by Lisa Marie
“Ash,” he said when he caught her looking at him and flashed a weak smile.
“I’d guessed,” she replied, barely managing to return his smile. “I’m going to check on Mark,” she said suddenly, turning toward the door.
“You might not want to do that. He’s mean on a good day,” Ash told her, waving Eve’s hands away.
She glared at him, then turned toward Brie. “Honey, why don’t you give him a few minutes? This can’t be easy for him.”
“You think?” Brie shot back, her eyes darting to the damage done to Ash’s face. “I can help him.” She turned toward the door, intent on getting to him. She came to an abrupt stop when a hand closed around her arm, the grip surprisingly strong.
“I don’t know if I want you out there ‘helping’ him.” Flora’s eyes had turned to steel and Brie’s anger shot to an all time high. She was tired of these people suspecting her for no other reason than what she was.
“Flora!” Eve went from annoyed to livid in the seconds it took for Flora’s meaning to become clear.
“Let me tell you something, ma’am.” Brie yanked her arm out of the older woman’s grasp and fixed her with angry eyes. “I appreciate your concern for Mark. But I assure you, if I were in anyway controlling him, he wouldn’t care that his grandfather is dead.” She gave Flora one last reproachful look before storming out the door.
“You know, for a group that works with vampires, you certainly are an untrusting bunch,” Eve sneered, shooting Flora a glare. Her opinion of the woman had plummeted in the last few seconds and it left a bad taste in her mouth. To their credit, Ash and Seth stayed silent as the two women stared each other down.
It was Flora that caved first, the stony expression she had been sporting crumbling to one of worry and grief. “I’m sorry. I have … I have no excuse. He’s all I have left,” she finished quietly, her eyes flooding with tears.
Eve felt her anger deflate at the sight of the older woman’s sorrow, and sighed. “I know. She won’t hurt him. From what I can tell, she might be the only one that can get through to him.”
“What do you mean?” Ash asked, reaching out and threading his fingers with hers.
She gave a snort and looked down at him. “Oh, come on. You might have super-vampire-senses, but I have eyes. They came out of the bedroom together, holding hands. And Brie had that look on her face that women get after their first night with a man. No, that’s not right,” Eve said after brief reconsideration. “She had the look that women get after the first good night with a man.”
“Uh, yeah.”
Eve giggled at how flustered Ash looked and she sat down next to him to rest her cheek on his shoulder. Even Flora had to snort at how Seth and Ash—two beings that had been on the earth longer than any of them—could look so uncomfortable talking about sex.
“Am I going to have to break his kneecaps?” Eve asked soberly, after a minute.
“I don’t think so. He’s stubborn, but he’s a good man.” Ash wrapped his arm around her shoulders. All Eve could do was nod in response and hope with all her heart that he was right.
* * * *
It didn’t take Brie long to find Mark. He was around the back of the house, standing on the edge of the woods, fighting with a tree. The sad thing was the tree seemed to be winning. Even at this distance, she could see the bright red stain of blood on his knuckles. If he kept it up much longer, his hands would be crushed.
She didn’t bother calling to him as she drew closer, aware he wouldn’t answer. Instead, she started to hum, an old lullaby that her mother used to sing to her at night. She knew the second he heard her, his punches slowed, until they finally stopped altogether. His shoulders slumped and his head dipped, his dark hair hiding his face from her view. She stopped behind him, close enough to touch. She reached one, trembling hand out to slide over his back and hummed louder.
Brie gasped in surprise when she found herself slammed against the tree, the force stealing her breath and making her fall silent. She looked up into the black eyes staring down at her, their bottomless depths swirling with ragged emotion.
“What are you doing?” Mark hissed, planting his hands on either side of her head and leaning into her face.
She swallowed heavily, her eyes going wide with the flash of fear shooting through her. “T-trying to calm you.” She hazarded touching his face, sliding her fingertips along the scar on his jaw in a soothing stroke.
