Narrative P.O.V.

Cain's body was twisted in an awkward angle on the tiny couch.

Although he knew that dreaming of sleep was unrealistic, he wanted to at least get comfortable.

Hearing Ella's deep and steady breathing as she slept made him jealous that he wasn't in the bed with her. His stubbornness had gotten the better of him and he had been a fool to turn her invitation down when she extended it.

However, he reminded himself that his self control only extended so far. While Cain was surprised that he had lasted those several minutes of their heated encounter without feeling the overwhelming need to mark her, he didn't know if the next time would be so pleasant.

As he watched the dying embers glowing in the hearth, Cain realized he'd been laying there for nearly four hours.

He felt the familiar numbness set in around his mouth as his gums began to swell so he sat up and walked into the bathroom, deciding not to fight it as he normally did.

Opening up the cabinet underneath the sink, he pulled out a plastic bag containing a liter of blood.

It was there for emergencies, but he was using it simply because he didn't want to leave the room while Ella was sleeping. He unscrewed the cap and began to drink.

It only took him a few moments to drain the bag completely.

Once finished, he wiped his mouth with a hand towel and threw that and the empty plastic bag into the trash can.

He walked back out into the bedroom but stopped suddenly.

Something was wrong.

He scanned the room but saw no sign of anything out of the ordinary. The door was still closed and locked and the windows were as well.

But he soon realized it wasn't what he could see, it was what he couldn't hear.

Ella wasn't breathing.

He rushed over to her and found that she was drenched in sweat. He pulled back the covers and picked her up in his arms.

Rushing from the room, he took several staircases down to the infirmary where Dr. Zosak was sleeping in his room.

Cain pounded on the door with his foot, shaking the whole wall.

He could hear the rushed shuffling behind the door before Dr. Zosak appeared, haphazardly putting on his glasses.

"What's wrong?" He asked, still half asleep.

"She's not breathing."

The doctor's eyes widened as he saw Ella. He hurriedly pushed Cain into an empty examination room.

He instructed Cain to lay her down on the cot before he placed a hand over her mouth and nose, feeling for an exhale. He shook his head, not feeling one before he leaned forward and placed two fingers on her neck.

"She still has a pulse," he told Cain.

He opened Ella's mouth to reveal a swollen tongue and a throat that was cherry red.

Immediately Cain saw Dr. Zosak's shoulders slump.

"Go get the nurses," he told Cain. "I'm going to see if I can get her airway back open."

Cain did as he was told, forgetting in that moment that he wasn't supposed to take orders from anyone but himself.

He ran down the hallway to the bunk room where a few of the nurses slept as they were on call.

"Everyone up!"

After turning the light switch on, he ran back down the hallway.

He could feel his heart racing with every step he took.

When reentering the room, Cain saw Dr. Zosak pumping air into Ella's mouth with a bag valve mask.

"Are they on their way?" He asked quickly.

Cain nodded.

The doctor gave a frustrated groan before calling him over.

"You do this," Dr. Zosak instructed Cain, placing his hands in the exact same position his hands had been in.

"Wait until it fills completely back up with air before you squeeze it again."

Cain did as he was told, mirroring Dr. Zosak's movements.

Dr. Zosak went over to the table behind Cain and began to rummage through the equipment.

He came back with a hand held tool that had a long, curved end.

Just before Cain could ask him what he was doing, the handful of nurses he'd just woken up burst into the room and immediately began to help where they were needed.

"Acute upper airway closure," Dr. Zosak informed them. "I'm inserting an endotracheal tube now to begin ventilation."

One nurse began to back Cain out of the way as he watched Dr. Zosak insert the metal tool into Ella's mouth.

"I need the tube," Dr. Zosak told the nurse in a rushed tone.

The nurse beside him began unwrapping the plastic cover off of a tube that was about a foot long. She slathered the end of it in a jelly before handing it to Dr. Zosak.

He positioned the plastic tube carefully before placing it in Ella's mouth and pushing it down her throat.

He pulled the tool out of her mouth, leaving the tube inserted.

"I'm going to check for bilateral breathing," he told the nurse, who was attaching a bag valve pump to the end of the tube.

She squeezed gently and Cain watched as Ella's chest began to rise and fall perfectly.

Dr. Zosak placed a stethoscope to her chest and listened to her breathing.

"Sounds good," he told the nurse. "Attach her to a vital signs monitor and make sure to record her initial BPM and respiratory rate. I also want to run an ECG and a full blood panel."

