Blueblood 4: Dracula - 16. Attacked

“What did you do?” Dragon asked still concentrating on the gold cross, but was still not quite…comfortable holding it. He gave it back to me.

I smiled at Dragon. “I did what I believed you could not argue with. I showed you…you’re not evil.”

Gaius was marveling over being able to touch the cross. “Before, it did burn.”

I looked at Gaius. “You saw it coming?”

“Yes.” Gaius nodded.

“It burned because you believed it would burn.” I shrugged. “You made it burn. You did, not God.”

“That was dangerous. I could have struck out and killed you.” Dragon said.

I nodded. “You’ve lived in a prison…thinking if you were evil for what…five hundred years?” I looked at Dragon and Gaius. “You both are smart men. You both have killed, but as you have said before…not without cause.” I nodded. “I suppose if you did kill me, you would have thought you had a cause, but I don’t sense you’re bad men. I didn’t believe you would.”

Dragon shook his head. “Maybe I am not a bad man.” He said softly.

“No, you’re not,” I said as soft. “The fact that it’s bothering you that you might be, tells me you’re not.”

Gaius held his hand out to take the cross again. “I just need a few more moments with it.”

I handed it back. “Sure, Gaius.”

Dragon grinned slightly. “How did you come to this opinion?”

I shrugged. “I could tell.”

He looked at me. “What is your take on Lucian and Iilya?”

I chuckled again. “Well, I get the opinion that Lucian was bullied a lot as a child and teenager. Now, he feels he has some power and is striking back at the world.”

“That may be, but…” Dragon began.

I held my hand up. “I say it’s a reason, it’s not an excuse.”

“Oh.” Dragon grinned. “But Iilya…?”

Then I frowned. “Iilya is another story.”

Dragon nodded. “And what story do you get from Iilya?” He sat back smiling to see if I got what he did about Iilya.

Now, I didn’t smile. “That is a man that would scare me before he became a vampire.” I shook my head. “From what I understand about Iilya, he was KGB in the fifties and sixties…from what I learned in school; that was a time of intense paranoia for Americans and Soviets. The Cold War was on full and we feared nuclear holocaust every day.” I nodded. “If he is what I think…of course, I could be just seeing the propaganda given about them and those times. He is a greater threat, not Lucian.”

Dragon nodded. “Because you see there is another agenda?”

I chuckled, but it wasn’t because I saw amusement. “Oh, yes. We have a man that was raised to think a certain way, though I think that thinking has been influenced by his desire for power.”

Dragon nodded again as he rose. “You sense a lot for someone…so young.”

I shrugged. “I can’t help the age thing, but I can see a man who wants more than he claims. Iilya does. How did he get into your group?”

“He didn’t.” Dragon smiled as he got closer to me, but shook his head. “He was a victim.”

“Because Lucian bit him?” I asked surprised.

“No, Iilya wasn’t the victim. Lucian was.” Dragon explained. “Lucian was…as you perceived, abused by people growing up.” He looked almost sympathetic when he continued softly. “He starved for any positive attention. He craved any affection. Iilya gave that to him.”

I looked at him uncertainly. “You mean sex?”

Dragon nodded and then shrugged. “Iilya was willing to do whatever was necessary to get inside our ranks which Lucian allowed.”

“Iilya did it to get to you.” I clarified.

“It was Iilya that kept asking about the secrets of being a vampire.” Dragon said as Colin walked up. “It was he that told Lucian about the stories and swore there must be truth in them.”

“Apparently the vampire movies made it to Russia back then.” I shrugged. “Or they made them up themselves. I’m sure there were movies about them, but…” I shrugged.

“How did you begin to see these things in a man’s personality?” Dragon smiled asking.

“My work when in service…” I began. “I saw men, women, and children suffer because someone wants power. I’ve seen the looks of zealots and people who think they deserve more than anyone else. Iilya has that look.”

Colin put his arm around me. “Not everyone over there was like that; even in the Middle East.”

I nodded with a real chuckle. “No, there were some very real highlights. Adil.” I smiled at the memory. “He’d be in his late teens now. He was five when I met him. He was charming and he knew very little English, but he liked the fact we were soldiers. He was fascinated by us and the uniforms…” I chuckled. “…of course, the guns, but I didn’t carry a gun.”

Dragon’s eyes widened. “No gun? No weapon at all!? You were a soldier.”

I shook my head. “I was a medic.” I corrected. “I was there the save lives, not kill.”

“What if you were threatened?” Dragon asked.

“I was supposed to carry a smaller gun,” I admitted. “A thirty-eight if my saying what kind of gun I was to carry means anything to you. It’s a small handgun. Mostly I carried a med-kit satchel of medications. I didn’t make room for the gun.” I chuckled remembering. “I won his confidence by giving him Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.”

