Flutter (4 page)

There was hardly enough room in the bathroom for one
person, let alone two, so he swiftly lifted me up and set me on the
sink. He set the cans on my lap, and I imagined that I could smell
it and trembled with hunger.

“You are so pale,” Ezra murmured to himself. He
pushed a strand of hair out off my face and looked at me fully in
the eyes, inspecting them for their level of hunger. “I’m going to
give you two cans, okay?”

“Yeah, whatever, fine,” I nodded quickly. I didn’t
care at all what he said as long as I got the blood.

“This is gonna hit you hard, but I need you to walk
back out to your seat, okay?” Ezra said. “And you can pass out as
soon as you sit down.”

“Okay!” I snapped.

He pursed his lips but unscrewed the can. The small
room instantly filled with the scent, and I ripped it from his
hands and guzzled it down. As soon as it slid down my throat, ease
grew in my muscles. Even though the blood was very cold, it spread
hot through my body.

Before I even finished the first can, Ezra opened
another one. He wanted me to get them down me as fast as possible,
so we had a chance of me making it back to my seat before I blitzed
out.

After I drank them both, he shoved the empty cans in
the garbage. I licked my lips clean, but he inspected me for any
blood on my face. The world already had that hazy glow to it, and a
wonderful tranquil feeling wanted to take over.

With Ezra so close to me, I had the strangest urge to
kiss him. That was just the blood talking, so I lowered my head
before I could act on it.

We walked back to our seats, him with his arm on me
to steady me. It took all my strength to keep from stumbling or
doing anything ridiculous. All the colors seemed to shine brighter.
My green sweater looked like grass, and I wanted to pet it, but
Ezra was sliding me into the seat.

“How are you feeling?” he whispered as he buckled me
back in.

“Dreamy,” I murmured with a dazed smile on my
lips.

Before he could put the bag back in the overhead
compartment, I passed out. Even with his new threats about sharks
and the gnawing ache for Jack, I slept soundlessly the entire way
to Finland.

Ezra shook me awake, and while I’d been sleeping,
he’d gotten me a pillow and blanket. He had a blanket folded on his
lap, and I wondered if he’d slept at all.

“We’re about to touch down in Helsinki,” Ezra
informed me.

“Really?” I yawned and stretched, then looked out my
window. It was dark out, but the city was aglow with twinkley
lights. “What time is it?”

“It’s ten o’clock, Wednesday,” he said.

“Oh.” My brain scrambled to figure when we left, but
it didn’t seem right. “Wait. Didn’t we leave at ten on
Tuesday?”

“There’s a time difference. You might suffer a bit of
jet lag,” he said.

“I hope not.” I didn’t even really know what jet lag
was, but it didn’t sound like something I’d want to suffer
from.

A flight attendant came to collect our blankets, and
the captain came on, saying things about making the descent into
Helsinki. He repeated the same message in Finnish, or at least I
assumed he did since I didn’t understand a word of it.

As we got closer, the city looked much more stunning
than I expected. In my mind, it had been more of a cold, desolate
place, but in reality, it was glamorous and historical, the way I
imagined Paris or London might be. Not that I had ever seen either
of them to have any real comparison.

“This is where Peter went to live off the grid?” I
asked as I admired the architecture.

“No, he’s not here.” Ezra shook his head. “We have
one more flight to make.”

“Really?” I wrinkled my nose. Even though I had slept
through this flight, my body felt stiff.

“Just up to northern Finland, in the Lapland,” Ezra
said as if that meant anything to me. “I’ll explain more once we
land. We have another layover.”

“Fantastic,” I sighed.

We got off the plane, and Ezra got everything sorted
for the next flight. I made sure to hang out by a large window. I
was determined to admire the view of Helsinki. Not that there was a
view from the airport. It was mostly planes, landing strips, and
traffic. But that was more than I had seen in New York.

“It really is a beautiful city,” Ezra said, coming up
to stand next to me.

We watched a plane taxi down the runway. He knew I
was trying to catch a glimpse of something I would miss entirely. I
sighed but refused to leave my post at the window.

“You’ve stayed here before?” I asked.

