"Time to get up," Edythe said, breaking the long, still silent, sending ripples through the unmovable waters of our peaceful bliss, as we laid in our bed together.
"No," I groaned, not opening my eyes as I fumbled for her skin, intermixed in the soft, white sheets, but she was already up, walking naked across the room, in search of clothes.
I leaned back against the pillows, appreciating the view.
Edythe caught me staring, and she bounded over, leaning over in front of me, putting her finger underneath my slack jaw, pressing it up until my lips sealed.
"You're drooling," she whispered, grinning slyly.
"Well, can you blame me?" I propped myself up on my elbow, reaching for her again, but my fingertips just brushed her hip as she glided out of reach again, slipping into a peach-colored satiny robe.
Edythe giggled, armed with a pile of clothes. "I'm going to shower. I'll see you downstairs."
I sighed, watching her exit the room, and, resigned, got out of bed, too.
.
Streak of Brutal Seattle Murders Raises SPD's Concerns.
I'd skimmed the newspaper's headline idly, but focused more now, as my formerly uninterested eyes caught on the words of the article.
Suspicious motive. Bodies drained of blood. Suspected serial killer.
"Have you seen this?" I asked Earnest as he passed, wiping down the marble kitchen island counter with a microfibre rag, the smell of lemon furniture polish saturating the air.
Earnest glanced over, scanning the headline, and the resulting article, his self. He shrugged, his mouth opening to say something, but then Edythe was there, snatching up the paper.
"Did you see this?" I asked, reaching for the paper, which she now held behind her back.
"It's fine, Beau," she said, her voice taking on that soothing, soft edge I was used to. Protecting me. Intuition flared. They didn't want me to know about this… Why?
"You knew about this?" I asked, stepping around the counter, following Edythe to the garbage bin. As she pressed the lever to open the lid, I shot my hand out, taking the newspaper off her again before she could throw it out, determined to get a closer look.
"Don't worry about it, Beau," Edythe repeated, reaching for the paper again, but I turned away from her, reading the article more thoroughly. When I was done, I turned back to her. She stood behind me, arms folded over her chest, brow puckered.
"A vampire is killing these people?" I guessed.
I had seen she'd been determined to lie, but now, I saw a flash in her ochre eyes that told me my guess had been spot on.
"We've been tracking whoever it is," she started, trying to sound blase, but I knew better, "It's not that big a deal. Probably a newborn, learning to control his thirst-"
"Like me." My voice was quiet.
"Well, I don't think a newborn has ever had quite the modicum of self-control you possess," Edythe murmured, stretching up on her toes to kiss my lips briefly, "But yes. 'Like you'."
I had decided I was going to believe her, until I looked over her shoulder and saw Jessamine standing in the doorway. The expression on her face told me that she definitely didn't agree with what Edythe was saying. It wasn't just some 'newborn'.
There was a waver in the room's emotional atmosphere, and I realized that Jess was putting up a front. My suspicion grew exponentially.
.
"... Five killings in the last two weeks. There's at least one-" the low voice in the office cut off as I paused outside the door.
"Do you think…?" the other person, Eleanor, murmured lowly, not having caught on to my attentions yet.
Edythe didn't respond, and when I poked my head around the door frame, resigned to the fact that I'd been caught, I saw Jess standing with them, as well. I suspected Carine would have liked to be involved with the conversation, but she'd had to run off to work.
It was hours later, and the discussion about the newspaper article from this morning and been avoided all day, Edythe skipping around its bounds like it had been an impassable chasm. But now… She was talking about it. Just not with me.
Suspicion rose again.
"Hey," I said, lifting a hand in an awkward wave, finding all three of their gazes on me, immediately inert on my face. "What's up?"
Edythe's face looked pinched, and she shook her head fiercely at an unspoken thought from one of the girls.
"No," she snapped.
"Nothing," Jessamine said for her, "Nothing for you to worry about, Beau."
Unexpectedly, a foggy memory of her saying those same words, or something to close to it, in a hotel room in Phoenix drifted into my mind. I'd been so panicked, about this family getting hurt over my safety, my mother, my father… It had all been for naught, though I'd known the tracker vampire, Joss, would have hurt my family if necessary. But she hadn't had to. I'd sacrificed myself for everyone else, and she'd basically killed me as a result. Or she'd planned on it, but Edythe and the rest of the family had gotten there in time.
But not soon enough, Edythe had insisted, though I'd disagreed. The eventuality of my immortality had been understood, though the timing of it had been debatable. Sure, it hadn't happened quite the way either of us had thought, but we both had to have known I would end up here eventually…
My memories distracted me for a moment, though I hadn't forgotten about the conversation at hand. By the time I turned back to Jess, to disregard her words, insist there was something more, they'd changed the subject, and Eleanor was moving past me, out the door, back into the hallway.
Jessamine passed next, and before Edythe could slip past me, I gripped her arm. It brought her up short, though she tugged firmly on my grip. I wasn't willing to let go.
"Beau…" she said quietly, and when she looked up into my face, I saw it again: that expression that told me they were hiding something from me.
"What is it, Edythe?" I murmured, keeping my voice low.
She stared at me for a moment, indecision in her golden eyes, as if she were contemplating really telling me. But then the gold hardened in resolve, and she shook her head.
"It's nothing."
I pursed my lips speculatively. "Why don't I believe you?"
