by Cheree Alsop
“This isn’t pretty,” she said. “If Dr. Indley hadn’t mentioned a wolf, we’d have no idea that you got injured fighting that demon. What happens when this gets infected and you need serious help?”
“I’m hoping to be back to Blays before that,” he told her. He winced when she scrubbed a tender spot. “Werewolves heal quickly over there. I guess I was hoping the same applied here.”
“You may just have to settle with being one of us for a while.” She glanced at him. “Unless you know how to get back.”
Aleric shook his head. “I have no idea. I thought heading to the alley where I was found would give me a clue, but it didn’t.” He tried not to let show how much that bothered him.
Nurse Eastwick finished applying the glue and stepped back. “Well, I can’t say I’m sad to hear you’ll be around for a bit. If we have more days like this one, we’re going to need you.”
“It’s nice to be needed,” Aleric replied, pushing back up to a sitting position.
She gave him a closer look. “You really should rest.”
“I’d like to,” he said. “But someone needs to go check on our resident vampire and see how the demon escaped. I need to make the D Wing ready to hold him again.”
“Good luck with that,” she replied. “I put some more blood aside in case you need it.”
“I appreciate it.” He paused, and a wry smile spread across his face. “I never thought I’d be grateful for a bag of blood.”
She pushed aside the curtain. “I never thought I’d be handing them out like juice boxes.”
“At least he doesn’t need a straw,” Aleric replied.
The nurse shook her head as she made her way to the next room.
Chapter 8
Aleric ducked into the Dark fae section of the D Wing. “You alive in here?” he called.
Dartan gave a groan from the corner. “That’s a matter of opinion. I feel like I have a unicorn blood hangover.” He held his head. “Nasty habit, that. I haven’t indulged for centuries.”
“What happened?” Aleric asked, making his way warily to the corner where the window had been smashed.
“Our demon friend decided he wanted to go home,” Dartan said from his seat against the wall of the opposite corner.
That perked Aleric’s interest.
“Did he say how he intended to do that?”
Dartan shook his head, then held it again. “I didn’t have the time to ask him when he was throwing me through the air.”
Aleric gave the vampire a closer look. “Why would he do that?”
Dartan rose to his feet. “I told him he couldn’t leave and he decided I was wrong.”
That caught Aleric off-guard. “Are you saying you stood in the way of the demon leaving here? Why would you do that?”
The question seemed to cause Dartan discomfort. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “I didn’t want him to hurt anyone.”
Aleric stooped to picked up the large shards of glass. The vampire’s answer bothered him. In his experience, Dark fae never went out of their way to help others. They were a very self-interested lot.
The voice in the back of his mind whispered that he was usually the same way.
He stacked glass on top of one of the ruined boards and chuckled it out the window. The glass shattered on the pavement beyond.
Aleric sighed. “I should have thought that through.”
He found a garbage bag that was half-full in one of the partially-finished rooms and began to fill it.
“Do I smell blood?”
The vampire’s tone was hesitant.
Aleric picked up the bag he had forgotten about and tossed it at the vampire. Dartan caught it. He kneaded it between his fingers and gave Aleric a curious look.
“I meant fresh blood.”
Aleric glanced down at his scrubs. A few drops stained his scrubs top from the wound Nurse Eastwick had patched.
“A token of my own encounter with our demonic friend.”
“Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to bleed around a vampire?” Dartan asked, taking a few steps forward.
Aleric turned to face the vampire. “Are we going to have a problem?”
Dartan smiled, showing his elongated canines, and bit into the blood bag. “Not if you keep bringing such remarkable refreshments,” he said, his voice muffled around the bag. “You’re quite the host.”
Aleric gathered the remaining pieces of glass and shoved them into the bag.
“That’s definitely not one I’ve heard before.”
“It’s a day for firsts,” Dartan replied.
Aleric maneuvered one of the big boards across the window to patch the giant hole. The vampire’s footsteps sounded behind him. Aleric’s muscles tensed, but he didn’t turn around. He wondered if he was about to be bitten; it wasn’t a thought he relished. He held completely still.
Pale hands grabbed the board next to his.
“Get the hammer. I’ve got this,” Dartan said.
Aleric met the vampire’s gaze. Dartan’s expression was unreadable. Vampires were known for their blank looks when their minds were anything but.
Aleric grabbed the hammer and nails from the bench near the door. It took only a few seconds to secure the board over the hole and hammer it down. Both of them stepped back.
“Think it’ll keep a demon in?” Aleric asked.
“Not a chance,” Dartan replied.
Aleric crossed his arms with a shake of his head. “The creature’s drugged, but I’m not sure how long we can keep him here. Sedation doesn’t work very well.”
“Send him over to Tranquility. She can kill him with her good cheer.”
That brought a chuckle from Aleric. “I don’t know if I would put any creature through that.” He sighed. “Speaking of the overly animated fairy, I need to go check on the other side. There’s a faun over there with a broken leg.”
“When should I expect our demon back?” Dartan asked.
“A few minutes,” Aleric replied on his way to the door. “The less time he spends in the E.R., the better.”
