by W. J. May
I decided to leave the Charger for the night. I was in the mood for a walk beneath the moonlight. The late night walk through the quiet town felt magically soothing. During the twenty-minute stroll to Lucy’s Lounge, I hoped to accomplish some productive thinking.
The nightlife in Stony Plain vastly differs from that of the city center. The streetlights here don’t shine brighter than the stars. Traffic maintains a steady flow, but the vehicles are much fewer and farther in between. And, of course, the only businesses open at this hour consisted of the bars, the 7/11, and the McDonald’s twenty-four hour drive-thru.
A fountain bubbled, and a creek flowed near the small, off-road path. I preferred to avoid the main walking routes. I sought the shadows. The path and the creek successfully wound the length of Stony from the north to the south end. Comforting and familiar, the sound of the creek held a soothing quality.
As I walked, several jackrabbits broke from frozen positions and ran for safety as I crossed through the playground of an elementary school. They didn’t fear the trucks barreling through the street, yet they still feared me upon catching the scent of wolf. I paused to allow them to run without feeling as if I was giving chase. They were too small and helpless. I liked my quarry big enough to put up a fight. In fact, I preferred that they deserved it.
A group of teenagers looked up in alarm when I rounded a bend in the grey stone walkway. The joint they passed was frozen in midair. The kid holding it had the widest eyes. I almost laughed aloud. At their age, I’d been learning how to protect myself from true danger as well as my own predatory urges. What I wouldn’t have given to be a kid with a joint instead.
I couldn’t hide my smile when I passed them. One kid dared to give me a cocky sneer, a challenge. The youthful scent of his blood was tangy and metallic, inviting me to taste it. A brief thought flashed through my mind. How easy it would be to take him right here in a frenzy of blood and fear. The others would try to run, but I’d catch them, too. I forced myself to keep walking and the urge dissipated almost as fast as it had come.
No sooner had I vanished from sight than they resumed their laughter and juvenile jokes. Enjoy it boys. You’ll have to grow up some time.
I ambled on toward Lucy’s until the overpowering scent of fear made me stop in my tracks. Standing in the shadows, I was hidden from view by the tree-lined path as vehicles flew by on the four-lane strip to my right. I saw nothing out of place.
For a moment, I thought my nose was playing tricks on me, but then the scream came. High pitched and terrified, the helpless sound thrilled me with excitement, bringing Arys’s smile to my lips.
I followed the sound down the gaping black hole of an intersecting path. I suppose I’m lucky that my night vision is damn good. It’s better than that of the two humans that I had smelled in the darkness ahead, and that’s what really mattered.
As I crept down the eeriest bike path in town, I stifled a giggle. My wolf didn’t drive me forward. No, I had succumbed to the intoxicating temptation of the bloodlust. I suddenly wanted it so bad that I could already taste the sweet copper on my tongue.
I didn’t need the whimpering to guide me to the couple. I could see them fighting near the thin tree line. The scent of fear hung thick on the air, as enticing as bread, fresh from the oven. But, there was also the heavenly scent of pain, which I despised myself for loving.
As I got closer, I realized how dire the situation was for the humans. They grappled in the dark for control, and one was fated to lose. The she-wolf in me reared her head at that, and a surge of rage hit me as the warm and cool energies of the wolf and vampire struggled for dominance.
“Please, David, don’t!” I heard the shrill and terrified cry, and I saw his hand rise before the deafening smack followed.
“Nothing but a goddamned tease.” Flesh struck flesh, and then I heard a muffled whimper.
The vampire may have gotten more enjoyment out of the fear heavily lacing the air. I on the other hand took greater pleasure in the cocky display of caveman mentality and knowing this guy would die for it.
The barest shred of realism appealed to my quickly fading sanity. I realized that what little was left of my humanity was falling away. Power rode me in an overwhelming rush. I knew such undeniable hunger when the vampire’s appetite rose to the surface. The side of me that was wolf looked on the scene before me with apathy: he was a danger; he had to die. The scent of blood hit me, and the power building in my core broke free.
