Page 13 of Blood of a Huntsman

Claw Marks

Levi's famed assistant, the lethal and deadly efficient Luke, arrived seconds after Sebastian dashed through Oldcrest, his eyes narrowed as he followed the vampire's progression up the hill.

Damn, the ex-huntsman was fast.

"Did Bash lose it?" Luke didn’t

"I got there in time," Cat replied, stepping close to the surviving girl.

Luke pulled his phone out and started to organize her care; Cat heard him request Alexius, Greer, Levi, all hands on deck.

"It's all right," she said to the girl, as kindly as she could. "I'm not going to hurt you, okay?"

The girl tried to nod but ended up crying instead.

"We were…it was…beast.”

Cat wished she could tell the girl she didn’t have to say anything, but they needed answers. Students murdered at their borders? The whole world would flip. Oldcrest was one of the safest sup grounds on Earth.

“Didn't see it coming. So fast. It only moved when…the other vampire—"

Ah. So at least Sebastian had done something right tonight, though he wasn’t likely to see it that way. The girl would have been killed like her friends had he not interrupted their murderer.

Cat forced a smile. "Hush now. Save your energy, okay?"

The girl hadn't been bitten by anything close to a vampire, or even a feral werewolf. She'd been torn to shreds. Great big claw marks. It was a miracle that no vital organs had been destroyed. Her two friends were in pieces on the grass. Even Cat had issues breathing in this mess. No wonder Bash had flipped.

"I have to carry you," she said. "And it will hurt."

No way to lie about that. They didn't have a choice, though; if they left the girl here, she’d die in the minutes it took to call for aid.

The girl nodded. She was an Institute student. She understood the implications of wounds like these.

Cat was as gentle as possible, cradling her under the thighs and shoulder blades. Then she rushed forward, heading up the hill as fast as she could. Any other time, she would have brought the patient to Levi's home, but Bash would be there. For his good as well as the poor girl's, she stopped at the third house on the hill, knowing that the others would trail the scent and follow.

Six months in Oldcrest, and Cat had managed to avoid entering the Stormhale home. But here she was.

She winced, forcing herself to focus on the matter at hand. Her fingertips pressed on the two bloodiest wounds, pushing them closed as she waited. If she'd had a spare pair of hands, she might have tried a tourniquet, but then again, she had little skill as a healer.

Vampires seldom suffered wounds like these, and they healed a lot faster, so that was a considerable gap in her education.

Cat breathed out in relief when she felt a blast of air, and then a tall, blond, long-haired poser appeared.

"I got it. Well done, Stormhale."

She'd never liked Alexius Helsing. He had a terrible reputation, and everything she'd seen since entering this territory confirmed it. But tonight, she was grateful to him, and also intrigued.

She'd known he was a healer, among other ridiculous things: alchemist, scientist, philosopher. The sort of things vampires didn't care about. But watching his hands expertly examine, cleanse, and sew up the poor girl, she started to admire his way of life.

It wasn't about vampires at all. He'd chosen all these professions to help mortals, she realized.

"I'm here! Sorry I'm late," said Greer, barging in with a big box.

Blair, another PhD student who often hung out with Greer, walked in right behind her, holding a large bag. Cat took the box and bag from the witches and brought them to the healer; given her strength, the weight was nothing.

“Thanks,” Greer said, before turning to her mentor. “All right, we brought everything I could think of since you didn’t tell me much over the phone. What do you need, Alexius?"

"Anesthesia, first. We'll have to sew up a vein, too."

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