“Daeglan’s waiting,” Roon said finally, the tension evident in his tone of voice.
“All right, little one. I have promised Kent that I will check in with you again in twenty-four hours if you two have not returned by then. Remain safe.”
They watched as the giant rolled his hand in a circle in front of the door and the golden entryway slowly disappeared into nothing.
“Your man worries too much,” Jill commented, reaching out to run her palm along Devan’s beautifully thick braid affectionately, “But he is hot.” And she drew out the last word for intensity.
Rooney turned his head and cut his eyes at Jill before rolling them in annoyance and starting forward again. The threesome were silent for the next several hours.
If the transition between Summer and Fall was a clear line, the crossing from Fall to Winter was just as breathtaking and dramatic. An expansive snowscape was before them, the mounds rolling and undulating in smooth waves of white. The trees had long, exquisite icicles reaching down from the snow-topped limbs and the crystalline blue of the ice glowed and sparkled with some inner light.
“I love this place,” Devan breathed as she stepped into the Winter, “I understand why my father lives here.”
“Aye, lass, I’m sure ye do.” And a man who was surely Devan’s father stepped from behind a tree.
Jill thought Daeglan was one of the most regal and striking men she’d ever seen. His black hair was long, draping across his shoulders and he wore a tightly trimmed beard that was sprinkled with grey. His gold-brown eyes were aged, showing a tenure and wisdom that only a person who’d lived many, many years could possess. He placed a strong hand to his wide chest and massaged a moment as if caressing his own heart before he stepped toward Devan with outstretched arms.
Her friend practically leapt into her father’s embrace and clutched at him as if her very life could be found in his arms. He rested his chin atop her head and rubbed and soothed her with a father’s touch.
Jill sniffed and looked away, feeling at that moment very alone. Then she felt fingers clasp hers and her eyes glanced toward Rooney. A flicker passed between them and she smiled as she squeezed his hand. She didn’t particularly like the faery. She thought he was entirely too presumptuous with his affections for Devan even as he flirted with Jill, but in that moment they shared their loneliness.
“Ye look fine, m’girl. Jest fine. Like yer blessed ma when she was yer age. Ah, it wasna so long ago was it?” Daeglan got a far away look for a moment as he remembered his Meggie.
“Kent said that too, that we looked just alike. He thought we could be sisters.”
“Ah, yes, yer lover. Aye, I know about him. Tisn’t fair to get to see my only bairn after she’s already found another man te love.”
Devan’s smile was brilliant as she cupped her father’s face while their tears mingled on her own cheeks. “Oh, father, this is my best friend Jill. And I suppose you already know Roon.”
“Her other best friend,” the faery chided, then reached his hand out. “And it is good to see you again, Daeglan.”
“How long do we have?” the older man queried.
Roon shrugged, “We got time. The Women aren’t expecting us until tomorrow.”
“Ah, good. Very good. I’ll be wantin’ some time with my bairn.”
As father and daughter walked away, faery and vampire were left standing alone; an uncomfortable silence between them. After a moment Jill sighed then started forward to follow in the footsteps Devan and her father had left in the dusty, white snow.
“It still shows sometimes you know,” Roon spoke as he caught up with her.
“What shows?” Her tone was defensive. She got the feeling Rooney had some inside track on her, like he knew her inner thoughts.
“That look you get. Most of the time you put on this bright, shiny façade. Even now that you’re here in my world, there’s still sometimes a sadness, much like despair that flashes in your expression.” To soften his serious words, he winked and flicked a hand up to ruffle her blonde curls.
Jill jerked away in annoyance. His easy flirtation was another thing that bothered her. Not that she normally would have minded a little flirtation, but she knew good and well he was in love with Devan. She didn’t like the idea that he was toying with her or that he approached the matter of love so flippantly.
“Just because I’m here in your perfect world doesn’t mean I have to be happy all the time do I?”
