Rebirth Read online

  “I gotcha, that must be where the werewolf healing stuff came from.”

  “What is werewolf healing stuff?”

  “In make believe stories, if a werewolf gets hurt it can change shape and the change fixes it.”

  “This is true. Werewolf heal fast, change make it very fast and fix anything but fire and silver.” She stood up “We should go home.”

  I was in shock “You tellin me that werewolves are real? They exist?”

  “Yes! We talk, I tell you; we go now, it will get dark and we don’t want to be here.”

  “Yeah, we need to do that.” I started the shift. Just a thought and my perspective changed. The change of perspective seemed familiar, my world view fit smoothly, I got up and we headed out.

  The trip to the house was uneventful and I was grateful for the change. Most of the time we were waiting for Carl; people walk too slowly. We sat around the table eating and I made a note to check on Steph, Elizabeth and Wanda. It was coming on full dark and the vampire was pissed, I wondered if he would be dragging from missing his beauty sleep. Doubtful; the bad guys never had problems like that.

  I called Wanda, she answered on the second ring “Hello?”

  “Hey, Wanda, just thought I would check in. We pissed the vampire off, got Carl back, fought him, so we gotta be careful tonight; he was up all day today but that might not cause him any problem. Y’all might want to come over here and stay till we get something done about this.”

  “I hate this. I don’t know what else to do; I can’t risk all these kids over here. It’s gonna be rough puttin’ us all up. I think your friends know something about Elizabeth, they spent a couple hours with her and she’s different. Better different, I hope.”

  “Call it a sleepover, get whatever you got to sleep in and come on. It’s gettin’ dim outside already.”

  “All right, we’ll be over there in a little bit. Thanks.” She hung up, already busy with arrangements. In the meantime we had to eat and get fueled up for the night, we had one pissed off vampire to contend with. While we ate, I wanted to pick Mags’ brains.

  “Mags, you tell me about this werewolf thing. They’re real?”

  “Yes. Stories about things not to do and places not to go. Things to look for and stay away from. People live far apart. Something bad happen nobody knew it.” She got a plate of big lima beans from the pot on the stove and sat down to fix them. She didn’t worry about cholesterol or fat or sugar, she loaded up.

  “No books like you have. Writing a special thing, reading a special thing, I priestess so I learn. I teach counting, herbs, ways to treat wounds.” She dumped a dollop of mayo in the beans and picked up an onion and a knife.

  “Wolves and bears eat you. You shoot bear with arrow, piss it off. Stick it with knife, bad thing. Many people with spears had a chance but somebody would get hurt or killed, crippled. Stories teach what to do, how to avoid danger.” She diced a big chunk of onion over the beans as she spoke.

  “Most things made of wood. Metal very expensive. Rich people might have metal knife.” She peppered the beans; she didn’t use salt, she’d complained that everything was too salty already but she loved her some pepper.

  “Sometimes bad thing was sickness. There is a sickness that makes a person like animal, howling and biting and clawing. The bite makes the sickness.”

  I said “Yeah, that’s rabies, people still get it but there are shots to fix it” as I got a plate myself, the beans looked too good to resist.

  “I don’t know how but there are people who change into beasts, not like we do. Some of them do not change back. Some of them can control it. Some of them can’t.” She took a huge bite of beans and chewed, a look of pure ecstasy on her face, eyes closed, then swallowed and continued

  “They live a long time, hide, sneak.” She got serious about eating and plowed into it. We ate in silence and I thought about what she’d said. Looking out the kitchen window, I noticed it had got pretty dark. I picked up the cell and called Wanda.

  “Hey, y’all need help? It’s dark already.”

  Carl looked up from the plate of beans he was demolishing,

  “Do I need to go over there and help them?”

  Wanda said “No, we’re headed that way right now, fixing to lock the door.”She spoke to one of the kids sharply, then “Let me let you go and we’ll see you in a second, bye.”

  “They’ll be here in a minute, it’ll be crowded tonight. She said she has it so relax and finish eating.” Carl grunted in answer because his mouth was full.

