She waved a hand. “I understand all that I care to.”
Spinning on her heel, she marched back to Brendan and wound one arm beneath his waist as she placed his arm around her shoulders.
His blood instantly marred her flawless white jumpsuit. “Your clothes…”
She shook her head, responding, “It doesn’t matter.”
As she started to slowly pull him along, right into the pack of stunned wolves, every inch of Brendan’s skin itched. It went against his instincts. He was relying on this woman’s words, her skills to convince the wolves who wanted him dead. If he’d had any other choice, not even the hounds of hell could have made him walk straight into the center of the pack, letting them surround him.
Aghader and the wolves parted at her approach. Aghader shooting far from her reach as if horrified.
Why do they fear her so much? Brendan held his breath, trying not to smell the stench of bloodlust around him. As they passed through the line of werewolves to the other side, he exhaled in disbelief. Could this actually work?
When they had nearly reached the exit of the alley, Aghader’s voice came low and filled with fury. “I heard a rumor about you.”
She didn’t pause. “I never did care for rumors.”
Continuing at a casual pace, she led them down the street. Behind them, the pack followed more slowly. It took everything in him not to turn around and face them, not to keep his back to the enemy.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “Don’t look back and don’t slow.”
And so, he didn’t. She turned at the first block and led him down two more streets before finally pausing. On the side of the quiet road, a white Bentley was parked, looking ridiculously out of place in the small town. Before she pulled her keys from her pocket, he knew the car belonged to her. Even in high school, she’d driven a sports car.
Then, Aghader spoke, shouting from a distance. “I heard your powers are gone.”
He felt her body stiffen under his arm.
She opened his car door and helped him climb into the passenger seat before standing up tall and staring across the space to where the wolves waited. “I wonder if you’re willing to bet your life on a rumor.” Then, she smiled, flashing her sharp teeth.“Because rumors so often serve my purposes.”
Aghader’s good eye widened slightly. Brendan didn’t like the calculating look on his face.
Circling around, she climbed in and turned the engine on.
Although almost imperceptible, he heard her whisper, “Go slowly. Stay calm.”
Is she bluffing? If she is, she’s good at hiding it.
Her hands stayed at ten and two as she steered around the wolves and drove down the quiet streets of the town.
“You’re in bad shape,” she said, in a matter-of-fact voice. “I’ve called some family for help, and I got us a little cabin just out of town. You can heal there, and then we need to get out of here first thing in the morning.”
Not before I retrieve the communicator.
But he nodded and winced, remembering his wounds. He looked down at the cream-colored seats. “Damn it, I’ve got blood all over your car.”
“It’s just a car.”
He stiffened as she spoke the same words she’d said so many years ago. “I’ve heard that before.”
She turned and stared at him, her eyes wide as her gaze ran over him. “Brendan?”
Chapter Three
Twelve years ago…
Alexa left the Halloween party early. Humans and vampires alike, all were drunken messes, making out, and dancing like idiots. In quiet rooms, rebellious vampires fed on the defenseless teens. She knew from too many parties just like this one that the humans would feel euphoria as they were fed upon. The vampires’ arousal would grow out of control, and soon they would be feeding and having sex. Wild with abandon.
And the next day? The humans would feel weak and confused, with only foggy memories of the night, and no memories of being used by a supernatural being.
The idea of what happened at these parties bothered her. Even though her parents emphasized that it was “normal.” “It’s what humans were created for, my dear.” Her mother would say, shaking her head at the daughter she would never understand.
Alexa was so tired of nights like this, but as her parents reminded her, she had an image to maintain. Not just as a normal sixteen-year-old girl among the humans, but also the vampires. They needed to cultivate a sense of both equality and superiority among their kind. “Power,” her mother always said, “is half perception.”
But she didn’t want to go home yet. Not to her mansion full of people and her parents full of questions. So, she drove through the pouring rain, lost in thought. Listening to the sounds of the rain falling and her favorite song. The woman’s voice poured out of her radio, a haunting melody that sent goose bumps prickling across her skin as she sang about how impossible it was to capture the past.
When the song ended, she blinked back into awareness. Somehow she had driven to the wrong end of town. And even though there was no reason for it, she turned down the road with its crowded trailers. The lights lining the street were dark, and the pavement under her tires, rough and cracked, sent her bouncing along.
As if compelled by a greater force, she turned down the street where his trailer was parked.
I must be a glutton for punishment.
There, standing on the sidewalk, was Brendan. And even through the rain, she knew something was wrong.
It went against everything she’d told herself. Even though I like him, I can’t bring him into this. I must protect him from the dangers of my world.
No matter how much her heart told her he might be the one. The love of her life.
She promised herself as she headed toward him that she wouldn’t stop, yet she was already slowing. She pulled up alongside him, put the car in Park, and threw open the door.
He glanced up, then turned around, hunching over. His back was to her.
“Brendan!” Racing to him, she tried to pull his shoulder so he faced her, but he held himself rigid.
She circled in front of him and finally got a good look at his face, then froze in shock.
