7. My, Oh, My.

Damon sighed deeply as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and at that moment Mariella realized Damon was feeling Mimi's pain and anxiety to some extent and when Damon got Mimi pain-free and deep enough to sleep, he felt relieved. Damon stood and looked at the now deeply unconscious, pale woman with an unreadable expression. Mariella was not sure what he felt. Was it just pure protector instinct or some actual feelings coming to the surface?

Mariella couldn't understand what was wrong with Damon moving Mimi's hair away from her forehead. Why such a wave of terror? Damon sighed, moved, then put the empty syringe into the trash, put one bag into the rack, and connected it, adjusting the flow rate of drugs so Mimi would stay in deep sleep.

"Is that better?" Mariella asked. "I told you, you feel Mimi and how she feels. That's why you've had such a hard time this week. You're still in connection with each other."

Damon looked at Mariella for a while and said, " I don't know if I want that kind of connection. I think I'd rather it was gone. That just makes things more difficult. I don't want that to come between us like it already did. And as you can see, Mimi wants Charles, but not yet, not until this infection is gone. Maybe then. If I could switch so that I'm your protector and Charles is Mimi's."

Mariella looked at Damon for a while and said, "No, you can't because you are Mimi's Protector, just as Charles is mine, so you are Mimi's and therefore you want to care, and you feel her pain. You can't change that. It's decided up there, and it affects so many things you won't believe. And God did not decide it. Someone ever more powerful force of the universe has made it so, so you are stuck with her. You should have your radar open soon."

Damon looked at Mariella, kissed her passionately, and said, " I taste her blood soon. It might help with that. Fine, then let's get to work and get this young lady fixed up."

Mariella asked, " Why doesn't Mimi want you to touch her?"

Damon told her everything, or rather showed her all the time, all the creepy stuff Damien did. What he could remember, not all, not at all. 

Damon said, " It wasn't always Damien ..."

Mariella was sad for Damon. Damien had permanently ruined something beautiful and delicate between Mimi and Damon. But maybe they could create something new together.

Mariella said, "Love is a powerful force. You gotta believe it. Someday you might have a chance with it again."

Damon looked at her, not sure at all about that. 

First, they released Mimi from her restraints and started to undress her.

What was revealed beneath the clothes was another painfully thin, 6 bullets-wounded, emaciated Mimi's body. Damon sighed. Mimi weighed about 25 kilos. Mimi was pale, full of wounds, and rash. Every bone in her fragile body was showing, and she looked like a skeleton with skin on.

He showed Mariella how to draw blood and cannulated a wing needle into the crook of Mimi's elbow.

He said, "Her blood pressure is very low, so you might use a little bit of energy to get blood moving, but carefully so it doesn't mess up too many results. "

Mariella nodded. 

Damon said, "I'm putting the operating room in order because I have to operate on Mimi. Those bullets and infection and stuff. She might need new organs and quite an extensive overhaul. It might be better if you didn't interfere. I don't want you to get sick."

Mariella smiled. Damon was so incredibly sweet, so perfect.

"Honey, energy witch, energy shield? With boosted white power. " She pointed to the energy field around her that wouldn't let any bug anywhere near her. "I'm operating too. Period."

Damon sighed and put his hands up. "Fine, come on then."

He went to put everything ready for operation while Mariella took the rest of the blood tests and put them into the machine.

Damon came, picked Mimi in his arms, and carried her to the table. He had scrubs on and everything was ready. Mariella adored Damon, and she liked to watch how nimble and careful Damon's fingers were and how gentle he was while operating.

They operated on Mimi, removing all of her organs and flushing out the remains of the jelly. There wasn't much left, it had all been absorbed. Damon drained a strong antibiotic from his teeth, and they filled Mimi's now empty body cavity with the bump where the antibiotic had been mixed in. She didn't yet grow any new organs, and Damon was not implanting new ones because she was too fragile and this infection was still too severe. 

The stuffing would provide energy, and the antibiotic would do its job. The fever medicine they gave Damon kept the fever at bay, and the infection began to subside after two weeks. Mimi's condition had not greatly improved. She was still very thin, pale, and weak. Her straps had gone up and got stronger. It was something.

