Life’s a Beach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter One

 

“What are you looking at, Vincent?”

“Shh! Just stay down and look!”

Audry Bruchenhaus crouched down next to her favorite cousin, Vincent Williams, crawling up the sand on the beach behind the high sand dune which at this point she could not see over. Crouched down next to him was her niece Maris, her brother’s daughter who was eight, adventurous, and currently having fun spying on whatever Vincent was spying on. Thankfully there was a scraggly bush that caught much of the sand and gave them cover to hide behind. As it was summer, all of them were in their bathing suits, though Audry wore a buttery yellow sundress over hers.

Audry glanced to the left where the ocean waves were rolling in and out, almost rhythmically. She could hear the wind blowing over the grasses to her right and gulls above. She could also hear laughter on the beach below where they were spying. Ahead, several yards away, was another beach cabin, clearly occupied. And apparently the inhabitants were playing down below. Whatever they were doing, it was entertaining her cousin and niece to utter distraction.

Audry sighed and scooted in closer to see what they were seeing, pulling up the skirts to her sundress so she would not step on them.

Every year their two families (the Williamses and Bruchenhauses) got together for a week at the beach before the end of summer, usually renting the same beach house. Their parents got on so well (her father and his mother being brother and sister), despite how crazy and snobby their other Bruchenhaus relatives were, that they had made it a tradition. However, sometimes it got boring. Lately they sought all sorts of things to do, including make new friends on the beach, which was what Audry had initially thought they were doing.

“What the…” Audry drew in a breath. It took a moment to see what they were seeing. There were other sand dunes which obscured their view of the group down below, but they could see those people below were college-aged if not just barely graduated, late twenties, also at a beach party. It had all the features of a reunion party actually. Audry thought it was odd that her cousin and niece were so entertained by this group—that is, until she recognized a few of the people down there.

Matthew Calamori, a New York policeman whom she had interacted with (and was clearly off duty), was walking in swim trunks from the house to the beach, looking cheerful and all Italian with his creamy sun-kissed skin. Randon was also there but without his wife Silvia. He was also shirtless, paler, and talking with a guy on porch who looked like he could be Randon’s brother—except that the man was wearing a long sleeve shirt, sunglasses, and was well in the shade as if he were allergic to the sun like a vampire. And she also saw Tom Brown, Matthew’s best friend, who was wearing a sleeveless hoodie, and swim trunks, the most wet and laughing. He was also a CIA agent.

“We should go,” Audry said, her heart booming. She knew a few more things about Tom and Matthew which made her want to leave now. Both men were a little, yet inexplicably, psychic.

“Shh!” Vincent hissed, not budging.

And that was when she saw him. Howard Richard Deacon III.

‘Rick’ Deacon was on the beach throwing a frisbee between a Chinese guy, and possibly a dog. She could not see the entire game, as half of it was behind another sand dune which all three of them were running behind as if they were going in a circuit. That is, she thought there were three of them until she saw a different dog. The first one had been a poodle.

“That one is a collie,” Vincent said to Maris.

Maris nodded.

Audry shifted closer to him, watching.

Rick ran back into view, expertly catching the plastic disk, tumbling over the sand with the skill of a guy who had never quit sports even though he was going into business full time. His front and back were both heavily scarred, crisscrossed with damage, some wounds old, others new, like his skin had been a patchwork quilt. When he threw the frisbee, he quickly dashed ahead to the other side where they could unfortunately not see. But then out ran the Chinese guy. He was in blue boxers, which were rather loose on him. Audry was a little afraid they’d fall off. He was grabbing them, tugging at the drawstrings to fix them. He caught the frisbee then ran back to the other side.

This time a rust-haired wolf ran out.

Audry and Maris both drew in breaths. The wolf caught the frisbee in his teeth.

“Is that a wolf?” Vincent gasped.

“Yeah,” Audry said, recognizing that wolf too. His back was scarred, his rusty fur, erratic. It had been marred with stitching from a recent cougar attack which she, herself had rescued him from. The wolf looked otherwise healthy and happy—but what was a wild wolf doing on a public beach?

“Why is that wolf wearing boxer shorts?” Vincent asked.

Audry stared. Then she really stared, as they were the same green color shorts Rick was just wearing.

The wolf ran out of view with the frisbee in his mouth.

A Great Dane then ran into view, also wearing shorts. His were blue. The frisbee sailed toward him. They watched him catch it in is large maw, loping over the beach on his long legs.

“Big dog,” Maris said, breathless.

But Audry shook, her mind in overdrive. It went even more into panic mode when she saw Rick run again into view—wearing those green boxers, with that heavily scarred front and back. No way could that be a coincidence.

She immediately got up and ran from the sandy dune.

“Where’s she going?” Vincent looked back as she fled.

Maris shrugged.

They continued watching. They saw a doberman next. The wolf a second time and then a golden retriever.

“How many dogs are down there?” Vincent murmured, squinting to see better.

“Well… fancy that,” said a bright voice up to their right.

Vincent immediately grabbed Maris and pulled her close. He looked to run. But his eyes fixed upon the tall, pale man in the sleeveless hoodie, shorts, and sunglasses. He was grinning manically.

But then Randon walked up, whom Vincent recognized better once he was close. Randon grinned, “Hey, it’s Vincent, right?” His eyes then flickered to Maris. “And Maris Bruchenhaus. How’s your arm?”

Vincent looked down to Maris, whispering, “You know him?”

Maris nodded, rising to her feet and dusting the sand off. She propped her hands onto her hips and asked, “How many dogs do you have down there?”

Randon and Tom exchanged looks. Tom laughed. Randon shrugged and replied, “As many as we want?”

That made no sense to Vincent, who realized there was something really odd about these people. It gave him chills. He realized that perhaps Audry had a good reason to run.

“There were three people here just a second ago,” Tom said, strolling around the two then peeking to the side of the sand dune in case someone was hiding. “Where is the third member of your party?”

Vincent rose onto his two feet and squared his shoulders. “It’s just Maris and me.”

Tom’s grin crooked up the side of his mouth, his eyebrows raising.

Maris rolled her eyes though, and said, “Aunt Audry was here just a second ago. But she went back.”

“Audry?” Both men echoed, sounding shocked.

“Shh!” Vincent covered Maris’s mouth with his hands.

Tom and Randon exchanged looks. This time they appeared concerned.

“What did you see?” Tom asked, listening intently, though it did not seem to be to their words. It was like he was hearing the wind talk to him, or rather, shout out at him.

Vincent colored, speechless for a moment. “Uh… we didn’t mean anything by it. It’s just, we saw the dogs and…”

“You stayed for the frisbee show,” Randon concluded, chuckling.

Both Maris and Vincent nodded. Maris smiled freely, but Vincent could not help but glance back toward his family’s beach house, wishing to escape.

Tom slung a long arm around Vincent’s shoulder. It felt rather heavy and threatening, though Tom spoke with such a lighthearted laugh. “So… we’re going to have a party this evening. We’re inviting a ton of people. And, well, since you are here, we’d like to invite you too.”

Vincent chuckled nervously.

“Can I come?” Maris eagerly asked, hopping on her feet.

“Sorry, sweetie,” Randon said, bending down to her level. “This is a grown-up party—and probably past your bedtime.” But then he lifted his eyed to Vincent. “But we would like to invite Audry, if she would come.”

“Uh…” Vincent tried to slip out of Tom’s hold, pushing off the man’s weighty arm. “We’re probably busy. We’re all here with family and—”

“The campfire roast is tomorrow, Cousin Vincent,” Maris said. “Tonight, Mom, Gramma and Cousin Vivian want to talk about babies.” She rolled her eyes. “Skyler says it’s gonna be boring. He said Dad’s planning a man’s night with sports for you guys.” She rolled her eyes more.

“All that baby talk will be boring for Skyler, but not for you,” Vincent reassured her. “Trust me.”

“Well,” Tom said, letting Vincent go—a relief off his back and neck. “Pass on the invitation to Audry anyway—or for that matter, any adult who wants to come. We are inviting a ton of people.”

Vincent shot him a side look, and nodded.

Randon winked at him, but first time since he met the guy, it felt ominous. Vincent hardly knew him, to be honest. He had met him once when moving Audry out of her New York apartment. He was beginning to see why Audry wanted such a hasty move. After all, she had said her roommate was a witch—and she was not calling her names either

Vincent led Maris by the hand back to their family’s strip of beach, taking a slight roundabout route. No one followed them—that is if he did not count the black cat who showed up and began to rub up against his ankle for attention. It followed them back to the cabin, not human shy at all.

Their family cabin was just large enough for the two single gals (Vicky and Audry) to bunk together in the loft with Maris, and the five couples to each have their own room. That left Vincent and Skyler the living room couch and pull-out bed most evenings.

As Vincent let Maris loose, the cat following her, he searched around for Audry. His cousin (Audry’s brother) Doug, with Doug’s wife Jean, were there on the patio playing backgammon. On the beach, his oldest sister Vivian was with her husband James Timlinson, playing with Skyler and making a sand sculpture. Vivian was eight months pregnant and excited to be a mother—which was why they would be talking about babies that evening. Vanessa, his sister just a year older than him, was swimming in the ocean with her husband Owen Stephens. Vicky, the middle sister, was nowhere to be seen outside. And neither were either parents or Audry.

