by Laura Hysell
“It’s not always so violent,” Mark said softly, moving his chair beside mine. “I wish you’d seen Vanessa change. Her transformation is easily the most beautiful and graceful. She embraces every moment of her transformation and her time as a wolf. She was born a wolf, so perhaps that’s why it’s different for her.”
“Vanessa was born like this? Is that common?” I turned to look at Mark.
“Oh, no,” Mark replied, shaking his head. “There are only four natural born wolves in our pack; Vanessa, Thomas, Alexander and Jed. The rest of us are made by the bite of another.”
“Does it hurt?” I asked, my eyes drifting back to the barn monitor on Mark’s side of the room.
Mark turned away from me, his focus back on the monitors. “We need to pay attention to these,” he said, pointing at the screens.
I turned my chair back toward my bank of screens, watching for movement. After several minutes, Mark spoke again. “It can hurt,” he began softly. “It’s different for everyone. If you embrace the wolf it can be magical and painless, but if you fight it…” he trailed off.
“Beth doesn’t embrace it?” I asked timidly, risking a glance at Mark over my shoulder. “Is that why she is still caged?”
Mark sighed loudly before responding. “She’s trying to accept what she is. That’s why she’s here, with Jed. He’s helping her cope with what happened to her.”
“Was she attacked?”
“It was an accident,” he said quietly, the pain in his voice obvious. I waited for him to elaborate, but he never did.
After a couple hours of watching monitors, I went upstairs and made a pot of coffee. It was going to be a long night. Mark didn’t expect me to stay up all night watching the monitors with him, but I figured I’d try if I could. The moment the coffee was finished, Lucas walked in through the back door. He was dressed casually in jeans and a denim jacket.
“I smelled coffee,” he said as he sauntered over to me. “Any way I can get a thermos to go?”
“Sure,” I replied, as I started opening cabinets, looking for a thermos. I found a large metal one and filled it with coffee before handing it to Lucas.
I started another pot of coffee while Lucas stood hovering behind me. As soon as the coffee started brewing, I turned around and faced him. “Do you need something else?” I asked, looking into his yellow wolf eyes.
He took a deep breath and angled his body toward me. I instinctively backed up into the counter and crossed my arms. He chuckled and cocked his head, his eyes roaming over my body. “I could use a distraction,” he said, his voice husky.
“Well, that’s what the coffee is for,” I retorted. “Shouldn’t you be patrolling?”
The back door opened and Logan entered, looking very similar to his brother in jeans and a flannel coat. Logan marched up behind his brother, his yellow eyes glaring fiercely. “Get back on patrol,” he growled, shoving Lucas toward the back door.
Lucas grabbed the thermos and laughed as Logan ushered him out the door. I breathed a sigh of relief when they were both gone. When the coffee was done brewing, I filled another thermos full and started a third batch before carrying the thermos and two mugs back downstairs to Mark. I was at the control panel in the closet when I heard what sounded like a woman’s voice saying my name. I stopped and waited, listening for the voice. After several minutes of hearing nothing, I entered the code into the control panel and went downstairs.
Mark glanced at me when I entered the control room, his eyes now yellow even though they’d been normal brown when I’d left. I set the thermos and mugs down and turned back toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Mark asked.
“I couldn’t carry the creamer too,” I replied, glancing back at him over my shoulder.
“You stopped at the top of the stars. What were you doing?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I thought I heard something.”
Mark frowned and waved a hand at the monitors. “I haven’t seen anything or anyone, except the twins. Was Lucas harassing you?” he asked in a growl. I wondered if watching Lucas on the monitor had been what brought the yellow to Mark’s eyes, or just the fact that it was a full moon.
“Nothing to worry about,” I replied as I walked toward the stairs. “Be right back with the good creamer.”
