw were blurred in the intensity of feelings that vibrated in his whole being at that moment. I could not tell if he was happy or pained to see me, because I also felt a disappointed surprise peer through his hazelnut glance. I did not take the time to feel more from what was emanating from his soul, however. Seeing that he did not seem to be about to attack me, or was simply too struck to do so, I took my chance and Transfigured. As I plunged down the building with one of the stretcher’s straps firmly clutched between my claws, I felt a burning pain pierce through the skin on my shoulder.

~*~

“I did think of mentally calling Andrei, the lycanthropic I was treating when you surprised us,” I explained, “he lives in Bristrita-Nasaud, which is not too far from here. I taught him Apparating skills; he would manage to come here quickly, but I think he will be sleeping too soundly at this time of the night. He would not hear my call.”

“What time is it?” asked Severus with the baritone voice I was glad to hear again.

“A quarter to five. The dawn was becoming too intense; I had to land somewhere. Anyway, I do not know exactly where Andrei’s parents live, I did not have time to look for their house. I will try to contact him later during the day. In the meantime, you should really get some sleep.”

“What about you?” he asked, rising himself on one of his elbows.

“I will keep an eye on the cave entrance and make sure that my spells are holding on. And I will check your vital signs from time to time. I am fine, do not worry. I do not need to sleep yet,” I said, in a convincing tone.

“Very well, then,” he replied.

He pushed on the stretcher’s mattress to reach a sitting position. Seconds later, he closed his eyes and his head lolled to the side. I caught him just in time before he plunged head first down the stretcher.

“Careful there, Severus! Your pressure is much better now, but you will suffer from anaemia for quite a while before we find a good Blood-replenishing potion. It is not prudent for you to get up just yet.”

“That fact became very obvious to me seconds ago, but then we have a problem. You were worried about my kidneys; they seem to be working properly now…”

“Oh, that! Of course! I should have asked you about that far before! You must have been agonizing there, with all the crystalloids we gave you!”

“Still, it is far better than the probe, if you ask me.”

Repressing a giggle, I made him lie back on the stretcher and lifted him up with a Levitating spell. After dragging him to a distant corner in the back of the cave, I slowly turned him over, so his face would be turned towards the ground, allowing him to answer nature’s call while staying in a position that would not cause any blood pressure drop. I walked away for a minute, giving him some privacy.

“You might feel the need to go again quite a few times during the day, because of your perfusion. Do not hesitate to tell me,” I said, readjusting the cloak around him and Transfiguring my handkerchief into a warm blanket.

Andrei heard my call around 9:00am that day. He came to me an hour later and Apparated directly in front of the cave with a large bag in his hands.

“I brought some food, a bottle of Pain-control potion, a map and some of my father’s clothes,” he said, putting the bag between my hands before I could say anything. “I did want to bring some Blood-replenishing potion, but the Apothecary would not give me any unless I had a prescription. Nothing I could say changed her mind.”

“I expected that… some humans of your age use it to get high, which is very risky, as you can imagine,” I explained, putting a comforting hand on his arm. “But really, I did not ask for that much; a little bit of food would have sufficed, Andrei!”

“My mother said that without mutual help, we would not survive long in this world. With all the risks you took for me, Antanasia, I think this is very little help in comparison.”

“May Cerridwen bless you and your family, Andrei,” I said, pressing him against my heart in a tight embrace. “I will not forget your generosity.”

“I have brought some food for you as well,” he whispered.

“How come? I do not see anything in there…” I said, fumbling in the bag.

“No, the food I’m talking about is standing right in front of you.”

“What? You certainly do not suggest that…”

“Yes, please accept it. I really don’t mind,” he insisted, undoing his cloak to show me his neck.

I walked to the entrance of the cave and whispered very low, so Severus would not hear me.

“I have already fed more than necessary, yesterday evening at the castle. Right now, I am far too nervous to feed; I am not hungry at all. I am deeply touched by your offer though,” I said, putting a light kiss on his forehead.

“If you say so…” he replied doubtfully, readjusting his cloak.

At that time, I felt far more vulnerable than I showed. Andrei’s charming young throat looked extremely appealing, but I could not take the risk to Kiss him; I feared that I would not have enough self-control to stop feeding in time. And part of what I said was the naked truth. I had not been able to feed the evening before, feeling too nervous about Severus’ fate, but that nervousness did still prevent me from feeling hungry at the time. I hope that my refusal did not hurt his feelings too much.

“I will have to ask you to leave now, Andrei,” I added, stepping back. “There might be cainites around even during the day and I do not want you to take unnecessary risks.”

“I could guard the cave while you rest!” he bravely suggested. “You must feel exhausted with that wound on your shoulder,” he added, pointing to my stained sleeve.

