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JAKE WINTERS HISSED, trying to breathe around the massive bite of steaming meat-lover’s pizza, blowing through his open mouth to cool the burn. His eyes narrowed on his best friends, Pete and Stephan, weaving between tables and making their way to where he sat waiting in the back corner of Haggett’s pizzeria. Tagging behind Pete was Melissa, hand firmly lodged in his. Her admiring eyes followed Pete’s broad back as he drug her along.
What does he see in her? Pete was Purdy High’s star athlete, and he was nearly as good looking as Jake was himself. He could have any girl he wanted, so why he settled for Melissa was a mystery.
Jake himself went for tall, willowy, and blond. He preferred girls that were willing and grateful to be in his company. They should be—he was quite the catch.
Melissa’s own dark hair was a curly mass of brown that refused to be tamed as it swirled about her shoulders, contrasting with her hazel-green eyes. She was pretty enough he supposed if you went for sturdy and never shuts up. He did not.
They arrived and pulled chairs out. Jake caught Pete’s eye and glared. Pete returned the look with a cheeky grin and settled Melissa in on his right, directly across from Jake.
Stephan frowned at the pitcher of Mountain Dew and headed back for the counter. He was always on some kind of health kick and refused to drink any kind of pop.
“Hi, Jake. How did practice go today? Eat any dirt?” Melissa asked, smiling hard at him as she snagged a piece of pizza without bothering to ask.
Jake scowled, watching her pudgy fingers move the slice towards her mouth, thin strings of gooey cheese trailing over the box and onto the table. His lips thinned and his nose shot up in disdain. He wondered if he’d be out of line to suggest a diet. “A Winters’ does not suck sod. Practice went fine. How did home economics go? Learn any new cookie recipes?” He smiled at her, eyes unkind.
She shook the slice at him, lips curving in a matching smile that never reached her eyes. “Nope. But thanks for this, it’s delicious.”
Pete sighed beside them and snatched her hand. His eyes light, he pulled her sauce covered fingers towards his mouth.
“Stop that!” She snatched her hand back with a roar of laughter and swatted him hard enough to send him careening sideways.
Jake narrowed his eyes. No way would that fly with him. But Pete laughed out loud and bent in and gave her a hard peck on the mouth. This time her grin reached every part of her.
Stephan returned with an iced tea. The chair gave a groan when he sat down. At 6’2”, Stephan was all muscle. They liked to kid him sometimes that he wasn’t just a lineman, he was the entire front line.
His eyes crinkled at the edges of his dark face, serious black eyes landing on the three of them. “So, what are we doing tonight, anyhow? Bowling and then ice cream, or a movie and more pizza?”
The small town of Purdy had few choices for things to do when you were a teenager. Everyone’s best bet was and always had been Haggett’s since it had been erected fifteen years before by some like-minded individual who recognized that a bored teen was a kid looking for trouble. Still, there were only two movies playing at any one time, and the bowling alley’s ten lanes were usually full on a Saturday night.
Pete nodded with an easy smile, eyes never leaving Melissa. “I thought maybe we’d ditch the place and go swimming down in Green creek. Should be warm enough now after the last few days.”
Stephen smiled back and shrugged. It was the early part of summer and school had been out a couple weeks already. The creek fed from high in the Greylock Mountains on the edge of the Weminuche Wilderness preserve. Spring fed and cold, it widened near the town of Purdy into a small lake named the same that warmed to just above freezing in the summer. “I’m game,” he murmured, snagging a second piece of pizza. The first had disappeared in a matter of bites.
They both looked at Jake, whose attention had wandered across the room to another table.
Jake ignored them, staring at the leggy blonde he didn’t recognize, all alone and sipping on her coke. Slim fingers whisked a fall of straight blond hair off her cheek and tucked it behind her ear. He watched as her perfect lips snugged the straw and took a drink. The motion made his insides tighten. He frowned.
She must have been new because everyone knew everyone in Purdy. His light brown eyes smoothed over the too tight shorts and the torso hugging tank over slim tanned arms. She chose that moment to glance up and he realized she had caught him staring. Her bright blue eyes widened and a slow blush spread over her cheeks as she dipped her head back down.
A steady buzz of voices penetrated the fog he found himself in and he realized Pete was trying to get his attention. “Hey, where’d’ you go? Pay attention.” Pete griped.
