Settings

Blood Rites

Page 42

   


"It feels like my insides are trying to crawl out of my mouth. How's that for descriptive?" Jacque sent her thoughts and moaned out loud at the same time as another spasm gripped her stomach, and she began to dry heave because there was nothing left inside her.
Fane placed his hand on her forehead as she began to shiver. "You're burning up, Jacquelyn." Fane didn't know anything about fever but he was sure that her temperature was beyond the point of being just a minor fever.
"Here, I have washcloths." Sally came into the bathroom and turned on the cold water, pushing the washcloths under the flow, then she squeezed out the excess and handed one to Fane.
"Put it on her neck," Jen instructed, then took a towel from Sally and folded it placing it on the floor and pushing it underneath Jacque so her knees wouldn't be on the hard, cold floor.
"Decebel got in touch with Dr. Steele, she is on her way here," Sally informed them.
Jacque finally slumped back against Fane, exhausted from being sick. Her face flushed from the fever, and her breathing was shallow. Fane picked her up and carried her to her bed. As he gently laid her down he spoke to Decebel. "Get my father."
"Done, my prince, I've already called him. He and your mother and Lilly were down in the cafeteria. They are on their way up now."
Fane nodded. "Thank you."
Without warning Jacque screamed out, "FANE!" Jen and Sally jumped. Decebel flinched because of his sensitive wolf ears.
Fane rubbed Jacquelyn's forehead."I'm here, love. What can I do?" Fane was gritting his teeth, frustration and fear coursing through his body.
"Make it stop," Jacquelyn whispered to him. "Please make it stop."
Chapter 20
Cynthia dialed Logan's number as she continued to examine the blood sample she had under the microscope. Her hands shook as she turned the dial to bring the slide into focus. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, but there it was in living color. Jennifer's blood matched Jacque's blood. The only difference being the amount of cells that carried the gene. Since Jacque was half wolf her blood was full of them. Jennifer, however, had just enough to be recognizable by a person who knew what to look for. Logan finally answered. "Tell me you have good news, Dr. Steele."
"Well, if you mean can I get Jacque by herself, then yes I have good news. I just received a call from Vasile's Beta. Jacque is sick. I'm going now to see her and will have her transferred to the ICU, where visitors of any kind are not allowed after 9:00 p.m. I have a pair of scrubs for you here in my office. I will leave it unlocked so you can get in. Wait in my office for my call." Cynthia was changing the slides in the microscope, putting Jennifer's up and sliding Jacque's sample under the scope. As she looked into the eyepiece she ceased hearing anything Logan said. She'd thought that this could happen, but thinking and reality are verydifferent.
"Okay, Logan, I will call you when I'm ready. Bye." And without listening for his response she hung up. She continued to examine the blood as she watched the human cells attack the werewolf cells. Jacque had received a blood transfusion before she had been able to stop it. That was what she was watching on the slide in front of her. The human cells from the blood that did not belong to Jacque were attacking her cells. She had heard that this could happen when a wolf received human blood because human blood recognized the wolf cells as a virus and attacked accordingly. She knew of only one cure, one way to stop the human cells from killing the wolf cells and inevitably killing the werewolf.
As she stood up and put her lab coat on, she took one last look at the slide then turned to go to Jacque's room. She kept telling herself that it would be okay, that Logan would be able to heal her, that she wasn't putting Jacque in any real harm. Before her conscience could talk her out of it she was standing in front of Jacque's door. She'd been able to hear her cries from down the hall and she could only imagine how painful it was for your body to turn on itself. There, see? I will be helping her by giving her the morphine to keep her under, and then she won't feel the pain until Logan can heal her. Assuaging her guilt, she turned the doorknob and walked into a room full of worried people, an emotionally out of control Alpha, and the cries of a very sick girl. Thankfully, at the sight of a sick person the doctor in her kicked in and she focused on that role, on doing something to help.
By the time Dr. Steele walked into the room everyone was there, lining the wall of the room. Every face was draped in worry and fear for Jacquelyn. Fane heard the door open. He turned to see Dr. Steele walk into the room, and before anyone could ask her a question she held her hand up and headed for Jacquelyn's bed. The only sound was the whimpering and cries of his mate.
"Please do something for her." Fane found himself pleading with Dr. Steele desperate for something, anything to help Jacquelyn.
Dr. Steele listened to Jacquelyn's heart, and then she shined a light into each eye. She moved Jacquelyn's hands away from her stomach and began pushing on it in various locations, causing a cry to erupt. Fane growled but Dr. Steele was not intimidated. "Save it, wolf. I can't help her if you expect there to be no pain." She reached into her pocket and pulled out something Fane didn't recognize. He watched her run it across Jacquelyn's forehead and then look at a small screen on the side.
"It's a thermal scanner to take her temperature. She's at 105.2, which means if we don't get her temp down she will either have a seizure, go into a coma, or both." Dr. Steele looked over to Vasile. "I'm going to have to take her to the ICU. No one is allowed in there, the patients are all too sick to be exposed to the germs people would innocently bring in. You understand what this means?"