Lucas leaned back. “Depends a lot on what kind of were you are. Major weres like my family that can switch anytime are rare. Minor ones, with diluted blood, that only get pulled by the moon are more common. Bitten ones look like the weres from the movies, half man, half wolf, that sort of thing. Each has its pros and cons. We’re all mortal without the moon in the sky—after that, it depends on how much were is in your blood.”
“But you don’t live forever.”
“As my uncle is illustrating.” Lucas gave me another knowing look. “What’s the connection between your people and him?”
“I don’t know. And neither do they. But—just as your weres aren’t all cohesive, neither are the vampires. I only have contact with the one, really.”
“Is she important?”
I watched Lucas’s face for any hint of lies. Did he really not know who Anna was? He was from out of town. “She’s important to me,” I hedged.
“Are you worried about hurting her, if you talk plainly?” he asked, and I nodded. He visibly relaxed. “That makes me feel better at least. I get family. It’s like pack.”
I shoved my fries around on my plate, feeling guilty about not sharing. But talking too much had never done me any favors. My phone rang, saving me from myself, and as rude as it was, I went to answer it. It was probably Sike. “Hello?”
A groan answered me. “Who is this?” I asked, as Lucas perked up. “Gideon?”
The phone hung up. “A friend of yours?” Lucas guessed.
“More family. We have to go.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
I danced from foot to foot while Lucas found a waitress he could hand two twenties to before we left. I didn’t care if he paid, I just needed to leave. Maybe Viktor had cracked, or maybe this dinner was a ruse to get me away from home—or maybe Grandfather’d discovered how to tap into cellular service and had had Gideon prank-call me. It could be a false alarm, but I doubted it.
Lucas caught up with me when I was halfway to his truck. We hopped inside. “Who’s Gideon?”
“He’s injured.”
“It didn’t sound like he told you that. I only heard a groan.”
Damn weres and their good hearing. I tried to think of a way to explain Gideon’s injuries. “He’s handicapped.”
“Oh. Shit.” The truck hit the freeway, and Lucas pressed the gas.
The tires only lost traction twice, and Lucas’s heavier truck found it again faster than my Chevy would have. He parked near my apartment, and together we ran toward my place. “Edie, I smell blood.”
“Please—go.” I didn’t know what Lucas would find, but right now I didn’t have anything to hide. In an instant, he ran ahead.
I stopped to wonder why he hadn’t had to open my door when I reached it myself, already unlocked and open. I walked into my dark apartment. I heard movement in the darkness beyond.
“Gideon?” I stood in the short hallway. Hands grabbed me and pulled me sideways into my hall closet.
I tried to scream, but a hand covered my mouth, and I felt cold metal on my cheek. I made some noises, but nothing came through, my lips were pressed into someone’s salty palm. I started thrashing, until I realized that whoever was holding me was only keeping me still. I calmed down and felt around with my hands, found skin that had wires braided in. The salt and cold resolved into something I knew—Gideon’s hand.
I sagged with relief and he let me go.
“What happened?” I whispered. I could hear the struggles out in the apartment beyond. The red ON light of my webcam gleamed from Gideon’s shoulder. I saw it bob as he shrugged, unable to tell me. We were beyond yes/no questions again.
There was a low animal sound from my living room. Then flesh hit flesh, and a wild squealing began. I cracked open the closet door and stepped out.
In the dim glow from the parking lot that seeped into my apartment, I could see Lucas wrestling with someone. I hit the hallway light switch, and something or someone in my living room hissed.
“Don’t hurt her!” I cried out as I saw who.
Lucas had Veronica pinned. She was thrashing beneath him, muttering strange words, completely wild. He was strong this close to the moon, and she was weak, being newly made. But if she’d fed on whatever it was that’d made the bloodstain they were rolling in—she might have the advantage of him eventually. He would tire, and she didn’t care if he died.
“Veronica. Veronica! Snap out of it!” I knelt down, snapping my fingers to get her to look at me. I didn’t dare slap her; I’d get a hand full of teeth. “Veronica—you used to be Veronica. Don’t you remember?”
“She’s wild—we should—” Lucas said, pressing down on her even tighter.
“No!” My purse was in his truck, with my phone and Sike’s number and my badge that might have helped. “Just try not to hurt her, okay? I’ll be right back.”
