by A. D. Ryan
Or, more accurately, didn’t find.
I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to escape everything that had happened to me. Every time I closed my eyes, all I saw was death. Bobby’s, David’s, Samantha Turner’s, and Gianna’s (whose death was at my hands). It used to be I only dreamed of finding Bobby’s body around our birthday, but since his case had been reopened last month in light of several other murders that mirrored his from seven years ago, it’d been a recurring nightmare. Now I got to add David’s death to that roster.
That one was particularly difficult, because I watched him get tossed into the window, and I felt responsible since Samantha was there for me. And because I couldn’t do anything to stop her.
I tried, don’t get me wrong, but my attempt was wasted. I didn’t have control over what I was, and because of that, I blacked out a couple times. If I’d been able to control it, maybe he’d still be here.
Last night was the first night since all of this happened that my sleep was even remotely peaceful, and I was pretty sure I owed that to Nick.
It only took me a second to realize he wasn’t in bed with me, and one quick sniff told me he wasn’t in the room either. I sat up quickly, only to find a folded piece of hotel stationary on the nightstand.
Across the hall. Back soon.
—N
The note made me smile as I ran my fingertips over his familiar penmanship, and then a pang of guilt quickly washed it away. David died less than two weeks ago. I shouldn’t be smiling over notes another man left me…or sharing a bed with him and trying to sleep with him out of desperation.
Suddenly feeling queasy, I rolled out of bed and locked myself in the bathroom where I turned the shower on and stepped beneath the hot water. Maybe I could scrub away all the wrong I was doing. No sooner had I pushed my face beneath the spray, the water soaking my hair and flowing into my ears, did I hear the hotel room door open and Nick call out for me.
“Brooke?”
I pulled my face back. “In the shower,” I responded. “I’ll be right out.”
“Take your time.”
The water was warm, and he didn’t sound urgent, so I did as he said. I took my time, using the coconut-scented shampoo the hotel supplied to wash my hair and then washed every inch of my body. Twice. Hotel showering was always a treat, because no matter how long you stayed in there, the hot water seemed to be ever-lasting.
When I stepped out, the mirror was completely fogged up, the room filled with steam, and I realized I’d forgotten to bring my clothes in with me. With a sigh, I wrapped their largest towel around me. The white fabric barely fell past my ass and the top of my breasts spilled slightly over the top. At least the important parts were covered. I stepped out of the bathroom slowly, sniffing the air to make sure it was only Nick in the room, and when I confirmed it, I strode out a little more freely.
He was sitting on the end of the bed, and his eyes snapped up from his laptop upon my arrival. They roamed down over my near-naked and dripping wet body. His gaze was appreciative, appraising, and it lingered on my legs for a bit. He’d always liked my legs. When he found my eyes, he smiled. “How was it?”
“Good,” I replied softly, my skin warming with a blush as I tucked my soaking wet hair behind my ear, the drips from the ends rolling over my chest. “I, uh, forgot my clothes, though. Sorry.”
Nick hopped off the bed and grabbed my bag for me. “No need to be sorry,” he said sincerely as he handed it to me. “When you’re done, I picked up some food from the restaurant. We should eat before we hit the road.”
“We’re not meeting the guys?”
“They’re actually eating now. We wanted to be on the road soon, so they decided to eat without us so they could finish preparing.”
I felt bad about taking an extended shower now. “You should have told me to hurry.”
Nick scratched the back of his neck. “They wanted to give you some space. They know they can be a bit much.”
There was something haloing his words, and when I figured it out, I tightened my hold on the towel around me and looked down at my toes. “They know about last night?”
“They sensed it, yes,” he replied softly. “But they’ve been through it too, so they understand. Well, all but Corbin. He had this mastered before he was fifteen.”
Confused, I looked back up at Nick, and he smirked. “He’s Marcus’ son. One of the few full-bloods in the Pack.”
There was so much I still had to learn about this life and these people.
