My mind was spinning with questions. I figured I would start with Marie and see if maybe she could answer some for me.
“Do you like doing this job?”
She smiled at me, showing almost all of her teeth, “Yes, I do. I like it very much. Plus, I get to kill vampires. After all this is done, I get to go home with Jay and we have spectacular sex.”
“Seriously?”
“What?”
“I don’t want to think about my boss having sex,” I expressed with a shiver.
“Jessica, people have sex,” she said giggling and then suddenly stopped. “Are you a virgin?”
“Hell no.”
“Oh, good,” she sighed in relief. Who knew my sex life was of great importance? “There is nothing gross about your boss having sex.”
“I know that. I just don’t want to hear about it.” Sex between me and his brother wasn’t what I would call spectacular. It was good but not mind-blowing or anything. “How long have you been doing this?”
“Not long at all, only a few months.” She turned down a dirt road. I wasn’t looking forward to walking in the dark toward a war with vampires, but Marie would be with me.
“So, you weren’t born this way?”
Her face was also confused for a moment, “No, some of the hellhounds are born into the pack, like the brothers but not me, along with a lot of the pack for that matter.”
“You were turned?”
“Yes,” she said happily.
“Who turned you?” The thought of being a hellhound excited me. The potential to be something more than I already am, having unlimited strength and the ability to protect myself peaked my curiosity.
“Jay turned me when we started dating. I used to work at a gas station in Pony City. He came in one night and we hit it off instantly,” she sighed and smiled.
“Instantly?”
“I didn’t believe in instant attraction or soul mates until I met Jay. It was like we were meant to be together.”
“Come on. Be serious.” She had to be teasing me.
“No. It’s true. The moment we set eyes on each other, we knew. It was as if we were pulled together. I knew he was the one for me before he spoke a word.”
“Wow. That quick, huh?”
“Haven’t you ever felt pulled to someone on a different level? I’m not saying sexual attraction. It’s more than that. Deeper. It’s a compelling need to be around them, no matter what,” she explained.
Rayce was the only person who came to mind. No matter what he did or didn’t do, I always wanted to be around him. I wanted to talk to him, even if he were in a bad mood or ignoring me. “Maybe one person,” I confessed.
“Why haven’t you acted on it?”
“I’ve tried but nothing works. I don’t think he’s interested in me in that way.”
“Maybe there is something or someone standing in the way,” she said with a grin. My feelings told me she and I were thinking about the same person.
“So, what happened after you met Jay.”
“After a few weeks of dating, he told me what he was and then he showed me. Wow, was I freaked out.”
“I know the feeling.” We both laughed and she continued.
“He changed back and then told me all about this life. He asked me if I wanted to be like him. I said yes. I didn’t have anything to lose and no family to speak of. I figured I could at least have some kind of family,” she explained. “Plus, he was my soulmate.”
My mouth ran dry. I took a drink of my bottled water and took another breath. “How is it done? What does turning someone entail?”
“Oh, well, while we had sex he would bite me.”
“Was it a specific amount of bites or just once?”
“Three bites were all it took. He was really great about it,” she gushed. “It didn’t even hurt. He was really sweet.”
“Interesting.” I felt like I was going to hyperventilate. I had to get my breathing under control.
Marie looked over at me and I felt the truck slow down, “Jessica, are you okay? Do you want me to stop the truck?”
I put my hand up and waved for her to keep driving. Her foot hit the gas and we started down the road again. I looked out of the window. It was black outside and we were on a dirt road. I looked over at her and she kept looking from the road to me and then back to the road.
“No. I’m fine, I was choking on my water. It went down the wrong way.”
She shook her head yes in agreement, “I have done that before.”
All of the sudden the bite mark on my shoulder began to itch terribly and I reached for it. I got myself under control and kept talking to her. “So, what did Jay say after all was said and done?”
