by Cheree Alsop
Vicken nodded, but he didn’t look happy about the plan. “Seems like a waste of perfectly good transportation to me,” he muttered. But he informed the driver of the change.
I breathed a sigh of relief when we stepped out into the crisp morning and watched the limousine head back toward Cleary’s main road. I wondered how many students would be late to school hoping for a chance to catch a glimpse of Cleary’s supposed celebrity.
“This is where you grew up?” Vicken said in a dubious tone as he glanced at the houses we passed.
The quiet neighborhoods were a far stretch from New York City’s busy streets. The occasional dog barked within a fenced-in backyard, and once a child of about ten took off running from his house in the direction of the elementary school; he didn’t give us a second glance as he booked it down the street. I heard toll of the familiar bell and wondered if he would get detention for being late. He seemed a bit young for it, but I had spent my fair share of time in the principal’s office because Drake and I often got distracted on our way to school and had to run to try to make it on time. Dad used to joke that was how I became a medal-winner in track.
“It looks nice to me,” Dara said.
I caught the hint of wistfulness in her tone. Her family hadn’t exactly been normal. When they found out she was an empath, they had used her to feel good about their abusive ways to the point that she refused to invite them on parent nights at school. I saw her gaze linger on the scene in a window of a mother setting her child in a high chair to eat breakfast. The smile on the mother’s face as she spoke to her baby told me the loving tone I would hear if I strained to pick up her voice.
“It was a great place to grow up,” I admitted. “I had a good childhood.”
“It must have been hard losing your mother,” Dara said with a sympathetic expression.
I nodded. “It was really hard. But Dad was always there for us, and when he married Julianne, it was good for all of us. She didn’t try to take over my mom’s place, she just….” I paused and realized how my throat had tightened at the words. No matter how I tried to act casual about it, talking about my mom was still hard.
“She just took a different place in the family,” Dara filled in helpfully.
I threw her a grateful look. “Yes, exactly.”
She slipped her hand in mine. I felt her pull gently at my sorrow. But when I shook my head, she stopped and merely walked beside me.
“I’m okay with the pain because it helps me remember how much I loved her,” I said.
Dara nodded. “I’m glad you have that.”
Vicken cleared his throat. “Enough of the mushy stuff. Are we almost there?”
I realized with a start that we were only a block away. “Yes. Grayson’s house is just around that corner.” My heart sped up at the thought of what I was about to do. I let go of Dara’s hand so she wouldn’t feel my anxiety.
“What’s the plan?” she asked. Her eyes searched my face as if she guessed my intentions.
“Yeah, you should probably let us in on that,” Vicken said wryly. “You know, so we can actually help.”
I took a few more steps in silence before I said, “You’re not going to like it.”
“Of course we won’t,” the vampire replied. “When have I ever liked one of your plans?”
I let out a breath and said, “Grayson wants Vicken so he can be accepted in the Maes. The Maes has Julianne and my dad, as well as Vicken’s mother, right?”
“Right,” Dara said, her tone level. “So what’s your plan?”
“I’m going to pretend to be Grayson.”
Chapter Two
Dara and Vicken stopped walking. I turned to face them. Both of their mouths opened to protest, but I lifted a hand. “Hear me out. Grayson’s whole goal is to be accepted into the Maes. The best way for me to get in is to pretend to be him and take Vicken myself. If I can get the Maes to accept me as Grayson, I’ll be able to find Dad, Julianne, and Vicken’s mom. It’s the only way to get everyone back out.”
Vicken opened his mouth again, then shut it. He looked at Dara and lifted a shoulder. “It’s not a bad plan.”
Dara stared from me to him. “Not a bad plan! Finn wants to willingly join the Maes and use you as leverage. Friends don’t use friends as leverage. And what happens when someone finds out he’s a werewolf?”
“He doesn’t look like a werewolf,” Vicken pointed out.
Dara sputtered and said, “What does a werewolf look like?”
