Xerxes Arvanitis, Seraphina Astarte and Callie Lenson
Location: East Ridge Animal Hospital.
Interacting With: Each other
"..h-here..! W-We’re in here…”He could hear her. Not just in his head, but physically. His head turned towards the sound, dark eyes landing on a door he probably would have completely passed by if he had started to just run through the clinic to try and find her.
He became vaguely aware that his palms had become sweaty. Was he ready for what was behind that door? Seraphina; though he hadn't known her for very long she had become a good friend. From the way he was picking up on her emotions, whatever was behind that door was not good. He closed his eyes, only to open them again to see that his glasses had started to fog from the heat of his unshed tears teasing at his ducts.
He balled his hand into a fist. No. He had to do this. Whatever met him on the other side, he had to deal with it. She called him for a reason. She had faith in him. Even... even when sometimes he didn't exactly have faith in himself.
Taking a deep breath, Xerxes took a moment to steel his emotions before he headed towards the door. Reaching a hand out, he turned the cold, brass knob and allowed himself entry.
The stench of blood was unmistakable, and had almost gone unnoticed by his senses at first from being around it so often. But the sight that he came across refused to let his other senses remain adaptable.
"Fucking shit..."At first, it was hard to tell who it was that was bleeding, and then the doctor realized that it wasn't just Seraphina in the room. A young woman lay sprawled out on an operating table, crying out in pain and tears and apologizing while Seraphina seemed to be doing the same. But as soon as Xerxes realized that it wasn't Seraphina who needed the medical attention, something in his brain clicked, and the doctor rushed to her side to try and assess the situation.
"What's happened?"“..I-I-...” Unsure of where to even begin, Seraphina lifted her head, her bright blue tear stained eyes glistening slightly as she met with his gaze, holding it for only a fraction of a second before the quick jerk of the woman’s body under her touch once more gained her attention, causing her to once more attempt to focus back on what she was doing… on what she had to do…
“..h-he brought one of them h-here… Magnus; he-... he brought a w-witch here… he used magic on one of the d-dogs… I… I did not like it; he was not happy… but the witch left; i-it was when I c-called you… someone was w-watching me…” Her each and every action hesitant, she did her best, not wanting to bring the woman anymore pain than what she was feeling at this moment- witch or not… she didn’t deserve this… no one did,
“..t-then he c-came back… he-... he brought h-her with him… she’s a witch too… h-he said-... he said a wolf did this to her… if that’s true then… then we have to l-leave, I-... I have to get Layla out of this place…”Callie wanted to curl up, wanted to just be away from it all, but she took it as her punishment for letting Alexis die. She knew the girl was dead, even if Leo wanted to believe otherwise. She let out a small whimper, wanting to shy away from what the vet was doing, but forcing herself to stay as still as she could.
”Wolf… attacked… Alexis, Alexis, Alexis” she barely held back a sob as she spoke the girl’s name,
”Why… “ "Shhh..." Xerxes opened up his hand and hovered it over the young woman's chest. Seraphina he could deal with in a moment. It was the young girl, the Witch, that needed his immediate attention. He would piece together everything that Seraphina had tried to tell him later. His years of medical training and sheer intuition told him that now was not the time. Now... he needed to save a life.
He had never worked on a Witch before - they tended to steer clear of medical hospitals. Probably for very good reason. Probably for the same reasons weres and other supernatural creatures did. Their own damn safety in this world.
Cassandra... She would never be able to see a real doctor again. He would have to be it. Either him or Seraphina. She was really the only other medical doctor he knew within their world.
Bringing himself back to the present, knowing fully well that he couldn't be worrying about his daughter right then, Xerxes watched as the magic he held continued to pool into the young woman. Already her hysteria levels were diminishing, which in turn seemed to relax Seraphina, if just a bit.
