by Sonja Bair
Gina and Rex both tensed to attack Amir and Julia, but Alrik held them back with a single glare.
“So why are you telling us this now?” I asked.
“We have let them go for too long,” said Julia, “and they have gathered a force now, a foolish misled group of werewolves that see them as saviors. It’s a bigger problem than Amir and I can handle—we need help. Gina and Rex need to be stopped. To be killed.”
This time, the glare from Alrik didn’t stop Gina from jumping up and snarling, “You talk about us like we aren’t here.”
Amir didn’t move. “And you said only a few minutes ago that you will rip out our throats. Let’s not fool ourselves. This situation will end with death—either yours or ours. And right now, this room is one of the only places we can all sit together and discuss things like civil beings.”
“What is there left to discuss? I look forward to killing you.” Gina hissed her words between clenched teeth, her eyes blazing with hatred. “Come on, Rex, let’s go meet with our foolish, misled group of werewolves. It’s time for action.”
Rex looked uncomfortable at his twin’s words. He turned toward his adoptive parents, anger clear in his tensed muscles, but the murderous rage of his sister wasn’t present. He, did, however, turn back and follow her out the door.
He’s the key to stopping this situation without bloodshed, I thought. We somehow need to get Rex alone and talk some sense into him.
The front door slammed, shaking the windows in their casements.
Silence filled the room for a moment, no one sure how to handle the situation. I reached down and pretended to pick something up of the floor. Holding up my imaginary object, I turned to each person in the room, “Anybody lose their glove? Because I seem to have a gauntlet thrown down on my floor…”
Silence again.
I held my hand close to my face and studied the invisible object. “It appears to be covered in fur, looks… wolvish, maybe? No one? Oh well, maybe it’s better if no one claims it. There seems to be a whiff of blood about it.”
“Your humor is unappreciated, Freya,” Julia sniffed.
“Ah, Julia,” Viktor replied before I could. “Perhaps humor is the only proper reaction at the moment. Besides, would anything else be better?”
“An apology would be better,” said Amir. “We have dragged you into our mess.”
“Did anyone else notice Rex’s reaction?” I asked, dropping my act. “He was angry for sure, but his madness needle wasn’t pegged quite as much as Gina’s.”
“Yes, Rex has always been less emotional than his twin,” said Amir. “But he is also easier to influence—he sways to the strongest wind. And his sister is blowing the hardest right now.”
“So we need to separate him from Gina and talk some moderation into him,” I answered.
“Showing the logic of moderation is a surprisingly ineffective tool against fanatics.” David entered the conversation. “He’s bound to be running almost completely on emotions right now.”
“Okay, I’m open to a better idea—that doesn’t involve killing them.” I stared directly at Amir and Julia for the last part.
Silence was the only answer.
Chapter 35
Hours later, all of us—minus Viktor and Tilde, who had dismissed themselves shortly after Gina and Rex left—were despondently sitting around the kitchen table trying to brainstorm non-killing options, although Amir and Julia were still in favor of murder. Silently, I wondered if the only reason the Alphas were still in my house was its neutral zone status, although I wasn’t sure if Gina and Rex would consider it the residential equivalent of Switzerland as well.
The remains of our Chinese take-out surrounded us. I had been surprised that Alrik had not complained as loud or long as normal when I had suggested the option for lunch. Perhaps he was acquiring a taste for General Tso’s Chicken or maybe I had just worn him down over time. Or perhaps he was eating it without complaint in hopes of convincing me that he could be a tolerant significant other.
He’s a good man, I thought and checked my stomach to see if it was doing flips over his actions. Nope. I was sure in my decision, but I didn’t want to have the conversation, and it needed to be done soon. Alrik was too good a man for me to string on. And David was too good a man to put off anymore. Even a quick glance in his direction caused my stomach to flutter. I smiled to myself—that conversation with him, on the other hand, I couldn’t wait to have.
My vibrating back pocket pulled me out of the salacious daydream which, of course, was about to get to the good part. Seeing that it was my sister, I answered it. After the usual pleasantries, Elin asked a question which caused me to stand up and grab the table for support.
