by Murray, Dean
Intrusion
by Dean Murray
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2012 by Dean Murray
I hadn't felt quite right for a couple of days now. Then again, my memory was something measured in days rather than months and years like it should have been. What did I really know when it came to 'normal'? Ever since I'd lost my memory, I'd felt out of place, like I didn't really belong with Isaac and the others. The feeling had gotten worse as time had gone on, rather than wearing away like everyone had been telling me it would. It was starting to make me worried.
It finally got bad enough that I decided to brave Alec's presence to ask if I could go into town. I found him in his studio, surrounded by empty canvases, a brush in his hand, apparently unable to bring himself to start on his next painting. He looked up as I walked into the studio, and he even mustered a smile, but it left me feeling like the effort had cost him more than it should have. It was like it had pulled on a wound that wasn't healing quite right, one that had started bleeding again just because I'd been selfish enough to pierce his sanctuary.
He didn't say anything, so I cleared my throat, gave him a second or two to tell me to get lost, and then launched into my petition.
"Sorry, Alec. I know you've said I still have a lot to learn, but I'd really like to go into town. Just for a couple of hours. Everyone has been cooped up at the estate ever since Adr…I mean for days."
He flinched a bit when I almost let her name slip out, but nodded. "That's fine--Dom tells me that you're doing much better with regards to your control. As long as Isaac is fine taking you into town, I have no issues."
There it was again. "I'd really like to go by myself. I mean I don't want to bother Isaac. He shouldn't have to take me everywhere like I'm some kind of kid who needs babysat all of the time."
Alec set his brush down. "I don't think that Isaac views accompanying you as a chore, and I really don't think that you're ready to be out without someone around to help make sure that you don't let your true nature slip out into the open."
My nature. It made it sound like a curse, but that actually wasn't too far off of how it felt most of the time. Every adolescent boy in the world would have loved to be able to do what I could do, what we could do, but so far the downsides were outnumbering the cool bits by about eighty to one.
"I--I'm happy to go with someone, I'd just rather it not be Isaac right now."
Actually I didn't want to go with anyone. I was the very bottom of the pack, which meant that no matter who I was with, I'd pretty much have to jump on command. Everyone meant well for the most part, but our beasts made life hell in a lot of ways. Only having a very strictly defined hierarchy kept us from dealing with constant dominance fights.
It still made for plenty of posturing, but it helped a little. Frankly I'd have been much worse off if it wasn't for Isaac. Although James and Jasmin seemed to trade up positions on an almost hourly basis, Isaac was clearly the most powerful wolf after Alec, and he'd made it clear to everyone, Alec included, that there would be no subjecting me to the kind of crap most packs routinely dished out to their submissives.
It rankled a little bit to know that Isaac was the only reason my life wasn't even worse than it already was. Knowing he had that kind of control over me, that he could revoke his protection at any moment if he felt so inclined, was hard to deal with. Even harder was the way that he looked at me when he thought I wouldn't notice. He was in love with me still. Only I wasn't that person anymore. Which meant he wasn't really in love with me; he was in love with a memory.
"Okay, if you can find another member of the pack who's willing to go with you, who's willing to risk Isaac's displeasure when he finds out that you left without him, I'm not going to interfere."
I nodded and retreated out of Alec's studio.
Going to Rachel probably could have been construed as cheating. She was part of the pack, there was no doubting that, but she was a normal human, so in theory she was even lower on the food chain than I was. Only the fact that Alec was quite literally willing to kill to protect his sister allowed her to be something more than an errand girl.
"Hi, Jess. How are things?"
"Honestly? I think I might go frickin stir crazy if I have to stay cooped up at the estate much longer. I just talked to Alec and he said if I could find someone willing to go with me, that I could go into town. Are you up for it?"
"Careful, neither Donovan nor your dad would be thrilled to hear you saying that kind of stuff."
The response was habit, habit and an attempt to buy some time to think. Rachel was younger than the rest of us, but she wasn't a dummy. She'd had plenty of time to get a handle on the politics and positioning that were an inherent part of pack life.
Those two things would have made her cautious all by themselves, but she also had a firm understanding of just how much Alec had stuck his neck out on her behalf. It made her very careful not to do things that would cause him trouble.
"Please. It's not like I'm really saying anything for them to get excited about." James had taught me pseudo swear words as a way to nettle Isaac. I knew it, and I knew I shouldn't be using them just to spite Isaac, but sometimes I couldn't help myself. He was so proper, and there really were occasions that called for expressions that had a bit more oomph to them than the dry, proper stuff that Donovan, Rachel and Alec's butler and surrogate father, was so fond of.
Rachel rocked back slightly on her heels and then looked up and met my eyes. "You're not planning on telling Isaac, are you?"
I'd thought about not telling her the truth, but I had few enough allies in this crazy house. I couldn't afford to piss one of them off.
"Not if I can avoid it. If I tell him I'm leaving he'll come along, but it's him I need to get away from the most."
