Cut to the Crone

by Amanda M. Lee

  “She says she’ll be here soon.” Sami fixed her imploring eyes on Gunner. “I really am starving.”

  He cracked a smile. “Well, if your mom and dad are coming, that means breakfast for six. Coming right up.”

  Five

  Twenty minutes after Sami placed her call an expensive SUV pulled into the driveway. Sami hopped to her feet and raced in the direction of the vehicle. The vampire, still hobbled, kept his eyes on the girl until she launched herself at the tall man who exited the driver’s side of the vehicle.

  “Daddy!”

  “You’re okay.” There was absolutely no doubt the man was her father. They looked exactly alike. Coloring. Build. They could’ve been clones except for the fact that she was female. “Look at me and tell me you’re okay.”

  The father’s eyes were red and puffy as if he’d been crying, and the relief he felt at having his daughter in his arms was palpable.

  The woman who exited the passenger side of the vehicle was a different story. She was blonde, icy blue eyes locking with mine across the expanse, and it was obvious she was coiled for action.

  “Your friend is hurt,” I said, pointing toward Rafael. “We didn’t do it, just for the record. We tried to help.”

  Looking unconvinced, the woman focused on the vampire. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m alive,” Rafael replied.

  She frowned and headed for the stairs. Rather than give me a wide berth, which would have been a smart, strategic move, she pinned me with a warning look as she brushed by. She didn’t even bother acknowledging Gunner. “Let me see,” she instructed while Rafael worked to protect his flank.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Let me see.” The blonde was insistent, to the point where the vampire gave up fighting and lifted his shirt to reveal smooth skin, which was just as tan as his face, and rippling muscles. Although the wound I’d gotten a gander at the previous evening had healed quite a bit there was still plenty of damage to contend with. “Hold still.” The woman placed her hand on the wound, a blue light pulsing out of her fingertips. Within seconds, the angry wound that had marred the vampire’s flesh had disappeared. “How much easier would that have been if you didn’t fight me?” she asked the vampire when she was finished.

  “Give me a break,” Rafael groused, sinking back into the chair. He looked exhausted. “Your offspring is fine, by the way. I protected her as I promised.”

  I cleared my throat to get the woman to look at me. The power that emanated off her was astounding. I’d never seen anything like it. While I should have been fearful, I was more curious than anything else.

  “I helped him protect her,” I stated. “In case you’re wondering.”

  The woman’s lips quirked as she moved to stand in front of me. It wasn’t exactly a smile. It wasn’t a frown either. “I’m Zoe Lake-Winters. This is my husband Aric. You’ve already met Sami and Rafael. If you helped them, I’m thankful for it.”

  The oxygen whooshed out of my lungs and I suddenly found myself breathless. “You’re Zoe Lake?”

  She cocked an eyebrow. “I see my reputation precedes me.”

  “Zoe Lake-Winters,” Aric muttered, his arm around Sami’s waist as he climbed the porch steps. “Winters.”

  I fought the urge to smile at his annoyance. I lost that fight. “I apologize. The stories I’ve heard always refer to her as Zoe Lake. I never really thought about it.”

  “Winters,” Aric repeated, sitting in one of the chairs without asking if it was okay. He moved to tug Sami onto his lap, but she fought the effort.

  “I’m too old for that,” she snapped, her eyes flashing. “I’m not ten.”

  Aric flashed her a dark look. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re still eight and doing cartwheels in the lumberyard.”

  “Well, I’m fourteen.” Sami puffed out her chest. “And I’m the one who took care of myself last night. I was all by my lonesome the entire time. I think that means you have to start treating me like an adult.”

  Rather than heap praise on his child, Aric snorted. “You’re my baby until you’re forty. I’ve already told you that. I don’t care how big you think you are.”

  Sami shifted her eyes to her mother. “Are you going to do something about him?”

  “Nope.” Blasé, Zoe sat in the chair next to Aric and stared at her daughter. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

  Mother and daughter hadn’t embraced, which I figured was a strategic move. Zoe wanted to appear strong, and given the things I’d heard about her, it was an understatement.

