The Vampire's Bat (9 page)

“No, not yet.”

“That’s okay. Go ahead and help your mate.”
Maysa
started to attend to the baby. She took his vitals
while she had Reese help clean him up a little bit. She noticed Reese fight to
hide his disgust at cleaning off the “slime” as he had called it.

“It’s called
vernix
. It
serves several purposes. It moisturizes the infant's skin and helps their
passage through the birth canal. It also serves to conserve heat and protect
the delicate newborn skin.”

“I get that,” he said quietly. “It just looks like
someone bathed him in cloudy snot.” His face soured. The baby cried a lot. “Am
I doing it wrong? Why won’t he stop crying?” Reese asked.

“You’re fine. It’s good for him to cry a bit. It helps
to rid his lungs of the fluid.” After the baby was weighed, measured, cleaned
and wrapped,
Maysa
gently picked him up and took him
to his parents. “Here you go. He’s a healthy six pounds and two ounces.” She
let the new mother hold the baby, helping her to set him
up
to start nursing. The baby latched on without any
problems, and soon she heard suckling noises.

Seamus and Katie finished cleaning up. “Can I bring in
the alpha?” Seamus asked.

The new father looked up. “Yeah, bring them all in. I
want to show off my son.”
Maysa
could easily hear his
breathy reply was filled with extreme pride. He was looking down at his nursing
son with so much joy and love.

The group that quietly filtered in was much larger
than she had left.
Maysa
began to back against the
wall, but Seamus came over to her and held her back against his front, wrapping
his arms around her. His warmth and scent surrounded her, calming her panic.

“He’s so little,” Havana whispered.

“I’m so relieved you both are
safe
and sound
.” Gale breathed out.

“Seamus, what happened?”
Alphy
asked.

“Yeah, she wasn’t due for another few more weeks. What
happened?”
Kace
asked seriously with sincere concern.

“She suffered what is called a
pseudospasmodic
promorphism
. You won’t find that in any human medical
books because it is unique to shifters. When a pregnant shifter’s body reaches
a certain stage in their pregnancy, their animal finds no desire to shift, so
they don’t. That’s because it is too dangerous to shift at that point. If they
shifted, there’s an almost one hundred percent chance that it would result in
the miscarriage of the infant. Sometimes, because of the long period they
endure without shifting, a shifter’s body can send false signals to shift, kind
of like a muscle spam. I believe the pack run last night might have contributed
to creating the false signal. And that is why no one scented a change in her
chemistry that normally indicates labor.”

“If I would have known it would endanger her
pregnancy, I would have ordered her to stay back,”
Alphy
said.
Maysa
could hear and see his guilt. He looked
devastated.

“Though it isn’t rare, it isn’t too common of a
condition either, and she might not even ever suffer it from any other
pregnancies she may have in the future.”

“I will do a more compete exam on the infant, but I
believe he should be fine, as well as you, Lois.” Seamus spoke directly to the
new mother.

“All right everyone, let’s give them some rest,”
Alphy
ordered.
“Seamus, when will you be
able to leave?”

“I’ll give Katie some instructions. Maybe an
hour,
or less. It also depends on what I’m allowed to take,
and if I get help loading it up.” Seamus gave a pointed look towards the alpha.
Maysa
noticed
Kace
slowly
backing out of the room.

“
Kace
, help him out,”
Alphy
demanded.

“Aww,
maaan
.
Why do I
gotta
help?”
Kace
whined.

Alphy
quietly chuckled.
“Because it makes me smile.
Sea, do
not bring the portable x-ray machine. We’re taking Tyler’s plane again.
However, Raymond is sending a team to help out, including their coven doctor
and we’ll be in the Buffalo coven territory. They have also agreed to help us.
They’re putting us all up in one of their hotels.”

“That will be helpful to not look suspicious when we
bring survivors back with us. Are Raymond’s men flying with us?” Seamus asked.

Alphy’s
brows rose. “No, but don’t think that will give you an excuse to take more than
we can pack onto the plane.”

Most of the people filed out of the room after
whispering their congratulations to the couple. Gale brought two women over to
her whom she didn’t recognize. “
Maysa
, this is my
mother, Connie, and
Alphy’s
aunt, Betty. Mom and
Betty, this is
Maysa
.”

