Blood Witch (8 page)

The sound of people whispering around her made her finally open her eyes. The brightness
of the room hurt her head, so she closed them again, sinking into the pillow. Her
head throbbed like she'd had drank too much the night before and her nose seemed to
be assaulted by the smell of antiseptic and healing herbs; she could pinpoint mint,
eucalyptus and some others.

She finally opened her eyes and chanced the light. Slowly, they adjusted but it still
seemed brighter than normal, just like the air tasted sharper with the mint. Even
the whispering sounded louder.

“Hey, look who’s alive?” Collin said.

“Ha-ha,” she said scooting herself up to sit. But stopped. “Ow. Can I get some Tylenol
or something?”

“I can’t give you anymore,” Doctor Zed said. Zed was a werecoyote. Short and sleek,
with short light brown grayish hair, and dark brown grayish tips all natural. His
eyes were a shade darker then his honey colored skin. “I gave you a lot already. It
seems your metabolism is almost working like a wereanimal, most unusual.”

“Maybe that is why I am so hungry,” she pushed herself into a sitting position and
this time it worked. “What happened?”

“We found you on the ground unconscious.”

“You took a nice smack to the head,” Doctor Zed said.

“Patrick is with Nathan right now,” Collin said watching her.

She remembered him crying out. “Is he okay?”

“A big thump on the noggin like you, although to take him down he had to have been
hit way harder,” Collin said.

The headache finally lessened. But the bright lights, the overpowering smells, and
the sharp tastes in the air still were overbearing. She blinked her eyes rapidly,
hopefully trying to get them to adjust.

“Leslie is something wrong?” Zed asked. He had kind helpful eyes. She liked him just
for that, and that he catered to Opposites, being the main medical doctor in the clinic.
He had help, but he liked to be one on one with as many patients as he could.

“Everything seems off,” she said looking around.

“Off how?” He said sitting down beside her bed.

“Light is brighter than normal, the smells are stronger, and the noises are louder.”

He pulled his penlight out of his pocket and shined it in her left eye. “Okay, follow
it without moving your head.” He moved on to the other. He clicked it off and placed
it back into his coat pocket.

“Just a small concussion; it’ll pass. Now that you’re awake I have some others to
attend to. Last night got rather wild.” Her left them alone.

“Wild bad?” she asked Collin.

“Na, just the normal stuff. I got you and Nathan here with the help of some of the
other Supers. Mark wants a report, he told me he’s thinking of calling in some help
from the San Francisco branch.” That meant trouble. Big trouble. It could give off
that Merced was weak, too weak to take care of themselves, and if that got out it
could get pretty ugly pretty fast.

Collin got her home and into bed. She didn’t even get a chance to check on Nathan.
He had a bunch of bears surrounding him making sure their king was okay. Sleep came
quick, although she slept pretty badly. Dark dreams and shadows kept haunting her,
and then the smell of breakfast woke her up. She wasn’t surprised that instead of
feeling hungry, she felt nauseated and unrested.

She made her way to the kitchen. Collin was at the computer why Patrick finished cooking.
She sat herself heavily down on a kitchen chair and poured herself some orange juice.
Patrick dropped some food on a plate in front of her. She looked at it for a minute,
before running to the bathroom to get sick.

She lay her throbbing head down against the cool tiles. She knew Collin and Patrick
were talking to her, but she heard only white noise, finally she knew she was moving,
but she had passed out. She woke again in the same clinic room.

“Well, look she’s alive,” Collin said.

The light seemed almost too bright, almost hurting her eyes. She could smell the sweat
on Patrick and Collin; she could even smell the shampoo they used. At least her stomach
didn’t react. Her head still throbbed, but she thought it was the light.

“You missed the doctor. He had the nurse give you a shot, and said you’ll be okay
when you wake up. How you feeling?”

“Okay I guess,” she said sitting up.

“He said your body might be reacting to the concussion.”

“Can I leave?” she asked. Something seemed off. She also wanted a shower, and maybe
a jog. A jog? She hated running unless she was being chased. She looked down at her
hands for a second as her brain argued over it.

“Leslie?” Patrick asked.

She shook her head. “I’m okay.”

“Sure? I can get the doctor,” Collin said.

“I want to go home and have a shower.”

