“I heard a noise,” the female said, its voice low and soothing.
“And you thought you’d rush in to save me?” Mary Alice sneered at her, desperate for someone else to hurt as badly as she did. “How noble of you, to come rushing down here to save your own skin.”
The female’s face hardened, and it drew itself up, its posture stiffening from sympathy to righteous anger. “If I have to save myself by saving you, whose fault is that?” Its voice was cutting in its contempt. “I didn’t ask to be here. You’re the one who dragged me here and made sure I couldn’t leave. If you have a problem with the way I am, you should kick me out. I’d be fine with that. More than fine!”
Mary Alice clenched her fist around the hammer, and then forced herself to loosen her fingers. Carefully, she laid the hammer on the bench and stepped away from the female. That answered her question on the female’s level of dominance. It was anything but submissive, that was for certain sure. It was also smart. There was no way Mary Alice would risk losing it, and the female knew it. To lose the female meant losing Cassidy. She would need to watch it closely. Already, it was reaching for power in the dynamic between them.
“You’re here to stay until Cassidy is better.” It took more effort to keep her voice steady than she should have needed. Her training had imparted a level of stoicism to her that she hadn’t had beforehand. She’d been a rebellious teen, but boot camp had knocked most of that out of her. “Get used to it.”
“Are you all right?”
The quiet question threatened to undo Mary Alice completely. The last thing she expected from the female was compassion, not when she’d kidnapped her and held her against her will.
“I’m peachy. Thanks for asking. How could things get any better than this?”
“Losing family is hard.”
“I haven’t lost anyone.”
“Even if she comes through this, she won’t be the same. Your sister is gone.” The compassion was almost gone, drowned under brutal bluntness. “The sooner you get used to it, the more help you’ll be in bringing her back.” The female emphasized the mocking words, throwing them back in Mary Alice’s face. She stalked closer to Mary Alice, getting close enough that she felt the heat of her body, though they weren’t touching.
Her face heated and Mary Alice clung to her temper with everything she had. The female was toying with her, trying to break her down with pity, then bludgeoning her with reality. It wasn’t going to work.
“You better hope she’s not gone,” she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. “If she goes, you’ll follow right along behind her.”
The female stood in front of her a moment longer, their bodies separated by less than an inch, their faces so close they breathed the same air. Just when she thought she was going to have to shove the female back, to get her out of her space, the female backed down.
“This is what I mean. You’re too aggressive right now, too primed for a fight. Your sister needs calming energy, and you bring anything but that. She’ll respond to your agitation, which is only going to fuel the wolves within her.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re anything but fine. Until you can rein yourself in, I can’t let you near her.”
“Let me?” Mary Alice thought she was going to burst a blood vessel as roaring filled her ears. The pulse in her neck pounded and her fingers twitched, wanting a target, something to rend to very tiny pieces.
“Do you want her to survive or not?”
“Of course I do.” Mary Alice ground the words out past clenched teeth.
“Then do something to bring yourself back under control. You’re no use to anyone in this state.”
Mary Alice picked up the hammer and threw it hard at the far wall. It struck with a crack and powder rained down from crushed brick. The female stared at her, impassive, though the tool had passed within inches of her left ear. Without another word, she turned and wended her way between the scrap metal and waiting sculptures. The door to the stairwell closed behind her, leaving Mary Alice alone, chest heaving as she tried to breathe through the lump that had taken up residence in her throat.
It pained her to admit that the female was right, but the dent in the opposite wall was more than enough proof that she was losing it. The female had only vocalized what she’d already suspected but couldn’t admit, not even in the quiet spaces of her own mind.
There was only one way she knew to get through this. She pulled the goggles back down over her eyes and picked up a torch. It was time to see if she could recreate the sculpture she’d just destroyed. Maybe this time she could get it to match the ugliness in her head.
Chapter Sixteen
Ruri stalked quietly back up the stairs. Malice had shaken her, though she didn’t think the human knew it. For a moment, Ruri had seen her own death staring from Malice’s eyes. If she’d wanted to, she could have crushed Ruri’s head with that hammer. Ruri doubted she would have lost much sleep over her death. The only thing she would have mourned was the loss of someone to help her sister.
She opened the door back into the echoing vastness of the top floor space. Even though the floor one story down had been filled with scrap and what looked to her eyes like strange and spiky junk, it had seemed more vital and lived-in than this area.
The wolf had approved of the work area, oddly. Anything could have been hiding in there; it was that big a mess, but she’d felt more at ease than she did up here. Ruri reveled in the feeling of her wolf’s fur just below her skin. She smiled and stood still, luxuriating in being reunited with her other half.
After reassuring herself that the wolf was definitely back, Ruri kept going. She needed to see if she could shift, and thinking of doing so in the middle of a wide-open space left her feeling too vulnerable, like eyes watched her from the shadows. She wandered through the makeshift rooms that made up Malice’s living area. The kitchen was nice, with top-of-the-line appliances. The walls were basically temporary dividers, but they felt like they had more permanence here. Ruri could tell that Malice spent a lot of time in the kitchen.
