Howl (Witches & Warlocks Book 4) (14 page)

Chapter Sixteen

My response isn’t lost on the other people in the room. They all whirl at the knocks of the door. Take in my stance. The stress on my face

“Zoe, what is it?” Noah asks, placing a hand on my arm.

“Whoever’s out there is dangerous.”

Daya walks towards the door. Places one hand on the doorknob and closes her eyes as if she’s listening. With a small shake of her head, she cracks the door, peers through. “Becca,” she says without opening the door any further. “I’m in the middle of a meeting. What can I do for you?”

“Zoe’s here,” comes the reply and I shudder. “I can smell her. And she’s afraid. I can smell that, too. What’s wrong?”

Daya tries to defuse her, gives a basic answer to the question, works on closing the door. There’s a scuffle. A rush of movement and before I know it, the door’s closed, Becca’s in the room, right in front of me, and Daya’s on her butt on the ground.

A lot happens at once. Albert rushes to Daya who yells at him to protect me. Noah grabs Becca by the arm and she blasts him with a rush of magic that sends him flying across the room and I, quite reflexively, shield his landing with a blast of magic of my own. Becca puts two hands on my shoulders and more goosebumps go rushing across my body as Twinks launches himself at Becca, followed closely by Noah.

In fact, Daya’s dragging herself off the ground and Albert’s … well, I’m not sure what Albert’s doing, but it’s disconcerting. His body is stretching and changing, bones are breaking with audible snaps. His teeth are elongating, his face stretching into something unrecognizable. Back hunching. Claws extending. And it’s all aimed right at Becca.

“Stop!” I scream and yank myself out of Becca’s grasp.

To my surprise, they all totally stop. Even the kitten loses his nerve, skittering to a stop at our feet. Albert looks disgusting, half wolf, half man. As I watch, he morphs back into his proper shape, and I’ll be honest, Becca would have to be actively trying to kill me in order to pull my attention away from the change. It’s disgusting and beautiful and one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen.

“What do you want, Becca?” I ask as my friends gather around us. It’s not lost on me that they’re all at the ready. If she even looks like she might hurt me, I know without a doubt that she’ll have one hell of a problem on her hands.

“Why are you afraid?”

“You mean, other than the vampire-witch bursting into a private meeting, tossing our leader onto the ground and my boyfriend through the air? Other than getting to witness my very first werewolf transformation? Other than the fact that you coming near me tripped the spell I’d set to alert me to danger?” I step away from her and fold my arms across my chest.

Becca kind of laughs. “Ya, other than that.” Then she turns and looks at the others in the room and apologizes. “My vampire instincts get really strong. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

No one says a word and once again, I find myself feeling sorry for Becca. No one knows what to make of her. She doesn’t really fit in anywhere and I totally know what that feels like.

Daya’s making all kinds of soothing sounds and trying to lead Becca out of the door, back to her room. Energy crackles in the air and I’m pretty sure Daya’s trying to use magic to subdue Becca. It’s not working. The closer Daya gets her to the door, the more agitated Becca’s getting and I’ll be honest, I’m afraid that she’s gonna lose control and do something we’re all gonna regret.

“Wait,” I say. Daya totally does and that’s the second time in less than five minutes that she’s obeyed my order and I don’t know what to make of that.

I take a minute to gather my thoughts because I’m not really sure what I’m going to say. All I know is that as mad as I am at Becca, as many questions as I have, I just can’t stand to see her so out of sorts. She’s suffering. Everything about who and what she is and who and what she knew about her life has been turned upside down and I totally understand how that feels. I’m just not sure if I’m OK watching her suffer in the same way I’ve suffered.

Finally, I find some words. “Someone’s been threatening me. That’s why I’m scared.”

Becca’s face softens. There’s gratitude. There’s worry. There’s relief. “Are you OK?” she asks and my heart breaks a little to hear all the hidden emotion behind the question.

“Yep.” I spread my arms and flay my fingers, gesture down my body. “Not one hair on my head has been harmed. Even Mr. Twinklebottom’s OK.” Becca looks at the cat who promptly puffs himself up and hops sideways, hissing.

