The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5

by Stacy Claflin

  "Are you sure?" my dad asked. "It's getting dark. I don't want you out there by yourself."

  "I think I dropped it just a little ways back. I'll be fine," I said. Before he could object any further, I ran toward where we had come from. I picked up speed until I saw the guy again. I recognized him right away.

  Seven

  "What are you doing here?" I demanded.

  Alrekur looked at me with a blank expression. "I'm looking for someone."

  "Oh, really? Who would that be?"

  "You wouldn't know her," he said flatly, looking around. "I know I can sense her. She's close, but I can never find her."

  "Do you know who I am?"

  He glanced at me, looking annoyed. "A random common vampire? Ever planning telling your family?"

  So he really had no clue who I was? How was that even possible? He had killed Tanner because of me—he was jealous that I had loved him. He'd waited two thousand years in life, and then another one thousand in death, for me. He'd never been able to fall in love because some prophecy claimed that we were supposed to be together.

  I smiled. For the first time, I was in his arrogant presence, and he wasn't acting as though he owned me. It was rather nice. "You figured me out. Good luck finding whoever you're looking for." I shrugged and gave him a fake smile.

  He grimaced. "There's a blasted curse set so that I'm not supposed to be able to find her even if she were several feet away."

  "You don't say," I said, not surprised in the least, since he was standing so close that I could smell his cologne. But then it hit me. What if that was why none of the vampires had tried to find me? What if they couldn't? Maybe they had actually been looking for me, but hadn't seen me. "What kind of a curse is it?" I asked, trying to sound casual.

  He glared at me. "Who cares? I can't break it. No one can."

  Fear ran through me. I hoped he couldn't sense it. "What do you mean?"

  "Only an event can trigger it," he said, clutching his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "I don't even know what the event is. Those scoundrels won't tell! I'm going to make them pay one day. I'm the leader of all vampires, the first one born, and they dare keep me in the dark about the one I love."

  "Is anyone else looking for her?"

  Alrekur gave me a funny look. "Why do you ask?"

  "If you had others looking for her too, maybe your chances of finding her would improve."

  "No one can find her. Her friends have been looking too, not that we're on speaking terms, but they haven't found her either. Anyway, why do you care? I'm wasting time with you."

  "What would you do if you did find her?"

  "Marry her."

  I felt my throat close up. "Is that what she wants?"

  "She doesn't realize it yet, but yes. When we're together, it's as though the rest of the world disappears." He sighed. "There's a spark between us that can't be denied. She loves me too, only she hasn't accepted it yet. But I'll wait until she's ready."

  "What if she never is?"

  "She will be…one day. She's working on the tenth line with the son of another Fyrsturae. The line must be built, so I have to wait for that anyway. It gives her time to figure her true feelings. I only want her when she's ready for me. I've waited thousands of years for her. What's another century?"

  Wait. Did he say I was working on the tenth line? As in the present tense?

  He smiled. "You look troubled. All of this was prophesied about thousands of years ago when I was a boy. The agony of waiting is building in me the character that I need to rule for the rest of time. And also, since I've been awakened from the dead, at least I can see her. The real torture was when she hadn't even been born yet."

  I blinked a few times. I was still trying to understand what he meant about me building the line. "You say she's building the tenth line?"

  Alrekur nodded. "She's the tenth Fyrsturae and she deserves her own line. I want her to have that, and as much as I hate to admit it, the vampire that she's building the line with is very respectable. He's very much worthy of being father to her line. If I thought he was bad for her, I would take him out without a second thought. But I know she's safe with him."

  "Is he looking for her too?"

  "Of course. I'm certain that he looks for her every time he leaves the castle. I wouldn't expect anything else from him. If he didn't cherish her as she deserves, it's as I said, he wouldn't see another sunrise."

  "Oh. About the tenth line—"

  "I hear your family calling for you. You'd better join them before they get worried."

  "How can you hear them?" I couldn't hear them.

