Once Bitten

by Trina M. Lee

  I considered debating that but thought better of it. He was firm against me, and I drew a shuddery breath, conflicted. The energy buzzed hot around us and contrasted strangely with the rain.

  The comforting rhythm encouraged a partial shift. Fangs filled my mouth, and I clawed red lines in his arms with my nails. I was ready to beg or demand, when laughter rang out from eight floors above.

  “Hey buddy,” a drunken voice called. “Do your girl already. It’s getting cold out here.”

  Four guys stood on a balcony, gawking down at us. A streetlight gave them a perfect bird’s eye view. Arys grasped my hand and pulled me upright. He swiped the keys off the hood, pressed the unlock button, and shoved them into my hand.

  “Let’s go downtown. I need an easy victim, and you need-,” he stopped suddenly. He pressed his lips to mine, and his tongue tasted of my blood. “Well, this isn’t the time or place to give you what you need. We’ll get you more caffeine.”

  I gave the balcony gawkers a Hemi burnout as I cursed myself for messing around outside Lena’s. Thank God, she hadn’t caught us.

  My first stop was the nearest Tim Horton’s for an extra large coffee. All nerves, I couldn’t stop running my hand through my hair. Though the coffee did nothing to calm me, it was soothing nonetheless.

  After that, we hit a particularly seedy district of the downtown core, a prime locale for drugs and prostitutes. He promised to be quick; he’d dispatch one of the local vermin, and hopefully, ease my hunger. I didn’t think it would work, but I had my fingers crossed.

  “So you want me to wait here?” I asked for the second time since we had parked behind the dingy bar.

  “Yes, just wait here. I won’t be long. And, lock the doors.”

  I thought he was full of shit but nodded anyway. “Will do, chief.”

  Arys blended into the shadows so well that even I could barely spot him. The stereo played softly, which eased the heavy feeling that I was about to watch a murder.

  I waited. The scent of coffee filled the inside of the car. My wet clothes left me chilled despite the heat at full blast. The headlights were off, but I wasn’t killing the engine in this part of town for anything. Soon enough, a shape emerged from between the bar and the vacant building next door.

  As the shape approached the obscured vampire, it revealed two people. A woman that looked far too young to sell her body, and a man old enough to be her father. Arys grabbed the man by the shoulders and jerked him hard enough to lose his footing. The woman screamed and turned to run. I held my breath, afraid that Arys would stop her, but he let her go. Screams in this part of town rarely garnered response.

  The noise from the radio seemed to fade away. I felt like I was watching the scene before me on an old movie reel. The rain and the vampire brought to mind a classic horror film.

  I didn’t flinch. I didn’t even blink when Arys pulled the man into his embrace and sank his fangs deep into the human’s throat. Time seemed to stop, and I remembered Arys killing the nameless woman behind Lucy’s. I had liked it then, and God help me, I liked it now.

  My predator grew hungry, and I should have been alarmed at my pleasure, but it just felt so right, so natural. My wolf thought nothing of my arousal at the kill. I, however, felt ashamed to be turned on as I watched the vampire take the man’s life. My self-control barely kept me from jumping Arys the moment that the passenger door opened.

  “Holy hormones,” Arys commented; the fresh energy rolled off him and tantalized my senses. “What have you been doing in here without me?”

  “Shut up.” My cheeks burned hot. I felt stupid and awkward as two very different natures warred inside me with their differing views.

  Arys chuckled, and I used driving as a welcome distraction. I cracked open my window to allow the breeze and raindrops to hit my face as I gave myself a mental shake.

  Lena was right. This was about control. Right now, I worried about that snarling wolf who didn’t enjoy being told no.

  “Do you need another coffee? Or just a cold shower?” Arys smirked and even in the dim car interior, I could see that he wore not even a drop of blood; that must come with experience.

  “I don’t think even the coldest shower would help me now.” I navigated a construction detour before glancing at him again. “Thanks to you.”

  “Oh please,” he replied with a dramatic lilt to his voice. “You flatter me too much. Really. It isn’t good for my ego.”

  “Isn’t that the God’s honest truth?” I made a sound of absolute disgust, and he laughed merrily.

