“Toss him in a locker so he doesn’t die too quickly.”
The male vampires walked over and picked him up by his arms, but he wasn’t going to give in. He struggled with them and spouted curses until they started punching him in his ribs. Low on blood, out of breath, he became much easier to maneuver.
The monster was just standing up when Dhane was carried past. The dead eyes looked at him, and then it suddenly cocked its head to the side, as a curious child might. The mage didn’t have much time to think about that as they reached the lockers and he was shoved inside. So many dead bodies had been there before; he was surely the first that would actually die within.
The door shut, darkness surrounding him, he didn’t panic or cry out. Nobody would hear him anyway. Instead, he remembered the woods where he had been left to die before. There, he had spouted a spell he didn’t even know, and managed to escape with his life. He tried to think of something, anything that would get him out. Then he remembered the merging spell, but did he still remember the words?
Desperately he spouted out what he thought they were, and then he waited. For several seconds, nothing happened. He moved around and realized his clothes had seeped through his body. It worked!
Frantically he moved through the lockers, trying to pull himself to freedom. His panicked state made it difficult for him to focus on the exit, but he finally pushed through into the empty autopsy room. He reversed the spell and struggled to his feet. Running his fastest, he ran out the door and up the stairs to the main floor. There, he saw the nightmare he was trapped in.
The floors had collapsed in several spots, blocking most exits. Those he could see holes through, there was fire raging. Oxygen was running out quickly, so he made his choice and ran. He cut into one room, which connected to another, then another. Back into the main hallway, he was getting close to the exit. Jumping through flames, he finally saw daylight just twenty feet ahead.
A loud creak from above and everything went into slow motion. His eyes moved up, even as his feet pushed on towards freedom. Debris fell all around him, but he was determined to reach the door. Instead, he fell under collapsed concrete and burning wood, which knocked him unconscious and pinned him to the floor.
Terrance, bruised and battered from fighting off the monsters, had somehow survived them. Strangely, they retreated just when they had the perfect opportunity to kill both werewolves. He had managed to get Xander clear of the hospital and he could hear sirens calling in the night sky. They could take care of his leader. He had to find Dhane.
Closing the distance to the hospital was much more laborious than usual, as he coughed up some blood and thought one of his leg bones might be sticking out sideways. Finally he made it to the door, and the smoke and fire made it very difficult to breath. With his healing already working overtime, he wondered if it could still keep up with any lung damage to keep him from suffocating.
Fuck it.
He charged in and called out for Dhane as he dodged falling debris and climbed over piles. A strange smell caught his attention, and he realized it was burning flesh. The smell seemed to be coming from all around him, and then he realized it was actually from under him.
Quickly he dug through the debris and found the mage. With all the force he had within him, Terrance pulled Dhane out and headed out the front door. Outside, he put him out by rolling him on the ground. As the first of the fire trucks arrived, the wolf performed CPR, while also trying to cover a horrible wound across Dhane’s eye.
Unsure if he had been too late for Dhane, or if Xander had been fatally wounded, he sat on the ground and hunched over. Today was the day of their ultimate failure, and now, all was lost. Despair tried to overcome him as medics finally arrived and began tending to the three men. At least thus far, they had survived.
Epilogue
Three days had passed since the old hospital burned down in Thauma. Nobody knew exactly what happened, and the three men they found there weren’t talking, though some for different reasons. Cassandra paced in the hospital room where Dhane lay. He hadn’t regained consciousness since that fateful day, and she was beginning to worry that he never would. At least they had fled their home before Elisabeth could attempt to finish the rest of them off. Nicole walked in and flopped down in a chair. Her eyes were dull and she stared into emptiness as she waited for further word on Xander.
“Is he still in surgery?”
“Yes. Sixteen fucking hours? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Cassandra came over and put her hand on Nicole’s shoulder. “He’s a tough bastard, I’m sure he’ll recover.”
Amber walked in with two glasses of water and handed one to each of the witches. A quick kiss to her lover and she headed back out the door. A floor below, Terrance was waiting for her to return and finish challenging him in a game of chess. He had already rearranged the pieces since she left, hoping that would help him this time.
The surgeon stopped by Dhane’s room after finishing with Xander in the operating room and let out a long sigh. He looked exhausted and confused. Nicole stood and walked straight over to him, unable to mask the fear tainting her face.
“Just tell me.”
“The object that injured him, a silver knife blade, has been removed. Strangely, his body had already partially healed around it, but the knife kept the correct healing method from occurring. I’ve done all I can, but I don’t think he’ll walk again.”
Nicole staggered backwards and Cassandra grabbed her. She began to cry uncontrollably, and sat back into the chair before she collapsed to the ground.
“I’m very sorry,” the surgeon said. “He will live, that much I’m sure of. Please let me know if you have any other questions.”
“Thank you, doctor. Can he be moved in here to share this room?”
“Actually, he requested to be moved in with another patient. Terrance? He’ll be down on the third floor.”
