Blood Cure (A Keira Blackwater Novel Book 1)
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I reached up to pull out an ancient copy of the Bible to see when it had been published when an all-too-familiar voice said, “That is one of the earliest known copies to exist. It must be handled with surgical gloves so the oils in your fingers do not ruin what is left of the exterior.”
I nearly leapt out of my skin. “Dammit, Leo!” I blurted as I spun around. My fists clenched with my effort not to hit him. “Can’t you make some noise or something?”
He smiled, tilted his head as if to say, “Point taken,” and offered me a seat on the nearest chair while he sat behind the desk. Leo leaned back in his chair with his fingers steepled in front of him as though he didn’t quite know what to say to me. Apparently, his time away hunting for dinner had given both of us a chance to regain our composure.
The intensity of his stare made me want to squirm, so I decided to ignore what happened earlier on the patio and get back to my questions. The sooner I had my answers, the sooner I could leave and forget he ever kissed me. “So, first of all, how is Arnaud? I haven’t heard anything about him. And second, what happened after I passed out?”
Leo didn’t say anything for several seconds; he just stared. His hazel eyes shone in the overhead light, intensifying the look he gave me. Then, as if coming to some conclusion, he said, “Arnaud is fine. After you healed me, I revived him and sent him to feed. When he finished, he cleaned up our mess with the werewolves while I brought you here. Once he returned, he took my place watching over you while I fed and regained the rest of my strength. He has his own home not far from here.”
Thank the Great Spirit. He hadn’t died. Relief washed over me as I realized they had both survived, but then my heart sank a little when I thought of the werewolves that hadn’t.
Rya heard my thoughts and chimed in. They picked a fight with you, Keira, not the other way around. It was you or them. I knew she was right, but it still hurt knowing they died because of me, regardless of how.
To Leo I said, “How come you brought me back here instead of taking me to the hospital? Amina told me it was touch and go for a while; wouldn’t the hospital have been a better place to take me?”
He sighed. “I could not take the risk. There are very few people outside the supernatural community and your friend’s department at the hospital who know about your blood. Someone connected you to the anomaly the police found, and that someone either told the werewolves or is a member of their pack. How that person found out about the anomaly I do not know.”
Something clicked into place in my mind and I said, “I might know. Matt told me that Jeremy pulled rank and took Brian’s and Tom’s bodies, and they also took the blood samples the police had taken and run tests on. The same ones they found the anomaly in.” Which meant more than likely we were looking for a werewolf, and they either worked at the hospital or knew someone who did. All of this tied in to my blood. I voiced what I thought to Leo and he nodded in agreement. I leaned forward to the edge of my seat. “It still doesn’t make sense; my blood has never killed anyone before. Why would it suddenly do so?” The thought of my blood having something to do with their deaths made me want to throw up.
“I do not know,” he said, “but now you see why I could not risk taking you to the hospital. You must be careful. The wolves know about what happened at the club. The rumor now is that they are regrouping what is left of the pack, so they are still a threat to you. It is even worse because, with Jeremy and his second-in-command both dead, no one knows who the new Alpha is.” He sounded calm, but scrubbed his hand down his face.
I knew I’d have to deal with the fallout from the werewolves eventually, but I hoped to get the rest of my problems figured out before then. I needed to talk to my father about my heritage, find out what the shadow creature was and what it wanted, and most pressing, what happened to my blood and if it killed Tom and Brian.
I didn’t know what else to say so I stood and said, “I need to get home. Sam and Sally must be worried sick, and I have a business to run. Can you have Amina call me a taxi?”
Leo stood and walked around to the front of the desk, just feet from me. He casually leaned back against the solid wood, and let his hands rest on its lacquered top. “Are we not to speak of what happened earlier outside? You have made certain to speak of everything but.”
My cheeks flushed. “No, we’re not. You’re grateful, I’m grateful. Nothing’s changed.” My heart stuttered in my chest, happy he’d brought it up, but the rational side of my brain said his kiss had been a mistake, and that’s what I went with.
Leo stood inches from me in a heartbeat, his warm breath tickling the tiny hairs on my cheek. His finger caressed a soft line from my earlobe to my throat. My breath hitched. “Whether you like it or not, Keira, things have changed. You gave me a piece of your soul when you saved my life; I will not just forget it.” His soft lips brushed a chaste kiss across my cheek before withdrawing. “Arnaud brought your truck here while you were unconscious,” he said as he walked over to the fireplace and knelt down beside Rya. She eagerly flopped over on her side and he rubbed her belly while she purred loudly.
It took me a minute to find my voice. “Thank you,” I said. Lame, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Come on, Rya, we need to get home.” She made a show of stretching, and yawning with her big cat jaw, then got to her feet and padded toward me. Leo had taken his place behind the desk without me realizing he had moved, and watched me intently.
“Remember, the werewolves are broken, but they will recover. When they do, you will be at the top of their list.”
