by Cheree Alsop
Aleric removed the needle from the syringe he had used and carefully exchanged syringes with Gregory. The number ‘Two’ showed in Dartan’s surprisingly elegant handwriting on the tape that had been wrapped around the top.
“Here we go,” Aleric said. He injected the antidote with careful precision.
Nurse Eastwick, Dartan, and Jaroff, the other male intern, stood in the doorway when Aleric injected the sixth serum. The seconds ticked by and still they waited. After more than five minutes and still no signs of reviving, Dr. Worthen finally sighed.
“Nurse Eastwick, Gregory, check the rest of the patients. Let me know who responds and I’ll be there to administer the antidotes.”
“Yes, Doctor,” they both replied.
Jaroff and Dartan left with the other two as though they knew better than to hang around when the head physician was frustrated.
“What now?” Dr. Worthen asked quietly when the others had gone.
“Let me take her to the D Wing,” Aleric offered. “Sunlight can help slow the spread of the poison. It might buy us time while I go out to look for more goblins. I’ll take Dartan with me.”
Dr. Worthen nodded. “That’s at least something.” He was quiet for a moment as he readied the equipment to be moved. “All of my years of schooling and experience here fail me with my own daughter.” He studied her pale face. “What good is all of this if I’m helpless to save her?”
Aleric knew the doctor’s words were meant to be rhetorical, but he couldn’t leave such a question unanswered.
“Dr. Worthen, you make a difference here every day. I’ve never seen anyone do what you do. You inspire me,” he said honestly.
Dr. Worthen looked at him for a moment. The smallest shadow of a smile touched his lips and he inclined his head. “One at a time, right?”
Aleric nodded. “And Lilian will be one of those, I promise. Don’t give up on me yet. I won’t stop hunting for goblins until she’s cured.”
“I appreciate it,” the doctor replied. He motioned for Aleric to push the bed and he moved the monitors close behind.
When Aleric reached the doors, Nurse Tarli was there to hold them open. She avoided meeting Aleric’s gaze as the werewolf pushed the bed past. The doors closed behind them and Aleric glanced back to ensure that the nurse wasn’t following.
“She’s pretty upset I’m here,” Aleric said.
“Nurse Tarli?” Dr. Worthen replied. He looked over his shoulder at the closed doors. “I wouldn’t worry about it. I only ask that my nurses be competent and prompt. I can’t control their personalities, as much as I might like to.”
Aleric pushed open the door to the D Wing with his back and pulled Lilian’s bed through to the Light fae side. He maneuvered her to the spot the fairy, Tranquility, had taken and then so selflessly given to the wood nymph who had been shot. Surprise filled him when he realized he missed the fairy’s bubbly, overwhelmingly positive chatter and beaming smile. The Light fae side hadn’t been the same since she left.
“It’s rather quiet in here,” Dr. Worthen noted. He checked Lilian’s monitors, adjusted her pillow slightly, and stepped back with a quiet outlet of breath anyone without werewolf hearing wouldn’t have noticed.
Aleric gave a small smile. “It is. With the rest of the patients gone, I’ve only got one puzzle left to figure out.”
“The flippered patient still hasn’t awakened?” Dr. Worthen asked.
Aleric shook his head. “I was hoping she would respond to the salt water. Selkies usually change form in the ocean, but she hasn’t come out of her coma.”
Dr. Worthen checked the bags hanging on the I.V. pole above the selkie’s bed. “Even with two drips, maybe she’s not getting enough salt.” He linked his hands behind his back and studied the selkie. “Considering the state in which you say selkies usually change form, perhaps the salt also needs to be on the outside of her body. There are rare occasions when we have to use a tub for a patient. I could have Gregory set one up and you could see how she responds to a salt water bath instead.”
Aleric was touched by how much the doctor appeared to care. “That would be great,” he said. “Thank you.”
Dr. Worthen nodded. He left the partially-finished room and crossed back to his daughter’s side. The frustration he felt at his helplessness to assist her showed on his face.
