Legacy of the Shadow’s Blood

by E G Bateman

  “I almost walked into the two of you. I barely escaped.”

  “Speaking of escape, we need to get out of here. That woman looks like she won’t leave me alone, and she won’t keep her hands off my ass. I’m ready to report her to Human Resources.”

  Lexi shook her head and hid a grin. “There is no Human Resources department. They were all fired on Friday so Kindred can take their roles.”

  Dick sat in an armchair and pulled his shoes on. “Hardly surprising, I suppose.”

  “It’s good for us. We have to find my sister and brother-in-law and the missing residents. When you two go out on your date, we’ll search properly.”

  He sighed. “As she was still around, I asked her out for a drink tonight but she said no because she was heading out for a meeting with the new owner. It means Caleb’s definitely around here somewhere. Here’s hoping he can keep her interest for a couple of hours and we can get the job done. Then, I won’t have to take her for a drink tomorrow night.”

  She thought for a minute. “Good. Let’s go through this place from top to bottom.”

  Lexi returned to the physio room and waited for Scott to open the door.

  Phyllis was seated and flexed this way and that. “I can’t remember the last time I felt so good.”

  He moved to help her, but she hopped down herself. “I have another suggestion for you,” he said. “Come with me.”

  The two left the physio room and walked past Lexi. She glanced at Phyllis’s walker still in the room, smiled, and followed them to the big double-doors at the end of the gym.

  The old woman looked at Scott with confusion on her face. “I think this used to be the swimming pool. They stopped using it before I arrived.”

  He opened the door and switched the light on as they entered. The room was empty except for a single chair and a few boxes of tiles. It looked like they’d given up halfway through the repairs. A long wooden plank went from the side into the three-foot shallow end of the empty pool. “I thought you might appreciate somewhere to work out the kinks. I think it could help with your arthritis.”

  A look of fright appeared on her face. “You want me to shift? I’m not sure.”

  Scott indicated their surroundings. “There’s no one in here to hurt and I’m here if you need me. How about you sit here and think about it. See if it’s something you’d like to do in a safe environment. I’ll come back for you in around twenty minutes.”

  “I suppose I could think about it.” The old woman walked to the chair and sat with her hands in her lap.

  Lexi looked at her. She didn’t think Phyllis would shift as she seemed so uncomfortable at the mere thought of it.

  The two friends returned to the physio room and Scott sprayed sanitizer on the bed and wiped it.

  He looked at the time. “Anne Lown is next.”

  She watched him work at this role that didn’t involve hunting rogue supernaturals and thought it suited him. “I’ll go upstairs and collect Anne” She turned. “Nila rejected Dick in favor of a date with Caleb tonight. We need to stay vigilant if he’s around.”

  The sorcerer nodded.

  As she hurried through the gym to the elevator, she glanced at where Limpet curled in sleep next to the mirror.

  Anne was seated in a wheelchair beside her bed when she arrived. “You’re right on time.”

  Lexi flicked the chair’s brake off with her foot. “How are you feeling?”

  The woman turned in the chair to stare at her. “I feel nervous. It’s a big day.”

  She negotiated the doorway and pushed the chair toward the elevator. “It is? Is it your birthday?”

  Anne laughed. “Not for me. It’s a big day for you. No spoilers, though.”

  As she pushed the chair through the gym, she noticed that Limpet had moved off and wondered if she should have called him when she went up. She hoped he wasn’t lost in the big house.

  Lexi delivered Anne to Scott’s office and closed the door behind her.

  She returned to Dick’s room.

  “Is Limpet in here?”

  The vampire looked at Marcel, who was snoozing alone on his bed. “No. We’ll probably find him while we’re searching the—” His face suddenly became alert. He turned to the door and tilted his head. “I thought Nila had left already. She’s coming back.” He looked wildly around the room and finally, his gaze landed on her. “Lexi, I’m truly sorry about this.”

  He put his arm around her waist and pulled her against him, clamped his other hand on the back of her neck, and kissed her.

