by Ladew, Lisa
Blaise got up slowly and walked toward the pile, his face now stricken with horrified understanding. He looked around the small room and found a whisk broom in the corner. He grabbed it and prodded the pile gingerly. The top of the pile slipped sideways, revealing what had once been a face. Grotesque, shiny, bug eyes were the most prominent feature. The nose looked melted. The mouth gaped open, but way too big for a normal mouth.
West turned away. He didn’t want to see any more.
“What happened to him?” Blaise asked.
“Katerina fried him.” Jordan said simply. “Now get me the fuck out!”
Blaise found the key and picked it up, very careful not to touch Phillips. He unlocked Jordan’s cell and she crawled out, then barreled into him, hugging him. Blaise wrapped her in his arms and murmured something to her West couldn’t hear. Jordan stood still and quiet, her head on Blaise’s shoulder, and West realized she was crying.
“What happened to Katerina, Jordan?”
Jordan lifted her head and wiped her eyes. “I don’t know. She’s been like that since she fried him. She was OK before. He didn’t touch her. He was scared to.”
Jordan grabbed the key out of Blaise’s hand and went down the row of doors, unlocking every one of them. Women started crawling out into the light.
Blaise shook his head and West could see his wheels turning, trying to figure out how he was going to explain this to his boss. Blaise grabbed his phone and started making calls.
Chapter 25
West pulled himself from a fitful sleep, trying to figure out what had woken him. The door to the hospital room was still closed. The soft hum and beeping of the hospital instruments were the same. He lifted himself slightly out of his chair and looked at the bed where Katerina had lain, motionless for four days. But she was sitting up.
West shot out of the chair and crossed the room. “Baby, are you OK?” he asked her softly.
Her left hand floated upwards and touched his face gently. West felt the skin there grow hot instantly. “I want to go home, West.”
“OK, I’ll take you home. Tomorrow. The doctors have said there’s nothing wrong with you and you have to be moved to long-term care but if you’ll stay awake, I’ll take you home.”
“Can’t stay awake. Take me home.”
Katerina dropped her hand and her torso drifted lightly back to the bed. West tucked her back under the blankets and pulled the pillow firmly under her head. Her eyes were already closed.
***
West jumped out of the back of the private care ambulance and watched as the two orderlies carefully maneuvered Katerina out of the ambulance on the gurney. They wheeled her to the elevator at the far side of the building and took her up to the second floor. West ran ahead of them and put the key in the lock of her apartment, letting them in.
“Take her down the hallway and put her in the bed.”
He wasn’t set up to give her twenty-four hour care as they had in the hospital, but he hoped desperately that once she was home, she would come around a little. If not, he would hire a nurse. He already had one on stand-by, but he could feel Katerina didn’t want anyone here but the two of them.
She’d been in a coma of unknown origin for two days when they first got to the hospital. Each piece of equipment they’d tried to use on her, like a heart monitor or oxygen saturation monitor, had blown a fuse or started smoking during those two days. Even the ECG machine waved its needles crazily causing the technician to pull it off of her in fear that it would break. But that had faded, and eventually they’d been able to take all her vital signs, right around the time she’d started waking up for a minute or two at a time. West had refused to leave her side and touched her as much as possible. She hadn’t responded at all, but he persisted.
Blaise had had his ankle treated, and Jordan had gotten an MRI but her injuries weren’t serious. Police had been in the room constantly for those first two days, asking West question after question. After they finally left, Katerina had become slightly responsive. Enough that they had been able to take out most of her invasive medical equipment. But she still wouldn’t talk or open her eyes. Not until she had asked to be taken home.
West followed the orderlies back to the bedroom to supervise them putting Katerina on the bed. He didn’t want her jostled or treated with anything but the utmost care. When they finished their work to his satisfaction he shook both their hands, thanked them, and showed them out the door.
He returned to the bedroom, and found Katerina had pulled her covers up to her chin. He smiled lightly and laid down with her for the first time since the night she disappeared. He draped his arm over her and felt her shift slightly.
For three more days, Katerina stayed in that state. She would drink water if he asked and drink the protein shake if he asked, but she wouldn’t open her eyes, and would only use the bathroom once she thought he was asleep. Sometimes he got the sense that she prowled the apartment while he was sleeping. She didn’t want to talk to him - to anyone. She wanted to be left alone. When Jordan and Blaise came to call she never gave any sign that she even heard them, although Jordan swore Katerina squeezed her fingers when Jordan held her hand.
West rarely knew if Katerina was sleeping, or laying silently, blocking out the world. The only time he was certain she was asleep was when she had the nightmares. She would thrash and moan and sometimes yell out pleas to an imaginary foe. It was during these times that he wondered if she knew Dylan Phillips was still alive. A mangled mess of grotesquely-liquefied skin and organs, but alive nonetheless. He’d been moved down to a teaching hospital somewhere in the Southern part of the state. West didn’t care where or what they were doing to him. The official story was that he had been electrocuted, but he wondered if anyone believed it. He hoped they did, for Kat’s sake.
