by J A Campbell
“I was hoping to leave earlier,” Cade said.
“Yes, but I just drove ten hours, and I’m not going after a deranged were when I’m tired.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “Let me show you the guest room.”
“Thanks.”
I managed to keep Cade talking for another hour after he showed me the guest room. It would give me an excuse to sleep an extra hour this afternoon.
The guest room, predictably, had a window, but the curtains were heavy. I thought about sleeping in the closet, but that might be a little hard to explain if Cade walked in on me. Finally, I settled for sleeping on the floor between the wall and the bed and locking the door.
I woke up the following evening a bit disoriented, but it didn’t take me long to figure out where I was. I got up, changed, pulled my unruly red hair into a tail, and went to find Cade.
He was sprawled on his couch, reading.
“Hey.”
He jumped.
I took a step back and held my hands out to the side. When Cade was startled, he usually came up with a gun in his hand. I hadn’t realized I’d been that quiet.
“Sorry.” He put his gun back under the couch and sat down.
“It’s fine. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
He shrugged. “I would have woken you earlier, but it’s been snowing.”
I glanced outside. The mostly full moon illuminated the pristine landscape. Small gems twinkled on the snow.
“Guess so.” I was glad I’d remembered to bring a winter jacket. Being a vampire, I didn’t get cold, but I was pretending to be human, so my attire made a difference.
“Yeah. It stopped about a half an hour ago. Hope you brought warm clothes.”
I nodded. “You’re lucky I own any.” I lived in South Carolina. “We’d better get moving.”
“Let’s go.” He stood and gestured toward the door.
We grabbed our gear and I followed him out to his old pickup. It was cold outside, but still and peaceful. The roar of the engine shattered the peace.
Cade shifted it into four-wheel drive and we started a slow crawl to the main street and out to the park.
We drove as far as we could, which essentially meant we made it to the parking lot of the state park the alpha told us her husband was at, before we had to get out and walk. The forest was quiet, the air crisp. I hadn’t gone hiking in a long time, and the moonlight reflecting on the snow made it almost as bright as day, especially to my eyes.
Conventional wisdom said that it was a bad idea to hunt werewolves during a full moon, but conventional wisdom didn’t realize that weres could change whenever they wanted to and weren’t tied to the moon at all.
Cade and I walked in silence. After a nonverbal argument, I took point to break trail. I wouldn’t tire. Cade thought it was just because I was independent. Every once in a while, we’d stop and confer about directions. The alpha female had given Cade a few areas to check out that the pack tended to spend more time in. We would check those first.
As we got further into the park, I could sense that something was wrong. The soft sounds of wildlife that I’d heard before faded away to nothing, and the quality of the moonlit silence changed, becoming ominous. I carefully stretched out my senses, hoping Cade wouldn’t notice and felt something out of place off toward our left.
I glanced at Cade. He was looking off in that direction too. He’d obviously picked up on it as well. Hunters weren’t just humans who hunted the supernatural. They had extra keen senses, more resilience to injury and disease and that extra something that let them sense the supernatural more easily. I was, fortunately, good at hiding my nature. He met my eyes and gestured toward the disturbance. I nodded and we set off in that direction as quietly as we could. The crunch of snow under our feet would give us away, not to mention Cade’s slightly labored breathing and our scents, but there was nothing we could do about that.
“Should have brought snowshoes,” he said quietly.
“Probably.”
The light breeze shifted and I stopped, the scent of cooling blood filling me with instant hunger, though it wasn’t human blood. I almost growled, but managed to restrain myself.
“Kat?” he whispered.
“I smell blood.”
He sniffed. “I think I do too, now that you mention it.”
“Come on.” I started forward again.
Shortly, we passed the steaming carcass of a deer—the source of the blood smell. We pressed forward, following big wolf prints that led away from the deer. They led us to a clearing bordered on one side by an outcropping of gray rock. The musky smell of wolf was strong here, and tracks crisscrossed the clearing, but something told me that our wolf wasn’t in the clearing. My spine tingled and I spun around. Cade, right behind me, looked worried and turned, too.
We heard a low growl and glowing eyes appeared in the underbrush, quickly followed by the rest of a huge werewolf. Werewolves might be supernatural, but some physics applied. A two-hundred-pound man turned into a two-hundred-pound werewolf, and this pack leader hadn’t been a small man.
I shoved Cade behind me and forced him to back into the clearing. He protested, undoubtedly thinking he needed to protect me, but I was more concerned about keeping him safe.
The wolf stalked forward.
“Cade,” I said quietly. “Are you going to shoot him?” He had the shotgun. I kept my arms out to the side, trying not to spook the wolf too soon and wishing I already had a gun in my hand. I was used to hunting alone, where I could draw my pistols with vampire speed without a problem, or fight with other natural weapons. I hoped my mistake didn’t get Cade injured.
Cloth rustled and I heard a metallic click as he drew back the hammers on his sawed-off shotgun. The wolf heard too. He cocked his ears forward and sprang.
Cade got off a wild shot before the wolf was on us. I let myself fall under him, his muzzle uncomfortably close to my face, and kicked up with my feet, hitting him hard in the belly. Bones crunched and he growled in pain as he flew over my head.
“Kat! Are you all right?”
“Yes.” I scrambled to my feet.
The wolf crouched down and backed up a couple of steps, growling at me. I fought the urge to growl back. He knew what I was. I couldn’t hide the way I smelled.
I crouched down, too, drawing a pistol and one of my silver bladed knives. Cade fired again. The wolf, apparently distracted with me, took the silver shot in the flank. He yelped in pain, turned, and ran into the woods. He wasn’t going to make it very far.
“Are you sure you’re okay? He didn’t get you?”
“Not even a scratch.” I held out my arms and noticed the shredded sleeves. “Though it’s a good thing I’m not attached to this jacket.” I shook my head.
“You’re sure.”
“Cade, if I turn furry with the next full moon, I’ll let you know. I’m fine.”
“That’s not how it works, Kat.”
“I know. Come on, let’s get this guy.” I could hear the wolf thrashing in the trees. I followed Cade into the woods; he wouldn’t let me go first this time.
After a short hike, we came across our wolf. He had reverted to man form and was naked and shivering in the snow. Red blotches of blood marred the pristine white and it looked like he had tried to drag himself.
We stayed back, watching him. It was harder to shoot someone when they were in human form and not attacking you. It was all psychological. This were was going to die, even if he was in human form.
Finally, Cade raised his shotgun again.
“Please.” His voice was weak. “I can’t stop. Please.”
Cade lowered his gun slightly.
“What?” I said.
“I can’t control… Help me?”
I glanced at Cade. An alpha without control? That was bad.
He shrugged and raised his gun again. Apparently, that made it easier.
The were gasped, shuddered, and then all of a sudden his demeanor shifte
d and he sprang to his feet, despite the ruin that had once been his hip.
“They’re all against me!” he cried and threw himself at Cade.
The shotgun blasted twice and I tackled Cade out of the deranged were’s path. Cade struggled, apparently not realizing it was me, and I almost got shot with his pistol. His reactions were fast.
“Cade!”
“Sorry.”
A heavy weight trapped my legs making it hard to get off Cade, and the scent of blood and scorched flesh was strong. I twisted and Cade dragged himself out from under me. I pulled my legs out from under the dead were and knelt in the snow next to his body. Cade stood over me, pointing a gun at him.
“I think he’s dead.”
“I wonder what happened.”
I shrugged, not terribly concerned about why he’d gone crazy. “We should—” I hesitated. “Should probably cut his head off, just to make sure.”
“Yeah, probably.”
“Do we bury the body?”
“No, his mate will take care of it. We’ll let her know.”
Once the were’s head was separated from his body, we trudged back to truck. Cade seemed a bit depressed.
“You okay?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah. I just prefer killing vampires.”
“Oh?” That was unfortunate, but nothing I didn’t already know.
“Yeah, less mess.” He smiled at me and I figured he’d be all right. “Come on, let’s get back.”
I nodded and climbed into the truck.
We were quiet during the ride back to his place, and I wondered what Cade was thinking about. It had been a relatively easy task, though having two of us there had helped immensely. We pulled into the driveway and he parked next to his garage. He seemed like he wanted to say something, and, unnerved by the looks he had been shooting me out of the corner of his eye, I jumped out of the truck before he could speak.
He followed me into the house.
“I’m going to go clean up.”
“All right.”
I shut the door to my room and quickly stripped out of my jacket. The sleeves were shredded and there was no fixing it. I threw it on the floor, heedless of the blood it smeared on the tile floor, and pulled off my shirt next. Amazingly enough, it was intact. I was about to pull off my blood-soaked jeans when Cade knocked quietly on my door, then, not waiting for a reply, opened it.
I stared at him, surprised. He hesitated when he saw that I was partially undressed, but came in anyway.
“Cade?”
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
I held out my arms for inspection. He touched one of them as if having to reassure himself that I was in fact in one piece. I shivered at his touch.
“I,” he hesitated.
Oh shit. I had to get out of here. He was about to do something we’d both regret.
Cade slid his hand up my arm.
Walk away, Kat. Walk away. Why aren’t my feet moving? Damn it, damn it! I liked him too much to risk throwing our friendship away, but he hadn’t figured it out yet. Maybe it would be okay?
“I,” he trailed off as his hand made it to my neck. He cupped my jaw, gently. “I...”
“You?” I prompted, tense but hoping against hope that this wasn’t about to end our friendship.
He stepped forward, slid his other hand around my waist and kissed me gently. I melted into his arms, not able to stop myself, and let myself enjoy what could be the last few moments of our friendship.
His fingers brushed across the old scars on my back, and I felt him hesitate before he caressed my bare skin.
“You know,” I breathed, when he leaned back slightly. “I really do need a shower.”
He smiled. “So do I.”
I couldn’t help smiling.
“Unless you don’t want,” he trailed off again.
Sighing, I rested my forehead against his chest. “I do.”
“But...”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea, Cade.”
He didn’t step away from me. He pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me, and burying his face in my neck. “Very little about my life is a ‘good idea,’ Kat. Putting off this may be one of the worst. Tomorrow isn’t certain.” He kissed my neck, nibbling gently, and I groaned.
Shit, this was such a bad idea. I wasn’t completely sure I could continue to hide from him if we kept this up.
Cade froze.
Oh dear goddess, no... I tried to back away. Clearly the answer was no, I couldn’t.
He pushed me back against the wall, trapping me between it and him. Normally I wouldn’t have minded, except for the .45 auto that he shoved under my chin.
I gasped, not sure what to say. I wasn’t sure I’d survive if he pulled the trigger. I was old, powerful, but even an old vampire would have problems with big holes in her brain.
“Cade,” I whispered.
He shoved the gun harder into my jaw, tilting my head further back with the .45. Strangely he was still pressed against me, and I wasn’t objecting to him being there, except for the semiautomatic.
“Cade,” I said again.
“You’ve been lying to me.” He almost sounded like he was going to cry.
The angle he had my neck tilted at was making it hard to talk. “I never said I was human,” I managed to get out.
“You’re one of the bloodsucking fiends we’ve been hunting. You should be dead.”
“Then why don’t you kill me?” I couldn’t help but saying.
I think, in that moment, I came closer to dying than I had in a long time. I could feel him press the trigger before he released it, threw my head into his wall, and struck me across the face with his .45. I staggered and tasted blood.
I caught my balance and turned to look at Cade, wiping the blood away from my split lip. I very consciously didn’t lick my lips. He stood across the room, still pointing his gun at me, but as far as I was concerned, I was mostly out of danger. I could dodge from this distance if he changed his mind. He kept his eyes averted so I couldn’t use mind powers on him. I considered it, but Hunters were notoriously hard to control.
“Get out!” He pointed at the door with his free hand.
I grabbed my shirt, grateful my keys were handy. I didn’t have anything else in the room I was going to miss. I backed away from him and out the door.
“If I ever see you again…”
“Cade.” I tried one more time.
“Kat, don’t, just get out.”
“Fine.” I went from being sad and upset to pissed. “If I ever see you again, you won’t survive. Stay out of Charleston.”
“Fine.”
I backed away until I was out the door then ran for the garage. I didn’t have much time before the sun rose, and I wanted to put some miles between us.
I should have stayed home.
One More Job
South Carolina, Mid-1990s
One more job, the words echoed in my head as I stared at the phone, willing it to ring. A favor for a friend, they said. They were supposed to call me and tell me they were done. They were supposed to have called me an hour ago.
Damn it!
I reached for my phone and jumped when it rang. Caller ID said Walter Parker.
Hand shaking, I picked up the phone. “This is Kat.”
“Kat.”
The way he said my name told me everything I needed to know.
“What happened?” I breathed out, barely able to make myself talk.
“Officially, a bad stretch of road. I have contacts though, and they say it was a car bomb.”
“Car bomb. Supernaturals don’t use car bombs.”
“No. The Mafia does.” Walter sounded more tired than I’d ever heard before.
“What?”
“Apparently their friends were not completely clear when they asked Alex and Charity to help them out. It wasn’t a case of supernaturals at all. It was the Mafia.”
“You’re in danger. The kids are in d
anger. I haven’t exactly had dealings with the Mob, but I know they don’t do things in half measures.” I clenched my fist, careful not to crush my phone.
“I know. I’ve got the kids. We’re safe right now. There’s something else you need to know. Alex isn’t going to make it, but he’s still alive.”
I glanced at the bright sunlight filtering around the curtains in my study. “Where is he?”
Walter forced a laugh. “Charity and Hope, in Charlotte. He doesn’t have much time.”
“I’ll get there as fast as my bird can fly.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“Walter, be careful.” The line was already dead.
I pulled on a long-sleeved shirt, jacket, wide brimmed hat, then threw a few other things into a bag and stepped out onto the piazza. I hadn’t been outside in the daylight in ages, but my friend was dying, and I was going to see him before he was gone.
Wincing, I sprinted to the garage. My exposed skin smoked a little, but I otherwise survived. The Firebird growled to life when I turned the key. I took a moment to generate the most powerful “don’t look at me energy” I could manage during the daylight and then smoked my tires as I screamed out of the garage. There was nothing in it to steal, so I didn’t bother to close it.
I had to remind myself when I got cut off a couple of times that no one on the road was going to be able to see me, and I had to stop for gas since my car burned it fast at high speeds, but I made it in what was probably record time.
I just hoped I’d been fast enough.
The sun still shone, but I didn’t give myself time to think about it, just threw myself out of the car—though I did take time to lock it—and dashed toward the hospital. Fortunately, I made it inside before I burst into flames, though I didn’t feel great. Walter, amazingly, was waiting for me.
“Are you okay?” He frowned.
“No, are you?”
“Good point. Come on, this way.”
We didn’t stop to check in or anything, but I wouldn’t have anyway. We hurried down the hallway and then Walter led me into one of the rooms. The disinfectant smell drowned out much else, but what I could smell was burnt.
