Ben shudders.
I pounce Cody next, too hungry to bother speaking to confirm he’s okay with it. He better be okay with it. I just had my damn spine snapped in three pieces to save his skinny ass. A blast of French fries hits me in the taste buds. Wow. Pizza and French fries. Of course. What else would teenage boys taste like? A pint-ish from him eases me back from ‘eat the entire world’ to ‘kinda hungry.’ I lick his wound closed, then collapse to my knees again, savoring the warmth radiating outward from my stomach.
Both brothers fall over flat on their backs, grinning like fools.
It occurs to me after a moment that feeding from a willing donor has other effects on people. Michelle had been secretly wanting sex for a long time, and when she let me feed from her, whatever magic is in my teeth hit her like the climax to end all orgasms. When Dalton fed from Mom, her greatest desire—an escape from the stress of her job and all responsibility—left her loopy for hours. It’s not automatically sexual in nature, though these are teenage boys. Their brains have three settings: sex, food, and spaceships/explosions. Worse, Ben had a crush on me.
And… yeah. They’re both about to break out of their jeans. Damn. I feel all kinds of awkward and dirty like I just did something super wrong with underage boys. Maybe I should make them forget that little part of this ‘vacation.’ Yeah. I can’t let them even remotely associate me with getting off, even if was purely a supernatural side effect of feeding.
I should’ve mind fogged them before biting, but I wasn’t exactly thinking straight.
A moment later, they both remember letting me feed from them since I was critically low, but instead of having the mother of all X-rated dreams, they both simply became lightheaded from blood loss.
By the time they come out of the mental haze, my blood meal has settled and I feel normal. Well, as normal as I can feel while terrified that I’m going to get back to the RV and find my family massacred.
“Come on.” I grab Ben’s hand and drag him upright. “We need to go.”
“Where?” asks Ben in a sleepy murmur.
I pause, reaching for Cody. “Umm. Shit. Hell with it. Dealing with a Beast is not going to be as messed up as that… that… thing that didn’t really exist.”
“I think it was a troll,” says Ben. “But it didn’t regenerate at all, so maybe not.”
“Regenerate?” I ask.
“He’s thinking of the game. This is real.” Cody stands. “Okay. Let’s head back to the other portal.”
We debate the direction to go in for a few minutes before deciding to trust Ben’s intuition again and walk the way he wants to go. The boys are a little unsteady on their feet, so I encourage them to eat one of the huge apples each.
Ben’s a little more than halfway done with his when he emits a “Mmm!” past a full mouth. He rushes chewing, swallows, then holds up his left hand. “It’s glowing again.”
Cody and I both hurry over to look.
A purple glow shimmers over about a quarter of the ring, a compass pointer exactly like the teal one.
“We should go this way,” says Ben.
“Dude. The last time we followed that thing we almost got eaten by a giant. If we keep playing”—he waves around for a second, trying to come up with a word—“portal roulette, something’s going to kill us.”
“It wasn’t a giant. That was a troll,” says Ben.
“I was eye-level to its balls. That was a giant,” shouts Cody.
“A giant would’ve been about double that height.”
The brothers explode into an argument about whether that obvious hallucination that kicked my ass should be called a giant or a troll.
I give them thirty seconds before shouting, “Guys!”
They stop, glare at each other for a moment, then turn their heads toward me at the same time.
“We don’t have time for semantic bullshit. That Beast could be doing anything right now. I have to get back to my family before he hurts them—and your parents are also losing their minds. We’ve been missing for a day.” I pace around in a little circle, pulling at my hair. “Argh. My dad picked this place for our yearly road trip because he figured I’d be okay in a cave as a vampire. All three of my siblings wanted to stay home, even Mom did… but they all agreed to the trip to make me feel better. Like we’re still a normal family. And now I’m going to ruin the whole thing by making them freak out and worry.”
Cody squeezes my shoulder. “They’ll be so happy when you get back to them that they’ll forget we were missing.”
