Shifters Vignettes: Rose and Mason

by Vivian Wood

  His arms came around her, hugging her tightly.

  “Rose…” he said, clearly unsure how to respond. Rose cleared her throat, then sighed.

  “Let’s go back to the blankets, okay?” she implored.

  After holding her for another moment, Mason picked her up and put her back on the stone ledge. Hoisting himself up, he shook the water from his body and retrieved her clothes. They dressed in silence, each preoccupied with their own thoughts.

  When they were clothed, Mason took Rose by the hand and led her out of the cave. Rose looked back briefly at the pool, memorizing the place she knew she never wanted to forget.

  8

  Chapter Eight

  Rose opened her eyes, shivering and pulling the blanket closer against the chill of the cave. Why was she suddenly freezing? Frowning, she turned her head to find Ian sitting across the cave. He watched her unblinkingly, making Rose wonder if he was hungry again. Mason was nowhere to be seen.

  “Err.. Where’s Mason?” Rose asked, unsure what else to say.

  “Dependent on him already?” Ian asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “No, just… um,” Rose stuttered, the vampire’s aggressive tone putting her off balance.

  “He’s not like you, you know,” the vampire said, arching a brow.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Rose said, crossing her arms over her chest and pulling the blanket closer.

  “All sentimental. Emotional. You know, human,” Ian sneered.

  “I never said-”

  “You think it, though,” he snapped. “You think that if you charm him a little bit, let him touch you in the right spots, that he’ll be tamed. That he’ll be like you. He won’t.”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Rose gasped.

  “You think a vampire doesn’t know what virgin blood smells like? You’re a fool. If he did try to rut you- and make no mistake, that’s all it would be- he would destroy you. Rip you apart, literally.”

  Rose gave Ian a skeptical look. Obviously he didn’t know that she and Mason had already had each other, and it definitely hadn’t involved anything remotely horrific. It had been… incredible.

  She heard Mason’s footsteps coming, and her gaze flitted from the cave entrance to Ian’s smug face.

  “Think about what I said, docteur,” Ian taunted. The vampire’s expression went completely neutral, which made Rose want to scream. Who could guess what was truth and what was lie with someone like Ian?

  “I got ahold of the pack,” Mason announced, looking satisfied. He turned to Rose and tossed back the cheap prepaid cell phone she’d loaned him. Apparently somewhere high up in the caverns there was enough cell phone service to allow both men to contact their respective families.

  “Good news?” Rose asked, covering her nerves and frustration with a bright tone.

  Mason gave her an odd glance, as if he could tell she wasn’t being genuine. But that was silly, Rose was a fairly accomplished actress when she needed to be… after all she’d broken the men out of the lab, hadn’t she?

  “We’ll have the full support of the Louisiana pack,” Mason said.

  “And a detachment from the Baton Rouge vampires as well. They’ve been searching for Legion outposts for months. By now they’re more than spoiling for a fight,” Ian concurred.

  Rose wrinkled her nose, nonplussed.

  “What’s the problem?” Mason asked.

  “It sounds like there might be a lot of casualties,” Rose replied, shaking her head.

  “Maybe human casualties,” Ian said. Rose flashed him a dirty look, but Mason cut in before she could reply.

  “Ian, enough!” Mason growled, his tone adamant.

  Ian let out a string of colorful curses, half of which Rose counted herself lucky not to know.

  “Kettle, you’re black!” Mason said, jabbing a finger in Ian’s face. “Jeanne, isn’t it? Human as can be. Sweet and innocent too, if I know your taste,” he spat.

  “That is not the same!” Ian roared, flinging his hands in the air.

  “Sweet little Jeanne-” Mason started, but Ian immediately cut him off.

  “Don’t say her name.”

  “Well, stop fucking with Rose then!” Mason bit off.

  Ian sucked in a deep breath, shaking with anger.

  “You’re a fool,” the vampire said finally, turning and storming out of the cavern.

  Rose and Mason were both silent for a few beats, each unsure what to say.

