Now there was no turning back.
A feeling came closer and closer and it took her a moment to recognize it as Jason’s presence. He came their way. Stephanie sat up and Beth responded immediately by getting out of the bed and heading toward the drape which covered the entrance to their room. When she got to it, Jason ducked in and came up short as Beth was right there. She grabbed both his arms and the look on her face, one of such pleading it almost broke Stephanie’s heart.
Jason smiled. “He’s fine. They were able to immediately revive him, and he is resting comfortably.” His lips straightened. “Well as comfortable as he can be considering that the same will be happening to you soon.”
Beth wasn’t listening though, she had stumbled away from Jason almost immediately, tears of relief streamed down her face.
Stephanie couldn’t keep the tears of relief from her own eyes. So much had been riding on this and now they were halfway there. Moving over to Jason she placed a hand on his chest and peered up at him. He covered her hand with his own and offered a soft smile down at her. She could see the relief plain on his face.
Mike was his closest and best friend and while Jason had agreed with this whole idea of recruiting the two of them, he had his reservations. He had voiced them once, on the way back to college. He had agreed with the necessity of recruiting people but had worried at what this would do to the two people they both cared for.
If he had further reservations coming in to today, he kept them to himself, which was for the best. Any further questioning of the plan from him and Stephanie would have abandoned it without looking back.
The sound of equipment slamming into other equipment brought their heads around as Beth had collapsed upon the floor. Stephanie quickly crossed the room and lifted Beth effortlessly onto the bed as Jason ducked out and called for help.
Nurses ran into the room and they quickly ushered Stephanie and Jason out as nurses, from a freshly disturbed anthill, swarmed over the area. A doctor arrived shortly afterward, so Jason moved her farther down the hallway to keep out of everyone’s way. The cacophony of noise coming from the room, the sound of machines beeping, the whine of defibrillator as it charged and the back and forth between nurses and the doctor made determining what was happening impossible. Even for someone with as good as hearing as Stephanie.
The sounds died down within the room. Words were spoken and though Stephanie heard them, they failed to take root in her brain. The doctor, a middle-aged Pakistani stepped out from the curtained room and stood unmoving for a long minute, before turning and searching her out.
Stephanie watched as he made his way down the hall toward her. He was a short, wiry man, whose black hair was ghosted with gray. His brown skin, heavy with wrinkles for someone his age, was devoid of all emotion as he came to stand before her.
“Ms. Boles?” His accent, while Pakistani, wasn’t as thick as she had imagined it would be when she had first saw him.
He already knew she was Ms. Boles, so didn’t wait for confirmation before continuing. “There is never an easy way to say this . . .”
He didn’t get any further. Whatever muscles kept her standing ceased functioning, and she collapsed to the floor.
“Nooooo!” she cried out. “Noooooo!” Her heart, usually so full of hope and love, emptied. It was hollow. A numbness overcame her. Tears fell, and sobs wracked her, but she registered none of it. Her body responded to what had happened, but her brain had shut itself down. All she could focus on was the hallway leading back to Beth’s room. Her view narrowed, hazy around the edges, so only a tunnel remained. A tunnel leading right to Beth. Her big sis. Who was now dead, and it was her fault.
She sensed his presence before he arrived. Her newly formed connection to a man who must hate her now. Now she had taken the woman he loved from him. He moved to stand before her, blocking her tunneled vision of the hallway to Beth’s room, his back to her.
Distantly, she was aware of Jason moving to Mike’s side.
“Mike . . .” Mike turned to him and Jason’s words trailed off.
Mike moved away from them and to the curtained room which held Beth and he stopped. He stood looking in the room for a long time. At long last, he glared back at them, before turning and walking out of the hospital. She would be aware of where he went of course, but she buried the connection deep down. She would hide her presence from him. How she did it, she didn’t understand, but she knew he would be unable to have a sense of her because of it. It was the least she could do for him.
How long she sat on the floor crying she wasn’t sure. Jason squatted down beside her, saying something. Comforting words, she imagined. Useless words. Sylvanis had said the connection between who transmitted and who received lycanthropy was important to the survival of the one who received it. She had said, if the connection was strong, they would survive. There was only one other connection stronger in her life than Beth and hers. Sylvanis had lied. Or she had simply been wrong. It didn’t matter. It wouldn’t bring Beth back.
Stephanie collected herself and stood. She headed down the hallway to the one place in this world she wished she didn’t have to go. What she wished didn’t matter anymore. She needed to see. She needed to make this concrete. Her mind needed to accept this if she had any hope of moving past this. She understood this if only at a subconscious level.
With Jason by her side, she moved to the entrance of the room. The curtain was open enough for her to see Beth lying on the bed. She lay there so peacefully. Long, black, slightly wavy hair framed her face. Her cheeks, typically so round and full, were slack. A slight tinge of blue was evident upon her lips and in the shading of the skin on her fingers.
Jason stood at the entrance as she moved into the room and next to Beth. Gingerly, she took Beth’s hand into hers, as if afraid to wake her, though she knew she wasn’t asleep. Her hand felt cold and slightly stiff.
