A terrifying sound woke me up. It took me a second to realize that it was coming from inside my head.
It was my wolf. She was growling a horrible sound, clawing at my brain, urging me to get up. I remembered the pain, especially in my ankle from when that wolf had bitten me, but now, when I tried to move, I found it had faded to a dull throbbing.
But wait a second…hadn't that witch spelled me? Why wasn't I dead?
When I raised my head, I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming. My face had been right on the witch's chest. His blood was stuck to my cheek, and the smell! Oh, the smell was enough to make me want to die all over again.
I pushed myself away from him as fast as I could, but my body didn't cooperate as well as I'd have liked. My muscles were still numb. How long had I been out?
My wolf growled again—the sound definitely a warning. I sat up and wiped the blood from my face with the back of my hands and looked around. Three dead witches. The wolves hadn't returned.
But something was moving outside the door, and the sound was growing louder with every second.
Numbness forgotten, I jumped to my feet and tried to think. Whoever these people were, they were coming through the front door. Were they ECU soldiers? I hadn't done anything wrong, but every instinct in my body said that whoever they were, they could not see me here.
I looked at the dead witches for one last time and headed for one of the two doors on the other side of the room because there was nowhere else for me to go. The door wasn't locked. Inside, the light was off, and I left it that way. The smell said that nobody was in there. I closed the door and walked deeper into the room, but it was too dark. With shaking hands, I grabbed my phone out of my pocket, only to see the screen broken to pieces. But when I pressed a button, the light turned on at least. I was in a bedroom with a queen-sized bed to one side, a dresser with a TV on top of it, a small bedside lamp on a nightstand, and only one door on the wall opposite. No windows. Shit. We were in the basement.
I made for the other door at first, but then I stopped as if somebody had pressed a button to cut off my movement. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, just as the first footsteps sounded in the room where the dead witches were. By the sound of it, there were three of them. And by the smell of it, all three were werewolves.
Too distracted to notice much else, I continued to breathe through my mouth. Slowly, I moved to the door, and like a fool, I pressed my ear to the wood.
One of the werewolves was whistling.
"They really did a number on them," he said, laughing. I recognized his voice. He was the driver of the truck in the alley.
"Man, they literally tore them up," said another I didn't recognize, not nearly as excited.
"Don't tell me you feel bad about them." It was the guy who'd locked the back door before getting in the truck. The one with the strange animal smell, the same smell that had come off the four wolves who'd killed the witches.
"It's going to take ages to search this place," said the driver.
A clap made me jump in place. "Let's get to work, boys."
My heart beat like mad, but my wolf no longer growled or tried to warn me as I listened to the werewolves moving things around. I looked at the door by the bed. Where was it going to lead me? Probably into the bathroom. What were the chances that the werewolves didn't search the rest of the apartment?
Very low.
My two remaining kitchen knives were useless. I didn't know what else to do but try to…reach out to my wolf. I'd never needed her before this night. I'd always dreaded feeling her inside of me, and I always wished she'd disappeared.
Not tonight. Now, I wished with all my heart that she'd hear my thoughts and know that, on my own, I was as good as dead. I wasn't going to survive three werewolves, and they wouldn't even have to try hard to kill me. They could just shoot me from a distance and be done with me. My wolf was the only one who could save me.
But she was as quiet as when those wolves had attacked me. She still refused to come out.
It didn't make me angry. It made me sad. It was just another reminder of how little control of her I had and how much control she had of me.
"It's not here," one of the werewolves said, making my heart skip a beat.
"It has to be. These guys had it," the other said.
"Maybe they hid it?"
"No, man. They had it! It's here somewhere. It's just small so we can't see it." The man with the strange animal smell sounded panicked. Very panicked.
"I'm telling you, that thing isn't here," the driver shouted.
"What about this?" said the third.
"No! I told you, it's round and made of steel!"
A cold shiver washed down my back. Round and made of steel.
Suddenly, I was aware of my left hand. I turned my phone's screen on and looked at what was still stuck between my fingers, right where that dying witch had left it. Round and made of steel. The werewolves were searching for the thing in my hand.
Don't let them find it. That's what the witch had said. Had he meant these werewolves?
Probably. Nobody else was looking for it, was there?
"This is bad. Haworth is going to be pissed!"
