by Rain Oxford
“If we can find out his name, I can get his info in a few minutes unless more records were burned down. If I knew his name and if he was adopted, we can find him in a hot second,” Darwin said.
“You two do what you have to do to find him, and I’ll make people tell us what they know and use my instincts for the rest.”
“What about me?” Marcus asked.
“You’re going to hide out at Henry’s house,” I answered.
“What?!” he screeched. Henry and Darwin both flinched and covered their ears. “I came all this way because I need your help and you’re turning me away?!”
Ouch. “I’m not turning you away. Henry’s house is completely safe.”
“Except for that time when someone broke in and shot him,” Darwin added helpfully. “We can take him to my place… oh, wait. My parents are on a holiday thing until Friday and the pack’s not going to be cool with a human staying at home without their alpha’s say. What about your place?”
“Not safe,” Marcus and I answered simultaneously. If Marcus’s father found him despite all of the elaborate precautionary measures Marcus used, then it was possible that he found out about me.
“My place it is, then,” Henry said.
We reached the car lot and piled into Henry’s pickup. Darwin sat in the passenger’s seat, Henry in the driver’s seat, and Marcus and I were in the back. Fortunately, my sword stopped glowing by then. I slipped it behind the back seat.
“So what was up with the yellow glow?” Henry asked as if he read my mind. “It was red before.”
“The undine said it’s the sword of balance, not fire,” Darwin said as if it were completely obvious.
Henry didn’t say anything. “It can apparently use any element,” I explained, trying to lessen Darwin’s rudeness. I thought it was a pretty amazing discovery, but Darwin was actually less impressed with it than when he thought it was a flaming sword. Only then did I realize I had left my bag on the ground when we met the griffins.
Between the soft glow of the radio, the light vibrations of the road, and the draining adrenaline, I was asleep before the truck had warmed up.
* * *
Astrid was warm and lying naked in my arms. We were in my bed at my apartment without the threat of Krechea or the worry of who would betray us next. I kissed her, but she pulled back. “I’ve missed you,” she said.
“Is this a dream or a vision?”
“The fire salamanders made it so that we can’t have visions together. You already know that.” She kissed me.
“I spent more than half of my life hating you, but I never stopped loving you. Now that I finally started getting over it, that---”
She cut me off by kissing me again. “Shh. You’re going to wake up.”
“Why did you let him take you there?” I asked, but I didn’t actually expect an answer since it wasn’t really Astrid.
“You know why. You haven’t figured it out yet, but you know. Now, let’s make this dream worth the guilt you’re going to feel later.” Before I could respond, there was a bump in the road and a harsh rattle. It didn’t completely wake me up, but it was enough of a jolt out of my subconscious that my dream changed.
This time, my vision was odd again, like I could see light reflecting in the darkness in a way I shouldn’t have been able to. In what I’m sure was pitch blackness, I saw Scott hiding between three huge, wooden crates. If there was writing on them, I couldn’t tell. He looked up at me, obviously able to see in the dark like his father. If I were seeing through normal eyes, his would probably look silver.
He reached out his hand for me and whispered something that was drowned out by the sound of a gun.
* * *
The loud noise startled me out of the vision and I found myself back in the very stationary truck. “What happened?”
“The truck just died. It’s practically new!” Henry said. His voice was heavy with frustration.
“Sorry. That might be my fault. I had a vision.”
“This is how horror movies start,” Marcus said.
“Oh, well, there’s an idea,” Darwin interrupted brightly. “We have a human, so we’re not going to starve to death or anything.”
Marcus pulled a switchblade from his pocket and flipped it open. “Try it, buster.”
“This must be Hell,” Henry said. “Had I known I would be stuck in this truck with two Darwins, I would have abandoned it on the side of the road months ago.”
“Don’t compare me to him!” both Darwin and Marcus yelled simultaneously.
I had to bite my tongue to hold back a smirk. They definitely had some similarities, but although Darwin’s brain worked like a supercomputer, I would bet on Marcus when it came to mastering an actual computer. Fortunately, when Henry turned the key again, the engine fired back to life.
“What was your vision?” Darwin asked when we were moving again.
“Scott was hiding behind some crates.”
The steering wheel cracked. “Was he hurt?”
“No.” I wouldn’t tell him how scared the boy looked. I was just very glad it wasn’t the full moon, because otherwise there would already be dead bodies in his wake, and he didn’t need any more stress. We reached Henry’s quiet town about twenty minutes later.
Henry’s house was in a considerably better state than the last time I had seen it. The windows, mirrors, and furniture were all replaced. Where the smashed television had been before, there was just a blank space. I didn’t fail to notice the sign out front.
“You’re selling the place?” Darwin asked.
“Now that I know what my parents have done, I refuse to have anything to do with them. The only reason I have not killed them is because of Scott.”
“I’m guessing your folks are bad guys?” Marcus asked.
“The worst,” Darwin cut in. “They drugged him, killed his wife, and kidnapped his baby. Then they made him think he killed her and said that if he didn’t do what they wanted, they’d hurt his son or that he would.”
“Thanks,” Henry said sarcastically.
