Moonlight Calls (Demon's Call Series Book 1) (43 page)

Bracing myself,
I slowly lifted my eyes upward.  The entire house was engulfed in flames.  The
roof gave in and a shower of sparks lit the night sky.  I saw the red flashes
of light before I heard the sirens, my mind too numb to register what was going
on.  The neighbors must have called the fire department.  Stumbling, I made my
way to the end of my driveway, my blistered feet screaming in agony.

 Just before the
fire department and the police turned the corner, a piece of white paper caught
my eye.  It was flapping in the wind, suspended from my mailbox.  I pulled it
off suspiciously and turned it over, squinting as I read the message in the
light cast by my burning past.

For my brother.  Thou
shall not suffer a witch to live.

I stared at the
ugly writing for a moment, too numb to react.  Then I crumpled it up and threw
it as hard as I could.  When the paramedics got to me, I was shaking and
mumbling nonsense.  In shock, they said.  But it wasn’t the fire that had
tipped me over the edge.

 The
supernatural creatures weren’t stalking me this time.  The humans had done
this.  My own kind. 
Again.

I
sighed loudly as I padded to the cupboard to retrieve the peanut butter.  I
stooped and pulled a spoon out of the dishwasher.  Hitching a hip up against
the gleaming countertop, I morosely spooned out a lump of the good stuff.  I
stuffed the spoon in my mouth and let out a small sound of appreciation,
jerking when I heard a car pull into the driveway.  Movements quick and
agitated, I re-capped the peanut butter and threw the spoon in the sink.  I ran
my hands over my fluffy hair in bother.  I glanced down at my bare feet poking
past my wrinkled pajama bottoms and clenched my teeth.  Why did she always show
up when I looked so frumpy?

I had been
staying with Christian since my house and all of my belongings went up in the
great bonfire a few weeks ago.  Living with him was sudden and unexpected, but
it would have been a dream come true- if it weren’t for Camilla.  Various
members of the pack were in and out constantly.  Christian was often out with
them, and I knew he felt like he was neglecting me when he left me here alone. 
He probably thought having Camilla around would be good company for me. 
Gak.

After our shaky
start when she had helped me to train, I harbored the hope that she and I could
find some common ground upon which to build some sort of truce.  I was now
realizing that the idea was ludicrous.  The woman was always “stopping by” at
inconvenient times, usually with a small pack of her equally frigid friends. 
She was perfectly civil in front of Christian, but the moment he was out of
earshot, she asserted her head bitch status any chance she got.  Last time it had
been a “pretend” wrestling match that ended with me suffering a bloody lip and
a very bruised ego as her friends stood around and laughed.  The broken finger
I had inflicted on her as I tried to get her off me was nothing.  She had leapt
to her feet when Christian came in the room, giving me a snotty smile that told
me she would heal it in no time.

Of course,
Christian was smart enough to know she was giving me a hard time.  He also had
enough experience with wolves to know that if he interfered no one would
respect me.  I had to fight my own battle on this one.  The problem was, living
with him meant I couldn’t really get away from her.

I sighed in
frustration as I watched her jump out of her shiny yellow jeep.  I watched the
willowy redhead stretch athletically and pause to check her makeup in the side
mirror.  Of course, she looked perfect.  The woman had a bone structure a model
would kill for.  Thinking of my own soft features, I scuffed on some
flip-flops, grabbed a sweater, and headed for the back door.  I was so not up
to this today.

I paced silently
toward the woods as she entered the front of the house.  Christian was sound
asleep in the bedroom, and I smiled at the thought of her waking him up.  At
least there was one thing I could give him that she couldn’t.

I found a spot
of sunshine and perched on a fallen log to wait it out.  Sometime later I felt
Christian’s thoughts softly caress mine, followed by the sound of two car doors
shutting and Camilla’s jeep pulling away.  I didn’t go back inside.  I loved
Christian, but I was beginning to feel trapped here.  And sooner or later that
was going to be a strain on our relationship.  I pondered my situation as I
made my way back toward the property line.  Christian’s yard was surrounded by
a huge wooded area, which he also owned.  And adjacent to that was Little
Lake.  I clambered up onto the rustic wooden fence that lined this side of his
property.  I really needed to find a way to get out of here and get out on my
own. 

