by Pace, Pepper
And as wrong as it sounded, I was thankful.
~***~
I walked Paul out the door. He figured it would take him about two hours to get to the village by motorcycle. He didn’t need a map because he could still feel the village within his blood.
“They haven’t moved their home,” Paul said. “And the ones who attacked us have returned.”
I felt a jolt. “Do you think they’ll be able to sense your approach?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think so. They wouldn’t be expecting me. They’ll eventually smell me, that I don’t doubt, but not until I’m much closer.”
“Don’t get too close without us. Be safe, because …” I couldn’t finish the words.
Paul climbed onto the bike and started it. “Come here, Kim.”
I went to him feeling my shoulders ache in anxiety with each step.
“If I could have one wish, it would be to live a normal life with you,” Paul said. “I watch you at times and try to picture you doing something routine like dancing, or taking care of our children. That’s never going to happen. The life we have now is all we have. After tonight, it’s all going to change again. If I’m not there with you …”
I swallowed and looked away.
Paul took my chin gently and turned me to face him.
I squeezed my hands into fists behind my back and fought the stinging in my eyes.
“If I’m not there with you, then know that I did everything I could to come back to you, and as important as that is to me, it’s more important for me to make what’s wrong right.”
The pain slammed back into me, and I staggered on my feet. Hot tears spilled from my eyes. I gulped down a breath. “Hurts so bad.”
“Let it hurt, baby. Feel the pain because that’s what makes you different from them in there.”
I swallowed the hot tears and nodded, trying not to sob. The tears I hadn’t previously shed for my missing family flowed like rivers down my cheeks and dripped from my chin.
Paul touched my tears with the tip of his finger and showed his finger to me. My tears were clear and not blood tinged. “See. You’re not like them.” He touched his lips to mine lightly and faced forward. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
There was still so much to say, but I couldn’t speak. If this was going to be our last conversation, I guess he’d said enough for both of us.
I sat on the front stoop and gave in to my tears. It hurt to cry and it hurt not to. I pictured Monica with her long blond hair up in a hasty ponytail poring over legal documents and fine-tuning even the smallest errors. The memory of Tyler’s easy laughter and her intricate tattoos brought sobs ripping from my throat. I missed Julie with her little hands and serious expressions. But my Tige, my Tige who I had burned for, risked my life for, my Tige who had been taken so easily away from me.
I covered my mouth and tried to press my tears back inside. I was rocking and dizzy with my grief when I felt someone beside me.
I thought it would be Tony.
But it was Ran.
His eyes were hollow and dark. He pulled me into his arms, and I collapsed into him and didn’t try to hold back my sorrow. I cried and wailed and gripped Ran to me while he absorbed everything I had to give him.
“Julie,” I whispered. “Julie …” I must have said her name a hundred times while Ran held on to me.
A long time later when Ran was soaked and I was soaked, I looked up at him through red eyes. “Do you hate me, Ran?”
“No. You gave Julie redemption. She hated the Neratomay in her. The way we were raised was, you know… ”
I nodded. He and Julie were raised “religious.”
“You made her feel good about herself again,” Ran said.
I closed my eyes.
“I want to fight by your side, Kim. Julie told me about you and the sun—before the blood oath. Don’t be mad. We shared everything.” He touched one of my tears and examined it. “She said that you were going through some very un-Neratomay changes. I want your back.”
I nodded. “And you can fight?” I couldn’t risk Ran, not even if he asked me to.
He tasted my tear. “Julie was very capable, but I collected the most Rogues.”
My mouth dropped. Julie had won the job as my first Lieutenant because she had collected more Rogues than anyone else. Ran should have been my First.
His eyes were clear. “Because of her size, Julie was easily overlooked. That’s why I wanted her as your First.”
“You’re sure it wasn’t because I was doomed to failure and she could slide in as Master?”
“No,” Ran said. “You are forward thinking. Julie would never have had a place in the Neratomay world.”
Unfortunately, his words were the truth. “I’d be honored for you to fight by my side, Ran.”
He wiped my face with the tail of his shirt. It was the same type of thing he’d do for Julie if she were here. “I don’t think this is a good time to tip everyone off about your changes.”
I wondered why no one had come out. The way I had been wailing everyone should have heard me.
Ran stood and went back inside.
After I felt better I followed.
The Vampires watched me enter. They seemed curious but not surprised about my outburst. Because of our bond, I felt Tony’s empathy. I even felt sympathy from Kaniji, who tried to hide red-rimmed eyes. She’d cried with me? Why?
“Paul is on his way,” I said. “In case you don’t know, I’ve recently discovered that when I get angry, I transform into something.”
The Vampires began to murmur. Some who knew about my transformation explained to those who didn’t.
“Transform?” a Vampire I didn’t know said. “We all transform.”
“Not like I do,” I said. “Not at all like what you all do. Just be forewarned.”
While we waited, some Vampires fed from their donors or found privates areas to have sex. The impending battle created an air of excitement. Vampires were normally an emotionless bunch. An organized battle was something many of them looked forward to, especially since it wouldn’t be followed by punishment from the Elder Board.
