Chapter Twenty-Six
When I woke up from the frightening dream starring Claudiana, I immediately could see that I wasn’t in Winter’s bedroom anymore. I didn’t even remember being moved. But somehow, I had gotten from Winter’s bedroom to...Chase’s. It scared me, the thought that I had been so out of it that I hadn’t noticed someone moving me from bedroom to bedroom. I reached out to my side, to see if Chase was with me, but my hand hit nothing but air. Sighing, I started to turn over to see what time the clock said, but something stopped me.
I sat up, trying to see what was blocking me from turning over, and almost screamed. Laying at the end of the bed, beside my legs, was a large black dog. No, scratch that. Not a dog. A wolf. It raised its head, looking at me with electric blue eyes. I had never seen any animal with eyes that blue. Come to think of it, I’d never seen any person with eyes that blue. No one except...
“Chase?” I asked, my voice barely rising above a whisper. The wolf dipped its head, as if nodding. It scooted farther up the bed and tentatively I reached a hand out. I was shaking, so I forced myself to stop. You didn’t show fear. The wolf licked my fingers. Letting out a shaky breath, I scratched it behind the ears. I was still having trouble thinking of it as Chase, so the wolf was an it until I could see human form.
“We’ve been taking turns watching you in wolf form,” a voice said from beside the bed. “As a wolf we can better sense any vampire weirdness.”
I smiled. “Vampire weirdness? I see I’ve been a bad influence on you, Frithick.”
The blonde werewolf just smiled. “Not at all, Princess,” he said. His smile faded, his face becoming all business. “How do you feel?” he asked.
“Better,” I said. “No, scratch that. I feel great.”
“Do you mind if I look at the bites?” Frithick asked. When I gave him a look, he said, “Boss’s orders.”
I shrugged. “Sure. Go for it.”
He curled out of his chair and walked to the other side of the bed. He turned on a lamp. I squeezed my eyes shut; I wasn’t used to light yet, even if it was only a lamp. I felt his hands tilting my head to the side as he studied the bites on my neck. “They’re healing nicely,” he said. “I, uh...I need to check the other ones.”
“Other ones?” For a moment I forgot what other bites there were.
“The one on your breast, and above your groin,” he said, seemingly uncomfortable. Yeah, him and me both.
“Oh.” I looked to the wolf at my side apologetically. Then I took the bottom of my shirt and lifted it up so that my chest was exposed to the room. Frithick knelt down beside the bed to get a better look. The wolf growled as Frithick’s fingers touched the side of my breast, trying to get a better look at the scar. Frithick stopped and shot the wolf a glare, answering with his own growl.
“We also tend to be more moody when we’re in wolf form,” he muttered before taking another look at the bite. “This one, too, is almost healed,” he said. “Now, the last one.”
I leaned back a little, pulling the waist of my shorts down to reveal Winter’s bite mark. I tried not to flash Frithick, as things were already really awkward. “This is nothing more than a scar,” Frithick said. “Fantastic.” I replaced my clothing and Frithick stepped back to a respectful distance away from us.
The black wolf bounded off the bed. One minute it was sitting there, just looking at us, and in the blink of an eye Chase, human form, was crouching on the floor. He stood, stretching. I averted my eyes when I noticed that he was naked; although, after all the nakedness I had been around lately, should it really have bothered me? I didn’t have qualms about sex. I just had qualms about seeing the man I felt I had betrayed naked. If that makes any sense.
When I turned away from Chase I noticed that Frithick had begun to strip off his clothing. He got to his hands and knees and, again, quick as a blink, a large golden wolf was standing where Frithick had just been. Watching Frithick’s wolf form pad about the room, an irrelevant thought suddenly occurred to me.
“I have two sets of siblings guarding me,” I said. “And both of those sets are werewolves.”
Chase made a noncommittal noise as he settled back on the bed. “But Morgana told me it was rare for sibling werewolves to be born,” I argued with his noise.
“Exactly,” he said. “Broderick and Frithick aren’t born werewolves.” From the chair beside the bed, a growl sounded. “You’re right,” Chase told the golden wolf. “It’s your story to tell, not mine.”
I looked to the chair, trying not to meet the golden wolf’s eyes. “I’d like to hear it sometime, if you’re up to sharing,” I said.
The three of us settled into a comfortable silence, although it wasn’t like Frithick could contribute to any conversation anyway. Then Chase’s cell phone started beeping. Grabbing it, he took one look at the screen and sighed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Stavros called a meeting,” he explained. “I guess it’s our last chance to plan a course of action before tomorrow.”
I sat there, confused, as he stood and started finding clothes. “Wait, what’s tomorrow?” I asked.
He stopped, jeans half-way on, and just looked at me. “You really don’t remember what day it is?” he asked.
