I furrowed my brow. That didn’t sound good to me, and if he was right, I didn’t want to be in a pack either. But it didn’t feel right to me. Some instinctive part of me would be soothed in a pack, I could sense that. Maybe he couldn’t understand. He wasn’t a wolf. Still, I was a bit surprised at the force of his response. I arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t think you much cared. I’m a favor, a means to an end, right?”
“Yeah, well…” He looked me over, and his gaze seemed to linger a little too long at the place where my shirt hit the tops of my thighs—which, admittedly was barely covering things that needed covered. He cleared his throat and looked away. “I promised your sister I’d make sure you were safe. I keep my word.” He squared his shoulders. “Now, if you don’t mind, it would be easier to burn these bloodhounds if I didn’t have to stop every two seconds and answer your questions.”
“Sorry,” I muttered.
We were quiet as he finished with the remaining few bodies, which he heaped onto the pyre.
I thought about calling my sister on my phone, but I didn’t want to talk to her about Landon while Landon was in earshot, so I didn’t. I waited and watched.
When he was finished, he went over to pick up a backpack, which wasn’t like the backpack I’d used for my books in college, but was more like something used for camping. He unzipped it and rummaged through until he yanked out a long black cloak. Wordlessly, he handed it to me.
I put it on. It had clasps in the front so that I was covered. It was nice not to be half-naked. Warmer too. Now, if only I hadn’t lost my shoes.
But Landon surprised me by producing those as well. They had been a little damaged when I shifted, but they were still wearable. I put them on, grateful.
“We need to stay until the fires burn down,” he told me. “Then we’ll be on our way.”
“But where are we going?” I said.
“Someplace safe,” he said.
* * *
The house seemed to appear out of nowhere. One moment, we were hiking through a dense woods, and there didn’t seem to be anything around us but underbrush and trees.
And then Landon stopped and ran his fingers over the knots on an old gnarled tree, and… there it was.
It had to have been hidden by magic, like he had explained before. Some enchantment kept it hidden, but Landon knew the way to lift it.
The house was practically a mansion. It had a high pointed roof, two stories, and a wraparound porch. There was a pool and a tennis court, and the lawn stretching around the place was immaculately landscaped. I wondered if this was how Hansel and Gretel would have felt, coming upon the gingerbread house in the middle of the forest.
I was awed and stopped to take it all in.
But Landon kept trudging forward as if it was all nothing special. He was starting up the driveway to the house, which seemed to be connected to a road in the woods. An actual road, paved and everything. Why hadn’t I seen that before? Were the roads spelled too? Maybe there was a whole hidden civilization out in these woods.
I hurried to catch up to Landon. “Where are we? What is this place?”
“Anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”
“I haven’t said a word in hours.”
“It’s still too much,” he said.
I let out an annoyed sigh. I was beginning to realize that I liked him better compelled. It had been a real improvement on his personality. “I don’t think it’s too much to ask where you’re taking me.”
“We’re going to be there in two seconds. You can ask Vivia all your annoying questions. I’m talked out from this morning.”
“Who’s Vivia?”
“What part of ‘talked out’ isn’t making sense to you?”
“Oh, fang you very much.”
He just smirked.
But I didn’t say anything else, and we eventually made our way up to the front porch. We didn’t even have to knock on the door. We’d obviously been seen walking up to the house, and someone opened the door to us.
It was a woman in her mid-forties or early fifties. She had long black hair with streaks of gray in it, and she was wearing a burgundy tunic over a pair of leggings. She was tall and regal, but yet also seemed welcoming and warm. I liked her instantly.
But then she turned her gaze onto Landon, and her demeanor turned icy. “You.”
Landon spread his hands, giving her an insouciant grin. “Me.”
“You’re not welcome here. I made myself clear. I don’t care what you say. You’re a bloodhound, and you can’t be trusted.”
“Relax, Vivia,” said Landon. He gestured to me. “I brought you this one. I just want to drop her off and be on my way. I’d kind of like my cloak back, though.”
The woman, who must be Vivia, looked me over. She lifted her chin. “Oh, my. What have you brought me, Mr. Bowie?”
“She’s a new wolf,” said Landon. “You take in strays. I know you do. It’s not like you don’t have room.”
Vivia closed the distance between her and me and took my chin in her hand. She turned my face this way and that, scrutinizing me. “Oh, my,” she said again.
“Is that bad?” said Landon. “Please tell me you’re going to take her in. If you don’t, I’m going to be stuck with her for probably days while I hike over to the other side—”
“You won’t take her away from here,” said Vivia, turning on him, fierce. “You relinquish any claim you have to her.”
“Claim?” said Landon, making a confused face. “What claim could I possibly have? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Very good,” said Vivia. She reached down and took my hand. “Come, child. Leave this one behind. He’s trouble.”
“Yes, yes, I am,” said Landon, with a little bow. “All right, I got you here, then? Great. I’ll just be on my way.” He turned and started across the deck. Then he stopped and turned around. “Just, uh… my cloak.”
“Oh,” I said. “Sure.” I unclasped it and pulled it off. When I did, my shirt rose up and I probably gave him quite an eyeful.
