Dark Celebration (24 page)

"You're just angry because I made fun of you having to wait for an adult before you could walk home," he said. "I was only teasing you. There's no need to be upset."

"I'm not a baby," she snapped, pressing both hands into her wildly churning stomach. Maybe if she threw up on him he'd go away. "You didn't have to tease me."

"Sure I did. That's what friends do."

That brought her up short. They were friends—of a sort. She liked Josef. She just didn't like being alone with him—with any man. With anyone. She swept one hand through her hair and tried not to cry.

Josef, reading her expression, tried again. "The prince came by while I was at Aidan and Alexandria's and he said he was going to have Gregori play Santa Claus tonight. Man, that's gonna freak out all the kids. It ought to be fun."

"Freaking out a bunch of little kids isn't funny, Josef. Especially not when it comes to Santa Claus. You could traumatize them."

"You're beginning to sound more and more like Francesca." He didn't make it sound as though he was complimenting her. "I'm not traumatizing them. Gregori is—and I didn't choose him—the prince did."

"Tonight, make sure you don't help scare the children, especially Tamara."

They glared at one another for a long moment in silence. When Josef went to turn away with a sullen expression, she cleared her throat. "Can you shapeshift?"

He puffed out his chest. "Of course."

She glanced toward the house. "Do you think someone who is only part Carpathian can actually shapeshift?" She avoided his gaze by rubbing her chin thoughtfully on her knees as if in deep contemplation. Josef might act like a dork around adults, but he was as sharp as a tack and he might be able to read her expression.

"Well…" He frowned. "That's a good question. Natalya turned into a tiger, which was very cool by the way, but I've never heard any of the adults mention anyone else who could do it."

"How do you shift?"

He shook his head. "Don't even think about it, Skyler. It isn't that easy. I practice all the time and I still make mistakes."

"You don't practice all the time. You play video games all the time." With another surreptitious glance toward the house, she slid off the rail into the snow. Unlike Josef, she couldn't regulate her body temperature and she was stiff from sitting on the railing with the cold wind adding to her chill. At least it had stopped snowing—she glanced up at the ominous sky, laden with heavy clouds—for the moment.

Josef scowled at her. "Hey! I can shift. Watch this." He backed up a few steps and stood, arms out. Feathers began to sprout over his body, his face reshaping several times until he had facial discs—dusky white with gray-brown mottling bordered by black. His irises turned a bright yellow, and his developing bill was gray-green with tufts of bristly feathers around its base. His body compacted, shifted, slowly shrinking with a few stops and starts until he was sitting in the snow in the perfect form of a very small owl. The body of the owl was gray-brown with an intricate pattern of stripes and bars and even spots in places. It sat very still, the body so small she was really awed that Josef had managed. The large eyes blinked up at her.

Skyler walked around the tiny creature. "Amazing, Josef. How did you get it so tiny? Can you actually fly? Or should I just have you stuffed for ornamental purposes?"

The owl issued a whiny note and hopped several times, wings extending and flapping until it awkwardly took to the air. Josef flew around her several times, rose higher and darted back, straight at her head.

Skyler threw up her hands and ran out into the snow, scooping snow from the edge of the porch to fling it at the errant bird. "Stop it, that's not funny, Josef."

The bird rose again and circled her, once again building speed for the attack. Skyler ran back toward the house, close to the structure as the bird rushed her. She ducked and covered her head just as Josef swooped on her. The little screech owl hit the side of the house and fell like a stone onto the ground. The bird lay perfectly still, its little feet pointed straight up, just like a cartoon.

Skyler let her breath out in a slow hiss of displeasure. "That's not funny, Josef. Get up." There was an ominous silence. She lifted her head and took a step toward him. If he was trying to scare her—as usual—she was going to wring his neck. The little owl remained motionless, feet stiff. Her hand fluttered to her throat as fear crept in. She was afraid to move, afraid to examine the small little creature.

"Josef!" She hurried over, dropping to her knees in the snow to reach for the screech owl. Just as she went to lift it, the huge eyes popped open, the bill yawning wide and wings flapping. Skyler couldn't stop the startled scream that escaped.

