13. Shane
CHAPTER 13
SHANE
I’d been watching the fog intently when five vampires ran out, heading toward us. But Ms. Jackson sent a stream of flame at them, and they veered toward the path to the main house.
Ellis hitting the limit of our bond had almost jerked me off my feet.
The vampire that grabbed him had to have come from the opposite side of the clearing from the others. When I looked up to see him carrying Ellis and Manny toward the trees, I yelled and sprinted after them, the combat mode making me almost as fast as the vampire.
Clementine shouted a warning, but I ignored her. Rory followed behind me. He kept up well, so maybe Mediums had a combat mode too.
But even though I’d started out close behind the vampire, the gap between us became wider and wider. No matter how I pushed my muscles, reminded my body that this was our mate, I still couldn’t run at his speed.
And then there were two vampires, running side-by-side, still at the same insane speed. The second one took Manny from the first. She shouted something, and then just casually tossed him to the ground. I didn’t see the blood until he rolled over, clutching his belly.
Ellis screamed Manny’s name.
Fuck! I had to decide. Ellis, I knew, would want me to help Manny. But... Ellis .
Rory yelled, “Get Ellis!”
Thank fuck. I raised a hand in acknowledgement and continued running. When I passed Manny, he was losing the battle to keep his guts inside his body. Fuck . My breath sawed in and out of my lungs, the muscles in my legs burned, and I really had no chance of catching the vampires who had Ellis, particularly as they were entering the woods, but?—
I yelled and tumbled face-first to the ground. My chest felt like it was on fire as the wheel of magic I shared with Ellis tore apart, and my half recoiled into me. I curled into a fetal position and tried to breathe through the agony.
“Shane!” Rory shouted.
“I’m... okay,” I gasped out. Not in a million years would I be okay again. Regrets flitted through my head, and I stifled a sob. Crying was a waste of time right now.
Ellis was gone, at least taken, possibly dead. I wanted to believe he was still alive, like the ghosts had told Rory about Thomas Baird. But our bond was severed, so I couldn’t tell. My body jittered with the need to run after him, but there was no point. They were too far ahead. I could only try to help Manny now.
Rory was muttering to him to hang in there, so I dragged myself upright and staggered over to them. I fell to my knees next to Rory at Manny’s side .
Rory had his shirt pressed to Manny’s stomach. It was solid red with blood. More blood covered Manny and the grass around him. His eyes were closed, and he wasn’t moving.
Tears dripped down Rory’s face. “Please, please, please live.”
I yanked my t-shirt over my head and handed it to him, but I didn’t think it would be much help. Rory nodded and added my shirt on top of his own.
A vampire skidded to a stop next to us. I jumped to my feet, getting between him and the two on the ground. The vampire raised his hands, one of which was holding a bloody sword.
“Hold up there, compadre . I’m Simon. I’m here to help. I killed four of those assholes. The dèideag dìon can vouch for me.” He pointed toward the center of the clearing, and I saw Ms. Jackson, Pia still sitting on their back, galloping toward us. Clementine and Levi jogged after them on foot. “So can Cal and Greg. Cal gave me this beauty a few weeks ago.” He held up the sword, which I realized was a replica Klingon weapon, like the one Cal said he’d let the “friendly vampire”, as we’d been calling him, have after the first vampire fight.
Cautiously I stepped aside. The vampire—Simon—shoved the sword into the ground. He was tall and thin, and he sparkled like a Wonder.
He knelt beside Rory at Manny’s side. “How bad is it?”
Rory swallowed. “I can see his intestines.”
Simon grimaced.
A shadow covered us. “Let me down!” Pia shouted.
Ms. Jackson shrank from her dragon form into the tiger. Pia slid off her back and ran over to Manny. She knelt next to me, across from Simon. “Can you help him, mister? ”
Simon’s expression was regretful. “Not my skillset.” He turned to Ms. Jackson. “This one doesn’t have a mate to bond with. Using your mojo wouldn’t be against the rules.”