  Her first instinct was to knee him in the groin, but damn if Dick wasn’t the best kisser by a mile that she’d ever experienced. She grasped his hips a second before the door opened.

  “Disgusting!” Nila spun and marched away. Her heels echoed loudly along the hall.

  The vampire released her. “You may rupture my balls now. If that woman leaves me alone, it was worth it.”

  Lexi stared incredulously at him. “You are really, really good at that.”

  He smoothed an eyebrow and preened. “Why, thank you. Years of training. Goodness, I haven’t kissed a woman like that since Marilyn Monroe.”

  “Wait, you kissed Marilyn Monroe?”

  Dick picked an invisible piece of fluff from his shirt. “Yes, for a dare.”

  “What was it like?”

  “Painful.” He rolled his eyes. “Her husband at the time, Joe DiMaggio, broke my nose. It was quite a scandal.”

  “Okay.” She was impressed, there was no hiding it. After a moment, she looked around. “Where’s Marcel?”

  The vampire looked under the bed. “He must have gotten out when she opened the door.”

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Nila pushed the bar on the fire exit and flung it open.

  She stamped up the outside steps to ground level. Marcel struggled in her arm, but her hold tightened. She walked across the lawn to the copse of trees surrounding the house and shoved him into the branches of a tree. He slipped and regained his balance, looked doubtfully at the ground, then stared fearfully at her.

  While she glowered at him, she took the silver whistle from around her neck and hung it in a branch of the same tree. She didn’t move her gaze from his as she kicked her shoes off and began to change.

  The puppy whined as spiky antlers pushed through her scalp and her nose and jaw elongated into a snout. Her shoulders broadened and her spine curved with immense cracking sounds. The clothes shredded as she transformed and she ripped them away with her hands as they turned into long, menacing claws. Nila growled and saliva slid through pointed teeth.

  Marcel lost his balance and fell but was caught in the whistle’s cord on the way down. He yelped as he landed and something cracked, and he tried to limp away.

  He didn’t manage more than a few feet, in pain and tangled in the whistle as he was. The woman had completed her change and stalked the injured puppy slowly, snorting and slavering.

  Unable to walk on his injured hind leg, Marcel stumbled and fell. He scrambled a few more inches as her gaping mouth began to descend.

  Nila howled when a brown and white Pitbull terrier landed on her back and bit savagely into her neck. With a growl of rage and pain, she reared and the dog slid off. Undeterred, it savaged her leg. She twisted, swept a huge, clawed hand at the dog, and hurled it several feet away.

  She hadn’t lost sight of her goal and shook herself, focused, and crept toward Marcel again. A small, black cat leapt over the quivering puppy, landed on her face, and scratched at her eyes. She howled again and tried to swipe it away, but it was too fast and scampered clear before she could reach it. Nila shook her head but before she could continue, the cat repeated its attack on her face and eyes with its claws. She snapped at it and tried to gore it with her antlers while she screamed in frustration.

  Marcel squealed and continued to try to scramble away. The Pitbull ran around Nila and the cat and approached the puppy from the rear. She lifted him in her mouth
by the scruff of his neck and raced toward the house. Without looking back, she ran down the emergency exit stairs and put the puppy down before she turned and scratched at the door.

  The warmth from Scott’s hand’s radiated into Anne’s knee and relieved the arthritic pain in the joint. “How does it feel?”

  She flexed it. “That’s wonderful. I wish you had time to do the other one.”

  He smiled. “We still have fifteen minutes. I can work on your wrists too.”

  “No, it’s all right. I need to get out of the way before it all goes crazy down here. And you need to get that door.”

  Scott narrowed his eyes at her. He walked to the door, opened it, and peered into the hallway. “There’s no one there.”

  “No, but it needed to be open or you wouldn’t have heard the noise until it was too late.” She smiled and patted his hand. “Thank you, young man. Don’t forget to remove all the bracelets or it’ll be a bloodbath around here.”