Yeah, I didn’t need him to remind me. I nodded, turned, and left the library. On the way through the living room I heard Amina call out, “Miss Blackwater, there is a phone call for you. It is one of your friends has been calling to check on you.” She hurried over and handed me the phone.
Thank you, I mouthed to her and then said, “Hello?”
“Keira Nadine Blackwater!” Father gave me my middle name in honor of my mother, Nadie Blackwater, and I cringed at Sally’s use of it. “What’s going on? Why haven’t you called? Leo only told us some of what happened the other day. He said that it was your story to tell, so tell it!” Sally yelled into the phone.
“I’m sorry, Sally. I’ve been unconscious until this evening, and Amina said that Leo told you guys what happened and that you’d been checking in every day. I’d planned on calling you tomorrow,” I explained, trying to calm her. I swear, half the time she acted like my annoying younger sister, and the other half she acted like my mom.
“Yeah, well, we only had what Leo told us to go by. We’ve been worried sick. Sam threatened to run a stake through Leo’s heart on more than one occasion if he didn’t let us come see you and check on you ourselves. He said no. Said that someone might follow us there and try to harm you. What’s this all about, Keira?” She sounded angry, but I knew it was just her worry and fear talking.
I spent the next fifteen minutes while I dressed—Amina had laid out a new set of clothes just my size—telling her everything that had happened with the werewolves and the battle the other night, and also about me being rewarded with Rya. I’d tried to keep her out of it as much as possible because of her relationship with Tom and the pain of his death, but mostly because I worried she might not be able to forgive me if I somehow caused his death.
“Look, there’s no way you’re responsible. That must be what happened to your blood at the hospital! Someone took it and used it to turn them human, and then killed them. Why haven’t you told me this before now? I’m your best friend, I should know these things!”
“I know, I know, but I was afraid you would be angry with me if it turned out that my blood killed Tom.”
Her voice softened. “Keira, you should know me better than that. The only way I would blame you is if you actually killed him with your own hands. But I am angry you didn’t tell me.”
We spent a few more minutes on the phone—mostly me apologizing—and then we hung up wi
th my promise to see her tomorrow. I retraced my earlier path with Amina and found my way to the kitchen where I handed her the phone and thanked her again for everything. She insisted I eat something, but I declined in favor of getting home. Raimondo escorted me to the garage where I found Old Red.
Rya and I climbed inside the old truck and steered her toward home, thanks to directions from Raimondo. I was grateful for everything Leo had done, but I couldn’t put distance between me and the confusing vampire fast enough.
CHAPTER 12
The next day I stopped at Sam’s first. He hugged me fiercely as soon as he saw me, as though he hadn’t seen me in years. It was nice to be missed, to have people care so much about me, but damn, it had only been three days.
“Sam,” I coughed; he squeezed all the air out of my lungs. “I can’t breathe.”
“Sorry.” As soon as he let go, I doubled over and tried to catch my breath. “Sally and I both thought we’d lost ya.” He pulled out the dining chair closest to me, and waited for me to sit before doing the same, then scratched Rya behind the ear when she leaned toward him.
“Nah, I’m too stubborn to die.” I smiled, trying to make light of the situation, but I knew it had rattled them.
He scrubbed his hand down his face before placing his hand on top of mine. It looked as though he hadn’t slept well in days. “If anything happened to you…if you hadn’t come back….” Sam looked away, unable to say the words.
I squeezed his hand. “I know, Sam. But I’m fine, I’m here.” My chest tightened at the worry on his face. He had always been the toughest of the three of us; I could only imagine what Sally had gone through.
After composing himself, he turned back to me and asked, “So what really happened? If I knew where that bloodsucker lived, I swear I would have driven a stake through his heart. What’s he got to do with any of this anyway?” Sam stood and walked to the refrigerator. He pulled a beer from the door. “Want one?” When I shook my head, he popped the top and sat back down in his chair. As he drank his Budweiser and listened, I recounted the story of what happened for the second time.
“Huh. So the bloodsucker saved your life, then you almost died saving his.” He gulped the last swig of beer and slammed the empty can on the table, crushing it into a heap of aluminum. “What the hell were you thinking? He’s a vampire, he’s already dead.”
His anger startled me, but I knew it was the fear talking. Or at least most of it. “You wouldn’t understand,” I said. Nobody did.
“Understand what?” he asked. He’d softened his words, but anger still colored his cheeks.
“Nothing, just drop it please.” I didn’t feel like diving into my psyche and explaining how I felt responsible for so many people’s deaths.
He must have heard something in my voice because he opened his mouth to comment, but then thought better of it. We sat in silence for several moments, neither of us knowing what to say to the other. Finally, Sam spoke, putting an end to our standoff. “Did the bloodsucker at least tell you the news?” His use of the derogatory nickname some had given the vampire race made me clench my teeth and dig my fingernails into my palm, but I let it pass. It would be a while—if ever—before he forgave Leo for not letting him be there when I was hurt.
