*
Shelter
Julia was as settled in as she was going to be. She looked around the room. Actually, it was a shared room, hardly more than a closet. The bathroom served two rooms with two women in each. The girl she shared with was at her new job and poised to leave the facility the next morning. Julia looked longingly at the bathroom. She was dying for a shower.
She went through the clothes that Shirley had provided. There were enough for a week. A plain, black duffel had been provided, courtesy of a sponsor of the shelter.
The clothes were simple but comfortable and fit well—a miracle. Julia was heavier than she'd been when the vampires had thought they'd lose her from malnourishment. But as Julia caught sight of herself in the harsh reflection of the florescent lighting that rode the top of the vanity mirror, she blanched. Even to herself, she looked hideous. Large bruise-type circles held court underneath her large, golden eyes. Her hair was a startling black, the ends hacked unevenly about her shoulders. It was her ribs—each one countable and her collarbone standing at attention—that let her know how desperate she still looked.
How had she looked before? Julia didn't want to know. She turned away and cranked on the hot water for the shower, the needles slamming into her hands, which were still cold from the outside. The tingling of the warmth woke her skin up as she pulled the stopper, and the spray rained down, beating the porcelain tub below. Julia stepped in, parting her lips, letting the water fill her mouth and run down her chin. The warmth and privacy made her want to cry with relief.
She hadn't realized how intrusive her lack of privacy had been when Susan had been her caretaker or how oppressive William and Pierce's presence was. She was so grateful she could hardly stand herself.
Julia almost shrieked when she glanced down while rinsing the shampoo out of her hair and saw the tub filled with black.
What the hell?
She quickly toweled off and ran to the mirror. She swiped her forearm across the middle, and there she stood, her wet hair like dark gold, a black wash hanging on but mostly gone.
Shit. There went her great disguise. Julia sighed. It figured that she would have grabbed the wash-out-gradually dye. She turned away in disgust. Jerking on the nightclothes, which consisted of panties and an oversized shirt, she slammed her body into the bed. She was certain she would fall right to sleep.
But she didn't. Instead, thoughts of Jason filled her head the way they always did before sleep took her.
*
Then: Fire and Ice
They'd flown down on the small plane from the Anchorage Airport. Julia was stoked, knowing they would touch down in Homer soon. The only small glitch was that Jason wanted to meet up with Kevin and Cyn one more time at their spot on the beach. Kevin was likely burning the hell out of the driftwood as they flew.
Julia wanted Jason all to herself.
He laughed as she cuddled closer, his finger alternately tracing and swirling her wedding band. “It's a sendoff, Jules. Don't get your hot panties in a twist.”
Julia rolled her eyes. “They are super-cute panties, buster. Not that you'd know!” She gave him a playful elbow. He retaliated, tickling her without mercy. She shrieked in the confines of the plane, and some of the other passengers gave the pair stern looks.
They offloaded and ran to the parking lot, the mountains a backdrop behind Jason's car, the stubborn snow clinging to some of the nooks and crannies at the top.
Julia sucked in a lungful of the freshest air in the world, happier than she'd ever been. Vegas had been an assault on all her senses—filthy, noisy, dirty, and everything that wasn't home.
Jason opened the door for her, she climbed in, and they roared off to the spit. Cyn and Kevin were waiting, and she could see the fire from the beginning of the spit, the flames rushing up to kiss the darkening sky.
It had been an omen.
Julia's mind protected her from touching the memory that lay next—the one she couldn't bear to think of, the one that was stealing her breath, robbing her of life, and making her heart pause in her throat.
Julia finally fell into a fitful sleep as the vampires closed in around her.
*
Vampire
The four of them surrounded the human cattle, eyes glittering darkly at their prey. They could not afford to be circumspect. All four would need to be well fed when they finally came upon Julia. William signaled to Pierce, and they flanked the victim.
A pleasure to dispatch, William thought, remembering how they'd come upon him abusing the woman who Robert now eased into thrall as they moved toward the human scum. William licked the tips of his fangs as they tore through the tender flesh of his mouth.
The smell of blood wafted to their nostrils.
“Listen scary dudes,” the man said, defensively, “that bitch wanted it. I was only givinʼ her what she was begginʼ for… you get my meaning.” He grabbed his crotch in an obscene gesture.
“Yes,” Pierce mused, “the abuse of her face tells us of her joy.”
William hissed, moving toward the man with sure footing. Stalking closer, he jerked the foul human next to him until his rancid breath filled the intimate space. “The innocent do not defend their actions. ”
“Thou dost protest too much,” Pierce added, the ghost of a smile riding his lips as he moved toward their prey.
The other runner, Andrew, allowed his talons to tear through the tips of his fingers and used them like the small daggers they were, piercing the tender flesh of the man's back.
The human's gurgled response matched the widening of his eyes. “What are you?” he whispered, his eyes bulging and distended as Andrew kept him skewered like a shish kabob.
“Death,” William answered, his fangs lengthening. He reared and then struck true, as did Pierce, and Andrew's talons accentuated the holes caused by them.
