by L M Adams
“He was scaring them enough to keep them from coming and talking to me? I’ve always been available for my wolves,” Big Mike says. I don’t have an answer for that. Why not go directly to Big Mike?
“Because like you said, you’re old. They know you won’t be around forever. At some point Jesse will probably be in charge and they will have to live with him. Good not to make an enemy out of him,” Lucien adds in. I nod my head.
It makes sense to me. I wouldn’t be in a rush to make war with someone who would be my Amarok at some point. Well I wouldn’t care but then, I am half-crazy and have a penchant for pissing people off wherever I go anyway. But still for people like the Williams’ family. They probably just want peace.
“I’ll have a talk with him tonight before the ceremony. I’ll be able to smell a lie on him, especially the day of the moon. Don’t say anything to anyone. I expect you back here tonight at sundown, so stay or go. Peter is fine now; he didn’t need to feed to heal.”
“He’s stronger than I thought.”
“He’s stronger than any of us thought he would be.”
I nod my head.
“Tell Annette I’m going to have a run, will you?” Big Mike says with a heavy sigh taking off his shoes.
“Of course.”
He looks at me for a moment, and then jumps up, leaping the creek and changing into a wolf while mid-air.
As smooth as water running over a rock, he sheds the skin of a man. When he lands, there’s a huge black wolf standing there, a real werewolf not a not-wolf, werewolves look like an actual wolf, just supersized. All wolves don’t have such a smooth transition from man to wolf. It’s yet again a display of Big Mike’s power and the healthy commune he has with the Wolf Mother.
He’s all black, with a bit of gray around his snout telling of his advanced age, even in werewolf years. His head comes to the top of my own; at least four hundred pounds of predator stares back at me.
Peter’s wolf is going to look just like him. If the visions I’ve been seeing are truly Peter’s wolf. I wonder what that means. He says he’s Peter’s great uncle, but does that mean their wolves look the same? Big Mike turns and disappears into the forest. His shredded clothes lay in the creek. The man must have stock in flannel.
I look over to Lucien. “Let’s go home.”
He nods his head and comes over pulling me to my feet. I brush my ass off; it won’t do to get sand in Tabari’s car. I’d never hear the end of it.
We make it back to the Big Bad Wolf. There are more cars in the parking lot than before, all foreign, all old. One or two are newer models. I guess those wolves are doing a little better for themselves. The inside is crowded; there are groups of wolves standing about, outside in the sun. Almost everyone has a beer or a drink in their hands. Drunk werewolves the day of a full moon, is that safe? I shake my head and make my way inside.
I see Annette behind the bar serving up drinks, her pretty strawberry-blonde hair swings as she laughs and hands another wolf a beer. Someone has the jukebox going; yeah, they’re getting ready for a hell of a party tonight.
They party ending with their run under the Moon Goddess. The only party bigger is the Blue Moon parties, when a full moon happens twice in a month, about every two or three years. I’ve heard tales, it’s the one time all wolves across a continent meet up and run together. They damn near go crazy on the great release of energy.
I catch Annette’s eye, she sees me. I nod my head. I squeeze in between two older men sitting on stools at the bar, and lean to her.
“Big Mike is going for a run.”
She looks at me a little sadly and nods, she knows he’s ready to move on. Then her eyes crinkle at the edges, the lines there the only thing betraying her age, as she smiles up at me.
“Want a beer, Jae?” she asks.
I shake my head no, I need to get home.
“Where’s Peter?” She nods her head over to my left where the pool tables are. It’s so crowded and Peter’s so short he’s gotten lost in the crowd.
“See you tonight.” I say and turn, making my way to the group of younger wolves, men looking to be in their middle to late twenties.
Peter is making friends here. I feel a pang in my heart. Am I still his friend, too? His life seems to be moving on and away from me. My life seems to be moving away from him too. I finally squeeze between bodies and make it over to him.
