I held her gaze, speaking directly to her. "We don't have an exact date, but he's organizing now."
"Are you sure?" another man, one of the changed, asked. At least I thought he was a man. Completely covered in a shaggy grey fur, it wasn't easy to tell.
"Yes. Sure enough that I felt you all needed to be told. I don't make this statement lightly."
"Why? I'd heard there was a truce?" A different woman in the back asked.
"There was a truce. It looks like he's going to break it."
"What do we do?" This question came from several people.
I gripped the sides of the podium in front of me.
"As I see it, there are two choices. You can leave here and try to find somewhere else to go. Or, you can stay and fight with us."
People started frantically talking amongst themselves.
"But, know one thing. If you stay, you fight." I spoke louder to make sure everyone heard.
"Even the children?"
I hadn't thought about the children. "Well, no. Not the little ones."
"What about the injured or unable?"
"Of course not."
Another person in the back raised their hand.
"Yes?"
"I get panic attacks. Does that count?"
"I don't know. Can you still function?"
"I hyperventilate sometimes."
"Yeah, me too!"
I let out a deep sigh, annoyed, and wondered if Cormac had been up here if they would've asked these questions.
"Enough. Anybody who can fight, has to. Carry a brown paper bag, if that's what it takes. You have a week to decide."
I stepped past Cormac and exited the room, thinking about how fucked we were if this was any sign.
I walked straight out the lobby doors and then sprinted down the strip. As they'd spoken, I'd continued to pull more energy from the room and I was teetering on the edge. I needed to get rid of it and I needed no one to be around when I unleashed it.
I turned in a circle, looking for any innocent bystanders, slightly frantic now in my need to expel the power coursing through me before it could possibly kill me. I didn't know what would happen when I let it go, but I had to. Alone and acting on instinct, eyes closed, I opened my mouth, spread out my arms and pushed it from my system, outward into the area around me. I finally felt it all release and my body felt like my own again.
I opened my eyes, hoping I hadn't caused a building to crumple or some other sort of additional destruction. I gasped at the sight as I looked down at what used to be the Vegas strip. There were hundreds of rippers standing as far as I could see.
They weren't all opaque either. Some of them, like when they first started to appear, were slightly translucent. Were more still coming? And for the very first time, I feared I might have something to do with it. This might not be reassuring to all the people I was trying to recruit to fight with me.
I didn't know what to do as they all were approaching. It was a long shot, but maybe, if I just left they would go away. It was a ridiculous idea, but stupider things had worked. I choked back the nervous laughter that was welling up and realized I might be starting to crack under the pressure. This seemed to make it even funnier to me, perhaps confirming the conclusion.
I turned to rush into the casino and stopped short.
I saw the changed, all standing in front of the castle. Colleen, Sharon, Katie, Evan, the whole gang was there, with Cormac standing front and center.
I knew it didn't look good but I held my head up and kept walking.
"How did you do that?" he asked as I came closer.
I thought he meant the rippers. I could still hear their careening floating on the wind as they remained where they were.
I looked back to the rippers, who seemed to be glued in place. There was no denying it was me somehow, but I simply shook my head as to an explanation.
When I turned back to him and saw his face, I knew Cormac was stunned. Nothing stunned Cormac.
"Not them. Us." The weight he put on the word 'us' was like a cinder block dropping into a pool and heavily thudding to the bottom.
"What do you mean?" I understood what he said but I couldn't get my head around the reality of what it meant.
He was staring at me oddly. The rest of the changed were speechless.
I still didn't understand the how of it.
"You called us." He said this with absolute certainty.
"No, I didn’t call for you." I shook my head in disagreement.
But he just kept at it. "Yes. You did."
And then he threw me a lifeline and I grabbed it with both hands.
