Bumble

by Connie Suttle

  BUMBLE

  (Legend of the Ir'Indicti #1)

  By Connie Suttle

  For Walter and Joe, for the usual reasons.

  And for Sarah S. You know why.

  Thank you.

  Bumble, e-edition

  Copyright © 2012 by Connie Suttle

  This e-book is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents portrayed within its digital pages are entirely fictitious and a product of the author's often warped imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  A note about the locations in this book:

  Cloud Chief, Oklahoma is a real ghost town, located near Cordell. All of the land is now privately owned and the Cloud Chief community portrayed in this book is fictitious in nature.

  Other books by Connie Suttle

  (Blood Destiny Series)

  Blood Wager

  Blood Passage

  Blood Sense

  Blood Domination

  Blood Royal

  Blood Queen

  Blood Rebellion*

  Blood War*

  Blood Redemption*

  (Legend of the Ir'Indicti Series)

  Bumble

  Shadow*

  Target*

  Vendetta*

  Ir'Indicti*

  *Forthcoming

  Chapter 1

  Preoccupied with approaching doom while snowflakes settled on his hair and sheepskin jacket, Ashe Evans walked right past the white buffalo standing in two inches of snow beside the road. A disgruntled snort disturbed the snow-muted morning as the buffalo, offended by Ashe's rudeness, thumped a hoof impatiently against frozen ground. Startled from his thoughts by the sudden noise, Ashe turned swiftly to locate its source.

  "Good morning, Mr. Thompson." Ashe, his nose and ears red from the cold, breathed a relieved sigh and waved at the large bison, causing the heavy backpack he carried to slip from his shoulder. Mr. Thompson's breaths were misty white clouds in the late March snowfall as he blinked at Ashe in irritation.

  Ashe Evans might have been any twelve-going-on-thirteen-year-old trudging toward a rural school in the snow. He wasn't. Cloud Chief might have been any small farming community in western Oklahoma. It wasn't. The buffalo might have been any buffalo still living in the Central Plains, but Amos Thompson would tell you himself (quite majestically, in fact) that he most certainly was not.

  Protected by three vampires and a perimeter spell laid each year by an itinerant witch, Cloud Chief, Oklahoma, appeared to be a ghost town on maps and to passing non-residents. Inside the spell's boundary, werewolves, shapeshifters and vampires populated the small but thriving community.

  "Sorry I didn't see you, Mr. Thompson," Ashe apologized. Snow had collected atop Mr. Thompson's woolly head, giving anyone with any imagination at all the idea that he wore a beret between short, curving horns. Ashe waited until he'd turned away to smile. Stamping his hoof again (Mr. Thompson had no patience for inattentive children) the buffalo trotted off to help neighbors check on spring lambs.

  Hunching into his sheepskin jacket, Ashe hefted the backpack to a more comfortable position and continued on his way. Transformational Arts, his first class of the day was waiting, along with inevitable shame and eternal embarrassment.

  Every seventh-grade student at Cloud Chief Combined was expected to take (and pass) Transformational Arts. With a vampire father and a shapeshifting mother, Ashe should be passing Transformational Arts easily. He wasn't. Ashe, no matter how hard he tried, couldn't produce a single scale, feather, talon or patch of fur. The school year was winding down too, with only six weeks of classes remaining. Struggling to fight off a recurring bout of misery, Ashe wondered if his parents ever imagined that he might turn out frustratingly ordinary.

  "What happened to you?" Ashe, dumping his backpack beside a desk in Transformational Arts, stared at his best friend. Black-haired, dark-eyed and looking much like his werewolf Packmaster father, Salidar DeLuca frantically swiped at his left ear and hair, attempting to brush white chalk dust away before Mrs. Rocklin arrived.

  "Dori hit me with an eraser," Sali growled, glaring accusingly at Dori and Wynn across the aisle. Dori Anderson, a shapeshifting ocelot and Wynn O'Neill, an extremely rare unicorn, glared right back. A feud simmered constantly between Sali, Wynn and Dori, with occasional eruptions of mild violence and adult language. Fed mostly by insults from Sali, the hostility showed no signs of ever letting up.