"Check the rest of the apartment. We're not done yet," the driver said then.
And I knew I'd screwed up.
It was a second's decision. I could either wait for them to come find me, or I could try to make a run for it.
The latter option won. Putting the phone and the piece of steel away in my pocket, I inhaled deeply and ran to the door next to the bed without caring if the werewolves outside could hear me.
Behind it wasn't a bathroom—it was another bedroom, identical to the one I was in. And it had another door on the opposite wall. My only goal was to survive. All my thoughts had melted and reshaped into that single word as I ran to it and tried to open it, but it was locked.
The door to the room where I'd been hiding opened.
I stepped back and kicked the one in front of me with all my strength.
"Go, go, go!" one of the werewolves shouted. The door didn't give, so I kicked it again. And again.
"Stop!" they called, but I kicked the door again, and this time, it did open.
It took me to a corridor similar to the one that led to the apartment.
The gunshots nearly made me pass out, but the adrenaline rushing in my veins made sure I kept on moving, even when my mind was blacked out.
The werewolves were running after me, shooting at me, calling for me to stop, but I didn't. I followed the corridor to wherever it led me, and I never looked back.
I pivoted from left to right as fast as I could. I'd seen in a movie somewhere that I could distract the shooters that way, but a bullet still caught me on the left side of my waist. The pain didn't register as the impact pushed my entire left side forward, and I slammed against the wall. I caught my balance and began running again, then live flames poured down my hip. Logic said that that kind of pain should have stopped me in place, but somehow, my body kept on going. The stairway was narrow, and there was no light to guide me, but I had my nose and I relied on it. Hot blood slipped down my leg, soaking my jeans, but I knew that if I looked down and saw what that bullet had done to me, I wasn't going to be able to continue. The werewolves were still behind me. I couldn't afford to stop now.
I went through a door and out another. My vision had tunneled and I had no idea where I was, but I could smell the outside, the cold air and the River, so I followed that smell until, by some miracle, I slammed against a door and it opened.
The night air filled my nostrils, giving me a sense of freedom. But the sound of the werewolves' footsteps propelled me forward.
My car was…where the hell was my car? It was dark. All the lampposts had been turned off, probably by the werewolves, and I had no idea in which part of the complex I was. I had come out of building number two.
How the hell had that happened?
It didn't matter, though. There was no time to look for my car now. I needed to get away from there, and fast, before the werewolves got to me. I considered jumping in the river, but I wasn't sure how deep it was or if I could swim fast enough, so I continued on foot. When I finally saw the wide road that led back to Jersey City, I almost cried. My car was there somewhere, but to find it, I'd have to search. My best bet was the city. I could hail a cab or hide in a building. And those werewolves couldn't shoot me in front of the whole world. They couldn't turn off the lights of the entire city like they'd done with that apartment complex.
No, searching for my car was a waste of time, so I continued to run as fast as my body would let me.
Two of the werewolves had stopped somewhere. Only one was running after me, still shooting at me every now and then, but that was okay. I was halfway there, and in a few seconds, I was going to be safe.
But just as I thought it was all over and the shadow of the first trees shielded me, another bullet caught me on my right thigh. I screamed at the top of my voice and held onto the tree trunk to keep from falling. Tears left my eyes in a rush. I already knew I wasn't going to make it, but hopping on one leg, I crossed the narrow street to what looked like a parking lot half filled with cars.
The werewolf was still after me, and another car was approaching fast.
Probably his friends. I jumped against the hood of the first car in the parking lot and slid to the side. I thought moving on all fours was going to be easier, but I was wrong. My waist hurt and my leg was a mess. I couldn't even feel it anymore—just its absence, like it was already cut off from the rest of me.
I continued, dragging myself with my hands and elbows, until the werewolf was just a few feet away from me. The desperation drained the last of my strength, and my chin hit the cold asphalt. My eyes squeezed shut, and I tried to keep calm. I was lying between two cars. Maybe they would miss me. Maybe they'd think I ran ahead, and they'd do the same.
The lie made me smile. I was good at fooling myself. Very good.
But right now, even I couldn't believe that there was a way out. My body was too badly hurt. It was going to take time to heal, and even then, what could I do against three werewolves?
Laughter behind me. The werewolves had spotted me.