  “In all this time, nobody ever took a picture of a werewolf, or one hasn’t come out in public, that’s hard to believe.” I popped a spoon of mayo in my beans and mixed it in. What the heck, I needed some fat.

  “Maybe pictures, people know. Werewolves keep it quiet, make people listen, do what they want.”

  I felt unsettled, I wish Wanda and her group would come on and get here. Full dark and Chen was pissed. Carl must have had the same feeling; he pushed his chair back and said

  “I’m gonna go give her a hand, see what’s keepin’ them. I’ll be right back,” he wiped his mouth as he walked to the front door.

  I heard the group walking across the porch. Finally, thank God. The bad feeling didn’t go away, it was like a cramp in my stomach and I was jittery. I got up to help get them settled. I’d feel better once they were inside. Stephanie came in carrying Pemmy.

  “If she’s asleep put her in my bed. We’ll let the kids and Wanda have the bed and the adults can camp on the couches and in the floor. I got air mattresses, we’ll have a sleepover.” Stephanie headed back to my bedroom.

  “She’s not asleep but we got a crowd, best thing we can do is everybody go to bed early. If we let them stay up they gonna go crazy.” Pemmy protested,

  “No! I ain’t gonna go to bed now. It’s too early.”

  Stephanie said “Hush now! Don’t make me pop you.” Wanda stepped in the door,

  “I’ll be glad when this all settles down, this ain’t good. These young uns...” Her voice cut off. I turned back and she wasn’t there.

  “Wanda?” She must have stepped back outside. She didn’t answer. She wasn’t on the porch. Carl had stepped outside out of the way, I didn’t see him, but Elizabeth sat on the ground rocking back and forth and keening softly, a high pitched steady sound with little gasps, she held something in both hands and gazed at at it.

  I ran to Elizabeth,

  “Where’s Carl and Wanda? What’s wrong? Elizabeth…” the lump she held didn’t make sense, I could see it, but something was wrong with her hands, her arm bent at an impossible angle and her hand was wrong. It stuck out of the side of her arm. Blood smell was strong, I thought maybe she had fallen and broken her arm.

  She held her hands and the mass out and looked up,

  “Carl, ah, oh my god, it’s Carl.” I reached out to take the thing, just reacting, and it made sense.

  She held out a hand attached to a forearm. Blood drooled from the stump in strings, ragged skin and meat hung limp. Something it the way she held it or the way I took it made the fingers clench a little and I lost it.

  I fell to my knees with my head turned to the side, trying not to puke, trying not to get it on the forearm if I did. Ignore the stomach. I don’t have time for that.

  “Beth, where is Carl?”

  She looked at the side of the porch, I followed where she was looking, a dark mass huddled at the end of the porch in the yard.

  Carl where he laid on his face with the stump of his arm sticking out to one side, the ground covered with blood, he wasn’t moving. I grabbed him to turn him over but I only had one hand free and I didn’t want to throw the forearm down on the ground.

  “Mags, help me!” I kneeled by him and tried to get the forearm arranged so I could turn him. We needed to stop his bleeding, I needed to check his pulse. A wave of fear, dread, despair swept over me and I got weak. I felt cold and sweat beaded on my face, I got dizzy and black spots fil
led my vision.

  What was happening was familiar but I couldn’t afford to pass out. Cold, clear resolve took over.

  Mags jumped off the porch, I handed her the forearm with attached hand and turned Carl. I grabbed his arm to slow the bleeding. It had slowed to a trickle. I slammed into him and pulled on Dirt. Blood vessels in the arm had to close tight to stop blood loss. I pushed to replace the lost blood, I ignored the details, I didn’t have time.

  Mag knelt down and placed his forearm in place against the stump and I felt her working to reconnect it. He needed blood, he had bled out.

  “Stephanie! Elizabeth! One of y’all bring me water, quick, hurry!” Elizabeth still sat where she had been. She was leaning to one side. Stephanie was still inside.

  “Hurry, now, move it. He’s hurt bad, we need water!” I didn’t have time to wait. Mags had his arm now, I got up to get the water myself.

