Blood Rites

  "Okay, Logan, I will call you when I'm ready. Bye." And without listening for his response she hung up. She continued to examine the blood as she watched the human cells attack the werewolf cells. Jacque had received a blood transfusion before she had been able to stop it. That was what she was watching on the slide in front of her. The human cells from the blood that did not belong to Jacque were attacking her cells. She had heard that this could happen when a wolf received human blood because human blood recognized the wolf cells as a virus and attacked accordingly. She knew of only one cure, one way to stop the human cells from killing the wolf cells and inevitably killing the werewolf.

  As she stood up and put her lab coat on, she took one last look at the slide then turned to go to Jacque's room. She kept telling herself that it would be okay, that Logan would be able to heal her, that she wasn't putting Jacque in any real harm. Before her conscience could talk her out of it she was standing in front of Jacque's door. She'd been able to hear her cries from down the hall and she could only imagine how painful it was for your body to turn on itself. There, see? I will be helping her by giving her the morphine to keep her under, and then she won't feel the pain until Logan can heal her. Assuaging her guilt, she turned the doorknob and walked into a room full of worried people, an emotionally out of control Alpha, and the cries of a very sick girl. Thankfully, at the sight of a sick person the doctor in her kicked in and she focused on that role, on doing something to help.

  By the time Dr. Steele walked into the room everyone was there, lining the wall of the room. Every face was draped in worry and fear for Jacquelyn. Fane heard the door open. He turned to see Dr. Steele walk into the room, and before anyone could ask her a question she held her hand up and headed for Jacquelyn's bed. The only sound was the whimpering and cries of his mate.

  "Please do something for her." Fane found himself pleading with Dr. Steele desperate for something, anything to help Jacquelyn.

  Dr. Steele listened to Jacquelyn's heart, and then she shined a light into each eye. She moved Jacquelyn's hands away from her stomach and began pushing on it in various locations, causing a cry to erupt. Fane growled but Dr. Steele was not intimidated. "Save it, wolf. I can't help her if you expect there to be no pain." She reached into her pocket and pulled out something Fane didn't recognize. He watched her run it across Jacquelyn's forehead and then look at a small screen on the side.

  "It's a thermal scanner to take her temperature. She's at 105.2, which means if we don't get her temp down she will either have a seizure, go into a coma, or both." Dr. Steele looked over to Vasile. "I'm going to have to take her to the ICU. No one is allowed in there, the patients are all too sick to be exposed to the germs people would innocently bring in. You understand what this means?"

  Vasile nodded. "I will take care of it."

  They watched as she pushed a button that caused an alarm to sound, then they all heard footsteps moving fast towards the room. The next thing Fane knew he was being pushed out of the way. Decebel and his father grabbed him before he could lunge at the hospital staff as they transferred Jacquelyn onto a gurney. He couldn't focus on what Dr. Steele was saying as he watched his mate being taken from him to where he could not go…again. Once Jacquelyn was out of sight he finally looked at the doctor.

  "What is wrong with her?" he growled.

  "I don't know yet, Fane. You will have to be patient and let me do my job. You growling and throwing massive Alpha fits will not help Jacque get better."

  Fane was taken aback by the doctors' boldness, but found that he respected her for it.

  "Just make her well again. Please."

  Dr. Steele put her hand on Fane's shoulder. "She will be fine." She stepped back then so she could look at the whole group crowded into the little room. "I will let you know as soon as I know something." And then she turned and walked out.

  The room was quiet, no one daring to break the silence, for then they would have to acknowledge the fear that was threatening to consume them one by one. The silence was broken by a cursing Jen. Everyone turned to look at her and watched as she wrestled with the tape that held her IV in place. She wasn't paying attention to the fact that everyone was focused on her. "Hey, moron nurse number one said, look at this IV I just put in this chick, do you think I used enough tape? Absolutely not, said moron nurse number two, you have to wrap an entire roll around her arm so that nothing short of a miracle will get it off." Jen muttered the dialogue under her breath as she finally got the tape off of the IV in her arm. "Finally!" she announced triumphantly as she pulled the IV from her arm, blood trickled down towards her hand. She looked up and noticed everyone watching her.

