by K. Aten
Jill looked at her and lashed out in anger. She was afraid of her sanity after the things she saw. “You don’t know what went on! The things they did, that they became…those things aren’t real. I’m going crazy!”
Sarah placed a hand on her arm to calm her. “Jilly, she’s not lying. I promise you, we will explain everything, but you have to start with this belief. I know it’s scary to realize that monsters really exist.”
“But how?” She looked back at her hands, the same hands she remembered as being agonizingly broken bits of bone and flesh. “And how am I healed?”
The singer took her hand into her own and gave it a gentle squeeze. “The same way I was healed when the guy that was running people down with his truck nearly killed me last year.” Sarah’s hands trembled at the memory of being run down. When Jill looked at her in surprised shock, she told an abbreviated story. “The gay basher was caught last year because Keller called in an anonymous tip after he hit me. I was out with Annie, and the three of us had just closed The Merge. I remember pushing Annie out of the way and after that nothing until I woke in the bar office. My femoral artery had been ripped open by a jagged bit of metal on the truck and I wouldn’t have made it to the hospital in time. Annie knew that Keller was infected with a virus that could save me and she begged Keller for my life. Keller did it despite me telling her I would rather die than be infected. Clearly I got over my fears, and I’ve lived with this secret since.”
Jill looked skeptical. She was a doctor after all, and such things did not exist. There were no monsters and there were no miracles. Except, she had seen monsters, and she was sitting here very much alive. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Sarah laughed quietly. “Excuse me, Doctor Cole, are you telling me you’d believe a story about me being turned into a vampire?” She shook her head. “Exactly. And it’s not just my story to tell. Keller, Annie, and Jesse are part of this and for obvious reasons we don’t want a lot of people to know.”
“Okay, I think I understand.”
Keller lightly cleared her throat. “Do you, Jill? You were dying in the bathroom when we found you; your body was broken beyond reasonable repair and you were succumbing to shock and blood loss. I was forced to save you the same way I saved Sarah.”
Realization dawned over the veterinarian’s features. “You mean—”
“You’re like us now. You have the virus in your blood.”
Jill drew her knees up to her chest and circled them with her arms. “I—this is a lot to take in. Sarah, you said something about vampires? Like Dracula, or Twilight? How is that real? Will I have to drink blood? Oh God, did you drink my blood?” Her knuckles were turning white as each new though tumbled over the next.
Sarah placed a hand over Jill’s. “Hey, calm down okay? It’s not all like the movies. We can feed on energy and emotions, as well as blood. We don’t sparkle in the sun, but we don’t burst into flames either. Our skin is very sensitive to ultraviolet rays so we have to take precautions or we can become drained or injured. Because we feed off emotions, we are empaths and psychics of a sort. What we have is very difficult to get. The virus is fought off by your body’s natural immunity. You can only be infected when you are right on the edge of death. Our teeth will elongate when we are hungry, or sometimes horny. We need blood rarely, unless we are expending a lot of energy. We heal almost instantly, we are very strong and immune to disease. We are also barren, I—I’m sorry.” She looked down at her ex and knew that the last part would affect her. Jill had always said that she wanted to have children someday, if she could find someone to settle down with. Now having her own children would no longer be an option.
When Sarah finished speaking, the room remained quiet. The silence seemed to expand around them the longer it went on. Finally Jill spoke up. “It’s okay. I understand you needed to do what you could to save my life, and I’m truly thankful for that. What happens now?” She looked from Sarah to Keller and her face showed sadness. “Will I have to give up my career?”
Keller was the one who answered. “Not unless you want to. I’ve had many careers; you’ll have plenty of time to try them all.” When the veterinarian looked at her in confusion she elaborated. “You are going to live a very long life.”
“Oh.”
Keller pressed on before Jill could wander any further into the vampire tangent. “Now that you understand about us, we need to talk to you about your attackers.”
The look of pain on Jill’s face was expected. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Sarah pulled her into a hug. “Jilly, we have to. We are all in danger unless we catch them.”
Jill looked at her ex with suspicion. “Who is ‘we?’ You and Keller?”
The singer sighed. “No. Me, you, Keller, Annie, Jesse, and Louve.”
“I don’t understand. Who attacked me and why would all of you be in danger? You said monsters exist and—” She drew a shuddering breath and tears sprang to her eyes. “They were monsters.”
Sarah kept her arm around the distraught woman. “I know, sweetie, and we need to catch them. Can you describe who did this?”
Jill closed her eyes and took deep breath. “There were two men and a woman—”
Keller interrupted. “Two men? Are you sure?” Jill opened her eyes in fear at the tone of Keller’s voice. She nodded and Keller got off the bed. “Shit! I have to call Louve. Wait, first can you tell me what they looked like? Do you remember?”
The victimized woman thought for a few seconds and nodded. “One of the men was big and muscular, he had really blonde hair. The kind that looks almost white.”
The singer murmured “Marcel” under her breath.
“The woman was blonde and skinny. They both spoke French. Clearly they didn’t know that I’m fluent in the language. Her accent was different than his though.”
