Girls That Growl (19 page)

It's cold, it's damp, and my butt is frozen on the stone ground. Add that to the fact that I'm freaking out scared and you get a pretty good idea of the situation. I'm stuck by a northern English cave on the side of a mountain, miles from any town or village. I've been kidnapped by a werewolf who wants to make me the queen, er, bitch of his pack. And no one has any idea where I am.

Why, oh why, did I think it was a good move to leave the safety of the village and go off with some random guy? Why didn't I at least tell someone where I was going? And why isn't Jareth answering my calls? I've been sending for what seems like hours now and still there's no sign of him. Maybe he doesn't
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care about me anymore. After all, me being gone kind of eliminates the need of having to annul the blood mate thing. Maybe my cry for help was the best news he heard all day.

Jareth. Tears drip from my eyes as I think about him. The wonderful, most perfect, sweet, kind blood mate a vampire girl could ever hope for. I had him. He loved me. And what did I do? I went and ruined everything. As usual. God, I'm so stupid. Why can't I ever see how good I have it until it's too late? I could have been with him for eternity. Now I'm likely to spend the rest of my (possibly very short) life as part dog. Not that I don't deserve that and a lot more for the way I acted. I wonder if he'll ever be able to forgive me. If I ever see him again, that is.

Will he still take the antidote back home to America? Will he figure out a way to administer it to the cheerleaders? Or will Slayer Inc. step in and decide to euthanize them after all since I'm not there to fight it? And what about Cait? Will they just assume she's one of the wolves and kill her, too, for no reason?

That's it. I have to get out of here. Some way, somehow. Whatever it takes. I can do this. I mean, I'm a vampire. And aslayer. You'd think I'd have some secret weapon at my disposal to getting myself out of this mess. Any moment now I'll think of what that is . . .

"Mmmmhmm."

I freeze. What's that sound? It's coming from the cave. Are there more people here, too? Other captives? Or more wolves? Should I make my presence known or be as quiet as possible? I squint, trying to see inside, but all I can see is blackness.

"Help! Someone help us!" the voice begs.

"Trevor, shut the eff up, dude. I'm telling you, no one can hear you except that psycho wolf guy. And I really don't want him coming back in here and screwing with us again, do you?"

My mouth drops open. I'd know that voice anywhere.

"Mike?" I cry. "Mike Stevens?"

Silence, then, "Who wants to know?"

"Mike? Trevor? It's me. Rayne McDonald."

"What the ... ?" Mike starts, then he swears under his breath. "Great. I must be hallucinating again. I thought I just heard that freak girl Rayne from school calling out my name."

I frown. Freak girl. Forget the homecoming game. I should really leave those two for wolf meat.

"Nah, dude. I heard her, too," Trevor says. "Unless we're both imagining it. Wouldn't that be way freaky? If we went insane together and, like, saw the same hallucinations and crap?"

I roll my eyes. Tweedledee and Tweedledum are going to be such great pack mates. "You're not hallucinating," I in-form them. "I'm here. Just outside the cave." I squint again and think maybe I can make out two dark shapes by the far wall.

"Really? What are you doing here? How did you find us? Did you bring help? That wolf guy is really strong."

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"It's a long story. And no, I don't have help. I'm stuck here, too. Well, I'm hoping my backup will show, but I'm not sure that's going to happen. We may have to figure a way out ourselves."

"Yeah, good luck with that."

"How did you guys get here?" I ask, still shocked at their sudden presence. "I mean, we aren't exactly in Massachusetts anymore."

"We don't really know," confesses Mike. "One minute I've just won a football game and the next morning I'm on a plane to England. It's like something ... or someone . . . was pulling me to this spot. I couldn't eat or sleep until I got here. It was the craziest thing ever."

"Yeah, I only got here a few days ago," adds Trevor. "But same story. Freaking bizarre."

"I've been here over a month now. And I haven't figured out any way to escape," Mike says. He pauses, then adds, "What does he want from us, Rayne?" His voice cracks. "I'm starting to think we're going to die here."

