by M. J. Scott
My stomach turned queasy on me at the sight and the acrid stink of the vamp’s blood drying on my fur hit me like a blow. I needed to shower. Fast. Or I was going to be the werewolf famous for puking in public as well as killing vamps.
I stood shakily and nudged Aunt Bug’s hip with my nose. She took the hint and put her hand on my head as we walked away from the crowd. My shoulder blades itched the whole time, expecting some sort of attack. As we walked through the gate I saw Marco standing across the street, half hidden in the shadows of one of the elms lining the road.
He inclined his head slightly as our eyes met. I wasn’t sure if his expression was apologetic or concerned but neither helped me feel any better. In fact, the sight of him made me furious all over again. If he’d helped, maybe Rhi wouldn’t be bleeding on her way to a hospital right now.
“Get out of here while you can,” I thought at him, on the off chance he could hear wolf telepathy. “If they spot you things will get ugly.”
Our gazes held a second longer and then he nodded. I didn’t know if it meant ‘message received’ or something else entirely but it would have to do. If I watched him any longer I might just draw attention to him.
I turned away and trotted at Aunt Bug’s side all the way back to her house. I showered and changed in record time, only slowing to use about half a bottle of mouthwash as I scrubbed my gums till they nearly bled. It didn’t help. Through the reek of mint and alcohol I could still smell the stink of vampire and taste acid blood in the back of my throat.
* * *
Aunt Bug was waiting for me in the kitchen when I came back downstairs, her hands wrapped around a mug of tea. Which said something about her frazzled state of mind. Tea in Bug’s house came served in fine china cups with matching saucers. Mugs were for coffee, or cocoa.
“Are you okay?” I asked, sliding into the chair across from hers and resting my elbows on the table. Damp hair flicked into my face and I pulled it back into a ponytail without thinking.
“Don’t do that, you’ll catch cold.”
“Aunty, wet hair does not cause colds.” Plus werewolves couldn’t catch colds.
She stared down at her tea. I was tempted to tell her she’d have to drink it if she wanted to know the future. But I didn’t push. She’d just had quite a scare. And she’d just seen me as a wolf for the first time.
She’d never asked to see me that way since my change and I hadn’t offered—mostly because I’d only wanted to change when I had to—at full moon. Humans weren’t allowed at the Packs’ Retreat when we gathered.
“Are you okay?” I repeated when she stayed silent. “I didn’t mean for you to see anything like that.” What did you say when your closest relative had just seen you kill someone?
“I’m fine,” she said. The slight shake in her voice suggested otherwise. “I was just thinking about Rhianna.”
“The doctors will be able to save her.” I wanted to believe it. I couldn’t bear the thought of having to stand over Rhianna’s grave.
“Why did those vampires come here?” Bug asked, stirring more sugar into her tea absently.
I played with a stray strand of hair, watching as I wound it round my finger. “I don’t know.” I made myself look back up at Bug.
“Were they after you?” Her pale blue eyes turned sharp. “Are you in trouble again?”
Again. I heard the fear underlying that question, even though Bug was trying to hide it. I didn’t know what to say. How to make her feel better. It wasn’t like I’d asked for any of this and I definitely didn’t go looking for trouble. Tate had found Caldwell and my family, not the other way around. Now Smith was taking the same approach.
“I don’t know,” I said helplessly. “I’m trying not to be.” Bug might be scared for me but she deserved to know the truth.“But Dan will find out what’s going on. The Taskforce will be all over this.”
She looked away and I wondered what she was trying not to say. She was the one who’d pushed me all these years to give Dan a second chance. But perhaps the reality of me being tangled up so closely with the supernatural world wasn’t quite what she’d expected.
It wasn’t exactly what I had expected either. But there was no way to go back. I had to keep trying to move forward. Starting with looking after Rhi. “I’m going to the hospital. Do you want to come with me?”
“I think I’ll stay here.”
