Stretched up on her tiptoes, Rayne extends a hand while the other presses flat against the window frame. I pass her a thick strip of masking tape which she uses to further secure the sheet of black-out fabric pressed against the window glass.
“More, please.” She smooths the tape in place then holds out her hand for another.
I hold the sticky strip on the tip of my index finger. “Rayne? Can we talk about this? Please? We can’t put it off forever.”
A loud burst of hammering cuts the air. Even though I know it’s Jadz, even though I know she and Spannah are outside boarding up all the windows, I can’t help but jump at the sudden interruption.
The bangs continue for a few more seconds, then stop. A flurry of movement…the sound of heavy lifting…then more banging.
Rayne ignores it all. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Clearly there is. But I need you to know, I’m not afraid of you. I know you won’t hurt me.”
She sighs. “You think it’s that simple? That you can say ‘I’m not scared’ and all will be right again?”
“No, but—”
“You can’t possibly understand what this is like, Danika.” She stares down at her fingers. “I thought I had control. I thought I understood what I needed in order to be safe, but I hadn’t really been tested. I thought I was strong, but…”
“You are strong.”
Her shoulders buck, a quick burst of silent laughter. “Not strong enough. “Do you have any idea what you smell like? How rich and sweet the air is?”
“No. But you haven’t touched me. You’ve not done a thing. How can you doubt your control after that?”
At last she turns. Still she doesn’t look at me, but at least I can see her face. “Because I haven’t touched you yet. Or come close to you. Distance helps, but…what kind of girlfriend can I possibly be if I can’t touch you. Don’t you remember when I tried?”
“It’s not just about touch.”
She growls, then begins to pace.
Wow. How can she be so small and dainty and yet such a bundle of power and strength? I can almost feel it pouring off her, the innate strength that comes from her edane state of being.
Her bare feet sink into the plush carpet, leaving tiny indentations that fill slowly as she walks by, only to depress again as she retraces her steps.
“Rayne, can’t you see, I want to work through this with you. I want to reach a point that we’re all comfortable and that you feel safe enough to touch me. That’s all I want. Please.”
“Well, we can’t. Right now there are more important things to worry about. Like light-proofing this room. Tape, please.”
I sigh, but what more can I do? I rip another strip off the roll of tape and Rayne returns to the window to further secure the blackout fabric.
Another loud selection of raps indicates another board going into place.
By now, the room should be as light-tight as it’s ever going to get.
“Are you sure you don’t mind staying here?” Perhaps a change of subject will help. It’s clumsy and obvious, but the best I can manage right now.
Rayne shrugs. “I won’t make it back to the house now and the Foundation is too far away. Besides, at least this way I can keep an eye on you.”
“How? You’ll still be asleep.”
“I…” She clears her throat. “At least if I’m close I can help you when I wake up. During the day you’ll have Jadzia and Spannah to help you out. And Mr. Gordon too.”
“Wendy’s in no state to help anybody.”
She grinds her knuckles into the last of the masking tape strips and stands back to survey her handiwork. “That should do it, I imagine.”
“Well, we need to make sure. A mistake with this could be fatal.”
Rayne’s lips quirk into a strange half-smile. “You carried me out of SPEAR in a body bag. Then you stored me in a cupboard.”
The memory still makes me uncomfortable. Though not as much as the thought of what might have happened if I hadn’t done so. “Desperate times.”
“Mm-hmm. Tell the others to shine the torch. I’ll shut off the lights in here.”
I can’t tell if it’s an excuse to get me out of the room or not, but I do as she asks. Out the narrow room, back through the house, and out to the rear garden where Spannah and Jadz stand with hammers in hand.
“Well?” Jadz cocks an eyebrow at me as I approach. “Will it hold?”
I glance up at the sky. No sun yet, but the skyline is paler than it would otherwise be. “I think so.”
“You need to do better than that.”
“I know, I know. Just shine your torch through it, okay? We’ll find out.”
Spannah is first to obey. He takes a battery powered torch off the ground and shines it in slow, systematic lines across the mishmash of boards and nails hastily shoved against the windowpane. He doesn’t speak, just concentrates with a visible tightness to his jaw and neck. “Seems fine to me.”
