CRAVE (Exiled Book 2)

by Victoria Danann

  Her smile brightened, warming Crave to the core, and the way she looked at him confirmed his conclusion that there was no goal more important than Dandelion’s smile.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Since Free was at the human hospital with Serene, the Exiled Council of Elders called an emergency meeting to decide what to do about Crave. They needed to find a way to contain him without hurting him, or allowing him to hurt himself, while they tried to determine the extent of the damage and what, if anything, could be done for him.

  Dandelion’s initial violent reaction subsided as Crave began to calm, more from exhaustion than anything else. Her parents took responsibility for her after talking to her at length and persuading her that frenzy wouldn’t help anyone, least of all Crave. Eventually she accepted the logic in that and agreed that she wouldn’t interfere with those who were tasked with the challenge of doing the best thing for leader’s son.

  Flora had given Crave a natural sedative that had put him to sleep so that he stopped fighting and shredding his vocal cords with roaring. She hadn’t given it to him personally. That had taken several very large Exiled warriors. But she’d provided the liquid they forced down his throat. He spat out as much as he could, which meant it took several attempts. Three-quarters of it ended up on Crave, on his caretakers, or on the ground, but finally he ingested enough of it to quiet and go limp.

  Dandelion spent a sleepless night in her room at her parents’ house, but by sunrise, the restlessness of not knowing what was happening was too much for her. She sat on the porch step of the Extant’s house, shawl pulled around her, knowing that the elders were inside making decisions about Crave. Only four were present since the other two, Free and Serene, were at the Farsuitwail hospital, but they met in the Extant’s kitchen, partly out of habit and partly because they knew it was a good place to talk without being overheard.

  She looked up to see a bike come gliding to a smooth and silent stop in front of her. Charming looked like he’d aged ten years in the past few hours. He also looked like he hadn’t slept any more than she had.

  He shuffled over, sat down on the stoop next to Dandy, and put his arm around her shoulders.

  “How is she?” Dandelion asked quietly.

  “They set her nose and gave her stitches. There was a lot of swelling by the time she got to the hospital. So they don’t really know about the outcome, but judging from their faces, I think they’re saying the scarring will always look bad. I wish I was as good at detecting lies as…”

  When he tried to say the name, Carnal, his breath hitched and the sound died in his throat. Dandy put her arm around his waist and kissed the tear that trailed down his cheek.

  “He loved Crave so much,” Charming said. “Thing is, if he’d known how this was going to turn out, he still would have gone. He wanted Crave free that bad.”

  “When Crave comes back to us and understands what he did to your mother, he’s going to have a hard time of it.”

  Charming removed his arm and looked forward. “Dandelion, I don’t like having to be the one to say this to you, but somebody has to. Crave is gone. You saw him. I don’t know who that is, but it’s not my brother. Or your Promise. We have to face that.”

  Her lips parted as she shook her head. “He’s just hurt and, you know, what they say, traumatized.”

  Charming looked at her like she was the one who was crazy. “Traumatized? Slicing through his own mother’s face is not traumatized, Dandy. If Crave was still in there, anywhere, he never would have done that and you know it. He’s gone, Dandy! Just like Carnal only worse, because his body’s still here.”

  “You don’t mean that. You’re upset and…”

  “Upset? Yeah. I’m upset. I lost both of my brothers. My mother’s been horribly disfigured and my dad is acting like he wishes he was dead, too.”

  Dandy pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them just as she’d done the day she first fell in love with Crave. “I know,” she said so quietly only feline ears could have heard.

  When he saw the depth of her misery, he let some of the tension flow out of his body and softened in sympathy. “I’m sorry, Dandy. None of this is your fault. Of course you’re going to defend Crave. You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t. He’s lucky that he’s always had you.” Charming gave her a sad smile. “I don’t even remember a time when the two of you weren’t together.”

  “I’m not defending him exactly. I just think he can’t be held accountable if he doesn’t know what he was doing. We don’t know what he’s been through. We probably never will. But we know it was really, really bad. Like nightmare bad.”

  Charming looked saw the raw sincerity in her eyes and nodded. “Yeah.” He looked away and sighed. “Carnal’s crew is with Crave. They’re in shock, but I guess they feel like it’s a way to honor Carnal, taking care of his brother. It’s all so fucked.” Looking behind him at the door, he said, “I’m going in. They may throw me right out, but if I find out what they’re planning, I’ll come tell you.”

  “Thank you.”

  He rose, dusted off his pants, stamped his feet at the door and disappeared behind it.

  The elders stopped talking when Charming came in. They’d known when he entered the house because their hearing was extraordinary, at least in human terms.

  When he stepped into the kitchen, where they were seated around the table just as they would have been if Free and Serene were there, Sky said, “Charming, I’d like you to accompany me to the hospital at Farsuitwail.”

  Normally Charming’s response to such a request would have been immediate and without question. His hesitation was due only to the fact that he was exhausted in every way a person could be exhausted, emotionally, physically, spiritually. He debated on declining for only a moment, because he knew what his father would expect from him. But that moment was long enough to cause Sky to angle her head to the side, indicating that she was curious about the lag time between asking and answering.