Stephan, following Jake’s eyes, grinned suddenly. “He’s busy studying the playing field.”
Jake shot him a look and snatched his pop up for a drink. But he found his eyes wandering back to where she sat. She’d turned her chair a bit, angling it away from their table. But he could tell she was aware. She sat too still and her fingers moved in a rapid beat against her plastic cup. He’d made her nervous. His grin widened.
He turned to stare back at Pete. Melissa was talking to him and he unashamedly listened in. “I don’t know about swimming Peter. I mean, I don’t have a suit...”
“That’s okay. I don’t either. We’ll go in our boxers. Take your shorts off and go in your t-shirt and undies. Covers more than a suit, anyway.”
Melissa squirmed. “I don’t know. I’m not exactly some skinny little thing.”
Jake stared and held his tongue. No kidding.
Pete snatched both her hands up and nibbled on her thumb, making her giggle. “You are right for me. Who wants to get poked with too many sharp edges. I’ll be good, I promise. I might steal a kiss. Or two.”
Melissa rolled her eyes, but she looked pleased.
Jake’s eyes moved back to the table and the blonde. She was gone.
His gaze sharpened on the figure retreating through the door into the main corridor of Haggett’s. She was heading towards the ice-cream parlor two doors down.
He pushed to his feet, glancing back at Pete and Stephan. His light brown gaze met his friends’. “Um... you guys go ahead without me. I’ll catch up to you later. I’ve got a craving for ice cream.”
Melissa’s eyes sharpened on his retreating figure. She hadn’t missed the snub as he ignored her completely and left. “Ice cream’s not all he craves,” she said flatly.
Stephan shrugged; one meaty paw idle over the last piece of pizza. “Anyone lay claim to...” was as far as he got.
Melissa had her fork and knife poised above it. “Split it with you or fight me for it.” She smirked.
Stephan rolled his eyes. “Split it. I don’t want you to hurt me.”
She nodded, already cutting it clean. “Smart choice.”
#
JAKE WAS ON THE MOVE. He paid his bill and waited impatiently for his change, ignoring the clerk when he offered him the receipt. He was just in time to glimpse blond hair disappearing into the small shop up ahead. Could he call em’ or what?
He entered as she got in line, taking his place behind her and looking at the mint-green walls like he hadn’t a care.
She stepped forward in line and glanced back at him.
Jake felt her eyes but ignored the pull. He didn’t want to seem too obvious.
She giggled and turned back around. “Oh, well. Maybe I was wrong and you aren’t interested. My bad...” she murmured.
Jake jerked his head down to hers as she gave the teenager manning the counter her order and paid.
“Who says I’m not interested.” Jake protested to her back.
She turned to give him a sly look from beneath her lashes. “Who said I was talking to you?”
She turned to take her cone and moved away from the counter. He was next. Dumbfounded, he snapped out his order and waited.
Cone in hand, he looked around for a place to sit. Tonight wasn’t turning out like he’d planned.
A soft voice spoke just loud enough for him to hear from the corner of the small parlor. “Are you going to join me or not?” she purred.
He jerked around and stared at the table for two by the back wall where she sat. She gave her double dip strawberry ice cream cone a long lick. Was she playing with him?
He hesitated. His eyes fell to the front of her frilly top and the top button that had come undone. He wondered if she knew? He discounted the thought and took a seat across from her.
“You’re not from around here.” Was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Inwardly, he cringed. Smooth move, Romeo.
She nodded. “You’re observant.” Her voice was honey sweet. She took another lick and dipped her head towards his own cone.
“Are you going to eat that, or just wear it for a decoration?”
He looked down at the rivulets of chocolate that had run down the side of his cone and pooled on his hand. “Dammit.” He bent forward and got busy.
Cones finished, he used the napkin she handed him and sat back.
“What I meant to say, is I haven’t seen you around before. I’m Jake. Jake Winters. You are?”
“Lucy Sawyer.”
“Nice to meet you Lucy. Where you hail from? We don’t get many newcomers to Purdy, Colorado. Too remote.”
“I bet.”
Jake blinked. “What?”
She shrugged, eyes moving away and around the room. “Oh, nothing. I just moved here for the summer. Dad is in sales. In the summer I come along and keep house while he works. I enjoy being able to visit unique places.”
