Immortal Heat (The Guardians of Dacia Book 1) (16 page)

Marilyn realized she'd left her apartment without a jacket. She wore her sneakers, jeans and her old Towson University sweatshirt. The digital display at the local bank showed a chilly thirty-seven degrees. She didn't feel it. Maybe she did have a fever still.

Increasing her brisk walk down Court Street towards the city hall, she found even that to be too slow for what she needed. Tina was right. She wasn't a runner. She'd never even been much for sports. She liked to hike the Appalachian Trail or even the smaller trails of Gambrills and Catoctin but running…Nah.

Still her pace increased. Church Street dead ended at Baker Park with the Carillion Bell tower in the distance. The deserted band shell, waiting for summer concert goers stood like an empty clam shell in the middle of an ocean of white snow. The theater seats peeked out of the white blanket like hundreds of rounded, ancient steps leading to nowhere.

The recent day's Nor'easter didn't faze her as much as the fact she didn't feel the cold. In fact the heat inside of her had her ready to combust. Heat which created an odd energy within her had her needing to explode into…into…what? And why?

She ran across the street at Bentz and didn't stop. The wide open grounds lay before her, not a soul in sight. Not a car, not a late night dog walk, nothing. Her sprint turned heated, her body broke a barrier she didn't realize was there. Her arms pumped, matching the rhythm of her legs.

Now she felt it, the oddly familiar change to her body. She ran. Like the natural transition of letting your hair down, the change freed her. The aches and pains were not of illness…but of transformation. And there it was…she ran on four legs, free into the night.

Aha! I'm not crazy.

As much as the idea elated her, she still had no clue in hell what it meant.

How had she been able to do this? Where did the dream end and reality begin? Marilyn wasn't sure if she was still asleep and dreaming all this as Dr. Johnston informed her. No, impossible.

Who'd been lying to her? Did her mother know she was a freak of nature? Maybe her father knew, and that was why he left all those years ago. She ran to the most remote area of Baker Park, down along the frozen pond. She howled in frustration, knowing that someone she'd trusted all of her life must have known about her. Surely, Dr. Johnston knew…did Tina?

As she neared the pond at the far end of Baker Park, she slowed her pace and nosed her way to the edge. Gazing down into the frozen water, the very image she'd dreamed, or thought she'd dreamed, stared back at her, the auburn haired wolf was her.

She had so many questions to muddle through now. All Marilyn knew was someone had better damn well start explaining things. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure who would know—and who could she actually trust to tell her secret to?

#

Heading back to the apartment complex, Marilyn stayed close to the shadows of the back alleys. A dog barked, setting off a chain reaction from other dogs in the area. They sensed her in her canine form. Understanding their growls as actual words, warning each other of her presence, startled her. But then, she was one of them now. Clenching her jaw, she fought the urge to join in on their response—she wasn't keen on alerting her neighbors to her new existence.

Happy to make it back, Marilyn realized she had a problem. How in the hell was she going to get in? The door to the main lobby closed at nights. The only way in was through the back door, and she would have to find some way to key herself in. The small parking area remained empty, no one to let her in. And who would let a wolf inside? Anyone's first instinct would be to call animal control.

Okay, how did one change from wolf back to human form?
Yeah, like there's a manual on transformation, Marilyn.

She needed to think, and fast. Closing her eyes she focused on the possibilities, trying to remember every shape-shifting, paranormal romance she'd ever read. How had they done it? Wolf to human…wolf to human…how could she morph back?

Imposs…whoa!
Marilyn opened her eyes and looked at her body. She was back in her human form. Okay, so all she had to do was think about the change and it would happen? She'd have to test that theory, later. Right now, she just wanted to get inside and tell Tina about her transformation. Tell her she wasn't crazy, that what she remembered as 'dreams' weren't dreams after all.

But first, she had a different problem. She'd keyed in her entry number to unlock the outer door, only to see her reflection in the glass. Umm…naked, and standing in front of the security cameras. Damn! One of the big reasons she'd moved here was for the phenomenal security, and now she would be viewed by the staff in the morning. Great!

Taking a deep breath and setting her shoulders, she had no other option than to fake it. She would walk in, take the stairs up to hide from those who would be in the elevator—no one used the stairs.

The sound of her bare feet slapping the cold linoleum steps echoed in the empty stairwell. She lived on the third floor. Ignoring the rest of the video cameras on each floor, she made her way up to her level. Opening the heavy door to their floor, she prayed for a clean break…no such luck.

The guy from their floor had just gotten done with his late night work out and had evidently taken the stairs. Hoping he didn't see her as he used his towel to wipe sweat off of his face—she was lousy with good fortune tonight—he spied her. They both stopped and stared, him in awe and her like the naked woman caught off guard that she was.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned her back to him and walked briskly to her door. It was locked and she'd forgotten to take her key. Knocking, hoping Tina was there to let her in, she looked over her shoulder to see the guy staring at her.

Marilyn felt her lip curl back and her teeth gnashed out a vicious snarl. He backed up and walked away in the direction of his own unit.

The door swung open and Tina stared at her in aghast.

"Um…you're naked."

"Just shut up and let me in before I have security on me," she hissed as Tina moved to the side to let her enter.

"What happened to you? Are you okay? Did someone attack you?"

"No…I'm fine…I…" Marilyn didn't know where to begin. Tina continued to stare at her. She hurried down the hall to her room and found her robe, trying to figure out how to explain the situation to make her friend understand.

That was it. There was no way her friend could understand. She barely understood.

"You what?" Tina stood in her doorway, waiting for her to continue.

Marilyn's shoulders dropped in defeat. As much as she'd always trusted Tina to believe in her, now she wasn't sure if she would. She couldn't blame her if she didn't—Tina would find her certifiably crazy.

