Cryptids - Chapter Six Revised

         Kyleigh swept the door open and came face to face with Hugh. He was breathing heavy as if he had been running and was nearly bent over. Sweat beaded up along his tanned face and his hand firmly grasped his middle. She had just a second to think he is in too good of shape to be winded from running from his car up to her room. Then she noticed the blood that seeped though his fingers. She grabbed his unoccupied hand and pulled him into the room and led him to one of the chairs inside.

         As soon as he was seated she helped him remove his shirt and merely said “Explain.”, as she examined his wound. His skin was shredded in three lines across his abs. For the second time, she was going to have to care for someone who had been clawed by some beast. His were nowhere near as serious as Dean’s wounds.

      At least Kyleigh thought so until Hugh looked up at her and said, “Lamia clawed me up, when I tried to stop them from taking Erica. I tried, but they have some kind of poison in their claws.” Hugh’s face cringed and she could see the muscles near the claw mark begin to contract and pulsate. When she saw this, she felt a desire that was so great to touch the wound she had to clasp her hands together. Kyleigh squeezed her eyes shut and counted to five then attempted to focus on getting the wound cleaned. She walked to the bedside table and got a cup and walked straight to the bathroom to get some water and a washcloth. She listened to Hugh continue explaining as she cleaned the blood from his stomach and waist. Blood had drenched into the waistline of his jeans and was beginning to dry to a dark maroon. The wet metal smell of sweat and blood filled the room. As the older blood smears were cleaned away she realized the end of the claw marks went slightly under his jeans waistline, as if his pants had raised just a little when he sat. When she told him this he looked at her a moment, and then said somewhat absent-mindedly, “I can take them off.”

Kyleigh instantly blushed and said “I don’t think removing them is necessary.” She saw Hugh’s grin and was irritated as soon as she realized that she had flushed at something not even intended as a come-on. Due to this irritation she abruptly grabbed for his button and zipper with the intention of undoing them but leaving his pants in place. Hugh, however, didn’t want her frustration with him taken out on anything near his family jewels and quickly reached to stop her. Kyleigh shoved his hands aside and pulled the top of his pants open and placed his hands on the armrests. “Just sit there. I’ve got it.” She shoved his legs apart moving between them so that she could reach him more easily. Then she picked the washcloth back up and began washing around the wound again. “So they have Erica?”, she asked.

Hugh watched her cautiously a moment, then responded, “Yeah, they took her. I did the best I could to protect her. And she was fighting teeth and nail, herself, before they managed to get her into their car. And Kyleigh, you need to know that they gave her something, a shot. I could have been something to put her to sleep or to prevent her from shifting to her animal.”

“How do you know that’s what they gave her? They could have poisoned her and you just left her there with them. Right now she could be dead. I mean you have no way of knowing do you Hugh, do you?” Her eyes shimmered as they brimmed with tears. She swallowed a sob as she tried to calm herself and focus on what to do. As Hugh reached for her to comfort her she had placed her fear and upset over her cousin’s welfare back into that small box deep inside herself, so that she could focus on what needed to be done now. Kyleigh pushed his comforting gesture away and continued, “Never mind, Hugh. You did the best you could. I’m just going to have to go looking for Erica myself. Can you at least tell me why they chose her? I mean you’re a shifter too. Why didn’t they just take you? You had already been injured.” She continued to clean off his wounds as she waited for his answer.

Hugh scowled down at Kyleigh before responding, “I did do my best to keep them from taking Erica. I wish that you really believed that.  They came upon us almost immediately after you left the bar. We were still standing out in the parking lot. The five of them were spread out around the parking lot hidden among the cars as if just waiting for something, like a sign. As you drove off they took their places surrounding us. I asked them what they wanted, but they just tightened their ranks and told your cousin to come with them. When she said she wouldn’t do as the asked they attacked me and grabbed her.” Hugh cringed as Kyleigh cleaned out the deepest tear, then continued, “As to why they chose her to abduct and not me your guess is as good as mine, but if I was to guess it would be that out of all of us you know and care about her the most.”

After finishing cleaning the clawed skin she took the wash cloth and water back to the bathroom and got her first aid kit. As far as she could tell they wouldn’t need stitching. Hugh should do fine with some tight bandages and some Neosporin to fight off infection. Although she had been sure when she had first seen the wounds that he would need stitches, but the blood must have made the injury look more serious then it was. “So how do we locate them and get Erica away from these ass-holes?” she asked.

“That’s not what we have first on our plate, Kyleigh. You need to meet with the other weres rekhyt and earn a few things first.” Hugh said with a determined look on his face.

