One of the werewolves had gotten away. Wasn't that what the vampire Red said? It was why I spent ten minutes hiding behind the bridge that led to the Palace, before I gathered enough courage to go searching for my car. My nose said that there were no paranormals anywhere close to me. I could trust my nose, couldn't I?
And if I didn't make it to my car soon, I was going to pass out.
It felt like hours passed before I finally slipped into the driver's seat.
The car was intact, not a single scratch on it, and it smelled like it always did. Nobody had been inside. Nobody had planted anything on it, either. I'd seen stuff like that in the movies. Tracker, bomb—you name it. But my car smelled clean.
It was the worst drive of my life. For almost an hour, I tried to keep my eyes open, but I slipped into sleep and woke up again with a jolt at least three times. That I could remember. When I did make it back home, I was honestly very surprised that I hadn't broken my neck somewhere and killed myself.
My body was numb, my legs a mess when I got out of the car. Lui's was as crowded as always, but nobody seemed to pay me any attention. At that point, though, I was way past caring if somebody saw me. I was that clueless. I had to stop in front of the mailboxes before going up the stairs.
The piece of steel, perfectly round and pressed on both sides—kind of like an alien plate spaceship—was still covered in blood. I hadn't had the time or the interest to even clean off the blood and see what it was. Probably an enchanted item. People killed for them. They stored magic better than any spell stones, if you knew how to make them properly, and their magic worked forever, or until the item was destroyed. Pretty powerful stuff. From what I'd heard, only a few people in the world knew how to properly make them, which was a good thing. I put the thing in my mailbox and locked it, and I almost ran out of breath by the time I made it to my door.
I was a mess. The wound on my waist and the one on my thigh had closed, but the skin around it was still raw red and bruised, and it still hurt a lot more than it had when Red had first woken me up. Taking a shower was torture, but I couldn't sleep with all that blood and dirt all over me. I needed to rest and not throw my guts out in my sleep.
For the first time in months, I slept in my bedroom instead of the living room.
WHEN I WOKE UP, it was a little past noon.
The pain had faded to a dull ache, enough to remind me that it was there and where it had come from. I blinked and stared at the white ceiling of my bedroom, and thought: how was that not a dream? The pain said it wasn't, but how?
I was cornered by Finn the werewolf, my father found me, my sister was missing, there were people out there who were somehow manipulating actual wolves to kill people, I had almost died, and I'd been saved by a vampire named Red.
I would have really died had it not been for my wolf. And all that happened in a span of twenty-four hours.
So, tell me, how was that not a dream?
My stomach growled, informing me that I hadn't eaten anything since the night before. I could kill for some pancakes, but I was in no condition to make them, so a lame sandwich it was. I waited until I was full before I allowed myself to get in my closet and in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror mounted on the back of the door. It was time to see just how much damage had really been done to me.
To my surprise, when I stripped to my panties and bra, I looked much better than I'd thought. My waist was the worse, the purple and yellow bruises covering me up to my left boob, but my thigh was all but healed.
Just an angry red scar on both sides from where the bullet had entered and exited my body. No broken bones. I'd healed faster than even I thought I would. This was the first time I'd ever been shot at in my life. I intended for it to be very much the last.
Too bad the world had other plans for me.
When I got dressed, I went out and walked around the neighborhood, searching for unusual smells. The residents of the street were mostly humans, but paranormals were present, too. A Bone witch lived a couple apartments down, and I always smelled a fairy walking down the street in front of my building, every single evening. Nothing smelled unusual.
Feeling as safe as always—which, really, after what happened, made me feel like I almost deserved what I got—I returned to my apartment.
Maybe if I'd stayed outside longer, I would have smelled them coming, but no. I went inside and opened my laptop and wrote a list of the things Finn had mentioned people could use when trying to find someone. I had no money for spell stones, and I didn't have Izzy's blood anyway. We were raised as sisters, but our blood had nothing in common, so I couldn't use mine to track her. But what if I could hire a human hacker to monitor the cameras in Jersey City? That would be expensive, but my friend Mandy was good with computers. I'd found her dog once, and we'd hit it off quite nicely. We still got together for coffee regularly. According to her, her boyfriend Steve was even better. Maybe they could help me out if I promised to pay them back as soon as possible. I knew Mandy would.
Or maybe Finn would be a better man for the job. He could give me access to the City's cameras easily, if he wanted. And I'd already given him Haworth's name, whoever he was.
Yes, Finn would certainly help me—if I agreed to work with him. Come to think of it, maybe that's why he told my father about me. Maybe he thought I'd go begging him for help to find my sister, and then he could get me to sign a contract with him easily. Fucking ass. No way was I giving him the pleasure. God, I wished I was a witch. I could have done my own spells then, and I wouldn't have needed money.
