“I need to go to the hospital,” Cathy said. “I might be able to help Jessica and Sandy.”
“That's another risk,” I said.
“Stop being paranoid, Eli” she told me. “These girls are in desperate need.”
“Alright,” I said. “I just can't bear the thought of anything happening to you.”
“I'm sorry, Eli,” Cathy said, holding my hand, “I know you’re just trying to look after me.”
“I have to,” I said.
“I love you -- and my girls. If there’s anything I can do to help them, I must,” she said.
“Ok, let’s go to the hospital,” I said.
We walked to the main hospital in town which was only about fifteen minutes away. At the front desk and asked if Jessica and Sandy were there. The receptionist punched their names into a computer and told us they were in the critical care unit.
Cathy and I took the elevator upstairs and then walked into the critical care unit. A nurse promptly stopped us.
“Visiting hours are over. Who are you?” she asked, seeming rather suspicious.
“We’re here to see Sandy and Jessica,” Cathy said. “I volunteer at the Loving Arms home.”
I could see the nurse’s demeanor start to change.
“Well, thank God you weren’t there when the fire started. It has been an awful tragedy” the nurse said.
“Can I see my friends?” Cathy asked.
“Okay,” the nurse said. “But please prepare yourself. They’ve been badly burned. Also, please don't wake them if they’re sleeping. They need to rest.”
The nurse led us to room 434 and we entered. There were two beds in the room. Jessica was in the bed closest to the door and Sandy was by window. Both of them had bandages covering large areas of their body. In addition to their burns, they both looked very pregnant.
Jessica had her eyes open, and Cathy rushed to her.
“Oh Jessica, I'm so very sorry,” Cathy whispered.
“Cathy,” Jessica said in a weak voice. “Are you okay?”
“I'm fine,” Cathy said. “I’m worried about you. I’m so sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”
Jessica lifted up her bandaged, left hand and Cathy took it in hers.
“It's okay,” Jessica said. “You’re here now.”
“How is the baby,” Cathy asked.
“They say he’s okay,” Jessica said. “I hope he makes it -- I want to see him so bad.”
“You will,” Cathy said. “I promise.”
Sandy’s eyes were closed and she looked more badly burned than Jessica. I watched as Cathy walked towards her and whispered in her ear.
“It's me, Cathy,” she said. “I don't know if you can hear me, but I want you to know I'm here for you. Don't be scared, you’re going to be okay.”
Cathy leaned over to me and whispered in my ear.
“Go find me two syringes.”
I left the room, gathered two unused syringes from an adjoining room, and brought them back.
I handed them to Cathy. She walked over to Jessica and suggested that she should just rest. Jessica shut her eyes and it appeared that she was asleep. With my enhanced hearing, I could hear her heart rate slow.
“Keep a watch at the door,” Cathy said.
I watched to make sure no one was coming as Cathy transformed, bit into her arm with her fangs, and carefully extracted two syringes full of blood.
“Just relax,” she told Jessica. “The nurse is here to give you an injection of antibiotics. It will protect you and the baby. Keep your eyes shut.”
She proceeded to inject her blood into a vein in Jessica's arm. She did the same for Sandy.
“Now girls, I need to go now, but I’ll be back to see you soon,” said Cathy
“Let’s go, Eli.” Cathy said to me quietly.
We hurried out of the hospital and stopped in the parking lot.
“That was very kind of you,” I said. “I hope it will help them.”
“It will accelerate their healing process,” she said.
“Where do you think the queen is holding the other girls?” I asked.
“I don't know,” she said. “But I have a feeling we’ll find out soon. I’m sure she’ll try to use them as bait to draw us in.”
“Let's head back to the meeting and talk to Ruby,” I said. “Maybe they’ve learned something.”
“Okay,” she said.
“Want a lift?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said.
I took her in my arms and carried her back to the old building where her mother and our allies were located. Upon entering, I could hear a lot of talking. We walked into the conference room and Sarah immediately ran up to us.
“We received a message from the queen,” she said. “The girls from the maternity home are being held in the catacombs below the Old Town Cemetery.”
“Then we should go get them,” Cathy said.
“The problem is that the witch is there,” Sarah said. “We still don't know of a way to get her out of your friend's body.”
In the far end of the room I saw Ruby surrounded by a number of vampires in intense discussion.
“What's going on?” I asked.
