Becoming the Enigma (The Loup-Garou Series Book 2)

by Sheritta Bitikofer

  After a few frightful seconds, Katey managed to get some of their attentions. They didn’t shoot, but their guns were trained upon her.

  By now, Darren and almost all the other loups-garous were lying on the ground, shot, but still alive. Katey gawked in disbelief at the sight of it all; formidable beasts defeated before an enemy that ambushed them.

  Katey stood up and began screaming at the shooters about the injustice of what they had done, but before she could get much out, she received a hard knock to the back of her skull and all went black.

  Logan’s bandana slipped from her fingertips and fluttered down to the snow.

  23

  The soft crackling of a fire and the strong rotten scent of sulfur was what awoke Katey. When she began to stir, she realized she was lying on a mattress. Her hands slid across the smooth, silky sheets as she grunted and cracked open her eyes.

  What she saw around her was much different than what she had passed out to. Her first sight was of a thick red velvet canopy, accented with golden tassels dangling from the edges of the fabric and the gentle glow of amber flames flickering against the ceiling and walls.

  She turned her head and realized that she was in an ornately decorated room, much like how she might imagine a grand castle bed chamber. Rich colors, carvings, and gold embellishments trimmed everything.

  She slowly and painstakingly sat up only to find that she wasn’t alone. In a luxurious wingback armchair near the fireplace, was a man. He seemed to pay no mind to her presence as he stared into the fire, holding a goblet of some sort of red liquid just inches from his pale lips. His facial features were familiar in a strange, nostalgic sort of way. His eyes were a deep, rich blue that almost seemed to glow in the darkness, like polished marbles that reflected the flames.

  Dark blonde hair, even longer than Katey’s, draped over his chest, reminding her of a lion’s mane in how soft and thick it was. He wore a suit set of black dress pants, a black vest, and white shirt that was open to reveal a pale and muscled chest. The collar of his shirt was turned up to cover most of his neck all the way up to his square jaw. His legs were crossed at the knees and his free arm rested casually on the padded arm of the chair.

  Overall, he projected an air of regal refinement like that of a wealthy noble, but there was an undercurrent of danger about him that Katey couldn’t ignore. He was good looking with strikingly handsome features, like she would expect to see on a model, with his hollow cheeks and defined brow.

  It was from him that the strange smell emitted and she could detect the scent of fresh blood in his glass goblet.

  “Who are you?” Katey asked, her voice throaty and trembling.

  The man turned to her with his mystifying eyes and grinned a toothy smile. “Ah, Katey. You’re finally awake,” he said, his voice resonating in her ears. It sounded so foreign, yet so familiar all at the same time, like a vague memory of someone she had met long ago. She could see the long fangs bared in his grin. There was no mistaking that he was a vampire and it sent her wolf into high alert, though Katey didn’t feel quite the same.

  “Who are you?” Katey repeated more aggressively, her eyes narrowing upon what was supposed to be her enemy.

  He put down his goblet on a small round table next to the chair and stood up. “You don’t recognize me?” he said, holding his arms out to his sides for her to get a full look at him. Her mind frantically searched for the answer, but she couldn’t place a name to his face.

  “You look familiar, but...”

  “Maybe this will help you remember.” He began to hum a tune and waltzed with an invisible partner around the room to the edge of the bed.

  When the realization finally hit her, she gasped aloud.

  “Martel!” Katey exclaimed in disbelief. He was the president of the ballroom dance club from high school so many years back. He was the one who encouraged her to pursue what she loved about dancing, regardless if she had a partner or not. But he was not a vampire then and he certainly didn’t look this way when they first met.

  Martel chuckled and held out his hand to Katey. “The one and only.”

  She looked to his pale skin and was tempted to take what he offered to her. She remembered all of their long, friendly conversations and the humorous glint in his eyes that were so devoid of feeling now. There was a time when she thought his eyes were insanely gorgeous. Now, they were nothing more than black holes, empty and lifeless.

  Her mind seemed to pull against her instinct to hate him, but she shook her head. “But you’re...” She couldn’t bring herself to say it.

