Kick at the Darkness (18 page)

“Not really. I wish I’d asked more questions. I know Maddie and Christine did. They’d get in these fights with our parents sometimes, and I’d come home from Scouts or soccer or whatever, and everything would be crazy tense. But they’d never tell me why. I guess I was still at the age when I wanted to please my parents more than I wanted to satisfy my curiosity.” He was quiet for a moment. “Every once in a while over the years I’ve felt like I could sense another wolf. Could smell something distinct that made my hair stand up and my nerves go raw.”

“What did you do? Did you talk to them?”

Adam exhaled sharply. “No. I ran. Every time. I was too afraid. I’d managed to turn my life around, and I didn’t want to mess it up with…werewolf stuff. I got a scholarship to Stanford. Spent all my spare time filming. God, I miss my camera.”

“Where did you go to film?”

“Have you been to the Palace of Fine Arts?”

“No. It was on my sightseeing list, but I was too busy already with school.” It was likely he’d never see it now, and regret waved through him.

“It’s beautiful there. Gardens and paths weave through these grand stone outdoor structures. There’s a huge rotunda, and archways. A big pond. On pretty much every weekend in the summer you can see couples getting their wedding pictures done there. There’s often someone playing the harp. It’s just…magical. Peaceful. I think something about that place made people open up. Made them happy to be alive. Happy to share little pieces of themselves with me. It was like…this little connection, and I had it on film forever.”

“That sounds really nice.”
Nice
didn’t seem adequate, but Parker couldn’t think of another word.

“I hate thinking of it overrun now. But I’m sure it is.”

“Yeah. It sucks.” In the heavy silence, Parker thought back to what Adam had said about other werewolves. “So, I get that you’d gotten your life on track. But weren’t you curious to meet people like you?”

“Of course.”

“You didn’t want to at least talk to any of them?”

“It wasn’t as though I bumped into them often. It was rare. And I wasn’t even sure exactly who they were. I got the sense when they were near, but they didn’t have a neon sign flashing over their heads.”

“But you could have figured it out if you tried?”

“Yes. Probably. If I actually talked to someone and shook their hand, I think I’d know right away. But…” He was quiet for a few moments, and then his voice was small. “But what if I found other werewolves, and they didn’t like me? What if they didn’t want anything to do with me?”

“That would have been awful,” Parker answered quietly. “Yeah. I get it.”

“And I had no way of knowing if they were friendly or not. They could have hurt me—ganged up on me if they wanted. So I kept to myself. Me and my camera.”

He pondered it. “It was like, you could go and talk to people and connect with them, but stay separate. Protected. They shared with you, but you didn’t have to give anything back.” It sounded so damn lonely, but Parker would probably have felt the same way.

“Were you taking Psych one-oh-one too?” Adam asked dryly.

Parker smirked. “Dr. Freud, eat your heart out. I’ve got your number, Adam.” His mind raced with questions. “So, that sense of smell…that’s how you found me after we got separated?”

“Yeah. Took me longer than it should have, but the chlorine from the pool made it harder. And like I said, I’m rusty.”

“Can you smell the creepers?”

“I’m starting to, now that I’m concentrating.”

“What do they smell like?”

“Like people, but…wrong. They’re still alive. I can hear their hearts beat, and their blood pump. But it’s like the infection has rotted them from the inside out. It smells rancid. It’s getting stronger, but I’m not sure if that’s them or just that my senses are coming back.”

“It’s weird…don’t you feel like there should be more of them around? I know we saw lots of bodies of people who got killed, but maybe there are more survivors than we think. Maybe they got out somehow.”

“Or the creepers are congregating somehow and we haven’t run into a really big group yet since we left campus.”

Parker shuddered. “Let’s hope my theory is the right one.”

“Let’s hope.”

“What else can you do? I’ve seen the claws and super strength in action. Can you run really fast? Do you ever turn into an actual wolf?”

“You really want to hear all this?”

“Uh,
yeah
. Look, we’re already dealing with sort-of zombies. We need to capitalize on all your mad werewolf skillz, yo.”

“Did we travel in time back to two thousand and eight, homie?”

Parker’s burst of laughter filled the stillness of the cabin. “I admit my street language is a little dated.”

“I’ll try not to throw any shade your way.”

