by Jamie Davis
The two SUVs slid to a halt nearby with the headlights pointed her way, high beams engaged, blinding her. Voices shouted, and figures ran at their car past the lights, forming menacing silhouettes.
“Clark, they’re coming.” Quinn punched her seatbelt release, but it was jammed. She didn’t wait to fiddle with it. Instead, she drew her Bowie knife and cut the nylon webbing away from her chest and waist in two quick slashes.
She bounded from the passenger side just in time to meet the first attacker. Without thinking, she boosted her strength and speed to match her opponent’s, drawing down her stamina bar. Quinn winced at the instant headache it caused but charged her attacker, a female vampire dressed in a leather jacket and jeans like she was. Armed as she was with only her fangs and talons, this chick was about to learn a hard lesson about what it meant to face an angry huntress.
Quinn lunged forward and slashed with her Bowie, sure she would connect. The vampire twisted in an acrobatic move that caught Quinn by surprise, spinning from her attack into a horizontal leap, her body stretched out and forward as she raked her talons across Quinn’s back.
Despite the relative thickness of her leather jacket, the talons slashed through it like paper and scored deep cuts into the skin on Quinn’s shoulder blades.
Grunting in pain, Quinn let her lunge carry her forward, continuing under the vampire’s attack. The move saved her from more damage, and she rolled across the asphalt between the three vehicles and bounced back to her feet.
The move carried her close to another opponent, a guy this time. Quinn recognized him from the broad scar on his neck from her blade. He snarled at her as she came within reach.
Taking advantage of the target of opportunity, Quinn ducked under his attack and plunged her blade into his chest as he stepped toward her. He let out a croaking sound and clutched the hilt of the Bowie around Quinn’s hand, then slumped to the ground. She yanked her blade free, turning back to face the more formidable opponent behind her.
“Peter,” the woman shouted in alarm as the huntress felled her companion. She glared at Quinn. “You’ll pay for that, girl.”
“I did you a favor. He couldn’t handle himself in a standup fight. I should have killed him the first time he faced me.”
The female let out a screeching snarl deep in her throat and charged, fangs bared and long fingers leading the way, talons extended.
Quinn needed to finish this fight so she could help her friends. She caught a glimpse and knew Clark battled two other vamps on the far side of the car. Judging from the growling howls somewhere nearby in the darkness, the stress of the attack had caused Taylor to lose control and shift. That wasn’t good.
Turning her attention back to the opponent at hand, Quinn batted away multiple incoming attacks. She had hoped stoking the female vampire’s anger would lead to a careless mistake. She was wrong. The woman’s moves were just as precise as before, only now with the cold burning energy experienced fighters used anger to fuel. She blocked all of Quinn’s attacks without much trouble, taking only a few minor wounds.
Quinn, on the other hand, had barely avoided additional injuries herself by engaging in a fighting retreat. She couldn’t afford to let the vamp get her claws on her. If she did, she’d draw Quinn in for the bite that would do the real damage.
Clark shouted from the other side of the car, “They’re taking the cases.”
Quinn spared a glance and saw Clark was right. Damn, Quinn had thought this was an attack on the three of them. It was all a pretense to get the bowl and the dragon egg.
To prove the point, a man’s voice shouted over the fighting, “Back to the vehicles. We have what we came for.”
The woman Quinn fought smiled and clawed at Quinn’s face with one outstretched hand. The attack made the huntress dodge backward, disengaging from the melee temporarily.
When Quinn regained her balance and came forward again, the vampire had already sprinted away.
For a moment, she considered boosting her speed even more to chase the woman down. A howl in the open field to her right stopped her. That had to be Taylor since she had run in that direction. She had shifted and was probably unable to control herself. She could easily hurt or kill someone in her current state.
“Damn,” Quinn said as she stood up. The doors slammed on both SUVs, and they reversed up the road a hundred feet. Both executed spinning turns before driving away at high speed, leaving Quinn and Clark standing beside their disabled car.
