Exsanguinate (12 page)

“No shit, Mr. O’Cuinn?”

“Call me Kiernan, Harris – you aren’t in college anymore. But yeah, no shite.” Daddy leaned against the wall. “Thank the heavens you guys are here. I don’t know what I would’ve done with the girls’ company. I guess it would have had to just shut down. I know they would have gone nutters if that happened. They’ve busted their humps to turn that into the global business it is today.”

Roxas touched his shoulder in reassurance. “Don’t worry, Kiernan – we’ve been handling it. Please don’t think another thing about it. What we need to do now is figure out a way to track down what the hell is actually going on. If the detectives are clueless, we can’t just give up. If Sheridan and Dakota are truly missing, then we’re running out of time.”

Ruthie Anne gingerly took hold of my arm. “That’s what I’m here for, sweetie. Now raise up your arm real careful like. I don’t want to pinch any of your bloodlines.”

Whatdya mean the detectives are clueless?

Harris dropped the volume of his voice, but I could still hear him as if he were standing right next to me. It seemed as if the attack had given me bionic hearing or something. I kept waiting for the Foley sound effects from the
Six Million Dollar Man
to come across the room every time my ears homed in on what they said. Their conversation had my stomach in knots
.

“We should consider not leaving Cheyenne alone for the time being. Each of us taking shifts with her. She doesn’t need to know what’s going on.”

Roxas nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you’re right. We shouldn’t take any chances.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “There seems to be a bigger event going on, Kiernan. You’re wise to stay on top of it like you’ve been doing.”

Ruthie Anne hummed in a kind, grandmotherly way. Her calm sense of self helped me to relax a bit.

A long pause between words had me guessing the guys each were lost in trying to come up with any kind of explanation or lead.

Daddy stretched his arms over his head. “Okay, fellas, I genuinely appreciate your help. Keep your ears open and see if you can’t find something on those online channel networks – forums or whatever you call them. Maybe somebody somewhere knows where my girls are. I’m thinking it might be time to go to the public for assistance since we aren’t getting any leads from the police. I’m gonna go check on those tomatoes and chickens of Cheyenne’s. Can we reconvene this afternoon? I’m already in need of a nap and a shower and I just woke up. Terribly knackered.”

“You bet, Mr. O’Cuinn,” Harris said.

“Anything you need, just let us know,” Roxas said.

“Okay – I think I have your phone numbers in my phone.”

“Here, Mr. O’Cuinn – Kiernan, let me program our numbers in for you real quick.” Daddy handed his phone to Harris.

I tried to make out what the melody was as Ruthie Anne continued to hum.
Claire de Lune?
Frustrated at not being unable to go to the bathroom by myself, or even get up out of the bed, I remained helpless to do anything productive to help find Sheridan and Dakota. Ruthie Anne’s peaceful energy eased the tense and painful moments of my sisters disappearance, for just a little while. My eyelids grew heavy once again.

Handing back Daddy’s phone, Harris said, “Okay – we’re both in there. We’ll see you this afternoon.”

“Later then.”

Daddy opened the door and called through the privacy curtain. “I’m gonna go check on your plants, sweetie. How do I get to the roof?”

I motioned to the nurse to let him in, so I didn’t have to raise my voice. He popped his head around the curtain. “Daddy, there’s a utility door from the kitchen pantry.”

“Okay. I’m gonna see what I can do to salvage your tomatoes and then maybe catch a little shut-eye before going to the police station this afternoon. There’s a meeting with the detectives. I hope they have found a lead. Love you, honey.”

“I wish I could be there to talk to the detectives.”

“I know you do, sweetie. I’ll record the conversation and let you listen to it when I get back, okay?”

I nodded and smiled at him. “Hey, if they have ripened, just pick them and stick them in the freezer okay?”

“The detectives? I dunno if they’ll appreciate much.” Daddy winked at me and gave me a half smile. He turned to walk away.

I grabbed his hand. I said to him in the kindest voice I could muster, “I love you, Daddy.”

He squeezed my hand. “Love you too, sweetie.”

I squeezed back. He scooted out past the curtain, and out the door. The guys resumed their conversation.

Ruthie Anne tried to run a comb through my hair, but it got caught on a thick tangle over my ear.