“Mark wants to see us tonight,” Patrick said as he walked beside her down the hall.

“'Bout what?” she asked, not really paying attention, instead more interested in how
hungry she was. They walked out of the clinic and the sun hit her eyes, “oh holy fucking
hell!”

Collin handed her his sun glasses. “Damn, it sure is bright out here.”

Even with the sunglasses the sun hurt her eyes, and they were pretty dark. “Can we
stop and get something to eat.”

“Sure,” Patrick said and his phone growled. “Yes, Nathan.”

“Cute,” she said in a whisper. Collin chuckled.

He handed her the phone. “Thought you’d like that, here.”

She took it watching Patrick get into the SUV. She put the phone to her ear. “Hello.”

“Leslie, are you okay?” his voice sent a shiver down her spine. She felt breathless
for a moment.

“I’m okay, how about you?”

“I have a concussion. Go figure, King of the fucking Bears and I have a concussion.
I actually had to see Zed earlier.”

“I’m just leaving the clinic myself. I have a concussion too. Go figure right, big
scary blood witch has a concussion.”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing.” She had slipped into the back seat, fighting
the urge to shiver.

“Thanks Nathan, I’m okay. I would have stopped into your room yesterday but you had
a crowd. And I know pack is pack.”

“Yes. Hey I have to go I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sure.”

They said their byes she handed the cell back to Patrick, who looked through the rear
view mirror at her. “He was just checking up on me.” She slumped into the back seat,
and stared out the window, her mind racing with weird thoughts.

They had stopped at a drive-thru, she ordered a large hamburger and fries, and went
back to her thoughts. Now she thought of who had the nerve to knock her unconscious.
She munched on her fries, and then hit the burger. She was ravenous. And before she
even had time to enjoy it, it was gone, but they pulled into their driveway. She flung
the door open, and walked into the house, an air of angry magic surrounding her.

The shower water felt good on her skin. She cranked it up to hot, and let the water
beat at her skin until it was red. But it still didn’t do anything. She was still
angry, as she thought of the basement, the runes, Rich, Jonathan, and the stupid crime
scenes.

She got out, and dressed. She felt a little more herself. The lights didn’t bother
her much, but she could hear pretty good and heard Collin and Patrick whispering about
her. They were worried, and she smiled. They were friends; they were as close to pack
as they could be.

“I’m going out for a jog, anyone interested in going with me?”

They stared at her. “You don’t run for fun,” Patrick said.

“I know, but I feel I need to do this.”

“I’m waiting for a call,” he said.

“I’m going to call Fresno. Dan called last night, and he left a message he found some
more facts they forgot to add in the file.”

“Okay I’ll be back in a while.”

As she jogged, her mind hated it. But she had some pent up energy, and it needed an
outlet. She should have felt bad with a concussion and everything, but at the moment
she felt great. The spring air tasted crisper than normal. She could smell the wildflowers,
mixed flowers, early roses, tulips and daisies that bloomed around the older houses.
The scent of fresh cut grass seemed almost intoxicating, and she actually had to stop
for a moment to enjoy the smell.

After another shower and dressed for work, she and the guys made their way to Mark’s
office. Mark never got out in the field anymore. As head of the Merced County, he
got to stay safely in his office while yelling at the others for not doing their jobs
as good as they should, for not being like him. The three of them had been yelled
at so much that they believed Mark just kind of ignored them mostly.

Collin knocked and he told them to come in. They sat in front of his massive oak desk
while he talked on the phone. He looked at them with small black eyes, his facial
features seemed smaller than normal. Thin lips, tiny nose, but his body made up for
the small head. Mark was a werepanther. There were only a few in California, and they
all were Supervisors. Mark had climbed his way up the ladder, with some major ass
kissing to get his position.

He hung up the phone. “I just wanted to let you guys know you are off this case. Cathy,
please come in.” A rather sleek woman came in; she had short blond hair that fell
below her ears. Her crystal blue eyes, almost looked white. She gave off bear, yet
something else. Leslie looked at her almost perfect nose and chin, and something didn’t
sit well in the pit of her stomach.

“This here is Cathandra, Cathy. She is from Base. She will be taking the case over.”

“What?” Collin and Leslie said at the same time.

“This is our case. No one else wanted it,” Patrick said.

