by Amy Boyles
I scoffed. “There isn’t a naked man in my room.”
“Then how about a naked vampire.”
“How do you even know that? Were you snooping?”
Dot washed her hands and toweled them dry. “I have a little alarm that goes off whenever someone comes home at night. I heard your voices. So no, Andie, I didn’t snoop. I’m trying to keep your daughter protected.”
I poured myself a cup of coffee and added extra chocolate. I pushed aside a bottle of pickles in search for my sacred can of whipped cream. “Are we out of whipped cream?”
Dot nodded. “I bought a new can, but it’s specifically for pumpkin pie tonight. You’re not to open it until then.”
I smirked. “Okay, I’ll keep my hands off.” I stirred up my drink and took a long sip. “Turns out, we’ve got a problem.”
Vordrid sailed in the room with Gabby following him. “What problem is that?”
I cringed. “I may or may not have provoked a werewolf to come to our house and look for a special item.”
Dot patted down the turkey with a paper towel. “Does this mean the animal may or may not attack us?”
“I’m afraid it’s more like may,” I said.
Vordrid sailed on top of the counter and landed with a clatter. “Hmmm. Is this a wolf you want to catch?”
I nodded. “Absolutely. I think he may have killed Cal, but darn it, every time Dex and I get close to nabbing him, the sucker gets away.”
I touched the back of my right shoulder. It was tender from where I’d ground it into the concrete. It’d be black by dinner tonight.
“You and Dex?” Vordrid said.
“Yes, me and Dex. Nothing’s going on. He’s helping me, remember?”
“In fact, he’s in her room right now,” Dot said. “But I didn’t tell you that.”
I raked my fingers through my hair in frustration. “You did; you just told him that.”
She bobbed her head. “Well, I might have.”
I flared out my arms to stop everyone from talking. “Okay. Listen. We’re on high alert. A werewolf is coming. I don’t know when, but he’ll be here.”
Dot shrugged. “He’s probably spending the day with his family since it’s Thanksgiving. I doubt we have to worry about anything until tonight.”
“Good point,” I said. “Speaking of, what time is dinner?”
Dot looked up at the clock. “Why, guests should be arriving as soon as the sun goes down. Wait. Dex was the only person I was expecting to arrive when that happened. I suppose since he’s here, we can just say five thirty or whenever night falls—whichever comes first.”
I shot her a dirty look. “Just because my undead husband is asleep in my room doesn’t mean anything.”
Dot smiled. “Of course it doesn’t, dear. Does your angel boyfriend know your husband is back in the picture?”
I gritted my teeth. “I don’t have an angel boyfriend.”
“That’s good. Because you’re still wearing your wedding band,” Vordrid added.
“Arrgh! Will you two stop it? You’re driving me crazy.”
Gabby crawled up onto a chair. “Mommy go crazy.”
I nodded. “That’s right.” I whirled on the 8 Ball. “Vordrid, we need to focus, and that means searching The Witch’s Handbook for every reference to werewolves. We may be able to find help on catching one. I don’t want to kill it, so I’m not interested in shooting him up with silver. All I want to do is contain the creature. If we could find some way to force the animal back into its human form, we have a chance. So that’s the goal—find a way to change the werewolf. That would give us a shot at overpowering it. As it is, the creature is too strong. It keeps beating me and Dex.”
Vordrid thought about that for a moment. I knew he was thinking because he didn’t say anything. “Let me think about this. I’ll do some research. How long do I have?”
“Until tonight.”
“That doesn’t give me a lot of time.”
“I know. Let me call Selma. She lives in a community with other supers. She may have some tips.”
Dot raised her hands like she was about to start conducting an orchestra. “And I’ll work on Thanksgiving dinner. Andie, there’s an Eggo waffle in the freezer for your breakfast. Oh, and it’s in the shape of Mickey Mouse’s head. A bit cannibalistic if you ask me, but no one does.”