I open my mouth then, an instant later, think better of it. Instead I smile at him and take the risk of patting him on the shoulder. “It’ll be fine. Promise.”
He sniffs deeply but says nothing.
Jadz rolls her eyes. “Calm down, pup. It’ll all work out. Noel will find out what’s wrong with Wensleydale and then we’ll get on with it.”
“With what, though?”
She grins and, for a moment, a hint of werewolf amber flashes in her eyes. “We find that prick Aleksandar and teach him a lesson he’ll never forget.”
“He’s a Dire Wolf. Aleksandar and his punishment are nothing to do with you.”
“Oh? And when he marched his little Dire pups through the streets and picked fights with everybody he came across, that didn’t make it something to do with me? And every other wolf in this city? He brought humans down on us like an avenging hammer. Who knows how many of us are hurt or captured or both? Trust me when I say this, kid, if I see him…he’s going down. Whether any Dire Wolves are there or not.”
Spannah swells like an overripe peach, and I make my getaway before the conversation escalates. Not that I’m worried exactly, but Jadz’s devil-may-care attitude is exactly the right thing to wind the loyal and faithful Spannah up the wrong way.
* * *
Back inside, Wendy is in the spare room with Rayne, doing his own part to inspect the walls and window. The pair are as far away from each other as the room will allow, but I’m grateful their argument has stilled enough to allow this.
“No light from outside,” he mutters. “No air, either. Smells clean.”
“Good. Rayne, how long?”
She closes her eyes for a moment. “Ten minutes. Maybe.”
“Okay.”
Silence.
Wendy gruffs softly at the back of his throat. “I’ll…I’ll check on the pup.” Gone.
Chuckling, Rayne tugs off her shoes and socks. “Not exactly a master of subtlety, is he?”
“He’s trying.”
“I suppose. Maybe I should just be grateful.” Blouse next, which she lays on top of her shoes and places in a corner.
The room has no bed or even a chair. It seems to be a utility room, because there is a washing machine against one wall and a tall drying rack beside it. The shelves on our side are stacked with detergents, fabric softeners, and garden tools, while the wall nearest the window has a bicycle leaned up against it.
Rayne continues to undress, neatly stacking her clothes under the shelves.
I’ve no idea why she chooses to be naked when sleeping for the day. Not that I mind, the view is wonderful, but somehow watching her strip down in this environment is even stranger than usual. None of the comfort and normalcy associated with our safe, high-tech home.
Moments later, she stands before me in her underwear, soft white cotton with a teasing hint of lace. Nothing fancy, but then it doesn’t have to be for Rayne.
She holds up a roll of black bags. “Ready?”
Not really, but what choice do I have? Instead of answering, I take the roll and begin to open up the bags. Each has an eighty-litre capacity, and while not big enough to fit a human standing, a few of them joined with more of the masking tape are enough to secure Rayne.
She helps by climbing into the first like a sleeping bag, tugging it up until the top reaches her ribs. Then two more after that. She smooths down the plastic, as though preparing for some bizarre sack race, then stretches out across the ground.
“Come on, Danika. I can feel it coming.”
As if to compound the sentiment, my watch gives a familiar beep. Five minutes to sunrise.
I arrange the next three bags like a hood over Rayne’s top half. It’s awkward, but I can’t help but feel wrong about covering her up this way. Like a kitten some awful person is about to throw in a river.
The bags rustles as she twists and twitches to get comfortable.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Not entirely, but it’s a little late now, wouldn’t you say?”
She has a point. I stretch the three flaps of plastic out across her face.
“Wait.”
I pause with the masking tape halfway to my lips to cut with my teeth.
“You won’t do anything foolish while I’m asleep, will you?” She bites her bottom lip. “You will wait for me before you do anything rash?”
“I—”
She frowns. “Promise me. Please. Don’t do anything until I’m awake again. Promise me.”
The words catch in my throat. “On my locs and hope to trim.”
Rayne smiles. The gesture lights up her entire face and then, the brightness dies. Her eyes flutter closed, breath gusts from her parted lips with a sigh, and her entire body becomes still, floppy, and loose. Dead.
One last beep from my watch and I know the sun is up.
