by L. J. Smith
All Mary-Lynnette could think of was a line from a Robert Service poem: And the skies of night were alive with light, with a throbbing, thrilling flame….
“I’m curious,” she said. “But there’s no point in wondering. They do things we couldn’t do—they kill.”
She put down her glass of milk as if she’d lost her appetite. She hadn’t, though—and wasn’t that the problem? She ought to be sick to her stomach at just the thought of killing, of drinking blood from a warm body.
Instead, she was scared. Of what was out there in the world—and of herself.
“It’s dangerous,” she said aloud to Mark. “Don’t you see? We’ve gotten mixed up in this Night World—and it’s a place where bad things can happen. Not just bad like flunking a class. Bad like…”
…white teeth in the moonlight…
“Like getting killed dead,” Mary-Lynnette said. “And that’s serious, Mark. It’s not like the movies.”
Mark was staring at her. “Yeah, but we knew that already.” His tone said, What’s the big deal?
And Mary-Lynnette couldn’t explain. She stood up abruptly. “If we’re going over there, we’d better get moving,” she said. “It’s almost one o’clock.”
The sisters and Ash were waiting at Burdock Farm. “You and Mark can sit in the front with me,” Mary-Lynnette told Jade, not looking at Ash. “But I don’t think you’d better bring the cat.”
“The cat goes,” Jade said firmly, getting in. “Or I don’t.”
Mary-Lynnette put the car in gear and pulled out.
As they came in sight of the small cluster of buildings on Main Street, Mark said, “And there it is, downtown Briar Creek in all its glory. A typical Friday afternoon, with absolutely nobody on the streets.”
He didn’t say it with his usual bitterness. Mary-Lynnette glanced at him and saw that it was Jade he was talking to. And Jade was looking around with genuine interest, despite the cat’s claws embedded in her neck.
“Somebody’s on the streets,” she said cheerfully. “It’s that boy Vic. And that other one, Todd. And grown-ups.”
Mary-Lynnette slowed as she passed the sheriff’s office but didn’t stop until she reached the gas station at the opposite corner. Then she got out and looked casually across the street.
Todd Akers was there with his father, the sheriff—and Vic Kimble was there with his father. Mr. Kimble had a farm east of town. They were all getting into the sheriff’s car, and they all seemed very excited. Bunny Marten was standing on the sidewalk watching as they left.
Mary-Lynnette felt a twinge of fear. This is what it’s like when you have a terrible secret, she thought. You worry about everything that happens, and wonder if it’s got something to do with you, if it’s going to get you caught.
“Hey, Bunny!” she called. “What’s going on?”
Bunny looked back. “Oh, hi, Mare.” She walked unhurriedly—Bunny never hurried—across the street. “How’re you doing? They’re just going to check out that horse thing.”
“What horse thing?”
“Oh…didn’t you hear?” Bunny was looking behind Mary-Lynnette now, at Mark and the four strangers who were getting out of the station wagon. Suddenly her blue eyes got rounder and she reached up to fluff her soft blond hair.
Now, I wonder who she’s just seen, Mary-Lynnette thought ironically. Who could it be?
“Hi,” Ash said.
“We didn’t hear about the horse thing,” Mary-Lynnette said, gently prompting.
“Oh…um, one of Mr. Kimble’s horses cut his throat on barbed wire last night. That’s what everybody was saying this morning. But just now Mr. Kimble came into town and said that he didn’t think it was barbed wire after all. He thinks…somebody did it on purpose. Slashed its throat and left it to die.” She hunched her shoulders in a tiny shiver. Theatrically, Mary-Lynnette thought.
“You see?” Jade said. “That’s why I’m keeping my eye on Tiggy.”
Mary-Lynnette noticed Bunny eyeing Jade. “Thanks, Bun.”
“I’ve got to get back to the store,” Bunny said, but she didn’t move. Now she was looking at Kestrel and Rowan.
“I’ll walk you there,” Ash said gallantly. With what, Mary-Lynnette thought, must be his usual putting-the-moves-on manner. “After all, we don’t know what could be lurking around here.”