  He disappeared from sight. I stomped my foot in frustration. How was it that he could always hear so much better than me? It had been that way back at the castle too. That vampire frustrated me like no other. He could get a rise out of me without even trying.

  Finally, I heard my parents calling for me. Like the mature vampire princess that I was, I stomped the entire way back to them. How was it that I always let that ancient, stuck-up fool get to me? Was I jealous that he was more powerful than I was? I had been told that I was going to be the most powerful vampire alive—until he showed up.

  He wouldn't even have come back to life if I hadn't pulled the stake from his heart. If I would have refused, he would still be lying on the stone bed deep in the caves of Germany where some ancient guy, my personal hero, named Heinrick had staked and left Alrekur a thousand years earlier. But no, I had to go and remove the stake. I was the only one who could even get to him to take it out. That supposedly offered further proof that I was destined to reign with him for all time.

  "You look irritated," my dad said. "Did you not find what you were looking for?"

  I looked at him, trying to bring myself back to the present. "I lost a ring. I'm sure I'll get over it."

  "That's too bad," my mom said. "Was it expensive?"

  "No. Let's get the tree home."

  We walked back to the Escalade, where Natalie was helping the farm owner secure the tree into the trailer. "Good. You found her," he said, looking at me.

  "She lost a ring," my mom said. "If anyone returns it, can you call us?"

  "You bet. Have a merry Christmas!"

  "Merry Christmas," we all said.

  Once we were back on the road, my family was discussing the decorations that we were going to set up. It was tradition for us to decorate the inside of the house after setting up the tree and baking cookies.

  "Lex, you okay?" Natalie asked. "You're like totally quiet."

  "If you're worried about that ring, we'll get you another," my dad said.

  "I'm just tired. Mind if I nap while we ride back?" I asked. My brain felt tingly and I was beginning to feel dizzy the more that I thought about the possibility of the other vampires looking for me, but being unable to find me.

  "If you can sleep through our singing!"

  I forced a laugh and then closed my eyes.

  "Wake up, sleepy head!"

  Opening my eyes, I saw Natalie. She was shaking my shoulders. I looked around and saw that we were in the Escalade. "Are we going to get the tree now?"

  She rolled her eyes. "We just got it. Come on—it's time to decorate!"

  "Okay. Be inside in a minute," I said, stretching. It looked like I'd had another memory lapse. What was causing all of them? Sure, I'd had small ones since returning home, but two in such a short span was insane. Maybe I needed more rest. That had to be it. I grabbed my things and went into the house.

  "Who's going to help with what?" my dad asked.

  Natalie looked at me. "I know you always help Dad with the tree, but can I do it this time? I helped last year when you were gone, and it was a lot of fun."

  I shrugged. "Go ahead."

  Our parents exchanged a look. "So, you're going to help me with baking the cookies?" asked my mom.

  "Why not?"

  "Okay, then, let's get to work," said my dad.

  My mom looked at me
when we got to the kitchen. "You all right?"

  "Yeah. Why?"

  "It's the first time you've wanted to help with them."

  "I'll learn something new."

  "That you will. Why don't you grab the flour, sugar, and eggs? I'll get the other ingredients."

  Just as we were sliding the tray into the oven, Natalie ran into the kitchen. "We have the tree up!"

  "And we have cookies started," I said.

  "Dad's getting the decorations out of the attic. He says I need to put sugar water in the tree."

  "The sugar's on the counter," I said.

  Before long, we were going through the large green and red plastic containers, decorating the tree and then the house to Christmas music and the smell of cookies. When we were done, I looked around at everything, feeling excited about the holidays.

  "Family photo for the cards," our mom said.

  "I need to brush my hair!" Natalie said, and ran upstairs before anyone could object.

  "So do I," I said and hurried up to my room. I decided to change my shirt as well, since I didn't look very seasonal in what I was wearing. As I ran the brush through my hair, I started to wonder what Cliff and the other vampires were doing. Did they decorate the castle for the holidays, or as vampires, was it something not celebrated? I pushed those thoughts aside pretty quickly, knowing that I wouldn't get any answers anyway.