Her face falls. “Even kittens hate me.”

“Cats are silly.” I catch her eye and smile, try to look as natural and forgiving as I can. “I’ll come visit you later, if you’d like.”

Hope flares across her face. “Really? For really real?”

I nod. “For really real.”

And with that, Daya leads my broken friend out of the door. Beckons for someone passing in the hallway to walk her back to her room. Closes the door and turns back to us. There’s a moment where I’m afraid everyone’s going to call me dumb for being kind to her. Where I’ll have to face their judgement because I can’t stand to see her suffer. Where I’ll have to justify my desire not to stack my own set of bad decisions on her bad decisions.

But then there’s just a collective sigh and a set of strained smiles and conversation continues as if we’d never been interrupted. Well how about that? No judgement. At least not right now. I’m still not sure that I’ll be able to totally forgive her. Or that I’ll ever be safe around her while she’s still struggling with her vampire urges. Hell, I’m not even totally sure that the Supernatural Union will allow her to continue living, not as a hybrid. Not while she’s still so uncontrollable.

And then, I realize something. And I can’t believe I didn’t think of it before. Becca’s a vampire, her body is basically dead. And I have the ability to turn death to life.

I could cure her.

My mouth opens in a surprised little ‘o’ and I consider suggesting that I do it right here and now, but something tells me that maybe I shouldn’t bring it up in front of Albert, especially considering that Daya herself didn’t bring that little skill of mine to light while she explained the Ty situation to him.

Speaking of Albert, I’m afraid Becca’s interruption gave him a chance to think through the story we gave him. I watch as he withdraws. Leans on the wall and crosses his arms over his chest. Studies Daya as she goes on about how they might deal with Becca.

“So,” he says, interrupting whatever it is she’s busy talking about. “What exactly did my wolf ask Zoe to do? I mean, what could possibly have him so spun up about her telling him no?”

There’s this moment of stunned silence and I watch Daya wrestle with what to tell him and you know what? I’m so tired of all this hiding and sneaking and not knowing who to trust and worrying about who knows what and who might want to kill me.

I take a breath. I grab Noah’s hand for just that little bit of extra strength and resolve. And then, before I have a chance to think better of it, I tell him. “Ty wanted me to kill a vampire that’s been bothering me.”

In the last couple months, I’ve been present for more than my fair share of stunned silences. This one is the mother of them all. Takes the cake. Steals the show. Daya plops back into her chair. Noah stares at me open mouthed. And Albert just stares at me, shaking his head in disbelief.

“And why exactly would he come to you about taking care of this particular problem.”

“Because of the rumor that’s going around about me.”

“The rumor that says you can make vampires human again.”

“That’d be the one.”

“And can you?” Albert uncrosses his arms and it feels like there’s a crosshair on my forehead, a red laser painted across my heart. All my bravado from a moments before bleeds away and I’m not at all sure that I want Albert to know the full extent of my power. As jovial and friendly as he seems, he is the leader of a rival supernatural faction after all. Maybe it’s best if I don’t put all my cards on the table and show him my hand.

“Of course not,” I say and join the ranks of the liars, become yet another person not worthy of trust. “But he sure thinks I can. He threatened to out me. To tell the vampires that the rumors are truth. All that jazz.”

“And just why didn’t you tell me this part of the story before?”

And this is where I stumble. The only answer I have for him makes me sound so guilty. But leave it to Daya to know what to say.

“Think it through, Albert. If you were in my place, how would you counsel her to handle that part of the story?”

He gives her a little half smile. “I’d have told her not to go near that part of the story with a ten foot pole.”

“Exactly.”

Albert shrugs. Gives me a funny little look. “Can you do it? Turn them human?” he asks again. There’s a touch too much urgency in the question, despite his attempt at nonchalance.

I laugh, look him right in the face and lie without flinching. “Of course not.”

He smiles, but he’s studying me. His nostrils flare and I swear, if he’d managed the transition to wolf, his ears would be twitching forward. If only I’d had a chance to research more about what the wolves are capable of. Can he catch the scent of fear as a human? Could he hear the inflection of a lie in my voice?

