I felt as my ribs were raked by claws, the pressure caused two of them to crack, the pain flared like a red hot spike down the side of my body, but I ignored it. I brought my pistol up and shot him three times in the gut. His eyes went completely yellow and the damage I did caused him to lose his mind. His face started to shift, his mouth began elongating and his ears moved up and towards the back of his head. Fur started growing all over and I didn’t want to wait to see how dangerous he would be after he shifted.
With a grunt of effort I threw him off of me and he landed gracefully on all fours. I leapt up and unloaded the rest of my rounds into him while I ran. The rounds caused him to jerk from each shot, allowing me to get close enough to use my sword. He swiped at my face and I easily blocked it, removing his clawed hand at the forearm. He bellowed in pain and tried to barrel me over again. I dropped my empty pistol and landed a devastating uppercut that lifted him off his feet. With two quick slashes I disemboweled him then watched as he fell to the ground, headless.
I spun towards Arendiol, hurrying over to help her. She was on the ground with one of the werewolves on top of her; the other was lying not far from them. His head was caved in, Arendiol’s club still stuck in his skull.
I was almost twenty feet away and saw I was going to be too late, the bastard had her pinned and was lunging towards her neck, which was unprotected. There was a bright flash from behind me and the werewolves head exploded in a gory mess. His body slumped forward, his momentum carrying him into Arendiol. She gasped in horror and surprise and reflexively kicked the headless body away from her, sending it fifty feet.
I was almost to her, silently thanking whoever had killed the werewolf when another flash of light flared and Arendiol was slammed back into the ground from the force of the shot. I spun to see the same shooter from earlier disappear into the night sky.
I got to Arendiol and saw a large, softball sized hole in her side. The skin suit had been punctured and there was blood everywhere. She was breathing rapidly, like she was having an asthma attack.
“You have to relax, I know it hurts, but you have a punctured lung. It hurts like hell, but if you don’t stop hyperventilating you’ll suffocate yourself.” I said, taking off my shirt and placing it over the wound. It quickly became damp.
I didn’t have a lot of options. The gunfire and excitement was bound to bring the cops, I couldn’t stay here and be found with all these bodies, not to mention Arendiol, one cursory examination by the paramedics would have her sent to some government base somewhere, where they would be very interested in her. She needed time. Her suit would soon reform and hopefully stop the bleeding, but it would take time for her body to heal, if it could. The damage had been severe. I still didn’t trust her, she was keeping information from me, but I couldn’t find out what if she died. I quickly made my decision and gently picked her up, carried her to my bike, picking up my pistol on the way.
“Can you hold on?” I asked.
She nodded once, her pale skin from the blood loss almost glowed in the night. She winced as I get her on my bike, but held on tight after I sat down. I took off, hoping Neal might have some idea of how to help her. She was gonna need it.
Chapter eight
We drove towards the house, Arendiol kept her death grip on me, but I didn’t care, as long as she didn’t fall off.
I’m here. He answered, thank god.
I do not think it is wise to bring her here.
Alerting the Unites States government of our existence would not be beneficial. Alright, bring her in; I’ll have Kim get a room prepared.
“You have to hold on, we’ll be there in few minutes, can you make it!?” I yelled over the noise of the motorcycle’s engine.
“I’m sorry, I…. I can make it.” She said in my ear.
I forgot about Neal and Kim, concentrating on keeping Arendiol from falling off. I had to be careful; the last thing I wanted or needed was to have the local authorities taking an interest in us. I drove, praying to any gods that would listen to keep us safe until we got there.
Someone must have been listening. I stopped in front of the house and caught Arendiol as she fell off the back of the motorcycle.
“Easy, we made it. Just concentrate on breathing. We’ll have you inside in a second.” I said as I scooped her up and carefully carried her inside.
Neal met us at the door, with a concerned looking Kim.
“Is she alright?” Kim asked, stepping back.
“She’s gonna be fine, which room?” I asked, hoping to get her focused on something else.
“This one.” She hurried over to the second bedroom, one that we used for storage.
There was now a mattress on the floor with covers, a pillow and an I.V. hanging from a stand. We kept the basics on hand at all times. You know beans, rice, water and I.V.’s.
Human’s veins were more superficial than Atlanteans; you could actually see them on a person. It made giving a human an I.V. easier in that regard, humans also had a different muscle structure that made it necessary for any type of infusion to be given into a vein to make sure it was circulated, otherwise it would just bunch up in a muscle or be caught by a layer of fascia and could cause major problems. Atlanteans physiology was different; our muscles had changed over the thousands of years of being deep underwater. The layers that separated our muscles were more porous, our veins and arteries deep. This allowed me to take the needle and jam it into Arendiol’s neck muscle without worrying about hitting a vein. I knew her body would get the liquid it needed from the I.V.