“It’s not your fault. You shouldn’t keep it a secret.”
“It’s not easy to let go of secrets you kept for your entire life,” I told Darwin. Sometimes I forgot how young he was, but he always reminded me. Of course, I could imagine it was also a cultural thing. “How many people have you told my secret to at the school?”
“That you’re in love with a vampire? Everyone,” he announced proudly. I rolled my eyes. “That you’re a P.I. and thought you were human before? No one.”
“And why is that?” I don’t know why I expected a serious answer.
“Because everyone thinks you’re a cop and no one would believe you were even remotely human. Vampire hunter? Yes. Human? No.”
“There is nothing in the fridge, but the diner down the street is pretty good,” Henry said, moving aside a small, hanging bookshelf to reveal a wall safe. He opened it and I saw many stacks of money as well as jewelry and antique-looking objects. He took out a couple stacks of bills with paper slips keeping them sorted and tossed them to Marcus. “This should tide you over until Darwin’s pack can pick you up.”
Marcus’s face was ashen. “Did you kill someone for this?”
Henry scowled. “Of course not. I procured it from a drug dealer before I broke thirty-two bones in his body. I was a little irritated at the time. Sufficed to say, he disappeared off the streets. Do you have a problem with that?”
Marcus’s face colored slightly and he shook his head. Drug dealers were a sore spot for him; he knew his father was one since he could talk. The concept of secrecy had been beaten into him for as long as he could remember, so he was still afraid to even say those words. He acted as though, if he said the word “drug,” his father would appear and kill him.
Knowing his father, it was not impossible.
“Take this,” I said, trying to give him my gun.
He stared at it like I was trying to hand him a rattl
esnake. “No, thanks. I’ll stick to computer-controlled explosives. Human error and all that.”
“Should you decide to blow up my house, I would appreciate it if my parents were inside,” Henry said.
“You Brits are all weirdos,” Marcus responded.
Darwin scoffed. “Excuse me?! He’s Brazilian, I’m English.”
“Then why do you have an Aussie accent and he has a Limey one?”
“Because we’re weird. If you’re going to be racist, at least know what you’re talking about. Otherwise you’re just a troll. Britain is England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. I was born in England and have an Australian accent. A person from England is both English and British whereas a person from Scotland is Scottish and British. Henry is Brazilian, but he picked up his accent in England.”
“Thanks for the geography lesson, snob.”
“No problem, twat. Besides, being offensive is my job, so shut up and let me be the racist one. Now, where’s the bitch we get to skin?”
“My parents… Luana and Matheus Lycosa… are at their home,” Henry said.
So he finally understood that they weren’t his real parents. Henry’s mother was not from Earth, let alone a regular jaguar. Somehow, she had ended up trapped here and injured. I hadn’t told Henry everything; I told him Luana wasn’t his real mother, but not that I was almost certain Luana killed his mother. Until I had proof, I wasn’t going to give him another reason to kill her, because I agreed with him; Scott needed his father to not be a murderer.
Luana and Matheus had taken everything else from him. I would kill them before I let them take that. He killed Rebecca Ashcraft under the control of John, but nobody blamed him. I was already stained with the blood of John and Gale. What’s two more?
“Got a computer?” I asked.
“It was destroyed when I was attacked. The library has computers, but it doesn’t open until eight.”
I checked my watch and sighed. I hadn’t realized it was so late. “Do you still have service on your phone?”
“I have minutes, but my phone is at your place,” Henry said. “I didn’t think I would need it at the school.”
“Okay. We’ll drop Marcus and Darwin off at the library in the morning and then we’ll go to your parents’ place. We need his name and who he was adopted by. With that, maybe we can at least get a general location.”
“Are you sure he was adopted?” Darwin asked.
“If anyone in this world has a lick of sense. We’ll find out for sure tomorrow.” None of us really wanted to call a time out, but it had been a very long night and we would make fatal mistakes if we weren’t sharp.
* * *
I woke to the smell of coffee and bacon. I sat up and tried to stretch the kinks out of my arms and back. Darwin, Henry, and Marcus were eating breakfast at the coffee table. Henry motioned to a paper sack and large coffee, which were obviously set out for me. Darwin raised an eyebrow.
“You may want to get those bones looked at, Gramp---” Henry cut him off by smacking him in the back of the head. “Hey! If I had turned my head, you would have---”
“Then act your age,” Henry interrupted.
“At least I’m not the only one who finds you annoying,” Marcus added.
Henry growled at him. “Children, behave.”
Marcus was actually Henry’s age. Then again, I had read that inside every eighty-year-old was an eighteen-year-old. I thought it really depended on the person. I knew men who were older than me that acted like they were still teenagers, and I knew teenagers who acted like they were middle-aged. Although many of my experiences made me cautious and jaded, I didn’t want to live life as if I were already dead. It was my goal when I first started dealing with Astrid’s betrayal that I would be responsible and careful, but not worry too much about the end.
My roommates were both in their twenties. While I felt pretty much the same as I did when I was twenty, I thought back on some of my actions with shame. I said things I shouldn’t have to friends, did things on a whim instead of staying in and studying, and ridiculed others when I saw their flaws were the same as mine. I even tried to blame my problems on Astrid.
