“Earlier, we split into teams of three,” Dorian said as I leaned around him to grab Moonshine’s leash off the counter. “Eli wanted you paired up with Violet tonight,” he insisted.
“Yeah, I talked to her earlier today about it. She’s glad we invited her to help,” I said as I fumbled with Moonshine’s leash. “She’s supposed to meet me in a few minutes.”
“Good.” Dorian nodded. “Julian finishes off the rest of your group.”
I glanced at Eli. Apparently, he hadn’t said he wanted to be paired with me and Violet. This hurt. Distance was building between us I didn’t care for.
As though he could feel my eyes on him, Eli glanced at me from across the room.
“Why did you put Julian with me and Violet instead of yourself?” I asked him point blank.
“Because you’ll be safer with him,” Eli insisted.
His words were like a physical blow. What the hell did that mean?
“Safer how?” I didn’t understand.
Eli crossed to where I stood. “Mina, please understand,” he said, clearly able to sense how put out with his decision I was. “I couldn’t get to my dad in time, and the last thing I want is to not be able to get to you in time either. I’d much rather you hung out here instead of patrolling, but I know that’s not an option. Not for you.” A slight smile quirked at the corners of his lips. “I know you well enough to know you prefer being in the thick of things. You’re strong, and you’re stubborn. Neither of those are characteristics I want stamped out of you. I enjoy them. So, I’m compromising,” he said as he licked his lips and then cupped my face between his warm palms to stare me directly in the eyes. “If you’re going to come searching tonight, I want you paired with Julian. He’s strong. He’s powerful. And he’d be a good match for this vampire, considering he is one. While I hate the thought of not having you in my sight, I think you’re safest with him.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“I’ll take good care of her,” Julian insisted.
Eli kissed me and then walked away. I realized then it wasn’t the loss of his father tearing him up, but also the potential threat of losing me the same way.
I opened the front door and stepped outside, taking Moonshine with me. Eli wanted me safe. I wouldn’t be judgmental. I understood, now that he’d taken a second to explain where his head was at with me.
Movement at the edge of the woods captured my attention. The pack members who were waiting to go on patrol stood there. My heartbeat kicked up a notch as I thought of how much bloodshed could potentially occur tonight. The Midnight Reaper was dangerous. I knew this and so did my wolf, which was why there was a part of me that felt like we were going off to war.
I sent a silent prayer up to the goddess of the moon, asking that she protect us all tonight and every night after until the Midnight Reaper was captured.
Once Moonshine did her business, I took her back inside. I locked her in her crate and said goodnight before I pulled the towel down to block her vision.
I stepped to Eli’s side and placed a kiss on his cheek. “The others are waiting near the woods.”
“Okay, it’s time to go,” Eli insisted. His arm snaked around my waist and pulled me in close to him. “Good luck out there tonight, everyone. Be safe. Let’s find this bastard and bring him to justice before he has a chance to hurt anyone else.”
A collective round of shouts and applause sounded through the trailer. We all stepped out into the night to search our designated areas and hopefully find the monster lurking somewhere in Mirror Lake.
I walked between Julian and Violet as we patrolled our section of the woods together.
“You don’t have to be here, you know,” Julian insisted as he glanced at Violet. “We can walk you back and resume our search without you if this is too much for you to handle.”
Violet folded her arms around her midsection but refused to meet his gaze. “I’m fine.”
“Okay.” Julian smirked. “I just wanted to let you know, to give you an out if you wanted it.”
Violet glanced at me from the corner of her eye.
“I don’t need an out,” she said, but even I could hear the tremor in her voice.
She looked terrified. Had Julian been able to look at her and sense her fear the same as I could, or was he tapping into what she was feeling on a deeper level? What was his power? Was he a mind reader? It wasn’t the first time I’d thought such a thing.
“I wasn’t trying to upset you,” Julian said to Violet before he shifted his attention to me. “Can you stop being so skeptical of me? I’m only here to help.”