“No, I’m not planning anything.” I snapped my fingers at the rest of the group to get their attention. “No, I didn’t tell a bunch of people to go to the spring at your ranch. Crap, Elin, something big and bad is going down right now in the werewolf world—don’t leave the house. Is Drew with you? No? Double crap. Listen, lock all the doors, get a gun, hide somewhere, and shoot anybody that isn’t family… I don’t care that your art director is there, make up some lame excuse... I’m coming out there right now… Yes, I’ll bring reinforcements... Stay safe and I love you. Call me if anything else happens.”
I hung up the phone, collapsed into my chair, and gripped my head in terror. “There’s a whole bunch of people congregating at the place where we initiated Gina into our pack. And Elin is there. I’m not psychic, but my human sister is very near to a whole bunch of werewolves who think that sacrificing innocent humans will keep themselves alive. I think I can guess what they are planning.”
“Are Gina and Rex there?” David asked.
“I don’t know. Good question. I’ll call her and ask.” I grabbed my phone but couldn’t remember how to unlock it. After five attempts, I gave up and pitched it with all my strength across the room.
“Alrighty, I’ll call her.” David’s voice was composed and reassuring as he pulled out his own phone. “Hello, Elin, I’m with Freya. We are wondering if you have seen Gina or Rex on your property... No? Have you seen Freya’s car? They may have been driving it... No? Okay, that’s a good thing. There’s a large and capable group headed out your way right now to deal with this situation. I’d suggest following Freya’s advice to lay low for a while… Yes, I will call you with updates… You be safe too.”
As soon as David hit the END button, I was shouting like a maniac. “Gina and Elin never got along but if Gina dare touch a hair on my sister’s head, I will scalp her myself. Elin’s already been dragged into supernatural nonsense. I will NOT allow her to be hurt again, do you understand?” I whipped around in anger and glared at everyone.
“Okay, we understand,” said David in a voice perfectly pitched to be calming but not condescending. “Let’s go out there and see what’s going on.”
Five angry supernaturals didn’t fit into one vehicle, so we divided into the two cars at the end of the driveway—Amir’s and Alrik’s. I gave Amir precise directions to Elin’s house in case we got separated, which was wise since Alrik got stuck between two semi-trucks lumbering up the grade whereas Amir was able to scoot around them using the lucky timing of a side street. I didn’t care that they passed us; it meant that help could arrive at Elin’s ranch faster. I kept checking in with Elin, but there was little change—a few more people arrived, but no Gina or Rex. Reassuring as the phone calls were, I worried about when reception would drop to nothing as we passed the outskirts of the last town and headed into the miles of nothing leading to her ranch. The last bar on my phone blinked off, blinked back on, but then finally gave up. We were in dead space now.
The roads were full of hairpin turns which snaked around the craggy foothills before the terrain flattened slightly to the rolling hills where Elin lived. Amir was in the lead, accelerating through the tight corners, but not as fast as I would have taken it, especially in his car, which was much sportier than my own. Tappi
ng the armrest in frustration, I leaned my head against the head rest and closed my eyes. A moment later, Alrik’s voice brought me back to the situation.
“Freya, there’s a car ahead of Amir. I’m only getting flashes of it since the curves are so tight here, but I think it might be your car.” As we swept through the next turn, I could see that he was right. My car was only a few hundred feet ahead of us, but had been hidden by the bends in the road.
Glancing at the speedometer, Alrik said, “Amir must have recognized them too. He’s speeding up.”
The centripetal force increased as we accelerated faster and faster through the bends, pressing me first against the car door, then abruptly switching, causing me to brace myself against the center panel. My stomach roiled in protest of the violent direction changes.
Catching up with the other cars, we became a strange, ever-changing parade, with three cars visible, then two, then only ourselves as we rounded each bend.
“How good are the Eagle’s tires, Freya?” David asked from the backseat.
