Hair of Gold: Just Right (Urban Fairytales Book 6) (9 page)

Little Bear just sort of flopped down in the middle of the small space and closed his eyes, the animals pressing against a wall as far from him as they could get. Gretel yawned, and I nudged my head down toward my brother. She grinned at me, smelled her own shoulder, and shrugged as she said, “I guess I couldn't smell any more of bear anyway.”

Pavel opened one eye, huffed, then closed his eye again when the petite and fascinating brunette sat and laid back on him like a big overstuffed pillow. She looked at me expectantly and looked at her side. I was torn, I was enjoying just watching her and, found myself brushing some hair behind my ear and nodding, suddenly aware of how ungraceful I was as I sat on the cellar floor and laid back onto my brother beside her.

We shared a smile. I was starting to get quite fond of the woman, and she looked so bashful just then. We were an awkward pair. I found myself wondering if she knew just how she was affecting me and if she, well... I didn't finish the thought. I just grabbed a blanket from my pack on the floor beside us and offered it to her. Yes, awkward seemed to be my middle name at that moment.

She smiled in thanks, draping it over herself, then seemed to pause in indecision before holding it open with one arm in invitation. I was trying to figure out when all my confidence and bravado had decided to leave me as I timidly scooted close, and she let the blanket cover us both. I could feel the heat of her body close to mine over the heat Little Bear was radiating.

I said, “Thank you.”

She nodded and said as she looked down, “Any time.”

Hansel sat up suddenly, and our eyes snapped to him as he looked at us shaking his head. He said as he stood, “Good Lord, I'll never get any sleep with you two making eyes at each other like that. I'll be with the bears.”

It was just about then I had determined it was quite possible to die from embarrassment. Had I been that obvious?

Gretel looked red in the face as she grabbed an old tin cup from the floor near us, and threw it at her brother as he retreated to the door while chuckling at our discomfort.

After he left she paused a long moment before turning to me and whispering, “Sorry about that, he can be an ass at times.”

I looked down to where my hands were clasped on top of the blanket on my chest and nodded. “I understand completely.”

Little Bear started moving, making an exasperated sound. I thumped my head back into his ribs, “Nyet! No you don't. There is no escape for you, you're the only heat source down here. Be a man and keep the lady warm.” I actually appreciated his attempt to leave to give us some time alone together, but I couldn't read the woman and didn't know if she shared the attraction I had admitted to myself that I had. I wouldn't have a clue how to proceed if she did, anyway.

He huffed out an over exaggerated sigh and slumped, to the chuckling of the lady in question. She just turned her head toward me nestling it deeper into his fur and patting his side, saying, “Don't listen to your mean old sister, Little Bear. I appreciate your sacrifice.”

They shared a chuckle, and that put me more at ease, and I could feel my self-confidence returning. I stuck my tongue out at her and started to turn away to snuggle into the bearskin bed to catch some sleep. I was stopped mid turn by her hot hand slipping into mine, our fingers lacing. I looked back at her, and she had a content look on her face as she closed her eyes to settle in for some sleep.

I just watched her while her breathing evened out as she slowly surrendered to her exhaustion and let sleep claim her. I was fascinated by the little smile on her red lips. Finally, I relaxed, squeezed the hand that was still holding mine and drifted off to some really interesting dreams.

I woke to something bouncing off my head. I blinked, and another one hit me, sticking in my hair. I reached up as I yawned, not fully awake and pulled out what looked like a pumpkin seed from my hair. I turned to see where it had come from just to have another one strike me between the eyes.

Vladimir was grinning like a loon as he readied another projectile. Andrei had a matching grin. They were in human form, and Hansel looked like he had just woken up. He must have returned sometime during the night. Sunlight was streaming in through the cracks in the door behind him.

I turned the other way to find myself nose to nose with a Kodiak with a silly grin on its face that looked so unnatural. I noted all eyes were on Gretel and my hands still clasped.

I narrowed my eyes in warning to the evil men then sighed and grinned back. I kissed Little Bear's nose and shook Gretel's hand, giving it a squeeze. She opened one eye with a smile. I exhaled in a chuckle as I shoved her hand away, “Faker.”

This got her grin to grow into a full blown smile that reached her eyes as she sat up and stretched. Dear lord in heaven, I couldn't stop myself from watching the display. She was so.... I had a feeling she had done it on purpose. A big bear paw slapped the back of my head, and Pavel unceremoniously dumped me back onto the floor as he stood up and shook out his fur.

He nudged his head toward the teasing woman, and I nodded. I looped my arm in hers and said, “Pavel needs to change.” We faced the animals in the cellar who didn't look as terrified as they had to be sharing their shelter with predators. Perhaps they figured that if they hadn't eaten them yet, they were safe. I heard cloth rustling a few second later then a satisfied grunt. We turned back, and she grinned and said, “Welcome back Little Bear.”

He swore in the mother tongue as he shook his head in resignation, “Now there are two of them. I will never live that name down.” He pointed at me and shook his finger as he accused, “This is your fault tiny kotenok.”

I swiped my hand at his finger like the namesake of the nickname he still used for me.

Once we had all checked our packs, we did a collective exhale, none of us speaking of the violence committed the prior night's Wolf Moon. It was an unspoken agreement that my brothers and I had, and it seemed the other siblings were happy to adopt it.

I smiled as Vladimir asked me instead of Andrei as we emerged from the cellar, “Now that we are here, how do we find Narcisa?” Andrei was technically the head of our family, being the oldest of the brothers by fifteen minutes and physically strongest, but we all knew who ruled the roost.

I crinkled my nose at the overacted, hurt and indignant look Andrei was shooting his brother. I shrugged and said as I looked around to see the little village awakening as people started coming out of the stone buildings to see the carnage of the night, “I would assume that ours is not the only village that the vrajitoare and her progeny are terrorizing. I'm sure the people of this region would be happy to be rid of them. Why do we not just ask?”

