Three weeks later…

I’d been staying with some mages while recovering from the silver-laced gunshots. They had examined me and the amulet, and also questioned me, Kevin, and Jack about the ceremony. They were trying to piece together what her ceremony had been meant to accomplish. I’d told the vampires about the ancient book I’d seen in Kevin’s memory, the one that Lady Ann had been consulting, but they hadn’t been able to locate it.

The conclusion so far was that the amulet had been what turned me, although they weren’t sure how yet. One thing that they had been able to determine was that the amulet was tied to my life force. So for now it stayed with me, hanging from a chain around my neck under my shirt.

There was a knock at the front door. I answered it, and found Jack standing on the front porch. He grinned as I stepped outside and pulled him into a hug. His arms tightened around me, pressing me against his chest. My backpack straps dug into my chest.

After a moment he loosened his arms and looked down at me. “Where’s your binder? I didn’t feel it.”

I grinned and let go of him to step back. “So it turns out that being a vampire does have a few perks after all.” I grabbed the bottom of my T-shirt and lifted it up to show Jack my perfect, scarless chest. “The vampire doctor that treated me for the gunshot wounds gave me top surgery.”

Apparently vampires healed quickly and without scaring, but they couldn’t regrow much tissue. If your arm got cut off and the severed arm was reunited with the stump it could be reattached, but if the arm got lost, you’d be spending the rest of eternity with only one hand. The good news for me was that it meant that after the doctor took out my breast tissue, it wouldn’t regrow. And vampire healing left me without any visible scars.

“Wow, I’ll say.” Jack put a palm flat on my chest, running it down my bare skin before pulling his hand away with a sigh. “Wish we had time to properly enjoy it. Looks like you’re ready to go?”

I nodded and dropped my shirt front to heft my backpack. “Let’s roll.”

“That really everything you own?” Jack asked as we went down the steps.

“Yeah. Since I was declared dead, I couldn’t exactly go back home and pack up my things.”

The vampires had used the incident at the park to fake my death. The official story was that I’d broken into the park to kill myself. I’d gotten cold feet and pulled the gun from my head at the last second. The gun had still gone off and the bullet struck a propane tank that had subsequently exploded, killing me.

Such a stupid way to go. It didn’t make me feel any better that it was a lie.

We got to the street, and I stopped short at the sight of Emily’s white sedan. The bullet holes had been badly patched, making it obvious he was still driving the same car.

I pointed to the car as Jack unlocked the car with the key fob. “Why are you still driving Emily’s car?”

Jack got in without answering and I threw my bag in the backseat, then got in the front passenger seat. The cloth of the front seats still had red stains from our blood. I gave him another questioning look as I buckled my seatbelt.

Jack put the car in drive and pulled away from the curb before answering. “As you can imagine, she was a little pissed when I showed back up with her brand-new car shot up. I ended up agreeing to buy it from her so she could get another new car.”

“I’m sorry.” I winced. “At least it’s still drivable.”

“You mean unlike my other car that got shot up?” Jack let out an amused laugh, letting me know he wasn’t mad.

I gave him a small smile. “I hope you blamed me for everything.”

“Totally.” Jack barked out another laugh.

I laughed with him for a moment before sobering. “Stacy said you went to my funeral.”

Jack’s expression hardened. “Yeah. Your parents are both alive and well. The rest… Are you sure you want to hear the rest?” We stopped at a red light and he turned to look at me. The red lit his face up eerily in the dark, and I shivered at the ominous look in his eyes.

“Yes. What was it like?”

Jack sighed, but the light turned green and he had to turn away from me to watch the road. “All the pictures they put out of you were pre-transition, and they only called you by your dead name with ‘she’ pronouns. Your mom recognized me from the Ren Faire when I tried to talk to her about getting your legal name on the tombstone, and she refused to talk to me. I’m sorry.”

I’d been expecting something like that. I thought I’d be angry at having my worst fears confirmed, but instead I only felt resigned. I’d done my best to make up with them before my death and they’d pushed me away. It didn’t matter now, anyway. That was now literally a different life.

Jack seemed to sense my conflicting thoughts and kept quiet, for which I was grateful. I watched the dark streets flash by out the window for the rest of the long drive to my home for the next little while.

The vampires’ house for new blood, as it were, was out in the middle of nowhere southeast of Portland. PCA owned ten acres of land that the house sat in the middle of. A safe place for new vampires to learn to control themselves and their abilities.

Stacy had explained to me that new vampires lived together here for their first decade as a sort of probationary period, under the supervision of an elder mentor vampire. There were two other new ones living here at the moment, in addition to the mentor. The oldest was coming up on the end of her time here, and was in the process of moving out.

In the meantime, since there were only supposed to be two at any given time and all the current residents had refused to share a room with me even temporarily, I was going to be relegated to sleeping in a light-proofed box in the corner of the living room. A coffin. I was not looking forward to it.

I’d argued with Stacy that since I’d already proved I could control myself, I shouldn’t be subject to the same restrictions as other new vampires. I’d lost. Stacy made it clear that I’d already been given enough exceptions to the rules by being allowed to live. Going through the introductory time out of society was mandatory for every new vampire, and that if I didn’t submit I’d be destroyed, control or not.

Just my bad luck that Lin was the current house mentor. She’d applied for the position on the basis of her boyfriend being the next vampire turned, but now was stuck with me—which at least explained her antagonism to me when I’d met her at the safe house.

Jack turned off the highway, and we rolled down a very long driveway that wound its way through the woods. At the end we came to a stop in front of a big old two-story farmhouse, remarkable only in the fact that all the upper story windows were blacked out. The only light came from a flickering porchlight that only served to make the house even creepier looking.

“Last stop.” Jack turned the car off and got out with me. While I stared up at the dark house, Jack got my backpack out and handed it to me.

“Don’t go!” I dropped my bag onto the pavement and flung my arms around Jack’s waist, bursting into tears. “Did Stacy tell you?”

Jack hugged be tightly. “That it’ll be a year before you’re allowed a phone? Yes. I’ll miss you a lot, but you’ll be fine. You’re my fierce tiger, remember?”

I pulled away and stuck my tongue out at him. “I’m never going to live down that nickname, am I?”

“Not ever, Tiger.” Jack laughed and ruffled my hair. I laughed with him, wiping away my tears.

The door to the house creaked open, spilling a square of brighter light out onto the porch. I recognized Lin’s profile outlined in the doorway. She had her hands on her hips.

“Time to go,” I said, leaning over to grab my bag.

“One last thing,” Jack said, stepping between me and the house. “Will you be my boyfriend?”

“Yes.” I grinned widely and got up on my tiptoes to give Jack a kiss.

“I’ll be waiting for you!” Jack called after me as I made my way toward the house.

I sighed deeply, stopping as I got to the porch and turned to wave goodbye to him one last time.

This was going to be a long year.

---

---

I found Emily’s white sedan—the bullet holes down the side from our wild flight out of Mount Hood made it pretty clear it was her car—in the parking lot along with half-a-dozen others, but no one was around. I wondered why Jack was still driving it, but that was a question for later.

I could tell I was close to the amulet now, because the voice in my head had begun to calm down. Now I could hear it only if I stopped and concentrated. It made me half wonder if the new voice had been there the whole time since I’d become a vampire, but I didn’t have time to ponder it right now.

A man—a human wearing a black suit and tie with a transparent earpiece over one ear—stepped out from between two of the cars. I tackled him, burying my fangs in his neck before he managed to cry out. For a few moments he flailed against my admittedly light weight on his back, but then he began to relax, sinking slowly down to the pavement. I drank eagerly and deeply for a few moments before pulling away. I didn’t want to kill the guy, only incapacitate him. He sprawled on the pavement, still breathing, but eyes glazed and groaning.

Feeling much better, I stood and looked around the parking lot, trying to figure out where everyone was. Several paths led off from the parking lot, one heading west, one north, and one southwest. I could smell smoke and see a faint glimmer off through the trees to the north, so I headed that way. Rather than walk on the path and make myself a target, I walked parallel to it, using the trees’ shadows as coverage. I probably should have been stealthy earlier coming into the park, but the voice screaming in my head had made thinking hard.

A ring of tiki torches came into view ahead. A woman in a business suit stood inside the circle, her back to me. She was talking to someone that I couldn’t see, in a voice too low for me to make out the words from this distance. There were about a dozen people scattered around keeping watch, but they were only human, and I easily spotted them with my vampire night-vision.

I could smell blood in the air. Several of the human guards had visible bite marks and torn clothing. The bites looked like dog bites. Or maybe jackal bites, I realized through the fogginess of my thoughts. I hoped Jack had fought his way free from this trap and was now somewhere safe.

Moving slowly, I circled around to avoid the two guards watching the path. My new position also gave me a better angle into the circle, but what I saw made my heart sink. He hadn’t gotten away after all. Jack and Zoe were being held by two black-suited security guards each. Handcuffs around Jack’s and Zoe’s wrists glinted in the torchlight. Jack looked pissed, and only because I’d spent so much time with him over the last few days was I able to tell how scared he was.

Now that I could see the business-suited woman’s face, I recognized Lady Ann from Kevin’s memory.

Lady Ann lifted a bowl up above her head and began chanting in a guttural language that I didn’t recognize. Meanwhile, the two guards on Zoe forced her to her knees, and the two holding Jack dragged him backwards out of the circle. Jack yelled and fought them, but with his cuffed wrists— and bound legs too I saw now—they had him overpowered. When Jack planted his feet and refused to move, one guard grabbed Jack’s hands, the other his feet, and they carried him away—dangling between them like he weighed no more than his clothing—and dropped him outside the circle.

“Change,” I hissed under my breath. “Jack, change and run away.” Why didn’t Zoe or Jack change? I prayed they did something, anything. Keeping supernaturals secret from humans was important, but at some point you had to just say screw it and opt for self-preservation.

The amulet was close, I could feel it, but I didn’t see it anywhere. With this many guards about, and the threat that they too were armed with silver-laced bullets like Lady Ann’s thugs last night, I didn’t dare make a move until I was sure where my target was. As I’d learned last night, my speed only helped so much. I needed to get the amulet back before I could help Jack. Not that I didn’t care about Jack more than the amulet, but if the voice screamed at me again while I was running away with Jack—and I knew it would if I got farther away from the amulet again—I’d probably collapse and then we’d both be caught, which wouldn’t improve either of our situations.

Something on the ground at Lady Ann’s feet glinted in the firelight. I tensed, ready to run, before I registered that it was silver and not gold.

Lady Ann finished chanting while I scanned for a sign, any sign, of where the amulet might be. I saw the bag Jack’d been asking me to put the amulet in earlier discarded on the grass between the circle and the trees, but from the flatness of the folds it was clearly empty.

Where could the amulet be? Lady Ann’s sleek suit didn’t show any bulges, and probably didn’t even have any pockets anyway. I was unfortunately all too familiar with women’s clothing and its pockets or lack thereof.

Did one of the guards have it? I closed my eyes and turned my head, trying to judge direction, opening my eyes when it felt like it was directly in front of me, only to find myself staring right at Lady Ann. I snuck a few dozen more feet in the trees around the circle of torches, only for the same thing to happen again. So where was she keeping it?

Lady Ann’s chanting slowed to a stop. She lowered the bowl and knelt to place it in the dirt directly in front of the kneeling Zoe. The guards forced Zoe to lean over, head down over the bowl. Lady Ann reached to her side and picked up the glinting silver object I’d noticed earlier, revealing it to be a large knife. With her other hand she grabbed Zoe’s hair. Zoe fought and bucked, but with Lady Ann holding her head steady and the two men restraining her arms, she couldn’t move.

Lady Ann yelled another line in the same language as the chanting, and before I realized what was happening, ran the knife along Zoe’s throat. Blood poured out of the gaping slash on her neck into the gold bowl. It was so much blood.

I was both horrified by and drawn to the gush of red liquid. I covered my mouth, but my fangs were already down and pressing into my lips. If I hadn’t drunk from Stacy and the guard earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to keep myself from rushing forward. As it was, I struggled to not burst out of the brush and reveal myself.

Jack screamed wordlessly, fighting against the grips of the two men restraining him. Why didn’t he change and run?

Zoe twitched for what felt like too long. Finally she stopped moving and her eyes glazed over in death, although blood continued to drip from her throat for several long minutes. When it stopped, Lady Ann let go of her hair and the two guards dragged Zoe’s limp body back and dropped it on the dirt. She landed on her side, her dead eyes staring accusingly right at me still hidden in the trees. For a moment her face merged with Lindsay’s in my memory, even though aside from the dead eyes and the slashed throat, they looked nothing alike.

Lady Ann reached into the gold bowl, and when she pulled her hand back out, it was clean. Odd. That bowl had been catching all of Zoe’s blood; Lady Ann’s hand should have been coated in it. She stood and unbuttoned the top two buttons of her shirt, then pressed something against her chest, flattening it palm down.

“With this heart’s blood,” Lady Ann said in English, but in a ritualistic cadence and tone, “I invoke thee.”

She stood there for a long moment. The only sound came from the crackling of the flames in the tiki torches. She pulled her hand from her chest and looked down at her palm with a petulant frown. “That’s odd. I don’t feel any different.”

Her hand tilted, and I finally saw what she was holding: my amulet. The voice in my head crowed with delight, urging me to run and take what was mine. I shook with the effort of not moving. Even moving fast, I wouldn’t be able to take the amulet from her and protect Jack.

Jack sobbed. “Zoe. You killed her.”

Lady Ann’s head snapped up and she narrowed her eyes at Jack. “Perhaps it needs a male…” she muttered low. Then she raised her voice and pointed at the men holding Jack. “Bring him over here and let’s try this again.”

“Jack!” Before I realized what I was doing I burst from the trees, running with my vampire speed. “No!” I yelled as I dashed for Jack. I had eyes only for him, so the crack of a gun caught me by surprise. The force of the bullet smashing into my left leg sent me crashing to the ground, and I screamed in surprise as much as in pain.

The momentum sent me tumbling and rolling across the dirt for several feet before I came to a stop, clutching my leg. It burned like silver.

“Everett!” Jack yelled, lunging forward only to be caught by the guards.

“You!” Lady Ann growled, glaring at me. “What did you do to my amulet? It worked for you, so why not me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I gasped, clawing at my pant leg. I ripped it open to reveal a bullet hole in my upper thigh. Black lines were quickly spreading out from the wound.

“Goddamnit, Everett!” Jack yelled, struggling against the guards. “You were supposed to stay away, where it was safe!”

“I wasn’t about to let her hurt you!” I snarled back around my fangs. It was getting easier to talk with them. “Why didn’t you change and run?”

Lady Ann smirked. “He can’t. I know all about your little werecoyote friend, Everett.”

“Jackal,” Jack and I said at the same time.

“Whatever.” She waved a hand dismissively as she paraded across the dirt towards me, walking like she was strutting down a catwalk and not across a muddy clearing. When she reached the torches, she fingered some purple flowers that had been twined around all the poles. I hadn’t paid them any mind, thinking they were just decorations for the ritual. “Wolfsbane.”

“So?” I struggled to pay attention to her words. The pain in my leg was growing worse and I couldn’t get my fangs to retract.

Lady Ann put a hand on her hip and pivoted to regard the dead body of Zoe, and then glanced at Jack. “Prevents shapeshifters from changing. At least that was how the legends went. Glad to see more than one legend got things right.”

She turned and stalked over to me. When she got to me, she placed a foot on my bullet wound and ground her heel into it. I screamed at the pain, and lunged for her leg with my teeth. A wooden baseball bat cracked me across the cheek, jerking my head to the side. Someone grabbed me from behind and stuffed whole cloves of garlic in my mouth, followed by a thick leather strap which they tied behind my head.

The smell and taste of the garlic made me retch and choke, but the gag kept me from spitting them out. I reached up to claw the gag loose, but the same guard snapped a metal handcuff around my wrist and then locked my hands behind me. Then rough hands grabbed my elbows and pulled me to my feet. My injured leg wouldn’t hold my weight, and I would have collapsed except for the man behind me holding me upright.

“Hmm, the garlic one seems to have some merit too.” She sniffed. “Pity. I love Italian food. Ah, well.”

A guard smashed a balloon into the top of my head. It exploded, spraying water everywhere. Water cascaded down my hair and dripped from my nose. I shook my head to get the worst of it off me.

“Holy water has no apparent affect,” Lady Ann said. “Interesting. Well, I’d love to experiment on you all night, but we’re on a tight deadline. Take him into the circle. He’ll be the next sacrifice to the ancient one.”

“No, you promised!” Jack pleaded as the guard shoved me forward. My shot leg wouldn’t hold my weight, and I collapsed. I tried to catch myself, but with my hands bound I landed on my face in the dirt. I rolled to the side before the thug lifted me back up by one arm.

“What?” Lady Ann said, crossing her hands under her bosom.

“Everett’s life for the amulet,” Jack said, straightening to look her in the eye. “Let him go. I’ll be your willing sacrifice. Perhaps that is what went wrong with your first ritual.”

“Hmm…” She shifted and tapped a finger on her chin. “You might be right at that. And I did promise. Agreed then.”

“No!” I tried to yell around the gag and the garlic without success.

Jack shot me a pleading look. “Uncuff him first. Let him go, to prove your good faith.”

As if I would just leave Jack here to die. I shook my head, glaring right back at Jack on the other side of the circle.

Lady Ann shook her head, a smile tugging at her lips. “I can tell by the look on his face that he’d not be inclined to leave well enough alone. Be confident that if your death completes the ritual that I will have gotten what I wanted and will be happy to let him go.”

“And if it fails?” Jack glanced at Zoe’s cooling body. “Again?”

Lady Ann shrugged. “Then I suppose you’ll get to be together in the afterlife. Let’s be clear here, I hold all the cards. At least one of you will die tonight, no matter what you do.”

“How many people are you willing to throw into the meat grinder over whatever it is you are trying to accomplish?” Jack stood tall and regal despite the guards holding his arms. I would have swooned over him if I weren’t choking on garlic with my leg screaming in agony. “What are you trying to accomplish here, anyway?”

“As many as it takes,” Lady Ann snapped back and glanced at the watch on her wrist. “I’m dying. Aggressive brain cancer. Inoperable. All my money and power can do nothing for me. Chemotherapy didn’t work. There is no cure. At least, none known to medicine. When modern science failed me, I turned my gaze elsewhere.” She paused and her eyes grew distant.

She held my amulet out and turned it over in her hand, admiring it. “Took me over six months to track this down after I became aware of it from one of my new friends, who said this amulet might have the cure I was searching for. The last recorded mention of it was from a Victorian archaeologist’s notes. However, it was stolen somewhere between the dig site and England. Lost to the black market. Imagine my surprise when my private investigator discovered it in the background of a picture taken right here in Portland in the 1910’s. The old fool hadn’t even known what he had. Neither did the museum he donated it to, which is where you came in.” Her face turned hard and she turned her head to glare at me. “You almost ruined everything.”

“You just want to become a vampire?” Jack shook his head, eyes wide.

“You think that’s what he is?” She gestured at me while turning back to Jack. “No, he’s something more. I don’t want to spend my life hiding in shadows, like these weak, modern things that call themselves vampires. If I’m going to live forever, I want to do it in power and style, like the old ones. This amulet is the key to bringing them back, to make things like they were in the ancient times, where monsters ruled and it was the humans cowering in their houses at night.” She glanced at her watch again. “I’ve said too much, and the night won’t last forever. Decide now. Nobly sacrifice yourself for your boyfriend, or watch him die. Your choice.”

