Don’t get me wrong: Nurse Rutherford wasn’t an ugly woman. But she was sheepish and a little homely. She was the sort of woman who could be beautiful if she only had enough self-esteem to bother putting in a little effort.
Her scrubs were fairly tight-fitting, so far as scrubs go. I had to say, from what I could tell she had a fairly shapely body. She wasn’t obese by any means, but she wasn’t skinny, either. An average build with just enough meat on her bones to accentuate her curves. Her hair was reddish-brown, usually tied back in a bun. She never wore makeup and had dark shadows under her eyes, which suggested a lack of sleep.
At the same time, while she seemed like a potentially vulnerable target, I didn’t want to make too many assumptions. The fact that she worked as a human in an asylum for magical creatures suggested she either had a richer past and history than her appearance suggested, or she was just desperate enough that she didn’t mind the hazard of working with a bunch of supernatural crazies.
I could make her think she loved me—at least for a few hours. But would it be enough to convince her to turn off my collar? And once the spell wore off, it wasn’t like she’d forget what happened. If the spell worked as hoped, which wasn’t guaranteed, we’d still have to act quick.
The incantation was, predictably, silly—but memorable: Love is easy, so do your part. I’m now the object of your heart.
I might have to gag myself with my own wand after saying it, but the spell would work. For a two or three hours Nurse Rutherford would think she loved me. The trick, then, would be to leverage her affections in short order.
I found her changing the bed pan for a curly-haired elf who was convinced he was the reincarnation of George W. Bush. Yes, I know, the former president wasn’t dead, and therefore was ineligible for reincarnation. But when it comes to the magically and mentally deranged, things don’t have to make sense.
While she was bent over, I pointed my (still invisible) wand at her and spoke the incantation as quietly as I could. I could feel my wand tingle in my hand as it reacted to my words. It had been a while since I’d felt the magic flow from my wand. I’d forgotten how intoxicating it was—not just the sensation of casting a spell, but the power I had as a witch. How had I gone so long without practicing? It was like I’d become so consumed with my life as a vampire that I’d forgotten how it all started. I was a witch first. It was because I was such a promising witch that Moll had gone to such great measures to extend my life… to turn me into a vampire, to bind my heart’s essence to Edwin’s soul.
Nurse Rutherford stood and turned toward me, her cheeks rouged and smiling sheepishly. The spell had work—I could tell from her expression. I didn’t know if she was usually into girls but, when it came to magic, the subject’s natural orientation was irrelevant. She thought she loved me—she was seeing me for the first time with new eyes.
“Like what you see?” I asked, cracking a smile and licking my lips.
“I do… but it’s not…”
“Not natural?” I asked. “To love a vampire? Who’s to tell us what is or isn’t natural? We know what we want…”
“I was going to say… not allowed…”
I smirked. “But don’t tell me there isn’t a thrill in that, in the taboo of it all…”
Nurse Rutherford giggled a little under her breath.
“Come here,” I said.
The nurse approached me cautiously, a sparkle in her eye. “I don’t know what this is…”
“Why don’t you turn off the camera in my room?” I whispered in her ear. “Meet me there in ten minutes.”
Nurse Rutherford was breathing heavy now as my breath struck her neck. “Yes, okay… but we can’t tell anyone…”
“My lips are sealed,” I said, grinning slyly as I turned and left, making my way to my room.
I had to time this right, and based on the fact that the werewolves were no longer in the common area, I had to assume they were locked away for the night. But once I’d cast the spell on Rutherford, I was committed. This had to work. Nx was supposed to barge into my room ten minutes after I lured the nurse inside. The idea was to catch us in the act. We needed an eyewitness.
I had to see it through with Rutherford. She felt a draw to me, an infatuation that she’d likely mistake for love, but in order to convince her to do something so risky like turn off my collar, I needed to take her down a one-way road, a path she couldn’t deny or take back. That way, even if I did fail, or if she seemed unwilling to help me out of an illusion of love, at the very least I’d have blackmail. That was where Nyx would come in.
