Turn Darkly (10 page)

Shaking her head, Lily looked at Regan. “Don’t you think I would if I could? A child with a human has less than a fifty percent chance of being a werewolf.” Her eyes narrowed, and her voice hardened. “Why do you think the bloodlines are nearly extinct now?”

“But you can’t be the
only
woman around?” Regan wondered why it should matter to her so much what Lily did. Hadn’t they already determined their relationship was temporary and once she left Howell, nonexistent?

The look of desperation and despair on Lily’s face forced Regan to dial back her irritation and shock.  Before she could attempt to console the woman, though, a pair of headlights appeared on the road. Moments later, a black Chevy truck Regan recognized as Trent’s pulled into the parking lot.

“I have to go.” Lily wrenched the door open, and pushed past Regan to get into her truck.

Trent pulled behind Lily, effectively blocking her from leaving. Flinging the door open, the man bolted from the Chevy, his face twisted in a hateful sneer.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?!” Before he could reach Regan, who stood stunned next to the truck, Lily sprung from the vehicle and stood between Trent and Regan.

“I’m leaving, so calm down.” Lily’s voice was quieter than the tension in her shoulders and back indicated.

“You stay. She’s leaving!” The man reached for Regan, and was halted by a swift slap to his right cheek by Lily.

“Stop!” The woman’s voice was pleading.

Holding his hand over his cheek, Trent’s eyes were wide with shock. “Get in my truck. We’re going home.”

The thought of Lily being hauled off by this maniac brought Regan out of her stunned stupor. “She can do whatever she wants.”

Trent, who had been glaring at his sister, turned his wrath on Regan. “No doubt she’s told you everything, so you know if you don’t shut your mouth I’m going to rip your goddamn throat out.” The man’s eyes flashed a lustrous yellow as he practically snarled at Regan.

“If you hurt her, I won’t help you.” Lily put her hand on her brother’s shoulder.

Trent’s yellow eyes shot back and forth between the two women. “Get in the truck.”

Lily turned to Regan. “I’m sorry. Please, just leave.” Not waiting for an open mouthed Regan to respond, Lily shut the truck door and walked toward the Chevy.

Regan took a tentative step forward only to have her path impeded by Trent. “She told you to leave.”

Looking past Trent, Regan watched as Lily got in his truck. “What people say and what they want aren’t always the same thing.”

Huffing, Trent stepped toward Regan, their faces inches apart, his breath hot of Regan’s face. “You think she’ll protect you? I’m family.”

Regan was tired of this man’s threats and open hostilities. Though her common sense told her not to pick a fight with a werewolf, she wasn’t going to be bested by a backwards Neanderthal. “You’re her brother, and yet you’d have her sleep with one of your buddies so she can spit out a kid and call it a day. That makes you a monster,
not
family.”

Trent’s eyes narrowed. “What? Buddies?” He laughed. “They’re half-breeds themselves.” The man’s brow arched. “I guess she didn’t tell you everything after all.”

The possessiveness and pseudo-jealousy she had seen in Trent during her stay in Howell took on an entirely new and horrific light. “She wouldn’t.”

“You assume she has a choice. It’s her duty, and then she can do whatever the hell she wants.”

The casualness in which Trent spoke of he and Lily’s intended incest caused Regan’s stomach to turn, and bile to rise to the back of her throat. “You’re sick.”

Trent began backing toward his truck. “We’re animals. No shame, no guilt - no sin.” The man spit. The projectile landed inches from Regan’s feet. Then Trent turned, got in his truck and sped away.

The tears had begun to impede Regan’s vision. Fifteen miles outside of Howell, she finally steered her van onto the narrow shoulder of the road, pulled her hazard light switch, and commenced to have a breakdown in the front seat.