I fight away the last of my unease to finish taping Rayne into the bags, taking especial care not to stick any of the tape to her face and nose. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best I can do for now, and that’s going to have to do.
* * *
Back in the living room Jadz sits on the sofa with her legs up and a mug of something steaming resting on her knee. She holds it out of me as I enter the room. “Coffee?”
I want it. Or part of me does, but the rest of me, the part still yawning and struggling knows the caffeine hit won’t do me any favours.
As if reading my mind, Jadz turns the mug to point the handle toward me. “Decaf. Just thought you might want something since…y’know.”
“Wait, what?”
She shrugs. “Lunar blood always makes me thirsty. I thought maybe you were the same. I’d offer you some chocolate, but I don’t have any in the house.” Her smile is crooked, the tilt of her head suggestive and playful.
I’ve no idea what it means, but I accept the mug with a nod of thanks and take the other end of the sofa seats. “Rayne is safe now. It’s not great, but the best I can do.”
“Mm.” Jadz toys with a lock of her hair. “Pretty vampire all tucked away for bedtime. Ready to pull out again when playtime begins in the evening.”
“Jadz—”
She raises her hand at me. “Hey, I’m not here to judge. It’s none of my business what you get up to. But I am a little curious, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“About what?”
That smile again. “Why a vampire? There’s no shortage of pretty human women, if that’s your thing. But a fanger? You? Danika Karson? What happened?”
Now I’m gnawing on my own lip. A nervous tic I’ve most certainly picked up from Rayne. “Nothing happened I just…”
“Wanted to try something new? Exotic? Special?”
She’s closer. I’m not sure when she moved, but the space between us is suddenly smaller. That and her knee is brushing against mine.
She’s warm and solid against me, a sensation I can’t place when I last felt.
“It’s not like that. I—she—” The mug wobbles in my grip.
“Oh, I’ve flustered you.”
“No, I just—”
“It’s okay. You’re cute when you’re flustered. The big, bad SPEAR agent all tongue-tied and nervous. Wait until I tell my pack about you. They’ll be fascinated.”
I sit straighter. “Now, wait a second—”
Jadz’s laughter cuts right across me. It’s big and bright, just like her, and the gesture rolls through her entire body like a liquid ripple. “I’m joking. Wow, Agent, you are a little high-strung. What’s wrong?”
“You really have to ask?”
“Look. It will be fine. Noel will be back before you know it and we’ll have all the information we need to help your little Dire Wolf friend. Then we can deal with that pus-boil Aleksandar.”
I sip the coffee. “I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”
“Why not? Things are as easy or as difficult as you make them. If you want something, you take it. If you want to be somewhere, you go there. If you have an itch…you scratch it.”
Her hand touches my knee.
I find myself swallowing harder than I should need to. “Jadzia, I—you—we can’t—”
“Can’t what?” The hand becomes a fingertip, swirling light, teasing circles around my kneecap. “I’ve never had a lady SPEAR agent before. And Noel tells me some delightful things about your body.”
“What?”
She laughs at my indignant outburst. “Calm down. I only mean that he tells me about how well you spar and how strong you are. You sound almost like a werewolf. A real queen bitch. I’d love to see for myself sometime.”
Queen bitch. Nice. I think. I mean, it must be a compliment coming from a werewolf, right? I’d be flattered, but for some reason my mind is all foggy now. I can’t really think. Instead, I take another sip of the coffee and set the mug on the floor.
“I’m going to get some rest. While we’re grounded maybe the best thing to do is sleep.”
“Good idea. Why don’t you come upstairs? You can bunk with me.”
“Uh, actually down here is just fine.”
Again with the smile. “The bed is far more comfortable, Danika. I can make it comfortable for you. With you.”
A gentle warmth rises in my cheeks and neck. Is she actually hitting on me right now? “Uh, I know you and Noel do the poly thing, but I don’t—I mean, I’m not—fuck.”
“You could try? You never know, you might enjoy it. Have you ever had a werewolf before?”
“No. I wasn’t planning it either.”
Jadz finally stops running her finger over my knee. The smile wilts and she takes to her feet with a graceful bound. “I’ll grab you some blankets.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” she says and leaves the room.