by Jeff Hale
Matt shook his head, although he didn’t look entirely sure himself. “Loch figures no, not if she’s headed back home. He’s guessing that the attempt was a warning to him, whether successful or not. Although he is happy to hear that Roslyn is divorcing Kat’s stepfather.”
I gave a dry laugh. “Why should it matter to him who she’s married to? He should have stuck around if it mattered that much.”
“Because he still loves her,” Matt said. “And it also impacts Kat’s welfare. Anyway, he figures that you’ll probably be keeping an eye on Kat until she changes, so he wanted you to be aware of the entire situation.”
“Speaking of which…” I stood and headed back to the sleeping area. There wasn’t much to pack up, a few articles of clothing and souvenirs. I noticed that Darien’s small pack was already waiting on the bed.
“Yep. You two need to get out of here. It’s—” Matt looked at his watch, “—a little after nine thirty, I’m sure they’ll be on their way soon. And I need to get some sleep. That bright light out there is bad for my complexion you know.”
I heard Darien’s muffled laughter at Matt’s comment. I just gave him a grin. “Not as bad as it could be if you weren’t one of us first. We’ll let you know what’s going on then. So you can let Katelyn’s father know.”
“You do that.”
It only took a few minutes to get everything into the bike’s saddlebags. The air was damp and chilly so I pulled on my heavy jacket. Darien’s trench had been ruined, so he was stuck with a less cumbersome black leather biker jacket. Matt ventured a few feet out the front door to see us off, and I waved at him as we pulled away.
A quick trip to the gas station, then a few minutes later through the drive thru of the local McDonald’s, and we were headed to Katelyn’s grandparent’s home. No, we hadn’t asked Katelyn where they lived, nor did we know their names. But we had followed them home discreetly that night after the beach, so we knew the address.
Sure enough, Katelyn’s mother’s familiar little white Audi was still in the driveway, however its trunk was open. As we zipped past, we saw Roslyn come out of the house with a suitcase and a paper bag to deposit in the trunk. She gave us a brief glance before turning her attention back to the car.
There was a large church across the street from the grandparents’ house and we pulled into its lot. This early on a Wednesday there was no one there, but we found a spot where we could keep an eye on the house and yet not be seen ourselves. We ate our breakfast as we watched. McDonalds. Breakfast of shifters.
It wasn’t too long before we saw Katelyn and Kris emerge from the front door, backpacks and pillows under their arms. They both moved as though they were tired. They both stuffed the pillows in the trunk and Katelyn was opening the door to the backseat when she suddenly stiffened. I couldn’t really see the expression on her face from the angle we were at, but her head went up, as though to scent the air, and slowly, she turned to look all around her, fixing her gaze at various points across the streets and parking lots as though she expected to see someone.
“Aw, shit,” Darien muttered softly.
“What?” I asked.
He nodded his head in Katelyn’s direction. It was a good thing we were hidden away, or she would have seen us at that point. It took me a few seconds to realize the significance of what she had been doing and Darien’s expletive.
“’Aw shit’ is right,” I whispered. “But, that cinches it on whether or not she’s gonna change.”
Shifters of all types had an uncanny sense of when the person that ‘turned’ them, for want of a better word, was nearby. The ritualistic word that shifters tended to use was Blooded since it took an act of drawing blood, or in Katelyn’s case ingesting blood, to cause someone to become a shifter.
Katelyn was sensing Darien’s presence nearby, only she didn’t understand what exactly it was she was feeling. She seemed like a smart girl, so she might have suspected. The only thing that saved us was her mother calling her name and telling her to kiss gran and granddad goodbye because it was time to go. She gave a wistful glance in our general direction, then complied with her mother’s wishes.
“I don’t get it, Darien, why don’t you just tell her that we’re following her home? Would make this a bit easier.”
He sighed heavily and shifted his weight on the bike seat. “She needs to deal with this stuff with her mom and step-dad right now. Once they’re moved out and settled, you can damn well betcha I’ll be knocking on the front door. She’s got at least two weeks before she’ll change, and that’s at the soonest.” He reached back and slapped me on the leg. “Don’t worry, Alex, she won’t be alone when it happens. I’ll be there for her.”
I stifled the bit of resentment at his words. He had Blooded her, he had already claimed her as a mate, so of course it was his right and responsibility to be there with her when she shifted for the first time. I just couldn’t help feeling a tad jealous, part of me wishing she was mine, that I could be there for her.
It was less than five minutes later when Katelyn, Kris, and her mom walked down the front steps again, waving goodbyes at the grandparents before getting into the car and backing out into the street. Darien started the bike up, then waited for them to get several car lengths away, before pulling out to follow them. We were on our way.
SEVEN
Alex
I was filled with relief when it turned out that Katelyn’s mother was taking the way through the mountains that would eventually lead them through Portland. Most people did, but there were some who didn’t care much for what could be semi-treacherous road conditions and instead took a more scenic route that took them to Salem first before cutting north over to Portland. We hit I-84 east out of Portland and not long after, Darien surprised me by taking an exit off the highway that led into the Multnomah Falls parking lot. I watched as the little white Audi continued its way down the interstate.