“It’s broad daylight,” Kestrel said disgustedly, but Ash was already walking Bunny away. Mary-Lynnette decided she was glad to get rid of him.
“Who was that girl?” Rowan asked, and something in her voice was odd.
Mary-Lynnette glanced at her in surprise. “Bunny Marten. I know her from school. What’s wrong?”
“She was staring at us,” Rowan said softly.
“She was staring at Ash. Oh, and probably you three, too. You’re new and you’re pretty, so she’s probably wondering which boys you’ll take from her.”
“I see.” But Rowan still looked preoccupied.
“Rowan, what is it?”
“It’s nothing. I’m sure it’s nothing. It’s just that she’s got a lamia name.”
“Bunny?”
“Well.” Rowan smiled. “Lamia are traditionally named after natural things—gems and animals and flowers and trees. So ‘Bunny’ would be a lamia name—and isn’t a marten a kind of weasel?”
Something was tugging at the edges of Mary-Lynnette’s consciousness again. Something about Bunny…about Bunny and…wood…
It was gone. She couldn’t remember. To Rowan she said, “But—can you sense something suspicious about her or anything? I mean, does she seem like one of you? Because otherwise I just can’t see Bunny as a vampire. I’m sorry; I just can’t.”
Rowan smiled. “No, I don’t sense anything. And I’m sure you’re right—humans can have names like ours, too. Sometimes it gets confusing.”
For some bizarre reason Mary-Lynnette’s mind was still on wood. “You know, I don’t see why you name yourselves after trees. I thought wood was dangerous for you.”
“It is—and that makes it powerful. Tree names are supposed to be some of the most powerful names we have.”
Ash was coming out of the general store. Immediately Mary-Lynnette turned around and looked for Jeremy.
She didn’t see him in the empty gas station, but she heard something—something she realized she’d been hearing for several minutes. Hammering.
“Come on, let’s go around back,” she said, already walking, not waiting for Ash to reach them. Kestrel and Rowan went with her.
Jeremy was around back. He was hammering a long board across a broken window. There were shards of thick, greenish-tinted glass all over the ground. Light brown hair was falling in his eyes as he struggled to hold the board steady.
“What happened?” Mary-Lynnette said. She moved automatically to hold the right end of the board in place for him.
He glanced up at her, making a grimace of relief as he let go of the board. “Mary-Lynnette—thanks. Hang on a sec.”
He reached into his pocket for nails and began driving them in with quick, sure blows of the hammer. Then he said, “I don’t know what happened. Somebody broke it last night. Made a real mess.”
“Last night seems to have been a busy night,” Kestrel said dryly.
Jeremy glanced back at the voice. And then…his hands went still, poised with the hammer and nail. He was looking at Kestrel, and at Rowan beside her, looking a long time. At last he turned to Mary-Lynnette and said slowly, “You need more gas already?”
“Oh—no. No.” I should have siphoned some out, Mary-Lynnette thought. Nancy Drew would definitely have thought of that. “I just—it’s been knocking a lot—the engine—and I thought you could look at it—under the hood—since you didn’t last time.”
Incoherent and pathetic, she decided in the silence that followed. And Jeremy’s clear brown eyes were still searching her face.
“Sure, Mary-Lynnette,” he said—not sarcastically, but gently. “As soon as I get f
inished.”
Oh, he can’t be a vampire. And so what am I doing here, lying to him, suspecting him, when he’s only ever been nice to me? He’s the type to help old ladies, not kill them.
Sssssss.
She started as the feral hiss tore through the silence. It came from behind her, and for one horrible instant she thought it was Kestrel. Then she saw that Jade and Mark had rounded the corner, and that Tiggy was fighting like a baby leopard in Jade’s arms. The kitten was spitting and clawing, black fur standing on end. Before Jade could get a better grip, he climbed up her shoulder and leaped, hitting the ground running.
“Tiggy!” Jade shrieked. She took off after him, silvery blond hair flying, agile as a kitten herself. Mark followed, ricocheting off Ash who was just coming around the corner himself. Ash was knocked into the gas station wall.
“Well, that was fun,” Kestrel said.
