3. Lane
Lane
It wasn’t hard to follow the scent of rotting putrid flesh now that we were close enough. How had this thing even managed to get here while staying in one piece?
On second thought, who knew if it was in one piece?
Colt took the lead, and Zander and I flanked him as we arrived at the shadowed clearing where the scent was almost unbearable.
There, sitting with his back to a large oak tree, was a man…
or at least what used to be a man at some point.
If I thought zombies could ever be real, this was what I would imagine one would look like.
With the overwhelming stench, it was so hard to tell what it was.
The speed he’d moved at didn’t make sense for anything human, and I’m not sure a human could survive an illness like this.
“So you’ve finally come,” the man said, his voice raspy, and his breathing rattled like his lungs were full of fluid.
Having been an EMT in my past life, combined with the sensitive awareness I had now as a werewolf, I could pick up on things easier. Although I don’t think anyone would need to use a stethoscope to tell he was drowning in fluid from his own lungs.
“Guys, this man is practically a corpse that hasn’t given up yet. There is no reason he should be alive right now,” I informed everyone.
“So what, we just give the guy a pass because he’s dying?” Zander demanded.
“I can feel the hum of your connection. If you’re going to talk about me, I would prefer it to be to my face instead of silently behind my back,” the man grumbled.
“I also know that none of you are the one I’m looking for, so please don’t waste what little time I have left in this world with your alpha macho bullshit. ”
Colt snarled, snapping his teeth at him for such disrespect while he was on our territory. Knowing we wouldn’t get anywhere with those two running the show, I shifted back and slowly stood.
“Why have you come onto our lands without bothering to follow the rules? If you want our help, you’d think not pissing us off would be a wiser choice,” I said, crossing my arms as Colt and Zander stood on either side of me.
The man was suddenly attacked with a coughing fit, his whole body convulsing as blood trickled out of his mouth and down his chin.
“What’s it matter if I piss you off? I’m dying a slow, painful death that no one but the Elf Queen could heal.
Tends to make you realize what rules matter and which don’t.
I needed to get to her quickly and didn’t have time to petition for an invite to your lands.
Besides, it got you to come to me rather quickly, didn’t it?
I never planned on harming anyone. I just needed your attention. ”
“Well, you have it now,” I stated. “What makes you think that there is even an elven queen? Elves have been gone for centuries. Besides all that, why would a person of such status be here in a wolf pack?”
Using the tree for support, the man slowly made it to his feet.
“Don’t play dumb with me. The secret is out and it’s spreading like wildfire in the underground network.
She freed an entire group of supers from the Dark Ring for the second time.
Hundreds, including myself, witnessed this with their own eyes. ”
“How did you end up like this?” I questioned now that I could see more of him through gaps in his shredded clothes.
“Ever wonder what happens when you put silver into a vampire’s bloodstream?
This is what it looks like as it burns through my body at a slow, agonizing rate,” he shared.
“Everyone left that night, scattered to the four winds, and disappeared into thin air, taking the freedom they were given to heart. Not me. I wanted revenge for what they did to my Blood Bond and me. I was foolish and went after my old master, who’d killed my Marissa when she no longer pleased him in his bed.
Only all the members were on high alert after the attack and I was caught.
They tortured me for days, slowly introducing tiny drops of silver into my veins until I started to rot. ”
“Then what, they just let you go?” I asked with a huff of laughter. “You expect me to believe that they just tossed you aside because you were rotting?”
“No, they thought I died, and when they tossed me out into the pile of garbage to be burned, I escaped. The only good thing is that with the silver in my blood, the sun doesn’t affect me as much.
Or I’m in so much pain that I don’t notice.
Either way, I’ve been on the search for the Elf Queen because I know she can heal me,” he concluded.
Another coughing fit sent him crashing to the ground in a heap of blood, bones, and ruined flesh.
“Rath, do you recognize him from being at that location?” I asked.
His response wasn’t immediate, which had me thinking his answer would be no, only to be surprised that it was yes.
