Authors: Heath Stallcup
“I don’t want to hear it.” Jennifer turned her back on him and walked the short distance back to her bed, flopping on top of it.
Mick looked to Laura who also turned away from him. “I could fly you to the States before the full moon. Your Fated one? Surely he has a place to shift? A safe place?”
Laura turned and gave him a wide eyed stare. “He does, but how could you get us there in time?”
Mick sighed heavily and slumped his shoulders. “I made some calls. I have a friend. He’s delivering a 550 Gulfstream to a buyer in the States. He said that I could deliver it. It’s plenty fast enough to get us there in time. I can…” he trailed off, his face displaying emotions that Laura couldn’t read.
“You can what?”
“I can drop you off and then deliver the plane. Or…not. You know. Wait and see if things don’t work out. Then I can take you away from there so you don’t get hurt.”
“How quickly can you get the plane?” Laura stared at her watch, trying to extrapolate the time differences.
“It’s sitting at the airport, waiting. We’d just need a ride there.”
“What about your other plane?” Jennifer asked, afraid of the answer.
Mick sighed heavily and refused to look her in the eye. “It’s your dad’s plane. I don’t really care what happens to it.” His voice was so quiet that Laura could barely hear him.
Jennifer, on the other hand, heard every word. She stiffened and her jaw ticked. “So the whole ‘get away’ was a set up?”
“Just to get you some place safe, Jen, I promise.” Mick leaned against the wall and his face looked ready to break into tears at any moment.
“Get the plane. Tell your friend we’ll take their offer. I’ll go get us the ride to the airport.” Laura headed for the door then froze. “Wait…your friend. This isn’t her dad again, is it?”
Mick’s face registered shock at first, then he shook his head. “No, this is a real person. A real dealer. I can give you his number if you like.”
Laura eyed him again, then glanced to Jennifer who gave her a slight nod. “Just make the arrangements while I get us a ride. Pack your gear. We’re out of here.”
*****
Evan returned to his lab and found a small group milling about in the shadows. At first he paid little attention to the group. His mind was still on Major Tufo’s condition and his healing so rapidly. He had sent for a blood sample to run some preliminary tests and was startled when the group entered his lab. He spun on his chair and eyed them warily.
“May I help you?”
A tall fellow stepped out of the shadows and Evan felt his eyes grow wide. A gargoyle stood in his very lab! “Chief Jack sent us to you.”
“Oh my…” Evan stood slowly and approached the group carefully. “What an extraordinary group you are.” His eyes travelled from the gargoyle to the elf to the gnome back to the gargoyle. “Please, excuse me, I’ve never had live subjects in my lab before.”
The trio turned to each other then back to the vampire. “Subjects?” Azrael asked.
“Apologies. I…” Evan paused and laughed to himself. “Please, excuse my rudeness. I am Doctor Evan Peters, and I’ve been studying your kind…all of your kinds, for many years. But I’ve never actually had living, breathing specimens in my lab before.” Evan stepped back and took them all in. “This is incredible.”
Azrael stepped forward and crossed his large arms over his chest, his gaze narrowing. “Chief Jack sent us to you. To be checked out.”
“Oh! Of course. How silly of me.” Evan pushed some items off of his examination table and patted it. “I didn’t realize you were working with Mr. Thompson. Please, up here.” While Azrael tentatively took a seat, Evan broke out a new notebook and began jotting things down. He ran through a barrage of tests and declared each of them healthy.
“If you don’t mind my asking, Azrael, what triggers your stone sleep?” Evan asked, writing furiously in his notebook.
“The sun.”
Evan peered up from his writing and tapped the pencil against his chin. “Do you know what aspect of the sun causes the transition?” Azrael shook his head. “Would you mind if I ran a couple of tests?”
Azrael looked to Kalen who simply shrugged. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt. Will it?”
“I don’t believe it will. But before we begin, I have more questions.” Azrael nodded and Evan began. “When you are wounded, does the stone sleep heal you?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. And if the wound is otherwise a grave one?”