“Okay.” I rose, came around the table and dropped a kiss on her gray hair. “I’m still me, Bug. It’s okay.”
“I know.” She sounded tired. I felt guilty. I’d be going back to Seattle, where vamps and weres weren’t such a novelty. Where they were mostly accepted. Aunt Bug had to stay here in Caldwell, surrounded by friends and neighbors she’d known all her life and cope with the fact they all knew her niece was a werewolf now.
One of the monsters.
It wasn’t going to be easy for her. I could well imagine the outrage of the community. Once upon a time I’d felt the same fear and distrust of supernaturals. I’d overcome it to a point, before I’d changed, determined not to let Tate’s legacy turn me into a bigot but I’d still struggled.
Until Jase.
And then Dan.
And now nothing was simple. No black and white. “You’re welcome to come and stay with me for a bit,” I offered. “We could see a couple of shows, you could go to the museums.”
Her shoulders straightened. “I’m not running away.”
So much for me trying to be subtle. “I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did. And I appreciate the offer. But it’s about time this town learned to move along with the world. Or everyone’s going to be stuck in what Tate did forever. So I’ll stay.”
She was tough, I had to give her that. I wasn’t so sure I’d be willing to stay in her position. Then again, I was completely sure that if Bug set her mind to changing the current flavor of public opinion in Caldwell that she’d find away to do it given enough time.
Time was one thing I didn’t have right now, though. I squeezed Bug’s shoulder, grabbed my purse from the chair and headed out the door.
* * *
I spent most of the drive to the hospital trying to get my Bluetooth headset to work. When I finally did, Dan’s phone went straight to voicemail. Jase didn’t pick up either.
Knowing he was back in Seattle alone with Niko sniffing at his heels made me nervous. I wanted to give him the heads up to be extra careful. If Smith was coming after me, who knew what tactics he’d use? I left Jase a tense message explaining what had happened and then wondered if I should call Marco.
I reached the hospital parking lot before I’d made up my mind. Turns out I didn’t need to make the call. Marco appeared out of the darkness as soon as I’d parked. My heart leaped into overdrive and I stifled the urge to scream.
“Not a good idea to sneak up on me right now,” I said, slamming the door of Bug’s Honda. I’d retrieved my gun and it was safely tucked in a holster hidden by my jacket. If Marco wasn’t more careful he was going to end up with a hole or two.
Marco didn’t come any closer, hovering a few feet away where he seemed to blend into the pools of darkness between the arcs of the lamps lighting the parking lot. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You should be apologizing for what happened earlier at the hall,” I snapped.
His eyes widened, then he frowned. “That was not my fault.”
“You could’ve helped out.” I started toward the emergency department entrance.
“I didn’t think that another vampire appearing in the midst of that crowd would be helpful.”
I couldn’t fault that logic but couldn’t help wondering if he could have prevented what had happened to Rhi. Was that why he’d been waiting for me? Because he felt guilty? I couldn’t quite summon the courage to question an Old One about his motives, so I just kept walking toward the hospital entrance.
Marco kept pace with me, but still moved no closer. Was he keeping h
is distance because he thought I might be jumpy or for some other reason? Trying to keep him in my peripheral vision made my head ache.
“But I was watching in case things got too bad,” he added as we neared the hospital entrance.
I stopped, turning to face him. The lights were brighter here but he still seemed to be part shadow, darkness wreathing around him. Which might explain why I hadn’t noticed him during the attack. “Gee, that makes me feel better. Were you watching when one of my friends got her neck chewed on?” Or when I’d killed someone?
“I am sorry for your friend. I came here to offer you any help you may require.”
Perhaps there was some guilt there after all. “Rhi’s the one in hospital, not me.”
He nodded a particularly fluid gesture. “I am just offering my services if you should need anything.”
I could just imagine Dan’s face if I told him Marco wanted to help me out. “Thanks, but I’m good.”
“I shall wait here as long as possible. Perhaps you could let me know how your friend is?”