He flinched and held up a hand. “Keep it,” he said in a strangled voice. Then he turned back around and stalked off the deck back towards the forest.
I gazed after him.
Vivia put a hand on my shoulder. “Welcome,” she said softly. “I’m Vivia. What’s your name?”
* * *
I had a million questions for Vivia, but she said that she would explain everything that evening at dinner, and for now, I should get settled.
The first thing she did was take me into an enormous kitchen with stainless steel appliances and vast expanses of counter space. She sat me down at a breakfast bar and served me cereal and fresh fruit, waiting on me—bringing me all the things I needed, even though I protested.
After I’d eaten, she took me upstairs to a bedroom, which was spacious and luxurious. It contained a queen-sized bed and its own bathroom with a huge tub.
I stripped off the cloak and the shoes and my tattered shirt and soaked in warm water until it turned cold. When I got out, I wrapped myself in a fluffy towel and relaxed on the bed. I could have fallen asleep, but I didn’t. I was still confused about everything.
Instead, I called Desta on my phone.
“Camber!” she said. “You’re all right? Mom and Dad called this morning. They found your note. They’re beside themselves. Mom yelled at me for an hour about how upset she was that you didn’t go to me to become a vampire. I told her that I’m not allowed to make new vampires and that it wouldn’t please the king, but you know how Mom is. She didn’t hear a word I said. Why didn’t you tell them face to face?”
“I…” I felt off balance. Why was Desta peppering me with questions instead of the other way around? “Mom and Dad will be all right. They have you, after all.” Of course, I was beginning to understand that Desta’s position was far from ideal. I was glad I hadn’t asked her to turn me. I wouldn’t want to compel humans. I couldn’t have blood slaves.
“Yes, I think it’s better,” said Desta. “You’d hate it here. I don’t think you’d manage.”
“How do you manage?” I said. “What is it that the vampire king makes you do for him, anyway? I doubt it’s all down to decorating his rooms.”
“It is, it is,” said Desta. “He’s too vain to force anyone into anything. Don’t worry about that.” She paused. “Landon found you?”
“Yes,” I said. “He took me to a house in the middle of the woods. There’s a woman named—”
“Stop,” said Desta. “It’s better if I don’t know. The king is strong enough that sometimes he can compel other vampires. If I know about things in the forest, he could get that information out of me, and then you wouldn’t be safe. Landon said he knew somewhere he could take you. I’m sure it’s a good place.” She paused. “How is he?”
I hesitated.
“Is he okay?”
“He’s fine,” I said. “But, you know, he’s sort of bitter and rude.”
“He’s been through a lot,” she said.
“Desta, the things he told me…” I took a deep breath. “You have blood slaves? Slaves?”
“Oh, it’s not like that, not really,” she said.
“So, Landon’s lying?”
“Listen, most people who are here come to the city willingly,” said Desta. “If a person is very much down on their luck, it’s a good deal. Free room and board and a life of luxury.”
“But a loss of free will?” I said. “It doesn’t sound like a good deal to me.”
“It’s better than starving to death,” said Desta. “Landon was different, though. I don’t know what happened, or why he was there, but he was never there willingly. I tried to make things right for him, but it didn’t work out.”
“Yes, I heard what happened,” I said. “But Desta, it doesn’t matter whether a person is there willingly or not. If you are…” I didn’t even know how to talk about this. My voice dropped to a whisper, even though there was no one to hear me. “Are you sleeping with Jack?”
“Camber!”
“Well, you can’t take advantage of people like that if they can’t consent,” I said. “You have to stop—”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“But Landon said—”
“I didn’t understand the compulsion at first, all right? I just…” She laughed bitterly. “I thought he really adored me.”
I was quiet.
“I can’t do anything more for Landon, do you understand?” she said. “Everything I tried to do for him went wrong, and now he’s beyond me. I want to make amends, but I don’t know how. I’m sorry for all of it. You can’t even imagine how sorry I am, how much it all broke my heart. I…” She sounded close to tears.
“It’s all right,” I said quietly. “Thank you. If it hadn’t been for Landon, I think I would have died out here.”
“The bloods are roaming those woods constantly on full moons, looking for new wolves. They’re always reporting how many they killed,” she said. “I couldn’t let that happen to you.”
“Thank you.”
“I hope it’s good for you out there,” she said. “I know you’ve always struggled. More than I did, I think. I hope things work out for you.”
“I hope things get better for you,” I said.
“Things are not bad for me,” she said.
But I didn’t believe her.
She cleared her throat. “Keep in touch if you can, all right? I really want things to work out for you. I love you, Camber.”
“I love you, too,” I said softly.
* * *
After hanging up with Desta, I didn’t feel a lot better about everything. I was still anxious about the future, and I was more worried than ever about my sister. But I knew that there was nothing I could do for her. I was no match for a city of vampires, not even if I shifted into my wolf form.
The towel I was wrapped in was very nice, but it wasn’t clothes. I didn’t want to put my dirty shirt and Landon’s cloak back on, but I was probably going to have to, considering I didn’t have anything else to wear.