His eyelids drifted closed and his lips thinned as he pressed them together to keep a hold on himself. When they opened again, they were shining impossibly brighter with his inner torment. Gone was the man from this morning, who was smiling and shyly asking her for something more after this was all over. The walls were up, guarding his heart, from her, from everybody.
“I don’t want to be calm.” His quiet voice was filled with violence so fierce it made her tremble. “I want to feel every bit of pain, want to feel it eating a hole in my stomach. I want it to be fresh and full, so that I can tear those sons of bitches apart.”
Each harsh word sickened Brianne, no matter how much she understood them. She had to admit to herself, as she stared into the cold, blank eyes of the man in front of her, that she really didn’t know anything about him. They had been in a bubble here, protected from the horror that Ash and Eve were dealing with. But now that bubble had burst and reality had indeed called, with intolerable consequences for Mark. She could see the guilt lurking behind the steely glint in his eyes. Could feel the grief vibrating off his body.
When she started to hum again, the look of betrayal that flashed across his face felt like a stab to her heart.
“Stop it,” he growled through clenched teeth, slamming his fist against the tree by her head. Pain sang up his arm, blocking out the soothing affect of her voice for a brief second. She flinched, but didn’t stop humming and Mark felt the warmth of her song wrapping around him like a thick blanket, buffeting the emotions raging through him. In desperation, he did the only thing that he knew would shut her up.
A low, harsh growl sounded deep in his throat, the only warning Brie had before his mouth crashed down hard on hers. He forced his tongue into her mouth, sweeping hers into a desperate tangle. Pleasure sliced through Brie so hot, so fast, all she could do to fight back was kiss him as ravenously as he was her. It barely registered when his hands pulled at her pants, yanking them down. When they were gone, his fingers bit painfully into the flesh of her thighs, lifting her and spreading her open.
She felt his movements as he jerked open his fly and pulled out his hard length. She screamed into his mouth when he forcefully entered her, her body spiraling into orgasm before he had even started to thrust.
Gone was the gentle lover of the night before. In his place was a man with the ferocity of an animal.
Mark’s hands were bruising on her flesh, pinching her breasts and nipples to the point of pain. His teeth nipped dangerously at her lips, only to soothe them with his tongue. Her senses were torn between the harshness of pleasure and pain. Her heart broke with each ragged breath he sucked in. She could feel the hotness of his tears, could taste their salty residue in their kiss. Her fingers dug into his shoulders, her muscles trembled with the second, hard orgasm building in her blood.
A guttural moan ripped from him as she felt him start to stiffen and pulse inside of her. She sucked in a deep breath when he broke the kiss to bury his face in her shoulder, his own breath ragged and hot.
“Oh, God, Brie,” he moaned, the words sounding more like a sob than a declaration of pleasure. He crushed her against the tree, his muscles twitching as he emptied himself deep inside the warmth of her body. “Fuck. Oh, God, fuck!”
Brie responded to the gut wrenching pain in his voice. Her arms and legs tightened around him, holding him close, giving him strength.
“I’m here, Mark. I’m here,” she murmured into his hair, running her fingers through the silky strands. The bark of the tree scratched hard through her shirt as they s
ank to the ground, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was the viciously shaking man in her arms and the harsh sobs that sounded as if they were being ripped from his very soul.
* * * *
“Are you sure this is where they turned?” Sebastian asked, eyeing the tight tangle of trees through the specially treated glass of his car. Edward nodded and took a long drink of water from the bottle in his hand. He had just spent the last ten minutes trying to figure out how to get the car inside the forest, so far to no avail.
“There must be a spell or something,” he replied with a shrug. He could get inside with no problem. Didn’t matter to him if the damn car could or not. He stifled a chuckle at the image of Sebastian, in his expensive Italian shoes and designer suit, trudging through the murky depths of the trees.
“Is something funny, Edward?” Sebastian turned annoyed gold eyes on the werewolf.
“Nope,” Edward lied easily.
