by M. K. Dawn
“Okay,” Samantha lowered her head, “I’ll do it. But I think we should wait until tomorrow night. That way we know for sure Dr. Robinson has no recollection of what I erased from his memory.”
“Agreed.” Nikko excused himself and returned to his room.
“Darrien,” Ethan asked, “does that work?”
“Yeah, sure. That works.” Or it would be too late. Either way, tomorrow he would have blood.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Right this way.” Ethan ushered the maintenance worker towards Darrien and Samantha’s room.
The man paused at the door, removed his hat, and scratched at his balding head. “What kind of problem did you say this room was having?”
“Lighting issues.” Ethan held out his hand and motioned him inside. “Damn things keep flickering. Think it might be a loose wire or something.”
“Hi,” Samantha greeted them from the bed, wringing her fingers together in her lap. “How are you today, sir?”
“Busy as hell.” The man set his old rusty toolbox down on the counter. “This storm gave our ship a nice beating.”
Darrien rolled his neck as he leaned against the wall next to Samantha but didn’t say a word. The last twenty-four hours had been hell being around him and his ornery mood. If they didn’t have a way to wipe the human's memory, Ethan would have still brought the man down just to shut Darrien up.
“What’s your name?” Samantha asked.
“Tom.” The man scanned the room. “So the lights. Are all of them giving you fits, or just one in particular?”
Samantha scraped her teeth along her bottom lip. Ethan understood her nervousness, but she needed to get better at hiding it. “Um...I think it’s the one between the beds.”
The muscles in Tom’s shoulders tensed. “You think?”
“This is stupid and a waste of time.” Darrien pushed off the wall. “Why continue the front when Samantha’s just going to give him a telepathic lobotomy?”
“A what-what?” Tom stuttered.
Ethan patted the man on the back. “Nothing to worry about. You won’t feel or remember a thing. If you wouldn’t mind taking a seat on the empty bed.”
Darrien stormed over and grabbed the man by the arm. “What my friend is trying to say is sit. Now.”
Tom complied. “You hurt me and the Cap’s going to figure out I’m missing and look to the newcomers first.”
“Calm down.” Samantha leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “The captain will not think you’re missing because you’re not. We will take a little blood from you, wipe your memory, and send you on your way. It’s not going to hurt, is it Darrien?”
“Well,” Darrien clicked his tongue, “it might if he doesn’t cooperate.”
“Jesus,” Tom flinched, “you two are them Sanguines, aren’t ya? What the hell do you want with my blood?”
Darrien rolled his eyes. “Guess news doesn’t travel fast.”
Ethan suppressed a groan. “You two are horrible at this. You know that, right?”
“Let’s get on with this.” Darrien moved in front of Tom. “Now just tilt your head to the side like a good little human…”
The lack of empathy Darrien displayed was unnerving.
“I…” Tom stuttered.
“Just do it!” Samantha ordered.
Tom tilted his head.
Darrien didn’t wait; his canines descended and pierced Tom’s neck. A small line of blood dripped down his throat and the man’s eyes glazed over, his muscles relaxing. It reminded Ethan of the time he’d fallen outside the Immortal Institute.
“Remember when I first spotted Evie when she was being held by the Council and I fell, scraping up my hands?”
Samantha whipped her head around. “What are you talking about?”
“Do you remember?”
Darrien lifted his head from the crock of Tom’s neck and sighed. “God, I feel so much better. Now, what are you rambling about?”
“Same thing happened after I was shot. I looked at the two of you and a sense of calmness rushed over me.”
“Okay…?” Darrien drew his eyebrows together. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Ethan flicked his hand towards Tom. “Look at him. Not a care in the world. As soon as blood left the wounds, he went slack.”
“Yeah, that happens.” The annoyance in Darrien’s voice was gone. “Something in our venom does that to humans when we bite them.”
Samantha’s mouth dropped open. “We have venom?”
