Beauty is the Beast: Beasts Among Us - Book 1

by Jennifer Zamboni

  I hadn’t changed right off—not until the moon was full and I had to, and I had been completely alone. From what I had gathered, the alpha and the pack had abandoned me right after I was bitten. The alpha changer had been biting strong females in hopes to strengthen the packs he had begun, that didn’t necessarily mean the packs wanted us.

  Small talk kept us busy during the long drive, neither of us saying anything of consequence. I was thinking it wasn’t a stupendous start to a date, but it was better than uncomfortable silence.

  Doug directed me from a map in his lap, which he angled so I couldn’t see the area he had highlighted.

  “So, I’m guessing you want to try changing?” I pulled into the parking space closest to the woods. I could see the ocean directly ahead and woods on either side. There would be plenty of places to hide if we ran into any errant hikers.

  “Yes, I didn’t want to do it alone.”

  And there it was, the reason he’d asked me on what I had thought was supposed to be a date. He wanted me to act as his alpha and teacher.

  “Of course, that’s...” I struggled for the right thing to say. “Safer.”

  “Maybe, maybe not.” He came around the truck, closing my door for me.

  “Um… We should probably change somewhere off the path, in the woods.”

  “Yes, of course.” He grabbed our packs out of the bed of the truck and returned to my side, to hand me my bag, I thought.

  Instead, he leaned in and kissed me, softly, hesitantly. When he pulled away I pulled in a breath of surprise.

  “I thought—” I started but was stopped when he kissed me again, this time with more enthusiasm.

  I leaned into him as his arms folded around me in one of his comfortable hugs. He still had the ability to keep me calm, even as he sent my head spinning. Interesting. When the kiss ended, I buried my face in his shoulder.

  He squeezed me and chuckled. “Let’s go.” He stepped away and took my hand.

  Right, time for me to get a hold of myself and take charge. I lifted my nose to the wind and, smelling a complete lack of unwanted company, led him away from the path and up into the thick tangle of Maine woods.

  Woods in Maine are dense, mostly evergreens and a few birches and lots of thorn covered ground-hugging bushes.

  We hiked for perhaps half an hour before finding a spot secluded enough to appease our needs. Again, I scented the wind, making sure we were alone. I found a good clump of bushes to strip behind and let Doug find his own hiding spot. I remained clothed and instructed Doug to change first, if he could.

  I waited for the screams to start, but there was nothing except a very human growl of frustration.

  “Okay, sounds like I’m gonna have to go first. Stay there, no matter how loud I scream.” I knew it was going to hurt. We were bordering on the new moon, and the change was going to come hard and slow. I usually avoided it so close, but I didn’t want Doug to have to wait a week before trying it out.

  I stripped off my clothes and stowed them in my backpack, then shoved it all into the underbrush, piling partly decayed leaves on top. I pulled on the wolf, my skin feeling like it was ripping apart. I felt every strand of fur pierce through my pores, starting out like splinters being slowly extracted. My bones splintered like muffled gunshots, reforming themselves. I spit out blood as my teeth grew and split my gums. When my adrenaline finally kicked in, I felt as if I were going mad.

  On fours instead of twos, I searched out Doug. I found him naked and human, crouching in his hiding spot. At least naked for him was different than it was for me. There’s not much risk of a sneak peek with that much hair involved.

  Having thought that my wolfing out would spur the magic in his blood into action, as it worked that way in a pack, I sat staring him in the eye, pondering the best options. Pissing him off didn’t seem like the best solution, but nothing else was coming to mind.

  I rolled my lip at him. Change, damn it!

  He reached a hand out to pat me, and I seized it in my teeth, shaking him like a rabbit.

  The change came on him so strong and fast that he didn’t have a chance to scream before he was howling. As soon as he had four paws and a tail, I let go and stood back. He turned to me, crawling, before turning onto his back at my feet, offering me his soft belly.