A growl in my head. My eyes popped open.
Could it be?
"Who the fuck are you?" one of them said.
I smiled when my heart stopped beating for a second, squeezed by that familiar feeling. The next second, my bones began to shift.
It was the first time in my life that my wolf claimed my body and made it her own without pain.
PAIN.
So, so much pain.
Had I died and gone to hell?
No, flames couldn't hurt this much.
"Stand still!"
The left side of my body was paralyzed. Something was moving inside of me, something foreign, like a snake slithering under my skin. I could feel it, but I couldn't move away because there was something pushing against my chest, holding me down.
My eyes opened with a jolt. Darkness greeted me. The smells didn't tell me anything. I was too distracted by the pain to listen—or care.
"Stand still, for fuck's sake!"
I looked down and saw the hand holding me. The arm attached to it was really wide, the bulging muscles strained. The man was holding me down with all his strength, and my rib cage was threatening to break any second now.
"What…what…what—" I was cut off by my own scream when whatever was slithering inside me pulled out.
A hand clamped over my mouth. A wet hand. A drop of blood slipped through my lips. A lump formed in my throat, calling out everything that was in my stomach. I don't know how I managed to push the arm off and turn my head to the side, but when I threw up, the contents didn't spill on my chest.
The taste of acid took all my strength away, but at least the pain was fading. I fell on the ground again, eyes closed, and breathed. Just breathed.
"Here," the man said, pressing something to my lips. A small bottle of water.
I drank like I hadn't tasted water in days. It washed away the sour taste of bile in my mouth, and the cold soothed my insides until the blur disappeared completely.
The pain was still there, but it was nothing compared to what it had been when I woke up. I pulled myself up, but I only made it to rest on my elbows because the pain from the left side of my waist cut my breath off.
"Easy," the man said, his brows narrowed as he turned his phone on and shone its light on my body. "The wound needs time to close."
"What the hell happened?" The memories were coming back to me, but they were still fuzzy.
"The bullet was still inside you. I took it out." He leaned away from me.
"You're welcome."
"What are you, a doctor?" I sniffed.
No, he wasn't a doctor.
The man was a vampire.
It's amazing how fast fear can overcome any other emotion—including pain. I sat up and dragged myself away from him. Vampires were nasty creatures. They mostly kept to themselves and rarely played nice with other paranormals. It was best to just keep away from them completely, if you could. You could never trust a person who depended on the blood of others to survive. Every living creature was made to survive, and there's nothing we wouldn't do for it. There's very little that could stop us, too.
Take me for example. I'd willingly begged my wolf to come out when I realized that I was going to die. I'd willingly given her my body—the one thing I hated about myself the most, but in the face of death, I hadn't even thought twice about it.
"If I wanted to hurt you, you wouldn't have woken up," the guy said, smiling, and sat back on the ground. Resting his arms on his knees, he analyzed me. I did the same.
There was no way to determine a vampire's age. From the day they were turned, they looked exactly the same. They smelled the same, too.
They smelled of deadness. Living dead, they couldn't get out in the sun and they were in a lot of pain when touched by silver. I should have thought about that before. I should have made myself a few silver knives to use.
But as naive as I was, it never actually occurred to me that I'd ever have to fight off a vampire.
"The wound's already healing. You're faster than usual," he continued, his voice light as a breeze. His face was on the square side, his dark hair cut short on the sides and longer at the top. Some strands fell on his forehead, shining like he'd spent hours doing it. His eyes were a cross between green and brown. Not your usual hazel. Something stranger than that.
He was very handsome to look at, but that was just because his teeth were normal, if not just a bit turned inward. Once he became what he truly was—a bloodsucking monster—all his beauty would disappear. His teeth would turn sharp, his fangs would extend, and he'd have the means to suck you dry until the very last drop of blood left your body.
"How did you find me?" I asked and finally thought to look around.
There was no point in staring at the vampire now. If he wanted to, he could snap my neck before I could blink. They were faster, stronger, better than us without the boundaries of mortality holding them back. I was no match for him. Not like this.
So I needed to search for a way out of wherever he'd taken me.
We were in a park somewhere. A few dozen trees around us, but about fifty feet away, I could see the benches and the marble statue in the middle of the square.
"I followed you," the vampire said. "I've actually been looking for you for quite some time."
