Wolf Girl, page 12
I began to pace back and forth anxiously. Would they even want me back? My wolf pack, I was sure, would happily welcome me back, but Quan … I had hurt him so much. And Lilah, I had hurt her too, because I hurt her family. I knew how protective she was of those that she cared for. Was I even part of that category any more? And what about Veronica? I wondered. She was probably racked with guilt because she blamed herself for me leaving.
The wind changed, and I recognized the scent of another predator in the field. I coiled my body, ready to defend myself if need be. Two figures stepped out from the trees. They were wolves. One was a male, and another a female. I recognized her at once.
Rachel? she asked, uncertain.
Selena! I exclaimed, and we charged at each other, dancing around in circles. Selena gave my face a lick, which I returned.
Rachel, I’ve missed you!
I have too, I said.
What are you doing here? Did you ever find anything about, you know …? Selena never mentioned my mother directly; I guess she just didn’t want to upset me.
I did, actually.
Oh? She looked surprised.
Selena, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend? the male wolf asked. Like Selena, he was a gray wolf. He had a dominance about him, with an upright tail that advertised his status. I realized that Selena must have found herself a mate.
Oh, I’m sorry, she said, looking embarrassed. I guess I got a little carried away. This is Rachel; she used to belong to my old pack. Rachel, this is Micah, my mate.
It’s nice to meet you, Rachel, Micah said in a deep voice.
It’s nice to meet you too, I replied.
He sniffed at me. You are a werewolf, am I correct?
Yes.
But you were part of Selena’s old pack? How did this come to be about, if you don’t mind my asking?
The look on Micah’s face told me that he would drop the subject if I didn’t want to talk about it, so I simply said, It’s a long story. He nodded, and I turned my attention back to Selena.
So when did this happen? I asked.
About a month ago. I left shortly after you.
But why? I asked. I thought you liked living with everyone.
I did … but not enough, she said. Things were different after you left, so I decided to find my own path as well.
But you’re happy now?
She glanced back at Micah with a smile, which he returned. Very, she said.
Then I’m happy for you too.
By now the only source of light were the moon and the stars. As we lay on the grass, we filled each other in on our lives after leaving the pack. Micah didn’t say much; he seemed content just simply being in Selena’s presence. I gradually filled him in on the condensed version of my story, that my mother had gone missing when I was seven, and how Brian and his pack had raised me.
Are you sure that you made the right decision? Selena asked me.
No, I’m not. I feel torn between my sister and my mate.
That is tough. But I’m sure you’ll figure out what’s right eventually. Right now you just have to do your own thing.
I nodded. Daylight was approaching, and pretty soon, we were all asleep. My sleep was restless, as I kept getting disturbing flashes. They were like nightmares, only they felt so real.
Two naked figures were lying still on the ground, blood pouring from their bodies onto the clean kitchen floor. I realized with horror that they were Quan and Lilah. I saw Cale standing above the two with an expression of admiration. To the side was Marie, holding a struggling Veronica. She was screaming, trying desperately to get away. Cale turned around, looking straight at me.
“This is a message for you and Veronica. Veronica, I know where you are, sweetheart. Come back home or you’ll regret it. Rachel, come out of hiding. Running will only kill the people you love.”
The vision ended, and I could feel another presence in my mind. I recognized it instantly as Veronica, so she had definitely received the message too.
Veronica? I asked, but before she could answer, I felt her presence fade, and I was once again alone in my own head.
Rachel, what’s the matter? Selena asked, sleepily, startled awake by my shivering.
I have to go! I said, panicked.
Micah rose to his feet, his ears raised to collect any sound. Is there danger? he asked.
Yes! I have to leave right now; he’ll kill them if I don’t.
Hold on! Who’ll kill who? Selena asked.
Cale! Marie! They’ll kill Quan and Lilah; they’ll hurt Veronica! I can’t let this happen!
We’ll go with you, she volunteered.