I shivered and
hugged my sweater tighter around myself.  I looked out at the beautiful wooded
area around me, breathing in the crisp tang of the fall air.  I shifted myself
on my perch, trying to find a more comfortable position.  I needed to do
something, but I had no idea what.  The house wasn’t mine, luckily, and the
landlord’s insurance had covered the damage to his property.  But now I had
nowhere to live.  All of my possessions had been destroyed in the fire,
including all traces of my family.  The wall of pictures that had represented
my only connection with my Mom and Dad had been reduced to ashes.

I shivered as a
crisp breeze hit me, but I refused to go inside.  It was easier to think out
here.  I felt defeated.  I had been over it all a thousand times in my head.  I
couldn’t stay here.  Christian had been kind and generous, but I was in the
way.  I couldn’t take his charity any longer.  There was also the little matter
of my odd powers.  Christian’s house was often visited by the pack.  They knew.
 I don’t know how, but they knew there was something off with me.  Some of them
said I walked with spirits.  I had even heard it whispered that I was some type
of devil.  I’m sure Camilla had a hand in those rumors.  Others, like Lucy and
Ivan, were happy to welcome me to the pack.  This was causing a rift in the
pack, as the Mya supporters among the wolves accused the others of being
disloyal to Christian.

The result was
that not only did I feel like an outcast, but that my powers were somehow more
prominent.  I couldn’t ignore that part of me when I was here.  I felt like
everyone was watching me, waiting for something.  It was like I was wearing a
neon sign declaring my freak status.  I didn’t fit in anywhere.

The problem was,
it was going to take everything I had to replace the bare essentials I needed
to survive.  I carried renter’s insurance, but the replacement money they had
given me was a joke.  Everything had been depreciated to the extreme, and I
would have to make up the difference out of pocket for anything I chose to
replace.  I wouldn’t have any money left over for housing.  My dream of
finishing school had fled, vanished in the wind like the smoke from my burning
textbooks.  I had dropped my new classes last week.  I couldn’t pay tuition, replace
my stuff, and pay for a new place to live.

The cold hard
truth was that I was going to be forced into being someone I didn’t want to
be.  I would have to do more work for the vamps and weres.  It was a path I
didn’t want to go down.  I didn’t want to be dependent on them for my continued
survival.  But I didn’t have any other choice at this point.

Sighing, I slid
off the fence.  I turned to head back toward the house, pausing when I saw
Dominic crossing the yard to my little outpost.  He was wearing a fitted
t-shirt and jeans that molded to him in all the right places.  I couldn’t help
but smile.  I had never seen him in anything other than a suit, and the
contrast was amazing.  It made him look younger, boyish, which was probably why
he wore the suit; it was hard to be a bad ass when you looked all of twenty
years old.  Winter was fighting one last dying battle with spring.  It was
freezing out here, with a definite bite to the wind, but he was wearing short
sleeves and grinning as if it were the middle of summer.  I waited for his
approach, leaning back against the fence.  He came to a halt and levered
himself up onto the top rail with one hand, his fluid strength unnerving.

We sat in
amiable quiet for a while before he spoke.  “How are you holding up?” he asked
softly, gesturing toward the house. 

Camilla was
back, and she had just sauntered into the house with a gaggle of her friends in
tow.  I didn’t sense Christian among them.  Usually the smell of a strange
vampire on the premises would be cause for alarm, but thanks to me, they were
used to it.  I hoped this didn’t become a problem in the future- like if the
vampire really meant some harm.

I shrugged.  “I
don’t know what to do now.  I can’t stay here.”  I shrugged, glancing his way.

He looked at me
intently.  “It’s more than the pack, isn’t it?”  He nudged me with his
shoulder.  “You can’t stand to be dependent on anyone.”

