Dirty Blood (5 page)

I threw the clothes on and ran a brush through my
tangled hair, using the rest of the time for makeup. Dark circles
ringed my eyes, and I did my best to cover them. Halfway satisfied,
I reached for the door, and paused. I really had no idea where Wes
was taking me, or who – or what – I’d be meeting. Maybe whoever I
met would be mad that I’d killed Liliana.

I needed a weapon- something I could conceal on my
body but easily accessible, if needed. I looked around the tiny
bathroom. The choices were limited. I didn’t think my razor would
do much good, unless my attacker stopped and demanded a haircut.
Makeup brushes and bottles of foundation littered the counter,
along with my toothbrush. Again, no good.

My eyes landed on the plunger tucked behind the
toilet. I grabbed it and held one end of the wooden handle in each
hand. Using my knee as a brace, I brought it down hard, and had the
satisfaction of watching it break off at the bottom. I snapped the
wood again, so I now held a piece in each hand, and stuffed them
into my back pockets, using my shirt to cover them up. I threw the
rubber end into the cabinet to hide it from my mom. It would have
to do.

~ 4 ~

“Ready,” I announced, stepping back into my
bedroom.

“What was that noise?” Wes asked, immediately. He
looked more curious than suspicious, though.

I hadn’t doubted Wes would have heard me and my reply
was dismissive. “Oh, nothing, I dropped my compact in the sink,” I
said, smoothly. “Eye shadow everywhere. It’s going to take forever
to clean that up.”

He raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. “Let’s
go.”

I thought about scribbling a note for my mom, but
then decided against it. I had my cell if she tried to call, and I
planned on being back before her, anyway. Her rules said that if
you were too sick to go to school, you were too sick to hang out
with friends. And even though I didn’t feel like Wes was exactly a
friend, I didn’t think she’d see it my way. Nor was I ready to
explain it to her. I closed the door behind me and locked it.
Turning the key in the bolt made me think of something. “Hey, how’d
you get in if the door was locked before….?” I trailed off as I
turned.

Wes was standing at the edge of the yard, next to
what I could only assume was his car. I guess I hadn’t thought
about how we’d travel. Maybe, after learning what I had about
mythical creatures, I assumed we’d run, or fly, or something
equally magical. Instead, he stood holding the passenger door of
the nicest and most expensive car I’d ever seen. The memories I’d
regained of last night hadn’t included this and I could only assume
I’d been too out of it to notice it then.

It was silver and sleek, and screamed speed. Beyond
that, I had no idea what it was but I gawked anyway. “What is
that?”

“A car,” he said, obviously amused.

I walked toward it, still staring at the sleek lines.
We just didn’t have cars like this in Frederick Falls. “I know
that. What kind of car?”

“Aston Martin, Volante.”

I had heard of the first but not the second. At his
gesture I slid into the passenger seat and he shut the door. I
inhaled the scent of ‘new car’ and reached for my seat belt as he
came around and slid into the driver’s seat.

“How old are you?” I asked.

“Old enough to drive,” he replied, turning the key in
the ignition. The car’s engine purred to life; even the sound of it
was sleek, like a cat’s purr.

“Is this your dad’s car?”

He looked offended. “No, it’s mine.”

“Did you go to school around here?”

“Homeschooled.”

For some reason, that was all it took to raise my
suspicions about myths and legends and gory B movies. “How old are
you?” I asked, my head cocked to one side.

“Nineteen.”

“And how long have you been nineteen?”

He looked at me like I had a screw loose. “Since I
haven’t been eighteen?”

“So, you’ve been on this planet for nineteen
years?”

“That’s usually what an age implies.” He had his head
angled in such a way that I couldn’t quite see his expression, but
it sounded like he was trying not to laugh. A minute later he
added, “What’s with the twenty questions?”

I felt slightly stupid for assuming… I didn’t really
want to admit what I’d just been thinking, so I said, “I’ve just
never seen such a nice car, especially driven by someone my
age.”

“Trust fund,” he said, keeping his eyes on the
road.