  "Don't you know to duck?" Ashe wanted to snicker at Sali's predicament—the chalk dust wasn't easily removed from dark hair.

  "It was a well-planned, two-prong attack," Sali replied, his nearly black eyes staring at the chalk dust that now covered his fingers.

  "Ah, the ocelot-unicorn maneuver—surround your enemy and distract him," Ashe nodded respectfully at Dori and Wynn. Wynn, quite pretty with long white hair and pale-blue eyes, acknowledged the near-compliment with a return nod. Dori, wearing her curly, dark-blonde hair shorter, wasn't about to concede anything to the enemy camp. With green eyes flashing a warning at Sali and Ashe, Dori turned away with a disgruntled "hmmph."

  "Mrs. Rocklin's coming," Ashe hissed, shutting down conversation inside the classroom as nine students scrambled for seats. Ashe heard their instructor walking down the hall from the opposite end of the building, giving his classmates plenty of time to slide into seats and innocently face the blackboard before Mrs. Rocklin arrived.

  Exceptional hearing seemed to be Ashe's only gift. Better than the werewolves and his vampire father's, Ashe's ability to hear the tiniest sounds from a distance had the entire community scratching their heads in confusion. As Ashe hadn't managed to become anything other than himself, he wasn't about to boast of his auricular proficiency.

  Mrs. Rocklin eyed Sali, who continued to surreptitiously brush chalk dust from his hair. Knowing without question that Sali had been up to something, Mrs. Rocklin called on him first. "Salidar," she said, lifting an eyebrow, "You will go first this morning. Try to get all your fur out on the initial attempt."

  Reddening guiltily, Sali stood. Ashe knew Sali was self-conscious during his changes from human to wolf and at times his turns weren't a complete transformation under Mrs. Rocklin's watchful eye. Dori snickered, earning a nasty glare from Sali.

  "You can do it," Ashe reassured his friend in a whisper so soft only Sali might hear. If Sali were alone or with Ashe, his turns were perfect. Whenever Sali transformed in front of his older brother Marco, something always went wrong. Marco wasn't merciful when he teased Sali about the unsuccessful attempts, either.

  Closing his eyes, Sali focused on changing. Before long, a furry, half-grown werewolf pup stood amid a puddle of Sali's clothing, with no missing patches of fur. Proud of his accomplishment, Sali sat on his haunches and grinned a wolfish grin, his pink tongue lolling mockingly.

  "Showoff," Dori grumbled. Sali's wolf hearing caught Dori's words easily. Turning his head, he offered a sharp-toothed grin to her as well.

  "Your ear is still covered with chalk dust," Wynn pointed out maliciously. Several classmates stifled laughter as Sali raised a paw to awkwardly swipe at his left ear.

  "Very good, Salidar," Mrs. Rocklin acknowledged Sali's flawless transformation while ignoring chalk dust. "Ashe, would you please?" she gestured with a hand. Mrs. Rocklin no longer had to finish the sentence; Ashe understood what was expected. Without a word, Ashe rose and pulled Sali's clothing from beneath the wolf pup's feet. Following a tail-wagging Sali, Ashe carried jeans, T-shirt and sneakers to the changing cubicle at the back of their classroom.

  Ashe performed clothing duty six times before Mrs. Rocklin called his name. Lowering his head to hide the flush that crept up his neck and threatened to become full-blown embarrassment, Ashe stood amid whispers from his classmates.
"He can't," competed with "he's human." For the first time, however, Ashe caught the worst insult any shapeshifter could level against another. "Empty," echoed in his ears.

  Blowing out a sigh and chanting "change," softly to himself, Ashe concentrated, focused and grunted, even. Nothing. Not a single thing happened. Head hanging and cheeks flaming, Ashe sat down again. It was no use; he had no talent.

  Feeling anxious and a bit nauseous, Ashe sat miserably through two more classes before lunch. "Dude, you're trying too hard," Sali whispered as they walked toward the school cafeteria. Worried that he'd bungled a spelling test and then failed to hear when Mr. Dawkins called on him in Math, Ashe barely listened to Sali's attempt at reassurance. Mr. Dawkins, a werewolf, accused Ashe of daydreaming. Ashe wished it were daydreaming. Or spring break fever, which was affecting the other students.

