Darkness Haunts

chapter Fourteen



For the next two days Derrick and I searched for the missing vampire without so much as a hint of where he might have gone. I suspected someone might have moved him, but that idea was shot down, along with my previous one implying he may already be awake. Variola stayed confident that his supporter, whoever the person was, would not have been able to get him out of the area. It seemed like wishful thinking on her part, but I kept trudging along, sending my senses out as far as they could go in the hopes of finding him.

We had covered most of the passable roads in the area, which wasn’t hard since there weren’t many of them. Hiking would be the next step if we didn’t find the vampire soon. I’d had plenty of that in my military days and didn’t feel all that inclined to do it again. In the meantime, I came up with an alternative for the day that would get us through some territory with less work.

Derrick and I would be taking the morning tour on the Riverboat Discovery Cruise. It began in Fairbanks, but would pass along one area we hadn’t reached yet. I looked forward to doing something different and it gave me the excuse to get a little sightseeing in. Derrick admitted he had ridden the boat before, but gave grudging agreement to do it again. He claimed he was allowing it because I needed a break from the stress. Maybe I did.

To my dismay, our plans were delayed as soon as we opened the door. In front of us, blocking the porch steps, stood a huge moose grazing on the grass growing there. Spiky antlers with sharp ends branched off from his head. He gave us a disdainful look when we froze at the entryway. Derrick grabbed my arm, pulled me back inside, and shut the door behind us.

“What was that all about?” I asked, shrugging off his rough handling.

We could go around the moose. It would mean getting close, but still doable.

He glared at me. “Do you have any idea how dangerous those animals can be?”

I shrugged. “He doesn’t seem all that scary.”

Derrick shook his head. “I’m sure the last guy who was trampled to death by one would say the same thing if he was still alive to tell the tale.”

Somehow, I doubted that many people died from moose attacks. It seemed even more ludicrous when I considered my company. Derrick was an alpha werewolf. A moose couldn’t be that much of a challenge for him. I told him as much.

He snorted. “You think the answer is to kill the moose? This is his home too and he has as much of a right to be here as we do. The only reason to attack him is if it is for food or defense. Otherwise, it’s best to leave the wild animals alone.”

Should have known a werewolf would be sympathetic to animal rights. I’d never been much of an animal lover myself. My allergy to cats made them impossible to be around and dogs were too much trouble. My parents gave me a parakeet for my birthday when I turned nine and it hadn’t survived long. Apparently birds needed to be fed on a regular basis. Fish died even faster when left in my care. I was a little too generous in adding the chemicals to their water.

Animals and I did not go well together. Something as ugly and big as a moose rated even lower in the scheme of things. Especially when we needed to leave in the next ten minutes to get to the tour on time. I wished I could shoot the damn thing.

I glanced at my watch. Make that five minutes. Too bad the cabin didn’t have a back door. “Fine, we can’t hurt the moose. I get it, but can’t you at least scare it off?”

Derrick leaned back against the door and gave me an incredulous look.

“What would you have me do? I assume you know I can’t shift during the day. Attempting to scare a twelve hundred pound bull would most likely result in serious injury, for me.” He pointed a finger at his chest.

I sighed, realizing he wasn’t going to budge on the matter. In the last few days we had learned to set aside our differences and get along. Neither of us wanted to be stuck in these circumstances, so a truce had been called. I didn’t really want to see him get hurt. The man had been a lot nicer to me than expected. Besides, if he was injured, it might be a while before he could cook again.

“Sorry, you’re right,” I said. “We’ll wait it out.” However long that took.

Derrick relaxed. Seeing no further argument from me, he settled into a comfortable position on the couch and pulled out a book to read. Something having to do with the Civil War. Yeah, he knew he’d won this round. I skulked off to the bedroom to reschedule the tour for the afternoon.

After getting new tickets, I sifted through my email account while keeping an eye on the door. Derrick had a tendency to watch all my communications, making me think that must have been part of Variola’s orders. Over the last week I’d gotten a ton of frantic messages from Lisette. She hadn’t heard from me since the day I’d been captured. There hadn’t been a chance to call or write her back. She had to be going crazy.

Derrick stepped into the room. I closed the window and opened another one that would be less incriminating. He peered at my screen.

“California State University of Monterey Bay, why are you looking at that site?” he asked.

I gave him a disgruntled look. “Because I couldn’t get back in time for classes to start so now I have to cancel the ones I was enrolled in.”

He lifted his brows. “You were going to college?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “Planned to graduate in the spring too. Guess that’s not going to happen now.”

