The dead man behind the wheel slumped to one side, turning the steering wheel with him. The van turned sharply and Marie felt them begin to flip. She buried her claws into the back seat and held on as best she could.
She wasn't sure how many times the van turned over. It wasn't many, maybe just two times, but it was enough to disorient. The van came to a rest on the passenger's side. The first noises to penetrate her ringing ears were a feminine moan of pain, followed by Nathan's voice.
"Terri! Mackenzie! Are you okay?!"
The entire front of the van was coated in blood, including Marie. She pulled her claws from the seat and turned to survey the scene. Nathan's family was alive, but hurt. Mackenzie seemed to be in better condition. A trickle of blood ran down her face. Terri was hurt and moaned into her gag. She had multiple cuts, and her shoulder seemed to hang slightly, possibly dislocated.
Mackenzie's gag loosened somewhat during the crash. She screamed as Marie approached the both of them. Nathan made his way inside, panic in his eyes.
"Oh, God," he said. "Are you both alright?"
"Daddy!" Mackenzie shouted. "There's a monster!"
Marie would have chuckled if she could. She sometimes forgot how she looked to humans. Nathan stared at Marie, and she suddenly felt bad for him. What was he supposed to tell his daughter in the coming months, when she woke from her nightmares? Marie took comfort in the simple fact that she would at least be alive in order to have those nightmares.
"It's okay, sweetheart," Nathan said. "It's…she's not a monster."
She positioned herself behind Mackenzie and gripped her shirt with her teeth. The child struggled and whined for a second, but relaxed when Marie slowly dragged her from the van. Nathan wasn't far behind, slowly and gingerly pulling his wife.
He went to work on untying his family and removing their gags.
"Is everyone okay?" he asked. "Oh God, I'm so sorry."
"My shoulder…." Terri said.
"We need to get you to a hospital."
Terri hugged her husband with her good arm. "We can't. I mean…look around."
Mackenzie sat close to her parents, never taking an eye off Marie. Marie sat on her haunches and licked her lips. The child no longer had fear in her eyes, only curiosity, and that warmed Marie's heart. She tilted her head back and howled, and the birds in the trees scattered in response. Nathan and his family jumped slightly, but Mackenzie managed a small smile.
A small voice interrupted her.
"Help me."
She cocked one ear toward the van and focused. The sounds of the woods and Nathan's family's whispering faded, and she picked up a heartbeat. She trotted into the back of the van and saw slight movement from the passenger's seat.
The last of Eddie's men was still alive. He was trapped in the passenger's seat, a mangled mess, lying in a heap on top of the door. His leg was twisted at an odd angle. His wrist was crushed from when she bit him. The driver was dead and hanging sideways from his seat. Blood dripped from the corpse onto the passenger, and he didn't bother trying to wipe it away.
"Please, help me," he said. "I'm not like my brother, or these assholes here."
Eddie's brother. Marie didn't care enough to tell them apart, or put names to faces. But she remembered Eddie's brother arguing at every turn, looking down on the men and what they were doing.
Still, he was involved. He would have stood by and watched Terri and Mackenzie being killed.
She sauntered forward. There was no remorse at all. Helping Nathan and his family wasn't the first time she had to kill in her life, and she was certain it wouldn't be the last. She didn't enjoy it. It wasn't a way of life for her, despite her animal nature. There were simply times she had to end the life of a human being.
She gripped his throat with her teeth and clamped down. He tried to push her away with his bad hand, but was simply too weak. She lapped at the blood that squirted from his neck as his heart stopped beating. Some crimson shot onto her chest and neck.
There was no fear of him becoming a werewolf, even if she let him live. It took a rare quality for a human to handle the change, something in the blood. Her tongue would recognize it immediately if she tasted it, and none of Eddie's men had it.
She left the van and rejoined Nathan and his family. They were on their knees in a family embrace. Marie looked at her car, and realized just how close Nathan came to slamming into the back of the van. Her car was turned perpendicular in the road, skid marks following her tires. But it was in one piece.
