A WEREWOLF IN OCTOBER - CHAPTER 11 (Line Editing left)

[booksabaking]

Jayla woke in sheets sticky with cold sweat. Her jaw ached, her skin prickled with the chill of sleeping on her own in a far too large bed, and her thoughts struggling to exit the dream that had thrown her half-awake.

"Hey! You're okay, you're okay."

Vivian's bright brown eyes took up Jayla's sleep-blurred field of vision and warm hands took her gently by the shoulders. Her presence kicked the last of the nightmare under the rug. Jayla finally managed to take a deep breath.

Her face went from clammy and cold to burning. "Sorry for the drama."

"You have nothing to apologize for. Don't you think the rest of us had bad dreams after our first big showdown with creeps?"

Jayla's face turned the heat up a notch. If only. No, her subconscious had to cook up an 'it was all a dream' scenario, where she woke up in her parents' basement with a sarcastic invitation to Brandon and Carla's wedding. As if Carla would settle for Brandon.

"Where is everyone?" Jayla's lingering unease from the far too mundane stress dream bled over into the fact she and Vivian were the only two people in the living room. "What's wrong with the light?"

Vivian glanced over at the floor-to-ceiling windows showing the snow-covered backyard. The light flowing in through them had a distinct reddish glow to it, far weirder than its usual subtly 'off' color.

"We're in lockdown."

Jayla's whole body instantly switched back to below recommended temperatures.

"Just to be extra safe!" Vivian hurried to say, giving Jayla's shoulder another reassuring squeeze, grounding her. "We're waiting for Ava's people to have all the vampires under control. We're fine."

Jayla strained her ears, bracing herself for cacophony only to be stunned by the sparse noise that met her. The shower in the nearby bathroom was running, fingers clicked away on a keyboard in the basement, and low voices mumbled words in the dining room. That was it.

"But everyone isn't in the house." She doubted they whole pack had decided to take a communal shower.

"Lisa's helping Ava track down the last vampire, the ringleader, and Melissa had a lecture this afternoon that she couldn't miss. Dorothy's hanging around campus too just in case."

Cult leader still on the loose. Shit.

"Where's Jesse?"

Vivian pointed at the bathroom door. "The hunters are making brunch and brainstorming vampire lore while Arturo does what he does best. You hungry?"

Jayla's stomach didn't take that cue to grumble, but it should have with how harshly the gnawing need for food hit her.

"Starving."

"I figured. Even without shifting, pushing yourself like you've done will leave you hankering for a burger or five. Stick to human form and have plenty to eat today is my advice. I'll go get you set up with a plate and fresh clothes. Be right back!"

"You don't need to-"

Vivian tsked her into silence before rushing off toward the kitchen.

Left alone, the stress dream came back to claw at Jayla. No longer the least bit convincing it still managed to drag her mood down toward doom and gloom. Ridiculous! I have a million good reasons for an emotional meltdown. Why has my brain gotten stuck on haunting me with old, regular fears?

In the bathroom, the shower turned off.

"You all right there?"

Zoning back in, Jayla blinked up at Jesse, standing right in front of her like he'd teleported there. It took her a moment to reply.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Jesse gave a one-shoulder shrug. "I think I'm over being an emotional wreck for the time being. It's amazing the wonders a shower can do. You, on the other hand, have spent way too many hours worrying about other people while going through hell and high water."

Jayla frowned at him, but this didn't crack his reestablished cheerful poker face. She got to her feet - which she'd expected to be more painful, yay again for werewolf healing factor - to give herself the advantage of staring down at him.

He didn't flinch. In fact, he looked reassured.

"If you think you can distract me from what you've been through, you're wrong."

"What I've been through?" Jayla could do little more than gape at the man. "Did I hit my head? I'm pretty sure you're the one we had to rush in to save a few hours ago, not me."

"I'm ever so grateful for that. Now, remind me, how many daring rescues from people with murderous intent have you previously performed, not counting this one?"

"What does that-"

"Do you need to finish that sentence or do you already hear what's off about it?"

Jayla snapped her mouth shut, eerie guilt washing over her. She should be traumatized, shouldn't she? Instead what had set her heart racing was the possibility of all that danger having been imaginary. That she'd been back 'home'. Back at square negative ten.

Words she couldn’t quite form died in her throat.

"Hey, no." Jesse put a hand on her shoulder, the weight of it light but warm. "Don't take it the wrong way. I'm definitely not complaining that you went full action hero on my behalf. I just don't want you to ignore what an utterly messed up thing it is you've also experienced, okay? I mean, you went through the wringer last night."

"Y-yeah. I, uhm, yeah, last night was beyond fucked up." It had been. She never wanted to be that worried about anyone ever again. But the sad fact was that she'd prefer going up against a hundred more vampire cultists to living in a world without them. Well, no, the world would definitely be better off without all forms of serial killers and kidnappers. But she had a strong suspicion their existence wouldn't give her nightmares; not like high school, or Brandon, or unemployment. What did that say about her?

"I don't regret it, but maybe, let's not do that again any time soon?"

Jesse held her gaze for a moment, then gave a slow nod, as if he'd come to a decision. For a second, Jayla felt oddly exposed.