My head swam as instinct took over, and the beast within was unleashed. When I lifted my victim off his feet with one hand, I only wished he could see me better in the dark and fear me even more. With my fangs bared, a growl erupted from my throat. As I jerked the man away, the woman let out another ear-piercing wail.
Her fear fed my fire like gasoline, and I struggled to say, “Run,” before I reached for her, too. She didn’t have to be told twice. With David long forgotten, she ran screaming into the night. She would need a good twenty minutes to find someone to help look for the monster eating her loser boyfriend.
A cold sweat broke out on my skin, and I shivered despite the warm summer air. Conflicting urges toyed with my emotions, but all I felt was the hunger coursing through me.
David’s attempt at a strangled scream was music to my ears. I smiled and licked my lips. Even in the dark, I could see the whites of his bulging eyes as he fought to breathe around my crushing grip.
“So you don’t like to take no for an answer? Well, neither do I.” I gave him a mind-numbing shake. His sudden resurgence of terror hit me like an overdose. I didn’t need more fear to feed my inner fire. I saw through a red haze. The sky, stars and moon all shone down on us with a blood red glow. I don’t have a clear recollection of sinking fangs and tearing flesh. I know only that David’s noises stopped instantly as his blood sprayed in hot drops, like lava, and spattered my face.
My intention went out the window when I tasted his blood. Any remaining thread of my humanity broke. I blacked out.
It was absolute carnage, nothing like the two neat holes of a practiced vampire. When I came back to myself and took in the scene, a cry escaped me that sounded foreign, like somebody else. I’d killed the wretch of a man, and the remnants of David were strewn about everywhere, most of them unidentifiable. The fact that his head remained just barely attached to his torso was sickening enough. The pile of intestine near my feet had me scrambling backward. I clawed at the pavement in my haste to retreat.
Blood coated the back of my tongue bitterly, and I made it a few feet before vomiting a stream of blood and flesh. My hands and face felt sticky. My heart raced so fast that I expected it to give out. Silent tears zigzagged twin paths down my cheeks as I gasped for air.
My mind was reeling. What in the fuck just happened? Desperately, I tried to wrap my mind around what I had done. I was haunted by how good it had felt, better than any physical sensation that I’d ever known. Once I’d accepted the taunting lure of the vampire’s need, there had been no going back.
I began to sob even as I spat blood and tissue. Crying wasn’t going to help anything so I forcibly bit back my sobs, though the tears refused to stop. I recognized the copper flavor of blood, goddamn vampire tears. My stomach rolled again with nausea and bile rose in my throat. I had to get out of there.
I was scared shitless but not stupid. As soon as David’s girlfriend reached the heart of town, she’d send someone. With any luck, he wouldn’t be found before daylight, but I needed to get the hell away from the scene. I quickly checked for any personal evidence. No human dental records in the world would match any bite marks on the body parts.
My clothes, my face, and my hands were gory. I looked like I had been finger painting with vital fluids. I had to clean up, but the darkened path led away from the creek. If I turned back, I’d expose myself to the light from the main road. Out of the question. I’d have to get back home without anyone seeing me.
Deeper in the darkness, away from the ma
in road, was another intersecting trail. That one however led only a short way to a residential sidewalk and ended. I glanced over my shoulder to the headlights on the busy street. I had no choice but to take the quiet residential streets.
My legs moved with preternatural speed as I hopped fences, ducked in between houses and slunk through the dark alleys. I stopped twice more to vomit. By the time that I arrived at home, I was dizzy and nauseous.
I didn’t even consider going inside. If Kylarai saw me like this, she might just kick my ass herself. I worried that I was losing my mind. I had to ask myself if what had just happened was real. It already felt like a faded dream.
Unfortunately, the moment I entered the garage and looked at myself in the Charger’s side mirror, it became painfully real. My wolf eyes glowed with an eerie light in the dimly lit garage. Thankfully, they were my wolf eyes and not Arys’s dizzying blue orbs.