  “I’m a vampire. Yes, I know,” he chuckled again, amused by her shock. “I suppose you’re wondering how.”

  Katey nodded and waited, not trusting her voice to stay steady.

  “Well, I’m sure you heard about the tragedy that befell my parents. They died in a fire that consumed our home and everything we owned... I was the one who caused it. No one saw the bruises my father left on me, or knew about the times I’d have to meet with drug dealers because my mother couldn’t drag herself out of bed to get them herself.”

  His mirthless laugh didn’t fool her for a moment.

  She could sense the rage and bitterness beneath his smile. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

  “Who would believe me? Who would care? School was my escape and I didn’t want anyone to pity me.”

  Katey closed her eyes, knowing exactly how he felt. She had spoken similar words to her pack when she lay convalescing in a hospital bed after Mary died. “I would have cared,” she whispered.

  Martel ignored her mawkish statement and continued as he paced back and forth around the bed. “I had enough of that life. I set the fire while my mom was getting another fix. I knocked my dad unconscious so he wouldn’t escape. I was a fugitive, but I knew the judges wouldn’t see my side of the story and I didn’t want to go to jail.

  “While the place was still burning down, I stole my dad’s truck and ran away. In the middle of nowhere Idaho, the truck broke down and I was out of money. That night, a man met me on the road while I was going to get help. I had no food, no money, nothing... The stranger took me in upon the condition that I be loyal to him and travel with him. I didn’t have many options, so I took him up on it. That night he bit me and made me who I am today,” Martel explained as he pulled back his collar to reveal a pair of bite marks in his neck.

  Katey bit her lips together and looked away, horrified that such a friend could have fallen prey to such a terrible fate. She couldn’t believe, out of all the things she had guessed for what had happened to him, that this was it. Her first notion was to pity him, but that was the last thing he wanted. Looking at him now, she could tell that he was glad for the change and somehow, it suited him well. The confidence he carried in his body posture was enough to tell her that he liked being what he was.

  “Oh, it’s not such a bad deal really. I get to have nice clothes, wonderful accommodations, and all the food I could want.”

  She cringed at what his idea of food could be.

  Panic rose within her as she remembered what happened before she had blacked out. The loups-garous had fallen in the snow, unmoving, defeated. What had become of them?

  She reached out through the pack bond and knew that they were still alive and somewhere close by, but for all her powerful senses, she couldn’t find them. The stench of sulfur was too strong and the stone walls muffled much of the noise outside of the bed chamber.

  “What’s happened to Logan?” Katey asked fiercely, turning desperate eyes to Martel and gripping the fabric of the sheets between her hands to keep her from bolting off the bed to search for her fiancé herself.

  Martel’s smile faded and confusion pinched his eyebrows together. “Who?”

  A ball of fury spiraled in her chest. “The loups-garous! The werewolves! Where are they? What did you do with them?”

  On the borderline of hysterics, Katey pushed herself off the bed and charged at Martel as if she was rea
dy to fight him if he didn’t give her what she wanted. She didn’t care if she couldn’t change and he was a vampire, she would beat the truth out of him with a spoon if she had to.

  “Calm down, they can’t hurt you now,” he assured her, placing his cold hands on her shoulders. “They’re down in the basement in their cages,”

  “Cages?” Katey gasped. “They were never going to hurt me! Take me to them right now!” she demanded, swatting away his hands and glaring viciously at him, being careful to not let her golden eyes gleam through.

  Martel held up his hands in surrender. “I have no authority to do that. I can assure that you do, perhaps tomorrow night... I had other plans for us.” His lips curled into a mischievous smile that sent fearful skitters up Katey’s spine.

  “Tomorrow night? How long have we been here? Where is here?” Katey glanced out the barred window just behind Martel, but it was too dark to see past the flakes of snow drifting outside and the frost that edged the panes.

