Half in Love [Willie Krenshaw] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Lea Barrymire

  It took her a moment to realize that the man sitting next to her wasn’t the same psychopath that had picked her up. She also took in the sights and sounds of the hospital room she was in. The panic still coursed through her body, but she relaxed a little into the bed. She was safe, or at least safer.

  “How’re you feeling?” the man asked her. His eyes held only concern.

  How was she feeling? That was a really good question. She glanced down at her hands, expecting to see charred skin or bandages. She gasped when she saw her hands looked normal. Did she just dream the pain and fire?

  “You don’t really need to answer that if you don’t want to. My name is Robert Smith. What’s yours?” The man was still watching her with an intensity she wasn’t accustomed to. He looked so normal, but her life had been ruined repeatedly over the last two days by “normal” looking people. He wore a blue and red flannel shirt that had some dark stains on it. Blood, she thought. My blood.

  “Willie,” she croaked. Her throat hurt and burned. She was really thirsty. “Could I have something to drink, please?”

  “Sure, just take it slow, okay?” He handed her a small plastic cup filled with ice chips and water. She sipped it like instructed while she studied him. Dark brown eyes watched her with concern and perhaps a little weariness. Tousled brown hair stuck up in random clumps giving him a rumpled look. He looked pretty normal, she thought.

  “How did I get here?” she asked. She shied away from the memories that threatened to invade her mind again. The black eyes sucking her will from her, the strong hands that grabbed her arms and held her still as those sharp teeth sped toward her throat. She shivered with the memories.

  “Well, I found you in the woods and brought you here. Willie, I need to talk to your parents. I’m sure they’re worried sick about you.”

  “No, they aren’t worried,” She choked on the words. “They don’t give a shit about me.”

  “Hey, watch the language,” Robert scolded with a scowl marring his face. “I don’t care if they care or not we have to call them. I’ve gone around the system for your treatments, but now that you’re awake we have to have someone responsible for you making decisions.”

  “You can call them, but they’ll just come here to kill me. They dumped me in Old Forge. They don’t want me, and they won’t want to know that I’m alive. It’ll screw up their story.” She clenched her teeth together and lifted her chin. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. She wouldn’t cry in front of a stranger over her parents. Shit. They weren’t her parents. No parent could drop off their teenager in the middle of nowhere and hope they died just because they weren’t normal.

  “What do you mean they dumped you?” He scowled and sat back. He crossed his arms across his chest and waited.

  “They pulled into a convenience store, got gas, and told me to get out. That’s what I mean,” she answered. She stared into his face willing him to challenge her on this. He could think whatever he wanted to. Her parents didn’t want her anymore, and by now her entire world would think she was dead.

  “Why would they do that, Willie?” he asked in a hushed voice.

  “I couldn’t be what they wanted and they didn’t want to deal with what the neighbors would say about me, so they got rid of me. I’m broken, you see, so they told everyone that I was killed in an accident.” Willie tried to keep herself from seeing her mother’s face as she’d explained why Willie couldn’t come with them. The disgust and contempt that had played across her mother’s beautiful face tore at Willie’s heart. How could they do that to me? Why couldn’t I be what they wanted?

  “What couldn’t you do? You’re perfectly healthy.” Disbelief colored his words, and Willie scowled at him. Sure, another adult that didn’t believe her. Well, freak him. She didn’t need anyone, especially some stupid guy.

  “You wouldn’t understand. Just leave me alone.” She turned her head toward the window and closed her eyes. She willed the tears away before they spilled, at least until he left and she could cry in peace. What was she going to do now? Anger and fear bled into her thoughts. Where was she going to go? She hadn’t really had time to think about it before. Her parents had left her, and she started walking in the opposite direction they’d gone. She’d stuck a thumb out, and the fifth car to drive by stopped and picked her up. Then her nightmare had truly begun. She didn’t remember anything after being attacked, but obviously the thing had dumped her in the woods.

