“Sh - she was stabbed,” he said.
Obviously. That much was apparent as I stared down at the gaping wound in her chest. Not in a good location at all. The woman was gasping for air, and I feared the blade she'd been stabbed with might have punctured a lung. But my biggest concern was the amount of blood pooling beneath her. She'd already lost so much – too much. Things weren't looking good.
“Onda, stay with us,” the man said, stroking her cheek. “Stay with me. Don't leave me, baby.”
Tears rolled down his face as he stared at the woman. He obviously loved her, and seeing her like that was killing him. It broke my heart for him, but there wasn't much I could really do. Sadly, I was a good enough nurse to realize when someone was too far gone.
I turned to the man. “What's your name?”
He looked at me with anger in his eyes and said something that sounded like “Glenn.”
“Alright, Glenn,” I said, trying to stay calm. “Is this your wife? Your girlfriend?”
“Aren't you going to do anything?” he screamed. “You said that you're a nurse, why are you asking me stupid questions instead of fixing her.”
He was angry, but that was to be expected in a situation like that. I didn't know how to tell him that she was too far gone, that there was nothing I could do. A lump formed in my throat as I looked down at the woman, she looked at the man with obvious love in her own eyes, but her body was already shutting down.
“Listen, you need to tell her you love her,” I said.
“What? How's that going to –” He stopped talking as the realization hit him, hard. “No, no, you're going to do something. Call someone. Do something. She can't die...”
“Glenn, tell her you love her,” I said. “I'm going to make her comfortable and call for an ambulance. But you need to just be with her right now, okay?”
I adjusted the woman's body so she was lying flat. Blood spilled out of her mouth as she stared up at us, her eyes beginning to grow blank and lifeless. But then she glanced at the man and tried to speak.
“Shh,” he said, touching her lips softly. “Don't speak, baby. It's going to be okay. I love you, alright?”
I dug the phone out of my purse and dialed 9-1-1 and as the dispatcher came on the line, I explained that we needed an ambulance. Though in all honesty, I knew we needed a coroner more than an ambulance. But I knew the right protocol was to call for an ambulance first.
It broke my heart to see the man in such despair, but I knew there was nothing anyone could do to save the woman. Not with that amount of blood she'd already lost. And not with a stab wound that deep and in her chest – so close to her heart and lungs.
As the dispatcher asked about my location, I opened my mouth to reply when a bright light shot out of the woman's chest. It took me by surprise and scared the crap out of me. It was so bright, almost blinding really, and I had no idea what in the hell it was.
“Jesus!” I cried. “What is that –”
“Miss?” the dispatcher asked on the other end. “Is everything okay?”
I couldn't bring myself to speak, I was transfixed by the light. It grew brighter and brighter, hovering above her body and swirling around in the air between the man and I. Glenn was now sobbing uncontrollably, crying out and shaking his head.
“No, no, no,” he cried, over and over again.
I was confused, stunned by what I was seeing, and just stared into it. Never had I witnessed anything like that before. My heart raced and the adrenaline was flowing freely through my body. I had never been as scared – or as curious – as I was in that moment.
As I knelt there beside the woman's body, the light continued to grow and expand, forming a nearly blinding ball. The surface of the ball seemed to crackle with energy, and the light inside swirled with color.
I stared at it, not sure what I was seeing, not understanding – and then the light engulfed me and I felt a surge of energy coursing through me. The hair on my body stood on end and my heart thundered within me like I'd just run a marathon. I opened my mouth to cry out at the intense sensations washing over me, but no sound came out. I was beyond terrified and felt myself wet my pants.
And then, all at once, I felt like I'd been punched in the gut. The blow caused me to fall backward, onto the ground. I wasn't sure if I'd hit my head on the pavement, but there was a ringing in my ears like I had. And at first, all I could see was a bright light that hurt my eyes – and that was followed by darkness.
Nothing but complete and utter darkness.
