Page 62 of Sundowners
Roman had his grandmother by the shoulders as she pulled on his shirt. She was crying, and his face was red from exertion. The afternoon nurse stood by helplessly as Frances had a breakdown the likes of which I hadn’t seen since she’d arrived.
Roman and Frances stood in the middle of the room.
“Frances, it’s Nurse Creed. Can I help?”
She pulled away from Roman and fell into my arms. I focused all the healing energy I had on her as I picked her up and carried her to her bed.
“I’ll take care of this,” I said to the nurse.
“You want me to leave the sedative?”
“No, that won’t be necessary,” I said as I lay Frances down and sat next to her. I brushed her hair out of her eyes and watched as the haze lifted and her gaze came back into focus.
“Nurse Creed, I’m so glad you’re here! I had such a terrible dream.” She held onto my arms, her grip strengthening the more energy I gave her.
“Tell me what happened,” I said, never taking my eyes from hers. Roman pulled his aunt into a hug as she cried, but I didn’t have enough to send them any calming energy. That let me know I was seriously depleted. I needed an Exchange. As soon as I had Frances calm.
“My son was here with some strange woman, and then they were trying to give me a shot of something. My son is dead, Creed. How could he be here?”
“Lola,” I heard Roman say, but she remained focused on me, pleading, tears streaming from her eyes. Her blood pressure was high, her blood sugarwaytoo high.
“Roman, please get Lexi and tell her Mrs. San Angelo may need another dose of insulin?” I kept my focus on Frances and was relieved her color was coming back and that the fruity smell was dissipating.
“Creed, where were you?” Frances asked. “Where is my grandson? You will take care of him, won’t you? He needs a nice man like you to take care of him.”
“I will if he’ll let me,” I whispered. Something broke in my chest, and it was as if I lost control of the energy currently flowing through my body. Everything I had went into Frances, and she gasped before passing out.
“Oh my God, Tita!” Vanessa cried.
“She’s okay,” I said. “I’m going to have Lexi give her some insulin just in case.” Lexi came in then and started to hand me the syringe, but I held up my hand. “Can you give it to her? And see that her blood pressure is back to normal. I’ll be right back.”
I brushed past Roman, who called my name, but I needed a moment.
He followed me into the hallway. “Creed, what’s wrong?”
I turned to him and felt my strength waning fast. “I have another patient to see, and then I’ll be right back.”
“Hey,” he reached for me, a confused expression on his face, but I turned away from him, wishing desperately that I could fall into his arms and allow him to be my healing.
No. That wasn’t possible. And it would serve me well to remember. But I couldn’t leave, not yet. Frances needed me, and I couldn’t stand for Roman to lose her now.
“I’ll be back,” I said, and made a beeline for Mr. Fletcher’s room. I knocked on the partially closed door, and he called out for me to enter.
“Creed,” he said, alarm in his voice. “You don’t look so good.”
I closed the door behind me. “I’m sorry, Mr. Fletcher, you asked to see me?”
He took me by the hand and led me to the loveseat at the foot of his bed.“Looks like you and me both could use this.”
“I’m sorry to come to you like this, sir,” I said, barely able to get the words out. “There are some extenuating circumstances I’m not at liberty to share.”
“Fair enough. I was just looking for a little kick tonight, so you take whatever you need, son.”
“Blessed be.”
I barely remembered to release the pheromones before I sank my teeth into the thin skin of his wrist. He sucked in a breath, and I worried I’d hurt him, but I couldn’t help myself. It took all of my will to stop after three pulls.
“You need more, you take more,” he murmured, placing his hand on the back of my neck as I started to lift my head.
