by Terri Lane
“It seems only two of us will be emerging from this ally tonight,” I said in an even tone. They both hissed and launched at us. I caught one by the arms and he had mine in a vice grip; we were locked in an odd wrestle while Kai shoved the other vampire back with brute force. He had more strength and speed than a human, but he wasn’t at his peak unless he shifted into wolf form. I kicked the vampire I was wrestling in the chest and he slid back, hitting the concrete wall hard. I used my brief advantage to grab him by the throat and throw him down to the ground. I stepped on his windpipe, then bent down to snap his neck. Apparently, Arya sent spies with inferior fighting ability.
I quickly turned to find Kai in hand-to-hand combat with the other vampire. He had a bloody lip and bruised cheek already. He was mostly blocking and dodging the vampire’s blows, as he was the weaker in his human form. As I dashed over, Kai took a blow to his temple that dazed him. Before the vampire could hurt him further, I shouldered Kai’s assailant into the opposite wall. He recovered quickly and slapped me across the face wildly. I barely felt the hit, but Kai did. He let out an enraged growl and tackled the vampire to the ground. Kai crushed his windpipe and broke his neck easily with the added strength that came from his anger. It took Kai several deep breaths to calm down after his attacker was dead.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his tone gruff.
“Are you?” I replied.
“I’m fine…please tell me they didn’t hurt you.” Kai looked me over anxiously.
“No, they didn’t,” I said. Neither of them had the strength of a pureblood, nor the skill of a fighter,” I added. Kai gently took my face in his hands and made sure for himself.
“Honestly…I’m fine,” I said. He nodded and then took a deep breath.
“Why don’t you wait until daylight before going back to Prime Coven?” he asked. “Arya will assume her spies are still out because you are,” he said. “Please, it’ll make me feel better about your safety,” he said.
“Alright,” I said, nodding. “We should do something about them though,” I gestured to the bodies lying on the ground. Kai glanced down.
“You go upstairs and I’ll…figure something out,” he murmured. I went back inside, glancing over my shoulder every so often. I paced around the studio until Kai came back, twenty minutes later.
“What did you do with the bodies?” I asked.
“Tossed them in a dumpster,” he mumbled.
“Are you alright?” I went to study his bruises. His nose wasn’t that crooked; he’d likely popped the cartilage back into place.
“I’ll look good as new in a few minutes. I just need to wipe the blood off me,” he said. He went into the bathroom and I heard the shower turn on. Only after a moment’s hesitation did I join him. He let me wash him and we created our own atmosphere of brief peace for the rest of the night. It was rare that I shifted my sleep/wake pattern to that of a normal human’s or a werewolf. But I fell asleep in Kai’s arms and slept till morning.
“I had a weird dream…” Kai said. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and looked at him questioningly. “I don’t think I should have tossed those vampire corpses in the trash. It could lead Hunters sniffing around here,” he said.
“Well what else do you want to do with them?” I asked.
“Dump them in the woods,” he said, getting up. I didn’t understand his waking stress. Perhaps he was anxious about the pack meeting he would be attending later, or anxious in general about our situation. I didn’t think I’d return to the coven meeting at all. I thought I would stay in Kai’s studio until he was ready to head north.
“The woods?” I asked.
“It’s daytime. Hunter activity is low,” he said. As he got dressed, I rummaged around in his bureau for something I could wear.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“With you,” I said. “I can’t stay cooped up here while you’re gone,” I added. He sighed and helped me find a flannel shirt that looked like an oversized sweater on me. He even managed to find a pair of black exercise tights that weren’t too loose on me. Kai had a smaller pair of running shoes that I slid on as well.
We headed out to the garage. Kai drove a pickup truck, which already had a tarp handy in the flatbed. We drove to the dumpster he put the vampires’ bodies into. I could tell their skin was already starting to burn slowly from sun sensitivity. That told me they couldn’t have been fully pureblood.