Dragon grinned. “I take it that was a form of…sweets?”

“It is,” Colin said grinning. “Devon’s preferred treat.”

I shrugged. “Peanut butter and chocolate!? Who could not like that?” I patted him on the arm. “I look forward to you having one soon. Then you’ll know.”

I had taken a risk with Dragon, but we knew that something was going to happen. We stayed below during the nights. Iilya and Lucian couldn’t strike us during the daylight. We didn’t know what sort of following those two had, but we knew there would be something soon, but we had not anticipated an attack after the sun was up. The attack was by men, not vampires.

Dragon had gotten the first dose of the serum. As with every vampire that took it, there was the pain. It was after he had gone to sleep that Colin, George, Burke, Gaius, Chuck, Mark and I were walking back to the house.

The surrounding countryside of Transylvania was kind of creepy even in the morning light. The trees shrouded much in darkness. As the season was changing now, it was cooler in the morning and there was the morning mist that caused the tree-shrouded grounds to seem that way. My love of movies and the stories about this part of the world only added to my unease. The fear of this area was due to that, I thought, but I could sense…something…

Making it through a wooded section a group of five men jumped out of the mist before we got to the town itself. We wore the translators always as there were some who did not speak enough English. A blonde man at the head of the group snarled.

“Fi plecat americanii! Noi nu va ceda!” The translator came back with Be gone Americans. We will not surrender! Then I saw a gun rise from his jacket as he began firing wildly at us! What happened next was a little fast, but Colin threw himself in front of me and tackled me down and I hit the ground hard jolting me. I heard Chuck yelling at Mark who was yelling something back and then…I’d seen a video of a man that filmed a grizzly bear attacking and it was almost like that when Gaius came at them with a howl and charged the attacking men. I had gotten caught in a firefight, as they called it when I served in the Middle East and my training kicked in immediately and remained low, but Colin looked at me surprised and to my horror as he was suddenly not able to breathe as he gasped!

“Oh, god! Colin!! No, Colin!” I screamed as I looked down at him. He’d been shot in the back in the upper left portion of his back. I knew from the many injured I’d treated he had the bullet puncture his lung. “Colin, hold on.” I scrambled for George’s med-kit and grabbed something to plug the hole. I looked as I saw George moan and hold his arm, but was concerned with Burke who was concerned about George. Mark and Chuck had been behind us and they didn’t seem to be hit but had sprung into action at the five men that attacked us. My focus was Colin as I began pulling his shirt open, I saw the exit wound where the bullet had passed through Colin. The exit wound looked very bad, but it didn’t pass anywhere near the heart. Clearly, it had gone through his lung. The entry was just a clean little puncture. I began rummaging quickly through the supplies and got out the tape and opened a package for some sterile gauze. I didn’t need the gauze, but the plastic was needed. I had to put covering over the wounds as his lung could deflate and he could bleed into that lung. “You've got a penetrating chest wound, Colin,” I said as I knew I was shaking. “The bullet penetrated the lung.” I rolled him over, cleaned the skin with alcohol and stuck the packaging over his entry wound taping plastic down. The newly cleaned skin would help the tape stick. Working fast was how you saved lives and I was not going to let Colin die. Then I went to his exit wound which was bigger and messier. Again, cleaning the skin I taped again the plastic over the wound. “Easy, Colin,” I said as I worked. “You’re going to be fine. This will help you with your breathing.” I said more to assure me as well as him.

“Son of a bitch, that hurts.” Colin managed as his gasping eased, but his eyes widened when he looked at me. “Devon, you were hit, too!” He said touching the left of my chest and brought back a bloodied hand.

I hadn’t noticed in the excitement. That jolt I felt must have been the bullet as well as the fall. “I’m fine.” I looked around at chaos as the men that had jumped out us fled. Gaius was angry but looked back to see who was hurt. Seeing Colin was shot and I was also bleeding, George was shot, but the most critical was Colin.

“I’ll get help!” Gaius said and hurried toward the village.

That’s when I was aware of some pain where I had been shot. From what I gathered, the same bullet that had gone through Colin had lodged itself in me? I didn’t know for sure, but Colin had placed his body in the way of the shot. The way he had covered me with his own body had slowed the bullet and now it was lodged in my upper left chest below my collarbone and I was hurt, but I didn’t wait to feel it. The rush at the time had filled my perceptions and I had to stop Colin’s lung from threatening his life. I went over to George to find his wound was also not too severe. The bullet wound had again been clean, but he was shot in the upper arm and it had gone in above the elbow and below the shoulder. I felt the moment where I’d gotten my energy from the adrenaline rush was waning and I began to get dizzy. Burke was helping George, but I was losing a good bit of blood and lost consciousness as I finally went down.