~~ooo000ooo~~
Strange voices came to me from the darkness. Voices I'd never heard before. I opened my eyes and there was a bright light shining into my eyes – bright, but not nearly as intense as the light over the woman's body. That light had somehow seemed – alive. This was a fixed light – like a flashlight.
And that's exactly what it was. As I slowly started to come back to myself, I realized that there was a man shining a light into my eyes. He was checking for a reaction from my pupils. Testing me for what – a concussion, perhaps?
“She's awake,” I heard the man say.
He turned off the light and able to see normally again, I recognized him as an EMT right away.
“You okay, darlin'?” he asked me. “Looks like you took quite the spill.”
My head was killing me. The pounding was intense and a sharp pain tore through my head and made me cry out.
The EMT said, “Possible concussion,” he said. “No sign of assault, but let's get her on a cart and take her in.”
“No,” I groaned. “I'm fine. I'm a nurse. I'm not the one needing help anyway, she is –”
I glanced up and saw that the two people who'd been there earlier – the man and the woman with the stab wound – were gone. There was no sign of them. There was nothing. I saw that her blood was still pooled on the ground – but there was no body. No man. Nothing.
I wondered if the EMT's had already taken care of her. Given that her wound was far more serious than mine, that would have been the right call. The EMT looked over to where I was staring then back at me, concern coloring his features.
“Do you know anything about that?” he asked, motioning to the blood. “That's a lot of blood, and it sure didn't come from you.”
“There was a woman,” I said, trying to think back to what happened. “And a man. She was stabbed and dying. That's why I called for help.”
The EMT looked up at his partner who was standing close by and both looked confused.
“What?” I asked, trying to sit up. I was dizzy, but I pushed through it. “Where did they go?”
“Miss,” the EMT said, “there was no one here with you when we found you. You were alone. We responded to a call, which the dispatcher had to trace, and found you here.”
“But how could they –” I tried to think back but found that my memory was fuzzy. Clouded.
There was no way the woman could have walked out of that alley on her own. She was going to die, I had no doubt. Had the man carried her out? But why? And where could they have gone?
“I don't know what happened,” the EMT said. “But that's not for us to figure out. We're here to take care of you, miss. Tell me, what's your name?”
“Vanessa,” I said. “Vanessa Diaz. I'm a pediatric nurse, and I promise you, I wasn't hurt.”
If that was true though, why did my head hurt so badly? I felt strange too – something inside of me just didn't feel quite right. Maybe they were right. Maybe I did have a concussion. Though it didn't feel a concussion – I wasn't experiencing the typical symptoms But I definitely felt out of sorts. Not like myself.
“Alright, Vanessa,” he said, standing up. “We're just going to take you in for a few tests. Better safe than sorry.”
As much as I wanted to fight it, I knew he was right. I nodded and let them help me into the ambulance.
Chapter Eight
At the hospital, they found no sign of a concussion and after a few hours, released me. I
was relieved to get home, to my own bed – even if I'd only get to sleep for a few hours. Sure, maybe a sane person would have called in sick and taken the day off, but the hospital was already short-staffed. I knew if I called in, there wouldn't be anybody to replace me. And the kids needed me.
Still, I laid in bed that night – or, what was left of it – unable to fall asleep for the most part. It seemed like every time I was able to doze off, I had the strangest dreams. I kept seeing the dead woman – I thought the man had called her Onda – lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
But the dream also included what the homeless man had said before – he'd said something about dragons and that was the image floating through my mind. I saw the man – Onda's husband – turning into a dragon and carrying his dead beloved away. Carried her away to where, I hadn't the first clue, but in the dream I just stared in awe at it all.
But it was a dream. Just a silly, strange dream. And I was still no closer to the truth than I was before.