Once he had the bike parked, I tapped Darien on the shoulder as I hopped off the back. “Any particular reason for the side trip? I thought you wanted to follow Katelyn back home.”
He swung his right leg over to the ground and settled the kickstand, then pushed some wild strands of hair out of his face. He turned to glance at the Falls, then at me.
“Just felt I needed to stop. I have Kat’s address, she should be fine on the way home. Hell, we may even catch up to them. But…” He gestured towards the cascading water. “C’mon.”
I followed him out of the parking lot and we crossed under the small overpass that shipped cars over the pedestrian walkway. There was a gift shop and restaurant up a little and to our right, but straight ahead was the beginning of the trail that wound its way up one side of the small mountain face. It was there Darien was headed to and I followed behind him.
The trail was paved with asphalt in some places, but in others was dirt and rock. It was lined on either side by towering moss covered trees, stretching ferns, and other green vegetation I couldn’t name, some of which I knew would cause severe itching if played in. It grew steeper at a fairly quick rate, finally leveling out some to end at the edge of one side of the Falls. A stone bridge had been built over the span to the other side where the trail continued its way up to an overlook at the top of the Falls.
Darien stopped on the stone bridge, leaning on the high carved side with his hands and staring into the tumbling water. I moved to stand next to him, although I kept my hands in my pockets. The air was still cold and I felt the spray from the water as it hit my face.
I looked over the edge of the bridge, down into the rocky grotto where the water crashed into the splash pool below. For a moment, I thought I saw something playing in the depths, something not entirely human, but it disappeared as I watched and I chalked it up to the height. I shook off the faint vertigo that I felt, then straightened and inhaled deeply, feeling the damp air as it hit my lungs.
“She would have loved this place.” Darien’s head was down and his eyes were closed. He gripped
the stone until his knuckles turned white. Little droplets of water clung to his hair, sparkling against the darkness.
“I know she would have.”
Now it made sense why we were here. I reached out and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Sasha had loved the water, and had a particular fondness for waterfalls. I leaned forward and caught the look of anguish on his face, although the mist from the water made it impossible to tell if he was crying.
“Are we here because you feel guilty, because you think she wouldn’t want you to be happy?” I asked. I hadn’t seen him like this in years, but then again, he had never found anyone that affected him the way Katelyn did.
He shook his head, lifting his eyes to the top of the falls. “No. I don’t feel guilty. If anything, I feel a bit sad.” His head turned to the side. “But yet, I feel… happy… inside, too, that I have her back.”
“But you don’t, not really. I mean, yes, the soul is the same, but Katelyn is not Sasha, she’s Katelyn. A whole new person.” I was worried that he might not remember that, that he might think that Katelyn would one day just miraculously turn into Sasha in a different body. She was, but yet she wasn’t, and he needed to realize that.
He glared at me. “I know that. But I also know what I feel when I’m around her, and that’s peaceful, and that everything is the way it should be. I don’t feel like I’m doing something wrong.” The last was said with some bitterness.
I dropped my hand. “You wouldn’t have been doing anything wrong, even if she didn’t have Sasha’s soul. You deserve to be happy, too.” I sighed, shaking my head. “You just got lucky on this one.”
His face softened. “Yeah, I did. But it’s not all done yet, she’s still got to change.” He let go of the stone. “I need to do one more thing, then let’s get out of here.”
His ‘one more thing’ was a trip to the gift shop that we had passed on our way in. It was a typical tourist gift shop for the most part, but it had a large selection of finely crafted turquoise jewelry, and this was where Darien headed. After perusing for several minutes and laughingly rejecting a few pieces the saleslady pointed out due to the metal involved being sterling silver, he finally settled on two matching items.
The first was a necklace with a chain made of copper, the only other metal that really went well with turquoise. The pendant had a large teardrop shaped stone in a copper setting. The second was a wide copper band bracelet that had three small tear shaped turquoise stones set into the front, and some delicate engraving on either side that made me think of waves. Jewelry purchased, gift boxed, and gift wrapped, we headed back out to the parking lot.
The ride up through the Gorge and into Washington State was beautiful. The Columbia River made a sparkling blue trail to our left for most of the trip, occasionally dotted with wind surfers. There were various towns, hills, and other tourist attractions along the way.
With already having lost time due to our stop at the Falls, we skipped anything else that might have caught our eye, and I sighed in mild disappointment as the Stonehenge replica on the other side of the river faded into the distance behind us. A few hours later saw us crossing the river to the Washington side as we left Umatilla behind us and road signs informed us that Richland was only about a half an hour away. We hit Kennewick first, and after crossing the Columbia River yet again, rode through Pasco. A few more miles up the highway, and crossing the river one more time, we hit Richland.
I was confused. If it hadn’t been for signs proclaiming otherwise, I would never have guessed there were three separate cities here since the only thing that seemed to mark a change was crossing a bridge. Darien had been to this area before, years ago, but it had been a long time and things had changed.
