Darkest Before the Dawn (male/male)

Felix

Without their weapons, the humans appeared far more harmless. The oldest one of the group, the grandmother-type, stepped forward, wringing her hands together. “Pardon me. What are you all planning on doing now with these people?”

Cade gave her a perplexed expression. I spoke before she could. “What’s your name, love?”

She hesitated, the lines in her face growing deeper. “Jeanette. I assume you’re not here to hurt us since you could have already.”

“We’re here to make sure everyone here gets home safely. We’re part of a special investigation force and have been tracking Richard and the BRF for quite some time. From here, we’re going to get you to our main base, where you’ll be interviewed about everything you’ve seen here and assist with anything you may need."

Jeanette nodded slowly. “How can we be of help then?”

“Help me wake everyone up,” Cade instructed.

“It’s going to take some time.” It was the younger woman who finally spoke up, someone who had been hiding behind the other three humans. “They’re connected to a saline solution that’s been blessed, which is what’s keeping them sedated. They’ve also lost about a quarter of their blood. When we wake them up to feed them and let them exercise, it usually takes about ten minutes for the grogginess to fade.”

“Aren’t you Miss Helpful, then. Let’s get started.”

Cade took over delegations like a perfect HR manager: one human was instructed to grab the guns I had thrown from the room, while another was tasked with shattering the PIN pad on the outside of the room to inhibit anyone from getting in once the vault door was closed. Jeanette and the informative woman, Sayde, began clamping down IV lines to stop the flow of liquids before removing them from patient arms.

Goldie grabbed at my elbow once we both made sure the room was perfectly sealed. “Let’s wake up Barty.”

“Cade, get started on that portal to Mazerene,” I demanded.

“Already on it,” she called, kneeling in the center of the room, nails poised over her wrist. She cut into her flesh before I could look away.

The hum of needing to drink from a demon became an orchestra. It was made all that much harder when I was currently surrounded by a bleeding buffet of them, ranging in ages from middle school through middle aged.

The whining in my ears began again, like it always did when the temptation was there. High-pitched enough to block out logic and sense.

Goldie must have been able to tell I was off because she jerked me over to Mew’s bedside like a sharp snap back into reality. “Felix, I need you to focus on me and him, not on the blood or anything that’s happening. Understand?” I nodded, and she gripped my hand before moving to his left side. “You get the saline line cut, and I’ll do the blood line. Don’t undo his monitors until we’re sure he’s awake.” She found a metal clamp and pointed to the roller clamp on my side to stop the saline flow. “You know how to do these?”

“Learned basic field medicine a long while ago. I’ll walk you through it.” It was all mechanical, the IV work something I had done several times when I was with the SOE and there weren’t any nurses around. Stop the saline flow, pull the needle, apply pressure with gauze. I wondered how Richard had roped in a priest who was willing to bless the saline solution. Demons and holy water were a bad mix, but it was a creative way of keeping them subdued without putting them into an outright coma with the morphine they had originally used.

“And now we wait.”

I didn’t want to look at anything but Mew. His face was a little gaunter, the hollows of his cheeks not as filled in and the bags beneath his eyes darker. His heart monitor showed the pulse he had, just enough to make sure his body would still function.

My hand automatically found its place on his forehead.

Cade’s scent grew stronger, her heels clacking on the tile. “What’s happening?” she asked, standing at my shoulder.

“Nothing. We just have to wait.” I glanced at the portal on the tile, a circle in blood with neatly organized triangles and concentric shapes within it. “Is the portal done?”

She shook her head. “Started getting woozy. I need a few minutes. It has to be a big portal to get everyone through.” Her sigh was deep and lengthy. “Let me try something.”

“What are you going to do?” Goldie asked apprehensively.

“Being a big sister.” She nudged me aside, standing closer to Mew’s head now. “Hey, fuck-o. I know this is probably the best sleep you’ve ever gotten, but you need to wake up. And I know you hear me in that empty head of yours.” She shook out her left hand and placed it squarely on his chest. Dried blood from her portal making ran along to her wrist. “I’ll wake you up like I used to when we were younger. You’d get so pissed at me for shocking you, but I made sure you were up on time for your lessons.”