"It's going to be alright. Sleep. All will be better when you wake."It was a technique he used often. Some patients often had hard times taking to the drugs that were supposed to put them to sleep. He'd let his assistants ready the patient and put them on the operating table while he assembled his tools, and when the drug wouldn't take by the time he was ready to operate, he would simply talk to them as a father would to a child who was having a hard time sleeping. Or at least that's what he imagined it looked like to the outside world. Either way, he had a lot of success with using his power of empathy to his advantage.
Callie didn’t like the feel of another’s magic being used on her- especially one that felt alien and different to a witch’s magic, but she found that as it went on, she didn’t care. She didn’t want to go to sleep, and she struggled against it for a moment or two, before letting go, defeated. What did she have to fight, right then?
She let her eyes close, the horrible scene flashing past her eyes a moment, before it was gone. Blessed blackness washing over her, even if she didn’t think she deserved it.
With the girl finally asleep, Xerxes had but a moment of reprieve. Finally, his senses weren't going haywire and he could simply focus now on the reason that drew him away from work in the first place.
"Seraphina, I need you to focus right now, okay? I don't know who this girl is, or who the other people you mentioned are or why anyone would be watching you. What I do know... is that Cassie was also attacked by a wolf just last night-" he quickly held up a hand to quell anything she might have said to interrupt him at the news.
"-she's fine. I saw to her myself. But there's more going on here than I think either of us realize. I don't know if it was the same wolf that attacked this girl, here, or not. But if it was... this Witch will have more information on what happened to Cassie than I had before. And she could have information that could keep you and Layla safe. But we have to work together first to save her life. Understand?"Her heart sank within the confines of her chest. Cassie… Cassie had been attacked..? Layla, she-... she’d wanted to go with them- to go camping with her friends; but the thought of her being out in the open… and with a siren nonetheless had her restless, so she had asked her not to go. If that was the case; the attack everyone seemed to be speaking about-...
“..n-no…” Taking a couple of steps backwards, Seraphina’s back hit the cages, causing a gentle though obvious clang to sound, and for the animals within them to stir a little restlessly,
“..n-no, I-... I have to go… I-I have to go- I have to get Layla away from h-here…”Xerxes exhaled softly through his nose. He could understand her emotional pain. Had he not said to himself the exact same thing once he discovered that Cassandra had been turned? Hell... he still wasn't entirely sure that's not what he wanted to still do once things settled down. But he also knew that people needed him. People he cared about. It was why he was here with Seraphina.
"Hey... hey... it's okay. Seraphina, it's okay. Just look at me, okay? Focus on me." She was panicked. He couldn't let her reach that point of absolute hysteria. There was only one of him. He couldn't look after both of them under these circumstances.
Xerxes took a tentative step towards Seraphina and placed his warm hands gently on her shoulders, giving her a reassuring squeeze, all the while keeping his dark eyes anchored to hers.
"I'm here now, alright? I'm here to help. I'm not going to let anything happen to Layla, okay? Layla is just fine. But I need your help. Help me help you."Her attention forced onto him as she felt the weight of his hands resting upon her shoulders, his touch helping to comfort her, even just a little, Seraphina brought her gaze to meet with his, the sheer intensity making it near impossible for her to look away again. He wanted to help… it was why he had come- why he had answered her call… he’d come all that way just for her…
Hesitant, knowing that she might be making a mistake, she nodded her head slowly, her gaze never once able to part with his own as she spoke softly,
“..o-okay…”Good. He got her to understand. And... to his knowledge... he didn't even have to use any of his empathy on her. But that was the strange connection between Angels - they seemed to simply... draw off of one another, ability-wise. So perhaps he had calmed her down through magic. Either way, she was willing to help him.
He gave her a curt nod, followed by a flickering, appreciative smile that tugged at the corners of his lips. Releasing his hold on her arms, he returned to the operating table and put on a pair of rubber gloves from Seraphina's station.
"Now, help me get her undressed. I need to examine these wounds."