Jack glanced at me again, and his mouth flattened out into a line. “Sacrifice. I’ll be your sacrifice.”

I wanted to scream, “Who’s being selfish now!” but with the gag and garlic, all that came out was a muffled cry.

“Excellent.” Lady Ann gestured. “You there, as a show of good faith, take off his leg restraints. Let him walk in under his own power, to prove his commitment.”

One of the guards pulled a set of keys from his pocket and knelt down to unlock the cuffs on Jack’s legs, while Lady Ann walked back into the circle and dropped my amulet back into the bowl. Of course, that was why Zoe’s blood had disappeared; the amulet had sucked it into itself. The voice in my head was ranting about the amulet, but it was getting easier to ignore it now that I could distinguish it from my own thoughts.

“Kneel in front of me,” Lady Ann ordered, laying the knife back into place at her feet and picking up the bowl.

I jerked and twisted, horrified as Jack walked forward and dropped down onto the grass in front of her. Lady Ann lifted the bowl above her head and began repeating the same chanting ritual she’d done before killing Zoe. Jack glanced at me with a resigned look.

I saw red. The voice whispered to me how to break the handcuffs and kill the guard on me. I gave in. I had to save Jack.

Listening to the voice’s whispered instructions, I broke the handcuffs with a quick twist of my wrists. The guard holding me up by my arms barely had time to give a gasp of disbelief before I tensed my legs and jumped up, snapping my head back into his face. He staggered backwards with a pained grunt, blood spraying from his broken nose.

I ripped the gag off with both hands, easily snapping the thick leather, and spat out garlic bulbs as soon as it tore free. I swallowed a few in my haste, making me feel a little sick, but I swallowed hard and kept moving.

Kill him, the voice whispered. I listened. I turned and pounced on the falling guard, teeth wrapping around his throat before he even hit the ground. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the other suited men drawing guns. I didn’t have much time.

Rather than sucking, I bit down hard and jerked my head up, ripping the entire front of the man’s throat out. Arterial blood geysered up from the wound, coating me from head to toe.

Spitting the chunk of meat out, I took a few gulps from the spray before using vampire speed to run at the nearest guard. The man was still lifting his gun to sight on me when I reached him. I smacked the gun to the side with one hand while backhanding his face with the other to expose his throat. Teeth bared, I lunged. I ripped and tore more than sucked, only getting a few mouthfuls of blood before the man crumpled, like a puppet with its strings cut.

A gunshot barked suddenly in the silence. Pain blossomed up my arm, and the impact whirled me around. It hurt, but distantly. The voice pushed me on. I caught my balance and then sprinted at the gunner, who widened her eyes, finger tightening on the trigger again. I reached her and smacked the gun away right before it went off. The bullet swung wide, hitting a tree and sending chips of bark flying. I grabbed the woman’s head and tackled her to the ground, using my momentum to twist her head sharply to the side as we fell together. The crack of the woman’s neck snapping was almost as loud as the gunshots had been.

Lady Ann continued chanting, though her face was twisted in a snarl and her voice turned harsh. She sped up the tempo of her chant. I had to hurry, but the three guards on the other side of the tiki torch circle had drawn their guns and were sighting on me. I had to take care of them before going after Lady Ann, or their silver-coated bullets would kill me before I’d be able to finish her.

I grabbed the dead woman and lifted her body in front of me like a shield as I got up. Three more gunshots boomed, and her lifeless body jerked as they hit. I ran around the circle at regular human speed, limping harshly on my injured leg. I was tiring.

Although I’d fed well off Stacy and the first guard I’d run into, I’d been shot twice now with silver bullets and had been heavily using my vampire speed. I licked the blood off my lips as I ran, but I needed more. Another bullet struck the dead woman, but I was close enough to the shooters now that it went through and hit me in the chest. I gasped. Even slowed down by going through her dead flesh first, it still hurt.

I threw her body at the gunners as I limped forward. Their ducking away to avoid it bought me a few precious seconds.

I sped back up to vampire speed, despite my fatigue. The nearest man lifted his gun to aim at my head. I grabbed a torch as I sped towards him, propping it under my arm like a lance. The tip hit the man’s chest just as he pulled the trigger. The shot went wide, but not wide enough, and the side of my head erupted in pain as the bullet grazed the side of my head. I dropped my makeshift lance and the impaled guard fell screaming to the ground, chest ablaze from the still-burning torch sticking from his chest. The oil had splattered over his clothes and the fire spread rapidly.

I ignored him, not slowing down as I continued around the circle. The next guard’s eyes were wide, and his arms and hands shook with panic as he aimed at me. His gun cracked, and the dirt to my left erupted. I ducked down under his outstretched arms and punched him in the throat. The guard dropped his gun and fell, clutching at his neck and gasping for air.

Another woman and man stepped out of the treeline, raising guns at me. Shit. I didn’t have time for this.

The cadence of Lady Ann’s chanting changed, and I risked a glance back to see her lowering the bowl. I’d have hoped that Jack would take advantage of my distraction to run since his legs were now unbound, but he was still calmly kneeling in front of her, his head held high and defiance in his eyes.

No time to take care of the new gunners; I had to get there before she slit his throat. I spun and ran back toward them, ignoring the newcomers. There was the crack of gunfire and a bullet struck my lower back. I was thrown forward, barely catching myself from falling face-first onto the grass. My legs refused to move.

There was a second shot, and Kevin screamed. “Everett, go! Run! I’ll hold them off.” His warning was followed by the rapid cracks of gunfire. I glanced over my shoulder to see the woman who’d entered the clearing with him dead at his feet, and Kevin gunning down another black-suited guard coming out of the woods. I didn’t know why he was helping me, but I’d take all the help I could get.

The pain blossoming up from the gunshot wound in my back was enough to drown out the voice. For a moment I was back fully, my thoughts my own. So thirsty. It hurt. My fangs ached.

Two meals were directly in front of me, one kneeling down with his back to me. I let out a wordless cry, crawling toward my helpless prey’s exposed back. The woman caught sight of me over the other’s shoulder and smirked, lifting a knife toward my prey’s neck. The man tipped his head back to expose his throat.

I didn’t know why, but this sent a shudder of fury through me. With a last burst of strength, I lunged forward and shoved the man aside as the woman slashed sideways with the knife. The blade caught me across the face, cutting deeply. Blood sprayed from my cheek, splattering the bowl.

Magic exploded out from the amulet with an earsplitting crack. The wave of power threw us all flying away in opposite directions. All the torches were ripped out of the ground with the force of the blast, and the nearest trees snapped in half with loud cracks.

I landed half on top of the man I’d shoved out of the way. My prey. Warm blood pulsed under me. So close, separated from me only by a thin layer of skin. I inhaled deeply, savoring the intoxicating scent of the man’s blood. The man’s cheek had been struck by flying debris, and a thin trickle of blood welled from the cut. I crawled up the man to lick at the blood, shuddering with pleasure as each drop hit my tongue. The meal under me was frozen in fear, his heart hammering widely under my palms.

The voice in my head urged me to drink deeply, to revitalize myself, but I resisted. I opened my mouth and rested my fangs lightly on the man’s neck. The pulse of the blood jumping against my lips was almost too much to bear. I wanted it, badly, yet was not sure why I held back.

A woman moaned behind me. I snapped my head up and around to focus on what had made the sound. Another meal was there. I could feel her warmth from here, and this one I didn’t have any qualms about eating. I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn’t move. I crawled toward her, growling low in my throat.

She opened her eyes as I reached her. She gasped and began crying, pushing herself back from me.

“No, no, don’t eat me!” she sobbed between shuddering tears. “I’ll give you anything you want. Money. Fame. Just spare me. Or, or,” Lady Ann pleaded, eyes glinting through her tears, “yes, turn me to be like you.”

Her words were meaningless. I grabbed her leg with my good hand, pulling her toward me. She screamed and twisted onto her belly to claw at the dirt, trying to get away, but she was only human. When she was close enough, I grabbed her hair and pulled her head to me, pushing her chin back to bury my mouth against her neck. I carefully pierced her artery with my fangs and sucked deeply, taking my time, making sure not to waste a single drop.

At first, she batted at my head with her fists, but after a few moments, she relaxed limply under me. I kept sucking until her heart stopped beating, and then lay there for a long moment, licking up the last few drops that welled out. When the blood stopped flowing, I pushed her away and looked around for the amulet.

It had been thrown by the blast, but I could feel it in my head when I concentrated, and it didn’t take me long to home in on it. I crawled toward it and snatched it up, petting it with reverence as I stared at it.

I don’t know how long I stared at it, but suddenly Stacy was there, snapping her fingers in front of my face.

“Everett?”

I blinked at her and hissed, clutching the amulet to my chest. “Mine!”

“Yes, yours,” Stacy said, giving me a motherly smile. “I won’t try to take it. Do you know where you are?”

I blinked, trying to order my thoughts. Now that I was holding the amulet again, the voice was silent and I could think. Slowly events slotted themselves in place in my mind. “Oh, god. I almost ate Jack.” My hands began to shake and I covered my mouth with my hands, pressing the amulet against my lips. It smelled of blood.

“But you didn’t.” Stacy gave me an encouraging smile. “He’s fine.”

I looked around finally, taking in what had changed. Stacy wasn’t the only vampire present. Ted was there, along with the rest from the house.

But Jack was gone, as was Zoe’s body.

“Jack?” I asked. “Where is he?” My voice raised in panic.

“He’s fine,” Stacy said reassuringly. “He’s getting medical attention back by the cars. He told us what happened. Now, do you feel coherent enough to come with me?”

I lowered my hands and hugged myself. I shook my head. “Hurts. Thirsty. Don’t want to…” I swallowed and shook my head harder. My whole body screamed in pain. My fangs and the back of my throat ached with thirst. “What happened? That blast?”

Stacy frowned. “We’re not sure. It seems our research on the amulet has suddenly become more urgent.” She gave me a hard look. “Would you like to be sedated?”

I gulped, and my grip on the amulet tightened. “Like what you did to me earlier? What if you take the amulet and I lose control again?”

“That’s a valid concern, Everett, but I assure you, until we figure out what it is, we won’t try to take the amulet from you again. That seemed to be the trigger, not the sedative.”

“You’re sure Jack’s okay?” I let out a breath and met Stacy’s eyes.

“I’m sure. Would you feel better if you talk to him on the phone?”

“No, I’m sure he doesn’t want to hear from me. I almost…” I shook my head again, holding back tears. “No sedation. I’m in control, but I can’t walk.”

“Jack told us. They were using silver bullets.” Stacy’s concerned frown dropped away and her eyes narrowed. “We need to find that rogue vampire sooner rather than later. First turning a mortal without permission, and now telling another human how to hurt us.”

“I’m not sure anyone told her,” I said slowly, opening my hand to look at the amulet. “I think she was figuring it out as she went along. Like the garlic she stuffed in my mouth. It didn’t hurt. I choked, sure, but—”

“Wait, garlic?” Stacy blinked at me in surprise, smoothing her skirt under her legs to kneel next to me. “Garlic doesn’t hurt vampires. That’s a myth. Actually, if you have humans rub garlic oil on their skin before you bite them, it gives the blood a pleasant taste.”

“I think she was testing the myths. She said as much about the wolfsbane. She was experimenting.”

“Odd.” Stacy tapped a finger on her lips, her eyes growing distant.

“She said something else strange. She said the amulet worked for me, but not for her. Maybe there is no rogue vampire. Do you think,” I held the amulet up between thumb and finger to show it to Stacy, “that this is what changed me?”

Stacy shook her head. “That would be unprecedented. And impossible, as far as I know.”

I sighed and slipped it in my pocket. I almost mentioned the voice I’d been hearing to her, but hesitated. I probably sounded unhinged enough, and was on thin ice after everything I’d done so far: killing another vampire, drinking from Stacy, and wrecking their hearse. Plus this whole mess in the park.

Stacy patted my leg. “We’ll figure it out later. In the meantime, we need to get you back to the house and get some blood in you.”

“Where is Everett? Is he okay?” Kevin’s voice wafted over to me, and I whipped my head around to look. The officer was being restrained by two vampires, who were dragging him away.

Ted came over to Stacy. “Sorry, ma’am. He slipped away from the guards.”

“No, bring him over,” I said. “He helped me earlier, I want to know why.”

Ted frowned and looked at Stacy, who shrugged. “Why not?” she said.

The vampires holding Kevin let him go. He rushed forward and dropped to his knees in front of me. He looked me over critically, and then surprising leaned over and hugged me. I blinked in surprise, then gritted my teeth and pushed him away, trying to keep myself from burying my fangs in the oh-so-tempting neck so close to my mouth.

“What is going on?” I asked, trying not to breathe too deeply of Kevin’s pleasant scent.

A smile tugged the corner of Stacy’s mouth. “Are those fang marks?” she asked as Kevin sat back, smiling amiably at me.

“Yeah, I might have bit him yesterday. Why?” I asked, still puzzled. “Jack said that vampire venom makes people drunk, like alcohol, but that doesn’t explain why he’s looking at me now like a lost puppy dog.”

“Vampire venom is also addictive. Hits some people harder than others.” Stacy patted the grinning Kevin’s leg. “Makes hunting easier when the prey wants to come back to you. Congratulations. You’ve got your first groupie.”

---

Continue on to Chapter 22

---

I woke up a few hours before dawn to an empty bed. I’d expected as much, but I still wished I could have woken to Jack’s warmth next to me. Everything sounded quiet upstairs. I found a pile of new clothes waiting for me on the coffee table, along with a note from Jack.

My fierce tiger,

Sorry to sneak out on you like this, I have to go out for a few hours. There’s some blood in the dumbwaiter for you. Call me if you need anything before I get back.

Hugs and kisses.

Love you,

Jack

I smiled as I read it, and tucked it into my pocket to save it to read again later.

While I waited for the sun to go down, I took a shower, changed into the new clothes, and chugged down the breakfast of cold blood. One of these days I’d need to try adding it to coffee or something. Couldn’t make it any worse-tasting that was for sure.

Since sunset was still over an hour away, I picked out a thriller novel off one of the shelves and sat down on the couch. I’d heard it was good, or at least good enough to have a movie made based on it, which I hadn’t seen either.

The tablet was upstairs, and after what I saw on the news the other night, I was swearing off TV for a bit. So instead I lost myself in a fictional world of murder that, while ridiculous, was more believable than my current circumstances.

A door slammed upstairs, and then the floor creaked as if many people were walking around up there. I frowned and looked up at the clock on the wall. 11:00 pm. I’d gotten more caught up reading than I’d meant to; the book was as good as advertised. I wondered where Jack had been until so late. I hoped too that he hadn’t gotten too much flak from Emily when he’d returned her car.

The door to the basement opened and then Jack’s voice wafted down.

“Everett, can you come upstairs please?” “Coming,” I called, and put down the book.

When I got to the stairs, the door leading to the kitchen was open and no one was visible. I made my way up slowly, unable to help but feel like something was wrong.

Jack stood in the archway that led to the living room when I entered the kitchen. Waving me over, he smiled at me, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

I hesitated and tilted my head, trying to see past Jack into the living room. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Jack’s smile slipped. “We have some visitors with some good news.” He stepped back into the living room and gestured for me to join him.

I wanted to ask why, if it was good news, Jack looked like he was attending a funeral, but instead I walked over to stand next to him in the archway. As I took in the crowd of visitors, Jack draped his arm over my shoulders, careful not to jostle my hurt shoulder. I recognized Stacy and one of the two men with her as Ted from the PCA. Besides them there were two more people, one man and one woman who I didn’t know. All vampires if I had to guess, since they were with Stacy and Ted. I’d bet their presence was also the reason for Jack’s bad mood.

“Good news,” Stacy said. “The council has looked at your case and come to a decision. You’re to be given this decade’s slot.”

She paused and looked at me expectantly, waiting for a reaction. Puzzled, I twisted my head to look up at Jack, who looked as baffled as I felt.

“Slot?” I asked, looking back at Stacy and then around the room. The female vampire’s face twisted up in a snarl and she glared at me, but didn’t say anything. Both men were impassive. “How is that the good news?”

Stacy sighed. “I suppose you don’t know. In order to keep the vampire population in check so that there aren’t more vampires in a given area than the human population can support, only a limited number of humans are allowed to be turned each decade.”

I stared at her. “Wait, so what if a vampire is made without a slot, as you called it?”

“They are destroyed,” Stacy said in a deadpan.

I blanched, and Jack’s hand tightened on my uninjured arm.

“Don’t worry.” Stacy smiled and folded her hands in front of her. “You’re getting the next slot, so you don’t have to be destroyed.”

“But I didn’t have a choice!” I tried not to yell. I wasn’t mad at her, but I couldn’t help but be a little frustrated.

“Which is why the council ruled in your favor,” Stacy said, her tone turning hard. The woman with her began grinding her teeth until Stacy shot her a hard look.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. “And the other problem?”

“The council accepted Jack’s proposed solution.” Stacy smiled, as if that answered everything.

I glanced up at Jack. “And that is?”

“He didn’t tell you?”

Jack had the grace to look embarrassed. “No. I didn’t know if the council would agree, and there was no need to upset him unduly if there wasn’t a need to,” Jack said to Stacy, not meeting my eyes.

“Yes, the possessiveness you mentioned.” Stacy gestured to the vampires flanking her. “That is why I brought backup. Ted, Luke, if you please.”

I opened my mouth, but before I could say anything, the men darted forward and ripped me away from Jack’s side. They twisted me around and threw me against the wall next to the door face-first, one holding each of my arms painfully behind my back. I cried out as my injured shoulder was ground into the wall.

“Hey, careful!” Jack yelled.

“He’s just being dramatic,” Stacy said. I couldn’t see anything but plaster and vampire arm as my face was pressed against the wall. “Now, where does he keep it?”

Jack sighed. “Let me.”

“Too dangerous,” Stacy said. “You stay back.”

“Look, he trusts me. And it’s not like he isn’t dangerous to you either.” Jack’s voice was patient.

“What?” the vampire holding my right arm asked. “What does he mean by that?”

Stacy sighed. “I wish you hadn’t said anything, Jack.”

“They’d have to find out eventually, Stacy. Just tell them to let him go.”

“Fine, let him up.”

The pressure on my arms disappeared and the men let me go, although they stayed where they were. I straightened my shirt and turned, feeling a bit boxed in by the much taller men on either side of me.

“We would have found out what?” the same vampire—now on my left—asked, giving me a wary look. “What danger is he to us? He’s tiny.”

I folded my arms and glared up at him. Luke by process of elimination, since I recognized Ted on my right.

“He’s of a rare bloodline that can feed off other vampires,” Stacy said, placing her hands on her cocked hips as she regarded me. The vampires on either side of me both sidled a step away. “That line was thought to be extinguished thousands of years ago. No doubt part of the other reason the council let him live. Though other than the council telling me that, and that he is to be allowed to live, they wouldn’t divulge any more details.”

“On that note, any progress on finding my maker?” I asked, dropping my challenging gaze from Luke next to me to look at Stacy. I was genuinely curious, despite my anger at being ganged up on.

