by Sia Wales
“Well, Drake, now is the time to talk. Your 15 minutes of fame has arrived, although in your case it’s reduced to 15 seconds, so talk or you can wait to see Vuk in the afterlife.” Jason dangled the werewolf out into the void, ready to let him drop like a stone.
“No, man, what the hell…?” cried a petrified Drake, suddenly discovering he had a paralyzing fear of heights.
“Last chance, Drake. Wouldn’t waste it if I were you,” taunted Jason, holding him out even further.
“Nooo… Put me down!” squealed Drake, his heart pounding.
“Fine, whatever…” Jason released his grip on the wolf, but then quickly grabbed him back. Drake was petrified.
“Right, Jason, that’s enough, game over. Either bring Drake down or you’ll have to deal with me up there!” shouted Vuk from below.
“He hasn’t said how he wants to get back down, though, has he? So, if you won’t enlighten me with your knowledge, Drake… I guess I’ll just have to send you down the fast way,” He let go of Drake and watched him hurtle to the distant forest floor.
“Nooo… Jason, nooo!” Vuk wailed in despair.
“Oh, shit, why do I hate that I now feel bad?” Jason quizzed himself ironically. Then he leaped down after Drake, landed nimbly on a low branch and plucked him out of the air just before he smashed into the ground. Then making his way back down the tree he navigated the hump of roots that writhed across the forest floor and let Drake fall in a heap in front of Vuk.
“Thanks, Jason. I owe you big time, not that I expected to ever hear myself say that,” said Vuk as he shook Jason’s cold hand and watched Drake slink away into the forest and lose himself among the trees.
“I just want to get to Stella, now,” said Jason tersely.
“Well, I guess the least I can do is give you guys some space.”
“Appreciate it… Later,” he said, running off after Stella. Vuk hung back to give them some privacy but then heard his mobile ping and, looking at his phone, saw another text from Drake: “Meet me in Boston, 210 Border Street. I need to speak to you. This time it’s for real, I’ll be there.” Vuk ran to his pickup to drive back to Boston, comforted by the fact that at least Stella was in good hands.
Meanwhile, heading back up the road, Jason watched as Aaron tore Ian away from Stella and attacked him, while Stella stood by, watching with trembling legs. Sidling up to her, Jason put his arms around her shoulders, making sure to shield his face from her.
“Don’t worry, you’re safe now,” he murmured lovingly, holding her in that protective way of his.
“Get me out of here, please, whoever you are,” she beseeched him in a faint and exhausted voice, sensing she could trust him.
“Don’t be afraid, Stella, I’m here now,” he said, swiftly yet carefully lifting her into his arms to carry her to her car, where he set her gently on the ground in front him, keeping her back turned away from him to hide his face.
“D’you think you can leave without looking back?” He whispered the question in her ear as he gently slid his hands around her hips and let his lips graze the side of her face.
“But who am I supposed to thank? Why won’t you let me see you?” she gasped breathlessly, feeling his hand splayed across her chest, his icy breath skim her neck.
“You don’t need a name to thank me, do you?” he smiled softly but then turned serious. He let his fingertips caress her from cheek to chin.
“Yes, I do. But thank you anyway…” Torn, she broke out of his embrace and walked away, steeling herself not to look back at him. Then, struck by an irresistible temptation to put a face to that warm, velvety voice, she spun round. But Jason had already taken cover in the darkness of the thickets that lined the road. Disappointed, Stella got into her car and drove off, Jason‘s eyes tracking her until she wasn’t even a dot on the horizon. Then he rejoined Aaron, waiting for him patiently by their motorbikes.
“What’s with him?” Jason asked, nodding towards the body of Ian, slumped in the road, as he quickly pulled on his jacket.
“Still breathing, I was lenient,” said Aaron, straddling his BMW.
“I lost my temper with Nathan,” Jason confessed darkly, sparking the engine of his bike. “I killed him.”
“Couldn’t be helped, Jason… These things happen with sadistic maniacs like that,” Aaron justified soothingly, pulling on his helmet.
