by Susan Illene
I turned to question him. “How could you not know about this?”
I had to work with Derrick and needed to figure out where he stood. It wouldn’t change that I was stuck with him, but it would let me know how much of a distance to keep.
Derrick’s voice came out low. “I had no idea they’d done this. Variola must of kept it from me, knowin’ I wouldn’t agree with it.”
Truth again. “You have no idea who all these people are?”
He stood silent for a moment. I figured he must have been studying the bodies and where they might fit in with what he knew.
After a few minutes, he answered me. “I’m guessin’ the oldest ones are from when Variola took over. There were some humans stayin’ at the house who belonged to the last leader when we moved in. They would’ve remained loyal to him. She said she sent them away after compelling them to never speak of what they knew. She must’ve meant a different kind of sending away than I assumed.”
I continued to hold my nose as I spoke. “How can you be sure?”
He nodded at a small silver bracelet with a distinct Celtic pattern lying around one of the skeleton’s arms. It poked out from the pile. “I remember one of the humans wearing that. There is only one way it could of got here now.”
“So that first group was left here and they continued to use this place as a dumping ground after that for all the kills they didn’t want to have to explain away.”
Derrick dipped his head. “It looks like it.”
“With my luck, it’ll be my body here next.”
Irritation rose up from him. It made me take a step back, plus one more. His eyes followed my movements. I needed to stop. With him being a predator, backing away only made him want to attack more. My feet froze and long minutes passed as he fought to regain control of himself. Facing away from the carnage, he took deep breaths in and out. I really hated being around sups, even if they could cook well.
“Melena,” he paused. “I wouldn’t do something like this. Variola knows that. It’s why she probably kept it from me. I can promise you, I’ll be havin’ a word with her about it.”
He meant what he said. It made me feel a little better. I didn’t want to be around a man all day, every day, who considered this kind of thing acceptable.
“How can you be sure you can stop her and the others? I’m thinking the evidence says she doesn’t care all that much for human life.”
He let out a short growl. “I’ll do my best to convince her.”
“And if that isn’t enough?” The man needed his blinders taken off.
Derrick rubbed his face. “We’re all forced into situations we don’t care for. Just like you are now. This ain’t somethin’ I would allow in my presence, but I don’t have the power to make Variola do what I want.”
“So you would keep working for a woman as evil as this?”
Anger flashed across his face. “Don’t make presumptions about me, little girl. There are things you can’t know about, or understand. I’m not here to explain them to you.”
Despite his predatory stance, my hackles rose at the term “little girl”. I threw up my arms in the air.
“Fine, it’s your life. You have to live with your choices. It’s not my business.”
I stomped off in the direction of the vehicle, unwilling to discuss it with him anymore. Let him get through the “keep away” spell on his own. I wasn’t shedding more blood to break it.
He followed right away at a short distance, but managed to get himself through without my help. Derrick didn’t say anything when I drove us straight back to my place. Seeing the body dumping ground had been enough for one day. Neither of us spoke until I pulled the vehicle up to the cabin.
“Give me the keys,” he said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Sensor Girl, a man can only take so much. Today you had your turn, but from here on out I’ll be doin’ the driving. Live with it.”
He jerked the keys from my hand before I could get them out of his range. I gave him a growl that would have done most werewolves proud before shoving my door open. Some men’s superiority complexes never ceased to amaze me. Why couldn’t they understand a woman could do most things as good as they could?
Speaking of difficult men.
Charlie came walking out of the woods as we climbed the few steps leading up to the porch. The shaman’s timing appeared a little too convenient; making me think he must have been waiting. I couldn’t read his expression to determine what he wanted.
Derrick appeared to recognize him.
“Charlie,” he said by way of greeting.
The older man inclined his head. “Derrick.”
“You have a reason for being here?”
The shaman nodded toward me. “I came to speak with her.”
“Why?” The werewolf crowded close to me.
“You know I don’t have to answer that. Go on inside, I won’t take much of her time.” Charlie had a hint of steel behind his words you had to respect. He wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Derrick must have known that because he sent me a cautionary look before using the keys he’d taken to unlock the cabin. The door didn’t close gently behind him.
I hesitated on the steps as Charlie beckoned me to follow him. My senses didn’t have any negative reactions to him, but they weren’t reliable for that anyway. Today’s events had amped up my wariness of all sups, particularly mysterious shamans.
“It’s alright, Melena. I’m not here to hurt you,” Charlie said in an encouraging voice. His words came out as truth.
I stood there for a moment longer in indecision before choosing to follow him and see what he wanted. If he appeared trustworthy enough, I’d consider telling him about the bodies. Someone needed to know, outside of Variola’s circle, and he would be the best choice. If he tried anything funny, though, I’d shoot him. My gun was tucked into my pants and begging to be used after the day I’d had.
