"Superior, meaning that is the manner in which she compares herself to others, and not her actual condition?" Renegar was trying to understand.
"Yes. Exactly," Ashe nodded. He was nearly home and wondered how inviting an invisible Larentii in might affect his grounding. "Are you hungry? I have popcorn or peanut butter and jelly."
"Ah. Well," Renegar looked uncomfortable for the first time. "We, ah, do not eat in the same manner you do."
"Sali doesn't eat in the same manner, either," Ashe pointed out. "He eats anything that isn't nailed down. His metabolism is so high I don't know how his mom deals with it."
"I meant," Renegar said, "that we do not eat food—not your definition of it, anyway. Larentii absorb sunlight, mostly. It feeds us. Another energy source is acceptable but not particularly appetizing."
"Like broccoli?" Ashe asked, schooling his face. He was astounded that Renegar and his race survived by absorbing energy.
"Broccoli being a much less acceptable food?"
"To some," Ashe ducked his head to hide the grin.
"Then any other energy source is broccoli. I will refer to it as such when we converse."
"Do you want to come in the house or not?" Ashe asked.
"Of course. Thank you for inviting me."
Ashe didn't point out that Renegar had come in the night before uninvited. That would be rude. He punched in the code outside the garage door. Renegar followed him inside while Ashe closed the wide, steel door before punching in the second code to let himself into the kitchen.
"Your father is vampire," Renegar nodded, examining the kitchen curiously. "Most vampires are quite wary and tend to place as many thick walls about them as they can. Steel and concrete are preferable, I've discovered."
"You've studied vampires?"
"I have been quite close to several, had they but known," Renegar smiled. "Please, go ahead and have a snack. You will not offend me."
Ashe dumped his backpack on the kitchen island and set about making a peanut butter sandwich. Renegar watched in fascination as Ashe spread peanut butter across bread before folding it in half and biting into it. While he chewed, Ashe poured out a glass of milk to go with his sandwich.
"You do not have to eliminate waste, do you?" Renegar asked after Ashe swallowed his first bite.
"Dad always said it was because I got more vampire in me than anyone thought," Ashe said. "Mom was happy because she didn't have to change diapers. Sali hates it because he isn't the same."
"Hmmm," Renegar examined Ashe closely. "I still cannot get a reading, so I have no way to determine the truth in this case. I may have a hypothesis, but that will remain with me at this time."
"What is it?"
"I cannot say. It could be construed as interference and I will certainly not do that."
"Then why bring it up?" Ashe took another bite of his sandwich.
"If it offends, I apologize. With the Larentii, no subject is taboo. Is that the term, taboo? Meaning unacceptable?"
"Yes." Ashe drank milk as he watched Renegar process the information. Renegar's blue skin resembled a sunny, cloudless day. His eyes were a brighter shade of blue and they were focused elsewhere for a moment.
"Where do you go when you do that?" Ashe asked curiously.
"I am mentally searching for information. Somewhat as you do with the Internet, only much more accurate," Renegar's smile was bright.
"That must be a big time-saver," Ashe teased.
"Most certainly," the teasing went right past Renegar for a few seconds. "Oh, I see. You are teasing me. That makes us more familiar. Like friends."
"Hey, I never said that. And it's just awkward, having you following me at school. It's like I'm under a microscope."
"You do not feel this way with Salidar? Your werewolf friend?"
"No, but we've known each other for a long time."
"If that engenders trust and will alleviate your distress, then I will continue to follow you as time allows so you will become adjusted to my presence and cease feeling discomfort."
"Dude," Ashe held up a hand.
"You call me dude? A slang term? Almost a gesture of friendship? This is indeed a good day. I have not had any friends among other races until now." Renegar smiled brightly.
"Dude," Ashe stomped a foot and lowered his shoulder helplessly. He felt obligated to befriend the tall Larentii child now. "Come on, let's go downstairs," Ashe sighed as he punched in the third door code to the underground portion of the Evans home.
"You play with this?" Renegar handled the lime-green Frisbee with care, touching Sali's teeth marks reverently.
"You should try it," Ashe said, pulling up information for his History final on the computer.
