Chapter 5
We hastily arrived at a ranch-style home, the off-white brick and dark windows an eyesore in the country setting.
The two massive front doors suggested the owner needed room to accommodate large pieces of furniture.
At least, that would be the assumption. Maybe he was a very large man, or maybe he was an elephant Shifter. I smiled at the thought.
“Should I wait in the car?” I asked.
“No.” He scanned our immediate surroundings. “Stay next to me.”
As we exited the vehicle and neared the house, I tucked my hands in the pockets of my cardigan and noticed the front door was ajar.
Salem slowly opened the door while peering inside.
His behavior had me wondering what this was all about, but he didn’t supply any information during the drive, and I didn’t want to pester him about it.
We crossed the marble floor in the foyer and entered a spacious room with white furniture. The first thing I noticed was an opulent chandelier smashed on the ground, the glittering crystals scattered like stars.
While Salem made a phone call, I moved closer to his side.
“Where’s the door?” he asked.
After a quiet moment, he ended the call and veered left down a wide hallway.
The colorful paintings of sanguinary battles called for attention like voices from the past. These relics were museum quality and not prints, most likely depicting Breed battles known from our history.
Salem faced an arched black door and opened it. Our footfalls reverberated off the walls and announced our arrival as we marched down a wide staircase.
Unlike upstairs, the floor down here was wood.
A man groaned from across the spacious basement, and Salem quickened his pace.
“Rich people,” I muttered, noticing a massive wall of art showcased inside glass-enclosed shelves.
Past the wood beams and full-sized bar, a man lying on the floor raised his head, saw me, and croaked, “Who’s that?”
“She’s with me,” Salem answered.
The man’s head dropped to the floor, and he groaned like a sick cow. “I told you to come alone.”
My eyes widened in horror at the longsword impaled in his abdomen.
“Pull this fucking thing out!” the man spat.
Salem dropped his bag. “Did a Vampire do this?”
“What do you think?” The man wiped his sweaty face, his hands tinged in blood. “I can’t move, and it fucking hurts. Hurry up.”
Salem tugged at his collar as he assessed the damage. “Mr. Blackwater, if the blade pierced into the concrete beneath the wood floor, I won’t be able to free you. It looks deep.”
My stomach clenched at the sight of the blade.
Salem took out his phone. “A Vampire lives with us. He can remove it.”
“No!” the man snarled before wincing in pain. He stared up at the ceiling, his alabaster skin covered in a sheen of sweat. “I’m gonna kill the fanghole who did this.”
Salem cleared his throat. “I’m sure you don’t mean that. Let’s focus on getting you out of this. My friend will keep confidence.”
“I said no,” he ground out. “I would rather rot with my bones pinned to this floor than have someone in town get wind of this.” His eyes flicked to me.
I shook my head and averted my gaze. “I won’t say a word.”
“If you do, it’s your head.”
Salem gripped the sword and jerked it hard until the man bellowed. “Don’t ever threaten her again. Do you want out of this or not?” His strident tone raised the hair on my arms.
“Do it,” the man growled.
Salem straddled him and hooked his palms beneath the sword handle.
After a breath, he pushed his hands up with all his might.
Mr. Blackwater squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced.
Salem’s face turned beet red, and a vein pulsed in his forehead as he attempted to free the weapon.
When he let go, he released a heavy breath and panted. “It won’t budge.”
“Is there a welding tool around here?” I asked. “Maybe you can cut it in half and pull him up.”
The man draped his arm over his eyes, shielding his face and red hair. “No. I just want it the fuck out. I’m losing my mind. I can’t sit here for another hour or two while you drive around town, looking for equipment that may or may not work.”
Salem rubbed his mouth while staring down at the blade. “There’s only one other way.”
“I know,” the man replied quietly. “Give me painkillers first.”
Salem shook his head before opening his black bag. “I can’t knock you out all the way.”
“Why not?”
“Dragging you into the sunlight would be a waste of time if you’re unconscious.
In the meantime, the significant blood loss will keep you in that state for possibly days.
Natural self-healing of this magnitude would take time for even a Mage, and that’s too much suffering.
Unless you know another Mage who will give you their light… ”
“Fuck that,” the man spat out.
“If you want that healing sunlight, you need to be awake. You’ll feel pain, and there’s no guarantee we’ll get you outside in time. I implore you to reconsider and accept my friend’s help.”
