by JJ Jones
“I wonder if it is your magic that is… um… how you say, destroying the scent.”
“It might be messing with it.”
“That has to be it.” The woman noted, going back to her meal, shrugging of the possibility of anything else. Dom released her breath, happy that she didn’t have to admit the truth about the child, especially since it couldn’t be verified at such an early stage. The last thing she needed was to have to explain to the shifters that the rumors weren’t true.
They continued to chat as Dominique started to unpack her small bags. It was a difficult conversation, because Dominique spoke less Spanish than her coyote companion spoke English, but they managed to communicate fairly well, with very few hiccups. There were some things that couldn’t be communicated very well, because neither party really knew how to explain it to the other person, but it didn’t matter, the unlikely pair were quickly becoming fast friends, and Dom thought that her young guard was an absolutely charming young woman. She always seemed to be worried about safety, but didn’t seem to carry out her mission like someone who had been trained for it.
The apartment was beautiful, it was in a complex that obviously housed guests of the tribe and was set up close to a hotel, with amenities such as a card key for the door and an indoor swimming pool. She especially enjoyed the sight of the mints on the pillows in the turned down bed. The house had a well-stocked mini fridge and a hot meal for two sitting on a tray just inside the room. It was a beautiful vegetarian style salad. The other meal was a nice juicy steak, one that was obviously meant for her companion and guard, Rosa.
They sat and ate first, Dom’s bags sitting by the door. Once Dom had fully unpacked the girls decided to go swimming and walked down stairs with swimsuits that had been placed in the dresser. “I wonder how they knew my size.” Dom asked, marveling at the care they had taken to prepare the place for her stay.
“Oh, they asked. We cleaned your house up. Some clothes were outside.” Rosa’s English was a challenge for Dom to understand, but the woman was very pleasant and patient with her.
“Well that’s one mystery solved.” Dom smirked at the thought of coyotes sifting through her clothing. For some reason, her mind stuck on them being in their hybrid form picking up her flimsy little panties. She knew that it wasn’t the case, but still the thought of it amused her.
The two women took their time in the swimming pool, laughing and playing while a guard watched from the deck that surrounded the water. They would occasionally climb out and get drinks from the cooler that had been placed there, only to jump back into the water right afterward. She enjoyed her time; her first day was full of distractions, getting ready to spend the next week in their place.
When night fell, everything went to hell. It started with the screaming. People were screaming outside and Rosa ran into the room with Dom. “Get down, get safe.” The thick accent was hard to understand through her panic. The rest of her commands were in Spanish because she was more worried about protecting her charge than with communicating.
Dom rolled off of the bed and onto the floor. She knew that something had gone horribly wrong, the screams and screeches and howls were evidence enough of that. Rosa pointed at the wall. “There!” Then the woman walked out of the room, checking windows to lock them and look outside.
Instead of heading to the wall immediately, Dom glanced out of the window. Noticing for the first time the window was made out of that shatter resistant Plexiglas she knew that it wouldn’t be easy for them to get in that way. The screams were getting louder and she could see the lighted front walk overrun by the streaking movements of attacking vampires. That’s when she realized that they were willing to kill to stop the peace from happening. They had something invested in these talks. They wanted to stop them, to kill them, to do anything to make this entire thing end.
Blood poured onto the concrete from the various injuries and dead bodies. She couldn’t make how bad the injuries were, but it looked like a war-zone outside of her window. A part of her couldn’t help but feel guilty as she saw what must have been a vampire pull out a shining silver colored club and slam it into a shifter’s head. She winced as he struggled to swing back, but instead fell, transforming back into his human shape at the moment of his death. The situation gave her pause as she saw the devastation. “All this to stop peace, I wonder if they are going to try to blame the coyotes.” Dom’s voice was a low whisper as she spoke to herself. She knew that Rosa was still in the house, she could hear the woman securing their location.
