The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum

by Wendy Saunders

  ‘Here,’ Theo handed her a first aid box.

  ‘You do it,’ she shook her head, ‘I’ll get some ice.’

  Theo dropped to his knees in front of the traumatized woman and taking out an antiseptic wipe began to clean the wounds. Olivia glanced across at Jake as she pulled a bag of peas from the freezer and handed them to Theo to press against the swelling. Jake poured a glass of whiskey and handed it to Veronica.

  ‘It’ll help settle you,’ he told her gently as she looked up at him with glassy eyes.

  His brows rose in surprise as she removed the paper bag and chugged the whole glass back in one go.

  ‘Thank you,’ she breathed handing back the empty glass.

  ‘Can you tell us what happened?’ Olivia moved back to her side rubbing circles on her back soothingly.

  ‘I was leaving the museum,’ she took a deep breath, ‘I had just stepped outside when it began snowing again. Only it was like no snow storm I had ever seen. The snowflakes were as big as my hand and coming down so fast I could barely see in front of me. I felt really uneasy like I was being watched so I headed towards my car. I knew I needed to get home and out of the storm as soon as possible but the snow just kept getting worse. I tripped and smacked my knee because I couldn’t see where I was going. I’d almost made it to my car and that’s when I saw, I mean I thought I saw…’

  ‘What did you see?’

  ‘You’re going to think I’m crazy,’ she whispered.

  ‘Trust me we won’t,’ Olivia smiled.

  ‘There was a woman standing in front of me, she was incredibly beautiful and..um’

  ‘And?’

  ‘She was naked.’

  ‘Naked?’ Jake repeated slowly.

  Veronica nodded.

  ‘It was like she didn’t even feel the cold. She had long white hair which reached past her waist almost to the backs of her thighs and the snow, it’s strange, it was kind of swirling around her like she was the center of the storm and that’s not even the really weird part.’

  ‘It gets weirder than naked snow lady?’ Jake asked.

  ‘It was her eyes,’ Veronica frowned, ‘they were slitted like a snake. I don’t know how to describe it, it’s like she wasn’t even human.’

  ‘What happened next?’

  ‘I’m not sure, that’s when it gets a little blurry,’ Veronica shook her head. ‘I screamed and the next thing I remember I was in my car driving out of town towards your house.’

  Olivia glanced towards the window. Although it was dark out she couldn’t see any significant snowfall around her property.

  ‘Once I left the town itself the snow let up’ Veronica told her, almost as if she’d read her mind. ‘It’s like the storm was concentrated right in the centre of town and once you got past the outer edge the weather returned to normal.’

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ Jake muttered casting a glance at Olivia’s worried face.

  ‘And you definitely don’t remember what happened between seeing the woman and being in your car driving?’

  ‘No,’ Veronica breathed, ‘it’s one big blank. I don’t even know how I got in the car.’

  ‘Maybe it’s just shock?’ Jake replied, ‘that could account for the memory loss.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Olivia murmured thoughtfully as she watched her friend.

  Suddenly the windows started rattling and the kitchen light flickered with a metallic buzzing.

  ‘Oh God,’ Veronica breathed, ‘it’s not your ghost is it?’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Olivia frowned, ‘it doesn’t feel like her.’

  Olivia’s eyes widened in shock as a man appeared in front of her, battered and bloody.

  ‘Olivia,’ he whispered.

  ‘Sam!’ Olivia rushed forward as Theo caught him and eased him to the floor.

  ‘What the hell?’ Jake gasped at his sudden appearance.

  Olivia risked a quick look at Veronica who was once again breathing rapidly into the paper bag, her eyes wide with disbelief.

  ‘Sam,’ Theo called to him urgently.

  Olivia looked over his torn and bloodied clothes noticing the expanding blood stain at his side which was saturating his shirt. Yanking the shirt out of the way she gasped at the ragged wound torn deeply into his flesh.

  ‘Damn it,’ she pressed her hands to the wound to stop the bleeding as she gazed down at the man she hadn’t seen in months, the same mysterious man who had pulled Theo through time and helped her set up his new identity. ‘We need to get him to the hospital.’

