by John Conroe
“I asked him that,” Brett said. “He just laughed, even though he was heavily wounded, and said because if we wouldn’t take him then he would take from us. Then he attacked me. He’s dead.”
I glanced back at the young Alpha and saw that his arms were bloody to the elbows. My nose told me it wasn’t Gramps’ blood nor Len’s.
“He killed Len first,” Kelly said. “They both stabbed him with those silver knives that they both carried. But the rogue tore into Len and then your grandfather. I was headed over to talk about an order of beef and saw the attack. The rogue ran away as I ran to Alex.”
I looked down at my only surviving family member. Gramps was pale and his breathing was shallow, his heartbeat wonky. But he was a teeny bit less pale, the breathing a bit less shallow, and his heart wasn’t racing as fast as it had been.
“He needs fluids,” Brett said.
“There’s an IV kit inside the front closet,” I said as I gathered the old man in my arms. “It’s inside the big first aid kit.”
A rush of air and a slight popping sound told me that Tanya had just left to get it.
“What else?” I asked the werewolves.
“Fluid first so his body can replace the lost blood, but we need to get him inside and safe,” Kelly said. “Rest and liquids while his body heals.”
“What about food?” I asked. “Protein and fats?”
“The virus will burn his stored fats for now. Food will be important when he wakes up,” Brett said. “Stuff like broth, then scrambled eggs.”
“You think he will live?” I asked as we entered the house. Tanya had the IV kit in her hands and now she turned and led us toward my grandfather’s bedroom on the first floor at the back of the house. I set him gently into the bed and Tanya expertly set up the IV and found a vein like only a vampire can.
“Who keeps an IV kit handy?” Declan asked in a quiet voice. I turned and saw he was asking Stacia.
“Gramps teaches Search and Rescue. He’s a certified Wilderness First Responder,” I said.
Declan clearly hadn’t intended me to hear the question and now he looked embarrassed.
“Gramps takes prepping to a higher level,” I said with a little smile.
“You got here in minutes,” Brett noted. It was really a question.
I pointed to the witch in the back, who still looked a little embarrassed. “He’s better than a Star Trek transporter,” I said.
“We should let him rest,” Tanya said, nodding at Gramps.
I didn’t want to leave him alone, and it must have shown on my face. “We’ll watch over him,” Stacia said. “Not my first time with a new werewolf.”
A new werewolf. My grandfather was going to be… no… he was basically already a werewolf. I got stuck on that thought as Tanya led me back to the living room.
“What will it be like for him?” Tanya asked the question I was asking myself internally. “Being turned at such an older age and all?”
“Well, he probably will look a bit younger, maybe ten to twenty years younger,” Brett said. “Very similar to a vampire who is Turned at an older age,” he said, eyes on hers. “He’ll have perfect health. Adapting to the wolf is the real question, but if ever anyone could, it’s him.”
“Why?” I asked.
“He’s already fierce like a wolf and he’s no stranger to having to kill,” Brett said.
“No, I meant why did that werewolf show up now and why did he attack my grandfather?”
“Facial recognition using video from Alex Gordon’s security cameras has identified the rogue as Joel Sweetgrass,” Omega said suddenly through Gramp’s Bose system. “An unemployment benefit account with the state of Massachusetts lists a last known address in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. This is also the address of a 9-1-1 call two days ago that resulted in the identification of one Milton Sculpet as a member of the Vorsook insurgent organization.”
“Roots?” Tanya asked.
“An aggressive growth that enveloped Mr. Sculpet’s legs and pelvis. Attempts to remove it resulted in widespread systemic shock and coma.”
“Retaliation?” Tanya guessed.
“Seventy-eight percent probability of Sweetgrass and Sculpet being close associates. No listing of Sweetgrass as a member of any pack.”
Brett and Kelly were both nodding. “A loner. His roommate was his pack. He’s striking back against the root thing you guys all did,” Kelly said.
“We’ve never acknowledged that publicly,” Tanya said.
