by Karen Lynch
“Yeah, he went after the um…”
“Vampire. You can say it, Peter.”
Roland and Peter exchanged looks, and Roland’s tone gentled like he was speaking to a child. “You’ve been through a lot and you’re in shock right now. We should talk about this later.”
“I know about vampires, Roland,” I said wearily. I heard Peter’s sharp intake of breath as Roland’s mouth fell open. Another time I might have found their reactions comical. “Of course, I know more about them now than I ever wanted to.”
“How do you – ?” Roland broke off as a group of people left the club and came down the stairs. It felt surreal to see people laughing and carrying on after what I’d just experienced, and I had to force down another wave of tears.
Roland jumped to his feet. “We should leave. We can talk in the car.”
“Okay.” I stood with him, but I pulled back when I remembered vampires hadn’t been the only creatures in the alley. “Wait! What happened to the werewolves?”
He paled and looked around nervously. “Werewolves?”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t see them. Or hear them.” My mind was still a bit fuzzy, but I’d never forget those yellow eyes or that massive jaw. “I only saw one, but I think there were more. For a minute there I was sure they got you. How could you not have seen them?”
“It was pretty crazy in there. I’m not sure what I saw,” Peter replied slowly, and right away I knew he was hiding something because his face grew flushed. He never could lie worth a damn.
“Oh come on. You were – ”
“I really think we should get out of here,” Roland cut in, and I heard the urgency in his voice. “Vampires normally travel in groups. There could be more of them around here.”
I pulled back. “Wait, how do you know that? How do you know about vampires at all?”
“We’ll explain later, but right now we have to get out of here in case there are more.” Roland tugged on my arm.
The thought of encountering another Eli sent a tremor through me, and I almost ran to his mother’s blue Toyota Camry parked across the street. Roland waited until I had buckled myself into the front passenger seat before he went around to the driver’s side and got behind the wheel. Through the windshield, I saw Peter pull out his cell phone and make a call. Peter’s worried eyes met mine as he spoke into his phone, and I wondered who he was talking to at this hour.
Peter hung up and climbed into the back seat. He looked troubled when he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the backs of our seats. “Dad said we need to bring Sara there before we take her home. He’s pretty pissed at us.”
“Take me where?” I asked apprehensively. “Why does your father want to see me?”
Peter and Roland shared a look before Peter answered. “To the farm. Dad will explain it all to you when we get there.”
“Why don’t you guys explain it to me now?” I unbuckled my seat belt and turned in my seat to face them. Neither of them could look me in the eye, and that made me nervous. “Roland, what is going on?” I demanded.
Roland gave me a pleading look. “Please, Sara, let’s just get out of here. I promise we’ll tell you everything.”
“I don’t understand. What do you mean…?” The question died on my lips when something brushed softly against my mind just as my eyes fell on the dark figure striding down the empty street toward us, light glinting off the knives strapped to his chest. I remembered how he had walked out of the dark and faced down the vampire without a trace of fear, and a shiver went through me. I wasn’t sure if it was pleasure at seeing my savior or fear; maybe a bit of both.
“Stay here,” Roland ordered before he and Peter jumped out of the car to intercept Nikolas.
“Yeah, I don’t think so,” I muttered, already reaching for the door handle. After what I’d been through, I had no intention of staying put. And something told me that Nikolas had not come back to see my friends.
“… hunter doing around here?” Roland was saying to Nikolas as I approached them. “This is not Mohiri territory.”
Hunter? Mohiri? Eli had used the word Mohiri, too. There was obviously a whole lot more going on here than I knew about.
Nikolas looked past my friends at me. “Hello again. You seem to have recovered quickly from your adventure.” He wore a wry smile, but I thought I heard admiration in his voice.
He waved a hand at Roland and Peter. “So, these are the friends you spoke of earlier,” he said with less warmth. “It’s no wonder you were attacked, with nothing but a pair of pups to protect you.”
Peter scowled. “Hey!”
