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Roarke:Attacked. At the park with the pond. Here. Date dead. Fading. Need help.
Roarke:Conway O'Hara
Roarke:I don't want to die alone.
ChapterThirty-Two
THANE
Thane was in the middle of shopping for televisions on his phone when the first text message came in. He caught Roarke's name, but the next message came too fast for him to read the clipped notification from the first. Confused, he opened the app for his texts, and his heart hung in his chest. He wasn't completely sure what the message meant, but one thing was clear: Roarke was in trouble.
"Dahlia, where's the park with the pond?" Thane asked even as he headed into the bedroom to get his book of Words.
She looked up from the cheap romance novel she was reading. "There's one about four blocks over, why?"
Shoving the book into his back pocket, Thane tossed his still-unlocked phone at her, and headed to find shoes for them both. "Because Roarke just sent me that message, and it sounds like he needs some help."
"Shit," she breathed, jumping into action.
It took less than a minute for both of them to get ready. Grabbing the keys to his truck, the pair headed out. Dahlia was on her phone, typing out a message to someone, but he didn't bother asking who. What mattered was that Roarke had managed to trigger the location option in his message, which would let Thane use his GPS to find the guy.
While Thane drove, Dahlia continued to send her texts. According to Google maps, it was an easy trip to get there. He just had to drive up one block and then over three. Sure enough, there was a decent-sized park taking up the space of about one neighborhood block. Unfortunately, the little marker for the GPS location said that it was pretty close to smack in the middle, right by the blue blob that had to be the pond.
Thane had been memorizing Words in his spare time. Driving around to the closest side to where Roarke's last location seemed to be, he said one of them, making all signs of his passing invisible, and then drove the truck right over the curb. In the passenger seat, Dahlia gasped, sitting up to look around them as if she wanted to tell him to stop.
"Someone's going to see us," she pointed out.
Well, he had a Word for that too. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy to use. It took a little concentration to keep the bubble of awareness around them, especially since they were moving. Up ahead, he saw a cluster of trees, and hoped Roarke wouldn't be too far away. As soon as they were as close as it was possible to get in a vehicle, he shut off the truck, turned off the lights, and hopped out. Dahlia was right behind him.
"Roarke?" Thane yelled.
Dahlia shot him a dirty look, making him realize that whoever had attacked him could still be around, but a moan proved her wrong. Together, the couple raced towards the sound, coming around the trees to find a scene of complete carnage. A man laid dead with his pants around his ankles and most of the exposed skin mutilated. One thing, however, was obvious: that was not Roarke.
The groan came again, but closer this time. Behind the concrete picnic table - it seemed Roarke had hidden himself in the trees. Thane cursed himself for not having brought a flashlight - and for leaving his phone in the truck - but the space wasn't big enough to need to search for very long. The moment he came around the table, a trail of disturbed ground led both of them right to where Roarke lay, half under a cedar tree.
"Thank fuck, he's still alive," Thane said.
"Hang on, Roarke," Dahlia begged as the pair hauled him out from under the tree.
Unlike the dead man, Roarke only seemed to have one wound, and it was in his back. Blood coated the side of his body, and he was weak, but mostly all in one piece. His shirt was gone, his pants only partially closed, and he clutched his phone in one hand desperately.
"We need to get him out of here," Thane said, hooking an arm under Roarke's knees and the other behind his back before lifting.
Roarke was not a little man, and he certainly wasn't light. Still, Thane managed to heave him up, doing a sloppy job of carrying the man against his chest like a child. Partially conscious, Roarke tried to help, but he wasn't able to do much. Keeping a portion of his concentration on maintaining the bubble around their location, Thane staggered back to the truck.
Dahlia followed, hurrying forward to open the back door. It was all Thane needed. Laying his friend down on the bench seat wasn't exactly elegant, but with a few bumps and pushes, Thane managed to get it done. But when he turned around to leave, Dahlia held up a hand.
"You take care of him, and I'll take care of the body."
It took him a moment before her words sank in. "Right, blood."
"Or something," Dahlia said. "Thane, I didn't bring a knife."
Right. Roarke needed vitality, and blood was only one way to get it. In all honesty, he really didn't want his friend munching on his flesh either. That meant Thane was going to need to take one for the team, since he was the only one here who had vitality he could give away. So, nodding at Dahlia to show he understood, Thane crawled into the back of the truck.
Dahlia shut the door behind him, giving them a little privacy, and headed back around the trees. Thane was standing awkwardly, bent over because there was no place to sit with Roarke sprawled across the entire bench seat. Still, he managed to pat his friend's face.
"You're going to have to wake up a little, man," Thane said. "Pretty sure the best way to do that is for me to kiss you, and I'm freaking out a little bit."