Robert left the female in thrall, dazed and uncomprehending. In a blur of speed, he was at the male's side, and he dropped to his knees beside him. Working to the inside of his thigh, he tapped the vein with a vicious push of his fangs, piercing even the thick denim the human wore. He rolled his eyes up and met those of his comrade, Andrew, who shared the foul meal. The blood was delicious, its host lowly.
The vampires fed, and two miles away, Julia lay sleeping—but not peacefully, never that.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Julia never actively thought about the day Jason died. She did everything within her power not to.
That was probably why her subconscious took over and made her dream about him, attempting to excise the memory like a wound that would never heal.
She was too exhausted to fight it anymore. Julia was not in the vampiresʼ clutches, and she'd had a shower and even a little food. It made sense to sleep.
She needed to sleep.
Julia felt her body slide off into that strange midway point between true wakefulness and that of deep slumber. Her mind floated, circling the last things she had thought about. As she slipped into REM sleep, her body jerked as if it were falling, landing about where she'd left off in wakefulness.
Julia knew where she was going and began to struggle toward consciousness again, as if she were at the bottom of a lake, swimming to the surface.
But sleep was victorious, sucking her back underneath the waters of her dreams.
*
Then
She and Jason had been almost to the spit when he'd gotten the text from Kevin.
Jason turned to Julia. “That's not their fire, babe.”
She arched her brow, looking at the blaze far down on the terminus of the spit, a glowing beacon. “Who else would start that monster?”
He laughed. “They want to go to that spot by the woods. More private.” Jason waggled his brows.
Right. Translation: let's make out. But now that they were married, she was going to do more than that—and without an audience, thank you very much.
She sighed. Some wedding night. She folded her arms across her chest, bro
oding.
“Listen, hun. It'll be fun. It won't get light until—when? One a.m.?”
The land of the midnight sun, Julia thought. He wrapped his hand around her neck, massaging away the stiffness of the travel, catching little glances when he could, driving with one hand.
Julia guessed she'd forgive them. He was giving up his apartment, after all. Tonight was their last night before heading up to Anchorage. Just thinking about facing Aunt Lily the next day filled her with dread. Even knowing Lily would be relieved to see her go didn't make it better.
Jason looked at her with concern then swung his attention to the road ahead of them. He took the turn for the small stretch of beach where they liked to hang out. Only the four of them knew about how to find it.
He squeezed the back of her neck, and she felt the strength of his hands, which had always been gentle with her. Julia thought of Terrell. These were the same hands he had used to murder their teacher—and to defend her.
“Jules, stop thinking about what Lily's gonna do. It'll be fine—you'll see.” He looked at her quickly then parked the car above the slope that led to the beach.
The beach lay below a steep ravine lined with spruce trees that camouflaged the fire. They didn't need anything special to get down there, but it would be a bad fall if they didn't watch it.
Jason had taken her carefully by the elbow and they'd used the rigid and deeply grooved soles of their boots to assure their footing as they descended to the rocky beach.
*
Vampire
Andrew and Robert paired as did William and Pierce—silently. They'd worked together as a quad before. They scented Julia easily. William never went anywhere without his quarry’s scent. In this case, he possessed a scrap of an original piece of clothing, never laundered. He allowed his runners a deep whiff before they picked up the faintest scent coming from their current position.
“I say one-point-two-four kilometers,” William said, lowering his face.
Pierce laughed. “So literal, William.”
William gave him a look, and Pierce's amusement faded.
They studied him, and he looked at each of their faces in turn. “Follow me.”
They ran, staying to the border of the buildingsʼ flanks. The shadows embraced them soundlessly, the peppering of blood on their garments invisible in the dark.
*
Before
The dusk lingered in Alaska for what felt like forever. Summer nights were one long siege of twilight. Julia hadn't minded. The veil of false darkness provided the perfect backdrop for a sky the color of bruised violet with a sprinkling of the brightest stars flung about. Venus hung like a shimmering anchor at the horizon.
She had planted her bony butt on a huge piece of driftwood Kev and Jason had hauled to a safe proximity to the blazing inferno.
Cyn had been naughty and brought champagne. Julia would have loved to protest but couldn't.
After all, they were celebrating her nuptials.
Hard as they tried, it was inevitable that Lily would come up into the conversation.
“I'm just saying you're not obligated to give a big defense, Jules,” Cyn said, her legs crossed at the ankles, resting her back against Kevin. The wash of the firelight warred with the sun burning low in the horizon, making a fiery halo around them.
Julia shrugged. Cyn wouldn't understand. She felt that she owed Lily. Taking in her eight-year-old niece had never been Lily's goal. Actually, Julia wasn't sure what had been her goal. She'd made it abundantly clear it wasn't raising her brother's daughter or having a surprise family.
Jason kissed the top of her head, and she buried her toes—already encased in woolly socks—into the sand, which had been warmed by the fire. Her XtraTufs were thrown to the side.
“She's got a point, Jules,” Jason breathed against her temple.
“I know she does. But Lily did take me in when my grandma couldn't. She was the only one that could. Other than a foster family.”
Cyn shuddered. “That's like goddamn Russian Roulette.”