"Hug?"

Jayla drew him in as answer. His hair, still wet from the shower, was a cool contrast to the rest of him; maybe the reason shapeshifters needed to warm up so often was because they radiated body heat to rival a furnace?

"You've been an above and beyond great new friend," Jesse said into her shoulder, a soothing whisper rather than a secret one. "Let the rest of us have a turn at being good supportive friends. With all the life-altering things thrown at you this month, you deserve a mental health year at the very least."

"I need to go to work on Monday."

The memory of the job interview he'd scored for her had a dream-like quality to it. The stomach churning sense of unreality returned and she had to choke back a moan of pure dread. She clung tighter to the hug.

Jesse snorted. "I'd usually not count that as relaxation, but honestly, doing normal stuff like starting a new job can help when dealing with the supernatural." He left a pause there, very deliberately, but then went on, "Good thing it's only Wednesday yet. I'm prescribing a dose of hanging out with friends and having a lazy day indoors not worrying about anyone's mental or physical health other than your own. Screaming into pillows is optional."

Normal stuff. Right. The real world kept on existing. She still had bills to pay, still had a new job to make a good impression at, still had to figure out what she should be doing with her life, outside of the whole 'being a werewolf'-thing. Dread curled tighter and tighter around her guts.

She hadn't called her mom in a whole week.

"I need to talk to you."

"Jesus!" One second the doorway to the hall had been free, the next it had a vampire lurking in it. "Warn a gal!"

Arturo had the decency to look sorry. "I'd like a word alone with Jesse."

Hackles Jayla currently didn't possess tried to rise.

"That's fine."

Looking down at Jesse while hugging him got awkward quick. Jayla let go of him, but only so she could see his face when she said, "You sure?"

Jesse flashed her the edge of a smile. "What did I say about the whole worrying about others thing?"

"That it's a sign I'm a great friend?"

"Mom says it's my turn on the being a great friend swing. You should be a good friend to yourself and relax a little. I'll be fine."

"I won't…" Arturo trailed off, sounding lost. "I only want to talk with him."

"A talk which you've more than earned. Will you two keep an eye on Jayla for me while I have a little heart-to-heart with Arturo?"

Jayla bit back a squeak of surprise, echoed by a gasp from Arturo. Apparently ridiculous emotional tension trumped both werewolf and vampire hearing because Vivian and Isha had managed to sneak up on all of them from the entrance hallway.

"You bet." Vivian shouldered aside Arturo with friendly force, letting Jesse through the doorway in the same smooth motion, as if they'd practiced switching places. "Artie."

Whatever the nod Vivian gave Arturo meant, it had the vampire turning on his heels and heading downstairs, Jesse close behind him. Isha hovered in the hallway, watching, holding a tray with pancakes and three cups smelling distinctly of coffee.

"Breakfast first, then we talk."

Jayla couldn't argue with that. Her stomach definitely didn't.

Once she'd scarfed down three platefuls of pancakes and started on her second refill of coffee, Jayla reached enough of a human state (werewolfy state?) to pick up on how strangely pleased Vivian looked. She wasn't outright humming and she wasn't usually a glum person as far as Jayla knew, but now she had an air about her as if her favorite team had won a world championship. Isha didn't share in this vibe of triumph, but she didn't look upset or worried either, more along the lines of 'puzzled'.

Vivian, having kept up everyday talk about the upcoming Halloween party and the annoyances of calling in fake sick to work, finally said:

"Let me catch you up on what's been happening while you slept."

Sleeping past noon seemed justified with the night/morning they'd had, which left Jayla only a little embarrassed at 'sleeping in'.

"Isha and Rahul have laid claim to the room Jesse stayed in when we had our hunter-induced sleepover, but don't worry, Jesse's still very much welcome here! It's just that he has his own apartment, and, well."

Vivian gestured at Isha who hid her expression behind a sip of coffee.

"To be extra clear, everything's fine between us and Jesse. Don't mind Arturo's resting bitch face, no one is about to accuse anyone of anything. We would be throwing big damn rocks in glass houses if we held a grudge against him being suspicious of us after what happened to you the first time you ran into us."

Jayla honestly had no idea what to say to that. Not in her current weird, half-gloomy mood. Did I take my meds? A question quickly answered by the fact that she'd woken up past noon and eaten breakfast before going up to her room. No wonder she was so jittery and off-balance. Good thing they had no pressing heists to perform today; the only thing worse than no meds was no-sleep-because-of-too-late-meds.

"Hey, you with me?"

"Huh? Yeah, sorry, yeah."

Vivian put a hand on hers, which felt oddly perfect and natural. "Please don't worry about Arturo and Jesse. They're both adults who can work out their own issues. Trust me on this, I know Art. They're going to be fine. What I would like to know is how you are doing."

Answers piled up in Jayla's throat. She swallowed them. She'd finally made it as a full member of the team. She refused to risk that.

"I'm okay," she said with a hopefully convincing smile. "I should really call my mom though. Haven't told her about my new job yet."

