Devil in the Details

Chapter Twenty One

Waking up in the hospital was disorienting. Evelyn squinted against the fluorescent lights. The ringing in her ears was gone, and so was the pounding in her head- though there was a dull ache. She swallowed hard and looked around. A nearby machine beeped steadily. Evelyn tugged at her arm and stopped, realizing that the discomfort was the IV. She grimaced and licked her lips, her mouth dry to the point her lips were splitting a bit. James sat near the door in a chair, his elbows on his knees and a cellphone in his hands. By the sounds of it, he was watching TikTok. Evelyn looked around the room once more. It was just the two of them. She cleared her throat.

"James?"

"Oh, shit!" He jumped and locked his phone, stuffing it in his pocket. "Look at you!" he took the chair he was in and brought it over, turning it around to straddle it much closer to the bed. "How are you feeling? Do you remember what happened?"

"I feel like I was hit in the head with a ball bat." Evelyn said.

"Well, that's what happened." He replied, "so... you're at least on track." Evelyn rolled her eyes and pulled herself up into a sitting position on the bed.

"Did they catch him?" she asked.

"No." He replied, shaking his head. "Thomas thought he caught a glimpse of him at one point, but we can't be sure." Evelyn dropped her head back and closed her eyes, clenching her fists. "Listen, Evelyn... I don't know much about the evidence yet, but... I do know we're thinking it was actually him." Evelyn lifted her head and looked at him.

"The Garret Falls Vampire?"

"As far as we know, you're the only person to face off with him- either of them- and survive." He went on. "So.... good job?" He gave her two weak thumbs up.

"I almost had him." She said, shaking her head. "I was so close, James. I hit him with the taser. One of the probes didn't stick. I missed." James sat straight up, his eyes wide.

"Did one of them catch flesh?" He asked. She knew he was thinking of DNA.

"No." Evelyn replied, "at least I don't think so?"

There was a gentle knock at the door and a nurse came in. She was a petite woman with kind eyes. She moved to Evelyn's bedside and began checking the monitors. Occasionally, she'd glance over at James and look away.

"Hello!" she said, as she worked, "my name is McKenna. I'm going to be your nurse for the day."

"Can I see your badge?" James asked. She paused at the request, looking a little bewildered. She jumped and removed her work badge, showing it to him. "Sorry." He said. "We just need to be careful."

"That's right." McKenna said, "I heard you were a police officer that was attacked." She smiled at Evelyn, prodding at the bandages around her head. Evelyn hadn't realized they were there until McKenna started removing them.

"What... What did he do to me?" She asked, trying not to tilt her head back to look at McKenna.

"Well," she said, examining everything, "you've got a nasty cut here and quite the goose egg. You needed twenty-five stitches, and you lost a lot of blood." James picked up a hand mirror from the table beside the bed and turned it so she could see. Her right eye was completely black, the bruise spreading down to and along her cheekbone. There was a knot and another bruise above that, in her hairline where the stitches were. Her other eye was black as well, though not as bad.

"I wouldn't be entering any beauty contests any time soon." he said, shrugging when both women gave him a sharp look. "I'm just saying, Waters, he stomped on you."

"What about my arm?" Evelyn asked. She noticed it was in bandages. "Is it broken?"

"It is not." McKenna replied, "you required stitches there as well... let's see." She picked up Evelyn's chart once more, reading over it. "Fifteen stitches there." She said, after finding what she was looking for. "Your elbow is sprained, and the bone is bruised, but it's not broken." She smiled, "that means you're tough."