Walking into the medical suite, the place was busier than it had been of late. Not surprising seeing as they had more bodies in here to help out with the Trey situation.
“How’s he doing?” Verynai asked Marshall as soon as he saw the old man hobbling towards him.
As soon as Trey had been brought back into the academy, Marshall had hardly left the boys’ side. He’d been a Godsend to the doctors. As old as he was, Marshall was a very reassuring presence to have around and leant his strength to all those that needed it. He was a rock for Marion.
As the former assistant to Bartholomew, their races’ deceased leader, Marshall had lived a life to serve others and felt lost if he didn’t find himself useful. When he had asked Kelton to allow him to stay at the academy in some purposeful way, the perfect place for him was in the medical rooms. Marion Phillippe was the head of the medical team and although injuries were often at a minimum, it helped her tremendously to have another pair of hands to help out. The majority of injuries were cuts or sprains from the training and occasionally something worse from the warriors who’d been out on the streets, but it wasn’t often they got something as bad as what had happened to Trey.
“He’s still out cold, son.” Marshall patted Verynai’s arm in a fatherly manner. “How are you holding up?” Marshall knew that Verynai had been one of the people to find the battered body of Trey.
“I’m fine. Busy, but fine.” Verynai was one of those men who very rarely let his emotions show or would ever admit to any weakness.
“How is Master Warrior Kelton and Kayleigh?”
The staff had been made aware of what was happening, as they were told to report to Verynai or Dixon in case of emergency. They were all worried and eager to hear about the birth of Kelton’s baby.
“So far we haven’t heard anything, but she’s in labour.”
“The birth of a baby is going to do wonders for the morale of this place.” Marshall loved babies. A new life, a new beginning. He wished the warrior and his woman every luck in the world. They deserved it. He had great respect for Kelton and thought Kayleigh was a wonderful woman. They deserved happiness.
“So no improvement on his condition?” Verynai nodded in the direction of Trey’s closed door.
“The good doctor is hoping to bring him around later tonight. Or maybe give him another day or two. She hasn’t come to a final decision yet, she’s waiting to speak to some of her doctor friends. She wants him to rest up through the worst of the pain.”
Verynai nodded thoughtfully. The longer they could keep the boy under and out of conscious pain, the better in his opinion. They had a whole team of doctors consulting on his condition, but Marion was their point of call.
“Where’s Marion?”
“She’s checking the boy over as we speak.”
“I’ll wait in here for her if that’s okay with you?”
“Please, take a seat.” Marshall indicated to one of the plush leather arm chairs in the waiting room. “Can I get you anything while you’re waiting? Coffee? Tea? Water?”
Verynai knew better than to say no to the old man. Marshall got royally offended if he didn’t think he could help out in some way. “A coffee would be great, if it’s not too much trouble for you.”
Marshall beamed. “No trouble at all.” And he bowed low in a sign of respect to the warrior, before scurrying out of the room.
As soon as Marshall walked out of the waiting room, Verynai’s phone vibrated in his pocket. It was the council again. Putting his phone on the elegant walnut side table, he was determined to ignore it. He didn’t need that headache right now. They had enough to deal with. Didn’t those idiots understand that Kelton wasn’t there? Did they want him to tell them Kelton was ready to accept their offer for the leadership role? Were they that stupid? They were persistent, he’d give them that.
Before the phone had stopped vibrating across the table, Marion quietly stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Verynai stood up as soon as he saw her.
“How is he?”
Marion sagged in the chair opposite him. If it had been any of the other warriors, she would have tried her hardest to keep her professional mask in place, but with Verynai? She didn’t need to. They’d been friends for years and had gotten closer over the last couple of months.
“He’s a complete mess. What kind of animal would do that to a kid?” Marion couldn’t comprehend it.
Verynai took a couple of steps over to her, perching on the edge of the chair and putting a comforting arm around her. Marion didn’t have the strength to say anything else, simply laying her head on his solid chest.
They remained that way for several minutes, just being with one another and enjoying the momentary silence. It was what they both needed in the hectic mess of their lives at the moment.
When Marshall walked back into the room, they didn’t even have the emotional or physical strength to pull away from one another. There was a knowing sparkle in the old mans’ eyes as he silently put Verynai’s coffee on the table before leaving them alone again.
“He’s a good man to have around.” Verynai commented.
“He sure is. I don’t know what I would have done without him. Especially with all this going on.” Marion sat up, moving away slightly to stretch the tiredness out of her limbs. “How’s things going with you?” She knew that the warriors were having a bit more of an easy time of it lately, until all this happened with Trey. The peace never seemed to last in this place for long. Kelton had been in a better mood since Kayleigh had returned to him, which lightened the load for everyone else. When Kelton was in a foul mood, everyone suffered.
“Ash and Dylan have been back again, and Jackson called in earlier. I haven’t let them see Trey yet, though.”
“No, we need to keep them away until Kelton gives us the word to tell the trainees what’s going on. He hasn’t had a chance with all this going on with Kayleigh. We’ll have to do something about it.”