She nodded and the surgeon left. This disastrous week just didn’t want to end. Nicole excused herself and headed downstairs to be with Xander. Cassandra was about to follow when she glanced over and saw Dhane’s eye open.
“Dhane!”
Quickly she ran to his side and grabbed his hand. His eye followed her, but he didn’t speak. Instead he touched the bandage over his right eye and looked to her to explain.
“There was a collapse at the hospital and your eye was injured. You may lose some sight in it, but they don’t know if it will be permanent loss. Your left arm and back were also burned, and you’ll be scarred, but okay. Xander is...”
“I heard,” he responded hoarsely. “Where’s Amelia?”
Cassandra swallowed hard. “I haven’t been able to reach her. Amber drove up and looked for her, but she checked out of the hotel almost immediately after you left. I can’t find her.”
Dhane closed his eye and cringed a little. Pulling his hand free of Cassandra’s, he looked the other way, towards the window. She tried to convince him that they would find her, that things could turn around, but it was no use. It was obvious that the promises were empty. There would be no new council, no finding his love, no chance Xander would walk again. Their world was shattered, irrevocably, and that was just the way it was.
She stepped out of the room and leaned against the hallway wall. No longer could she hold back the tears, and they ran freely down her cheeks. Amber approached and pulled Cassandra close, holding her tight as she broke down completely. Once she started to get control of herself again, she realized Amber had come to tell her something.
“Xander is back in his room. He wants to speak with you.”
Together they went down to the third floor and Xander was clearly in a bad mood, fighting off Nicole, who was trying to help him get into bed.
“I said I can do it myself!”
He pulled himself up and into the bed and collapsed back on it. Glancing over at the women entering the room, he sat himself up to speak to them.
“Good, you’re here. I know
you are planning on putting the council back together.”
“Of course, working together is the only way we can...”
“Count us out. That’s twice you’ve had traitors in your council, and I’m not putting any more of my kind in harm’s way. Amber can make her own choice, but she’s either part of the witches, or part of the werewolves. There is no other way. That’s all I have to say about it. If you all don’t mind, I need some sleep.”
The room was dead quiet for several minutes, nobody realizing Xander’s change of position was coming. He had a point though. Ironically, everyone had always assumed a traitor in the witch council would mean Dhane had followed in his father’s footsteps. Instead, he fought for the council with all his might. How all the witches would be eating crow... if so many weren’t dead.
Cassandra waved for Nicole and Amber to follow her into the hallway. They walked to the waiting area and sat down. Without the werewolves, there weren’t enough people for a council now.
“I don’t think there’s a need to rebuild a council. There’s just not enough of us left. It’s probably best that we go our separate ways, so Elisabeth and her goons can’t find us. So, Nicole, I would like to thank you for everything you’ve done for the council, and I hope things work out with you and Xander. If you need anything, all you have to do is ask. I’m not your council head anymore, I’m just your friend.”
“Thank you Cassandra. Take care of yourself.”
Nicole hugged Cassandra and hurried back to the room. Cassandra took a deep breath and turned to Amber.
“Amber, I understand if you want to stay with Xander and Terrance, with others like you. I...”
Without a word, Amber grabbed Cassandra and kissed her long and deep, showing in her passion that she wasn’t going anywhere. Cassandra melted in her arms.
“I love you, Cassandra, and I’m not going anywhere without you.”
At least that was one thing Cassandra could be happy about today. It was a good thing, because had Amber left, she didn’t know what she would do. Samantha rounded a corner and walked up to the ladies.
“I was only able to secure two cabins, so we’ll have to make due for now. More may be available at the end of the month.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Cassandra said. “Xander, Terrance, and Nicole will be making their own arrangements. For now, it’s just the four of us. Once Dhane is healed, who knows?”
Darkness fell and Dhane continued to stare out the window. He didn’t speak, didn’t eat, and didn’t drink. Instead, all of his life experiences, especially the mistakes, played through his mind on an endless reel, like he was trapped in his own personal nightmare.
A figure crept down the hallway and slipped into the room. It stepped up to the bed and looked down on the wizard with concern. After sever moments, it spoke, the soft moonlight shining through the window glinting off the visitor’s vampire fangs.
“I know you are in a bad place now, but the world needs you, needs you. All is not lost if you can take the next step. Please don’t despair, no despair. I will be waiting if you need me. I hope you are not angry that I did this for you, all for you.”
Demian sat a brown package on the bed next to Dhane and walked out. It took several hours for the wizard to look down at what had been left for him. Picking it up, the wrapping was horrible, thrown together with bits and pieces of brown paper and twine so old it barely held together. He unwrapped the package and revealed a stack of papers inside.
Scanning through a few of them, it was easy to tell they were a collection of spells. Turning the pages, he recognized one, and then another. Demian had copied the entire spell book. The writing was awful, but just legible enough to understand. Suddenly, things weren’t as hopeless as they had previously seemed.
A fire formed within the eyes of the mage, the wizard. This wasn’t over… yet.
To be concluded…
Magestorm: The Embracing Page 12