Midnight Savior: The Watchers, Book 4

by D McEntire

  No one spoke or moved as they waited for Kern’s next action. All breathed a sigh of relief when he stood, still holding Marie in his arms. Everyone stepped out of the doorway to let him pass, then followed him out of the lab and out of the building to Dr. Olivia’s car.

  Dr. Pearson’s eyesight swam and wavered as he tried to navigate his car about a half-mile down the road. He pulled off to the side where no cars were parked, knowing he would most likely crash if he tried to park anywhere near them. He focused on the top of the old hospital, the cupola visible from where he sat in his warm car.

  Thinking about the loss of the underground lab brought a sigh to his lips. It had been perfect, and no one had been the wiser. He could have done anything down there without notice.

  Without further thought, he raised the remote in the air and pressed the button, waiting to hear the big explosion. When nothing happened, he pressed the button again. Nothing.

  His friend had told him the remote had a range of over a mile. Growling in anger, Dr. Pearson kept pushing hard on the button over and over before rolling down the window and throwing it across the road as he cursed. His plan to demolish the building, the underground lab and the vampire had failed.

  Dr. Pearson still had hope. He was counting on the poison he had shot into the vampire’s chest to have killed him. In a few days he would return and check, if the building didn’t explode in the meantime. Perhaps there was a defect in the detonator.

  Frustrated, he slammed his hands on the steering wheel. After a few moments, he put the car in gear and swerved down the road.

  Kern kept himself as still and quiet as possible, but didn’t take his gaze off Marie as Dr. Olivia drove them to the Watcher Cell on East Main. Though Dr. Olivia had said the Cell was close-by, the ride seemed to take forever.

  “Here’s the Cell.”

  Kern allowed himself to remove his gaze from Marie long enough to look out the window. The car approached an old warehouse which had evidentially been converted into living quarters for the Watchers assigned to downtown Louisville. The car entered the lower level garage followed by Tank, Vane and Trigg in Tank’s SUV, and Kern tried not to tense. No one was going to take her away from him, he mentally growled.

  As soon as the car stopped, Kern didn’t hesitate. He got out, lifted Marie into his arms, and although he had no idea where he was going, he bounded up the stairs. He was in major panic mode to get Marie’s condition stabilized.

  Using his foot, Kern kicked the door at the top of the stairs, sending it flying open. The action was immediately followed by a woman’s scream. He stepped inside as Trigg came rushing in behind him and pulled the woman, who was standing at the kitchen sink with a large knife in her hand ready to do battle, into his arms.

  “It’s okay, babe. This is Kern. He’s one of us, and he needs help.”

  The woman looked at him and then at Marie. Kern pulled Marie closer to his chest. He couldn’t find the reason for his overly protective actions, but he knew he was coiled tight on the inside and struggling to keep control.

  Vane and Dr. Olivia pushed into the room. Kern entered further into the kitchen to put distance between him and his mate, and the others.

  “We have to get him and the woman upstairs. She’s going through the conversion, and it’s not going very well. She has an extremely high fever from her body’s fight of the transition,” Trigg explained.

  Robyn nodded. “Take her up to my old room. When someone, uh, a human that is, has a high fever, it is a common practice to put them in an ice bath to help break the fever and lower their body temperature.”

  Kern held himself still as Trigg walked toward him.

  “Robyn knows what she’s talking about. She’s my mate and was human. She underwent the change in April. We should take your woman upstairs and try this.”

  Kern glanced at Trigg’s mate. He sensed she was a caring soul and trustworthy, even though she still held the knife as though it were a dagger.

  He nodded, then followed Trigg, who led him up a set of stairs and to a bedroom. He knew Robyn followed, but at a distance. Once inside the room, Kern heard Robyn’s soft voice ask Trigg to bring up buckets of ice to fill the tub. After he left, she went into the bathroom. Kern listened to the sound of water splashing into a tub.