“Not to me they don’t.”
He had never killed anyone before, and she had been the reason. He lowered his visor and they set off for Boston.
Meeting Again
Stella was listening to the sound of Want You Bad by The Offspring pouring out of the speakers of her Corvette when she noticed someone following her in a red and black Bugatti Veyron. It was Donn, who had tracked her thanks to the signal of her mobile.
Stella accelerated sharply to put a few cars between them but was still unable to shake off the unknown driver. Checking that there was no oncoming traffic, she neatly executed a U-turn and from the opposite lane glimpsed a man driving the car but, dazzled by the Bugatti’s bright headlights, she was unable to make out his face. The car continued to tail her doggedly, making her run stop signs and red lights until she’d had enough and slammed on the brakes, forcing the car to drive past her while she tried to see who it was.
Donn managed to swerve and miss her, a flicker of amusement softening his pale face as he took the lead. Then, spying a side street, he turned sharply and cut her off. Determined to make him stop so she could see who he was, Stella drove her car smack into his. Donn’s car spun out of control into the opposite lane, where it whined to a halt with the hood facing the wrong direction. Now flank to flank but still unable to see him through the car’s tinted windows, Stella flung open the door of the pickup and got out. Donn quickly righted his vehicle, accelerated into the correct lane and sped away, slowing to wait for Stella to get back in her car and drive off again. He was being more cautious now and, seeing her flash past him, stayed well back to keep out of the range of her rear mirrors, no less determined to make sure she got home without further mishaps. He parked the car out of sight then got out and walked the short distance to watch her through the kitchen window as she cleared up the broken pieces of the mug she had dropped in the sink that morning, when she had looked out the window and gotten such a shock at the sight of Drake on the other side of the glass.
Her gaze drawn automatically to the window, she peered out and saw the outline of a figure in the dark. She quickly ran to the door and pulled the chain across, then turned around to lean against it, sliding down in fright until she was sitting on the floor. She had no idea it was Donn she had seen. Then, after her heart had slowed down and her courage returned, she went upstairs to shower, closing her eyes and willing the water to dissolve the raw tension she’d accumulated during the grueling day.
Vuk, in the meantime, had driven straight to the parking lot opposite CVS Pharmacy and was relieved to see Drake leaning casually against his bike, keeping his promise to show up for their meeting. Vuk cruised over, winding down his window as he drew alongside. He turned down the volume of the rock music booming from his car speakers to speak to him. The insistent rhythm of My Generation by The Who could still be heard in the background.
“Great tune,” Drake commented in a harsh tone. “Remember when we used to play it together, me on bass, you on guitar?”
“What the hell do you want, Drake?” he snapped, seeing his brother’s body tense as he scrutinized the cars streaming up and down Border Street. Vuk was close to getting out of the car to hit him, he was so mad about what had happened earlier, but he was even more curious to hear what Drake wanted to say.
“I didn’t tell you everything before…” he replied between gritted teeth, his expression troubled.
“So?” said Vuk gravely, his eyes searching his brother’s face. “I wanna hear what you’ve got say.”
“It’s not that simple. If he finds out I’ve told you…” Drake trailed off, a shadow
of fear darkening his brown-green eyes, making them narrow even more. He flickered his tongue piercing nervously.
“Who, Drake? Give me a name!” Vuk urged him.
“Consul Graham Bristol is behind it all,” he said, finally.
“But he’s a Council member, a Conservative… Drake, what shit have you gotten yourself into now? And what’s it got to do with me?”
“You need to know who you’re up against.”
“Wow! Don’t tell me even Drake Wolf has a heart! So you’re not the usual asshole!” Vuk remarked sarcastically.
“I’ve been taken off the job. Consul Bristol gave me two options, rightly so, and as a result I lost a young wolf,” he said, his voice a mix of anger and despair.
“I’m sorry…” Vuk said sadly, staring stonily through the windscreen, one hand tightly gripping the steering wheel.