Opening the cabin door with a nod to Doug and Jean, Vincent paused and asked, “Have you seen Audry?”

Both of them shook their heads.

“I thought she was looking for you?” Doug said, rolling the dice on the board. He got a four and a five. He decided to move two pieces.

“She found us,” Vincent murmured, “but then she left again.”

“Oh.” Doug watched Jean pick up the dice, and drop it into the cup for her roll, not really that interested. 

Vincent opened the door the rest of the way and went inside.

Vicky was sitting in the living room, propping her toes the coffee table, painting her toenails. Both sets of their parents were in the kitchen, assembling something for lunch. Lifting his chin and peering over, Vincent detected marinated chicken and fruit kebabs. There were not enough vegetables to make Audry happy, as she was a vegetarian striving to be vegan. He would have to say something about it. However, he asked, “Have any of you seen Audry?”

They shook their heads.

“She was looking for you earlier,” Vicky said, gently stroking more red over her pinky toenail, keeping her eyes on that for a steady hand.

He nodded. “She found us, but then she left again. Do you have any idea where she’d go?”

They shook their heads.

“Check the beach,” his uncle Zachary said.

Nodding, Vincent sighed. It was most likely she was at the beach somewhere. Or out shopping for vegetables. She could have known about the excess of chopped meat in the kitchen and just wanted to be away from it.

He went back outside, thinking on what to do.

Maris ran in with the cat when he walked out.

“Hey! Where did that come from?” Vicky called out. “I don’t want cat hair on my toenails!”

“He followed me home!” Maris declared. “He’s really friendly. Can I keep him?”

“He probably belongs to somebody, Maris.”

“So, you like cats now?”

“He’s not a cougar,” Maris protested. “He’s a little kitty. By the way. I saw our wolf on the beach today.”

Vincent halted. He was about to step off to the sand to go look for Audry, but Maris’s words anchored him there.

“Our wolf? You mean Audry’s wolf?” Aunt Clover asked, sounding mildly surprised.

Maris must have nodded because she tagged on, “He was playing frisbee with a dog and a Chinese guy and this other guy. Vincent and I were watching, and they have a lot of dogs over there. And do you know what else? That guy, that friend of Audry’s, you know the husband of the witch? He was there. We talked with him and this other guy with a crazy smile and white hair—”

“Crazy smile?” Doug piped up. “And white hair?”

“Doug, it’s your turn,” Jean said watching him rise from his seat.

Maris turned around and walked back to the door as her father waved her mother away to pause the game. “Yeah, Dad. He was wearing sunglasses. And is smile was like—” She demonstrated by pulling up her own mouth at the corners. “I can’t even do it. And he hardly had a shadow. I swear. The sun just went right through him.”

Doug leaned back then looked at Vincent. “Did you see this guy?”

Vincent nodded. “I… I’ve never seen a guy quite like him before. Tall man. Pale. He just seemed like, I don’t know, the embodiment of mischief.”

He watched Doug nod to himself. “That sounds like Tom Brown.”

The cat perked up and meowed to be let out. Doug pulled on the door to open it.

Maris followed the cat. “Where are you going kitty?”

The cat rubbed up against Doug’s legs. Doug reached down and scratched between its ears. “So Tom Brown and Randon Spade are here on the beach? What are the chances of that?”

Vincent shrugged getting shivers. “No clue. But, uh, I think maybe now I know why Audry left so fast. She recognized them.”

“And she didn’t want to say ‘hi’?” Doug angled his head back. “They’re her friends.”

Yet Vincent shrugged again. “What can I say? Something else is going on with those people. They—”

Up walked an absolutely beautiful woman, Mediterranean coloring, making Vincent think of Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz, and Julia Ormond all at the same time. She had blue green eyes that reminded him of the ocean and a smile so gorgeous he would have done anything for her if she asked.

“There’s my cat,” she said, reaching down to it. Her voice was mesmerizing, resonating hypnotically into his chest and head.

But the cat stuck up its tail and rubbed up against Vincent’s leg again.

The woman smiled at Vincent. That’s when he noticed standing with her was that Chinese guy who had been playing frisbee-toss with the dogs. The guy was glancing around, curious-like.

The woman said, “Hi! We’re beach neighbors.” She thumbed down to where Vincent and Maris had just been. “And we’re having party tonight—for adults. Sorry, no kids.”

Maris hung her shoulders. She glared sullenly at the woman too, decidedly not liking her for some reason. Jean stared at her also, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. Perhaps it was because Doug was gazing at her, utterly stunned. In fact, Vincent noticed that all the men in earshot had paused and were listening intently to her.

And why not? Her voice was like music. And she was beautiful.

Yet she said, “So, if any of you are free this evening, we’d like to invite you!”

“Selena!” Audry drew in a breath.

Vincent turned, seeing his cousin. Heaving a breath of relief, he rushed up to her. “There you are! Where did you go?”

“I needed to take a walk,” Audry said, her eyes fixed on the woman. She walked up to her. “You’re here too?”

Meeting her gaze more kindly, the Mediterranean woman whom Audry called Selena said, “Yes. We’re having a reunion down the beach. Tom said you were here.”

Audry stiffened.

But Selena gently rested her hand on Audry’s shoulder, and said, “Come on. We’d like you to come to our party. It will be fun, and… we can answer questions which I am sure you have.”

Audry nodded slowly. “Ok.”

“Oh!” Selena shook her head. “Where are my manners? Audry, this is our good friend, Chen. Bai Nian Chen, actually.”

Chen extended a hand, which Audry shook. He also shook Vincent’s and Doug’s hands as well—and even Maris’s who grinned up at him.

“He’s an old friend who’s been in China for a while, and he just came back,” Selena declared. “Working, right?”

“Genealogical research,” Chen said with a perfect American accent, proving he was not an import, but a local boy. He smiled most kindly to Vincent and then Audry. “Pleasure to meet you all.”

“Did I hear the word party earlier?” Vicky made her way to the door on her painted-toed feet.

Selena nodded to her. “Yes.”

“I am dying of boredom. That would be great.” Vicky grinned at them. She hopped back into the room. “Yippee! Real people!” Then she looked to her parents and cousins. “No offense, you guys. I just gotta get out.”

Selena waved to Audry with a wink then smiled once more at Vincent before turning with Chen and leaving.

Audry and Vincent exchanged looks. They had a lot to talk about.

Jerking with his head, Vincent directed Audry toward the beach so they could have that talk. The cat followed them.

Maris grabbed for the cat, but it got away. She made chase. “Come on kitty!”

It darted into the grasses going out of sight.

“Maris! Leave it alone!” Doug called after her. “It belongs to that lady. You can’t keep it.”

Vincent glanced back to the cabin, watching. Once they were out of earshot of the cabin he broached the subject that was on both of their minds. “So… they are why you left so fast?”

Audry nodded. But then she shook her head. “I didn’t want to spy on them. But… Vincent, remember all the stuff I told you about Silvia, about Randon and Rick?”

He nodded.

“Rick was down there,” she said.

He blinked at her. “Huh?”

“The guy in the green swim trunks with all the scars?” She watched his face, waiting for him to acknowledge he saw what she had seen. “He was playing frisbee with the Chinese guy and all those dogs… and the wolf.”

Vincent slowly nodded. “I… I didn’t recognize—the Frankenstein man was Rick?”

Audry nodded more heavily. “Yes. Don’t you remember? His trip to Germany?”

He shook his head.

“Don’t you read the news?” Audry huffed. “He was attacked by wolves in Germany last summer. And in the beginning of this summer he was in a car accident. The guy was badly hurt both times.”

But she was pale, shaking her head. Logic was screaming at her that what she saw was what she saw. There was no other explanation for it.

“Ok…” Vincent nodded. “So, you don’t want to talk to him.”

She shook her head. “It’s not that. You saw the wolf.”

He nodded.

“That was my wolf,” she said.

He leaned away from her. “Are you—?”

“I would know my wolf anywhere,” she said. “I rescued him at the beginning of this summer. I know what his scars look like. The color of his eyes and the color of his fur are forever etched in my mind.”

Vincent nodded. “Ok…”

“And Rhett said he saw the wolf in Germany,” Audry murmured aloud, her mind going over the past few years. “But Rick insisted that he did not own a wolf. And neither of them were lying.”

“You’re not exactly the best judge of liars, Audry,” Vincent remarked.

She shook her head. “Not if it involves a man I’m in love with, no. Love blinds me. I get it. But this is not that. Also, when I first met the wolf—” She swallowed, thinking as her hands shook, “—Rick had just showed up at the ski lodge, full moon—just like this last time—and the very morning after I dug a bullet out of the wolf’s leg, he, Rick, was limping on the same leg. He claimed he has slipped on ice and twisted his ankle. I mean, what are the chances of that?”

Vincent stared at her.

“And he’s allergic to garlic and silver and aconite and—why was I so blind to that?”

“Are you saying those stories about him being a werewolf are true?” Vincent stared dryly at her. He set a hand to her forehead. “Maybe we’d better go back. You could be getting heat stroke.”

