Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
It took us nearly half an hour to make it over the bridge, but we finally arrived. Waverly Park was empty, and the street going down to the entrance was covered with ice.
I slowed to a crawl—barley five miles an hour—and held my breath as I navigated the one-lane street to the bottom. As I crossed the parking lot to Tilly’s driveway, Dante was looking for the doctor’s car. Sure enough, we had barely parked when a dark maroon sedan appeared and parked next to us. Dante jumped out and hurried over to the doctor’s car. He spoke to him and the pair quickly hurried to the door. I caught up, cautious so I didn’t slip and fall.
“Dr. Nash, this is Kyann Sarasan. She’s my friend, and also a friend of Tilly’s.”
I nodded a quick hello as Dante rang the bell. Diana answered, a worried look on her face.
“Come this way, please,” she said, eyes widening when she saw the doctor. “I can’t wake her up, but she seems to be breathing.”
Dante and I swung in behind Diana, with the doctor close behind. We followed her through the massive house to the elevator. On the third floor, we hurried behind Diana, over to Tilly’s bedroom. As we went in, I smelled something weird. I couldn’t quite place it, but whatever it was, it had an earthy scent.
Tilly was lying on the right side of the bed, her breathing distressed. It sounded like she had pneumonia. I was startled by how gaunt her face was. We’d seen her a few days prior, but now she looked like she’d aged a decade in that time. Her eyes were closed, but she was tossing and turning, trying to push the covers off her.
“Auntie—” Dante started forward but I pulled him back so the doctor could get through.
The doctor pulled a chair over to Tilly’s side of the bed and set down his bag. He took out his stethoscope and drew back the blanket. With one hand, he placed the chest piece of the stethoscope on her chest, after inserting the ear tips into his ears. With his other hand, he took hold of her wrist. A moment later he rummaged through his bag and took out his thermometer and scanned her forehead.
He called Diana to bring him more pillows to prop Tilly up to a slanted position. “I want to examine her neck,” he said. “Someone help me by holding her hair aside.”
I suddenly realized what he was looking for. “You expect to find fang marks?”
“I’m not certain, but we have to check it out.” He motioned to me. “Here, help me out.”
I crawled across the bed and gently moved Tilly’s long gray hair out of the way. Then, I helped the doctor sit her up while he began examining her neck. After a moment, he motioned for me to let go and we laid her back on the pillows.
“No fang marks that I can see. That doesn’t exclude them—if she was bitten, it could be anywhere on her body, but the neck is the most common, given it’s the easiest access to an artery.” He checked her wrists, but there were no marks there, either.
“When was the last time anybody talked to her?”
Dante said, “I talked to her earlier today. She sounded exhausted and…how to explain it. She didn’t sound like herself,” he said.
“How so?” the doctor asked.
“She sounded confused, like she wasn’t sure where she was, I guess.” Dante sat on the ended of the bed, staring at his aunt. “Is she going to be all right?”
“I can’t answer that now,” the doctor said. “I’m sorry.” He turned to Diane. “Did you see her after that?”
“I helped her up to bed a couple hours ago. Then, when Mister Dante called and asked me to check on her, I couldn’t wake her up.” Diana sounded as worried as I felt.
“Good. I’m wondering if she might have had a stroke. It’s not as common in shifters, but it happens. I’m going to admit her to the hospital. We need to take a full panel of blood tests and check her everywhere to see if there are any fang marks, or anything else. Does she have any other next of kin I should contact?”
I glanced at Dante. That wasn’t a question I could answer.
Dante let out a sigh. “Probably, but I can’t do it. I’m her great-nephew, but I was expelled from the Pack. They won’t even take my calls.”
“I’m sorry about that,” the doctor said. “Give me the names and I’ll contact them.”
Dante turned to Diana. “Can you get me a piece of paper, please?”
Diana excused herself. “I’ll be right back, sir.”
I sat next to Tilly and gently smoothed her hair back. “Tilly? Tilly? Dante and I are here with you. We’re looking out for you. Everything will be okay.”
Dante turned to Diane when she returned. “Can you put together a bag for my aunt?”
She nodded. “I’ll do that now.”
The doctor motioned for us to join him. “The ambulance is on the way. I’m taking her to Overland Shifters Community Hospital. I can’t tell you what’s wrong, but hopefully we’ll be able to find out what’s happening after administering a battery of tests. Do you know if she’s been ill lately? Has she come into contact with anything different? This could be an odd allergic reaction.”