Once my collar was turned off, I figured I wouldn’t have any problem busting out of the place on my own. I was fast enough and strong enough that, when the sunlight collar was removed, there wouldn’t be anything anyone could do to keep me here. And I was bringing Nyx with me. While I was reasonably sure she’d resume her role as a vampire hunter after we left, at least I’d made a friend of her. And, at least for the time being, we were on the same side—it was us versus the humans, the predators working together against the prey.
While I was waiting for Rutherford, I heard the first howl of the night. Good, I thought. My timing was perfect. Now I just needed everything else to go according to plan.
Another howl. A loud bang. One of the werewolves likely throwing its body against its cell door trying to escape. I had to admit, even I found it unsettling. I wasn’t completely invulnerable. Yes, a stake to the heart wouldn’t do me much good. But a werewolf bite, while it would normally turn a human into a wolf, was like poison to a vampire. It might not kill us completely, but it was supposedly agonizingly painful.
I’d never seen a werewolf before, but Nico said he’d had an unfortunate run-in with a pack of them in the seventeenth century. It took him almost another century before the pain that radiated from the spot in his leg where he’d been bitten faded entirely, and the first year was constant torment. Nico’s advice: if you ever run into a werewolf, get as far away as possible. The one advantage vampires have over wolves is our speed and our ability to reason and strategize. Don’t use those advantages to attempt to win—use them to get as far the fuck away as possible. And that’s exactly what I intended to do.
Apparently this was a monthly ritual in the asylum. It gave me some solace, at least, that the beasts were unlikely to escape. But if they did, I intended to be as far away as possible before it happened.
Rutherford knocked on my door.
I opened it and our eyes met. I grabbed her by her scrubs and pulled her inside. “Got my camera turned off?”
“Yes,” Rutherford said, panting as if out of breath. I could hear her heart fluttering a million miles a minute in her chest.
I pulled her close and kissed her on the lips, tickling hers with my fangs. She moaned in ecstasy—it didn’t take much for me to break skin. And I wanted to feed… It struck me that the cameras were off and I could. I gently sank my teeth into her neck and took in her blood. I couldn’t take much; I still needed her to be able to deactivate my collar. But she was totally in my thrall. She’d regret it later, be horrified by what had happened, but in the moment she was in pure and total bliss.
After going so long without a feed, I could have drained her without giving it much of a second thought. I was that hungry. Using every ounce of self-control I’d garnered over the last century and a half, I forced myself off of her.
“More… Please, bite me again…”
I tangled my fingers in her hair and kissed her gently. “Now, I couldn’t do that to you. I love you.” It was a lie—but she was under my spell. I had to see how deep my hold on her went.
“I love you too, Mercy…”
I smirked. “This thing is so uncomfortable…”
Rutherford pulled away and narrowed her eyes. “I could… No, I couldn’t. I’d get in so much trouble.”
“You could what, Rutherford?”
“I could remove it…”
“Do it,” I said. In tru
th, I’d only hoped she could somehow deactivate it. But if she could remove it, all the better. Truth be told, it was uncomfortable as hell and I’d have to figure out a way to get the thing off after I escaped, anyway.
“But I’ll lose my job.”
“Just while we’re together. No one will know. I’ll put it back on later.” It was a clear lie, but she thought she was in love with me. She’d want to believe me.
“I don’t know…”
I grabbed Rutherford’s hand and allowed my fingers to intertwine with hers. “Do you trust me?” I whispered.
“With all my heart.”
“Then take this off…”
“I’ll be right back.” Rutherford gave me a quick peck on the lips as she slipped out the door. A few seconds later she returned with what looked like a credit card with one of those microchips embedded inside. She waved it over the back of my collar and I heard the device unsnap. She quickly put it on herself. “It just needs to be worn. If it’s off too long and there isn’t a signal sent to security, they’ll be alerted.”