Dom rushed to the wall and started looking for whatever it was that Rosa pointed at. It didn’t take her long to find the opening for the secret panel. Then it was just the matter of squeezing herself into the space between the walls. She managed to fit, but she wasn’t tiny or frail, so it was in no way comfortable. Once inside the tiny crevice, she closed the hatch behind her and held her breath, listening to see if anyone heard her. All she heard was Rosa pacing in the front room.
Dom waited and waited and after some time it started to get really quiet. Dom started to think it was safe when the panel was ripped off of her hiding place. The face that looked down at her was full of hatred and rage with red glowing eyes and pale skin. His fangs were dripping in hunger as he reached in to pull Dom out.
The motion hurt and she couldn’t help but state it. “Oww.” He had nearly ripped her arm out of the socket. He hissed at her in response, his face contorted with a joyous rage. He growled as he hoisted her up into the air by her hurting appendage. There were scrapes on her legs causing his nostrils to flare.
“You’re lucky I’m supposed to take you away, otherwise you would make an excellent meal.” His voice was growling and thick like poisoned maple syrup. The hungry way he looked at her made Dom want to throw up a little. She fought the urge and started to think about an escape plan. Her mind shot to Rosa and hoped that the young woman was still alive, but somehow she doubted it.
Dom tried to fight. She had to do something; she couldn’t just let them take her. “Let me go!” She commanded even though she knew it wouldn’t do any good.
Her captor just laughed. It was spine chilling and Dom couldn’t help but to shudder a little. “I’ll let you go, for now, but you’re going to come with me.” He released her arm. His voice still held that dangerous edge, a scary deepness that made Dom remember the nightmares she had as a child. It was dark and scary in his voice and it was definitely a place that she didn’t want to be.
That was all she needed. The arm ached as she moved it. Most of the time, her magic was subtler, not directly affecting the world around her, but on occasion, she could gather her power to make a dramatic effect. This was one of those times. She gathered her thoughts around her, focusing on a single goal as her mouth started to move.
The vampire could sense the power starting to well up in the room around him and his eyes widened in fear. He didn’t know the purpose of the magic that she was about to wield, but he knew that it was going to be a spell of great ability.
Her chanting started and the vampire sprung into action as her hand flew up to touch his chest. At her touch he froze in place. His body was stiff and he had paused in the motion of an open handed grab. His hand was brushing her arm as she slipped away from him and listened for others. She didn’t hear anything, but knew that her ears were nowhere close to as strong as the shifters that owned this land.
Chapter4
Dom slipped past the vampire. She knew she wouldn’t be safe here for very long. She slipped out of the room, unsure of how she was going to escape. In the hallway she saw Rosa healing from some rather severe looking wounds. She knelt by her guard and looked at her. “We have to get out of here. Can you walk?”
“Si, I think so.” Rosa pulled herself up from her leaning position and with some help, Dom got her on her feet. It was only a few more seconds before the woman could move by herself and they ran out of the room.
“Elevator or stairs?”
�
�Elevator.” Rosa’s decision was very definite, it seemed like she had already figured out the answer. They ran to the elevator and hit the button. Nothing happened, and they realized that there was no car. Dom didn’t know how they had stopped it, but it didn’t really matter. What mattered now was getting out of there, and Rosa and Dom were determined to escape. They needed to get out and rushed, wordlessly, for the stairs, both parties in agreement.
Rosa threw open the door to the stairs, her eyes darting into all of the dark recesses of the stairwell. When she didn’t see or smell anyone she was darting down the stairs dragging Dom along with her. They had to do something, they had to escape, and Rosa was determined to get her charge out safely. She led the way down the stairs, checking carefully at every landing, sniffing and looking around carefully before they stepped onto any of the platforms that were on their way down.