It's strange to hear him sound so vulnerable. The big, tough football player. The meanest guy in school. I guess being trapped in a cave on the side of a mountain in the middle-of-nowhere England for a month can do that to a guy. Maybe at the very least he's learned some life lessons and will be a kinder, gentler Mike Stevens when/if we get out ofthis mess.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but you probably won't believe me,"

Isay. "You're here because you've been bitten by a Lycan— that's like a werewolf to you and me."

"No shit, Sherlock. We've seen the dude."

"Not him. The cheerleaders. Back home in Oakridge."

The boys are silent for a second. Then Mike says, "Come on, Rayne. We're serious. Don't give us some fairy tale."

"I
am
serious. Remember the girls came to England for cheering competition this past summer?"

"How could I forget," Trevor groans. "I had to go with-out sex for seven days and seven nights when my baby Shantel went away."

Mike snorts. "Oh whatever. You totally hooked up with Candi that night at—"

"Shut the hell up, man," Trevor hisses. "This chick knows Shantel."

"Uh, uh. There's no way
she
hangs with Shantel."

"They're both on the cheerleading team!"

"What? No freaking way, man. Not Rayne McDonald. She'd never be a cheerleader."

"Dude, she is. I swear it."

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I clear my throat. "Uh, boys? Can we try to focus here? You know, trapped in a cave, by an evil, fuzzy werewolf trying to make us part of his sick little pack? You can debate my cheering status and the likelihood of me telling Shantel about this Candi chick once we get out of here."

"Sorry," they mutter in sync.

"But I didn't cheat on Shantel," adds Trevor. "Candi totally jumped me at this party, even after I said—"

"Uh, we were focusing, remember?" I sigh. "So now what we have to do is—"

But I can't finish my sentence because the big bad wolf is back.

Orpheus storms up the hillside and grabs me by the throat, pulling me to my feet. I cough as he crushes my lar-ynx, making it nearly impossible to breathe.

"You told the Order," he growls. "You told them about my American pack. My she-wolves across the sea." He drops me and I fall back to the ground, slamming my butt against the stone.

"Yes, I did," I say, trying to sound braver than I feel. "And the Order is currently mixing up an antidote for all of them. Your pack of wolf bitches will soon transform back into a squad of human—well, some may still refer to them as bitches. And as for you—"

I stagger sideways as Orpheus cuffs me upside the head.

"How dare you interfere!" he says, slumping down to all fours. "You've ruined everything!"

"For you, maybe. How about them? Do you think they like sprouting fur and fangs every time there's a full moon? I mean,do you have any idea how much laser hair removal and cosmetic dentistry costs these days?"

Orpheus sighs. He blinks a few times, then slides back into human form. It really is a fascinating transformation and I find myself watching closely, briefly wishing I had a video camera to record it and throw it up on YouTube for all to see.

"All I wanted was a pack to call my own," he mumbles, head in his hands. "The Order was so dismissive of me. I never fit in there. I wanted to create a new line of Lycans who would be, would be . . . my friends."

I stare at him. Is he crying?

Suddenly I feel a pang of empathy for the guy. I know more than anyone what it's like not to fit in. For everyone to think you're a crazy freak and not want to be your friend. But still. . .

"You can't force people to become your friends by infect-ing them with a virus," I reason. "People have to want to be your friends."

"No one ever wanted to be my friend."

I can't believe I'm feeling pity for the guy who's kid-napped me and tied me up. "Look, I understand what you're going through. I'm an outcast of sorts as well. I don't fit in with anyone at school. And none
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of the vampires like me ei-ther. But you know what? I'm going to have to be okay with that. And not be so angry and hateful all the time. Take my old best friend, Mandy."

"Shewas friends with Mandy?" I hear Mike whisper to Trevor. I'd forgotten for a moment we had an audience.

"See, dude, I told you she was a cheerleader."

"Funny thing about Mandy," I say, ignoring the peanut gallery,"Ithought for years that she had ditched me to be-come one of the popular kids. That she didn't think I was cool enough to hang out with her. But I found out this week that it may have been me who ditched her. Because I was afraid she was leaving me behind, I started rebelling in the other direction. Scorning everything she wanted to become because I was afraid I couldn't become it myself."

