Page 44 of Echoes From Within
It’s too quiet.
“Fuck,”Venom shouts.“You guys were right. Find her Xander.”
It takes a minute to find a light switch but once I do, finding the other ones isn’t a problem. The house is old. You can tell that Sophia never gave it her own touch and left everything the way her parents had it.
My heart races and I know that Venom is on the verge of a panic attack. Seeing how I can feel his panic, that means he’s too close to the front.
Sneaky bastard.
I use my force and push him back further.
“Don’t you dare knock me out,” he shouts. “I’ll let you be for a while but don’t fucking knock me out, Xander.”
I’m the only alter that can make Venom black out for as long as I think he needs. I haven’t had to do that in years and I’ve made him a promise that I won’t do it again without his consent.
I understand his panic. He’s claimed this woman as his. As ours. But, I have better control over our emotions than he does.
“I’ll give back control once she’s safe,”I promise.“I won’t knock you out.”
I can feel Venom take a step back. He’s still a strong force just silently watching behind my eyes. I wonder if this is what he feels like when I’m on edge and he’s in control.
“Sophia,” I call out. “Are you here, sweetheart?”
I check almost every room and have found nothing. There are three rooms left. Once again, I feel Venom’s panic.
“I hope Miles is right and she just left when we dropped her off,”he says.
Going by instinct alone, I head straight for the second to last door in the hall and shove it open. Sophia is leaning against the bathroom sink surrounded by blood. Reaching down, I check for a pulse.
“It’s there, but faint,” I say.“Doc, you’re up.”
With a single thought, I step back and Doc takes over.
***Doc***
There’s no time to stretch my muscles when I gain control of our body. I grab the robe that’s hanging by the bathroom door and yank the tie loose.
Falling to my knees, I tie it a few inches above where Sophia sliced her wrist. Luckily she only did one. If she had cut both wrists she would be long dead.
“Is she breathing, Doc?”Venom asks.
I don’t have time to deal with him right now. Reaching into my back pocket, I grab my phone and dial 911. When I’m assured an ambulance is on its way I hang up and lift Sophia into my arms.
We shouldn’t have brought the damn bike.
I rush outside and can only wait. Little Sophia doesn’t have much time. They need to hurry the fuck up.
“There they are,” Venom says. “Thank fuck.”
“Is she going to make it, Doc?” Miles asks.
“Not sure, son,” I admit. “She’s lost a lot of blood.”
“What’s going on?” The EMT says as he hops from the truck.
“A 30-year-old female presents with a laceration on her left wrist. It seems that the injury has not significantly affected the arterial depth. Based on my estimation, the incident occurred approximately five minutes prior to my assessment. I have applied a constriction to the arm to mitigate the bleeding, although she has experienced considerable blood loss. Her heart rate is notably low, and her respiratory rate is shallow.”
“Are you a doctor?” the man asks. “A British doctor?”