  ‘No,’ Sam gasped weakly trying to raise his head and panting hard with the exertion. ‘No hospitals, no one can know I’m here.’

  Growling in frustration she looked up at Theo.

  ‘Theo go and get the medical supplies Louisa left here just before Christmas.’ She turned to Jake, ‘call Louisa and tell her we have an emergency, we need her here now.’

  Jake nodded and pulled out his phone. Theo dropped down next to her and rummaged around until he came up with several packs of sterile dressings. Ripping them open Olivia took the thick pads and pressed them into Sam’s side, hoping it would slow the bleeding.

  ‘She’s on her way,’ Jake told them, ‘so this is Sam?’

  ‘That’s right,’ Olivia nodded, ‘Jake go and get a pillow and blanket for him before he goes into shock.’

  Jake nodded and disappeared from the room.

  ‘Veronica,’ she called, ‘are you okay?’

  ‘He appeared out of thin air,’ she replied incredulously.

  ‘Yep, welcome to Mercy,’ Olivia muttered. ‘Your life will never be the same.’

  Sam groaned as he swam back into consciousness.

  ‘Sam,’ Olivia spoke softly as his eye rolled trying to focus. The other eyes was swollen shut and his face was decorated with varying colours of bruises. Some of them obviously days old, whilst others were fresh. ‘What happened to you, who did this?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he swallowed painfully.

  ‘Of course it matters,’ she frowned.

  ‘I can’t tell you,’ he whispered as he faded out of consciousness again, ‘can’t contaminate the time line…’

  ‘What’s he talking about?’ Veronica frowned.

  ‘Nothing,’ Olivia replied dismissively.

  Veronica had now dropped the paper bag into her lap and was watching them curiously.

  ‘No, I heard him, he said he couldn’t contaminate the time line. What did he mean?’

  ‘Look at the state of him,’ Olivia explained, ‘he’s probably delirious.’

  Veronica didn’t have a chance to say anything else as Jake rushed into the room with a blanket and cushion. She simply sat back and watched suspiciously. Theo tucked the cushion under Sam’s head and looked up at Jake as he laid the blanket over Olivia’s hands while she continued to keep the pressure on his wound.

  ‘How long is Louisa going to be?’

  ‘Not long,’ Jake muttered, ‘knowing the way she drives.’

  Beau whined and curled up into Sam’s side, laying his furry face on his legs and watching him with huge dark eyes. It felt like an eternity as they sat on that kitchen floor waiting for Louisa but in reality it hadn’t actually been that long before she burst through the door with Tommy following close behind her.

  ‘Alright I’m here who is it this time?’ She spoke rapidly as she stepped into the kitchen and shed her coat. ‘Her gaze fell to the unconscious man bleeding on the floor, ‘who’s he?’

  ‘Sam,’ Theo answered.

  ‘That’s Sam?’ her gaze snapped to Theo’s face, ‘as in ‘Sam’ Sam?’

  ‘The Sam who knows Theo,’ Olivia replied carefully as she noticed Tommy hovering at the edge of the kitchen taking in the scene before him. She hoped he wasn’t going to freak out. They had to be careful what they said now as neither Veronica nor Tommy knew the truth about how Theo had landed up in Mercy.

  �
�Okay then,’ Louisa briskly pushed up the sleeves of the shirt she wore beneath her scrubs, ‘let’s get him off the floor.’

  She moved the fruit bowl, whiskey bottle and empty glasses off the island in the centre of the kitchen as Theo and Jake lifted Sam off the floor and laid him down carefully.

  ‘This is getting to be a habit,’ Louisa pulled her stethoscope from her pocket as her eyes locked with Olivia’s over Sam’s body.

  ‘At least it’s not me this time,’ Olivia murmured quietly enough for only Louisa to hear.

  ‘All right everyone out,’ Louisa ordered. ‘Olivia as you’re already covered in blood you can stay and help.’

  Theo ushered everyone out and into the library while Jake scooped up the whiskey bottle and nodded to them on the way out.

  ‘Call if you need help.’

  ‘We will,’ she answered absently as she checked Sam’s airway.

  ‘Okay, now it’s just the two of us why don’t you tell me what the hell is going on?’ Louisa demanded even as she began to check his various injuries.

