AN: Couyon is a Cajun

French term for a foolish or crazy person.

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CHAPTER 4

Care and Feeding of Werewolves

Eliot had helped Theodosia, 'call me Teo', load him into the trunk of her car. For many reasons Eliot had traveled in the trunk of a car before and didn't mind it at all this time. He could only guess at how bad he looked but he could imagine that Teo was right when she declared him 'a sight' and 'not fit for public'. So when she decided the best way to get him out of there without attracting attention was to smuggle him in her trunk, he didn't argue.

Eliot didn't know how long he had been in the trunk because he had fallen asleep moments after the car was in motion. Eliot slept through the somewhat bumpy ride and didn't wake until Teo popped the trunk.

"You lookin' too much like de rugarou. You think you can shift you face a bit?"

It took Eliot a moment to understand what she was talking about. "Roo…" Eliot's voice sounded odd and that was when he remembered that he was still half shifted. Eliot closed his eyes and concentrated. He could feel it on his tongue as his teeth shifted from fangs to human canines. Eliot opened his eyes to the amused look on Teo's face.

"Well I don't know that it improved ya looks a'tall but now I got some idea a where to start." Teo reached down into the trunk and grasped Eliot's upper arm. Planting her feet for leverage she leaned back as she pulled.

Eliot was weaker than he had thought and was grateful for the help to climb out of the trunk. As soon as he had both feet on the ground Teo slipped under his arm on his left side and helped him through the gate into her backyard.

It took them a few minutes to negotiate the back stairs and the trip through the house, and down into her basement. Teo leaned him against a wall and was back in a moment with a sturdy looking wooden chair. "Sit yo'self down. And I' see to the rest." Eliot slumped into the chair and was only vaguely aware of the sound of her footsteps as she went back up the stairs. He must have drifted off again for a moment because he woke with a growl as something wet made the cuts on his face sting. "Now none of that couyon!" Teo gave a light swat to his shoulder. "You mind ya'self and we get along fine. You don't and I know few folks pay good money for your kin'."

Eliot couldn't tell if she was serious about selling him or not, but it didn't smell like a lie. "Sor…" He started to speak but it pulled at the tear in his lip painfully.

"Best leave the talkin' ta me." She gave him a brief grimace and started wiping at his face and neck with her cloth. Several times she stopped to rinse and ring out the rag in the basin she'd brought down and in no time the water had turned pink. "Well boy, they done a number on you. But I 'spect ya knew that." Teo used the cloth to smooth the hair from his face and looked him over. "Ya not healin' like ya ought. I get ya some meat and after a rest we see where things stand." Teo stood and stretched, then without another word she ascended the stairs again.

In a moment she was back with two steaks still in the package from the local store. Pulling the plastic wrap off, she handed him one. He tried to quirk an eyebrow at her but wasn't sure how successful he was. "Ya need it. An' don' try an tell me ya gotta have it cooked cuz I already know betta'." With a minimal shrug he took the first bite.

He knew that a raw steak from a second rate cut of beef wasn't the best thing he had ever tasted but his taste buds were pretty sure he was wrong. He tried not to gulp down the rest of the steak but was hard pressed to remember to chew. Teo handed him the second steak and walked out of his line of sight. A moment later she was back with an armload of blankets and a pillow. Eliot finished off the second steak and could have happily gone for a third.

"All right, you rest up. But first you listen to me good." She paused giving him a serious look. "You stay down here. Ya try an' come up those stairs an' it won't be good for you. I don't min' helpin' ya out but I don't know you." Eliot nodded. Personally he thought she was overestimating his abilities at the moment as he looked past her at the steep set of stairs. "Alright then, settle in." She held up a corner of a blanket and Eliot gratefully crawled under. He was asleep before she was halfway up the stairs.

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Eliot didn't know just how long he had slept but the dim light through the basement windows told him it was either very late or very early. He heard the creak of the stairs and sat up on the pallet of blankets. Teo paused at the bottom of the stairs. "You feelin' better couyon?" She had a smirk on her face that matched the tone of her voice.

"I ain't couyon." Eliot's tone was growly.

"And what would you call a man that gets his self fed to da vampires? And don't you take tha' tone with me or I won' share what I brought." She said the last with a smile and held out a bag that was redolent of roast chicken.

Eliot nearly drooled at the smell. She handed him the bag and with a tilt of her head indicated that he should take it to the workbench. She disappeared back up the stair but was back by the time he made it to the workbench. Eliot was stiff from sleeping on the floor and still in a lot of pain from the myriad injuries that still hadn't healed. She set out two plates, cutlery, napkins, and a bottle of beer for each of them.

"Thanks." Eliot cut a leg of chicken loose and set it on Teo's plate. He started to smile but felt the tear in his lip break open again. Grabbing a napkin he held it to his lip for a moment until the bleeding stopped.

"After we eat, you take a shower an' then we see what still need fixin'." Teo looked him up and down, shook her head at the sorry state of him and took a bite of her chicken.

"What day is it?" Eliot had realized that he had completely lost track of time.

"It be Monday night." Teo didn't look at him as she took a swig of her beer.

Eliot shuddered as he realized that he'd lost track of two whole days. The vampire venom had kept him pretty high but he had no idea that he had lost so much time. He took a pull at his own beer and ate most of the rest of the chicken that Teo had brought.