I helped Kai load them into the truck and cover them up. “Forest Park would be a good place…” I suggested.
“You read my mind,” he said. We shared a brief smile, then he focused on the road. I studied the way his shoulders grew tense and his brows furrowed after a moment. He was getting caught up in thought.
“Talk to me Kai,” I said.
“Sorry I just…I got this bad feeling in my chest, you know?” he said.
“About what?” I asked.
“The war with the Hunters. Maybe it’s just guilt that I’ve been repressing, I don’t know. But what if we skip out and it turns out Hunters decimate our region?” he asked.
“Our kind are more than capable of dealing with the Hunters, I’m sure,” I said. “It isn’t our war anymore. Our fight is for us and our child; keeping him safe in a world of supernaturals and Hunters that will want to kill him,” I said.
“Yeah…you’re right,” he said and let out a deep breath. “You’re right.” I rubbed his back and felt him relax a bit. We drove to the forest and had to go off road in order to get the bodies out discreetly. Kai found a brush-filled ridge to conceal them in.
“I get into fatal fights all the time, but I’ve never felt like…a murderer,” I said slowly. Kai actually laughed.
“You’ve never stashed a body before?” he asked, laughing again.
“No, usually I just leave them where they lay,” I said. “Then again, all my fighting takes place in the forest.”
“Yeah, leaving bodies in the city gets tricky. Drawing ordinary human attention only draws Hunters’ attention,” he said.
As we turned to go back to the truck, I heard the snapping of a nearby branch. Immediately after, silent bullets sprayed our way. Kai and I quickly took cover behind a couple of thick trees. I peeked and saw three elite Hunters closing in on us.
“Fuck…they’re always around,” Kai growled. “Climb up Sophia,” he said.
“No, that’ll leave you vulnerable,” I said.
“You have two lives to think about and one of them isn’t mine,” he said. I huffed, but quickly clambered up into the tree. One of the Hunters departed from their three formation to gun Kai down. I chose to ignore his request for me to stay out of things and dropped down onto the Hunter just as he was about to reach Kai’s tree. I snatched the gun from him and shot him once in the head, before turning around to shoot at the other two, who were then forced to take cover.
“Sophia!” Kai yelled at me angrily. I tossed him the gun and climbed back up into the trees. But one of the Hunters started to shoot up at me. Kai quickly stepped out of cover to shoot at them while I found a safe thick branch to stand on. I couldn’t stand sitting by while Kai shouldered the danger for my sake. So I swiftly and quietly moved through the trees until I was behind the Hunters.
“Where’s the vampire?” the Hunter asked his partner.
“I lost sight of her,” the other answered.
“Well find her!”
Before another word could be said, I dropped down and snapped the shooter’s neck. The other stared at me in wide eyed shock. Kai took that time to shoot him dead.
“Why can’t you listen? I had a plan you know!” he said.
“I couldn’t live if you died and I’d done nothing to help you,” I told him. Kai kissed me hard when he reached me.
“Let’s get out of here, okay?” he said.
I nodded. But the forest wasn’t done with us yet. The sound of human footfalls was fast incoming behind us. Kai growled then shifted into his wolf form. His ears prick
ed to the left and he let out a long and loud howl. Meanwhile, I counted four more Hunters incoming. I took to the trees before Kai could make any gesture. He howled again and I finally heard the heavy, tearing sprint of two wolves coming to our aid. I waited until the wolves had the Hunters engaged in melee before dropping in to help. The wolves spared me shocked glances for fractions of a second. But we were all invested in the fight. Our odd group took out the Hunters with ease. Kai huffed at us and took off towards the truck. We all ran back to it. The wolves shifted and stared at me in wide-eyed shock as I got into the front with Kai. No one said a word as he sped away from the forest.
“Ah…um…Kai?” I pressed my lips together and glanced in the rear view mirror. One of the wolves I recognized. He was Kevin, Kai’s second. The other, a burly bulldog looking one, I didn’t recognize. He was staring a hole into the back of my head.
