Dr. Wolf, the Fae Rift Series Book 1- Shockwave (8 page)

That sent a tremor down Aleric’s spine. “Tell me about when I was brought in.”

“Well, you were naked—”

“You can skip that part,” Aleric told her.

She laughed. “The hospital gown was flattering—”

Aleric stood up.

“Kidding,” Nurse Eastwick said. “Sit down and eat something before you fall over.” When he complied, she continued, “They brought you in on the ambulance, saying someone had found you unconscious in an alley. We thought maybe you had been jumped, stripped, and robbed.” At his surprised expression, she nodded. “It happens.” She gave him a curious look. “Do you know how you ended up there?”

Aleric shook his head. “It’s foggy. I don’t remember much from before I woke up.” He rubbed the back of his head. His fingers found the knot. “Any chance you know where they found me?”

She nodded. “I remember because it’s not far from my apartment. Second Street and Hamilton. I’ll warn you; it’s not the best part of the city.”

“So why do you live there?” he asked.

She gave him a wry smile. “ER nurse, remember? Putting my boy through college isn’t cheap. I had to make a few compromises to my lifestyle, but it’ll be worth it when he graduates.”

“You’re a good mother,” Aleric told her.

Her answering smile warmed his heart.

Chapter 7

Aleric walked through the hallways of the hospital careful to avoid any nurses or patients. Luckily, it seemed the D Wing was seldom traveled, so the hallways around it had less traffic than most. He could hear the sounds of babies on the maternity level three floors up; their mewling cries and the soothing sounds of their mothers touched his ears with the whispers of new life. The Emergency Room was quiet for the moment. It seemed nightfall brought with it a sort of calm that settled over the pale building. If he was going to leave, it was the perfect chance.

He paused by the back door. A glance at the parking lot beyond showed three cars that looked as though they hadn’t been moved in quite a while. One had a flat tire and the other two were covered in enough dirt and debris that visibility through the windshields would be quite limited. Several dumpsters lined the back corner. Aleric crossed to these. He ducked behind them and pulled off his clothes. He didn’t think Nurse Eastwick would be very thrilled if he tore his scrubs, and he still hadn’t gotten his borrowed clothes from the operating room.

He thought of the sensation of moonlight on his thick fur, the feeling of gravel beneath his paws, and the tantalizing tale of the wind to his wolven nose. The change came easier at night. He settled into his wolf form with the feeling of pulling on a pair of comfortably worn shoes. Speaking of which, the unfamiliar scent from those he had worn made him turn his nose away. He didn’t know how long he would be stuck in Edge City, but if it was much longer, he vowed to find a way to get clothes of his own.

Aleric trotted across the parking lot. The sound of his padded paws echoed softly against the white hospital building. He slunk around the side, careful to stay in the darkness closest to the wall. In his animal form, he looked like a huge wolf given the fact that mass stayed the same no matter which form he was in. If he kept to the shadows, he hoped he could be mistaken for a big dog. Given the circumstances of the day though, he doubted anyone would think him less than one of their nightmare creatures being talked about on the news.

Buildings loomed high overhead, crowding out the stars with light pollution while the mostly-f moon shone only dully through the clotted cement canopy. Aleric realized when he started up the street that he should have looked at a map. Second Street and Hamilton shouldn’t have been too difficult to find, but he didn’t know if Second meant two hundred north, south, east, or west, and also, if it was two, two hundred, or two thousand, for that matter. He hoped there weren’t that many streets in Edge City, but given the number of vehicles and people that traversed the roads even at night, he wouldn’t have been surprised.

Most of the alleyways connected. Aleric found that if he kept away from the main streets, he could make it most of the way unnoticed. There were a few detours when he found himself face-to-face with either a brick wall, the connecting edges of buildings, or alleys containing makeshift houses of cardboard, mutilated furniture, and torn blankets that smelled of sour, unwashed bodies.

Aleric backpedaled quickly and altered his course to avoid the homeless as memories of vampires, demons, and orphaned dark fae rose in his mind.

He followed the block system, counting in his mind as he was sure no dog in the area ever had. The few animals he encountered were quick to scurry out of his way. Several scruffy cats hissed at him in passing, but knew far better than to take on the huge wolf. The scariest thing he saw was a rat bigger than the cats and carrying around what looked like half of a chicken in its mouth. He wondered if it would be considered part of the fae creatures or something evil Edge City had created on its own.

