by T. R. Lester
“What?” Grace asked incredulously.
“Never mind about that. It was unintentional.”
“What happened to you Nathaniel?”
“It’s Neal now, Grace. And let’s just say I ran into the wrong woman and she had her way with me.”
“That doesn’t explain why you never contacted me.”
“Like I said, I couldn’t contact you due to my new transformation. I couldn’t be around you Grace. I didn’t want to kill you, or anyone for that matter, but I couldn’t control myself. I have no human feelings left. I care nothing for you or anyone else now. I am what I am. I’ve learned to deal with it. I’ve found ways to survive over the years.”
“By murdering people?”
“If I found it necessary, yes.”
“You’re not my brother.”
“No, I’m not. Not anymore.”
“What do you want from me?”
“I want you to join me Grace. I want you to be a part of what I am building. You see, strigoi have, over the centuries, brought too much attention to themselves. They go out and kill to sustain themselves and sometimes leave numerous bodies in their wake. They care for nothing and no one so it matters little to them how many they kill. I have found a way to keep them from hunting humans. A way to deliver fresh blood to them and keep them out of the public’s eye.”
Grace raised her head slightly and looked around. She could see she was in a room that was approximately large enough to hold the six hospital beds that were to her right. It reminded her of the old rooms they used in hospitals to bed patients and were lined up side by side in a row along one wall. As her eyes focused, she could see the person in the bed next to her. And she gasped.
“Is that Francine?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, she thought she had the right to control me and belittle me. I had to show her she meant nothing to me.”
“What did you do to her?”
“I’m draining her blood dear Grace. Slowly.”
“Her blood?”
“Yes. You didn’t let me finish my story for you.”
Grace stared at him as he began his story.
“When she offered a way to make money, and provide my kind with sustenance, I jumped at the chance. She provided the money, I provided the donors. I began harvesting blood and selling it to the strigoi. In the last few years, it’s come to my attention that I am going to need more help in order to continue my new business. And that’s where you come in Grace.”
“Me?”
“Yes. I’m offering you a job. I need someone on the inside that can help me get around the legal aspects. Someone who won’t investigate people disappearing.”
“You’re sick Nathaniel.”
“No. I’m a strigoi Grace.”
“I won’t help you.”
“I know your wolf and vampire are here. I will kill them.”
“I doubt that Nathaniel. You didn’t kill Draven the other day when you two fought. That was you, right?”
Neal nodded.
“Then what makes you think you can kill him now?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the ten vamps I have waiting on him and the wolf.”
“It still won’t work.”
“They are crazed with blood lust Grace. They will see food and tear them apart.”
Grace tensed.
“No one is going to stop me. No one, not even you Grace.”
Grace heard a muffled groan from the bed next to her and looked over.
Francine was staring at her, eyes wide in fear.
Even though Francine was a viper bitch and Grace had no inclination to help her, she didn’t deserve to be in the predicament she was in.
“Kill me, because I won’t help you.” She tells Neal.
“Ah Grace. I’m not going to kill you until I get every last drop of blood possible out of you.”
Neal walked over to a desk, picked up a cell phone and dialed a number.
“Let them out.” He said into the phone.
Grace heard a door sliding open. One that sounded as if it needed to be oiled as the squealing was so loud it grated on her ear drums.
The noise stopped and she heard bare feet slapping the concrete floor.
Looking over at what used to be her brother, she asked him, “What have you done?”
“You made your choice, I made mine.”
He walked over to Grace’s bed and pressed some buttons on the machine Grace was connected to. After a moment or two, she saw blood flowing through the clear lines that ran from her neck and into the machine.
“They will kill you Nathaniel.” She tells him.
“Oh, I doubt it Grace.”
Neal walked over to the door that led out of the room and turned the knob.
“I do hate that you wouldn’t join me Grace. I really didn’t want to kill you.”
“Fuck you Nathaniel.”
He exited the room and closed the door, locking it behind him.
Chapter 19
Draven went to the stairs and started down them. Giving one last look down the hall, he saw Gideon pushing doors open with his huge paw.
When he was about half way down, he heard a distant noise. It sounded like people running. The sound was like bare feet slapping against a tiled floor. As he neared the bottom of the stairs, the sound got closer. When he stepped off the last step onto the floor, he could sense a pack of strigoi. These were enveloped in their bloodlust. The only thing in their minds were feeding.
The stench of unwashed bodies and foul-smelling blood overwhelmed Draven’s senses. As he made the corner turn to head into another hall, he was slammed against the wall with a force that almost rattled his brain, or so he thought.
The strigoi had hit him so forcefully, his gun skittered across the floor. Draven had a second to shake his head slightly and the strigoi struck again.
The vampire was so out of his mind with bloodlust he didn’t realize Draven was a vampire too. Draven drew his right fist back and slammed it into the vampire’s jaw so hard he heard his jawbone crack.
