(Sorry for the long delay folks. Dissertation and my second book took a lot more time than I anticipated, but I'm glad to be posting the Blood and Magic series again. Enjoy!)
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Kirstin led the party to a small outdoor wooded area a mile away from the hospital. As she circled the parameter she could see the sirens flashing over the horizon. She looked at the hospital in the distance more than she did the road.
Stop blaming yourself for your partner. Melissa's voice startled Kirstin, Whatever happens to him has happened and even if you did go with him, it's likely you'd be dead too.
Kirstin rolled her eyes and thought of Melissa walking down the hotel in her Wonder Woman underwear, Ashley pinching her small buttocks.
Why don't you focus on the present instead of the past or the future? Melissa said by raising her tone.
"Over there." she pointed to a small opening into a wooded area. Kirstin drove slow, maneuvering in between two large trees before putting the car in park. The lights from Dominic's car shined through hers.
Loading her pistol, Kirstin killed the engine. She stepped outside and stood next to Sakeena while waiting for Amos and Dominic to join them.
"What do we know about this place Detective?"
"The hospital closed down in the 2003. It housed a lot of patients when it was running. It could take all night to scope the place out." she thought about mentioning that it was haunted and then remembered who her company was.
"All right then. Prisc-er..Melissa." Amos hesitated, "Ah want ya to scout the outside and find us a way in, away from the police. If'n ya see anything let us know."
Melissa nodded, walking through the woods and disappearing in the darkness. Once she was gone Dominic looked to Amos, "Are there enough of us?"
"Anymore and we'd risk a breach. Ah don't like that the police got here first. Means we can't go in an take care of things ourselves. We might need you to wipe some minds."
"He won't like that." Dominic said. Kirstin shot he and Amos a side glance.
"He's pretty understandin of situations like this."
"Indeed, he is. It's quite odd."
Kirstin looked at Sakeena and mouthed the word, "He?"
Sakeena shook her head, hugging herself as she stared at the hospital. Amos and Dominic stood like statues as they stared at the hospital. She watched the night sky flash from red to blue and red again. Sakeena held Kirstin's hand again mouthing the words "stay with me" to her.
An hour passed before Dominic snapped to life, tapping Amos on the shoulder. Kirstin cracked a half smile seeing Dominic stand on his tip-toes to do so.
Amos looked at Dominic's phone and said, "All right y'all. Melissa found us an opening near the east side of the buildin. We're gonna circle around and enter through there to see if we can get a drop on em."
"And if we do, what then?" Dominic asked.
"If'n the police ain't there, we take em out. if'n they are well, we might have to let the Brood take them out first."
"Exc-" Kirstin started to say but then cut herself off. The turn of Amos' large head was enough to make her knees weak before he had the chance to glare at her.
He opened Dominic's car door and set his gun on the seat. "Ah don't want anyone firin off rounds. The noise'll just stir the police up in a frenzy."
"What should we do?" Sakeena asked as she looked at Kirstin.
Dominic glanced at both of them, the calm look on his face was incongruent with the way his eyes seemed to look right through them. "Come with us for now. We could use Sakeena's strength and Detective Delaney can be a distraction to the police if we need one."
"What do you mean by distraction?"
"You're not supposed to be here." Dominic took a step closer to her, "Defying orders adds more confusion that we'll need to shift attention away from our kind. This does not mean you are to go rogue, stay with us and do as I or Amos says."
"All right y'all, let's go." Amos led them down the hill, carefully choosing his steps to avoid crunching the leaves. Sakeena stayed close to Kirstin, using every steep decline as an excuse to squeeze her hand. Her silence unsettled Kirstin, wondering if it was out of fear or submission to the vampires.
Once they reached the bottom of the hill, Amos stuck his head out, holding his ear to the parking lot of the hospital. Dominic held his hand out in front of Kirstin and Sakeena. The way Amos stood frozen as he listened made him look like a tree. Five minutes passed when he spoke again.
"They ain't heard from the SWAT team in a while, chief is nervous." Amos whispered. "No one's fired any gunshots. What might be going on Detective?"
Kirstin looked back to where the front of the hospital was, estimating the distance to be half a block away. She looked to Amos again with a raised eyebrow. "I..don't know. Williams' team would've went in guns blazing if they wanted. There had to be hostages."
Amos and Dominic exchanged glances, Dominic lowering his chin as he maintained his eye contact with Amos. He broke eye contact when his phone vibrated. He glanced at the screen and said, "All right, Melissa is waitin for us over there, she's got a hospital room window open.
The party hugged the wall as they moved towards the other side of the hospital. Amos was first to spot the opened window. Melissa looked outside, "I couldn't see anyone around but I didn't hear any gun fire."
"Maybe they're still searching." Sakeena said.
