by Al K. Line
"We need to get her to a hospital, unless you know people that can help?" I had plenty of contacts, but surgeons with spare operating rooms and empty beds for weeks of recuperation and all the medications that went with it wasn't something I could conjure up no matter how many calls I made.
Ivan shook his head sadly. "No, I can't do that for her. There's nobody I can call."
"You're the big boss, and you have the vampires behind you. Are you telling me the vamps don't have doctors and surgeons and all that stuff on standby?"
Ivan looked at me like I'd lost my marbles or something.
"Why would they? If you can't heal yourself from a wound then no doctor will save you. Vampires are pretty much immortal. Short of having the head smashed in or being decapitated, not much kills us. I don't know many doctors who can do head transplants, do you?"
"No need to get sarky. What about if you guys have limbs chopped off?"
"Then we are down a limb, for a while. What use would a doctor be?"
He was right. I guess I'd never taken the time to ponder the finer points of being an immortal bloodsucker, can't say it had ever been a priority.
Vicky gasped and shot upright, stared around wildly, utterly panicked, smiled the strangest smile at me, screamed as she clamped her arms around Ivan and said, "My brother," then went limp and fell back to the floor, me catching her and laying her down gently before she hurt herself further.
Vicky shook, slowly at first, then it got more intense until we had to hold her down as it became dangerous. Her limbs thrashed and her head banged against the carpet and even with both of us holding her still her strength was almost too much for us to handle.
"Is this normal?" I asked.
"For the first several changes, yes. It's the shock, the system trying to right itself, decide what it is and what to be. It's not the body though, it's her mind."
"Can you do anything?"
"No, just hold on, it will stop soon."
He was right. Even as I turned her head to the side so hopefully she wouldn't bite her tongue, the thrashing stopped and she was still.
Too still.
I felt for a pulse and almost missed it it was so weak.
Vicky didn't have long to live.
I pulled out my phone and dialed the emergency services but before it was answered Ivan grabbed my phone and threw it against the wall. I watched like time had slowed as it sailed through the air. Then everything sped up as it smashed against the wall and clattered to the ground, useless.
"What did you do that for?" I screamed, grabbing him by his shirt collar and pulling him close.
"Because she's shot and she'll be in all kinds of trouble, maybe jail, if she goes to hospital," he said angrily.
"I'll risk it. At least she won't be dead. I can say somebody shot her and ran off and nobody can prove otherwise."
"Come on, Arthur, you know that's nonsense. They'll link you to something, all the bodies up north, or the trouble she's undoubtedly in here. They'll do tests, saliva swabs and scrape under her nails and she'll be convicted of murder, maybe worse."
"What are you talking about? Nobody will say a word about the fights and the bodies will be cleared away up there."
"Perhaps, but what about here, in the city?"
"Huh?" See, insightful as always.
"There are bodies. Not my men, I mean other bodies. She has killed and I've had reports of the deaths. If she's taken to hospital, they'll get evidence against her, skin of the dead under her nails, in her teeth, in her fucking body, and she'll be sentenced to life. She's killed and eaten innocents. Citizens."
"I, ugh, I didn't know." Hell, Vicky hadn't just slept through the day and evening peacefully, she'd been running amok and killing citizens.
"It's almost impossible to resist when you change, Arthur. It takes practice to control the beast within, and I genuinely don't even think she remembered she could do such a thing. This is new to her, like the first time. She's gone feral."
"There's no choice, I have to risk it. Otherwise she'll die." I pushed Ivan back and away and bent to scoop her up in my arms and leave. I'd drive her myself. But Ivan beat me to it, grabbed her and was at his desk in a moment. He brushed everything off and laid her out flat.
"There is another way," he said. His eyes darkened and his canines snapped down fast.
"No fucking way, don't you goddamn dare!
"There's no choice. It's this or she dies." Ivan bent down, ready to bite.
Ahem
"There is another way," said a voice that encompassed utter smugness overlaid with a weary, tired acceptance of always being bloody right. Nathan.
Again.
Ivan glanced up at the interruption, more than he'd done when I'd voiced my distaste for making my best friend a vampire.
"What the hell, Nathan? Can't you leave me the fuck alone?"
"I told you, we have use for you now, especially if she survives."
"Why?"
"Because she will allow you to, shall we say, have more backup than you previously had. To obtain items from those who really don't want to give them up but must for us all to stay safe."
"Bollocks." I'd heard it all before and now was no different. I got the sneaking suspicion he didn't care whether Vicky survived, that her being able to shift would mean nothing to Cerberus, but he knew it did to me. This was his way of pretending like he was doing something for his interests when he simply knew I'd never work for him unless he had something that would make me. Like saving Vicky's life.
"You'll be his puppet if you let him help," said Ivan, eyes still dark, face impassive in the presence of this worm named Nathan.
"And you want to bite her. Will that turn her?"
"Yes, and no. It will make her vampire, but weak, until she takes my blood in return. Then the pact will be sealed."
"But she'll be vampire, immortal if you bite her?"
"Yes. And she will always be by my side. My sister. She's my family, Arthur, she's been gone for so long. Now there's a chance to have her back. To have a family."