Arendiol barely registered the I.V. going in. Her breathing had become erratic again and very shallow, blood still welled from her wound, her suit hadn’t sealed yet, I could see how it was trying, the hole was a few inches smaller, her suit was slowly sealing, but not fast enough.
“Why isn’t her suit closing?” I asked aloud, frustrated.
The suit is linked to her body, the damage is very severe and her body is using all its strength in trying to stop the bleeding and repair her tissue. Stand back, I can help, but you must not interfere.
I stood up, looking for Kim; she was in the corner, staring at the scene with scared eyes, one hand covering her mouth. I went to her and hugged her, gently moving her out of the room.
“C’mon, we need to get some water ready.” I said, getting her out of the room and doing something other than thinking about what she had seen.
I turned back, as I left and saw Neal standing over her on all fours with his eyes closed, his forehead was directly over her wound, almost touching it. I saw a steady flow of electricity arcing in the small space between them. Her suit was inching closed, it would be sealed in a few seconds. Her clothes were shredded and her red blood stood out on her white shirt. I looked down and saw my hands were also covered in her blood and I went to the bathroom to wash them off.
After my hands were clean I changed my own clothes and threw the dirty ones in the washer. I went to the kitchen were Kim was pouring water into cups, she had ten of them filled already, the counters were full of them.
“What are you doing?” I asked, walking up to her.
She didn’t answer; she just kept filling her cup. Her mouth was set in a firm line and her eyebrows were narrowed in concentration, she was fighting hard not to lose it. I reached over and grabbed her arm, gently pulling her from the sink. She looked up at me and I saw the dam crack, she rushed m
e and hugged me tightly, sobbing softly into my shirt.
I didn’t know what to do. I was almost afraid to touch her, but I remembered when my mom would comfort me after a bad dream, petting my hair and telling me it would be alright. I didn’t know if it would, but her touch and closeness always seemed to help.
I reached up tentatively and stroked her hair, her crying intensified, as if I had helped destroy a wall she had erected, her whole body shook as she cried.
“Shhhh, it’s going to be alright, she’s going to be fine. Don’t worry Neal’s going to make sure she’s okay. It’s alright, it’s alright.” I kept saying, trying to make her feel better.
After a while her sobs slowed and she pulled back, wiping her eyes.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me; I don’t even know that woman.” She said softly, blowing her nose.
“It’s okay; it’s hard seeing someone in pain, even someone you don’t know.” I was hoping Kim would know who she was, maybe give me some information on her. Damn.
She still looked miserable; my heart broke to see her in such distress. I reached into my pocket and held a quarter in my hand, not letting her see it.
“You wanna see something neat?” I asked.
She looked at me for a second; her eyes were puffy from crying, “Sure.” She said, quietly.
“Wait,” I said, staring at her ear. She looked self-conscious, like something was wrong.
“What is it?” She said, reaching to cover her ear up.
“What is that?” I said, bringing my hand up to her ear and then pulling it back, showing her the coin.
“Oh, there it is, I have been looking for this all day.” I said, smiling.
“Where did that, was that in my ear?” She asked, stunned.
I saw her face light up in wonder, it was far better than the anguish she showed earlier.
“What else do you have in there?” I teased.
She reached up and grabbed her ear, searching for more hidden treasures. It was good to see her attention on something else.
“Now, I have a very important job for you, if you think you can handle it.” I said, turning serious.
Her eyebrows came together in concentration. She nodded once, with grave intensity.
“Good, do you know how to operate the washer and dryer?” I asked.
“Yes.” She responded curtly.
“Alright, perfect. There are a lot of dirty clothes that need washing. Can you take charge of getting them clean?”
“I can.” Her chest puffed out in response to her new duties.
“I’m counting on you. Don’t let me down.” I held out my hand and she shook it once aggressively.
She turned and went over to the side of the kitchen, where the small utility room housed the washer and dryer. Soon, I heard the water start running as she began washing a load of clothes.
Neal came over towards me, sitting down.
She is resting. The damage was severe; she suffered massive tissue destruction, blood loss and a punctured lung. I was able to help her suit seal which should keep her from losing any more blood. It is up to her body now, hopefully she can heal herself.
That depends on how quickly she can recover, a few days at least.
