Fang Hospital

  He emerged from the bathroom, a new man, ready for Gabriella. Max slid his bag beneath the call room bed and crash-landed onto the unforgiving hospital mattress. It moaned as his back thudded against it. His laugh filled the silent room. The irony of it all! After tonight, he wagered that they’d remember the comedy of getting together, hopefully along with the eroticism.

  Max tucked his arms under his head and crossed his ankles, waiting for Gabriella to pop her head around the corner with that heart-stopping smile of hers. He knitted his brows. Even when he was hot on her heels, she’d somehow disappear at times, only to sneak up behind him and nuzzle his neck. He stroked his neck. It was as if her lips were right there. He hardened at the thought. Max swung his right arm from beneath his head and glanced at his watch. An hour had gone by since he had spoken to her. Where was she?

  ****

  Alarm bells echoed in Gabriella’s head. Barbara was on the loose. It was all her fault, bringing her feral vampire to work.

  “I should have left her at home,” she said to K.L as she tugged him to the lab exit.

  “No, we agreed that if she busted out of her coffin, a likely possibility, she’d ravage the city. At least here we have her contained.”

  “Or so we hope.”

  “She couldn’t have gone far. She’s as strong as ten oxen, but slow as a turtle. She hasn’t yet attained vampire speed.”

  “You’re right!”

  They flew up the stairwell together. A frosty hand shoved her from behind. It wasn’t K.L. She had his hand. Even at vampire speed, they stumbled forward.

  Discombobulated, K.L. shook his head. “Woman, what have you been eating?”

  She leaned into him and whispered, “Someone shoved me. An evil force resides here.”

  “I sense no one.”

  “It’s gone now.”

  They paused at the exit door.

  “Oh, I know who he is,” K.L. said. “Before you came to The Fang, there was a meddlesome vamp by the name of Marcus who took up residence in this stairwell. He was pilfering my...the hospital’s blood supply and had scared some patients to death. We got rid of him. He must be back. I’ll let my clan know. They’ll deal with him. Repeat offenders will not be tolerated.”

  She drew a deep breath. Her pulse spiraled downward and moisture returned to her throat. “Good to know.”

  Thoughts of Volk wormed into her head. She’d been obsessed with him since that parking lot incident. But she’d been safe for centuries. Why would he come now? Surely he’d found another candidate for his queen. K.L. is right. If he wanted me, he’d grab me. Volk never played around. His actions were always direct and calculated. She tuned her worries of Volk out and focused on the present disaster—Barbara.

  Between the two of them, they flung the metal door open with double vampire strength. It flew off its hinges and crashed to the floor. The hospital alarm flashed red and emitted a resounding Woot-Woot-Woot warning. Gabriella and K.L. sheepishly grinned at one another.

  “Shit! Let’s get out of here and find Barbara,” Gabriella yelled above the commotion.

  They pressed their palms to their sensitive vamp ears.

  Even though she couldn’t hear him, she saw him laughing.

  Like a vampire S.W.A.T. team, Gabriella pointed K.L. to the south and east wings. She’d tackle the north and west ones. K.L. raised his hand, confirming he understood her directions.

  Gabriella walked at a leisurely mortal pace, not wanting to garner any attention to her urgent search for Barbara. The broken down door was enough. She chuckled under her breath. It was pretty funny, though. She could picture the maintenance crew scratching their heads. Silliness aside, the hunt for Barbara was on.

  Gabriella scoured the hospital halls. She peeked into rooms and under the beds of sleeping patients. IV pumps purred and monitors beeped, but neither patients nor staff screamed. On the positive side, the body count was zero. The negative? Barbara was nowhere in sight. She’d searched the medical and surgical units without success. She sent a telepathic message to K.L.

  “Any luck?”

  She opened her mind to hear his response.

  “Not yet.”

  For security reasons, the obstetric unit was a locked unit. Her stomach clenched. Barbara wouldn’t eat a baby! A wave of nausea hit her, but she’d check anyway. She swiped her hospital ID through the keypad and entered.

  “Oh, hello, Dr. Van Court,” an OB nurse said. “You’re certainly far from your stomping ground.”

  “Just came to view the precious little ones.”