Rachel's sigh was a heavy thing. "I know this is tough for you, Jess, but Isaac really is a great guy. He's just trying to look out for you."
"I know. Part of me is thankful that he's running interference with Jasmin and the rest, but it's just too creepy to see him looking at me all of the time."
"Okay. I'll go with you, but we're only going to Sanctuary. It's safe enough even though the shopping utterly sucks. Oh, also I'm bringing my homework."
I felt a smile tug at the corners of my mouth. Rachel had the kind of cheery, bright personality that you couldn't help but respond to in kind.
A few minutes later we were in my SUV, headed at a leisurely pace into the biggest city I remembered ever actually being in. The thought just begged to be asked.
"Hey, Rach. Have I ever been to a real city?"
"Depends on what you call real. We've been to Vegas a few times. As far as shopping goes, it's about as good as anywhere else you're going to find in the States."
"Never a really big city though? New York, DC, LA?"
I caught her headshake out of the corner of my eye. "No. At least not the first two. Everything east of the Mississippi is off limits, so I know you've never been to either of those two. You might have been to LA, but if so it was one of the pseudo-secret missions. Alec occasionally sends people off to manage some deal or another, and usually I don't know much more than that they were gone for a few days."
Hmm, that was something new. My world had been limited to the estate and one trip into town ever since I could remember. With everything being off limits, I'd never actually stopped to think about there being different levels of forbidden.
"What's the deal with the east?"
Rachel paused for a second, waiting until I'd finished pulling into the parking spot across from the park.
"It's a combination of two things really. The east has the highest population density in the entire country. When you put that many pe
ople into such a small area vampires are a natural byproduct."
"Wait. Vampires? Like suck-your-blood, cheesy, fanged guys with bad hair?"
Rachel shook her head. "No, like immortal parasites who we've managed so far to mostly keep unaware of our existence."
It was a lot to process, but based on the way that Rachel was avoiding meeting my eyes now, I was pretty sure that wasn't the end of it.
"Okay, Rach. Spill it."
"So the vampires are bad enough, but the other reason we aren't allowed out to the East Coast is the Coun'hij."
I felt a shudder work its way from my center out to my shoulders. It had been the Coun'hij, one of them at least, who had taken away my memories. All I remembered from that night was waking up in the cavern below the estate surrounded by the pack, all of whom were bruised and bloodied.
That didn't count, of course, the three pack members who had been killed that night. Part of me wasn't interested in pursuing this particular topic with Rachel, but the rest of me was absolutely driven to know everything I possibly could about my tormentors.
"Okay so I get the vampires bit. They don't know about us so they don't come after us, which is probably a good thing since if they are anything like the popular culture version they could reproduce at some pretty alarming rates. Why does the Coun'hij care though?"
Rachel's shrug was almost an apology. "I'm not really sure. There are a few theories running around. The Coun'hij isn't exactly popular with the various packs, so it's entirely possible that they are just trying to keep their base of operations secret."
"Right, except they don't need to feel threatened by the rest of us. The guy who ripped my memories out of my head isn't even very high up their ranks. What could the other packs possibly do to a group that powerful?"
"Don't overestimate them, Jess. They're the scariest thing our people have had to deal with in several centuries, but that doesn't make them unbeatable. Half of their advantage is that they always get to pick the timing of every confrontation. All it takes is one or two hybrids manifesting a truly powerful ability and deciding not to throw their lots in with the Coun'hij. That and the ability to pick our own time and place."
"Is that what Alec was planning on doing?"
I was definitely into forbidden topics now. Looking in as an outsider, more or less, it was easy to see the scars in the pack dynamic that our decade-long standoff with the neighboring pack had left. Everything I'd been able to tease out of Isaac or the others sounded pretty bleak.
The rival alpha, Brandon, had manifested a really uber ability, and all of the smart money had us ending up as goners sooner rather than later since nobody on our side was even remotely in that class. We'd been outnumbered, and outmuscled.
That had all changed the night that Alec had been backed into a challenge match with Brandon. Out of nowhere Alec had finally manifested an ability, and it had been a game-changer. Draining your opponent's energy from several yards away didn't sound like anything to get that excited about, but the visual Isaac had described flat gave me chills.
Both packs had collapsed to the ground, the next best thing to lifeless corpses waiting to be dealt with. The effect had been temporary, and once Alec stopped sucking everyone dry it was only a matter of time before our natural vitality took over and people started moving around again. Still, the whole pack had been convinced that we had it made. The next time we got into trouble, we'd just expected Alec to flip the switch on his pocket nuke. Game over.
Only it hadn't worked out that way. Instead it hadn't come when called, and the pack had paid the price of not giving the Coun'hij what they wanted.
I debated trying to probe a little more, but it wasn't worth the potential trouble. Alec wasn't telling anyone much of anything where his power was concerned. Nobody was talking about it, but it was an open secret among the pack that once the rest of the world decided that we didn't have a magic bullet anymore, things were going to get rough.
I shook my head and followed Rachel over to the closest bench.