  I yapped playfully, then ran full tilt into the woods. I heard him scramble to his feet behind me, then his body crashing through the underbrush. I finally got a good look at him when we reached a clearing that someone had used for camping recently. His overabundance of hair translated into a beautiful, long-coated wolf that looked like it belonged in Maine, or maybe Alaska. Shaggy or not, he made one gorgeous Canis.

  He crouched down as if to spring at me, and I took off running. If anyone was going to do any pouncing, it was going to be me.

  We reached the water faster than I thought, so I waited for him, lying down instead of using the butt-up-in-the-air pose he had used on me. As soon as he got close enough, I leapt up and onto his back. I outweighed him only a little, and we had a good tussle before he took off running with me in close pursuit.

  He was exuberant in his play, and I was glad I’d agreed to come out with him for this—not to mention the kiss that had preceded our hike.

  I might just end up with a pack after all.

  We spent the night in wolf form, roughing it in the woods. We’d had the good luck of avoiding hikers and were only forced to return to our clothes when the hidden new moon took over the next morning.

  I stumbled back to my hiding place. The amount of noise Doug was making fighting through a patch of wild blackberry bushes assured me he was close behind.

  The first thing I did after yanking on my underwear was pull my hair up into a pony. At least it hadn’t grown like it does when the wolf takes over. I glanced down at my bare legs speckled with just the barest hint of stubble, and I smiled. There were definitely advantages to wolfing out around new moon, even when it hurt: no excess hair.

  As I was yanking on my pants and flats, I heard a muffled yelp from Doug. I pulled my sweater on as I ran over. He’d gotten his pants on by the time I got to him, but the rest of him was still a shock. Don’t get me wrong, he was still a hairy fella, but normal hairy, not sideshow hairy. He stood with his arms held out in front of him, inspecting the visible skin. He was pale—the formally excessive hair never gave him a chance to tan—but his half Hispanic heritage kept him from being pasty.

  “Wow,” I said, slowing my pace.

  “Yeah.” He held his arm out to me, and I let my hand land on it, inspecting the newness of it. “Do you think it’s permanent?” He took his arm back and shuffled through his bag for a shirt.

  I hated to disappoint him, but I didn’t. Not exactly. “Maybe.”

  He gave me a look that said: details, lady.

  “Ah, well, closer to the new moon you’ll probably look like this, but I’m willing to bet big bucks that as the full moon approaches you’ll be more like before.”

  His huge white-toothed grin was not the reaction I expected.

  “Are you all right with that?” I asked, taking a seat on a fallen tree.

  “Anything is better than being the wolf boy full time. I get to be normal, at least sometimes. Thank you.”

  “For what?” I hadn’t felt as if I’d done anything, besides exist for him to find.

  “You gave this to me.” He pushed the items he’d discarded to find his shirt back into his bag, then sauntered over to pull me to my feet and into a hug.

  “You’re welcome,” I said, muffled by his shoulder. I pulled back and touched his bearded cheek. “Maybe you should shave when we get back, to celebrate.”

  “Hey, yeah! Oh, do you think you can drop me off at the circus? They should be packing up right about now, and I want to get my RV from them and say goodbye.” He picked up his pack and followed me back to where my bag waited.

  “Sure.”

  “Besides, I want to show them all my new look.” H
e grabbed up my pack as well.

  We made it back to my truck in good time, and I dug my key out, then tossed my bag into the bed with his.

  While in wolf form, we hadn’t been intimate. If I slept with him, it would have been a signal to my wolf that I had chosen him as my mate, and I was pretty sure I wasn’t ready for that. I wanted to get to know him a lot better before I made that kind of decision. Besides, Percy would want a wedding, and I couldn’t ruin that for her. After all, wolves only mate once. I liked Doug, a lot, but come on, relationships take time.

  During the ride back, our conversation was more animated. He asked me questions about Chaos Theory, specifically about my violin playing. He didn’t ask me anything about my human days, and I got the feeling that he really didn’t want too many details, not yet, not until he knew me better and wanted to share things about himself. I wondered how he would feel about me when he really grasped what I had been, as a human, as a monster.

