by Martha Woods
“Thank you for that,” I said, “But given the pain in my ribs right now, I think I would have liked one more person to be able to take a few of the punches. I threw one of them through a roof though, that was pretty cool.”
“Yes Christine… was quite happy about that,” Vincent said, hiding his smile behind his hand, “I have to admit that I probably would have liked to see that myself, if he really went as high as she said that he did.”
“He did, I almost felt bad for him. But he was also trying to kill me so my sympathy is pretty limited. Now we just need to try and prepare ourselves for when they attack next, but I do have an idea that I’m working on to try and get the upper hand in all of this…”
Just as I’d thought, they weren’t hyper confident about the idea of meeting with him to try and talk things out, though I could tell that it wasn’t so much out of dislike of the strategy as it was desire to just tear his throat out and be done with it. Vincent saw the merit in exploring it however, and soon enough Damon did as well, both of them agreeing to be right there by my side when the talks did happen. Thankfully, they also promised to keep their hands to themselves at the meeting, as much as they wanted to kill him they weren’t reckless enough to jeopardize our entire plan just for revenge.
“Claire’s really diving into this all the way huh?” Damon said, leaning against me, “To think that no more than a week ago she would have been content to try and kill all of us, maybe she wouldn’t have been happy about it but I know what it’s like wanting to do anything to impress someone. But now… if I wasn’t already certain that she was the same sister that I knew before I’m definitely sure now, there’s no way anyone else could possibly be that headstrong.”
“She’s a wonderful woman,” I agreed, staring at the ceiling, “I can’t imagine that this is all easy for her, I was definitely grappling with some complicated feelings when we were trying to deal with Rick, I think I’m still grappling with them now. It’s only been a few days since she learned the truth, but she’s already doing so much to help us out of this.”
“I’ve met a lot of women like her over the years,” Vincent said, “I haven’t talked to her personally, but she definitely sounds like she’s prepared to do anything to protect anyone important to her. If you try and cross one of them… well, you’ll be lucky if you wake up with all your parts still attached to you, they can really do some terrible things to people that have wronged them.”
“You should have seen her when we told her the truth about what happened,” I said, “She was shocked obviously, and horrified, but underneath that… I could feel so much anger, you know? Like there was a fire raging inside of her just waiting for a chance to burst out and destroy everything.”
“No doubt there is, she’s a werewolf after all. Even the most level headed wolf still has heightened emotions, whatever anger they’ve been capable of before pales in comparison to what they can unleash after their transformation. I’ve known people that were as about as meek as you could get, but then after they were turned they were capable of things that would turn even the most hardened stomachs. I’m sure that ever since the day she was taken she’s been grappling with those desires, that need to rage and smash everything, especially after how unfair everything has been to her.”
I hadn’t considered that, but it certainly made sense. Christine had clearly tapped into her anger to save us today, and now that I thought about it the longer that a fight with werewolves went on the more they were willing to do, as though that anger and frustration was directly fueling them to fight. If things turned that way I definitely wanted Claire to be on our side, what a strike of luck that it was that she was the one to deliver me back to Damon, and no one else.
“What do you think happens after all of this?” I asked, looking between the two of them, “Not just with the alliance, but with Claire? Do you think she’ll want to join us or… would she want to move on and see the world herself? I would like her to stay, but I don’t want to force her to if she doesn’t want to, that wouldn’t make us any better than him.”
“Whatever she decides that she wants to do, I’m going to accept that as her decision, no one else’s. I want to have my sister back, but we don’t have to be joined at the hip to still have each other again, I’d be happy enough knowing that she was out there living her own life and seeing the world for herself, just… trying to find a way to be happy again.” Damon sniffed, it wasn’t surprising that the topic was rather difficult for him. Her apparent death was the entire reason for his life as it was. “If anyone deserves better it’s her, you should have seen her back when we were kids, she was always smiling and laughing, always helping around at the farm and trying to make everyone’s day easier. The fact that that was all taken away from her… I don’t regret killing that fucking wolf at all, but everything else shouldn’t have happened.”
“It wasn’t your fault what happened, neither of you, it was just something that happened. The man responsible for all of this will get what’s coming to him, one way or another.”
He nodded, sighing before falling silent. I guess there aren’t too many things to say that haven’t already been said are there? How many times can someone say that things aren’t your fault before they either run out of things to say or you believe them? Though I suppose I’m not one to judge there, considering that I’m content to shoulder the weight of the world every time that someone so much as stubs their toe in this city.
“What do you think she’s up to right now?” I asked, “What’s the daily life like for someone who’s had their whole world turned upside down?”
“Right now?” Vincent said, tapping his fingers along my leg, “I’d say that either she’s working on strategies for how to make everything actually work smoothly, or she’s having dinner. Possibly both.”
“Having dinner… it’s weird to think that you can still do such normal things at a time like that isn’t it?”
