Pandemic Passion

by Amanda Kimberly

  And two, the therapist—which in all honesty was a damned grad student and NOT a real therapist was a complete jerk. Asshole was chewing off the bit and practically creaming himself when she walked in because he’d probably be doing a final paper on her experiences alone once their session was all said and done, and Dixie didn’t want that. He SOON found out at said forced appointment, that she found it depressing to be talking to someone she didn’t know because it literally seemed like she was paying someone to listen to her.

  In school, she didn’t have to pay for a therapist so long as she talked to a grad student. What she didn’t realize at the time was that the grad student was just doing it to graduate—at least that was the impression she got from the starry-eyed asshole. He looked like he was compounding his thesis by hanging on every word she was speaking. It sucked, and she didn’t want a round two. But again, her counselor stepped in and said she should be “evaluated” just in case. That was, of course, bullshit, but she went again, anyway.

  And that experience became worse than when the actual death happened. It was like he was trying to get her to relive every stinking minute of the death of her parents, and she didn’t want that. In fact, she dug her heels in the carpet every GOD DAMNED TIME he made her experience that crap during their hour-long session.

  The only thing she got from the huge deal was that her feelings really only mattered to someone if they were of value. And not so much value as in she thought little of herself, it was more so about the monetary value. Everything in life—at least how she had seen things had a price tag. Some guys wouldn’t do you a favor unless you flirted with them, some friends only spent time with you if you were hanging out and doing what they liked, and now? Now she could add a counselor listening to her because he needed the subject for his thesis paper.

  Still, all of this had almost nothing to do with Lorring. Sure, he ghosted her when this whole shit show started, but when he was around her—way back when—she could tell him anything. And it was a time in her life that she truly treasured because she was allowed to childishly think that people weren’t as fake as a 3-dollar bill.

  “Why did we break up again?” She found herself asking him, her lips betraying her.

  His eyes flicked to hers, and then he sucked in a breath. He then screwed his eyes shut.

  “Dixie, I hate to sound like a broken record, but it really was about me back then. I was an asshole.”

  She cupped his cheek and smiled.

  “I’m sorry. This probably isn’t something you want to get into tonight. I know we promised each other to just enjoy the evening.”

  “That’s not what this is about. Dixie, I still love you,” he said as he grasped both of her hands in his, “but I’m not the same person as I was in high school.”

  Her eyes were now searching his.

  “What’s wrong? Did I do something to hurt you again?”

  “What are you talking about? No!”

  “I just thought that I did something to hurt you because you left without a word.”

  “No! Dixie, I got sick and I didn’t want to hurt you from that sickness. I was bit by a, by a—”

  A man gets on the microphone and a bunch of other men circle around the group in the banquet room and several others close the exit doors and lock them.

  “Good evening ladies and gentlemen, my name is Dustin. I’ll be the first to say to all of you that the prior activities from this evening have been canceled. Today you will all become my people the people of the planet Lupine and you will bow down to me, your alpha king!”

  “What the fuck did he just say, Lorring? I mean, is this part of the show? How strange!”

  “Stay close to me, Dixie. I’ll protect you.”

  “Protect me from what?”

  The words barely escaped her lips before the man on with the microphone turned into a very large dog. Dixie screwed her eyes shut for a brief moment, shouting, “This can’t be happening. Not again. This isn’t real. None of this is real.”

  The woman from earlier in the day that Lorring works with appeared suddenly before her and Lorring and placed a hand on Dixie’s shoulder.

  “I’m afraid it is real, and we need to get you and the other mortals to safety.”

  “Mortals?” Dixie’s eyes widened as she saw the woman’s fangs protrude through her lips.

  “Are you a vampire?” She found herself blurting out.

  “Yes, and that would make those,” she said, pointing to the large dogs, “werewolves from another planet.”

  “I don’t understand,” Dixie said as her gaze turned to Lorring.

  His muscles stiffened as the Dustin dog lunged in Lorring’s direction and headed straight for Dixie.

