The silicone glove slid eerily against my throat as he adjusted his grip.
The snap of weapons arming reached through the fog in my brain, but Dragomir didn’t react. “Go away. Do not return to my mountains or I’ll tear her throat out right here.”
I blinked and the breath gurgled in my throat as all the air in the world disappeared.
The vampire abruptly looked up at me and his fangs dropped until I could see them even through the mask’s rubbery opening. His voice slid through my thoughts and into my ears at the same time, creating an unnerving echo that turned my stomach. “Or maybe I’ll bite you anyway. Drink all that lovely blood, and then raise you so you’ll have all of eternity to fix my little problem.”
My vision darkened around the edges and my lungs screamed. A bitter, metallic taste coated my tongue. I couldn’t even claw at his arm or fight. I just dangled there, limp in his grasp, and watched as Archer and his people unloaded their weapons right at Dragomir: stakes and arrows, holy water, a few bullets as well. I only hoped some of it killed me before Dragomir decided to turn me. As much as my life kept getting worse, I didn’t want to know how awful immortality would be.
Snarling erupted as branches snapped and the roar of gunfire paused. Dragomir cursed and his grip on my throat disappeared. I dropped in a heap on the dirt, gasping for breath and coughing up blood, in time to see half a dozen enormous wolves flow into the clearing.
One wolf, taller at the shoulder than Dragomir’s waist, leapt at the vampire. Dragomir staggered back and snarled right back at the wolf.
From the eyes, I knew it was Jamie. That and he’d attacked a vampire to save my life.
“I love you,” I managed to croak. I crawled to the backpack, searching for something to deter the vampire and Archer’s team alike. “Jamie, I love you.”
The monster hunters didn’t care. They didn’t differentiate between the wolves and Dragomir, and bullets started flying again as soon as they figured out they weren’t normal, endangered wolves trying to kill the vampire.
“Jamie, go,” I said. I stayed low and searched for an opportunity to intervene with a little garlic mace. I wasn’t about to get shot by accident — or on purpose, given how Archer and them felt about people who aided vampires. My feet tangled up and I fell against a deadfall, landing hard on my side.
I couldn’t see anything clearly between the gray blur of wolves, the dark serpentine movement of the vampire, and the jerky, uncoordinated way the hunters clubbed their way through the monsters. They flung holy water and oil and something else all around but it only made the ground slippery.
Other than Jamie, I didn’t give a shit who shot whom. As long as my brother got out... Well, and maybe Archer too, so I could try and convince him to come around to my side of things. And the cameramen and sound guy. Giselle was on her own.
I leaned against a tree to give the world a chance to stop tilting and whirling around me. Something cold and wet nudged my hand. I looked down in a daze to see Hopper. The waterhound took my sleeve in his teeth and tugged, trying to drag me away, and my sinuses burned with gratitude. At least someone would stand by me.
Dragomir fought like a ballet dancer on steroids against both wolves and hunters, the hunters tried to kill the vampire and the wolves, and the wolves... they just tried to bite anyone they could get between their teeth.
And there I was, standing by like a bump on a log. They’d all kill each other if I couldn’t get them to stop and see reason, to agree to some kind of truce. To blackmail them all into cooperation.
I stumbled forward as Dragomir threw Jamie across the clearing and right in front of Archer, whose hard-eyed look spelled certain death for my brother.
Archer raised a silver-tipped speak and took aim.
Screaming took too much breath. I staggered forward and managed to fall on top of Jamie’s wolf form. Archer cursed and redirected the blade as I scrambled to protect Jamie from Giselle and Ryan. I’d never forgive myself if he came to harm because I’d helped those hunters find him.
Weapons clicked on empty and then Ryan and Isidro paused to reload, while Giselle shot the last bolt from her crossbow and tried to whack a wolf with it instead. I grabbed the muzzle of Archer’s rifle, burning the shit out of my hand, and shoved him back. “Stop it. Just stop.”
Dragomir flew into him and they tumbled across the clearing. So I had to tackle their dumb asses, too, after spraying the vampire with the garlic mace. I managed to grab one of his silicone gloves. “Stop.”
