by Lucy Lyons
Ashlynn looked dubious, but I’d seen a vampire like Petra before. Once Caroline and I had been two thirds of a trio of young hunters the church was convinced would save the world. What a disappointment we must have been to the Venatores when David was unmasked as an emotional vampire, feeding off women when he mind-raped them. Then Caroline met Nicholas and the Venatores could no longer control her magic. But me? I was their fault. They’d turned me into a werewolf and set me up to kill Caroline. I might’ve stayed if they’d stopped short of trying to turn me into a murderer.
Petra was a vampire just like David, I was sure of it. She got her power feeding off the preternatural power of the wolves. Gregor was weak because of her, and because of it, he needed her to fight his battles. He’d long since lost the sense of honor and loyalty that was innate to every other wolf I’d met. Even Roger was acting against Ashlynn out of his sense of honor, misguided or simply executed badly. It wasn’t for the sake of causing death and pain, but to prevent it.
Clever witch, I thought. Hiding your crime right out in the open. Petra was powerful, but she was also human and therefore (thankfully) mortal.
“Do we know if Gregor knows I just kicked his ass because wifey’s made him weak as a kitten?” Ashlynn sat up straighter and scowled.
“Excuse me? I almost couldn’t fight him off, remember?”
“I remember, Ash, but do you remember when he turned and could barely fight at all?” I sat next to her and stared at the closed door between us and the common area. “As soon as he shifted, he went from terrifying rapist to bent, aged wolf about to lose his pack at the next duel.”
“I can’t believe you turned your back on him,” she snorted. “That was cruel.”
“I hope he heard me. Roger may have been talking big about what he could regain from selling us out to the witch, but push comes to shove, our guns are bigger than his guns.”
“I hope so, Clay. Petra can hurt you as easily as her own people. I think she might level the playing field somewhat.” I nodded.
“I have to get back down the hill. I can’t afford to blow any brain cells on trying to be all psychic right now.”
“I’d go, but Gregor will be showing up any second to throw chairs and demand his wolf back.”
I kissed her soundly, and she grabbed my head and held me against her as our kiss deepened and tasted the blood of the wolf she’d nearly killed on her tongue. It pleased my wolf that her strength had outmatched the enemy. I felt him rub against the inside of my skin, pleading to be released. Ashlynn moaned as her beast responded to mine, and the power of them together was almost more than I could control.
She broke away first and laughed at me. Shoving me toward the door, she reminded me that I needed to get back quickly or I might be stuck sleeping down by the fire tonight. I tugged her into me one last time and raced for my car, one eye on the road and the other on the late afternoon sun.
When the phone lit up to tell me I had cell strength, I dialed the person I trusted second in the world, behind Caroline.
“Simi, it’s Clay. Um, I think we have a little problem. How quickly can you get a hold of Somayo and meet me?”
Chapter Fifteen
“Clay, are you all right? I can be anywhere you need me faster than you can ask. Just tell me what’s wrong.” Her voice was full of motherly concern, and it was hard not to laugh despite the circumstances.
“No. I mean, I’m not hurt, but things are falling apart around here, Sim. I think I found another vampire. Not, like, a blood-sucker, but someone like David.”
She went very quiet, and I thought I could hear keys being tapped on the other end. After a moment, she cleared her throat and continued.
“OK, start from the beginning. Have any humans been killed yet?” We’d learned that David had fed off the emotions, particularly lust, of humans for years before he went off the deep end and started torturing and killing people. With Petra, I had no idea.
“I don’t know. I know she’s feeding off the power of werewolves, so it might be that some have died from it. It would be difficult to prove and therefore pretty dang terrifying to think about a bad witch with all that power inside her,” I replied, and the clacking in the background stopped.
“Oh, Clay, have you been hurt? I can get out there right away with a team to…” she started and I cut her off.
“No. No team, just you and someone you trust. I need eyes on the ground, and I’ll be busy fighting for my life. I need someone to take down a witch, but only the Venatores have the knowledge I think we’re going to need to stop her.”
“Uh, OK,” Simi hesitated, “what about Caroline? Can’t she just mojo something to protect you all?”
“Caroline got hurt when a vampire used my pack trouble as a diversion to get to her. I can’t ask her to risk…”
“Say no more,” Simi interjected. Her tone changed and suddenly she was all business. “Send me the information you have on this witch, and if you can, a portrait for us to use, and Somayo and I will be there shortly.”
“Thanks, Simi. I hate to ask favors of any Venatores, but…”
“But nothing. You’re my friend, no matter what the official word is. We’ll stay out of sight unless we get a clear shot at your witch, and we’ll take her down with tranquilizers,” she reassured me.
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and smiled. I had vampires who would swoop in at the first sign of trouble between the clans, and now a secret weapon to use against the witch who thought she could use our shape shifting against us. I hoped I was right, and it was harder for her to feed off regular humans and I wasn’t putting some of the last good Venatores in danger. I sent Simi all the information I had, even though I couldn’t tell her what Petra looked like.
