Shifting Darkness

by Kate Wendley

  **

  Penny waited with everyone else in the plastic-y lounge chairs while Dr. Williams worked on Vince in the emergency room. Quite a few of the jaguar pack had joined their group, and it made tears sting at her eyes. Vince was so new to the family, and yet here was everyone in the dead of night sitting around to show their support.

  Zach and Min-chul paced a lot, and even went down the hall towards the patient rooms a few times, but they always came back looking frustrated. Vince’s mom cried silent tears, and when Penny caught her eye, she got the distinct feeling Charlotte was mad at her. It made her feel like she should apologize for even getting involved with Vince in the first place, but that was unfair and pissed her off to think about, so she tried not to look at Charlotte too much as guilt ate at her insides.

  That house in the woods had obviously been too dangerous for him, and yet he stormed right in to find her. He hadn’t even seemed worried about being shot as he fought to free her from her kidnappers. So why did she still feel like she should’ve protected him?

  Zach plopped down next to her and quietly said, “How come you weren’t with Vince tonight?”

  She grimaced at the floor in front of her. “It’s complicated.”

  Zach grunted something indistinguishable, and his silence after that made her even more upset.

  An hour and a half later, the doctor emerged at the end of the hall, along with Anthony. She hadn’t even realized he wasn’t with all of them in the lobby as she’d been nursing her emotional wounds.

  Dr. Williams looked tired but surprisingly alert as he said, “Vince is going to be all right. We’ve sewn up his wounds and he’s doing fine. He’s still under sedation, however. He should stay here and rest−”

  Charlotte raced around both of them so fast, Anthony and the doctor both jerked aside, then just watched her go. It seemed like the entire room tried to follow, but when the doctor protested, Anthony stepped into the middle of the hall to block the path. He stared them all down, Zach and Min-chul in the front of the group, and the tension between them climbed.

  Zach snapped, “He’s my pack. Let me see him.”

  Min-chul bit off some foreign sounding words that didn’t take much imagination to figure out he was swearing.

  To everyone’s total surprise, Anthony calmly said something back to him in what must’ve been the same language because Min-chul looked away in irritation, then didn’t say anything else.

  Anthony turned his attention on Zach next. “The doctor would like Vince to rest and this is his domain. Doctor?”

  Dr. Williams was obviously irritated by the tension, or just tired. Again… her fault. “It’s good to see that so many of you care for Vince, but I’d prefer we keep his visitors to a minimum. At least for the next few hours. We’re still figuring out what his immune system can handle, and I don’t want him getting an infection. So, immediate family only, please.” He looked to Min-chul. “That means you.”

  Min-chul didn’t say anything, he just stormed down the hall, barely giving Anthony time to move aside for him. When Anthony turned back to the room at large, for some reason he locked eyes with Penny for a brief moment. Did he think she was to blame for all this, too? Great. Just great.

  It was after three in the morning when she finally shuffled off to her own place feeling like the biggest loser in the world.

  **

  Vince woke to darkness pierced by various pinpoints of light that he eventually figured out were from medical equipment. He must be in one of the patient rooms at the doctor’s office. He turned to his right and thought he recognized Min-chul’s scent as he sat sleeping in a chair. To his left he felt dead air along with the scent of a crisp night, which meant Anthony was here, too.

  He turned his head toward him, his shoulder throbbing numbly as he did. “Hey. Anthony. I know you’re there but I can’t see you.” When there was no answer he started to panic, worrying something had happened to his eyesight.

  The air wavered, though, and then Anthony was there with a confused frown on his face.

  He eventually stepped forward, then gestured towards him. “Do you mind?”

  “Um, I don’t know what you mean, but sure. Whatever.”

  Anthony pulled his blanket back and put a cold hand on Vince’s overly hot, bare chest. A pulse of energy shot through him and it stung sharply at his wounds. He sucked in a breath and looked up at Anthony, but his eyes were closed and he obviously didn’t realize he was inflicting pain as he stood still as a statue in that way he did a lot.