My alarm sounded and I awoke feeling exhausted and wrung out. But more than that, I felt strange and not entirely like myself. I assumed that was to be expected after seeing a woman murdered in the street. I climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom, where I did my business. As I stood up to wash my hands, I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. Just the briefest glance, but it made me stop and look again. As I stared at myself, a shot of adrenaline tore through me, making my heart speed up.
“What in the –” I pulled a section of my hair forward. My normal dark hair had a thick, shimmery white streak in it. “Gray hair doesn't just happen overnight.”
It was bizarre and I had no idea where it came from, but I had to admit that it looked pretty damn cool. In a way. How that streak had gotten in my hair was a mystery though – I never dyed my hair, I just let it do its thing. I had naturally dark brown hair. In truth, it was almost black. Always had.
Except now, I had a thick, silvery white streak running through my head.
I glanced at my phone, checking the time. I was already running late and wouldn't have time to run by Miggy's or even go for a run. I'd slept in for the first time in forever – but again, who could blame me? After what happened last night, I'd have been surprised if I woke up my normal, cheery, on-time self.
I quickly showered and tried to forget about the hair. It might be worth mentioning to one of the doctors I worked with, just to see if they'd ever seen anything like it before and whether it was an indicator of a problem, but for now, I pulled my hair back into high bun, hoping to conceal it as much as possible.
Easier said than done.
I brushed my teeth and stared at myself in the mirror. It felt weird to be looking at my reflection. Besides just the streak of white hair, I didn't look like myself. Something just felt – off. It wasn't anything I could pinpoint, but my reflection didn't seem to look like me at all. Or maybe I was so exhausted and emotionally drained that my perception was off.
But I didn't have time to think about it, I had to go. Grabbing my bag, I hurried out the door and headed to work, ready to start my day.
~~ooo000ooo~~
“Whoa, what happened to you?” Donna asked the moment she saw me.
“I had a rough night.”
I couldn't even bring myself to smile or make a joke about what happened, nor did I want to talk about it. Donna reached out to touch my arm, gently, as if to offer me support, but I pulled my arm back suddenly and without warning. She looked stunned and I looked back at her with wide eyes, surprised at my reaction.
“I'm sorry,” Donna said quickly. “I didn't mean –”
“I don't know why I just did that,” I said quietly. “I'm sorry, I...”
“Oh honey,” she said, “you sure you're feeling okay?”
“I'm fine,” I snapped.
I never snapped, and Donna looked genuinely hurt by it, which made me feel bad. But I also just wanted to be left alone, which was so unlike me normally.
I told myself that I was just tired and needed to give myself a break. I'd been up incredibly late, had been witness to a woman's death – a murder, no less – and then had the body simply disappear. It hadn't exactly been a typical, run of the mill night. I should be expected to be a little punchy. The police were looking into it, but I had no idea if anything would come of it.
The whole thing made me wonder if I was going crazy.
“I'm sorry, Donna,” I said. “I – I have rounds to do.”
Donna simply nodded and I left the room, shaking my head as I went. I had no idea what had just happened or why I'd reacted to Donna the way I had. It made no sense and was completely out of character for me.
I gave myself a mental kick in the pants and tried to focus on the task at hand. I had kids depending on me – everything else would have to wait until I had time to sort it all out. And as soon as I stepped into Anna's room, she smiled and gleefully.
“Vanessa!” she called.
“Anna!” I said, trying to sound just as excited, but for some reason, it came out sounding flat.
I feigned a smile and took a look at her notes. She had another round of chemo yesterday and she was on pain meds. Everything was looking fine and I really didn't have to do much with her today as long as she felt okay.
“How you feeling?” I asked, getting straight to the point. “No more pain?”
“No more pain,” Anna said, smiling brightly. “Thanks to you.”
“Thanks to modern medicine,” I said with a dry laugh. “In either case, I'm glad you're feeling better. Anything else you want to talk about?”
Anna cocked her head to the side and looked at me carefully, almost like she didn't recognize me.
“Your hair is different,” she said. “Did you color it?”
