“And?” the voice replied coolly.
“And what? These kids aren’t stupid, Sophinia, they know what they saw,” Benchley said. “I don’t think a life time of therapy would be enough to convince them that it was just their imagination. It doesn’t help that the world has gone fang crazy lately!”
An audible sigh came down the phone before she spoke again. “I was afraid of this. Daylight’s coming, we’ll have to wait until tonight to talk to Daniel.”
“I’ll post some people around the hospital and get his files changed. If Cass managed to kill all of them, then it’s a good bet that they still don’t know who he is,” Benchley said.
“That’s what she told me,” Sophinia agreed.
“Yeah, well, just count yourselves lucky that there weren’t any other witnesses. We have to clean up the mess on Wolfer Street though. The kid’s blood will be all over it.”
“I’m sending some people there now,” she said. “Thank you for your help.”
“Thank you for the offshore account,” Benchley said, and put the phone down.
CHAPTER 4 – STEROIDS
St. Cloud Hospital - Minnesota
The sun was up and shining through the windows of the hospital. Not that Goose or Steve could see it. Goose’s head was propped on Steve’s shoulder and he was snoring lightly. A tiny line of drool fell from the corner of his mouth. Steve was likewise, asleep, his head against the wall, completely unaware of the patch of saliva that was building on his chest.
Goose jolted awake, kicking Steve awake by accident too, his eyes focusing on the big man in front of him. Joe was standing there, looking shocked at their appearance.
“What the hell happened?!” he demanded instantly.
It had taken the hospital a while to get hold of him, since he had been out at a Poker game for most of the night, and in fine tradition he hadn’t bothered to take his cell. Goose was a little too stunned to talk. Joe could be very frightening when he wanted to be.
“They said car accident - were you drinking?!” he growled at Steve, who immediately shrank back in his seat.
“It’s not like that!” Steve yelped.
“We were attacked!” said Goose quickly, causing Joe to look at him dead in the eyes, his lie detecting ability coming into play. After a moments concentrated stare, he seemed to know that Goose was telling the truth.
“I’m going to go see him,” he stated, and walked away.
“They said he can’t have visitors yet,” Goose called weakly after him.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass!”
Goose and Steve looked at each other for a second before scurrying to catch up. It didn’t take them long to find Jerry’s recovery room, and soon the three of them were standing over his still form. Now that he had been cleaned up and had a neat white bandage on his neck, he didn’t look too bad. He was still a bit pale, but all in all, he just looked like he was sleeping peacefully.
The room was small, with a single bed and a wardrobe in the corner. A heart monitor was next to the bed and the curtains on the windows were closed.
Joe stared down at his nephew in silence. His face was stone-like, but both Goose and Steve knew that inside he was hurting. Joe wasn’t exactly the affectionate type, but he loved Jerry more than anyone.
“Who attacked you?” Joe finally asked. There was a silent fury in his voice.
“You wouldn’t believe us,” Goose mumbled back.
“Try me,” Joe hissed.
Goose sighed. Time for the truth again.
“Vampires...”
Again, Joe stared Goose in the eye. He wasn’t lying; at least he believed he wasn’t lying.
“I’m not in the mood, Goose.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Steve said forcefully. “They rammed us off the road, dragged Jerry out of the car, and starting drinking his blood!”
“Pull that bandage off his neck. The puncture wounds were made by fangs,” Goose said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Joe laughed without humor : “Vampires?! What the hell were you smoking last night, Goose?!”
“Could you guys keep it down...my head really hurts...”
They all looked down in amazement, to see Jerry moving very slowly. His eyes were barely open and his voice was gravelly and deep, like he had tonsillitis.
“Dude, you okay?” Goose asked quietly.
“I don’t know...how’s my hair?” Jerry croaked back, causing them all to smile.
“You ever scare me like that again and I swear to God I’ll tear you a new one boy!” Joe said, squeezing Jerry’s hand. His lip was actually trembling and he seemed to be fighting back tears.
“Yes, sir,” Jerry smiled, squeezing Joe’s hand back, squinting his eyes as he tried to open them.
“What happened, Jerry?” asked Joe.
“What Goose said,” he replied lazily, “sons-a-bitches tried to eat me.”
“Come on, you’re not honestly going to tell me that -”
“That I became a vampire’s juice box? Yeah, that’s what happened,” Jerry said, sounding strangely calm about the whole thing.
“Oh, come on! Seriously - vampires?!” Joe shook his head.
“If you don’t like vampires I could go with the undead or bloodsucking psychos?” Jerry said sarcastically. “When have I ever been able to lie to you, Joe?”
Joe just shook his head again. He couldn’t seem to get past how ridiculous it sounded.
