The Awakened

by Amanda Carol

  “Yeah. I think so,” she whispers after a beat.

  I hear a slight commotion, and then she’s ripped from my arms. Her scream lights a fire under my ass and I jump to my feet just in time to see the vampire with his pale arm around Aria’s chest and his other hand angling her neck to the side. She’s trying to fight him off, but he’s too strong. His fangs puncture her skin as he sinks his teeth into her. He slowly lifts his head and takes in a deep breath, not that the sucker needs air to breathe.

  “You taste…” He pauses, probably for dramatic effect. Leave it to a vampire to be theatrical. Bastards. “You taste euphoric.”

  He dips his head down back to her neck and her soft whimper is enough to make me angry enough to let my wolf take over. I break the number one rule of the pack.

  I shift.

  “Fuck! Hunter! God damn it!” Bennett curses. He doesn’t shift, but I can see it in his face that he’s dying to let his wolf out.

  Sorry, Benny. This one is mine.

  I lower my head and snarl, effectively distracting the vampire’s attention, and he lifts his gaze to me, eyes going wide. That’s apparently all the distraction Aria needs, because she throws her head back, hitting him in the chin.

  Taken off guard, the vampire stumbles back as Aria turns and delivers a nice swift kick to his nuts. He doubles over, and she grabs his head and brings it downward at the same time her knee comes up and connects with his face. He quickly gets himself together and catches her wrist, which holds the dagger that was aimed for his chest.

  He twists her wrist and the dagger drops from her hand. Next, she uses her right arm to try and punch him, but he grabs that too. She drops her arms, bends her knees, and then jumps and does a back flip out of his grasp.

  “Damn!” Bennett gasps. “Blondie can fight!”

  I just growl in response, ready to jump in. Once she’s back on her feet and out of his grasp, she tries to take a step back, but she’s not quick enough and he grabs her by the throat. I let out a roar at that moment and charge forward, baring my teeth.

  The vampire lets go of Aria and she falls to the ground.

  Protect her, is all I say to Bennett through the link without looking back.

  The sucker starts to run away, and damn, he’s fast. But he won’t outrun me. Shifters are made to be faster than any vampire. Digging my paws into the ground, I leap forward and as I'm about to sink my teeth into his neck, the bastard turns at the last minute, catches my fur midair, spins, and throws me against the crypt wall.

  No vamp has ever been able to get the upper hand on me like that before. He must be older than I thought. Okay, new strategy. Getting up, I shake off the hit, and just as I look up, I see a flash of silver dart past me. The vamp freezes, eyes wide and he lets out a grunt.

  I don’t hesitate. I lunge forward and sink my teeth into his neck. I jerk around until I feel his head come off his body. He falls to the ground and I land on all fours, a few feet in front of Aria. I don’t want to scare her. Not that I think anything would scare this girl. Or at least, nothing that goes bump in the night. I sit back on my haunches.

  Wait. I thought I told Bennett to protect her. I turn my head and look at a guilty Bennett.

  “She threatened to chop my balls off if I didn’t let her go, man. I happen to like my balls. I’m attached!” he says, running his hand through his red hair.

  I huff and bow my head. I look back up at Aria, who is looking at me, seemingly in deep thought. Like she’s trying to figure out a puzzle. After a few moments, she slowly walks forward toward me. Once she gets directly in front of me, she kneels. The words that come out of her mouth shock me to my core.

  “You’re a wolf shifter.”

  Mom wrote about different types of supernatural beings in her journal. Since Declan and I have been on the road, we’ve never run into anything other than vampires. Because of that, we’ve always just figured that the rest of the things she mentioned were just myths.

  Imagine my surprise when Hunter shifted right in front of me.

  I knew something was different about them the moment we met. I could tell they weren’t vampires, but I also knew that they knew more than they were saying. Once I saw them follow us back into the cemetery, my suspicions were confirmed. I just didn’t think they were shifters. In mom’s journal, she wrote that shifters are a vampire’s biggest enemy, with their strong jaws and teeth made for ripping heads off. I guess that would explain why New Orleans hasn’t had any attacks.

