by Tim O'Rourke
I could see a smirk turn up one corner of her lips before she turned away.
Once Rea had left the pub, I looked once more at Trent and said, “How long will you be gone for?”
“A few weeks, I guess,” he said.
“Don’t worry, Julia,” Calix grinned. “The time will pass quickly enough – you have me for company.”
Fighting the urge to scream out in frustration, I turned my back on him and left the Weeping Wolf.
Chapter Ten
I slammed the front door to my home with such force it rattled in its wooden frame. I was furious. I felt like I’d been tricked somehow by the werewolves. It was like they were using the magic I cast around Shade to now bring more werewolves back to England. But it hadn’t been them who’d asked me to cast a magic spell over this town – I had done that of my own free will. Yet, I still felt as if I was being used somehow – as if my magic was being used for a purpose that I never intended. Pulling off my coat and kicking off my boots, I marched into the kitchen. Slamming pots and pans around in frustration, I took some of the meat Calix had brought me and placed it into a hot pan. While the meat cooked, I slumped down into a chair at the table. Alone in the house, left with my own thoughts and no way of escaping them, I knew it wasn’t only because of the magic that I felt tricked – I also felt that I had been tricked by Trent in some way. He had come to my home last night – we had kissed and if it hadn’t been for my guilty conscience – we would’ve definitely gone further. Now he was leaving Shade and leaving me in the company of that chancer, Calix, and old-man, Morten. Was Trent leaving Shade because we hadn’t taken things any further than just a kiss last night? Was he leaving because he was embarrassed – dare I say ‘hurting’ – because I had knocked him back? Was he going away to lick his wounds and save himself any further shame? Trent had no reason to feel any of those things. I just didn’t want to get too close to anyone – not now. That didn’t mean that when the war was over there couldn’t be something deeper and more meaningful between us. But I doubted now that the war would ever come to an end if Trent, Rea, and the others were going to bring more werewolves to England. How many were going to come? Ten, twenty, a hundred or more? If the vampires found out, they wouldn’t understand or care for Trent’s and Rea’s true reasons for doing so. The vampires wouldn’t care that the werewolves left in Switzerland would freeze and starve to death. They would see the werewolves that Trent brought back to England as an invasion – as an army. What was I to do about it? Rea and the others had made up their minds and I think it was that which got under my skin the most. That hadn’t been a meeting at the Weeping Wolf, nor a discussion or debate. The werewolves had already made up their minds about what was going to happen. Not one of them had listened to my objections or my reasoning. They had made up their minds without me.
Streams of thick, black smoke began to coil up from the pan. I sprang from my seat and went to the stove. While I’d been sitting and agonising – drowning in my own self-pity – the meat I’d been cooking had burnt. There was now little more than two black strips in the bottom of the pan. Taking it from the stove, I cursed and said, “What’s the bloody point.”
Turning, I left the kitchen and stomped upstairs to my room. I dropped onto the bed, placing my hands behind my head and crossing my feet at the ankles. I stared up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. I felt the faintest of tingling sensations in my fingertips and knew that there was no doubt that my magic was returning. Couldn’t I be happy about that at least?
As I lay and stared up at the ceiling and let my mind clear, I wondered whether perhaps Rea, Trent, and Rush returning back to their homeland wasn’t such a bad thing after all. Sure, I was deeply disappointed that Trent was going to be gone for a few weeks, but that would give me a chance to see if I could find some way of making a truce between the werewolves and vampires. Rea wouldn’t be around to scupper my plans and be a constant thorn in my side. I doubted with Rea hanging about that I would ever find the opportunity of making peace with the vampires. I knew in my heart that peace wasn’t what she wanted. Without her being in Shade, I had a chance, however slim, to achieve my plan. The problem with Rea was that she was short-sighted and had now made a mistake. She really didn’t believe that I would ever be able to find a truce or make peace with the vampires. That's why she was leaving and heading back to Switzerland. She really thought I would never be able to achieve such a thing. If Rea did, she wouldn’t be going anywhere – she’d be staying close to me – trying to destroy any chance I had in making peace with the vampires. But despite what they thought of me and my plan, I still believed I could achieve it. So perhaps Rea leaving with the others and heading back to Switzerland was the best thing to have happened after all.
