The Corollaria (3 page)

She sucked in a sharp breath, swallowing hard as he continued to keep his lips firm but tender on her rapidly healing skin. She could feel the soft kiss like it was an electric jolt to her
nerves, his soft tongue swept over the marks once, another tender kiss and then he slowly raised his head.

For
one long moment, their eyes met.  His lips were so close to hers, his warm ragged breath tickled her face. Her heart was pounding so furiously against her ribs, she was positive he could hear it.

“Luke!” A shrieking female voice called, effectively bursting the bubble they had been suspended in. Luke’s gray eyes flickered to the opening of the narrow alley way, then—as if he suddenly became consciously aware of the fact—looked down with wide eyes at his naked body. He wrapped his arms tighter around Emily. His eyes zeroed in on her healed neck that still showed signs of the attack, her skin pale and blond curls crusted with blood.

Lindsey shrill voice rang out again. Luke swallowed nervously.

“What—”

“No time,” Emily interrupted him jumping to her feet and trying to avert her eyes. “We gotta get out of here.”

She extended her hand, and after a moment of hesitation he took it, trying to cover himself with the other. They ran to the end of the alley which let out into another small alley behind the bar, where—thankfully—Luke’s band’s van was parked. Luke quickly hoped in the driver’s seat while Emily climbed into the passenger’ side.

“Keys. Dammit, I don’t have the keys. Justin does,” Luke swore. Emily could hear the worry and confusion leaking into his normally calm, easy-going voice.

“Maybe,” Emily cleared her throat, and continued, “Maybe, I could go ask Justin for them? I could say you got sick or something?”

Luke’s brow furrowed in contemplation. Something inside him violently protested the thought of letting her out of his sight. Especially after what had just happened.

What had just happened?
One minute he was watching Curtis sink his fangs—a cold shiver shot through him, had he imagined that?
Who had fangs?
— into Emily’s neck and the next he was on top of him, growling, snarling, snapping his jaws, like a—

He shook his head. This whole thing was impossible. No one had fangs, and he certainly hadn’t exploded into…
No.
Somebody must have slipped him something. His eyes moved back over to Emily. His chest constricted as he spoke in a strained hoarse whisper.

“Okay, Em. But please, hurry.”

She disappeared into the bar’s back entrance and Luke slumped against the steering wheel. Images kept whirling by in his mind but he couldn’t make sense of it. Couldn’t accept what he had just seen, or what had happened to him. None of it made any sense. Those things just didn’t exist.

And on top of that, he felt his chest constrict, his breathing almost stop when he thought of Emily being—
attacked?
Something was pacing and growling in his chest, demanding to be let free. He felt a jolt of heat shoot down his spine. His hands were shaking.  He closed his eyes and tried to fight it. Tried to make sense of what was happening to him.

But he couldn’t. He opened the door to the van and let the cold air slap him hard in the face. But it wasn’t enough. The cold only made him think of the unnaturally cold skin under his...his paws...

In an instant, Luke burst from his skin into an explosion of gray fur and claws and landed heavily on his large padded feet.

“Luke!” Emily screeched when she exited the back entrance, the key to the van dangling from a tattered and dirty lucky rabbit’s foot that she clutched in her hand. His eyes turned to her
momentarily.  Her breath caught.  There in the beast’s face were Luke’s familiar gray eyes, pained and full of fear. Then he darted to the hidden side of the van.

Emily
sprinted around the van with her heart in her throat. She couldn’t help the tears that formed in the corner of her eyes when she saw him cowering and whimpering. She rushed to his side, and instinctively combed her fingers through his thick fur. She wasn’t scared, even though she knew somewhere in the back of her mind maybe she should be.
But this is Luke.

“It’s okay, Luke,” she murmured softly.  “I’m here.” 
His cold wet nose nuzzled her neck. His fur was surprisingly soft against her skin.

She swallowed hard against that thought and shook her head.
How is this even possible?

Slowly Luke could feel the calm that her presence somehow evoked in him. His muscles relaxed, his breathing returned to a normal steady rhythm. He was confused and bewildered by the intensity of emotions and reactions Emily was
suddenly causing in him. When his fur finally faded back to smooth tan skin, he flinched away from her.

He didn’t have to turn around and look up into her clear blue eyes to know she had noticed. He felt it. It was a cold sensation that suddenly expanded in his chest, like frigid water spreading. He swallowed thickl
y, turning to face her a little. The look he saw flash across her features before she covered it up almost gutted him.

He swallowed hard and spoke in a low apologetic tone. “Em, I think Justin keeps extra clothes in the back sometimes, could you...”

His voice trailed off, but Emily nodded as she rose to her feet and stumbled on her way to the back of the van, unlocking the double door and sifting through the contents.  She sniffled, and wiped away the stinging tears of rejection from under her eyes. She found an old faded black t-shirt that smelled pretty bad when she brought it to her nose to take a whiff.  And she found some equally smelly gym shorts.

When she came back to Luke with the clothes he was still sitting on the cold ground next to the van, leaning his head back against the painted metal. His eyes were closed, but there was a little furrow between his brows. She cleared her throat and he looked over at her lazily, and for a moment he looked
almost normal again, like himself. The intensity of whatever had happened tonight seemed to be fading away.

For a moment, when he looked at her, he felt something close to reli
eved. But as quickly as it came, it was gone. He wished he could just go back to trying to ignore this—whatever this was growing inside him towards her. That suddenly seemed impossible.

The ride to their house was silent. Luke maneuvered the bulky van through the narrow crowded streets of Brooklyn, finally arriving at the brownstone Emily had called home for the last three years.  Trees lined the block and small glowing lamps illuminated the steps of each house except
the Lyall’s.

The peace she had come to know ever since moving into this
house was just a memory now.  She felt cold trepidation erupt along the tiny hairs on her skin.

