Blood Moon (3 page)

“Huh, that’s horrible.
 
I hope she’s okay. Crime around here is usually pretty minimal, especially abductions.”

“No working late at the bookstore.
 
We’ve had enough excitement the last few weeks to last us a while.”

“True.
 
I should call Allison and make sure she’s at least taking her car and not walking home.
 
Wish she had a boyfriend or someone to escort her. Maybe I’ll talk to her brother and see if he will come and get her.”
 

Allison Dover was Darby’s right hand at the Cauldron, Book and Candle bookstore.
 
The bookstore sold books on anything from Abchandchu (a Bolivian vampire) to the Zugarramurdi Witches (witches in the Basque village of Zugarramurdi, who were accused of vampiric behavior) and anything in between.
 
Allison had helped Darby make the bookstore a success and would probably one day be made a partner, but for now she was just a very valued employee.
 

“Well, tell Rowan too. No late night trips to the store.”
 

“Yeah, I will. Are you going to talk to Blake today?” Darby asked.
 

“Yeah. Not really looking forward to it though.”

“Why?”
 

“I’ve gotten pretty close to your sister with this last adventure of ours, and I don’t like the way he treated her, but then again, he’s my brother and he was freaked out.
 
I kind of feel I’m in the middle here.
 
Don’t want to lean on Blake too much, but if I don’t am I somehow letting Rowan down?”

“I see your conflict. You’ll say the right thing, you always do.
 
I think your brother could use this new insight you have into Rowan’s predicament to explain to him why she feels the way she does and vice versa.
 
I have no doubt you will be supportive and wonderful to both.”

“But there’s a third thorn to this predicament.”

“What’s that, sweetness?”

“Dean.
 
I really like him. I think he really could be good for Rowan, but I don’t want to push Dean or Blake on her.”

“I see.
 
They’ll work it out.
 
Tell them both the awkward position you feel you are in and explain that you don’t want to get in the middle of things.
 
Tell them you will support them, but won’t advise them on what to do, only state the facts, letting them decide for themselves.”

“That sounds great in theory, but not quite as easy to implement,” Devon said.

“I know, but you’re smart, you’ll figure it out. I’m always here to help too.”

“I know.” He kissed her softly.
 
“I need to drop off a portable hard drive in Mountain View today.
 
I finished the project just before we left for Colorado, but still need to deliver it.
 
Do you need anything in the valley?”

“Nope, just you to hurry back. I’m going to run into the bookstore this morning for a couple hours and take care of some stuff that’s been piling up on my desk.
 
I also want to tell Allison to be careful.”
 

“Okay, I’m going to see if Blake wants to come with me to Mountain View. We can talk in the car without any chance of Rowan accidentally overhearing. What about you and Rowan?”
 

“I’m taking your advice and giving her some space.
 
She knows where I am. She’s got to be feeling pretty weird with Blake showing up like that.
 
It was a beautiful gesture, the flowers et al, but I don’t know how helpful it was.
 
On the other hand, he’s got to start somewhere and at least he’s trying.”
 

“True. Hmmm. I’m going to go take a shower at my place and check with Blake about coming with me.
 
I’ll see you later, Love.” He leaned into her and gave her a long, sweet kiss that curled her toes in ecstasy.

Devon walked in the backdoor of his house with an armload of clothes that had been piling up at Darby’s.
 
He headed for his room, passing Blake’s closed door on the way.
 
He knocked quietly in case he was asleep.
 
Blake answered, “Yeah?”

Devon opened the door and saw a groggy Blake on the bed with a bunch of books surrounding him. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you, but I was wondering if you wanted to ride in to Mountain View with me in about 45 minutes.
 
I need to take a shower, but I have to drop off my project and thought we could talk on the way, maybe get some lunch?

“Yeah, sure! I’ll jump in the shower when you’re done.”

“Great.”

An hour later, the brothers were in the car headed over the hill and into the valley. Blake really wanted to make things right with his brother and broke the awkward silence between them.

“Devon, I know I’ve really messed things up.
 
I lied, I withheld information, and I abandoned two women I care a lot about.”

“Why, Blake? Why did you do all those things?”

“I don’t have a good answer for that.
 
When Rowan was in the hospital and she wouldn’t wake up, I freaked.
 
I told her I loved her – not that she heard. Besides you, Mom and Dad, I’ve never felt that way about anyone.
 
Your first time admitting something like that, shouldn’t it be all kisses and happiness?
 
Well, it wasn’t. It was silent and scary. Then add on top of that she’s a werewolf too? Uncle Dominic told me such awful stories about how werewolves ate people alive and killed vampires just for the joy of it. I had just declared I loved one of these creatures. Was she going to devour me?
 
I knew in my heart that wasn’t possible, but in my head all I could hear were the horror stories Uncle Dominic told me.
 
I got to Connecticut before I realized that I was acting out of adolescent fear. I knew then that Rowan was far too sweet and full of love to be something like that. She may change appearance, but her heart and mind would never change.
 