She shook her head, pushing his hands off her. “Vincent…” She closed her eyes. “I know it sounds insane. But… they were wearing the same shorts. Him and the wolf. On the beach. They have the same scars. Come on! You saw that, didn’t you?”

He swayed there, thinking on that. The wolf was in green shorts. The dogs were also wearing shorts. Blue, though.

“Maybe it was a joke,” Vincent murmured. “Something that blonde guy did.”

“Look, I don’t want to believe it, but…” She shook her head, “What if… What if magic is real?”

He rolled his eyes, looking to her again. “Come on. This? From you?”

She moaned, putting her head in her hands. “I know!  This is insane. But Silvia….” She shook her head. “Vincent. I never told you about some things. Silvia…” she shook her head harder, closing her eyes. “She actually did use magic.”

Vincent’s eyes widened on her, but it was in concern for her mental health, not in shock.

“I know it sounds lunatic, but remember when those crazy ladies went after her? That that that girl that showed up with the knife?”

He nodded, though she did not see, her eyes still closed. So he said carefully, “Yeah? You shot her with your trank gun.”

Audry nodded. “Yeah. Um. I didn’t tell you about this, uh, spell Silvia made before then.”

“Spell?” Vincent felt ill.

Cringing, Audry nodded. “I didn’t exactly believe in it at the time, though she asked me to suspend my disbelief. Um, her brother was there, and, uh, she called it a shadow spell.”

“A shadow spell…” He looked back to the cabin, thinking about steering Audry in that direction.

“I know it sounds hokey, but the thing is, it actually worked,” she said.

Vincent shook his head, looking to the ground.

Audry inched closer to him. “What it did was make it so those women could not find us. They could not even see us unless we presented ourselves to them.”

“But she found you,” Vincent objected. “That one—”

“That was after I had left to Africa and came back. The spell was broken by me leaving,” she said.

He groaned. What was he going to do? Audry was having a mental breakdown.

“Look. I know this sounds nuts,” she declared, pale.

He nodded. It did.

“Grandma Bruchenhaus was with me and Hogan shopping for a florist for the wedding at the time. We were being followed by one of them—who saw Hogan and Grandma, but not me.” Audry recalled that moment too well, as she had been calling Matthew Calamori in panic for police help.

“You don’t know that,” Vincent said, shaking his head.

“Yes, I do,” Audry retorted. “I stepped to the side, went to where she ought to see me, and I overheard her talking to someone else on the phone, and she said she could not find me.”

Vincent continued to shake his head. This was nuts.

“Point of fact two—” Audry nodded. “Silvia set up the spell to protect me from predators. And, if you can recall, Hogan could never find my apartment.”

“Now wait a minute—”

“And you know what I found out about him.”

“But he’s been to your place,” Vincent said.

“Never the second one,” she argued. With a nod, she repeated, “Hogan was never able to find it. And when you came in, you just fell asleep.”

Vincent rolled his eyes. “So what?”

Meeting his gaze, “Silvia told me that if a predator did get in, or someone with predatory behavior, he would be knocked out… unconscious.”

He laughed. “I… me? I wasn’t—”

She shook her head, recalling it. “You were acting that way towards Hogan. And when you fell asleep, Silvia said she might have to tweak the spell as she had made it too broad.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” Vincent shook his head, looking to the cabin again.

Audry folded her arms. “I also was able to go around unseen from the other witch at the university. She never saw me if I did not want her to see me.”

“Ok, ok…” Vincent thought fast, knowing logic would kill this stupid superstitious argument. “If that is the case, if magic is real and Rick Deacon is a werewolf, then he never would have been able to go to your apartment either. And he was there when I was there packing up your things. What about that, huh?”

She shrugged. “That was when I was already in Africa and the spell was broken. Besides, he owned the place. He set me up there.”

Vincent paled, something shuddering through him. “And he’d never come before?”

“No.” She shook her head. And another instance came to her. “And… remember when I told you about spying on him when he met up with his ex in an alley?”

Vincent nodded darkly. He remembered that. It was the straw that had broken her camel’s back that made Audry flee New York City to go to Africa—in many ways, more than the revelation of what a scumbag Hogan Orwell truly was.

“Neither she nor he could see me,” she said. “And Silvia claimed it was because his ex, Daisy, was a stalker and a threat to me. But… if he were a werewolf, he’s a predator also. And for a second, I thought he could sense me—but he did not actually see me.”

Vincent closed his eyes. “Audry…”

“I know,” she said. “I’m freaking out too. I wish I were wrong.”

“You are wrong,” he said. “You are just tripping right now. Too much sun.”

She shook her head. “I hope you are right. I want to be wrong.”

Taking her by the shoulders, Vincent said, “What can I do to get you out of this funk? How can I help you clear your head and come back to sanity?”

Audry frowned. “I don’t know. I think I’ve already fallen down the rabbit hole.”

He wrapped his arms around his cousin, hugging her tight. “Audry. Please. Let’s just go back to the cabin. I’ll get you some water. I’ll get you a fan, a cold rag and you’ll cool off. And when you’re feeling better then we can talk. Ok?”

She nodded.

The black cat ran down the beach sand not far away, scrambling back toward its home.

Questions and Truth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Two

 

Vicky wanted to go to the party, and she did not want to go alone. But when she heard from Vincent that Audry was not feeling well, and he also had no desire to go to that beach house for the party, Vicky nearly fell apart.

“No! You both have to come with me! You know them, Audry!”

Audry exchanged a look with Vincent, her hands shaking again. They had been finishing dinner, which was unfortunately too scant of vegetables for Audry’s tastes, leaving her hungry still. Most of the family was sitting around the large screen TV which would soon show the sports event Doug, his father and his uncle were planning to watch. Skyler and Maris had negotiated for an iPad to watch a different movie upstairs. The married ladies had planned to occupy a room for their serious talk about Vivian’s upcoming birth.

“Why not go?” Doug piped up. “Audry, they were your friends once, weren’t they?”

“Not all of them,” Audry murmured, glancing at his plate full of shish kebab skewers. They had departed from vegetarianism that spring and she was still suffering from disappointment.

Doug and Vicky both gave her a wan look. Vicky was already prepared to go. Her makeup was perfect, her wavy blonde hair brushed and styled, her summer dress flirty. She was even prepared for night swimming, if it came to that.

“He is going to be there,” Vincent finally said, rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

Half of them knew whom he was talking about. The other half wondered, curiosity piqued.

“Better reason to go,” Doug said, grinning at his sister. “You can thank him.”

“For what?” Audry demanded.

Vincent was immediately confused, as were Vicky and the other Williamses.

“For paying for Maris’s hospital bill,” Doug reminded her.

Audry colored, looking away. “It was his father who paid for that.”

Yet Vincent tugged on her arm and whispered, “Hey. How about we just show up, give him a nod, exchanged niceties, pretend to dance a bit, then go. Vicky can make a friend and—”

“What if it is just them?” Audry turned around and asked. “You know, graduates from Gulinger Private Academy and only that.”

He stared. “That’s what they are?”

“Yeah,” Audry gave him an exasperated look. “All of them. Selena, Mathew, Tom, Randon, Rick—and that Chinese guy probably was too.”

“So?” He was confused.

“So? Silvia wasn’t there. Randon’s wife?” Audry exclaimed. “Unless she and Randon got divorced in the last three months, which I doubt, it was a Gulinger reunion. It was the same group of people I saw at the ski lodge the first time I took the bullet out of the wolf’s leg—including that guy who was sitting on the porch. I remember him now. I think his name was Troy.”

Vincent went pale.

Doug looked impressed, overhearing. “Troy Meecham? He’s here? Ooh. I’ve only communicated with him via Art Condie, but I’d like to—”

“No,” said Jean who was gathering her things to go with her cousin-in-laws to a back room. “You promised Dad a sports night.”

Doug frowned, settling back in his seat again.

“I also didn’t see any of Rick’s friends from Massachusetts,” Audry added, glad Jean had interfered. “If it was some open party for all of his friends, Andrew would have been there with Jessica and Ivy.”

“You would go if Andrew were there, though, right?” Doug continued to interject in their conversation, remembering Andrew from the hospital also.

Audry sighed and nodded. “Yeah. He’s…” She took in a breath. She was about to say he was ‘light’. She was never afraid when he was around. His very presence gave her a sense of peace and safety. And for that matter, so did Jessica. It was one of the reasons she liked her so much. It was also one of the reasons she had stayed with Silvia for so long. Silvia’s pyromaniac brother, Daniel, despite his quirks, was also a being who personified light. She always felt that if she were truly in trouble, they would be there to help her in an instant. They were like angels on earth.

 Audry huffed. “Fine. We go. But if there is not a crowd of people at the cabin when we get there, we come immediately back.”

“Yay!” Vicky clapped her hands then grabbed Audry to ‘freshen her up’ so they could go as quickly as possible to the party.

Vincent sat next to her and said while his sister attacked Audry’s bushy brown locks, “What changed your mind so suddenly?”

She nodded to herself and said, “It’s about time I found out the truth. Besides, Rick’s best friend is a good man. And, I have a feeling they won’t hurt me.”

That did not instill confidence in Vincent, though. Since his talk with Audry on the beach, he had a serious feeling of foreboding.

