When the black mist cleared, Teddy scanned the dimly lit parking lot quickly then looked up at the brick building in front of him as the rain poured down over them and lightning shot across the black and red sky. “Alright, Tess. We’re here. You’re going to be ok now.” 

While his eyes darted over the small country hospital, he found the red emergency department sign and walked towards it. “Third, you’re Sean and Sara Osulf now. Your father is Haldir. Sean and Sara Osulf, your father is Haldir.”

For being so petite, Tessa felt like a floppy, wet sack of  hundred-pound potatoes the way her limbs flailed around as he walked. The blood and rain made it difficult to hold on because his arms felt like jelly by now. 

Teddy stopped and gritted his teeth while he jerked Tessa up in the air a bit as he readjusted her in his arms. “It’s ok, I got you. Just had to move you around a little. I won’t let nothing happen to you.”

When he came through the automatic doors, the blast of air that beat down on them splattered Tessa’s blood across Teddy’s face. As the coppery smell of it entered his nose, the vision of his pregnant mother bleeding all over herself made Teddy gasp in a hitched breath. “Not now Teddy. You can’t help them anymore. You got to focus on Tessa now. She’s all you got.”

“Oh my God!” The old gray-haired nurse got up from behind the front desk and ran to him as she yelled into the air, “Get me a damn stretcher now!” The nurse came to Teddy and felt for Tessa’s pulse as he lugged her across the room.

Another nurse ran to them with a bed and Teddy gently laid Tessa down. As they quickly walked back to the exam room, the nurse grilled Teddy. “What happened to her, baby?”

“I don’t know, ma’am. We just came back from dinner and…and she yelled for help….and…” Finally feeling safe enough to think for a second, Teddy’s weak knees gave way and he collapsed into a chair beside his sister’s bed. 

As the staff yelled back and forth to each other, they quickly surrounded Tessa and put needles into her body and oxygen into her nose as they rolled her back and forth looking for wounds. Being bathed in blood from head to toe, they were sure she must have been in some terrible accident. 

The nurse came to Teddy’s side and knelt down. “You’re covered in blood. Are you alright son?”

Teddy nodded as tears streamed down his face. “Yes, ma’am. I’m alright. I didn’t eat the dessert. I don’t like chocolate.”

“This happened after she ate something?” As Teddy nodded, the nurse looked up to the young doctor that was checking Tessa’s eyes with a pen light. “He thinks she was poisoned, Bill.”

The nurse put her warm, wrinkly hand on Teddy’s. “What’s your name sweetheart?”

Watching them work on Tessa, Teddy tried to reach out to her in his mind but she was still in the dark place. “Sean Osulf, that’s my sister Sara. Our father is Haldir.”

Standing up beside him, the nurse held out her hand. “Well Sean…we need to help her right now. I’m going to take you to another room to wait until we figure out what’s going on with her. Alright?”

Teddy looked at the nurse and shook his head as his green eyes turned a solid black and his shadow grew long against the wall as the warlock stepped forward. Through an unworldly voice, he said, “No. I’m going to sit right here and you’re all going to do exactly what I tell you and then when we leave none of you are going to remember anything at all about this.”

As the warlock’s voice reached their ears, the staff continued working and the nurse said, “Yes, of course.”

While he nonchalantly wiped Tessa’s blood from his hands onto his pants, the warlock took control. “There will be a man that will come and ask for us by those names I just gave you. Bring him to me immediately. Don’t call the authorities. Now give her the fluids and clean her up, get me some coffee then get the hell out and leave us alone.”

When Tessa was finally stabilized and the staff left the room, the warlock finished his coffee then let Teddy back in. Turning up his nose in disgust at the taste in his mouth, Teddy put down the coffee and shook his head. “You’re a real asshole, you know that? I fucking hate coffee. And where the hell have you been all night anyway? I could have used you about an hour ago.”

Looking down at the floor, Teddy tried to remember everything Rafik said and did. “Burdock root.” He picked up Tessa’s bag of holding and rummaged through it. “Great balls of fire, Tessa. This is a mess. How in the hell am I supposed to find anything? You brought a bathing suit. Really? Like that old goddamn pasty ass Viking is taking us on some tropical vacation or something. I just don’t know about you sometimes.” 

As his fingers finally found the metal case, he took it out and opened the lock. Teddy touched each tiny green glass bottle until he finally found burdock root. Removing the cork from the bottle, Teddy turned it over and removed a handful of small brown tablets. 

Tossing them around in his hand, Teddy took a deep breath and stood up from his chair as thoughts started to invade his mind about tonight. “Blood. You exchanged blood.” 

Teddy bit his lip and scrunched up his nose as he tried to remember the various rites and rituals of the old religion. Rafik’s people were more secluded and secretive practiced a purer form of witchcraft than modern societies like Savannah.

