by Ashley, Eden
“Right.” Rhane sounded less annoyed. “Gabriel is going to make another play for Kalista soon. Next time, he’ll lead the charge.”
“What are your orders?”
“Stop the search. I need every one of you here tomorrow. I can’t be here…at least not initially. Rion may have found River. I need to go see whose side he’s on.”
“Let one of us come with you,” York said.
“No. I’m going alone.” His tone left no room for further objection. “Rion, look after Bailen for me.”
“Sure thing.”
“Everyone else, eyes on Kalista. I’ll return by nightfall.”
After all voiced their agreement, Rhane dismissed them but asked York to hang back. Kali crouched lower into the shadows, afraid someone might exit through the stairwell that was currently her hiding place. But no one did. She exhaled softly. Rhane was talking again.
“I spoke to one of them.”
“Who was it?” York asked.
“Someone close to her…” Rhane’s voice trailed off. A lengthy pause followed. Kali hadn’t made any noise to betray her position but took Rhane’s silence as her cue for a speedy exit. Up the stairs and back through the passageway she ran, listening for any sound of being followed. She stopped at the doorway, heard nothing, and eased the closet door shut.
She was tucked safely back in Rhane’s bed, but her mind raced with questions. Too many secrets were piling up. It wasn’t long until Rhane returned. Kali really didn’t know him. And it’d been foolish to think otherwise. She pretended to be asleep.
Stupid. Stupid girl. Why did I trust him? He’s a stranger.
Kali felt his eyes on her face. “I have to go someplace in the morning. But I’ll be back as soon as I can. Promise me you’ll stay close to the manor.”
She thought of Gabriel and the Reapers, remembered the way Mack and Shannon had been so willing to barter her life for a stupid artifact, and questioned if Wesley played a role in any of it. She recalled Tsai’s warning and wondered why both he and the vision in the mirror had called her Darkesong. Most of all, she remembered it was only a week ago that she had met Rhane in a darkened theater. Everything had started then. Kali was certain the answers started with him too. And if he wouldn’t tell her, she would have to find them on her own.
“I need answers, Rhane.”
“Please trust me a little longer.” He kissed her hair. “I will tell you everything soon.”
She sighed but said nothing else. After what seemed like forever, he settled back into his side of the bed.
#
It was barely daylight, but Rhane had already gone. A change of her clothes were folded at the foot of the bed. Kali wasn’t sure how or when, he had managed to break into her house to retrieve them, but she was grateful. There was even a toothbrush.
She showered and dressed as fast as possible. The mission of the day was answers. Kali was going to find them no matter what. She was at the front door before it dawned on her that she was forty miles from town without transportation. Then she saw a set of keys hanging by the front door and the navy blue pickup parked outside. Kali grabbed the keys and dashed down the drive. A huge figure appeared out of nowhere. Hitting him midstride, it felt like she had crashed into a wall. The impact threw her with such force; she would have landed squarely on her butt if not for the swift hands that grabbed her. Once steadied, she turned to confront the roadblock and gasped.
It was War. Only it wasn’t. This guy was taller and more muscled. His hair wasn’t red. It was black. But the same brown eyes, the same face stared back at her.
“Who the heck are you?”
He dipped his head as if bowing to a proper lady. “I am Orrin.”
“Okay. Orrin, get out of my way.”
“It was not my intent to make you fall. I apologize.” The soft voice belied his rugged appearance and added to the sincerity of the apology.
Kali glared at him skeptically. She had heard his orders last night. “I’m leaving. I dare you to try and stop me.”
“I assure you that I will not.”
“Alrighty then.” She moved to go around him, but Orrin immediately began to follow. Kali spun around. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“You do.”
“No.” She bit the words out. “I don’t.”
“You do.” He smiled. It wasn’t an all out idiotic grin like York’s. Orrin’s smile was gentle like his voice. And it was surrounded with an air of easy confidence that reminded her of Rhane.