“Hi,
Maysa
.
I’m happy to finally meet you.” Connie smiled and
shook her hand.

Betty smiled as well. “We heard you were going with
the men, so while you were up here, Connie and I laundered and packed your new
clothes and other things.”

“Oh, thank you. That was really nice of you.”
Maysa
smiled at the women before they headed out.

“Did you get a chance to call your aunt yet?” Seamus
asked.

“No.”

Seamus reached into his pocket and pulled out his
cell. “Here, why don’t you go to the table and call your aunt while I pack.”
She nodded and did as he suggested.

The ringing on the other line stopped, and her aunt’s
voice replaced it. “Hello?”

“Aunt Grace? It’s
Maysa
.”

“
Maysa
?
Where are you? What happened? Why can’t I get in
touch with your mother? It’s been over six months! What’s going on? Is
everything all right?”

Maysa
didn’t want to go into detail. “We were abducted. I escaped.”

“Abducted?
By who?
Where?
Where are you right now?” Her aunt sounded so worried.

“Um, in Canada.
I found someone I think might be my mate.”

“You think?
Maysa
, honey,
you either know he is or you don’t. If you only think, then he’s probably not.
I got lucky my arranged marriage was my mate. I knew right away. Trust your
nose.”

“That’s just it, Aunt Grace. The people who took us
did things to us. My scent is off. I can’t smell things like I should.”

She could hear her aunt gasp. “That’s horrible.”

“Uh, Aunt Grace, I need to go, but I wanted to call
you to tell you what happened. If we are able to free the others, I’ll call
you.”

“Okay, May. You be careful. If you need anything at
all, you let me know.”

“I
will,
thank you.”

Maysa
disconnected the call and breathed out a sigh of relief. Talking to her aunt
was stressful. She felt Seamus wrap his arms around her. “
Alphy
told me that you got sick, and why. I’m so sorry, sweetheart, for not being
there for you.”

“You were needed, and I have you now.” She smiled
sweetly up at him.

Within the next forty-five minutes, she was on a
flight with him, heading towards the U.S. Even though she was filled with
anxiety in anticipation, with Seamus’s care she still felt confident that she
would be fine.

Chapter Seven

Seamus kept as much physical contact with
Maysa
as he could allow himself. Though he was sure he felt
in control enough not to drink from her without her permission, he was growing
severely hungry. It was a hunger that only a feeding from blood would satiate.
He could also feel his body weakening from the hunger for blood, but he was
adamant he wasn’t going to push or guilt her into allowing him to feed from
her. However, his need for only her blood strengthened his conviction that she
had to be his beloved. He was done fighting himself with the argument of
if
. He was happy
to just be content that she
was
.

They were met at the airport by a vampire who
introduced himself as Max. He accompanied them to the hotel and led them up to
their rooms.

They had the entire top floor of the hotel they were
taken to. It was about five in the evening by the time they reached it.
Raymond’s men were already there.

Seamus could tell
Maysa
was
hungry. They all were. But with her being so petite, and knowing how starved
she’d been lately, it didn’t sit right with him for her to go hungry. So with
Alphy’s
permission, he ordered pizza for everyone.

Max introduced t
he
Buffalo coven leader
,
Aaric
Hawks
as soon as he arrived
.

“Thank you for helping us,
Aaric
,”
Alphy
said as he shook the coven leader’s hand.

Aaric
gave a lethal look. “It is in the best interest of all paranormals. That this
was done in my territory has me fighting bloodlust. Besides, I’ve known Raymond
for over a century. I know he doesn’t trust easily, but he does trust you.”

“Thank you. He’s done a lot for my pack. I owe him a
great deal for everything he’s done for us.”

After everyone was introduced, they sat down to begin
their planning.

Seamus was glad that Gale and Elise were there with
them. It gave
Maysa
someone to talk to on a feminine
level. As much as he wanted to be everything for her, he was grateful to Gale
for being there for her when he couldn’t. With an unknown number they were to
rescue, and in unknown conditions, he didn’t know how much he could help her
during that time.

“I can have my coven doctor waiting in our coven
clinic for the survivors,”
Aaric
said.

Alphy
shook his head. “If there was a chance that any of these guys could somehow
follow or track any of us, I don’t think we should lead them to your coven.”

