4. Rhythm Of My Heart.

Damon and Mariella, both versions, went to the Australian ranch, as Charles had told them Mimi was there. Damon hated this place, mainly because he could feel Damien's presence there and also how happy Mimi and Charles had been there.

When they arrived there, the stench of wet dogs assaulted their senses, making both of Damon extremely agitated and ready to maul everyone and both Mariellas had to calm them down. They went to the living room and their surprise and disgust; It was Mimi who reeked of a wet dog, her strawberry barely noticeable.

Mimi was wrapped in a sheet, it was full of red stains, her blood and she was unconscious, her skeletal hand was visible, her phone had dropped onto the floor and it was clear that she had passed out in the middle of something. She was skeletal. Damon estimated her to be 20 kilos or so and in terrible shape. But because of the wet dog stench, his teeth did not react yet at all and his radar was confused too. 

Damon controlled himself and went to see Mimi through. He started to try to wake her up first, to see how terrible state she was, and in order to tell her not to do this again. 

The first thing that I sensed was someone talking to me, shaking me, and trying to get me to react. I was so fucking tired, and there was no way I was going to open my eyes, but there was no mercy. Whoever this was, was quite relentless and as it brought me into a more awake state, the pain and weakness, agony started again.

The voice continued as I groaned and tried to sleep, "Mimi, try to wake up, Mimi, come on, now open your eyes, Mimi, come on, get up."

And then always this devil's trademark, the open palm to the face. It stung bad enough to get me awake, and I thought maybe it was better to open my eyes so as not to get slapped a second time. 

I opened my eyes and thought I was getting pretty done seeing such effective double shots, but they didn't do the same. One Damon was groping through me, and then I was the other Damon being attacked by two Mariellas. Just yeah. I was not hallucinating, but there would probably be some sort of explanation for this, too. 

He unwrapped me. There were clean sheets brought next to me.

Damon said to me. "Next time, baby, you don't fucking do that, you understand? No more sacrificing yourself for anybody.'"

I looked at Damon and said, "I told you I did it for the good of the pack, not you. Don't fucking think too highly of yourself."

I was irritated, in pain, and not wanting to discuss this right now. 

Damon looked at me for a moment and was silent. He continued to assess my damage, which was quite damn extensive.

Another Damon came up to me and said, " Don't worry, baby, you wouldn't mind if there were two of us. But it will all work out as far as that sacrifice is concerned. Well, well done, you got yourself in a fucking good shape at 22 kilos, Mimi. Bravo to you. It must have been worth it."

Both Damon's were right on the edge, and I realized that wet dog. That's why there were two Mariellas here kissing them. They spread the sheets and, with some sort of energy or spell, lifted me into clean sheets and bundled me up, before picking me in their arms. I was not sure which one was the real deal and two Mariellas were all over these two, as the wet dog drove them so close to the edge.

I was moved to a medbay in one house, and the Damons went to the medicine cabinet. Mariella came up next to me, gave me a little adrenaline, and explained the demon chase and how neither Damon could get involved.

She said, "This will be one fucked up job and I have never been away from Damon this long so this will tax for me too, those our duplicated will care of you, and then when we get back and after recovery and whatnot, we could maybe have some cubs or something, pack life. You are true alpha, but your self-sacrificing trait is not good for a pack life." 

I explained the pheromone thing and also the brain fragment in my head. "Damien has an obsession with me. He seems to think he can program me to have Stockholm syndrome, and he thinks of me as his own. He has these bodies, sark has been testing humans and sometimes their minds get destroyed, but Sark had let Damien choose those bodies some of them for himself as the next ones and he boasted that he had made links to those bodies and they might be in our houses too."

Mariella said, "Good, that you told me. I will inform the magic house, so they look for those links. They know their stuff, so not to worry." 

I explained carefully how he embedded that piece of brain and how he might live in my mind. Also, my pheromone glands too. Mariella had a look of horrified wonder on her face. She explained it to the Damons, who both looked at me very pointedly.

Damon came to me and cannulated me. His movements were sure and gentle and the cannula slipped in place relatively easily, even though I was not in good shape at all.

He said, "We have a shield over you so that the smell won't come out. Now you're going into surgery, and then you'll probably get a good night's sleep because, baby, you're crazy and stupid. You know what Damien wants to do to you, and you're sacrificing yourself for me. I can understand Adam or Charles, but for me?"

I didn't answer because I couldn't. I knew Damon would be waiting for a clue, but I didn't have one to give him now. Nothing had changed. As a triple-alpha, I could put my feelings down, not to shut my humanity off, but put my feelings off, so I would not have to feel them. I had done it. No more heartbreak for him. He pressed the syringe into my cannula without saying a word.

He had sent Casablanca in my mind, but I did not respond as my love was shut down. It was easier for all like this. He was free to love Mariella if he thought I had no feelings for him. No need for him to be ripped in two and try to love us both. I let him focus on Mariella despite what I felt. 

Damon sighed. No, he wouldn't get Mimi back, no matter what he did. He felt it in Mimi's thoughts so damn clearly, and the pain that racked his soul was corrosive, but he knew he deserved it. He had broken them and had no right even to get Mimi back. What had broken his heart was when he had sent the Casablanca song into Mimi's head just a moment ago, and there had been no further response. Not even a hint of love.