Dragomir hissed as his skin smoked and the nostril-burning scent of garlic permeated everything in a fifty-foot radius. He hid his hand and retreated deeper into the shadows cast by the trees, but lingered like a malevolent ghost, silver eyes gleaming in the darkness. Archer strode forward and I moved to intercept him, but Hopper beat me to it: he raced out and noodled between the man’s legs so Archer tripped. The waterhound landed hard on his stomach and retreated to stand between us, hissing.
The humans stared, expressionless, as Hopper chattered and paced through the torn up gravel and dirt.
Breathing hard, I balanced on unsteady legs. “For fuck’s sake, would you all just calm down?”
Jamie panted, golden eyes alternating between glaring at Archer and glaring at Dragomir. But he waited, the rest of the pack moving restlessly around the perimeter, while all of them stayed in full wolf form. My brother adjusted his shoulders and bared his teeth, his body beginning to contort.
“They’re killers,” Archer snapped. He tried to stand but couldn’t when Hopper charged him. Instead, Archer slid backward in an impressive crab-walk. “Vicious and contagious —”
“I was protecting my sister,” Jamie said. He was suddenly human once more, and looked twenty pounds lighter from when I saw him the day before. “Get the fuck away from her.”
He had just a hint of a lisp and worked his jaw, like his teeth didn’t fit right, as he glared at the hunters.
Isidro, the one closest to him, paled and started whispering under his breath as he tried to reload his crossbow.
Dragomir oozed around the perimeter of the clearing deep in the trees, eerie gaze on Archer and the hunters. But he didn’t speak. He just waited in the shadows, like a spider in a web.
I managed to pull in a deep enough breath I didn’t immediately feel like I’d die from asphyxia. “We all want some variation of the same thing, if you would just shut up long enough to figure that out. We have to protect the innocent civilians and make sure all of this stays under wraps to the entire fucking world doesn’t land on top of us and ruin this. Stop trying to bite each other.”
I glared at Dragomir as the wolves condensed and crept closer to Jamie. Saliva dripped from their teeth as they stalked; Isidro distracted Jamie with his fumbling, and my brother ceded some control of the pack. “Would you fucking stop, Dragomir?”
“Problems require solutions,” he said.
Jamie’s attention snapped back to the threat in front of him and his teeth bared immediately. The wolves yelped and struggled to get to him, but eventually cowered on their bellies and snarled in warning as they retreated.
“Well, you look a hell of a lot like a problem to everyone else here,” I said, clenching my jaw until I could swear my teeth cracked. “So unless you want to face the same kind of solution maybe you should simmer the fuck down.”
Archer never took his eyes off Dragomir, although Ryan kept a bead on Jamie and Giselle faced me and Hopper with crossbow and some kind of taser. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Ada. Just get out of here before you get hurt.”
“I swear to God, you all would test the patience of a bishop.” I tried to look as intimidating as possible while still knee-deep in rotting leaves and weeds and probably some poison ivy as well, if my bad luck kept on. And with a giant otter cleaning his paws and rubbing them across his ears sitting at my feet. Not quite the intimidating sidekick like Jamie had. “Archer, you want to protect the town from this rabble, right? Well, before my little excursion, no one in the area had been bitten for years. Since Jamie took over, I’d wager.”
I looked to my brother for confirmation, grateful for his grim nod. I looked back at the monster hunters. “Okay?”
“He can’t control them forever. There’s the bloodsucker, too He can take over the pack whenever he wants, and he is a psychopath.” Archer’s jaw hardened as he gritted out the words. “We cannot allow —”
“Except he just tried to take them back and Jamie held strong.” The humans didn’t respond to the unfortunate fact, so I looked to Dragomir. “And the vampire hasn’t killed anyone recently. Just some… just little sips here and there. Right?”
Dragomir’s upper lip curled under the mask. “No one has died or been turned.”
