Secrets Of Sanctuary Hospital Nightmare Of The Dark Shadows

by L. A. A. Law

  His resolve slips and features waiver, my gamble is working and he is considering my words. In his distraction, I loosen the tourniquet knowing he won’t be able to resist coming back for more blood.

  His nose flares, he rises and is upon me, grabbing my arm again allowing the blood which is once again flowing to fill his goblet. Pulling me closer to him, his voice turns harsh. “I am offering you your life. Now tie that tightly, you cannot afford to keep me fed, although I do appreciate your noble attempt at a distraction.”

  It’s strange, but at this moment, he is not at all the irrational individual I heard all day. He seems more refined, calmer. I tighten the band as he returns to his seat. “Since you know about the replacement of your son, tell me, is your Jacob also tied to my Alexander?”

  “Again you are seeking answers but all you offer me is my life. My life is meaningless if you are going to take my family from me, so why don’t you release my son, he can’t give you what you want, only I can. Release him and the others and then you and I can talk.”

  Taking a slow, long sip, he appears to be contemplating his next move. “If I release the others, I lose a very valuable bargaining chip and your incentive to give me what I want.”

  “David, stop toying with me. You still have Marlena and the other one at my home with my other children and husband. Knowing what you are capable of, I’m sure that they would take out my family before I could even find a phone to warn them. Consider my offer. In fact as an incentive, I will even answer one of your questions. My son is not capable of reading the thoughts of your Alexander. He is young and you know how young ones can be.”

  “Yes, but if I release them, they could warn your family.”

  “David, my family is an ocean away. You know those in the dungeon don’t have cell phones. Even if you were to release them, it will be hours before they are even off your vast estate. If I don’t give you your answers within the first ten minutes, not only would you be able to recapture those you freed, but you would be able to wipe out my entire family.”

  He stares silently at me, hopefully considering my offer. If I could get Gabriel and the others at least moving, they would have a better chance at being saved when the others arrive. David blurs before me as fog creeps into every facet of my system, I’m becoming weaker with each passing moment and wonder if it is only because of the loss of blood and lack of food or sleep or if I am actually going through the transformation Andrew warned me about.

  “Henry, Anthony go and release our captures from the dungeon but take her son to me.”

  “That was not the deal I offered you.” My insides are spinning out of control, as soon as they reach for Jacob, they will know it is an illusion and kill the others.

  He is out of his seat and upon me before I can even register his movement. Loosening my tourniquet, he pierces the wound with his talon like nails and extracts yet another goblet of blood. “Mia, I have shown you a courtesy and yet you play games with me. I will release the others because they are of no use to me and for that you will give me the information I desire or watch your son suffer knowing that your other children will suffer the same.” He grasps my chin, pulling my face up to his. “If you do give me the information without trouble, I may consider allowing you and your children to live and show me what other talents and tricks you have learned as my special guests. Do not trifle with me. I’m sure that my family would be all too happy to hear me call a hunt upon your friends if you should fail to give me what I want while I torture and feast upon your half-breed as you lay there helpless forced to watch the life force slowly escape from his eyes and the last scream escape his soon to be muted lips.” Releasing my chin, he flicks his wrist causing my body to fly across the room.

  Hitting the wall, I gasp, but not out of pain, the two have returned grasping Jacob. I can’t understand it, he escaped. Damian told me he was safely with Andrew. My head spins wildly. I can barely hear the others speaking. “We let them go, they are fast, but you have about an hour before they will reach wolf territory even at full speed.”

  “Gather the others and follow them. Henry, you stay with me. If I do not get my answers in five minutes, catch up to the others and you can enjoy the hunt on at least the two wolves and the witch. Just dispose of the two vampires.”

  I panic. Why would they allow Jacob to come back? Andrew would never risk him like that. He must have escaped from Andrew, but how and what am I going to do? I have no answers, David is not naïve and can’t be fooled by any parlor tricks of mine and my son will pay the price. Crawling, I try getting closer to Jacob in hopes of casting some sort of spell that will deflect David long enough for Jacob to run again.