I take a few breaths to calm down. “Okay. You’re right. Positive thinking. We’re not going to be missing forever.”
“Or die.” Ben pats my other shoulder. He holds up the glowing ring. “We gotta follow this when it’s on, before it shuts off. And hey, it might be pointing at the portal.”
“It’s obviously pointing at the portal,” says Cody. “What’s going to come out of this one? A damn dragon?”
“No.” Ben shakes his head. “I mean the portal. It’s the same shade of purple as what we saw back in the campground. Maybe this ring doesn’t detect ghosts or vampires at all, but magic. The portal back there at the ruin went to wherever that monster came from. The purple portal goes between here and our world. The color could match up with, I dunno, the frequency or whatever.”
“I still think following the ring is dangerous.” Cody picks at the crossbow. “I’ve only got one shot left.”
“Do either of you have a better idea than following the ring?” I ask.
Silence.
“Okay. Let’s go.” I point at Ben. “Lead on.”
He trots off. Other than a small group of rabbits, no other creatures show themselves for the next hour and forty minutes or so of walking. Shimmering blue light emerges from the trees up ahead: a ring of energy with a dark interior, similar to the portal we came in from.
I dash over to it and bite my lip, debating flinging myself right in. “Guys. I think this is it. I can smell the caverns.”
“Umm,” says Cody. “Are you sure?”
“We don’t have time.” Ben swats me on the arm to get my attention and points up. “The sky’s starting to brighten again.”
“Crap. Oh… screw it. I trust my nose.” I jump into the ring and float for a few seconds in total blackness before crashing into a wooden door that bounces open under my weight. Momentum carries me into a graceless stumble, but I don’t fall over.
Cody and Ben spill in behind me.
I’m back in that cave chamber… four feet away from a familiar over-muscled man with one eyebrow raised in an expression of bewildered surprise.
The Beast.
“Crap,” I mutter, then force a cheesy smile. “Hi. Can I interest you in some Thin Mints?”
21
The Beast of Clark Caverns
I’m lucky I don’t need to breathe, because I can’t, standing eye-to-pectoral with a mountain of humanity. Or un-humanity as the case may be.
The man studies me, his irises dark chocolate brown with a hint of red. Wild, shaggy dark brown hair drapes over his shoulders, and his beard hangs to the middle of his stomach. A pale grey blazer and nice slacks make him look like a homeless Viking stuffed into new clothes. The room reeks of wood smoke, though after that troll, it’s far from unpleasant.
Okay. Dalton said these guys have hair-trigger tempers, kinda like Furies but worse. Maybe I should handle him like I’ve been cornered by a mountain lion? Wait… how am I supposed to handle being cornered by a mountain lion?
The boys hide behind me.
“Most curious,” says the Beast.
I’m not sure why I’m startled to hear him speaking in such a clear tone. Did I really expect him to grunt and growl like a man-bear? “Umm. Hi?”
“Greetings, Sarah.” He takes my hand and kisses the back. “Welcome to my home. I am Garrett Alder.”
Ben twists back and forth, searching around.
“What?” whispers Cody.
&n
bsp; “Looking for the talking candlestick,” whispers Ben.
I start to giggle, but clamp a hand over my mouth.
Garrett chuckles. “Clever, but I am not that kind of beast.”
“You know my name?” I ask.
“Indeed. I observed you the other night in the woods. I find it curious you still associate with your mortal family.”
“Y-you knew I was a vampire?”
He nods once.
Grr.
“You seem frustrated.” He strokes a few fingers down his beard.
“Thought I managed to make you think I was a human.”
He tilts his head. “Why would you wish to deceive me like that?”
“Umm. ’Cause I’m a dumbass I guess. I’m still kinda new at this and haven’t exactly heard the nicest things about your, umm, bloodline. Thought you’d try to rip my head off.”
“Ahh.” He nods. “I do not take it personally, for I know my kind have certain idiosyncrasies. ’Tis why I have made my home in such a remote place.”
