The Vampire's Bat (10 page)

Two women began crying. One man held them and looked
up at him. “She’s our daughter, and sister to this one.” He indicated the women
in his arms.

The slightly older one turned to him. He could see
heavy bruising on her face. “Is
Maysa
okay
? Where is she?”

“She’s back at our hotel where we have set up a triage
for all of you. Let me take a look at all of you to make sure you are ready
enough for transport and then you can leave this place, and go and see her.”

Of the five huddled, three were women. Seamus handed
the women the last three emergency heat blankets and after deeming them stable,
let some of
Aaric’s
men, who were guarding them, to
escort them safely to the vans while he set out to see if Doctor Cady needed
any help.

After descending the stairs, he stepped into the cold
and poorly lit hallway. The smell of death lingered through the space. It
wasn’t from the new corpses that he had passed and stepped over, killed
obviously by the invading troops. No, this was the stench of rotting corpses.
It almost masked the scents of pain and blood. Seamus headed right, searching
for anyone to help, or direct him to where to go and help.

There were large rooms on one side that were heavily
covered in feces, urine, and blood. In two of the rooms, he saw the dead
corpses of shifter victims. One was in shifted form. He would have been a large
and majestic lion, but his form was nearly starved and the mane and fur that
was still on his body, were dull and matted. Sores littered his body and had
become infected, and patches of his fur had been cut off. He also noted that
the lion was missing his canines.
I hope
he wasn’t awake when they took those
,
he thought as he saw evidence that showed the lion
had been alive when they were extracted.

The other dead victim was a woman. He was haunted by
what he saw. She was naked, and from the damage he saw, especially between her
legs, she had suffered a great deal before she died. Her hands were cuffed
above her head. The skin around her wrists was worn raw and bloody. One of her
shoulders was dislocated. Dark bruises wrapped around her arms, neck, breasts,
pelvic area and inner thighs. Some of them were recognizable handprints. Her
ankles were swollen, and on them were sores that were gangrenous. What saddened
him the most was how long this woman had been dead. Where the lion was dead for
at least twenty-four to no more than forty-eight hours, this woman had only
been dead for maybe three hours. She had suffered and died as they were waiting
comfortably, in their hotel room.

Before he could lose his composure, he hurried out of
the room and looked earnestly for someone to help. Seamus rushed to the door he
heard voices in. Looking in, he saw Doctor Cady leaning over a large black cat,
who looked to be in almost the same condition as the lion. He had one of the
men holding an IV bag while the doctor was splinting a back leg. He looked up
as Seamus entered.

“Good, you’re here. There are still two more in other
rooms I have yet to stabilize. They are on the other side, back past where you
might have entered from. Fabian and Pierce and some others are watching over
them.”

“On my way.”
Seamus slipped out and jogged down the hallway. He
had spent plenty of time with the vampires from the Toronto coven that had
stayed with them after Slate rescued his mother and sister. He recognized
Fabian and Pierce as he drew near, but not the others. Fabians door was the
first.
“
Pierce’z
feerzt
.”

Stepping through
the
door
way
Pierce was protecting, he entered a
room with a female okapi. “Wow, those are rare.” She was bloody and thin, and
it was obvious she had two injured hind feet. She was lying on the filthy
floor, bloody urine pooled around her striped haunches.

“Hello. I’m Doctor Seamus Rossi. I’m part of the group
who is going to get you out of here. Can you shift?”

Tired eyes barely registered him. Pierce talked to him
as Seamus slowly made his way closer. “I’ve been trying to talk to her, but she
hasn’t moved at all.”

Seamus examined her and hooked up an IV, talking
calmly to her the whole time. Because he couldn’t get her to shift back, he had
to enlist the help of several of the vampires to help carry her. It wasn’t that
she was that heavy, but because of her injures. He needed several hands to hold
several parts of her steady. In spite of the disgusting filth, he was proud
that not one of the men complained.

As they passed the room Fabian guarded, Seamus noticed
Doctor Cady was in the other room, tending to the other victim
,
who was in his human form. Bruises littered his skin,
and were nearly black in some places. Seamus noticed swelling on his face but
couldn’t observe more because they had passed the room.

Because of the okapi’s size, they had to have a whole
van to themselves with no other victims.

Dex
rushed forward and helped
the driver open the doors wide enough for them. He updated Seamus. “The vans
have been speeding between both points transporting the victims and coming back
for more. Doctor Cady is with the last victim, but we’re going to take the
bodies of the other two, too. There’s no bloody way we are leaving them behind.
Alphy
is already
back
at the
hotel. Tell him the hackers are downloading everything off the servers and then
they’ll upload the virus Ryker gave them. Once they’re done, the rest of us
will return.”

Seamus was already in the van, situated beside his
patient. “I’ll let him know.”

Once at the hotel, Seamus and the men went up a
service elevator. The owner of the hotel, being a part of
Aaric’s
coven, had arranged it so no one would even accidentally view their comings and
goings. Reaching the room, they maneuvered through the double doors of the
suite and headed for a large blanket that was spread on the floor.

Seamus briefly spotted
Maysa
helping other victims. A small part of him was relieved to see her safe,
especially after seeing the deceased female victim earlier. His body responded
to her, strongly, yearning to go to her and taste her. His fangs shot a painful
ache through his gums, insisting he sink into her, but he had patients who
needed him more. The cries of pain matched the scent that filled the room.

