by C. J. Pinard
I lay back on the mattress and growled. “I hate this.”
“Me, too,” he replied, as he was also doubled over in pain. As pissed as I was at him for putting me in this cage, my heart still went out to him. He cried out as I heard his bones break and I watched as they began to protrude through his skin, wishing to break free. Blood and foamy drool dripped from his mouth as his fangs descended. I knew that pain all too well, and nobody should have to suffer like that. But, sadly it seemed we were both stuck with it—cursed with it.
After unleashing a litany of curse words, I was suddenly okay. It seemed the hideous transformation was taking less and less time, and for that I was grateful.
Still seated, I opened my eyes to see Evan standing in front of me, looking just as beastly. He really wasn’t kidding, we did look like Mr. and Mrs. Bigfoot standing there. A small smile crept up on my mouth, which turned into a big smile, and then I started laughing. I couldn’t help it. His scowl turned to a smile, and then he, too, started laughing.
When we’d both stopped, he said, “You’re pretty hideous, Ayla.”
“You’re no prince yourself,” I came back with a snort.
He stopped laughing and sat on his sofa, and used his claws to pick up the remote to turn the TV on. I watched as he grabbed the game remote and hit a button, which caused the game to flare to life. It was beyond bizarre to see him sitting there playing a zombie-killing video game looking like the Teen Wolf.
“You’re seriously gonna leave me in here?” I asked awkwardly around my fangs, bringing my knees up to my chin and wrapping my arms around my legs.
He looked at me over his shoulder, smiled a toothy grin, and went back to his game. “You’ll be let out with good behavior.”
“I don’t do well with boredom.”
He huffed, paused the remote, and walked to the bookshelf. I watched as he ran his hairy-fingered claw over the spines of the books, and then stopped at the one he wanted with a smile on his face. He then used his sharp, black fingernail to tip the book toward him, and gripped it in his fist. He stalked over, got close to the bars, and slipped the book through, then winked at me with his creepy yellow eyes. He then plopped back on the sofa and resumed the game.
I looked down at the book in my claws and frowned. Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King.
I bit back a smile. “You’re a dick, Evan.”
“I’ve been waiting, like, ten years to do that.”
I looked up. “Huh? What does that mean?”
He shook his head. “Never mind, I’ll tell ya later.”
I sat down on the mattress, leaned up against the bars, and opened the book.
Chapter 7
I blinked my eyes open and yawned. Looking up, I saw a white ceiling and metal bars. I was lying on the mattress, but a pillow was under my head and I was curled up under a blanket. The cage door was open, as Evan had realized he could trust me after a couple of hours of me being as normal as could be expected. I had a couple of rage fits while in the cage, but around midnight, Karina had brought us some medium-rare steak, raw shrimp, and a bottle each full of warmed blood. After we ate and drank, we both felt better. Evan explained it was best to just keep eating and drinking or else we’d stay hangry. I guessed it made sense. I read the entire book, too, which was actually awesome.
“It’s the third day, thank God,” I said, slipping on a pair of black sweatpants and my pink Broncos hoodie. I dug in my bag and found an elastic tie and put my hair up in a messy bun. “What time is it?”
“Ten-thirty,” Karina replied with a yawn, her arm around her husband’s waist. Evan had pulled on jeans and a tee.
“I need a shower, bad. I’ll Uber home,” I said, slinging my overnight bag over my shoulder and smiling at the couple. “Thank you for letting me stay here for the shift. Your non-man-cave is way better than the trailer up at Wolfe Point.”
Karina waved a hand. “Nonsense, we’re going to drive you home.”
I chewed my lip. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Well, Evan’s going to drive you home. I need to sleep. Plus, you know, sun.”
I nodded. “That’s right. Well, I appreciate it.”
I followed them up the stairs, and marveled again at the beautiful house. It was an old Victorian that had been upgraded inside and out. Large blackout blinds covered the huge bank of windows along the back wall that I presumed led to the backyard. We passed by the kitchen and there was man sitting at the table drinking from a coffee mug and reading the Denver Post. His hair was shoulder-length, and he looked lean and strong with a little stubble along his jaw.