  "Hurry up; we'll miss seconds on dessert if you don't walk faster than that." Sali pushed Ashe to a quicker pace along the polished tile corridor that separated rows of classrooms. Filled with noise and students rushing toward the same goal, the hall was crowded but not impossible for Sali to negotiate. "Dude, lose that funk and let's eat, I'm starved," Sali declared as they stood in line to get their trays. "It's burger day," Sali added, craning his neck to see what was being served. "If you don't eat yours, I'll take it."

  "You can have it," Ashe replied listlessly.

  * * *

  "Ashe, it's not something you can help," Dori's older sister, Cori, sat next to him at the cafeteria table he and Sali frequented. Sali traded his empty tray for Ashe's mostly full one.

  Great, Ashe thought. Dori's been talking already. Now it's all over school. They'll all call me empty before it's over.

  Eighty-six students attended Cloud Chief combined, with all twelve grades taught in the same building. Sometimes, Ashe watched the two tiny first graders and wondered if he'd ever been that small. After considering it for a moment, he supposed that he had. Ashe liked most of his classmates, but Dori and Wynn would never sit with him and Sali at lunch; there was the unspoken war between them, after all. The others moved in their own circles and seldom included Sali and Ashe.

  Cori, a pretty blonde, was a high school junior and four years older than Ashe. She didn't mind talking to Ashe now and then. Cori and Dori's father, Nathan, was a good friend to Aedan, Ashe's father. Both of them vampires, they'd known one another for a long time—long before they'd married and had children.

  Vampires weren't capable of having children in the normal sense. Aedan Evans had gone to scientists in the supernatural world and his and Adele Evans’ DNA was combined in a fertilized, donor egg. Ashe was quite familiar with that particular knowledge; his parents explained it carefully to him when he was ten. It was the only way a vampire could have children, and those children could only be born to a shapeshifter mother. Human DNA failed to combine with that of any vampire to produce a child. Cori and Dori, both born in a similar fashion (although their mother, Lavonna, had supplied the egg), had no trouble shifting. Ashe's persistent failures were becoming fodder for school gossip.

  "Cori, you're a panther. That's an amazing ability," Ashe acknowledged Cori's gift. "You don't know what it's like to have all of them staring and whispering when you can't do anything."

  "Ashe, you're smart," Cori said. "You catch onto your lessons faster than the others. I know that may not sound important right now, but it is. And you can hear better than anyone else in the community. Everybody has a gift; you just have to figure out what yours is." Cori blinked green eyes at Ashe, smiled slightly and picked up her nearly empty tray before Sali could snatch anything off it. Flouncing away toward the tray drop, (mostly to taunt Sali) Cori walked out of the cafeteria without a backward glance.

  "Everybody else always knows what I should be doing." Ashe rubbed his forehead.

  "Dude, just forget it. Can we go into Cordell this afternoon and help your mom?" Sali gave Ashe a hopeful look.

  Ashe's parents owned Cordell Feed and Seed. Sali's seventeen-year-old brother Marco could drive them; he had a car and welcomed any excuse to drive the short distance into Cordell to visit a human girl who worked at the Burger Hut. It was nearly spring break and Cordell Feed and Seed was busy—people were buying plants already. If Ashe and Sali came to help, Adele usually put them to watering trays of seedlings and sweeping the greenhouse.

  "I guess," Ashe mumbled an answer to Sali's question. Sali jogged off to find his brother, who sat with a group of friends on the other side of the small cafeteria.

  "He says he'll drop us off," Sali was back in no time. Ashe didn't answer; he merely nodded his head.

  Ashe wasn't sure he'd live through his last three classes. He did, but barely. When Principal Billings sent for him during the final class of the day, Ashe became more worried. Was it because he hadn't been paying attention in class? His parents would certainly be upset over that.