Desperate, I went searching through the drawers and closet in my new room. I’m not sure what I expected to find. Maybe that the place was magically stocked with clothes in my size, as if it had been destined that I arrive here and everyone had been expecting me?
That was ridiculous.
But luckily, someone knocked on the door.
I opened it, still in my towel, and there was a girl about my own age. She had a duffel bag hanging over her shoulder. “Hi!” she said, grinning. “I’m Sinead. I brought you some clothes.” She patted the duffel bag.
I couldn’t help but smile back at Sinead. She had one of those smiles that was impossible not to return. I let her in.
She immediately plopped the duffel bag down on the bed and began tugging clothes out of it. “I don’t know if they’ll all be in your size or not,” she said. “I just pulled some things that I thought would fit, and I only got a look at you from above when you were walking up to the house with that bloodhound. What’s up with that, by the way? Why were you with a bloodhound?”
I picked up a pair of jeans and checked the tag. “He owed my sister a favor,” I said. “And these are totally my size. You have a good eye.”
She shrugged. “Sometimes I guess okay. Vivia has me helping out newbies with clothes whenever they show up. It’s, like, my job or whatever.”
“Really?”
“Well, we all pitch in around here,” she said. “We take turns with chores, like cleaning and cooking and stuff. I volunteered to help newbies settle in. Not that there are newbies who show up that often. You’re basically it.”
“So no one else comes here?” I said, gesturing around, which caused my towel to come untucked. I caught it in time, and we both burst out laughing.
“Go get dressed.” She pointed to the bathroom. “We’ll talk in a minute.”
“Thanks,” I said. I ducked into the bathroom and put on jeans and a t-shirt.
When I emerged, Sinead was sorting the clothing into piles. “These are the ones that will fit you,” she said, pointing. “I’ll take these back to the wardrobe.”
“The wardrobe?” I said.
“Yeah, there are a bunch of clothes there,” said Sinead. “It’s handy to have things around for whenever newbies show up.”
“And by newbies, you mean new wolves?”
“Yup.”
“Are you a…?”
“Werewolf?” Sinead grinned. “Absolutely. I changed for the first time about eight months ago. My family helped me jump the fence and get here. I’ve been here ever since.”
“So, this is, like, what? A haven for werewolves?”
“Wolves, witches, you name it,” she said. “Vivia’s not a wolf, in case you couldn’t tell. She has magic, though, and she helps us out. She’s like a mom or a grandma or a den mother or something. She’s great.”
“Wow,” I said. “I didn’t even know there were places like this out here. I thought wolves all lived in packs.”
“They do,” she said. “And wolves leave this place all the time to join the packs. But in the meantime, here we are.”
“Huh,” I said. I thought about Landon had said to me. “Do you have to join a pack?”
She considered this. “I mean, it’s not like there are werewolf rules that get handed out right after your first shift. It’s not like, ‘Thou shalt join a pack. Thou shalt not shift in expensive shoes.’”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “Okay, I see what you mean.”
“You can look through the wardrobe yourself, see if there’s anything else you might like,” she said. “I can show you where it is. Actually, I can show you all over. You want a tour?”
“Sure,” I said. “That would actually be really great.”
The wardrobe was a walk-in closet that was bigger than my apartment back in Cutler. I was stunned by all the clothes, all hanging up, organ
ized by size. It was crazy. “So, where do all these clothes come from?” I said.
“Vivia buys them,” said Sinead.
I took a few shirts and also found some extra socks. We left the wardrobe behind.
Sinead showed me all around the grounds. We went by the pool, which was closed up for the winter. We looked at the tennis courts as well. That wasn’t all that was there. There was a stable out back, and there were three horses inside, all jet black and beautiful.
Sinead told me that we could ride the horses if we checked with Vivia first. Also, feeding and mucking out the stalls was part of the rotation of chores that we all participated in. She said it was the hardest of the tasks. Most things were easy, like loading the dishwasher or keeping our bedrooms vacuumed.
Clothes were dignity, according to Sinead. When we shifted for the first time, it was as though we lost our dignity and our humanity. When we were clothed again, these things were restored to us. So that was why she’d volunteered to be the person in charge of clothes. She thought it was really important.
I tended to agree with her.
Sinead told me all about her life before. She had grown up in the town of Marton, which I had never been to but had driven past a time or two. She had an older brother who’d never felt the call, and she was the baby of her family. They were pretty protective of her. She first felt the call when she was away at college like me. But unlike me, she told her family right away, and they moved mountains to find a way to keep her safe.
Apparently, it was very expensive to be admitted to this place.
But as far as I knew, I hadn’t paid anything. Vivia had seemed surprised when Landon and I showed up. Of course, there was the way that she had looked at me, turning my face this way and that… I wasn’t sure what that meant.
After the tour, we stopped in the enormous kitchen again to put together some sandwiches. Sinead told me that there were televisions in our bedrooms, but that they were cleverly tucked away in cabinets so as not to get in the way of the decor. She said if I wanted to relax for a few hours, it would be fine, and she would come and get me for dinner.
A Symphony of Howls Page 4