A Bite of Frost: Paranormal Anthology

by Zoe Parker

  The keys he found kept him from having to break a window or door. Something she might appreciate down the road. Another thought of a shared future. On silent feet, he walked through the house. The smell of her, all around him, raised emotions in him he’d forgotten about. Some he’d never felt before. All bearing thoughts of a future he never expected to have. Letting the foreign concept sink in, he explored her home.

  Everything around him fed him small facts about her. Her smell was in every room, but thickest in one in particular. The room was bare of household furniture. One full wall held racks of various types of weapons. In the center hung a punching bag, beaten and dented with layers of duct tape holding it together.

  He shifted his attention to the weapons; none of them were cheap but they were all human made. He would need to help her find ones made specifically for Others, to kill Others. He ran a finger over the blade of one small sword and felt the bite of it break his skin. He continued to the tip of it. Pain was something he had learned to accept a long time ago. It was sharp but the wound it caused healed before he brought the finger to his mouth to lick the blood away.

  She needed special weapons that stopped that particular trait of Others.

  As he walked through various rooms he touched things as he went. A blue, fuzzy blanket tossed over the back of the couch smelled like her, while the untouched bed didn’t. Couch sleeping spoke of restlessness, a fact he filed away for later. Her small office was full of top of the line electronics, and the wall behind them held pictures of various Strix that were all linked by drawn red lines to a picture of a human man in the center. Similar to a murder board, it struck him as the more than likely reason she was sitting in the car, watching someone or something.

  Framed pictures dotted various surfaces; none of them made him think it was personal. Most of them looked like the pictures that came in the frame when you bought them, instead of family photos or ones important to her.

  Circling back to the couch, he sat down on it and pictured her laying on it. Restless, tossing and turning with the TV blaring in the background. More than likely alternating between that and sitting up, sleepless, flipping through channels with a vacant expression on her face. A DVD box sat on the small table in front of him. He leaned forward to study it. Willy Wonka.

  Interesting choice. Something told him there was more to it - that there was more to her.

  He took the purse he sat on the coffee table when he first entered and carefully dumped its contents next to the DVD box. Her wallet carried at least a thousand in cash, something that didn’t concern him. The luxury of the items in the small but plain house was enough to establish that there was an income or wealth coming from somewhere. Not that it mattered. He was wealthy several lifetimes over.

  He opened the last pocket of the wallet and a worn, plastic covered picture fell out. He picked it up and found himself looking at two blue eyed children. Kali sat in between them, a bright smile of happiness on her face. He couldn’t see any physical resemblance between the children and Kali but the way her arms were draped over their shoulders and the smile on her face, spoke to parental love. Being what she was, she wouldn’t be able to carry a human child, not even a half human child. Surrogacy wasn’t an option either, her transplanted egg cells would die in another’s womb. But, these were unmistakably her children in every other sense of the word. His thumbs rested on the worn places where someone else’s had rubbed it enough to wear grooves in the photo.

  Which made him think they were no longer of this world. If they were alive and separated from her, there would still be pictures of them all over the place. Not a solitary picture in her wallet. Tragedy explained the grief that coated her and the way she kept that picture hidden, yet lovingly touched it when alone.

  These children had also never stepped foot in this house. That meant that their deaths occurred before she came to this place. Absolutely sure of it, he pulled out a few other pictures and looked at them. There was one of her with the blonde man from the almost-murder board in her office. This human did look like the children. The resemblance to them obvious now that he had seen them. A husband?

  This he could not allow.

  Paper crinkled as he squeezed the soft leather wallet. Frowning, he shook the wallet and three pieces of newspaper fell out. One of them was the obituaries of her children, just as he figured. A sad piece of knowledge about her. The loss of a child was something he didn’t understand. Grief had been dealt to him sparingly, while poor Kali had it in heaps and bounds.

  The second was an announcement of the divorce of heiress Kali Malcolm from Walter Malcolm. That explained the money.

  The third was an article about the release of Walter Malcolm from jail due to lack of evidence dated just a week before. Even though she - at least- thought the ex-husband had something to do with it, the man still lived. Reading the rest of the article filled him in on the actual events of the tragedy. Walter stood accused of hiring someone to murder his own children. There wasn’t enough evidence to prove it.

  Why had she allowed him to live? Was it because he was the father of the children? That was the only explanation that made any sense to him.

  He dropped the wallet on the table. He could never replace the children she lost but with him… she could have more.

  Resting his elbows on his knees, he ran his hands through his hair. So that’s how it was then? He was going to accept her role in his life? Accept what destiny was throwing at him?

  He still should’ve killed her. It would have stopped the bond in its tracks and left him to finally fade away to nothing. But several reasons popped into his head stopping that thought. One of them playing to her character. Why did she help those children when it was obvious she would lose, and more than likely cost her life simply for being what she was?

  Without thought, he picked up the picture of her with her ex-husband. That was not love in her gaze as she stared out at the camera. Her shoulders were tense, the smile barely there and what was there was forced. Curious. This was before the children’s deaths.