“Yep,” Kai said. His tone was almost carefree, as if my being in the car with them was perfectly normal.
“Why is there a vampire in your truck?” the bulldog asked.
“Relax Erickson, she’s…this is Sophia. The vampire I made it out of Gifford with,” he said. Erickson’s gaze softened the barest bit.
“So, you guys are talking again about fighting together?” Kevin asked. It seemed that he hoped Kai would agree without hesitation and he did.
“The vampires had their own conference about dealing with the Hunters. She wanted to talk to me about suggesting a coalition to Ephraim,” he lied smoothly.
“So, this is the Princess Sophia?” Erickson asked. I rolled my eyes.
“I go by Sophia and nothing else,” I said.
“So, the vamps want to work with us huh? Can’t handle the Hunters on their own?” Kevin asked.
“Neither would you all be able to. Not definitively anyway,” I said. Erickson huffed.
“Please. You came to us, there’s no shame in admitting it,” he said. Kai glanced at me with a slightly pleading look. I took a deep breath and then shrugged.
“Either way, it’s going to take a lot to flush them out of this region and cripple their ability to train more elite Hunters,” I said.
“I agree. That’s the first time we encountered the fully decked out Hunters,” Kevin said.
“What were the two of you doing in that forest anyway?” Kai asked. He sounded upset with them even though they had saved us.
“Erickson wanted to—”
“Don’t blame it on me Kevin,” Erickson barked.
“The both of you are acting like children,” Kai said in a stern voice. “Kevin, as Second you have responsibilities and standards to uphold and live up to. You just failed,” he said, truly upset then. “When are you going to stop acting like a kid?” he asked.
“Whoa Kai, relax. We were on the outskirts of the forest, not too deep in,” he said. “We wouldn’t have gotten into any trouble,” he said. Kai sighed in frustration and shook his head. I realized that once Kai left, Kevin would be his pack’s Alpha. Of course Kai would be upset at Kevin’s actions.
“This shit with the Hunters is serious,” Kai added.
“I got that Kai,” Kevin said respectfully.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he sighed.
“If she’s here to talk coalition, why don’t you bring her to the thing…?” Kevin asked.
“Are you kidding? Ephraim would not approve of that at all,” Erickson said.
“I’ll bring it up tonight, but I’m not dumb enough to bring Sophia along,” Kai said. Tongue in cheek, I glanced at him through the corner of my eye. He didn’t look at me.
“Fine, just drop me off downtown. We’ll talk further after this meeting,” I said. Kai nodded. He was so confident that his pack mates didn’t know of his studio that he dropped me off directly in front of the building. I exchanged a brief glance with him before getting out of the truck. His eyes asked me to trust him, so I did.
*
Kai
My temples were about to explode with a pressure migraine. I couldn’t watch Sophia get out of the truck and make sure she got upstairs safe. I had to act like I didn’t care about her, like I wasn’t in love with her and our growing baby in her belly. We were getting sucked into the soupy mess of the Hunter war.
“You look like you’re sucking on a lemon,” Kevin observed.
“What would you expect, he just spent time talking to a vampire,” Erickson said. I ignored them while driving back to my regular apartment. But that was seeming less and less like home. Oddly enough, the studio was what I went home to more often. Sophia’s scent lingered there. Both Kevin and Erickson lived nearby the regular apartment. They knew my expressions well enough not to follow me home. As soon as I got upstairs, I called Sophia and she answered on the second ring.
“Hey, you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine…bored without you here. But fine I suppose,” she said. Her voice sounded off, kind of annoyed.
“I’m sorry I had to act that way in the truck. You know I love you, right?” I said.
“I know Kai. Don’t worry, I’m not angry with you, nor do I blame you,” she sighed.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes, though I am afraid we’ve…gotten ourselves into a mess,” she said.
