Home / The Healing Souls
The Healing Souls
Drained
Drained2267words
Update Time2024-11-01 09:40:43
[Rock]While we were driving home, I took us back through town. The back road I took Carmen on was heading in the opposite direction of where we wanted to go. Instead of circling the whole town, it was easier to cut through it. I had been wanting to try the tusk thing for a while and was really excited that Carmen reacted so well to it. It had started as a crazy fantasy, but then I started thinking more and more of how to do it. My mate was perfect and always up for whatever I wanted to do with her. As we drove back home and Carmen cuddled me, I saw something out of the corner of my eye and slammed on the breaks. Turning my head, I looked at what had attracted my attention. A crowd of several men who were possibly in their twenties, they seemed young but not that incomplete youth that comes from being younger than seventeen, were acting suspicious. They were surrounding something, but I couldn’t see what it was. Normally, I would have driven on, but ever since Carmen saved Austin and he turned out to be a friend, I had started realizing how much I had been hurting others by ignoring things. The werewolf urges I got from having a werewolf mate and my human urges were starting to overpower the selfish nature of my troll half. It was a little bothersome, but felt very natural. I knew Carmen would want me to do something. I told her to stay where she was, and explained as much as I could. I didn’t want to waste time, but I also didn’t want her deciding I needed help. If any of those humans tried to touch my mate, I would kill them. That wasn’t what I wanted. I just wanted to break up whatever they were doing and make sure no one was getting hurt. Walking toward the ally where the men were, I started expanding my glamour. I wanted them to see what I was, but no one else. All I needed to do was scare them off. As I approached, I heard them laughing and jeering. There were at least eight of them. None of them seemed to realize I approached. Humans had certainly made sure their instincts were muddled. There was a yelp from whatever they were surrounding. “Hey, what the hell are you doing?” I growled. A couple men turned to see who was bothering them. Their eyes landed at my abdomen and they slowly looked up until they got to my face. I could smell their fear as the aggressive looks on their faces morphed into something far more terrified. I leaned over them and issued a low growl. The men sсreamed and fell over. This got the attention of their friends. Suddenly, the whole group was running in different directions, not one of them daring to look back at me. I could smell their fear as it mixed with the other smells of the street. The ones who had fallen over, scrambled to their feet and ran off. Once they knew I was there, their animal brains realized I was a thing that would eat them, historically. Even though there were more of them than me, they must not have thought of the group as strong, or they might have tried fighting back. Looking down, I saw what they’d been surrounding. It was a dark, black lump of something. It seemed furry. I pulled my glamour back in and knelt down next to it. A head peeked up it was a dog. Most animals could see though glamour. The dog whimpered at me and seemed to be resigned to its fate. I reached out a hand and held it close enough that the dog could sniff it. I’d always liked dogs, but most animals are afraid of trolls. They would act aggressively, trying to scare me off. Others would run away. This one just froze and looked sad. “It’s alright, little dog. I won’t hurt you,” I said gently. It sniffed my hand and its eyes widened a little. I realized my hand might have smelled like Carmen. She told me that dogs tended to be afraid of werewolves, too. The dog started to get to its feet. I backed off a little. It gave a low bark and hobbled down the ally. I stood up and turned back to where Carmen was waiting for me. The dog barked again until I turned back to it. It approached me and barked again. “You want me to follow?” I asked. It barked again and turned down the alley again. I followed it, wary of what I’d find. The dog was entirely black and blended in with the shadows. I was on alert, because it wasn’t unusual for people to use animals in traps. The dog stopped at a tarp that was draped over some wooden pallets. I could see a human hand sticking out from under the tarp. Crouching down, I moved the tarp. Under it was a young woman. She wasn’t moving and was barely breathing. Her skin was extremely pale and she was cold to the touch. I saw two very obvious, unhealed bite marks from a vampire on her neck. It looked like she was homeless and lived there. They probably thought no one would notice or care. This was something that needed to be reported to Victor. She wasn’t safe here. Goddess only knew how often this vampire had done this to her. I pulled out my phone and I dialed Victor’s number. It rang twice before he answered. “Nightshade,” he said. “Master Nightshade, this is Rock Beaumont. I’m calling because I found a homeless woman who is a victim of a vampire. They left her in an ally. I wouldn’t have even found her if not for her dog. I thought you would want to know. I don’t think this was consensual,” I told him. “That is concerning. I will send someone to retrieve. Will you stay with her until they get there? They will tell you that I sent them. But they will call me Victor instead of Master Nightshade. That way you’ll know if they’re really sent by me.” “I appreciate that, Master Nightshade. I’ll wait here for whoever you’re sending,” I told him before hanging up. There was some movement from behind the woman. I moved her light blanket, checking to make sure it wasn’t a rat or something deciding to feast on her. A feline face glared at me from where it was curled up next to her. It looked