"Might we go outside, then?"
"I'm not supposed to—grounded, you know," Ashe muttered. The day had been nice earlier and he wouldn't mind throwing a Frisbee around.
"I can shield both of us," Renegar offered.
"Is there a name I can call you so we won't affect that nexus thing you talked about?"
"A nickname?" Renegar almost went into raptures, his blue eyes glowing brighter than they normally did.
"Can we shorten yours or should we do something else?" Ashe turned away from his desktop, History forgotten for the moment.
"Hmmm, that might work. Call me Ren. That sounds the same as the bird's name, does it not?"
"Yes. You can be Ren. Come on, Ren, and that shield better be good or I'll be grounded for another two weeks."
"Not to worry, friend," Ren was smiling again as he and Ashe rushed up the stairs and into a sunny afternoon.
* * *
"The fingerprint isn't in any database, Director." Vince Jordan handed the information on an electronic tablet to Bill Jennings.
"We don't have information on the killer in that way. Damn, this is frustrating," Bill muttered. "How are we going to tell if this man is after those kids? If it is a man. Do we have information on those Elemaiya, to see if their fingerprints are similar to those of humans?"
"The information is here," Vince tapped the tablet he'd set in front of the Director.
"You mean it's the same sort of lines and everything?" Bill shook his head at the information Vince had gathered. That information had been supplied, surprisingly, by one of their vampire agents, who'd gotten it from the Vampire Council.
"It appears to be so," Vince agreed. "But we know it isn't a vampire—one of the murders took place during the day, and the two werewolves who are assisting our investigators insist that the scent they got wasn't a werewolf's. They'd have recognized it right away."
"Do we know for sure that the perpetrator—that English teacher in Cloud Chief, was the one responsible for those murders last year?"
"He admitted it under compulsion, according to our vampire sources."
"Then this is someone new. Vince, I'm beginning to think we need a magic wand to sort this out. If two of my best agents with the help they've got in the field can't come up with something, we're screwed."
"Director, the children are still safe, are they not? Perhaps we should consider our small victories."
"Yeah. Maybe you're right, Vince." Bill went back to the information on the tablet.
* * *
"Jason, I brought iced tea and sandwiches," Marcie Pruitt, Denise DeLuca's sister, handed over a thermos jug and a brown paper bag for the two werewolves. They'd set up a small rest tent, the striped cloth top flapping briskly in the late afternoon breeze. Both Trace and Jason occupied comfortable lawn chairs beneath the high-topped cover while they kept an eye on Cloud Chief's guests. Jason Landers offered Marcie a brief grin before digging into the bag and handing a sandwich to Trace and then taking one for himself.
"This is mighty nice of you, Mrs. Pruitt," Jason said, pouring iced tea into the thermal mug he kept with him for coffee and such.
"Just call me Marcie. Dominic and I are divorced now." Marcie didn't like talking about her ex-husband, who was doing his worst and keeping h
er youngest son Jackson from calling or writing. Her oldest, Dustin, got around Dominic somehow and managed to keep his mother updated on everything, including his younger brother.
"Marcie, then," Jason said. "Would you like to sit? The kids seem pretty quiet today." Jason nodded in the distance, where Edward had a long-tailed kite in the sky and Bryce and Keith were tossing a football. The others were indoors.
"Maybe for a few minutes," Marcie agreed. "Denise tells me you know a lot about farming and growing vegetables. I think we have some sort of bug eating the tomato plants in the community garden."
"Then I'll have a look when the vamps come out to guard," Jason nodded.
"Good. Can I have a little of your tea? It's really warm today." Jason didn't hesitate to offer his cup and his lawn chair to Marcie.
* * *
"Dude, the phone is ringing," Ashe turned to mist in a blink, almost leaving Ren behind when he misted inside the house to answer the call.
"Mom?" Ashe said when he picked up. Caller ID identified his mother on the other end.
"Ashe, I was just checking to make sure you're home and safe."
"I'm home, Mom," Ashe replied, doing his best to keep the breathlessness out of his voice. Once Ren had understood the object of tossing a Frisbee, he'd become quite adept at it. The young Larentii now stood at Ashe's shoulder, having folded into the house carrying the Frisbee in his hands.
