The Werewolf's Sabbat Ch. 07

Thanks to my editors, PrincessJezebel and MythOFreak. Hope you guys like this one!

*

"Hmm?" Janette realized that her patient had been talking to her, but she hadn't heard a word of what the woman in the hospital bed had said.

"I said it hurts the most right here." The middle aged woman said pointing to the right side of her abdomen. "If you could bring me a pain pill, that would be great."

"Yes, I'll go get that for you right now. Is there anything else I can do for you while I'm here?"

"No. I think that's it."

Janette smiled politely and walked out of the room. She found herself feeling quite frustrated at the fact that she couldn't concentrate on anything. She couldn't keep her mind off of Mitch and their second date planned for later that evening. And that kiss. That kiss. Dear God, that kiss was enough to make her melt just thinking about it. She tried to remind herself to take it easy, that she didn't know if he was really serious about her or not. They had only known each other for a few days, and it was too early to swoon over him just yet. Swoon? She wasn't the type to swoon over a man. Janette laughed at the thought of her fainting simply because of his good looks. No, not good looks. Looks of a Greek God.

"Have you seen Melissa?" she asked her coworker, Shannon.

Shannon shrugged her shoulders. "No. She never showed up this morning. They marked her as a no call, no show. She'll be lucky if she has her job after this."

Janette didn't really want to see Melissa. She didn't know what she would say to her if they were face to face. The situation would be awkward, to say the least. Melissa and Janette weren't exactly bffs, but she did consider her a friend and she worried about her. It wasn't like Melissa to just not show up for work. Even though she was a flighty, teenage type, she was always punctual. Janette stepped into the storeroom and pulled out her cell phone, dialing Melissa's number. No answer. It went straight to voice mail. "Melissa, this is Jan. You didn't show for work this morning. Please call me and let me know that you are okay. Talk to you later." She put the phone back into her pocket and walked out, into the hallway of the hospital.

Janette grabbed the chart of her next patient, quickly scanning through it before knocking once and walking into his room. "Mr. Valtesse, how are you feeling this morning?"

"I'm good. A little sore, but good."

"I'm glad to hear that. I need to get your vitals real quick. We are going to have to start an IV before you go into surgery."

Janette wrapped the blood pressure cuff around the man's arm and pushed the "start" button on the machine. She looked down at him, noticed his gold-colored wristwatch, and remembered that Mitch wore a similar watch. Oh my God, will you stop it already? she thought to herself. She shook the thought from her head and continued with her work, writing down her patient's blood pressure, pulse, temperature and respirations on his chart. She smiled kindly at him. "Your blood pressure is a bit high, but other than that, everything looks good. Do you need anything?"

"No, I think I'm alright," Mr. Valtesse said, with a smile of his own.

"Okay, if you need anything later, push this button." She pointed to the nurse button on his bed rail. "Someone will come right away and take care of you."

"Okay, will do. Thanks," he said.

Janette put her patient's chart back into the slot in the cabinet, and was grabbing another one when she heard Shannon call to her from across the hall in an exasperated voice. "Jan, can you do me a favor and go get a set of vitals on room 322? I'm kind of tied up here."

Janette nodded, noticing the patient that Shannon was dealing with. It was a young child who was screaming and crying, while the hospital staff tried to insert an IV into her arm. That poor thing, she thought. That's the one thing she hated about being a nurse. The small children who came in, with whatever illness or ailment they had, always tore at her heart.

Janette knocked lightly on the door of room 322 before entering. The patient seemed to be asleep. She stepped up next to the bed and looked down at the blond man, his face pale and sickly looking. She was just about to wake him when his eyes fluttered open, looking up at her. He tried to speak but the effort seemed to pain him. "Shh. Relax, don't say anything. I'm just going to check your blood pressure and then you can go back to sleep."