No. He doesn’t know where I am, which means he doesn’t know about you two. I can’t put you in danger too. I’m sorry. I raced off, leaving them both in shock. I hated to leave things the way I had between us, but I couldn’t bear it if he … I couldn’t even think about the word.
I moved with a vengeance, covering much more ground than I had my first night. It was already full daylight out, but it was one thing to put myself in danger, and a whole other thing to know that my friends were in danger too. They had no idea where I was, so they couldn’t even give me away if only to save themselves.
I was horrible, horrible and selfish, I decided. My legs burned, begging me to give them a rest as I raced through the forest, heedless of who might hear me. Then something dawned on me. What if Cale and Marie had killed them, and the message was simply to lure me out of hiding so that they could get me too?
I growled. If they had so much as touched them, I would kill them! Veronica would be upset, but I didn’t care. I would show no mercy.
I was close now, I realized. I could just make out the silhouette of the house. As it got bigger, I saw that the door was slightly ajar, and I smelled blood. I began to panic. I raced inside, snarling. Lilah stood in front of the kitchen sink, rinsing the blood from a gaping wound on her arm.
Lilah! Are you okay? What happened? I asked. Lilah spun around in surprise. She scowled at me, and I took note that her eyes were gold. I remembered back to when Quan and I had first met. He’d told me that our eyes changed when we were hurt.
“What are you doing here?” she asked in an annoyed voice as she turned back around to tend to her wound.
“You’re hurt,” I said.
“No shit, Sherlock,” she said. “And again, what are you doing here?”
I had a dream, I said. Only I don’t think it was a dream. It was a message from Cale and Marie. They had killed both you and Quan, and had taken Veronica hostage.
“And you came to see if we were okay,” she said. She blinked. “Wow. You’re really making it hard for me to hate you right now.”
Then don’t. Lilah, I’m sorry.
“Hey, don’t apologize to me. It’s my brother you hurt.”
Right, I said, and a wave of sadness washed through me. Where is he?
“Not here. He and Veronica left early this morning to go visit Paul. Just so you know, Veronica’s been an emotional wreck, so thanks for just dumping her on us like that.”
I’m sorry, I repeated.
“Again, I’m not the person who you should be apologizing to.”
Right, I said again, and Lilah began to wrap a long cloth around her arm. So are you gonna tell me what happened, or what?
“I fell,” she said simply. “On glass. People should really learn to stop littering.”
Tell me about it, I said. But it should be okay in a few hours, right?
Lilah nodded. “You can go into the back and change into some clothes if you’d like.”
Thanks, I said as I walked into Lilah’s room. I wasn’t sure I considered it mine any more, though all of my things were still there, exactly where I’d left them. I transformed back into my human form and opened the closet door, grabbing the first thing that I saw before heading into the bathroom. After getting dressed I rejoined Lilah, who was sitting at the kitchen table and reading a book while nibbling on a muffin.
“So, are we okay now?” I asked.
“That depends,” she said, looking up from her book.
“On?”
“Are you staying now?”
“I think I might, that is, if you’ll still allow me.”
“Of course you’re still allowed,” she told me, as if I had just said the most ridiculous thing ever.
“Thanks,” I said.
“It’s good to have you back,” Lilah said, standing to hug me.
“It‘s good to be back,” I said, returning the hug before pulling away as Veronica walked in through the door.
“Hey,” I said, cautiously.
“Hey,” she replied, and though she gave me a small smile, I could see the terror in her eyes.
“You had the dream too,” I said. She nodded.
“So that was your dream?” Lilah asked. “You could have told me.”
“I didn’t want to bother you,” Veronica said.
“Yeah, well, I told you before that I was here if you needed me. Those weren’t just words.” Was Lilah warming up to Veronica now? “Anyway, they’re getting through to you so easily because they have a connection with you, but they can only find Rachel if you know where she is. Don’t get me wrong, Rachel, I’m happy to see you and all, but you might have actually put yourself and Veronica in more danger by coming back.”