The bright red smear across my mouth had turned brownish red around the edges. My blonde hair was chunky with red and pink tissues. I swore softly, but I wanted to pitch a damn fit.
I blamed Arys for all of this. He had to have known the risks far better than I did. Damn him for adding to my already screwed up existence.
Careful not to touch Kylarai’s white Escalade, I went to the small sink near the workbench. For the first time, I was glad that the man who had built the place had thought of it. I stripped off my bloodstained sweater. My t-shirt beneath was unblemished. With a sigh of relief, I ran the water until it was warm and cleansed every spot from my hands and face. I wasn’t happy about rinsing my hair with no shampoo or conditioner, and it really sucked that my precious toothbrush was in the house. But, if I went in, Ky would try to stop me from going back out, and I wasn’t risking that.
Something was drawing me to Lucy’s Lounge. Whether it was my inherent need to throttle Arys with my bare hands or something else entirely, I wasn’t sure.
After stashing my bloody sweater in a gap behind the stairs, I studied my black jeans. The few splatters were barely noticeable on the dark denim. They would do for tonight and would join my hoodie in the burn barrel tomorrow.
I got in the Charger and backed out of the garage. I hoped that Ky wouldn’t hear the mechanics of the garage door. I’d just have to explain later.
* * * *
Arys was nowhere to be seen, but I felt him as strongly as if I were standing right next to him. A strange sensation told me that he sensed me, too. I cast my gaze around frantically for him. Something didn’t feel right, like someone was out of place.
I felt Shaz’s eyes on me, and I turned to give him a wink and a smile. I couldn’t read anything in his expression, which gave me pause. I would have approached him if the pressing line of patrons hadn’t stood in my way. He didn’t look exceptionally distraught or beckon me over, so it couldn’t be that bad.
When I didn’t immediately spot Arys downstairs, I began to ascend the wide staircase. A rush of coolness stirred the hot bar air behind me. I turned to face him, suddenly on the offensive.
“You son of a bitch!” I cursed Arys from where I stood on the third step looking down at him.
His midnight eyes widened as he took in my blood-scented jeans and damp hair, now drying in dread-like chunks of blonde and gold.
“You killed a human.” It was a comment, not a question. The Goth rock music boomed all around us. His words reached only me. “What have you been up to, Alexa?”
“Why don’t you tell me? You’re the one skilled in cold blooded murder.” I glared at him. I tried so hard to blame him, even as I tasted the blood that lingered on the back of my tongue. He fixed me with a hard stare and, though my temper faltered, I refused to back down.
“What in the hell are you on?” Arys grabbed my forearm and jerked me down the stairs. He pulled me against him and forced me to crane my neck. He looked into my eyes. “I never forced you into anything, and you know it. Did I blame you when I slaughtered Mrs. Olson’s dog?”
I raised an eyebrow at him and made a face that indicated how stupid I thought his statement was. After a moment, he relented.
Arys admitted, “Ok, I did blame you. But now, I blame us. But seriously, we have more important issues at hand.”
“What the hell can be more important than the fact that I just tore a man apart? Literally! He’s probably been found by now.”
“When you say you tore him apart, you mean…”
“I said literally, didn’t I? I mean just what I said. I left the fucker in pieces, ok?” His eyes sparkled with gruesome curiosity, which disgusted me enough that I had to fight back another wave of nausea.
“As much as I’d love to hear all of the sweet and, I’m certain, juicy details, I’m afraid we have bigger problems.”
“Like what?” I didn’t really want to hear what he had to say. In fact, I had made a mistake by coming to Lucy’s at all.
“Like the hit job on me that you’ve been thinking about taking.” He said it so matter of fact.
Dumbfounded doesn’t even begin to describe my instant reaction. I stared up at him like he’d slapped me as I took a step back. Shit. Good news travels fast.
“What?” I mumbled, glancing around anxiously for whatever was out of place. My poor attempt at casual had bombed, but I forced myself to maintain eye contact. “I was never going to take the job.”