“Oh yeah, that?” I said, not quite sure how to respond – so I lied. “Yes, I did. Do you like it?”
“I love it,” she squealed. “Maybe I can do my hair like that when it grows back and we can be twins.”
“Yeah, I'd like that.”
Her happiness should have made me happy, but for some reason, I just felt so empty inside. I didn't like the way I felt, not one little bit. Anna deserved better than that. Sure, it was likely a temporary side effect of what happened last night, but it still scared me. Scared me enough to consider going back to the doctor and asking if maybe this was a symptom of hitting my head. Even though there was no sign I'd actually hit my head – it appeared that I'd just blacked out.
But something was causing me to feel the way I felt. There had to be something wrong. And I really wanted to know what it was.
I stood up to leave when an overwhelming sensation washed over me. I held tightly to Anna's bed as the room spun around me. But instead of the room, I was in the air. I was flying over the hospital instead of standing inside of it.
“Vanessa?” Anna asked. Her voice sounded so distant. “Are you okay?”
I wasn't alone in the sky. There was another. I looked over and saw him there, a massive beast with large wings and blueish green reptilian skin. The creature looked at me and I felt a connection. A bond. There was a familiarity between us that was comforting.
Then the hallucination shifted before my very eyes. There was fire. Lots and lots of fire. Coming from inside of me, nonetheless. I felt it burning as it rose from my chest and exploded out through my mouth, scorching the world around me. And the creature who flew by my side before was with me. He was fighting alongside me, blowing a column of fire from his mouth as well.
And I knew his name. His name was Glyn. Not Glenn like I thought I'd heard the night before. And yes, it was the same man from the alley, I knew it. Somehow, I somehow just knew this dragon-creature and the man in the alley were one and the same, even though there was no logical or rational reason to think such things.
But I was connected to Glyn. And he was connected to me.
“Vanessa!” Anna's voice cut through the fantasy and the visions started to blur. My body tremble
d as I fell to the ground, shaking and shuddering wildly.
And once again, the world went black.
Chapter Nine
Glyn
I stared at the floor, but really, I was staring into nothingness. I wasn't looking at anything in particular. Not that I could focus on anything anyway. I was just sitting there, lost inside of my head. I wanted to be left alone. Yet, Quint sat across from me, and when I looked up briefly, I saw the pained look on his face.
“Glyn, I'm –”
“Don't you dare say you're sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I'm tired of hearing it already and she's only been gone a few hours.”
Quint nodded. “I don't know what to say, Glyn,” he said. “I know how much you loved her.”
That was an understatement if I'd ever heard one before.
“I've taken you off that case,” he said softly. “I know it's too close to home for you right now –”
“No, don't you dare,” I hissed. “Or Onda's death will be in vain. I am going to be the one to find him and I'm going to be the one to kill him. You put us on this to begin with, don't you dare take me off of it now.”
Tears burned my eyes, but I fought with myself to not let them fall. I couldn't cry. Not when there was so much work to do. I would honor Onda's memory by finding and killing the bastard who'd taken her from me and would mourn her later. I needed to see him dead by my hand. I needed to kill him.
Without Onda, that was the only thing I had to live for.
“I understand,” Quint said. “But until we know more, perhaps you should take some time off. To mourn.”
I slammed my fists down onto the table and stared up at Quint, the anger in me bubbling up and threatening to boil over.
“You understand?” I snapped. “Like hell you do. Your woman is safe and secure in her bookstore right now, Quint. She wasn't cut down in front of you.”
I shouldn't have blamed Quint, and deep down, I didn't. I was just angry at the world, and he was there. He was an easy target and made for an easy punching bag. But he didn't know what I was feeling. It was my fault Onda was dead. If she hadn't rushed in, thinking she was protecting me from getting blasted with Dragonfire, she'd still be alive. And maybe, that prick would be dead instead.
No Such Thing as Dragons : Complete Series Box Set (Books 1 - 5) Page 31