Bound (The Grandor Descendant Series Book 3) (7 page)

She didn’t wait for Dr Fellow to respond but raced into the hospital and pretended to search under the cages in the treatment room. Instantly Dr Fellow followed behind her, shouting out frantically to all the staff.

“There is an escaped fox here!” he said, “It can’t have gotten far, it was hit by a car, but it might be rabid. I want everyone to stop what they are doing and search for it.”

There was an immediate scramble as everyone started looking for the injured animal.

“I’m going to go have a look in the exercise yard,” Ari yelled out to no one in particular. “Here foxy, foxy, foxy,” she cooed, just loud enough to make sure that the others inside could hear her.

Pretending to have started searching around the outside of the clinic, Ari jumped over the fence and moved quickly to the road that serviced the rear entrance. She squinted into the distance, searching for any sign of Chris’s car, until she saw the flash of headlights and raced towards it.

“Drive,” she said, jumping into the front seat before glancing behind her shoulder to look at the unconscious girl in the back of the car.

When they finally arrived at the Pasteur Hospital, Chris swerved into the emergency car park, fumbled for his seat belt and raced to open the passenger door. In an instant he had lifted the girl into his hands, cradling her as he sprinted towards the entrance. The nurse at the triage counter glanced up at them, her eyes dull and indifferent, until she realised that Chris was carrying someone. After that her eyes widened and she sprung from her seat, quickly directing them to an emergency room off to the side.

“I will get a doctor,” she said, placing a small probe onto the girl’s finger, before sweeping from the room.

“What do we do now?” asked Ari, turning to face Chris, where dried blood was smeared across his chest.

“I think we need to get out of here.”

“But we can’t just leave her,” said Ari, looking down at the girl, whose deep red hair matched the scrub top that Chris had placed over her.

“We can’t stay. The docs gonna wanna know what the hell happened to her. What are we supposed to say? She was hit by a car but seeing as she was a fox at the time, the person who hit her bought her to a vet clinic instead of a hospital? They will probably think that we hit her.”

“Good point,” said Ari, now pacing around the room nervously. “And I froze the room when she was transforming. I have no idea how much she saw. She might have seen me use my powers. I doubt it; I mean she was unconscious, but still…”

“I say we make a run for it.”

Ari glanced back at the still unconscious girl, the small silver necklace now splayed on the outside of Chris’s scrub top. She wanted to wait until the doctors retuned but she knew they had no choice. They had to get out of here.  

Chapter 3- Four legs and Fur

One week later and despite Ari and Chris being reprimanded by Dr Fellow for admitting and then losing a fox, the pair had managed to pass their first clinical rotation, without any lulling from Ragon. Neither had heard anything at all about the waere-girl they had rescued. In the days that followed, Ari had come to the conclusion that the girl must have been a waere, not a wraith. Ari’s ability to stop time did not work on waeres when they were in their animal form, and she was sure that when she had frozen the room, the fox had continued to move.

Ari had thought Riley might have known who she was, and had described the girl with the silver necklace and red hair in detail, but Riley had said she had never seen her before.  

“Maybe it’s time you went to see a doctor yourself,” Ari suggested, after the pair had discussed the possibility of the waere-girl’s identity.

Two weeks on from initially catching the bug that had swept through the Pasteur Institute and Riley was still looking dreadful. She was thinner and listless, and Clyde had become increasingly overprotective of her, if that was possible, putting Riley on strict bed rest following their night out at the campus club. The moment Ari suggested seeing a doctor, Clyde nodded enthusiastically, while Riley groaned her disapproval. For the entire day she had been curled up in Ari’s bed, turning the heater on and off and only leaving the room to go to the bathroom, which she did surprisingly often.

“I think Ari’s right,” said Ragon. “You’ve been sick for ages. You might need antibiotics or something?”

“Yea and I am sick of hanging around you, just waiting for you to sneeze on me,” Ari added, hoping to make light of the situation. “And, I would like to get my bed back at some point.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Ragon, grinning mischievously, “I don’t mind you sleeping at mine. It certainly keeps Mistress Bridget at bay.”