“I understand completely. If they see him, they’ll start asking questions.”
“And that’s the last thing you need at the moment on top of everything else. Do you need any more help in here?”
Now that this had happened with Trey, and with Kayleigh going into labour, it was all back to business again. Dixon and Verynai were both sharing the duties of being second-in-command and he didn’t want Marion over-doing things. If she needed help, he’d provide it somehow.
“We’re hanging in there.”
As his phone started to vibrate again, Verynai growled and flicked the phone off the table, letting it bounce around on the soft carpet. “It would help if that damned thing stopped interrupting me.”
“The council?”
“How did you guess?” Verynai rolled his eyes. “I don’t know how the hell Kelton puts up with it. They’re on the phone every two minutes, and it’s never for anything important.”
Marion shrugged. “Just another problem for the head of the academy to deal with, I guess.”
“Have you heard how Kayleigh’s doing?”
Marion shook her head. “No word yet.” That was another worry that was playing on her mind. She’d hoped to be the one to help Kayleigh and Kelton deliver their baby, but she was needed here at the academy to be on hand for Trey. She knew that they were in good hands with Mira and that they’d get word to the academy as soon as something happened, so they just had to be patient for a while longer.
His phone started to jump around again and Verynai groaned as he bent over to pick it up. Reading the brief text, he turned to Marion with a smile.
“What is it?”
“I didn’t even see this text, what with all the calls from the council.”
“And?”
“Kayleigh’s having the baby.”
“Well, we all knew that.” Marion yawned with a gentle smile.
Verynai laughed. “I mean, any moment now she’ll be popping that baby out.”
“Popping it out?”
“You know what I mean.”
Marion grinned at him, relishing in the good news at such a dark time. “I know what you mean. At least there’s something good coming out of all this.”
“Yep.” Verynai nodded. “There was another text from Kelton. He’s going to be meeting up with Patrick when Kayleigh’s done with the labour.”
“At least that’s something, too. It’s good that they’re friends. Hopefully, they’ll be able to sort it so nothing else like this will happen again.”
“I still don’t like it.” Verynai rattled off a quick text to Kelton. “He shouldn’t be meeting with him alone.”
“They’re friends. Patrick wouldn’t do anything to harm him.”
“I know, but still. With everything being so up in the air with the shifters, it’s not worth the risk.”
They heard a moan coming from Trey’s room and they both shot up out of their seats. He was stirring and moaning even though his eyes were still shut.
“He shouldn’t be waking up yet. I pumped him with enough sedative to knock out a horse.” Marion said in concern as she tried to look over a writhing Trey. “Can you pass me his chart?” she asked and Verynai snapped to it, happy to help in any way.
Master Warrior Dixon stood in the empty training room. This had been a time of hell for all of them. If something could go wrong, it did. It was just one thing after another. From toilets blocking to major disasters and injuries, they’d had it all.
The trainees knew that something was up, even though they were keeping them in the dark. He could see it in the way they moved, the way they were distracted and had trouble keeping up with the training schedule. Especially those that were in the same team as Caleb and Trey. Their absence had been noticeable for the last couple of days and it was worrying the others. Dixon knew that they were going to have to say something soon, especially now that Aisline and a couple of the others knew, but he wanted to wait for Kelton to give him the go a-head.
Thundering footsteps interrupted his thoughts and he turned expectantly towards the door. Four trainees came barrelling into the room, looking wide eyed and terrified.
“What the hell is going on here?” He demanded, not liking his work-out time interrupted, but more concerned about the look of fear on their faces.
“Shifters. Back. They’re back.” One of them breathed heavily, like he’d been running a marathon.
“What do you mean, the shifters are back?” Dixon felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
One of the other trainees gulped in air. “There are shifters, more than we could count, breaching the rear entrance of the mansion. We didn’t even see them coming. Master Warrior Taylor sent us to find you.
“Fuck!” Dixon roared, racing into action. He grabbed his daggers from his belt. “Get to the others! Get them on the radios! Find Verynai!” And he raced out of the gym, bellowing all the way to get everyone’s attention.
A hammering on the door had Jackson groaning. He and Aisline had been alone for exactly three minutes and they hardly got any time to themselves, and now that they were finally alone, their moment was getting interrupted. Again.
“What?” He called out, sounding annoyed.
The door swung open and one of the older trainees he vaguely knew stood in the open doorway. “Get geared up right now. The academy is under attack. We’re going into defensive mode. You need to get to your post.”
Jackson and Aisline jumped off the bed and glanced at one another in shock. What the hell did this mean?
“Move it! Now!” the trainee roared.
They had no time to ask. Jackson leaped to weapon up as Aisline ran up the flight of stairs to her own room. He quickly strapped on his daggers as he raced after her, not wanting to let her out of his sight.
This was not a drill.
This was the real thing.
They didn’t have any seconds to spare, but there was no way he was going to let Ash run around the mansion on her own. They’d get to their posts as soon as he knew she was safe.