Jake frowned. “What about your friends, don’t you miss them?”
“Well, sure, I guess. But I enjoy making new ones, like you.” She sat back and crossed her legs, pulling his eyes hopelessly to the long tanned length and her little pink toes. He gulped. “You know, it’s been forever since I bowled, I don’t suppose...” she murmured.
“I can go check, see if a lane has opened up?” He was already out of his seat.
She looked up at him and smiled. “Would you? That sounds like so much fun.”
Eyes filled with calculation watched him hasten away to ask.
#
“WOW. THAT MAKES YOUR third strike in this game alone. Do you play on a league?”
Jake puffed his chest up. “Nope. Just comes natural. I’ve always been good at sports. I play football and run track, also.”
She smiled at him, laying her hand over his as he unlaced his shoes. “And hunting? I bet you like to kill things too.”
Jake’s smile slipped sideways in confusion. “Well, yeah, I guess. Bout everyone on the mountain hunts and fishes. Why, do you hunt?”
Lucy’s eyes grew shuttered. “I’ve been known to take part in large game season.”
Jake was wondering how talk had slipped away from his athletic abilities. It was the strangest conversation he could ever remember having with a girl.
“Well. That’s great, isn’t it? My sisters hunt. A lot more girls are doing it nowadays, right?”
Lucy slipped her shoes on and reached for her purse. “Do you live in town, Jake?”
He shook his head and stood up, taking both bowling balls from the return to place them back in the racks along the back wall of the room where they belonged. “Nope. Our family has a place up the mountain. They’ve never been much for city living.
“No, I could see that.” She murmured as they walked together to return their shoes.
“See what?” he asked, not really paying attention. All his focus was on the sweet scent of her perfume as it teased his nostrils, making them twitch. She ignored him.
Outside he paused, indecisive. Jake wished he knew more of what she was thinking. He shifted from foot to foot. “Well, I suppose I’ll see you around if you’re staying for the summer. Can I get your number or something?”
The breeze in the night sky was stiff and hot as it moved over them, brushing her hair forward and casting her face deep in the shadows. It was difficult to read her expression as she looked up at him.
Her voice grew deeper, with a slight husky quality to it that made his fists clench in reaction. It was difficult to swallow.
“I could do that. But... does the evening have to end? Would you like to see where I live?”
Jake gulped. He liked things to move fast. But this was better than his wildest dreams. “Um...what about your dad? Won’t he... I mean... it’s late to be bringing someone...”
“Are you frightened to be alone with me, Jake? Dad is gone for the entire weekend. We’d be all alone. Just you, me, and the buttered popcorn. But if you’re afraid...” She left the last unfinished.
Jake rushed in. “No, not at all. That sounds incredible.” He took her hand in his and almost let it go again. Her hands were slick with sweaty nervousness. He relaxed. She was just as scared to be alone with him as he was her. How sweet.
He was used to fast girls with faster morals. It wasn’t his first rodeo. But for her, he determined, he’d go slow.
#
“YOU LIVE IN A WAREHOUSE?” he asked, voice sounding louder in the shadowy darkness as they turned down Birch Street. Now who was getting nervous? They’d left the homes and main part of town behind as they walked and chatted. The only buildings on birch street were several long deserted warehouses. With the recent dip in economy, they abandoned most.
Lucy smiled in the dark and the lamplight reflected off the brilliance of her smile, her teeth looking sharp.
Jake’s senses were suddenly on full alert as the metallic bitterness of chemicals teased his nostrils. That wasn’t unusual. Who knew what they stored in those buildings?
“Are you worried Jake?” She stopped him on the sidewalk and looked up, the blue glow of her eyes all but invisible in the gloom. She ran her hands along his arms.
“No. But maybe I should be for you. You aren’t like homeless, are you? I could help..”
Her hands stilled and his senses jangled in warning. Experience had taught him not to ignore them. Her fingers were light along his forearms, but he didn’t miss the shake in them. Lucy was scared.
Of the Dark? Or to be alone with him?
“Um... Jake. I’ve been thinking. We don’t have to do this tonight. Maybe we should make it another night, hmm? It’s late and you should probably get home.”
“He chuckled. Hey, we’ve come this far. I won’t let anything happen to you. And I love popcorn.”