Off the kitchen was a small living area. The overstuffed couch faced a television and DVD player. There was a thin layer of dust on the TV, and Ruri suspected it saw little use. The couch had an imprint where somebody spent a fair amount of time. A stack of books stood neatly next to that end of the couch, most of them creased and dog-eared as though they’d been read and reread many times. For a moment, Ruri was tempted to sit on the couch and shift. The couch would probably be ruined as a result and she was angry enough at the Hunter to contemplate it.
The bathroom was as unimpressive as the kitchen had been impressive. The space was barely bigger than a broom closet. The only way someone would fit on the toilet was if their legs were inside the temporary shower. The shower was a head hanging straight down from the ceiling sixteen feet or more above. A curtain could be pulled around for a modicum of privacy. Ruri wondered why Malice even bothered since she obviously lived by herself. The curtain would do very little to retain heat and she shuddered at the idea of showering in there. To one side was a large metal tub, which was even more disturbing than the shower. She could only imagine that it must be filled from the spigot in the ceiling, then the whole thing dumped out into the drain after bath time. As baths went, Ruri hadn’t seen one this primitive since she’d left home. And they called the wolven animals.
Finally, Ruri made her way back to the bedroom where she’d first awoken. The room was spare, little more than a bed, one dresser and a wardrobe. It struck her as she looked around the depressing room that she hadn’t seen much in the way of personal effects. The closest she’d come had been the stack of books next to the couch. Malice had no family photos, no pieces of artwork. There weren’t even crappy posters of kittens with inspirational sayings on them. If the Hunter left one day and didn’t come back, no one would have known anything about her from her living quarters. Ruri wondered if the impersonal nature of her living arrangements wa
s purposeful or unconscious.
The bedroom was as good a place as any to try shifting. Fortunately, there was no carpeting in here, just a couple of bland throw rugs that did little to warm the place up or bring any character to the space.
Ruri shucked her clothes, tossing them on the bed. She moved the throw rugs out of the way and got down on the floor, one knee up and one down, her weight mostly on her hands. She closed her eyes and tried to let go of herself, to let the wolf come into her completely. When she was angry or afraid, the wolf naturally wanted to take charge, to protect her from whatever caused her trouble. Shifting was so much harder to do without external influences. It was one of the hardest things to teach the newly changed, even harder than keeping the wolf at bay when it was trying to respond to a threat.
Ruri emptied her mind of human concerns. She still buzzed with adrenaline from Malice’s almost-attack, but not enough for the wolf to respond. Her mind wandered along strange paths, the strangest of which was her sadness over the emptiness of Malice’s living space. She shed the thought quickly. What did she care if Malice was a sad, lonely person? The woman was holding her against her will. And what was she going to do about Cassidy?
The wolf surged into her, concern spiking to anguish at the thought of losing a potential new packmate. The last of the wolfsbane held her back and Ruri could feel the wolf straining below her skin by the thinnest of margins. Her skin prickled all over like fur was about to start sprouting but couldn’t. It was like having a sneeze trapped in her sinuses but without giving her the satisfaction of erupting. Ruri growled with the effort of trying to let her wolf come forth while forcing her to the surface of her skin at the same time.
The image of Cassidy curled up among torn sheets in the corner of that metal box popped into her mind. The growl in her chest deepened and became more guttural as her wolf responded violently to it. The prickling intensified and Ruri’s jaws cramped, then burst with fluids as long teeth forced themselves into her mouth. She lifted her head and opened her mouth, trying to give the extra teeth more room as her jaw lengthened to accommodate them. Suddenly, the change was on her in full force. Fur forced itself through her epidermis in an effluvial surge. She grunted in momentary pain as her bones snapped and her joints popped, muscles elongating and shrinking as they flowed into different forms.
Moments later, it was over. She panted, tongue lolling from her mouth as she adjusted to the shift. It had been more intense than normal. Almost violent as the pent-up energy her wolf brought had blown through her all at once.
Ruri gave herself a brisk shake, flinging from her fur the last of the fluids brought on by the rapidity of the shift. The human probably wouldn’t be happy that they now painted half of her bedroom. She grinned a lupine smile, tongue lolling from her mouth, satisfied with the way her scent now almost completely covered up the little of Malice’s scent she could make out. The human smelled almost like nothing.
A low rumble welled up in her chest and ended in a questioning whine as she grappled with the implications. Vampires smelled like nothing at all. They existed as an absence of smell in the rich landscape of scents the wolven contended with when in wolf form. An experienced wolven could pick out a vamp by its scent-void. Malice was close to that, but there was enough there that Ruri knew she wasn’t a vampire. What she was, though, Ruri couldn’t decide. The wolf didn’t like that. Malice didn’t smell like predator or prey but like something altogether different. Some strains of her faint scent were definitely human, but others smelled familiar, and others were distinctly alien. Maybe her home smelled so empty because Malice didn’t leave much scent trace behind.
A new smell wafted over to her. Cassidy’s ever-changing scent caught the wolf’s attention and she pricked her ears up. The underlying scent of the girl didn’t change, but the wolf scent skittered and altered unexpectedly. She had work to do, she remembered. There was a young wolven to bring into the pack. She left the room, toenails clicking on concrete as she made her way through the rooms and out the front entrance.