Kali folded her arms. She knew she was giving the wrong guy a hard time, but Rhane wasn’t around to take her frustrations out on. “Fine. I don’t want a babysitter. Tell the guy who you’re for some reason taking orders from that I told you to leave me alone.”
“It is not that simple.”
Kali exhaled. “You sound just like him, you know that?”
Orrin stood quietly.
She shrugged. “Suit yourself. But I’m driving.”
Chapter 54
Despite his clenched jaw and white-knuckled grip on the doorframe, Orrin was the epitome of rigid calm. Kali was certain he regretted pulling the short straw of nanny duty as she barreled down the highway like a madwoman. Rounding corners at near rollover velocity, the tires squealed but stuck stubbornly to the asphalt. The traction was superb. She fumbled with the radio and swerved with the effort. Finding the sappiest station of love songs, she sang along at the top her lungs. Orrin dared to look away from the road, staring at Kali in tense disbelief.
She took it as an invitation to start a conversation. “So, you and War are brothers. Warren and Orrin, that’s kind of cute.”
“We are twins,” he said tightly.
“Cool.” Kali spared a glance for the highway. “Who’s the oldest?”
“I am.”
“Why do you call him War? It’s a bit strange, don’t you think?”
“It suits him.”
She thought of Warren’s gentle brown eyes peering from beneath the baseball cap and shook her head. “You should call him Red.”
Orrin grunted, turning back to watch the road.
“You come off a bit formal, Orrin. Do you ever say more than a few words?”
“Car.”
“See. That is exactly what I’m talking about.”
He tensed even more and pointed out the windshield. “Kali, look out.”
Heeding his warning in time to see the beat-up brown station wagon pull out in front of them, Kali stood on the brakes. Black tread marks burned into the pavement as the pickup battled forward against the momentum. The anti-lock system kicked in, sending a trail of light gray smoke up on all sides. They stopped mere inches from crushing the metal frame of the old car, with the pickup’s grill at window level of the other vehicle.
The elderly driver leisurely completed the illegal turn. Kali assumed the woman had been oblivious to the near collision, until the old bird extended her middle finger in passing.
Kali briefly considered making a u-turn. It would have been easy enough to catch up to the station wagon and give its bumper a sorry-I-didn’t-kill-you nudge. But Orrin looked as if he was on the verge of having a serious conniption, and she was reluctant to push him over the edge. She didn’t slow down, but abandoned the small talk, giving more attention to the road. Eventually, Orrin relaxed a little.
She pulled into her driveway. Orrin was out of the truck before she had the gear in park. In the next moment, he was at the driver’s door. Kali blinked. She didn’t understand how he’d gotten there so fast. He opened the door and waited. She slid out.
“We should not remain here,” he said.
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I didn’t come home last night, and left my cell at the park. My sister probably called it a dozen times. I need to let her know I’m okay.”
“Talk to your sister. Then we must go.”
“I just noticed something,” Kali said, pouring false honey into a sarcastic tone. “You are way too you
ng to be my father.”
“It is not safe for you to be here. We must stand together if we are to have a chance against him.”
“Gabriel?” She searched his face. “I heard you guys last night. Why does he want me?”
Orrin met her eyes momentarily. “I cannot say.” He looked away.
“Right.” She was getting annoyed again. Orrin was following orders. Orders given by a guy she barely knew. A guy who had a lot of secrets. And who insisted on keeping her in the dark despite the fact it was her life in danger. “If you won’t tell me anything, I will have to find out for myself.” She spun on her heel and marched away from him but didn’t make it three steps before he caught her elbow, bringing her to a gentle but abrupt halt.
“Wait. Allow me to go first.”
“Whatever.” She waved him forward impatiently. “Like I really have a choice.”