She sighed as she rested belly-first in the grass. As a wolf, her sigh came out as more a huff of air. She had to change one last time, and she wasn't looking forward to it.
Nathan jumped as Marie whined in pain. He helped Terri to her feet and kept a protective arm around his daughter as Marie changed. The three of them winced and stared in awe at the disgusting sight and unnerving noises. Her bones broke once again and her muscles twisted and contorted. Her animal whine slowly changed to a female cry. Her tail was always last. She felt it shrink into her lower back.
Tears ran down her face as she rolled on her side. It would be a few weeks before she changed once again. Marie loved being what she was. She was definitely a woman. She liked pink and occasionally wearing makeup and a nice dress. Being what she was, she also thought of herself as tough. But the pain of so many changes made her cry like she was five years old all over again. She tried to sit up, but the pain was too much, and she was content to lie in the grass on the side of the road a while longer.
Nathan slowly approached her, his family just behind him, and reached out to help her up.
"No. Please, don't touch me."
Marie could only imagine how she looked to the human family. Nathan already had a glimpse, but she was in worse shape than in his basement. Covered in gore, her strawberry blond hair was streaked with blood and a piece of flesh was in her teeth. She discretely removed it and dropped it on the grass.
"What…are you?" Terri asked.
Marie tried not to be insulted. Terri didn't ask in a rude way, but the question was still off-putting.
"Right now, I think I'm the sorest person alive."
She slowly pulled herself to her feet. A three-hour bath was calling her name. Mackenzie was slightly behind her father. She took a step forward, but stopped just short of touching Marie.
"Thank you."
She smiled a bloody smile. "You're very welcome."
Awkward silence followed. Terri couldn't take her eyes off Marie's naked body. Nathan looked at the overturned van, and Marie's thoughts drifted to their aftermath as well as hers.
Multiple dead bodies and an angry mob boss. She had no doubt Nathan would be using his skills for his own use soon. She felt bad for them. Their lives were about to go through a major change.
But none of that involved her. She had her own life to get started on.
"I, uh, trust that tonight's little adventure won't turn up on the Internet?"
"We won't tell anyone," Mackenzie said, before her father.
Nathan smiled. "No one would believe us anyway."
Marie held out her hand. It took Nathan a moment to realize she wanted her keys. He handed them over, and she opened the trunk of her car, just to make sure her money and paperwork were still there.
Guilt attacked her. Terri's expression told Marie her shoulder was killing her. But she had to get moving.
"Normally I'd give you a ride. But none of this is exactly normal, is it?" she said, offering a small smile.
Nathan gingerly put a hand on his wife's back. "It's okay. We'll walk."
She climbed behind the wheel, getting more blood all over her seat. She couldn't remember the last time she'd driven naked. It'd been at least twenty years.
She backed the car up and straightened out on the road.
"Mackenzie, you take care of your parents."
"I will."
"Well, Nathan, I wish I could say it's been a pleasure doing business with you. It's
been different, at least."
He nodded. "Hopefully we never meet again."
"I agree. Take care."
Terri waved and nodded her appreciation. "Thank you, Jane."
"Actually, my name's Marie," she said with a smile.
Marie drove away. She watched in the rear-view mirror as Nathan and his family grew smaller and smaller. They'd be fine. Certainly much better than Eddie and his men, who had the worst luck in the world. They began the night thinking they'd murder a family, only to be murdered themselves at the paws of a werewolf.
She turned the radio on as gingerly as she could so she didn't spread any blood. She needed to get clean and find some new clothes. More than that, she needed a bottle of Tylenol.
She allowed herself a grin. Hopefully her new life wouldn't be as exciting as her old one.