  “We are in a remote part of Canada, just outside the Alaskan border,” Martel replied casually. “I won’t bother giving you the coordinates as no one is supposed to know where this castle is. We brought the beasts in last night. It’s now just a little past sundown. If we don’t hurry, we’ll miss what I have planned.”

  Katey slowly sat herself back down on the bed, holding her face in her hands, her throat constricting. The thought hit her that Martel had no idea she was one of the beasts. Could vampires even detect a loup-garou like they could smell a vampire? Katey glanced down to her clothes and saw she was still wearing her torn jeans and blouse.

  “What plans?” she asked.

  Martel relaxed as she began to calm down. “For starters, I’d like to take you to dinner. Then there is a play later tonight that I’d like to take you to... If you’ll have me.”

  Katey glowered up to him. “Do I have a choice?”

  He gave her another sinister grin. “Not really.”

  She thought for a moment and sighed, not seeing much of another way out. “If I go with you, can you arrange for me to go to the basement to see the werewolves?” Katey thought it best to refer to them by their species rather than by names. Perhaps if he thought she was too attached to them, then he might second guess his intentions to keep her safe.

  “I can promise you that much.” Martel gave her a humble bow of his head.

  “Then fine, I’ll go... Can I get a change of clothes?” Katey asked, pinching a bit of her dirty blouse that had torn in a few places.

  “Certainly... Helga!” he hollered at the door, causing Katey to jump a little at his booming voice. She had never heard him yell before, not even as a human. Martel had always been the temperate sort, never raising his voice or his hand against anyone. To see him so cold and dark now was off-putting.

  A little girl, probably not more than thirteen years old, entered the room dressed in a maid outfit. She kept her head down and hands folded neatly in front of her with her shiny ebony hair braided into a bun behind her head.

  “Get Katey dressed in something more suitable for going out. And put her hair up as well. I want to show off that pretty neck of hers.”

  Martel reached out to stroke the skin of Katey’s neck with his nails but she jerked away before he could have the pleasure. Martel may have been an old friend, but many things had changed since her freshmen year. Neither of them were the same people they once were, and there was no point in pretending otherwise.

  He chuckled and walked swiftly out the room. “I’ll be waiting downstairs,” he announced, and then shut the door behind him.

  A frightened Helga hustled to the wardrobe in the corner of the room and sifted through the dresses. Katey stood up, her legs weak from the new weight that had been placed on her shoulders. The temptation to picture her friends in cages was strong, but she couldn’t think of that now.

  She came up beside Helga and took a look for herself into the wardrobe. Everything was fancy and regal with full skirts and strapless tops. Nothing looked remotely comfortable to wear unless Katey had some jacket or shawl to cover her bare shoulders. She did notice there were some fur shawls that would do the job nicely. One even had white fur and she hastily grabbed for it.

  Helga didn’t smell of sulfur, so Katey knew she was human. Could they even make a vampire so young? The poor girl trembled as Katey pointed out a blue and white gown that had delicate beading embroidered down the front. She fumbled with the clothes to get them out of the wardrobe. The dresses were so much bigger than the maid and she wrestled with the heavy fabrics. Katey assisted her and threw the dress over the carved footboard of the bed.

  She quickly followed Katey over and began unbuttoning her blouse, but Katey gently took Helga’s hands in hers and shook her head. “Relax, I’m not one of them. I won’t hurt you... I can undress myself, okay?” Katey said softly, giving her as comforting a smile as she could.

  Fear radiated off of the little girl and filled the room with the potent odor. Katey’s wolf did not glory in such a scent, but whimpered and sympathized with the slave.

  Helga let out a tight breath and recoiled her hands to let Katey undress. She did help her pull the dress over Katey’s head when asked and lace it from behind. Looking at herself in the full-length mirror of the open wardrobe door, Katey’s face puckered in a deep frown. She never thought she’d be wearing something so elegant and couldn’t help but inwardly acknowledge that it flattered her figure, but it just didn’t belong on her body. She didn’t belong in this castle, so disconnected from her pack.

  “Is something wrong, miss?” the maid asked.