My breath caught. Ms. Jackson could heal Manny?
The Ouija board appeared on Ms. Jackson’s chest. I-D-O-N-T-K-N-O-W-H-A-T-Y-O-U-R-E-T-A-L-K-I-N-G-A-B-O-U-T flashed. My heart sank.
Simon reared back, blinking. “Oh. You don’t remember? You don’t remember me?”
What? Simon knew Ms. Jackson before they were stuck in a room at TWIST? He was a lot older than he looked.
The No on the board flashed.
“Huh. Well, uh, in your original, uh, state of being, you were allowed to heal as a last resort if everything else had been tried, so the child in your care—” he pointed at Pia. “—wouldn’t be traumatized.”
“I’m traumatized!” Pia shouted.
I glanced at Rory. He gazed at Ms. Jackson with desperate hope in his expression. I reached across Manny to put my hand on Rory’s shoulder. I tried not to notice how our magic fizzed together as I touched his warm, bare skin. I missed Ellis with a ferocity I could barely tolerate.
Ms. Jackson cocked their head. D-O-Y-O-U-K-N-O-W-H-O-W
“Nope, sorry. Go with your instincts?”
Ms. Jackson looked down at Manny. Then they walked up his body until they were close to his wound, straddling his legs with two paws on either side. All of us except Rory, who was still holding our shirts to Manny’s gut, moved back .
They closed their eyes for a moment, then they raised one paw to their opposite shoulder and dug their claws into their... flesh? It created a pretty gross squelching sound as Ms. Jackson gouged out a big glob of sparkling light. Their shoulder reformed instantly. They held the sparkling clump above Manny’s belly. The Ouija board flashed, R-E-M-O-V-E-T-H-E-C-L-O-T-H .
Rory pressed his lips together but nodded. He carefully lifted the bloodied shirts. I caught a brief glimpse of Manny’s wound gaping open, bloody and torn. I wanted to look away, but I needed to see what Ms. Jackson would do so I could tell Ellis later.
Swiftly they pressed the chunk of sparkling whatever—themself? Magic?—into Manny’s wound. The sparkles appeared to get absorbed into Manny until only Ms. Jackson’s paw—claws thankfully retracted—was visible, splayed across the intact skin of his belly.
They lifted their paw, and every one of us sucked in a breath. Manny’s wound was healed. He had a nasty-looking scar, red, raised, and angry, but the cut was closed. He was still unconscious, but hopefully he’d wake soon.
“Thank you,” Rory gasped. He reached out and grabbed Ms. Jackson’s paw. “Thank you.”
They made an odd bowing nod, then they backed up until they were sitting on the grass near Manny’s feet. Pia jumped up and hugged them.
Rory wiped his face with his forearm, but he just ended up smearing blood across his forehead.
I let myself sink down and sit. I was grateful Manny would be okay. So grateful. But Ellis was still in the vampires’ hands. I rubbed my chest. My magic had been torn in half, but all of Ellis’ Wonders were still connected to me. District Monitors didn’t usually have over two hundred connections, and I could tell why. I wanted Ms. Jackson to claw my chest open and let them out.
But I needed to keep them so I could give them to Ellis when we got him back.
Simon yanked his sword out of the ground. He removed a kind of oblong leather backpack I hadn’t noticed him wearing and put the blade inside. Shit, was he about to leave?
I pushed to my feet, which took more effort than I’d anticipated. I faced Simon. “The vampires have Ellis. Is he alive? Do you know where they would’ve taken him?”
He hesitated. “Maybe.” He looked tired. No wonder, since he’d taken out several vampires by himself. He pulled out his phone. I couldn’t help noticing that his wrist bones were strangely prominent. His jeans hung off his hips, and he didn’t seem to have an ounce of fat on him. He was as tall as the other vampires, but they’d been more muscular and seemed to have a normal amount of body fat.