"And you think you'll have that if you bite her? You think if you turn her and she comes through this that she'll thank you? That she'll want it?"
"We'll be together. She'll be saved."
"What if you bite her but she doesn't bite you back?"
"She'll be a vampire, but little more than human. No real strength, able to be out in daylight, but... Not very good, a terrible life," he conceded.
"Barely able to function in the day, overwhelming cravings with little gained apart from more misery from feeding. So you want to give her that choice, be a ghost of a person and live forever, or be a Third and never see the light again? Never take her kids to school or play with them? Do none of the normal stuff, but have you instead?"
"I... I don't know." Ivan straightened and his eyes faded a little, the indecision clear.
"It's no choice, not for her, not the way she lives. She'd rather die, and I know her better than you. You can't."
Vicky twitched and gasped, and her breathing got worse, each breath slower than the last.
She would die unless I did something. She had minutes left. Even with a phone the ambulance would be too late now.
"If you save her, if she pulls through, then you get one job in return. You get one chance to ask me a favor, then we're quits. I go back to wondering whether to kill you or deal with you rather than some other nut job from Cerberus, and you go back to being the smug bastard you are. Deal?"
Nathan thought about it for an achingly long time, then shrugged his shoulders. "I do actually like her. She's funny. Cute, too. Arthur, you have a deal." Nathan raised his phone, tapped the screen, then spoke into it. "It will have to be here," he said, then hung up. "Always come prepared." Nathan smiled and I wanted to punch his face into next week.
He opened the door and two minutes later a team of men and women and several goons stormed the room carrying more equipment than at the best equipped hospital. The
medical team crowded around Vicky and tried to save her life.
Hit and Miss
Nathan left after the professionals arrived. When he returned just before dawn it was to find Ivan outside with me and a hell of a lot of new goons to protect his place of business.
Ivan told him in no uncertain terms that he was no longer welcome, that the medical team could stay until Vicky was well, but this was not somewhere Nathan could come and go as he pleased.
Nathan wasn't happy but took it all in his stride as he did everything. I couldn't help a little smirk as his eye twitched at the rebuff.
"Don't forget, Arthur, you owe me, you and Vicky. You too, Ivan. I saved your sister's life, that means you owe me."
"I owe you nothing. You saved Vicky to get Arthur's help and he agreed to the deal. You don't belong here. I don't deal with you, you would have the vampires eliminated and take what is ours. That doesn't make us friends." Ivan nodded to me then returned inside to check on Vicky.
"Time to go, Nathan," I said looking around at the goons as they took up position and the last of the bodies were cleared away.
"See you soon, Arthur."
"More's the pity."
Nathan left and I went to go check on my friend. She looked so small and frail, such a fragile, vulnerable little thing lying on a hospital bed with people fussing all around and medical equipment everywhere. She was hooked up to machines, had an IV, a catheter, and God knows what, but whatever I thought of Nathan he certainly had huge resources at his disposal.
I wondered if these people were part of Cerberus or linked to his covert government work. Either way, it was another show of power. A hint at just how all-encompassing Nathan's influence was, at the depth of the resources he could muster.
The medical team said they expected Vicky to survive, but that it would be a delicate recovery as she was prone to any number of complications because of her skinny body and lack of strength to fight infection. But once she was stable I bit the bullet and called the Slug. It wasn't an easy conversation and it was an even rougher meeting when he arrived at the factory grounds looking stressed and angry.
I made up some story about us getting jumped and attacked but he just stared at me with disgust.
"I'm not an idiot, Arthur. I know you're a criminal, and I know Vicky has spent years hacking down in the basement."
"Oh," I said, kind of surprised.
"So spare me the lies. I don't want to know what happened, that just makes me a part of this, but you put her in danger, risked her life. That's unforgivable."
"There are things you don't know," I said lamely. "Reasons why I let her come with me now."
"I know. Why do you think I haven't tried to stop her, stop you? I'm aware she needs this, needs you. Vicky has always been wild although she tries to act like all the other mothers. I know, have always known, that she's different. Why do you think I love her so much? Because she has a spark inside, craves excitement, and is also the best damn mother and wife in the world."
"She's a character all right. But you never said anything to her? Never talked about it?"
"No. She likes her secrets, likes playing the woman of mystery. But I know what she does. But you," the Slug got up close and I could see just how much this had hit him, "I don't know what you do, what you get up to, but there's something off. I've heard the talk over the years, you being a wizard, and part of me wants to laugh, but part of me believes it, or at least believes you and Vicky think you are, that you can use magic."
"It's complicated," I said. "When she gets better, and she will, you guys should have a talk, a serious talk."
"Is that right? And what then? What do I say? No more running around with Arthur as you could have got killed and what would happen to our beautiful girls then? You think I should put that kind of pressure on her?"
"I already tried that," I said with a sigh. "I warned her and told her. She knows the risks."
"Exactly. No, if there's anything she wants to tell me then she will. I worry about her constantly, but I know I'm a bad husband and father. I'm not there for her, or the kids, like I should be. But it's hard, so very hard."
"What is?"
