by HK Savage
Dark eyes swung around and Salvo felt the temperature in the car drop about twenty degrees. “There was nothing anyone could have done to save him. That same night Becca nearly died saving the rest of our unit. If anyone ‘leaves her swinging,’ they will answer to me.”
“I can’t.” The feminine monotone broke the uncomfortable silence, adding a new layer of awkward to the dynamic. “Wait, what are you doing?”
The girl started thrashing in the back seat, her feet kicking the back of his seat. Alarmed, Salvo checked his rearview mirror again and saw the girl had gone completely white and broken out in a sweat. Her eyes were rolled up in her head. “Shit, she’s not having a fit or something, is she?” He started to slow down, pulling over as he checked Rossi for a reaction. What he saw wasn’t what he expected.
Jaw clenched tight enough to shatter his teeth, the guy was whiter than usual. Weird since he was Italian like him except they were polar opposites on skin tone. That wasn’t what struck him as freaky. It was the way he was watching her. He’d turned around and was staring at her intently, listening like she was some sort of oracle. It was like he was committing everything she said to memory. Did he find her nightmares that fascinating? What kind of weirdo was this guy?
The car came to a halt on the side of the road and Rossi was out his door and into the back before Salvo looked up from putting it in Park. That guy was fast. He’d gotten in back with the girl but on the other side and, as much as he looked like he wanted to, he didn’t touch her.
Salvo didn’t like the way the girl’s face was contorted. She was seriously scared. “Shouldn’t we wake her up?”
The captain’s focus remained trained on the girl. “No, we can’t interrupt,” he said softly, offering no further explanation.
“Hey man, my grandmother was into that whole bad juju thing and she figured you couldn’t wake somebody up without their soul getting lost or whatever, but that’s bullshit. The girl’s having a nightmare, it’s pretty shitty to let her be that freaked out.” He twisted in his seat and extended a hand toward her knee.
Rossi’s hand caught his mid-reach. “Don’t touch her,” he growled.
“Please,” she pleaded in a whisper, “don’t make me do this.” Tears ran down her face. “I can’t.”
Detective Salvo was pissed. “Dude if you won’t wake her up, I will.” He tried freeing his arm to no avail. The guy was about the same size and build but his hand was like a steel clamp and just as warm. There was no moving it. “Let me go.” These people were weirding him out. He was going to be asking the chief again where they were from. And when they were going back.
With a whimper, the girl’s body went limp and his hand was released. Making no sound at all, Captain Rossi slid over until he was almost on top of the little thing and he wrapped an arm under her shoulders, tucking her in against his side. Her head flopped onto his chest.
Yep, he was totally into this girl. Part of Salvo was disappointed. He’d hoped she was a free agent. She was cute and there was something about her, that quiet confidence that usually had him chasing older women. The way this one carried herself said she’d seen some shit and she could handle it. That and the tight little ass in those snug pants turned him on.
“Is she okay?” Salvo glanced back at them again, not liking the whiteness of the girl’s skin or the dark shade of her partner’s glare he turned his way.
“Drive us to our motel,” he ordered.
“What about your car? It’s at the station.” Did this girl have some sort of medical condition? “Why’s she so pale? Is she sick?” he wondered aloud. “Maybe we should take her to the hospital.”
“Screw the car, get us to the motel now,” Rossi barked. “She’ll be fine.”
Glancing up again at the strain in the man’s voice, he was sure there was something more to this nightmare the captain wasn’t sharing. “Alright.” Irritated, Salvo turned himself back around and put it in drive. The motel was closer anyway and he was going to be more than okay with getting rid of these two. Then he was going to see what he could dig up on the mysterious Captains Rossi and Sauter. He was positive they weren’t Feds. At least not the normal kind. He had a quick mental listen to the X-Files theme music. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath.
Chapter 10
She was still sleeping when a gentle knock rattled the metal door. Michael hurried to unlock it and step outside, holding it mostly closed behind him.
“Is she okay?” Ryan’s concern was written plainly on his face. “It’s been hours.”
Taking one hand off the door handle to rub his knuckles over his jaw. “No, she hasn’t moved.”
Putting a hand on Michael’s arm, Ryan gave him a quick pat. “Sorry Mike. What do you need us to do?”
Glad to have something else to talk about, Michael focused on the other issue he’d encountered when he called Ryan to tell him they were back and what state Becca was in. “Have you heard from Gabrielle?”
It was Ryan’s turn to be the stressed out boyfriend. “No. She just up and disappeared after I came to bed.” He rolled his huge shoulders looking oddly helpless. “I don’t know what’s going on. All night she was fine until we cut through that farmer’s place. Then, she just sort of stopped and changed to human. We never do that when we’re tracking.” He reinforced his statement with a direct stare. “Seriously, I mean most of the time she’s kinda sad to change back when it’s time to come home. This time though,” his big head wagged from side to side. “It was like she was so shaken up she couldn’t hold to her wolf form. And then, when I tried to talk to her, she ignored me. It was eerie, she completely zoned me out. She just followed the trail back into a section of woods for about a mile. I changed so I could talk to her and then as soon as I did, she changed back until I got the message and left her alone. She went back to human and I stayed wolf. Figured if I was furry I could protect her better if anything happened. Funny thing was, I didn’t smell anything different at the farmer’s place than anywhere else. I have no idea what spooked her.”
