Heir of the Dog (Liars and Vampires Book 6)

by Robert J. Crane

  “Cassandra, quickly —” Lockwood said, summoning an orb of blue flames in his palm. “Tend to your friend.”

  I shook my head and scrambled over the dead leaves and dry grass to Derrick.

  Thomas howled and then Mill shrieked in pain, causing my fingers to go numb and a pain as cold as ice to consume my chest.

  “Cassie, you can’t,” Derrick said, struggling in vain against the bindings behind him as I approached. “You have to —”

  “Shut up,” I said, my fingers trembling as I examined his back. It was so dark that I could barely see anything and the noises coming from Thomas and Mill’s fight was driving me insane. There was snarling, the thumping of a body against the hard earth and cries of pain.

  I couldn’t see any of it from where I stood behind the tree.

  Pulling my cellphone out of my pocket, I turned the flashlight on and pointed it to Derrick’s bound wrists.

  More piercing howls from distant werewolves came from the forest behind me, causing me to drop my phone in fright as I looked wildly around for the source. I whipped around, trying to recognize any flicker of movement in the dense trees, or to hear the snap of a twig or the rustle of leaves.

  I didn't hear any, so I hunched down and picked up my phone from the grass. A whoosh and a burst of blue light back at the fight between Mill and Thomas told me that Lockwood had gotten involved.

  I was panting, staring desperately, hopelessly at the rope that tied Derrick to the tree. I’d never seen a knot like it before. It was tight and complicated and obviously one of those knots that seemed to get tighter the more Derrick struggled.

  “Are you okay?” Derrick asked, still pulling against it.

  “I —” I said, my voice shaking. “I don’t know – I don’t know how to free you —”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Derrick said. “Just go! Get back to your car, get out of here!”

  I tried to take a steadying breath, ignoring the throbbing adrenaline in my head, the way my body twitched at every sound that came from the fight such a short distance away. I peered out from behind the tree and saw their silhouettes in the light from the Maserati's headlamps.

  Thomas was a beast. He moved as gracefully as Mill did and kept pace with him. They were spinning and striking, a ballet of death. But where Mill was strength and precision, Thomas was feral savagery. The fight was brutal and I was frozen to the spot, unable to look away.

  Derrick. I had to free Derrick.

  But Mill…

  Thomas’s claws dug deep gouges in the ground beneath him. Mill's foot caught one, causing him to stumble. He managed to break free from Thomas’s grasp, but as he turned to strike, Thomas met him with a swift pounce. Mill was fighting like a person. Thomas, like an animal.

  He struck out with his clawed paws, catching Mill in the arm and then dove at him with teeth extended, latching onto Mill’s collarbone with his wide jaw.

  “No!” I shouted, my hands clapping to my mouth, all thought of freeing Derrick forgotten.

  Mill tumbled to the ground and when Thomas finally let go and I could the droplets of black blood dripping from Thomas’s teeth. Mill lay exactly where he landed.

  My body was taut, my hands clenched into fists, my mind zooming by at a million miles a second. I was about to bolt over to Mill, not caring even a little that Thomas was still there, hovering over him, breathing over his body, when Lockwood’s silhouette appeared, lighting up the space between them with another orb of bright blue light.

  Mill moved, too, rolling over onto his side. I could barely see him in the shadows outside of the brightness from the headlights.

  “Dad, stop!”

  I came to my senses, wheeling around to see Derrick pulling and yanking his arms, apparently forgetting that ropes and a tree held him in place.

  “Don’t hurt them —” Derrick shouted.

  I swallowed hard and hurried back around the back of the tree. My hands were steadied by urgency and purpose as I turned my flashlight back to the ropes knotted around Derrick’s wrists. I could smell the metallic blood, see the raw skin underneath the rope where it had cut into his skin.

  “Just hold on,” I said to him. “I’ll figure out a way to get you out of here.”

  Lockwood blasted Thomas with more magic, casting everything in an explosion of orange light. A howl of pain from Thomas told me it had been a direct hit.