  “They are sweet, aren’t they? You’re in luck. It’s a full moon and we have a full house. Would you like to feed a few?”

  Her palms shot up. “Oh, no. I don’t want to feed off of them.”

  The nurse’s eyebrows nearly touched. “What?”

  “I, uh, meant I can’t feed them now. I’m only here for a quick peek.” She threw her thumb over her shoulder. “I need to get back to the E.R. soon.”

  “Understandable. Well, gawk away.” The OB nurse paused and smiled at Gabriella. “Maybe we’ll see you here as a patient one day. Then you can take your own very special one home.”

  Gabriella shook her head.

  “Never say never! Goodnight, Dr. Van court.”

  “Goodnight.”

  She stared at the wiggly pink newborns. What would hers and Max’s look like? Certainly that would be a one-of-a-kind Fang baby. She thumped her palm to her forehead. “Max! He’s been waiting.” She had to find Barbara before he gave up on her.

  The only place Gabriella hadn’t searched was the intensive care unit.

  “Hello, Dr. Van Court,” a nurse said. “I’m glad you’re here. Your patient from the E.R. hasn’t stopped talking about you. He can’t wait to see you. He’s stable and in bed 5.”

  The patient waved to her from his bed. “Hey, Doc. Come on in!”

  Gabriella approached the man’s bedside. “You’re looking better. You finally have some color to your face. For awhile there you were almost as pale as I am.”

  “Working nights, you must not get out much. But I’m relieved you are on duty tonight.”

  “You have Dr. Cade to thank, too.”

  “I did, Doc. But I wanted to thank you in person.”

  She shrugged. “It’s my job to give the best care possible to my patients.”

  “You certainly gave me your best. The cardiologist said my heart attack was mild, and my prognosis is good. Even better if I change my diet, exercise, and lower my stress.” He pointed to his IV. “Thanks to you, I got this anti-clot medicine just in time.”

  The heart monitor above his head began to beep faster. The man clutched his chest. “I’m not feeling so well.”

  Gabriella darted her eyes to the monitor. Shit! He’s in V-tach. She shot her hand over his heart. Blue sparks flew from her fingertips. The man jerked in the bed. His heartbeat slowed immediately. The nurses bolted into the room.

  “He’s back in normal sinus rhythm,” Gabriella said calmly.

  The man stared at her. “What happened?”

  “Your heartbeat sped up, but it’s back to normal.”

  “Thank God you were here, doctor,” one of the nurses said.

  The cardiologist on call rushed breathless into the room. He scanned the monitor that now displayed a normal beat. “Sir, you certainly are keeping us on our toes.”

  The man pointed to Gabriella. “It was she. She’s a healer,” he said, his gaze fixed onto hers.”

  “You’ll be fine now. Listen to the doctors and nurses and you’ll be out of here in no time. Take care. I have to go.” She gently squeezed his hand. “Your heart will mend.”

  Everyone’s jaw dropped as she left the patient’s room.

  “He converted spontaneously to a normal rhythm. I’ve seen it happen before. He’s lucky, I guess,” Gabriella offered. She had no time to be cornered to discuss freakish arrhythmias. She had to corral Barbara and make amends to Max for being so tardy
.

  “Shoot!” the unit secretary called out. She smacked the counter. “I had those tubes of blood right here.” She leaned back into her chair. “With all the commotion going, the lab must have already picked them up. I’ll call them to confirm they’ve received the specimens.” The secretary picked up the phone and dialed. She waited with the receiver fixed to her ear. “That’s strange. It’s ringing but there’s no answer. They’re probably slammed. Halloween is always crazy.”

  “Indeed,” Gabriella said, quickly ending the conversation. Hmm? Missing blood. Barbara must be near.

  High-pitched scraping followed by a clicking scurry came from beyond the ceiling.

  “Drat! Must be those raccoons in the ducts again. I better call maintenance,” the secretary said.

  Barbara! She was in the ventilator system. “I better go.”

  “Watch out for those raccoons.” The secretary held up her hands claw-like. “They’ve got these huge talons.”

  “I certainly will.”

  But those were not raccoon talons. They were Barbara’s nails.

  Gabriella sent a message to K.L. “Found her. She’s in the vents.”

  He replied telepathically. “Shit!”

