Claws (21 page)

Ty gazed after the van as it left.
“That was neat and quick. Good job, Vivian.”

Vivvie glared at him. “You knew she’d
come!”
“Vivian, she’s killed three people and would have killed more,” Ty
argued. “Yeah, we knew she’d come. We waited and watched for her.
She followed us from the bar.”

“Ty she doesn’t know she’s shifting,”
Vivvie argued urgently. “It’s just training she needs!”

“It’s too late for that, Vivian,” he
said sadly. “Remember when I told you how important it was to focus
during the shift early on? The animal could take over and this is
what happens. Dina can’t ever be like us, Vivvie. She’s
lost.”

Vivvie was crying by now, feeling
miserable to know Kevin and Lennie were dead, eaten by Dina during
her shift. She felt sick to know her roommate probably didn’t
remember even doing it. For that reason, she wanted to excuse her.
The grim look on Ty’s face assured her he wouldn’t.

“You said she killed three people,”
Vivvie said. “Who was the third?”

Ty looked away and refused to
answer.

“Who was the third, Ty?” she
demanded.

“I’m so sorry Vivian. It was your
friend from the diner. The black man.”

Vivvie thought of sweet old Salem and
began to cry, thinking of how senseless his death was. Dina must
have been waiting at the dumpster for food and attacked him while
in full shift. She felt numb to know her only friend left here was
gone.

“I’m sorry, Vivian,” Ty said as he
hugged her. “Now do you see? She can’t help it. She’ll kill
again.”

“There’s no choice, is there?” Vivvie
drew away from Ty, miserable to know Dina would be put down the
only way they could.

“I wish there was some other way, but
nobody helped her like we did you. Now do you see why I took you
that day?”

Vivvie nodded and just wanted to go to
bed, numb after knowing Dina killed Kevin and Salem. She just
wanted to curl up and think about her old friend and the boy she
went with for years.

Even if Kevin turned out to be a jerk,
a small part of her would always cut him some slack. He tolerated
her OCD and made light of it. His acceptance made her teenage life
bearable. For that, she couldn’t hold too much against Kevin. After
how he ended up, she’d like to remember the good times.

Salem was another matter. The old black
man had been one of her dearest friends. His loss made her ache to
know it was very much out of her hands when it happened. She was in
Denver then.

“I’m going to bed,” she told Ty. “I’m
going to the beach tomorrow. Can I borrow your wheels?”

“I’ll take you,” Ty promised and left
her to go to bed.

Vivvie unlocked her door and went
inside, still reeling to know what became of her roommate. It still
sickened her to think of Ryken’s crimes against his own kind and
the humans. Dina was being put down for something she didn’t ask
for or have any control over.

She hoped Ryken resided in the same
place as the demon now for what he did to Dina. Thoughts of that
made her fall into a troubled sleep. She was not surprised to
discover whose door she stood outside of. Her eyes were filled with
sadness when Jericho opened the door, standing aside for her to
enter.

~ ~ ~

Vivvie felt Ty’s eyes on her the whole
time they lounged in the sun. The beach was packed and they’d been
here half the day. She was ignoring his obvious interest as his
eyes slid over her in her new coral pink bikini, knowing it annoyed
him. He was rather obvious of where he wanted her to stay
tonight.

“Come back to the compound with me
tonight, Vivian,” he asked and his golden eyes filled with desire.
“You know how good it always was with us.”

She stared at him, too stunned to
answer right away. “I can’t do that, Ty. I’m married and I’m
happy.”

She wasn’t surprised when he came right
out and asked her to sleep with him. She could see he hadn’t
expected her to turn him down flat. His low, annoyed growls
reminded her how he hated to be denied something he
wanted.

“Another thing I could have taught you
was monogamy just doesn’t work for our people,” he told her and
sighed. “You’ll find out. You love Eli. I know you do, but it’s
like second nature for us to always want something else, something
more.”

“Why are you telling me this, Ty?”
Vivvie demanded, stung to know every word he said was true. She did
another drive by on Jericho in the night. He didn’t slam the door
in her face. They didn’t even have sex. He just held her and it was
enough. The fact she went to Jericho at all instead of Eli was not
lost on her.

“I don’t want you or Eli to be hurt
over what we can’t help about ourselves.”

“Wouldn’t sleeping with you hurt my
husband?” Vivvie asked and saw Ty look away, avoiding her gaze.
“What are you trying to say to me, Ty?”

“I saw a woman’s future months ago,” Ty
remarked and hung his head. “She was mating with Eli,
Vivvie.”

“Who is she?”

“The schoolteacher I sent there to take
Mara’s place. They met while he was here last time. He offered her
a job. I saw her in bed with him.”

“When did this happen?”

“It hasn’t happened yet.”

Vivvie frowned at him. “So, he hasn’t
done this yet, but he’s going to, so I should hop into bed with you
to pay him back for it, right?”

“He’s not going to change,” Ty snapped
and sat up on his chair. “None of us will ever change. It’s what we
are. Love him all you want; he’s still an animal at the end of the
day. It’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

Vivvie knew that only too well and said
nothing, stung to think Eli was attracted to Erin, the new
schoolteacher. She felt a sense of rage inside to know there was
nothing she could do about something that hadn’t happened
yet.

“You said the future isn’t set,” she
told him harshly. “You also said you could never see Eli’s future.
How is it you see this at all?”

“It’s her future I saw not his,” Ty
said quietly. “It was a flash, nothing more. It was enough for me
to know Eli won’t stay faithful to you. When you understand our
kind; you won’t either.”

Ty went into the water after that and
Vivvie reflected upon his words, tears forming to know he was
right. She loved her husband but she burned for Jericho. She told
herself she wasn’t cheating because they’d never lain together in
the flesh, even with a child to say otherwise.

