The dog promptly obeyed her and sat with his head on her lap.
“You’ll be okay. I promise. No one is going to hurt you.” She checked his fur, matted with blood, and was relieved to see that it was dry and the cut didn’t look as scary as she had thought at first. Then she assessed the damage on his leg, carefully tracing the bone to find the fracture. Her fingers skimmed the sinews back and forth, but she didn’t find anything out of place. “I thought it was broken.” She applied pressure to her touch and the dog’s tail waved and playfully hit her arm. “You are a tough one, aren’t you, big boy?”
He happily barked and whipped his tail faster, brushing her eyes and mouth.
Laura laughed as she sneezed and moved the tail out of her face. “I probably wouldn’t have known what to do anyway if you had a broken leg.” While stroking his head, she confirmed the dog didn’t have a collar ensconced in his long fur. “You need a name.”
The dog raised and lowered his head, then licked her fingers.
Laura couldn’t help a small smile. “I’ll call you Black. Is it okay?”
The dog pressed his nose on her hand.
“Black it is.” She bent and laid her head on his, her arms circling his big body. “I’m sorry I dropped our dinner.” Black rearranged himself on the ground and she curled by his side, borrowing warmth from him. Despite the hunger and the muscle ache, Laura dozed off in no time.
When she woke the next morning, she realized she had slept the whole night. In the four years she had been hiding from the world, she had never, not even once, slept more than one or two hours at a time. Although she always covered the entry to her chamber with wooden scaffoldings and a panel of sheetrock that made it look like a natural wall, she could never relax. Even though people rarely ventured in that area of the Promenade, and if they did, they were usually in a hurry to leave. Very few paranormals wanted to face the chance of entering warlock territory by mistake and without a magik sanctioned permit. Despite all the care she had taken in finding that small, secluded chamber excavated in one of the parallel corridors to the riverbank trail, only the big dog’s presence had given her a night without nightmares.
In fact, she was still hugging Black who twitched his nose and let out a yawn when she moved.
“Big boy, you make the most comfortable pillow.” She scratched his back and Black rolled to show her his tummy. She obliged him with a laugh. “We’ve got to find something to eat.”
Black barked, tail wagging and big head moving right and left.
“Okay. Let’s go.” Laura stood too fast and she swayed, but Black was immediately at her side, balancing her by pressing his giant body against hers. One hand on the wall beside her and one on the dog, she let the dizziness ride its course, then moved forward.
Black whined and licked her leg.
She felt his tongue through the coarse fabric of her jeans. “I’m fine. Don’t worry. It’s nothing some food can’t cure.” Carefully putting one booted foot before the other, she exited the room, waited for Black to clear the entrance, then closed it with the sheetrock and the pallet. “Let’s go hunting.” She seldom ventured out of the inner tunnels during the day, but if she wanted to find anything edible she had to take a risk and prowl closer to the Styx riverbank and the cafés and restaurants dotting the Promenade. She chose to follow several corridors running from her hideout toward the more populated areas, but eventually she had to walk down the main street.
“At least vampires won’t be out at this time of day,” she whispered. But at first glance, she thought the entire paranormal world seemed to be out and about.
From people rushing off to appointments, to joggers, and rowing crews lowering their canoes onto the placid waters of the Styx, to friends chatting and sipping their espressos on the outside tables, it seemed every paranormal in Rome who didn’t have to sleep through the day had converged on the Promenade.
Laura’s stomach had stopped rumbling and was now growling. Hunger pains were becoming more and more difficult to ignore. She sighed. “Let’s do this.” Head low and shoulders hunched, she left the safety of the shadows and walked into the street. Black stayed by her side, giving her courage.
Within a week, Laura and Black had a routine. Black would run into a small restaurant or café at full speed, attracting the interest of patrons, waiters, and kitchen staff by just being himself, a giant black Newfoundland apparently lost and looking for his owner, while Laura would breach the back entrance and steal food from the ovens and kitchen counters. The trick only worked with small establishments, but there were plenty of those down where the Suburra and the Promenade met at the small harbor.
