The Waking (The Upturned Hourglass) (41 page)

Valie sat there, watching Jack’s fluid movements with a faraway appreciation. His bruise-ridden hands worked quickly as he replaced the items. He had a deep, stitched cut along his left cheek bone and some sort of gash covered with gauze along his neck. His long-sleeved shirt and jeans covered whatever other injuries he had sustained on her behalf.

“What did you do?” the boy asked quietly.

The girl, her eyes still wide, her body still shuddering with the occasional spasm as she fought every reaction—the aversion to Jack’s touch, the urge to fight his calm ministrations, the subtle longing for the smell of fresh blood to return—took a steadying breath.

“I’m not
me.
I’m him. I’m what he wants me to be,” Valie whispered. “I killed her. He was right. I never should have been born.”

“Killed who?” Jack asked, desperate.

“My mother!” she hissed. She inhaled raggedly, verging on hysteria. She was losing control of the power inside her. “Alden was right. Isaac was right. Everyone knew and I just didn’t want to believe it. I killed her. She died because of me.” She looked into the caring azure eyes gazing down at her. A convulsion made her cringe. “Go. I can’t do this. Isaac may think I can control this…this
thing
, but I can’t. I don’t want to hurt you, Jack. Please.” She looked away with tears of pain and heartache.

“Not a chance,” the boy said with a growl of conviction.

Valie’s head jerked up as she perceived the quietest footsteps she’d heard yet ascending the stairs. Some warning instinct put her senses on high alert.

Jack considered Valie’s vigilant posture and wild eyes with apprehension. “It’s just Maxine,” he reassured, though his voice was still rough.

It took the Vampyre a few more moments to reach the door of the main room. Respectfully, she waited at the doorway leading to the hall.

“Jack, you’re needed downstairs,” Maxine chimed. Her tone was serious, solemn.

“Not now.” His eyes still watched Valie, refusing to leave even her facial features unattended.              

“Jack.” Maxine’s voice turned imposing. “You
need
to go downstairs.”

With a bemused expression, as he glanced in the direction of the unseen Vampyre, he rose in a quick, fluid motion.

“Fine,” he growled. “But you
stay
with her. Got it?”

Evidently, Maxine nodded, because Valie could hear Jack’s steps as he descended the stairs.

Hesitant and stumbling, Valie rose and exited the bathroom to find the copper-haired Vampyre standing diligently in the doorway of the room.

Valie’s new senses had detected the Vampyre’s metallic smell minutes ago, but had been unable to identify it until that moment. The scent had been irritating. Valie had fought the impulse to fidget; she’d felt like itching powder had been drizzled all over her body. But when Valie walked through the door and faced the woman, the itching stopped and a new sensation took its place.

Valie gripped the nearby wall, trying to anchor herself to its structure, her hands screaming with pain. Involuntarily, a vicious snarl escaped her lips. Her eyes—focused on the nearby Vampyre—glowed a bright yellow as she bared her teeth. 

Instinct had kicked in. It urged her actions like a hot poker to the skin, while a foreign vigor dominated her thoughts, pushing them beneath its feral nature as it scratched at her mind, impatient for release. It called for violence. It called for blood.

Maxine, surprised, took a single step backward.

“Max,” Valie gasped, her entire frame shaking. “Stay on that side of the room.”

“You’re in the throws of the Change,” Maxine murmured more in wonder than in sympathy.

Valie shook her head impatiently, trying not to snarl—her own utterances frightened her.

“I honestly don’t know what’s happening, but I know it is taking all of my concentration to not hurt you right now.”

The crimson-eyed woman nodded. “It seems our species’ quarrel truly does exist deeper than the surface.” She watched the girl as she struggled with a genuine inner demon.

Valie didn’t respond. She focused on controlling the thing inside her that wanted to be loosed. If she had any choice in the matter, it would remain disappointed…

Whether or not she would continue to have a choice, she didn’t know.

TIES THAT BIND

Jack treaded heavily down the stairs, eager to finish whatever business was necessary below so he could return to Valie. He couldn’t fathom what she was thinking or feeling. He knew the Change would come about sooner rather than later and when it happened, all he could do was pray it would be over quickly. His own transformation had been incredibly painful, but his mind had remained almost entirely unaffected. He’d always felt in control; his instincts changed, sure, but he could control their impulses. Valie’s conversion was beginning with self-destruction…

It was not a good sign.

A foreign smell reached Jack’s senses. He was trying to place where he’d scented it before when Jericho walked up, agitated.

“What’s going on?” Jack inquired of the man impatiently.

“Come with me,” he replied.

To Jack, the strange scent intensified as the two strode toward the kitchen. Before they walked through the door, the werewolf stopped abruptly. He recognized the smell.

Daniel, the Council’s Lycanthrope sentry from the night before, smelled of rain-soaked blood and dirt. He would have been indistinguishable from any other except for the faint aroma of wood-smoke that continued to cling to his body.

Jack sniffed the air and relaxed his single-minded defenses, trying to gauge the number of potential aggressors that might have been present without
Jericho’s knowledge, but there was only one.

With his mind considering all possible motives for the other’s presence, Jack entered. For this, Valie would have to wait.