She knew what I was talking about. “Hellhounds take mating very seriously. The same thing happens in the animal world all the time. A mated pair will lay claim to each other. I belong to Jay, just like he belongs to me,” she explained.
“What would happen if you were to have sex with someone else?”
“Well, not that it would ever happen, but once a claim is made, and if I were to stray, he would have the right to kill them.”
“That sounds a little possessive. Doesn’t it?”
“It does, but I love Jay with all my heart. He is mine and I am his,” she replied happily. “Plus, he is crazy good in the sack.”
“No. Stop,” I said and she laughed.
“I knew that would get ya.”
“Thanks so much for sharing with me. I feel so lost in this crazy world since I found out. I appreciate you coming with the guys that night by the way.”
“Absolutely. You are one of us in one way or another,” she said with a smile. It was as if nothing could get this woman down. She always had that smile plastered to her mouth. It was a natural glow from deep inside her. I wished I would one day be that happy.
The truck slowed to a crawl. Marie pulled up behind another truck and killed the engine. We had to walk a little over a mile to our destination.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said and hopped out of the truck. I could see other hellhounds walking down the road ahead of us. This would give us more time to talk before we joined the group.
“The fact that Gage never told me any of this bothered me. That was what Rayce meant by not allowing Gage to bite me again. If he did, I would turn into a hellhound and belong to him forever.
“Hey, do you have a problem with Rayce?”
“No, he’s great and he’s fun. He loves to party and drink. He’s not a heavy drinker, but when he drinks, the fun side of him comes out. Rayce is great, why?”
“Well, sometimes, he treats me like I’m scum and then the next minute, he acts like he wants to be around me. He’s such a jerk to me sometimes.”
She laughed, “Rayce only acts like that if he likes you and the way it sounds, he more than likes you.”
“What do you mean, the way it sounds?”
“Jessica, when Rayce drinks he opens his mouth and a lot falls out. I can’t believe you don’t see it yourself. He wants you, girl. He wants you so much it hurts.”
“What? No, way.”
“Yes, way. He wants to be with you. From what I know, he has wanted you for a long time.”
“Are you saying he has a crush on me?” Heat rushed to my cheeks.
She nodded, “He has a lot more than a crush on you, he wants you but he has no hope. Gage has already claimed you, and he can’t fight with the pack master, even though he’s a real asshole…sorry.”
“I agree, he is an asshole, but I do not belong to him,” I paused for a moment. “He’s not exactly the trophy boyfriend. He’s aggressive, actually.”
“I can see that about him but I have no choice. He is pack master. I can’t go against what he says.”
“Even if you tried?”
“The funny thing about being pack master, you have a mystical power over your pack. Once a hellhound lays claim to his pack, they have to follow without question.”
“You have no choice but to follow?”
“Exactly,” she said shamefully.
“So, if you were told to stay away from someone, would you have to do it?”
“You can always fight it but if they are a true pack master, you will eventually have to follow the rules, or you would be made to.”
“How so?”
“Denying a pack masters orders are an automatic challenge to fight for leadership. You could die.”
Gage knew Rayce liked me. He also more than likely told him to stay away from me. I didn’t even have a choice in the matter. I would never have had the chance to get to know him enough to see for myself. I felt bad because I judged Rayce on his actions but they weren’t his actions at all, it was the leaders’ orders. It was Gage.
If I survived the night, I would make a point to become friends with Mr. Cutie. Not because he likes me, but because I had the right to be friends with him. I’m not part of this pack and I don’t follow Gage’s orders. I was starting to get mad about the information Marie had given me.
We slowly came up to more people and I instantly wanted to find Rayce. If it were safe for him, I wanted to make things right between us. The only problem was, I didn’t want to make problems for him.
“Thanks for the talk, Marie.”
“No problem at all. Anytime,” she said and stopped walking to give me a hug. I wasn’t used to friends but I could grow used to having Marie in my life. I hugged her back. “I’m gonna go find Jay.”
“Go get em, girl,” I grinned and she sprinted away.