“I don’t want a Vamp anywhere near me. Why don’t you let me drink your light?”
“No.” Salem held a syringe and bottle in his hand. “The amount you’ll need would kill me. If you attempt it, I’ll make sure you regret that choice. Once we do this, I’ll get you into the sun as fast as I can. You’re lucky the sword is facing the right direction.”
The right direction? What’s he talking about?
The blade’s sharp edges aimed left to right instead of up and down. Only then did it sink in what they were discussing—Salem was going to pull the man away from the blade and cut him almost in half.
“Gimme the painkiller,” the Mage demanded. “Hurry up.”
I stepped forward. “You can’t do this! There has to be another way.”
Salem gave me a sobering look. “You know a Vampire’s strength. That blade is too deep to come out on its own.”
“King Arthur did it.”
“I’m no King Arthur. This is the quickest way.”
“It’s torture!”
Blackwater laughed and then clutched his stomach in pain. “When you’re my age, pain is an old friend. I’ve seen more wars than you’ve had birthdays, little girl. You think this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me? Try hanging from an impalement spike for seven days in winter.”
I blinked in surprise. “Vlad the Impaler was real?”
No wonder this guy didn’t want to wait. Seven days on a spike must have traumatized him.
Why would someone do this to him?
Despite my curiosity, I wasn’t going to ask. Interrogating him would only make him suspicious of me.
Salem injected him with the needle.
The man’s eyes glazed, and a smile crossed his face. “Much… better.”
Salem shoved his hand beneath the Mage.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Seeing where it is in relation to his spine. He can still move his feet, so that’s good.”
“What would happen if it severed his spine?”
“They can heal from almost anything,” he replied matter-of-factly. When Salem retracted his hand, his fingers were wet with blood.
“Why isn’t there more blood?”
“Because the blade’s still inside him. If you ever get stabbed with something, leave it in your body until you find a Relic.
Once you pull it out, it’s like turning on the faucet.
” He wiped his hands on his pants. “I need your help. His legs are scrawny, so his upper and lower weight might be evenly distributed. I can’t let you take the top half since he might be combative and you could get hurt. ”
Oh, this was all very clinical. Salem was describing the situation as if he were reading an article in a magazine. Meanwhile, I was masking my absolute horror.
Salem stood and closed the distance between us, his voice quieter. “I’m sorry you have to witness this, but if I attempt it by myself, it’ll cause him unnecessary pain and potentially more damage.”
“But… he’ll bleed out. The organs!”
“That’s why I have to work fast. We’re going to pull him free. Then I’ll tape the wound since we have to carry him upstairs.”
“Will tape stick if he’s bleeding?”
“I have a solution that’ll cause immediate clotting when I pour it on the wound. We’ll do a fast dry over each section I close. The surgical tape is a temporary fix since he’ll have a gaping hole in his body. I don’t have a bandage large enough for what we’re about to do.”
I frantically shook my head. “I can’t do this, Salem. I can’t. You don’t understand—”
“I promise you’re braver than you think. You can do it. Close your eyes if you need to, but he’ll be fine once he’s outside in the sun. Remember that. Do you think you can help me carry him upstairs?”
“I’m not sure.” I flexed my arm. “What do you think?”
He gave a tight-lipped smile.
I knelt, led by his unflappable guidance. His calm demeanor in a chaotic situation made me believe he could save anyone. I steeled myself for what was about to happen. “It’ll be impossible to get him upstairs.”
“I’ll do the heavy lifting.”
Searching the room for an alternative, I stared at the swords hanging on the walls and noticed one missing. “What if you knock him out all the way and surgically cut him free?”
“To what gain? It would take too much time, and I don’t have the retractors or other instruments to be slicing his organs and intestines to make a path.
He doesn’t care about the pain, and sometimes you have to honor the patient’s wishes.
That blade is sharp enough to split a strand of hair from one end to the other. ”
“Well, if I’m ever in a situation like this, I want all the drugs. Sedate me until my next birthday.”
His lips twitched. “Agreed. Are you ready? The longer we wait, the faster the painkiller wears off.”
What I hadn’t mentioned to Salem—what I didn’t want to mention right now in this moment—was that I was only part Shifter.
I was also part Sensor, and that meant without special Sensor gloves designed to block emotions, I would feel this man’s emotions and pain pushing into me.
Time was of the essence, so I swallowed my fear and waited for Salem’s instruction.