I hurried up the stairs and into the kitchen, wrenching open the fridge to grab the bottle of creamer out. As I closed the refrigerator door, I heard the voice again. I looked around the room, spinning in a circle. There was a loud bang outside the back door, as though something had slammed into the wall, and I rushed to the window to peer out. I could just make out a form lying on the back porch. I moved toward the door, but Mark was running past me in a blur before my hand touched the handle.
“Get into the control room!” he yelled as he yanked open the door.
I followed Mark to the door, watching as he knelt over Logan. Blood had stained Logan’s shirt red, but he was awake and struggling to stand upright. Mark helped Logan up and looked back at me, his eyes a golden yellow color. “Get into the control room, now!” he shouted.
I shut the door and peeked out the window in time to see Logan and Mark both stand up and race off into the night. Logan obviously wasn’t too injured. I heeded Mark’s words and rushed through the house, fear pumping the adrenaline through my body. Something was out there and whatever it was had injured a werewolf. I ran past the front door and skidded to a halt when I heard the soft knock on the door. I stopped and faced the door, breathing hard.
Knock, knock, knock. I slowly walked toward the door and peered out the peephole. Standing on the front step was the same woman who had been in my dream. She smiled and waved at me through the peephole, her flawless pale skin almost glowing in the porch light. My heart sped up and I debated the wisdom of opening the door. If she truly was a vampire, she couldn’t enter the house uninvited. Or was that just a vampire myth?
“Open the door, Isabella,” the woman’s voice seemed to echo through the house and I found myself walking toward the door and turning the handle.
The woman was as beautiful and flawless as she had appeared in my dream. Her pale skin was perfect and her long chestnut hair cascaded across her shoulders in soft waves. Her eyes were just a normal brown though, not black as I had remembered. I studied her outfit, which was an almost carbon copy of my own, except the sweater she wore was red and low cut and paired with a belt. She smiled at me warmly and I found myself smiling back automatically.
“It is so nice to finally meet you while you’re awake. And I must say, I absolutely love the hair,” she said, holding out her hand to shake mine. “I’m Patricia.”
I shook her hand, which felt surprisingly warm. I’d always thought vampires were supposed to be cold. “What are you doing here?”
She laughed softly, shaking her head. “What am I doing here? You called me, my dear,” she replied. “And I’m so glad you did.”
Realization dawned on me then and I felt a momentary panic. I had wanted to get in touch with her, but I didn’t think she’d actually show up here. I didn’t even know where here was, so how did she know? I heard a wolf howl and my heart sped up as another howl answered it. “What’s happening?”
She waved her hand in the air, as though dismissing my question. “Nothing, dear, nothing,” she replied. “Shall we go now?”
“Go? I’m not going anywhere with you!”
She crossed her arms and pouted with her glossy red lips, looking like a petulant child. The look might work on a man, but it did nothing but irritate me. “Oh, you’re going to be difficult aren’t you?”
I stared at her, hands on my hips. “People are getting hurt out there!”
“Oh, no one will die,” she retorted, as though that would make me feel better. “I gave my boys their orders. They are just a distraction, and a temporary one at that. We really must be going.”
I backed up into the house more, partially closing the door. “I don’t think I
want to go with you.”
“Is that any way to treat me after all I’ve done for you? I took a great risk switching the vaccines for you. You have no idea,” she said menacingly, her nice façade dripping away. “You want to find your brother, and I’m going to help you before the wrong person does. Trust me; this is mutually beneficial. I can order you if I must, Isabella, but I’d much rather have you come along willingly.”
I swallowed hard as I heard her words echo inside my head. There was definitely a connection there, but I was beginning to wonder how strong it really was. Could she really order me around, or was that just a ruse? “What would happen if I shut this door and walked away?”
She tsked and leaned toward me, tapping her lacquered nails on the door frame. “That wouldn’t be a very wise idea, for your brother or your werewolf friends.”
I wondered how far away the rest of the pack was. If I stalled long enough would they arrive to save the day? Another howl ripped through the night and I shuddered at the sound, thinking how much it sounded like an animal in pain. Someone was being hurt right now. “What exactly do you want me for?”