“Where have you been?” Darrien snickered. “Living under a rock?”
“Excuse me?” Samantha snarled.
“Oh…that’s right.” A smile tugged at Darrien’s lips. “Living under a magical spell that your daddy whipped up.”
“Funny.”
Now Ethan understood Samantha’s irritation when he and Darrien bickered back and forth. “Samantha, it’s your turn.”
She stood and smoothed out her clothes.
“There’s nothing to be nervous about.” Darrien pushed her closer. “You lean into his neck and bite down. Instinct will do the rest.”
“Right,” she sucked in a breath through her nose, “I can do this.”
“You’ve done this before,” Ethan reminded her, “with me.”
Samantha’s cheeks flushed. “And do you remember what happened after that?”
“I do.” Ethan cleared his throat. “But didn’t you say that was because there was a connection between us?”
She bobbed her head. “Yes.”
“And do you feel any warm, tingly feels for this rugged man who sits before you?” Darrien asked.
“Of course not.”
“Good.” Darrien pushed the back of her head closer to the man. “Now drink so we can get on with our lives.”
“Okay, okay.”
The puncture marks Darrien had left behind were still open. “Should she take blood from your wounds?” Ethan wasn’t sure how the whole thing worked.
“Sure. Take a pull from mine. But you need to do it fast so we can close the wounds or the guy’s going to bleed out and we won’t have to worry about Samantha’s witchy ways working.”
Ethan pressed his lips together, trying to suppress a laugh. “It’s nice to have you back, brother. The raging, blood-thirsty side of you is kind of a dick.”
“Can we focus on this,” Samantha moved her head away from Tom, “and have your little bro-mance reunion later?”
Darrien shoved her head back down between Tom’s ear and his collarbone. “Stop stalling and drink.”
Samantha covered the bleeding wounds with her mouth. A few moments later, she pulled away and licked the stray blood from her lips. “Thank God.”
“Better?”
“Much.” She dropped to the bed.
Darrien shook his head and pointed at the still-flowing open wounds. “Vampire lesson number one: always heal the victim first before lapsing into a blood coma. That way they don’t die on you.” Pricking his tongue with his canine, he ran it across the puncture marks, sealing them closed. “All better.”
Tom’s eyes refocused as he rubbed his neck. “You bit me! Drank my blood!”
Darrien cocked his head to the side. “Did I?”
“Yes!” Tom yelled and sprung from the bed. “Just wait till Salty hears about this.”
“You’re not going anywhere yet.” Darrien shoved the man back on the bed. “Not until my friend here has a little talk with you.”
Samantha looked to Darrien and then Ethan, who nodded. “You can do this. Just like with the doctor.”
“The problem is, I’m not sure what I did to make the doctor forget.”
“Forget!” Tom sneered, “No way in hell am I going to forget this unless I’m dead.”
“That can be arranged.” Darrien smiled and winked.
Tom’s eyes widened. “No. You can’t kill me. I’ve got a wife and three kids at home. I’m all they’ve got. Without my salary, they’ll starve.�
��
“We’re not going to kill you.” Samantha grabbed Tom’s hand.
He yanked it away. “Don’t touch me! You’re one of them.”
“This is going well.” Darrien clenched his jaw.
“Shut up,” Samantha snapped then turned to Tom and looked him straight in the eyes. “You need to calm down.”
“I’m calm.” Tom dropped his shoulders. “See? Calm.”
Ethan moved a little closer. “I think you made him do that.”
“So all you have to do now is repeat what you just did,” Darrien said, “but instead of telling him to calm down, tell him to forget everything that happened here.”
Samantha glared at Darrien. “You think?”
“Hey,” he retorted, “you're the one on the verge of a panic attack here, not me. I’m just trying to help you out.”
“Well, you’re not.” Samantha took a deep breath and looked Tom in the eyes again. “You will forget that Ethan brought you down here, and that we drank your blood.”
