by Cecy Robson
Taran thought I could. “The hell she can’t. Let me spell this out for you. Celia is not birthin’ no babies with fangs.” She snapped her fingers to stimulate her fire. “I suggest you start talking, and start talking now.”
Tim pulled off to the side of the road as I hurried to yank Misha’s sweater over me. Loathing tightened his jaws when he faced me. “The only way to break the bond that you started is through death.”
Shayna jumped in her seat next to me. I couldn’t jump. I needed a pulse to jump, and my heart had stopped functioning. “Death? Did you say death? You mean one of us has to die? There’s no other way to reverse this?”
Tim turned away, took a breath, and faced me once more. “Perhaps…No, never mind, it is too dangerous.”
I hurried to move closer to him. “How can it be more dangerous than dying? Tell me how to fix this!”
Tim’s face set like a frozen tundra. “There is only one way, but it involves the darkest of magic. Demonic possession and loss of limbs may occur.”
My tongue and throat dried and I lost the ability to blink. “Demonic po-possession?”
He frowned. “Do you want to end this or not?”
“Um, yes. Yes, I do. Tell me.”
“There are many steps, and it’s rather complicated.”
Emme took out her phone and hit the “Notes” icon. “Go ahead. I’m ready.”
Tim’s slow, drawn-out breath made me believe he was sharing something he shouldn’t—and in doing so would release a chain of events no one could stop. I listened like my future depended on it. Because, God knew, it did.
“The spell must be performed on a high peak at the rise of the next full moon.”
Which meant I’d be married to Misha for a freaking month. Still, it beat eternity.
Shayna gripped my arm. “That means either Mount Whitney or Mount Williamson. They’re the tallest around.”
Emme typed feverishly. Tim ignored Shayna and continued. “You will need to gather herbs: wolfsbane, belladonna, nightshade…”
Taran tapped her ruined nails on the leather seat. “There’s an organic vitamin shop in South Tahoe that sells herbs. I bet we can find that garbage there.”
Tim’s scowl deepened. “There’s more. You need a piece of alabaster, the whitest you can find.”
Alabaster? I gave my sisters a blank stare.
Shayna pointed an excited finger at me. “Ooh—eBay. You can get anything on eBay!”
Shayna’s logic kick-started my heart. “Right, eBay. Of course. Okay, what else, Tim?”
“Last—and most important—you will need two virgins and a goat.”
My head slowly turned to meet Tim. He burst out laughing. His whole body shook with hysteria, and tears streaked down his face. I crossed my arms and glared. “You asshole!”
Emme stopped typing and exchanged confused glances with Shayna. Taran launched herself onto Tim, smacking the back of his shaved head like a set of bongo drums. Tim cackled, failing to notice. “You girls are so gullible. I was ready to sell you swampland in Jersey.”
Shayna wrinkled her brow. “So Celia’s not engaged?”
Tim continued to laugh. “Of course not, the master wants a bang, not a bride.”
I debated whether I should feel deeply disturbed that a master vampire wanted to sleep with me or deeply relieved that I didn’t have to decide on a ring bearer. Knowing Misha and I weren’t going to be picking out china made me lean toward deeply relieved. Though that didn’t stop me from punching Tim in the back of the head.
“Ouch!”
“Quit whining and drive,” I snapped.
Tim pulled back onto the road, muttering how I couldn’t take a joke.
“Excuse me, Tim—”
“Emme, tell me you’re not being polite to this prick!” Taran shook out her hands, which were bright red from beating on Tim.
Emme blushed. “Um…I just want to know what the glowing was all about.”
Tim rolled his eyes in the mirror, but then caught the aroma of Taran’s anger and rising magic and decided against further pissing her off. “All master vampires are soul takers—susceptor animae. They possess the power to take one’s soul in order to turn them vampire. Celia is the rare dantem animam—a soul giver. We felt the master’s aura return when she bit him; that’s when we recognized her power.”
Shayna thought about it. “But that seems like some pretty powerful magic. How does it not link them?”
Tim spoke like it was obvious. “Because Celia is not giving him a piece of her soul, just returning his own back to him.”
