The Angelus Brothers Chronicles - The Red Witch

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Raphael knelt beside Rouge's bed where Marie had treated her infected wounds and inserted a tube in her arm to give her fluids. The she-wolf had said something about dehydration and infection but the vampire had only half heard. His demon had still been screaming in his head and the fae blood thundering through his veins. He was finally regaining control of himself and realising his Rouge was safely back in his arms.

“She should be ok Raphael.” He looked up at the doctor and let her words actually sink into his blood-addled brain. It was worse than trying to listen to Duncan's mother after half a dozen bottles of whiskey and drunken naked campfire dancing. Which he was sure he and Duncan had done at least once.

“Why isn’t she awake?” He asked as he brushed his fingers down the side of her face. She was always pale but now her skin looked translucent.

“She had blood poisoning from the infected wounds on her arms. I’ve cleaned and dressed them and those are a new thing called antibiotics as well as painkillers I’m giving her. The painkillers will make her sleep and give her body a chance to recover. She's immortal so she should recover from this.”  The she-wolf placed her hand on his shoulder. She'd told him several times but she could see he still wasn't really listening to her. But at least now he was speaking to her. He'd terrified her when he'd first brought the witch to her but the girl needed her and that came first.
“I need to tend to the other girl. Rouge will be asleep for hours yet. Go to the house, shower and get changed. I’ll come and get you if she wakes before you return.” He didn’t move, just stayed staring at his witch.
“Raphael!” Marie raised her voice then lowered it again when he looked up at her. “It won’t do either of you any good for you to sit there in dirty blood-drenched clothes. Go and shower and I will come to get you if she wakes before you return.” He looked up at the diminutive-looking wolf and couldn't help but give her a half-smile.
“You're just like his mother.” She frowned at him as he got up and left without another word. Although he stopped in the doorway to look back at his witch. "She'll still be here when you return."

Puzzling at the vampire's odd comment Marie went to her office that had once been the pantry and tapped on the door.
“I’m going to open the door. There will be some light for a moment until I close the door.”
“Ok,” Came the girl's voice. It had taken Marie several attempts to speak to the girl. It seemed she only knew what Duncan called the language of the Gods.  Inside her office, the skeletal girl sat on the sofa against the wall wearing a nightgown that swamped her tiny frame. Cassiel had turned on Marie's desk lamp and turned it to the wall so only the smallest amount of light was cast about the room. Marie didn’t know how anyone so emaciated could actually be alive let alone conscious and sitting up. She'd seen such horrors, before she became a wolf, during the war. But all those patients died on her. The girl was ashen and looked like an animated corpse.

“Did you manage to eat any of it?” She asked, indicating the bowl of porridge and glass of milk Winston had brought from the house.

“A little, I drank all the milk but the porridge was very filling.”

“Is this light level still hurting your eyes?”

“I am adjusting to it. It's nice to be able to see things again and to be warm. I forgot what warmth felt like.” If the girl thought this barely lit room was bright, what kind of conditions was she used to and how long had she been in them to be so wasted away. Marie’s heart was breaking looking at her, she knew the girl would not be the late teens she appeared, she'd learnt enough of this odd world to know that, but it broke her to see the girl so starved.

“I’m Marie. I spoke to you when you first arrived."

“I’m Kaia.”

“That's a very pretty name, Kaia.”