Vivian gave her a long look but held back whatever comment she had balled up in her mouth. She frowned, as if searching for words, but Isha spoke up before she could:

"Rahul and I have been discussing the object Jesse took from the vampire cult. All information we have is of course possible lies, but we thought it best to share what info we have, despite that."

Jayla did her best to beam both curiosity and gratitude at Isha. Vivian raised an interested eyebrow.

"What've you got?"

Isha frowned and squared her shoulders, as if preparing to share bad news. "It's a merging tool."

That of course meant nothing to Jayla but Vivian sat up so straight in her chair you'd think she'd been zapped by something.

"Say again?"

"A merging tool." Isha might as well have said 'nuclear bomb' with the sense of dread the word now pulled along with it. "If what I've been told of its powers is correct, it's an artifact that allows you to steal magic from other people. Permanently."

"Are you sure that's what it does? We've heard rumors of stuff like that, but not exactly seen proof of it. Yet."

"I can't swear by this information since it comes from my former mentors, but as it's been explained to me, it allows you to merge with another person, incorporating them into yourself. You'd gain their abilities for as long as that other person...lasts."

Jayla tried hard not to picture that in any detail. She preferred her body horror fictional.

Vivian shuddered. "We need to tell Lisa about this. Trust me, we-"

A loud, blaring alarm cut Vivian short; a shrill, pulsing noise that should have had red lights flashing in time with it.

They were all up on their feet before Jayla could ask what the hell was going on. Everything about the noise told her they needed to act and they needed to do it right now.

Rahul yelled a question from the kitchen, lost in the wail of the alarm.

No one came up from the basement.

---

Arturo held his breath all the way to the basement. Jesse's presence behind him burned, bright and warm and far too there. He should have made another trip to the hospital before this. Too late now.

No use in dwelling on bad decisions already made. He needed to untangle this, get his head straight. Then he'd talk to Lisa.

His own room might not have been the best arena for this conversation, despite its benefits regarding privacy. But the other options were bathrooms or the backyard, so here they were.

"Where do you want me?"

Arturo's neck hairs prickled as they stood on end. He managed to resist whirling around and backing up against a wall but his hands curled into fists on their own accord.

"Sorry, I'll let you do the talking."

Turning slowly, Arturo took in Jesse in the doorway; shoulders stiff, posture hunched, face blank, eyes on a spot over Arturo's shoulder. Not a glimmer of the swagger and confidence he'd been display upstairs. Arturo's stomach began to squirm its way down into his legs, growling while on its metaphorical path. He bit the inside of his cheek until he drew blood. The sluggish, spares trickle of it became yet another reminder of his continued poor decision making skills.

He gestured at his computer chair. Jesse wordlessly took the seat.

"What the hell is this?"

That got Jesse to meet his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"This!" Arturo fought not to grind his teeth. A handful of words in and he'd already messed up. But he needed to power through. "The meek, soft-spoken act."

He prayed this was the act. He had seen Jesse all but spit in the face of a far more dangerous vampire. The man had hardly flinched while tied to a chair with an iron band around his neck. Surely a mere conversation couldn't outrank that in terms of terror.

Jesse let out a huff of laughter. "I think we're both too tired for raised voice and mind games."

As if they weren't playing one now.

Arturo sat down on his bed, a safe distance away from Jesse and his warmth. He'd said they needed to talk. Better get it over and done with.

"Thank you for the glamour protection." No trouble to sound sincere about that at least. Brushing a finger against the pin attached to his rumpled t-shirt, he continued with, "I'll give it back, as soon as you've answered my questions."

"Fair."

Arturo clamped his hand around the pin and hung on to it like an anchor. As much as the shapeshifter deserved rest and safety, as much as he'd risked for the rest of them, one thing still gnawed at Arturo:

"Why did you go outside?"

Jesse shrugged, face blank. "It seemed a good idea at the time."

Arturo's fingers ached around the pin. He was hungry, he was thirsty, he was bone-tired, he had far too many question, and he was terrified. Extending trust would be such a relief, but they needed full honesty for that, and this was the final thing that made absolutely no sense about the shapeshifter's actions.

No further explanation came. Jesse wouldn't fully meet his eyes.

"Stop bullshitting me." Not baring fangs. Definitely not baring fangs. "Why did you go outside?"

Arturo didn't get up from the bed but he made himself sit up straighter, squared his shoulders, even projected a shade of glamour. Not the kind that twisted minds but the flavor that drew eyes to him. Though he was out of practice it seemed to have the wanted effect.

Jesse paled as their eyes met.

"Tell me!" Not a glamoured command because he refused to be a monster. But he had to be sure. "I can't trust you around the others until I know."

"If you must know, it's because I'd been under the impression that the two of us were flirting! A self-delusion that got ripped to shreds by what happened between us in the kitchen."

Stunned, Arturo let go of the pin.

Jesse drew in a staccato breath and squeezed his eyes shut, as if the words had slipped out of him on accident.

"I was deluding myself and I'm sorry. I went outside because I needed space to think things through. I thought the wards would keep the garden safe."

The wards. They needed to follow up on what had gone wrong with the wards. But that was a dim, distant thought compared to the other alarm bells Jesse had set ringing.

