Easing the Pain

She had come here often, whether to appease an ache that was inside her or to atone for past sins that she could not place, she had no answer for her reasoning. Or none that she wished to acknowledge. Her family growing up was not one she wished on another, in all her years she had not thought about having children of her own, to raise them in this world. Would she and Keyue have had one? The answer to her question would probably not be answered for he and his son had disappeared not giving her the option to change her mind.

The elevator took her to the tenth floor as it did every time she came to Saint Joseph's Memorial Health Center. Her ascent stopped, a bell rang over ahead signaling the opening of the elevator doors, revealing a nurses station that stretched around the floor. Several of the nurses glanced up and smiled at her arrival. “Welcome Jayne. The children always look forward to seeing you on Thursdays. You always seem to make them have so much spirit after visiting them.”  

She followed Dawn to the room the children where in, as soon as she entered, those that could, ran up to her and hugged her legs and tugged at the straps of her bag. “What did you bring for us today?,” they squealed. Seeing them so always brought Aleria’s emotions to the surface but as she had done from the start, she suppressed them and moved on, handing each of the children a toy of some kind. She had also brought books for story time. The nurses left her to her own devices, letting the children enjoy the hour they had with her.  She could not help them as she wished, but she could take their pain for the day. The pain it brought upon herself was worth it for them to have a moment’s peace.

The hour came and went by so quickly. As she bid the children farewell and made her way past the nurse’s station, she was stopped by Dawn. “Janey, we can’t thank you enough for volunteering your time with the children. I just need you to fill out these forms and come with us. The governor has issued that all state employees and volunteers of the hospital must get vaccinated. No big deal, just some shots and you can come on back next week to be with the children.”

Dawn’s fingers curled against her wrist, “It won’t take but a minute.” Aleria’s ears, although pinned, picked up the sound of heavy footsteps coming from behind her.

His ears perked up as the amulet Aleria was wearing picked up her feelings of unease. These feelings were reinforced by the recently rekindled pack connection, a connection Blaze had helped to re-kick start. He felt through the shadows, skimming through all that he could reach, trying to follow the feeling he had picked up back to her. He finally found her, but, it took a minute or two of searching, and he moved quickly, phasing himself through the shadowy darkness to appear in a room just on the other side of the door. Adjusting his attire, he pressed open the door, "Janey," He said, having managed to snipe off the last part of what the other nurse had said. You, you didnt tell me we needed to get vaccinated? You know how I feel about needles." A touch of panic coloring his voice, while his eyes flashed a look of, 'I'm here, something feels off', a look just long enough for her to hopefully catch.

"Uh, yes, yes sir, you do need to get vaccinated as a volunteer. I didn't realize Janey had brought anyone with her, could I get your name?" She asked, forcing politeness into her voice over the shock.
"Danarius," He replied with as gregarious of a smile as he could manage, though still overlaid with a panic at the thought of the needles. "What, what do we need to get vaccinated for exactly?" He asked. "Oh, dont worry dear, its nothing to worry about." The woman said, her hand wrapping around, or at least trying to wrap, around his wrist, which was of course too big for her to do, though she did try.

Still weary from taking the children’s pain, she looked to Dawn as she placed her hand on her wrist. “Oh, well that shouldn’t be too bad. Is there a virus going around?” she asked still trying to keep things light as if she were following along being a good citizen.

“Goodness knows we can’t allow ourselves to get sick, especially with the children’s poor immune system. Before the nurse could say more, Blade spoke up. Hearing his voice was a chock, but she hid it well as him and her conversed back and forth. “Yes, I do apologize for that. He’s so passionate about what I do here and wanted to check out the different programs the hospital had to offer for him to volunteer. And your right on time D, my session with the children just got over with. I’m sure nurse Dawn would be happy to get you the information so you can read up on it. We can discuss your plan while we get our shots.”

This seemed to please Dawn, “Right this way then. These two gentlemen will take you to right floor and get you signed in. Shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes or so.” The men in question where about Blade’s height, but with less muscle mass, dressed in scrubs, they turned to Danarius and Aleria. “This way.”

