Thread: Walking Sleeping Beauty - Rescue of Miranda pt3 (Miranda, Walker, Mackenzie)

Mackenzie sends off a text as they pull up to the warehouse. She looks up at Emma when she speaks. Her face is expressionless and her tone even. "I could say the same about you. Between you and the Archon, my presence was hardly noticeable, but I thank you for the compliment." She continues to look at Emma as if waiting to see if she has anything further to say.

Benjamin enters the warehouse through the back door. "Emma, take Miranda downstairs. It's better fortified down there." He opens the door to the basement area and walks down.

Emma carries the body downstairs, she gently puts Miranda down on a couch. "Should we pull the stake out? If she's torpid my blood might be able to help her... I'm willing if it comes to that. We may want to hold her down, though, God alone knows what state she'll wake up in."

"Yes, let's pull the stake out of her. I'll hold her down in case she comes to frenzied." Benjamin reaches for the stakes and yanks it out.

The corpse-like figure on the couch struggles lightly against the Archon's hold when the stake is removed, but only briefly before her body's reflexes return and she begins to cough up large amounts of the filth and water that were trapped inside her. Miranda's chest heaves in exertion as she works to clear her lungs.

"You're safe now." The refrain has been playing over and over in her mind since Benjamin whispered them, and she clings to the words like a lifeline, frantic that it might be a lie and he will walk out on her just like Nate did.

Her skin is bloated and swollen, a sickly bruised color from being submerged for so long. There are large gaping bite marks in her flesh where no blood shows, only the horrifying white of dead matter. She stares up at the Archon her eyes wide with fear before shame overtakes her and she weakly turns her face away from view.

"Ne me quitte pas, s'il vous plaît. Ne me quitte pas," are the faint words she utters, her voice raw and broken.

((French. Translation: Don't leave me, please. Don't leave me.))

Emma responds with a soothing, soft voice, her words spoke in french, "No one is leaving you Miranda. You're safe now. You're with friends. Do you hunger?"

Secure in the fact that Miranda is not going to attack, the Archon walks into the basement's bathroom and brings back a warm washcloth. He covers Miranda back up with the comforter, and washes the grime away from her face. "None may harm you in my home."

Miranda panics for a moment when Benjamin steps away but she is quickly soothed by the sound of Emma's voice and the Colonel's gentle touch when he returns. She turns her head towards the red-haired woman and nods, her throat clenching spasmodically in thirst.