First off, he wanted to know how that Tom Brown had snuck up on them so well. Same with that man Randon. He had heard neither of them approach, and he had been on his guard.

Secondly, there was something about that group of people which had turned his cousin’s honest and rational head, and he wanted to find out what it was.

And third, though he had been angry with Rick Deacon the last time he had spoken with him, the man puzzled him immensely. Vincent believed that he was usually a good judge of character. Admittedly it had failed him with Hogan, but considering what a shyster/charmer Hogan truly was, that was not him at his best. And up until the moment when Audry had told him about Rick getting back with his slutty ex from the south (Daisy), he had thought Rick was an upstanding guy. But the whole werewolf thing was pure nonsense.

Vicky led the way. Vincent walked a little slower with Audry as the sun was setting, and he had to redirect his sister toward the correct cabin. But when they found it, indeed, there was a party going on. Twinkle lights were hung up along with a string of electric Chinese lanterns. There was music, and she could see there was a bonfire at the beach, drinks, and even food.

Vicky cheered, leading the way faster. But she pulled Audry along, since she was the one who knew the people throwing the party the most.

When the three of them came up the walk, Tom Brown spotted Audry, and lifted up his hands in a cheer. “She came!”

A few heads turned to look to see who came and why Tom, the dude with sunglasses on at night, was so overjoyed.

Tom hopped over, practically floating on air, and grabbed Audry by the wrists. “Glad you are here! You must come this way! People are asking about you.”

“People who?” Audry lagged, peeking back at Vincent for help. But then she saw Bobo—the tall black New Orleans guy whom she met a summer ago with Rick at an NYU green club cleanup.

Bobo waved, then strolled over. “Hello Audry. Long time.”

She smiled, nodding back to him. “Yeah… I guess I has been.

 He smiled wider then looked to her cousins who gazed back at him, amazed. “Are these your friends?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Audry looked back to them, urging both forward. “Uh, Bobo, this is my cousin Vincent and my cousin Vicky. Vincent and Vicky, this is Robert Lafon—best known as Bobo.”

Vincent grinned, sticking out a hand. “Put ‘er there.”

Robert looked at Vincent’s hand and carefully wrapped his fingers around Vincent’s hand. They shook.

“Firm grip,” Vincent said, grinning. “I like a guy who has a good handshake.”

And yet in Audry’s head, she remembered what Bobo once said about a condition he had. So when Vincent swung out next for a macho shoulder punch, Audry caught her cousin’s wrist before he could make contact. “We don’t do that to Bobo.”

Vincent stared at her, confused, as this was what he did with all guys.

But Bobo nodded to her and said, “I think… you are ready to talk to him now.”

Audry immediately knew which ‘him’ he was talking about. Her mouth suddenly felt dry.

“Welcome to the party,” Bobo said to Vincent and Vicky, clearly leading Audry down the slope to the back end of the cabin. “Feel free to get drinks and mingle.”

“Uh, where are you taking Audry?” Vincent asked, following—though Vicky happily got herself a drink and introduced herself to a cluster of guys who were entertaining a group of gals.

Bobo looked back and said, “You can come too, I think.”

So he did.

They went down and around the building where on the beach side some people were playing night volleyball. Vincent noticed the long-sleeve guy had finally taken off his shirt. And Randon was with him. That guy Chen was flirting with a group of ladies, and Selena was entertaining a cluster of men, looking super hot in her summer dress. But Rick Deacon was sitting on the porch, a can of soda in his hand and an expression of someone who had been brooding. He lifted his head as if he had smelled Audry before he saw her.

Rick sat up straight. His eyes then flickered to Vincent. He rose from his seat. “Hi.”

Both Audry and Vincent nodded back.

“Uh,” Rick looked around for an extra chair. There were only two. Lifting his eyes to Audry again, then Vincent, he nodded to himself then said, “Care to take a walk?”

Gazing at him, at his open shirt which was a white, summer, short-sleeve one, buttoned up halfway, she nodded. “Ok.”

He pointed away from the cabin and down the beach.

All three went together.

Rick did not say much of anything until they were far enough for a normal conversation to not be overheard. With a look to Vincent, he said, “Um, Tom said you were watching us, uh, playing frisbee.”

Vincent cringed, ducked his head apologetically, and nodded.

“What exactly did you see?” Rick asked, watching him carefully.

Drawing a breath, Vincent shrugged. “I saw… you, a Chinese guy, and a bunch of dogs playing together. We just wanted to know how many dogs you had there.”

Yet Rick looked to Audry’s eyes. He shook his head. “That’s not what you want to know.”

She took a short step back from him. “I saw the wolf.”

Rick closed his eyes. He exhaled.

Vincent gazed awkwardly between them.

“And?” Rick asked, waiting for more.

“Why did you make him wear boxer shorts?” Vincent asked.

Rick peeked open one eye at him, amused if not astonished.

Audry rolled her eyes.

Witnessing this, and him, Vincent shook his head. “No way.” He pulled Audry another step from Rick, standing between them. “No. Way.  It is not possible.”

Audry exhaled. She rested her head on Vincent’s back, whispering, “What if it is?”

Taking in the pair of them, Rick nodded and stepped further back from them. He held out his arms. “Just say it. What do you both think?”

“I don’t believe it,” Vincent said, looking Rick up and down.

Rick cocked his head to the side. “Then why do you stay with your cousin? Why don’t you just enjoy the party and let her and me talk? If I am not what you won’t openly say what I am, then she is perfectly safe with me—because I would never hurt her.”

“I don’t know that,” Vincent exclaimed, his hand shaking. “Besides, I’m staying with her because she is scared. I think she has heatstroke and—”

“Vincent.” Audry, gently stepped from behind him taking hold of his hand and squeezing it. “I’m sure I don’t have heatstroke. I just need to…” she lifted her eyes to Rick who watched her with wolfish stare, “…find out the truth.”

“Then you find it out with me here,” Vincent hissed back, holding tight to her hand. “Alright?” He then glared at Rick. “Can you just dispel something for us? Audry’s had a difficult summer and—”

“Dispel what, exactly?” Rick asked, not wanting an explanation or a copout.

Huffing, Vincent said, “Audry’s got this funny, crazy notion in her head and—”

“I want to hear her ask it.” Rick looked pointedly to Audry. “It’s her question. She should be the one to ask me.”

Vincent glared at him. However, Rick was right. This, speaking for his grown cousin thing, was silly-childish—the kind of thing kids did in Jr. High. They had to handle it like rational adults.

Audry nodded, but her hands were shaking. Her eyes raked over Rick’s face, his hair, and his visible scars. “Tell me the truth. Are you the wolf?”

Rick’s eyes widened a bit. His breath grew heavier as if his heart had started to beat harder in his chest. He then lowered his head and nodded.

“I don’t believe it,” Vincent murmured.

Lifting one eye to him, Rick said, “Are you the kind of man who believes only his eyes? Or are you the kind of man who even when he sees, he does not believe?”

Vincent stared at him. “What?”

Shaking his head, Rick looked to Audry. “You see it now. The way you look at me. I can tell.”

“Did you attack your mother?” Audry asked in earnest.

“No.” Rick shook his head. “I was just as surprised as she was. It was my first full moon. I changed, and I didn’t even know what was happening.”

“But you scared her,” Audry argued, shivers running up her arms.

“Not on purpose,” Rick protested. His face contorted with intense remorse. “I’d never been a wolf before then. I thought I was talking to her and—”

“Wait, wait, wait! Stop!” Vincent got between them, shaking his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t buy this.” He pointed to Rick. “You’re just talking.” He pointed to Audry. “And you’re just buying it! He is not a werewolf!”

Audry stepped back. She looked to Rick who also made distance from Vincent.

“You need proof,” Rick said. He shook his head. “I almost never do this—except…” He looked to Audry. “Don’t scream.”

He took another step back from them. Then he shook himself as if having a convulsion. Hair immediately sprouted all over him like fast growing grass, as he fell on all fours—his legs thinning and thickening in the right places until he was standing on wolf paws. His face formed a wolf snout. But his hair was the same color and texture as he became a complete and real wolf—in the same clothes.

Vincent fell backwards into the sand. Audry slapped her hands over her mouth.

The wolf sat down his rump and lowered his head. Then he spoke with the human voice she knew, maw moving, “It was just two people playing frisbee. Chen and myself. All the other dogs were Chen.”

Audry’s eyes widened on him. It most definitely was her wolf, from his size, to his fur, to his scars. It really was him.

“It was a pack of werewolves that attacked us in Germany,” Rick-the-wolf said to her. “Rhett wasn’t lying to you. He saw the wolf because I was there. He just didn’t know I was a wolf until that pack went after him, and I was alone trying to stop them—at least until my other friends could finally get there and rescue us.”

The wolf then shook off all the hair and stood up on the beach as a man once more. He lost his tail. A pile of reddish brown fur was left all around him on the sand. Rick shook out his shirt and dusted off the rest of hair. He peeked up at them, guarded.

Vincent’s eyes went wide on Rick, his mouth open.

Rick looked to him, then up to Audry as he said, “I was trying to keep you safe from the world I live in.”