  Of course, Declan and I have some explaining to do.

  I look at Hunter sitting in front of me, still in wolf form. His fur is pitch black like his hair and his eyes are still that Caribbean blue, but they are glowing. I wasn’t imagining that earlier. I lift my hand to touch his face but quickly pull back. I barely know this guy. You can’t just go around touching random guys’ faces, even if they are in wolf form.

  Suddenly, he shifts back into a man and we are both in the same kneeling positions. Our eyes lock and I suck in a breath, mesmerized by the shift. Hold on….

  “You’re not naked?” I blurt out.

  I feel my cheeks heat up. I look anywhere but at Hunter’s face, but then I hear a soft chuckle and slowly my eyes land back on his.

  “Um, no. I’m not. Our clothes don’t rip off like they do in the movies. Not as long as we’re wearing natural fabrics like cotton or hemp or genuine leather. Something about them being from nature like us, allows them to shift with us. My father could probably explain better than I can. When it came to pack history, I kind of tuned out. Which is bad considering he’s the Alpha and I'm the Beta,” Hunter explains, shrugging.

  He stands and then offers a hand to help me up. I place my hand in his and he pulls me up so fast that I don’t have time to brace myself and I end up pressed against his hard chest. I get a whiff of his scent: cedarwood and ocean.

  “Thanks.” I flush, taking a step back and suddenly finding my shoes interesting. “For saving my life and all.”

  I peek back up at him and he’s staring at me. His eyes start to glow slightly. Then he blinks and it’s gone.

  “It’s no big deal. It’s my job to protect,” Hunter murmurs.

  I just nod and turn, only to stop about a foot away as something catches my attention. I turn my head slightly, then immediately turn it back forward. There, to the left of me, is the body of the girl that I heard scream.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll have someone come and collect her body,” Hunter whispers from behind me.

  I nod and then start to walk over to Bennett and Declan. I stop dead in my tracks. Where is my brother? I rush forward as panic starts to set in.

  “Where’s Declan?” I shout, pushing past Bennett to go to the last place I saw my brother.

  My heart skips a beat as I see him lying there, not moving.

  “Oh, my God! Declan!” I scream, running over to him.

  He’s lying on his side facing away from me. I pull him around, noticing a huge cut on his head. He must have gotten knocked out at some point. I curse under my breath. Tears threaten to spill out, but I refuse to let them fall. I feel for his pulse. He’s not dead, so I let out the breath that I’d been holding and sink further down on my knees.

  “We need to get him to a hospital,” I say flatly, standing and struggling to pull my brother up with me.

  I’m strong, but you try carrying a 200-pound man who’s dead weight. We’re fast healers, but not that fast. This gash is deep. He needs to be looked at by a doctor.

  “Here. We’ve got him, Blondie.” Bennett grabs Declan’s arm from me to put it around his broad shoulders. Hunter gets on the other side and does the same. “We’re going to take him back to the Compound.”

  “The Compound?” I question. Sounds like the name of a prison.

  “It’s just what we call the place we live,” Bennett explains as we walk back toward the entrance of the cemetery.

  “Oh,” I mumble numbly.

  “Don’t worry, Aria. It’s s
afe there. The grounds are protected by the witch coven. And we have healers there. Kora will take good care of him,” Hunter reassures me.

  I just nod. It’s not that I don’t believe him. But Declan’s the only family I have left. And I’m not sure I can survive losing him, too.

  We walk the rest of the way to the car in silence. The guys don’t even break a sweat carrying my lug of a brother. When we reach Hunter’s Impala, I quickly get in the backseat as they place my brother in next to me. I gently guide Declan’s head to my lap as Hunter and Bennett get into the car a few seconds later.

  “Here, put this on his wound. It’ll slow down the bleeding until Kora can look at it.” Hunter hands me what looks to be a bundled-up t-shirt.

  “Thanks,” I whisper, taking it from him.

  He offers me a small smile before turning to start the car. I place the shirt over my brother’s wound and put pressure on it as Hunter speeds away from the curb. I turn my face to the window and let out an inaudible sigh. I guess this is why we always have a plan. We got lucky with Hunter and Bennett being there. If it weren’t for them, we’d probably be dead right now. I shiver at the thought and push it aside.