"You're sure you're fine to just sit here, Jess? I mean, I know it's not really the ideal time away from the estate, but I'm way behind."
"It's okay. Mostly I just wanted out. Sitting, walking, doesn't much matter as long as I get a break. Besides, the park really is pretty."
I said it more to soothe Rachel's worries than out of a real appreciation for the park, but as I looked around I realized it was the truth. We were on the side of town that tended more towards greenery, and the park was a beautiful example of landscaping. Semi-wild roses grew off to one side of the space, somehow pulling the eye away from the periphery and leading it to the center where a simple stone sculpture effortlessly dominated the slight elevation upon which it was located.
Visually everything was perfect, but it would have still been incomplete without the stream opposite the roses. The sound as the water tumbled across the rocks formed the perfect auditory complement.
I watched the sunlight dance across the surface of the water for several minutes and then finally sat down next to Rachel on the bench. The warm metal slowly pulled the tension out of my knotted shoulders, and I felt my eyes closing.
I was nearly to the point of nodding off when the breeze carried over the foulest scent I'd ever run across. My eyes snapped open as my heart rate shot up. Rachel looked up from her book and then went completely still as her mind registered my distress.
"What is it, Jess?"
"I'm not sure. A smell--a bad one."
Maybe someone else would have disregarded something as simple as a scent, but even just a few weeks had been enough to teach me that for a shape shifter our sense of smell was one of the most important warning systems we had. Rachel had been part of the pack long enough that she already knew stuff I was still trying to learn.
"Can you describe it?"
"Something stale, maybe iron."
"Old blood with a hint of decay?"
I felt my eyebrows climb as I realized Rach had hit on it exactly. "You can smell it too?"
Rachel was on her feet already, pulling me up. My beast surged up at her presumption, but we both knew she outranked me. I let her pull me towards my car, still a bit confused. Once I was moving under my own power she let me go and flipped out her phone.
"We've got vampires in the area."
Alec's response had none of the fuzzy distance I'd been picking up from him ever since Adri had left.
"How do you know? Did you see them?"
"No, but Jess smelled something odd--the description sounds like what you told everyone to be on the lookout for."
There was a pause as Alec ran through decision trees. "Okay, don't go home. If you've been spotted we don't want to lead them back here. Head to the center of town, find as big a crowd as you can and just stay put until we show up. When we drive past follow us."
My heart was still frantically hammering away inside my chest as we pulled away from the curb. I wanted nothing more than to just stomp on the gas, but Rachel kept reminding me not to do anything to attract attention.
The center of town wasn't any more or less deserted than usual, but it felt like there weren't nearly enough people to serve as a shield if worse came to worst. Rachel finally pointed at a small restaurant with an outdoor patio which had a cop car parked in front of it and I carefully pulled in behind it.
As we sat waiting for Alec and the rest of the pack, I found that I was getting more anxious not less. It only took a moment's thought to know exactly why. Rachel had her phone out and looked like she was texting, but I couldn't not ask.
"How does it work? I mean fighting as wolves. I've barely transformed since the Coun'hij was here, and I've never fought with Dom or Jas."
Rachel's eyes got big, but she waited to respond until she'd finished her text. "That was a bad idea, Jess. You know what pack life is like. I know you're towards the bottom of the food chain here, but you still need to be able to protect yourself. Otherwise you're just relying on Isaac ev
en more to protect you from the inevitable squabbling."
"I…I guess I hadn't thought about it that way. I went and watched everyone spar one of the first times right after everything happened. I'd been planning on participating, but it was scary the way everyone was going at each other."
"That's because they all know their lives depend on how well they can protect themselves. If anything the fighting was probably more intense because of the Coun'hij having just been there. Even so, they would have been careful with you. Isaac or Alec either one would have been able to control their beasts enough to teach you rather than just ripping into you."
I suddenly felt really stupid. "I guess I didn't think of it that way. I was just thinking about how much it was going to hurt and worrying about what would happen if Isaac couldn't rip Jas off of me fast enough once I'd lost."
Her phone chirped but she ignored it. "It's water under the bridge now, but you have to remember that there's still so much you don't know yet. If Alec or Isaac asks you to do something, they'll have thought it through. Frankly I'm surprised that Alec let you bow out. I'd have expected for him to push the issue."
"He tried, but Isaac got in his face about it."
The look on Rachel's face pulled at my heart. It wasn't just sad, it was nearly hopeless. I almost asked what was wrong, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was bothering her. Alec had kept his position at the top of the pack in no small part because Isaac invariably backed him to the hilt. With everything that had happened when the Coun'hij had come, it wasn't surprising that Alec had lost some real goodwill with the rest of the pack.
I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry, Rach. I don't mean to make things worse for Alec. I really do believe he's doing the best he can for us."
"It's not your fault. I get how scary all of this must be for you. It's just that everyone but Alec has been so focused on trying to avoid being killed by Brandon and the others that it's like they're operating blind now. From the way everyone is turning on each other you'd think we were out of the woods, but if anything we're in more danger now than we were before."