A Dark Night with a Dark Stranger Ch. 16

CHAPTER 16- LIMBO

For three weeks Bell was stuck in limbo, between life and death. Every night Ragon and often Clyde would go in to see her, until the late night visiting hours passed and even then, they would often remain until the nurses, who Clyde would flirt with shamelessly in order to convince them to extend their visiting restrictions, kicked them out. Sometimes Ragon would pace the room, desperately trying to make sense of everything and other times he would sit and hold Bell's hand, willing her to live. During these forced instances, when Clyde ad Ragon were required to tolerate each other's company, the pair did not communicate and each pretended the other was not there. Though Clyde still remained with the coven, he had not spoken to Ragon since the night of Sameth's betrayal. During the day Clyde remained locked in his room and at night he left the house only to feed or visit Bell. Patrick had continued to teach Ryder the ins and outs of being a vampire. Ryder, who had managed not to kill anyone yet, was still as blood hungry as ever. On one particularly memorable occasion, Ryder had insisted on wanting to visit Bell in the hospital. It had not just been Ragon and Clyde who protested but most of the coven, all except Patrick, who couldn't see the harm in Ryder stretching his legs.

"He has been couped up in this house for ages," Patrick said, quickly coming to Ryder's defence after Ryder had asked the coven if he could join them to visit Bell.

"He is a fledgling Patrick!" Ragon yelled. "Taking Ryder to the hospital is like waving a bag of blood in his face and asking him not to drink."

"I agree," Cambridge said. "Ryder going to the hospital is a terrible idea. You know how heightened your emotions are after you are changed. He might want to hug Bell and end up ripping her head off."

"We are going to have to let him try his strengths soon," Patrick said, grabbing Ryder by the arm and pulling him onto the veranda, where a mesmerised boy waited.

Ryder followed obediently, his eyes locking onto the young man who was wearing a pair of cargo pants and a bright blue shirt. For a moment Ryder squealed, clapping his hands together, as a broad evil grin spread across his face.

"Remember what I said," Patrick instructed and Ryder groaned, but moved to sit down on the floor of the veranda, within arm's reach of the man, humming tunelessly to himself.

Patrick had insisted on getting Ryder to sit in the same room as a blood source and to practice not attacking them. The first time Ryder had tried this he had almost gone crazy trying to ignore the delicious morsel that awaited him, by running around the veranda as fast as possible so as to tire himself out. This had the effect of making his prey very dizzy and himself even hungrier than he had been initially. Fortunately, since then, his hunger was much more tamed; but still he was irritated at having to wait to be fed. He had fought for a long time with Patrick about accepting this lesson, insisting that it made him feel at best like an inferior student and at worst, like a dog. Though he had tried repeatedly, he still was unable to induce or disassociate his victims. This did not surprise any of the coven members, as being able to use either of these vampiric skills often took years, if not decades to master. Disassociation was usually the first power to develop and it was often thought of as being an innate ability of vampires, owing to the fact that they relied on this ability to allow them to hunt without prosecution. Still, Patrick's efforts to tame Ryder had not all been in vain. Along with learning to mimic the mannerisms of being alive again, Ryder had mastered part of his restrain and had not killed any of the people who he fed from: so far.

It was almost January, during the middle of the day, when the first shade of hope was delivered to the coven. A ringing noise caught Ragon's attention. It was an odd noise, reverberating off the walls and waking the entire household, who were normally, 'dead to the world,' so to speak, at this time of the day. Ragon however had not been asleep, he should have been but instead he was sitting in Bell's room: thinking. He moved quickly at the noise, searching for the source of the disturbance, until he realised finally that it was the home phone.

"Hello. It's Dr Ring from the critical care ward at Mercy West, I am calling about Bell," the voice said into the receiver.

Ragon's eyes opened wide, his breathing shallow; she can't be dead.

"Hello? Are you there?" the voice asked, hearing the silence.

"What? Yes. What's happened?" Ragon asked quickly, blurring through the house.

"I have got some good news. Bell has come out of the coma; if you would like to come and see her, she should be responsive," the doctor said.