"Life. Life is so fucking hard." The Slug wiped his eyes and I put an arm around his sloped shoulder, leading him up the stairs, across the gantry, and to where Vicky lay in the office surrounded by an expert medical team.
He stayed the entire day until it was time to pick up the kids, and came back every day until Vicky was well enough to go home. Maybe there was hope for them yet, maybe they'd work things out and this was the wakeup call they both needed.
Maybe not. As the Slug said, life is fucking hard.
It was touch and go for the first couple of days, and there were a few complications, more from the abuse her body had taken from the shift than from the bullet itself. The wound wasn't as serious as I'd believed, but the infection was bad and she was dosed up to the eyeballs for days, hardly conscious. When she was, little she said made sense.
I gave her space with the Slug and just moped about, flitting between home and George and Sasha, who stayed close and were as worried as I was about Vicky. I also made it my mission to find out the truth about Vicky and who she really was.
It didn't take long once I focused and looked into Vicky's past.
The Truth
Vicky was adopted. It was as simple as checking on records and calling a few contacts to discover the truth about her. Vicky had, for whatever reason, been handed over to her adopted parents and she had never known.
It wasn't official, there was no original birth certificate with her real name and then papers showing the people she thought of as her parents having been granted adoption rights. It was much murkier and a lot more underhand than that.
From what I could ascertain, and it never became clear no matter how much we all searched, and trust me, if the information had been out there digitally then Vicky would have found it once she got well, she had been taken from her and Ivan's parents as Ivan remembered it and been given at some point, maybe six months later, to these other people.
This was when the family popped up on the records. There was no trace whatsoever of her parents before they suddenly appeared in the city, got jobs and library cards and Vicky was enrolled in school, all the regular stuff everyone does if they relocate.
Their past was a closed book, a total mystery. There were tentative ties between the company her father worked for and Merrick's father's business interests, but nothing that made any of us believe he was a gangster. But somehow, somewhere along the way, they had obtained Vicky. Maybe it was as simple as buying her, maybe it was a gift for services rendered, or perhaps it was something else entirely.
Vicky dug and dug and drove herself half crazy trying to figure it out once she was at home and settled back into life again, but she came up empty. In the end she gave it up as it was causing friction at home and she was in danger of relapsing with her food issues, forgetting to eat, not sleeping, and getting ill with stress.
The Slug put his foot down and told her to stop it, to let the past be. I don't know how much she told him about it all, certainly not about the shifter thing, but he knew enough about her having discovered she was adopted to know she was driving herself crazy.
What I couldn't understand was why a young girl that could turn into a wolf-human hybrid had been given to a family that as far as I could tell were totally unaware of her ability. Was it some kind of sick joke Merrick's father had played, and it wasn't a favor at all but a punishment? Or had it been assumed she wouldn't change unless traumatized or was old enough to keep it hidden from everyone? Or was Merrick's father so desperate for a child for this couple that he'd had little choice?
We never found out, we never knew, and it drove Vicky, and Ivan, crazy. There were too many mysteries about her past, too many secrets. Try as she might, Ivan too, and me, with all of our contacts and all of our skills, we never uncovered the truth. All there was in Vicky's past wa
s a trail of bodies. From her adopted parents who both died relatively young, to Merrick, to his father, to the henchmen and right back to that fateful day when everything turned sour.
Vicky had no memory of being taken, of suddenly having a new family, and that was another mystery. The best guess was that she was too young. Maybe it was the trauma that made her block it all out, or maybe it was a combination of both, but one thing was irrefutable, Ivan and Vicky were brother and sister. They even had blood tests done just to be absolutely sure we weren't all looking at a crazy coincidence.
We weren't.
As for the annual phone calls, Vicky would certainly have remembered them as she grew older, so the only logical explanation was that it wasn't her, that he'd spoken to somebody else. Another mystery to add to the pile. But it would have been easy to pull off. A crackly line, a scared sounding girl and a stressed Ivan; he could have been speaking to anybody. So much was left unanswered, but eventually there was nothing to do but accept that the past would remain somewhat of a mystery.
So life settled down. Vicky got over the injury and the shock, Ivan went back to being a gangster and a vampire. His empire grew by the day and the vampires slowly consolidated their power. The world changed as their strength increased quietly and subtly in the background, influencing things without any overt action being taken. Ivan also made it a priority to have an expert medical team on standby. This wasn't just about the vampires now, this was something bigger and more important. I think he began to finally care about people.
The cage fights stopped within the week, Ivan saw to that. With the new opening for a boss up north, he put someone in charge and from what I heard it was a bloody massacre that made Vicky's and my own actions seem polite.
Oh, and the darling sprogs got a new uncle, just a rather unconventional one who mostly visited at night or in the very early hours of the morning.
And then there was me, struggling through life as always, dealing with a daughter who spent less time at home as she discovered more about herself and her own lineage. More complications, more delving into ancient history and into things I had no chance of getting the truth about. George's mother's past was a closed book too. None of the fae would, or could, talk about why she was punished or the fact she'd been abandoned and left to destroy herself, and almost George too, but it wasn't for the lack of trying.