Chancing a look at Blade, she smiled and took the pamphlets form Dawn. “Thanks, Dawn. We’ll be seeing you.” Her voice was as pleasant as ever, Dawn never noticing the double meaning of Aleria’s words. Something was definitely not right here. Dawn’s touch had Aleria’s skin crawling. “You picked a good day to come with me to the hospital Dan, you learn so much.” She followed the two male nurses as they led them to the elevators.

Still giving an outward look of nervousness at the thought of needles, Blade's eyes were on the two men in jackboots and military looking fatigues who were a short distance down the hall, inconspicuously blocking that method of exit. 'Oh, if only they knew,' he thought to himself. The two men in the hospital scrubs led them onto the elevators while the two in the fatigues shadowed them from a distance, though they did not enter the space. There was something about both the woman's touch, and that of the larger man, that had a strange feeling creeping over his skin. It was quite crawling, but, it was as though he wanted to scratch at it, like an annoyingly persistent itch.

"Oh, I have already leaned quite a bit, your right. I got to look through the trauma ward, and I had the opportunity to watch how your people, er, doctors, here," He said, catching his own slip of the tongue, "perform care for a broken bone. I even got to watch on the theater screen as they patched a guy up from a stab wound to the leg." He left out the part where he was responsible for this particular gentleman being in that situation. "It's really amazing how medical technology can advance. It used to be, a guy would get a jab to the arm or leg with a sword, he was a goner." He was referencing some of his own field experience leading men. Some good men had perished because of the way wounds were handled on his home plane. Though, it didnt help that the bacteria and such were generally more potent then what was native here.

Aleria wasn’t sure what was going to happen. She had been visiting the hospital for almost six months now, her suspicion rising with each meeting. The children’s illness’s however medically coded they where, seemed legit but something had been bugging her. The nurses all seemed friendly enough, until today. What had changed?

She glanced at Blade as the two men were behind them. The elevator kept going down. She tried to not let it show, but healing the children as she did was taxing on her mentally. She really wished she could sleep right now. Her head was killing her and it seemed as if her strength was depleting by the second.

“Doctors, we’ll give the blood today. But I must insist that we reschedule after this.” She prayed Blade was with her on this, they needed to escape these two hounds. Unexpectedly to the man behind her, she whirled around and struck the male with her lycan strength right in his throat. A sickening crack sounded as the man’s eyes bugged out, his hands going to his throat as he struggled to breath.

The two men behind Blade looked at Aleria in shock as she ripped the man's throat out. "Oh thank you, I thought we were never going to get to that." He said, spinning and ramming his hand into the throat of one of the men behind him. The other reached for his gun, but was stopped by Blade, literally, biting his head off. Luckily it was one of the larger elevators that was used for freight as well as the occasional patient. Turning to look back at her, he shrunk down from his lycan form,swallowing the head. "Well, at least he was in shape, I hate the fat greasy ones." He said laughing. "Now, how exactly are we going to get out of here?" Pushing the corpses into the corner as he asked.

"Also," as he put a hand on her arm, "Are you feeling ok?" He could see a strained, tired look in her eyes.

Aleria was relieved when Blade followed through and attacked the other two men. She just didn’t have it in her. “The people that they are taking us too are expecting us. We best not keep them waiting.” The elevator dinged signaling they had arrived at their floor.

“I’ve been coming here for months, checking on the children and easing what pain I can from them. I’ve had a bad vibe about this place, but couldn’t find evidence of foul play.” She quirked her head to the side looking at the bodies, “…Until now anyway, if this place is doing something unethical, we must stop it.”
Feeling his hand on her arm, she turned to look at him gently, “ I am fine Blade. Healing just takes a lot out of me. I couldn’t just ease the pain for just one… I will be fine once I get some food. The beast is hungry,” she said with a light laugh.

Stepping out of the elevator she looked down the hallway in both directions then made her way to the sign indicating various locations of different labs. Eyes skimming until it reached “Laboratory.” The arrow points in this direction.

“You feeling up to this?”, she asked quirking her brow tauntingly. “How do we need to go about this?”