Ragon reached one shaky hand to the curtains, drawing them open for only a moment before closing them quickly. In that short time his arm had instantly blistered, his flesh writhing in the sunlight.

"I will be there as soon as possible," Ragon said, hanging up the phone and glaring at the curtains.

Ragon had had to wait until five pm before he could risk leaving the house. A few times he had tried to drive the car to the hospital, quickly racing from the house, to the garage, and speeding along the back streets. Even with the ultra UV protection option he had elected for his car, it was not enough to allow him to drive during the day in this climate. On the third attempt, after making it a full five minutes in the car he gave up and decided to wait until the sun relinquished. Each attempt, though not being enough to seriously harm him, was sufficient to rob him of his strength and by the time it was finally dark, he was starving.

He had not told Clyde or the others that Bell was awake. He knew that it was selfish but he couldn't help himself. He wanted to be alone with her, to tell her that everything would be ok; he didn't want to share her with anyone. When finally his car pulled into the hospital parking lot he burst through the doors and moved as fast as humanly possible towards her room. When he was almost there, quiet voices met his ears and he paused momentarily to listen.

"So you can't remember anything?" A male voice was asking.

"No, nothing," Bell said and Ragon smiled at the sound of her voice from behind the door.

"Amnesia is common with injuries such as these," a female with a distinctively medical air said.

"I'm sorry," the man said. "It's just; you're the 10th, 24 year old female to be attacked in Brisbane city in the last few weeks and the first one to survive. I don't want to push you but..."

At these words Ragon had burst into the room, interrupting the man who was speaking. Ragon's eyes darted from the female doctor, who was standing in the corner of the room, to a tall young man who had a small note pad and pen in his hands and then finally to Bell. He was confused to see the surprised look on all of their faces, but moved quickly to stand protectively by her.

Bell, who was propped up on a pillow in the hospital bed, was looking at Ragon in shock. Her thoughts were interrupted however when a loud cough caught everyone's attention and both Ragon and Bell turned to face the police officer.

Officer Ryans, as he had introduced himself, looked to be about 29. He was tall and thin with a strong frame, wavy blonde hair, a long face and brown eyes.

"Well, if you remember anything, anything at all, please call me," the officer said. "My home phone number is on the back, so don't hesitate, day or night."

Ragon looked at the policeman with narrowed eyes which turned to shock as Bell reached out to take his business card. In a flash he had stretched out his own hand and intercepted Bell's, taking the small card quickly.

"Thanks," he said, pocketing the card.

"I will need a home address and phone number so I can reach you for follow up questions," the officer said, his eyes darting suspiciously to Ragon.

Bell made to open her mouth but Ragon cut her off saying, "We live at 34 Eagle Rd, Mt Cootha."

At these words Bell stretched her head, her eyes twisted with confusion. She didn't live in Mount Cootha; she lived in Paddington, in a one bedroom apartment. Her lease didn't end for another 10 months. What the hell was going on?

"Wait," Bell said, stopping the policeman from taking down this address. "I live in Paddington, not Mt Cootha and I have never seen this man before."

As she spoke, she saw the stranger's face fall. Instantly she felt horrible, like she had just told a small child that there was no such thing as Santa Claus. For the smallest of moments, Ragon hoped that she was joking but one look in her doubtful eyes told him that she was not.

"Bell?" Ragon said, reaching for her hand adoringly.

Before he could grab onto it however, she had pulled her hand away. A sharp stab in his heart followed this and he looked at her in disbelief before staring unblinkingly up at the doctor.

"Who are you?" Bell asked, looking up at the gorgeous stranger, an odd sense of de je vu ringing in her ears.

Ragon blinked, his face breaking further at her words. There were lines in his forehead from the confusion and his eyes were empty.

"You must be the man who bought her here," the female doctor said moving enthusiastically over to him. "I'm Felicity Brown, Bell's doctor for this evening. Bell has amnesia; she doesn't remember anything before six months ago."

How could this be happening Ragon thought?