CHAPTER 3
Martin glanced at the time on the dashboard as he watched the world around him. Two thirty in the afternoon. The fall season had arrived, and Halloween was just around the corner. A woman raked leaves outside her home as her neighbor worked feverishly in his yard, ghouling it up. A fake headstone here, some cobwebs there. The man and woman took a break and spoke to each other over the fence separating them. Martin smirked at the obvious attraction between the two. The sight was a welcome one. It was nice to see young attraction in its first moments.
The familiar bell rang, as it did every day, and his heart pounded in his chest. He sat up behind the wheel of his car, his palms sweaty. He scolded himself for being so nervous, but he couldn't help himself. It'd been two weeks since he first saw her, walking down the street with her friends. He'd been smitten ever since. There was no way he could push her from his mind. Bright blue eyes, luscious curves, beach blond hair. Her skin was beautifully bronzed, no doubt from spending time at the nearby beach during the summer.
The front of the school was like a jailbreak. Some students ran to buses, others to their cars parked in the lot. Some stopped and talked to their friends before going on their way. Martin searched the faces of the teenage boys and girls as they left school behind. The excitement was building. He had to get it under control. Every day was an adventure trying to find her. He never knew what clothes she would wear. In his mind, he liked to think she stood in front of the mirror in her room, picking out clothes every morning before school. Picking out clothes just for him.
He was finally going to introduce himself to her.
The thought sent shivers down his spine. Not only would he introduce himself, but he would take her home. He would take care of her and love her like no one else could. He would love her more than the last one.
His breath hitched when he finally spotted her. She was standing in the grass just off the sidewalk, talking with two of her friends. They laughed and giggled, like only teenage girls could. The conversation was strange to watch. A few of the girls would talk with each other while the others checked their cell phones, then they would switch. Modern conversation between teens included technology as much as words, a far cry from when Martin attended high school over twenty-five years ago.
She stood in the middle of the group. Obviously she was the center of their world. He could see why. He felt no shame, no guilt in admiring her figure and the choice of clothes she picked out for him. She showed off her shapely legs, despite the October chill, with a pair of blue shorts that would have gotten her expelled when he went to school. Her simple polka-dotted tee shirt was just loose enough to let his imagination roam about what was under it, but also short enough to show the bottom of her slim stomach.
His nerves attacked him, and he leaned his head on the steering wheel to fight them. She was almost too pretty for him, but he pushed those thoughts aside. She would love him, like he loved her.
The group separated, and she took her normal path, like she'd done every single day he spent with her. She shifted her backpack on her shoulders and headed down the sidewalk, away from school. She didn't drive or take the bus. Walking was a great way to exercise. She liked to keep herself in shape, just for him.
Martin blended in with the little traffic there was, keeping his eye on her the entire time. She didn't deviate from her normal path. A left on Warner, then a right on Munroe. Her stare was fixated on her phone as she sent text message after text message, only looking up long enough to not bump into anything. He wasn't sure if he found that attractive. He'd have to talk with her about that habit.
She flipped her hair behind her shoulder as she crossed an intersection, a gesture that drove Martin crazy. The girl was intoxicating. Surely she have must realized what she did to him.
He didn't even know her name. In the end, that was unimportant. He'd give her a new name, like he always did. He debated on a name as he followed her, still camouflaged in traffic. What would a nice name be for a gorgeous beach bunny like her? Kelly? Susan? Donna?
Kara.
The name immediately struck a chord, and a smile touched his lips. It was a beautiful name.
"Kara," he said aloud. The name rolled like honey off his tongue. He focused his gaze on her. "I love you, Kara."
It was almost as if she heard him, even through the distance and rolled up windows. She stopped for a moment and turned, searching the street around her. Martin averted his eyes, as difficult a task as that was, and occupied himself by fiddling with the radio. Kara eventually returned her attention to her cell phone and trek home. He had another two blocks to admire her, before she reached the alley she used as a shortcut. Her hips swayed, the muscles in her calves tightened as she stepped onto the curb. Martin wiped his brow at the thought of what they'd do to each other.
