“It’s insane here,” Glenn said to him.
Glenn and Roger had been partners for nearly a decade. Before Maggie started working for the company, Glenn was offered the opportunity to move to an earlier shift, and he’d taken it. Glenn and Walt had probably been preparing to return to the station for the end of their shift when this call came in. The timing for them had been worse than the timing for her and Roger.
“Stay safe,” Roger replied.
The ground beneath Aiden’s back swayed as he was carried somewhere. Male voices spoke with each other. He didn’t hear the woman again, but her scent remained strong. Doors opened, and whatever he was on was pushed forward. He gritted his teeth when he was set down somewhere.
“I’ll ride with him,” Roger said.
“You’re better at getting through traffic than I am,” Maggie replied. “You’ll get us to the hospital faster.”
Before Roger could protest, she climbed into the back with their patient. Roger stared at her for a second before closing the doors. Taking a deep breath, Maggie pulled off her winter uniform coat and placed it on the bench before setting to work on gathering the equipment needed to check their patient’s vitals and keep him alive long enough to get him out of their lives.
A small jolt of electricity shot from him to her when she grasped his wrist to check his pulse. Unlike static electricity, this current generated from some inner, instead of outer, force. It hadn’t been an unpleasant sensation, but her skin prickled with an awareness she hadn’t anticipated.
Glancing at the man, she almost recoiled when his eyes fluttered back and forth behind his closed lids. She had no idea how this guy was still alive, but he showed more signs of it than some of her patients who had sustained a lot less in the way of injuries.
CHAPTER 7
The driver’s door closed, and the ambulance roared to life. “You okay back there?” Roger demanded.
“Yes.”
Roger grunted before shifting into drive and pulling away from the scene. The man’s fingers twitched again when she spoke. “We’re going to get you to the hospital,” she assured him.
The brush of her fingers on his flesh caused Aiden’s skin to come alive in a way it never had before. So startled by the sensation, it took a few seconds for her words to penetrate. The hospital? A human hospital?
He had to focus, had to recall what happened. It took far more strength than he ever would have believed possible to crack his eyes open. A blurry glow met him, and he spotted the edge of a khaki shirt before his eyes closed again. Shuffling sounded and cool metal pressed against his stomach.
Then, memory flooded back to him, and his eyes flew open. A gasp sounded. Metal clattered as the khaki blur recoiled.
“You okay?” A brusque male voice demanded from somewhere in front of him.
“Fine,” the butterscotch-smelling woman replied, but Aiden couldn’t see her anymore.
All around him were shelves, white walls, and medical supplies. Beneath him, he felt the rumble of tires on the road, and he realized he was in an ambulance. He should be dead. How was he still alive?
Maggie inhaled a calming breath and steadied her hands before she bent to retrieve the scissors she’d dropped. The back of her patient’s shirt and coat may have been torn open, but the front was not. She’d been preparing to cut his clothing off so she could hook up the EKG machine when he’d opened his eyes! The scissors wobbled in her grip as she recalled those eyes on her.
It shouldn’t have been possible for him to wake up, but he had. Over her time working on the ambulance, she’d had her fair share of men and women groping her, as well as spitting on her, and cursing her. She’d take a spitter and biter any day over this guy.
Gripping the scissors more firmly, she rose and held them before her. For the first time, she knew she’d stab one of her patients if it became necessary.
When her eyes met his, her heart hit her ribs so violently she thought she might have to hook herself up to the EKG machine to make sure she wasn’t having a heart attack. His eyes reminded her of spring as they were the green of oak leaves in May when they were first unfurling and vibrant with new life.
She felt like she was tumbling further away from reality when, beneath the blood streaking his face and caking his short black hair, she realized he was a handsome man. His lips parted, and a breath rattled out of him. He seemed to be trying to speak, but she wasn’t getting any closer to hear what he might say. Handsome or not, the guy freaked her out.
