B. Donna - Blood Pool

Laroque used a torsion wrench to unlock the door to his daughter’s room. The bag of blood that replenished her body was empty. Carefully, he removed the IV, his anger flaring while he unhooked the leather restraints. Gathering Jade into his arms, he whispered a charm to create a diversion, making it possible for them to exit the hospital without notice. He rushed to the parking lot carrying his daughter, whispering words of reassurance to her.

“ Maman …”

“ Il est moi, papa. ”

“Père …I’m so sleepy. I saw maman, ” Jade muttered as he placed her in the backseat of the borrowed sedan. The shape shifter he had just infected would not need his vehicle for a long time, if ever.

“Rest, Jade. We will be home in a little while.”

“Don’t say it! Please, don’t say it!” Raven cried to her father.

“You are lucky he came solely for Jade and not to get revenge, although he’ll be back,” Tobias countered.

Raven slumped against the wall outside of Bo’s room. Her whole world was crumbling around her. She was terrified that she’d taken too much blood from Jade. Everything she tried to improve became worse. She was grateful to her father. Though angry, he kept the depth of his rage at bay.

Nothing turned out like she had imagined.

Laroque was supposed to return and beg for his daughter’s safe return. The way it played out in Raven’s mind, he should be handing over the vaccines. Then she would unlock the door to where she had Jade hidden.

“How’s Raul?” she asked.

“Missing. I think it’s time Laroque and I have a meeting,” Tobias said. “I have kept this inside long enough. He is a monster. The things he did to my sweet Nicolette-to your mother. He’s the worst kind of animal, and I let Frank convince me for your sake to let it go. I will not let it go any longer.”

Raven grabbed her father’s arm. “No! You’re more vulnerable than any of us. This virus is mutating, and if Bo’s grandfather is correct, it is the magickal aspect of our make-up that makes us susceptible. There has to be another way.”

Both daughters of Nicolette were fearful of losing the only parent they had left, and both would do anything to protect them. Their loyalty to family was unwavering, and they were more alike than Raven realized.

“Raven, I am going to see him, no matter what you say. Bo is not getting better. We have to do something. I will finally have my revenge.”

Raven clenched her jaw in frustration. “And what if you can’t get him to give you the antidote? What if he infects you? You’re going to have another child. Think of Emmie! You cannot go, and you can’t kill him. Then we’ll really be screwed.”

Tobias flashed his lethal fangs as he swore at his daughter. At a time like this, when Tobias was enraged, he appeared massive. “I’ll get the answers we need from him. I have had many years to plan a slow and painful torture for Courtier de Sang.”

Joe Menendez came barreling down the hall with Bianca on his heels. “Raven, you’ve got another siren washed up on the shore and two more people with bite marks in the ER, and…”

“What, Joe?”

Bianca answered. “An Empusa is dead and there’s word of a Lykan’s death. Nat is doing the autopsy on the Empusa with Davis. The Lykan, as I’m sure you know, evaporated to dust upon death. This is becoming some kind of a mystical-being murder spree.”

“A Lykan? I didn’t know they came to the island,” Raven said.

“Seems some Lykans and shifters have mated. There aren’t many around. Joe, how do you know for certain it was a Lykan?” Tobias asked.

“Solaris saw him, the Lykan. Tracy is running some tests on the…remains.” Joe looked helplessly at Raven, then at Tobias. “And they’re bringing in Emerald as we speak. She passed out in the hospital parking lot. They think she’s infected.”

“The baby!” Tobias lunged toward the ER’s dented green double doors. “If Hekate is awakened, we’ll have more to worry about than Laroque,” he said before the doors swished closed behind him.

“Hekate?” Joe asked Raven as she headed toward the lab.

The lab was in the newer section of the building. Celery green paint covered half the walls, and oak wainscoting adorned the rest. Beautiful watercolors donated by local artists added a soothing quality to the room. Raven felt anything but soothed.

Lush greenery of Swedish ivy hung in corners from macramé holders and Norfolk pines added life-giving energy to the space. Everything should be dead. Bo is dying. Everything should die with him.

Despite the homey quality of the lab, Raven was anxious. She needed to do something to try to help Tracy come up with an answer-and fast. She mentally gave herself a slap, commanding herself to snap out of it.

“Rav…who’s Hekate?” Joe asked.

Bianca attempted to fill in the blanks. Raven’s thoughts were light years away. “Yeah, Hekate-don’t ask,” Bianca said. “You mean you’ve lived here your entire life and you don’t know the folklore of the island? Shame on you,” she teased.

Joe eyed the pretty young woman.

Raven could see he enjoyed flirting with her. How can he flirt when his partner is fighting for his life ?

“Then why don’t you fill me in? Take pity on an ignorant native and teach him a thing or two,” he said with a sly smile.

“You want to learn?”

“Guys?” Raven tried to get their attention.

“Honey, anything you want to teach me, I’ll be more than willing to learn. How about we start with a dinner date? Then, over drinks, you can teach me the history of Mirabelle. I’ve heard you have ancestors who helped establish the island.”

“Are you asking me out?” Bianca asked.

Raven’s ire was building. “Guys.”

“Yes, I am.”

Bianca smiled. “I accept,” she said, and headed for the ER.

“Sorry,” Joe said contritely.

Joe and Raven walked through the morgue and into Raven’s lab. Joe’s face was engraved with worry and confusion.

“I guess I’ll give you the short version of island lore,” Raven said.

Raven inhaled deeply and attempted to explain the history of the Lamai in as few words as possible.

“The Lamai originated in ancient Greece. Queen Rhia of Libya literally went insane after the brutal murder of her husband and children. She headed to Greece, blaming Hera for her children’s death, but it wasn’t Hera’s fault. It was an Empusa.” Joe looked more confused. Raven tried to elucidate. “Empusas are demons that take on human form from time to time. They are affiliated with Hekate. Rhia went on a rampage and took to traveling the earth, starting in Greece. She drank the blood of humans and, like the succubus, would manifest as a beautiful woman, only to devour her lovers. She fed on the blood and was therefore considered the Mother of the Lamai. Not a very pleasant history.

Raven walked to the table where Tracy was working on Bo’s latest blood samples. Tracy ’s affect was solemn. “What many people don’t know is that Rhia and Hekate are sisters, though Rhia chose to live as a mortal. The Empusas were once beautiful creatures. After Hekate learned what they did to her sister’s family, she cursed them with hideous looks.”

Joe was curious now. “Is she still around, this Rhia? And what does this have to do with Hekate?”

“Yes, Queen Rhia is still walking the earth, though she doesn’t feed anymore. She doesn’t have to. Hekate is the Goddess who watches over the island and is in charge of the Empusas. I suppose it’s a guilt thing over Rhia’s losses. Hekate wanted to activate Rhia’s goddess powers, but Rhia refused. They have a kind of alliance. Hekate has the power to grant mortals anything they wish. If Laroque is trying to awaken her, who knows what he may try to get from her.”