Orrin eased past her but instead of going for the front door, he circled around the house. He reappeared later, face carefully lacking any expression. Again, he reminded her of Rhane. At the front, the door was already unlocked, but that was no surprise. Rozzy forgot all the time. Orrin stepped inside and signaled for her to follow. His eyes swept the living room in every direction. Kali thought she even saw him sniff the air a couple of times. “Wait here,” he said and left.
She closed the door and leaned against it. Orrin came back dragging behind him someone with a very big mouth.
“Yo, player, what’s the deal? This is private property! Hey man, get your hands off me!”
Though she had only met him once, Kali would’ve recognized that lingo anywhere. “Max?”
The kid looked at her and grinned. “Hey, shorty!” Today, Max was dressed in all black. His nails were painted slate grey to match the studded leather collar around his neck.
“Are you here alone? Where’s Rozzy?”
“She bounced last night when you didn’t come home from your run. Man, your sister is fine when she’s angry.” He shrugged. “She didn’t come back either. But I’m used to taking care of me. My parents forget sitters all the time.”
Kali genuinely felt sorry for the kid. “I’m sorry. I should have called.”
“It’s whatever.” He jerked his head at Orrin who still held onto the boy’s collar. Max’s toes barely touched the floor. “When did you start to roll like this?”
She looked from Max to Orrin. They were an odd sight. Orrin was flannel ruggedness but regal in manner, while dangling at his side and dwarfed by his size was the ultimate gothic and urban mesh up. “You can put him down. Max is okay.”
Orrin released the boy on the spot, and Max stumbled to the floor. He craned his neck, adjusting the studded accessory. “Next time, it’s you and me, player.”
The absurdity of the challenge made her laugh. “Take it easy, tough guy. I think this one bites.”
Max turned his full attention on Kali. “Dang. You should always wear your hair like that. Curls do it for me.”
The grossed-out feeling she usually ended up getting when around Max for more than five minutes started to rear its ugly head. “Max, you have got to stop being such a creeper.” She touched her hair absently. “Orrin is a friend. Be nice. Okay?”
Max looked Orrin from head to toe before nodding reluctantly. “Alright. He’s cool.”
“Do you know where Rozzy went?”
“Nah.”
“Have you talked to her today?”
“Nah. I called to get her to bring home some toaster tarts. But she didn’t answer.”
She took a quick look at Orrin. “I can’t leave you here by yourself, so you’re coming with me, kid.”
“What?” Both Max and Orrin said in unison.
Seeing no need to argue with Max, Kali addressed Orrin. “You said it yourself, it’s not safe here. We can’t leave him.” Orrin didn’t disagree, so she turned back to Max. “Grab your bag and go get in the truck parked outside.”
“Aw baby, come on,” Max whined.
“Do it, Max.”
“Shorty, we gotta work on our relationship. I’m not feeling the love,” he said, but sauntered off to gather his stuff.
Kali retrieved her purse from upstairs and put a handful of birdseed out for Pat and Stew. When she returned, Max was waiting by the front door. Orrin held it open. “What was so important in this purse that could not wait?”
She blinked and flashed him an innocent smile. “My library card.”
Orrin’s gaze was steady. Kali froze, afraid for a moment that he might say no. But then he gave a slight nod. “I insist that I drive.”
Chapter 55
The county library was Kali’s only option for research. Holsenbeck Hall didn’t have a computer. And her home with its internet access was off limits. Between the world wide net and thousands of books, if she couldn’t find answers there, then answers weren’t meant to be found.
Kali was relieved when Orrin wandered off to a nearby couch and settled in with a magazine. She squinted to see the title, The Real Hunter, and laughed. When the guy wasn’t talking, he actually blended in.
Where to start?
The internet was the obvious choice. Practically anything could be found or done online. From scratch soups to homemade bombs, it was all within reach of a few keystrokes. And the generous morsels volunteered by York would be her ingredients to start with.