The shaman relaxed his stance when I took the first steps off the porch. I followed his lead as we walked for some distance away from the cabin before he broke the silence.
“Melena, I know you were missing for several days. Now you’ve come back with Derrick keeping a close eye on you. Want to tell me what happened?”
Though his voice sounded concerned, I wasn’t sure how to react to him. Did he need to know what happened? And even if I told him, what good would that do? It’s not like he could change what had been done to me and I hadn’t known him long enough to cry on his shoulder about it. I gave him a glare instead.
“Want to tell me how you knew where I lived?”
His lips spread into a grin. “You rented this cabin from my grandson. It wasn’t difficult to find out.”
I stopped walking. “Your grandson?”
He shrugged. “Well, a few generations removed perhaps, but he is my descendent.”
I didn’t know what to think about that, so I reverted back to the original topic.
“Why do you want to know?”
He gave me a patient look. “If you tell me what happened, I may have a way for you to get out of your current predicament.”
I covered a cough. “Somehow, I doubt that.”
“Try me,” he said. “What do you have to lose?”
He had me there. Telling the shaman wouldn’t make things worse in any way I could see. No one had ordered me to silence. What if he did have a way to get me out of this and I didn’t take it because of my prejudices? Did I want to risk spending the rest of my life working for an evil vampire-witch who would use me until every part of my soul eroded away?
My earlier conversation with Derrick made me wonder if he wasn’t trapped by Variola in some way as well. He hadn’t lied, but he had been hiding his reasons for staying with her. Maybe she had something on him too.
Charlie listened as I filled him in on most of the gory details covering the past few days since my capture. He frowned during the worst parts, but didn’t say anything until I finishe
d.
“This could be turned to our advantage, if you’re willing to hear me out.”
I had a feeling I already knew what he meant, but nodded for him to continue.
“The vampire you’re looking for is the same one I told you about before. Nikolas led the supernaturals in this area before these dark ones took over. During his time, he kept his people in line. Humans were safe. Variola used deceitful methods to remove him from power. Now you have a chance to bring him back.”
I leaned against a tree behind me. “By waking him up?”
“Yes,” he agreed. “Find Nikolas, and use your abilities to break the spell keeping him asleep.”
I huffed out a breath. “You’re serious. You want me to wake a twelve hundred year old vampire who has been sleeping for five years?”
Charlie nodded. “Exactly.”
I downgraded my opinion of the man to lunatic status.
“How do you propose I do this?”
“The same way you protected your cabin and broke the spell in the field today, with your blood. It will end the curse if you feed it to him.”
“Wait, how do you know about the attack on the cabin?” I’d told him about my kidnapping and finding the bodies, but not the preceding assault.
He lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “I watched your place that night and saw how you protected it from those who came. It was the most entertainment I’d gotten in decades.”
He chuckled, as if the memory brought him great enjoyment. That irritated me.
“So you stood out there,” I gestured toward the woods, “and witnessed all of that happen without stepping in to help me?”
“You had it under control.”
“I had to kill a woman,” I gritted out. Maybe she wasn’t a good person, but it still bothered me.
Charlie put his hand on my shoulder. It made me flinch, but I didn’t push it off.
“Melena, you’re meant to be a fighter. There will be many more lives you’ll have to take with the path laid before you.”
I studied the ground. Would it come down to that? Hadn’t my battles in the Middle East been enough?
“In other words, I need to wake the vampire and let him fight Variola, assuming he doesn’t kill me in the process. What about my friend, Aniya? She could die in all this. That much was made clear when I was forced to take the deal.”
Charlie let his hand drop from my shoulder. “Don’t let Variola find out. If you can wake Nikolas without Derrick alerting the others, the werewolf can be “influenced” to stay quiet and he can help protect you. After that we can work to save your friend. You’ll see these things have a way of working out.”
“Easier said than done, but I’ll consider it.”
He lifted his arm and indicated we should move back to the cabin. I walked beside him, kicking up twigs and leaves as I went.
“That is all I can hope for, but remember this,” he paused for a moment with his much older eyes boring into mine.
“The significance of your decisions may seem minor in the scheme of life, but the ramifications can reverberate through time, impacting the future in ways you cannot imagine. Some people get the luxury of never having to make difficult choices, but you are not among them. Follow your instincts.”
I looked away. Nothing about this situation appeared easy and taking the path of least resistance didn’t mean I would get the results I wanted.
“Good night, Melena,” he spoke softly, as if his voice floated on the wind. “May the wisdom of your ancestors guide you.”
Not that ambiguous line again. A glance in the direction he had been a moment before made me turn around in place. The shaman was no longer there. Wanda had never mentioned his kind being able to teleport or cloak themselves. Apparently there were plenty more surprises in store for me.
