Scott walked over to Michael, getting up in his grill. “Whatcha gonna do about it if I don't?”
Suddenly, there was a ten foot stack of cow shit and Scott was in the middle of it, only his head peeking out of the top. “Michael!” he roared.
The siblings started to walk away, but Julia couldn't get past Scott howling and buried in a pile of manure that smelled so bad that Julia had to breathe through her mouth, her hand covering her nose. “Hey!” Julia called after them and all three turned. “Aren't you going to... you're going to leave him like that?” She didn't know whether to laugh or help him out of his predicament.
They nodded, grinning. “Yeah, he'll be free in about twenty seconds.” Michael said.
“Too bad it couldn't last longer,” Jen muttered to herself but Julia caught it perfectly.
“Let him sing in his own shit for a minute,” Brendan said.
Julia followed as Scott bellowed, “Payback's a bitch!”
When they had walked to the end of the building, Julia turned. And there Scott stood, the manure gone. Not a speck of it remained. But the eyes that bored into her back had not been friendly.
They weren't friendly now.
Julia suppressed a shiver under their weight.
Turning her back, she followed the friendlier part of the family, leaving the discomfort of the encounter behind her.
For now.
*
introspection
Julia watched the swan paddle on a small lake, then shifted her eyes to the Olympic Mountains. They reminded her of home, a little. There were a few rocks that acted like small boulders that rimmed the shore, as it were. It was heavily pebbled with smaller rocks, not sand, per se. It was wonderful all the same. What was especially delicious was the time by herself. It had been overwhelming to see and learn all that she had. And... Julia got the distinct impression they had kept the walking tour short for her benefit.
There were so many classifications of abilities she had stopped trying to memorize them after the first ten. There were main abilities and all their sub-abilities. It was too much. Her head had buzzed with the sheer wealth of knowledge. One thing she did understand was Scott, the brother that didn't like her, was a Deflector and a highly skilled martial artist as well. He could cancel out another Singer's ability. But like his brother, Michael, it was powerfully effective, but only for a short time. Say... maybe a half minute. Then there was Jen. She was telekinetic like Julia, but different. Or maybe not different, just so much better. Then there was the post-puberty strength that came online.
Only for the males. But God was just and the female Singer's abilities were usually stronger, or at the very least, longer-lasting. So, kinda a wash.
Julia skipped one of the flat stones and the swan startled, flying a few feet and craning its elegant neck to give her a disdainful look. Could swans be angry? She thought this one was. She sighed and sat down on the boulder again. Picking up a stick she twirled the water, her chin in her palm.
Then there was Michael. She felt her whole face break into a grin. That scene with the shit had been priceless. Beyond funny... even if Scott hadn't been laughing.
Payback's a bitch.
Julia threw the stick in the water, standing. She began to pace the shore thinking about Brendan. He'd been the one to carry her from the Were. How had he found her? He said simply, he was a “Tracker.” It didn't fully explain things. He also said he had a crossover ability. Pyrokinetic. Julia was reminded of that Stephen King novel, Firestarter. She'd mentioned it to Brendan who'd laughed, “Nah, that's some trashy fiction story.”
Right.
Hadn't seemed so implausible when the feet of ten werewolves were on fire. Seemed pretty legit to her.
Her mind landed on William. He'd been trying to free her too. But the more Julia thought about it, the less “free” it felt. She cared for him... maybe more. But the reality was she'd be the bird in the gilded cage again. She would have... she almost was a bird in a cage of the Were as well. It wouldn't have been gilded though. Julia thought of Tony and shuddered. To think there was even a slim chance that she'd have been forced into a union with Tony. She understood instinctively that he'd been bad, evil maybe. And it hadn't just been Adriana's misgivings. Julia had plenty of her own, rather a confirmation. She sighed. She felt like she was shuffling a deck of cards, afraid to cut the deck.
Julia heard a noise and turned, her hand at her heart, startled. Julia smiled when she saw who it was.
Brendan.
He walked toward her, his bronze hair a low burning flame with the sun lighting it from behind, his eyes like onyx with the sun at his back. The mountains framed his silhouette as he approached and Julia felt heat rise to her face, seeing the evidence of his combative training on every square inch of his body.
He waved at her as he drew closer and she lifted her hand in return.
Julia already felt more at home with him than she had a right to.
CHAPTER 28
The feral saw the two beside the lake and could hardly contain his territorial urges over the female.
She was his and another was beside her. Putting his hands on her.
He would die.
The feral would enjoy tearing at the soft flesh of his neck, the hot spray from the blood coating his muzzle in a satisfying spray of fragrance.
With an effort that was almost painful, he retreated into the depths of the forest, his snout scenting their whereabouts. He would be cautious. The male that was with her had an advantage that the feral recognized and wished to cripple if he could.
He was not nose-blind. He was something other than human. The feral did not know how he knew this but when he had been near the male and the small female, their kinship was apparent, easy to scent. But his chest had tightened uncomfortably with a sensation he could not identify.
When he had the male in his grip, he would ascertain what that enigmatic detail was.
