Hunted (Auralight Codex: Dakota Shepherd Book 2)

by Shei Darksbane

  “Will you tell me if I guess?” I waggled my eyebrows.

  Amorie pretended to consider it for a second then told me flatly, “No.”

  I laughed. “Come on… It can’t be that bad.”

  “I am sorry ma chérie, but that name died long ago, like the person who once held it. They have no place in this world, not anymore.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her playfully. “That’s a mighty good excuse. ‘I can’t tell you my name because I was dead at the time.’”

  Amorie laughed again. “I am afraid I must insist, little wolf. To grow, we must let go of the past. It is something that is important to me.”

  I smiled. “All right, fine. Then what does Amorie mean? Love something right? Or something love? I know so much French.”

  Amorie smiled softly. “Amorie, in German, means ‘industrious leader’. In French, it is a shortened version of Amorette which means ‘little love’, which is more the meaning my mistress put into it, however, I cannot say that either is inappropriate. I am very industrious.”

  I kissed her on the cheek. “Yes, you are, and it sucks.”

  “My apologies, little wolf. Would that it could be different, but perhaps without me, the world would spiral out of control, no?”

  “I have no idea how serious you are.”

  Amorie waggled her eyebrows at me playfully. “Best we do not find out then, hmm?” She kissed me softly on the lips. I caught her head with my hand and pulled her back for another before she could escape. Amorie indulged me, then rested her forehead against mine. “Is there anything else you would like to know?”

  I chewed at my inner lip. There was one thing bothering me about Amorie’s story, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted to ask about it. I sighed as my curiosity got the better of me. “So Dreena turned you, killed a bunch of Templar, and everyone lived happily ever after. Except you’re here now, and she’s… wherever she is. How come you’re not still with her?” I really hoped I wanted to know the answer.

  “I hear your hesitance, little wolf. Rest assured, that path is long closed to me. We did not have some grand falling out or anything of the sort. More…” Amorie sighed, her face falling a little. “My mistress has a tendency to love very intensely, very deeply, and then to move on.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s selfish of me to drag that conclusion out of you.” I turned my face away, feeling bad for being so insecure.

  “I disagree. It is fair for you to ask if there is competition.” Amorie touched a finger gently to my chin and brought me back to her. “And it is understandable that you are concerned. You were hurt before by one who left you after you had committed very deeply.” She kissed my forehead softly. “I can not say that I do not still love her, Dakota. She is my mistress. She saved me from a terrible, short existence and replaced that slow death with long, happy years, thus her presence in my life, and in my heart is irreplaceable.”

  I chewed at my lip again and Amorie pressed a finger to my lip as if acknowledging my tell. “But, I love you, my little wolf. There is room in my heart for different types of love, and the love I have for Dreena is not a threat to the love I have for you.”

  I kissed her finger. “I swear, I don’t mean to be territorial.” I narrowed my eyes playfully. “But if I have to, you know I’d fight for you.”

  Amorie smiled softly. “Fortunately for us both, that should never be needed.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, yeah, hundreds of Templar, I get the message.”

  Amorie grinned wickedly. “Oh, she has killed far, far more than that by now.”

  I exaggerated a nervous grin. “So!” I said loudly. “How about those Dodgers?”

  Amorie laughed and kissed me, and for a while, we had very little breath to spare for speaking.

  20

  Sunrise

  I smiled as I rested my head against Amorie’s bare chest, her body now almost warm from absorbing my heat through extended touching. I gazed at her happily as she gazed back at me. Her eyes flicked to the side and she sighed. “As much as I despise to admit it, I am going to have to go soon.”

  I pouted as adorably as I could manage. “Noooo. Don’t go. I’ll miss you too much.”

  Amorie smiled at me gently. “I truly must, ma chérie. If I am to get home safely before the dawn, I must leave very soon.”

  “How long will it take you to get home?”

  “At least an hour between the flight and the drive, and I prefer to have… adequate time to spare.” The faint hesitation in Amorie’s voice reminded me of the time I’d stayed with her in Nashville, of the fear I had seen in her eyes at the break of dawn.

