Tre Lloyd Adventures Ch. 10

Anita shook her head "No, Robert, this man is hurt. He got bit by a ghoul. He needs tending to immediately." She pushed Robert's no-dachi and Dave's gladius aside negligently with one hand and stepped forward, taking Dave's wrist and arm gently. She murmured to herself as she looked at the bleeding bite wound, looking from it to Dave. "Hold still. This may be cold." She focused her mind, concentrating on a spell of healing, sending it through her hands to the wound.

Dave looked at her as she looked his way, wavering slightly as he felt a tingle begin in his arm, the sensation rapidly growing through cool to bone numbing cold to searing heat. "Hey!" He started before hissing in pain, jerking his arm back almost involuntarily. "Wot the fack was that?!" He looked from his arm to her, anger evident on his face. "You said cold. That bloody burned!" He jerked his arm back as she tried to take it again and suddenly rocked on his heels as his eyes rolled back up into his head.

Robert's sword disappeared almost as if by magic as he reached out and grabbed Dave as he fell unconscious. He looked at Anita in surprise "What happened, Anita?" He scooped Dave up and, Anita following, carried him towards the Villa garden.

Akiro saw Dave collapse and called out "Bobby, Jonathon, Tomas, stay out here and keep a watch. Bobby, see if you can get Dreux back in human form. I don't want him chasing those damn vampires through town in bear shape. That would be hard to explain." He sheathed his sword as Bobby waved an acknowledgement and, along with everybody but Bobby, Jonathon and Tomas, hurried inside.

Robert carefully lowered Dave to the grass of the garden before reaching down and picking up his still bleeding hand. Despite the bite being fresh it was already bright red and swollen. He looked at Anita, "I don't understand. I saw the spell that you used. It was a regular healing spell." He began to focus his will, sending his healing spell into the wound on Dave's arm.

"Stop!" Kimiko yelled from the entrance to the garden. She saw the force of the spell die away and hurried over, kneeling down beside Robert and Dave. "The wound is magically infected. The bite flooded the wound with germs and the magic just accelerated the infection process." She closed her eyes and opened herself to see the astral as she looked down at the wound. "Damn I hate these fucking voodoo goons and their magical viruses." She looked up "Keio, go and get me the medical kit. We can't use magic on it so it's the plain ole mundane medical work."

Keio stood and turned to get the medical kit when Chilo appeared holding it. He took the kit and handed it over to Kimiko. He watched as she broke out the kit and started to work cleaning the wound. He looked over as Bobby, Jonathon and Tomas walked into the garden followed by Dreux who was retying the knot to hold the strip of cloth on over himself.

"Masuri said that the last of the dhampirs got back in their truck and made tracks back to Memphis." Bobby said. He jerked his head over towards Dave, "Is he going to be ok?"

Kimiko nodded as she smeared a smelly ointment that Chilo had brought out on Dave's arm and hand. "He will be fine. I don't think the infection set in too deep before I got to it." She broke off as Anita knelt down beside her, resting one hand on Dave's forehead.

"He is already getting hot," she said. "We will need to get him into a magic circle."

Akiro looked over at her, "A magic circle? What do you need him in a circle for?"

Anita shot him a withering glare. "The virus causing the infection is magical. If we can get him into a... a magic void, the virus will only be a normal one. He will still be in danger from the infection, but he will stand a better chance without the virus being magically supercharged."

Akiro nodded to her. "Chilo, get the lady here a room set up to put Dave in." The spirit acknowledged the command without materializing and then Akiro watched Kimiko wrapping the arm loosely in a bandage. "Bobby, You and Jonathon set the first watch. Dreux, you've got second watch with me and Tomas, you and Keio have third."

Anita looked over at Dreux as he started to walk away. "Wait. Shapeshifter, Dreux is it?" She nodded to him as he stopped and looked at her. "Yes you. Your side, what happened to it?"

Dreux looked down at the claw marks along his side. "I don't remember if it was a spirit or a ghoul that got me. I think it was a ghoul because the scratches are burning and itching like crazy."

Kimiko waved for him to come closer. "Come here, Dreux. Let me get a look at those scratches." When Dreux walked over to her and turned to expose the gashes along his side to her she leaned up and probed gently at the wounds. "They are already swollen and red. Wait," she said, leaning closer. "They are healing." She looked up at Dreux curiously.

Dreux grinned and nodded. "Yeah. They happened in my bear form. All the virus is going to do is slow down the healing process somewhat." He looked at his side and shrugged. "I would say by dawn they will be almost fully healed and by noon at the outside there will be nothing but old scars there to remind me of it."

Kimiko nodded and looked at Robert and Akiro. "Get Dave up and get him to the room." Robert took his torso and Akiro grabbed his legs and they carried him into the Villa. "Anita, you go with them and set up your circle. I will be in in a few to set up a secondary circle just to be safe."

Anita nodded and rose, following Robert and Akiro into the house. When they put Dave down on the bed she directed them to pull the bed into the center of the room. "I will need him here so I can make a circle around the bed that I can fit in. And your mother will need room to make a circle around that."