“His name is Derven and he was held by the same man who owned me last. Derven is a wildly impulsive vampire with a temper but what he’s said so far is all true. We didn’t speak to each other much, but I trust he has no love for the Dark Ring whatsoever,” Rath informed me.
“What’s your name?” I demanded, wanting to see if he would be truthful.
Derven gave a harsh laugh. “What name would you like? My real name, pet name, the ones my masters called me? I’ve had so many names in my lifetime I don’t know the answer to that anymore.”
“What name do you want to be called?” I countered. “The name you would give to the Elf Queen.”
“Ah, the name that matters,” Derven nodded with understanding. “Many know me as Derven, but the name I would give to the Elf Queen would be Matei Derven Nistor the Third, first son of the oldest living vampire, Remus Serban Nistor the Second.”
“That can’t be possible!” Rath’s voice said, cutting through our minds like a knife. “Remus hasn’t been seen or heard of in centuries. There’s no way his son would be foolish enough to be caught by the Dark Ring.”
“Care to fill us in on why that matters?” Zander snapped.
“Remus was basically the father of vampires in Europe. Some say he was one of the first and created some of the strongest lines that still exist to this day. If that is his son, he is hundreds of years old, if not a thousand, and I know the Dark Ring has been holding him for at least fifty years. It doesn’t make sense,” Rath explained.
“Maybe you should join us since you know so much. That way, we aren’t flying blind,” Colt suggested.
“If Rath is joining, then the rest of us are,” Finley cut in. “Clearly, this man isn’t much of a danger to me in his current state, and who knows what we might be able to get from him if we earn his trust.”
Colt and Zander growled at her request, but I agreed with her. Knowing who he was and that by giving us that name, he revealed how important of a person he was. Clearly, he wanted to prove he was worth saving and exposing Finley’s power.
“I agree,” I said, looking down at the other two. “This man could be incredibly valuable to us.”
“Fine,” Zander snapped. “Just know if he makes one wrong move, I’ll finish him off for good.”
With Zander’s agreement, Colt gave in as well, and moments later, the others arrived in the clearing.
Finley didn’t slow until she was a few paces away from the decaying vampire.
She sat on her haunches and inspected him with her quizzical gaze, the expression she always wore when trying to figure something out.
Derven took her observation well and didn’t back down at all when her magic reached out to investigate him further.
He grunted in pain at something she did but seemed to breathe a little easier with less rattling in his lungs.
“Rath, would you please make something for me to wear when I shift back,” Finley requested. “I wouldn’t want any of you killing him before we get a chance to hear him out because he saw me naked.”
“Wise of you, nin mel,” Rath agreed as he gathered a few leaves off the ground and cupped them in his hands.
We all watched in amazement as his hands started to glow green as fabric the same color as the leaves started to spill out from his grasp.
When he was finished, he shook out a simple robe with a tie around the waist.
“I see you haven’t lost your touch, Rathal,” Derven commented. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you use magic so freely. Has finding your nos helped you regain what you’ve lost over the years?”
“Just how well do you know each other?” I demanded. Rath made it seem like they knew each other in passing, but Derven talked as if they were much closer.
Finley trotted over to Rath and he placed the robe over her as she shifted back.
As she adjusted the robe, Rath met my gaze, and I could see shadows of his past threatening to take over.
“How well does anyone know someone they were captive with? None of us were our true selves, doing what we must to survive, shutting ourselves off in the hopes we could one day return to who we once were unscathed. Sadly, that was something none of us could achieve.”
Our mate wrapped her arms around Rath and placed her head on his chest, holding him as tightly as she could.
I didn’t need her gift with emotions to pick up on the pain and self-loathing pouring out of Rath.
While I’d never had to experience anything close to what he went through, I understood what he was saying about being unable to return to who and what you once were.
My life forever changed when Colt bit me, changing me into a werewolf, having my family reject me, and everything stripped from me all at once. No one wants an EMT that, with a scratch of a nail, could turn you into a monster.
“I apologize, my friend,” Derven said with a sigh. “I haven’t been out of captivity for what seems like a lifetime and I don’t always know how to interact with others correctly.”