Blood of a Werewolf (5 page)

She didn’t think the end of the day would ever come, but finally it did.
 
She closed up the store in record time and raced home to take a shower and change. Since she was a bit nervous, she decided a beer might be a good idea.
 
Besides, she had those two growlers in the ice chest.
 
Wouldn’t want those to go to waste,
she thought.
 

Not knowing what attire would be appropriate, she went with a sundress. She figured it was at the guys’ house, how fancy could it be? She fed Harry in his new, more accommodating bowl and took a last swig of beer when the doorbell rang.
 
She looked at the clock and saw it was two minutes to seven. She went to the front door and opened it to find Devon standing there, smiling and devastatingly handsome.
 
He handed her a bouquet of dark purple delphiniums and sunflowers.
How did he know those were my favorites?
 

He was dressed in dark denim jeans and a white linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up almost to his elbows. His hair was pulled back in a small ponytail which kept it mostly out of his face.
 

“Come in.
 
Let me put these in water and we’ll head over,”
 

she said as she headed to the back of the house and to the left where he could hear her filling what he figured was a vase.
 
“Is there anything I should bring?
 
I mean, we have a ton of beer here,” she laughed.
 

He chuckled, “No, I think I have everything we need, but I promise we won’t let the growlers go to waste.”
 
She headed back towards him with the flowers now soaking in a large, blue, glass vase. She set them on the big round coffee table in the living room.
 
“May I say you look lovely, Darby?”
 

“Thank you! You’re sweet.
 
And thank you for all the amazing gifts – you really shouldn’t have gone to so much expense and trouble.”
 

“Oh, but I had to. I disappointed you and I still feel horrible about that.”
   

“Don’t be silly.
 
I mean, I looked forward to our time together, but disappointed? No, I mean, you have no obligation to me.”

“But I do. At least I’d like to,” he smiled and he held his hand out to take hers and continued, “Shall we?”
 

“Sure.” She grabbed a light sweater that was lying on the back of the couch and he led her to the door, opening it for her.
   

“Should I lock it?” he asked.
 

“No. It’s fine. Pretty safe neighborhood and besides, we’re just next door.
 
If someone starts taking large items out of the house, I think we will notice,” she responded.

He smiled and closed the door behind them.
 
They were walking down the steps of the porch when they heard squealing tires nearby that made them both turn their heads in the same direction.
 

He turned back to her and smiled, continuing to lead her to the sidewalk, when they heard squealing tires turning on to their street.
 
It was that beautiful, sexy, black car that had been in their driveway before they had left on their trip, coming fast towards them and turning into the driveway in front of them. She wasn’t sure how the handsome, very tall sinewy man turned off the car, opened the door, and got out of the car in the split second she saw him do it.
 
The next thing she knew he was in front of them, keys in hand, and looking directly at Devon. He seemed about to speak when Devon introduced him to Darby.
 

“Darby, this is my brother, Blake, a.k.a. ‘speed racer.’
 
Blake, this is Darby, my date for the evening and our new neighbor.”

“Nice to meet you, Darby. I’m sorry to interrupt, but..,” Blake said.

“I thought we agreed I had the house tonight,” Devon interrupted, smiling uncomfortably, and then looking again at Darby.
 

“I know, I know, but something has come up,” Blake said. As if talking in some kind of brother code, he continued, “There’s a problem. It’s here in town...now...”
 

While the brothers bickered back and forth about nothing that made much sense to Darby, she noticed a man had appeared across the street.
 
She blinked her eyes a couple of times to see if she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing.
 
This man was huge.
 
He looked like he had gone way overboard on the bodybuilding, steroids, and protein shakes.
 
He wore black jeans, no shirt
obviously trying to show off his physique
, a long, black leather duster and a black hat.
 
He must have been dying of heat stroke in that get-up.
   

She thought,
He must be going to a party. Why else would anyone dress like that in summer?
To Darby, he looked like a Van Helsing wannabe; of course, he was lacking both the good looks of Hugh Jackman, and hair.
 
He must know he stands out like a sore thumb dressed like that. A costume party must be the only explanation.
Oddly though, he seemed to have his sights on the three of them.
 

Quickly and fluidly, he flipped back the right side of his coat, revealing what appeared to be crossbow and it looked real AND loaded. He aimed it at them.
 
He’s joking right? He must be.
 
I mean he must know he looks ridiculous so he is playing it up. Right?
 

Devon was more or less standing in front of her in relation to the crossbow.
 
He and Blake had their sides to the Van Helsing guy, but Blake was angled a little bit more towards him and the guy caught his eye. Everything seemed to go into slow motion at that point.
 
Blake pounced towards the guy in a blur of speed and ferocity that could only be described as something inhuman. At impact, there was a God awful snapping of what Darby could only imagine was the breaking of bones.
 
Blake sent the man flying through the air over a parked car, landing with a thud on the ground behind it. There was no movement on the other side of the car.
 

Unfortunately, before the man went down, he did get a shot off and it was headed right for Darby and Devon. As if he had read her thoughts or heard it coming, Devon turned and stepped into its path, completely shielding her from the arrow, as it hit him in the chest just below his right collarbone. His body went limp and he collapsed at her feet.
 

Darby stared at Devon’s beautifully chiseled face as he fell to the ground and a wave of emotions engulfed her. At first, warmth spread over her, seeming to envelop her and Devon.
 
She thought for a moment she could see into his soul.
 
She could feel his pain and his anguish at putting her in danger.
 