Aaric
rubbed his chin as he gave a considering look.
Dex
,
whom Seamus was happy to see fully recovered, added, “This hotel is also closer
than the coven. Since we do not know the health they would all be in, we should
assume a shorter commute would be best.”

“That is very likely,” Seamus agreed. “I think it
would be best to set up a triage here. We can offer them choices where they
would like to go, after they’ve been stabilized.”

“Sounds logical.”
Aaric
nodded in his
agreement. “Our coven doctor planned on renting several vans tomorrow to use as
temporary makeshift ambulances. I don’t know how many he will be able to get.”

Seamus lightly waved a hand dismissively. “Whatever he
gets should be fine
.
We don’t know how many
shifters we’ll find. Just make sure you have something capable of heavy weight.
We don’t know if any of them are going to be capable or willing to shift out of
their animal forms if they are in them, or if they have any large shifter
breeds like elephant or hippo.”

Alphy
chuckled. “If my mate was awake right now, I’d be
t
she would be excited to hear about elephant and hippo shifters.”

“Or she’d be pissed you just insulted a girl’s
weight.”
Kace
snickered.

Seamus looked down at the sleeping woman in his
alpha’s lap,
then
looked down at his own beloved to
see
Maysa
was asleep as well. Looking around, he saw
Elise was, too. He,
Alphy
,
and all the others shared an amused look.

“Perhaps we should continue this meeting tomorrow. We
are going in tomorrow night, after sunset, correct?”
Aaric
asked.

“Yes. I don’t want to chance going in the daylight.
It’s in too public of a place,”
Alphy
answered.

“Then I will return first thing in the morning and we
can continue to make plans and prepare. Should we make the triage here, in the
suites with all of you?”

Alphy
dipped his head once. “That sounds fine.”

With their meeting finished, Seamus had no troubles
carrying his beloved to bed, his bed. His body craved her intensely, but
fatigue from all the events the last couple days, coupled with the lack of
sleep and lack of blood, gave him no energy to do anything but curl around her,
following her into sleep.

Bright and early the next morning, as promised,
Aaric
arrived. With him was the doctor for the Buffalo
coven.
Aaric
introduced him to everyone. “This is
Doctor Wicker Wilkins. Doctor Wilkins has gathered a bunch of equipment to make
a temporarily triage. I have volunteers ready to bring everything for the
triage to set up.”

Everyone worked together carrying equipment in and
setting things up. Seamus let out a silent chuckle when Doctor Wilkins gave
orders to
Kace
to help him move, what else but a
portable x-ray machine. Irony could be so entertaining.

Seamus caught
Maysa
hiding
in a corner, wringing her hands. “
Maysa
, sweetheart,
what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I heard
Alphy
talking to
Aaric
. They said because I escaped, that the company might
have moved so as not to get discovered. What if they did and my family aren’t
there anymore?
All because I didn’t get help right away.
Instead, I kept afraid of everyone.”

Seamus held her close and rocked her. “
Shh
, it’s going to be fine. We know about them now, and
what they’re doing. Running won’t hide them forever
.
We’ll find them. And you did the exact right thing.
You kept yourself safe until you could find someone to trust.”

He held
Maysa
as she
silently sobbed. He could feel her distress overriding his thirst to taste her
with a need to comfort and care for her. He greatly hoped that her family was
there, just so he could see her smile again.

****

Seamus waited in the van he was assigned to. His
adrenaline pumped though his system, and there was nothing he could do to burn
it off. Through the windshield, he watched the black objects that moved
silently through the shadows. There were many, as
Aaric
had enlisted many from his coven to help. The coven was smaller in size to the
one in Toronto, which had over five thousand members. But
Aaric’s
was still a good size at just over two thousand. He had many who volunteered.

Aaric
was so pissed that this was going on in his own territory, that he himself was
one of those moving black shadows, intent on satisfying his bloodlust.
Undoubtedly a vampire I would not want to
anger,
Seamus thought to himself as he remembered learning from
Alphy
that
Aaric
had also served
in the military and taught martial arts to the coven kids. Though one may not
think teaching kids something to constitute danger, the murderous look in the
coven leader’s eyes told Seamus he was plenty qualified to inspire fear.

