Golden Anidae (A Blushing Death Novel)

by Suzanne M. Sabol

  I’d left Columbus to keep them safe. No, that’s not true. I’d been dallying around for five months. It was time to face the truth. I left because I couldn’t look myself in the mirror anymore, couldn’t remember who I was. I wasn’t the person I’d wanted to be. I wasn’t even sure anymore if the person I wanted to be had ever existed in the first place. When I peered at myself in the mirror now, all I saw was a coward.

  I’d run away. I knew it. I liked to talk it up and convince myself that I was finding myself or some shit like that but I wasn’t. As I sat and stared out into the emptiness of the desert, I admitted to myself that I’d run as fast and as far as I could. I’d let down two men who loved me and an entire city that depended on me.

  “For what?” I huffed to myself, knowing I had to go back now. I’d left them vulnerable and hurting. I’d left Patrick without an explanation. My whole body slumped as I released a ragged breath. That single breath felt like I’d been holding it for months.

  “He’s probably worried sick,” I breathed and tried not to cry as I finally thought about someone other than myself.

  I wasn’t ready to talk to Patrick yet. That was for sure. I wasn’t ready to face the hurt look I knew, knew in my bones would be there. The hurt that I’d caused. I’d never wanted to hurt him, to disappoint him or Dean. In my selfishness, I’d done both.

  “God damn it,” I sighed. “What do I do now?”

  Chapter 7

  The pale light of dawn stretched over the desert. The sun was slow and tedious as it rose, shedding light on a new day and it was pissing me off. I hadn’t slept. I sat in the same stiff position as I’d begun the night. Back rigid and shoulders stiff, I sat on an uncomfortable couch and worried.

  Raiden shuffled and huffed outside by the fire pit, gathering up his clothing. He’d left them behind the bench when he changed and ran off to do whatever it was that coyotes do at night. Maybe he had a couple of girl coyotes out there somewhere. I didn’t want to know.

  I’d had time enough to think last night, really consider people other than myself, which I hadn’t been doing a lot of recently. Something Raiden had said had stuck with me and I didn’t like it. I wanted the vampires and shifters to fear me, it helped with discipline, but I sure as hell didn’t want to rule them. I didn’t want that kind of power or responsibility. The only problem was that the vampires and shifters didn’t know that. Now that word of my disappearance was out, Patrick and Dean were left in a bind.

  Raiden stepped up to the sliding glass door and drew it open.

  “Can you take me back to town now? I have a missing girl to find,” I said before he could take a full step inside.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he answered with a quick nod as he slid the door shut behind him. I guess I wasn’t breaking the ma’am habit anytime soon.

  My dad always said it took longer to get somewhere than it did to get home because the roads were shorter at night. Dumb, I know, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I always counted on that being true. I guess it didn’t work in daylight because the ride back into the city took for-fucking-ever and was uncomfortable. I had too much time to think, as if I hadn’t had enough already. Not to mention the fact that maybe my dad wasn’t the best source of accurate and truthful information. Yeah, I wasn’t resentful at all.

  The skyline rose over the desert like the phoenix, bright and gleaming in the morning sun. I couldn’t stand the silence any longer.

  “Are you really afraid of me?” I asked.

  Raiden didn’t answer nor move. I wasn’t even sure he had heard me.

  “Yes, Ms. Sabin, I am.”

  “I’m sorry.” I meant him no harm. Hell, I even kind of liked him.

  “There’s nothin’ to be sorry ‘bout. You are what you are. You can’t help that. Doesn’t mean I have ta like it.”

  God, I missed Alex. Raiden’s directness was so much like her that I forgot how much I needed her, appreciated her friendship, and craved her bluntness like chocolate. Alex never sugarcoated anything, and I had the feeling neither would Raiden. I turned back to the passenger-side window and watched the desert pass us by.

  Raiden stopped the truck a few houses down from Enza’s and turned the engine off.

  I shook off the haze of being lost in my own thoughts and turned to him.