Quinn counted the bodies on the ground. The first was the guy she’d killed. Running around the vehicle, Quinn found two more, one on the ground by Clark and the other lying on the pavement beside the open rear door. His throat had been bitten open, and part of his guts hung from a broad tear that had ripped his belly open. Werewolf bites could apparently kill vampires if the damage was severe enough.
“This one was taken out by Taylor before she ran off,” Quinn said. “We have to go get her.”
Clark pointed to the headless body at his feet. “We have to clear these bodies and hide them until daylight dusts them for us. I can’t call a tow truck until we do.”
Another howl pierced the night in the distance. It was farther away this time. “She could kill someone else, someone who’s an innocent. I have to track her down. Maybe I can get her to regain control again.”
Clark looked into the darkness in the direction of the howl. He nodded. “Go get her, but be careful. She might not be able to stop herself from attacking you.”
“I’ll take that chance.” Quinn sprinted into the night while Clark bent down and began dragging one of the bodies off the road.
Pushing through the searing headache she already had, Quinn brought up the HUD and engaged the tracking skill. She could already see well in the dark, but that wouldn’t be enough.
Right away, she caught Taylor’s scent. Along with the usual smell of wet dog that went with every werewolf, was a faint hint of cinnamon and apples. The second part brought a smile to Quinn’s face. That was Taylor’s favorite body wash for sure.
Following the scent, Quinn raced across the field of waist-high wheat. Taylor howled again. It sounded closer, but not close enough. It looked like her friend had headed in the direction of the lights from a nearby farm. Quinn had to catch her before she got there and started into the farm animals, or worse, the farmer and his family.
She checked the stamina bar, now a pale yellow strip with only twenty-five percent remaining. Quinn hadn’t realized she’d needed so much to counter the female vampire. If she drew on it to speed up, she wouldn’t have anything left to fight with. Shaking her head, denying the apparent risk, Quinn pulled on the last of her remaining stamina. She charged even faster toward the distant farmhouse and barns.
Quinn caught up with Taylor as she reached the wooden fence beside a pen full of black and white dairy cows. The animals had sensed the danger, moving away from that side of the enclosure. They milled around restlessly near the barn.
Not slowing at all, Quinn slammed into the werewolf. Taylor had hunched to leap the fence, and Quinn hit her from the side, tackling her snarling friend to the ground.
If she’d been a moment later, Taylor would have started into the panicked cows.
The two of them rolled over on the ground until Taylor ended up atop Quinn, straddling her waist. Holding off the snapping jaws and claws with every ounce of strength she had left, Quinn called to her best friend, “Taylor, it’s me. It’s Quinn. Stop this.”
The only response was a growl followed by renewed attacks by the furry form atop her. The werewolf’s greater strength soon overcame Quinn’s waning energy. Before Quinn could stop her, Taylor clamped her jaws down on her best friend’s forearm.
Stifling a scream from the pain, Quinn reached up with her free hand. She ignored the clawed hands that clutched her shoulders, pulling her toward the bared teeth. Instead, Quinn grabbed at the thick fur at the back of Taylor’s head. Quinn held the wolf’s head close while simultan
eously pressing her bloody forearm deeper into the wolf’s mouth.
This brought Taylor’s yellow wolf eyes closer until they were just inches from Quinn’s. Holding those eyes with her own, Quinn said, “Concentrate on who you are, T. You can control this. Come on. Find yourself again. Please.”
The last words came out as a pleading cry as the claws tore her shoulders despite the protection of her leather jacket.
A few desperate seconds passed where Quinn thought she might have to try to draw her Bowie. Then, as she stared into the feral eyes above her, they changed, becoming less animal and more human somehow. The pressure on her forearm lessened and stopped entirely as Taylor’s jaws released her.
The werewolf pushed away from Quinn and bounded away a few yards before cowering against the side of the barn. Her growls had turned to a sad whimpering.
