Blood Pool

Jade went limp within a few moments. Raven caught her before she fell. Raven’s form shimmered somewhere between human and Lamai. Her strength had tripled. She backtracked down the stairs and out into the night.

Gingerly placing Jade on the floor of the boat, Raven untied the lines and pushed off. She turned on the ignition while the boat drifted into the open sea. Jade would be out for a few hours, which was more than enough time to get her back to town. As Raven hurried back, she could see in the distance another boat heading toward Hannah’s Vineyard. A Porsche Fearless.

Laroque.

“ Tracy…” Raven said into her cell phone against the wind. She prayed her phone reception was strong enough.

Tracy sounded as if she were talking into a tin can. “Raven, where are you?”

“How’s Bo?” she yelled above the wind.

“We’ve given him the transfusion, but thus far, no change. No results back from the tests yet, either. His temp’s up a bit and he’s still unconscious-plus we’ve got another patient in with the same symptoms. Another shifter-one of Solaris’s employees.”

Raven’s head began to throb. “Damn. I’ll be there in half an hour.”

“Your father is out looking for you, Raven.”

“I’ll see you soon.” She signed off.

After mooring the boat and leaving the keys for Caleb in the boathouse, Raven carried Jade to her car. She rushed to the hospital, knowing it was only a matter of time before Laroque made his way back to Mirabelle Cove. He would be furious. Raven made two quick calls from her car, first to Solaris then to Julianna, asking them to use their magick to create shields for hiding Jade’s whereabouts. Her next call was to Tracy.

“Don’t ask why, but can you bring a hospital bed to autopsy room one? I’m going to need restraints, too.”

Tracy was silent on the other end. Finally she muttered, “Ah, yeah. Sure thing.”

Raven pulled into the parking lot, entering the hospital through the rear entrance. She brought Jade to the M.E.’s office. She kicked open her office door and plopped her sister onto the couch.

Jade was the only hope for helping Bo and the others. Raven wasn’t too thrilled with having to threaten her, but her options were limited. For Bo, she would do whatever she had to in order to save his life.

A sudden chill filled the air. Raven sensed that her father was there. He burst through the doorway. His gaze went directly to the couch where Jade lay unconscious.

His silver eyes widened. Fury enveloped him. “What did you do?” he yelled.

Raven was just as fierce in her reply. “I’m trying to save Bo. I saw no other way. Laroque will have to give me the antidote, or else…”

Tobias towered over her. His eyes bore into her. “What? You’re going to kill her?”

Suddenly, inner peace filled her. “No, I’m going to infect her. It’s called karma.”

Tobias’s expression was stern. “I guess you are your father’s daughter after all.”

She stared at him. “I suppose I am.”

“What are you going to infect her with?”

“Lamai blood.”

Tracy walked in. “The gurney’s in the exam room,” she said, stopping as soon as she caught sight of handsome Tobias Strigoi.

Raven’s father lifted Jade and carried her into the exam room. He placed her on the bed as Tracy strapped her in the arm and leg restraints.

“She’ll be out for another hour or so. Can you stay here while I go check on Bo?” Raven asked her father. He was staring at the young woman, no doubt amazed at her likeness to Nicolette.

“Of course,” he answered.

His guard was down and Raven could read him. He secretly wished Laroque would show up, and then they could settle this score once and for all. He did not have to keep his word to Nicolette any longer. And to protect his daughter, he would do anything. Raven smiled to herself. It figured her father could feel certain emotions, but was unable to verbalize them.

Raven walked down the hall and through the double doors into the quarantine critical care unit. Her throat tightened as she caught sight of her beloved lying in the bed, hooked up to monitors. His once bronzed skin appeared chalky white. Mat, Bo’s grandfather, sat next to him on one side, and Frank stood on the other side.

“Raven.” Frank approached and embraced her. “I’m so sorry.”

Raven swore to herself she would not start to cry again. “He’s going to be fine, Frank. I’m not going to let anything happen to him. We’ve come too far. How are you, Mat?” Raven asked as she approached Bo’s grandfather. She gave him a tender hug.

She sensed the magick in the room. The smell of sage and the power of the stones and feathers that Mat had placed around Bo’s bed for healing filled the air.

