Dark Knight of the Skye (24 page)

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” D`nae cried, holding Danny in her lap. “What do I do, the bleeding won’t stop?”

“It’s the bite of a vampire. It will not stop until he regains the strength to fight it.”

“How, how can he regain it?” she pleaded. “Can he feed off that piece of shit?” she asked, pointing at the man that Tabitha had dropped in front of her.

“He has already lost too much, and we need him to talk, not to die. I will feed Danny the strength he needs,” she said, getting to her feet.

Grady stood, taking in several deep breaths trying to call on the change, but nothing happened. He stayed in his wolf form, but still reached out and took her by the arm and grunted out his concerns. She snapped at him, snarling up her nose and he released her. Grady knew she was too tired to give more of herself, and he could smell the blood running down the back of her leg. She had somehow managed to get herself cut when stepping into the battle that he was having with the man that had jumped him. He understood that she wanted the man alive, but wished there was a way around getting her involved. He grabbed his head and put all of his thoughts toward becoming the man that he once was, using her as his main focal point. He could feel the pull coming from the inside, the same way the creature had made it’s way out, and he readied himself for the quake that was about to strike.

Tabitha turned around to the scream that finalized Grady’s change. He knelt down on one knee, holding himself up with both hands, breathing heavily. He pushed off the ground as the last of the muscles in his stomach rippled back into place.

“I’ll take care of Danny. You make sure he doesn’t go anywhere,” he said, walking past her just as she had him. Grady knelt down by Danny, not seeming to acknowledge his nudity in front of D`nae, and lifted Danny’s head.

“Hey, you better enjoy this, my Scottish brother, because I won’t be offering it again.” Grady lowered his neck to Danny’s mouth but Danny just laid there.

“Danny, come on, you have to feed to get better,” D`nae said, shaking his shoulder. “I think he’s out.”

Grady bit into his own wrist. “Open his mouth.”

D`nae slapped Danny’s cheeks as Grady’s blood filled his mouth. Once the blood started moving down his throat, he began coming around. He began swallowing on his own, and soon had his hand on Grady’s arm, pushing it more securely to his mouth. The bleeding from the wound on Danny’s neck began to slow, and within a few minutes, it had stopped altogether. Grady held his arm when Danny finished, and D`nae helped Danny sit up. Tabitha stayed squatted down by the unconscious man that she didn’t know. At this point, D`nae noticed that she was acting different than normal, and went to sit at her side. D’nae put her hand to Tabitha’s head the same way that her mother would have done to her to check for a fever. Tabitha looked up at her and smiled.

“This guy will talk, or I will own his tongue on a chain around my neck. Alasdair has my mother or he plans on doing something to her,” D`nae said getting up and walking over to the other man, whose brains were still seeping into the dirt. “I’ve had it with this shit already.”

“Check his pockets,” Grady said, walking up wearing a pair of jeans, with a large sweatshirt and pants tucked under his arm. “It’s the best I could do in a hurry,” he said, handing them to Tabitha.

“Thank you, this will do nicely,” she blushed.

D`nae went through his pockets, getting angrier by the moment, because she wasn’t finding anything. When she was at the pinnacle of her frustration, she reached into his last back pocket, where she pulled out a single white piece of paper with the name ‘Cortez’ written on it. She handed it up to Grady, who stared at it for a hard second before sliding it into his front pocket. He moved to the man’s feet and removed his shoes, and sure enough, a key fell to the ground. He picked it up and placed it with the piece of paper, then walked back over to the unconscious one. He bent down and started slapping the man in the face, ordering him to wake up. After a few hard slaps from a werewolf that had more strength than even he knew, the man began moaning, clenching his eyes and turning his head away from the oncoming pain of the next blow.

“How could that be worse? Death would be a release, not a punishment. The one that seeks you out holds some of our loved ones. It is why we fight with all we have.”

“I have nothing left. I have failed, and will give you no more trouble,” he swore holding up his hand. “He will think me dead when I do not return with the others.”

“Well, maybe the one,” D`nae said, looking back at the one that Tabitha had killed when they first were attacked.

Arnaud smiled and lie back on the ground, actually laughing out loud. Grady looked at D`nae, who looked over at Tabitha, who in turn shrugged her shoulders.

“He was an evil bastard, and whoever took him out deserves my thanks,” Arnaud said, sitting up with no one trying to stop him this time. Danny started sitting up about the same time, but had been listening to the whole conversation. They all watched as the man named Arnaud got to his feet and walked over to the corpse that just an hour earlier had been his companion in the attack. He squatted down and started going through his pockets.

“Where is it, you son of a bitch?” he cursed through clinched teeth, as he rolled the body over.

