Relinquished Hood

by Kendrai Meeks

  I had strength this Huey could only dream of, but my greatest power in this moment was letting go.

  The wallet slipped from my grip.

  “Good decision, little girl.” His grimy fingers pinched on to my twenty-six dollars and pulled them out. The rest of the wallet he had no use for. The thief tossed it to the floor, leaving me with my student card and my Michigan Driver’s license, but somehow poking holes in my identity. He turned then, back to the old man who had finished bagging the money and was holding it out like a sacrifice.

  And then he was gone.

  I hadn’t realized how tense I’d become until, just me and the old man, my body relaxed.

  “Are you okay?”

  The old man nodded, shaking off his fright. His broken English shook. “I okay. I okay. You okay?”

  I nodded, then bent down to pick up my wallet. I’d barely gotten to my feet when the door of the shop opened again, the bells mounted on its frame jingling.

  This time I wouldn’t be caught unaware. My hand reached up to my braid, grasping for my weapon, only to find empty space.

  That’s right. You didn’t take it to the office. You are powerless. You will always be powerless until you take on your hood.

  Desperate to prove myself, fighting the mocking voice inside me, I swung my fist, another of my mother’s rebukes echoing inside my head. Strike last, die first. My knuckles popped as they hit a solid mass of muscle.

  “Gerwalta!”

  The werewolf’s voice brought me back to myself and to the moment. His strong hands took me by the elbows, shaking me. How was he here? Why?

  “Snap out of it, it’s me.”

  Without thought, I surrendered and let myself be caged by him.

  “I guess I was in mortal peril, huh?”

  Tobias managed a laugh while holding me at an awkward angle. “Even more than usual.”

  Chapter Ten

  “It was really nice of Mr. Aromdee to give us the dumplings. You know, considering the circumstances.”

  Tobias fixed me with a questioning glare, as though I just declared it was kind of the hangman to have given the rope as a souvenir.

  I shrugged. “I mean, we still got dinner. Just cost a little more than I was expecting.”

  “Just cost a little more than you were expecting?” he echoed as he set my backpack down on the kitchen island. “Gerwalta, what kind of hood lets herself be taken advantage of by a Huey? You could have kicked that guy’s ass. Why didn’t you fight back?”

  If I had hackles, they’d be raised. “He had a gun drawn just inches from my stomach. Unless he happened to be shooting silver bullets, I wouldn’t have stood much of a chance.”

  “Don’t tell me you haven’t had any anti-weapon training. Surely Red Matron wouldn’t make you rely only on silverwielding.”

  A memory of my mother staring down the barrel of a shotgun at a Canadian wolf who’d forced himself as mate to one of Cody’s distant cousins flashed in my mind. I shook my head, forcing the images away.

  “Think about it. Crime happens every day, but if a seemingly weak college student went all ninja on a Huey, you think no one would notice? Local media loves a David and Goliath story. They’d swarm. Do you think the vampires would let me stay at WWL then? Plus, Chicago falls under the yellow bloodline’s control. Do you think the yellow matron wouldn’t chase me down and kick my ass for getting so much attention?”

  “A Yellow Matron? Is she something I should worry about, being here away from my pack?”

  I shook my head. “As long as we keep our heads down, we’ll be okay. Consuela is traditional. She loathes cities. She’d only come up here if you were... unaccompanied.”

  Tobias shifted. “You mean she trusts you to babysit me.”

  It would be insulting to deny it, but I didn’t have to add insult to injury by confirming it directly. “Consuela likes me. Like, a lot. The last few times she visited Paradise, she made it a point to remind my mother that I’m as much a yellow hood as I am a red.”

  The wolf didn’t know what to say to that.

  “My dad is from a yellow bloodline that migrated from Spain to Argentina about a century ago. It’s almost unheard of for a hood born of a mixed bloodline to take rites in her father’s rather than her mother’s command, but it’s not unprecedented.”

  A steady drip of reason began to seep into his understanding. Tobias’s tension ebbed, his jaw softened. “I guess I can’t blame you for protecting yourself.”