“Shit!” Goose blurted. “Jerry, you were bitten! Does that mean you’re going to turn into a vampire?”
It was a thought that hadn’t popped into their minds until now. Everyone, even Joe, stopped and looked at Jerry.
“Well, I don’t feel any different...unless you count groggy, injured and seriously pissed off. I am kind of thirsty though. Could I have some water...and painkillers please?”
“I’ll go get the nurse,” Joe volunteered, and left the room.
“I thought you had to sort of...exchange blood to turn into a vampire?” Steve said. “I mean, that’s just what I remember from movies and stuff.”
“Well, let’s find out. Goose, get the curtains,” Jerry said. “If I burst into flames, I guess we’ll know.”
“That’s the worst test in history!” Goose scowled.
“Just do it,” Jerry replied, waving his arm as if he already knew he wasn’t going to die.
Goose opened the curtain a fraction, allowing a single beam of light to hit Jerry. Nothing happened. He opened the curtains up fully, and Jerry groaned and covered his eyes.
“I’m melting! Oh, what a world...” he whined, and started rubbing the bandage on his neck.
“Well, that’s reassuring,” Steve said happily.
“I’ll tell you what isn’t; why’d they only go for you? I mean me and Steve might as well have not even been there. They just wanted you,” Goose said worriedly.
“Well, can you blame them? I mean, everyone wants a piece of this sweet ass,” Replied Jerry without a care.
“This is serious man!”
“Well, what do you want me to say?!” Jerry snapped back. “Mosquitoes like me too! The little bastards are always biting me!”
“Those things went out of their way to get you. They hit the car because you were in it. And when that guy took a chunk outta your neck...something happened to him,” Goose said, replaying the images in his mind, “it’s like he...‘Hulked out’ or something. That chick who turned up was kickin’some serious ass, then he bit you and turned into an uber-vamp! Then she bit you and turned into Mrs. Uber-vamp!”
“What are you saying? That I’ve got vampire steroids in my blood or something?”
“Well, it sure as hell seemed that way,” Goose nodded.
“Their eyes started glowing red after they bit you too,” Steve remembered. “It was freaky.”
“If I had something in my blood, don’t you think the docs would have noticed it by now?”
“I don’t know...but I do know
that those vampires biting you had the same effect as feeding Nitrous into car!”
“The Fangs and the Furious,” Jerry giggled to himself.
Steve and Goose looked at him with angry frustration. Why wasn’t he taking this seriously? They didn’t have time to yell at him about it, because Joe had returned with a cute young nurse in tow. She had short curly black hair and a lovely little smile and was carrying a bottle of water.
“Mr. Jericho, how are you feeling?” she asked.
“Drained,” he punned, and smiled. He seemed to be actually getting a kick out of this whole vampire thing.
“That’s to be expected. You lost quite a lot of blood last night. We’ll bring you some food in a little while. You need to get your strength back up,” she said sweetly, before handing him the bottle of water.
He chugged down at least half of it before handing it back. Swallowing did hurt, but not enough to stop him from drinking the water. The nurse took the bottle back and then turned to Joe.
“I understand that you’re all friends and family, but he really needs to rest.”
“No, what he needs to do is get his ass out of this hospital,” Jerry said, as he slowly started climbing out of bed.
“The doctor has already recommended that we keep you in for observation for at least another twenty-four hours,” the nurse replied quickly.
“Listen to the nurse and get your ass back in that bed boy, I’m not kidding,” Joe ordered.
Jerry sighed and fell backwards into the bed. “Yes, sir.” He was far too tired to fight back.
The nurse seemed to find Joe’s militarystyle attitude appealing, because she smiled and batted her eye lashes at him.
“Get some rest, we’ll be back tomorrow,” Joe said, ignoring the flirtatious nurse and ushering Goose and Steve out of the room.
As they left and closed the door, Jerry couldn’t help but wonder why he was okay with everything. Why wasn’t he freaking out? He should be. This was crazy. He’d almost gotten killed last night, but for some reason it just didn’t feel like that big of a deal to him. It lingered in his mind for a little while longer before he finally fell asleep again.
It wasn’t a noise that woke him that night. It was a strange instinctual sense which told Jerry one when something is close. It was an odd, almost indescribable feeling in his mind, which alerted him to the presence of another. It took a few moments for Jerry’s eyes to focus, but when they did, his body quickly jolted awake. The room was dark, but he could still make out a woman sitting in a chair next to his bed.
Her long sleek black hair drifted down to her chest where her arms were folded. Her beautiful face was frozen, and looking straight at him. Her big eyes glowed as they reflected the light, like a kind of camera flare. A cold feeling bit into Jerry’s gut, telling him the woman wasn’t normal.