Damn, I was hoping to be able to ask her more questions, see if she could remember more about the holes in her story. Having to wait a few days for her to wake was going to make things hard, hell I wasn’t even sure when she did come around that she would have the answers to my questions. I couldn’t stay here the whole time, not with werewolves attacking me every time I turned around.
I sent to Neal.
Yes, my lord, that is why I have extended my detection range, allowing me to detect any werewolf within a five mile radius. That should give you plenty of warning to allow you to leave before we are in harm’s way.
No, I enlisted Kim’s aid. She is quite helpful.
Kim had finished getting a load of clothes going and came back into the kitchen. She saw Neal and smiled, walking over to him. She started petting him and said, “How is she doing Neal?”
“She should be alright as long as her body heals itself. She will need watching, and may begin running a fever, but I think it will be okay.” He said in a perfectly normal sounding voice.
Neal had spoken out loud, my mouth dropped open, I almost forgot how to close it. I just stared at him in absolute stunned silence.
“What the hell, you can talk!” I said to Neal, completely in awe.
“Of course I can, you have always needed me to fill the role of a dog, with our mind link I never needed to speak and there was never a situation that required it. I assessed the nature of how the werewolves keep tracking you and needed to increase my sensors range. I am unable to build the devices myself and knew that Kim could. Her particular situation makes it viable for me to communicate with her. She has no preconceived idea of how a dog should act and is in no way traumatized by my vocalization, nor is there any threat of her bringing attention to me, seeing as how she has no connection with this society.” He finished, looking at me with a slight gleam in his eyes.
I swear they blazed a bit brighter for a second, as if in mute enjoyment at my obvious amazement.
“You didn’t know he could talk?” Kim asked innocently.
“No, I mean, yes he can talk, but not out loud.” I said, exasperated.
“What other way is there to talk?” She asked while a look of open wonder crossed her face.
I started to answer, then just laughed, I couldn’t help it.
“No, no, there’s no other way.” I said.
“He’s weird.” Kim said to Neal.
“I cannot argue with that assessment.” He answered.
I just stared at him, then at her. It was so strange to see someone else talking to Neal.
“Unbelievable.” I said quietly.
Yes my lord. You can stay and aid…
Arendiol’s recovery, when they come I will know, giving you plenty of time to leave and they will follow.
I suppose that is a well enough description of the situation. How did your trip to New York go? He asked.
I quickly relayed the events of the last day, ending with Arendiol being shot.
So, Agatha had no knowledge of any vampires acting on their own. At least she presented that as truth. That does not mean she was unaware of it.
Perhaps your interest will stir the hornet’s nest, as they say. If she truly doesn’t know she will find out and hopefully bring pressure on whomever the vampires were hired by.
The most likely answer would be human blood, but it is hard to tell. Vampires are not always predictable. We know someone who is Atlantean or has access to Atlantean tech is aware of the situation. It would seem likely that they are connected to the vampire’s actions in some way.
Perhaps when she awakens, we can find the answers to these questions.
&
nbsp;
All we can do is wait and see.
I added, just because.
Chapter nine
I went to the store and picked up some food, Kim’s appetite was impressive, but I guess that was good. I got some cat food for Neal, clean sheets and some towels for Arendiol. I also grabbed a couple board games and a deck of cards to keep Kim busy. We had a T.V. that only worked occasionally and I worried about her having nothing to do but think about the hurt woman in the bedroom.
I made dinner and Neal, Kim and I sat down and ate, it was weird. It was almost like we were a family just seating down to our evening meal. I have to say it wasn’t all that bad.
I kept waiting for Neal to tell me the werewolves were coming, but he didn’t. I checked on Arendiol regularly, her sheets needed changing more than once and it provided Kim something to wash, which she did with grave seriousness.
After teaching Kim how to play Monopoly, which she beat me at, and chess, which Neal beat me at (Kim moved the pieces for him), I showed her how to play spades and I finally won something. As I was shuffling the deck, Kim looked up at me and asked, “Why don’t I remember my childhood?”
The question stunned me, I was afraid of her asking questions like this, but didn’t think she would so soon. I looked up, hoping Neal would be there so I could try and shift the question to him, but he was with Arendiol, checking on her. Crap.
“Why the sudden interest?” I asked.
She looked away, almost embarrassed. “I was watching a show, Neal called it a rerun. There was a family; one of the kids was very small. He was being fed with a bottle and the mother was taking very special care of him, his brothers were older, but each one was different in age. They played and got into trouble then the dad came home and they got punished then they all hugged and everyone seemed happy. I don’t have any memories like that.”
Lost Son Page 8