Dante began to shake his head, then stopped. “She has a new boyfriend. We’re pretty sure he’s a scammer, out for her money. Maybe he gave her something? She saw him last night and said that she started to feel tired when he was there. They went to dinner, and then came back here. She didn’t remember what they talked about or did. That worried the crap out of me.”
“I can see why,” the doctor asked. “Did she wake up confused this morning?”
“I think so. Diana would know.” Dante turned to me. The worry on his face made me want to step in and fix everything, but I couldn’t. Now, I wished I’d jumped on the mess with Jet earlier, because something inside told me that yes, whoever this guy was, he was responsible for her state.
My phone rang. I glanced at the Caller ID. It was Penn. I moved away from the bed to answer it. “Hey, Penn, what’s up?”
“I wanted to let you know that I’m done. I finished making all the components I needed to, so any time you want to come home, it’s good. Thanks for giving me the space to focus.”
“I’m over at Tilly’s. She’s unconscious, and the doctor can’t figure out what’s wrong. She’s breathing hard, like she might have pneumonia. I’m going to take Dante to the hospital.”
Penn gasped. “Oh man, I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
“If you could call Lazenti and Carson, and plan out tomorrow night, I’d appreciate it. Also, conference in Sophia, if you would. Hey, hold on.” I watched as Diana led the EMTs in to prepare Tilly for the hospital. “Listen, I’d better go. The ambulance is here. I don’t know when I’ll be home, but I’ll text you from the hospital.”
“Sure thing. Give Dante a hug for me, please.”
“Will do,” I said, then pocketed my phone. I touched Dante’s arm. “I’ll drive you to the hospital,” I said. I glanced at Diana and added, “Give me a moment.”
“They need to get her ready,” Dante said, his voice flat.
I turned to the maid. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”
“Sure,” she said.
“Last night, Tilly had company. A man. Can you tell me if this is him?” I opened my phone and showed her Jet’s picture.
“Yes, that was him. He’s a coyote shifter,” she said, then added, “I didn’t like him, to be honest. He made me nervous.”
“Why did he make you nervous?” I asked.
Diana cocked her head to one side while she thought. After a moment she said, “I think he was waiting for me to get out of the way.”
“Did they drink anything? Or eat anything?”
She thought for a moment. “He brought a bottle of wine with him. They had a glass. But then he took the bottle with him when he left. And he insisted on carrying the glasses into the kitchen and rinsing them out. I was going to, but he grabbed them before I could, and carried them into the kitchen.”
“Well, that’s odd,” I said. But it made sense. If he had spiked her glass, then washing them made sense, so it couldn’t be traced. I turned to the doctor, who was watching the medics lift Tilly onto the gurney. “Doctor? Check her for drugs—a wide spectrum.”
“You think she might be drugged?”
“I think there’s a good chance.” Turning back to Diana, I said, “Were they alone for long?”
Diana said, “At least an hour, after they got back from dinner. I was worried and tried to hang around—I’m good at finding busy work. But the man kept glaring at me and, after a while, Tilly asked if I would leave them alone, but to bring two glasses. So, I did. I had to. When she rang for me next, she seemed so tired. That’s when he grabbed the goblets and took them into the kitchen. He left right after that. I made sure the door was locked and the security system was armed.”
Dante motioned to me. “Let’s go,” he said, picking up the bag Diana had packed.
“Thanks,” I said. “We’ll talk to you later. I’ll make sure you get word about how she’s doing.” Diana thanked me as I motioned for Dante and we followed the doctor out of the house.
On the way to the hospital, I told Dante about my conversation with Diana. “I asked the doctor to do a full tox screen on her,” I said.
“If we can get hold of Jet, I’m going to kill him,” Dante said.
“We’re not sure yet, but it’s looking like he’s more dangerous than we thought. I wonder—we should check her will to make sure it hasn’t been changed. Maybe he’s trying to get to her that way.” There were so many ways he could take advantage of her.
I slowed down as we came to a particularly slick spot on the road. The snow had stopped, but it was frigid outside, and everything was icing over.
“Since he had time in the house where he wasn’t being supervised, and my aunt doesn’t remember, I’ll call Diana and have her make sure that Auntie’s jewelry’s still there. I wouldn’t trust him not to steal everything he could.”
By the time we got to the hospital, Dante had asked Diana to look through the house to see if anything appeared to be missing. We hurried to the ER and promptly were sidelined to the waiting area. By now, I was getting hungry—it was near dinner time—and so I told Dante that I’d be back and headed to the cafeteria. I bought two turkey sandwiches, several bags of chips, and coffee. I returned to find that the doctor hadn’t been out yet, but a nurse had told Dante that he’d be with us soon.