My heart skipped a beat. Was he in my head, or feeling what I was? I wasn’t sure I cared for either. Thoughts and feelings were private. He was being intrusive.
“Then you need to tell me more about yourself,” I insisted, refusing to look away from him as I stepped over a fallen branch.
The ghost of a smile quirked at the corners of his lips as he adjusted his glasses. “What would you like to know?”
“What power you have,” I said without beating around the bush. “I know your younger sister, Ivette, holds the power of compulsion and your older sister, Octavia, can move things with her mind. I’ve seen both in action. What I don’t know is what power you have.”
“What power do you think I have? You seem to be an inquisitive person. I’m sure you already have multiple guesses flying around in that head of yours.”
“I do,” I said as we made our way down a slight hill. “At first, I thought you could read minds. Now I’m not so sure. I think it’s something different. Maybe you can feel what others feel?”
“Very perceptive of you.” Julian grinned. “I’m an empath.”
“Meaning you can feel people’s emotions?” Violet asked. It was clear from the tone of her voice she didn’t believe him.
“Exactly.”
“That’s a crappy gift to have, considering all of the cooler ones out there,” Violet said, and I found myself chuckling at her bluntness.
“I suppose you’re right,” Julian said. “I’ve often thought of it as a curse, but I imagine there are worse powers.”
“Like?” I prompted, enjoying the topic.
“Like being able to hear others’ thoughts,” Julian insisted. “It’s bad enough feeling the emotions of others, but I think it would be one hundred times worse if I could hear their thoughts instead. Nobody wants to know what someone else is thinking unfiltered.”
I couldn’t agree with him more. Mind reading was one power I never wanted to have. It seemed like a recipe for obtaining the worst migraine of your entire life daily.
“Why do you feel like feeling others’ emotions is a curse? Seems to me like you got off easy in the scheme of powers,” Violet said.
“Feeling someone’s emotions is not getting off easy. It took me a long time before I was able to build a wall to block out emotions that were too overwhelming. Before that, I was a walking bipolar episode. Now, it’s not as bad. I only tap into what others are feeling when it benefits me, or when I think I can help them in some way with whatever it is they’re feeling.”
A thought came to me. “Does it work with animals? Can you feel what they feel too?”
“I can. It’s part of the reason I went to veterinary school. I’ve always loved animals, even when I was human, but once I learned to fine-tune my empathic abilities, I wanted to put it to good use. I learned early on I could pinpoint where someone’s pain or discomfort was with a few touches and some focusing. What better way to put that skill to use than to give animals a voice and help them?”
“Well, yeah. But why not become a doctor? Like a doctor for humans? You could help so many people with your power,” Violet insisted.
“Animals don’t have nearly as many emotions as humans,” Julian said. “Working with them instead of humans is sort of like a break for my brain.”
I opened my mouth to say I understood, but someone yelling close by caused me to cla
mp my lips shut. It stemmed from somewhere to our right. While I couldn’t tell who it was, I knew instinctively it wasn’t Eli.
He was okay, but whoever I was hearing was not.
Chaos erupted nearby. The howls of my pack members had goose bumps prickling across my skin. My wolf demanded to be set free, but I refused to give in. I needed to see what was going on for myself first.
I broke into a run with Julian and Violet flanking me. As the three of us crashed through the woods to where the noises seemed to be originating, my heart beat triple time inside my chest. When we came upon the chaos, it nearly stopped because what I saw was something straight out of a horror film.
Wolves from the pack circled Dorian and Eli, who were crouched down on the ground, creating a wall of protection. From what? And who had been yelling? Dorian? My attention focused on him. He was definitely injured. Blood pooled around him, soaking into the ground and spilling outward. I had no idea where it was coming from though. My view was being blocked. I did see when Eli took off his shirt and wrapped it around Dorian’s arm as the members of the pack circled.
“What happened?” I asked as I continued toward them.