She stubbornly clung to the all-too
human philosophy of monogamy. Eli loved her enough to try, but he
fought his nature to do so. Now she fought hers too. The confusion
this awareness brought on made her uncomfortable with her anger and
jealousy to think he would cheat with Erin one day.

They left the beach not long after
that. She tanned up nicely and took a shower. Troubled by these
thoughts; she dwelled on the futility of trying to have a normal
life now. She was feeling sorry for herself and shook herself out
of it, a devious light in her eyes. The future was known. It wasn’t
set in stone. She could alter it.

Vivvie arrived back and Eli waited for
her, a handful of daisies in his hand at the terminal. All her
troubled thoughts went out the window when he swung her up and
kissed her to the delight of the other passengers.

“I was hoping you’d come home wearing
that wig,” he whispered as they went to claim her
luggage.

“The wig had an accident,” she informed
him with a slight smile. “I seemed to have started it on
fire.”

Eli shrugged and hefted her bag. “It
was a thought. Glad to have you home. The kids are driving me nuts,
the cable is out, and I missed you.”

Vivvie looked up at him and realized
that he had no idea why he bought the wig, maybe some unconscious
attraction to the new schoolteacher he didn’t recognize yet. Ty’s
prediction aside, she knew whatever he saw wasn’t the way it had to
be.

“I decided I might take up teaching,”
she told him as they walked to her car. “Erin wants to go back to
Florida. With the kids in school and the others only months away
from starting; I thought I might give it a try.”

Eli looked delighted at the idea. “See,
I knew you’d come around. We can go catch lunch together every
day.”

“You mean I go catch our
lunch?”

“You’re so good at it, wife,” he
complimented her with a smile that melted her heart. “I would look
forward to seeing you there every day, Vivvie.”

“I’ll talk to Jericho about
it.”

~ ~ ~

Vivvie was delighted when Erin was sent
packing a week later. She stared at herself in the mirror, trying
for her best schoolteacher’s look. She finally opted for being
herself. She wore the same khaki trousers Jericho wore and a school
shirt.

She was nervous about teaching, knowing
she only took over because of her jealousy of what Ty saw. Today
was her first day and she was a bundle of nerves. Eli told her she
would do fine. The thought of facing fourteen children just like
hers made her unable to sleep the night before.

“Mommy, we’re going to be late,” Elaina
informed her in near hysteria outside her bedroom door, her OCD in
high swing. Being on time seemed to be one of her
buttons.

“I’m ready,” Vivvie called and turned
away from the mirror, excited as she went to get the kids in the
car. Margie and Izzie would be in daycare while she worked. The
center was down the hall from the schoolrooms. It was all so
perfect.

A voice in her head asked if she did
this to ward off Eli’s cheating on her in the future or allow her
own. Working with Jericho each day was not lost on her. He didn’t
seem altogether happy to know she was taking Erin’s job. He never
mentioned her coming to him while she was in Florida either. They
had a deal and she broke it.

She entered the education office and
set her purse down. He was behind the desk and didn’t look up. She
picked up the lesson plan and read it over. She was teaching the
little ones; her kids included.

“Vivvie, we need to talk if you’re
going to work here,” he finally said as he looked over at
her.

“About last week; I’m sorry I laid all
that on you,” she apologized. “Some of my friends died. I was
having a tough time. I needed to talk.”

“That’s what Eli is for, Vivvie,” he
reminded her with a disapproving look. “I meant what I said. I’ll
help you get Tania off your back and deal with this demon, but
we’re done. Don’t come to me anymore.”

“I’m sorry if listening to me cry for
my friends was such a problem,” she snapped. “Here I thought we
were friends.”

“I was your friend once, Vivvie. What I
am now isn’t what either of us needs me to be. Keep your ass out of
my dreams,” he whispered furiously and got up, eyeing her
indifferently before he went to his classroom.

It hurt to hear it, but he was right.
She needed to quit leaning on him for some things and her husband
for others. It was time Eli got let into her head for a change. She
got up from her desk, lesson plan in hand, and went to her own
classroom.

The day was surprisingly good. She
found it very easy to teach the ABC’s to her group. Her children
appeared impressed their Mother was so knowledgeable. Between
finger painting and recess, she thought about what Jericho
said.

He was right. She had to quit running
to him and go to Eli. She had to have faith her husband would
listen to her thoughts and fears. What did the future hold for them
if she couldn’t tell him what scared her now?

She was grateful when the day was over
as she collected Izzie and Margie. They used their gift to misplace
the daycare worker’s belongings and the woman was fit to be tied.
Her daughters mewled plaintively as she dragged them along on their
leashes, berating them all the way to the car.

Devon and Elaina seemed to enjoy seeing
their younger siblings receive a set down. The ride home was enough
to encourage sterilization. Now she knew why animals ate their
young, and cringed from using Eli’s favorite saying as they argued
and fussed until she pulled into the garage.

She was grateful when they all went out
back to play. She stood in front of the patio doors and watched her
oldest children shift and scale the wooden privacy fence. Izzie and
Margie were fast on their paws in pursuit.

One thing about being a Mother to these
kids; she didn’t need to worry about them being attacked by wild
animals in the woods. She giggled before she checked the answering
machine. It flashed and she hit play.

“Vivvie, this is Ty,” he said. “I just
wanted to call and tell you it’s done. I’m sorry. I know you’re
upset. Call me when you get this.”

She didn’t return Ty’s call, not
wanting to know how they destroyed Dina. She chose to think her
friend died when Ryken infected her. Thinking of the deranged
creature she became was too disturbing.

The phone rang. It was Jericho. She
tensed before she answered.