A look of abject anger shot across his face, as though I were being impertinent. Just as Jess and I reached one of the bars, he got up, and began to walk over. Fear flashed through my chest, and I looked away. I tried getting Jessa’s attention, but she had wormed her way through the crowd to get to the bar, and was leaning over the bar, waving wildly for the bartender. I was on my own. Turning around, I found myself face-to-face with the man from the dais.
He was close—too close. His eyes were a deep, soulful mahogany color, and his hair was artfully tousled. He smelled masculine, clean, yet he wasn’t wearing cologne. Butterflies frenzied through my stomach. I crossed my arms over my chest, and raised my chin. I wasn’t going to let him overpower me with his presence. He seemed like someone who was used to getting their way.
“What do you want?” I snapped. He stepped back a little in shock. Clearly, he was used to people treating him much differently.
“Do you know who I am, human?” he asked.
“No. Should I?” I replied. He just grinned, his eyes smoldering. He put his hands in his pockets. He stood straight, regally, like the woman on the dais, but he was trying to appear casual, and I couldn’t understand why.
“You have no idea,” he said, then pointed. I shifted my gaze, to see a man, kissing a woman on the neck in the corner. Her head was thrown back as though she were in a fit of passion. The man groped her breasts and buttocks.
“Um, okay, ew,” I said. “If you’re asking me to make out in a dark corner with you, you’re mistaken.”
“No, human,” he replied. “Look closer.” Suddenly, I realized that blood was flowing from the woman’s neck, and the man was drinking it. His skin had a strange pallor to it, only heightened by the darkness of his hair and clothing.
“What the—” I looked back at the man from the dais. “Is this some weird sex fetish club, then?” He laughed.
“No,” he replied. “He’s a vampire.”
“You’re not serious,” I said.
“This is a club for supernaturals,” he replied. “We are here to make peace among our kinds. We bring humans here on Sabbats to appease the darker ones. The vampires, the faeries, the witches.”
He gestured beyond the man drinking the woman’s blood, to a group of women who were glowing slightly, and dancing around a man. The man looked drunk, and very happy. As the women laughed, they displayed their mouths, filled with pointed teeth. Their ears were equally pointed.
My strange companion finally motioned toward the dais, where the cat-like woman in gold was observing us.
“Is she the priestess?” I asked.
“Yes. Eavenna.” he replied. “Her coven is quite powerful in this city.”
“Is she your girlfriend?” I asked. I didn’t know why that mattered to me.
“No,” he replied archly. “We are more like political leaders who work together.” I glanced back at the vampire and his victim.
“Is he going to kill her?” I asked, gesturing toward the vampire.
“I certainly hope not,” he replied. “That would betray our trust. They are quite able to drink without releasing venom, or draining their victim. It could, potentially, make things quite messy for Club Walpurgis if our human guests began disappearing.” The vampire man looked up from his “meal” to look at us. His eyes glowed with red fire. I wondered if he could hear everything that we were saying. He smiled, wiping his crimson-stained mouth on his sleeve, as he began walking over to us.
“Wait. What does that make you?” I asked, looking at him suspiciously.
“Werewolf,” he said. “King of the werewolves, actually.” He paused watching my reaction.
“Am I supposed to bow, or curtsy, or something?” I asked, wanting to laugh. This was all so bizarre.
“Do you want to?” he asked.
“No,” I replied bluntly. He laughed, and it came out almost as a bark.
“Most people,” he said, reaching out, and taking a lock of my hair between two of his fingers. “Would be quite nervous to be talking to a very powerful supernatural being, and royalty, no less.” As he released the lock of my hair, he ran a finger over my collarbone. I could feel a hum in my blood as desire shot through my bloodstream like caffeine.
“I’m not most people,” I replied.
“Do tell,” he said. I found that I didn’t have an answer to that.
“I—”
“Yes?” he said, raising an eyebrow. But he was not meant to find out what my reasoning was, because there was a sudden outcry, and people started running for the door. It appeared that people were being attacked on the dance floor. The king of the werewolves grabbed me, picking me up as easily as you or I would a lightweight basket of laundry. Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around his neck.
Suddenly, the DJ’s booth began to spark, then went up in flames. People were flocking to the exit, which was not large enough to allow everyone out at the same time. Glass was breaking, and the werewolf king was running, quickly toward the side opposite to the entrance, and I was forced to go with him. His arms were wrapped around me like a vise. As I glanced back, I saw the vampire watching us; he smiled at me and waved.
“Jessa!” I yelled into the imbroglio. I turned to the werewolf king and said, “Wait, I have to get my friend.” I fought against him, but I wasn’t strong enough. He carried me past the dais with the two woven chairs on it. The high priestess had vanished. Several people were standing by a door on the wall beyond the dais. It was dark here, and I couldn’t see any of their faces. I counted eight people in all.
“What’s going on?” the werewolf king snapped.
“We have to get you out of here, my lord,” a man said, holding the door open.
“Who is attacking?” he demanded.
“The Dvina Vampire Coven,” a woman said.
