Page 96 of The Vampire and the Barista

Kevin pulled back and touched his cheek. “What happened?”

Ian touched Creed’s back as Rickon came close.

“Derrick ambushed me just after I spoke to you yesterday morning. I couldn’t find Bailey and went looking for him. I know Derrick is human, but he was vampire strong.”

“When did Adrian get here?” Ian asked him.

Creed looked surprised. “I didn’t know he was.”

After healing Creed, Gabe rushed over to Adrian. The vampires were also not having any luck releasing the captives.

“I can help,” Gabe said, walking closer. “I just managed to release Creed.”

David and Seth moved out of the way, David moving so he could catch Adrian when his wrists were unchained.

Using the same spell as earlier, Gabe managed to release Adrian’s wrists, and like Kevin did, David gently knelt down, Adrian in his arms.

“Can you heal Adrian?” David asked him.

“Hopefully, we’ll know in a minute,” Gabe replied. He wasn’t sure how his healing would work on a witch doctor, so he pulled his wand out, drew the healing rune on his palms, then laid his hands gently on Adrian’s chest. The healing light surrounded Adrian. A while later, it vanished. Gabe took his hands off Adrian’s chest and waited for a few minutes for Adrian to wake up.

“Did the healing not work?” David asked, concerned.

“It should have worked, but there was something weird inside of him. I didn’t know what it was, so I left it. Maybe that’s why he’s not waking up,” Gabe replied.

The next moment, Adrian let out a sigh and opened his eyes. He smiled at Gabe. “Thank you.”

Gabe patted his chest and stood up to help Bailey.

David helped Adrian sit up. “What happened?”

Adrian shook his head. “I’m not sure. I was travelling back to the coven and stopped when I saw a body at the side of the road. I got out to help, but it wasn’t a human; it was a demon with the same energy as the asylum demon. Next thing I know, I felt Gabe’s healing and woke up here.”

“I thought that demon had given Derrick his soul and mortality back. Why then would he still be helping Derrick?” Seth asked generally.

“Demons are masters at not keeping their word,” Bert told him, walking over to join them.

“We might have to contact Thiago and ask for his help,” Mathis said.

“We should get out of here,” David said, standing up and holding his hand out to Adrian.

“Drake, Ivan, Olly, Cairo, Troy, as well as some other wolves are searching the whole house to see what they can find,” Bert informed them. “We can all meet up outside.”

“How is Bailey?” David asked, looking at the final vampire. Gabe’s healing light still surrounding him.

They walked over and stood close. A moment later, Gabe removed his hands and the light faded.

Jessamy was on the ground holding Bailey. “Come on, Bailey, stop pretending,” Jessamy said, poking his shoulder.

“Stop with the poking,” Bailey grumbled as he opened his eyes, looking surprised to see everyone. His eyes caught Gabe. “Thanks for the healing.”

Gabe smiled. “None of you had serious physical injuries, but you were drugged with something.”

Gio held his hand out to help Bailey up as Seth held his out to Jessamy.

“Let’s get out of here, and we can talk about everything away from here,” Bert said.

“Did you find Derrick?” Creed asked.