I pushed between my friends to face Nikolas. Saving my life did not give him the right to talk to my friends that way. “It’s not their fault. How could they have known something like this would happen?”
Nikolas’s brows rose. “How indeed?”
“What do you mean? What’s going on here?” I’d have to be blind and deaf not to notice the thinly veiled animosity between my friends and Nikolas. When no one answered, I turned to Roland. “Roland? Do you know this guy?”
Behind me Nikolas made a sound that told me he did not like being referred to as “this guy.” I ignored him and glared at Roland until he shook his head. “I’ve never seen him before.”
“But you know something about him? What does Mohiri mean?”
“I am Mohiri,” Nikolas said. All traces of mockery were gone from his expression.
I faced him again. “And you hunt vampires.” That much was kind of obvious when you figured in his attire and the headless vampire in the alley, but I wanted to hear him say it.
“Among other things.” He had the same expression he had worn on the deck, like he was trying to figure me out. God, was it really only an hour ago?
“What about your friend from the club? Is he a hunter, too? Why didn’t he help you?”
“Chris scouted the area for more hostiles while I handled the situation here.”
The situation. That’s what he called battling two bloodthirsty vampires in a dark alley? I shook my head. “So what happened? Did you get the short straw or something?”
“Or something,” he drawled as his gaze burned into mine. Warmth curled in my stomach, and I dropped my eyes in confusion.
“What about the other vampire? Did you get him?” Peter asked.
“Chris is tracking him.”
“He got away?” Roland’s voice echoed my alarm. Eli had vowed to have me. Was he going to come after me again?
“He’s injured, so he won’t get too far. Don’t worry. He won’t stick around here now that he’s being hunted.”
“We should put some distance between us and this place all the same,” Roland said, and I silently agreed with him.
“You live in Portland?” Nikolas asked, and we shook our heads. “Good. The farther you get from the city the better. It’s not safe here right now.”
“No shit.” Roland took my arm. “We need to get out of here.”
We made it ten feet before it hit me. I haven’t even thanked him. I spun back to face Nikolas and found him watching me with that same impassive expression. “Thank you… for what you did. If you hadn’t come when you did…” My voice cracked. After the night I’d had, the last thing I needed was to start blubbering in front of a complete stranger.
Nikolas’s expression softened for a moment, and I saw a flicker of something raw and turbulent in his eyes. It pulled at me like it was an invisible cord attached to my chest, and I almost started walking toward him. But in the next moment, it was gone and I was left wondering if I had imagined it.
“Just doing my job.”
“Oh…okay, well thanks anyway.” His clipped words stung after what we’d just been through. It was the second time tonight he had suddenly gone cold toward me for no apparent reason. It shouldn’t have bothered me because it wasn’t like I’d ever see him again. But for some reason it did.
I didn’t look back this time as I walked to the car
. I got into the front seat again and laid my head wearily against the headrest while I waited for Roland to get in and start the engine. When I felt the car move I looked up, but the street was empty.
“Oh God, I need to call Nate.” Eli had shown up before I could call Nate. “What am I going to tell him?”
“Well, I don’t think you want to tell him the truth,” Roland said, and I shook my head. He thought for a minute. “Just tell him we’re going to hang at my house for a while. It’s what we would have done anyway.”
Nate, not surprisingly, was still up working on his book. I told him I was going to Roland’s, and he just said not to stay out too late. It weighed on me after I hung up how easily the lie had flowed from my lips. Nate was good to me, and all I ever did was deceive him. But I honestly could not see any way to tell him the truth.
No one spoke as Roland drove us through downtown Portland. We passed a few bars with people lined up to get in as taxis of more people arrived for a night of partying. It was Friday night and the night life was in full swing. At one stoplight I watched a group of laughing young women crossing in front of us, and I couldn’t help but think how that had been me a few hours ago. Was there another Eli watching them right now, selecting one to meet the fate that could have been mine tonight?
