by Mandy Rosko
More often than not, whenever a hunter was captured the pack would either kill him or turn the hunter over to a vampire… or anyone, for that matter, willing to pay enough money for food that wouldn’t be missed among the general population. One Shepard would likely bring her pack a lot of money, not to mention two. Bill would at least have to evaluate David’s actions, past and present, and take Elaine into consideration before making his judgment, if she really was David’s mother.
However, that still didn’t provide any protection for Jimmy.
As if sensing where her thoughts were headed, he responded with, “I’ll be questioned soon, right?”
Gwen blinked. “What?” He was looking at her now, and then at David.
“Well, he won’t be answering your questions any time soon.”
Gwen stared into David’s sleeping face. That was right, he wouldn’t be, and they had one more hunter to take his place for that event. He wasn’t just bringing it up for something to talk about, he wanted something from her.
“What do you propose?” she asked. His mixed emotions of fear and hope confirmed her suspicion, she only wished she could sense what David was thinking. But, he was dreaming and that cut him off from her.
“If I tell you how we found this place, you’ll let me go. Tonight.”
The request shocked her more than his perception. Of course she couldn’t let him go, the idea that she would go against her pack was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard, but she also needed that information. Any mistake they made that could cost lives and, at the same time, be preventable was important to have.
What else could she do but tell him what he wanted to hear?
“Alright.”
He told her about Dianna, about how she came to them seeking help, and how they betrayed her in the end. The wolf pelts were far more valuable than the measly amount of money Di had offered them.
When it was over, Gwen Zombie-walked out of the room. She could vaguely hear Jimmy calling out a reminder of her promise from behind her. She just nodded her head and waved her hand, pushing the door shut behind her.
What was she going to do?
Chapter Twelve
Evey had predicted it; if she couldn’t even find the cabin, then no other vamp could, there must be a traitor. Never in a million years would Gwen have ever suspected Di, her best friend since childhood.
Dianna was never the smartest girl in the pack, or the bravest, but this, this just went beyond anything Gwen ever expected of her, not in a good way either.
She walked with her head down, biting on her lip, trying to think of something, anything that could be done. Should she confront her and see if she would deny it or go straight to her father? No matter what happened, the truth would eventually come out. And if Jimmy was telling the truth, Di would be banished from the pack. And that was only if Bill was lenient.
Gwen walked into something solid on her first step up the stairs.
It was John.
“What are you doing down here?”
Gwen looked up at him, half horrified. “How long have you been standing there?”
He shrugged. “Not long, but what are you doing down here by yourself?”
She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or not. He hadn’t heard Jimmy’s accusation against Di, so she still had time to think of what to do about her on her own.
“Just giving David some of Evey’s potion. What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see if Elaine was right,” he said.
“He’s not awake yet, you should probably come back later.”
Not that it would help. Gwen wasn’t sure when he would even wake up and, according to his brother, David didn’t know about his past or of Elaine’s existence. “We should let him rest a little longer.”
She moved to walk around him, but he grabbed her by the arm. “Why do you care so much about what happens to him?” His voice was pained. “After everything he’s done to you, to us? He’s a hunter.”
“Not anymore, he’s not,” she argued.
His eyes darkened. “Wolves can still hunt other wolves. You know that.”
Of course she knew that, but she didn’t want to admit it. David had said he didn’t want to be a hunter anymore, backed up by his brother’s own words. Did that make it true? How difficult would it be for him to give up the life he’s always lived and start from scratch? Even if Bill decided to let him go for Elaine’s sake, that didn’t mean her pack would accept him. He would be leaving her, again.
“You said you’d give us a chance, remember?” John asked, sensing her emotional distress. It was coming off of her in waves.
Gwen wished she didn’t remember, she was wishing for a lot of things lately, but she nodded her head. “Yes.”
“Gwen,” He stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders, his face was so hopeful. “I’m not trying to pressure you. It’s okay that you’re having trouble with how you feel for him, but I can only wait so long.”
Gwen tried not to wince at his words, but it was difficult. He was bring so understanding. It wasn’t like him. It made her feelings for David seem so wrong, especially when they were hurting John. Hell, she’d kissed David in front of him.
She knew she liked John, but she just didn’t think of him like that anymore.
“I’ve been talking with Di,” The name made her tense, but he either didn’t notice or thought she was still uncomfortable with the conversation, “she told me that I should let you go, but I just can’t do it.”
When he cupped her face and leaned in to kiss her, she turned her face and he caught her cheek instead.
He tried to hide the hurt on his face, so she pretended she didn’t see it.
Did she really want a man with no faults? His jealousy against David was the worst she’d ever seen in him, and after everything that had happened, she could say that it wasn’t without good cause either.
He told her that he would wait, that it was alright that she still had feelings for someone else, he understood. With David, everything was blurry and unclear, but with John she could see into their future. He was a safe choice.
There was comfort and uncertainty in the thought, but she already knew who she would choose. She was just about to tell him when John flew away from her.