  “All right.” I relented easily, not wanting to cause her discomfort. “I guess you can go then, if you really want to.” I pouted playfully as I sat up and stretched. I had been far more active in the past few hours, than I usually was, and my muscles were somewhat sore. I glanced at my nightstand and the digital alarm clock that rested on it then blinked. “Uh, you’re not going off my alarm clock are you?”

  Amorie sat up as well and slid her arms around me gently. “I was. Why?”

  I grimaced. “Because it’s wrong. I haven’t reset it since I got home, and the alarm light is off which means the power went out at some point.”

  Amorie went still for a few seconds, unnaturally still to a degree that was still a little freaky, despite my familiarity with the habit. She tensed as she drew in a breath, then sprang to her feet so quickly her form blurred to my eyes. I flopped over as I lost my balance.

  Amorie retrieved her phone out of thin air. Her eyes widened as she flicked on the display. “Oh no,” she breathed quietly; I heard fear in her voice.

  I frowned as I sat back up. “You don’t have time to make it, do you?”

  Amorie met my eyes, her face illuminated by the phone’s backlight. “Not… safely.”

  “It’s okay. You can stay here with me.”

  Amorie shook her head slowly. “Much as I would love to stay with you, Dakota… It is not safe.” She glanced around my apartment once then shook her head firmly. “No, I can not. I must go.” She gestured once and her clothing repopulated itself onto her body. “I must go, now.” She strode toward the door.

  “Hey!” I hopped up and chased after her, catching her arm as her hand rested on the doorknob. “You said you can’t get there safely.” I frowned at her worriedly. “Wouldn’t it be better to stay than to risk not making it in time?”

  Amorie gazed at me for a few seconds before glancing around the apartment again and shaking her head. “Too many windows. I can not abide the sunlight, Dakota. I can not rest here.”

  I glanced at my single window, raising an eyebrow at her declaration, then shook off the urge to make a snarky comment as I realized that Amorie was starting to panic; she needed me to be serious right now. I lifted both hands toward her. “Hey, it’s okay! I can fix it!” I hurried over to a plastic chest of drawers and rummaged for tools, suddenly grateful for the things I had chosen to leave behind for moving day round two. I found a roll of duct tape and a staple gun, then rushed over to my kitchenette, opened a drawer and pulled out a box of aluminum foil. I hurried over to the window beside my bed, pushed the curtains open and raised the blinds. Amorie watched me hesitantly as I unrolled long sheets of foil and taped them over the glass, being careful to cover every inch of the window and overlapping the frame.

  After I was satisfied that the glass was covered with two solid layers of foil taped off on the edges and seams with duct tape, I lowered the blinds, closed the curtains and taped them together down the middle. Then I took the staple gun and started stapling the curtains to the wall all around the frame. Amorie stepped toward me cautiously, watching me work.

  When I’d finished stapling the curtain to the wall, I edged it out in duck tape for good measure, then turned to Amorie and gestured to my window proudly. “Pan pa-ka pan! How’s that?”

  Amorie stepped over and inspected the window carefully. As she did, her expression soften
ed, though I noticed that the tension in her shoulders remained. “You were very thorough.” She looked touched. “I really do not have time to get home safely, do I?”

  “It’ll be okay, Amorie. The window is covered. I was super careful.” I hopped down from the bed and took her hand gently. “You’ll be okay. I promise.”

  Amorie’s eyes rimmed with tears— No, though it was rather dark now that I’d reduced the room’s illumination to the dim light of my open laptop on the desk nearby, I realized that the ‘tears’ were opaque and dark. What’s more, I recognized the smell of blood.

  I pulled Amorie against me and hugged her tightly. “Hey—”

  She looked down at me suddenly. “Thank you.” Her eyes were still fearful, and her shoulders still tense.

  I petted her back softly as I held her. “It will be all right, Am. I will watch over you. Nothing will happen. I won’t let anything hurt you, I swear.”

  Amorie nodded slowly, then closed her eyes and drew in a breath which she let out very slowly.

  I stepped back from her. “Wait here.” I darted over to my closet and dug out all my extra blankets, grateful again that I’d left some things behind. Amorie watched as I hurried over to the bed, stapled some twine to the wall, then ran it across the bed and stapled it to the other wall. She raised an eyebrow as I stapled one end of a blanket to the wall and then ran it across the twine.