“Oh, big sis. I am so sorry.” A sob broke free and she choked it back. “This was never supposed to happen. You were the strong one. The fighter.”
Tears fell like a hard rain, full and torrential, to bathe her face, arm and shirt with their salty wetness. She ran her arm across her nose to deal with the mucus dripping from it. Her other hand never left Beth’s.
Stephanie felt Jason’s hand upon her arm, and she knew it time to go. Bending over, she kissed Beth’s forehead. Felt the coldness of her skin. The life now gone from inside this amazing woman. Her friend. Her big sis. Stephanie’s part in this war was as over as Beth’s. The war was already lost to her and she felt no reason to continue in its fight.
Chapter Thirteen
When they arrived at the hotel, it truly was a shit storm. Police had cordoned off the front of the hotel and there were barricades set up to prevent people from approaching. The red and blue of cop car lights danced around the adjacent buildings.
“What the hell?” Ben said to no one in particular as they pushed their way up against the barricade to see better.
Kat sidled up next to him. “I thought you said the off-duty cop was going to sit tight and wait for you to get back?”
Ben continued to stare at the commotion of cops running from one point inside the cordon to another. Others, stationed around the perimeter, were keeping people out, forcefully if necessary. “Something else must have happened. Or, I took too long in returning and he called it in.”
Sylvanis approached on Ben’s right. “What should we do?” It didn’t surprise Kat, Sylvanis would ask this of Ben. Sylvanis, in truth, knew little of the world. Kat imagined, when it came to matters of police, she knew even less. If Kat was being honest with herself, she didn’t know much as well.
Ben continued to search the area till he seemed to find what he searched for. Kat saw the man now. He was a tall, youthful man, with sandy blond hair, his face all straight lines and flat. Clearly the man worked out as Kat could see clear muscle definition beneath the man’s uniform. She liked what she saw.
“PASKINS!” Ben sho
uted, trying to be heard over the din of the crowd.
“PASKINS!” The man started to look around and Ben frantically waved his hands to get the man’s attention. At long last, Paskins saw Ben and hurried over.
The moment he got there; Ben lit into him. “What in God’s name did you do, Paskins?”
For a moment, Paskins visibly reeled back under Ben’s verbal onslaught, but quickly recovered.
“My job.” He practically growled out the words, but softened his tone and leaned in. “Regardless, it wasn’t me. The precinct got a call about a hostage situation. Something about a young girl being held against her will. Descriptions of the hostage takers matched the descriptions of some of the people you told me about.”
Ben shook his head. None of this made sense. “You don’t know what you are dealing with here, officer. This is not what it might seem like. A lot of people could die because of this.”
Paskins narrowed his eyes at Ben. “What do you mean? How dangerous are these people? Do they have weapons? A bomb? Dammit man! Tell me something!”
Ben turned to them, ignoring Paskins’ questions. He seemed completely at a loss for what to do and helplessly held out his hands. “I don’t know what we can do to avert a bloodbath now.”
Sylvanis took a step towards him and took his hands in hers. He focused on her face. “You must get us into that building, Ben. You are the only one who can.”
Ben studied her for a long moment. He seemed more tired now than he had when Kat first met him. Slowly, resolve entered his features and he rounded back on Paskins. “Take us to your captain, Paskins.”
Paskins gaped from Ben, to the rest of them.
“I can take you.” Making a point of singling Ben out with his comment.
“You can take all of us,” Ben cut in, leaving no room for argument.
It looked like Paskins might give him one anyway, but in the end, he moved the barricade out of the way and motioned them in.
Paskins led them around the outside perimeter. The police had set up an area where they had positioned some cruisers to offer cover in case of a shootout, and Paskins led them behind it so as not to come between the officers standing there and the front of the building. Though it took them a little longer to make it to their destination, the fact they followed without complaint or deviation, went a long way in convincing Paskins of their integrity, she imagined.
Near the back corner of the cordoned area sat a black, mobile command center. To Kat, it looked like an armored motorhome with all the trimmings. Two satellite dishes kept their post on opposite ends of the camper, while a sizable, collapsible antenna sprouted from the middle. What windows it did have were tinted so dark as to be completely opaque. At least from this side, Kat imagined.
Paskins marched them right up to the door of the vehicle and opened it. Without preamble, he stepped right up and into the command center. Ben glanced back at the four of them, turned and climbed up the little metal folding staircase extending from the bottom of the vehicle.
Sylvanis came next. Kat followed her, and Sim and his father came right after her. The vehicle was cramped, especially with the addition of the five of them. Paskins and two others occupied the interior. Kat was impressed with the setup. On both sides there were several computer stations with swivel chairs which were fastened under the counter, so they gave the appearance of floating if you eyed them a certain way. One corner of the center held a bank of small monitors, like security camera screens. At the other end, sat a caged off section which held an extensive variety of weaponry – shotguns, gas grenade launchers, tactical rifles and several sniper rifles.
Of the two others, only one looked like he could be the captain. Dressed in a suit and tie, he had black hair, shot with gray, combed back from his forehead, giving it plenty of volume. It carried a slight sheen which Kat realized was some form of hair gel the man used to keep his hair so perfectly coiffed. His skin was reddish brown, like bleeded leather. Kat wasn’t sure if he was of Mexican descent, but he was clearly Latino.
