Devvie, what do you mean he can read you? The tone of Roon’s voice had turned serious, cautious.
She could sense the importance of a prompt response so she talked quickly. Yes, he can read me. What’s the big deal? He can read me. And despite her understanding that he needed to know what had happened, she couldn’t bear to tell him she’d made love with Kent.
A long silence had her stomach crawling into her throat. Her bottom lip found its way into her mouth, trapped between her gnawing teeth. She waited, using all of her will to give him time.
I’ve gotta get to the Women. If it’s been broken, I have to talk to them. They said it wouldn’t break. Shit, shit, shit!
What women? What’s broken? As she shook her head wildly, she switched into verbal speech. “I’ll go crazy if you don’t give me some damn answers!”
Okay, Devvie, okay. Calm down. There’s been a spell. The Women, the Women on the Hill, they placed a spell on the Org, the ones with magic. It kept them from detecting you, from reading who you are. We couldn’t let them find you. We had to protect you, but if Kent sees, the spell’s broken, Devvie and I don’t know what that means. Their spells don’t break. It just doesn’t happen. I have to find out. You have to trust me, Devvie.
Her brow furrowed as she digested what he was saying. His swift, urgent words were evidence enough that he was worried. Her always calm, jovial companion was alarmed to the extreme and that scared the hell out of her.
Go, Roon. Go ahead. I trust you. I always have.
As soon as I know I’ll come back to you. I’ll get back as soon as I can, but until I return, tell Langston and Kent to prepare. All of you need to be prepared for anything. Got it?
“Got it. Yes.”
She waited a moment, knowing he must be gone but hoping against hope for one more word, an assurance of some kind. Finally she sensed something else, a flow of energy, a force behind her. She turned quickly and found Kent standing in the doorway of her bedroom. He didn’t speak at first. He just looked at her, examining her.
“Something’s wrong? Roon?”
Her eyes closed as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, urging the angst building up in her system to get forced out with the air. “Yes, he says we need to be prepared for anything. Come on. Let’s go to Langston so I can tell both of you what I know.” Then she moved past him, her shoulders slightly down, unable to keep discouragement from consuming her.
Smoothly he reached a hand down and towards her, slipping his fingertips along her arm to take her hand. He tugged her slightly and she easily drifted back to him, melting into the security of his embrace. “Dev, I want you to understand. I don’t say this easily and the meaning of these words–they…they aren’t just words.”
He hesitated, and she smiled, trying to ease his discomfort so he could finally get out whatever he was a having trouble saying.
“Devan, I love you. I don’t think I can ever let you go. We’re a part of each other. We are–we’re one.”
And for the first time, she understood auras. She saw his, felt his to her very depths. Yes, the greens Langston spoke of, with undertones of her yellows. Flecks of black sparked inside and she instinctively read his honesty, his complete laying out of his heart to her. There was not an ounce of doubt that the words he said were true. She saw it clearly, read it absolutely.
“I love you too. I wouldn’t have admitted it if you hadn’t, and if you can see what I see when I look at you, then you’ll know I mean it too. I love you.”
Devan awoke with a start, her body twitching as if to catch herself from falling. She glanced over to see Kent lying next to her on his back. His chest rose and fell steadily in sleep, with one hand resting on his stomach and one twisted up beside his head. Her fingers were curled in that hand and she carefully slipped them free without disturbing him. Before moving away, she took a moment to touch a wisp of his hair at his temple.
The clock said 7:27, which meant she’d been able to get in about four hours of sleep. Sighing deeply, she rolled over and out of the bed. After rubbing her eyes, she glanced a moment at the darkness outside her window. She found Langston and Jill in the living room, in easy discussion. The giant’s features seemed softened as he spoke to the giggly blonde. Laughing, her friend reached out and patted his arm affectionately.
“What’s going on with you guys?” Devan asked suspiciously as she approached them.
