Half in Love [Willie Krenshaw] (Siren Publishing Classic) (3 page)

“We get you patched up, and then you come home with me,” he answered, and then he cleared his voice and started again. “I need to know about this guy that hurt you. I’m concerned about your blood work and can probably guess what he was.”

“He was a vamp, I think. His eyes turned black, and he came at me with canines extended. That’s the last thing I remember.” A thought skittered across her mind and horror struck her. “You think I’m turning, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what to think. Your blood work pointed to you being a shifter, but your blood cells seem to be dropping in number, which could mean a few different things… But, yes, I’m concerned.”

“I would be one, though, right, by now? I mean, it’s late and I was bit really early yesterday morning. If I was going to change, I would’ve by now. So, there isn’t anything to worry about, right?”

The look of compassion that crossed Robert’s face made Willie cringed. This wasn’t going to be good.

“I don’t know what it means. Yes, you should be fine, but I’m concerned. When I get you home, I can take a look at your blood and see what’s going on. I don’t want to draw attention to the anomaly here in case something ‘interesting’ is happening.” Robert squeezed her hand, and then he stood. “I’m going to chat with the admissions department and your attending physician. They should release you to my care so we can get out of here. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

“Okay. Could you get me something to eat? I’m starving. Maybe a burger or something?” she asked, tentatively smiling at her new savior.
Please, God, let him be normal.

“Sure.” He chuckled. “Or we can drive through some place and get you something. Let me see what they have in the cafeteria.”

“Robert?” Willie desperately needed the following question answered, but she was scared beyond anything she’d ever experienced. “If I was changing, would I know it?”

He turned from the doorway and sighed, then took a deep breath to answer her. He paused and then said the only thing that could terrify her, “I don’t know, Willie. I don’t know if you would know until it was done.”

2027

The smell of rotting garbage and old newspapers assaulted Willie’s nose as she ambled down the sidewalk. She concentrated on filtering out the noxious stink for the more palatable smells of Lake Erie riding the breeze. The waft of cool air was blowing the bitter smell of seaweed and water off of the lake through the city streets. Buffalo in the summer was like a coin one could find along the sidewalks, one side shiny and the other tarnished. Each street corner was a flip of that coin. The waterfront could be gorgeous with the twinkling lights of Canada across the lake and the soft swish of waves against the shore. Turning around, though, and staring across the street would unveil dilapidated buildings covered in grotesque graffiti and garbage-strewn streets. The vibe of the city pulsed through her, swamping her senses with late summer night stimulation.

Willie loved every aspect of this city. It was small compared to some of the others she’d lived in. Taco stands stood side by side with Chinese take-out. Boarded up windows graced buildings standing abandoned and forgotten. Those same buildings would share the same block with opulent ones. Neighbors still looked out for each other and were friendly when you walked past. The city had a vibe that could energize or sedate her depending on what she wanted or needed. Tonight she needed to relax from a stressful night tending bar. Her clothes were covered in the night’s food and beverages, smelling of stale beer and wing sauce. Perpetually looking like she was in her early twenties, she had a tough time passing as a fully fledged adult. A lithe, curvy body paired with dimples just didn’t scream adult in this day and age. With both her strength and other shifter characteristics, bartending was a good fit. She’d spent the last eight hours battling idiots trying to drown their sorrows in alcohol. That was typical of Friday nights, though. She was used to having to flex her considerable muscle and remind a man or two that not all women were weak. Her body was still humming with the last fist fight she broke up and needed to vent off the energy.

She turned a corner and headed toward her favorite location for winding down from the day. She liked to sit on the piers and just watch the world go by for a while until she unwound and could get herself under control. Before learning to control her different sides, anger was her enemy. Too many times she’d given in to her vampiric side and hurt someone badly because she couldn’t control her anger. Or she had gotten mad too close to the full moon and her shifter side would try to break out. Having both a two-natured anger management problem and a vampire’s bloodlust made her day-to-day life all the more interesting.