  “I’m not hurt,” Sami replied, slapping her mother’s hand away when she moved to check her arm. “Knock it off. If I was hurt, I would’ve healed myself. I can do that now.”

  “I seem to remember something about that,” Zoe said dryly. “Yet you didn’t heal Rafael.”

  Sami made a protesting sound. “I didn’t know he was hurt. He didn’t tell me.” She sent Rafael an accusatory look. “If he’d told me, I would’ve fixed him.”

  “He’s fine,” Aric countered, shooting the vampire an unreadable look. “If you’d been the one to heal him you would’ve been grossed out anyway. It was better that it was your mother.”

  Sami tilted her head, confused. “Why would I have been grossed out?”

  “Because he has scales under his shirt,” Aric replied, not missing a beat. “Oh yeah, the vampire you’ve been crushing on totally has scales under there. Go ahead and do that screeching and stomping thing you do because you’re freaking out. I’ll wait.”

  Despite myself, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. The show of family love was heartwarming, momentarily causing me to lose my train of thought. Gunner, however, was still on task.

  “I’ve heard of you,” he announced, his eyes on Aric. “You’re James Winters’ son.”

  The name was familiar. “The state senator?” I furrowed my brow. “Actually, now that you mention it, I think I knew that. I’ve heard stories about you as well.”

  “Ha!” Aric stuck out his tongue at his wife, although it seemed more like a reflex than anything else. It was obvious the parents had struggled through a rough night separated from their child. Now that they had her back, they were blowing off steam, and probably trying to center themselves. “I’m famous, too.”

  “I would never argue with that.” Zoe rested her hand on top of his but kept her gaze on me. “Who are you?”

  “Scout Randall.” I held out my hand. “I’m with Spells Angels. This is my associate Gunner Stratton. He’s also with the group.”

  “Your associate?” Zoe cocked an eyebrow and held out her hand to shake mine. Her smile was smug. “Do all your associates spend the night at your cabin?”

  “How do you know he spent the night?”

  “Because that’s his vehicle.” She tipped her head toward the truck parked next to the porch. “It’s cool to the touch. I know because I checked when I walked by. There’s also a layer of dew on it, which means it was here all night.”

  I smirked. “All the stories mention how powerful you are. I didn’t realize you were also a world-class sleuth.”

  Zoe’s smile widened and she pointed it at her husband. “Ha! Did you hear that? I’m a genius.”

  “Oh, well good,” said Aric. “There’s nothing I love better than listening to you when you’re riding high on the ego wave.”

  For her part, Sami seemed focused on Rafael. She kept staring at his side, as if she expected his wound to spontaneously open again.

  “What are you looking at?” Rafael queried, frustration evident.

  “I want to see your scales.” Sami’s voice was low. “I want to see if they’re really gross.”

  Rafael darted a glare over the girl’s head and focused on her father. “Nice. I guess the fact that I was ready to sacrifice myself for your child last night doesn’t count for anything, huh?”

  Aric merely shrugged. “You’re clearly fine. If you need to cry, I’m sure our new friends have some Kleenex
.”

  Rafael rolled his eyes. “I have no idea why I spend time with you people. It takes me three months to detox from the snark each and every time.”

  “You’re addicted to us,” Zoe replied, her attention drifting back to Sami. “Stop staring at him,” she ordered. “He doesn’t have scales. Your father just said that to mess with you.”

  Sami’s brown eyes were narrowed when they landed on Aric. “That’s not nice.”

  “Neither is the fact that you have a crush on a vampire. You’re breaking your father’s heart.”

  Sami chewed on her lip, glaring at him. “I don’t have a crush on him anymore.”

  “No?” Aric looked relieved. “That’s good. Just keep picturing those scales.”