The sentry stood near the dining room table, one calloused hand resting on its hardened surface, the other gripped the hilt of a long-bladed dagger jutting out of his blood-stained cloak. Jack wondered how much experience the soldier had with his blade—it must have been enough to see him through the previous night’s battle unscathed, for it was not his blood on his cloak.

The last of the afternoon’s light shone through the west-ward window, making the Lycan’s long,
dirty blonde hair glimmer. His pensive eyes rested easily on Jack as the boy studied him.

“Daniel,” Jack greeted with a formal nod.
Jericho, sensing the lack of violence in the atmosphere, left the room.

Daniel returned Jack’s cordial gesture, but did not relax his guarded posture.

“There is, I’m afraid, no time for pleasantries. You know why I’ve come.”

“For Valie, I assume.” The sentry nodded in confirmation. “That much I understand, but why is it that you’ve come alone?”

“What makes you think I’m alone?”

Jack smiled sedately. “I know you’re alone. What did you want?”

Daniel contemplated Jack’s words. “It’s as you’ve assumed. I have come for the half-blood girl. There is a warrant out for Isaac and the Quinn girl. I wished to see if you would hand her over willingly before my superiors demand forced compliance.”

Jack looked at Daniel, appreciating his noble heart, buried beneath the training of the repressive Lycan regiment. If he had not been the Council’s tool, used to draw and enforce the line
separating the two parties, Jack would have thought of befriending the man. He seemed a genuine soul.

“I’m afraid I can’t agree to that.”

The soldier’s expression did not change. He’d expected such a response.

“Then the next time you see me, you will not have seen me. Cordiality will not be a luxury
we  afford.” The man turned on his heel to go—a trusting action—when a notion occurred to Jack.

“Isaac escaped, then?” he asked just as Daniel placed his hand on the knob of the back door. He turned round.

“Yes. Many of your pack were killed or wounded defending him, but the other two—Terrence and Eliza, is it?—they broke him free of the guards that held him, killing six in the process. The three made it out alive, though it was said the woman was severely injured. Her fighting did not reflect such a claim.”

“She and pain don’t really communicate with one another,” Jack mumbled, distracted. If Isaac was free, it wouldn’t be long until he, too, came for Valie. It seemed impossible to evade both his reach and that of the Council. Running would not work for forever. Isaac had to be stopped, but their number was too few to affect any damage.

They needed help.

“Daniel, what would you say if I proposed a compromise to our dilemma?”

The curious word ‘our’ had Daniel’s ears pricked. “What kind of compromise would that be? I need nothing from you that I cannot take with my men.”

“This may be true, but you know that as soon as you leave this house, we’ll run. You knew that before you came. The fact that you’re here in advance suggests you’re reluctant to follow through with your threats. You had no hope of taking Valie now.” Daniel stood, composed and unyielding. He said not a word. “So why would you come with your plans so premature if you didn’t intend your presence here to be a warning?” The sentry held his silence. His eyes said nothing of whether Jack’s words were true or not.

A heavy, house-shaking thud was heard from upstairs, like furniture falling. A scream followed.

Jack stiffened. His legs twitched; his desire to run to Valie was almost overwhelming.

Two sets of hurrying steps were heard going up the stairs. Jack would have to trust that the others could protect her for the immediate. They needed a longer term solution that only the soldier standing in front of Jack could provide.

“Wouldn’t you like to go to her?” Daniel inquired, knowingly.

Jack knew if he were to leave the room, the green-eyed guard would not be there upon his return. The last light of the day faded, dulling all in the room as darkness filled the space.

“Yes. But you didn’t answer my question. Why do you risk your position by showing mercy where the Council has not?”

Daniel took a shallow breath, just enough to sigh.

“She seems a victim, rather than a criminal. It goes against my grain to punish the child for the father’s sin. But,” he continued. “I am a servant to the Council and will perform my duties as such. Do not question that.”

“I do not. I only ask that you start with Isaac to buy me a little time.”

“Isaac is escaped. His reputation leads me to believe he will prove more than difficult to capture. Nigh impossible.”

“Not if you know him like I do. It would be an easy task given a good number of men.”

“A good number such as?”

“Twenty.”

“Twenty men?”
Daniel said, incredulous.

“Yes. And bait.”

“Ah,” Daniel breathed in understanding. Jack waited for his decision.

“And in exchange for Isaac?”

“His capture would give you far more reputation. He has the experience and the power. Valie is just a teenage girl.”

“Indeed.
The exchange?”

“You let us go.
All of us. Even Valie.”

Daniel shook his head. “I can’t disobey a direct order from the Council. No amount of accomplishment will dig me out of
that hole.”

“Then, just let us slip away. Put off our arrest until the next time we meet.”

There was a pause as Daniel contemplated the offer.

Another scream was heard upstairs. Jack looked to the ceiling. He needed to go.

“Look,” he said hurriedly. “We’ll be moving out at morning light. Some of our own number were injured and need rest, even if it is night. Isaac will not let his prize remain out of his reach for long. Gather your men and I assure you I will help you subdue him. You will be credited with the capture of one of the most formidable and now
wanted
Fated known in the Lycan community. For now, though, I must leave you.”

With no more than a glance, Jack turned to run up the stairs. He heard Valie’s muffled cries before he reached the second floor.

“Valie! Calm down!” Shane yelled, pleading. Jack could hear the strain in her vocals.