by Devyn Dawson
She jumped up from the chair, tossing her reading glasses down on her seat. In an instant everyone held their breath. It isn’t often that my mom got ticked off, but when she did….prepare for the worst. Her hair was up on the top of her head in some half pony tail, half bun, but it was flopping back and forth as she pulled on the front of her shirt, straightening it out.
“Someone please explain to me at what point you came up with the idea that you can go off half cocked chasing after a new vampire. A fledgling! Not any vampire at that!” She flipped around with her finger pointing and walked up to Abel and jabbed her finger at his chest. “Abel Casey, do you have any idea what kind of trap you could have just walked in on? Anything could have gone wrong. She could have had that Pascale vamp with her and that would have turned out ugly. I cannot teach you how to be a wolf if you’re running around like a child. Am I perfectly clear?” Mom said through clinched teeth.
Abel cleared his throat but stood tall with his hands by his side. “Dolly, I’m sorry. It was stupid for me to go off to meet her. It seemed important at the moment, in retrospect it was dumb. I honestly didn’t expect anything to go wrong, but if it makes all of you feel better, I had my stake with me.” Abel pulled the stake out of his waistband.
“Oh, yeah, that makes me feel better,” mom said. She pinched the bridge of her nose and announced, “I’m going to my room to read. If you must leave, go together and leave me a note.” She grabbed her Interview with the Vampire fist edition and headed down the hall.
“Seriously mom, a vampire book?” We all busted out laughing. “I’m in the mood for a movie; hopefully there is something in there that doesn’t consist of subtitles.” I opened up the storage cabinet full of movies to see what DVD’s they had available. I was secretly hoping Gus and Abel would take the hint and go in the other room to play video games; no such luck.
Oakley and I were lying on our side spooning on the couch. I could feel the steady inhale and exhale of his breath on the back of my neck making it hard to concentrate on the movie. My body was heightened with the feeling of his hand on my hip and his other arm as a pillow under my head.
“I’ve missed you Pru. Lying here next to you, feeling your back pressed into my chest, and how your hair tickles my nose, makes me forget our time apart. If it were in a different place, I’d roll you over onto your back and explore every inch of your gorgeous body.” Oakley thought to me.
“That would be pretty amazing, however we have our Great Wolf over there cutting some serious logs and Gus looks like he is enjoying himself some Angelina Jolie.” I scooted to the edge and flipped myself so we would be chest to chest. “I don’t see any reason we couldn’t kiss a little bit, I’m sure Gus is too busy fantasizing over there to even notice.” I closed my eyes and lifted my mouth, anticipating his lips to press against mine. His hand reached behind leg and pulling it over his thigh. I entwined my foot in between his legs and my arm around his back, almost as if I was trying to make us as one. At first the kiss started out slow and sweet, he put his hand into the small of my back, pulling me as tight to him as possible. The hunger behind his kiss fooled my brain into submission. My thoughts were clear and impure, my heart jumping a beat with my temperature rising “we have to slow down; we can’t do this right here.” I pulled myself away from his embrace so fast I fell off the couch with a giant thud. I curtsied and hurried into the kitchen to pop some popcorn before I had to explain myself to Oakley.
“Gus? Have you used this microwave before? I have no idea what buttons to push,” I said as I fumbled around pushing random buttons. I felt hands on my waist and a loud “BOO!” in my ear. He scared me so bad I thought I peed my pants a little bit. I turned around and smacked my assailant Gus. “If you ever do that again, I will make sure you sing soprano for a year,” I said as I poked my finger into his chest.
“You can dish, but you can’t take. I’ll be sure to wear a cup for the safety of my jewels.” Gus said as he pushed the buttons on the microwave and the popcorn bag started rising up.
I took a deep breath and stepped in closer to him, “Gus, I can take whatever you want to give”, I whispered as I reached up and stroked his face.
He bent down and whispered in my ear, “be careful what you offer, little girl.”
“You’re full of yourself tonight. Ever call me a little girl again and I’ll teach you the meaning of little.” I turn away and strutted back to the living room with my bowl of popcorn.
