Bat Shift Crazy: An Ex-Shifter turned Vampire Hunter Urban Fantasy (The Legend of Nyx Book 2)

by Theophilus Monroe

  "Nicky!" Malinda screamed, tears in her eyes.

  I couldn't move. It was like my whole body was frozen in some kind of stasis.

  Hailey landed a shot on the first witch's chest-but all it did was knock the witch back a couple steps. It wasn't enough.

  The two witches, one of the two that struck me with a spell, ran around me, swept up Malinda, and disappeared with her in another flash of light.

  Then, the first witch did the same.

  They were gone. They'd come to abduct Malinda. How did they even know what we were planning?

  Hailey ran back to me and placed a hand on my chest. She spoke an incantation and, with green magic like the one she'd healed Malinda's wound with before, a tingle spread through my body, and I could move again.

  Hailey helped me to my feet.

  "Fuck!" I shouted, my voice echoing through the asylum halls.

  Hailey shook her head. "I can't believe it. That magic, I've only encountered it a handful of times."

  "It wasn't blood magic?" I asked. "Malinda said that the witches who were aligned with her parents were necromancers."

  Hailey sighed. "Of a sort, I suppose they are."

  "What was it, Hailey?"

  "Celestial magic," Hailey said. "I've only known one organization that wields that stuff."

  I sighed. "The Order of the Morning Dawn."

  Hailey nodded. "I'm afraid so. I'm sorry, Nicky. I'm strong. But that stuff, if you aren't prepared for it, it's really had to stop."

  I heard another howl. This time, though, it wasn't muffled like before. "Hailey, I don't know what the hell happened. But one of those damned witches, I think they let out the wolves."

  Hailey looked at me blankly. "You've got to be shitting me. I have to get out of here."

  "You'd better," Nurse Rutherford said, reappearing with a syringe in her hand. A narcotic pain killer of some kind, I supposed. But she was too late.

  "They took Malinda," I said.

  Rutherford shook her head. "I know. I saw what happened on the monitors at the nurse's station."

  "Is that hallway clear?" Hailey asked, pointing the opposite direction, toward the end of the hall where the two witches appeared before.

  Rutherford nodded and handed Hailey a small key card. "Use this to get through the security doors."

  "Are you sure I can't help somehow?" Hailey asked. "I can heal anyone if they get hurt."

  "Just stay nearby, on the outside. Once we have the wolves down, if we manage to do it, I'm sure we'll need you."

  Hailey nodded and took off down the hall.

  "I need to get close enough to inject the wolves," Rutherford said.

  "Not a narcotic pain killer?" I asked.

  "Colloidal silver," Rutherford said.

  "Won't that kill them?" I asked.

  "It'll force them to shift back into human form, first. After that, we'll need Hailey again to heal them, or, yes, they will die."

  "How many are there?"

  "Just two," Rutherford said. "I'll have to split the shot between the two of them. It should be enough."

  "Give me the syringe," I said.

  "Nicky, this is my responsibility."

  I shook my head. "You're human, Rutherford. I know you're trained for this. But face it, you can't move like I can."

  "Nicky, even with your speed—"

  "I wasn't talking about my speed. Not exactly. Just give me the syringe."

  Rutherford sighed. "Alright. But if this doesn't work, it'll probably mean my job."

  "Better your job than your life," I said.

  "Thanks, Nicky," Rutherford nodded, putting the syringe in my hand.

  Drawing on the bat within me, I shifted. It still hurt a little, but not like before.

  I was bigger than an average bat-much larger, actually. As a bat, I had a thumb and four fingers, just like a human hand, but the fingers were a part of my wings. I did have decent feet, though, that could grip the syringe better than my human feet could. I grabbed it with my left foot and took off, flying down the hall toward the sound of howls.

  I flew over one of the nurses laying in a pool of blood. Her gut had been torn open, probably by a werewolf's jaws. Most of her guts were missing.

  I knew where the wolves were. I could hear them-every breath, even their slow, powerful heartbeats. I could only pray, even though I wasn't a praying sort of girl, that no other nurses, or patients, had been bitten.

  My prayer was answered in the negative.

