The Bite of Winter (International Monster Slayers Book 2)

by Bethany Helwig

  “Call Jefferson and stay here,” I warn, then lunge for the door. I’ve already got my machete in the lining of my jacket and the bio-mech gun in my pocket. The second my fingers close around the gun, I fling open the bedroom door, fly down the stairs, and launch myself out the backdoor.

  I take great bounding leaps through the thigh-high snow and move around the corner of the house to where I last spotted the mysterious figure. He’s gone but I can hear him crashing through the trees. Despite there being hardly any light to guide me, and having forgotten my flashlight in my bag, I plunge in after the noise and activate the bio-mech gun so it fits to the curve of my hand. A shadow darts between the trees and I race after between the pines and bare birches. Whoever it is zig-zags so much that I can’t get a clear shot. That doesn’t stop me from letting a few pulses fly. The shots hit trees, causing them to sway precariously and shower me with snow, bits of bark, and pine needles. I have to shield my face after one particularly bad shot lets loose a cascade of debris that nearly gets me in the eyes.

  Eventually the figure trips on something hidden beneath the snow, allowing me to catch up, get a solid beam on him, and shoot him square in the back as he tries to regain his footing. His back arches from the strength of the pulse and he falls face first into the snow. I inch forward keeping my gun trained on him while taking great gulps of frigid air, and extricate the machete from the lining of my jacket.

  He should be out cold, or at least stunned, but I nudge him with the toe of my boot before flipping him over to see who I managed to tag. Snow clings to his jacket as I roll him over and lift back his hoodie to reveal his face. In the darkness it’s hard to be certain, but I swear the face I’m looking at isn’t a vampire.

  “Jason? What on earth . . .”

  He’s out cold, his eyes closed. A thousand scenarios for why he’s creeping around outside Ashley’s house flash through my mind, and none of them are good. I still have the scar that proves he can be a monster. Jason may not recall the act but I certainly remember being bitten. In my mind, I can’t see him as anything but an enemy, the werewolf that tried to kill or turn me. I don’t care if Dasc had a grip on Jason at that point. He’s a threat and for some reason he decided to sneak around outside Ashley’s house. There’s no explanation that’s going to satisfy my distrust.

  I tuck the machete back into my jacket and dig in my pocket for my phone. Just as I manage to tug it out, I hear something crash through the brush behind me. My bio-mech gun is up and extended before I even fully turn around to face whatever is coming up fast behind me.

  A big golden blob runs through the trees and almost runs me over. Duke starts licking my hands the second he reaches me. Ashley appears a moment later.

  “Phoenix!”

  Pixies. “Ash, I told you to stay in the house.”

  She ignores me and walks forward with her eyes glued to Jason lying unconscious on the ground. Suddenly she clasps her hands over her mouth like she’s about to scream.

  “He’s fine,” I say quickly and stretch out an arm to keep her from coming any closer. “Just stunned. I thought he was our vampire.”

  “He said he was going to come see me,” Ashley says, eyes wide. “I thought he was going to go to the front door.”

  “A little warning would have been nice.”

  Ashley spins about on me. “Well, I wasn’t expecting you to go flying after him like a maniac.”

  Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. I gesture widely with my arms to Jason unconscious in the snow. “I thought he was a vampire trying to kidnap you or worse! It’s dark out, he comes out of the woods, what was I supposed to think? A friend was coming over for a late night chat?”

  She huffs, crosses her arms over her chest, and looks pointedly away from me.

  “You know what?” I say. “Fine. Be angry. I’m just trying to do my job.” I tuck my bio-mech gun into my pocket before kneeling beside Jason and carefully lifting him into a fireman carry across my shoulders. “Did you at least call Jefferson like I asked?”

  “Yes,” she snaps. “I didn’t know what to tell him except you ran off into the woods.”

  “Well, hopefully that means he’ll be heading in this direction then.” Wrapping my arm across Jason’s left foot and arm, I hold him steady as I dial Jefferson and press my phone to my ear.

  He picks up on the second ring. “Phoenix?”

  “Hey.”

