by R. E. Carr
“Very well, but you, Steven - you both surprise and horrify me more every day. One day I hope, you’ll learn who really matters.”
With that, the air seemed to shimmer, and in a blink, Lady Lung vanished. Javier and Gail wasted no time running to the blood supply, where they found Maria collecting bags.
“I’m sorry to ask this, Ms. DeMarco, but we need all the blood we can get,” Gail blurted out. “Georgia’s in real trouble.”
Maria handed the bags to Gail. “I’ll take care of Paige myself then,” she said, rushing back to the clinic.
“I hope this works,” Gail said, as she raided the entire supply and raced with it back to the lab. Steve hissed as she approached.
“Look, we’re trying to help,” Gail snapped. “What blood type is Georgia?”
“I don’t know,” Steve confessed. “I’ve never actually . . .”
Gail grabbed the O negative bag. She handed it to Steve and commanded, “Hold this up until I can find another stand.”
Gail hurried between plugging the IV into Georgia and setting a new bag up for Jonathan. She glared at the werewolves gawking in the doorway. “Either help me, or get the fuck out of my way!” she snapped.
“I’ll explain what happened, as best I can. You take care of them, mi amor,” Javier said before dragging Nadia and Kayleigh back into the hall.
“She feels cold,” Steve said, panicked. “Gail—”
“She had a starving vampire feeding on her, what do you expect?” Gail rasped, still working feverishly. She called out the door. “Get me a coat or blanket or towel, now!”
A few minutes later Nadia returned with a security guard jacket, and a sweater with the name ‘Pearl’ knitted into it. She nodded to Steve. “We’re going to need you. The staff is currently locked in Pearl’s office and unconscious. They are going to need to forget - a lot.”
“They have blood in their veins, right?” Gail asked.
“Is that really him?” Nadia asked.
“I need a lot more blood. Can you and Kayleigh get it?” Gail asked as she continued to monitor the two critical patients.
“Consider it done,” Nadia said.
“And hurry, please,” Gail called after her.
“Come on, Sweetheart,” Steve said, wrapping up Georgia as best he could while still holding up the bag. “Please don’t leave me.”
Gail took her pulse and frowned. “Why is she . . . oh no,” Gail muttered as she felt her fangs in her mouth.
“What?” Steve asked.
“She’s had a lot of vampire secretions in her system - some of those are anticoagulants and she is still healing from her shoulder,” Gail said. “She needs a dose of the coagulating saliva that is secreted when a vampire is done feeding . . . I think. Lorcan was starving so I don’t think his system ever gave the signal to stop. I knew I should have studied this more!”
“What can I do?” Steve asked.
“We need to feed on humans and then milk our fangs, I think. Javier! Javier, can you hear me?”
“Would our spit work?” Steve asked.
“Maybe? I’m a baby at this. Damn it, Javier—”
“What?” He asked as the air shimmered.
“Will regular spit help blood clot, or is it only the venom when we finish feeding?” Gail asked. “It’s important.”
“It’s when you finish, as I told you. You have to will yourself to stop or you might kill your prey—”
“I need that, unless you’ve got vitamin K shots or another antifibrinolytic drug handy. Steve, will you help me?”
“I . . . I can’t bite her,” he stammered.
“Do you want her to die?” Javier asked.
Gail grabbed the bag. “Go!” she ordered them both. “Take the unused specimen cups in case you can’t hold it.”
“Damn it Kyle, where are you when I need you?” Gail cursed. Georgia continued to weaken while Jonathan remained frightfully still, even as the blood bag drained. Red markings now formed almost a spider web across his pale face. His abdomen, however, had completely sealed.
Javier returned with Steve. The younger vampire’s cheeks puffed out, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth. “You can do this, amigo,” Javier said, pushing Steve toward Georgia. Javier then turned to Gail. “Fresh from the fangs is best. I had to bite that poor goth boy, so he wouldn’t bleed out as well.”
Steve lifted Georgia and brought his teeth to her neck, close to the shoulder wound. He trembled and tried to bring his fangs closer to her skin, but his mouth remained tightly closed.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake Steve, do you want her to die?” Gail asked. “Is Arthur that much better than you?”
