by Dean Murray
"Are you okay?"
He started a little and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. I just wasn't expecting any of this. I mean, Dom's like frickin' Jason Bourne. Not only that, she pushed that car like it didn't weigh anything."
I found myself sighing. Albert was the last person I would have wanted to drag into the craziness of pack life. He was just so painfully normal. Even as a rock star, he was just so completely down to earth.
"Sorry, but you're probably not going to want to talk to anyone about any of that. If Danny says anything about the phone call he overheard just tell him Dom's a little loopy."
"Are you going to be okay? I mean, they've got your number and some of what I overheard Dom say sounded like she was telling someone to make sure nobody could link your number back to your address."
I nodded. I'd actually never even seriously considered that I wouldn't be okay. Dom and the pack always made sure that everything worked out okay.
"I should be fine. Dom will let me know for sure, but if Plan A to protect me doesn't work then she and Alec will have a Plan B and a Plan C lined up already."
Albert nodded absently but I could tell he was already thinking about something else. Several more seconds of silence passed and then he looked back up at me and smiled.
"You know, before we picked you guys up tonight, I thought the worst thing that would happen was that you might turn me down when I invited you to come see Les Misérables with me over Christmas."
"You didn't ask me to go see Les Mis with you."
He shrugged. "I was planning on doing it towards the end of the date, but I didn't count on Danny being quite so obnoxious or on Ben dragging us into some kind of CIA op. I guess I'm asking you now."
Mention of Danny reminded me of the 'parties' that the rest of the band had gone to, but which Albert had sat out.
"Can I ask you something first?"
"Sure, just don't sell my answer to the tabloids."
I rolled my eyes at him and then just jumped right in. "You've had to take down the last couple of shows pretty much by yourself..."
Albert shook his head and then stared at the ceiling for a moment. "Danny really is an idiot. No wonder Dom didn't like him. I didn't expect anything to happen there, not with James in the picture, but how stupid do you have to be to talk about other girls when you're on a date?"
"So why didn't you go with the rest of the guys? Don't get me wrong—I think that's admirable—but that's hardly the kind of thing you expect a guy our age to abstain from."
I'd made him uncomfortable, but he gamely hung in there and gave me an answer.
"I could tell you that I figured you wouldn't approve, and that would mostly be true, but that's not all. I guess I've always been a romantic. Someday, I'd like to find that one person who makes me excited to get out of bed in the morning. Joining in with the rest of the band would have just been going through the motions. I'd rather wait and have the real thing."
He was practically perfect. We had a history and he made me laugh, but what I felt for him wasn't the feeling he was describing. Even if he thought he felt that way about me right now, it still wouldn't be right. That kind of feeling couldn't be sustained unless it was mutual.
"Albert, what I'm about to say isn't easy. In fact, it's a lot harder than I expected it to be. I can't go to Les Misérables with you because I'm not that person. I really wish I could be, but I'm not."
He met my gaze fearlessly and then nodded. "You knew that before we went out tonight."
"I didn't know for sure, but I suspected. It was hard for me to separate everything out from the friendship I feel for you, so it took a little while to really decide."
"Fair enough. Why did you ask me about the 'parties' then? You'd already made your decision by then."
"I guess I just wanted to know how good of a guy you are. It...well, it seemed only fair to know what it was I was saying no to. It made it harder, but it was the right thing to do. I respect you even more than I did before. I hope us not working out doesn't make you change your views there."
Albert's shoulders dropped a little but he shook his head. "Just because you're 'not that girl' doesn't mean anything else has changed. Can I ask you a question now?"
"Yeah. I'll try to answer whatever you want to know."
"Is it Graves? Is he the reason?"
I would have been less shocked if he'd reached over and slapped me. Not just because of the question, but because of the way every fiber of my being yelled that it was indeed Alec who was the reason Albert and I couldn't be together.
"I...I guess it is. If you'd asked me that a week ago, I probably would have said no, but I think Alec is part of the reason that I'm not the one for you."
"I thought the two of you were over. I've heard that he's dating someone else now."
My nod was jerky, but I managed to keep the tears at bay.
"We are. We're through, but that doesn't mean that I don't still love him. I left him, but I still love him desperately. I'm sorry, Albert. I didn't mean to lead you on; I've just been in denial this whole time. It's stupid. I should move on, but I can't. I can't go back and I can't move on. I'm just stuck here with no way out."
Albert reached out and wiped a tear off of my left cheek. "You'll figure it out, Adri. You're special somehow. Every guy in school could see it almost from the first day you arrived in Sanctuary, it was just that only Brandon and Alec had the guts to go for it. I'd better go. I know I'm absolutely no help in the crazy world that you, Ben and Dom seem to live in, but if you need something, just call me and I'll do whatever I can to help you. Always."
