Blood Melody

by Val St. Crowe

  “Just because you don’t like my girlfriend doesn’t mean that I have to break things off with her,” said Judah.

  “You’re not a homosexual,” said Neil. He pointed at me. “You have no reason not to fall for Camber. Look at her. There’s nothing wrong with her.”

  “Thank you for that rousing endorsement, Neil,” I said.

  The council laughed.

  “The truth is,” I said. “It’s not about me. Judah and Tempest have a deep connection, forged over years. They have been forbidden to be with each other, and that has made them cling to each other all the more strongly. We can’t break them apart. And Judah and I can’t ever forge a bond like they have.”

  Neil sighed. “All right. All right. If you want to try this disastrous idea, I won’t stand in the way.”

  Judah smiled. “Well, thanks for weighing in, Neil. I think this is Camber’s business and mine, honestly.”

  “Yes,” I said. “It is.”

  “So,” said Mary to me, “you’ll be choosing a human mate? How soon? The spell is connected to your bond, and we can’t wait forever.”

  I drew in a breath. “I really can’t say.”

  “It does have to be a human,” said Judah softly. “No one here is going to let you try to mate with a bloodhound, so let’s just nip that idea in the bud right now.”

  “A what?” said Neil, on his feet again.

  I massaged my temples. Great. Just what I wanted. The entire council discussing my future sex partners. Excellent.

  * * *

  I moved into my new house the next day. I didn’t have much to pack except some clothes. The new cabin where I would be living was down the street from Judah’s, and it was practically identical. It had two bedrooms and it was already furnished with beds and couches and all the things I would need. I did plan to do some shopping in town to look for some personal accents that I might like. Candles and throw blankets and pictures for the walls. That kind of thing.

  But I loved my new cozy cabin. It was wonderful.

  Everything was good now. I had my pack. I had my future. I was no longer expected to be with Judah.

  The only thing left to decide was how to move forward on the question of a mate. I already had mothers of human sons shoving their phones into my face, showing me pictures of their sons and telling me that they could set me up.

  I was laughingly putting them off, but it was a problem that needed addressing.

  That night, I tossed and turned in bed, trying to think of a solution. Finally, I gave up and did what I tended to do when I couldn’t sleep because of a big decision. I went for a walk in the woods.

  The pack was roaming far and wide tonight because of the full moon, but I could smell them and sense them. I stayed clear.

  I walked out past the perimeter of the village.

  Many times in the past, when I’d walked out here, Landon had been prowling in the woods, watching me. I told myself that I wasn’t going looking for him, but I was lying to myself. I was hoping to find him.

  Even though I had told myself over and over again that my story wasn’t a fairy tale, I still wanted the fairy tale ending. There had to be a way that Landon and I could be together. Everything was starting to converge. I couldn’t let this opportunity pass us by.

  And after walking for about twenty minutes, my nose picked up the scent of a bloodhound.

  I went in the direction of the scent, and as I did, I realized that it wasn’t one bloodhound, but a group of three. And the scent wasn’t Landon. It was someone else, a scent that I recognized. James—the leader of the bloods, the one who I’d made a deal with. The deal which I hadn’t been able to honor, because I had not captured Aston Waterfield.

  I wanted to run from him, but he was too close. He’d scented me too, and he was coming for me.

  I stood my ground.

  James came into view, scampering through the woods on all fours. He saw me and he growled. He came for me.

  I held up my hand. “We have a deal, bloodhound!”

  He stopped short and stood up on two legs. “Oh, do we? Then why are you here? Where is Waterfield?”

  “You said you would give me two months,” I said. “It’s only been one month.”

  “We heard about you, little girl,” said James, seething at me. “We heard that you went into the city and got yourself captured and held prisoner by the king of the vampires. If you had help from your sister Desta, surely that is all used up. From what we understand, the king watches Desta more closely than ever now.”