One afternoon, after a good gathering session—Laura liked to think of herself as one of those ancient people who had roamed the planet way before the first civilizations built cities in Italy—she was sitting by the edge of the subterranean lake she used like her personal water reservoir. She had found the lake by following, at a safe distance, a handsome warlock. The man’s hair was blond and long and she had been fascinated by him. She never saw him again, but he had given her the lake and she was forever thankful for it.
She loved that place, because although in the middle of warlock territory, it had a natural opening in the middle of the ceiling that allowed sunlight inside. She spent hours there, looking up, bathed in warm light. She also liked to venture there by night, when the sky was cloudless and the stars were bright. She knew it was magik that kept the place concealed from humans and kept the city smog from covering the night sky in an orange haze, but she wasn’t scared of it. Instead, she was drawn to the lake, where she kept a stack of books she had borrowed from several paranormal establishments. She hid her most precious treasures inside an alcove she dug in one of the walls where the rocks were mainly tuff and easy to work with.
“How do you like your chicken leg?” Laura took a bite from a piece of succulent meat. They found gold a few hours earlier, when they had followed a hipster immortal couple to a small bistro built under a section of what remained of a Roman aqueduct. The place, ran by two equally hipster shifters, served only organic food. When Black entered the bistro, all activities ceased and the four people focused their attention on the furry giant, offering him food and affection. After raiding the kitchen, Laura waited for more than half an hour behind one of the columns supporting the aqueduct before Black came out.
“I thought you would ditch me for that beautiful lady and her mustached husband.” She laughed, but deep inside she had been wondering about her dog’s loyalty and it hurt.
Black raised his ears and tilted his head as he whined.
“You even showed her your belly. Don’t deny it, I saw you. Shame on you.” She smiled at him when he whined louder. “I bet she smelled good though.” She lowered her hand on his back. Without realizing it, she had started to rely more and more on his physical presence. Whenever Black wasn’t touching her, she felt anxious. Nowadays, the few times she woke in the middle of the night, she discovered she had moved and severed contact with him. In those occasions, Black would lick her face and soothe her fear immediately.
Abruptly, Black stood then shook his body, sending saliva everywhere.
Laura was able to raise her meal high enough before the dog could shower it, but she still ended up with foamy sprays on her clothes. “Time to do some laundry. I guess.”
Black didn’t need to hear the command twice. He left the perch where they were sitting and jumped into the crystalline waters.
She looked down as his massive head reemerged and shook hers. “You could’ve waited for me.” Carefully arranging the leftovers in a pile over a plastic bag, she placed it on a natural ledge on the nearest wall. Then she peeled her clothes away. Layer by layer, sweaters and shirts, heavy jeans and boots found their way to the ground until she was naked. “Move!” She stepped back, took a running start, and as she jumped she cradled her bent legs to her chest. At the impact, her breath left her lungs, but she was already laughing,
water entering her mouth. They frolicked around for a while, and Laura wished she could stay there forever, but the afternoon grew late and the cone of sunlight dimmed.
“Shoot. I completely forgot about the laundry—” She looked up at her clothes scattered on the perch and climbed back to the bank. After washing her clothes and trying to remove as much grime as she could from the assortment of jeans, cotton tunics, woolen scarves and socks, she took one last swim. Feeling safe with Black lapping along, she remained in the water longer than usual. By the time she decided to head back to their place, the night sky dominated the circular opening in the cave’s ceiling.
As she had expected, her clothes were dripping wet, but she couldn’t run around naked and so she opted to don the large sweater she used like an outer garment and bundled the rest of her clothes into a makeshift bag. She wore her boots, rejoicing in the feeling of having slipped into something dry, grabbed the food from the ledge, then hurried away from the lake. Soon, she swished and whooshed at every step as the water from the sweater dripped into her boots. She swore and redoubled her pace, counting the seconds she would be at her place where she could wear something dry. All the while, Black shook his body to dry himself, adding to Laura’s general discomfort.