  “Thanks for the ride, and don’t worry, I don’t plan on staying,” I said, reassuring him. He wanted his life to be as it was and I above all people could understand that.

  “Ms. Sabin,” he said in his cowboy-esque drawl as I opened the door and stepped out of the truck’s cab. I turned to see a humble man sitting in the driver’s seat. “You might be in over your head with Miss Marabelle. I’ll try to keep an eye on ya if I can,” he offered, and I understood what that had cost him.

  “I’d appreciate it,” I said with a nod. I stood back on the curb and watched him drive away, racing back out to the desert and away from the city. I could feel the need for the open air of the dessert in him like he already belonged to me.

  I waved as he rounded the corner and disappeared, whispering a silent goodbye.

  I turned and crossed the street.

  A lonely figure sat on Enza’s front lawn. This was Vegas, no one had lawns here. It cost too much to have grass. People had small patches of very well watered grass or tastefully manicured rock yards. Enza had the later.

  The figure was upwind of me and as the breeze shifted and hit my face, I knew it was Everett. “What the hell?” I asked, picking up my pace as I jogged the last few houses to where he sat, fast asleep on the stoop. I stepped up to him and crouched down.

  He didn’t move and a horrible feeling washed over me. What if something had happened to him? I took a moment to breathe and clear my head, realizing that his heart beat strong and loud in his chest. The shallow rise and fall of his chest with each breath reassured me. Relief flooded me and my shoulders slumped as I exhaled in an audible rush of wind.

  That’s all I needed was to get involved here when I’d just made the decision to go home. HOME. It had a nice ring to it.

  “Everett!” I barked and hopped out of the way as he jerked awake, arms and legs flailing.

  “What . . . what . . . I’m awake,” he said, gawking around, disoriented and bleary-eyed, finally resting his unfocused gaze on me. His shoulders slumped and relief settled across his brow, smoothing the lines of his momentary furrowed expression. “Oh good, it’s you,” he said as he got to his feet.

  “Who did you think it was? You’re lucky it’s not the cops or something worse,” I snarled. When did my life become so fucking complicated?

  “I’ve been waiting here most of the night,” he said in a huff.

  “Wait,” I said, taking a step back. “Aren’t you supposed to be indoors at night? How did you get here? You didn’t know where Enza lived? Why for fuck’s sake would you stay out in the dark if you’re supposed to be hiding from Marabelle?” Maybe he was lying to me. Maybe I had taken his submissive attitude and automatically judged him as innocent. Maybe that wasn’t the case at all.

  “I tracked you from my apartment,” he said, shielding his eyes from my narrowed gaze as if he were ashamed.

  “You tracked me?”

  He nodded.

  “Through the city?”

  He nodded again.

  I thought about that for a second and I knew it had to’ve been tough. It was maybe five miles through the city from his apartment to Enza’s house. Most dogs, werewolves, or even vampires would have lost me in the conflicting human and city smells, exhaust fumes, restaurant smells, random people on the street, sewer, and shifting desert winds. He’d tracked me through miles of conflicting scents.

  “Across the strip?”

  He nodded again.

  Jesus, he was good. The kid had tracked me over one of the mo
st populated areas of the city. Not many could do that.

  “That’s impressive, Everett,” I complimented. I wasn’t even sure Dean could do what he’d done. I wouldn’t say that to Dean’s face, though.

  “I had to,” Everett said, desperation scrunching his brow. He twisted his fingers in his left hand and glanced from me to the ground. He was nervous, and I didn’t like Everett nervous. It made my stomach churn and twist. What the hell is wrong with me?

  “Why, Everett?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest. It kept me from reaching out and touching him, from trying to comfort him.

  He looked up at me with wide, sorrow-filled eyes. “Barry knows. They took Rupert when taking Soraida didn’t work. They won’t give him or Soraida back until Barry delivers you to Marabelle,” he said quickly.

  Nothing like the direct approach.

  “Rupert?” I asked, raising my eyebrow in question.

