At the bottom of the mountain they turned right onto a paved road. Immediately, signs of man’s intrusion into nature began shaping the land. Small and large homes were carved into roadside niches and finger-wide valleys. Old weathered barns with faded ads straggled amid tractors and farming paraphernalia. Orchards, mainly apple with a few cherries, skirted the postage-stamp fields of blossoming crops. The sprawling habitation soon gave way to close-knit houses stacked by the road. Eventually a business or two appeared interspersed with the farms as they descended into a wide valley between mountains.
“What did you say the doctor’s name was?” Erin asked after few minutes. She felt both relieved and strange to be out of the woods. Well, at least literally. In every other way, she, and possibly Jared, were still in the thick of trouble. Erin hoped that she could call one of her credit card companies, claim her purse as lost, and get enough help to at least pay for the doctor, medicine, and lodging.
“Dr. Batista. She’s tops. It just takes her a wee bit longer to believe in what she can’t prove.”
That was something Erin could well relate to and felt lost without. Just as she opened her mouth to ask what town lay before them—something she should have done before getting into the truck—they passed a city limits sign that made her scalp tingle.
Welcome to Twilight, Tennessee.
Where everything is possible.
Too stunned to comment on the town’s name, Erin focused on absorbing the place. One sign announced the combined elementary, middle, and high school, inviting parents to support the town’s Twilight Knights in their summer football fundraiser. The three-building setup mirrored Erin’s school experience.
Emerald slowed her speed to the requisite twenty, then came to a stop at a red light, which seemed to mark the hub of Twilight’s metropolitan offerings. It was a town of ones; a Laundromat, a library, a gas station, a bank, a fast food and ice cream parlor called Burger Queen’s Delight, a dollar store, one tiny church each for three different denominations, and an office complex. Emerald pulled into the parking lot there and put the pickup into park.
The signs above two of the doors jumped out at Erin. One read “A. Batista, MD. Internal Medicine,” and the other said “Psychic Readings for Seekers of Truth and Light,” under which there was the name “Dr. Emerald Linton.” The woman at her side.
“You’re a doctor, too?” Erin asked.
“Clinical psychologist, luv.” Emerald glanced at her watch. “And I’ve just enough time to see the look on Dr. Batista’s face before chat time with my clients.” She opened the door and slipped gracefully out before Erin could ask how psychology and psychic readings meshed.
Jared had already bailed from the truck and stood scanning the area with an alertness she’d missed seeing in him since the sunrise. Erin exited, feeling as if she’d made a thousand-year journey in the last forty-eight hours, and the ride wasn’t over yet.
She and Jared followed Emerald into Dr. Batista’s office. He had to stoop to fit though the doorway, and immediately looked uncomfortable at being inside.
The furniture, inexpensive chairs of muted colors and chrome-framed tables, was completely generic and seemed temporary or rented. Only the degrees and official certificates, a prestigious slew of them, hung on the wall. They were framed in ordinary dime-store black metal, which made Erin immediately suspicious.
A quick glance at the woman’s qualifications induced more questions than it allayed. Considering the doctor’s surgical training, Erin wondered why the woman wasn’t working for a major cardiac hospital.
“Nettie, I’ve work for ya, luv. They are finally here,” Emerald shouted through the open door leading to the inner rooms of the office.
“Em? Hold on.” Clipped steps preceded the appearance of a Latin beauty with intriguing dark eyes and a genuine smile. Her wavy hair was pulled into a severe knot, as if everything had to be tightly ordered. Her crisp white lab coat was embroidered with her name and had a stethoscope tucked into a large pocket. Seeing Jared, her eyebrows arched with surprise before zeroing in on the yellow towel he wore.
“They’re finally here,” Emerald said. “Found them trudging along on Spirit Wind Mountain.”
“Em, just because they were on Spirit Mountain at dawn doesn’t mean—”
“They need your help, and I’m late for my chat. Naked without my cell phone on today of all days,” Emerald interjected. She ducked out the door, waving her tinkling bracelets. “I’m just next door, luvs,” she called before the door shut.