When I did wake up, I was in a bed, but the surroundings told me it was a hospital room. This was definitely not a hospital in the United States for the building was much older than most I’d seen. It was clean, but the age showed, but the equipment was modern. A young dark-haired woman entered the room and smiled at me.

“Văd că suntem treji acum.” She said.

I frowned as I looked over the area. I was groggy, but I looked for my translator. “I don’t have my translator. What did you say?”

She chuckled as she nodded. “Is that what is what that thing was?” She asked in accented English as she went to a cabinet and pulled a bag out. “I said, you’re wake now. My name is Lena.” She pulled the earpiece and device out. “Is this what you seek?” She handed it to me and helped me sit up a bit more.

I took the device and looked at it. “That needs recharging.” I shook my head. Looking around I saw no one else. “There were others with me,” I said. “Colin Wentworth, George Holms, John Burke…”

The woman nodded. “Colin Wentworth had surgery and is in another room. You were unconscious a whole day.”

I sat up quickly. “Is he alright?” I asked more urgently. “I need to see him.”

She smiled. “Our best surgeon worked on him. He’s been unconscious until recently.” She looked at me curiously. “He’s your brother?”

We had received very little problem with Colin’s and my marriage with others we’d met, but I was cautious. “No. He and I are married.”

Her eyes did widen a little. “Oh?”

I chuckled. “No matter what country or language, I’m used to the…” I did air quotes, “…oh.” I looked at the bandages on my shoulder. “Is the fact that I’m married to a man going to help or hinder my and Colin’s recovery?”

She shook her head. “No.” She said quickly. “I’m just…surprised.”

“Why?” I asked.

I heard someone else enter the room. “We do recognize gay unions in Romania, but we do not allow them to marry.” A male voice at the door said. His accent was telling me he was a local. The man that was in shape, but was in his late forties or early fifties with gray hair was at his temples and beginning to take over his dark head of hair. He walked over and stood by my bed. “I am investigating this…incident.” He stuck his hand out. “I’m Sorin Dulca.” He pulled his wallet thing out and showed me a badge.

“I say again, is the fact that I’m married to a man determine whether or not we recover?” I asked.

“Of course not,” Lena said quickly and smiled and shook her head. “Doctor Petran is treating you and she’s very good.” She patted me on the arm. “Your…husband is in good hands.” She assured. “He’s doing well from what I understand. We’ll have you transferred to a room together later.” She looked at the investigator. “Play nice. He was shot.” She said as if to remind him and left.

“Which brings me to some questions.” Inspector Dulca said smiling tightly. “What brings you to Romania, Mr. Wentworth?”

I smiled, but this was a first for me. “We are working on a computer program, which I can’t show you without power.” I held up my translator. “No power.”

He nodded, but he did it the way that all cops do when they suspect something else. “What sort of program?”

“It’s a translating program,” I explained. “There are some…like us in the United States that aren’t forced to learn other languages as you do…which to me, leads to a little xenophobic as Americans think everyone should speak English. We never are bothered to learn other languages.” I pointed out. “When we have power again, I can show you how it works. This country has a lot of languages spoken here. We go around speaking to various people and it builds our database to hopefully make a world-wide translator.”

He nodded. “And what sort of program needs a doctor to accompany them?”

“George is a friend and an investor.” I shook my head as I saw his unsatisfied reception of what I’d said. “You’d know…” I began, “if you knew me…you’d know I’m a big fan of movies and television.” I chuckled. “I’m also a big fan of people and their behaviors.” I was careful with my own body language. I remained loose and casual by not folding my arms over my chest, which I knew would hurt my shoulder if I tried. “The line of questions and your behavior tells me you suspect something illegal was happening.”

“Was there?” The man asked. “It’s the nature of my job to be suspicious.” He chuckled explaining and nodded as he walked a little. “I’m a study on human behavior, too.” He was not an ugly man, but he was shrewd. He had a practiced mean look he was…almost…using. “I can always tell when someone lies…or leaves things out.” He nodded. “I suspect that’s what’s happening here.” He looked at me critically. “You didn’t know you’re attackers?”

“Why would we lie?” I shook my head. “No, I’ve never seen them before.”

“And you don’t know what was the motive for the attack?” Sorin asked.

I nodded. “I think I know…or I suspect I do, but I can’t be sure.” I answered honestly. “The house we rented was ransacked a couple of weeks ago and equipment destroyed. We leased the use of the former Soviet military base to be more secure.” I looked out the window. “I’m in Barsov, aren’t I? I recognize the clock tower I see from here. The mayor here leased it. George Scriparu allowed us to do that. He knows why we’re here and what we’re doing. We showed him how our program worked and he was all behind it.”