  After a short time he opened his eyes and pulled back from him, then covered him back up with the blanket.

  Min-chul’s changed breathing told Vince he was awake, but he didn’t say anything, or even move, and Vince didn’t want to look away from Anthony right now. It felt like he was the only person left who might actually be able to help Vince with his shifting issues, and with as powerful as he was, he just had to know a way to help him. He had to.

  “Your bullet wounds are healing. Slowly, but they’re healing.”

  It wasn’t the exciting news Vince had been hoping to hear, but it was better than nothing. “Thanks.”

  Anthony inclined his head. “That’s the doctor’s work, not mine.”

  He sighed in frustration and turned to look at his father. They locked eyes, but neither said anything.

  Anthony eventually broke the silence. “You have healing abilities that are stronger than a human, but not as strong as most shifters.”

  He didn’t miss the ever so slight flinch in Min-chul’s eyes. Yeah, now he felt bad for what he did to him as a baby. He mentally scoffed and rolled his head back to stare at the ceiling in disappointed irritation. He already knew he was inferior to everyone here. He didn’t appreciate hearing it out loud.

  “Yet you sensed my presence when many others can’t. You were able to find Penny in that house full of people, and you lived through being shot twice with silver bullets.”

  He jerked his head back to Anthony, hope suddenly strong and alive inside him, which only made his back and shoulder hurt like hell again.

  “What are you saying? What does that mean?”

  Anthony was creepily still as he watched him, his eyes unmoving for a time. Finally, he said, “I’m not sure. Surviving the silver might only be because you’re not like other shifters, at least not yet. But your abilities say you are. Your abilities say you’re definitely a supernatural creature.”

  “So how do I heal? How do I become a shapeshifter? That’s what I’m supposed to be, right?”

  Anthony shook his head once, frustration clear in his eyes. “You’re a shapeshifter, I can feel it in you, but I don’t know what’s blocking your animal from coming out. I don’t have the answers, Vince, but I’m trying to figure it out. We all are. We’ll continue to do everything we can to help you.”

  His moment of hope turned into his usual pointless fantasy, except now his shoulder throbbed while a bitter weariness overcame him. Anthony didn’t have anything else to say, and neither did his father, so it wasn’t long before the silence of the dark room lulled him back to sleep. When he next opened his eyes, it felt like Anthony had just barely left, and his father was still by his side.

  **

  Penny gave Vince a day to himself before she tried to see him again. She went by his place since she heard he’d been able to go home, but she didn’t have any luck there.

  Charlotte answered the door looking suspicious. “He’s still pretty out of it. He’s sleeping right now. I’ll tell him you came by.” She didn’t give Penny a chance to say anything else with the door slamming in her face.

  Yep, Vince’s mom was definitely mad at her. Great.

  **

  Another agonizing day went by before Vince’s name popped up on her phone. Her heart hammered in her chest as she opened his text message.

  ‘Glad you’re safe. I’m feeling a little better. Thanks for stopping by.’

  She frowned. What the hell kind of
message was that? It sounded so… cold. He’d been shot, yeah, but he’d gone out to the woods to save her. Didn’t that mean he still cared about her?

  She immediately called him, but it went straight to his voicemail. Hmm. Fine. He didn’t want to talk right now. Ok… She left him a message of her own.

  “Thanks for saving me out at that house the other night, but that doesn’t get you out of trouble for keeping things from me. We need to talk.”

  **

  Penny kept the volume on her phone turned up high so she’d be sure to hear as soon as Vince called or texted, but another day went by with no word from him and she refused to beg him to talk to her. Yep, she was a badass.

  She sighed in guilty frustration as she washed her dinner dishes, then jumped and got soap and water all over herself when her phone loudly chirped. She grabbed a towel to dry her hands as she sidestepped to the counter, disappointed to see it was just Suzanne texting her.