  “Forgive me, Dixie. I didn’t want you finding out this way.”

  Within a hot second, Lorring was no longer standing before her. He transformed into a large dog, but unlike the Dustin dog that looked like an actual black wolf, the Lorring dog had talons for its feet, a black stripe down its back, and tawny beige hair around its snout and underbelly that turned into a grey-brown around its sides before it was jet black down the middle of its back. The tail was long and lean, like that of a panther.

  Dixie blinked several times because she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was as if all of her years as a mortal—as she glanced at Annabel; the woman Lorring worked with leaped at the all-black dog and bared fangs and red eyes. It was all a lie, everything, just like her doctor told her so many years ago. Her reality of this world was now in question with her perception.

  Stay behind me, I’ll protect you, Dixie!

  The words swam in her head. They were endearing and protective in tone and sounded an awful lot like Lorring’s voice. She knew he wasn’t directly speaking to her since the Lorring dog creature was. But she couldn’t shake that maybe it was somehow him telepathically communicating with her. Annabel’s hand squeezed her shoulder.

  “That is Lorring talking to you. Listen to him and get behind us. Lorring, I called for backup earlier today. Ciro should be here any minute with some of The Scooby Gang, and Chance called in a few favors with the vamp clans here in Paris. After this morning, I figured we’d need them.” Annabel said as she slid Dixie behind her. Her arm felt strong, protective.

  “It appears you were right.” She said as she took the safety off of her crossbow.

  “I’ll take the 5 on the left and you can go for the 5 on the right?”

  Good plan. Let me just get the humans to safety first. Dixie heard Lorring say in her mind.

  Cherry! Where’s Cherry! Didn’t she say that she was talking to a guy named Dustin?

  Dixie cried out in her mind as she came to the horrible realization that her best friend might have been hurt or killed by this Dustin person.

  Lorring heard the voice in his mind and instantly recognized it to be Dixie.

  Don’t worry babe, I intend to save you both.

  Suddenly, Cherry appeared next to Dustin, who had briefly turned back into his human shell. He had Cherry by the waist and was lowering his teeth to her shoulder. Cherry was kicking and screaming for him to get off of her.

  “Cherry! No!”

  Without another thought, Dixie was running towards Cherry and Dustin in her desperate attempt to try to free Cherry from a horrible demise. Dustin glared down at her approach.

  “Yes, come and join my ranks with your precious friend! I will make it so you are both no longer fragile. And then you will join me in defeating Jaxson of Emir!” Dustin said as he scooped Dixie into his free arm and bit down onto the rosy pink flesh of her forearm.

  No!!!!!!

  She could hear Lorring’s scream within her mind as he was running towards them both.

  As Lorring reached them both, he could see Dustin shaking uncontrollably. His words sputtered out.

  “She’s not human!”

  He cast her aside and Dixie’s limp body hit a table filled with glassware with a large thump. He then turned to Cherr
y.

  “I’m sure you will be far more pleasing! And to boot, I will have you as my mate!” Dustin said before sinking his teeth in Cherry’s shoulder. The bite was quick and rather deep.

  Cherry screamed in terror and fell towards the floor.

  Ciro appeared and caught Cherry before her head hit the floor. He gently placed her head onto the floor and stood up.

  “By the power of the Valet de Chambre and that of the planet Earth, I command you to stop this madness, Dustin of Lupine!”

  “You have no jurisdiction here, Ciro! I can build an army as I see fit according to Equipoise law during a war! Your Earth is what I need to defeat Jaxson. I need numbers in my army, and I might as well get them from here.”

  “Jaxson is no longer a threat! You’d have known that if you attended the sentencing. But I’ll be if you keep this up! On this planet, we keep our powers a secret to the humans, and you are in direct violation of that supernatural pact. Now let the humans go!”

  “I will not take your word on this! You could be lying! Besides, your supernatural pact is barbaric! Why would you hide your superiority from the humans?”