  “That’s why you know that you can trust our deal,” I said. “I’m going back to free my sister. And when I do, I’ll get Aston Waterfield. You’ll be free of those chips. I swear it.”

  “I think you’re a liar, little girl. I think you tried and failed. We noticed that we can’t find your village anymore. A new protection spell has gone up, closing us out. You don’t need this deal anymore.”

  “But I keep my word,” I said. “I will make good.”

  “Give us one reason why we shouldn’t kill you right now.”

  “Because—” I started.

  A streak of fur and claws sailed over my head and tackled James.

  James sprang up, turning the tables and pinning his assailant, who I recognized as Landon.

  Landon slashed his claws across James’s face, snarling. “If you touch her, you die.”

  “I’d like to see you try it,” said James, seething.

  “Landon, stop it,” I said.

  “Uh, he’s the one who’s got me pinned down,” said Landon.

  “Then you stop it, James,” I said. “You’re not going to kill me, because there’s a month left on our deal, and you want those chips out.”

  James looked down at Landon and then up at me. He glowered at me, but he climbed off the other bloodhound and smoothed at the fur on his chin. “One month, little girl. And if you don’t deliver, all bets are off. I will raze your pack to the ground.”

  I gulped. “Of course. One month.”

  James backed up into the woods, his companions following him. That left me and Landon alone.

  Landon got to his feet, grunting a little. He brushed himself off. “Can you go two days without nearly getting yourself killed?”

  “I was fine,” I said. “I had that under control. He left, didn’t he? He was just blowing hot air.”

  “Oh, come on. I scared him off.”

  “You scared him off? From underneath him?”

  “Are you questioning my fighting prowess, Camber? What? I’m not tough enough for you?”

  “Oh, don’t be like that.” I jammed my hands into my pockets. “Geez.”

  Landon sighed. Then he squared his shoulders, turned his back on me, and started off through the woods.

  “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I said.

  “Away,” he said.

  “That obviously didn’t work,” I said. “You told me that I’d never see you again, but you can’t stay away from me.”

  He stopped moving, his entire body tense.

  I rushed to catch up with him. I turned him to face me and looked deep into his blue, blue eyes. “Landon,” I whispered. “Stay.”

  “Camber…”

  “I have my own house now,” I said. “I’ll sleep better with you close. You can protect me.”

  He swallowed.

  “Where are you going to sleep otherwise, huh?” I said.

  “Damn it, Camber.” His voice was raw.

  Suddenly, I couldn’t help myself. I pressed my body into his, and I pressed my lips against his, and I kissed him.

  He kissed back for a second, but then he pushed me away, his eyes flashing yellow. “You want to get yourself killed, don’t you?” he growled. And then he ran off into the woods as though he was running from the devil himself.

  * * *

  The next day, I met Sinead for lunch at the Moon Street Tavern in town, which was one of my favorite restaurants. I didn’t want to talk
about Landon, but she asked, and I found myself relating what had happened the night before.

  At first, she was more concerned with the threat of the bloodhounds. “So, they’re pissed at you? They’re going to take revenge on the pack?”

  “I’m going to get Aston Waterfield,” I said.

  “How? When?”

  “I don’t know yet,” I said. “I really don’t. But I’m going back. I have to go back for Desta, anyway.”

  “Desta?”

  “That’s my sister.”

  “Oh, right. I remember now that you told me her name. I didn’t know you were going back for her.”

  “Well, I can’t leave her there. You don’t know what the vampire king is like. He’s old and bored and terrifying. He has no respect for life of any kind. He’s got his eyes set on Desta, but it’s only a matter of time before he gets bored with her, and then he’ll dispose of her like a used pair of gloves. He couldn’t care less about her, not really. I can’t leave her there. She’s in danger.”

  “That does sound pretty bad,” said Sinead. “But you can’t go back on your own. Maybe you should take Ewan.”

  “No, you guys are newly mated. I’m not taking him,” I said.