He was a battered mess. One eye was so swollen it no longer opened. Blood ran from a cut in his forehead. His clothes were torn, sopping from the rain, and more blood leaked from the wounds. He’s not one of us. These wounds could have killed him if they were worse.
She reached up to push his dark, wet hair from his face. He jerked, his uninjured eye focusing on her face. It was full of tears. Tears and the rain ran down his face.
Tears prickled the back of her eyes. “What did he do to you?”
He dropped his head on her shoulder. His entire body shook, and she held him as he cried.
For too long, they stood in the rain together. She could feel his pain, every terrible moment he’d lived through to get to this point. She realized that the tall, thin boy who slouched as he walked around school had an even thicker wall between him and the rest of the world than she did. And tonight, that wall had finally broken.
At last, his shaking slowed. She led him to her passenger door and put him in. “I’ll be right back.”
He didn’t move, as if he didn’t hear her, so she shut the door.
A chill ran down her spine as every hair on her body stood on end. She turned ever-so-slowly to the trailer that his abusive foster father lived in. You like to hurt those that are weaker than you?
Perhaps so do I. Let’s find out together, shall we?
As a child who could kill with a touch, she was no stranger to death. But this was the first time she wanted to kill. The first time she wanted someone to suffer.
Every step she took felt loud and heavy as she walked through the overly tall grass and up the stairs. She wondered if inside the human could sense a predator in his midst. A light went on. The squeaky door opened as she stood in front of it.
“You back for more, you little bastard…” his
words trailed off as his gaze fell on her. “Well, aren’t you a cute little thing.”
She pushed him back into the trailer.
Nearly twenty minutes later, she came back out, and climbed into her car. She stared at her knuckles on the steering wheel. They were covered in blood. She felt nothing except satisfaction as she thought of the damage it took to break her immortal skin. Yes, she could kill with a touch, but this man did not deserve a quick death. He deserved the inhuman strength of a vampire.
“I got blood on your car,” Brendan said, his gaze unfocused as he stared at the dashboard in front of him.
“It’s just a car,” she said, then shifted into Drive. “I’m taking you to the hospital.”
“No!” For the first time, he seemed to be aware of what was happening. “He won’t like that.”
She slowed, stopping at a stop sign. “You don’t ever have to be afraid of him again. Do you understand? Never again.”
Alexa blinked as the past faded away. “Brendan, is it really you?”
He nodded, looking away from her.
For the first time in longer than she could remember, she felt anxious and uncertain. This was the boy who had influenced her life in ways he probably never realized. Who disappeared their senior year, never to return.
Until now.
We weren’t really friends. Or close. It made no sense how hurt I was. How heartbroken.
“You look so different.” Massive. He’d been tall in high school, but now he was well over six feet. His shoulders were so broad they seemed to fill up the entire space, and with his gray shirt clinging to his muscular arms and chest, he looked like a bodybuilder. Even bigger than any shifter she’d seen before. “Is that what happened? You became a shifter?”
He didn’t answer.
She was shocked by the wave of hurt his silence brought. I don’t know him anymore. And he obviously didn’t feel the same about me, or he would have returned before now.
Exiting the town, she tried to focus on the landscape beneath the bright moon’s light. Magic, New Mexico was so different from Mist. Desert spread out in all directions, speckled with sick-looking trees and cacti. Everything was thirsty, dry, and dead. Even the air was parched.
At any other time in her life she might think it was beautiful, unique, but tonight, she missed the sense of green-life that filled the air in Mist.
Twenty minutes later, they pulled off one road, and bounced down a couple more. On the side of a massive mountain of red rock, a cabin sat nestled at the base. She didn’t know who it belonged to, only that a call to Great-Great-Aunt Topper had directed her to come here.
The lights in the cabin were on as they pulled up and she cut the engine.
“Do you have company?” he asked, his tone emotionless.
She stared at the brightly lit cabin, frowning. “I guess so.”
Going around to his door, she prepared to help him. Instead, he climbed out slowly and kept out of her reach, hobbling toward the door.
Tearing her gaze from him, she grabbed her travel bag and medical kit from the trunk and followed him. The first thing she smelled was food cooking, and then she felt the sense of overwhelming warmth, along with the fact that every light seemed be turned on in the house.
The one-room cabin was about the size of her bedroom back at her mansion. A sitting area with a blazing fire was on one side. A tiny kitchen table was just a few steps in front of them, and a wall filled with knickknacks concealed her view of the kitchen.
Topper came around the corner, drying her hands on a towel. “Finally, you’re here!” She appeared shockingly younger than Alexa imagined she would after so many years. Wearing a pretty purple blouse that matched her unusual eyes, she pushed hair streaked with purple behind one ear, grinned, and headed straight for her.
Alexa thought she was prepared for anything, but her great-aunt took her completely by surprise. Topper didn’t keep a safe distance; instead, she pulled Alexa into a warm, friendly hug full of energy.
She hugged me? Just like that? She couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched her so freely. No, I do remember. It was Bryant. Just thinking about her brother made her stiffen and pull away.