“You guys have gotten nowhere, and Base gave us Cathy because she has already solved
over ten Opposite serial killers in the pacific US.”

“Hi,” Cathy said with a big warm smile. “I really don’t want to kick you off this
maybe we can all work together as a team. I’m sure Mark here will be okay with it.

Leslie and the boys said nothing just looked at her.

Cathy looked over the three, eyes running over Collin and then lingering on Patrick.
They stopped on Leslie. The two looked at each other. “So, you are the newest blood
witch?”

“Yes,” Leslie said crossing her arms over her chest. “And you are bear and?”

“Wolf.” She noticed the small shock that passed over their faces. “Mother was a bear
and father was a wolf. Their packs were against it, but they were in love, at least
for a while. And then I was born a half breed, a monster, no pack would take me so
I became a Supervisor.”

Leslie looked at her as she talked. Really looked. She felt the bear, but not the
wolf. What she felt was dark. She pushed, and what she saw was a dark void. It threatened
to eat her. And then a hand seemed to push her, and a door was slammed in her face.
She blinked and found Cathy staring at her.

Cathy turned her eyes toward Patrick. “Since your brother is king, do you think you
can take me to talk to him? I never like to stay anywhere without talking to the kings
of the district.”

“Which means you want to talk to Jonathan.”

“That I already took care of. He was very angry that I had interrupted his interesting
movie.”

“You could say that again,” Collin said.

Leslie and Patrick sent him a shut up look. “That is a very great idea. You three
show Cathy around and show her what you have.”

“Mark,” Leslie said.

“That’s all I have to say, other than the new vamps. You have the report on my desk
in two days with all the information.”

“Yes sir,” the three chimed with a bitterness that leaned toward hostility.

“I can’t fucking believe this,” Leslie said.

“What the hell are we now, babysitters? First vamps, now some bigwig from Base,” Patrick
growled.

“She’s coming back, be quiet,” Collin whispered.

Cathy came up with a smile. “I’ve never been to Merced, so this is rather exciting.”

Leslie snorted and walked away. “Don’t mind her. She had a rough week,” Collin said.

Leslie slid into the front with Patrick. They exchanged looks as Collin chatted friendly
with Cathy. Leslie had to admit she was pretty, but there was a vibe. And she didn’t
like the vibe; it had bad and nasty written all over it.

They stopped in front of Nathan’s house. They trooped up the stairs a dull throb started
in the back of Leslie's head. The anger was still there, but now she could sense Nathan
and his agitation.

Patrick knocked. Nathan threw open the door, anger riding the air. He looked at them,
but when his eyes fell on Leslie, they lightened and some of the anger left. “Hey
guys.”

“We have someone who wants to meet you,” Patrick said.

Cathy moved into his line of vision and stuck out her hand. “Hi, Nathan, I’m Cathy.
I work for the Supervisors and have come to let you know I will be in the area for
a while.”

His eyes ran over her, taking her in. Leslie’s eyebrows furrowed as she watched. A
new feeling hit her, not anger, but jealousy. She had known the feeling plenty of
times before, but this time, it almost made her chest hurt. Her and Nathan weren’t
an item, so why did it bug her so much?

“Come in,” Nathan said moving to the side. As they passed by he reached out and ran
his hand over her arm as she moved past. Both felt a bit of tension leave, as that
electric spark hit them. “Take a seat.”

Leslie let her hand run over the spot where he touched. Talking went on, but she didn’t
hear any of it. The throb came back. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them
she watched Cathy lightly touch Nathan as they chatted about where she came from and
her family. She couldn’t stand it as the throbbing got worse.

“Sorry,” she said getting to her feet. “I need some air.” She walked back outside.
She took a deep breath closing her eyes. Why was she feeling so ill? Had it something
to do with the knock on her head?

The group came to the door. “Well it was nice meeting you, and I’m glad you stopped
in and gave official word.”

“Did anyone tell you guys how rare twin weres are?” she said looking back and forth.
“I can barely see a difference.”

“So we have been told,” Nathan said. “Well, I’m sure you guys have some other business
to attend to. Leslie, can I talk to you?” He held open the door for her, and she shrugged
to the guys and walked back into his house. He closed the door, and before she turned
she felt his bear. His power weighed against her bringing up her own magic.