  The guy Hailey and I had seen earlier, the streaker, whatever he was, on the floor-one of the werewolves was hunched over him, ripping away at the poor fellow's insides. Even with Hailey's magic, there'd be no healing that.

  The wolf was occupied-I had to make my move. I landed on its back and, using my foot, I jammed the syringe into its back, and with my winged hand, I injected half its contents into the werewolf's body.

  The wolf released a high-pitched shriek and stumbled back, its fur already falling from its body and its shape returning to a human one.

  One wolf down. One more to go.

  I heard another scream. I knew the voice.

  It was Hailey.

  Damnit. She hadn't left. Why the hell was she still here?

  I took off, flying as fast as I could toward the sound.

  Hailey, without much success, was firing bolt after bolt of red magic at the wolf as he charged her.

  It didn't so much as slow the beast down. If anything, it just pissed him off.

  I was flying so fast that I slammed into the wolf, injecting him immediately upon contact.

  The wolf shrieked just as the first one had and fell to the ground.

  I dropped the syringe and returned to human form.

  Hailey looked me up and down.

  "Thank you for that. Nice abs, by the way."

  I shook my head. "I thought you were leaving!"

  Hailey gestured to a woman, one of the nurses, behind her. "I was going to, but she was hurt. If I didn't help her, she would have died. If I didn't lure the wolf away. I barely got her healed when I circled back and then the wolf, well, I'll just say I'm glad you showed up when you did."

  I nodded. "That was close. You need to heal the wolf. Once he's totally human again. Rutherford said the silver I injected him with will kill him if you don't."

  "Alright," Hailey said, still eyeing my naked body. "I didn't expect you'd join the streaker tonight."

  I shook my head. "I won't be joining him. The streaker is dead."

  "Damn," Hailey said. "Not an episode of Naked and Afraid I'd ever seen."

  "Isn't that the show where people get dropped off in the wilderness totally naked to survive?" I asked.

  "Yeah," Hailey said. "But that show has a lot of bare butts too. If you thought that Will Ferrell's butt was a turnoff..."

  "You watch that?" I asked.

  "Yeah," Hailey said, placing her hand on the chest of the werewolf, now in human form, and casting a blast of healing magic into his body. "It's not a show I frequent, but when I'm surfing the channels, and bare butts show up on the screen, I can't help but stop and watch. At least for a minute. Never seen anyone face off with a werewolf in the buff before, though. Not on Naked and Afraid. Not anywhere else!"

  "What can I say," I said, turning around. "There's a first time for everything. Follow me. We have to go heal the other werewolf."

  "For what it's worth," Hailey said. "Your butt is more pleasant to look at than Will Ferrell's."

  "Thanks," I said, chuckling. "Sort of a low bar to clear, don't you think?"

  Hailey giggled. "Fair point, Nicky."

  Chapter twenty-seven

  "Damnit, Nicky," Cain said, his face in his hands as he sat behind his desk. "Why is it that the shit hits the fan every time you show up here?"

  I shrugged. "What can I say? I must be your good luck charm."

  Cain chuckled. "It's not your fault. I'm not blaming you. Really, I can't thank you enough. If Nurse Rutherford tried to
go after those wolves herself..."

  "You'd have another nurse to bury," I said. "I just wish I could have saved them all."

  "It's as much my fault as anyone's," Cain said. "If I was here, rather than with the wolves at the swamp, maybe I could have calmed them down."

  "You couldn't have known," I said. "Hailey said it was celestial magic that the witches who showed up were using."

  Cain nodded. "You have more experience with the Order of the Morning Dawn than I do. You think they're behind this?"

  I nodded. "I do. But thankfully, we have someone here who might know more than I do."

  "Debbie?" Cain asked.

  I nodded. "I'm just glad they didn't take her with them. I feared they would. It was a relief to find her still secured in her room."

  "I just wish I knew how they got in here."

  "Hailey said that during the witching hour, the wards here are ineffective."

  Cain nodded. "True. But I wasn't talking about how they got into the asylum. I don't know how they got into Vilokan. Annabelle is concerned, too. She'd like to talk to us about it. But I think you're right. Debbie might know more about the Order that could help."