With a few clicks of the mouse, my schedule was cleared, along with my dream. It didn’t seem fair. I supposed the fact I was still alive should count for something—it could always be worse. Aniya was going to have the same problem if I didn’t save her. Derrick gently patted me on the back. I read sympathy in his eyes, making it hard to put much of the blame on him.

“Don’t give up yet, Sensor Girl. There’s always hope.”

I gave him a wan smile before shutting down the laptop. There would be no chance of getting a message out as long as he didn’t stop watching. It wasn’t worth trying to come up with more delay tactics in the hopes he’d walk off. I chose to go sit by the bedroom window where I could play a staring game with the offensive animal who ruined my morning plans.

Derrick left me alone. We didn’t speak again until the time came to go. The moose had wandered off by then so we had no further complications getting out. I figured the dirty looks I’d shot at it had sped things up.

The sight of the boat, a sternwheeler, lifted my spirits. This would be far more enjoyable than riding in an SUV all day. It had four decks for passengers to choose from, though the lower two were enclosed in glass. I wanted to be as high as possible. We climbed to the top, along with a couple dozen other passengers. At the back of the boat I could see the large wheel that would be churning the water as we moved along the Chena River. The tour would last three hours, but not all of it would be on the boat.

Derrick stood beside me, hands stretched out to grip the rails. At least he didn’t act annoyed to be there. I leaned forward as the ship began to thrust forward, enjoying the light breeze blowing across my face and hair. The tour guide gave us a running commentary while the land passed us by.

I had to keep my attention divided between the sights along the way and scanning for Nikolas, but still managed to enjoy the moment. As part of the tour, a bush pilot took off from a small runway next to the river and came back to land. Having been around larger military planes before this, it impressed me how short a distance it took for the pilot to get into the air. They called it STOL, short take-off and landing, in aviation terms. Some of the planes appearing along the way had floaters attached so they could land on the water. Their usefulness gave me an idea I would have to discuss with Derrick later.

A child calling loudly for her father brought my attention back to the deck. The six year old girl was hopping up and down pointing at a moose—of all things—that grazed near the river bank. A few feet beyond the girl stood Matt. He was staring straight at me from across the deck. He had an unreadable expression until our gazes met. A smile lifted his lips as he began walking straight toward me.

Crap.

Derrick’s body went rigid and a low growl came from his throat. No need to wonder if he’d noticed the younger guy walking our way. I needed to get rid of Matt fast. It had never occurred to me I’d run into him here.

“Melena, haven’t seen you in a while,” he said after reaching us. He stood with his legs wide apart and his arms crossed. I got a sense of disgruntlement from him as he shot Derrick a distasteful look.

“Been busy.” I shrugged. “How about you? What are you doing here?”

A slight blush colored his cheeks. “I’m trying to get in some of the tourist stuff. Figured I might as well do that much while living up here.”

“Makes sense,” I agreed.

“So, who’s this?” Matt nodded at Derrick. Despite the wording, I got the impression he really wanted to know why I was with the man. There was a definite undercurrent of hostility passing between them.

The werewolf stirred beside me. He didn’t give me a chance to answer, or at least make something up, and instead put out his hand toward the younger man.

“Derrick Wilson,” he introduced himself.

Okay, so they were going to at least act like they hadn’t met before.

“Matt Burrows.” He winced when the werewolf gripped his hand.

“You know Melena?” Derrick asked in a gruff voice, letting the younger man go.

I wanted to interject at this point, but Derrick put his hand behind my neck and squeezed lightly. With my long hair in a ponytail, it made it an easy place to reach. I understood the warning, but didn’t care for the methods.

Matt gave an affirmative nod. “Yeah, we’ve seen each other around a couple times.”

“Oh really?” Derrick turned his head to give me an inscrutable look. His voice sounded curious—too curious for my liking.

I opened my mouth to speak, but he squeezed me again. If he did it one more time, I was going to stomp on his foot. All this posturing was ridiculous.

“She’s a nice girl.” Matt replied in a tone loaded with a meaning I didn’t understand. He turned his gaze to me. “Did you find your friend?”

“Um, not yet.” I put my hands in my jeans pockets to keep from fidgeting. “But Derrick is helping me now so we should find her soon.”

I hoped my voice sounded more confident than I felt. Derrick had converted to caressing my neck, making it difficult to think. His hands were warm and rough against my skin but somehow managed to be gentle and soothing as well.

“Oh, that’s nice of him.” Matt’s expression conflicted with his words, “Last night I saw the guy who was with your friend before. Looks like he is making a habit of going to that same bar. It might be a good idea to try and catch him so you can ask a few questions. He has to know where she is.”

Derrick’s gaze swung toward me and the caressing stopped. Time to end this before it got ugly.

