Willow (Blood Vine Series)

by Amy Richie

“Art?” He crinkled his nose as if I’d said something terrible.

  “There’s nothing wrong with Art.” I finally smiled at him, but I still wasn’t sure about Rueben Massie.

  “It’s on the bottom floor, in the dungeon.” He raised one eyebrow dramatically.

  “Your school has a dungeon?” Not sure what I would need for an art class, I slammed my locker shut without taking anything out.

  “It’s for the dorky classes, like Art and Home EC.” He grinned when my face turned beet red. Had he seen my schedule? “I’ll point you in the right direction at least.”

  I wasn’t really an artsy type of person, but I figured Art would be better than Pre-Calc or advanced anything. Rueben led me to a short flight of steps that led to a darker part of the school. The dungeon.

  I was so intent on finding room 142 that if I had been human I might not have noticed the boy watching me from the shadows. But I wasn’t human and I had been trained in the art of hunting. My senses took in every detail of the scene, not just the prey. I stopped to pretend that I was lost so I could study the boy without him realizing I saw him. He was wearing a white button up shirt tucked into pants that were pulled up too high. His dark hair was slicked into place and thick glasses perched on his nose. Complete picture of a geek. In fact, it was too perfect, as if he was trying to play the part of a geek.

  I took in the thick muscles in his arms and shoulders. His face was so cold looking. He didn’t have any expression other than cold calculation. Something about the way he stood there trying to sink into the shadows, staring at me, made me shiver. It wasn’t idle curiosity for the new girl that had brought him here. I was sure of that.

  Chapter Four

  The Council Man

  I drove home alone after school that afternoon. Ivy had gotten a ride from someone else, and I was glad for the small amount of solitude. I rarely asked Bella for anything, but I had begged her to buy me a car for my sixteenth birthday. I was kind of surprised to see the small red Taurus in our driveway on the morning of my birthday, but I loved the freedom it gave me.

  I pulled into the driveway and killed the engine, cutting a good song off. My mind was on other things, though. I shoved my keys inside my bag as I walked the short way to the front door. Something was bugging me about the boys of Grover High, but I wasn’t sure what it was. The smell on Rueben’s breath … My hand paused on the door knob. I really needed to hunt, maybe that would clear my head.

  “I’m home,” I called loudly after I deposited my bag on the floor by the hat rack.

  “Thanks for the news flash,” Ivy called back with her usual cheerfulness.

  I was shocked that Ivy had made it home before me. It must not have been a very entertaining ride for her. “Where’s Bella? I need to hunt,” I announced without preamble. I was further shocked when I discovered Ivy was not alone. Sitting in one of the oversized brown chairs in our living room was the green-eyed girl from school. Carlie.

  She stared at me with a mixture of amusement and disgust. I stared back at her, but I think mine was more just shock.

  “I don’t know where Bella is,” Ivy informed me, “and what do you mean hunt? Are you Jed Clampet now?” Carlie snickered.

  “She’s not here?”

  “Nope.” She turned away, dismissing me.

  “That’s your sister?” I heard Carlie ask as I stalked to the kitchen.

  I flung open the fridge feeling ravenous, but I knew that human food wouldn’t do me much good. A sick sheen of sweat formed on my top lip and I felt a shaking starting in my knees. I brought a fist up to cover my mouth. “Control Willow,” I whispered.

  “What’s with you?” Ivy and Carlie had followed me out to the kitchen. My eyes darted to the nearest door. I was in no condition to be around a human, even a snobby one.

  “Nothing,” I fired back.

  Ivy’s eyes widened slightly but she made no move to leave. “You know Carlie?”

  “I … uh … ” I ran a hand across my moist forehead and pushed my hair back haphazardly. “Yeah.”

  “You know my boyfriend too, don’t you?” Carlie asked hotly, one hand coming up to rest on her slender hip.

  “Um … ” Why couldn’t I focus? Oh yeah, because I’d been thinking of hunting for too long and I should have hunted this morning.

  “Rueben Massie.” She crossed her arms and pursed her pale pink lips.

