In The Beginning, Chapter 109
Daniel POV
When I woke up in the living room, unsure of how I got there, or what had happened, it was dark outside. I was lying on the floor in front of the fire, I realised as my mind felt foggy; I searched through my memories, trying to remember the last few hours. I tried to sit up, but it hurt to bend my arms, I looked down at them, and the needles inserted in them, following the tubes to their bags. Something clear, probably saline or platelets, and a bag of blood. I growled low, pissed off, the fucking vamps must have drained too much for my wolf to replace, I thought as I got my bearings. Charlie was asleep on the couch, her old, battered cell in one hand, the landline in the other. I could hear Kathy in the kitchen, smell the food she was cooking, with Annie and some of the household staff. I groaned as I pulled myself upright, I was healing, but sore everywhere. Ethan and Ben came out of my office, clearly, they heard me.
“How are you feeling Alpha?” Ethan asked, helping me to my feet slowly.
“Like I was drained by a bunch of vamps.” I replied, as I shuffled to the couch. My body ached like I was an old man, and with Ethan wheeling my IVs behind me I probably looked like one.
“Yeah, we had to give you a couple of pints, and twice that to rehydrate you, and help your body heal. When these bags are empty, I’ll give you a banana bag to replace some of your vitamins and balance your electrolytes. Which is medical speak for it will help with the aches and fatigue.” He joked as he checked me over. “And now that you’re awake I need a better look at the wounds on your back. I washed and dressed them earlier, but I need check the bleeding has stopped.”
“What happened?” I asked Ben, everything was muddled, and confusing, and I couldn’t tell what was real, and what was a distortion of my memory.
“They teleported into the lower levels, three or four per floor. They zapped themselves up and down, keeping the security teams between the fifth, and twenty-seventh floors. Then they split, half went to R&D, the rest went to the fiftieth floor to try and get to Charlie. The ones in R&D set off a small explosion, that’s what shook the building... we think the explosion was mistimed, because it alerted everyone, and Bailey got Charlie to teleport almost immediately-"
“Why almost immediately?” I interrupted, my eyes darting to Charlie, hoping I didn’t wake her. It had felt like months since I had been this close to her. The temptation to reach out and feel her soft hair between my fingers was eating at me.
“She refused to leave without Maria.” Ben answered, and I scoffed half annoyed, half amused. Of course, she argued, she could never just do as she was told. My hand reached out before I could stop it, so it was frozen in mid-air, hovering over her curls, before I pulled it back, it formed a fist against my leg, but my eyes were stuck on her, and the way her skin glowed in the firelight.
“She informed me straight away that she was here, managed to link me all the way in Appletree.” Ben chuckled; his tone proud. “Nine vampires were killed in Appletree, three pack members, Zak Green and Will Locke in R&D, and Eta Peter Moore, two humans, Anita Fuentes from HR, and Sean Grant from legal. Robert and his officers have been floating the theory to the humans that it was a rival company hoping to sabotage us, and they all died from the explosion. When the vampires realised, they couldn’t get to Charlie, they somehow got to you...” Ben trailed off.
“They appeared in my office, seconds after I got the alert from security. They were there to kill me, three of them, I fought back, killed one. After we had been fighting for a while... Ms Michaels, is she alright? There’s no chance she didn’t hear something! I threw one of them into the door hard enough to crack it!” I panicked, I thought at the time it was odd security didn’t respond.
“She wasn’t in today, remember? She is with her mate.” Ben reassured me.
“Interview the girl covering for her, find out why she didn’t do anything.” I growled; Ben nodded his agreement.
“So, you were fighting...” He prompted.
“Another vamp teleported behind me and jabbed me in the neck with something. The next thing I know, I’m hanging from the ceiling, in a cage, in a dark room, a vampire throwing freezing cold water into my face to wake me up. Then they tortured me, I heard bits and pieces, not much, just the name of the ship, and that I was bait for Charlie.” I explained quickly.
“Did they feed on you?” Ben asked.
“No.” I sighed. “Not the vampires anyway.” I added via the link.
“What do you mean?” Ben asked, his brow furrowed with confusion.
“They brought out their creatures and shoved them into the cage with me. They don’t seem to like the taste of Lycan blood, but that didn’t stop them tearing at my body.” I explained.
“Fuck!” Ben hissed out loud. “Do you think they were training them? Getting used to our blood? For after they’ve killed all the humans?” He asked via the link.
“Maybe, but it felt more like an experiment... I think one of them spoke about making them stronger and faster... Maybe they think the right diet of blood from different creatures will increase the damage their creatures can do?” I replied, shrugging. Ben looked pointedly to Ethan. “Doc?” I linked him.
“Yes, Alpha?” He replied.
“Have you treated many creatures?” I asked.
“More recently than ever before... may I ask why, Alpha?” He asked respectfully.
“Have you noticed anything different about our blood to humans, or other creatures?” I asked.
“Only one that I have noticed... we produce more of the protein that binds with vitamin D, allowing us to absorb and process more than humans, why?” Ethan asked, obviously confused.
“Did you take blood samples from the minotaur and his female?” I asked.
“Just the minotaur, I didn’t examine the female.” He replied.
“I want a full report, differences, properties of whatever you find, I want as much information as you can give me.” I demanded.
“Yes, Alpha.” He nodded, then continued his work in silence, while I shared everything with Ben, including my theory that our blood might speed up the process of the toxin in the creatures.
“I don’t understand though, why force them to drink your blood if it was just going to kill them?” Ben asked, and a snippet of a conversation I heard on the ship started making more sense.
“Because before it kills them, it makes them stronger. The vampires want to turn them into super charged berserkers, imagine an army of creatures, invigorated by our blood, let loose on a pack. And when they’ve killed everyone, they die themselves. You could wipe them off the map, burn the town down, and no one would know they were there to begin with.“ I explained.
“You need to talk to Lander and Kasa, let them know what happened today. Lander has Hyacinth’s barrier around the pack house, but Kasa? They need to be prepared in case the vampires come for them.” Ben insisted, only stopping when I hissed in pain.
“I’m sorry, Alpha, but there seems to be something in this wound.” Ethan muttered, as he pulled the medical bag over to us, grabbed a pair of tweezers and began digging into my shoulder. “Got it... but I have no idea what it is.” He said perplexed as he showed us the thin triangle.
“It’s a tooth from one of the creatures.” I informed him.
“Oh...” He said, looking a little pale. “I’m going to have to clean these wounds again if you want to avoid serious scarring.” I nodded my head, I’d been through it before, I knew what was coming.
“Not in here... I don’t want to wake Charlie.” I sighed.
“Kitchen table? Or one of the bedrooms?” Ben asked.
“I’m going to have to have access to freshly boiled water to prevent an infection.” Ethan murmured.
“The dining room table is bigger, if you’re gonna need me lying down.” I suggested.
“There are a few wounds, but I think I can work on them with you sat in a chair, if you think you can take it?” He replied, checking another thoroughly.
“Let’s just get this over with... you’d better let Kathy know.” I grumbled to Ben, who nodded and headed for the kitchen immediately.
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