“Hey, sleepyhead!” Jill smiled broadly. “Did you know Andre’s the last member of some ancient tribe? Do you have any idea how old he is? He won’t give me a number. Shy about it I guess, but he’s an old dude!”
Langston seemed not the least bit dismayed by her friend’s silly bantering. “I hope you rested well because you have a long night ahead of you. Jill intends to–what was it you said? Oh, yes, to ‘put you through the ringer,’ I believe it was.”
“Great,” Devan muttered. She hated anything even remotely athletic. She was one of those people who didn’t seem to need a great deal of exercise, and whereas Jill had always spent time in the gym during their college years, she’d avoided it with a passion. “Do I get to eat something first or do you feel better about kicking ass when the other person’s nearly starved to death?”
Jill laughed again, throwing her head back. “Nah, I don’t mind. I don’t intend to fight on an empty stomach either. You have thirty minutes.” Then she grabbed a bag from the counter and headed for the door.
Nausea welled up in Devan’s throat as her friend left the cabin. Jill had to feed. Devan understood enough about vampires to know that, and while she couldn’t begrudge her friend the right to sustain herself, she couldn’t help feeling sick by the means of that sustenance. So much for food, she thought.
“Little one,” Langston said from behind her, sparking her mind back from its wandering. “What is wrong, little one?”
Devan shook her head and approached the refrigerator. She thought perhaps some orange juice might give her enough sugar to get her blood pumping. Ugh. Don’t think about blood, Devan. Just don’t think about it.
“Didn’t you sleep well?” Langston continued to prod.
“Why, did you charm me again?” she snapped sarcastically. “Didn’t you sleep? Or have you just been chatting it up with Jill, waiting for her to go feed?”
His laugh was loud and boisterous. “You are dismayed about her feeding. You should have asked her about it and she would have been forthcoming with information.”
Gulping down the full glass of OJ, she cringed as she brought the plastic rim away from her lips. “I don’t want to know anything about it. It’s better if I don’t know.”
“There are many sources of blood for a vampire and they do not all involve feeding directly from a human.”
Pursing her lips a moment, Devan looked hard at him. “You know, you guys have been throwing a shitload of information at me and most of it’s been about how horrible and nasty and vicious vampires are. Then yesterday–er…however many days ago it was–I find out that, when my best friend ran out on me in college it wasn’t, in fact, to cheat with my fiancé, but was instead to become a supplicant and get turned into a damned vampire! Now if she’s not out there sucking the blood out of some person’s neck, what the hell is she doing to survive?”
Langston’s face remained impassive and she sighed, grateful that he was wise and composed enough not to take offense at her rant.
“I’m sorry. I guess you were right when you said lack of sleep makes me grumpy.”
Nodding with a smile, he approached the kitchen cabinets and began removing items. “It is all right, little one. I have been known to cook a very tasty French toast, presuming we have the makings for it here.”
Eyeing him closely and marveling at his constant ability to shake off negativity, she nodded. “You should find everything there. So tell me. Where did Jill go?”
“I do not know that she has gone any where. Probably she is just outside taking her nourishment. The night that I first arrived, she was in
desperate need of a feeding and she left, returning with a supply, which she retrieved from Chambers Memorial Hospital. Generally speaking, hospitals keep a great supply of blood on hand.”
“Seriously? A hospital?” Flabbergasted, Devan cocked her head. “Wow. So you mean, she’s keeping blood…what, in the refrigerator?”
Langston gave her a coy look as he busily cracked several eggs and began preparing their meal.
“I just presumed it would have to be…fresh blood.”
“I am certain she would prefer it fresh. It is a matter of taste–such as fresh milk versus powdered milk, meat versus tofu. She has a made a choice not to become a hunter of blood hosts. As I said, you should speak to her. She will explain.”
Devan chewed her lip in consternation as she watched the big man cook her late-night breakfast. He hadn’t exaggerated about his talents. She was sure she hadn’t tasted such decadent French toast in all her life. Having forgotten her earlier angst about blood and feedings, she savored every bite with eyes closed.
