Chapter 18
The pool house gave me a place to clean up and change. Despite the joys of the change, I always felt relieved when it had ended. It was so fraught with danger, from trigger-happy hunters to traps, or merely the possibility that my stash would be found and I would have to try to sneak back to the room naked at six in the morning.
Speaking of returning to the room…
“Oh Miss Scott.” The concierge waved me over. “You have a package.”
My heart thudded against my chest as I stared at the box in his hand. This wasn’t in the plan. No one should be sending me anything.
About the size of a compressed oval hatbox, it was shrink-wrapped with my name in black permanent ink on the outside and no return address.
“Um, do you know who left this for me?” I asked as he handed it over. It smelled like flowers and the green scent of grass and cut stems, but that didn’t make sense. No one was supposed to know I was here, which meant someone was following us or had bugged us or something, maybe through one of our phones. I was always suspicious of those GPS apps.
“It came in with the flower delivery guy.” The concierge tilted his head. “Ooh, maybe it’s a gardenia. They sometimes wrap them up on ice like that. Maybe your boyfriend got it for you.”
“Maybe,” I said, but I wasn’t betting on it.
I woke Will up when I got to the room and opened the package. It wasn’t a gardenia. It was an animal heart, a canine’s to be exact, bigger than a Chihuahua, but just about the size of a cocker spaniel. Before the first change I wouldn’t have known that, but now, somehow, I did.
The room phone rang.
“Don’t answer that,” I said. I was spooked and all I wanted to do was get out of here.
“It’s just the wake-up call. I set it for seven, and if I don’t answer it’ll just keep ringing.”
The minute he picked up the hotel landline, my own cell phone went off. I looked at the caller ID. “It’s Amber,” I said, and answered. But it wasn’t Amber, it was Elle, on Amber’s line.
“I just wanted to tell you, Ashlee.” Elle’s voice was muffled, and it sounded hoarse, like there was a catch in it. “Spanky’s gone. Got any ideas?”
Elle wasn’t usually sentimental, but she was about that dog if anything.
I stared in horror at the heart on ice, dreading the thought that passed through my brain. Nobody could be that sick, could they?
“Umm…” I told her about what I’d just received.
Elle cursed like a sailor, dropping F-bombs left and right. “There goes the plan, having Amber wear a wig and pose as you while we keep her guarded. Somehow the perp figured out where you are.”
“Yeah, I got that,” I said drily. “What now, Maestro?”
“You’re not safe there anymore.”
“I’m not safe back at your house.”
“Safer than in some hotel.”
“Why don’t Will and I go to my apartment?”
“There’s no one to help protect you there either,” Elle argued.
“Come on home, Ashlee,” I could hear Amber say in the background. Funny, I think that’s the first time I’d heard that in a long time.
Home.
Maybe that was the difference between love and like, between family and friends. Your family might drive you crazy and vice versa, but when the chips are down, they’ll be there. It brought a lump to my throat.
“Okay,” I husked. “We’ll come home.” Will nodded solemnly as I clicked off my phone, then I took the battery out. “Yours too,” I said, pointing at his old Nokia. “No battery, no tracking.”
“Let’s search our stuff,” he said as he complied. We did, but didn’t find anything. Hey, we’re not some kind of secret agents, all right? Maybe the police have a scanner or detector gizmo.
I put it out of my mind as we packed, making sure to keep the bloody carton intact for evidence. Come to think of it, I doubted it was Spanky’s. I would have known by the smell, wouldn’t I?
I hoped.
I prayed.
When we got home, the house seemed like a tomb. Amber stayed seated on the davenport in the family room, a big glass of wine in her hand, and looked at me with accusing eyes red from crying. Elle met us halfway and quivered with energy and anger. My mother floated above them, her ethereal arms outstretched as if she wanted to hold them. They couldn’t see her, but it made me feel a bit better to know she was there.
“Where’s JR?” I asked as Will dropped our suitcases.
“At his father’s,” Elle replied. “We thought it best to hold off a few days on telling him. Just in case Spanky comes back.”
“He’s not coming back.” Amber stood up. “Not until Ashlee gets her shit together…” She trailed off as Elle put a hand on her arm. My sister looked at me with wounded resentment and I couldn’t blame her.
“I know. I know. I’m sorry.”
Amber looked like she wanted to say something nasty and cutting, but held back. You gotta give her credit for that. Like Dad says, we’re not responsible for our feelings, just our actions.
Sometimes I can’t stand him too, because he’s usually right. It’s annoying.
Will made himself scarce and went up to my room. We’d dropped off the cooler at the police station on the way into town and had spent a few minutes talking with Knightsbridge’s finest.
“This is all my fault, Amb,” I apologized again.
“Damn straight it is.” Amber sniffed. She looked miserable, and this time that didn’t make me the least bit happy.
“Amber,” Elle scolded. “We talked about this.”
“No,” Amber turned on Elle. “You talked, I listened. Well, I’m tired of listening. Somebody’s going to have to take matters into her own hands,” she said and she headed for the garage.
“Amber, don’t do anything foolish.” Elle followed her, sounding just like my mother.
I winced, remembering all of those fights we had when we were in high school and I had refused to give my sister the car keys when she had a mad on. She loved to drive recklessly at high speeds when she was pissed off. Hopefully Elle could talk her down.
Alone in the room for the moment – at least, with no corporeal beings – I rounded on my mother, who was looking at me with sorrow in her eyes. “Can’t you do anything?”
Mom sighed and looked heavenward as if listening to a voice I couldn’t hear. After a moment, she said, “I can tell you this, dear. You are going to have to stop playing the victim and take responsibility for your actions.”
“What does that mean?” I railed at her. “I can’t just tell everyone I’m a werewolf. How will that solve anything?”
“Blood calls to blood, Ashlee, and you have a blood debt on your hands. Maybe it’s time you figured out what the spirits want from you.” She said this as she briefly cradled my cheek, and then disappeared.
I sighed and went to the bedroom. Will was sound asleep and snoring, which bugged me. You’d have thought he’d had the best night's sleep last night, going to bed early and all.
Guys.
I pulled my laptop out from under the bed and started scouring the net. By dinnertime, I had some idea of what I had to do. After a glum meal of leftovers, we all went to bed early. I fell asleep immediately; after all, I hadn’t had much rest last night.
Will had gone down to the living room and watched television, and I didn’t even notice when he crawled back under the covers with me.
MoonRise Page 19