“I can guard the cave myself, Andrei. Please leave now before anybody sees you!” I urged.

Holding him in my arms one last time, I said goodbye and he finally Disapparated back home, wishing me good luck. It pained me to part with that courageous young man, but I just could not let him guard the cave for me. I had taught him a few spells and jinxes, but his interrupted education at Durmstrang (which he resumed the following year, to my relief and joy) had not provided him with enough skills to defend himself should a Zaharia warrior attack us.

Towards noon, I really started to relax, knowing that no cainite with a sane mind would wander around when the sun was so intense. I allowed myself to take some Pain-control potion. Muggle stitches were absolutely not designed to adapt to a Transfiguration and my wound had reopened at once when I had Transfigured myself on the hospital’s roof. Producing magical bounds to hold the wound close was a tricky business given its location, but with a few twists I managed to get it done and stop the bleeding.

Severus started stirring in the stretcher and I prepared him a sandwich with the victuals that Andrei’s mother had generously given me. Severus ate well, apparently satisfied to finally have real food instead of the nourishing potion. Feeling that his pressure was very close to normal, I reduced his perfusion to a minimum rate and gave him a second injection of Dilodid. He went right back to sleep.

I took some time to study the map that Andrei had most cleverly brought me. I estimated that we would have to fly about one thousand and two hundred miles to get to England. That was a long and trying journey, but I decided to try and do it in two nights. The first flight would be the longest and trickiest; I wanted to reach Austria as quickly as possible so we would find ourselves out of Zaharia’s territory. That would not prevent Zaharia’s warriors to run after us if they still wanted to, but we would find less potential enemies in local clans there, at least. I convinced myself that I would be able to get to Austria in one flight and swore myself that I would not take any break until we would get there.

It would have been easier to Apparate our way to England and we had first considered that option. Even if Severus did not have his wand, I was perfectly capable of carrying the two of us. Nevertheless, despite the European Union treaty that included both the Muggle world and the Magical world, the Apparating sites were closely monitored and we would have had to register ourselves from place to place. That would have made life much easier for the cainites who were following us and would have put Severus in greater danger. We had deliberated for a while about other options, but I had put an end to the debate by imposing my Transfiguration skills to take care of the task. I felt capable to fly him to England and, feeling responsible for the situation he was in, I was even more motivated to get him there no matter what.

The rest of the day passed at a desperately slow pace, giving me plenty of time to think, unfortunately. Ivantie’s face kept flashing in my mind each time the incessant whirl of my thoughts slowed down a little. The constant sight of him in my mind distressed me a lot, but each time, I chased him away. I did not want to give in to my emotions. Not yet. I had to stay strong just a little more, just a few nights until I would get Severus safely at home. Then, and only then, it would be time to give in and collapse. After that… after that, I did not have the slightest idea about what would happen to me, but I preferred not to think about it.

As soon as the sun went reasonably down in the evening, I woke Severus and helped him dress with Andrei’s father clothes, which we adjusted to his size (what meant Transfiguring everything in longer and smaller sizes and obviously colouring them black). While removing the perfusion from his arm, I explained what itinerary I had chosen and he agreed that it was the best option. I packed the few things we had with us, hid both Severus and myself with Camouflage spells and, breaking all the spells and charms I had put at the cave’s entrance, I Transfigured and rose to the sky once again, holding the weightless stretcher between my claws.

The sight was simply magnificent. Transylvania, the incomparable beauty queen of Romania, offered itself to my eyes in all its glory, that evening. The coloured trees caught the sunset light in a very unique way and seemed to shine underneath us as if each leaf was made of pure gold. My heart bled to the point that Severus fully felt my sadness. He mentally asked me if everything was all right, but I only flapped my wings faster. I wanted us to get out of the country as soon as possible.

After a few hours of intense flight, I finally found a deserted church in Neunkirchen, not too far from the Austrian-Hungarian border. Fortunately for us, we had not met anybody on our way to Austria. I installed Severus on a bench and, retreating behind the altar, I let myself cry all the emotions I had repressed since our departure. It fully hit me that I was leaving what had become my homeland for a very, very long time. I knew that I would miss Transylvania’s so familiar mountains and rivers but Ivantie represented a most cruel loss. His face, as ever present in my mind, kept drawing additional silent sobs out of my throat. I hated myself as much as I hated him for the quarrel we had had, before my escape. That, more than the distance that was growing between us, was the most difficult thing to accept and it pained me beyond words.

“When am I going to see you again, my friend?” I thought, over and over, hiding my face between my hands.