“The world of witches and curses and hunters…” Audry murmured, her gaze raking over him more as what she had just seen in all logical reason should not have happened. A man does not become a wolf. That was not real. At least, not in her reality.

“Yeah.” Rick nodded in earnest, glad she understood. He looked to Vincent and shook his head. “You two are good people. You come from great families, and follow worthy paths for life. I don’t want to ruin that. Now I can’t help what I am. Neither can my friends—”

“Those from Gulinger Private Academy.” Vincent found his voice, though still unable to stand.

Rick nodded to him. “Yes. It is a school where we protect and educate children afflicted by the supernatural, as well as from the mafia. The second is a favor for the government in agreement to keep everyone safe.”

Vincent paled. They were connected with the government?

“What about the SRA?” Audry asked. “They’re government, and they are tracking you and everyone you are connected to.”

“Which is exactly why we need to talk,” Rick said, nodding, taking a step closer to her.

Vincent quickly got up, holding onto Audry. “Wait. What is the SRA?”

“The Supernatural Regulators Association,” Rick explained. “But they’re not really government.”

Yet Audry cut in, “It’s a union for monster hunters. I thought they were nuts but—” she stared at Rick. “You’ve never harmed a soul.”

Rick shook his head, almost as if he were blushing, though they could not tell in the dark. “Not directly, no. But people who are connected to me and my family do get hurt. Which is why I want you to forget, or pretend you did not find out the truth.”

“You want her to lie for you?” Vincent asked. He started to feel sick.

“No,” Rick said, shaking his head. “I want you to lie for you. The SRA are unscrupulous. They would use you as bait to get to me.”

“Bait?” Vincent was already confused.

“Audry.” Rick nodded to her, his grays gazing in earnest at her. “Do you remember Stewart McGivens? From that one party?”

“I know him,” Vincent said. He was an old fraternity brother of his, but Rick clearly did not know that. Audry didn’t either.

Rick nodded, taking a breath. “Ok, good. Then you can confirm all this with him. Stewart knows what I am.”

“No way.” Vincent’s eyes went wide again. Stewart had not said a word, even at that party when he had first met Rick.

“Does Kim know?” Audry asked. “His wife?”

Rick shook his head. “No. Kim is safely ignorant—as are most of those in our old Junior League. The thing is, uh, way back when I was I still at Gulinger and I was attending Junior League functions with Selena, Stewart was a real good friend with this jerk there who was stalking Selena—I think you met him. Ewan Steed?”

Audry nodded, she recalled Ewan very well, and ‘jerk’ was fair description of him.

“Well, at that time Stewart had learned from the SRA what I was, and he was helping Ewan get Selena back from me—which did not happen because we weren’t actually dating. I was body guarding Selena because he would not leave her alone. It was all for show to get her grandparents off her back about marrying in her social class. But anyway—”

“What is she?” Vincent asked, looking back to the building where he had last seen that Mediterranean-looking woman. “There is something different about her.”

Rick nodded to him. “She’s part siren—uh, sea nymph. She could drown you with a cup of water, or talk you into walking off a tall building, if she wanted. There is something in her voice and, for that matter, her general presence that tempts men in particular.”

Audry shuddered, recalling how her family reacted when Selena had showed up at the family’s cabin.

“She liked me because she could not bully me with her voice. Wolf hearing,” Rick explained, rolling his eyes about more than just Selena. “The point is, the SRA used Stewart as bait. They were after me, but they did not care if Stewart got hurt in the process. In fact, they wanted me to bite him so they had excuse.”

“They what?” Vincent looked lost.

“So they could shoot you.” Audry nodded, following him. She knew some of their rules. She had read through their website out of curiosity once, though she had merely considered them insane believers in occultist things.

“Exactly,” Rick said. With a look back to the cabin, he heaved a sigh. He seemed weary of it all. “We should head back.”

“Can I ask another question?” Audry took a step closer to him, yet too scared to get as close as she used to before she had known he was also the wolf. “Why did you do it?”

Immediate confusion came into his face, almost wolfish in his gaze. “Do…?”

“You took on a cougar,” Audry accused.

He blanched, quickly averting his eyes. “I…”

“You could have been killed.” Her mind went back to the wolf and all she did to rescue him. His skin had practically peeled off by that cougar. If he had let go his bite even a bit, the cougar would have slaughtered him. And here he stood with all those scars.

He shook his head vehemently. “No. You could have been killed.”

Vincent paled, looking from one to the other, not sure what he was overhearing. He could not recall everything he had heard about that summer incident—only that Maris got bit by a cougar and survived.

“How did you even know I was there?” Audry demanded, her anger with Rick lingering. That memory was too fresh.

“Don’t be mad. Audry… I…” Rick’s head hunched into his shoulders. He averted his eyes. “It was the full moon. It was a total coincidence that Dad and I were in Yellowstone. But I’d… I’d know your scent anywhere. Especially after you put on that balm Daisy gave you.”

Vincent perked up. What balm?

Audry colored. Guilt seeped into her, the incident on the beach involving that balm still something that had her shaken. She still had the small jar of unusual liniment, but it was now in the bottom of a box again. It had enhanced her scent, specifically her pheromones, and had invoked a visceral, animal, reaction in him—and in Hogan.

“Did your ex know you were a werewolf?” Vincent asked with a side look at Rick. He only knew a little bit about Daisy MacTire—and all from Audry.

Rick nodded frankly to him. “Sure. She’s also a werewolf.”

Audry paled almost stumbling. “What?”

Nodding to her, Rick said in earnest, “Which was why I had Tom drive her and her pack from your booth. I was freaked—terrified for you. Especially since Daisy gets extremely jealous.”

Vincent grabbed his own head. “Oh my gosh. I am having a brain fart…. You mean there are werewolf packs out there?”

Looking to him again, clearly wishing he were alone with Audry, Rick nodded frankly. “Several. I’m not part of one, but—”

“Hold on!” Vincent shook his head, staring at Rick. “You mean to tell me—” he looked to Audry, “uh, tell us—that there are packs… as in more of your kind, out there?”

Stepping away from Vincent, meeting his gaze in all sincerity, Rick said “Vincent, before you freak out more, understand this: the SRA already know werewolf packs exist. Secondly, not all wolf packs are dangerous. Most are just trying to live their lives. And thirdly—”

“Wait!” Vincent held up his hand. “Before you give me a thirdly—how many other supernatural things out there are real?”

That question made Rick think a moment. Peeking to Audry who was just staring at him, Rick finally shrugged. “I don’t know. Imagine a mythology, any one of them. Then picture them all being real. I keep meeting new ones I’ve never even heard of before. So… all of them?”

Nausea rose in Vincent’s throat again. He could not believe it. “What?”

“If that’s the case, how come no one sees them?” Audry asked, watching Rick as he stood there looking rather sheepish on the beach among his shed wolf hair in the sand.

With fond deference to her, as if he were indeed her wolf indebted to her for his life, Rick said, “First off, they are rare. Secondly, most people only see what they want to see. But they are seen.”

Vincent and Audry stepped a little closer together.

Rick pointed back to the cabin. “I’ve already let you in on my secret. But for this to make more sense to you, I’ll let you in on one more. Every one of my friends over there is supernaturally connected—just in different ways. Audry already knows a few of their stories. I do believe Matthew came clean to you a year ago.”

Audry nodded, trembling.

Vincent turned to her. “What?”

“Matthew is psychic,” Audry replied to him with a side peek. “And he proved it to me.”

“Maybe it was a parlor trick,” Vincent weakly suggested, standing in the sand as one overwhelmed, knees weak.

She smirked at him, knowing he was not doubting as much as wishing none of this were real. “No. He’s not a hokey psychic with card readings and stuff. Matthew’s gift is being able to tell if you are lying. He can hear what you are really thinking in any given moment you speak. It’s really useful for his job as police detective. I can introduce you, and you can see for yourself.”

Rick nodded, watching Vincent take this in. He then sighed, jerking his head toward the house to say once more that they ought to head back. Then he led the way.

Vincent hissed to Audry, following him as she did. “What else do you know?”

She shrugged, lowering her voice a little, though she too was shaken, struggling to grasp once more that magic was real and not just Silvia’s witchcraft. “His friend Tom Brown also is sort of psychic, but he only seems to hear the naughty things going on in your head.” She shook her head. “And Bobo tried to convince me last year that he is under a curse.”

“The Rubber and Glue Curse,” Rick said over his shoulder, walking on. He was the only one not shaken. Rather he walked as a weary man who was going back to a weary sort of life, resigned to it.

She nodded, cringing. She didn’t like it so quickly verified, though.

“What’s that?” Vincent made sure they kept their distance from Rick who continued at a normal pace ahead of them.

“It’s…” Audry shook her head, working to keep up. “Remember when you shook Bobo’s hand and said he had a firm grip?”

Vincent nodded.

“Well, remember when I stopped you from punching him in the arm?”

He nodded again. “Yeah?”

“Well, according to him, whatever you do to him, it bounces off of him, and it happens to you.” Audry shrugged. “I wasn’t convinced when he tried to show me. But I didn’t want to hurt him.”

“I heard about that.” Rick turned with a glance over his shoulder, chuckling and shaking his head. 