Shock spread across Taran’s lovely yet bloodlust-caked features. “Damn, Ceel. You sent a lot of vamps to hell today.”
I shuddered. Vampires were notoriously egocentric, but that shouldn’t have given them an all-access pass to hell—especially when their actions were a result of an infection beyond their control.
Tim groaned when he caught a whiff of my sadness. “For a tigress, you’re a real puss—” My growl cut him off. He cleared his throat. “The return of a soul is something only a master is capable of receiving.”
Shayna leaned toward Tim’s window. “So then she did return Zhahara’s?” She smiled weakly in my direction. “I’m not trying to upset you, Celia. But you did bite her.”
Tim shook his head. “No. Bloodlust is too powerful and foul for the soul to penetrate. Which goes to show the master has no trace of it—even after the level of exposure he had today.”
I thought about what Tim said. “So if direct contact with those infected doesn’t cause the bloodlust, then what does?”
Tim shrugged. “Who cares? The master is safe and it’s no longer our problem.”
“Way to be selfless, Tim.” My mind mulled over my strange newfound power until unease twisted my small intestine into a Christmas bow. I pictured master vampires from all over the world lining up in front of some whacked-out, supernatural kissing booth advertising soul returns for a buck…and me chained on the other side. “Tim, I want Misha’s word that no one else will find out about my dantem animam thingy.”
Tim chuckled. “Relax, Celia. Trust me when I say most masters would prefer not to account for their sins.” He turned onto the main road. “Besides, I suspect the master would prefer to keep the return of his essence to himself. A vampire with a soul juggles both life and death at once. Constant touch with such powerful forces grants him greater strength.” Tim fell into a more serious demeanor. “Thereby making him a greater threat to those who oppose him.”
Silence fell among us, yet the events of the day prevented it from lasting. Shayna flashed Emme a grin. “You were quite the hero, Miss Watch Me Lift a Bus. Thanks for coming back to save the day.”
“My power seemed to refresh the closer we got to the lake. Tim was scared to go back—”
“I wasn’t scared!” Tim insisted.
Yes, he was, Emme mouthed. “But I convinced him it’s what Misha would want. The bus was parked along the front driveway. Tim scaled the wall and looked inside. When he told me you’d trapped Zhahara in the floor, hitting her with something big was the only thing I could think of.”
I laughed. “Well, it worked. I’m so proud of you, Emme.”
Taran smirked. “You did good, baby girl.”
I hugged Emme close just as the phone inside the limo rang. Tim picked it up without hesitation. “Hey, Ana Clara. You still at Z’s?” She whispered something too low for me to hear. “What? Oh, hell, hold on.” He talked over his shoulder. “They found another cluster of infected vampires in the dungeon. They killed most of them, but two escaped.” He ignored our groans and returned to his conversation with Ana Clara. “Look, urge the master out before anything else happens. Tahoe’s magic will leave him soon. I’ll be back as soon as I drop them off. Later—Oh, yeah. I’ll take a brunette and a redhead. Make sure the master eats well before he falls into the sleep. Yeah, yeah, I know they’re pains in the ass, but the master will be pissed if I leave them on the sid
e of the road.”
Taran narrowed her eyes. “And we shouldn’t kill this prick why…?”
Emme placed her hand over Taran’s. “I’m sure he doesn’t mean it. It’s probably just a front.”
Tim flashed more fang Emme’s way. It told me two things: No, it wasn’t a front. And, yes, he was a prick.
CHAPTER 18
I smiled at the sign announcing only three miles remained until we reached Dollar Point. A shower. All I longed for was a nice long, hot shower. It was so close, I could almost smell the olive-oil-and-juniper shampoo.
I made the mistake of examining my hands. There had been times in my life when I’d felt disgusting—after one of my more grueling runs in the sun or a particularly nasty delivery involving body fluids from every human orifice. Those moments paled in comparison to the putrid carnal waste dump my skin and hair had become. An irate woman beating me with her placenta would have been more welcome than the copious amount of Zhahara snot gluing my fingers together.
Taran grimaced when I tried to pry them apart. “Celia, you’re flaking that shit all over the place. Just stop already.”