She smiled widely, showing brilliant white teeth, complete with two sharp fangs on the top row. “I need your help reaching Justin. I know generally where he is, but I can’t access him. You help me, and I help you.”
“What do you want with Justin?”
“He has something that I want,” she replied, shrugging as though it was inconsequential. “I have no plans to hurt you, or your brother. I can actually help you, if you’ll let me.”
Help me with what, I wondered. I was chewing my bottom lip, actually debating on going with her. I was desperate to find Justin, and I knew when I’d attempted to contact her earlier that it was probably a bad idea. Okay, it was definitely a bad idea, but did I have a choice?
“If I go with you…” I began.
She held up a hand, cutting me off. “My boys will back off and leave your little werewolf friends alone. I will not harm you or your brother. I promise.”
I wondered how much I could trust a vampire with a promise. Probably not at all, but it was already too late. I had already made the decision that I would do anything for my brother, even if it meant putting my trust in a creature of evil. I closed the door behind me and followed the vampire into the night, with the echo of wolf howls ringing in my ears.
Chapter 12
Patricia drove a large black Hummer. I was completely surprised when she led me to the Hummer parked in the driveway of Jed’s house. I pictured her as the fancy red sports car type of woman, not the big tank sort. I climbed in the passenger side, buckling in as she turned the truck around and sped down the driveway with the headlights still off. A mile down the road she finally flipped the lights on and pulled out a cell phone.
“Call the boys back,” she said simply into the phone. She listened briefly to the voice on the other line, then dropped the phone back onto the seat and turned to me. She didn’t look very happy. “Your wolf friends are all fine, but they killed Roberto.”
I didn’t know who Roberto was, and I didn’t care. One less vampire in the world was fine by me, but I wasn’t going to say that to her face. I may be acting foolishly, but I didn’t have a death wish. “So where is my brother?”
“Somewhere near Walla Walla,” she said frankly.
We sped down winding roads, the Hummer handling better than I expected. I saw no signs indicating where we were, but I kept an eye out so I could find my way back. We eventually merged onto I-84 heading east towards Walla Walla, and the Hummer roared as speeds reached into the 90’s. Patricia seemed relaxed, leaning back in her seat as she drove with one hand casually draped over the steering wheel.
After a couple hours of driving, Patricia pulled off to get gas and I took the opportunity to get out and stretch my legs. The clock on the dash said it was almost midnight, but there were still quite a few people on the road. A bleary-eyed gas attendant came out to pump the gas. Patricia chatted with him while I wandered into the mini mart, browsing the snacks. I grabbed a variety of food and drinks and placed them on the counter before using the bathroom.
When I came out Patricia was paying for the gas and food and I wordlessly followed her back to the truck, my arms full of snacks. I sat back in the Hummer and pawed through the snacks, pulling out a bag of beef jerky. Patricia started the truck, but she only drove to the edge of the parking lot.
I felt her eyes on me as I gnawed on a particularly tough piece of jerky. “What?” I snapped, glancing at her.
“I’m thirsty,” she said softly.
My heart sped up at her words and I purposely looked down and away from her face. I was pretty sure she wasn’t talking about water. I took a couple deep breaths, and then grinned, putting on a brave face. I reached into the bag and pulled out a bottle of Coke, handing it to her. “Here you go,” I said, daring to look at her.
She smiled and took the soda from my hand. I watched as she opened the bottle and took a long drink. “That’s nice,” she said softly. “I love the way the bubbles tickle my tongue.”
I was staring at her with my mouth hanging open. Apparently vampires could drink things other than blood. I guess you do learn something new every day. I was still watching her in fascination when she reached out and grabbed my chin, pulling my face close to hers. I found myself staring straight into her eyes, which shifted and changed until they appeared as two dark black coals.