  “Go up through the lab. I’ll climb in from the E.R. We’ll flank her.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Gabriella hurried to the E.R. Crap! The E.R. vent entrance is past the call rooms. I can’t let Max see me.

  She winced as she whooshed past the call room where Max was waiting patiently for her, undetected to his eyes. At least he was still there. Once she grabbed Barbara by her scruff and deposited her in the morgue, as she should have done, then she’d jump in that bed with Max. Gabriella skidded to a halt beneath an entrance to the ducts. She sprang up past the ceiling cover and carefully replaced it.

  Where is she?

  Gabriella crawled through the maze of the hospital ductwork. She banged her head.

  “Ouch!”

  “Ouch. Ouch. Ouch,” her voice echoed back in the cramped canal.

  “Gabriella?” Barbara called.

  Pay dirt! “Stay right there. I’m coming.”

  “Women!” She heard K.L.’s curse echo in the distance.

  As she crawled towards Barbara, her knee crunched over glass. How many test tubes did she steal? Gabriella sighed. Better test tubes than bodies.

  She found Barbara lying in a fetal position and clutching her stomach.

  Barbara belched. “I don’t feel so good.”

  Her eyes no longer glowed red, and she was not only docile, but she also made perfect sense. Thankfully her feral state had finally faded.

  Gabriella scooted to her. “Honey, didn’t K.L. feed you enough?”

  Barbara nodded. “But I was still hungry.” She pouted. “I’m stuffed.”

  Gabriella rubbed Barbara’s back. “Come with me. I have an elixir that will help you.”

  Barbara gazed up at her with pleading eyes. “I’ll definitely need that.”

  Gabriella took her hand. “Let’s go back to the lab.”

  “K.L. is going to be really pissed off at me.”

  “Maybe. But he’ll get over it. Then we’ll all celebrate Halloween.” Once she got Barbara tucked away with a “forgiving” K.L., she’d dash back to the call room for her own celebration with Max.

  They crawled toward the lab. Gabriella picked up one empty blood vial after another that Barbara had sucked down like a pack of Pixy Stix.

  K.L. lay prone with his chin resting in his palm. “Well, well. Look who’s here.”

  “It’s okay, K.L. Her feralness has expired. She’s tame now.”

  “Oh, goody,” he said sarcastically.

  “I’m sorry I caused so much trouble,” Barbara said. “I couldn’t control myself.”

  He paused, in one last bit of silent admonishment. “Understandable.” He rose to his hands and knees, and waggled his finger at her. “No more escaping.”

  She shook her head. “I won’t. I promise.”

  K.L. backed up and disappeared through the vent exit in the lab. Barbara and Gabriella followed. They closed off the duct as if nothing had happened.

  Gabriella handed him the empty tubes. “I don’t think these are re-useable.”

  “Not for the hospital.” He grinned. The tips of his fangs poked out. “But they’ll make cute cocktail glasses for our party tonight. I’ll have my minions redraw the labs in ICU.” He glared at Barbara. “I’ll just say the other specimens had clotted.”

  Barbara hunched her shoulders in supplication.

  Gabriella pulled the flask filled with her potion from her cardigan pocket. “This has come in handy tonight. You’re the second vamp needing a dose.”

  She poured the bellyache medicine into a cup.

  “Salut, Barbara. This is amazing stuff.”

  Barbara brought the plastic shot glass to her lips and tilted her head back. She tossed the elixir down her throat and slammed the empty cup onto the lab counter. “That was awesome. The bloat is gone.”

  Gabriella cocked her eyebrows at K.L. “Maybe we should open a vamp pharmacy.”

  He puckered his lips and squinted. “It’s a thought.” He grabbed Barbara’s hand. “You, my little apprentice, will help me set up for our soirée this evening.” K.L. winked at Gabriella. “You, my sweet Gabriella, have an appointment to keep with your ‘doctor’.”

  She nodded with a grin. “And I’m very late. I hope he’ll still see me!”