She shook her head. “Look, I’m trying to tell you. I’ve changed my mind. I’m not ready for...you. Go home, Jake, before it’s too late!” Her voice had risen with her words until they fairly echoed off the dull metal of the nearest building, bouncing back at them.
Jake stared down at her in confusion, alarmed by the sudden agitation in her voice. It occurred to him she wasn’t afraid of him. She was scared for him. Why?
A sudden noise in the next block over had him freezing as he strained to identify it. Tumbling rocks? Or a shoe off a tin can? Whatever it was, Jake was suddenly positive he didn’t want to meet the owner.
For a human, her hearing was sharp. The sharp hiss of panicked breath she sucked in said she’d heard it too.
“You’ve got to go Jake, now, before it’s too late. Leave a different way than we came in...” she started.
Jake shook her and gripped her arms, his eyes lighting up in the dark and taking on an amber glow. “Not without you I won’t. I don’t know what’s out there that’s got you so scared, but something isn’t right, I can feel it. But you’re coming with me, let’s go.”
They’d been passing a smallish warehouse that looked like it had been abandoned for years. Not all the windows that ran around its upper dormers were intact. Several had been broken out, the sharp fangs of glass smiling down on them, reflected in the sliver of moon that lit their way. The soft cooing from within told him the pigeons didn’t mind and had taken up residence there long ago. He held tight to Lucy’s hand and pulled her with a hard yank left to get off the main drag. He moved deeper into the shadows as they ran diagonal to where they’d come in, slipping down alleys between buildings and heading for the woods to the North. If they could make that, they’d be on his home turf and he’d feel more comfortable.
As they ran, he opened his senses up, picking up the faint sound of pounding feet behind them. Whoever was chasing them; there was more than one.
“Do you and your dad have trouble with gangs or something down here?” he hissed over his shoulder.
Lucy snorted, but it wasn’t a funny sound. “Or something like that, yeah,” she admitted.
“That’s strange. Lived here all my life and I’ve never heard of any in Purdy. We’re a small town and don’t have the crime element to support them.” Lucy didn’t respond as they turned down another alley that was really a narrow dirt road, overgrown with weeds and grass from disuse. Faint light at the other end said it came out onto a main drag further down.
The pounding footfalls behind them had faded. He looked towards the faint glow at the end. If they crossed that it went up a short hill on the other side and they’d be home free in his forest home where they’d be safe.
Lucy gasped and pulled at his hand, stumbling behind him. She wasn’t in near the shape he was and was slowing him down. She must have realized that same fact when she suddenly stopped, yanking her hand free and stopping, hands on her knees, bent over and taking in great shuddering breaths.
“You... have to... go on without me. I’m a liability... you can get away.”
His turn to snort. “I’m not leaving you behind. What kind of guy do you think I am?”
“They won’t hurt me...” she started.
“What do you mean they won’t hurt you? Just what in the hell is chasing us anyhow?”
She looked away and growled in frustration. “Please go. I’m begging you. Just. Go!”
Jake frowned at her, straightening in confusion. What wasn’t she telling him?
“Jake, they won’t hurt me bec...”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for any of that now, Magical.”
The voice came from his back left and he whirled at the bitter words.
A man stepped from the shadows. Only medium height and build, his shaggy head of dirty blond hair was shoved beneath a baseball cap, partially obscuring the rest of his face from view. He wasn’t alone. Two others stepped out , surrounding them.
“You gave us quite a chase, Jake, is it? Or should I say, wolf?”
Jake started on a gasp of horror; his heart pounding faster than it had when he ran. How did they know what he was? Nobody did, not even his best friends Pete and Stephan knew of his family’s Magical background.
He stared them down, pushing Lucy behind him and rotating them in a circle in a futile act of desperation. He heard the tears behind every shuddering sob she uttered at his back.
He was easily an even match for two or even three humans. But they were armed, and he was not. The glint of steely knives reflected back at him, but it was the barrels of several handguns and a rifle he stared down the end of that gave him the most pause.
“Who are you? What do you want? We’ve done nothing wrong.”
