Prey

Chapter 79

Doe's POV:

I tried not to writhe against the sting, my fingers bending and nails stabbing into the pillow I was burying my face into.

"Sorry," Erik's still timid voice croaked out that word for the fourth time since he brought me in here.

He'd carried me to what felt like the complete opposite side of the building and into a room that resembled, well, one you'd find in an actual hospital.

I didn't even know they had that sort of thing here since they did the actual checkups all in one large central room.

After lying me down face-first onto the elevated bed-type thing, he got right to work, starting with taking my shirt and sending it off to get the blood out of it.

I wanted that shirt back and made sure he knew that.

Shredded or not, it was better than the thin gowns they would have given me as a replacement.

If they would even give me a replacement.

The whip somehow never came in enough contact with my bra to have that be an issue, so I just laid in that while he did his thing.

My hopes that he was somewhat good at his job ended up getting the answer that they wanted.

The bloodied rags he used to stop my bleeding still sat on the raised metal tray he kept next to the wheeled chair he was currently leaning forward on as he worked on me.

Which hurt like a bitch and was nearly the tipping point of my consciousness running from me, but I held to it as tight as I could.

Terrified of Xander or not, I didn't want to be unconscious in front of him while he did this.

Lucky for me, it didn't take too long and was quickly replaced with washcloths warmed with hot water that he used to carefully clean the surrounding area that needed it.

It gave me enough time to ease my breathing and racing heart until he moved on to the disinfecting part.

All in all, though, his movements were assured even through his still obvious nerves, and he never accidentally did something that left my wounds biting harder unless it was unavoidable.

Like this.

Whatever he was putting on me right now was the complete opposite of those warm towels and felt like acid on my back.

I laid my head on its side, catching his concentrated expression in the corner of my eye.

"Don't you have some lidocaine or bupivacaine," I pulled the first two numbing agents I could think of from hearing them from Nico, "something with a 'caine' in it?"

He paused, a brow raising as he turned to me, "How do you know about all that?"

"This isn't my first time dealing with morons who didn't realize who I belonged to," I spoke bluntly.

After that little show, I felt like I had every right to.

"So I can see," He gulped, most likely alluding to the previous scars on my back, "But no, they don't keep anything like that around here. This place is just thrown together with the most basic and simple-to-understand supplies for those who don't have a hint of knowledge when it comes to medicinal practice."

By the edge of annoyance in his voice, I concluded that he wasn't one of those.

And I knew this job was one of the more lesser-viewed ones. One that practically any vampire could get with no experience.