  We didn’t make any stops, and I was dropping him off at the circus within what felt like no time at all. I would have liked to have gone out back with him to see the reactions of the twisted ringmaster and Sabrina. My desire for a shower outweighed that wish, and I made it back to the mansion right around sundown.

  I parked my truck and walked in around back to find Percy and Hades sipping decaf at the kitchen table.

  “Well, well, the wanderer returns. So how was the date?” Percy got up to give me a hug.

  “Great! Doug had a little trouble wolfing out so close to the new moon, but me being me, I managed to piss him off enough to spur him into it.” I grabbed Percy’s mug and took a sip. I found it a little cool, but still good.

  She huffed at me then poured herself another mug. I knew she loved me.

  “And,” she spurred me on, wanting to know if I’d taken things a step too far.

  “No, we’re not mated. I’m holding off until I’m absolutely sure.” I smiled over the rim of my mug at her as I took another sip.

  “Good for you. Marriage isn’t something to rush into,” said Hades.

  “You mean like you did?” My snort betraying my unbelief.

  “Daddy would have killed him otherwise, and I was young and impressionable,” Percy said.

  “Yeah, how old were you?” I was pretty sure her young and my young were two very different things. She still considered me a pup.

  “None of your business.” She set her mug down with a thump.

  I just smiled in response and searched out the hard boiled eggs I knew were in the fridge somewhere.

  “They’re in egg salad form now. Just slap it between a couple pieces of bread.” Percy read my mind.

  Changing is hungry business, burning excessive amounts of calories, which is why you’ll never see a fat were, unless they’re really submissive and the forced change is the only exercise they get.

  “Chocolate?” I asked, opening and shutting cabinet doors in quest of a sweet treat.

  “Cabinet above the fridge.” Percy pointed.

  I stretched up onto tiptoe and felt around in the cabinet until my hands settled on a bar of dark chocolate flavored with chili. This was my personal stash, which Percy hid in different places while I wasn’t fully human so I couldn’t give in to temptation and make myself sick.

  I set my sandwich fixings to the side, peeled back the wrapper on the chocolate, and took a big bite, closing my eyes in bliss. The rest of the bar could wait until I finished my sandwich, but I would enjoy the nuances until that first bite of egg salad.

  “Lacey upstairs?” I asked around the melting bite of chocolate.

  Percy shrugged and settled back down next to her husband.

  I grabbed up my meal and a big travel mug of milk and headed for the stairs, ending up in a closet before I landed on the correct door. I had so much to tell my best friend. We’d been a little distant over the last month, but the wolf wouldn’t get in the way for three whole days, at least until sundown the day after the new moon.

  I clomped up to Lacey-Marie’s door, figuring the shower could wait until after a bit of girl talk, and rearranged my meal so I could knock. I could see a sliver of light coming out from under the door, so I figured she was in. I gave her a minute to yell or come to the door before letting myself into an empty room. Her bathroom and closet doors were both wide open, so I took a bite of my sandwich and sat down on one of her couches to wait. She’d probably stepped outside for a cigarette.

  Strange, I hadn’t seen her on my trip in.

  I finished my dinner while waiting on her couch, then started to get irritated. I clomped back down the stairs to the kitchen.

  “Has Lacey headed down this way?” I asked, thrusting the door open.

  Hades and Percy gave identical head shakes.

  “Well, her light was on and she didn’t answer my knock, so I went in to wait and she never showed up.” I set my empty mug in the sink.

  “You’ve only been home for half an hour, dear.” Percy set her own empty mug next to mine.

  “Maybe she went out for dinner,” said Hades, tipping his chair back on two legs.

  Percy’s head and mine whipped in his direction.

  “What do you mean?” Percy asked, not sounding like she really wanted to know.

  “She goes out for dinner sometimes. Haven’t you guys noticed the scent of blood on her?” He set his chair back down, looking from one of us to the other.

  “No,” I drew out the word. “She always smells like blood from the donor bags. Stale.”

  “No, not just blood, fresh blood and death. Your girl’s been feasting.” He crossed his arms over his broad chest.

