Chapter 171 - Already Over

I was convinced that the traffic laws Ghost remembered were older than me. But he was a slow and steady driver overall, even despite the tiredness that slowly but steadily crept up on both of us. Since there weren't any cars around, we didn't smash into anyone on our way to the place where Anon was held, but two times Ghost had missed a turn and we hard to circle around. This made the twenty minutes-long drive turn into a thirty minutes-long one, and I had to repeat pain-reducing operation on myself thrice in that time.

When we arrived, Anon was sitting on a lawn, with Alexey leaning over him and JJ standing a few steps away. At our approach, he sent us a bright smile. Even in the dim lighting from the street lamps, I saw that JJ's cheeks were flushed—not embarrassed-flushed or angry-flushed, but alive-flushed. He was pumped up with blood.

"Ah, who I see—my two favourite witches." He strolled up to me and I saw that red was still rich in his eyes. He lifted my palm to his lips and put a kiss on my fingers. "Of course, you are the most favourite one, ma chèrie."

"This isn't time to flirt," I said, feeling a blush of my own creeping up my cheeks. "How's Anon?"

"Not as whole as we all would've preferred, but he would live, and if nothing like what just did happens again, it will be a long life. Still, he certainly needs his first aid. Alexey already got to it, but if you could look at him, Ghost, everyone would appreciate it."

"Of course! This is what I'm here for," Ghost beamed and hurried to Anon. 

I followed to assist, but kept talking. "What about the people who got him here? Where's Avarice?"

"She's with them. She intends to find out who sent them, why, where they got information about her dwelling… all these details. Of course, I would've got them faster, but Avarice doesn't want fast." JJ let out a puff of air. "She holds much more attachment for hew nephew than she shows. It's something unwise to keep, but sometimes simply inescapable, especially for those as young as she is."

There was a forlorn look in his eyes now, and I wondered what he remembered from his own past as he spoke. Did he have many relatives of his own he had to desert when he became a vampire? Maybe even a wife and children—in his century he was old enough for both.

Then we got to Anon, and the sight brought me back to present. 'Battered' was an appropriate description for his state, but not entirely so. It conveyed the darkened bruises on his face, the dirtied and crumbled clothes, even the arm he was cradling at his chest as if there was something seriously wrong with it.

It didn't convey the wild fear in his teared eyes, one that was still there even behind the relief.

"Your arm needs to be set, Denis," Alexey was talking to him in a slow and steady tone. "Do you understand? You will be alright, but your arm needs to be set. I have the medical training for injuries like these, and then we will bring you home, and get you a doctor."

"Y—yes," Denis swallowed hard. His eyes shot to Ghost, then to me, and a flicker of recognition appeared in them. "You! I-I know you. Diana. What are you doing here? And who's this?" He pointed at Ghost with his healthy arm.

"Just your friendly neighbour witches that came to help." I smiled and waved at him. "This is Ghost. He can take all your pain away."

Ghost waved too. "Nice to meet you, Denis!" He looked down at Denis. He had his well open by now, just as me, and I was sure, was scanning him for injuries, external and internal.

I did, too. My migraine intensified again when I did, but it wasn't so bad yet that I had to cast another 'painkiller' on myself. Denis was much worse than me, either way. Plenty of aches were scattered all over his body. His arm was broken—a closed break, so at least he wasn't bleeding out, he was just bleeding on the inside—and there was an ache at the back of his head that indicated a slight bump. That was without counting all the bruises spread over his body.

"W-withes?" Denis took a double take at me. "You are a witch, too?"

"Yes, they are," Alexey said. He turned to Ghost and gave him a hard look. "Can you really just heal him?"

Ghost hummed. "This young man isn't that hurt. Normally, I'd recommend some life injection, setting that bone, of course—and that would have to be done by hand—and putting him into a restorative sleep. With Diana here, though, we can make a full operation. We might need a donor in process, though… You will fit brilliantly! Some sturdiness is just what this bone needs to mend, and you have all the sturdiness he might need. But it'll be more convenient to move the patient back home, first. The operation would take time."

Alexey still didn't seem entirely convinced. I could read concern in his eyes whenever he glanced at Anon, and I knew that he, too, was quite attached to the man, so I understood his doubts.

"He's a top-notch healer, Alyosha, I guarantee you," I told him. "And I will assist him so Anon won't get any magical contamination. He'll be like new after we are done, but Ghost's right that we should move back to Avarice's place. We can quickly take away the pain in the meantime."

"Don't!" Anon shook his head. "I don't want to be put under. The… the other vampire," he glanced towards JJ, "offered already. I don't need it."

I raised my brows in surprise, but shrugged. "You can change your mind at any time. So, we aren't waiting for Avarice to return, then."