by Cheree Alsop
It took several minutes for Dartan’s eyes to move beneath his eyelids. A breath struggled into his lungs. The vampire lifted a hand and grabbed the bag, pressing it to his mouth.
“About time,” Aleric said, his tone annoyed to hide how worried he felt.
Dartan kept his eyes closed while he finished the bag.
“Here’s another,” Aleric told him.
He withdrew the completely drained bag from the vampire’s mouth and set the next one in his hands. Dartan pressed it to his face and used his hollow canines to bite through the plastic.
The sight of the vampire’s burns gripped Aleric’s heart. He couldn’t imagine how much they must hurt. The fact that Dartan was alive to experience it hinted that perhaps being a vampire wasn’t quite as enjoyable as it appeared on the surface.
Aleric felt exhausted, but he had promised Dr. Worthen that he would go out after goblins. They had also left Gregory’s car a ways from the hospital. He couldn’t expect the orderly to trust them with his vehicle again if it was left in random locations throughout the city.
“Are you going to die on me if I go out?” Aleric asked.
Dartan gave a small snort, his eyes still closed. “We sound…like an old…married couple.”
That brought the ghost of a smile to Aleric’s lips. “Except we’re not nearly as charming. I need to bring the car back and some goblins if I can manage it.”
Dartan’s eyes cracked open and he tipped his head to glance at the werewolf. “You look a bit drained.”
Aleric rolled his eyes. “I don’t suppose they have werewolf blood on hand here. I imagine it’ll take a while for my body to recuperate. But in the meantime, the bite victims are getting worse. I have to do what I can.”
“I’ll come with you,” Dartan said.
“Stay and sleep,” Aleric replied.
Dartan tried to push up before Aleric could stop him, then fell back into the bed. “On the other hand, sleep sounds wonderful.”
“Sleep,” Aleric said. “I’ll be back before you need more blood, but just in case, here’s another bag.” He set it next to the vampire.
A snore met his words.
Chapter Eight
Aleric stopped at the closest convenience store. The sign on the door didn’t proclaim ‘No Werewolves’ as so many in Blays had after the Fallow Conflict. Aleric pulled out the envelope Dr. Worthen had given him and opened it. He had no idea how much the bills inside were worth. After glancing around at the prices of the items on the shelves, Aleric realized Dr. Worthen had paid him very generously for the few days he had been in Edge City.
Aleric selected a box of protein bars like the kind the doctor had given him, and he grabbed a pack of water bottles. Given the day he had experienced, he felt like the more water he drank, the better.
“Will that be everything?” the cashier asked. She gave him a beaming smile.
Aleric didn’t know if it was his scrubs that made her so friendly or if she was just an extremely happy person.
“Yes,” Aleric replied. He paused and remembered his brief time with the wood nymphs. “Uh, please,” he said.
“That will be nineteen dollars and twenty-seven cents,” she told him, fluttering her eyelashes.
Aleric looked through the bills skeptically. He selected one and held it out. “Is this enough?”
She giggled as if he had said something hilarious. “That’s perfect,” she told him.
She pushed several buttons on her machine and the drawer popped open. She withdrew several coins and held them out.
“Oh, I get some back?” Aleric said in surprise.
She giggled again. “Of course, silly. You need to take your change.”
Aleric hefted the small coins in his hand. In Blays, the most common form of currency were pressed coins like those he held. It seemed as though they would be worth far more than the paper bill he had handed the cashier. Many werewolves wore small pouches around their necks to carry coins and anything else that would get lost in pockets when they phased. Wondering if he should do the same, Aleric put the coins carefully back in the envelope and picked up the bag the cashier had set on the counter.
“Come back soon,” she called after him. Just before he reached the door, he heard her say, “I should give him my number next time.”