"When I realized there were vampires incoming, it was too late to go back inside. Thought it best if only I got caught, since I know how to talk my way out of shit, as well as into it. I was the one who drew the coven's attention in the first place and I've got the advantage of being me," he gestured at himself, with emphasis on his neck. "So. New plan. Worked out okay."

If by okay you meant being fed on by multiple vampires with no guaranteed rescue in sight. On a normal person's scale that should rate somewhere close to catastrophe.

"You're telling me you were flirting with me?" Not the question he should be prioritizing but apparently all other options had been silently vetoed.

"Incredibly poorly and creepily, seeing as you have to ask." Jesse sank further in on himself, curling up on the computer chair as if he didn't want to bother the floor with his feet. "My apologies. I'm usually better at reading people. The whole 'fleeing for my life' bit must have thrown me off my game." He grimaced. "That sounded like an excuse. Wasn't meant to be. What I did to you was shitty, through and through."

Arturo sat in numb silence. Jesse thankfully kept talking.

"I also thought you really could do with some blood, which, you know, you could, but…" He scrubbed his hands over his face, leaving his already smeared eyeliner near the raccoon stage. "Okay, we can sit here all day with me trying to make this sound better than it is, but the truth is: I think you're hot, I thought we had a compatible dynamic and I was trying to make myself valuable to your group as well as distract myself from the mess I'd gotten myself into. I thought you were on a blood fast because of a bad break-up, not because-" Jesse paused, clamped his lips into a thin white line.

The voice of the cult leader floated up from Arturo's memory, whispering "Would you like that, child?" with glee. He shoved it aside with all he had.

"Because what?"

Jesse gave a weak chuckle. "Not taking your Blood Mark? That is some next level self-control."

"It's easier when you have a werewolf holding you back."

The chuckled evolved into an actual laugh. "I bet."

Jesse uncurled a fraction, letting go of one of the legs he'd been hugging to his chest. "What I'm saying is, I fucked up big time and I'm sorry for it. I'll do my best to keep out of your way. You've got every right to ask me to go to hell and never show my face here again."

As if Jesse hadn't backed off when Arturo turned him down and then leapt into the jaws of waiting vampires to protect the pack. On top of that, he'd risked breaking his body into a thousand pieces to get them all home safe.

"Hey." Jesse had a finger up, wagging it at Arturo as if he'd said something inappropriate in a middle school classroom. "I can't read minds, but I know that look. I don't want you blaming yourself for not stopping my shitty behavior. You didn't do anything to lead me on."

Except look at him like he wanted to eat him, both literally and figuratively - not to mention the confessions his Maker's glamour had pulled out of him. But apparently Jesse was too decent a person to call him out on that.

"There were plenty of other ways you could have secured a place here. What would you have gotten out of it?"

Jesse blinked owlishly. "Out of what?"

"Getting bitten."

Confusion joined the tension in the air.

"Aside from how good it feels and the possibility that it would lead to sex?" Jesse frowned at him. "You did hear me when I said I think you're hot, right?"

There it was, black on white. The master plan behind the 'seduction' tactic had been…seduction.

Arturo had no idea how to react to that.

The growing awkwardness splintered and cracked around them, a greenhouse of unease about to fall apart. The least he could do was try and control how it broke.

"It's not a religious thing."

"Pardon?"

Despite everything, it was kind of amusing to catch Jesse off-guard. It spurred Arturo on, against better judgment.

"Why I don't drink blood. It's not a religious thing." He dug toward the truth, floundering a bit. "I don't think I'm a monster. I don't hate myself."

"Never said you did."

But he'd likely assumed.

"I hate parts of being a vampire." No reason to lie about that. "I don't think anyone should have the ability to literally control other people's minds. It's awful. But the blood drinking…"

This is were he always got stuck. How could you put words to something like this and not make it sound irrational and petty? Arturo worried at his lower lip, fighting to ignore the fangs that threatened to cut through his skin. He had to try. They'd get nowhere if he didn't.

"I went vegetarian when I was little more than a child." It seemed the logical place to start. "Meat tasted awful to me. I'd gag every time I tried it. Didn't matter if it was home cooked or fast food, I couldn't keep it down. The texture was just wrong, somehow."

He held Jesse's gaze as he spoke, putting weight into every word. He found a rapt audience.

"I'm lucky I had a supportive grandmother." His breath hitched but he soldiered through it. "She got so good at making vegetarian food even my dad stopped complaining."

He missed her chicken-free chilaquiles most of all. The taste memory brought with it a sunny kitchen and the outline of her back as she stood by the stove. He could almost hear her tell him to eat up and get ready for school.

"When I fully woke up after my change, I couldn't make myself drink." The thought alone made him gag. "I started out with transfusions, but that only worked for a bit. Unless I wanted to have a permanent hole installed with a direct line to my stomach."

"Easier said than done on a vampire."

"That's an understatement."

Jesse had begun to meet his eyes again. Not with his previous cocksure confidence but there was no longer any flinching.

"I don't know if you've ever been in vampire shape long enough to feel the hunger," a shake of the head in the negative came in answer, "but it's not simply being hungry. It warps your perception."

