by Brandon Witt
I turned my head and searched the busy foot traffic across the road. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking for. I’d only seen one vampire. Maybe I wouldn’t even recognize one if I saw it.
If only.
“Oh fuck.”
Shane asked something beside me, but I didn’t bother to try to make sense of it. My body was frozen in place, nearly torn in two. One part of me wanted to fling myself from the table and run screaming in terror. The other wanted to rush out into the street and turn the entire block into an inferno.
I’d never seen him in full sunlight before. His hair was a brighter red than I’d realized.
I watched, dumbfounded, as he walked past where we stared at him from across the street. His scrawny back was to us when he turned and gave a sinister smile over his shoulder to someone behind him.
I followed his gaze, trying to pick out who he might be looking at among the crowd.
“Oh fuck.”
Caitlin de Morisco was walking next to some guy down the sidewalk, clearly following the vampire.
Rising up, I gripped the railing and leaned out, trying to get a better view. Trying to find him.
If she was here, he had to be close by. He had to be.
I scanned every face. Nothing.
By the time I came back to her, Caitlin had already passed, and only the back of her black hair was visible.
One more scan through the crowd confirmed he wasn’t there. He had to be near. No way Caitlin also happened to be in Costa Rica and he wasn’t with her.
Finn.
Oh shit.
Finn.
Finn. Caitlin. Vampire.
Suddenly my time with the mers hadn’t happened, and I was back with Finn in his truck, parked in the driveway.
Fuck.
Thirty-Four
Brett Wright
For some reason, I noticed the bird had hopped onto our table and was scarfing down the remainder of my sandwich. I wasn’t sure why, but it seemed like a bad omen. Just the way it was pecking at the bun with its long sharp beak. I paused as we ran past it, causing Shane to run into me.
“What’s wrong?” Shane grabbed my bicep as he moved up beside me. “Why are we running?”
“The witch following the vampire—I know her.”
He made a face. “You’re friends with a witch?”
“I wouldn’t say we were friends.”
He nodded, satisfied. “I’d hope not.”
I glanced back at the bird, but the waitress had already scared it off and was carrying our trash away.
Knock it off! You’ve got enough supernatural shit around without adding a bunch of superstitious mumbo jumbo to the mix.
Taking off once more, I was instantly yanked backward.
Shane continued to secure my arm in his viselike grip. “What are you doing?”
“I gotta follow her.”
“The witch?”
“Yeah.” I tried to move again. Shane moved in tandem.
His tone was both incredulous and revolted. “Why?”
“Shane! Let go. I’ll explain later. But I can’t lose her.”
His fingers loosened, and I tore off down the street, swerving through the tourists. A few shouted after me, but I didn’t really notice. Caitlin had already disappeared.
If I’d taken the time to actually think through the situation, I probably would have realized that, as small as Montezuma was, there was little to no chance I would actually lose her. That and the fact that if she was here following a vampire, she probably wasn’t going anywhere else anytime soon. More than likely I would have come up with a more rational plan than chasing her down the tiny street. Would have come up with a smart, strategic way to find out why she was here.
Unfortunately, the rational, patient part of Therin didn’t assert itself in my DNA. Whether my rashness was a gift from my demon mother or just one of the pleasant little quirks that made me Brett Wright, I did as always, and rushed forward full force without taking a breath or pausing to examine every minute detail.
I bounded off the large rocks that made a barrier between the sand of the town and the sand of the beach. Behind me, Shane grunted as he made the same small jump. I was pretty sure I heard him muttering about witches, but I didn’t take the time to stop and check.
For a moment, I thought she’d followed the vampire into the ocean. Only a few tourists were on the beach, and Caitlin and the vamp were nowhere to be seen.
“That way.” Shane sounded bored as he pointed to the left toward the abrupt onset of jungle.
The backside of the brunet man-fairy disappeared between the trees.
With another burst of speed, I tore after him and crossed the sandy expanse in less than ten strides.
“You’re gonna trip and smash your skull into a tree.”
