Lover Mine (Black Dagger Brotherhood #8)(156)

No healing there.

Doc Jane began a running commentary, her voice strong and calm. "In a human hospital, you'd have an anesthesiologist present, but you vampires tend to be very stable under heavy sedation--it flips you into a kind of dormancy. I don't understand it, but it makes my job easier."

As she spoke, Ehlena helped John take off both his shirt and the

leathers Doc Jane had cut up; then the female spread blue cloths over his nakedness and started an IV.

Xhex tried to stop her eyes from bouncing around and largely failed.

There was too much threat in the place, all those scalpels and needles and . . .

"Why?" Xhex asked, forcing herself to respond. "The difference between the species, I mean?"

"Not a clue. You have a six-chambered heart and we have a four. You have two livers, we have one. You don't get cancer or diabetes."

"I don't know much about cancer."

Doc Jane shook her head. "Would that we could beat that thing in everyone who gets it. Bastard f*cking disease it is, I'll tell you. What happens is a cellular mutation occurs whereby . . ."

The doctor kept talking, but now her hands were moving around on

the stainless-steel tables that had been rolled over to John, organizing what she was going to use. When she nodded at Ehlena, the female went to John's head and covered his face with a clear plastic mask.

Doc Jane went to his IV with a syringe full of something milky. "You ready, John?" When he gave a thumbs-up, she depressed the plunger.

John glanced over to Xhex and winked. And then he was out like a

light.

"First thing is disinfection," Doc Jane said, opening up a packet and taking out a dark brown sponge. "Why don't you stand opposite from me?

This is Betadine, the same stuff we washed our hands with, just not in a soap form."

As the doctor scrubbed around the bullet wound in wide streaks,

leaving John's skin tinged reddish brown, Xhex walked around his feet in a 398

J. R.Ward

daze.

Actually, this was a better position. She was right next to an orange biohazard bin--so if she needed to throw up, she was good to go.

"The reason the bullet has to be removed is because it's going to cause trouble over time. If he were a less active guy, I might leave it in. But I think being extra-conservative in a soldier is best. Plus you guys heal so fast." Doc Jane discarded the sponge in Xhex's bin. "Based on my experience with you, any injury to the bone will regenerate by tomorrow night."

Xhex wondered if the doctor or the nurse was aware that the floor

underneath all of their feet was moving in waves. Because it sure as shit felt like they were standing on the deck of a boat.

Quick check of the professionals and both seemed steady as rocks.

"I'm going to make an incision"--Doc Jane leaned over the leg with the knife--"here. What you're going to see directly under the skin is the fascia, which is the tough outer casing that's responsible for keeping our insides together. Your average human would have fat cells between the two, but John's in great shape. Beneath the fascia is the muscle."

Xhex bent at the waist, intending to take a rudimentary glance . . .

except she stayed where she was.

As Doc Jane drew the blade again, the sinewy wrapper pulled back,

exposing deep pink ropes of muscle . . . which had a hole through them.

Staring at the internal damage, Xhex wanted to kill that slayer all over again.

And Jesus, Rhage had been right. A couple of inches up and to the left and John would have been--

Yeah, let's not go there, she thought as she repositioned herself for an even better look.

"Suction," Doc Jane said.

There was a hissing sound and Ehlena put a small white hose down

and cleared away John's red blood.

"Now, I'm actually going to use my finger to probe--sometimes the human touch is best. . . ."

Xhex ended up watching the whole operation. Start to finish, from the first cut to the last stitch and all the retracting and lead removal in between.

". . . and that's it," Doc Jane said about forty-five minutes later.

As Ehlena bandaged John's leg and the doctor recalibrated whatever

was getting pumped into his vein, Xhex picked the bullet off the tray and looked the thing over. So small. So damned small. But capable of creating havoc of the mortal kind.

"Good job, Doc," she said harshly as she slipped the thing into her pocket.

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"Let me bring him around so you can look in his eyes and know that he's really all right."

"You read minds?"

The physician's eyes were ancient as they lifted. "Nope. Have just had a lot of experience with families and friends. You're going to need to see the eyes before you take a deep breath. And he's going to feel the same way when he looks up into your face."

John regained consciousness about eight minutes later. Xhex timed it, checking the wall clock.

As his lids rose, she was right next to his head and holding his hand.

"Hey . . . you're back."

He was groggy, which was to be expected. But that bright blue stare

was exactly as it had always been, and the way he squeezed her hand left nothing in doubt--he was back with a vengeance.