“You’re not really going to shock him, are you?” Goldie took a step back.

“A small one. Just enough to get his heart pumping.” She brought her face closer to Mew’s ear. “It still hurts, though, like getting a small dose of electricity through you. He hated when I would get him up in the mornings like that, but he used to sleep like a medicated rock when we were younger, so it was the only way to really make sure he was awake.” Her hand pressed firmer into Mew’s chest. “Hopefully it won’t hurt as much this time.”

“I will kill you.” It was faint, barely a whisper. The ECG wavelengths became taller.

Cadence exhaled and closed her eyes. “Welcome back, Mewbert.” She snarled at the same time Mew shot up into a seated position, smacking his head on Cadence’s.

“You electrocuted me!”

“You walked into a vampire lair without any backup! You deserve to be fired from your job for negligence and for being an absolute moron!” Cadence sniffled while she rubbed her head. “Don’t ever do something so stupid again.” Her arms found themselves around Mew, squeezing him tightly to her while she tried to hold the tears in her eyes.

Mew sighed, slumping forward into Cade’s hold. “Love you, too.”

“You’re the worst. You’re gonna give me a heart attack at six-hundred years old, I swear.” She held her brother at arm’s length, taking his appearance in. “You look like shit.”

“I’ve been in a coma for a few days, what’s your excuse?”

Cade snorted and finally let her tears out, stepping back so Goldie could replace her for a hug. All she could do was whisper apologies into his neck, her voice thick and cracking. Mew had a softness on his face he usually wore around Goldie, his hands buried in her thick hair as he reassured her as best as he could. “I know you did everything you could. You’re a badass, and you know it,” he muttered.

“Promise you aren’t mad?”

“You know I could never be mad at you.”

I found myself clenching my jaw as Goldie pulled away, wondering what would be appropriate here. Mew tipped his head when he looked at me, that teasing smile of his on his lips. “Yo.”

“Hey,” I breathed, my hands balling up.

The hug would have been nice. Jeanette had her hand on my shoulder before I could do anything I wanted to. “Detective, the other patients are beginning to wake up. What’s your next step?”

Peeling my eyes away from Mew was hard. I had to turn my whole body towards Jeanette to resist crawling into the cot with him. “Um, we need to finish this portal. Once you’re through it, you’ll be going to Mazerene. My bosses will meet you there to make sure you’re all okay.”

“I’ll get it finished,” Cadence said, stepping around me.

“Use my blood, Cade,” Mew called to her, lifting the fresh blood bag from the table next to him. “I’d rather you use it than Richard.”

“I’ll go check on the patients,” I said softly, knowing any moment I could have had with Mew was over for now. “Goldie, make sure Mew can stand and walk.”

The four humans and I went through each patient, assuring them they were safe now. Before anyone could get to the youngest patient, the pre-teen girl, I was already at her side, comforting her while she sobbed about wanting to go home. Several other demons were crying and trying to hold it together. Two of them were hurling cusses at the humans and the BRF.

The air around us quickly filled with the static warmth of magic, so much of it contained to a tightly sealed room. My senses were heightened from the blood being used on the portal, both Mew and Cadence’s. I had to step away from everyone while my mouth filled with saliva, finding myself in the corner of the room, grounding myself. My fangs were aching from the ongoing exposure to the blood. It was something I had considered to be low risk before we came here but saw now that I was severely mistaken.

I wanted so badly for the new hand on my shoulder to be Mew’s. I almost pictured myself spinning around to find him towering over me and welcoming me into an embrace.

I swallowed back the disappointment when it was Cadence. “Portal’s all done. We can start sending them through to Mazerene.”

It was a bit of a relief. I nodded and stepped back into the center of the room. “We’ll be sending you to Mazerene now. Colin and Akiya will be there to greet you all, as well as medics and counselors. You’re safe from here.”

Jeanette, Sayde, and Cadence got to work with supporting the patients as they rose from their beds. Quick hugs and words of appreciation were shared between us and the demons. My hands went to the shoulders of the little girl when she approached me, Jeanette at her side.

