I grimaced at the awful sight in the mirror. I stood wincing at the pain that showed in the glass, reflecting the three deep jagged red lines that stretched from where my bra ended on my right set of ribs to my left hip. I wanted to burst into tears with the pain of just looking at it. I leaned against my cold bedroom tường and took many shallow breaths until I could clear my head. I jumped when my door opened and instinctively covered my half-naked body. "Hey Mel, have bạn seen- Oh my god!" I shot daggers at my older brother with my eyes. But he opened his own again as my arms slowly began to unwrap, shaking, from my stomach. "Oh my god..." He đã đưa ý kiến again but in a much softer voice. And I fell on the carpet. "Mel!" He picked me up gently, and my eyes eventually focused on his pale face. He placed me carefully on the bed. "Come on, how does dad do this?" He đã đưa ý kiến to himself with clear frustration, hovering his hands over my exposed body. "Chris bạn can't tell anyone about this!" I finally managed to say with a high pitched voice, hiển thị my panic. "Mel just shut up for a second!" He shouted. His words felt like another wound. "Look, I'm sorry, I just... Right, how did this happen?" He was still trying to heal me. "Well, I was walking down the đường phố, street after I stopped bởi the cửa hàng to pick up some thêm vials for Auntie Paige and before I know it this freaking moron jumps out at me and trys to scratch me to death, if Aunt Phoebe hadn't taught me those kick-boxing moves, I'd have been grated to shreds!" I sucked in air sharply through my gritted teeth as my stomach clenched with my hysteria. "Sh..." Chris said, trying to soothe me. I rolled me eyes. "So he scratched you?" "No. For one thing, we call demons bởi it, not he hoặc she. Another, he didn't scratch me, he ripped three thick shreds of skin from my newly tanned tum." I đã đưa ý kiến indignantly, jutting my chin in his direction. "Whatever, look, we need to get Dad to heal you-" "No!" I yelled, sitting up too quickly and grimacing at the sharp pain. "No." I đã đưa ý kiến thêm calmly, beginning to lie back down. "We just need to sort this out first, if mum and dad find out then they'll never let me leave the house on my own til I'm 30." He nodded with just a bit of sarcasm and began to leave the room. "Whoa whoa whoa. Where the hell do bạn think you're going?" "Mel. We need to clean and bandage the wound if bạn won't let Dad heal it." I closed my eyes and whimpered quietly in self-pity as he left the room.