On the fourth day he had her home, she was in the grip of one of these nightmares, just as dusk was falling. West heard her cry out and ran down the hallway to her. Her eyes were open but stared right through him. “Tell the doctors he needs stronger antibiotics,” she whispered, grabbing his hands tightly.
“Who?”
“Frank Phillips.”
“Baby, I’m sure they are take-”
“Tell them! Call the doctor and tell them!” she cried, her face anguished.
“OK sweetheart, I will, but after you calm down, OK?”
“OK.”
She laid back down and her eyes closed immediately. West waited several moments, then walked out to find his phone. He felt silly calling the hospital, but he had told Katerina he would.
He called the hospital and waited on hold for twenty-five minutes while he made himself a sandwich in the kitchen. He finally got Dr. Neil on the line. “Dr. Neil, I’m sorry to bother you, but Katerina wanted me to call and tell you Frank Phillips needs stronger antibiotics.”
“Indeed he did, but we started him on vancomycin three days ago. He’s responding well, much faster than we ever thought he would. In fact he’s sitting up today.”
West nodded, not feeling happy about that at all. “Thanks Doctor, I’ll tell her.”
He hung up the phone and turned to tell Katerina.
Katerina stood at the entrance to the kitchen, her soft, long shirt hanging off of her loosely. He was struck by how much weight she had lost since he first met her. But she was awake! His first thought was to offer her his sandwich.
His smile died on his face as he noticed the look in her eyes. An angry, haunted look. “Tell me what?”
“That they started Frank Phillips on vancomycin. He’s doing well.”
“What in the hell did you call the hospital for?” she snarled.
West’s first thought was anguish. This wasn’t Katerina. God, couldn’t they catch a break? Couldn’t she recover from all of this and get her normal life back? Why did this have to keep happening to her?
“You asked me to Katerina.”
“I didn’t ask you to. You knew I didn’t tell the doctors and you th
ought I should have, so you did it behind my back,” she spat out, advancing slowly towards him.
West watched her stalk him and took an involuntary step backwards. The power in her gaze! She was tiny. Almost half his weight. And yet she could maim with her … with her what? Her mind? Her will? Looking in her eyes at that moment he almost believed she could kill with a thought.
West didn’t take another step backwards. He stood his ground and tried to put all of his love for her on display. Maybe she could fry him like she did Dylan or turn him into a vegetable like she did Frank, but he wasn’t going to run from her. She wouldn’t choose to do that. And if she did? He would never turn a hand against her. Never.
Suddenly Katerina leaped towards him. She grabbed a steak knife off the counter and arced it in the air at his head. He ducked, involuntarily, feeling it whiz past him. A hand went to his head, rubbing. She hadn’t cut him, but he hadn’t ducked fast enough. She should have cut him.
He didn’t know why she was doing this. She could have taken the top of his head off just now, but she didn’t. She was still standing arm’s length in front of him, the knife in her hand, her eyes deadly and fixed on him, her chest heaving with the force of her breathing.
West made his decision and prayed he wasn’t about to die. He put his hands behind his back. “Go ahead Katerina. I won’t fight you. I won’t duck again. If you want to kill me, you can.”
She stared at him under her lashes, her breath forcing heavily in and out of her lungs. West thought she’d never looked so beautiful.
“I love you Katerina.”
His words broke her paralysis and she flung herself at him, knife poised overhead. West stood still and bared his neck to her, his heart pounding so hard he could feel it in his fingers and toes. Her forearm thudded heavily on his shoulder and then she opened her hand, the knife clattering harmlessly to the floor behind him. She was on him, kicking and biting and hammering her fists on his chest and his arms and his face. West stood still and took each blow.
Her fury started to abate and tortured sobs wracked her. She raked his neck with her nails on one side of his head and kissed his ear on the other side, the kiss turning into a bite. He felt blood flow.
She cried and she screamed and she smashed her body into his like a battering ram. West welcomed each hit. He would try anything to get his Katerina back. His wonderfully strong and smart Katerina, who would tease him then soothe him with a warm smile. The air around them crackled slightly with her energy. He thought he saw sparks in her hair.
Finally, her rage fully spent she collapsed into him and West encircled her in his arms.
“You still love me?” she asked him, her voice an excruciating whisper.
“Always.”
“Even after everything?”
“Even because of everything.”
“Even though I’m a freak?”
“Even though you’re a miracle.”
The tension drained out of Katerina and she collapsed into his chest. West held her close and stroked her hair, feeling her body tremble.
“I don’t know what’s going on with me West. I can’t control myself. I … there … there’s something really wrong with me,” Katerina said, anguish in her voice.
“You can control yourself. You just proved you can. You didn’t stab me did you?”
“But I acted like I was going to! I yelled at you and hit you! I just want this to be over. I just want to feel like myself again.”
Katerina’s body sagged in his arms and he held her upright.
“You will, I know you will. Agnes can help. You’ve never gotten a chance to talk to her, but you can now.”
“I just don’t like not feeling in control. Feeling like someone else. Treating you like that.”
“I know baby, I know,” he murmured, so glad to have her talking and sharing what was going on in her head. Things were finally over - really and truly over and if she could just see that, just realize it, she could concentrate on getting better.