Walking into the room, Oakley looked up at me with a quizzical look on his face. “You are still aware that I’m a werewolf with amazing hearing, right?”
“What? I was popping popcorn.” I sat next to him, scooting over to place the bowl in his lap. I put a piece of popcorn in my teeth, leaning forward offering it to him. His eyes glazed over and his hand went behind my head as he pulled me closer and gently took the popcorn with his teeth. He swallowed it whole and pulled me in for a deep lingering kiss, the kind that made you forget your name.
He pulled back and whispered in my ear, “if you’re going to flirt with another pack-mate, make sure you aren’t in hearing vicinity.”
“I wasn’t flirting; I was talking and joking around.” I leaned back on the couch, grabbing one of the sofa pillows and hugged it to my chest.
“Call it like you want, but in my book that is flirting. I’m kidding with you P, don’t be sensitive.” He reached over putting his hand under my chin and lifting my face to see him. “What’s wrong P.”
“I don’t know. I think I’m a little homesick. You have no idea how badly I’d like to sleep in my own bed for a change. Tomorrow is my dad’s birthday, the first one since he died. Everywhere I turn I feel like I hear him, or sometimes I smell his Drakkar cologne. I dunno; I miss the way things were.” I pulled the pillow in tighter, hoping it would hold my shattered heart in place.
“I know baby, it’s hard on all of us, but I know it’s even more so for you and Dolly. You know you can always talk to me.” Oakley said as he brushed a few hairs off of my face, tucking them behind my ear.
“I’m okay, go ahead and play the movie, I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Oakley sat back on the couch, pulling me over to him. I placed my head on his chest and we watched a movie, like any other normal couple. Funny to think that, since we’re anything but normal.
Chapter 18. Drugged
“Do you know, said the stranger, whilst he was getting up, who I am, and who it is whom you have helped on his legs again?” Deaths Messengers ~ Grimm’s Household Tales
We’d all gone to bed leaving Gus and my mom’s bodyguard Chad to take turns guarding the pack as we slept. I was still having a hard time sleeping in the twin sized bed my room had to offer. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone that I’d fallen out of it almost every night. As I lay there waiting for sleep to claim me, I did my usual rituals. I’d thank all of the elements of wind, fire, water and spirit for protecting our family. I prayed for each member of the pack and all of the pack wolves in the world. I even said a short prayer for all of the rogue wolves so they would find their way back to a pack. I was confused about religion, not knowing if it helped or not but I figured it didn’t hurt anything. My body relaxed and my thoughts trailing to Pascale, wondering what he was up to. My body twitched and slumber was claiming me…when my phone received a text; at the same moment the phone to the house started ringing. I heard the doorbell and its harsh ringing sound echo through the once silent house. Everyone in the house was on guard, running to the front door to find who was visiting at two in the morning.
Chad answered the phone, I heard him call out to Dolly that she had a phone call. Gus opened the door in time to catch the intruder as he collapsed face first into Gus’s arms. Oakley and Gus carried the stranger into the common room setting him down on the floor to access his wounds. Mom came running into the room telling everyone to be careful; this was the wolf that was left behind by the O’Connell pack. All of us were tagged with a little mi
cro-chip that could be tracked via gps. Last winter the O’Connell pack flew in to Oklahoma from Ireland; they intended on taking Abel back with them. After negotiations it was decided that Abel was staying with us. Our I.T. guys were able to pull the chip info from everyone in their pack. When one of the chips didn’t fly back to Ireland and stayed in Oklahoma, we kept tabs on his movement.
Physically, we didn’t see any damage but it was obvious something was wrong with him. His tuxedo was too expensive to be hanging out in bars so I didn’t think he was drunk. Mom came over with her medical kit in hand.
“Back up all of you, right now!” Mom shouted at us. “Pru, go into the dressing room, inside the right hand drawer is a bottle of ipecac syrup, grab it and bring it to me quickly.”
I ran as fast as I could and brought it back to my mom. “What do you think is wrong?” I asked.