But Mary-Lynnette wasn’t really listening. Jeremy was staring at Ash—and his expression gave Mary-Lynnette cold chills.
And Ash was staring back with eyes as green as glacier ice. Their gazes were locked in something like instantaneous, instinctive hatred. Mary-Lynnette felt a quiver of fear for Jeremy—but Jeremy didn’t seem afraid for himself. His muscles were tight and he looked ready to defend himself.
Then, deliberately, he turned away. Turned his back on Ash. He readjusted the board—and Mary-Lynnette did what she should have done in the beginning. She looked at his hand. The ring on his index finger glinted gold, and she could just make out the black design on the seal.
A tall cluster of bell-shaped flowers. Not an iris, not a dahlia, not a rose. No—there was only one flower Rowan had mentioned that this could possibly be. It grew wild around here and it was deadly poison.
Foxglove.
So now she knew.
Mary-Lynnette felt hot and sick. Her hand began to tremble on the board she was holding. She didn’t want to move, but she couldn’t stay here.
“I’m sorry—I have to get something—” The words came out in a painful gasp. She knew everyone was staring at her. She didn’t care. She let go of the board and almost ran away.
She kept going until she was behind the boarded-up windows of the Gold Creek Hotel. Then she leaned against the wall and stared at the place where town ended and the wilderness began. Motes of dust danced in the sunlight, bright against a dark background of Douglas fir.
I’m so stupid. All the signs were there, right in front of my face. Why didn’t I see before? I guess because I didn’t want to….
“Mary-Lynnette.”
Mary-Lynnette turned toward the soft voice. She resisted the impulse to throw herself into Rowan’s arms and bawl.
“I’ll be okay in just a few minutes. Really. It’s just a shock.”
“Mary-Lynnette…”
“It’s just—it’s just that I’ve known him so long. It’s not easy to picture him—you know. But I guess it just goes to show you. People are never what they seem.”
“Mary-Lynnette—” Rowan stopped and shook her head. “Just what are you talking about?”
“Him. Jeremy. Of course.” Mary-Lynnette took a breath. The air felt hot and chokingly dusty. “He did it. He really did it.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Why? Because he’s a werewolf.”
There was a pause and Mary-Lynnette suddenly felt embarrassed. She looked around to make sure nobody was in earshot and then said more quietly, “Isn’t he?”
Rowan was looking at her curiously. “How did you know?”
“Well—you said black foxglove is for werewolves. And that’s foxglove on his ring. How did you know?”
“I just sensed it. Vampire powers are weaker in sunlight, but Jeremy isn’t trying to hide anything. He’s right out there.”
“He sure is,” Mary-Lynnette said bitterly. “I should have sensed it. I mean…he’s the only person in town who was interested in the lunar eclipse. And the way he moves, and his eyes…and he lives at Mad Dog Creek, for God’s sake. I mean, that land’s been in his family for generations. And”—Mary-Lynnette gave a sudden convulsive sniffle—“people say they’ve seen the Sasquatch around there. A big hairy monster, half person and half beast. Now, what does that sound like?”
Rowan was standing quietly, her expression grave—but her lips were twitching. Mary-Lynnette’s vision blurred and wetness spilled onto her cheeks.
“I’m sorry.” Rowan put a hand on her arm. “I’m not laughing.”
“I thought he was a nice guy,” Mary-Lynnette said, turning away.
“I still think he is,” Rowan said. “And actually, really, you know, it means he didn’t do it.”
“The fact that he’s a nice guy?”
“The fact that he’s a werewolf.”
Mary-Lynnette turned back. “What?”
“You see,” Rowan said, “werewolves are different. They’re not like vampires. They can’t drink a little blood from people and then stop without doing any real harm. They kill every time they hunt—because they have to eat.” Mary-Lynnette gulped, but Rowan went on serenely. “Sometimes they eat the whole animal, but they always eat the internal organs, the heart and liver. They have to do it, the same way that vampires need to drink blood.”
“And that means…”
“He didn’t kill Aunt Opal. Or the goat. They were both intact.” Rowan sighed. “Look. Werewolves and vampires traditionally hate each other. They’ve been rivals forever, and lamia think of werewolves as sort of—lower class. But actually a lot of them are gentle. They only hunt to eat.”