  Chapter Eight

  Max stared at his watch. One hour, 21 minutes, and 33, 34, 35, 36 seconds had past. But who was counting? He quit tormenting himself by watching every tick of the second hand. Gabriella was a no show. He massaged his head. He didn’t get it. Why did she stand him up? There were no patients in the E.R. The nurses would have paged him or rang the call room phone. And there was no way she’d take that long in the lab. He’d worked hard fixing up the call room. Twice! He even cut his face while shaving. He was alone, confused, and now softened.

  The night had started with a promise, their bodies twisted together, hot yet cold at the same time, on that hard picnic bench. The call room was a step up.

  Max grabbed the T.V. remote and clicked the power button. He surfed through the channels.

  “Halloween special, Halloween special, Halloween special, CNN.”

  He watched the news for a while, but it was too depressing. He settled on a Dracula movie.

  “Yeah, why not? My night’s going to suck anyway,” he muttered.

  He couldn’t get into the flick. Gabriella poked through his every thought.

  He had fallen for her the first time she walked through the double doors of The Fang E.R. The way her ebony hair bobbed on her shoulders. Her porcelain skin. Those ruby lips. The perfect swell of her breasts. He’d ogled her derriere at every covert opportunity. And he caught her assessing his package on several occasions.

  She was an enigma tonight just as she had been the other evening. Max stroked his chin. Was there someone else besides him? Gabriella oozed sex, and he thought it was directed at him. But his thoughts started to spin wildly in his head. He recalled how nervous she seemed at the restaurant before she fled to the restroom. Was her cell on vibrate? Did she leave to answer his call? And what happened at her house? What single woman, a beautiful single woman, lives alone in a way too spacious secluded house? Max’s pulse escalated with imagined scenarios. Did she spy him in the parking lot? He must have beaten us to her house. He was there when she kicked me to the curb. God, what did she do? Give him her house key? We had plans. The good kind of all night plans. It was the night that never happened. And tonight is a repeat!

  He tossed the remote onto the nightstand and yanked the blanket to his chest. He shivered. He’d complain to maintenance, but it never made a difference. The hospital call rooms were frosty in the fall and winter, and sweltering in the summer. The thermostats served merely as decoration. Tonight was weirdly extra frigid. Max huddled between the shee
ts with no Gabriella to wrap his arms around. His mind wanted sleep, but his body desired more. His tired brain won. Max closed his eyes, letting the Dracula movie play in the background.

  His slumber led him straight to Gabriella. She was floating above him. A diaphanous white gown replaced her scrubs. Her silky hair brushed across his chest. Then her eyes flashed green and fangs sprung past those ruby lips. She sank her points into his neck. He tried to yank her off of him, but he lay paralyzed, his muscles not heeding his commands. He grew sleepier.

  “Gabriella,” he whispered.

  The cackle woke him. Max bolted upright in the bed. She wasn’t there. No one was there. Max glanced at the T.V. where Dracula had his victim by the neck. It was an old black and white movie, but he gasped at the bright red blood seeping from Dracula’s prey. He blinked. The weird colorized blood was now gray. Max clutched his temples. It was all a nightmare.

  ****

  Gabriella scurried down the corridor of call rooms. A maintenance man stood steadying a ladder leading to the ventilator entrance she had pushed through minutes ago. She stopped and asked, “What’s going on?”

  The man pointed upward. “We had to call Animal Control. The ICU nurses reported sounds like talons scraping against metal coming from the duct system. My bet is there’s a raccoon on the loose. But we’ll get him. These guys got their dart guns ready.”

  She fought the grin bubbling to escape onto her lips. “Good luck.”

  “Don’t you worry, Dr. Van Court. We’ve got this varmint cornered.”

  “Carry on.”

  She shook her head all the way to the call room where she hoped Max was still there waiting for her. “Silly mortals!”

  But there was one mortal she planned to corner.

  Gabriella dashed into the call room. Max sat in the bed clutching the sheets. Even in the dim room, his pallor rivaled hers. Someone had spooked him. That damn Marcus! K.L.’s clean-up clan better hurry. She scooted into the bed next to him and touched his cheek. His jaw was tight.

  “Max, what happened?”

  “Bad dream,” he answered. “Where have you been?”

  “I went to the lab, and then I spent some time visiting that man with the MI who got transferred to the ICU. While I was there, he went into an arrhythmia. They were about to call a code, but he spontaneously converted to sinus rhythm.”