Chapter Fifteen
The Cycle of Life
When Cormac ordered me to the penthouse, I took it for the favor it was and scrambled out of there. I didn't care if it hurt my pride. I saw the look in his eyes and recognized it. Neither of us knew what just happened. And as much as I rode him about how he handled things, him ordering me inside at that very moment was a knee jerk reaction to buy me time. When he didn't know how else to accomplish it, he fell back on his autocratic ways.
My pride be damned, I'd rushed inside, quite happy to take that order. Of course, I didn't have any intention of going to the penthouse. I didn't think Cormac even cared. I knew the dictate had been to save my ass from the questions about to hit from every side.
Answers? I didn't have answers for them. I didn't know myself. Instead of admitting that, which might have freaked them all out more, Cormac and Colleen had stepped up and started doing damage control. I didn't even know what they were going to say, but it allowed me to duck out of there for a minute and shake off the shock of what I'd just done.
My entire body felt weak from the drugs still lingering in my system. The calling every ripper in the area, while calling to every changed as well, certainly didn't help matters.
Maybe I needed sleep. I didn't have time to rest but I was going to have to, if I wanted to be coherent. I couldn't even think straight anymore and I'd need a clear mind to come up with a plausible explanation for what I'd done.
I also didn't have time to worry about it right now. No one did. If it wasn't an imminent threat, it needed to go on the back burner. We needed to get enlistment signup sheets tomorrow and start trying to squeeze out every ounce of fighting power we could. I didn't know how many we were up against, but I was sure the numbers would be greater than ours.
I needed to talk to Dodd. I couldn't afford to have Sabrina holed up in his room anymore. She'd just have to get over it. We'd all had horrible things happen. It was time to suck it up.
As I walked down the hallway, it was pretty quiet; most people were either in the great hall gossiping about the meeting, or outside gossiping about the latest sideshow production. They were probably trying to pump Cormac for more information. With everything that was on my mind, it hadn't even occurred to me that Buzz hadn't been at the meeting until he was sprinting toward me from the opposite direction of the hall.
"What's wrong?"
"You gotta come to Dodd's, right now." He was breathing heavily, a sheen of sweat on his forehead.
I started running for Dodd's before I asked another question. Buzz was trailing too far behind and I didn't wait for him to catch up as I took the stairs two at a time. My lungs burning, my fist pounded on the antique wooden door.
It was yanked open by a strung out looking Dodd. He was a Keeper. It took a lot for a Keeper to look haggard. I'd just been kidnapped, deprived of food and water for three days, called a mass of man-eating monsters to me while simultaneously calling every changed in the area, and I still looked better than him. Actually, thinking about it made me want to go collapse on my bed.
He didn't stop to talk but wrapped a hand around my arm and dragged me in with him into his bedroom. If I hadn't known what was going on and that Sabrina was there, I might have gotten a hair worried that he'd gone off the reservation. I would never admit it, but that's how bad he looked. He was bordering on creepy.
If I'd seen him as a stranger walking down the street, I would've ducked into a crowded store to avoid getting close to him.
Once I saw what awaited me, I was grateful for it too, because if he hadn't been propelling me forward I might have sunk to the ground the minute I crossed the threshold.
Sabrina, or at least I thought the creature was Sabrina, was in the middle of the bed. If I hadn't seen the beginning of her transformation, I wouldn't have known her. Blue-green scales covered the top half of her head like a strange masquerade mask. She lay upon wings outstretched beneath her. Her hands were clawed, as well as her bare feet. Her limbs, which had once been graceful and feminine, were all just sinew without an ounce of fat to soften the tendons and muscles that bulged.
I'd noticed the room was darker than even the stone normally made it and then I looked around and saw the same black marks on the walls. They looked identical to the ones we had found at the energy plant, the place Rulagh had lived.
My eyes met hers and I wanted to speak, but what could I possibly say? Her eyes, the only thing left of the Sabrina I knew, looked tortured and my heart broke.