Hoping that Simi’s computer search on the information I’d texted would give her what she needed, I raced back up the mountain to the camp and Ashlynn. The round-trip cost me twenty minutes, and I half-expected to see a full-on war in the camp by the time I returned.
As it was, the Beaver Lake pack was outside the longhouse demanding to be let in to see their injured packmate. A few of them turned as I approached, and my hackles rose as warning growls rose from several among them. I strode through them without hesitation, and they parted before me until I was standing face to face with Roger, Bernie, and the professor, who were guarding the door.
I glanced at the professor and then at Bernie, who shrugged and shook his head. The professor was a great hunter, but he’d been a librarian and a teacher for a couple of decades, and the time behind the desk showed in his lean build. He simply wasn’t strong enough to be facing off with a bunch of damaged, unpredictable wolves who thought we’d kidnapped their mate.
“Hey, what’s going on, guys?” I called out. I made eye contact with the teen girl I’d spoken with before. “What on earth did you tell your pack that they decided the best they could do to show their gratitude for us saving your wolf would be by laying siege to our house?” The girl blanched and then crimsoned with anger. She stepped forward and shook her finger in my face as she chastised me for accusing her.
“I told them you saved him, that he attacked you and your alpha took him down. That’s the law. It’s her right. But Gregor and Petra said you attacked first—that you broke the law.” She was so upset she was shaking, but her voice didn’t convey enough anger for it to be from rage. I could smell the hopeless desperation on her. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve thought she wanted me to attack her, maybe even kill her.
“I attacked the man who was trying to rape my alpha. It was not the wolf inside who did that. The fight with him was fair, and we showed him both justice and mercy in letting him live. Rest assured,” I raised my voice to make sure the wolves in the back heard me clearly, “anyone caught forcing another wolf into intercourse won’t survive the night.”
I turned back to the girl and scowled at her. Do you want to come inside? I asked her silently.
God, yes. But
they can’t see, she replied. Her telepathy was far better than mine, and I realized their entire pack might be able to communicate silently where we used words. With a brain-sucking witch in charge, they might not have had a choice but to adapt to it. It was an interesting thought I filed away for later when I had less life-or-death issues to worry about.
“This one comes in, checks on your wolf, and can reassure you as to his treatment under our care.” I announced. I grabbed her by the arm and dragged her inside, throwing her through the door when she struggled against me. Outside, I heard the professor finish my earlier statement.
“The Rainier pack believes in consent. Anyone who fails to live the law of consent will be shot. We don’t honor cowards and rapists with a fair fight in the ring. So says the alpha, and so it is written in the book of law.” Professor Eldritch wasn’t a werewolf, but I’d taken enough of his classes to know that there were wolves outside who were intimidated by his authoritative tone.
With his formal pronouncement, the air grew heavy. We could tell that there were wolves who had every intention of breaking that law, and the magic that Henny infused the entire camp with was warning us that danger was coming. The rule of law in the pack was so rarely invoked that I’d never heard it, aside from the night I was officially welcomed to the pack.
“You know, we should just start every day with a reading of the laws. I feel like my skin’s going to crawl right off my body right now. It sucks, but it won’t allow you to let your guard down, either.” I shuddered and took a deep breath, filling my lungs and pushing the air out in a whoosh.
“I really didn’t tell them anything bad about you,” the girl said as I escorted her to our clinic room.
“I really didn’t think you did,” I scoffed. “Do you mind me asking how old you are?” She didn’t answer, just shuffled her feet and stared at the floor. “OK then, do you have a name you’d prefer I use? I don’t want to be a jerk, but if I don’t get a name, you’re going to end up being Depeche Mode for the rest of your time here.”
“What’s that?” she asked, and glanced up at me before staring at the floor again.
“A band. A really well-known, old… You know what, never mind. Name, please.”
She giggled. “Amber,” she said, before I realized she was mocking me. “My name’s Amber, and I know who Depeche Mode is. They’re old, but they’re not, like, dead or anything.”
I laughed and nodded, “Not yet, but they’re ancient.” She raised an eyebrow at me, and I chuckled. “They wear a lot of eye makeup. Let it go.” She smiled shyly and paused at the door of the medical room.
“Are you really this nice?” She looked up at me with earnest eyes, and I noticed they weren’t quite right, like she too had been forced into wolf form too much, for too long.
“No, I’m not. If you mess with my people, or with innocents, I’ll kill you.” I made the statement quietly, without threat. “Before I was a shifter, I was Venatores. I hunted monsters who had harmed or killed humans, and I killed them. Wolves can be innocents too, Amber.” I dropped it and gestured her ahead of me with a nod and she went in, her face pale and her fingers so tightly twisted together her knuckles were white. She rubbed her palms on her jeans and moved further into the room as I shut the door behind us.
The room itself wasn’t special. It would be painted white soon to help keep it clean, but for now, it was just a big, airy room with a view of the mountains and forest below and several brand-new, clean cots. In the last of these was a sleeping kid no more than seventeen, covered in purple, blotchy bruises from the ribcage up. From the waist down, he was covered lightly with a sheet, and an IV ran from his arm to a bag of saline drip hanging above him.