I ceased my efforts and sighed softly. Nitpicking over grime that would eventually scrub off seemed like a waste of energy. We’d survived, after all—thank God we’d survived. But the danger threatening Tahoe remained.
“There’s still so much we don’t know,” I said aloud.
Tim shrugged. “Yeah. But like I said, what’s important is that the master is safe.”
“I don’t get how he’s safe. We didn’t exactly figure out how the bloodlust spread.” Shayna fished around in her bra. She paused when she gripped something in one of the cups, and paled to the color of chalk when she pulled out some poor sap’s finger. She rolled down the window, tossed the digit, tossed some cookies, and slumped back into her seat. A flock of crows wasted no time fighting over their incredible find.
I rubbed her shoulder and set my frown on Tim. “What’s the next step?”
Tim smiled in the rearview mirror. “One of the family will notify the master’s superiors. Ash from an infected vampire coats the surrounding air with an aroma of boiled anise. With the high levels of bloodlust infection and the number of kills we made, the scent should linger for the next month. That alone will trace the start of the infestation back to Zhahara. And once the human remains are discovered, my master will be perceived as not only a hero, but as the one who avenged their deaths and saw that justice was served.”
Taran scowled. “You, Misha, whoever the hell can take all the credit, for all we care. Just don’t bother calling us again. Your favors have been used up for the next goddamn century.”
Tim regarded us through the mirror, running a hand over his shaved head. “The master is in your debt. You know this.” His eyes met mine. “Don’t expect him to vanish from your lives. Especially now.”
“Home!” Emme tugged Shayna’s sleeve excitedly as we pulled into our neighborhood. “Shayna, look! We’re home.”
The sparkle returned to Shayna’s eyes when she smiled. Except her smile didn’t last. “Oh…no.”
I jumped out of my skin. Four shiny hybrids—a Highlander, an Escape, a Yukon, and an Escalade—hugged the curb in front of our house. There on the front steps sat Liam, Koda, Gemini, six other weres I didn’t know…and Aric.
Good thing I didn’t look like hell or anything.
Taran desperately yanked at Tim’s destroyed sweater. “Drive. Now. Just keep going. Whatever you do, don’t stop!”
“Where—”
“I don’t give a shit where! Just get the hell out of here. Now!”
Tim started to turn the cruise ship he called a car around, but I stopped him. “Tim, just…don’t go anywhere.”
He stopped in the middle of the cul-de-sac, pissing Taran off further. “Celia! I—”
“Taran, we have to get out. The weres need to know what’s happening. And…we need to…shower.” Like I mentioned, I’d never cheered a team on to victory, and I sure as hell didn’t belong arguing before the Supreme Court. Emme and Shayna blinked back at me like I’d suggested a sleepover at Zhahara’s and reminded them not to forget the marshmallows and Ouija board. “We’re getting out.” I meant to sound firm, but my voice trailed off when I noticed Aric had leaped off the steps and now stood next to the door.
My door.
Tim coughed into his hand, trying not so hard to hold in his laughter. “May I get the door for you, ladies?”
“I got it. Thanks, moron.” I opened the door and slowly ambled out, yanking at Misha’s sweater to keep my bare backside covered. Those steamy brown eyes I hadn’t been able to erase from my thoughts widened before locking onto mine with all the power of a bulldozer. I tried to convince myself I had nothing to be ashamed of. So what if I smelled like sewage and dead, festering things and donned nothing but the clothes of his mortal enemy? These things happened. “Hey,” I mumbled.
Aric’s knitted brows told me nothing I could say would piss him off any more than he was. I angled around to allow my sisters out. Funny thing, none of them seemed excited about leaping out of the car and doing the runway walk for the wolves.
“Damn,” Koda muttered when he got a good look at me.
“What. Happened?”
Aric’s deep voice mimicked the same tone he used when he’d asked what I was doing at Misha’s pad. Gee, I wondered why. Could it be that beneath all the grime, blood, and lingering aroma of gruesome death, he still managed to draw in Misha’s scent?
I sighed. “Misha’s innocent. Zhahara’s compound was loaded with vampires in various stages of bloodlust. They’d been hunting humans for weeks and bringing them back for her to eat. We wiped out most of them, but at least two got away.”