He leaned over the bed and took Tessa’s jaw in his hand and pulled it upwards. Pushing her tongue aside with his fingers, Teddy placed as many tablets as he could fit underneath then put his forehead to hers as he closed her mouth. “You’re going to be alright, Tess. I think that fella of yours must have been inoculated against the poison. He gave you the antibodies. You just rest up and I’ll take care of everything else. Haldir will be here soon. You’re safe now, sugar.”

Sitting in his chair, Teddy turned on the television and flipped through the channels. “Fourth, sit your ass down and wait for Daddy.” A low whimper began in Teddy’s throat as he bit his lip then looked up at the lights and blinked away his tears. “I’ll take care of her Daddy. You don’t have to worry about anything. I’ll never let anything bad happen to her again.”

He pulled his chair closer to the bed and took Tessa’s hand then kissed it. The nurses had cleaned her up as best as they could and put on a clean gown. But the sticky dark fluid was trapped under her fingernails and Teddy snickered to himself because he knew if Tessa could see herself now, she’d be so pissed about her ruined manicure. 

She looked like a sweet little blood caked angel laying there sleeping so quietly. 

As he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles, Teddy stopped at her ring finger. Teddy twisted his lips to the side as he looked for clues then he pushed himself back against the seat and scratched behind his ear. 

“I don’t know how to tell you this, but I think you’re married, Tessa. My grasp of the old language isn’t as good as yours, of course, but I’m quite sure that boy did a rite of binding on you to protect you.” He shook his head and sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe Haldir will know more about all that.” 

He chuckled to himself as he leaned his head against the seat back. “It’s just like you to be involved in a real-life Romeo and Juliet type situation though, isn’t it?”

As the hypnotizing ticking of the clock tried to force him to sleep, Teddy’s eyes snapped open when he heard the raspy Norwegian voice echoing in the hallway. “Where the fuck are my children?”

Throwing the door open, Haldir walked to Teddy and grabbed him up into his arms as he finally collapsed into a fit of crying. “Shh…I’m here Teddy. I won’t let anyone get to you again.”

Teddy trembled against Haldir’s chest as his whole body jerked with each sob. “He poisoned them. Momma and Daddy died right in front of us at the dinner table.”

Haldir held Teddy tightly against his chest as he looked at Tessa lying helpless in the bed. Even when he held her as a baby, Tessa was never so still and silent. A sick feeling rose in his stomach as he looked over her pale face and her purple tinted lips. “How’s Tessa doing?” 

Teddy pulled away and licked the tears from his lips. “I think she’s going to be alright. She…she got the antidote.”

Haldir pulled his brows down as he looked at Teddy. “What antidote? How?”

Shaking his head, Teddy closed his eyes. It wasn’t the time to go into the whole thing right now. It was only a matter of time before Omar’s people started venturing out into the human world to look for them. “Her mate, he came to the house. He gave her the antidote before we left.”

Haldir sighed a breath of relief as his eyes fell to back to Tessa and he hugged Teddy against his chest again. “We have to go now, Teddy. They’re looking everywhere for you both. They must have planned this whole thing out a long time ago and had a lot of help from inside, it won’t be long until they figure out how to find you. Savannah’s full of fucking traitorous snitches.”

Teddy nodded as he pulled away from Haldir then picked up their bags as Haldir went to the side of the bed and ran his hand over Tessa’s hair. Glancing back at Haldir, Teddy asked, “Did Oliver get out of town alright?”

Nodding his head, Haldir smirked at Teddy. “I think so. I told him I’d get word to him when it was safe.”

A loud thud came from the waiting room and Teddy’s eyes snapped to Haldir’s as he put his finger to his lips and shook his head. As screams started flying through the air outside the door, Teddy quickly put the straps of the bags around him as Haldir silently ripped the tubes from Tessa’s body and lifted her from bed.

Teddy wrapped his arms around Haldir and buried his face into his back as they disappeared into the mist just as a dagger sailed through it and hit the wall on the other side where Teddy was just standing.

The tall, dark haired thrower walked around the bed and retrieved his dagger then looked at the blood on the bed and smiled. “Keep running, bitch.”

Another young man that looked nearly identical to Rafik crossed his arms as he leaned against the door way as his eyes darted around the room. “I took care of the humans. Father says they caught the caretaker, they’re working on him now.”

The taller one smirked and pointed his knife to the bed. “She’s a tough one. That should have killed her a hundred times over by now.”

The man in the doorway sighed and shook his head. “Rafik’s missing. Father thinks he may have interceded.”

Rolling his eyes to the bright lights above them and he huffed out disappointedly through his nose, the tall brother said, “I knew that little white lighter didn’t have it in him.” Rubbing the annoyance with his little brother away from his forehead with his hand, he said, “I told Father not to poison his mate. Rafik’s probably on his way to the council now to tell them everything.”