Shepherd's Moon (7 page)

He hung up without further comment. He was angry — I knew that—but he’s always angry. Besides, cancellations aren’t easy on anyone. Swiping someone’s memory is tricky. It takes time and preparation, yet we had neither of those going for us.

You can’t just leave a blank spot in a human’s mind. Instead, they’re like hard drives on computers—to completely erase a memory, you have to fill the space with something; a glance from a handsome stranger, a trip to the grocery store, it doesn’t matter and it really depends on the creativity of the vamp doing the cancellation. Children’s memories are the easiest to manipulate as they don’t have much experience to base anything on. Adults are far more difficult. They have years of memories stored up and while a master vamp could easily swap one memory for another, or even duplicate a memory without any side effect other than déjâ vu, younger vampires can cause some long-term damage if they lose their concentration or just don’t care about the end result.

I had every reason to be justifiably worried about Meg. Bren was not only young in undead years, he was unstable enough to create a problem. I also couldn’t see that I had much choice — he’s all I had at the moment.

I turned my attention back to Daniel who was still lying on the floor. “Hold tight,” I said softly, as if the cat were even capable of following me. “I’ll be back.”

Bren arrived before I reached the kitchen. The whole
I’m an elemental vamp and can arrive on cue
thing always unnerved me. The way it was explained to me, Elementals fed on natural elements. In Bren’s case, that included electricity, but most Elementals could only feed on things like earth, water, wind, and fire. The electrical thing was pretty interesting, but it also meant he wasn’t allowed to come within 100 feet of my computers. I do let him drive with me whenever possible, as I have yet to hit a red light when he was a passenger in my car.

Right now, he stood in the kitchen with Meg who was gazing up at the vampire as though he were a long lost love.

I couldn’t decide if that was a good sign or a bad one, but I chose to be optimistic. Standing silently, I waited as he worked whatever magic it is that vampires do. To interrupt would risk injury. Not so much to the vamp, although it was possible, but to the human.

Vamps, well — they recovered from just about anything.

Suddenly she collapsed as Bren caught her, lifting her into his arms as though she weighed no more than a small child.

“What happened?” I asked, alarmed.

He glared at me with dark brooding eyes and continued to her bedroom. “You didn’t tell me she was dying.”

“I sort of figured that would be obvious when I told you her age.”
Besides,
I thought.
You never would have come if I told you.
“I’m hoping for both our sakes that you didn’t decrease the time she has left.”

“I’d be doing her a favor.” His voice was flat and dispassionate as he flashed me a cold, impenetrable look.

Flipping on the bedroom light, I watched him pull the duvet back and place her gently on the pristine white sheets that I would have sworn were ironed each day, before covering her with the duvet. The tender movements were very unlike Bren, and therefore suspicious.

“What’s with the nice guy act?”

“Brock was home when you called.” He turned and strolled out of the room without a backwards glance. “So I’m on warning from big brother.”

How the hell had Brock known what was going on?
Checking my phone as I walked, I followed Bren to the bedroom door. “Won’t she be a little suspicious when she wakes fully dressed?”

Hostility sharpened his voice. “If she weren’t completely riddled with cancer, she might. But now she’ll just blame the doctor for prescribing too much medication that causes her to pass out and lose time; and the doctor will deny it, thinking she’s another insane old woman.” He flipped off the light and made his way down the hall. “Now, let’s have a look at your new pet.”

I hated it when he referred to any animal that way and he knew it, but I let it pass. My head was pounding too hard to argue and I was standing in darkness with nothing but a slightly modified, sleeping old woman for company. I hesitated a moment, not really sure how to verify that Meg was undamaged, then shrugged and followed Bren.

Humans aren’t really my forte’…

When we entered the far room, Daniel still lay huddled and naked on the floor. Bren raised an eyebrow and clucked his tongue appreciatively. “Pretty… “

I followed his gaze. The shifter was beautiful, of that there was no doubt. Thick, blonde — almost white — hair flowed over his shoulders almost to his waist. His well-muscled thighs and long legs completed the view. He was still curled into himself like a newborn kitten, and his thick, golden crown of hair covered the majority of his upper body. I was struck with the sudden desire to lean into him and move the hair away from his face. The second I had the thought, it became more than a desire and I felt a sudden compulsion to touch him. Before I could stop myself, I reached towards him.

Bren laughed aloud, breaking the compulsion and stunning me into the realization that the thought hadn’t been my own.

I reeled back. “Knock it off, Bren!”

The fact that he had placed the idea into my head did little to quell the sudden flush that colored my cheeks. My temper flared. If there was one thing I hated, it was being forced to do something against my will—a fact that Bren knew well. Helping the chimera shift had obviously weakened my shields…

Bren was laughing out loud, one of the few times I had ever heard him do so, and I quelled the desire to make a big deal out of the event. I need to start letting things go once in awhile and now was as good a time as any to start. Sighing, I explained the situation. “He’s been living here with Meg, who incidentally is Richard’s friend, for a few months now so he hasn’t made the change for awhile.” I didn’t even know why I was explaining the situation to the vampire. It wasn’t as though he cared, and from the look on his face, I realized it wouldn’t have mattered to him if the chimera had just come out of a coma. I clamped my mouth shut.

Rolling up the sleeves of his silk shirt, he leaned closer to the naked man on the floor, sniffing softly. “If you keep taking in strays, there won’t be room for the rest of us.”

“That’s the idea,” I mumbled, rubbing my temples.