“Thank you. Okay, seriously. Spill.”

“I guess along with the strength, claws, and fangs—and the heightened senses—I can heal quickly.”

“Like, how fast?”

“It depends on the injury.”

“What about a cut or a bruise?”

“About ten seconds,” Adam answered.

“Totally healed?”

“Yep.”

“Like it never happened?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Wow.” Parker upped the ante. “What if you got stabbed? Or shot?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe half an hour. It would depend.”

“What would happen to the bullet?”

“My body would push it out.”

“Seriously? That’s kind of awesome.”

Adam chuckled. “I guess.”

It was so good to hear him laughing again. “No, it is. Time to embrace your abilities. It’s awesome.”

“If you say so.”

“So can you turn into a wolf? Like a full-on animal?”

Adam was quiet. Finally he said, “I never have. We can only do it when we’re fully grown, so I couldn’t try when my family was still alive. But it takes skill to manage it. Control it. Skills I don’t have.”

“Wait…you’ve never even tried? How is that possible? It would be so cool!”

Another silence. “If I didn’t control it properly, it would be bad. I might hurt someone.
Kill
someone. I can’t risk it.” He blew out a breath. “And I’m afraid, okay? I’m afraid to try.”

“Oh. Well, that makes sense. I’m sorry if I was a dick. It’s just an exciting possibility.” A thought occurred to Parker, and he changed the subject. “The night on campus when everything went down—how far away was your motorcycle?”

“Not that far. I can run fast, but I’m not the Flash or anything.”

“Oh.” Parker couldn’t help but be disappointed. “But you’re faster than a normal human? What about Usain Bolt? Dude, maybe he’s a werewolf too.”

“I suppose it’s possible.”

“Okay, what else? Tell me! Hey, wait—if you heal so easily, how did your family die in that accident?” He blurted it out before he could think better. “Shit, I’m sorry. I don’t…you don’t have to talk about it.”

“It’s okay.”

Then it was silent, and Parker wasn’t sure if Adam was going to tell him or not. He was opening his mouth to apologize again when Adam started talking softly.

“We were coming home from my sister’s hockey tournament. We lived in Minnesota, and we were all hockey crazy. But Madison, she was really good. She played goalie for the boys’ team because there was no older girls’ league. Most girls her age were worried about whether someone would ask them to the homecoming dance, and who was dating who.” He paused. “I guess I shouldn’t say
most
. But Maddie never cared about all that stuff. She was a tomboy. Of course she did have a huge crush on one of the boys on the team, but she’d never admit it to anyone. Not that it wasn’t insanely obvious.”

The affection in Adam’s voice was palpable. Parker said, “I bet you were an annoying little brother and teased her mercilessly. It’s our job as little brothers, after all.”

“Yeah. I was ruthless. But we didn’t fight much, me and Maddie and Christine. Sometimes, of course. The girls bickered with each other more than with me. But I think because of our family secret, it made us all closer. That night…” He swallowed audibly. “We were on our way home, and it was snowing. The roads were icy. Christine was bitching about wasting the weekend in another ice rink. She was in the middle in the back of the sedan between me and Maddie. I was getting bigger, and they were already tall. She kept elbowing me as she gestured. So I started elbowing her back.”

“Sounds like me and Eric in the back seat.” Parker pushed aside the ache.

“It all happened so fast.” Adam’s voice was barely a whisper. “My parents were telling us to knock it off, and Christine took my little video game thing and tossed it by Maddie’s feet. I was so pissed. I took off my seatbelt and squeezed onto the floor so I could reach the game. Then my mom slammed on the brakes, but it was too late.”

Parker held his breath.

“It was so loud, metal screeching above me, and glass shattering. I was lying there on my sisters’ feet, and my ears were ringing. Maddie and Christine weren’t moving, and it was dark. I tried to move, but I was jammed between their legs and the front seats. Outside, there was a man on the phone, and he kept repeating, ‘Oh my God, oh my God’ over and over. Then there were sirens in the distance. Other than that it was so quiet. Too quiet…” He trailed off. “I realized I could only hear my own heartbeat, and I could smell so much blood. Could feel it wet on me. It was like I could taste it. I tried to scream, or shout, but I couldn’t breathe. I was trapped until the fire truck got there to cut me out.”