He landed on his back on the stairs, clutching his eye. David stood beside her, his face red with rage and fists clenched. He looked very much like he wanted to punch him again.
They glared silently at each other until David turned his eyes toward her, looking as though he was the one who’d just been surprised with a punch in the eye.
“What were you doing?” his voice was accusing and hurt at the same time.
Gwen opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her throat was suddenly too dry for words. “I-I …”
John launched himself forward and tackled David to the ground, throwing angry, sloppy punches down into the area of his face, hitting mostly the cement floor in his anger.
“Stop it!” Gwen wrapped her arms around John’s chest to pull them away from each other, but David rolled them over. He was the one doing the punching now while John tried blocking, the bandage around his ear becoming bloody again.
Thinking quick, John kneed David in the gut. His eyes widened and he coughed and sputtered for air. John took the opportunity to roll them over again, but before he could do more damage, Gwen grabbed the back of his T-shirt and yanked.
“I said stop!” David was still weak from his upcoming transformation, regardless of how well the potion she’d given him had worked.
John turned his head and looked at her, his eyes were disbelieving that she could stop him. “He attacked me first!”
Using the distraction to his advantage, David grabbed the collar of John’s shirt and threw one last punch to his temple.
Gwen had to stifle a surprised scream with her hand so that no one upstairs would hear her. At first glance, it appeared as though the punch hadn’t affected him, but then J
ohn’s eyes rolled and he keeled over.
David pushed him off and onto the floor before standing over him. He then looked at Gwen.
There was blood on his face and knuckles, and when he tried approaching her, she stepped away from him.
“You’re afraid of me?” he asked, regret written on his face.
Gwen frantically shook her head. “No.” Even though at that moment, the sight of him did frighten her. What had just happened was a cruel reminder of what he really was, soon-to-be wolf or not. He was a hunter first.
David growled at himself and clenched his fists. “You don’t have to lie to me.” Then he looked down at where John lay helplessly. “I guess I can’t blame you after that.” There was no cocky tone of victory in his voice, only defeat.
“You love him.” It wasn’t a question.
Shepard shook his head, angry with himself. He really should have known better than to think otherwise. When she told her father she loved him back at the hospital, it was an obvious ruse that he didn’t see through just to get her pack to go easy on him. She’d made her decision and he wasn’t a part of it or the world she lived in. He should have known, why hadn’t he known?
Gwen wanted to say no, but she also wanted to say yes to punish him for what he did. She opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come out.
She couldn’t do it to him.
Maybe he wanted to marry her at one time, but it couldn’t work out now. Not since they both found out what the other was.
David touched the bandage on his head and looked toward the door he came out of. It was wide open. Gwen mentally smacked herself for not making sure it was shut when she left. Jimmy was still huddled on his cot, his back to the door to keep the light away from him. If he heard any of the fighting or their arguing then he ignored it to keep himself safe from the sunlight.
Shepard ran back into the room and grabbed his shoulder. “What happened?” When he turned his shoulder, a ray of light touched his face and he roared out before yanking his shoulder away, shielding himself with his clothes.
“Don’t do that!” he screamed.
Shepard saw his fangs and was struck dumb. “I didn’t know he bit you, too.”
“Well, he did! Your little pet vampire bit me and now I’m a vampire!”
Shepard was having trouble containing his agony. He didn’t want this, his father was bit, possibly dead, he knew one of the twins were dead, and now Jimmy was a vampire. An angry one, thanks to him, and he was a prisoner, something he tried to avoid back at Evey’s cabin.
“I’m so sorry,” he said. It was all he could say.
He’d failed so miserably at everything he’d strived to do that night. Protect Gwen, keep his family from getting too involved, now Allen was dead, his father, well, he wasn’t sure, and Jimmy had turned.
Gwen had to keep herself from shutting the door on them and locking them in. She didn’t want to give David anymore reasons to not trust her. Quickly, she grabbed John under his arms and dragged him to lay behind the door where he would hopefully be forgotten.
Shepard reached up and pulled the string that shut the blinds the rest of the way so the light couldn’t touch him.
“We should’ve let Andy and Allen stake him when they wanted to,” Jimmy muttered, sitting up and pulling at the chains on his legs once the threat of the sun was out of the way.
Shepard grabbed the chains to help him pull. He then sighed and took in his brother’s condition, the death of Allen, the possible death of his father, the feeling of hatred that went with the loss, and said, “You’re probably right.”
Gwen listened eagerly. Had she heard that right? She knew nothing about David’s family… come to think of it, if she’d missed something as important as him being a hunter, she knew nothing about him either. But, hadn’t he said something about wanting to atone? To release Jacob from the Shepards for their cruel treatment of him? What had Evey and Jacob said about the fight anyway? So far, all anyone knew was that there had been a lot of gunfire and confusion. Jimmy completely refused to speak about it and both vampires upstairs were vague, as if they too had something to hide. Then a girl named Angela had been mentioned. Who was she? Another hunter they hadn’t known about?
