The Vampire's Bat (11 page)

“He’s an electrician. I’ve heard you had a lot of
construction work needed, and he can help with that.”

“
Take
me to him so we
can start talking out the details. I’d like to head out of here tonight,”
Alphy
said as he and the coven leader walked away. Doctors
Wilkins and Cady informed Seamus what had to be done with each shifter. Even
though notes were made, hearing what they had to say helped to get a broad view
on all the victims.

Seamus was rechecking the okapi when
Maysa
came up to him, accompanied by her parents and
sister.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
He leaned over and placed a
kiss on her cheek before facing her family, but he already knew something was
wrong. Not only could he see and smell how upset she was, he could feel it.
“What’s the matter?”

“I had one other sister and a brother. They said they
went missing three nights ago.” He noticed her lip tremble and tears welled in
her eyes. “If I had been…”

“Stop
,
” Seamus
interrupted. “
We’ll find them. Beating
yourself up about something you have no control over won’t do you or anyone else
any good.” He gave her another hug before pulling back. “Now how about you
properly introduce me to your parents and sister? I’m afraid I didn’t get a
chance earlier.”

Nodding her head while wiping her face dry, she turned
in his arms.
“My parents, Dave and Judy Sutter, and my sister,
Becca
.
This is Doctor Seamus Rossi.”

Seamus smiled slightly, careful to hide his fangs, and
reached over to shake their hands. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

“Likewise,” her father said. “
Maysa
said her sense of scent isn’t working properly but that she believes you are
her mate, and you believe she is your beloved.”

“That’s correct.” Reaching into his pocket, he handed
them his cell. “Have you had a chance to call anyone yet?
Maysa
had talked briefly to her aunt just before we left to come here.”

“Oh, no, we haven’t. Thank you.” Her family accepted
the offered cell and walked away to another corner. Seamus wrapped his arms
again around his beloved. Breathing in her scent, he began to relax.

They were still standing near the okapi patient when
Alphy
approached him. “We are waiting until after dark to
load up onto the planes and head home,” he said. “We’ll need the darkness as
cover to move some of these shifters in their animal forms.
Especially
that rhino.”

“Good, we hadn’t had a lot of sleep yesterday and none
of course, last night,” Seamus remarked.

“I know, I’m exhausted, too. I told Enzo about the
manufactured home idea, and he suggested we go with park model homes instead of
manufactured homes. They look just like houses but are deemed trailers.”
Alphy
laughed. “He’s currently out with Betty and some
others, buying as many as he can get his hands on.”

Seamus chuckled. “That would be a sight to see.”

“Yeah, I know. I tried to convince Betty to record it
and send me the video, but she said she’s too busy. Oh well. Anyway, I sent
Kace
on ahead to help with the hookups. They’re going to
set up a spot beside the house for most of the model homes.”

Maysa’s
tired voice added to their conversation.
“Could you get at
least one manufactured home?”

“If that is what you wish, sweetheart, I will buy you
one.” Seamus kissed the top of her head.

“No, I mean for a temporary medical facility.”

“That would be a great idea,” Seamus said.
“
Alphy
?”

“I love the idea. You need the space, and not just
later. After we get back home, and we get everyone situated, I’ll make the guys
prep the spot we talked about. I think it’ll need a foundation and certainly
water, sewer, and electric set up before it arrives, but I’ll make that a
number one priority build. We’ll have it set before the week is through.”

“Thanks,
Alphy
.” Seamus
pulled his beloved over to a corner. They were cuddling up on the carpeted
floor, using only their discarded jackets as pillows, and yet he hadn’t felt
that comfortable in a very long time. Even though, again, his body craved and
demanded that he sink his fangs into her, he was too exhausted. He fell asleep
just after
Maysa
did.

****

Maysa
helped carry several shifters onto the private jet that was parked inside the
hanger. It was the last shifter minus the okapi and rhino. Those two were being
saved to ride the biggest of the three jets. She was delighted to see
Bronya
was one of the pilots, and Nix had accompanied her.
The familiarity felt good to connect with.

“
Maysa
?”

Maysa
turned to see Seamus approach.

“We have the okapi and rhino loaded up. I need to fly
with them. Would you like to fly with me or with your parents? And don’t feel
any pressure. I will support you no matter what you choose.”

Maysa
thought about it for a second. She loved her family and normally would have
stayed close to them.
But Seamus is quite
possibly my mate, and I will see the others when we are back on the ground.
“I’d
like to ride with you.”

Seamus looked relieved when he smiled at her. He
reached for her hand and led her to the other plane that was right outside the
hanger doors.

It took some doing, but by late morning, finally
everyone had arrived back at the alpha house. Located near the house in five by
four nice, neat
rows,
were twenty park model homes.
Maysa
saw excavating being done and recognized many new
septic tanks being put in.
The people and equipment
were struggling through the mud and light rain.

As he stepped out into the light of the day, she
noticed the color of Seamus’s skin and thought he had been looking a bit paler
since she met him. He didn’t seem to see her staring when he pointed to the far
right.

“About five hundred feet beyond that tree line, is a
small half acre clearing. That’s where we are going to put the clinic, and
start building the hospital.
Alphy
said as soon as we
pick out a model, he wanted to look into having the guys put in a basement to
add to it. That would be great if we can have a lab and a morgue. What do you
think?”

Cold, darkness, and pain filled her mind as she
pictured the lab in which she was held and experimented on. Icy terror balled
in her stomach, causing her animal to take over and she began to shift. Seamus
tried to soothe her, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. Once her shift
was complete, she slipped from her clothes and took flight
into the wet sky
. She didn’t really know where to
go, and really, part of her, and her animal, didn’t want to go too far, but
right now, her flight instincts were too strong.