It took me a while to regain my composure, but I waited as long as necessary for my face to fully come back to normal before I rose to my feet and walked to Severus. He looked at me intensely, but did not say anything, to my relief. The rest of our trip went well; I allowed myself pauses every two hours, as planned, trying to cover a maximum distance before dawn. We successfully reached Frankfurt as the horizon slowly coloured itself in shades of pink. I found a deserted building and settled us there, away from the coldness of the wind. I prepared a quick meal for Severus and sat on the edge of the stretcher while he ate. I was completely exhausted from the long flying hours and my chin soon dropped on my chest. His discreet coughs woke me up in a start.

“I think it is really time for you to take a rest, Antanasia,” said the deep voice next to me.

“But I need to monitor your vital signs a little longer, just to make sure you are out of trouble,” I answered, yawning and retrieving a syringe and the Dilodid bottle from one of the bags tied to the stretcher’s structure.

He waited until I gave him his injection, and then told me:

“I am serious, here. You must not have gotten a lot of sleep recently and you do need to rest, especially if you want to fly all the way to England.”

“I guess I could take a few hours of sleep, not more.”

“Then come here,” he said, moving to the side of the stretcher, “it is not very roomy, but I guess a quick Transfiguration could make it suitable for two.”

I stood in front of him, hesitantly. Getting some sleep was becoming a vital necessity and I did need the comfort of somebody else’s presence next to me. He was offering both; at least he seemed to. With a wave of my hand, the stretcher extended itself, allowing me to climb next to Severus and lie down. To my surprise, he held out his arm to let me curl up against him and lean my head on his chest, losing myself in the warmth of his body.

“From what I have seen of your methods,” he said, his low voice resounding everywhere inside his ribcage, “you will be able to monitor my vital signs very well that way.”

“Indeed,” I said, listening to the peaceful sound of his heartbeat, right under my ear.

That wonderful sound rocked me into a much needed sleep within seconds. I was so tired that I do not think I even dreamt. Unfortunately, I brutally emerged from the dark and silent land in which I was when a group of Muggle workers entered the building, chatting animatedly. I had no choice but make us Disapparate at once on the highest floors of the building, which gave me just enough time to completely camouflage our presence under various spells. The workers made so much noise and passed so close from us all day long that neither Severus nor I could get much more sleep. In addition to that, and I am quite embarrassed to admit it, the sight of all these potential vessels wandering around right under my nose was almost unbearable for me; my hunger was becoming physically and mentally painful. At long last, they left our floor and I was able to take the risk of administering us both a good dose of Pain-control potion. I tried to get some more sleep until the night would fall, but I was too nervous. These Muggles had almost found us and, in the exhaustion state I was in, it had taken a lot of noise to wake me up. Cainites would be far more silent; I could not take the risk of being found twice.

When we rose to the starry sky again, we headed northwest towards Brussels. We reached it after many pauses, every ninety minutes that time. My strength was starting to really reach critically low levels, but I hid it from Severus the best I could. By the time we flew over the Thames, however, I had to take pauses every hour or so. Severus insisted that we stopped in London. We took a real break that time, but the approaching dawn urged me to give the final effort that would make us reach our goal. Fortunately for me, Severus realised that we had no reason whatsoever to fly our way from London to Hogwarts when we had the possibility to Apparate nearby, as we would not have to cross any other border.

That is how I summoned all the magical energy that was left in me to make us both Apparate in Hogsmeade, the closest landmark I could aim to. I did not waste a second and quickly Transfigured for a last flight. It barely took us twenty minutes, but by that time, it even became difficult for me to clearly see where I was going. My strength completely abandoned me when we reached Hogwarts’ grounds. I saw in a strange twinkling blur that we were floating over a lake, which made me hold on longer. After I floated a while over what looked like grass, however, I stopped fighting and used all that was left in me to make a safe landing. My Transfiguration did not hold much longer and I fell on the ground next to the stretcher. After a few minutes, I heard a muffled but insistent sound and then I saw an immense shadow take hold of me and put me next to Severus on the stretcher. I was too feeble to fight the shadow away, but desperately fought to stay conscious, waiting for a little bit of my forces to return and allow me to defend ourselves if needed.

Nevertheless, I think I did lose consciousness because when a few of my senses came back to me, I seemed to be surrounded by many people. Their voices sounded distant and I could not discern what they were saying. Their tone seemed quite tense, however. I started to really panic, being too exhausted to think rationally. All I could see was blurry shadows of human-sized creatures. Some were moving rapidly around me, some stayed very still. My hands fumbled my surroundings and soon met Severus’ arm. That touch immediately dictated my confused mind what I had to do. I had to defend myself… and I had to defend Severus! I took advantage of the relative rest I had gotten during my minutes of unconsciousness and Transfigured into the first powerful animal I could think of: a Siberian tiger. The reaction around me was immediate. All the shadows started talking at once; some seemed to throw spells at us, which confirmed me that we were in trouble. Roaring as aggressively as I could, I conjured a few protective spells around us, keeping Severus well protected between my powerful legs.

