Page 43 of Shadow Scorching

The phone rang. It was Diana. Dante paused in the middle of putting on his jacket to answer.

“Is she okay?” he asked, struggling to answer the phone.

Diana was loud enough for me to hear. “Ms. Franco’s sick and I can’t seem to wake her up. I’m not sure what’s wrong, but she’s out cold.”

“Come on,” Dante said, racing me for the door.

I followed. As we headed toward his aunt’s, Dante called Tilly’s doctor, and I prayed that she would be all right.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

It tookus nearly half an hour to make it over the bridge, but we finally arrived. Waverly Park was empty, and the street going down to the entrance was covered with ice.

I slowed to a crawl—barley five miles an hour—and held my breath as I navigated the one-lane street to the bottom. As I crossed the parking lot to Tilly’s driveway, Dante was looking for the doctor’s car. Sure enough, we had barely parked when a dark maroon sedan appeared and parked next to us. Dante jumped out and hurried over to the doctor’s car. He spoke to him and the pair quickly hurried to the door. I caught up, cautious so I didn’t slip and fall.

“Dr. Nash, this is Kyann Sarasan. She’s my friend, and also a friend of Tilly’s.”

I nodded a quick hello as Dante rang the bell. Diana answered, a worried look on her face.

“Come this way, please,” she said, eyes widening when she saw the doctor. “I can’t wake her up, but she seems to be breathing.”

Dante and I swung in behind Diana, with the doctor close behind. We followed her through the massive house to the elevator. On the third floor, we hurried behind Diana, over toTilly’s bedroom. As we went in, I smelled something weird. I couldn’t quite place it, but whatever it was, it had an earthy scent.

Tilly was lying on the right side of the bed, her breathing distressed. It sounded like she had pneumonia. I was startled by how gaunt her face was. We’d seen her a few days prior, but now she looked like she’d aged a decade in that time. Her eyes were closed, but she was tossing and turning, trying to push the covers off her.

“Auntie—” Dante started forward but I pulled him back so the doctor could get through.

The doctor pulled a chair over to Tilly’s side of the bed and set down his bag. He took out his stethoscope and drew back the blanket. With one hand, he placed the chest piece of the stethoscope on her chest, after inserting the ear tips into his ears. With his other hand, he took hold of her wrist. A moment later he rummaged through his bag and took out his thermometer and scanned her forehead.

He called Diana to bring him more pillows to prop Tilly up to a slanted position. “I want to examine her neck,” he said. “Someone help me by holding her hair aside.”

I suddenly realized what he was looking for. “You expect to find fang marks?”

“I’m not certain, but we have to check it out.” He motioned to me. “Here, help me out.”

I crawled across the bed and gently moved Tilly’s long gray hair out of the way. Then, I helped the doctor sit her up while he began examining her neck. After a moment, he motioned for me to let go and we laid her back on the pillows.

“No fang marks that I can see. That doesn’t exclude them—if she was bitten, it could be anywhere on her body, but the neck is the most common, given it’s the easiest access to an artery.” He checked her wrists, but there were no marks there, either.

“When was the last time anybody talked to her?”

Dante said, “I talked to her earlier today. She sounded exhausted and…how to explain it. She didn’t sound like herself,” he said.

“How so?” the doctor asked.

“She sounded confused, like she wasn’t sure where she was, I guess.” Dante sat on the ended of the bed, staring at his aunt. “Is she going to be all right?”

“I can’t answer that now,” the doctor said. “I’m sorry.” He turned to Diane. “Did you see her after that?”

“I helped her up to bed a couple hours ago. Then, when Mister Dante called and asked me to check on her, I couldn’t wake her up.” Diana sounded as worried as I felt.

“Good. I’m wondering if she might have had a stroke. It’s not as common in shifters, but it happens. I’m going to admit her to the hospital. We need to take a full panel of blood tests and check her everywhere to see if there are any fang marks, or anything else. Does she have any other next of kin I should contact?”

I glanced at Dante. That wasn’t a question I could answer.

Dante let out a sigh. “Probably, but I can’t do it. I’m her great-nephew, but I was expelled from the Pack. They won’t even take my calls.”

“I’m sorry about that,” the doctor said. “Give me the names and I’ll contact them.”

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