  I got on to the freeway exit that would lead us back to Stony. Before I could cuss out the guy who cut me off, my cell phone rang with a blast of “Cliffs of Dover.” I grabbed the noisy thing expecting Shaz or Ky. Instead, the number on the display made me cringe.

  “It’s Raoul,” I muttered. “I wonder what he wants. If my vampire magic is so corrupt then maybe he can just leave a voice mail.”

  Arys cocked his head to one side. “Maybe you should answer it.”

  I raised an eyebrow to question his sanity, but he just shrugged. My curiosity piqued;

  against my better judgment, I pressed the green button.

  “Hello?” I sounded properly sharp and impatient, but Raoul completely ignored me.

  His frantic ramble came loud enough for Arys to hear. At first, the only words I could decipher were “Belle”, “shower” and “dead”. Whatever he’d said, it didn’t sound good.

  “Ok, you’ve got to repeat that; I can barely catch what you’re saying.”

  “Oh fuck, Alexa, I’m so screwed. I should have told you.” His terror put my heart in overdrive; adrenaline hit me full force. Raoul was a professional, a businessman, and a self righteous jackass; I had never heard him speak like that.

  “What in the hell is going on?” I put the phone on speaker as I sped down the highway.

  “I’m at home with Belle. We’d been in bed together. I just went to the bathroom … to shower.” His voice broke and he paused. The silence in that moment was deafening.

  “When I came out … fuck, Alexa, she’s dead. In my bed, as I speak.”

  My driving went to shit, and I was thankful for the deserted highway. I was stricken;

  I felt my face pale. I was at a loss for words.

  “Um, ok,” I said, stalling to think. “How long ago was this? Is anyone in the house?”

  “I just found her. Nobody’s here. Not anymore anyway. I know I’m a jackass for saying this but, will you come?”

  I met Arys’ calm gaze and found no answer within it. “Alright,” I said; I whiteknuckled the wheel. “We’ll be there in twenty minutes. Hang tight.”

  “We?” Despite his fear, that one didn’t slip past him.

  “Yeah, Arys is with me. And I’m not walking in there without him.” I was hoping he didn’t mind that I’d volunteered him.

  “Fine, whatever. Just come. I’m calling some of the guys for added security. See you soon?”

  “Yeah, see you soon.” I turned my phone off with a beep and focused on the dark road.

  “And you’re perfectly certain that this werewolf isn’t offing all of these women himself?” I could hear the grin in the vampire’s tone.

  “Well, I was. I mean, I really don’t think that he is. You don’t mind coming with?”

  He dragged out the silence to make me sweat. I thought he was declining until I sensed him reach for me in the dark. I didn’t wave him away; I was worried, and I let myself take comfort in his touch. His fingers lingered softly on the small bite inside my elbow.

  “Anything you need, Alexa, I’m there.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  When we pulled onto Raoul’s street, two of our pack, Zak and Julian, approached the door; they were best buds who clashed over every little thing. Raoul glanced outside suspiciously before he rushed them inside. He paused when he noticed the Charger crawling along the block.

  Without burnouts or tire squealing, I parked three doo
rs down. I shivered when the breeze hit my damp clothing. Arys ambled casually as he followed me up the walk.

  “Hey,” I said before we reached the door. “I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but nobody in this house needs to know all of the ways we’re connected.”

  Raoul wasn’t quite sure what to think of me as it was. If he knew that I had full access to Arys’ power, he’d probably tell me that he could handle impending doom all on his own. Or, would he? Raoul knew he needed help, or he wouldn’t have called, not this time. Raoul’s face was visible from the window, and he looked like a nervous hen rather than the bold wolf.

  “So, you don’t want them to know we’re sleeping together and can share power like a vampire and wolf hybrid that even Hollywood couldn’t dream up. Got it.” He flashed me a sly wink and pinched my ass.

  “No, no, no.” I held up a hand. “We are not sleeping together. We slept together. Past tense. And, funny comment coming from a guy who turned me down less than an hour ago.”