I ignored Shane and darted into the thick growth, only slowing enough to hike my legs up farther to avoid getting ensnared in the vines that covered the undergrowth. Sure enough, within a couple more feet, I didn’t lift high enough, and my foot caught on one of the tangles and sent me careening into a tree. I managed to catch myself before my face made impact.
“Wow, man. You are worked up.” Shane caught up with me and grabbed my arm once more. “You’re not going to catch anything like this. You’re going to keep falling, and even if you don’t, you’re announcing to the whole world that you’re on your way with all the noise you’re making.”
I glared at him in irritation. “We’re going to lose them!”
Shane pointed at his nose. “Even if we did, did you forget who you’re with?”
It took me half a second to catch on to his meaning. “Oh.”
“Exactly. Can you chill out now?”
Doubtful. Caitlin was here. Finn was here. “Sure.”
He motioned farther into the trees. “Come on.”
I followed. Shane’s pace was quick, but not a full-out run. Seeing as I was no longer in danger of falling, I suppose his way was more effective.
Within minutes, we were deep in the dense growth. A glance behind told me we were out of view of the beach, though the crashing of the surf hadn’t lessened.
“Whose scent are you following?”
Shane gave a confused look over his shoulder at me before continuing on. “The witch and the fairy.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah. If I needed to, I could follow the vampire, but his scent is a lot fainter.”
“I mean, you are only sensing one witch?”
He paused and turned to look me full in the face. “Yeah. Why? This is bizarre, and that’s saying something, considering the reason we were here to begin with. What’s going on?”
I motioned forward. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have stopped. I’ll fill you in. Let’s just keep going.”
He trudged on, his long legs easily avoiding the snares. “Well, I said I wanted an adventure. You’re certainly delivering.”
After a few more steps, Shane took an abrupt left, his profile coming into view, his jaw clenched and nostrils flaring.
“Won’t this head back into town?”
He nodded. “Yeah, they seem to be making a circle. Which would explain why they made two passes through town while we were eating.”
“That doesn’t make much sense.”
He shrugged, never stopping following the trail. “Witches aren’t known for being overly smart. The vampire is just playing with them, and they’re stupid enough to fall for it.”
Any other time, I would have taken pleasure in someone calling Caitlin stupid. This wasn’t one of those times. Stupid and vampire equaled dead. She and I might not have gotten along, but I’d never wish that on her. Not to mention what that would mean for Finn.
Another step and Shane shot up in the air in front of me, causing me to jerk backward. Instantly, vines slithered around my leg, keeping me from falling. Before I could fully comprehend what was happening, the wooden tendrils twisted up my waist and began to wrap around my chest. I mana
ged to whip my arms out of reach before they were caught in the tangles.
In front of me, Shane let out a furious cry. To my surprise, I thought I detected a hint of fear.
My attention was pulled away from him as the vines began to tighten around my body, making it hard to breathe. In the moment of panic, I forgot who I was, but it came rushing back in a surge of anger. Flexing my muscles, I heard the creak of the wooden ropes that bound me.
In response, they tightened further.
Fine. If muscles didn’t work, fire would.
“Don’t even fucking think about setting a fire, asshole.”
Jerking my head toward the voice, I found Caitlin standing several feet away. One hand on her hip, the other stretched out toward me.
“Caitlin.”
She sneered. “Demon-boy.”
Again, the vines tightened.
I fought my urge to turn myself into a flame ball. “Come on, Caitlin. This probably isn’t the best time for this, considering there’s a vampire close by.”
She let out a laugh. “There’s hundreds of vampires close by. You’re real close to the Vampire Cathedral, dumbass.”
“Right where you’ve always wanted me.”
“Cut the name calling and get me down!”
I glanced up, following the sound of Shane’s voice. He was suspended in midair. Other than being twenty or more feet off the ground, there didn’t seem to be anything else attacking him.