Henry was more responsible than most people I knew, but he had to be. He was raised by his parents to be a world-class thief, which required him to develop a working persona and a public persona, while also burying his real self. His British accent was a small part of his real self that he had clung to his entire life. Above all, he was extremely protective and the bravest man I knew.
At twenty-two, Darwin was brilliant, yet rather immature. In the year and a half I knew him, I learned that he did absolutely nothing on a whim. Everything he did and every word he said was carefully thought out. He goofed off because he was intelligent enough to succeed anyway. He made people laugh or pissed them off because he knew he could, and sometimes to distract them. He wasn’t wise like Hunt or Vincent, but he was invaluable in fighting any enemy.
I tuned them out and tried to enjoy my breakfast. As much as I missed my quiet, peaceful mornings before I started attending Quintessence, my roommates were entertaining. Or maybe they were an acquired taste. Ironically, it felt very normal.
* * *
Henry didn’t look too well. I knew he would prefer to find his kid without facing those who took Scott from him. We got in the truck and Henry drove us through the small town. He pulled up to what looked like a coffee shop.
“This is the library.” He told Darwin the name of the orphanage in Arizona that burned down as Darwin and Marcus got out. “Wait,” he said quickly right before they were out of earshot. He shook his head. “About a year after they took Scott from me, they moved us up here. Luana hates the cold, but we’ve moved around a lot, so I didn’t think anything of it until now. They may have wanted to move to keep an eye on Scott, or possibly to keep me from being too close to him.”
“Well, it’s a start,” Darwin said.
We drove for another few minutes until Henry pulled up to a massive mansion. He scowled at it instead of turning off the engine.
“Can you handle it?”
“Of course. I have always been angry with them, but I used to believe they were the only ones who could help me. Under the full moon, I’m calmer at the school than I am here. I thought it was Addison. Now I know it was that my jaguar knew the truth. I believe Amelia’s magic is starting to work. I never get this angry unless the moon is full.”
“What about before Zoe’s death?”
“I was always very calm and patient outside of the full moon. After her death, I was just… numb. I feel the violence of my jaguar, but it too is numbed. It’s the only way I can control him, which is why I’m dangerous under the full moon.”
“Think of the man who took you in when you were lost in London. Be a role model for your son just like that man was for you. Trust me; there have been plenty of people I wanted to shoot before. After killing John, I realize that it’s not worth it. You can stay out here if you want; I can handle them.”
“They’ll attack you before you get out of the car. I’m going to go up to the door. When I’m clear of the doorway, you can come in.”
“I have mind control.”
“Alright. Get your gun out. If they shift, shoot. They’re regular jaguar shifters, but you cannot take their skill lightly.” We got out and went to the door, where Henry rang the doorbell. “The guards attack anyone who tries to enter the house unannounced,” he explained.
A moment later, the door opened and a tall, thin man with slick black hair gave Henry a disapproving sneer. “The masters of the house will not be seeing anyone today, boy. You can leave your payment on the step.”
I switched the safety off and gestured with my gun for him to move aside.
“Don’t be a prude, Jameson,” a shrill, overly enthusiastic voice said from behind the doorman. “I always welcome a visit from my dear son.”
The man moved aside and I saw Luana Lycosa walking leisurely down a grand stairc
ase. She was athletically built with dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a natural tan. In workout clothes or a jungle survival movie, she would have been a knockout. In a dark blue ball gown that emphasized her six-pack instead of any feminine traits, she just looked out of place. Her hair was up in curls as if she were going somewhere fancy. She didn’t have a good facial structure for it.
I reached out for her mind and encountered a jaguar. She was more cat than person. This isn’t going to go well. Her smile was as cold and false as one could be.
“Tell me,” she said, stopping at the door so that we couldn’t enter, “have you found your little abomination? Maybe you got lucky and someone drowned it when they had the chance. Your father wanted to drown you since you were born, but I told him you were worth more alive.” She looked at me and her false smile fell into a disgusted sneer. “I see that I was wrong. I wonder if that human whore you---”
She didn’t get another word out before a horse-sized jaguar slammed her to the ground. He growled in her face, but held back.
When she laughed, a thought seeped through her jaguar mind. “Henry, stop!” I shouted. Henry retreated just an inch.
Another laugh drew our attention to the balcony around the living room. Matheus laughed harder. “Go ahead, boy. Kill your mother. Tear her flesh from her bones and eat her heart. She’s pregnant.”
Henry jumped away and shifted back into his person form. His expression was horrified. “You can’t be serious. You cannot raise a baby.”
Luana stood and dusted herself off with a scowl. “Of course I don’t want to raise it. That would be worthless.” Her expression brightened. “Fortunately, it’s a pure blood jaguar shifter and is worth a lot of money. We already have bids on it, and we don’t even know the sex yet!”
Henry looked at me and everything in his expression told me to do something. I pushed my power outward to incapacitate every person in the mansion. I didn’t give them a command; I froze their thoughts. This was the highest level of control and something I had only ever done with animals that were trying to attack.