He was now focused on the surgery and didn't say a word to Mariella. Two Damon gave him a knowing look. He knew that he would have to concentrate on chasing the demon then and not worry about Mariella, let alone the bond between her and Mimi. Or his utterly broken heart and this pain had surprised him too. He had not realized how deep his feelings were for Mimi and this felt, oh, this felt so damn badly. 

They removed all the pheromone glands, washed Mimi with magic, water, and washed up liquid, and grew her new, long red hair. He removed that chunk of Damien's visible brain, and it smelled like a wet dog. She was in not good shape, in deep sepsis, and it would take quite some time to get her well enough to have even a fever, as she had been destroyed at the cellular level as well.

Damon had to restrain himself quite a few times when he had to crack the guard a bit every time to see if it stank, and he almost attacked Mimi more than once. One couple cut her brain, and another, Mariella and Damon, cut her neck.

They had just finished with Mimi when they had to leave. The operation had taken 18 hours, and they were tired, but there was no choice but to use energy to load them up and be ready to go on their missions.

Itsy-bitsy was fucking around behind shields, and Mariella then picked up a clue from the ground. The first country was Dutch. Fine, she and Mimosa then left as she kissed Damon greedily once more. She knew this wasn't going to be easy, but so much to do, if only it would help a little.

Damon went to look at the now-sleeping Mimi and sat beside her bed for a moment. He spoke out loud when he was sure no one would hear. He put on a magic ward.

"This time, Mimi, you won't fucking escape. I'll come back and help you get well. We're going to make this work. Believe me, baby. Just keep believing. I will show you we do exist. I make you love me, and I love you. More than you can know."

But he had to leave too, and on the way, he noticed their substitutes were fucking enthusiastically in the bedroom. He rolled his eyes, and he was not sure how fast Mimi would get better at all. 

Mariella and Mimosa arrived in Holland. There was a big tulip field on fire. Itsy Bitsy sat in the tree and said, " Hello, your first task is to save these rare tulips. there are really old, valuable varieties, and this would be a real financial setback for the farmer. We'll see after that. Oh, when the wolf tried to attack, Hu, huh? That was scary. "

Mimosa had attacked, and this little devil teleported away. They then went to work putting out the fires with magic and called in the magic house folks to help.

Damon and Mariella got to work with Mimi. She was eager to decimate the medicine, and Damon got to make a new cocktail almost every day. She woke up, ripped her cannula out, and tried to move, only to end up in a heap on the floor. Miss was in sepsis, and for some reason, was not maintaining her blood sugar or temperature.

She was only 35-36 degrees Celsius most of the time and sometimes even colder. She was found usually near a drug cabinet when she had tried to take some antibiotics or something for herself there, but she was too weak. Damon and Mariella felt a bang on their conscience as they fucked so lot and not focused on their patient, but they just could not help it.

Mimi had been asleep for three weeks, or they had tried to keep her down. And they now let Mimi wake up while they had things to do in the bedroom. Mimi had an infection on top; they had turned it around from sepsis at least, but the lady still had a fever. Damon had developed a new antipyretic, which was dropping steadily and keeping the fever away, but Mimi was lethargic. She still ripped her tubes away unless fever meds were on properly, so she was limp and listless. She was not an easy patient at all. 

I was awake now and then when I could be. I had ripped myself free for quite some time and tried to take care of myself as these versions fucked. That damn fever medicine fought the fever down and took my strength a little, but what took it the most was the fucking drug that affected my sugar. I could feel my sugars always dropping, and then my strength went. 

I just knew that when the fever gives way, then I'll cool down. And when the satanic medicine isn't on all the time, it always comes on from time to time. I wouldn't tell those two about it, not because they do nothing but fuck each other and then go off to fuck each other frantically. I knew I was thin as a rail. Food did not really absorb, and those two had not put me in feeding, so I should soon try to move and eat on my own. 

Again, this is probably going to be pretty much self-medication. If I had Charles, it would be a different story. But those two, I can tell you, I'm not their priority. So I moved, I had enough of my rage and my power so I could teleport into the kitchen and eat as much as possible, whenever my IV was done, and then when they called me back I would go but my medication was not regular, not in any way. 

Mariella and Mimosa had got the tulip fields taken care of. It had taken a week, not a straightforward job, and Mariella was experiencing some pretty powerful feelings for that nasty little demon. The next clue had taken them to England, where there had been food poisoning. In the royal banquet, again, it took a week to help everyone and stop the spreading of that food poisoning. After that, they were in Israel, and Mariella was supposed to attend a fight club. This was new to her, and she was not sure what to expect or how to even fight.

When they got there or were put in a cage, Mariella had tried to escape from there several times, once to the point of embarrassing the mimosa. But then, Mariella's rage slowly surfaced, and the fight went how it went. It got better once Mariella started using energies and spells to her advantage.

Mimosa reminded her she was a goddamn witch and energy creature, and a vampire as well, so eating an opponent would be an excellent strategy too. Mariella made a mental note to learn to be a better fighter, and she was not sure who would be her coach, Damon or Mimi, Charles, or Adam, but she wanted to get better at this.