"Gotcha!" Josef sat up laughing.

Skyler leapt to her feet, her heart pounding. She wanted to smash something over his head and she never had violent tendencies—well, almost never. Josef just brought out the worst in her. He loved pranks and she seemed a great target. "You're not funny."

The smile faded from his face. "What's wrong with you lately, Skyler? Screech owls often fly into things and knock themselves silly. People think they're dead, but they're just out. I read about it and thought it would make you smile. Honestly, you're no fun." He jumped up and backed away from her. "We're not grown up yet. There's nothing wrong with laughing about stuff."

He walked off without a backward glance. She told herself she was glad to see him go—that he was being ridiculous, but inside the loneliness grew stronger. She didn't laugh like other kids—she didn't know how. Online, when she talked to Josef, she could be different, be someone else. No one could see her or touch her and she could just relax and have fun. But here… everyone was too close. She could feel every emotion, and it ripped at her skin and clawed at her heart until she felt so raw she thought she might just cease to exist. Sometimes, even the earth seemed to scream in pain at her.

In the distance, a lone wolf howled mournfully. The single drawn out note struck at her. The wolf was as lonely as she was. She reached up to wrap her fingers around the pendant lying between her breasts. Suddenly, it felt warm instead of icy cold, almost pulsing in her hand. She knew better. She was going to get in such trouble if Gabriel and Francesca discovered she'd taken off again, but she
had
to go. She couldn't stop herself.

Skyler drew her white, fur-lined parka around her and took off at a light jog in the direction from which she'd heard the wolf. Was it Dimitri? Her heart jumped at the thought. His eyes had been so blue—so intense—and so filled with pain. She knew pain intimately—she knew people. They hid terrible inclinations, terrible secrets beneath falsely smiling faces. Was she any better than the rest of them, leaving the man to suffer because she was afraid?

She shivered in spite of her jacket. Gabriel would be furious with her and she didn't like it when he was really angry. Mostly he just gave her a look, but if he was angry, he insisted on punishing her. That usually meant she had to spend time with other kids. For others, it would have been easy, but it was always the most dreaded of all retributions. Her feet dragged in the snow and she halted, glancing back in the direction of the house. She couldn't see it anymore, having entered into the tree line. The wolf howled again, a plaintive note this time, as if he too searched for answers.

Skyler squared her shoulders and set out once again, picking her away through the snow drifts as she tried to follow a shallow trail that wound along the streambed. The tip of her nose grew cold along with her ears. She pulled the hood closer around her, trying to keep the cold out. It was impossible. She stumbled and nearly fell. The abrupt action rattled her enough that she shook her head hard, trying to clear out the soft pitiful cries of the wolf that just wouldn't let go of her.

For so long she'd thought her answer was to live in the Carpathian world, but she'd realized she couldn't relate any better there than in the human world. She brushed at the tears that should have been in her eyes, only there were none there. She felt them burning deep inside, locked away like her memories. Only Francesca and Gabriel seemed to be able to accept her with all of her differences—all of her shortcomings. She was never going to overcome her past—or her psychic abilities. She might have more control than she used to, thanks to her adopted parents, but it wasn't enough to allow her to be like other people.

She tripped on a branch buried in the snow, and glanced around astonished to realize she had been walking the entire time and had no idea where she was. She turned in a circle frowning. Which way was home? She could call out to Gabriel, but he'd be furious with her. It would be so much better to find her own way home. He'd still be upset with her when he found out, but his anger would be somewhat tempered by the fact that she was safe.

An almost humanlike scream of agony shattered the silence sending chills down her spine. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, blood nearly freezing in her veins. She gasped for breath, looking wildly around. It was close, so close she could hear the accompanying snarling and snapping of a wolf in distress. Propelled by something outside herself, Skyler ran, allowing the reverberation of the struggle to guide her.

Beneath a large misshapen tree a huge male wolf, reddish in color, fought with the clawed vise clamped around his leg. Blood sprayed across the snow, and the wolf chewed at his own paw in an effort to free himself. As she skidded to a halt, the creature whirled around to face the new threat, lips drawn back in a vicious snarl, yellow eyes gleaming with malice as he warned her off.

