Unraveled i-2

by Gena Showalter

  Aden and Victoria had claimed the backseat. She had tried to sit in front, in the passenger seat next to Riley, but Aden had grabbed her hand and tugged her back with him. She could have fought him, but allowed the restriction, silent.

  Once they were on the road, she withdrew a cologne bottle from the center console and sprayed him from top to bottom. Soon he was choking on the scented mist that clogged the air.

  “Enough,” he said, waving his hand in front of his face.

  “This is necessary. Believe me, you don’t want to smell like the Fae when you face my people.”

  “So I still smell like him?”

  “Yes,” she and Riley said in unison.

  Great. Not at his best mentally and he reeked. What a night. “So where’s Mary Ann?”

  “Home,” Riley said, and there was all kinds of fury in his tone. The kind of fury Aden had been expecting since the wolf’s arrival. Which meant Aden had just opened a big can o’ crap. “There’s no reason for her to be involved in this. Plus, she checked out some books at the library and is currently reading them, hoping to learn everything she can about the witches. And speaking of Mary Ann—” his voice rose with every word “—why the hell were you shoving her around today?”

  Yep. Crap. “I’m sure you asked her, and I’m sure she explained that I was teaching her to defend herself.”

  “No, I didn’t ask her. I figured the defense thing out on my own, thanks, but I wanted to chat with you about it first. Did you have to be so rough? She’s only a human.”

  “I’m only a human. And yeah. I had to be rough. That’s the only way to learn.”

  “No, it isn’t. In fact, I’m taking over her lessons.”

  Oh, really? “Sorry, but she didn’t ask you. She asked me. So I’ll be the one continuing with her lessons.” He could have relented. Wasn’t like he cared one way or the other. But allow Riley to boss him around? Multiply “hell, no” by “dream on” and divide by “suck it,” and the answer was “the wolf could bite the big one.”

  That earned him a thick and heavy silence.

  Aden sighed and dropped his head against the seat rest. He needed Riley on his side tonight. More than that, he had a thousand questions he needed answered. How was this meeting going to go down? What was expected of him? Was there anything he should or shouldn’t say? Anything he should or shouldn’t do? But as he sat there, peering up at the car’s roof, mind drifting, churning, he could only make himself care about Victoria.

  She’d sat through his exchange with Riley, stiff and too quiet, as if she didn’t dare breathe because she might miss something. Was she jealous of the time he spent with Mary Ann, as he was often jealous of the time she spent with Riley? Or was she still hurt about earlier? Or both?

  Either way, he didn’t like it.

  He’d dreamed about her for six months before he’d actually met her, and in that time, she’d become the most important part of his life. A part he needed, craved. Like Mary Ann, she accepted him for who and what he was, and had from the beginning. Even though her own people considered him unworthy—not to mention his own. She understood what it felt like to be considered different. She was a princess, set apart. And hadn’t he vowed just today to only ever make this princess laugh?

  “Just so you know,” Riley gritted out. “If you hurt her again…”

  “You’ll call me a bad name?” Aden retorted. “Or maybe tell your friends not to like me?” He knew he shouldn’t provoke the wolf. Riley’s claws could rip through bone in a blink. But again, bite the big one, wolf.

  Riley growled from low in his throat. Expected. What wasn’t expected? Victoria laughed, an honest to God laugh.

  “I’m sorry,” she said when Riley tossed her a dark look. “But that was funny. You know it was.”

  “Whatever,” Riley replied, but there was now suppressed amusement in his tone.

  Aden’s chest puffed up. He’d done that. He’d caused that reaction without even trying. But then Victoria’s laughter subsided, and she once again refused to look at him.

  More. He had to have more. “Victoria,” he began. “About what happened—”

  “I know,” she said on a trembling exhalation. “I already figured out your reasons for ditching me at the ranch.”

  Oh, God. Was she going to cry? “I didn’t ditch you, I swear.”

  “Well, I know that, too.”

  He shook his head, confused. There’d been no trembling that time. “Wait. You just said I did, in fact, ditch you. So…you’re not mad at me?”