Exhaling, Marilyn racked her fingers nervously through her hair. "I'm going to tell you a story, but I need you to have an open mind." Upon saying that, she took off her robe and thought about being a wolf.

Tina's eyes drew wide as she backed away, shaking her head and slammed the bedroom door to separate them.

Yeah…her friend wasn't ready to be open minded, just yet.

#

Being stuck in the apartment while 'recovering,' was not her idea of spending time off of work. Though sitting and drinking cappuccinos while staring out the wintery window wasn't a bad way to spend a snowy morning, it just wasn't her norm. Dr. Johnston had yet to give her the go-ahead to return to Livedel. She'd called, wanting to talk to him about the changes she was going through. He should know something. He'd been her doctor for awhile. Hadn't he given her medicines for her aches and pains before leaving—for…her…trip?

Damn, damn, damn! It came back to her. She knew she'd been in to see him
before her trip.
She'd kept her files from her appointments. They were in her medical files on-line. Nearly spilling her cappuccino, she ran into her room. Opening her laptop and waiting for it to go through the start up operations, she began to dress in her work out clothes. Once she found the paperwork for her appointment back in early January, she was going to go over to see Tina's dad and start asking all kinds of questions.

Slipping on her running shoes, she sat down and typed her password into her medical files at Livedel. Password incorrect. She typed it in again, only to have the same error message come up, blocking her from her own files.

She knew her password. It was always the same. She logged onto her work center at Livedel. Working from home occasionally, she had full access…password denied…or used to. Something wasn't right.

Grabbing her cell phone she dialed Tina, forgetting she hadn't been answering her calls the past few days. After the fiasco the other night, Tina had gone to stay at her folk's house. Marilyn didn't blame her. But it was still difficult not having her friend around for a sounding board.

"Hi."

"Tina?"

"Yeah…it's me."

The odd silence spoke volumes. What could either one say at a time like this? Marilyn figured she'd just come out and tell her friend what was going on.

"Um, I have a problem,"

"No shit, really?" her friend replied. "Could it be because…" She paused. "Look Marilyn, I can't talk right now. Can I call you back later?"

"Sure. No problem."

Tina hung up. Marilyn had never felt more alone.

#

Her nightly runs took her further away from home. Marilyn made a point of keeping an extra set of clothing in her car. She'd head up to Gambrills, park in the parking lot and slip into the night unobserved. Memories or maybe just instinct flooded back at times, hunting in the quiet woods of…she wasn't sure where…but there'd been another wolf. She remembered eyes as blue as sapphires in a background of raven colored fur. The urge to howl hit her whenever she thought about the creature. She stifled her need to keep from being detected.

Some nights she'd been able to hunt a bit. The rare wild hare or turkey would have her on the prowl but as she was taught, she kept her hunting clean, eating her fill and burying the remains to keep others from finding it. She'd return hours later to her car, change into her clothes and head home to her empty apartment.

It wasn't the same without Tina there. They'd shared an apartment down in Baltimore until recently when Marilyn had moved up here after the semester ended and her breakup with Daniel. Except for that brief period and now, they hadn't been apart since senior year in high school. Tina's dismissal hurt more than Daniel's did at times, especially since they'd always been so close. They relied on each other. But still, Marilyn couldn't blame her—coming to her own terms with her changes was troubling enough. Explaining them to someone else, impossible. Still, she'd managed to accept her fate, even knowing she didn't understand why.

Noticing her landline phone blinking as she turned on the light in her living room, Marilyn checked her voice mails.

"Hey Mari, it's me Tina. I wanted to touch base with you. Something is wrong and I'm not sure what…I mean other than…well you know. Call me? I'll be up until eleven or so if you want to call tonight."

The clock read ten-twenty-nine. Marilyn dialed her friend's cell phone.

"It's me Tina. What's up?"

"Meet me at Denny's in ten minutes."

"What's going on?" Tina sounded shaken…more so than when she'd seen her morph.

"Ju…just meet me there, please."

"Okay. On my way."

#

Only a few people were sitting in Denny's drinking coffee and having a late night breakfast or dessert. Tina sat toying with her soda and straw. Looking around nervously, she smiled when she saw Marilyn and brushed a stray blonde curl back behind her ear.

"I promise I won't bite," Marilyn teased to break the strained mood.

Seeing Tina's eyes well up with moisture had her instantly regretting her words. But Tina held up her hand and shook her head. "No…it's okay. It's not you."

The waitress came by to take her order as Marilyn slipped into the booth across from her life-long friend. She ordered a hot chocolate, not really hungry after her recent hunt. Waiting for the woman to leave, she leaned forward.

"What's up? You look like you've been through the wringer backwards."

Tina looked down at her hands, clasped together in front of her on the table. They shook. Marilyn placed her hand over them, hoping to calm her friend's fears instead of sickening her by her touch.

"Something awful happened at work tonight," she whispered, her voice quivering in time with her hands.

"Tell me Max didn't do anything to you…I'll rip his heart out!" Marilyn seethed. She'd met Tina's boss at the Greater Baltimore Blood Bank a time or two when he'd been the manager at her other office in Towson. He was a sleaze bag with hands that loved to touch things that didn't belong to him…namely the other female co-workers.

"No. It wasn't Max." She looked around as if to see who might be listening. "It was his supervisor—"

"
He
touched you?"

Tina's brow furrowed and she shook her head. "He…I was finishing up work. It was late and everyone had left…or so I thought." She took a cleansing breath. "As I was taking the trash out to the dumpster, I saw Gerlich, the new supervisor…I saw him…he…oh God!" Tina buried her face in her hands and sobbed.