  Sitting on the bed, Kern kept Marie close to his chest, unable to stop looking at her face. When Trigg entered the room, he flinched, then relaxed, reminding himself where he was and who he was with. He was safe. Marie was safe. He would never allow anyone, himself included, to hurt her again.

  Vane and Dr. Olivia entered the room, each carrying a bucket of ice. They disappeared behind the bathroom door, then returned and left the room with empty buckets. Trigg was the last to leave.

  “The tub is ready,” Robyn said, stepping into the bedroom. Kern noticed her approach was laced with caution.

  “Kern,” she repeated, “The tub is ready. Why don’t you go ahead and get her clothes off so you won’t have to wrestle with wet clothes later. Okay?”

  Kern stared at Trigg’s mate for several moments. Consumed by Maria’s plight, he felt he was losing his mind. Robyn had a face of innocence full of light. Like Marie.

  He eased off the bed then lay Marie upon it and unwrapped her from the blanket. Heat radiated off her body so intense he felt it without touching her.

  When Robyn asked if he needed any help undressing Marie, he shook his head. She walked away and began gathering linens from the closet.

  Kern pulled off Marie’s shoes, then socks. He gently removed each arm from the sleeves of her sweatshirt, then lifted it over her head. Next, he slid her jeans down her legs. After she was undressed, he carried her to the tub.

  Robyn entered the bathroom behind him. Kern noticed she continued to keep her distance, and he was thankful. His nerves were on edge, and he was concerned he would do something stupid.

  Kern watched Marie’s face and entire body tense as she let out a gasp when he lowered her into the tub. He almost second guessed the procedure, but convinced himself to hold firm. He settled Marie in the tub, and used his arm to pillow her head, keeping her from slipping under the water.

  The room was silent except for the sound of shifting water, until Robyn spoke. Her tone was nervous.

  “She’s very pretty.”

  Kern didn’t answer, though he totally agreed. Marie was more than pretty. She was an angel. An angel who had saved his life.

  After several minutes the flush in Marie’s cheeks faded slightly. He placed his lips on her forehead and discovered her temperature had lowered.

  “I think her fever has gone down,” he said hopefully.

  Robyn leaned around him and placed the back of her hand against Marie’s forehead and then her cheeks. Kern gritted his teeth to hold back the growl in his throat. He reminded himself Robyn was helping Marie.

  “I think you’re right.”

  Kern lifted Marie out of the bathtub, water pouring off her body like a waterfall. He was thankful Robyn was there with large towels. She wrapped Marie in several layers as he held her. This time he didn’t tense. He had begun to trust her. Robyn quickly went into the bedroom ahead of him to turn down the covers on the bed.

  Placing Marie on the bed, he towel dried her, then cocooned her in blankets before sitting on the bed at her side.

  “Thank you,” Kern said, turning to look at Robyn and giving her a faint smile. He wanted to ease the obvious nervousness she had in his presence. He was a stranger in her house, and she had done much for him. She deserved to be treated better than he had done so far.

  Robyn returned the smile. “No problem. Can I get you something, Kern? Are you hungry or would you like a drink? Maybe a beer or something?”

  A beer did sound good, but he had too much on his mind at the moment to think of food or drink. He shook his head.

  “I know everyone is wondering where I was the last eight months and also about Marie. I don’t want to leave her alone. Would you ask if they
would come up here so I can explain? Especially, Dr. Olivia. He deserves as much since he is my boss.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Robyn returned to the bedroom, followed by the three Watchers and Dr. Olivia. Kern had a lot to tell, and none of it was pleasant. He also had confessions to make where Marie was concerned. As a Watcher, a vampire warrior, it wasn’t going to be easy to admit disgrace.

  Kern brushed his fingers along Marie’s cheek in a soft caress. He sensed the tension in the air when his fingers brought attention to her bruised cheek and the pink, jagged mark on her neck. Abuse of women and children was totally abhorrent to their kind, and he was going to have to push aside his shame and tell them everything. He knew they thought him unstable. He even questioned his own stability but didn’t want them to think he was a danger to Marie. If they tried to separate him from her, he knew he wouldn’t be able to control himself. Someone would get hurt, or killed.