  “I was at first, but then I wasn’t. Don’t you see?” Grinning, she clapped, clearly proud of herself. “I’ve been teasing you since we picked you up. I was using exaggeration. Like a human. Did I do good? Did I fool you?”

  His lips twitched in relief and pleasure. They had a lot to work on in the humor department, but he said, “You did real good.” And she had. She was trying to drop that ever-somber air. For him. “You look beautiful, by the way.”

  “Thank you. So do you. Practically edible.”

  His lips twitched again. Edible—the highest form of praise from a vampire.

  Her hand slid over his and their fingers twined. As always, her skin was hot, smooth. Perfect. “Thank you, by the way. For what you did with the fairy,” she said, suddenly serious.

  “You’re welcome.”

  “I wish I could reward you, but instead, I’m taking you into a potential war zone. Are you scared?”

  “No.” But he should be, and he knew it. “The drugs have made me a little detached.”

  “Perhaps that’s a blessing. Fear can be smelled, and most vampires really like the taste of it.”

  He snorted. “Baby, even if I was afraid, I doubt anything can be smelled except my perfume.”

  Another laugh bubbled from her, bells tinkling together, and he grinned. Twice in one day. He couldn’t have been prouder.

  “As I told you, my sisters are in town,” she said, then explained something about a fourteen-day waiting period. He didn’t tell her that he’d met her sisters already in the vision. Not that he recalled much more. But with that thought, another formed. There was something he needed to tell her. Something urgent. For the life of him, however, he couldn’t remember what it was. “Lauren is…”

  “Hardcore,” Riley finished for her.

  Victoria rolled her eyes. “She is not. He says that only because they used to date, but Lauren broke up with him. Anyway. Lauren is strong, opinionated and determined not to like you. She’s a warrior and one of the fiercest among us. She’ll come around, though. Stephanie, my other sister, is very humanlike. She used to sneak out of our home, to my father’s fury, and socialize with the food, as he would say. She might just be your biggest supporter.”

  “Good to know I have one. Has your mother arrived yet?” Aden knew her mother had been locked away by her father, a punishment for revealing vampire secrets to humans. Upon Vlad’s death, though, Aden had decreed the woman free. His first act as king.

  The title had him shaking his head. Weird, and not at all suitable for him. He could barely manage his own life.

  “No,” Victoria replied. “She can’t teleport like me, and so she would be traveling by human methods if she had agreed to come to Crossroads. But she didn’t, preferring to stay in Romania.”

  In protest of Aden’s rule? he wondered.

  “Nothing like this has ever happened before, you know. My father has always ruled us. He was the first of us, after all, and he believed humans were good enough to be food or blood-slaves, but nothing more.” Victoria tapped a finger against his chin. “I’m sorry, but that is the mindset you will be up against this night.”

  The car slowed as a tall iron gate came into view, the bars opening to welcome them. Two wolves sat at the sides, watching. Guards? Further up, a five-story, sprawling mansion consumed acre after acre. The black brick and black-shrouded windows pandered to every eerie stereotype there was, but perhaps that had been done on purpos
e. A way to keep humans at bay.

  The roof dipped and rose into several points, knifing into the sky, where the moon seemed to have shifted away, looking elsewhere, as if afraid to peek inside the home. That was probably for the best.

  Last time Aden had been here, a vampire had tried to murder him. That same vampire had murdered an acquaintance of his. He wondered what awaited him inside this time.

  EIGHT

  I WANT YOU to stay home tonight.

  But I want to go with you. Be with you. I want to help Aden.

  I’d rather you were safe.

  And that’s how Riley had left it. He’d called, dropped the “stay home” bomb and hung up before she could protest again. Now, at close to eleven, Mary Ann paced through her bedroom. Each of her walls was painted a different color—pink, blue, green, red—and those colors blurred together. Half of her wood floor was covered by a multicolored rug that somehow managed to clash with the walls. A decorating scheme her mother—her real mother—had loved and her aunt, the woman who had raised her, had carried on.