Stumbling from the blow, the vamp shook his head, looked at Draven and lunged again. Before Draven could move, another strigoi hit him from the left. The impact sent Draven and the two strigoi sliding across the floor, ending up in a heap against the wall. He felt a sharp pain in his right wrist and looked to see one of the strigoi had sank his teeth in. He pulled his left leg up as far as he could and tried to push the strigoi on his left side off him. The vampire didn’t budge. With his right arm pinned by the strigoi who had bitten him and his left arm pinned to the floor by the other one, Draven started twisting his body to try to throw them off. The one that was latched onto his wrist was viciously ripped away and leaving a few tendons and muscles holding his arm together. Draven growled in pain.
Looking over to his right, he saw the giant black wolf holding the vampire in his enormous jaws, shaking his head back and forth, as if he was trying to rend his flesh from its body.
The strigoi howled in pain.
Draven pulled his head back and butted the one on his left. The head butt addled the vampire and as he shook his head, Draven brought his foot up and kicked it in the chest. The vampire flew across the room and collapsed against the wall.
Draven heard more feet pattering on the floor and tried to stand. Gideon had shaken the vampire so badly that his head had been severed and he was in the process of ripping arms off until Draven got his attention.
“More are coming.”
Gideon growled and dropped the vampire. Walking over to Draven, he sniffed at his arm and growled. Gideon sat down and shifted back to his human form. After shifting, he stood, in all his naked glory, looking down at Draven.
“Damn man. Put that shit up. I didn’t need to see all that.” Draven tells him.
“Looks like I came just in time.” He told Draven.
“Great. I’ll never hear the end of this. A wolf rescuing a vampire.”
Gideon snorted.
“Can you take my blood?”
“I can, why?” Draven asked suspiciously.
“Well, you obviously have very little holding your arm on, and the way I see it is we have more ass to kick. You can’t heal without blood, and I don’t see any other willing donors. So, it’s either wolf blood, or no arm. You decide.” Gideon tells him.
“Fine. I won’t need much. Your blood is supernatural so I’ll heal quickly.” Draven says.
Gideon extends his wrist to Draven.
Drinking from a wolf is not his favorite thing to do. Their blood has a gamey wild taste that never appealed to Draven. But, with no other option, he’ll make do.
“What? I can’t bite your neck?” Draven asks with a sneer.
“Fuck you vampire.”
“Just kidding man. Trying to ease the tension.
Drinking from your neck ranges right up there with me flying you around.”
Draven takes the proffered wrist in his left hand and extends his fangs. Striking swiftly, warm blood is soon flowing down his throat.
Gideon sits quietly and watches as Draven’s arm starts to heal. The mangled mess looks like it was put through a shredder, but as more blood goes down Draven, the faster it heals.
When all that’s left is a small open wound, Draven releases his hold and retracts his fangs. He sits for a minute to let the healing finish and to let Gideon’s blood flow through him. A supernatural’s blood is so strong it gives an intoxicating effect to the vampire as it’s being consumed.
“Thanks, wolf man.”
“Anytime vampire.”
“We have to go. They are almost here.”
Gideon shifts back into his wolf and growls.
As they turn to walk down the downstairs hall, they see eight more strigoi coming at them.
“Fucking hell.” Draven says.
Gideon lunges to the left and Draven heads directly into the vampires.
Gideon attacks with a viciousness that only a wolf has. Rending and tearing flesh from bone, he wrenches an arm from the vampire’s body. The vamp yells in pain. Gideon jumps up at the vampire’s throat and in one swift motion, rips his head off.
Turning his attention to another one, he runs at the vamp, knocking it to the floor and rips into the soft flesh of its stomach. Using his blade sharp claws, Gideon rakes them across the vampire’s stomach, scattering intestines across the floor. Before he can tear into the throat, he’s hit from the right side. He and the vampire roll across the floor in a mass of fur and blood. When the wall stops their progress, the vampire is on its feet and lunging at Gideon. Before he can make contact, he is swatted from the air like a fly.
Draven pounces on the strigoi and twists his neck until he hears bones snap.
Coming back to his senses, Gideon snaps at the strigoi running up behind Draven and takes its head off. With three remaining, Draven moves in a blur to each one, snapping their necks and shoving them to the floor.
Leaving a trail of bodies and entrails in their wake, Draven and Gideon turn and head to the twenty-five-foot hall way that leads into a new section of the building. The hall is dark and musty and the smell of Neal wafts through the air like a flowing breeze.
With the adrenaline rush of the fight still flowing through their veins, Gideon and Draven run down the length of the hall with only one thought in their mind; saving Grace.
Chapter 20
Grace watches as Nathaniel, Neal, whatever the hell he is calling himself, exits the room.
She’s spent years missing her brother and wondering what happened to him. The pain of loss she felt then is slowly creeping back in because she truly hasn’t found her brother. She’s found a monster. One that must be put down like the beast he is.
With tears rolling down her cheeks, Grace looks over to Francine again, who is staring at her with horror stricken eyes.
She feels herself getting sleepy and weak. This is a sign she knows too well. Blood loss. If she doesn’t get her shit together now she won’t have another chance.
Looking down at her arm, she can see the binding strap is cloth. As her eyes blur, she tries to twist her arm and wriggle it back and forth to try to loosen the tie.