Karen and Mara were holding hands when they inched into the room. They were the only non-Vampires present. It was brave of them to enter uninvited. I took credit for encouraging them not to be bullied by the Neratomay.
I stood and walked to them. I couldn’t speak. I’d been avoiding them because of this moment.
Karen’s eyes were beet red, and Mara seemed to be in control. I thought it would the other way around. Karen was always the Queen Bee of my ladies in waiting. She had started off from the beginning as the group’s spokesperson.
Mara squared her shoulders. “We heard you from upstairs … grieving.”
I looked into the distance. “We’ll grieve together as soon as I settle the score.”
Mara reached out and took my hand.
“Shall I bite you?” I asked without meeting their eyes.
They both nodded.
My face almost broke. “Calm, relax, happy thoughts. No more tears. Please, be happy.”
I’d already had much to eat, but the feeding I took from them was satisfying in its familiarity.
Afterwards they seemed more relaxed. “Be safe,” Mara said.
Still gripping each other’s hands, they left the room.
They were worried about me. They pretended to need the relaxation suggestion, but they really only wanted to make sure I had nourishment. I sighed, my head aching from the tears and a barrage of conflicting emotions.
I decided to reach out to Paul to find out where he was. Tracing the links to my donors and those I was bound to always reminded me of holding a bunch of helium balloons. Each string could be followed to the individual balloon binding it.
I had a lot of strings. Some were people I had tasted or fed from infrequently while I healed from the burns. Those links would fade and disappear eventually. Next were links to those I regularly visited
but weren’t emotionally attached to. There were only a few of those—the Council mostly since they had tasted me and I had tasted them during my initiation. The last links were the ones I held most dear: Paul, Alexis, my ladies, and Tony.
The place where Julie’s and Tige’s links should have been was gone.
The emptiness almost crushed me.
But the links to Monica and Tyler were present.
How could this be? Was it because they were humans? Julie and Tige were gone completely, so how could Monica and Tyler still be present?
Ice ran through my veins.
“Tyler? Monica?”
“Help … us…”
I sank to my knees.
Monica and Tyler were still alive.
CHAPTER 18
Neratomay swarmed around me. Tony lifted me in his arms. “Kim!”
“I-I feel them,” I said.
“Who?” Tony asked.
“Tyler and Monica. They’re still alive.”
“Tyler!” I called repeatedly, but there was no answer. I called Monica as well.
No answer.
I started trembling. I could trace them clearly though they hadn’t responded. I knew where they were!
Tony was talking to me. “Where are they?”
“They’re here! Not far!” I stood. “I’m not going to wait for Paul. I’m going now.”
“Wait!” Twenty Neratomay shouted at once.
“They’re not going to be alone,” Tony said. “We need a group to go in with you and another group to sweep through from the outside. You have to wait for Paul’s arrival.”
“Paul! Paul!’
“Baby! What’s wrong?”
“Tyler and Monica are alive!”
I could feel a world of emotion emanating from him. He must have pulled over the motorcycle because I could no longer sense his movement. I could sense his confusion and relief as well as joy and anger.
“I’m not far from the village if you want to come now.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the room of expectant Neratomay. “Paul said now.”
What happened next was incredible. A room full of over sixty Vampires got pumped up. Teeth dropped and muscles bulged. The sound of hissing was loud enough that I wanted to cover my ears.
I concentrated on Monica and Tyler. They weren’t together, but they were near each other. Separated by a room or a wall?
“Ran, Tony, Kaniji—I want you with me!” I gripped Tony’s hand on my left and Ran’s on my right. Tony gripped Kaniji’s hand. I figured Tony could keep an eye on her if needed. I called out six other capable Masters under me, and we all clasped hands.
I disappeared allowing myself to link to Tyler’s location. Since she had communicated with me, I figured she might be able to give us guidance on how to proceed.
The ten of us moved swiftly in that strange limbo that felt as if the world was sweeping by me.
Flashing was not instantaneous, but for the first time my control was total. There was none of the sickening spiraling I usually experienced. It was like traveling with Alexis or even Tony. I guess I had gained a step up these past few days.
Before I reached my destination the world materialized a split instant before I appeared.
I could see everything in slow motion. I saw a rather small room with a metal bed. There were two forms present, and one was a female Werewolf who was only partially transformed. The she-bitch was licking someone who lay motionless on the bed.
Tyler.
Tyler’s hands were bound to the metal of the headboard by thick leather straps, and she was unconscious. Her face was swollen. Claw marks had shredded her from the chin down. I couldn’t see the extent of the damage because she was covered by a blood-stained sheet.
The she-wolf seemed to glance up as I materialized.
I gripped her by the back of the neck and yanked her away. The she-wolf’s eyes grew wide. Her partial transformation didn’t affect her ability to understand that death was on her ass.
Like dominoes the other Vampires appeared. I liked these odds.
Then the door burst open, and seven werewolves swarmed into the room.