His heart breaking for Adam, Parker waited, blinking back tears.

“There was a tractor trailer stuck in the right-hand lane. I heard later that it had broken down, and the driver had just gotten out to put up the flares when we crashed into the back. My sisters and I distracted her with our arguing, and my mom didn’t see it until it was too late. We drove right under it, and the top of the car was sheared almost clean off.”

Stomach clenching, Parker murmured, “Jesus.” Although it was pitch black, he screwed his eyes shut as if he could erase the mental picture of the accident.
They were probably decapitated
. “Your family, they…the injuries were too bad even for healing?”

“They died instantly.”

There was nothing Parker could say, since everything that popped into his head sounded unbearably trite. He climbed out of bed, feeling his way over to the other bunk with his arms outstretched.

“Are you sure?” Adam whispered.

Parker felt for the wooden frame and squeezed onto the thin mattress as Adam shifted over and their arms went around each other. Parker rested his head on Adam’s chest, and Adam pulled the blanket over him.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered into the cotton of Adam’s T-shirt. Adam’s grip around him was almost painful, but Parker didn’t mind at all. He burrowed into Adam’s heat, hoping he was giving some of his own.

“Thank you.” Adam’s fingers skimmed over Parker’s ear.

“We’re stuck with each other, remember?”

He felt the press of Adam’s lips on the top of his head, and they held tight as the night wore on. Parker was almost asleep when a question tumbled out. “If it’s always your choice, then tonight, you chose to…transform.”

“I couldn’t let them hurt you.”

That Adam had exposed his deepest, darkest secret to save Parker made his heart skip a beat, and he fumbled for Adam’s hand, twining their fingers together as sleep finally came.

PARKER WOKE SLOWLY, aware of an all-over ache and a cramp in his right leg. He realized the former was from falling off the back of a motorcycle, and the latter was from sleeping curled on his side on the thin mattress. But he couldn’t really move because Adam was spooning him, their T-shirts bunched up between them. The events of the previous night rushed back, and his stomach flip-flopped. He was being spooned by a
werewolf
.

More than that, he had morning wood in his boxers, and he could feel Adam was hard too. In this brave new post-werewolf world, some things had definitely stayed the same. Maybe he and Adam could…
Am I crazy? Should I be having sex with a werewolf? What if there’s some freaky stuff I still don’t know about?
Sure, Adam had seemed normal when they got off before, but now Parker’s mind was filled with visions of fangs and claws and hair.
Or had it been fur?
Weirdly enough, his erection swelled.

He blinked in the murky light at a knot of wood in the cabin wall. He couldn’t tell if Adam was awake or not. Adam wouldn’t hurt him. Of that, Parker was certain. And he still wanted to be with Adam. Of that, Parker was also certain. Before he could fully organize his sleepy thoughts, Adam yawned.

“Hi.”

With difficulty, Parker maneuvered onto his other side, nearly taking out Adam’s eye with his elbow. “Hi.”

Adam watched him carefully. “Are we…good?”

In reply, Parker leaned in and kissed him soundly. Adam drew him closer, his arms around Parker’s back. “I really do like this kissing thing,” Parker murmured.

A tentative smile played on Adam’s lips. “In the station—was that really your first kiss?”

“Aside from when Amber Hardy laid one on me during a particularly competitive game of spin the bottle in seventh grade. She slipped me the tongue, and I almost choked on it.”

The gust of Adam’s laughter tickled Parker’s nose. “Smooth.”

“Yup. But I think I’m getting the hang of it now.” He kissed Adam again, and then moved lower, shimmying down to pull his hardening cock out of his tight briefs.

“You still want to?” Adam blurted. His cheeks reddened. “Even though you know?”

“Adam, you could be a lesbian vampire succubus who moonlights as a golem and I would still want to suck your cock twenty-four-seven.”

A laugh burst out of Adam, and he looked achingly young. Tenderly, he brushed back Parker’s hair. “You really do have a way with words, you kn—”

The rest of the sentence was lost on a moan as Parker swallowed him almost to the root. He spread Adam’s legs and got him on his back, kneeling between them as he tasted the musky heat of Adam’s cock. Mindful of the upper bunk above them, Parker stayed hunched over, kneading Adam’s muscular thighs as he sucked him.