Fang Hospital (Dr. Gabriella Van Court, Book 1) (12 page)

The pressured water punched Volk in the chest, shoving him to the wall he had held Claude against minutes ago.

Volk clenched his fists and began to walk through the stream of water. “You underestimate me. Pity it isn’t blessed!” He shut off the water main, picked up a fire extinguisher, and smacked K.L. on the head with it. K.L. sank to the floor. Volk shook his body like a wet dog, a mad wet dog. He bared his fangs, twice the size they were before, and growled. “I’m done with these games.”

Gabriella snaked across the floor on her belly toward the dagger. She stretched her fingers to grasp it when Volk stepped on her hand, digging his toenails into her flesh. He kicked the dagger away.

“Uh, uh, uh. How unladylike.” He released his hold and reached his hand down to her. “All you have to do is come with me. Then all this chaos will stop. Take your rightful position by my side.”

Gabriella stood. His eyes shot to her belly.

“You whore!” Volk snatched the dagger and raised it over his head, the tip directed at her heart.

Gabriella held her breath and hugged her belly. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered to her unborn child. She stared into his coal eyes. She wouldn’t cower to him. The dagger dropped from his hand and clanged to the floor. Volk’s scream pierced her ears. He arched his back, and his eyes rolled back into his head. Smoke rose from his body. Volk collapsed to the floor. The skin melted from his back. Gabriella grimaced as the acrid smell of his smoldering flesh filled the lab.

Claude stood with his hand raised, the empty bottle of hydrochloric acid in his grasp. “I couldn’t let him take you or the child growing inside of you.”

Volk spun around. Gabriella eyes widened with shock at his exposed blanched vertebra. But like black magic, his skin began to zip back up.

He took a preparatory step towards Claude, primed to rocket at him. “I will tear you to pieces!”

Gabriella grabbed the dagger.

“You evil-monger!” Barbara yelled.

Volk twisted his head to look at her.

Barbara?
Her ditsy vampire progeny stood at the entrance to the lab with her talons drawn and her eyes shooting daggers into Volk’s surprised ones.

“You will not breath upon, much less lay a hand on, my creator and my beloved!”

“Run, my love!” Claude shouted.

“No!”

As his eyes tracked peripherally at Gabriella, Volk swatted Barbara away like an annoying fly. “I’m impressed, Gabriella. You’ve turned a mortal. I used to beg you to do that for me.”

“I’m the one who begged,” Barbara said. “Now you will beg for mercy.”

“Enough of this drama!”

Volk flew into the air and sped at Barbara. She opened her mouth and launched a missile of fire at him. His suspended body went up in flames before it crashed to the floor.

Gabriella nearly dropped her dagger. “Shit!”

Claude’s mouth fell open.

“Gabriella,” Volk rasped. “I’ve always loved you.” He held out his burning hand to her. His flames licked at her, and her body grew hot from his heat. “Join me.”

She stepped back. “No. You didn’t love me. You coveted me.”

Volk opened his mouth and screamed, “I will return for you.”

Fantasies of a dying vampire.

His body turned to ash, except for his heart, which beat on.

Gabriella raised the dagger over her head and plunged it into his pulsing organ. It melted into a red puddle among the ruins of his once immortal body. Only his teeth with fangs extended remained. Gabriella picked them up and displayed them victoriously. “He’s mine now!”

But her victory roar died to a moan as she looked about the lab, taking in the ruins
Volk had left behind. Her army lay wasted upon the floor. Her heart felt as if it was splitting as her eyes fell upon K.L. and Marcus. Barbara and Uncle Claude ran to her. They embraced in a trio of both conquest and agony.

“Michael!”

Gabriella rushed to the cabinet and opened it; Michael sat trembling inside. She held her hand out to him. “It’s all right,” she said softly. “It’s over now. You can come out.”

Michael climbed out and collapsed into Gabriella’s arms.

“Shh, it’s okay.” She stroked his hair. “You were so brave.”

“I didn’t want him to hurt you, or anyone else anymore.”

She looked into his eyes. “He won’t.”

Michael took her hand and squeezed it nervously. “Where’s Anabella?”

Gabriella hung her head.

Michael ripped his hand from hers. “There she is! He ran to Anabella and crouched beside her. He cradled her head. “Anabella! Anabella! Please, I need you!”

Anger replaced the despair that had coursed though her veins. “He won’t win, even in his death!”