They both smiled. “Please,” Brett said. “Virtually everyone on the planet knows you guys punched back, at least against the group that planted the bombs.”
“Against the alien too,” I said. “So he came after Gramps to get even? What about him trying to join your pack?”
“One of our people intercepted him on the southern edge of the property, where Alex’s land meets ours,” Brett said. “As soon as she confronted him, he acted surprised, then immediately wanted to see the Alphas to petition for membership.”
“He didn’t know you guys were here,” Tanya mused. “He improvised on the spot.”
“That would be my guess as well,” Brett said, glancing at his mate, who also nodded her agreement.
“While Alex Gordon’s phone number is unlisted and the properties are all owned in the name of the Centurion Trust that he recently set up, there are too many other public records that would point to his location,” Omega added.
“The babies… Declan’s aunt?” I said suddenly.
“Security is on maximum alert at Demidova Tower, and I watch Rowan West very, very closely.”
“You are certain?” Tanya asked.
“There is an Obliterator on station over each location as well as seventy-eight lesser drones spread between the two locations. Both locations are covered by my father’s greatest wards. The Tower’s wards are backed by an earth elemental that lives under Manhattan, while Robbie and Draco are on active guard duty in Vermont.”
“I left the old man exposed,” I said.
“That old man, as you call him, is a decorated Marine Raider officer, who is allies with an entire pack of werewolves. Camera footage shows that Leonard LeFleur, his friend, stabbed the wolf seven times with a silvered blade. Your grandfather cut the same wolf across its abdomen, also with a silver blade, almost disemboweling it.”
Brett nodded. “I ended the rogue, but I think he was dying anyway. Alex is still a badass and so was Len.”
“Oh God, Len,” I said, standing abruptly.
“St. Lawrence County Sheriffs and New York State Police are inbound, ETA three minutes. I have briefed them on the situation, but it is best to leave Leonard as he is for a brief time. His death was very quick, and he fought like the decorated Marine he was.”
“Gramps… I’ll check on him,” I said, turning and heading back into the bedroom, leaving the two young Alphas surprised while Tanya just nodded knowingly.
In the bedroom, I found Gramps propped slightly on his pillow, eyes open and just taking a sip of something Declan was giving him from a stainless-steel mug.
I must have frowned because Stacia spoke up instantly. “Chaga tea. Declan’s version helps healing and also helps bitten weres adapt to the virus,” she said.
Declan moved himself out of the way and I took his spot.
“Woke up expecting angels or demons, but got these two instead,” Gramps said weakly, his eyes flicking their way even as they turned to leave.
“The only angels in your near future are either sitting next to you or out in the other room,” Stacia said over her shoulder as she followed Declan out.
I could hear sirens approaching from several miles out.
“That mean I’m gonna make it?” Gramps asked me, clearly meaning more than one thing.
“She’s more of an expert than I am, so I’d say yes,” I said. “How do you feel? Pain?”
“A little, but that awful tea is dulling it,” he said. “Len?”
I sho
ok my head, watching as he realized his last comrade was gone. “Why?” he asked.
“My fault,” I said. “Retaliation for something we did.” I held his eyes even as I let him understand that I was to blame.
“Hah,” he said, coughing a little. “Bullshit.”
“I should have protected you,” I said.
“If you recall, kiddo, the two of us put some time into protecting you and then teaching you to protect yourself. Did we kill it?”
“More or less. Brett finished it but says he was on his way out.”
“Good. Len would have hated to die without taking the bastard with him.”
Police cars roared into the yard outside and I could hear Brett, Kelly, and Tanya meeting the officers who got out.
“Sounds like we got company,” he said, his eyes fluttering.
“They can wait,” I said.
He shook his head just a little. “Damned tea is making me sleepy,” he said, letting his eyes close.
It would be just like him to fake it for my sake, but my hearing told me his breathing was too even and his heart rate had slowed to a nice, steady beat.