Vicken shrugged. “I don’t know. Not like that.” He pointed at me. “He’s still a bit scrawny and the girls fall over him like he’s some pretty boy. I don’t get it, but I definitely wouldn’t think he’s a werewolf to look at him.” He gave me an apologetic look. “No offense.”
I would take any argument in my favor at that moment. “None taken,” I replied. “I agree. Nobody’s going to find out I’m a werewolf if it’s not a full moon. I’m getting better at my control and I’m hoping we aren’t going to be there long.”
“You don’t even know where ‘there’ is,” she shot back.
“That’s why I need to pretend to be Grayson. It’s the only way to find out where they’re keeping their prisoners, or hostages, or whatever they call them.” Thinking of Dad and Julianne being treated like captives made me want to phase into wolf form and tear apart anyone responsible, starting with Grayson. I shoved the impulse away before I gave Dara proof that my self-control wasn’t as strong as I was implying.
“And you’d sacrifice your best friend?” Dara asked.
“Yes,” Vicken said without hesitation before I could reply. “That’s what best friends are for. I’d sacrifice Finn to get my mother out.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“No problem,” he replied. “And it’s worth it if we can find Finn’s parents or my mother. Honestly, it’s the most logical plan Finn’s ever come up with.”
“Thanks again,” I said.
“No problem,” he replied.
Dara rolled her eyes. “And where do I fit in with all of this?”
We had reached my front yard. At that moment, the door flung open and Drake ran out. The worry on my younger brother’s face echoed what I was trying to keep inside. He grabbed me in a tight hug.
“Finn, you’ve got to find them!” he said. “You’ve just got to!”
I looked over his head at Dara. “You’re staying with Drake.”
Drake stepped back and looked at my two companions. “Uh, no way. I’m coming with you. Dad and Julianne need me.”
Vicken gave a derisive snort.
Drake glared. “What do you know about it? You’re the reason they’re in trouble in the first place!”
“What?” Vicken asked, caught by surprise.
I shook my head. “That’s not true.”
“Of course it is,” Drake shot back. “If Grayson didn’t need a monster to get into this Mess, he wouldn’t have kidnapped Julianne and Dad.”
Vicken’s mouth fell open, but for once he didn’t have a reply.
I grabbed Drake by the shoulder and steered him toward the house.
As soon as we were inside and Dara shut the door, I said, “First of all, I’m really the monster Grayson wants to use, but for some strange sense of loyalty because of my friendship with Sebastian before he died, he chose Vicken instead. And second, they’re called the Maes, not the Mess. It’s an acronym for Monster Abolition and Eradication Society.”
Whatever Drake was about to say fell from his lips at my words. He stared at me and said, “Monster hunters?”
I nodded.
“Monster killers,” Vicken replied.
Drake stared from me to him. “So why are you here if they want to kill you?”
Vicken gave a nonchalant shrug that was belied by the shadow of worry in his yellow gaze. “Glutton for punishment, I guess.”
“And you?” Drake asked, turning to Dara. “What kind of monster are you?”
“That’s a li
ttle forward,” I began, but Dara cut me off.
“It’s alright. I’m an empath.” At Drake’s blank look, she explained, “I can calm people’s feelings and take away their pain.”
“Cool,” Drake replied. “I tripped on the stairs earlier and—”
I shook my head before he could ask her to take away the pain from his bruise that he no doubt deserved. “Let’s keep on topic. Drake, where’s Grayson?”
“At his house, the last I heard. His parents are out of town on another business trip. He snuck over here the other night and took Dad and Julianne at gunpoint. He said he would shoot them if I called the police or did anything other than get you back here with your vampire friend.” The slight waver in his voice told of how hard he was trying to keep calm.
Dara set a hand on his arm. She closed her eyes and I saw the immediate relief on Drake’s face when she pulled his fear from him.
When she opened her eyes again, he was staring at her. “That. Was. Amazing. Thank you.” He looked at me. “She can stay.”
I fought back a smile. “I figured.”
“I’m not staying,” Dara replied.