“I’ll find the goblin,” Aleric promised.
“Thank you,” Dr. Worthen replied.
Given the doctor’s obvious reluctance to leave the Light fae room, Aleric pulled a chair over to the side of the bed. The last time the chair had been used was by the wood nymph Valerian’s sister Vinca. Aleric still couldn’t understand the mindset of anyone who would shoot a creature so innocent and guileless.
He felt the same thing about Lilian. Whether she was the victim of a random goblin attack or if the Archdemon had sent it to her specifically didn’t matter. What mattered the most was that he find the goblin and restore her health.
“You could watch over her until Nurse Eastwick knows if the antidote is going to work on any of the patients,” he offered.
Dr. Worthen gave him a grateful look. “Thank you, Dr. Wolf. You are very considerate.”
He took a seat next to his daughter’s side.
The last thing Aleric saw when he left the room was the doctor’s hand resting on his daughter’s. Aleric wondered how many times the senior physician had led his little girl by the same hand. He vowed to make sure it wasn’t the last time Lilian felt the touch and knew how much her father loved her.
Dartan met him in the hallway.
“What’s that look on your face?” the vampire asked.
“A father’s love is a powerful thing,” Aleric replied, keeping his voice level. He pushed open the door to the parking lot, grateful Gregory had given them the use of his car again.
“And that bothers you, why?” Dartan pressed. He pulled his hood over his head to keep the sun off his sensitive skin.
Aleric shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
Dartan climbed into the car. Aleric could feel his searching look when he turned the key, but he refused to meet the vampire’s gaze.
“What did your father do to you?” Dartan asked.
Aleric shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
Dartan sat back. He pulled the seatbelt over to clip it, then shook his head and let it go. “The last thing I need to do is survive a car accident and wake up in the hospital. This whole situation will start all over again. Nobody wants that.”
Aleric rolled his eyes as he pulled the car into the road. “Who says I’m going to get us in a car accident?”
Dartan gave a triumphant grin. “Nobody, but it got you out of your hole of self-pity.”
“I wasn’t in a—”
“Look out!” Dartan shouted.
Aleric swerved around the car that was heading down the wrong side of the road jerking back and forth in a manner that made vehicles steer out of the way and pedestrians cringe on the sidewalks.
“Dartan, did you see that?” Aleric stared behind him in the direction the car had gone.
“What?” Dartan asked, craning his neck.
Aleric took advantage of the other drivers who had pulled to the sides of the road and did a U-turn. He didn’t know if something like that was legal, but at the moment, he didn’t care.
“Are you really going after the car that nearly killed us?” Dartan asked incredulously.
“Yes,” Aleric replied.
“Give me one good reason why that make sense,” the vampire demanded.
“Because there’s a goblin on the car.”
Dartan’s eyes widened. “After that vehicle!”
Aleric sped down the road, following in the car’s wake of disaster. Someone had hit a fire hydrant and water shot up into the air. The car sped through the next light and Aleric followed close behind. Only Dartan’s shout told of how close they cleared the intersection.
“I’d like to be alive when
we return to the hospital,” Dartan muttered.
“You’re a vampire,” Aleric replied.
Dartan let out a grunt of annoyance but didn’t respond. Both of them watched the small creature clinging to the roof of the car they followed.
“Why won’t she pull over?” Aleric asked, guessing by the bushy hair of the person in the driver’s seat that she was a woman.
“She’s driven by fear,” Dartan replied. “Look inside the car.”
Aleric’s eyes widened. There was another goblin inside the vehicle. It clung to the back of the passenger seat, its spider-claws sunk into the upholstery. The driver glanced back and then drove faster as if she could get away from the Dark fae just by driving.
“She’s not going to stop,” Dartan said. “I’m going to help her.”
“What are you talking about?” Aleric asked.
Dartan picked up the small tranquilizer gun and moved toward the window.
“What on Blays are you doing?” Aleric demanded.
