The Unmaking (The Rayne Whitmore Series Book 1) (21 page)

            This is the first time in
over a year that I have even seen a photo of my family. Suddenly, it becomes
too much as I touch each smiling face. I clutch the picture to my chest, set
the box on the counter and kiss Damien on the cheek before I turn away and
leave the room. Neither he nor Selene calls out to me. They allow me my sorrow
in peace.

            When I come back out,
Damien is gone and Selene is sitting on the couch with her legs crossed going
through the papers and other items that he left for us. She looks up when I
come into the room.

            Hey meu amor, how are you
feeling?” she asks, her accent like silk.

            “I’m better. Can you show
me what he left?”

            “Sure. There are a lot of
documents to go through, but the basics are that you are now Kennedy Hopkins,
twenty three, from Chicago, Illinois. You moved here two months ago and you
were a ward of the state. No one knows who your parents were because you were
left at a hospital when you were born. Apparently though, you have a pretty
hefty bank account due to the fact that you were the victim of sexual
harassment by a wealthy businessman at a company where you were interning that
paid you off to keep you quiet.”

             I nod as I commit it to
memory and also smirk at the background, surely he could have thought of
something better, but I guess it’s just enough to explain my lack of work
history and the amount of money that I have. One good thing about being gone
for so long though, is that as long as I changed up my style frequently,
mannerisms, and wore a pair of sunglasses or something when I went out, people
wouldn’t really remember me. To the public, I’d just look familiar, they may
ask my name, but then once I said I was Kennedy Hopkins from Chicago, they’d
move on. We humans have a short attention span like that.

            “There are also a couple
credit cards, two secure cell phones, account numbers, our keys, and things
like that. Basically anything that we might need immediately, we have.”

            I look through all the
paperwork a few times before I grab what I need and put the rest in the safe
that he had built into the wall. Next, it’s time to go shopping and make plans
for the rest of the night. I need to find that lamia, and to do that, I have to
find out where it was hunting. I use my cell phone to browse the internet to
see if I can find any hits on child disappearances in the immediate area, but
there are none in the last week and I remember that Diana also said that I have
to check other nearby cities and that if they are street kids, it may not get
reported at all. Maybe I’d have to do it the Buffy way and go on nightly
patrols.

            It takes us about ten
hours to do all the shopping that we need. Rebuilding a wardrobe is a difficult
job, especially when I quickly regain my love of fashion and “must” buy myself
sexy things, everyday things, and also clothes to fight in. A lot of those
clothes to fight in are also sexy. Leather jackets, leather boots, half shirts,
half jackets, sexy rompers, low cut tank tops, and more. Hey, I am still a
woman after all. I can avenge my family and look good doing it.

            Selene and I argued the
whole time about what I needed right now and I ended up convincing her to let
me pick out her clothes too. Let’s just say we’ll be the best dressed lesbian
supernatural couple in town. I don’t even know why she was even pretending to
complain. She adores my taste in clothing.

            Tonight, Selene is taking
me to this club called Obsession and it is mainly all Wolf. If we wanted to
find Anubis, he’d almost certainly be there. It is getting close to the full
moon and wolves are looking for a mate to run with. That’s what they call it
when they change under the moon, hunt, run free, and then have sex afterward.
Even though a black market pill was developed years ago to keep wolves from
having to change, the urge still drives their nature and many still choose to
turn anyway. It will be packed in there tonight she promised.

             It does make me wonder
just how many lesbian wolves are out there and how many she’s hooked up with. I
know that there are hardly any gay male wolves because the urge to mate and
make pups is very strong in a male wolf. It just doesn’t happen much.

            I guess survival-wise,
wolves probably have the shortest life span due to the high possibility of
being killed by other packs, their own pack if they break pack rules, killing
themselves when their mate dies, or if they lose control of the Wolf inside. It
is almost imperative to find a mate and have children to keep their numbers. In
countless places in Europe, the war between Vampires and Wolves wiped out their
numbers so great that they have yet to recover. Thankfully, there isn’t much
bad blood between the races in America, or so I was told.

            Werewolves, luna dasa,
lycans, vrkolak, whatever you want to call them are interesting creatures.
Their nature keeps their body temperature slightly higher than a normal human
due to their crazy metabolism. They also seem to age very slowly, possibly
because of their natural healing process. It seems to treat aging like a
disease. A werewolf may not have the life span of a vampire, but beating the
odds against them, they could very well live to be one hundred fifty years old.

            I have just enough time to
re-color my hair, then style it so that it’s partially covering my eye and also
framing my face. Then, I decide to throw on a white v-neck half shirt with some
dark blue low rise denim jeans. I also throw on my white leather boots and a
red leather jacket and a red belt to stand out. If the club is going to be as
crowded as she claims then I want my auburn hair and red jacket to bring me
some attention, but also keep me prepared for a fight. Since I’m human, there’s
no doubt I’ll be getting tested tonight. But, I can’t bring Katsu, my sword,
with me. Not in a place like that, they’d never let me in the door.

             When Selene’s finally
done, she ends up wearing a sexy ass black dress that hugs her round butt. I
have to keep myself from slapping it one good time. Half of her long dark hair
is up, with the other half falling in front of her breasts. When she pulls her
hair out the way, I notice that the v-cut is so low that it’s almost to her
belly button. My eyebrows rise in surprise.

            “I didn’t buy this one,” I
say.

            “I bought this one while
you weren’t looking,” she tells me all innocent like.

            “Sneaky, sneaky, you.”