I got a couple blinks then Gretel chuckled and said, “Straightforward and common sense, why do you all look so surprised?”

Vladimir mumbled as he stepped a step out of my reach, “Those are two terms we do not associate with our dear Kat here.”

They all laughed at my expense. I just silently stood there patting the top of the hilt of my blade at my hip. That stifled their laughter satisfactorily. I shot them all a wink, and we looked around.

There seemed to be plenty of people around now to ask as they wordlessly started carrying away the bodies of the deceased infected. They seemed used to carnage, that was sobering. I stepped up to help a silver-haired man carry off the body of a middle-aged woman, trying not to look at the silver burns across her throat. The acrid smell of burned flesh mixed with the sulfurous smell of the change.

He grunted and nodded once to me, I nodded back. The rest of my group went into motion to help clear away what we had wrought. He said, “Leif.”

I wondered a moment why was that name sounded familiar. Then I remembered the smithy saying that the village elder's name was Leif. I responded in kind, “Katiana.”

He looked at me as we carried the body to a pyre that some other villagers were setting up by the little cemetery behind the little chapel. His eyes rested on the hilt of my silvered sword then grunted again and more stated than asked, “Your doing?”

I nodded, “Da. Me and my brothers.”

He nodded back and said, “I have been told that we lost none last night, and wolves only tried to get into one cellar before monstrous roars were heard.” He eyed my sword again.

We have found that there is more acceptance if we do not hide what my family can do, that people are more accommodating to the monsters they know than the monsters that kill their neighbors and family. It shows you just how skewed the world has become after the Lycan Contagion arrived to make us question humanity itself.

I said, “My brothers and I patrolled your village last night, they have certain... abilities. They can take on the forms of great predators to battle the wolves.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Are they of the infected?”

I chuckled and assured him, “Nyet. They were gifted their ability by the nature goddess, Perchta, at birth.”

His eyes widened a bit as he asked, “That crazy Snow woman?” Then he nodded and said, “Then you and your brothers have our thanks. Few dare to brave the Full Moons outside the safety of shelter.”

He looked again at my blade. “Wolf Hunter? That looks like one of Nicole of Arad's swords.”

I glanced at my hip and smiled and patted it as I said with pride, “Da, that is what my brothers were told when they traded for it. But I am no Wolf Hunter.”

Then his eyes widened a bit like he had just come to a realization, “Wait, your hair...” He murmured, “Hair of gold...” Then asked, “Are you the woman with hair of gold with the three bear guardians of Chernivtsi?”

I nodded, and he spoke even quieter, “Do not speak of that too loudly, the village has ears. The dark vrajitoare has a price on their heads, alive.”

I looked around after we placed the body on the pyre and moved out of earshot of the others, then asked, “Do you know where we can find Narcisa and her spawn? We are on a quest to avenge the innocents of our village who have suffered at their hands.”

He blinked in shock then looked around quickly, something had changed in his weary eyes. From despondent despair to a flickering of hope. He asked in hushed tones, “Truly?”

I nodded staunchly, and he exhaled and looked years younger like a burden had been lifted from his old shoulders. Then he whispered, nudging his head toward the peaks, “There in the gap between Craggy Peak and the Paladin.”

I nodded my thanks to him and started toward my group, but he laid a hand on my arm and warned in earnestness, “Be careful, Narcisa is said to be the sister of Alina, the vrajitoare who worked with the demons and The Five to bring about the Lycan Contagion. They have lured dozens of men to their cause, promising them great power. The local hunters and trappers speak of other demons up there that she has called to our mortal plane. ”

I nodded and placed my hand on his and gave it a gentle squeeze and assured him, “Then I will fight the monsters with steel and claw.” I smiled back at my brothers who were in an animated discussion with Gretel as Hansel leaned against a tree looking thoroughly amused.

He nodded once and said, “May the gods look over you.”

I smiled my thanks even though I do not believe in the gods. Why would they allow such evils into the world if they were truly there? Though I did have doubts about my conviction since my brothers were proof of the existence of at least one, Perchta, though all say she isn't quite right in the head anymore. Though, hadn't Leif called her... Snow?

I shared what I had learned with the others of our party, they all had the same hard look on their faces at the news of the possibility of demons. And of who Narcisa's sisters had been before she was betrayed by The Five and killed when she helped usher in the plague of the werewolves.

Gretel murmured, “Demons.” Her hands balling up into fists and relaxing over and over. I tilted my head at her and took her posture in. It wasn't fear causing her angst, it was the anticipation of the hunt. I found that oddly alluring. She caught me looking, and she raised an eyebrow. I looked away to hide my blush.

Andrei exhaled heavily like he did when he was a bear, and then nodded once and said as he looked at the gap between the soaring peaks, “We should break our fast and be on our way then.”

I nodded and looked around at the little village that reminded me so much of our home back in Chernivtsi and felt a pang of guilt. Gretel moved to my side and looked up at me, studying my face, then she said, “We cannot be here for them every full moon. They are survivors and will endure the moons like they always have since the wolves came into this world.”

Was I that transparent to her? That would be the last night of the Wolf Moon, and they would be free of the wolves for another month. I exhaled and nodded, then I noted two people carrying stacks of clothing to an odd dome-shaped building with heavy stone walls and roof.

They opened a heavy metal door that was barred from the outside and handed the clothing into the darkness and stood aside. My brothers and new comrades turned to follow my gaze and a minute later three men and two women stepped out of the structure. I could smell wolf and transformation from where I stood as one of the women hugged a waiting man.

I asked into the air to nobody in particular, “They... have infected among them?” I had never heard of such a thing. My brothers looked as shocked as me.