“Thanks,” I said, unsure what else I could say. I heated up a waffle in the toaster oven and took it and my coffee into Dot’s room to make the call.
Selma answered on the second ring. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
“Happy Thanksgiving to you,” I said.
Selma’s velvet voice took over the line. “I’m guessing you’re not calling just to wish me well for the holidays.”
I sighed. “Unfortunately, you’re right.”
Selma was a retired hunter like myself. She’d known me and Dex back when we were active, and had been a good friend at the time. After Dex died, I left my hunter life, which made many of the other hunters angry. They said I abandoned them. Hunters are supposed to stick together, and I guess they thought my decision would ruin their lives or something.
Pretty sure they were all just fine.
“Dex is alive,” I said. Might as well just blurt it out and get it over with.
Selma shrieked. “What?”
“Okay, alive isn’t the right word. He’s a vampire.”
“No! So he didn’t kill the lord vampire.”
I frowned. “No.”
The line was silent.
“Are you still there? Selma?”
“Yeah, I’m here. It’s just a lot to process.”
“Tell me about it,” I muttered. “Listen, I wanted you to know, but I don’t want to get into specifics right now. It’s been a lot to deal with. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”
“I’m sure,” Selma said. “Okay. I think I’ve got myself together. What can I do for you?”
“We’ve got a little bit of a werewolf problem in Normal.”
“Werewolves? What sort of problem?”
“I’m trying to catch one.”
Selma burst into laughter. “Oh no. Sorry to laugh but that’s horrible. Werewolves are the worst to catch.”
“I was afraid you’d say that. Do you have any advice? Anything you can offer?”
“Let me think for a minute.” Long pause. “I remember a situation from my hunting days. Several years ago there was a werewolf attacking people’s dogs at night. We baited it to draw him out. I remember we had so much debate about how to actually hold him. Finally, someone made a net out of silver.”
My ears pricked at that. “A net of silver?”
“Yeah,” Selma said. “Think about in Superman when Lex Luthor puts the Kryptonite necklace around the Man of Steel’s neck. It’s like a poison to him. The silver net did the same sort of thing, weakening the werewolf to the point where he reverted back to his human form—which is what I’m assuming you want.”
“He’s the only lead we have on a potential murder victim as well. He needs to be questioned.” Because to be honest, I was beginning to think Antonio didn’t exist. As if he was a ghost. Attempting to catch him certainly felt like I was trying to capture wisps of gossamer.
“Create a silver net. That’s the best method. If Dot is there, she should be able to help you.”
“Thanks, Selma. You’ve been a big help as always.”
“You’re welcome,” she said cheerfully. “So you must not be having much contact with Dex.”
I frowned. “Actually I’m having a lot. Why?”
“The werewolf mission was before you graduated from hunter school, but Dex was there. In fact, the silver net was his idea. If you’d asked him, I’m sure he would have told you all about it.”
I pursed my lips so tight I knew they were white. “Thanks a million, Selma. Happy holidays.”
“Same to you, Andie. Tell Dex I said hi.”
“Will do.”
&n
bsp; I hung up the phone and gripped it like a vise to my chest. Dex had known. All along, Dex knew exactly how to catch the werewolf, and he hadn’t said one word.
One thing was for sure—Dex was keeping secrets, and I was about to find out why.
TWENTY
I entered my bedroom and found Dex awake, scrolling through his phone. He sat up and swiveled his bare feet onto the rug.
“Don’t you ever sleep?” I said.
“I was just about to. Everything okay?”
I shook my head, jutted out my chin and tapped my toe. “No. Everything is not okay. I just got off the phone with Selma.”
His eyebrows shot to points. “Selma? Hunter Selma?”
I nodded. “Same one.”
Dex rubbed the back of his neck. “How is she?”
“Good. She’s good. Great, actually. She told me something interesting.”
“I’m guessing whatever it was ticked you off pretty royal, because you’re staring at me as if you want to throw me through the window.”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“What is it?”