Aric spoke to the werebear next to him while his eyes stayed locked on mine. “Take two teams and check it out. If you pick up the trail of any vampires, find them. If they’re infected—kill them. Anything else needs to be brought to The Den for questioning.”
The werebear whipped out a phone as he and the other nonwolves jumped into the Highlander and Escape. “I need my clan and Aric’s assembled in South Tahoe now. Zhahara’s compound. Don’t act alone. We’re on our way.”
“Shayna!” Koda ran to her when she scuttled out, but stopped short, dropping his head as if embarrassed by his actions.
“Hey…dude.” She punched him affectionately on the arm, but drew back when she realized she’d left a brownish stain on his shirt. “Um. Sorry…”
I walked toward the house as Koda asked her about being hurt. Liam yelled, “Oh, shit!” when he caught a gander at Emme.
Gemini stepped in front of me. “Where’s Taran?”
“Um. She’ll be out in a minute.” Maybe.
His dark almond eyes shadowed with worry. “Is she harmed?”
No, just covered in slop and possibly vomit. I sidestepped him and hurried toward our slanted driveway. “Ah, no, she’s just, um—”
I never knew Taran could move so fast. She raced past us, covering her face as flaps of tangled and infection-smeared hair bounced behind her. She struggled to unlock the dead bolt, swearing in a way that made Emme blush, until she finally pushed open the door. Within seconds I heard the shower turn on in her room.
“Would you boys like to come in for a bite? It will only take a minute for us to freshen up.”
Emme took positive thinking to a whole new level. I didn’t think anything but a bleach bath and an Ajax scrub would get the crud off my body. And of course, things just continued to get better and better.
A 1971 blue Ford Mustang roared into our neighborhood like a pride of angry lions. Strips of rubber burned into the asphalt as the car slid to an abrupt halt.
Lo and behold, a rabid werewolf stormed out. “Are you crazy?” Bren growled. He stormed toward me, more pissed than I’d ever seen him. Danny leaped out of the passenger seat, tripping in his haste to chase after Bren.
Aric stepped in front of me, blocking my body
with his. “Stay away from her.”
Bren snarled. “Fuck. Off.”
I forced my way between them when Aric growled in challenge, locking onto Bren’s wrists and shoving him away with my back. “Aric. Don’t. These are our friends.” The other wolves spread out, circling the three of us plus Danny, who twitched like a cornered squirrel. Shayna and Emme ran to his side, pleading with the wolves not to hurt him.
Aric wouldn’t peel his eyes off Bren. “You’re friends with a lone.”
My spine straightened. “He’s not a lone. He has us. We’re his pack.” I faced Bren when Aric relaxed his attack stance. “What are you doing here?”
Bren’s glare softened slightly when he regarded me. “I’ve been trying to find you since getting Shayna’s e-mail.”
I groaned and whipped my head toward my blabbermouth sister. She scraped her nasty sneaker against the asphalt. “I didn’t give him the deets. I just told him we were helping Misha…and warned him that if we didn’t come back he and Danny needed to flee Tahoe.”
I threw my hands up in the air. “Oh. Is that all?”
“You should have texted me, Shayna. You know I rarely check my e-mail.”
Shayna continued to play with the pebble at her feet. “That’s sort of why I e-mailed you, dude. I knew you’d come after us if you knew right away—”
“And you still did it anyway.” Bren shook his head, his frustration practically burning a hole into the asphalt.
“And we’d do it again,” Shayna countered.
She and Emme rushed ahead of us, their wolves trailing them. Bren watched them disappear into the house before meeting my stare like I knew he would. “I told you to stay out of this vampire shit, Celia. Not only did you not listen to me; you dragged your sisters into it.”
“I didn’t drag them.” I rammed my finger into his chest. “You know I wouldn’t do that.”
Bren gnawed on his teeth. “They’d follow you to hell and back, and you damn well know it.”
If he intended to make me feel guilty, it worked. I hugged my body and turned away, walking toward the house. Aric followed, keeping his eyes on Bren. Bren caught up and reached for my hand. “Don’t hurt her,” Aric warned.