“Many times, mostly before Mae.” He nodded. “I’ve
managed to drag her out here a few times, but she doesn’t like to
leave Minnesota very much. But Peter loves it here.”

“How come?”

“The cold, the dark, the wilderness, the seclusion.
He stays further up north. They have a few national parks and some
ski resorts. And Helsinki, Stockholm, Amsterdam, they’re not that
far away, whenever he requires bustling city life.”

The way he said
“
life
” I knew he
meant more than dinner and a show. Actually, he just meant dinner.
Peter might enjoy isolation, but he needed a population to eat,
preferably a mixture of vampires and people. Vampire bars and blood
banks made eating so much easier, and the fewer the people, the
less the options.

“So that’s where we’re going? Up north?” I turned to
Ezra. “What’d you call it? The Lapland?”

“Yeah. It’s the northern most territory in Finland.”
He took a deep breath, and he sounded reluctant when he continued.
“There’s something I haven’t told you.”

“There’s lots of things you haven’t told me.”

“This is important.” He licked his lips and shifted
his gaze. “You’ve heard stories of werewolves, right?”

My stomach dropped. Sure, I may be a vampire, but
there were certain things I couldn’t take. Like finding out an
endless stream of monsters and folklore were real. After this,
maybe we’d roll with a Yeti or go swimming with the Lochness
Monster and a Leprechaun.

There had to be some point where fiction remained
fiction, and I was determined that it ended immediately after
vampires.

“No, no, no.” I shook my head. “Jack told me there
weren’t any werewolves. There’s no such thing.”

“No, there’s not,” Ezra agreed. “Shape shifting of
any kind is an impossibility. Or at least as far as I know.”

“So…” My heart slowed a little, but he was still
holding something back. “Why even bring them up?”“You’ve heard the
stories about them, though, haven’t you?” His deep brown eyes
looked at me intently.

“Yeah,” I answered uncertainly.

My knowledge of werewolves was very
limited, and mostly based on Michael J. Fox’s portrayal in
Teen Wolf
. I had never
thought the film was very factual, because I couldn’t imagine how
surfing on a van could be possible, werewolf or not. The only thing
I carried from it was that wolves were good at basketball. This
information did not seem pertinent to the situation.

“How the full moon makes them come out, and they
attack without reproach?” Ezra went on. “They turn into vicious
animals, unfettered by remorse or logic.”

“Okay, sure,” I nodded, hoping he would just hurry
and make his point.

“Do you remember when I told you about the vampires I
had encountered when I first turned?” He grew more solemn. “They
were … rabid animals.”

“You’re not… they’re not…” I faltered. “What are you
saying exactly?”

“Sometimes, some vampires, either by choice or just
by design, don’t ever fully civilize,” he explained carefully. “The
ones that are entirely primeval are killed quickly. Even vampires
can’t stomach rampant monsters. But some willfully seek out a
different life, one separate from people and humanity.

“We believe the early stories of werewolves are based
on vampires living like this.” He took a deep breath and looked out
at the night sky. “In small packs they hunt together, living more
like animals than people. By necessity, they can’t kill most of
their food, but they want to hunt and kill. They hunt big game,
like bears and elk, even wolves. Not for food, but for sport.”

“People do that too,” I interjected, but I’m not sure
what point I was making with that.

“We call them lycans. It’s short for lycanthrope,
which just means werewolf. It’s a little inside joke for vampires.”
Ezra smiled at me with that, but I didn’t really think it was
funny. “Lycan, I think, just means wolf in Greek.”

“This was a round about way of giving me a lesson in
Greek?” I asked dryly.

“There’s a pack of lycan that live in the Finnish
Lapland,” he ignored me. “I’ve come across them before, but it’s an
ever changing group, with only the leader remaining. He’s a sadist,
and the life expectancy for his pack isn’t anywhere near what it is
for the average vampire, or even for other lycans. They’re known
for their brutality, and they’ve killed people and vampires
indiscriminately.”

I swallowed hard and focused on the bright lights
flashing outside of the window. By now, I figured out how this
story ended up with us here, waiting for a plane to take us to the
lycan. Our destination was very much connected with theirs.