“Hello Daniel,” she said softly, her lips barely moving.
Jerry shifted away from her in his bed, and his hand still under the covers crept slowly towards the ‘Call’ button next to it.
“I disconnected it,” she said, knowing exactly what he was doing.
He froze, and for a moment panic started to hit him. His mind flashed back to the woman that had bitten him during the fight, and it made him want to yell out for help. He didn’t though. He remembered that the woman who had bitten him had had dark brown hair that was slightly curly, whereas this woman’s hair was definitely black and very straight.
She looked very similar, but it wasn’t her.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” she stated clearly. “My name’s Claire. How are you feeling?”
“Like there’s a hole in my gas tank,” he replied dourly, drawing her eyes to the bandage on his neck. Sarcasm and ballsy defiance were his best defence right now. It helped to hide just how scared he actually was. “I just found out that vampires are real. I almost got eaten by one – two actually! And you say you’re not going to hurt me? Sorry, but I'm havin' a hard time trusting anything without a pulse!”
The woman chuckled lightly. “I’m sorry about that. Things didn’t exactly go as planned.”
“You set this up?”
“No. We didn’t attack you,” Claire said simply.
“Then who did?”
“They call themselves ‘Black Forest’, and as you guessed, they’re vampires.”
“I’ve got a hunch that you are too,” Jerry said. His voice was still gravelly.
“Yes, I am...but as I said; I’m not going to hurt you,” she sounded sincere, but he still didn’t trust her.
“Really? Because our first meeting wasn’t exactly a Swedish massage!”
“Black Forest is a rebel faction of the vampire world. They’re outlaws; we’ve been fighting them for years,” Claire explained.
“Vampire Al Qaeda? That’s just freakin’ great!”
“I’m sorry. We were hoping that we would find you before they did. Unfortunately, our people are thinly spread at the moment. We had no one in the area so we had to use…outside assistance...the woman that came to your aid last night -”
“Aid?!” Jerry interrupted in anger. “She almost tore my goddamn throat out!”
Claire sighed but nodded. “I know, she told us. Under the circumstances, she didn’t have a choice.”
“She didn’t?”
“You saw what happened when that vampire fed on you. She...she had to even the odds,” Claire said awkwardly.
“What?”
“Why do you think Black Forest were after you?”
“I don’t know! They didn’t feel like having Chinese?” he shot back.
Claire couldn’t stop a short laugh from coming out. “It’s your blood...there’s something very…different about it.”
Jerry’s eyebrows furrowed. “Come again?”
Claire leaned closer to him and looked him in the eye. “About six months ago, Black Forest raided the blood storage room of Abbot Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. They took transfusion packs, test samples, everything they could find. Sometime after, when they were feeding on the stuff, one of them drank a vial of blood that had some…very strange effects on the drinker. It made them stronger and faster, but more than that, it actually took away the hereditary weaknesses that are present in all vampires. This vampire became immune to silver, stakes, and even sunlight,” Every word she spoke sounded like the truth.
When it came to vampires, Jerry had no idea which of the stories were true and which parts were bullshit. Lately, the world had started putting a dozen different spins on the classic vampire tale, and up until yesterday, to him, all of them had just been fiction. Now he was sitting in a hospital bed, talking to a real vampire.
“But these effects were only temporary and faded after about an hour,” Claire continued. “No one that we’ve spoken to has ever heard of a human’s blood making a vampire virtually indestructible. Obviously, both sides wanted to know where it came from. Now, by some miracle, or twist of fate, the label on that blood sample was damaged. They had no name, no address, only the date that it was taken. We intercepted this information from a Black Forest agent we captured, and since then, both groups have been trying to narrow the list of people whose blood it could have been. A few days ago, a friend, a human doctor, managed to bring that list down to four possible people. He smuggled the information to us before he was killed by Black Forest. Last night we found out that that blood belonged to you.”
Goose was right. He did have some kind of vampire steroids in his blood. This was crazy!
“Black Forest wants to harvest your blood, find out how it works and make more. If they juice their whole army up on what’s in your veins, they’ll be unstoppable, and a lot of people will die.”
Jerry was shaking his head. This couldn’t be real. It had to be some kind of trippy nightmare caused by the morphine or something.
“Daniel, I know this is a lot to take in and if there was a more gentle way of explaining this stuff, I would do it, but there isn’t,” said Clair
e apologetically.
“So, let me get this straight...a bunch of undead terrorists are after me because I’ve got super-blood, but your people want to…protect me?” every word he said made it sound even crazier. “And you’re here, why?”
“Because you’re right, I and the people I work with want to protect you,” she said, making it officially go off the deep-end.
Blood Heavy (Blood Heavy Series) Page 5