Night Howls (17 page)

No one moves as I start taking my holster off. “Go ahead. He hasn't called out any of his goons, so we should keep him happy as long as possible.” That gets everyone moving and I hear knives hit the ground. I remove my final thigh knife and call it good. “I am clean, how do you want to do this?”

“Good question. How about everyone other than Nyx move over to my right, where you are a good distance away from your armory. I know none of you will be slow to pick something up the second the human isn't in immediate danger.”

Everyone shuffles over to the indicated spot. “Okay, now let him go.” Will has had most of his oxygen cut off for a while now. That cannot be good for his brain.

“You come to me and once you are close enough, I will let him go.” Things are moving way too slow for my liking. I do as he says and move closer. I am standing in front of them and just before I am within reach, Sean pushes Will into me and I hear a gun go off. I glance quickly to see Sean standing there with the gun I gave Will.

“No!” I scream and fall to the ground with Will on top of me. The bullet passed through him and is lodged in my chest. I don't think it will be serious for my health, but Will won't be that lucky. I hear wolves growling and fighting, so I figure Sean is being taken care of. I sense more wolves than there should be, but not enough that I am immediately needed.

I roll Will off of me to try to get a look at the damage. “How bad is it?” Will whispers weakly. He spits up a little blood and I tear his shirt off to get a better look. I don't like what I find.

“It is just your left lung; you have two of those, right?” I ask trying to make light of the situation. I use his torn shirt to try to press hard on his wound hoping to stop some of the bleeding. “The good news is that the bullet went right through you. It is tickling my rib cage as we speak.” Maybe not exactly my rib cage, but I can feel it in there. The bullet passed through his lower lung and hit me pretty high in the chest.

“You guys have any good doctors around that can stitch me up?” Therein lies the problem, Night Owl City doesn't really have a need for an actual doctor. There are a few people that can remove bullets and sew you up, but I don't know of anyone that can fix a lung that is hemorrhaging like Old Faithful. My hand brushes his as I shift slightly with my compress. His hand feels like ice and I think that means things are starting to shut down. Crap.

“I don't think I could get you to anyone in time, even if they were able to help. This isn't exactly an injury common in paranorms. For us, the bullet is either non-lethal and we just heal ourselves or whatever it is made of works its way through our system and kills us.”

“Well, like I said earlier, I am going to die a happy man. Our movie is going to make all sorts of money, since it stars a dead man. Not sure what they will do with the scenes I hadn't had a chance to shoot yet.” He starts a coughing fit and more blood is spit off to the side. “My mom should be left with enough money to make the rest of her life very easy.”

“Do you have any other family?” I ask trying to keep him talking. I don’t know if it is all that good for him with having had a bullet recently pass through his lung, but silence would not sit right with me.

“Nah. It is just me and her; it has been for a long time. She is why I do what I do. I want to be able to pay her back for all the sacrifices she made for me.”

“Why do you have to say sweet stuff like that,” I say sighing and regretting my desire to keep him talking. If he is going to die, it is a lot easier for me to just hate the guy. I mean, up until this moment he has been an oversized jerk. “I cannot believe I am going to offer you this, but I can probably keep you alive. You won't be able to go back to your old life, though. A lot of things will change for you.”

“I thought you said humans can't be turned into werewolves. If you are saying it is possible, I am game. I don't think I am quite ready to die, just yet. From what I have seen, the werewolves in this town get all the pretty girls.” His voice is getting even weaker. Before long, he won’t be able to talk. I have to hurry before he passes out. I don't want to make this decision for him.

“You won't be a werewolf. Chances are good that you would become a vampire. You will not be able to see the sun again for many years and your diet will greatly change.” I don't know if me being a hybrid will make it so I can change him or not, but it is worth a try. I cannot be sure exactly what he will become, either. Drinking my blood may change him into an elf.