Quinn pushed herself to her feet with her uninjured hand and stumbled over to her friend. “It’s okay, Taylor. I’m all right. I’ll heal.”
The wolf-woman crouched by the barn. She leaned forward and sniffed the air near Quinn. She whimpered again.
“I’m fine, T. It’s just a little blood, that’s all. What’s important is you stopped yourself.”
Taylor twisted her head to the side as if questioning what Quinn had said. She couldn’t speak, but a soft wail came out of her mouth.
“I’m good, really. Don’t worry about me. You know how fast I heal. If I can find a ley line around somewhere, maybe I can do it even faster, right?”
Taylor gave a short nod, which Quinn took as a good sign.
The sound of voices from the farmhouse a hundred yards away drew Taylor’s attention. She growled deep in her throat.
“Taylor, look at me and pay attention to me. Don’t lose yourself again. Focus on my voice and come toward me.”
The werewolf looked at Quinn and then turned toward the farmhouse again, the hackles rising on the back of her neck.
Quinn took a step forward and extended her uninjured hand toward her friend. “Focus on me. Take my hand. I’ll take you back to Clark and the car. Come on, T, you can do this.”
Taylor choked back a rumbling growl in her throat and turned back to Quinn. A clawed hand clutched Quinn’s outstretched fingers.
She breathed a sigh of relief and pulled gently on the hairy hand in hers. Taylor took a few tentative steps toward her and then a few more. Soon they both walked back into the field of wheat, letting the night close about them and leaving the farmer and his livestock safe behind them.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Taylor woke up and groaned. Why was she in so much pain? She ached the way she had after the first two nights she’d shifted. It didn’t make any sense to feel this way now.
Then she remembered, and her eyes opened wide. She sat up with a shout. “Quinn!”
“Shhh, I’m right here, T.”
Taylor twisted her head around, trying to get her bearings. She was lying down in the back of Clark’s car. Had it all been a bad dream?
Quinn reached back and grabbed her hand to give it a squeeze. A fresh white bandage was wrapped around her friend’s forearm.
It hadn’t been a dream. None of it.
“Oh, my God. Quinn, I’m so sorry.”
“What? This?” Quinn said, holding up her arm. “It’s nothing. A scratch, that’s all. Remember, my huntress genes protect me from the worst of your bite’s effects. It’s already started to heal. I’ll show you when we get home.”
“What time is it?” Taylor patted her pockets for her phone. She wasn’t wearing the same clothes she’d had on before. But then, she wouldn’t, would she? What she wore last night during the attack wouldn’t be much more than shredded rags now. Her phone must be in her bags in the back with the remnants of her clothing.
Clark, who drove in the front seat, said, “It’s about noon. We just left the garage, where they fixed the tire that blew when the SUV spun us around. It took them all morning to get the tire in to replace it. We’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”
“Yeah,” Quinn said. “You slept through the whole thing in the back seat while he fixed the car. We told the mechanic that if he woke you up, he’d be sorry.”
Clark chuckled. “He was a little nervous because of all the blood splattered on the windows and doors. I don’t think he bought our explanation that we ran into a small herd of deer.”
“I killed that guy. I did it with my teeth. I can feel when I crunched through…” Taylor shivered as she relived it in her mind. She fought down the bile rising in her throat. “It was like I was there and yet not. So scary. I ran away before the fight was done. Did we scare them off?”
“Not exactly,” Quinn said. “They left when they got what they came for.”
“They took the bowl?”
Quinn nodded. “And the egg. We’re heading back to Baltimore now. We’ll stop at Spring Grove and see if we can locate them. The vampires came from Handon. I recognized the vampire Clark took to the metro station. I killed him for good this time.
Clark shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. The only person who knew where we were going was Filippa. She had to be the one who told Handon’s goons how to find us. We have to find her first. She made the deal that included getting the egg back from them, and it means she knows where Handon is hiding.”
“How did she know we wouldn’t bring it to her as we promised?” Taylor asked. “She should have waited until we got back to find out what we did and why we had to keep the egg.”