"Do you have homework?"
"Already did the Math, just have to study a little for the History final next week."
"Good. I'll be home in about an hour, hon. Let's have sandwiches tonight; I'm tired."
"Yeah. I'll make them so you can sit down when you get here," Ashe offered.
"That sounds good, honey. See you in a bit."
"Bye, Mom." Ashe hung up.
"Frisbee is quite entertaining. Perhaps we can do other things later," Ren reluctantly handed the Frisbee to Ashe. "I should go now, since your mother is coming home soon. I had a very good time, friend." Renegar disappeared.
"Must be nice to be able to do that," Ashe said and went to get a glass of water.
* * *
"Wildrif, why do I have to depend upon a spy to get information on the seventh child? Those Dark Ones are offering half a million if we can get information on all seven of those kids. They'll hand us a million if our information leads to their capture." Obediah Tanner stared at his hired clairvoyant.
"You know I have difficulty seeing past those witch boundaries," Wildrif sniffed, his thin, nearly colorless hair floating about his face, one brown eye and one blue eye studying Obediah earnestly. None knew Wildrif's true age and he wasn't planning to tell them. He also wasn't planning to tell Obediah that he couldn't see the seventh child, even while he was outside the witch's border. It was luck that their spy had learned of the child and of his beginnings, else they'd have never known of him and the Dark Elemaiya would be just as ignorant of the boy's existence as the Bright Ones. "And we are not talking capture, wise wolf," Wildrif bowed before Obediah. Subtle flattery never failed to gain Obediah's attention, and Wildrif knew it well. "I know they desire the deaths of those children, and I have no concern for that. I know of many that are buried across the country already."
"You're tougher than I thought," Obediah chuckled, causing his thick moustache to bristle and the deep scar on his face to bounce a little. "Wildrif, with your information and what's coming in from Josiah's spy, we may be on our way to an easy million. You'll get a nice bonus if we hit pay dirt." Obediah laughed at his own weak joke.
* * *
"What are you doing here?" Elizabeth, her hair styled neatly and dressed in jeans and three-inch heels, stared over the fence that marked Cloud Chief's boundary. Chad and Jeremy had walked up beside her, prompting Liz's angry question. She'd understood that both boys were grounded or under house arrest.
"Mom had to go into Cordell for groceries. We sneaked out. They can't watch us every second," Jeremy huffed. "Besides, you're supposed to be back there with the rest of the empties."
"I can sneak away too," Elizabeth's voice was cool and haughty as she pointedly refused to look at the two boys. "Just because you can turn into a werewolf or whatever doesn't mean you have the market cornered on cool and different." Liz had a new secret, one she'd discovered after seeing that boy lift Luanne and her parents out of a burning house, appearing from nowhere to drop them into a field. Liz had questioned Luanne at length about it, and Luanne had finally admitted that it was like flying invisibly through the air. Linda and Peter Jansen, Luanne's parents, hadn't remembered much at all concerning the incident, but Luanne had remembered after a time.
"So, where is the nearest city from here?" Liz asked. She was at a disadvantage—she had no idea where she was and hadn't bothered to study any maps before coming to Oklahoma.
"Cordell is a few miles west," Jeremy deliberately pointed in the wrong direction while Chad snickered softly.
"Liar," Liz muttered. "It doesn't matter. I can find it for myself." With that, she disappeared right before a stunned werewolf and shapeshifter, becoming mist swiftly and flying toward her temporary home in Cloud Chief. She'd make plans and stay in Cloud Chief—for now.
Chapter 10
"You think I'll risk getting into more trouble with Packmaster DeLuca right now?" Chad hissed at Jeremy, who suggested they tell his mother, Diane about Liz's disappearance. "Just keep it quiet. Who the hell cares that she can disappear? If she could do more than that, she would have done it while we were there. Trust me, we still have the upper hand—did you see the way she was looking at us? Man, if looks could kill," Chad chortled over Liz's impotent fury.
"And who dresses like that in the middle of nowhere?" Jeremy snickered. Liz's shoes were completely inappropriate for walking through grassy prairie.