However much I tried to delight in the knowledge that Rea would be leaving Shade, I still couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Trent was going with her. Not because I feared that they might reconnect – rekindle the love that they had once shared, but because deep down I knew I would miss him. Isn't it strange that we never appreciate what we have until it is taken away? Perhaps if I hadn’t pretended the embrace we had shared had meant nothing to me, and if I hadn’t have pushed him away last night, then Trent wouldn’t be leaving tomorrow. Maybe he would’ve sent Calix or even Morton in his place.
I rolled onto my side fearing that I might not even have the chance of telling Trent how I really felt for him before he left Shade and headed home.
I must have fallen asleep while thinking of Trent, as I was woken by the sound of stones clattering against the windowpane. My room was now in darkness and the only light came from a thin strip of moonlight bleeding in through a gap in the curtains. The sound of stones pinging against the windowpane came again. Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I stood up and went to the window. Pulling back the curtains, I looked out and down into the front yard. To my surprise, I could see Trent standing beneath the tree. Even though he was shrouded in shadow, I could see that he wasn’t in human form but that of the wolf-man. In fact, it was only possible for me to tell that it was Trent at all, because of the long, dark coat he wore and the guns which hung about his waist as they glinted in the moonlight. In the dark of the shadows, Trent’s eyes glowed like embers. As I stared at him from my window, I could have easily mistaken him for Pariac. I blinked and shook my head, throwing away any thoughts of my past.
Trent came forward from beneath the tree and looked up at me. Unlocking the window, I threw it open. Seeing this, Trent bounded forward, clawed his way up the front of the house, and positioned himself in the window frame.
"Trent," I whispered, "what are you doing here?”
Trent said nothing in reply but just ate me up with his blazing stare. Before I'd had a chance to react or step away, Trent left the windowsill and took me into his arms. "Julia,” he growled into my ear, "I had to see you before I leave tomorrow morning. I couldn’t leave without…" His words trailed away.
“Without what?” I breathed, those coals now burning brightly in the pit of my stomach. He held me close to him, his claws against my back and rough side whiskers against my face.
“Without doing this," he snarled, pushing me down onto the bed and climbing on top of me. Just as Trent had done the night before, he tore open the front of my top with one quick swipe of his claws. He buried his face in my chest and began to kiss me.
Losing my fingers in his hair, I raised his head and stared deep into his eyes and said, "If we're going to do this – we’re going to become lovers – we do it for real. We don’t keep our feelings for each other secret. We tell Rea and the others. I have kept secrets in the past and they do nothing but cause anguish and pain. I don’t want to go back to that, Trent. If you spend the night here with me and we make love, send Calix in your place to Switzerland and stay here with me so we can find a truce with the vampires."
"I promise. You have my word, Julia,” Trent said, his voice thick and throaty as he stared down at me.
"I promise," he said, before kissing me once more.
Our lovemaking was as frantic and as intense as it had been with those two other Beautiful Immortals that I'd once loved. As we became one, and our cries of pleasure and pain shattered the night, I couldn’t help but look over Trent’s shoulder and into the shadows, fearing that either Theo or Pariac might spring from them.
With the first shaft of dawn light sparkling around the edges of the curtains, Trent and I finally collapsed in each other’s arms. Burying the side of my face into his taut and hair covered chest, I closed my eyes and slept blissfully.
How long I slept I didn’t know, but when I woke I was alone. Lying naked on the bed I sat up, pulling a sheet over me. I glanced about the room, and there was no sign of Trent; even his clothes, which I’d torn from him, were missing. With the sheet wrapped around me and looking like a mummy, I climbed from the bed and went out onto the landing. My heart was racing. Had Trent broken his promise and left me? He gave me his word that on waking this morning, he would be there right with me.
I stood on the landing, and to my relief, I got the sudden whiff of fresh coffee and meat being cooked below. At once my racing heart began to slow as I realised Trent hadn’t left at all and was downstairs cooking breakfast.