  He frowned and turned to the hallway again. “Can you hear that?” He stepped out, listened, and began to walk down the hallway, then paused at the intersection.

  The old woman followed and turned toward the elevator. She pressed the call button and turned to him. “Chop, chop. And don’t forget, curiosity killed the cat.”

  She stepped into the elevator, muttering, “Good heavens. You’d think they had all the time in the world.”

  Scott followed the sound of scratching. He moved more quickly when the howling started, pushed the bar, opened the fire door, and stared at the brown and white Pitbull. “Phyllis? You weren’t supposed to go—”

  Phyllis picked Marcel’s drooping form up and raced inside as though something was chasing them.

  He stood at the open doorway and wondered if he should take a look outside.

  Curiosity killed the cat.

  Quickly, he shut the door.

  The sorcerer followed the dogs into the physio room and lifted Marcel onto the table. He untangled the cord with the whistle on it from the puppy’s neck and feet, held the cord, and examined the whistle. It was easily recognizable as Nila’s. He tried to touch it and it sparked. “Ow!” He dropped it.

  When he glanced at Phyllis, she had shifted to human form. She had some bruising on her face and looked dazed. “Let me—”

  “Fix the puppy. He’s in a worse condition than me. I think his hind leg is broken.”

  Scott turned to Marcel, ran a hand over his hind leg, and muttered softly.

  The dog whined.

  “Marcel?” Dick called from the hallway.

  “He’s in here,” he shouted in response.

  The vampire appeared at the door. “I’ve been all over the place looking for him.”

  He looked grimly around the room and took everything in.

  His eyes rested on Marcel and his face hardened. “What happened?”

  “It was a wendigo,” Phyllis answered. “I think it was Nila and I think she intended to eat him.”

  “I will kill her.” His face was rigid and white with fury.

  Marcel sat, whined, and barked at his voice and he stepped across to him, lifted the puppy, and let him lick his face. “Will Daddy kill the nasty wendigo, Marcel? Will he? Yes, he will.” He looked at Scott. “That explains her breath.”

  The sorcerer frowned. “Why would she suddenly go nuts like that?”

  “She caught me kissing Lexi and lost her—”

  “Wait, what?”

  “Keep up, Scott. Lexi and I are getting married and we want to adopt you.”

  “I thought you were Shaun,” Phyllis interjected, her expression bewildered. “And who’s Lexi?”

  “I am. What’s going on? She stood in the doorway.

  Dick turned to her “Nila’s a wendigo.”

  She stared at him, completely unsurprised. “That makes more sense than anything else in my life right now.”

  “It seems Nila was getting ready to eat Marcel but Phyllis saved him,” Scott explained.

  Dick inclined his head to Phyllis.

  She waved him off. “I wouldn’t have rescued him from her if it hadn’t been for that cat.”

  After a momentary pause, the three of them asked, “Cat?”

  “A black cat came from nowhere and attacked her face. It distracted her long enough for us to get away. That poor cat. I hope its luck didn’t run out. I saw it go flying a couple of times.”

  Lexi was about to race down the hallway, then hesitated and turned to the old woman. “Where? Can you show me?”

  Dick gaped at her. “With a wendigo on the loose? There could be a bloodbath.”

  Scott froze and stared at him.

  He froze too. “What?”

  The young man stared at his bracelet. “That’s what Anne said. Remove the bracelets or there’ll be a bloodbath.”

  The vampire stuck his arm out. “Off, please.”

  The sorcerer flicked the box open, retrieved the Graston tool, and struck the band lightly. A moment later, it was off.

  Phyllis stood. “Okay, I’ll take you out there.” She shifted and led her along the hall to the exit door.

  Lexi opened the door and the Pitbull went through. They raced across the lawn and she waited impatiently while Phyllis sniffed the ground.

  After a moment, the old woman shifted again. “It was here. I smell wendigo and look, Nila’s shredded clothes are everywhere. But I can’t smell a cat. I smell something demonic, other than you. There’s wendigo blood here. The trail heads into the trees. Do you want me to follow it?”

