Howl (Witches & Warlocks Book 4) (12 page)

My feet slip in the new snow and I fall down, one hand sinking down into the snow and hitting the gravel beneath. I stand up, embarrassed, and take a moment to compose myself. Look down to brush the snow from my keys and to dry my reddened hand on my pants. And when I look up, I find Becca in between me and the front door.

My stomach lurches and my knees go weak, but score one for me, I stay standing and my food stays inside my body rather than making a grand reappearance at my feet. What I don’t manage to do is say anything. At all. It’s just me and Becca on my front porch. My breath visible as it puffs out in front of me in little frozen bursts.

Her? Not so much. No breath for the undead.

My eyes are wide. Her’s? Great back voids that make me think of sharks and demons and death and dying. My ears are trained towards the street because, please God, don’t let Ty decide to turn around. And Noah? I’m not sure if I want him here or not. Not if Becca’s gonna go all homicidal vampire on me.

“It’s OK, you know,” she says. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Sure, that’s what they all say.” My voice is steady so score another one for me.

Becca laughs and it’s so cold, I’m surprised it doesn’t fall from her lips in big, frozen chunks. “You’re really funny, you know?”

“You should have heard all the shit in my head over the years. Hilarious.” What am I doing? Just gonna chat her up out here in the cold? ‘Cause apparently that’s the entirety my plan. OK, so what
should
I be doing? Should I let her talk to me? Should I try to let Daya know she’s here? Should I try to talk her down? Talk her down from what? She seems almost stable.

Except for the whole bloodlust in her black eyes thing. I wouldn’t exactly call that stable. I’ve also never seen a vampire look like that before. Even Lucy, at her most maniacal, had normal human eyes.

This interaction is already hella strange. Let’s just see push it to the max, why don’t we. “Becca,” I ask. “Why are your eyes all black?”

“Because I’m hungry.” She doesn’t flinch when she says it. Doesn’t bat an eyelash. Just keeps her gaze fixed to mine. Although her nostrils flare when my pulse starts getting ahead of itself and I don’t like that one bit. “But that’s not why I’m here,” she finishes and finally blinks.

“Why are you here?”

Goosebumps swirl over my arms, my neck, and my back. I desperately want to turn around because I’m pretty damn sure that Ty is lurking somewhere back there. Ready to pounce while my back is turned. Although maybe Becca being here is working in my favor right now. Keeping him at bay.

“I miss you,” she says and a half-crazed giggle catches in my throat. She misses me? After a lifetime of lying to me? Of keeping so. many. truths. hidden from me? Of locking me up tight and keeping the key all to herself?

“You don’t even really know me,” I say, thankful once again that my voice stays level. There’s not even a hint of accusation.

“I know you better than you think.”

Realization hits me in the face. “The Memenderat. You had my journal spelled. You probably
do
know me better than I know myself.” My voice is definitely not level this time and there’s most definitely a good amount of accusation in there. I mean, how many people are going to end up knowing more than me about
me
? In what universe is that even close to fair?

Becca nods. “I know exactly who you are. I’ve known you better than anyone for our whole lives. And yes, I do know you better than you know yourself. And you know what? You’re kind. You’re sweet. You’re thoughtful and intelligent. You’re fucking hilarious.”

My skin is crawling with the feeling of being watched and I’m not sure if I’m furious or flattered by what Becca’s saying. All I know is that my fight or flight instinct is jangling away and this time, I’m not interested in running. Not at all.

Becca opens her palms towards me and I flinch away from the movement. “Now that all the cards are out on the table and you know what you are, and what I am … well … as much as anyone can know what I am, I guess … I want to be your friend.”

“Cause you were so good at it the last time.” I can’t help it. I know I should stay quiet, but I’m tired of staying quiet. Her betrayal hurt. Why should I sweep it all under the rug just because she’s sorry now?

“I deserve that,” she says.

“Ya you do.”

Becca’s eyes widen and for a split second I’m afraid I went too far. Angered the beast. Poked the hungry vampire. But then I realize that she’s looking behind me.

Shit.

Is Ty here? I whirl and recognize the sound of snow crunching under tires. Call up my magic and get ready to blast that crazy bastard within half an inch of his life if he dares to get out of his truck.