The taste of cold, coagulating blood formed on his tongue, banishing all memory-traces of cheese and salsa before taking a phantom slide down his throat.

"You're disgusted by what you're about to do yet you're also looking forward to it." He rarely left any blood uneaten, no matter how old and rancid. "That's not something I want to put myself through except when I absolutely have to. I definitely don't want to involve another person in it, because biting someone so hard you break their skin, even with fangs, is a level of violence I could only push myself to if I was utterly out of my mind with hunger. Not exactly the safest thing to put someone through. I stick to blood bags."

"I get that. I really like rats."

It was Arturo's turn to blink at Jesse like a blinded owl.

"I promise this is going somewhere."

Arturo held back his reflexive sarcasm and made a vague hand-motion he hoped would translate to 'continue'.

"I had four pet rats when I was a kid. Wild rats aren't anywhere that cuddly and you shouldn't try to touch them, but they're still rats."

Before Arturo could puzzle out where those sentences were heading, Jesse went on with: "Got stuck as a dog for a few weeks once. Before I lost myself completely to it, I got to the point where I was starving. Instinct took over and, well, I ate one."

The words came out haltingly, as if each of them left a bleeding cut on its way from throat to lips.

"Poor thing was already wounded when I found it, but that only helps a little. Still have nightmares about it."

Arturo licked his fangs behind closed lips. Seeing the nausea and terror that twisted his own stomach mirrored in the set of Jesse's jaw and the paleness of his lips poured both water and gasoline on the fire.

"Part of you enjoyed it," he said, both to distract himself and because it had to be put out there. "You still remember that and you're wondering if you'd feel the same way if it happened again."

"Pretty much, yes."

Another silence, this one briefer and heavy with what Arturo chose to read as understanding.

"You can stay. If you want."

Jesse shifted in his seat, hands diving into his pockets. "Listen, I didn't make any of that up, but I also didn't share it to make you go easy on me."

"You've more than proved that you're not out to get us." Putting your life on the line twice in less than twenty-four hours more than made up for a handful of lies. Besides that, taking a magical artifact from a vampire cult was the opposite of a bad idea in Arturo's opinion. "I brought you down here to clear the air between us. That's all."

"You sure?"

He had to be. "I also wanted to apologize for my own behavior and assure you that you'll be safe while you're here. What happened at the warehouse will not be repeated."

Jesse snorted. "Of all the vampires I've run into - and that's a fairly high number - you're the last one I'd worry about sleeping in the same house with. Hell, I'd trust you to bandage up a bleeding wound."

"You heard what she said. What I said."

"You can't be held responsible for what you've said under glamour."

Arturo couldn't make himself take this offered escape route. There had been enough lies by omission between them. "The cult leader didn't order me to lie. She asked me if I wanted to bite you or not."

"You said yes, so what? You're literally starving yourself. You'd have gone after anyone."

If only that were true. But glamour didn't let you delude yourself like that, unless you'd been told to. He'd been breaking Jayla's bones to get to Jesse and only Jesse, even after two other viable sources of blood had entered the room.

"Any more air that needs clearing?" Jesse relaxed into the computer chair, pushing off the floor to swivel it back and forth a little.

"Not that I'm aware of." Arturo couldn't think of a way to keep the conversation going. Not in any meaningful direction. Not yet. "I'll let you get back to your talk with Jayla."

Jesse didn't get up. "Look, I want to rebuild the trust I've taken a hammer to. Are you sure there's nothing more I can do to start fixing this?"

Arturo doubted anyone but him and Sledge had any suspicions left about Jesse, and his had quieted to the customary wariness he felt about most people. But he knew how sleepless the nights got when you suspected your allies didn't trust you.

"If you agree to it, I could perform a background check on you."

"That's it?"

"Some people would say that's plenty." At least he'd have informed consent this time. He tried to not think about the conversation with Jayla he really needed to get to after speaking to Lisa. "You're agreeing to the check?"

As Jesse thought this over, Arturo heard the familiar sound of Lisa's lab door opening.

"Sure, but you won't-"

Jesse cut himself short. Arturo barely registered this, because his nerves were more shot to hell than usual and the door to the lab hadn't closed. Lisa never left the door to her lab open and no one went in there without her say-so.

"Did you hear that?"

"No," Jesse said after a beat. "But my ears aren't anywhere near as sharp as yours."

Arturo got up and walked over to listen at the door. Someone was breathing out there. He wouldn't put it past Vivian or possibly Jayla to come eavesdrop on them, but if so they'd flown; no footsteps had come down the stairs.

He opened the door.

A hand like a hammer hit him in the chest. He went flying across the room, all air knocked out of his lungs. His back and the wall collided with a sickening, dull thud, sending pain in a blinding crackle from his tailbone to his head.

He couldn't breathe. There was a hand clamped around his neck and no matter how he clawed at it, it wouldn't let go.

"You shift, I snap his neck."

The gentle blue glow at the edge of his vision died down.

"Much better. Keep quiet and I won't kill either of you. For now."

The vise around his neck loosened a fraction. Gasping for air, Arturo forced himself to take in the appearance of their attacker.