  Bennett turns in his seat. “Alright, spill, Blondie.”

  I pick my head up off the window and look at him. He’s smiling but his tone is serious. Guess it’s time to fess up. Ugh.

  “What do you want to know?” I shrug.

  I hate talking about this. But they are helping us out, and they did save our lives. I'm also under the impression that they broke some sort of rule tonight.

  “Well, for starters, how do you know about vampires?” Bennett asks, softening his tone.

  I stare at him for a moment before I answer with the short version.

  “Three years ago, a vampire killed our parents. Our mom gave us these necklaces…” I gesture to them. “…and a journal explaining everything we needed to know about how to kill one. Declan and I have been on the road, hunting them ever since.” I leave out the part about wanting to find and kill the vampire who killed our parents. “She even mentions shifters and witches, but we’ve never met any. Until today.”

  “Oh, man, that sucks. I fucking hate vampires. Evil bastards.” Bennett turns back around in his seat.

  He doesn’t ask any more questions, which I am grateful for. Declan groans as he starts to come to, his hand coming up and laying on top of mine. His eyes are unfocused as they flutter open.

  “Wh-what happened? Aria?” he moans, trying to sit up, but I hold him still.

  “Shh, it’s okay. Just close your eyes and rest. I’ll explain everything later,” I whisper to him.

  He doesn’t fight me at all and closes his eyes again. He’s really having a rough night. I glance up and my eyes lock with Hunter’s in the rear-view mirror. They stay like that for a beat before he turns his gaze back on the road.

  We drive for another twenty minutes before Hunter turns down a hidden road. It’s surrounded by endless trees. After several minutes, we finally reach the clearing, and what I see takes my breath away.

  “Oh, my God,” I gasp, sitting up straighter and pressing my face against the window to get a better look. “Wow, this place is…” I trail off, at a loss for words.

  There is a huge red barn in the center with a wrap-around porch. Cabins surround the place, trailing back into the woods and there are what look to be twinkling lights dangling above the ground, lighting up the pathways to each cabin. I don’t see many people, but a few are standing around outside on the porch of the barn when we finally pull up.

  “Home sweet home, down in the bayou. That’s the barn. It’s got a cafeteria, training room, and a medical facility,” Hunter says, throwing the car in park, then turns to Bennett. “Go get Kora and tell her to hurry.”

  Bennett quickly gets out of the car and takes off running toward the cabins. Hunter gets out and opens my door as I quickly climb out and help him carefully drag Declan’s limp body out of the car.

  “Kora is a witch. She’s part of the coven who live here on the Compound. She’s also the coven’s healer,” he says, adjusting Declan’s weight so he takes most of it.

  “Hunter? Is everything okay?” I hear a familiar voice say.

  I turn around and feel my eyes widen when I see my best friend from my old life.

  “Aria?” she gasps.

  “Abby? What are you doing here? I thought you were taking summer classes?” I ask, my words coming out in a rush as I throw myself at her.

  “I was but I took the summer off…” She trails off and pulls away, but keeps her hands on my shoulders. “It’s so good to finally see you! I’ve missed you so much. Wait, is that Declan?” She finally notices Hunter standing there with my brother. “What’s going on? What happened?”

  “I could ask you the same thing, Abby.” I narrow my eyes at her, then shake my head.

  One thing about Abby: you can never be mad at her. Like, ever. She’s the sweetest person on the planet. But if this is a place for witches and shifters, then I’m assuming Abby is one of them. Which would make her more than human. But that’s a conversation that’s going to have to wait.

  “It’s not important right now,” I sigh. “We need to make sure Declan is okay. Then we can have some serious girl talk. I think we both have some explaining to do.”

  She nods in agreement.

  I hear a commotion behind me. An older woman with long grey-blonde hair pulled tightly back in a neat bun approaches us. She’s wearing a long pink robe and matching slippers. She rushes past us and walks up to my brother, gently cupping his face between her hands and moving his head from side to side.

