Sure enough, she picked up on it immediately. Letting out a relieved sigh, she allowed it to pull her to his side. She materialized in a dark alley that appeared to be in the middle of the Quarter somewhere. She glanced around, but didn’t see anything. Why would it have brought her here if there was no Nick?
She was just about to leave when she heard a low, soft groan in the shadows. “Nick?”
It sounded like it could have been her name, slurred. Maybe. She couldn’t tell for certain.
Her heart pounding in fear, she ran to where it had originated. At first, she only saw garbage on the street. But after searching some of it, she found a body on the ground, partially covered by refuse.
Please don’t be Nick.…
Panic swelled inside her as she uncovered the wounded human. A small pool of blood had formed around his head and shoulder.
“Nick?” she breathed, kneeling down by his side so that she could turn him over and confirm his identity.
Yeah, it was him. She should have known by his tacky shirt. But his face was so battered and bloodied that she wouldn’t have known it was him except for the clothes he wore.
Okay, how do I get him help? If she flashed him into the hospital, they’d know immediately that she wasn’t human, and they’d notify the authorities to come lock her up.
Think Nekoda, think. What was it that humans did for help?
Ambulance. That’s right. That was it. She reached for her phone and called 911. It took a few minutes before a woman answered it.
Kody’s hand shook as she wished she had the powers to heal Nick so that he wouldn’t have to suffer. If only … “Hey, I found my friend in an alley where he was viciously attacked, and he’s bleeding really badly.”
“Is he conscious?” the operator asked.
“No, ma’am.”
“I need your address.”
Kody ground her teeth as she used her powers to locate it. She gave it over to the woman, and stayed on the line as she waited for help to come.
She conjured a cloth to help wick away some of the blood on his face. “Hang on, Nick. I’ve got an ambulance coming for you. They’ll be here any minute.”
Only it seemed to take forever.
As soon as she heard the sirens approaching, Kody ran toward the street to flag down the ambulance so that they wouldn’t miss her alley.
They pulled up on the corner and grabbed a box before following her to where Nick lay on the ground.
“What happened?” the male EMT asked.
“I don’t know. I found him like this a few minutes ago. He was supposed to be with his mother at work, and when he didn’t show up, she called me to help search for him, and here he is. I called you guys as soon as I dug him out of the garbage.”
“And you are?”
“His girlfriend, Kody.”
They knelt down on the ground and started inspecting Nick’s condition.
“What’s his name?” the woman asked.
“Nick.”
“Nick?” the female EMT said gently. “Can you hear me, son?”
“I didn’t fight,” he mumbled.
The EMTs exchanged a frown.
“Nick?” the woman tried again. “My name is Patrice. Can you hear me?”
“Patrice,” he said raggedly.
“Good boy.”
The man ran to get the stretcher while Patrice stayed behind to insert an IV in his arm. “Can you tell me how old you are, Nick?”
“He’s fifteen,” Kody answered.
“Thank you.” She wrapped a brace around Nick’s neck while speaking to Kody. “Do you have his mother’s number?”
“I do.”
“Why don’t you go call her while I take care of him, okay? Tell her that we’ll be taking him to Charity Hospital and we’ll need her there to sign papers for him.”
Kody made the call while they stabilized him, then put him on the stretcher.
She’d just hung up when they started past her with Nick. He reached out for her and took her hand.
“It’s going to be okay, sweetie,” she assured him.
“You want to come with us?” the man asked.
“If I can, yes.”
They put Nick into the ambulance before the woman went to the front to drive and the man stayed in the back with them. Kody sat by the door while the EMT continued to tend and monitor Nick’s vital signs.
“Do you know what happened?” he asked her.
“Not a clue. He was supposed to run an errand and didn’t show up. His mother called me and I went looking for him. It’s a miracle I found him.”
“He’s lucky you found him, that’s for sure.”
Nick was trying to speak, but with the oxygen mask on, they couldn’t understand him. The EMT pulled it back.
“What’s that, Nick?” she asked.
“Tell…” He coughed, then groaned. “Tell her I didn’t fight.”
“I will.” The EMT returned the mask to Nick’s face. “Did you hear that?”
“I did, but I’m not the ‘her’ he’s referring to. He means his mother. They had a verbal altercation earlier, and he promised her he would never fight again.” She cringed as she surveyed the damage done to him. It was absolutely brutal.
The EMT leaned over Nick to pluck a vial out of his case. “No offense, kid, you should have fought back. I don’t think they could have hurt you any worse if you had. And at least you would have gotten some kind of personal satisfaction out of it.”
Kody couldn’t agree more. And she couldn’t understand why he’d allowed himself to be hurt this badly. Not even for his mother. Nick, I want to hurt you for this. But that was part of what she loved about him. When he gave his word, he meant it.
Placing her hand on his leg, she closed her eyes and used her powers to discover what had happened. She saw Bristol hit Nick in the back of the head with a board he’d picked up from the alley. Caught completely off guard and temporarily blinded by the viciousness of that first surprise blow, Nick had fallen to the ground. His eyes blazing with murderous fury, Bristol had given him no reprieve. He kept bashing Nick with the board, blow after blow, never allowing him time to recover. All Nick could do was curl up in a ball and try to protect himself. Dazed and disoriented by the rapid succession of blows, Nick hadn’t had a chance to call for help before he’d passed out in the alley. Cringing in horror, she finally saw the sanity return to Bristol’s eyes. Only then did Bristol panic as he realized how badly he’d hurt Nick. Terrified that Nick was dead or dying, he’d grabbed Nick’s wallet and had thrown garbage over him to hide his body. Then, he’d run off, leaving Nick to bleed out on the cold sidewalk.
Never had she wanted to hurt anyone as much as she did Bristol right then. How could he be so cold? He’d known Nick for years. Had been in countless classes and had been his study partner for several subjects.
But then Bristol had felt justified in beating Nick, and that was the most dangerous human emotion imaginable. Whenever someone, no matter how warped their reasonings, thought they had a justified cause for taking action against someone, they were capable of unimaginable cruelty. Bristol had thought Nick had lied about him, and rather than believe Nick was the one telling him the truth, he’d beaten him senseless for no other reason than he felt it was what Nick deserved.
Sickened by it, she released Nick and tried to focus on his getting better.
It wasn’t until they’d reached the hospital, and the admitting staff started asking her questions about him while he was whisked off to a room where she wasn’t allowed to go that she remembered to call everyone else and let them know what had happened. Caleb appeared next to her in the shadowy alcove of the waiting room before she could speak more than a handful of words.
“Is he all right?” His sincere concern surprised her. The way Caleb acted and spoke to Nick, she’d assumed he could barely tolerate him. But that wasn’t mere tolerance or adherence to duty in his tone and body language.