Secrets Of Sanctuary Hospital Nightmare Of The Dark Shadows

by L. A. A. Law

  The shuffling continues and the room feels quite warm. “Grant, what happened? Why are these vampires here claiming to be family of Lucas’?”

  “I don’t have time to explain that now, if my pack finds me, they will find her and drag me back.”

  “If you want my help, especially against David, you have to tell me what is going on so that I can prepare my pack, they are over at the church, waiting. When we smelled the vampires, only a few of us came in while the rest stayed behind getting ready to attack.”

  “Elizabeth, these vampires are not with David, they are with Lucas.”

  “Then why is your pack looking for you and why are your children with you?”

  I hear a deep sigh. “We were sent to David’s estate to monitor and determine if there was any way to attack them successfully. Before we completed our assessment, David decided to hunt my family. We made the mistake of thinking that we were strong enough and could take out a few of their men before returning to our pack. My children were not ready for the stress and did not transform in time. I lost Charlotte, Steve and Pauline and thought Paul and Julianne were also dead, but they were captured along with Mia’s children and some of her family and brought down to the dungeon.”

  “David doesn’t take humans prisoner, he converts them or devours them, there has to be something that you are not telling me.” She must sense I am not a vampire.

  “Your right, David saw Mia’s son transform and wants to know the source of his power and how to use it.”

  “You can’t be correct, even David knows that vampires can’t transform into werewolves.”

  Grant’s response is hushed. “He didn’t transform into a werewolf, he was a mouse and then was a human.”

  “That’s not possible! Don’t lie to me! I won’t go up against David blind. You know what happened to my pack the last time.”

  “I’m not lying to you I swear. I saw him transform with my own eyes. They are different. I even saw Mia send David flying through the air before she got thrown up against a tree and hurt. I’m telling you there is something about her family and that is why David is keeping captives.”

  “But why keep your children?”

  “When I avoided their capture, I came across Mia and took her back to our lands. They don’t want her to interfere with David’s plan to wipe out Lucas and his family after learning their secrets. David transformed two from his coven and sent them back to the states with Mia’s family to take out all of her children and family members.”

  “Why does David want to take you out?” She’s addressing me and moving closer. I try to move around whoever is in front of me.

  “David thinks that I am Lucas wife and my family is his. He is seeking revenge for Lucas saving you and the werewolf plague that he believes Lucas brought upon his land because of you. He came after my children and during our attempted rescue, he saw that my son is unique and decided that he would be more use to him alive than dead, but since he lost my remaining family in the ambush, he sent two of his family back home with mine to destroy Lucas and his entire family. Now they are seeking me so that I can’t warn my family or interfere with their plan.”

  Grant interrupts. “How did you know? Were you with Jacob? Are my children still alive?”

  “They were when I was there, but then David left to attack the scouting party.”

  “Mia, that happened an hour ago and there is not much more time before they will kill them, my pack is searching feverishly for you and almost caught me, that’s why I brought my children here. I couldn’t risk having them stay there.” He must have turned to Ken.

  “I know this is more involvement than I said, but do you think that you could get my children to the tower at St. Steven’s until we return. I have no place else to hide them. If my pack finds them, they will try to use them to find me and Mia and if David finds them, he will kill them. Please Ken, you know they are good children and I desperately need your help.”

  “Dad, we can help, especially if you are going back to the estate.” The young voice pleads.

  “No, you are not old enough or strong enough, please just go with Ken.”

  Although Ken does not reply, I hear retreating footsteps and then Grant’s impassioned plea. “I need your help to save my children, the way my grandfather saved you and your men. Please I would not ask, but I have nowhere else to turn.”

  “Grant why is your pack hunting you, instead of helping in the rescue?”

  “My sister convinced them that Mia bewitched me and that she is in league with David in an attempt to destroy us because of what happened today.”

  “Grant you have to admit that what you are saying does not add up. Although I know David can change, we never heard that any of the others could, and they have never hunted outside of their own lands, not even for revenge. Besides you know how we were fooled once with the idea of Lucas’ return. What is to say that we are not being fooled again?”

  I have to interrupt. “Elizabeth, please, you are not being fooled and there are lives depending upon your help. How can I convince you that what we are telling you is true and that not only the lives of the captures are in danger but Lucas and our whole family that returned to the States as well as those we have living with us are in grave danger from the two barbaric vampires that returned with them especially if they contact others to help?”

  “If you are truly Lucas wife and he told you my story, you would know who ran away with me. I have never given that name to anyone.”

  Without even a second hesitation, I answer. “Florence was the woman that you and Lucas stayed with the spring that you escaped, you were on the estate of a distant relative of Lucas’ in France and Florence had a son. One day, when Lucas went to work she ran with you and her son. Lucas did find you, but knew that you could have a normal life with Florence and he even ensured that she was hired by a new nobleman, that you were taken care of until Florence remarried and you had a family. Then he left for the states and hadn’t returned until now. I am not his wife though, I am his sister-in-law and the children that David is trying to kill are my children, not Lucas’. David was mistaken, but they will die and so will Grant’s children if we don’t act soon. The first thing we have to do is to turn me over to David so that he will not attack Grant’s pack or kill the captures and you have enough time to plan an attack.”