“Good idea,” I said as I pulled her close to me again. I pushed her down on my bed, took the card that had unlocked the collar from her hand, and placed it on the nightstand before seizing the straps that they’d attached to the bed to restrain patients who got out of hand. I quickly tied her down—which she mistakenly thought was going to lead to something more.
The look on her face—the confusion, the hurt, the pain—when I grabbed the card from the nightstand and stood up to leave the room was priceless.
“Don’t scream,” I said. “You don’t want to make me angry.”
“I thought you loved me!” Rutherford cried.
I smirked as I grabbed my grimoire and opened the door. “I’m a vampire. I’m not capable of love.”
Chapter Fifteen
Nyx was standing there just outside, still rocking her eight-inch stilettos.
“We’re planning to escape. I mean, I know you love the shoes… but we might have to run.”
“Why do you think I wore them, honey? In these babies I move like the wind.”
I grinned. I believed it. I’d already seen Nyx move in heels before and she was quite impressive. But to think she actually moved better in heels than in flats was a little hard to wrap my mind around.
The sound of hooves on linoleum alerted my attention from farther down the hallway. Ed was charging in our direction, Galahad not far behind him.
“What the hell are you two up to?” Ed asked.
I shrugged. “Going home.”
“Mercy,” Nyx interjected, “I don’t think we should tell…”
“What is he going to do?” I asked before turning back toward Ed. “You going to snitch?”
Ed shook his head. “I don’t snitch, but… Holy shit, how did you get your collar off?”
I smirked. “I’ll just say they fucked with the wrong vampire witch when they put me in here.”
“Just don’t hurt anyone,” Ed said. “I need this place.”
I narrowed my eyes, then looked at Galahad, who shrugged his shoulders and gave me a thumbs-up. I smiled. “Nice knowing you, ass face.”
Galahad brayed as he slapped his hand on his knee. I was glad he had a sense of humor about it. Ed, though, still seemed a little put off by it all.
Nyx grabbed my arm. “Come on, Mercy. We have to go. Before they’re wise to what we’re up to.”
I nodded. “Just stay out of our way, Ed. My goal isn’t to hurt anyone. I just want out of here.”
Ed backed up while shaking his head. I didn’t take him for a snitch. He had that punk rock vibe about him—the kind that’s supposed to say, screw conformity and down with the man. At least that’s what punk rock used to be before it became just another fashion option. “Just don’t tell the nurses. We’ll be cool. No one needs to get hurt, Ed.”
Ed nodded as he turned and galloped back down the hall.
“Think he’s going to be a problem?” Nyx asked.
I shook my head. “I hope not. Still, I don’t trust him. But what’s the worst he can do? I don’t think he’ll snitch. Not if he’s actually worried about people getting hurt.”
I head another bang and a chorus of howls from the hallway where the wolves were being held. The sound sent shivers down my spine. Still, if it hadn’t been for the wolves I wouldn’t have known the right time to attempt this escape.
Nyx and I strolled past the nurses’ station. She walked on the inside to obscure their view of my bare neck. These hospital gowns had low-cut necks, and the collar they’d made me wear before was almost impossible to miss. Any attempt to cover my neck would have seemed suspicious and probably garnered more attention than simply walking casually past would.
And they didn’t seem to notice as we walked by. They probably just didn’t think to look. It’s incredible what sorts of things you can get away with right in front of people’s faces when they don’t know what they’re looking for. It also didn’t hurt that there was only one nurse at the desk and she was elbows-deep in paperwork. I knew where Rutherford was. By the sounds of it, I assumed the others were parked a bit closer to where the wolves were being detained. Ever since they’d arrived, the tension in the air had been palpable. The nurses were on high alert.
Another reason why this was an ideal time to escape: I was the least of their concerns–so they thought—at the moment.
I wasn’t conscious when they brought me here. Technically speaking, I didn’t know the way out for certain. “Nyx, do you remember how they brought you in here?”
She shook her head. “They froze me with liquid nitrogen… I don’t remember a thing.”
