Hair, Greg - Werewolf 01 (13 page)

Jamie had paid no attention to Celeste; he was doing his best not to stare at Serinda. Every now and then, though, he would catch his eyes looking at her like they had a mind of their own, or maybe they couldn’t help it, like there was something magnetizing about her that forced him to look at her. If that were the case, it wasn’t his fault if he got caught staring. Still, it was best if no one caught on. So far, no one had.

Finally, there was a knock on his door, and Celeste skipped inside to answer it. Bianca entered wearing blue jeans and a black turtleneck sweater with a silver necklace. Though she had a natural beauty about her, she nonetheless wore make-up, and let her long black hair drape down. Celeste smiled, skipping back to the balcony.

“Bianca’s here,” she said, beaming. When Bianca at last emerged outside, everyone’s gaze focused on her— except for Jamie’s.

He quickly snapped out of it, realizing he was staring at the wrong girl, and moved his attention to Bianca. He also realized that he wasn’t the only person who noticed his gaffe. He saw that Bianca’s smile had drawn down a little. He knew that
she
knew he was looking at Serinda. He also noticed Celeste looking at him, her smile similarly withdrawn.

“Okay. We’re all here,” said Serinda. “Can we go now?”

“Where are we going?” asked Jamie.

“To the Hortus Australis,” Bianca answered. “It’s beautiful anytime you see it, but it’ll take your breath away at night.”

Gabriel led everyone out into the main hallway with all the French furniture and into the first courtyard. The loggia on the opposite side of the complex led to the other end of the vast castle. The group reached their destination, however, about three-quarters of the way.

The Hortus Australis rose out of the dark shadows like a shimmering sapphire. The blue windows of the greenhouse glowed from a light that came from within the two panes of glass that formed the facade. The building measured about fifty feet high, two hundred feet long, and eighty feet wide.

Entering the building, Jamie immediately noticed both the rich, sweet smell of the various flora housed there, and the dramatic change in temperature. A bitter wind blew through a night air that already registered below freezing. Inside, however, it was a comfortable seventy-five degrees. Jamie wondered if it was true what they said about the Hortus Australis—would it be much colder in here come summer? The stars and moon in the clear sky above beamed through the crystal ceiling. He’d never seen such an array of colors in one location. It was like walking through a rainbow. Bianca came forward, grabbing his arm, and led him through the building.

To his left, just inside the door, were plants, flowers, even trees, indigenous to Australia. All of the plants in the entire greenhouse were labeled in Latin, German and, fortunately for Jamie, English. There were perennials called Anigozanthos, which came in all sorts of varieties: Kangaroo Paw; Sun Burst with red stems and yellow flowers; red, green, yellow, and white Triple Treat; Orange Cross; red, green, and white Royal Cheer; Ruby; and the red Sunset.

On his right, directly across from those of Australia, were flowers from the South American region of Patagonia. A tree with fiery red flowers stood near the door; it was called a Chilean Fire Bush. Some of the shrubs beside the tree included a Palo Amarillo with yellow flowers, and a Chilean Lantern Tree with pink, lantern-shaped flowers. There were green and red ferns, bamboo, and palm trees. Then he saw plants called climbers, a pink Chilean Bellflower, and an orange Chilean Mitre Flower.

Exactly halfway into the garden was a large fountain, ringed with statues of vampires and werewolves. Moonlight shimmered off the water. Lining the walls of the complex were various statues that appeared to move within the shadows of the trees.

Farther inside the Hortus Australis, past the fountain on the right, was a section devoted to South African plant life. For the most part, in this area, there were dozens of species of Proteas that came in a bountiful number of colors, and a couple of succulents. Running parallel with South Africa, on the left, was flora native to Madagascar. There was a Travelers Palm, and an Alluaudia Spiny Plant. There were also housed numerous varieties of palms and orchids.

Jamie was speechless with the breathless sight of the Southern Garden at Burghausen. He looked back and saw the rest of the group standing at the door, watching his reaction to the greenhouse.

“I told you, didn’t I?” said Bianca.

“Yeah, it’s cool,” said Jamie.

The others branched out into the Hortus Australis, each couple going separate ways as Jamie and Bianca continued walking through the garden. He watched them disappear into the shadows of the flora.

“Where are they going?” he asked.

“I’m sure you can figure that one out,” she said.

“They’re just going to have sex right here?”

“There aren’t too many rules for us,” said Bianca. “Basically, you can do what you want as long as it brings no harm to others. Kinda like Wiccans. We’re not hurting anyone.”

Bianca, grabbing his hand, led him on a path that wrapped the perimeter of the greenhouse.

“So tell me about your family,” she said. “What are your parents like?”

“My parents are dead,” he said, straining to listen to the clandestine activities occurring just beyond his sight. He heard what sounded like someone whispering a name.

“Connor,” Jacinda whispered again.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Bianca, clutching his arm tighter. “But I’m happy you’re here. This can be your family, now.”

Continuing their walk, the muffled sounds of two more voices came within earshot. It was Catalina and Celeste. He stopped, listening a little longer than he had to Jacinda and Connor, but was soon being pulled back on the route by Bianca.

“I know you only just arrived, but do you like it here so far?”

“Yeah, it’s okay, I guess.” He kept listening for the last couple.

“You do know that she’s with Gabriel, don’t you?”

“Who? Serinda? I know that. Why do you say that? Besides, people break up all the time.”

“That may be, but I know my sister.”

“Oh, I get it. Women sticking together, and all that jazz. I’m not going to do anything to her.”

“No, I mean she’s my sister. My actual sister,” said Bianca.

Now she had his attention. He stopped, looking at her intensely.
Serinda and Bianca are sisters?