She sighed. "It doesn't concern you, Beau. Jess thinks it could be a gang of new vampires, out of control. The Sulpicia will step in soon enough if it gets too out of control. Jess and El want to go talk to them-"
"Well, why not? Why don't we go? Save the Sulpicia some trouble?" My lips turned up wryly at the corners.
"It's not worth-" she began, but then cut off. "Dammit!"
I let her go now as she tugged at my hold more urgently, and then strode down the hall.
"What is it now?" I demanded, taking off after her in a stride so sudden I knew I would have stumbled in my former, human ways.
Archie appeared at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes wide, fearful.
"I don't… I can't…"
Edythe flew down the stairs, and was at Archie's side in a fraction of a second.
"Why does this keep happening?" he growled in frustration.
And then we all smelled it, in the same moment: what seemed like wet dog, but was really werewolf.
.
I opened the front door just as Julie Black climbed out of a faded red Volkswagen Rabbit, slamming the creaking, rusty door behind her. She was wearing frayed cut-offs and a grey v-neck. Her hair was shorter, barely long enough to pull back into a just-there nub of a pony tail at the nape of her neck.
I couldn't help but notice that in only the few months that had passed since I'd seen her last, how much she'd… well, filled out, was the only way I could put it. Where before she'd been tall, slim and practically shapeless, now she was suddenly well-muscled, bands of firm tissue running up and down her bare arms and legs. She looked like a woman now, and I knew enough from Health Class that puberty didn't happen at this rate.
But then, I knew the answer before I'd taken one step away from the bottom of the staircase.
Jules was a werewolf.
I was immensely surprised by the fact, that though we were supposed to be mortal enemies, there was no animosity between us. I remembered the way Jules had made me feel, at the beach those many weeks ago-had it been only a few months?-when we'd met around the bonfire. There had been an immediate, undeniable connection, and I had been comfortable with her, around her open face, and jokey, easy-going attitude.
"Hey, there!" she called, waving at me and grinning. I was surprised by her friendliness, because I could see the hairs on her arms standing up, just being in my presence.
"Jules," I called, leaping off the porch steps, because I could, "How's it going? You… You look different."
Jules laughed self-consciously. "Yeah, well," she gestured to herself, in an up-and-down motion with her hand, "It must be the werewolf thing."
I laughed, the familiar easiness blooming between us more effortlessly than I would have thought possible, even now.
"What's new with you?" she questioned, and I didn't miss the way her dark eyes lingered on my skin, my eyes. She suppressed a shudder. "I mean, aside from the obvious?"
I shook my head and shoved my hands into my pockets. "Absolutely nothing. Pretty boring, actually."
She flashed a brief, toothy smile, and then her eyes strayed past me, over to the porch, and her smile disappeared.
"Hi," she said flatly.
"Hello," Edythe returned, her tone glacial, and in that instant, I wanted to defend Julie somehow. Did things really need to be like this?
I happened to like Julie-in fact, had thought of her as kind of a friend. Until I realized that maybe we weren't supposed to be…
"What brings you here?" Edythe questioned, and she walked slowly to my side, her small hand drifting from the middle of my back, to my lower back. I didn't miss the way Julie watched Edythe touch me, claim me?
It was then that I noticed the two other wolves, lingering in the forest, probably twenty yards back, but alert either way. Their thudding, wet hearts held none of the temptation for me that so many other animals held.
Julie appraised us for a moment, and then crossed her arms, her face going flat.
"There's been an influx of vampires in the area," Julie said, pulling herself up taller, though she already towered over Edythe. Her head, if she'd been standing close enough, would have passed my jaw, though I was sure she hadn't been that tall the last time I'd seen her. "It's made the pack nervous, restless. We just want to make sure…" Her eyes flickered to me again, hesitant this time.
"You needn't worry about that," Edythe said in answer to Julie's unfinished question. Her tone was unnecessarily harsh. "Beau has incredible self-control. I'm surprised your mother didn't tell you that."
A moment of silence passed between the two, and understanding dawned. Did the werewolf pack think it was me killing all those people in Seattle?
"If that's all, you can be on your way."
Jules glanced down at her white-conversed feet, and kicked the dirt driveway, sending up a small puff of dust. She rubbed the back of her hand across her nose, her head spasming to the side for the briefest of moments, as if trying to shake off the stink of something.
I knew she didn't smell the greatest, but I couldn't comprehend that our scent would put her off. Edythe's skin, and mine, resultingly, was the sweetest smelling thing I'd ever experienced in my life-both living and undead.
"Well…" She said now.
"Yes," Edythe interrupted, "You really should be going."
I shot her a look. Did she really have to be like this?
"Yeah," Jules said, glancing at me again, "I should… Get back… Uh, see you later, Beau?"
"Sure," I said, "Soon. Maybe we could… Catch up sometime."
She smiled, the edges of her eyes crinkling up, and unexpectedly, I was smiling too. Jules was like this connection to the old life I could never have back, her warm presence comforting, familiar.
But the moment was broken now as I heard the low rumble of a warning growl build in Edythe's chest.
Whoa.
"Okay, okay," I muttered to her, touching her arm.
"I'm going," Jules promised, eyeing Edythe, and then she was backing toward her car, her hip bumping the back fender as she went back around to the driver's side. I watched her twist the key in the ignition, and head back the other way.
.
