by Jeff Hale
Darien got to the passenger door of the SUV as Matt was getting out of the vehicle, opening the door and leaning in, then backing away with Katelyn in his arms. He turned to head up the walkway toward the house, Matt following, me at his side. Even in the dim light from the garage lights, I could see how pale she looked, could see the blood that streaked her neck and shoulder. There was a jagged tear in the skin at her neck.
I bounded up the steps ahead of Darien, first trying the door, then upon finding it locked, knocking loudly. It took a couple minutes for Katelyn’s mother to answer the door, and I saw the curtain on the tall narrow window beside the door twitch, then the door was quickly pulled open.
“Oh my God, what happened?!” she cried out, her question directed at Darien as she stepped to the side to let him through.
Matt and I followed right behind him, continued to follow him as he climbed the steps to the second floor, went a few feet down a small hallway to what I assumed was a bedroom door. Katelyn’s mother opened the door for him and we filed inside as he set Katelyn gently on her bed.
“I’m not exactly sure, Mrs. Newall—” Darien began, but she interrupted him.
“Call me Roslyn, you’re older than I am anyway.” She leaned down over Katelyn, placing her hand against her daughter’s cool cheek, gingerly turning her head to look at the neck wound.
It seemed a strange comment to make, and one that had me confused, but I thought she might be trying to keep herself calm. I sat down in the chair at Katelyn’s desk, while Matt disappeared into the bedroom’s private bathroom. Darien hovered over Katelyn with her mother.
“So what happened? It looks like something attacked her,” Roslyn asked worriedly.
“Matt says that a vampire attacked her. I’m not sure where it happened,” Darien replied, kneeling next to the bed and grasping Katelyn’s hand with his own.
Roslyn turned to glance at me and I shook my head, pointing to the bathroom, just as Matt came out with a wet washcloth.
“She was at some party,” Matt said, moving in next to Roslyn and gently wiping the congealing blood away from the bite. He cleaned the wound as efficiently as possible, checked her pulse again. “She’d gone off alone with the boy she was with, they were making out.” Darien’s shoulders stiffened at Matt’s words. “And the vampire attacked her, would have killed her if I hadn’t gotten to her.”
“Why would a vampire attack her?” Roslyn asked, and I thought she was taking things in stride rather well. Her eyes narrowed in on Matt, scrutinizing him.
Matt looked from Darien to me, then back down to Katelyn as she stirred a little. “She told you what happened in Tillamook, about the accident?”
“Yes, that someone tried to hurt Darien.”
Matt’s expression changed a little, as though he were debating about telling her the truth, then decided on it, or part of it. “Mrs. Shaughnessy, they were trying to kill Kat, not hurt Darien. And they’re still trying.”
Roslyn looked startled. “Who is trying to kill my daughter? Why?”
Matt shook his head. “I can’t tell you why, at least not yet, although I’m beginning to think we might be wrong. As for the who, it’s members of a large vampire family that has territory on the west coast of Oregon and is looking to expand.”
“Will she be all right, Matt?” Darien asked quietly.
“Yes.” Matt lifted the cloth from her neck.
The bleeding had stopped and the wound was actually beginning to close. Not as quickly as it would have on either Darien or myself, but quicker than on a human. The fact that Katelyn was growing into her shifter heritage was probably the only reason she wasn’t dead from blood loss.
Matt gave the cloth a toss through the bathroom door. “She’ll probably sleep the next couple days; she lost a lot of blood and her system needs all the energy it can to replenish it. She might even end up with a scar, I’m not sure.”
He moved over toward me, leaving Roslyn and Darien to fuss over Katelyn. His eyes roved over the items on her desk, stopped briefly at the picture of Katelyn and a good looking young man dressed in formal clothes, what looked like it might be a Prom or Homecoming photo. The boy had shoulder length dark-brown hair and bright blue eyes. The small digital date printed in the corner put the picture at having been taken earlier in the month.