Steve glared at her, tears welling in his eyes. It was only once he looked at Georgia turning ashen in his arms that he finally reared his head back, then plunged his fangs into her skin. Her eyes snapped open for a moment before she slumped against him, holding him weakly as the venom continued to pump into her veins. Steve shuddered again, this time with an entirely different look on his face. Gail pointedly turned her attention to replacing the bag for Jonathan.
After a few moments, Gail glanced over at Steve, and saw him carefully ease Georgia back onto the crumpled-up sweater. He gently kissed her forehead and then looked over to Gail. “Was it enough?” he asked, now nearly as pale as Georgia.
“I’ve got another pint of O negative, unless you happened to get a taste of what she really is,” Gail said. “Think, man.”
He licked his fangs and shuddered again. “It’s sweet, type B . . . B positive I think. Not as common as most,” he finally choked out.
“Hmm, I’ll go taste the three humans we have and see if we can use them,” Javier said.
“Get a stool before you fall over, Loverboy,” Gail snapped. They waited anxiously until Javier returned with the stunned security guard.
“O positive, he’ll work,” Javier said brusquely. “I didn’t taste anything foul or diseased either.”
Gail syphoned a bit out of Bill the security guard while Javier finally found another IV stand. Steve excused himself to wipe the memories of the humans, while Gail waited and watched.
Javier looked askance. “I think I hear the others.”
A few minutes later, Nadia entered carrying a cooler, while Kayleigh held the unconscious body of Toy – a note pinned to her shirt. “Thanks for letting me borrow your skin. Here is a going-away present for all your help.”
“We found her and a cooler by the back door,” Nadia explained. “We also raided a butcher’s shop, but only got a gallon of pig’s blood before I was texted to come back.”
“It seems the sheriff is not above helping us after all,” Javier said. “I also fear there will be a shortage at some local hospital tonight.”
“I’ll check on Paige. When you get a second, Gail,” Nadia said, gesturing to Toy. Gail merely nodded.
“Is this normal?” Gail asked Javier. “I mean, for him to be unconscious?”
“His corazón is still beating, mi amor. Nothing is normal. The fever, the fever cannot be good either. Then again, I’ve never shoved a desiccated vampire into a living man before, so who knows?”
“I really wish Kyle was here,” Gail said softly. Steve slipped into the room and resumed his perch next to Georgia. A little color had returned to the poor girl’s face.
“Thank you,” Steve said. “You saved her life.”
Gail gave him an exasperated sigh. “You helped, and it seems that you . . . well, you got over Arthur’s command, right?”
“Thought she was gonna die,” Steve said, clutching Georgia’s hand. “I sort of lost it, Gail. I—”
“Oh my god, you really are in love with her,” Gail said, letting out another deep breath. “I didn’t think that was even possible for someone like you.”
“What about him?” Steve said, looking over to Jonathan. “It is him, isn’t it? The guy back in Texas that the sheriff said was better for you?”
Gail nodded. “I don
’t really remember him, but he remembered me,” she said sadly. “He was a test subject, just like me. I guess now I know why the sheriff kept him around - beaten and hopeless. He was always the spare.”
“So, you don’t feel—?”
“I feel pity for him. That’s all. Too much has happened. I was sure he was dead, but I guess we found out what was in the Project Zero sample. He’s healing like a—”
“—Werewolf,” Steve finished. “Yeah, he was starting to change before we tranqed him. Lucky for us, Kevin hadn’t used—”
“Did you say . . . Kevin?” Gail growled.
28
“Kevin!” Paige cried out as she lurched forward – her eyes wild and bloodshot. She panted as she came to her senses in a hospital bed with her mom sitting beside her. She looked down to see her entire right hand wrapped in bandages. She slowly felt her face and winced as she pressed into a magnificent goose egg around her eye. “Mom?” she whispered hoarsely.
“You’re going to be OK, baby,” Maria said, her face a bit drawn and pale. Paige noticed a bit of gauze and tape in her mother’s elbow. Maria blushed a little. “There was a blood shortage, so I helped out.”
