by T C Galinari
In the emergency room, I’m wheeled into an exam area as Luke and Seth answer all the questions that they can from the staff. Everyone is speaking all at once, and it seems like utter pandemonium at first. Yet, somehow, all of the movements morph into something like a well-coordinated dance. One nurse starts an IV while I’m hoisted onto a gurney. Another nurse finally pushes the pain medicine I’ve been needing for my headache and knee pain through my IV as a doctor examines me from head to toe, calling out orders as he goes. Other people dressed in hospital scrubs attach me to monitors and machines I can’t identify, and alarms beep loudly. It doesn’t take long for the drugs to kick in, and feeling no pain, I relax back into the bed and drift off to sleep amongst the chaos.
Chapter 4
Giselle
I still can’t believe I left Sebastian alone. That was not what I’d originally intended to do, but I can’t change anything now. What’s done is done. Now, I have to figure out how to get into the hospital to protect him.
“Giselle, how would you like to govern the state of affairs regarding Sebastian? You do know it is most likely that someone from your uncle’s band of misfits will be at the hospital watching and waiting for you,” Drac states as he enters the graveyard. “While those miscreants may be frightened of you, removing you permanently would earn them a great reward from Anthony, I am afraid. That bastard of an uncle of yours would love nothing more than to have both of us out of the way.”
“Good evening, Vlad. I wasn’t expecting you so soon,” I snark mid dig.
“Why are you digging a grave?” Vlad asks, holding out his hand for the shovel.
Passing it over, Vlad tests the weight and sturdiness of the wood before shoving the metal back into the dirt and leaning on it. Smirking, Vlad watches as I heft the vampire and drop him unceremoniously into the hole.
“I’m not going to make your men dig a grave for me. Besides, I had to get this taken care of quickly. And to answer your original question, I’m not sure how to handle Sebastian. I don’t even know how my uncle found out about him,” I grumble, holding my hand out, but Vlad doesn’t pass the shovel back. Instead, he starts covering the body with the freshly dug up earth.
We're both silent for a bit as I contemplate the best way to save Sebastian.
"The most important question being how much Anthony truly knows about Sebastian," Vlad muses as he tosses the last bit of dirt onto the grave.
My uncle must have known to expect me. There's no other reason he would've sent as many men as he did, otherwise.
Vlad taps the ground with the head of the shovel, flattening out the mound.
"There's a spy!" I blurt as the realization crashes into me.
Vlad peers over at me, but the expression on his face is not what I expect. He's not surprised at all by my accusation. In fact, there’s a deep sadness etched into his features.
"You already knew." I point out, anger lacing my voice as my fingers curl into a fist.
"Not in the beginning. However, after you phoned to inform me of the events of this morning, I had my suspicions," he admits, shifting his weight and the shovel.
Standing there with what has to be a dumbstruck expression on my face, I press him for more answers.
"Who?"
"I do not know the answer to that question…yet. But when I do discover the identity of the traitor, he––or she––will receive the full experience of my wrath."
Chills run down my spine at the implication. Even all those centuries ago, Vlad never impaled anyone in front of me. Sure, I'd heard the stories and the screams, but he never let me see that act of violence. It always seemed a bit strange that he and Alonso trained me to be the best hunter possible, but neither wanted me to witness an impalement.
"When you find the rat, I want to be there for the punishment," I tell him, still fuming.
Vlad studies me before nodding slightly, and I release the breath I didn't realize I was holding. One finger at a time, my hands unclench, and I relax a bit. Disposal complete, Vlad and I head toward the exit.
“Are you going to stay in the States for a while or head back home?” I inquire as we pass headstone after headstone.
“For the next few days, I believe it would be best if I remain close to you. At least until you are able to decide what should be done with Sebastian. As a human, he will not be able to defend himself against my kind,” Vlad reminds me. I open my mouth to speak, but he keeps going. “You should give him the choice…before it is taken from him.”
“Vlad, you’re the only person I’d trust to change him. You’ve said you wouldn’t change another human, though. Hell, when was the last time you actually did change someone?” I animatedly ask him.
Vlad doesn’t answer for a long moment. Glancing over at him, I realize he’s lost in thought. By the time we reach the vehicles, he still hasn’t responded to my question, and he’s furrowing his brows.
“You don’t remember, do you?” I fight back a grin.
For a vampire that prides himself on remembering every being he’s ever killed before and after his turning, this strikes me as funny.
“I cannot. I remember offering the choice to Alonso. Those first few months after we imposed your slumber were quite hard on him. He struggled with allowing a witch to curse you as we did and not being able to watch you grow into the woman and hunter we always knew you would be,” he explains, pulling a set of keys out of his pocket and opening the trunk.
“You never did tell me what happened during those centuries…or how Alonso died,” I complain, watching as he tosses the shovel into the spacious area.
“Those are tales for another time,” he responds with a bit of melancholy threading through his words.
“I miss Alonso,” I admit, moving into Vlad’s personal space and wrapping my arms around him in a hug.
He twists around, pulling me in tight to his chest, cutting off my air.