The ride was smooth and quiet and made me feel like
the tires were floating over the ground. Maybe there was magic
involved after all. Or maybe this car was amazing. He turned the
heat on and then pressed another small button near my seat. “This
is your seat warmer. You can turn it off if it gets too hot.”

I nodded. Seat warmer? Wow, my mom’s Taurus had two
vents on my side of the car, and I thought
that
was
luxury.

He navigated through my neighborhood and then turned
us onto Route 1, away from town. Light traffic turned into almost
no traffic as we got further out. Wes increased our speed and the
other cars dropped away. As leafless trees and winter-deadened
scenery rushed by faster and faster, I glanced at the speedometer
and gasped.

“Slow down!”

He looked over at me with a wicked grin.
“Scared?”

“No, but you’re going to get a ticket if you keep it
up.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“How do you know?”

He didn’t answer, but I saw the speedometer creep
down by a few degrees. I relaxed my death grip on the armrest by a
few inches.

“Where are we going?” I asked a few minutes later.
We’d turned off the highway a couple miles back and had taken a
series of turns onto various back roads. Sad to say, I didn’t even
know where we were, anymore.

“I told you - to see a friend.”

The back road we were following now had sections of
open fields interspersed with even larger sections of woods in
between. I’d long since realized this “friend” didn’t live nearby,
but I was starting to wonder exactly how far out we were going.
Rather than ask again – since I was pretty sure he’d said all he
would about our destination – I decided to use the time to learn
all I could about the new me. “You mentioned something about
needing to know what side I’d be on. What does that mean?”

“It means there’s a chance I could wind up at the
wrong end of your stake. And I’d prefer to know that ahead of time,
if you don’t mind.”

My eyes widened. “You think I’d kill you?”

His lips curved up in a wry smile. “You could try.
Then again, with no training it’s unlikely you’d make it that far.
Something you should think about.”

“Training? Why?”

“Liliana wasn’t looking for you. She found you by
accident. It’s just a matter of time until it happens again.”

“So you think I should train to fight …them?” I
couldn’t bring myself to put Wes into the same category as Liliana.
“Who would train me?”

“Your parents-” he began.

I shook my head. “My mom is not an option. I don’t
even want to think about what she would say if I tried telling her
a story like this.”

“Your dad, then.”

“My dad died when I was a baby. House fire.”

Wes didn’t answer right away. He seemed to be
struggling with his next words and I tensed, waiting for him to ask
me more about it but he didn’t. “I might know someone else.”

“Uh-huh and how exactly does one train to kill a
Werewolf?”

“Simulated fights, a lot like the one you had last
night. Running. Exercise. Staying in shape. Conditioning.” He
shrugged. “Think of it as UFC training or something.”

“Great. It sounds…”

“Useful?”

“Time consuming. I wouldn’t be able to explain
something like that to people. Besides-” My phone beeped with a new
text. I flipped it open. It was Angela, checking up on me. I typed
a response that I was sleepy and knocked out on cold medicine,
hoping it would keep her from calling, or worse showing up at my
house. The last thing I needed was for her to realize something was
up. I clicked send and snapped the phone shut again.

Through the windshield I could see we were coming up
on a section of woods again and I tried to push back the unease
that was growing within me. The area was remote and unfamiliar to
me. I didn’t want to think about how I’d get home if I had to leave
in a hurry. I shifted in my chair, trying to relieve the pressure
that was turning painful from the plunger handles against my
back.

Without warning, Wes’ foot stomped down on the brake,
throwing me forward against my seat belt. My head jerked up to see
what had made him stop so suddenly. A massive black wolf stood in
the middle of the road several yards away; even from this distance,
I could see that its head would easily reach my shoulders, maybe
higher. It stared back at us with yellow, unblinking eyes, and it
made no attempt to move out of our way as the car finally skidded
to a halt.

“What the heck?” I shrieked, clutching at the dash
board against the momentum of the brakes.

Wes didn’t answer. The wolf was staring straight at
Wes. It didn’t even seem to notice me. Their eyes remained locked
for a long moment and then, abruptly, the wolf turned and bolted
into the trees. When it was gone, Wes put the car into drive again
and we eased forward.