  ‘I have no idea,’ Olivia shook her head. ‘I haven’t seen Sam in months and he just appeared in the kitchen and collapsed.’

  ‘Who’s the woman who was here?’

  ‘That’s Veronica, she’s not long moved to Mercy from Boston. She works at the museum.’

  ‘Does she know the truth about all of this?’

  ‘No,’ Olivia sighed, ‘and now I have to figure out what the hell to tell her as Sam appeared right in front of her.’

  ‘Good luck with that,’ Louisa answered, ‘do you think she’ll freak out?’

  ‘Well she hasn’t so far,’ Olivia frowned. ‘I don’t know,’ she shrugged and let out a weary breath, ‘it’s certainly never dull since I came back to Mercy.’

  ‘This is one wicked mess you’ve got on your hands Olivia,’ Louisa frowned as she moved her hands and peeled back the gauze at Sam’s side. ‘For God’s sake Olivia, he needs to be at the hospital.’

  ‘I know, but he made me promise not to. I didn’t know what else to do.’

  Louisa scowled as she pulled on her gloves and pressed two fingers deep inside of Sam’s wound. He groaned and moved.

  ‘Hold him down will you?’

  Olivia did as she was told.

  ‘His kidney seems to be intact, the wound looks like it was made by a knife, quite a large one with a serrated edge. His organs appear to be okay but I can’t be sure.’

  ‘There is one way you can be sure,’ Olivia told her seriously.

  ‘Liv, I haven’t done that since we were kids and nothing on this scale. This isn’t a game; we’re talking about a man’s life here.’

  ‘I know and I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,’ she replied softly, ‘please Louisa.’

  She sighed heavily. ‘I can’t even guarantee it will still work.’

  ‘Just try, that’s all I’m asking.’

  ‘Fine,’ she conceded.

  Louisa placed her hands over the wound and closed her eyes. She concentrated on taking deep slow breaths, feeling her heartbeat as her body began to relax and she felt the old familiar sensation of sinking. Reaching deep within herself for that secret place where her own magical ability lay dormant, she gave it a little nudge and felt it awaken and unfurl like a flower stretching towards the warm rays of the sun. A surge of pleasure and adrenalin rippled through her, just as it had when she was a child and she found she’d missed this feeling. She knew she had deliberately closed down that part of herself when she believed Olivia was gone, too hurt to have anything that reminded her of her best friend. Over the years she’d learned to live without it but now it was awake and far more potent than she remembered.

  Her own heartbeat began to fade into the background as she became more aware of Sam’s body. She could hear the whoosh of his blood pumping through his veins loudly in her ears and she could feel his heart pumping so strongly, as if she cradled the pulsing organ in her hands. She allowed her thoughts to spread throughout his body checking for injuries.

  Olivia watched in fascination as Sam’s skin beneath Louisa’s hands began to glow with a faint blue light. His labored breathing evened out and his body relaxed.

  ‘What the hell?’

  Louisa’s eyes flew open at the startled exclamation and both she and Olivia turned towards the doorway to see Tommy staring at Louisa’s glowing hands.

  ‘Shit,’ Olivia cursed under her breath.

  ‘Which one of you wants to tell me what the hell I just saw?’ he crossed his arms and glared at both of them.

  ‘Not now Tommy,’ Louisa turned back to Sam.

  ‘Not now?’

  ‘Yes,’ she snapped irritably, ‘not now. I need to take care of Sam and stitch up his wound, after that we’ll talk.’

  He turned on his heel and stalked angrily from the room.

  ‘I take it things still aren’t better between you two?’

  Louisa sighed. ‘We seem to only open our mouths these days to yell at each other,’ she shook her head, ‘but I meant what I said. I need to deal with my patient before we start in on what is going to be a very long complicated conversation. It was hard enough talking my way out of the fact I knew your mom was still alive.’

  ‘What did you tell him about that?’

  ‘The bare minimum,’ she pulled out a suture tray and peeled it open carefully. ‘I told him that your mom survived the fire and that Chief Macallister and Jake are still looking for her.’

  Olivia nodded.

  ‘I hate to say it Louisa, but with everything that’s going on at the moment we may have to tell them the truth.’

