Laura is riding her bike to school and paying more attention to the memory of the conversation she had with her foster parents. She hadn't expected the bike as a birthday gift, these foster parents have been great for her, but what they told her, well she just doesn't know what to do now.

She turned eighteen, as soon as school finishes in two days, she'll be on her own. She's aged out of the system. She never thought it would happen. Although, she will miss Phyllis and Dean, they told her that Dean was transferred to out of state, with the strong likelihood of getting transferred over seas within the next three months. They had wanted to be here for her to get a new start on her adult life, but now it wouldn't be possible. They gave her the bike and a thousand dollar check for graduation. They wanted to do more, but they have to get started on the moving process. Dean was leaving tonight to find a place.

Laura is blinded by tears and so doesn't see the car that swerves into her lane. She doesn't even have time to understand what happened as she goes flying through the air. She hears the squeal of brakes and voices yelling before the pain takes over and she blacks out.

Laura floats in a black sea with occasional sounds of machinery to irritate her. Then an even more occasional sound of piano playing that draws her. It sounds like the records her grandmother used to play, piano music played by the really flamboyant Liberace guy.

That triggers memories of her grandmother which takes her deeper into the black sea.

"Sir, that's our ICU. She's been in a coma for almost a week now, she wouldn't even know that you are there." The nurse tells the flamboyantly dressed man before he walks into the small ICU ward. He takes a look around and only sees one patient, a young woman hooked up to machines.

"What happened to her?" Darius says sympathetically.

"She was on her way to school when a car hit her bicycle. She wasn't wearing a helmet, but it's not head injuries that are her main problem." The nurse finds herself answering the larger than life performer. Giving out information that could cost her her job if it was ever found out.

"What do you mean, nurse?" The man turns his full gaze from the forlorn woman on the bed to the nurse at his side.

"The head injuries did put her into a coma, but she came out of that and they induced a medical coma. She has severe spinal injuries. It's very likely that she will be a quadriplegic once she wakes up. They are hoping that with the coma that her body will be able to heal enough that she won't be fully paralyzed."

"Oh? What are the chances of that happening?" Darius asks softly. He feels a pull towards that female that he hasn't felt in centuries.

"To be honest sir, I don't think her chances of waking up are very good. If she doesn't show improvement soon the life support will be taken off. She will die without ever waking up so it won't matter."

"I see, thank you nurse. What about her parents and family?"

"She doesn't have any. Her parents died when she was young. She was raised by her grandmother until she was ten or so. Then she passed and Miss Dillard was put into state custody. She has now aged out of that and her last foster parents had to move due to work. She's all alone." The nurse says sadly. She and the other nurses had done their best to stay with the young lady, but they have their jobs to do as well.

"Thank you, nurse. You have been most informative. I wish to spend some time with this young lady. I won't bother her in any way. Please return to your duties."

"Yes, sir. If you need anything just let me know." The nurse turns around and returns to her station and gets busy charting.

Darius moves into the room. "What is it about you that draws my attention, Little one?" Darius says and bends over her. He would give her his blood, but she has a ventilator down her throat. He'll somehow have to get her blood into an IV. She needs it to help heal her injuries.

"Now, how will I do this to help you?" Darius says softly.

Darius decides that injecting it directly would be best. He finds and breaks into the supply drawer and takes out a syringe. Plunging it directly into where his heart is, or should be, since his heart hasn't beat in several centuries, he takes out some of his blood. He then injects it into the portal of her IV.

Laura feels strange. She no longer is floating freely in the black sea. She feels like she is being pulled in a certain direction. The further she goes into that direction the  more she is able to orient herself.

Sounds come more frequently. She swears that she feels something. Are those words? If they are they sound like they are spoken under water. Is she underwater? No, she can breathe so she must not be underwater. What then?

She tries harder to understand the words when they are spoken.

"We are told to take her off of life support. It will be up to her now, if she lives or dies." Laura hears a strange man say. But she has no idea who the stranger is talking to or about.

"What about her injuries?" Another man, angrily asks or rather demands.

There is something about his voice that makes Laura shy away from him. There is power in that man.

"I'm sorry, sir. She is under the care of the state. They are the ones that ordered her taken off life support. I'm not happy about this, in fact I argued with them for some time, but I was overridden. They said that even if she lives that she'll be needing life support for the rest of her life. They decided that it was better for her to be let go."

Laura internally sighs. It's what she would have chosen. If she has to be on life support to stay alive, that's no life. She'd rather die. She wonders who they are talking about, though.

She no longer hears words but the sound of some of the machinery stops and she finds it hard to breathe. Something is taken from her throat and she finds herself coughing and able to breathe once more.

She takes a few breaths.

"Well, it seems that she's a fighter. There might be a chance for her after all. It also seems that there wasn't as extreme damage as we believed. If she wakes up, we'll be doing more tests on her to see just how much damage is there." The first male voice says, more than a little in shock from what she can tell.

"Thank you, doctor." The second male says. 

Doctor? Why is she near a doctor? What happened?