“No, but don’t worry, we will.” Stacy snapped her fingers and Jack moved over to stand in front of me, holding up a cloth bag. “The amulet. Now.”

I glanced down at the bag and then around the room, finally getting the plan. “Wait, you’re going to give a human mob boss a magical amulet? Jack did tell you what I found out about it, right?”

Stacy rolled her eyes. “She’s only a human; she won’t know what it does. We did some research on her. Her house is filled with stolen occult artifacts from around the world. No doubt she just wants it for her collection.” Stacy waved a hand dismissively. “In a few months after your faked death, we’ll send someone to steal it back, so she won’t connect the theft to you.”

Jack gave me a pleading look. “It’s the fastest way to get her to call off her goons. I made contact with her today—”

“You what!” I jumped. “How? Why?”

“I was getting there.” Jack gave me a patient look. “I called my old cell phone, she answered. I negotiated with her. The amulet for your life.” He shook the bag. “So please, Everett, can you give it to me?”

I swallowed and licked my lips, but did as Jack asked and reached into my pocket. I pulled the amulet out and lifted it up to eye level to stare at it. I held it out over the bag and tried to drop it, but my fingers wouldn’t let go. Someone moved in my peripheral vision. I snapped my arm back to my chest, crouched, and hissed at a startled-looking Jack. “No! It’s mine! I won’t let you steal it!”

Stacy pushed Jack aside as I lunged for him. Jack fell to the floor and Stacy caught me by the throat, holding me at arm’s length. Luke and Ted grabbed my arms, and together the three shoved me to the floor and pinned me down. The woman rushed forward and tackled my flailing legs.

“Don’t touch the gold with bare skin,” Stacy called over the melee as they struggled to contain me in my frenzy. “We don’t know what its effects might be.”

I barely heard them over the voice in my head screaming at me to get away before they took my precious amulet.

Take it away and keep it safe.

After a few moments they managed to get me firmly pinned down, although it took the combined strength of four of them to keep me down. I was dimly aware of Jack nearby, but the voice beat at my mind, driving away any other thought except the amulet.

“Don’t hurt him!” Jack yelled over the chaos. “And I need the amulet now if Zoe and I are going to make the meeting with Lady Ann in time.”

“Lin, the muzzle,” Stacy requested in a calm voice, as if she were sitting at a desk asking for a pencil rather than fighting a snapping, snarling vampire.

The woman sitting on my legs who been shooting me daggers earlier pulled out a leather face mask that looked like it had come right out of Silence of the Lambs, and tossed it to Stacy. She put it over my face, strapping it around the back of my head so tightly, the straps dug into my skin.

“Shit,” Stacy said, letting go of my throat and standing up. I was still snapping at the vampires holding me. “We’re going to have to sedate him.”

“Ya think?” Ted gasped, barely keeping hold of my injured arm. Vaguely I knew it hurt to fight, but it was like the pain belonged to someone else.

Stacy came back, holding a needle filled with dark red fluid. She knelt and grabbed my hair, wrenching my head to the side, then plunged the needle into my neck. The world went black.

***

I woke up with a pounding headache, and the feel of leather straps digging into my head. Something plastic-y yet pliable was wrapped around my entire body. I was so thirsty. I opened my eyes, but darkness greeted me.

Rock music blared from somewhere behind my head, almost drowning out the sound of two people conversing and the background hum of road noise. I recognized Stacy’s voice, and thought the man talking to her might have been Ted. The surface I lay on bounced as the car went over a pothole.

All I could think of was the amulet. I could feel it moving away from me, and I wanted to scream in frustration. The voice was a little quieter now, giving me enough presence of mind to swallow the sound down to a low growl. Still, it was like someone else talked over my thoughts, making it hard for me to focus.

Jack was in danger, I could feel it. Lady Ann wasn’t going to let things go that easily, but the voice in my head screaming about getting its amulet back quickly pushed all thoughts of Jack away.

It took me a few moments of wriggling to get my hands up from where the tight plastic had them pinned to my side. I grasped the material in front of my face and pulled until I had torn a large enough hole for me to see through. Sticking my arms through first, I got my head and shoulders out so I could sit up and look around. I was in a long car, lying on a gurney. A dark curtain hid the car’s front seat. Thick straps circled my legs and torso—so that was why it’d been hard to move.

Wait, was I in a body bag? And was this a hearse? I shook my head. So cliché, vampires driving a hearse.

I fumbled with the buckles of the face mask, ripping it off with a satisfied grunt and tossing it away.

“What was that?” Stacy suddenly asked from the front seat. I twisted around to look behind me. A hand came through the curtain, pushing it aside to reveal Stacy’s face. Her mouth dropped open as we locked eyes. She looked delicious. All I could see her as was a meal, although vaguely in the back of my mind I knew she had a name. My fangs descended, and I began fighting to pull my legs out of the bag.

“Fuck, Ted, he’s awake! Pull over, pull over and come help me!” Stacy screamed, unbuckling her seat belt to begin climbing into the back seat.

“What the hell!” Ted yelled. “He should be out until at least tomorrow!”

The car abruptly slowed and jerked to the side, sending me and the gurney tumbling over. The gurney landed on top of me, but I didn’t even feel it. I kicked my legs free and lunged for Stacy. My front half collided with her as she finished crawling into the back, slamming us both against the back of the front seats. I opened my mouth wide and bit her shoulder through her blouse. I sucked greedily at her blood. Stacy screamed and fought under me for only a moment before going limp from my venom.

The voice screamed at me to kill the one who took the amulet from me, but the blood hitting my stomach gave me a shock of clarity. The only thing I could compare it to was like when I’d had coffee the morning after a late night at the bar, and the caffeine hit. I let go, shoving the limp Stacy away from me while licking the last of her blood from my lips.

At that moment, Ted threw open the curtain and froze, eyes flicking back and forth between Stacy’s motionless body and me. I grinned at him, showing off my fangs and bloody lips.

Ted pursed his lips and reached down slowly to unclip his seatbelt while our eyes remained locked. Before I could move, Ted had the door open and slid out. I lunged after him, but got tangled in the curtain. By the time I tore free of the fabric, Ted stood warily in front of the car.

I ignored him and climbed into the driver’s seat, closing the car door. The keys still dangled from the ignition. Perfect. I started the hearse back up. Ted frowned, but backed over to the side of the road.

My feet couldn’t even reach the pedals, so I adjusted the driver’s seat closer to the steering wheel before putting the car into drive and flipping an abrupt U-turn. I ignored the angry honks of the other driver’s and sped towards the amulet’s pull. In the rearview mirror, I glanced back to see Ted standing where I’d left him. He had a cellphone pressed to his ear and was shouting at the person on the other end, gesturing at the retreating hearse.

In the back of the vehicle, Stacy slurred like a drunk, but I ignored her. I needed to get the amulet back. My amulet. The voice told me so. I’d feel better once I had it back. I didn’t know where Jack was meeting Lady Ann, forcing me to drive back and forth through the streets as I tried to home in on its location. I followed the feeling north and west, and ended up on Lombard street going north past the industrial parks north of Saint John’s, which were all dark and shuttered at this late hour.

I was getting close, I could feel it. The voice began to quiet as I drew nearer, letting me think more clearly.

“Jack, have to rescue Jack. Not the amulet. Jack,” I said out loud in an attempt to remember why I was really here. I didn’t care about the amulet, despite what the voice in my head was yelling. Let Lady Ann have it. But Jack, I had to protect Jack from her. She wasn’t about to let my defiance of her go so easily, despite what she’d told him. She had to have figured out that Jack had been helping me, and she was going to punish him for it, I could feel it.

The clock on the dash said 12:48 am as the hearse bumped over the bridge over the Columbia Slough, where Lombard turned into Marine Drive. Suddenly, the amulet felt like it was behind me.

The voice screamed so loud in my head that I felt like a spear was being stabbed through my face. My vision went black. I took my foot off the gas and my hands off the steering wheel to clutch my aching head. The car swerved to the right, bouncing onto the sidewalk before hitting a streetlight with a crash.

The airbags went off with a bang, smacking me in the face. In the back, Stacy cried out as she was flung halfway into the front seat. Her eyes were still glazed over and she lay there moaning, covered in broken glass from the shattered windshield. Steam rose from the engine where it was wrapped around the light pole.

“Amulet, amulet, amulet!” the voice screamed in my head. Or maybe it was me screaming out loud. “Back, back, go, fast. Ours.”

I kicked the bent driver’s-side door and stumbled out clutching my aching head.

“No, Jack. Jack.”

It was like my thoughts were fighting, pulling me in two. But my mind was united on one thing: I needed to go, now, towards the amulet. Where Jack would be.

I took off running down the road leading north, past the Kelley Point Park sign. The yellow gate that would have normally be closed at this late hour was wide open.

Kelley Point Park wasn’t a bad place for an exchange that you wanted to keep as quiet as possible. The heavily forested park lay on the little strip of land between where the Willamette River split from the Columbia, and was surrounded by business and industrial parks that were empty at night. There were no residential areas anywhere nearby.

Behind me, metal squealed as Stacy crawled out of the car. I glanced over my shoulder to see her swaying on her feet, clutching the side of the wrecked hearse to stay upright. She called out in a slurred voice, “Everett, Jack didn’t go alone! Come back! Nothing’s going to happen to him! Zoe’s with him.”

I ignored her and kept running.

---

Continue on to Chapter 21

---

Jack made me drive back the long way, around south of Mount Hood, since he rightly pointed out that Lady Ann would most likely be having I-84 watched, which added another hour onto the drive. Jack napped on the passenger’s seat as a jackal while I drove. After I determined he wasn’t hurt, I let him sleep. Shapeshifting healed most injuries, but was tiring.

My arm ached. It was odd. When I’d been shot through the heart, it’d hurt, sure, but not like this. A tingling pain was spreading down my arm and back. The pain became so bad I had to pull over to the side of the narrow highway to lay back against the seat. Closing my eyes, I gritted my teeth, waiting for the worst of it to pass.

Sometime later I felt a warm nose press against my face.

“Everett?” Jack said.

I opened my eyes to find Jack’s jackal muzzle inches from my face. I shied to the side in alarm.

“Are you okay? You look very pale—well, more than normal,” Jack clarified.

“Shoulder.” I had to pause as a wave of pain wracked me. “Hurts. Shot.”

“Shot? You should have healed.” Jack’s long ears went back and he backed up, claws clicking on the center console. “Sit forward. Let me see.”

I was only too happy to slump forward over the steering wheel so that

Jack could inspect my bullet wound. I felt whiskers on my back as Jack ripped my shirt open with his teeth.

“Water balloon too,” I gasped.

“It’s black around the wound. Silver, most likely,” Jack said. “And it’s a myth about holy water, if that was what was in those balloons.”

“Silver?” I slurred. “You. Shot. Too.” It took me several breaths to get the whole sentence out.

“Yeah, but the myth about silver and were creatures is just that: a myth. Silver doesn’t hurt shapeshifters any more than a regular bullet.” Jack’s breath was warm on my back. “But not for vampires. Only saving grace is it looks like a through and through. We just have to get you some blood and wait for the trace amounts of silver to make their way out of your system.”

There was a shuffling sound, and I only half listened to what Jack was doing. A door slammed and then Jack grabbed my head from behind, wrapping my whole face with a cloth. Strong arms pulled me out of the driver’s seat. I could feel his warmth and his pulse where he held me. So thirsty. I salivated. My fangs were already down.

I clawed and snapped, trying to bite the meal holding me, but the cloth around my face was in the way. After a moment my brain processed that I needed to move the cloth before I could eat, but my working hand was trapped between my body and the food holding me. Then suddenly I was falling, and landed on my bad arm. My scream was louder even than the sound of the trunk slamming shut over me.

“I’m sorry, Everett.” A door slammed and the car started up again.

My left arm was free. I tore the covering from my face to find myself lying on my side in a pitch-dark trunk. I could still see the outlines of things around me, like at the fairgrounds. The warm food was close, so close, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t claw through the metal barrier between me and it. Dimly I was aware of the car moving, bouncing along, but my overriding need for the warmth of blood on my tongue drowned out almost everything else.

***

A while later the trunk popped open, letting in a sliver of light. I thrashed, kicking, trying to open it more, while snapping my teeth at the warm thing on the other side. Two red bottles that smelled like blood were pushed through the opening, then the trunk was slammed closed again. I attacked the nearest bottle, greedily gulping down the contents.

By the time I finished the second one, I’d come back to myself a bit. I lay there, panting as I remembered trying to bite Jack. I hadn’t even processed at that time that it had been Jack. At the time, all I’d known was that he was food.

“Awfully quiet in there. Are you finally calm?” Jack asked from outside.

“I think so,” I said, curling on my side away from the opening and hugging my knees to my chest as I stared at the ruined trunk. In my frenzy I’d clawed through the cloth covering on the back inside of the trunk, and I could see fingernail scratches in the metal of the interior. Between this, the blood, and the bullet holes, Emily was going to be pissed.

“Think so or know so?” Jack asked.

I stared at the devastation around me. “I didn’t even know it was you,” I said, biting back a sob. “I’m sorry.”

The lock clicked and the trunk swung open. “You were thirsty and in pain. It happens. Come on. We need to get you inside before dawn.”

I let Jack help me out. Jack wore his blood-stained pants, but no shirt. Yet even the sight of shirtless Jack couldn’t overcome the wave of misery that swept over me. I turned my head away, unable to look at him as he escorted me to the basement door.

“You still look awful. I’ll send down another bottle. Drink it before you lie down, okay?” Jack said in a motherly voice.

I just went down the stairs without responding.

“Do you want to talk about what happened with your parents?” Jack took two steps down after me. I could hear the hurt in his voice.

“No.” I didn’t look back.

Jack sighed. I heard him walk back up the stairs and shut the door behind him. I winced when the lock clicked shut, bursting into tears as I realized that Jack was afraid of me. I made it to the bottom of the steps before collapsing down into a heap on the floor. I curled up into a fetal position, feeling numb. Wrung out. Empty. Not only did my parents still hate me, now Jack did too.

The upstairs door creaked open sometime later, and then hesitant footsteps thumped down the steps. “Everett,” Jack said tenderly. There was the sound of him setting something down.

“Go away,” I gasped between sobs. “I don’t want to eat you.”

Jack sat down on the bottom step and pulled me up against his chest, wrapping his arms around my crossed arms. “You aren’t going to eat me.”

“Yes I am. That’s why you’re afraid of me now.” I half-heartedly pushed at Jack’s arms, but I didn’t really want him to stop. I felt safe. Protected.

“Look, if I were afraid of you, would I be down here right now?” He rested his chin on my shoulder and his arms tightened around me.

“But you locked me in the trunk. And I did try to eat you earlier.” I sniffed.

“I respect your power as a vampire. There’s a difference. You don’t try to reason with a hungry tiger, after all.” Jack’s voice was light, but I could feel the tension under the words. I’d scared Jack, even if he wasn’t admitting it now.

“Did you just compare me to a tiger?” I let out a giggle between sobs, despite myself.

“Yes, I did.” Jack rubbed his beard against my cheek. “My fierce tiger. I don’t blame you. You were in pain and starving. I’m not going to blame you for not being rational. You pushed yourself far too hard, using your speed for that long to save me. Besides, would you rather I have let you eat me?”

I shuddered as I pictured coming back to myself to find Jack dead by my hand. “No. No, I wouldn’t have.”

“So would you like to talk about it?” Jack said softly.

I swallowed. “Not really. It was terrifying. I didn’t even realize it was you. I just sensed food nearby and wanted it.”

Jack sighed. “Not what I was talking about, Everett. Your parents—”

“No.” Now I did push out of Jack’s embrace, jumping to my feet and walking away. I stopped a few feet away with my head bowed. “I was a fool for expecting anything else from them. It’s my fault.”

“That’s not true.” Jack got up and followed me. “But I respect your wish to not talk about it now.” He walked around me and thrust a red bottle into my hands. “Here, I brought this down for you. You lost a lot of blood between the bullet and using your powers. It’ll help flush the silver out of your system too.”

I sighed and nodded, making a face before starting to chug the contents. I hadn’t felt thirsty, but I did start to feel better, perkier, than I had been before drinking it.

Jack’s mouth quirked up in a one-sided smile at my expression. “Stacy hates those things too.” He held up his other hand so I could see the first aid kit he held. “When you’re done, sit down on the couch so I can bandage you up.”

I threw the empty squeeze bottle in the trash and sat on the couch.

“Shirt off,” Jack said, sitting next to me.

I blushed. “Um, can I leave my binder on?”

Jack frowned. “Shirt off first, then we’ll see.”

I sighed but stripped my shirt off, crying out in pain when I lifted my right arm up. “Shit, that hurts still.” I craned my head to see the bullet wound in my shoulder. Dark blood leaked slowly from a jagged hole in my collarbone, and ran down my back and over my binder. Black lines radiated out from the hole along my skin, going almost a palm’s length down my upper arm and chest.

Jack gently put his hand on my back, turning me so that my back was to him. “You can leave the binder on; the wound is high enough it missed it. Now sit still. I’m not sure if this will hurt; I don’t know a lot about vampires. I’m going to clean it with antiseptic wipes.”

“Okay,” I said, clenching my fists and gritting my teeth to prepare. Something wet hit my shoulder. “Nothing yet.”

“Good.” Jack began gently rubbing the cloth along my shoulder. “I’m going to touch the wound next. It looks better than it did earlier, so you are healing.”

“This is better?” I asked, but then Jack’s ministrations reached the hole in my back and I had to bite back a scream. It felt like someone was poking a stick through my back.

“You’re doing great.”

Jack finally finished, and I gasped in relief when he lifted off the antiseptic cloth so he could slap a bandage over the wound. “Now the front.”

“Great,” I muttered, but turned around to face Jack, who turned a bit red.

“Too far.” He gently pressed a hand on my uninjured shoulder to turn me so that he could reach my wounded shoulder better. He cleaned it quickly and efficiently, although it hurt like the devil again, and I had to close my eyes and grit my teeth against the pain.

What felt like a thousand years later, Jack put a square bandage over the front hole. “There. Done. You did great.”

Jack glanced at the clock on the wall. “We need to get you to bed. C’mon.” He helped me stand then took me to bed, tucking me in.

He paused in the doorway on his way out and turned to look back at me lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. “Are you sure you’re alright, Everett?”

“Not really?” I rolled over onto my good shoulder, putting my back to Jack. “Why does it hurt so much, even though it’s nothing worse than they said to me last year?”

The bed settled as Jack lay down behind me. He spooned me from behind, being careful when he put his arm around my waist not to bump my hurt shoulder. I relaxed into his embrace. It felt intimate, despite the blankets separating us. We lay there in silence for a long moment.

“Because they’re your parents. We’re always told that they’ll love you no matter what. It hurts a lot when that love turns out to be conditional,” Jack said finally.

“Did your parents… How did they react to you coming out?” I asked softly. I tried to tug my arm free of the covers, wanting to clasp Jack’s hand, but my shoulder screamed in agony when I tried to move.

“Not well at first, but they came around. Although my mom never stopped harping on me about how my decision denied her grand babies. I was an only child, but still.” Jack blew out a breath. “As if I chose to be gay. Anyway, nothing like what you’re going through. I wish I knew what to say to you, other than to tell you it’s not your fault.”