“Well,” the doctor said, inhaling as if surfacing from underwater. “Who are you really, and what can I do for you?”
“I’m Erin, and this is Jared.” Erin nodded at the degrees on the wall. “Not to be rude, but why is someone with your training here, practicing in a small town?”
Dr. Batista frowned. “Few people even bother to read those. Look, my reasons for being in Twilight have nothing to do with my competency as a doctor. You both look as if you need help.”
Erin didn’t exactly like the doctor’s evasive answer, but she’d have to accept it for the moment. “Jared needs his burn examined. He has a fever, and I’m worried about the possibility of infection. Then I’ll need to borrow your phone, too. I’m sure my credit card company has a fund set up for preferred customers who have emergencies. I’ll be able to pay you—”
Dr. Batista waved her hand, motioning for Erin and Jared to follow her. “Don’t worry. You can send me a check when you get home later. You’ve a nasty gash on your temple as well. Any nausea or dizziness? How were you hurt on . . . the mountain?”
Erin followed, uneasy. The hard part had arrived. How much of what had happened to her could she explain? Would it only thrust her and Jared into more danger if she did tell someone about Dr. Cinatas without proof? Jared kept close behind her. “I’ve had some dizziness, but no nausea to speak of. I, uh, bumped my head when my car ran off the road.”
“When?” Dr. Batista asked, pointing Erin into a treatment room. “I’ll put you across the hall in there, Jared.” She nodded her head that way.
“No,” Jared said firmly. “Erin stays with me.”
Erin sent Jared a reassuring glance. “I’ll be fine. It’s just across the hall.”
“No. We cannot fully trust her,” he said.
Erin’s breath caught in her throat. Did Jared know or sense something she didn’t? He’d known that danger was imminent in the cave.
Dr. Batista studied Jared a moment before replying. “I assure you that my medical qualifications are unblemished. Both of you can have a seat in here and let me take a quick look. If you’re still uncomfortable, I can either have the local sheriff vouch for me, or Emerald can take you over to Arcadia, where she takes her daughter. There’s a brand-new clinic with several doctors on staff. Perhaps you can find what—”
“No,” Erin said quickly. Even if the new medical clinic in Arcadia had nothing to do with the Sno-Med facility, Erin wasn’t going near Arcadia until she was ready to go after Cinatas. “Sorry. It’s not you.” She slipped her hand into Jared’s, detecting that his fever had cooled some but was still significantly high. “He’s a little confused. We’ll just stay together. We’re fine with seeing you.”
“He’s first, then.” Dr. Batista crossed the treatment room and replaced the paper on the examining table. Her expression clearly questioned who they were and where they had come from.
“Help Erin first,” Jared said as he urged Erin toward the doctor, then crossed his arms as if he’d brook no argument.
“Looks like you’re up. Lie back and let me have a look at you.” Dr. Batista patted the table.
Erin complied, glaring at Jared. “He’s the one who needed treating.”
“Relax,” Dr. Batista said as she adjusted the exam light after checking Erin’s pupils, reflexes. “Now how did you say this happened?”
“I, um, ran off the road and bumped my head.”
“When?”
“Uh, l
ast night,” Erin said, scrambling to think. It just sounded too suspicious to say that she’d hit her head the night before last and was just now seeking attention.
Dr. Batista paused as if she knew she was being lied to, but then didn’t question Erin further. After finishing, she forced a smile. “I’ve put a butterfly bandage on the gash to help the wound heal without scarring. The dizziness may be from a very mild concussion, so I suggest you rest for the next few days and don’t drive. You can remove the bandage the day after tomorrow. Do you need anything for a headache?”
Erin noted with some surprise that she’d been relatively pain-free since Jared’s little “healing” in the cave. “No. I’ve had migraines recently that I use Relpax for at home, but I’m fine right now.”
“Take Ibuprofen for anything minor. I’ve a few samples of the other I can give you, too.” She glanced at Jared. “Were you burned in the car accident this morning?”
Hell, Erin thought, she should have planned out a plausible story for Jared’s injury ahead of time, too. “No,” she said. “He hurt himself a day or so ago.”