The nurses nodded and got to work as Dr. Zosak walked over to Cain.

"What has she eaten?"

"We stopped at a drive-thru on the way home a few hours ago."

Dr. Zosak shook his head, not satisfied with the answer.

"Before that?"

Cain just shrugged.

"She was starving so I can't imagine she'd eaten much, but I don't know for certain."

Dr. Zosak looked at Ella in deep thought.

"What?" Cain asked. "Do you think she had an allergic reaction?"

Dr. Zosak shook his head.

"She's been poisoned. My best guess would be Methanol because of the respiratory failure and the bright color of her throat, but I won't know for sure until the blood panel comes back."

Cain felt his heart begin to race.

"Is there an antidote?"

Dr. Zosak faltered.

"If it is Methanol, it would have needed to be treated within two hours of ingestion."

Cain's eyes returned to look at Ella who was still unconscious but breathing on her own.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Find out what she's eaten while I wait for the results of the blood test. If the toxicology screens come back clear, we'll go from there."

Cain nodded before backing out of the room reluctantly.

As soon as he stepped out into the hallway, he looked down to see his hands shaking.

He knew exactly who to talk to to find out what was wrong with Ella.

And Cain was going to kill him.

- - -

Several floors below the infirmary wing, Cain was met by Daniel and Jai at the large steel door that stood between him and his answers.

At this point, nearly everyone in the castle was on high alert. Not everyone knew why exactly, but Cain made sure to tell Jai and Daniel about Ella so they could help him.

"Cain, listen to me," Jai urged, holding a hand out to stop Cain from exploding through the door.

"This is what he wants. He's doing this to get to you. Remember, we have to keep him alive. He and Weber are the only leads we have so far and Weber's dead now."

Cain pushed the two of them to the side and yanked the latch on the door so hard that it fell to the ground and the door opened slowly.

"We'll find another one," he growled.

He walked swiftly into the room, over to where Zak slept and yanked him off of the steel cot by the hair, dragging him to the ground.

Immediately Zak began to fight back, startled by the sudden assault.

He smiled seeing Cain, raising himself to his knees.

"Is she already dead or about to be?"

Upon hearing this, Cain was overwhelmed by the sudden ringing in his ears and his vision went blurry with rage.

He threw Zak's head down, smashing into the concrete.

Before he could bend down and do it again, he felt a hand grab the collar of his t-shirt and pull him back.

Cain turned to see Daniel.

"Don't give him what he wants," he reminded Cain.

Zak began to laugh rolling over on the ground that was now covered in his blood.

"I already have what I want."

Cain picked him up by the shirt collar and pushed him against the wall, pinning him there.

"What did you poison her with?" He growled.

"A cocktail of things, I believe."

Cain's eyebrows furrowed.

"What?" Zak asked incredulously. "You honestly thought that I would know what Weber gave her?"

Immense guilt washed over Cain.

He'd killed the only person who knew exactly what she'd been poisoned with.

"So Weber was the only one who could give her an antidote?" He asked.

Zak began to cough as Cain put pressure on his chest, urging him to answer.

"There was no antidote made. There was no need for one," Zak wheezed out.

Out of the corner of his eye, Cain saw Daniel and Jai exchange baffled looks.

"So what is the point of poisoning her?" Jai asked. "Why would you kill your own sister?"

Zak smiled, exposing his blood covered teeth.

"If she dies, it won't be because of me."

Cain felt his arms go slack and he dropped Zak to the floor, realizing exactly what the plan had been all along.

He now knew Ella had been right. Rescuing her had been too easy because Zak and Weber wanted it to be. They wanted her to be with Cain when the poison settled in.

They wanted Cain to be the one to do it.

"I'm not turning her."

"Turn her, don't turn her," Zak said shrugging. "Either way, you won't be the same man in the morning when the sun rises."

Cain looked at him incredulously.

"So that was the point then? Why wouldn't you just kill me? Wasn't that the plan?"

Zak shook his head.

"No, but we're getting there."

Furious, Cain turned to leave with Jai and Daniel close behind.

Once in the hallway, Cain turned and pulled a switchblade from his back pocket and handed it to Jai.

"If I can recognize him whenever I come back then you haven't done your job. Are we clear?"

Jai nodded, turning the blade over in his hands.

"What do you want me to do?" Jai asked.

"Every man has a breaking point," Cain said. "Find his."

With that being said, Cain left Jai and Daniel in the basement.

He took his time walking back to the infirmary.

