“In here,” Bethany said.
Dray shifted to just outside the Wren house, roared, breathed a little fire at the sky, then shifted back into Dray. Now Bethany was directing him to the living room where he lowered me onto the couch. My consciousness was pretty fuzzy, drifting between awake and the Plane.
“Call the Doctor,” Dray growled.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
“I’ll heal. Get the Doctor. She’s been poisoned.” He hovered over me. “Who did this?”
Dray swam and multiplied into four Drays. I shook my head trying to make the trippy stuff stop, but it only seemed to be getting worse. I needed to tell him. “Mary. Helena.”
I caught sight of his fury just before I gave up keeping my eyes open.
“Rhysa. Stay with me. Why did they do this? When?”
A blanket came over me and I snuggled into it. Soft is good. Warm is nice.
“Rhysa!”
Right. He asked a question, didn’t he? “Uh, bedroom. They jumped me when I shifted back.” Sleep. I just needed to sleep this off. My mother said I’d survive. She was probably right. “Put these cuffs on me. Couldn’t move.”
“Then how? You know what never mind. Whose blood is all over you?”
Oh yeah. I was soaked in blood, wasn’t I? If only I could puke up the poison already in my veins. That would be helpful. “Mary. Helena.” Hopefully he could piece together what I meant. I was too tired to say anything else. I let my mind slip totally to the Plane.
“Step back!” A man’s voice I didn’t recognize said, but I could feel his presence. This man was very powerful.
“Rhysa, this is the Doctor. He’s going to help you,” Bethany said softly. “Dray?”
“She’s cursed, Doctor. It makes blood from House of Axl poison to her.”
“Damn it,” the Doctor swore. “I’ll need to pull it out of her.”
I heard fumbling and people moving. The Doctor got closer and Dray moved farther away. More warmth.
“On purpose?” Bethany’s voice suddenly rose. She must be having a conversation with Dray. “No, there must be another explanation.”
“There’s not.” His voice grew louder too. “They poisoned her. They wanted to kill her. I’m assembling the Alliance. I’m taking this war to their goddamned door and I’m going to burn it down.”
Burn it down. Because he was a dragon. I was in love with a dragon. Bethany said he was hurt. Maybe shifting into something so different caused him pain. My pain hurt. I hoped the Doctor could stop it.
“Rhysa.”
Oh fun! He could talk to me in my head like Dray! “Hello, Doctor man!”
He appeared in front of me scowling. “You’re hallucinating, Rhysa. The poison has reached your brain. I’m going to remove the poison from your body, but it takes time to do it correctly. Do you understand?”
I giggled. “Nope. Have fun!” I had no idea what was happening any more. Only that Dray and Bethany were screaming at each other now.
“You cannot win this war, Dray. Don’t sacrifice us all because you love her!”
“I’m not like you two. I can’t just sit back and let my love be taken from me!”
“Hey!” the Doctor yelled over them. “Can you two shut the hell up so I can save her life?” He let out a huff of air. “And if you bring up our love life again you’ll find out exactly how well I can fight, Draygus Wren. You were in diapers when I learned to wield Vengeance.”
Oh! The Doctor and Bethany were in love? And he had a sword called Vengeance? That was cool.
“I apologize Doctor. Aunt Bethany.”
“It’s okay, Dray,” Bethany said, her voice softer again, with a hitch to it like she was on the verge of tears. “It’s just…call a meeting if you must, but take a vote.”
“I won’t make anyone fight who doesn’t want to,” he growled, coming over and placing his hand on my head before he stomped off.
“Now, where were we? Dear god Rhysa, what the hell is that?” The Doctor pointed to the curtain of darkness I always saw rippling. I guess being in my mind, he could see it too.
“It’s the darkness. It’s coming. I don’t know what it means, but it seems to be getting closer.”
“That’s not good.” The Doctor got back to work. After a few minutes my desire to giggle constantly finally ceased, followed by the brain fog, and finally the most intense pain. Enough relief to allow my mind to return to consciousness.
“There she is.”
I blinked my eyes open and found the real Doctor smiling down at me. His hands held over my body. He had black hair like Lou, a mustache, and kind eyes.
“Thanks for the help, Doc.”
“Not a problem. I still have a lot of work to do, but it’s a good sign you’re able to come back from the Plane on your own.”
The pain might be gone, but the muscle aches were still very real. “Well, you keep on working. I’ll just be still.”
“I appreciate it.”
I drifted in and out for a few minutes, wanting to sleep, but also not wanting to miss anything important with Dray gone and Bethany hovering in the next room. “So why do they say “doctor” like it’s your name?”
He didn’t look away from where his hands worked. “Because that is my name now. When you are chosen to be the Doctor, it is who you become. I have dedicated my life to healing and protecting the samhain community.”
“Puts a real kink in the love life, huh?” The heartbreak echoing off Bethany was pretty intense.
He frowned a little, his concentration wavering for a moment. “One day a new Doctor will be chosen.”
Ten minutes later he finished and I felt exhausted but healthy, like when a fever breaks. “Thanks, Doctor.”
“You’ll need at least forty-eight hours of solid sleep and recovery, Rhysa. That was a severe poisoning.”
“Forty-eight. Got it. Starting now…” I snuggled into the couch and let my eyes drift shut, this time for sleep.
“I’ll be back to check on you tomorrow.” I felt and heard him move to the kitchen where Bethany waited. I desperately wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation but my body was too tired to allow me to stay awake.
All I caught was the very beginning.
“Thank you, Sun.”
“It’s who I am. No need for thanks, my Moon.”
“I’ll always love you.”
“And I have never stopped loving you.”