They exited the building and immediately stepped into a puddle of blood. A shifter was lying across the stoop, his lifeblood taking over the entire entryway. Dom felt the bile rise in her throat. She fought the urge to vomit and add to the devastation as Rosa pulled her past the scene. The rest of the grounds didn’t look any better. Bodies were strewn across the street that led up to the hotel. It was horrifying and reminded Dominique of war-time movies, the ones with dramatic scenes of battle fields strewn with bodies. For some reason, whenever she looked at one of the faces, contorted in a mixture of pain and rage, she could only feel the need to escape. She was afraid, but she knew better than to let the fear control her.
“The cars are this way.” Rosa pointed. Dom had to pause for a moment to decipher the words under the accent.
“Let’s go.” She didn’t have much choice but to follow instructions.
“You have keys?” Rosa asked, her words tumbled out of her mouth in a hurry. She was barely understandable, but somehow Dom managed.
“Keys?” Dom didn’t know what keys Rosa was referring to, but she needed to know fast. It had gone rather quiet in the area, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t vampires waiting or searching for her. Dom was worried that they were after her. Her breath was ragged with panic as she moved through the grounds.
“Keys to your car.” Rosa smiled, trying to make the sights a little less shocking. She wanted to keep Dom focused on getting to safety and not paying too much attention to the devastation surrounding her on the grounds.
It didn’t work, but Dom smiled anyway, not wanting to put any more worries onto her guard. She reached into her pocket, before she realized that she was wearing pajamas and didn’t have any pockets. She had been rousted from her before bed-time rituals to see this horrendous fight start and then was accosted in her hiding place. “I don’t have them.”
Rosa didn’t respond, instead she just led the way to a large parking garage. She motioned for Dom to stay quiet as she scanned the racks of keys in the tiny tollbooth at the entrance. She spotted the keys and tossed them at Dom. “Yours?”
Dom examined the key-chain. “Yeah, where’s the car?” Dom looked up from the key-chain and started to swing her eyes around the parking garage, searching the dark corners of the room with squinting eyes. She pulled her hand up over her eyes, shielding them from outside light as she looked for her car. “I don’t see it.”
The pair was in luck, it was right next to the entrance. Rosa pointed at the car. “Is that it?” When Dom nodded affirmatively, she continued to point. “Get in. Get driving.” Rosa’s order was given from the inside of the booth; she was in the chair examining the various buttons, trying to figure out how to raise the bar. “Go.”
Dom nodded and unlocked her car, quickly climbing into the driver’s seat after taking a look in the back seat for hitchhiking vampires. She started the engine, noting how nice it felt to be driving again for the first time in over a week. They had done an excellent job fixing the damage that had been done to her car. She hadn’t been ready to give the old car up yet, even though the damage cost more to fix than the car was worth, but the car had been with her for years and she wasn’t a person to just give up on something just because it was a little broken.
She pulled forward, noticing that it drove a little different after the wheel had been replaced. As she pulled up to the exit the bar raised. Looking into the booth she could see her guard raise her thumb at her. Dom smiled as she pulled past the bar and stopped on the other side. Rosa jumped out of the booth and hopped into the unlocked passenger side of the car. “Go.” The order was clear and demanding.
Dom started to navigate her way out of the wolf-controlled lands, and out of the combat zone. The devastation was intense. Buildings were splattered with rust colored drying blood. She couldn’t help but wonder why the vampires had wasted so much blood in this fight. Normally their combats were much cleaner, with almost no blood left to dry in the night air. “That’s a lot of blood.”
“Si, si.” Rosa was agreeing, but she wasn’t really paying attention to what Dominique was saying. Her eyes were focusing on something in the distance. She pointed ahead of them, her arm out of the open window. “Mira, vampire.”
Dom searched her mind for the meaning; it took a few seconds for her to understand that Rosa was telling her to look. Dom squinted and looked in the direction of the pointing finger. She could see a little movement, inhumanly fast movement crossing the threshold of a building, staying under the street lamp for just a moment, but she couldn’t identify it. Dom trusted Rosa, however, understanding that the woman more than likely knew what she was talking. Her toes inched down on the gas pedal, speeding the car up, hoping to out run the pursuer.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Dom knew that this wasn’t something that would work. There was no way that she could speed up fast enough to out run a vampire. Those creatures were super fast, able to out run almost any land vehicle. She felt the panic start to rise up inside of her, knowing that she had to do something; she had to get away, before the vampires ruined any chance of peace between the wolves and coyotes. She had to do something, but she had her baby to worry about as well, and if the child was what Anna thought could bring a new era of peace to the land.
