by J. Thiele
An instant later Dominic was pulling Casey free from Kara’s grip. “What the fuck is happening?” she cried. “Oh God baby, I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”
“You turned her?” Casey looked at Dominic confused, “You were meant to heal her, not turn her you son of a bitch!” Casey went for Dominic.
“Casey, stop!” he shouted at her, “I had no choice. She was coughing up blood. She was dying Casey. We would have lost her completely. I thought you understood that.”
Casey did understand. She knew exactly what was going to happen when Dominic gave his blood to Kara, and she’d been on the force long enough to know what it meant when a victim started coughing up the amount of blood Kara was coughing up. No amount of denial would alter the fact that Kara was now part vamp and Casey helped to make her that way.
Casey’s neck was still bleeding and the smell of her blood was intoxicating to Kara. “Get her out of here! Quick!” she shrieked, knowing her will to resist another bite was weakening.
From the other side of the bars, Casey was safe, but her heart was breaking for her lover. Their relationship would be altered forever.
*****
The team were gathered downstairs, all except Kara, who remained in her cell until she’d managed to control her urges.
“There is something you all need to know, Dominic announced, “This is not going to be an easy battle. Saligia is much older and stronger than Victor. Her power is immeasurable.”
“Stronger than Victor? And we don’t have Damon or Genesis this time. We don’t stand a chance,” Rick told them.
Sarah was sitting at the end of the conference table, “That’s not entirely true.” She looked up at the team.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“We have something I’m pretty sure Saligia doesn’t.”
“Oh? And what might that be?” he questioned.
“We have Kara.”
Both Casey and Ray spoke simultaneously, “What?”
“Kara’s a hybrid.”
“What the fuck is a hybrid?” Pearce asked, his blood pressure rising more every day from the stress of recent events.
“Not all vampire, not all shifter. She is both, that makes her a hybrid,” Sarah explained. “It also makes her more powerful than anyone in this room, more powerful than Victor ever was. In fact, eventually, if not already, more powerful than even Saligia.”
“How? I mean what makes her so powerful?” Casey asked.
“She’s almost impossible to kill, and the older she gets, the stronger she will become.”
“Great, so we’ve got nothing to worry about,” Ray said excitedly.
Pearce left the conversation and slipped upstairs to the holding cells to speak with Kara.
He found her pacing her cell in an agitated state. He handed her a bag of blood that he’d collected from the storeroom on his way up. “Figured you’d be needing this,” he said, as he handed her the bag.
Kara looked at the offering with disgust in her eyes. “They’ve turned me into some kind of monster. Why? Why me?” she asked as she began to sob.
“I don’t know kid. I wish it could have been different,” Pearce said with sincerity. “Can I ask you if you knew…you know? About the shifter thing?”
“What do you think? Of course I didn’t know!” she snapped at him as she tore the bag open with her teeth and began to ingest the contents. “I’m the fucking victim here, yet I’m the one that is caged up like an animal, drinking blood from a God damned bag.”
“Yep, it’s a pretty shitty deal all right kid. No argument there,” Pearce agreed, “But you’re home now with us, and we’ll get through this.”
“We? This is ME! Not us, not we...Me. I’ve been whipped, beaten, bitten, ra…” She didn’t finish her sentence. “Anyway, now I’m stuck in here like an animal and that crazy bitch is still out there. And what’s everybody doing about it? Nothing! I can hear them from up here ya know? Do you know they expect me to be their fucking saviour? They want me to take this bitch on! They’re out of their fucking minds. This is NOT my fucking battle. Why should I put myself into the line of fire? As soon as I can, I’m out of here.”
“So what are you waiting for?” Pearce asked.
“Are you blind? I’m locked in a cage, and every time I touch the bars I get zapped by the silver.”
Pearce handed her another bag, making sure she’d had enough before he went on. “As a vampire you’re trapped. But you’re not all vampire are you? Think about it Kara.”