  Stephanie stood looking at the front door with one foot lifted like a statue, her expression frozen. Turning to squeeze past her, I ran to the sink and turned on the water. It didn’t flow. I pulled the refrigerator door open, shit rained into the floor, I grabbed a gallon of milk. It was mostly water, it should work.

  I fell to my knees and pulled the lid off the milk. He’d choke if I poured it down his throat, it would go to his lungs. His pulse was erratic, skipping, and his legs twitched spastically.

  Mag had the forearm in place, concentrating. It was up to me to keep him alive. His shirt over his stomach was a bloody mess and rags. I reached out and moved his shirt and saw the damage. His stomach was ripped open and gaping, gray loops of intestines with bits of grass and dirt stuck to them looped down his side.

  I needed liquid in him, here was a way. I propped the milk jug sideways in the mass of gore and let it pour out in him, as it glugged I put my hands directly into the stuff and focused inside him, pulling on Dirt for the necessary power. I imagined the milk converting to blood and seeping in through tissues to fill veins and put all the push behind it I could. I visualized the torn flesh knitting together, becoming whole, closing. I could hear the jug of milk glugging dimly as it poured into his body cavity, slow and distant and meaningless.

  The shock of the cold must have been too much. His heart stopped, he stretched hard, legs straight out, straining and then completely still.

  I looked at his heart, found the place the nerve signaled it to beat, and sent a shock to the nexus.

  It convulsed hard, and pumped a little. I split my concentration, part of me continuing to convert the liquids in his body cavity into blood and get it inside him, part trying to work his heart. It needed more than one convulsive contraction, it needed to fill one chamber, then squeeze that out the arteries, I needed to supply shocks in sequence.

  I had to wait for the first chamber to fill with blood and it took forever. Then I signaled that one to squeeze, check valves made the flow one way and blood moved. It was maddeningly slow, and then he snatched a shallow breath, arched his body and took over working his heart. I hadn’t even thought about breathing for him.

  Freed from concentrating on his heart I tried to give him heat as we continued to convert milk to blood. I imagined the contents of his body cavity at normal body temperature and I felt it warming.

  My vision grayed out and sounds became muffled. I had put so much of me into fixing Carl I’d quit breathing and hadn’t noticed.

  I took a breath and dimly felt the relief. Stephanie appeared beside me with a glass of water, moving at near normal speed. She kneeled down by me, “What should I do with this? I got a pitcher filling. This is what I could do quick.” She hesitantly held it over his stomach with both hands. I noticed vaguely her face was pale and damp and her hands were shaking.

  “Pour it in his stomach, the milk is about gone, then get me more as quick as you can.” She nodded and poured carefully like she was scared she would hurt him, but it was as fast as I could handle it and I couldn’t spare the concentration to correct her anyway.

  Mags’ hands pressed the skin at the sides of his belly together. The cut or tear that had opened him up ran at a diagonal from his left nipple down to his right hip, passing just above his belly button. She started at the bottom, pushing everything inside and closing the skin, knitting it back together.

  Stephanie left and Mags closed the gaping hole, I finished converting liquids to blood and started on the top end of the slash. Mags paused and worked on tears in the intestines, I reached in and reformed part of his sternum.

  We got it closed and he was breathing. He was cool to the touch even with the heat I had given him. I rocked back, uncertain what to do next. The arm looked good to my inner sight, back in one piece. I didn’t see any other wounds. We had fixed everything and he was still laboring to breathe.

  Mag said “Cold on ground, need to get him off it.” She spoke slowly and enunciated carefully like her lips were numb. Comprehension was slow, the words didn’t make any sense at first, and she stared at me patiently waiting.

  Stephanie appeared with a pitcher of water.

  I said “We got him closed. We got to get him inside now. Just throw the pitcher down and help, I think we about done.”

  She bent and caught him by the legs and lifted, and stood there waiting. Understanding caught up and I slid my arm under his shoulders to lift his top, Mags reached under, meeting my hands. We locked hands beneath him and carried him. We managed to shift our arms to support his head when it dangled.