“Yeah,” Alexa answered, feeling uncertain as the older woman smiled back at her. I haven’t seen her for so long, I barely recognize her. “The drive took longer than I thought.”
An older man came around the corner with a frown on his lips and a coffee in his hand. “It seems there’s been a bit of a disturbance in town. Topper thought I’d better ask you about it.”
Topper patted his shoulder. “Sheriff Theo was going to come to your rescue, but I thought it better if you handled it yourself.” The older woman winked, looking from her to Brendan.
Alexa glanced at Brendan, feeling strangely flustered. There was a pallor to his skin that was so white it was nearly green. He isn’t going to be able to keep standing for long.
“Why don’t you take a shower?” Alexa offered. “And I’ll handle…I’ll stay out here.”
Brendan nodded and shuffled toward the tiny bathroom tucked in the corner beside the bed. She tore her gaze from his back and attempted a smile for Topper, who surprised her by pulling Alexa into a second hug.
She stiffened again, and Topper said, “Honey, you look like you need all the hugs you can get.” She gestured at the table. “Now, take a seat, tell us all about it.”
Reluctantly, Alexa sat down at the little circular table with its four wooden chairs. The sheriff dropped a coffee in front of her, then sat down, leaning back and sipping his drink. Topper sat beside him, watching her with a slight twinkle in her eyes.
She searched for words, unsure where to begin. She had spoken in front of far more people. She was used to high-stress situations that called for diplomacy. But for some reason, the openness of these people made her nervous. Topper radiated an energy of someone who knew her well and liked her, but the last time she’d seen her great-aunt had been more than twenty years ago. And the old sheriff watched her with the judgment and understanding of a grandfather, even though she’d never met him before.
It was very, very unnerving.
“Well…” Alexa cleared her throat. “It seems Brendan’s pack was hunting him, for some reason. I convinced them to let him go. I don’t believe there will be anymore trouble in your town, Sheriff.”
He snorted. “That’s highly unlikely.”
Topper smiled and her purple eyes sparkled. “I know all of that, sweetie. I mean, tell me about what’s been going on with you.”
Alexa opened her mouth, but felt completely at a loss for words.
The older woman reached out and squeezed her arm. Just the fact that someone touched her so easily, and without fear, only added to her confusion. I never realized how isolated I’ve become. Since my parents died, I haven’t touched anyone except Bryant.
“I’ve been thinking of you since that big rebellion, the one that killed your parents. It was an enormous loss, a whole generation of vampires killed off throughout Mist, leaving all you young kids to pick up the pieces.”
This she could talk about. “Bryant was incredible. He didn’t just stop the war between all the races; he convinced them that he could create a better Mist. That the vampires didn’t have to be seen as the superior race any longer, that we could all live as equals.”
Topper frowned, tilting her head. “Your brother did a great job, but you were the one that amazed me. You endured the worst trauma a child could imagine—having your gifts become a curse.”
She started, her jaw working, overcome with emotion. “I didn’t…I couldn’t control…”
“I know, sweetheart. I know. Most creatures with supernatural abilities aren’t able to control them when they are young. It’s unfortunate that yours were so… potent.”
Alexa swallowed around the lump in her throat. “Yes, unfortunate.”
Unfortunate didn’t begin to capture the horror of what she’d done, but then, no word re
ally could.
“You know, your parents were well aware of the risk you posed. That’s why they raised you and your brother to be such amazing leaders. To be so competent in their absence.” She leaned closer. “They live on, through you. And they were so proud of you.”
Although she hadn’t believed it was possible, tears sprang to her eyes. “I…I find that hard to believe. And besides, Bryant was the leader, not me.”
“You shouldn’t. Never doubt the love they had for you. And don’t underestimate the role you played in helping Bryant build Mist into what it is today. You held your head high and faced the angry masses…”
“The fact that he was healing and protecting all of them made our people easier to face,” Alexa said, feeling defensive. The light twin and the dark, the one that heals and the one that kills.
“I remember you as a child. Your vision of the future. You laid out the plans to create a better world in Mist, not your brother. He might have implemented them. He might have been the ‘face’ of the Darkmore house, but you were the dream behind it, essential to it all, and don’t you forget it!”
Alexa didn’t want to hear anymore. Old wounds were opening, cracking, and bleeding. She couldn’t handle much more talk of the past when her emotions were already so raw about the present. “I can see what you believe. But I’m actually here to bring a champion home, because the other houses believe that without my magic I’m not worthy of leading the clan. I’ll be challenged, and being so weak without my powers, I’ll lose without him.” She paused, realizing how angry and bitter she sounded. That’s new.
The sheriff sat up, sympathy gentling his face. “Great leaders become great only through facing great challenges. Remember that.”
Or they lose and never become a leader at all. She shook the thought from her head. No matter what she had to do, too many lives were counting on her succeeding for her to lose.
Alexa heard the slightest sound and looked up to see Brendan hovering in the darkness of the doorway to the bathroom. When their eyes met, he stiffened and came out. He wore nothing but a towel, and she gasped as she took in the sight of the many, many wounds on his chest, some older and some newer.
Magic, New Mexico_A Touch of Death Page 3