Cain took every exaggerated and unnecessary route that he could fathom, working over the situation in his mind.

He tried to think of alternative methods of saving Ella. Maybe Zak was lying. Maybe it was a bluff to see how far Cain would go.

But he knew it wasn't.

Ella was dying and Cain was the deciding factor.

His feet finally found themselves standing outside her door, looking into the examination room to see Dr. Zosak standing next to her, reading a chart. Beside him was a nurse that was taping down the tube that was still lodged in Ella's throat, allowing her to breath.

Upon entering the room, he drew the attention of the nurse and doctor.

Dr. Zosak immediately dismissed the nurse who walked swiftly from the room without a fight.

"Prognosis?"

The expression on Dr. Zosak's face gave away his answer before he spoke it.

"The blood panel tested positive for several types of various poisons. It's surprising to me that she's lasted this long. I would say she's in her final hour."

When Cain remained in the doorway, expressionless, Dr. Zosak sighed.

"I suppose you already know that, don't you?"

Cain nodded slowly, unable to tear his eyes from her unconscious body.

"What did Zak say?"

Finally, Cain took a step into the room and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"It's all part of their scheme," he said. "It doesn't matter if I turn her or if I don't. Either way, I lose."

The thought watching Ella die right in front of him while he was able to keep her from doing so made Cain's body go numb. However, he realized what saving her would really do. The effects of turning Ella would carry with her for the rest of her life. It was a decision so serious that he didn't feel qualified to make it.

"Is there anyway you could wake her up?" He asked.

Dr. Zosak immediately shook his head.

"We're keeping her sedated. An x-ray of her chest revealed severe internal swelling. There's no telling how much pain she would be in if she were awake."

"There's nothing you could give her to numb it? At least for a while..."

Dr. Zosak shook his head again.

"Morphine only carries so far before it acts as a sedative. She wouldn't be able to make an informed decision with the state she would be in anyway."

Cain nodded slowly as he took a few steps more towards her.

"If I may..." Dr. Zosak offered.

Cain nodded, welcoming any advice the doctor had to give.

"As a physician, I am expected to do whatever it takes, no matter the cost, to save a life. Unless I have orders not to resuscitate, I will keep someone's heart beating for as long as I can. Most people would rather wake up from a parachuting accident paralyzed from the neck down than not wake up at all."

Cain eyed him carefully.

"So you think she would be grateful that I saved her life rather than hate me from taking so much out of it?"

"I can't say for certain, because everyone's different," Dr. Zosak mused. "But I can say that, generally, most people will choose life over death."

Cain returned his attention to Ella.

"This disease isn't something I would wish upon my worse enemy," Cain said slowly. "I can't bear the thought of her ending up like me."

Dr. Zosak stared at Cain with an intense look.

"If she wakes up as even half the person you are, she'll be just fine."

Cain said nothing.

He walked over to where she lay and took her hand in his. Turning it over, he saw the scars on her wrist from where he bit her the first time.

He shook his head.

"I'm not going to do it."

Dr. Zosak felt his shoulders slump in defeat.

He couldn't protest Cain's decision, he didn't have the energy nor the position to do so.

"I'll leave you then," he said.

Cain sat down in the chair next to her, slumping over as he did so.

Unable to tear his eyes from her peacefully resting face, he knew he was making the right decision.

She'll be better off this way.

He closed his eyes and listened to the beeping of the monitor next to her cot. He felt his heart begin to race as the sound of the beeping began to slow.

Over the next several moments, Cain listened as the pings rang out further and further apart.

It wasn't until he heard the sound of the flatline that his heart jolted.

This is what's best.

Outside in the hallway, Daniel and Dr. Zosak listened to the alarm that signaled the code blue. Dr. Zosak knew that Cain would have come out into the hallway had he wanted her to be revived.

But they still stood there and listened.

After a few moments of doing so, he gave Daniel a grieving expression before he walked back into the room to confirm the time of death.

Walking inside, he saw Cain kneeling beside her bed.

He felt his heart catch in the back of his throat seeing Cain turn to look at him, the entire lower half of his face drenched in blood.

Immediately his eyes turned to Ella's neck, which was covered with her own blood.

Cain stood to his feet and turned to Dr. Zosak.

The sight of Cain's dark eyes and bloody face and hands was something that sent terrifying chills down the doctor's spine.

As Cain approached, Dr. Zosak couldn't help but to back up, running into the door as he did so.

Cain gave him a hard glance, his expression unreadable.

"Let me know when she wakes up."

- - -