Aleric pushed the door open, stepped out of sight of the big windows that fronted the store, and sank to a sitting position against the wall. The people who walked by didn’t even appear to notice him as he twisted open one of the bottles of water and drank it down in two gulps. He opened another and did the same. By the third bottle, he felt somewhat satiated. He tore into the box of protein bars and had eaten two before he realized that he wasn’t the only one sitting while those on the sidewalks continued past without looking to either side.
Two sets of big brown eyes watched him from the sidewalk across the street from where he sat. The children were roughly six or seven. They looked gaunt, their cheeks were dirty, and their clothing ragged.
Aleric let out a small breath. He remembered how it had felt to be the one on the street, alone and without knowing where the next meal would come from. When he met their gazes, the boy and girl ducked into the alley beside them. He could smell the sour scent of their unwashed bodies from where he sat. He wondered that none of the humans turned to find the source of the smell. Perhaps they were too used to it to notice it anymore. He knew he had gotten that way when he was younger.
Aleric pushed up to a standing position. He dodged his way through the foot traffic and waited for several cars to pass. By the time he made it across the street, the children were nowhere to be seen.
“I know you’re here,” Aleric said, stepping into the alley. “I know you’re hungry. I have food.”
“He said food,” he heard the girl whisper.
“Quiet,” the boy replied. “He’ll hear us.”
“He could track us,” the girl replied. “Werewolves are good trackers.”
A tingle ran down Aleric’s spine. “How do you know I’m a werewolf?”
“We can smell it on you,” the boy replied.
That caught Aleric’s attention. “You’re not human, are you?”
The little girl let out a giggle. “No.”
Aleric walked toward the sound of their voices. He paused before he reached them. If they felt safer hiding in the pile of cardboard boxes near the far end of the alley, he wouldn’t force them to come out.
“So if you’re not human,” he continued, his tone light, “What are you?”
The boy’s head poked out from between the boxes and Aleric got a closer look at him. He backed up quickly at the sight of the boy’s cat-like eyes. The marks he had mistaken for dirt along the boy’s cheeks were actually dark stripes.
“We’re grims,” the boy said.
His sister’s head poked out beside him. “Hello, Dr. Wolf.”
Aleric’s mouth fell open. “What are grims doing in Edge City and why do you know my name, or what they call me at the hospital?”
The boy pointed a finger toward the other side of the street. Aleric followed his gesture to a store filled with television sets. The news showed on several channels. Across the bottom, he read a ticker that said, ‘…has bites or bite-like symptoms, report to Edge City Hospital immediately. Several cases have already been treated, but those left alone could quickly become life-threatening….”
“They showed you fighting the demon,” the girl said. “We wanted to come see the werewolf brave enough—”
“Stupid enough,” the boy put in.
“To pit himself against the Dark fae,” the girl finished.
Aleric’s heart raced. He looked from one child to the other. “So is this it?”
The children glanced at each other.
“Don’t leave me guessing,” Aleric said. It sounded foolhardy even to him, but he hated games and something like that just didn’t seem right to beat around the bush about. “Tell me the truth. Is my ti
me over?”
A smile filled the little boy’s face. “Oh, no, nothing like that.”
The little girl giggled. “We wouldn’t do that to you.”
Relief flooded Aleric. “Isn’t that what you do?”
The boy nodded. “Yes, when we need to, but not today. At least not anymore. You really should stay away from demons, and also vampires. They’re hard on your health.”
“Tell me about it,” Aleric replied. Since the two young grims weren’t predicting his death, Aleric could breathe easier. He held up the plastic bag. “Are you two hungry?”
Both of the grims nodded.
“What are you names?” Aleric asked. He didn’t know the rules of dealing with grims. Perhaps asking for their names was bad luck. Some in Blays believed in the power of names; perhaps the opposite was also true. However, it felt wrong not to be at least polite.
“I’m Grimsli,” the boy said, “And this is my twin sister Grimma.”
Aleric took out a bar for each of them along with a bottle of water. “It’s good to meet you both,” he replied, handing the food over.
The children took the items eagerly.
“It’s good to meet you, Dr. Wolf,” Grimsli said.