*
Brendan
Brendan had watched Julia from a safe distance. She wore her discontent readily, he thought. Brendan sighed, he couldn't contain the Fam and knew not to even try. It was obvious Julia felt off-kilter, unsettled. Who wouldn't be? First the vamps took her, then the Were. He didn't know much about her past. They'd find out more later. There may be extenuating circumstances. After all, she was their Queen. Marcus had raised them on the legend, as his father had before him. He'd demand to know more.
He gazed at her a moment. She didn't look very queenly. She was slim, average height for a female. Her coloring was different, he slowed his pace, studying her. Julia had a unique, soft golden red hair color. But it was her eyes that took his breath away, they matched her hair, depending on the light. They were amber in indirect light but in the sun, they rivaled the orb's brightness.
He walked toward her and she jumped as if he startled her. He gave a short flick of his fingers, sort of an unconscious waving the white flag. She waved back and he smiled, walking the rest of the way toward her. He was puzzled by the expression on her face.
She looked for a moment there like she was assessing him. Taking his measure as a man.
Brendan's smile widened into a grin. Now that... he kinda liked.
When he reached her and she didn't seem resistant, he took Julia into his arms, giving her a brief hug then releasing her. She smelled like a ripe piece of fruit and he instantly wondered if it was the shampoo or her. Brendan stepped back, reluctantly letting her go, his fingers trailing lightly down her arms, causing goose flesh to rise where their contact had been.
Then it hit him. A smell so unique he couldn't name it. But it was familiar. Brendan swung his head in the direction of the woods that bordered the opposite side of the lake.
Julia leaned into the hug that Brendan had given her and sighed. She allowed herself that moment's peace then stepped away. Her chest tightened horribly. Her loneliness constricted her heart. She was desperately alone. At least it felt that way.
As a matter
of fact, in only a few more days it will have been two years since Jason died. Tears threatened at the thought of it but were chased away by the sudden expression of wariness that washed over Brendan's features.
Julia looked around, frightened. They said she was safe! She whirled on Brendan just as he grabbed her.
“Let's get outta here!” he said, dragging her after him.
“What is it?” she asked on a half-jog. But he didn't answer until they had traveled the short distance to the house. When they bounded up the wide, wooden steps and were nearly at the front door he turned, taking her shoulders. “There's something in the woods!” His eyes searched hers, the grip cupping her shoulders almost painful.
“What?” she cried. Was it vampire? Were? What the hell... trolls? Could there be more mythological creatures springing to life to kidnap her away from the one group that she actually belonged to?
Jen stepped out the front door, letting the screen crack back against the wood frame. The noise of it reverberated everywhere. She took in Brendan's expression. Her eyebrows came together. “What's wrong?” Jen looked from Julia to Brendan.
Julia looked at Jen, “How did you know there was something wrong?”
Jen flicked her eyes at Julia, “It's a sib thing.”
Julia waited. Finally Brendan said, “It's that Were from the compound.”
Jen rolled her eyes. “Thanks for clearin' that up, bro! What, there's like... a hundred or something?”
They looked at each other and Julia watched their expressions. Jen spoke first, “You mean that giant red one?”
He nodded, “Yeah, that's him.”
Julia remembered almost going to him, the connection was so strong. What could it mean?
Jen looked at her and huffed. “This is some of the awful crap that can happen...” she sighed and looked at Brendan. His eyes turned away from hers, trained on the woods beyond the lake.
At that moment Scott and Michael came walking from the big barn that acted as Training Facility for Singers. There wasn't a laugh or smile on their faces to be found. Not that she'd expected one from Scott. But Michael had been downright jovial in the two days since she'd been with them.
Julia looked at all of them. “Okay, I give up. What's lurking around in the woods that has everyone's collective underwear in a wad? You guys are scaring me!”
Finally, Brendan said, “We think...” Jen glared at him and he shook his head, resigned. “I think,” he emphasized, “that we have a Singer who's been turned.”
Julia stepped forward. “I don't get it... turned how?”
Michael shook his head to the negative. “Not how... what.”
Julia sat there and let the idea take shape, blooming in her head like an ugly flower. Her eyes snapped to Brendan's. “Wait a second!” Her eyes pierced theirs. “You're telling me that we've got someone out there that was one of us... and now some Were or vamp has... changed them?”
Scott nodded. “Yeah, that's about it,” folding his muscular arms across a barrel chest.
Jen turned to Brendan. “You're sure, Bren?”
“Werewolf,” he said tersely. Julia watched her shoulders droop. “They're the worst.”
“What's with all this? It can't be saved?” Julia asked to the group.
Brendan shook his head. “He.”
It was a man. A Singer like herself, turned. Her gaze swung back to Brendan's. “Did... he want to be a werewolf?”
Scott answered, “Doubtful. The attacking Were would've known he was a Singer. Don't know why they'd do a Singer. After all, they need Singers to produce...” he lifted his fingers in sarcastic air quotes, “a Rare One.” His eyes met hers, filled with loathing and derision. Somebody wasn't happy with her status. Like she could goddamned help it!
What the hell had she done to piss in his Wheaties? The putz. Julia felt her eyes narrow as heat suffused her face. In anger. He glared right back at her.
“What's your problem?” Julia asked.