“I am going to drink from you, my dear, and you’re going to let me. You’re even going to like it,” she said softly, her words echoing in my head. “You want to feed me, dear Isabella.”
She moved her hands across my face, tilting my head to the side. I felt a sharp pain in my neck, like a pinprick, and then there was only pleasure. She was right; I did like it. I had no cares in the world except to please this beautiful creature. She needed what my body could provide her. I would replenish my blood, so why shouldn’t I share it with her? She wouldn’t hurt me anyway.
Time seemed to stand still while Patricia drank from my neck. With each pull of blood, I felt pure pleasure coarse through my body. I’d never felt anything like it. It was pure ecstasy. She finally stopped and ran her tongue across my neck, lapping up the blood. Then she bit her wrist and held it in front of my face. I was still wallowing in the pleasure as I stared at the blood pooling on her wrist. I knew she wanted me to drink it, and I wanted to please her. I took her hand in mine and leaned my face close to her wrist, but I couldn’t do it.
I shook my head and pushed her hand away. “I don’t drink blood,” I muttered. Why was I saying that? She wanted me to drink, so I should just do it. I looked at the blood again, but it turned my stomach. Blood was not appealing.
Patricia made a sound in her throat and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look at her again. “You need to nourish yourself. You won’t heal if you don’t drink, my dear. Don’t you want to please me?” she asked and I nodded my head eagerly. Of course I wanted to please her! “I want you to drink my blood. That would please me. Will you do it, for me?”
I nodded my head and she smiled, releasing my head and holding her wrist in front of me again. Without thought, I had my mouth around her wrist, sucking in the blood. It tasted salty on my tongue but I drank until she pulled her wrist away. She smiled at me and I smiled in return, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “Eat some food, dear, and make sure you drink some juice,” she said.
I happily complied, digging through the bag and pulling out an orange juice I hadn’t remembered buying. Patricia must have gotten it for me. How thoughtful of her. I drank the juice down quickly and munched on a candy bar as she drove us back out onto the highway. After some time I felt my eyes growing heavy and I curled up in my seat. I didn’t have a care in the world as I drifted off to sleep.
The man of gold and fire was waiting for me in my dreams, seated upon a lavish throne made of crushed red velvet and dark wood. He wore dark wash denim jeans and nothing else. His ba
re feet were spread before him on a thick bearskin rug that still had the bear’s head attached. I stood at the edge of that rug, my bare feet tickling the edge of the fur.
“Well, well, well,” he said, and I started at the sound of his voice. He’d never spoken in my previous dreams. His voice was deep with an odd European accent that I couldn’t place. I wasn’t sure if it was Scandinavian, German, or something completely different. “Patricia sure has taken a liking to you, hasn’t she?”
I felt my heart flutter in a panic as I thought of Patricia. She wouldn’t like me talking to this man. I turned away, meaning to leave, but there was nowhere to go. The room we were in was circular, with no doors or windows. Light was coming from somewhere overhead, but when I looked up all I saw were stars twinkling high above. This is a dream, I reminded myself.
“You can’t leave until I let you go,” he said and I turned back, my blonde hair whipping my face.
I looked down at myself, taking in the blonde hair and the pale blue see through gown I wore. I imagined I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and within seconds my clothing changed to reflect my thoughts. That’s better, I thought, running a hand across my clothes before I looked back up at the man.
He was smiling at me as though I amused him deeply. A plush chair appeared before him and he beckoned me to sit down. “Please,” he said softly.
I crossed my arms, but decided it wouldn’t hurt to comply. I moved to the chair and sat down. He angled his body, relaxing back in his throne and casually draping one leg over the arm of the chair. “Patricia is certainly pushing her limits,” he said conversationally. “Did you willingly drink her blood?”
“She asked me to,” I responded automatically.
“Did she?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Was this before or after she drank your blood?”
“What does that matter?”
“Humor me.”
I shrugged, not sure why he was asking me all these questions. “After,” I responded.
