Transfusion

Chapter 24

My body ached in several places but I had at least regained consciousness,  so there was that. 

On the way home, Reina had found some towels in the car and they were now bound to the wounds on my arms and hands to stop the bleeding.

Once at the apartment, Leon gently set me down on the couch, and made sure I was comfortable. The door to the room burst open and Elias strode in with an angry expression on his face.

"I heard what happened." his teeth were clenched.

"Oh, I'm good thanks for asking." I said sarcastically, but when I saw him I felt my body relax slightly.

Elias ran his fingers through his hair, I noticed he did that a lot when he was frustrated. " How could you have acted so rashly, only an amateur would have gone into a situation like that without backup!"

This was Elias, and I knew him well enough to know this was how he reacted when he felt powerless and like things were out of his control. His anger probably came from a good place but annoyance still coursed through me as he chewed me out in front of Reina and Leon, and his words still stung.

My mind flashed back to what the man had said about my blood running in his veins, and I shivered; I wanted to discuss that with Elias and see what he thought, even if he was mad at the moment.

"I just thought I could have handled it." I knew it was a weak argument, but what could I say when he was right? Instead I focused on expressing through my eyes that I needed to talk to him privately. I'm not sure how much of that he got, but when Leon went to remove the blood covered towel on my arm, Elias stopped him.

"I can take care of her from here, I know you're busy with work."

Leon looked at me one last time before nodding and heading to his office, and Reina followed soon after. Now it was just the two of us in the living room. 

"What are you doing? Are you trying to get your arm infected." It seemed like Elias was back to glaring at me, as he sat next to me with arms crossed, watching me try to remove the bloody towel from my arm.

With surprising gentleness, he brushed my uninjured hand away and deftly removed the towel. He grabbed the bag of medical supplies and leaned closer to me in order to clean my cut with an antiseptic wipe. It stung painfully but I tried to stay as quiet as possible, almost entranced as I watched him sterilize the wound. His large hands were warm, as they touched my skin. 

When Elias bound my arm with gauze, he moved on to the palm of my hand, and we both remained silent as he patched me up.

This time when he spoke, it was almost a whisper, "Honestly, what were you thinking? You could have died."

"Do you care whether I die or not?" I wasn't sure what made me say this, maybe it was my frustration with the whole situation in general, that made me blurt out those words, but I briefly regretted them, until I heard his reply.

"I just don't want to deal with a new recruit, not when I'm just starting to get used to you."

I sucked in a breath at his harsh words, and looked away, unable to face him. Or maybe I didn't want to face the fact that those words really hurt me, almost if I'd been hit physically. It also reitirated how truly insignificant I was in all this.

When he caught the look in my eye, he sighed and grabbed my uninjured hand.

"Wait...I... thats not what I mean't Ashlinn. You..." I felt his grip tighten and he looked at me like he wanted to convey something more to me, but couldn't bring himself to speak the words out loud. 

His eyes were imploring, as if begging me to understand. I saw a glimmering depth within those eyes, and unlike the past, I now found them beautiful instead of intimidating.

-----

"So you're saying that he'd been given the blood they took from you that night?"Elias asked, as if making sure he had heard me correctly.

"He said that he had my blood running through his veins, what else could he have meant."

"Did they inject it into him?"

"I don't know, maybe." I grew increasingly worried as all sorts of different thoughts flew into my head. If people who were in contact with my blood could withstand my ability, what else could they do? Would they be able to use it against me somehow?

"That man would have to have the same blood type as you for the blood to be accepted into his body." Elias mused. "What blood type are you?"

"AB."

Elias looked at me, surprised, "Huh, we're the same."

Before I could think about the possibilities of what we could do with that, he continued, "Have you thought about telling the rest of the Collective your secret? I'm not trying to rush you, but you did say that your attacker mentioned taking you to those two scientists, so you could still be in danger. If everyone else knew, we could work together to deal with Aero Pharmaceuticals."

I was hesitant, and an irrational fear began to overtake me. Maybe Elias had been okay with who I really was and my ability, but what if the others didn't understand. What if they began to see me as some sort of freak? I took a deep breath and steeled myself, this was bigger than how I felt or how the others would see me, this was about everyone in the Collective's safety, and they deserved to know.

"Leon told me, that tonight he would gather us together to talk about how to finish the Aero case, I'll tell everyone then."

"They're all open minded people. Trust me." His eyes were sincere and I nodded gratefully. When had Elias begun to read me so well? 

Maybe he'd always been able to.