Scott met the challenge in her words and stalked toward her as Brendan put her behind his back. “What are you doing, Scott?” Brendan ground out.
“It's her fault! He's after her!” His eyes found all of theirs and then went back to Julia. Well, she wasn't going to hide behind Brendan. She came from behind him and Brendan said in a low voice full of threat, “Don't you hurt her.”
“Our queen?” he asked mockingly, putting his hand to his chest and looking at Julia like she was a piece of garbage on the bottom of his shoe. “Never! She is safe as a sleeping babe in the cradle of her mother's bosom!” he snarled, barely contained rage making his face more handsome, not less.
“Stop it, Scott!” Jen hissed.
“No!” he yelled back and she flinched.
Julia got right up in his personal space, defying logic as he was six foot three at least and built like a brick shit house, all brawn and anger. “I can't be that safe because I don't have a mother,” she poked his solidly muscled chest with her finger for emphasis and he didn't move a centimeter. “I don't know what I did to get on the top of your shit list, but I assure you, it wasn't on purpose!” Julia was shaking with rage but continued, “I watched my husband die,” their eyes widened while Scott's narrowed, “my best friend is gone forever, my parents dead. I was with the vampires, then the Were and now I'm with you. I have to be queen? of the Blood Singers? Maybe I don't want the job!” And with that last comment she pushed him in the chest, but it came out more like a slap, harder than she meant it to be, kinda like hitting a tree. Her anger overrode even the pretense of common sense.
He wrapped his huge hands around her small wrists and jerked her into his body. The siblings were too late to help, to stop it.
The moment he touched her the branding fire of his flesh on hers was complete. Neither expected it.
Neither welcomed it.
Julia's soul bound to Scott's in one earth shattering moment of clarity, as natural as the breath she took, she felt their beings knitting together and she gasped, it was almost painful.
He breathed out, “No.” Even as he staggered back his hands went for her again, but Brendan was there. “What's wrong with you, Scott?! What are you doing?”
Jen and Michael looked at each other then at Julia. She was breathing shallowly, her body a throbbing mass of unquenched desire, longing and absolution.
Her eyes never left his.
Julia didn't even like Scott.
Then Marcus was there, their leader. He looked from one to the other of them, instant understanding riding his face with certainty, their unity a thing that sizzled in the air all around them.
“Soulmates!” he extolled.
Julia looked from the leader and obvious father of the family who surrounded her as she leaned weakly against Brendan's chest, her back pressed against his warmth and comfort, her eyes fixed on Scott's.
His were filled with anger and hate.
Directed at her.
They couldn't be soul-anything. It was obvious Julia wasn't someone he wanted, respected... liked.
She tore herself out of Brendan's arms and ran inside the house. Taking the steps two at a time she rushed into the bedroom they'd given her and slammed the door, using the old-fashioned skeleton key to lock it. She backed away until her thighs pressed against the bed. Julia sunk down into the mattress, the firmness of it a temporary cradle to her sadness.
Could things get any more screwed up if she'd wished for it? She put her face in her hands and cried while off in the distance she heard a sound.
A howl.
*
Singers
“Tell me,” Marcus said, his eyes like slits on his grown children. “And it better be good.”
Everyone began talking at once. Finally Michael took the conversational reins, “Brendan came back with news of a Singer turned Were...”
“What?!” Marcus roared, his eyes casting a wide net at the surrounding area.
Brendan shook his head. “It's in the woods for now. But... it
will find its way here. Soon.”
“Male?” Marcus queried.
They nodded. Marcus looked at Scott. “I understand your sentiments about the Queen. That you've never adjusted to the idea of it.”
Jen rolled her eyes. “Adjusted, Dad? Try anarchy! That'd be more like it.” She looked at her oldest brother. So sure of himself, nothing ever bothered him. He fought with a skill unmatched by any other Singer in their quadrant. He was the number one Deflector of their band of Singers, but one female Singer came to them, the queen and he'd lost his status of independence. That's what a soul-meld would do. The irony wasn't lost on Jen. She felt a little sorry for Scott. It would suck hating his soulmate but being bonded to her anyway. And Julia impressed Jen as independent. She felt a smile curl her lips.
“And now I'm bound to her!” Scott roared, his lip curling with distaste.
Above them, Julia listened from the window that was ajar. It was fine that Scott didn't want her. He was stubborn and... mean and ugh! Julia didn't even like him! She'd do better on her own. She felt confident enough with her telekinetic ability to get by.
Julia didn't want to be queen. And she didn't care if there was some “soul-meld” or whatever. She couldn't get out of being a Blood Singer. Or a Rare One. But she didn't have to be here. In this place, with someone that hated her.
She looked around her room. A profound melancholy slipped through her, her being still tingling from the encounter with Scott. Julia shoved away how painfully right it had felt to be in his arms for that one moment.
He hated her anyway so it didn't matter.
Julia grabbed the only coat in the room and slipped out quietly, heading down the staircase that exited the back of the house. It had once been a little-used servant's staircase. She used it now in circumspection.
She utterly missed the most important part of the conversation.
If she had, she may have hesitated.
As it was, Julia was heading into the arms of danger.
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