“You stay with Ms. Jeanette, okay? She’ll take good care of you.” Jeanette smiled at me while she turned away with the girl, stepping into the portal together.

Within five minutes, the room was vacant of everyone except for MMES members and Cadence. Goldie took in a deep breath of air and sat on one of the emptied cots, rubbing her temples as she did. “That part is over.”

“That was the easy part, too,” I said. “The next piece is calling in reinforcements to gather the blood bags and medical equipment as evidence.”

“Then handling Richard and the BRF.”

“That’ll be a breeze.” Mew said it. He was seated at the foot of his cot, feet on the ground and hands on his knees. “Goldie, you got my back? We’ll go handle Richard, and Cadence and Fee can gather up evi—”

“No, you’re going to Mazerene with your sister and letting me and Goldie finish up here,” I interjected, eyebrows furrowing. He was already wanting to jump back into trouble, like it was a calling he couldn’t ignore.

He rolled those rum-colored eyes and stood, covering the few steps towards me. “Now isn’t the time to be playing manager and delegating. We’re a little beyond that. This was mine and Goldie’s investigation to begin with, and we’re going to finish it.”

I was in his face now, on my tiptoes, refusing to let him look away from me. “I’m not playing manager, goddammit. I’m playing the role of your boyfriend who doesn’t want you getting hurt again. I had you back for one day, Bartholomew. If something happens to you again, I will burn down this entire home with me inside of it, track you down in Hell, and drag you back up here to give you a piece of my mind. Do you hear me?”

A quirked eyebrow. His lips twitched as if he was going to argue. Instead, he turned his head and sagged his shoulders. “You used to be so boring.”

“Bet you miss that, don’t you?”

“Little bit.” Still, his fingers found my chin, making sure to hold my face upwards towards him. Those pouty lips of his brushed mine, teasing me. “Who knew you’d be so stubborn?”

It felt good to laugh. He kissed me then, refreshing me with an electricity I hadn’t realized was lost. A whisper of stubble was underneath my fingers while I held his face steady, my neck craned to make up for the height difference. We had only ever kissed sitting or lying down, and although I had never kissed someone taller than me, it felt right since it was Mew.

“Hey, guys, we love you, but we’re trying to deal with a cult here,” Goldie called, feet hitting the floor. “Y’all can do all that stuff once we’re back home.”

“Gonna make a great manager one day,” Mew muttered, stepping away from me. “Promise me you two will be safe.”

Goldie bumped her elbow into his side. “You know we will be. Cadence, make the call to send backup, then you two can get out of here.”

“Already sent the text.” Cade waved her phone around. “Call me as soon as you get out.”

Goldie had a firearm in her hand, the strap over her shoulder. “Then lead the way, bossman.”

The PIN pad beeped and turned green when I re-entered the same code to get in. With another heavy groan, the vault slid open.

From behind me, Mew cursed. “You absolute motherfuckers.”

“We wanted to let you think you had the upper hand here.” Jayden stepped through the vault door, hands in his pockets and a grin on his face. I had to take several steps back from him. “You all did a nice job of clearing out the others. I’ll give you that. Where’d they get sent to? Mazerene?” He peered around me, the portal in full view. “Clever. I assume it still works.”

My voice didn’t catch up quickly enough. Behind Jayden, four more vampires and another human came through the vault, shoving me aside. “Mew,” I called.

“On it.” Except he was on a different wavelength from me. He slid over to the portal, just at the very edge so he wouldn’t fall into it. With his bare feet, he scuffed the edges, blurring the circle and scrubbing out the perfectly drawn geometry that Cadence had created within the circle. It was rendered useless. “Now the only way you fuckers are getting to Mazerene is in handcuffs.”

“You and Cadence were supposed to go through it, dammit!” I hissed.

“You and I both knew that I wouldn’t leave my best friend and my boyfriend alone with these psychopaths.” He gave Jayden that wicked grin, the one he seemed to wear whenever he remembered he was supposed to be a cruel demon. “I have a score to settle with Jayden, anyway.”