He looked up from his paper and gave me a smile that reached his wise eyes. “Hi, you must be Ayla.” He stood and walked toward us.
“Ayla, this is my brother Raf,” Karina said.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, trying not cringe at my appearance. I probably had steak and shrimp in my teeth, and bloodshot eyes with dark circles under them. The shifts were always rough on me.
Raf pierced me with a stare, his silvery-gray irises seeming to study me. “It’s nice to meet you, too. I’ve heard a lot about Evan and Karina’s newest hunter. You seem to be doing very well under their study.”
I nodded and smiled, loving the soft and slow way he spoke, and the wisdom in his eyes and speech. “Thank you. It’s not been a quick process, but I’m getting better, I think.”
“Still bringing home strays, I see,” came a voice, followed by a scoffing noise.
We all looked over to see another young man standing by the bottom of the staircase, his arms folded over his black Def Leppard T-shirt, his jean-clad legs crossed at the ankles as he leaned against the bannister. This one didn’t look as friendly, but more troublesome. He had an angry glint in his gray eyes as he stared at me, but was clearly addressing Karina—or perhaps Evan.
There was something about him that was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it.
“Don’t be so rude, Dylan,” Karina said, sighing hard. “This is Ayla, and she’s not a stray. I told you about her quite a few times.”
He kept the smug look on his young face. He didn’t look like he could be older than twenty or maybe twenty-one, but I knew he was much older. “Yeah, well that wolf stink is, like, double now.” He shot a glance at Evan.
“It’s nice to meet you, Dylan,” I said, plastering on a smile and trying to play nice when I just wanted to punch him in his smug face.
“Ignore my jerk brother, Ayla,” Karina said, grabbing me by the shoulders and guiding me toward a door. “I do.”
Evan opened the door, which led to the attached garage. As he flipped on the light, I could see that it looked a lot newer than the rest of the house with gray epoxy floors and four shiny vehicles inside.
“See you soon, I’m going to bed,” Karina said with a yawn. She kissed her husband and then said, “Bye, girl,” before heading up the stairs.
“It was nice meeting you, Ayla,” Raf said.
I looked over my shoulder. “You, too.”
I glanced at Dylan, and he was still staring at me. I blew him a kiss just to piss him off, and his frown turned to a scowl.
Mission accomplished!
“Don’t antagonize him,” Evan said, chuckling as he closed the garage door and led me to a small, red sports car. The windows were tinted black. He opened the door and helped me inside. I placed my bag on the floor between my feet and buckled my seatbelt. The smell of new leather was strong, and I used my fingertips to touch the seat. It was as soft as it looked.
Evan got in and started the engine, then hit a button to open the garage door. After backing out, he threw some sunglasses on his face, put the car in gear, hit the button to closet the garage, and then gunned the accelerator. We zoomed off down the street.
“Ya know, if you think that was harsh”—he jabbed a thumb behind him at the quickly disappearing house—“you should have seen how Dylan treated me when Karina took me in. The guy’s a total dick, and I thought
maybe after having lived there with them for ten years—after marrying his sister and showing him we were in it for life—that he might lighten up, but I have barely made a dent in that endeavor.” He scoffed and shook his head.
“Maybe he needs to get laid,” I said, biting back a smile.
He chuckled. “He definitely needs to get laid.”
I lifted a shoulder and let it fall. “If he was a little nicer, I would try to set him up with a friend.”
“Oh, he does not associate with humans, except for meals, and obviously he would never date a wolf,” Evan said, scanning the road before taking a fast and sharp right to get onto the freeway.
“Oh, this person’s a vampire,” I said, chewing the inside of my cheek to keep my laughing.
“I wasn’t aware you had any vampire friends, except us, and that guy Beckett—” He stopped and looked at me.
I burst into a fit of giggles. “Come on, Evan. You can’t tell that Dylan is gay?”