“Last week, Peter killed a member of their pack. They
want revenge, and they won’t stop until they get him. And, Peter,
in his current state, seems happy to offer himself up,” Ezra said
quietly. “We have to find him before they do.”

I could barely control my own bloodlust, but we were
going out to the wilderness to track down a pack of crazed
werewolves-cum-vampires so we could save a vampire that tried to
kill me before. It all made perfect sense.

“Alice?” Ezra asked when I just kept staring out the
window. “Do you have any questions?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “But Jack’s gonna be so
pissed when he finds out what we’re doing.”

- 5 –

The hotel was a cross between a Holiday Inn and a
hunting lodge, with fireplaces and antlers hanging on the wall, but
I was still pleasantly surprised by the set up. After another
flight, followed by a short drive in a rental car and a brief stop
at a local blood bank to stock up, we checked into the hotel.

Our room had hardwood floors, and it had that same
nice, generic look any other hotel would have. They had internet
access and a television. Based on the amount of cars in the parking
lot, it was relatively busy.

Ezra busied himself with unpacking, while I had just
dropped my luggage on one of the beds. I claimed the double bed
closer to the window.

“I’m going to take a shower,” Ezra said and gathered
up his change of clothes and toiletries. “Then we’ll get some rest
and have a go at finding Peter tomorrow.”

“Do we really have time to waste?” I tried to ask
without accusation. We left in such a hurry, and I wasn’t sure how
imminent the danger was.

“We have to rest, or I’ll be of no use to Peter.” He
shrugged, as if he couldn’t see any way around it.

Once he’d gone in the bathroom and I heard the shower
running, I changed into my pajamas. They felt tremendous after
spending the past twenty hours or so stuck in jeans and a
sweater.

I had gotten sleep on the plane ride over the ocean,
and with the time difference, I’d just be getting up in
Minneapolis. Plus, Ezra had amped me up when he dropped the news
that we were really chasing after werewolfian vampires, so I didn’t
feel like sleeping.

I pulled out my cell phone, and I was surprised to
find that I had a signal (subconsciously I guess I had been
thinking that Finland was in the stone ages).

Crossing my fingers, I sat down on the bed and hoped
Jack’d be awake. This had been the longest we’d gone without
talking to each other since I’d turned, and it felt very strange.
Like the chemicals in my body were off-balance without him.

“Hello?” Jack sounded frantic when he answered the
phone. “Alice? Are you okay? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Irrational tears welled up in
my eyes. It was stupid how much I missed him. “We just got to the
hotel. I was calling to let you know that we got in alright.”

“Good. Good.” He was genuinely relieved but didn’t
relax. “How was your flight?”

“I slept through most of it,” I said. “This is my
first time being out of the Midwest, though, and it sucks. I was in
New York City, and I didn’t see any of it. I barely got a glimpse
of Helsinki when we were coming in.”

“You’re in
Finland
?” Jack yelled, and I realized
that I might’ve said too much. “That’s where Peter’s in trouble
with vampires?”

“Um…” I shifted on the bed, thinking of a line to
feed him.

“They’re not really vampires, are they? It’s lycan.”
He sighed when I didn’t say anything, and he held the phone away
from his mouth. “Mae! Mae!”

“Why are you yelling at Mae?”

“Because. If she knew that’s what you guys were
doing-”

“What?” I interrupted him. “What would she do?”

He grumbled something under his breath but didn’t
have a follow-up for that. Even if Mae had known about it before we
left, she would’ve tried just as hard to talk Ezra out of it. Ezra
hadn’t told anybody where we were going for that reason. He had
made up his mind, and he didn’t want to waste time fighting about
it.

“I should get on a plane right now,” Jack said.

“Don’t be silly. Ezra wouldn’t let anything happen to
me. I’m just here to try to talk Peter into coming back, not to
fight any stupid vampires,” I said.

“Peter doesn’t
need
to come back,” he
muttered.

“Have you been to Finland?” I quickly changed the
subject. I couldn’t make him feel good about me being here, but
maybe I could distract him enough where he worried a little
less.