Page 30 of Last Hope
He turned to her, eyes ablaze, and he felt his powers lose control as the blacks of his pupils swallowed his grey iris, altering her reality. The nurse’s eyes went blank, and then she began to scream as she swatted at empty air, seeing things that weren’t really there. Only when she fell to the ground, did Crawford realize what he had done. He shook his head back and forth in regret and stared down at the nurse, as reality slowly came back to her consciousness.
“Victoria Phillipe.” Was all he managed to say. He had no time to feel guilty. He had no time to think about anything other than her, because he felt deep in his gut that something was wrong. He pushed into the nurse’s mind and willed her to take him to Victoria.
Blankly, she stood and mumbled a robotic “Follow me” before turning and walking down a hallway opposite of them. He followed, joints aching, head pounding, but determination laced through his every move. They reached a door, which the nurse opened and let Terrance enter first.
The first thing he noticed upon entering was Victoria, sitting in a brightly lit room on an uncomfortable looking chair. Her head was bowed low, her blonde curls falling forward, covering her face. She didn’t seem to notice his arrival, because she remained absolutely still, save for the small movement her shoulders made, up and down. Terrance stared at her silently for a moment, and noticed her hand was gripping someone else’s; someone on the bed next to her. He tried to identify who it was, but when his eyes found a face, it was wrapped tightly with gauze, like a mummy.
“Victoria,” Terrance whispered and took a step forward.
It was then that Victoria looked up at him, and her brown eyes were swimming with tears. The shock of seeing Phillipe crying sent him staggering back, gripping his own chest as if he was the one in pain.
Victoria never cried. She was made of stone, through and through; a tough woman. Her cheeks were sticky tears, and snot was streaming down her nose.
“Oh, Terrance!” Victoria immediately jumped up from her chair and ran over to him, throwing her arms around his waist and burying her face in the crook of his neck. He felt the dampness of her sorrow fall in droplets down to his shoulder and he had no idea what to do, so he held her for all she was worth.
“What happened?” After he asked, Victoria’s body began to shake as she sobbed into him again.
“It’s Savvy.” She managed to say after a couple of minutes, pulling away from him and staring into his eyes.
“What happened to Burns?” Terrance asked, though he already knew, as his eyes zoomed over to the lump of a body wrapped in gauze on the bed. He couldn’t bear to stare.
“He’s in a coma.” Victoria’s voice cracked. “Azizi left him in a coma.”
Terrance felt the need to stagger back in shock again, but the only thing keeping him grounded was the fact that he needed to be strong—for Victoria.
“But, how?” he asked, stroking her shoulders as if to calm her. “Does your kind fall into comas?”
Victoria shook her head. “We don’t, but Savvy did. It’s because he’s a mutt, Terrance. His system isn’t like a regular werewolf’s. He’s weaker and doesn’t have the same cells to heal him against things like this.”
Terrance thought for a moment and decided:it’s my fault. If he had been stronger than that damn vampire he would have been able to protect Burns. If he could have only hypnotized him, then none of this would have happened and Burns wouldn’t be in a coma and Victoria wouldn’t be crying.
As if reading his thoughts, Victoria said: “Oh, no. Terrance…it isn’t your fault. You didn’t put him in a coma.”
“I might as well have.”
Victoria sighed and wiped away the tears and snot with the sleeve of her camel leather jacket, the gesture quick and rough but even with them washed away, there was still sadness and anger in her voice.
“We have no one to blame but that bastard. And I’ll be damned if I stand around here letting you take the blame when it could have just as easily been my fault. I sent Savvy into that place with you. My men didn’t get there in time to salvage anything from the fire Azizi left behind after nearly killing the both of you. But I won’t point out culpability where there is none. Instead, I’m going to work my ass off to find and kill Azizi before he does to anyone what he did to Savvy. And you’re gonna help me.”
Terrance Crawford let slip the smallest of smiles. That was the Victoria he knew and loved; the one he would fight and die beside.
“Let’s do it, then.” He squeezed Victoria’s hand out of affection and then walked over to the bed where Joshua lay. The gauze was wrapped tightly around his face—making Terrance wonder just how disfigured Azizi had left him—with holes for his eyes, nose and mouth. He caught loose strands of ginger hair poking out from between the cracks of cloth; the rest of his body was covered with hospital sheets. Crawford pulled the blankets down, revealing Savvy’s bare arms covered in dark bruises and circular bite marks on his hands.
Terrance clenched his fists at his sides and bent down to Joshua’s small head. He had heard that people in comas could hear the noises around them and it could even sometimes wake them up. He cleared his throat. “Burns,” he whispered. “You tried to save my life. It was stupid, but brave. And for that, I owe you. I will stop Azizi or I will die trying.” He stood up and turned to Victoria, holding his hand out. With a smile, she placed her palm on his.
“Let’s go get this son of a bitch,” she said.
He nodded and, together, they walked out of the room, oblivious to Joshua “Savvy” Burns, twitching his fingers at the sound of their voices…
17
“Get every tracker you know andfindher!” Azizi barked orders at his subjects. They bowed in respect, some of them leaving, others staying behind to hear what else he had to say. “That wastooclose,” he continued, pacing the dark room back and forth. It had been way too close of a call. He hadn’t expected the FBSI to intervene when they did. Luckily, they had sent in amateurs to deal with him and he had overpowered them easily.
“Sir, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m afraid I must inform you the trackers made an attempt to locate the vampire yesterday and they cannot track her down. They say she just vanished.”
“Vanished?” Azizi turned a snarling face at his lieutenant.
“Disappeared, cannot be found.”