She had on the same clothes as the night before but the blood splattered in her hair had a fresh layer to it and she'd lost her smile. Arturo curled his hands into fists around her wrist to prevent himself from grabbing the anti-glamour pin like a safety blanket.

The world blurred and the pain in his neck blacked out his vision. When sight returned, he stood in the laboratory, the door closed behind him, his Maker's hand still around his neck.

"Impressive how well your pack respects your privacy. I'd assumed they'd come running by now."

The lab looked the same as when Arturo last had seen it, except for a number of stains on the floor which stank of blood. He dared a glance at Jesse. They both had hands around their throats, and Jesse's lips had begun to turn blue.

"You're killing him!"

"He's being dramatic," his Maker said, but let go of Jesse. She left him slumped in the middle of the demented finger paintings decorating the lab floor. It took Arturo a second to focus on the bloody lines.

Captures circles.

"And one for you."

His Maker, the cult leader, steered him into a circle on Jesse's right-hand side. Arturo tried to scramble at her wrist again, clawing at her cold skin, but he barely left a dent. His own nails remained blunt and inefficient, while hers pricked him needle-sharp.

The capture circle burned.

He couldn't panic. The others would realize something was wrong soon. Lisa and Dorothy would be back once they'd figured out his Maker couldn't be found in town. Ava would track her here. They only needed to survive until then. Distract her.

"How did you get out of the warehouse?"

To his surprise, she answered. "Your little pack of witches weren't too clever. The wards they set up around our family's temporary home allowed one vampire to exit. You." She put force behind the final word, as if it was supposed to mean something to him.

Probably because it should. Follow the clue. She was using him as a way to pass through the wards. Where had she gotten hold of his blood? She'd taken none at the warehouse. Had she kept some? How had she managed to keep it fresh for seven years?

We'll need to get that blood off her. She has to have it on her person.

"Cat got your tongue, child?"

"No." He swallowed, his throat dry as sand. "Did you know all along you could stroll through our house wards unharmed?"

The cult leader shrugged. "I couldn't believe my luck when your siblings found traces of you, my lost little lamb, here in this den of thieves. I took a chance. At first, I assumed you knew I was approaching and had laid a trap for us with such lovely bait," she leered at Jesse, "but you showed your hand at the warehouse. Our little shapeshifter here seems to have told the truth."

Jesse answered the leer with a shrug as Arturo's panicked mind struggled to make sense of that seeming non sequitur.

"Contrary to popular belief, not every word that comes out of my mouth is a lie."

"Just most of them." The knife-sharp smile crawled back onto the cult leader's face, in contrast to her fingernails, which had gone from vampirically piercing to humanly pinching. "I must confess myself impressed with your handiwork. It's soothing to know I was robbed by someone competent."

Jesse let out a shaky laugh. Sweat had broken out across his face and neck. His hands left wet spots on the floor. "Glad I haven't disappointed."

Arturo did his best to speak as the hand around his neck loosened a fraction. "What are you talking about?"

"What am I-? You didn't know?" The cult leader laughed in his face. Cackled like an old fairy tale witch. "Dear one, all the blood running through a Child's veins comes from their Maker."

She said it as if it were a revelation. Arturo tried to catch Jesse's eye, but the grip on his neck tightened again, forcing him to meet his Maker's gaze and glee.

"It becomes diluted over the years, for each time you 'imbibe'," she said, as if speaking to a small child. "We've been apart for so long your traces of me should have been faint. But lucky for me, you've clearly never had a fresh drink."

"What," he managed to croak out before she choked him into silence.

"We are made of magic, my dear. Blood is blood when it's given through a regular old human transfusion. It becomes divine only when we feed properly."

For each word she spoke, Arturo's lungs tightened and seized.

The cult leader tsked at him, brushing the back of her free hand against his cheek in a chilling caress. "There is an immense difference between drinking from a plastic bag and drinking from a throat."

Despite the suffocating heat of the capture circle and the painful grip on his throat, the ripple effects of that truth set its claws into him. He understood all too well now.

"No." The word was little more than a gasp.

"Yes, child!" His Maker smiled at him, disturbingly proud. "Any ward that allows you safe passage let's me through as well."

Arturo's tongue had gone numb. His eyes ached, barely focusing on the gloating face that took up his whole world.

No one had come to check on them yet.

"Ironic," Jesse said, cutting a fine hole in the sauna hot air. "Though I suspect it's got more to do with the freshness of the blood than the 'container' you drink from."

Arturo felt his Maker's attention shift away from him like a weight falling from his shoulder. He slumped against the wall as she let go of him, its comparative coolness a shock to his system.

"Got more clever words for us?"

Jesse bared his teeth in a grimace that couldn't be called a smile. "I'm guessing you want something in this room. Actually, I know you do. But you can't get at it."

The elephant in the room took no effort to spot. The wand remained on its table, the wards around it glowing a faint green.

"You need his help."

The cult leader gave a huff that got stuck between amused and frustrated. "What a mouth on that one."

"He has a name." Arturo showed her his fangs, because if there was any one person he'd willingly rip open, it was her.

"Letting pets keep their own names only makes it harder to eat them."