“I suppose,” he started, choosing to ignore the man’s impudence for now—he would handle it after Ash and the others were dealt with, “we should wait until dark. Then try to infiltrate the woods on foot.”
“Sounds good. Don’t mind if I take a run through, just to see if there’s an easier way in?”
Suspicion flashed in the vampire’s eyes, but Edward didn’t flinch under it. He kept his face mild as Sebastian contemplated him, hiding his smile when the other man gave a slight nod.
“Of course…”
Edward was out of the car before Sebastian had even finished speaking. The vampire watched as he checked to make sure there were no cars passing, before quickly stripping and morphing into his wolf form. The suddenness of the transformation reminded Sebastian of why he had hired the annoying little man. But his constant questioning of Sebastian was starting to wear thin on his nerves. Yes, something would need to be done about the werewolf. But it would have to wait. For now.
“Drive on. We’ll return at dusk,” he told his driver, raising his crystal goblet full of blood to his lips as the car started forward. Anticipation of the night to come thrummed through his veins, igniting his long dormant bloodlust. It had been a long while since anyone had dared to take him on, and he had to admit that he had forgotten the thrill that came with crushing enemies the old fashioned way.
He raised his glass in mock salute to the trees hiding the group from his view. To tonight, he toasted silently, a cold smile curling his lip as the spot where Edward disappeared faded into the distance behind them.
* * * *
Seth walked outside of the house and took a deep breath of the late afternoon air. He took comfort in the raw scent of the foliage protecting the house from the outside world. If only it was so easy to protect them from the pain of life. Goodbye, Cyrus, my friend, he thought, looking up at the sky. There were some advantages to being such an odd creature as he. One of them being that he could withstand the rays of the sun for a much longer time than Ash could.
He heaved a deep sigh and said a silent prayer for the man that had given his life protecting those he loved. Go with God, he thought, flinching as he crossed himself.
He could hear the soft murmurs of the people inside the cabin and walked down the porch steps to give them some time. When Brie and Mark had returned, his knuckles bloody and his face stained with tear tracks, Flora had immediately started to fuss. To everybody’s surprise, Mark silently let her. She did a quick spell to heal his hand and the gashes on his arm—to which she sent a reproachful look at Seth. She was brewing a foul smelling potion that would halt any effects of the bite when he decided it was time to step outside. He didn’t care to hear the explanation of how they had come to be outside last night, putting themselves in danger. If either of them cared to offer one up, even. Mark knew the risks of tromping around his forest and Seth refused to apologize despite the guilt warring with his pride.
Another sigh escaped Seth as he made his way to the protective shelter of the forest. He had no fear of the tree gnomes, since vampires weren’t high on their list of nutritional snacks. These were his woods and they knew it. They wouldn’t bother him, even if they did have it in mind to try to eat whatever crossed their paths. Soon, he thought, soon they would all be gone and he could go back to the solitary life he preferred.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like the occasional visit from the people that had been the only ones he could even slightly call friends. He was just so used to being alone that it was hard for him to deal with people for long. And once they were gone, he could properly mourn the extraordinary man that somehow could look past the pain of losing his wife and befriend him and Ash.
Seth’s head jerked around when a noise sounded to his left. He expected to see a tree gnome and a warning growl exploded from his throat. But when he saw a flash of pale skin, the growl froze as he realized the woods had been infiltrated. He turned fully in the direction he’d heard the noise, his vampire visage surging forward. Like a shot, he took off, chasing down the person that had dared to enter. It could be a hiker lost in the enchanted trees. If that were the case, he would help the man or woman find their way back to the main trails that ran along his section of the mountain.
A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach when he realized that the person he was chasing—the person he could barely glimpse through the reaching arms of the trees—was fast; faster than an average human.
With a burst of speed, Seth shortened the distance between them so he could see that it was a man and he was naked. Confusion had his brows drawing together. Why would someone enter woods full of sharp leaves and branches naked? There was only one possible explanation, and it had a shiver of cold fear sliding up his spine.