  When I got downstairs, my parents were still waiting for Natalie, eating cookies.

  "They're ready!" I said, and went into the kitchen to grab one. When I got back to the living room, Natalie was there, helping our dad with the tripod. Before long, we had the perfect picture for the cards, and then we sat down to watch It's a Wonderful Life. By the time that we were done, it was late, and I was exhausted.

  The next morning, when I woke up, I pulled the covers around me and stayed there, not wanting to get up. I was glad that after two days off school, it was only Saturday, even though it didn't feel like two days. I couldn't remember Thanksgiving, day or night. Not even one tiny detail. Nor could I remember going to the tree farm.

  Was it something about the holidays that was making me have more lapses? I hadn't had two lapses in one week, much less two days, since I'd returned and started having them. I thought back to the last few days I could remember at the castle, hoping to crack the block that was keeping me from remembering anything.

  The longer I thought about it, the more I found myself headed for another depression. I used homework as an excuse to stay in my room and avoid the cheerfulness in the rest of the house. My parents insisted that I eat lunch and dinner, but I stayed in my pajamas all day for the rest of the weekend. At some point, Amanda texted me and told me that her mom had her busy all weekend, but she still wanted to talk to me.

  When I got to school on Monday, I was still down, but not as much as I had been before the long weekend. I could feel the familiar tingles of blood lust beginning. It had to be what was making me weak. I had no desire to hunt, so I would ignore it as long as possible, as I had done before.

  I didn't feel like talking, so I avoided Amanda. At least I didn't have to worry about anyone talking with me in my honors classes, either. Being the constant curve-killer, I was largely unpopular among the nerds, even though my popularity had soared with everyone else.

  As I was nearing Mr. Foley's classroom, I could smell the strong stench of werewolves before I reached the door. He must have been having a Wilderness Club gathering, which was really his pack meeting. He had those occasionally during his free period, which was when I was his TA.

  When I walked through the door, the scent nearly knocked me over. I could tell by the glares that they were no happier to see me than I was to see them.

  "Most of you remember Alexis?" Mr. Foley asked. "For those of you who don't, she's my TA."

  "She's more than just a TA," one of the guys said. "She's a va—"

  Mr. Foley cleared his throat. "We're not going to use, eh, club vocabulary on the school grounds, remember? She promotes peace between all people, as do we. She also holds a place of strong influence in her…circles. Once again, I expect everyone to respect her."

  "Does she have to be here for our meeting?"

  "She is my TA, so she's more than welcome to stay. Besides, it might be good for her to hear what we have to discuss."

  A wave of grumbles ran through the classroom. I grabbed a stack of papers from the TA bin and hurried to the back of the class to sit down. Whenever I tried to grade during those meetings, it was always so distracting. Not only because of the discussions, but because I could feel the stares as though they were burns on my skin.

  That day, I noticed there weren't so many stares, so I slowed down with the grading and paid attention to their discussion.

  "…and the pack splits are only going to increase," Mr. Foley said. "We have to be prepared to let them happen—even if it's your best friend making the move. For the first time in recorded history, the packs are rearranging. We can't tell a friend or foe by scent any longer. We're going to have to use our other senses and be weary of anyone new. We don't know what the other packs are planning, and infiltrating ours could be one of their tactics."

  "Why is this happening?" asked Inna, one of the only girl werewolves.

  "We've suspected for a while now that the non-peaceful ones are planning on stirring up trouble. That's exactly what this is, Inna."

  "I know that much," she said. "How many times have we talked about that? I mean—"

  Wes stood up, nearly knocking over his chair. He was one of the werewolves that always seemed to give Mr. Foley trouble. "It's because of those vampires!" he shouted, turning to glare at me. "I don't even see how you can stand to have her grading your papers, Foley. She's our mortal enemy—and not just any one of them. She's—"

  Mr. Foley slammed both of his fists onto his desk. "Wesley, you need to sit down."