  I had no pocket knife and made a mental note to pick one up for situations like this where my friends were bound to trees. Mill’s teeth would probably have worked, but he was down, maybe for the count. My stomach roiled nauseously at that thought.

  Lockwood could probably cut it away with some magic, but he was a little busy at the moment keeping Derrick human and me alive.

  My foot crunched the rocks beneath my feet and –

  Rocks.

  I turned my light down to the ground at my feet. Sinking down to my knees, I brushed my hand through the grass, looking for one sizable enough, one sharp enough to maybe do the job. I found one that was probably too smooth to cut through the rope, so I struck it against a gnarled root of the tree.

  The soft stone shattered, leaving a jagged edge on one of the pieces. “That’ll do,” I said, getting back to my feet and pressing the stone to the ropes.

  “What are you doing?” Derrick called over his shoulder as I started to hack away at the bindings.

  “Getting you out of here,” I said, my tongue between my teeth as I tried to get the jagged stone to saw through the thick fibers of the rope. “Very slowly, but still.”

  Three or four bursts of green light glowed beyond the tree and I heard Lockwood yell out in pain.

  My face flushed as I tried to saw even faster.

  The rope was resistant, but it was coming apart. Little fibers were fraying, twisting and standing up on their ends as I passed the stone over it again and again and again. It became hot in my fingers.

  “Cassie,” Derrick said nervously. “Your friends. They’re —”

  Another snarl from Thomas reached me behind the tree.

  It was breaking. I just needed to focus, to think of nothing else aside from this little stone and it would –

  The rope gave and a burst of elation washed over me. I helped untangle Derrick from his bindings, tossing the rope to the ground. I hurried around the tree, glanced at Derrick, standing there rubbing his wrists, but my eyes were drawn to Thomas, who was sniffing Mill’s body.

  I could smell the acrid vampire blood from here.

  I had Derrick free. Check. Done. Ten points to Gryffindor.

  But Mill and Lockwood…

  Lockwood was dragging himself away, one of his legs bleeding. He had summoned some sort of golden light and was bathing his wound in it. But it wasn’t working fast enough.

  Because Thomas had turned his attention on us.

  Thomas was still standing. How had he managed to take down both Mill and Lockwood?

  We were trapped. Thomas was between us and the car, his head down, teeth slick and shining blood and gore from my two much more powerful friends. His eyes glinted in the dark, fixed on us. Even if Derrick and I made a run for it, I couldn’t leave Mill and Lockwood.

  I swallowed nervously, wielding my sharp, jagged rock. It wasn't even a handful, hardly even a weapon at all. But if he was going to strike, then I wanted to be able to hurt him, even a little, before he took me down.

  And it looked like he was about ready to do just that.

  Chapter 38

  Movement out of the corner of my eye made me turn my head to the ground behind Thomas. Mill was dragging himself to his feet, black blood staining his neck and the side of his face.

  Fear flooded through me, fighting against the relief that he was still conscious. Did that bite mean that Mill was going to become a vampire werewolf now? What would that look like?

  Mill let out a nasty, terrifying cry and launched himself at Thomas’s back. The wolf started to turn—

  Lockwood’s l
eg seemed to have mended enough, because he took the chance to toss a spell at Thomas just then. It was a sickly green color, almost like a ball of slime and it clung to Thomas’s side after it struck, emitting a foul smell like an infection, distracting the wolf long enough for Mill to land on him.

  Thomas didn't take that lying down, though. He managed to grab onto the back of Mill’s shirt by reaching over his head, pawing at him and ripping him free. He slammed Mill down to the ground like a ragdoll.

  The sound was bone-chilling and it made stars pop up in my vision. Had he killed Mill?

  He tossed Mill aside, his attention moved back to us and he started toward Derrick and I again.

  “Come on, we need to run!” I shouted, grabbing Derrick’s hand and pulling him away from the tree.

  But Thomas was not dissuaded. He bounded toward us, growling all the while.