“Yeah,” Grimma echoed, opening her bar with her pointed canine teeth. “We were hoping we would see you.”
“How long have you been here?” he asked as they guzzled the water down much the same way he had.
“A few days,” Grimsli said, his mouth full.
“This place is scary,” Grimma echoed.
Aleric nodded. “Tell me about it. You should come back to the hospital with me. I’m sure there’ll be somewhere you can hang out.”
Grimsli shook his head. “Grims aren’t supposed to go in hospitals. It’s bad luck.”
Aleric was in the process of digging more bars out of the bag when he paused. “I hadn’t thought of that.” He gave the alley a skeptical look. “But this isn’t a place to live. I’m not sure when we’re going to be able to open the Rift again; you can’t stay here.”
“It’s better than home,” Grimma said.
Grimsli nodded. “Much better.” He fell backwards into the pile of boxes. Both children burst out laughing.
“Besides,” Grimma said, growing quickly somber. “Here we don’t have to work so hard.”
Her comment caught Aleric’s attention. “What work?”
“In the factory,” Grimsli answered. “We stay in the dark all day and night. If we don’t get the scraps shoveled into the fire chute, we’re punished.”
“Scraps,” Aleric repeated. His heart slowed. “You work in Grimmel’s factories in the Sludge.”
Both children nodded.
“This is like a vacation,” Grimma said. “Can we stay?”
“Please can we stay?” her brother asked, taking up the plea. “We won’t cause any trouble. We’ll stay away from hospitals and we won’t bother anyone, we promise.”
Aleric knew the alley was no place for children to live, but he didn’t know of anywhere else to send the grims. In Blays, grims kept together in solitary family groups. They were usually only seen as an omen of death. Grimmel locking them in the basement of one of his warehouses wasn’t surprising. But they were children.
As Aleric watched, the brother took his sister’s hand. The pleading in their large eyes with the cat pupils was something he couldn’t deny.
“Alright. But I want you to promise me that if you get into trouble, you’ll go to the hospital and wait for me by the back door, okay?”
“Thank you!” Grimma said. She wrapped her hands around Aleric’s waist and gave him as tight a hug as her little arms could manage. “You’re the best, Dr. Wolf.”
He smiled down at her. “You can call me Aleric.”
Grimma shook her head. “The older kids at the factory said we’d only get adopted if we’re polite. Adults should always be Mister or Misses. Or Doctor, in your case.”
“That’s right,” Grimsley said. “We want to be polite.”
Aleric’s heart went out to the two children. “How long have you been at the factory?”
Grimma looked at her brother.
“Two years,” he answered quietly. “After Mum and Dad were killed by demons, Mr. Bunder, who owned our apartment, sold us to Grimmel for the funeral costs.”
Aleric kept his voice level when he asked, “Why did demons kill your parents?”
It was Grimma that answered. “A name was on their list. They were seen and the demon was upset. They usually stayed away from demons, but they said they had to go to this one. It was their job.”
Aleric shook his head. “I’m so sorry.” He was quiet for a moment as he watched them devour their bars. He cleared his throat. “My mother died when I was a few years younger than you both, and I was supposed to be sold to work at the factories, too.”
“You were?” Grimsli said, his eyes wide.
“What did you do?” Grimma asked, her voice hushed as though asking him to tell them a secret.
Aleric crouched so he was eye level with them. He leaned in dramatically. “I ran away. I ran and ran as fast as my little legs could carry me, and I ended up deep in Drake City. I lived in the streets, and you know what?”
“What?” Grimma asked.
Aleric swept a hand to indicate the alley. “I never found an alley as nice as this one. This is pretty amazing.”
“That’s what we thought,” Grimsli said. “Thank you for letting us stay.”
Aleric nodded. He stood. “I’ve got to go catch some goblins. They keep biting people here.”
“We’ll keep an eye out,” Grimma told him. “Whenever goblins got in the factory, they released the sparks. Goblins hate bright flashes of light.”