Emily and Luke exchanged a wary look before slowly making their way up the stone steps. A cold hard brick of dread settled in Emily’s stomach. Something wasn’t right. She could feel it, sense it. Her skin was prickling and tingling with a cold sensation, her ears suddenly extra aware and sensitive.

Luke was just barely holding it together. Emily looked over at him and saw his hand shaking as he went to open the door.  It wasn’t locked.

Luke pushed the door in and
turned back to Emily. Her eyes were always this deep brilliant blue. He’d never seen anyone else with eyes like hers. And right now they were almost a glowing stormy indigo. Luke felt a jolt of heat sting his skin.  He looked away from her quickly and headed inside.

She frowned. Luke and Emily’s relationship had always been so effortless. It’s why it had been so easy to fall in love with him. She imagined she wasn’t the only one that felt this way. Everyone loved Luke. He was funny, laid-back, and had this slow easy smile that would make any girl’s heart stutter. He was everyone’s best friend, never lost his temper, and had such a natural confidence about him without being arrogant. 

But something had shifted tonight. Something filled the silent space between them. Alive and tangible, it knotted tightly in her gut. He’d always been an affectionate guy, but tonight...he was...Emily couldn’t find the words to describe it exactly, but the way his lips felt against her skin, his arms around her, the rawness to his voice when he spoke her name, was so intense she could barely contain the emotion inside herself.

Luke walked slowly into the dark house, trying to flip on the lights. But the electricity was out. He swallowed nervously. He wanted to call out for his parents but something told him they weren’t here. Without even thinking about it, Luke reached behind himself for Emily’s hand, inter
lacing their fingers and pulled her closer to his side.

Immediately the cold chill retreated from her skin where
Luke’s warm fingers squeezed hers.  They slowly made their way through the thick shadows in the hallway to the kitchen. A small flickering candle was the only light in the dim space. 

Luke took a deep breath. T
he sickening pungent smell that hung so heavily in the air was like a punch to his gut. Bile rose up in his throat and he had to swallow it back. Something had been here. Something wrong and unnatural. It made Luke’s mouth pool with a bitter metallic heat.

Emily
looked around, her eyes landed on the wall as she squinted against the darkness. She moved around Luke and let go of his hand to move forward and get a closer look. There was something, some wording or symbols, scrawled in a thick dark liquid on the wall. It was strange, something inside her recognized them. They looked familiar, like she’d seen them in a dream, even though she was sure she never had. She moved closer.

Luke swallowed against the fear that lodged in his thro
at. He felt uneasy and jittery. Something in the corner of the kitchen caught his eye. A fluttering piece of paper. Luke frowned, and his brows knitted together. He turned away from Emily and reached out to grab it.

The next sound he heard in the deathly silence of the house was Emily’s muffled scream.

Luke exploded, his gray fur bristled and he bared his fangs. Sharp claws scraped against the kitchen floor and Luke’s clothes shredded, falling like cotton leaves. A shadowy figure held Emily. Luke stalked forward sniffing the air with his long gray snout. A strange, somewhat familiar scent permeated the air around the slender figure. Luke felt a little dizzy, a little woozy as he stumbled forward.

The sharp shrill ringing of a phone distracted the
intruder for a split second, and Emily broke free. Her skin stung where the person had touched her. Luke shook his head, dispelling the dizziness and pounced on the figure still cloaked in shadows.

She let out a sharp female shriek, more anger than surprise or pain, and shoved at the massive gray wolf. Emily backed away, frightened and unsure. 

Luke and the woman rolled around on the tile floor, knocking over chairs and banging against the cabinets. Luke snapped his jaws and finally sank his teeth into her arm, narrowly missing her throat as she rolled away.

Luke growled as she tugged her arm free and then bolted out the back door, a trail of dark black liquid spilled out after her.

Emily was barely breathing, her chest heaved with the exaggerated effort. Dizzy and breathless, adrenaline still spiked in her blood and crawled along her skin. She sank to the floor, shaking.

It took Luke a few moments to phase back, anger and fear still gripped him tightly. Emily watched as the gray wolf slowly faded, his
thick fur returning to tan skin and brown hair.  Ropey defined muscles stretched and contorted to regain their shape.

Luke’s gray eyes,
dark as the water at midnight, locked on hers. She turned away, her cheeks flamed scarlet.

Luke stare
d at her a moment, unsure what to do. The intensity of his feelings for her was so sudden, strange and overwhelming. He desperately wanted to pull her into his arms, make sure she wasn’t hurt, and comfort her.  But he held back, swallowing hard and clenching his hands into tight fists with the strained effort.

After a tense awkward moment, he cleared his throat. His voice was a thick husky whisper, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Emily said softly, pushing herself to her feet. She kept her eyes averted as she spoke wondering aloud about Luke’s parents. “We should, uh, look for Cara and Tristan.”

“Right,” Luke replied, his jaw clenched.  He
started to walk away towards the stairs, but stopped after two steps. He turned back to Emily, whose eyes were wide and almost a bluish-green hue.  For one long moment his gaze met hers.  A myriad of unanswerable questions reflected back at him.  He reached out and grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through hers and pulled her along with him up the stairs.

He couldn’t explain these feelings, couldn’t answer her questions or his own, but he knew he couldn’t leave her, couldn’t abandon her
now.  Even to check upstairs. His chest felt heavy, soothed only by her small warm fingers intertwined with his and the steady beat of her heart.

Luke flipped on the light upstairs, illuminating the darkened hallway. The hall reeked with the same sickly sweet stench that had filled the alley earlier that night. Emily felt her muscles tense, and Luke’s grip tightened.

He checked his parent’s room first, only to find it eerily dark and quiet. Nothing disturbed.  Emily’s room and his were the same way.