  Did she realize what she was before her children were murdered? Ebon didn’t think so. She had to have been aware that she was different but perhaps not how different. This was something he could ask her after she was better and he could insert himself into her life.

  Now he needed to figure out why she was in a Strix controlled neighborhood playing private detective. He moved so fast the curtain swaying was the only sign of his passing. His steps carried him to the entrance of her office. The answers he sought were on her wall.

  Newspaper clippings about random murders that were more than likely Strix associated. She had an eye for spotting them. There were also pages of information about Walter, her ex-husband, that consisted of the type of personal information that couldn’t be obtained by normal means. Affairs, drug use. Prostitution payments. She paid well for this information and it was thorough.

  He meticulously followed the red lines zigzagging all over the wall until he found a face he recognized. Then the lines moving out from that picture were other Strix. Kali had come to one solid conclusion. The Strix were involved. A human working with this particular Strix. Curious. Connection after connection linked several other members of the elite of Strix society to her situation.

  The plot thickened.

  Kali had been hunting a particular Strix in that neighborhood.

  A long black claw grew out of the tip of his index finger. With precision he X’d out the face of Walter who reigned in the middle of the webs. As soon as he verified the reason Walter wasn’t dead by her hand - he’d end that asshole’s life. Who would murder their own children for money?

  There you go again. Thinking of her as if she is part of your life and needs you to protect her.

  Gnashing his teeth in frustration, he headed out of her office, stopping only long enough to survey the room she lived in but didn’t live in. Her scent filled his senses.

  She smelled so fucking good and wou
ld be a part of his life. His stupid insecurities could shut the fuck up. On feet that felt propelled by a force he couldn’t quite control, he crossed to the neatly made bed. A bed she never slept in. It wasn’t what carried her scent. It was the robe laying across the bottom.

  His finger, minus the claw, skimmed over the edge of it. So soft. Like her skin. Nostrils flaring, he turned and hastily left the room. He paused on the threshold of the front door as a distinct feeling of panic assaulted him. Panic that wasn’t his own.

  His claws came out of their own accord. Kali was in danger.

  Ebon had always been able to move faster than any other and as he ran that trait came in handy. Anything he couldn’t go over he went through. Windows, cars, houses. All he knew as he ran was her panic was increasing and she needed him.

  “She killed five of them single handedly.” The words broke through the black sea of unconsciousness Kali had been swimming in, pulling her rather rudely to the surface of wakefulness. Having learned the hard way through Margie, she laid there just as still as before to gauge how much crap she was in before they realized she was awake.

  “She does not smell matured.” That voice cleaned the last vistages of cobwebs from her brain. The Lupe from the alley. “I should’ve been there.” Kali could clearly hear the frustration and grief underlying the anger in his voice.

  “At least the children live, Jacob.” A woman’s voice. Unfamiliar.

  “What happened to the Exiled?” The male Lupe, Jacob, asked as he moved around the bed to stand near her left side. He moved even closer. She relaxed her body more, ready to move at a moment’s notice. They were talking about Ebon and for some stupid reason she felt incredibly protective of him. It didn’t take a smart person to figure out he stood with neither side and they all felt like he was their adversary.

  “He disappeared after he handed her to me. Reluctantly, I might add,” Jacob said.

  Silence met his statement. Kali felt the Lupe draw even closer, felt him move to lean over her. Too close. Her eyes flew open.

  “Several of the males have shown interest in her. She is so rare - “

  “No!” The word held the emotion guiding it, fear. Kali moved so fast she surprised even herself. She crab-walked backwards away from him and straight up the wall. She sat there looking at Jacob from her impossible position like he was the devil.

  Right now - to her - he was.

  Panic filled her with the undeniable urge to run. She fought it, forcing her to pant with the exertion, but it wasn’t enough. She wouldn’t be anyone's possession! She would not be auctioned off like some prize cow to the highest bidder for fucking breeding.

  “Wait, you aren't healed enough -” She ignored Jacob and frantically sought a way out of the room. Her eyes flickered to the door then back to him.

  She moved without thought, leaping off the wall to land behind the surprised Lupe. In two steps she was out the door. Blindly panicking, she ran until she found herself blocked by walls or doors she couldn’t open and would turn and run another direction.

  The place was brimming with Lupes. Lupes who began searching for her as their leader called out. She dove down the hallway into a large living area. She knelt frozen in the middle of the room where she crouch landed. Too many sets of eyes regarded her with varying degrees of surprise.

  Have to get out. Have to get out.

  Her brain tried in vain to regain some hold of sanity but panic was too far set in. Her sharp gaze caught sight of a large doorway to her right. She jumped just as several Lupes dove for her. They caught nothing but air. She ran along the wall and ducked through the doorway into a large kitchen.

  No door! She started hyperventilating as darkness teased the edge of her vision. Several Lupes came into the doorway behind her and she found herself backed into a corner. A menacing growl filled the room. Distantly she knew it was hers. Her claws sprang free from her fingers, long, white and deadly. Her already sharp teeth, sharpened even more, drawing blood from her tender cheeks and tongue. The sane part of her screamed for her to stop, calm down before someone was hurt. Namely her. She ignored it.

