by Casey Lane
Megan grinned and shook her head. “Come on, Raven. Let’s get this figured out so we can go play.”
Surprise lit his heart. Maybe his little halfling Wolf Queen had decided to keep him around, after all.
He reached for his wolf, heard a faint howl within and then silence. Damn it.
Raven took her hand, laced their fingers, and stayed close to her.
They were able to stay side by side, walking along the sandy floor toward the back of the cave, until it narrowed. The air grew damp and the rock walls closed in until the passage barely spanned two feet across.
He stopped, uneasy. He sniffed the air, looked to Megan. “What do you sense?”
She shook her head. “Nothing but power this far back. Power of the earth, of the rock above us, and of the earth below. I can’t even scent the demon. Nothing has come through here in a year or so, is my guess. There’s nothing alive in here but us.”
He huffed and kept going, this time taking the lead. The passageway narrowed again, and his shoulders brushed rock on either side. The deeper into the side of the mountain they went, the more the tension inside him tightened.
The dark was absolute, outside of the orb of light bobbing ahead of them. Just as Raven had decided they’d need to back up the way they had come, the passageway opened up wide again.
Megan’s words came back to him. Nothing alive…
She sank to her knees. “Oh by the great trees of my homeland,” she whispered, horror in her voice. A shimmer of light surrounded her, and he knew he’d keep this snapshot memory for a very long time.
He took a breath and looked around. Two bodies lay close together, their clothes in tatters, the flesh almost gone. More human bones lay in an untidy heap along one wall. Abruptly he took Megan into his arms, grateful when she buried herself against him.
Studied the room over her head.
There wasn’t any further passage that he could see, but that didn’t mean one didn’t exist. Look at how difficult it had been to find the opening to the cave.
“Vampire.”
She shook her head against him. “No. I mean, I know you’re right, but any scent here is old.”
“Maybe.” He eyed the pile of bones on one side of the cave, then the two desiccated corpses on the other side. “You can smell it, that touch of the grave that they can never quite erase, no matter how much scent they use. Can’t you?”
She lifted her face to him, her eyes damp and her expression forlorn. “Yes.”
“This scent is what I smelled in your apartment. There, it’s just twisted slightly.” He frowned. Outside of the remains, there were no other signs of occupation. “I don’t think this has been Vamp Central for a long time.”
Megan released him and wiped a wrist across her eyes. “There’s another opening. Hidden, similar to the last one. But I can’t go any further today. Not right now, anyway.”
A shiver went down his spine as he became aware of the tons of rock overhead. Raven broke out into a light sweat. “Let’s go back. We can figure out what to do about this in broad daylight. Okay?”
“All right.”
With relief, Raven turned back the way they came. Megan hooked her hand into the waistband of his jeans, and they headed out.
A violent shaking tore them apart, brought them both to their knees. Behind him, Megan let out an incoherent cry, which echoed in the cavern. Tiny pebbles rained down on them from the stone ceiling as the ground shook once more.
“Earthquake.” Raven raised his voice so she could hear him over the shaking. “Stay down, Megan.”
“Raven—” her voice rose in a shriek before being abruptly cut off.
He sat up, alarmed, despite the fact that the ground still shook under him. The scent of vampire grew thick, and he choked, losing the scent of his mate.
His. Mate. The orb of light that had been constant flickered and went out. The earth rumbled again, and the sense he had of fresh air, of their path in, abruptly disappeared as rocks and debris from above came crashing down.
Like a spider, he scuttled away from the sound and prayed the ceiling where he was wouldn’t also cave in. “Megan!” The cry was ripped from his throat as his position became clear.
He was in the dark, unable to shift, alone, and had no way out.
Panic clawed at his throat, and he reached for her. Megan. Baby. Where did you go?
He waited for her answer. Counted his heartbeats until he got to two hundred, and realized she would have answered if she could have.
They’d walked right into a trap. In despair, Raven lifted his head and howled.
Megan woke with a hellacious headache and a sense she wasn’t where she should be. She blinked and opened her eyes to a blindingly bright light. Shut them again before she could see where she was, only then realizing her arms and legs were tied to the chair. Fuck.
“Doctor Cavanaugh. I do apologize about the light. Fred, angle the light so it doesn’t hit her dead in the eyes, would you? There now, doctor. Open up.”
She opened her eyes. The light still stung, and the scent of vampire overwhelmed her senses, but the rest of the room was in shadow, and she couldn’t see a thing.
She struggled to contain her rage. “Why am I here?”
“You knocked on my back door. One that I have left open and neglected for far too long. That has been remedied.”
Her heart stopped. “Raven.”
“Oh, you had a companion with you? I am sorry.”
The sly laughter in his voice set her teeth on edge. “Right.” She reached for the strength of the land, only to find herself surrounded by plastic.
“So sorry about the, er, inhospitable surroundings. We know you are Fae, and so took precautions,” the voice went on in a silky manner. “I just want to discuss a…shall we say, business venture? Since you are here.”
“You took me. You brought me here.” She struggled against her bonds. Felt the wire cut into her skin. “Besides, I have a business already. A thriving one, I might add.” She strained to see him. “I have no need for another business.”