My eyebrows shot up. Marco was being a little too nice. But I couldn’t read anything on his face other than concern. “I don’t want to leave her family alone in there. Do you have a cell phone?”
He nodded and a card appeared in his hand. Unlike Esteban’s this one said “Lord Marco Sebastiani” in flowing black script on a pale cream background. And then gave a single contact number.
I slipped it into my jacket pocket. “I’ll keep you posted,” I said and turned to leave.
“There is one more thing, cara,” Marco said.
I swiveled back. “What? I’m in kind of a hurry.”
He reached into his pocket again. This time his hand came out bearing a bundle of fabric. Black fabric. He held it out to me.
“What’s this?”
“I believe it is yours.”
I took it. The fabric was smooth and slippery, warm under my fingers. Silk. I unfolded it and found my cross.
My hand flew to my throat. I hadn’t even noticed it was missing in all the excitement. The chain must have broken when I’d changed. My cross. My fingers curled around it. The platinum cross Bug had given me. I could’ve lost it.
And Marco had been the one to stop and find it for me.
“How did you know I’d lost it?”
“You were wearing it. At the graveside.”
Which meant I’d also stepped into his car wearing it. A cross generally had to touch a vampire to hurt them but Marco tolerating one anywhere near him said something about him trusting me.
Problem was I didn’t know exactly what.
Something else to worry about later. I was running out of time. I slipped the cross into the pocket of my jacket. “Thank you. This is important to me.”
Marco made a small bow. “I know. Buonanotte, cara.”
“I’ll let you know if I hear anything.” I nodded to him—it wasn’t as if he and I had the sort of relationship where we’d shake hands or hug or anything—and stepped from the shadows into the bright lights of the emergency department.
* * *
To my surprise, no one gave me any trouble when I asked where Rhianna was. I found her parents waiting in chairs beside an empty bed.
“What’s happening?” I asked, hovering in the doorway.
Mrs. Anders looked at me, her face shell-shocked and drawn. Her complexion looked gray against the pretty lemon dress she wore. She’d looked like that in the days and weeks and months following Julie’s death. My throat tightened. Was Rhi...?
“She’s in surgery,” she said quietly. “They’re repairing the damage to her neck. The doctors are hopeful. Why don’t you come in here and sit with us?”
I hesitated. Was she just being polite?
Mrs. Anders watched me for a moment with the big blue eyes she’d given to each of her daughters then she patted the seat next to her. “Ashley, you saved Rhianna’s life, you’re always welcome with us, you know that.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I just smiled and sat, taking her hand as if it could make a difference. When the truth was, if Rhi didn’t survive then nothing on Earth would help.
The minutes ticked by so slowly I began to wonder if the clock on the wall was even working. Unfortunately my watch said it was. An hour passed, then another. There were a few fumbled attempts at conversation but it was hard to think of anything to talk about that didn’t seem like either an attempt to avoid the topics of werewolves and vampires or clichéd ‘everything will be okay’ platitudes so we kept subsiding back into silence.
When the door to the room opened again, we all looked up expectantly but it was Dan who stepped through rather than a doctor. My heart bumped at the sight of him. He was all in one piece. Obviously things had stayed under control at the hall.
“Mr. and Mrs. Anders,” he said politely before turning to me. “Ashley, can I talk to you a moment?”
I blinked at him. “Here?”
“In the hall.”
“What’s up?” I said once we’d left the room and walked a few yards away from Rhi’s room. “Has the team arrived?”
He reached out, ran two fingers down my cheek. “Are you all right?”
Something in the sound of his voice made the back of my neck tingle. And not in a good way. I took a deep breath. He smelled agitated. Maybe it was just a holdover from what had happened at the hall but the tingle told me it wasn’t. “I’m fine. Just a few bruises.”
I didn’t want to admit my ribs still hurt like hell where the vamp had socked me. They must have been cracked by the force of his blow. Changing back to human form had helped but it would take another change or two to heal completely. Dan would just want to haul me in front of a doctor to get checked out and I didn’t think there was a lot that a doctor could do for bruised ribs.