“Not fabulous,” I replied. “I meant to replace them as a Christmas present to myself. So, yeah, I don’t know how well they’re sticking to the road right now.” I rolled the window down slightly and listened. Yes, in fact, I could hear the squealing of tires as the Eagle lost traction around the bend. But Alrik kept accelerating, which meant the twins were, too.
“How long until we are out of this twisty section?” asked Alrik.
“A few more curves and then it breaks into an overlook and a long downhill into their valley.”
“Why are we chasing them through these dangerous curves?” David asked from the backseat. “Freya’s car doesn’t have the horsepower for a car chase on the straight sections of road and we can easily catch up with them in the flat miles before the ranch. This is a treacherous place for a car chase.”
His words hung in the air without a response, but as we squealed around the next bend there, right at eye level, a child-sized, white ghost hovered four feet above the road. Alrik swore but plowed right into it, overcoming the natural instinct to jerk the wheel and then tumble us off a cliff or into the incoming traffic. The ghost—no, it was merely a plastic bag—rippled violently on the windshield, angrily pounding its white handles and shredded plastic at us. Alrik slowed down and flipped on the windshield wipers to brush off the bag, but the plastic trash responded by burrowing a tentacle under the wipers and hanging on for dear life. He swore again—the bag wasn’t going anywhere and it was blocking his view.
“The overlook is coming up on your right,” I said. “We need to get this thing off the car.”
Alrik grunted an acknowledgment and turned on a blinker. We scooted over to the small gravel patch on the side of the road, pulled in next to another car, and I hopped out. Leaning over the windshield, I grabbed the plastic and yanked it free.
“Well, howdy, friend Freya. Fancy meetin’ you here.”
The voice was all too familiar. My heart simultaneously dropped to my stomach and jumped into my throat. I froze, bent over the windshield, not daring to turn around.
“I’ll admit it’s a nice view an’ all, but I’d much prefer to see your beautiful face.”
Taking a deep breath, I turned to face yet another problem.
“Such a coincidence seeing you, Nick Smith. Or should I call you Nikolas Andersson?”
“I see you’ve been chattin’ with my old, dear friend Viktor.” He sat with one foot crossed over the other knee, arms sprawled wide on the picnic table behind him, smiling broadly.
“I don’t know if Viktor would call you a friend.” I heard car doors open then slam behind me as David and Alrik joined me.
“Ahhhh, now that’s disappointin’ to hear. He was such a dear, sweet kid back then.” He shook his head in feigned distress, but the professed emotion was not making it into his body language. “Time changes all of us, I guess. Or most of us, at least.”
“Why are you here right now?”
“Chaos, my darlin’. You know the answer to that question.”
“Did you make us pull over here?”
“Did I make that plastic bag get caught in your windshield? Who could do that? But brake lines, on the other hand, I’ll admit to have trouble fixin’.”
“What are you talking about?”
David, now standing next to me, answered. “He helped Gina with the Eagle the other day. The bastard probably messed with your brakes.”
“Didn’t mess with ‘em.” Nick sat up straight and grinned broader. “Just noticed a rusty brake line and didn’t bother mentionin’ it. Your pup, Gina, for all her boastin’, doesn’t know a gas cap from a gasket. In fact, she herself may have bumped and jostled some brake lines that shouldn’ta been bumped and jostled, takin’ a certain problem from bad to worse. Probably wouldn’t be an issue though, unless you were drivin’ hard and fast around tight curves…”
“Which she is right now.” I finished his sentence.
“Well, nothin’ you can do about it, so might as well take a seat and enjoy the view.”
“What do you mean?”
Alrik pointed down the overlook. “There’s Gina with Amir right behind her. She’s almost down onto the straightaway.”
“Yup,” said Nick as he turned to look down the slope. “Only one more curve to negotiate. I’m sure she’ll be fine…”
But the last curve was a hairpin around a final sharp elevation drop and Gina was pushing the Eagle faster than I would have dared in the scenario. Amir slowed down, but Gina, maybe seeing the distance growing between them, didn’t decrease her speed.