Chapter 11
Dominic Sanchez
Upper East Side
Manhattan, New York
I'd felt bad eavesdropping on Albert and Adri, but they hadn't activated their privacy generator and after everything that had happened over the last couple of hours, I hadn't been able to justify turning mine on while I still wasn't sure whether or not we'd managed a clean getaway. It had been obvious that Albert was head over heels for Adri, but it was harder than I'd expected to hear him admit it and then hear her turn him down. They were both such nice people. I kept wishing that there was a way for me to help them find happiness, Adri especially.
I'd quietly called a car service as their conversation had wound down. A motorcycle would have gotten Albert to his show faster, but that wasn't a particularly smart way to go during the winter, so there wasn't anything to do but get a car and hope the driver would be able to get him there on time. I walked Albert downstairs, told him a car was on the way, and reiterated the need for secrecy about everything that had happened.
He despondently affirmed that he'd be discreet, and then seemed to want to be alone so I returned upstairs and found Adri crying in her room with the door shut. I debated going in there to try and comfort her, but then my phone started ringing.
It was Ash. "Okay, I think we've got all the loose ends tied up. My guy has deleted the entry for Adri's sim card. You'll have to pick up another one for her. I'd recommend a prepaid sim. He confirmed that nobody had accessed her information in the last eight hours as well. Have you heard anything from your guy in Wyoming?"
"No, nothing. I'm starting to worry that Ben didn't make it out."
"Are you going to tell her?"
I sighed. That was the question, but I'd been avoiding making a decision. "I'm not sure. Definitely not tonight. Probably not ever unless she asks. She's going through a lot right now."
Ash seemed to chew on my response for a few seconds and then he sighed, too. "We're probably okay unless they pull the information straight out of Ben's mind. How does Adri keep getting involved in this kind of stuff?"
"I don't know. I'm just glad Alec wants us to keep an eye on her. She's not ready to survive in our world without some kind of help."
"Okay, you headed to bed pretty soon?"
"No...I have somewhere I need to be. I was considering breaking the appointment, but it's important, so if y
ou're comfortable that we got away clean then I'd like to try and make it still."
"It wouldn't be my first choice, but I'll try to avoid spilling the beans to Alec."
"Thanks, Ash. Tell Kristin hi for me."
"Sure thing. Have a good night."
The crying from inside of Adri's room had died down. I tiptoed down the hall until I got close enough to confirm that she was sleeping and then went back to my room and wrote her a note.
Adri, I had to leave. I'm sorry—call me with the burner phone in the study if you need anything, but hopefully I'm back before you wake up. Please don't leave the apartment.
I hung the note in the hall across from Adri's bedroom and then left. The trip to where Mrs. Valencia had asked me to meet her went quickly, almost too quickly. I really hadn't liked Danny, but in all fairness, some of my frustration tonight had been driven by my nervousness about the meeting I was headed to right now.
I'd debated for days before finally calling and arranging to meet her. I was having second thoughts, especially about the fact that nobody knew where I was or who I was meeting, but I was still headed towards the agreed upon location so apparently my worries weren't strong enough to overcome the lure of spending more time with her.
An hour later I stepped inside an old, but well-maintained, building and made my way up to the fourth floor. Mrs. Valencia answered on my first knock and smiled when she saw that it was me.
"Dominic, please come inside."
I paused halfway inside the apartment. "How do you know my name?"
Her smile this time was a little wistful. "We have...I guess you couldn't say that we have a mutual friend. Let's say that I have a friend who has kept a watchful eye over you for a number of years. He's told me a lot about you. That's part of why I extended an invitation to you to come here. You're his grand experiment."
"Who are you talking about?" The question was reflexive. I already suspected that I knew who she was talking about, but it was a memory I didn't particularly like revisiting. I had almost no decent memories from the time before Alec's pack, but the one she was referring to was more disturbing than most.
She looked at me for several seconds. "Do you really not remember? Think of a time when you thought you were surely going to die and that is your first clue."
"The Hunter."
"Yes, that is as good a name for him as any. He's very proud that you've proved him right so far, but that isn't why you are here."
Words couldn't possibly have served to convey the level of shock I was feeling, but I found myself stepping the rest of the way inside the room so she could shut the door.
"Why am I here, Mrs. Valencia?"
"Please call me Vanessa. You're here because you have a role to play in the events that are about to unfold. I suppose in the larger view you'd have to say that everyone has a role to play, but your role is special. Rachel and Jasmin couldn't have done it all by themselves, but I suppose I'm speaking out of turn."
"Rachel and Jasmin couldn't have done what?"
Vanessa shook her head. "I really shouldn't have said anything. Suffice it to say that you're important in ways you don't yet understand, Dominic."
She paused for a second and then gave me a searching look. "Why do you think you're here? What was it that made you accept my invitation?"
I debated lying, but it just wasn't part of my nature. "I'm here because you did something to me the last time I saw you. I've been tired and weak for weeks now, but the night I saw you all of that went away. I was strong again, maybe even stronger than I'd been before I started getting so tired."
There was a hint of a smile to her face now, but it was overshadowed by seriousness. "Being strong is important to you?"