  “Hmm…” she murmurs, taking a step back and glancing at Hunter. “Come, child. Let’s bring him inside. Bennett, would you be a dear and grab my granddaughter for me?”

  She turns on her heel, walking toward the barn, and motions for us to follow her before quickly turning around.

  “Oh, and tell her to grab my kit!” she yells to Bennett, who is running back in the direction that he came.

  We all climb the stairs and enter through the barn doors. Once we’re inside, my eyes widen. This place is magical.

  The outside of this barn looks small, but the inside is huge. Straight in front of me, through a set of glass doors, is what looks like a training room. I can kind of see some workout equipment from where I'm standing. To my right are tables. Some people are eating and others have their noses buried in a book. There’s a buffet line with all sorts of food lined up. This must be the cafeteria. Then, to my left, which is where we are headed, is a closed-off room. Kora waves her hand and the distinct “click” sound of a door unlocking rings through my ears. The door swiftly flies open as she glides inside.

  Hunter follows her, supporting Declan, who is basically being dragged at this point. Poor guy. Abby and I are close behind them. When we enter the room, we see beds lined up parallel to each other each separated by curtains. This must be the medical room.

  “Place him on any bed, Hunter. It doesn’t matter which one,” Kora says, waving her wrist.

  Hunter places Declan on the closest bed and backs away. I step around him and go to my brother’s side. Abby goes to stand on the opposite side of me as Hunter moves to stand back behind me against the wall. Declan stirs again and blinks his eyes open a few times.

  “A-Aria?” he questions again, trying to sit up.

  I push on his shoulder to get him to lie back down. He’s weak, so he doesn’t put up much of a fight. I know we heal fast, but I’ve never seen him like this. Then again, we’ve never been this seriously injured before. His eyes are still open and he’s looking around.

  “Where are we?” he asks.

  “Hey, it’s okay. I’m here. We’re safe. I’ll explain everything later, but first, this woman is going to help you okay?” I whisper, taking his hand.

  He nods as the door slams open. A petite girl with long golden hair walks in. She’s wearing Converse too. I like her already.<
br />
  “Here, Grandma,” she says, handing Kora the medical kit.

  Kora takes it from her and starts rummaging through it.

  “What do you need me to do?” the girl asks. She glances our way for a moment before her gaze lands back on her grandmother.

  I look behind me at Hunter and notice that Bennett has joined him against the wall. Both are standing there with their legs spread apart and arms across their chests.

  “Here, Ciera. Take this,” Kora commands, grabbing my attention.

  I watch as she takes out some gauze and puts this thick yellow paste on it. It looks like thick yellow mustard.

  “Put this on his wound. It’ll help stop the bleeding. I’m going to make Gumba Paste to help speed up the healing process then mix a potion to help with the concussion,” she finishes.

  I’m not sure whether or not I should tell her about our accelerated healing abilities, so I just keep it to myself for now. It’s not like we’ll be staying here long anyway.

  Ciera nods and takes the gauze from Kora. She walks over to Declan and places the gauze on his head. He turns to look at her and his gaze softens.

  “You’re an angel,” he says, smiling. “I must be in heaven.”

  I lift a brow. Uh…okay. Who is this guy and what has he done with my brother?

  He places his hand on top of hers and closes his eyes. The goofy-looking grin never leaves his face. She glances at me and I note that she has blue eyes too. Not as blue as Hunter’s, but more like a dark denim blue. He pats her hand and opens his eyes again.

  “You’re beautiful,” Declan whispers.

  What the hell? I feel like I should hit him again just to set him back to factory settings.

  “Thanks, Romeo.” She smiles. “But I think you’ve bumped your head a little too hard. Let’s get you patched up, okay?” She’s handling his charm like a champ.

  “You have the voice of an angel too!” Declan says, then turns to look at me. “Psst! Aria! I think I met the woman of my dreams.”

  I open my mouth, then close it again. It’s not often that he has the ability to render me speechless, but I’ll be damned. He’s on a roll tonight. He smiles, closing his eyes briefly and then opening them again, only to turn back to Ciera.