“But,” Riley argued, sitting up in Ari’s bed and quickly reaching for the head rest for support, “I can’t go to the Pasteur Hospital and that’s the only medical centre on the Isle. It’s full of vampires! You said it yourself, that’s where the vamps take their victims, and we know that there are vampires there working as doctors. What if one of them works out that I’m a waere?”

“Riley,” said Clyde, his voice stern, “not all the doctors there are vampires. Besides, vampires only consult on cases that involve trauma… like bites. They are hardly going to feel suspicious if a girl walks in there complaining of a cold. It’s not likely that a vampire will be blamed for that. Anyway, how could they possibly realise that you are a waere. I assume you aren’t planning on shifting in front of them.”

“Geez, that’s what I normally do when I get checked out by the doctors, you know, just to make sure everything is in working order,” Riley snapped back.

“That’s not funny,” said Clyde, his hands on his hips.

“I’m not going,” Riley insisted. “It’s just a stupid flu. I just need some peace and quiet.”

“What about Lea?” Ari suggested, her head shotting up with this thought.

“What about her?” Clyde asked.

“Well, she’s a witch,” explained Ari.

“Yes, well spotted,” Clyde replied.

“And she’s healed Riley before. What’s the harm in getting her to have a look at you again?” Ari explained, looking hopefully at Riley.

“I don’t know if Lea will agree to it,” said Ragon, looking doubtful. “I’m fairly certain her powers are supposed to be used in extreme cases, not head colds or the flu. Besides, she wasn’t particularly thrilled about saving Riley the last time, and that was after she had been attacked by Bridget.”

“Yea, but she knows Riley now,” said Ari, reaching for her phone and dialling Lea’s number before the others could argue. “Trust me, she will want to help.”

Fifteen minutes later, Lea arrived at Ari’s room.

“What’s the big emergency?” asked Lea, looking across at all the worried faces until her eyes fell on Riley. “Jesus Riley, you look awful.”

“Thanks,” Riley muttered. “I think I have the flu… still.”

“Yea, it’s going around. A friend of mine told me that the hospital has even started giving out free vaccines. So what’s up? Ari, you sounded tense on the phone.”

Ari shot Lea a guilty smile which she did not return.

“Well,” said Ari, speaking slowly so as to choose her words carefully, “we were kind of hoping that you might be able to help Riley. You see, she doesn’t want to go to the Pasteur Hospital, because, you know, it’s crawling with vampires and she’s a waere. But she has been sick for ages and she isn’t getting any-”

“-what do you want me to do?” Lea said quickly, looking at Ari sceptically.

“Well, I was hoping that you might be able to use your,” Ari paused, flinging her hands mysteriously into the air and adding in a whisper, “special talents to-”

“-you want me to use magic to heal her?” asked Lea, her voice stiff and oddly formal. “Are you insane?”

“You’ve done it before for me,” Riley whispered.   

“Yea, because you almost died, not because you had a runny nose,” Lea retorted.

 “Can’t you at least take a look at her? I mean, you said it yourself; she looks awful and she won’t go to a doctor,” Clyde said.

“I can hear you, you know,” said Riley. “You don’t need to remind how bad I look.”

“Riley,” Clyde said, sweeping to her side and grabbing her hand, “to me you look beautiful... perfect. But I can hardly ignore the fact that you are vomiting almost every morning. What do you want me to do? Tell you that nothing’s wrong? As much as it pains you to hear it, I love you and I can’t stand you being sick. You know very well that I am a vampire, that I have been a vampire for many centuries. I don’t remember what it’s like to be sick; I don’t know when I’m overreacting. All I see is you suffering, and all I want is for you to be fixed. You may not care about your own wellbeing but I do.”

When Clyde’s speech had finished, Ari gaped at him. It was the first time she had ever heard him tell someone that he loved them. She compared the hard, callous and sarcastic vampire she had first met, to the kind and sensitive one who stood in front of her. Loving Riley, a human, well, a waere, had given him a second chance at humanity. 