With a smile of happiness crawling across my face, I made my way downstairs. Padding down the hallway, the sheet trailing out behind me, I could hear the sound of sizzling meat and the clink of plates and cups being set out on the table. I pushed open the kitchen door and my smile faded.
“What are you doing here?” I blurted out, pulling the sheet tight about me.
“Cooking breakfast,” Calix said, “what does it look like?”
With growing confusion, I watched Calix pluck two strips of fried meat from the pan with his finger and thumb and drop them onto a plate. He set it down on the table before me. “I don’t understand…” I whispered more to myself than to him.
Calix looked at me standing in the doorway wrapped in the sheet and said, “You know, I’ve been thinking, now that the others have gone, maybe we could make this a regular thing – you and me having breakfast together each morning.”
“What do you mean, gone?” I asked, my heart dropping in my chest. “Where’s Trent?”
Calix frowned. He looked as confused as I felt. “Trent left Shade this morning with Rea and Rush. He’s gone back to Switzerland as was planned.”
“But…” I said, bottom lip beginning to tremble.
“But what?” Calix asked.
“But nothing,” I said, turning away. I didn’t want Calix to see the tears that now ran down the length of my face as my heart twisted in pain and anger.
To be continued…
‘Vampires of Maze’
(Part Five)
Publishing June 2016
More books by Tim O’Rourke
Kiera Hudson Series One
Vampire Shift (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 1
Vampire Wake (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 2
Vampire Hunt (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 3
Vampire Breed (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 4
Wolf House (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 5
Vampire Hollows (Kiera Hudson Series 1) Book 6
Kiera Hudson Series Two
Dead Flesh (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 1
Dead Night (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 2
Dead Angels (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 3
Dead Statues (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 4
Dead Seth (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 5
Dead Wolf (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 6
Dead Water (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 7
Dead Push (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 8
Dead Lost (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 9
Dead End (Kiera Hudson Series 2) Book 10
Kiera Hudson Series Three
The Creeping Men (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 1
The Lethal Infected (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 2
The Adoring Artist (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 3
The Secret Identity (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 4
The White Wolf (Kiera Hudson Series Three) Book 5
The Kiera Hudson Prequels
The Kiera Hudson Prequels (Book One)
The Kiera Hudson Prequels (Book Two)
Kiera Hudson & Sammy Carter
Vampire Twin (Pushed Trilogy) Book 1
Vampire Chronicle (Pushed Trilogy) Book 2
The Alternate World of Kiera Hudson
Wolf Shift
Werewolves of Shade
Werewolves of Shade (Part One)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Two)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Three)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Four)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Five)
Werewolves of Shade (Part Six)
Vampires of Maze
Vampires of Maze (Part One)
Vampires of Maze (Part Two)
Vampires of Maze (Part Three)
Vampires of Maze (Part Four)
Moon Trilogy
Moonlight (Moon Trilogy) Book 1
Moonbeam (Moon Trilogy) Book 2
Moonshine (Moon Trilogy) Book 3
The Jack Seth Novellas
Hollow Pit (Book One)
Black Hill Farm (Books 1 & 2)
Black Hill Farm (Book 1)
Black Hill Farm: Andy’s Diary (Book 2)
Sydney Hart Novels
Witch (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 1
Yellow (A Sydney Hart Novel) Book 2
The Doorways Saga
Doorways (Doorways Saga Book 1)
The League of Doorways (Doorways Saga Book 2)
The Queen of Doorways (Doorways Saga Book 3)
The Tessa Dark Trilogy
Stilts (Book 1)
Zip (Book 2)
The Mechanic
The Mechanic
The Dark Side of Nightfall Trilogy
The Dark Side of Nightfall (Book One)
The Dark Side of Nightfall (Book Two)
The Dark Side of Nightfall (Book Three)
Samantha Carter Series
Vampire Seeker (Book One)
Vampire Flappers (Book Two)
Vampire Watchmen (Book Three)
Unscathed
Written by Tim O’Rourke & C.J. Pinard
You can contact Tim O’Rourke at
www.kierahudson.com or by email at [email protected]