“What are you saying?” she asked, “Are you out of your fucking mind as well?”
“I don’t say this often kid, so listen up. This team is the closest thing to family I have, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you all safe. I don’t know what that bitch did to you and I’m not sure I wanna know. But I do know she hurt you, and if you feel she can hurt you again, then I’m fucked if I’m gonna put you in danger. I’d rather take her on myself than see you hurt again.”
Kara lost control of her emotions and began to sob. Pearce opened the door and stepped into the cell with his arms open. “I love you like you was my own daughter, kid.”
Kara fell into the short, fat man’s arms and cried. He cried too, as he held her as tight as he could, trying to reassure her that he would do whatever he could to protect her.
Chapter Four
Kara stayed in Pearce’s arms until the tears ran dry. Then she looked up at him and said, “They’re coming up the stairs. Better pull ourselves together.”
Pearce began to sweat and his face turned pale. “Sir, are you alright?” She was a doctor. She knew the signs of a heart attack, and she knew he was far from all right.
“Now.” he stuttered.
“What? What do you mean?” she asked.
“Go. It’s your chance to be free from all of this.”
“I…I can’t just leave you,” she insisted.
“Get out kid. I’ll be fine,” he told her, clutching at his chest. “As soon as they’re all here, make your break. Good luck kid,” he said, before he passed out.
“Quick! Get up here!” she shouted, “Call an ambulance!”
The team gathered around Pearce, as Casey began CPR. “Come on Captain,” she muttered as she counted compressions in her mind.
His lips began to turn blue. Rick knelt down and tilted his head back, clearing his airways and started giving mouth to mouth between compression sets, while Ray was on the phone to emergency. After a few minutes, he took a breath on his own and his lips returned to their natural colour. Casey turned to ask Kara what had happened but she was nowhere to be seen. “Kara?” she called out, “KARA!” She ran down the flight of stairs to the office area just in time to witness Kara opening the door to her freedom. “Kara don’t! The sun...”
Kara looked over her shoulder at Casey, then in the blink of an eye, transformed into the most magnificent eagle Casey had ever seen. When she took flight, her wing span was at least seven feet. As much as Casey wanted to her to stay, she couldn’t help but be in awe of the special power and the beauty of the creature Kara had become right before her eyes.
*****
The ambulance raced Pearce to emergency, and Rose was called from her duties to be by his side. “You old fool,” she scolded, “I told you to take it easy. I told you to slow down.”
“Relax woman, I’m fine. Just a bit of heart burn,” he tried to convince her.
“Heart burn my ass,” she scorned.
Pearce had never heard her use profanity before, and looked startled as he stared into her welling eyes.
“I only just found you, you old goat. Don’t leave me now. I don’t know what I’m gonna do if anything happens to you. Who else is going to eat my meatloaf without complaints?”
Just at that moment, a doctor opened the curtains with Pearce’s chart in his hands. “Mr. Pearce, may I call you Tony?”
Pearce nodded his head.
“We’ve got the results back from your ECG. I
t confirms you’ve had a mild heart attack. You were very lucky this time that your friends were there to assist, or the outcome may have been a lot more severe. But you’re not out of the woods yet. We’ve picked up some irregularities in your heart beat. As a result, we’d like to keep you in a couple of days for observation. How do you feel about that?”
“He ain’t goin’ nowhere.” Rose told him. Pearce shot her a disapproving look.
“She’s right,” Casey poked her head around the curtain, “You’re no good to us unless you’re running on all four cylinders.”
“Looks like I don’t get a say doc,” Pearce sighed, resigned.
“Great. I’ll make the arrangements to have you sent up to a ward,” the doctor told him, before exiting the cubicle.
Casey sat on the edge of his bed and held his hand. “I’m sorry,” she said in a low sincere voice.
“Sorry? What for? This isn’t your fault,” he assured her.
Rose offered to get coffee so the two former detectives could talk.