“Wait, this guy would’ve talked to you the whole time?” asks Ben.
I glance back at him, then turn to Garrett. “Why did you put Ben in a cage?”
“Why do mortals put food in refrigerators?” Garrett chuckles.
Ben clings to me from behind, shivering.
“The boy wandered in here on his own,” says Garrett. “I would not have killed him, though it seems you have already made a meal of him. He would likely not survive another feeding without injury for a while.”
“Wouldn’t have killed him? What about those Scraps—or that room full of corpses? We were shitting bricks.” I cringe at my hostile tone. “Umm. Sorry. Had a bad day.”
“Well…” Garrett looks down, fidgeting. “I do not intend to kill, but sometimes I lose control of myself.”
There isn’t much room to get around this guy with the shelves on both sides of the chamber near the door. Backpacks, flashlights, a few tents, basically camping gear. What the heck?
“Umm. So, what now?” I ask.
“Well, I suppose I could drink these two dry and twist your head off.”
I gasp, leaning back.
“That is what you were expecting, is it not?” ask Garrett.
“Umm.” I grind the toe of my sneaker into the ground. “Yeah. Kind of.”
He emits a deep, reverberating chuckle that vibrates my bones, then steps back like a butler opening a door for us. “By all means. Please return to where you belong. I am not a monster… most of the time anyway.”
I’m a little too scared and suspicious to trust turning my back on him. But I’m also worried that offending him might trigger a beastly rage. Fists clenched, I force myself to smile and walk by.
“But…” says Garrett.
“Gah.” I jump and whirl around.
He smiles.
“But?” I ask in a small voice.
“Would you be inclined to do me a small favor?”
“What kind of favor? Does it involve pain? Sharp things? Cattle mutilation? Long periods of tedium punctuated by moments of existential crisis?”
He blinks, stares at me for a moment, then erupts in raucous laughter. “No, child.” Garrett gestures up the ramp into the nicer bedroom. “Please, let me invite you in properly. Spare a moment for me to explain?”
“Umm. Okay.” I glance back at the brothers and send, Just go with it into their heads.
They nod.
Sure… we can talk with him for a minute. Don’t wanna piss him off. Not like we’ve got much to lose.
Other than our lives.
22
Fey Amaranth
The three of us wind up seated on the edge of the gargantuan bed, which is surprisingly soft and comfortable given that it’s deep underground in a cave. I find myself unable to resist running my hand back and forth over the plush burgundy comforter. Garrett pulls a chair away from the writing desk so he can sit close enough to us to have a conversation.
“Forgive me for not offering you refreshments. I do not maintain a stock of blood, or of mortal food. I’m sure you are eager to return to your families, so I will not waste time on pointless formalities. The favor I would ask of you is to go back into the portal and find a particular type of flower. A week ago, I sent in a group of ghouls, but they have not returned.”
“Ghouls?” asks Ben.
“Living people given a bit of his power,” I say.
Cody holds up the crossbow. “Umm, They won’t be returning. I think we found them.”
“Damn.” Garrett bows his head. “What happened to them?”
“Not sure exactly. Something big smashed them. Maybe a troll.”
He blinks. “A troll? That region is supposed to be uninhabited… at least by anything that large.”
“Where exactly is that?” I ask.
“Another world reasonably proximal to our own. It’s close enough that natural bridges have formed and collapsed over the centuries. Most people refer to it as the Realm of the Faerie.”
I stare. There is no way in hell I can tell my family about this or Sophia will be insufferable, demanding to see it. There’s also not a damn chance I’m bringing her anywhere near that place. She’s highly allergic to trolls. And yes, I made that up.
“So, faeries exist?” asks Cody.
“Almost everything that folklore describes exists in one form or another. They arrive in our world via doorways that exist for moments in time then go away. Interactions are so rare that it is easy for most people to regard them all as myths.”
“You made that portal?” I ask.