Seamus fidgeted. The men were going to enter from multiple
points, after cutting all electricity.
At
least
Maysa
is waiting safely back at the hotel with
Gale and Elise.

Light flashed through several different windows.
Seamus’s attention sharpened. He didn’t know how long it would take for them to
start bringing out survivors, if there were survivors.

Minutes felt like hours as he waited. He didn’t have a
headset like the others, to know
what,
or even
if
, they found anyone. He did have a
walkie-talkie but had to wait for them to turn theirs on. It was separate from
what was in their earbuds. They didn’t want any possible distractions.

Alphy’s
voice finally came over the radio waves. “Seamus,
Dex
is coming your way. He’s going to escort you up here. Bring everything you can
carry.”

Shit. That means it’s bad
, he thought, as he leaped out of the van. He opened
the door and grabbed his two backpacks, putting one on and carrying the other
in one hand, while grabbing a large duffle with the other. They were all made
especially for his profession, so he had, he hoped, everything he would need
,
including several IV bags.

Seeing
Dex
suddenly appear
beside him, grabbing another of the medical duffels, didn’t scare or shock him,
but seeing
Dex’s
entire front drenched in blood, did.
He could also tell by the blood around his mouth and covering his chin, that it
was a painful death for whomever he had attacked since
Dex
was mated and couldn’t drink it, and he was also pretty sure it was done in
malice. “Is that from the guards?”

Seamus hurried behind following him as
Dex
responded. “Yes, and it wasn’t painful enough. Prepare
yourself, Seamus. I know people like you and I are toughened better than
others, to handle what you’re about to see, but I can’t believe these shifter
victims are still alive, let alone sane. It’s…”
Dex
shook his head
,
not finishing, and Seamus
didn’t think he had to. He got the message loud and clear.

They tore up the steps in the darkened stairwell, lit
only by emergency lights, until they reached the third floor.

Normally extreme medical conditions wouldn’t have
bothered him too much. He was, after all, a professional. He had seen and done
many things that would be difficult for most to handle, but what he saw nearly
had him gagging. The only way for him not to gag, was to throw all of his focus
on the patients that were before him.

In a large laboratory room, there were two rooms
connected to it that were obviously holding cells, about eight by ten. But it
didn’t have a toilet or sink even. There were no beds, or blankets, or
anything. There were, however, three shifters in human form in one, and four in
the other. The floors did have drains, and by the stench, they were to let the
urine and fecal matter wash down by a hose that was currently rolled and hung
on the wall between the two rooms. All were naked and huddled together for
warmth, and comfort. Their bodies were filthy, and bruised and malnourished,
some more than others.

Around the lab were stainless steel cages that housed
other various shifters. Many of them were sick, and all of them were in the
same condition as the ones in the two rooms. They were filthy, lying in their
own waste, and malnourished, a few even emaciated.

“And this isn’t all,”
Alphy
said as he came up beside him. “There are more on the floor above, but the
worst are in the basement. Doctor Cady was sent down there to them.
Aaric
called Doctor Wilkins to give him a heads-up what
he’s in for.”

Looking around, Seamus agreed. Shaking away his shock,
he approached the ones in the rooms. “My name is Doctor Seamus Rossi. Please don’t
be afraid of us. We are here to rescue all of you.” Seamus tried to think over
his words carefully before using them. These victims could easily associate him
with the evil humans, even though they might know he wasn’t. He dropped his
bags on a table and reached in and grabbed several of the silver emergency heat
blankets. He handed them out and began going around the room to some of the
worst cases, trying to get them stable enough for transport.

Being an alpha,
Alphy
tried
to give them the strength and support of his presence. It was natural for most
shifters to find comfort in a structured leadership. “We are going to transport
everyone to a triage we set up at a hotel not too far from here. Those of you
in shifted form, if you could stay in that form a little longer, it will be
easier to carry you out of here and transport you.”

Seamus hooked up IVs to the most serious cases, but
after a quick preliminary exam, deemed everyone else stable for transport.

On the fourth floor, he was sickened to see the
surgical rooms. They were unclean, with old bloodstains that were still smudged
in places along the surgical beds and equipment. The shifters were huddled in a
corner of a prepping room. He noted dark skin on three of the five people. “Are
any of you related to
Maysa
?” he asked. He hoped if
they were, they would appreciate something more positive to focus on.