God, I’m nothing more than a statistic now. I read stories online all the time about vampire sightings and people disappearing. I’d always felt bad for the unsuspecting victims who had no idea what was out there. Until tonight, I believed I was smarter than them, more prepared because of what I knew. It was scary and humbling to know that I was just as vulnerable as everyone else.
As soon as we hit the interstate I heard Roland let out a sigh of relief. None of us were sorry to put Portland behind us. Roland fiddled with the radio until he found a classic rock station, and an Eagles song filled the car. We all relaxed a little after that, but none of us seemed inclined to speak. I knew they were keeping something from me, but my brain was too tired to process anything else right now.
A little more than an hour later, Roland took the exit ramp to New Hastings, but instead of heading into town, he drove toward the rolling farmland on the outskirts called the Knolls. He and Peter lived in the Knolls, and when we were kids I used to come out here all the time. I couldn’t count the hours I’d spent on their Uncle Brendan’s farm. As we passed the sign for the Knolls, it hit me that I hadn’t been out here in almost a year. Had it really been that long? Up until two years ago, not a weekend passed when I wasn’t with Roland and Peter. It was around that time that they began doing some “male bonding” thing with their cousins, going off on their outdoor excursions. I was hurt at first that they excluded me from their fun, until I started spending more time with Remy. Eventually, I stopped coming out here at all.
It was funny, now that I remembered it, that Roland had agreed to spend so much time with his cousins, especially Francis who was four years older than us. Roland and Francis had never gotten along, and as far as I knew, they still didn’t. Francis didn’t like me, and he never hid his feelings, which angered Roland. In fact, they’d had a huge fight – and I mean a bloody brawl – right before they started to hang out. We were at the farm when Francis came by and asked if I had a home to go to instead of always being underfoot. I would have told him where to go if Roland hadn’t punched him first. Next thing I knew, the two of them were tearing through Brendan’s cornfield, making a God-awful racket like two wild dogs trying to kill each other. Then Peter’s father, Maxwell, showed up and roared at them until they’d slunk out of the damaged corn like scolded puppies.
My mouth fell open. No!
Do you smell that, my friends?
It’s no wonder you were attacked with nothing but a pair of pups to protect you.
A large furry body jumping to catch me…
“It can’t be.” My hand clutched the seat belt that suddenly threatened to choke me.
Roland glanced at me. “Sara?”
I would know, right? All the days, the hundreds – no thousands – of hours together, I would have seen some sign. It wasn’t like I was ignorant of the real world. Sure I’d never seen a werewolf in person until tonight, but a person would never be able to hide the obvious drawbacks of lycanthropy from people close to them. That was why most werewolves were reclusive. Like vampires, they couldn’t touch silver, and it would be pretty hard to explain how you got second-degree burns from a silver fork. And werewolves were predators, they had to hunt. They couldn’t live among humans unless they transformed and hunted live animals at least once a month…
My hand flew up to cover my mouth. “Stop the car.”
“What’s wrong?” Roland asked in alarm.
“Stop the car!”
Peter leaned forward. “Dude, I think she’s going to hurl. Pull over.”
Roland let off the gas and eased the car over onto the shoulder in front of a dark field. As soon as the car stopped moving, I opened the door and ran to the fence where I bent over, trying to suck air into my lungs. Behind me, car doors opened and leaves crunched as my friends came after me.
My best friends, the werewolves.
Roland spoke hesitantly. “Are you okay?”
The worry in his voice penetrated the ache in my chest. I took a deep breath, but I couldn’t face them. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“I was in shock back there, but my head is clear now.” I gripped the top fence rail, and the rough wood dug into my palms. It was solid, more real than anything else tonight, and I clung to it. The desperate words I had heard as I woke up came back to me. I couldn’t reach her. “It was you on the fire escape, wasn’t it, Roland?”
Silence.
“Sara, I—” Roland began weakly.
“Shit,” Peter muttered.
A breeze soughed through the trees and ruffled my hair. Close by, a small animal rooted through the underbrush. It was so dark and quiet here, and so calm compared to the city. I took a deep, tremulous breath of the country air as I tried to think of what to say.