It took us awhile to find where Katelyn lived, since it was on the outskirts of Richland. We took an exit off the highway that put us on a road surrounded by orchards and vineyards, then saw a sign with the house number and turned down a long, gravel drive that was bordered on either side by lush green grape vines. We drove far enough up the drive to see Roslyn’s little white car parked in a garage with an open door, and I sat there with my mouth hanging open as I stared at the cinnamon colored two story fancy home in front of us, obvious basement windows for a lower story, with a three car garage and an immaculately kept lawn with a small fountain out front. The yard was new spring green, landscaped with flowers and small trees, and extended quite a ways behind the house.
“What in hell? Did Kat’s mother even let her foot up off the gas the whole way?” Darien sounded amused. He had figured we would catch up with them at some point, but after no sign of them the entire rest of the trip from the Falls, he had finally heaved a sigh of relief to see Roslyn’s car at the address Katelyn had given him.
"Would you get a load of the place though? Shit, I hadn't figured that she came from money, she sure didn't act like it," I commented in surprise.
Darien shrugged. "Maybe it's the step-dad's money. I got the distinct impression that she can't stand the guy. 'Fucking asshole' I think is what she called him."
"Really?"
"Really."
We looked around for a likely spot where we could actually see the house and not look like a pair of stalkers. There was another narrow access road just on the other side of the vineyard where we could see the house and we found a spot shaded by a few trees. Not that we planned to stake the place out twenty four seven, but we did plan on spending a bit of time there. We gave Katelyn's house one more glance over, not seeing any movement outside, although I did notice the curtains in an upstairs room move as we pulled away from the house. Probably Katelyn sensing Darien again, but I doubted that she saw us.
Locating a motel or hotel nearby that was fairly inexpensive turned out to be harder than we thought. Neither of us was lacking for money since we, and Matt, jointly owned a business that was extremely profitable, yet left us our free time when we wished it, and didn't involve a lot of owner/employee interaction, as well as many decades’ old investments.
So we settled for something a little nicer that was still several minutes from Katelyn's home. We opted to rent a small car for a few days so Darien's motorcycle wouldn't be quite as noticeable, then headed back to the access road with our laptops, snacks, and varying caffeinated beverages.
There was a small U-Haul in the driveway when we got there and an older navy blue Honda Civic parked next to it that hadn’t been there before. The U-Haul was backed into the drive to the left of the Audi with its back facing a now open far left garage door. We got settled in, thankful for the cloudless sky and temperate day, and we were trying to find decent wireless reception for the laptops when Katelyn emerged from the house.
She came out of the garage carrying what looked to be a dining room chair, and closely following her with another chair in hand was Kris. They stashed the chairs in the U-haul, then turned and went back into the garage, coming out several minutes later with some boxes. By mid-afternoon they had the U-Haul full, although we weren’t sure how many trips they intended to make. It seemed like they weren’t particularly worried about packing things extremely carefully, either that or Katelyn’s mom was a wiz at packing household items quickly.
We watched as Roslyn, Katelyn, and Kris all piled into the wide front seat of the U-Haul truck and a moment later pull out of the driveway. Darien and I gathered up our things, started up our rental car and managed to catch site of them at a stop sign. We kept a few cars behind, but followed them back onto the highway, then through town to a residential area that was located not too far from one of the high schools. We watched and waited as the U-Haul was backed into the driveway of a small, but nice looking house. I took note of the street name and the house number so that we could find the place again later.
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. We had watched them empty the U-Haul into the new house, then take off back to the old place. After the second load, they headed back toward the previous home, but Katelyn’s mom pulled into the driv
eway head on and Katelyn and Kris hopped out.
Roslyn left the U-Haul running as Katelyn ran back into the house, returning quickly with a small pet carrier under one arm. She unlocked the Audi and climbed into the driver’s seat, leaning over to secure the pet carrier up front. Kris headed for the blue Honda and got in that vehicle. The Audi started up, then pulled out and headed down the drive. The Honda pulled a quick U-turn then did the same. Roslyn backed out then followed them in the U-Haul. We made a guess that they were done moving stuff and returning the vehicle, so drove back to the new house and waited.
Sure enough, about an hour later, the three of them returned, Roslyn in the Audi, Katelyn driving the blue Honda with Kris riding with her. Both cars pulled into the driveway, and I guessed that the little blue car must be Katelyn’s. Roslyn got out of the car and just stood in the drive, staring at the front door. Her shoulders shook for a moment, then she seemed to straighten and marched resolutely up the walk. The two girls followed her, fast food bags, drinks, and pet carrier in hand, and they all disappeared inside.
The sight of the fast food made me realize that it was after dinner time and my own stomach rumbled. I looked over at Darien, whose gaze was still on the house, and I elbowed him.
“C’mon, you. I’m hungry, I’m sure you’re hungry, I’m tired of sitting in this damned car, let’s go get something to eat.”
He turned his head toward me, eyes slightly unfocused, then gave his head a quick shake as though he had been daydreaming. Maybe he had been. There were times when I wished I could get into his head to see what he was thinking, and there were times when I was really glad that I couldn’t.
“Sure, yeah.” He started the car up. “Want something we can take back to the motel? Or something else?”
I thought a moment and the idea of sitting in the motel room eating take-out held no appeal. “Is there any place that has good steak?” Steak. Rare. Yum. The beast in me began to salivate.