  “I don’t understand. I thought that by breaking you guys out of the lab, we’d be on even footing. But it seems like Ian isn’t much the forgiving type,” Rose said, frustrated.

  Mason sighed, walking over and sitting down next to Rose. He patted her blanket-covered knee, shaking his head.

  “Ian’s had some pretty bad luck at the hands of humans. It’s not really personal, he’s just stuck in the mindframe that all humans are bad news.”

  “Except for this Jeanne person?”

  “He’s more scared of her than anyone else,” Mason said, smirking.

  “He told you that?”

  “Hell no. But I’ve known the man for untold years. At this point, I can tell when he’s scared of something. And that human girl scares the bejezus out of him.”

  “It seems like he’s kind of projecting his situation onto you, Mason,” Rose said disapprovingly.

  “He’s just trying to protect me. Maybe you, too. Honestly, even I can’t understand him completely sometimes. Ian’s pretty complicated. All rough and tough on the outside, and yet he’s been protecting that human since she was a child. It’s like he clashes with himself.”

  “No one is really easy to understand,” Rose said thoughtfully.

  “And Ian less than most,” Mason mused. “I hope he didn’t say anything horrible to you while I was gone.”

  Rose blushed, dropping her gaze to stare at her hands.

  “Oh, hell. What did he say?” Mason asked, sounding frustrated.

  “Nothing.”

  “Rose-”

  “Really, it was nothing!” Rose said, raising her eyes and trying for a bright tone. Mason opened his mouth to argue, but Rose placed two fingers against his lips to shush him.

  “Let’s talk about something else,” she suggested quietly.

  Mason’s gaze dropped down to her hand and he nodded, taking in a deep breath.

  Rose pulled her hand back to her lap, biting her lip. Silence settled between them, and she sighed.

  “I’m going to go stretch my legs,” she said, rising.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Mason asked, his brow furrowing.

  “Nothing that a little exercise can’t fix,” Rose said, giving him a weak smile. Eying the two exit tunnels, she decided against the tunnel they’d entered by. Heading out the other exit, Rose quickly realized that the tunnel branched off wildly in numerous directions. Rose made sure to note each turn she took, not wanting to become lost.

  After a few minutes of exploring, Rose found a spot where the tunnel widened and opened into the cool, dry air of an open hillside. Stopping just at the end of the tunnel, she looked down at the steeply sloped side of a rocky hill. There was a lot of debris in the ten-foot slope between the cave and where the ground leveled out, mostly rocks and brambles. Still, she estimated that she could make it down safely in an emergency.

  Turning around, Rose carefully retraced her steps back toward the area they’d camped out in. Long before she approached the cavern, she could hear the indistinct rumble of Mason and Ian’s voices. If she had been lost, Rose supposed she could have found her way back just by listening hard enough. Sound washed to her in odd little waves, and she caught snatches of their conversation while she was still a couple of minutes from her destination.

  “-humans don’t…”

  “-like you’d know anyway…”

  “-pretty face…”

  When their words became more clear, Rose paused to listen.

  “We have t
o get rid of her. She’s dead weight. Surely you can see that,” Ian was saying.

  “I think you’re jumping to conclusions. She could be useful.”

  “You mean she could want to fuck you.”

  “That’s not what I said, and not what I meant. Your jealousy is showing, asshole.”

  “So you don’t care whether you screw the human or not, is that it? You genuinely think she’s going to help us… What, exactly?”

  “Not everything is about what we’re going to gain, Ian. Rose already helped us escape, and at great risk to herself.”

  “That’s not an answer to my question. And besides, how are we to know that this isn’t just part of the Legion’s plot? Maybe they’ve asked her to break us free so they can hunt us down in the field or something. Maybe they’re field-testing our abilities. Or maybe Rose is on our side, and the Legion knew she was going to run. Maybe they knocked her out and planted a tracking device in her arm and they’re just waiting for us to reveal where we live.”

  Mason was quiet for a long moment.