“It is still healed by the sleep.”
Evan wrote quickly. “What about damages done during the stone sleep?” Azrael gave him a quizzical look. “If somebody were to…I dunno, take a hammer and break off a finger while you were stone?”
“Then it would be removed when we awoke. Healed, but gone.”
“Amazing. Truly amazing.” Evan pushed his notebook aside and pulled out a small device. “This emits a concentrated UV ray. To a vampire, it acts like a laser and…well, it would sear flesh. Lots of fire and smoke and, well, it just plain stinks. Hurts like the dickens, too.”
“And you intend to set me afire?” Azrael did not look pleased.
“No, not at all. If I’m right, then the spot that I hit with it should turn to stone.” He looked at Azrael questioningly. “It should turn back afterward, shouldn’t it?”
Azrael shrugged. “I suppose.”
Evan lowered the device. “You’ve never been exposed to a single ray of sunlight before? Maybe hiding in the shadows or…”
“No.” Azrael shook his head. “Only once have I remained indoors during the day and avoided the stone sleep.”
“Okay. Well then, let’s be careful, shall we? Maybe we start with a fingernail or toenail?”
Azrael held out his hand and extended a claw-like nail from his finger. Evan turned on the device and allowed the ray to brush the nail quickly. Almost immediately, a fine crusting of stone formed on the outer portion of the nail. Evan looked up at Azrael who was eyeing him closely. “Does that hurt?”
“No.” Azrael flexed his hand and the crusting of stone flaked away. “Try again.”
Evan held the device a little longer and they watched as more of the finger slowly turned to stone. He pulled the device away and they watched as the finger slowly turned back to flesh. “Amazing.” He picked at the flakes of stone and peeled them away as though they were flakes of dandruff.
Evan wheeled his chair over to a drawer and pulled out a tube of something, then slipped it into a spray bottle. “I want to try another little experiment.”
“Will it hurt?”
Kalen stepped forward and clapped the large gargoyle on the shoulder, “I thought you were tougher than that, old friend.”
“I just want to prepare myself so I don’t react and possibly hurt someone,” Azrael’s voice deadpanned, but his eyes indicated it might not be the first time he had done such a thing.
“This won’t hurt a bit.” Evan pressurized the sprayer and sprayed a fine mist across his hand and lower arm. “I developed this years ago in hopes that I could go out in the daylight. It didn’t work for me. It’s basically an industrial strength UV blocker.”
“It didn’t work?” Azrael gave him a questioning stare.
“Not for me. Apparently there are just too many aspects to being a vampire…simply applying a UV blocker won’t allow walking in daylight.” He sprayed a light and even coating, watching as it soaked in like fine water on concrete. “You have the most remarkable skin.”
“What’s going on, Doc?” Jack stepped into the lab, a young, dark haired woman in tow.
“Testing a theory.” Evan grabbed the UV emitter and flipped it on again. “Here goes nothing.” He pointed it at Azrael’s hand and felt the corners of his mouth curl when nothing happened. He ran the UV emitter up and down his forearm and only when he reached the elbow did the fine crusting of stone start to appear once again. “Eureka!” Evan flipped off the emitter and tossed it aside. “I finally found a use for my UV blocker.”
“Well…that’s good, isn’t it?” Jack shrugged.
“Most definitely. Up until now I thought I had invented a sunscreen for watching atomic testing but…who’s your friend?” Evan had just noticed the young woman standing slightly behind Phoenix.
“Meet Brooke Sullivan.”
“Raven,” The young woman corrected. “Just…Raven.”
“Well, just Raven. I am Doctor Evan Peters. Please, step in here and we’ll have a look at…” Evan paused then turned to Jack. “She’s a vampire.”
“Yeah, Doc, she’s a vampire.” Jack smirked as he leaned against the doorway.