“Who am I supposed to tell them you are?” I replied. “Grayson’s girlfriend excited to meet monster killers?”
“Sure,” she said.
“Wait. Don’t tell me Finn’s your boyfriend,” Drake said with a note of dismay in his voice.
I cleared my throat before Dara could respond and said, “We need to focus. Let’s go get Grayson, find out what he knows, and then I can find Dad and Julianne.” I glanced at Vicken. “And Donessa Ruvine. We don’t have time to waste.” I touched Dara’s arm. “Please stay. I don’t know what I’d do if I brought you into danger and couldn’t protect you. From what I’ve heard about the Maes, this isn’t going to be pleasant.”
“They know where we live,” Drake said with a true note of concern in his voice. “I keep worrying they’ll come here and take me, too.”
“I’ll stay,” Dara finally consented.
I let out a breath of relief. “Thank you.” I shot Drake a warning look. “Listen to what she says and do it exactly. Dara may be an empath, but she doesn’t have sympathy for people who act stupid.”
A smile appeared on Dara’s face. “That’s true,” she confirmed.
When I closed the front door behind me, a feeling of trepidation rose in my chest. “Do you think they’ll be alright?”
Vicken gave the house a glance. “They’ll be safer after we deal with the Maes.”
“Point taken.” I took a steeling breath and nodded. “Let’s find Grayson.”
It turned out to be the fun part. When we reached the house, Grayson was nowhere to be found. I climbed up to the treehouse in the backyard where Drake and I had both spent countless sleepovers with Sebastian. I allowed only a slight pang of remorse for the death of my friend. Sorrow wasn’t going to save my parents.
I knew before I climbed up the ladder that Grayson wasn’t there, but I hoped that by looking at his notes, we might be able to figure out where to find him or, with luck, how to locate the Maes ourselves.
It took only seconds to realize that the mess of printed pictures, maps, articles on Big Foot sightings, and impressions of dog paw prints to accept that my answers wouldn’t be there.
“What is this mess?” Vicken asked as he levered himself up. The look in his eyes darkened when he took in the extent of Grayson’s obsession. His gaze lingered on the photograph of a wolf surfacing from the depths of a black, icy river. “Is that you?”
I nodded. “I still wonder who was sick enough to stand there and take pictures while Sebastian and Drake were drowning.”
“Not to mention yourself?” Vicken pointed out levelly.
I pulled the picture down without a care for the way the pin tore it. I noticed a small thread that ran from the pin to another picture. This one showed a fuzzy photo of either a huge gray dog or a wolf standing at the edge of a children’s playground. Another thread connected it to a printed picture of a black wolf standing on top of a parked car in the middle of a parking lot. I followed the thread, fascinated, as it linked pictures of what could be dogs in innocent places to obvious wolves lurking in alley shadows and even on the grounds of various schools. Several pictures came from a school written underneath as Vicki Carso’s Preparatory Academy.
After that, the thread stopped. The final pin was centered on a map of New York. A big red circle marked a city block and an X was drawn on a house. The words underneath said ‘Last known werewolf pack?’ in big red letters.
“Is this the place Lark was talking about?” I asked.
“You know he’s crazy, right?” Vicken replied.
“But what if he’s not?” I asked. “What if there are more werewolves, we just don’t know where to find them?”
I took down the map section and folded it up. I shoved it into my pocket. Grayson wasn’t right in the head, that was certain, but if he had stumbled upon the last known location of the werewolf pack Lark had mentioned, maybe I wasn’t so alone. I had so many questions about being a werewolf and no one to ask. Anything even remotely related to my heritage made professors at the Academy uncomfortable. How would it be to ask real werewolves?
“I think we should destroy this place.”
I stared at Vicken. “What are you talking about?”
He waved a hand. “Look around you. If the police or anyone else finds it, they’re going to start asking their own questions. This Grayson may be crazy, but he’s gathered enough information here to clue others in on the monsters that are out there.”
Glancing around, I had to admit that he was right. “What are you suggesting?”