And all the wind falls out of my sails and I swear I actually sag when I recognize Noah’s shiny new car. When I turn back to say something to Becca, she’s already gone.

Chapter Fourteen

Noah practically jumps out of his car and manages to race towards me without slipping on the frozen driveway. His face is stricken and his eyes are wide and his pulse is pounding and I’m not sure how much else I can handle. If something has him this upset, it might just crush me given how crazy the last five minutes of my life were.

“What’s wrong,” we ask at the same time, both equally frantic.

He looks as confused as I feel. “I’m fine,” he says. “Or I was, until I saw you. You look awful.”

I can’t help it. I start laughing. An awful out of control laugh that threatens to erode all the points I scored by keeping it so cool talking to Becca. “I thought,” I begin and lose my words to a high pitched snickering that
so
doesn’t sound like me. “I thought there was something wrong with you,” I manage. “And I didn’t think I was gonna be able to handle you having something wrong because I’m really freaked out right now.” Those last words sober me right up. I stop laughing and stare blankly at Noah.

“Let’s get inside before you freeze.” He doesn’t say what I know he’s thinking.
Let’s get inside before something else happens
. And I’m really glad he doesn’t say that. I don’t need any reminders of how many bad things could have happened to me just now. He takes the keys from me, opens the door, and ushers us inside.

Twinks bounces towards us, tail shaking happily and I distract myself by going to check his food bowl in the kitchen. I have no idea if I fed him this morning or not. He follows me, more like a puppy then a kitten and I sigh in relief to find he’s still got food. “I’m a terrible momma, aren’t I?” I say as I swoop him up and nuzzle his neck. His purr box switches into high gear and he nuzzles his face into my shoulder. “But you love me anyway, don’t you?” I can’t help but smile, the kitty love and the safety of my own home helping to erase all the scary stuff that happened just outside the door only moments ago.

Noah helps me take off my coat while I juggle Twinks and then leads me to the couch. “What happened?” he asks as we sit down together.

I explain seeing the truck in my rearview. Watching it as I checked to see if it was Ty. As I became certain it was Ty. How he tried to ram me and I lost control but managed to make it into the driveway as he sped past. How Becca was waiting for me when I made it to the front porch.

Noah’s listening with a slack jaw. “What did she want?” he asks, shock transitioning to anger when I mention her name.

“I think she wants to be friends.”

He laughs. A short, barking sound that makes it clear how he feels on that topic. “Oh ya? Friends, huh? ‘Cause she did such a good job last time?”

I smile and sigh. “I said the same thing.”

“Out loud? So she could hear?”

“Yes, actually, I said it right to her face. You’d be proud of me.”

“Of course I’m proud of you.” He squeezes my thigh and I put Twinks down into my lap so I can grab his hand. “I’m always proud of you.”

It’s ridiculous how those words affect me. Something warm and wonderful and happy swells inside me. I realize I’m beaming, the strength of the emotions buzzing around inside me too strong to be contained.

“Really?” I ask, because I’d kind of like to hear it again.

“Yes. Really. Why do you look so surprised?”

I tell him all about how silly I felt, driving back to my house, nervously checking my rearview mirror when I’m supposed to be some kind of badass witch. Scared of the big bad wolf behind me when I’ve got more power in my pinky finger than most women have in their whole bodies. “And there’s one guy following me in his truck and what do I do? Freak out,” I finish, shaking my head in disgust.

“Ya, but, you’d be foolish to use even a fraction of all that power in your pinky finger without Ty doing something to actually provoke you. Can you imagine the inquisition that’d be brought down on your head if you hurt him without proof that he wants to hurt you? With all the rumors and shenanigans going around about you and all the dead vampires?”

“The rumors and shenanigans that are totally well founded.”

“Exactly. All the more reason to keep yourself out of the spotlight, don’t you think?”

I sigh again and Twinks hops off my lap and I watch as his little kitten feet carry him into the kitchen. Smile at the cracks and crunches that mean he’s chomping into his dinner.

