At that moment, someone—Macy—rolled out from under the garage door that was only one quarter of the way up. A gun fired.
“Fee!” Arlan shouted, running after Kaleigh.
“Behind you,” Fia called. He heard her footsteps.
Macy rolled into the driveway and bounced up with startling agility. It was at that moment that Arlan realized she had a gun. He could barely see it in her hand in the dim light, but he could smell its discharge.
“Kaleigh, get back here! Macy! It’s Arlan! Don’t shoot.”
The predator crawled out from under the door and staggered to its feet. Blood oozed from a wound in the left shoulder, matting the long fur. It was as pissed off as Arlan had ever seen one.
Kaleigh screamed, still moving forward with the momentum she had built up, scrambling to stop.
“Arlan!” Macy screamed. “It’s him! Get the bastard! It’s him.”
“Holy shit!” Fia shouted. “Arlan, I don’t have the right ammo.”
“Shoot! Shoot!” Arlan hollered.
Macy passed Kaleigh and suddenly the teen was looking up at the creature. She was so stunned, she couldn’t move. She had never seen a werewolf. Never smelled one. At least that she could recall. But there was no doubt in her mind what it was or that it was real.
“Down, Kaleigh,” Fia ordered.
The kid had the good sense to drop to the ground. Fia hit the beast with her first shot, but it kept coming at Kaleigh. Fia fired again. The werewolf howled in pain, staggering backward, but remaining upright on its hind paws.
“Jesus!” Macy kept saying. “Jesus, what is it?”
Arlan put out his hand. “Give me the gun!”
Fia fired again. Third shot. She had four more. A silver bullet wasn’t necessary to kill a werewolf, but it took plenty of firepower. If Arlan had had an Uzi right now, he’d have been kissing the barrel.
Four.
“Macy, get Kaleigh!” Arlan shouted.
He wasn’t at all surprised when Macy turned and ran right at the werewolf. Sweet God, her balls were as big as Fia’s.
Fia fired again. Five.
Now the werewolf was seriously pissed. It dropped on all fours and lunged at Fia.
Six.
Thankful that Kaleigh and Macy were out of the line of fire, Arlan took aim and pulled the trigger on the pistol he’d snatched out of Macy’s hands.
Fia fired her last bullet. Fur and blood and bits of flesh exploded in the air. And still, it kept coming.
Macy dropped to the ground on top of Kaleigh to protect the teen as the werewolf and Fia collided.
Sweet Jesus, how was Arlan going to get a shot in now? A bullet wound wouldn’t kill Fia, but it would injure her and the thought of putting her in further danger was more than Arlan could stand.
“Take the gun!” Arlan flipped the safety on and hurled it at Macy. She caught it and spun it around, aiming in the direction of Fia and the werewolf grappling on the ground.
Arlan flexed his jaw, concentrating on the beast attacking his Fia. He felt the muscles and sinew in his body tighten like bands and his vision grew hazy as the transformation took place. The moment Arlan’s front paw hit the ground, he leapt into the air. He landed on the werewolf’s back, taking it completely by surprise.
Fia rolled out from under him as Arlan sank his teeth into the back of its neck, clenching his jaw. The werewolf howled with pain and struggled to escape Arlan’s grip. Gun. Macy, Arlan tried to telepath. In an animal state, the messages were harder to form, harder to send. Fia!
Fia sprang to her feet and ran limping toward Macy.
The werewolf managed to knock Arlan off balance and the two rolled, biting and snarling and snapping. Pain ripped through Arlan’s back as the creature sank his claws into him. Then, somehow, the werewolf managed to pin him. It bit again and again. Arlan howled, as much from anger as pain. Out of the corner of his yellow eyes, he saw Fia running toward them. She was limping, blood gushing down her leg. A neck wound, too.
Gunshots exploded over and over and the werewolf fell backward, as if hit by a truck. Arlan rolled over, crouching on all fours, tongue lolling, panting hard. He hurt everywhere.
He watched Fia fall to one knee, then eyed the werewolf, which lay quiet on its side. Before his eyes, it morphed into a human.