“Now, uh, you should go put some clothes on,” he continued. “I’m having a hard time being the gentleman I was last night.”
I knew he was mostly kidding, but the deep tenor of his voice sent a shiver up my spine, and goosebumps prickled up all over my body. Swallowing thickly, I took two nervous steps backward and retreated into the bathroom, locking the door behind me. I dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans and a thick white turtleneck sweater. Not wanting to waste time with blow-drying my hair when I’d already spent so much in the shower, I decided to let it air-dry into its natural wavy state and applied a little makeup to hide the dark circles under my eyes. When I returned, I found Nick had spread our lunch out on the bed.
“What are we having?” I asked as he handed me a sandwich wrapped in cellophane.
“Turkey and Swiss,” he replied with a grin. “Happy Thanksgiving.”
The sandwich had barely touched my lips, and I froze. Nick noticed this and set his own sandwich down. “Brooke?”
My hands started to shake as multiple emotions overwhelmed me. David and I were discussing plans to host dinner for our families tonight…before we got into a fight and I fled the house, leading to his death. Had I stayed instead of acting like a coward, could it all have been avoided?
Logic told me probably not. Samantha Turner still would have shown up. Deep down, I knew this. But I still wondered, what if…
Those two words, while small, were powerful. They held the possibility for a different outcome. An outcome I would give anything to change.
What would we be doing? Preparing the turkey? Maybe our mothers and I would be fighting for counter space in my tiny kitchen while our dads and David watched the game and had a beer. This would have been our first Thanksgiving with both sets of parents, and because of what happened, I was sitting in a hotel room having a turkey sandwich. With my ex.
A tear slid down my cheek, alarming Nick. He put his sandwich down on the wrapper. “I know you’d rather be with your parents today, but—”
I shook my head. “No. It’s not just that,” I confessed, wiping the tear from my cheek. “David and I…we had plans to host Thanksgiving for our families. I’d completely forgotten what today was.”
Nick sat in silence, probably unsure how to console me. It was no secret he disliked David, but he never wished this upon him. He had told me that it was dangerous for me to continue on with our relationship. And while I was certain part of his reasoning for saying this was borne out of jealousy, I now knew he was afraid of what would happen and how it would affect me. In hindsight, I should have listened sooner.
I tried to put on a happy face, but it felt forced. “This is fine. Thoughtful,” I said softly, picking the sandwich back up. “Thank you.” Reluctant, Nick continued to watch me, making me nervous. “Sorry you won’t be back in time for Thanksgiving dinner with your Pack.”
Nick smirked. “We celebrated last month, actually. It’s a Canadian thing.”
“Oh,” I replied. “Well, then.” Even though my appetite had dwindled, I took a few bites of my sandwich. “So, how much longer until we arrive?”
“We have about fifteen more hours until we get to the manor. Barring any bad weather that could keep us from holding our schedule.”
“And the bikes are okay to drive in this weather?”
Nick shrugged. “As long as the roads aren’t too bad, the guys would prefer to take them all the way, but if we have to, we can always rent a van and load them into it
, and they can drive the rest of the way.”
We discussed the possibilities of running into the storms that had been forecasted, and Nick was confident that even if we hit them, we’d still arrive at the manor before the full moon. If we didn’t, he also had a plan to keep me and everyone safe should the change be forced upon me.
Hesitating a moment, I eyed the last little bit of my sandwich like it was some kind of puzzle. “Do you think I could have a few minutes to call my parents before we headed out? Just to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving? I’d really like to hear their voices.”
Nick smiled. “You don’t have to ask, Brooke. Of course you can.”
After lunch, Nick slipped across the hall to talk to the guys before we left, and I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket. I dialed the number for my parents’ house and waited for someone to answer. My mom did on the third ring.
“Hello?”
I smiled. The soft melody of her voice relaxed me more than anything else could when I felt lost and alone. “Happy Thanksgiving, Mom.”