Unfortunately for me, one of the shadows finally hit me with a spell that forced me back into a cainite shape. I felt Severus’ body leave my side and an immense feeling of powerlessness submerged my heart. I had failed! I had to get him safe in Hogwarts and I had failed within yards of our goal! I felt tears starting to flow over my cheeks while I sank in what starting to feel like a familiar sadness. I felt a stranger’s hands trying to touch my face and shoulder, but I hysterically pushed them away and kept fighting like this for a few minutes.

And then I finally heard it. That voice, that deep, low voice I was longing for, it was vibrating in the irritating chaos around me! My mind grasped this voice and held to it, as if it was the only hope that was left. I started to moan, my own words sounding as incomprehensible to me as the speech of the other people around me. When I realised that the friendly voice was gone, however, I brutally came back to consciousness and my cry became crystal clear:

“Severus! Severus, where are you? Severus!”

In the shadowy blur, I saw him bring his face to mine. I blindly held my hands in front of me and grabbed what I thought were his shoulders.

“Are you ok? Are they hurting you, Severus?”

“Antanasia, we made it to Hogwarts, we are in the hospital wing now. We are safe.”

“Who are these people, what do they want?” I whined, trying to touch his face.

“Do not mind these people, they are not here to harm you,” he said firmly. “How long has it been since last time you fed?”

“I do not know, I do not remember!”

He took my trembling hands and put them on each of his cheeks, which spread the tremors to my whole body. He bent so low that I felt his hair brush on my face.

“Antanasia, try to remember. How long has it been?” he insisted.

“Three or four nights… since I learned about your execution,” I said, panting and crying uncontrollably.

“She needs to feed soon. These symptoms look like a Blood-deprivation shock,” said an authoritative woman’s voice nearby.

“Do you have any Blood potion ready?” said a familiar masculine voice.

“No! We have had no vampire student since over ten years, Headmaster! Maybe we could find some in Hogsmeade, but not that early in the morning.”

“How long can she wait, in that state?” asked Severus’ tensed voice.

“With the exhaustion of the journey and the wound on her shoulder… not long, unfortunately.”

“Antanasia, Kiss me,” said Severus, turning his face and offering his neck to my mouth.

“No! I would not be able to stop! I will not!” I protested, keeping his face at reasonable distance from my mouth with all the will that was left in me.

We fought like that for a few minutes, until Severus’ face abruptly left my grip, which threw my heart back in a cold panic at once. The voices became all blurred again and buzzed in my ears in an infernal intensity. I found myself wishing that all this would end soon, that I would drift back in a blissful eternal sleep. I even heard Cerridwen’s call, at great distance, attracting me to a distant land where I would feel no more pain. I started to abandon myself to that voice, feeling my muscles relax and my heart become lighter. I was brutally brought back to consciousness by sharp slaps on each side of my face.

“Antanasia! Wake up! Wake up right now! Stay with me!”

My eyes snapped open at once and the slaps stopped. Severus’ face was above me once again, much clearer than before, however.

“Drink this, you will feel better after that,” he murmured, sliding one hand under my head.

When he softly lifted my head, I got a glimpse of his wrist. It was wrapped in a white handkerchief that was starting to dampen with fresh blood. That sight made my eyes redden and my canines lengthen within seconds, but before I could even seriously debate about the ethics of Kissing Severus after the shock he had endured, he pressed a goblet against my mouth and I eagerly drank the warm liquid that touched my lips. I moaned and clutched my hands on his sides as I recognized his taste; Severus was offering me his blood! My eyes intensely met his as a powerful wave of heat spread all over my exhausted body. Swallowing the last sip, I arched my back, closed my eyes and shamelessly let out a groan of satisfaction, enjoying a few seconds of extreme pleasure before I collapsed into a deep sleep.

~*~

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Special thanks to Anne, my closest and dearest friend who is studying real hard in medical science right now (go girl!), and to Eric, nurse, who have patiently answered all my crazy medical questions about this impossible 36 years old male patient with an open fracture who has suddenly lost half of his blood but is not bleeding anymore... Lots of these numbers and medical babbling would not be there without you! :o)

I hope you are enjoying the story so far! I would really appreciate some reviews. It does not take much of your time and it tells me if you like where the story is going or not! It’s in your best interest, in a way! Writing 25-30 pages every week represents a lot of work; your comments are a valuable reward! :o)