She sighed as the unique hunger pains that were born of her vampire side gnawed at her insides. She would need to feed tonight or tomorrow. She could feel the need getting stronger and fought it best as she could. Nausea threatened to upend her stomach. She hated feeding her vampire side, hated taking living blood into her body. At least this time she’d lasted five days. Her canines itched with the need to extend, but she wasn’t giving in yet. She could make it one more day before she needed to give in. She would just eat a good meal tonight to help stave off the blood hunger.

Richard told her that having both shifter and vampire tendencies was going to be tough to handle. But the longer she fought both sides, the stronger her control would be over them. Sorrow ripped through her heart as she thought of her surrogate father. She missed him with every day that passed. He’d died five years ago at the ripe old age of one hundred and thirty-one. His life hadn’t been long enough. He should never have been taken from her so soon. A drunk driver hit Robert’s car one night when he was on his way home from work and took him from her in a horrible accident. Willie breathed in a sigh of resignation as the anger and sorrow coursed through her body. At least she’d had some time with him. He had been her savior, her angel, her second chance.

She was shaken from her musings by a familiar scent wafting on the breeze. Vampire. Shit. She wasn’t in any mood to deal with one of her cousins. Since her partial change when she was thirteen, she’d run into enough vamps to know that they didn’t like her much. Actually, if they caught wind of her they usually tried to kill her for being an “unnatural freak.” Right, like they were natural beings. Whatever. They didn’t like her and she didn’t like them.

Like she asked to be a half-vamp, half-shifter freak. She didn’t consciously stop the change from finishing when she was drained and tasted vampire blood for the first time. It wasn’t her fault that she possessed some sort of natural immunity to the vampire virus and only gained some of the vampire traits. No one cared that she hadn’t asked for this split existence. She thumped herself on the forehead.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself
.
We’ve played this game before and all it does is get your hackles up.

She stopped in the middle of taking a step and sniffed again. The unmistakable scent of vampire drifted to her from someplace near. The breeze whipped in small swirls through the streets and alleys, confusing the exact location of the bloodsucker. Willie did what she always did when faced with a vampire. She turned and started walking the other way. She’d fight if she had to, but most of them were stronger than her, so why take any chances? Fucking vampire. She scowled and kicked a discarded soda can down an alley. It thumped against a pile of rags, and she watched the pile move. A quick glance told her all she needed to know. Under the discarded cloths was a vagrant who seemed far enough gone that he didn’t know she stood and stared at him. She ignored the homeless person in hopes of vacating the area before the vampire sniffed her out and decided she was worth a fight. She didn’t want to add another death to her list. She just wanted to go home.

“Help me, please.” A hoarse male voice begged from under the pile of rags in the alley. A pale hand trembled from beneath the rubbish, reaching toward her. She tensed, anticipating an attack. She relaxed slightly when she caught a glimpse of the man under the pile. She stood rooted in the mouth of the alley, conflicting thoughts running through her head. Stay and help the dude, or leave him as food for the bloodsucker? She felt horrible even thinking about leaving the man to a vampire attack. She knew how painful that could be and didn’t wish that on anyone, especially some drugged out homeless guy. She also didn’t want to stick around and find out what a vampire was doing in her city. She edged along the sidewalk, warring with herself.

Leaving the guy to the mercies of a vampire made her feel guilty and left a bitter taste in her mouth. The man had asked her for help. She couldn’t leave him to the suckhead and live with herself in the morning. She hesitated for a moment before turning toward the heap of man on the ground and approached reluctantly. He better really be in need of help and not trying to lure her into a mugging. Good luck with that if he was human. He’d find out that not all women walking the streets were weak. She reached over her shoulder, digging her hand under her jacket, and grabbed the hilt of her short sword. Relief and comfort radiated from the cold steel. She pulled her favorite blade out from the sheath she wore strapped to her back and approached the man cautiously. The eleven-inch blade and heavy hilt were comforting to her and eased the tension in her shoulders.