The metal box was just as upsetting as she remembered and Ruri whined when she saw it. She heard movement in the box in response. Slowly, she circled it, trying to determine where she could get as close to Cassidy as possible. It sounded and felt like the girl was curled up in the corner closest to the door.
Ruri turned in a tight circle before lying down on the cold cement. It was chilly enough to seep into her bones even through the wolf’s thick pelt. It didn’t bother her, but she was aware of it. She leaned against the wall of the box and felt an answering presence on the other side. Cassidy was leaning into her, separated only by the thick metal walls of her prison. It was a good sign. The girl responded to Ruri’s wolf. Hopefully she would have the strength to respond to her own wolf, once one finally came to dominate the others.
Content simply to lie there and offer quiet support to the suffering changeling, Ruri nosed at the bracelet on her leg, snuffing it carefully. Malice hadn’t lied. The ankle bracelet was still there; it hadn’t fallen off when she changed. It felt easily as snug as it had when she’d been in human form. The acrid smell of bitumen tickled her nostrils and she sneezed, covering the bracelet with slobber. It was a good look for it, she decided. She shifted her head so she wouldn’t have the smell constantly assaulting her nose.
There was nothing to do now except to wait and let Cassidy get used to the wolf. When Malice recovered from her anger and showed her face again, Ruri would get her to open up the box. She yawned hugely, enjoying the way it stretched the muscles of her face and jaw, then settled in.
Mary Alice opened the door from the stairwell into gloom. She’d been down in the studio for hours. It had taken a bit, but she’d finally been able to lose herself in the work of creation. After that, she’d been in the zone and had lost all track of time. When she finally came out, it was dark. The windows on the west end of the room were slightly lighter, but they wouldn’t be for long.
There was enough light to see by and she made her way to her quarters. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought she was alone up there. For the first time in days, no sounds came from Cassidy’s box, no shifting or scratching, no whining and howling. There was also no sign of the female.
Mary Alice flipped on the lights as she moved through the rooms. There was no lycan anywhere. She found her first sign in the bedroom when she stepped in a puddle of iridescent goo. It slipped underfoot and only her excellent balance and reflexes kept her from going down. The wolfsbane had worn off. Apparently the female felt good enough to shift. Mary Alice hadn’t expected her to be able to do so for a few hours yet. The female was stronger than she’d bargained for, not that it could be helped now.
She couldn’t help but smirk a little. The message was clear. The female held her in enough disdain to shift in her bedroom. She couldn’t fault her, not really. Uncertainty shivered through her. The ankle bracelet should have held up to the transformation, but it wasn’t like she could test it. What if the female had slipped it? She could have taken off. Had she taken Cassidy with her?
Panic rose on the tails of uncertainty and Mary Alice shoved it down before it could overwhelm her. The important thing was Cassidy. She jogged through her home to the box. To her relief, the door was still barred, twin padlocks in place. The only key was still on the chain around her neck. A figure was curled up against one corner and it lifted its shaggy head at her approach. Twin ears lifted and rotated toward her; golden eyes glowed at her from the darkness.
The wolf flowed to its feet and gave itself a brisk shake before trotting over to her. It stopped just out of reach and regarded her. Mary Alice stared back. She knew better than to break off the stare. There was no way she was going to signal that she was anything other than in charge here. They stood, locked in their silent contest of wills before the wolf finally glanced to one side. Her tongue hung from the side of her mouth and she seemed to be laughing. Mary Alice got the distinct feeling she was being told she hadn�
�t won the contest, but that the female had allowed her a dignified way out. Mary Alice mentally revised her estimation of the female’s age. She’d assumed she was close to the age she appeared as when human, but there was a maturity to her wolf that she hadn’t seen very often in her work.
The wolf gave Mary Alice a respectful berth and stopped in front of the door, looking back at her. When Mary Alice made no move to join her, the wolf tilted her head and looked up at the bar, then back at her. She expelled air through her nostrils in a whuff that couldn’t have been anything but impatience.
Mary Alice realized the female wanted into the box. She shook her head to clear her distraction and pulled the key from around her neck. It took short work to open the locks and pull the bar off the door. She opened it enough for the wolf to get through, but no wider. She peeked her head around the corner in time to catch the wolf curling up around her sister.
A beep from her watch reminded her it was time to reset the ankle bracelet. The female seemed to be complying so far, so Mary Alice would live up to her end of the bargain. She closed and locked the door before heading back over to the stairwell. The terminal from which she monitored and controlled the anklet was with her work gear on the first floor. It hadn’t seemed prudent to leave it in close proximity to the female. Sure, it was secured by a bio-lock, but her severed hand would open it just as easily as if her hand was still attached to her wrist.
As long as everything continued as it had been, the female would stay in one piece.
Chapter Seventeen
The next few days, they settled into a routine. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but the female seemed content to do what she could with Cassidy and she tried to stay out of her way. Not that Mary Alice could help but try and observe what was going on, but the female had been right. Her presence did seem to agitate her sister. With some regret, she kept her interaction with Cassidy to a minimum.
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