He said, “Four of them got away. They came in two vehicles, but I only have a tracker on one.” He glanced around at us. “That’s how I knew they were here.” He punched at his phone. “Unfortunately, they take different routes with each van. I could follow the one with the tracker, but I can’t be sure Ellis will be in it.”
I took half a second to process this, and then I saw red. Rory started to speak, but I got up in Simon’s face. “You have a tracker on one of their vans, and you let them go around attacking people? What the fuck? Why didn’t you kill them when they stopped for the night or something?”
Simon let his friendly demeanor drop. He looked exhausted, but also like no one I really wanted to fuck with. “Because I didn’t get the tracker on the van until Wimberly a few weeks ago, and I’ve been waiting for them to return to their home base, where they keep their captives .” He snarled that last bit, letting his fangs show.
Well, fuck. “Oh, um, sorry.” I moved back a couple of steps. “Sorry. I’m a little on edge about Ellis.” I rubbed my chest again.
He blew out an exasperated breath. “I tried to prevent this attack, but I’m only one guy. If I go after their van now to get your friend, there’s a fifty percent chance he won’t be in it. And either way I’ll have to kill the vampires, so I won’t be able to follow the van to the other captives, and I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to put a tracker on the other one.”
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. Multiple captives were objectively more important than Ellis, but he was my mate, and I needed Simon to save him.
“Is the van with your tracker on it heading south on 281?”
We all turned to look at Rory, who had propped Manny’s head on his thigh.
Simon held up his phone and tapped a few times. “No, it’s on Interstate 20.” He raised his eyebrows and waited.
“I have three ghosts playing relay to update me on where they’re taking Ellis.” He looked at me. “He’s still alive.”
I felt so dizzy with relief, I had to sit back down on the ground.
Rory said, “They just got on 281 going south. We can stop that van, and hopefully the other one with the tracker will go to where the other captives are.”
“Thanks, Rory.” My voice was raspy with unshed tears. “Please thank the ghosts as well. ”
Simon smiled. “That’s excellent information. Those vans have a range of four hundred and fifty or so miles on the highway before they have to stop for gas. They’ve already got about twenty minutes’ head start. If they have a full tank of gas, we have five or six hours to catch up with them.”
He glanced around. Several of the dryads had left their trees to come see what was happening. Simon fiddled with his backpack strap, seeming uncomfortable for the first time since I’d met him. Though I hadn’t actually met him, had I?
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Shane. That’s Manny, who you helped to save. And Rory....”
“Apparently we’ve already met.” Rory’s voice was clipped.
Simon’s eyes lit up. “Gave my message to Cal, did you? I was wondering if he’d figure out it was me. Too bad he couldn’t warn y’all in time.”
“And you fed from me?” Rory, I could tell, was trying hard not to explode. I hoped he could keep it together. We needed Simon’s goodwill to help us get Ellis back.
Simon made a regretful face. “Technically you consented, but I admit I may have influenced you.” He spread out his hands. “I need blood with magic in it to survive, and magic carriers or Wonders aren’t easy to find. I didn’t take more than a sip. If you want, I can put your memory back.”
Rory paused. “I’m not sure.”
“No worries. Let me know when you decide.” He glanced around at everyone. Even more dryads had gathered. Simon tugged on his backpack strap again. “But, uh, if I’m going to go after the vampires who have your friend, my energy’s pretty depleted. I’m afraid I need to feed again. Uh?—”
“I’ll do it.” Clementine stepped forward. “You saved us. I’m glad to be able to offer you something as a thank-you. ”
“Same here. How much blood do you need, son?” Clementine’s dad asked.
The other dryads murmured amongst themselves, and a few of them moved to stand behind Clementine and Levi, apparently lining up to have their blood sucked. I tried not to think about those other vampires feeding from Ellis.
“I, uh, really?” Simon’s eyes were wide. “Um, I can get by with very little, I promise.”
I scowled, rubbing my chest. “Is that why you’re so skinny? You’re not drinking enough blood?”