“You’ve still got to eat, and it’s not like starving yourself will make the problems go away.” Vincent shrugged, his eyes staring off into something far away from us. “Even before I became like this, I had my share of moments that changed the way that I saw the world, I saw war, I saw death, I saw misery pushed away and passed off as something to be looked down upon. But every time I saw it my day didn’t change at all, the routine was always the same. Get out of bed, eat, do business, go back to bed, tragedy didn’t change these basic necessities of life.”
“Never a day off for us, is there?”
“Nope, never. Some people just never get to take it easy, but that’s the life that we have.”
“Well, for now I’m going to take care of one of my basic necessities and sleep, my body feels like a plate that’s been shattered and put back together, I think maybe I should give the glue some time to set properly.”
They nodded, standing and reaching down to help me to my feet. It wasn’t elegant by any means since my body felt like jelly, but I appreciated the help more than I could say. I just didn’t get a chance to try, my eyes falling closed and my brain shutting off as soon as I lay down on the mattress and let my body go limp, lapsing into dreams once more.
At least, there had been dreams at first. But something about this seemed strange, like I was floating in a dark ocean with no sign of anything around me, the air thick and thin all at once, like I was trying to move through gelatin. “Hello?” I called, my voice echoing back to me so much that it almost sounded like another person calling out to me in turn.
After a few minutes, I found that someone actually was.
“Amy?” Cara called, a bright dot off in the distance telling me where the voice was coming from before she was suddenly right in front of me, looking almost as shocked and confused as I felt myself. “What… are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same thing,” I said, “Actually, I am asking you the same thing, what is this?”
“I was just going to sleep, and then I was thinking about you a
nd… this isn’t a dream is it?” She reached out, placing her palm against mine and sucking in a sharp breath. “This is real, you’re actually here.”
“Where is here?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around everything that was happening, “It looks like you sucked me out into space, and I don’t really appreciate that.”
“I think… we’re in each other’s minds? But not really? I don’t really know, that’s just all I can think of right now. Where were you before?”
“I was asleep in my bed, same as you. So we’re able to speak like this now? This is like some kind of mind reading?”
“It definitely feels like that, except I’m not stealing any of your thoughts it’s more like… like we’re talking through a radio or something, that’s about all I can compare this to.”
I laughed, looking around us at the pure blackness surrounding us. “These powers of yours really are going pretty fast, the only time that I’ve talked to something like this was when spirits used to talk to me, and it was never quite like this. This doesn’t feel like a dream, or like a hallucination or anything like that… this feels like you plucked me out of my bed and now we’re just talking to each other. I’m pretty sure I’ll remember all of this as well.”
“I’m glad you’re impressed,” She said, trying to force a smile, “Can I tell you the truth Amy? I’m… I’m really scared right now, I know you said that I shouldn’t be but… I can’t help it, I’ve never been as good at just pushing myself through things like you have, I just keep thinking what if this is some big joke that’s being played on me?”
“Cara, I want you to believe me when I say that these powers couldn’t be given to a better possible person, you don’t have to believe me right now but I want you to believe me eventually. These powers were given to you for a reason, and you’re going to make them work, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or says, it doesn’t matter what you think or say right now, just listen to me and know that I’m so proud of you and I trust you to do what’s right.”
“Well, that makes one of us,” She laughed, choking back a sob before shaking her head, “God, what a mess. You’ve had the crap beaten out of you today and here I am crying on your shoulder hoping that I’ll be able to make myself feel better, some friend right?”
“The best friend,” I said, “So stop beating yourself up about everything. Go to sleep, we can get to the bottom of all of this tomorrow. Or maybe you should wake up and get to the bottom of Tariq, maybe you just need a distraction for a little bit.”
“Amy!” She cackled, “Fine, maybe I just need to find something else to think about. I’ll let you know if I feel better tomorrow.”
‘Yes, please, tell me all the details about how you made yourself feel better,” I said, smirking and pushing her back, “Seriously, I could use the distraction.”
She blushed, but she nodded nonetheless, leaning in quickly to wrap me in her arms before she floated back. “Thanks for talking to me Amy, I… don’t know what all this was, but I’m glad that you’re the one that I found.”
“So am I Cara, so am I.” Then she was gone, and for the time being I was left floating in darkness. And soon enough, I was gone too.
Chapter 7
Somehow my stitches hadn’t torn open in the night, and for that I was very grateful. I didn’t want to have to wake up to the sight of my two lovers both scrambling to help me and also struggling to keep their hunger in control, there were more pleasant ways to wake up than that. A cup of coffee, maybe breakfast in bed, anything except the sheets sticking to my body and my pillowcase seemingly having fused to my face overnight. Evidently I hadn’t been staying still at any point at all last night, and with those memories of that dream still fresh in my mind I had a very good idea why.