* * *
Jill had always been an excellent teacher. She’d struggled in college, needing Devan’s constant prodding and tutoring, but when she knew something, she had an enthusiasm about sharing it with others. She exuded a passion that encouraged those around her to excel. Training her friend in hand-to-hand combat was no different.
That being said, she was also ruthlessly hard. Devan was certain she’d have numerous bruises on her entire body from the plethora of round kicks, two leg takedowns, axe kicks, and hip throws. Jill’s vampire status made her incredibly strong and fast. She sometimes would move with such speed that she appeared to blur right before Devan’s eyes.
“Keep moving. If you get knocked to the ground, roll away and get back up. Fluid. Yes, strike with the heel of your hand,” Jill urged continuously, never breaking concentration.
Langston kept a constant vigil, cross-legged in the grass as the two women sparred in the illumination of the cabin’s security lights. After a while, Kent joined him, taking a place beside his friend with a serious and concerned expression. He cringed from time to time when Jill would succeed in getting a particularly hard blow or wallop. Conversely, he applauded when Devan side-stepped an attack and landed a lucky blow to Jill’s shoulder.
After several hours with only a few short water breaks for Devan, Langston stood and approached the women. “Jill, what did your former training teach about making use of one’s assets?”
She grinned suggestively. “Why, Andre, what are you trying to say?”
“I simply mean that it is my recollection that most techniques encourage one to use all of one’s tools—hands, elbows, feet, knees, head—to achieve defense. Correct?”
She nodded.
“Devan, you have a very important set of assets. Use them.”
And then he bowed in a very dramatic fashion, motioning for Jill to continue their lessons. Momentarily distracted by her own spinning thoughts, Devan stood there a moment. As a result, she received several swift kicks and then went tumbling onto her back. She rolled away just as Jill had shown her, and when she did, she caught Kent’s eyes. He winked, grinning lopsidedly, then nodded a signal to her.
Devan understood. She inhaled deeply as she rolled again, and when she released that breath, she allowed it to expand all around her, raising her hair from her back and shoulders, blowing it all around her. When Jill attacked again, she used that energy surrounding her like a bubble and propelled it towards her attacker. The blonde was flung backwards forcefully and landed against a tree.
“Oh, my goodness! Jill, are you all right?”
Jill shook her head and shot herself back up swiftly, rocking her feet forward to thrust herself to a standing position. “That was bitchin'! Don’t stop. Let’s keep going.”
“But–”
“There are only a handful of ways to truly injure her, Dev. Don’t hold back. Just keep at it,” Kent encouraged, sensing her hesitation.
And so it continued. Jill would attack and Dev would counter, forcing an invisible wave of power against her friend. When Jill learned to adapt, jumping or crouching out of the way, Devan switched tactics and began firing little bolts of icy energy from her palms. Jill showed signs of pain, cringing and even revealing marks on her skin, but amazingly these healed and disappeared almost as quickly as they showed.
Devan finally put her hands up and threw her head back, breathing hard with exertion. “Okay, so if the chances are I’ll be up against vampires, and yet all I can do is spar, how can we ever win? I can’t hurt her.” Her friend frowned. “Not that I want to really hurt Jill,” Devan quickly qualified, but she turned and gave Langston and Kent a hard, querying look.
“First off, your friend is a very new, very low level vampire. Vampires gain strength with age, and also by feeding on witches. You should be prepared for much greater strength depending on your foe. But you are not trying to hurt Jill and your magic responds to that. You could probably do much more if you were actually under threat. That being said, vampires are not easily killed.”
“Yeah,” Jill acknowledged. “I’m just a baby vamp basically. A dhampir can kill me with any weapon that’s been ‘cooked’ with its blood. The sun could burn me up, silver bullets, ripping my head off–there are ways, but there’s also a reason we tend to stick around for centuries.”
Kent raised his hands and flicked his fingers to Devan in a beckoning motion. She trudged over to him with an exhausted yet pouting expression. He roughly hauled her down against him, kissing her sweaty forehead. As usual, Langston was watching them carefully.