“He’s down,” Fia breathed.
Arlan lowered his head and felt his muscles relax. A moment later, in human form again, he got shakily to his feet and walked over to Fia. She was resting her hands on one knee, her head bowed.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded, not looking up at him. “Just give me a minute. I’ve got to get my service weapon. Dropped it in the grass. Check Kaleigh and Macy.”
By the light from the garage, Arlan saw Macy sitting in the driveway, cradling Kaleigh in her arms. Kaleigh sobbed, holding tightly to the young woman she barely knew.
“It’s all right. It’s all right,” Macy soothed, rocking the girl as if she were a babe in arms.
Arlan went down on one knee in front of them. “You two okay?” He pushed the hair away from Macy’s face so he could get a better look at her. “Macy?”
“We’re okay,” she whispered. “What…what happened? How did you—” She was dazed, her eyes glassy with shock. He knew she was trying to ask him about his metamorphosis, but she couldn’t find the right words. The strange thing was, she didn’t seem to be afraid of him, or worse, repulsed. “Is he…it…dead?”
“He’s dead.” He ran his hand over Kaleigh’s back, trying to soothe her.
Macy looked up at Arlan, her own eyes filled with tears. It was the first time he had ever seen her cry. “Good,” she said.
Twenty minutes later, Arlan sat in the truck with Macy. Fia was getting ready to call in the shooting. He and Kaleigh would have to hightail it out of here before the swarm of cops arrived. Macy would have to stay to help with the pieces of the puzzle; only he and Fia had already agreed she wouldn’t remember anything of the last hour to tell the police.
Marvin Clacker, aka Teddy, a class-one ninth-century Ukrainian werewolf, lay dead in the grass beside his driveway. Fia would have some explaining to do with the FBI, but she’d been in more compromising situations before and survived with her job intact. The fact that she had brought down the Buried Alive Killer would be what mattered most to law enforcement and citizens alike. There would be inquiries, of course, but all would work out in Fia’s favor in the end. It always did.
“You sure you’re okay?” Arlan repeated, putting his arm around Macy’s shoulders, trying to make eye contact with her. He had used gauze from his first-aid kit to wrap her leg wound. She had a bump on the back of the head and a bloody spot marred her beautiful blond hair, but she showed no signs of a concussion. He was bloody and covered with scratches and bites, too, but by morning, they would be barely visible. Another plus to being one of the living dead.
It was dark inside the cab of the truck and she moved her face close to his to look into his eyes. “What was he?” she whispered.
“A werewolf.” No sense in lying.
“A werewolf?” she repeated. “But…but he looked like a man.”
“Didn’t you tell Fia he told you he was a child of rape?” After Teddy was dead, Fia had quickly gotten Macy to fill her in on whatever she knew about the killer, so she could get her story straight.
“That’s what he said,” Macy told him. “He said that his mother hated him because he was a rape bastard.”
“She was probably raped by a werewolf, so he was a half-breed. It’s easier to fit into everyday life if you’re half, but they usually end up being nut jobs,” he explained. The fact that he was only half werewolf also explained why they were able to kill him relatively easily.
“Half-breed werewolf?” she questioned.
He nodded. “Probably Ukrainian heritage—on the sire’s side. They’re rare but nasty. I haven’t seen one in centuries.”
She looked away, staring out the w
indshield of his truck, dazed by not just what she had seen, but by what she was hearing now. “And you…you turned into a wolf and you fought it and you saved Fia.”
“You think that’s what you saw?”
“I know that’s what I saw.”
“And you’re all right with that?”
“I guess. No.” Her eyes widened. “How could…”
He exhaled, smoothing her hair, kissing the top of her head. “It’s complicated, Macy, but the best explanation I can give you is that God’s world is far more complex than you know. Than any of us knows.”
Her brow furrowed. “Am I dreaming?” she asked.
“You want to be?” He kissed her cheek, tenderly. She’d been through so much. He was so glad it was over for her. Of course it would never be completely over—he of all people knew that. But maybe now, with Teddy dead, she could start recovering from the loss of her family all those years ago and the guilt for not dying with them.
