Evil Allure (15 page)

I didn’t have to think long about what the right answer was.

“Now go ahead and pack the things you need. I’ll be waiting right here. Go on.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Somewhere safe. Now hurry.”

Irvine stood just outside of my apartment as I started to pack. I couldn’t fit everything into my bags. Even though I had moved here several months ago, I wasn’t completely settled. But I still couldn’t take everything. I regretted having to leave some of the stuff behind. Packing my bags to the brim, I lugged them over to the front door where Irvine was waiting. He grabbed them and shoved them into his car. When he did, I looked down at the ground where pieces of Vaughn’s torn clothes rested.

His jeans were ripped to shreds on the ground. Something caught my eye. There was something shining. It dangled from the end of the pocket. I bent down and picked it up. It was May’s switchblade. The one I had dropped when I was attacked by those men.

Why did Vaughn have May’s switchblade on him? Did he have an exact replica of it? No, it was too unique and distinct.

“He was there,” I muttered to myself. “He was the one who saved me.”

I didn’t have time to think about the revelation that had suddenly dawn upon me. Irvine shouted at me and I rushed into his car.

“Do you have everything you need?” he asked me.

I nodded my head. The car sped off into the city. I looked at the switchblade in my hand for a few moments, wondering if it really was Vaughn that was there in that alley that night. Then I place the switchblade in my pocket and watched as my apartment complex grew smaller in the distance.

Chapter 16

“Where are you taking me?”

I looked over at Irvine in the driver’s seat. He had a determined look on his face as his foot pressed down against the gas pedal.

“Somewhere safe.”

“You’re not taking me back to Phoenix’s, are you?”

“No. The moon is rising. The trinkets in Phoenix’s shop won’t be enough to stop them.”

“Vaughn said that they were coming for me. He said that they had something planned but he couldn’t tell me because he was bound by an oath. Do you know what he’s talking about?”

“Every wolf in a clan is blood bound. They’re all connected by the laws of their people. It’s not just an arbitrary rule. Every fiber in their beings prevents them from breaking the oaths they make. One of them is secrecy and privacy.”

“How do you know so much about them?”

“I spent a lot of time around them. I know them. Maybe even more than I know myself. When you’ve been around them as long as I have, that tends to happen.”

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Longer than I can remember. Just know that you can trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

He turned to me for a moment and the reassurance on his face put me at ease for the first time in a long time. Wherever he was taking me was much farther than I expected. We sped past the city and into the hills.

There were less people out here. The tall and dilapidated buildings were replaced by clusters of trees. There was just one poorly-lit road that turned into the forest. I had never been in this part of the city before. I never had any reason to come out here. But it was a nice change of pace. The view was a contrast to the depressing scene of the gritty city slums.

Irvine jerked the wheel and turned the car off of the main road. I started to worry for a moment, every now and then passing dangerously close to one of the massive redwoods. But Irvine managed to just miss each one of them, turning the wheel with such precision that you would think his car was on a track.

We eventually reached a forest clearing. It didn’t look natural. It seemed like someone had been here and picked this specific spot to clear out all of the trees.

In the center of it all, there was a quaint log cabin. It was small and unassuming.

“I’ll be safe here?” I asked him. “Is there some sort of mystical protection this place has or is it because nobody would think to look here?”

“Yes.”

He looked at me with a smile as he parked his car right next to the entrance.

“You’ll be staying here until things die down,” he said to me. “Once things get sorted out with the Rucai… Once I figure out what they’re up to and put a stop to this then you can go back to your apartment.”

“You kicked the door in. All of my things have probably been stolen by now.”

“Sorry. It couldn’t be helped. I’ll do what I can to try and replace whatever it is you lost.”

“I… I don’t care about any of that stuff. I just want to be safe.”

“That’s my first priority, Ms. Everhart.”

I stepped out of the car and looked at the cabin. Up close, it was smaller than I expected. I wouldn’t be one to complain, considering how small my apartment was, but the forest clearing was so large that I wondered why the person who built this place didn’t bother making it larger.

“So, now what?” I asked him. “Am I just supposed to stay here by myself? How am I supposed to get to work?”

“Now that won’t be a problem. I know that for sure.”