“Oh,” Mary-Lynnette said hollowly. Shouldn’t she be happier about this? “So the guy I thought was nice just has to eat the odd liver occasionally.”
“Mary-Lynnette, you can’t blame him. How can I explain? It’s like this: Werewolves aren’t people who sometimes turn into wolves. They’re wolves who sometimes look like people.”
“But they still kill,” Mary-Lynnette said flatly.
“Yes, but only animals. The law is very strict about that. Otherwise humans catch on in no time. Vampires can disguise their work by making it look like a cut throat, but werewolf kills are unmistakable.”
“Okay. Great.” I should be more enthusiastic, Mary-Lynnette thought. But how could you ever really trust someone who was a wolf behind their eyes? You might admire them the way you admire a sleek and handsome predator, but trust them…no.
“Before we go back—we may have a problem,” Rowan said. “If he realizes that you recognized his ring, he may know we’ve told you about—you know.” She glanced around and lowered her voice. “The Night World.”
Mary-Lynnette understood. “Oh, God.”
“Yes. That means it’s his duty to turn us all in. Or kill us himself.”
“Oh, God.”
“The thing is, I don’t think he will. He likes you, Mary-Lynnette. A lot. I don’t think he could bring himself to turn you in.”
Mary-Lynnette felt herself flushing. “But then, that would get him in trouble, too, wouldn’t it?”
“It could, if anybody ever finds out. We’d better go back and see what’s going on. Maybe he doesn’t realize you know. Maybe Kestrel and Ash have managed to bluff him.”
CHAPTER 14
They walked back to the gas station quickly, their shoulders almost touching. Mary-Lynnette found comfort in Rowan’s nearness, in her levelheadedness. She’d never had a friend before who was completely her equal, who found it as easy to take care of people as to be taken care of.
As they reached the gas station, they could see that the little group was now clustered around Mary-Lynnette’s car. Jeremy was peering under the hood. Mark and Jade were back, hand in hand, but there was no sign of Tiggy. Kestrel was leaning against a gas pump, and Ash was talking to Jeremy.
“So the werewolf walks into the second doctor’s office and he says, ‘Doc, I think I have rabies.’ And the doctor says…”
So much for bluffing him, Mary-Lynnette thought.
Rowan, eyes shut and shoulders tensed, said, “Ash, that isn’t funny.” She opened her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said to Jeremy. “He doesn’t mean it.”
“He does, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve heard worse.” Jeremy bent over the engine again. He replaced a cap with careful, even twists. Then he looked up at Mary-Lynnette.
Mary-Lynnette didn’t know what to say. What’s the etiquette when you’ve just discovered that somebody’s a werewolf? And that it may be their duty to eat you?
Her eyes filled. She was completely out of control today.
Jeremy looked away. He shook his head slightly. His mouth was bitter. “That’s what I figured. I thought you’d react this way. Or I’d have told you myself a long time ago.”
“You would?” Mary-Lynnette’s vision cleared. “But—then you would have gotten in trouble. Right?”
Jeremy smiled faintly. “Well, we’re not really sticklers for Night World law around here.”
He said it in a normal tone of voice. Ash and the sisters looked around reflexively.
Mary-Lynnette said, “‘We’?”
“My family. They first settled here because it was so far out of the way. A place where they wouldn’t bother anybody, and nobody would bother them. Of course, they’re all gone now. There’s only me left.”
He said it without self-pity, but Mary-Lynnette moved closer. “I’m sorry.”
Jade moved in on the other side, silvery-green eyes wide. “But that’s why we came here, too! So nobody would bother us. We don’t like the Night World, either.”
Jeremy gave another faint smile—that smile that showed mostly in his eyes. “I know,” he said to Jade. “You’re related to Mrs. Burdock, aren’t you?”
“She was our aunt,” Kestrel said, her golden gaze fixed unwaveringly on him.
Jeremy’s expression changed slightly. He turned around to look at Kestrel directly. “‘Was’?”
“Yes, she met with a slight accident involving a stake,” Ash said. “Funny how that happens sometimes….”
