Night Fishing

May 24, 2015:

Nighteyes scoops Wanda from the river

East River, NYC

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

It is the middle of a dark, overcast night. The East River is still abuzz with police and coast guard boats after the explosion on an oil tanker a few miles upriver. Helicopters fly overhead, sweeping the waters for any survivors even though, thanks to Iceman and Nyx, all of the sailors have been accounted for. But there is one figure that they have missed. More drifting than swimming towards the garbage strewn shore is Wanda. Barely conscious, her clothes are tattered and scorched…as is some of her flesh. She seems to be at the mercy of the tide.

Nighteyes has been searching for Wanda since she fled from the roof. The vampire has been cursing the lost time during the day more thoroughly than ever before. She isn't expecting to find her though, she's actually taking a quick break from the search to check over the site of the disaster, just in case something or someone was missed. Nighteyes doesn't even know what caused the explosion, she's been rather focused on her task to the exclusion of everything else. Her keen sight catches the faint movement on the water as she approaches the shore. "Goliath, look. Someone is out there still. Stay here, the water is too much for you." The dog jumps from her shoulder and sits with a worried gaze on the water. It would take him a very long time to get anywhere in that. Nighteyes makes short work of the swim though, after stripping down to her under garments. No sense in getting her clothes wet and this person will need warmth and dryness if they're still alive, and then she's close enough to see.."Wanda?" Not a lot surprises the vampire but she sounds completely shocked. "What.." She blanches and swims closer. "Be alive, please be alive.."

Wanda's flesh is cold from the icy water and red from burns both light and dark. There is the faintest of breaths from between her dry lips yet her eyes do slowly flicker open at the sound of Nighteyes. The witch's eyes blue as they attempt to focus on her saviour. "Is it gone?" she asks, her voice more cracking than firm. Her eyes narrow. "Vampire" Wanda's face cracks with a smile. "I need to sleep…"

Nighteyes sighs in relief. She can't say a prayer of thanks of course but if she could…she most definitely would. "Shh. Sleep. I have you. I'll get you to shore and dry and safe." And whatever did this to her is going to die. If it hasn't already. She glances around at the destruction but carefully gathers Wanda against her chest with one arm and begins swimming towards the shore. It's good she's so strong and doesn't really tire. It's not far but carrying someone with her without drowning them isn't easy and she can't go nearly so fast. Goliath is running back and forth nervously as they approach and barks softly when Nighteyes finally rises and strides onto the beach with Wanda in her arms. She's got to get her out of these clothes and into her own dry ones and see how badly she's wounded before that. The vampire hesitates. If she woke up with someone undressing her she'd surely react with violence and she's not sure how aware or awake Wanda is.

Other than some coughs that spit dark, oily water from her lips, Wanda is barely awake. She probably doesn't even realise there is firm ground beneath her again. In some places her clothes have melted into her flesh. One of her boots has disintegrated from the force of an explosion. By all rights she should be dead but it is not so easy to take out a witch with control over chaos and luck…even subconscious control. But Nighteyes can imagine that when Wanda does wake a little more then she will be in absolute agony.

Nighteyes stares at her in dismay. This is much worse than it looks and she can well imagine the agony it’s going to bring. It's only been about a week since her own recent brush with death and that had been a kind of pain and fear unlike anything she remembers feeling before. "I am not certain we can get her to Nick in time, Goliath. Look at her, even then, the pain…" What would that do to the woman's fragile mind, or the medication she'd need? Humans get hooked on such things so easily she's read. Nighteyes makes a soft noise of frustration. She can save her right now, right here and in doing so spare Wanda all that pain and risk of infection and long recovery…but doing so goes against everything she's strived to be the past several decades and it’s not at all without risks of its own. "I cannot lose you…not again. I do not think I could bear it…Wanda…Wanda!" Nighteyes gently strokes her cheek and tries to wake her a bit. "I..I can fix this. I can heal you…if you'll allow it." Goliath whines softly. This is a dangerous plan and he's not exactly approving but the little dog doesn't have a better idea either. He's smart enough and been with her long enough to realize Nighteyes is a bit more unstable herself than anyone knows. She's a little too close to no longer caring if she lives or dies and that makes her even more dangerous than usual.

'Heal?' Wanda asks, though not with her broken lips or dry mouth, but rather in the mind of Nighteyes. Thankfully it does not hurt for Wanda to 'speak' like this; no lungs with their burnt lining have to push oxygen into a cracked throat and out through bleeding lips. 'Is it gone?' she asks as her mins struggles to find meaning in Nighteye's words. 'I can hear a dog'…though it must only be through the ear that is not bleeding. 'I can't put you in danger' the voice whispers before a long pause. 'You want to bite me? That is too dangerous. My blood is tainted'.

"Just a little, just the tiniest bit and I give you my own. It is not without risk either, the sharing like this, the exchange of blood. I have no desire to bind your will or mind to me but still it could create some sort of connection and you might be a little…different for a few days. My blood will help you to heal well and fast though." Nighteyes closes her eyes for a moment. "It is worth the risk." Worth the cost though she doesn't say that part aloud.

'No…I could not do that to you' Wanda whispers in the Vampire's mind. She is a Romani from Transia and has probably encountered vampires in her travels. Nighteyes would be the first 'nice' one she has seen. 'Can you take me somewhere safe? I just need time to heal but I do not think anyone will trust me now'.

