Chapter 16
Under Ava’s leadership the Chapel was transformed from a place of worship to a sick bay.
Since Mother Superion, Michael and Jillian were the only humans not effected by the virus. They wore special hazmat suites to keep themselves safe as they helped each patient. Mary kept insisting it was just a cold, but after Lilith’s quick and rather graphic record of the hallway incident. Mary stopped refusing the help offered.
Michelle took only a second to answer her daughter’s call. One look at the dead bodies sent her into overdrive. She helped Ava and Lilith construct the beds before the rest of the convent showed up. Then she moved to the kitchen, the closet to the Chapel, and begun using the blood of the dead to construct a cure for the living. In multitasking this, she often called for Faith’s help, but was unable to reach her. The rest of the convent quickly ignored the frustrated growls and crashing from the kitchen.
Ava darted around the room from patient to patient, but often lingering with her best friends and lover. Especially her lover, who under Hanna’s watch, was often in and out of consciousness. When she wasn't tending to the living, she was carrying out the dead. Laying the corpses down on the cold cobblestone outside the courtyard under a thin veiled blanket.
“And we have no idea how this started?” Dr Jillian asked as she found Lilith and Ava working closely together. Tending to their crew’s health.
“None, it spread way too fast to be anything natural. We were all fine yesterday” Ava advised.
“By all my reasoning it appears to be some kind of venom, I don’t know any natural venom that starts off with a cold then twists into that”
“We have to work fast, the bodies are piling up” Lilith stated.
“Just when this convent is full capacity, this happens”
Ava frowned turning to Dr Jillian confused. “What did you say?”
Jillian frowned. “This convent is at full capacity”
Ava thought about it for a moment, then looked up at the ladies “excuse me for a moment” she turned and darted away to the kitchen before they could answer.
She burst threw the doors and stride up to her mother.
“Not now love I’m busy” Michelle comment as she worked, swinging a vile in anticlockwise rotation.
“Aren’t we all, do you know any follower of Reya that is skilled with poison?”
Michelle stopped her mixing viles, turning away from the mixture. “Well...there was Raglan”
“Raglan?”
“Yes, sneaky little bastard. He wasn’t the biggest Angelic being to be birthed, but he was devious none the less. We called him the surgeon on the front, from the ways he used to create specific poisons to kill Reya’s enemies...or worse..control them to his bidding” Michelle turned to her daughter suddenly, with a look of terror. “If he managed to get into this realm”
“Then we know who to target”
“But why just them, the humans?”
“Because we are at full capacity, maybe he wanted us infected too, but our Tarask blood kept us safe”
Michelle smiled for a moment “that could work”
“What work?”
“Our blood, we have to perform a blood transfusion on our people”
Ava looked up at her mother proudly “Our blood is the key, this venom is only effective to humans and with a little bit of our blood we can save them”
“Exactly, we are their cure”
“There’s a lot them out there that need it”
“Well better stop wasting time on this and start bleeding for them!” Michelle chucked the vile aside then raced out into the Chapel with Ava on her tow.
Before long, with the three Tarask’s blood transferred throughout the convent.
Michelle advised a quarter bag will do for now, they didn’t want to give them too much or they will start to turn. Too little and the dosage will become ineffective. Superion, Jillian and Michael raced up and down delivering the blood bags. Ava hooked four tubes from her arm into her crew. Lilith worked on getting the crew their own bags while Ava kept them stable with her blood. Michelle’s blood solely went to the rest of the convent. Once the girls were done helping the crew, they would join Michelle in her work.
Beatrice stirred awake slowly, opening her eyes to see tubes of blood overhead and Ava smiling beside her. “My love?” she croaked.
“Hi” Ava excitedly called.
“What’s going on?”
“Mass blood donation, don’t worry about it”
She felt a sudden weight drop onto her stomach and start working its way up. She looked down to find Hanna crawling towards her.
“She wouldn’t leave her mother behind” Ava explained.
“Got my own nurse” Bea laughed, she turned her head sideways and couched a mouthful of blood into the bucket opposite.
Ava’s grip on the chair tighten at the sight. The arm rest whined as the metal twisted underneath her grip.
Beatrice didn’t notice a thing as she turned back to her baby smiling. “it’s okay, I’m going to be okay”
Hanna frowned at her mother, on the verge of tears. Her lip trembling and her eyes a vivid shade of lilac. A distraught mix of fear and sadness.
Her Mother Bea frowned at her daughter, picked her up and pulled her closer. Wrapping her arms around her child. She pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and whispered "it's okay, i'm here"
Ava took a deep breath as she stated aloud “It’s okay sweetpea” her family turned to face her. “It’s going to be okay”
Lilith stumbled over with the four bags in hand. “Got it!” she declared, exhausted.
“Good” Ava pinched the tubes and began unhooking herself from them one by one, transferring them into the bags.
“Baby girl, Angel wings, don’t overwork yourself” Mary ordered.
“Just get some rest honey, we got it!” Lilith advised.
“Mary’s right” Bea comment.
“That’s a lot of blood you are transferring” Camila spoke concerned, rolling on her side to face the Tarasks. She laid in the bed beside Mary, with Serita sharing the mattress. Her girlfriend slept silently in the bed, on her back, barely a breath whispered from her still body. Camila pushed her head above her still sleeping girlfriend and spoke “please take care of yourselves as much as you take care of us”
Lilith and Ava turned to each other, sharing a solemn look, turned back to their crew.
“It’s okay, I got the Halo to heal us both and mum. We’re all going to make it out of this, just rest all of you” Ava stated, she took half the bags from Lilith. Dispensing the bags between their crew. Her knees began to wobble. Forcing her to take a hold of Beatrice’s knees. She looked her to her lover to find concerned gaze focused on her. Ava smiled as the Halo began it’s magic restoring her blood. “it’s okay my love” Ava reassured, moving herself up to her lover and pressed a kiss against her lips, then another to her temple. “I’ll keep you safe” she whispered.
“I love you” Bea spoke back.
“Love you too” Ava pulled away then started the walk back to the little blood transferring station.
Lilith watched her leave, then quickly finished up her job and jogged after her. “hey” she whispered, outside of the crew’s ear range. “you okay?”
“Yeah, hang on let me top you up and we’ll get set for round three”
Lilith nodded.
Ava raised her hands and captured Lilith’s arms, holding her tight as she poured the Halo’s energy into her. Restoring her faster to health then Lilith’s Tarask powers were currently able to do.
“You think we could do this?” Lilith asked afraid.
“I can” Ava stated. She looked up to her friend and informed “We will”