Thick As Blood - Nestor Oceteva

22. Unbreakable

I came out of unconsciousness with a scream as sudden pain flared from my leg. I lifted my head to find one of my favourite men with a clamp deep in my calf muscle. I took some deep breaths pushing away the pain as I looked at my surroundings and the man in bloodied scrubs.

"Fuck Alpa, you're meant to drug me first." I said through gritted teeth.

"You were already knocked out." He shrugged back. "You and your fucking fancy blood, couldn't be like us commoners."

It had been a running joke with Dr Chino since I met him in Medical School, before we separated into our specialist subjects. He became a trusted friend, one that never questioned the strange injuries me and my family had received over the years. Burns to bullet holes, stabbings to child birth - he had helped us through it all. Being an O- blood type meant he had to have my specific blood on hand for transfusions. That was why he was paid the big bucks and was never more than a hour from my location. He had a van that was kitted out as an ambulance or closer to a portable operating theatre. Today I had him waiting at the East LA mortuary but my 'Tropic Thunder' programme had sent him my location and injury.

"How is everyone else doing?" I asked as he injected my leg with a local anaesthetic numbing the area and morphine too.

"No one is dead, a few bullet removals. Your bullet just missed the bone but hit both arteries, what are the chances? It was pretty bad when I got here, lost a lot of blood Lily. But, there's a man who has been threatening my life if you died so we both live to see another day." He drawled out with his Georgian accent making me laugh.

"Where is he now?" I started to feel rather drunk as the local anaesthetic along with the morphine made me lightheaded.

Alpa didn't reply, instead he banged the side of the van and the door opened to reveal Nestor. He looked handsome as ever and I smiled as I saw he was uninjured. A smile graced his lips when he saw I was conscious and smiling too. He sat at the chair beside my head and ran his hand along my hair. I felt like a cat as I leant into his touch, feeling comforted. I think I purred out loud and blushed before giggling. What the hell is wrong with you?

"Looks like the drugs have kicked in, should be entertaining. She was hilarious the last time."

I could hear Alpa talking but I couldn't lift my head high enough to see him. I could only feel tugging in my calf muscle and it felt strange. When was the last time? I looked up at Nestor, getting lost in his deep brown eyes. They didn't look as empty as they did merely weeks earlier but I guess mine were the same. Alpa must have moved the lamp and it blinded me a moment. As I blinked the brown eyes above me changed to blue before his face took over.

"Вы не здесь. Ты оставил меня." I said to myself as much as KJ.

"What was that Lily? In English." He asked.

"You're not here. You left me." I repeated.

"I think she is hallucinating Mr Oceteva. Best to leave her be for the moment." Dr Chino whispered. "We don't want the Harbinger coming out."

Harbinger. Harbinger. Harbinger. The harbinger is gone, she died the moment I found out I was pregnant with Alexander. The name I had made for myself, the name my victims had given me - Harbinger of Death. Harbinger. The name the IRA gave me after I tortured and killed their men. It was all put behind me because I couldn't be both a nurturer and a killer. There was no half in half out in this life. The moment I chose my son, I chose out.

I was caught in a vision, a dream or a memory. It had been so long I didn't know what was true anymore. All I knew was it was a lifetime ago, sometime in 2011. Life was chaotic, competition with the IRA led to full on war. We had lost a whole crew of Bratva members to the IRA and their distributers in California. Three of the younger members were KJ's friends and I watched as this war took his brothers and my friends lives.