Using the she-wolf as a weapon, I struck the Werewolf nearest to me. The female’s head shattered on impact and sent the other Werewolf into a wall. Ignoring my own safety, I dropped the dead she-wolf and hurried to Tyler. The battle ensued around us as I went to my knees beside her. “Tyler.”
Her eyes moved beneath her eyelids.
“I’m going to take you home,” I said. “You and Monica.”
“Jason,” Tyler murmured.
I narrowed my eyes and thought about Jason. Yes. My link to him was faint, but Jason was here, too.
Something pushed against my back, and then I felt a sharp pain.
A Werewolf’s claws had scored my back, but Ran had it by the neck.
Ran had gone incredibly pale. His eyes were red like rubies, and veins stood out like road maps. The Werewolf he had grabbed was almost twice his size, but somehow he yanked it to his mouth and sank his teeth into the creature’s neck. Blood sprayed as he ripped its throat out. Even though he was splattered with the dead Werewolf’s blood, I could see streams of red blood streaming from Ran’s eyes.
I turned back to Tyler. I let my talons out and used it to slice through the thick hide straps holding her to the bed. “I’ll be back.”
I focused on Monica and vanished. I know I should have brought Ran with me, but all I could think about was getting to Monica and then Jason.
I reappeared in a hallway and caught a glimpse of a shadow rounding the corner. Someone or something was on the run, and I followed. A Werewolf was carrying someone wrapped in a bloody sheet—someone with long blond hair streaked with blood.
Monica.
I couldn’t see Monica’s face, but I knew it would be bad.
The Werewolf moved fast, leaping and bouncing off the walls. I leaped and bounded after it. With my teeth bared, I dove for the Werewolf’s leg and tripped him.
He fell and dropped Monica, who fell hard and didn’t move or groan. Was she already dead?
I tried to get to her, but the Werewolf turned and swiped at me with his talons.
Ducking, I sprang at him and went for his throat.
He caught me in midair, his nails digging into my sides as he held me high in the air. I struck out at him with my talons, slicing his face to the bone. The Werewolf threw me hard against dank stone walls.
The walls didn’t shatter.
I did.
My skull cracked, bones in my back snapped, and my ribs pierced my torso. Blood sprayed from my mouth as stabbing pains convulsed my body.
The Werewolf crouched to leap, and I was only a heap of broken bones on the cold stone floor.
“No!” I screamed, and as the scream deepened to a roar, my neck split, my body bulged, and my duster and leather pants shredded away.
My creature was coming forth.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t change quickly enough to avoid the airborne Werewolf. I barely dodged out of his reach, and he bounced off the wall, crouching for another leap at me.
I became a frog leaping off walls and the ceiling until I full transformed into my bad-ass creature.
Then I stopped and faced the Werewolf, who paused long enough to shake his wooly head at me.
We lunged for each other and crashed together in a crunch of bone, each of us going for the other’s throat.
I was faster.
I had his throat between my teeth before he knew what had happened. Wide green eyes watched me as I chewed and ripped until those green eyes glazed over and the Werewolf’s body hung limp in my mouth.
Ran materialized next to me, his face blood-streaked and bruised. He looked from the dead werewolf to me. “I can’t believe it,” he whispered.
“Jason,” I said in a husky voice. “Get Monica to safety.”
Ran hurried to Monica, lifting her and vanishing.
I turned and sense
d Jason’s whereabouts.
When I materialized again, I was alone in a room of two-dozen werewolves, several guarding Jason, who was chained to a wall.
“Were you expecting me?” I howled. “Let’s do this.”
Before I could go to battle, the air grew bitterly cold, and the werewolves looked confused. I smelled, of all things, fresh flowers.
A woman no taller than five-two appeared between the werewolves and me. She was drop-dead beautiful, her skin the deathly white of an old Vampire. Her hair was a luscious black that ran down in curls to the small of her back. Her green eyes were striking against her face and hair. She wore a gown of sea foam green that glistened with diamonds and hugged her body like a glove. She was obviously an old Neratomay, but she knew how to dress like a modern-day heiress.
Ignoring the dangerous werewolves at her back, the woman smiled at me. “Do you know who I am?”
I nodded. “You’re Athena.”
Athena raised her hand.
I braced myself for death.
She held her hand out to me. “Shall we?”
I glanced at Jason. “I’m here to bring back my family.”
Athena looked at Jason. She smiled at the werewolves, who were getting over their shock and growling.
Athena sniffed and flicked her hand.
Twenty werewolves exploded.
I almost peed myself.
“Your friends are coming,” Athena said. “They will take the human.” She held her hand out to me again. “Shall we?”
I really didn’t have a choice, did I?
I put my hand in the hand of a real goddess.
~***~
Athena carried us away so smoothly that I didn’t sense any movement. One moment I was in a cellar in Poland, and the next we were standing in a luxurious room in some kind of palace.
I looked horrible. I was a creature in a ripped-up black spandex cat suit. Athena should have been splattered with Werewolf gore, but she wasn’t. She was pristine and looked breathtaking.
“Am I here for you to kill me?” I asked, trying not to tremble.
She raised her hand and made a wide sweeping motion.