“I’ll check that out, thanks.” I implored Matt with my eyes to leave.

He frowned and gave me a worried look. “Are you alright, Melena?”

The caressing began again and I did my best to give a reassuring smile. “Of course.”

“Well, if you need help, you have my phone number.”

“Yep, sure do.” It’d been burned over a week ago.

“She’s with me now,” Derrick interrupted with a growl. “I’ll help her get her friend back. You just need to stay out of it.”

I started to retort, but he squeezed my neck again. That was it. I stomped his foot hard and squished my heel around for good measure. The damn man didn’t even blink.

Matt put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “If you say so. I just wanted to let her know the offer stands.”

He dropped his gaze from the werewolf and I recognized it as a submissive gesture. Derrick had won that round.

Matt’s next words came out low. “You take care, Melena. I’m still here if you need me.”

He walked off before Derrick could say anything further, which was probably a good thing since the tide of anger rolling off him made me think the werewolf was close to his limits. The whole confrontation left me angry with both men. If I’d had my way, neither one of them would have been involved.

Why couldn’t this trip have been a simple rescue of my friend? Instead, I ended up with people all around trying to manipulate me toward what they wanted. Meanwhile, Aniya continued to be trapped by dangerous sups who could be hurting her even now and there was nothing I could do about it.

I shot Derrick a dirty look and jerked on his grip. He removed his hand, but didn’t seem all that apologetic about it.

“If Variola finds out that kid knows anything, she’ll kill him. The best thing to do is run him off before he learns too much. Melena, you’re smart enough to know that.”

The muscles in my throat tightened. He had a point and the logical side of me knew that. I should have been grateful for what he did, but it could have been handled better. Besides, there was something more to that exchange than what they had let on.

“Do you know Matt?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’ve seen him in passing.”

His answer came out as a half-truth.

“Just in passing?”

A muscle in Derrick’s jaw ticked. “Let it be, Mel. The guy is human and ain’t got no business in all this.”

There was no trace of a lie that time. I turned back toward the river, hating the situation I’d been put in.

Derrick rubbed my back. “Concentrate on the tour and finding Nikolas. The sooner we do that, the sooner this is over.”

I followed his advice and pushed the meeting with Matt to the back of my mind. We visited the sled dog kennels for a famous Iditarod champion next, followed by a mock native Alaskan village. I tuned out the guides much of the time, preferring to concentrate on the scenery. The tour turned out to be a fairly good distraction from my worries.

It didn’t go as far as I’d expected, only about four miles. I had hoped to cover a lot more ground. Derrick later told me he’d known the distance wouldn’t be worth the trouble but decided to humor me since I appeared so excited about the idea. I chalked it up to a lesson learned and figured we’d have to get back to more serious searching tomorrow.

Both of us were hungry after finishing the tour and decided to travel to the far north side of town to a restaurant Derrick wanted to visit. Along the way, we passed by the University of Alaska Fairbanks and their recreation area. The forested area was a good place for students to ski and dog sled during the winter, and hike during the summer. That wasn’t what grabbed my attention, though.

I grabbed Derrick’s arm and forced him to pull off the road and into a parking lot set up for visitors. He gave me an inquiring look, but there was no way to explain what I sensed. Emily was out there. As soon as the vehicle came to a stop, I dashed outside and ran for the woods. It couldn’t be safe for a girl her age to wander alone on these trails. Any number of things could happen.

As I neared her, my inner warning system shrieked. Emily’s emotions had turned to high levels of terror. I took off as fast as I could with Derrick staying right beside me. While my breathing began to grow heavy from leaping over logs and passing through brush, his was smooth and even. We broke through a section of woods to find Emily being attacked. A large, black bear roared over her frozen form lying on the ground. My heart nearly stopped at the sight of it. Blood covered her upper body and her arms were pulled up to protect her face.

Derrick didn’t hesitate to race forward and jump in the fight. If he had been in wolf form, it might have worked, but in his human form he was at a disadvantage. He did manage to draw its attention away from Emily. Derrick slammed the bear in the muzzle with his fist, striking over and over, as he took careful steps back. He was drawing it away. I supposed with his unnatural strength it would be a lot more painful for the animal than if I had tried that. It wouldn’t be enough to scare it off, though.

I pulled my gun, which was tucked into the back of my pants, and aimed for the bear. Its head was too close to Derrick and I couldn’t get a good shot. I gave up on a clean kill and aimed for its side instead. Just before the bullet tore into the animal, it gave a powerful swipe, hitting Derrick’s head hard. The werewolf slammed into a tree behind him and passed out. Blood covered the side of his face.