Inspector Dulca nodded. “Yes, he was the one that assigned me this case.” He pointed out. “He was concerned about the welfare of some rich American businessmen in our country was attacked and wanted me to investigate personally.” His tone told me he was still suspecting more. “Which I will do, but I find it odd for men…out early in the morning…a doctor with a medical kit…two men I find out are FBI agents…”

“The doctor I explained. The FBI agents are friends, as well. They are also with us to protect the equipment we were using.” I said logically making sure my tone was even. “The program is used by the United Nations so it’s of international importance. Mark and Chuck weren’t armed. Shelly is also with us and an agent with the FBI, but standing guard over our equipment at the base. We’ve complied with all laws in Romania. We simply wanted to gather the languages here. I will be glad to show you once the translator is charged.”

A woman came into my room. “I hope you’re finished, Inspector.” She was in her early forties, her hair was cut short and was blonde, but she had it treated as I’d seen many women who were going gray as a blonde and had it…frosted? She was a little heavier than she needed to be. Not fat, but just…had a few more pounds than she needed. “Hello, Mr. Wentworth. I’m Dr. Laurel Petran. I treated you, getting the bullet out of your shoulder.” She greeted me shaking my good hand and looked at the Inspector who said something to her in Romanian to which she spoke back in Romanian. Then she smiled at me. “And I think we should speak English as you do not speak Romanian. We would be rude not to.”

I frowned and chuckled. “No, I can’t speak Romanian without this.” I held the translator up. “Once powered, I will. I love that you all seem to be able to speak many languages. I wish I could, so we’re coming up with this to help everyone do that.”

“Inspector Dulca was asking about the vials from the medical kit Dr. Holms was carrying.” Dr. Petran said. “I told him it was nothing narcotic and was not illegal.” She explained. “And I asked him to leave while I speak with you. Doctor/Patient confidence.”

I nodded. “Oh, I see.”

Inspector Dulca nodded. “Well, we know where you are.” He said to me. “I assume you’re not leaving for a while?” He asked.

I shook my head. “We’re not finished here. We’ll be here a few more weeks or even months.”

Inspector Dulca nodded. “I’ll be in contact. I hope you recover well.” He said and walked out.

Dr. Petran nodded as she escorted him to the door and shut it. Turning to me, her face changed. She was also suspecting more and I knew I couldn’t fool her. “I would appreciate some information, though.” She walked over. “Your husband’s wounds were treated very well. His life was saved by some quick thinking by someone. He claims that was you.”

I nodded. “I was a medic in the military. I’ve done aid in the field.”

She smiled. “That was a first-class field dressing done…top notch.”

“Is he recovering?”

She nodded. “Of course. I asked Dr. Holms some questions and he just said it was a condition he was treating.” She said. “We ran some blood tests on all of you.” She folded her arms over her chest. “Care to tell me what is in your blood I’ve never seen before?” She pulled my arm up. “And what is this?” She tapped my disc of serum. “You all three have them and versions of the same element in your blood. You all have low heart rates, low body temperatures. I told the Inspector we did run tests on the vials and you have the same substance in your own bodies.” She said. “It comes from this, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, it does.” I answered, but feeling a tingling in my armpits as I was being cornered. I couldn’t just evade the questions. “As you said, it’s not an illegal substance, but we all share a single condition that Dr. Holms found a way to treat. He came up with a drug that treats this condition.”

“Which is?” She asked.

“I won’t insult your intelligence, we all have a form of Polymorphous Light Eruption.” I prayed she’d leave at that.

She nodded, but I knew she wasn’t going to let it go. “And it’s pretty severe, but I have a problem with that explanation.” She said sitting beside my bed in the only chair. “The substance in your blood would have no effect on the skin cell lesions.” She sighed. “But I noticed something else in your blood; if anything, I’d say this…” she touched my disc again. “This substance keeps whatever is in your blood from having an effect. I studied abroad. That’s the reason I speak English as well as I do. I’ve learned a good deal in America as well as in England. I will say there has never been a sample of this in any of the hospitals or clinics I studied in.” She looked at me firmly. “What is it?”

“You’d think I was crazy if I tell you,” I said and sighed. “I was bitten and I have a venom in me that will never go away. This disc makes a serum that keeps me from becoming…” I started, but couldn’t say the word.

The door opened again. “I hope Dr. Petran, when you do know. This goes under the doctor/patient confidentiality.” George said firmly. “You will tell no one.”

She looked up at George. “Of course.”

I sighed in relief. “Hi, George! Thank god you showed up.”

Dr. Petran nodded. “I have to keep it between us…you were about to say…to keep you from becoming what?” She asked again.

“Vampires,” I said.