Roslyn bent over her daughter, planting a kiss on her forehead, then gave us each motherly looks and gestured toward the door. “Well, if it’s sleep she needs, then it’s sleep she’ll get. Out, all of you.” She ushered us back downstairs to the living room, indicating the couch and extra chairs, while she dropped into one and speared Darien with a stare while indicating Matt and me. “So are they like you?”
Darien gave her a confused look. “Excuse me?” he questioned.
“I’m too stressed and tired to beat around the bush. I had a long talk with my daughter this morning and she told me what was going to happen to her, what she was… what you are.” She let out a long breath and sagged into the chair. “I’m just wondering if they’re like you.”
Darien contemplated her a moment, then gave her a nod. “Alex is, yes.”
“The world is changing, I can feel it, in here.” Roslyn placed a hand against her chest. “My Gran used to tell me stories when I was little, fantastical stories, about fairies, and vampires, and changelings, and such, things to entertain me, I thought. I wonder now.” Her gaze slid to Darien and she stood and walked over to him. He hadn’t sat down. She stared up at him, her eyes going from side to side, before she reached a hand up to almost touch his face.
“You won’t hurt her,” she said, her eyes locking with Darien’s, the Irish lilt to her voice thicker than Katelyn’s.
I could sense the tension in his body as Katelyn’s mother pinned him with her gaze.
“You’ll kill to protect her.” Her eyes slid away briefly, then were right back, but her voice had dropped to almost a whisper. “You’ve already killed to protect her.” She cocked her head to the side and tapped him in the middle of the forehead. “I can see, you know, sometimes, in there. But not always. Her father hid it well it would seem, and the other, well, I guess he made me blind.” She frowned, shifting her look to me, staring at me as well, before a smile curved her lips. “And you must be… Alex? The one who’s like Darien?”
I bobbed my head in an affirmative and she switched her gaze to Matt.
“You must be the vampire, then.” She gave him a wary look, but if she was frightened, it didn’t show. She was probably too worried about Katelyn to really consider the idea of a vampire in her home.
“Ah, crap.” Kris had come in the front door looking worried and tense and walked in on the last comment from Roslyn. “Sorry about that, Matt. Kat got it all in her head to tell her mother everything, and well, vampires were mentioned too.” She crossed the foyer, dropped two purses on an end table and then looked directly at Matt. “Is she okay?”
“She will be,” he replied. “She just needs sleep now. How’s the boy?”
“Cody?” Kris sighed. “They took him to the hospital so I don’t know yet. Didn’t appear to be anything super serious though.”
“Well if you four will excuse me,” Roslyn said, standing. “I’m going to go check in on my daughter and then head to bed.” She looked long and hard at each of us in turn before nodding to herself. “There’s a hide-a-bed in the family room downstairs if you three want to stay. I think I might feel a bit safer knowing that someone was here that could protect her. You’re more than welcome to sleep in her room, Darien, if Kris doesn’t fight you for it, but Kris knows where the spare bedroom is.”
“Thank you, Roslyn,” Darien said. “I’m not sure how happy Kat would be if I slept in her room right now, we’re not exactly getting along at the moment.”
“She said as much, but I’m sure whatever it is can be fixed.” She walked to an arched alcove just outside the living room. “There’s food in the fridge, help yourselves if you get hungry. I’ll see you all
in the morning.”
Kris headed for the stairs. “I just want to see her for myself, then I’ll be back out.” She gestured to an open doorway at the end of a small hall. “There’s stairs just to the left past that. Family room is down there.”
Darien led the way downstairs. I knew he had been to the house before, but I didn’t know to what extent he’d seen it. It had been obvious when we had brought Katelyn in that her bedroom had been on the tour and it sent a small pang of jealousy through me.
Downstairs though, he seemed unfamiliar with and it took a moment to find the light switch. It was a large room, with a full entertainment center, sectional couch, pool table and a desk complete with computer. Matt immediately turned on the computer, waiting for it to boot up, while I examined the sectional to find the part that was the hide-a-bed. I had no more than located it and moved cushions when Kris came through the door, shutting it behind her.
“You guys getting settled in?” she asked, watching me stack cushions on the floor.
I nodded at her. Darien was staring over Matt’s shoulder at the computer screen.