“Maybe not directly, but it was me that got us all into this shit in the first place. If I wasn’t so gung-ho about getting Tyson Grey and his gang brought to justice, none of this would have happened.”
“Tyson Grey huh? That name seems so insignificant now. But do you really think this is about Grey or Moresby, or any of that mother fuckin’ gang? This isn’t even about you kid. This is about a whole new world that none of us were prepared for. Young Rick was right the other day when he said, ‘he wasn’t trained for any of this at the academy.’ Fuckin’ kills me to know what you kids are in for with these creatures. Vampires, witches, shifters, what else is lurking around out there? Fucking aliens?”
“Everything is changing. Ray, Kara, Damon’s gone, Rick’s acting strange, I can’t lose you too. I’ve been an idiot. I lost sight of who and what is important. I got all grandiose about being a vampire hunter and protecting the city. I even pushed the memory of Jen from my mind, as if she meant nothing to me. She died after I threw her out, and I gave Wes the opportunity to kill her. Her blood is on my hands.”
“I didn’t know that kid. I’m sorry. But you can’t blame yourself for that asshole. He was looking for blood. Wouldn’t have mattered who was in the park that night.”
“Probably not,” Casey sighed, “but he was in the park because of me. And that’s the whole point I’m making here.”
Pearce thought about it for a second. “So you’re gonna just blame yourself for everyone these blood suckers have killed in the past year. Is that it?”
Rose came back with coffee just as Casey was about to say something but she held her tongue.
“Thanks Rose, but I think I’ll give the coffee a miss and head back to headquarters. I have some work to catch up on and I want to start looking for Kara. Besides, I remember what hospital coffee tastes like. Too much of that and I’ll be occupying the bed next door.” She leaned forward to give Pearce a heartfelt hug, then kissed Rose on the cheek before opening the curtain to leave.
“Hey kid?” Pearce called, making Casey glance back at him, “This conversation isn’t over, ya hear me?”
Casey nodded her head, then left.
Chapter Five
Casey found Rick at his desk bouncing a tennis ball off the opposing wall. He looked lost and beaten. “Rick…? Can we talk?” she asked.
“About what Casey? You have some more answers to my unasked questions?” His response was venomous.
“No, I just wanted to apologise. I know how much you’ve given up for this outfit and…”
“You don’t know shit!” He spun in his chair to face her. “A year ago, I had a wife and three kids, a stable job and a house in the suburbs. Today my wife is living with her sister in another town and I get to see my kids once a month, if I can get away. She thinks I’m some kind of ‘Bounty Hunter’ for the CIA and that I care more about the criminals I’m chasing down than I do her and the kids. My youngest lost her first tooth, and the first thing I thought of was, at least it was a tooth and not a fucking fang! My eldest had a concert that I missed because I was too busy getting your girlfriend back from some psycho vampire bitch that had her locked in the abandoned tunnel. They’re growing up and I’m missing it all, fighting a battle that we are going to lose anyway.”
“We’re not going to lose Rick. Don’t say that,” Casey pleaded.
“We already have Casey. Look around. Ever heard the expression, ‘if you can’t beat them, join them?’ Ray and Kara are a classic example of where that expression originated from, not to mention Brandy.”
Ray and Brandy were sleeping up in the cells. They’d all started sleeping there at different times, rather than in their own homes. It just seemed more convenient. Casey cursed herself at that point. She should have known something was up with Rick when even he started sleeping there rather than in the comfort of his own bed and in the arms of his loving wife, whom he so desperately wanted to shield from the ugliness of his work.
“I’m sorry Rick, I should have known.”
“Yes, you should have known. After all, you’re the great Casey Marks. You know everything don’t you? Well I’m sorry I didn’t send you the memo on my private life, but what would have been the point? You’re so wrapped up in your own little world, that if it doesn’t concern you, then it’s not important,” Rick stood to walk away, frustrated at her ignorance.