Dartan settled back to the floor with the bag of blood in his hands. “I guess that’ll give me something to look forward to.”
Dr. Indley was on the other side when Aleric walked through. She smiled upon seeing him.
“Braum’s vitals are good,” she announced. “I think he’s going to be alright.”
“He’s lucky,” Aleric said. “You did a good job.”
“A great job,” Tranquility spouted from her bed beneath the window.
Marae gave her a warm smile. “What are you in here for?” she asked.
Tranquility’s eyes widened and she looked at Aleric.
“Uh, Tranquility suffers from a nervous system disorder,” he told Marae. “She’s here for monitoring.”
The fairy gave Marae a grave look, her eyes dramatically wide. “It’s serious.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” the veterinarian said. She gave Aleric an apologetic look. “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.”
Aleric shook his head. “It’s alright. Tranquility’s tougher than she looks.”
Tranquility nodded gravely again.
“May we?” Dr. Indley asked, gesturing to the door.
“Yes, definitely,” Aleric replied. “Let me check on one more patient and I’ll meet you out there.”
He entered the open room where the selkie slept.
“She hasn’t moved a muscle,” Tranquility called out. “Do you think she’s dying?”
The selkie’s vitals were the same as they had been the last time Aleric was in the room. He didn’t know if the numbers were good or bad, but figured alarming the fairy wouldn’t help anyone.
“She’s not dying, just sleeping.”
“That’s a lot of sleep for a selkie,” Tranquility said. “I’ve never known one to sleep like she has.”
Aleric left the selkie’s room and crossed to the fairy’s bed. “Do you know a lot of selkies?�
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The fairy shrugged. “A few. They tend to keep to themselves. The Wakun clan lives in Drake City Bay; they’re not too bad.”
“Ever seen one caught between both forms like this one?” he asked.
“Never,” Tranquility replied. “I don’t think that’s supposed to happen.” She blinked quickly and glanced away from him.
“Are you alright?” Aleric asked her.
She shook her head, but refused to look at him.
Aleric moved to the other side of the bed. When he saw tears in her eyes, he asked her more gently, “Tranquility, what’s wrong?”
“I miss home,” she said, finally meeting his gaze. The tears rolled down her cheeks. “I miss my family, my friends, and Drake City. I want to go home.”
Aleric wasn’t sure how to comfort her. Helping others feel better wasn’t one of his strengths.
The nagging voice in the back of his mind noted that if he was going to continue pretending to be a doctor, he should work on being a bit more reassuring.
“I think we’re all, um, a bit homesick,” he said. He lifted a hand to pat her shoulder, but the motion felt awkward. He let the hand fall back to his side.
“How did we get here, Aleric?” Tranquility asked.
“I’m not sure,” he replied. “I think—”
The little fairy caught him by surprise when she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. Her little arms felt so tiny.
“I’m afraid,” she said. “I’m afraid I’ll never go back home.”
“I’ll find a way,” Aleric promised. “You won’t be here forever. Trust me, okay?”
She tipped her head back and looked up at him. She nodded, tears still rolling down her pink cheeks.
“I trust you, Dr. Wolf.”
Aleric moved her hands away from his waist and stepped back.
“I-I’ll be back soon to check on you,” he told her. “Let me know if anything changes with the others. Can you do that?”
She sniffed and wiped her cheeks on the sleeve of her hospital gown. “I can do that.”
He gave her a smile. “That’s a tough fairy.”
His words brought an answering smile to her face.
Aleric walked through the door and found Dr. Indley waiting for him in the hallway.
“I’ve been thinking about the news today and that creature that attacked me in the parking lot,” she said. “Do you think Braum is one of those they were talking about?”
Aleric hesitated. “I guess so,” he said. “Maybe that would make sense.”
“Dr. Wolf, he has the feet of a goat. It’s the only think that makes sense.” She paused, then said, “Do we need to report him to the police?”
“What? No!” Aleric replied. He realized by her surprised expression that he had answered too quickly. He forced a nonchalant shrug. “I mean, we should probably wait and make sure he’s recovering from surgery before we do that. What if they insist on moving him?”
Marae thought for a moment, then nodded. “That makes sense. We’ll wait and see how he’s doing. I think that’s rational.” Her eyes widened slightly. “But what about the one that attacked me? He’s still here somewhere, isn’t he?”
“He’s heavily sedated,” Aleric reassured her. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Dr. Worthen has already turned him over to the proper authorities.”
“Oh good,” she replied with a breath of relief. “I can’t imagine being here if that creature is still around. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The doors at the other end of the hallway flew open. Gregory’s panicked expression made Aleric’s stomach turn over.
“Dr. Wolf, uh….” The orderly looked from Aleric to Marae. He shuffled from one foot to the other. “Dr. Worthen has called you in on an…uh…for your opinion on something.”
Aleric glanced at Dr. Indley. “I’d better go check it out. If you want to head back to your clinic, we can call you if Braum’s condition changes.”
Marae’s lips lifted in a half-smile. “Dr. Wolf, it’s just after midnight.”
“Oh,” he replied. “I don’t suppose veterinarians hold Emergency Room hours. Do we have your home number?”