That made me look at him again. "Why?"
He raised his brows. "You're the best finder in the country, and I need something found."
I would have laughed my heart out if I wasn't afraid it was going to hurt like hell. I was still sitting but frozen, afraid to make even the smallest movement. I was healing, I could feel it, but I still couldn't stand.
"Whoever told you that, buddy, I'm sorry to tell you, but they lied."
The vampire's smile faltered.
"You're Victoria Brigham," he said, as if he knew this for certain. I swallowed hard but refused to answer. "I've heard about you. You find animals for a living."
"Exactly. Animals. Not things," I said.
"But you can find other things, too."
"No, I can't."
"So how did you find those guys at the Palace?"
He was mocking me. I saw it in his eyes. Mischief danced in their colors, and he was trying to stifle a smile, too.
"None of your damn business," I said and I tried to stand up. Screw the pain. It was going to hurt anyway, but I needed to go home asap.
"Sure it is. I just saved you. You wouldn't have been able to get that bullet out yourself without passing out." The vampire's movements were a blur to me when he stood up. He didn't offer to help me, thankfully, so I held onto the tree until I straightened. I was right, it did hurt, but not nearly as much as I'd feared. I could even breathe halfway through without wanting to double over. Definitely a success.
Now, if I could just find a way to get to my car… "Thank you for saving me, but I didn't ask you to do shit. Now, if you'll excuse me—" "Hold on a second. You're not going to get far in this condition. You still need my help," he said proudly.
I smiled. Nothing I loved more than to prove people wrong. "Watch me." And I took the first step.
The pain made my every cell vibrate, but the vampire's eyes were on me, so I controlled myself. I got my shit together and kept a neutral expression. This man was a stranger—one who could kill me in a single second—and he did not get to see me squirm in pain. Again.
Not to mention that he was a vampire.
"Nobody told me you'd be an ungrateful brat, but I'll take what I can get," he said and followed me.
I rolled my eyes. "You're not getting anything from me."
"Sure I am. You just don't know it yet."
I really, really disliked people who thought they knew me. "You've got a better chance surviving sunlight," I mumbled.
It wasn't smart to piss off a vampire, especially in my condition, but what the heck. It wasn't like things could get any worse, could they? I was choosing to look at the silver lining. After tonight, I'd make sure that I was never, ever, ever going to allow my curiosity to make decisions for me. If I smelled something strange, I was going to turn around and leave. I was not going to search. I was not going to follow. I was not going to beg my wolf to come to my rescue, ever again.
Very valuable lessons, all of these, and I was still just twenty-one.
Imagine what I'd learn by my thirties.
"We got off on the wrong foot here. My name's Red, and I'm after the same people that were looking to kill you before you killed them. Well, two of them. The third got away."
I stopped in my tracks. My skin broke out in goose bumps. I didn't want to have to look that man in the eyes again, but I couldn't help myself.
"What did you see?"
It was the wrong question. With it, I'd confirmed that whatever he had seen was accurate. Not that I could trick him from believing his own eyes, but who knows? Maybe it could have worked.
And the vampire smiled. Fuck.
"I saw you running out of the Palace, and I saw the werewolves chasing you. You can't blame me for following you, can you? I was curious," he said, perfectly amused.
Pressing my lips together, I calmed myself down a bit. "What. Did. You.
See?"
"You," he said with a grin. "Your animal. It was spectacular. She's pretty extraordinary, but I'm sure you've heard that before."
My palm itched to slap him across the face, but I already knew I would have to potentially pay for it with my life. So I gritted my teeth and continued to walk.
"I'm a werewolf," I said, breathing heavily. "What else did you expect?" Trying to play it cool almost always got me nowhere, but I still had to try.
"Oh, no, no, you're not a werewolf. Werewolves don't turn into…that."
Curiosity raised its ugly head again. The question was at the tip of my tongue. I wanted to ask him what my wolf looked like so, so badly, but I swallowed the words whole. No more.
"Look, whatever you think you saw, you can forget all about it. I'm not going to work with you, or help you in any way. I'm going to go find my car, and I'm going to disappear, okay? And I'm going to pretend I never met you."
"Now I'm wounded," the vampire said, chuckling. "Really. My ego's bleeding. You can't really forget about me that fast, can you?"