“They’re debating if we should try and rescue the girls first or if we should try to take out the queen,” said Sarah.
“What's Ruby's opinion?” I asked.
“She thinks we should take out the witch first, so we won't take the risk of fighting a battle on two fronts,” she said.
“I agree,” I said.
“Me too,” Cathy said.
I looked at Ruby and the other vampires. They were arguing vociferously. I decided I’d do something to get their attention – so I flew towards them.
There were looks of astonishment as I swooped over and hovered in front of them. “How are you doing that?” one of the vampires from Macon asked.
“That doesn't matter,” I said. “What matters is that we have to take out the queen. To do that, we need to be smart. It makes no sense to go after the queen first, just so the witch can then attack us from behind.”
“Who put you in charge?” another of the Macon vampires asked.
“No one,” I said. “Ruby’s in charge – we’ll do what she says!”
I lowered myself to the floor and walked away. Cathy was standing at the far side of the room and I joined her. For the next hour Cathy, Sarah, and myself talked about possible ways to remove the witch’s spirit from Candace, but none of us was certain what would work and what wouldn’t.
Ruby had finished talking with our allies from town and the vampires from Macon and came over to talk to us.
“We’ve reached a compromise,” she told us. “Tomorrow night we’ll attempt to rescue the girls and attack the witch’s compound simultaneously.”
“Won't that divide our forces?” Sarah asked.
“Yes,” she said. “But the majority will be going after the witch.”
“Who’ll be sent to rescue the girls and fight the witch?” Cathy asked.
“You, Eli, Sarah, and a couple of our friends from Macon,” she said. “We can’t spare anyone else.”
“Fine,” I said. “That’ll be enough.”
I felt a tap on my shoulder.
“Hello,” I heard a voice say. “I hear that you’re now engaged to my sister.”
It was Bobby. I hadn’t seen him in days.
“Yes, I am,” I said. “How are you doing?”
“I'm doing great,” he said. “I just want you to know that if you marry my sister, you better be good to her. I love her very much, and if you hurt her in any way I will personally take you out myself.”
For some reason, his words made me angry. I didn’t like threats.
“Let me tell you something,” I said. “I’m in love with your sister and I plan to be the absolute best husband I can be. If you wanted to know that, all you had to do was ask.”
“Bobby, you don’t have to worry about him – he’s nothing like those other guys,�
� said Cathy.
“Well, I sure hope not. They’ve given you too much grief. Alright, Eli,” Bobby said, extending his hand. “Welcome to the family.”
I shook his hand, then turned to Cathy.
“Come on, let’s get out of here,” she said.
It was nearing midnight as we walked out of the old building and back into the cool, misty night. We held hands as we walked towards downtown.
“I want us to enjoy the time we have with each other,” Cathy said. “We don't know what's going to happen when we fight the queen. I want you to forget about Candace, and I will try to forget that the girls are being held captive. Let’s just enjoy some time with each other.”
“That sounds wonderful,” I said.
Before long, we reached the city market. Although it was late, there were still a few restaurants and cafes open. I saw a small coffee shop at the end of the street.
“Do you drink coffee?” I asked.
“Yes,” Cathy said. “Caffeine doesn't have much effect on us though.”
“Do you like it?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said.
“Let’s go get some,” I said.
We entered the coffee shop and walked towards the counter. Looking through the glass display, I saw they sold sandwiches as well.
A teenage girl with dyed pink hair walked towards us.
“How can I help you?” she asked.
“What would you like?” I asked Cathy.
“One large mocha with extra cream,” she said.
“Make that two,” I added.
“It will be right up. I’ll bring it to you,” the girl said.
We sat next to each other in a booth in the corner of the shop. Cathy leaned her head against my shoulder.
“After we get married, where do you want to live?” she asked.
“Well, I don't know,” I said. “I don't want you to be far from your family.”
“Don't worry about that,” she said. “Where would you want to live?”
“Well, it depends on our finances,” I said.
“You don't have to worry about that,” she said. “I can buy us a home anywhere you want.”
I thought hard about where I might like to live. All that really mattered was that I was near her, near my new family, and near my own human mother.
“Would you mind if we built a mother-in-law suite for my mom?” I asked.
“That's a great idea,” she said. “I want to meet her soon. But where do you want to live?”
I thought some more.
“To be honest, I need more time,” I said. “I think I’d be happy anywhere as long as I was with you.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” she said.