Skyler backed away, keeping a safe distance as the animal lunged at her. The trap brought him up short and he yelped, spun and bit at his leg again, before whirling to keep a wary eye on her. His sides heaved and sweat made his fur even darker. His entire body shuddered. She could feel the pain rolling off him in waves. It wasn't Dimitri. The wolf couldn't be a shapeshifter or he would have freed himself. It was truly a wild animal caught in a vicious snare. Looking into his eyes, she realized his freedom was gone, but his spirit refused to surrender. He snarled at her continually, showing his teeth, salvia dripping from his mouth, and all the while, his yellow eyes never left her face.

Had she already given up when this magnificent animal held on valiantly? When it was willing to chew off its own paw to survive? Skyler couldn't turn away from the beast, her compassion rising quickly. She held up one hand, palm outward. "Just relax," she soothed, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. She drew in a deep breath and let it out.

The wolf rumbled deep in its throat, but stopped growling. She nodded as if they were conversing. "That's it. That's good." Sometimes she could hold an animal, even a wild one, while she checked injuries, but she'd never tried to hold a wolf to her. It took a touching of two spirits, and that was never easy in the best of times. She concentrated on the animal, calling silently, relentlessly, to the very essence of the beast.

The wolf grew silent, staring at her with intent eyes. She stepped closer, feeling the warming tingle that always spread throughout her body and mind before she connected solidly. Her stomach unexpectedly knotted and her throat burned. There was a bitter taste in her mouth. A shadow slipped against her spirit, something oily, slimy and evil. Her soul shuddered and drew back.

Horrified, Skyler lifted her head to stare at the wolf. She saw the paw reshaping, the animal's body twisting and contorting, the muzzle elongating into a hideous bullet head sitting atop something half human and half wolf The mouth pulled wide in a parody of a smile showing stained, pointy teeth.

Her breath froze in her lungs. She couldn't move, couldn't form the thought to call Francesca or Gabriel. She could only stand there waiting for death to come for her.

A large black wolf burst from the trees, running full out, using ground-eating leaps that covered several feet at a time. The animal struck her with its shoulder, driving her away from the vampire. Ice-blue eyes burned with glacier cold as the black wolf whirled in midair and sprang for the throat of the shifting vampire. Heavily muscled, the wolf drove the creature backward before it had a chance to change fully into one form or the other. Powerful jaws clamped around the exposed throat and tore.

Look the other way.

The orders rang sharp and clear inside Skyler's mind. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, but that didn't begin to drown out the sound of ripping flesh, high-pitched screams and the snarls and growls of the undead. The voice slashed at her brain, cutting deep. She felt droplets like white-hot cinders burn through her gloves and skin to her very bones. It was impossible to keep the small cry of startled pain from escaping.

The snarls grew louder, the shrieks more violent and terrible. Skyler covered her face with her hands to try to keep from looking, but she couldn't stop the morbid terror and spread her fingers enough to peek through. Dimitri was once again a man—no—not a man. He was fully a Carpathian warrior, his eyes blazing with fury, his mouth drawn into a cruel, merciless line. Muscles rippled in his back and bulged in his arms as he slammed his fist
through
the vampire's chest and wrapped his fingers around the blackened, wizened heart. There was a terrible sucking sound and the shriek rose higher. Blood sprayed in a black arc. Skyler's hands protected her face, but this time blood splattered across the backs of her gloves, melting the material and skin instantly.

Skyler gasped with pain and pushed both hands into the snow, staring in horror as Dimitri extracted the heart and tossed it some distance from the vampire. The undead clawed and bit, fighting viciously, tearing deep lacerations in Dimitri's skin. Acid burns streaked the hunter's neck, chest and arms as he called up a storm and lightning sizzled and crackled overhead.

Movement caught her eye, and Skyler turned away from the mesmerizing sight of a vampire to see the blackened heart wiggling across the snow-covered ground in an effort to get back to its master. As it rolled along the path back toward its master, the heart drew close to her hands buried in the snow. With a cry of terror she dragged her hands clear, turned away and was sick, her stomach heaving in protest at the abomination.