by Aila Cline
“Where is Micah?”
“Micah is safe,” Maria replied, a softness taking hold of her voice that I had never heard. She certainly had never reserved that tone for me.
“I want him.”
Maria waved a hand. “We all want lots of things. Those of us in power, or those of us in favor, get them.”
My mind grasped at that simple hint.
“What have you done for Josh?”
“It is more of what he will do for us,” she replied.
“Which is?”
She studied me like a dangerous weapon needs to be studied before handling for the first time. “He will open up the drug trade across the border for us.”
I scoffed at this idea. “You can’t trust him.”
“I trust him more than I trust you,” she said carefully.
“But you trust me not at all.”
Her eyes narrowed, enhancing those luminous green orbs. “Exactly.”
“You can’t be serious?” I asked with disdain evident in my voice.
“Why is you young people seem to think everything is rhetorical?” she snapped. “Yes, I am serious. This family must make money somehow. Joshua will be our mediator.”
My mind whirled. “And how do you plan to make sure he doesn’t betray you?”
“Think, Emily.”
My eye twitched at the thought of returning to Josh’s side for any reason. “I will have nothing to do with him,” I hissed.
“Emily,” Maria clucked. “Think rationally now. I have Micah.”
“You will not take my son from me.”
“It is already done,” she purred. “He is with a very trusted Lycanthrope family until you can control yourself.”
“Maria, you bitch!”
“Obviously you will learn much from Joshua’s company about control, for you learned nothing from Luka.”
“I learned all I know from your son.”
That stabbed her deep, I could tell. She physically winced at the memory of will.
She snarled, almost as if she had Changed. “You are a danger to everyone until you can control yourself. Good luck, Emily, for Joshua will have his hands full with you.”
“His hands will not come near me or I will have them off. What did Josh say of this arrangement?”
“Nothing. He will not know.”
I felt my mouth hang open for a moment. “What?”
“Close your mouth, Emily. You look like a fish. You and Luka will use your considerable talent to track his movements. Luka will not cross this pack lest his father rage against him. The old Houses are tied to each other through necessity, and Luka is a loyal son. At any sign of betrayal, Luka will kill Joshua, with your help if necessary. I will not have him thinking he can mercilessly use this family.”
“I will save Luka the trouble and kill Josh first,” I growled.
Her next words were very level considering the effect she knew they would have. “Then I will make sure you never see Micah again.”
I let out a yowl. “Maria, so help me God…”
“The last Lycanti who tried to kill me died before she could Change. I have survived this long for a reason. I do not condone your blasphemy or advise your passionate rebuttal.”
“I could kill you.”
“Then you would most likely never see your son again, simply because you would fail to leave this compound alive.”
“I hate you.”
“The feeling is mutual. But you also hate Josh. That is why I feel confident in using you as a tracker. You will delight in his failure of us.”
That made me pause. “What does Josh get out of this?”
“We will hunt no more Lycanti in North America. His movements will be free of Lycanthrope culling.”
I gasped. “You can’t let the Lycanti go unchecked.”
“The Brazilian clan has made no such promises.”
“But they’re so far away!”
“Raníer misses little. Have a little faith, Emily.”
“But…” I tried to keep up with my shaken thoughts. “Won’t Ranier see this as a challenge to his clan?”
“There is too much money to be made to be concerned about Ranier’s every little thought. He has enough to keep him occupied down there. He will not notice.”
I exploded. “Not notice? Josh’s pack is destructive. They don’t try to hide themselves at all. And they hunt humans!”
She picked a piece of lint off her pantsuit. “Joshua has assured me he will be more discreet with his pack. As for himself, it is in his best interest to be exotic enough to intrigue his clients.”
“Maria, you are so stupid.”
“That is ENOUGH,” she bellowed, her patience snapping. “Get out. Go to Luka. He knows his assignment and will willingly complete it.”
“I won’t do anything for you,” I snapped coldly. “I’ll be dead first before helping you.”
She stiffened. “That can be arranged.” Suddenly Maria’s form twisted into what I knew so well. Her gray coat gleamed with health. In this form, she was ageless and lithe.
My body tensed and fear swept over me. Change, damn it! I screamed at myself. Before my body could react to the adrenaline of fear, Maria leapt onto me, teeth snapping at my throat. Her vicious attack overpowered my attempts but then as I swiped at her face with an ineffectual human hand, I Changed.
Still, her teeth ripped into my paw, midair and Changing. I yelped in agony and tried to push her off me. But she already had me pinned down and her claws ripped into my flesh. I cried out in high tones of agony as she ripped open my stomach and connected with my shoulder with her other set of claws. Luckily, she missed my throat and with blood streaming out of me, I gave one final push, throwing her off me.
A yip from her told me she was hurt, but in a gray blur we met again. Tooth and claw met soft tissues over and over. I felt my intestines leak out and the corners of my vision grew dimmer and dimmer. Still I fought, at times tripping over my own innards and crying out as Maria sought to take advantage of my injury. Had I not been Changed, I would have been dead minutes before that. As it was, I knew the end was coming.