“What news?” I asked. Something cold and slimy slithered up my spine.
“Word on the street there’s been another murder. A vampire, killed the same as the wolves.” I tried to hide my surprise, but he saw it and his face darkened. “Figures,” he grunted. “Guess he didn’t see the need to tell you that, just like he didn’t see the need for me and Sally to come see you when we thought you were dying.” His words dripped acid, making me glad I hadn’t told him about Leo kissing me.
Great. Now we had two dead werewolves and at least one dead vampire. That’s just what I needed. If someone told the vampires I was the one responsible for his or her death like the werewolves apparently had been…I didn’t even want to contemplate the thought of having them after me as well. Things just kept getting better and better.
We need to get to the hospital and see what we can find before this escalates any further. Rya’s thoughts drifted across my mind like a leaf on the wind.
Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking.
I pushed up from my chair and Sam followed. “I have to get to the hospital and see if Rya and I can find any answers,” I said and hugged him. Most of the anger and stiffness in his frame melted away as he returned my embrace. He walked me to the door, and tried to make me promise to tell him what I found out, no matter how big or small. I mumbled something noncommittal; I couldn’t make that promise.
He didn’t seem to notice because he changed the subject. “By the way, you owe me,” he said as he opened the door.
“For what?”
“I took care of the window in your living room.”
“Crap, I forgot all about it.” The wolf breaking my living room window seemed like eons ago. “Thanks, Sam. I owe you one.”
“Heh, you owe me more than one,” he grumbled. “That thing wasn’t cheap.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I teased. “Bill me.”
“Ooh, don’t worry, I will. I’ll tack on interest while I’m at it.” I stuck my tongue out at him and darted out the door before he retaliated, glad our conversation had lightened and returned to the bantering I was used to.
***
The hospital was only about twenty miles from Sam’s, and though it was Monday, the morning work rush had subsided so it didn’t take long to get there. I pulled into the above ground parking lot and killed the truck.
Perhaps you should take your place as my tattoo. I doubt having a puma running around the hospital would go over very well. It’s not like I can claim you as my Seeing Eye puma. I laughed despite the nervous cramp in my stomach. We really needed to find something here that would give us a lead.
You have a lot to learn. My magic protects me when I wish it. No one will see me. She stood on the bench seat and stared at me, waiting impatiently for me to open the door.
All righty then. I pulled the handle and we tumbled out. Several people milled around the parking garage, and I expected any one of them to start screaming at the sight of the massive puma trotting toward the automatic doors. When no one did, I shook my head and followed her. Guess I did have a lot to learn.
We made our way through the lower levels of the hospital, past all the screaming kids and upset parents to the third floor in search of Sally. She worked on the laboratory level where they handled all the hospital’s pathological requirements, blood for transfusions and such.
It also served as the “Safe Zone” where supernaturals could come without retribution and receive a dose of my blood that would return them to who they’d been prior to the virus. Sally said a separate hidden entrance had been created just for them to use, but I’d never learned its location—they didn’t want anyone other than Sally and a few others to know—so I trekked through the corridors of the hospital like everyone else.
As soon as I stepped through the door into the main lab, Sally dropped whatever was in her hand and nearly bowled me over as she wrapped her arms around my waist and squeezed with more strength than I thought she possessed. For a moment, it seemed as though she would cry, but then she straightened and said in a voice that would make a drill instructor proud, “Keira, I love you like a sister, but if you ever do anything like that to me again, I will kick your ass. Do you understand?”
I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing at the “fierce” scowl she did her best to create. Instead of appearing stern, she looked like a clown with a unibrow practicing his fish impression. “Yes, Mom, I’ll try not to almost get killed again without telling you first.”
She narrowed her eyes at my sarcastic retort, making the unibrow effect look even more pronounced. I burst out laughing, unable to contain it any longer. She punched me on the arm—hard —but then gave in and joined in my laughter. It was so good to see her.
I snorted. “I was a little busy being scolded for almost dying.” She ignored my sarcasm, and patted Rya.
She stood when I started telling her what Sam said about there now being a vampire who had been killed. “I need to see where my blood is kept, and I need to know who has access to it before this gets further out of hand.”
Sally nodded and led me across the room, past the tables, beakers, and microscopes, to a door with a keypad on the opposite wall. She entered her code, and pushed open the door.
“We keep your blood over here, separate.” She motioned to a glass refrigerated cabinet in the corner. It, too, had a lock on it.
“The keypad and the lock on the cabinet—were they there before my blood disappeared, or did you add them after?”
“The keypad was there before, and we added the lock to the cabinet after. Why?” she asked.
“Was the door damaged in any way when you realized my blood was missing?”
“No. Why? Wait a minute. Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?” She looked horrified.
“Look. You’re seeing what I am. The only way into this room is with a code punched into that keypad. The only person who could have taken my blood was someone who worked here at the hospital. Leo and I also think that same someone told the werewolves I was responsible for Tom and Brian’s deaths—we just don’t know why.”