  ‘And you think that’s a good idea?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Olivia frowned as she watched Louisa clean the wound and start carefully stitching the ragged edges together. ‘I’d rather not but we’re just going to keep running into these situations. There’s only so much you can hide from your husband and I hate knowing that it’s just adding to the friction between you.’

  ‘I guess it’s time for some honesty between us,’ Louisa frowned. ‘We’ve ignored it for too long, pretending we have the perfect marriage when the truth is between my job and his we really don’t know each other that well at all. He shipped out almost as soon as we were married and I spent all my time training to become a doctor.’

  ‘Do you still love him?’

  ‘Yes,’ she sighed, ‘I’ll love him until the day I die but sometimes love isn’t enough.’

  Olivia sat quietly and watched as Louisa patiently stitched Sam’s wound and dressed it.

  ‘So what’s the prognosis Doc?’

  Louisa looked up at Olivia and stretched the kink out of her spine.

  ‘He’s got a couple of broken ribs, but as far as I was able to sense he had no major internal injuries. However, someone sure took the time to work him over, he had a lot of internal bruising as well as the external ones. The orbital bone is cracked and there’s a lot of swelling to his face. Also all of his fingers are broken so I’m going to have to go back to the hospital and get some splints and make sure the bones are set straight before they start to heal. He has lost a fair amount of blood but its borderline. He could do with a transfusion to be on the safe side but I don’t have any here and I don’t know his blood type so I’ll set him up on an IV with a saline solution. I’ll take blood samples back to the lab with me so I can type and cross match just in case he takes a turn for the worse.’

  ‘Thanks Louisa,’ Olivia replied quietly, ‘I appreciate it.’

  ‘Just be careful what you’re getting yourself into,’ she told her seriously.

  ‘What is that supposed to mean?’

  ‘I’ve seen injuries like this before and let’s just say he didn’t get them falling down a ladder. Just be careful that there isn’t someone who’s going to come looking for him and end up on your doorstep.’

  ‘I’ll be careful I promise.’

>   ‘Good,’ Louisa nodded, ‘let’s get him settled in one of your spare rooms. You’ll need to watch him when I head back to the hospital to get the splints.’

  It was getting late by the time they had Sam settled safely in one of the spare rooms close to Olivia’s and Theo’s, but everyone was still in the library and showing no signs of moving.

  ‘We’re going to have to talk to Tommy and Veronica before you head back to the hospital,’ Olivia told Louisa as they headed down the stairs and paused by the library door.

  ‘I guess,’ Louisa grimaced, but how much do we actually tell them?’

  ‘As much as we can without them freaking out,’ Olivia replied.

  ‘I suppose we should get this over with then.’

  Olivia followed Louisa into the room and watched in amusement as every eye in the room turned to them questioningly.

  ‘Are you redecorating or something?’ Louisa frowned as she caught sight of the mess.

  ‘Don’t ask,’ Olivia shook her head.

  Louisa dropped down tiredly into one of the chairs, watching as Tommy paced the floor and Veronica sat numbly on the sofa clutching the bottle of whiskey.

  ‘So are you going to tell us what is going on?’ Tommy asked.

  ‘Louisa, Jake and Theo already know the truth, all of it,’ Olivia told him, ‘it’s only you and Veronica.’

  ‘Fine,’ he stopped pacing and crossed his arms, ‘so start talking. I want to know how the hell your mom is still alive, yet nobody seems bothered by that at all or the fact that she attacked you and trashed your room.’

  ‘That was your mom?’ Louisa asked accusingly.

  ‘I thought you said your mom was murdered by your father?’ Veronica frowned in confusion.

  Tommy carried on as if they hadn’t spoken.

  ‘And how did that guy end up in your house being treated by my wife when he should have been taken to a hospital. I’ve seen war and I’ve seen men who have been tortured. You can’t tell me that guy isn’t caught up in something bad and what the hell was that weird glowing thing Louisa was doing?’

  ‘Weird glowing thing?’ Jake turned to Louisa, ‘you used your gift? in front of him?’

  ‘I didn’t know he was there,’ Louisa snapped, ‘and in my defense I wasn’t going to use it at all, Olivia talked me into it.’