“So what do I do now? Leave again?” I asked.
“Of course not,” Lilah said. “But Veronica, you need to make a decision.”
The fear in Veronica’s eyes turned to sadness. “We have to kill them.”
“I’m sorry, Veronica,” I said.
“I want to be alone,” she said and walked out of the room.
“So what now?” I asked.
“Are you still trying to go at it alone?” Lilah asked.
I shook my head. “No, it’s stupid, and I can’t ask Veronica to help me.”
“Good choice.”
I sighed. I had to get this over with sooner or later. I walked into the living room.
“I know you said that you wanted to be alone, but where’s Quan?” I asked Veronica. “Is he still with Paul?”
“No. We saw you through the window, and he decided to go for a walk.”
My heart ached. I had hurt him more than I realized.
“Thanks,” I said. I walked back into the kitchen and asked Lilah how I could fix this, but she just shrugged and gave me a look that said, “You got yourself into this, now you get yourself out.”
I stepped outside and sighed. This was all too familiar, only now I was going after Quan instead of the other way around. I had stopped to listen, and yet I didn’t, because I left anyway. Would the same thing happen this time? Was there truly no more us?
“Quan?” I called. “Quan?” I found him leaning against a tree behind his house. He had his hands tucked into his pockets, and his head was down. “Quan,” I whispered.
“What are you doing back here?” he asked, not even glancing my way. I was taken aback for a second. He was really angry with me—Quan, who was always in a good mood, and always so nice to me. I told him about the message that I had received from both Cale and Marie. He listened intently.
“I can’t just come back like nothing happened,” I said when I was done, “but I really did miss you. I never stopped thinking about you. Quan, I love you.” It was the first time that I had said those three words to him. I hadn’t planned to, the words had just popped out, and yet that didn’t make them any less true.
Quan looked up at me for the first time. He studied me for a long moment, not speaking, just staring. I waited for him to say something, to reassure me that he felt the same exact way. I waited for him to tell me that I was forgiven.
“I love you too, Rachel, truly I do, but was it really that easy to leave this all behind, to leave me behind? I know how you feel about your mother. I know that things have been hard on you, but you so often think of yourself first, and you don’t seem to notice how you’re hurting the people around you, the ones you claim to care about so much.”
“I don’t mean to.”
“I know, Rachel, I know.”
“I don’t want to hurt you any more, or Lilah, or Veronica. But what do I—we do? I’ve accepted that I can’t hurt them without hurting Veronica, but … I just don’t know what to do any more.”
Quan took me in his arms. They were always both comfortable, and warm. I felt so very safe with him, like nothing in the world could hurt me—or him. It was as if the universe had stopped, as if everything was frozen, and it was just us.
“We’ll figure it out,” he said. “I promise you, Rachel, we’ll figure this out together.”
Chapter 14
“I take it you two made up?” Lilah asked as we came back inside. Quan had his arm around me, and my head rested on his shoulder.
“Where’s Veronica?” he asked.
“In the living room, I’m assuming. She wanted to be alone.”
“I’m sure she does, but this is really important, especially to her.”
Lilah shrugged.
“Veronica?” I called. No answer.
“Veronica?” Quan called afterward. He walked into the living room and came back with a worried look on his face.
“Check my room, and our parents’,” Lilah said.
Quan disappeared and came back a moment later. “She’s not here.”
“Well, maybe she just took a walk,” Lilah said. “No reason to freak out, right?”
I followed her to the living room, and Lilah looked through the glass sliding door, scanning the back yard.
“What’s this?” she asked when she turned around. She walked over to the couch and picked up a folded piece of paper.
“What? What does it say?” I asked.
“She’s gone back to her parents. She’s hoping that if she gives her powers up willingly, they’ll leave us alone. Idiot,” Lilah muttered. She crumpled up the note and threw it on the couch. “They won’t stop until they have both of you. It’s the combination of your powers that they want.”