  I hear several gasps around me.

  “Mia, you can’t be serious. We won’t allow you to be handed over to this David. I’m sure that he will kill you.”

  “Jackson, if I don’t he will kill them. What if he decides that Jacob can’t help him or that it is too much trouble to keep him alive and kills him. At least if you turned me over, you could have time to plan an attack. Maybe I can even get Jacob to transform if he knows that you are waiting for him. I can’t just stay here and do nothing while that monster has my son! You know as well as I do that vampires can’t change, what if he is also a demon. We know all too well how lines can be crossed. What if he were to discover...” Sobs rip through my chest, giving me a moment of clarity to realize we are not alone and I stop abruptly.

  Jackson wraps his arms around me. “Mia, we will get them back, Jacob is a very smart and powerful young man, he will come home to you, but you are in no position to turn yourself over to them, you couldn’t even see an impending attack to try to protect yourself. You know what will happen to you if your heart or brain is impaired, you will die. Stay here and we will see what we can do. Andrew should be back soon and Reginald and some of his contingent are still here, we can meet up with them and form a plan.”

  “But I can buy you some time. If he thinks that he is getting what he wants and can proceed with his plan, it will buy you time. I’m telling you that David is irrational and if he doesn’t get me, people will die and not just here, but at Sanctuary. Please trust me. He has already killed so many.”

  I grab his arms and my tone reflects my resolve. “If you won’t take me I’ll find a way to get there.
I won’t take a chance with Jacob’s life!”

  “She is right.” Elizabeth responds authoritatively. “Turning her over may buy us time to formulate a plan. I know that she at least must have been with Lucas to know that Florence took me and ran with her son. Only he and I know this and if you are with Lucas, maybe we could work together to rescue everyone involved and put an end to this family and their reign of terror once and for all.”

  Damian’s response surprises me. “We can take out those who might be attacking, but we cannot take out anyone who is not a direct threat to the rescuers or captives.”

  “What do you mean you can’t help take out the family? They need to be stopped!”

  “I’m sorry, but we can only rescue those captured. We cannot openly attack.”

  “Does that mean if you were to come with us you would interfere with our plans?”

  “It means that our goal is to get those who should not be on that land off; and that is what we are going to do.”

  “Fine, but if your friend wants to go and buy us time, you need to let her go. If we can gain any advantage at all in an attack on this family, we have to take it. They will be expecting an immediate attack because of the scouts, but if she were to be turned over, and they thought the wolves would go back to being docile because of the loss of Grant’s family and the scouts, maybe we could plan a proper attack and catch them off guard. Trust me; we need any advantage that we can get to even hope to get out all of those being held. We’ll have our people try to take out as many of them or all if we can. Since you refuse to help us take them out, you will be in charge of retrieving the captives and getting them safely off of the land. I owe that much to Grant, just don’t interfere with our plans. How many do you have in your party and would any of them be willing to help us take them out?”

  From Jackson and Damian’s hesitation, I know they have no idea. “Grant, where did they instruct your pack to leave me? Did they give them any point of destination?”

  “Yes, but Mia, your friend is right, you aren’t in a position to do anything but go there to die.”

  “Where am I supposed to go?” I say more aggravated than I hoped.

  Cold hands grab my arms. “Mia, please be reasonable, you can’t do this.”

  “I have to, you know what could happen. I have to get to Jacob. I may be blind but I’m not weak and I can buy you time.” Frustration at this delay wells within me and I send Jackson flying across the room. As he crashes against something, I sink to the floor. I have never turned on anyone close to me and although I know he isn’t hurt, I know I’m losing control. “I’m so sorry.”

  He enfolds me in an embrace. “You didn’t hurt me.”

  “I shouldn’t have done that.” I hug him closer. It’s just...”

  “I know, you’re frustrated and afraid, but Mia do you really think giving him another hostage is going to help?”

  “Jackson, I know that my son is in trouble, his cousins have been bitten, his sister almost died and he has witnessed atrocities that I always hoped to keep from him. He may even think we’re dead. He needs his mother and he has to get out of there. If you were close and he could come to you, at least he would be safe. I even have an idea to possibly confuse and distract them, but we need to speak with Reginald on the way to see if it is possible.”

  “What are you considering?’

  Knowing the company and my desire not to give them any more information to make them suspect us or for David to use against us if they are captured, I want to speak with Jackson and Damian in private. “We can discuss that in the car, we need to get going. Jackson, please I need your help! I’m going with our without you, but I would feel much better if I could tell Jacob that you and Damian are waiting for him.”

  “You know that Andrew would be against this.”

  “Well then it’s a good thing he’s not here. Come on, is there a car available, and then you can tell me how you knew and what the plan is at home on the way.”

  “Let me call Reginald and let him know that we found you and what is going on. Elizabeth, would you be willing to work with those we send this way and then you can meet up with us at the drop off point?”

  “Have these vampires you are sending also been with Lucas?”