“No!” I said. “That’s why I asked.”
“This is October 30,” Chase said. “Tomorrow is the Carnival.”
—
Learning that I only had one day until the Carnival of Nightmares really did nothing to help my mood.
By the time we got up to the penthouse I was bitchy and irritable. I had missed my former self so. Everyone (besides my ever-loyal day guard, who walked with me) was up there. The dragons, Helenda the witch. Even Vaughn and Ardian were there. I was guessing from their overly-cadaverous appearance that it was only by Stavros’ power that they were awake. They were running on auto-pilot, so to speak.
As I walked into the room I found that I couldn’t make myself look at Stavros and Winter. I was still angry with them. I wondered if I’d ever forgive them for what they had done to me. Knowing me, probably not.
I took a seat on one of the fancy leather couches beside Chase. Frithick, still in wolf form, curled at our feet. I bit my lip to keep from smiling; did Stavros not let his wolves on the furniture? Soon everyone was settled into place, and Stavros stood before us.
“As all of you are aware, tomorrow is the Carnival of Nightmares,” he said. “What we must do now is decide who stays here, and who accompanies Kayla to San Francisco.”
“Frankly,” I interrupted, “I don’t think anyone should go. Claudiana said that she wanted me and my master. Therefore, I think only Stavros and I should have to go. Because, let’s face it, Boss, we all know you can take care of yourself, and I’ve already accepted the fact that I might not survive our little trip.”
“That is exactly what we are trying to prevent, my love,” he said. There was that name again, the one that grated on my nerves. I bit my lip again, this time to keep myself from saying something I might be sorry for later. Honestly, who did he think he was? Just because he had fucked me didn’t mean he had the right to call me things like “my love.” It was just sickening.
“Well, obviously both Stavros and I should go,” Winter said. “Along with Chase, I think.”
“If Chase is going, I go,” Morgana said.
“Morgana?” Chase questioned. She ignored him, and looked instead to me.
“Like I said, if anything happens to you...” she began. I held up my hand, silently telling her that I understood. I was pretty sure we’d just had a moment. I wasn’t going to open my mouth and ruin it. Chase didn’t get it. That was probably just as well.
“I’m not going to sit by and let Morgana go without me,” Broderick said. I looked to him, but his face betrayed no emotion. Maybe there was more to their relationship than met the eye?
“All right,” Stavros said. “So Broderick, Morgana, Chase, Winter, and myself.” He looked to the golden wolf on the floor. “Frithick, I would trust you more to keep an eye on things here.”
Suddenly the wolf was no more and Frithick was standing before us. “Fine by me,” he said. “Kayla seems like a pretty cool girl and all, but I don’t feel comfortable committing suicide for her yet.” He turned to me with a smile. “No offense, Princess.”
I couldn’t help but smile back. No sense begrudging him his perfectly reasonable logic. “None taken.”
“I think I should stay as well,” Helenda said. “I won’t be of much use in battle, but I can lend you some protection spells before you go.”
“Agreed,” Stavros said.
“What about us?” Shadow asked. He, Thorn, and Tempest looked to Stavros eagerly.
“Shadow and Thorn, yes,” Stavros said. “Tempest, I would rather you stay here where it is safe.”
“Safe!” The dragon cried indignantly. “Shadow, you know I can help,” she implored to her Alpha. He shook his head.
“I agree with Stavros, Tempest. You’re too young,” Shadow said.
Tempest slumped down in her chair, sullen with defeat. Looking at her, I could see that she was young. I had never noticed it before. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen. Jesus Christ.
“Vaughn,” Stavros said, turning to the sleep-deprived vampire. “You will stay here and act in command until our return.”
“Excellent choice,” Vaughn told him. I don’t really think he had the strength to argue. He wasn’t one of the ones who could voluntarily just rise in the morning. Morning seemed to be the worst time for vampires to get up; the closer it got to sunset, the better. Then you had the new ones who could only wake up when it was dark.
Ardian seemed to be more in his element than Vaughn did. He looked Stavros straight in the eyes and said, “I will go.”
Stavros shook his head. “Your brother’s betrayal is too fresh a wound on your heart, Ardian. You will be no good to us.”
Ardian stood. The room tensed. He bowed his head to his master, to show that he meant no ill will. “I, unlike my brother,” he began, “still understand the ways of honor and loyalty. I was given a job to do, and I will do it until I am no longer needed.”
No one said anything for a long time. It was a moment, a really big moment. None of us was sure what to do, or if we should do anything at all. Finally, when the silence was almost too much to take, Frithick let out a low whistle. “Damn, man,” he said. “Now I’m going to have to go.”
“And what about us, Stavros?" A voice, unfamiliar and yet very familiar asked. "Did you call us here for nothing?"
I turned around, and this time I really did scream.