Janette reached forward and grabbed the blood pressure cuff from the machine beside the bed. She screamed when the man's hand flew up and abruptly grabbed her wrist, almost knocking her off balance. She looked at the man's face and was surprised when she saw him glaring up at her with an angered expression, his eyes glowing. She flinched at the pain in her wrist when his grip grew tighter. Janette felt panic rip through her as the man's painfully tight grip on her arm seemed to hold her immobile. She began to feel dizzy and her peripheral vision started to blur, making it seem as though she was peering through a small tunnel. Her body suddenly raced forward at a dizzying speed, as if there was a length of rope attached through her chest and someone was at the other end, pulling at it.

When the pulling finally stopped, she found herself standing in the middle of a field. She looked around in confusion. The scene before her was colorless and cold. She turned to look behind her and gasped, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth, when she saw the mangled car next to her resting on its top. The windows were bashed in and the doors on the driver's side were crushed. She guardedly knelt down to look inside and stumbled backwards, falling on her rear, when she saw her mother and father lying there, dead, covered in blood. Her heart was pounding in her chest, as she crept slowly back to the banged up car on her hands and knees. Janette looked into the back seat where she found the younger version of herself lying unconscious. She felt the tears rolling down her cheeks. She reached out to touch her mother's face when the pulling started again, sucking her violently back through the fuzzy tunnel.

"Janette?" Shannon was standing at the door with a look of worry on her face. "Jan, sweetie, are you okay?"

Shannon raced over to her when Janette suddenly became weak and fell to the floor. She felt exhausted and her hands shook violently. She wasn't expecting the fit of nausea that rolled through her. She quickly grabbed the trash can sitting next to the bed, and pulled it to her just in time to empty her stomach.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Shannon asked, attempting to hold Janette in a sitting position. "I heard a scream and when I came in here, you were just standing there staring into space."

"I'm fine. I just haven't been feeling well, that's all," Janette lied. "Just give me a minute and I'll get back to work." She tried to stand but failed, still too weak.

"Oh no you don't. Let me help you up. The room across the hall is unoccupied. You can rest in there until you feel better, but you are going home right after." Shannon helped Janette up off the floor. "The last thing we need are sick nurses running around here making everyone else ill."

Janette let Shannon help her across the hall to the empty room, receiving odd looks from several people. She hated being coddled and found the extra attention embarrassing. She'd been lying on the bed nearly five minutes and found that she was starting to feel better, her strength returning to her. "I'm feeling pretty good now." She sat up slowly. "You know, I only have about four hours left of my shift. I'm sure I can make it through."

"Uh-uh... nope, not gonna happen." Shannon regarded Janette with a stern, motherly look. "You almost fainted in there. What is it that made you scream like that anyway?"

"He... he grabbed me," she said, looking for the bruises that she was certain were on her wrists from his insanely tight grip. She found no bruises. Her skin wasn't even red from the contact.

Shannon looked at Janette, thinking that she'd lost her mind. "Honey, that man has been unconscious for two days now. You saw him before we left the room. He was out cold."

Janette didn't believe a word of what her co-worker was telling her. Surely she hadn't imagined it all. It seemed so real, all but the tunnel ride, that is. "What was he admitted for anyway?" she asked, still trying to understand what had happened.

"Some kind of animal bite. But that's just a guess. Joe from security found him passed out just outside the emergency room entrance. He said that he thought the man was probably drunk, but then when Joe rolled him over, he found a nasty wound across his shoulder. He said it looked as if something had been chewing on him." Shannon looked down at the floor and grimaced at the thought. "He hasn't woken up since, so no one has been able to ask him exactly what happened."

"That's strange," Janette said, thoughtfully. "Well I hope he's going to be okay."

Shannon stood to walk out. "Look, I have to get back to work." She turned to go when a thoughtful expression crossed her face and she looked back at Janette. "I really don't feel comfortable with you driving yourself home just yet. Is there someone you can call to pick you up?"

"I'm fine," Janette said with a reassuring laugh. "I don't need a ride home." The only person she could think of who could pick her up was Mitch, and she wasn't about to call him. It wasn't his job to chauffeur her around.

Shannon gave Janette one more worried look. "Okay, if you are sure. But promise me that if you start to feel bad again, you will call someone. Please."

"I promise you I will call someone, but I'm fine. I swear." Janette always liked working with Shannon. The woman, much older than she, was always very motherly to everyone. Sometimes she worried too much, though.