He hissed and left the room, disappearing as suddenly as he had shown up. I knew that would be the last I would see of him for a few days and it pissed me off. He’d show up days later like nothing had ever happened. Vampires just irritate me in general. They are the most self-serving, egotistical creatures in the world, and when you live in a house full of preternatural beings, that was saying something…

I sat on the floor next to the “cat formerly known as Daniel,” and pulled my hair into a loose ponytail with the soft band I kept in my pocket expressly for that purpose.

Reaching down, I stroked Daniel’s shoulder as if I were still petting a cat. Weres always run hot and I expected him to have a raging fever. Instead, his skin felt cool to the touch. I grabbed a blanket from the antiquated couch and pulled it around his body letting him place his head in my lap.

“Why are you helping me?” He said, keeping his eyes closed as he clumsily forced the words.

“It’s what I do,” I answered simply.

Hell, I’m not sure why I do this work myself. Some days my ability to communicate with animals is a curse; on others it’s a blessing. I suppose I could have turned down the chance to take the position. No one forced me to accept—in fact, the Council was completely against it. No one even knew where my abilities had originated, although it was obvious from the day Brock had taken me off the streets for good that I would be following this path.

“You’ll feel better soon,” I said. “Just try to stay still for a bit.”

Daniel glanced up, causing me to gasp. His eyes still retained the almond shape of a cat. Eyes always take the longest to revert back to human, but I’ve heard of cases where they never wholly regain their human shape again—I could see that Daniel may well fall into that category. He may wind up being the type that would always retain a feral quality—something between man and beast. Sighing, I pulled him closer to me. Obviously he had stayed in this form for far too long.

But, I didn’t tell him that.

I couldn’t…

While honesty is a beautiful trait in others, I’ve never been convinced it works for me.

Instead I wrapped my arms around him, warming him and whispering nonsensical words as he rested.

He would find out soon enough that his life was about to change in a big way.

I cursed as the car in front of me slowed, forcing me to shift down. Flipping the wheel to the right, I passed the slower-moving vehicle, the engine whining in protest until I could shift back into fifth gear. Maneuvering back into the fast lane, I pressed the gas and raced past the line of cars.

Safely in the carpool lane, I pressed the LCD on the steering wheel to access my phone, and told it to dial Richard as I roared past the freeway signs. A glance at the next exit told me I still had a ways to go. No use merging quite yet.

“You didn’t tell me he was a chimera,” I accused when Richard answered.

“A chimera?” he laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“Chimera,” I said, slowing down for yet another car. “You know…mythological creature turned into science project for bored geneticists. Do you have any idea how
rare
that is, Richard? Rare enough that I’ve only ever
heard
of it. And you sent me in there completely unprepared!”

He grunted. “I wouldn’t have guessed that he was a chimera.”

“You wouldn’t have guessed…” I shook my head. “I warned you, Richard. I told you we needed more information before going in there. I warned you that you didn’t know a goddamned thing about the situation. Now
I
have to deal with a chimera.”

He let my cursing go this time, which signaled to me that he knew he was in the wrong. Which also meant I was wasting my time on a lecture.

“How did it go?” he asked, ignoring my impending hysteria.

“How did it go…” I repeated. “How do you think it went? The poor thing hadn’t shifted in months. I glanced in the rearview mirror and noted a black Acura behind me that was keeping up with my hazardous driving a little
too
well. “I had
no
idea what to do. He’s sick, Richard. Another week of refusing to shift and he would have been too weak to try.”

“You handled it, of course.”

“Of course, I handled it. I couldn’t let him suffer.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

I didn’t really want to tell him about the cancellation, but didn’t see much of a choice. Besides, he was the one who created the problem—not me. It wasn’t my idea to send a new Shepherd into the den of a chimera. He picked up on my obvious hesitation.

“What are you not telling me?” he asked.

“Meg saw him after he Shifted.” I hesitated, knowing he wouldn’t like the next piece of news. “We had to do a cancellation.”

“
We
, who?” His voice was flat. He already knew the answer.

“You know who.” I glanced in the rearview mirror again, watching the Acura fall back a bit. “It’s not like I have a lot of choice in the matter.”

A long silence followed as he processed the information. He didn’t like Bren any more than I did. The wild vampire didn’t fit into Richard’s world of authority and control.

“Is Meg okay?” He finally asked.

“She was fine when I left.” I wondered why he would bother to ask. He knows I do my job, he knows that Bren is the least favorite member of my extended family, and he knows that I don’t trust the vampire as far as I can throw him, which means I watch him all that closer. So why the sudden concern about my ability to manage the situation?

“What’s going on, Richard?”

I could hear him tapping the desk as he paused. “It’s nothing. Besides, it’s done now.”

“Yeah, it is,” I agreed, checking my mirrors again. The black sports car was still behind me; just far enough back for anyone who hadn’t been tailed her entire life to think it was a coincidence. The problem was that it didn’t make sense to tail a person—not in the digital age. It’s much simpler to make use of satellites and the million other forms of technology available. With things like GPS, microscopic cameras, and electro-optical equipment, even a trusted family pet could be turned into an effective listening or tracking device. So assuming I
was
being trailed, the person doing it was definitely “old school.”

Taking my foot off the gas, I slowed a bit and waited to see how the Acura would respond to a change in speed. The black car did not slow. Within a few seconds, it blew past me two lanes over. I chalked it up to paranoia. Besides, why would anyone bother to follow me?

The flash of a roadside camera brought me back to attention. Someone was getting a speeding ticket — I just hoped it wasn’t me. Unlike Billy, it took a lot of work for me to get out of a citation.

“Alex — are you listening to me?” Richard’s voice held a sharp edge of frustration and I tried to refocus my attention.