“To begin with, let’s live in my apartment,” I said.
“That sounds wonderful,” she said.
“Are you sure?” I said. “It only has one bedroom, one bathroom, and you’ll have to learn to get along with my cat.”
“I love cats!” she said.
I fell in love with her even more.
I heard the door to the coffee shop open. A woman entered, placed an order, and took a seat. Looking at her, I realized she was Danielle, my co-worker. She looked over and immediately recognized me and came over to our table.
“Where have you been, Eli?” she said. “No one has heard from you in a week.”
I could feel Cathy's head lift.
“Cathy, this is Danielle, a friend of mine from the restaurant I worked at. Danielle, this is my future wife to be, Cathy.”
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Danielle said.
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Cathy said.
“So you two are engaged?” Danielle asked.
The pink haired girl arrived with our beverages. I took a sip of my coffee before responding.
“Yes,” I said. “We’re engaged.”
“So you finally got over Candace?” she asked.
I couldn’t help but pause as she mentioned Candace. I didn’t want to think about her.
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve found the most wonderful woman in the world.”
“You’re a very lucky woman,” Danielle told Cathy. “Eli is one of the nicest guys I know.”
Cathy squeezed my hand.
We continued to talk and Danielle explained that she’d broken up with her fiancé who she’d caught cheating.
“I'm sorry to hear that,” I said.
“It's okay,” she said. “I’m glad to be rid of him after what he did.”
Danielle and Cathy continued to talk. Cathy asked her all kinds of questions about me. Danielle told Cathy about the time I loaned her money when her car needed repairs, about the time I took a day off work to drive her to a doctor's appointment, and about how she’d always hoped I’d find someone.
About an hour later, the pink haired girl told us the coffee shop was closing. We all walked outside and Cathy and I said goodbye to Danielle. She gave us both a hug and then walked to her car.
“She seems nice,” Cathy said. “You’re sure you don't want to break up with me and date her?”
“Of course not!” I said. “She’s not as good looking as you and not half as fun.”
“So you think I'm good looking?” Cathy asked, smiling.
“The most beautiful woman I’ve met in my life,” I said. I meant it.
We walked down the street hand in hand.
“So what do you like about my looks?” she asked.
“Well, your hair’s beautiful, you have gorgeous brown eyes . . . “
“Well, they’re black when I'm transformed,” she said. “Do you still like them then?”
“Of course,” I said.
“Hmm... you like my eyes and my hair, what else do you like?” she asked.
“Well, I think your smile is intoxicating,” I answered.
“Even when my fangs are out?” she asked.
“Especially then,” I said.
“What about my figure?” she asked. “What do you think about it?”
“Well I won’t talk about that until we’re married,” I said.
“Why not?”
“All I can say is that you have a very nice figure.”
“We’ll have to move up the wedding date,” she said. “I want to know what you think about my figure.”
“You’ll have to wait. I'll tell you this,” I said. “I've never seen a nicer one.”
She leaned against me and whispered into my ear, “I’ll wait only if you teach me how to fly.”
I quickly lifted took her in my arms, took a look around to make sure no one was watching, raised my power level, and flew into the night sky.
“This is awesome,” Cathy said as we soared above the city. Looking down, we could see the lights of downtown, the headlights of cars on the road, and the hundreds of lights that adorned the bridge to South Carolina.
“Take me higher!” Cathy said.
“Well, if I take you too high the atmosphere will be too thin for us to talk,” I said.
“We don't need to talk,” she said. “I'll be right here in your arms.”
I took her up higher until we reached the edge of the atmosphere. We stopped ascending and looked at each other. There was no way I could express with words how much I loved her, so I decided there was only one thing I could do – I’d to power up. Calling forth all the love in my heart, I expanded my white aura around her. Instantly, I could feel her power up as well. We were both glowing as we opened our souls to each other. The power of the hex surged between us.
Over a period of several minutes, we enjoyed the blissful experience. I remembered, however, that she wanted to learn to fly, so I began to descend. When we reached a denser portion of the atmosphere I stopped.
“Now, I'm going to start flying again, but I want you to try and fly with me,” I said. “At some point, I'm going to let you go.”
“That's not necessary,” she said. “I feel like I can fly now.”
She let g
o of me and hovered in the air under her own power. In an instant, she took my hand, and pulled me with her as she flew towards our temporary base in the old building.
Ascension (Powered) Page 15