“Helping the driver,” Dartan said. “I’ll shoot the goblin on the roof, toss it inside, and climb in after the other one. When it’s tranquilized, the driver should stop.”
He climbed out the window as easily as if they were standing still.
Aleric cursed the vampire’s reflexes. “I don’t think humans are that rational!” Aleric shouted after him.
Dartan crouched on the hood of Gregory’s little blue car. Aleric wondered if the orderly would mind if he returned the car with shoeprints on it. It was then that he realized the vampire wasn’t wearing shoes. Aleric let out a breath and shook his head. A vampire in scrubs and a werewolf behind the wheel. They were in trouble.
At Dartan’s gesture, Aleric pulled closer to the car. It was getting dark out, so he switched on his headlights to better illuminate the bumper. Dartan threw him a grateful smile.
“Don’t smile yet,” Aleric muttered under his breath. “This is a horrible plan. My plans are much better.” He didn’t admit to himself that he didn’t have a plan any better than Dartan’s at the moment, but he was sure he would come up with one if the vampire would just climb back into the car.
Instead, Dartan waited until the car was close enough and jumped onto the back with an ease that belied how fast they were going. The vehicle swerved from side to side. At the same time, the goblin’s head swiveled on its shiny black body. It glared at Dartan.
Aleric was sure the goblin would pounce during the time it took the vampire to draw the gun from his waistband and aim it, but the dart struck the goblin in the abdomen before it could act. Its legs gave out and it rolled toward the edge of the car.
Aleric’s hands tightened on the steering wheel and he prepared to swerve when the Dark fae creature fell, but Dartan scooped it up at the last moment. The vampire climbed to the top of the car and crouched. He tucked the goblin under one arm and leaned down. To Aleric’s amazement, the vampire knocked on the passenger window as casually as if he was asking to sell one of Grimmel’s finely manufactured products.
The driver ignored Dartan. The vampire looked back at Aleric and lifted his shoulders in a shrug. He crouched back down and used the gun to tap on the window. When the driver continued to swerve back and forth, Dartan gave a harder tap and the window shattered. The other goblin climbed higher on the seat. Dartan chucked the first goblin at it and slid inside when the creature ducked out of the way. Dartan spun and shot the goblin before it could regroup and attack.
The vampire grinned at Aleric through the back window and turned to say something to the driver. His mouth froze in the open position. Aleric read true fear on his friend’s face. Adrenaline surged through the werewolf. He was tempted to ram the back of the car, but the driver turned down a side street with no traffic and stepped on the brakes.
As soon as the vehicle came to a halt, Aleric threw Gregory’s car into park and darted out the door. He ran to the driver’s side of the car and glanced in. His heart slowed.
“Climb in the car or I’ll turn your friend into stone.”
Aleric heard the woman’s voice through the window without a problem. The words were echoed in hissing whispered by the snakes that made up her hair.
Aleric reached for the handle to the back door with purely automatic actions. He couldn’t break his gaze away from the medusa in the driver’s seat. Fearing for Dartan’s life, Aleric slid into the seat behind her. Several of the snakes turned back to watch him. The medusa glanced at him in the rearview mirror.
“Make one move and your vampire friend will become nothing more than a handsome statue,” she said.
The hissing whispers of her snakes sent tingles of fear down Aleric’s spine.
“I won’t move,” he said quietly.
The sound of his voice seemed to break Dartan from his trance. The vampire glanced at Aleric.
“We’re in big trouble,” the vampire said.
Chapter Five
“We fell right for their trap.”
Aleric paced the edges of their cell along the same path he had followed so many times he had lost count. The room was rectangular, cement, and with a glass ceiling so high he couldn’t reach it even standing on Dartan’s shoulders. The fact that they had still tried showed of their desperation.
“You’ve said that before,” Dartan pointed out.
The vampire lay on his back in the middle of the room, his gaze on the stars just visible through the light-polluted night sky.
“And you’ve yet to acknowledge it,” Aleric shot back. “We were idiots.”