  David is upon me, pulling me off the floor. “Now tell me about your special talents Mia. Tell me how your son transformed and how you have not become a vampire. What are you really?”

  My eyes glance toward Henry whose fidgeting in anticipation of David ordering the hunt. I propel myself with hands outstretched hoping to repel David while yelling to Jacob. “Run, Jacob, now out the window.” David goes back, but quickly recovers and is upon me instantly, the goblet disintegrating in his hands which grasp my neck. About to thrust my head into the floor, he stops stunned, and stares at his hand. I feel a sticky ooze dripping down along my clavicle and wonder if he reopened my head gash.

  He cries out startling us both. “It’s not possible.” As he gathers his wits, he yells to Henry. “Kill them all.” Henry is out the door in a flash. Unexpectedly, Jacob hurls himself through the air at David.

  “Jacob, run!”

  The next moment, I know my eyes cannot be registering what they see. Flying through the air, it is not Jacob, but Andrew, his eyes fierce. Knocking David off of me, he tosses him across the room. Instantly, I am in his arms and we are at the door. Stunned, I can barely speak. “Where’s Jacob?”

  “He’s safe, don’t worry. Try not to talk. You are losing blood. Tie the tourniquet tighter. As we sped across the grounds, I hear vicious growls, screams for assistance and spells being cast all around us.

  “What about the others?”

  I don’t know how you got them to come down and release them, but that was brilliant. You will have to tell me later. They were out the door as I was brought up to you. I’m sure they got the children out and that Gabriel, Eva and Emma are fighting with the others. Mia, please don’t talk, your heart rate is extremely erratic and I need you to focus on calming it down. Everyone will be...” We are hit from behind, crashing toward the cold, hard ground. I hear a crunch, but feel no pain. Andrew is wrapping himself around me tightly, rolling. By protecting me, he is making himself vulnerable. I hear his grunts and the breaking of some bones.

  “Andrew, let me go, I’ll be alright.” He doesn’t, so I struggle. Finally he releases me, but stays close. With my hands freed, I gather the energy and repel the vampire attacking us. Picking me up again, Andrew starts running.

  A familiar voice bellows. “Andrew stop running, it will be fine.”

  Andrew halts as Reginald comes beside us, tossing the vampire who crashed into us at least one hundred feet into the air sending him crashing down before a wolf. The wolf drags him into the woods.

  “Andrew, get Mia back into the estate. The woods are crawling with our people, Elizabeth’s people and wolves from the neighboring land. They mistakenly attacked Gabriel and two of my men. I can smell Mia’s blood and hear her weakened heart. Emma told me she can’t see and was bitten. It’s too dangerous for you to be traveling now with everyone on the grounds. Emma took the children and is hiding in one of the rooms with Eva, see if you can find them. I know you will find this impossible to believe, but the estate is the safest place to be right now until I can gather some more of my people. We will come for you. Alone you are too vulnerable and the closer you get to the drop off area, the more wolves you will encounter who are afraid and out of control.”

  Turning, he runs back with us.

  “How many are on the grounds?” Andr
ew inquires.

  “There are twenty of my people. Elizabeth brought fifteen and I don’t know how many from the other pack. Elizabeth’s men are staying close to my people because two of my men got attacked near the drop off point by another wolf’s pack who were attacked just before Mia was dropped off.”

  “What about Gabriel, is he alright?”

  “He is fine. They roughed him up, but Grant’s children turned on their own and knocked them down to protect Gabriel and Eva and then ran with them and Emma. They are just waiting for my people to get all together and then they will leave.”

  “Do you really think it was safe for them to return to the estate?”