Henny looked up from her book as we came past the privacy screen and smiled at Amber.
“Young Michael is doing well, but he’ll need to sleep for a bit.” She looked over her reading glasses at me and raised an eyebrow. “He seemed concerned that you were going to come visit him. Do we have a problem?” She said it in a way that let me know her patient was her top priority, and she was happy to kick my ass if needed.
“No, ma’am, no problem here. Miss Amber just wanted to check on her packmate and maybe get a checkup while she’s here.”
“Brother,” Amber said quietly, and I stammered.
“What?”
“My twin,” she clarified. “We look a lot more alike when he’s not covered in bruises and I’m not made up like an eighties emo-rocker.”
Henny gasped and laughed, and I shook my head. Michael shifted in his bed, and instantly, we all went silent again until he settled in and his breathing deepened again.
“You were both attacked and survived?” I asked. Amber shook her head and looked over at her brother.
“Gregor is my father,” she said, smiling wanly. “Our mother is dead.”
“I’m so sorry,” I blurted while Henny clucked and took the girl’s hand.
“Don’t be sorry, there’s nothing you can do to change it,” Amber replied. “But did you mean what you said? About killing anyone who hurts innocents, even when they’re not your wolves?” I nodded and her face grew deadly cold.
“Then you need to kill Petra because I’ve tried, and I can’t.”
Chapter Sixteen
Neither Henny or I spoke as we stared at her, and Amber folded her arms defiantly. I opened and shut my mouth several times as I tried to think of what to say, until Henny cleared her throat and touched my arm to prompt me to speak.
“Well, I mean, I was planning on it, but, uh, I don’t think I was supposed to tell you that, so I can’t let you go now.” I mentally patted myself on the back for my recovery. “If you want me to help you, Amber, I need you to answer some questions for me.”
“Sure, whatever. What do you want to know?”
“Do you know for certain that your mother was murdered?” I asked. Amber nodded and hugged herself tightly. “OK, OK, I believe you. Now, do you ever feel weaker when Petra is near you?”
Amber shrugged. “Sometimes in wolf form, but the alpha says that’s just my weakness showing.” She met my eyes and realization dawned in hers. She snarled and spun toward the door and made it several feet before I grabbed her around the waist and carried her back to her brother’s side.
“I got this, Amber. I’m on it already. Petra is a vampire. I kill vampires…when I have to. I’ll take care of Petra and anyone who get in my way,” I warned her.
“Gregor,” she said without feeling.
“Do you always call your father by his first name?” Henny asked. I felt Michael stir but pretended I didn’t notice and let Henny move between me and Amber.
“Since I figured out he let Petra assassinate my mother, yeah. She didn’t even use magic. Just poisoned her. Like she’s poisoning Gregor. But he let her do it before, so I’m letting her do it now.”
Michael stiffened, and I rest my hand on his arm as inconspicuously as possible. Henny and I shared a glance, and I shrugged at her while frantic thoughts passed through my mind.
“Henny, can you protect these two? I mean, stop anyone from reading their minds?” I asked, and she nodded and hurried off, presumably to gather ingredients. “OK, Amber. Is this something you just feel or something you can prove?”
“I don’t just receive thought-speech. I can read minds too. When I was younger, I didn’t have the best control and sometimes would just get random thoughts. I heard her as she was doing it, saw the powder. I told my father. He accused me of trying to get the pack witch killed over jealousy. I didn’t understand why he thought I’d be jealous until later.”
“Because he was cheating on his mate with the witch,” I finished. “Now you think she’s poisoning him, but have you seen her do it? Heard her thoughts?” Amber shook her head. “Does Michael know?”
“I tried to tell him, but Gregor told him I was a liar, and instead of believing me, he stopped speaking to me. If he was awake now, he’d pretend I wasn’t here.”
I
gasped. “Then why were you so worried about his safety? You risked everything to make sure he was OK.”
“He can hate me. I will always protect and watch out for him. He’s my brother, and he’s not evil like Petra or my father. The things they do…the things they’ve made me watch them do…” She collapsed, sobbing, on the floor, and I knelt beside her. Caroline had prepared me for the emotional side of females, but this was an abused child, and I was a male adult.
“I don’t know how to help, Amber. Tell me how to help you,” I pleaded, patting her on the arm. I was pushed away, and Michael sat next to her on the floor. I growled softly, but it was enough that Amber heard. She lifted her head up and tried to stop crying, her breath hitching and her makeup running down her face. She shrank back from her brother but he grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet, twisting her in his grip so she was between us.
“You stupid, bitch. You want to get our father killed?” He hissed as he backed toward the door. I followed at a safe distance, wondering how far he planned to get in the longhouse, naked and weak from his injuries.
“Yes. I want Gregor and Petra dead before you turn eighteen. You’re an idiot if you think he’ll spare you from the fate of every other male that comes of age,” she spat.