  "What?" she asked. Her eyes got bigger as Decebel began to walk towards her. He got so close that she had to strain her neck back to look up at his face.

  "Why did you take that out?" His face was hard, unreadable.

  "Because if I'm going to have to have a pole attached to me I would prefer it be one that I could get some use out of. But as it was this particular pole as my constant companion, it just wasn't doing it for me." Jen batted her eyes at him. "Besides, what the hell does it matter? My best friend has just been rushed off to the ICU and you're worried about my stupid IV?"

  "Put it back," His eyes glowing gold as he took hold of her arm.

  "Oh, yeah, sure thing. I'll get right on that," she said sarcastically as she pried his hand from around her arm. Paying him little more attention than if he were a gnat, she stepped around him so she could see the others.

  "So what's the plan, Vasile?" She heard material ripping and as she turned towards the noise she watched as Decebel tore a piece of the sheet from the bed off and brought it over to her. He took her arm, gently this time, and wrapped the material around the spot that was still bleeding from where she had ripped her IV out. Without a word, he went back to the spot he had previously been standing while Jen watched his retreating back.

  Vasile answered as if the peculiar scene had not taken place. "For now you and Sally will stay here and I will put a guard on the door. Fane and Decebel will stay in the waiting area for the ICU. Fane," Vasile looked directly at his son, "you will not attempt to defy what Dr. Steele has said. Are we clear?"

  "As you say, so shall it be," Fane gave the formal response, neck bared in submission.

  "Good," he continued, "Alina and Lilly will go home and rest." Lilly started to interrupt but Alina stopped her with a hand on her arm and gave a sharp nod of her head. Lilly swallowed the words she was about to say.

  "Lilly, I understand that you want to be here for your daughter, but you need to rest and you won't get it here. Trust me, okay?" Vasile waited for her response before continuing.

  "Okay," she answered, her voice resolute.

  Vasile looked at his watch, it read 9:30 p.m. "I think it's time to call it a night. As soon Dr. Steele has information she will contact me and you will all know within minutes." Vasile turned to leave and Alina followed him. Lilly came up to Jen and hugged her and then did the same with Sally.

  "Don't worry Ms. P," Jen told her, "Jacque's the most stubborn person I know. She will be fine." Lilly nodded and with eyes full of unshed tears, she left as well.

  Fane gave them each hugs as well and told them to call him if they needed anything, to which Jen threw out, "I think Jacque would kick my butt if I called you for what I need." Decebel growled, but at least it got a small smile from Fane. That was what Jen had been aiming for. Jen turned to Decebel and stuck her tongue out at him like a petulant child.

  As he and Fane left, Decebel turned back one more time. "You two. Don't do anything that you consider brilliant. The rest of us will consider it stupid." He shut the door just as Jen threw the nearest thing she could get her hands on, which happened to be the box of tampons that Sally had absently set out, so naturally tampons went flying everywhere.

  "Arrrrrgh, I'm so going to skin him the first time I see him as a wolf and make him a nice rug to lay on in front of the fire place," Jen growl
ed.

  "Um, Jen, you don't have a fire place," Sally pointed out.

  "My hypothetical fire place, Sally. Come on, keep up will you?"

  "Oh, my bad. I forgot that I'm supposed to be taking notes on your hypothetical life so that when you make references to it I will know exactly what the freaking A you are talking about."

  "Well, at least you are able to admit when you are wrong. That's a step in the right direction." Jen patted her friend, then jumped back just before Sally's fist could connect with her shoulder. "Man, it's nice not to have that stupid pole stuck to me."

  Sally sat down on the bed and looked at Jen, her face no longer playful. "What's the plan, Jen? I know you're cooking one up because that's what you do best, so what are we going to do?"

  "Sneak into the ICU of course," Jen said, matter of fact like.

  "Nice." Sally smiled conspiratorially and then listened intently as Jen laid out her plan.