  “Mmm.” In my current delirium I could only register that no one’s lips were really that shade of pink. Who was she trying to fool anyway?

  “He’s taken and you need to stop following him around.” Her words sounded far away but I understood what she was saying.

  “He’s the one that’s following me,” I shot back. I hated that my words came out slurred and I lurched forward. At least the girl had enough wits about her to take a few steps back.

  “Maybe you need some air,” Ivy suggested.

  I tried breathing deeply through my nose but it was no use. Without a word, I rushed out the back door. It was lucky for me that Bella felt the need to live close to the woods in this town because I was morphed before the back door could slam behind me.

  One second I was hyperventilating on two legs and the next I was on four legs and running so fast that the wind couldn’t even catch me. It was exhilarating being a wolf. When I was in my wolf form I could understand why Ivy loved it so much. A surge of joy welled up in my chest, pushing me faster and faster through the trees.

  A scent on the air brought me up short, halting me in my tracks. Dirt skidded up around me at the suddenness of my stop. What was that? I pushed my elongated muzzle into the air and inhaled deeply. I knew that scent, werewolves. But it wasn’t one of Bella’s boys. Who …

  There was an excited yelping sound to my right, distracting me. Ralph shoved his huge head into my side excitedly. I had not hunted with the pack since we had moved to Grover and even before that it had been weeks. It was nice to see that I’d been missed.

  “Hey, Ralph,” I called to him. I knew he couldn’t answer me back in his wolf form, only the females had the distinction of telepathy, but he waved his oversized head up and down several times.

  Ralph was the youngest of Bella’s pack and his youth often showed. I liked him though, which was more than I could say for the others. A low growl signaled a warning and Ralph’s ears flattened to his white head. Simon glared at me with distaste.

  “I’ve come to hunt,” I growled back at him. His expression didn’t change. I wasn’t afraid though. I brushed past him and into a dense part of the forest.

  I craned my neck forward, listening for the sounds I wanted to hear. My eyes slit in concentration. I wasn’t as experienced as the boys but I was still wolf. I sensed six bodies behind me, tense and ready. So Simon had decided to join us after all, I thought smugly.

  Then, two miles west, I heard what I had been listening for. Footsteps. It was big, but light on its feet. My breathing hitched up along with my heartbeats. Rabbit was okay for a quick fix but I loved bringing down deer. My head jerked in the direction of the footsteps. The creature wasn’t moving very quickly. With an excited growl I took off in that direction.

  I saw flashes of grey, black, and brown as the rest of the pack flew by me. The boys were faster than me, but they wouldn’t take my kill. I pushed my head closer to the ground and dug in for more speed.

  It wasn’t hard to find the deer and even easier to bring it down. If I had been in my human form I probably would have felt sorry for the animal. It didn’t stand a chance against six male werewolves. In my wolf form I was disappointed that I hadn’t been there to help kill the creature.

  The boys all dropped to their bellies to let me eat first. Ralph whined impatiently and tried to crawl to me but one look from me and he fell silent, ears pressed to his skull. The warm meat slid down my throat, filling my stomach and rejuvenating my body. Only once did Simon approach me while I ate but a quick bite to his left leg put him back in his place.

  After
I was full I laid down a few feet away from the kill. Alex and Pierre lay with me and eagerly cleaned the blood from my muzzle and paws. The other four brothers fell on the leftover meat with fervor. I wished I could just find a stream to clean up in but Bella had told me this was how the boys bonded to a female. If I refused them, they may eventually turn hostile to me. So I endured it as best I could.

  Ten minutes later I was loping through the trees on my own. The boys had found some shade to sleep under while their bellies were bloated with meat. I smelled the water before I heard it, so I veered off my path in search of the small stream. The sight didn’t disappoint me; in fact, I was delighted at the sight. It was bigger than I had expected. Without pausing to scan my surroundings I dipped my head and began drinking the cool water greedily.

  I figured I should probably morph back so I could make sure all the blood was off of me. I wouldn’t want to give Carlie a heart attack when I showed up back at the house covered in blood. I chuckled slightly at the thought, making water go up my nose. I shook my head from side to side quickly from the burn.