“Thanks,” I said sleepily. Jack’s words helped, even if it was the comfort of knowing not all parents rejected their queer children.

I rolled over to lie on my back, turning my head to look at Jack, who smiled down at me tenderly. “About that date…” I let my words trail off. Jack probably wasn’t in the mood, but I didn’t want him to leave.

Jack gave me a sad smile. “I hope you don’t consider tonight our first date.”

“No.” I glanced away, blushing. “Not so far, but maybe it can start now?”

Jack glanced at the clock on the wall. “Only twenty minutes till sunrise, not much of a tonight left. And you’re injured.”

I gave him a shy smile. “I’m feeling a lot better.”

“Fine, but we’ll take it slow.” Jack propped himself up on an elbow and leaned over to kiss me. His mustache and beard tickled my face pleasantly.

I tugged my left arm out of the covers and reached up to caress Jack’s face. His tongue probed my lips, and I parted them to let Jack explore further. I shifted right, and winced when that jostled my hurt arm. Jack immediately pulled back and looked down at me with concern.

“I’m fine,” I said, reaching up to grab Jack’s hair and pulling his head back down to resume our kissing. Jack smiled and let me.

The kisses got hotter and deeper, then Jack pulled away.

“These covers are in the way,” he muttered. He stripped the covers down and tossed them off the edge of the bed. I blushed as my binder was exposed, even though Jack had already seen it earlier. Jack knelt on the bed and looked me over with a smile. “You’re so cute,” he whispered.

“How ’bout you lose that shirt?” I said back. “I’m feeling a little underdressed compared to you.”

“Deal.” Jack put his hands behind his head and tugged his shirt off, dropping it off the bed. He crawled over and straddled my hips. He put a finger on the edge of the compression back brace that I was using as a makeshift binder and ran it along the lower edge, giving me a questioning look.

“I want to leave it on,” I whispered, putting my right hand over Jack’s. The movement twinged my shoulder a little, but it wasn’t unbearable.

Jack smiled at me and set a hand on the bed on either side of my chest and leaned forward over me. “That’s fine. I could tell me touching it last night bothered you too. Is that why you changed your mind about sex yesterday? You’d been all raring to go before that.”

I nodded and bit my lip, waiting for Jack to stand up and reject me because of it. It was what had happened with every guy I’d met at the gay bars after I started passing more often than not. When they’d found boobs where they expected none, rejection quickly followed. Instead Jack just gave me a tender smile, then bent down to kiss me. His hips ground against mine, his erection hard enough I could feel it pressing against me, even through both our jeans. My own underwear was damp with need, and I shifted my hips to grind Jack’s erection against my crotch.

I lifted my good arm and ran my hand along Jack’s bare chest, ruffling Jack’s chest hair, until I found one of his nipples. I ran a finger around the edge of it. Jack broke apart our kiss with a gasp and sat up to fumble with the front of his jeans. Without getting up off me, he stripped them off one leg at a time to reveal Pokémon-branded boxer briefs that barely contained his erect cock. While he did that I tried to unbutton my own pants, but it was too difficult with just one hand.

“Need a little help with that?” Jack smirked as he kicked off the last leg of his jeans.

“Please.” I lifted my hand and let Jack unbutton and unzip my pants. I bent my knees and set my feet so I could lift my hips, allowing Jack to yank them off. He pulled my underwear off at the same time, leaving me naked on the bed except for my binder. I flushed and grabbed the waistband of Jack’s briefs. “Hey, no fair.”

“True.” Jack pulled them off and tossed them away, then straddled my hips again. His throbbing, hard cock rested on my stomach and I grabbed it, gently running my hand up and down it.

Jack groaned, rocking his hips against mine. “Grip it harder.” I tightened my grip and Jack moaned. “Yes, much better.”

“It looks different than the ones I’ve seen in porn,” I said without thinking. I immediately blushed and added, “It’s nice. I like it.”

Thankfully Jack just laughed. “I haven’t been circumcised. That’s the difference. See that flap of skin near the head that’s moving with your hand?” I nodded. “That’s the foreskin.”

“I’m glad you aren’t offended. It’s my first time with a guy, after all.” I kept stroking Jack’s erection, enjoying the way it felt in my hand and the way Jack moved against my hips. Wetness slicked the inside of my thighs as Jack’s butt rubbed my legs and his hips rocked against mine.

“It’ll be a first for both of us,” Jack said, leaning back over me to rest his weight on his hands. His cock got pinned between his bare chest and my stomach, forcing me to let go of it. Jack kissed me lightly on the lips. “I’ll answer any of your questions as long as you answer mine.”

“Deal,” I agreed, running both my hands down Jack’s sides now. My shoulder ached but I ignored it, having too much fun to want to stop. I could only reach as far as Jack’s waist, and wished I were taller so that I could cup Jack’s ass in my hand.

“What would you like me to do?” Jack asked, giving the bandage on my shoulder a significant glance. “Within reason.”

I bit my lip. “I want you inside me.”

Jack nodded, and leaned over to give me another deep kiss with tongue. His cock pulsed against me. This close the smell of Jack’s blood was overwhelming, and without meaning to my fangs descended, pricking Jack’s lip as he kissed me.

“Oww.” Jack pulled away and touched his lip, fingers coming away red. “Sorry.” I had a flash of thirst at the sight of the red sparkling on Jack’s fingertips, and the coppery tang of blood in the air. “They have a mind of their own sometimes,” I slurred around the fangs that refused to retract.

Jack laughed and sat back. “I know what that’s like.” He ran a hand along the length of himself, and I shuddered as his fingers brushed my stomach. He shifted back off my hips, and I spread my legs to allow Jack access. His cock rested against the folds of my labia, and he ground himself against me. I cried out in pleasure as his throbbing cock brushed my clit and Jack grinned, moving faster and bringing another cry from me.

“Do you have a condom?” I suddenly realized as Jack slowed and grabbed his cock.

Jack gave me a patient look. “You’re a vampire. You can’t get STDs, or get pregnant.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Lube?” he asked in response.

“I, uh, I’m pretty wet already. I think we’ll be fine.”

“Oh, that hole!” Jack said with a laugh. I smiled along with him as he pushed the length of himself into me.

I gasped as Jack grabbed my legs and began rocking quicker inside me, getting deeper with each thrust until his balls were slapping my butt. His slick length rubbing me sent waves of pleasure shuddering through me.

“See that large bump at the top there?” Jack nodded.

“Rub it while you fuck me.”

Jack moaned, lowering a hand to rub while he thrust. “It’s so big,” he said, twirling my clit between his fingers. I bit back a scream of ecstasy and gripped the bedsheets, bucking against Jack’s hips as he rubbed. “Now it’s my turn to say that your downstairs doesn’t quite look like the straight porn I’ve seen,” he said with a wry smile.

“Testosterone,” I managed as pleasure overcame me. “Makes it grow.” Jack let go of me and slid his hands under my butt to pull me closer. His firm chest pressed against my face as I sat up, reaching up to twine the fingers of my good hand through his hair.

I screamed in pleasure, bucking against Jack as I came.

Jack laughed and held me down. “Like fucking a tiger.” He finished with a groan as he came inside me. Jack shuddered along with me for a moment before collapsing, leaning down to kiss me hard with his soft cock still inside me. We lay like that for a long moment. Jack was panting, but I didn’t feel out of breath at all.

“That was wonderful,” Jack said, recovering. He pulled out and rolled over to spoon me from behind.

“It was,” I whispered, already feeling sleepy as the last of the aftershocks came over me with a last spasm of pleasure. I fell asleep, safe in Jack’s arms.

---

Continue on to Chapter 20

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With Jack driving like a bat out of hell and light traffic on I-84 eastbound, we managed to make it up to Hood River in less than an hour, rolling into town just before 10:00 pm. I directed him to the fairgrounds from memory. I’d been dragged there enough times over the first eighteen years of my life for various Renaissance Fairs and SCA Events that I could probably have found my way there blindfolded.

Quiet hours were beginning as we arrived, but many people were still out and about, mostly gathered around the bonfires scattered around one edge of the fairground. Jack parked at the end of the line of cars and turned off the engine but grabbed my arm before I could open the door.

“Ground rules. First, no revealing your nature or anything about the supernatural. Second, this is just for you to make up with them. Third, we go straight back to the safe house after.” Jack gave me a hard look, narrowing his eyes at me. “Got it?”

“Got it. But what will you do while I find them? Are you just going to wait in the car?” I asked.

“And leave you on your own?” Jack gave me a bemused look. “No. I’m going with you.”

“She knows you too. Won’t that give us a greater chance of being recognized?”

“Yes, but I won’t feel safe with you by yourself. I can protect myself if need be.” Jack glanced around outside, craning around to check the back too. A few people were smoking in front of a car a row down, but they had their backs turned to us and seemed to be focused on their own conversation. “Let’s go. Keep your head down and act casual.”

We both got out of the car and walked toward the fires. It was dark out here in the country, and the moon was down to just a sliver tonight so there was hardly any moonlight, but to my surprise I could still see almost perfectly. Jack stumbled on the uneven ground, so I took his arm.

“I can see. Just hold on to me.”

Jack gave me a grateful smile and wrapped his arm in mine and took my hand. I was glad he couldn’t see me in the dark, since I was sure I had a goofy smile on my face.

My parents had owned the same tent for years, and I’d recognize it if I saw it. However, first I steered Jack toward the bonfires. Despite the lateness of the hour, that was where we were most likely to find them. My mother loved to socialize, and was always one of the last to turn in.

We neared the fire with the biggest group of people around it. With my new vampire vision, the light of the fire actually made it harder for me to see; pure darkness seemed to be better for my new eyes. Then someone stepped aside, revealing two profiles. I stopped abruptly, recognizing my mother and father. My mother was shorter even than my barely five-foot height, and combined with the big, poufy dress meant it couldn’t be anyone else. My much-taller father stood next to her, wearing what I had always joked was his pirate coat, which was buttoned tight against the night’s chill.

Jack leaned down and whispered in my ear, “What’s wrong?”

“I spotted my parents.” I jerked his head toward them. “We can wait here and tail them back to their tent.”

“No, we need to get this over with. I recognize that tall muscular guy over there. He was one of the men who abducted me.” Jack’s eyes flicked in the man’s direction, and I turned to follow his gaze. “No, don’t look.”

I jerked my head back, trying to glance over with just my eyes as Jack pulled me along again in the direction of my parents. Jack was right, I was terrible at this. I hadn’t even spotted the man, although now that Jack had pointed him out, it was obvious he didn’t belong here. He looked very uncomfortable in his obviously brand-new, store-bought doublet. A strange bulge in the shirt’s side could only be a gun.

We were almost to my parents when a man and a woman stepped out of the crowd, stopping directly in our path. I moved to go around them, but the woman’s arm shot out, blocking the way.

“Who are you?” she hissed, glaring at me. “And why do I feel so drawn to you?”

I stared back at her. I could almost feel the animosity coming off her and the man in waves. “Do I know you?” I craned my neck to see around her and make sure I didn’t lose track of my parents.

“No, that’s the problem.” The woman glared at me and put her hands on her hips. “You should have sent in notice if you wanted to attend an event outside your home area.” The man with her was nodding along to her words.

“What are you talking about?” I said, glancing over at Jack to see if he was as confused as I was.

Jack looked like he’d bit a sour lemon. He leaned toward me. “They’re vampires, Ev.”

Oh, right. I could see it now. Both of them were pale under their makeup, and the firelight reflected off their eyes with an odd sheen.

“I’m sorry, I’m new. I didn’t know the rules.” I pushed her arm out of the way. “But I’m in a hurry, and we’re not staying.”

The man with her, dressed as a Victorian nobleman, was suddenly standing in front of me. He grabbed my arm, his grip like iron.

“Stop,” Jack said softly. “It’s fine, he’s with me. I’m Jack Smith, from the PCA.” When both vampires looked at him blankly, he continued. “I work for Stacy Cord.”

Both lit with comprehension, but the woman frowned.

“Why’s he being escorted in our territory by a mangy mutt instead of a vampire?” she sneered.

Jack let out a growl, his eyes flashing dangerously. He gritted his teeth, and I could see the effort it was taking him not to respond to the insult. “They’re busy tracking down that rogue vampire. Like you should be doing.”

The man had the grace to look guilty, although the woman merely tossed her head, making her blond curls bounce, and pouted. “Like I’d miss the event of the season. I’d have to wait months for the next chance to show off my new outfit to people who can appreciate it.” She posed a little and I, who’d grown up with a seamstress mother who was a period perfectionist, could see why she was so proud of it. It was deep red with a low-cut corset, a big bustle with at least a dozen layers of petticoats, and wide-sleeves. Wait, I recognized that hand-stitching on the sleeves.

“It is fabulous. You look amazing. I can see why you want to show it off.” I smiled at her. “It fits you perfectly. Your seamstress did an excellent job.”

The woman’s chest swelled and she batted her eyelashes at me before smirking at Jack. “I’m glad to see someone can appreciate quality.”

“I’d love to get one for myself.” I glanced at the man still holding my arm. “That’s why I’m here, actually. To see Mrs. Boesch. I just want to talk to her and then we’ll be going.”

“Not going to stay for Cloved Fruit?” the man said in a thick British accent, finally letting go of my arm. “It’s the highlight of the evening, isn’t it, Clarissa?”

Jack looked down at me in confusion. Cloved Fruit was a sexy drinking game popular at Ren Fairs. I could see why vampires enjoyed it, but there wasn’t time to explain all that to Jack now. I shook my head, mouthing “later” at him, and then said, “No, maybe next time.”

“More for us then, Reggie.” Clarissa took Reggie’s arm again, giving me a critical once-over. “If I may give you a bit of advice: ask for an outfit that’ll go with heeled boots. A bit of height will help you win over the ladies better.”

Jack let out a guffaw that he badly covered up with a cough. “After you then, ma’am.”

Clarissa gave Jack a dirty look, but escorted us over to my mother and father, who were talking to a man I didn’t recognize. I overheard her say, “I haven’t seen her,” before Clarissa walked right between her and the man she was speaking to, cutting her off mid-sentence.

“Rose, good evening. This young gentleman,” Clarissa gestured to me, “was just admiring the new outfits you made for Reggie and me. He just had to meet the designer to get one of his own.”

My mother had a smile on her face as she looked at Clarissa, but as soon as I stepped out of Jack’s shadow and into the firelight, the smile slid off her face and she wrinkled her nose as if she’d just stepped in something disgusting.

“I won’t speak to that thing,” she sniffed, “until my daughter returns.”

Even Clarissa looked taken aback at vehemence in my mother’s tone. Well, this reunion was off to a great start. At least my father was looking at me. I decided to start there. I turned to him with a pleading look. Sometimes my father could talk sense into my mother. I felt, more than saw, Jack move to stand next to me.

“Dad, I wanted to see you to—”

“You heard your mother,” my father said mildly. He was almost expressionless. My mother lifted her nose in the air and turned her back to me, picking up her skirt in both hands and walking away. My father gave me a small frown as he looked me over, taking in my scraggly five-o-clock shadow that had taken me two weeks of cultivating to grow, and my chest, flattened by my makeshift binder. “Come back to us dressed as a proper young lady again, then we can talk.” He turned and hurried after my mother.

All the air left my lungs, and I felt like I was going to puke. Then I wondered if vampires could throw up.

“Dad? You idiot!” Clarissa leaned down to hiss at me. She was angry because she thought I’d faked my death before being turned, as was common practice. She didn’t know that wasn’t the case with me. “And you, how could you be a part of this?” she demanded, whirling on Jack.

“I agree, he is an idiot,” a man said from behind me, followed by the click of a gun being cocked. “All of you, put your hands in the air.”

My eyes went wide and I glanced at Jack, who was glaring at me in an I-told-you-so way as he raised his hands above his head. I did the same, as did Clarissa and Reggie, who both looked slightly confused.

“Turn around, slowly.”

All four of us did so to find the man my parents had been speaking with holding us all at gunpoint. He waved the tip of the gun first at Clarissa and Reggie, and then at Jack. “You three, get out of here. I only need this one.” He settled the barrel back to point directly at my face.

Clarissa nodded, gathering her bustle in one hand and grabbing Reggie’s hand in the other. She frowned at me for a moment, but then shrugged, and she and Reggie almost ran away.

The man watched them go for a second, then glanced at Jack. “You too.”

“I won’t leave him.” Jack stepped between me and the gun. “Run, Ev.” The man’s gun barked, and Jack grunted in pain and staggered back.

“Not without you!” I grabbed Jack around the waist, letting myself sink into the near-fugue state that let me move so fast. I tossed Jack over my shoulder and dashed in the direction of the car. It was a bit awkward, since Jack was nearly a foot taller than me. Jack seemed heavier than he should have, especially with the way I’d thrown around that cop the other night, but he wasn’t unmanageably heavy, although it did slow me down.

Something warm ran down my back, and I smelled Jack’s blood. I couldn’t stop my fangs from descending. The gun cracked again. Pain blossomed up my arm, and I nearly dropped Jack. Something soft hit the back of my head and exploded, showering me with something wet. Had he thrown a water balloon at me?

People around the camp began screaming and running away from the shots. Lights began to go on all around the camp, heads popping out of tents as I wove around through the campground toward the car. I hoped the darkness made it so that no one noticed that I was running faster than the rest of the crowd.

I was going so fast that I almost crashed into the car, sliding on the loose gravel for a moment before falling against the trunk.

My right arm refused to move, forcing me to clumsily dump Jack sideways onto the ground. Jack moaned as he hit, and the strong smell of blood nearly made me swoon. Jack landed on his side. The front of his shirt had a neat hole in the front, and a trail of blood tracked up his chest.

I cursed and knelt down, applying pressure to the wound with my working hand. Jack’s eyes were fluttering and he was unresponsive.

“Don’t die, Jack,” I babbled, pressing on the bloody hole in Jack’s chest with my good hand.

Then Jack’s chest sunk in, and fur sprouted up from his face as his nose elongated. A moment later, a jackal lay there in Jack’s bloody clothes. It began thrashing in slow motion around in them, trying to get loose.

The screams began to get closer, and I looked up to see three men with guns moving through the crowd in our direction. They looked to be moving with exaggerated slowness, but it wouldn’t take them long to get into range, and they were already raising their guns. One had another water balloon out, and had his arm cocked back to throw it. Why water balloons? I didn’t have time to dwell on it now.

“Shit, keys.” I fumbled at Jack’s pants with my one working hand, trying to ignore the way the jackal was glaring at me. I finally got ahold of the keyring and tugged it free. I unlocked the car, and turned to get the jackal.

I grabbed Jack’s bloody clothes as a bundle, slow-motion jackal and all, and tossed the whole thing into the passenger seat without looking. Jack’s yelp of surprise seemed to go on forever while I climbed inside and got the car started. I was starting to get so thirsty, but if I slowed down, the men would get to the car before I’d be able to get us out of here.

A gun cracked, and the car jumped as the bullet impacted somewhere I couldn’t see.

My right arm still refused to move, so I had to awkwardly twist my left hand around in order to get the key in the ignition, frantically glancing at the slowly approaching men as I struggled to reach around the steering wheel. At least the car started right up.