“Yeah…I have to say something at the meeting. Kevin likes to think the best of me, but Erickson? His thoughts and emotions can change on a dime,” I said.
It’s fine…say what you must at the meeting. But try not to sell the idea of working with the vampires. Maybe your pack leader council will overlook the suggestion,” she said.
“My ‘pack leader council’?” I asked, chuckling.
“You know what I mean,” she said, giving in to a short chuckle.
“I’ll try. I don’t know, maybe we should just get the hell out of here once and for all,” I mumbled.
“Do you really want to? Right now? I’ve gotten a sort of closure from my coven, but how about you?” she asked softly.
“No…I don’t have closure yet,” I admitted. But closure was something I think I needed. What if we both walked this fine line of never quite leaving because deep down we wanted to help with the war?
“Still there?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m here,” I said.
“After your meeting we’re out of here,” she said and I heard relief in her voice.
“I’ll uh, I’ll call you back in a little bit,” I said.
“Okay,” she said. I hung up and started to pace, mostly just to get away from my thoughts. But they caught up with me, along with my conscience. It was my pack…I couldn’t let them face an enemy that could potentially wipe them off the face of the planet. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that happened.
*
“Maybe you should have a drink before going in?” Kevin suggested. I glanced at him with a smirk.
“I look that stressed?” I asked.
“Yeah…look the way I see it, all you’re doing is making a suggestion. It’s not like you’re pitching something they have to accept. Or will shun you for saying,” he said.
“I don’t know, I’ve felt weird about today ever since I woke up,” I mumbled.
“Don’t dwell. It’s not like the Hunters are barreling through our meeting dens and sniffing out every wolf in town to off them,” he said. I nodded and took another deep breath.
“You’re right, thanks man,” I said. I forced myself to take a breath and then walked into one of the bars my father owned. It served as Gresham’s wolf den whenever a couple or more packs needed to meet up for any reason. The bar was shut down for the meeting. There were about thirty wolves gathered and one bartender, also a wolf. It was every alpha of the North Pacific and his or her Second. I went straight to the bar, per Kevin’s suggestion.
“I need your strongest bourbon,” I said.
“Comin’ right up,” he said. A second later I had a half glass of nerve balm. I took a couple swigs before g
oing to make my round of greetings. Ephraim intercepted me before I could get very far from the bar.
“Stressing?” he asked.
“A little bit, yeah. We had…an incident earlier today. Those elite Hunters are in Forest Park now,” I said.
“It’s exactly why we’re here. To figure out a way to stop the Hunters in their tracks and send them back to chasing deer and ducks,” he said. I chuckled and took another swig of my drink.
“Excuse me, I’ve gotta catch up with these folks,” I said. Ephraim nodded and I made my way around the room. My anxiety dulled as I caught up with old running mates from when I was in my twenties. I think the entire room needed the feeling of communion, that no matter what, we still had our original pack. Even though that was changing for me soon. Instead of getting all down about it, I found I was making my peace in leaving. The thing about going down memory lane was that it gave a person perspective. Who I was back then wasn’t me anymore. I was ready for the life I had envisioned with Sophia. I was ready for a new age. But the question of abandoning these guys to face one of our biggest adversaries still poked at the center of my chest.
*
Kai
Ephraim called the meeting to order
“Alright everyone, listen up. I don’t have to explain why we’re all here tonight. So, let’s just get right into it. We need to figure out a way to handle this Hunter situation. Any suggestions?”
It took everyone a second before jumping into the discussion.
Blue, an alpha nearly as old as my dad spoke up. “You know who we have in our back pockets. We can have weapons just as lethal as what the Hunters are packing in a matter of days,” he said. The room responded well to that.
“At the very least, we wouldn’t be wary about going for a run in the woods,” I added. The sounds of agreement continued. I chose that time to slip in my ‘small’ suggestion. “It’ll take a considerable force though, to cleanse the region of Hunters,” I started.
“That’s true, their numbers are well into the hundreds by now,” Blue said.