  I watched in horror as Lockwood threw himself between us, tossing up what I could only describe as a forcefield, the edges of the nearly clear spell sparkling with white light. Thomas struck the shield, but it disappeared quickly under the force of his attack.

  Lockwood lifted his hand, all aglow with blue magic. He seemed to try to summon another one, yelling at me over his shoulder. “Get to the car!”

  Thomas slammed into Lockwood, knocking him spinning out of the way. Lockwood smashed into the tree where Derrick had been tied up, then falling to the ground, unconscious.

  Derrick slowed, staring back at his dad. “Cassie, it’s no use.” Thomas was staring us down, growling.

  “Come on, we need to —” I said.

  “We can’t do anything, he’s too strong,” Derrick said.

  “We can’t just stand here,” I said, tugging his arm.

  Thomas lifted his head and howled at the moon. The call was taken up by almost a dozen other werewolves still hidden in the dark somewhere.

  “Uh oh.” My blood ran cold, freezing me to the spot. I shoved Derrick aside and moved to stand in front of Thomas, who was slowly padding his way over to us, his long teeth bared, the blood from Mill’s shoulder staining his maw.

  I held out the little stone, knowing how futile it was, how stupid, how useless.

  A bark echoed behind us and Thomas, Derrick and I looked around to see a copper colored wolf standing in the flood of light from Lockwood’s still running car. Even from where I stood, I could see the blue of his eyes as he stared at Thomas.

  I might not have recognized him on sight before, but after today, there was no mistaking him.

  It was Jed.

  His tail wagged anxiously, he was poised and ready to strike. He turned his angry gaze to me and my stomach dropped out from beneath me.

  Mill’s words floated to mind. I know you like these Amish. They seem sweet to you, or whatever. But if they catch us here tonight, during the full moon, they will rip us to shreds.

  Would Jed hurt me? Was he in his right mind enough to know that it was me that Thomas was cornering? Would he even care?

  Was Mill right? Was this just all going to end in a bloody fight? I didn’t really like the idea of being pulled limb from limb…or becoming a werewolf, for that matter.

  Jed and Thomas stared at each other for a moment and it was like an electrical current passed between their eyes. The growling grew more intense. With horror, I watched Jed spring, at last, into the air, over Mill, over the distance between us –

  He was angry with me. Horribly angry with me. We'd argued, fought. Of course he’d remember that, it'd sit with him. He'd make me his target.

  Did I deserve this, though? Did I deserve to die just because I upset him?

  But those thoughts were wiped from my mind as he sailed over Derrick and I and landed with all four of his paws on top of Thomas.

  It was a disgusting sound that rose from their fight. Snapping and yipping, growling and crying.

  I grabbed Derrick and dragged him, unresisting, out of their way. They were fighting like rabid animals, flipping over one another, their paws flailing, their tails lashing. My heart was beating like a drum as we watched them bite at each other’s limbs, draw blood and howl.

  “We need to get out of here,” Derrick said. “This isn’t going to —”

  But he didn’t need to finish his sentence. The two had rolled into the shadows, but even in the dim light of the moon, I saw Jed get his wide jaws around Thomas’s throat and –

  The gasping, sputtering sounds emanating from Thomas told me that Jed had succeeded in ripping his throat out.

  Derrick, who was standing beside me, arm wrapped around mine, slowly pulled away from me, his hands covering his mouth as he stared at the lumps of shadows a short distance away.

  Jed growled, slowly climbing off of Thomas. Then turned his gaze on us.

  Mill was suddenly there, between us and Jed, his arms spread wide. His footing was shaky and he couldn’t hide the fact that his legs were trembling with the effort of staying upright.

  “Mill —” I said.

  “Get to the car,” Mill said. “Now. Go!”

  I stared at Jed over Mill’s shoulder. The werewolf's tail was twitching, His paws were squared, ready to leap again.

  But it didn’t happen. He didn’t. He didn’t move, didn’t even try to make a run at us. His tail relaxed and he gave Mill a wide birth as be began walking around us back toward the forest where he had come from.