  “Us,” I corrected, grabbing the package of dumplings and crossing to the stove. A pot that Tobias had put on to boil before my weird wolf-calling ability had made him run out the door had nearly gone dry. I turned off the burner and took the pot back to the sink to refill. “I was protecting us. Right now, the vamps have no clue I have a werewolf staying at my place. I get any sort of notoriety, they’re going to start looking at me a little closer. You know where that leads: to us being no closer to figuring out what’s going on at WWL, assuming there is something going on.”

  “Are we any closer to figuring out what’s going on there?” He settled himself at the table. “You’ve been there a week.”

  “I’ve told you what I know. Some Hueys are in the know, and I’m pretty sure the WWL vamps fear their being discovered. Why else give them those weird, pink-tinted glasses that block enthralling?”

  “I still don’t see how that would do any good,” Tobias mumbled. “Would any vampire be so easily out maneuvered by corrective lenses?”

  That had been bothering me as well, and I suspected there was more to it than I saw on the surface. “Oh, there is one more thing I found out today. There’re some executive apartments on the upper floors. I had to make a delivery to one.”

  “Executive apartments? A clutch living on site, maybe?”

  I hadn’t thought of that. “I thought clutches were more like highly-fortified compounds than luxury lofts.”

  “They’re on a high floor in an office building, with a dozen layers of secure zones beneath them. Sounds pretty luxurious and fortified to me. In the olden times, vamps tended to go for castles surrounded by villages or mansions in the middle of a city. The clutch in Morpeth had a block of rowhouses, even though they used one in the middle most. But in a modern city, especially the kind you Americans have that grew big in the last century or two? Living in a collection of flats would makes sense for a vampire, even if it does put them literally high in the sky.”

  “The design of the floor was definitely vamp-friendly. No external windows, no mirrors. But there’s one problem with that theory: the unit I made a delivery to had a Huey living in it.”

  A very delectable Huey who smelled like rosemary soap and who probably looked as great in a tux as he did in a towel.

  “Was he wearing those weird glasses?”

  “No.” He wasn’t wearing much of anything. “Maybe that’s something they only do at the office.”

  Tobias settled his chin on his balled-up hand. “A meal maybe?”

  “A bleeder?” I asked, supplementing the term I’d always heard used to describe someone who willingly allowed vampires to feed off them. “Maybe, though I didn’t see any fresh feeding sores on him.”

  “Vamps are smart. Maybe he’s fed off of somewhere you couldn’t see,” Tobias suggested.

  In my mind’s eye, I recounted the ample canvas of Caleb’s flesh, barely stopping myself from hitching a breath at the recollection. If a vamp could hide the evidence in what remained unexposed, they must have a terribly small mouth. “Doubtful.”

  The werewolf sitting at the table grimaced. “A Huey living among vampires, or even under the protection of WWL... There’s something worth looking at there. You should find out more.”

  Was the werewolf actually telling me that spying on Caleb would be beneficial to our pursuits? Well, how about that? Business and pleasure, all in one.

  “In the meantime, we need to keep you on top of your game.”

  My eyes closed, as did t
he prospects of getting to bed before midnight. This wasn’t exactly the kind of big city Friday night I’d been picturing when I’d left home last year. “You want to make me run again? Fine, but I need to eat first.”

  “Not just running. We need to do more than that. You’re... going native.”

  I wasn’t sure if he meant it as an insult, given the obvious. “I am a native. You’re the foreigner.”

  “It’s only ten forty-five, and yet, you look like you’re about ready to collapse.”

  “I’ve been living as a Huey since last September. Excuse me if I’m not as nocturnal as I used to be.”

  “That’s not what I mean. When is the last time you trained?”

  Oh, now he had to be joking. “We’ve been running ten miles every night since you came from Paradise.”