“We’re going to get you to the hospital,” she assured him again, and suddenly she had to make sure he made it there. Over the years, there were so many she’d wanted to save and been unable to; it wouldn’t be her fault if this guy died, but she couldn’t shake the belief she had to save him. The need to make sure he survived hit her so hard that she was amazed her hand didn’t shake when she started cutting his shirt up the front with clinical precision.
Aiden watched her capable hands slicing through his clothes before he lifted his gaze to the curve of her cheekbone. He didn’t think he’d ever seen skin so fair or unblemished before. It reminded him of the porcelain dolls his sisters Abby and Vicky collected as children. Twisted into a knot against the back of her delicate, swan neck, her auburn hair shone in the light of the ambulance.
She remained focused on her task as she cut his sleeves next. Air rushed over his already chilled skin when she pulled the remaining shreds of his shirt and coat away.
My weapons!
The thought blazed through his mind as she hefted the coat a little higher. She dipped a hand into one of his pockets and pulled out a small crossbow. He saw one auburn eyebrow rise before she carefully set the crossbow aside and lowered his coat with the caution one would take with a poisonous snake.
The woman didn’t look at him again as the sound of something peeling drifted to him. Then, she leaned forward to stick things on his chest before moving out of sight again. He heard shuffling noises and a small clatter before a steady beeping started.
“Is that his heart?” Roger demanded.
Maggie swallowed to get some saliva into her parched throat before replying, “Yes.”
“Jesus Christ,” Roger muttered.
Maggie resisted making the sign of the cross. She couldn’t recall the last time she’d crossed herself. It had probably been when she’d fostered with that ultra-religious family who had dragged all the kids to church three times a week. Maggie had only spent a month with them before proudly declaring her love for Satan and all things demonic while dressed as a Goth. She’d never been sent packing so fast in her life. Right now, though, the sign of the cross felt like the appropriate thing to do.
What was this guy?
She could feel him watching every move she made, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him again.
I am not a coward. I have endured too damn much to be rattled by some weirdo with a freakishly high tolerance for everything.
However, she was beginning to question if he was a man. What man could endure the amount of damage this one had and not only survive it, but be awake so soon afterward?
At least half his blood remained in that alley, and his spine was visible.
She was half-tempted to crawl into the front with Roger, but she’d never backed down from anything before and she wasn’t about to start now. She glanced toward Roger as they raced through side streets and past warehouses with sirens blaring. She didn’t have to see the speedometer, she could feel the tires spinning faster than normal, yet she yearned for Roger to go faster.
“Uncuff me,” Aiden rasped out.
A pair of charcoal-colored eyes shot toward him and widened fearfully. The beeping from some machine increased as he got his first full-on view of the woman. He’d never seen anyone like her before. She wasn’t what he would call sexy or stunning. He didn’t know how to describe exactly what she was, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from her.
Then, he recalled his mother holding
one of Abby’s porcelain dolls and turning it in her hand as she inspected it. Unlike this woman, the toy had possessed blonde hair and blue eyes, but something about this woman brought the memory back to him.
“She’s lovely, Abby,” his mother had said and handed the doll back to his then seven-year-old sister.
Lovely, that’s what this woman was, but none of those dolls could compare to her.
The woman’s rosebud lips quivered. Those dark gray eyes stared at him before rising to the front of the ambulance. “Roger,” she whispered.
“Going as fast as I can, Mags,” Roger replied brusquely.
Aiden seized her hand as something crashed into the side of the ambulance with enough force to dent the wall and send the ass end of the vehicle careening sideways.
CHAPTER 8
The sickening crunch of metal filled the air as the back of the ambulance skidded out. Maggie screamed, but she didn’t know if it was because of the dizzying sensation of the ambulance veering off its course, or from the hand gripping hers tight enough to the stretcher that it kept her from being thrown into the wall.
Oh, God. Oh, God.