“Oh, God,” he gasped, sliding to a stop so fast he almost landed face first in a tree.
It happened so quickly that if he’d blinked, he would have missed it. Suddenly, it wasn’t a man running away from him. It was a big, brown wolf, its muscular body cutting easily through the foliage further away from Seth. He was still staring when the wolf stopped to look back, his eyes seeming to be scarily human, even from this distance. Icy fingers clawed their way over his skin when the beast lifted his head and let out a long, triumphant howl. Then, with one last look at the stunned vamp/wolf, the creature took off through the trees, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Chapter Eighteen
“We’ve got a problem.” The pile of clothes Seth had found down by the road landed with a thud in front of Mark. Dull, tired eyes lifted to Seth’s face and he could see no comprehension in them.
Since Seth had left the house, not much had been said other than Mark’s soft questions about what had happened to Cyrus. Flora told him all she knew, which wasn’t much, her words broken and stilted. By the time she was done, there wasn’t a dry eye among them. Mark’s hand had bordered on crushing Brie’s, but she didn’t even flinch. After that, they had fallen into a heavy silence, none of them wanting to break it to ask what had been happening with the others over the last few days. Curiosity was put on hold for now, voices silenced for Mark who was sitting listless on the couch, his whole world having crumbled in less than an hour.
“What’s that?” Eve asked, staring quizzically down at the clothes.
Seth opened his mouth to explain, but Brie’s gasp riveted all attention to her. “Edward.”
Mark turned to her, his mental haze clearing up at the terror he heard in her voice. “How can you be sure?”
Eve’s gaze darted from the pile of clothes and skittered around the room at the other’s expectant faces before finally settling on him. His numbness started to lift as violent anger swirled through him at the fear darkening her eyes.
“That’s his.” Brie pointed at the pile of clothes. “H-he always wore the same damn suit like some sort of pall bearer.” She jumped involuntarily at the stream of curses that poured from Ash’s mouth as he stood and snatched the shirt from the top of the pile.
One, long sniff later, he fisted the material in his hand. �
�She’s right. God dammit!”
“But how? We were so careful,” Flora denied, shaking her head as her mind went over their flight from North Port.
“It doesn’t matter. He said he’d find me. He’d always find me.” Brie tried to yank her hand away from Mark’s, to run from the reality sitting in a pile of wrinkled clothes on the floor. But he wouldn’t let her go.
“Why the hell is he running around the forest naked?” Mark demanded, looking over at Seth while his thumb turned in soothing circles around the back of Brie’s hand. His mind played out images of the hungry tree gnomes in the forest, hoping that they mistook the man’s dangling parts as food and yanked them off.
“He’s not. He’s wearing a fur coat,” Seth shot back, his voice dripping with sarcasm. There was a brief second of stunned silence before all hell broke out.
“What the fuck!” Mark spat, shooting to his feet, a disgusted look on his face. He was thoroughly pissed that a day that had started so promising went to shit in an instant and kept getting worse by the second.
“That’s impossible,” Ash shot out, glaring down at the shirt in his hand.
“Oh, it’s possible,” Seth replied. He was practically vibrating with anger that his sanctuary had been violated. He was seriously regretting answering Cyrus’ call for help.
“How? The third day was last night. He can’t change,” Flora insisted, looking panicked.
“Brie, at any time during your stay at Sebastian’s, did you see Edward change at will?” Eve asked her sister quietly.
Brie shook her head without hesitation. “No. He was always human. And he was always my guard. No matter what day of the month it was. The only way I knew he was anything other than human was the tingling sensation I got whenever I was around him. Like when I first saw you,” she glanced at Seth, flinching at the memory of her rudeness. But Seth only gave her a nod of acknowledgment, before looking at Ash.
“I have heard that it is possible to control the metamorphoses, to even keep part of yourself when you change. I had thought it was just a fairytale. Apparently it isn’t,” Seth said.