A scent touched his nose and Aleric’s steps slowed. He sniffed the air, testing the currently carefully. Two scents came to him. One was the scent he recognized as his own. It was the other that drew him down the alley, his paws slow and heart pounding. He paused near the end where a brick wall stood. It was there that the acrid scent was strongest.

Aleric sniffed the air, sneezed, and sniffed the air again. The sharp smell made his fur stand up. It was tangy, thick, and left a bad taste in his mouth like metal that had burned. He stepped closer to the bricks and the smell disappeared. Surprised, Aleric spun around. There it was, choking, bitter, but when he took two steps toward the mouth of the alley, the scent disappeared.

Aleric turned again. This time, he advanced slowly. He had never encountered anything like the smell. Scent clung to things, lingering on bushes and buildings from passing creatures and objects, and trailing along the ground in tracks waiting to be followed. He had never found a scent suspended in the air like the string on a balloon. It had a beginning and an end. When he rose onto his hind legs, placing a paw against the wall for support, he found that the smell ended just below the highest reach of his nose.

It was a hole.

A tingle ran across Aleric’s skin at the realization.

The scent didn’t move. It had definite edges that vanished as soon as his nose was past them. It was ragged as though someone or something had torn it open. It was a rift, a rift in whatever it was that kept the fae world and the human world separate.

Aleric sniffed beneath it. He could smell where he had landed. There was a dumpster half-f of garbage and he found scent where his head had hit the edge of the metal container before he slammed to the ground. There were three doors leading to the alley, back doors of the small shops that took up residence along the first floors of the buildings to either side. One of them had undoubtedly found him there when they entered the alley to throw away garbage.

If he was in wolf form when he fell through the rift, that would make sense as to why he had been naked when he reached the hospital. Werecreatures phased back to human form when they were seriously injured; being knocked unconscious must have made his body phase back in the alley before he was found.

Aleric checked the alley from front to back, then side to side, but other than the pungent rift and the trail from the feet of the paramedics and several fresher tracks to the dumpster and back to the doors, there was nothing.

Unsatisfied, but not sure how to find anything else out, Aleric made his way back toward the hospital. There were fae scents interspersed with those of the humans in the city. He was tempted to follow them, but the thought of Braum made him hurry. If the faun awoke and was afraid, he could hurt himself further. Aleric doubted his decision to leave the Light fae in the hands of the fairy. Tranquility had proven to be anything but a calm, easy-going creature.

Aleric was almost to the hospital when he heard a scream. An answering roar made him rush forward so fast his paws practically flew over the sidewalk. He darted around the hospital to the side where most of the staff parked and slid to a stop. Dr. Indley leaned against her car cringing away from the dark creature that loomed over her.

It was the demon from the D Wing.

Aleric launched himself at the creature’s back. He latched onto the lava-patterned skin and bit down hard. The demon let out another roar and grabbed Aleric by the ruff. He threw Aleric across the parking lot with a strength fueled by rage. Aleric hit the side of a car so hard he dented it. He fell to the ground and was up on his paws again within the same heartbeat.

The demon raised its clawed hand. Marae cowered against her car. A whimper of fear escaped the veterinarian’s lips. The claws came down. The demon would kill her right there; that much was certain.

Aleric slammed into Marae, shoving her out of the way. The claws sliced across his chest. He let out a yelp and leaped at the demon’s throat. The demon was ready this time. It smashed Aleric to the ground with both huge hands and balled them into fists, ready to crush the life out of him.

Aleric dodged the fists and darted beneath the Dark fae. He slashed at the creature’s hamstring with his fangs; though his teeth sunk deep, the demon’s muscular form was too thick for him to tear through the muscle he needed. The demon bellowed and spun faster than Aleric thought the huge beast should be able to move.

He had to get to the demon’s throat. The Dark fae was guarding it now. He knew Aleric’s tricks. There was no way Aleric could protect Dr. Indley or even survive the encounter if he was unable to bring the creature down, and the only way he knew how to do that was to stop it from breathing long enough for the demon to change form again.

Aleric looked around the parking lot. There was nothing he could use to slow the demon’s enraged rush. The creature swiped at him. Aleric dodged to the side and darted around a van. The demon clawed huge gashes through the metal of the vehicle’s side where Aleric’s head had been. Aleric leaped onto the back of a truck. The alarm sounded. The demon gripped the sides of his head in both hands and let out another roar.