  "No! It's ridiculous that you think there can be peace between the species! It's not possible. Never has been and never will be. You're causing a rift between our own kind—over what? Them?" He pointed to me, eyes full of hatred and disgust.

  Anger flashed over Mr. Foley's face before he took a deep breath. "Wesley, this is not what we're here to discuss. They are not the problem—they want peace also. Sit down and respect—"

  "This is a load of—"

  "He said to sit!" said another kid, standing. "So, sit."

  "Parker, you sit and stay out of this. It doesn't involve you."

  "It doesn't? Who are you trying to kid? This involves everyone in the room. Even her," Parker said, indicating me.

  Wes narrowed his eyes and then punched Parker in the nose, causing a stream of blood to wash down his face. The sight of blood made my mouth water, but the werewolf smell reached me and turned my stomach.

  "What was that for?" exclaimed Parker. "We're on the same—"

  Wes punched him again, this time in the eye. He jumped over the desk, lunging for Parker, who moved out of the way just before Wes grabbed him.

  Mr. Foley ran to Wes, grabbed his shirt collar as though it were the scruff of a dog's neck, and stared into his eyes. "You need to stop this now, Wes. We're about peace. If you have a problem, we can talk to work it out. Fighting is un—"

  Squirming, Wes got out of Mr. Foley's hold. "This is crap. All of it. I'm done. You're all losers. Every single one of you."

  "Hey, Wes, you need to—"

  "Forget it. I'm outta here, Foley." He turned around and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  "I think we've had enough meeting for one day," Mr. Foley said, looking around at his pack. "I'll talk with Wes once he calms down. We'll consider this meeting closed for now. If anyone needs me, you all have my number. I'll get word out about our next meeting. Any questions?"

  Everyone shook their heads no.

  Mr. Foley put his hand on Parker's shoulder. "All right then, go to your classes, everyone. Parker, you should go to the nurse's office and get som
e ice for your face. I'm going to have to fill out some paperwork for Wes and his outburst. I'm proud of you for not fighting back."

  Parker nodded and I heard someone else mumble, "Suck up." I was pretty sure that I was the only one who heard that.

  I went back to grading papers as everyone else gathered their things and headed out the door. I heard Mr. Foley sigh as he walked back to his desk. He grabbed a form from his desk and wrote furiously, mumbling something about Wes.

  He stood up, holding the paper. "Sorry about that, Alexis. If I thought that anyone was going to act like that toward you, I would have never had you stay for the meeting."

  "Wes is just…Wes. I can handle myself."

  He nodded. "Wes is certainly a hothead. I intend to have a very serious conversation with him soon."

  "I don't mean that he's got a temper. I mean, well, never mind. I don't want to get in the middle of your pack business."

  A look of concern went over his face. "I want to hear what you have to say. But first I have to get this slip down to the office since there was a fight in my classroom. They have no tolerance for fighting." He picked something up from his desk and slipped it into his pocket before opening the door to leave the classroom. "Do you need anything while I'm gone? Coffee? Pop?"

  "Sure, whatever. Thanks," I said, before he closed the door, going back to the papers. I graded them as fast as I could since I hadn't touched them during the pack meeting. I hadn't expected Wes to go off like that, but I shouldn't have been surprised, given that I knew he was working with non-peaceful vampires.

  Mr. Foley returned with another cafeteria coffee in hand. He set it on my desk.

  "Thanks," I said. "You really didn't have to."

  "It was the least I could do after that meeting. Consider it my apology."

  I picked up the cup, took a deep breath, and my mouth immediately watered at the scent. It smelled much more appealing than coffee ever had before. Maybe I was more tired than I had thought. I closed my eyes and took another breath, holding the scent in. I took a sip and immediately my taste buds danced around with joy.

  Only one thing could taste so good. Human blood. It was subtle, very much so, but that's definitely what it was. I thought about thanking him, but instead found myself gulping the entire drink down, despite how hot it was. Where had he gotten the blood? More importantly, why? Or had it accidentally gotten in there from whoever made it? That was unlikely because it would be enough to get them fired.