“How?”
“Welding. It was an accident,” Erin finally replied, biting back a groan. She was a terrible liar. From Dr. Batista’s expression she knew it, too.
“I’ll be right back with the meds. Then we’ll take a look at your friend’s burn.”
The doctor’s tone had cooled a number of degrees, and Erin winced as the woman left the room. She sprang up and, motioning to Jared to stay in place, she tiptoed from the treatment room. Four steps let her hear Dr. Batista in another room speaking. “Emerald is in over her head now. You better get here ASAP . . . I’ll explain then. Can’t now.”
Hearing the phone hit the cradle, Erin backpedaled to the treatment room, dragging Jared with her.
“What is it, Erin? Do you wish to leave here?”
Jared’s flushed skin and pain-filled gaze settled Erin’s quandary. Dr. Batista had called someone, but she hadn’t mentioned either Erin or Jared. She’d only spoken of Emerald. Hopefully they could get Jared seen and leave before that person arrived.
Erin shook her head. “No. Not until we get help and medicine for you. Then we’ll go.”
Dr. Batista entered just as soon as Jared sat on the treatment table. Her manner was as it had been before, crisp and professional, but the suspicion was there, in her eyes and in her voice. “All ready, then.” She handed Erin unopened boxes of the migraine medicine, then moved to a metal warming cabinet and pulled out hospital-issue gowns and blankets. She pushed a gown at Erin. “Why don’t you clean up while I check his injury?”
Erin grasped the toasty gown. Besides Jared s care, it was the most comfortable thing she’d felt since she’d left her apartment for work a lifetime ago. Even a paper-towel scrub would feel like heaven, but she handed the soft cotton back with a strong twinge of regret. After finally getting Jared into helping hands, she found she couldn’t walk away. Something bound them together that was as inexplicable as the events in the cave and the man himself. She couldn’t leave him. She feared she might be starting to believe he really was a spirit being—and that meant he needed her protection, and they needed to hurry. “No. I’d rather wait until I can take a shower.”
Dr. Batista sighed, and Erin saw concern in her eyes as well. “At least take a warm blanket.” She held one out, and Erin slipped it around her shoulders and sat in a chair across the room.
The doctor went to Jared. “Now, let’s have a look at you.”
Jared clenched his jaw and fisted his hand. The more time he spent in this fleshly form, the more he hated everything to do with it, the weaknesses growing inside him and the wearying pain knotting his every muscle.
They were wasting time here. There was nothing this woman could do for him, but Erin had thought it extremely important, and he didn’t have a solid plan as to what they should do next. He’d yet to fully understand how this mortal world worked.
What happened to him at the sacred stones had nearly undone him. He had millennia of experience with the spirit world’s war. He’d fought against every kind of dark minion of the Fallen, from Underlings to demons to Tsara’s and worse, and had never reached the depths of agony and exhaustion that wrenched through him at the Sacred Stones.
If Erin had been attacked at that moment, he would not have been able to save her. He’d been too weakened.
The dark-haired woman who’d seen to Erin’s injury approached him with an unmistakable wariness that puzzled him and made him wonder why he caused such fear in others. Erin had feared him at first as well.
She’d placed a basin of water next to him and, after pulling on thin gloves, reached for the bandage Erin had put on his shoulder.
He caught the dark-haired woman’s wrist before she touched him. Her gaze snapped to his; she was more frightened than Erin at his touch. He released her quickly. “Do not fear me. What you seek to do is unnecessary. Nothing can be done to help.”
Erin moaned. “Please, Jared. Let her help.”
He shrugged. “Do as you will.” What was it about these mortals? Their need to care ran deeply and as strong as his determination to duty.
He winced as she pulled up the tape. With Erin across the room, the pain throbbing around his Tsara wound bit deeper into his soul.
“You’ve a high fever,” the doctor said as she touched his bandage, concern shadowing her fear. She hurriedly removed the bandage, then looked puzzled. “Your burn has healed nicely. No need to cover it anymore. I’m more worried about your fever. How long have you had one?”