Akiro stepped back from helping Robert move the bed to where she directed. "Why will you need a second circle? One should keep the virus starved."

"Yes," Anita said, "One circle would keep the virus starved. The second is just like an airlock. It will let us get in and out of the room to check on him and still be free to leave. I was going to stay in the room with him until the infection broke. Now I don't have to." She turned and took some chalk from a pocket of her jacket. 'Now if you men will excuse me, I am going to get this circle set up." She knelt down and began to carefully draw the circle around the bed.

Akiro watched her for a moment and then nodded to Robert "I am going to get some rest so I can be up for my watch. You fought well tonight, nephew. Good job." He bowed and walked out, heading back to his and Keio's rooms to get changed out of his armor.

Robert was still leaning against the wall watching Anita drawing the circle on the floor when his mother came in. Kimiko looked at him. "Why aren't you helping her? The two of you could have had it finished by now."

Robert laughed and jerked his head towards the chanting Anita. "I tried. She told me that she didn't need my help. She said the circle would be better if she was the only person making it. Then she told me to keep my ass against the wall and keep quiet."

Anita didn't even look up as she kept moving on her knees, drawing the circle around the bed. "That's right. And you are still talking aren't you?"

Robert and his mother both laughed. Kimiko said, "She's got you there Robert." She watched as Anita worked her way around, slowly closing the circle carefully with a small push of the power. As Kimiko felt the circle close, she began to draw her own larger circle around the inner one. She slowly drew the circle, keeping herself centered by murmuring prayers to the kami as she worked. Finally she got the circle finished and imbued it with a bit of magic. The circle snapped closed with an almost audible hum. "That should do it. We have to go back out and get those bodies taken care of."

Nodding Robert pushed off of the wall. "I will be back soon, Anita." He turned and walked out of the room and back out to the wall. Already there was a large pile of bodies, mostly ghouls but a few dhampirs as well, about 30 yards outside of the wall. Robert began to help Keio carrying bodies to the pile.

Akiro had just come outside to watch the burning when Heidi spoke up. "If somebody can provide some darkness to cover the light and some wind to get rid of the smoke, maybe an air elemental or two, I can get rid of these bodies in minutes." He looked at his sister and nephew.

Kimiko nodded. "I will get the air spirits, you get the darkness Robert." She began to summon the spirits of the air, praying to the kami. Suddenly she opened her eyes and a whipping wind began to pick up, visibly whirling around and around above the pile of bodies.

Robert smiled watching his mother work. With an almost unnoticed twist of his wrist, he surrounded all of them with a cloud of darkness. He looked over at Heidi, nodding. "Whatever you are going to do, please do it quickly. I am not as familiar with this spell as my mother. I didn't know it was going to take so much energy to form a dome of darkness."

Heidi laughed. "This won't take very long at all." She turned back to the pile of bodies and once again the illusion of her clothes disappeared, replaced by slowly swirling flames. Her hair started whipping around in a hot wind as she raised her hands to shoulder height, fingers twisting and moving in intricate patterns as she shaped the spell.

Akiro watched Heidi building her powers, with a kind of awe. He had never seen a person wreathed in flames before that wasn't being burned. As his eyes found hers he noticed that the dark color of her eyes had been replaced, flames burning in the depths of her eyes as she built the power higher and higher.

As Heidi felt the power building, her hair whipping and lashing around her face in the heat coming from her body, she pointed one hand at the base of the pile, fingers extended. As flame shot from her fingertips in five broad threads that whirled together to form one arm-thick jet of fire she pointed her other hand at the other side of the pile and unleashed another rope of rushing fire. The two blazes hit the pile and immediately flame sprung up from the bodies of the ghouls.

Kimiko kept her spirits whirling around the fire. They were spinning around and around up into the clouds where the smoke would be dispersed out of sight. She maintained her quiet prayer to the kami to keep the smoke being carried away even as she backed away from the rapidly intensifying heat.

Once the fire had begun, Heidi ceased pushing power through her hands to fuel it. She estimated that she had plenty of fire available and quickly started summoning elementals of fire to devour the bodies. She kept pumping magical fire into the blazing bodies as the elementals began to eat and burn the ghoul and dhampir bodies.

Akiro watched as the fire swept through the bodies, consuming them totally, the spirits above the flames both fanning it and blowing away any evidence of them. As the fires disappeared, the dome of darkness faded and Akiro lunged forward, catching Robert under one arm, supporting him.

Robert looked over at his uncle with a tired smile. "Thank you. The spell took more out of me than I thought it would."

Kimiko released the air spirits and walked over, helping support him, "Come on, Robert. You need to rest. I saw you fighting the demons." She turned and started walking with him towards the Villa.

Robert didn't argue with her, just let her guide him into the Villa and to the room Chilo had set up for him. As soon as he got into the room and to the bed he collapsed, falling into a deep troubled sleep.