A scent touched Aleric’s nose. His head jerked up. He glanced at the air above the top of the truck.

The demon roared and Marae gave a shriek of fear. Aleric was out of time. He jumped off the truck at the creature. The demon caught him with a backhand that slammed him into the side of the vehicle. Aleric fell to the ground and pretended to be injured. The demon reached for him with both claws. Aleric lay there until the last possible second. Just before the demon grabbed him, Aleric ducked under the reaching claws and leaped at the demon’s throat.

His fangs sunk into the skin. Aleric had to remind himself not to tear through the demon’s throat completely. The demon stumbled backwards, pawing at Aleric’s sides. Aleric gripped harder. The demon fell to its knees. Aleric held on, dragging the creature to the ground. The demon’s struggles weakened, then stopped entirely. The demon’s skin began to shift back to normal. Aleric let go slowly and backed up.

The door behind Aleric burst open. Three security officers with guns rushed through. Aleric slunk into the shadows and darted around the corner to the back parking lot. He didn’t stop running until he reached the dumpster where he had hidden his clothes.

It took several minutes for Aleric’s heart to calm down. When the phase finally came, he winced at the pull of the gashes across his chest. The long claw marks from the demon bled down his skin. He debated whether to wear the scrubs top or not, but going into a hospital bleeding wasn’t his idea of a good time, especially when one of his patients was a vampire.

He glanced in the garbage can and saw a handful of discarded gauze and bandages from the surgery room. Aleric knew contamination was possible, which was why they had been thrown away, but he also knew if he didn’t stop the bleeding, it was going to cause questions he didn’t want to answer. He picked up several pieces of gauze still in their wrappers and made use of a nearly-empty container of gauze tape. The result was ratty but effective in stopping the bleeding.

Aleric pulled on the scrubs and hurried across the parking lot. He paused just inside the door and let his eyes adjust from the darkness outside to the glare of the neon lights. He jogged toward the E.R. and shoved the doors open to the sight of chaos.

“Dr. Wolf, thank goodness,” Marae said as soon as she saw him. “A creature attacked me in the parking lot. It tried to kill me!”

Aleric didn’t need to ask where the demon was. By the sounds of arguing, he was just past the next curtain.

“Let me see how I can help,” he told Dr. Indley.

“You shouldn’t go over there,” she replied. “Something like that shouldn’t exist. It’s not right.”

“There are a lot of strange things happening today,” Aleric told her. “I’ve got to help out where I can.”

He turned the corner in time to see Dr. Worthen arguing with the security officers. The demon lay strapped to one of the beds, its skin returned to normal and eyes smoldering with a faint yellow glow. Nurse Eastwick injected fluid into the stent in its arm; Aleric hoped they were using a much stronger sedative than before.

“I don’t care if he’s a psychotic monster,” Dr. Worthen said. “I can’t let you take him out of this wing. It wouldn’t be safe for anyone else out there.”

“It’s not safe for you,” one of the security officers pointed out.

“I’ve got things under control,” Dr. Worthen said.

“This isn’t control,” the officer said. “This is sedation. It’s not a permanent fix for the situation. What happens when it wears off?”

“We’ll keep him on a steady dose until we figure out what to do.”

The second officer, an older man, shook his head. “I don’t know what you want me to do, Kent. I can’t leave a patient in here who can endanger everyone in the hospital.”

“And I can’t let you take him somewhere else where this can happen again,” Dr. Worthen replied. “He’s more of a threat at the precinct than here. Trust me, Chance. It’s the best bet we’ve got.”

Chance watched the doctor closely. “How long do you plan to keep him here?”

“Until they figure out what to do with these creatures,” Dr. Worthen replied. “I’ll stay in touch with Commissioner Oaks. I have a spare room where we can keep him away from the others. I’ll make sure he’s monitored nonstop.”

Chance hesitated, then nodded. “Fine, but we’ll be doing sweeps all night.” He looked at the demon on the bed and his bewilderment was clear. “I’ve never seen anything like this in the thirty-five years I’ve worked here.”

“I know; me either,” Dr. Worthen told him. There was understanding in his voice when he set a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Let me know if you see anything else unusual around the hospital. We need to keep this contained to avoid starting a panic.”