Page 15 of Soulmates
The rudimentary intelligence fades from the creature’s eyes, and I’m faced with an ordinary coyote. It growls at me, baring its teeth, and runs away.
“Well, shit,” I say to no one in particular.I take a moment to parse the faint silhouette on the dirt cast by the living room light behind me. It takes a pile of cash to conjure a chindi. “And for an extra fifteen percent, they’ll deliver a message that actually makes sense.”
Whoever sent it must have only paid for the bargain version.
Voices come from inside the house, interrupting my moment of frustration. David and Sheena are back, and the city lights are rolling out below me. “Pack up. We’re taking off,” I holler to David without turning around.
“Sulking on the patio?” David strides out. His hair has a loud purple streak, and his heels are higher than his shorts are long. “I wouldn’t have guessed you were the sullen type.” He wrinkles his nose. “Oh, wait. You’re totally the sullen type, Sal.”
“Go pack your shit, and, um”—I flick agaze at his obnoxious heels—“you might want to change into shoes you can run in.”
Sheena comes out behind us. “Where are you headed?”
The chindi’s words rankle. They feel like a warning, if nothing else. “Not sure. I’ll call you with our location.”
She gives me a hard stare, the planes and angles of her face drawn tight. “I hear you. If you need a babysitter tomorrow, I’m your girl.”
In spite of myself, I reach for her hand. “Thanks.”
“Sure.” Her smile has a note of understanding. We’ve been friends for some seventy-five years, and while I know she’d be the last person to betray me intentionally, I don’t want to take any chances. There are bigger things at stake than my life, or David’s, for that matter. A war between the vampires and the wolves would be a disaster.
Until I figure out what’s going on, David and I are on our own.
Sheena takes off, and while David packs his things, I clear away any traces of our presence. I’m still wearing my Mickey Mouse shirt, and besides the blood, I’ll need to pick up some clothes when we get to my place. Packing takes David a lot longer than unpacking did, but finally, we’re in my Escalade.
Through it all, he’s so brittle and distant, I wouldn’t believe we’d fucked if I hadn’t been there myself.
I start the engine, and he immediately rolls down a window, his knee keeping up a steady pistoning. “Don’t,” I say. “The air conditioner is on.”
He takes out a cigarette and flicks a match, giving me a flat stare.
“You can’t smoke in here.”
“Stop me.” He inhales, tosses the match out the window, then blows the smoke out after it.
A werewolf is quick, but a vampire’s quicker. I snatch the smoke from his hand and toss it out the window.
“Dammit.” He scrabbles at his seat belt and flings the door open. We’re doing about forty down a twisting road.
“What the hell?” I slam on the brakes. He takes off at a run, and as soon as I get the car pulled to the side of the road, I follow.
He hits a patch of scrub, an empty lot that opens into the side of the mountain. He’s fast, hugging the ground, and I have the feeling if he didn’t like those booty shorts, he would have shifted. That might have given me a problem, but he stays on two legs, so he doesn’t get too far before I catch him.
“What is your deal?” I grab him by the shoulders, jerking him to a halt.
He yanks away from me, stumbles, rakes his hands through his hair. “I just want a fucking cigarette.”
I highly doubt he jumped out of a moving car over a cigarette, but I give him a minute to get his shit together before I press him. The moon hasn’t risen high enough to crest the mountains in the east, but the night sky has a silvery cast. I fold my arms across my chest and wait.
David’s breathing hard, half turned away from me. “This was supposed to be fun, you know? Hit the big wicked city, dress pretty, do unmentionable things with men I’ll never see again.” His lips tighten. “I figured they’d at least give me till graduation before they started in.”
God only knows why he gets to me, but I have to fight the urge to put my arms around him. “Might not be the wolves. Could be a vampire, either Jacques or someone working for him. Someone who wants to get at me and is willing to risk a war to do it.”
“Didn’t know you were all that important.” He sighs, rubbing an open palm over his forehead. “If that’s true, we’re really fucked, because I’m pretty sure there are some who would just as soon see me dead.”
He meets my gaze, and something between us clicks. Someone wants one of us dead, and we’re each looking at the only guy who can help. Maybe I’m stupid to trust him, but that’s what I see in his eyes.
“Look,” I say, “I got to go by my condo and get some things. After that—”