She closed her eyes. “I think I would like it to be a dream. There’s no way any of this makes any sense.” She opened her eyes for a second. “But I still want him dead.”
He nuzzled her neck.
“Arlan,” she murmured, clinging to him. “He really is dead? The…whatever it…he was that killed my family. Am I free?”
“The monster that killed your family is now dead, Macy.” He kissed her sweet, soft neck and then took a tentative, practice nip. “He’ll never harm anyone again.” He kissed her neck once more. “You’re free.” And then, before she could speak again, Arlan sank his canines into her.
The taste of her hot blood made him dizzy. Greedy for more. She relaxed in his arms and fell unconscious.
Pleasure stabbed his body. She was so sweet, so—That was probably enough blood, but—
“Arlan.” Fia leaned in the passenger’s side truck window. “You just want to erase her memory of what happened here, not make her one of us,” she chastised softly.
Embarrassed to have been caught in his selfishness, Arlan lifted his head, wiped his mouth, and then her neck, where two tiny trickles of blood oozed from his bite marks. Still holding her in his arms, he slid toward the passenger’s door. “Let me out. Where you want her?”
“Right there in the driveway near the door. I called it in, so you and Kaleigh need to hit the road.” She followed him up the dark driveway toward the garage where Kaleigh waited.
“You going to be all right, here?”
“Got everything under control. Local cops”—she stopped long enough to listen to the sirens—“will be here momentarily. FBI as soon as they can. An hour and fifteen, hour and a half, they estimated.”
Arlan kneeled in the driveway and gently laid the unconscious Macy on the gravel. “You’ll bring her back to Clare Point?”
“Initial questioning shouldn’t last long. I doubt she’ll remember even arriving here. That bump on her head gives us an easy explanation. But she’ll have to go to the hospital. They’ll keep her overnight. We should be back in Clare Point tomorrow.”
Hating to leave Macy, but knowing he had to, Arlan stood up. “You sure this is going to work out?” He searched Fia’s dark eyes, trying not to look worried. “With the FBI and all?”
“I’ll take care of it.” She rubbed his forearm and he closed his eyes for a moment, comforted by her touch.
Then he turned away. “Kaleigh?”
The teen loped toward him, seeming none the worse for the wear after her first experience, at least of this life cycle, with a werewolf. “Ready.” She walked past him. “You think we could stop at an all-night McDonald’s? I’m starved.”
Fia’s and Arlan’s gazes met and they both smiled.
Later, he telepathed Fia.
Later.
Chapter 30
Naked, Macy lay on her side in bed beside Arlan, propped up on her elbow. In his sleep, there was a half smile on his sensuous lips, his dark hair pushed behind his ears, curling enticingly at his neck. The strong brow, the high forehead and broad jaw. She couldn’t be certain, but he may have been the most attractive man she had ever slept with. What she was sure of was that he was the kindest, the most good-hearted, the most selfless.
And she would hate to leave him.
But leave him she would. They had both known that inevitable fact since the first night they had made love in that hotel room in Virginia.
She brushed her fingertips over his bare chest, taking care not to wake him. This was the way she wanted to remember him. Relaxed, smiling. She dragged her gaze over his nude body, trying to put to memory every hard plane and muscle.
Macy had made it through the initial FBI interviews. She told the police what she remembered about the night Marvin Clacker kidnapped her, but at some point in trying to escape she had apparently fallen and hit her head, causing a mild concussion. She still couldn’t remember anything beyond passing the Philadelphia airport.
Apparently, when Arlan had realized she was missing and called Fia, Fia had followed a hunch. Marvin Clacker had been listed as a neighbor on the original police list of people interviewed after her family’s death. She had already tracked him down to the address where he had taken Macy. Lucky hunch, Fia had told Macy with a chuckle in that first interview. Her ex-boyfriend, Special Agent Duncan, had told Macy that Fia gets all the big breaks.
Thinking about Fia made Macy smile. Fia had believed in Macy. She’d followed her hunch and tracked Teddy down, rescuing Macy. Now Teddy was dead and he would never torture and murder another family. Her parents and Minnie and Mariah could truly be laid to rest in Macy’s mind.