  "What about Malinda?" I asked.

  Cain bit his lip. "She's my patient. No one fucks with my patients. Pardon my French."

  "That was French?" I asked.

  "Not really. Sorry, I don't often curse. Certainly not with my patients. Not my style. Let me put it this way. Malinda is still my patient. And I'll do whatever it takes to protect those entrusted to my care. I intend to rescue her."

  Debbie was fresh off her morning feed as she reclined, in her room, with her bible in hand.

  "Hello, Debbie," Cain said as we stepped into the room.

  "Cain!" Debbie said with more enthusiasm in her voice than I was accustomed to.

  "I trust you had an uneventful night?"

  "I think I might be the only one," Debbie said, folding her bible shut. "They say a nurse died last night?"

  "And a patient," I added.

  A look of concern flashed across Debbie's face. "I'm sorry to hear that."

  "You seem to be adjusting well," Cain said.

  "I've had a lot of time to think and pray," Debbie said. "It's funny. I can still pray. I don't get struck with lightning or anything when I do. And you've both given me quite a bit to think about."

  Cain smiled. "Lightning bolts from heaven isn't God's style. Smiting people by lightning is more of a Zeus thing."

  "Zeus is real?" Debbie asked.

  Cain shrugged. "Depends what you mean by real. Is there a real Zeus? Sure, a nice enough guy once you get to know him. Is he what the Greeks believed? Not exactly. He goes by other names, too. But that's another matter to discuss at another time."

  "Then what brings you here this morning?" Debbie asked. "I must say, Nicky, it was awfully lonely without you here to talk to last night."

  I nodded. "Sorry about that. As you might have surmised, it was rather hectic last night."

  Debbie nodded. "Well, at least I'm not alone now. The new vampire, Leeroy, is quite the Chatty Katy. Wouldn't stop talking about all his alligator friends on the bayou during breakfast."

  "Leeroy?" I asked, surmising that the vampire we'd brought in wasn't a Joe after all.

  "A good church-going boy once," Debbie said. "Turned suddenly, like I was. But it was a long time ago. Will he be my roommate now that Nicky is leaving?"

  Cain nodded. "We need to talk about that. We like to keep like kinds together, but I didn't know how comfortable you'd be sharing your room with a man."

  Debbie cocked her head and glanced at me. "You didn't ask me about Nicky."

  "I'm not a man," I said.

  "Right," Debbie said, waving her hand through the air. "Regardless, I'm glad we got to know each other. And yes, I'd be fine with it if Leeroy joined me."

  "Good to hear," Cain said. "But what I wanted to talk about, Nicky believes that the attack last night was conducted by the Order of the Morning Dawn."

  Debbie looked at me, her brow furrowed. "Are you sure, Nicky?

  "They wielded celestial magic. And they wore long, golden robes with cowls that also obscured their faces."

  Debbie scratched her head. "Golden robes, you say? Well, in that case, they certainly weren't coming for me."

  "What do you know about the robes, Debbie?" Cain asked.

  "Tom had one. Those who were strictly vampire hunters, however, never wore them. Those are witch hunter robes."

  Cain and I exchanged concerned glances. ""It was a witch they took last night," Cain said.

  "That nonresponsive one?" Debbie asked. "Malinda, wasn't it?"

  I nodded. "And their timing was impeccable. They came the moment Malinda woke as if they knew what we were doing and were just waiting for us to finish dispelling the curse that kept her like that."

  "Do you know anything more about those robes?" Cain asked.

  Debbie bit her lip—not with her fangs, with her front teeth. "Not a lot. All I know is that Tom said, back when he used to hunt more witches than vampires, back when Devin was just a child, that so long as he had his golden robes, no witch could harm him."

  I nodded. "That makes sense. Every spell Hailey tried to cast at them didn't do much."

  Cain sighed. "Whatever ward or spell that gives those robes power must be strong. In all my centuries, I've only ever met a handful of witches who were as powerful as Hailey. She's on par with the likes of the Witch of Endor and Moll Dwyer. And casting during the witching hour, her magic was at its greatest potency."

  "Debbie, did Tom ever say anything that suggested his robe might have a weakness, some kind of vulnerability?"

