I wasn't awake, not fully. I had no idea how much time had passed, but I knew it had been way too much. My body was completely relaxed, but my mind was active. It was probably sleep paralysis. I just couldn't open my eyes and wasn't experiencing hallucinations. At least not yet.
I heard footsteps in the hallway. "Harlan, stop," a voice I knew to be Selene's spoke.
"I want to know how you will explain this to Damien," he said.
"Don't touch it!" she yelped. She sounded distressed, probably even in pain. "Look, Harlan, let's just hope it will heal in time."
"What about the girl?" Harlan said. He was pushing her a bit too much. I could hear it in her voice.
"Let's hope she wakes up before the full moon so we have time to explain." She began walking toward the end of the hall. Explain what? I saw a man turn into a wolf. How are they going to explain that?
"She is not your responsibility." The sound of footsteps ceased. "Her situation is unfortunate, but we do not accept half-lings into the pack. You know very well the reason why." Again with this pack nonsense.
"Unfortunate?" Her voice was full of anger and more profound. "I am growing tired of you questioning me, Harlan," she warned.
"I'm sorry." He didn't seem afraid of her, but cautious. She sighed.
"Look, I can't let her go through this alone. We have to try at least." Her tone changed. "I assure you, I see great things in her future." Harlan remained quiet.
I wondered what this conversation meant. And as I thought back to the attack, to my complete disbelief, I started considering the most illogical and purely mythical of explanations. It made no sense and, at the same time, it did. I was familiar with werewolves, the tale of men and women cursed to turn into wolves by the full moon. I had watched Twilight, for god's sake. It seemed so silly to even consider any of this. I had treated people that believed in such fantasy beings.
Then there was the matter of my broken leg. From the placement of this man's foot, it had to be my femur, which made even less sense. The femur is the hardest bone to break. It is long and thick. You cannot just step on it and make it snap in half. This man had to be incredibly strong. His appearance was disheveled, and he referred to one of the wolves as Harlan, which meant he was probably insane, but inhumanly strong.
There were too many factors that didn't add up. And I was even considering believing all of this was happening because werewolves were proof of that. Maybe they were suffering from a collective delusion, indicated by the use of language like pack or half-ling, whatever the latter meant. But that wouldn't explain the display of strength of my attacker or what I saw.
"Mmm, you are awake," a man said. I had no idea why I hadn't heard him get in. I had heard almost everything that was going on around me with unusual precision.
I found his presence extremely calming. His voice was profound and tranquil, but that did little to distract me from the fact that he had known I was awake without even touching me. I was pretty sure I had never met him before. "I apologize if I have startled you, Diana. I just came here to check on you," the man said as he softly placed his hand on my forehead. Was he some sort of doctor?
"Mmm, I can feel your skepticism, which I believe is normal seeing I didn't introduce myself or mention my qualifications," he chuckled. Even his laughter was elegant and delicate. "My name is Callum. I'm this family's personal doctor."
A private doctor? Seeing how fancy their mansion was, the fact that they had a personal doctor didn't surprise me at all. I tried to open my eyes. I couldn't say I was very happy having a man claiming to be a doctor touch me. I had to admit he was very respectful and let me know where he was touching me before he did it, which is way more considerate than most of the doctors I had dealt with throughout my residency.
I also found his presence extremely calming. His, I can't believe I am going to say this, energy was similar to Selene's. And though I was not comfortable with him yet, nor did I trust him, I don't remember much of what happened in that exam, only this feeling of safety before I dozed off.
I woke up feeling a little bit disoriented. I was dizzy, and my body felt lighter. I didn't feel any pain, so I guessed the man had given me some sort of medication that was working wonders. I only hoped it was legal and not addictive. But I did have to admit I felt great.
I got up from the bed and walked towards the door. I was hungry. I hadn't eaten since I woke up the last time. I didn't intend to bother anyone or abuse their hospitality by emptying their fridge, so I was hoping to find Selene and ask her first.
"So she's awake?" I heard Harlan say through the door.
"Not really, her consciousness is," a voice responded. A calming and deep one. It wasn't hard to guess it came from the man that had come into my room earlier. Callum.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Harlan said what I was thinking, and Callum seemed to giggle in response. I had to admit I was feeling quite curious about his appearance because his voice sounded really young. And while it would be embarrassing to be caught eavesdropping, I was never really good at keeping my inquisitiveness in check.
"Well, while her body is sleeping, her mind is awake, trapped in a body that can't move." So a coma? I snorted. It seemed that he had a habit of making things seem more complicated when he tries to explain them. "Similar to a coma." There you go.
"Well, can't you wake her up?" Harlan said while I slightly and quietly opened the door and peeked. I could see Harlan's back and some kid's face. That couldn't be Callum. Seriously, he didn't look older than twenty. I was starting to feel like an old lady among all of these teenagers. Harlan looked like the only man I could see capable of growing a beard.
"Would not be a good idea," the brown-haired boy said. His skin was darker than mine with a blue undertone. His hair was short and black. He looked a little bit Middle Eastern but looked a lot more like what I imagined fairies to look like. Weirdly beautiful eyes and a slim but fit body, combined with the way he was dressed, made me think he had just crawled out of a tree trunk. "If a human body enters into a state of coma, it is because it needs all of its energy to heal," the boy said. That was correct, but again, no way he was a doctor.