Vicken pulled a lighter from his pocket. “Burn it.”
I stared at him. “Where did you get a lighter, and aren’t vampires afraid of fire?”
Vicken tossed it to me. “I stole it from your brother, and I’m not going to light it, you are.”
The tiny lighter felt innocuous in my hand. “I’m lighting it?”
Vicken headed back to the ladder with a speed that told of true fear. “Yes, but wait until after I get down.”
Another thought struck me. “Why did my brother have a lighter?”
“Maybe he’s a pyro?” Vicken suggested as his head disappeared down the hatch.
The suggestion that my brother was a pyromaniac didn’t rest well with me. I shook my head and stared around the treehouse, wondering where the best place would be to start the fire. I debated whether my werewolf side was to blame for my reluctance to do so. I had never been obsessed with fire like so many kids my age were growing up. When two of my friends were taken in for questioning for starting the old fairgrounds on fire by accident, I had been busy building model cars and watching Drake play baseball. Even Dad had laughed at the suggestion that I had been involved.
Wolves definitely didn’t like fire. I figured my aversion to demon fire had been purely survival, but now, as I flicked the lighter and touched the flame to one of Grayson’s hundreds of papers, I realized it came from something deeply inborn. Perhaps vampires and werewolves weren’t that different from each other.
“Are you trying to burn yourself alive?” Vicken shouted from below.
“I’m waiting to see if you’ll come rescue me if I’m up here long enough,” I replied.
Vicken muttered a series of curses strung together in a way that would have made even Professor Briggs blush.
I ensured the fire was well started before hightailing it down the ladder.
“About time,” Vicken grumbled. “Let’s get out of here before the firemen show up.”
“What about Grayson?” I asked.
“I have a feeling he’s going to be very concerned about who started the fire. Our goal is to find him before the police do. Time to put your nose to work.”
I couldn’t help the astonishment that filled my face at his suggestion. “Phase to wolf form in broad daylight? What if somebody sees me?”
> “They’ll think wolves have returned to Cleary,” Vicken replied. “Or be fast enough that they don’t see you. We need Grayson, and you’re the fastest way to finding him. Get to work, hound.”
His demanding tone made me want to bare my teeth. I had never phased during the day before. I grabbed onto the urge to snarl at the vampire and went with it. A glance at the treehouse showed smoke just beginning to filter between the branches. We had minutes at the most. I pulled off my shirt, but couldn’t get the phase to begin.
“Say something else to make me mad,” I told Vicken.
He lifted a shoulder. “That’s easy. You have fleas.”
I rolled my eyes. “No. Something real. I need to want to fight.”
Understanding dawned in his eyes. He crossed his arms and planted his feet as though bracing for an attack.
“Werewolves are the bane of monster existence. They should have been wiped from the world long ago.”
A tremor of what felt like electricity ran down my spine. I wanted to knock the superior look from his face and teach him that to disrespect my ancestors was akin to looking death in the eyes.
He continued with, “Your kind is a scourge, a virus. You are merely animals trapped in the bodies of humans, waiting to tear apart anyone who gets in your way.”
The suggestion was the trigger for my phase. I dropped to all fours and allowed the change to take over. Fur, muscles, fangs, and eyesight all shifted within seconds. When I looked up in my wolf form, I took satisfaction in the way Vicken backed off a step before he could stop himself.
“You want me to keep going?” he asked with forced bravado in his tone. “I have more I could say.”
I snarled an answer. Even though I knew he had said those things because I asked him, I couldn’t help feeling as though he had come up with what he said far too easily. If he was harboring such feelings about my kind, wouldn’t they pertain to me as well? Could I really trust a vampire to guard my back if he felt werewolves were a scourge?
I had to remind myself that he was taking even more of a risk than I was in meeting the Maes. I might be in disguise, but he was heading into the fray with everyone knowing his vampire heritage. He was the one who needed to trust me. If he could do that after all he had said about werewolves, who was I to argue?