“Please don’t be afraid,” Roland said in a rush. “We would never hurt you.”
I turned to face them. “I know that. I’m not afraid of you. I’m upset because I had to wait for a vampire to attack me to find out the truth. And even then you tried to cover it up.”
I felt like a hypocrite as soon as the accusation spilled from my lips. I was yelling at my friends for keeping a secret from me when that’s exactly what I had been doing as long as I’d known them. My not-so-righteous indignation drained out of me, and I sagged against the fence, cold and tired.
Roland slowly walked toward me. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, his voice heavy with regret. “We had to hide it from you. We were bound by our laws.”
“And when my dad lays down a law, no one disobeys,” Peter added earnestly. “We wanted to tell you, but humans are not allowed to know about us.”
“Your father?”
Peter grimaced. “He’s the pack leader.”
Of course. Who else but Peter’s imposing father, Maxwell, would be alpha? “So both of your families, all your cousins, you’re all werewolves?”
“Yes,” Peter replied.
My breath came out in a whoosh.
“I know you’re upset, but please hear us out before you hate us,” Roland implored.
“I could never hate you guys.” My voice cracked. “It’s just a lot to take in after…”
Roland reached for me, but I put up a hand to keep him from trying to hug me again. Instead, I took his warm hand in mine to let him know my feelings for him hadn’t changed. He was still the same Roland I’d always know. Nothing would change that.
“Guys, my dad is waiting for us, and I bet he’s not alone. We should probably go.”
“Pete’s right.” Roland squeezed my hand. “You up for this?”
I nodded, and we walked back to the car. The mood during the rest of the drive was subdued. Roland and P
eter kept shifting restlessly like they wanted to talk but couldn’t. I had a ton of questions for them, but it looked like I wasn’t going to get any answers until we saw Maxwell.
For the first time in my life, I was nervous about visiting the farm, and I felt a stab of apprehension as we turned onto a narrow lane and I saw the large white farmhouse looming ahead. Every window was lit up, and I saw Maxwell’s Jeep parked next to Brendan’s big Chevy pickup.
I rubbed my forehead as Roland pulled up behind the pickup and shut off the engine. He reached across the console to lay a hand on my arm. “You okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just been a long night. Guess we should get this over with.”
Peter leaned forward. “It’s not that bad… depending on how you look at it. I mean, you just faced a couple of vampires. Can’t be as bad as that, right?”
“Pete, you’re not helping,” Roland said sharply.
A shadow appeared in one of the windows, and I knew they were waiting for us to come in. I took a deep breath and reached for the door handle. Peter was right. I’d just survived a vampire attack. A pack of werewolves should be a piece of cake.
I followed Peter as he opened the front door and entered the house. The first person I saw in the archway to the living room was Maxwell. Tall and sinewy with a hardened face, graying reddish brown hair and beard, he watched us with a shuttered expression as we filed inside. As many years as I’d known Maxwell, I had never gotten used to his austere ways. Not that he had ever been mean to me. But he was the only person I’d ever met who could intimidate the heck out of me. Of course, knowing that he was the alpha of a werewolf pack put things in a bit more perspective. It took a tough person to fill that role.
Standing next to Maxwell was his younger brother, Brendan. The two men were matched in height and had similar features, but Brendan was stockier with receding hair and a rounder face that gave him a less severe appearance than his brother. The serious, contemplative look he gave us made me nervous, and I almost turned and ran back out the door. I didn’t know if I could cope with another confrontation tonight.
Maxwell opened his mouth to speak, but a woman’s voice cut him off. Roland’s mother, Judith, was tall and slender but still inches shorter than her son. They had the same dark brown hair and blue eyes, though at forty-five Judith’s hair was speckled with gray. I’d never met Roland’s father because he died when Roland was a baby, but I always figured my friend had inherited his father’s size. He sure as hell didn’t get it from his mother.