Bloody Endings

by Laura Hysell

  Jed ignored him as he continued speaking. “You will also disclose all the information you have on Petrivian, his location, and the date of this move.”

  Henri smiled wider. “You already have the information regarding his location, I believe. You do still have the flash drive you took, yes?” he asked, looking at me. I nodded and he turned back to Jed. “I don’t think I can give you any info on Petrvian himself that you don’t already know, but I will compile a list of his associates that may be of assistance. As to the date, he plans to return to his home on the first of September. That gives us a few months to plan.”

  “Why? Why that date?” I asked.

  “Ah, I hoped you would ask that. He is returning there to oversee his final serum. While he was unable to create an airborne vaccine, he has found a way to transport it through water. He has to return home in order to extract his blood for this new version. There are plenty of humans who still haven’t gotten the vaccine, but this will weed out the rest. He found a way to make his own, personal Utopia. An unlimited supply of humans for drinking. Vampires to do his bidding. He’s almost there. King of the World is within his grasp,” Henri said, his eyes darkening with power. “So, so close.”

  “We will think on your proposal,” Jed said bluntly. Henri turned to face the Alpha, his eyes black with vampire power. “I think it’s time you leave now.”

  “Isabella, come,” Henri commanded, his eyes still staring down Jed.

  “No,” I said.

  Henri slowly shifted to look at me. “Yes, Isabella, you will come with me.”

  “No, Henri, I won’t,” I retorted. I had learned the hard way about going anywhere with vampires. That wasn’t happening again.

  He smiled and walked toward me, ignoring the growls of the wolves. His own wolves stood back, spaced out between his vampires, baring their teeth menacingly. “Oh, you think that you can resist me, my Queen? Perhaps. But Subject 17 cannot.” He looked over my shoulder to Mark, and I felt a shiver of fear run down my spine. “Subject 17, come,” he commanded.

  Mark twitched, his body jerking against mine. I turned to look at him, taking in the vacant expression as he stumbled toward Henri. My heart broke at the sight, and I cast a worried glance at Jed. The Alpha gave no indication that he was concerned as he picked at something beneath his fingernails.

  “You see, my Queen, I have the power,” Henri whispered. “Come with me, or Mark will die a very unfortunate death.”

  “Isabella is going nowhere,” Jed said, his voice taking on an edge that I had come to recognize, and fear just a little bit. “Neither is Mark.”

  “You don’t have a choice. Subject 17 is mine to command, and he goes where I tell him to go,” Henri retorted. He stood up straight, oozing confidence. “And Isabella is my Queen. My wife.”

  “First,” Jed began, holding up his fingers, “Isabella isn’t your wife. Marriage under vampire mind games doesn’t count. Second, she is mine. Third, Mark is also mine. I am Alpha, and you forget yourself, vampire.”

  Jed’s thoughts came to my mind in a rush. Reach out to Mark. Keep him here!

  I’ll try.

  I turned my full focus on Mark, using the connection I had felt with him. It was there, a tenuous thread glowing in the midst of darkness. Along that connection, I felt Jed and the Pack, like a tether. But the darkness overrode everything, suffocating the light until I could no longer feel its warmth. Mark, I called out. Mark, come back to me.

  Let me help, Aidan said suddenly. Strength flowed through me as the knife grew warm on my side. The world around me dulled and blurred, but the tether to Mark grew in my mind. Warmth enveloped me, along with an intense feeling of love and safety. Wolves howled in my mind, lending their strength. I drank it in, using it to reach out to that other piece of me. To the other piece of my heart. There, wrapped in a bundle of darkness, I felt him.

  Mark, I called out again, reaching for him and lending him my strength. As before, I sought to take his pain away, but there was no pain. It was all an illusion. I growled in frustration.

  Give him your strength. He’s a part of you, and you’re a part of him, Aidan said as he guided me along that tether of light.

  Use the Pack, came Jed’s voice.

  I did as they bid, pulling on the strength coming from the Pack’s tether and pushing it into Mark. I reached out again. Mark.

  Izzy, he responded softly.