As soon as I got it into reverse, I floored it, sending us careening backward into the road. I was starting to get some sensation back, but it still took me a moment to pop the shifter into drive with my partially numb right hand. I let my speed fall away as I hit the gas and roared away. Bullets whizzed after us as the three men chased us down the road, firing at the retreating car until they were out of view.

Jack jumped up into the passenger seat and sat down, having finally wiggled his way free of his clothing. His hackles were up and his lips were pulled back from his muzzle as if he were growling, although I couldn’t hear anything.

“I know, I know. You told me so,” I said to the jackal, slurring around the unfamiliar feel of my fangs, which refused to retract.

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Continue on to Chapter 19

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I paced while Jack sat back down on the couch. “So, what’s the plan then?”

“Let’s try the easiest route first: calling them.” Jack pulled a new prepaid cellphone out of his pocket and then looked expectantly at me. “And come sit down. You’re making me nervous with all that pacing.”

“Won’t she be tracing any calls that come into their number?” I asked, whirling to face Jack.

“Probably, but tracing takes time. We’ll start a timer, no longer than thirty seconds on the phone, then I hang up no matter what.” Jack patted the couch cushion next to him, and I came over and sat on the edge. My leg jumped, and I tapped my foot. I wanted to move, go somewhere, do something, and was having a hard time sitting still.

Jack put the phone to his ear, listening to it ring. After a moment he put it down again. “No answer. Do you have any other way to reach them?”

“That was their house phone. They both have cellphones.” I gave him my mom’s number first.

“No answer.”

“Try my dad’s cell.”

I stared at Jack impatiently, groaning when he again lowered the phone without saying anything.

“Nothing?” My panic was returning. “Why aren’t they answering?” My voice raised and cracked at the end. I was sure I sounded like a teenager, but I was too panicked to be embarrassed.

“You have no idea at all where they could be?” Jack looked at me with a frown. “It’s past nine, so I’m surprised that they aren’t home, but it is Friday night. Date night, maybe?”

I shook my head. “No, not really. Maybe we could try my brother? We can get his number from the local directory.”

“Better not to get anyone else involved if we can help it,” Jack said, crossing his arms. “Do they have any favorite restaurants they’d be at, anything like that?”

“There is one thing,” I said slowly. “Where’s the tablet?” Without waiting for an answer, I jumped up and jogged into the kitchen where I’d left it. I laid the tablet on the coffee table so Jack wouldn’t see how bad my hands were shaking as I typed in the group’s website, then navigated to the “Events” tab to find my worst fears confirmed. “Shit!” I jumped to my feet to stomp around the living room.

“What?” Jack leaned over the tablet and read the page out loud. “May Crown Tournament.” He looked up at me with an amused smile. “Your parents are role-players?”

“Kinda. My mom loves period costuming and sewing, and the group is a great excuse for her to sew new outfits for the whole family.” Feeling a little better for the stomping, I knelt on the other side of the coffee table to reach the tablet. I scrolled down the page and pointed to a line in the schedule. “That’s why they aren’t home and aren’t answering their phones.”

“Bardic circle,” Jack read, then glanced back up at me, a small smile tugging at his lips. “I don’t know that dressing up and singing merit that deep of a scowl.”

“It’s not the singing, it’s the damn dressing up.” I pushed up from the coffee table and glared down at the tablet. “Growing up, she was always dragging me to those things. After five boys, I was her only ‘girl’,” I made air quotes around the word, “and she was so excited to make dresses for me. She treated me like her doll. Frilly lace and corsets, and god, I hated it so much.” I felt like punching something just talking about it. Stomping across the room helped only so much. “We were always fighting about it.” I scowled harder and crossed my arms.

“Well, no dressing up this time,” Jack said in an understanding voice.

“So what does this circle have to do with not answering their phones?”

“It’s really discouraged to answer a cellphone at these events, especially at the bardic circles.”

“So we leave them a message telling them they are in danger, and to go to the police.” Jack bent over the tablet again. “This says quiet hours start at ten, so they’ll get the message when they get home for the night.

I groaned. “Knowing how seriously my mom takes these things, they left their phones at home. Besides, the police are a bad idea. Lady Ann has cops on her payroll. Remember those cops who showed up at my apartment?”

Jack nodded.

“Remember I told you I went to talk to one of them? They work for her.” I moved around to sit back down next to Jack and covered my face with my hands. “How are we going to get a message to them now?”

“You mentioned five brothers? Do they all live in town?”

I leaned forward to rest my elbows on my knees. “No, just my brother Michael, two years older than me. He works at Dad’s garage. All my other brothers moved away. They’re scattered all over the country. Why?”

“Just trying to figure out who else she might go after next.” Jack sighed. “Alright, let’s give your brother Michael a call, since he’d be the next logical choice for her to go after anyway.”

“Thank you.” I raised my head and gave Jack a grateful smile.

I looked up Michael’s number through my email account, since my cellphone was long gone, and read the number off to Jack. I reached for the phone, but Jack shook his head, switching hands to hold the phone on the side away from me. “No, too dangerous. In case he’s already involved, let me do the—”

Michael must have answered, because Jack cut himself off abruptly.

“Hello, Michael? This is Detective Jack Petty.” There was a pause.

I raised my eyebrows at this lie. Jack saw and waved me off with a smile. “No, the reason I’m calling is about your brother, Everett.”

“What!” I blurted out. Jack’s free hand swung up and clamped over my mouth before I could say anything else.

“Sorry about that. Yes, no, your brother is fine. He’s in police custody right now—”

Jack glanced at me. I lifted a hand to make a zipping motion across my lips. Jack nodded and let go.

“So you haven’t seen the news?” Jack asked, and then paused again. I was dying of curiosity about what my brother was saying on the other end of the line. Why didn’t vampires get enhanced hearing like the movies? I leaned closer, trying to hear, but Jack pushed me away.

“I don’t have time to go over the details of your brother’s case with you at this time. I’m calling you about another urgent matter. We have reason to suspect that you and your parents’ lives are in danger. However, we’ve been unable to reach your parents. Where are you right now?”

Jack glanced at me and frowned. “Well, that is good news. Please stay where you are for now. You should be safe in Miami. We have reason to believe the threat is local to Portland.”

Another pause, and I fidgeted nervously. My stomach sank at the mention of Miami. Although I was happy that Michael was out of town, which should mean he would be out of Lady Ann’s reach, it meant that he couldn’t go by and warn our parents. I hoped this was for the gay cruise he’d mentioned last time we’d talked. He deserved to be able to cut loose away from our ultra-conservative parents.

“Yes, do you have any other way to reach them?” Jack paused again. “Hood River County Fairgrounds, got it. We’ll send a few officers by there to check on them. Thank you for the information.”

Jack hung up and lowered the phone, then gave me a sympathetic look. “I take it you overheard? Michael confirmed your hunch about where your parents are. He said the only way to reach them is going to be going by in person. The good news is that he’s on vacation in Miami, so he’ll be safe.”

“So, who can we call?” I stared back at Jack. “And who’s Jack Petty? I thought from that memory I saw that your last name is Prashad.”

“It was Prashad. Since I went into the supernatural’s version of wit-sec for outed supernaturals, it’s been Jack Smith.”

I made a face and Jack laughed.

“I know, believe me, but I didn’t get a choice. They insisted on nice and generic. I’m just glad they let me keep my first name. Anyway, I’m not going to give out my real name, am I?”

“I guess not, but you didn’t answer my first question.”

“I didn’t answer because we aren’t going to do anything else. We’ve pushed our luck as it is.” Jack held up a hand to forestall my protests. “We can’t get anyone else involved, and we have no way to warn them by phone.”

“It’s only an hour’s drive up there,” I pleaded. “We go up there, warn them, come back. No one even has to know we left.”

“I’d know.” Jack looked uncomfortable. “It’s just too dangerous. You know she’s going to have people watching them. Besides, we both know that a warning probably won’t make any difference. If she wants them dead, there’s really nothing we can do to stop it.”

“So why help me try to call them?” I clasped my hands together and made a pleading look.

“Everett, I was helping you mostly for your piece of mind. You’re just going to have to accept the fact that you won’t get to make up with them.”

“If we disguise ourselves, they won’t know who we are. Besides, they’ll be looking for one person, not two.”

Jack shook his head. “No.”

“I can use my speed to get in and out. Lady Ann’s thugs will be human. They’ll never even see me.” I lifted my hand, palm towards Jack, and put the other one over my heart. “Scout’s honor.”

“Alright, let’s play this game.” Jack shifted to face me. He started ticking points off on his finger. ”If you manage to speed or sneak past the guards— who are by the way, probably well-trained mercenaries or ex-military—and then if you manage to find your parents’ tent in a dark field filled with near identical tents, how do you convince them of the danger?”

I frowned and stayed silent for a moment while Jack looked at me expectantly. “Well, Michael seemed to take you seriously,” I said finally.

Jack shook his head. “He thought I was a cop. These are your parents who from the sound of things, haven’t listened to you very well in the past.” Jack waved a hand. “Okay, let’s skip that and pretend they do listen. How do you get them to safety, back out past Lady Ann’s guards? Without,” Jack fixed me with a glare, “revealing you are a vampire. Top secret, remember?”

“I guess I didn’t think that far ahead,” I admitted. “Forewarned is forearmed. Once they know about the threat, they should be okay, right?”

“You’re the youngest of six, was it?”

I nodded, not seeing where Jack was going. “Yeah, so?”

“How old are your parents, Everett?”

“They’re both almost sixty, but my dad’s a mechanic, and keeps in shape. My mom’s really active too. She walks a mile every morning.”

“You think they’re a match for trained fighters?”

I threw up my hands in frustration. “You keep mentioning mercenaries, but we don’t know that. She’s a mobster, she doesn’t have an army. For all we know, she might not even have anyone there.” Saying that gave me another idea. “Wait, maybe she doesn’t. What if we just go up there and check it out, take out anyone who looks like a threat? Then I wouldn’t even have to talk to my parents.”

“The ones who took me were professionals, but—” Jack closed his eyes and squeezed the bridge of his nose with one hand. “Everett… You seem to be missing my point.” He opened his eyes and took my hands in his. “You can’t save them. We’ve done all we can. Now we just sit tight.”

“But—” I tried to pull away, but Jack squeezed my hands and gave me a sad look.

“Everett, I know you don’t want to lose them, but I want you to understand something.” He leaned closer and rested his forehead against mine. “I don’t want to lose you, either.”

I started shaking, and Jack put his arms around me and pulled me close.

“What if—”

“No, Everett. We can’t risk it.”

I swallowed. “I just want to talk to them. I sneak in, say my piece, and then get out.”

“Damn you, Everett. We agreed it’s a risk.” Jack tightened his arms around me and began massaging my shoulders.

“I know.” I leaned back into Jack. “I know it’s dangerous, but I just want to see my parents one last time. Have a chance to make peace with them.”

Jack sighed heavily. “I understand. I want to help you, but it doesn’t matter without a car to get up there.”

“You don’t have a car?” I sat back to regard him. “How did you get to the grocery store then?”

Jack laughed. “I walked. My car got mysteriously filled with bullet holes, remember?”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “If we get a car, you’ll agree to help?”

“You’re so stubborn, and you look before you leap.” Jack sighed. “I love it about you. I even like how bad you are at lying, although we are going to have to work on changing that if you’re going to keep your vampire nature a secret. But yes, I can understand. If I could go back, I’d want one last chance to see my parents.”

I chewed my lip. “So what now?”

“Let’s get a car.” Jack pulled out a phone and started scrolling through the contacts. “Too late to rent one, and everyone you know is out, obviously. Problem is, I’m still pretty new to town, and most of the people I know are connected to the office. We don’t want Stacy getting wind of this, so that narrows the list considerably.”

“The only person I’ve talked to that isn’t part of the offices is Emily. Or would she still be at the offices?” I said slowly.

“Not a bad idea. She fell asleep at the wheel and her car hit the freeway dividers. Not serious and the airbags went off, so she wasn’t hurt, just startled enough to trigger her transformation. Meant there weren’t any

witnesses, so she could just go back to her life.”

“Wait, if she crashed, her car won’t be drivable.”

“I talked more with her after you went to bed. She has to drive a lot for work. I bet she already has a new one by now, or at least a rental we could borrow.”

Jack scrolled to her name and lifted the phone to his ear.

“Hello, Emily. This is Jack. From PCA. Yes. How are you doing?”

Jack nodded along to her words, smiling. “Good, good. Listen, I have a favor to ask. My car broke down, and Everett and I need to run up to Mount Hood tonight.” There was another pause. “Yes, exactly. That would be great. It’s near Lloyd center. I’ll text you the address. Right then, see you soon.” He hung up and turned to me, smiling. “She is happy to lend us a car.

She’ll be picking us up in fifteen.”

***

Emily honked when she arrived, pulling up in a brand-new white sedan with a temporary plate taped in the rear window. Jack and I went out to meet her. She smiled warmly at Jack as she got out of the driver’s side, but her smile faded when she nodded her head to me.

Emily looked much better today. Her hair was done up, and she wore understated makeup and a professional suit. I was surprised, given how late it was, that she looked like she’d come straight from an office.

“Just drop me at the train station by the mall,” Emily said, leaning forward to talk to Jack over his shoulder as he adjusted her seat and mirrors to fit his taller frame. “I sent you my address, so bring the car back to me there in the morning when you get back.” She sat back again, giving me a side-eyed look.

“Thanks, Emily. We really appreciate it,” Jack said, starting the car up.

“I mean, I don’t mind helping you out, but why is he going with you?” Emily wrinkled her nose. “Zoe told me he’s a vampire. Is that why he stunk when I was a fox?”

“That’s right,” Jack said, backing into the street. “Our noses in our animal forms can smell that vampires are dead, and instinctively we dislike it. Part of why vampires and shapeshifters were at odds for so long.”

Emily’s face scrunched further. “It’s not going to linger in my car, is it?”

“Afraid so.” Jack glanced at Emily in the rearview mirror.

“Hey!” I protested, but Jack kept talking.

“Sorry. But the good news is that you’ll only smell it when you’re in your animal form. Plus, it’ll be good for you to get used to it. As you can see, vampires get a little testy when you imply that they stink.” Jack’s eyes canted over to me. “Everett, not your fault. Just stating facts.”

“Fine.” Emily crossed her arms.

“What is it you do for work, Emily?” I asked, trying to reduce the tension that was growing in the car.

“I saw you on the news.” Emily glared at me.

I slid down in my seat. “I’m innocent,” I mumbled.

“That news report has to do with why I’m taking him to Mount Hood,” Jack said, reaching over with one hand to rub my leg for a moment, before putting it back on the wheel. “But the details are up to him to reveal.”

I shook my head. “Maybe another time,” I mumbled.

Jack took pity on me. “Emily is a real estate agent.”

“That’s why I’m out so late. A lot of people only want to see houses after they get off work, so I’m often working in the evenings.”

Jack turned down the street near the mall and pulled over to the side of the road. “Here you go, Emily. Thanks again for letting us borrow your car.”

Emily opened her door, but lingered inside. “I have a showing at eleven tomorrow.”

“I’ll have it back first thing in the morning, promise,” Jack said.

Emily nodded. “I’ll hold you to that. And Everett?” She looked directly at me for the first time. “Good luck on getting your name cleared.”

“Thanks.”

She got out and walked away, while Jack put the car back into gear and headed for the freeway.

---

Continue on to Chapter 18

---

I knew by now what would happen as I dreamed, so when I opened my eyes to find myself somewhere else surrounded by strangers, I wasn’t too surprised. A pretty blonde woman who I judged to be in her late thirties, wearing a stylish business suit and high heels, stalked back and forth in front of me. I couldn’t turn my head, but out of the corner of my eye I recognized the person standing next to me as the other officer from my apartment: Kevin’s partner.

The woman stopped her pacing in front of me and regarded me with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. “What do you mean he was spotted at the police station?”

“I got a ping that someone accessed the file from the bullpen downtown. I called a contact in the building, and that’s the description they gave me,” I said in a deep, male voice.

“That’s not possible. Fredo said he’d shot him through the heart. He’s dead,” the woman snapped. Her face was twisted up in a scowl so deep it was cracking her expertly applied makeup.

I mentally facepalmed. A disguise might have been a good idea. Too late now.

“I don’t know what else to tell you, Lady Ann.” I shrugged and put my hands out in a placating gesture. “My contact is on his way to round them up. You can ask him yourself once they bring them in.”

“′Them’? He isn’t alone?” Lady Ann’s scowl turned to puzzlement.

“No, he’s got some Indian guy with him. I told my contact to scoop them both up.”

“Interesting he has allies I didn’t know about.” Lady Ann tapped her foot. “I’ve been keeping close tabs on him. I wonder…”

I exchanged a long glance with Kevin’s partner as Lady Ann stalked over to her desk and opened an old book that sat on top. The pages were stiff and yellowed with age. She was muttering, mostly to herself, but loud enough I could hear it.

“First Rom, now Fredo. I trust them both. They wouldn’t have lied to me. Perhaps he used it?” She flipped carefully through the book’s pages until she found what she was looking for, then ran a finger down the page and tapped something I couldn’t see. She opened a day-planner and compared it to the page. “Impossible. The new moon isn’t for a few more days…”

My cell phone pinged. I looked at Lady Ann, still muttering to herself while looking at the book and the planner. “Ma’am? It might be my contact.” “Go ahead,” she said without looking up.

I pulled the phone out of my back pocket and turned it on to see a text message. I read it out loud to the room. “Everett escaped, but they got the guy he was with. They’re bringing him to the warehouse.”

“Hmm. Could be worse.” Lady Ann closed the book and grabbed the day planner. “Maybe he can answer a few of my questions.”

***

I woke up to the buzz of an alarm. I’d set it for an hour before sunset, so I’d have time to shower and freshen up before seeing Jack. I shook off the weird memory of Kevin’s and got up. All and all, I preferred Hubbs’s orgies to Kevin’s intrigue.

At least I knew what Lady Ann looked like now, though I wasn’t sure how I could make use of that information.

The shower stall proved to be as tight as it had looked on initial inspection. I was not a big guy; I’d even been referred to a few times when I’d passed in the gay bars as a “twink”, which simultaneously sent thrills of joy through me and pissed me off. It wasn’t like I could help being short. Yet my shoulders almost brushed the sides of the shower. Sadly I didn’t have any other clothes to change into, so I had put back on the dirty T-shirt and bullet-hole-filled, blood-stained pants that I’d worn the day before.

Once I was ready, I climbed the basement stairs to the kitchen door, but the door was locked. I knocked on it, but no one answered. I waited for a bit and knocked again. Still no answer, so I went back downstairs and flopped on the couch.

Bored, I turned on the TV using the remote I found on the side table. It showed an ad for a moment before cutting back to two news announcers.

The woman announcer smiled and began speaking. “Welcome back to KATU Evening News. In local news, Portland residents are urged to keep their eyes out for Everett Boesch, who is wanted by police in the murder of her roommate, Lindsay Spakes.”

I cringed and leaned forward, both repulsed and curious about what else they had to say.

The camera moved to focus on the male newscaster, and my picture appeared to the side. It was the one taken by the museum for my work badge, so not only did the yellowish lighting make my skin look sallow, it was from before I started hormones. I winced.