I gave him a
narrow look.  He made it sound like a bad thing.  “So I don’t want to be one of
those whining, helpless-without-a-man females.  Sorry Nic, but this isn’t the
sixteenth century.”  And I wasn’t used to having people
to
be dependent on
.

 He laughed.  “I
take it that means you won’t stay with me either?” he asked without much hope. 
I shook my head.  Absolutely not.  The temptation to give in to him would be
too much for me if I was living with him.  And I didn’t trust him not to bind
me.

He nodded and
slid off the fence.  Taking my hand familiarly, he turned away.

“Come for a ride
with me.”  He said softly.  “I want to show you something.”

We made our way
to his car.  It looked out of place, the shiny silver BMW parked between
Camilla’s jeep and Christian’s enormous S.U.V.

I slipped into
the leather interior and sighed when Dominic turned on the heater.  Settling
into the soft seat, I rode along in silence.  It was no use asking where we
were going.  If he hadn’t told me by now, he wasn’t going to.  I had learned
not to argue with Dominic when he was in one of these quiet, thoughtful moods. 
Although this time he was even harder to read than usual.  He almost looked
excited.  I glanced away from him uneasily.  Hopefully he wasn’t hungry.

We drove on and
on and I found myself getting drowsy.  It was easier to relax with Dominic
driving than it would have been with Ailis.  He drove in a controlled manner,
unlike some people I knew, who liked to flaunt their vampiric reflexes in ways
that made us mere mortals nauseous.  Eventually I gave up and let myself drift
off to sleep.  It had been a long couple of weeks.  I woke when the momentum of
the car slowed.  I opened my eyes as we pulled onto a gravel drive.  Dominic
smiled over at me.  Glancing at the clock on the dashboard, I saw that it had
been over an hour since we left Christian’s house.

We pulled to a
stop in front of a small bungalow.  It was white with green shutters and tidy
landscaping.  It looked older, but well kept.  I couldn’t help but smile; it
made me think of Grannie’s house from a fairytale.

“Is this your
house?”  I asked in wonder.  It wasn’t the type of place I imagined would house
a strong master vampire.  I stepped out of the car and felt the tension leave
my shoulders as a slight breeze rippled the trees in the front yard.  A tire
swing twisted in the breeze and I looked at Dominic questioningly.

“I don’t live
here- generally.  This is where I go when I need a break.”  I didn’t ask what a
master vampire needed a break from.  Some things you just don’t want to know.

He grinned like
the devil himself and headed toward the front door.  “Come on, I’ll show you
the inside.”

I followed him
up a pebbled path that led from the driveway to the front door.  I felt like
little red riding hood on my way to granny’s cottage.  And the big, bad wolf
was leading the way. Only he wasn’t a wolf.  He was a vampire.  I smiled as I
imagined this new twist on an old fairy tale.  Hopefully no one was going to
get eaten today.  Although lately I had more to fear from the humans.  With my
luck, the axe-toting woodsman would come after me rather than the wolf.

Dominic opened
the door and stepped aside, gesturing for me to enter.  I crossed the threshold
and immediately felt the tension leave my body.  The inside of the cottage was
cool and inviting.  The outside of the house suggested that an elderly couple
lived here.  The interior was not Grannie at all.  Dark hardwood floors and
wood trim glistened with care.  Simple furniture with modern lines was oriented
toward the slate fireplace on the other side of the room.  The whole house was
decorated in muted tones, and there wasn’t a hint of gothic vampire anywhere.

Dominic smiled
at my obvious pleasure.  “Do you like it?”  He asked hopefully.

I nodded slowly
as I paced to the small kitchen.  All the appliances were new, top of the
line.  Stainless steel glistened everywhere.

“And you don’t
live here?”  I asked warily.  It was going to be really hard to say no when he
told me I could stay with him.

He shook his
head.  “No, it’s
your
house- if you want it.”

Turning, he
opened a kitchen drawer and pulled out a stack of papers.  “I knew that you
wouldn’t allow me to give this to you,” he said with a hopeful glance in my
direction.  I frowned and shook my head and he continued.  “So I had these
drawn up.”