He looked over at me, eyes wide. “He’s not gay, Ayla!”
I nodded emphatically. “Yes, he is. I have great gaydar. He’s probably rude to you because he finds you attractive, and can’t have you.”
We were flying at insane speeds down the I-25, and because I was kind of used to it when Kellan did it, it didn’t bother me.
“You got that from a thirty-second meeting with him? I’ve lived with him for a decade and never once thought that. He’s brought women home. He watches porn.”
“What kind of porn?” I asked, curious and trying to make conversation.
He shrugged. “Hell if I know, I can hear the shit through the walls. His room is across from ours.”
I grinned. “Evan, I saw him at the gay vampire bar I went to with Beckett a couple weeks ago.”
He glanced sideways at me through his sunglasses and then put eyes back on the road. “There’s a gay vampire bar?”
I chuckled “Yep.”
“And you’re sure it was him?”
I nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. I will never forget that smug face. And he was wearing another eighties band T-shirt. Metallica, I think.”
Evan’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “He’s got quite a few of those.”
“Beckett approached him, and he was very receptive, albeit kind of shy. He’d been wearing that pissed-off look before he’d gone over to him. It was kind of funny.”
We exited the freeway and came to a stoplight. Evan looked over at me. “How did he not recognize you just now then?”
I rolled my eyes and pointed at myself. “Do you think I go to clubs looking like this? No way, dude. I would have had hair, makeup, heels, the whole nine. And who says he didn’t recognize me? Maybe he was being a dick because he didn’t want me blowing his cover.”
Evan grinned. “No, that’s not it. Dick is his personality type.”
I laughed as the light turned green and Evan steered the car toward lower downtown.
“He’s not really Karina’s brother, right?” I asked.
He shook his head. “None of them are related. Well, actually Raf and Zane are actual brothers, but they picked up the dick a few decades later.”
I laughed. “Let me guess, they picked him up in the eighties?”
“Good guess.”
“Picked him up where?” I asked, totally interested in this story.
He furrowed his brow. “I can’t quite remember, but I do remember Karina telling me he was newly turned and alone. It may have been in a club or bar somewhere.”
“So…” I pulled up my bag and fished through it for my own sunglasses, as the clouds had parted and the sun was now shining bright. “So… Dylan is actually a ‘stray’ himself?”
Evan chuckled. “I guess he is—or was. I’ll have to bring that up to him next time he gives me shit about one of my progenies.”
After putting my glasses on my face, I turned my head to face him. “One of your progenies? You’re training more than just me?”
“No, not right now. Karina and I just started doing this a couple years ago. We’ve trained two others before you. They have since moved away. One to California, the other to Tennessee.”
“Were they hybrids, like me? Like us?” I asked, curious.
Evan shook his head as he pulled into the parking lot of my building. He found a spot and put the sports car in park. He took off his sunglasses and looked at me with his dark-blue eyes. “No, Ayla, I don’t know any other hybrids except us. I mean, I know of a few scattered around the country, but haven’t met them personally. The other two progenies were vampires. They wanted to be hunters. Once we’d trained them for a year, we let them go and they moved away.”
With my hand on the car door handle, I looked down at my lap, and then lifted my head and faced Evan. “Yeah, well I’m not leaving Colorado after I’m done. I hope you don’t expect me to.”
He shook his head. “No, we don’t. But… Ayla, you can’t stay in Colorado forever. I hope you know that. In about ten years, people are going to start to ask questions as to why you still look twenty-four, and you’ll have to leave.”
The thought made my heart hurt, even though I knew he was right. With a nod, I opened the car door and made my way into my building.
Chapter 8
Dressed in my workout clothes, I stood in front of the wall of windows of my apartment and looked out at the city with a steaming cup of coffee in my hand. The sun was retreating now, leaving its final mark with an orange and pink hue on the top of the Rocky Mountains. The midnight-blue sky above began to twinkle with stars and the fat moon was a translucent fixture against its backdrop.