“Please,” I said, still fighting the king. “Let me go find Jessa.” Not listening to me, he walked through the door, still holding me tightly.
“Get the humans out,” he said. “Destroy as many of the Dvina as possible.”
He began to run down the hallway, a few of the people following. I was crying, I realized, desperate to go back for Jessa. But it seemed that I was being rescued against my will. In a few heartbeats, we were outside, running through the city streets. I looked around me at the people, just in time to see them shift into their wolf forms.
They were large, with mournful eyes that glowed with a golden fire. They loped easily alongside us. We were going fast—as fast as one can drive a car on the freeway. I felt overwhelmed and absolutely sick with worry because I’d left Jessa behind. I hoped that she was okay. I thought back to the night that I’d planned—one in which I stayed on the couch and remained clueless.
*****
We entered a building that, from the outside, looked abandoned. The inside, however, was beautifully finished. I had no idea where we were; I was overwhelmed by guilt that I had been saved, and Jess had been left to fend for herself. The building that we were in had been gutted, and all of the floors taken out, so from the ground floor to the third story ceiling, it was open. It was extravagantly decorated—hardwood floors, huge chandeliers dripped crystal from the ceiling, and the windows had been replaced. There was plush furniture spread throughout, and a long wooden table that was big enough to seat about twenty. In the back corner was a large round tent, made of a red material. It was in here that the werewolf king took me. Setting me on my feet inside of the tent, he walked to the back of it, where there was a high-backed chair. The structure was about the size of a small room and was lit by fairy lights. There was a bed, I noticed, a desk, and shelves with books on them.
Rubbing the back of my hand over my eyes, I began to rummage through my purse for my cellphone. I needed to text Jessa, to see if she was okay. When I pulled it from my bag, though, the werewolf king shot upwards from his seat, snatching the phone out of my hands. He threw it to the floor, smashing it with his foot.
“What did you do that for?
” I asked.
“You can’t be tracked back to here,” he replied. “I need to keep you safe.”
“From whom?”
“The Dvina Coven will be looking for any humans that were there tonight,” he said. “They will consider you their property.”
“But what about my friend? I have to make sure that she’s okay,” I snapped.
“You can’t,” he replied evenly, his face not changing. He turned away from me and flung himself down on the chair.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Do?” He asked, giving me a blank look. “Stay here. Most of the human population is too slow or too weak to fight a vampire successfully.”
“I have to go back. Take me back,” I said.
“You are not in a position to be making demands, human,” he said. Just then, the flap of the tent was pulled back to reveal what I assumed to be werewolves in their human form.
“We cleared the building, my lord,” said an older man with a grizzly beard. “Several humans are missing, and the human fire department has shown up to extinguish the fire.”
“Very good,” the king replied.
“What about Jessa?” I asked. “Is a girl named Jessa Wilson missing?” The man looked at me, confused. He looked to his king, who nodded.
“No,” he replied. “There is no one by that name on the list.”
“But she was invited,” I said. “We were invited.”
“What is your name?” he asked me.
“Katrina. Katrina Smith.” I replied.
“What was the password?” the king asked me.
“May Day,” I said. “We were let in by a young man with gauges in his ears. It was through a hole cut in the fence.”
“That wasn’t the password,” the old man said.
“No,” the king agreed. “That wasn’t our doorkeeper, either. The vampires were letting more humans in so that they could kidnap more of them undetected.” My stomach sank. We had been targeted. I remembered the eyes of the vampire at the club, and how they blazed with a red fire. My heart was pounding, and the room had begun to spin. I felt as though I were going to pass out. I knelt down onto the floor, just as darkness took me.
I awoke to the werewolf king’s face over me. The red of the tent fabric made everything glow crimson. The king was rubbing a soft, cool damp cloth over my face.
“How are you?” he whispered.
“I’m okay,” I said, going to sit up. “I think.” He pushed me down with a hand. I realized I was lying on his bed.
“Look,” he said. “I’m sorry. But it has to be this way. You and your friend were lured there by the Dvina Coven. She’s probably not going to be found. That’s what happens to humans who come into our world—they often disappear, despite our efforts to return them.”
I started to cry.
“She had been so excited,” I said. He placed a hand on my shoulder.
“I will do everything in my power to recover her,” he said. “Do you believe me?”
I nodded. I believed that he wanted to find her, at least.
“What time is it?”
“About one in the afternoon,” he said. “We got here last night at about midnight.”
“So I slept—”
“All through the night,” he replied. “It happens after something stressful—it’s the body’s way of healing itself.”
“Come,” he said. “You will need food, I imagine.” He got up, holding his hand out to me. I took it, feeling the comforting roughness of it. When we exited the tent, we stepped out into a room crowded with people, all of whom stopped talking when they saw their king. In the sudden hush, his voice rang out.
“This human is under our protection,” he said. “You are to welcome Katrina.” The werewolves all circled around me, holding out their hands. I pressed each hand offered to me. For large canine-human shape shifters, they were quite affable.
“Come,” said the werewolf king, taking my hand and leading me over to a long wooden table that took up a great space in the old warehouse. The werewolf king seated himself at the head of the table, motioning for me to take the seat to his left. I sat, and was served by a young werewolf boy, not much older than ten.