She gasped, and he moved suddenly there in front of her both his large hands holding
her face. “I can’t control anything,” he whispered. “I need your help.”

She would have shook her head but his hands kept her rooted. “I don’t know what is
wrong.”

He shuddered and she watched his eyes turn bear. “I feel sick. I never feel sick.”

She placed her hands over his their magic tasted each other, and the next thing they
knew they were on the ground on their knees. Patrick stood there talking to them,
but they heard nothing but the roar of the magic. She looked at Nathan’s eyes and
the panic in them. She could tell he was close to bloodlust, so she did the only thing
she could, she reached for her magic. Not the bear side, the blood side, the witch
side.

“Forgive me,” she whispered and released the magic. The air grew warm, and the magic
bubbled out of her. She saw Nathan’s beast, and she used her magic and pushed it deep
away back inside. She saw something dark in him as well, moving with the pounding
of his blood. She looked down at herself and saw the same thing, and when she looked
at Patrick he looked okay.

She had lost control and rode the magic, the taste of darkness filled her, and she
could feel another blood witch close by. She screamed with the power of the magic,
it throbbed through the house shattering his living room window.

“Collin!” She screamed.

“Already on it,” he said hitting the plunger on the needle and then the world went
black.

She woke up later on Nathaniel’s couch. Eyes heavy she looked at a worried Patrick.
“What was that?” she asked.

“I was hoping you knew.”

She sat up thinking about Nathan. He came out of the kitchen with a cup of water.
“My head hurts like I was hit by a train,” he said handing her the cup.

“I had no other choice,” she said and took a sip of the water. Her hand shook, and
Patrick grabbed the cup before she could drop it. “I think something is wrong.”

Nathan touched her. “Patrick she is burning up.”

Her brain seemed to hit a skip and her eyes rolled in her head as the convulsion hit
her body. She blacked out after a while. She welcomed the blackness.

****

“The drug in her system is something I’ve never seen before. I can tell you that interacted
with her shot and caused the fever and the convulsions.”

“You mean there was more than one?” she asked roughly and that explained why her body
hurt all over.

“Good god, Leslie,” Collin said taking her hand. “You scared the crap out of us.”

“Sorry, won’t do it again. Scared the crap out of me too.”

“We found a…”

“Drug,” she finished for Zed.

The doctor nodded. “We are trying to figure out how it got in your system and why.
But it seems the bear king also had it in his. Highly odd since weres can’t keep drugs
in their system very much. I need to see if I can find what it is because it makes
me curious.”

“Me too,” she said pushing herself to a seating position. Even though her body fought
her, she managed to sit.

“For the love of the Goddess!” Mr. Forever said walking in stunning everyone in the
room. “My dear, I heard stories! I was very worried.” His white eyes looked around
the room. “I need a moment with Leslie.”

The doctor gave him a small bow and left, Collin looked at her. “It’s alright,” she
said squeezing his hand. She watched him leave.

When they left Mr. Forever took Collin’s seat. “I must tell you. I usually give news
when it benefits me, but I like you Leslie. I will tell you there is a darkness here.
I believe you and the bear king are in danger. The darkness is calling,” his eyes
blinked and looked out the window. “Even to me. But I am above such things, but there
are those who are not.”

“Cryptic much,” she said heart racing, scared.

He chuckled. “I can’t give you more. I do expect to see you at my club when you are
well enough. I have some pictures and a good story to tell you in which I have no
time for now.”

“I will.”

“Good, good. I must leave,” he rubbed his hands together. A nervous twitch? She thought
watching him. “Death surrounds this place, and as you might have guessed me and death
do not get along. See you later my dear.”

“'Night Mr. Forever.” At the door he nodded to her and left. Collin walked back in.
“Did Mr. Forever just come to make sure you were okay?”

“Yep.”

“Isn’t that odd. It’s almost like he has feelings. He cares.”

“I agree, very odd.”

Patrick walked in. “We gotta go, there is another crime scene.”

“Okay, give me a second, and I’ll be dressed.”

He looked at Collin. “You didn’t tell her?”

He shook his head and looked at her. “Mark has given you a week off.”

“I don’t want a week off. I want to know who the hell shot me up.”

“Cathy is going to take your place for the week.”

“Are you serious? I am being replaced on our own team?”