Caitlin grinned up at him, then turned to the man beside her. I’d been so focused on her that I hadn’t even noticed him. But he would have been easy to overlook in any circumstance. “Good one, Newton. Werewolves and heights. I wouldn’t have thought of that.”
If they hadn’t already realized Shane was a werewolf, the growl he uttered would have left no room for confusion. “Yeah. Brilliant. About as original as a Looney Tunes cartoon. Vines and yanking someone up into the air. Never seen that before.”
The man peered up at Shane, sounding thoroughly unimpressed. “It worked on you, though, didn’t it?”
“Fuck you, fairy. I’ll rip your queer little wings right off your scrawny body when I get down.”
At Shane’s threat, a pair of gorgeous wings appeared behind the man’s back. They were a strange mix of butterfly wings and golden feathers.
He really was a fairy. Huh.
“Caitlin, seriously. Let’s hash this out later. Without the risk of a vampire attack.”
“Again, demon. You forget where you are. There’s nowhere here without the risk of a vampire attack.”
“Get. Me. Down.”
The fairy didn’t even look at Shane when he responded. “We both know you’re ten times stronger than me. It doesn’t seem very smart to let you down, now does it?”
“Ten times stronger? You wish.”
“Only proving my point, wolf.”
“Faggot.”
Caitlin’s eyes bugged as they glanced up at Shane then back at me. “Traveling with a homophobe, Brett? Really?”
“Like you haven’t called me the same thing, Caitlin.”
“True.” She grinned. “Still, I’m surprised you’re hooking up with a straight guy. Figured you’d use those demon good looks to get your hooks into some other romantic before you shatter his heart.”
I flushed at her words and looked down at the ground. That hadn’t taken long.
“Oh, I see.” Through the obvious enjoyment in her voice, I was fairly certain a hint of genuine warning was in her words. “Not that werewolves are known to be suckers for love, but be warned, wolf—this demon likes to make you fall, then rip you to shreds. It’s his specialty.”
“That’s not why we’re together, Cate.”
“Not sure I caught that, demon. What did you say? And this time, don’t call me Cate. You’re not family, remember?”
I glanced up at her and tried to glare. Though not really similar, the family resemblance was enough that I couldn’t help but see Finn standing in front of me. My glare faded.
We stared at each other. Shane and the fairy were exchanging verbal spars, but I didn’t try to make sense of their noise.
The vines tightened a bit further. I suppressed my inclination to try to burst through them again or set them on fire. She couldn’t kill me, even if I’d wanted her to. We both knew it. If she needed to make me suffer for what I’d done to her brother, I didn’t see how she hadn’t earned that right.
Maybe she could read it in my expression. Apparently, that was what she’d been waiting on. After we continued to stare at each other for several more moments, I felt the vines loosen and fall away.
I repositioned my feet, regaining my balance, then waited.
“Brett!”
I looked up at Shane, still suspended above me.
“Get me down.”
I returned my gaze to Caitlin. A cocked eyebrow was her only response.
“Come on, Caitlin. Shane didn’t do anything.”
Her face darkened. “Shane, is it?” She looked up at him. “He’s good-looking, if you go for that kind of thing. White. Well, kinda.” She brought her accusing stare back to me. “The Hispanic too much for you?”
“You know better.”
She actually looked the tiniest bit ashamed. It hadn’t been the Hispanic part, but the extreme closeness of her family and the ease with which they had accepted me as part of them, sans Caitlin, of course, that had helped quicken my freak-out.
“Let him go, Caitlin. Please.”
“Tell him.”
“Like this? Really?” I gaped at her, unable to keep a sound of pleading out of my voice. The anger that had always been in her eyes every time she looked at me had been nothing compared to the hate that poured through them now. “What good will it do?”
“Tell him.”
I looked up at Shane, and though I hadn’t done it to him, I couldn’t suppress a flood of shame as I spoke the words out loud. “I dated Caitlin’s brother. We were in love. Stuff got… It was too much for me. Just too much. I ran.”
“You dated a warlock? Really?”