  “Dr. Pearson captured me the night of the fireworks festival and held me in a lab underneath the old Military Hospital for eight months. He has developed some sort of strong tranquilizer which works on vampires. In fact, it works rather too well.” He sighed and continued.

  “I awoke with my hands and ankles chained to a wall and had no idea where I was. He made up concoctions of drugs to poison me. They made me deathly ill. He constantly took blood and tissue samples. I was stabbed and shot repeatedly with several different weapons on various parts of my body. Seems he was studying how vampires heal and what would cause the most damage.”

  When Kern told them about Dr. Pearson cutting off the end of his pinky, he raised his hand to show them that half the digit was missing. “He wanted to see if we could regenerate body parts if injured.”

  Robyn gasped, then covered her mouth with her hand. Trigg enfolded her in his arms for comfort. Kern witnessed the strong connection between Trigg and his mate and felt a little envious. He hoped when Marie awoke, she would understand what had happened, and perhaps accept him as well. He had done many things wrong, handled everything badly. He prayed she would forgive his stupidity.

  He watched the warrior and his mate for a moment. The tall, muscular and lethal-looking Watcher, who usually was such a shithead and roared like a lion, purred like a kitten beside his mate.

  Kern returned to his story. “The doctor boasted he was going to kill as many vampires as he could when he found out what would do the job. Before the doctor left the lab, he shot me with tranquilizer darts. When I woke I was alone. I have no idea exactly how long I had been without food or water. One day I heard someone come into the lab. It was Marie.”

  He turned to Marie, his hand finding hers.

  “I pretended to be unconscious when she came into the room. She had on a white lab coat. When she got close enough, I lost control. I thought she was one of them, and I attacked. I made sure my bite was painful as I took her blood. I wanted to make her pay for what had been done to me. I had been slowly starving to death and could have killed her. To this day, I don’t know what stopped me. She whispered a plea and something inside me listened.”

  “That explains the bruising and marks on her neck, but what happened to her face?” Tank asked.

  Kern didn’t want to look at the other warriors. His shame went deep.

  “I was trying to get answers, and she continued to stick to her story that she didn’t know the doctor and had stumbled upon the lab and me. I didn’t believe her because I was so angry. I wanted nothing but revenge. I guess it was the lab coat which did me in. She said she had found it in the lab and had put it on for kicks.”

  “Ah, man,” Tank said.

  Kern would not blame any of them if they chose to judge him. He was guilty of acting poorly, dishonorably.

  “Things got a little heated as I pressed my questions. She flung a bowl of hot soup at me. I went to clean up, and when I returned, she was gone. After I had found her hiding spot, she struggled and bit me. I guess I snapped. I backhanded her and sent her crashing against the wall.”

  Kern released her hand and scrubbed his face, disgusted at his actions. “It was a wonder I didn’t break her jaw or her neck or something.” Kern glanced over at Marie’s face again and blew out a long breath.

  “Later, she caught me off guard and locked me in a room. She kept telling me she was going to send someone to let me out. I was so enraged I probably would have ripped her head off if I had gotten the door open.”

  “So I take it since she’s still alive, she must have been telling the truth all along?” Trigg asked.

  Kern nodded. “She had been telling the truth. Her name is Marie DeVeux, and she is from Athens, Georgia. Evidently, she had dreamt about me since my capture. The dreams and visions had taken their toll on her, making her think she was going insane. It didn’t help those around her thought the same thing and were quick to tell her so. She lost her job and her home. Her parents washed their hands of her. It seems they didn’t want to deal with the issue.”

  Kern was not going to go into the story about how Marie’s dead grandmother was the one who sent her to find him, though he now knew it was the truth. Marie didn’t need anyone knowing her secret, unless she wanted to tell it herself.

  “You say she dreamed of you?” Trigg asked, astonishment in his tone.

  “Yeah. Strange isn’t it? She saw what was happening to me. She said she even saw the old hospital, but had no idea where it was. After she was released from St. Francis, she took off on the hair-brained idea to find me, following where her instincts told her to go.”