I heard the officers demanding to see Gramps as they entered the house, then I heard pulses jump and could smell sudden fear. When I got to the doorway, I found three deputies and a trooper stopped in their tracks. I think it was a good thing they recognized Stacia and, a moment later, Declan. It was my turn to recognize at least two of them, guys I had gone to school with. I wouldn’t call them friends, my school years being the hell that they were.
“Jerry, Mike,” I said. It’d been a few years, a few very busy years with a lot changing, and this was my first time laying eyes on them since graduation.
“Ah, Chris,” Jerry Manning said, eyes a teeny bit wide. “How is your grandfather?”
“He’s sleeping, but you can look in on him if you don’t wake him,” I said.
“They probably can’t wake him,” Declan said. “The chaga tea is a sedative, in addition to its other properties.”
All three looked side-eye at the Warlock. “I’ll look,” Mike Hurley said. “EMT,” he added to me. I moved out of the doorway, and he slipped past me. Stacia moved up to the door and watched him carefully while I kept my attention on Jerry, the third deputy, and the trooper. Outside, I could hear more law enforcement talking to the two Alphas.
“I have to ask, Chris, how do you happen to be here before us?” Jerry asked, his eyes firm but his heart beating a little fast.
“I tore an opening in reality so he could get to his grandfather,” Declan answered before I could.
“Ah, an opening in reality?” the trooper asked, clearly having some belief issues.
“A gateway or portal, if you want,” Declan answered, his tone even and calm.
“You’re saying you can just go from New York City or where have you and be here in seconds?” the trooper pressed.
“Yup,” the witch said.
“Same kind of way he can make roots grow out of terrorists’ legs all across the entire planet at the same time,” Stacia said over her shoulder.
All of their heart rates got even faster, and their eyes flicked from me to him to her. “It costs him a boatload of energy,” I said.
“Family comes first,” Declan said, sitting down on the arm of the couch and crossing his right leg over his left knee.
“How much? Energy?” the third deputy asked.
Declan shrugged and looked thoughtful. “Hard to say. Maybe the amount of power Potsdam uses in a couple of months,” he said, clearly not certain.
“Where does it come from?” the trooper asked.
“The power? I took it from New York City,” Declan said with slight smile.
“Really? Just charged it to the Big Apple?” Jerry asked.
“Pretty much,” the witch said, watching their reaction.
“Oh, well, that’s good,” the trooper said. “Yeah, the downstaters can pay for it,” the deputy agreed. And just like that, their heartbeats slowed right down.
Mike came out of Gramps’ room. “His vitals are all sound and he’s sleeping. Normally we’d insist on moving him but—werewolves.”
“A hospital couldn’t do anything for him,” Stacia said. “The IV will replace fluids. We have experience with new weres.”
“Alex is going to be a werewolf?” Jerry asked.
“There’s only two choices with LV,” Stacia said. “Adapt to it or die. Alex Gordon is a survivor.”
“But he’s old?” Mike said.
“You won’t want to arm wrestle him when he’s up on his feet,” Declan said.
“Hell, I didn’t want to arm wrestle him before. He’s a tough old dude,” Mike said.
“He just got tougher,” Declan answered.
Chapter 36
Law enforcement investigated the incident for a big part of the afternoon, right into early evening. Len’s body was photographed and removed. The rogue itself was taken by the state police, again after many photos and casts of tracks. Both my gramp’s knife and the one that Len had carried were bagged, tagged, and removed as evidence.
Kelly and Brett were interviewed, as were three or four other pack members, including the young lady who had first encountered the rogue at the back of the shared properties. I expected the feds to show up, but they never appeared. The county sheriff was there; also a state police major who commanded Troop B. I spoke briefly to both, as did Tanya and Stacia, but they mainly conferred with their subordinates as well as each other. Neither of them approached Declan. All the responding police EMTs watched us closely and somewhat suspiciously. Never mind that both Gramps and I were locals, or at least I used to be. Never mind that I had graduated high school two years behind Sheriff Whalen and played football with him. I think some of the awkwardness was our widespread fame and some of it was the fear of the unknown that we represented.