Caitlin glared up at him. “That’s what you’re gonna go with? When it’s a witch who’s got you suspended in the air?”
“Technically, that would be a fairy.” Shane leered down at her, then muttered under his breath. “Not that that’s much better.”
“I told him, Caitlin. I’ll tell him a million times, if that makes it better. I’ll tell every person we meet on the street, okay?”
“Fine.” She motioned toward the fairy. “Let him down.”
The fairy glanced at her but didn’t make any move to lower Shane. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re not in control of me.”
“Let him down, Pewlet.”
“I will, but only because this is pointless. If I’d known you were acting out some juvenile vendetta because of Finn, I would have ignored you to begin with. You’d think a demon and a werewolf would have done something a lot more interesting than just a breakup to get you so pissed. Overreact much? Breakups happen, so what? How old are you, anyway? Twelve?”
“Mind your own damned business, Pew—”
He cut off Caitlin’s response and instead addressed Shane. “Sorry I got you tangled up in this, wolf. I can’t say I understand all that is going on right now. I misunderstood your involvement.”
Shane ignored him and looked down at me. “Yeah. I can’t say I understand it all either. I thought you said you didn’t have a boyfriend.”
“I don’t. Finn is my ex.”
Shane ignored the distinction, returning to the fairy. “Just don’t get me airborne again, and we’re good. Oh, or put me in the water.”
The fairy nodded and failed to suppress a grin. “Deal.”
“So, let me get this straight. A fairy, a witch, a demon, and a werewolf are going to capture a vampire.” Shane glanced around at the rest of us. “And this isn’t some setup to a really bad joke? Some punch line where the four of us walk into a bar or something?�
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“I still say we should just kill the fucker.” Even the thought caused a delicious rush of fire to surge through my blood.
Caitlin took a swig of her bottled water, then placed it on the table between the two beds in the hotel room she shared with the fairy. “For the last time, we need him. He might be able to give us some information that could help us save Cynthia.”
“And help you rescue the mers.”
“Not the point, fairy.” Caitlin gave him a warning glare.
Newton hadn’t said much when the four of us left the jungle and came back into town. He’d seemed both irritated and bored the entire time until I’d explained to Caitlin why I’d come to Costa Rica. To my surprise, she hadn’t been shocked at all. Of course, she hadn’t yet told me about Finn’s role in the Vampire Cathedral. The only person in the room who had shown any reaction to the revelation of the mers’ existence had been Shane. For the second time in an hour, he looked at me liked he’d just met me. Of course, he had, hadn’t he? Still, I wished I’d explained about the mers before we’d arrived in Montezuma. And told him about Finn. Though the idea that Finn would have been relevant to what we had to do at the Vampire Cathedral would have been ludicrous. That and the fact that Shane and I were nothing more than a hookup that had led to a vampire adventure.
I couldn’t help but be touched by Newton’s passion about the imprisoned mers. Though he struck me as odd, it was good to have another person who seemed genuinely concerned about them.
The fairy didn’t hesitate to rise to the chance of arguing with Caitlin. “It’s totally the point, witch. If we’re going to do this, we try to save them all. The mers and your sister. Especially now that he’s here.”
She scoffed. “You wouldn’t say that if you knew him like I did.”
“He’s a demon who brought a werewolf. I’d say things are looking up.” The fairy leaned back against the headboard and folded his arms, his point made. I wished he’d show his wings again now that he was closer.
“So, you don’t know how many mers there are? Has Finn found out any of their names?” It was beyond my wildest hopes that I actually would find some alive. Of course, that had been the goal, but I hadn’t really believed it would happen. At best, I would have figured out exactly who was behind the captures and found a way to make it stop. Or at least come up with a way to help the mers avoid further incidents. The idea there might be a couple still alive made me want to storm the castle gates—or whatever the Vampire Cathedral equivalent was. Maybe even some of the Chromis were there. How great would that be, to bring back lost members of our tribe? Maybe that redheaded kid Lelas loved so much.