  Kern watched Trigg raise his eyebrows. The look was mirrored by everyone else in the room. What he said was true, but only part of the story.

  “St. Francis?”

  Trigg was still trying to pull answers from him, Kern thought to himself, but he didn’t know if Marie would want her personal life history voiced to strangers more than he had already told. Kern decided they needed to know more about her. He felt the need to speak on how strong of a person Marie was and the depth of her caring and conviction.

  “She was in a mental hospital in Georgia for attempted suicide. Like I said, everyone kept telling her she was crazy. She had no support with what she was going through. She had reached her limit of endurance.”

  His eyes met those of the Watchers, Dr. Olivia and Robyn.

  “I’m only telling you this so you’ll understand. She’s a very special person. One who has been misunderstood for so long. I believed her when she said she has visions and dreams. She dreamt the doctor was returning and tried to get me to leave, but I didn’t listen. Her dream had come true, and although I said the most hateful things I could think of after she locked me in the room, she returned to save me once again.”

  The group seemed to understand, or at least that was the impression Kern received from the looks on their faces.

  “I don’t know what’s to happen next. I pray this new turn of events in her life doesn’t send her over the edge once more. The poor girl has been through hell, especially within the last week. She left her home and family in Georgia to blindly follow a dream and stumbled upon a man, the one she had been looking for, who damn near killed her.”

  Kern felt tears burn his eyes, but he forced control to the forefront of his emotions. He was a warrior and refused to cry in front of his fellow Watchers. He was going to have a hard time proving to them, and to himself, he had not lost himself entirely in the lab.

  “Robyn is a convert, and so are Dr. Olivia and Tank. I’m sure they can provide some help and support.”

  Kern felt a little relieved at Trigg’s statement. He had worried about all sorts of scenarios of what Marie’s life was going to be like now she had been converted. Thinking of Marie’s bravery, he smiled to himself.

  “I can’t believe she did what she did. Even after all I had done to her she came back for me. The doctor had returned after she locked me in the room. He let me out, then shot me with his latest creation. I could feel the poison enter my bloods
tream. It attacked my organs and felt as though I was being eaten alive from the inside. I don’t think I have ever wanted to die so badly in my life.”

  Dr. Olivia’s eyes grew dark and his expression grave. “It seems the doctor finally did what he has sought out to do. He found something to kill a vampire without getting so much as his hands dirty. He doesn’t even have to be very close to take us down. If his poison gets out to others who are as intolerant and misled as he, we’re going to have a big problem on our hands. No one will be safe.”

  A couple in the group shifted uneasily. He noticed Trigg pull Robyn closer, and he understood the fear of losing one’s mate.

  “How did she save you?” Robyn prodded.

  “Marie hit the doctor over the head with a fireplace poker, sending him crashing over a table. It was then I realized she was telling the truth.” Kern paused a moment. “When I allowed myself to believe the truth,” he corrected, then continued. “The doctor had gotten to his feet and was cursing her vehemently. He didn’t know who she was or how she had gotten into the lab, but he was definitely going to make sure she didn’t get out. Her helping me really pissed him off, and he wanted her to die for it.”

  “How did she stop the poison from killing you?” Dr. Olivia asked.

  “She gave me her blood. She figured out fresh blood would dilute the poison, but she gave me about all she had. She was willing to die to save me.” Kern felt pride and joy in Marie’s courage and her caring for him, but he also felt guilt and sorrow for her sacrifice and what he’d had to do because of it. He hoped he had made the right decision. Though his heart insisted it was, the choice had not been hers and there was a chance she would be unable, or unwilling, to accept it.

  Robyn let out a sob. “That sounds so beautiful.”

  The clip clop of heels echoed downstairs. “Hello? Where is everybody?”

  Robyn quietly left Trigg’s arms and walked out of the room. A few minutes later, a beautiful blonde bounded through the door. She came to a stop, gaping at Kern and Marie.