Wolves among men (22 page)

“Yeah I guess you’re right,” he spoke softly
bringing a small sense of joy to the dim dark night. I followed
Sam’s car for what felt like an eternity, hoping we were on our way
to a place of peace, a sanctuary in the middle of hell. Not that
things were really all that bad but all things considered you
wouldn’t have to ask me twice to trade it all in and go back to the
way things were. A crappy job, a shit hole apartment and my sister
home safe and sound. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t give for a
blessing like that.

“We’ll find your sister.” He offered just as
the thought crossed my mind. I turned to him and
smirked.

“What is it with people and answering
questions I haven’t even asked yet?” I laughed as I turned my eyes
back to the road.

“You were thinking about her?”

“I’m worried about her, of course I was.” I
smiled.

“I was just trying to make you feel better,
I’m not psychic or anything.” He smirked.

“Have you ever met one?”

“What, a psychic?” He shook his head as a
slight laugh escaped him. “No, I haven’t but I’ve met people who
say they have.”

“I guess nothing is completely out of the
question huh?”

“No I guess not.” He sighed, his eyes fixated
on me. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” I shrugged.

“What’s your story? I know Sam turned you but
what happened?” I took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a quick
second.

“I was on my way home from work and a couple
of guys mugged me. I didn’t have my wallet on me so I, like an
idiot decided to fight back.”

“I’m guessing that didn’t turn out well.” I
smirked and shook my head.

“Not even close. I got stabbed.” I added as I
looked at him quickly. He sucked in a sharp breath.

“Ouch.”

“To say the least.” I chuckled. “But this
thing...” I sighed and shook my head. “Sam, she came out of nowhere
and rescued me. She killed one of them, I know that but I think the
other just ran off.”

“And then what?”

“I don’t really know, I don’t remember much.”
I didn’t want to tell him about the voice from my dream. Talking
about how we became werewolves was crazy enough but adding
disembodied voices to the conversation was a little too much for
me. “She bit me, I remember that and then I passed out. I woke up
about a week later in the ICU, Cordillia was reading to
me.”

“That’s sweet.” He smiled. “What was she
reading?”

“I don’t remember.” I smiled and shook my
head.

“At least someone was there when you woke up,”
he added quietly.

“Who was with you?” He shook his head and
stared down at his feet. “Oh, I’m sorry.” James shrugged and leaned
back in his seat.

“Don’t be. My mom ran off with some guy to
Florida when I was three and my dad sent me to live with my
grandma. She passed away right after I got accepted into Harvard.”
He smirked lightly and looked up at me. “She got to see the best
day of my life, at least she wasn’t around to see where it took
me.”

“Yeah,” I smiled absently. “I guess you’re
right.” James turned himself toward the open window and I kept my
eyes on the road as I followed behind the little car. There wasn’t
anything else to say and in some small way the comfort of silence
felt nice as we pressed on, putting as much space between us and
our nightmares as time would allow.

Chapter
Fourteen

Following close behind Sam’s Trans Am,
I had no clue how far we were going or where we were headed, the
only thought that went through my mind was how far away we were
from the last place I saw my sister alive and a part of me couldn’t
understand why. Why were we traveling so far away from the last
place I heard her heart beat in her chest?

“
So what’s Sam’s story?” I
asked in an attempt to distract myself. James looked up from his
book and shrugged lightly under the running glare of the
streetlights that passed us at record speed.

“
She doesn’t talk about it
much,” he spoke quietly as he marked his place and set the old
leather bound book on the dash. “Even I don’t know too much.” He
smirked shyly. James was the computer of the group, if there was
information to be had he was the one to find it and knowing he
couldn’t dig up anything on the dark haired mystery woman really
meant something.

“
Well, what has she said?”
I asked curiously. It wasn’t that I wanted to push him but I was
curious about the woman that made me and I didn’t want to go back
to driving in silence.

“
Why does it mean so much
to you?” I smirked and shook my head slightly.

“
No reason but she made
me, I kind of want to know who she is,” I explained. It wasn’t
entirely a lie.

“
Fair enough.” He
shrugged. “From what I know, she’s from somewhere around the early
eighteen-hundreds. She hasn’t said exactly when but I know she was
a kid during the war of eighteen-twelve.”

“
Jesus, you’re kidding?” I
spoke in amazement.

“
Nope, didn’t she tell you
that we don’t age?”

“
Well yeah she mentioned
it but that doesn’t mean it’s not a little shocking to hear things
like that.” I laughed lightly. James smiled and leaned back in his
seat.

“
No I suppose not. I’m
sorry, it’s just that I’ve gotten so used to it that it doesn’t
even bother me anymore.” I shook my head and smiled. I couldn’t
imagine a life that didn’t end but as it stood I would eventually
have to learn to live with it or end myself when I got bored of it
all. Not a comforting thought either way.

“
Well how old are you?” I
asked quickly.

“
Honestly, I don’t really
remember anymore.” A smile crossed his lips as he spoke, “Let’s see
I enrolled in college in I think nineteen fifty
three...”

“
How old were you then?” I
hadn’t meant to interrupt him but judging by the grin he was
wearing he didn’t seem to mind.