  Chapter 21

  "Start her on IV Vancomycin and Fentanyl twenty five micrograms bolus, f/b continuous infusion of three micrograms per hour. Then cover her with cooling blankets. Let's try to get her temperature down. If she starts shivering, replace them with regular blankets." Dr. Steele was issuing orders as she continued to monitor Jacque's condition. She had no problem deciding to sedate her given the amount of pain she was in; the fact that it would make it easier to move her was just a plus.

  While the nurses followed out her orders, she stepped into an empty room and called Logan. He picked up on the first ring.

  "I had to bring her to the ICU. I need to get her stable and then I will get the nurses out of the way so you can come up and move her," Cynthia explained.

  "What do you mean get her stable? What's wrong with her?" Logan's voice was low, and Cynthia couldn't tell if it was worry in his voice or something else.

  "The human blood she was given through a transfusion is attacking her body."

  "Can you fix her?"

  "Yes, I will tell you how once you are on your way to Denver. I'll text message you when I'm ready."

  Logan heard the line cut off as Dr. Steele hung up. He couldn't believe that something really was wrong with Jacque. Was it his fault? No, he told himself, you didn't make them give her the transfusion. That was just something that happened, one of those no fault situations. Besides, Dr. Steele said she could fix it, that's all that mattered. Jacque would be fine, and she would be his. He sat down in a chair as he waited in her office for the text that would bring him one step closer to his goal.

  "Are you sure this is going to work?" Sally whispered to Jen as they walked down the hall. They'd had a lucky break when Skender, the wolf Vasile put on the door had stepped away to go to the bathroom.

  "Of course it's going to work, it's my idea," Jen said confidently.

  "Right, like that summer you decided it would be a good idea to sneak out and go camping?"

  "Hey, everything turned out fine. It was just a little fire," Jen said carelessly.

  "A little fire, Jen? Really? You burned three acres, the freaking fire department had to get one of those crop duster planes to pour water over it, and you say that turned out fine?" Sally's whisper was now more of a whispered shout.

  "Okay, so it got a little out of control. This is nothing like that. It's a simple in and out op."

  "Did you just say in and out op?" Sally asked sarcastically.

  "Yeah, you know, op like operation. We get in and we get out undetected."

  "Oh, well once you put it like that, I don't know why I was ever worried." Sally rolled her eyes, clearly not comforted in the least by Jen's words.

  They continued to walk down hall after hall. All of them were beginning to look the same.

  "Do you even know where the ICU is?" Sally finally asked.

  "No, but I figured they would have signs with arrows that said 'you are here', and then pointed you the way you needed to go. You know, like in the mall."

  "Says the genius who planned our in and out op." Sally took a deep breath and let it out slow.

  As Jen rounded a corner, she saw a guy in scrubs coming towards them. Before Sally could be seen she pushed her back. "Go," she whispered.

  "What?" Sally gasped.

  "Go, there is a nurse or doctor coming this way. I will distract him. You go on like we planned." Sally hesitated. "Are you going to let Jacque down, Sally? Leave her all alone, scared in that unfamiliar room?" Jen knew the guilt trip would do the trick and sure enough...

  "Sometimes I want to punch you in the face, Jennifer Adams," she ground out as she turned and walked the opposite direction.

  "I love you too," Jen whispered, then quickly added, "Its 11:00 p.m. Now, meet back in the room in an hour and a half." Sally lifted her hand in acknowledgment but kept walking.

  Sally walked as quickly as she could down the hall and, rounding the corner, nearly ran into two huge doors with the letters ICU labeling them. Well, ask and you shall receive, she thought as she gently pushed on the doors to see if they would open. They didn't. Wishful thinking never did anyone any good but it was worth a try. She looked along the walls on either side of the door because she had noticed that a lot of the hospital doors were automated with a button so that you didn't have to push them open. As she examined the wall to the right of the doors, the hairs on the back of Sally's neck began to rise. She felt like she was being watched. She began to turn but before she could she felt pressure on her neck, and then darkness and silence engulfed her.