“I do, as well.”
“Vlad, too tight,” I wheeze out, and he loosens his grip slightly.
Peering up at him, I spot a tinge of pink liquid at the corners of his eyes but say nothing. Vlad isn’t one to show emotion, so when he does, I take it for the rare gift that it is. I’ve always wondered if my saviors had become more like brothers as time passed. When they first found me, they practically hated each other, which was to be expected between a vampire and a witch hunter. But between working together to train me and hunting my father, they built a friendship of sorts––one born from necessity more than anything else. In that collaboration, they became brothers-in-arms, yet fought like cats and dogs. So, to see this much emotion from Vlad both hurts my heart and makes me happy.
“Tell me when the traitor learns what it means to piss off Țepeș,” I remind him with another quick squeeze before letting him go.
“Bloodthirsty hunter, are you not? Alonso would not have desired for you to witness my version of trial by fire,” Vlad replies, and I wonder if he thinks he’d scare me even after all these centuries.
“Was it Alonso or you that didn’t want me to see what Vlad Țepeș was capable of? Because I have to tell you, the guards didn’t keep me away, nor did they hide the fact they considered you and Alonso sadists,” I admit, stepping back and looking him in the eye.
The only way we’d get through this conversation, and for Vlad to stop treating me like a kid when it came to his preferred form of torture, was to show him I wasn’t scared. That I never had been. He helped train me to be a killer for crying out loud. What was watching him impale someone going to do? Push me over the edge and make me run away screaming like a scared little girl?
Whatever.
“I’m guessing the guards never told either of you that I’d sneak out of my room some nights, especially when I’d been woken up by the screams coming from outside,” I mention, delving deeper into the topic at hand. “They never let me venture to the dungeon or outside during those times, but they didn’t hide the fact that the two of you were torturing people
. Besides, the two of you trained me to be a hunter since I was seven. I had seven years of training before you had the witch spell me to sleep.”
Vlad arches an eyebrow. It’s an expression I’ve seen plenty of times. However, it’s not usually directed at me. It’s the look he gives his subordinates when they do something stupid or insert their foot in their mouths. I run everything I’ve said over again in my head, trying to piece together why he’s giving me this look.
“You did not, what did you call it? Put your foot in your mouth. That seems as if it would be quite a disgusting thing to do.”
Oh, and did I forget to mention Vlad can read minds?
“I have this expression because my men did not protect you as they should have,” he adds.
“It’s a figure of speech. And I would contend that they did actually protect me. They didn’t hide the truth from me,” I counter, trying to return his look. I thoroughly fail.
Vlad chuckles, reaching a hand out toward my face. Just like when I was a kid, he cups my chin in his big hand and softly rubs his thumb up and down my cheek.
“You make a good point, little one. That said, I shall still have a discussion with your former protectors when I return home. Although, to answer your original question, it was both of us that were afraid you would grow to fear me. Both Alonso and I knew he would not be around long enough to watch you grow up. At that time, I had not broached the topic of perhaps turning him with the poor soul. Therefore, we wished for you to be the princess you were to us and attempted to shield you––rather poorly as I now know––all the while balancing that with allowing you to become the hunter you were destined to be and properly training you.”
“Vlad, I don’t think you could do anything to ever make me afraid of you. Nor could Alonso have. Even though I was hidden, I saw what he did to my mother. I saw him give her a chance to repent, and she turned him down. She tried to kill him with her magic. I can only imagine the fight you had with my father, especially considering Anthony won’t come out of hiding.”
"You make yet another valid point. Your uncle has always been the one with quite a devious mind. In actuality, as far as strategy is concerned, he and I are equals. But Balthasar was far more dangerous and demented than Anthony ever could be. Not only did your father cause me to appear nearly as worthy as a saint, but he also did the same as far as the inquisitors were viewed. And those men were thoroughly sadistic themselves,” Vlad states matter-of-factly.
“So was my mother just as evil as my father?” I wonder, my curiosity getting the best of me.
Vlad steps closer, holding his arms open and wrapping me in another hug. “I am not sure, little one. What I do know is that Alonso was a fair and just inquisitor in his day, therefore the fact that he pursued Ann in such a manner as he did is quite telling. Especially considering how often she ventured between France, Italy, and Spain with your father as they attempted to evade capture with you in their possession.”
“Yeah, you’re right," I agree, frowning.
Having two big baddies as my parents only makes me a bigger freak.
Tears build at the corners of my eyes.
"You are different, and there is nothing wrong with being so. Your uniqueness is what is going to help save Sebastian in the end. And you are not a freak. Special, yes. A freak? No. You will never understand how proud I am of you, Giselle. You have become something good rather than something evil, even with all of my influence. And as you well know, I am not seen in the best light. I am a bloodthirsty demon in most everyone’s opinion."
Leaning back, I look up at him and huff. "Only Bram Stroker vilified you. If you'd read the vampire books I like to read, you'd see that you’re not always the villain," I argue as Vlad releases me to wipe the tears from my eyes.