  What was happening at that vampire mansion? Was everyone okay? Had the vampires accepted Aden without protest?

  Clearly, Riley viewed her as weak. A hindrance. She’d suspected, but this…this was proof. And she didn’t like it. Wouldn’t stand for it. But what could she do?

  She couldn’t kidnap a witch on her own. That was just craziness. One, she didn’t know the extent of their powers or how they wielded that power. Even though she’d spent the last few hours studying every book she’d checked out at the library, as well as scouring the Internet yet again, looking for obscure details. Anything. There was tons of information out there, most of it conflicting.

  Witches drew their power from the elements. Witches drew their power from inside themselves. Witches were good, benevolent. Witches were bad, evil, servants of the devil. Witches liked to perform ritual sacrifices. Witches were merely delusional.

  You’re getting sidetracked. You were thinking about why you can’t kidnap a witch. Oh, and two, she doubted she could subdue someone physically just yet. And three, where would she keep the witch? In her closet? Her dad wouldn’t find anything odd about that. Yeah. Right.

  Still. Waiting for Riley, Victoria and Aden to do something grated.

  She wasn’t the best at spotting witches, but she could do it. Riley had taught her how. So. Maybe she could go into town and count how many witches were out there, discover what they were doing and where, exactly, they were congregating. Or even find out if none were out there. Tomorrow, she could report her findings, helping her group instead of dragging them down.

  Go ahead and pat yourself on the back. Because yeah, it was an excellent plan. She wouldn’t get out of the car, of course. She wasn’t that stupid. She would simply drive around, people-watch—or rather, creature-watch—and take notes. And, even better, she would take Penny with her as backup.

  Yep. An excellent plan.

  Mary Ann left her tank and jammie shorts on, and pulled on a long-sleeved shirt, jeans and a jacket. She anchored her hair in a ponytail, slipped on her tennies, grabbed her purse and stuffed her cell, keys and voice recorder—a gift from her dad to help her keep track of her thoughts—inside, then wrapped the long strap around her shoulder and hip.

  Excited, nervous, she switched off her lamp, then arranged her bed to look like she was lying in it. At the room’s only window, she opened the glass and peered down…down. Her bedroom was upstairs, and there were no nearby trees to scale. Smart daddy, digging up her supposed only way down. But he hadn’t been able to alter the shape of the roof. If she dropped a wee bit, she would hit the first story. From there, she could drop and roll to the soft grass below. Simple. Easy. Please be simple and easy. She’d never snuck out before. Never really broken any rules before. Now, she was breaking every single one of them. But this was a new world, she reminded herself, which meant new rules were needed. And the first new rule she was implementing was that the survival of her team was more important than curfew.

  Dad would not agree, her conscience shouted.

  Well, Dad didn’t have all the facts.

  Palms sweating, Mary Ann hoisted herself out. She maintained a somewhat steady grip on the ledge, allowing her legs to dangle. Deep breath in, deep breath out. The air was no longer layered with mist, but was chilled nonetheless.

  She let go. Her feet hit—thud—and her knees buckled. She slid along the shingles before catching herself on the gutter, sprawled out, scratched and bruised. Well, more scratched and bruised. Her workout with Aden had left her unbelievably sore. And in places she hadn’t even known she possessed!

  She panted, grateful for the shadows as she waited for her dad’s light to turn on and his head to peek out his window. One minute passed, two. Her arms shook. There was nothing, no movement.

  In the distance, several wolves howled.

  She gulped. Riley? Had he spotted her?

  Probably not, she quickly decided. He would have called her cell, texted her, something. So who did that leave? His brothers? She knew they were out there, patrolling the area and fighting goblins, but she’d never met them. And if they had spotted her, they would have contacted Riley. Right? Right. So again, she would have been called or texted. That she hadn’t been had to mean no one was watching her.

  Okay. You can do this. Slowly, she inched her way over the final edge. The shaking in her arms intensified as she once again dangled. Had the first-story roof always been this high up? Couldn’t have been. She would have noticed. Just do it.

  Mary Ann let go and fell.