“What are you looking for?” Grady asked, as he and D`nae walked over to him.

“A piece of paper that holds the name of the town in Colorado where the pig who threatened my family is waiting for you guys. It’s not here,” Arnaud said, standing up in frustration. “But I saw him take it!”

“I have to call her. We could all be jumping to conclusions. She may be home right now, drinking a cup of coffee,” she laughed, then fell silent as tears filled her eyes.

“Cum,” Danny said, taking her back toward the truck.

Grady helped Tabitha to her feet and started in behind D`nae and Danny. Arnaud looked at the four and found himself at a loss for what to do. He looked down at the dead man at his feet and spit, then took off behind the others. He hung back by a tree, watching as they all climbed in the truck. D`nae slid over in the middle, leaving the door open, and all four sat there looking at him. Danny nodded his head once, causing Arnaud to turn around and look behind himself, then touch his own chest. When Danny smiled and nodded again, Arnaud practically ran and jumped in the truck, a grin plastered on his face. Danny cranked the motor to life and the five drove off, in search of a phone so D`nae could attempt to call her mother.

They found a payphone at a gas station in a small town outside of Abilene. When D’nae dialed the number, she discovered that there was no answer, not even the answering machine was turned on, which was something D`nae’s mother always did when she was going to be gone for a period of time. D`nae’s heart overflowed with an unexplainable fear. Her thoughts kept going back to her landlady lying on the foyer floor with her head removed, staring back at her with that morbid frozen scream on her face, and D`nae kept wondering if her mother was lying on her kitchen floor, waiting to be found the same way by the next visitor.

“We have to stop by Stamford. It’s not that far, and we’re moving north anyway. I have to know if they killed her, or if they took her,” D`nae said, gripping Danny’s shoulder.

“Whaur dae we exit, Grady?”

“Take the Anson turn, it’ll take us right into Stamford, but we have to move fast. Three hours and we’ll have to find a place for you guys.”

“Tis the mither’s wain we’ll be fur thinin aboot noo,” he replied, looking in the review mirror.

“I know D`nae is the child, Danny. She’s my friend, and I don’t like seeing her hurt, but we have to make this quick for other reasons.”

“And you two don’t need to talk like I’m not sitting right here,” D`nae interrupted.

“Ah wisnae meanin…”

“I know what you meant, and I love you for it, both of you. I just need to make sure she’s not like the rest of them, ya know? I can’t have someone else finding my mother torn up like a discarded piece of trash,” she added, then broke down.

“Nae luv. Please, dinnae cry ma sweet lassie,” Danny said, pulling her closer to him. “Tis a’ gaun tae be a’ richt. Ye hae me word.”

They drove another hour before they turned into the small town of Stamford. The town was still and quiet, the only thing sound coming from the ambulance that sped past them as they drove down main street to her mother’s house. They took the center square downtown and D`nae’s level of anticipation grew. As they made their way down the street that her mother lived on, D`nae pointed to the house that she had once lived in. Danny pulled up in the drive and killed the motor. He looked back at her and squeezed her hand, then opened the door and the two got out. The others got out and made their way around to the back of the house, with Arnaud watching for any sign of those he had once helped as if he had always been with the ones he now walked behind. He waited out on the front lawn, while Danny and D`nae made their way up to the front door.

“The dog, where’s the dog?” she asked, spinning back around. “Duchess!” She screamed and took off running through the house, with Danny not far behind.

They were almost to the back door when Grady and Tabitha ran in through the already opened door. The screen was barely hanging by the bottom hinge, and the entire knob was missing from the wooden back door. D`nae just stood there, staring at it in a state of disbelief. Tabitha was walking up to her when they heard Arnaud yelling out front, and a single bark from a dog.

“No, Arnaud!” D`nae yelled, dashing back through the house, praying that he hadn’t just snapped her mother’s dogs neck. When she and the others reached the front door, they found Duchess, sitting on top of Arnaud’s chest with him holding her back by the collar.

“Is this what you were looking for?” he asked, blinking back up at them, right before Duchess snapped down on the side of his arm. “Get her off!”

D`nae leapt off the porch and went for her collar, but the dog turned on her, taking a piece of flesh from a person she had known all of her life. Tabitha jumped down from the porch and growled deep from her belly, while going down on one knee, facing Duchess like a dominant female. Duchess lowered her head and bared her teeth, lifting the sides of her mouth with every sound that she made. Tabitha leaned forward on all fours and made a reverberating sound that everyone who stood on the ground could feel, and Duchess backed off tucking her tail, then tried to run. Tabitha’s hand darted out so fast that Duchess never had a chance. The dog wet as Tabitha pulled her back into her arms and started petting her. “She’ll come around. They frightened her.”