“Kris?” Matt slid out of the chair in front of the desk, pulling something out of his jacket.
I blinked when I realized it was the photo from Katelyn’s room. I hadn’t even seen him take it. He held it out so she could see it, pointing to the young man in the picture with Katelyn.
“Who is this?” His tone was urgent.
“That’s Aerick. Why?”
“I know him, that’s why.”
“Huh?” Kris may have voiced it, but I was pretty sure both Darien and I were thinking ‘huh?’ as well.
Matt tapped the picture, then stated patiently. “I know him. I’ve had… dealings… with him before. He’s not human either, at least, not normal human.”
“He isn’t?” Kris asked. “What is he then? Vampire? Shifter?”
Matt shook his head. “Worse. He’s a magic user, a sorcerer.”
Darien snorted. “What in hell were you doing playing around with one of those? I thought they tended to fry vampires.”
“I was in Sacramento on an, er, errand about a year ago and ran into him. Turned out we had a mutual interest, but we parted on decent terms.” He looked at the picture again, stared hard at Kris. “How does she know him, Kris? This is a Prom picture, if I’m not mistaken?”
Darien snagged the photo from Matt. “This the guy that bailed on her at Prom?”
“Yeah. Kat’s step-dad had to go to Vegas for a few months over fall and winter to work out some deal with his business and Kat and her mom went with him. She went to school there for awhile. That’s where she met Aerick. She dated him.” Kris took the picture from Matt. “So he’s not human either, huh? That’ll blow Kat’s mind when she finds out.”
“Yes, well she needs to stay away from him,” Matt said grimly. “He’s dangerous.”
“You think he’d hurt her?” Kris set the photo aside on a shelf.
“On purpose? No.” Matt shook his head. “But dangerous things gravitate towards people like him, it’s almost like they’re a magnet for them. She could get hurt just being around him.”
Kris snorted. “Yeah, because she’s been incredibly safe otherwise?”
I think we all winced at the comment, but Matt just smiled wryly. “Point taken.”
“Well, I’m tired too, it’s been a strange night again, so I’m going to bed. If anything exciting happens come and wake me up, spare room is the one right across from Kat’s.” Kris’s words were spoken to all of us generally, but I could have sworn I saw her eyes settle on Matt briefly before she turned and left the room.
Neither Darien nor I were tired, so we lounged on the hide-a-bed and watched television while Matt messaged Katelyn’s father on the computer. I wasn’t sure how long we’d been doing that when I heard a knock on the front door. Darien and Matt heard it as well, Darien giving me a surprised look, while Matt pushed himself away from the computer. I knew that Roslyn and Kris were both sleeping, and we had no clue who could be at the door this long after midnight.
I headed up into the foyer, Darien and Matt right behind me. For all we knew, that vampire was trying a new, yet stupid, tactic. So I was shocked when I looked out the curtain to see a girl dressed in a skimpy black vest, an almost nonexistent denim miniskirt, and high heeled boots. She had green and pink shoulder length hair.
I turned to Darien, shrugging and shaking my head. “Open it, I guess.”
He opened the door.
“I know it’s late, I’m sorr—” she started to say, and then her mouth dropped open and she went silent, her eyes going from Darien to me, over my shoulder to Matt. She took a step back, looked at the number on the front of the house next to the door, then crinkled her eyes at us. “Well, hullo handsomes! I am at the right house? Is Kat here? Is she okay?”
And then I felt it, knew Darien had too from the sudden way his eyes narrowed at her; that same thing we had felt from Kat, that let us know she had shifter blood, but wasn’t fully a shifter yet; another wilder.
“You’re a friend of Katelyn’s?” I asked her.
“Yeah, Nina. I came up from Las Vegas.” She was regarding both Darien and me as though she was trying to figure out who, or what, we were, then nodded to herself, mouth quirking. “Well, fuck me. Yes, that is an invitation.” She twitched her eyebrows. “Which one of you is Darien the werewolf?”
I wasn’t sure whether Darien or I was the most shocked by her question, but if she knew what we were, then she must be a close enough friend of Katelyn’s that she had told her.
“I am,” Darien finally answered her.