That night, when she sniffed and felt hot she wasn’t surprised. She hugged Black closer and tried to sleep, but her sore throat and cough kept her awake. The next morning, she ran a fever. Black spooned around her when she started shivering, and stood by her side the whole day. She dozed on and off, but she couldn’t relax, even with Black comforting her with his nudges and licks. Then she realized it would be full moon that night and started to worry for her friend.
“Black, you must leave. Now!” She pressed both palms to his side and tried to push him outside of their shelter.
Black lowered his head and uttered a lament that broke her heart.
“You don’t understand. In a few hours, I’ll leave and you’ll be alone with my panther. I don’t know if she can recognize you… I’m a terrible shifter. I’m sorry, but she might attack you. Maybe you’re bigger. I don’t know. But she’s stronger than you for sure. And she has claws and sharp teeth.” She started crying. “Please. Do it for me. Leave.” Between sobs, she pushed at him, but the big dog didn’t move. “I don’t want you to get hurt. Please, Black. Go away.”
Black sat on his haunches and tilted his head toward her.
Exhausted, Laura hugged him, as she kept saying, “Go away.”
Black licked her cheek and snuggled closer to her.
When the first pangs of the shift came, Laura opened her eyes and found his big paw over her waist. She stood and stepped away from him. She didn’t know if it was the effect of the fever combined with the full moon calling, but her eyes didn’t seem to focus properly. When she looked at him, Black seemed to shiver too.
“Are you okay?” She didn’t know what to do. Her change was imminent, but she had to be sure he would be fine. “Black? Big boy, what’s the problem?”
He wasn’t responsive. That scared her. Black always seemed in tune with her.
“Black?” She hunched over. Pain hit her midsection as her body rearranged itself to let the panther out. Fur already covered her hands and her nails were elongating. All of a sudden, her mouth was too full of teeth. Her vision shifted and reality changed. She wasn’t looking at Black from above, but from the same height. His colors were different, sharper and darker.
Then he was shaking as she had a moment ago. And in that ephemeral moment when she was both Laura and her panther, she saw Black changing too. Her eyes locked with his, but Black was no more. Before her, a boy. Then she was gone.
When she woke the next morning, her body hurt. It always hurt after a full moon. Her panther was on the wild side and liked to run and hunt the whole night. Laura always worried about the location she would find her very naked self after a shift. It was the reason why she would never leave the Promenade near the full moon. She opened her eyes and was surprised to see she was lying on her pallet, one of the threadbare blankets she salvaged from a dumpster stretched over her shoulders but left her bare everywhere else. Black wasn’t at her side, but sitting in the corner, looking at her with his big, liquid eyes.
For a moment, a human face overlapped Black. Laura’s heart slammed against her ribs as she remembered the boy.
“I wasn’t hallucinating, was I?” Automatically, she raised the blanket over her chest and hugged herself. “It wasn’t the fever.”
Black lowered his eyes, then slumped to the floor, his head resting over his stretched paws.
“You’re a shifter.” A handsome shifter. Her age or slightly older. With chocolate eyes, high cheekbones, long lashes, straight nose, and a red mouth. “And you saw me naked.” Furiously blushing, she raised the blanket higher. “More than once…” She thought of all the instances where she had freely changed before him or swam with him and the redness on her cheeks threatened to make her combust. She could only hope the boy and the dog didn’t communicate as she didn’t with her panther.
Black refused to look at her, his nose pointing to the right, where a brown paper bag was.
“What is it?” Scooting on her knees, she reached for the bag. Her nose told her its contents before her eyes could. “Croissants?” She looked at Black who was now eyeing her with his head canted and his ears up. “You brought me croissants for breakfast.” She had forgotten how good it felt to be cared for by someone. She had sweet memories of her mom and dad treating her with goodies and lots of hugs and cuddles and soft kisses upon her nose and cheeks. But since their death, life hadn’t treated Laura well, and she couldn’t remember anyone besides her parents ever being considerate to her. With a jerk, eyes watering—but she refused to cry again so soon—she opened the bag and grabbed the first croissant.
