Lizzie was in her room having stripped her clothes and thrown them in the trash. She sat on her bed now, naked and holding the whiskey bottle. Her mind was becoming number by the second as she drank gulps of the amber liquid.
"Hello." Tom's voice startled her, but all she could muster was looking up. She had on no clothes figuring that at some point she would muster the courage to go to the showers after the boys were asleep. It was then that she could wash the filth of Kerry off of her.
"Tom...I called for you, but you didn't come." She slurred in her speech as she looked up at him.
"Lizzie, I am so sorry. I could barely hear you, if I had known I would have come in an instant." Tom was terrified by her appearance. She sat naked curled into herself against the pillows. Bruises adorned her wrists, chest and legs. Blood had pooled on the bed beneath her and had dried in a line down her chest from the back of her neck.
"It's okay, I'm sorry I was a bitch to you before. You never hurt me, you just wanted to help...I didn't know Tom." She was slurring strongly now, the alcohol setting in.
"It is I who was sorry; I helped you closer to your doom. I thought you would never want to see me again."
"I love you Tom, I could never hate you. I hate that monster out there. He...he...Tom he wouldn't stop." Fresh tears sprang from her eyes.
"Show me what he did." Tom placed a hand on the side of Lizzie's face closing his eyes. With her permission, he could look into her memories and thoughts. He tried not to pry usually, but this was a time that he had to know exactly what happened between her and Kerry.
The memory of them kissing in the open field was one of fondness for her, but then a dark edge formed. He saw the horrible way Kerry pushed her onto the Torino and the ensuing attacking. As he heard her screaming and crying, a tear came to his own eye. He had never cried before, but to see her in pain was enough to push him there. At the end, the sight of her being bitten and biting Kerry in return solidified the truthfulness of what Jeff had gathered.
"Did you see?" Lizzie asked, her green eyes meeting his searching for someone to truly understand what happened to her.
"My god, I am so sorry he hurt you like that. Let me heal what I can. Hold still." Tom channeled energy into his hand letting his grace spread to Lizzie's body. She felt the ache in her pussy stop as she healed from the inside out. The bruises on her body following. The burning pain on the back of her neck never stopped though as Tom stopped touching her.
"My neck Tom, heal my mark please. Take back the imprinting." She cried letting her body relax into the bed without pain for the first time since her return.
"I cannot Lizzie. I tried, but I cannot. Would you like to shower now? I can make sure Kerry is no longer there and take you without seeing him."
"Tom, I love you. Will you please?" Lizzie curled onto her side after taking another large swig from the bottle.
She did not have to ask again as he disappeared from her vision. Finding no one in the shower after checking, Tom returned to her room. He picked Lizzie up in his arms and flashed into the shower room.
"I will go and make sure Kerry and Jeff do not come in here. Take your time Lizzie, and I will come and take you back when you are done. Just pray for me."
He was gone again as Lizzie turned on the water waiting for it to get warm. Somehow the healing had not taken away the feel of Kerry on her. It had removed the majority of the physical injuries, but the look in his eyes wouldn't leave her memory.
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Tom appeared in the kitchen where Kerry and Jeff both sat drinking together. There was silence all around them and heaviness in the air.
"How is she?" Kerry looked at him genuinely concerned.
"You have harmed her more than I can heal. She was my charge Kerry, you have injured her. You do not understand how angry that makes me." Tom's eyes glowed blue as he looked at Kerry, rage and hate burning on his face.
"Tom, hey wait, he didn't mean to hurt her any more than you meant to when you helped her break the gate. It's Kerry Tom, it's Kerry." Jeff jumped up, grabbing onto Tom's hand that was slowly rising towards Kerry.
"I will show you what your partner has done. I will show you both." Tom reached out placing his hands on the side of both Kerry and Jeff's heads. He closed his eyes willing the memory of what Kerry had done to Lizzie to flood into their minds.
When he finished and dropped his hands, he saw tears on both their faces. Kerry jumped up, turning around and throwing up into the sink where Lizzie had when she learned about the gate involving Tom. It made Tom reflect on Jeff's words and dialed his anger back.
"Oh God Kerry, oh god. Tom how is she?" Jeff asked, realizing the level to which she had been hurt.
"She is showering, and I have healed all but the damage to her neck. I cannot heal her mark. Her physical body was quite battered internally and externally." Tom explained simply.
"I'm going to check on her, stay with Kerry." Jeff went to leave the kitchen, but a stone wall that was Tom stopped him. He had appeared in front of him so quickly Jeff had not even had time to change directions.
"No, Jeff she does not wish to see either of you. I will return when she calls and take her back to her room. I believe she wishes to remain alone for the time being. I will not allow either of you near her until she wishes." Tom was not asking or suggesting; he was telling the men how this was happening whether they liked it or not.
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After returning Lizzie to her room, Tom remained with her throughout the night. She stayed in her room then even after he left to continue his efforts with Gabriel. Lizzie had no desire to leave, never wanting to see either of the two men again.
Kerry had barely eaten withdrawing into himself, while Jeff had tried to stay away from Lizzie's room as much as possible. Any trip that he made near it he had stopped to listen at her door. He couldn't bring himself to knock or call out. The images that Tom had shown him killed him inside. Kerry was his partner and he couldn't believe he would have hurt Lizzie, but that image of him being so violent with her would not leave him.
After two days of not seeing her, Jeff gave up on hearing from Oz or talking to Kerry and resigned himself to being drunk another night so he could sleep. He wanted to hold his partner and get him through this and he wanted to hold Lizzie too, but he couldn't bring himself to approach either of them. There he sat, drink after drink reaching bottom as the images ran through his mind. It dawned on him at some point that now his partner was bonded to her and so she could never be his again. It was now a matter of time waiting to see if they could protect her from a second mating. Kerry though was already connected to her. Jeff would gladly have taken the burden of hurting her that Kerry had, as long as it meant that she would always be a part of his life. The thought of never having sex with her again had not bothered him. It was the thought of losing that connection with her that had.
Another drink down the gullet and Jeff felt a strong need. He needed to see Lizzie. He wanted to try to make her feel better, to try to have any intimacy with her. It was supposed to be his turn to apologize and then they would have fun together. It was not supposed to work out as it had.