  “I’d be honored,” he said. Then looking around the table, he added, “Want to tell me anything more? And before you answer that, I want you to know that my brother’s Promise is sitting on the front step waiting to hear what’s going to happen to him.”

  Breaker tilted his head back. “You know Crave won’t be harmed by us, boy.”

  Charming proceeded carefully. “No such thing was meant, but there are other things besides harm being considered.” He looked around the table again. “That’s why you’re meeting, isn’t it?”

  Cage answered. “It is. We have a list of questions. Sky is going to the city to… Well, you might say she’s going to scout treatment options. You’re going with her, and take Flora on the back of your bike. We need to know what humans do when they have a case like your brother. Since this sort of thing has never happened to Exiled, and we wouldn’t like for this to get around mind you, but we’re at a loss.”

  Breaker spoke up. “We’re going to find the human generals and talk about containment. Maybe they can give us materials and show us how to build a space to keep Crave safe. And comfortable if that’s possible.”

  Charming nodded solemnly. “Somebody go talk to Dandy. Please. Just… She shouldn’t be kept in the dark.”

  Breaker gave a quick jerk of a nod. As Charming turned to leave he hoped that Breaker wouldn’t be the one to talk to Dandy. He was extremely valuable in his role of counsel to Free because of his truth telling, not his diplomacy.

  When they passed Dandy, Charming said, “Somebody’s going to come out and talk to you.”

  When she nodded her thanks, he reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

  Sky pulled up alongside Charming as Flora was being seated on the rear of his bike. He threw his leg over the handlebars as he asked, “Where to?”

  “Hospital.”

  Charming took in a big breath. He’d just come from there and wasn’t especially eager to return so quickly, but he knew better than most that few people have the luxury of selfish choice
s.

  “Yes, ma’am,” was all he said.

  It was still early, nine o’clock, when Charming pulled into the covered area that had served as an emergency entrance for electric-powered ambulances before the city had been plunged into a pre-electrical state. He parked, waited for Sky and Flora to dismount then led the way inside. Human faces turned to stare at them, as they always did.

  Sky marched straight to the nurse at the reception desk looking for all the world like she was unaware of the attention they were drawing.

  “Show me to the psychiatric unit. We want to speak to the doctor in charge,” she said imperiously. The nurse looked at the staffer next to her as if she was surprised she was being addressed, front desk station notwithstanding. When the nurse continued to appear uncertain, Sky said, “Cat got your tongue?”

  Charming snickered into his hand.

  The human nurse looked at him sharply. “The head of the psychiatric unit is busy, but I can ask someone to make an appointment.” She pulled over a pad and pen. “And you are?”

  Charming leaned over, took the pen out of her hand, grasped her wrist and pulled up so that she had no choice but to get to her feet. He didn’t let go until he’d led her around the end of the counter to in front of the desk she normally hid behind like it was impenetrable armor.

  “We are people who have paid a very dear price to protect you. We’re not going to make an appointment. We’re also not going to wait.” He tightened his hold on her wrist. “You will show us the way to…” He looked at Sky.

  “Psychiatry,” she answered, visibly showing a newfound admiration for Charming and looking very pleased with the way he was handling the situation.

  “Psychiatry,” he repeated. “Now.” He said it quietly, but the resolve in his tone sounded as if it was barely disguising menace.

  The nurse looked them over again, not missing the stoniness of Charming’s features, then nodded and led them toward the stairs.

  The elevators were still in place, but no longer operable by power. The ground floor was reserved for patients who could not maneuver stairs. Since that rarely applied to psychiatric patients, the ward was on the third floor.

  They followed the nurse up. At the top of the stairs she stepped into a short hall and pulled a large bell next to a door with iron gridwork in the small glass window, set at eye height. After a minute or so another staffer, in similar clothing, looked through the glass. She was clearly alarmed to see Exiled there, but opened because of the presence of their guide.

  “They want to see Dr. Reising.”

  The psychiatric staffer raised her eyebrows. “She’s not just…”

  Charming pushed past, opening the door wide enough for Sky to go through. “Is she here or not?” he asked, picking up on the fact that the staffer had said ‘she’.

  The emergency nurse gave an apologetic shrug to her colleague, meaning, “Sorry. It’s your problem now,” then left in a hurry.

  “She’s here, but…”

  “Where?” said Charming. “Show us now.”

  “She’s making rounds. She looks in on patients in the mornings.”

  Charming turned to Sky to silently communicate that he didn’t know what ‘rounds’ meant.

  “Take us to Dr. Reising,” Sky said. “It can’t wait for… rounds.”

  The woman looked between the three Exiled as if to say that she was failing to grasp the emergency. “As I said…”

  “Either take us or we’ll go room to room until we find her.”

  “Look here…”

  “Human,” Charming said ‘human’ with just enough disdain to cause her to pull back and reassess her assumption of superiority. “I have to give you points for balls. But I’ve been through too much the past thirty six hours to waste what little patience I have left playing games with you. Counting down from three to one. Three. Two.”

  “Alright,” she said, but not without giving Charming a look intended to kill.