  There was plenty wrong. She was in an unfamiliar place, one of her former childhood friends was her sworn enemy, and her future mate was locked away in a cage somewhere wondering if she was even alive. Nothing was right, but she couldn’t let on to anyone else. Until she could free her pack and all the other loups-garous trapped below her, Katey would have to play the part that they all expected of her.

  “No, nothing is wrong. Just out of place, I guess.”

  “If you’d like to pick another dress...”

  “No,” Katey said quickly. “It’s not the dress, it’s just me... Not much I can do about that.” She shrugged to Helga, feeling self-conscious that most of her upper body was completely uncovered. The cut of the dress wasn’t overly provocative, but it was still unnerving to have her shoulders and chest so exposed, especially knowing that she would be going on a date with a vampire shortly.

  Katey paused in thought, wondering how this could have happened. How did the vampires sneak up on them so suddenly and manage to overtake them with those darts? What poison could have taken down a loup-garou so easily? And above all, why didn’t the vampires just kill them in the forest if they were such rivals? It would have made much more sense, but they were being held in the bowels of the castle and alive. But for what purpose?

  “May I do your hair, miss?” Helga asked.

  “No, I’m not going to give Martel something to ogle at, especially since that something is already taken.”

  “You have a beau, miss?”

  “A fiancé, yes...” Her voice drifted off as she thought of Logan. “Can you tell me where exactly I am?”

  “We’re perched on a high mountain overlooking my hometown,” she replied proudly, but there was a hint of pain in her voice as if she didn’t want to be here either. “Unfortunately, it’s far away from any big city. The vampires set up here for that reason.”

  “Is this Martel’s castle?” Katey asked as she wrapped the fur around her shoulders, the fibers tickling her skin.

  Helga giggled and shook her head. “No, miss. It’s Michael and Yaverik’s. They’re the vampire lords of this region.”

  Katey’s blood froze in her veins at the thought that there were more vampires nearby. One was bad enough.

  “I’m assuming this is a big castle?” Katey asked as she saw Helga fumbling through a vanity drawer looking for perfume. She hadn’t notice
d the vanity and dresser just next to the wardrobe. It was possible that this wasn’t Martel’s room, but then whose room was it?

  “Yes, miss. You’ll have a good view of it from the bottom of the mountain. We have a beautiful courtyard, too, if you get to see it during the day. My uncle tends to it.”

  Helga came over and offered to spray a bit of the fragrance on Katey. She consented, but just one spray. Her nose was too sensitive to endure more than that. The scent resembled something like lavender or orchids and Katey liked the subtle feminine touch it gave her. It was familiar too, but she couldn’t place exactly from where. Perhaps a girl at school owned the same fragrance.

  “How did you get tangled up with this bunch?” she asked as Helga went to pick out some shoes that would match the dress.

  “My parents are dead, miss. I didn’t have anywhere to go so I came to work here. My whole time consists of serving the vampire lords and their guests.”

  Katey’s heart bled for Helga. To have no family besides her uncle who was bound in the same servitude as she was; no friends, no means of supporting herself, and forced to work for a race that drank blood to survive. Hopefully, they had no plans to make her dinner one day if she ever proved to be useless. Helga was just blooming into her teenage years and Katey could identify with her all too well. She never had to serve someone who had the power and authority to kill her, but they were both orphans and that was enough.

  She came back with a pair of blue high heels and Katey reluctantly nodded her consent, though heels were the last thing she ever wanted to wear again.

  “Is it just Martel and those lords or do more live here?” Katey asked as Helga strapped on the shoes for her. The thick corset top restricted her from bending over at the waist to tie her own shoes.

  “A few more live here, but we’re quite crowded now for the winter solstice celebration. Vampires from all over America and Canada come here to celebrate with the lords.”

  Katey shuddered. She had hoped maybe only five vamps at the most lived here. Now she realized how surrounded she truly was. A gathering of this many vampires and the ambush on the loups-garous was no coincidence. Something was coming and she had to stop it somehow, but there was too little information to go on. Katey hoped that Martel would be more inclined to talk if she decided to play ball with him.