“Brooke, honey,” Mom replied, her own smile evident in her tone. “I’m so glad you called.” I could hear her cover the receiver before she shouted through the house. “Keith! Brooke’s on the phone!” There were heavy footsteps in the background before he arrived at her side.
Several emotions swelled in my chest: happiness, sadness, regret… Why couldn’t I have waited just one more day before leaving? Given them this one last celebration.
You know why, I inwardly told myself. And I did; had I stayed, I’d have continued to find excuses, and they could have gotten hurt. Like David.
“Are you there yet?” Mom asked.
“No. We stopped in Utah for the night. We’re actually going to be heading out soon, but I wanted to call and talk to you guys first,” I explained.
There was a pause from my mom before she finally found the courage to ask, “And Nick? He’s really what you need right now?”
I sighed, chastising myself for thinking she was more okay with this decision than she really was. I should have known she would never truly accept it. In her eyes, I’d run off with another man shortly after my lover of two years was murdered. Even I knew how awful that looked. But I wanted to try and make her understand. “Not him, Mom. Space. I needed to get away from Scottsdale for a bit. So much has happened lately, and I need to, I don’t know, wrap my head around it all. What better place than living in the countryside with no distractions?”
I wasn’t sure how true that “no distractions” part was considering the whole Pack lived under one roof, but I had an entire countryside to run free in if I ever felt too claustrophobic.
“I’ll come visit, and maybe you guys could fly out and visit me,” I suggested. “In fact, I think that’s a really great idea. Maybe at Christmas… What do you think?”
Even though I wasn’t in the room with them, I could sense my mother’s sadness. She tried to put on a good front, but her voice belied her words. “That would be lovely. We’ll definitely see what we can do. Here’s your father.”
“Okay. I love you, Mom.”
“I love you too, honey.”
The phone switched hands, and I swore I could hear my mom sob as she left the room. I was just starting to mentally beat myself up over it when my dad’s voice filled my head.
“Brookie,” he greeted, making me shake my head. “How’s the trip, kiddo?”
“Fine, so far,” I replied. “I miss you guys.”
Dad exhaled softly. “We miss you, too. You and Nick haven’t killed each other yet?”
The door to the room opened and Nick appeared, smiling apologetically when he realized I was still on the phone. “No,” I said with a laugh as Nick turned to his bags and finished packing. “Not yet. It’s still early, though.”
“Everyone at work misses you,” Dad said, possibly as a way of guilt-tripping me back.
Hearing this made me think of O’Malley and Keaton, and I realized I missed them too, along with several others. However, I had a feeling that not everyone missed me. Clarke, for example. I was almost positive he was thrilled I was gone.
“Tell them I think of them often,” I replied. “How is everything there?” By law, he couldn’t go into specifics since I was no longer appointed to the investigations, but I knew he would. While I already knew who was responsible for the multiple murders as well as David’s, I wanted to make sure that there hadn’t been any more since we left. I’d hate for my hometown to be under siege after leaving it undefended.
“Still nothing,” he answered, sounding frustrated. “There hasn’t been another murder. We still can’t track down any leads other than that abandoned club in Phoenix. It’s like everything just up and vanished… Like last time. And as for David’s case…”
“Nothing there, either?” I fake-guessed, knowing that his murder had already been avenged. By me.
“Exactly.” A pause. “Don’t worry, though. We won’t exhaust our efforts.”
Part of me wanted to tell him to give up. That digging any deeper would only lead to more questions and eventually a very complicated situation and possibly death. But there were rules to be followed now. If I told him that, he’d ask why, and I’d tell him, because he was my dad and I told him just about everything.
“Brookie?” my dad said, pulling me out of my musings. “Your mother and I are just stepping out to go visit Bobby before dinner. Will you call us when you get to where you’re going?”