Clark shrugged. “My best guess is, Filippa has a spy on Aurora’s personal staff. It’s pretty common among fae royalty. There’s so much intrigue, you can’t keep it straight sometimes. You’re better off just knowing Filippa was behind it and leave it at that.”
Taylor shifted in her seat as Clark drove up a ramp and onto the highway that would eventually lead them back to Baltimore.
As she watched the tall span of the Bay Bridge get closer, Taylor decided that scared her. “I want in. I want to be there when we confront Filippa and when we retrieve the bowl and egg from Handon’s crew.”
“Taylor,” Quinn said, “I don’t think you’re ready for that. You can barely control your change now, and we don’t know if there will be innocent people around when the fighting starts.”
“I don’t care. I have to exact payback for them causing me to break through and change that way. I don’t ever want to lose control like that again. I’ll fight them to show them they didn’t control me.”
“T, you don’t have anything to prove to Clark or me. You’re still new to all this, and these things take time. Dameon told you when he came to help you get ready for your first full moon.”
“I don’t care. You guys are my pack now. That means I have to be ready to defend you.”
Taylor didn’t mean to come off sounding as angry as she did, but the more she said it, the more it seemed right to her. Quinn and the others had become her pack. They were more important to her than anyone else she knew.
“Clan or pack,” Quinn replied. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Taylor smiled. She and Quinn had been through a lot together. These last months had been bad, but there had been moments in the past when Quinn had lived on the streets alone. She’d needed Taylor’s help to intervene and get her a place to stay.
Now, it was Quinn’s turn to give her a home, a place where she could be herself while she explored this new aspect of her nature. Taylor settled back in her seat and looked out the window at the Bay as they drove up onto the westbound span of the Chesapeake Bay bridge. She was happy to go wherever Quinn and the others went. With her pack was where she belonged.
It was mid-afternoon when they finally rolled into the gravel parking lot back at Spring Grove. Taylor climbed out and stretched. She felt refreshed and ready to get started on getting their stuff back. On the trip, they’d discussed several ways to track down the stolen items, and each time came back to the best option being to try to find the slayers online.
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Taylor waved to Quinn and Clark as they got out. “I’m heading in to fire up the VR system and then trigger the tracking bots. Let’s see if we can find them before they schedule the meetup with Filippa.”
She walked up the steps to the rear entrance and walked inside, jumping back a step when Miranda appeared in front of her.
“God, Miranda, you’ve got to stop doing that. Give me a heads up before you pop in.”
“Sorry, but I didn’t want you walking into a trap, and I couldn’t manifest outside in the sunlight.”
“What trap?”
“Someone came into the building early this morning while it was still dark. They walked around as if they were searching for something. I could sense them moving from room to room, but when I got to each one to check, whoever it was had left. It’s like it was another ghost.”
Taylor shook her head. “Wait, you’re not making any sense. Was someone here or not?”
“I’m sure I didn’t imagine it if that’s what you’re asking. I can’t tell what they were doing or why they were here, though. They left as silently as they came.”
“Who did?” Clark asked, walking in, followed by Quinn.
“Tell him,” Taylor said.
Miranda explained what happened while they were gone once again.
“If they didn’t do anything, could they have taken something?” Quinn asked.
“Good idea,” Clark said. “Everyone split up and check your rooms and belongings. We’ll meet back in the kitchen when we’re finished.”
The three of them dispersed. Miranda floated beside Taylor, wringing her spectral hands.
“I don’t know how to tell a ghost to relax, but you need to do it, Miranda. You’re making me nervous, floating there with your fists clenched.”
“Sorry, I worry about what I might have missed and how they avoided being seen.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t just another spirit associated with this hospital? There’ve got to be a few.”
“Oh, there are a dozen or so ghosts here in the building, but they don’t like to be seen. The things done to them here in the clinic make them afraid of anyone still alive who walks the halls. They mostly just watch from the shadows. I don’t think it was one of them.”