An exasperated sigh left my lips, and I took in a deep breath to calm my nerves.
That's when I smelled them.
That's also when I knew I'd smelled them too late.
It was easy to separate smells when you stayed in one place for three years. I already knew what everyone who should be there smelled like, and a group of werewolves and witches would have no business walking up the stairs to my apartment.
Another realization hit me: I'd been the biggest fool in the world to think that coming back home was a safe bet. I'd been the biggest fool in the universe.
I grabbed as many kitchen knives as I could in my shaking hands. I looked around my apartment, trying to think of something that could help me, but there was nothing there. I hadn't prepared for something like this because I never thought I'd be hunted down and attacked in my own home.
Had I known, I would have bought guns and spell stones and a freaking bow with arrows and stuff! Damn it, Victoria. Damn it! I cursed myself in my head.
Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath and tried to locate them. They were coming through the front door. Seven werewolves and two witches. I didn't think twice. I just put my leather boots on, grabbed a jacket, and I took off through the window.
I hadn't done this before, but they say necessity is the mother of inventions. I invented a trail through my windowpane, down the red bricks of the building apartment, and onto the big, blue sign that said: Lui's Fast Food Place. The terrible groaning sound the metal made when I practically threw myself on the double o's made me think for a second that the letters weren't going to hold my weight. Not only that, but I'd fallen on my left side, and the wound on my waist throbbed with pain instantly. Gritting my teeth, I rolled over the letters and aimed for the sidewalk.
With my face.
God, it hurt. What the hell was I thinking?
A couple of my teeth felt loose, but I focused on standing. People were already gathering around me, hands wrapped around their mouths, fingers pointed at me. I must have looked worse than I thought. Taking in deep breaths, I managed to get to my feet. The left side of my body was burning, but at least my thigh didn't hurt as much. My car was parked two blocks down because there were a lot more parking spaces there. So I turned left and tried to make it to it.
I breathed through my nose with every step I took and ignored the stares. There was no way I was blocking my sense of smell again, and I didn't need to look to know that they were coming after me, fast. In broad daylight.
Who the hell were these people? Was I supposed to call the ECU?
When the gunshots began, I thought I was saved. The people were going to see, and the ECU soldiers were going to be here any minute now. These werewolves and witches were fools to come after me like this. I was going to be just fine as soon as I got to my car. I could drive until the soldiers came and caught them.
But the pain in my waist was getting worse with every passing second.
It was so bad even my wolf got interested and woke up from her sleep—or whatever she did when she wasn't in control of my body. Just another corner and I'd see my car. I tried to ignore the pain because I couldn't afford to slow down, but it was impossible.
And then, I tried to stop myself from asking her to come out.
Absolutely useless.
When in survival mode, our brains didn't quite work the same way.
What we're absolutely a hundred percent against in normal conditions becomes completely acceptable when there are nine people running after you, shooting at you like they wanted you dead twice. So I did beg my wolf to come out. Not to kill them, no, just to run away. She could run faster, hide better. And even if they caught up with her, she could take all of them.
Me? I couldn't even take one.
When I saw my car at the side of the road, I cried out. The people were already moving away, having heard the gunshots before they even spotted me. The way to the car was clear. I fished for the keys in my jacket and propelled my legs forward even faster.
But I was not fast enough. Tears streamed from my eyes, and I tried to think of something good to remember. If my life was going to end soon, I'd rather leave this place on a happy note.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find a thought to hold onto, other than how to get away. How to create a set of wings and just fly away from the world.
My wolf was wide-awake and watching, but she didn't intend to come out.
She didn't want any part of this either, and I couldn't understand why. It was almost like something was stopping her, and it confused her as much as it did me.
Everything came to a halt when I touched the hood of my car with my hands, the hope that I'd made it making my heart skip a beat, when something cold stabbed me on my back, right between my shoulder blades.
Then came the gunshot. It didn't feel exactly like the bullets from the night before had felt. It was a bit different but also the same. It shocked my muscles to a halt, and I fell on the hood, rolled, and my face hit the asphalt once again. Somebody screamed. A lot of people were watching me, terrified.
Something moved inside me, and at first, I thought maybe my wolf had finally decided to help, but no. The something was cold and wet and it spread under my skin, covering my flesh and infecting my bloodstream until my eyes could no longer stay open. The werewolves and the witches were barely three feet away from me now. They all breathed heavily but didn't made a single sound as they stopped, then came close to me slowly, cautiously. I wanted to scream and shout, to tell them that I was going to come back and haunt their asses for the rest of eternity, but a gunshot later and something cold settled on my right shoulder. Darkness claimed me, and the only regret I had was not going to see my mother for five years.