“Stella’s in serious danger!” Drake blurted suddenly.
“Oh, really? Gosh, and I hadn’t even noticed. Since when do you care about her, anyway?” Vuk asked grumpily.
“I never meant for her to get hurt, Vuk. She’s super sassy by the way, real hot, got to hand it to you Vuk…” he said roguishly, a hint of a smile curving his lips. Vuk glared at him.
“But why her? She’s just a normal girl living a normal life like so many others…” Vuk asked puzzled, not understanding why Consul Bristol wanted Stella specifically.
“Well she seems to have special connections,” Drake explained vaguely.
“Who, me?” Vuk asked, frowning in confusion.
“No, not you, Vuk, somebody else, even if the Council didn’t like the way you upped and left – But I just haven’t been able to figure out who the hell it is.”
“Go on…”
“Now don’t get pissed, Vuk, but Consul Bristol wants to use Stella as a bargaining chip at the event to be held at New York City’s Yankee Stadium, before the new Conservative member of the Council is elected.”
“What kind of event?” Vuk asked instantly.
“A cage fight,” said Drake, giving Vuk a wary look that alluded to his brother’s cage-fighting past.
“Why does the Council want to replace a member? And which member in particular?”
“What? Don’t you know?” Drake asked incredulously.
“No, idiot, it’s been a while since I stopped caring about the dirty business of the Council.”
“A year ago, a former Conservative Consul called Rod Warner almost killed a guy in public for reasons that are not yet clear, or at least not yet disclosed, and was recently expelled from the Council because of it.”
“Almost killed?” Vuk asked, with a dazed look.
“Well, the boy would certainly have died but a vampire who happened to be on the scene jumped right in and bit him; it saved him, of course, but the poison spread through his body and turned him into a vampire,” Drake recounted.
“And what was this vampire called?”
“Aaron Dale: do you know him?”
Vuk nodded, alert, a queer grimace on his face. He knew full well why Warner had been thrown off the Board. He’d broken the most important rule: never kill a human openly in public. Vuk realized, too, that the boy Warner had nearly killed and who had been saved by Aaron Dale was in all probability Jason Rees. He had seen the two together that day at the university: his sudden disappearance from Medford so as not to see Stella again, the fact that he had left suddenly without letting her know anything, while still doing everything in his power to stay in touch with her, begging her to wait for him as if he had an unexplained reason to keep his distance; this seemed to explain everything.
“Go on…” prompted Vuk, his interest now spiked considerably. He knew why the Consul would have been expelled. Killing a human in public was a violation of one of the most important laws, since it could lead to the unmasking of the vampire population by the humans.
“Initially, the Council tried to cover everything up but the news spread like wildfire and put them in the spotlight, so they had to control the damage by getting rid of Warner, and now they want to elect another Conservative member in his place.”
“So you think that Consul Bristol wants to help his friend, former Consul Warner, by using Stella to get the boy to recant his version of the story… The boy that was nearly killed but instead became a vampire a year ago?” Vuk summed up, to see if he was on the same page as his brother.
“You got it…” Drake confirmed.
“What connection can Stella possibly have with that boy?” he asked, confused.
“No idea, but it must be a very close connection if it has bargaining chip value. The way I see it is that Warner wants to get back on the Council and that this is the only way to do it.”
“The bastard wants to be elected a second time…” Vuk reasoned aloud.
“I see you finally got there,” said Drake, his mouth curving slyly as he crossed his arms and placed his hands on the roof of the pickup.
“So which scumbag do I have to watch out for now you’re off the assignment?” he asked gravely, determined to strengthen Stella’s guard.
“You know a vampire named Donn Brooks?”
“Yeah, and pretty well too…” he replied fiercely, gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“Thought so… Well, he’s got the exclusive now.”
Vuk snarled, thinking about how difficult it would be to get Stella away from that cursed vampire.
“Fine. Gotta go, Drake, Stella will be home now,” he said, his face creased with worry as he turned the key in the ignition and the engine started to growl.