  She shook her head. “No. Let’s get to the house in case she’s doubled back. I don’t want to spend the night out here if she’s roaming the hallways.”

  The old woman sighed.

  Lexi looked at her. “Are you okay?”

  “We won’t find my friends, will we? Wendigos eat human flesh and they eat once a week.” Her eyes glittered with tears in the moonlight.

  She hadn’t put that together and was too startled to think about how to respond. Maisie and the others hadn’t been moved out by Kindred. Nila had taken them. “I assumed Nila was Kindred because she arrived after the takeover. I bet she was placed here by Caleb.”

  They headed to the house in silence. Before they entered, she turned to Phyllis. “I know you prefer to keep your bracelet on but—”

  “You can forget the bracelet. I have a houseful of friends to protect.” The old woman strode in.

  Lexi smiled and followed. She found Scott in the lobby and looked at the reception desk. “Where are the three amigos?”

  “Still getting baked in the greenhouse.”

  She shook her head. “Let’s go talk to them.”

  They headed to the greenhouse in the garden. She opened the door and waved a hand to clear the smoke from her face. “It’s like a jazz club in here.”

  The three satyrs shushed each other repeatedly, the admonitions almost louder than their conversation.

  When the two friends walked around a wall of moss, Stuart, Raj, and Josh sprawled on beanbags, frozen in the process of passing a bong, and looked at them with wide eyes.

  Stuart flailed a hand as if in protest. “How did you find us?”

  The sorcerer looked around. “You’re not exactly well hidden.”

  Raj giggled.

  Lexi made a mental eye-roll. “And we followed the smell.”

  The clerk’s face went slack but brightened quickly. “We’re looking for the dog.”

  Scott folded his arms. “How’s that working out?”

  “He hasn’t come here yet, but we’ve set a trap.” Stuart pointed to a sausage on the floor between them.

  Lexi looked at Josh, who was poking himself in the cheek. “What’s up with you?”

  “I can’t feel my face.”

  She shook her head. “Scott.”

  “On it. Sorry, boys.” He muttered a few words and the satyrs blinked and shook their heads.

  Raj looked at him. “Why did you do that, man?”

/>   Josh pointed at Scott’s arm. “Who removed your bracelet?”

  Stuart slumped. “I did.”

  Raj looked at his colleague. “Why did you do that, man?”

  Lexi had heard enough. “Okay, focus. Did any of you know that Nila’s a wendigo?”

  Stuart’s face seemed expressive of an a-ha moment. “That makes so much sense.”

  Raj nodded. “Right?”

  The three of them nodded at each other.

  Lexi turned to her friend. “Are you sure you sobered them up completely?”

  Scott shrugged. “I thought I had.”

  She looked at the three goat-legged men. “Okay, I’ll try again. Nila’s a wendigo and she’s eaten three of the residents in the last month. She’s loose on the grounds somewhere. Get your asses inside and protect the residents.”

  Stuart climbed off his beanbag. “Protect them? How? How do you even kill a wendigo?”

  They stared at her.

  “Fire.” She turned to leave, then looked over her shoulder. “Or tear it to pieces.”

  She and Scott walked a few steps but stopped when they realized the satyrs weren’t following.

  Raj was picking up the beanbags and looking underneath. “Who’s got the M&Ms?” He dipped a hand into a giant plant pot. “Never mind, I found them.”

  Lexi pinched the bridge of her nose while the satyrs filed out with their giant bag of peanut butter M&Ms.

  Scott sent Raj to the third story of the building where the men’s rooms were, and Josh sat on a chair in the hallway of the second story, the women’s level. Stuart remained at his desk in the lobby but locked the doors. All three had armed themselves with a can of hairspray and a cigarette lighter.

  They spent the night patrolling the building, checking windows and doors, and making sure Nila hadn’t found her way back in.

  Lexi walked into the staff kitchen. Her eyes were tired and gritty and she looked at Dick seated on a chair next to Marcel. “Shouldn’t you be hiding in your room?”