  “That’s not enough. I remember how fast Karmarov and Cynthia moved when Kara...” His voice choked up, before he pushed on. “Vampires are faster than wolves. Even if you had taken rites, you couldn’t outrun them. If it comes down to you facing off with a vamp, your only hope is to stand your ground and fight. Right now, you’d be a biscuit for them.”

  “You missed your true calling as an inspirational speaker, Tobias.”

  My quip backfired as the werewolf’s face screwed up, flushing sallow cheeks behind the dark scruff of a barely-there beard. “I’m not trying to inspire you, hood! I’m trying to make sure you don’t die. I’m trying to make sure you’re still alive to work with me and avenge the wolves taken from us. It’s bad enough you’re a nascent, but you’re arrogantly letting what little ability you have atrophy and go to waste.”

  “So you got a chance to visit my mom when you were in Paradise and get a list of all her pet names for me. May I remind you that a few months ago, even as a ‘weak and arrogant nascent,’ I was still able to run you down and tackle you.”

  The wolf in him grabbed control. Anger burned in his eyes, and I could tell he was on the edge of shifting from the override of emotion as he leapt up from the table. In three steps, Tobias had my arms over my head and my back to the wall. His canine teeth grew, elongating into twin needles that could eviscerate my larynx in moments. Instinct roared to life within me, a primitive drive to fight back: strike him, mark him, dominate him.

  Kiss him.

  “You only caught up with me because I was starting to sink into moon madness,” he growled, bashing my wrists into the wall to emphasize his power. “I was weak. Even then, I could have easily killed you if I wanted. Luckily for you, I decided that if I couldn’t appeal to whatever small sense of honor, or – dare I say it, duty? – lay within you, I was going to manipulate you through your body, to get you to help me.”

  “Through my body? What are you talking about?”

  He leaned in, sniffing at my neck. The proximity threw my pulse into overdrive, and not merely born of fear. I let my head fall to the side, exposing my throat to him.

  “That,” Tobias said, pulling back. “Do you even realize that you keep submitting to me?”

  Imagining the scene that had just played out from his perspective, I understood what he was talking about.

  “I just offered you my neck,” I said in time with my understanding. The practice was used in two ways in the packs. First and most obvious, as a sign between two wolves of any gender that one recognized the superiority of the other. The second, in the mating ritual for the female to show that she accepted the male as her mate, and was submitting to him. Cody made no secret of how crazy it drove him when I acted like a wolf. I didn’t realize until now how enticing it was for me, too.

  “Do you even realize how dangerous that is, Geri? You’re attracted to me. Beyond being fucked up, think of all the ways I could have taken advantage of that.”

  “But you were mated; you couldn’t possibly...”

  “I am still mated.” He cut off my words with a growl. “Even if she’s dead. A wolf would do anything... anything to save his mate. I’d even degrade myself by sleeping with a hood.”

  He let go my wrists, but held me captive with his stare. My soul withered. Raised to believe myself superior to the status of any wolf, I realized suddenly that Tobias had been raised the same way. I was a lesser being in his eyes, a pest that infringed on his pack’s freedom. He hadn’t sought me out because of his faith in my abilities; he had sought me because he lacked faith in his own. I was a last resort, and one that had cost him far more than just the love his life. It had cost him his pride.

  “I’m sorry.” The words tumbled from my mouth before I could stop it. Pride told me I had nothing to be sorry about. My own guilt told me better. “WWL is wrapped up in this somehow. Or at least, some vamps who work there are. I’ll figure it out. I’ll find a way to stop them. And you’re right; I have been letting my skills go dull. But you’re wrong about one thing.”

  The wolf raised an eyebrow. “And what is that?”

  “Neither of us have much experience taking on vampires. We need to know how to fight one.”

  “Remembering your experiences in alleyways, I’m forced to agree with you. But how do you suggest going about that? If you think that appearing on a local news show after fighting off a robber would be bad, I assure you that stalking down street vamps and picking fights with them would be worse.”

  I crossed to the stove and dumped out the dumpling into a steaming tray.

  “When the student is ready, the teacher appears.”