“It’s normal to be scared, Zo. Just because you’re a witch doesn’t mean you’re immune to fear. Doesn’t mean your emotions get cut off. It’s not like TV. You’re a real person.”

“It feels like TV,” I say, cracking a smile. “Zoe Tate, Vampire Slayer.”

Noah laughs and I tuck my feet up under me, lean into him. I love that he basically said all the things that I’d already told myself to help me feel better. Makes me feel like maybe I’m learning. Like maybe I’m on my way to figuring out how to navigate this supernatural world after all.

“You know what,” he says after a while. “Maybe it’d be a good idea to get Daya involved. I don’t know, file a complaint or something? Just so there’s a record in case things escalate.”

Ty’s face flashes through my mind. The gleeful smile as his truck came barreling right towards me. “I’m pretty sure things will escalate.”

“All the more reason to bring it up to the person who’s got the power to protect you.”

I’m in the middle of opening my mouth to agree with him when a knock sounds on the door. I gasp. Every muscle in my body tenses. Noah tells me to stay where I am. Creeps from the couch and peeks through the blinds at the window near the door. And I watch as tension just melts from his body.

“You’re not going to believe this,” he says and swings open the door to reveal Daya in all her multi-colored glory. She ambles in, taking in her surroundings, clearly approving of the new, more expensive items I’ve bought recently.

“I hope I’m not intruding,” she says as I continue to stare at her from my place on the couch until I realize just how rude I’m being.

My mother would be so disappointed in me!

I bounce off the couch and offer her a drink. Aim her towards the living room and invite her to take a seat while I almost sprint into the kitchen to get the water she requested. I can’t believe I let my manners get away from me like that. I chalk it up to the shock of seeing her standing in the doorway as if we conjured her there with the power of our conversation alone.

Water in hand, she informs us that they found Becca. That I’m currently safe. I hold back the strangled laughter that threatens to interrupt her pleased little monologue. Safe. Ha. I am decidedly not safe. “So,” she continues, either not noticing my reaction or not caring. “What can I do for you?”

Again I’m a little caught off guard. How did she know I needed to talk to her? Did we really conjure her? Is that one of her witchy powers? Say her name three times and she appears?

I must look as surprised as I feel because she tips her head a little. Lifts her hands. Smiles. “You came to my office…” she says as if speaking to a child. “Needed to talk to me about something…”

“Oh. That makes so much more sense!” I say and now it’s her turn to look confused. I finally give in to the nervous laughter and instantly wish I hadn’t. “We were just talking about you,” I continue. “About something else. Your impeccable timing surprised me is all.”

“Ahhh.” Daya looks a little distracted. “I’m sure you’ve got so many questions for me, and I know I’ve been a little vacant lately, what with all the Overseer stuff and all. But, that’s nearly sorted, and I’ll be back and ready to help get you assimilated into the supernatural life in no time.”

I almost choke again. She’s so distracted, I don’t think she realizes what she’s just said and who she just said it to. I’m trying so hard not to react to the word ‘Overseer’ but my mind is on overdrive. Are they trying to unify the supernatural factions again?

Her eyes are already bouncing around, searching for a clock I’m sure. I make a snap decision. I’m not bringing up my birth parents right now. Even though that’s the reason I came to see her in the first place, that’s not exactly pressing now. I’m sure there’ll be time later. Instead, I’m going to take Noah’s advice and complain about Ty, the big bad wolf.

“I think I’ve got bigger problems than Becca sneaking out to see me,” I say. “Or maybe not bigger, that’s a pretty big problem in and of itself. But definitely not smaller.” I realize I’m rambling when Daya’s eyebrows hit her hairline. Getting control of myself, I describe the first couple meetings with Ty, his knowledge of my ability to make vamps human again. I describe his threats, how I keep spotting him watching me. When I describe the night I thought I saw him watching me leave Sir Perks-a-lot, Noah’s eyebrows imitate Daya’s as he looks at me with surprise.

“And then today, coming home from…” I think fast. Probably not a good idea to mention the ranch. “From dinner,” I say. “He followed me in his truck. He tried to ram me. He was literally coming right at me.” I can feel the blood rushing from my face as I remember how close I came to getting really hurt. “I cast a quick spell and got out of his way.”