Had Luka’s night-dark form not leapt in and caught Maria’s throat with a firm but nonlethal grip, I would not be here to tell this story. He saved me that night. I do not remember any of it; fortunately I was unconscious. He took me to the Clan doctor, though we were banned from any contact with the Mexican Clan, the Lycanthrope doctor respected Luka and his father too much to refuse. The man gently sewed me back together, shaking his head at the sloppy work and risk of infection. Luka promised to have me looked at again as soon as we got to Brazil. Due to my wounds, we would travel by boat.
I was too fever-stricken to even know we were going to Brazil. Luka says all I could beg for the whole fevered trip was my son. And that, he continued sadly, was the one thing inaccessible to him. Maria had hidden Micah so well that even the respected Lycanthrope doctor knew nothing.
For all I knew, my son was dead and the Mexican Clan would kill me on sight.
But my hatred wasn’t even for Maria, not even after she brought me so near death. It was for Josh. Maria had been prepared to offer me sanctuary before Josh offered her riches.
I would kill him, I decided. Just because I failed once didn’t mean I would again. No matter how long it took, Josh and his wild Lycanti would die at my hands.
The Lycanti
My fingers brushed over a piece of soft cloth, reminding me of peach fuzz. What would he have been doing now?
We would walk the market, ever-wary that someone could upset the balance in our bodies and moods and make us Change. In fact, Will and I would have waited until there were not so many people, but Josh delighted in walking through this throng of humanity, testing his own control. Now I walked the streets with Josh. Since my abuse at the hands of his human chattel a month prior, I tried to act chastised. I attempted to embrace my role in the pack with the other Lycanti.
I played the part to stay
alive, constantly feeding the child growing inside me with the blood and the gristle of those humans who had ruthlessly beat me until blood ran between my thighs, a small grin playing on my lips as I dreamed of Revenge. Josh accepted my compliance, taking me whenever he desired. Except for his bite marks, my body was now relatively free of bruises and lacerations. Now he practically strolled down the market’s way.
“All of this makes me realize how much better we are,” he stated confidently. “I am so much more in control than their basic lives allow them to be. We’re better, faster, stronger than them, Emily.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s a Kanyé West song. Don’t be so cliché.”
He grinned, showing me a mouthful of those perfect, seemingly nonthreatening teeth.
“Where do you think Kanye got the inspiration?” he asked slyly.
“You’re insane,” I said. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that it’s dangerous to let them know about us? And here you are, wowing them with everything about us and peddling your drugs to them.” I rolled my eyes.
“They’re already halfway to believing in us,” he pointed out in that calm voice that usually brokered no arguments and showed me how calm and confident he always was. “Movies, TV shows, magazines, books—their infatuations with us is already there.”
I had argued this exact point with Will before. I heard his words coming out of my mouth. “How they see us in their fantasies and how they perceive us in reality are very different. You Change right in front of someone who has a handgun in their pocket and let me know later if they happened to think you’re normal.”
His grin didn’t falter. “Maybe it’s because they haven’t met the right Lycanti yet.”
“Well I’ll set you up an Eharmony account,” I snapped. “Facebook doesn't have the'in a relationship with a werewolf' option yet. With their dedication to love, Eharmony's working on it, I'm sure.”
He tsked. “So touchy today. Jealous?”
“Go to hell, Josh.”
“Now, now,” he said, gesturing at the people around us. “This is no time to get angry.”
“Oh, but don’t you believe in divine enlightenment for the masses?” My sarcasm increased with my angry pace. I had to get away from the sights and sounds of such a normal life--my past-- before I Changed. I stalked off, trying to control my fury with his apparent ease at the world around him. Jealous? You’re damn straight. How could he always be that cool and collected when my own emotions rolled around inside me like a coiled viper?
I barely heard his voice through my own thoughts. “Don’t go that way.”
“I’ll go wherever I want.”
“Suit yourself, but that’s where the suckheads live.”
I paused and turned quickly. “Vampires?”
“If that’s what name you want to grace them with.”
“They’re this far north?”
“Of course. They like the cold.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Hell if I know. But I know you don’t want to go that way.”
“It’s not like they can kill me,” I said with all the confidence of a newborn Lycanti.
He guffawed, a big, booming laugh that disoriented me in all the things I knew about him.
“You don’t think so?”
“Nothing can kill me,” I insisted.
His eyes fell into slits. “Oh there are things that can kill you. Why do you think there are no grey-haired Lycanti?”
“I’ve met Raníer. I know most of the elders by sight if not by name.”
“There’s a big difference in the Lycanti life and the Lycanthrope life.”
“Whatever,” I muttered. I kept walking. Josh could not and would not stop me with so many people around. Besides, he and the others would want to hunt soon. I could taste his knife-sharp hunger on my tongue, but I wanted no human’s blood on my hands. I had willingly eaten the flesh of those who had hurt me, but that woman selling wool dresses had not hurt me in any way. Let Josh and the pack hunt; I would take a walk and meet creatures that had fascinated me since I could remember. I did not fear them. I was curious.