“Keep your eye on her, Vuk. See you.”
“Thanks, Drake…”
“No problemo. Find myself in a real easy mood today… By the way, thanks for helping me out with that vampire earlier,” he finally acknowledged with a grin.
“Hold the thanks, it was more of a knee-jerk reaction, I guess because we share the same blood… Later, Drake,” Vuk ended the conversation on a sardonic note, which he then softened by returning his brother’s smile, before driving off quickly to Stella’s house in Medford, accompanied by some Iron Maiden on his stereo.
On the Stereo
Realizing she had left her cell phone in the car, Stella went downstairs to go out to get it. She grabbed her car keys from the kitchen and went into the hall to unlock the front door but jumped a mile high in fright. She bumped smack into who she thought was Drake… but turned out to be Vuk.
“Hey, chill babe, it’s only me,” Vuk said soothingly, holding her in his arms to reassure her.
“Oh shit, Vuk… You scared me to death!”
“I thought I told you not to come home without me!” Vuk reproached her.
“You know how much I love provoking you.” She felt his breath, warm on her lips, and his hands strong around her waist.
“You’re still so tense, babe.” He looked at her with desire, his thoughts roaming back to when he had kissed her, up against the wall of the kitchen, that morning.
“I’m just a bit shaky still. I thought you were Drake or Nathan when I bumped into you,” she explained.
“I’m happy you bumped into me.” He came closer to her as if to kiss her, but when it seemed like she was not in the mood, he stopped and sighed on her lips with a slightly crafty smile. He knew it drove her crazy.
“I’m serious, Vuk. A little while ago, I saw a person out here in the dark,” she said uneasily, peering about her.
Vuk grew serious, his eyes narrowing and jaw clenching.
“It was probably neither of them…” he said, guessing it had been Donn as he’d been speaking to Drake himself on Border Street only twenty minutes ago, while Nathan’s corpse was lying on the ground in a remote corner of Green Mountain Forest.
“You said you were coming to help me, but you never came. What happened?” she asked, wrapping her arms around him with a slightly wistful smile, and Vuk took her by surprise by throwing himself on her lips. He kissed
her mouth for a moment, and caressed her with his tongue. Then he slowly pulled away, sucking in the taste of her lips, and then pulling her to him, wetting her lips with his saliva. She tasted so good and he was burning up with desire. He wanted to consume every part of her.
“Stella, I made it there, but I couldn’t find you. I knew you were in good hands though… with J.”
“Did you talk to him?” she asked, hesitatingly.
“Not really,” he said vaguely, looking away. “Is your side still painful?” he asked caringly, edging up her top, his fingertips gently probing her skin.
“It’s a bit better,” she said, putting her hand over his and lowering her top, fearing that she would fall prey to the pleasure that coursed through her at his touch.
“Where were you going?” It was clear from his eyes that he wanted more than a kiss. He desired her so much. Stella bit her lip.
“Only to get my cell phone, I forgot it in the car,” she replied, starting toward her Corvette. Searching the front seat, she suddenly felt Donn pronouncing her name tenderly, while stroking her hair. She looked up and caught sight of him in the rearview mirror. She turned around, but the vampire had already disappeared. Donn wanted her to see him one more time before spending the night with Vuk, in the hope that this would be enough to keep him at bay.
Retrieving her cell phone finally but still feeling shaken, Stella climbed out of the car and went back to Vuk. She was wondering whether the guy she saw in the car really was Donn.
“You ok, Stella? You have that same weird expression you had on your face this morning. Did you see something?” he queried, frowning.
“No, Vuk, no,” she said, deflecting his question. She smiled innocently at him and took his hand to lead him into the house. Vuk let it go, and followed her.
They looked at each other, perching on chairs around the kitchen table and listening to the Dire Straits song Romeo and Juliet, which was playing on the stereo next to the sink. That CD had been a present from him. They talked for a long time. The CD ended and another one began; Angel by Aerosmith came on.