She jogged up to him. “He told you?”

Rick nodded, watching Vincent rush after her to protect her still. “Sure did. He was trying to convince me to become my bodyguard.”

Painfully laughing, Audry knew that. It felt like a running gag. Bobo was always talking about that. “Is he your bodyguard now?”

“No.” Rick moaned with an eye roll. “The last time Bobo guarded me, he got a knife in his chest.”

Audry drew in a breath.

“I was thirteen,” Rick said, as an aside. “I thought he was dead.”

“What?” Vincent anxiously looked up to the cabin for Bobo. He couldn’t see him “Did he get surgery?”

Shaking his head, Rick started up the sandy slope. “Nope. Bobo can’t be killed. At the time, it took me a bit to remember that. I was too shocked when it happened. And, well, the hunter who chucked the knife at him is probably living in horror of the day of ever coming in contact with Bobo. Because of he ever does, he will die from the very same knife wound to the chest he inflicted on my friend.”

“You threatened him with that?” Vincent marched after him, nearly shouting.

Audry took in a sharp breath. “No. Oh. I get it. The guy threw the knife.”

“Exactly.” Rick nodded to her, smiling. He was pleased she guessed so quickly. “If he had stabbed him, the hunter would have died right then.”

Vincent halted, nonplused and staring.

“So if Bobo gets shot…?” Audry asked, keeping up as she started to believe now what Rick was saying.

Rick halted and turned around. “Don’t you encourage him. That’s his damn argument. If he gets shot, he won’t die, but the shooter—if he knows about Bobo’s curse—will live in fear of bumping into him as he would die. But Bobo still feels pain. And I don’t want him hurt.”

She stared into his gray irises, taking in a breath. He meant it. It mattered to him. His friends really honestly mattered to him. She averted her gaze. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to…”

He shook his head and walked on. He seemed wearier now. “You need to stay away from me. For your safety. I won’t ever hurt you, not on purpose, but there are people out there who would and will if they knew you and I were on speaking terms.”

Shivers went over her again. Audry’s mouth felt dry. But instead of that filling her with fear for her own safety, it just seemed utterly unfair. She had the right to speak to whomever she wanted to. Why was it always that the lunatics were running the asylum these days? She indignantly hurried after him.

“I just wanted you to know the truth before you stumbled onto it in bad place with you freaking out.” Rick halted again closer to the cabin and shook his head. “I’m also sorry for getting Doug involved in Troy’s… necessary, but annoyingly dangerous blood study.”

“What’s this?” Vincent asked, joining them quickly. He was not going to let Audry alone with him. “Doug did mention something about maybe coming over to meet Troy.”

“What?” Rick turned. He looked to Audry shaking his head earnestly. “No. Don’t let that happen. I’ll talk with Troy. He’ll be mad at me, but he’ll understand.”

“Why would he be mad at you?” Vincent asked, looking Rick up and down as if he had some other nefarious secret to divulge.

“What is so dangerous about Doug meeting Troy?” Audry asked, thinking over what she knew about the pale man who was avoiding the sun. She really did not know much. Randon never really said anything.

Rick closed his eyes, cringing. “I wanted so hard to keep you out of my mess.”

They both stared, then exchanged a glance. Each had a different idea of what Rick’s mess was, though they listened.

“Troy Meecham is a… daytime vampire,” Rick explained wearily, as if it sounded hokey even to his ears. “He doesn’t drink blood, but he suffers from vampiric conditions none-the-less. He is looking for the cure to the vampire bite, which is what he is using Doug for. Doug is, after all, an expert in blood pathology.”

He gazed at them frankly, hoping they would understand.

“What’s a daytime vampire?” Vincent waited for clarification.

Meeting his gaze squarely, Rick said as one barely hanging on to his patience, “It is a vampire that does not turn to dust in the sunlight, only because he doesn’t live the vampire lifestyle of killing humans and drinking their blood. If he were to drink just one drop—just one—he’d be an ordinary vampire which cannot abide natural light. In the sunshine, a true vampire turns to ash.”

“That’s real?” Audry gasped then looked to the cabin.

“Yeah,” Rick nodded to her, his eyes expressing it was the earnest truth. “It was a total freak out for all of us when the vampires force-fed him their blood. And he was intent on committing sun suicide because he didn’t want to become a vampire ever.”

Sun suicide? Vincent and Audry snuck looks with the same thought.

“So, he wants a cure for his vampirism?” Vincent asked, pale.

Rick leaned from him. For a second Audry thought he was going to shout at Vincent for constantly interrupting him. However, instead, Rick examined her cousin and replied, “You’re taking this better now. Are you imagining you are dreaming? Or are you just going with it?”

“Just going with it.” Vincent replied with a shrug, somewhat dazed.

Rick smirked, nodding. “Ok.” He walked on. “There is no cure for vampirism. He wants to find something to heal vampire victims. He was one once. But the vampires caught up to him this last year. And as I said, they forced him to drink their blood. That’s how you become a vampire. The bites just make you an eternal victim. The wound does not fully heal.”

They finally reached the crest of the beach. The volleyball game was over. Most of the partiers were on the other side of the house where the food and dancing were. When they reached the porch, Rick whispered to Audry, “All I’m asking is that you ‘forget’ everything you found out here. Or, more honestly, never talk about it ever again with anyone. This isn’t for me. The SRA will hunt me no matter what I do. There is nothing I can do to stop that. But you are safe from them as long as you remain a skeptic—the way you used to be. Don’t give anyone a hint that you found out. Don’t even give it another thought. Embrace the world you are from—the one of provable facts and logic.”

He meant that. She could feel it.

Audry nodded. Purposeful, willful, mental denial that all this was real and embrace the empirical—that’s what he was saying.  Yet a funny notion came into her head, as she thought about everything he had told her, going back to the core of it. He was a werewolf. He was her wolf.

She chuckled painfully as she said to him, “Well, at least now I know why you can never be vegan.”

Tears crested in Rick’s eyes. He laughed, nodding. “Yeah.”

His smile was pained, though. His eyes tracked her with so much attention and regret. Yet he urged them to go home once they arrived back at the cabin. He did not seem in the mood for partying himself. And as they walked up, Audry wondered if the party was set up as a cover for her to be there so they could talk. Undoubtedly he was being watched. There had to be SRA agents spying on them, even now.

“Can I ask you one more thing?” Audry said with a peek after Vincent who had headed over to Bobo up at the grill the moment they got to the cabin, undoubtedly wondering if the Rubber and Glue Curse were in fact real.

Rick nodded, looking in that direction also as Vincent had gone introspective near the end. His eyes tracked Vincent then Bobo, his mouth crooking up on one end when he saw them together. Audry could follow how Rick’s mind was working, easily seeing the gears behind his watching gray eyes mentally predicting what would happen between Bobo and Vincent.

Audry asked the question that had bothered her the most. “When you finally found your mother again—”

“She freaked out when she first saw me.” His words cut her off. He shook his head. “Back when she divorced my dad, left us, and went back to New York, her parents had thought she had lost her mind when she told them about Dad and I being werewolves. And they had institutionalized her.”

Audry nodded, feeling sad for him. For them.

“But she escaped and… well, changed her name and—”

“Started another family,” she murmured, thinking on that. He had a half-brother and half-sister. And they seemed to know he was wolf. All the signs had been there when she had met them, but had been blind to them.

Rick nodded, sniffed and wiped his eyes. With embarrassment, he chuckled. “It’s a win. I mean it hurt, but… her husband, Mr. Dell, is a great guy. And I got to be a big brother. Total win. I mean, my mom’s safe. The SRA and the witches can’t get at her anymore, which is all that really matters.”

Nodding, Audry sighed also. She would have marked that as a win too. Yet she persisted. “Does your father know where she is?”

“No.” Rick said in a private voice. “We’ve agreed to let her have her life. Let her move at her own pace.” He smiled though, tears drying up. “I’m just glad she’s not afraid of me. I went there for Christmas this year. I got to play Santa. It was great. Jessie and Claire are hilarious.”

“They’d probably get on with Skyler and Maris,” Audry chuckled, thinking they were about the same age. Wouldn’t it be fun to get them together?

Yet he drew in a breath. His face lost all humor, and he pulled away from her. “Don’t do that.”

She shrank back defensively. “Do what?”

“Make me hope,” he breathed out, his cheeks coloring. His eyes seemed to go wolfish in that moment. There was mournful longing in them.

Her heart fluttered. Audry took two steps back. He was right. What was she doing? Flirting with danger. Flirting with the wolf. She was stupidly, and always, attracted to dangerous men. She had to get home.

Turning to search for Vincent, Audry spotted him rubbing his own arm not far from Bobo and the grill, ducked back. But Vincent was laughing. His eyes said, ‘Damn, it’s true.’ Bobo was also smiling, surprised at Vincent.

She marched up to them and grabbed her cousin’s arm. “We gotta go home.”

“Nice to see you, Audry!” Bobo waved after them with the grill fork.

Rick saluted her as she rounded the building again, his gray eyes saying her swift exit was wise.

Audry and Vincent went in search for Vicky.

Vicky was dancing, a degree drunk, having a fun time with a group near the music and food. Vincent walked up to her, tugging on her arm. “We’re going now.”

