6.

When they finally arrived, Samuel took Mimi straight back downstairs for surgery. Adam helped him slide Mimi with the help of a board. Samuel went to get the operating theatre ready, had already stocked up on jelly as he had smelled the herbs and Damon's blood as much as he could find, and he told Adam to get some more from nearby houses.

He then moved Mimi into the operating theatre. There, he then started the slow and careful work, dripping a strong antibiotic all the time. He had taken Mimi's blood tests again, and he would look at them after the operation to see what nutritional concentrates were needed. 

The operation took time, and Samuel patiently poured Damon's blood everywhere he removed something. Mimi lost a lot of tissue, and all her organs were also removed because they were mush, nothing sensible. He was dripping antibiotics just because the whole gut with the bacteria had been destroyed, and werewolves, who were carnivores, usually had pretty nasty germs in their guts.

He had never taken terribly extensive cultures of Mimi's gut flora, but it was best to be safe. An infection would now be the complication that really wasn't needed.

After the long and difficult surgery was finally over, Samuel lifted Mimi to bed to rest for a while. At the same time, he went through the blood test results and searched for any substances and compounds that were missing from Mimi's system.

Once he had the drip trays filled and Mimi cannulated, Samuel put Damon's blood into the healing jelly, which had repaired some of the damage. Adam had brought several more bags, and he poured them into the jelly. He didn't dress any wounds, but let the jelly do its job. 

He put Mimi in the jelly and kept her sound asleep and completely pain-free. The IV was full of compounds and substances that Mimi's body needed, and Samuel adjusted the drip rate; he also kept the antibiotic dripping as a supportive treatment for Mimi so that her defense system wouldn't have to kick into overdrive.

Evil was happy. His perfect session had really given him strength and complete, wonderful pleasure. He couldn't believe the amount of ecstasy he had gotten from that, and even then, he was greedy, already thinking about new equipment and new instruments.

He was a genius like the Good One, but his mind was warped, and he used his genius to hurt and torture, even manipulate. Nothing was off limits if he wanted to do something, and he felt the strongest he had ever felt. It had been a really wonderful thing, and he didn't know how to enjoy it as much as he could.

That's why he wanted to do that again, but when the combination of the satanic wizard and the vervain had hit him very hard. He realized now that he had been over-optimistic about how strong he was, but he vowed in his mind that one day, one day, he would be so strong that the potion of the satanic wizard would no longer work, and he could be around when he wanted.

And he knew how to get stronger by torturing the invincible, by the feeling, by the power it gave him. That was the most important thing of all, and he would do it again, as many times as he wanted. The good side would be weakened, though, when he could do that repeatedly to the invincible.

Damon was sitting on Dresden's couch, sipping coffee and muttering and cursing to himself. How the fuck is he so fucking fickle these days that he throws his humanity to the scrap heap, stalks, and follows Mimi and Adam to get himself all worked up? Apparently, he had a rage so intense that it's what threw his humanity out of whack.

Well, now, if he could just behave himself and be a little wiser and not torture the love of his life all the time, what a fucking beast he was. Mimi won't want to be with him soon because he's impossible. He must try to improve his self-control, though.

Damon concentrated and put his rage into a tighter form, sealed it away, and then didn't understand when it was as if something inside him was very disappointed, almost enraged. A strange feeling, but it faded as quickly as it had come.

Dresden looked at the vampire searchingly. There was something about it that bothered Dresden, and he just couldn't figure out what the fuck his instincts were trying to tell him. Dresden had been through enough to know to trust his instincts, but then again, sometimes he was too paranoid, and things just weren't the way he thought they were. He sometimes had a habit of making a bull out of a fly.

Dresden let the vampire go after a couple of days. They'd been talking for quite a while, and Dresden knew one thing but still didn't understand a thing about it. Damon was a wizard, or he could be, but something was preventing him from doing it. He had sensed ungodly strong magic, good, pure magic in a vampire, but he had said nothing about it, and he wasn't going to.

He was going to monitor it and try to find out what it could be. What was holding the magic back, blocking it? Dresden hadn't met a power that strong in a long time, and he was curious, too, but he also knew that curiosity would backfire, and it wasn't time to act yet, not by a long shot.

Damon came back again two days later, swearing profusely. Dresden had made a more effective potion to get the switch back on, but he seemed to like to flick it off.

He spent his time chatting with Adam, assuring him he had nothing against it, and he hadn't understood why he hadn't made himself known when I'd seen them in the alley.

Then Damon had brought a whole alpine goat, just the kind the lady had eaten, and Adam hadn't found them. Amazingly, the lady was pushing Damon, who seemed to be under his spell. Adam watched for a moment as Damon stroked her gently, and somehow, Adam saw Damon was almost seducing her.

It shouldn't be possible. Lady was an extraordinary creature, but surely Salvatore, the pussy machine, wasn't planning to expand his territory that much. Well, of course, Damon could take the form of a wolf, and then...