Gabriella stood in the center of the carnage. She closed her eyes. She had to try. Gabriella placed her hands by her sides. Her mind whirred with the sounds of moaning about her. Their cries amplified in her head. Her ears burned and her body shook. She slowly raised her arms. Her fingers trembled and she could feel the tips of her talons breaking off. “Rise. Rise. Rise,” she chanted.

Sounds of bodies bustling rang in her ears. Gabriella opened her eyes. She’d “mass healed.” She’d done what she’d never done before. But it came at a price. Spent from the immense energy she had summoned to do so, Gabriella collapsed.

K.L., Marcus, Uncle Claude, and Barbara surrounded her.

Her uncle tapped her cheek. “Gabriella, my dear, my very blood!”

Gabriella struggled to right herself, but her legs wouldn’t hold her.

K.L. cradled her. “You killed Volk. You healed us. You’ve had quite a night.”

“Not I, but we.”

“We need to get you to the E.R.,” K.L. said. “I’ll make sure you get a transfusion.”

“Transfusion!” Marcus called. “I was out of it. Max is in the operating room and needs blood.”

“Take care of Max. I’ll be okay,” Gabriella said, her voice waning.

“No, you are with child. You need nourishment. Don’t fret. It’s not good for you. We will take care of you both,” Marcus said.

“Absolutely,” K.L. added. “Claude and Marcus, you take Gabriella to the E.R. Barbara, you and I will get all units available. S.W.A.T., you clean this place. We don’t want any inquiries as to what happened here.” K.L. clapped. “Everyone go to work!”

Michael tugged at K.L’s lab coat. “What do you want me to do?”

K.L. squatted. “You can be a messenger. Spread the word that Volk is dead to all the vamps.”

“I can do that!” Michael grabbed Anabella’s hand. “Come on. We have to tell everyone the good news. Then we can really have a party to celebrate!”

He waved to Gabriella. “Bye, Dr. Van Court.”

Gabriella waved weakly. “Happy Halloween, Michael.”

Michael smiled. “You, too.”

Chapter Fifteen

Accompanied by Claude, Marcus carried Gabriella into the ER.

“Oh my God! It’s Dr. Van Court!” a nurse cried out. “Hurry! Bring her to room 2. Dr. Cade said you were kidnapped. He was assaulted and is in surgery.”

Gabriella felt every squeeze of her heart. “How is he?”

“I don’t know. They’re working on him. He has injuries to his face and neck. They’re giving him plasma expanders until they can get blood. The lab phones rang and rang, but they finally got through. Blood is on the way.”

“I’m so relieved.”

What could she say? The truth? That the lab was trashed during a vampire war?

Marcus laid her down on the bed. “I need a doctor in here, stat!”

“I’m a doctor,” Gabriella softly joked.

“You don’t count, dear. Not tonight. You get to play patient,” the nurse said.

Gabriella slipped off her scrub top. She knew the drill. They’d hook her up to the cardiac monitor and assess her from head to toe. Oh, no. They’d surely notice that her belly was bigger than when they last saw her. She clutched the waistband of her scrub pants. She had to think of something quick.

“Who did this to you, Dr. Van Court? Dr. Cade was too weak to say who assaulted him. The hospital is on lockdown. You’re safe here.”

“Someone disturbed.”

“That’s for sure. We’re relieved you’ve been found. The police want to speak to you. But we need to attend to you first. Does anything hurt?”

Only my heart
.  “No. I’m just flustered.”

The nurse looked up at Claude and then Marcus. “Mr. Van Court, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in ICU? My God, you just had surgery. I’ll have the unit secretary call the unit. In the meantime, go lie down in the other room until they come to get you.”

“I feel fine. I’m not going to leave my niece after what happened.”

“The police will want to speak to both of you. And here they come, right behind Dr. Toth. An OB is the only doctor available now. Your back-up ER docs are on the way in.”

Great, an OB. There’s no fooling him.
“Hi, George.”

He wrinkled his forehead. “Gabriella, we were so worried. Max said you were kidnapped, and the call room is in shambles. Were you with him?”

“No.” She lied. It would make it that much more complicated to explain. “I’d left him to go check on my uncle.” It was a partial truth.

“Yes, she came to see me,” Claude confirmed. “She wheeled me to radiology, and she disappeared while I was waiting for my x-ray. I started to worry, so I got up and looked for her. That’s when I heard her scream. I shot out of my wheelchair and followed her cries that seemed to be coming from a stairwell. That’s when I bumped into Marcus.”

Marcus carried on with the tall tale. “I knew my friend needed blood, fast. I was on my way to the lab to see what the hold-up was when I found Gabriella collapsed and dazed in the stairwell. I scooped her up and brought her here.”