  Stephanie said breathlessly “Bathtub? We can run warm water on him.”

  I was coming out of my mental fog a little,

  “Yeah, good idea, bathroom it is.” He wasn’t heavy but we had hell getting him through the door, and he was folding and slipping out of our hands.

  Elizabeth put her arms around his belly and lifted, it made enough difference we didn’t drop him.

  We laid him in the tub and ran the water till it got hot, then started the tub filling. Stephanie pulled off his shoes and socks. I pulled the rest of the rags of his shirt off. The water in the tub was bloody, chunks of weeds and meat and clots floating in it. We let it drain and turned on the shower. I held my hands over his face to block the water.

  His pants were a ruin.

  Mag said “He die, everything released.” She began taking his pants off and Elizabeth helped with the belt buckle and zipper when Mags had trouble.

  They managed to get the heavy wet denim pulled off him and he lay there naked and somehow childlike in the warm water. Eventually we got him cleaned up and warm. The seams where we had put him back together were pink against his skin and I wondered if they were weak from the fresh healing, in danger of tearing loose again

  Mags said “Not weak at all. New skin needs age to match old skin” making me feel a lot better.

  Stephanie said “Where’s mama?”

  I hadn’t even thought about her.

  “You watch Carl and I’ll find her.” I didn’t wait for agreement; Mags and I got up and started looking.

  There was no sign of her anywhere outside. I already had a good idea what we would find and when I checked I saw her lifted, then moving away, carried by the typical vampire blur of nothingness. My heart sank. Sick passed over my body in a wave. She had kids. This was Carl’s momma. She was a friend, a rare creature. I was already tired, no, exhausted, I had no reserves. Every step dragged at me like I was carrying someone on my shoulders. My feet had big clunky concrete shoes on them, my arms hard to lift. My head felt heavy. I wasn’t in shape to chase him down again. If I caught him I was easy meat. I wanted to sink down to the ground and cry, this was too much, I couldn’t do it. I had Carl’s blood on me, stinking, ripe, and everywhere. The memories and visions of the piece of arm sat in my head like chunks of wood driven in with no care for fit. Someone else needed to step in and save the day, I was done, finished, it was over. Nobody could blame me for not doing the impossible. Except me. I couldn’t accept just giving up. There had to be a way.

  In
no better shape, Mags shuffled through the yard stooped over, and looked at me for what to do next.

  “Hell Mags, I don’t know, I’m pretty much done. You got any ideas?” I squatted, standing was too much trouble.

  “He does things to her now if she not dead already. We not get to them fast enough. We change to bird and go faster, but not smell or track.” She squatted in front of me with her hands swinging loosely in front of her. She was as nasty as I was and she swayed in place.

  “Is they any way we can get some energy back? We both about to fall over with tired.” Urgency rode me, I had to try hopeless as it was.

  “Ask Gaia for strength and energy, can get not tired. We feel better but not help Wanda.” She closed her eyes in concentration and I reached for energy, felt the tired washing out of me. It didn’t relieve the despair.

  Artemis said “Busy night, that was a lot of healing” from where she sat on the porch. Hope sprang up immediately, she could do something.

  “Artemis, please, can you help us save Wanda? She’s been taken by Chen Ling, she’s got kids, she ain’t in any of this stuff.” I stood in front of her, a little aggravated to have to ask for help but I had no choice.

  “He’s a hunter. He makes regular sacrifices. I will not help you bring him down.” She was relaxed and comfortable, her legs swinging gently and her hands folded in her lap.

  “He has a human and intends to do her harm, there isn’t time to waste, what would it take to get you to help?” What kind of person could stand by and let this happen?

  “It is regrettable that your friend has problems but they are not my problems. I have come here to instruct you. There is nothing you can do about this person. Calm your mind. Worry and aggravation do not help with learning.”

  Mags said “She is not human, Rose.” She put her hand on my arm and squeezed.

  “I’m goin’ after the vampire.” I understood what Mags was saying, I shouldn’t get into a fight with Artemis, that wouldn’t help. Frustration warred with worry, damn, I could scream.