  “No, these individuals are locals who came to help us try to rescue the children and most of them are witches.”

  “Can they be trusted?”

  “They were sent to us by someone Lucas trusts implicitly and they risked their lives on the estate to rescue the children and our party when David and his entourage ambushed us to grab Jacob and replace Mia.”

  “Send them our way.”

  Grant grabs my hand. “Mia, my car is outside, we can take that.”

  “Grant, you should stay and coordinate with Elizabeth, but if we could take your car that would be very helpful.” As much as I trust Grant and know we have the same goals, I need to talk with Jackson and Damian alone. He hands the keys to someone.

  “Mia, please be careful and if they take you to the dungeon please tell my children that I love them and that we are coming for them.”

  I hug him. “I will get them the message either way, I promise.”

  Jackson takes my hand and leads me to the car. Placing me in the back, Damian sits next to me. “You want to send another message don’t you?”

  “Yes, I do, but it will be very dangerous without Emma so I understand if you don’t want to do it.”

  “You are about to enter a barbarian’s den blind and you are worried about me. When do we go?”

  “First I want to ask you something. Have you ever apparated as something other than yourself?”

  “No. Why?”

  “I was wondering if I could get Jacob to leave, if we could fool David and the others for a while with you appearing to be Jacob still in the cage they have him in and then fool them into believing that he escaped at the moment of attack so that they will be preoccupied with finding him. Maybe that would give us the advantage we need to get everyone off the grounds safely. I know that it is risky, but maybe Reginald has something that could protect your energy to minimize the risk to you.”

  He hesitates a moment. “Mia, I am willing to try, but I have never appeared as anyone other than myself. I’m not sure if it is possible, but maybe Reginald knows how I can change my appearance.”

  A moment later, he is speaking to Reginald. “We found Mia. We were right, the Mia and Jacob who returned are part of the family... No, we can’t call them and have them take her out, they have Jacob, Gabriel, Eva and Emma along with two children of a werewolf who rescued Mia that they will kill...No, it is no longer just about killing Lucas’ family. David knows that Jacob is special and can transform. He is trying to force Jacob to reveal how he has this power...I’ll put her on.”

  “Reginald, David is not just a vampire, I have been told he is like you, also a witch, but he is dark and I wonder from what I have been told, if he also has some connection to the demon world. There is a man back at St. Ann’s named Grant who knows a lot about this family. You and the others need to go there and meet with him and Elizabeth, she is there with her pack and they are planning on attacking. I have to warn you, they also plan on trying to destroy the family and will ask you if any of you are willing to help. We told them our goal is only to get the captures out, but I needed to warn you...No, I am not there, we are heading toward the estate now. David knows that a werewolf either took my corpse or rescued me and is insisting that I be delivered back to the estate to ensure that I cannot interfere with his plans or he will kill again. I have to get to Jacob and get him out of there... No there is nothing that you can say or do that would change my mind...I understand that I am under a lot of stress because this is like a hostage situation, but you also know that if I am correct and David is in league with demons and he finds out who he really has that I will never see my son again. I have a plan, but need to know if it is possible if Damian apparates to take Jacob’s place if there
is something that we can do to make his energy appear as the image of Jacob. If we can do this, then you can go with the others and formulate a plan to rescue us, but ensure that Jacob is hidden away somewhere where no one will find him until we can get him back to Sanctuary. Yes I know Emma is there...She does. Could you also tell me how to manipulate the energy to make it appear as Jacob in case Emma is incapacitated?” Listening intently as he instructs me, I am more confident in my plan. “Yes I can put Damian back on.”

  Jackson pushes the engine to its limits. From his aggravated grunts, I know he can hear whatever Reginald is telling Damian. “Yes, I can do that. Grant can show you where we will be...Yes I do remember them, we will be expecting them.

  Taking my hands, he strains to make his voice sound reassuring. “Mia, Reginald is sending two very powerful witches to escort Jacob if we can get him to come our way so that Jackson can watch and keep anyone who comes along off me.

  “How much further?”

  “We are traveling as fast as we can, but are still about thirty minutes out.”

  “How did you know that it wasn’t me or Jacob and has anyone else been replaced?”

  “No one else was replaced. Andrew knew as soon as we all reconvened at the hotel that the person returning as yourself and Jacob were imposters and so did Martina, but Martina warned him not to let on because she read the boy’s thoughts about the ones that got captured and then the woman’s thoughts about you and what was happening.

  Nicole also knew immediately it was not you or Jacob. As Andrew and Lucas were trying to help Nicholas and Kayla, we got attacked. They carefully separated out the children, Lucas and Andrew from the rest of us. Then as we were rushing them to the car, Gabriel and Jacob got attacked and only Jacob returned to the car. We were in such a rush to get the children off of the land, that at first we stayed behind and Andrew went ahead, but then he called all of us back to the hotel. I am not sure exactly what happened because we didn’t want to make them suspicious, but by the time we arrived back at the hotel, Nicole was calling Lucas dad and saying how happy she was that they found you and Jacob while Nicholas and Kayla were hugging Andrew.”