Chapter Fourteen
For the next two days Derrick and I searched for the missing vampire without so much as a hint of where he might have gone. I suspected someone might have moved him, but that idea was shot down, along with my previous one implying he may already be awake. Variola stayed confident that his supporter, whoever the person was, would not have been able to get him out of the area. It seemed like wishful thinking on her part, but I kept trudging along, sending my senses out as far as they could go in the hopes of finding him.
We had covered most of the passable roads in the area, which wasn’t hard since there weren’t many of them. Hiking would be the next step if we didn’t find the vampire soon. I’d had plenty of that in my military days and didn’t feel all that inclined to do it again. In the meantime, I came up with an alternative for the day that would get us through some territory with less work.
Derrick and I would be taking the morning tour on the Riverboat Discovery Cruise. It began in Fairbanks, but would pass along one area we hadn’t reached yet. I looked forward to doing something different and it gave me the excuse to get a little sightseeing in. Derrick admitted he had ridden the boat before, but gave grudging agreement to do it again. He claimed he was allowing it because I needed a break from the stress. Maybe I did.
To my dismay, our plans were delayed as soon as we opened the door. In front of us, blocking the porch steps, stood a huge moose grazing on the grass growing there. Spiky antlers with sharp ends branched off from his head. He gave us a disdainful look when we froze at the entryway. Derrick grabbed my arm, pulled me back inside, and shut the door behind us.
“What was that all about?” I asked, shrugging off his rough handling.
We could go around the moose. It would mean getting close, but still doable.
He glared at me. “Do you have any idea how dangerous those animals can be?”
I shrugged. “He doesn’t seem all that scary.”
Derrick shook his head. “I’m sure the last guy who was trampled to death by one would say the same thing if he was still alive to tell the tale.”
Somehow, I doubted that many people died from moose attacks. It seemed even more ludicrous when I considered my company. Derrick was an alpha werewolf. A moose couldn’t be that much of a challenge for him. I told him as much.
He snorted. “You think the answer is to kill the moose? This is his home too and he has as much of a right to be here as we do. The only reason to attack him is if it is for food or defense. Otherwise, it’s best to leave the wild animals alone.”
Should have known a werewolf would be sympathetic to animal rights. I’d never been much of an animal lover myself. My allergy to cats made them impossible to be around and dogs were too much trouble. My parents gave me a parakeet for my birthday when I turned nine and it hadn’t survived long. Apparently birds needed to be fed on a regular basis. Fish died even faster when left in my care. I was a little too generous in adding the chemicals to their water.
Animals and I did not go well together. Something as ugly and big as a moose rated even lower in the scheme of things. Especially when we needed to leave in the next ten minutes to get to the tour on time. I wished I could shoot the damn thing.
I glanced at my watch. Make that five minutes. Too bad the cabin didn’t have a back door. “Fine, we can’t hurt the moose. I get it, but can’t you at least scare it off?”
Derrick leaned back against the door and gave me an incredulous look.
“What would you have me do? I assume you know I can’t shift during the day. Attempting to scare a twelve hundred pound bull would most likely result in serious injury, for me.” He pointed a finger at his chest.
I sighed, realizing he wasn’t going to budge on the matter. In the last few days we had learned to set aside our differences and get along. Neither of us wanted to be stuck in these circumstances, so a truce had been called. I didn’t really want to see him get hurt. The man had been a lot nicer to me than expected. Besides, if he was injured, it might be a while before he could cook again.
“Sorry, you’re right,” I said. “We’ll wait it out.” However long that took.
Derrick relaxed. Seeing
no further argument from me, he settled into a comfortable position on the couch and pulled out a book to read. Something having to do with the Civil War. Yeah, he knew he’d won this round. I skulked off to the bedroom to reschedule the tour for the afternoon.
After getting new tickets, I sifted through my email account while keeping an eye on the door. Derrick had a tendency to watch all my communications, making me think that must have been part of Variola’s orders. Over the last week I’d gotten a ton of frantic messages from Lisette. She hadn’t heard from me since the day I’d been captured. There hadn’t been a chance to call or write her back. She had to be going crazy.
Derrick stepped into the room. I closed the window and opened another one that would be less incriminating. He peered at my screen.
“California State University of Monterey Bay, why are you looking at that site?” he asked.
I gave him a disgruntled look. “Because I couldn’t get back in time for classes to start so now I have to cancel the ones I was enrolled in.”
He lifted his brows. “You were going to college?”
“Yeah,” I sighed. “Planned to graduate in the spring too. Guess that’s not going to happen now.”
With a few clicks of the mouse, my schedule was cleared, along with my dream. It didn’t seem fair. I supposed the fact I was still alive should count for something—it could always be worse. Aniya was going to have the same problem if I didn’t save her. Derrick gently patted me on the back. I read sympathy in his eyes, making it hard to put much of the blame on him.
“Don’t give up yet, Sensor Girl. There’s always hope.”