The ambulance came to a halt with its engine running and its headlights pointing toward a large warehouse. Completely thrown off by what happened, Maggie couldn’t figure out where they were, but it looked abnormally subdued outside the windshield. Most of the warehouse workers had gone home for the night, but she saw people running from the shadows toward them.
“Roger, you okay?” she demanded.
“What was that?” he replied.
Maggie gazed at the dented wall across from her. It was too high up for it to be caused by another vehicle, but what else could have hit them with that kind of force?
“There were no cross streets,” Roger said. “No stop lights. It couldn’t have been another car. It came out of nowhere.”
“Drive,” her patient spoke with far more strength than he had before.
“What?” she asked, not because she hadn’t heard him, but because she couldn’t believe she had.
“Drive!” the man shouted at her.
“Roger…”
He was already hitting the gas. The ambulance creaked in protest, but they still had all their tires as it burst into movement. The man released her hand and jerked against the cuffs. She caught Roger’s wild-eyed glance back at them before he pressed harder on the accelerator.
“Fahk this fahken night!” Roger declared, his Boston accent becoming far more pronounced. Maggie had only ever heard his accent slip through so strongly once before, the night she’d graduated paramedic school. They’d each been about twelve beers deep when Roger reverted to his Southie roots.
“Maggie, get up ’ere!” Roger barked at her.
Maggie glanced down at the man. A vein in his forehead throbbed to life as he pulled his wrists forward to strain against the cuffs. He bared his teeth at her. Lions were less intimidating than this guy.
“Go!” he snarled at her.
The woman, Maggie, Aiden recalled, leaned away from him and started to rise when something hit the side of the ambulance again. Maggie staggered backward and hit the wall. When she cried out in pain and her hand flew to the back of her head, his vision became clouded by a red haze of fury.
The ambulance screamed a protest when Roger pushed on the gas harder.
“Maggie!” Aiden shouted, and her eyes flew to his.
She gawked at him until another wrenching sound filled the air and the back door of the ambulance flew away. One of the Savages who had attacked him leapt into the ambulance. The vamp’s eyes were bright red when they focused on Maggie. She screamed and lurched forward. Aiden assumed she’d been diving for the front and Roger, but then he heard a strange noise.
Aiden jerked more forcefully against his restraints as the Savage lunged for her. He had to protect her. Maggie spun and, holding out two paddles, hit the Savage in the middle of the chest with them. Another sound filled the air, and the vampire squealed as he staggered back.
“Bastard!” Maggie shouted, and lifting her leg, she drove her foot into his stomach to shove him out the door. The man bounced across the pavement before spinning away. Maggie leaned against the wall, panting for air as she watched the guy miraculously jump back to his feet and race toward them again. “What is wrong with him?”
“Drugs!” Roger declared.
“No, his face….” Her words trailed off. Aiden met her confused stare when she turned to look at him again. He couldn’t help but be impressed by her ability to fight off a Savage, but she wouldn’t be able to fend off more than one of them.
“What is going on?” she demanded, holding the paddles as if she were going to use them on him next.
“Uncuff me. I can protect you,” he replied, aggravated he couldn’t break the flimsy restraints yet.
Her eyes narrowed on him. “I can’t uncuff you.”
“I can keep you safe,” he said slowly as she didn’t seem to understand what he was saying to her. Perhaps she was in shock; he wouldn’t blame her if she were.
She glared at him. “I don’t have the key,” she replied in the same tone and pace of voice he’d used with her.
He turned his attention to the back of the ambulance and the Savage running down the sidewalk after them, but the vamp was losing ground. It didn’t matter, Aiden decided, they’d moved past the threat, for now. He was already getting stronger as his sudden need to keep her safe fueled his adrenaline. He would get out of these cuffs before they arrived at the hospital.
A loud crack filled the air, and when the back of the ambulance tilted to the right, Maggie realized the axle, weakened by whatever hit the ambulance, had snapped. A tire bounced down the street toward the Savage veering off the sidewalk toward them. With an ear-splitting, awful grating sound, the rotor dug into the asphalt, chewing up chunks that banged against the undercarriage of the ambulance. The sparks flying into the air showered the back of the vehicle with bursts of golden light.