She bit the pastry that wasn’t flaky anymore and found the cold apricot filling, which spilled down onto her blanket. “It’s good.” In two more bites, the croissant was gone, melted into her mouth. She licked her fingers, then split the second croissant in two and offered Black half.
The Newfoundland timidly stretched his neck forward, his nose brushing Laura’s knuckles, but he didn’t snatch the morsel.
“I forgive you.” She sighed and brought to her lips her half of the pastry. “You probably can’t help it.” She patted his head with her free hand.
Black tilted his head up, and his tongue gently enveloped the croissant.
“Thank you. It’s the best breakfast I’ve had in a while.” She divided the rest of the goodies between them. Some of the pastries were in pieces already, attesting to their being several hours old, but she didn’t care.
When they finished their early meal, Laura hugged Black and kissed his fur. “What happened to you? Why can’t you shift back to human?”
Black whined.
“You don’t know.” She wished she was older and wiser, so she could help him.
Black placed his large paw over her bent leg and she leaned over him. A tremor ran through her and she realized she was still sick. Shifting should have helped her body heal from the cold, but she was feeling warm again and her head hurt, especially behind her eye sockets.
“I need to sleep a bit. Don’t go anywhere.” She rested on her side, as Black rearranged his large frame all around her.
When she woke again, her internal clock told her that it was late afternoon already. She was weak and dizzy, but they needed to go out and scavenge their dinner. “We’ll go for something light. What do you think? I’m not that hungry anyway.” Her stomach growled and she couldn’t help but laugh. She stood on uncertain legs and reached for the makeshift door. All of a sudden, the ceiling and the floor exchanged places.
She opened her eyes to Black licking her face in long swipes. “I’m back. Don’t be so worried. It’s nothing.” In truth, she was scared, but as long as he was by her side, she could fake it. “I must’ve been sicker than I thought if the panther couldn’t heal me comp
letely.” Putting aside the idea of leaving the room, she sat by the corner, her head leaning against the wall, her chin tilted up, her eyes to the rock ceiling. “I promise I’ll make it up to you. Tomorrow, I’ll find a whole slab of ribs for your lunch.” Her eyelids heavy, she found a more comfortable position and resumed her slumber.
During the night, she dreamed of the boy, and the next morning she found herself snuggled up to her furry friend. Before she could say anything, she sneezed so loud Black jumped up, sending her into a frenzy of laughter. Despite the good start, she was still sick and her head pounded. Having slept attached to the giant she couldn’t know if her temperature was high, but she shivered and Black lowered himself to blanket her in his warmth. They cuddled for hours before she roused from her daze.
“Are you hungry, big boy?” Laura felt sleepy and the shivers hadn’t abated, plus her headache was intensified by the general ache and the painful sore throat. Still, they needed sustenance and she had to make an effort to venture out. “Time to fetch those ribs.”
Black pressed his paw over her lap and seemed to shake his big head.
“You don’t think it’s a good idea?” She sat and with great difficulty pushed her legs straight and stood. “Wow—” Black wasn’t the only one in need of food. One hand on the wall, she dragged her feet toward the upright pallet and pushed it out of the way. The echo of booted steps fast approaching resonated in the corridor. While Black had stayed behind, Laura, already out and in the open, climbed inside one of the many crevices the Promenade’s tunnels offered.
“Come here,” she hissed at Black. The steps sounded closer and panic settled deep inside her. Several scenarios ran through her mind, none with a positive outcome. “Black!” Whoever had left the safety of the Promenade proper was around the corner. One heartbeat and her place, her sanctuary, the only home she had known for the last four years would be discovered. And she and Black would be next. “Please, come here.”
Black finally jumped up. His large shape filled the small hiding spot and she almost cried out in relief. She brought both hands to her mouth and flattened her thin body against the uneven wall. Her heart frantically skipping beats, she watched as two men walked by, just a meter away from her and Black. She reached down to reassure him with her touch.
Badass and the Beast: 10 Page 18