Keller prompted her. “Did they say anything about why they were attacking you? Or anything about where they were staying?”
Jill shook her head. “They just joked that putting me in the shower would make it easier to clean up after. The other man was short and stocky and stayed mostly out of my line of sight. He was wearing a hat so I couldn’t tell what color his hair was. He didn’t speak at all and he—he usually held me from behind so I didn’t see his face. They all—” She stopped speaking and shuddered. “They took turns abusing me, at first just pulling my hair, then by slapping and punching. Then they started really hurting me by breaking my fingers one by one. It hurt so much, and I was sure that I’d never practice medicine again.” She started to softly cry.
Sarah looked at Keller in surprise. She hated making Jill relive the ordeal, but they had to know what the rogue wolves were planning and they had to understand why they were doing what they were doing. “All three of them hurt you?”
Jill whispered. “Yes.”
Sarah instantly folded her into her arms and held her tight. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. I’m sorry all this happened to you and we’ll do whatever we can to make it right.”
Jill pulled back, remembering something important. “You don’t understand, they—they changed. After they were done with me, they turned into monsters, like werewolves from all the horror movies we watched in college. How can we fight them?”
Keller laughed, surprising the veterinarian. “Have no fear, Jill, we are ten times stronger than any werewolf. They are no match for us, which is why they are playing all these games. All we have to do is catch them and I guarantee they will never be a threat again.” She pulled out her phone. “Now, I should call Louve and let her know that it was Marie and Marcel, with one other unknown. If you’ll excuse me.” She turned and left the bedroom as the phone was connecting.
“I don’t understand, how does Louve know who my attackers were?”
Sarah groaned and ran a hand through her hair. “Marcel and Marie used to work at the Temple du Loup. Marcel is the nephew of an old friend of hers. The boy had anger issues and Louve was trying to train h
im and rehabilitate him. She only gave him a warning last year when he attacked Jesse and infected her with the werewolf virus. But she fired him when he started harassing Annie. Marie wants both Marcel and Jesse, and hates that Jesse and Annie are together. She is prejudiced against normal humans. I’m afraid they are very angry with all of us and you got caught in the cross fire. They must have seen the three of us leave the club this morning, and they went after the only one they stood a chance against. I’m so sorry, this is all our fault.”
“Did you know you were putting me in danger by being with me?”
“Of course not!”
Jill smiled. “Then it’s not your fault. So stop beating yourself up about it, Colby! So Louve knows that two of her employees are werewolves, and she doesn’t care?”
Sarah leveled a serious look at her friend. “Jill, it’s called Cirque du Loup for a reason.”
“Oh my God, they’re all wolves aren’t they? Even Louve?” The veterinarian shuddered at the thought of the woman she had been with a few hours prior becoming one of the monsters she had seen.
“Yes. We go there because just as vampires feed off emotional energy, and sexual energy in general, werewolves are like batteries. They emit a huge amount of energy, emotionally and physically. So when vampires and werewolves get together, it’s like a plug and socket. All the energy we take in eventually gets released if we use sex as an outlet. So both the vampire and the werewolf benefit from a pairing. But you shouldn’t worry about any other werewolves but the three that attacked you. I know Louve and a fair number of her circus troupe. They are good people.”
Jill looked at her with disgust. “But they turned into beasts! That’s when they really hurt me, when they started breaking larger bones and dislocating my limbs.” She squeezed her eyes shut trying to block out the remembered pain.
The singer cocked her head in confusion. “Wait, did they scratch you at all? Would you remember if they did?”
“No, the woman kept saying for them to be careful in French. She also kept repeating the words, “Ne rayez.” I didn’t understand at the time, but now it makes sense.”
Keller walked into the room and elaborated for her confused girlfriend. “That means do not scratch. So they had no intention of turning you, they were being careful not to do that. They merely wanted to make you suffer. But why leave your phone near you so you could call for help?”
Jill drew in a shaky breath. “That wasn’t their intent at all. They taunted me with it, knowing that all my fingers were so broken they wouldn’t function, and that I was in agony. They laughed at the fact that I couldn’t call for help. That’s why they left it by my head.”
The singer looked at her ex curiously. “Then how did you call me?”
“Wake up you bitch.”
Sarah looked at her in shock. “Excuse me?”
Jill chuckled. “It’s a feature on my phone. When I have it running, I merely have to say that phrase to unlock it, then I can tell it to call a saved contact. That’s how I dialed your number.”
Keller shook her head. “Jings! The tech continues to amaze me.”
Jill shrugged and got off the bed. Now that she had a better understanding of what was going on, she wanted real clothes on. She quickly stripped and pulled on a pair of well-worn jeans and a Henley. “So what do we do now?”
“First, I need to train you on how to shield yourself and instruct you on how to feed. I just need to do the basics today, but we will need to continue your training until I’m sure you have it all down.” Keller gave the veterinarian a serious look. “This is non-negotiable. You think you’re fine right now, but the minute we leave this house you will be bombarded by emotions and sensations like you’ve never felt before.”
Sarah hopped off the bed too. “She’s right. I almost went crazy. I even tried going after Louve. They had to lock me in the apartment below the club until Keller came to help me.”