As we ate, I texted Penn. we’re here and waiting. i’m not certain how long it will be.
that’s all right. i set up everything with the others for tomorrow night. i’ll feed the cats. text me when you know more.
will do. I went back to my sandwich.
About forty-five frustrating minutes later, a doctor came out to greet us.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Howell. I’m looking after your aunt.” The woman was tall, wearing a long white coat, and she had the air of a shifter to her. I also sensed some magic coming from her—which was odd. Well, odd if she was a wolf or dog shifter.
“I’m Dante Franco, Tilly’s great-nephew. How’s my aunt?” Dante stood, handing me the bag of potato chips he’d been eating.
“We’re running several tests, as per ordered by her personal physician. We’ve found several unusual readings, and I wanted to talk to her family about it. Are you the only one here?” Dr. Howell looked around, surprised.
I’d noticed the lack of Dante’s family members, as well, and thought it odd.
Dante was about to answer when the waiting room doors opened, and an older version of Dante strode in. However, where Dante was flamboyant, this man was dressed sedately.
As Dante turned, his eyes narrowed and I could smell the change in pheromones. With shifters, they wore their emotions in their body scent. It wasn’t obvious to humans, but apparently my demon side had a heightened sense of smell.
“Sir,” Dante said, his gaze toward the floor. Among wolf shifters, that was a sign of submission.
The older man gave Dante a long look, then turned toward the doctor. “I’m Philip Franco. I’m Tilly’s nephew.”
“You’re Dante’s father, then?” the doctor asked, looking at one, then the other.
Philip’s face hardened and he took a moment to answer. “By blood, yes.”
The doctor must have sensed something was off, because she backed off the discussion of relations. “So far, we know that Tilly has been drained of some of her life force. She’s also anemic, and seems to be suffering from an overdose of razapahn.”
“What’s razapahn?” I blurted out.
“Razapahn is a drug used to cushion the affects of dementia in elderly patients. However, if it’s given to someone who isn’t suffering from dementia, it acts in the opposite manner. It can cause confusion, short term memory loss, drowsiness, and anxiety. Your aunt’s levels of razapahn are three times the level of what they would be in a dementia patient. Does she suffer from the condition?”
“We’ve been—” Philip started to answer but Dante interrupted.
“No, she doesn’t . She’s getting older, and of course she has moments of forgetfulness, but no more than her doctor considers normal. I asked him a couple weeks ago, and while he couldn’t tell me—given confidentiality—he told me not to worry myself about her.”
Philip turned to Dante. “Why would you ask her doctor about it?”
Dante froze. “I was curious, sir.”
Philip stared at him for a moment, then turned back to the doctor. “Will Tilly be all right?”
“Oh, she’ll live, but you’re might call the police. If she didn’t take the drug voluntarily, then somebody slipped it to her. You might want to find out who.”
“What about the drain in life energy?” I asked. “And anemia? Her doctor checked her for vampire marks.”
“We did too, and we didn’t find any. The anemia could have several causes. As for the draining of her life force? That, we don’t know. It could be magical in origin. There aren’t many natural causes. From the records her doctor forwarded to us, she’s generally in good health, especially for her age. She might have attracted a Sticktor bug—they drain life energy from people they’re around. If that’s the case, anybody who lives in the same house as Tilly would be subject to the drain as well.”
“I don’t think the maids are having issues,” Dante said. “Is there anything else that can cause an energy drain?”
“Oh, there are a variety of possibilities that could account for it. It could be a psychic vampire, it could be a cursed object—any number of things.” The doctor paused as her beeper went off. She glanced at the message and then said, “I’ll be back in a while. It looks like your aunt is waking up.” With that, she turned and disappeared down the hall, leaving Dante and me alone with Philip.
Philip stood there, expressionless. Then, he turned to Dante. “Tilly has made her opinions clear about you. Since you were here first, I’ll take my leave. I give you permission to contact my office with news about her, given she has designated you her favorite.”
Without another word, and without even acknowledging my presence, he turned and marched toward the door. As he left, I glanced at Dante, who watched him go, stone-faced.
“How are you?” I asked, trying to choose my words carefully. Dante had been excommunicated from his pack for longer than I’d known him.
He kept his eyes on the exit doors, watching as they closed behind his father. “Honestly? I think they’re waiting for her to die so he and my mother can take her place as the family monarchs, so to speak.” With a long sigh, he returned to his seat and I handed him the rest of his chips, and we finished eating in silence.