  “Barry’s boyfriend,” he answered in hushed tones, as if he thought someone would reach out and grab him.

  “It’s all right, Everett, we’ll figure it out,” I said as a car door slammed across the street. I glanced up at the two men getting out of the Jeep Cherokee.

  One was tall, lanky almost, and really too skinny to be anything but wiry. He was dressed in faded blue jeans that were too tight to be attractive and a UNLV T-shirt. The second was shorter with light brown hair neither brunette nor blond but somewhere in-between with dark blond sideburns framing his round cherubic face. Dressed in khakis and a button-down shirt like he was on his way to the golf course, he led UNLV across the street.

  And two by two they come.

  Everett turned, glancing over his shoulder to the men striding up behind him. He shuddered as his shoulders fell in defeat. “Hey, guys,” he said in a cheerful greeting that was as fake as a three-dollar bill.

  “Everett,” the guy in khakis said with a nod in greeting. He then disregarded him as he approached me. “Ms. Sabin?”

  I’ll give it to him, he was very polite.

  “Yes,” I said with an innocent smile, batting my eyes at him. I don’t think he understood that I was mocking him. Oh well.

  “You’ll have to come with us,” he said, stiff, imposing, and trying just a bit too hard to be dangerous.

  I gave them a quick once-over. The guy in khakis looked like an accountant somewhere, like he’d never raised his hand in violence to anyone - ever. The kid in the UNLV T-shirt seemed more scared than anything else. Neither one of them were fighters, and I was pretty sure if I said “boo”, they’d go running.

  “No!” Everett growled in quiet protest. He stepped in front of me, blocking me from UNLV but not Khakis.

  It was sweet of the kid to try and protect me but I’d already made a decision. I needed to get a feel for this Barry myself and see how big a pain in the ass he was going to be. Maybe I could talk him into helping me.

  I tapped Everett on the shoulder with a sharp jab of my index finger. He jerked his head back at me, a snarl curling his lips. It was probably the first time the kid had stood up to anyone in his life. His heart raced underneath my finger and I rested my whole hand on his shoulder to calm him. A little part of me was proud of him. A submissive fighting against every instinct he had to stay in front of me was not something that happened every day. Purring in my mind, she whispered . . . Ours.

  Those two should have been putting Everett in his place. Instead, they stood there with blank looks on their faces like they had no idea what to do.

  “It’s all right,” I whispered to Everett with a reassuring smile on my face and a quick rub of his shoulder. “I’ll go,” I said to the two werewolves in front of us. I met their gazes over Everett’s shoulder.

  The kid in the UNLV T-shirt dropped his eyes immediately and took a step back but the guy in khakis seemed stunned, his eyes wide and jaw rigid.

  She growled through my mind in a familiar warning, and I fought to keep the sound from reverberating across my lips. For a long moment, khakis stood frozen before finally dropping his eyes too.

  Interesting.

  “Well, fellas, any time you’re ready,” I said, stepping out from behind Everett. I hadn’t slept in almost 48 hours, my patience was thin, and the morning wasn’t looking any brighter than the previous night had.

  I followed Khakis to his Jeep Cherokee and slid into the back with Everett. This was going to be a long, boring ride.

  We crossed town to an upscale series of subdivisions. Large two-story stucco houses in a Spanish style with clay tile roves, and arched windows were littered in organized curlicues winding around cul-de-sacs and retaining walls. Each property had a two-car garage facing the street and we pulled into the driveway of one of the hundreds of identical houses on the street. They hadn’t blindfolded me. Idiots! So I’d have no trouble finding it again. I gawked out the window and around the cul-de-sac to see cars scattered about the street and around the house.

  “Please tell me that you didn’t just bring me to Barry’s house,” I begged with an accusatory glare at Khakis in the rearview window.

  He caught my eye for a brief moment in the mirror and then dropped his gaze again without uttering a word in response. I glared at Everett and all he could do was shrug his shoulders. Both men in the front seat seemed ashamed, like they’d done something wrong but couldn’t figure out what.