Shannon waved her hand lightly before walking out the door. Janette breathed a sigh of relief and stood up from the bed. She had never had an experience like that before and decided right away to go talk to her grandma and aunt about it. They probably knew more than she did about this sort of thing.

She stepped out the door and headed toward the staff lounge to get her purse from her locker. Even though Janette didn't like leaving work early, she was suddenly relieved to get out of the hospital. She stepped out the back door and took a deep breath of fresh air before heading to her car. She felt so much better than she did before. It was almost as if the incident at the hospital had never happened. Janette unlocked her car door, got inside and started the engine.

She pulled out into traffic when her thoughts strayed, once again, to Mitch. She could see his face so clearly in her mind's eye. She could almost smell him, his masculine scent taunting her, as though he was sitting right next to her in the car. She was driving in the direction leading her out of the city, to her grandma's house, when she passed a clothing store. Of course, she had never shopped there before. The clothes they sold were much more provocative than she was used to wearing. It just wasn't her style. She remembered that insane kiss she had shared with Mitch, two nights before. She remembered how it made her feel. That delightful throb between her thighs. That intense tingle that ran the length of her body. The delicious feel of his tongue invading her mouth and his strong, large hands sliding up her back.

Dammit, she thought to herself. Then Janette made a decision. A decision she'd never thought she would make, not after only knowing someone for a few days. She turned the corner and went around the block, heading back to the little promiscuous clothing shop. It wouldn't hurt to just look around, would it?

*

"Mr. Marshall? How are you feeling?"

Leonard slowly opened his eyes to find his vision fuzzy and distorted. He stared up at the blurry figure standing over him. He tried to sit up but every muscle in his body ached and he laid back down with a groan. He felt like he had been run over by a car.

"Please, don't try to get up. I'm Dr. George Cole. Do you know where you are?"

Leonard's vision began to clear and he rubbed his eyes with his fists. Looking around, he thought he was in some kind of hospital. He panicked slightly when the thought came to him that he might be back at the psychiatric hospital where he had spent some time a few years ago. "Shit, where am I? What happened?"

"Calm down. You are at St. Joseph Medical Center. You were found unconscious outside of the hospital, and have been here for two days." The doctor put his pen to the clipboard in his hand, preparing to take notes. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Leonard laid his head back and closed his eyes, his mind still in a fog. His eyes shot open when he saw Marie's face in his mind. Everything came rushing back to him at that moment, including the rage he had been feeling when he was bitten. He had been walking along a bike path, on his way to his sister's house, when he saw her. She was laughing, sitting quite intimately next to a dark haired man. When he first sighted her, he felt elated that she was alive. That elation quickly turned to anger when he realized that she had tricked him. How had she done it? he thought to himself. He had seen her with his own eyes, that dreadful night, and had been sure that she was dead. Yet here the little whore sat with another man. He hadn't meant to kill her. He just wanted to do away with the husband and take her with him. By the time he had gotten to her, it was too late. It didn't matter, though. She was alive now. She was to be his. He had decided that when he first laid eyes on her in that bookstore. She still would be his, he'd see to that. But first he had to punish her for evading him.

"Are you okay?" the doctor asked when he saw the angered look on the man's face. "Anything that you can remember will be helpful."

Just tell him what he wants to hear so we can get out of here!

Leonard's expression softened. "I remember walking down a path by the river. I don't know what happened, exactly. Someone or something struck me from behind, I was knocked over, and I hit my head. Things went black for a moment and when I came to, I was bleeding from my shoulder. I think something bit me. Maybe it was a dog or something. I walked as quickly as I could, trying to find a hospital. That's all I remember." Leonard closed his eyes again, remembering the pain shooting through him, his body becoming weaker with every step he took. His blood had felt like fire running through his veins. For a moment, he thought that maybe whatever bit him may have given him rabies or something. He didn't remember reaching the hospital.

The doctor gave Leonard a guarded look and cleared his throat. "Did you happen to see what bit you?"

"No. Like I said, it came at me from behind. I didn't see anything."

"Are you on any prescription medication, street drugs, over the counter, anything like that?"