The older man chuckled. He had all of a single second to register that they found his words hilarious when he felt a sharp cool breeze at his back. Lucy was wrenched away and he turned with a snarl of fear and rage. Jake’s hands trembled and folded into fists, the hair along his arms stiffening and growing coarse. He stretched his fingers straight with an aching crack; the nails sharpening to wicked points. It always happened when he lost his temper. It was why none of his family wrestled. Too hard to control it in hand to hand combat. Football was dicey enough.
“Let her go!” Jake started in the thug's direction that had grabbed her. Easily his match in height and breadth, the older man snugged a muscled arm around her front and under her neck, pulling her up on her toes as he smiled. Her eyes went wide with the effort to breathe as he cut off her windpipe. The threat was obvious, and Jake froze, indecisive.
“What do you want from us? I have little money,” he added.
He wondered if they were related. It was hard not to notice the family resemblance between the two younger men and the first man that had spoken. All had similar builds and hair the same dingy dark blond. Thicker beards in desperate need of trimming covered their chins.
The first man spoke again, voice razor sharp and cold with excitement. “Oh wolf, we don’t want your money. No, that’s not what we want at all.”
Jake tried to keep his eyes on the others as they slowly crowded in.
“You should have run when Lucy told you to.”
Jakes eyes swerved to hers, alive with... hate? Wait, that couldn’t be right. In utter horror, he watched as the man holding her bent down and placed an affectionate kiss on the top of her head before releasing her. She stepped away and slanted a glare in his direction.
“Was that necessary? You are an ass.” She brushed at her clothes before turning to stare at Jake, her eyes no longer friendly.
“I tried Jake. I gave you an out, you just had to take it. Instead, you had to be noble. That’s rich, isn’t it? A noble monster?”
Jake flinched at the acid that accompanied her words. Had he taken a step straight into the twilight zone? What was happening here?
“What about us? I thought maybe...” he cringed at the whine in his voice he couldn’t quite prevent.
Lucy took a step back, removing herself from the circle with regret tinging her voice. “See, that’s your problem Jake. You were thinking with your little brain about getting me all alone, instead of those monster instincts you were born with. Pity, they might have saved you.” She turned away, voice husky as she finished. “Now, nothing can.”
Jake opened his mouth to say something back when he felt the first sting, like the poke of a wasp on his shoulder. Two more followed. As the world rotated sideways, he realized something important about the rifle.
It hadn’t been loaded with bullets at all.
#
THE SCREAMING WAS GIVING her a headache. “Is that necessary? Really? I thought we were here to find a cure for the monsters and protect the humans so they weren’t dangerous anymore, not torture them to death.” Lucy rubbed at the spears of pain that lanced through the top of her head. Another long gasping scream rippled along the corridors of the basement beneath the old warehouse and she shuddered. Her skin was crawling like ants hopping in the sun, and she was sure she was going to be sick.
“Don’t worry your pretty head about it, daughter. The experiments are necessary to find out what they are and what makes them vulnerable. Dr. Whiting is compiling notes on each Magical we capture. We need to find out their strengths...and their weaknesses...”
Lucy swallowed, the nausea not abating. “That man’s no doctor. He’s worse than any monster we’ve captured. Have you ever wondered? What if they aren’t all evil?”
The reaction was immediate. Her father and brothers, Wyatt and Jazz, whipped their heads in her direction. The thunderous look of rage on Jazz’s face as he got in hers had her taking two back and her heart speeding up in panic. “They killed mom. Gutted her like a fish and left her to drown in her own blood. If she hadn’t hidden us and if dad hadn’t come home? How dare you suggest they need any of our mercies? Soulless bastards, every single one.” He spat, spittle and rage filling the room and rolling over her in waves. Lucy’s eyes shot to her father’s as he pulled his gaze away, unwilling to hold hers. She wished she could remember what had really happened. But she’d barely been out of diapers when the attack occurred and had no memory of it.
“That’s enough, son. You can’t blame her for what she doesn’t remember. It’s enough that you know you are doing what’s necessary. If the humans knew what was out there, living amongst them, stalking them when they were unaware, they’d be grateful for our protection. But there are too many flaming liberals that would frown on what they force us to do to protect them. For now, it’s just our little family secret, right Lucy?”
Lucy grimaced and turned away towards the door, gagging as the last scream cut short on the end. She slapped a hand over her mouth and ran through the opening and for the bathroom down the hall.
She made it just in time.