Adam shook his head and wondered what the fuck was going on in his head, too; his thoughts were a bit too wild. He didn't even understand where the whole horse's ass idea had come from. 

The men went to dinner, and Samuel was nowhere to be seen. Adam hadn't been to Med Bay much, and Samuel hadn't come out much. When Adam told Damon this, he couldn't help but sigh in exasperation. As good as Samuel is, he is not Mimi's protector; Damon is, and he somehow instinctively knows what is best for Mimi and what will help her heal faster.

He didn't want to remember the entire session, the pleasure, the distorted pleasure, but then again, he had always been quite frankly insane when he had taken his humanity out of it.

He was just so old, so fucking experienced all kinds of shit, and it affected his vampire side, which was actually pretty fucking vindictive.

He said, "We need to get Samuel to eat, and in the meantime, I'm going to see what's going on with Mimi. Get Samuel into clinics, wherever, so we can get this thing straightened out."

Adam grunted, ran his hand through his hair, sighed, and said, "I'll get Samuel somewhere else. He just might not be too impressed, but it'll be fine."

The frustration in his voice was as clear as it could be. Damon finished his meal, then started walking towards the medbay downstairs. He would keep Mimi there for now. There wouldn't be as much danger as Samuel trying to interfere. 

 Damon went to check on Mimi.

Samuel was surprised when Damon strolled into the medbay, went over to Mimi, took her wrist, and felt for a pulse. He could see the situation very clearly through the jelly.

He remembered how much he had drunk Mimi's blood, and now she should wake up and drink from him. That would help. She was still injured and not all healed.

Samuel kept Mimi in a very deep sleep and jelly. Adam invited Samuel to eat with a pack bond and was so determined that Samuel had no choice but to go and obey.

When Samuel went to eat, Damon lifted Mimi out of the jelly and drained fresh blood into the wounds again. They healed a little again. The jelly wasn't helping; it was just slowing the healing process, and once he got Mimi in a state where she could stand to be awake, then he would start feeding her his own blood—many times.

Damon moved Mimi to her bed to help her sleep. If Mimi was kept in too deep a sleep, it slowed down the healing process because it slowed down her metabolism. Damon kept good pain medication and would frequently irrigate the wounds with his fresh blood straight from the vein.

The fact that the blood was packed in a bag and kept cold well somewhat impaired the healing ability of the blood, but it would help if he could get Mimi to drink and drink well.

He kept easing the anesthesia all the time, waiting for Mimi to wake up because he knew that drinking her blood would help a lot. He kept as good a painkiller as he could find. He had taken the antibiotic off when he had tasted Mimi's blood; there were no germs, and the antibiotic again just stressed Mimi's system.

He didn't put the viscera puree on yet, as he wanted Mimi to drink his blood properly. He had dressed the wounds with thick gel dressings with his blood in them, but when Mimi's system was so stressed, the healing didn't really take off. But this would help.

He sat by the bedside, looking solemnly at his sleeping wife, who was pale and sickly because of him. His job was to put Mimi right and then they would have a better time of it, surely.

Mimi furrowed her eyebrows and stirred.

Damon stroked his wife and said, "Baby, it's all right. Come on, wake up.."

I woke up and realized something about my surroundings. I was pretty fucking drugged and tired. I was still hurting, but it was the pain you get when you get better. I could smell that I was in Chicago, and Damon was in the same room as me. I didn't have any problem now.

I opened my eyes and tried to get my head to work. He spoke in a soothing voice, trying to get me to wake up. I looked around wearily.

He sat down next to me, got up, came over to me, and said, " Sorry, I'm sorry, I've lost my humanity again. But baby, now it would do you real good if you could get a drink of my blood. I'm going to lift you up and support you in my arms, and you're going to put your little teeth around my neck and drink. And put your teeth all the way in. You're still all medicated and tired, so you need blood fast to drink. Good daggers out. And don't worry, Mirella is sleeping and staying asleep. Is that clear?"

I nodded and felt his muscular arms wrap around me. I had little choice, as he was already lifting me. I winced as my back was still sore, even though there seemed to be bandages everywhere. He grunted reassuringly, adjusting his hand so I wasn't hurt. 

He lifted me against him, and I sank my teeth into his neck. And drink. I held my teeth fully; they felt strange as I had always kept them small, but when they were fully exposed, I felt like my mouth was full of teeth.

I tasted the hot, potent blood in my mouth, and it became about my life. I must have had a bloodlust because I got a better grip on Damon and drank harder, almost to the point of feasting. I finally released my grip and slumped down. I was full as a tick. I lay there for a while and fell asleep.

The same thing happened several times, but I couldn't really stay awake yet. Damon kept me pretty much drugged, always lightening me up enough to fill me up, and then he could open the drip somehow hidden so that I stunned pretty quickly when I'd finished my drink.