This was his concern about graduating and going out into the real world. He put her safety before his own. But that was his choice. He wouldn’t put others in danger if he could help it, but he wouldn’t let her run around the mansion alone right now seeing as he knew danger was lurking.
Ash smiled reassuringly as she saw him racing up behind her. It was comforting to know that he was close. She’d hardly had enough time to strap on her weapons before he was standing in her doorway.
“Ready?”
They didn’t have time to speak or say anything as they sped down the main stairway to their designated posts.
The entire academy had played through this defensive mode several times after the last time the shifters had turned up unexpectedly. They all knew what they were doing backwards and inside out. This time, the tension in the air was different. This was for real and the clear and present danger had them all on edge.
They could hear the distant sounds of fighting drawing closer and closer and the trainees began to glance at each other nervously. The rumours were already being whispered around them, but all Ash could gleam was that the shifters had got the jump on them. She wouldn’t listen to the rest of the hear-say. It wouldn’t do them any good and they had to keep focus.
It was scary. The longer they stood there, ready and waiting, the more anxious she was feeling. This was a whole different vibe to being out on the streets. This was a threat brought to their own turf. To their home.
Ash tensed as the double doors flew open.
Several shifters burst into the room and it went against every single instinct within her to stand back and not jump into the fray. Of course, the trainees all knew what they were doing, but the need to fight had her itching. They’d been told to stand their post, no matter what, which made sense. If they all barrelled into the fight, the enemy may have been able to find a way through their defences. Aisline was on post near the humans, making sure that the blood donors were kept safe and sound and barricaded in their own quarters. Ash had to keep her eyes open and hold back until the right time came. She was in a protective role and determined to keep them safe.
And that time came quicker than she thought as more shifters piled into the room, pushing their defences to its limits. Ash had no idea how the others were getting on elsewhere in the academy, but all she could concentrate on was holding her own. The concern for the others would have to wait.
The shifter in front of her snarled and leapt towards her. Ash didn’t think. She just acted.
As instructed, she fought first with her fists. They’d always been told that if the defensive mode was ever put into action, they wanted the enemy taken down but not killed if at all possible.
That was the thought that was in her mind as she blocked a vicious punch aimed at her head and countered with a body shuddering hook. The shifter let out an ‘ooph’ but kept on coming regardless.
He was much bigger than her, but Ash had been fighting men twice her size since she’d first stepped into the academy, so this didn’t faze her in the least. She knew how to defend herself and to inflict maximum damage on her foe, using their own size against them.
Keeping her stance strong, Ash bounced on her feet, keeping the shifter moving and away from the humans. The last thing they wanted was their fragile humans getting hurt. Ash wouldn’t let anything happen to them.
The shifter was strong. He kept on coming no matter what she threw at him. It was lucky that the warriors had put them through their paces and kept them at their physical peak as any other person would feel their strength waning right about now. Aisline felt the blood pumping through her body and kept going. He wasn’t going to get the better of her.
The punches and kicks kept coming and she was holding her own just fine until the shifter grabbed her shoulders and threw a head-butt, slamming his forehead with such force that Aisline saw stars for a moment. She’d been battered, beaten, bruised and abused by the Mortuorum. She wasn
’t about to let the shifters do the same to her.
That had been a dark time in her life and she wasn’t sure at the time that she was ever going to get over it. Training and sparring had taken all her mental strength, for she had seen the enemy every time someone came at her.
That vision spurred her on right now. There was no way she was getting taken by the enemy ever again. She would come out on top. Ash may be smaller and weaker than this brute, but he was not going to win this fight.
With an almighty war cry, Ash slammed her knee into his groin. This wasn’t a move that they practised often, but Ash didn’t care. The move worked. It was all about winning and coming out on top, by any means necessary. Out on the streets, there were no rules. You did whatever you could to take out the enemy.
It worked like a charm. The shifter howled in pain and dropped to his knees. She took full advantage and slammed her balled fists into the back of his head, knocking the bastard out cold.
It hadn’t been an easy battle, but she hadn’t expected it to be. It never was in real life. It was one thing being put up against your friends in training, but this was real life. They’d come into the academy and tried to take them out. The shifters caught them by surprise, but that wasn’t enough to get the better of the Sons. They weren’t going to go down without a hell of a fight.
Hearing the sounds of fighting diminish, Ash glanced around the room and saw that the trainees were all standing in triumph. They’d taken the shifters down. It had been a battle, but they’d done it. Not all of the enemy appeared to be breathing, but it couldn’t always be helped. Like the shifter she had taken down, he hadn’t wanted to go down without a fight and if the need had arose, she would have taken him out with her dagger. Luckily, the blow to the privates had knocked him down
Jackson threw her a look and she nodded to let him know that she was okay. Ash knew that he was going to worry about her bloody nose, but she could no longer feel the pain. It throbbed, but compared to injuries she’d sustained in the past, it was nothing. A little bit of blood was to be expected. None of them were going to come out of this unscathed. She was probably better off than most of the trainees.
End of an Era: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 4) Page 6