My rage had become a constant companion, and I felt safe carrying it with me as a weapon. If I needed to Change, the hot surge of suppressed anger towards Josh would fuel that need. I felt my hate for him was the only protection I needed against vampires, if any.
I wove through the crowds, the smell of civilization thick in my nose. I never realized how much I had missed that scent—baking goods, hamburgers, even soap powder wafting through the air—encased in the movement and noise of people. My life seemed so complicated and simple all at once. Eat, sleep, fuck. Not a hard cycle. Faced with the complexities of my life now, I can see the appeal to Josh’s pack, but to me, it wasn’t even an echo of my former life with Will. Whereas Will taught me to use my Lycanti senses and reflexes to enhance my human experience, the pack broke those down, using their senses only as tools to allow the animal to fully overtake them. It bothered me, but I feared being alone, especially with new life growing in my belly. Joshua may have threatened me before, as well as threw me to his food supply to do with as they pleased, but with his pack, I was still safer than I would have been living alone. But now, I walked alone. And it felt good. I loved the smell of humanity.
A body bumped hard into me and I growled in reflex, watching the blonde hair disappear into the crowd. Had I a wallet or any valuables, I knew they would now be missing. As it were, I had neither, and so I was not entirely worried about the bump.
Stupid, stupid Emily.
I, one who knows the importance of smell for the hunt, should have recognized being marked. The brush of skin on skin was all that the girl needed to leave a traceable scent on me. But in my arrogance, I thought nothing of it. I traveled on, looking through stands of books and clothes, trying to keep the inexplicable anger from dominating my mood. Yes, public was risky, but I had a purpose. I wanted to meet a vampire and see why Luka could no longer love Shasta, why Will had recoiled at my interested with the creatures, and why the pack would not even discuss the matter. Even Josh, so contemptuous of the Lycanthrope, seemed to slightly fear the Children of Dacre.
I kept my senses attuned to any shift in smell of the mass of bodies around me, but I was only rewarded with the overwhelming smell of too much body odor in too small of a space. I did not realize how gloriously I had failed until later that night. I continued to stroll through the crowd, oblivious to anything but my memories of Will and the commercial interests around me.
I was cold, colder than I’d ever been. I didn’t know where I was or how I’d gotten there, but I felt sluggish laying there with my eyes closed. I could have been waking from some long dream. The last thing I remembered was my anger at Josh’s dismissive attitude for the seriousness of the Lycanti curse and his frolicking among Hollywood’s wealthy as if he were an Anne Rice character.
Just thinking about it made my temper spike again.
“Her heartbeat just jumped,” a soft female voice hissed. I felt a rush of breath at my throat, warm and sweet. My eyes flew open, but darkness flooded them.
“Leave her be,” another woman answered. “She’ll recover soon enough.”
“We can’t just leave her…”
“I said let’s go,” the other voice cut her off, lowly but sharply.
My throat tried to work, but no words came out. The other woman did not speak up for me either. I fought to stay awake, but my eyes fluttered and there was nothing but more darkness left for me, like always.
I awoke shortly after that with a massive headache, dizzy, nauseated, and tired. I hadn’t felt so bad since the final moments of my Change, and that was only because I had practically died before Will brought me back.
The light poured in strongly through a window. I was in a hotel room, the sheets crumpled around me as if I had slept badly. I pushed them away, turning over into my pillow, my mind a snarl of confusion. There was nothing but a blank in my mind from yesterday eveni
ng to this morning, other than a few hurried whispers last night that I very well may or may not have dreamed. The ache pulsing behind my eyes did not exactly contribute to a speedy recovery of memory.
Imagine my surprise then, when reality came crashing in on me. My nose took in the sharp, acrid scent of my own blood. Despite feeling like I had spent a night being pummeled by the human prey again, I jumped out of bed. The bathroom mirror showed a disaster.
“What the hell?” My voice echoed strangely in the empty hotel room.
My face and throat had splashes of crimson running up and down them. All I could do was clean up. I lived. I may have been confused, but I still breathed and could get back to the only safety I knew at that moment. Maybe Josh would know what the hell had happened. By God, he was confident he knew everything else.
Emily
“You sure you want to do this?”
“He has to be stopped before he hurts someone else.”
“Emily, what did he do to you?”
I couldn’t answer Luka then. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to answer him. My only response was to lean over and kiss him softly on the cheek. The bandages on my ribs stretched as I did so and the pain was almost beautiful in this state between waking and sleeping, letting me know I was still living. Even my breaths that came in almost ragged gasps told me that I could still fight. Maria had ripped me apart. It was time to stop thinking so much and start doing.
The Lycanti
One look at me told Josh all he needed to know.
“Leave,” he said to the others. He had been standing, staring into the flames, warming his hands. “Go far away. Emily and I need to talk.”
They left, obeying his order immediately and without any dissention. For once, I was glad of his authority over his pack. We heard them move stealthily out of range. He turned his attention fully to me. “Vampires,” he said levelly.