Taking care not to jostle Arlan and wake him, Macy eased out of the bed. She dressed slowly, standing in a puddle of moonlight on the floor. Perhaps moonlight should have had a bad connotation for her, but it didn’t. In a way, moonlight now represented survival to her.
Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, Macy padded barefoot to the other side of the bed. Taking one long, last look at Arlan’s handsome face, she leaned down to kiss him. She had wanted to feel his lips on hers one last time, but the way his head was turned, she was afraid she might wake him. Instead, she kissed his neck.
Macy didn’t say good-bye.
She walked out of the bedroom, down the dark hall to the front door. Her car was packed and parked at the hotel. She didn’t know where she was headed. Maine, maybe. She knew the FBI would look for her, but she hoped they wouldn’t look too hard. She’d have to have a new ID made. Maybe change her name.
Macy rested her hand on the doorknob, feeling a little sad. For a fleeting moment when she woke up in that driveway and saw that Teddy was dead, she had thought maybe she was done running. Done roaming. But the truth, she realized, was this was still who she was. A drifter. A woman who didn’t lock her car doors and left windows unlatched at night.
Macy opened the front door. As she stepped out, she saw Fia sitting on the step. Macy should have been surprised that Fia was there at one o’clock in the morning, but she wasn’t. Macy still wouldn’t say she believed in psychic ability, but she would no longer say she disbelieved it. She and Fia had some kind of connection Macy could not explain.
“You’re leaving,” Fia said, her voice unnaturally soft.
Macy sat down beside her. “Yes.”
“We’re not finished interviewing you.”
“I know.” Macy stared out at the darkness, listening to the night sounds, peepers and crickets. Somewhere in the distance, she heard the hoot of an owl.
“We’ll have to come looking for you,” Fia said.
“I know.” She turned to meet Fia’s gaze. “But don’t expect to find me.”
Fia stared straight ahead again, clasping her hands in her lap. She was dressed uncharacteristically in shorts, a T-shirt, and flip-flops, her hair falling across her cheeks in a sleek sheet of dark red. “You didn’t tell him you were leaving, did you?”
Fia saw tears in Macy’s eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Macy said, sniffing and wiping her eyes.
“I spent the last fourteen years of my life trying to let myself cry, and now it seems like I can’t stop.” She lowered her hands from her lovely face. “The thing is, Fee, I’m no good at good-byes.”
“He’ll be sad you’re gone. Hurt you didn’t tell him you were going.”
“He knew I was going, just not when.” Macy rose off the step, her cheeks damp with tears. “And you’ll be here for him, won’t you? You’ll love him in a way I never can.”
Macy followed the sidewalk to the street. She didn’t look back and she didn’t say good-bye to Fia.
Fia watched Macy walk away until she could no longer see her shining blond hair in the dark. Then she rose, crossed the porch and stepped inside the house.
Fia entered the dark bedroom to see Arlan asleep on his stomach in the middle of his bed. He was naked, his arms stretched out to each side, his cheek pressed into a pillow.
Gazing down at him, Fia slipped out of her flip-flops, wondering how long she had been coming to this. A few weeks? A few decades? The last century or two? Arlan had been telling her for the last thousand years that they were meant to be together.
Maybe he wasn’t as wrong as she thought he was.
She pulled her T-shirt over her head and stepped out of her shorts. Lastly, she dropped her lacy black bra and matching panties on the pile. Naked, she slipped into bed beside him and wrapped her arm around his narrow waist, curling up against him, feeling the heat and strength of his body against hers.
Arlan stirred and nuzzled her hair. Then he opened his eyes. “Fee?”
Fia smiled, feeling a heavy sadness in the pit of her stomach. She and Arlan would both miss Macy. “Arlan,” she said softly, smoothing his dark hair, which she still thought was too long to be respectable.
He searched her gaze and for a moment they were both lost in the past…perhaps a little in the future, where hope still gleamed for the Kahill sept, where redemption by God might still be possible.
“She’s gone, isn’t she?” he finally asked.
Undying Page 28