Eli jerked to look at me, his eyes wild with fear. “Get out of here! Now! Julian take them somewhere else! The Midnight Reaper is here!”
Every inch of me went on high alert. My wolf nipped at my insides, begging to be set free so she could protect us. Dorian let out another howl of pain, and chills crept along my spine as I glanced around.
“He needs to be taken to Gran’s,” I said as my gaze shifted back to Dorian. He looked as though he could walk, but I worried the amount of blood he’d already lost might’ve diminished his strength, making it impossible.
The wolves of our pack widened their circle to include Julian, Violet, and me at Eli’s command. I stepped closer to Eli. He was still trying to stop Dorian’s bleeding.
“I know,” Eli said through gritted teeth.
“Let me and Violet take him.” I bent at the waist and maneuvered my way between Eli and Dorian, taking over. Eli’s T-shirt fell to the side, and I was able to get a glimpse at Dorian’s wound. His arm was mutilated. It looked as though someone had sliced him up with razors, filleting his skin in every direction while trying to sever his arm from his body in the process.
What the hell kind of monster were we dealing with?
“Be careful,” Eli insisted.
Dorian made a noise as I secured Eli’s T-shirt to his heaviest bleeding wound again. It sounded as though he was trying to say something, but his words were faint. I wasn’t able to make them out through the pounding of my heart and the sound of my wolf snapping at me frantically.
“What did you say?” I asked, and then placed my ear next to his lips.
“Diversion,” Dorian whispered. “We need a diversion.”
“Can you create a diversion so Violet and I can get him out of here?” I asked Eli.
“I can,” Julian insisted. “Give me a second to tap into the emotions lingering around here. I might be able to find where this vampire is and then rush him.” He licked his lips and adjusted his glasses before closing his eyes. I had no clue how his powers worked, but I had faith he’d be able to do what he said. “When I tell you to go, go.”
I locked eyes with Violet, making sure she was on the same page as me.
“Okay. We will,” I said.
Eli helped us lift Dorian to his feet.
“Got him?” Eli asked Violet.
“Yeah,” she said.
He looked to me next. My eyes locked with his, and I let everything I wanted to say to him pass through my stare. Eli mouthed I love you, and my heart fluttered.
“I love you too,” I whispered as I prayed to the goddess of the moon we’d make it through this moment safely.
“Can the two of you please stop sending love notes through the air with your emotions? It’s distracting me from what I’m trying to do,” Julian snapped.
“Sorry,” I said as I stared at him.
His eyes had remained closed, but his arms now hung slack at his sides. A more relaxed sense spilled into the air around him as his features seemed to soften. When his head tipped to the side, I knew he’d found what he was searching for.
“There you are,” he whispered. “Well, aren’t you an angry little vampire.”
My heart kick-started as I prepared to run once Julian gave the signal. I glanced at Violet, making sure she was still ready. She nodded and my gaze drifted to Dorian. His face was clammy, and he looked as though he were on the verge of death, but even so, he nodded, letting me know he was ready as well.
“Go,” Julian insisted with a hiss seconds before he rushed away in the direction of the vampire.
We didn’t waste any time getting Dorian out of there. Both Violet and I knew we didn’t have long before Julian’s distraction dissolved and all hell broke loose again. When we were halfway to the clearing of the trailer park, warmth started to seep through the T-shirt pressed against Dorian’s wound and dampened my hand.
His bleeding had picked up from all the movement.
Shit.
“We’re almost there,” I said, hoping he’d be able to hang on a little longer.
If he passed out or his knees buckled, Violet and I wouldn’t be able to get him out of the woods. He was more than twice our size.
A growl echoed from somewhere deep in Dorian’s chest. He had to be in serious pain, but I could do nothing to ease it. All I could do was focus on getting him to Gran.
Once we broke through the woods and into the trailer park the tightness squeezing my lungs eased, and I felt as though I could breathe again. Violet and I hurried toward Gran’s trailer. There were no lights on when it came into view, but it wouldn’t matter. Gran would wake the instant she heard someone at the door. If she didn’t, Dad or Mom would. Gracie was a lost cause, being as sound a sleeper as she was.