“Ha!” Tom shouted. “Not a chance in hell.”
Darrien patted her back. “Nice work.”
Before Samantha retaliated, Ethan sat down beside her. “It’s okay. No one expected you to get it on your first try.”
Darrien coughed an audible, “Yes I did.”
“You’re not helping.”
“Sorry.” Darrien lifted his hands in surrender. “I’ll just get out of her way.”
It seemed out of her way meant moving towards the door, but at least he wasn’t hovering anymore.
“This time, make sure you mean it,” Ethan coached.
Samantha repeated a variation of what she’d told Tom a second ago, to which Tom replied the same snarky, “not a chance in hell,” retort.
Half a dozen tries later, and they still had gotten nowhere.
“I give up!” She threw herself back on the bed. “The other times were just flukes. I can’t alter people’s memories. What’s Plan B?”
Darrien snorted. “Do you really have to ask?”
Samantha threw her arms in the air. “Tell us, Darrien. You can’t erase memories. How did you handle drinking from humans before the Great Reveal?”
“Funny you should ask,” Darrien’s grin didn’t match the sorrow in his eyes. “Most of the time I would just visit a brothel and during the heat of the moment take a drink. Women thought I liked it rough and never knew any difference.”
Samantha scrunched her nose. “Brothels? Are you serious?”
“This was a long time ago. Try not to judge.”
“What about the other times?” Ethan asked.
Darrien averted his gaze. “I had little self-control when I first turned and didn’t know how to manage my hunger.”
“You murdered them?” Samantha gasped.
He hung his head. “Not intentionally.”
“Well,” Ethan thought it best to break the silence after Darrien’s confession, but he really didn’t know what to say, “we need to decide on what to do with him. If Samantha can’t alter his memories…”
“No way,” Samantha waved her arms, “we are not killing him.”
Ethan tapped his foot. “That’s not what I was going to suggest. I thought maybe we could keep him down here, unharmed, until we dock. If they know the truth after we’re gone, it won’t matter.”
“Except we’ll have no ride home,” Darrien said.
“Chances are good they would have set sail long before we returned anyway.”
“I don’t want to take that risk.” Samantha sat up and stared at Tom. “Forget that we bit you and drank your blood,” she demanded.
Tom blinked a couple times. “What? Where am I?”
A wide smile spread across Samantha’s face. “You came to fix our light, and you did. We really appreciate you taking time out of your day to help.”
“I did?” He rubbed at his face. “I don’t remember that.”
Samantha stood over him. “You fixed our light.”
Tom scrunched his eyes. “Yes. The wiring was loose. Was there anything else?”
“No.” Darrien held open the door. “Have a good day.”
Tom grabbed his toolbox and left.
Ethan wrapped his arms around Samantha’s waist and spun her around. “You did it.”
She beamed. “Was there ever any doubt?”
Samantha was so close it wouldn’t take much for him to lean in and kiss her. It was the first time since his transformation Ethan thought of her that way.
Darrien snorted. “Yes, lots of doubt.”
“Knock it off, Darrien.” A sharp pain pierced Ethan’s chest and he set Samantha on the ground, the pain disappearing as quickly as it appeared.
A small rap on the door and Nikko poked his head in. “Just spoke with the captain. They have given us clearance to dock. And a bit of good news: it’ll be sometime tonight, which means we will not have to find a reason not to get off during the day.”
Ethan didn’t say it out loud, but it felt like their luck had shifted just a bit. He hoped it would continue long enough to find the witches and maybe even a solution to end the werewolves’ hunt for Samantha.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Samantha stood by herself in the corner of the hotel room and stared out the bay window, the scorching breeze warming her skin. Even though the sun had set hours ago, there was no relief from the ever-present humid, hot air.
“Samantha?” Ethan called out. “What do you think?”
She turned her attention back to the group. Two weeks going from town to town and still they had come up with nothing. “About what?”