“So what do we do?” I asked.
“We go after her.”
“But what if it comes to—”
“Most likely it will,” Quan said. “But it’ll be self-defense, not vengeance that drove you.”
“Right,” I nodded. Oh Veronica, why did you have to go and do this? She had to have known that this wouldn’t solve anything.
“Are we going as wolves or as humans?” Lilah asked.
“Humans,” Quan said.
I led the way, in disbelief at what we were about to do. My mind was numb, and I couldn’t organize my thoughts.
After a short while, we arrived in front of the blue house. Quan, Lilah, and I stood in front of it, just staring.
“Ready?” Lilah asked. There was a quaver in her voice that I had never heard before. Quan and I nodded.
I didn’t think that ringing the doorbell would work this time, and apparently Quan agreed as he kicked in the door. We raced inside, but the house was silent. As adrenaline thumped in my ears, we cautiously went from room to room, including the one that Cale and Marie had attacked Veronica and me. All were empty. We looked at each other, confused, and then the sound of a door slamming behind us made us jump.
“Looking for us?” Cale asked.
“Guess we lost the element of surprise,” Lilah muttered.
“You never had it in the first place,” Marie added, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. She was holding a struggling Veronica by the arm. “Mmm. I love the smell of dead werewolves in the morning.”
“Mmm,” Lilah retorted. “I love the smell of dead warlocks in the morning.”
“Too bad you won’t live to see it.” Marie said as she threw Veronica to the floor, then channeled a bolt of lightning through her hands and directed it at Lilah as she was transforming into a wolf. The bolt hit Lilah square in the chest, sending her flying backward into the wall. She fell to the floor with a thud, and there was a dark scorched mark on her. Lilah had said earlier that a warlock’s power was not designed to kill, so I guessed that the blow was not nearly as strong as actual lightning.
Quan leapt at Marie, his jaws snarling. He was just inches from her throat when he stopped in midair, then went flying across the room as well. Cale stood over him, flexing his hand in the air as Quan gagged and choked.
“Mom, Dad, please stop this,” Veronica sobbed.
“Veronica, Veronica, Veronica,” Cale said, shaking his head. “Do you really think we’d kidnap you as a baby, and raise you, and then not take your powers?” He looked at me and grinned. “We’d have taken yours already, but your mother was stronger than I thought. Though not strong enough. She wouldn’t tell me where she had hidden you, so I simply ended her life.” He looked back at Veronica. “We were about to kill you, too, but Marie had a very powerful vision that you two would find each other. Twin werewolves share a naturally strong connection, after all.”
I leapt at Cale and bit down on his arm, trying to break it with powerful shakes of my head. Marie fell onto her back with Lilah and Quan on top of her. I heard Veronica sobbing as we struggled. Marie screamed, a shriek that was cut short when Lilah bit down on her neck with a crunch.
“No!” Cale bellowed, flinging me against the wall. His eyes turned red like lava, and he conjured up a ball of gray smoke and sent it over to Quan. It enveloped him, slowly circling around his body, then it made its way into his nose and his mouth. Quan began to cough as he struggled to breathe. Then he fell onto his side, motionless.
Lilah took a step toward Cale, snarling with bloody jaws. As she sprang at him, he drew a silver knife and plunged it into her flank. Lilah collapsed with a squeal of pain.
Lilah! I screamed. I tried to rise, but an invisible weight pressed me to the floor.
“You killed her!” Cale shouted, kicking her in the side. “You fucking killed her!” Lilah began to cough up blood as her wounded side began to smoke. Silver is like fire to us in a way. We could easily receive second- and third-degree burns just from touching the stuff.
“You wanna know pain?” Cale asked, kicking her again. “Well, you’ll know it all right.” Lilah gasped in a horrible struggle for air. He was killing her.