He noticed her parents and sister were in one area,
watching her with pride.
Alphy
came up to talk to him
as he started putting some of the men to task, to help clean the female okapi
up.

Alphy
squatted down closer to the shifter. “Wow, an okapi. Hi, sweetheart. You’re
safe now.” He reached out and stroked his hand over her neck right behind the
ears. Seamus saw her close her eyes and relax. He tensed for a moment, thinking
she was dying as her breathing slowed, but realized she was just relaxing.
Alphy
looked up at him. “She’s not very old. Fully grown in
her shifted form, but I think she’s still underage.”

Seamus nodded. He was guessing the same thing. “How
many total?” he asked, looking around.

“Thirty-three.
I’ve been talking to several of them. So far every
one of them who would talk wants to take refuge in our pack.”

“How are we going to get them all back home? I see
several who aren’t shifted into their human form and their animals are pretty
big. How did you ever get a rhino up here?”

Alphy
chuckled. “Luckily, he was willing and able to walk, but he’s still not
comfortable enough to shift.”

“I’m wondering if some of them can’t shift. The drugs
I smelt were heavy in the air, and I didn’t recognize them.” Seamus continued
to work on the girl as he talked.

“Yeah, could be. Gale told me
Maysa’s
scenting abilities were messed up.
Bronya
is flying
our new jet to the local airstrip here. With Tyler’s and Raymond’s added, we
should be able to manage the transport. Raymond said his guys can catch a
commercial flight back home since it’s a really short flight.”

“Raymond is the one who I contacted to help me buy all
my equipment. Without him, I would have had maybe only enough to make an exam
room. And with all the medical emergencies we’ve had, all that extra equipment
has been a literal lifesaver. We need to come up with a way to show him our
gratitude.”

“I know.
So how many more to come?”

As Seamus gave
Alphy
Dex’s
message, Gale had approached. She had heard what they
had said about Raymond and commented on it. “We can find Raymond his beloved,”
she said cheerfully. “We have the luck enough. One of the guys from around here
thinks that the cute little spotted bunny is his beloved. Only she won’t
shift.”

“So is he going to accompany us back to Bancroft or is
he going to keep her here?” Seamus asked.

“Good question,” Gale answered. “I’ll go ask in a
minute. I had an idea. With so many shifters going back home with us, why don’t
we set up manufactured homes, temporarily, in the areas of the old houses until
the more permanent homes can be built?”

“That just might work. Those spots are already
designated for homes, and Betty had assured me that all of them had plumbing
and electric, so we can tap into them. That is an excellent idea, Honey-bear.”

“And maybe others would like a treehouse, like Nix’s,”
she added.

“Treehouses?”
Aaric
looked shocked and
just a little bit confused as he approached.

“Yes, we have a falcon shifter who has a mate who’s
also a pilot. They decided to hire that treehouse guy from Washington to build
them a treehouse home. It’s also going to be a tower for the runway we’re
putting in.”

Aaric
laughed. “You certainly are ambitious.”

Seamus and the other two doctors worked with the
others, cleaning and attending to the victims. There were several who just
needed food, water, and rest, and those
were sent to
Gale for
help. But many had infections and other
ailments and injuries that took time to asses and treat. It was odd to him, as
shifters had such great healing capabilities. Seamus was grateful at least, to
have his beloved working beside him. She helped him clean, dress wounds, and
administer antibiotics. Although rare, all paranormals were capable of
developing infections, especially with more aggressive strains of pathogens.

Doctor Wilkins, along with Doctor Cady,
Alphy
, and the local coven leader,
Aaric
,
approached him during a large breakfast that was being served right around
sunrise. The victims were being served first.

“I had some of the men take samples of everything they
found,”
Alphy
informed him.

Doctor Wilkins added, “Yes, and I also instructed
where to take the two shifter bodies. I’m going to perform an autopsy to sample
what was in their systems, if anything. I’ll send both you and Doctor Cady the
results,” he said.

“Thank you,” Seamus and Doctor Cady said in unison.

Doctor Wilkins continued
.
“I would also like to ask
that you keep me apprised of all of this. I feel connected to this new battle.
I want to help with whatever needs to be done about this.”

“Thank you, Doctor Wilkins,”
Alphy
answered him. “We will keep that in mind.”

Aaric
agreed. “If you need anything, you can call me. I will welcome an alliance with
you.”

“Thank you,
Aaric
. That is
most welcome.”

“Good, because I have a favor to ask of you.”

Alphy
chuckled. “You have been instrumental in helping us, so you can ask just about
anything.”

“I’ve been talking to
Max
who thinks one of the shifters is his beloved.”

“Yes, Gale had mentioned it,”
Alphy
answered.

“Well, I’ve talked at length with him. We believe that
she might be too sick about the idea of living here after what she had just
endured. He would like to ask if he can join your pack. We have been told you
do not turn any away due to race or breed, that you would accept a mixed
mating, even.”

“Yes, I wouldn’t have any problems accepting them, but
I would think Raymond would, too. Why would he want to join my pack instead of
Raymond’s coven?”

“We talked about that. We believe she will feel out of
place in the Toronto coven since she would be the only shifter, and perhaps
pitied for that and for this.” He briefly looked around at the victims before
continuing. “And with all of the other survivors headed, at least for now, to
your pack, we thought if she was around the others, it might help her connect
with people who had been through the same thing.”

“It sounds logical. What does he do?”
Alphy
asked.