  “Gods, Ian. That’s really fucked. Is that what you’ve been doing this whole time? Coming up with crazy theories?”

  “Neither of those theories are crazier than a secret laboratory where a vampire and a Shifter were detained for medical experiments. My point is that we don’t know. We don’t know anything except that this is our only chance for escape, and we can’t afford to let anyone slow us down. We should just leave now and let her sort things out for herself. This is her own plan, after all.”

  When Mason let silence reign again, Rose scowled and jogged toward the cavern. The two men caught the sound of her footsteps from a distance, and by the time she emerged from the tunnel they were both turning carefully blank expressions in her direction.

  “We were starting to wonder where you went,” Mason said, obviously trying to sound casual.

  “Really? Funny, I thought you were discussing whether to just leave me here and- what was it- ‘sort things out’ for myself.”

  Mason’s jaw tensed, his narrowed gaze flicking to Ian. Ian’s expression morphed into an unimpressed smirk. Something on his face gave Rose the idea that Ian knew exactly how well sound carried in the caves, and that he’d planned for her to overhear their conversation.

  Mason opened his mouth to respond, but before he spoke both men tensed and turned toward the entrance tunnel. A few seconds later, Rose could hear a low rumbling sound.

  “Tear gas,” Ian said, frowning.

  Mason nodded.

  “Rose, grab your things. We only have a few moments to run. Ian, is the sun low enough?”

  “It’ll have to be,” the vampire said, already moving to the exit tunnel.

  Rose ran over and shoved everything into her pack, then shouldered it. Mason was beckoning her to follow, and just as she was leaving the cavern she started seeing and smelling smoke in the air. Rose picked up her pace, jogging behind the two men. Still, the acrid smoke thickened and hung in the air as if it were being pumped into the whole cave at once.

  Her mind raced as fast as her heart, and it didn’t take long for Ian and Mason to get a ways ahead of her. Suddenly things clicked into place in her head; after listening to their conversation, it was clear that Rose should make her own way from here. Mason might feel guilty about leaving her after she’d helped them escape, but she didn’t want to go with him if that was his only motivation. She should just leave, and keep Mason from having to make that decision.

  If she were ever going to split off without him following, now would be the time. In all the smoke and noise, the two sound-and-light-sensitive paranormal males would be overwhelmed and possibly not miss her at all until they were well into the woods.

  Decision made, Rose took a left fork to break off from Mason’s path. After following it for a couple of minutes, she came to the same tunnel exit she’d found earlier. Looking around, she saw no sign of Mason or Ian; they must have found a separate exit.

  Crouching, Rose looked out into the woods. There was no one in her immediate surroundings, but she spotted a blur of black and bright yellow just in the distance. Someone in a Legion jacket, prowling the woods and looking for them to come out of the caves.

  Rose slid off her backpack and dug around for her own jacket. It wasn’t the same SWAT-style Legion jacket, but it did have the same colors. If someone didn’t look closely, they might assume that she was playing for the other team. She put the jacket on and reattached her pack, pausing.

  What was she waiting for?

  She stood in the cave mouth for a few more moments, a confused sense of hope washing through her. That Mason would come up behind her, and insist that they stay together. That she didn’t get shot; that was a big part of it. That Mason would be safe too, and even Ian. She hadn’t sprung them from the lab just so they could all get slaughtered in the woods.

  When her heartbeat started to slow and she found herself still alone, she sighed and started down the steep slope of the hillside. She half-slid, half-scrambled down the side, managing to come to a stop right in a giant pile of thorns. Cursing, Rose extracted herself and started jogging, using the direction of the sun as her compass. If she headed sharply northwest of here, she would eventually find the dirt lot where she’d parked her rental car. From there…

  Well, she would have to figure that out later.

  9

  Chapter Nine

  Mason took shallow breaths, trying to block out the overwhelming and alarming scent of smoke as he jogged through the tunnels behind Ian. The slope of the tunnels was rising, meaning they must be getting close to the exit.