Kev nodded. Everyone knew that foster care could land a person with some shit family. “Yeah, Jules. I heard about some girl who was like Cinderella in her family. They made her label every scrap of food like she was gonna steal it or something. Big-time lame. They just wanted the government money every month.”
“See?” Julia said, looking at Cynthia. “It could've been worse.”
Cyn shook her head, her huge hoops catching the light that swirled around them, a mix of burnt orange from the sky and fire mingling together in an eerie wash. “If you say so. I still think she was a big-time troll with you!”
She kinda was. But Julia still wanted to remember Lily in the best light she could. “She's got all my stuff, too.”
Cyn's face broke into a grin. “Now, that's worth some suck-up, Jules.”
They laughed and then Cyn said, “I'm sorry your grandma isn't here anymore.”
Julia was sorry, too. Summers at her grandma's place had been the only break from the grind of living with Lily. Grandma had taught her things she'd never forget.
“Didn't she have your name?” Kev asked.
Julia smiled. “Actually, I had her name.”
Kev shrugged. “That's what I said.” The little details of things like that sailed right over his head.
They smiled and made plans for the next day. Julia and Jason would go by her house and see if they could charm their way in after their hasty elopement and zero communication. That is so not going to happen.
Cyn broke a mood that had slid far away from celebratory by jerking the champagne glasses out of her backpack. Kevin got the champagne out of his beat-up cooler, the ice rattling and clinking.
Cyn put a cube in each plastic cylinder. The glasses had been made to look like cut glass and winked as though they were on fire from the light of the blaze. Julia smiled. Cyn had thought everything through to the last detail.
“Nice glasses,” Julia said.
Cyn smirked. “I know, right? I couldn't let us be déclassé even at the beach!” Kevin filled Cyn's to the brim, and she plopped a full strawberry on the top, where it floated like a jewel inside the glass. The bubbles in the golden liquid mesmerized Julia.
Everyone's glasses fizzing with champagne, they lifted them, and the four flutes met in a clink of celebration. They took sips, eyeing each other above the rims.
Cyn did an obscene job of tonguing her strawberry in full view of Kevin, moving it back and forth in her mouth while twirling the stem like a provocative handle in her capable fingers.
“Come here,” Kev said in a growl, grabbing Cyn around her slender waist and pressing her against him. He put his lips to the half of the berry that lay between her teeth then jerked the stem with his teeth and spit it onto the pebbled beach. He met her lips with his, eating the berry as he sucked the kiss right out of her.
Cyn groaned and flung her arms around Kev's neck, and the two of them staggered over to their log of driftwood, oblivious to Jason and Julia. Kevin threw his arm behind him so they wouldn't topple, but as they sat down in a heap, he fell backward on the sand anyway. Jason and Julia laughed at their friendsʼ lust-ridden dance.
It would have been better if Kevin had not been on his back with his girlfriend when the werewolf had appeared.
*
Vampire
Stealth was the order of the night. He eyed the building carefully, taking in the name: Freedom Affirmed.
William's lips curled. They wouldn't understand real freedom if it introduced itself with a handshake.
He spoke in a voice that could not be heard by humanity. The decibel level was too high for humans.
In the distance, a stray dog lifted its ears and whined softly then took off in the opposite direction of the disturbing tones of the unnatural. Canines had instinctual reactions. This one recognized the threat for what it was and ran in the direction of safety.
The other runners whipped their heads in the dog's direction
, responding in kind. They made their way to the structure, converging at roughly all four corners. Their progress was deliberate and insidious. They would not make a spectacle of their presence.
William had the barest sense of unease. He hoped that Julia's abilities continued to lie dormant. If they awoke during her acquisition, that would change things dramatically.
Such a change would be very bad for all. Blood Singers were unpredictable at best. At worst, they were dangerous.
He hoped that Pierce and the others would heed his warning:
“Be vigilant. Be aware. They may have scented her hours ago. They may already be in the area. Werewolves.”
*
Julia's eyes rolled wildly beneath lids that were clenched in horror.
She was watching what had happened that fated evening as a movie before her.
Her subconscious replay unrolled, unbidden and uninvited, and she watched.
*
The werewolf had moved into full view of the teenagers, not in a crouch but as a half-man, half-wolf creature, only partially changed. His advantage as a soldier of the Were was his form.
He and the other soldiers of his race were aptly suited for the acquisition of Rare Ones. For that task, he would need to subdue the others. His keen sight, albeit only in shades of gray and black, assisted him in his forward motion.
Immediately, he allowed his senses to take in the threats. His night vision allowed him to acclimate automatically, dismissing the glow of the fire. His nostrils flared, bringing the myriad of scents necessary for successful acquisition.
If he had been in human form, he would have laughed. One of the males might have posed a problem if he had been coupled with his comrade, who stood beside the target. But he lay prone beneath a human female. A female clearly in heat, the werewolf scented.
He would dispatch him first then move on to the primary target—the mate of the Rare One.
This assessment took mere seconds.
From Julia's perspective, the werewolf's attack had taken hours.
As if in slow motion, the creature had leaped forward in one long stride. The muscles underneath the dove-gray fur were a ripple of sinew and tendon, perfectly synchronized—and uniquely suited for harm and brutality.
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