There was a small portion on my plate—much smaller than that of the werewolves, and it was cooked, I realized. Their portions all seemed to be completely raw, and they ate with their hands, while I was, luckily, provided a fork and a knife. It was mundane, to be eating at a table; but I was dining with werewolves, so at the same time it seemed so very strange.
The older man who had spoken with the king in the tent was sitting across from me at the table, and he was completely involved with his food, blood smeared across his cheeks. The king addressed him as Davey. The other wolves, in human form, sat at the table, which was silent, except for the sounds of chewing. I cut into my meat gently. Beside me sat a woman, who chewed her meat gingerly. She caught me looking at her and smiled at me. She had bright green eyes, and close-cropped black hair, with a pixie-like face.
“Hello, human,” she said brightly. “Nice to meet you.”
“I’m Katrina,” I said.
“Mia,” she said, taking a bite. She chewed for a minute before swallowing. “So how do you like our little ragtag band?”
“You all seem really nice,” I said.
“Any dog can wag its tail,” she said. “Just watch out for the teeth.” I wasn’t sure how to react to her statement. Was it a threat? A warning? She looked over at me, and smiled, laughing.
“Relax, human,” she said. “The wolves of this city are a peaceful bunch of pooches.”
“How long have you—” I ventured. She raised her eyebrows.
“Been a werewolf?” she finished.
“Well, yeah,” I said.
“Fifty years,” she said. “You should probably learn to refrain from asking that question of our king.”
“Why?” I asked.
“He’s three hundred years old,” she said. “And hates what he is.”
“But he’s the king,” I said.
“Not all those who possess power choose it,” she said. “Are you coming to the battle?”
“No,” the werewolf king said, and we both jumped, not realizing that he had been listening to our conversation.
“What battle?” I asked.
“The one with the Dvina Coven,” the king said. “It was discussed while you…rested.”
“I have to come,” I said. “To save Jess.”
“You’re not strong enough,” the king said. “Mia will remain here with you to guard you.”
I stood up, causing everyone’s attention to shift to me.
“I don’t need a babysitter,” I shot back angrily, stalking away. The king got up, following me silently. I realized that I had nowhere to go. Noticing, he took me by the arm, leading me toward his tent.
“Why do you always treat me as a lesser being?” I snapped. I was livid. He was taken aback, obviously not used to being spoken to in that manner. He cocked his head to the side in a very dog-like manner.
“Humans are weaker. Slower,” he said matter-of-factly. “Not really much of a threat to vampires. Especially when they have recently fed.”
“If I’m lacking so much, then why do you care? Let me go,” I said. He put his hands in his pockets, and then shrugged.
“I want you to stay,” he said.
“So I can be your human thrall?” I flung my hands in the air. “Why did you even come and talk to me at the club?” He was looking at the ground, smiling.
“Because when you’re at a nightclub and a beautiful woman meets your eye with such an arresting glare, you’d want to speak with her, as well.” I had no response to that. He cleared his throat. “I realize that you feel like you have no choice. I know that you’ve been taken out of your own world. But you’re not safe there until the Dvina have been eliminated. If it would make you comfortable, you can ask me anything, and I will answer.”
“I a
ppreciate your candor,” I said, not really sure where to begin. I sat down on the edge of the bed, while he sat down in his high backed chair. My heart was pounding. There was something about being alone with him… it made my mind go blank. “Mia said that you are three hundred?”
“She also told you not to mention it, if I recall correctly,” he said.
“You said anything.” He bowed his head.
“I was born three hundred and twenty-two years ago,” he said. “In London.”
“Why don’t you have an accent?”
“I’ve lived in America since I came with the first settlers,” he said. “This is where my pack has always lived.”
“Your pack?”
“Supernaturals live in groups, for safety. Vampires and witches live in covens. Werewolves live in packs, and faeries have courts.”
“How did you become king?”
“The elders were killed off by a coven of vampires,” he said. “As the next eldest, rule fell to me.”
“But what about Davey?”
“We look as we do when we are turned. I was twenty-four when turned. Davey was sixty-five.”
“So you must have a name,” I said.
“Of course I do,” he said not answering the question.
“And a family.”
“They are dead.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“It was a long time ago,” he replied. “They died along with my humanity.”
“But isn’t being part human what makes you a werewolf, and not a full wolf?” I asked. He looked at me strangely, as though I were suggesting something new to him.
“So, you still find something human about me?”
“Those that you call weak, and slow, yes. You are, partially, one of us.” I said.
“But I’m also part wolf, thus a monster,” he said.
“I never called you a monster,” I whispered. He snarled, shifting into wolf form as he launched himself at me. I found myself face-to-face with a huge white and gray wolf. He had eyes like yellow fire. He growled at me, and I found myself completely calm. Slowly, I reached up a hand, placing it on the side of his muzzle. Shock and surprise flashed across his face as he shifted back into human form. His clothes were torn during the shift, and he stood before me, naked. I tried not to gawk, keeping my eyes focused on his.
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