The newscaster began speaking. “Citizens are urged to call 911 to report sightings of this individual, who police say is armed and dangerous. In addition to attacking an officer at his home last night, Everett is also suspected of stealing several valuable pieces from the Portland Art Museum. Everett Boesch, also known as—”

I flipped the TV off in disgust, then leaned forward, putting my head between my knees and wrapping my hands around the back my head. My breathing became shallower and I felt like crying. I recognized the start of a panic attack.

Not only was I being accused of murder, but I’d just been deadnamed on local TV. I wasn’t out as trans to many people, especially since I’d been able to pass fairly well before hormones, at least until I opened my mouth.

And hormones had taken care of that problem.

Although I supposed as a vampire, my old life had already been lost.

As the initial burst of dread and panic wore off, I started to realize I didn’t really have much in my old life that I would regret losing. I’d already lost my best friend and my family when I’d come out.

That sent a renewed burst of panic through me that sent me bolting straight up. God, what if my parents saw this? They were going to think I was a thief and a murderer. Well, I was a thief, but it wasn’t like I wanted my parents to know that. In fact, I’d been hoping that after a while they’d cool off, and we could reconnect, but that wouldn’t happen if they believed the news report.

In the silence, the creaking of the floor above could be heard clearly. I jumped to my feet and scrambled back up the stairs to pound on the locked door. “Jack! Jack!”

Jack’s shoes squeaked on the linoleum as he came over to the door.

“Everett? What’s the big emergency?” His voice was muffled, but audible.

“The door’s locked!” I jiggled the knob for emphasis.

“Yeah, because it’s not safe for you to come out yet. Give it another fifteen for the sun to finish setting while I put these groceries away, then I’ll unlock it.” His shoes squeaked as he retreated for a few steps before coming back. “Oh, and Zoe dropped by some food for you too. I’ll warm one up and send it down in the dumbwaiter. I’d feel better if you drank it before you came up.”

“Dumbwaiter?” I repeated, thinking I’d misheard.

“Yeah, you know, it’s a little elevator for sending food and drink up and down floors. I think the door is next to the couch down there.” Jack’s voice faded, and a moment later I could hear him rummaging around in the kitchen.

I stomped back down the stairs and looked around. There was a small, square, wooden door set into the wall. I’d opened it last night before bed while exploring the apartment, and just figured it was an empty cupboard.

Rather than sitting back down on the couch to wait, I paced the living room, trying to think. I needed to get a message to my family, explain what happened, that I wasn’t a murderer. But how?

I sat on the couch and turned on the tablet. A quick internet search on how to send anonymous emails directed me to a helpful website that would send the message on my behalf, so it wouldn’t reveal my IP address if Lady Ann’s IT thugs intercepted it. Perfect.

I couldn’t remember my mom’s email address, so I flipped over to another tab and signed in to my online email client. I figured that would be safe enough. I hadn’t been able to check my email in days, and my account showed over two-hundred unread messages. I was going to ignore them, but the subject line of one of the newest emails caught my attention.

“EVERETT, PENDANT TONIGHT OR PARENTS DIE”,received just fifteen minutes ago.

“Shit, well, that’s straight to the point,” I muttered to myself as I flipped back to the anonymous email website and deleted most of what I’d already written into the message body box.

There was a rattling noise and then the cupboard dinged helpfully. At almost the same time Jack yelled, so muffled I barely heard it, “Dinner!”

I rolled my eyes and tapped out a new message to my mom. “Mom, this is Everett. I didn’t kill anyone, and you and Dad are in danger. Get somewhere safe, NOT the police. They can’t be trusted. Love you. Everett.”

I hit send before I could overthink it and then closed the tab. I left my email open for now so I could show Jack the threat.

I opened the dumbwaiter door to find a microwaved bottle of steaming blood—ick—and, praise Jack’s name to the heavens, a new set of clothes in my size. I choked down the blood before changing into the fresh clothes. They were just cheap Walmart brands, but tasteful. The shirt was button-up in a color that went with my lighter skin tone, and the jeans had a simple, straight leg.

I heard the click of the lock disengaging as I finished dressing. I grabbed the tablet and the empty bottle, then jogged up the stairs and burst into the kitchen.

Jack sat at the kitchen table, about to take the first bite of a freshly made sandwich. He set it down without taking a bite and gave me an amused look as I pulled out a chair and sat down across from him.

“Early bird gets the worm is not a motto for vampires to live by. Sunset is no joke. Get the timing wrong and you’re toast.” Jack picked his sandwich back up and took a big bite.

“You need to see this.” I set the empty bottle aside so I could turn on the tablet, then flipped it around to show Jack the threatening email.

Jack finished chewing and swallowing while he glanced at the screen, then he sighed. “You weren’t supposed to get into your email, Everett. No contact, remember?”

“I didn’t send anything from it!” I protested, lowering the tablet to lay flat on the table. “I thought it would be okay to at least look at it. She’s going after my parents, Jack.”

Jack sighed again and let go of one side of his sandwich to put a hand over mine. “She’s just trying to flush you out, Ev. If you don’t try to contact them, she’ll leave them alone. No reason to get her hands dirty if she doesn’t have to.” He pulled his hand away and went back to eating.

I chewed on my lower lip, letting Jack eat in silence. I thought watching Jack eat would make me hungry. After all, I hadn’t had anything to eat but blood for days, but strangely, while watching Jack did make me want food, the smell of the turkey and cheese from the sandwich wasn’t appealing at all, and actually made me wrinkle my nose. I fiddled with the tablet, trying to ignore the smell, and impatiently waiting for Jack to finish eating.

As he ate, Jack kept glancing at me, his frown deepening between each bite. When he finished, he pushed the plate away and laced his hands together on the table, giving me a hard look.

“You tried to contact them, didn’t you?”

“I needed to warn them! I sent it through an anonymous web service, so it didn’t come from my email. She can’t use it to trace back to my location, so it’s fine, right?”

I cringed at Jack’s narrowed eyes and deepening frown as I blurted out my confession.

“No contact means no contact!” Jack yelled. He pushed back from the table so hard his chair almost fell over, stomped a few paces away, then turned his back on me with his fists clenched at his side. He blew out a deep breath and turned back around, crossing his arms. “Everett, sending the warning, even anonymously, means that you saw the threat and it got to you. If you didn’t respond, she wouldn’t know if you even saw the email, and that if she killed them, she’d lose potential leverage over you later. It doesn’t matter if she can trace it back to you. Now all she has to do is stake out your parents and kill you when you show up.”

I frowned. “So I just don’t show up.”

Jack shook his head. “Then she’ll kill them. If she doesn’t now that you’ve acknowledged the threat, she’ll lose face. Let me see the email again.

Is there a time limit?”

I brought the email back up. “Yeah, 2:00 am.”

Jack took the tablet from me and clicked on the screen, growing thoughtful. “This was sent just after sunset. And the time limit… Vampire hours.” He scrolled back through my unread messages. “Look, here. She sent you other messages over the last few days, mostly during the day. But tonight, she waited until dark. Did she somehow figure out you’re a vampire now?” He was speaking low, mostly to himself, but I decided to respond as if he’d asked me the question.

“I don’t know how she would have. I doubt she’s part of the supernatural community.”

“True. If she knew about the supernatural world, I wouldn’t have been able to escape from her thugs the way I did. Still.” Jack shook his head and closed my email. “It’s suspicious.”

I shrugged, but my hands were shaking. I clasped them together and put them in my lap. “What do we do now then?”

“First, we don’t panic. I’m going to make a few calls, see what we can do from here.” Jack grabbed the phone handset. “C’mon, let’s go to the living room. Better seating.”

I stayed sitting where I was, trying to hold back tears. I could tell it was time for my T shot by how emotional I was getting.

Jack came back and crouched down next to me. “I shouldn’t have yelled, I’m sorry. I should have been more explicit in my instructions and explained why no contact was so important.”

“It’s okay,” I mumbled. “I should have known better. Seeing myself all over the news and then the email, I panicked.”

“News?” Jack frowned.

“When I first found the door locked, I was bored. I turned on the TV, and the news was on. They were all but calling me a murderer, and then they outed me, misgendered me, and deadnamed me.” Remembering this the dam burst, and I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

“Goddess damn it,” Jack muttered and leaned forward to wrap me in a hug, letting me sob into his shoulder. “Yeah, I can see why you were on edge. I’m betting that was part of her plan to flush you out.”

“Well, it’s working.” Feeling a little better now, I sat back and dabbed at my eyes with my shirt collar.

“She’s had a while to study you. To have contacted you that quickly after you had to drop out of school… She’s had her eye on you for a while. Longer than you’d think. She’ll know all the right places to apply pressure, like with your roommate.” Jack rocked back to his feet and then offered a hand to me.

I took it, and allowed Jack to pull me up and lead me into the living room. “But why go after my parents? We’re estranged. I haven’t talked to them since the day I came out,” I protested as we sat down together on the sofa.

Jack gave me a patient smile. “Have you tried to contact them since then?”

“Of course! My brother, Michael, he works at Dad’s shop. I talk to him fairly often, ask him to pass on messages. But they never call me back.”

Jack made a finger-gun and pointed it at me. “Bang. She’s got you. She knew you’d care if she threatened them because of those calls.”

“How’d she…” I paused. Mobster. Crime boss. “She had my phones tapped?”

“That’d be my guess,” Jack agreed, lifting the handset. “Now, what city do they live in? I’m going to ask the office to do a welfare check.”

“Hood River.” I gave Jack their address and phone numbers from memory. “But do you think it’s a good idea to call Stacy for help?”

“It’s dangerous for you to leave the house.” Jack finished dialing and lifted the phone to his ear.

“Do you have to tell Stacy what I did?” I pleaded with him while the phone rang. “I’m already embarrassed enough about it. We’ll just pop out there and make sure they’re safe, and Stacy will never have to know.”

“You know I can’t do that, Everett,” Jack said, putting a hand over the receiver. “Her voicemail just came on; she must not have gotten to the office yet. I’ll leave a message, and she’ll call us back when she gets in.”

***

Stacy called back about fifteen minutes later. Jack answered and put the handset on speakerphone mode.

“Hi, Jack. I got your message.” Stacy’s tone was sharp. I bolted upright. “Then, you can send someone to—”

“No,” Stacy cut me off. “This is a human matter. We can’t get involved.”

“Can’t or won’t?” I growled, leaning down close to the speaker. “It’s my parents!”

“Fine, won’t. Your parents, who are still human, are being threatened by a human. Therefore, this is a human matter.” I tried to speak again, and Stacy talked over me. “You didn’t go through the normal process for new vampires, so I wouldn’t expect you to know this, and perhaps Jack didn’t know this either, still being relatively new to the community, but before a human is allowed to become a vampire they are expected to fake their death and then cut all ties with their old human life.”

“What?” I sank back into the couch, stunned, and glanced at Jack, who looked just as confused. “But why?”

“This is exactly the reason. You are tempted to use your newfound abilities to run to your parents’ rescue, I can hear it in your voice, but what happens then? Someone sees you and word gets out about us.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Jack said, shaking his head. “Obviously my circumstances are different. I’d been reported shot in the throat in full view of witnesses, but normally shapeshifters can go right back to their human life like nothing happened.”

Stacy’s tone softened. “But you age only slightly slower than normal humans. How would you feel if you had to watch your loved ones fade away and die of old age while you remain the same? Trust me, it’s easier this way.”

I frowned. Living forever hadn’t even occurred to me yet since I was just trying to just survive till tomorrow. I shifted uncomfortably. “So I’m just supposed to let them die?” I whispered in disbelief. I felt numb. I’d always thought that they’d come around and I’d reconcile with them. That couldn’t happen if they were dead.

Jack slipped an arm around my shoulder and hugged me close, offering silent comfort.

“But, the person after them is the same person after me,” I said, trying another tack. “Doesn’t that make it a matter for supernaturals?”

“You know this for certain?” Stacy asked.

“Who else would it be?” My voice raised at the end and I sat forward. I knew I was starting to panic. I even felt my fangs trying to come down. Jack tugged me back down and I closed my eyes, silently counting to ten while doing deep breathing exercises to calm myself. Meanwhile, Jack began gently rubbing my shoulders.

Stacy’s sigh was audible over the speaker. “Jack, Everett sounds a little on edge. Any worries he’ll attack you?”

“No, he’s fine. His fangs came down, but he caught himself.” Jack sounded relaxed and jovial, but I noticed he didn’t stop rubbing.

“I still can’t believe he is less than a week changed,” Stacy said. “Now, as to the matter at hand of the person or persons after you, Jack’s earlier voicemail explained the situation. I’ll bring the matter up to the council on what is to be done about your unique situation. This matter is urgent enough that I’ve scheduled an emergency council meeting for tomorrow night—”

“Tomorrow?” I yelled, appalled. By then it would be too late for my parents. Jack pulled his hands back and frowned at the phone.

“Do not cut me off. The council members are busy people. You’re lucky it is happening so quickly. What is that modern expression?” She paused and I could hear a pencil tapping. “Ah, yes, beggars can’t be choosers. In the meantime, you are safe enough where you are for the moment, so just sit tight.”

“But—”

Stacy tutted, her voice hard as steel. “Do you think I like being down a staff member for another two nights? Jack has to stay in hiding too until this has been resolved, since you’ve already managed to involve him in this madness by getting him kidnapped.”

The line went dead. I reached over and turned off the handset, then rested my head in my hands with a groan.

“How did you do it?” I asked Jack without looking up. “Leave behind everything and start over?”

Jack sighed, and he sat near enough that I could feel him fidgeting. “I’m still not sure. I don’t know if it helps or hurts that I regularly get on social media to look at updates of their lives. I’m probably not the best person to talk to about letting go. They think I’m dead, better to keep it that way.”

“What would you do, in my situation then? If you knew that they were in mortal danger, but were told not to do anything about it?” I finally lifted my head and glanced sideways up at Jack. He looked lost and sad.

Jack stared down at me in silence for a long moment, then turned away and crossed his arms over his chest. “I wouldn’t do anything.” His voice was tight and his shoulders tensed as he talked. “I’d let them go. Mourn them.”

“Would you? Really? You wouldn’t try to save them?” I sat up, focusing on Jack’s profile and the clench of his jaw.

“No.” The muscle on his jaw jumped. He was lying. “It would hurt too much to see them knowing I’d have to disappear on them again. You should listen to Stacy, she knows what she’s talking about. Even if you do save them, once things settle you’ll have to fake your death and never see them again anyway.”

“I’d rather have them alive and thinking I’m dead than have them dead.”

“That’s a little selfish, don’t you think?” Jack turned back to face me, eyes bright with unshed tears. His arms were still tightly crossed.

I narrowed my eyes at Jack and crossed my own arms defensively.

“Selfish? How do you figure that?”

“You’re okay with them alive and mourning you, but you aren’t willing to be the one alive and mourning them!” Jack yelled. He uncrossed his arms and stood, walking a few steps away, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides, then he whirled back. “You want to have your cake and eat it too. I’ve had to watch from afar as grief drove my father back into alcoholism and broke up my parent’s marriage. My faked death tore my family apart. You think your death won’t do the same to your family? Yes, it’s a sham, but they don’t know that.”

I rocked back, feeling as though I’d been punched. I jumped to my feet, feeling flush with anger, and yelled back, “Of course my death won’t tear my family apart. They’ve been pretending I’ve been dead for most of this last year already. Not going to make much difference if there is a coffin and a headstone now to make it official!”

“So why do you want to save them so badly?” Jack asked, his voice so quiet I barely heard him.

I stammered, not sure how to put my complicated feelings into words. My shoulders slumped and I felt as if I were deflating. I hugged myself and turned my back on Jack, trying not to cry. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t want them to die with us still estranged like this.”

Jack sighed and wrapped me in a hug from behind, resting his cheek on the side of my head. His solid presence helped me to center myself and I closed my eyes, choking back my tears.

“Alright, I’ll help you.” Jack said it so quietly I thought I’d misheard.

“You, what?”

His breath tickled my ear. “I’ll help you warn them. But—” He held up a hand as I broke free of his embrace and turned to face him with wide eyes. “—only what we can do without leaving the house. It’s too risky to be on the streets of Portland for you right now, especially since it seems your would-be killers might know about your little secret.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I just hope it’s enough to save them!”

---

Continue on to Chapter 17

---

Surprised but excited, I closed my eyes and relaxed into the kiss. Jack was a very good kisser, lightly probing my lips with his tongue until I parted them for him. His short beard and mustache brushed my mouth and chin, sending delicious shivers down my stomach, and lower. After a few careful kisses, Jack pulled away, but as he did he gently caught my lower lip with his teeth and gave a little tug before breaking contact, which made me moan.

I opened my eyes. Jack was looking at me cautiously, his hands placed respectfully on my knees. “That was the best kiss,” I breathed.

Jack smiled, his eyes sparkling. “Good. Glad I haven’t lost my touch.”

This made me giggle. “God, no.” I stuffed the amulet back into my jeans pocket. Having it out in plain sight was making me antsy. “You make it sound like it’s been a while. Are you forgetting poor Officer Hubbs so soon?”

Jack’s smile widened and became a bit lopsided. “Oh, jealous, are you?” he said in a teasing tone that let me know he was joking.

“Maybe a little,” I said. “Or a lot.” My face burned.

“To be perfectly honest, I was jealous seeing you wrapped around Hubbs kissing his neck, even knowing you were eating him.” He shifted closer to the couch to lean his face closer, pressing his chest into the insides of my thighs and moving his hands to rest on the couch on either side of my hips. “Can I kiss you again?”

“Yes.” I barely got the word out before Jack pressed his lips to mine. I wasn’t sure who’d moved towards whom, but the kiss made me groan with need.

When we pulled apart a bit later, I was gasping and Jack’s shoulders were heaving. Jack’s eyes were half-lidded and he was grinning.

“Should we move to the bedroom?” Jack asked, running his hands up my side. He paused for a moment as he hit the edges of my improvised binder, but then his hands moved again back down to rest on my hips.

I had been all set to yell, “Yes!” and damn the consequences, but that pause made me suddenly self-conscious about my chest and lack of top surgery. “I’m…” I swallowed and my voice lowered to a whisper. “Can we just keep kissing and cuddling here on the couch for now? It’s been a while, and I’m not sure…”

Jack gave me an adorable half smile that made me reconsider my no, and said, “Sure. It’s been a while for me too. Can I?” His hands slid under to cup my ass, and he lifted me a few millimeters.

“Oh, yeah.”

I let Jack pick me up and hug me to his chest. He stood from his crouch and twisted around to sit on the couch, settling me down on his lap facing him. His erection pressed into my crotch and he squeezed my butt, making me gasp in pleasure. My underwear was already damp inside my jeans. God damn, why had I turned Jack’s invitation for sex down? I craned up and kissed Jack hard.

Both of us came up for air gasping, lips swollen. Jack slid down and twisted to lay down on his back on the couch so that I rested on my chest. I don’t know how long we lay there fully clothed and alternating kissing and staring into each other’s eyes.

By the end, I was on my side, squeezed between the back of the couch and Jack, my head resting on my bent arm. Jack was in a similar pose, facing me. Jack’s butt must have been hanging off the narrow couch, but he didn’t say a word of complaint.