  “Thank God,” he says, audibly relieved. “Ms. Rainbows-and-Sunshine called me in a panic. Did your vampire show up?”

  “No, it’s Jason. I think we have a situation.”

  He sighs. “Good, you found him.”

  My chain of thought derails. “You were looking for him?”

  “We got an alert that he ditched his probation ring. I called his folks but he was already gone.”

  “Well, it sounds like he was planning on meeting up with Ashley tonight,” I say slowly, knowing Jefferson will get my meaning. If Jason ditched his probation ring before coming to find Ashley, his intentions seem even more unsavory. “I’ve got him in the bag in the woods behind the Nelsons’ place. I’ll walk him out to the road west of the house.”

  “I’ll meet you there,” he says and hangs up.

  I begin to trudge through the dark woods with Jason slung over my shoulders. Duke and Ashley stay at my heels—the latter makes it a point to voice her disgruntlement.

  “What are you doing with Jason?” she asks shrilly. “He wasn’t doing anything wrong, he was just coming to see me! You have no right to knock him out and then haul him off like—like a—”

  “Like I’m doing my job?” I retort. “Ashley, you should have stayed in the house. Your parents are going to start wondering where you are.” She scoffs at me. “Whatever. You better stick with me since you’re out here. I’m not leaving you alone.”

  She grumbles something unintelligible and continues to follow in the trail I’m breaking through the snow. Duke hops around us, stopping to sniff at things every so often before jogging to keep up. Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting tonight to end up like this. It’s possible a vampire is still out there, though, and watching from a distance. At that thought, I pause to get a good look at my surroundings to make sure we’re alone before moving on. Ashley goes on a tirade about how I have no right to haul Jason around like a sack of potatoes. I really wish she’d realize the danger she could have been in if I hadn’t been here. I need Jason to wake up and explain himself.

  We finally make it out of the woods, climb up a steep ditch, and find Jefferson waiting a few yards down the road beside our SUV. My pants and shoes are completely soaked through by the time I reach the vehicle and Jefferson opens the side passenger door so I can dump Jason inside.

  “What are you going to do with him?” Ashley squeaks.

  Jefferson grabs Ashley’s arm before she can climb into the car after her boyfriend and then he gives me the evil eye. I shrug. It’s not like I had a lot of options for stopping Ashley from following me short of shooting her.

  “Ashley, you should’ve stayed in the house,” Jefferson says sternly. “Wandering around outside was not the plan to keep you safe.”

  She sticks her chin up and remains stubborn. “Tell me what’s going to happen to him.”

  Instead of rolling his eyes or grumbling something like he usually does, he draws back his shoulders, straightens to his full height, and towers over Ashley with a menacing gleam in his eye. He’s actually pretty threatening when he wants to be.

  “Are you saying you’d rather interfere with an official investigation?”

  “What investigation?” Ashley cows a bit in her stance and shrinks away from him.

  “Your boy here took off his probation ring.” He swings an arm up to point at Jason for emphasis without taking his eyes off of her. “He deliberately took off the only device we could use to track him and his next step was to find you. Now I don’t know what you think you know, but in my experience, when a werewolf goes off the rails
like that, they aren’t looking for a friendly chat. Whatever his intentions were of coming here, they weren’t good. If Phoenix hadn’t been here to save your butt, there’s no telling what he would have done.”

  She wrings her hands together and curls them in under her chin. “He wouldn’t hurt me,” she says in a small voice.

  I feel a little guilty for Jefferson using this particular tactic but it’s the only thing that’s finally getting through to her. She’s got to understand.

  “You don’t know that for certain,” Jefferson says more gently this time. “And I know you’ve heard what some of the others around here have done when they broke probation.”