  “Dustin, this is my planet, therefore it’s my business to rule my territory as I see fit! By the power granted onto me from the Valet de Chambre and the Equipoise Solar System, both I and Queen Verena are placing you in custody. You and your pack will come with us quietly and we will sort this out on Lupine.” He spat out before continuing, “Ara, can you work your werewitch mojo on the humans?”

  “Of course, boss! None of them will remember a thing!”

  “Well, keep that one’s memory intact. I want to find out why her blood repels Lupines.” He said pointing to Dixie’s limp body.

  “Will do, boss man! Lorring, why don’t you take her up to your hotel room and I’ll start with all of them here.”

  “What about Cherry, Ciro? That’s Dixie’s friend and Dustin bit her. Will she become infected?” Lorring asked as he scooped up Dixie, who was still unconscious, in his arms.

  “We won’t know until the next full moon. But to be safe, she’ll come with us along with the others that were infected. We’ll have them hang out on Keme’s compound until we are sure they are all either still human, or they understand they are now shifters. Damn it! I wish we got here sooner!” Ciro said as he pounded his fist onto a nearby table.

  “Boss, there isn’t more than 5 or 6 that are infected. It could have been worse.”

  “I know that Ara, but you know that on my watch I want them all safe!”

  “We know, Ciro.” Said Annabell as she patted Ciro on the shoulder. “Chance and I will round up all the Lupines so we can get them to Keme’s compound. It will be easier to escort them back to Lupine from there.”

  “Very good.”

  7

  “I don’t understand it, Ciro. Her blood is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” Said Verena through the speakerphone Ciro had in his hand. “It’s almost as if she was bitten by the Beast of Gévaudan, himself.”

  “But it’s impossible, Verena. I’ve never bitten her. And as far as I am aware, she’s never encountered the beast who bit me.” Said Lorring.

  “There’s got to be something we are missing! I mean, how’d she understand you telepathically?” Said Annabel. “I’ve never come across a human having exceptionally good telepathic skills. Especially with werewolves. Don’t you only have a bond with your own pack and your mate like our pride does?”

  “Yes, that’s how it is supposed to be—but yet she understood me. And I was able to listen to her thoughts too. God, I wish she’d wake up.” He said as he was caressing the top of her head.

  “It’s only been a couple of hours. But in the meantime while we are waiting, would you pull up her medical records and check if there’s something we overlooked. There has to be a reason why Dustin was repulsed by her blood.” Ciro said.

  Verena hung up with Ciro and went into her ship again and started up Computer Quaran. After a few mechanical beeps, she started to hack into hospital records in France and in the US. As she pecked away, she noticed Dixie underwent a blood transfusion the day she and her parents were in a car accident. Verena’s eyes widened from the find. And she called Ciro back.

  “Lorring, didn’t you tell me you donated blood right before you discovered you’d changed?” Verena asked him.

  “Well, yeah. Our high school had a blood drive. Why?”

  “I think your blood may have been tainted without the humans knowing about it, and your donation just so happened to be used in Dixie’s transfusion. Says here she is the same blood type as you. And as far as I as I am aware, you are now the only Beast of Gévaudan since Chance and Annabel killed the other one that bit you all of those years ago.”

  A ruffle of sheets could be heard from the bed.

  Lorring rushed over to Dixie.

  “How are you doing, baby?”

  She slinks an arm over her forehead before responding.

  “Like I got hit by a Mac truck and I shouldn’t make that kind of funny because the last time I hurt this much my parents and I were hit by one.” Her eyes then widened, and she sat up. “Where’s Cherry? Is she okay?”

  Lorring smiled before saying anything. “She’s fine. She’s resting comfortably.”

  “Good. And now since the Cherry situation is settled, can someone explain to me who invited werewolves to our class reunion? I felt like I was in a real-life version of Carrie the movie.”

  “What do you mean?” Lorring asked with widened eyes.