She looked him up and down, a couple of times. “Well, damn, Kat was right, you are hot.”
A blush actually crept across Darien’s cheek at the girl’s forthrightness, but I knew him well enough to know that he was pleased to hear that Katelyn found him good looking.
“So can I come in? I can’t stay long, just wanted to find out if Kat was okay. I heard about that guy attacking her at the party.” The girl, Nina, put a foot forward, then pushed between us into the foyer. Darien shut the door behind her.
“Kat is fine,” I said, now wondering what we were going to do about this new complication. “She, her mother, and Kris are all sleeping.”
“And you three are here… why?” Her look was shrewd. “Oh, I know why you’re here, Mister Possessive,” her glance slid to Darien, “but who are these two?” She stepped up to me, appraising me, licking her lips. “You’re like him.” She gave Matt the same scrutiny. “You’re not.”
“You know what you are.” I made it a statement.
She nodded. “Kat figured it out. She said she wasn’t a hundred percent sure, but she thought I was like her. I’m guessing she was right?”
Darien nodded. “Let’s all go outside, where we won’t wake them up with our conversation.”
She preceded us out the door, actually going as far as the driveway to keep the noise farther from the house. “So now what, what do I do?”
“It’s up to you,” Darien told her, leaning against Matt’s SUV. “For now, you have the shifter genetics in your blood, but it hasn’t been activated yet. You could live out the rest of your life as a fairly normal human if you wanted to, or…”
“Or?” she prompted.
“Or you could force it. All it would take is a small scratch, a bite, anything that might draw some blood, to set you on the path of being a full shifter.” He watched her closely to see her reaction.
“So Kat chose it?”
“No, she accidentally swallowed some of my blood.”
Nina’s eyes went wide as saucers. “Ew, gross. Not sure I want to know how that happened.”
“The choice was taken from her. You have a luxury she didn’t; knowledge of what you are, and the ability to make a rational decision as to whether or not this is the life you want to lead.” He spread his hands in front of him.
“So what do you suggest?” she aske
d.
“I think you should think about it. Don’t be hasty, you have plenty of time ahead of you to make that decision. Keep in touch with Kat, have her tell you what it’s like, maybe have her shift for you some day, so you can see it. Be informed. I didn’t have a choice, Alex didn’t have a choice, Kat didn’t have a choice. Take this piece of good luck and use it to your advantage.”
She nodded soberly and I got the impression that she had taken his words to heart. But then her face lit up and her mouth turned up in a calculating way.
“So, which one of you two wants to show me a good time tonight?” She was being dismissive of Matt, and the only reason I could think of was that a part of her sensed what he was. She shook her head at Darien. “You’re already obsessing over Kat, but what about you?” She stepped towards me, leaning in and giving me her best seductive look.
I was tempted. Really tempted. She was going to be a shifter one day after all; she might have had the choice available to her, but in the end, it was a rare wilder who didn’t fully embrace their heritage. She was very pretty. And Darien wasn’t in love with her.
But I shook my head. “Much as I would love to take you up on that offer, sex is another way that can cause a wilder to change. Bodily fluids and all that stuff. And I would not want to leave something like that up to the whims of a condom’s durability.”
“Pity.” She rose up and planted a not so chaste kiss on my lips. “Maybe some time in the future then? But I’ve got an hour drive ahead of me, so I need to get going.” She sighed, looking at me in disappointment. “Tell Kat I’ll call her tomorrow?” She hurried to the Avalanche, got into the large vehicle, and drove off.
“How long do you give that one before she gives in to the call of her beast?” Matt asked, watching the dwindling truck with amusement.
“Her? She’s got a strong will. It might be longer than you would think,” Darien replied. “She knows what she is, she knows who to contact. That’s all we can do for now. And for now, I’m heading to bed.” He strode up the walkway and back into the house.
Matt had still been awake when Darien and I had finally given in to sleep, although I was roused briefly by the sound of the family room door opening as he went back upstairs some time later. He didn’t sleep like the rest of us did, so I guessed that he was probably checking on Katelyn, then possibly staying alert outside.