  ‘Clean up. We’re coming over.’

  Huh? She typed back, ‘Who?’

  She waited a little bit for a reply, but when none came, she looked around her apartment to see if anything embarrassing was laying around, then down at herself to make sure she wasn’t wearing her old, ratty clothes, like the time Zach sneakily brought her to hang out with Vince.

  Just thinking about that night at the bookstore made her heart hurt, but she didn’t have time for nostalgia while she raced to her room and put on a dry shirt.

  She quickly straightened a few things up, but the knock at the door still came too soon. Her place didn’t look too slobby. Still, when she opened the door to see who her mystery guests were, she wished she’d had more time to clean.

  Anthony looked stiff and formal and totally no nonsense as he stood before her with the vampire from the other night and Suzanne and Sebastian.

  “Good evening Miss Thomason.”

  “Hi.” What the hell was going on? Was she in trouble for something?

  Suzanne said, “Penny, will you invite us in? We need to talk, and not in the hallway.” She had a large bag hanging off her shoulder and looked around as if she didn’t want to be seen here.

  It wasn’t like Penny could tell her no, so she waved them all in. Anthony and the other vampire didn’t move, though. A flicker of something crossed behind Anthony’s eyes and he said, “You’ll need to speak your invitation out loud, please.”

  Without thinking, she focused her senses more sharply and realized there was a field of energy in front of her. Huh. She’d never felt that before and knew immediately that it was the magic that blocked vampires from people’s homes.

  Just like Anthony had been blocked from the crazy kidnapper’s house. A little thing like that didn’t stop someone like him from taking care of business, though.

  A shiver of fear ran through her at the memory of that night in the woods. She looked away from his hard eyes as she said, “Please come in Mr. Foster. And…” She looked at him apologetically. “Sorry. I don’t know your name. And, uh, sorry about what happened to you that night.”

  His expression darkened and she worried she’d said the wrong thing. He nodded once, though, so maybe they were ok. “It’s Benicio.”

  “Benicio. Please come in.”

  Anthony stepped forward and she led them all inside, not exactly sure what the protocol was for having the Master of Atlanta in her place. Luckily they didn’t leave her hanging for long.

  Anthony said, “Thank you for inviting us in, Miss Thomason. Time is of the essence, so I’ll make this brief. I need your help.”

  Chapter 31

  After a couple more days lying around feeling like a complete invalid, Vince decided he was well enough to go to Kaia’s turning. Even if he wasn’t, he’d promised Anthony he’d be there for her and he’d be damned if he was going to disappoint the man after all he’d done to try to help him.

  Vince hadn’t run into Penny since the night of her kidnapping, either. He ached to see her, and to make things right with her, but things would never be right until he felt like a whole man for once in his life. Besides, she was still mad at him for keeping things from her and he needed to leave it that way. It would make things easier once he was ready to go back to the human world, which wouldn’t be long now. He just needed a few more days of bed rest to let these bullet wounds heal.

  Bullet wounds. Wow. He couldn’t say his life wasn’t interesting here in Brookhaven, and he supposed he’d miss some of this chaos once he was far away from it again. But knowing he was supposed to be like the shapeshifters here made him feel all kinds of frustrated that he’d never be one of them. And if he was never going to be one of them, he’d rather be somewhere he didn’t get constant looks of pity.

  …And somewhere that he didn’t have to run into the woman of his dreams all the time since he’d never be able to be the man she deserved. He was nothing like those survivalists she was learning from. She was strong and sure of herself. She could take care of herself. He couldn’t, so he didn’t want her to see him weak and shaky like he was now.

  Not ever again.

  **

  Penny’s heart twisted up inside watching Vince waiting outside the room where Anthony would be turning Kaia vampire. The monitors Benicio and Zach brought her were 4K, so they had crystal clear graphics. She needed to get one of these babies for herself. In fact, they were so clear, she could see Vince was very slightly shaking and he had dark circles under his eyes. He was too weak to be out of bed tonight, but she knew him well enough to know he’d push himself to his absolute breaking point before he threw in the towel and got off his feet to rest.