After Evan had dropped me off earlier, I took a long, steamy shower and did some thinking while the hot water and soap washed away the wolf stink.
I knew Evan was right. The thought of having to leave Colorado—to leave the only home I’d ever known—was daunting. What would I do? Where would I go? Would I be alone? The thought terrified me, and I tried to think of other things. I would deal with that when it came. Hell, maybe I wouldn’t have to. Maybe I would be like a regular wolf and just age slower than a human, but not be immortal like Evan said he thought he was. There was no way for me to tell at this point. I thought about Kellan and wondered how many times he’d had to move.
After the shower, I went online and ordered some colorful plastic plates and cups, paying for two-day shipping so I’d have something to eat off of quickly. I then swept and mopped my kitchen floor, since I had found I still had tiny sharp pieces hiding in the corners. Once the kitchen was spotless, I picked up around the apartment and got some clothes together to do laundry later in the basement.
I grabbed my laptop and sat on my sofa to clear out all the emails I was sure I had.
I had a couple from my mom, asking how I’d been. I needed to get over there to see her and Dad soon. I missed them and knew I owed them an update. Then I realized Memorial Day was coming, and I was sure Mom would have a big summer kickoff party like she did every year.
I was almost done clearing out emails when my phone chimed. I picked it up to see a text from Evan:
Our newest target: Fiona McGrann. Human age: 30. Vampire Age: 99. Runs the Lisque Club downtown along with her partner. I’ve gotten some intel that she was the one who put those vamps up in that office building Alexander and friends had been holed up in.
Attached to the message was a photo of a pretty brunette with dark hair, full lips, and flawless olive skin. The pic appeared to be from a color surveillance camera, but her features were easy enough to identify.
As I was staring at the photo, another text from him buzzed my phone: We’ll discuss tonight and possibly visit the club.
I smiled at the message, and then closed the laptop, deciding I needed to lie down for a while so I could be ready for my training tonight.
It was strange, the amount of sleep I required these days, but even after the nap I’d taken in the cage the night before, I had slept the afternoon away, and when I woke, I
’d felt great. Training wasn’t until eleven p.m., though, so I had a few hours to kill.
I grabbed my phone, keys, and purse from the table, and left my apartment.
It hadn’t taken me long to reach the office building in my little car. I parked in the lot and looked up at it. It didn’t seem to be very busy. The last time I’d been here, vampires had been using the third floor to camp out during the day. At night, some of them stayed, and others left to feed, I assumed, or do God knows what. Probably work in that club Evan said this Fiona chick owned. But now, the whole building was just dark. I had to wonder if our confrontation with Alexander in the lobby had scared them off.
I laughed to myself. That had to be it.
Despite my conclusions about the deserted feel of the building, I still decided I was going to check out the inside for no particular reason other than I was just curious. If there were any more vampires there, I would confront them; see if there were any that needed putting down. I ensured my dagger was strapped to the thigh of my black spandex pants, then grabbed the flashlight from my glovebox, and set off to the back door of the building. I tried the handle and it wasn’t even locked… that was not a good sign.
I evened out my breath and pulled the door open, and it made an eerie creaking noise. A stone stairwell greeted me, and I stood still a few seconds, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness before I climbed it.
I exited the stairwell and carefully opened the door leading to the lobby. I poked my head in, but couldn’t see a living soul. No security guards, no lighted lobby desk, nothing but silence.
Strange, I thought.
Retreating back into the stairwell, I knew I should check on the third level where Alexander and the other vamps had been camping out. I sprinted up the stairs, and when I reached the third level, I repeated the protocol of opening the big, metal door with the “3” painted on it. I peered inside. It, like the rest of the building, was dark and quiet. With my superior eyesight, I did not see any beings camped out on the floor or in the abandoned desk cubicles. It was just cold, dark, and empty, the only light from the orange streetlamps and surrounding buildings. Seemed like it should be a perfect environment for a group of vampires to hide out in.