  “Maybe Landon will help you since he didn’t actually leave?”

  “Maybe,” I said. “But he did run off after I kissed him.”

  “You did what?”

  “I kissed him. I couldn’t help it. I wanted to, and he was there, and I just… did it.”

  “But that’s dangerous,” she said. “You can’t just go around kissing him. He could rage out and kill you.”

  “He kissed me before and didn’t rage out,” I said.

  “Okay, what? You have never told me this. When the hell did he kiss you?”

  “It was before I went into the city the first time. He followed me there, and we were talking strategy, and it just happened.”

  “Well, that’s not good,” she said. “He initiated it?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Why isn’t that good?”

  “Because it means he’s willing to take risks with you, and I don’t want him to do that.” Sinead looked angry.

  “Oh, come on. It was a kiss.”

  “You’re not just my alpha, you’re my best friend. He’s not allowed to play fast and loose with your life like that.”

  I sighed. “You know what? Let’s not talk about Landon anymore.”

  “Okay,” she said. “Fine.”

  Instead, I changed the subject to dessert. We were deliberating about sharing some chocolate cake or about getting chocolate cake and cheesecake and sharing two desserts, when my phone rang.

  I answered without thinking. “Hello?” And then I regretted it, because it wasn’t my phone, actually, it was Vivia’s phone, and I had been ignoring all incoming calls, because I didn’t want to explain to people that I wasn’t Vivia and that they’d have to find some other way of getting in touch with her.

  “Camber?” said a gravelly voice.

  I sat up straight. “Landon?”

  “I didn’t know if you still had this phone,” he said.

  “Landon, what’s going on? Why are you calling me?”

  “I… I screwed up, Camber.”

  “What?”

  “I was trying… damn it.” His voice was still ragged and he didn’t sound good.

  “Where are you? Are you all right?”

  “I’m at Vivia’s place. I… I killed her.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  I burst through the doors of Vivia’s house, which hadn’t been easy to find. I had to call Landon back three times for directions, and then to find out how to undo the spell to let me access the place. Every time I spoke to him, he sounded a little better, but he was still pretty freaked out.

  Rachel and Alan came rushing into the foyer. Little Nick wasn’t with them.

  “What do you think you’re doing here?” said Rachel.

  I ignored them and started towards the door the basement steps.

  “She helped you!” Rachel yelled after me. “She was good to you.”

  I threw open the door and started to descend.

  “You betrayed her, Camber!” came Rachel’s voice.

  No, Vivia betrayed me. That didn’t mean that I wanted her dead necessarily, but I wasn’t shedding any tears either. She had hurt the entire pack, and she hadn’t really even showed much remorse over it.

  The basement was bad.

  There were pieces of Vivia everywhere. It was like back in the city, when Misty had been attacked by a bloodhound. Landon had raged out.

  He was in the corner, next to the TV, which was spattered in blood. He was sitting on the floor, his head between his knees.

  “Landon?”

  He looked up. There were blood stains around his mouth. “Camber.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. I wasn’t angry at him, not exactly, but this kind of destruction, it seemed so pointless. Why kill her? Why like this?

  “She told me it probably wouldn’t work,” he said. “But I thought that the threat of me alone with her would be a suitable motivation. She screamed at me. She begged me to let her go, and I didn’t. I wanted it to work. I just wanted it so bad.”

  “What are you talking about?” I whispered.

  He stood up slowly, looking around at the carnage in the basement. “I came here for a spell that would suppress my rage mode.”

  “Oh, Landon,” I whispered.

  “I asked her to make one. She said she didn’t know if she could. But I kept pushing, and…”

  “She tried?”

  He nodded. “She did the spell, and then I tested it, and… it didn’t work.”

  I bit down on my lower lip. “You did it for me?”

  “No, I did it for me.” He turned away, running his hands over the fur on the top of his head. He was covered in blood and gore. He looked horrible. “I want you for me. I can’t stop wanting you, even though I know I can’t have you.”