  The world came back into focus. Jed had stepped in front of me, blocking me from Henri, and other wolves were grouped at our feet, touching my legs. I reached a hand down, feeling the soft fur beneath my fingertips. Hugo was at my side. I didn’t need to look at him to know who it was. I just knew. Mark was standing beside Henri, looking at me with golden wolf eyes. He had started to turn partially, his arms covered with fur and claws formed on his hands. His face was partly covered in fur, and his jaw had rearranged to accommodate the sharp wolf teeth he now had.

  “It’s time for you to leave,” Jed stated bluntly.

  Henri opened his mouth to speak, when Mark’s clawed hand grabbed his neck from behind. “You will leave,” Mark growled, the words coming strangely from his partially shifted form.

  Henri’s eyes opened wide in surprise, a sight I never thought I’d see. “We will leave,” he said carefully.

  “Send your information here regarding Petrivian. We will meet again in two months,” Jed said.

  “Two months,” Henri agreed.

  Jed nodded, and Mark removed his hand from Henri’s neck. Then he stepped away slowly until he was beside me once more. I reached out and gripped Mark’s hand, sending him another wave of strength. Henri’s eyes were on me like two black pits. I returned his stare with one of my own, letting my wolf come slowly to the surface. I felt her there, waiting to pounce on the damned vampire. I held her in check, embracing her like an old friend. Henri’s eyes widened, and I saw myself reflected in his black depths. I stood toe-to-toe with the vampire, my eyes glowing as golden as my hair.

  In the blink of an eye, Henri and his vampires were gone. The wolves he had brought remained for a few seconds before turning and following after their new master. I sagged against Mark as soon as they were gone and breathed deeply of his scent. He smelled faintly of vampire, and I wrinkled my nose in disgust at the rotting odor. They truly were little more than walking corpses. Mark put an arm around me awkwardly. Another wolf rubbed against my leg, and I reached a hand down. Vanessa. I smiled and looked at her, marveling at the beautiful shades of gray to her fur.

  “Get Mark back to your brother,” Jed said, coming up behind me. “He needs another dose or two.”

  “Sure,” I said, tugging on Mark and turning to head back to the house.

  “You should probably change first,” he added.

  “Please don’t ask me to wear that again,” I replied.

  Jed nodded and said, “I was hoping to distract him enough into giving away info he didn’t want to share. I think it worked, but not as well as I had hoped.”

  “Henri has a harem. He doesn’t need me.”

  “No, but he still wants you. We can use that to our advantage.”

  “But no more revealing outfits,” I insisted.

  Jed chuckled and nodded his head. “Of course,” he replied. “Now, go change and get Mark another dose. We can’t have that happening again.”

  I nodded and rushed back into the house, making a quick detour to our bedroom to change clothes. Mark was silent as he slowly returned back to his normal self. I didn’t waste any time dragging him toward my brother’s lab. John was already there by the door, waiting for us.

  “I was wondering where you’d gone,” I commented as we walked up.

  “Jed ordered me to guard your brother,” he replied. “Time for another dose, I take it.”

  “He still controls me,” Mark said. “I’m a danger to us all.”

  “My brother will fix this,” I insisted as John opened the door to the lab.

  Thankfully, there were no
vampires inside. I didn’t ask what had happened to the vamp they had in here, and I didn’t need to. The pile of ash against one wall was answer enough. Justin was waiting for us, with a syringe in hand. I pushed Mark into the seat while John held him down. The silver in this newest solution felt stronger, and the dose was considerably larger. My brother plunged the liquid into Mark’s arm quickly, then backed up, dragging me with him.

  Mark yelled in pain, the sound a mix of human and wolf. He bucked against John, who held him tightly to the chair. I reached out, hoping to pull his pain away again like I had before. Don’t, Aidan said suddenly. Let it run its course.

  But I helped last time. I’m just sharing his pain, I insisted, reaching out once more.

  He needs to burn the vampire blood out of his system. If you interfere, it might not work.