Jared noted that her touch held none of the pain-easing power of Erin’s.
“What do you mean, healed?” Erin crossed the room quickly, golden eyes wide with confusion.
“How did he burn himself?” Sounding suspicious, the dark-haired woman narrowed her gaze at Erin. “It appears as if he was branded with something that had etchings on it. Do you want to tell me what is going on here?”
Moving to the woman’s side, Erin gasped as she looked at his chest. She shook her head and placed her fingertips over the scar, instantly easing his discomfort, enabling him to draw a free breath.
“It’s not possible,” she whispered. “It just isn’t possible.” Her gold eyes searched his eyes; confusion warred with fear in their clear depths. “Your burn . . . how . . . how have you healed like this?”
She snatched her hand away, more fearful than ever before.
Pain pierced him, wrenching his stomach and knotting in his chest until he could barely breathe. Erin’s fear twisted inside him.
No! He was stronger than that. He could take the pain. This weakness was only because the Sacred Stones had drained his strength. Still, he needed her. “Erin, don’t fear me,” he gasped.
She shook her head, pulling farther away. “What are you, Jared? How can you heal like that?”
He exhaled through gritted teeth and clutched his fist to his chest. With the pain came a hungering need to taste her Chosen blood. It, too, was sharper than ever. He had to touch her, he had to ease himself, or he would sink his teeth into her soft flesh.
He shut his eyes against the fear in hers and tried to draw from all that he knew was good and true, but faltered. All he could think about was satisfying his desire for her blood. The empowering glory of it, the heady intoxication of—
“Jared?” Erin whispered.
He felt her hand cover the fist he’d pressed to his heart, and the pain ebbed. He trembled.
“Lie back,” Erin urged. “And let the doctor take your temperature.” He complied, letting go of everything but Erin’s hand as he shut his eyes and focused on the ease her touch brought. The doctor urged something into his mouth and under his tongue. He concentrated on breathing, on letting Erin’s touch help him fight the Tsara’s poison for what little time he had left.
He was no longer a warrior. He could not stand alone. He needed her.
Erin couldn’t believe what her own eyes saw. The cha
rred and oozing skin from yesterday morning was now smooth, pink scar tissue, as if weeks had passed rather than a mere day. And the doctor was right. Now that the burn had healed, it could be readily seen as the branding from something with strange markings on it.
Her hand in Jared’s trembled with the strain of her emotions. There was something else difficult to believe as well. Whatever caused the deep agony that gripped him, her touch had the power to help him. Just as he’d eased her migraine in the cave, she had some strange sort of power to do the same for him.
She tightened her hold on his hand, and he riveted his gaze to hers. The blueness of his eyes and the need in them pierced though her, wrapped tightly around her heart and jerked her to him. Though it seemed impossible, she knew they were deeply connected in a way she could not explain.
The digital thermometer beeped. Dr. Batista looked at it, gasped, then shook her head. “This machine is broken. I’ll be right back.” She set the thermometer aside, and Erin blinked at the flashing red numbers. One hundred and fifteen degrees.
Erin had a strange feeling that there was nothing wrong with the machine. That the reason Jared’s temperature was so high was because he wasn’t a normal man.
“Annette!” a man shouted from outside of the room. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on? I just spoke to Em, and she bit my head off! I don’t need this right now. Slater has a dead man on Forty-four and a burned-out car over in Winder, and the Rangers have hikers fleeing trails, screaming zombies have invaded.”
Jared rolled from the examining table, fluidly moving into what Erin could only describe as a fight-ready stance. He pulled her behind him.
Straining to see over Jared’s shoulder, Erin found Dr. Batista standing in the middle of the doorway with her back to them. “We’re in here, Sam.” She groaned before adding, “Anybody tell you that you’ve got the stealth of a jackass? Why did you speak to Em?” Turning, she shook her head apologetically. “I called the sheriff,” she said, meeting Erin’s gaze directly. “Emerald believes you two are beings she’s supposed to help from the spirit world, and we all know that isn’t true.”
Touch a Dark Wolf (The Shadowmen Book 1) Page 9