He sees me and smiles, draping an arm around me, pulling me to his side. I look around at the smiling faces, they accepted Peter so easily. I want to belong to something like that, but I know I would never really fit here. Still, I shake hands and smile as Peter introduces me to everyone.
“Do you want to stay? I’m going home.” I yell over the music.
“No, I’ll come back with you later. I need to get back to Minx or she’s going to scratch my soft bits.” Peter laughs and looks around.
They groan good heartedly as he says his goodbyes and downs the rest of his beer.
“A wolf afraid of a cat?” one of the guys laughs.
I turn and smile. “You’ve never met Minx. She’s not as nice as me.”
They all laugh at my joke. I’d gotten a reputation as being a ball buster around here. I wasn’t interested or available no matter how ‘good’ I smelled.
I turn and lead us away from them.
Lucien is still standing at the front door, off and alone as usual. I shake my head, but I know the feeling. We don’t belong here. The Kindred belong nowhere except with other Kindred. Is that our curse? To be a part of everything and yet away from everyone?
Chapter Thirty-nine
The birth of a succubus
It’s quiet when we pull in front of the house. I’m starving. I haven’t eaten all day. Sure, I can make it on the power from my Chi for a long time. But if I don’t eat, it pulls more power and a lot faster. So much energy is needed just to keep our bodies functioning. And I miss Jack; I need to know we’re ok, to let him know we are ok. Easy to anger, easy to forgive, that’s me.
I scan my wrist in front of the panel; the door unlocks with a hiss. I walk into the living room. It’s empty; music is coming from the speakers next to the TV; Jack’s tablet is hooked into the sound system. It’s sad and lonely music, love songs, and not the happy kind. I smell cooking food. I walk to the kitchen. Peter jogs up the stairs, Lucien turns and goes through the door down to the basement. Giving Jack and I time without asking.
Jack is standing over the stove. He’s showered and changed his clothes, wearing a white undershirt and blue jeans. He pads around barefoot, footsteps so soft it’s like he’s walking on eggshells. I’m reminded again of how graceful he is, his body and movements are truly a work of art. He glances at me and then looks down, as if he knows he’s about to be scolded.
“Am I in trouble?” He asks when I still say nothing.
“No, why did you think that?” I ask.
He sighs. “Because I was acting like an ass earlier. I fucked up so badly. I don’t know what I was thinking, Jae. We have not been getting along lately and I worry that you’ll send me away. That I’m fucking this up… I need... I need you to hurt me badly tonight.”
“Why?”
“I don’t feel like a good man today. I forced you into something that I shouldn’t have, not without discussing it with you first. I hurt you because you needed power to do your job. I doubt you at every turn. All because I’m terrified of losing you. I realize me trying to force you into keeping me will be the thing that pulls us apart. But if you punish me severely enough, I know I can learn. I know I can do better.” He says looking at me, brushing the hair out of his eyes.
Anger, I can deal with any day of the week. Hell, it’s my preferred emotional state. I can’t do sad, it makes me feel soft and womanly and nurturing and I’ve never liked those kinds of feelings. Something in me wants to care for Jack, not just physically but also emotionally and mentally. I’m fucking this up between us, and I know it. Yet here he is apologizing, ta
king more blame and self-hatred onto himself. It’s not right, it’s not fair. I should carry some of the burden, some of the weight of being in a very dysfunctional relationship. He couldn’t have known about my succubus, I never told him.
I sigh. “Yes Jack, you were wrong for attempting to claim me the way you did. But you should know I’m yours anyway. I’ve not been completely honest with you.”
I move closer to him and look up into his deep blue graphite eyes, watching the weight of the world swirl in their depths.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to give you the things you need Jack. I promise to try, I am trying to fix the things inside of me. The things you saw… I wanted to fix myself before I even tried to give someone my heart. But it seems I’m running out of time. Because I will not let you go. But I still need time; I need a little more time to figure this out.”
“I understand, Jaevia.”
“I want you to argue with me. I want you to be you, Jack; dominant Jack, submissive Jack, just regular dude Jack.”
