Days of Darkness: Awakening

Chapter 13: Coming to a Head

The following morning, Damien rolled over, gazed at Nadia as she lay sleeping, and smiled to himself. He was in awe, not only because of her beauty but because he was getting a genuine chance at some kind of happiness in these dark times. Deeper than that, however, he saw this new relationship as a chance to love just as his parents did. That didn't mean, though, that Cyris' words didn't stay pressed upon his mind. As he watched as Nadia lay in bed still sleeping, he questioned if he possessed the strength and will that it would take to protect her from the madness and evil that Dante had unleashed upon the earth.

As Damien got out of bed, Nadia woke up soon after - with a smile no less. She immediately jumped up and pulled him back into bed.

"And where do you think you're going, mister?" Nadia asked playfully.

"Getting ready to go help Chris and Diamond with the portal device."

"Come back to bed."

Damien smiled and kissed her. "Oh, I wish. But I promised them that I would come to the lab and help with this device, and you need to get to the clinic. We'll have time to hang out later. I promise. But we need to get on the move, babe." He leaned over to give her another kiss.

Nadia wasn't happy but she knew in her heart that he was right. "God, you just have to make sense? Don't you?" She sat up. "OK, I'll tell you what... We can meet for lunch around 1:00. That sound good?"

"It's a date. I wouldn't miss it."

With that, Damien got in the shower, got dressed, grabbed his bag, and left the room for the laboratory.

As he walked through the halls, Damien had an uneasiness about him. To him, something didn't feel right and he knew it. His stomach started to churn uncontrollably and he ran for the nearest restroom. Once he got to the toilet, he bent over and vomited.

"What is happening to me?" he thought to himself. Damien took a moment to regain his composure but he still felt unsettled. He leaned over the toilet bowl to vomit once again. Only this time, there was a small amount of blood present. Damien sat on the restroom floor next to the toilet and rested with his eyes closed as he started to develop a migraine. His head throbbed unrelentingly as he sat and tried to regain his composure. After about ten minutes of sitting, he decided to get up and keep pushing. So, he washed his hands, left the restroom, and then he was off once again.

As Damien approached the development lab, he could see Christian heading into the lab. He started to jog to meet Christian at the door when, all of a sudden, he had an intense feeling of vertigo and collapsed to the floor. Christian rushed to his aid as fast as he could. By the time he reached Damien, he was unconscious and unresponsive.

"Diamond, page Dr. Montgomery to the development lab! Hurry!"

All he could think was "Not again." For the second time in a matter of weeks, Damien lay unconscious... helpless. Again, his best friend - his brother - was left in a coma with no clue as to what was wrong.

When Nadia arrived, she couldn't believe what she saw. The initial shock froze her at first but she quickly got herself together to care for Damien.

She looked over to Christian. "What happened?"

"I don't know," he answered. "He was jogging towards me and just passed out."

"Just passed out? That's it?" Nadia asked.

"That's it," Christian responded. "He was running my way coming to the lab. The next thing I know, he's hitting the floor."

Nadia started to examine Damien right away looking for any injuries or signs of trauma. "OK. So, I don't see anything visible. No wounds or bleeding of any kind. We need to get him back to the clinic. I wanna run a CT on his head and make sure that there isn't any damage that we may have missed from before." As Nadia reached in to feel his forehead, she could feel an intense heat coming from his body. She touched his arm with the back of her hand and drew back quickly. When she turned her hand over to look at it, she saw that her palm had turned red from the heat. His skin felt as if he was on fire and no one could touch him.