“But I will be alive. I can figure things out later.” Well, I guess that is all the permission I need. I don't know exactly how this works, but Sebastian told me once when I had his blood in my system not to get myself killed, so I think that is the key. Will is knocking on death’s door; a little sip should be all he needs.

“Are you sure about this? I don't know what the ramifications will be. Shouldn't we talk to Sebastian first?” Alex says coming to join me in his human form. I give him a quick once over and he looks to be covered in blood, but not injured. I don't really want to take my eyes away from Will at the moment to check Alex out more thoroughly.

“Does it look like he has time for us to chat with Sebby?”

At this point, my own blood loss is making me a little weak and things are a touch fuzzy. I know the bullet won't kill me, but it does take me a little while to bounce back. I lengthen my vampire fangs and bite hard into my wrist. With the blood flowing, I move my wrist over Will's mouth and let the red liquid work into his throat. He is beyond weak now, but I feel his throat move enough to swallow.

I was afraid it might be too late for that. With the amount of blood that has poured out of him, it should have been too late. He seems to have a real fight to live in him and I hope that will be enough for whatever comes next.

I remove my wrist from his lips. What I have given him is the best I can do. My hazy mind is getting worse and a nap sounds good right about now.

“I will get you both home. Go ahead and sleep,” Alex whispers and I follow instructions.

Chapter 22

Two like forces drawn together

Waking up in my own bed and not remembering how I got here is one of my big pet peeves. These days it happens way more than it used to. There is another body in bed with me and it isn't Alex. I would find it more distressing if I didn't know that it was Will. His scent is different, so I am guessing the change actually worked.

“Any side effects I should know about?” I ask Alex who is sitting on the edge of the bed closest to me.

“His body has been having issues being too far away from you. I think it is just temporary because you don't have to be touching anymore. He hasn't woken up, but I hear that can take a couple of days.”

“Yeah, Sebastian told me that once. I take it you took care of everything with The Enlightened.”

“While you were busy saving a human life the only way you could, we were able to take care of Sean and about twenty of his wolves before we got the crystal away from him. Once he wasn't in control of it anymore the connection snapped and the rest of his followers stopped fighting.”

“Were you able to get them help before the Collective came in to execute them all?”

“I told them the situation and some came back with us and are currently residing in our holding cells. The rest scattered hoping to go back to their normal lives,” he reaches over and wipes a strand of hair out of my eyes.

“Anything else I should know about? How about injuries on our side?” It sounds like things are wrapped up nicely. Jake should be cleared and the humans don't have to worry about rogue werewolves killing them off.

“Sam hit the ground funny and dislocated his shoulder, but we snapped it back into place and he is as good as new and you already know that your Suburban didn't make it out of the explosion alive. There is a slight issue that I am not sure how happy you will be. After you had started the transformation with Will, I left you to help direct people where to go. When I came back not two minutes later, Clyde had gotten to you and was licking your bullet wound.”

“How do you like me now, you crazy bitch?”
a strange voice says in my head.
“I don't really mean it, Mommy. I just have been dying to say it.”

“You have got to be joking. Clyde was able to connect his weird bond?”

“Why are you asking him? You can just talk directly to me now,”
Clyde replies and he pops his head up becoming visible by the edge of the bed.
“I cannot believe how long it took me to get you alone and bleeding. You seem to find yourself injured so often that when I first came home with you, I thought it would be a piece of cake.”

“Oh, this just isn't right. You should not be able to talk to me. Make him stop, Alex.”

“Sorry, I think the only way that is happening is if you get him a new master and you would have to take a trip to Hell for that one. Just any old wolf or vampire wouldn't be able to control him.”

“Mmm. Someone is cooking some cow. I have to go investigate. Talk at you later, Mommy,”
Clyde says and runs out of the room.

“You can hear what he says, right?” I ask hoping I am not losing my mind.