He smiles at me, “Regular dude Jack?”
I laugh. “Yes, be what you want or need to be. Don’t let my problems limit you.” I reach up and brush the hair from his face. He turns his head and kisses my wrist.
“I made an appointment for you to visit Brandi Greene’s fiancé tomorrow afternoon. I’d like to go with you.”
“Of course, and thank you again.” I smile up to him.
“Anything I can do to help, my love.” And instead of freezing up on him I smile and tug him down for a soft kiss. Maybe it’s not so hard to be supportive and respectful of his feelings even when I can’t return them.
“Where’s Tabari?” I ask when I pull away from the kiss.
“He’s in the guest bedroom; the beds for the basement are supposed to come tomorrow. He messaged the Kindred; still no response.” He lets my arm go, I stuff my hands in my back pocket.
I want him, how is it I’m horny already? I’ve fed a lot today.
We’ve burned a lot today.
Probably because I haven’t eaten.
I’ll grab some food when I come back downstairs. Whatever the man is cooking smells really good. I think it’s spaghetti or at least something with tomato sauce.
I know it will take a while for the Kindred to respond. Communication to another plane of existence, electronically, isn’t possible. The Kindred has offices set up on this side with portals to Ra’suá. There’ll be someone there to carry the message to the Kindred Palace. Then they’ll have to meet, decide what to do then give the message to another carrier to bring back here to the human’s earth. They’ll bring it to this plane and email the response back to us. The process is exhausting. Still, I guess it’s faster than a horse and lamp system, one if by land, two if by sea. They had a special on the American Revolution one night, interesting stuff.
“Go get a shower, you stink. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes.” Jack says and turns and walks back to the stove.
Did the vampire slave just tell me I stink? I scoff and turn back to living room. I make my way back upstairs to the sound of Minx’s voice cussing Peter out in rapid Spanish.
He’s trying to placate her, “nena por favor.”
I snicker and keep walking to my room. Good luck wolf boy.
I close the door behind me and start to strip. I pause seeing a pair of deep purple yoga pants on the bed to replace the ones he tore asunder.
I smile.
The man really does think of everything. I toss my clothes into the dirty clothes hamper. It’s starting to get full with Jack’s and my clothes. He’s really moved in, in every way if our laundry is cohabitating, too.
I grab the pants, and a pair of black panties and tank top from my drawer. I pad across the hallway, quickly. There are a lot more people living here. I can’t walk about naked anymore.
I take a shower quickly and wash my hair, just to be sure to get rid of the stink. I haven’t washed my hair this often in my life. It dries out easily. The hot water feels good beating down on me. I try to put in order the things I need to do.
No luck with the coven; we could try and track them down. But that’s probably a dead end still. Can’t talk to the families, I’m loath to do anything that remotely ties to the wolves without Big Mike’s explicit permission. He’d been angry about us not telling him about the not-wolves. I don’t want to push him further, especially on the full moon. My mind flashes back to the visions the not-wolf had shown me.
I wish I’d had a few glimpses outside of the building, maybe I would recognize it. But labs and windows could be anywhere. I need to find out if whoever is doing this has been successful capturing a vampire.
Valentine hasn’t heard anything. But the Blood Lord would know, Jack’s father will have heard something. But how can I ask him to call someone he hates, to get information for me? I just have to ask; if he says no, I will leave it at that. I’m done with forcing him to do things he doesn’t want to do. Besides, I have the laptop still.
There’s only one person I know that may be able to recover the hard drive on that laptop. Rabbit. But I’m not in a rush to let everyone know about that part of my life.
I rinse the soap from my face and hair.
You must.
I hate when she’s right. Oh well, I can’t have my cake and eat it too. We probably can go tonight before heading back to Big Mike’s. The man never leaves his home.
Asking him would mean involving a human in our business. Fucking risky, but then I don’t really have another avenue. He doesn’t need to know all the details, only pay him to fix the laptop and hack it so we can see what’s on it.
