Bonded and Bred Ch. 19-20

"This virus it is poisoning his blood, we are trying to purge it as best as we can, but really what we need is a total blood transfusion... and maybe more than one - if we are to completely wipe it out," he looked at the two young women as though trying to assess their strength. "Are you the only blood relatives?"

"We have an aunt... my father's sister," Iris said softly. "And she is on her way here even as we speak."

"Three females then," he sighed suddenly. "Very well, you will have to be enough!"

He stood up and looked down at them seriously. "I need you both to give blood, we will put you on a slow drain for an hour each in turn, and then when your aunt gets here she can add to it too. Are you both willing?"

"Yes of course," they both said eagerly as they stood up too. "Whatever we can do to help, we will do it!" Iris added.

"You have to understand, that it will be draining for the two of you; we will need a lot of your blood if we are to succeed in purging his system completely."

"We are stronger than we might look, doctor; we can handle this between us," Iris told him firmly.

"Well, one at a time for an hour each, lie down whilst your doing it, and then don't try to walk about until you have eaten and drunk something."

"Yes, doctor Phillips," they said in unison at his tone of authority.

He smiled at them almost in a fatherly way. "I'll go and talk to the nurses, and get them to set things up in your father's room; it will probably take a little while, so take this time to have something hot to eat, and a pot of sweet tea or coffee... it will strengthen your blood and make it richer, for your father, which can only be good."

"Yes, doctor Phillips," they said again automatically.

He chuckled softly as he pointed towards the end of the corridor. "There is a small canteen right at the end, it's open twenty four hours a day, and the food is good."

It was hard work, stomaching the casserole that they both ordered. It was very tasty and piping hot, but worries for their father tended to dampen down their appetites.

"If we are to help him, then we must keep up our strength," Iris tried to encourage her sister, even though she herself was struggling to eat as well.

"I know, and I am trying, it just that..."

"You're worried for him, and you have spent the evening feeling alone and stressed, but I am here now, Laurie, and I am not going anywhere - I promise!"

Laurie smiled across at her, and they finished their meal in silence, as they both swallowed down every last difficult mouthful.

They were just finishing a second cup of a coffee, when a nurse came into the restaurant.

"Miss Beaumont?" she asked calmly.

"Yes," they both nodded.

"We are ready to begin the blood transfusions now, if you would like to come with me; who wants to start first?"

They were walking down the corridor, and Iris spoke before her sister could. "I will," she said firmly.

When they entered the room, Iris got to see her father for the first time, and she was shocked at the change in him. He looked pale and drawn, and almost tiny in the bed. Nothing of the strong vigorous man remained it seemed.

"Oh daddy!" she heard Laurie whisper, and Iris felt the tears filling her own eyes.

"He looks worse than he is," the nurse hurried to reassure them. "He is so pale because we have just started to drain his blood, but as soon as one of you starts to pump your blood into him, then he will start to look better almost immediately.

Iris shrugged out of her jacket, to reveal a short sleeved blouse underneath. "I am ready," she said quietly.

The nurse guided her to the bed which was alongside her fathers.

"If you lie down there for me, then I can hook you up."

Whilst Iris made herself comfortable on the bed, Laurie took the chair next to their father's bed on the other side, and she gently rested her hand on his.

"He's so cold," she whispered across to Iris, and Iris saw her sister's eyes filling with tears again, and then spill over to trickle down her cheek.

"He'll warm up once we purge his system, and get some good healthy blood pumping in his veins again," the nurse said cheerfully.

Iris winced when she felt the prick of the needle into her own vein but she did not say anything.

The nurse patted her hand, and then attached the tube, which ran to a bag, and then into another tube which was attached to her father's arm.

The nurse pressed something on the centre piece, and the blood rushed from Iris's vein into the tube and then straight to her father.

She felt a wave of dizziness, and was thankful that she was lying down, as a sense of weariness washed over her.

The nurse took her pulse, and then she took her father's pulse, and made some notes onto a chart.

Then she smiled at Iris, and then across at Laurie.

"I'll come back to check on you in about half an hour, but don't hesitate to press the buzzer next to the bed, if you have any worries at all."

"Thank you, Nurse... Peters," Iris said peering at her badge.

"Please call me Helen... after all we have to take care of our own - don't we?"

Iris blinked at her for a moment, and then it dawned on her what the nurse was saying.

"So you are a shifter too?" Laurie whispered from the other side of her father's bed.