“How bad is it?” Paige dared to ask.
“Well, your Achilles tendon was severed, and you took a bad slash to the thigh that caused you to lose a fair bit of blood. And your face - well, your face looks like you ran into a truck a few times.”
“My hand?” Paige asked softly.
“Sliced open and missing two fingers,” Maria said, looking down. “If you weren’t a werewolf . . .”
“Like you said, I’ll be fine,” Paige reassured her, even as the pain radiated throughout her body. “Mom . . . Mom, why is there a blood shortage? Where is Kyle?”
“He’s treating that young man you left the bar with. They won’t tell me anything, but they don’t keep their voices down. I think they said he was gutted by a sword.”
“It was a katana,” Paige half-mumbled, remembering.
“What was that?”
“It was a katana, you know - like in Kill Bill. There was a crazy vampire, Mom, and he is totally gunning for me.”
“Why would anyone want to hurt you, baby?” Maria asked, her wide-eyed face even paler now. Paige looked away in shame.
“Mom, I’m a werewolf, and I’ve done some things I’m not proud of, but they had to be done. There was a vampire, an evil bloodsucker who was hurting a lot of people, Mom, and I . . . I did what I had to do to stop him.”
“You mean . . .?”
Paige nodded, unable to meet her mother’s gaze. “I . . . He shot me . . . shot me a few times, so I did what werewolves do, and I ripped that bloodsucker apart, and his bodyguards too. Well, one of those bodyguards happened to have a brother named Kevin. This Kevin works for the sheriff, and he has a legitimate grudge against me. I’m sorry that you had to find this out like this, but—”
Maria took Paige’s hand and looked her daughter right in the eyes. “Those bad vampires tried to kill you. After what I’ve seen them do, after what they’ve done to both of us, do you think for even one second I would be upset by you defending yourself, Paige? Sweetie, if I ever see this Kevin, I’ll kill him myself for what he did to you. We clear?”
A tear rolled down Paige’s cheek. “Mom, you don’t understand. He was stronger than me, faster than me—”
“You weren’t a hundred percent—”
“No, Mom, he kicked my ass, and I don’t know if I could beat him, even at my full strength. God, Kevin was going to gut me, but that guy jumped in front of me.”
She lifted the sheet and stared at her undamaged belly, then wiped away her tears. “That guy, Jonathan; he was a werewolf like me. The sheriff has a werewolf working for her now. This is all so insane. Just tell me . . . what happened to Kevin?”
“Grandpa Steve talked to him. He used the same voice that Arthur did, and that asshole just ran away. We were more concerned about getting you back here, because there was so much blood. I can’t imagine that the police weren’t called—”
“This Kevin guy works for the vampire sheriff, everything will be covered up . . . oh my god, what about Toy?”
“She was fine. She helped scare Kevin off, and carried the other guy to the lab. I assume that’s where they are taking care of him.”
“The lab? . . . That doesn’t seem right.”
“He was in the lab, and then they said there was a problem with Georgia—”
“—Georgia . . . but she was here,” Paige said slowly, shaking her head. “Something is wrong, I can feel it.”
Her stomach turned suddenly and she yelped in pain. Maria hopped to her feet. “I’ll get Kyle, baby. I promise.”
Paige yowled again as she felt another stab in her abdomen. Her lurching sent fresh pain rocketing through her legs and hand until her yowl morphed into a pure lupine howl.
“No, not again,” she begged, as she felt her bones shifting and hair sprouting from her arms and legs.
“Paige!” Kyle gasped as he rushed into the room with Maria. He quickly shot something clear into Paige’s drip line, but her claws still stretched and extended and her feet cracked audibly. “Paige!” was the last thing she heard before the crack of her jaw.
Everything went black.
Paige woke up zip tied to a hospital bed with a pounding headache, tattered clothing, and a stomach growling like nobody’s business. As she rolled her head, she became painfully aware of a distinct lack of curls. “Oh, god,” she choked out, her voice completely hoarse.
“Hey, Shorty,” Toy said, surprisingly subdued as she offered over a bodybuilding shake. She pulled out a pocket knife and cut one arm free so that Paige could drink.