That means no purple yoga pants. I sigh and step out the shower. It also means I can’t dry my hair. Now it’s going to be poofy.
I slip back across the hallway wet and naked now, I forgot my damn towel. I’m distracted, too many thoughts running through my mind. I make it to the safety of my room. I dry off quickly and get dressed. I’m running low on jeans. I yank a black T-shirt out that says, ‘It’s supposed to hurt a little’ in purple lettering. I’d ordered this one online. Ok, so my sense of humor isn’t the best, but it fits my mood today and I need something that’s just Jae, even if it is a stinking T-shirt.
I strap my tablet back to my wrist and put my Bluetooth on. I’m starting to feel like this shit is glued to me now. I strap on both blades. I leave my messenger bag, it has nothing but junk in it anyway. And my cigarettes, I haven’t had one in days. I start to move to it; no, I should quit. I don’t have the excuse of needing to hide my scent anymore.
I turn and walk out the door with a phantom nicotine monkey on my back.
I bang on the guest bedroom door and then open it. It’s really sparse in here, a queen-sized bed without a headboard and a chest of drawers. We don’t have many guest, ok, no guests.
Tabari’s laptop sits open on top of the chest of drawers. Tabari is under a sheet curled on his side, facing away from me and sleeping. I feel bad about waking him up, none of us have gotten much sleep lately, but Tabari has been using a lot of power lately. He needs to give his synapses a break; no one, not even the strongest Magi of my generation, is invincible. Oh well, no rest for the weary.
“Get up we need to see someone about the laptop,” I shout a little loud.
“Fuck, Jae, can’t a Magi get his beauty sleep? It’s enough I have to deal with the cat and dog at it every other minute.” He grumbles at me flipping on his back keeping his eyes closed.
“You’ll still be ugly in the morning. You have five minutes. Get up!” I slam the door behind me and move to Minx’s room. Well, I guess its Peter’s and Minx’s room now.
I raise my fist to bang and then still my arm as I hear moaning, “Si, Papi, si.”
Ew.
I move away, I guess I can give them an hour. The man has been shot today; if he needs some sexual healing, well he has a right to it. I go back to the guest room.
“Ok, you’ve got an hour, Tabari.�
� I close the door softly this time. See I’m a considerate person. I go down the stairs boots in hand.
I put them down at the bottom of the stairs and pad to the kitchen. Jack is putting slices of garlic bread in the oven. My stomach grumbles.
“What are you cooking?” I grab a beer from the refrigerator.
“Spaghetti, I have no idea how it’ll turn out.”
I laugh. “I’m sure it’ll be great even if it isn’t. No one is going to care.”
I clear my throat; now to ask him to do something I know he doesn’t want to do.
“I’m going to see someone about the laptop after I eat then head to Big Mike’s with Tabari and Peter. But I need you to do something for me.”
“Of course.”
I hate that he does that, agrees without knowing what it is. Like he just trusts me to not ask for something painful or difficult. Which of course I’m about to do.
“I need you to call your dad.” I rush out just wanting to get it over with.
His entire body stills, as if he’s frozen in ice.
I am a complete shit for asking him to do this. Sometimes I really do hate being a bad person.
“He’s the one that would know if any vampires across the country have gone missing, right?”
“Jae,” he says my name and then stares out of the window. I can see his eyes burning pure blue cobalt. He’s trying to calm his own feelings with his own power; that cannot be healthy.
“I haven’t spoken to my father in twelve years.” His voice is normal, but I wonder how much that had cost him.
“Maybe your mom then? She’s the Blood Lady.”
“No, becoming a Blood Lady is a lot more complicated than getting married to the Blood Lord. I told you my father doesn’t like sharing his power, even with my mom. She might know something. But my father would definitely know.”
I notice he always refers to his dad as ‘Father’ but his mom is always ‘Mom,’ never ‘Mother.’ It says a lot without saying anything at all.
“So you’ll call him?” I try not to sound so hopeful, I fail miserably.