“Good to know,” Aleric said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Be careful, Dr. Wolf,” Grimsli told him.
“I will,” Aleric promised. “And I’ll come back with more food.”
“Okay!” both children said with enthusiasm.
He glanced back when he reached the mouth of the alley. The grims had taken their water and bars back to the cardboard boxes. He felt bad leaving them there, but was unsure what else to do. Grimma’s giggles met his ears. At least for the moment they were safe and happy. According to what he had learned, it was perhaps the happiest they had been since their parents died.
Aleric continued up the street. Seeing the children was a reminder of his own past in the alleys of Drake City. He would do what he could to ensure that the grims had a much better existence than his young years had been.
Any hope Aleric had entertained of finding the tranquilizer gun safely inside Gregory’s car was gone when he saw the driver’s door wide open the way he had left it when he rushed forward to see what had stunned Dartan. He remembered Dartan shooting the two goblins in the medusa’s car before he saw who was driving. It hadn’t been in the car when he drove it from the demons’ lair back to the hospital. The gun was a loss.
Aleric checked the ignition. The keys were gone. He looked on the floor, between the seats, and for some reason, even checked the flap that folded down from above the windshield, but the keys weren’t there. It made no sense. If someone was going to steal the car, they would have done it when they found the keys. If they weren’t going to steal it, why take them?”
“Looking for these?”
Aleric glanced into the rearview mirror and his heart slowed.
“Step out of the vehicle, Dr. Wolf, and keep your hands where we can see them.”
Aleric climbed slowly out of the car with his hands up. The officers rushed to him. His instincts demanded that he fight, but he willed the adrenaline to ease up as they placed handcuffs around his wrists, securing them behind his back.
“Sorry about this,” one of the officers said quietly so the others wouldn’t hear.
Aleric met the officer’s gaze. Officer Ling gave him an apologetic smile.
“It’s not your fault,” Aleric told
the officer he had once saved from demon Forsythe’s raging attack.
“We’ve got him, Mayor,” another of the officers called out.
A woman with long black hair, glasses, and wearing heels that made her far taller than she was without them stepped into the mouth of the alley. “Bring him with us. We don’t have much time.”
Aleric was shoved forward.
“Is that really necessary?” he asked. “I’m walking just like the rest of you. Pushing me really only turns you into a bully.”
“A bully who doesn’t like fae,” the officer snapped back. His nametag read Officer Darold. “Your kind are ruining our city.”
Aleric and Officer Ling exchanged a glance.
“I’ve been trying to help save your city,” Aleric pointed out. “Being detained doesn’t exactly further my efforts.”
“Shut up,” Officer Darold said. He shoved Aleric again.
“Take it easy,” Officer Ling told him.
“It’s fine,” Aleric replied. “I know how to deal with bullies.”
He walked forward, but kept his senses tuned to the officer behind him and to his left. He slowed his steps enough to bother the man. When Officer Darold moved to shove him again, Aleric stepped to the right with enough werewolf speed that the officer stumbled over his foot and landed on his face on the ground. Everyone stared at the fallen officer in shock.
Officer Darold climbed back to his feet in a huff. He reached for the club in his belt. With Aleric’s hands cuffed behind his back, the werewolf wasn’t sure how much of a fight he could put up, but he had never been one to back down when he should. He faced the officer with a look of defiance. The other officers moved to stop Darold when the mayor’s voice halted them all.
“Stop messing around and put Dr. Wolf in my car,” she said.
“Do you think that’s wise?” Officer Darold asked. “He’s a criminal, Mayor Perlis, and he’s dangerous.”
“You’ll be riding with us,” the mayor said. Her tone left no room for further argument.
When they reached the mouth of the alley, Officer Darold escorted Aleric to a blue SUV while the other four officers split up to the two waiting police vehicles. Aleric lifted a foot to step awkwardly inside the SUV with his hands still cuffed when someone swept his other foot. He landed on his knees on the pavement.