“Alright then,” Albert says and slaps both hands onto his thighs before standing. “I need to look into this Ty deal, but it’s not looking good for him.”

Daya’s on her feet, her skirt swaying around her feet. “You’re going back on your judgement?” There’s tension in her voice.

“Not necessarily. But, put yourself in my shoes,” he says and for some reason I flinch to hear Daya’s words used against her. “If a wolf who was rumored to be able to kill vampires came to you and pointed a finger at one of your witches, would you believe her? And let’s say you did believe her,” he turns to me, “because I do believe you, Zoe.” He turns back to Daya. “What would your witches do if you brought judgement down without at least pretending to look into the matter for yourself?”

Daya sighs. “It’s a fair point. I understand the need. But what about Zoe? What if he comes after her again?”

Albert looks at me. “Zoe can take care of herself.”

“But what if —”

Albert holds up his hands and stops Daya’s question. He takes my hand and looks deep into my eyes. “Zoe, if Ty comes after you and you feel your life's in danger, you have my explicit permission to use as much force as you deem necessary.”

Daya’s still not satisfied. “You’ll need to be more clear.”

Albert shakes his head. “You have my permission to kill the asshole.”

Chapter Seventeen

There’s a bit of discussion about where I’ll be spending the night. Or the next couple nights, depending on how long it takes Albert to make a decision about Ty. Albert suggests I stay here at Windsor, but Daya and Noah are definitely against that because of the whole Becca thing, and, judging by the strange moment of intense eye contact from Daya, there’s probably another reason as well. I suspect she’s trying to keep my location a secret from Albert. You know, just in case.

I honestly don’t know why we’re even having this discussion. It’s pretty clear to me that I’m going to end up at Noah’s. I guess everyone’s just gotten in the habit of turning my decisions into group conversations. I sit back and listen as they talk about the merits and drawbacks of a hotel stay. Shake my head and let a long breath out through my nose. Finally, Albert stands and claps his hands together, scaring the hell outta poor Twinks.

“Well, this really isn’t my decision, now, is it?” he asks and tosses an apologetic smile my way. “I’ll be in touch in a few days. And Zoe? Stay safe.” And with that, he breezes through the door as if we’d been discussing what to have for breakfast in the morning.

After a couple minutes of weird silence, probably Daya waiting for Albert to be out of earshot, she sighs. “Of course you’ll be staying with Noah.”

“Of course I will.”

“I just didn’t want Albert to know for sure.”

“I figured as much.” I stifle a yawn and fight the urge to check the time. I know I should be way more amped up than I am, given all that’s happened, but I’m really tired and just want to crawl into bed. Both our cars are still sitting in my driveway, which isn’t a problem because we could just use a spell to get ourselves to Noah’s and no one would be the wiser. In fact, it’s probably better to leave them in the driveway. Maybe confuse Ty a little if he’s truly stupid enough to try and come after me again.

But, I didn’t bring Mr. Twinklebottom’s food bowls or litter box. And there’s not really a good way to use a spell to transport ourselves to the store. I mean, sure we could use the spell, but the chances of popping up right in front of some unsuspecting humans and totally ruining their day are pretty high. So, for better or for worse, we’re going back to my house. Gathering the items we need as quickly as we can, and then we’ll head to Noah’s using another spell. That way, the cars will still be in my driveway and hopefully no one will even know we were ever there.

“Listen,” says Daya. “Stay alert. Get in. Get out. And keep your heads down. Don’t leave Noah’s apartment until we’ve heard from Albert.”

“What if Albert decides in favor of Ty?”

“He won’t. But if he does. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. You already have enough of a case to warrant extreme measures if he comes at you again.”

And with that, I zip Twinks up into my coat and kiss Daya on the cheek, smiling at the surprise that crosses her face. Noah takes my hand, we whisper our spell, and that’s that. We’re standing in my living room as if we’d never left.

Or, it should be as if we’d never left. But it’s not.