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“The doctors here take care of everyone regardless of species.” They stepped out of the elevator and took the hallway to the medical center, but first Dante stopped and regarded his beloved directly. “What has been your experience with vampires? It is my understanding that vampires and magics don’t mix. There were some aberrant vampires from the now defunct Perrysburgh Coven that communed with casters and magics but I never heard of others.”
Skye didn't respond immediately and continued to act agitated by the question and by the fact that he was going to see a vampire doctor. Something was seriously off. "Vampires would come to the kindred and participate in rituals. The leaders would allow them to feed and to abuse some members, but they had to pay for the privilege either with money or favors."
“Do you have names, give me names.” Dante was dead serious. Skye was taken aback at first staring at Dante to see if he was sincere.
"I have some of their names." Skye rattled off about five names, and Dante committed them to memory. He would find those men, every last one of them.
The warlock was notified that Skye had been located by his new assistant Armand, a gangly young human with few skills but a lovely penchant for cruelty and an unquenchable blood lust. He hadn’t really been looking for the agitator, but it didn’t look good for him to not pursue him now that he was located. If he just let him go it might be perceived as weakness or laziness or even fear of reprisal.
"Someone from a coven in Michigan has been poking around looking for information on Skye Winters," Armand announced as if he should be given an award for the information. "I haven't discovered their name or their coven affiliation, but I will get it for you."
"No need," Adam said dryly. "There is only one coven in the state of Michigan, and that is Coven DuCane." He sensed the terror grip Armand for just a second before he suppressed the feeling.
“DuCane?” He questioned.
"Yes, the man who wiped out the kindred in Pittsburgh, the man responsible for us moving to Alabama on a permanent basis." Adam clarified further.
"He has a problem with our kind," Armand stated and then added. "He will not entertain Skye's presence for long. He's probably already dead, and DuCane is looking for his kindred." Adam made sure to show only tedious indignation when mentioning DuCane. He'd held a seething desire to avenge his brothers, who met their deaths so many years ago but lacked the numbers and the power to ever succeed, so he waited and worked to grow his strength and influence.
"Stay quiet and invisible and continue to observe them. Find out what you can regarding Skye. Bring me something I can use, and I will let you play with the witches I captured. There are three of them, and you could have quite an enjoyable evening if you please me." He'd planned on using them to barter with the vampires, but Armand rarely killed his victims. He liked to watch their agony and their pain, but death held no satisfaction for him. There would be enough left to entice the vampires as well.
He stood and walked over to his bookcase and extracted the shadows. It was an old volume that he'd inherited from his predecessor after he'd killed him. When offering him up as payment to the demon he was courting, the book had fallen from the man's grasp. It hadn't saved his predecessor, but then he hadn't expected to be betrayed. The book contained unlimited resources for every dark deed, known and unknown. He smiled as he thumbed through the tomb, looking for something suitable for Skye and something useful to gain entrance to Coven DuCane.
He thought about his options for a moment, realizing that if he used anything against DuCane, it would open the floodgates. He would have to be prepared to stand against DuCane, which he was not at present. But if Skye were still alive, he could be used. Adam's mind began to swirl with ideas, and a plan began to form.
CHAPTER FIVE
Visiting a vampire doctor was not high on Skye's to-do list, but here he was, sitting in an examination room, waiting for the doctor to finish speaking with Dante. Why did he ever stop in this fucking town? Why didn't he find a way out immediately? Those were the questions that tormented him. Dante was a decent guy, or at least he appeared to be, but he was a vampire and a guard, and he had a job to do, so decency and kindness were going to take a backseat pretty soon.
He had no idea what they wanted from him. He's answered their questions, and there was nothing left to say, so why did they continue to hold him rather than release him or kill him? He was a little surprised when Dante came into the room with the doctor for the examination.
He stood close by and observed every move the doctor made. It took quite a while as the doctor insisted on tests and x-rays, not just checking his obvious injuries but giving him a complete physical. It was not pleasant, and Skye kept his eyes on the window in the room. It was large enough to get through, but he wasn't sure what floor he was on.
"I feel fine, sir." He pressed, but neither the doctor nor Dante responded. Dante kept covering him with the thin sheet whenever the doctor finished, as if he didn't want Skye's body on display. The action had a proprietary flavor to it, but Skye could not see why Dante would be feeling proprietary until it suddenly struck him. Perhaps he planned to make Skye his slave. There were vampires in Scottsboro and the surrounding area that kept slaves. It was not unheard of.
He liked this vampire for some odd reason that he could not explain, but he would be no one's slave ever again, not even a gorgeous vampire. Things never turned out right or good when there existed a power imbalance like what existed between him and Dante.
A vampire would never tolerate a human for very long vampires required power, wealth and status and few humans possessed those in the amount required. Ezra was an anomaly but perhaps the Master was attracted to his latent power along with the draw of being his beloved.
Skye glanced back at the window one more time, and if he had been left alone even for a few minutes, he might have been able to escape. Dante gently ran his fingertips down the side of Skye's face, and the touch was so sweet and unexpected. He turned and locked gazes with the enigmatic vampire and seemed to lose himself for a moment in the depths of his black eyes. Then the doctor spoke, and the little spell was broken.
"You have considerable bruising and lacerations in various stages of healing, but overall, you are in good health, although somewhat underweight." That was good news for Skye, who could not remember a time when he had ever gone to a doctor or medical professional of any kind. Apprentices and slaves were not afforded such things and were expected to fend for themselves.
He gave him some salve for his wounds and an antibiotic shot. "I'd like to see you for a follow-up in a couple weeks."
"I may not be here," Skye responded softly.
"I will see that he has a follow-up." Dante cut in and helped him get dressed in some scrubs that the doctor provided. His things were still quite wet. His moment came when the doctor had to step out of the room. Dante still had questions and went after the doctor. Skye had seconds to decide and to act.
He was up and out the window in seconds and found a balcony directly below the window which was an easy drop. He then used the wall to scale down to the stone walkway. His adrenalin was pumping, and he knew he had to keep moving even without knowledge of where he was or how to get away, he simply chose a direction and started running.
It was a wide open lawn and not the best choice for getting lost but he had to stick with it, for to second guess or start changing direction would slow him down and draw further attention to himself. He was dressed in scrubs and barefoot but if he moved with purpose and confidence he might be overlooked.
He came upon some dense landscaping trees, bushes, decorative figures, and trellises and continued running flat out as fast as he could but tried to use the lawn ornaments and foliage as cover. There were people everywhere, some yelling at him, others simply running after him, but then they fell away, letting him go, it would seem, but that was too good to be true.
"He'll be okay." The doctor said, assuring Dante. "He's tough and basically healthy apart from the cuts and bruises. As far as his psychological condition is concerned, he appears to have a firm grasp on reality from what I can see. If you need more information, I'd suggest Dr. Havelock. He's had good success treating trauma patients." Dante had no intention of letting anyone pry around in his beloved's consciousness, but he let it go and simply nodded. The fact that Skye was physically well was all he was interested in hearing.
His plan was to take Skye’s information from the doctor thus keeping it away from prying eyes until he had a better understanding of the whole situation. He put it with the report from the research department that he received while Skye was being examined.