She let out a freakish howl, lifted her head back and a burst of fire shot from her mouth. She gripped her stomach, a very rounded stomach and the pieces clicked into place. This was the hiding and the torment I'd sensed whenever Dodd mentioned her. She was like Rulagh now, and I feared what she might be carrying. I thought of my foolish idea that I'd be able to fix her with my time to get up and go on pep talk. This situation was way beyond my rehearsed "suck it up" material.
Her whimpers finally kicked me into gear and I rushed to kneel by her side. I gripped her...hand? She was lying there in pain and I forced myself out of the frozen and mute stage.
"Sabrina, what's happening?"
A steady trail of tears ran down her cheeks as she finally turned to me.
"I'm a monster. I didn't want Dodd to call anyone."
"No, you're not. You couldn't be. Not you." I squeezed my grip in reassurance and forced myself to run a hand over the scales on her forehead. "You could have come to me. I would've been there for you."
Her body tensed in visible pain. "It's coming," she said.
I didn't ask what, I was afraid to confirm whose, and I was beyond trying to count days since nothing about this was normal. She wasn't human, anymore. A nine month term pregnancy probably didn't apply. I could deal with not knowing who, but as I tried to move into position to help her try and deliver it, having an idea what would've have been a really nice thing to know.
"Dodd?" I looked around the room to find him standing just behind me. "Get water and blankets. Oh, and a knife or scissors. And some kind of clamp as well." He ran off to go do my bidding and I looked at Sabrina, hoping I had covered all the bases. She was the doctor after all. I only knew what I'd seen on TV shows.
"Yes, that's good," she said, as she tried to wriggle up into a half sitting position. I moved to help her before preparing to assess the situation.
I was just about to see if I could determine how far along her labor was, when Sabrina clasped my hand that was on her knee.
"Jo?" Her hand squeezed tightly on mine and I noted the change had definitely made her stronger than normal.
"Don't worry. I know I've never done this before but I'm a really quick study."
She shook her head. "That's not it. There's something wrong."
I held back my sarcastic response of what could possibly be wrong? Even I knew it was out of place and being driven by fear and nerves.
I decided to go with, "Why do you say that?"
"I'm a doctor." She leaned back, anxiety in her eyes. "This isn't normal."
"What do you think is wrong?"
"Jo, I'm hundreds of years old. Even Keeper females run out of eggs. I shouldn't have been able to get pregnant." She stared at me, daring me to continue pretending this was anything close to normal.
I nodded and tried to infuse my voice with confidence. "Whatever happens, I will get you through this."
"Promise me something?"
"Anything," I said but inwardly cringed.
What else was I supposed to say? Deathbed promises are a bitch. For all I knew, there was a heaven, and all those people who asked for favors right when they knew they couldn't be turned down are probably skipping around fancy free. Meanwhile, all of us who agreed are loaded down with all sorts of crap we never would've agreed to under normal circumstances. Seriously, any negotiations under these terms should be null and void. I knew it was a valid point, but I wasn't going to be the ass to say, hey, I only agreed because she was dying.
"Promise to take care of it."
"What about Dodd?"
When she looked off to the side, I knew my last escape was about to take a leap out the window and die a painful but quick death.
"It's not Dodd's. Rulagh raped me."
I nodded. "I promise."
And that's when the bad thoughts started. It wasn't that I didn't love Sabrina and feel horrible about what was going on, BUT there she'd be, dancing through pearly gates while I had to babysit Godzilla out of misplaced guilt. If there was a fuck my life charter club, I'd officially be president right now.
When we heard the commotion in the other room, I felt her pulse pick up even faster.
"Stay calm. I'll get rid of them and be right back." I gave her a pat, the situation seemed to call for something of the sort, and I rushed out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind me. Cormac, Buzz and Dark were arguing with Dodd, who carried my supplies.
"What the hell is going on?" Cormac asked as soon as I stepped in the room.
"I don't have time right now." I grabbed the supplies from Dodd.