Roxas gestured wildly towards Harris’ body. “What the hell, Harris? You’re a bloody werewolf?” Harris scratched his back. “How the hell did you room with Cheyenne in college for three years and she didn’t know?”

What did he say? Werewolf? What? Didn’t know what?

“I kept it hidden just like you, Vampr.” Harris squared off his shoulders a bit and said, “What about you, Rox? Is that why you haven’t bothered to meet her before now – ‘cause she’d be a nice tasty snack?”

I watched in confusion, trying to understand the energy exchange between them, their words muffled by Ruthie Anne’s humming and brushing. They stood looking at one another. If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed it was a posturing standoff between them.

Roxas finally broke the tension. “Listen. Let’s just relax. We’re still the same guys we were ten minutes ago, ten days ago, and even several years ago. We can work through this. There’s no reason for us to raise species hackles just because that’s what we’ve always done. We can use this to our advantage.”

Harris leaned on the hand railing and relaxed his shoulders. “Yeah, all right. I suppose. Just wasn’t freakin’ expecting this, dude. I about went through her bed to get at you a few minutes ago.”

“You?” Roxas laughed and then said, “I smelled you coming through the door a mile away.” They both laughed. “I can still kick your ass, even if it isn’t in the sim.”

“At least now we have serious fighting power to get to the bottom of what the hell happened. If the humans don’t have any leads, then we need to move underground to find out what the hell is going on.”

“Why have several of these victims gone missing after being released from the hospital?” Roxas rubbed at his chin. “Why were Dakota and Sheridan taken? Seems a little too contrived for all three sisters to have random happenings. I think they were targeted.”

Vampires? Humans? What the hell? These are some gooOOOod drugs!

Harris pulled out a piece of chewing gum. “Who or what wanted all three of them either dead or gone?” Harris offered Roxas a piece. “Want some? It makes your breath minty fresh and your teeth pearly white.”

Roxas looked back at the door again and then back to Harris. Lowering his voice, he said, “No thanks – it sticks to my teeth. One thing I do know is that she’s been bitten. I’m pretty sure those people were attacked by a rogue vampire. We’ve heard reports through the coven that a specialized team has been set up to hunt down any vampire neonates. But here’s the deal. We haven’t heard of any rogues attacking humans in decades. Why now? Why the O’Cuinn sisters?”

“It could be a werewolf.” Harris added. “We’ve had new packs recently come up out of Central America – Belize area – they ain’t too friendly.”

“Bollocks. Could you find out from your pack master if they’ve had any trouble? Whatever it is, it’s a supernatural or preternatural that has the ability to make deep puncture marks and rip human bodies apart. It’s got to be exceptionally strong and hungry.”

Harris hiked his foot onto the handrail rail and stretched. “Hmm ... we did have some werebears here lately, but that isn’t likely. They’re primarily herbivores.”

Coven? Werebears?

I strained my ears to listen in closer, but sleep wasn’t far off.

“Can you follow up on those leads? Anything is better than nothing right now.”

“Yeah – I’ll go straight there now – I need to check in with the pack anyway.” Harris continued to rub at his calf. “Maybe they’ve heard news through the supe vine. We should crawl the forums in ExsanguiNation to see what the chatter is online. Oftentimes what’s happening in the game, is truly happening in our reality.”

Roxas nodded, “Yeah – I hate giving those weekly updates to Cheyenne in our meetings. It’s real stuff going on, but the humans simply don’t see it.”

“Oh, shit!”

“What, Harris?”

“Remember what you said the other day about the werewolves abducting avatars for the vampire blood orchards?”

Roxas ran his hand down his face and held onto his chin.

Harris walked over closer to Roxas. “Dude, is that shit for real?”

I watched as Roxas paused for a moment. “Wait. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

The guys stared at each other for a long while.

Roxas finally answered his question, “Yes, there is that possibility, Harris. As well as the fact that if Cheyenne received any of the blood from the rogue vampire, she could easily become …”

Water rushed past my ears. “How are you feeling now, Cheyenne? Is that happy juice kicking in for you? I know you’re gonna feel so much better after getting your hair washed, darling.”

Ruthie Anne must have given me an extra strong dosage of pain killer because I had a Dorothy moment. I could’ve sworn I overheard the words vampire, werewolf, pack master, werebear, coven, and abductees in the same conversation between Roxas and Harris.