“She said you came up with the idea to catch a werewolf by throwing a silver net over it.”
He exhaled a stream of air. “Right. That.”
Anger stirred inside me. My hair started to lift off my head. My power flared purely from my emotional state.
“Calm down,” he said.
“Why should I? You knew how to catch that creature all along, but you didn’t tell me. Why?”
Dex raked his fingers down his face and sighed. “What would you do if the man you loved didn’t want to have anything to do with you? The first chance you got, you’d spend time with him. That’s what happened here. Andie, you wouldn’t let me near you. You didn’t want anything to do with me because you were hurt that after I became a vampire, I didn’t track you down and eat you.”
I tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “I never said that.”
“You might as well have. You wanted me to find you, and I told you before, I wasn’t ready to. I wanted to be with you—God, how I wanted that. I didn’t want anything more.” He rose, easily swallowing my room with his height and build. Dex wasn’t bulky. He was streamlined with mass in all the right places.
I licked my lips. Suddenly I felt the urge to fish through my purse and grab my lip gloss. Anything to get out of this heavy conversation.
“I understand all that,” I said after liberally applying Pink Palace for a good ten seconds. “But you could have told me about the werewolf.”
“While you didn’t trust me?”
“I would’ve listened if you brought up the book.”
“You really don’t see how you’ve been acting toward me, do you?”
I threw my hands up. “I know I haven’t been that nice.”
“Haven’t been that nice?” Dex chuckled. He shifted his weight and shook his head. “Babe, the last thing you were was nice. You were downright as frigid as a snowstorm in hell.”
“That,” I said, crossing my arms, “is a terrible comparison and it makes absolutely no sense.”
His nostrils flared. “Well, you haven’t made any sense either.” He pointed to his chest. “At least I was honest. I approached you, wanting to be in your life. In case you don’t remember, that was right after I killed Oscar Snare. You told me to leave. You’re the one who shut me out. Now you’re frustrated that I didn’t tell you how to catch a creature you don’t even like?”
I took a step forward, anger fueling me. “They want to arrest me, Dex. Me. They think I killed him.”
He shook his head. “I never would’ve allowed that.”
“Right. Because you can control the supernatural residents so well they murder each other.”
He clenched his fists tightly. “I’m not their god.”
“Aren’t you? You can’t die. You’ll live forever, while Gabby and I waste away and die. Wow. Why would I want to do that to myself?”
Dex paused. He shook his head. “Andie, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?” I whispered.
“I don’t want to live forever without you. Ever since I turned, all I’ve wanted was to come to you, find you, make things right.”
I nearly yanked out my hair in frustration. “How, Dex? How can you make it right? You’re a vampire, on the other side of the spectrum from what I was—a hunter, what I am, and what Gabby is. We’re human and I’m not going to change that. Not for anyone. Even you.”
Dex took my hands. “I would never ask you to. Is that what you think I want? To turn you into a vampire like me? That’s the last thing in the world I ever intended to happen.”
I blinked, forcing myself to look at him. His blue eyes blazed emotion as our gazes locked. “Then what did you intend to happen?”
Dex shook his head. “All I wanted was to see you. Can you imagine how I felt when I discovered you’d had Gabby? My child, and I wasn’t there to see you through the pregnancy or help in any way? How do you think that feels? You’re not the only person who’s got feelings, Andie.”
“I know that.”
“No, sometimes I think you don’t.” Dex paused.
“You’re not going to worm your way back into my heart with an attitude like that.”
“Maybe I don’t want back in your heart.”
I gasped. “That’s a terrible thing to say. Why would you lead me on?”
Dex grabbed my arms and said, “Shut up and kiss me.”
My insides turned to Jell-O when his lips touched mine. I got all wobbly. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. I could barely remember to kiss.
Okay, so that’s an exaggeration. I definitely remembered how to do that, but still.