  “Right.” Head cocked to the side, he studied me pensively. I didn’t like it. “That was different; you needed your hunger quenched. Your desire was under influence. When you come to me under your own free will because of your own feminine wants, that will be different.”

  “Oh,” I scoffed. “Like it was my own free will the last and only time?” It had seemed pretty power influenced to me.

  “Wasn’t it?” He asked with a grin that spoke volumes of wickedness. Before I could reply, he rang the doorbell, which left me to choke on my retort.

  The scent of death struck me, and my heart rate increased. Arys glanced at me with a puzzled expression. I wondered what he was sensing that I might not be. There was a negative energy lingering around the place that screamed of hate and vengeance.

  I swallowed hard; inside, I would look at Belle’s dead body. There was certainly no love lost between us, but this was not what I wanted.

  “Thank you for coming,” Raoul attempted politeness but eyed the vampire skeptically. “I wouldn’t have if I were you. Not after the way I treated you last time.”

  I waved off his apology before the moment got more awkward. Blood and violence coated the atmosphere inside the house with a thick, uncomfortable energy, and I wrinkled my nose in distaste. The pungent odor did nothing to excite me; one of my own lay dead.

  When Arys followed me inside, both Julian and Zak did a double take. Few Weres liked dealing with the notorious vampire. He was known for his ability to make life unpleasant for others when the urge struck him. Not one of them offered him a hand in greeting.

  “So what the hell happened exactly?” I asked; I looked around, but the elaborate sitting room hadn’t changed since I’d been there last.

  “You guys want to man the front and back doors?” Raoul’s dark eyes flicked back and forth between the Zak and Julian. “I’m going to show Alexa upstairs.”

  I swallowed hard and stared at Raoul. The most powerful werewolf in our pack was pale and shaky. Even a human could have smelled his fear. He knew what was really going on here, and I vowed to get it out of him before I left.

  He led the way upstairs. The air was thick with Belle’s blood. My stomach tightened, and I fought the urge to cover my mouth to avoid tasting the air.

  “I swear, Alexa, I just left her for a few minutes.” Raoul hesitated outside the door to the master bedroom. “The only evidence that someone else had been in the room was the open window. We’d had it closed.”

  It had been a long time since I’d been in Raoul’s bedroom. Thankfully, this was no time for embarrassing memories.

  To my absolute astonishment, Arys stepped forward and laid a hand gently on Raoul’s shoulder. “Don’t feel like you have to go in there again. We can take it from here.”

  “Yeah, Raoul,” I added. “Don’t torture yourself. Maybe you should call Fox to get a place prepared for Belle.”

  Fox Matthews, a city werewolf, specializes in medicine. He helps with injury, illness and, unfortunately, death; we can’t go to human doctors with vampire bites and claw marks. With Fox’ help, we had laid more than one wolf to rest within the trees and forests beyond town. Belle would be in good company. Fox helped with the ruse that they’d simply gone missing; if the coroner got his hands on a Were’s corpse, we’d face disaster.

  Raoul looked at us with obvious relief but slowly backed away from the door.

  “Sure.” He nodded and grasped the rail at the stairs. “I’ll make some calls. Maybe make some coffee. Do you guys want any?” He paused, looked at Arys then shook his head.

  “Sorry.”

  “Make coffee; use the phone. We’ll be down in a few minutes.” I rushed him downstairs; his nerves created a raw energy that bit at my skin in all the wrong places.

  He descended the stairs and turned the corner before I reached for the door handle.

  The knob was cold and smooth in my hand. I must have held it a split second too long because Arys tried to step in.

  “Do you want me to go first?” he asked. When I shot him a dirty look, he added, “It’s not personal. I never knew her. Well, except for that one time.”

  My cheeks grew hot, and I shoved the door open with more force than was necessary. He was joking at a time like this, or at least, he damn well better be joking.

  I took in the sight of the bedroom and forgot my irritation. I almost slipped on something slick as I stepped through the doorway. If Arys hadn’t been within grabbing distance, I would have landed on my butt in the mess.

  “Oh, this is a nice one,” Arys remarked, completely unaffected.