She typed in Reaper and found instant success. Unfortunately, it was the wrong kind. The listed sites consisted of heavy metal bands, cartoons and Halloween stuff. Kali tapped her pencil against the keyboard and thought for a minute. Then she searched “shapeshifter.” Lots of hits came back. There was information discussing the history of the term, its origins in mythology and folklore, as well as modern day sci-fi and fantasy uses. Her eyes trailed down to a subheading entitled “lycanthropy.” The term was used specifically for men who turned into wolves——also known as werewolves. What Kali read wasn’t promising. Werewolves were uni-browed monsters, or witches that took the forms of wolves, or humans cursed by shamans, or demons sent by the devil. They killed for sport, raped women, and stole babies.
Well, clearly Warren is nothing like that.
She pored over page after page, reading up on painful transformations under moonlight, silver bullets, curses, and a few cross references to vampires. Kali rolled her eyes. I’m so not going there. She exhaled. “New approach needed here.” She tried to remember the term Tsai had used. He’d said they wouldn’t be safe…because of…the Neuri.
Jackpot. There were only two exact matches, but the sites were less mired in fiction. Neuri were of Scythian or Slavic descent, from countries now known as Poland and Ukraine. There was brief reference to a tribe of Warekin. One entry in particular made goose bumps prick across her flesh. Because of a curse, once a year, men belonging to Neuran tribes turned into wolfish monsters. They became fierce predators, man-eaters of moonlight that terrorized villagers and stole people from their homes. York had said Reapers were once men, but had been forced to live as monsters because of punishment. Tsai had called the same creatures neuri.
Everything came back to werewolves. But why would they want to kill me?
She pushed away from the computer as her mind raced. Warren had definitely turned into really big wolf. Was he cursed? He had taken orders from Rhane just like the others. If the horror movies she had seen carried any weight at all, Kali was certain a werewolf wouldn’t take orders from a human. If Warren was a werewolf, then Rhane had to be a werewolf too, and York had lied to her face. She shook away the thought. This is completely ridiculous. No wonder York laughed at me. Werewolves don’t exist.
“You’re a freak, shorty. I like it.” Max leaned over her shoulder, and Kali nearly jumped out of her skin.
“What are you doing here, creeper?”
The boy touched a finger to his chin as if in deep thought. The guyliner he wore was very distracting. Max snapped his fingers. “You and Commando Oreo kidnapped me.”
“His name is
Orrin. And I meant what are you doing up here, following me around, breathing in my ear?”
“You were taking a long time. I thought you might need help.”
“Do you even know what people do in libraries?”
He winked suggestively. “In the public section or the private section?”
“Go away, Max.”
“No wait, seriously. I can help.”
Kali stared at the screen and ignored him.
But like any good adolescent, he was undeterred. “If you really want to find something, I suggest you do it the old fashioned way.” Max then did something surprising. He spoke like an intelligent human being. “They got tons of old books upstairs, good for history and stuff. Most people don’t bother with ‘em. They sit up there catching dust because the net is supposed to be so much faster.” He shrugged. “Our civilization is bass-ackwards. Any Joe Blow can post whatever he wants on a web page, but to publish it in a book that makes it up those stairs, there’s gotta be some truth to it. Come on.” He took off.
After a moment of hesitation, Kali followed. It turned out that Max knew what he was talking about. He led her to a section of the library she had never been to: The Archives. From floor to ceiling, rows of dusty books filled with knowledge sat waiting to be rediscovered.
“Wow. Max, I am officially impressed.”
Blushing bright red, he looked at the floor and cleared his throat. “So, are we still looking for werewolf stuff?”
“No. I’ve read enough about them. Help me with something I didn’t really see online. I need to learn about the Warekin.”
“Can you spell that?”
She did.
Max rubbed his hands together. “Be right back.”
He returned a few minutes later, lugging a huge volume with worn a leather binding and tattered pages. He took a seat on the floor, folding his legs and feet. When Kali did the same, Max carefully placed the book between them.
“This was the only one with anything on those guys.” Max opened the book. “Only problem is…” He turned the page so she could see. “It’s not in English.”