She pulled a scrap of paper out of her purse and wrote something down. She handed it to him with a smile. “Call me whenever you’d like.”
Gregory reached Aleric’s side. They both watched the veterinarian turn down a side hall out of sight.
“She gave you her number,” Gregory said.
Aleric glanced at him. “In case Braum needs more help.”
“Sure,” Gregory replied, sounding not convinced in the slightest. “She did say ‘whenever you’d like’.”
Aleric’s eyes widened at his implications. “She didn’t mean it like that.”
“She most definitely did,” Gregory shot back.
“We just met today,” Aleric pointed out.
“Oh, come on,” Gregory said. “She could barely take her eyes off you. We could have called her if we needed her to come back for Braum, yet she shows up here anyway? It’s obvious.”
Aleric searched for something to say to hide his embarrassment at being so unaware of Marae’s feelings.
“What did Dr. Worthen need?”
“Oh, yes,” Gregory said. “It’s an emergency. We should have been there already!”
They took off running.
“Could you fill me in?” Aleric asked as they pushed through the doors.
“The ambulance just arrived,” Gregory said, leading the way at a headlong rush past the white-curtained rooms. “The crew called ahead and said—”
Aleric slid to a stop at the sight of the young banshee boy standing in the middle of the next hallway.
“Let me go!” The voice of the demon roared from Aleric’s other side.
He glanced back just as the demon threw a nurse into the hallway.
“We need more sedatives,” Aleric said under his breath.
The demon burst out of his room and glared at Aleric. The Dark fae’s glowing eyes shifted from the werewolf to further down the hallway. Aleric followed his gaze.
The banshee boy looked terrified.
“It’s you!” the demon said.
The banshee sucked in a breath.
Aleric put his hands over his ears, but he knew from experience that it wouldn’t help.
The boy let out a blood-curdling cry.
Pain exploded in Aleric’s head and coursed through his body. He fell to his knees with his head in his hands.
Behind him, the demon let out a howl. The banshee’s cry increased. A crash sounded.
Aleric lost track of how long the boy cried. It could have been minutes or seconds, but with the pain it took all of Aleric’s strength to keep from passing out. He knelt there with his forehead touching the tiles and his hands holding his head. It felt like his fingers were the only things keeping his skull from exploding.
“We’ll get you back to your bed….”
Gregory’s calming words sounded down the hallway. Aleric was vaguely aware that the banshee’s cry had stopped. He breathed through his nose, taking in the scents of cleaner, dirt from the soles of the hospital workers’ shoes, and the wool of the mop used to keep the floor sanitary. An acrid taste clung to his tongue.
A hand touched his back.
“Aleric, the demon’s gone.”
He raised his head.
“It’s gone?”
Nurse Eastwick nodded. “It crashed through the doors of the Emergency Room. There’s glass everywhere.”
“What is it about demons and glass?” Aleric asked.
He pushed up to his feet. The nurse grabbed his arm and steadied him.
“Are you alright?” she questioned.
Aleric nodded, then put a hand to the wall as the world spun around.
“We need to find that demon. He could hurt people.”
“Dr. Worthen sent Jaroff to call the police. He’s worried about the same thing,” the nurse told him.
/> Aleric turned so that he could lean against the wall.
“How’s the banshee?”
“Better than you,” she said with concern in her gaze. “You look terrible.”
“I’d like to say I feel better than I look, but that’d be a lie.” He stood up straight.
“Where are you going?” Nurse Eastwick asked.
“To catch a demon,” Aleric replied.
“I’ll help.”
Both Aleric and the nurse looked toward the door to the D Wing. Dartan stood there in his hospital gown.
Aleric stalked toward him. “What are you doing out here?” he demanded.
“I heard the commotion,” Dartan replied.
Aleric stopped a foot from the vampire.
“You need to go back to the D Wing,” he said, his voice rough.
“I’m not going to endanger anyone,” Dartan said.
“You endanger them by being here,” Aleric pointed out.
Dartan glanced at Nurse Eastwick, then lowered his voice. “Look, Wolfie, you’re heading out to catch a demon nobody’s been able to control. What do you plan to do with him when you get him?”
Aleric opened his mouth and shut it again when no idea formed.
Dartan nodded. “Exactly. Two heads might be better than one in this case. I don’t want to see anyone else hurt, either, so let me help unless you have a better idea.”
Aleric wanted to have a better idea than trusting a vampire to help him bring in a demon, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t come up with one.
“Fine,” he gave in, his tone reluctant. “Let’s go find the demon.” He looked at Nurse Eastwick. “Sedatives aren’t working. Do you have anything stronger?”
“How about horse tranquilizers?”
Aleric turned to find Marae standing near the end of the hallway holding what looked like a gun in an open black case.
He glanced at Dartan. “I think that’ll work.”
Dartan nodded, his eyebrows raised. “That’ll do nicely.” He pushed past Aleric and made his way to the veterinarian. He gave her a warm smile. “Thank you very much….” He paused expectantly.
“Marae,” Dr. Indley replied. A blush ran across her cheeks. “Dr. Marae Indley. I’m a veterinarian.” She gestured to the gun. “Hence the tranquilizer.”