  He gave the murder scene before us an all-appraising glance, like an artist surveying the latest creation of another. I knew the things that he’d done in his time; I saw them through my own eyes. Arys had done so much worse than this.

  I started at the foot of the bed, unable to look at her face yet. I could only recognize Belle’s bleached blonde hair, well, what remained blonde anyway. Most of it was a bright red or dulled to rust. She was not dismembered. With Raoul in the shower, I doubted that the attacker had time to be creative.

  Blood covered the duvet on the bed as well as the wall behind it. I wondered how Belle had that much blood. A trail of splatters fell in a line across the expensive grey Berber carpet. Even her pretty, pink toenail polish was dotted with scarlet smears. I was dying to take a deep breath but the air was rank with the sickly sweet scent of werewolf blood.

  Two gaping wounds caused the entire mess. One ran straight down, from her surgically enhanced breasts to her pubic region. Although exceptionally straight, a few jagged tears indicated that a clawed human hand created the slice; I call them as I see them.

  The other wound was in her neck. Her throat was torn wide open, exposing gruesome tissue and bone. Her vacant blue eyes had rolled up to stare at the ceiling.

  “Oh God, Belle.” The words slipped out, and I reached to touch her but didn’t. I briefly debated calling Max in but dismissed it. The clairvoyant had the most amazing gift that I’d ever seen, but like most of them, he was loathe to use it.

  I stared at Belle for a long, silent moment. Finally, I pulled the blood stained sheet to hide her nakedness. My hand lingered, and I trailed it through her silky locks simply because she was one of my own. As I gazed down into her dead stare, I was livid.

  Someone dared to take what Raoul and I protected. His human lovers weren’t mine, but Belle, she was pack. Somebody was going to pay for this.

  “Tell me what you feel,” I breathed.

  “You don’t feel anything?” Arys asked and stepped nearer.

  “I feel a lot of things. But, there’s so much here, and the smells are overwhelming.”

  The energy in the room created a swarm of sensations, a fuzz inside my head; I waved a hand to indicate the carnage around us. “I’m not quite sure what I’m feeling. Something is off.”

  He studied me and then slowly walked the room’s perimeter. “The blood scent overpowers your Alpha’
s fear, but the rage… It lingers everywhere.”

  He stopped near the bed and looked down at Belle. He saw something that I couldn’t see, which created a metaphysical itch that ate at me. His thought taunted me like an idea on the tip of my tongue.

  “Who would do this?” I asked, not expecting an answer, but I felt the weight of Arys’ questioning stare.

  “Somebody with a serious vendetta. Your Alpha has been a really bad boy. You really can’t pick up that energy?”

  “He’s not my Alpha.” I crossed my arms over my chest, which only drew the vampire’s eyes to my breasts. “Yes, I can feel something, Arys, but I can’t identify it. I have been around for several decades; you’ve seen centuries. Don’t make me feel inferior just because I don’t know what I’m sensing. It smells human, but it doesn’t feel that way. It’s hard to pick out any scent beneath the blood and death.”

  His hands came to rest on my forearms, and he gazed deep into my eyes. The now familiar heat within my core began to grow at his touch. He pulled my arms apart despite my childish resistance and gave me a slight shake.

  I frowned; “Arys, what are you-,” “Shh.” He placed one finger lightly on my lips to silence me. “Loosen up. Concentrate. Seriously, Alexa, listen to me.”

  I wanted to listen, to allow his voice to draw me in. I leaned into his touch and savored his cool power.

  “Shake off the need to be wolf,” Arys continued. “Smell, sound, sight … these things won’t serve you here. You have to go beyond those senses. Tap into what makes you more than wolf or woman.”

  Even amid the death and destruction, my eyes closed of their own accord. The overpowering smells that crowded my sensitive nose seemed to dissipate as I saw the world through an aural haze. I opened my eyes, and Arys’ midnight blue aura shone faintly around him. My own yellow gold surrounded me. I gave a small gasp; the two energies reached for one another. They formed a small arc between us like a rainbow of swirling golden blue.

  I shook off the fascination of our entwined auras and concentrated. I was able to clearly isolate the remnants of energy left behind by both Belle and her killer. I felt Arys;