To get up I planted a hand into my carpeting, felt it stick in something dark and cold. I wiped it on my jeans as I ran for my open door.
A graceful female form appeared, blocking my path. She held a collar in one hand, a coat in the other. Sike.
“Well, this was unexpected.” Sike picked her way in, stepping lightly around the bloodstains on the floor.
“Something you didn’t plan for? Unlikely,” I said, but thank goodness she was here. Maybe she would be able to make some sense of this mess. I willed myself not to dust off my bloodstained knees.
“Cross my heart and swear to die,” Sike said, unconvincingly. She reached a hand out to Veronica, where Lucas still had her pinned to the floor. “Unhand my sister,” she told Lucas, and he looked to me before responding.
“You know her?”
“Too well.”
He released Veronica slowly, ready for her to pounce at him. Sike blocked her way.
“I’m from her. Shhh, now. I’m from her.” Sike rubbed her hands over Veronica’s head like she was petting a cat, and the newly born vampire responded like one, bending toward her. “They’re all mad for a few nights,” Sike said, by way of explanation. “It’s quite the change, or so I’ve been told.” She ran her hand through Veronica’s short hair, kneading the other woman’s neck. Sike brought Veronica’s head to her chest, cooing at her as one might at a newborn child, and slipped the coat and collar on in one fluid motion, buckling the collar tight. “Smells like wolf in here,” she said, and glared at Lucas.
“Not me,” he said, rocking up to a stand. “It’s why I rushed in.” Lucas stepped and moved around Sike and Veronica, never showing them his back. Then he glanced into my kitchen. “And that would explain it.”
I stood and followed. There was a man on my kitchen floor, shadowed by my counter. A white guy wearing a blue tracksuit with a hood. Gnawed. Dead. “Did you know him?” Lucas asked me.
“I’ve never seen him before in my life. Why is he here?” I hissed, trying not to sound hysterical.
“I don’t know who he is, but I know what she fed on,” Sike said, bringing Veronica up to a stand. She left bloodstained indentions on my carpet in the shape of her high heels, like tiny hoofprints. “We’re going. Where’s the gimp?”
I almost ran my hands through my hair, which would’ve carried blood and worse with them. “He’s in the closet. But you can’t take him if he doesn’t want to go.”
Lucas turned toward me with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t keep him in there. He was hiding there from her,” I explained, realizing as I did so that it only made me sound more insane. “Gideon—” I called out, and he slid open my hall closet door.
He was wearing my bathrobe, the webcam looking out from where he’d cut a hole into the shoulder. And his fingers were still metal twigs, reclaimed from my toaster oven.
“What. Is. That,” Lucas asked.
“Long story.” I said. “Gideon—do you want to go with her?”
“What did you do to him?” Sike asked, looking him up and down.
I ignored her. “Gideon, it’s up to you. Honest.” I knew I wanted him to want to go with her, but I wouldn’t send anyone with her who didn’t want to go. Gideon turned to look at Sike. Then he nodded.
“All right then. Would all the circus freaks in the room please follow me?” Sike held Veronica up and began pulling the woman toward my door.
“Aren’t you going to do anything about him?” I said, pointing toward my kitchen floor. My voice rose with each syllable. I was having to fight hard to keep it down.
“Not my problem. Ask your new boyfriend for help.”
“Wait—what about what—” I looked from her to Lucas, not sure how much I should confide. “What about what I texted you about?”
Sike also glanced back in Lucas’s direction. “I’ll call you later.” Then she escorted Veronica out the door. Gideon followed her, my bathrobe fluttering in the night.
I stood there, looking at a corpse in my kitchen and a bloodstain on my floor, with a man—no, werewolf—I hardly knew.
“Are you sure you don’t know him?” Lucas asked. He leaned down and tossed the corpse for his wallet and keys, like someone familiar with the chore. He pulled the man’s hoodie down so I could get a closer look.
I knelt down. “Still no idea who he is.”
“I bet you have a strong stomach—but you might want to look away,” Lucas warned. I didn’t. He reached up, put his hand into the corpse’s mouth, and yanked down on the jaw. I heard it pop as it dislocated, and then a wet snapping sound as tendons and muscles inside tore free. Once the jaw hung loose, he ran a finger along the teeth.
“What are you doing?”
“He has fillings. I don’t. Weres don’t get cavities—the moon heals all when you transform, even teeth. So he was made less than a moon ago.”