I exhaled the little tiny bit of doubt that remained about whether or not Dragomir had been massacring innocent tourists and stashing their bodies in ravines around the park. “Great. So everyone is on their best behavior. Why can’t we leave it like that?”
“Because —” they all started at once, in stereo, then they all silenced and glared at each other.
I pinched the bridge of my nose to give me more time to breathe, so I didn’t start off with “Bless your teeny-tiny drivin’ me crazy little hearts” like Betsy would have. Another deep breath helped clear the dark blurs from my vision. “Fine. Think about it this way — I’ve got some leverage on each one of you, and if you don’t do what I say, I’ll bring the whole world down on your heads. Individually or as a group, I don’t give a shit. We are going to make and keep a truce. Anyone who breaks it bears the consequences.”
Dragomir’s eyes narrowed beneath the mask, and for a wild moment I regretted that I hadn’t worked faster on the eyebrows and eyelashes. “You are hardly in a position to threaten —”
“Oh yeah?” I folded my arms over my chest. “I’ve been to your lair, friend. Maybe I start describing it in front of these fine people, and eventually they’ll find it, too. Or perhaps I take a visit to Chicago and see who else might be interested.”
The vampire went very, very still. “You would not.”
“Don’t test me,” I said. “Are you willing to risk it?”
Tension escalated and I wondered if maybe I’d overplayed my hand. He could snap my neck without even trying. From the look on Jamie’s face, he thought the same, and even Hopper looked up at me in consternation. I held up my hands as I faced Dragomir. “I don’t want to, of course, and that’s the last resort. But I also have something you want — I can keep working on that little problem of yours and maybe get you the answers you want. Right?”
He didn’t blink or lunge forward to tear my throat out, so I counted that as progress and turned my attention to Archer and his little gang of monster hunters. “And you want to keep the town — and all of humanity, apparently — safe and alive with these yahoos running around.” I jerked my thumb in the direction of the vampire and werewolves. “They aren’t a risk right now, since they haven’t made anyone new or killed anyone. So stick around for a bit in town and get used to the idea that Jamie can control the werewolves and Dragomir can control himself.”
Archer shook his head. “It’s not that simple, Ada. And you’re not free of guilt in all this, either.”
“Then maybe I put the word out to every last diehard sasquatch researcher that I’ve got proof out here. And I get some hair samples and other evidence from some werewolves, throw in some vampire blood for them to test, and I’ll have the fucking Gold Rush of cryptozoology.” I met his gaze evenly. “Which means there’ll be hundreds, maybe thousands, of wacky kooks as well as legitimate researchers tromping through these mountains. Then it’d be only a matter of time before accidents happen and people start dying. You wouldn’t want that on your head, would you? And I’m pretty sure you don’t want the public at large to learn that werewolves and vampires actually exist, do you?”
The muscles in his jaw jumped. “You can’t —”
“I can do whatever I want,” I said. And I turned my attention to Jamie last, since he broke my heart. “You spent a lot of time making sure I was safe in these mountains. Now you have to do that for everyone. You hear?”
It felt like staring into the Jamie-less black hole of my future when we finally locked gazes. It was goodbye. The Jamie who lived in my memories was gone, if he’d ever really existed. It was goodbye forever to the brother I’d imagined, to the plans I’d dreamed up for both of us, to everything I’d ever wanted to find. But it would be worth it. It had to be worth it. Cryptids existed. So much more existed than just us, than even I’d imagined. And if we could protect that...
It had to be worth it.
I got the feeling I’d never really believe it, but at least I could almost believe it. We might even be able to get to know each other, get to know how we’d changed, eventually.
“I cannot control those,” he said, nodding at Hopper as the waterhound rolled over to scratch his belly and wiggle his back in the gravel. “Only the werewolves.”
“That’s good enough,” I said quietly. “And if not… Well. Canis canem edit. We’ll send the real wolves after you.”
Jamie laughed, a rocky sound, and shook his head. “Dog eats dog. Better to be wolf eats wolf.”
“I’ll work on that. Lupus lupum edit?”