She was disgusted, horrified, but mostly afraid for Lily and the impossible choices she faced. The woman was intelligent, funny, and beautiful, but had resigned herself to becoming the human equivalent of a broodmare. Regan couldn’t reconcile the woman she had come to know and care for with the one willing to sacrifice her own happiness for an antiquated notion of family, even if it was a family of werewolves.

Regan flung the door of the van open, and bolted onto the dirt that lined the side of the highway. Bending over, she heaved once, then twice. Still gasping for breath, she stood up. Lifting her head in the air, she took a deep breath, the heat of the day mingling with the night air, making it feel real as it entered and exited her body.

Putting her hands on her hips, she looked around. The quarter moon hung above the mountains to the east, and the stars blanketed the sky. Regan was struck by how the world was continuing on, the landscape remaining vast and empty in spite of the tremendous burden she was now bearing.

I can’t help her if she isn’t willing to help herself.
The age old self-help mantra bounced around the woman’s head, leaving her feeling helpless - insignificant. For the first time in her life, Regan wasn’t comforted by how small she was in the expanse of the universe. She needed what she did now, for Lily, to matter.

Walking another twenty yards away from the road, Regan pushed past her apprehensions, and reveled in the darkness as it washed over her like a warm blanket. She knew, had always known, everything she did was ultimately unimportant, but it mattered that she did it anyway.

Tilting her head upward, a smile formed on her lips as she wiped at the last of her tears. Turning, she walked toward the van with purpose. She had resolved to do something, even if Lily didn’t want it, even if, in the end, the woman she cared for was lost.

Retrieving the small metal canister from her backpack, Regan reached behind the driver’s seat and grabbed the crowbar. In spite of the comfort the blunt, metal object gave her, she knew there was a very real chance she could be injured, or worse, killed.

It wasn’t bad enough that Trent could turn and maul her to death. He could just as easily shoot her utilizing his very human hands and opposable thumbs. After all, this was Texas.

Regan had parked her van nearly a quarter mile away from the Sexton houses, and had managed to navigate the vehicle thirty yards off the road to further minimize the risk of it being seen. Now, as she approached Lily’s house, her eyes strained to make out the shape of either Lily’s truck or Trent’s.

Both siblings were there. Whether they were together in the same house or not, Regan couldn’t be sure. Winding her way toward the guest house, Regan saw a shadow move behind the front window, and recognized Lily's silhouette.

Opting for the more subtle approach of the back door, Regan’s legs and arms trembled as she jogged around the house. Looking across the narrow space between the houses, Regan was relieved to see lights on in the main house. She felt more assured that Trent wasn’t inside the smaller home.

Gently tapping on the glass pane of the sliding back door, Regan held her breath. Seconds later, Lily pulled a sheer beige curtain back. Her eyes widened when she saw Regan standing on her back porch. Looking past Regan, a grimace crossed the dark haired woman’s face as she shook her head.

Whispering, Regan stepped closer to the door. “I’ve come all this way, can’t we at least talk?”

Lily shook her head again, but Regan was encouraged by the fact the woman hadn’t closed the curtain.

“Please.” Regan wasn’t going to beg, but she was a firm believer if first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Lily’s shoulders sagged, and she slowly reached for the deadbolt. A click later, and the woman was sliding the door open.

“You can’t be here.”

“Because you don’t want me to be, or because you’re afraid?”

“What difference does that make?” Lily’s voice was strained as she struggled to maintain hushed tones.

Regan frowned. “It makes all the difference.”

The two women looked at each other for several seconds. Just when Regan was about to step back and resign herself to failure, Lily stepped back and gestured for her to enter the house.

“You can’t stay long.” Lily shut the backdoor and glanced toward the front of the house. “Trent is coming over any minute.”

Regan nodded. “I won’t stay long, and I don’t want to make more trouble for you. I just want you to know you have choices.”

Lily crossed the small kitchenette area, and leaned against the rose granite countertop. “I know it seems like that to you, but I promise - I, I really don’t.”