Morpheus knocked on my door again and held out a rose for me. Those cast iron skillets replaced my eyelids again. His arms beckoned me to fall asleep safe and sound in his protection.

Silly me, the guys must have been talking … about … the … game.

“
I
simply can’t explain
it. I’ve never seen someone recover from injuries such as yours in a week, Cheyenne.” Dr. Laren removed the last of my bandages. “I want to keep you one more night for observation. The hospital wants to document this extraordinary healing. I’m calling in a specialist to review your case to take a look at your skin. We need to make sure there is no underlying infection or an abnormal genetic mutation.”

My eyes bugged as he scratched at his head.

“Joking. You aren’t a mutant. You must have one hell of an immune system. There is hardly a scar on your face or neck. The MRI on your ankle looks as if it broke years ago, not last week.”

“Oh, Doc, please … I want to go home. I’ve got to find a way to help my sisters. Besides, I won’t be alone. I’ll have my father and Roxas with me. I need fresh air.”

There’s no way I was going to tell Dr. Laren how my crazy Red Man dreams have been escalating. He’d never let me out if I told him I cried rivers of blood now. He might even want to lock me up in the loony bin for a night or two, or forever.

“You can sit out on the balcony and get all the fresh air and sunlight you need, missy.”

“Look, I promise to be careful and not run any tough mudder competitions this week. In two days, I’ll be back for my checkup. Please don’t keep me another night. I’m feeling magnificent. In fact, I feel stronger now than I have in years.”

Dr. Laren glanced at me and then back at his tablet. “Let me review your labs again. It’s medically unreal how this has occurred. I must take every precaution to ensure we didn’t miss anything.” He turned and left the room, still mumbling under his breath.

Roxas sat on the edge of the bed twirling my crutches. He looked up at me. “Well, m’lady – I’d be surprised if he lets you out today. It’s crackers for you to have healed this fast. If I were him, I’d be triple checking your labs and calling in specialists myself.”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“What do you want to do first when you get home? Rest in your own bed, go dancing, go for a sailboat ride?”

“Oh, hell no. Beano and I need to take a drive out to the coast and walk on the beach to clear out this fuzzy medicine in my head. I can’t think straight. I know the answer to who or what took Sheridan and Dakota has got be on those camera feeds. They didn’t just magically disappear out of the park. Cross referencing where they were at the time of my attack should help narrow the possibilities. Something, somewhere has to be documented with that many people dead,” my voice lowered. “… and missing. I’ll go to the police station first and talk to the detectives on the case, see if there is anything else I can do to help them. I’ll even try hypnosis.”

“It’s going to be all right. Here, I brought you something to help you feel better. This’ll make you smile.” Roxas pulled out his mobile phone and opened up the picture gallery. “Check out this picture of Beano and Miss Priss.”

With the bandages off my face, smiling felt good to stretch the muscles around my mouth and cheeks. “Oooh, that’s adorable. I love the way she snuggles under his chin that way. Is that your friend Torchy?” I put my head on Roxas’ shoulder.

“Yep. That’s him.”

“Are those his dogs? Black labs?”

“Yes, they are. Meet Ash and Soot – they’re litter mates. Torchy’s had them since six weeks old. Great dogs.”

“Looks like Beano and Stormy are enjoying the company.”

“All the more family to love, I say.”

“Thanks, I needed that.”

Roxas squeezed my shoulder and snuggled me in closer. “Listen, Cheyenne. As much as I want to, I can’t stay long today. Do you want me to arrange to have another look out for you here in the room? The fact that several of the people released from the hospital have come up missing or dead – truly worries me. I don’t want to leave you alone.” He put the crutches on the side of the bed. “I need to follow up on the server crash from last night. We had one go down after midnight, and another one this morning.”

“That’s weird. Do you think we’re being hacked?”

“I don’t know until I get into the logs.”

“Let me know if we need to upgrade our security protocols.”

“The downed server caused a monumental lag on the vampire sim. Pissed off a few guilds. I need to check on their redundancy back up and make sure we aren’t losing any of their virtual inventories. Briggs said a bunch of support tickets came in overnight. Harris and I are going to configure another server in the cabinet. You all right to hang out here for a while by yourself?”

“Of course. My dad will be here soon. By the way it sounds, I’m gonna be here another day or night. Dr. Laren seems hell-bent on finding a reason to keep me here.”