The corner of his mouth turned up, showing a slightly elongated tooth. Jamie inclined his head and retreated, driving the werewolves back into the trees. Only he remained visible to witness the rest of the truce. “Yes.”
That was one down, and two more to go. I turned my attention to Dragomir since I knew to my bones that Archer would never agree first. The vampire’s gloved hand clenched into a fist while the ungloved one remained hidden inside his shirt. “You ask too much.”
“Yeah, but I’m asking it of all of you. Don’t drain anyone. Don’t make more werewolves. Don’t interfere with the monster hunters. I’ll help you with your problem and I won’t hint at where you sleep. Deal?”
“That is hardly a fair exchange.”
I sighed and leaned against a tree as my knees started knocking under his intense gaze and the clammy adrenaline fading as my racing heart slowed. Maybe it would work out. Maybe it could work. “Then you’re going to face Archer’s people alone. Right now. I’m willing to bet Jamie and his puppies would get in on the action, since you’re not their favorite person, either. How well do you think you’d do against five armed humans and five pissed off werewolves? Working together? In daylight?”
The fury rolled off of him in waves. I’d have to be damn careful to make sure he didn’t try to drain me when I wasn’t looking. Dragomir gritted his teeth and ground out each word like it took every ounce of strength he possessed. “Fine. I will not drain or turn anyone unless they take action against me.”
“No escape clauses,” I said. “You won’t attack anyone.”
“I will not attack anyone,” he repeated. Something about the tilt of his head made me think he still hedged or found a loophole, though I couldn’t imagine what it was.
I exhaled in relief and looked at Archer. “And you five. Let bygones be bygones, alright?”
“We can’t do that, Ada,” Archer said. His pale face reminded me he’d been pretty badly wounded only a day earlier. Hopper landing on him couldn’t have helped, either. He leaned against Ryan but managed to stay upright. “You cannot take their word for it, and they could —”
“Then I’ll be the guarantor,” I said. “If they break their word, I’ll hunt them down myself or give you the information you need to do it. After I get them, you can put me in jail or whatever. They’ll keep their end of the bargain. You guys stay in town for a month or however long you want to be here to make sure there’s no trouble. We can meet once a month or once a week to verify the truce still holds until we all start to trust each other.”
Archer shook his head, about to argue more, but I took a shaky breath. “Please, Archer. Please. It’s the only way this doesn’t end terribly for all of us. For every last one of us. Checks and balances.”
His arms shook with the effort of holding the rifle. “Ada...”
“Please.”
Archer’s eyes met mine. The silence stretched until my heart nearly pounded through my ribs. The monster hunter slowly lowered the silver-tipped spear he still carried, then let it fall completely. The tension melted from his shoulders. “Okay.”
Giselle stared at him in horror. “Archer, you can’t —”
“You’ve got three months,” Archer went on. He didn’t look at her or acknowledge her objections, or those that arose from the rest of the team. Archer kept his gaze on me. “Three months to show that this can work. If anyone breaks their word, you’ll be held responsible. You’ll stand trial for it. Are you sure that’s what you want?”
I wasn’t sure. I definitely wasn’t sure. But it wasn’t like there was any other choice. “I’m sure.”
“Okay.” Archer nodded to me, ignored all the monsters, and turned on his heel to limp back toward where they’d left their trucks.
I watched them disappear down the trail, then turned and found Dragomir and Jamie disappeared as well. I stood there alone once again, though Hopper chased after Archer to hiss and chatter at them. The weight of peace in the mountains weighed on my shoulders. If anything happened to me…disaster. I needed to work fast to cure Jamie and maybe the other werewolves, maybe find an antidote for Dragomir. Find a vaccine to give humans so they won’t be infected by either one. I exhaled and looked at the cabin with the broken window, and called for Hopper to get his ass home.
I’d just settled in for a well-deserved nap when another giant truck rumbled up the drive to deliver the massive generator. I groaned and dragged a pillow over my face. No rest for the wicked.
But I rolled to my feet and went outside to greet the men who would install it, and appreciated the brilliant sunshine that broke through the clouds.