“
Twenty or twenty-one, I’m
not sure,” he answered quickly, happily.

“
So that makes you...” I
thought for a moment before turning to face him. “Jesus, dude, that
makes you eighty!” I laughed lightly. James joined in and shook his
head.

“
Is that how old I
am?”

“
I’ll tell you this much,”
I laughed. “You look damn good for an old man.” I watched as he
shook with soft laughter in the seat next to me. I hadn’t known him
for long but this was the first time I had ever really seen him
laugh like that let alone smile. “Okay so about Sam,” I continued
as I followed their car around a steep turn off. “What else do you
know?”

“
Well she lived in New
Orleans until she was about twelve with her parents and three
sisters. Told me her dad was a real son of a bitch.”

“
How so?” I nearly
growled. It amazed me how protective I was feeling over a woman I
hardly knew.

“
It’s okay,” he spoke as
though reading my thoughts. “She’s your sire.” I looked at him for
a moment before turning my eyes back to the road.

“
Jonathan used that word
before, what does it mean?”

“
Who?”

“
The guy that attacked me
the day you showed up.”

“
Oh you mean the big blond
guy.” I smirked.

“
Yeah that one.” He nodded
thoughtfully.

“
Anyway a sire is the wolf
that made you. You want to protect her, that’s normal.”

“
How did you know?” I
glanced to him, my eyebrow raised in question.

“
We’re a pack now I can
read you pretty well.” He smiled.

“
I thought you said you
weren’t psychic?” I smirked. James shook his head and turned
himself to the side, resting his elbow on the back of my trucks
worn bench seat.

“
I’m not and it’s not a
psychic thing it’s more like an instinct thing. Like you can look
at someone and just know that something’s wrong.” I
nodded.

“
Yeah okay.”

“
Well I heard you growl
and your voice changed when the subject of her jackass father came
up so I assumed your reaction was one of concern for
Sam.”

“
Okay, okay you’re good.”
I chuckled.

“
You’ll learn how to do it
in time.” He smiled, turning himself forward in his seat. “But
anyway as I was saying her dad was angry that he had all girls,
blamed her mother for it. Sam says he used to beat them pretty bad,
even took to touching the girls when they got older.”

“
Did he-”

“
No.” He interrupted me.
“Sam was promised to some rich diplomat or something, he wouldn’t
do anything to compromise a paycheck.”

“
So he sold his own
daughter?”

“
Well yeah, that’s kind of
how things worked back then. She was married off at sixteen, had a
few babies and did her duty as a housewife at least that’s how she
tells it.”

“
So when was she
turned?”

“
Well it gets kind of
fragmented here. She doesn’t give too much detail but from what
I’ve managed to piece together she was having an affair with this
cotton farmer’s son. She said they were madly in love and he was
saving his money so that they could run away together.”

“
That sounds nice.” James
winced and shook his head.

“
Maybe at first but it
gets weird. See you can be born like this, if you have kids its
likely they’ll be wolves like us. That was the case with the farmer
and his son.”

“
So daddy was turned and
his son just inherited it?” James nodded.

“
Something like
that.”

“
Okay so what
happened?”

“
Well this was around the
time that people still believed in things like us and we were being
hunted like dogs so the smart ones kept it quiet and tried to blend
in you know.”

“
The farmer and his son?
That’s what they were doing?”

“
Yeah and when he finally
saved enough money to leave he took Sam into his barn and showed
her what he was. The way she tells it, she was okay with it and
allowed him to change her. She said anything was better than where
she was.” He took a deep breath and sighed. “After a few days of
healing up she went back home to gather her things and her husband
was waiting for her, drunk as usual. He came after her and beat the
hell out of her for fooling around on him. She said it was when he
went after her daughter that she changed for the first time and
ripped him apart.”

The truck was silent. I couldn’t even
bring myself to breathe as he told me the story of the woman that
had brought me into this life. “It didn’t take long for the village
to come running, we’re not exactly quiet when we kill, you know
that.” He smiled slightly. “When they got there she was in the
process of changing back, her husband was mutilated and she was
standing in front of an angry mob so she took her daughter and
ran.”

“
Where did they
go?”

“
To the farm but so did
the mob. The details are a bit fuzzy but from what I know the whole
family was strung up along with the slaves that worked the field.
Even her daughter was killed for good measure, Sam barely made it
out alive and she’s been wondering around ever since.”

I sighed quietly and shook my head. As
far as stories went that one was harsh and I was beginning to feel
bad for ever thinking that the hand I had been dealt was unfair.
Here was this woman who had lost everything so violently and
somehow she managed to find the strength to go on, helping others
when all I could do was complain. I decided right then and there
that it made no sense for me to feel sorry for myself and I
wouldn’t any longer.

“
Everyone deals with
things differently you know.” I looked to James and smiled, a
slight chuckled escaped me as his expression turned to one of
apology.

“
Can you control that
little habit of yours or do you just enjoy reading people?” I
laughed lightly. He smiled and looked down at his hands as he
played with his fingers nervously, a habit of his whenever he
needed time to find the right words to say.