“I don’t think it is anything, I know it is an herb poisoning. He’s been poisoned with wolfsbane.”
The room collectively gasped in disbelief. “Oh wow, will he survive?”
“I don’t know” mom said as she pointed to each of us and gave orders. “Abel I need you to come over here and help me undress him. As you take off his clothes, be sure to watch for any bruises or his veins looking like they are black. You’ll know what I’m talking about the minute you see it.” Mom pulled Abel’s hand as he knelt on the ground next to her.
“You’re afraid he’s developing sepsis aren’t you?” Abel said as he unbuckled his elegant black belt that was hidden under his jacket.
I pulled off his shoes and helped mom hold him up so the guys could pull off his pants. I heard a loud thud as something fell to the ground; I reached down and picked up the black leather wallet. Thumbing through it I found his name to be Kenneth Bourne; his passport was recently stamped from New York to Paris, France.
“Faster boys, we’ve got to get him completely naked so I can monitor his progress. The ipecac will make him vomit; I need to make sure that none of you get it on you. You’ll be right here on the floor with him.” Mom said. Her hands searched frantically through her medicine bag, pulling out a small vial and a dropper; she closed her eyes and said a small incantation.
“What are you suspecting?” I asked.
“It isn’t just wolfs bane that he has ingested, I think he has toad venom and if the venom is from an African toad, we are in for a ride. Look right here on his upper shoulder, see the small hole? Someone gave him a shot, and I’m guessing it was a lethal dose of wolfs bane and something else.” she smacked her forehead and said, “Pru, go into the kitchen and boil some water in the microwave - not a lot, maybe three ounces. Gather up some Rosemary, Thyme, Nettle Leaf, Valerian Root, Hawthorne, Kava Kava, and a jalapeño. I’ll measure it; you put it on a tray and bring it to me. I think he has about ten more minutes before he is dead. Run!”
“I’ll help Pru, Gus will help Abel. Where is Chad?” Oakley said.
“He’s outside patrolling the area, checking for any clues he can find. We don’t have time to chat, go help Pru get that stuff together.” Dolly said.
I fumbled through the herbs trying to remember everything on the list. What I was forgetting, Oakley was remembering and we got the tray and boiling water to my mom within a minute or two. My hands were trembling, knowing a fellow werewolf was being poisoned. I was still unclear on my alchemist recipes. I put the tray on the floor next to my mom and she started measuring, pinching, and twisting herbs together and set them in the hot water. The elixir’s scent was nauseating between the jalapeño and the Kava Kava, it was pretty gross smelling.
Mom grabbed Kenneth by the shoulders and pulled him to a sitting position. His head stayed slack and spittle dripped from his mouth onto his shirt. She poured the ipecac into his mouth, holding his mouth closed with one hand and massaging his throat with the other hand to force him to swallow.
His eyes flew open, his gaze focused as he looked around the room. It would last a few seconds and then his eyes would roll back in his head one by one. If you’ve never seen just one eye roll back, trust me, you didn’t want to. His breathing sounded labored. His body lurched forward as he vomited up his guts. The stench of the foamy black contents made my own stomach churn.
“You didn’t get any on you did you Pru?” Mom asked.
I scanned myself and reassured everyone I was vomit free.
The front door slammed shut, causing all of us to jump a little. Chad ran into the room to announce he couldn’t find any evidence of Kenneth’s arrival. As a matter of fact he didn’t find the car that he was in. His scent went as far as the driveway and that was it.
“He didn’t have much cash in his wallet; I bet he paid with a credit card. Pru, toss me his wallet; I’m going to run his credit card and find out what company gave him a ride. The way he is dressed, I bet it was a limo.” Oakley said as he booted up his laptop.
Kenneth let out a guttural moan and started blathering about who-knows-what. Nothing he said made any sense. His Irish accent made the words sound even more gibberish-like. In a moment he lurched backwards back onto the floor, his body was rigid, but he was still breathing. We all exchanged looks, having never experienced such peculiar reactions from another werewolf.
