Another noise sounded outside the bedroom door. Chase pushed the memories away and sat up a bit. Suddenly, the berry smell filled his senses again. The door opened and the man carried in another glass.
Chase swallowed as his mouth watered. He sat up. He didn’t ask, but the man sat down on the edge of the mattress and put the glass in Chase’s hands.
He brought it to his lips and drank greedily. When he’d finished, the man took the glass from him.
“Do you remember anything?” he asked.
The momentary relief from the grief disappeared. The drowning sensation returned. “The plane crashed.”
He guy nodded. “I’m sorry for your loss. Your father was a good man.”
Chase recalled seeing this man in the lab when they’d gone for the test. “Are you Jimmy?”
“Yes.”
Chase’s gut tightened. “My dad didn’t trust you to look out for me,” he said without thinking.
Jimmy sighed. “We were just getting to know each other. But I’ve done all I can to help you. And I will continue to help you.”
Chase looked around. “Why am I not in the hospital? I was in a plane crash for God’s sake.”
Jimmy reached out and touched Chase’s arm. “Do you remember what bad shape you were in?” he asked. “Do you see any wounds on you now? Are any of your bones broken?”
Chase looked down at his arms. He had a vague memory of not being able to move his right arm, and he hadn’t been able to feel his legs. Fear swirled around his chest. He yanked the covers back, exposing his legs. He bent his knees up and then lowered them back on the bed. No wounds. No broken bones. He looked up. How could … “What happened?”
“There’s a virus. The VI virus. Your father, you, and your sister were all carriers. It’s—”
“No!” Chase remembered what his sister had said about the strange virus. The virus that made people … made people crave blood. His gaze shot to the glass in the man’s hands. Was it blood?
“No,” Chase repeated. “This is crazy. I don’t believe in …”
“Vampires?” he asked.
Chase nodded.
“How much do you know? Did your father explain?”
“No,” Chase said. “My sister, she read a file. But it can’t be—”
“It is. I know it’s hard.” He looked at Chase with empathy. “I remember when someone explained it to me the first time. It … felt crazy.” He sighed. “It will take a while to get used to.” He patted Chase’s shoulder. “But you will be okay. And I’ll be here to help you.”
Chase’s mind ran like a fan, over and over, trying to figure out if he could really trust this guy.
There was a sound at the door. “Oh, someone’s wanting to see you.” He got up and opened it.
Baxter stormed in, his tail thumping, his whole body wiggling with joy. He let out a low moan, then jumped up on the bed and immediately started licking Chase’s face. Chase’s eyes filled with tears and the dog licked them away, too.
He finally looked at the man still standing there. He cleared his face of the weakness. “You found him?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Is he okay?” Chase asked, running his hand over the dog’s black fur.
“Yeah. I think he is. I was worried about him at first. All he did was bark. I had a friend look after him when I went to find the plane. I was told he barked the whole time. Never stopped. Not even for one minute. As soon as I came in with you, he went silent.”
Chase remembered hearing Baxter when he’d been in that strange tunnel of light. It had been because he’d wanted to find the dog that he’d turned away. He’d heard Baxter’s barks. Or he’d thought he’d heard him.
The dog whined and dropped his head on Chase’s lap, licking his hand.
“I’ll leave you two alone. You’ll be weak for a few more days and then … then I’ll show you a thing or two about what you can do now.”
Chase didn’t understand, but he nodded. The man left. Chase reached over to the nightstand and picked up the dog collar. “This is for you, buddy,” he said, his chest filled with grief.
He changed out the dog’s collar and then buried his face in Baxter’s thick fur and let a few more tears fall. “I thought I’d lost you, too. But no.” He pulled back and took the dog’s face in his hand and looked into his dark eyes. “It was really you, wasn’t it? You called me back. I heard you.”
Somehow Chase knew it was true. Baxter had saved his life. He didn’t know how he could hear the dog from the mountainside. Didn’t know how he’d survived the crash. Or what the hell had happened to him, or … He looked at the glass with a red rim around it. Was that … ? Oh, hell, he still didn’t know what was happening to him. He bent his legs again, remembering not being able to move them. And his arm. It had been broken. How had he healed so quickly?
Taking a deep breath, he glanced at the collar. NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON A CHALLENGE.
Live, son, his dad’s words echoed inside him. Live for us.
“I’ll try, Dad. I’ll try.”