  That wasn’t very smart, I thought with amusement. I sneezed twice, which felt weird in my present state.

  I arched my back and gathered my energy for the morph to two legs. The heat traveled along my spine and quickly through my limbs. My whole body quivered and then I was upright. The whole process took only a few minutes but Bella was much faster. Her morph was like a flash. At least I’m faster than Ivy, I thought with a grin.

  A sound from across the stream brought me to attention. I froze. I scanned the bank but I couldn’t see anything that didn’t belong. I had morphed too soon. Someone had seen me. I looked down at my shredded clothes. I looked like I had been attacked. My shirt hung down my shoulders in strips of cloth that barely covered what it should.

  “When you have more experience with morphing that won’t happen,” a deep voice casually remarked from behind me.

  I whirled around and my heart nearly stopped at the sight. He was beautiful. At least six feet tall with an olive complexion and jet-black hair. His muscles nearly broke through his white t-shirt, which clung seductively to his hard chest. To human eyes, he didn’t look much older than I was; but I knew at first glance that he was much, much older. And most definitely not human.

  My arms began to shake. What was he doing here? Where was the pack? I breathed quickly through my nose, it was probably safer not to morph. Maybe he would take pity on me for my youth. “Who are you?” I managed to ask.

  “Doesn’t really matter.” He flashed a grin that revealed too-white teeth and perfect dimples. I took a step back. “What’s your name?” he purred while still smiling.

  My lips felt numb. In all the years since my change I had never encountered another wolf outside our own pack. He laughed at my expression, the sound whistling to my ears like a sad melody on the breeze. My tongue darted out to moisten my dry lips.

  “I already know who you are, Willow Bennett.” His coffee colored eyes darkened.

  My confusion must have shown on my face, his cocky grin was back. “How do you know my name?” I tilted my chin a fraction. He was on my territory. I could easily morph and call the boys over. “Who are you?” My confidence grew, making my voice stronger.

  “My name is Blake.”

  I raised one eyebrow. “Blake?” My lips turned into a straight line. I crossed my arms over my chest - partly in irritation and partly to cover my near nakedness.

  “Yes.” The grin again. The strong desire to claw it off his handsome face surprised me. As a human, I was shockingly mild tempered. It went with the territory, I guess. It was almost always a disaster to morph uncontrollably.

  “Well,” I sneered, “Blake.” Breathing heavily, I said, “Guess I’ll see you around.”

  “Not so fast, Willow Bennett.” In less time than it took me to blink, Blake was inches from my face. Out of instinct I backed away from him, nearly throwing myself in the stream. His hand darted out to catch my wrist to keep me dry.

  I shook him off angrily. “Ok, I got it.” I glared at him as best I could but I imagined that anyone standing this close to Blake would have a hard time glaring. He chuckled as I fought to control my breathing.

  “You ok?” he asked with laughter in his voice.

  “Fantastic.” I ran my hands nervously over my shirt but stopped when I felt my skin.

  “I am from the council.”

  I stopped my nervous fidgeting. “The what?”

  “There is a pack in the immediate area that has come to the attention of the council.” He seemed completely serious but I had no idea what he was talking about.

  “There is only one pack here.” Ours, I realized with a sinking heart. I didn’t know what a council was but if this man was any indication, they probably meant trouble. But his next words made the hair on the back of my neck rise.

  “There are two packs, actually. One of them has lost their female.” His eyes never left my face. He was watching for my reaction. I tightened the muscles along my jaw and mouth. Two packs? “The council has decided that you will be their leader, Willow Bennett.”

  Chapter Five

  Leaving Home

  My head jerked back in surprise. The numbness that had started in my lips moved to include the rest of my face. He had to be joking, but who was he? Why would he come here and say these things to me?

  “Are you a loner?” I asked with ice in my voice.

  His eyes narrowed slightly. “No,” he half shrugged, “but I have no female.”

  “And you’re from this other pack? How did you know I was here?”