However, the drug, the sleeps, and other anesthetics showed no signs of going away, and Mimi's body temperature began to drop. Damon and Mariella had no choice but to put Mimi in an incubator. Mimi wouldn't even need the drugs now because she was already in a deep coma. There was nothing more they could do. They had fucked daily. it took little time to change Mimi's bags and whatnot but now it was safe to give Mimi to care for someone else.

Two very faint apparitions had watched all the time. They had done what they could for her. Neither Mariela nor Damon could see them, only hear their faint whispers urging them to help her, as they could not anymore. Their love for her was strong as ever and it gave them power to do whatever they could for Mimi, even to call the one who could heal her. Morning light shined through the window and soon these apparitions had gone. Until next time, she would need them.

Damon told Adam and Charles everything that had happened, and they came to take care of Mimi.

Damon was silent as he watched Charles and Adam go to Mimi and talk to her and touch her. He was still jealous. He felt almost the same pang in his heart that he had felt when he had seen Mimi sleeping in Charles's arms. And he knew it would happen again. Mariella wrapped herself around him and they kissed passionately. 

Mimi herself had asked to be in Charles' arms. It hurt, and Damon didn't understand why. It had nothing to do with protector issues. In that place, Damon made himself a hidden stash where he put all his feelings for Mimi. He shut off all his feelings. It was an instant relief. Damon knew that someday, he would know if those feelings were real. 

Charles and Adam packed Mimi into the car and drove away. They didn't say where they were taking Mimi. Damon sighed and took Mariella in his arms, and they again teleported to the now Pennsylvania mansion. They found a bedroom and each other and an overwhelming passion and love. Nothing mattered. They only had each other.

Damon simply told Mariella that whatever feelings he had for Mimi were now put away.

Mariella said, " You can't get rid of those feelings. It's just a temporary thing. Look, Damon, remember your wedding vows. You promised Mimi always and forever. You made a promise, and now you're afraid you can't keep it, but remember, forever is a long time. And it's only been a few months. You see, you are seeking yourself, living as you, the whole you and part of you that was with Mimi. It is not yet fully absorbed. It is part of you is a kind of resting. Damien felt nothing good for Mimi, so all those feelings are yours. I am not jealous, you two had good things going and it might be that one day, you might win her heart back, so you two get your spark back on and I get some serious oomph to my energy web. "

Damon sighed and said, " You always know where the problem is. I don't think, darling, that you're always quite as confused as you let on."

Mariella smiled and let her passion show.

A week later, it was time to deal with Mirella. Damon already knew exactly how. They went to Alabama, where Mirella was with Samuel and Bran. When they got to the house, Mariella became hysterical and didn't want to go anywhere near the house. Mariella sobbed onto the ground. She shook from fear. Damon stood a while and acted then. He made velvet for her.

There were earth metals there. Damon knocked her out in the middle of the place and removed the terror from her head. Someone in that house knew how to make a horror tangle. That's interesting. He took her to another house for a few days to recover, and help with her fear of earth metals. 

Together with Mariela, when she woke up, they created a glove to suck up the metals. They walked into the house, and Mariella sucked metal after metals away from walls, the kitchen, floors, and everywhere. There were tiny amounts. They found evidence that this was Mirella's work. She had poisoned a lot of stuff with earth metals. Including a few of Mimosa's rooms and her treats, too.

Mariella was shocked. Damon has just more reasons to kill Mirella, and this time, no second chance. He would use the spell that would destroy her spirit. Mariella's glove was a magnificent tool for them. And that's how they were able to suck most of it out every time.

But Bran and Samuel were metal poisoned, and the metals were too deep in their brains. Mariella just couldn't suck that amount out. They were taken to the magic house to sleep, and I'd see if they could get those metals down to less sometimes.

Nick and Elias had suffered the same fate. They, too, were now sleeping in the magic house. Damon was tired. He and Mariella had now cleared the house of metal after metal. And now, Mirella. It had been a rough few weeks. They had quickies here and there, but not good long sessions. 