  “I didn’t like sending them back there, but honestly, I was more afraid to have them out here on their own with everyone out of control and not knowing each other. Emma is very strong and I sent Cecil, their way. I’m sure she has found them and that between all of them they will be fine until I can get the others to them. I think that it would be best if we stuck together and tried to leave as a group, this way, no matter who we encounter, we will have our bases covered. I only need a few moments. We only broke up into three groups. It shouldn’t take me long to find them, they were heading toward the estate anyway. Mia, do you know how many were in there?”

  “Honestly, no, but I did hear David give some of them the order to gather the others and follow Gabriel, so they would be ready to attack them if I didn’t give him what he wanted.”

  That’s good. They must have been the group that scattered when the wolves began to attack. We saw them as we were running toward Emma.

  “Do you think that there were any more in the estate?”

  Before I answer, several blood curdling howls rip through the atmosphere and Reginald is gone. Andrew runs quickly back to the estate. Hopefully we are not heading into disaster. Andrew is hurt, I am weak and if David is still in the house, I doubt we could fight him off successfully. “Andrew what if there are others in the house?”

  “Mia, it’s alright. We will be fine. Reginald is right. With the wolves out to kill all of the vampires, we need to leave as a group, it is safer that way. We just need to find the right side of the estate that they are in. I’m sure that Eva is at the window ready to have the others jump from it if anything goes wrong. They would never allow themselves to get trapped in there again. They are ready for an attack and are probably hiding in a room no higher than the second floor with at least two windows so that they can get everyone out if necessary. Circling the building, my heart rate accelerates with fear considering what we may encounter. Taking in a deep breath, hoping to calm it, instead my head begins spinning wildly and I wonder if I am going through the conversion now or if my body is finally registering the pain and loss of blood. My peripheral vision is obliterated by the encroaching darkness and I fear my blindness is returning. As my heart rate spikes, I quickly pierce my lips so my fears do not surreptitiously escape to compound and already overwhelming situation. Somewhere, my conscious registers that Andrew has run around two sides of the building and is leaping up to a second story window with me in his arms. I register a room full of familiar faces before my vision fails and my consciousness fades.

  Resurfacing, I feel Andrew’s hands at the back of my head exuding that same strange, yet comforting heat. A moment later, the veil is lifted from my eyes and my vision is clearer than before. Trying to sit up, his hands move gently towards his lips and mine before they are at my ear, speaking softer than a gentle breeze. “Mia, don’t move, you are healing, but there is activity in the hallway and they seem panicked. Something is happening.”

  My eyes dart around the room. Grant’s children are at the two windows with Eva, while Gabriel and the others are at the two doors. Emma is mumbling with her hands outstretched before one door, while Cecil is at the other.

  My voice is barely a whisper. “What are they doing?”

  “They’re chanting a repellant spell to keep the door immovable.”

  Eva moves to Andrew’s side. “Reginald is here with the others. They’re outside.”

  He enters through the window and Grant’s children jump out. Moving to take Cecil’s place, she jumps out. I’m shocked as he opens the door slightly and appears to be listening. Andrew lifts me. As we walk toward the window, Reginald joins us. In a hushed tone, “Mia, what spell did you cast upon David?”

  My eyes tear up meeting his which rage with curiosity. “I tried to repel him, but that didn’t work.”

  “Mia, you had to do something else, the three remaining vampires in the house are frantic, David is bleeding and they swear they can hear a heart beating within him.”

  Andrew answers before I can. “Reginald you know that’s not possible. If everyone is together, we have to leave.”

  “Go on ahead, I’ll catch up.”

  I grab his hand. “Reginald, come with us, you can’t stay here. It’s dangerous. If the wolves enter, they will mistake you for one of David’s clan, you could be killed. Elizabeth and the others are bent upon the destruction of every last member on this estate.”

  “There probably aren’t many left around the estate. They were either killed or escaped. The only ones left are the three that entered shortly before Steven’s group joined us and David. If what they are saying is true, I have to investigate. Nothing like this has ever happened and probably will never happen again.”

  “Reginald, please, it is not a good idea.”