Helen laughed softly. "You two must be very young, and inexperienced not to be able to instantly recognise one of your own, when you meet one."

"We have not met so very many of our kind," Laurie said before Iris could speak.

"No?" Helen looked at the two women thoughtfully for a moment. "You are a small pack then?"

"Not even a pack really," Iris admitted reluctantly. "Just family."

"But you have a brother? An uncle, or maybe a male cousin?"

"No," Iris shook her head. "There are just us two, and daddy, and our aunt Trudy."

"Oh," Helen seemed puzzled. "It's just that I took a call earlier, from a man asking about your father's condition... he said that he was family."

"What did you tell this man?"

"Just that; although your father was seriously ill, he was holding his own, and at least stable."

Helen shrugged her shoulders, and smiled uncertainly for a moment, she opened her mouth to say something but suddenly another nurse came rushing in.

"Mr Heller in room nine has just gone into arrest - you are needed on the resuscitation team!" she gasped.

Helen turned and rushed from the room taking the other nurse with her, and leaving the sisters alone with their unconscious father for a moment.

"I wonder who might have called," Laurie mused softly.

Iris shrugged as a wave of fatigue washed over her. "Probably just a friend or neighbour?"

*

Iris was feeling distinctly lightheaded, as she walked wearily down the deserted corridor.

She knew that she should be sitting down and waiting for someone to bring her a hot drink, but she was very thirsty and more than a little bit hungry.

The canteen was still open despite the lateness of the hour - or rather the earliness and she knew that they would have hot food on the go at all times.

It was empty apart for one solitary diner, but the lady who handed her a plate of egg and bacon, smiled at her warmly. "You just eat that up, love, and it will make you feel so much better - I promise."

As Iris sat down, the other diner a nurse stood up and after flashing her, a quick polite smile, as their eyes met; she hurried out - probably to return to her ward and her shift - or maybe she had just finished her shift and after eating a good meal would be heading for her bed.

Iris ate the food - the cooked breakfast, and felt her energy lifting. Despite the hour, she took out her mobile phone, and typed out a quick text to James. She knew that he would be in his bed and sleeping now, but she wanted him to know before he left for work, that she would not make it into the office tomorrow - and why.

She was sitting sipping slowly at a hot cup of sweet tea, when a man walked in, and came and sat down across from her.

Iris blinked as recognition hit her.

"Bill... Mr Frawnings!" she exclaimed as she sat back in her chair.

Bill Frawnings - her father's closest neighbour and a fellow shifter, sat down across from her and smiled slowly.

"It is good to see you child, I came as soon as I could."

"That was very good of you, how long have you been here?"

"I arrived in London, late last night, I booked into a hotel up the road, but I could not sleep in a strange bed, and so I thought that I would come to the hospital and maybe I would see someone who could tell me something."

Iris felt uneasy at his display of excessive concern - true her father and this man were friendly but it was a guarded friendship - on both sides.

"Thank you for your concern Bill, but it was not necessary surely for you to come all this way... I promise that I will let you know how my father is - as soon as we know something."

"So you don't know what's wrong with him yet?" he sat forward and rested his arms on the table, as his face came closer to Iris's.

Iris sat back and picked up her cup again so that she could hide behind it.

"No," she said softly. She took a sip of her tea, and then sighed. "They think that it is some sort of a virus, something that is poisoning his blood, they are trying to purge it even as we speak."

Bill sat back and his face looked shocked. "A virus you say? Is it contagious?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Me, and Laurie have been in close contact with my father, and neither of us have succumbed to it."

He peered at her dubiously. "You do look awfully pale though - are you sure that you are well?"

She nodded. "We have not had much rest, have spent all our time with our dad, we have been very worried..." she shrugged again, leaving him to draw his own conclusions.

"Yes, I can imagine." he continued to study her thoughtfully for a moment, and Iris felt increasingly uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

She drained her cup and went to stand up. "Well, it was kind of you to come, Bill, but I really should..."

"Wait a moment longer please, Iris... I think we should talk a moment."

"Oh? What about?"

He hesitated again and then he sat forward again.

"With your father so ill; you and your sister are vulnerable," he stated firmly. "If word was to get out that you were unguarded by a healthy male relative... well you understand my concern?" he looked at her questioningly, and so Iris nodded, she had a sense of dread suddenly, she could not help but feel like those concerns that he had just voiced were more like veiled threats. "You will need males to protect you and yours, Iris, strong males... I think that you should pledge yourself to one of my boys," he said bluntly.