The Unseen Enemy Series

Chapter 37

The next morning, Dean woke up at six o’clock, the same as always. He stared at Emma sleeping next to him, watched the sun start to light up her face. What he saw disturbed him.

Her beautiful face was scarily pale and she looked completely exhausted. He lifted the sheet and glanced down at her naked body; she had definitely lost some more weight. He noticed new bruises on her thighs, and his mouth tightened at the realization that he’d done that the first time they had made love the night before.

Dean resolved that today, he was going to push until she told him what was going on with her. If it was just anemia, then she needed to find another doctor, get some more aggressive treatment. Whatever she was doing now wasn’t working, that much was pretty damn clear. Dean was prepared to drag her to doctor after doctor himself, if that’s what it came to.

As he looked at her, he felt a wave of tenderness just wash over him. He remembered last night, her sweetness as she'd held him close, and he knew that something had changed between them, something permanent and real. Dean had been vulnerable with her, and he didn’t feel even the slightest bit embarrassed about that. She’d seen him in a way that only three other people on the whole planet had seen him, and that made Emma something that went way beyond a f**k. It was time to suspend the original agreement of three months ago, to start talking about commitment and expectation and long-term.

Maybe… maybe you can give this a shot with her. Maybe it would be OK to let her in, to let yourself care about her. Maybe you can keep her close.

He rolled over quietly, not wanting to disturb her. He grabbed his boxer shorts and went into the kitchen to start the coffee. He stared out of the kitchen window, watching the sunrise over the distant mountains, feeling like today was the beginning of something amazing in his life.

He drank his coffee and jumped into the shower. He wished that Emma was in there with him so he could soap her breasts, slip his fingers between her legs, make her come under the hot water, her hands clenched against the shower tiles. But there would be time for that; lots of time.

****

Something warm was running down her face, tickling her. Emma turned over, still mostly asleep, and brushed her hand across her cheek. It came away soaking wet.

What the hell? Is my ceiling leaking?

She opened her eyes and it took her a few seconds to remember that she was at Dean’s place. Puzzled, she looked above the bed to see if water was dripping down on her. Nothing – no damp patches. She sat up, trying to figure out where the water was coming from.

Something dripped off her chin and she glanced down. The red spot on the white sheet was joined by another, then another. She raised her fingers to her face, looked at them. They came away covered in deep red blood. She just stared in utter incomprehension.

Am I bleeding?

Even as she had the thought, she felt something loosen in her nose – almost like a door opening – and the flow got stronger. Now the blood was running between her breasts, down her stomach, drenching the sheets. A wave of dizziness passed over her, and the room started to go dark. She opened her mouth to call for Dean, and blood gushed down her throat. Panicking now, terrified of choking to death, she forced his name out in a strangled cry. Then she leaned forward, coughing and coughing. She saw a flash of red splatter on the wall in front of her and she blinked.

That was the last thing she remembered before falling into unconsciousness.