The knife had been a gift from Robert when she turned fifteen. He’d spent hours each day training her on hand-to-hand combat both with and without weapons. She’d learned years ago to be very proficient with the blade, taking down more than a few vampires that had gotten it in their heads to kill her. She lived now only because of her training and her blade. With Robert’s help, she’d fashioned an over-the-shoulder holster that could be worn under a coat without anyone else guessing what she carried.

“Please.” The heap moaned and moved until the man was on hands and knees. The broad back of a large, muscular man spread out in front of her under a dark coat painted in last week’s trash. His movements were slow and awkward, almost jerky. Willie wondered if he was drunk or high. That would explain the uncoordinated movements. She didn’t smell any strong alcohol rolling off the man, though, so perhaps it was a medical concern. The scent of vampire was stronger, and she scanned the rooftops trying to catch a glimpse of the bloodsucker. She hoped that the owner of the scent wasn’t too close to this location. She really didn’t want to be forced into a fight tonight.

“Okay, bud. Just let’s move nice and slow.” Willie approached him with the blade held against her right leg as she offered her left hand to him. She was surprised by the power in the man’s grip when he grasped her arm and pulled himself up to his feet. She grabbed his arm when he wavered, tilting precariously. She looked him over quickly while helping him stay on his feet. Tall, handsome in an old-fashioned chiseled way, and vampire. Well, shit, there went her night.

As quickly as she could, Willie ripped her hand away from the man and sank into a fighting stance. She backed away a few steps and waited, poised on the balls of her feet. She breathed in the night and let her vampire out to play. She rolled her head on her shoulders, loosening up her muscles. Canines extended from her top and bottom jaws, filling her mouth and gums with extra inches of teeth. She yawned wide like a lion to seat her teeth and lips around the additional lengths. She was surprised that her mountain lioness woke from her normal slumber to take notice of the man in front of her. The lioness stretched in her mind and swung her nose up to catch a whiff of his scent. Well, hell, this was definitely something she didn’t need tonight. A slight growl rumbled from her chest as the powers inherent to vampires and shifters coursed through her system. A slight rush of adrenaline heightened her senses and made her morbidly giddy with the prospect of a battle.

She watched the vamp try to steady himself. He’d stumbled awkwardly after she jerked her hand from his. He bent forward and groaned as his head hung and his arms shook while propped against his legs. He wavered slightly on his feet but didn’t fall. Willie waited for him to give up the charade of being ill and attack her, but after a few moments of no movement, she started to question his behavior. Could a vampire be sick?

“Look, I know what you are, and you probably know what I am. Let’s just get this over with.” Willie wanted to get the fight on, but she wouldn’t attack until he made the first move. Robert had taught her to always take a defensive attitude with vampires. Sometimes giving her opponent an extra few seconds to study her made them second-guess an attack. With this vamp, she hoped that she wouldn’t have to fight him. She could decapitate him in this position, though, all bent over and not watching her.
Damn my morals
.

“There’s something wrong with me,” he said, groaning. He slowly shook his head back and forth, still not looking up. His short, spiky black hair moved stiffly on his head. “My head’s all fuzzy. I can’t think.”

She watched him for another moment and then decided that she wasn’t going to stand and watch him any longer. Waiting for him to spring at her was a dumb move. If there really was something wrong with this vamp, then it was her lucky night. She could walk away without getting sweaty or bloody. She stood from her stance and cautiously took a step away from him, watching for any flicker of movement. When nothing happened, she took another step away, backing toward the street. She willed her fangs back into her gums and rubbed absently at her teeth as they receded. She turned when she reached the sidewalk and took one last look at the man, still hunched over in the alley, before heading off at a fast pace. She made it three steps before she sensed movement behind her.
Shit
.

“Please, I won’t hurt you. I just need help getting home. I don’t know what I’m doing in this alley,” he whispered. His voice was gravelly and deep, pulling a shudder from her. The vamp had made it to the sidewalk and was standing shakily ten feet behind her.