He kissed her forehead lightly, and Katerina turned her face to smile hesitantly at him.
He felt the tension of the last week pop like a bubble, and saw the old Katerina looking at him through new eyes. She’d survived, made it through, and come out stronger. He could see the knowledge of it in her eyes too. A new awareness passed between them, lightly, like a kiss. They’d done it together. He thought she looked achingly beautiful.
He lowered his head and pressed his lips softly against hers. She pressed back, and stiffness seemed to flow back into her body. Her fingers scratched at his back and she thrust her body against his, increasing the pressure in their lips. West broke the kiss and looked at her, concerned. She looked back, fire in her eyes, but a different kind of fire.
“It’s over, isn’t it?”
He nodded. She was reading his mind. He needed to remember that she could do that.
“For real this time?”
“For real this time. Get ready to go back to a boring life.”
“That sounds heavenly,” she sighed, the fire still in her eyes.
She curled a hand around his head and pulled him back to her, claiming him as her own, a low sound in the back of her throat. He felt his body respond instantly, and Katerina felt it too. She ground her hips against him and ran her hand up and down his hard length. Her touch was maddening and irresistible. “Katerina,” he groaned, wanting her so bad he throbbed and ached.
She recaptured his mouth, then put her hands on his shoulders and leaped lightly, wrapping her legs around him. He caught her easily and took a step towards the bedroom.
“Take me West, fill me, fuck me, make me yours.” West groaned again. She’d never used words like that before. The hot images spurred him on and he wanted to run, to throw her on the bed and do as she wanted. He felt pure, animalistic lust driving him. They made it to the bedroom and he tried to set her down on the bed. She held on and pulled him down on top of her. He kicked off his shoes and joined her happily, reveling in the heat pouring off her. She was hot. Literally and figuratively, and he couldn’t wait to sink himself inside that hotness, bury himself in it. His cock jumped and twitched, begging to be let free.
She kissed him expertly, with force, and bucked beneath him, arching her back and grinding their cores together. West sucked in a breath, trying to hold himself back. She was so hot, she was pushing him over the edge without even getting his clothes off.
He pushed her shirt over her head, then off and onto the floor and revealed her delectable body, perfectly shaped breasts, curves in all the right places, and a pair of tiny pink panties pulling him in like a bulls-eye.
She whipped his shirt off then tore at his pants, her breath coming faster. “West, please, hard, I want it hard. Fuck me hard.”
West couldn’t believe this was his Katerina. He didn’t know she could be like this. So rapacious and ravenous for sex. He loved it and it unnerved him at the same time. But the part that loved it won out, and he stood, pushing his pants and underwear down in one motion, then scrambling back onto the bed quickly.
“Yes, yes,” she breathed, pulling on him, trying to angle him in to her.
“Condom,” he gasped, feeling her soft, yet insistent hands knead and tug at him. Within an instant, he had it on and was again being tugged and guided, dead center. He slowed, in order to savor his entrance into her body, but she had other ideas. She grasped his hips and pulled him down, grinding him into her.
West tried to hold back slightly, never wanting to hurt her, but the deeper he went the more she urged him on. “It feels so good, West, you feel so good,” she moaned, her eyes half closed, her body tense and rigid. She pulsed her hips up and down as he pumped into her and he watched her orgasm build on her face. She tore at his arms with her nails and tried to pull him down to her.
West dropped down and kissed her again, even as he thrust into her. She moaned into his mouth. “West, I’m coming, harder, faster, make me come, West!”
West slammed into her, wanting to make her happy, wanting to give her everything she was asking for. Sweat ran down his back and he gritted his teeth against his own impending release.
Katerina threw back her head and screamed in pleasure, her body tensing hotly and pulsing in hard waves from head to toe. The waves were so strong he could feel them through the bed, through her velvety softness, and everywhere her skin touched his. His own orgasm ripped through him and he ground his teeth together, thrusting one final time, as Katerina collapsed to the bed.
West dropped to his elbows and kissed Katerina lightly on one breast, still feeling slight pulsations rippling through her. The smile on her face reminded him of Angel-Katerina he thought he’d seen in the barn. Content. Happy. Peaceful. But there had been no finesse to what they had just done. It had been all hard slamming and instant gratification.
He kissed her again. “Be right back.”
He pulled gently out of her, his body mourning the loss of her heat instantly, and retreated to the bathroom. When he returned, Katerina was on her side, her legs pulled up into her body, the covers over her.
He climbed on to the bed behind her and snuggled up to her still-hot back.
“That was amazing,” he said.
She squeaked and pulled her legs in closer to her chest.
He lifted up on one elbow and looked at her. She was flushed and lovely, but she hid her face in the mattress when he looked at her.
“Katerina, are you OK?”
She mumbled something he couldn’t understand.
“Kat, baby, talk to me. What’s going on?”
She turned her face away from the mattress, but covered it with her hands. “I’m embarrassed.”
West shook his head, puzzled. “Embarrassed? Why?”
“I said … because of the things I said.”
West chuckled lightly. “Yeah, that was awesome. I hope you say them again.”
Katerina pulled her chin down and covered her entire head with her arms. “No. I won’t.”