And it was great. My body sang all the way to my toes under the pressure of Dex’s mouth. I won’t go into gory details, but my hormones buzzed, my girl parts jingled. For so long, all I’d wanted was to be in his arms again, feel his lips on mine, bend my head as he curled his fingers through my hair. This was all I’d wanted.
And it was worth waiting for. Much better than the earlier kiss on my bed.
By the time we parted, my head swam, drunk off his intoxicating lips.
Dex rested his forehead on mine. “I’m not here to do anything except be with my family. That’s the only thing I’ve wanted for a long time. It’s all I want now.”
“Be with your…” I pulled back, knitting my brow together. “But how, Dex? How are we supposed to be one big happy family? You’re a vampire. I’m a hunter and apparently Gabby is such a powerful witch I don’t know what to do with her.”
He traced a finger down my arm. I shivered. Dex’s touch always did that to me, made me react to him.
“We figure it out step by step. I’m not going to lie to you and say I’ve got all the answers. Far from it, but I’m willing to try. If we’re going to do this, you’ve got to at least offer the same thing.”
I fingered the locks on my shoulders.
“You’re fidgeting.”
“No I’m not.”
He cocked a brow. “Yes, you are.”
“I need to think about it. I’m not the same person I was three years ago. I had to learn how to live without you. I worked so hard that I mastered it.” I raked my fingers down my face. “You don’t understand. Your death wrecked me.”
“I’m sorry.”
I gestured for him to stop. “But I survived. More than survived, I thrived. A lot of hunters were angry with me when I left. Said I abandoned them.”
“They think, once a hunter, always a hunter.”
I nodded, sank into a chair. “They do. They couldn’t understand why I had to do it. But I’d found out I was carrying Gabby right before then. Dex, she was all I had left of you, and I wanted to protect her from everything. That’s why we moved here. I didn’t want magic to manipulate her life the way it had mine. I’d make sure she was ready if and when her magic came, but I wasn’t going to live in a dangerous world whe
re her mother could die at any moment.” I gestured outward. “As you can see, that’s been shot to heck.”
Dex shook his head. “You can’t have helped any of that. It’s not your fault.”
“I know. And I know you’re more than willing to help me through it. But Dex, the fact that you’re a vampire is holding me back. That’s everything I’ve been taught to fight.”
Dex crossed his arms. “Do I look like I’m about to suck your blood?”
I smirked. “The other night you said you wanted to bite me.”
He laughed, a full belly laugh. “That was different. You know that. You’re supposed to fight the bad guys. That’s what I was trained to do as well. I’m trying to be a good guy here. I’ve been thrown into a situation—the supernatural tribunal sent me.”
I quirked a brow. “They knew about Oscar Snare?”
Oscar Snare had been a bad vamp that Dex destroyed a few weeks ago.
Dex nodded. “You’d be surprised at everything they know.”
I squirmed in my seat. “Now I’m a little uncomfortable. But the fact of the matter is—and I’ve said this before—I can’t be married to a vampire, and Gabby can’t have one as her father.”
“Then why are you wearing your wedding ring?”
I immediately covered my hand. “Force of habit.”
“Right. Andie, there’s something I haven’t told you.”
I rocked back in the chair. “What else, Dex? What else haven’t you told me that will turn my world upside down?”
Dex sank onto the bed. He drummed his palms against his thighs for a second. “You already know the lord vampire offered me a choice. Andie, you were all the family I had, so I took him up on the offer and let him change me. I willingly became one so that I could be with you.”
“Three years later,” I mumbled.
“Better late than never. For a long time I stayed hidden away until the feral parts of me, the immediate thirst for blood and such, died away.”
I couldn’t hide the surprise in my voice when I said, “I know you stayed with him, even though he was the ringleader of many bad attacks on humans.”
Dex nodded. “Yes.”
I nodded. “But what you’re also saying, a point I haven’t brought up before, is that he’s still alive.”