  The path widened suddenly, coming to an abrupt end. Mason skidded to a halt, practically on top of Ian. Sucking in huge breaths of the sweet, fresh air, Mason thanked the gods that they’d make it out in time.

  They came out of the cave to a sharp dropoff. Instantly Mason was concerned; he and Ian could make the ten-plus-foot jump, but no way Rose could do it.

  Whipping his head around, he turned to ask if she had any rope or other ingenious escape materials in her backpack.

  “Rose?” he called, confused. Behind him was nothing except billowing smoke, growing thicker and more putrid by the second. Where the hell was she?

  Mason started back into the cave, his eyes immediately watering and his lungs burning as he did so.

  “Mason!” Ian’s voice came, but Mason ignored his friend. Images of Rose tripping and falling flashed through his mind, of her being hurt and trapped in the smoke-filled tunnels.

  “Rose is gone!” Mason shouted over his shoulder, trying desperately to remember which way they’d come up from the cavern. The smoke bewildered him, rendering his senses useless. Gritting his teeth, he picked a path and moved to plunge down it.

  Hands grabbed him roughly; in his confusion, Mason struggled violently for a moment before realizing it was Ian.

  “Leave it!” Ian shouted, frustration evident in his voice.

  “She’s gone!” Mason repeated, trying to shake his friend off.

  “She probably found a better way out.”

  “You don’t know that! She could be hurt!”

  “She’s going to be fine. You can’t go back in this way. We’ll have to find her on the outside, Mason.”

  “What if she’s in there, afraid to leave until she finds us?”

  “The smoke will force her out, just like it’s doing to us. She’s probably already out in the woods, looking for us. If we go back in and end up dead, she’ll probably get caught by the other side.”

  Mason frowned, suspicious of his friend’s soothing words. He knew Ian didn’t think well of Rose, so his words rang false.

  Still, Ian’s words about the dangers in the cave rang true. If Rose was outside, she would be looking for them too. And she was smart; she wouldn’t be foolish enough to stay in the caves if her life were in danger.

  “Alright,” Mason agreed, letting Ian pull him back toward the cave’s exit. A moment later th
ey were jumping down from the cave mouth and landing in a lightly-wooded area. They hit the ground running, Ian motioning that they should cut north through the woods. Mason shook his head, pointing to the east and west to indicate that they should spread out and look for Rose.

  Before they could agree on a plan, a sharp crack sounded to Mason’s left. Looking over, he saw the splintered evidence of a bullet’s passing. They’d run out of time.

  Following Ian north, Mason wove a broad path in search of Rose. He attempted to search for her scent, but his nose was shot after all the smoke in the cave. The sweeping motion of his run was slowing them down immensely, and soon the trees around them were peppered with more shots. All the bullets went wide, but Mason knew it wasn’t long before that was not the case.

  Still, none of this worried Mason so much as trying to get eyes on Rose. He and Ian had plenty of experience being shot at and chased down; Rose was a medical doctor that worked in a calm, safe environment. She was definitely not equipped to handle this kind of action.

  10

  Chapter Ten

  Mason was close on Ian’s heels when a familiar sound arced through the air. A long, high howl sounded in the distance due west from their location. The howl was full of excitement; the Shifter who’d made it had found something very much to his liking.

  It could only be Rose. In a heartbeat, Mason had attuned his path to race toward the call. More howls rose, their growing excitement evident in the rise of their pitch and frequency. Mason’s mind flitted over a dozen scenarios; the wolves running Rose up a tree, corralling her after she’d tripped and fallen, or worse…

  The howls stopped suddenly, which couldn’t be a good thing.

  Cursing himself for losing her in the tunnels, Mason pushed himself to his absolute limit and flew past a surprised-looking Ian toward the Shifter pack.

  When he finally hit the clearing, Mason almost went head over heels in his efforts to stop his own momentum. A dozen males were in the glen, a loosely-formed circle facing inward at its’ prey. Mason’s breath hitched; he knew this pack quite well and could stop this before it even started. As he righted himself, he immediately called out to the group of Shifters gathered in the middle of the space.