“She needed the strength to call you,” Shawn said as medics hurried into the house.
We were ordered outside while Aaron and his parents were brought out on gurneys and carried to the ambulances. The police, of course, had a lot of questions. My mother, being the genius she was, explained that I was Aaron’s girlfriend. Her story stated that we had stopped by after a family outing in town and seen the door open. We had called the police as soon as we entered. She flashed a few smiles and batted her eyes, and within a surprisingly brief time; we were done.
“Who got here first?” I asked as we gathered in a little group outside the house.
“I did,” said Shawn, gloating. “Unlike you, I have wings. Edmund and the others had to run. He stayed here while the others pursued those that did this.”
“It’s not over; is it?” I asked as my mother pushed us towards the car. She was grumbling about blood and white fabric.
“Not by a long shot,” my father muttered, looking behind him. “This was just the beginning of what is to come. Sheridan is being smart right now. While Miranda makes ready her troops of newly made vampires and demons, we get hounded by the tribes of allies that have sworn to follow her.”
“So even if we are able to eradicate this group of allies there will be more to follow. We can’t predict what they will be either. Next time it could be witches or fae,” my mother warned as she opened the car door. “Dawn, I’m going to drop you and Shawn off at the hospital. Your father and I are going to come back here and see what we can pull from the blood.”
“What might you get?” I asked.
“Images, thoughts, ideas… things that will help us to figure out who they were.”
****
I seemed to be spending far too much time in hospitals lately. I was shocked when the nurse remembered me from when Wesley was there. She gave me a sympathetic smile and a consolatory hug after they told me that Aaron was in critical condition. His parents were stable, however. Dr. Matthews was able to talk about what had happened, but when he started babbling about people turning into dogs, the doctors decided he was delusional and were considering sedatives. The nurses put it down to severe PTSD. Only Shawn and I knew he was telling the truth.
We sat in the waiting room of the ER for hours until finally, a lady came out in a white coat to talk to us. I assumed she was one of the doctors.
“Aaron’s conscious, and he’s asking for you,” she said to me in a lowered voice. “Normally I wouldn’t allow non-family back there, but his father is adamant that you go.” She looked at me a little suspiciously. She was probably one of the ones who weren’t sure Dr. Matthews was quite back in his right mind as yet.
I told Shawn and then followed the white-coated lady to a room in the back. It was dimly lit, but I could see a heavily bandaged figure lying in a hospital bed with machines beeping beside it. Aaron looked up as I approached. He tried to smile, but it clearly hurt him too much.
“I’ll give you five minutes,” the doctor said.
Aaron didn’t seem to be aware of her. Instead, he just stared at me.
“You must be cursed or something,” he said in a hoarse whisper.
“What do you mean?” I whispered, walking to the right side of the bed, and tenderly running my fingers through his hair.
“Everyone who loves you seems to get hurt.” He smiled weakly at me and flinched. “They said it looks like dog bites.”
There were dozens of wound dressings all over his body, but I couldn’t tell how bad they were.
“You’re going to be okay,” I said, leaning over, and kissing him on the forehead.
“Yeah. I’m going to have some scarring, but if you can handle it, I can handle it.” He looked into my eyes and frowned slightly. “How did you get there?”
“How did I get where?”
“To my house. Your parents and your brother, they… they swooped in and forced those things out.” He sighed. “Does that sound crazy? Do you think I’ve gone nuts?”
I smiled down at him. “No, not at all. Why would I think you’re nuts?”
“Because of what I saw… think I saw–” He winced and looked up at the ceiling.
“Am I hurting you?” I asked, concerned, as I removed my hand from his head.
“No, no, it’s not you… my head aches and I feel like I’m about to combust or something. They gave me some stuff for it, but it hasn’t kicked in yet.”
He breathed out slowly, and the pain seemed to subside. He looked at me again.
“When I get home, will you come stay with me?”
I nodded. “Someone has to. Your parents will need looking after as well.”
I noticed a nurse tapping her watch at the doorway, so I gave him a last kiss on his forehead. “I have to go.”
“I love you,” he whispered, squeezing my hand, and closing his eyes.
“I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you,” I said as I walked out the door.
The nurse escorted me back to the waiting room.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” I said to Shawn as I grabbed my sweater from the chair beside him.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. But something just doesn’t feel right,” I repeated as we made for the exit.
“Should I believe your hunch?” Shawn asked, struggling to keep up.
“I am very rarely wrong when things don’t feel right,” I assured him. “Especially when it comes to someone I care about.” I stopped in the middle of the parking lot, then groaned and turned to my brother.
“Took you long enough to figure out