“What’s going on down there?” All actions ceased and everyone froze, Gwen especially. Her dad had heard the noise and was coming down the stairs. She’d hoped no one would hear them, but he did, and now she had some serious explaining to do.
Larry was confused to see his daughter in a place where she shouldn’t be all by herself. “Gwen?”
“Daddy.” She wanted to block his path, to keep him from seeing what he was about to see, but his eyes immediately went from her, to David and Jimmy in the open doorway, to where John lay unconscious on the floor.
His body tensed and his face went hard and red. “What the hell is going on here?”
Larry roughly grabbed his daughter by the arm and pulled her behind him.
“Daddy, it’s okay, they didn’t do anything,” she said quickly, hoping to reason with him.
“They’re trying to escape and they attacked you and Jonathan! That’s enough for me and should be for you.” He shoved her toward the stairs. “Go get Eric, we’ll talk later.”
Gwen didn’t move a muscle, she couldn’t, she was too afraid that another fight would break out. She wanted, no … needed to be there to keep anyone else from getting hurt.
Though Gwen was ashamed to admit it, she didn’t know who she was more fearful for, her father, who knew how to take care of himself but hadn’t fought in some years, or David, who was weak, but a trained hunter.
Shepard dropped the chains he was holding, leaving the task to Jimmy and stepped forward, his posture ready to attack. “I don’t want to fight you, so just let us go.”
It wasn’t a lie. He didn’t want to fight Gwen’s father, especially not in front of her. John, he didn’t so much care about.
Shepard almost laughed at the memory of the time when he and Gwen were still together and Gwen jokingly asked him when he would like to meet her father. Shepard dramatically promised to make such an impression that the man would give his blessing to them and then some.
He was making an impression all right.
“And go where?” Larry laughed. “You’re outnumbered in this house, and unless you plan on wrapping him up and carrying him out of here, he’s not going anywhere even if you do break those irons.”
Jimmy snarled at the finger pointing at him, his teeth lengthening.
Gwen couldn’t help but sigh her relief. It made sense, David couldn’t ignore the logic of Larry’s words. She still had time to find Di and maybe cut a deal to release Jimmy.
Or so she thought.
“Have it your way!” Shepard lunged at Larry, ready to knock him out if he had to. His strength had improved greatly while he slept, so his chances of success were better.
“No, don’t!” Gwen screamed. And, much as it pained him to do so, he ignored her. He loved her, but now that she was safe, he had to think about what family he had left.
Shepard tried grabbing the older man in a head lock, but Larry elbowed him hard in the gut. Jimmy pulled hard at the chain in the wall to free himself and join the fight.
Gwen couldn’t take it, she ran upstairs two at a time and screamed for Eric, throwing doors open until he finally decided to come to her, running down the hall from another room.
“What? What is it?”
She told him what was happening and he was downstairs in an instant. Jimmy had finally broken free and was standing over her father and David as if trying to decide how to proceed. David was winning the fight, pinning her father the floor with his hands around his neck. Gwen didn’t know if he was trying to knock him out or strangle him to death.
Eric tackled Shepard off Larry and was able to contain him despite his struggles while Larry caught his breath. Gwen ran to her father and helped him to his feet, letting him lean on her while he recovered.
&nb
sp; “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she mumbled, hugging him tight. Her nerves were a complete mess and she couldn’t stop herself from shaking.
He coughed, blinking back the tears that came with the coughing. “Where’s the other one?”
She looked up and saw that Jimmy had left. He saw that he was outnumbered and abandoned his brother.
Gwen spun to where Eric still had David pinned with a knee to his back, holding his hands behind his back. She’d never been so angry at anything in her entire life. She hated herself for ever trusting him, for not getting Eric to help sooner, and everything in general.
“Get off me! Let go of me!” Shepard roared, trying to buck Eric off, but he wouldn’t be moved. He twisted his head up and saw Gwen staring down at him with nothing less than hate in her eyes. His stomach plummeted.
Eric was shocked when Shepard suddenly stopped moving. He, too, turned his head toward Gwen, where the hunter’s gaze had stayed.
“I-”
“You really are a Shepard,” Gwen said, seething the words.
Shepard’s eyes widened. "What?"
“David was good to me, he loved me, and would have never even thought of taking off in the middle of the night like you did.” Memories of the two of them together, spending time together, when he surprised her at the Diner with the rose came to mind. She had to fight the burning in her eyes at such thoughts.
Shepard could only lay there and listen with a mix of shock and confusion. Why was she saying these things? He thought she understood the reasons for why he left. “Gwen, I-”
“Shepard is a hunter, he attacks innocent people and kills werewolves and vampires who don’t deserve to die. He attacked my father!”
Shepard’s eyes stayed wide and round. That would be the reason right there. “I wasn’t going to hurt him!”
“I’ll never forgive you for that!” Gwen turned her back on him and helped her father up the stairs while Eric took care of Shepard.