  When she hit, her legs were jarred, her kneecaps slamming straight before bending. She flipped backward, rolling far more inelegantly than she’d intended, air knocking from her lungs and dirt and grass filling her mouth.

  Thank God she still hadn’t eaten. She would have vomited for sure. But it was odd, her lack of appetite. More and more, she was actually…repulsed by food. The thought of it, the smell of it. Ick. Even odder, she wasn’t weak from lack of nourishment.

  Two days had passed. Shouldn’t she be shaky?

  Think about that later. She popped to her feet and stumbled next door to Penny’s house, stopping at the large oak next to Penny’s widow. Lucky.

  Stars winked over Mary Ann’s eyes as she gathered a few small pebbles and tossed them. Clink. Clank. A moment passed. Nothing. How frustrating. Would people wake up if she shouted “fire”? ’Cause this was ridiculous.

  Three more stones were needed before the glass rose and Penny stuck out her blond head. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and yawned as she searched the night for whatever had disturbed her. Her hair, usually straight and gleaming prettily, was in tangles around her face.

  Her jaw dropped when she spotted Mary Ann. “What are you doing?” she whispered fiercely.

  “I need your help. Get dressed. And bring your keys.” They’d take her Mustang GT. Mary Ann was still saving to buy a car for herself.

  Penny didn’t ask any questions. She simply smiled, blue eyes gleaming, and nodded. “Give me five,” she said, and closed the window.

  Mary Ann used the time to catch her breath. Her lungs were so grateful, they finally stopped burning. Then another howl rent the air, this one closer, and Mary Ann’s lungs were forgotten. She spun, nervously studying the gravel road, the homes, the trees. Leaves and branches rattled together as if something—or someone—was out there, just waiting for snacktime.

  Hurry up, Pen.

  A few minutes later, the front door of the house squeaked open, then closed with a snap. Mary Ann whipped back around. And there was Penny, clad in one of her favorite baby doll dresses—pink with white lace—flip-flops on her feet, hair straight and gleaming again, strolling forward without a care. As if they were headed to school. As if it wasn’t beyond cold and close to midnight.

  “What are you doing?” Mary Ann demanded quietly, racing over to her friend. A cloud of expensive perfume enveloped her. “Your parents—”<
br />
  “Won’t care, believe me. The shock of my new ‘condition’ wore off and they gave me a pardon. I’m no longer grounded for life. Besides, I rarely sleep anymore, so they hear me padding around the house at all hours. Sometimes I get bored and take off.” She shrugged. “No big. So where we going?”

  “Let’s get warm, then talk.”

  When they were situated inside the car, buckles in place, the engine revved and Lady Gaga blasted from the speakers. Penny turned down the volume and pulled out of the driveway.

  Mary Ann said, “I’m sorry I woke you up. If I’d known you were having problems sleeping, I would have—”

  Penny laughed. “No worries, girl. I’ve been trying to begin your miseducation for years. The fact that you asked me to sneak out is priceless. So I’ll ask again. Where we going?”

  “Tri City.”

  “Really? Why? It’ll be dead this time of night.”

  Maybe. Maybe not. “I just want to drive around and see if anyone’s out.”

  “Try again. I don’t believe you. There’s something else…expecting someone in particular to be there? Someone like, oh, I don’t know, the oh, so gorgeous Riley?” The last was said in a sing-song voice. “’Cause he’s the only person I can think of who could make Mary Contrary finally come out to play.”

  “Mary Contrary,” Penny’s childhood nickname for her. And she had been. Very contrary. A bundle of energy her parents hadn’t been able to tame. Until her mom—aunt—died, and then Mary Ann had changed. Happy smile—gone. Laughter—gone. Wild spirit—crushed. In their place, a need to please her dad had grown. She’d become somber, a little withdrawn. She’d even developed a fifteen-year plan for her life. College, doctorate, internship, open up her own practice. Like her dad. Now…goodbye, fifteen-year plan. She had no idea what she’d do tomorrow, much less next year. And she was happy about that. Finally free.

  “Well?” Penny prompted.