“Better to be safe than …”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

Roxas grinned. “I brought you a surprise.”

“You did? A cheeseburger?”

“Nope. Your laptop.”

“You’re a saint.” I hugged him around the neck. “I can patch into the database with my remote access from here.”

“Just so you know. The wifi is banjaxed everywhere in the hospital, so I brought you my network card. You’ll have a stronger signal strength with this wireless hot spot.”

“Thank you for thinking of me. I’ve been totally bonkers without anything to do except scour the news headlines. Thank heavens it isn’t an election year.” I leaned in to plant a kiss on his cheek.

Roxas turned his face and reached up for my chin. My heart raced. For the first time, my healed lips enjoyed his tender soft, warm fullness of his mouth on mine. Delicious.

“
A hem
…” My father stood in the doorway. “Looks like you’re feeling much better today, Cheyenne.”

I pulled back from Roxas and blushed. “Hi, Daddy. How are you doing today? You still look terrible. Haven’t you slept?” I scooted off the side of the bed, grabbed him by the arm, and urged him toward the recliner.

“I’ve been sleeping more than I should,” he said as he sat down. “Not sure why I’m so darn knackered. Just can’t seem to keep any of my strength. Been taking my iron pills too. Maybe I’ll just rest here for a few minutes.”

“When’s the last time you had your blood pressure checked?”

“Just yesterday at the drug store. Said my heart was fit as a fiddle.” He pounded on his chest.

Roxas offered him a cup of water. “We’re all under a lot of strain right now, Cheyenne. I’m sure once you get home and settled with a guard at the house, he’ll rest better.” He turned to me and planted a smooch on my head. “Right then, – I need to go. See you later tonight? I’ll even bring you mint chip ice cream. The kind without the green food coloring.”

“Nice!”

“What can I bring you, Kiernan? A blood transfusion?”

“Rightly so. I’ll take two if you please.”

We laughed, but his joke wasn’t that far off the mark. A few years ago, he had to be hospitalized from severe fatigue. He claimed my mother was coming to visit him every other night. During that time, his blood iron count had dropped to dangerous levels. That’s when we had to get him on anti-depressants to help deal with Mom’s death.

“Sounds aces. See you tonight.” Roxas wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me in tight to his chest. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what made him smell so delicious. I wanted to devour him. He kissed me again as I breathed in the spicy scent and watched him walk out the door of my hospital prison cell. Trapped like a bird in a cage. Free to move, but not able to leave.

Daddy was already snoring on the chair, and I grabbed a blanket to cover him. His face gaunt with fatigue as if he hadn’t slept in days. I needed to check and see what vitamins he’d been taking, if any.

Normally, Sheridan, Dakota, and I took shifts watching over him ever since we lost Mom. With me having to recover and no one else to help take care of him, I’m surprised he’s lasted this long.

* * *

D
r. Laren came
into the room a few hours later. “All right, Cheyenne. I’m gonna go ahead and start your discharge paperwork. It might take several hours, but everything is in order. I’ll have physical therapy come in and set up your appointments. I want to see you at the end of the week. I’m also bringing in a photographer. We’re going to record your progress and compare it to the night you arrived.”

My face held more delight than a child eating off her first pair of chocolate Easter bunny ears. I hugged him. “Thank you for everything you’ve done to fix me. I can’t explain why I healed so fast either. I guess I have strong genes.”

Dr. Laren glanced at over my Dad. “You need to get him home and into his own bed for a while. Take good care of him … and yourself.”

“I will.”

I texted Roxas to let him know that I had been released. Dad and I left the hospital, with me wearing my little bootie cast. We loaded my gifts, cards, and flowers into the back seat, started the car and cranked on the AC. For November, the heat in Orlando was still scorching. It should have started to cool off a bit by now.

“Hey, Cheyenne. I hate to ask, but do you feel well enough to drive? I’m not real sure I can stay awake to the end of the block.”

I stared at him, bit at my lower lip, and furrowed my brow. “C’mon Daddy, let’s get you home and get a bowl of Mom’s chicken soup in you. I’ve got a batch in the freezer I made a few weeks ago.”

Driving home, I thought about everything that had happened in the past week. Last Friday I was getting ready to have the most exciting night of my life, and this Friday, I was leaving the hospital after the worst night of my life. It was time to get things straightened out and learn the truth about what happened to all of us and why.