            She does a slow twirl so
that I can drink her all in with my eyes. “I wanted to surprise you. Do you
think it’s too much? I know I don’t usually wear these kinds of clothes,” she
says, growing a little insecure.

            “Baby, you look sexy as
hell. If I wasn’t going to get into a fight on my own, I most certainly will
now, poking people’s eyes out and ripping prying hands off of you,” I tell her,
trying to sound jealous and protective.

            “Yeah, about that, we will
have to go in separately. I don’t want them to know we’re together just yet. I
want to see how they react to you first. I will go in, scope the place out, and
then send you a text to let you know when it’s safe. Feel like riding the
Ducati alone tonight?”

            “If you think that’s best.
You know more about this than me. I’m going to just follow your lead and
hopefully find some information that’s worth all the trouble,” I tell her as I
anticipate the worst. “And what if they don’t even let me in?”

            “Then you make them,”
Selene responds simply.

            “Great.” Just great.

            “It’s now or never Rayne.
Welcome to my world.”

            “Yeah,” I say. “Thanks for
the invite.”

Chapter Eighteen

           
I
t feels amazing to have the wind whipping against me on
this beautiful night as I follow Selene to club Obsession. The ride is so
smooth that I almost want to keep riding and put off what we are to do for
another night. I know that isn’t possible though, so I have to get my head in
the game. After all, who really knows what I’ll be walking into? I need to
focus. This will be the first time I’ve really walked among supernaturals
knowingly. I’ll be a super-minority.

            Once I see where Selene
stops, I roll around the blocks for about five minutes before I check my phone.
I get the okay to come in so I park my bike further down the street and make my
way to the door. The street itself is empty of people but there are a lot of
cars parked outside. The streetlights are on but they are shining low. I wonder
if that was purposely done. Pop music is bumping faintly inside and I realize
how much I miss going out.

            The building itself is
nothing spectacular to look at and it doesn’t stand out in any way. There isn’t
even a sign that announces that it’s a club. Before I even get about twenty
feet away from the door, an overwhelming sense of wrongness hits me and I
almost turn away. Then, I remember what Selene told me about the spells that
almost all clubs for “other” races use to keep humans out.

            The spells are supposed to
unconsciously make people too afraid or uncomfortable to go inside. Sometimes
people would get so afraid that they’d get sick and vomit she told me. So, I’d
just have to ignore the feeling, and hopefully since I’m not a “normal” human
anymore, it will break once I push through my initial hesitation.

            Even though my mind is
telling me to stop, I force my feet to move and a few seconds later, I can’t
feel the weight of the spell anymore. By the time I get to the door, it feels
like I’m entering any other club. Before I can even pull open the door, a
mountain of a man dressed in black slacks and a tight red t-shirt opens it for
me smiling professionally.

            He looks Native American,
smells of pine and rain, his face average; slightly handsome, and showing proof
of scars long healed. His nose is average sized with a tiny silver stud on the
left side, his thin lips revealing white perfect teeth. His hair is cut into a
short, stylish mohawk. I have no doubt that the rest of his body probably would
have the same marks as his face.

            He smiles at me at first,
but as soon as I take two steps through the door, he takes a deep breath,
frowns, and blocks my entrance with his bulky arm. I look up at his 6 and a
half foot frame as if I don’t understand why he’s denying me admission.

            “Whoa there. I think
you’re in the wrong place,” he says, his voice as deep as he is big. There are
two ways this could go: one, he would put me on my ass and I’ll never get in,
or two, he would put me on my ass but respect the fight in me and let me in.
Either way doesn’t look too promising for me.

            I decide to throw out the
charm. I bite my lip and give him a smile. “Oh, I think I’m exactly where I’m
supposed to be.”

            I brush against him and he
chuckles. “Trust me sweetheart, you don’t want to do this, I don’t know what
you’ve heard or who put you up to this, but this club has a strict member’s
only policy.”

            “Well how do you know I’m
not a member, you were about to let me in a few seconds ago,” I respond, trying
to sound slightly irritated.

            “Look,” he says growing
more irritated himself. “You are not getting past me so don’t even bother. I
thought you looked like someone is all. Think of it as me doing you a huge
favor. This is not your kind of place, now
leave,
” he orders, trying to
use the strength of his pack to put force behind the demand.

            It hits me and then washes
away. He looks confused and I smile.

            Just then, another man
walks up to the front, a lot smaller than my bouncer friend here. He decides he
likes what he sees and gives me a slap on the ass, very hard. I see an
opportunity. Before he can even walk past the man-mountain, I grab his arm in
an iron grip. He turns to face me in surprise trying to pull away.

            “Like I said, I think I’m
exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

            The bouncer begins to
reach for me himself but I slide away from his grasp quickly and give the
touchy feely guy a roundhouse kick that sends him sliding across the floor and
into the club. If people weren’t watching our exchange before, they most
certainly are now, I can feel it.

            “What do you want?” The
bouncer asks me, pulling me close to him, showing me that he could squeeze me
to death if he wanted. He shakes his head in the direction of the other guy and
I know he is pretty pissed for what I just did to him.

            “I’m just looking for a
good time is all,” I lie.

            “Blatant lies like that
are easy for a wolf to smell. What do you want little human?” he asks, much
more serious this time as his eyes begin to glow eerie yellow.

            “I’m looking for a certain
wolf. His name is Anubis,” I tell him.

            He lets me go but eyes me
warily. “You couldn’t possibly have business with him, but you interest me so
I’ll let you go. But know this, one wrong move here tonight and I’ll kill you
myself, do you understand.”