“Don’t even try it. If we weren’t facing a shit load of trouble right now, I wouldn’t hesitate to take a bite out of you. But, that will have to wait.”
I was constantly finding myself thankful for the noisy din of the bar. Music, laughter and conversation created the perfect lull of background noise.
Before I could ask what he meant by trouble, my sense of unease grew as an angry energy swirled all around us. I felt vampiric energy approach me from behind and whirled to find Catherine descending the steps. She glowered at us with more hate than I’d had directed at me in a while.
“Alexa!” She was all too happy to see me. “I thought I sensed your presence. Good. Now I can kill the both of you, which only seems fitting considering the circumstances.”
“Cat, please. We can discuss this rationally.” I kicked myself for the remaining humanity that enabled me to feel compassion for a vampire that I seriously suspected of mental illness. “It’s not what you think.”
Her dark eyes narrowed on me, and I felt my chest tighten under the pressure of her fury. How I became “the other woman” was beyond me. I studied Catherine’s absolutely evil stare and felt ashamed. I’d worn a similar expression no more than an hour previous. A shiver tore down my spine.
“Don’t try reasoning with her,” Arys said as he grabbed my hand. He yanked me behind him, away from the crazed vampiress.
His touch caused a visible spark of sudden power between us. It looked like an extreme static zap but much brighter and stronger.
“Whoa,” I gasped, jerking my hand out of his grasp. Was he absolutely insane? This wasn’t getting any better.
I couldn’t tell if Catherine had even seen the spark. She was now staring so hard at Arys that I was glad to be the other woman rather than him.
“Cat, honey,” Arys purred, and I couldn’t help but look at him in surprise. “Let’s not be irrational, my dear. We are in public.”
Her glare grew in its intensity, and it took all I had to keep my eyes on her. Only a woman truly in love could exude so much pure venom. Either that or she was insanely obsessed.
I wanted to just let fly with a good smack up side Arys’s head, but that wasn’t going to discourage Catherine. Though, it might have changed me from foe to friend in her eyes.
“Don’t waste your pathetic charm on me. I’ve come a long way since I was your play thing.” A slow grin played about her ruby red lips.
“We’re going outside, Catherine. Whatever you want to do, you can do there. I won’t let you endanger innocent people in here.” Arys’s voice was low and firm, but she heard him as well as I did.
If looks c
ould kill, he would have fallen into ash at my feet. She glared daggers that even made me want to squirm.
“How dare you speak to me as if you place such value on life? You’re the devil who taught me to take it, ruthless and without mercy.”
“That was a long time ago.” Arys’s voice was soft, persuasive. He was full of shit, and all three of us knew it, yet the pull to believe him was strong. The bastard was good. “Things have changed since those days. It’s time to move on.”
That was clearly the wrong line. Catherine’s eyes seemed to sparkle suddenly, and she was alive with power, but not her natural vampire power. No, this was foreign magic, borrowed rather than owned. Where was she getting it?
“This has been a long time coming, my dear Sindarys.” I saw him visibly flinch at her use of the name. “I cannot wait to watch you turn to dust.”
Every part of me braced for the vampiress’s blow, knowing it was coming. We had to get outside. I began inching away from the bottom of the staircase, toward the rear exit.
Instinctively, I wanted to lock eyes with Shaz across the bar but didn’t dare. Like any supernatural, Catherine would be aware of every Were in the building. She had no beef with him, and I had no good reason to involve him.
“You don’t think you’re going to get away, do you?” Catherine turned on me. “You, who let me confess my heartbreak to you about the very man you, yourself, are bedding,” she declared dramatically before holding a dainty hand to her mouth.
Passersby glanced briefly at the love triangle gone wrong. As a regular patron of the club, I was embarrassed to be involved in the dramatics. Of course, if I could escape the obsessive, manic vampiress unscathed, I could handle the judgmental humans.
“Hold on a minute, lady.” I held my hands up defensively and took an involuntary step forward. Damn my indignant nature. “Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. I never had any intention of taking the job, and I tried to refuse your money.”