“Sometimes you make me feel like a freak, Langston,” Devan told the giant, though her tone was affectionate, and the big man only grinned at her.
Then all at once they noticed that a quiet had descended around them and that Jill had wandered several paces away, her head down, her body slightly bowed. The three others didn’t move. They only watched her. She slowly stepped backwards towards them before turning to look directly at Langston. “Hey big guy, you set the protections, right?”
“Of course. As much to prevent people from witnessing the light show of Devan’s magic as to keep us guarded.”
The blonde sniffed, raising her nose into the air. Then her jaw dropped open and Devan watched in awe as her fangs descended. Before she could speak, Kent was tossing her away from him and bounding to his feet.
“What is it? Who is it?” he demanded, speaking to Jill but scanning the woods with eyes keen like those of a wolf.
“Miguel? Miguel, step into the light!” she called, approached the far corner of the clearing to their left.
Kent grabbed Devan up and shoved her towards Langston as he placed his body between hers and whoever approached them from the woods. “C’mon, vamp! Come out in the open!”
“He’s just their messenger, Kent. He’s not here to harm you,” Jill admonished, shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
“Que paso, Bonita? You smelled me, eh?” a dark figure said in an accent as he stepped into the illumination of the cabin lights.
“I smelled you,” she sneered, and it was apparent there was no affection between the two of them. “What do you want, Miguel?”
“Eh, you know why I’m here. You shouldn’t have left. Now you’re on the wrong team, Bonita.” He motioned towards them with his chin.
“Just get on with it.”
The dark young man laughed, rubbing a hand through his midnight hair. He turned his eyes on Kent when he talked again. “No chance you’ll hand ‘er over?”
“No chance in hell. Tell Adriel he’ll have to kill me first.”
Since the conversation clearly revolved around her, Devan thought she had the right to be more directly involved, so she shoved her way around Langston and to Kent’s side. “And I won’t go willingly,” she told him, though she could feel her stomach lurching even as she attempted to appear tough.
“If she don’t come back with me, then they come here. You got twe
nty-four hours.”
“Just Adriel,” Kent told him. “Tell him to come alone. He and I will resolve this between us.”
“Estás loco, man. You got a vamp, a shaman, and the faery-witch. You think your brother’s crazy?”
“He’s afraid then?” Devan challenged, a sly smile on her lips. “The faery-witch is too much for him?”
“Dev,” Kent hissed. “Let me handle this.”
“You tell Adriel that the faery-witch isn’t afraid of him. You tell him to come here and we’ll be waiting. And just to be nice, we’ll let him even the odds. He brings three others. His choice as long as one of them is Robin Weir. After all, I wouldn’t want him to be frightened of the uber-witch.”
Miguel opened his mouth and slid his tongue across his teeth and fangs in a suggestive manner before he nodded. “I’ll tell him. Good luck.” And he laughed as he dove back into the woods and was lost in the darkness.
“Well, ‘faery-witch,’ I hope you’re ready for what you just got us into,” Jill muttered, punching her friend in the shoulder as she marched back to the house.
“Dammit, Dev, you know he’ll relay your message verbatim to Adriel. That’s all we need is a pissed off vampire ambushing us. And what makes you think he’ll only bring three others?”
Devan peered up at him with a stalwart expression. Langston and Kent could both see her aura flickering wildly and strongly. “I know because of what you told me about him. It would wound his pride to acknowledge any weakness by bringing more players to the field. He won’t come with more than that. He thinks too highly of himself to do anything else.”
* * *
Devan found Jill waiting for her in her bedroom a while later. For all the silly and childish girl the blonde appeared to be, it wasn’t hard for Devan to recognize the hollowness behind her eyes. They had been the kind of friends who recognized such things in each other. She realized she must have somehow missed whatever had driven Jill to sell herself all those years ago.
“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t want that. It’s too late for that.”
The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Page 15