Arturo shrank back as his Maker reached for him but there was little space to move. She grabbed his chin and turned him away from Jesse, made him look at the table with the wand.

"Wards aren't one trick ponies. I hope you've at least been taught that much," she whispered in his ear, huddling up to him as if they were two friends about to share a smoke. "That one there is keyed to your blood but it requires your hands too. I need you to open it up for me so we can go free your siblings."

"And if I don't?"

"You have plenty of imagination."

"Based on what she's done with it before, I wouldn't help her out."

The cult leader reached over his shoulder to claw at Jesse, who took the punishment without making a sound. The stench of blood drying in the heat grew tenfold. Arturo clamped his mouth shut, dry-heaving. If he hadn't been inside the dampening field of the capture circle he might have lost it and bit either of them then and there.

"I promise you I can do damage not even a shapeshifter walks away from," the cult leader spoke next to his ear, her breath sending pins and needles through him. "If you help, I'll leave him alive and bring you to your rightful place in my family. If you don't, you both pay for what you've done to me and mine."

Arturo turned as much away from her as he dared. He got a flash of Jesse, the broken skin and the gushing blood where his neck met shoulder, the slow mending, the wide-blown pupils in eyes that tried to find his.

He gave a nod.

"Good boy."

The grip was back on his neck, though this time clamped from behind, like a bone-weary teacher leading an unruly student to the principle's office. He just had time to brace himself before his Maker pulled him out of the capture circle. Luckily, the scent of Jesse's blood stayed dampened, caught inside his barrier. The stench of gore still overwhelmed.

The wards blinked a greeting when Arturo put his hands on the table. Unspooling them would be a matter of three light pushes.

"Don't," Jesse gasped, his half-healed throat making the most ungodly sucking noise.

"I am faster than you," the cult leader said, shaking Arturo once, like a person who had no business owning dogs might do to a puppy that had peed on the carpet. "Get it done now or I'll tear him limb from limb!"

One.

Two.

Three.

Arturo pulled his hand back as the wards flashed in reply, then darkened.

The wand lay open to the air.

The cult leader let go of his neck and began to stroke his hair. "Don't do anything foolish."

"Take it and go." They'd have to track her down. Whatever the wand did, she couldn't be left in charge of it. "Leave."

His Maker let out another cackle. "Sweetie, don't think I-"

"Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to take that revenge you've been foreshadowing?" Jesse brushed blood from his neck, the skin underneath unbroken. "I've got places to be."

"In such a hurry to die?" The cult leader's grin split inhumanly wide.

Arturo did his best to stand stock still, to not provoke her. The others had to come check on them. Sweet God in Heaven, please let them stop being so respectful of privacy for once!

"It would have been nice to keep him whole. But this will be the next best thing." The cult leader reached out for the wand, the gesture slow and deliberate. "I've always wanted to truly change my form."

Her fingers brushed against the wood. It turned to dust at her touch.

On cue, the alarm started blaring.

---

The alarm shrilled up through the floor, deafening and needling, a migraine in the making. Standing at the stairs leading to the basement you couldn't miss the horror movie vibes all but flowing up the steps. Jayla, Isha and Vivian stood frozen there, staring down the spiral of stairs as if trying to summon x-ray vision.

"What the hell is that noise?"

Jayla stumbled to the right and instinctively bared fangs she didn't have. Rahul had appeared next to her, wearing a batter-covered apron and holding a kitchen knife.

"Someone who shouldn't be in the basement is in the basement." Vivian's voice was steady but her whole body shook with tension as contagious as a yawn though the opposite of lulling. It shot electricity down Jayla's spine, made her want to go running straight at whatever had invaded the mansion.

Jesse was down in that basement. They'd just saved Jesse.

Jayla's tongue stung. When she ran it along her teeth they seemed normal but she did catch a faint taste of copper. She forced a deep breath through her nose.

"What do we do? Will this call the others back here?"

"Lisa has an alert on her phone for this kind of thing. They'll be here. Just... not right away."

"No teleportation magic?"

"I wish. Only works on things, far as I know."

An itch began at Jayla's left elbow. She struggled to focus on calming breaths. She wasn't starving anymore, but she wasn't full or rested either. Shifting to wolf form now would likely be the opposite of helpful.

"Good instinct."

Jayla tore her eyes off Rahul and his knife, glanced over at Isha and the two knives she'd pulled from somewhere (that should not be hot), then landed on Vivian. All she managed was a raised eyebrow, too busy keeping her own body from betraying her to also speak.

"I'm in the same shoes as you, so it was easy to guess that you're holding back." Vivian showed off pointier-than-usual teeth and glowing eyes. "Also, your lip is bleeding and your eyes are a pair of headlights."

"Fuck."

"Are you two going to be okay?" Isha shouldered her way to the front of their little group, putting one foot on the first step downstairs. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Take the lead."

All eyes turned to Vivian again, blinking in stunned confusion. The surprise left Jayla's skin free of itch and her teeth froze in a state in-between normal and fang.

"I mean it." Vivian put a hand on Isha's shoulder, her nails thicker and darker than a human's should be. "Whether it's Big Bad Vampire Lady down there or someone else who's bad news, Jayla and I aren't thinking straight right now. Too burnt out. Got any tricks up your hunter sleeves that will help us out?"