“Just for a week, so whatever is in your system will be out.”

Cathy walked in and looked at Patrick. “You guys ready?”

“Sorry,” Patrick told Leslie before walking out, followed by Cathy.

Collin gave her an apologetic look. “Sorry Les.”

With her arms crossed over her chest. “I’m really at a loss of words right now.”

Power stalked toward her room. All the pent up energy made her skin come alive. Collin
paused before walking out the door. He felt the energy but not being of the same animal
it didn’t excite him. Instead the power made him nervous. Nathan walked through the
door, and Collin gave him a small nod as he walked out of the room.

“Patrick said you needed a ride home,” he told her.

“Patrick can suck wolf balls,” she replied grumpily.

He walked over to the closet and pulled out her clothes tossing them at her on the
bed. She watched as he grabbed the curtain and pulled it close.

“We’ve seen the inside of this place way too much in the past few days. Get dressed
or I’m taking you out in the gown.”

“I’m not pack,” she said as she started to dress.

He peeked his head through the curtain, making her pull the gown to cover her naked
top. “Not yet.”

“I don’t have the power to change.” She hooked her bra when his head disappeared.

“You have a beast in you that is bear.”

She tugged her shirt on and sighed. “I’ve figured that out.”

“We have to make sure not many know about this.”

Leslie pulled the curtain. “I want to control my magic, but now I have a bear to control.
It’s not fair, and now I’m on leave while my partners are out there.”

“Life isn’t fair,” he said squeezing her shoulder. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

They walked out of the door and ran into the wolf nurse assistant. “Sorry, was coming
to see if you needed anything. Now you’re dressed you must be leaving. Glad you are
feeling better.”

“I am, thanks.” She let Nathan lead her down the hall. She glanced back and looked
when they turned the corner. The wolf still staring at her, his nose flaring as if
he was smelling something in the air. She started to open her mouth but Nathan pushed
her lightly in the elevator and hit the down button.

Before it could, move he pressed the stop button. In a blink of an eye Nathan had
her pinned against the metal wall. His face was in kissable distance as his nose moved
along her skin taking in her scent.

“You scared me,” he whispered in a small growl.

“I scared myself,” she whispered.

“I owe you my life for stopping the bloodlust.”

“You would have done something stupid getting you a death warrant. I could never live
with myself if something happens to you.”

“I would have taken the penalty if I had hurt you or anyone.” His body leaned closer
against hers, making her own react. He closed his eyes sniffing in her lust. He took
in a deep breath and let it out shakily, body shivering with his own need. He pressed
his mouth against hers. She opened to him, wanting him just as much as he wanted her.

His hands moved over her hips, and she could feel his arousal pressed against her.
His hand grazed a hard nipple. Making her moan in his mouth. His big hands lifted
her up and she wrapped her legs around him. He pulled away from her, his bear eyes
gazing at her with so much lust. His hand fumbled for the button of her jeans.

“Is there an emergency,” a crackled voice spoke through the emergency speaker.

“Damn,” she whispered and laid her head against his massive chest.

He put her down. “No,” he said and pressed the continue button. “That sucked.” He
released an unsteady breath.

She nodded, zipping up her pants and the door opened. They walked outside. “Anyone
ever tell you you’re a tease, your highness?”

He looked over his car at her, and growled. They both got into the car and when she
buckled he reached over and playfully pawed her like a baby cub. “I plan on picking
that up later.”

“Later?” she said sounding disappointed.

He laughed a good hearty man laugh. “Unfortunately I have some pack business to take
care of. But trust me, this isn’t over.”

He dropped her off at her house. She went inside and wondered what she was going to
do for a full week. She knew for sure she was going to see Mr. Forever. After an hour
of crap TV, she did some long needed house chores. After a while she stood in the
middle of the kitchen.
“We are freaking pigs,” she said to herself. After a bunch of cleaning and discovering
what the weird smell was under the fridge, she snoozed on the couch, looking at the
clock waiting for either Nathan or the guys to get back. She hated not being out there,
having their backs.

The guys walked in a quarter after midnight. “OHMYGOD! The cleaning fairies came by,”
Collin shrieked.

“You're welcome. Next time I need gloves,” she said sitting up.

“Why does my house smell like my brother?” Patrick asked.

“I think that is Leslie.”