Nocturnal Page 7

  Jack knew the truth. It wasn’t just in the girls’ blood but in their bite. Not only did the girls’ blood possess the ability to cure ferals, their bite spread the cure like a reverse form of rabies.

  Jack took to the air and told his horde to fly down and protect the girls. He probed into the girls’ minds and delivered a message—Don’t kill them, bite them. The cure is in your bite!

  As the nocturnals came to their aid, the girls turned and glanced at the doctor, acknowledging his thoughts. One by one, the nocturnals fed the girls a feral. They bit and released them, and the bitten ferals bit their brethren. The cure spread, a chain reaction from bite to bite, feral to feral, human to human.

  Soon, thousands of newly turned humans lay in the mud as the rain poured down on them. They looked around, confused.

  The fight was over. A new beginning had dawned. Jack’s friends found one another. Aiden held Pippa, and Salvatore held Abby. Jack’s nocturnals took to the sky, no longer needed.

  “Where are they going,” Rebecka asked. “They can stay. They’ve earned the right to be part of our city now.”

  Jack smiled, pulling the woman he loved close as he morphed back to human form. “They’re going home.”

  The Jeep returned, a woman crying, a madman driving, a man lying dead in the back seat.

  “No,” Pippa yelled.

  “Daddy!” Abby screamed.

  But it was as Jack had said. Gabriel Hunter was dead. Abby climbed into the backseat and hugged her father, screaming and crying. “Daddy, please no, please!”

  Pippa fought to control herself, but the pain in her sister’s and mother’s eyes was too much to bear. She went to the Jeep and lay her head on Gabriel’s, her hands touching Abby’s.

  Aiden turned to Jack. “Jack, you could save him,” he whispered.

  “I cannot bear that responsibility,” Jack said.

  “I’ll bear it, as I did for you.”

  “It’s not your burden to bear this time, Aiden. Rathbone, pull Gabriel’s body from the vehicle.”

  “What?” the big man asked, surprised.

  “Do as he says,” Aiden commanded. “He can save him.” The words caught the attention of the three women draped across the dead man’s body. “Pippa, trust me, the doctor can save him.”

  “Piper Reyes,” the doctor said to her. “I can bring your husband back to life, if you wish, but I will not do it unless you’ll bear the responsibility.”

  “Whatever it takes, just please save him.”

  “You don’t understand.” The doctor fully morphed before her, and he could tell by the look in her eyes that she’d never really seen him in his nocturnal form. “If I save him, he will become like me. He will be nocturnal. Will you accept the responsibility for my saving him? Knowing that you must live the rest of your life with a nocturnal husband, one that may outlive you many times over, one that may even regret that you made the decision?”

  “Do you regret Aiden taking responsibility for your life?”

  “I did, but not anymore.”

  “I accept responsibility.”

  Jack nodded and Aiden took Gabriel’s dead body from Rathbone. The doctor took the body, spread his wings, and wrapped them around the man like a blanket. The small group stared in wonder, Aiden standing between them. No one understood until they saw Gabriel’s body begin to convulse wildly, as if trying to escape from the confines of Jack’s wings.

  “Stop, you’re killing him!” Piper screamed. The small group attempted to rush the doctor. Aiden morphed and they stopped short. Seconds later, it was finished. Jack spread his wings and revealed Gabriel Hunter, returned from the grip of death.

  Piper gasped.

  “Piper, Pippa, Abby?” Gabriel called, his eyes now a dark grayish color, beginning to glaze over. The three women rushed to him, crying, and embraced him. The heavy rain turned to drizzle. The storm was almost over.

  Rathbone limped toward his Jeep and climbed in. He started the engine and smiled at his friends. “This was one hell of a retirement party. Rebecka, you’re at the helm now. Me, I’m heading north over the mountains, down to my cabin. Don’t come see me for a month. I need a vacation.” With that, the big man drove off and disappeared.

  “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Rebecka said. “And I’m hoping that you all, including the hyenas, will stay with us to build a new future together.”