If not for a sheer gossamer layer she could not penetrate, she felt she could know everything about him in that very second.
 

She had only experienced something like this one other time in her life and that was when Rowan had fallen out of a tree in the Duarte’s orchard when they were little girls.
 

She could hear Rowan calling her in pain. That was so many years ago, she had almost forgotten.
 
This was definitely the same feeling.
 

Obviously he felt it too – maybe it was the panic of the situation – she wasn’t sure, but she could tell he felt it because despite all the chaos and the arrow in his chest, he was very calm now and smiling at her.
 

Devon grimaced and closed his eyes in pain. Blake was headed towards Devon to see if he could help. Darby saw over his shoulder that the man with the crossbow was up again, and reloading. That’s when everything went white.
 
Suddenly a look of surprise and terror came over the man as he too saw the flash of white light emanating from her, the willowy blonde with tears streaming down her face, Devon dying at her feet, and his handsome brother oblivious of what was behind him.
 
She put her hand up as if telling Van Helsing guy to stop. He did.
 
A light surged from her eyes and hand with a force like a hurricane that hit him hard.
 
The energy threw him back thirty feet or so. Unfortunately for him, he ran into a tree during his flight. The sound was something like a splitting melon.
 
She knew as soon as she heard the noise that Van Helsing guy had not survived the impact.
 

Blake turned in time to see the man hit the tree. He stared at the attacker in disbelief.
 
His brother was down, the attacker was down, and all that was standing was the blonde girl next to his brother. She was shaking and looked about ready to fall or throw up, he wasn't sure which.
 
He was instantly at her side and helped her down to a sitting position. He looked at his brother, then at the attacker, and back to this shaking woman and marveled.
 
What had happened? How did it happen?
 

As if someone flipped a switch, Darby stopped shaking and looked at Blake with piercing blue eyes and said, “Help me get him to the car.
 
We’ve got to get him to the hospital.”
 

“No…Um we can’t do that. He can’t go to the hospital,” Blake said frantically.
 

“You’re kidding, right? Why not? He’s bleeding and he’s got an arrow in his chest.
 
We’ve got to do something!” Darby said.
 

“I know that seems like the logical place to take him, but we just can’t. Please, trust me! If we can just get the arrow out and clean him up, he will be all right,” Blake argued.
 

“Right now the arrow is acting as a plug; if we take it out, he’s going to bleed, a lot. He’s going to need stitches and he should be checked to see if any organs were hit,” Darby said.
 

“Please, you need to trust me.
 
I can’t tell you why, but if you want to save him, you have to trust me. Please!”
 

“Oooo, no...are you two fugitives or something? Was that a bounty hunter?”

“Something like that.
 
If you feel anything for my brother, just let it go.
 
Please. I can’t explain right now.”

“Fine.
 
Just help me get him inside; then you can go take care of the other guy and I’ll take care of your brother, but you owe me an explanation as to what the heck just happened.”
 
What have I gotten drawn into?
she thought.
 

Blake looked at her, dumbfounded. “I was hoping you’d explain it to me.”
 

She smiled and rolled her eyes.
 
Jumping up she said, “You get him under the arms and I will get his feet.” Blake listened to his instructor and dutifully obeyed. Being very careful, he picked up his brother under the arms trying not to disturb the arrow.
 

“We are going in my house straight back and to the right.
 
We need to get him on the bed.”

Once they had reached the bed and got Devon onto it, she said, “Next you need to help me get him on his side.
 
We are going to have to pull the arrow all the way through.”
 

Blake looked puzzled.
 
She continued as if answering his question, “We have too.
 
Didn’t you watch any cowboy and Indian movies? If we pull it back, the tip will do more damage, so we need to pull it all the way through as if it shot completely through him.”
 

He still looked unsure and it was apparent he didn’t want to inflict any more pain on his brother than he had to.
 

“Would you just get over here, you big sissy, and help me?
 

The arrow has not hit his lung or his heart or we’d know it by now. Does he have an allergies or medical issues I should know about?” She asked.
 

“You mean, aside from the arrow?” He said with a smirk on his face.
 

“Well now, aren’t you a kick in the pants?
 
Seriously, we’re losing time and he’s losing blood.
 
Is there anything I should know?” she said again.
 

Blake looked completely blank.
 
Apparently when under pressure he wasn’t a very good liar, but more the comic relief.
 

“Yes, we are both allergic to wood,” he said, but he would not look her in the eyes. Blake ripped Devon’s shirt off being very careful around the arrow. He put the remnants of the shirt under Devon to protect the bedding from being bloodied.

“Wood? In General? Not a specific wood?”

“Pretty much all wood to some degree, some more and some less. However, I think this arrow was either Yew or dipped in a mixture of ground Yew seeds.
 
Did you see how fast he dropped?
 
It’s got to be Yew; nothing else would have done that to him. Yew is quite poisonous to both of us,” he said.

They turned Devon on his side and she straddled his torso.
 

Blake looked confused, but he was up for anything that helped Devon.
 

“Okay – wood – specifically Yew wood, then why don’t you run to the garage.
 
There’s a workbench at the back with some big leather gloves hanging from a nail.
 
Grab those and while you’re there, in the tool box to the right of the bench, grab some pliers.”
 

He was gone in a flash and was back in a minute or two.
 
“Perfect. Now take the pliers and pull off the feather fletching at the back of the arrow.” Blake put one of the leather gloves on to hold the shaft steady while he carefully pulled the feathers off the arrow with the pliers.