When Cormac made to follow me, I held up a hand to hold him off as I managed to juggle my stuff. "No. She's already stressed. Dodd will have to explain. No one comes in unless explicitly invited by her."
Dodd took a step next to me, physically backing up my words.
"You going to tell me what's going on?" Cormac asked, offering a silent compromise, information for cooperation. I'd seen how quick Cormac could really move. If he pushed the issue, I didn't think either Dodd or I'd be able to keep him out of the room. Actually, I knew we couldn't.
"Hurry up," I said to Dodd before I left them to go back into the bedroom. I was protecting her privacy, but it wasn't like I wanted to be in there alone.
"Who's out there?" Sabrina asked as I settled back near the bed.
"Dodd, Cormac and Buzz, but Dodd is keeping them out."
It looked like she was about to say something but instead, whatever it initially was turned into a scream as she was wracked with another contraction. I looked down, expecting to see something, hopefully a head. I was relieved when it did seem to be that. She must have seen the emotions and fear on my face.
"What?" she asked, in between contractions.
"Nothing. Everything is fine. Just breathe deep." And I needed to school my expressions better. Once upon a time, I'd had a great poker face.
"How's she doing?" Dodd asked, coming in and perching on the side of the bed near Sabrina. He held her hand as he looked to me.
"She's doing great." I watched as Sabrina sank back into the bed and closed her eyes in exhaustion. "How long has this been going on?"
"All day, but she hid it. I didn't know about it until an hour ago."
I nodded my head in the direction of the living room.
He looked at her and then back to me, and mouthed the words, I told them but I asked them to stay out there.
I might need help. I widened my eyes in emphasis.
Sabrina's eyes snapped open again as she cried out in agony and I watched as a small human head pushed out a few more centimeters. When Sabrina collapsed again, I started to fear she wouldn't make it. She looked much weaker even than when I'd arrived. I felt her wrist, which lay limp on the side of the bed opposite Dodd. The pulse was weak and thready.
"I'll be right back," I said.
Do
dd nodded as he wiped the hair from Sabrina's scaled forehead.
I found Cormac pacing the living room.
"Where's Dark and Buzz?"
"I sent them to find Burrom. Desperate times and all that." He walked closer to me to make sure he couldn't be heard in the other room. "How's it going?"
"Something's wrong. She's weaker than she should be. I know she's in labor," I couldn't even begin to tell him that I feared what might be coming out of her, "but she's too weak. Her pulse is getting faint. She's a Keeper. Shouldn't she be able to handle giving birth? Shouldn't she be able to heal whatever is going wrong?"
"Maybe not." He scratched his shadowed jaw in contemplation and then rested his hands on his hips.
"Why not?" It was the last thing I wanted to hear.
"Because, when a woman gives birth, there are certain things that have to happen in order for labor to occur. Keeper's bodies shut down our healing until after they deliver."
"How much after?" I watched as he sat down on Dodd's couch and I didn't like the look of things. I would have preferred pacing.
"Depends. It's very individual. I've heard of it happening minutes after to sometimes days after."
"You're saying she could die during labor?"
He rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his fist.
"It's why I'm having them look for Burrom. Maybe he knows a trick we don't."
He spoke when I turned to leave. "Do you want me to come in there with you?"
I knew Dodd asked him to stay out because of Sabrina's wishes, but I wanted him to walk back in the room and take over. I just didn't know how to face what might be coming, but when I heard her cry, I went in alone.
Another four hours passed and whatever it was that was going to come out hadn't moved. She was barely coherent at this point, and then it was only right after she was ripped back into awareness and screaming in pain.
All thoughts to maintaining her privacy went out the window an hour ago as Cormac, Burrom, Dodd, Buzz, Dark, Colleen, Sharon and Katie were all piled in the apartment and taking turns by the bedside with me.
I got up and stretched my legs in between a contraction. "What do we do?" I heard Dark ask from the other room as I stood by the door.
Redemption: Alchemy Series Book #4 Page 13