“Rick, that’s just not true. Of course I care about what’s going on for you. Please don’t walk away.” She reached for his elbow to turn him back to her.
“Or what Casey? What if I walk away? What if I just take my bat and ball and go home? ‘Cos I’m sick to death of you, you self-righteous, spoilt, little bitch.” He held Casey by both elbows and shook her with every word that came out of his mouth, “This is all your fault. Ray, Kara everything!” He’d lost control and was shaking her furiously.
“Rick stop. You’re hurting me,” Casey pleaded.
Dominic, also asleep in the loft, was woken by the altercation. He swooped down to pull Rick off her, pinning him against the wall.
“ENOUGH!” Dominic shouted. “We cannot be fighting amongst ourselves, or we stand no chance against our enemies.”
Ray and Brandy came down as well. “What’s going on?” Ray asked, putting his arm around the visibly shaken Casey. “Did you touch her you son of a bitch?” he asked as he got up in Rick’s face.
“Ray, no!” Casey shouted, “I’m fine. It was just a misunderstanding.”
Dominic released Ray, who promptly snatched his jacket from the back of his chair and stormed out.
“What was that about?” Ray asked.
“Did you know that Rick’s wife has left him?” Casey asked.
“Yeah, he told me a couple of weeks ago,” Ray replied.
“But I thought he said he was going to try and work things out?” Brandy added.
“Wait, you know about this to?” Casey enquired.
“Sure, I was there when he told Ray,” she responded.
“Am I the only idiot around here that didn’t know?” she asked.
“Well, you have been a little preoccupied,” Ray told her.
“You mean, I walk around with my head up my ass.” Nobody corrected her. “Great, so do Pearce and Rose know?”
“I guess. He wasn’t keeping it a secret,” Ray responded, “He was supposed to meet Marie the other night, when we went to get Kara from the tunnel, but…well you know, duty called. She left to go back to her sister’s without hearing him out, not even so much as a good-bye.”
“Fuck! No wonder he blames me for all this. So how ‘bout you Ray? Do you blame me for your situation?” she asked.
Ray stared at her in silence.
“Ray?”
“I’m not entirely unhappy, but since you insist, yeah, I guess I do hold you responsible, in part,” he replied.
“Well that’s just fucking great!” Casey spun and also stormed out.
Chapter Six
“There are cracks beginning to form in your team, my love,” Sarah pointed out the obvious.
“Yes, and I’m not sure how to repair them. The humans are such fragile creatures, but if I don’t do something soon, all will be lost to Saligia. I have Ray and Brandy thinking they are invincible and ready to take on the world, an old man in the hospital suffering heart failure, a hybrid that’s taken flight to God only knows where, one human that’s suffering an emotional breakdown and another that has delusions of grandeur. Any magic spell to get them all on the same page would be much appreciated,” he razzed.
*****
Casey stood on the bridge at the edge of town, looking at her reflection on the water’s surface before the sun went down. Ray and Rick’s words were weighing heavily on her mind. “Where did it all go wrong?” she asked herself, “When did I stop noticing what was going on around me? Did I miss something with Kara as well? Is that why she fled? Didn’t she think I cared enough for her to stay?” She looked up at the darkening sky and shouted, “Where are you! Why did you leave us? You son of a bitch!”
“Oh dear, that’s sounds like the cursing of defeat,” a voice from behind her broke out.
Casey spun around to see Saligia standing on the bridge just a few feet away.
“Haven’t you done enough? What do you want with this city anyway you crazy bitch?”
“I want what’s mine. I want everyone to know who I am. I want the recognition from Genesis that was denied me almost four thousand years ago.”
“Well, you’re a little late for that. Genesis is gone and he’s not coming back. He went to meet his maker, so you’re wasting your time here. Why don’t you make like a good little vampire, and burn in hell?”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you Casey? But I know all about you. Your little girlfriend told me everything,” she said smugly.
“You’re a liar!” Casey yelled.