“But I’m not a doctor,” said Lea.

“You won’t at least try?” asked Ari, “Isn’t there some sort of herbal remedy you could use, or-”

“-I’m not drinking a bunch of chopped up plants that are going to taste like crap,” said Riley. “No matter how much you love me Clyde!”

“God woman!” yelled Clyde. “You are so infuriating!”

“Riley,” hissed Ari, but her words seemed to have the desired effect and she watched as Lea moved over to Riley, touched one hand to her forehead and muttered something under her breath. “Thanks for helping.”

“I’m not healing her,” said Lea, breaking off from her mutterings to glare at Ari, “I am just making sure that there is nothing seriously wrong with…”

But Lea’s words died in her throat, just as her hands became rigid, her eyelids fluttering open to reveal two ghostly white eyes. Ari gasped at the sight of her and quickly rushed to Lea’s side. At the same time Clyde moved instinctively to Riley, pulling her away from Lea, as if the other girl might be contagious.

“What is it?” asked Ari, shaking Lea.

“Lea?” said Ragon, his voice tense. “What’s going on?”

It took a moment for Lea to come out of her trance. Finally she shook herself, looking around the room, apparently surprised to find it occupied.  

“What the hell was that?” asked Riley, watching Lea with wide eyes. “What happened to you?”

“What?” said Lea, shaking herself as she moved over to Riley again, “Oh that was… it was normal.”

Reluctantly Clyde allowed Lea to examine Riley again, just as Lea repeated her previous actions, placing her hand on Riley’s stomach. This time when she touched her, Lea’s eyes did not roll up, though almost as soon as she had begun, Lea was shaking her head, slowly backing towards the door, her face pale.  

“I’m… I can’t heal you,” Lea mumbled, straining to regain her breath. “But I think the others are right; you should go to see a doctor.”

“What, why?” asked Riley, “What aren’t you telling me? Am I dying?”

“Dying?” said Clyde, looking at Riley in horror.  

“Nothing, no, it’s nothing like that. I just tried a detection spell, just to see if there was any sign of injury, but, but it didn’t work,” said Lea, her eyes looking down, as she continued to back out of the room. “Look guys, I have to go. I am supposed to be meeting with my circle now. Besides,” she added, seeing the hurt look on Riley’s face, “I can’t use magic to heal you Riley. I’m sorry. They’re right; you need to see a doctor.”

After that Lea raced from the room.

“What the hell was that all about?” asked Clyde, shaking his head in confusion.

“I don’t know,” said Ragon, looking worried.

“Maybe her powers only work on people who are more injured,” suggested Ari, “and because Riley only has a cold, there was nothing she could do? Or maybe they only work on people who have been attacked by vampires, or wraiths, or whatever.”

Clyde paced around the room several times, finally turning to Riley, as he said, “You’re going to the doctors and that’s final!”

Riley looked as if she wanted to argue but lacked the strength.

“You don’t have to go alone,” added Ari, “I can come with you.”

Ragon looked as if he were going to protest but then Clyde spoke, saying, “Thanks Ari.” He then turned to Riley, his face stern as he asked, “Riley?”

“Ok, ok,” she said, her head falling in submission or fatigue, Ari wasn’t sure. “My keys are over-”

“-you’re not driving there!” Clyde protested. “You can barely stay awake now.”

“Well you can’t drive me. What if someone sees you? A vampire dropping off a sick human will look suspicious, even if I do just have a head cold.”

“Ari, can you-” Clyde started to say, but Ari cut him off.

“-I don’t have a license to drive in England,” she said quickly, shaking her head.   

“Maybe it’s time we did something about that,” Ragon said, his hand on his chin. “I can organise for you to have a few driving lessons and then you could go for your-”

“-Riley needs to go to the doctors today, not in a few weeks,” spat Clyde.

“We could ask Chris,” suggested Ari.

Clyde nodded while Ragon reached for his phone, saying, “Well, now I am defiantly going to organise a driving lesson for you!”