Page 9 of Wonder
I grimaced. “He’s not conscious. I think he hit his head.”
Simon was threatening the other vampires with Shirley and me, so I turned back to the window. When I saw Tucker speeding down the road toward us, his dashboard light flashing, I grinned. I yelled down to the vampires, “Hey, FYI, the cops are here.” Let them think Tucker was human. Not even vampires would want to come to the attention of the human authorities.
Simon didn’t need me to help him take down the vampires, as they ended up running off. Fuck, that’d probably come back to bite us in the ass, but at least we had all the captives.
I holstered my gun before facing the room. The cells were stark and horrifying. All but the one with the open door contained only a cot, a toilet, and a TV blaring some reality show. The openone, which I assumed was where Nicky had been kept, had the same toilet and TV, but the cot had restraints hanging off each corner. What the hell? Vampires could make you stand still just by looking at you. That poor, emaciated guy needed restraints in addition to his cell door? What the hell was he?
Shirley, returned to her human form, had found some keys and was trying them on the first cell, which held an imp whose human form was a small wiry man with black hair.
I waved to get everyone’s attention. “Hey, everyone. Just so you're aware, the last two vampires who were holding you captive got away, but all the others are dead.” They looked at each other uneasily. “Don't worry, we’ll keep you safe. As soon as we get you free, you can call your families and get looked over, um, medically.” Shit, I hoped the Hunters Cal had called were bringing somebody. “I’m Reno and this is Shirley. Outside is our friend Simon, who’s a vampire, but he’s not like the others. He’s helping your friend Nicky right now.”
This caused some anxious whispers that I couldn’t hear over the TVs. One of the men, a buffalo shifter, said, “He won’t feed from us, will he?”
I shook my head. “No. He does drink blood, but several Wonders set up a system where people voluntarily donate, and he gets the blood in bags.”
The emu shifter put her hand to her neck. “How can we be sure? I—I don’t want to be around another vampire.”
Shit, who could blame her? “Hey, if you don’t want to talk to him, you don’t have to. But he’s the one who tracked down those assholes who kidnapped you, and he’s the one who killed all the rest of them.”
She dropped her hand and looked away. “Oh. Um, I guess....” The others whispered some more.
The mountain goat shifter in the fourth cell asked, “Where are we, anyway?”
I could’ve slapped myself. “Sorry. You’re about an hour outside Corpus Christi, Texas. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you get back to your homes.”
Shirley got the first cell open. “Why don’t y’all wait here until we’ve got everybody out, and we’ll go downstairs together?”
The imp nodded as he walked out into the room. He glanced at the window like he wanted to see what was happening, but he shuffled over to the door to the hallway instead. “Did you say the police are here? The humans?” He crossed his arms. They were dotted with scars from bites, and he had the same marks on his neck.
“It’s only Shirley’s son, Tucker. He’s a mountain lion shifter too.” They all relaxed. “What are your names?”
“I’m Thomas.” The imp walked over to the wall next to the door and unplugged a power cord. Immediately the light in the cells changed as the TVs turned dark. The quiet was a relief. “They kept the TVs on all the time to try to keep us entertained so we’d be quiet.”
Shirley let the next person out, the buffalo shifter who’d spoken earlier. He thanked her. “My name’s Arlo. Ma’am, I’ve memorized which key goes to which cell, if you’ll let me...?”
After Shirley handed him the keys, he made short work of opening the rest of the cells. The other three captives were Ophelia, an anaconda shifter; Morris, the mountain goat shifter;and Anika, the emu shifter. They’d been kidnapped over a period starting seven months ago with Anika and ending two months ago with Morris and Thomas. After they all hugged each other, they hovered near the door, seeming hesitant to leave the room.
Shirley took charge. “Let’s go outside. We can check on your friend Nicky and get some sunshine while you call your loved ones. We’ll figure out somewhere for you to spend the night tonight, and tomorrow we can work on gettin’ you home.” This was met with universal cheer, and they eagerly followed Shirley into the hallway and down the stairs. None of them seemed to have any trouble walking, and they appeared uninjured except for the bite scars they all carried.
At the bottom of the stairs, I detoured to retrieve my backpack, which I’d left on the back porch. Nicky would need the first aid kit. Outside, the former captives all rushed over to hover a few feet away from Simon, who was holding Nicky’s hand. My heart contracted oddly, as if I had... feelings about Simon comforting this guy. Which didn’t make sense. I barely knew Simon, and Nicky definitely needed someone to hold his hand right now. Up close, his wrists were bruised from his restraints, and he was literally covered in bite scars. I didn’t want to know what was under his scrubs, but his arms, neck, feet, and even his cheek were marked up. Some of the scars looked old, and Wonders generally didn’t scar at all.
I frowned. What kind of WonderwasNicky? Physically he appeared human except for some pointy ears, but lots of Wonders had those.
“Do we have anything to brace his neck?”
Simon shook his head. “I felt along his spine and I didn’t hear any bones grinding together like they would if there was a break.”
I winced at the thought of someone who wasn’t a doctor manipulating an injured person’s spine, but Nicky was a Wonder. They healed pretty damn quickly. Well, usually. His magic was weak, and the scars said he’d endured what amounted to torture for a long time. I unzipped my backpack and handed Simon the mylar blanket.
He unwrapped it and spread it out over Nicky’s still body. “I’m mostly worried about his head wound.”
Tucker, wearing the button-up shirt and jeans that were his version of a work uniform, trotted up carrying his first aid kit as well as a bundle of clothing. He handed the clothes to his mom, nodded at the former captives, then knelt down next to Simon. “Hi, I’m Tucker. I called Doc Aguilar, but he’s out of town. Any ideas on who else can help?” Simon blinked at him and Tucker said, “He’s a horse shifter and the local veterinarian. It’s the best we can do for a doctor ‘round here, but we’re out of luck today.” He opened his first aid kit, and I set mine down beside it.
“Maybe not.” I pulled out my phone. “Shane texted earlier. Ms. Jackson wanted to come here. Hang on.” Ms. Jackson had healed someone a few months ago, and I hoped that was why they were on their way. They didn’t have visions like I did, but they’d exhibited some psychic powers of their own.
I opened Shane’s text thread. There was an unknown number included, so I guessed that was Ms. Jackson. A couple of months ago on Discord, Shane had told the other District Monitors and me that Ms. Jackson could form humanoid hands while in theiranimal-shapes. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to see that, but it was nice to know they could text.
Me:
