Seven Kinds of Hell

by Dana Cameron

  “It is a long shot, but it is logical. You can get information about what happened within the past hundred years or so if you interview modern inhabitants of old sites—they’ll remember what their grandparents told them, as well as their own lives. You can get traditions that might go back much further than that. So I’m going on the premise that we need to blend Fangborn traditions with what I know about archaeology. I think we should also think about how we’re going to tackle this. I mean, do we split up and sort of grub around at the most likely places? Do I go around with the disk and—”

  “What’s that noise?” Ariana stood up.

  Instantly, all the Fangborn were on point. Will and Danny hadn’t heard anything, but I realized now Ariana was referring to a sound that wasn’t quite the lapping of waves against our hull.

  Someone was trying to board the boat.

  The air was suddenly buzzing, pregnant with the idea of violence. And the urge to Change.

  The idea had no sooner entered my head than my resistance to the Change fell away as easily as a prom dress.

  My Cousins were also half-Changed, save for Ariana. I was alarmed to see her vanish from her clothing, which, no longer suspended, fell down in a heap. I realized she’d taken her scaleform and, lightning fast, had darted to the side of the boat. She vanished over the side, and I barely heard her hit the water. The only trace of her was a faint ripple, dark on dark, as she moved toward the stern.

  I shivered to think of the danger in the water now. Then I shivered to think I was part of the danger on deck. It was a nice shiver; one I wanted to get used to.

  My Fangborn cousins might not have been used to fighting as a team, but they knew where the threat was. I wasn’t certain what to do until I realized they were all heading for the back of the boat. The problem was I was picking up on other presences.

  On impulse, I reached out and got the impression of men—human men—in the back, as well as other intruders around the front.

  “Four astern, three at the, uh, front,” I yelled. “Don’t let them surround us!”

  Gerry whipped his head around, nodded, and dashed to the bow. “You and Will get below, watch Danny.”

  I nodded and grabbed Will. He looked around wildly, unsure of what we were responding to, but aware something was up.

  He’d pulled a gigantic-looking pistol out of nowhere. He looked like he knew how to use it.

  Never saw that trick before, I thought. I tried not to startle him as I led him below decks. I didn’t want him blowing my face off. “Go, now!”

  He nodded and, looking back at me, jumped a mile. “Holy—!”

  I nodded, trying to shove a rush of other thoughts aside. “Still Zoe,” I said. “Downstairs.”

  Somehow, in a tangle, we made it belowdecks.

  “Get in there, stay with Danny,” I said. It was hard work, enunciating around a mouthful of teeth, but another shove and some pantomime helped get the point across. “Don’t come out unless you hear me give the signal.”

  “Got it.”

  He went in, shut and locked the door.

  I’d never noticed it before, but apparently, along with the propensity to get violent, the Change made me more commanding, more sure of myself. I certainly wasn’t the same desperate, pathetic creature bolting across the Tiergarten because my ex thought I was a monster.

  I heard muffled noises from on deck and resisted the urge to join them. Whatever else happened, I’d protect Will and Danny.

  I wasn’t totally confident in my ability to stay Changed, however. The door to Ben’s room was open. I saw a pile of tools stowed in a cupboard and grabbed a trenching tool.

  That felt better. I always felt better with a shovel in my hands, no matter how small. This one had the benefit of having a serrated edge.

  Silence, upstairs. I wasn’t afraid, just anticipating trouble. I didn’t like waiting for what might be coming next. But I did like being part of this response with my Cousins. It didn’t feel like mania. It felt like being part of a team.

  I tried to “see” who was out there and got only jumbled images in my head. I was probably too unfocused.

  I heard screams, a shot, and a boat’s motor outside. I licked my lips. It was hot down here. Could I sweat, in this form? Did I have to pant? I had no idea. What was going on up there?

  There were footsteps above the hatch. I tensed, readied myself.

  “Zoe, get up here!”

  It was Gerry, skinself again.

  I bolted up the stairs. Ben was bleeding profusely. Claudia was latched onto his arm, trying to stop it.

  “He wasn’t the one who screamed,” I said.

  “No, it was one of the men. Right after he shot Ben.”

  A thrashing in the water, and a shadow slithered up the anchor line, then over the railing.

  It was Ariana—I hoped it was Ariana, because it was a very large, very dark snake. All her mass had to go somewhere. Gerry grabbed a towel and spread it out on the deck.

  If I thought he was going to dry off the large snake, I was mistaken. He stepped back and the snake slithered under the towel. A shimmer, a frisson of energy, a brief dance of shadows, and suddenly it was Ariana again, shivering and naked as the day she was born.

  With a distinctly European lack of body consciousness, Ariana used the towel to dry her hair first. “Is there another towel, Gerry? I’m drenched.”

  Gerry seemed grateful to have something else to look at. That towel wasn’t nearly big enough, and Ariana was luscious.

  “I’ll let Will know it’s all clear,” I said to give him another distraction.

  He nodded, and I could tell Gerry the fearless werewolf was blushing by moonlight.

  I pounded down the stairs and rapped on the door. “It’s OK,” I said.

  The door opened, and there was Will. He was standing at an odd angle, I realized, to conceal his pistol. “All clear.”

  “Yup.”

  He stepped out rather than letting me in. “You should probably Change back,” he said. “Before Danny sees you. It can be quite a shock.”

  I raised my hand to my face and realized it wasn’t a hand so much as a paw full of claws, which felt a muzzle instead of a nose, several inches more face than I was used to.

  “OK,” I said, a little embarrassed. I tried to Change.

  Nothing.

  “Are you kidding me?” I said.

  I took a deep breath and tried again.

  Will glanced up at the deck apprehensively and back to me. “Zoe, I hear the harbor master out there. The shot must have brought them. You really have to—”

  “I know, I know—” I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to block out the panic and excitement of the fight. Trowel bite.

  “Zoe! You gotta—!”

  The irritation I felt at Will seemed to do the trick. I felt the Beast subside, felt my human skin clammy with perspiration and the night chill. “Yeah, thanks, I got it.”

  He smiled. “Yeah, you do.”

  Then he leaned over and kissed me.

  If I thought Gerry was blushing on deck, it was nothing to what I felt now. A rush of heat from my toes to my forehead loitered pleasantly below my belly. I felt dizzy. At the same time, the close confines of below deck seemed to crowd in around me and spread out in a vertiginous forever.

  “What was that?” I said, my head spinning. It was a good question; a kiss was the last thing I expected. I wanted more.

  “Positive reinforcement,” he said. “I didn’t have a sandwich.”

  “You guys, get up here!”

  It was Gerry again, and from the other noises I heard, we were about to be boarded for the second time that evening.

  The Greek equivalent of the harbor master was as curious as I about what had happened.

  Gerry explained, and Ben translated, that drunk men had boarded the ship and tried to rob us. Ben fought them off, scaring them away. No one was hurt—though I knew that was a lie. I could sense Ben had been hurt, but he’d ditched h
is shirt, which presumably was covered in blood. They said they’d put out a report and requested Gerry moor in the marina tonight to prevent further attempts.

  “How come you didn’t know about the men coming at us from the front?” I asked as Gerry maneuvered us to port. Ben was nearly healed, thanks to Claudia, but unhappy about the loss of his favorite aloha shirt.

  “Wind was in the wrong direction,” he said, then frowned. “How did you know—?”

  “I, uh, sensed there were three more.”

  He looked at me sharply. “What do you mean, sensed?”

  What did I mean? “Um, I can…can’t you sort of tell when there are people around you?” I waved a hand. “Sort of get a blurry image of someone nearby?”

  “Werewolves can’t do that,” he said. “I mean, we can smell them, hear them coming, sure.”

  “No, this is more like…a heads-up display, an idea.” Then I was confused, too. “I don’t actually see them, just…know they’re there when I search for them.”

  “Are you sure?” He was confused and concerned.

  “It started in Berlin,” I said. “It’s been pretty reliable so far.”

  “OK, that’s weird. That’s oracle stuff, that kind of…would you call it ‘proximity sense’?”

  “Sure.”

  “Well, we’ll look into that tomorrow.” He adjusted the course a tad. “Why don’t you go down and get some rest. Busy day tomorrow.”

  I went below, but there was no chance of sleep. It was hot, and once we’d moored, the engine was off and there was no AC. There was noise from the clubs along the waterfront, and now there were mosquitoes, too.

  Will’s kiss didn’t help, either. In spite of me taking off on him, did he still love me? Could he love me, knowing I’d occasionally sprout fangs, claws, and an unladylike amount of body hair? Did I want him to love me? Or did he just have a thing for freaky girls?

  After an hour of tossing and turning, I went above deck. Maybe if I sat up a while, I’d relax enough to sleep.

  I found a place on the side of the ship away from town and the thump-thump-thump of the disco. As hot as it was down below, it was starting to cool off here, and a damp was settling down on every surface.

  I sat down on the roughened deck, my legs on either side of the bar, my chin resting on top. It was amazing how many noises there were apart from the town. The ship itself was full of creaks and groans, the water sloshed and lapped, and somewhere below, a generator for the refrigerator hummed. Across the harbor, someone was watching a game show on their satellite TV. No wonder I couldn’t sleep.

  “Hey.”

  I was startled. It was Will. Why hadn’t I heard—why hadn’t I sensed him? Too wrapped up in my own thoughts. “Hey.”

  “Room for one more?”

  I couldn’t well scootch aside, so I gestured with a sweeping hand. He had the whole deck to choose from.

  He sat down next to me, as close as he could without actually touching. Close enough so I could feel the warmth of him, all the more apparent for the chill in the air.

  He’d changed his shirt. I could smell the different detergent, soap and shampoo, and just underneath, faint traces of sweat and motor oil. He’d been helping Ben with the engine, then showered.

  The gun was nowhere to be seen, but I’d seen he was kind of a magician with that, so I assumed it could reappear just as quickly another time.

  “Quite a day, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  “If we get through this, we should do some touring. You’ve never seen Ephesus; it’s even better than the books. You’d love it, and it’s not too far away.”

  “That would be nice.” I didn’t point out we had a lot to get through before we could make recreational plans.

  “Nice night.”

  Will sucked at small talk. He knew I sucked at small talk. Why was he bothering?

  I shrugged. I was tired and didn’t even want to think about what was coming tomorrow.

  He nodded and turned to watch the waves. A nice moment, quiet.

  Without warning, I was intensely uncomfortable. If I moved in his direction as much as a millimeter, I’d brush up against him. And this wasn’t Fangborn instinct; it was human female response.

  Why was that a problem? Things were over between us.

  The idea of never being able to touch him again was awful. I felt sick at the thought of it. What the hell was wrong with me?

  Kiss me, Will, I thought as hard as I could. If I could sense the locations of people around me, maybe I could plant the idea, like vampires could.

  His shirt was too big, or he’d borrowed it. The collar sagged back, so I could see his collarbone and the scar where he’d had a nasty accident on site. I remembered the day as if it was yesterday and not two years ago; he’d held my hand so tight in the car on the way to the hospital I’d had marks for days after. The scar was shiny and taut and I knew if I kissed him right at the top of it, at the base of his throat, he’d—

  Before I could stop myself, I’d tilted my head and was suiting action to the thought.

  He smelled good. He smelled great. I nuzzled his neck, his chest.

  He startled—he had been looking the other way—but didn’t move.

  Kiss me, Will.

  I was about to pull away, then quickly drown myself, when it struck me. He wasn’t shoving me away. He’d had the whole rest of the boat to sit on, yet any closer to me and he’d be in my lap. I didn’t hear him screaming indignation.

  Maybe this was OK. It was certainly OK with me.

  Want me back, Will.