  “Jacob, you need to tell people to back off. She’s injured… afraid and from the smell of it smack dab in the middle of puberty.” The now familiar voice rose over the din of excited chatter. The woman from earlier.

  “Moira, don’t you see?” A male argued. “Her children would make the clan strong enough to stand up against the Strix.” At his words her already fevered brain caused her body to fall into a fighting stance. She wouldn’t give herself to these creatures.

  “I have a feeling she will tear your ass up, Steven.” That same woman commented.

  Gotta get out, gotta get out!

  “Be calm, woman. We won’t hurt you, we only want to help you.” The man, Steven, attempted to reassure her by saying this as he waved his hands in front of him.

  “Let. Me. Go,” she grit out through clenched teeth.

  Jacob pushed through the small crowd to stand in front of her. “We can’t do that,” he says. A feeling of euphoria made her shiver. She looked Jacob straight in the eyes and smiled. Something was coming. Something that would give her freedom.

  He came to a dead stop in front of the Lupe home where they had taken Kali. Forcing himself calm, he politely knocked. A younger Lupe poked his head out of the door a look of arrogant disdain on his face. He knew that his entry was about to be denied.

  Foolish creature.

  “What do you want?” Any other day and he’d punch the arrogant shit in the face.

  “I request that you let me in to see Kali.” The Lupe pulled most of his head out of the door crack and closed the door part way as he spoke to someone in the background.

  That someone told him to deny Ebon entry.

  “No,” the man responded.

  Fine. Ebon looked at the brick wall beside the door. Taking two small steps back he charged through the wall shoulder first. The bricks barely affected his momentum. Ignoring the shouts of the Lupes following him, he honed in on Kali. The smell of her terror pulled him towards an entire group of Lupe whose scents surrounded her.

  A solid steel door blocked his way to her.

  He pulled his fist back and sent it into the door. Hard. It was thicker and heavier than the wall which made getting through it a bit more time consuming. Not nearly heavy enough to keep him out. He would get through it.

  With a feral smile on his face, he punched it again.

  Chapter Four

  A smell reached her suddenly hypersensitive nose, filling her senses like her most favorite smell on the planet. Something hit the door behind the Lupes hard enough to send pictures flying off the wall. Part of the door bent inwards from impact.

  “What the fuck is that?” Someone demanded. A Lupe ran in from a connecting hallway out of breath. In another state of mind she would've laughed at that. Now that her panic was lessening, she watched the door with fascination.

  “Jacob, it’s the Exiled. He requested entrance and when we denied him he came in through the wall.” He rested his hands on his knees as he gulped in mouthfuls of air. He was a young one to be that winded from running through a house. The animal part of her brain took all of this in.

  “That’s impossible, those walls are lined with steel -” a woman commented. Another part of the door bent inwards as it was struck again from the other side.

  “Why did you deny him? You’ve just gone and pissed him off you idiot,” Jacob chastised the Lupe.

  “Doesn’t look like the door is going to hold him out either,” Moira said wryly.

  Kali’s nose flared, bringing the scent of him deeper into her. As the genuine knowledge that he was on the other side of the door truly sunk in, her panic completely receded. The adrenaline abruptly faded leaving her standing there cold and in pain. A warm trickle of something ran down her stomach and hip. Her very bare stomach and hip.

  For fucks sake she was naked.

  Her face heated in embarrassment. N
udity was still a new concept to her. She didn’t grow up with it like these people did.

  “I seem to have panicked,” she stated numbly into the silence of the room.

  The minute she spoke the banging at the door stopped. But Kali knew he still lingered on the other side of it, waiting. She crossed to it without hesitation and the Lupes parted for her. With a shaking hand, she traced the first twisted fist shaped bump. She didn’t understand why he had done this, she just knew he had.

  “Is everything okay now?” Moira asked. Kali jerked her eyes from the door and looked over at the blonde Lupe. The resemblance to the children she had helped was more pronounced in her.

  “Not really,” Kali mumbled. She looked back to the door but she knew he was gone. For some reason his absence brought this strange feeling of loneliness. Something soft and warm was wrapped around her, distracting her from analyzing it. A blanket of some kind that smelled like the fabric softener used on it. She pulled it tight around her and turned to face the group of curious Lupes.

  “Why is he even here? He’s not our kind.” Someone protested.

  “Neither am I,” Kali said more in defense of Ebon than anything. Not that she knew why she was defending him or why she felt such blind loyalty to him when she didn’t know him.

  “Perhaps not, but you did save my niece and nephew. For that, we owe you.” Moira spoke up again. Maybe initially, but without Ebon stepping in, even if he had no intention of helping the children, she wouldn’t have had the chance she needed to save them.

  She would be dead.

  “It doesn’t change the fact that she is dangerous, Moira.” Another woman spoke up coming to stand beside Moira. She was older, Kali could smell it. And her amber eyes danced with dislike that was completely focused on her.