“Of course she wasn’t paying attention.” Evie’s constant belittling of Samantha had become the norm. Even though she tried to ignore the negativity thrown her way, it was wearing on her last nerve.
“Stop it, Evie.” Ethan’s pack leader orders were the only thing keeping Evie from transforming and ripping out Samantha’s throat.
At first, it had been a scary thought, but as time passed, Samantha came to realize if they got into a fight, she could take Evie on. She had a damn good chance of beating her.
“It’s fine, Ethan. She’s right, I wasn’t paying attention.”
Evie displayed a smugness Samantha couldn’t wait to knock off her face.
“But that’s only because Evie’s plan has gotten us nowhere.”
“You little—”
Darrien snatched Evie by the arm and pulled her back into her chair. “No name-calling or I’ll send you to timeout. Again.”
“Will you be joining me? Again?”
There had been something going on between Darrien and Evie, which Samantha tried to ignore. She wasn’t sure if they had taken their attraction any further than flirting, but it wouldn’t surprise her if they had. There was only so much a man could take, and Evie had been throwing herself at Darrien every chance she got.
“Back to what we were talking about,” Ethan said. “We need to figure out where to go from here. Every place Evie has mentioned has been a dead end. There are a few other places we haven’t searched…”
The room grew quiet. They were all exhausted. The wolves spent the day tracking down leads while she and Darrien took the night shift. None of them slept well. Since they barely had enough money for food, they’d stayed in abandoned buildings. The only reason they could spring for a hotel room tonight was because a kind woman in a market who took one look at Samantha’s necklace and had to have it.
She paid a pretty penny for it, though the cash wouldn’t last long. Not when they needed room and food for five.
“I think it’s time we abandon the villages,” Darrien said. “They’re not getting us anywhere. Everyone we’ve talked to think we’re nuts for even asking about witches.”
“Not everyone,” Evie reminded him. “There was that one lady who believed us.”
“And pointed us towards a goat,” Darrien shot back.
The door swung open and Nikko entered with a tray full
of food. “Dinner but no blood. You two will have to find that on your own.”
They all dug in to the spicy chicken and rice using their full mouths as an excuse not to speak.
Except for Ethan, who picked at his plate.
“What’s wrong?” Samantha hated seeing him so distraught, which happened often these days.
“Tomorrow is when Salty’s ship is returning home. I think we should go with him.”
All eating came to an abrupt halt.
Darrien let out a low whistle. “But we came all this way.”
“And have found nothing.” He set his plate on the table and crouched next to Samantha. “I think it might be time to admit that we’ve followed the ramblings of a dying man who spent his entire life deceiving others for his own pleasure.”
“Why would he do that?” Hot tears stung her eyes, but she held them back. If Evie saw them, she would surely have some awful things to say.
Darrien scooped himself another helping of chicken. “It’s possible he wanted to get you away from the madness that’s bound to be happening back in our realm.”
Samantha didn’t even want to think about that. With the synthetic blood center gone, the vampires would need to get blood somehow. She knew all too well what it felt like to go without blood.
“What about Evie’s research?” Darrien asked.
Ethan ran his hands through his hair. “We’ve retraced her steps and found nothing.”
“But Evie found something when she was here.” Samantha wasn’t giving up. Her father might have been a heartless bastard, but sending them on a wild goose chase? That seemed uncharacteristic.
“Don’t bring me into this,” Evie snarled.
“I’m on your side.” Samantha huffed. Why couldn’t the woman just shut up and listen? “They punished you and your mother because you were here searching for these very things.”
“That was years ago,” Ethan reminded her. “Maybe they left after the Council’s thugs paid them a visit.”
“Where would they have gone?”
Darrien’s face lit up. “Remember the story Salty told us about where he gets the lumber?”
“Crescent Moon Forest,” Nikko said. “There is a lot of mythology surrounding those woods. The people here do not venture beyond the tree line.”