“Why do you think that?” Regan stepped toward the woman, wanting desperately to will the confidence and assuredness she needed into her.

“If I leave, then I’m responsible for the end of my clan.”

Regan shook her head and took Lily’s hand. “No. Decisions were made, and events took place, long before you were born that caused this. You can’t believe you’re responsible for reshaping an entire history?”

Lily’s eyes lightened, and Regan thought something she had said must have resonated with the woman. Before either could speak again, the front door creaked and Trent stood in the entryway. “Well, goddamn, you’re a persistent little bitch.”

Lily immediately shifted, placing herself between her brother and Regan. “Don’t.”

Barely had the word left her mouth than Trent had pulled his thin white t-shirt over his head, and kicking off his boots, unbuckled his jeans. A second later, the man’s skin was a bright red as the muscle and bone beneath it shifted, cracked and expanded.

The shift happened so quickly Regan barely had a chance to process what she had seen. In place of Trent was a large gray wolf. Its hair was coarse and shimmered in the light of the living room, as its yellow eyes fixated on Regan.

A popping sound to her left focused Regan’s attention to where Lily had been standing. Now, in the beautiful woman’s place was a slightly smaller wolf. Its hair was black with flecks of gray.  Its eyes yellow too, and glaring at the larger wolf.

The gray wolf lunged toward Regan. Its intent to kill the woman was clear as its teeth were bared and its eyes enraged. The smaller black wolf sprung forward, and tackled the larger animal to the floor, shattering one of the oak end tables into pieces with the force of both animals hitting it.

Trent rebounded first, and sunk his teeth into the scruff of Lily’s neck. A loud yelp filled the room as he flung his sister to the side. Regan watched as the animal crouched, preparing to leap at her. Regan found her way through the cloud of fear that engulfed her. She reached into her front pocket and pulled the small metal canister free, pointed it at the wolf, and emptied the can of pepper spray into the animal’s face and mouth.

Howling, yelping, and what almost sounded like human cries erupted from Trent as he twisted his head awkwardly toward the floor, trying to wipe the offending liquid off.

Regan ran toward the back door. Glancing back, she saw Lily stalking toward her still dazed brother. Yellow eyes softened, and the black wolf looked directly at Regan. Tears filled the woman’s eyes as she reached for the back door.

Lily nodded, and then glanced toward the door. Unable to manage her fear any longer, Regan slid the door open, and looking one last time at Lily, turned and ran as fast as she could toward the van and the world beyond Howell.

“I can’t believe you’re going to be gone an entire year.” Regan’s friend Jenny lamented.

Regan, pressed the speaker icon on her iPhone, and laid the device on her cluttered dining room table. She had been back in College Station for over three months. Her dissertation had been accepted, and she was officially Doctor Regan Andrews.

“There are worse places to be for a year than the Canary Islands.”

“Yeah, like BFE West Texas.” Jenny chuckled, but the reminder of Regan’s two months at Addison left her feeling more confused than jovial.

“Ah, yeah. Way better.” Regan’s heart had pounded for nearly an hour after she had fled the chaos of Lily’s house. She had made the decision during the nine hour drive home that she would keep her original promise and never tell anyone about Howell or the wolves. It seemed the very least she could do for Lily.

“So drinks tonight at O’Bannon’s? Eight o’clock.” Jenny and Regan had known each other since they were both sophomores, and most of the friends either woman had were mutual. With Regan’s impending departure, her friend had arranged a sendoff sure to be riddled with plenty of reminiscence and ruckus.

“You do remember I’m not much of a drinker, friend?” Regan taped a box marked
kitchen
closed and glanced at her watch. The movers were going to be there to pick up her belongings for storage within the hour, and she was nowhere near done packing.

“I know. Why do you think we all hang out with you? Best designated driver
ever
.”

Regan smiled. “At least you’re honest.” There was a knock at the door. “Shit, Jen, I have to go. The movers are here early.”