  Geniuses! The lot of them! Fucking Geniuses!

  “All right then,” I huffed, rolling my eyes. I reached for the door handle. “Let’s get this over with.” Stepping out of the car, I strode up to the front door with confident gate. Ahead of the three werewolves who hung back behind me, I led them to the front door. The sun was up and starting to beat against my back, forcing my body temperature higher than I would have liked when walking into a werewolf den but I couldn’t avoid it. Raising my fist, I knocked.

  The door swung open. A stocky man with a paunch and a slight, actually incredibly noticeable, comb-over stood with a grimace making his pudgy face fierce.

  Please tell me this isn’t Barry! He looks like a sixth grade science teacher who’d experimented too many times with the chemicals.

  “Ms. Sabin?” Mr. Wizard said in his best I’m-going-to-send-you-to-detention voice.

  I rolled my eyes. Having done the same in the sixth grade, it seemed appropriate now. I just couldn’t help myself.

  “Yes,” I answered with a cocky smile. That’s right, Who’s the big bad vampire hunter pissing off the werewolf alpha? Me, that’s who! I needed to get some damned sleep.

  “Please, come in,” he purred, ushering me inside.

  The house was a typical cookie cutter new build with vaulted ceilings, an open-floor plan and gourmet kitchen visible from the front door. The walls were covered in paintings of sunsets over the desert. Each one was worse than the last, reminding me of motel wall paintings and only marginally better than the Motel 6.

  I snuck a peek in the mirror above the oversized fireplace facing the couch and evaluated the group. Ten individuals, counting Mr. Wizard, my two escorts, and Everett filled the living room but it wasn’t claustrophobic. I was surrounded with no help and no weapons. But by the looks of them, they couldn’t defend themselves against a mugger let alone someone who knew what they were doing with a weapon.

  I walked over to the fireplace and propped my elbow against the mantle, next to the fire poker and brush set. Mr. Wizard didn’t even blink an eye. “Barry, is it?” I asked.

  He nodded and scanned the three people sitting on the sofa, four people hovering around the breakfast bar and the two on the stairs, watching him with wide, expectant eyes. He glared at me and started pacing the living room, back and forth in front of me like a caged beast. I’d seen that motion before at the zoo as the timber wolves paced along the fence. He was nervous and didn’t know what to do with the ene
rgy. I’d normally say that made him dangerous but the guy would get winded chasing me around the room, let alone fight me.

  “I hate to give in to her,” he said in a low growl that spoke more of defeat than aggression as he paced.

  “Then don’t,” I offered.

  His light gray eyes filled with silver flecks that twinkled in his irises, bringing his wolf close to the surface. I should’ve been scared as those flecks merged into a single metal gray iris but I wasn’t. Not even close.

  “I don’t have a choice,” he growled. He stopped pacing and straightened his body in a stiff, unforgiving line. Perching on his toes, bouncing, he was ready to make a move. “I’ll give her whatever she wants to get Rupert back. Right now she wants you.” Shoving off the floor with his toes, he propelled himself into the air a mere seven feet from me with the force of a gunshot.

  His hands reached out for my throat as everything slowed. Each heartbeat echoed in my ears. His hair flapped in the wind, showing the shiny scalp beneath. I dropped to the floor and rolled away. The clear snap of a few fingers filled my ears as he hit the stucco walls, breaking his hand as time sped up again. The thunk of his body as it hit the wall echoed in the silence, as he fell to the floor.

  I got to my feet and crouched, ready for him to gather himself together and make the next move. He’d managed to do one thing right though, whether he knew it or not. He’d successfully separated me from the weapon now lying under his pudgy body by the fireplace.

  He got to his feet, whining a soft cry of pain as he shook out his fingers and refocused on me. His lips curled up in a snarl right before he lunged at me again. My feet were shoulder-width apart and I waited the two and a half seconds until he was in range then jabbed him with a hard right in the solar plexus. I bounced on light feet off to the left, out of Barry’s reach.