He snorted laughter even as he leaned down to scoop up a handful of snow. “So what does a vampire like you do with your time? I mean you’re not like them. The Org I mean. You can’t be or you wouldn’t look so lovely here. The evil would show.”
She watched him squeeze the snow back and forth between his palms until he’d made a ball, then he wound his arm a few times and threw the snowball at a tree several yards away. When he looked back at her it was with a challenging expression, one eyebrow cocked up. “Charlie and I run the hospital,” she began as she reached down to take up her own handful of snow. “It’s more like a medical center really. When the kids were sick or hurt we’d tend them. I could probably go to medical school, I’ve learned so much medicine.”
“That’s not so awful is it? You helped the kids. It’s a worthwhile venture.” He watched as she hurled her snowball at the same tree he had. The ball exploded in a puff of snowflakes when it struck the trunk, “Not, bad. Not, bad at all. Seems you’re not just beautiful, Jill.”
He continued walking but Jill stood still a moment and tilted her head to the side while examining the tree. “Do they mind? Your trees I mean. They seem to have a mind of their own.”
Roon smiled and stepped in behind her, placing two hands on her back and leaned into her to push her forward. Jill shook her head in exasperation and trudged on, finding Devan and her father’s footprints to lead the way again.
“So, to answer your question, helping the kids wasn’t awful. Knowing I was doing it alongside the Org was.” She kicked the snow and kept walking, following the faery’s lead and scooping up another snowball. “But Charlie and I’ve been trying to continue Doc’s project. Doc had this idea you see. He thought he could stop the vampires by transmitting dhampir blood to them through the kids—like a cancer or a virus. He really had a mind for that sort of thing, for the research I mean. He was brilliant in a lot of ways. He’d have these flashes in the middle of the night–er day I guess. He’d sit straight up in bed and have to go check a book or go to the lab. I loved watching him when he was–” her words trailed when she realized how she was gushing about her lost lover.
They each tossed a snowball at the next tree, then started gathering snow again.
“So, Charlie and I are in way over our heads without him, but we’ve kept trying. I thought maybe we’d eventually figure it out.”
“I guess maybe you won’t have to now. With Devan and Kent and the others you can end the Org without it. Right?”
She got quiet and pensive while she watched him lob another snowball at the next tree several feet away. If they did manage to get rid of the Org, it would leave her without a purpose. After Doc was gone she had needed a reason to keep going alone. The dhampir project seemed a fitting purpose. She had Charlie and he continued to encourage her, to press her to stay strong. Charlie wouldn’t live forever, though. The life she had just didn’t seem to be enough. She was tired of being alone. She was tired of missing Doc.
She felt Roon looking at her, examining her and she wanted to find some place to hide. Yesterday she had been so ecstatic to be able to stand in the light of day again. Now, she felt open and exposed by the sun.
“Your turn,” he nudged her, slapping the side of her arm with the back of his arm.
“Oh, yeah,” she sighed, reaching down again. His hand caught hers before she could scoop the snow. They were both slightly bent at the waist and he used his other free hand to touch her cheek and draw her eyes to his. They looked at each other a moment, then he s
miled. It wasn’t his usual playful child-like grin. It was seductive, attractive and if she let it go on too long she knew it would lead to a meeting of their lips.
Two sides of her warred with the decision of whether to let that happen. She needed to move on. She knew she needed to get over Doc. Even though she knew all of those things, knew she deserved the chance to be with someone else, now that the moment was upon her she felt terror claw at her insides.
In the end, any fortitude she might have had failed her. Jill squeezed the hand that held hers and stood back up, slipping her face away from his touch but keeping their hands firmly clasped in a compromise of sorts. “Bet you can’t hit that one. The one with the gold colored berries on it,” she challenged him, nudging her head in the direction of a tree far ahead of them.
He glanced that direction, then she felt him slip his fingers between hers, making the hand-holding all the more intimate. Before she could even worry about that, he released her and leaned down to scoop up a ball of snow.
“Okay, we’ll wager then. I hit it, you have to force yourself not to sample those berries.” He snorted like a pig, teasing her again about her ever present appetite.