When I felt Tanya’s concern for the twins swell to just below anxiety level, I asked if she wanted to go back to the Tower. I could tell she would feel better and told her it was okay and we could have Omega transport her. Stacia overheard and mentioned it to Declan, who had been giving explanations to various officers all afternoon. He popped right up and said, “Here, let me.”
Next thing you know, there were chalk runes on the floor and a doorway to our city apartment had formed its mirrored surface right in the middle of the living room. I think he had finally had enough questions about portals. Every cop in the immediate vicinity stood wide-eyed at his casual demonstration of power. Tanya stepped through with a ripple and a second later, Lydia popped out on our side.
“Okay boys, Auntie Lydia’s here,” she announced before noting the law enforcement audience. It didn’t throw her off stride, as she immediately introduced herself to the sheriff and the major, even while Declan closed his gateway.
“Where did he get that from?” a voice asked me. I turned to find Deputy Jerry standing a couple of feet away, wide eyes watching our young witch, who was putting his crafting materials away.
“Get what?” I asked, loud enough that it caught Declan’s attention.
“The electricity or what have you?” he asked, nervous that the witch was looking our way.
“There’s an elemental nearby,” Declan said loudly. Every other conversation in the room died away. “You have a small fault line up here, along the Saint Lawrence valley, and there’s a young earth elemental living in it.”
“And you took its power?” Sheriff Whalen asked, maybe a little sharpish.
“Take? No. You don’t take anything from an elemental. It offered it to me,” Declan said.
The sheriff looked suspicious, and I saw the moment Declan started to lose his immense patience. “Want to meet it, Sheriff? You could… I don’t know… question it? Name: St. Lawrence Doe. Length of residence: twelve thousand years. Occupation: mover and shaker.”
“Whoa there, Mr. O’Carroll. Easy on the snark; that’s my schtick,” Lydia said almost instantly. “Excus
e him, Sheriff. He’s still tense from saving the country and blowing that alien shit all to hell.”
Just that fast, she had everyone’s attention.
“What? He didn’t tell you about blasting the Vorsook?” she asked. “Kid, you gotta up your public relations game.”
Stacia was already by Declan’s side, talking softly and pulling him into the kitchen before he could respond to the tiny vampire. The kitchen emptied of coffee-drinking law enforcement as soon as the famous werewolf and the cranky witch entered. Lydia, in the meantime, was explaining that not only had our team stopped most of the earthquake damage, helped rescue the trapped, and exposed the terrorist network of the aliens, but we had also blasted an enemy base in a far distant galaxy. With one ear, I listened to her spin the tale with effortless ease while I listened to Stacia calm our powerhouse witch in the kitchen. I also smelled when she started to carve meat from a cooked ham that Gramps had in his fridge. My feet pulled me in that direction.
“Yeah, I saw the interview on television,” Sheriff Whalen was saying, “but how are we supposed to believe all that?” Lydia gave him a look and he was immediately abashed. “I mean, yeah, I saw him do that mirror thing but it’s all so…”
“Fairytale like?” the trooper major added.
“Yeah.”
“Sheriff, the Hammer of God grew up in this very house, went to school in the same place you did,” she said behind me as I entered the kitchen. “I would think that should go a long way toward helping with the disbelief?”
“Yeah, I’ve known Chris since school years, but it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s special effect,” the sheriff answered. “I mean, you got that fancy computer that runs everything. It could all be Photoshopped or something.”
Inside the kitchen, Stacia was making ham and mayo sandwiches. Declan already munching on one. She handed one my way without even looking up from the butcher-block table she was working on.
Behind me, I heard Lydia ask, “Omega, care to demonstrate your special effects?”
Blue light flashed behind me, reflections strobing the white walls of the kitchen, followed instantly by a snapping sound and then exclamations of surprise from various cops.