  Crap, was that why it hadn’t worked last time? Aidan was right; I couldn’t take a chance. I pulled back, letting Mark endure the pain on his own. Tears welled in my eyes as I watched the man I loved endure excruciating pain. Mark howled and tipped is head back. John was losing his grip. I ran forward and pressed my body against Mark’s legs, then grabbed his wrists. My skin burned where it touched Mark, as the silver worked its way through his system. I stared at John over Mark’s head. Sweat had broken out on his forehead, but he nodded to me. He was holding on.

  It seemed to take an eternity, but slowly the pain receded from my hands. John’s shoulders drooped as he lessened his grip on Mark. Pain still wracked Mark’s body for several more minutes, but eventually he slumped in his chair. John and I both let go, and Mark slid to the floor. I sat down beside him and cradled his head in my arms. Justin raced in beside me and grabbed Mark’s wrist, checking his pulse. He nodded and stepped back.

  “His pulse is rapid, but he should be okay,” Justin said.

  I nodded and pulled Mark tighter to me. John leaned over both of us and grabbed Mark, hoisting him over his shoulder. “Let’s get him back to the house,” he said.

  John carried him back to the house and dropped him onto our bed. The whole time, Mark never made a sound. I climbed into the bed and wrapped my arms around him while John moved a chair into the room. He sat down, book in hand, ready to wait out the night.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  John glanced up at me over his book and nodded his head. “We’re Pack,” he said, as though that explained everything. I smiled and nodded as I laid my head against Mark, noticing that his breathing had slowed down to a normal state. I closed my eyes and reached out along that tether, feeling the many branches along it that I hadn’t noticed before. They were all there; the Pack. I moved along the tether until I reached the other end, where Mark was. I sent him a bead of strength, and felt his heartbeat slow down until it matched my own. He’d be okay, I assured myself. He had to be.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  My body ached. Bruises covered my arms and legs, but they’d be healed in a matter of hours. I stepped into the ice bath, wincing at the jarring sensation. Sparring with Vanessa had sounded like a good idea at the time, but she was damn brutal. I finished submerging, letting the ice water soak into my aching muscles. The last six weeks I had spent most of my daytime with Vanessa, learning the ins and outs of werewolf life. I had even learned how to shift when I wanted to, and each time I found I was able to retain a little more of myself. My memory stuck with me now as well. Today she hadn’t allowed me to shift while we sparred, making me fight against her in wolf form. She claimed it would be useful information. Vanessa had an odd sense of humor, so I wasn’t sure how much truth there was to her claims.

  After ten minutes in my ice bath, I got out and dried off. It had been three days since I’d been in wolf form, and Aidan still hadn’t returned. Each time I shifted into my wolf, Aidan vanished and didn’t come back for hours, sometimes days. I had mentioned it one time to Jed, but he had shrugged and said it was for the best. After that, I hadn’t brought it up again. Jed was Alpha, and had a special way of connecting to everyone in the Pack. Part of me thought that perhaps he had something to do with Aidan’s disappearances. I did my best to keep those thoughts to myself.

  Dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, I made my way back to my bedroom. The room was empty, and I sighed in frustration. Mark spent most of his time with my brother, working to rid himself of vampire influence. Justin had cleared him three weeks earlier, but Mark returned daily for blood tests. It didn’t help that John or Hugo were always close to Mark, keeping a watchful eye on him. Partly, it was for our visiting wolves. Too many had witnessed the incident with Henri and didn’t trust Mark, no matter what my brother had said. They didn’t trust my brother much either, for that matter.

  Darkness was coming soon, so I went out the back door to head toward Justin’s lab. I stopped in my tracks as a familiar scent wafted to me, coming from the path behind the house. It was the long way to the lab, but I took it anyway, hurrying to catch up to the scent. He knew I was coming, but this time he didn’t run away.

  “Jared,” I said a little breathlessly as I rounded a curve in the trail.

  Jared stopped and turned back toward me. His hair was cut short, military-style, and he had his usual light smattering of facial hair. He wore only a pair of shorts that hung low on his waist and no shoes. He was handsome as always, but the smile he turned on me looked forced. “Izzy,” he said gruffly.

  “You avoiding me?” I asked, walking toward him.

