Hunter's Moon

Chapter 29

            Juli woke up in a hospital bed. She looked around a room that was filled with flowers, get-well cards, and balloons. Ed was sitting in a chair, arm in a sling, and when he saw her eyes open, he got up and walked over to her.

            “Juli, you're okay!” he said. “I'm so relieved. I wasn't sure what was going to happen. And then when Matthew filled me in on what happened at the stadium, I mean . . . wow.”

            Juli tried to sit up but still found herself too weak to move. There was no pain anymore, so that was a bonus, but she just had no strength at all.

            “What happened? Where are they?” she asked, “What happened . . . to you?” she struggled to get the words out.

            “Matthew and Taylor found me. Apparently after they got you out of the stadium, they tried calling me and when I didn't respond, they tracked the last known location for my cell phone. The vampires had shoved me in the back of a storage shed.”

            Ed took hold of Juli's hand, “I heard your voice, Jules. I think they put you on a speaker phone at some point.”

            Juli nodded, faintly. It took all her effort.

            “Well, when they got there, they took out the guard that'd been left, and they brought both of us here to the hospital.” Ed went on. “They said that you made vampire popcorn? Would've loved to see that.”

            Juli smiled and then drifted back into sleep.

            Mei, Matthew, and Taylor were sitting in Robert's living room. It felt lifeless without him there. Matthew and Taylor had been just finished explaining to Mei everything that had happened at the football field and to Juli. Cal was curled up at Taylor's feet, sleeping on a blanket.

            “This is very unusual,” Mei said. “I will need to examine Juli when she wakes up. For someone to do what she did with little to no training is phenomenal. I fully expect to find heavy amounts of permanent damage. It might be a long while before she recovers. She may not ever fully recover.”

            “What about Robert? Or the vampire that got away? He must be the one that turned Simone, she's still not back to normal.” Matt asked.

            Mei looked startled. “He had – I mean, you have a mid-transition vampire here?”

            Matthew nodded and pointed down to the floor. “Downstairs. She's been down there maybe a week, just shy of a week. Why? What's wrong.”

            Mei stood up. “Nothing. But it's very rare to get a vampire in that state. The Hunger is a very powerful force and the time between being turned and a vampire's first feeding is usually counted in a number of minutes rather than a couple of days.” She walked toward the door to the basement.

            Matthew got up to follow her. “Wait, what are you going to do?”

             “Just examine her. I don't get a chance like this that often. I may be able to help her.”

            “All right. But I'm coming with you,” Matthew said as the three of them went down the stairs.

            They found Simone asleep on the cot in the cell. Mei walked over to the Plexiglas and watched the sleeping girl for several minutes.

            “Amazing,” Mei said.

            “What?” Matthew asked.