"Let us make our way the hospital before it is too late. I shall drive so you may send me a text with a list of all the books I apparently should read," he quips as he steps away from me to open the passenger side door.
"What about my rental?" I ask, getting into his vehicle.
"It is already taken care of," he replies, closing the door.
I watch as he moves around the front of the vehicle to open the driver's side door. As he slides behind the wheel, I spot his second-in-command, Christopher, stepping out of the shadows and getting into my rental. As he turns on the headlights of the rental car, Vlad pushes the button to start his vehicle, and we’re on our way to the hospital, Christopher not far behind us.
Chapter 5
Sebastian
With the beeping of the machines and the drugs coursing through my system, I can’t fully fall asleep for very long. The bed is anything but comfortable, especially since I can’t move my left arm much as it has the IV in it. Though, it’s not like my dreams are helpful, either. I could swear I have one of Stephen King’s horror movies playing in my head every time I close my eyes. I’m not sure if the dreams are of what I actually saw or the drugs. My guess is, it's a combination of both. Mainly because I don’t remember reading anything of Mr. King’s that had vampires in them. Then again, I do live in the real world and know vampires don’t exist, so something has to be scrambling my brain.
Giselle. How did I come up with that name?
The throbbing pain in my head hasn’t subsided, and it has me contemplating putting my head in a vise to make the pain go away.
“Ian, you awake?” Don murmurs, sitting forward in his chair.
Just the sound of his voice has me wincing and squeezing my eyes closed so no light seeps under my lashes.
“Not really. I’m still groggy, but I haven’t been able to sleep, either,” I answer.
A hand lightly touches mine, and I slowly peel my eyes open to focus on him as best as I can.
“The nurses said you might not sleep well since they didn’t want to give you too much morphine until they knew you were out of the woods,” he supplies, coming to his feet. “Luke had to get back to the station to finish his shift, but he’ll be back after that. James, Seth, and Marc are over at your house fixing the front doors. We didn’t want to leave the house open any longer than it had been. They’re going to come check on you later. Kristy came in while you were out of it. She said she’d come back down as soon as she can get away again. She has a few c-sections scheduled for today.”
“Thanks, Don. None of you had to do any of that, but I really appreciate it. All of it,” I manage to get out before covering my mouth on a yawn.
“It’s the least we can do. You’re family. But damn if you didn’t scare the hell out of Kristy and me. I don’t know what we’d do if something happened to you. It’s hard enough not having your parents around these days. Losing you too might completely break us,” Don adds as the door to the hospital room opens.
“Sheriff,” acknowledges a woman in blue scrubs as she enters the room followed by two men. “Sebastian, my name is Brie, and I’m one of your nurses. I need to ask you a few questions, and then we need to take you down to radiology for a few more tests,” she explains as she comes closer to my bed.
“Ian, I’ll come back later to check on you, and if they’ll let me, I’ll bring you something to eat,” Don tells me before nodding to the nurse as he exits my room.
“Thanks again, Don,” I call out to him. “Ma’am, can you tell me what these tests are looking for?” I ask as the staff move around my bed and prepare me for leaving the room.
“We’re going to do another CT scan to check your head, chest, and knee. This is just a precaution, so there’s no need to worry,” she explains as she moves around the bed, pulling out a notepad. “Can you tell me what hurts?”
“My head is still killing me. My knee is pretty achy, but it just feels like I overdid a workout, not re-damaged it. Those are the worst of the pain. Everything else feels more like a bruise, or like it did when I got hit on the football field with my pads on,” I answer as Brie and the others begin moving the bed.
“I’ll let the doctor know right now so we can bri
ng that pain under control a bit better,” Brie assures me.
“Thanks. I’m going to close my eyes again. Even this low light is killing me,” I tell her as I do just as I said I would.
The nurse and the assistants chat quietly among themselves, but I tune out their conversation, turning it into background noise in my head. When they roll the bed out of the room, Brie must give me a heftier dose of pain medicine because I finally start to drift off to sleep, and the pain seems to melt away.
Between one minute and the next, I’m back in the woods close to my house. Off in the distance, I glimpse a woman heading in my direction. Before I can make out her features, a mist that forms into a thick fog settles in, making it impossible for me to see clearly.
Where did the fog come from? Was that Giselle? Something seems…very off.
“Giselle, is that you?” I call out but don’t get a response. At least, not right away.
“Sebastian, come to me,” a sultry, feminine voice implores.
The hairs on the back of my neck tingle at the sound of her voice, making me want to flee as I had when Giselle told me to run. Unlike this morning with her, however, my feet are firmly planted this time as if I'm being held in place by an invisible rope. I'm trying everything I can to fight against it, but I can’t budge.
"Playing hard to get, are you?" the voice teases as movement ripples the fog.
This can't be good.
I fight against my bonds harder but to no avail. During my struggle, I realize the fog opens as if it's a curtain letting in the sunlight, and a gorgeous woman steps into my line of sight. She's otherworldly; her look is somewhere between supermodel status and the beauties of the Golden Age of Hollywood.