"Nothing?" Ragon asked, moving to sit on one of the chairs by Bell's bed. "You can't remember anything at all?"

Bell shook her head.

"It isn't unusual, I wouldn't be too concerned. Most of the time memories just take a little longer to repair," the doctor said. "Bell is alive and after what she has been through, that enough in itself is a miracle."

The police man, who was now looking at Ragon in a calculated sort of way said, "And what's your name?"

"Ragon Patricks," he said coolly. "I'm Bell's boyfriend."

Bell blinked a few times at this. What? She had a boyfriend? And she was living with him? What the hell had happened these past few months?

"So you are the one who found Bell?" Officer Ryans asked.

Ragon shook his head at these words. It should have been him who found her but it had been Clyde.

"No," he said gruffly.

"Well I need to talk to the person who brought Bell in here," Officer Ryans said, putting his notepad and pen away disappointedly. "They may have seen the person who attacked her."

At these words Ragon was suddenly tense. The very last thing that his coven, or any vampire, needed was for the law to be getting involved in vampire matters.

"What makes you think she was attacked?" Ragon asked. "I thought it was an accident?"

"She was stabbed," officer Ryans replied coolly.

"But that doesn't mean..." Ragon said.

"And there are bruises on her wrists and ankles from where she was bound," Officer Ryans added.

"Officer Ryans, a word please," Doctor Brown said, indicating for him to join her outside.

The pair walked around the corner and into a small officer.

"Some of Bell's x-rays showed abnormalities; there are contusion marks on her ribs consistent with her falling or taking a beating in the last two months prior to this," the doctor said, reaching for a large grey envelope and placing a few x-rays onto a viewer for the officer to see.

Officer Ryans scanned the images, not really knowing what he was looking at.

"So you're saying someone beat her up and stabbed her?" he asked.

"It's difficult to be sure but these marks here," she said pointing to the x-ray, "are classic strangulation hairline fractures but there is signs of ossification, indicating that these injuries occurred prior to her attack."

The officer considered her words carefully, reaching for his note pad and pen and jotting down a few more scribbled notes.

Back in Bell's room Ragon was pacing.

"You really don't remember anything?" he asked imploringly.

Bell shook her head quickly. She was looking at Ragon in wild disbelief. Ragon was gorgeous and he was her boyfriend?

"We really live together?" Bell asked blushing.

Live together? That was what she was thinking about? Ragon wanted to shake Bell; what they had was so much more than two people living together; he loved her.

"Yes," he said sadly.

"I'm sorry," Bell began, but before she could say anything more the door opened and officer Ryans and the female doctor walked back inside.

"Bell, for the duration of your hospitalisation I am going to post a plain clothed policeman on watch," he said, his eyes darting angrily up at Ragon. "When your memory does come back, I am hoping that you will be able to help us find the person responsible for all these deaths."

"When can she come home?" Ragon asked, ignoring the officer and directing his attention to Doctor Brown.

For a moment Dr Brown looked at the officer sheepishly then said, "Well, as soon as she recovers, though her retrograde amnesia may take longer to heal than the rest of her body but she will need round the clock care and...."

"Actually," Officer Ryans interrupted. "I'm not so sure it is a good idea for Bell to return home with you."

At these words Ragon had to supress a growl. His fists were bawled in deep concentration, as he fought the desire to walk right over to this prissy officer and snap his neck. Officer Ryan had not missed this and he gestured down at his holster, where a concealed gun was hanging. Ragon smiled grimly at this. Let him try, he thought, enjoying the vision of this baboon attempting to stop him with mere bullets.

"Well I'm not sure that's your call," Ragon said between gritted teeth.

Officer Ryans made to move towards Ragon but Bell sat up quickly, the effort forcing her to cry out in pain. Both men looked over to her instantly.

"Perhaps both of you should leave," Dr Brown said, moving over to Bell and placing a hand on her wrist.

"I'll be back soon Bell," Ragon said, moving over to her and kissing her on the forehead.

"So will I," Officer Ryans said, holding the door open for Ragon to leave first.