  Sami shook her head. “It’s not because of that. I’ve just been thinking about it. He liked Mom when you guys were young. I know that was fifty years ago, but it’s still gross. I’ve decided to set my sights higher.” Her gaze drifted to Gunner and she flashed him a smile. “Much, much higher.”

  Aric scowled, glaring at the other male shifter in attendance. “She’s fourteen,” he warned. “I’ll crack your skull open.”

  Despite the serious nature in which the threat was issued, Gunner barked out a laugh. “I think I can manage to refrain from going after a child. For the record, they were in real trouble when we intervened last night. They’re lucky we heard them because we were in bed.”

  Aric sobered and nodded. “Thank you for saving my child.”

  “And me,” Rafael added.

  Aric shot him a look and shook his head. “As I said, thank you for saving my child.”

  “Thank you for saving both of them,” Zoe clarified, shooting her husband a warning look. “We were looking for a cave and got separated in the woods. The vampires ambushed us and Aric and I had no choice but to send them away.”

  “I would think you’re more than capable of taking on five vampires,” I argued. “I mean, the stories I’ve heard about you are amazing. Like, I heard you took down an entire academy when you were in college.” I’d heard a lot more than that but didn’t want to put her on the spot.

  “I thought I took down an academy in college,” Zoe corrected. “We went on with our lives, got married, and had a child. We thought it was all behind us ... until it wasn’t.”

  “You’re the one who razed Covenant College.” It wasn’t a question. I’d already heard the whispers and knew it to be true. To my utter surprise, though, she shook her head. “No?”

  “We were there, but I didn’t raze the college.”

  “Who did?”

  She hesitated and then held out her hands. “I don’t believe I’m at liberty to say. I have friends from all around, though. That’s all you need to know.”

  “People say the buildings were completely torn down, the students removed, and the entire plot of land returned to a natural state within the spate of an hour. Whoever did that possessed powerful magic.”

  “I may be strong, but I can’t manage that.”

  “Besides, she almost died before that happened and when the college was flattened, her and my dad were in bed telling each other how much they loved each other,” Sami volunteered, her eyes on Gunner. She obviously liked what she saw, which left me amused rather than territorial. “She couldn’t have flattened the college even if she wanted to.”

  Well, that was interesting. I hadn’t heard about anyone being with them. “The plot thickens.”

  “It was a god,” Sami said out of nowhere.

  Zoe shot her daughter a dark look. “You have the biggest mouth in the world. Has anybody ever told you that?”

  Sami made a face. “Oh, no. You have the biggest mouth in the world. You’re the one who told my art teacher that I wasn’t allowed to draw nude people in class because I got too excited when I thought about it. He actually believed I had a problem even though you told him that to embarrass me.”

  Zoe was unbothered by the charge. “I told you what would happen if you blocked me on Facebook again. You didn’t believe me.”

  “Ugh.” Sami stomped her foot and threw her head back, staring at the overhang. “I hate my life.”

  “Yes, you’ve been horribly mistreated.” Aric inclined his head toward the open seat next to Rafael. “Sit next to your scaly boyfriend and let your mother and I speak to these nice people. We have a few things to discuss, including the fact that there were a lot more than five vampires out there last night. There were at least fifty, and five were all that got through us to chase Rafael and Sami.”

  “Fifty?” I was flabbergasted at the thought. I was also determined to circle back around to the god conversation at some point. That was too juicy to ignore. “I don’t understand. Why were you looking for a cave?”

  “We … heard things,” Zoe replied, rubbing the palms of her hands against her knees. “We live a few hours south of here, about two hours from where Covenant College used to be. After the college fell, people were interested in figuring out how we managed what we did.”

  “We didn’t volunteer the information about having help,” Aric explained, his hand on his wife’s neck so he could rub at the tension he clearly thought she was carrying. “People assumed it, and we let them because it’s best for Sami if Zoe’s mystique continues to grow. It’s been a quiet two years. Well, until a few days ago.”

  “What happened a few days ago?”

  “Our house was overrun by vampires.” Zoe informed me. “They came from all over. Luckily, Rafael showed up to warn us a few hours before so we weren’t there when they hit. They followed us, though.”