He put his hands on his hips. “No one believes in vampires, so no one volunteers of their own free will. I have to put the whammy on people so they don’t remember me, and I don’t enjoy taking blood from those who aren’t completely consenting.” He gestured at Rory. “I only take the bare minimum I need.”
“What about goth clubs and those people who like to pretend to be vampires?” Rory suggested.
Simon shook his head. “Humans.” He gestured at Manny. “His blood didn’t even smell good to me before he was healed. My people are from the Elven dimension. We can only survive on blood with magic in it.”
“Can we bag it for you?” Levi asked.
Simon goggled at him. “What?”
“Well, obviously not tonight.” He waved a hand at the clearing. “No supplies. But we could set up a sort of blood bank for you. Are there any others of your kind who are, um, friendly?”
Simon covered his mouth with both hands, looking like he was tearing up. I heaved myself to my feet, wishing Ellis was here. He was much better at the people part of being a DM.
Before I could do something like give Simon a hug, he blinked rapidly then cleared his throat. “Um, thank you so much. I appreciate the offer more than I can tell you. There aren’t any other vampires on Earth, at least not that I’m aware of. Just me and the other six. The four in the vans and the two who weren’t here today. But as much as I’d like to take you up on your idea, I have to follow where the others go, so I wouldn’t be able to come back here to, uh, partake.”
Levi walked over to Simon and hugged him. Simon’s eyes went so wide they were about to fall out of his head. He gingerly patted him on the back.
Levi didn’t release him. “First, I’m sorry you’re all alone, and I don’t reckon it’s easy killin’ the last few others of your kind, no matter how evil they are. But even though we’re not vampires, we’re signin’ up to be your family now. And don’t worry about havin’ to return here to feed, son.” He stepped back but kept a hand on Simon’s shoulder. “We’ve got that Discord thingy. Won’t take nothin’ to set up a network. And if folks are squeamish about you drinking from ‘em directly, we’ll sort out a supply of bags and donation setups. The magic will stay in the blood when it’s in a bag, right?”
“Yeah. Uh, yes, it will. I once had a friend....” He looked away. “Never mind. I’m sorry. I don’t—people aren’t generally nice to me.”
“Well, those days are behind you, son. Now, let’s get you fed up good so you can go after Ellis. He’s our DM, you know. You’ll be doing us a right favor. Let’s see, we’ve got....” He pointed at the dryads who were raising their hands. I considered volunteering, but holding Ellis’ connections along with my gut-clenching worry for him was making me nauseous. I didn’t think I could handle Simon feeding from me on top of that.
“Twelve,” Levi announced with satisfaction. “We’ve got twelve people ready to give you some blood. Think it’ll be enough?”
“More than, thank you. Thank you all.” The dryads all smiled back at him.
“Okay. Why don’tcha go over to that table so you can sit down while we feed you?”
Simon hesitated. “I need to cut the heads off the vampires I killed.”
Levi waved this away. “We got the trees to do it. Used their roots to pull the bodies apart right quick. The nutrients’ll do ‘em good.” The dryads looked grim as they all nodded.
Simon seemed taken aback. “Oh, um, thanks. That’s... I appreciate it.” Did no one ever help him?
Levi moved his hand from Simon’s shoulder to his back and gestured in the direction of the nearest picnic table. “Do you eat regular food as well? We can pack some up to take with you. Shane? I’m guessing you’re going along. Who else?”
“Me,” Rory said. He gently laid Manny down on the ground. “If you’ll look after Manny. I need to be there to talk to the ghosts.” I felt a surge of emotion toward Rory—gratefulness, admiration, and maybe even affection.
We were going to get Ellis back. I wouldn’t stop until we did.
And then I’d apologize to him.
I gazed at the barely-there connection between me and Rory. He’d be well within his rights to stay here with Manny, but he was putting Ellis first. I was doing the same .
Things would be different once we got Ellis back. If he wanted both me and Rory, I’d do whatever it took to make it happen for him.