She hears a loud noise coming from outside her door. It sounds as if it’s miles away but she knows she’s in and out of consciousness now. Pulling harder on her ties, she wriggles her wrists more and finally gets the right one free. Looking over at Francine, she rolls her eyes at the woman.
“Damn it Francine. I should leave your ass there. But my morals won’t let me.”
Slowly reaching over to her other wrist, she pulls it free of the restraint. Looking at the plastic line going into her arm, she applies pressure to where the insertion point is, takes the line between her teeth and pulls. The needle slides out and blood sprays from the hole. Grabbing a towel from the bedside table, Grace covers her arm and tries to sit up. Dizziness hits her and she falls back on the bed.
“Fucking shit.”
As she lies there, she can hear Francine making little squeaking noises.
“You have to get up Grace.” She says to herself.
Closing her eyes, she uses her left arm to push herself into a sitting position. Her head spins and she quickly puts a foot on the floor. That’s worked for her in the past when she had drunk too much alcohol and she can only hope it will apply to her current situation.
Opening one eye, she peers over at the viper. Try as she may, she can’t feel sorry for the bitch. She doesn’t want to see her dead, but she really can’t muster any feelings for her predicament.
Sitting on the side of the bed for a few minutes, Grace is able to get past the dizziness. She’s weak, but can still function somewhat. As she looks across the bed the viper is in, she sees others in the same situation. None of them have their eyes open and they all look pale with dark circles under their eyes.
Grace pulls over the IV pole that sits by her bed to use as a prop so she can try to stand up. Hoping it don’t roll from under her, she grasps the metal pole and starts to slowly pull herself up. Dizziness hits again and she pauses for a minute until it eases. Finally, able to stand, she looks around and the room sways slightly. She looks back over to Francine who is watching her intently.
Grace takes a step and pulls the pole along with her. The distance between her bed and Francine’s is only a few feet, just enough for someone to walk between them, so she doesn’t have far to go.
When she gets beside Francine, she sees her restraints are the padded ones that attach to the bed rail and the other end buckles around the patient’s wrist. Leaning into the bed rail, Grace reaches down to unbuckle the one on Francine’s left wrist.
Francine doesn’t move as the restraint is freed from the bed.
“Can you get up, or move?” Grace asks her.
Francine just looks at her and blinks her eyes one time.
“I’ll take that as a no then?”
Francine blinks twice.
Grace reaches over and follows the clear line running from Francine to the machine behind her bed. They look like apheresis machines; however, nothing seems to be going back in as it is taken out. Not knowing how any of the medical equipment works to start with, Grace focuses on taking the line out of Francine. She grabs a cloth off the table and presses it over the needle in Francine’s wrist and pulls, as she did hers. The needle slides out and blood gushes. Grace presses harder on the cloth hoping to stop the blood flow. Francine’s eyes close and Grace feels for a pulse. It’s weak, but there.
“Now what Grace?” She asks herself.
Grace decides to leave Francine there. She can’t carry her so she has no other choice. As she turns to try to get to the door, she’s hears growling.
The door she’s heading to swings open and a man enters holding a gun in front of him.
“Director Tanner. What are you doing here?” Grace asks.
“Looking for you.”
“I’m glad you’re here.” She tells him.
�
��Let’s go.” He says.
“Wait, I need to help Francine and the others over there.” Grace says pointing over her shoulder.
“There’s no time. Can’t you hear the ruckus out there? There are vampires and a wolf fighting.”
“Vampires?”
Director Tanner nods and grabs Grace’s forearm and pulls her through the door. She stumbles as they walk into the hall.
“Hey, slow down.” She tells him.
He pulls her down the hall toward a stair well. She remembers when Steve brought her in, they were headed to a stair well on the first floor, so maybe they are on the second floor now.
As they near the stairs, the fighting grows louder. Grace can only assume it’s Gideon and Draven embroiled in a battle with vampires.
Tanner stops and looks back at Grace.
“You need to hurry up.”
“I almost died. I’m going as fast as I can.”
He pulled her to the stair well and started down. Just as he set his right foot on the top step, a large hand wrapped around the nape of his neck and yanked him back. This caused Grace to stumble backward and fall to the floor. She looked over to see Neal with a death grip on Tanner.
“No!” She yelled at Neal.
Neal looked over at Grace and sneered.
“He’s not who you think he is Grace.”
“He’s my director. I know who he is.”
“Ask him where he was going with you and why he didn’t try and help your acting director.”
Grace looked at Tanner, then back to Neal.
“What’s going on Tanner?” She asks.
Neal had moved his hand to the front of Tanner’s throat completely cutting off his air supply.
“You’re choking him Nathaniel.”
“It’s Neal now and I’m aware that I’m choking him.”
Neal slightly released the hold he had on Tanner so he could speak.
“You’ll die for this.” Tanner told Neal.
“I don’t think so. You see, you’re just a tiny part in all this. You won’t be missed.”
“What?” Grace asks, stunned.
“Your director here has been working with the strigoi coven in Tennessee for years my dear sister. He’s their go to boy, one could say. He gets things done for them.”