He could see the alley up ahead. The time to introduce himself was nearly upon them. He reached into the glove compartment for the rag and the bottled mix of chemicals his father had shown him how to make decades ago.
Kara turned down the alley, and Martin took a deep breath. He counted to himself. It took exactly fifty-three seconds for Kara to walk from one side of the alley to the other. Sometimes it took a little longer, as she'd lean against the brick wall and send an intense text to a friend. He needed to time it perfectly, reach her at the halfway point. The alley was nothing but the sides of two buildings, a laundromat and a Chinese take-out place. No houses, no one to see Martin work.
He turned off the main road onto Kara's shortcut. The alley was wide enough for maybe two cars. She continued to walk slowly as she stared at her cell phone, her thumbs flying. Finally, she heard the quiet rattle of Martin's engine, and stepped to the side to allow him to pass. He pulled alongside her. Their eyes met, only for an instant, before she raised her phone once again.
Martin threw the door open. He already had the rag in his right hand. He lived this event in his mind countless times, and now it was finally for real. Kara only had time to be startled for a second before he was on her. She dropped her phone as he wrapped one arm around her waist and pressed the rag to her face. She struggled, but was only one hundred pounds, at best. He lifted her into the air and pulled her inside the car. She screamed into the rag and kicked with her legs as he leaned back across the seats, simply to disorient her.
He struggled in his mind with getting the task done, as well as fighting his own excitement. They were finally touching. His arm was still around her waist. Her shirt was pulled up, and he could feel her stomach. Her hair was splayed across his face. The scent was almost more than he could handle. He inhaled deeply as the fight slowly left her.
"Shhh," he whispered. "It's okay, Kara. I promise I'll take good care of you. Finally, we're together." He stroked her cheek with his thumb, still pressing the rag to her. "I love you."
Kara went limp, and Martin let out a sigh of relief. He pulled the tiny lever to pop the trunk, and carried Kara in his arms. He set her gingerly in the trunk, not bothering to take off her backpack. The materials he needed were already waiting. A pair of handcuffs and a roll of duct tape. He tore off a strip of duct tape and covered her mouth, being as careful
as he could not to catch her hair. He handcuffed her tiny wrists behind her back, after he'd wrapped several layers of duct tape around her feet.
He admired her. Heat rose below his waist as his eyes traveled her figure, her soft skin, her bound hands. He wanted to caress her face, but resisted and carefully closed the trunk. He scooped up the phone she dropped and tossed it onto the passenger's seat. Kara wouldn't need her phone. She'd never have to call or talk to anyone ever again.
Martin allowed himself a moment of reflection as he climbed behind the wheel. The scent of her shampoo still lingered in his nose, mixing with the ocean from the beach not far away. It was a beautiful day. He always loved fall, the perfect season. The humid, stuffy air from the summer was gone, but the winter had not yet arrived. There was a perfect chill in the air.
The love of his life was finally with him. She was perfect, not like the others at all.
The drive home was peaceful. He lived on the other side of town. His house was a Cape Cod, like the others in his neighborhood, but sat further back along the street. The attached garage let him park and come and go as he pleased, and let him bring the previous women in his life inside without being seen.
He smiled as he waved at the neighbors' kids, playing in their yard. It was a wonderful thought, knowing he would never bring another girl home. Kara was it. She was the last one. If only his father was still alive to meet her.
He parked his car in the garage and pressed the button to lower the door. The light from the outside slowly vanished; only a beam from the single window on the door lit the way. Stretching his arms over his head, he let out a yawn as he circled back to the trunk.
Martin opened the trunk and jumped with surprise. A smile spread across his face as he put a hand over his chest. Kara and he had startled each other.
Kara was awake. She recoiled as the dim light found her, and let out a tiny scream against the duct tape. Tears ran down her cheeks as she struggled against her bonds, a sight that broke Martin's heart.
Damned and Cursed (Book 2): Witch's Kurse Page 4