like a smaller version of a fae forest cat. Unlike the ones in the human lands, the ones in the fae realm were large enough for most human sized fae to ride. That was, if you could catch one and it didn’t decide to kill you. I had only ever seen them in passing. This one had streaks of tan, brown, black, and white. It had a large face and big golden eyes. The cat was pretty large for a human realm cat, even though it was still pretty small. I held out my hand to it in the same way I had to the dog. The cat sniffed it, then head-butted my fingers. “Someone is coming to help your owner. It’s going to be alright,” I told the cat. Both animals actually seemed concerned about the unconscious woman. They must have cared about her very much. I stayed with them until the vampire showed up, about five minutes later. He bowed. “Victor sent me. Is this the woman?” “It is. The bite marks haven’t been healed, but they aren’t bleeding. Is that as bad as it seems?” I asked. The vampire frowned. He moved as if he was going to the woman. The dog got in his way and growled. The cat stood on their owner and hissed at the vampire. He stopped. “Can you do anything about them?” he asked. “I’m a troll. I don’t speak animal languages,” I replied, then turned to the animals. “Hey, this vampire is going to help. He’s going to take care of her. I promise he will do everything he can to help.” I tried to talk as gently to the animals as I could. I didn’t know how much they understood. Plus, I didn’t actually know how much the vampires could help her. It looked like the woman was at death’s door as it was. The vampire knelt down and examined the woman’s neck. He shook his head and looked up at me. “It’s too late. She’s already lost too much blood. I can’t do anything for her.”“She’s still alive, though,” I told him. “I’m sorry. I know it seems like that, but she’s fading. Her body is trying to live and there’s some magic that’s keeping her from passing right now, but there’s nothing I can do. I can’t even turn her because we don’t know what her wishes were. It’s against the law to turn someone without their consent,” he said. The dog whimpered and nuzzled the woman’s hand. The cat let out a mournful meow. I felt a pang of sadness. This woman had been someone’s friend, someone’s family. She didn’t deserve to die alone in an alley.“How long does she have?” I asked. “I’ve seen this last for up to two hours. Whoever drained her only just finished. You must have missed them by only a few moments.” I looked at the dog. It had gone for help as soon as the vampire attacked its owner. If those men had gone with the dog instead of tormenting it, then she might have survived. I knew it wasn’t just a human trait. I doubted a group of trolls would have done any better, plus, they might have decided to eat her themselves. Carefully, I scooped her up in my arms. The cat sat on her stomach, refusing to get off. There was a backpack in the little hovel. “Grab that bag and follow me,” I told the vampire. He did what I said. The dog limped behind me as I strode out of the alley. Carmen was still sitting in the truck with my jacket wrapped around her. ‘Carmen, open the door. I have my arms full.’She didn’t ask why, she only unlocked the passenger side door and opened it. She sniffed the air and looked alarmed. I knew she understood the situation. “This woman was attacked by a vampire. She’s dying and we’re going to give her a safe warm place to do that,” I told Carmen. “Pass her over. I’ll take care of her. I smell animals.” “She has a cat on her and there’s a dog, too. Are you going to be okay with that?” I asked. “I don’t have any problems with domestic animals.” Carmen moved over to where she would be sitting next to me and I loaded the woman in. The cat climbed off its owner as I moved her. It climbed onto me and perched on my shoulder. It reminded me of the cat at Echo’s house. I picked up the dog and put it in the empty footwell on the passenger side, then took the woman’s bag from the vampire. He looked at me curiously as I closed the door. The vampire followed me when I went around to the driver’s side of the truck. “I don’t understand what you’re doing. She won’t wake up. She’s not going to even know you did this for her. What’s the point?” he asked. “The goddess led me to her and I’m going to give her a safe, warm place to pass along with a place for her to be buried. The humans would put her in an unmarked grave. I’ll find her a nice grove in the fae graveyard. Something beautiful,” I answered as I got in the truck. I didn’t need to turn the truck on, because I had left it running. I simply put it in drive and headed for home. I expanded my glamour to make the truck invisible and sped all the way back to the fae lands. When we arrived at the house, I turned off the truck. Gemma and Austin came running out as soon as we pulled in. I knew Carmen had linked them about our situation. They opened the passenger side door and pulled the woman and her bag out. The cat and dog followed. Carmen got out on my side and I picked her up, carrying her into the house. I set her down and she took her shoes off. Austin and Gemma took the woman to the other guest bedroom where they stripped her down and cleaned her up. The cat and dog watched over her while this happened. A few moments after they finished, Carmen came in wearing her favorite comfort outfit. She was carrying one of her dresses. It was a nice and simple sundress. They put it on the woman and tucked her into the bed. The animals climbed up onto the mattress with her. All of the werewolves sat near the bed, talking to the woman. I went to change my clothes while they kept her company. They were telling her how much they loved her and wanted her to be at peace. I didn’t know if they were lying, but they didn’t look like it. All three of them were tearing up while they talked to her unconscious body as if they knew her.