  The Exiled fell in step behind her, absorbing every detail of the facility as they went. It appeared to be clean. There was even a recreation room with a wall of windows bathed in morning sun and several patients engaged in creative activities. One of the doors opened and two people, a man and a woman, emerged in white coats. They made no attempt to hide their surprise at seeing three hybrids.

  “What’s going on here?” the woman said.

  “These guests insisted on seeing you, Dr. Reising,” said the third floor psychiatric unit greeter. Her emphasis on the word ‘insisted’ left little doubt that she believed she hadn’t had a choice in the matter.

  Dr. Reising looked Charming, Sky, and Flora up and down. “I see. What’s the problem?”

  Sky looked around. “Perhaps we could sit down and discuss our dilemma in a civilized way.”

  Dr. Reising looked stern, but interested. “Your dilemma,” she repeated. “Very well. Come this way.”

  They followed Dr. Reising while the man accompanying her on ‘rounds’ brought up the rear. Stopping at one of the closed doors near the front where they’d come in, Dr. Reising removed a ring of keys from her coat pocket and unlocked the door.

  “Come in,” she said, motioning to two chairs in front of a large desk. “This is Dr. Matorsin.” She nodded toward the man behind them, who took a seat on the couch at the side of the room as if he was happy to be out of the way and observe. Charming offered the chairs to the two women and stood by the door.

  It was a nicely turned out office, with a large window for light and a wood case with books.

  Sky looked at Charming for confirmation that he thought it was safe to sit down. With his nod the females each took one of the chairs offered.

  “What can I do for you?”

  Sky began by saying, “My name is Sky. This is Flora and Charming. Were you aware that there was a battle for freedom from the Rautt yesterday?”

  Dr. Reising nodded. “Yes. Everyone knows. There were, probably still are, celebrations all over. We’re going to be able to reclaim a more advanced lifestyle, among other things. I suppose that’s partially thanks to you.”

  Charming barked out a derisive laugh and repeated the word, “Partially.”

  “Yes, well,” Sky continued, not wanting to be pulled off track, “Charming’s brother, Crave, had been held prisoner by the Rautt. For years.”

  “I see.”

  “Probably not. He was tortured in ways none of us want to contemplate. In short, the experience stole his memory and perhaps his sanity. It’s hard for us to know because we haven’t had mental health issues in the past.”

  Dr. Reising nodded. “I’m sorry.” Her eyes went to Charming. “I mean I’m sorry about your brother. Not sorry that you haven’t had a need for services such as ours.”

  He noted that she seemed genuinely sympathetic, which was in her favor.

  Sky went on. “At present he is a danger to himself and others. We’re trying to devise a way to contain him so that he’s comfortable while he… recovers. But we don’t really know how to…”

  “Fix him,” Charming finished the sentence. “Personally I don’t believe there’s any hope of that, but his Promise thinks he’s still in there somewhere.”

  “His Promise?”

  “The female he was pledged to mate. Can something be done to restore his, ah, restore him to himself?”

  “I can’t say without seeing him. Of course I’ll help if I can.”

  “You’ll have to come to Newland.”

  She shook her head. “He’ll need to be admitted here.”

  “No. We’re keeping him close to his home, things he may recognize.”

  “I have a full schedule. Working in trips to your, um…”

  “Colony.”

  “Yes. To your colony would be a challenge.”

  Charming looked a little flustered by her reluctance. “With respect,” he began, “I’m tired and don’t want to mince words. You owe us. Simple as that. And we need you to do this.”

 
She studied Charming for a minute. “No one can promise that he is even treatable, much less curable.”

  “We understand,” said Sky. She glanced at Flora. “Flora is currently giving him a natural sedative to help keep him quiet. We wonder if you have something that would be better.”

  “A natural sedative?” The good doctor looked at Flora like she’d never heard the word ‘natural’ before. “What do you mean?”

  Flora lifted a shoulder. “Valerian. Chamomile. Passion Flower. The trick is knowing the fractions and the dosage.” She made a face. “Well, maybe the real trick is finding people strong enough to hold him down so he takes it.”

  Dr. Reising looked a little horrified. “What is the effect on the patient?”

  “As Sky said, it makes him too sleepy to hurt himself.”

  “Does he need a straightjacket?”

  “What is that?” Charming asked.

  It was the hybrids’ turn to look horrified as she explained how it worked. “Good gods,” Charming mumbled. “No one is doing that to my brother.”

  “I understand how you feel,” Dr. Reising sympathized, “but as you said, he has to be subdued so he doesn’t hurt himself.” Looking at Flora, she said, “I can give you some medication in the form of pills that will sedate him, but if you’re satisfied with the results you’re getting…”

  Flora interrupted. “Crave is still highly agitated even though he’s being given my remedy at full strength. If you have something stronger that does no harm, we’d be grateful for the assistance.”

  Cage, Thorn, and Breaker sought out the human military leaders they’d worked with when they’d orchestrated the assault on the Rautt. Having bonded with the Exiled over the shared goal of ridding their world of the mutual bane of terrorism, the humans were happy to assist with the construction of a holding facility for Crave. They volunteered workers and materials so that completion might be accomplished quickly, within days.