  I lean against the side of the SUV and rub my frozen hands together as Ashley drops her head. Yeah, we know what happened to a group from school that decided they’d rather fight the law. About a month back a few boys ditched their probation rings, stopped taking the serum, and went on an animal killing spree. It’s the only major incident we’ve had since we took Dasc out of the picture. They didn’t want to be controlled so they flew off the handle and killed a slew of cows, chickens, sheep, and even a few family pets after they gave in to their inner animal. A couple of people were almost attacked as well. Jefferson said it when I first came here and I saw it those few days—some people get a high off the hunt. Hawk was the one that tracked them to Mr. Wick’s back fields. We sprung a trap for the three idiots and they got shipped off to Underground to sit in the penitent cells. They still haven’t come back.

  My fingers are frozen stiff, I can hardly feel my toes or nose, and my teeth are chattering, but I want to stay outside to handle the situation with Ashley. Unfortunately, Jefferson takes notice and he jabs a thumb at the front passenger door.

  “Phoenix, get in and warm up before you lose a few toes or fingers,” he says. The tone of his voice makes it clear there’s no room for argument.

  I slip between them and enter the warmth of the running SUV with the heaters on full blast. I curl up around the air vents and stick my wet feet directly beneath the ones in the footwell. Behind me Jason starts to stir so I shift slightly to be able to keep an eye on him. Outside, muffled through the closed doors, Jefferson continues to give Ashley reasons not to interfere. From her hunkered stance, I can tell he’s near victory when Jason suddenly jerks awake and slams a foot against the door, drawing everyone’s attention.

  Stupid me, I don’t think about pulling my bio-mech gun out until now. I have trouble extracting it from my pocket with my clumsy, stiff fingers. Jason bolts upright and launches for the door in a panic.

  “Ease up!” I shout at him. On the other side Jefferson throws his shoulder against the door to keep Jason from flinging it open. I finally get my gun up and lean back against the dash of the vehicle to gain what little distance I can from the psycho werewolf before aiming my gun. I hit the locks before he can try anything else.

  “Let me out!” he yells and starts banging his fists on the window. He’s wide-eyed and hyperventilating. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone freak out like this before. Through the glass I see Jefferson push Ashley back and raise his own bio-mech gun, one hand braced against the door handle to keep Jason inside. He looks to me and I nod. I’ve got this.

  “Jason!” I shout and he hardly even gives me a passing glance before leaping for the door on the other side to escape. “I already hit the locks. Don’t try it.” He ignores me completely and keeps trying to claw his way out of the vehicle. “JASON!”

  This time he whips his head in my direction. His eyes are bloodshot and his face haggard. Was he always like this? I guess I haven’t been paying as close attention to Jason as I should have. That was a mistake.

  “Do you want me to shoot you again or are you going to calm down?” I ask and motion with the gun in my hands for emphasis. His eyes follow the barrel and he pushes back against the seat as far as he can go, tucking in on himself as if he might be able to disappear into the leather upholstery. He’s a trapped animal—and trapped animals are dangerous.

  “Are you going to listen to me?” I ask as sternly as possible. He nods. “Okay, then I want you to belt yourself in so you’re at least a little restrained.” He shifts over into the far seat and clicks the seat belt into place over himself. “Good. Now, you want to explain what on earth you were doing tonight?”

  Jason stares at me, dark shadows under his wide eyes and his hair in complete disarray. Everything about him is disheveled and he clutches onto the seat belt for dear life. He’s always had his issues but this is new. When I first met him he was already under Dasc’s sway but once that compulsion was gone he remained a loner in the background. He keeps to himself except for when Ashley drags him out to hang with friends. He always seems distant and on more than one occasion I suspected he might be using drugs. Is that what this is? Some reaction to drugs he’s taking? Does Hawk know Jason’s been like this?

  He pushes his lips around and keeps silent, refusing to answer my question. Jefferson waves to get my attention so I unlock the door for him. He eases open the passenger door on the opposite side of Jason so we can all talk. Jefferson keeps his own bio-mech gun at the ready in his hand, a glint of steel in his eyes.

  “Why did you take your probation ring off, Jason?” he asks gruffly.

  Jason’s eyes water and I’m struck stupid when he starts to cry. This isn’t what I’m expecting, not by a long shot. Jefferson and I glance at each other. Is this some ploy? Is he trying to gain sympathy to get out of charges?