  Jack took Rebecka’s hand. “We’ll do it together,” he said.

  ONE MONTH LATER

  “Aiden, you better take good care of my daughter,” Gabriel said. “That goes for you, too, Salvatore. I’m just glad this isn’t a double wedding. I just got them back and I’m already giving one of them away.”

  “They’re both in good hands,” Aiden said.

  “Hush, it’s about to start,” Rathbone whispered, peeking his head into the men’s dressing room. “Everyone take your places.”

  “I still can’t believe you have a license to conduct wedding ceremonies,” Aiden muttered to Rathbone.

  They took their places. Aiden was standing on a riser next to Jack and Salvatore in a huge auditorium full of people. He shook his head, smiled, and then exhaled the last of his nervousness as he saw Pippa waiting at the rear of the auditorium. The music began, and Abby—a bridesmaid today, but soon to be a bride herself—started down the aisle, followed by Rebecka. The music changed, and The Wedding March began—someone had said it was a song carried over from the old world—and Pippa, escorted by Piper and Gabriel, started forward. She was beautiful in her long, white dress, her eyes sparkling, her long blonde mane spread across her shoulders.

  Pippa smiled at Aiden as she walked slowly forward. The group stopped at the riser, and Rathbone said, “Who gives away this young woman?”

  Piper and Gabriel smiled at each other and said, “We do.”

  “This is one heck of a wedding reception,” Rathbone said, picking bits of chicken from his teeth with his short-knife.

  “It sure is,” Gabriel said, smacking his old friend on his thigh. “Hey, you sure you don’t mind them using your cabin on the bay as their honeymoon suite?”

  “Why, I love all those kids like they were my own. It’ll give me a week to stay here and help you strategize your next move. I’ll try to share a bit of my common sense with your men so they go about this thing right.”

  “You sure you don’t want to stay on? You know we could use your help.”

  “Gabriel, I’m done, like cooked pheasant. I’m retired and don’t have any desire to go back out in the field. But I have been thinking. I’m already bored. Even after a month of rest, I’ve become restless. So, during one of my fishing days, I came up with a great idea.”

  “Let’s have it, old man.”

  “I can make more beacons, recalibrate them to attract ferals just like Mariana did. We can place the beacons in hotspots around the country to attract ferals. Once they’re in proximity, bam, we drop smoke bombs. We’ll never lose a man.”

  Gabriel laughed. “That’s why we’ve missed you, Rathbone. You know, if we take you up on your idea, we’ll need someone to oversee it from here.”

  “That’s more my style these days. Looks like I just came out of retirement.” Rathbone smiled and they shook hands, laughing like old buddies. Gabriel stared at his two daughters as one danced with her husband, the other with her fiancé. Piper came over and dropped into his lap.

  “You’ve kept my hubby’s attention long enough, old man,” she said to Rathbone. “So did he talk you out of retirement?”

  “In a way,” Rathbone replied. “But I’m not the man for the field anymore. That job belongs to my cousin, and I’d say she’s got the perfect second in command.” Rathbone smiled as they turned to watch Jack Tanner dancing with Rebecka.

  “I wonder how long it’ll be till those two need your marrying services,” Piper said.

  “Hopefully sooner than our youngest does,” Gabriel replied as he and Piper stared at Abby laughing on the dance flo
or. “So, should we brief them all tomorrow on the new plans?”

  Rathbone shook his head. “I don’t think so. Those four kids have been through enough. Knowing them as well as I do now, I’d say Pippa and Aiden won’t be happy unless Abby and Salvatore go to my cabin with them. They all need a vacation, so let’s let them have one.”

  “I agree,” Piper said.

  “Guess there’s no harm in living a life free of responsibility for a week,” Gabriel added. “The new plans we have for the cure will keep them busy for the rest of their lives.”

  Rathbone downed his cup of ale and set it on the table. “Mark your calendar. In two weeks, we’ll hit L.A., plant the beacon, and start the cleanup. Once we cure that spot, we’ll have nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine more to go!”