Dan stared at me, as if he was trying to decide if I was telling the truth, then blew out a breath.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. “You’re making me nervous.”
“It’s Rhianna,” he said and my knees buckled.
Dan grabbed me, pulling me upright. “Ash, it’s okay, she’s still alive.”
I sagged against him. “Don’t scare me like that,” I mumbled into his chest. Then I realized he hadn’t actually told me what was wrong yet. I lifted my head. “What about Rhianna?”
“There’s something screwy going on with her blood work.”
My heart took the express elevator to my feet. “Screwy? What sort of screwy?”
Dan swallowed then took my shoulders and pushed me back a little so I was nearly leaning against the wall. “Ash, they think she’s going to be a vampire.”
What? How? For a few seconds my mind whirled crazily. And then it landed on the only possible explanation. The vaccine. Tate’s goddamn anti-vaccine. If the vamp who’d bitten Rhi had been made that way...
“No.” The denial was automatic. “They must have gotten the tests wrong. I’d never heard of a false positive on the vamp virus but it had to be possible, right?
He shook his head, eyes sad. “They’ve rerun the tests. In fact, they’re doing them again right now. But they’re pretty sure they’re right.”
God. “But how?”
“You know how,” he said. “The vaccine...” He stopped talking and looked around. No one was standing nearby but that didn’t mean nobody could hear us. Quick as a flash he bundled us into an empty room, closing the door carefully. I stood near the bed, gripping the metal rail at its foot, hoping he wasn’t about to say what I thought he was.
“The vaccine,” he continued in a soft voice. “Tate’s vaccine.”
I shook my head, trying to deny what I was hearing. But I couldn’t. If Dan was right...the consequences were plain. And too terrible to think about. “But that means that Rhi will be like that too, if Tate was telling the truth. Anyone she bites will be turned.”
His face grew grim. “Which makes her a danger to anyone she comes into contact with.”
M
y palms went damp. “What are you saying?”
“Ash, we can’t let her run around free. And we can’t let anybody know why we’re holding her. If word got out that there are vampires who can turn people without having to exchange blood—who can turn people who are vaccinated, we’ll have a panic on our hands. That’s why the fact that the anti-vaccine exists was classified in the first place.”
I understood the argument. I just didn’t understand what the government thought the alternative was. Surely they wouldn’t...they couldn’t...”Dan, you can’t just let her die. It will kill her parents.”
Let alone the firestorm it was likely to start in Caldwell. Another death from a vamp attack would devastate the town. I sank onto the bed, not sure my knees were going to hold me up much longer.
“I know,” Dan said. He tugged distractedly at his tie. “But this is out of my hands. As soon as the doctors got the test results, I had to report in. This is coming from very high up. Nosebleed high.”
“You can’t let her die,” I repeated. My head swam. This couldn’t be happening. Not to Rhi. She was so young.
She’d never want to live as a vampire. I knew that for sure. Not after what had happened to her sister. I knew how I’d felt when I’d been faced with the possibility. And Rhi had been through the same things as me. Tate had taken from her, just like he’d taken from me. She’d never want to be one of the monsters.
Maybe letting her die would be kinder.
All the air slammed out of my lungs at the thought, my chest tightening with a wrench that left me breathless. Kind or not, I couldn’t do it. Couldn’t open my mouth and tell Dan what I was thinking. I couldn’t lose anyone else. He had to save her. We had to save her or all the pain that came afterward would be my fault.
Something maybe I wouldn’t be able to live with.
I sucked in a breath. “You can’t let her die,” I repeated. Tears stung my eyes and I wiped them away with the back of my hand. “She has to live.”
The mattress dipped as Dan sat beside me. Breath whooshed out of him in a sigh. “Ash, the doctors will do everything they can. But if she survives then she’ll have to be quarantined.”