Michael heard his pain and offered him a tight smile. “You know her Ryan, she needs her space.”
“This is more than space.” He crossed his thick arms in front of him. “She’s avoiding me. Something shook her up man, and now she’s gone.”
“I can help you look for her.”
Ryan held up a hand. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure she’ll come back when she’s ready.” He aimed his chin toward the door behind Michael. “Besides, she needs you in there when she wakes up.” He backed up. “I’m going out to look for her now that the sun’s going down and I can do it my way. I’ll check in when I get back.”
“Right.” Michael nodded, tight lipped. “Give a shout if you need me, I’ll hear you.”
“Thanks.” Ryan backed away and jogged into the woods. Seconds later a cinnamon-colored wolf trotted out and looked both ways before crossing the road to disappear into the trees beyond. He would howl if he needed help. Michael could hear it from miles away.
Stepping back into their room, he breathed a sigh from habit, not need. His unit was under fire from within and he didn’t know how to fix it. The admiral would want an update and he couldn’t put it off any longer.
Easing his phone from his pocket, he stood at the edge of the bed to gaze down at his Becca.
“Michael.”
The admiral’s cool voice rankled him instantly. “Sir, we have some problems.”
No hesitation, not even a break in his serenity. What all had the man seen in his centuries, maybe millennia? “Such as?”
He started with the least worrisome first. “Gabrielle, Sir, she’s disappeared. Ryan’s out looking for her.”
“Disappeared how, Michael?”
“She’s wandered off, Sir. Ryan said they were out trying to follow the scent of the windego to find its den when she came across something that distracted her. She wouldn’t talk about it and now she’s gone off. He’s out looking for her now.”
“Is that all? I can’t help but notice you sound rather upset. Given there is no lost love between Gabrielle and yourself, I must assume it involves our human?”
If they’d been in the same room Michael’s expression would have drawn the admiral’s wrath for sure. He wasn’t allowed to call her ours. “Sir, Becca had what I believe was a vision on the ride back from a tour of the crime scenes today. She hasn’t woken up.” His struggle to keep his distress from his voice wasn’t enough.
“Would this have anything to do with her recent weakness?” Black floored Michael with his insight.
To admit Becca was weak and possibly unable to do her job might devalue her in the admiral’s eyes and that didn’t bode well for her longevity. “Sir?”
The admiral chuckled. “Did you think you could hide her deterioration from me? She is not the first human who has received a heavy infusion of vampire blood in history. Although she is the first I have seen harbor the side effects for this long. Most likely that is because of her unusual genetic twist.”
“You mean the fact that she’s a witch?” Michael referred to Black’s archaic title for her prescient abilities. He avoided commenting on Black’s damning testament of her decline.
But the admiral was in the mood to discuss it. “Honestly Michael, did you think you could keep such an enormous donation a secret? I can nearly feel her body vibrating when she enters the room.”
“If you know she’s having trouble, why are you intent upon making her stretch her ability so soon? You know it’s draining when she jumps.” He was dangerously close to questioning Admiral Black. Binding aside, that usually drew a painful punishment for his insubordination.
Black’s tone lost some of its airiness. “I had hoped that if things were dire you might see fit to turn her. I would have done it by now if I were able.”
Michael was speechless. Black’s one attempt at binding Becca to him by giving her his blood had nearly killed her. They were incompatible, a rarity Michael had only heard of before, never seen. It made him question the type of vampire the admiral was, or if it was his ancient blood and its potency her body found objectionable. Regardless, for whatever reason, Black wanted Becca a vampire and Michael didn’t. Nor did Becca.
“You knew this day would come, Michael.” Serenity once again flowed through his words.
“No,” he choked out, “I didn’t. I thought after Kenneth you realized prescient humans couldn’t be vampires. They go mad with the change.”
Kenneth had been the last member they’d tried to bring into the unit before Becca. Kenneth was turned shortly before the admiral found him. Turning had sharpened his senses and honed his sight until all he could see was death and bloodshed, mostly at his own hands. He’d been unable to function and the admiral “put him out to pasture” to adjust to the severity of his new nature, intending to try to indoctrinate him after he’d settled in a few decades.
The admiral dropped his voice. “And you don’t think what you did to her is any different?”
Horrified, Michael sank down on the bed behind him, his eyes never leaving the pale face that hadn’t so much as moved in over an hour. “I didn’t think…” he whispered.