“What was that?” I demanded. My heart thudded heavily
in my chest, and I had to concentrate on taking a couple of deep
breaths to calm the flow of adrenaline shooting through my
veins.

Wes glanced over at me with a look of concern. It
made me wonder how much showed on my face. “Sorry if I startled
you. Nothing to worry about. He was a friend.”

I gaped at him. “That was your friend?” I asked, in
disbelief.

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t he move out of the way? We could’ve hit
him.”

Wes rolled his eyes. “Tara, we stopped in plenty of
time.”

“Okay, but you guys didn’t even speak. Why did he run
off?”

“I’ll be sure to ask him when we get there. Here we
are,” he added, before I could respond.

~ 5 ~

We turned onto a gravel road, surrounded by thick fir
trees on either side. Up ahead, the road curved and I watched as a
weathered house came gradually into view. It was two-story,
probably painted blue at one time, though now it had faded to gray
and was peeling. One of the shutters hung crooked, and looked like
all it needed was a strong wind to finish it off. Wes pulled the
car to a stop directly in front, where the grass edged down to meet
the gravel. Leading the way to the door was a path of flat stepping
stones, all of them cracked. The grass was yellowed and dead from
the season, though I wondered if it would make the house look worse
or better, to have a lush green lawn.

Wes shut off the engine and came around to get my
door. I let him open it for me and then fell into step behind him,
not wanting to be the first one up the path. Everything was so
quiet here, giving the whole place an eeriness to it, even in the
cheery sunlight.

There was no doorbell, only a tarnished brass
knocker. Wes used it to rap twice and then we stood in silence,
shoulder to shoulder. I listened for movement on the other side of
the door, but heard nothing. A minute passed.

Maybe nobody’s home.

“They’re home. Give it a minute,” said Wes, startling
me. Had I said that out loud?

Before I could ask, or wonder further about his
strange response, there was the sound of a lock being turned from
within and the door was thrown wide open. I balled my hands into
fists to resist the urge to reach back and grab a piece of the
plunger from my back pocket. At the same time, a strange tingling
sensation sent a shiver down my back and over my arms.

A man stood in the doorway, though he was bigger than
any human I’d ever seen. He reminded me of a bear, with his broad
chest and huge shoulders. A bushy beard gone gray covered most of
his face and the same brown-gray color covered his head in bushy
tufts. He took in the two of us and startled me by breaking into a
wide smile.

“Wes, my boy! How the hell are ya?” He grabbed Wes
into a hug and patted his back hard enough to rival the
Heimlich.

Wes was smiling as he pulled away. “Could be worse, I
guess. And you?”

“Just relieved it’s you, and not some nosy local.
Would’ve hated to have to kill somebody this early in the day.” He
smiled again and then his eyes flicked to me. “And who’s this?”

Wes stepped back so he was standing next to me again.
“This is Tara Godfrey. Tara, this is Jack.”

Jack stuck his hand out and I took it, automatically,
still reeling a little from Jack’s comment about killing someone. I
was pretty sure he’d been joking but who knew?

“Pleased to meet you, Tara. Any friend of Wes’ is a
friend of mine, even if she is a Hunter,” he added with a wink.
“Come on in.” He stepped back to let us enter.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, unsure how to respond. There was
that word again, but how did he know? Especially when Wes seemed so
confused by it? I glanced at Wes but he wore a hard expression and
didn’t meet my eyes. From his profile, I could see his jaw muscle
flex back and forth.

I wandered further inside and blinked a few times, to
let my eyes adjust to the much dimmer lighting. When the room came
into focus, I was surprised to see how nice it was. The floors were
hardwood, a deep mahogany, and the walls just a shade lighter than
that. The end tables and chairs were all varying shades of brown,
giving the room an earthy feel. The biggest splash of color was a
cherry red couch and matching chairs, in the center of the room.
The lamps provided soft white light and the roaring fire in the
stone fireplace gave off enough heat to make it all cozy. After
seeing the rough exterior, this was a pleasant surprise.