Jill scoffed, her mouth dropping open a moment. “No fair.”
“I could have said you’d have to kiss me if I won. I think I’m being pretty damn fair.”
He laughed and she did too, then he let loose the snowball and struck the thin berry tree dead on center. At the same moment the snow burst apart, Jill moaned sadly.
They started walking again and just as they passed the tree, Roon turned to her, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but you look so pitiful.”
Jill raised her eyebrows in question.
“Those berries aren’t actually edible.”
Roon tried to dodge her fist to his arm and she landed a blow to his chest instead. “Humph!” His guffaws were proof enough she hadn’t harmed him.
“Aren’t you guys coming?” Devan’s voice sounded from a snowy hill up ahead.
Jill watched with a heavy sigh as Roon jumped lickety split to catch up with her friend. She was reminded that the red-headed faery would probably always be at Devan’s beck and call. That thought kept her from regretting the dodged kiss just a few moments earlier.
The Past – Think Like a Doctor
When Doc was in great need of a feeding his senses became ultra-receptive. Just being near a person he might catch the scent of their blood in their veins and that could evoke an almost uncontrollable urge to find sustenance. It used to happen for him often. A vampire needed blood about every few days or so. Still, Doc had learned to live on the bland feedings provided to him through Charlie’s constant supply of bagged blood. He was generally able to stave off his hunger for three maybe even four days at a time.
He hadn’t needed to take the donor blood since Jill had come to stay with him. His beautiful companion seemed more than willing to give him not only her love, but also her blood whenever he so desired. The formerly familiar sensations of blood-starvation were almost forgotten now.
And that was why he was so taken aback by the scent of blood in his nostrils. Charlie was standing nearby and they were discussing the recent call from Dearmon. He tried to concentrate even as his puzzlement insisted on diverting his attention
“I can run to check on him. It sounds like it just a cold, the flu at the worst. These magic kids bounce back from things so quick, he’ll probably be well even before I can get there,” Charlie was saying.
“They’d probably want Trudy to orb you there. Quicker.”
“Ugh! You know that makes me queasy.”
Doc shrugged, turning his head to the side just slightly and inhaling deeply. “I know but he’s Lilly’s only child-supplicant and she wants him well. Let’s give it a few hours and check back in. Perhaps his fever will break and he’ll be well again.”
“Something wrong?” queried the older man, thumbing the edge of his beard and frowning. “You look unnerved.”
“I’m fine. We’ve been mulling this over so long Jill’s probably finished the entire damn room by now.”
As Doc made his way down the hallway the smell became stronger. He was about half the distance to the room when he recognized it. He’d sampled the decadent, sweet essence of her blood for weeks now and he knew he’d never forget the uniqueness of it. He took off at a sprint.
Doc rarely used his vampire abilities, super-fast speed and strength, but he was at her side in an instant, sliding in the thick pool of her blood as he dropped down beside her.
“Oh, Jill, please talk to me,” he murmured as he brushed the blonde curls from her face, patting her cheeks to try to wake her.
When her eyes fluttered open they looked grey and dull, devoid of the energetic life that always sparkled in the lavender pools. “Hey,” she whispered, licking her dry lips. “I’m not sure what I’m lying on but it hurts like a son of a bitch.”
She’d fallen onto the old window leaning against the saw horses. A pane of the glass had broken and sliced her open. When he touched her head he felt a huge goose-egg on one side and he realized she’d struck the tiled floor as well. She likely had a concussion if not worse.
“Charlie! Charlie, I need you now!” Doc screamed, “And bandages, first aid supplies. Hurry!”
“It’s cold,” Jill spoke, then tried to smile with pale grey lips. “But you’re always c..c..cold.” Then her eyes fluttered closed.
“Jill,” Doc said, forcing the panic from his voice, “Listen to me, Jill. I want you to stay awake, keep your eyes open and talk to me. What happened? Tell me what you were doing before this happened.”