She glared right back at him, “This is no time to mess with me, Hugh. God knows what they could be doing to my baby cousin and they would be doing it because of me. You want to teach me some shifter mythology, fine, we can do that shit later, but first things first. And that means getting Erica, in case you didn’t get that.” She pulled the tape tight against his bandage and gave him a little pat on the knee to let him know she was done as she rose to her feet.

“It’s not some mythology. You need to be trained. We waited long enough for you out of respect to your mother and her wishes. Now we have run out of time. You can’t be any help to Erica until you are trained. Everyone has been telling me that you are supposed to have the same skills as your mother, but I haven’t seen them. If anyone can test you to see if you do possess them it would be Khepera. So the first thing we need to do is go to the pack and tell them what has happen and prepare.”

Kyleigh swept her hand through her hair as she began to pace. Unfortunately, her room wasn’t big enough to vent much of her frustration. She abruptly pivoted on her heel and walked back to stand in front of Hugh. “I’ll warn you now that if this turns into some bullshit that prevents me to getting to Erica then you will be the one who pays the price. Now, what do I need to take with me?”

Hugh fought the urge to grin at her quick change of mind. He would have to curb the desire to celebrate his victory in changing her mind. It was indeed a rare occasion. “Well, you just got your things back from my room so you should be packed still, right? Why not just check out and move everything over to the packs’ facility? That way you will not have need of anything that is here. And of course, it will be more expedient.”

“Fine. Help me carry everything downstairs. Then… we’ll go to the pack. I better be able to trust you Hugh.” She grabbed the closest bags and made her way to the door. “You will be able to carry them won’t you? Or are you too hurt?” There was an odd mixture of concern and challenge in her voice as she asked this over her shoulder.

He pushed himself from the chair and said, “If you truly had some of your mother’s powers I would be able to carry them all down. How about if we find out know if you have it?” He walked slowly over to stand in front of her. He pulled the bags from her hands, enduring her moment of resistance silently and patiently.

“What are you doing, Hugh?”, she asked.

“It would help me out quite a lot if you could heal my wounds properly. The Lamia poison is starting to make me a little nauseas and drowsy.” After saying this he surprised her by doing two things. First, he asked, “Did you want to touch my wounds? I mean, did you want to touch them badly?” At her surprised nod, he reached down and ripped the bandages off she had just finished putting on, and as she looked down she felt that urge to touch them again. Her eyes swept over the rugged edges of the tears in his skin. 

“What the hell are you doing, Hugh? I just bandaged that.”, she said as she tried to step away from him, but as she took a step back he took a step forward to close that distance between them. Kyleigh had just a moment to feel a rush sweep through her body that had nothing to do with healing him. Her emerald eyes shifted from his stomach to his dusky blue eyes that held the mirror of her desire. Then he grasped her hand firmly in his own and brought it towards his firm stomach and its gashed lines. Once again she smelt the overwhelming scent of blood and sweat. The moment of desire was forgotten as well as the man and Kyleigh was lost in the wounds. Somehow they seemed to call to her. Or something about them called out to her. Her right hand began to drift, as if on its own accord, toward the worst of the injury. She placed her hand over it, touching it ever so lightly. Slowly she felt a heat build in her hand and soon it became unbearably hot. As the heat reached a level of pain she couldn’t take she pushed with something she didn’t completely understand but did out of instinct and with the fear of bursting into flame. Immediately relief swept through her and her hand was now pressed firmly to tight rippled abs.

The shocked look on her face made a light chuckle erupt out of Hugh who had stood watching the play of emotions that swept over Kyleigh’s face as she healed him. “It looks like we haven’t waited in vain.”

“I don’t understand. If I could do this all along, why haven’t I felt his before? Why didn’t I feel this… energy, or whatever, when Dean got hurt?”, she asked.

Hugh fought the urge to follow her as she stepped away from him again. He could still feel her hand on his stomach, regardless of the fact that she wasn’t touching him anymore. “You couldn’t heal Dean because he was wounded by one of our kind. You can only heal wounds made by a Lamia. Well, that was all your mother could heal. I guess what you can do remains to be seen.” He ran his hand down his stomach to check out his newly healed skin. Kyleigh’s eyes followed the movement of his hand. Her eyes jerked back to his face as he spoke. “Thanks for healing me. I guess we better get a move on it.” Having said that he grabbed the bags, including the ones she had been carrying moments before and walked out the door. As he disappeared from sight she said, “Your quite welcome.”, and followed him out shutting the door behind her.





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