Not anymore. "No." Leonard had been diagnosed with schizophrenia years ago and was prescribed medication for it but when things started to get better, he stopped taking the pills. He didn't need them anyway.

The doctor directed a small pen light at Leonard's face, checking his pupils. "Do you have pain anywhere?"

His entire body throbbed as though he had gone through a workout designed for a Navy Seal. "No. I feel fine."

"Are you sure? I can give you something for pain, if you need it."

Leonard felt himself getting angry with the irritating doctor. "NO. I don't need anything. I feel fine." He hated taking any kind of medication. He felt that it slowed him down somehow and dulled his senses. What if something were to happen when he was under the influence? He wouldn't be able to escape as fast.

Dr. Cole smiled down at Leonard. "Okay, but if you change your mind just let me know. There's a few blood tests I want to do. I'll send in the nurse to collect a sample. In the mean time, try and relax, and get some rest." The doctor patted him on the arm, turned and walked out the door. He walked to the nurses station and ordered the blood work on Mr. Marshall, then grabbed the next chart and headed down the hall to do a work release follow-up with a patient who came in last week with the flu. Ten minutes later he walked into the break room and pulled out his cell.

When he was sure that nobody would interrupt him, he hit a speed dial number. "Liam, it's George. I think I have a newly turned were here in the hospital." He paused, listening. "No, I haven't gotten the blood work done yet. He doesn't know what happened to him and I'm not sure where to go from here." The doctor looked up and saw two police officers striding toward him. "Hold on," he said into the phone. "Can I help you officers?"

The bigger of the two men spoke first. "We were informed that you had a patient by the name of Leonard Marshall?"

"That's correct. What seems to be the problem?"

"He is a suspect in a rather gruesome crime that we are investigating. Where is he? We need to speak to him."

"Oh? What did he do?"

"We can't elaborate on the details of the crime while it's still under investigation."

"I understand. He's down the hall a ways, in room 322."

The officers turned and walked towards the room that the doctor had directed them to. They entered the room but walked back out with disturbed expressions on their faces, one of them speaking quietly into his radio. "He wasn't taken anywhere for some sort of procedure, was he?"

Dr. Cole looked confused. "No, why do you ask?"

"Because he's not there," the shorter man said. "We're going to have to alert hospital security. We have to find him." They walked hurriedly away from the doctor.

Dr. Cole raised the phone once more to his ear. "This just got a lot worse. The police are after this guy for what they called a 'gruesome crime' and he just walked out of the hospital. We are gonna have to check this guy out and find him before the next full moon."

*

Janette spent the entire afternoon scrubbing her apartment and preparing for her date with Mitch. By the time she was finished with the intense cleaning spree, her place reeked of lemon. She waved her hand in front of her face, trying to waft the strong odor away. Maybe I overdid it, she thought and opened the living room window a couple of inches to let in some fresh air. She glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was only 4:30. She had all of the prep work done, so making dinner wouldn't take too long.

Janette sighed heavily and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. She didn't know what she was feeling. Nervousness? Anticipation? Fear? Perhaps a combination of the three? She walked into the bathroom and started the shower, before stripping off her clothes and getting in. She stood under the spray and remembered the arms sliding around her. Instead of feeling fear from the memory, she found herself wondering what it would be like if those arms had been Mitch's and it had been him standing behind her. The thought sent the most delightful shiver down her spine.

Okay, stop wasting time fantasizing, Janette told herself. She quickly washed her hair using the coconut scented shampoo she had bought earlier, rinsed it out and applied the conditioner of the same scent. She grabbed her razor from the shower caddy and began shaving her legs, intent on not missing a single hair. When she pulled the razor to the top of her thighs, she caught sight of the sparse, brown curls between her legs and stopped. She had never shaved there before. What the hell, she thought. What's it going to hurt to try it? Lots of people were doing that these days. She had overheard a couple of girls talking about it at work one day. Why anyone would talk about such a personal thing was beyond her. Satisfied with the shaving she had just done, she ran her hand gently over her now bare mound and was surprised at how smooth it felt. Everything seemed more sensitive than before.