  “I – I don’t understand —” Mill said through gritted teeth. “Why isn’t he —”

  “Who cares,” I said, not wanting to argue, even though I knew why. “We need to go, now, while we can.”

  Mill nodded his head, turned and winced, his hand going to his collarbone and the movement brought fresh, black blood to the surface of his wound.

  Derrick was there beside him in a second, putting his arm underneath Mill's to support him.

  “I’ll get Lockwood,” I said, hurrying over to the downed fae.

  Jed lingered near the tree, just outside of the car headlights. I knelt down over Lockwood, but I kept my eyes on him. He was barely moving, but his chest rose and fell with his breaths.

  “Cassie, come on,” Mill said, he and Derrick slowly struggling toward the car together.

  I pulled Lockwood’s arm up over my shoulder.

  “Hm…what?” Lockwood said coming to. “Cassandra…why —”

  “Come on, Lockwood. We need to go.”

  Lockwood’s face screwed up in pain as he struggled to get to his feet, even with my help. It didn’t help that he was a full-grown man of mostly muscle and I was just a teenage girl who really needed to stop skipping leg day. And arm day. And, again, cardio.

  Lockwood and I started awkwardly making our way back to the car, but I shot a look over my shoulder once more at Jed. His eyes were boring into my back as I walked and my heart constricted in my chest, rising up into my throat.

  It was him. He was aware of me, just as I was aware of him. He had saved us and had somehow maintained control of himself all throughout.

  How could he? Mill had told me that werewolves lost their sense of themselves during the full moon. How had he managed to keep a clear head?

  The blue of his eyes was intense. There was a curiosity there and something else, as I stared into his eyes.

  “Cassie,” Derrick said. He’d just helped Mill inside the car. “Come on!”

  I shook my head, my cheeks burning as I looked away. I had shared looks like that with Mill a few times, but…it was almost as if Jed had seen right into the very core of me…

  And had found something in me worth saving.

  Chapter 39

  Since everyone else in the car was recently injured, as the least wounded party I took the driver’s seat in the Maserati. I knew Lockwood would kill me for switching all of his settings, like pulling the seat up so I could actually reach the pedals, or moving the rearview mirror so I could see out of the back window, but hey, he wanted to make it off of Werewolf Farm in one piece, right?

  Derrick was up i
n the passenger seat next to me, staring out of the window into the night as we made our way back up the dirt driveway to the Bauer farm, looking like a deer in the headlights. The Maserati was very intuitive. And smooth. Too bad Mom and Dad were having money problems, because this would have been a very nice birthday gift for me.

  I glanced in the backseat as we went over a particularly nasty bump in the driveway, hoping that Lockwood wasn’t going to reprimand me too much for it and saw Mill checking Lockwood’s head for wounds.

  He caught me staring at him in the mirror and I immediately looked away, my cheeks turning bright red.

  Had he seen the way that Jed had been staring at me? Was his jealousy that had made me so angry this whole time actually justified?

  No, that couldn’t be. Jed had insisted that he didn’t have feelings for me. And how could he? We barely knew each other.

  “I don't understand what happened back there,” Mill said, pulling out a fresh gauze pad from the first aid kit that Lockwood kept on the floor in the backseat. He seemed to need one, given how often he drove me around. Mill dabbed at a particularly nasty gash over Lockwood’s eyebrow, his silver blood trickling down his nose.

  “What do you mean?” I asked. I could see the main road ahead, streetlights glinting in the night.

  “I didn’t think that a werewolf was capable of that kind of thing,” he said. “Completely going against their predator instinct to protect someone.”

  “He probably hated Thomas more than he wanted to eat us.” I swallowed nervously. “I mean, he was against Thomas from the very beginning,” I said. “Said it wasn’t right that he wasn’t part of the order…stuff like that.”

  Mill was quiet for a moment. “I don’t think so. I’m willing to eat my words. Not every werewolf is murderous and insane.”

  “That’s very big of you,” I said.