Jack looked at me sleepily, a contented smile on his face. He reached over with his free hand to run a finger down my cheek, then draped his hand over my shoulder. “I moved out here a year and a half ago and basically threw myself into work. I didn’t want to date anyone. Guys all reminded me of Andre, and he thought I was dead. I stalked him on social media, and it broke my heart when he posted pictures of himself and his new boyfriend. You’re the first guy I’ve looked at twice since then. Thank you for breaking me out of my funk.”

“My story isn’t nearly so dramatic.” I smiled and put my hand on Jack’s chest. “I couldn’t even think of dating anyone before. I just never felt comfortable, but I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I turned down a lot of guys in high school. Everyone thought I was a lesbian—hell, even me, for a while. I went on a few dates with the only out lesbian at our school, even slept with her a few times before I figured out I wasn’t attracted to her that way. Once I finally came out and started transitioning, it was so chaotic with dropping out of school, moving, and hormones, that I haven’t dated anyone. This has been very nice.”

Jack bit his lip and gave me a lopsided smile. “No wonder you’re nervous. You’ve never been with a guy before.”

“Hey, Brooke had a strap on!” I blurted in indignation before I realized what I’d just confessed to. My face burned as Jack laughed.

“You ever try it on her?” Jack asked.

I wanted to sink through the bottom of the couch. “Once,” I mumbled. “That was the only time I really enjoyed myself. And what made me start to realize I was trans.”

Jack gave me a sincere grin and winked. “I’m a switch.”

I stared at him, and then burst out laughing. “It’s a date.”

“How about we adjourn to the bedroom,” Jack said, pressing a finger to my lips. “No sex, I promise.” Jack sat up and slid around to sit on the middle of the couch, then turned and extended a hand to me.

I let Jack help me up and sat on the couch next to him. “I’m not tired yet. What time is it?”

Jack glanced around and then pointed to a clock on the wall in the entry way. “4:00 am. You’re right, we still have time. So, what do you want to do instead?”

I sighed. “We need to come up with a plan, and, I hate to say it, but I need to see that presentation you mentioned. I don’t know enough about being a vampire.”

“You’re wondering why those vampires ran away from you after you ate their buddy?”

I laughed. “I mean, I had just almost killed their friend. They were afraid of me.”

“True. It’s also a bit taboo for vampires to bite or feed on other vampires.”

“Why?” I asked, remembering how strong I’d felt after. Much different than I’d felt after feeding on Jack or the officers. I ignored the reheated, bottled blood. That barely counted as food.

Jack shrugged. “Not sure. Despite the fact that we work together, the vampires and shapeshifters don’t really mix much. Stacy and Ted, the other vampire on staff, take care of the vampire issues, and Zoe and I deal with the shapeshifters.”

“I distinctly remember you quoting vampire law at me when we first met,” I teased.

Jack waved a hand and stood. “I know the basics. But you may have a point. I think there is a computer here for guests. I can VPN in to the office and pull it up.”

“Okay. Then what’s the plan to deal with Lady Ann? I can’t keep running forever.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Because I’m starting to think the vampire thing is just a fluke. Like, maybe a vampire found me unconscious outside after the attack, and—”

Jack stopped in the hallway leading farther back in the house and turned. “What, turned you? There’s not just the fact that it’s highly illegal to do that without the person’s permission, what’s their motivation?”

“Well…”

“Think about it while I look for the computer.” Jack disappeared down the hallway.

I groaned and flopped back on the couch. Jack had a point. Why? The only thing I could think was that maybe there was a vampire fighting back against Lady Ann and her mobsters. But why me? I was grateful to the unknown vampire, whoever they were, no matter their reasons, but I couldn’t help but be a little suspicious of the timing.

My thoughts drifted back to the amulet that she wanted so badly. I took it out of my pocket and stared at it, turning it over in my hands. Why all the fuss over this? It was gold, and old. Priceless, true, but then so were a lot of things in the museum.

The provenience papers for the amulet had been pretty bare. It’d been donated by a rich philanthropist who liked to collect old Egyptian artifacts. The artifacts themselves had mostly been looted during the Victorian era, and thus didn’t come with much information about where they’d come from. Archaeologists from that time hadn’t been the best about recordkeeping. And that was the best case scenario.

If they’d been bought from the black market, it’d be next to impossible to figure out where it had really come from—not that I had the resources now to research it. I hadn’t looked into it more before when I had the chance, because I figured it didn’t matter.

No, that was me lying to myself. I hadn’t wanted to research the artifacts I was stealing, because I wouldn’t have been able to steal them if I knew how much history I was taking from the public.

“Thinking hard or hardly thinking?” Jack joked as he came back inside the living room carrying a tablet in one hand.

I offered him a wane smile. “You’re right, I can’t think of a reason for the vampire to have turned me. So instead I started thinking about this.” I held up the amulet.

Jack sat down next to me and flipped open the tablet, folding the cover open to the back. Holding it one hand, he pointed to the amulet in my palm with his other hand. “That’s easy. Negotiate with her, give her that in exchange for calling off the hits.”

“No!” I yelled, recoiling away from Jack. Fangs pricked my lips, and I didn’t know when they’d come down. Anger hit me, sharp and hard, and I struggled to control my expression, to keep from snarling at Jack. Inside I screamed and raged.

Jack jumped and stared at me with wide eyes. “What the hell?”

My back pressed against the arm of the couch, yet I didn’t remember moving that far back. Even when I concentrated, my fangs wouldn’t go back up. “I don’t know,” I mumbled around the fangs. The burst of initial anger was cooling, but a voice in my head was screaming at me.

“It’s fine, Ev. Calm down,” Jack said in a quiet voice and slowly laid the tablet on the couch on his other side. He turned to face me, moving slowly with no sudden movement.

“I’m trying.” I shook, and my vision turned black at the edges. Oddly, Jack’s visible skin seemed to be covered in red lines that beat in time with an unheard beat.

“Are you thirsty?” Jack asked softly, extending his hands towards me. He froze when I flinched.

I ran my tongue around my mouth. I didn’t feel very thirsty. My mouth wasn’t dry, and I didn’t feel like I had when I was mad with thirst after I’d been shot. In fact, I felt less thirsty than I had when I’d been able to control myself around Emily in the car, even if that had been a near thing. “No,” I finally said, shaking my head. “I don’t know why they won’t go away.”

“It’s okay, Everett.” Jack reached out again with one hand, still moving very slowly, to touch my leg. “Do you feel possessive about the amulet?”

I nodded. “Why?”

“I think you’ll feel better if you put it in your pocket,” Jack said quietly.

I frowned, but did as Jack instructed. Even though it was only a thin layer of jean fabric blocking it from Jack’s sight, I immediately relaxed and my fangs retracted. “Huh, it worked.”

Jack smiled at me and scooted over the rest of the way to hug me. “You were right, you need a crash course. Even I’ve learned this year that vampires can get overly possessive over their possessions.”

“Oh.” I sighed and let Jack pull me back down onto the couch.

Jack pulled me up close to him and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I cuddled up against Jack’s side while he propped the tablet on his lap.

“Now, I couldn’t get into work, but I asked Dave to email me recent copies of the Powerpoints.” He clicked on an email with his thumb.

“Wait,” I said and sat up. “How do I give Lady Ann this thing to get her to lay off me if I’m going to flip out?”

Jack laughed. “I don’t know. We’ll figure out how to cross that bridge when we come to it, okay?”

“Alright.” I cuddled back up to Jack.

Jack clicked the email from Dave and read it out loud in disbelief. “‘There isn’t one for new vampires; their Maker tells them everything they need to know before the change is even made.’ Well crap. At least he gave me the latest one for the shapeshifters. Want the full experience, or just the highlights?”

I looked at the clock and made a face. “Just the highlights, I guess.

Don’t want to be caught out. You made it sound ugly.”

“I’ll keep an eye out too, but sure, you don’t need the details since you aren’t a shapeshifter.” Jack grinned and opened the Powerpoint. It didn’t open right away; the PP logo rotated there as the presentation loaded.

“I guess my first question is about the memory I saw of yours. You didn’t get bit, but you changed.” I craned my head around to look at Jack.

“Yeah, that’s always everyone’s first question. That was my first question too.” He bobbed his head toward the screen, which had finally finished loading, and showed a shrugging cartoon werewolf with question marks over his head. A little thought bubble came out of his head that said, “But I didn’t get bit by a wolf. What gives?”

I snorted. “Woooow.” I drew out the word in disbelief. Jack hadn’t been kidding about how cheesy this was.

Jack tapped the screen to advance it. “Certain people are born with the capacity to shapeshift, but most never change,” Jack explained, flipping quickly through a few slides that talked about genetics. “It usually manifests for the first time after a traumatic experience.”

“So, I know yours…” I trailed off, not wanting to upset Jack further if I could help it. “That fox, Emily, what happened to her?”

“Single car accident on I-84.” Jack shrugged. “Most stories aren’t quite as dramatic as mine. Anyway, the ability tends to run in families. There are a few shifter families scattered around the world that have a 95% success rate in teaching children to shapeshift for the first time without the trigger, but most shapeshifters are having a bad day that gets worse. PCA was originally founded to help those individuals.”

The next slide had graphic of a brightly shining cartoon sun with sunglasses on, hanging over a naked cartoon human hiding behind a garbage can. The text was, “You can’t change or stay changed in sunlight.” “This slide’s pretty self-explanatory,” Jack said with a shrug.

“Night only?” I asked. “Like furry vampires.”

Jack lightly bopped my arm with a loose fist. “Very funny.”

“Can you change in shade, or a dark basement?”

Jack lifted his hand and made a see-sawing motion. “Depends on the person, but generally no. It’s a little more magic than science, like with the vampires, and our best scientists still haven’t unlocked exactly why it varies from person to person, or what about the sun prevents the change.”

“Or why it kills vampires?”

“Exactly. Either it’s magic, or our technology just isn’t at a point to be able to explain it.”

A phone rang from somewhere farther in the house, interrupting Jack’s speech.

“This place has a landline?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah, so we can be sure we can reach the house no matter who is here. Excuse me, I bet that’s Stacy calling to check up on us, since I lost my cell to my abductors.” Jack set the tablet on the couch and got up.

I nodded while Jack went into the little kitchen that was directly off the living room. Jack picked up a cordless handset from the inside wall that wasn’t visible from my angle.

“Hello?” Jack said, leaning one hip against the counter facing me with the phone pressed to his ear. “Hey, Stacy, what’s up?”

There was a pause as he listened to Stacy talk. He rolled his eyes at me and mouthed “sorry”. I gave him a little smile.

“Yeah, he’s still here with me. He doesn’t have anywhere else to go, remember?” Jack furrowed his brow and frowned deeply, glancing at me. “Dangerous? He’s not—”

Stacy must have cut him off, because he abruptly stopped talking. “You’re not making any sense, Stacy,” he said after a moment.

Curious, I got up and drifted closer. Jack noticed and waved me over. “Look, he’s right here. I’ll put you on speaker, and you tell him what you just told me.”

Jack pressed the speaker phone button and set the handset on the kitchen counter.

“Jack, don’t— Look, he should already know this.” Stacy’s voice was a little distorted coming from the phone’s cheap speakers, but even still I could tell she was rattled. I’d only met her twice, but she’d seemed very put together and not someone easily upset.

I frowned and glanced at Jack, then said, “I’m just going to tell her.” Jack began to protest, but I held up a hand. “It’s fine. Maybe as a vampire she’ll have some insight that you don’t.”

“Tell me what?” Stacy said in a clipped tone.

I took a deep breath and blew it out. “I was changed two days ago. I don’t know who turned me into a vampire. All I remember is that I was on my way home from work, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in a dumpster covered in blood. And I was a vampire.” I paused to let Stacy say something, but the line stayed silent. I waited another beat, then shrugged and forged ahead. “Actually, I wasn’t sure I was a vampire until I ran into Jack on my way into our apartment building. Even then it took some convincing before I really believed him.”

“You… You’re only two days changed? How are you in the room with Jack without attacking him?” Stacy asked, stammering in disbelief.

I glanced at Jack and shrugged. “I’m not sure what you mean?” I asked. Jack bit his lip.

Stacy was silent for a moment. “It doesn’t matter right now. The reason I called is because of what you asked me earlier, about how to tell if a vampire is dead. I just got a call to report that a vampire was murdered earlier tonight by a visiting vampire, and I put two and two together.”

“Hey, that was self-defense! They attacked me,” I snapped back. Despite my protestations, my stomach twisted at the confirmation that I had actually killed him.

“The witness reports say you killed him by draining him dry.”

“Yeah, I was panicked so I bit him, and then…” I licked my lips as I remembered. “He was delicious. Everything happened so fast. Next thing I knew he stopped moving.”

Stacy gasped and said in a near-whisper, “I thought they had to have been mistaken.”

“Stacy, I don’t understand what the big deal is,” Jack said and glanced at me with raised eyebrows. I shrugged again, feeling as clueless as he looked. “Everett doesn’t either, so fill us in. Why are you so upset?”

“He should be dead!” Stacy raised her voice. It wasn’t quite a yell, but it was close. “Vampire blood is fatal to other vampires in anything more than small quantities.”

“What?” Both Jack and I said at almost the same time.

“I thought you felt weird,” Stacy said in a low voice, almost talking to herself. “And in the car, being so close to you was making me feel very unsettled.”

“I thought you were acting odd,” Jack agreed. “I’ve never seen you lose your temper so fast before.”

A rhythmic tapping sound came through the speaker, and I pictured Stacy drumming her fingers on a table. “We need to find out who changed you without permission. Besides being a huge violation of the rules of consent, we can’t have a rogue vampire in the city.”

“Where would we even start looking though? Everett doesn’t remember the attack, and we know nothing about this unknown vampire.” Jack groaned and massaged his temples. “Plus, we still have to deal with those human assassins after him.”

“How will finding the vampire who changed me help?” I asked. “I mean, I’m already a vampire, it’s not like that can be undone.”

“It’s your bloodline,” Stacy said. “There are different types of vampires. Just like shapeshifters turn into different animals, vampires tend to get different abilities depending on their maker or their maker’s maker. Without knowing your bloodline, we won’t know what effects your vampirism will have on you. The fact that you…” She hummed. “That’s got to be a rare one. I’ll have to do some research. In the meantime, Jack, I’m very disappointed that you kept this from me. You know how dangerous new vampires can be.”

“People were trying to kill him, Stacy, and I suspected vampires might have been involved. Although now we’re fairly sure the two events are unrelated,” Jack said, squeezing his eyes shut. “And he was able to control himself. He didn’t seem like a danger.”

Stacy sighed audibly. “Well, I can see why you might have thought that. Okay. I’ll allow him to stay at the safe house with you until we figure out what’s going on. I’ll look into what his bloodline might be. That should give us a clue about the possible identity of this rogue vampire. In the meantime, Everett you are not to leave the house, understand?”

“But—”

“I’ll have Zoe drop off some blood stores for you today,” Stacy continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Jack, you should lie low for now as well. I’ll call you again after sunset.”

“Got it, boss,” Jack said. The line clicked off as Stacy hung up.

“That was weird,” I said. My hands shook. Stacy had a very powerful presence, even over the phone. “I feel like I just got reamed out by my mother.”

Jack let out a laugh as he hung the handset back on the wall-mounted base. “Yeah, she can be over-bearing at times, but it’s because she cares.” The phone rang again, and Jack frowned as he picked it up. “Hello?”

“Yeah, hold on.” Jack pulled the phone from his ear and gave it to me.

“Hello?” I answered hesitantly.

“It’s Stacy again,” she said without preamble. Jack leaned closer, cocking his head to listen in. “One more thing I remembered, and I’m not sure it’s important, but the witnesses stated that they felt drawn to you, and that they felt like you had something that they badly wanted. But none of them could articulate what it was or why they wanted it so badly once they were out of your presence.”

“Yeah, they said something like that to me too,” I said. “Is that how they found me? Cause I’d been wondering…”

“I think so,” Stacy hesitated. “I felt it too, now that I think about it. But those three that attacked you, they were all younger vampires, less than a decade old. Perhaps that’s why they felt it more strongly than me. The reason that I asked to speak to you privately is that I’m wondering if you might know what it was.”

“Maybe.” There was only one thing it could be, but I felt reluctant to tell Stacy about it. I shifted the phone to my other ear so I could trace the shape of the amulet through my jeans. A thought occurred to me: maybe that was what the rogue vampire wanted too. It could explain why a vampire might have been around me, but why change me yet not take the amulet? It had been hidden, yes, but a thorough search would have uncovered it, especially if they could feel it on me. The mugger hadn’t found it because they hadn’t known to look.

The line was silent for a moment, then Stacy sighed. “Everett, I realize you might have no reason to trust me, but being cagey is not going to help us find your maker. A rogue vampire is dangerous to all of us, not just you. Do you know what humans will do if they find out we exist? Because I do. It’s happened in the past, and many, many supernaturals died before we were able to contain it. In this day and age, with smartphones, cameras, and the internet, if the truth gets out, they’ll be no way to stop it.”

I groaned. “I don’t know for sure, but there’s only one thing I’ve consistently had with me the whole time. It’s…”

I hesitated again, glancing at Jack who raised an eyebrow at me, clearly understanding what I was talking about. Jack moved over next to me and squeezed my shoulder, mouthing “tell her”. I closed my eyes and gathered my courage.

“It’s a museum piece I stole from the storeroom the night I was mugged and then changed into a vampire,” I blurted out in a rush. Silence at the other end, so I kept talking. “But it’s just an old gold amulet, nothing really remarkable about it that I could see.”

“I see,” Stacy said after a beat. “I appreciate you telling me that, Everett. I share your puzzlement. I will look into it further. Now, I need to go if I’m going to get home before sunrise, and I suggest you turn in as well.”

Again the phone call ended with an abrupt click, and I switched off the phone, turning to Jack. “I couldn’t tell, was she mad, or just disappointed?”

Jack gave an amused shake of his head. “Definitely disappointed, but I feel like more of her disapproval was directed at me.” He took the phone from me and hung it back up. “But she had a point there at the end. Sunrise is coming, and we need to get you downstairs. I’ll make some calls today while you sleep, see if I can make contact with this mob boss and arrange to get that amulet to her.”

“No!” I said, remembering the dry patch on my jeans after I was shot. “I don’t… I’m starting to think we shouldn’t give it to her.”

Jack gave me a curious look and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us.”

“I agree,” Jack said with a nod.

“I need to show you something.”

“Okay, but make it quick.” Jack cast a meaningful glance at the clock on the microwave oven.

How could I demonstrate? I cast about the kitchen. There. I grabbed a decorative towel that hung from the handle of the oven and spread it on the counter, then grabbed a knife from the knife block. Jack frowned, but didn’t say anything as I held my left arm out over the towel and pressed the knife to the back of my forearm. Blood welled up from the shallow cut to drip down my arm. The cut healed over before more than a few drops had stained the towel, but I figured that would be enough for this demonstration.

“See my blood there?” I asked, adding to the spot by using the towel to wipe my blood from the knife and my arm before laying it back down flat on the counter.

“Yeah, you bleed when you’re cut. Big deal,” Jack said with a raise of his eyebrows.

“Now, watch.” I got the amulet out of my pocket and laid it on top of the bloody spot. The blood rolled towards the amulet and vanished. It was like watching a time-lapse video of a spill in reverse. I picked the amulet back up, and the towel looked as pristine as it had when I’d first laid it down. I turned to Jack expectantly. “Well?”

