Chapter 3:1
"Jocie, wake up." whispered Jer as he buttoned up his coat.2
"Huh? Why? I still hurt Jer, please, don't make me go."3
"Joce, get up. We need to go, you're transformation isn't progressing like we want it to. We have to go to the underground."4
"Underground? What do you mean? Underground...like the sewers?!"5
"Yes. But-"6
"Emmet, shit & garbage is down there!"7
"Not where we're going, now get up & dress, quickly. The owners of this humble abode are coming within the night."8
"They're home this early!?"9
"Joce, you've been out of it for a week. I've been trying to wake you for days. Today was the first day you came to, do you remember earlier? You woke for a second, said something slurred, then fell back. Don't you remember anything?"10
"No...alright, I'll get changed." She disappeared with her only other change of clothes, coming back changed, she pulled on her boots, and stood.11
"Take the boots off, good thing for the men's chaps there, here," he said, throwing some thin shoes at her "Wear these. Jerod can run, and the lighter the load on me, the better."12
"Load on you? Why can't Jer run with me?" he snorted, Jer glared at him. Only then did she notice Jer's appearance was vastly changed, he was broader, muscular & had high cheek bones with a face a model would kill for. 13
"He's weak still Joce, & hungry, he needs blood soon. I'm taking you to an area where you can change in peace, less stress, less nightmares there too. I can promise that one for sure." he held his hand out to her. When she had accepted, he picked her up & they all bolted out of the door. 14
When they reached the door, or rather, hatch to the underground, Emmet released Joce & opened the hatch. 15
"Climb," he ordered to Joce & Jer "quickly, & don't make a noise. Don't even breathe." Jer made an effort to stifle a chuckle, Emmet saw him, trying to do the same, and tried to force a frown, which would not come.16
As they entered the dark corridor, Jocelynn began to cough, causing Jer to jump to her side.17
"Jocie, you okay?" asked Jer with wide, worried eyes.18
"Yeah, I'm fine." she said after her fit of coughing had ended.19
He led them down the dank halls, his foot steps not making a sound, the only sound in the hall was the coughing that was racking Joce. As they approaced the first of a series of dizying doors, Emmet whispered something to Jerod, who only nodded in reply. 20
When they reached the next door, it quickly opened to a fight. A doctor screaming at a fellow doctor, calling him a hypocrite & a poor excuse for brilliance, at this Jocelynn laughed, wondering if they were somehow related, or if it was something all vampyres said.21
"Ah, Emmet, what jewels do you bring to me?"22
"Dr. Lawrence, how nice to see you. I bring with me Jocelynn & her brother Jerod. Jerod has already been transformed, while Jocelynn has been struggling for a little over a week, she needs more help than we can give her. Please help her."23
"Emmet! You know the rules, no changing the mortals!"24
"Sir, with all do respect, these kids were headed for death. It's not my place to tell their story, but you should know they wouldn't have survived the long winter months coming up."25
"I don't care. Mortals are stupid & don't understand anything."26
"Sir, need I remind you, we were all mortal once."27
"We were mortals at a simpler time in history. Now, this was a stupid move, if I ever cat-"28
"Sir, shut up & help her. I don't need to be lectured as one of your own is possibly dying from some disease, it could wipe us all out, Sir."29
"I thought you said-"30
"Sir, just help her. We have all you need here, it won't be hard for you to save her if you figure out what's wrong with her now. "31
"Well that one's obvious, Emmet." snorted Jerod behind him.32
"Damn that kid can hear everything!"33
"Please..." pleaded Joce in a small, hoarse voice.34
Dr. Lawrence looked into her pleading eyes & ordered the nurses to put her in a room. He quickly ordered an examination & anti-biotics. 35
"Emmet, I thought you said nothing could hurt us when we turned."36
"Jer, You can still get hurt, it just doesn't really hurt you. You cannot die from it. If you are ripped to shreds, then you'll be dead, but until then, you'll be fine, just fine."37
"Emmet?"38
"Yes Jer?"39
"Do you think Jocie will be okay?"40
"Jer, I hate to say it, but I'm not sure at all."41
"Emmet?"42
"Yes?"43
"Who's James?"44
"It is a long story, when you learn is the same time Joce learns. I promise one day, you'll be told. But, how's you find out about James?"45
"I can hear everything, remember?" Emmet sighed and looked at the frail Jocelynn, lying flat on her back, now in a hospital bed. Silently, he asked for the hand of god to help him, or rather her, for the first time since 1732.
Author notes
Chapter three
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