“Slow down please...” I whispered and instinctively grabbed David’s hand in fear. The red rear lights flashed at us but the Eagle didn’t slow down. The lights flashed on and off as Gina pumped what I could only assume were the non-existent brakes. Perhaps understanding the situation, the brake lights stopped and the front wheels of the Eagle turned, trying to match the curve, but at her current speed, the car couldn’t overcome its forward momentum and plowed straight toward the edge of the drop-off. The front wheels hit the shoulder and the gravel slowed the vehicle slightly, but the back had too much momentum, spinning the car so it was now sliding sideways. Skipping across the gravel, the inertia of the sideways slide tilted the Eagle over to the passenger side so the driver side wheels hung in the air a few inches.
A thin metal guardrail was now the only thing between them and the cliff. A resounding boom, then shrieks of crumpling metal reached us as the Eagle plowed sideways against the rail. For a heartbeat, it looked like the barrier would be enough to stop the car, but ultimately the energy of the collision was too much for the rail. The metal split, yanking out the buried wooden posts and flinging splinters and dirt into the air. Shouldering through the rail, the Eagle slowed but didn’t stop, skipping sideways on two wheels. The drop-off was three feet away, two feet, one foot, then a tire slipped off the edge. The car hovered momentarily, tipping back and forth over the empty air. But the speed that Gina originally brought into the curve was too much. The Eagle dropped off the ledge and started rolling down the hill. Tires flashed up, then the side, then roof. Over and over, the car rolled down the steep incline. Metal screeched and ground on the rocks, creating sparks which showered all around the car. The slope flattened toward the bottom and the car slowed its tumble, now almost lazily flipping from one side to another. At the bottom of the incline, the Eagle flopped onto its wheels, seeming to settle on its tires before one last modicum of inertia pushed it over onto the passenger side.
Then there was silence. After the cacophony of the crash, the silence hung heavy in the air. There was no motion from the Eagle.
I dragged my eyes away from the remains of the car up the hill, searching for Rex and Gina’s parents. Two small figures scrambled through the shredded remains of the guardrail, headed full speed toward the steep drop. Though they were far away, the recklessness with which they were throwing themselves toward the hill spoke of parenta
l panic for their children rather than the murderous rage from before.
“I’m flying down.” I turned to David and Alrik. “Amir and Julia are going to kill themselves going down that hill. And I can get down there before they can. You guys follow me in by foot and maybe between all of us, we can get Rex and Gina out of there and to a hospital. Oh sweet God, if they are still alive. Let them be alive.”
“No, no, no. You will not fly down there. I have worked too hard at this for you to meddle now.” There was an angry snap to Nick’s voice that was a sharp contrast to his usual indolent tone. Perhaps realizing his act had slipped, he resumed his lazy drawl. “Besides, you won’t get there in time and would miss the little scene I believe is about to unfold. And I would be downright sad if that happened. No, ya’ll should just have a seat right here next to me on this picnic bench.”
Unbelievably, both Alrik and David slumped forward, nearly tripping over their own feet to reach the table. As I reached out to grab them and pull them back, I realized the problem. My arms were leaden blocks attached to my body and wouldn’t lift higher than an inch or two even with a herculean effort. So I too stumbled toward the table, trying to reach it before I fell flat on my face. I barely made it to the table to slump to a seat on the bench next to Nick.
“That’s better,” said Nick. “Now sit back and enjoy the show.” He draped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. Much to my disgust, my extreme fatigue and lack of control meant his actions caused my head to fall onto his shoulder. But the disgust was replaced with a mix of relief and fear as I spotted motion down by the now-totaled Eagle. The driver’s side door jerked up, then banged closed. Another push of the door skyward and a head of brown hair appeared. Gina wiggled through the door, getting as far as her waist before she tumbled down what used to be the roof of the car and landed headfirst on the rocky valley floor. She pushed herself to her knees, swaying side to side. A curtain of hair hid her face, but her clothes were ripped to tatters and bloodstained. Glancing back at the car, I silently begged for the door to push open again and see Rex’s head appear, but it remained motionless.
