Yeah, that’s how it would have to be.
Avery would have to be a part of my life permanently, and she’d have to obey me.
It felt bizarre having those thoughts going through my head, but I didn’t see any other way. Not if I was really going to fix her. Because, right then and there, I realized that was the choice that all of us would be making. Either I leave her as she was, or save her from a life of disability in exchange for basically servitude.
I mean, that’s what it would be.
Because she wouldn’t be free to make her own decisions anymore.
She couldn’t go off and just do whatever she wanted.
Fuck.
Really, it was the same for Gabriella now, when I really thought about it, but she at least had no interest in it being any other way.
Granted, there was still the issue of how to even fix Avery if I wanted to, since we still didn’t know for a fact that it was my bite that changed her. And no way in hell was I going to have sex with this girl’s limp body in an effort to see if that would cause the transformation to happen. Fuck, even if I knew for a fact that was how, I wasn’t sure I could do it.
Glancing up at Serenity, I realized whether or not she began becoming different from Gabriella’s bite would be our first clue, though I wondered if maybe I should try biting Serenity myself, just to make sure it was or wasn’t that.
But then again, if Serenity didn’t change…then maybe this was her chance to stay normal.
After all, who was I to force this problem on her? I mean, even if I viewed it as a blessing, it was also still a major complication to my life.
Serenity met my gaze, not having heard what Gabriella whispered to me, but seeming to anticipate that I was going to say something.
I sighed then, hearing that the now three sets of sirens were a lot closer. “Let’s go with her to the hospital. We can’t do anything here with so many people watching.”
Gabriella nodded, but Serenity just gave me a confused look. However, after a second of thought, her deep brown eyes widened in shock.
“Kai,” she hissed in disbelief. “Are you sure?”
I shrugged, glancing down at Avery’s tear-soaked face, her blonde hair disheveled and strewn over the glass-covered asphalt. “We can’t just leave her like this.” I focused on Serenity again. “I don’t know about you, but I’d rather die than be completely paralyzed for the rest of my life. However…” I grimaced, knowing I needed to explain what that would mean for me to fix her.
Unfortunately, Avery misunderstood my meaning, gasping as her heart burst into a gallop again. “Y-You’re going to kill me?” she whimpered, sounding terrified.
“No, no, no, no,” Gabriella said urgently, leaning down closer. “Kai might be able to help you. He might be able to fix you. But you can’t tell anyone,” she added seriously.
“H-How?” she stammered, her eyes unfocused now in shock.
Her voice could barely be heard over the sirens now, since an ambulance was finally pulling up.
“We will have to explain later,” I said quickly, leaning down closer so she could see and hear me better. “And Avery, it’s something we’ll have to talk about.” I sighed. “It will be a life altering decision, and one you’ll have to spend some time thinking over. But you can’t say anything to anyone. Okay? We’ll find you at the hospital, and then I’ll explain more.” I focused on Serenity. “Do you think you could try to go with them in the ambulance? It’ll be easier to make sure we can find her.”
Serenity frowned, seeming uncertain. “I can ask. I’ll tell them I’m a friend of the family, and my badge should have some weight if they–”
“Is my mom alright?” Avery abruptly blurted out.
We all looked behind Serenity at Michelle’s unconscious body, her heartrate and breathing normal aside from her looking like she was asleep on the asphalt.
I tried to reassure her. “She’s okay, I think. She will likely have a really bad concussion, but her breathing is fine. And her neck didn’t look broken.”
Serenity abruptly stood up when two of the EMT’s jogged over with a gurney on wheels, also having a flat stretcher on top, another EMT running over to the SUV where I could no longer hear a heartbeat.
Serenity quickly explained what we knew, which prompted the guy to make a fast decision.
“We can put a neck brace on the younger one, but she’s conscious right now. That makes the older woman our priority between the two.”
“That’s fine!” Avery blurted out. “Just please make sure my mom’s okay!”
The guy nodded, but was quickly distracted by the other EMT running up to them. “The guy driving the semi-truck is fine, and the one in the SUV is deceased. Looks like they must have recently had surgery. Stitches tore and they bled out. Let’s load up one of these two.”
“Fuck,” he hissed. “Probably driving while high on their pain medicine.” He then sighed, instructing his companions to help with the older woman.
In the meantime, the first one knelt down and started asking Avery questions, just trying to get an assessment of her condition, and to see if she was showing signs of confusion. Gabriella kept her hands on Avery’s neck the whole time, and he went and grabbed a neck brace once they had the mom loaded up from the stretcher to the gurney.
In the meantime, a fire truck did show up, as well as another ambulance.
Serenity finally took the time to ask if she could go with them, and they didn’t have a problem with it. She didn’t even have to bring up her badge or anything, especially since Avery agreed that she wanted her to come.
Gabriella and I waited until Avery was loaded up into her own gurney, before I gave Serenity a hug and headed back to my car with my fiancé. It wasn’t until we were inside that we both relaxed some, stressed by everything that just transpired. At first, neither of us said anything for a long few minutes, with Gabriella sitting up front with me now, the black chest by her feet.
However, when I realized we were still probably going to be here for a while, until they redirected traffic since we were boxed in, I decided to make use of the time by explaining to Gabriella the thoughts that crossed my mind earlier.
Specifically, I told her what I felt like it would mean for me to change Avery.
How it would mean she’d be forfeiting her freedoms to do so.
How I felt like this wasn’t a situation where I could just be nice and fix her, only to let her go off and do what she wanted afterward.
Thankfully, Gabriella understood.
She also suspected that Avery wouldn’t have a problem with that being the price she’d have to pay…
“I saw the way she looked, Kai. When you said I was your girlfriend,” Gabriella clarified with a sigh. “Kai, she was possibly even more devastated than Serenity was. And that’s saying something. That chick has it bad for you. Really bad.”
I just shook my head in disbelief. “So what are you saying?” I wondered seriously. “I mean, if I do change her, then what? She’ll have to be in our lives, and she’s clearly infatuated with me.”
Gabriella shrugged. “Kai, I’m really not opposed to you having a relationship with her. I mean, she’s been clearly obsessed with you for two years. Almost feels like she has more of a right than I do.”