  Principal Benjamin Billings, PhD, werewolf, sat behind a desk too large for his small office, dressed in a three-piece suit and tie. With dark-brown hair that held no hint of gray and brown eyes capable of boring straight through any mischief-bent student, Principal Billings ruled Cloud Chief Combined with a growl and an iron will. If Ashe hadn't known he was werewolf when he turned, he may have guessed that Principal Billings was a bull. With a thick neck and compact, muscular body, Principal Billings evoked such an impression.

  "Ashe, take this note to your parents," Principal Billings smiled as he handed the sealed envelope to Ashe. Satisfied over something Ashe couldn't immediately define, the old werewolf leaned back in his leather chair, causing it to creak annoyingly. "Make sure they get it," Principal Billings said with a wave of dismissal, sending Ashe back to class. Sali had an eyebrow lifted, asking the nonverbal question as soon as Ashe slouched into his seat in Social Studies. Shoving the envelope inside his book bag, Ashe pretended to pay attention to Miss Campbell and didn't look in Sali's direction once.

  Later, Ashe was glad he was sitting by himself in the back seat of Marco's car on the way to Cordell. The snow had melted off as the day warmed up, leaving only a scattered, well-shaded patch here and there. Sali sat in the front passenger seat, restlessly turning his head this way and that to see everything as they drove past it. Ashe figured it was the wolf in him; Sali liked to poke his head out the window during warmer weather as long as his mother didn’t catch him doing it. Just the thought of Denise DeLuca getting onto Sali for hanging his head out the car window made Ashe smile for a moment.

  "Dude, you think your mom will have cookies?" Sali was now peering over the seat at Ashe.

  "She might."

  Adele Evans had a small kitchen at the back of the store and often baked cookies when Sali and Ashe came to help. When Ashe didn't say anything else, Sali mumbled, "I hope she made oatmeal raisin," before sliding down in his seat.

  The familiar scents of fertilizer, chicken feed and live plants greeted Sali and Ashe as they stepped inside Cordell Feed and Seed. Rows of shelves stocked neatly with gardening and farming needs lined the store's polished, concrete floor. Just inside the door, Adele stood behind the register, helping two customers when both boys walked in. Noticing Ashe's slumped shoulders immediately, Adele frowned slightly as she closed the register drawer.

  "Sali, there's a plate of cookies on the table in the back." As soon as her customers were gone, Adele sent Sali toward the rear of the store before stepping in front of Ashe. "Honey, what's wrong?" she touched Ashe's face briefly before taking her hand away. Tendrils of Adele's honey-blonde hair had escaped the clip she'd used to tie back her shoulder-length locks, telling Ashe the day had been a busy one; his mother hadn't had time to tidy up. Now her pretty, golden-brown eyes gazed worriedly at her son.

  "Principal Billings sent this." Ashe pulled the sealed envelope from his book bag and handed it to his mother, stepping around her quickly to follow Sali. He didn't miss his mother's expression, however; Adele stared at the envelope in shock. Ashe joined Sali at the tiny kitchen table
, and ate one cookie while Sali ate four. Ashe pushed Sali toward the greenhouse afterward to water tomato and pepper plants.

  Flats of tomatoes and peppers were lined up neatly across slatted wooden tables. Sali loved to use the sprayer hose, sending a fine mist over the small, tender plants. Ashe left him alone; he'd already swept beneath the tables so Sali wouldn't create a river of mud when the water dripped down. While Ashe swept the rest of the greenhouse, he weighed his options. Perhaps he could do gardening or landscaping someday, since he didn't have any shapeshifting ability. He could certainly open a gardening shop somewhere. He'd worked with his mother since he was six—he'd learn everything about the business and support himself somehow. Sali, moving on to spray larger plants in pots at the back of the greenhouse, left Ashe alone to consider his probable human future.

  * * *

  "Sali, your mother's here to pick you up," Adele stood in the greenhouse doorway an hour later with Denise DeLuca.

  "But mo-om," Sali turned one syllable into two, his dark eyes pleading with his mother to leave him with Ashe.

  "Sali, come along, I'm sure you have homework to do," Denise DeLuca held out a hand. Sali wasn't about to take it; he was too old for that. He waved at Ashe and walked out ahead of his mother, ducking away from the hand she placed on his shoulder. Ashe went to put away the broom.