A Dragon, A Unicorn and a Selkie

Jean-Claude could not imagine this brutalized creature lying on the floor in Jason's room was Richard. Someone or something had gotten hold of him in a terrible way leaving deep bloody gashes on his nude body and a glazed look in his dark eyes that said he had seen something terrible.

"Where did you find him?" Jean-Claude carefully asked Jamil while smoothing the damp dark hair back from Richard's forehead.

"Shang-da and I have been looking for him for several days now," Jamil answered anxiously. "We found him at the Lupanar like this. That was several hours ago."

Asher, standing behind Jean-Claude, peered down at the werewolf king and said, "This feels of magic. Dark magic."

"That is what we thought," Shang-Da spoke up. "We did not put him on the bed covered in dirt and blood. We thought you would want him cleaned and examined first."

"Yes, yes," Jean-Claude whispered, only half listening to Richard's bodyguard. "Richard, what happened?" he asked the werewolf. "Talk to me, please."

"Let us bathe him first, mon ami," Asher said and squeezed Jean-Claude's left shoulder. "I have sent for Dr. Lillian."

"Thank-you," Jean-Claude answered and laid his right hand over his friend's hand. "Please, bring him to my room," he told the werewolves.

Jamil picked Richard up and craddled him in his arms like a hurt child. Turning to Jean-Claude, he then followed the vampire back through the Circus to his personal quarters and the big bath adjoining his room. There in a tub of hot water they bathed Richard's wounds while waiting for Dr. Lillian's arrival.

Nothing took the glazed look out of Richard's eyes. He was deep in shock, and the wounds were still seeping as if an anti-coagulant had been applied to the cuts that covered his body.

Although Jamil was in the water with Richard, Jean-Claude felt a powerful need to touch his wolf. What animal or person could have done this to Richard? No lycanthrope was as powerful as the werewolf king, not now, not with them joining the marks.

"Asher," he hissed passionately, "I can not imagine what did this to him. Do you even have a guess?"

Asher, kneeling beside his friend and lover, took Richard's heel in hand and raised his foot out of the water. Marks like teeth marks were embedded in his leg. "It looks like something bit him."

"But what? What has teeth like this?" Jean-Claude repeated, his brain unable to grasp what he was seeing. "When you have his wounds cleaned, please lay him on my bed," Jean-Claude told the werewolves as he stood up with Asher's help. Seeing his wolf beaten like this scared him. Anything that could do this to Richard could do it to any of them.

Shang-Da, a bit drier than Jamil, carried Richard into the room and laid him on the bed. He was cleaner, but without the dirt and crime to hide the injuries, Richard's hurts now appeared even more terrible. Jean-Claude sat on the bed beside his wolf and gently touched his arm. Richard was powerful, but he tangled with something even more powerful than he.

"I feel his spirit slipping away," he whispered in horror.

"Non, non, mon ami," Asher negated him. "Richard will not die."

"But his spirit is drawing away from me," Jean-Claude continued. "To live but not live is unthinkable."

Asher stared at the beautiful werewolf but was not as moved as Jean-Claude by Richard's accident. Richard was such an ass at times that Asher thought this a good thing. See what happens when you turn away from your friends. Served him right.

Dr. Lillian's voice echoed in the hallway as Graham and Clay brought her to Jean-Claude's room. Every werewolf in St. Louis was probably aware of Richard's condition by now. He had been missing for several days, and now he turns up beat all to hell.

"What happened to him?" she asked as she sat on the opposite side of the bed from Jean-Claude and opened her medical bag.

"We don't know," Jamil answered for them. "We found him at the Lupanar in this condition."

Dr. Lillian bent over and peered closely at the wounds. Taking a swab out of her bag, she ran it into one of the gaping wounds and returned it to its container. "I'll run a test on this and see what comes up."

"And in the meantime?" Jean-Claude asked hopefully?

"We keep him clean and dry," she answered. "Do you want to keep him here or take him to the hospital?"

Jean-Claude waved his hand. "Non, non. We will keep him."

"Good thing he'll heel on his own. Some of these look very nasty," she remarked curiously and fixed clear eyes on Jamil. "And you have no idea what did this?"

Shang-Da cleared his throat and said, "We know he was not there this morning. When we returned this afternoon, he was there covered in dirt and blood."

"Well, if you didn't clean everything out of his wounds, maybe we will get something back. But I will be honest, I can not imagine anything with teeth six inches long being in the St Louis area and no one knowing anything about it."