  “Of course not,” he replied quickly. “Just busy.”

  “Really?” I asked, crossing my arms. “So, in the almost two months that I’ve been here, you’ve been too busy to see me?”

  He looked away, then back at me and sighed. “Iz, it’s not like that, it’s just…” he stopped and ran a hand across his head.

  “It’s just what, Jared? We’re not friends now?”

  “Of course we’re friends.”

  “Friends who don’t talk and avoid each other? That’s not the type of friends I thought we were.”

  “Well, I thought we were maybe a different type of friend too, Iz,” he said, his eyes flashing with a suppressed anger. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he ran his hand through his hair again. “I’m sorry, that’s not fair.”

  “You’re right, it’s not fair, Jared. I miss you,” I said, stepping toward him. “It’s not the same without you around. You know I never meant to hurt you.”

  “I know.” He looked down at the ground, the silence enveloping us. “It’s just hard. You have no idea how much I want to take you in my arms and just hold you.”

  I moved quickly, catching him in a fierce hug. He stood still at first, before his arms slowly wrapped around me and he hugged me back. After a few seconds, I stepped back and looked up at him. “You looked like you needed a hug,” I said, putting a smile on my face. “And truth be told, I needed one too. I needed a hug from my best friend.”

  He stared at me, his face unreadable. Slowly, a smile played at his lips and he grabbed me again, hugging me playfully. “Damn, Izzy, I needed that hug,” he laughed as he ruffled my hair. He stepped back and grinned at me. “Sorry I haven’t been much of a friend lately.”

  “Me too.”

  “So, how’s wolf life treating you? Has Vanessa made you jump out of any trees yet?” he asked.

  “What?” I asked, shaking my head. “Why would I jump out of a tree? Actually, that’s weird. Jed said something about that too.”

  Jared laughed suddenly, shaking his head. “I bet he did! Just whatever you do, don’t do that. Climbing a tree naked is not all it’s cracked up to be. And jumping out of a tree in an attempt to shift forms in mid-air is not only a stupid idea, but a dangerous one.”

  “You did that?”

  He nodded and leaned back against a fir tree. “Vanessa can be very persuasive. She’s like the annoying little sister I never had.”

  I laughed, nodding my head in full agreement. Vanessa was actually many years older than me, but she didn’t seem it or look it. Per
ks to living a long time. “Walk with me?” I asked, pointing down the trail.

  “Headed to Justin’s?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, Mark is probably there again.”

  “I know he’s your brother and all, but I don’t trust him. Not anymore,” Jared stated bluntly.

  “There aren’t a lot of people I trust anymore either,” I replied softly.

  We walked down the trail together, winding our way past the graveyard. The graves were all clean, and I noticed flowers on top of several of them, including Kirk’s. I stopped and stared down at his grave, taking in the small bunch of wildflowers there. When was the last time I thought of my ex-fiance? It seemed like a lifetime ago since he had died bravely, fighting against a vampire.

  “Beth put the flowers there,” Jared said slowly.

  “What?” I asked, turning to look at him. “Beth?”

  He nodded and pointed at another grave, which belonged to Beth’s brother. “She put the same bunch on her brother’s grave. Plus, I can smell her scent,” he added.

  I had to sniff deeply to catch Beth’s light scent. She was always very careful about her scent and making sure it was clean and simple, and practically untraceable. I stepped away from the graves and walked back down the path. “Why would she do that?” I wondered.

  Jared shrugged beside me. “Who knows. She’s been different lately though. Have you noticed?”

  I had noticed. She was civil with me most of the time, and I had actually caught her smiling a few times. “People change,” I mused softly.

  Jared grunted, but I wasn’t sure if it was truly in agreement. We wound our way down the path when Jared stopped me suddenly. He held a finger to his lips and pointed at his ear, indicating he had heard something. I nodded in understanding, and he took my hand, leading me quietly down the path. I wasn’t sure what he was up to, until she came into view. Vanessa stood with her back to us, her dark blue hair cascading down to her waist. She was staring off into the distance, and hadn’t noticed us sneaking up behind her.