After having made sure she was ok, Blade knelt to rifle through the pockets of the two men he had just killed. "Let's see if these two have anything useful." He muttered to himself. "Hey, what do you know, keys, ID badges, oh, a, um, PDA, i think?" He asked, holding the item up to Aleria. "I have seen these, but, I have no idea how to use them. You were the one actually raised with technology more advanced than a siege engine." He laughed, "Makes me think of the first time I encountered a car. That, that was an interesting experience." After having handed her the phone, he finished checking all the pockets. "Ok, so, keys, ID badges, that PDA thing, and, oh, written orders?" Blade unrolled the piece of paper, and read it.

"Oh, oh wow, seems like something is actually going on around here. 'You are to apprehend Volunteer Nurse Aleria. Once in custody bring her to the testing lab in the basement. She is not to escape or be allowed to leave until word has been received from the Director.' Now, that, that is a huge red flag, to use that expression." He pressed the elevator button, but, nothing happened. "Well, guess we have to find another way out. I'd shadow shift us out of here, but, last I recall, you weren't exactly a fan of that manner of travel." Blade chuckled, remembering her last reaction the last time she had tried it. Taking a step out of the elevator, he looked around, "Well, pick a direction." He said with a laugh, waiting for her decision.

As he rifled through the men’s belongings she kept an eye out in case some other personnel where down here, waiting of them. She turned and looked down at the items he was fishing out. She arched a brow at the PDA, it was such an outdated source of technology but she took it from him anyway. Her fingers light as the pressed the button to turn it on; her eyes scanned the images that popped up as her fingers brought up items that the male had searched, saved, and edited.

“Whoever they are, they are idiots,” she announced softly, as this buffoon had put down every horrible detail of what his job was in this hand held device. “If they want me, they should not be kept waiting. That’d be very rude on our part.” Her hand was firmly gripping the PDA, the case actually cracking. “By the time I am done with these creatures, there will not be anything left of this hospital.” Her eyes actually glinted with hatred from what she just read. “Come. The laboratory is this way. We will make our own exit. They cannot think to keep me down here and they are not expecting you.” She turned on the balls of her feet and began making her way down the long corridor tucking the PDA into her pants pocket, sides dented and cracked, but it would still work.

Seemingly calm on the outside, the beast inside her was raging to be released. Although she could not fathom the contraption that she saw on the man’s PDA or the equations or numbers, she did understand it had something to do with the children and why they were sick. It also made sense as to why she could never heal them completely and why she always felt sicker than normal.


Her senses told her they were nearing. A repugnant stench was in the air. It was very mild, almost hidden by the antiseptic clean smell of hospitals; but she detected now that she knew something was off here.

Seeing the sign of Laboratory, she slowed and gently pushed open the door. Her eyes swept the room, resting on a petite blonde. The blonde looked up and smiled her greeting, “Aleria! We have been waiting patiently for you. Where are Doug and Ralph?” she asked, but Aleria heard the hitch in her voice, a sound of panic. Now that Aleria was close to the woman the smell was much worse. Not getting to close, Aleria’s magic whipped from behind her, a long chain of blazing energy. It wrapped itself around the blonde’s neck and lifted her off the floor. “What are you and what have you been doing to the children in this hospital?!, she demanded.

The blonde, playing her part, looked truly terrified before the mask slipped from her face. She tilted back her head and laughed. Her head snapped forward to peer into Aleria’s face as her hands reached up and wrapped around the chain of energy. “Mmm.” As her hands touched the chain, Aleria watched in horror as the female began to draw the energy unto her. A black stain began to race its way down the length of the chain, towards Aleria. Seeing it, she quickly broke the connection, the blonde landing on her feet. “Such a rude little wolf. But very tasty,” she said, as her tongue sweept out to wet her lips.

As soon as the words left her mouth, the hospitals appearance began to change. It no longer smelled of antiseptic but the rank odor of whatever this creature was in front of her. The lights shorted out, while others flickered, the paint was chipping, and an empty gurney with straps was rudely pushed to the side, the sheets rumpled. Aged papers and folders where scattered along the floor. “I’d say we are not in Kansas anymore, Blade,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.

“No my dear, you are not,” the creature said, obviously not getting sarcasm. “Welcome to my Lab, Alley.” Her thumb pressed down, there was something in her had. The walls opened up around them housing orbs of pulsating energy. “Say hello to your new home.”