“You go. I’ll stay!” Vicky declared, dancing to the groove and the beat, and all that other stuff. “Where have you been anyway? Hi, Audry! Dance with us!” She tugged on her cousin’s wrists to get her to join the crowd.

“We need to go home now,” Audry said, peeking back toward the DJ, whom she did not know.

“Party poopers,” Vicky staggered next to her cousin, and shook her head, losing some balance. “Come on and have some fun with me! You two are such curmudgeons!”

Audry rolled her eyes, internally moaning. But then she saw Selena not far off, who was dancing with Troy. Drawing a breath, realizing she was lingering among people who were dangerously supernatural but also gifted, she marched up to the pair of them, drawing up strength within.

“Hey!” Selena beckoned Audry closer. “So… I heard the rumor. You figured it out. I knew you were a smart cookie.”

Troy eyed Audry up, grinning. Indeed, he had vampirish canines in his smile, but they were not obvious. He seemed to like what he saw too. “I remember you. How are the tee shirt sales going?”

Audry rolled her eyes at him. She looked to Selena. “I know you can convince people to do things they don’t want to do. Can you please help me get my cousin Vicky to come home with Vincent and me? We need to leave.”

Selena sighed, her sea-colored eyes flickering with disappointment, but she nodded. “Ah. I see. It was too much to take.”

Audry shook her head. “I just want to rescue animals. I don’t want complications to my life, like the SRA coming around and—”

“They did that already, didn’t they?” Matthew came out of nowhere. Or rather she had not seen him near the drinks until then.

Vincent also turned, searching for Audry. He rushed up as Audry nodded to Matthew to confirm his suspicions.  

“Vicky is being really stubborn. How are we going to get her to leave with us?” Vincent hardly looked at the others.

Audry turned back to Selena, begging with her eyes, hands together to really beg.

“Alright.” Selena heaved a sing-song sigh. She strode over on her long model-like legs, straight to Vicky, spreading on a smile. Vincent and Audry followed. Matthew and Troy hung back, yet not far.

“Hi, Vicky!” Selena sung out to her. “It is time for you to go home. You are very sleepy.”

Vicky swayed on her feet, nodding. “I need to go home. I’m suddenly very sleepy.”

Selena led her out of the dancing group two steps before Vicky lost her balance. Vincent and Audry caught her before she passed out and fell.

“We’ll help!” Matthew and Troy rushed up. Matthew caught hold of Vincent’s side, and Troy took over Audry’s. He was surprisingly strong for such a lean build. But then a vampire would be, wouldn’t he?  

“Thank you,” Audry mouthed to Selena, hoping she was still able to trust Matthew and his friend.

Selena shrugged, winking at her. Then she mingled back into the group, cheering them up after the loss of Vicky who had been fun. 

Matthew and Troy helped Vincent carry Vicky back toward the cabin where the families were busy with their own evening fun. As they traversed the grassy sand dunes in the dark, they did not say much. Troy led the way, mostly. He could see better than the rest of them all anyway. Night vison.

“So,” Matthew said after some time. “Rick told you the truth.”

“I…” Audry shook her head. “I figured it out.”

“How did you figure it out?” Matthew asked. It was difficult to see his face in the dark, but she was sure he was listening to her thoughts. “I mean, Rick’s good at hiding stuff—even from me—but Tom’s been teasing you about it for years, and you never clued in until now. In fact, I think Silvia has also.”

Audry nodded, rolling her eyes, wondering what he was picking up from her brain. She remembered the teasing. She just thought it was only that. “Yeah… well, seeing my wolf on the same beach wearing the same swim trunks Rick was—and neither together, kind of, uh… makes you add things up. And, believe it.”

Matthew chuckled, picking up the rest, including her recognition of the scars she had bound and what Rick had shown them on the beach.

“Who were the other dogs?” Vincent asked. “Rick said he was someone else.”

Troy laughed. “Chen.”

“Chen’s a werewolf?” Audry asked, peeking to Matthew whom she could now get an outline of his face from a distant lamp.

“No.” Troy laughed more. “He’s a shape-shifter. Ancient Chinese family. Apparently from an old elvish blood line that battles demons. Rick claims he is a descendant of the Monkey King, but I think he’s pulling our leg.”

“He’s not,” Matthew interjected. “They met the Monkey King in China a couple years back on an emergency trip. Andy told me all about it. It was the total truth.”

Audry felt chills. Andy was Andrew Cartwright. Everyone called him that except for Rick who called him AB, and his Massachusetts friends who called him Red.

“The Monkey King is a fictional character,” Troy protested.

“Based off of a real person.” Matthew snapped, probably reading Troy’s mental criticism. “Come on. You should know by now that most mythic beings are real in some form or other.”

Vincent shot Audry a look, as that matched what Rick had said.

“Are you saying there really were people like Odin and Hercules?” Vincent asked out loud.

Both Troy and Matthew halted in the sand.

“Uh…” Matthew took a breath, thinking as he clearly picked up more out of Vincent’s brain. “You know what? We really shouldn’t be talking about this. Rick will be ticked off.”

Audry felt more chills, knowing why Rick would not want them talking about all that near them.

“Does he control all of you?” Vincent asked with a tone of annoyance.

“No,” Troy huffed with his own hint of peevishness towards Rick. “He doesn’t.”

“But he wants Audry safe,” Matthew snapped back to his friend. “And you know what happens to people who know too much about the supernatural.”

The air went silent.

Troy nodded after a moment, sounding winded. “Sorry.” And they both continued on.

More silence followed. Both Audry and Vincent assumed the remark was vampire related, but it bugged them. After all this they did not want to be in the dark anymore.

“What happens?” Audry asked finally, feeling the chill, with a peek to Vincent who also shuddered. They could see the lights from their cabin just ahead.

Matthew sighed, looking to her whom he regarded kindly. “It never leaves you alone.”

They deposited Vicky on the back porch, upright, with Vincent and Audry to carry her the rest of the way. Vicky was fast asleep. Audry and Vincent realized as they received her and propped her up, without Matthew’s and Troy’s help Vicky would have been heavy dead weight. Both enigmatic men waved and walked back toward their own cabin again—straight into the darkness.

However, when the cousins carried Vicky indoors, Doug and the others, upon seeing them, jumped up to assist—hearing both Vincent’s and Audry’s excuses about their rather short time at the party. No vegan food, they said. Neither Vincent nor Audry shared anything relating to what really had happened. They said they were just not in the mood to party, but they had checked in with old friends and Vicky had a wonderful time dancing. She just drank too much and had passed out. Some friends had helped carry her home.

“Was that Troy Meecham at the party?” Doug asked, peeking to Audry.

She and Vincent exchanged looks.

Vincent said, trying to be casual, “Um, yeah. But uh, I don’t think he will be there tomorrow. You missed him.”

“Ah man!” Doug sighed. “That’s too bad. The guy’s quite brilliant. Our correspondence has yielded so much that has moved my research forward. And he’s dealing with severely toxic blood—from bites in particular. I mentioned to him the doctor who had checked out Maris a couple months ago, and he got back to me and said he already knew Dr. McAllister and was working with him as well.”

Audry nodded to that. They would know all know each other.

“All of those people are rather well connected through your friend Rick,” Doug murmured, watching the TV screen. It was soccer.

Audry drifted over toward the couch, recognizing one player on the screen—Peter McCabe, the Witchdoctor. He was another one of Rick’s friends, and also one of the Seven. She started to wonder about every person he had introduced her to. Selena was a Gulinger alumnus. Daisy was a werewolf from a pack he had encountered in the South. Jessica grew up in that witch town in Massachusetts—part of the Seven. And Eve McAllister? Audry felt dizzy. Eve, in every picture she had seen her, looked like a vampire… a surfing vampire, but a vampire nonetheless. How many supernatural beings were there in the world really?

“I’m going to bed,” Audry announced, turning wearily from the couch.

“The kids are in the loft,” her father called after her.

“We’ll just shoo them out,” Vincent said. Gesturing to Vicky whom they had laid on the couch, looking a bit like a hypnosis victim, he added, “Unless you want to stay down here and let us single guys take the loft.”

Audry shook her head, looking at Vicky who would be a heavy load to carry up. “No. I’m going up. I’ll shoo the kids down to take a different room, and you can wake Vicky up.”

Vincent went pale. “Uh… you don’t know how Vicky is when she is woken from a deep sleep. I’m not doing it.”

Audry shrugged and went up anyway.

In the room, Maris and Skyler were both asleep. The cartoon was still going on their iPad, but they had konked out. She didn’t want to wake them either.

Audry sat on the step and heaved a sigh. That entire day flooded over her again. All of it.

Her wolf. The one people had teased her about. The one Silvia had said she was in love with. The one everyone had accused her of being in love with actually, was in fact Rick Deacon.

She closed her eyes.

Truth was, somehow, she had always known. Whenever Rick had been around, she had dreamed of the wolf, even if she had not seen the wolf. And the wolf had always spoken with Rick’s voice. She sometimes she had dreamed of Rick becoming the wolf. Of course she had blown it all off, as they were only dreams. But her mother used to always say that dreams were merely her subconscious telling her conscious self the truth.