The bear turned toward me with a roar of rage—my bullet had hit him, but not enough to do severe damage. I pulled the trigger again, this time aiming for its head, but the bear dropped to all fours at the last second and I missed. By the time I reacquired my sites again it was too late. The animal had almost reached me. It rammed my body into the ground and jerked my arms over my head. I lost my gun in the fall. Sharp claws raked across my torso, sending screaming pain up my side. I thrashed, hitting anywhere I could in an attempt to save myself. I was losing the fight.

Lucas appeared larger than life with a flash of golden light. He grabbed the bear in one hand and tossed it like a rag doll into a thick tree thirty feet away. An audible crack sounded as the animal’s head collided with a heavy thud. His large form slumped to the ground, unmoving. I doubted it would wake up again. The tree suffered some minor disfigurement and seemed to be leaning more than it should, but it remained standing.

My gaze moved over to Lucas, who appeared as if he’d come straight from a business meeting. He wore black pants with a matching jacket, a designer blue shirt, and shiny black dress shoes. After his move with the bear, you would think he might have gotten a little messy, but not one hair was out of place. He hovered over me with his intimidating form.

I pulled myself up to a sitting position, hoping to maneuver away and put some space between us. Sharp pain shot up the side of my torso and a groan escaped my lips. I had to lie back down to catch my breath. Damn. The claws had dug deep.

Lucas bent down to examine me, his brows furrowed in what might have been concern on a normal person. I lay still, feeling as if I’d exchanged one predator for another. The touch of his warm hand sent tingles along my body while he checked the extent of the damage. My blood clung to his fingertips where he had grazed the deep gouges. After he finished, he stood up and cleaned his hand off with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket.

“You’ll live.”

The blood loss must have made me light headed because his pronouncement made me smile.

“Making a habit out of saving me, Lucas? It’s shining my tarnished image of you.”

He lifted his brows. “Your day will come— but it isn’t today. Do make an effort to try and stay alive, sensor. Saving you is getting tedious. I may decide to put you out of your misery myself if this keeps up.”

More half-truths, but he didn’t give me a chance to call him on it. One moment he stood there and in the next he flashed away, the bear’s body was gone with him. At least with the evidence taken away, I could claim the animal had ran off after I shot at it.

I forced myself up again, managing to suppress a groan this time. Derrick lay with his eyes closed not too far from me, but it was Emily I was worried about. A sigh of relief came over me when she turned her head and looked my way with clear blue eyes. Pain reflected in them, but at least she appeared lucid.

I crawled over and kneeled next to her. While she might be awake, her injuries were much worse than mine. The bear had bitten her deep in the arm and clawed her left shoulder and face. Blood seeped from her wounds and covered her clothes. Though nothing appeared immediately life threatening, I knew I needed to call for help.

We were on the side of a trail wide enough for a car to pass through. I figured an ambulance should be able to make it to us without too much trouble. My cell phone was in my pocket so I made the call. The dispatcher assured me they had already received reports of shots fired and emergency crews were on their way.

After hanging up, I sat down next to Emily and used my jacket to put pressure on her worst wound where her shoulder had been gauged deep. I cursed myself for not bringing my bag with the first aid kit inside. All those preparations and they meant nothing now.

Emily couldn’t talk with all the damage done to her face. At first she tried pushing out a few syllables, but stopped after it caused her too much pain. I soothed her with nonsensical words and held her hand. A wave of despair came over me at seeing her torn up so badly. What had she been doing out here in the first place?

Derrick came over to us a few minutes later. The visible damage he’d taken appeared to be healing already. I could see the cuts on his face weren’t as bad as before. Werewolves could heal much faster than humans, though it still took some time to fully recover. He kneeled on the other side of Emily, checking her over. I updated him on my call for an ambulance and he nodded his head.

He had a haunted look in his eyes while gazing down at Emily. A tear might have fallen from him, but I couldn’t be sure. The anguish he was showing made me wonder what was going on in his head. He began murmuring his own assurances to the girl, and it was clear he knew her well from his regular visits to her home. At least she seemed to respond to him. I supposed they must have built up some kind of bond, but it didn’t occur to me how much until now.

Emergency crews found us a short while later. Derrick and I insisted on them checking over Emily first. Only after she was tended did I let them near me. Derrick refused altogether, saying he would take the SUV and meet us at the hospital. They would notice his rapidly healing injuries if they were around him for long. A quick clean up job would erase the evidence of his wounds altogether once they healed.

I chose to ride with Emily, telling the EMTs I was her aunt. They didn’t question it. The entire time we rode in the ambulance, she kept giving me strange looks. Derrick and I showing up together had probably thrown her off, but explanations for that would have to come later. She had her own explaining to do.