Damon went to Mirella and wrapped himself around her, kissed, soothed, and then opened the jugular, drained Mirella dry, and dug her heart out of her chest. Same time casting a spell that destroyed her spirit for good. No chance of resurrection. All that was left of Mirella was a pile of ashes. Mariella was pleased. Now they would get to fuck for real again and not have to settle for a quick one somewhere in between. They had done some work now.

Because Bran was now out of the picture, Charles and Adam agreed to Mariella's suggestion that Damon be the new pack leader. Even Charles had been pack leader, not Bran, they were enamored by Mariella and she spoke with good arguments too. 

Damon said, " The only way to get out of the pack is for me to let go. I'm going to do this my way so that when Mimi wakes up one day, we can look into it."

Then Damon said, " Come on, darling, I'll take you to our paradise now. "

He grabbed Mariella and teleported them to the Azores. And he saw nothing wrong with that. But he'd never take her to the basement. Mariella marveled at their perfect paradise and showed Damon how it was now filled with energy stones.

It was a clear sign that this was now their place. Mariella went to lie naked on the large purple stone, let the lust energy soak into her, and watched as Damon came to take her once again.

When I woke up, I thought that such was my luck. Just as we had gotten Damien off Damon, I felt wonderful that there would be no more shed sessions, so no.

Satan's rat must have a body for himself and fill me with all the substances in the world to make me weak, sick, and a nuisance to the pack. I didn't believe his noble idea of saving the world. Surely that was after the money. I knew also that he had an obsession with me, and that was not so good thing at all. My life was not easy, not at all. 

I didn't know why Damien would want me sick all the time, but I suspected he had seen me all these years as too strong, too tough, and that didn't sit well with the gentleman's delicate ego. He was just one of many crazy scientists who saw me as a lab rat, nothing else, I guess. 

I woke up in Charles's arms. It was so perfect. This was my safety. The place I wanted to be, to feel his firm body against me, to feel his strong arms keeping me close to him, to smell his apple scent, to hear his heartbeat. He told me that the drugs from the pharmaceutical company put me into a deep coma, and Mariella and Damon couldn't help either. Damon had then called him and Adam, and they had brought me here. 

Charles said that I probably wouldn't have woken up for a couple of months if he hadn't taken me into his embrace again. Charles guessed that some of me knew I was alone in the incubator and not around anyone. I needed to be with him, in his arms. I belonged here. 

He said that he and Adam now have a new regimen for whenever I get a drugged feeling. It goes away faster when you are in physical contact with another. It was safe to be here. It was lovely to be.

Charles would never abandon me for another. Even though he is Mariella's protector, we have the same connection as Damon and Mariella. Charles has, in a way, saved and taught me to believe in love and intimacy again. I didn't want to go anywhere from here. This was my safety. I told Charles that I had asked to be held earlier after the infection.

I was shocked when they told me that Mirella had been naughty. I had trusted Mirella for decades. She had cured me several times after shed sessions. We had been lovers. Friends. And yet, all the while, she was the bad guy. How she had poisoned Mimosa's rooms and treats. 

Then, how many times did she let Damien attack me and do everything to me? Were all her healings always on point? Now I remembered my heat problem, the infection that acted as heat, the shower gel that was teeming with germs. But had Mirella been Damien's or Bran's minion?

I also thought Bran was terrible, and I knew my life would be better without Bran. I felt sorry for Samuel but for Bran, the rapist. I'd let him hang out there for years. I had given Charles the key to the Magic House before I left for the gala, and he told me all about them.

They're all different, and each house has its own. There's sex, lust, food, exercise, family, procreation, illness, and all linked together so that you can pass, even from Australia to Hawaii, from house to house.

I was in a California mansion, our magnificent medbay, once made by the now-deceased Mirella. I had been asleep for three weeks. Samuel and Bran had been metalized with earth metals, and there was no choice but to put them in a deep coma in the depths of the magic house to await a cure.