Jack was staring at the clean towel in shock. “That was unexpected,” he finally said.

“What do you think we should do about it?” I asked as the silence lengthened. “I don’t feel right giving this to a mob boss, even if I could get over my possessiveness.”

Jack groaned and scrubbed his face. “God, this is a mess. Honestly? I don’t know. Give me some time to think it over. I’m exhausted. I didn’t get much sleep yesterday, what with being held captive all day, and I’m sure you’re feeling the coming sun.”

I sighed, but acknowledged that I’d dropped this all on Jack rather suddenly.

“Alright.” I put the amulet away.

I wished I’d had time to ask Stacy more questions. For instance, my T shot was coming due, but did I still need it as a vampire? When I’d been human, missing a dose once and a while wasn’t a huge issue, so I decided it wasn’t urgent enough to risk Stacy’s ire by asking Jack to call her back.

“This way. I’ll get you set up, then I need to crash myself.” Jack crossed the kitchen and opened a door to reveal a dark staircase leading down to the basement.

“I’m actually not that tired. Can I take the tablet with me, for entertainment?” I pointed back to the living room where the tablet lay abandoned on the couch.

“Sure.” Jack shrugged, hiding a yawn. “Just be smart, don’t contact anyone from your old life. You know that mobster will be monitoring everyone you might know on the off chance of finding you.”

“No problem.” I shuddered. “The memory of being shot through the heart is still very fresh.”

Jack showed me around the basement. The whole bottom floor had been light-proofed for vampire guests, and included two small bedrooms, a little mini living room with television and DVD player, and a small bathroom with the most cramped shower stall I had ever seen.

After Jack went back upstairs, wishing me good night as he left—which I found just a touch ironic—I settled down with the tablet on the bed. I half wished Jack had stayed to cuddle, but I didn’t blame him for wanting his own bed that didn’t come with the threat of possibly waking up with a vampire sucking on his neck.

Jack’s reaction to my demonstration with the amulet told me that I needed to find out more about where it had come from. I knew it was ancient Egyptian, likely from early in the dynasties from what I could make out of the hieroglyphs. However, without access to the museum’s paid academic research databases, I wasn’t finding much more than I already knew. It was unusual that the amulet depicted a human face, since most jewelry from the dynasties featured animals or animal-headed deities, but search engines and the free databases weren’t very reliable.

The rich industrialist who’d donated the piece had been a social recluse, so the information available about him in the Portland histories that I could find online was sparse and far between. Another dead end. I might have more luck with a local historical museum.

If only I could just use the systems at the museum. Or ask my boss. I sat up on the bed. That was an idea. But then I slumped back down. Jack had been right. Lady Ann knew where I worked—she’d gotten me the job, after all—which meant she had pull with someone at the museum. Anyone I knew there would be monitored. Even email was a risk. She’d found me fast enough from just a phone call, and an email would have an IP address of origin attached to it that could be traced back to the house.

Sighing, I put the tablet aside and got ready for bed, chewing over the problem.

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Continue on to Chapter 16

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Jack and Stacy waited for me in the parking lot when I pulled up in Jack’s destroyed car. Jack did a double-take, his mouth dropping open as I pulled up to park alongside them.

“What the hell happened?” Jack cried as he got out of the passenger side of a red convertible Porsche that I assumed was Stacy’s. He was wearing another set of the shapeless, baggy sweats from the office rather than the clothes I had seen him in last.

“Drive-by shooting,” I said, futilely pushing at the driver’s-side door, which was refusing to open. “Sorry about your car.”

Jack came around and grabbed the door handle, and with both of us together we managed to pry it open. I got out, and to my surprise, Jack leaned over and wrapped his arms around me. “I don’t care about the car. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

I leaned into the hug, sniffling. “You too. I was so worried when they called me to ransom you.”

Jack’s arms stiffened around me. “Everett, you’re bleeding. Were you shot?” Jack looked down at me in concern.

I frowned, confused. “What? No.”

“The back of your leg,” Jack said. “Stacy, will you take a look?” Jack turned sideways, turning me with him.

Stacy got out and walked around the front of her car to come over, her heels clacking on the pavement. She glanced down at my back and nodded. I looked down, twisting back to see. The back of my right pant leg had dried blood running down it.

“I don’t feel anything,” I said, staring with fascination at the blood.

“From the flush in your face, it looks like you fed well tonight, so it would have healed near instantaneously,” Stacy said, looking me up and down with narrowed eyes, her lips pressed tightly together. The expression made me uneasy.

“Fed?” Jack asked with alarm. “You didn’t—”

“I didn’t kill anyone…” I protested automatically, and then trailed off as I realized that maybe wasn’t true. I had killed that vampire, hadn’t I? Or had I? I didn’t know. Jack was looking at me with wide eyes. “I think. It’s complicated,” I said as my eyes met Stacy’s. “How do you tell if a vampire is dead?”

Stacy glared at me. “What kind of a question is that? And we don’t have time for this.”

“What about my car?” Jack asked, eying the wreck.

“Leave it. I’ll send Zoe or Ted over later with a tow truck.” Stacy walked back around and got in the driver’s seat of her convertible.

Jack opened the passenger side door and gestured at the back seat. The top was down, but I hesitated, glancing down at my bloody leg and then back at Stacy’s immaculate car.

“Don’t worry about the blood,” Stacy said, glancing at me over her shoulder. “There have been far worse things on my seats.”

Shrugging, I climbed over the side and into the back. Jack shut the door and vaulted over the side and into the back next to me. I gave Jack a shy smile.

“May I? Jack asked me with his hand hovering over my shoulder.

I nodded, trying to not to blush as he snaked his arm around the back of my neck. I relaxed back against him.

Stacy started the car, and the automatic top began to unfold up and over our heads as she pulled out onto the road. By the time we approached the nearest stoplight the top was up, encasing Jack and I in the tiny back seat. It was surprisingly intimate.

As she drove, I caught Stacy glaring at me in the rearview mirror. When she noticed me she didn’t stop or look away, and if anything her glare deepened. I remembered what Jack had said about not trusting the vampires. I wished Jack had brought someone else with him.

“How’d you get away?” I asked Jack as Stacy wound her way through the maze of tight St. John streets, avoiding the major roads. I guessed she was trying to throw off any tail that might have followed me here from MLK Street.

Jack chuckled, his white teeth flashing in the dim light when he shot me a smile. “They were humans, and they didn’t know I was a shapeshifter. When it finally got dark and they left me alone, I shifted to my jackal form and slipped right out of the ropes.”

I leaned against Jack, enjoying his warmth along with the feel of his strong chest against my side, and the press of his arm around my shoulders. It made me feel safe. “I was so worried. I didn’t know what to do. What did they want?”

“They asked a lot of questions about where you were and how you’d survived, but I played dumb.” Jack shrugged. “You did the right thing by bugging out and not trying to play the hero. Alerting Dave and Stacy was a smart move too. Where’d you hole up during the day?”

“Your place.” I bit my lip, looking down. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all. Like I said, good instincts. I’m impressed you managed to day-proof my place so fast with only the minimal instruction I gave you the other night.”

I blushed. “I had a good teacher.”

Stacy glared at us in the rearview mirror. “Try to keep your pants on in my backseat.” Her tone was dry, but held an undercurrent of anger. I got the feeling she didn’t like me much.

Jack laughed. “No promises, but we should change the subject. Ev, you mentioned they called you about ransoming me. What did they want?”

I warmed at the nickname. Normally I hated people trying to shorten my chosen name or make it cutesy, but for some reason I enjoyed hearing it from Jack. The question Jack was asking, however, turned my insides cold. I didn’t want to reveal the amulet to a vampire after the other attack, and I doubly didn’t want to admit to Jack, the former cop, that I was a thief.

“You never answered my question about vampires, Stacy,” I called to the front seat in an attempt to change the subject. I could feel Jack’s gaze boring into the top of my head, but I ignored it and kept my eyes on the bit of Stacy’s face I could see past the headrest. “If a vampire looked like, let’s say a desiccated, dried out corpse, would they be dead?”

Stacy slammed on the brakes, stopping in the middle of the road. Jack and I were thrown forward, and my seatbelt dug into my stomach for a moment before I fell back into my seat. Stacy twisted around to glare at me. “What the fuck, Everett? Of course a vampire’s dead if it looks like that. Are you fucking stupid? You’re a vampire, you should know these things.” She huffed, giving me one last glower before straightening back up and hitting the gas again.

I crossed my arms and bit back a reply. I agreed with Jack’s assessment that I needed to keep my true situation from the vampires for now, especially given that I’d killed one of the locals. I wondered if Stacy had heard about that death yet. The PCA, as the enforcers of the supernatural world, would likely get word of it eventually. I kicked myself for saying anything at all to her. Oh well, nothing to do about it now.

The rest of the ride passed in awkward silence.

Stacy pulled up to the curb in front of a nondescript house and hit a button on her dash. The automatic top began opening. Once it was all the way down, Stacy turned to glare at Jack, studiously avoiding looking at me.

“I’m only doing this for you, Jack. I didn’t like it when I found out you lied for him, but I was willing to put that aside because I know how passionate you are about helping people. That was, until he put your life in danger by dragging you into his mess. It’s clear by his jokes about dead vampires that he’s not taking this seriously enough.”

“That’s not—” I protested, but Stacy kept talking over me.

“I want him gone by tomorrow night.” She jerked her thumb at me. “Now both of you, get out of my car.”

Jack climbed over the side of the car and offered me a hand. I took it and got out. We began walking up the sidewalk, me still clinging to the comfort of Jack’s hand. Stacy peeled away before we’d taken two steps.

“Sorry,” I said to Jack. “I don’t mind her being mad at me, but I didn’t mean to ruin your relationship with your boss.”

Jack shrugged. “She’ll get over it. Besides, she doesn’t know that you never got shown the introductory Powerpoint presentation.”

I snorted out a laugh at Jack’s serious tone. “Powerpoint? Don’t be… Wait, you are kidding, right?” Jack’s wry smile made me cautious.

“I’m afraid not. Shapeshifting and You: Exploring Your New Body.” Jack made air-quotes with his free hand as he said the name. ”Got bad clip art and everything. I’ve never seen the vampire one, but I imagine it’s similar.”

“Oh. My. God.” I shook my head in disbelief as we went up the steps to the door.

Jack let go of my hand so he could retrieve a key from his pocket. He unlocked the door and pushed it open. “After you, sir.”

“Thanks,” I said with a laugh. “What is this place anyway?” I asked, looking around the living room. The decor could have come right out of an Ikea catalog.

“A safe house, of sorts. We put newbies up here when a situation demands. Like if they have a roommate, or are having trouble adjusting and need time away.” Jack closed the door behind him and flipped the lock, then went around the room, closing the blinds and curtains. “Only PCA employees know the address, plus it has light-proof rooms for vampires.” Task done, Jack flopped onto the couch and patted the spot next to him.

I dragged my feet over and sat down on the other end of the couch, as far from Jack as I could get. I hugged my legs to my chest, putting my feet on the cushions—I didn’t miss Jack’s wince at seeing my shoes on the furniture—and rested my face on my knees.

“Is this about that vampire you mentioned to Stacy?” The couch creaked and I felt Jack’s weight settle in next to me. There was a light touch on my shoulder.

“Yeah.” I shuddered and leaned into Jack’s touch. “I think I killed him, Jack, but it was an accident, I swear.”

“I know Stacy thought it was a bad joke. I’m sorry, but I could tell you were serious. Do you feel like you can tell me what happened?” Jack moved his hand over and began rubbing my back.

Jack’s tone was very even and nonjudgmental, and I found myself telling him everything, starting with realizing he was gone and ending with the hostage exchange. I left out all mentions of the amulet. In my story, the vampires demanded I leave the territory and attacked when I refused, and I said that Lady Ann wanted me in exchange for him. As I talked I felt himself relaxing more and more, until we were cuddled up together, with me leaning back against Jack’s side with his arms around my waist, and his head resting on mine.

Jack hugged me close, and I heard the frown in the distressed tone of his voice even though I couldn’t see his face. “How long after the phone call before the shooters showed up?”

I paused and thought about it for a moment. “Maybe ten minutes?”

“Sounds like you were on the phone with her long enough for her to trace your call’s location to the nearest cell tower. But for them to get there that fast, she must have had people combing the city for you.”

“You think it’s Lady Ann trying to kill me.” He confirmed what I’d already suspected.

“I don’t know the why yet, but yes, there’s a good bet that she’s the one that set up the hits on you. That’s also why she wanted to have you trade yourself in for me. When you hesitated to send her the selfie that was probably when she sent those thugs to kill you, thinking you’d rethought the deal. What I can’t figure out is the vampire angle.”

“I had some thoughts about that,” I said, remembering my investigator’s notebook. I sat up and pulled it out of my back pocket while Jack gave me a curious look. The pages were a little crumbled from the run and the car ride, but still legible. “Your Detective Pikachu poster gave me the idea,” I said, holding up the page labeled “Clues”.

“That one is in my office.”

“I know. Why hide it there? What, you a closet Pokémon fan?”

Jack waved his hand. “Not important. Anyway, what do we have here?” He leaned over me to look at what I’d written. “You think the vampire turning you is a different person than whoever tried to kill you? I agree.”

“But what I can’t figure out is, why turn me?” I sighed.

Jack scooted away and turned to face me, putting one bent leg up on the couch.

I mirrored his pose, closing the notebook and clutching it.

“I don’t know, and I don’t think I can speculate. Let’s ignore that for now and concentrate on the humans after you. You don’t have any idea why this mobster wants you? You sound like you know her. How?”

“I don’t really want to talk about her right now.” I crossed my arms and turned to sit back on the couch, covering my face with the notebook.

“I’m sorry to bring up bad memories, but you heard Stacy. We only have tonight to figure this out.”

I groaned, but Jack had a point. “I… work for her. Or I did. Obviously not anymore.” I snorted, and imagined I could feel Jack’s disappointment and disapproval, though I couldn’t see his face from behind my paper shield.

“Doing what?” Jack’s voice was low.

I sighed and lowered the notebook, but kept my gaze fixed on the far wall so I wouldn’t have to see Jack’s judgment. “I was a dual major in archeology and art history at the University of Oregon. I got a few loans, but my parents were paying for most of my education. Until I came out to them. They totally cut me off, and I ended up homeless.” I let out a shaky laugh, trying to keep from crying. I thought I’d gotten over this, but talking about it still hurt.

“Geez. I’m sorry, Everett.”

“At least it happened between semesters. Glad I listened to the people online in the support groups.” I sighed. “I guess Lady Ann found out somehow. One of her people contacted me on my cell phone before my parents had it shut off. They set up an entry level job for me at the art museum, in the restoration department.”

“And in return?” Surprisingly there was no judgment in his tone, just compassion.

“She wanted me to steal things for her. Little things, here and there, from the storeroom. She always paid me for them, on top of my wages.” I twisted the notebook in my hands, curling it up into a tube.

“So she’d ask you to steal specific things?” Jack shifted over closer and put a hand over mine until I let go of the notebook with one hand, and took his hand. I didn’t know why, but it made me feel better.

I shook my head. “No, she just said to use my best judgment. Her only requirements were nothing new, gold and other precious metals preferred, and to make sure they were authentic. I think that was why she hired me.” I hesitated, and ran the sweaty palm of the hand Jack wasn’t holding along my pants, feeling the amulet in my pocket. Jack had done nothing but help me, and I owed him the truth, no matter how much I didn’t want to. “It had been that way for almost a year, until a few weeks ago.”

I risked a glance at Jack, who was smiling gently at me. “What changed?”

“She wanted something specific. My contact described the amulet they wanted perfectly, even knew the lot number. But that store room is a mess. Parts of it haven’t been touched in almost a hundred years, and the lot that amulet was in was from the 1920s. I couldn’t find it.” I shuddered, remembering the stressful phone calls I’d had with my contact. “She was getting impatient. I never dealt with her directly, but my contact was starting to threaten me, and calling me daily for updates.”

Jack nodded. “I’ve seen this before. Those early thefts were tests, to see if you’d do what they wanted and if you could do the job without getting caught. Then, when they were sure they could trust you, they had you go after what they really wanted all along.”

I frowned and ran my thumb along Jack’s hand. “But why threaten me?”

“I’d guess they thought that you were holding out on them. The attempts on your life make sense, at least if we ignore the vampire angle.”

I stared at Jack, the pieces coming together at last. “I get it. The mugging. The thief stole my pass card so they could get in and search the storeroom themselves.”

Jack nodded. “And killing you ties up the last loose end. I’m guessing that no matter what, after this job they’d been planning to kill you.”

“What?” I gasped, squeezing my eyes shut against the tears that blurred my vision. “Even if I’d given it to them like they wanted?”

“That’s how these guys operate.” Jack slid off the couch to crouch in front of me and took my other hand in his. “Look at me, Everett.”

My head spun at the revelation I’d just been a tool—and a stupid, gullible one at that. I clutched Jack’s hand as I opened my eyes, tears streaming down my cheeks. “Why hire me, if they just broke in anyway?”

“I’m guessing that they would have preferred the theft go unnoticed, but they thought you forced their hand.” Jack reached up and gently wiped a tear away and then cupped my cheek with his palm for a moment before dropping it back down. “It’s not your fault, Ev.”

“That makes sense.” I did my best to gather my swirling thoughts. Jack’s presence both helped and hindered, making me feel better about being manipulated, yet at the same time making my stomach do excited flip-flops about the intimate pose. I was suddenly distinctly aware of the fact that Jack was pressed up between my thighs. I pushed the thought down, focusing on the facts about the storeroom. “With a break-in the contents of the storeroom will be audited, and the thefts discovered. But if I died—”

“Especially if they made it look natural or accidental, like a car accident…” Jack added in.

“Then they might not find out anything was missing for another decade. Or more, judging by the dust in there.” I swallowed, surprised my nose wasn’t running like a faucet like it usually did when I cried. A small benefit to being a vampire, I was guessing.

“Well, they might have gotten the amulet, but at least you’re still alive.” Jack frowned, realizing his faux pas, and hastily corrected. “Or undead, as the case may be.”

I swallowed again, and reached into my pocket to finger the amulet. Jack hadn’t blamed me for the thefts, so I could tell him. Should tell him the truth. Jack was giving me a curious look.

Taking a deep breath, I gathered my courage and reached into my pocket, pulling out the amulet, presenting it to Jack on the palm of my hand. “They didn’t get it. I had finally found it the night that this all started. The mugger didn’t find it because I had it in a hidden pocket of my coat,” I said softly. “It wasn’t me. This is what she really wanted in exchange for you.” As I said it I realized why she’d asked me for a selfie with it: to ensure I’d have it with me, or go to where it was, and not use an old picture.

Jack stared at me, barely even glancing at the gold amulet resting in my palm.

“Like I said, I would have sold it to them, but then everything happened…” I sighed and closed my hand around it. Having it in plain sight like this was making me anxious for some reason. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I was afraid you’d have me arrested for stealing or something.”

Jack gave a relieved smile. “I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to tell me. But I meant what I said, the amulet doesn’t matter. What’s important is keeping you safe.”

Before I could respond, Jack leaned forward and kissed me.

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Continue on to Chapter 15

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