Predator

28.

"I don't know how he came to me," Neela sobbed into her hands. "I was in the hospital after surgery and he just walked into my room!" In the beginning of Neela's story, it sounded a bit far-fetched to Ryan. But now, seeing how excited she became over the matter, it sounded more believable to him. With a sigh, Ryan sat on the floor with Neela and brought her into his arms. "He sounds like a nice little boy. And I appreciate him for helping you during the times that I couldn't," he pulled Neela's hands away from her eyes and he looked deeply into them. "Maybe I can meet him someday," Ryan spoke with a smile to make Neela feel more at ease.

After a few moments of Ryan and Neela being sat in the middle of their bedroom in silence, Neela broke the ice by asking a simple question, "do you promise it's all real?" Ryan stopped the motion of rubbing his hand up and down Neela's side as he curiously looked up at him. "I don't know what those 'doctors' gave you or made you believe, but you must get it all out of your head." Ryan's eyes wandered down to Neela's bruised arm to see fresh track marks from an IV, he wondered just how fresh the medicine was in her body. "Give me your arm, I want to see something," Ryan shimmied Neela off of his chest and sat her so her back was pressed against the side of the bed.

Neela placed her shaky arm in Ryan's lap and he took hold of the forearm, just before the joint of her elbow. He also took hold of the upper arm, just after the joint of her elbow. "I would be lying if I said that this won't hurt, just look anywhere else. Do not look at me while I do this."

Neela thought he only said that was because he would have looked silly, but no. Ryan concentrated on Neela's arm, he pictured the entire incident of the syringe entering her arm, the doctor pumping the fluid into her vein. As he imagined the medicine traveling through her blood, going back to her heart, his eyes changed to the color black. He was so focused that he couldn't even feel Neela slightly shift her arm away from him.

His demon had to imagine her blood. Neela's blood, to him, flowed differently than any other humans. He had to imagine the temperature, the sound of her heart pumping blood quicker in fear, he imagined every aspect of her body during that time. Just before Neela was about to yell for help, she felt a cold liquid seeping down her arm. She peeked an eye opened and peered down at her elbow joint. The cold liquid was a translucent white color. It was only then she realized that Ryan was taking the medicine out of her body. The feeling wasn't exactly painful, it was uncomfortable and foreign to her.

That day was the first time Neela had ever seen Ryan in his demon form without him hurting her. She felt indifferent about it because she's used to the face of Ryan, except the black eyes. "Are you okay?" Ryan asked once he felt normal again. It took a few minutes to calm his roaring demon, but he did it.

"It's all out," Neela said in shock as Ryan took a dirty jumper to wipe the liquid off of her arms. Ryan smiled after he saw the gleaming look in her eyes and wiggled his fingers in his face, "I'm magical, remember?" He laughed.

As Ryan turned his back to toss the jumper back into the hamper, a sweet, metallic smell filled his airway. He slowly turned back around to only stare at the small droplets of blood forming at Neela's joints. If he hadn't looked for so long, Neela likely would not have noticed.

She began to stand once she saw his eyes twitch, but he stayed in control of himself and his urges. "It doesn't bother me," Ryan said in urgency while delicately grasping Neela's wrist, coaxing her into sitting down again. He spoke up again while staring at the blood droplets once again, "another 'magic trick' I have is healing. Demons gained this ability about 700 years ago. We have been wanting to keep humans alive longer for our...needs. So our ruler at the time gave it to us." Ryan leaned down and gave a quick lick to each of Neela's elbow joints, "I'll be able to heal you a lot more, once you're marked of course," he gave a quick nod at his head, signaling Neela to look at the slowly closing holes in her arms. "It'll also be quicker once you're marked."

~~

The time to rest was coming back around. It was an exciting day for everyone in the home. Except for Ryan.

Ryan had put everything in the back of his mind. The trial, Neela leaving, the illnesses, all of the bad had been forgotten by him. It just felt like a normal, loving day to him. Neela, however, had not forgotten about anything.

She knew that Ryan had been clueless the entire time she was away, she knew that he was a safe person to be with. Neela followed Ryan around like a lost puppy the whole first day. She watched him train, she even witnessed him drink human blood that wasn't hers.

Ryan and Neela both had yet to find out that she was a banshee.

"I couldn't even walk the last day," Ryan relayed the events of the trial to Neela while they were out visiting Rin; it was almost time to leave so the couple could rest. "Loss of contact with a mate, especially one that wasn't rejected, it makes you terribly ill. If they're apart for, I wanna say a year, the demon would more than likely be killed from simple recklessness or from starvation."