Charles said, "It could take decades, even centuries. Unfortunately, it looks like Magnum and Dresden are in the same boat. They share the same fate once they are caught."

But my heart sort of broke when he told me that Mirella's metalling had also victimized Nicholas and Elias. They were already asleep in the magic house. I was still recovering for a few more weeks.

We were fucking wild, with Charles and Adam, and I loved to plop on either of their laps and suck their pheromones into me. I was theirs. I have found my sex drive once again. We had the connection with Adam, Charles, and I, we were. I was in love, I really was, and I didn't even think about Damon or Mariella. This was our time.

Charles told me that Damon was now the new pack leader. And I would have no choice but to accept, he said, because there was no way out of the pack unless Damon let me go. I showed the boys my new power and how I had learned a pretty cool trick. I changed shape. I had rehearsed this for a long time and now this has gone well.

 I told them about my willpower and showed them how to achieve telekinesis. We made each other possession marks, and I noticed that all the marks Damon had ever bitten me had disappeared, but Adam and Charles' marks were still there.

I didn't know if it was me who had lost the marks or if it was Damon, because he didn't want me that way anymore. We spent time with the boys, and I could have stayed with them the whole time, but Adam and Charles had already left. I was getting in good shape. My life was full of new, changes everywhere too. And goddamn it, that was hard for me. 

One hard thing was losing Magnum. I had already lost Jake and Rob, too, and now him. Who is next that I have to give away? Adam and Charles were busy, they had now duty for this new pack and Damon was the leader. Well, that would be Mariella because he did right about everything that she asked. 

Boys went back to energy networking, which meant sex with Mariela and with the wolves too. Yes, I can share. I had a good time again, enjoying myself. I was on my own for a few more weeks.

I strengthened myself, and this strength, this determination that I had found within me, this will, my alpha power. I had always known I had it, and now I felt it more clearly than ever.

My willpower was awesome. I could do physical things with it, even telekinesis, if I concentrated hard enough. I let my protective shell stay tightly in place and I knew that at some point I would have to face a new pack life, and have to watch Damon be with another, but I knew that's what he would have to watch when I was with Adam and Charles. But actually, I felt pretty mildly for Damon, no great longing. I had truly moved on. I had found these two, and they were more than enough. 

The three of us had a connection, quite different from anything Damon and I had ever had. We had, above all, trust, and love. And maybe it was meant to be that I had to end up with these two. Maybe Damon was just a phase in my life, but forever is a long time and I don't know what the future holds anymore, thankfully.

My life has been wild. There are those wonderful times. The good times. But another thing Charles told me crushed a piece of my heart away, the heart that had once belonged to Damon. He told me how Damon had taken Mariella to the Azores.

To a place that was supposed to be just the two of us. Our paradise. And how Mariella had bragged about how she and Damon now had a new paradise, where darling Damon had promised to always take her. I know it was just one place. A million things have happened between Damon and me, and I know we're not there anymore.

At least I don't feel like there is. I don't want Damon. He's got another one now, and that's good. I can be in a sham marriage, but I know I don't have to do anything about that marriage because it's only nominal. An accessory.

I was thinking about all these things and I had some rocks to help. I had found them somewhere in the past and one of the flea-witches told me they were memorial stones. You can pour all the memories you don't want into them. Good or bad and I also had feeling stones where you put your feelings that you don't want to feel.

Both types of stones were very useful during that couple of weeks. I have been through so much in the fleas, so much I have had to do on my own. Every trip to Lake Lanier always crushed my resolve a bit, before a good mission always gave me a boost.

Maybe this would be a similar balancing act, with Damon breaking and Adam or Charles fixing. I was also pouring my loss, losing Magnum, my last support, my guardian almost, and losing Nick and Elias, my far far relatives. Even though they were Damon's enemies, they weren't mine. They had helped me more than hurt. 

I used my powers, combined them with different variations, and practiced with my feline forms. the form that was most natural to me was the black jaguar. I liked to be a snow leopard too, but somehow, the black jaguar, it was me. Always alone, predator, strong, alpha female.