Dom continued to drive, navigating turn after turn, carefully and skillfully. She wasn’t a combat driver and had to slow down a little more than she wanted to, to make sure that she made it out of the territory safely.
She could still see the movement in the back window. “I can’t lose him.” She muttered the words to herself and it was obvious that Rosa wasn’t paying attention to her, instead her eyes were focused behind them, on the movement of the vampire. The woman showed some training, ready for an attack. She was ready to defend her charge with her life, but Dom didn’t like the idea of losing her new friend so easily. She swerved through the road, desperately trying to avoid bodies in the road. It was partially due to the fact that she didn’t want to hurt anyone else, but she would be lying to herself if she wasn’t worried about her tiny car not having the power to climb over the obstacles. She tried to be careful and keep the path as clear as possible, but she would be lying if she didn’t occasionally hear a crunch as she ran over a hand or a leg. Every time it happened the vegetarian winched.
The vampire behind them was keeping up with the car and Rosa had her eyes peeled, watching their pursuer. It was clear that the vampire could catch up with them at any time; he seemed to be toying with them, trying to force her into making mistakes. Dom was trying to keep the thought of being chased out of her mind, but she just couldn’t find a way to do it. This wasn’t exactly something she had been trained to do. Her specialty was dealing with dangerous spirits, not things with bodies. She cursed internally as they continued to move, trying to leave the territory. The suspense was getting to her; this vampire was toying with them, and she didn’t like it at all. Rosa seemed to be thinking the same thing. Dom glanced over to notice her companion still glaring out of the back window. The silence in the car was deafening.
Dom was looking over her shoulder when the vampire
came flying toward them in a great giant leap. Dom jumped, her foot slipping off of the accelerator. The car started to slow for a moment before they had a chance to recover. As the vampire hit the back of the vehicle and a great resounding boom her foot found the pedal once again. She started to speed up, trying to shake the monster off of her trunk, but it wasn’t work.
“Stop the car!” Dominique heard her guard shout the words. “Stop.” Rosa’s order was powerful and demanding. Dom had some idea of what the woman was planning but hoped that it wouldn’t be the case. She hoped that she would be able to stop him and get back into the car quickly so that they could get on their way again.
Dom slammed on the brakes and felt gravity forcing her head forward. She fought against the motion, slamming her body back into her seat as she fought to keep control of the careening vehicle. When the car slowed down enough Rosa leapt out of her seat and landed securely on her feet outside of the car. She landed on three points, her feet and one of her hands as she started to change form, growling at the attacker. Before her vocal cords had completely changed she was able to give one last command to her charge. “Go. Drive away, never come back.”
Dom paused, she didn’t want to leave the woman behind, but it became very clear, very quickly, that this was not a fight she wanted to be a part of. A tear squeezed out of her eye as the coyote grabbed the vampire off of the trunk, forcing it to face her. She swung her powerful fist, snapping the creature’s neck and forcing it to take precious moments to heal. The coyote looked up at Dom and the eyes were forceful and commanding.
Dom pulled her foot off of the brake and slammed it onto the gas pedal. She watched the fight as she started to drive away. It was obvious that Rosa was doing everything in her power to stop the vampire from following her. Every time the creature tried to pull himself away from her, Rosa pulled him back, forcing him to face her. Dom watched in awe as time and time again, the coyote recovered, dodging stabs and slashes from the silver bladed weapon that the vampire had produced. Rosa was trying her best to keep the creature busy. They were fighting under a streetlight so Dom could see it as she carefully swerved through the bodies that were lying in the street.