  “Calm down,” Jefferson says. “Talk. This is your chance to have your side of the story heard.”

  “It hurts,” Jason says hoarsely and so softly I think I’ve heard him wrong.

  “You mean when I shot you?” I ask, uncertain.

  He shakes his head and cries some more. I catch a glimpse of Ashley past Jefferson’s shoulder and she’s on the verge of tears too.

  “Being alive,” he says and grabs at his hair with both hands. “It hurts. This curse inside me. It hurts so much I think I’m going mad.”

  Jefferson’s eyebrows rise until they’re lost in his shaggy gray hair. “You have to explain better than that, Jason. Answer my question. Why’d you take off your probation—”

  Jason suddenly tries to launch out of his seat directly for Jefferson but is wrenched back by the seat belt. There’s nothing of the crying boy in his face anymore. There’s a monster in his eyes, in his bared teeth, in the hands reaching out like claws ready to rip and shred. Is the werewolf disease truly distorting Jason’s mind? I’ve never heard such a thing before. It terrifies me. Could the same thing happen to my brother?

  He doesn’t even flinch at the two bio-mech guns raised with acute accuracy at his chest.

  “Jason!” Jefferson thunders, the sound filling up the SUV.

  The next second the beast is gone again and Jason slumps in his seat, panting hard. “I’m sorry,” he wheezes. “I’m so sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry—”

  “Look at me,” I say. Jason tilts his head to the side to fix me with those despairing eyes. “Tell us what’s going on so we can help you. I want to help you.”

  He slumps further into his seat and I’m completely bewildered. First he panics, then he cries, then he tries to attack, and now he sits almost catatonic, staring dead-eyed at nothing in particular.

  “Every day,” he breathes in a monotone. “It hurts. I’ve got fire in my veins. Each time I take the serum injection it gets worse. I can’t do this anymore. I’m done.”

  I can see it in his eyes, too. He’s given up. Whatever this pain is, it’s too much for him. But I’m stuck on the fact that he’s saying the serum is making him feel this way. The serum, the only thing that lets a werewolf keep their mind when they shift, that takes away the instinctual urges, that keeps them human. The serum that’s turning Jason into a patient eligible for a psych ward. Piping Pan, is this why Hawk always refused to take the serum?

  “That’s why you took off the ring,” I say. It’s not a que
stion. I know exactly what Jason was planning because Hawk and I made the same plans before. “You were going to run.”

  He nods mutely, defeated. Then silent tears start to fall again.

  “Why come here?” Jefferson asks.

  I don’t even look at Jefferson when I answer for Jason, the reason obvious. “He didn’t want to be alone. He was going to take Ashley with him.”

  When Jason nods again, Jefferson swears under his breath and half turns in the open door so he’s facing the road behind us. He lifts his face to the sky, closing his eyes. I watch him closely, wondering what this news means to him and what we’re going to do about it. Either way, Jason seems resigned. He hasn’t moved an inch since he slumped down. The way his eyes almost look sunken in, he could be a corpse on that seat. It’s like the serum’s hollowed him out. How many other people experience this sort of reaction to the serum?

  “I’m sorry,” Jefferson says at last and faces Jason again, one hand hanging on to the roof of the SUV as he leans in through the doorway. “You still broke probation and it’s a serious offense. I’ll take you home and we’ll sort it out with your parents, but I’ll have to take you to Underground to be treated and kept under supervision until . . .” His eyes flash to me. “Before we can sort your symptoms out.”

  Meaning, there’s not going to be any peace for Jason until a cure can be made from my blood. And we don’t have a clue how long it’ll be before my blood has “incubated” but it’s going to be too long. Jason needs help now—all the werewolves do.

  Jason doesn’t even react to the news. He just sits there. Ashley on the other hand, reacts enough for the pair of them.

  “You can’t haul him off!” she shouts. It’s a good thing there’s no one else in the area as her voice goes up in pitch and a few birds fly off from nearby trees. “He needs help! Look at him!”

  Jefferson turns around to deal with Ashley but I’m glued to the wretched boy. His eyes find me again, pleading.