But how? How was she able to just… jump into my dream like that without any sort of warning, one second I was somewhere else and the next she was walking into view like it was the most natural thing in the world. I’d just gotten used to the knowledge that she could seemingly erase people from just about every sense other than sight, and now I have to be confronted with this as well? I can only imagine how she’s dealing with this on her end.
“Hey, you’re finally awake,” Damon said, running a hand down his tired face from where he’d been sitting on the end of the bed. I hadn’t even noticed him when I’d woken up. “Are you ok? You were worrying me and Vincent there for a while, we didn’t know if we should wake you up.”
A look to my right showed me Vincent’s usual place was vacated as well, but with the sight of the night sky outside our window it was obvious where he was. “Sorry… I just had kind of a strange dream, nothing for the two of you to worry about. How are you two handling everything?”
“Well, I’m my usual happy self,” Damon laughed, holding his arms out in a wide shrug, “Vincent’s back to his usual dark and broody self, he wanted to go around the city and make sure that everyone was still safe and alive. After the state that you came back in yesterday… I wouldn’t be surprised if some shifter doesn’t make it back to their camp tonight.”
“I suppose that I can’t really blame him for that,” I said, stretching my arms above my head just enough for my stitches to tug, “Honestly, after that fight yesterday I’m half tempted to throw in a few punches of my own, but I know my place is elsewhere. I can do far more damage by sitting back and planning than I can on the front lines.”
“And you can already do quite a lot on the front lines, don’t think I’ve forgotten the things that I’ve seen you do before. And didn’t you launch a bear through a roof yesterday?” He grinned at the blush on my face, near cackling when I shook my head in dismay. “Yeah, I’m never going to let you forget about that one.”
“It was impulse!” I shouted, trying and failing to stop my own laughter from leaking through, “What would you do?”
“I’d shoot the damn thing, not… toss it out of existence like I was a fucking Acme trap!” He crawled closer, darting his lips across mine before pulling me out of bed. “Now come on, we’ve got a long day ahead of us. I really want to let you keep sleeping, but I don’t think you’d let me keep you in there would you?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” I said, before nodding my thanks, “We’ve got a lot to sort out, can you come with me?”
“Always,” He answered without pause, “Just show me where and I’ll show you what I can do.”
We were still waiting for confirmation on the meeting actually happening, but I was about ninety percent sure that it was going to go ahead. The hunter was too prideful to let something like this go by, and with his wife stepping in and taking the initiative to attack I imagine that he’s going to be pretty desperate to gain back some measure of control. His type always were.
So for now, rather than preparing for an attack or shoring up our defenses, both of which were being taken care of by people with just as much or more experience than us, we were driving around trying to find a suitable location to hold the meeting if it indeed came to fruition, somewhere deep enough in the city that we would still have the advantage if we had to fight, but not so deep that he would immediately refuse, there still needed to be a healthy middle ground that we could convene on. Most of the bars were out of the question, same with anything that involved any sort of civilian presence, if this went wrong and it turned to blood I wanted to be sure that only people directly involved with the situation were hurt. It might sound callous to put it that way, but it was the truth.
So it was that we’d driven around for the last half hour, the midnight moon shining above us like a spotlight from God, ticking mental boxes and crossing out others, driving from location to location and letting the flow of the road take us wherever it may. We were about to turn around and head back in the other direction, to see if we could find the least bad option of the ones we’d already picked out when inspiration struck, compelling me to turn the wheel to the left rather than to the right, heading just slightly deeper into town but
still skirting the edge of what we would consider the line.
“Where are we going?” Damon asked, still skimming the rooftops and looking down every street that we passed by looking for any sign of ambush. I’d been a part of two of them yesterday, I couldn’t fault his caution. “Any further and we’ll be in the no-go zone.”
“I know, but we’re not that far away, it should still be in the realm of comfort. He might actually appreciate the additional risk.”
Pulling up outside of our destination, it took him a minute to figure out that it was actually where I had in mind, and that we hadn’t stopped because I needed a minute to think. “The park? This is where homeless people and teenagers come to sleep and fuck, this isn’t really a traditional meeting place.”
“No, that’s why it’s perfect. He’ll probably be expecting a bar, or some warehouse where we can be all isolated, but the park? At the right time of night it’s pretty much abandoned, but if something happens then it’s just so public that someone is bound to see what’s going down.”
He nodded, slowly looking over every inch of the landscape that he could see. “Those buildings are far enough away that one or two of my guys could set up there to keep watch, if we have a bunch of other paranormals standing by with them then we’d pretty much have a decent overwatch, anything moves the wrong way we could have them shooting in seconds.”
“Exactly, and it’s not so closed off that he wouldn’t feel like he couldn’t get away if he really needed to, he might not be able to shoot back and hit the people that would be watching, but there’s certainly enough open space that you could make a pretty good show of running for your life.”