  Debbie shook her head. "I never thought to ask. Tom knew how I felt about him hunting while Devin was still young. If the robes had any weakness to them, anything that might give me a reason to worry, he didn't mention it."

  "And I don't want you to have any cause for anxiety now," Cain said. "I'll stand watch over your room to make sure you and Leeroy are safe during the witching hour. Until we know how the Order infiltrated Vilokan, we can't be too cautious."

  "No offense, Doctor," Debbie said. "But do you think you could stand a chance against them?"

  Cain smiled. "If they try to attack me, they'll be cursed sevenfold. And if need be, I can shift."

  I cocked my head. "You can shift at will?"

  "It isn't only a full moon that can cause a werewolf to shift, Nicky. The rougarou, if you'll remember, used to guard an infernal object, one that used to be protected by the ghost of Julie Brown, the caplata in Manchac Swamp."

  "You have that relic here?" I asked.

  Cain shook his head. "I don't. But like I said before, Julie and I have a close working relationship. She helps me, if I ever need to bring out my wolf outside of a full moon. In turn, I've been treating her at the asylum."

  "She's a patient here?" Debbie asked.

  "Not exactly," Cain said. "Julie Brown, still a ghost technically, has taken a corporeal form. I still see her on an outpatient basis. She possesses the flambeaux once forged by the Witch of Endor. If I need her, and I think I might, I'm certain she'll be glad to help."

  Chapter twenty-eight

  Cain and I took the elevator to Annabelle's office. The doors didn't open immediately. The elevator had been fixed with a security camera. I couldn't say for sure that it wasn't there before, but I didn't notice it if it was.

  "Extra security measures," Cain said. "Makes sense given the circumstances."

  We stood there for a few minutes, listening to what I vaguely recognized as an instrumental version of Sisqo's* Thong Song.

  I waved at the camera. "Hello, you can let us in."

  I wasn't sure if the camera had a microphone in it-chances were that it did. At the very least, announcing our presence couldn't hurt. A few seconds later, the elevator dinged, and the doors parted.

  Annabelle and Hailey were hunched over her desk, examining a book. I'd seen it befor
e. Mercy had a grimoire with her-Hailey had brought it to her, in fact-the first time was in the asylum.

  "The Grimoire of Pope Honorius?" Cain asked.

  "The one and only," Haily said, grinning ear to ear.

  "I thought you lost the grimoire," Cain said.

  "We did," Hailey said. "But Mercy and I got it back."

  "Find anything that might help?" Cain asked.

  "I'm not sure," Hailey said as Annabelle turned to another section of the book, the spine cracking a little as old books often do.

  "You're looking for a way to counter celestial magic?" I asked.

  Hailey nodded. "Those witches last night must've been members of the Order. They're the only ones I've ever faced who wield that kind of power."

  "We've learned a few things," Cain said. "Those robes they wore, we believe that the Order wears them when hunting witches. They're supposed to protect the wearer from magic."

  "We suspected as much," Annabelle said. "I presume you ascertained this information from the vampire woman?"

  "We did," I said. "By the way, any word from Devin?"

  Annabelle shook her head. "I presume he's still with Pauli. I've asked Pauli to keep him occupied."

  I snorted. "Yeah, occupied. Whatever that means."

  "Pauli might be a flirt," Annabelle said, turning another page in the grimoire. "But his heart is in the right place."

  "His heart isn't the organ I'm worried about."

  Annabelle smirked. "Nicky, Pauli wouldn't do that to you. He might be, how shall I put this, more than a little promiscuous, but he'd never sleep with someone else's man."

  I nodded. "Right. I'm sorry. They were just acting a little strange when they let us back into Vilokan last night."

  "With all that's going on, we're all a little on edge."

  "Yeah, but that was before we knew the Order broke into Violokan."

  Hailey walked over to me and put her hand on my back. "I'm sure he's just worried about you and his mom. And you know, Devin was drunk."

  I snorted. "You're right. I'm sorry. Don't let my relationship insecurities distract us from what's obviously more important right now."

  Annabelle nodded. "If the Order used celestial magic to enchant their robes in some way, the answer has to be in this book."