Asylum

The next morning I got up and changed my bed linens before Ryan got there so he wouldn't ask questions. It was something Ryan was really good at, asking questions. Our sheets and stuff got shipped out to a laundry facility once a week, and that happened to be today. I felt deliciously exhausted and just wanted to crawl back into bed with Jay. He was muttering in his sleep, but at least he wasn't screaming. The sun wasn't quite up yet but it wouldn't be long, then the day would begin. Bobby would be back in town today so Jay wouldn't need me. It made me kinda sad, I liked Jay needing me. I slid under the cold sheets of my own bed and waited for our wake up call.

I didn't have to wait for long, because we got it in a very unusual way. Jay and I both bolted up in our beds when we heard the scream, then after pulling on a pair of sweat pants a piece, ran out of our room, into the hall and skidded into the living room. Lia stood there, staring at the ground, hands over her mouth. Ryan was kneeling on the floor next to a bloody mass. My eyes couldn't quite adjust to see what it was. I could have sworn it was a person but... Then I realized who it was. "Oh no... Jay?" I looked at him, he'd sunk to his knees, staring in shock. Dr. Bobby Hewitt was on the ground, blood soaking into the linoleum. And there was so much of it! His eyes were frozen in wild terror at the ceiling. His throat was slashed open, and to add insult to injury, he was completely naked. Ryan stood and went to the linen closet, pulling out a sheet. He threw it over Bobby and said, "Alright, that's it, emergency lock down. NOW!" He yelled. He grabbed Lia's arm, then mine and Jay followed us back into our room. Ryan shoved us in and locked the door behind him.

Lia started to panic a little, she did not like being confined to a small space. "You okay?" Jay asked, sounding shaky. "Gimme a cigarette." She said as she sat on his bed. Jay raised an eyebrow at her and so did I. Lia didn't smoke. But he handed her one without further questioning. She took it, grabbed up his lighter and lit it. She took a drag as though she'd been smoking for years and slowly exhaled. "You're an ex-smoker aren't you?" I asked, surprised. "Yeah, I quit when I was committed..." Lia said as she sighed and curled up next to Jay. He had followed her lead and was smoking a cigarette now too. I went over to them and sat next to Jay, and we all sat around for a few hours in silence, just smoking and confined to our own thoughts. Good thing we'd both purchased a carton the other day because between the three of us we managed to finish off about two packs and were slowly working on a third.

Around noon or so Lia was laying on the bed, frozen. She was starving and just couldn't be bothered to get up, poor girl. She's got some kind of weird hypoglycemia where she has to eat every four hours unless she's sleeping, otherwise she's too weak to move. Jay was inconsolable, and it was like he wasn't even in there. I wished I could make that go away but I didn't know how. Lia on the other hand, I knew how to make her feel better. I crawled over to her and helped her sit up. Then I grabbed up Jay's comb, placing it beside me. I took her hair out of the braids, slowly untangling her locks. Then I ran the brush through her hair, gently. She sighed and I could feel her close her eyes. When I finished I just left it the way it was, not bothering to braid it. I laid against the wall, then dragged her back to lay on my chest. She sighed and closed her eyes. Jay stared, then came over to the bed. He lay down and put his head in Lia's lap, something that was a little hard for him to do because he was so tall and the bed wasn't very big.

I stroked Jay's hair and we all just sat there like that for God only knows how long. Then when I realized I couldn't really feel my chest anymore, Jay stirs and then sits up in a panic. "What's wrong?" I ask. "I don't know, Lia's just... FUCK!" He screams, then goes and pounds on the door. "Ryan, you fucker! RYAN!" I slide out from under Lia and put my ear to her chest. She's breathing but just barely. Her skin's pale and there are dark hollows under her eyes, something Ryan had taught us to look out for. Jay keeps banging on the door and screaming. Then it finally opens and Jay grabs someone, dragging him in. I quickly realize it's Dr. Cox. "Calm DOWN Jay!" He yells then runs over to Lia. He checks her vital signs then looks to us. "Can you two help me get her out of here?" We both nodded then, Jay taking her shoulders and I taking her feet, we lifted Lia off the bed and took her into the hall.

There's always two or three gurneys there just in case, and Dr. Cox told us to lay her on one. Then Ryan came up and Jay growled, "You fucker." He looked up at us and I was stunned. He looked terrible in every sense of the word. "I'm sorry." Ryan muttered, his throat obviously tight, he was close to crying. Then they just took Lia away. "Think she'll be okay?" I asked. "Fuck I hope so, we're gonna have a hard time getting rid of Amir if she dies on us." Jay replied. He sighed, then gingerly started walking into the front room. I followed, not wanting to be left alone. The cops had obviously been all over the place and I was sort of surprised they hadn't questioned any of us, the inmates. You'd think the first suspects they'd look at would be the psychos in a psycho ward. There was no trace of the scene we'd found that morning. Jay looked around, as though trying to find a little bit of Bobby that he could hold on to.

"Jay?" I said tentatively, didn't want to spook him or anything. "This is all my fault." He muttered. "It's actually his fault." We both looked up to see Amir standing there, Tara just behind him. "What the fuck are you talking about?" Jay asked, rage rising in him instantaenously. "Paige wants you, idiot. So since Dr. Hewitt was in the way I made sure that he wasn't a problem anymore." I gaped at Amir, too surprised to say anything. Jay was too obviously. "And from now on I'm gonna make sure that what Paige wants, Paige gets." Amir said simply, then he turned around and walked out, Tara trailing behind. I stared after him then looked at Jay. "Oh God... Jay I'm so fucking sorry!" I yellled, backing away from him. I knew how he could be when he got angry. But Jay didn't do anything, he just stood there, staring off into space. Then he did something he'd never done before.

Jay turned around and before I could blink I was in his arms, and he was crying. I rubbed his back soothingly, saying, "You loved him?" He managed to choke back his sobs enough to say, "No... But no one deserves to die like that. Even a pig like Bobby." "A pig?" I asked, pulling back and looking up into his face. "I thought you two were an item?" Jay just shook his head. "No... He knew what was wrong with my sex drive, he took advantage of it." Jay replied as he walked around me and sank onto the couch. "Was he... Jay did he rape you?" I asked him, too afraid of the answer. "Not in the traditional sense. He made sure I was good and frustrated before I saw him so I wouldn't say no." Jay replied. "That sick bastard! Why didn't you tell someone?" I sat down next to him as I said this. "Yeah right, who are they gonna believe? A doctor or a person in an institution because he believes in vampires?" Jay asked. "Hm... Good point."

"But this just tears it. We've got to get rid of Amir." He said, eyes dark and suddenly serious. "How?" "Lia knows a spell, but we'd need another person to help us do it." "Why don't we just take a silver chain and strangle him?" "Mir's been alive too long for something like that to work. He was friends with Akenaten dude." Was Jay's reply. "Who?" "The Heretic King, ancient Egypt kinda stuff." "Oh... Damn." "Yep. So we need a spell. But if Lia doesn't pull out of whatever's going on we're completely and totally fucked."