  “Willie, I’m not leaving you alone. I found you, which makes you my responsibility until someone else takes over,” Robert said. She felt his hand grab hers again. “Now, you will explain to me why your parents left you, and then I’ll get you something to eat.”

  “I can’t explain.” She sniffled and turned her head back to face him. “I can’t tell you because it’s a secret.”

  “Do you mean it’s a family secret?” he asked, scowling with confusion and then another look crossed his face. “Hon, did they abuse you?”

  “No, God, no. It’s nothing like that,” she stammered. “I just can’t tell you. You wouldn’t believe me even if I did tell you. Look, I’m tired. Can I go back to sleep for a while?”

  Robert scooted closer to her bed and bent toward her, whispering so low she barely heard him. “Willie, look in my eyes and tell me I won’t believe you.”

  She glanced at his eyes and gasped at the round, yellow, pupils staring back at her. The shape of his eyes had changed, and they were too large for his face. Oh God, he was a shifter, too. A sob escaped before she could stop it, and then tears were running down her cheeks. She threw her arms around his neck before she could stop herself.

  “Shhh, it’s okay. I’ll take care of you. You didn’t shift at the full moon, did you?” His voice was soft with understanding. He guessed the cause for her abandonment. It didn’t happen too often anymore, but that used to be the practice in some family lines. If an offspring didn’t shift at the appropriate time, they were shunned and tossed out of the pack.

  “No. I was supposed to this moon, and I didn’t. I don’t know what is wrong with me. But they just left me. Why? What did I do?” The sobs shook her body. She cried for the injustice of what her parents had done to her, for the fact that she was broken and would never know the joy of shifting like her family, for all of the injuries and fears she’d endured the last few days.

  “Oh, baby, there isn’t anything wrong with you, and you didn’t do anything wrong. I promise you I won’t let anything else happen.” He stroked her back after wrapping his arms around her. He hummed low in his chest trying to comfort her. “You can stay with me, but we need to chat first.”

  “I don’t even know you, though. You could be some sort of psycho like the guy that…” Willie stopped herself from admitting about the man that picked her up. If Robert was willing to help her out, that was nice, but she wasn’t going to trust someone at face value again.

  “That what, Willie?” He leaned back to look in her face.

  “The guy that picked me up when I was hitchhiking. He was weird, and I think he may have hurt me.” She reached up subconsciously to stroke her neck and found a bandage there. So, the memory wasn’t some dream. He really had attacked her. Her heartbeat sped with the one word that would explain the man… Vampire. Oh, God, she’d been attacked by freaking Dracula.

  “I’m not a psycho. I promise. You can ask the entire staff of this hospital, and they’ll vouch for my upstanding moral character.” He grinned. “Look, you already know something about me that not a single soul in this state knows. That should tell you something, right?”

  She snorted. “Right, unless you’re planning on killing me, too.” She watched surprise and horror cross Robert’s face. “Okay, sorry. That wasn’t funny. So, let’s assume you aren’t some sort of psycho. Now what?”

  “We get you patched up, and then you come home with me,” he answered, and then he cleared his voice and started again. “I need to know about this guy that hurt you. I’m concerned a
bout your blood work and can probably guess what he was.”

  “He was a vamp, I think. His eyes turned black, and he came at me with canines extended. That’s the last thing I remember.” A thought skittered across her mind and horror struck her. “You think I’m turning, don’t you?”

  “I don’t know what to think. Your blood work pointed to you being a shifter, but your blood cells seem to be dropping in number, which could mean a few different things… But, yes, I’m concerned.”

  “I would be one, though, right, by now? I mean, it’s late and I was bit really early yesterday morning. If I was going to change, I would’ve by now. So, there isn’t anything to worry about, right?”

  The look of compassion that crossed Robert’s face made Willie cringed. This wasn’t going to be good.