  I flicked my eyes to the vampire, who was busy braiding the girl’s hair. He was obviously fond of the child, enough so that he knew how to keep her calm, and that her parents trusted him with her life. “How did you know?”

  “I keep my ear to the ground,” Rafael replied, breaking off a few flowers from the pot on the railing and adding them to his masterpiece. “The vampires in the area have been up in arms for years regarding what happened at the college. You must understand, anything left on the grounds when it was razed was destroyed.”

  I was taken aback. “Including humans?”

  Aric shook his head. “We got most of the humans out. Actually, the local police handled that for us. No one bothered with the underground paranormal hideouts, though.”

  “We wanted them to fall,” Zoe explained. “We wanted everything there to fall. The place was evil and it attracted evil.”

  I nodded in understanding. “Your magic was a beacon. People wanted to take it from you. The college attracted the sort of creatures who constantly wanted to move on you.”

  Zoe nodded. “They moved on us so many times I’ve lost count. We thought it was over when the college fell. Apparently, there are still pockets to clean up.”

  Aric leaned closer to his wife and kissed her temple. “They’re small pockets, baby. We’ll handle it.”

  She forced a smile that didn’t make it all the way to her eyes. “I know. I’m just tired after last night. I’ll bounce back.” She squeezed his knee. “Rafael heard whispers in the vampire community and he came to warn us. The thing is, he also heard another thing regarding the vampires, that they were being led by a faction out of Hawthorne Hollow. That’s why we came here, to take the battle to the source.”

  Now it was my turn to frown. “You heard that the vampires who attacked you had ties to vampires up here?” I darted my eyes to Gunner, who looked as worried as I felt.

  Zoe nodded. “I don’t suppose you know of a vampire stronghold up here, do you?”

  “Just one. We destroyed it two weeks ago.”

  “Scout destroyed it,” Gunner corrected. “They were taking over the town, trying to turn people left and right. They went after one of my good friends. She had prior knowledge of the master and she took him down.”

  “Master?” Rafael stirred. “Did he use that word or did you assign it to him?”

  “His minion called him mas
ter. I met him when I was a kid, in a park down by Detroit. He tried to entice me then, but I was late getting home and I basically made fun of him and kept going. Apparently there was another young woman who he did get, and he enslaved her for a long time. We freed her when we took out the vampires.”

  Zoe leaned forward, intrigued. “How many of them were there?”

  I held out my hands. “I don’t know. They were in the basement. We’re not even sure how they got there without anybody knowing. There were multiple vaults and the vampires were locked away for the afternoon. I burned everything to the ground.”

  “Good.” Zoe’s smile was grim. “What happened to the others, the ones they were trying to enslave?”

  “They weren’t fully turned. They really didn’t want a vampire army as much as they wanted human slaves to use as shields, people who could walk around during the day.”

  Zoe nodded, absorbing the news. “I don’t suppose you can show me to this house you burned down?”

  “Sure. We were going to have breakfast first. Sami is starving.”

  “I am.” Forlorn, Sami turned to her father. “I was stuck in the woods alone all night, under a dome. I’m so hungry I think I might be dying.”

  Amusement lit Aric’s features and he flicked his gaze to his wife. “She gets that manipulative thing from you.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re not hungry.” Zoe was nonchalant. “I think we could all use some breakfast, and then we’ll get to work.”

  “Yay!” Sami clapped her hands. “I’ll sit next to Gunner at breakfast. He’s a wolf and you’re always saying I should learn more about our people, Dad.”

  Aric rolled his eyes. “It’s going to be one boy after another for the rest of my life. I just know it.”

  Zoe squeezed his wrist. “Look at it this way, at least Gunner is hundreds of years younger than her last crush.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  Six

  After breakfast, we decided to break into teams.

  “I want to check out the local pack,” Aric told his wife while she made a series of eye-rolling expressions that would have been better suited for her daughter’s face.