"I was always the weakest," Orpheus confesses. "I couldn't run as fast. I couldn't catch any game. None of the female wolves liked me. So I decided to leave and start my own pack. Show them that I didn't need anyone."

"One thing I've learned, Orpheus, is that we can't be afraid to need people in life. I know it makes us seem helpless and weak, but sometimes, admitting you need help can be strong in and of itself." Wow, that sounded pretty good. Especially since I made it up on the fly. Maybe instead of see-ing a shrink, I should become one.

Orpheus rises to his feet. "You seem like a smart girl, Rayne," he says, sounding apologetic. "I'm really sorry I'm going to have to kill you."

Kill me? Fear shoots through my heart. "Why would you have to kill me?" I cry.

"I have to kill all of you." He shrugs. "The Order knows what I did, thanks to you. Soon they'll find my den and they'll use you as evidence against me. I'll be hanged for my crimes against the pack. And I can't let that happen. So I'll have to kill you and eat the evidence."

Okay, being killed is bad enough. But being eaten as well?

He shape-shifts again, back to wolf form. He slowly ap-proaches me, step by step, paw after paw.

Desperate, I flip myself over and attempt to wiggle away like a worm—the most stupid escape attempt known to mankind. My heart pounds in my chest. My body grows numb. Oh my God, I can't believe I'm going to actually die. Die and be eaten by a werewolf. And Jareth will never know what happened to me.

Jareth, please help me!I cry one more time.

A moment later, the wolf is on me, grabbing my leg in his mouth and yanking me backward. Teeth dig into my flesh, piercing my skin as I'm pulled back into the cave. I scream and kick at his face, but he's too strong.

This is it. I'm going to die. But not right away. I'm a vam-pire and immortal. So I'll be alive for all of it.

Every last bite. Until he clamps down on my neck, sharp fangs ripping through sinew, severing my head from my—

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bat sweeps into view with a high-pitched screech. I look up. It's big, it's black, and head-ing right toward Orpheus's face. He drops my leg, letting out a bellow of surprise as it
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attacks, beating its rubbery wings against the wolf's eyes, his nose, his mouth.

I watch, amazed. Could it be? It's impossible. Jareth doesn't have any powers. And the other vampires would never rescue a slayer. Still, I can't imagine this is just some random bat. Somehow or other I've been rescued. The undead cavalry has arrived.

A moment later the bat poofs into a cloud of smoke and suddenly Jareth himself appears on the hillside.

I burst into tears, I'm so happy to see him. Big, bad, beautiful Jareth. My true love. My hero. He's dressed all in black, looking gor-geous and powerful. And best of all, he's got a gun in his hand, aimed straight at the wolf. (How he transported that gun while in bat form, I'll never know.)

"No one messes with my Raynie," he states, just before squeezing the trigger.

The gun goes off. The wolf yelps once, then collapses onto the cave floor. It convulses a few times, its chest rising and falling, then goes completely limp.

I stare at the wolf, then up at Jareth, tears of joy now streaming down my face.

He reaches me in an instant, throwing his arms around me and pulling me close. "Oh, Rayne," he murmurs. "I was afraid I'd get here too late."

I bury my face in his shoulder, sobbing and laughing all at the same time. Jareth. My wonderful Jareth.

The vamp who saved my life. My blood mate. Forever and always.

"Jareth," I cry. "I'm so glad you came. I was afraid you couldn't hear me."

"Of course I could hear you," Jareth says, leaning down to untie my hands and feet. "I heard you the first time you cried out. It just took me some time to track you down." He rips a piece of his shirt and ties it around my leg to stop the bleeding. Then he helps me to my feet.

I kick Orpheus with my toe, to make sure he's really dead and it's not going to be one of those horror movie scenes where the corpse always rises one more time. But he's total dog meat.

"Silver bullet," Jareth explains. "Just like in the movies."

"I'm so sorry about yesterday," I say, covering his face with kisses. "Well, the last month actually. I've been so stu-pid. So selfish. You've been wonderful. Everything I could want in a blood mate. And I took it all for granted. I guess I just. . . panicked. I mean, I felt trapped in a way. Like, I couldn't believe I'd be with someone forever. But then, when I realized I'd lost you, I knew I couldn't face forever without you by my side."