  “I don’t know what it means. Yes, you should be fine, but I’m concerned. When I get you home, I can take a look at your blood and see what’s going on. I don’t want to draw attention to the anomaly here in case something ‘interesting’ is happening.” Robert squeezed her hand, and then he stood. “I’m going to chat with the admissions department and your attending physician. They should release you to my care so we can get out of here. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

  “Okay. Could you get me something to eat? I’m starving. Maybe a burger or something?” she asked, tentatively smiling at her new savior. Please, God, let him be normal.

  “Sure.” He chuckled. “Or we can drive through some place and get you something. Let me see what they have in the cafeteria.”

  “Robert?” Willie desperately needed the following question answered, but she was scared beyond anything she’d ever experienced. “If I was changing, would I know it?”

  He turned from the doorway and sighed, then took a deep breath to answer her. He paused and then said the only thing that could terrify her, “I don’t know, Willie. I don’t know if you would know until it was done.”

  Chapter 1

  2027

  The smell of rotting garbage and old newspapers assaulted Willie’s nose as she ambled down the sidewalk. She concentrated on filtering out the noxious stink for the more palatable smells of Lake Erie riding the breeze. The waft of cool air was blowing the bitter smell of seaweed and water off of the lake through the city streets. Buffalo in the summer was like a coin one could find along the sidewalks, one side shiny and the other tarnished. Each street corner was a flip of that coin. The waterfront could be gorgeous with the twinkling lights of Canada across the lake and the soft swish of waves against the shore. Turning around, though, and staring across the street would unveil dilapidated buildings covered in grotesque graffiti and garbage-strewn streets. The vibe of the city pulsed through her, swamping her senses with late summer night stimulation.

  Willie loved every aspect of this city. It was small compared to some of the others she’d lived in. Taco stands stood side by side with Chinese take-out. Boarded up windows graced buildings standing abandoned and forgotten. Those same buildings would share the same block with opulent ones. Neighbors still looked out for each other and were friendly when you walked past. The city had a vibe that could energize or sedate her depending on what she wanted or needed. Tonight she needed to relax from a stressful night tending bar. Her clothes were covered in the night’s food and beverages, smelling of stale beer and wing sauce. Perpetually looking like she was in her early twenties, she had a tough time passing as a fully fledged adult. A lithe, curvy body paired with dimples just didn’t scream adult in this day and age. With both her strength and other shifter characteristics, bartending was a good fit. She’d spent the last eight hours battling idiots trying to drown their sorrows in alcohol. That was typical of Friday nights, though. She was used to having to flex her considerable muscle and remind a man or two that not all women were weak. Her body was still humming with the last fist fight she broke up and needed to vent off the energy.

  She turned a corner and headed toward her favorite location for winding down from the day. She liked to sit on the piers and just watch the world go by for a while until she unwound and could get herself under control. Before learning to control her different sides, anger was her enemy. Too many times she’d given in to her vampiric side and hurt someone badly because she couldn’t control her anger. Or she had gotten mad too close to the full moon and her shifter side would try to break out. Having both a two-natured anger management problem and a vampire’s bloodlust made her day-to-day life all the more interesting.

  She sighed as the unique hunger pains that were born of her vampire side gnawed at her insides. She would need to feed tonight or tomorrow. She could feel the need getting stronger and fought it best as she could. Nausea threatened to upend her stomach. She hated feeding her vampire side, hated taking living blood into her body. At least this time she’d lasted five days. Her canines itched with the need to extend, but she wasn’t giving in yet. She could make it one more day before she needed to give in. She would just eat a good meal tonight to help stave off the blood hunger.

  Richard told her that having both shifter and vampire tendencies was going to be tough to handle. But the longer she fought both sides, the stronger her control would be over them. Sorrow ripped through her heart as she thought of her surrogate father. She missed him with every day that passed. He’d died five years ago at the ripe old age of one hundred and thirty-one. His life hadn’t been long enough. He should never have been taken from her so soon. A drunk driver hit Robert’s car one night when he was on his way home from work and took him from her in a horrible accident. Willie breathed in a sigh of resignation as the anger and sorrow coursed through her body. At least she’d had some time with him. He had been her savior, her angel, her second chance.