“We’ll need a full report,” a policeman said.

“We’ll cooperate fully,” Marcus replied.

Claude nodded in agreement.

“Dr. Van Court, can you give us a description of your assailant?”

“Yes. He was tall, over 6 feet, and he had black hair that was tied in a ponytail. He had dark eyes, and was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and black pants. He was barefoot and had a deep voice.”

“Where did he attack you?”

“I stepped out into the hallway to wait for the radiology tech. He grabbed me from behind, clapped his hand across my mouth, and dragged me to the stairwell leading to the lab. While on the landing of the stairwell, he slapped me when I refused to go with him. He must have heard Marcus and Uncle Claude coming. He fled through an open window. I think he came in the same way. He’s gone.”
Definitely gone
.

The policeman spoke into his radio. “Be on the lookout for a Caucasian man, over 6 feet tall, wearing all black and barefoot, wanted for assault. He’s escaped from Harry S. Fang Memorial Hospital. Consider him unstable and dangerous.”

They wouldn’t find him. She could finally close her eyes.

Uncle Claude sent her a message.
Impressive. You were always a great storyteller. Now rest. I have to go play patient as well. I love you. We’ll celebrate soon.

I love you, too.

“I’ll be in the waiting room for Dr. Cade and for Dr. Van Court,” Marcus said.

Thank you, Marcus.

And I thank you.

“Your blood work has returned,” George said. “You’re anemic and your blood pressure is a bit low, so we’re going to give you some blood. This isn’t my specialty, but I’ll do a quick scan of your belly to make sure you’re not hemorrhaging internally. I’ve also ordered a CT of your head. When your back-up arrives, they’ll take over.”

She couldn’t stall any longer. Gabriella slipped off her scrub pants. George eyed her barely rounded lower belly. He squeezed a dollop of sonogram gel onto her abdomen. He scanned her from sternum to pubis.

“Uh, no fluid collections, but uh..”

He paused to do some quick measurements.

“I know, George. It’s Max’s.”

“I thought you and Max were a new item. I know he had a thing for you for the longest time. Apparently, long enough. You’re 12 weeks along. Baby’s heartbeat is strong and it’s swimming all over the place. Congratulations.”

Gabriella clutched George’s hand. “Is Max really OK?”

“Last I heard, they’re closing. He lost a lot of blood, but he’s stable. You’re lucky to be alive. That guy was a real monster.”

“I am, and yes he was.”

****

The two units of blood rejuvenated her, and K.L. had slipped her another one for comfort’s sake. Her head CT was negative, and she was cleared to visit Max in the recovery room. She watched his heart beat steady and strong across the cardiac monitor as he slept off the anesthetics. The last unit of blood was infusing into his now plump veins. Gabriella gently touched the bandages of his face and neck, lamenting she couldn’t heal them on the spot. But he was alive, and she’d work on it.

Max smacked his lips and flickered his eyes open. “Gabriella,” he rasped.

“Shh. Don’t talk now. Rest. Volk’s dead,” she whispered in his ear.

He whispered, “Hallelujah!”

“Well, look who’s awake.” K.L. strode into the recovery room. “I gave you my best stuff!”

Marcus stepped out from behind K.L. “Hey, Doc. We’ll have to fly for pleasure next time.”

Max held up his thumb.

Marcus adjusted Max’s IV and tucked in his blankets beneath him. “Mortals need warmth. Are you in pain?”

Max shook his head. “No, but thank you, Marcus.”

“You’re welcome.” He nudged K.L. “Let’s give them some deserved private time.”

“Before you go, K.L., where’s my uncle?”

“Back in ICU, role playing!”

“I hope his play doesn’t include feeding off the nurses.”

“I don’t think Barbara would let them,” K.L. said.

“Yeah, she probably would fry them. Who knew?”

“I would have loved to be awake to see that. I guess we know what her special talent is.”

Gabriella laughed for the first time that night. “Our baby’s all grown up.”

“How time flies,” K.L teased.

He patted Max’s hand and kissed Gabriella on the cheek. “We’ll still have our party. Better late than never.”

“You can count on us being there.” Gabriella rubbed her belly. “All three of us.”

Gabriella waved to K.L and Marcus. She glanced at the cardiac monitor and then laid her head on Max’s chest.

“Hearing is believing.” She relished every beat thumping in her ear. “I love you, Maxwell Cade.”

Max ran his fingers through her hair. “And I love you, Gabriella Van Court.”