The front door of the cabin opened a woman dressed in a pair of black leather pants and a white blouse stepped out. I looked closer at the brunette then realized that her face was familiar for a reason.

“Sasha?”

“Welcome to the haven,” she said to me.

The surprises never ended. She looked different when she wasn’t dressed in a skimpy outfit but it was more than that. Her demeanor was completely different. The girl who was always shy and kept to herself seemed much more confident than she let on.

“I’m working with her on this mission,” Irvine said to her. “I prefer to do this alone but Sasha’s expertise will come in handy.”

“Irvine, the only reason you managed to find Ariel is because of me.”

“Wait a second,” I interrupted their friendly banter. “What do you mean you found me? How did you know that I was a target? You were working at the bar before I was.”

“You’re right,” Sasha said to me. “It was just random chance that you managed to stumble into Frank’s bar when you did. You were lucky. A beautiful girl is a magnet for someone from the Rucai. It was only a matter of time before someone like Vaughn took an interest in you.”

“Show her around,” Irvine said. “I’m heading inside to take a break. Make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble here.”

“Don’t worry,” Sasha said to him. “I’ll take care of her.”

“I wasn’t talking to you.”

Sasha rolled her eyes at Irvine’s attempt at humor. He disappeared into the cabin as I walked with Sasha.

“You can’t see them but there are several traps buried underneath the dirt. They’re pressure sensitive. Only the weight of a werewolf will set it off. If you’re squeamish, make sure you don’t look in that direction.”

“But Irvine drove his car here? How did he manage to avoid them?”

“Irvine knows where they are. So he knew exactly where to drive. Come on, let me show you around.”

I followed Sasha through a cluster of trees deeper into the forest. We eventually came upon a small spring with a waterfall splashing down upon it.

“The cabin doesn’t have any running water. You’re going have to use this to take your baths. You can use the bathroom down there. Make sure you don’t mix the two up.”

Sasha smiled as she pointed toward another small pond in the distance. It was all so strange to me. No running water and no electricity. I wasn’t rich but I was used to having at least the basic amenities. This was roughing it but I wasn’t going to complain to the people who were trying to protect me.

“That’s pretty much it,” Sasha said to me. “I hunt for food, so there’s always plenty to eat.”

She looked at the reluctance on my face and tried to reassure me.

“...Or if that’s not to your liking, you can get something when you’re out in the city. You’re only getting the basic necessities out here. If you were living in any kind of luxury, you should forget about it for the time being.”

My apartment wasn’t a palace but I missed it already. I was starting to realize how accustomed I was to the city.

I followed Sasha into the cabin and it was a lot more cramped than it looked from the outside. The walls were dark with the finished wood. Candles were lit on several tables to the side and a fireplace housed a roaring fire. On top of it, there was a black pot with steam rising from it.

“Are you hungry now, Ariel? Let me get you something to eat. Have a seat.”

I sat down at the small table next to the fireplace as Sasha bent down next to it. I looked around but there wasn’t much else to see. Down the hallway, there were several doors that led to the other rooms.

“How long have you been out here?” I asked her.

“Since the murders started,” she said as she stirred the pot. “I’m the one who gave Irvine the order from The Agency.”

“So, you work for The Agency?”

“Yes, I work with them directly. Irvine is what you would call a mercenary. A freelancer. A contract killer. He makes a living doing this.”

“The Agency… he mentioned it before. He said that they regulate all of the paranormal things that take place.”

“Regulate is a harsh word,” she said as she placed a steaming bowl of the broth in front of me. “There are two worlds, Ariel. The one you’ve known your entire life and the one you’ve just been introduced to. We make sure the latter doesn’t interfere with the former. They say ignorance is bliss. For most humans, that’s true. They don’t even realize what’s going on all around them.”

I tasted a spoonful of the warm broth and the heat of it going down my throat spread through the rest of my body. I sighed as I thought about the position that I was now in. It was getting crazier and crazier by the minute.

“So, Irvine asked you to come along with him?” I asked her.

“That’s right.”

“Are you and Irvine…”

“We’re business partners, Ariel. And only for now. This is strictly to get a job done. And right now, that job is protecting you and figuring out what is going on with the Rucai.”