“That’s why I know that your wishful thinking is just that. She’s not going to break up with Gabriel.”

“But you’re a werewolf, and she’s a vampire. How does that happen?”

“About five years ago,” began Bianca, “Serinda, who’s three years older than me, was dating Gabriel. He revealed to her what he was, and she was okay with it. That’s not to say that she was all right with it simply because she was in love with him, but she also liked being with someone so powerful. She’s always liked power. She eventually confided in me what he was. I was scared at first, but I came to trust him.

“She had asked him a couple of times to turn her, but he always refused. Anyway, not long after, I was attacked by a werewolf. Serinda flew into a rage and basically forced him to turn her, threatening to leave him if he didn’t. She wanted revenge on the one who attacked me. So he did, and together, they tracked the beast and killed it. Serinda begged me to allow him to turn me, knowing that his bite would override the werewolf’s, but I said no. So I remained what I became. Eventually, we ended up here.”

“Why wouldn’t you want to be turned?” he asked.

“Some people are okay with living forever; I’m not one of those people.”

Suddenly twigs began breaking nearby as someone approached from within the trees. Serinda stepped out into the moonlight that filtered through the glass ceiling, nude. She walked over to the central fountain, cupping her hand into the cool water. A couple of drops trickled down her beautiful breasts. Serinda turned, seeing her spies. She didn’t shy away at all. She looked at him, and a corner of her mouth rose steadily as she blended again, slowly, into the shadows.
God had to be a
man
, he thought,
because there’s no way that a man wouldn’t
create something so perfect
.

A moment later, Bianca and Jamie heard the sounds of passion coming from the area where Serinda had emerged and reentered.

“Come on,” said Bianca. “I’ll walk you back to your room.”

Turning and without taking his hand, Jamie watched as she began heading out the greenhouse and toward the front of the castle complex. Soon they were standing outside his bedroom door.

“Thanks for going with us,” she said. “I had…fun.”

“Thanks. Me too,” responded Jamie.

He thought about saying,
I’m sorry for being such an ass
to you and staring at your sister the whole time while you were
being so nice to me
, but the words never emerged from his lips. Bianca hugged him anyway, said goodnight, and walked away.

Jamie entered his room and stepped out onto the balcony. He leaned against the railing, staring out into the night, across the castle, listening for a while for certain sounds, but unable to hear anymore. Jamie hadn’t yet trained his human ears to be able to hear across certain distances. He gave up and went to bed.

15

Jamie ran through the castle complex of Burghausen, his lungs burning as his muscles strained to keep up with the demand. He couldn’t recall the last time he had to run so quickly, but whenever it was, he wasn’t being chased by three vampires like he was now. He turned the corner of one of the smaller buildings and crouched down, trying to listen for those chasing him, but his own exasperated breathing was all he could hear. Sweat poured out from under his blond hair. Staying in the shadow, he peered out, seeing the vampires standing with their backs to him about twenty yards away. He was sure he’d given them the slip.

“We may not be looking at you, but we know where you are,” said one of the vampires as all three turned in his direction. The two males and one female moved closer, taking strategic positions around him.

“Okay,” said Ryker, standing on the roof of an adjacent building, watching the entire scene unfold. “That’s enough. We know what we need to work on with your evasion tactics,” he said to Jamie.

Ryker jumped from the roof on which he was perched over about fifty yards worth of courtyard to the roof of the building where Jamie had stopped running. He made it look so effortless, like he was flying. In a second, he bounded to the ground, landing in front of Jamie.

“They’re just so fast,” Jamie said, still trying to catch his breath.

“It’s not that they’re faster than you,” responded Ryker. “It’s not your speed; it’s how you’re running. We need to control your breathing, and you’re too predictable in your course. You’re too easy to track. You also haven’t quite learned how to blend in with your surroundings better. I obviously don’t mean that werewolves are like chameleons, but even the best mortal soldiers know how to become part of their environment. Getting back to your speed, though, you could have gone much faster if you had changed. Why didn’t you?”

“I don’t know,” said Jamie, looking down. “Maybe I was afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” Ryker asked.

“Changing when I wasn’t supposed to, possibly hurting someone. I was afraid of doing something wrong.

I’m not sure what you’re looking for,” the teen said.

“Don’t worry about us, Jamie,” said Serinda. “We can take care of ourselves.”

“Thank you, Serinda,” said Ryker. “You three can go.”

“See you later, Jamie,” said Gabriel.

“Yeah, probably in about a week,” Connor said. “You’re gonna be exhausted for a while. You’ll get used to the pacing.”

“What we’re doing,” said Ryker, turning back to Jamie, “is seeing where you are at the beginning of training, seeing where we need to start. Call it getting baseline data. We’re seeing what you know and what you don’t know, what you can and can’t do. Don’t worry about what you may do to someone. There isn’t anyone here who can’t handle an inexperienced candidate such as you. What we want to do, though, is get you to the point where it’s possible for us to
not
be able to handle you. This was just the first test. Later we’ll see how you do when you’re the one doing the chasing. We’ll see how you track. We’ll see how you fight, offensively and defensively. That’s all for now.”

Ryker, helping Jamie to his feet, led him back to the main building.

On an upper balcony, Landon, LillyAnna, and Nicholas watched as those below crossed the courtyard, and entered their building.

“I guess I’m next,” said LillyAnna in an almost interrogative way.

“You’ll be fine,” said Landon. “It won’t be the same test that Jamie just had, though. Because you were able to watch what happened, they’ll throw something different at you.”

“Can you give me any pointers?”

Landon shook his head. “Can’t give you anything. That would skew the test.”

Ryker emerged from the ground floor doorway, looking up at the three on the balcony.

“LillyAnna,” he called. “It’s time.”