  I clenched my fists. No way. She couldn’t be the killer. Could she?

  “Are you sure?” Percy asked the hard question.

  “Yes, I thought you guys knew she took living blood.” Hades’ expression became worried. “You didn’t know?”

  “Go check her clothes. I guarantee you’ll be able to smell it on them.”

  “Shit.” I felt like throwing up.

  “What?” Hades threw his wife a worried look.

  “Lacey-Marie is Sweeney Todd.” Percy’s face bled free of her emotion until her features were an empty mask.

  “Shit,” I repeated, sprinting out through the back room, into the salon and over to our little museum. I started grabbing old barbering razors off the wall, throwing them on the ground as I went.

  We had a lot, and a total of six looked like they had blood on their blades, and there was one missing.

  I skipped a third “shit,” and made for Lacey-Marie’s rooms again. Percy was hot on my heels with Hades in tow.

  “It’s not one of your girls. I’d know. I’m having them watched, remember?” Hades promised, which was only a very small comfort, under the circumstances.

  Lacey-Marie was still going to kill whether she was one of ours or not. I slapped her closet light on and found a black trash bag in the corner. I opened it enough to see the bloodstained clothing concealed within.

  New shoes. She’d acquired a lot of new shoes, and jewelry, and clothing lately. She wasn’t good enough with her money to afford most of it. She was taking trophies from her victims, along with the thrill of the blood on the razor blades.

  What were we supposed to do? We couldn’t call the cops. They didn’t stand a chance against a vampire.

  I started throwing things around, looking for something, anything, that would indicate who her next victim might be. I tore out of the closet, finding the others staring at me.

  “Trash bag full of bloody clothes in the corner and a closet full of stolen trophies. Damn it! This freaking house, Percy, seriously?” I threw down a pair of shoes in disgust and sat on her bed, trying to will the tears back into their ducts.

  “She’s your best friend. We could only see what we wanted to see.” Poor Percy was just as at a loss as I. She had a tendency to try and see the best in people. Good for making friends, bad for seeing reality. And to top it all off, she h
ad built a house that could think for itself and protect its inhabitants.

  I picked up a pretty journal that lay open on Lacey’s bed stand that I hadn’t seen there before. The page had a name and an address:

  Alice Glowa

  1493 Augusta Rd, Sydney, ME.

  That had to be her, the next victim. I flipped back to the beginning of the month and glanced through. Penny Yeaton, Catherine Materna, Heather McKay, Jennifer Tardiff, Lisa Viola, and Joslin Webber all had their own pages. Each detailed the evenings Lacey-Marie had made appointments with each, how she had followed them back to their homes, and what she had taken from them.

  I handed the journal over to Percy without a word and stalked out of the room. If I drove fast, maybe, just maybe, I could get to Alice’s house before Lacey had a chance to kill.

  “Gretchen!” Percy yelled from the top of the stairs. “Don’t! You can’t! She might kill you!”

  “Might?” Hades interrupted. “Will. Gretchen, don’t be stupid. You can’t beat her like this. Just wait. Let us come with you.”

  I didn’t stop to listen, just jumped in my truck and laid rubber peeling out of the driveway. Turning my police scanner on, I ignored the speed limit. Maybe I should have stolen Percy’s car instead. It was faster.

  I had to try. Better she kill me than an innocent. I’d killed before and probably deserved to die. And this was the only time of the month that it would be easy for her.

  The scanner hissed and scratched, and I slammed on my breaks. The police were feeling awful chatty. Good for me.

  I had to stop for gas, which sucked, but I couldn’t afford to break down, then jumped onto the highway in Bangor and floored it, weaving my way through the minimal traffic.

  Thank goodness it was midweek and it was only workday traffic and not shopping traffic. It thinned out as I gained distance from Bangor. I hopped around the roadways a bit, avoiding cops and trying to stay headed in the right general direction. It was a long drive, and I knew that Lacey could run faster than my truck and that she’d left before I’d gotten home.