Sasha smirked at my sudden inquiry. It was a look that I had never seen from her before. Even though they were both humans, the life of a hunter and the Agency were still just as odd to me as the werewolves they were tracking down.

“What do you think they’re up to?” I asked her. “I mean, what could the Rucai possibly be doing. Irvine said they aren’t normally like this.”

“He’s right. There are hundreds of werewolf clans all over the world. All of them live in peace. Every now and then one of them will get out of line and kill an innocent but never a whole tribe. Not like this.

“I haven’t told Irvine this but I suspect that there are darker forces at work.”

“Darker forces?”

“Yes. Every clan has a chief. We have to locate the chief of the Rucai and ask him or her directly what’s going on. That’s the only way we’re going to get any answers.”

“Wait. You don’t know who the chief of the Rucai is?”

Sasha shook her head.

“Like I said, most clans are at peace. There’s rarely a need to investigate. For one reason or another, they’ve come to this city and started wreaking havoc here. It’s up to us to put a stop to them.”

“But it all seems like mindless killing. It doesn’t seem like there’s a motive to it. I don’t think there’s a reason or justification behind any of it.”

“There is, Ariel. There has to be. And I think Vaughn holds the answer.”

“Vaughn? Why him?”

“I watched him when he first walked into the bar. His stench hit me from across the room. I was waiting to see what he was doing. He made you a target. But he hasn’t done anything to you. I was half-expecting you to end up dead. But...”

“Could he be trying to protect me?”

“Maybe. But there’s a bigger picture than that. Werewolves are instinctive creatures. They don’t think rationally or logically like most humans. They’re the line between person and animal and it’s hard to differentiate between the two sometimes. You and Vaughn seem to have a connection. But it’s hard to tell whether or not that connection is because of genuine feelings you have for one another or because both of your instincts are kicking in. You, falling prey to a handsome man, and Vaughn, the predator luring in his beautiful prize.”

“You seem to know more about my relationship with him than I do,” I scoffed.

“Let’s just say that I’ve been there before.”

Sasha winked at me but didn’t give me an opportunity to follow up on her cryptic comment.

“Finish your food,” she said. “You’ve had a long night and you need to get some rest. You’re going to need all of your energy to stay on your toes.”

Sasha stood up and moved toward the window. I watched her for a second as she stared out into the night. I would never be able to look at her the same way again. I was beginning to wonder if anything in my life was what it seemed.

I finished eating the rest of the soup that Sasha had prepared for me and she led me down the hall toward one of the rooms. I looked at her before I stepped inside, still thinking about the latest events.

“Are you sure I’m going to be safe here?” I asked her. “Vaughn said I was marked. They’re going to be tracking me down and looking for me.”

“If they wanted to find you, they’ll find you. It’s hard for me to say this, Ariel, but I want to be completely honest with you. They’re coming. And there’s nothing you or I or Irvine can do to stop that. We just have to be ready when that time comes. The moon is not yet full though. You still have time.

“Now try and get some rest. I know you have a lot on your mind but you can’t let this get to you. It will all be over soon enough.”

I nodded my head and stepped into the room. I was exhausted. I collapsed onto the bed and closed my eyes. My mind was racing. I was learning so much new information that I was having trouble processing all of it.

For a moment, I could see Vaughn staring back at me. But it wasn’t the Vaughn that I had grown feelings for. It was the beast of a man I last saw. His blue eyes were shining bright in the darkness of my mind. Just from his eyes, I could feel them doing something to me. It pulsed through my body and straight to my heart. I was suddenly overcome with a great feeling of sadness.

I opened my eyes and remembered what I said to him. I pushed him away. But only because I had to. I didn’t have a choice. Even though my feelings for him were strong, I couldn’t tell if they were real or a predator influencing his prey. I wanted to be with Vaughn. I just wanted all of this to end so we could be together. Was I asking for too much?

I laid in the bed and listened to the sounds of the forest echoing into the cabin. I could see the light of the candles burning underneath the doorway. I was out in the middle of nowhere, away from anything I knew. I grabbed one of the pillows and hugged it tight. With my eyes shut, I prayed that this would all finally end as the tears trailed down my face.