“Did I . . . hurt anyone?” Paige croaked.
“No, but we made the decision to, um, Steve your mom - just so she could blank out on the more terrifyingly-graphic parts of her daughter turning into a wolf and literally knitting together in front of her very eyes.”
“She saw?”
Toy nodded. “But it’s been . . . softened, OK? It’s been a hell of a few days.”
“Days?” Paige yelped. “What?”
“Just drink. I’m sure the girls will get some chicken. Also . . . um . . .”
Paige began gulping down a second shake, then paused. “Just spit it out,” she barked impatiently.
“I was kidnapped by the sheriff and I just got back the night you were attacked. I’m only catching up now, Shorty Spice.”
“Wait . . . what? You were here. I saw you.”
“Paige, she is a vampire who can shapeshift, like full-on doppelgänger. I watched her turn into me, while she kept me locked up in the cat house in the old Nashville Zoo. I tried to fight her, but she had this huge guy with her, and whenever he talked I just . . . trusted him. I told him so much. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help myself. I’m so sorry.”
“She set us up, but—” Paige lurched against her bonds, pain shooting from her midsection, and as she bent she became painfully aware of an even more protruding belly. “Oh my god, how long was I out?”
“Just a day and a half,” Toy said.
Paige pointed to her belly. “Does this look like a day to you?”
“I haven’t seen you. Damn, are you knocked up?” Toy asked, smacking her forehead. “Usually I’m a little more observant, but . . . like I said, it’s been a rough few weeks.”
“No shit,” Paige snapped. Toy handed her shake number three.
“What are you, four months or so?” Toy asked.
“No, less than two,” Paige said, horrified. “It’s still August, isn’t it? Damn it, are there any more of these?”
“Yeah, I think there is a peanut butter one. That’s your fave, right?” Toy said.
“Something bad happened, didn’t it?” Paige asked, feeling her throat heal the more she gulped of the protein shake. “Hmm, maybe this is better than vanilla.”
“You mean something worse than you having a code moo
n after being attacked by a psycho vampire, or me being kidnapped by a vampire who took my place just to mess with all of you?” Toy asked, a hint of a crack in her voice.
“Yes,” Paige growled.
“Well, it looks like you either have twins or some sci-fi pregnancy—”
“Toy!”
“Let’s just get you cleaned up, and checked out. Then I’ll take you over to the lab, if you’re up for it. You need to eat and recover first. Kyle’s orders.”
“What is so bad that you are blatantly lying to me?” Paige asked. She did, however, acquiesce to being cut free. She felt her back and noticed that the scar had shrunk again, while her legs were dreadfully hairy, but healed. She saw nasty scabs on her ankle and thigh, while her right hand was a gnarled mess, with only one stubby finger bud where her ring finger should have been. Still, she watched in amazement as the little joint moved as she flexed the rest of her fingers.
“I’m thinking of changing your name from Shorty Spice to The Wolverine,” Toy said, as she too stared at the mini-finger. “I guess you had a total trauma change.”
“Where is Kyle, and what can I change into?” Paige sighed, now upgraded to eating weight gain bars. She groaned as she looked at her decidedly expanded waistline, but gnawed it down anyway.
Toy came back a few minutes later with a huge Nashville Predators T-shirt, some men’s underwear and a shawl. Paige sniffed the pieces.
“It was the best I could get. Your great-grandfather has agreed to go commando for you.”
“We will never, ever, speak of this,” Paige muttered as Toy helped her change. Paige winced as Toy had to wrap her now significantly more ample chest in some gauze to avoid causing a scene under the T-shirt.
“I mean, they might just think it’s cold,” Toy offered. Paige snarled and did her best to make a sarong out of a black shawl. She cringed at her legs.
“Don’t say it,” Paige muttered, attempting to smooth the fluffy baby fuzz on top of her head. She coughed and spit out a cracked tooth. “Damn it to hell!”
“Wait, I managed to get you some flip-flops too - only slightly stinky, and from someone without any foot fungus,” Toy said, dropping a pair of leopard-print sandals on the floor in front of Paige. The wounded werewolf limped into them.