Maggie stumbled and tried to catch her balance, but she couldn’t fight the downward slant of the ambulance. She was going to plunge straight out those back doors as that twisted freak had. Releasing the paddles, she scrambled to grab something solid.
Strong fingers encircled her wrist, dragging her back. The EKG machine rolled forward, still beeping the impossibly steady rhythm of her patient’s heart. She expected to go flying out the door with the stretcher and the machine, but the man jerked himself to the side so forcefully he flipped the stretcher over. Metal bent with a screech as the stretcher twisted to follow her patient’s movement. The leads of the EKG machine snapped, and the cart rolled out the back door while her patient remained inside.
Maggie shrank back when he landed before her, the mangled stretcher spreading over the top of them. With his position, he blocked most of the aisle of the ambulance. Less than ten minutes ago, she’d been staring at this man’s exposed spine, and now he was kneeling on the ground, staring at her.
Have I gone as nutty as my mother? Is this some sort of psychotic break, and I’m imagining it all? Am I going to wake to find myself in a straight jacket? Her mind raced with those questions as his eyes burned into hers and the ambulance came to a grinding halt in the middle of the road.
Despite his earlier, near-dead status, healthy color flushed her patient’s chiseled cheekbones. The black stubble lining his jaw made him appear more menacing, something he didn’t need as the man had practically pulled a Lazarus.
“Maggie May, you okay?” Roger asked.
She had to think about the answer to his question. “Fine,” she finally croaked, having decided that if she’d fallen down the rabbit hole, she might as well ride out the insanity and have some tea with the Hatter. “You?”
“Few more gray hairs, but still kicking. How’s the patient?”
“He’s ahh…” She gulped. “He’s kneeling before me right now.”
She heard the creak of Roger’s seat as he leaned over to lo
ok in the back and then his sharp inhalation. “Well, of course, he is,” Roger murmured, and the seat creaked as he sat back again. “I think it’s time for you to come up front, Mags.”
“On my way,” she replied.
The squelch of airwaves filled the ambulance, and then Roger requested help with a calm that didn’t fit this situation. The man’s eyes burned into hers as, with the care she would take to back away from a rabid animal, she edged away from him.
The others would never believe her and Roger when they told their coworkers about this at the end of their shift. Scratch that, she would never tell anyone about this. She’d be locked up right beside her mother if she did.
The man’s chest heaved, and his arms were spread out to the sides by the cuffs hooking him to the stretcher. The posture reminded her of an avenging angel. Except, she suspected this man was anything but angelic.
“Go,” he commanded, and then something collided with the back of the stretcher.
Knocked forward by the weight of whatever hit him, Aiden almost fell flat onto the ground. If he went down, the Savages would be all over him, and her. He would not allow the monstrous, twisted malignancies that were the worst of his kind anywhere near her.
When he was shoved forward again, grasping hands reached over his back toward Maggie as excited chatter filled the ambulance. He’d been the one to draw them here, but they’d scented her, they wanted her, and they would destroy her.
Fury pulsed through his veins as he launched himself up off the ground. The Savage on the back of the stretcher screamed, his bones shattered when Aiden smashed him between the stretcher and the roof of the ambulance. While standing, another one tried to sneak between his legs. Plunging downward, he drove his knee into the vamp’s back, shattering his spine at the same time he finally succeeded in breaking the links of the cuffs.
Maggie scrambled back when her patient surged up and bashed one of the things trying to get in the ambulance off the ceiling. A putrid aroma drifted to her, reminding her of garbage as another creature tried to crawl between her patient’s legs. She froze when he came down, and his knee broke the other monster almost in half. Years of training to save others and compassion warred with her flight instinct as the man’s hands beat against the ground and cries of anguish issued from him.
Ravaged (Vampire Awakenings, Book 7) Page 4