“Liquid nitrogen? That’s harsh…”
Nyx shrugged. “I’m a water elemental. Freezing me was the only way they could really slow me down.”
I bit my lip. “Maybe through the room where I met Hailey, my visitor. There has to be a way out from there if she came in that way.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Nyx said.
“Alright, let’s move quick.”
We approached the double doors I’d passed through before on my way to the visitation room. I casually checked them; of course, they were locked. “Once I bust through these doors I’m assuming there will be an alarm. We’ll have to move fast.”
Nyx nodded.
I took a step back and kicked as hard as I could at the two doors; they both went flying off their hinges. I’d almost forgotten how strong I could be right after a feed. Thank you, Nurse Rutherford. Not only was she sweeter than anticipated, but I felt invigorated.
The alarm sounded.
I expected the guards would be on us in seconds. I expected a parade of footsteps heading our way. Instead, I heard screams. Screams and howls.
“Fuck,” I said. “Did the wolves get out?”
“I don’t know. It sounds like it, but I don’t understand how…”
It was a great opportunity—even if I was escaping, all hands would have to be dedicated to stopping the wolves. A vampire on the loose is commonplace in New Orleans—but if a werewolf got out, unrestrained, not to mention three of them, the carnage that would result would be unfathomable.
Free them! Take them with us!
Of course Edwin would choose now to speak up—he wanted to see what the wolves would do if let loose.
How do you take down a wolf? The legends say it requires silver bullets. Nothing magical about it, but bullets are one of few things capable of piercing a werewolf’s hide, and the silver is almost like poison to their system. But I didn’t have any silver bullets—if that’s what it took, though, I was sure they’d have some on hand. You don’t bring wolves into a facility like this without preparing for the worst-case scenario.
I heard another scream. That one was silenced as three more screams followed. Clearly the first screamer had met a sudden and dreadful end.
We have to go see…
I wasn’t going to entertain Edwin’s obsession wi
th the macabre. But could I really just let the wolves go free? They’d rampage through the asylum like it was nothing, and if this place couldn’t hold me, it wouldn’t hold them, either.
“Come on, Mercy. We have to move while we have a chance.”
I shook my head. “We can’t leave them here… Galahad and Ed. Rutherford. All of them… We have to do something.”
Nyx cocked her head. “I never took you for playing the hero, Mercy.”
“I… You’re right. But if the wolves get out and bite too many people, that’s a lot of new wolves that will be a threat to all of us, even vampires. I can’t let that happen.”
“So saving these people… it’s really all about you, then?”
“Of course. I don’t care about humans.”
“Sure you don’t,” Nyx said, shaking her head.
“What?”
“You are more human than you realize, Mercy.”
“Shut up,” I said.
But truth be told, the idea of so many people dying did bother me. I wasn’t sure where those feelings were coming from. Maybe it was from the fact that I was turned, that I didn’t know what I was getting into when it happened. I was just desperate to survive. But these people—the nightmare they’d live if they became wolves, not to mention the pains in the ass they’d become to the rest of us, vampire and human alike, was too much to allow. Maybe I was growing softer. Maybe, like Nico, who’d fed on enough souls through the years that he became more and more human-like, I was starting to grow a conscience. I wasn’t sure if I liked the feeling. Just a few months ago I would have run out of here without giving it a second thought. It had to be the feeding, my maturation as a vampire. It couldn’t have been Cain’s therapy. That bullshit didn’t work on me. Still, I felt what I felt. I had to do something. At least we had to give it a shot.
“If we can’t stop them, we run. But we have to try.”
Chapter Sixteen
I charged down the hall just in time to see one of the wolves gorging itself on an orderly. While a bite alone might turn someone into a werewolf, given the state of the mangled body the wolf was devouring, I was reasonably certain this person wouldn’t be coming back.
Bloody Mad: A Dark Urban Fantasy Story (The Legacy of a Vampire Witch Book 2) Page 9