When we reached the steps to the trailer, I propped Dorian against the railing.
“Just a second.” I started up the steps.
My fist beat against the door while my heart palpitated in my throat. Someone needed to wake up, because Dorian was at risk of dying on Gran’s steps if he didn’t get some sort of treatment. I beat on the door again, this time louder.
Movement sounded from somewhere inside.
“I’m coming,” Gran grumbled. When she swung the door open, her brows were knitted together and her eyes were sharp, but at the sight of me her features softened. “Mina? What’s going on? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. It’s Dorian,” I said as I motioned behind me to where he was slumped against the railing of the stairs. “He was attacked while on patrol.”
“He’s bleeding. Badly,” Violet insisted in a shrill voice.
My gaze snapped to her. She looked ashen, and her eyes were wide. Beads of sweat dotted her upper lip and forehead. She was too young for all of this. Too young to be out this late and doing something so dangerous like helping us search for the Midnight Reaper.
What had we been thinking allowing her to be a part of this? She was only sixteen.
“Let’s get him inside,” Gran insisted as she stepped out of the way and motioned for us to enter the trailer. “Hurry. We need to get his bleeding stopped. He’s probably left a trail of blood all the way to my front door.”
My throat closed. I hadn’t thought of that. I hoped whatever Julian had done to serve as our distraction had captured the Midnight Reaper’s attention more than the scent of Dorian’s blood.
I helped Violet get Dorian into the trailer. He could barely stand on his own any longer. He’d lost way too much blood. We started toward the couch, but Gran put up a hand to stop us.
“Don’t set him down on my furniture until I have it covered up with something first,” Gran insisted. “Let me get some old towels from the hall closet and a couple of trash bags.”
She gathered towels from the hall closet and trash bags from beneath the kitchen sink while
Violet and I stood with Dorian in the living room. Blood trickled onto the laminated flooring, and he groaned as his eyes rolled back into his head. He leaned on me a little more, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to hold up his weight.
When Gran came back, she laid out the trash bags on the couch and draped the old towels over them, doubling up so no blood would soak through.
“Okay,” she said. “Get him situated.”
Dorian made an awful sound as we maneuvered him toward the couch. I winced, hating we were causing him more pain.
“Sheila!” Dorian shouted at the tail end of his moan.
“Go get her,” I said to Violet once we’d laid him down. “She should be here for this. She should know.”
Violet nodded and headed out the door to retrieve Dorian’s wife, Sheila. I felt bad for her, waking in the middle of the night to learn your husband had been attacked by something and was close to bleeding to death wasn’t something I’d wish on anyone.
“Hold this here,” Gran insisted as she passed me a clean towel to press against Dorian’s wounds. “His werewolf healing should kick in soon to help stop the blood flow.”
She moved to the kitchen to riffle through her cabinets while I held the towel in place.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Gran said as she made her way back from the kitchen carrying a large bowl with steaming liquid and a roll of paper towels. “I need to clean the area so I can see what I’m dealing with. Go in the kitchen and bring me the herbs I set out on the counter. I’m going to need you to make a paste.”
I nodded and headed to the kitchen where I gathered all the herbs. Only one of them looked familiar. Dried yarrow. I remembered it from when I was little and had seasonal nosebleeds. Gran would always make me shove a couple of dried petals up my nose to stop the bleeding.
It worked like magic.
I placed all of Gran’s herbs on the coffee table and stared at the wounds on Dorian’s arm. I’d been right before; it looked as though someone had taken razor blades to it, mutilating the skin. Was this what the other victims of the Midnight Reaper looked like? The ones that had been reported as having been mutilated? No wonder they’d stated the bodies were almost beyond recognition. If what I was witnessing on Dorian’s arm was what the vampire had done to the entire body of those victims, it would definitely be hard to identify them.
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