****

Seamus’s heart broke as he watched his beloved fly
away. Seeing Nix in the trees caused him some bit of comfort.
Nix will watch her for me.

“What happened?” Ryker jogged up next to him.

“I was an idiot. I told her about the basement
Alphy
wants to put under the clinic. I mentioned it would be
nice to have a lab and a morgue.”

“Wow, you usually aren’t that stupid.” Ryker’s face
showed his disbelief. “You haven’t claimed her yet?”

“No, I don’t want to push her.”

“I get that
,
bro, I really, really do,
but you’re getting whiter than I am. You need to do something. I can’t lose
you.”

Seamus wanted to laugh at his twin’s comparison, but
the devastated look on Ryker’s face removed all humor and replaced it with more
heartbreak. “I’ll try, but there’s nothing I can do about it right now.”

“Seamus!”
Slate called out
to him with urgency.
Looking up, he saw Slate running out of the house
followed by Henry. As Slate came towards him, Henry quickly stripped and
shifted, bounding towards the tree line in the direction Seamus had just
pointed to, to
Maysa
. “We got an injured sentry
incoming. Someone placed a trap on the property
.
”

Seamus could feel his body growing sluggish and tired
and knew it was from the lack of blood, but he wasn’t going to give in just
yet. “Who’s injured?” he asked.

“Peter. He was on sentry duty.”

Seamus made his way up to the infirmary. Katie was
there, along with Reese, doing some kind of bookwork at the table. “Katie, we
need to get ready. Slate just informed me Peter just got hurt. He said it’s a
hunter’s trap.”

“Anything I can do to help?” Reese asked from his seat
at the table.

“How about you wash up, too, just in case?” Seamus
said, forcing a smile towards the eager teen.

Henry carried a
wet
,
bloody
,
and slightly muddy,
Peter
up the stairs. Seamus didn’t need to direct him to the hospital room. Looking
at Peter, you couldn’t miss the three spikes that were sticking out from his
right shoulder and the side of his chest. Slices in his skin where spikes had
grazed but didn’t embed were deep enough to clearly see bleeding tissue. Peter
was moaning and grunting with the pain. He would cry out whenever anyone bumped
the spikes.

Seamus had Katie hook up an IV and a bag of blood on
the IV stand while he assessed the injuries and vital signs. After two and a
half hours, and exhausting all his last bags of blood Seamus kept stored, Peter
was stable and asleep. As soon as he felt relaxed in that knowledge, as he
headed to the bathroom, Seamus slipped into darkness, plummeting to the floor.

****

“Seamus!” Maximus yelled as he lunged to catch the
collapsing doctor. He awkwardly caught the vampire but unable to hold him, had
to slowly let him slide down to the floor. He wasn’t about to let go of the
frightened bunny that he held in his other arm.

“What’s going on? What happened to him?” A woman ran
up and knelt down beside the doctor.

Max leaned over and sniffed at the doctor. “When’s the
last time he fed?”

“I don’t know. He’s very private about that,” she
answered.

Others Max didn’t recognize gathered around. But he
was new, having just arrived with the others this morning. A shifter he did
recognize, the alpha, rushed into the room as another was lifting the doctor
and carrying him into the hospital-like room, to a bed partly hidden behind a
partition. The female began taking his vitals.

“What happened?” The alpha’s voice projected a fierce
command to answer, and when everyone looked back at Max, he knew he was the one
to have to do that.

He sighed and began petting the rabbit in his arms to
calm her, but it also calmed him just a bit. “I came in to have him look over
my beloved, and was near when I saw him go down.”

Alphy’s
shoulders relaxed a little bit. “Well, he did have a hell of a lot to deal with
in Buffalo. He must just be exhausted. I’ve just never seen him like that
before. In fact, he’s been through worse.”

Others in the room began talking to themselves until a
slight, red-headed man, darted into the room. “Seamus!”

“Whoa now, Rye,” the alpha ordered, stopping him.
“Katie is checking him over, but he should be fine.”

“No, you don’t understand. We have kind of a
connection. It’s physical, so it isn’t like I can talk to him in his head like
we can do with our beloveds, but I can feel him and something is wrong.”

“I’m afraid he’s right.” The woman, who Max now knew
was Katie, walked over to them. “I don’t understand what’s going on with him,
but he’s more than just out cold. His vitals are more indicative of a coma.”

Gasps were heard around the room, which was still
filling with people. A very few Max recognized from the trip they took to Buffalo.
The one
Alphy
had called Ryker pushed past and into
the room.

“How is that possible? Could he have been exposed to
something in the lab?” Slate asked.

“I don’t know, but several of us were in that same
lab, and we’re fine,”
Alphy
answered.

Max looked down at the bunny in his arm. He didn’t
want to have to say anything, but it was clear his options were few. He sighed
heavily. “I believe I know what is wrong with him.”

He didn’t expect the room to become as quiet as it
did. Even Ryker reappeared, pushing his way closer.

“He hasn’t claimed his beloved yet, so he isn’t locked
into just feeding from her, if that’s what you are thinking,” Ryker said
quietly.

“That doesn’t matter. Vampires need blood at least
every few days. Once a vampire mates, they have to have their beloved’s blood,
but that change doesn’t always start with the bonding. As soon as we sense our
beloved, our bodies start to chemically alter themselves. It usually happens
faster the more we are around our beloved. But our bodies change at different
rates, so some would take longer than others to be in the condition he is
currently in. But from what I saw he was really close with her…”