Rahul stood stiff as a board, glaring at the way to the basement as if he could make it safe by staring it into submission. Isha, on the other hand, crossed her arms over her chest and gave a curt nod. The erratic air of stress around her focused into a sense of purpose.

"Rahul, could you manage another invisibility spell?"

"Maybe. Not for long though. And I'd need-"

Isha cut him off with: "Better than nothing. What's the layout of the basement?"

"First door on the right goes to Arturo's room," Vivian said, "the second one to where we keep all of Lisa's most valuable things. There's a corridor on the left that'll get you to Lisa's bedroom and her lab, left and right door respectively."

"Defenses?"

"Plenty, but you've been cleared by the outside wards so you can move about without triggering any more alarms. Sorry about this one but I don't want to give us away by turning it off."

Isha took another cautious step downward, testing her weight on the stairs. If the step creaked it wasn't loud enough to be heard over the mind-numbing alarm. "Here's my suggestion. Rahul, you scout ahead, if you can make yourself invisible. Get back here as soon as you can with intel. Vivian, Jayla, you go scarf down all the food you can in the kitchen. We might need your animalistic skills before this is over."

"Decent plan thus far. You ready, witch boy?"

"I'm not a-, never mind." Rahul drew in a deep breath and flashed green eyes at Isha; maybe on purpose, maybe not. "I'll do my best but I can't promise it'll hold. I'll... Oh I hate this part."

"I don't like you bleeding either, but we don't have time for you to learn the 'real' way."

Vivian grabbed Jayla's hand and gave her a gentle tug toward the kitchen. "We'd better put some space between us if you're going to get stabby. Vampires aren't the only ones who get weird around blood when they're hungry."

Jayla bit back the urge to growl - a growl with a human throat, that'd sure be a pathetic attempt at sounding big and scary - and would have followed along after Vivian immediately if Isha hadn't taken hold of her other hand, stopping the both of them in their tracks.

"Don't worry. You'll get to call your mom today."

When they parted, Jayla wasn't sure which of them was more flustered.

---

"Bring it back!"

"I don't know how." The words wrung themselves out of Arturo's throat in a rasp.

"Lying won't save you. Bring. It. BACK!"

"He can't help you with that. You should take your chances and run while you still have legs."

Arturo's Maker spat at Jesse, her saliva sizzling to vapor in the air before it could hit the floor. "Shut your mouth, meat! I'll rip your head off next, if I don't get-"

Steps, soft as anything, right outside the laboratory door. Arturo caught himself against the wall, now burning hot as asphalt in summer, and let out an exaggerated hiss of pain. Any noise to distract from the hallway.

To no avail. His Maker tore the lab door open with one swift pull. The hinges creaked ominously.

"Where is the wand?"

"You look like you're yelling at empty air over there, love. A bit stressed, are we?"

Arturo fumbled to sit up straight in his circle without touching the wall or the floor with bare skin and sent Jesse the most pleading look he could manage. It didn't get the response he'd hoped for. Jesse, the madman, winked at him.

"Shut up. Shut up! SHUT UP!" The cult leader's nails had grown to claws, thick, dark and sharp, her fingers far longer than anyone's should ever be. She left gashes in the wood of the door.

Arturo couldn't help but curl his own fingers into his palms. They itched with an echo of what his Maker had to be dealing with on top of the frustration of being thwarted. The smell of blood was far too thick and fresh in the room even within the dampening field of his capture circle. It couldn't all be coming from the drying circles. He hoped it was part of a plan and not a sign of more violence making its way from upstairs. One intruder was enough of a nightmare.

"I am not leaving here empty-handed. I will start on your precious dogs and baby hunters after I'm done with your shifter. I know your alpha bitch and that white hulk aren't here. Talk!"

She was so close all of a sudden, her sharp-fanged mouth and burning eyes taking up his full field of vision. She leaned into the circle, uncaring of the heat, hands finding his throat again. How did she think he'd be able to answer when he could barely breathe?

Jesse said something to that effect, earning another of her snarled curses. Arturo couldn't process the words, only the tone of loathing and the hint of fear.

He had to stall. She feared Lisa. She feared Dorothy and had to fear Ava. He needed to keep her here, keep her talking.

He needed to breathe.

"-stupid if you want to get out of here alive," faded in as the darkness encroaching on the edges of his vision crawled away, returning sound and sensations beyond his burning lungs and aching throat.

"Jesse, don't," he managed to croak out before his head slammed into the wall, leaving him nauseous, dizzy and aching. A concussion. Just what he needed.

"I won't take false advice from you, little viper." His Maker moved away from him, the hand around his throat loosening its grip. While bringing him more air, it also sped his heartbeat up to panicked racing. His vision was too blurry to make out anything but blotches of color.

Everything smelled of blood. His. Hers. Strangers'.

Jesse's.

The hand around his neck let go. Arturo grabbed blindly, raked his sharpening nails across skin, pulled, grappled and clung.

For the first time in his life, he bit skin hard enough to break it.

(Chapter 10) - (Chapter 12)