“Not alone. While I have done some research, my nature makes pursuits of an abstract, intellectual nature somewhat cumbersome. A small frustration can enrage me to an unfortunate mental state. An Academic associate of mine assisted in the construction of the gateway. Unfortunately, we committed a mild error in calculation and the other end appeared some distance from where we needed it to be.”
“Can’t you shut it down and re-make it?” asks Cody.
“The effort necessary to do that is quite great. Oswald, my Academic friend, explained the details, though they mostly went over my head. Something about an infinite number of potential realities existing in parallel with our own. He is certain we connected to the right one, merely an error in the specific location inside the realm. Attempting to make a new portal could lead to many frustrating near-misses where we establish a connection to the wrong reality.”
“Oh,” I deadpan. “Yeah, that makes total sense.”
Garrett smiles at my sarcasm. “We did not miss by that much, however, it did create enough distance between the entry point and what I need that I am unable to reach it during one span of darkness. The sun presents a problem I cannot overcome.” Garrett smiles at me. “You do not suffer the same flaw, or at least not to the degree the rest of us do.”
I pick at the seam down the side of my jeans. “Umm. What’s so important about this flower?”
“My associate claims it is a critical ingredient in a concoction that can alter my nature from Beast to Fury. I am so weary of having to dwell here so far removed from civilization… the bouts of going out of my mind with uncontained primalistic urges.”
“Umm. Wow. They can do that? Change a bloodline?” I ask.
“It is not without risk. The separation between Fury and Beast is not so large. The chances of my destruction are within acceptable limits.”
“Umm, usually most people think the only acceptable risk of destruction is zero,” says Cody.
“It would grant me a release from this isolation in either case,” says Garrett with a far-off stare.
I let out a heavy sigh. “Have you been stuck here long?”
“My Transference occurred around 1910. I’ve spent most of my time here.”
Wow, this dude’s old. I really shouldn’t piss him off. “I’m okay with the idea of helping you out, but my family has got to be freaking out about me by now.”
Garrett shakes his head. “Time passes differently on the other side of that door. To me, you were gone only a moment. In the time it took me to walk the last several paces to the door after you ran in, you must’ve experienced hours. You were well out of sight when I opened it. A journey to the grove where the fey amaranth grows would perhaps take ten to fifteen minutes here.”
“Hey, my watch is back on,” says Cody.
I pull my phone out. It, too, has come back to life, and shows the time at 1:04 a.m., the same day we went into the door. Holy crap. “Wow, he’s right.”
“If you agree to go, I shall ensure the door stays open, but I do not mean to imply you have little choice in the matter. If you wish to simply return to your families, you are all free to go. The Scraps will not plague you on your way out.”
“I’m curious why you don’t, umm, you know.”
“Put them down?” asks Garrett.
I nod. “I’m told that’s what’s supposed to happen.”
“It is true that the majority of our kind look upon Scraps as beings too tortured or too dangerous to exist. Their condition is not something they asked for, nor my intention. I have already taken their mortal lives during a lapse of control, and do not feel justified in ending their unlife as well.”
“Umm. Wow.” I stare at this giant of a man, trying to rationalize the monster I thought he’d be with his reality. The man is massive, but he’s a gentle soul with the mind of a scholar trapped in a prison of irresistible compulsion and raw bestiality.
Wait. No. that’s not at all what I mean. Holy crap did I just think ‘bestiality?’
I blush so hard Garrett tilts his head at me. I mean, he’s stuck suffering the whims of his animalistic side, the raw, umm, vampiric monster part of us. Even I have a hint of it—she comes out whenever someone hits me in the face with the sun. Only, Garrett must freak out like that randomly. Wow. How horrible. Helping him might destroy him (which is what the brothers were trying to do anyway) or help him escape the curse of his existence. Granted, Furies are pretty damn scary too, but getting wicked pissed off at the drop of a hat is a lot more tolerable than going full irrational monster.
The Last Family Road Trip (Vampire Innocent Book 4) Page 16