  I hugged myself.

  It was quiet.

  He turned back to me. “She did give me this.” He took a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket.

  “What is it?” I said.

  “It’s a spell to render people invisible,” he said. “I thought it might be a good way to get in and out of the city.”

  “Let me see that!” I snatched the piece of paper out of his hand. I scanned it. “What’s this? What’s a bloodstone?”

  “Not sure exactly,” said Landon. “I was going to ask her about it later, but I didn’t get the chance.”

  I pressed the paper to my chest. “This is good. I mean, I wish you hadn’t killed Vivia, but she wasn’t exactly a nice person.”

  Landon chuckled softly. “I’m not a nice person either.”

  “Yes, you are,” I said.

  He hung his head.

  * * *

  Landon and I cleaned it up.

  Cleaned her up.

  I had experience with it, since I’d been forced to clean up Misty. I knew what I was doing. It took a long time. All the while, I could hear Rachel at the top of the steps, sobbing. I didn’t speak to her.

  Later, when we were almost finished, Alan came down and spoke to us, disgusted.

  “You need to get out of here,” he said.

  “We’re just trying to clean up,” I said. “I wouldn’t want to burden you with that in your grief.”

  “She was Rachel’s best friend,” said Alan. “Vivia was driven out to the woods because she was a witch, and Rachel followed her. She gave up everything for Vivia, and now she wants you dead.”

  “Vivia’s spell caused my pack to be attacked. People died. She deserved it.”

  “Vivia had to make tough decisions, but she did it all for Rachel and Nick,” said Alan.

  “She didn’t need all this,” I said, gesturing around. “The big TVs, the horses, the tennis courts? She could have downsized if it meant not taking blood money.”

  Alan shook his head.
“You think you’re so much better, the two of you?”

  “Look, I’m sorry about Vivia,” I said. “I truly am. I didn’t want her to die, and Landon didn’t either. It was an accident.”

  Alan snorted.

  “It was,” I said.

  Alan shook his head. “You two need to leave now, that’s all I’m saying. I can’t be responsible for what Rachel might do.”

  We left without finishing the cleaning job. Landon was still covered in blood. He needed a shower, so I drove him back to my place in the village, and I forced him to clean up. He didn’t argue with me. He was mostly quiet the whole time.

  After he got cleaned up, I took a shower too. All the cleaning had meant that I was pretty gross too.

  When I was clean, I joined Landon in the kitchen. He’d found a bottle of whiskey and that sounded pretty good to me. I poured myself a glass on the rocks. The liquid burned down into my stomach.

  I sat back in my chair, staring at the half-full glass instead of at Landon.

  He was drinking whiskey straight, without ice. He downed several tumblers full and then set the glass down.

  I finished my drink. Poured another. Alcohol affected me more than in it did him. I supposed I’d have a tolerance in wolf form, but who drinks after they’ve shifted?

  “Should we talk about it?” I finally said.

  “What is there to say?” he said.

  “I wish you would have talked to me before you…”

  “Killed someone?”

  “Took matters into your own hands,” I said.

  “Why?” he said. “Because you would have talked me out of it?”

  I licked my lips. Truthfully, the idea of a spell to keep him from raging out hadn’t even occurred to me. If it had, I would have wanted it as much as he did. “On the other hand,” I said wryly, “maybe it wouldn’t have made any difference.”

  He poured himself more whiskey.

  I settled back in my chair.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  That night, he tried to leave again, but I begged him to stay. I told him we’d put it all behind us and that we could just focus on our next task, getting back into the city and getting Desta and Aston Waterfield.

  The invisibility spell was actually a potion that could be created. It needed certain ingredients. They had to be mixed together under the light of the moon at midnight and then certain words had to be spoken over a bloodstone, which was then submerged in the potion. After that, anyone who drank the potion became invisible. So, we could give it to Desta and force it down Aston Waterfield’s mouth.