"They're all worthless. Did you hear what Principal Billings said when Mrs. Rocklin asked if we should let them come to graduation?"
"That was epic," Jeremy agreed. "Why don't you send them to the human graduation in Cordell where they belong?" Jeremy puffed out his cheeks and lowered his voice, imitating Billings' booming speech. "Come on, Mom may be on her way back. We can't be caught out here." They'd begun walking toward the Booth home, half a mile away.
"Yeah. But this fall, we'll be far away from that meddling empty and the rest of these empty-lovers," Chad couldn't wait to get away from Cloud Chief. He'd gotten the news from Jeremy's father the night before that not only would Jeremy's car be sold to pay restitution for the burned home, but the money they'd planned to use to buy a second car for Chad's graduation gift would go to that cause as well. Chad was despising Ashe Evans more and more as time went on.
"When I think about what that stupid empty has cost us already," Jeremy's fists clenched furiously.
"If Billings had his way, there'd only be werewolves here," Chad said. "And none of this would have happened."
"Yeah."
* * *
"I heard from Denise that the Booths are selling Jeremy's car and using that money plus what they would have spent on Chad's car to pay for the damage done to the Jansen's mobile home," Adele told Ashe as he set a ham sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup in front of his mother. She'd taken her shoes off the moment she'd come through the door, telling Ashe she'd been on her feet all day.
"At least some things turn out right," Ashe blew out a sigh.
"Ashe, you're not saying you don't deserve your punishment, are you?" Adele studied Ashe's expression.
"No. Mom, I knew I could get in trouble and I did it anyway. I just thought we needed to do what we could to make those kids feel welcome after what Chump and Wormy did."
"They have proper names, hon."
"Yeah. I know." Ashe wasn't meeting his mother's eyes as he sat down to eat his own hastily prepared meal.
"Ashe," Adele pushed a few stray strands of hair behind an ear, "my mother used to say that no good deed went unpunished. What you did was a kind thought, and possibly a good deed, too, but.
"
"I went off the reservation. Yeah. I get that," Ashe slurped a spoonful of soup after finishing his mother's thought. "What was my grandmother like? You never talk about her. Or my grandfather."
"Ashe," Adele lowered her eyes, staring at the sandwich on her plate.
"It's okay if you don't want to," Ashe shrugged and lifted his sandwich.
"No, honey, you deserve to know," Adele sighed. "Your grandmother—my mother, she was a Great Horned Owl. Your grandfather was a Cooper's hawk. Birds are rather rare in the shapeshifting world. Jonas O'Neill and I are the only two bird shifters in this part of the country. I was hoping that you might be one, too."
"Sorry, Mom," Ashe apologized quietly.
"Hon, with a vampire father, I was only dreaming," she reached out to ruffle Ashe's hair. "And now, we all know you got a little extra from the Elemaiya. I wish we knew more about them."
"Mom, they aren't my family. My family is right here."
"Yes we are, aren't we?" Adele smiled for the first time since she'd gotten home. "Hear that Aedan? Ashe's family is right here." Aedan walked through the door into the kitchen from the lower level.
"Where else would we be?" Aedan smiled slightly. "How's the penance coming?"
"Terrible." Ashe took another bite of his sandwich.
"Just what I wanted to hear," Aedan chuckled, this time. "The definition of penance to some is the confession of a sin, followed by punishment to make amends."
"Yeah, but most see it as self-punishment or abasement," Ashe pointed out. "Dictionary, you know."
"And this is certainly not self-imposed," Aedan sparred verbally with his son.
"In a way it is. I was just discussing with Mom that I knew what the consequences might be when I made the decision to go to Cordell. It was a calculated risk."
"Son, I should know better than to ever think you'd just go off without thinking about it first." Aedan sat down at the table and tucked more stray hair away from his wife's face.
"Is it bad? I didn't have time to look in the mirror today, it was so busy," Adele tidied her hair self-consciously. "And the chicken farm outside Dill City sent two trucks for chicken feed. They cleaned me out this afternoon and they didn't do very much to help load it up."
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