  She was shaken from her musings by a familiar scent wafting on the breeze. Vampire. Shit. She wasn’t in any mood to deal with one of her cousins. Since her partial change when she was thirteen, she’d run into enough vamps to know that they didn’t like her much. Actually, if they caught wind of her they usually tried to kill her for being an “unnatural freak.” Right, like they were natural beings. Whatever. They didn’t like her and she didn’t like them.

  Like she asked to be a half-vamp, half-shifter freak. She didn’t consciously stop the change from finishing when she was drained and tasted vampire blood for the first time. It wasn’t her fault that she possessed some sort of natural immunity to the vampire virus and only gained some of the vampire traits. No one cared that she hadn’t asked for this split existence. She thumped herself on the forehead. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We’ve played this game before and all it does is get your hackles up.

  She stopped in the middle of taking a step and sniffed again. The unmistakable scent of vampire drifted to her from someplace near. The breeze whipped in small swirls through the streets and alleys, confusing the exact location of the bloodsucker. Willie did what she always did when faced with a vampire. She turned and started walking the other way. She’d fight if she had to, but most of them were stronger than her, so why take any chances? Fucking vampire. She scowled and kicked a discarded soda can down an alley. It thumped against a pile of rags, and she watched the pile move. A quick glance told her all she needed to know. Under the discarded cloths was a vagrant who seemed far enough gone that he didn’t know she stood and stared at him. She ignored the homeless person in hopes of vacating the area before the vampire sniffed her out and decided she was worth a fight. She didn’t want to add another death to her list. She just wanted to go home.

  “Help me, please.” A hoarse male voice begged from under the pile of rags in the alley. A pale hand trembled from beneath the rubbish, reaching toward her. She tensed, anticipating an attack. She relaxed slightly when she caught a glimpse of the man under the pile. She stood rooted in the mouth of the alley, conflicting thoughts running through her head. Stay and help the dude, or leave him as food for the bloodsucker? She felt horrible even thinking about leaving the man to a vampire attack. She knew
how painful that could be and didn’t wish that on anyone, especially some drugged out homeless guy. She also didn’t want to stick around and find out what a vampire was doing in her city. She edged along the sidewalk, warring with herself.

  Leaving the guy to the mercies of a vampire made her feel guilty and left a bitter taste in her mouth. The man had asked her for help. She couldn’t leave him to the suckhead and live with herself in the morning. She hesitated for a moment before turning toward the heap of man on the ground and approached reluctantly. He better really be in need of help and not trying to lure her into a mugging. Good luck with that if he was human. He’d find out that not all women walking the streets were weak. She reached over her shoulder, digging her hand under her jacket, and grabbed the hilt of her short sword. Relief and comfort radiated from the cold steel. She pulled her favorite blade out from the sheath she wore strapped to her back and approached the man cautiously. The eleven-inch blade and heavy hilt were comforting to her and eased the tension in her shoulders.

  The knife had been a gift from Robert when she turned fifteen. He’d spent hours each day training her on hand-to-hand combat both with and without weapons. She’d learned years ago to be very proficient with the blade, taking down more than a few vampires that had gotten it in their heads to kill her. She lived now only because of her training and her blade. With Robert’s help, she’d fashioned an over-the-shoulder holster that could be worn under a coat without anyone else guessing what she carried.

  “Please.” The heap moaned and moved until the man was on hands and knees. The broad back of a large, muscular man spread out in front of her under a dark coat painted in last week’s trash. His movements were slow and awkward, almost jerky. Willie wondered if he was drunk or high. That would explain the uncoordinated movements. She didn’t smell any strong alcohol rolling off the man, though, so perhaps it was a medical concern. The scent of vampire was stronger, and she scanned the rooftops trying to catch a glimpse of the bloodsucker. She hoped that the owner of the scent wasn’t too close to this location. She really didn’t want to be forced into a fight tonight.