Page 69 of The Doctor's Wolf: Part Two
Gordon was silent.He could lie to himself, but not to the dead or those who’d just escaped joining their ranks.
Gordon had been left with the college kid—with Raven—while Maxim and Adler handled the werewolf and the vampire with the blade neatly jammed into his spinal cord.
With Gordon’s help, Maxim had carried Raven back up into the apartment from the servants’ stairs in the back and to a couch in the plushy living room.When Maxim had gone to help Adler, Gordon had left Raven briefly to grab him a sheet from the bedroom.
That had been a mistake.The bedroom smelled of sex and blood.No.Not sex,Gordon thought.He’d wanted to gag.His eyes had started watering, tears he easily avoided when it came to the corpses he took care of, but in this case...
He’d turned on his heel, pulled off his own jacket, and draped that over Raven’s shoulders.Letting anything fromthisplace touch the turning vampire made Gordon’s stomach twist into knots.
Maxim and Adler had gone down the stairs with their suspects, Adler still in his wolf form, likely to avoid having to go look for a sheet himself.
After about ten minutes, Raven began to stir and his eyes flicked open.Gordon reached out to touch Raven’s forehead, and Raven flinched away.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.My name is Gordon, Gordon Morris.The people who held you here are gone.They can’t hurt you anymore.”He looked at Raven’s pale skin, which was turning a different sort of pale as the vampire blood worked into and through it.At this point, even Gordon could smell the change.
Raven seemed sluggish, and Gordon wasn’t sure how much of his words he’d heard or understood.Turning was a confusing time, and Gordon’s own memories were foggy at best.
A knock from the apartment door made Gordon turn.“Yes?”
“It’s Heath.”The dhampir walked into the room moments later.“Huh.”He looked at Raven and held out jogging pants and a T-shirt to Gordon.“The old bat told me to help you get him back to the house while he deals with things downstairs.His name’s Raven, right?”
Gordon took the clothes.“Yes.Can you help me dress him?”
Heath nodded and assisted in maneuvering first Raven’s legs into the pants, then his arms and head into the shirt.By the time they were done, Raven was shivering and his teeth were chattering.
Heath frowned.“You know, I’m glad I never had to go through the change.Everyone says you don’t remember the pain after a while, but the thought of going through it has always freaked me out if I’m being honest.”
Raven’s eyes blinked open and shut, not seeing.
“When my maker turned me, he made sure I was comfortable and felt safe.He said I could have people there if I wanted to and if they were okay with it, but in the end, I chose to do it alone.I kind of remember that it was painful and unpleasant at first, but I wouldn’t say I remember how it actually felt.My maker was there to help with the disorientation and confusion.”
Heath looked at the college kid, expression pensive.“Raven has none of those things.”
“No…I think I’ll stay with him if that’s okay.”
Heath sighed, pulled Raven upright, and put one of his arms over his shoulder so that Gordon could take the other.“If you’re volunteering, that’s fine by me.”
They went outside, down the stairs, and out the door.The alley was difficult to navigate with Raven between them, but they managed.A casually dressed set of two bulky-looking humans stood by the entrance to the alley and barely spared the three of them a second glance.
“43 Ruthaven’s daytime security people,” Heath explained.“To make sure no one goes in there.”
Gordon hadn’t even considered that.“We are still not involving the Forum?”
“Well, that seems prudent, don’t you think?This is a marvelous fucking fuckshow on some ginormous scale, and finding out if it was just that werewolf and the vampire professor hunting together or if there were more people involved seems like a prudent course of action.That’s why we’re also keeping the werewolf and the vampire instead of turning them over.”Heath cleared his throat as the driver jumped out of the town car to get the door for them.“Keeping them alive, that is.”
By the time they got Raven into the car he was a shivering, dead weight, Gordon was almost sure the young vampire wouldn’t remember anything about this or hear them talking, but he still kept his voice low.“Are you telling me you have your own holding facility at 43 Ruthaven?”
Heath put a seat belt around Raven, which made it so they had an easier time keeping him upright.“Well, you know, Maxim generally believes in preparedness and all that sort of thing, so possibly there’s a sub-basement below the garage, and since Bryan’s amazing Lar skills encompass that—well, no escaping a Lar unless he wants you to.”
“You guys totally live in a high-rise with a fucking dungeon in the basement!”
“Don’t look at me like that, all judgy-like.”The dhampir huffed.“It’s a commodity, and it’s not like my opinions are ever considered anyway.For instance, the sub-basement could be a tax write-off, but no,don’t tell anyone about the sub-basement, darling, is all I get.”Heath’s impression of Maxim was very spot-on.
“A dungeon for commodity’s sake.Yeah.Makes sense I guess.”Gordon knew he didn’t sound convincing.
“I’m half with you there, but only because I can’t get the old bat to write it off.Let me check how it’s going on their end.”
Heath pulled out his phone while Gordon kept an arm around Raven as they were heading to a place where he’d be safe.