“Of course not.” Admiral Black almost sounded sympathetic. “Your concern was to save her life and you did. What you couldn’t know was that the amount of blood she ingested allowed her to see as we do, smell and hear like us. More than merely enhancing as a typical infusion does, every emotion is tenfold what she’s used to. The growing strength of her ability is adding to the strain on her already taxed system. It is not a level of functioning that is feasible for a human body to endure long term.”
Michael knew he should have gone to the admiral when he’d noticed the side effects weren’t fading. Only he’d been so fearful that Black would capitalize on the power Michael’s blood would have over her until it wore off, he’d kept them separate except for necessary meetings. Mostly he’d run interference and limited their contact, hoping she would be back to normal before Black caught on. It had been foolish and he realized that in retrospect. Black could outmaneuver him any day and he of all people should know better. It didn’t matter what he did, Black would always know. Again, he felt the mantle of his failure to protect Becca settle around his shoulders.
“Why isn’t it wearing off, Sir?” His forehead rested in his palm, defeat staining every word. “Why is she still like me? Have I saved her life only to doom her to madness?”
“She is more like us than even I realized, Michael.” Black’s tone was thoughtful. For the moment he wasn’t jockeying for control or pitting one against another. He was a mentor advising his protégé, nothing more.
These moments were rare and Michael used this one to learn what he could to help his lover. “Did the blood enhance her abilities or are they getting stronger naturally? Is that what’s hurting her? Was this inevitable?”
“She is preternatural, a being that walks between what we are and pure humans. There are many levels of preternatural, and from what I have seen she is a strong one. I have not seen her equal in a millennium.” No small amount of satisfaction oozed through the admiral’s words. Obviously he was proud to have added Becca to his ranks. “Her value to us is incomparable.”
“Then we need to figure out how to fix her, not drive her over the edge by turning her into one of us.” Michael became more resolute.
As did Black. “That is why she needs to be immortal. Once she is gone, we will not be able to replace her.”
His words gave Michael pause. Becca was mortal. She was a human living and working alongside dangerous creatures, charged with the task of hunting down other dangerous creatures that were a danger to humans. That she would come to harm seemed inevitable. Then he remembered Kenneth’s descriptions of the torment of his madness and shook his head. “No Sir. If she were turned, then we would lose her. What makes her what she is, is the fact that she’s not one of us.”
Black’s words were icy. “Do you think you can stop what is already happening by hiding your head in the sand?”
Just then, Becca took a deep, shaking breath like a diver emerging from the depths of a pool. Her eyelids fluttered.
“Sir, she’s waking,” Michael murmured into the phone.
“Call me as soon as she interprets the vision.”
“Yes, Sir.”
No need for instructions after so many years together, Black and Michael both hit a button and screens went black. Michael’s phone went in his pocket and he slid down to his knees to kneel at her bedside and take her hand in his.
“Michael? How long was I out?” Her voice was scratchy and hoarse from disuse.
Kissing her hand, he set it down to retrieve a glass of water for her. In less than a minute, he had returned. “Can you sit up?” He positioned himself to assist if she needed him.
She nodded and together they had her upright and drinking in short order. Michael sat on the edge of her bed. After a few sips, she groaned. “That vision, it was in the car with Detective Salvo, wasn’t it?”
“Don’t worry about him,” Michael assured her. “He thought it was a nightmare, nothing more.”
“Are you sure?” Becca wouldn’t want anyone to be witness to her sight. Surely she’d talked during it, she would assume she had. “I mean, what if he figures it out?”
Michael lifted one shoulder casually. “Then I’m fully prepared to kill him.”
Becca looked like she believed him. The warning was there; his eyes were dark, he could feel it, and he wrestled to hide his upset. His conversation with Black continued to run through his head while he tried to work through it and find a different solution for her.
“That’s not funny.” She reached for his hand again and squeezed it when he gave it to her. She was weak. “He’s probably telling everyone what a case of nerves I am.” She rolled her eyes, revealing several broken blood vessels. “He’s kind of got a point there.”
“It’s my fault.” Michael’s e
yes closed, he was unable to look at her when he told her what he’d done. He’d come close to doing the thing she’d asked him not to. “After the fire demon, when I gave you my blood, I had to give you a lot.” He could feel her eyes on him; he wished he could find some release from the pain he felt tearing his mind apart and release her from the curse he’d laid upon her with his blood. Her destruction had been his doing. Deep down he’d known it would be that way from the beginning. Humans are fragile. God, it had been his mantra that kept him loyal to them while maintaining a safe distance since he’d returned from the War where he’d been turned. And now, because he’d been weak and had fallen in love with one, he had destroyed her. He would have wept if he were able. Bowing his head, he rested his forehead on her hand. Her warmth seeped into his cold flesh and he welcomed its familiarity. It had been too long since he’d eaten, though the thought of having to consume blood while he was here with her awakened an entirely new wave of disgust with himself.