“We were attempting to find a cure for the goblin victims at the hospital. Seeing one on top of a car just happened to be more of a coincidence than we took the time to consider. I’d do it again.”
“And end up in an inescapable prison again,” Aleric replied.
Dartan shrugged from his place on the floor. “Probably.” He paused, then said, “Don’t you just love the stars?”
Aleric gave a huff of frustration. “What are you talking about? We’re probably going to die here, and all you can talk about is stars?”
“You didn’t look at them,” Dartan said calmly.
Aleric’s hands clenched into fists. The voice in the back of his mind pointed out that hitting his friend wasn’t going to do anything other than bloody his knuckles.
The thought sent a tingle of cold through Aleric’s limbs. He glanced at the vampire.
“Dartan, are you hungry?”
Dartan nodded without taking his eyes off the night sky.
Aleric realized what he had taken as his friend’s nonchalant attitude was actually extreme concentration to control his vampiric urges.
“We’ve been in here for hours,” Aleric said as the knowledge dawned on him with sickening realization.
“They want us to turn on each other and give in to our primal urges,” Dartan replied.
“Do you have to say it like that?” Aleric asked. When the vampire kept silent, Aleric found himself pacing around the room again. He counted twenty steps to the wall, fifteen to the next one, twenty, and then fifteen. The small door in the middle of one of the fifteen foot walls was two feet wide and smelled of Dark fae. Aleric fought back the urge to sneeze every time he passed it. He had checked many times, but the construction of the door was solid and metal. It was another dead end.
That was an ironic, morbid thought. Aleric glanced at Dartan. The vampire’s pale jaw was clenched and his chest barely rose and fell with each breath. He hadn’t moved for a quite some time. It was obvious to Aleric now that the vampire planned for a long siege.
“This isn’t going to work,” Aleric said quietly.
“Sure it will,” Dartan replied with his gaze on the stars. “They obviously don’t want to deal with both of us, so why not let one of their medusai turn us to stone? The only reason I keep coming back to is through sheer morbid curiosity, as demons are known for having. Which will win out? They have the perfect battle, the vampire against the werewolf, bloodsucker aga
inst moonbound, Dark fae against Light. It’s a fight as ageless as Blays.”
He glanced at Aleric this time. The werewolf was taken back by the deep red of the vampire’s eyes. Even in the Emergency Room they hadn’t been so red. But they had hunted goblins, extracted serum, and tested Lilian since that time. The stress of following the car with the goblin on it and attempting to rescue the woman had no doubt taken their toll on Dartan’s system. Add to that several hours in the cement room and whatever blood that had remained in the vampire’s body was long gone.
“I’ll die before I drink your blood.”
The vampire’s statement was flat and absolute. He turned his gaze back to the stars.
Aleric stared at him. There was no doubt by the resolve on Dartan’s face that he meant every word.
“I won’t let that happen,” Aleric said.
“You have to,” Dartan replied.
Aleric shook his head. “No, I don’t. You’re my friend. I’m not going to let you die when I can do something about it.”
Dartan looked at him again and Aleric read true sorrow in his gaze. “You don’t get it, do you?”
Aleric crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “I get that we’re trapped in a cell, they want some fae feud spurred on by centuries of endless race bickering, and we’re not going to give them what they want. That’s what I get.”
Dartan lifted one finger to point at the ceiling. Aleric followed his gaze. The barest shadowing of gray showed overhead.
“If you or I don’t do it, the sun will.”
The vampire’s words rang true. Why else would the demons have put them in a room with a glass ceiling? They had also made a point of taking Dartan’s trench coat. The fact didn’t strike Aleric until that moment.
“That can’t be right,” Aleric said. “Why kill you? They could just have easily turned the medusa on me.”
Dartan opened his hands, then closed them again. “Demons entertain no envy worse than what they feel for vampires because, while we are both fae of the night, my race of revenants lives for centuries while their days are numbered like a human’s. They’ve hated my race since time began.”