“Through you, yes. Maybe at least now he can tell us what he can do. He was pretty wicked in the fight tearing apart wolves and commanding even more into their biped forms. Do you know anything about siring a vampire?” he asks changing the subject. He lies down next to me and draws me in close.

“It would have been a good idea for me to know that kind of information before I went through with this, but I know nothing. I have no clue what is going to happen. I didn't even know for sure if I was doing it right,” I say as I wrap my arm around him.

“Why did you do it then?”

“I don't know. He didn't deserve to die and I couldn't let him if there was a way I could prevent it. I have no problem killing bad guys, but he was an innocent. I knew going into the standoff he was going to be vulnerable, but I couldn't tell him not to help. If Sean wasn't stopped, more people would have died,” I think in the not so distant past, I wouldn't have had an issue with an innocent dying, but my life has changed so much lately that it just didn't feel right.

“I am sure he will be grateful for what you did. He gave his consent. It was clear he wanted to live if it was possible. It would be helpful if any of the vampires were around to answer our questions. We may work together for a common goal, but I am still not aware of all the things that make vampires tick.”

“Hey, I am part vampire and I don't have even half of the answers as far as they are concerned. I don't know everything about wolves, either, but you and Walt fill in the blanks pretty quickly. You know there is something you haven't ever really gone into detail about. Why don't you ever talk about your family?” I am curious after hearing Will talk about his mother briefly.

“There isn't much to tell. I never knew them. Like you, I was raised as an orphan. I still haven't found out who my parents are or were. Your father arranged a home for me and I was trained since I was a child to fight, just like you.”

“Why have I never heard that little detail?”

“We haven't ever talked much about me, other than our little twenty questions games. We spend most of our time in the present,” he says and leans down to kiss my head.

“I would like to hear more. Do you talk to your foster parents? They have to be better than mine was. How about siblings, do you have anyone you grew up with?” I move away from him slightly, so I can get a good look at his face while he talks. Will remains unmoving next to us and I put the vampire issues all on the back burner.

“They weren't really touchy-feely type parents. They were just there to make sure I was fed and got an education. They weren't mean or anything, but it never really felt like home to me. When I turned sixteen, I left and made a name for myself fighting against the Collective. Back then, I was happy just killing people I could confirm as one of the bad guys. I had heard my foster parents say something about the Collective making me an orphan, so I took my confusion out on anyone I could find.

“Not everyone I killed in those days deserved it. When my teenage rebellion wore off, I realized I couldn't keep doing what I was doing. I eventually got more involved in your father's resistance. By that time, he had joined forces with Sebastian. Sebastian took care of the vampire part of it and your father put me in charge of the wolf part.

“If I would classify anyone as a sibling, it would be Jonas. He helped teach me when I was young. He trained me and never let me give him any lip. He has always been the first to defend me when I do something stupid and would give his life for mine, just like I would for him.”

“I always knew there was something more between you guys than him just being your bodyguard. It sounds like our lives have been pretty similar. It's odd that we ended up together as mates.”

“I think it makes perfect sense. No one would understand us as much as we can. I know you have found your father now, but the backbone of our upbringing was the same. Enough talk about the past, let's get some protein in you. You lost a lot of blood and Sebastian isn't handy to replenish you. You could try putting a straw in me, but that is something I think Sebastian would like to keep between you two.”

“Good idea. Is it okay for me to leave the bed?” I ask rolling over to get a look at Will. He doesn't look any different. He didn't instantly get pale or somehow change his features like some vampire lore claims.

“We might as well give it a try. I don't want to think about him being glued to you for the rest of our lives,” Alex responds and rolls out of bed.

I follow suit and find myself still in the clothes I was wearing earlier. That is a little surprising, but sure enough there is a small hole where the bullet burrowed through.

“Your body actually expelled the bullet this time, so we didn't have to dig around to remove it. It is what happens to a normal werewolf if the bullet isn't silver. Since the silver doesn't bother you, your body finally did what it should.”