  If this was my last chance, I’d better make it good, so I slid my hand lightly across his chest, let it rest on his other shoulder. Then up to his chin, moving it to meet me. I found his mouth at just the right angle.

  He kissed me.

  Home.

  Home was on fire. I was burning up. The more I kissed him, the more he kissed me back, and the hotter it got.

  Pretty soon, it was hard to do all that kissing and grabbing around the railing. I tried to edge back without breaking the kiss; no luck.

  He stared at me. “This isn’t a good idea.”

  I shook my head. “Probably not.” I swallowed. “Do you care?”

  “Um, no.”

  “Me neither.”

  We scrambled up and tried kissing again, to see if we could find the moment again. It was remarkably easy, for there it was, as if we hadn’t broken off at all, not a minute ago, not two years ago. Only now I could feel every part of him against me, and the ache, the need, was unbearable.

  I had his shirt off; he was working on mine.

  “Wait,” I said, pulling away. It was a wrench. “We can’t, we don’t have a—”

  The hurt and confusion on Will’s face vanished. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little packet. He reached for me, but I put a hand on his chest, stopping him.

  “Hang on—where did you get that?” He didn’t actually carry a condom around, just in case, did he? Call me jealous, but—

  He laughed, a glorious sound. “First-aid kit. They’re also in the bathrooms, and I bet the galley and engine room, too. Thorben’s parties must be wild.”

  The world tilted—rather, the boat rolled against the wake. We both lost our footing, found it again in each other’s arms. We began kissing again, but were confronted with another problem. It was a calculated risk: If we stayed where we were, would we roll overboard? If we moved, the moment might be permanently gone. I’d never been one for open-air adventure, so I grabbed his hand and led him back to my cabin. The door stuck again, opening it; we barged through. Will slid his hands over my shoulders, under my bikini strings, and my vision blurred, giving way to other, finer sensations.

  “Door,” I croaked. The boat had never seemed so small.

  Will stopped what he was doing; I sagged against the wall. He slammed into the door, shoulder first. It banged shut, he locked it, and, in a tangle of clothing and sheets, we were on the bunk. />
  Roadblock: pressed up against the hull of the ship, just a thin mattress on a wooden platform, my narrow bed was too small for both of us struggling with our clothes. Too many elbows and knees and not enough space. I extricated myself and, standing again, pulled off the bikini and shorts I’d borrowed from Ariana. Will skinned off his shorts, slid as far back as he could, making room for me.

  His gaze never quite made it to my face until I slid in next to him.

  Perfect fit.

  I hadn’t let myself remember the simple joy of making out naked with Will. Denied the possibility of it ever happening again, I couldn’t bear to recall it. Now the simple friction of our bodies was almost more than I could bear. I ached in all the right places.

  He brushed the back of his fingers against my nipples. I threw my head back into the pillow and gasped. We kissed again. I grabbed his butt, urged him into me. He found his way, and we were there.

  I wrapped my legs around him and bit his shoulder to keep from howling.

  Chapter 26

  The next morning, I awoke alone in my cabin. That didn’t surprise me until I saw my clothing was not piled neatly on top of the locker, but was flung all over the floor.

  I burrowed down into my pillow, testing my feelings.

  Well, I felt…great. Once I’d gotten the hang of sex, I’d liked it, and with Will, it had always been amazing. Last night had pushed the needle toward “mind-bending.”

  Even so, I wasn’t looking forward to our next meeting. It would have been easier if he’d just stuck around, so we could—

  What, Zoe? Talk it over? You were always so very good at that. Maybe another go-round…?

  Something like that. My face warmed, and I noticed I was whistling as I got washed up and dressed.

  Besides being reunited with Will, something else had changed in me. Fighting alongside my Cousins last night had been a powerful thing. I had a glimpse, the merest idea of what Gerry had been trying to teach me, about being Fangborn. Part of a Family, with a purpose. It had almost entirely obliterated my shameful feelings about Changing. No more fear of the Beast. No more Beast. The Beast was me, and I now understood I was part of an ancient and powerful Family.