"Yes. I don't expect to be able to stand toe to toe with a hybrid, not generally speaking, but I need to be able to carry my own weight inside of the pack. I need to know what you did so I can repeat it in case I start getting sick again."
"I thought your kind couldn't get sick, Dominic."
"We're not supposed to be able to, at least not for long, not really, but somehow I'm sick. So are Rachel and Jasmin."
The hint of a smile was a little more pronounced. "An apparent contradiction."
"Yes, I guess so."
"Dominic, I've lived a very long time. I no longer believe in contradictions. One of your premises is wrong."
My respect for her work was starting to be overshadowed by frustration at the vagueness of her answers.
"Which premise is wrong?"
Another headshake. "It's not for me to tell you, not right now. If it makes you feel any better, it should become apparent to you before too much longer."
I sighed and turned to go, but she stopped me with a gentle hand on my arm.
"Where are you going, Dominic?"
"You said that you could heal me. You pointed at my scar, but then I was strong again. Tonight you tell me that the exhaustion can't be healed. That was the only kind of healing that could really help me. The scar doesn't matter, not really."
"I can see why you made it out of that snake pit your father left you in. You're incredibly stubborn. Very well, I can see that I'll have to tell you some things in order to help you fulfill your purpose. Please follow me."
I put my hands on my hips and waited for several seconds before finally going into the room she'd just entered. It was small but warm with a massage table in the center of the room and bottles of oil in a warmer off to one side.
"You have the ability to heal, but right now it's locked away inside you, Dominic. I would like to help you unlock that ability. It isn't going to help with what you, Rachel and Jasmin are going through right now, but it will help with other things you'll face in the next little while. It will also allow me to help restore your beautiful face."
Her explanation wasn't much more enlightening than what she'd been saying before, but I pushed the frustration aside and focused on the important thing she'd finally let slip.
"Why do you think I have the ability to become a healer? That goes against thousands of years of history. Southern shape shifters don't develop extra powers, at least nothing beyond the ability to track. Surely you mean that you're going to heal me."
Vanessa shook her head. "No, Dominic. I have certain gifts, but healing is not among them. I can however help you unlock your potential. I'll step out of the room so you can undress. There's a sheet on the table that you can cover yourself with for modesty's sake."
She walked out of the room, and I was left looking at the table by myself. After a little while, I took a deep breath, pulled off all of my clothes and then piled them in a corner of the room. Once I was safely under the sheet, I called her in.
"Very good. I'm going to start with the soles of your feet and work up. The key to all of this isn't for you to try and heal yourself; it's for you to relax as completely as possible. Once you relax sufficiently, the healing will happen on its own. You are the thing that is currently standing in the way of your power."
It initially felt odd to have a near stranger rubbing my feet, but I found myself starting to relax into the firm, smooth pressure of her hands.
"What are you?"
"How do you know I'm not a shape shifter like you?"
I tried to think back over our conversations, but I couldn't remember if she'd ever told me that she wasn't a shape shifter.
"I don't know. You might have told me so, but I'm not sure. For whatever reason, I feel like you're different than me. You...you don't feel like a shape shifter."
"I'm not, but why do I have to be anything? Can't I just be another human?"
That one was easier. "No, there is a sense of power around you that is too great for a human."
I could hear another smile in her voice as she switched to the other foot. "You're still very young, Dominic. You might be surprised at how powerful some of the 'normal' humans out there are. Still, you're right; I'm not a normal human. So if I'm not a normal human or a shape shifter what does tha
t leave?"
"You're not a vampire. I'd have been able to smell it on you if you were. You can't be a werewolf because werewolves attack shape shifters without provocation."
"Do all werewolves attack without provocation, Dominic?"
That was an easy answer. "The Southerners only have fragments of oral histories and rumors, but the wolves have thousands of years of written history. I've read through some of Alec's family journals, and they all seemed to take it as a given that werewolves attacked for no reason. Shape shifters and vampires especially, but humans sometimes too."
She paused for a second as if debating something, but her next question distracted me from thoughts of what it was she'd been trying to decide.
"You've eliminated four different species. What's left?"
I tried to sort through rumors and legends. I was pretty sure there were other things out there that were even rarer than shape shifters, but nothing seemed to explain anything I'd seen out of her yet.
"I don't know. You must be something rare though for me to have never run into another...I mean for me to have run into only two of you. The Hunter has been a dark legend in my country for hundreds of years at least, so you must be long-lived."
She'd just changed over to my other calf and I could feel the muscles relaxing almost against my will.
"Very good. I think that is as much as I can answer for you right now, but you're correct in your supposition so far. You know, I'm surprised you haven't asked me the question I get from almost every one of my fans."
"Why you haven't written more books?"
"Exactly. I wrote three books in less than a year, and while they have never sold millions of copies, they've been extremely well-received in some circles. Almost everywhere I go, I get asked when I'll be writing another book."
I was feeling whipsawed. The change back to something as mundane as her job wasn't where I'd expected her to jump next.