  Chapter 22

  Skender was standing in front of the room that Jacque's friends were staying in when he heard the elevator ding to announce its arrival. He couldn't help his natural instinct to take up a defensive posture when he was protecting something. When no one immediately exited the elevator, his wolf perked up. He sniffed the air and sharpened his hearing. He could smell a human and hear breathing. There was someone on that elevator, someone not conscious by the sound of their slow breathing. He moved quickly before the doors could close and a steady stream of curses in his native tongue began to flow from his mouth at the sight of one of Jacques' friends in still form in the floor, the one called Sally. He quickly scooped her into his arms and hurried towards her room. He knocked before opening, hoping that he would hear the other one, the mouthy one they called Jen, answer. The response was louder than any words could have been. Skender had learned that sometimes silence was the worst kind of noise. He opened the door slowly, only to confirm his fears. The room was empty. He carried Sally in and laid her on one of the beds, checked her pulse and watched her for a few seconds to make sure her breathing was steady. Then, as quietly as he entered, he left. All the while, the silence that filled the room screamed at him. Once in the hall he debated over and over in his mind whether to go search for Jen or call Vasile or Decebel and let them know what was going on. He could only imagine the wrath that Decebel would reign down on him. His actions towards Jen may not be obvious to him, but everyone else saw it, and if he found out she was missing he would tear Skender apart. Maybe I can wait just awhile to see if she comes back, if not then I will panic. In the back of his mind he knew he should call his Alpha, but fear stayed his hand.

  Jen turned toward the guy approaching her. As he got closer, she realized that he was pretty cute and not much older than herself. The mischief gods were smiling on her tonight.

  "You do realize you aren't supposed to be going to the ICU this late, right?" he asked her, totally throwing her for a loop.

  "The ICU?" Jen said stupidly.

  "Yeah, that's the only thing in the direction your friend just went." When Jen didn't respond but stood there looking back and forth between the direction Sally had gone and back at the cute guy, he spoke again. "I better go get her to keep her from getting in trouble. You need to head on back to whereever it is you are supposed to be."

  The part about him going and getting Sally was what finally brought her out of her trance. Jen touched his arm to get his full attention and when he looked
at her, she smiled her most seductively adoring smile. "Okay," she paused to look at his name badge, "Matt. You caught me. I was out roaming the hospital because I'm bored out of my mind. I was in a car accident and have been stuck in bed and I'm finally allowed to be up and moving. So here I am little 'ole pathetic me looking for a good time," she paused and winked at him, bringing on a full blush, "in a hospital. You wouldn't happen to know where I could find a good time that maybe came with a few drinks?" Jen said in her most hopeful voice. The guy named Matt looked at Jen, then at the hallway behind her, clearly torn about doing the right thing and the fun thing. Lucky for Jen, she was very good at convincing guys to do the fun thing.

  "Well, I was just going to end my shift," he began, but Jen interrupted with a squeal.

  "Yay! See, this was fate. You were going to leave work and be bored, and I was going to have to sit in my bed all alone and be bored, but instead we met. Pretty awesome if you ask me." Jen grinned at him adoringly. She wrapped her arm in his as she said, "Lead the way, handsome."

  Matt took her to a room marked 'Dietary' in bold letters. "We have beer that is kept on the floors for people who come in and are alcoholics."

  "Shut up! Really?" Jen asked.

  "Yep, the docs have to write a script for it, though. It's not the greatest but it'll get the job done in a pinch." He grinned at her and Jen saw that he had dimples. She groaned inwardly, if only she hadn't given her heart to another. Wait, WTH, she hadn't given her heart away, what was she thinking? Matt interrupted her inner dialogue when he took her by the hand, and after he had filled his backpack with beer he pulled her out of the room and continued down another hall. They came to a small waiting area tucked around a corner where it was virtually impossible to see. Matt set down his bag and pulled out two beers. He handed her one and kept the other for himself. Jen sat down on the love seat and stared at Matt over the rim of the beer can as she took a sip. "So Matt, what do you do exactly?"