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Teo had held the door open for him at the top of the stairs and pointed him in the direction of the shower. Eliot stayed under the scalding spray until it turned tepid. He'd had to wash several times before the water stopped looking grimy as it sluiced down the drain.

Stepping out of the shower Eliot got a look at himself in the mirror and was a bit shocked. He'd gotten used to healing at an accelerated rate and it had been a long time since he'd seen himself looking this torn up after he'd had time to eat and rest. His upper lip was still torn, the deep cut across his ribs was starting to seep blood again and he could still see where most of the cuts and burns were still raw. Some of the smaller marks had healed completely but those seemed to be the exception at the moment.

A knock at the bathroom door got Eliot's attention. "Just a sec." Eliot wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door.

"Okay boy. I got an ointment here might help." Teo bustled into the small bathroom dragging a stool behind her. "Sit yer'self down." She patted the top of the stool. "Now this stuff sting fit to take the hide clean off, but it should do the job." She looked at him expectantly for a moment. "You think you can keep control a yo'self while I put it on?"

"Yes ma'am." Eliot nodded and turned his back to her as he sat on the stool so that in the mirror. he could see her behind him.

"Okay. Here we go." She scooped up a dollop of ointment out of her bowl and smeared it over a cut on his shoulder.

Eliot couldn't help the gasp of pain. She wasn't kidding about the sting. He wasn't sure if it hurt more when the cut had first been inflicted than it did right now. She applied the ointment to the several dozen cuts and burns that were scattered over his back. "Okay boy you take a minute." Teo gently patted his shoulder and rubbed her hand over his neck and the base of his skull in a gentle massage.

Eliot couldn't help the whimper or the tears that came to his eyes at her gentle touch. There hadn't been much that had happened to him in the last few days that hadn't been painful and humiliating, and even though Teo's ointment burned like hellfire he knew she wasn't getting some kind of sadistic pleasure out of it. "Thanks." The word came out in a whine and it took him a couple more deep breaths before he could relax a little and unclench his fists.

"Okay boy. You think you can stand sa more?" She held the bowl up a little to make her meaning clear.

Eliot nodded and took a deep breath. "Name's Eliot by the way."

She patted his shoulder and smiled at him in the mirror. "Nice to be meetin' ya Eliot."

She set to work applying more ointment on cuts, burns, punctures, and scrapes. Eliot did his best to hold still for all of it. Finally she stopped for a moment and let him catch his breath. "Okay Eliot, there's still dis damn big slice on ya ribs and tha' tear in da lip. They gon' be worse than da rest. You wan' me ta do it or ya wanta do it ya'self?"

"How come I'm not healing on my own?" Eliot wasn't quite ready to get back to the torturous ointment and decided to put off the dreaded moment with a question.

"Well," Teo pressed against his chin turning his head so that he could clearly see the bite mark on his neck in the mirror and nudged a finger on a spot between the bite marks on his arm. "I'd say you don' react so good to the vampire venom. Some wolves is that way." She gave him another moment before she patted his shoulder and held up the bowl again. "So what's it gon' be? You or me?"

Eliot looked at the tremors running through his hands when they weren't clenched into fists. "Better be you." Eliot took a deep breath and braced himself.

"Okay. Ya hold onta yo' right wrist an' keep that arm up. This gon' hurt. Just no way aroun' it." She waited until he was holding his arm up over his head and catching his eye in the mirror she nodded right before she applied the ointment to the long deep cut over his ribs. Eliot couldn't help the scream or the jerk that nearly tumbled him off the stool. "Okay boy. Just the lip an' you 's all done."

Eliot panted for a moment until he regained his composure. Taking a deep breath he looked at her and nodded. He held as still as possible as she applied the ointment to his lip but couldn't help the tears as the sting of the ointment seemed to run straight from his lip to his eyes. Teo patted his shoulder when she was done and set the bowl of ointment to the side.

"I got some clothes might suit. I'll be right back." Teo left him and headed down the hall away from the bathroom. In a few minutes she was back with grey sweats and a soft red tshirt. "My son Tyrell lef' these when he wen' offta college. Course 'im bein' a big important doctor now, 'e don' need this stuff no more." Her eye's gleamed with pride when she mentioned her son.

Eliot slipped the sweats on under the towel and set the towel to the side over a rack near the shower. When he tried to put the tee on he flinched at the tug the movement gave the cut over his ribs.

"Here cher. Lemme help wi' that." She helped him into the shirt and ran her hands across the tops of his shoulders as though to settle the material in place.

"Ma'am? Why are you helping me?" Teo had seen him half transformed under a pile of vampires and knew him for a monster. So far as Eliot could see she had absolutely no reason to help him.

"Well cher, ever'body needs a helpin' hand now an' again. Sides you been more mannerly than most any wolf I eve' met. Most wolves 'd tried to eat this ol' lady right there in that alleyway. You didn' even gimme a nip." She smiled at him and headed for the door. "Supper'll be ready in halfn hour." She called over her shoulder.

"What time is it?" Eliot was sure it was late when he had woken up earlier. It had to be very late now.

"Dos'n matter cher. Aint goodta have a hungry wolf in da house." Teo walked back down the hall humming to herself.