The captain leaned over the shoulder of the other man there. They were both staring at one of the monitors. The captain held one half of a headphone up to his left ear. The other man was beefy looking, so hefty in fact, he dwarfed the chair he was sitting on like he was sitting at some grade school child’s desk. He had dark, brown hair squeezed against his head by a set of headphones. A mic on a flexible stand jutted up from the countertop in front of them.
“Captain?” Paskins spoke tentatively.
“What is it, Paskins? As you can see, we’re a little busy.” The captain didn’t bother looking up from the monitors.
“I think you are going to want to hear what this officer has to say. He has intimate knowledge of what is going on in the hotel.”
The captain glanced their way. When he saw all of them standing there, he stood up straight, disapproval on his face.
“What is the meaning of this, Paskins? Why are there civilians in our command center?”
Paskins eyed them, pleading to them with a glance, as if to say, ‘My ass is on the line here, so please have something to make my captain happy. Or at least, angry at you so he will forget about being angry at me’.
“Captain.” Ben took a step forward. “I’m officer Ben Charles of the Sacramento PD. If you have men within the hotel, I suggest you have them retreat immediately.”
The captain turned his frown on Ben.
“And why the hell would I do that, Officer? An officer, I might add, who isn’t supposed to be doing police work inside my city, without my knowledge or permission.”
Ben shifted uncomfortably under the man’s gaze. Hell, even Kat felt uncomfortable, this man can really glower.
“Well. Ahem. Unless you want what happened on these streets a week or so ago to happen again.” Some resolve entered Ben’s voice. “Unless you want to lose officers again to the same monster who ripped through them before, I suggest you get them out of there. Now.”
It was hard to say with the man’s ruddy brown skin if he paled any, but it sure seemed like he did. He knew what Ben talked about. He knew all too well.
“That . . . monster. . . is in there?” The captain’s voice had lost all the authority it had so clearly wielded only moments before and was now a quiet thing.
“Worse.”
The captain stared at Ben for a long moment before turning to the other man at the console. “Get them back,” he told him. “Get them all back, now!”
The other officer quickly relayed the captain’s order and had to confirm it a second time to a confused SWAT team.
When the captain was certain his team was on its way out, he turned back to them. His voice had located its authority again.
“Explain how it could be worse, and while you are at it, explain who the rest of these people are.”
Ben offered an apologetic smile. “This might take some time and it isn’t going to be what you are going to want to hear.”
It was indeed a tale the captain had not wanted to hear, considering how often he shook his head during the telling. He did, however, not interrupt or question anything Ben told him. In the end, it was Sylvanis who convinced him to allow them to handle this situation. Which was astonishing, considering she looked barely old enough to drive.
“Captain, I know all that you have heard here tonight might seem fantastical to you, but I assure you, it is real. The danger is real.” Her lips turned down slightly in a frown. “Your officers can’t fight this enemy. They will die if you let them try. You know this, as they faced only one of these creatures.” Kat watched how mesmerized by Sylvanis the captain was. No matter the age she appeared to be, Sylvanis was older than all of them. She had led armies. She had dealt with men like this captain long before Kat’s great, great, great, great, great grandmother had been born.
“All I can tell you, Captain, is that we are on your side. That these people you see before you, including myself, can and will face this threat for you.” She took som
e steps toward the man. She was such a diminutive figure. The captain, who wasn’t a tall man by any standards, still seemed to loom over her.
“I ask that you trust us. To let your men know we are not the enemy here. No matter what they might see.”
This seemed to register with the captain, and he glanced up at them with a look of understanding . . . and fear.
He glanced back down at Sylvanis. “Are you the tiger?”
She offered him a smile. “No, Captain. But she is here.”
The captain gazed back up at them and Kat gave him a little wave. She saw his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard. Regardless of what Sylvanis had told him of them not being the enemy, Kat could tell the captain wasn’t entirely convinced.
The captain stared hard at them for a long while, visibly weighing his options.
Whatever decision he had been going to make was interrupted by the other officer in the command center.
“Captain? Something is happening at the front of the hotel.”
The captain wheeled around and bent over the monitor. After a moment, reluctantly, he motioned for Sylvanis to join him.
Gracefully, she moved to the monitor and bent to see what they had been looking at. On the monitor, Kestrel, three men, a woman and a young girl had stepped out of the hotel facing the police cordon. Sylvanis didn’t see Syndor, or Samuel as he called himself these days, anywhere, but that didn’t mean anything. He could still be inside, or he might have left already. The woman she recognized from Kat’s description as Sarah, Clint’s girlfriend. The three men were identified from Ben’s encounter. The big, brute of a man was the True Boar. The handsome man, the True Croc. Next to the True Boar was a taller man, timid looking, who was almost certainly one of the Pures of the Boar. That left the young girl, whom from Ben’s description was the True Rat. All were here except Samuel and one of the Pure Boars as far as she could tell. Studying them for a moment she glanced back at the rest of them.
“It’s them,” was all she said.
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