Evan swallowed hard and then gave the young woman a quaint smile. He motioned to Jack and the two stepped down and outside of his lab, “A word, please?” Evan pulled Jack out of hearing range of the others. “Why is she here?”
“She’s going to be part of my new team. The…teen squad or diaper brigade or some such shit.”
“No, Jack, no. She’s a
vampire
. You have an elf on your squad. The two should never work together. Vampires are drawn to elves. Their blood makes vampires…high. Or drunk. Or…both. It’s bad juju.”
Jack shook his head and held his hands up. “Not my decision, Doc. The Wyldwood made this choice for me. Besides, she’s a
Beastia
. I mean, not part of a family like you or anything, but she only feeds on animals.”
Evan’s eyes narrowed on Jack. “Promise me you will watch her, Jack.”
Jack noted his concern and nodded. “I promise, Doc. I’ll watch her like a hawk.”
Doctor Peters turned back and stared at the young woman through the glass surround of his lab. “She’s a vampire, so she shouldn’t need a checkup. Anything that was wrong with her would be healed.”
“Indulge me, Doc.”
*****
Sheridan stepped outside the office and pulled the door shut. He was just turning when he caught the scent of something. Something familiar. Something…large. He slowly lowered himself and wafted the air closer to his face. He inhaled deeply and the scent hit him hard. Apollo.
Sheridan’s eyes narrowed as he looked around the warehouse. He inhaled deeply and followed the scent to the edge of the office. It lingered just outside one of the frosted windows and he felt his guts twist on him. Apollo had been spying on him. But when?
He thought back to his phone call to Mr. Simmons. He hadn’t given anything away then. He thought back through his other actions through the evening.
Dammit. The conversation with Big.
Sheridan ground his teeth and gazed out through the warehouse. If the man was lying in wait for him, he couldn’t sense him. He took a tentative step away from the office and none of the hair on the back of his neck rose. Somehow, he doubted the large man was waiting in the rafters with a sniper rifle.
Sheridan exhaled slowly and felt the tension leave his shoulders. If Apollo intended to confront him, he didn’t plan to do it tonight. That gave him until morning to find a way to either coerce him back to his side or figure out a way to get rid of him.
*****
Little John paced the lounge, his hands instinctively clenching and unclenching. Spalding had tried every trick he could think of to get him to relax, but the man couldn’t take it any longer. “I have to know what’s going on.”
“You just have to give them time.” Spalding spun and held a finger up. “Hey, how about we go to the gym and you can burn off some of this nervous energy on the weights?”
Sullivan paused and stared at the smaller man. “This isn’t just nervous energy. This is me…worrying about my sister.”
Spalding smirked at him. “The same sister you swore to put a bullet in the next time you saw her?” He regretted the words as soon as they escaped his mouth. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out the way I meant.”
“That was a cheap shot.”
“I didn’t mean it the way it sounded, I promise.” Spalding deflated and shrugged. “Okay, how about we work our way down the interrogation room, and I’ll see what I can find out.”
That offer caught John’s attention. “You would do that?”
“Of course.” Spalding waved him on. “Let’s go see what we can see.”
The two worked their way down a flight of stairs and slowly approached the interrogation room. “You hang back, and I’ll see what I can see.” Spalding eased up on the room and stole a quick peek through the door glass. He eased back up and stared inside the room. Turning to Little John he asked, “You sure this is the room they had her in?”
John quickly closed the gap. “Of course I’m sure.” He stared through the glass and uttered a curse under his breath. “Where could they have taken her?”
“No idea, but we can find out.” Spalding turned and headed back down the hallway. He hit the stairwell and took the stairs two at a time. He entered the overlook heading to Colonel Mitchell’s office. “I’ll ask the boss, but you need to stay back. Otherwise, he might not be so forthcoming in…”
“In what?” Mitchell asked.
Spalding spun and blanched. “Colonel! How you doing, sir?”
“Spill it, Spalding. What are you up to?”
“We, uh…were wondering where Sully’s sister might have ended up?”