“Here goes nothing,” mom said as she poured the elixir down Kenneth’s throat. Abel held him upright and mom held his mouth shut. She said a healing incantation and I closed my eyes to concentrate on the healing.
I could hear Oakley on the computer, frantically typing in Kenneth’s information. “This limo service isn’t answering the phone, so I’m sending them a quick email. How’s he doing?” Oakley asked.
I held my finger to my lips, trying not to break my mom’s concentration. If you could measure tension, the room was full of it. We weren’t sure why this man showed up at our place in Paris, after a year of no contact, but here he was passed out and half dead. It wasn’t clear if he was someone to trust or not. I was mentally crossing my fingers that we were able to help him in time before we were stuck with an O’Connell death. Couldn’t we have a normal night of werewolves and sleep? Was it too much to ask?
We sat in the same position for the next few hours, our bodies stiff from sitting on the floor with our still alive mystery guest. He hadn’t come to yet, but his breathing and heart rate were steady.
“Mom, why don’t you go take a nap, Abel and I have this under control,” I said. “I’ll get you if he wakes up. Don’t even give me that look, I promise I will.”
She shook her head yes as she peeled herself up off the floor, bending from side to side. “I’ll be in the bedroom. I’ll get up to fix us some breakfast by seven.” She bent over kissing Abel and I on the forehead.
Oakley had his head propped up with his hand on the arm of the couch. His head bobbed back and forth a few times, giving Abel and I a good giggle.
“What do you think this guy’s story is?” Abel asked.
“I’m not sure. I am guessing he knew he was poisoned and my mom would be able to cure him. The scary part about it, he knew exactly where we were. That means we have eyes and ears around here feeding someone information about us. It will be interesting to find out his story and how he knew we were here.” I looked down at our sleeping friend; I noticed a small flicker of his eyes as they moved back and forth behind his eyelids. Abel noticed it too. We sat in silence for a few minutes, to test if our friend was really awake. I took a deep breath and listened to his heart rate for any obvious signs of awake activity. It would totally suck if we wrongly accused a half dead man of eavesdropping.
Mom gave me a tap on my shoulder and whispered in my ear “honey, get up. Meet us in the kitchen for breakfast.” Looking around the room I noticed everyone was gone, including Kenneth. Someone had covered me up with a lime green afghan; it looked homemade and was as soft as cotton balls.
The scent of sausage and syrup interrupted my afghan admiration. After a quick trip to the bathroom to freshen up, I met everyone in the kitchen. “How did all of y
ou manage to sneak past me?” Abel shrugged his shoulders and everyone else looked at me with deer in headlights eyes. “I can’t believe I fell asleep that hard.” I lean over and snag a biscuit off the pyramid of them in the middle of the table.
Oakley pulled the barstool next to him out for me to sit in. “I told everyone to be quiet so you could sleep” Oakley said. “Sit. Our friend Kenneth was about to tell us his story.”
“How long has he been up?” I thought to Oakley. My brain told me to sit back and listen to what he had to say. What else could possibly go wrong?
“Not long, maybe thirty minutes. So far, he has been pretty quiet. He said something about not being here to cause any trouble. I think he is on the up-and-up, but you never know when it comes to the O’Connell’s.” Oakley thought back to me.
“Eh everyone, I appreciate the help last night. I’d been trying to figure out where you were staying, luckily my friend knew where you were,” Kenneth said. He poured syrup all over his eggs, sausage, biscuit and croissants, making my stomach turn at the thought of it. He filled his fork with a little of each and shoved it in his mouth. Not missing a beat he continued on with his story. He only paused as he sipped his black coffee. “I stayed in Oklahoma when my pack visited you. It wasn’t for any other reason than to find out if Abel was the Great Wolf or not. Patrick agreed to let me stay but I wasn’t to get in the way of your training, Abel. I flew here to Paris after receiving a text that Oakley and Abel were on their way here. I had to make sure everything was okay. After I arrived, I met with a friend of mine that happens to be an insider with the Pascale clan.”