As he spoke he was feeling along her back, looking for the source of the bleeding. He found a large laceration clear up from her side back and diagonal toward her neck. The bleeding was profuse and by the looks of the amount of blood she’d been laying here for some time. The muscles of her back were sliced and torn apart revealing the bones underneath.
“I was reaching to get that spot.” She tried to raise her hand, but the exertion left her gasping for breath. “There’s a spot. The mural looks great, doesn’t it? I was almost finished.”
“Oh, girlie, for Christ’s sake what happened?” It was Charlie’s voice now as he stepped in alongside Doc with supplies.
“Told you,” she muttered, trying to smile again.
“Told me what?” the older man asked, not once taking his eyes from the task of trying to temporarily staunch her bleeding.
“Stupid. Told you I was stupid. Shouldn’t have leaned over like that. Stupid.”
“Wake up!” Doc ordered when her eyes drifted closed again.
She gasped as if she realized she’d forgotten to breathe, then looked at him with half-closed eyes. “I’m sorry, Allen. I think I really screwed up this time. I’m so sorry. Now please, Doc, I need to sleep. I’m so tired.”
There was no reviving her this time. Whether it was the blood loss or the blow to her head, she had truly passed out now.
“We need to get her off the floor. She’s lost a lot blood, Doc. Too much blood. We need to get her to a hospital.”
The dark-haired vampire scooped her into his arms tenderly but quickly, carrying her swiftly toward one of the finished exam rooms. His senses were keen and attuned to everything around him; he could hear drops of her blood hitting the floor, seeping out of the bandages he and Charlie had slapped onto her wound.
“Nearest hospital’s thirty minutes away,” Doc muttered as he placed her onto the table. He leaned her forward and motioned that Charlie should hold her while he tried to clean and locate the source of her bleeding. “Even if we call an ambulance, they might not send a helicopter. But I might be able to stop the bleeding. Oh, damn, Charlie, but she’s lost a lot of blood. She needs more now.”
“Oh, hell man. Oh, shit!” Charlie’s face blanched and he was shaking his head at the younger doctor.
It took a moment for Doc to realize w
hat was wrong with his friend. They always had a supply of blood. It was necessary to keep Doc alive and it never occurred to him that they might be without. Finally it dawned on him that Charlie hadn’t once left the hospital since his return. There had been no need for it now that Jill was here.
“Please, don’t tell me that, Charlie. Please. Son of a fucking bitch, Charlie.” It wasn’t said in anger, but more in desperation.
Doc placed his fingers to her neck and struggled to find a pulse. He lifted one of her eye lids to look at her eyes. Her pupil was blown on the side of her head that had suffered the concussion. He was losing her. He’d been a doctor, a surgeon and it was clear that he had no options. She had lost too much blood, was bleeding still. Jill was dying and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He touched her face, and felt emotions well up in his throat.
He could remember as a practicing surgeon and the split second decisions he’d have to make; where to cut, and how much of the tumor to excise. He’d at one time made those decisions on instincts, without second thought, like a robot. It was why he was so successful in his field. He didn’t let anything else get in the way of doing what was best for his patient.
It was time to be that man again. This was no time to think or to hesitate. She didn’t have any more time left. Her life was still ahead of her and this beautiful, bright woman deserved to live it. More than that, he refused to let her go. He wouldn’t let her die in his arms the way Craig had died.
He raised his eyes and saw that Charlie was clutching her limp pale hand, caressing it as a father would. Doc raised his chin, hardened his expression and moved to approach the cabinet in the far corner of the room. He calmly searched the drawers, opening one then closing it, opening the next then closing it. Finally he found what he was looking for and turned back to them.
Her breathing was shallow and he knew Charlie couldn’t even detect if she was still breathing at all. Doc could because he was connected to her, attuned to her. He could feel each breath; remember the mingling of air between the two of them when they kissed. He didn’t flinch when the scalpel cut his skin, just slashed quick and true in the exact spot.
The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Page 28