Dr. Odin entered. “There you are. I’m afraid the transfusion’s not working as we’d hoped. Tracy ’s been working with Nat trying to come up with the antidote to what this is. Something that can reverse the effects of this…virus. The other carrier is dead. They found him in an alley a little while ago. But he’s already infected more than a few in our community. A siren washed up on the shore, dead. Davis did the autopsies. I assisted. The cause was an unknown virus, different from your original sample. I assume it’s mutated.”

He updated Bo’s chart as he spoke. “Mordred is responding to the treatments. He’s had three transfusions, his temperature’s normal and the original symptoms are gradually disappearing. Perhaps Bo will show some improvement after another transfusion.”

Raven decided it was time to tell Ian Odin what she feared the virus was, and who created it. She began by explaining the spaghetti-like strand found in Derrick Bly’s cells.

“That’s why the fae are less affected by this virus-plus Mordred is half-human. The virus is thought to be zoonotic and therefore deadly to shifters, sirens, or other animals. Ian, have you tried giving Bo type O negative blood from a human? Perhaps if we flood his system with human blood…”

Ian reassuringly placed his hand on Raven’s shoulder. “That’s our next step. After that, I don’t know what else we can do. Nat is working on a few things. We’ll come up with an alternative.”

Tracy rushed over to the window of Bo’s room, holding up a piece of paper. On it was written: You were right. It’s a recombinant virus, altered Ebola.

Raven’s world came crashing down.

Raven stood by the foot of Bo’s bed, thinking back to the first time she’d laid eyes on him. It was over ten years ago. Gosh, time flies, she thought as threads of hope unraveled.

Raven was eighteen and had finished her first year of college. It was time for the celebration of spring’s arrival on Mirabelle Cove.

It was May Day Eve: April thirtieth.

She’d completed all her tests early, and she had the entire summer off.

Tobias had purchased for Raven a small cottage for her summers on the island as a birthday gift. That tiny cottage was now her two-storey Victorian-style home, complete with wrap-around porch and four bedrooms-a home she insisted on paying to renovate herself.

And she did.

She settled into her cozy new home and even started a part-time job at Nigella’s parents’ farm. Raven was ready to celebrate May eve with the rest of the town.

As twilight fell on that balmy spring night, the bonfires blazed and the minstrels played. That year it was exceptionally warm. The stars were brighter than usual. At least that was how Raven remembered it.

She was such a young, innocent Lamai back then. She stood in the moonlight wearing a sheer cotton camisole dress and sandals with laces that snaked up her calves. Eyeing those who danced around the fire, she spied Bo, but not before he caught sight of her. The excitement caused her skin to prickle. It was instantaneous. The magick that sparked between them swirled, causing the flames to leap higher into the night sky.

He was tall and brawny. His bronze skin glistened in the firelight. As he moved closer to her she barely noticed that she’d already begun to move toward him. His eyes glowed golden for a moment, then flashed back to black.

All she heard was his voice as he spoke. “My name’s Bo.”

His seductive, full lips mesmerized her.

A mild breeze blew a lock of hair across her cheek, and his hand grazed her soft skin as he pushed it out of her eyes. His touch sent waves of heat through her body. Raven felt a hunger building that wasn’t for blood.

“Raven…Raven Strigoi,” she said, finding her voice, lost in his eyes.

“I haven’t seen you around, Raven Strigoi. Where have you been hiding?” He smiled and his face lit up, putting the fire to shame.

Raven became uncharacteristically shy. “College. I’m attending Harvard and just finished up for the year.”

“Harvard. Not too shabby. I went to the University of Colorado.”

They walked under the stars and into a copse secluded from the rest of the celebrants. Pines, hemlocks and junipers scented the air with heady fragrances. Daffodils of many varieties dotted the landscape with punches of vivid yellows, ochre and bright whites. A row of forsythia hid the couple from those still dancing and singing around the bonfire.

A crunchy, brown pile of the previous autumn’s leaves lay scattered underneath the pines, creating an inviting palette for the two to rest upon.

Raven hadn’t noticed until then that Bo was carrying a blanket in his muscular arms. He spread it on the ground and sat upon it, patting a spot next to him. She joined him, not knowing what to say next.

Should I just blurt out that I’m a virgin? she wondered. No, that would send him running for the hills.

“I’ve heard the name Strigoi. Your father is a powerful Lamai,” he finally said. “One of the oldest, too.”

“Yes, he is. I don’t get to see him often, though. He travels a lot. And what’s your last name?” she asked, noticing the easy way he acted with her. She liked that he seemed quite comfortable in his own skin.

“Wasake,” he answered.