  He places his hand upon mine causing a very strange feeling to course through me. I feel better than well all of a sudden. “Mia, I will be fine, you know I can’t pass up gathering new information about our kind. I need to see this David for myself, see if what they are claiming is real. I will be quick, I promise and then I will meet up with you. I just need to see this for myself.”

  Knowing all he risked for me in the past, I can’t leave him alone in this. “Andrew we can’t leave him. You know what would happen if the wolves find him.”

  Cecil jumps back through the window. “What is keeping you?”

  “Cecil, take the others and go. I overheard the others, David is bleeding and they hear a heartbeat.”

  Her features turn to stone as she grabs his hand. “Reginald, you know that is not possible, this curse is not reversible. We cannot bleed and our heart stops for all eternity the day darkness engulfs us.”

  “I know what you are saying, but what if what they are panicked over is happening. I can’t leave such a question unanswered. You know that this is what so many of our kind have been searching for through the millennia. If there is even the remotest possibility, I cannot leave.”

  I hear her resigned sigh. “Go, find this David. We will keep the others at bay. Be quick, the sooner we leave, the better, we have three wounded, two dead and don’t forget three of his got back into the estate.”

  “Thank you.”

  My pleading eyes meet Andrew’s. “We can’t leave him, we know where David is and if he is hurt, he probably hasn’t left.”

  “Mia, do you even feel strong enough to move around? You lost a lot of blood. Even though your wounds are healed and I increased your body’s rate of replacing what you lost, I’m sure you are still very weak.”

  “I feel fine. I’m sure once we take him to David he will quickly see that it is not possible. Andrew please I don’t want to leave him here alone.”

  He turns to Reginald. “Alright, we’ll take you to him, but Reginald once you see it is not possible, we have to leave quickly.”

  He places his hand on Andrew. “Thank you.”

  The others are back now too, Gabriel must have heard. “Let’s go, we all stay together.”

  We travel through the hall quickly. I don’t know why, but I’m surprised Andrew remembers where we were.

  Entering, no one is there. Reginald moves inside more and leans down where David fell after Andrew knocked him off me. He inhales deeply and mutters to himself. “This is not possible. It can’t be.” Pain contorts his features.
He sweeps his hand across the rug and brings now bloodied fingertips to his nose. Rising, he is out of the room in a flash. We follow, Andrew keeping me close. Outside, Andrew practically lifts me, plastering me to his hip as we hurriedly cross the land.

  We finally stop near a cottage with an abundant field. Reginald moves slowly now, finally stopping before a man crouched over tomato plants. Falling to his knees, Reginald is at eye level with David. As David turns toward him, I see tomato juice dripping from his mouth. I cannot make sense of the scene before me. Vampires do not eat and Reginald is extending a shaking hand out to touch David whose eyes dart between Reginald and our group wildly. He looks as if he has aged a century. He is a frail and withering shadow of the man who is aging before our eyes, but I know without a doubt that it is David.

  As the darkness from his black eyes fade, turning them blue, his voice is a shattered echo. “How is this possible?” Thinking he means what is happening to him, I nearly sink to the floor hearing what he says next.

  “I should have known brother that one of yours would be the downfall to this existence. I heard the rumors of you fighting our kind and all that you accomplished. I guess it was all true. But tell me, how? Grant me this one last wish brother. How did she make me human again?”

  If Andrew wasn’t holding me up, I would once again be acquainted with the cold, unwelcoming ground. Reginald appears frozen for what seems like hours, but I know is only moments. “Why? I don’t understand, I thought you were dead. How could you turn into this? How could you do this Sebastian?”

  His eyes turn back to black and his tone turns cold, maybe even maniacal. “Balance brother, for everyone good, there must be someone evil. The day we were ambushed you continued on a good path and I converted into a vessel for hell.” Holding the tomato to his lips, he bites it once more. “I forgot how wonderful food could be.” Before even swallowing, he is gone. Reginald is immobilized for the longest time then finally turns to us. “Quick, someone get a container with a cover.”