Jill nodded in acceptance. “So, what do I need to do?”
Keller smiled at Jill’s willingness to meet her newest challenge head on. They just needed to take care of their friend, then the hunt would be on in earnest. What she hadn’t said to Louve over the phone was that there was no longer an option for Marcel to return to Canada. With the death of two hikers, and the fact that they may as well have killed Jill, Keller knew that if the decision were solely up to her, she would not let any of them go. They were too much of a threat to let live. She wasn’t going to tell Sarah that either. Keller knew what she would have to do and felt no remorse for it. Some skills you never forget and for her friends and lover she would become the “noble killer” again.
Refocusing on the women in the room, she gestured back toward the bed. “This won’t take too long. I’m going to start by showing you how to build shields.” In light of the traumatic events, they decided to skip going to the farmhouse for training. Instead they stayed with Jill and helped clean up the wall in the living room. As an experiment, Jill put all her weights on the bench press in her basement gym and lifted them with ease. She couldn’t deny the obvious healing she received from Keller’s “vampire virus,” but her immensely increased strength really made it hit home how different she now was. That and she could feel her neighbors in her head if she concentrated hard enough. She also quickly learned that overextending herself led to a short-lived blinding headache. Keller tried to get her to come stay at the condo with them, but Jill refused.
Sarah was frustrated with her ex but Keller knew that Jill was better able to take care of herself now than most people. Even untrained, she doubted very much that the rogue wolves could overpower the veterinarian. Now they just needed to focus on finding the dogs and keeping Annie and Jesse safe.
When they left the house, Jill went into her garage and searched around until she found her old softball bag. She removed one of the aluminum bats and went back inside and took a seat in the recliner that was located in the only solid corner in her living room. Setting the bat across her lap, she drew her knees up until she could comfortably rest her chin on them. Jill Cole had been self-dependent most of her life. Her mother had barely engaged her as a child, and even less so when she came out. There was no way she would admit her level of fear to Sarah and Keller, but that shaking blackness of terror still clawed at her from the back of her mind. With her emotions on autopilot, she stared at the door and waited. Alone. No one was going to hurt her again.
Chapter Seven
IT WAS NEAR noon when they finally backed out of Jill’s drive. The down-to-earth doctor had taken the knowledge of vampires and werewolves quite well, understanding that there are many things in the world that science had not yet been able to explain. But despite Jill’s willingness to accept the stranger things in life, Keller knew that it would take a while before she could get over the actual attack. She could feel Jill’s terror; it settled around the woman like an odor. It was what many referred to as the “stink of fear.” As much as Keller would have liked to take it all away, she knew she could cause serious damage the other woman if she altered her emotions and memory too much. She helped her as much as possible by slightly clouding the emotions attached to the attack, but the long-term healing would be up to Jill. The bar manager was concerned about all their friends and family now. “I think we should swing by Annie and Jesse’s house. Just to check on them and fill them in. We are all going to have to be more careful now that the rogue wolves have escalated things.”
Sarah looked at Keller in the driver’s seat with unfiltered anger. “If they touch Annie I’ll kill them.”
Keller glanced at her lover in concern, then turned eyes back to the road. “Let me handle them, lass. You just focus on protecting your sister. Promise me you won’t attack them, just protect Annie. Okay?”
“No, I will not promise that. Of course I’ll protect Annie with everything I have but I’m telling you that if they harm one hair on her head they’ll regret it!” Keller let it drop. She knew she wasn’t going to get through to he
r lover right now, not while the anger over Jill’s attack was still so fresh. She could only hope that when the time came, Sarah would keep a level head. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the house and they were relieved to see both cars in the driveway. When they knocked on the door it was Jesse who answered. The nerdy younger woman was wearing her customary jeans and a comic book character t-shirt. She was full of boundless energy, as always.
“Hey you two! We didn’t expect you to come over today.” She craned her head out the door. “Where’s Duke?” She had unexpectedly bonded with the husky after her transformation. Sarah and Annie had actually taken Duke to the dog park a few times, together with a transformed Jesse. She said it was weird because he didn’t communicate like people, but still fun. Annie was just happy to wear out her girlfriend for once.
Sarah answered her sister’s girlfriend. “He’s not with us; we didn’t come from home. Where’s Annie? We need to talk to you two.” Jesse moved so they could come in. When Sarah walked around the corner into the living room, she saw her sister sitting on the couch, eating cereal and watching the cartoon network. She was immediately relived to see the younger woman. The fear she felt after seeing Jill’s broken body had been clawing beneath the surface until she verified that her sister was safe. She couldn’t even think about what she would have done if it had been Annie’s body she’d found. She shoved the dark and troublesome thoughts down. “Some things never change do they, A?” The younger sister grinned and shoveled another spoonful of “magically delicious” into her mouth.
Jesse could sense the tension in the two visitors and knew immediately something was wrong. “What’s going on?” Annie looked up at the tone of her girlfriend’s voice and suddenly realized that her sister and Keller had just dropped by unannounced on a Sunday. She took one look at her sister’s face and immediately jumped up and ran over to her.