  I worked for a few minutes more, stapling and tying the blankets in place, before stepping back from my creation and presenting to Amorie the most epic blanket fort ever. “My lady, your suite is ready.”

  Amorie appeared beside me between one blink and the next. I startled slightly, but she caught me up in her arms and kissed me deeply, and I ran right out of complaints. I gave her a dazey, happy smile as she broke the kiss. “You are the sweet here, my little wolf.”

  I grinned at her pun. “I do what I can.” I softened my expression and squeezed her gently. “Will you be okay now?”

  Amorie closed her eyes for few seconds then nodded and smiled at me. “I can not say that I will not still be somewhat… afraid. But I will be okay.”

  I drew Amorie into the blanket fort, and she settled down on the bed with me. I straightened the tangled sheets and comforter, and pulled them up over us. As I settled into her arms, Amorie kissed my cheek. “You know it is not only the dawn, no?”

  I tilted my head. “It’s not?”

  Amorie shook her head. “It also takes a great deal of trust to rest away from my home, to rest where I am not protected by one such as Miralina. It takes a great deal of trust…”

  I kissed her softly. “You can trust me, Amorie. I would never let anyone hurt you.”

  Amorie held me tightly and closed her eyes. After a long moment of silence, she whispered, “I believe you, little wolf.”

  21

  Parlor Tricks

  I watched over Amorie from dawn until dusk. I kept my vigil as she slept, sometimes reading, sometimes dozing alongside her, sometimes browsing the internet with my laptop or watching videos online. I started to put on headphones for that so as not to disturb Amorie’s rest, but decided against it. If anyone did decide to crash our little slumber party, I wanted to hear them coming.

  From what Ralof had told me, werewolves usually had sharper than average senses which would become sharper still when the werewolf Awakened. Our senses were sharper still in wolf or varulf form. My hearing had always been sharp, and had seemed kinda crazily sharp since I’d regained my inner wolf, but headphones would block out any subtler noises, so that was a no-go.

  I could hear my shows just fine at a minimal volume anyway, but after a while, I turned it up just a bit when it occurred to me that Amorie slept like the dead, pun totally intended.

  The day lazed by uneventfully and when the sun finally nestled into the horizon, I lay next to my lover’s corpse, stroking her cheek tenderly until she suddenly gasped and startled back to life. “Shh… It’s all right. I’m here.”

  Amorie blinked up at me and her expression relaxed into a soft, warm smile. “Of course you are, my little wolf.” She leaned up to kiss me and the quiet unease lingering in my stomach finally eased.

  “So I’ve been sitting here with you all day long, which gave me plenty of time to remember one of the questions I’d been meaning to ask you last night.”

  Amorie tilted her head, smiling languidly. “Oh? And what is that?”

  “How do you make things appear and disappear out of nowhere like…” I flicked my hand in the air, mimicking how Amorie had retrieved her phone the night before. “Is it some kind of vampire powers?”

  Amorie’s eyes lit up mischievously. “You mean like this?” She flicked out her phone in just the same manner. I sensed the pulse of magic in the air, though the feeling was still new to me and so unfamiliar that I doubt I’d have noticed if I hadn’t known she was doing something magical at the time.

  I grinned. “Yeah. How’d you do that?”

  Amorie gestured again and her phone was gone. “Magic. Simple conjuration.”

  “You mean it’s just regular magic? Not some kind of vampire thing?”

  Amorie nodded. “Simple sorcery I have learned like anyone else could.”

  I tilted my head considering that. “Vampires can learn magic on top of already being stronger, faster, tougher, smarter, and sexier than everyone else? Isn’t that just a little O.P.?”

  Amorie tilted her head. “O.P.?”

  “Overpowered.”

  “I am not sure I follow, little wolf.”

  I grinned. “You know, like in a video game, when the creators fail to balance the classes properly. Like why did they make vampires so much more awesome than everyone else?”

  Amorie smiled, amused. “Ah, I get it now. Perhaps it is indeed a little O.P. as you say. But to be fair, werewolves can learn magic too and your kind is also stronger than a human overall.”