  If only he’d talk to her. They could make this work, she swore they could! She could watch out for him and help him when things got too rough for him, like after full moon. She could be there to care for him, like a good girlfriend should.

  But he’d just clam up and push her away if it ever got to that point. Jerk.

  She tore her attention away from Vince and focused on her job for the night. To watch for anything suspicious that would interrupt Anthony from turning Kaia into a vampire. Or worse, anyone trying to kill either of them.

  He’d trusted her with a big task, which was both flattering and scary. But after the blow up at the wolf office with all the embezzlement, then finding the house full of whackos in the woods, she finally understood the magnitude of the problem. They were the hidden races in this city, in the world, and were supposed to have each other backs. With all the power many of them had, though, it’d turned some of them psycho.

  The wolf elder, Miles, had even said that Anthony’s bride wouldn’t make it through the night. That didn’t sound good at all, and for the first time in her shifter life, she was actually scared. She didn’t like this feeling of paranoia that went above and beyond the normal daily worry that humans might find out about them someday. What was happening now was too close to home.

  Benicio had the ability to make people invisible to others, and even to subconsciously avoid who he was hiding, so for the last couple nights they’d been setting up discreet cameras throughout the hallways and rooms near where the event would take place. So as she’d worked as fast as she could last night and the night before, at first it felt like everyone was just pretending not to see her as they walked around her in the halls or in the classroom they were transforming into a beautiful wedding and vampire turning room. But the longer she worked, the more she realized they really couldn’t see her.

  It didn’t mean they couldn’t hear her, though, so she’d had to be as quiet as she could while they worked. Mostly she did the grunt work and pointed at Benicio when she needed his help. They awkwardly got everything set up while she’d forced herself not to do her usual mumbling under her breath about everything, then went back to her place to bring up the video feeds.

  Tonight was the big event and Benicio was on site in the classroom turned field of blood red roses. It was a stunning transformation and gave her girly ideas of what her own wedding c
ould look like. Not that this was a typical wedding…

  A bed sat starkly in the center of the room, looking welcoming, yet out of place amidst what had to be hundreds of red roses and mixed wildflowers of varying deep colors. Cream and midnight blue satiny curtains covered the walls, rich layers overlapping each other to give the feel of hidden windows behind the draperies when in reality they covered up chalkboards and hand colored children’s artwork.

  Tristan, Anthony’s daytime liaison, was with her at her place to watch over everything remotely. He wasn’t a techie, really, but he knew a lot of people here, and after being Anthony’s daytime eyes and ears for his business needs for so long he was apparently pretty good at reading people. Here’s hoping tonight didn’t go as badly as the night of her kidnapping.

  **

  Vince had never been around so many vampires in his life. There were shifters here, too, but vampires outnumbered them at least three to one and it felt like a lot of them were focused on his still healing bullet wounds. He knew he smelled of blood and weakness and stifled the urge to look around himself, yet again. Suzanne and Torin flanked him on either side, obviously here to protect him. He was reluctantly grateful as he sulked in his seat.

  The room was decked out really nice, with roses and other flowers all over the place. With so many vampires in here, their crisp night air smell countered the scent of the flowers pretty well. A bed sat in the middle of the room and a large set of windows allowed the moon to cover it in a mystical light. With the vision of trees and nature outside, and soft light from tall, flower shaped lamps inside, the room had a private, intimate feel, like they were all creepy voyeurs. Romantic, classical music played just loud enough to break the tension of knowing that Kaia could die in this beautiful room, and he silently prayed she didn’t.

  His knees bobbed up and down while he waited for this thing to start. Knowing he was food to vampires made him paranoid, and the fact that they were staring at him didn’t help. Some of the creatures had the good grace to look away when he glared at them, but others clearly enjoyed his discomfort.