  Chapter Eleven

  A slip of cloud illuminated by the waning moon shifted the colors cast on the ground below. Silver hues with blue overtones danced across green leaves and an earthen base baked and cracked under the unyielding summer sun. I wondered if the vampire we waited for had ever looked as that ground did now. Memories whisked my thoughts away to my last confrontation with Cynthia’s progeny, Donovan, shortly before I killed him.

  My maker says hood blood is better than Neosporin for us. Told me not to come home until I had drained you dry.

  Tobias’s voice broke me from my reverie. “You sure he’s coming?”

  “He said he would.”

  “Yeah, but is he actually coming?”

  Unlike the werewolf seated on the passenger side of my old Chevy, my worry wasn’t about if the undead professor would show up, it was about whether the cops would. The state park campsite an hour’s drive from the city was closed for remodeling, but I’d been a teenager in a rural region once. I’d been caught by the cops a time or two in places I shouldn’t have been in the middle of the night, though those were cases of patrolling as a hood. Luckily, in a small town like Paradise, where everyone knew each other, at least by name, all I’d gotten was a ride home in the back of the cruiser to give me “a good scare,” and a warning.

  I didn’t know the name of the town we’d come to, but that also meant that they didn’t know my name either.

  Just as I was about to pull out my phone, we caught sight of a pair of headlights driving up the access road, toward the riverside campsite. Igor Karmarov must be a savvy investor, or have been putting drachma away since he was in baby fangs. The silky, black luxury ride he drove easily had a six-figure price tag. Any hopes for inconspicuousness flew out the window. His sweet Daddy Warbucks wheels next to my rusted-up Chevy? It shouted out something funky going on.

  Tobias got out of the truck, crossed his arms, and proved that, despite being a werewolf, he was first and foremost, male. He gawked over the car, his mouth watering as well enough as if a tray of venison steak had just pulled up beside us.

  Igor closed his door and hit his key fob. Two high-pitched, double beeps flattened in the humid air.

  “Mr. Somfield.” The professor stepped forward, offering out a hand. “I wish to offer my condolences and my regrets. Geri tells me you have accepted my apologies by proxy, but let me assure you that I’m dedicated to doing whatever it takes to end this madness. Unfortunately, for the moment, that means pretending I’m a team player, not waging an open war on my own kind.”
>
  Tobias’s mouth worked, jaw grinding over jaw, as he fought the part of himself that wanted justice, and the part that desired vengeance. “Thank you,” he coughed out, barely biting back any tears and feeling emotions so poignant, I felt weary in the wake of his proximity. Then, the wolf rounded on his grief, his tone leveling and his demeanor, businesslike. “We need your help, professor.”

  “So Geri’s message said, even though I’m not sure meeting this far out of the city is completely safe. We don’t know who – or what – may be lurking out here. By the way...” His gaze refocused on me, amusement teasing the corners of his mouth. “The number you contacted me from was not your own.”

  Was he accusing me of something? “It’s actually an online phone number my cousin and I used to use to send messages without our mothers finding out. It’s registered under the name Dora Knockers.”

  Even Tobias grinned at that.

  I shrugged. “We were thirteen at the time. I agree with you, Doc, but Tobias and I realized a problem we had, and you’re the only one who can help us.”

  With a furrowed brow, Igor stuck his hand into the pockets of a trench coat, which he wore despite the muggy conditions of a midwestern summer. “And what is that?”

  I swallowed my nerves. “We need practice fighting a vampire.”

  Igor blinked twice, let out a laugh, and turned back toward his car. “Out of the question.”

  Before I could take two steps in pursuit, Tobias beat me to it. “You can’t expect Geri to go into that office building full of vamps day after day unprepared. She’s spent her life learning how to fight werewolves. Surely you could spend an hour giving her pointers on fighting vamps. If anyone finds out why she’s really there, she needs enough know-how to get away.”

  “It’s not that what you’re saying is wrong,” Igor said as he wedged himself behind the steering wheel. “It’s that it can’t be me. I made a vow that I was never going to put myself in that situation again.”