“There’s always a need for more business, my dear.”
“Who are you, anyway? I don’t do business with people I can’t see. And I make it a point to never do business with someone I am not acquainted with.”
“You want my name?” The vampire chuckled, a low sound that sent ice down her back. “You can call me Doctor Mengele. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
“But that’s not your name?” She worked to get her hands free from behind her back, felt the blood well. Drip.
“It’s suitable. Now, to my proposal. I want to send someone to work in your children’s clinic. I know how understaffed you are at the moment, overall. I can help you with that.”
Alarm bells went off in Megan’s mind. “Why?”
“I am a philanthropist in my real life. Your little clinic needs help. I can provide that help to you. Expand your small hospital’s in-house lab capabilities. Maybe install a phlebotomy lab as well. Just think of the outside business that could generate for you.”
Megan stilled. “Ah, now it makes sense. You want blood.”
The vampire let out a gusty sigh. “Dear child. I can get blood with the flick of my fingers. I don’t need to let a Fae, and a halfling one at that, to get blood for me.” He flicked his fingers, and a cut opened on her arm, blood welling to the surface. “See? Blood. Anytime I want, my dear halfling.”
Shock had her sputtering. “What do you mean, a halfling Fae? I’m full-blooded Fae. I have all the arsenal of a Fae, including calling the firebolts when I need them. Moving earth. Healing body and mind.” Her heart raced. “You’re lying.” Mentally, she closed the cut, and the blood flow stopped.
“Am I? Are you truly of the Fae? Why do you think your Father abandoned you here on this Plane? He was well-considered there, until his unconventional mating with a she-wolf.”
Mengele kept talking, but Megan had stopped listening. Instead, she delved deep into her
own body, something she hadn’t done since she was a child at her mother’s side.
Memories she had suppressed came roaring to the forefront. Running as a pup through the woods of the Fae, the trees so very tall. The scents kept her busy for hours as a child, and soon she could find any herb, root, twig or flower needed for her mother’s medical kit.
Her mother’s medical kit!
As though waking up from a long nap, her inner wolf stretched, yawned, and shook itself.
Memory took her farther back, to when she knelt by a pond and looked into the water. Saw a wolf pup’s face staring back at her.
Mama, look. Who is that? Where is my face?
Megs, that is you as well. Your wolf is your protector. When you cannot reach your Fae powers, your wolf powers will be there. You are she. She is you. Ask, and you will change to her. You are both precious to this world.
“You are she. She is you.” Megan murmured the words under her breath, and the flow of chatter stopped from the other side of the light.
“My dear Doctor, I understand my proposition has come as a shock to you. I will give you a few days to think about it, and then a messenger will come to you for your final answer.”
She lifted her head, stared at the outline of the vampire’s body. “And if I refuse?”
“Oh, that would not be a good idea. No, not a good idea at all, I’m afraid. You doubt my power? Don’t.”
Without warning, a force entered into her. Grabbed the vision she’d had of herself as a wolf, and ripped the wolf out of her and to the surface.
Pain yanked her senses away until all she knew was her animal. Her sense of self shifted even as her body did. The wire holding her to the chair burst into pieces, and the chair beneath her shattered. A snarling filled the room, and to her surprise, it came from her. Power flooded her senses.
With a bound, she knocked down the light pole, but found the vampire and his assistant gone and the door open.
Still dealing with the pain of the change, she nosed through it and glanced both ways down a long hall that held lots of doors. Battering down despair, she lifted her nose and scented the air. To the right lay more vampires.
But to the left…Raven.
With another howl, she ran to her left until she came to another cross hallway. Another sniff and she followed his scent.
Raven. Damn it, where are you?
Megan? Megan!
He was there, on the ground, human. Blood on his head, his nose. She went up to him and licked his face, whined a little.
Raven. Are you okay?
“Babe. Are you okay? You’re the furry one.”
Megan sensed his pleased surprise at her change. How did you get in? Better question, how do we get out?
She lifted her nose in the air, scented fresh air to the right, and trotted that way a few steps. When he didn’t follow, she looked at him over her shoulder.
Coming? She watched as he struggled to his feet.
“This would be easier if I could change.” He took a few steps toward her, his smile rueful.
Then change.
He shook his head but didn’t say anything.
Megan stood up on her hind legs and put her front paws on his shoulders. Stared him in the eye. I can see your wolf in your eyes, Raven. Call it and let’s get out of here.
“What? No…”
She shuddered at the thought, but he had to shift. She now knew how to force it. But maybe without pain? Maybe with persuasion, with love, she could help.
Megan reached for her Fae healing and putting her snout on his shoulder, she closed her eyes. Slid into his mind, and found his wolf.
Beautiful, big, black with gray mottling, he was curled up asleep in a corner of Raven’s mind. Megan went to the wolf, nudged him with her nose and licked his forehead.
The big wolf stretched, whined. Come on. I need you. I claimed both of you earlier today. Now come on. Move it!
With a roar, the wolf jumped to its feet. Megan backed away, left Raven’s mind, and waited in the hallway until her mate had shifted to his wolf. He shook his shaggy head and snorted at her.