"Sure I can."
He leaned his head closer to my ear, but I refused to move away. "Am I really that ordinary? I've been told I wasn't." The grin I heard in his voice pissed me off even more. This was just a game to him. He was having fun.
"Stop it," I said, no longer able to control myself. We were almost out of the park, and I was going to have to find someone to ask where I was because I didn't want to ask Red and make his day. I mean, who calls themselves Red?
"I'll pay you. Name your price—and I don't just mean money," he said.
"I don't want anything from you," I reminded him. On the inside, I was chanting, disappear, disappear, disappear. I had enough on my plate already. I was no closer to finding my sister because of a stupid mistake that almost cost me my life. Now, I was going to have to start all over again tomorrow.
"Spells, secrets, favors—I'm a very resourceful guy," he continued.
"I don't care."
"Everybody wants something. I'm willing to give a lot to find what belongs to me."
With a roll of my eyes, I sighed. We were about to step onto the main street, and that was as far as I wanted to put up with a vampire. I was thankful he'd gotten that bullet out of me, but I could have done it myself.
Probably. I was stronger than I looked, damn it.
No, my wolf was stronger than I looked. But still.
"Look, this isn't going to work. There's nothing you can say that will change my mind. Thank you for helping me, but I honestly don't want to have anything to do with you—or anybody else. Just…please. Leave me alone."
The smile on his face vanished. He searched my face as if looking for a hint that I was kidding, but I wasn't. And he soon saw it. His strange eyes lost their shine, and he took a step back.
"They took something from me, and I can't find it on my own. You're my best chance," he said, not so amused anymore, but not desperate, either.
"No, I'm not. Did you not see me? I'm not going anywhere near those people, ever again." Because next time, who knew if my wolf would decide to come out and save me? I really didn't want to have to find out. I was lucky to have gotten out alive, but this night was going to be the greatest "adventure" I'd ever have. "I'm sorry they took from you, but if I were you, I'd leave it alone. Whatever it was, you can live without it. Those people are dangerous. They're not fooling around."
"Oh, I know who they are. Trust me. But I need to find the man running the show, and he's very well hidden." Red stepped closer to me again. He looked sad but also hungry. I looked at his lips. They were really red and juicy, but whose blood flowed in his veins right now? Whose blood was going to keep him alive tomorrow? How long did I have until his fangs came out?
"I'm sorry, Red. I can't help you," I said, and hoping he wouldn't get even more pissed off, I turned around to leave.
"No. You can, but you won't." He sounded almost sad.
"Whatever," I called and waved my hand back.
"I'll see you again, Victoria," he said. "Very soon."
It sounded like a warning, so I turned with the intent to flip him off. Just for my pleasure. The look on his face would have definitely been worth the effort.
But when I turned, the street was empty. Red was gone.
Shit. It was bad enough that I could barely walk, but now I had to try to talk to drunk people with half torn clothes and blood covering me everywhere. Which reminded me: Red hadn't even flinched at the sight of it. A chill washed down my back. Vampires couldn't resist the sight and smell of blood, not for long. So how come Red hadn't attacked me when I'd been covered in it?
My hand moved to my neck to check if he'd already taken from me while I was out, but no. My neck was fine.
Cursing under my breath, I got my broken phone out and hoped it would work to make a call. It did, though I could barely see anything from the broken screen. I dialed the number and searched for a person in the streets, preferably human. I needed to know where I was and how to get to my car.
"Yes?" Finn answered after the first ring.
"His name is Haworth," I said, already regretting it. But the ECU was already on this case. Maybe they could do something about this Haworth guy while I continued to look for my sister. Whoever he was, and whatever he was doing to those wolves, it wasn't right. It was unnatural. He needed to be stopped.
"What?" Finn asked. He didn't sound like he'd been asleep like I'd thought.
"The guy who's doing the thing with the animals. I think his name is Haworth."
"How the hell do you know that?"
"Doesn't matter," I said. "And Finn? Don't ever tell anybody else about me again."
Knowing he was going to want to argue with me, I hung up the phone.
Two more pieces of broken glass slipped from the screen. Black dots filled my vision so I took a second to close my eyes and breathe deeply. I was fine. I could do this. I could make it all the way back home.
And then, I could forget all about this fucked up night and focus on my sister.