That’s when I flew back to San Francisco.

“Last night I was up going through the folklore books and that ancient tome we lifted from Paine’s house.
 
It hit me that almost all of the gory details in that book about werewolves could just as easily have been in a book of folklore about vampires. If they had all the facts wrong about us, then the same could be said about werewolves.
 
That led me to the conclusion that it was all lies.
 
Vampires have been paying for the atrocious killings of made vampires from the beginning of time.
 
If things were so similar between the races, then wouldn’t it also be true that Uncle Dominic’s experience was that of a rogue werewolf? Was his experience distorting my view of the sweetest girl I had ever known? I had to conclude that he had. She didn’t care that I was a blood-sucking vampire. She never doubted me for a second, but I had doubted her. What an idiot. I just don’t know what to do, Devon, to fix things.”

“I wish I could give you some magic remedy, Blake, but I can’t.
 
I have to tell you, Rowan and I got to know each other pretty well through this mess and she took it pretty hard.
 
From her point of view, you abandoned her because you found her revolting.
 
She couldn’t control what was happening to her, therefore, you were giving up on her for what she was.
 
In your absence, she turned to Dean.”

“What? You mean they..”

“No, Blake, I’m pretty sure they didn’t do anything, but they did bond and she has grown very attached to him and he to her.
 
It’s only natural that she turned to someone who was a werewolf to help her through the transformations, because you weren’t there and I was with Darby.
 
She didn’t have much choice.
 
I got to know Dean while I was there. He’s a nice guy. I like him. I even consider him a friend.”

“Really. How long was I gone?”

“Long enough to do some serious damage. You were gone for the whole full moon cycle, Blake.
 
If you had been there for any part of it I would say you’d have a better chance at getting her back, but you weren’t and I really don’t know now.”

“That bad, huh?”
 

“Dean was great to the family, given HIS prejudices; I think he’s had a change of heart as much as you have had.”
 

“What if I went to him, tried to befriend him?”

“Depends on your reasons.”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you doing it for you? To get her back, or are you doing it for her? Dean will see right through you if it’s for you.
 
He’s no fool. But if you are doing it because you want to help Rowan, I think he’d be up for it, albeit reluctantly perhaps.”

“How’s Darby feel about this? And me?”

“You could probably stab her and she’d find some reason why it wasn’t your fault. By the way, if you ever leave her or her sister for dead again, I will hunt you down and hurt you. That being said – Darby has a great nickname for you.”

“Oh no, that can’t be good!”

“But it’s such a glamorous nickname.”

“What is it?”

“You’re her Giant String Bean.”

“Oh no!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault you’re six foot four.”

“Thanks.
 
You’re a big help!”

“No problem.”

“So are we good? You and me?”

“Yeah, we’re good, but next time you freak out, don’t bottle it up. Talk to me or Darby.”
 

“I will.”

Darby was moving mighty slow but she did get herself to the Cauldron, Book and Candle. It was good to be there.
 
She loved the smell of old and new books alike.
 
She had a little bit of work to do, but she had really hoped to just have a friendly talk with Allison.

“Hey, Allison.”

“Hey, Darby. Good to see you.”

“Same goes for you.”

“Why are you walking like that?”

“Oh, had some surgery, still a little sore.”

“Surgery? Geez, why didn’t you tell me? Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m very glad to be home and moving around again. Anything I need to know about around here?”
 

“Not much! Business, as usual.
 
Heard that Jenn Cruz has finally gotten a clean bill of health – no more breast cancer.
 
Sure has been tough on Kyle and Jenn.
 
I know before the diagnosis they were talking about starting a family. Maybe now that she’s out of the woods they can start trying.”

“I hope so. That’s sure great news.
 
Speaking of news, did you hear about the two missing girls?”

“Yeah. Pescadero and La Honda - awful close to home, huh?”
 

“Way too close.
 
I sure would like it if your brother would escort you home at night.
 
I know it sounds stupid, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I’d never hear the end of it if I asked my brother.
 
Are you trying to kill me, Darby?”

“If you don’t ask, I’ll call him myself. Or worse!”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh yes, I would!
 
Besides, your dad loves talking to me.”

“You are evil, Darby.
 
Evil I tell you!”

“Then talk to your brother.”

“Yeah, yeah.
 
By the way, there was a girl in here looking for you.
 
Ummm, I wrote down her name…somewhere…ah, here it is.
 
Cheral Oktane, pronounced ‘Cheryl’ but spelled with an ‘al’.
 
She was very adamant about the spelling. She didn’t leave a number.
 
She said she would come in again.”

“Did she say what she wanted?”

“She said she knew your grandmother or something like that.”

“Hmmm. That’s interesting. I think I’m going to head home and rest the stitches. Call your brother. I swear, if I call later and your brother doesn’t know anything about it, I’m immediately calling your dad.”