  I grinned. “You mean I could learn to conjure my phone out of my pocket too?”

  Amorie laughed softly. “I use it for more than that, silly little wolf.”

  “I never see you use it for anything else.” I accused.

  Amorie nodded. “I am subtle with my use of it, but you have seen me use it for more than the phone before.”

  “I have? When?”

  Amorie smiled at me impishly and reached out into the air, flicking her hand in a simple flourish, and just like that, she was holding a sword. I startled slightly and glanced up at her curiously. “I know you have seen it before. I recall that I drew it the night you were assaulted by Cuthbert behind that club.”

  I remembered that moment now. Amorie had seemed to draw the sword from nowhere and then it had vanished just as surely. Thinking back, I figured I’d have paid more attention to the sword’s appearance and subsequent disappearance if I hadn’t been so newly Awakened, and maybe also if I hadn’t been pinned to the wall by a vampire at the time. “Right. So you also use it to carry a sword around subtly. That’s pretty neat.”

  Amorie nodded, smiling. Her arm twitched as she started to put the sword away, but I lifted my hand in protest. “Wait! Can I see it?” She smiled and laid the blade to the side, showing me the length of it. It was a long, faintly curved, single-edged sword that seemed to be forged from a single piece of metal with no attachments like a pommel or separate grip. The handle was wrapped in black cord from just below a small notch in the metal that might could have served as an itsy-tiny guard, down to the end of the blade which again notched outward just slightly, as if to replace a pommel. The shape of the blade reminded me of some of the Asian ones I’d seen ninjas carrying. You know, like in movies and stuff. No one knows what real ninjas carry; they can’t be seen.

  I whistled. “She’s beautiful.” I reached out to touch the blade, then hesitated. I’d been to the Smoky Mountain Knifeworks a few times before. I was pretty sure you weren’t supposed to touch the blades because of rust or something. Amorie immediately proved me wrong by laying her f
ingers under the flat of the blade as she turned it slowly for my perusal. “So why do you have a sword, anyway?”

  Amorie smirked at me. “Why do you think I would have a sword, ma chérie?”

  I grinned. “For saving beautiful damsels in distress from vicious ugly vampires with bad fashion sense?”

  Amorie smiled and nodded. “Like all weapons, a sword only really has one purpose: ending lives. And to that purpose, Melhir is especially talented.”

  “Especially? Why?”

  “Man created weapons as a servant to their need to destroy others, whether in defense, or conquest. Supernaturals are no different.” Amorie raised her free hand and long, sharp, dark talons overtook her manicured nails, growing forth a full inch from her fingertips. “Much as your other forms come equipped with weapons designed by nature, so do we.” She smiled at me broadly, her eyes dancing with a dangerous humor, and her lips parted to show her wickedly sharp fangs. “But ours are not quite so formidable. A good blade or even occasionally a gun, still helps.”

  I grinned in reply, then touched my tongue to the dull tip of my canine. “You think ours are better, eh?”

  Amorie laughed. “Well, perhaps not in this form.” She poked me gently. “But to answer your question, my Mistress instructed me and assisted me in forging my blade, Melhir, to serve as hopefully the only weapon I would ever need. Its composition contains traces of every metal and material known to serve as bane to any type of supernatural being.”

  I eyed the blade suspiciously. “Eheheh… Thanks for the warning.” I retracted my fingers pointedly from where I’d reached out to touch it.

  Amorie smirked. “Silver, Cold Iron, Holy Dust—”

  “Garlic?” I grinned cheesily.

  Amorie shook her head. “I need to be able to wield the weapon myself. And garlic juice is not the best for quenching a blade.”

  I laughed. “Aren’t you supposed to quench it in the blood of your enemies?”

  “Oh that I have done, many times.” Amorie’s eyes sparkled with the memory of violence, violence she had definitely appreciated at the time. I shivered slightly. The very real edge of her darker side was peeking out from beneath the glamour of perfect refinement I was so used to seeing. One part of me was nervous to draw it out, but mostly, I was glad to see her relaxing with me to that degree. I’d held no delusions about Amorie’s darker nature. She was a vampire, after all, but seeing it was a different matter.