I stopped breathing upon hearing where they were going, realizing exactly what they’d find. “Y-yeah. Of course,” I stammered, my heart racing. “I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
“Love you, too, kiddo.” He hung up, leaving me sitting on the edge of the oversized bed, wondering what they would think when they arrived at the gravesite to find the grass torn up and the earth disturbed. They wouldn’t know I was responsible, but they’d know something had happened. What if they had someone exhume the grave and found his coffin…
My vision darkened, and when it came back, I glimpsed a bit of graveyard dirt on the toe of my shoe. Pausing, I looked at it, remembered what I found, and sat up straight. Noticing this, Nick turned around and called my name.
“Bobby,” was all I could bring myself to say, my eyes slowly rising to meet his. “Why wasn’t he there?”
Nick’s face fell. Lines of worry formed on his forehead as he swept his hair off it. “I’ll explain in the car if you’ll let me.”
When we arrived in the lobby, the guys were all waiting. Jackson regarded me with a curious glance. Almost like he was concerned. It was weird, because the only emotion I’d ever picked up on him had been disdain. Was this due to guilt?
“Good morning, Brooke,” Zach greeted. “You feeling okay this morning?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Better, thanks.”
“You look great,” Corbin interjected, his cheeks turning pink. He was adorably flustered. “I mean, well-rested.”
Nick finished checking out just then and joined us, placing his hand on the small of my back. He was setting the foundation of the façade we were supposed to build “You guys ready? Everybody knows the route?”
They discussed the directions a little further before we loaded our things and hit the road. Once in the car, I turned to Nick. He sighed. “I’ve gone over how to explain this so many times,” he admitted. “Even more since you dug up his grave. I tried to tell you last night as we drove, but you weren’t very receptive to hearing anything I had to say. And understandably so.”
I remained silent, waiting for him to explain what I saw.
“I won’t deny how much I wanted to keep this from you. You were better off thinking you’d buried your brother.”
“But we did,” I cut in. “We did bury him. We had an open casket, for crying out loud.”
“Yes. You buried his body,” Nick confirmed. “But less than two days later, he woke up.”
“He…woke…up?”
A nod. “But he was
n’t the same man you knew, Brooke. Trust me.”
I tried to wrap my head around this. It shouldn’t have taken me this long to figure it out. I blamed denial. When I figured it out, I gasped sharply. “You mean…” Nick chanced a glance in my direction, nodding solemnly. “Vampire?”
The silence in the car was deafening, so Nick finally spoke up. “When a person is changed, nothing of their human life remains. They walk and talk the same, even share the same memories, but the person you knew is gone, and a demonic parasite takes up residence in their body.”
What was he saying?
“I didn’t want to believe it when I first saw him,” Nick went on to say. “But it’s true. He was different. Vicious. Cruel.”
I shook my head. “No. Not Bobby.”
“Believe me,” Nick said firmly, eyes on the road. “It was him…but it wasn’t at the same time. The things he did…”
Unable to wrap my head around this, I clenched my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose. “What do you mean?”
“The Pack and I have been tracking him and Gianna for years. The two of them were a force unlike anything we’d ever faced before.”
“So, you’re just going to keep trying to kill him?” I demanded. “Nick, you can’t.”
Nick released a dark laugh. “No, I couldn’t. But after everything I’d seen and learned about what he was capable of… If it meant you’d be safe. Well, it made my decision pretty easy.”
I faltered, suddenly unable to take a full breath. “Wh-what are you saying?”
Nick nodded once, eyes focused on the road, almost like he couldn’t bring himself to look at me. “We located one of their nests up in Alaska a few months ago and burned it to the ground. Bobby was inside with their newest progenies while Gianna was out…recruiting.” Nick paused to pass a slower-moving car in front of us. “Gianna was furious to lose him.”
“You…you killed him?” I suddenly couldn’t breathe at all, and waves of nausea rolled in my stomach. The walls of the car were closing in around me. I needed to get outside. “Pull over,” I begged, my voice hoarse.