Mentally shrugging, Megan trotted down the hallway to where she spied an elevator. She stopped in front of it, looked at Raven. Whined a little.
Reluctantly, she shook her shoulders hard. Found her other self and before she knew it, was standing as a human in front of Raven, still in wolf form.
She pushed the button for the first floor. So damn proud of you.
The elevator door opened, empty. They darted inside and just as it closed, Megan noticed the camera aimed at the corridor they had just come from.
They didn’t say a word as the elevator went up three levels. When the doors opened, they were in a small area that housed only the elevator, a series of mailboxes, and a door to the outside.
They hurried outside and looked around. The building looked to be a typical office building, but surrounding them there was nothing but open land.
Megan reached out with her newly discovered wolf senses and scented the ocean off to their right. On the left, a road and the sage-covered hills so typical of southern California.
She eyed the hills. “Let’s cross the street and run until we find Leo Carillo beach again. Okay?”
He butted his head against her belly, and she laughed. “Come on. Let’s get our run on.”
She shifted, and the run through the hills was as exhilarating as she had expected it to be. As they went, she scented sage and black walnut, scrub oak and wild grasses, and memories of her childhood flooded back.
Running alongside Raven was another joy to her heart. Now she knew why they seemed to fit, and so quickly. Fae and wolf hadn’t worked out for her parents.
But part-Fae, part-wolf, and wolf? That’s a match she could understand. Could happily embrace. For as a wolf, she felt beautiful, strong.
Loved. You are loved, Megan. I love you. So very much.
She ran, hugging his words to her heart.
They sat on top of her car, still parked at Leo Carillo, and watched the sun set. Neither of them had felt like going back, so they sat and rested.
“You are magical, do you know that?” Raven smoothed her hair, for once unrestrained, behind her ear. “How did you know to find my wolf? Wake him up?”
“I…don’t know.” She turned and smiled into his eyes. “What do we do now?”
Raven settled his cheek against hers as they looked out over the ocean. “I’ve already marked this spot with the GPS on my phone, so we’ll be able to find it again. I’m…as much as I believe the authorities should know about the two corpses in there, I also believe we should keep this quiet. Besides, the cave where the bones are is now blocked.”
“It wouldn’t do any good to involve the humans,” she murmured. “That was one of my father’s maxims. ‘Don’t involve the humans if not strictly necessary.’ He was always saying that.”
He rubbed her back in slow, soothing circles. “Unfortunately, he was right. Not to mention, the cave-in. We don’t know how extensive that is. And finding the right floor again from that elevator, in that weird building in the middle of pretty much nothing? I’m guessing our luck won’t be that good.”
“Grrr. I know you’re right, but I feel so helpless.”
“Question.”
She leaned against him. “Shoot. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Almost the entire time in there, I could feel the weight of the land above us. One good earthquake and we’d be toast, you know? And trust me, when you disappeared and then the rocks started to fall? I was sure I was dead. But it didn’t seem to bother you, all that rock and dirt on top of us.”
She laughed softly. “It didn’t bother me. It…energized me. The pulse of the land, of the earth itself, is still running through my bloodstream. I haven’t done anything like that in far too long.”
“What do you mean, energized you?” He turned so they sat cross-legged, face-to-face.
“The Fae are a part of the
natural world, Raven. There is magic here that humanity has not learned how to tap, though I am certain it will happen one day. Until then, this world is like a big shiny, just full of energy, for any paranormal creature to take advantage of.”
“And now you’re wolf, too.” He smiled then. “I’m so damn proud of you.”
“You didn’t seem too surprised, now that I think about it.”
“Oh, I wasn’t. And before you get angry, let me put it this way.” He held her hands, gazed into her clear gray eyes. “I had just made love to a very sexy Fae who not only claimed me but goaded me into claiming her. Soon after…well, let’s just say I knew you had to have wolf inside you. And you didn’t know.”
“Ah. Not exactly the time to break out the surprise in the Cracker Jack.”
He turned his cheek into her touch, keeping his gaze on hers. “I love your way with words.”
She laughed.
“Tell me more about the magic in this world.” He watched as her eyes grew wide with knowledge.
“Demons have always come through to this world, wanting to control it. Some of them looked enough like humans, assimilated enough, to come to seats of power. They ruled, briefly, before the other powers in this world came together to take care of the imbalance of power.”
“So you’re saying there’s magic here?”
“Haven’t you felt it? Running as a wolf, your paws on the dirt, haven’t you felt the magic that lies there?”
“I know you’re magic. But the planet? Mm, doubtful.”
“All the way to its molten core.” She held up her workman’s hands. Hands, he knew, dedicated to saving the lives of her kind, as well as those of her adopted home. “It’s why I’m here. It’s been difficult, being on my own as much as I am.”
Compassion streamed from him. “I’m so sorry, Megan. So damn sorry.”
She shrugged. “It’s okay. I’ve been here long enough that I’m resigned to it. In a way, I love it all. Los Angeles is a chaotic city filled with so many different people. So many different oddities.”
“And now, you have your wolf.” He breathed her in, her musky wolf scent more to the fore than he had known previously. “You also have me. You are intoxicating.”