  “I am not from this other pack,” he said slowly, as if I were two and couldn’t understand things easily. “I’m from the council. I knew you were here because we sent you here.”

  I was too confused to fit into my human body. Almost against my will I morphed back to my wolf-self. Blake glared at me, but I didn’t care. He wasn’t making any sense and I wasn’t going to listen anymore. I knew he’d have to morph if he hoped to keep up with me. Either way, I wouldn’t have to hear him anymore.

  I found the pack exactly where I had left them. Most of them were napping and only barely looked up when I joined them again. I dropped to my belly next to Ralph. He rolled his head to look at me and thumped his tail against the ground. I laid my head on his soft side and tried not to think of Blake from the council.

  It frustrated me that I wasn’t able to relax, even in my wolf form. Ralph sensed my mood and he whined low in his throat. “I’m ok,” I assured him. He nudged my head with his muzzle.

  Concentrating on my toes first, I was eventually able to relax. I sighed deep in my throat and prepared to sleep away the rest of the afternoon. Maybe I’d just stay a wolf for a few days. It was so much easier. The wolf in me didn’t worry about jocks and making the cheerleading squad. In fact, the wolf in me might have been ok with a pack to lead. As a female the need to have a pack was as strong as the need to breath. But I was also human and I’d always been able to suppress the wolf.

  My eyes drifted closed as I snuggled deeper into Ralph’s thick fur. Why was he so hairy? It has to be hot, I thought lazily. I wondered when the last time Ralph had been human was.

  The air around us changed suddenly and drastically when Bella bounded into the clearing. “What are you doing?” she demanded in her most haughty voice, her wolf voice.

  Ralph whimpered and bolted up. All six of the boys had their bellies on the ground. “We hunted,” I replied.

  “Morph back.”

  With only a slight hesitation, I complied. A large, dark wolf came up behind Bella but he shifted to Blake before taking another step. “What is going on?”

  Bella stood up on two legs and shook her long blonde hair down her back. “You’ve met Blake?”

  So Blake was a tattletale. I did my best to sneer in his direction. “I have had that pleasure.”

  “And you ran from him?” Bella raised one thin eyebrow.

 
; I shrugged and shook off the accusation. “He could have come with me.” I couldn’t figure out who Blake was. Was he a friend of Bella’s? She must have known him; she was sort of being nice to him.

  “We’ll go back to the house,” Bella announced with a grin. “We’ll have a nice little chat.” She reached out to pat my hand but fell short and let her arm fall away. She smiled but it was dead and it put a coldness in my chest.

  Ivy was waiting for us at the house but I was glad to see that Carlie had left. “Nice outfit,” Ivy chuckled.

  I glared her way, feeling a childish urge to stick my tongue out. I hurried past her and sprinted up the stairs with her catcall whistles following me. It didn’t take me long to throw on a new shirt and pair of jeans. I didn’t even glance at the design, I was just glad that it was whole.

  I couldn’t really explain why I was so angry. Obviously there had been some sort of mistake. No way could I be a leader of anything, let alone a whole pack. Besides that, there were no other packs around. We would know if there were.

  “Maybe Bella knew.”

  I shot that annoying inner voice down. Bella didn’t know, she would have told me.

  “He said they sent you here.”

  There is no way. Blake is a loner wolf.

  “He knows Bella.”

  Bella knows a lot of wolves.

  I pulled my brush brutally through my tangled curls but gave up quickly. I didn’t care what I looked like. I took a deep breath and sank to the edge of my bed. I had to get control of myself before going down there. I needed a clear head.

  Maybe this is just a joke, I thought suddenly. My eyes darted back and forth as I worked out the scenario in my head. Blake was an old boyfriend of Bella. She thought it would be funny to freak me out with this leader crap. The council. I snorted loudly. There was no such thing as a council.

  The only thing close to someone in charge of the wolves were the vampires in the ancient city. The vampires would never care about a pack without a leader unless they needed to be put down, and a wolf would never work with the vamps. That would just never happen, even if he were a loner.