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Lorring! I am well aware of what a werewolf is! I just didn’t think I’d ever see one that up close again.”

  “When did you come across one?”

  “It was sometime around the blood drive we had at the high school. I was taking a walk around the park near the Eiffel tower and I crossed paths with the thing! Good thing I hid behind a thick tree. It didn’t see me. But I must say it was weird looking though! Kinda looked more like a mutt rather than a werewolf. I did research the next day on it and found the legend of the Beast of Gévaudan. Figured that that is what I came across then, and now I know the beast is what I came across last night when you turned into it.”

  “Dixie,” his voice trailed slightly before continuing, “I don’t know what to say. But first, let me begin by saying I never wanted to hurt you, and that’s why I left you all of those years ago. Because the beast you saw in the park was the one who bit me. And ever since I found out I was a shifter I’ve been making sure I learn how to control the beast within me. It wasn’t until recently that I felt comfortable enough about it where I came back to live with the mortals again. For the first 6 years, I was living with that sorcerer that taught me many things on how to control my emotions.”

  Dixie chuckled.

  “What like tai-chi?”

  “Actually, yes. Meditation is a huge part of controlling when my beast comes out.”

  “Well, that’s cool.” She said with a smile. “But I wish you told me.”

  Before Lorring could respond, Ciro began to speak, breaking Lorring’s train of thought.

  “Dixie, we have a question for you because we can’t understand something about your blood,” Ciro started.

  “You want to know why the werewolf detested my blood? Simple, I have lycanthropy. Or at least that’s what the doctor said once I came to in the hospital after my parents died.”

  Lorring searched her eyes for an answer as to why she was so calm.

  “I never turned into a werewolf, didn’t howl at the moon or anything like that! And the doctor said I probably never will since I didn’t turn while I was staying there at the hospital in a coma. Apparently, even when unconscious a werewolf can shift.”

  “Who was the doctor?” Asked Ciro.

  “Petit.”

  “Doctor Petit? Doctor Richard Petit?” Lorring asked.

  “Yeah, that’s him.” Said Dixie.

  “That was Annabel’s doctor when she was
human. That explains a lot, Ciro.”

  “What do you mean?” Asked Dixie.

  “Well, Annabel’s a vampire now, but before when she was human, she had been bitten by the beast—the other one. And when she landed in the hospital, that particular doctor got curious. Chance had willed him to forget everything that happened, the gash, the terminal cancer they found, him making her immortal, but left unchecked it is possible for the human to remember everything they were willed to forget. The doctor started to ask questions and Ciro had to get involved. Now Petit’s an alley to us magicals. And he tries to catch as many of the weres as he can before they wind up hurting a human. It’s a simple blood test.” Lorring said with a shrug of his shoulders.

  “That makes sense, I guess. But what about Annabel? Is she half vamp-half shifter?” She asked as she tried to sit up. “Ouch!” She whined as she clutched her head. “God, this hurts!”

  “Verena will be back from her ship soon. She’ll have some stuff to help with that headache. And as far as Annabel is concerned, yes, she is half and half. Not all vamps can shift into an animal like a bat. Only the ones with the power to shift.” Lorring said as he palmed her cheek.

  “Okay, wait. Now, I get werewolves and vampires are real, but what I don’t get is why Verena has a ship. Is she like an alien? Or does she have a boat the size of a Carnival Cruise Ship?” Dixie asked

  “Yes, she is an alien being. She’s from the planet Effeminate. It’s a planet of lion shifters. You met Dustin—the one that tried to make all of you into werewolves. He’s from the planet Lupine.” Ciro said.

  “Okay. This is all starting to make some sense. But what I don’t get is how I could communicate telepathically with you, Lorring.”

  “Simple, Dix, I think when you got a blood transfusion all of those years ago they wound up giving you my blood. In essence, you became my mate and part of the pack because our blood intermixed during that transfusion, but because I didn’t claim you with a bite, you didn’t turn completely.”