Before he could begin his exam, his unidentifiable patient grabbed his hand. Swollen, golden eyes opened far enough for Ben to recognize his patient. His heart nearly stopped a second time.
“Tyson,” Ben said. “I’ve got you. You’re at the Jerrick clinic. You’re going to be okay.”
“Help…them,” Tyson groaned.
Ben nodded as he began his initial assessment. He couldn’t afford to think about Cosmo now, or what it meant that his attaché, Tyson, had been beaten to a pulp. Neither Cosmo nor Silenus would have stood by and allowed their friend to be hurt.
Which meant they probably hadn’t been standing….
Ben shook off his fears and focused on who he could help immediately. “I will, Tyson. I’ll get them help, I promise. I’ve got to help you first, though. Someone get Pop-Pop and Grammy.”
The ever-present guards at the Jerricks’ clinic rushed to help. They’d seen too many situations similar to the one they now faced and knew to act when one of the Jerrick doctors spoke.
Tyson squeezed Ben’s hand before he could continue his assessment. “Spell.”
Ben froze and stared into Tyson’s eyes. His breaths slowed, which made it even more important that they get him inside. But a spell could create havoc in all sorts of ways, which was exactly why Tyson passed on the warning. “That changes things. What do you know about it?”
“Garzaxie…” Tyson’s breath hitched before he continued “…sent me here.”
Dammit.If they were dealing with a hobgoblin’s level of magic, they were going to have to call in the big guns.
“No Henry,” Tyson uttered before Ben could even voice a request for someone to call his brother.
Tyson’s eyes fluttered closed again as the guards appeared with the gurney.
“Stay with me, Tyson. Focus on me, okay?”
“Get…Koios.” The words were the last ones Tyson managed to speak before he lost consciousness.
Ben’s forced his mind to withdraw from his fears and forced it into doctor mode as he went through the steps needed to save Tyson’s life. He had to let the cool rush of his knowledge take control and not his emotions. It was one of the first lessons he learned at his father’s side.You can’t afford to lead with emotions in a medical emergency.He could almost hear his father’s voice, and it helped Ben maintain control. It had taken Ben years to master that particular skill, as it was harder than any surgical technique or list that required memorization.
He turned to one of the vampire guards as they began to wheel Tyson inside. “I need Koios and Logan herestat. Dammit, and Aleron. We need to keep this quiet, okay? Only contact Alpha Logan and tell him who I need. No one else.”
“Understood, Dr. Jerrick.”
After that, Ben gave all of his focus to Tyson. The extent of damage Tyson had suffered surpassed the torture Jack had endured, which worried Ben more than he wanted to admit. Someone had tried to get information out of Tyson, and from the looks of things, Ben doubted they’d succeeded.
Help them.
Tyson could only mean Silenus and Cosmo, the king and king consort of the Unseelie Court. Ben began to draw some terrifying conclusions as he worked to save Tyson.
It took hours and a lot of blood donated by Aleron, Tyson’s griffin cousin. Between Ben, his grandfather, and his grandmother, they managed to get Tyson stabilized. He’d sustained an incredible amount of injuries.
They’d also discovered a spell bag around his neck. Even though it went against every medical instinct he possessed, Ben trusted his intuition more. He left the bag in place. Maybe he’d been spending too much time with Koios, but something told him the bag was important. So, they didn’t touch it.
Ben prayed to the goddess that he’d made the right choice.
After hours of surgery to repair as much damage as they could, Ben pulled off the surgical gown covering his clothes and stripped off the latex gloves on his hands. Everything went into the incinerator. His grandparents repeated his motions until they all stood there, dripping with sweat and swaying with exhaustion.
“You’ll update Logan?” Pop-Pop asked.
“I will,” Ben said. “We may need to call Dad home from their furniture shopping adventure. I have a very bad feeling about this.”
“I agree,” Grammy said. “King Silenus would never have allowed someone to do this to his attaché. He adores Tyson, and so does Cosmo.”
Ben agreed. “Go get some rest. I’ll keep an eye on Tyson and let you know if his status changes.”
Before he went down to the waiting room, Ben shot a text to his dad. He hated to cut their trip short, especially since they rarely took any time away, but both his dads would want to be home under the circumstances.