Nighteyes gives her a tender look. "As you wish. I will take you to my lair." She blinks, that sounds quite bad probably. "My place of rest I mean. It's not a bad place and very safe. Only the God-Wolf knows the location and he doesn't drop in to see me." She also has a small stock of medical supplies there. "It wil be safe and warm and dry." Nighteyes winces at the places the clothing has melted against Wanda's skin. She pulls one of her knives free of its sheath and carefully but swiftly cuts around those to get the rest off, then as gently as she can manage she puts her shirt and jacket on Wanda. It will do for now and is dry. Goliath trots forward in the darkness as Nighteyes gathers Wanda into her arms again. "We shall…borrow a vehicle from over there. It will be faster." The vampire’s eyes narrow. "I will not allow anyone to harm you. What happened was not your fault and anyone who thinks otherwise will be having a change of mind." Or at the very least regretting it.

'Thank you' Wanda replies softly in Nighteye's mind. Her voice sounds weak though that may be because she is concentrating on not screaming as clothes and flesh are cut away. Not deliberately…but the melting has merged some of it and it can't be helped. When she is lifted into the vampire's arms she rolls onto her side and against the undead's body…even curling up in the protection she is offering. 'I will be fine' she promises…without much conviction.

"You will. I swear it." It's very glad she is that taking the job with Nick has had her brushing up on and learning more of the healing skills. She cradles Wanda gently making sure her steps are firm and soft so as not to jar the injured woman. When they finally reach a street Nighteyes looks for a car to borrow…well, steal actually but one is driving towards them and the tattooed young men inside slow and then stop, staring and the vampire standing in the middle of the street in her underwear with a woman in her arms and a creepy little dog her heels. Nighteyes strolls forward and pulls the door open, jerking the driver out and turning to boot him away. The second leaps out of his own door and moves to draw his gun, tucked into his waist but Nighteyes jumps up onto the car's hood and kicks him in the face before he can manage it. "Sorry." She winces but was able to pull the movements off without jarring Wanda too badly she hopes. "This was fortunate. I am still learning about car alarms." She carefully bundles Wanda into the front seat and makes it lie back before settling herself. Goliath perches on the dash out of the way. "I think I remember how to do this." The dog looks at her and sighs. "It is like riding a bicycle, yes?" She grins a bit and begins driving, keeping one eye on her companion's condition. "I have medicine there. It will help. Not long now.."

Nighteyes pushes the car as fast as she can without crashing into any of the others. It’s well that its night and she can take streets not filled with so much traffic to get there but it still takes far longer than she'd like to get to the abandoned butcher shop whose basement she resides in. Nighteyes carefully lifts Wanda out of the car, leaving the door open as she heads for the building and its basement. It's a bit more work to get the door open and inside with Wanda in her arms but Nighteyes manages it somehow. It won't take long at all for a person to wander by and get rid of that damn car. The basement is well shielded from the day and the sun and so the vampire has arranged it as if it were a studio apartment. A large and comfortable bed and some chairs, a table. Bookshelves and clothes dressers along the walls. A rather large refrigerator and freezer and a bunch of random things she's unfamiliar with and learning about. Mostly electronic in nature. She lies Wanda down on the bed not at all worried about damage to the expensive sheets and covers. "Now just a few moments…" The vampire gathers the necessary medical supplies. It takes more time to find a vein she can put an IV in and Nighteyes sighs in relief when she manages. "Fluids now and the medicines." For pain and to guard against infection. She'll need to call Nick soon and find out if more should be done. That water had seemed filthy. "When the medicine begins to work, I will have to clean these burns. I am sorry, it will not be pleasant.." She stops talking and stares at Goliath when jumps onto the bed. "What..but that..she's looking at the IV bags with a sudden intensity. "That could help. Or it could harm. I do not know. This is too near the thing I was sworn to never do and so I know too little." The dog had just suggested she give Wanda a transfusion of her own blood. Then she wouldn't be tasting Wanda's but she has no idea if the healing would work that way or what the side effects would be. "Too risky for the moment I think. These things will work." I hope. She adds silently. They must.

The battle continues inside Wanda's head. And who knows, it may actually be happening in an alternate dimension somewhere. Though it seems that Wanda is gaining the upper hand against her dark alternative. The medicines and fluids only helping her rather than the 'evil' aspect of her magiks. In the 'real' world she starts to breathe a little easier. The rasping in her throat growing quieter. For the most part her body stays still upon the bed. It would take too much to move and it looks like her physical body is drifting into sleep. Though her mind will be fighting for hours yet.

Nighteyes watches and waits. She isn't certain but she rather thinks something is going on in Wanda's mind. The vampire is so relieved when the woman's breathing gets easier and stronger that she slumps back in her seat for a few moments. "Now for the worst part." The vampires hands move slowly and patiently with a manner more gentle than anyone would ever expect to see from one of her kind and she works to clean all of Wanda's burns and hurts while causing the least amount of pain possible. There is no danger from the sun here and she'll stay up far past the dawn if she must, though she'll be out of sorts for the next few days. "You will be well again. You must." Nighteyes voice is soft but sincere. "I do not intend to lose you.." That is said softly as well but with a fierce determination.

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