So, her subconscious knew.

But what now?

She sighed, hunkering down with her arms tight across her body, leaning her head against the stair railing.

She didn’t know. The foundations of her entire world were gone. How does one walk forward with no sure footing? How?

Departures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

Doug woke bright and early to sneak off for a morning jog along the beach. When he came back during breakfast, he kicked sand off his feet with a dejected huff, calling to his wife. “We wasn’t there. I got in a decent talk with Tom Brown. He was out with the dawn with that crooked grin on his face. It was like he knew I was coming.”

He probably did, Audry thought as she scooped up a spoonful of orange juiced muesli into her mouth. Chewing on it, she figured it was also likely Bobo was there with him.

“You should have seen the punk kid who was with him,” Doug continued with a heavy head shake. “Orange hair. Olive skin, weird eyes. It was like community outreach. And I think Tom has a girlfriend in some kind of punk band.”

“That would be Roddy and Piranha,” Audry muttered with a sigh.

Doug looked over to her, amazed if not openly shocked. “You know them too?”

Realizing she had said it out loud, Audry felt her face get hot. Yet she nodded. “Uh. Yeah. Um… Tom had Roddy working on my car a year ago—outside school work training. And Piranha was also doing school work connected to the auto shop. She should be over eighteen by now… so I guess they could be dating. I overheard his friends teasing him about her once.”

Vincent raised his eyebrows, a number of questions behind his eyes. He knew there was a story there, one which she was sure he would ask her to divulge later.

“Her name is Piranha?” Vivian asked, her jaw dropping a little.

Audry shrugged, going back to eating her breakfast. “That’s what I heard.”

“Well, anyway,” Doug walked further in, “I asked about Troy, and Tom said he left last night. So had your friend Rick, and a few others. Randon was still there.”

Audry nodded then noticed the black cat slinking in through the open door past Doug’s legs.

“Kitty!” Maris immediately jumped off her stool to go after it. Oddly, it seemed to sigh then rub up against her hands, resigned to being petted and adored. It caused Audry to pause.

She crouched down to peer at it then whispered, “Are you really Selena’s cat?”

Meow! was all she got, but she could have sworn the cat appeared abashed. It quickly slinked out of Maris’s hands and rushed off as if it were afraid it had been caught.

After breakfast cleanup, Audry, Maris, and Skyler went to the beach to see if they could collect seashells. Audry doubted they would find many, but she didn’t want to spoil their enthusiasm as it gave her niece and nephew something to do. They found a few, but the shells were small. Skyler wanted to make a pendant with the ones he found, but Maris said she wanted to make a magic charm for swimming.

“A magic charm?” Audry inquired, maintaining control in her voice to mask how much those words startled her. The sound of the sea silenced all other noises, making her feel isolated there on the beach, almost eerie.

“Uh huh,” Maris said, nodding. “I saw that woman yesterday go into the ocean, and she did not come up for air for a loooooong time. Cousin Vincent joked she might be a mermaid, but I think it was the seashell necklace she was wearing. It was cool.”

Audry swallowed a breath. What had Rick said about Selena? She was part sea nymph or siren? Did that mean she could breathe under water? Looking to Maris, Audry said, “Perhaps she is just a skin diver and could hold her breath for very long time.”

Maris frowned. “But I want to do that.”

“Then you gotta learn to scuba dive,” Audry said, mentally picturing her niece trusting in a seashell, then drowning in the ocean. Her body shuddered at the thought.

“Do you know if we’ll get to see my wolf again?” Maris asked, picking up another shell, and possibly the direction of her aunt’s thoughts. This one was a sand dollar about the size of her palm. It was a little broken on one side, though mostly whole.

Audry peeked to her, sighing. “I… I don’t know.”

“Who brought him to the beach?” Maris asked, digging out the sand in search of more.

Sighing more, Audry lifted her eyes to the sky. “Rick did. I think the wolf wanted to have some fun.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie.

Maris nodded. “Do you think he’d let me pet it?”

Audry shook her head, side-eying her niece. “Rick left yesterday and took the wolf with him. I don’t think he wanted people to see the wolf.”

“That’s unfair,” Maris whined, dropping into the wet sand. “Why is he keeping the wolf to himself?”

“He’s a wild animal,” Audry hissed, wishing Maris would let it go. “You should not want to play with a wild animal.”

Maris shrugged more. “But he saved me. He’s my hero.”

Resting a hand on Maris’s head, Audry nodded. “Yeah.”

“So it’s not fair,” Maris said again, folding her arms decidedly, knees sinking deeper into the wet sand.

“Rick has to protect the wolf,” Audry said, trying to explain. There was no way she could tell her niece the truth. Maris would believe it, for starters—and knowing her childlike innocence, she would talk about it. It was becoming lucidly clear to her why Rick always kept his distance, especially as Audry gazed at the healing bite marks from the cougar on Maris’s arm. Rick inhabited a dangerous world. Those bite marks could just as easily become bullet wounds if the SRA ever found out she knew the truth about Rick.

After spreading another layer of sunscreen on the skin of all three of them and collecting three more seashells—including an iridescent, turquoise and white, spiral shell Skyler had unearthed from a pile of seaweed—they walked back toward the cabin for lunch. Maris used it as a unicorn horn, romping ahead of them over the dunes. Skyler had also collected a decent-sized ribbed shell, one which he planned to bore a hole into for his necklace. He declared that he now had to find some string, which he hoped would be in the cabin. Maris begged to have the spiral shell for her magic charm. Audry hope it was only for pretend.

As they crested one dune, in full view of the cabin, Audry spotted Randon who was walking down from the cabin in flip flops, shorts, and a tee-shirt. As he got closer to say ‘hi’, she noticed on his knees matching scars which looked like pentagrams. This was the first time she had ever seen them.

“Hey!” Skyler rushed up to him, holding up his seashell. “Mr. Spade! You’re here too? See what I found!”

Randon grinned, reaching out to take the shell to inspect it. He turned it in his fingers to see both sides, smiling as he handed it back to Skyler. “It’s a good one.”

“Wanna see mine?” Maris held hers up.

“Ooh.” Randon plucked up the spiraled shell. “This one is truly nice.”

“All the really good ones are gone,” Maris explained, taking it back. “Aunt Audry says so.”

“The best ones are deeper in the ocean.” Randon nodded, relinquishing the seashell. “So says my friend Selena—who’s an expert.”

Maris’s eyes brightened. “Is she the woman who can hold her breath really long?”

Randon’s eyes widened. He peeked to Audry who was cringing. “Wow… you really had been watching the party for a while, haven’t you?”

Maris shrugged.

Crouching down so they were eye to eye, Randon whispered, “Selena is an expert swimmer. And yeah, it was her. If you really want a cool sea shell, I’m sure she can get you one.”

Maris’s eyes brightened again. She hopped up and down. “Can she teach me how to hold my breath that long?”

Randon shook his head slowly. “Sorry. No. In her case, it is genetic. She got it from her dad. You’re going to have to learn the hard way like everyone else.” He lifted his eyes to Audry, winking.

Audry gave him a grateful nod. Then to Maris and Skyler, Audry said, “You two go on ahead, and tell them to save lunch for me. I want to talk with my friend here for a moment.”

Skyler nodded, tugging on Maris’s arm to hurry with him. They both raced up the sloping dune to the cabin, letting the screen door bang closed when they rushed inside.

“How are you coping?” Randon asked, peering into her eyes.

Shaking her head, Audry heaved a heavy breath. “I don’t know.”

Strolling away from the cabin, indicating it was for privacy, Randon murmured in a voice that would not carry, “I can understand how utterly paradigm-altering this is—”

“Life altering,” Audry corrected with a solid look.

He shrugged. “Only if you step into our world.”

“Our world?” Audry shook her head. “We’re on the same earth. We’re breathing the same air. We’re under the same sky—”

“Physically, yes,” he said, his deep blue eyes raking over her face to read it. “Mentally, no.”

She stared, borderline insulted.

“Audry, a person’s world is more than the physical environs.” Randon laughed, trying to diffuse the offense. “It is a mindset. It is also an awareness.”

“No,” Audry objected, still feeling the slight as she did not think of herself as ‘unaware’. “People who are ignorant of your world, as you put it, can still be be hurt by individuals of your world. We’re not physically separate.”

Pausing thoughtfully, he nodded. “True. But the chances of my world hurting those in yours is higher when those of your world become aware of us.”

She closed her eyes, groaning.

“Look. I want to help you,” Randon said. “Just like you helped Silvia.”

Blinking her eyes open, Audry frowned. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “You helped Silvia leave her coven. That was a near impossibility—especially knowing her coven. They are some of the most powerful witches in the world.”

A shudder fluttered through Audry. A heavy thought rested in her head. She looked to him. “Will… will they be after me? You know, again?”

Randon shook his head. “No. We closed that door when those three who had come to New York were arrested. The coven itself does not know you exist—so you have no worries for that.”

She nodded, feeling only slightly better. Looking to the scars in his knees, Audry asked, “What about you? I heard you were raised by witches. Is that true?”

Blinking, thinking over what might have been said to her about him, Randon finally shrugged. “Yeah. My mother and my older sister were both skilled witches, maybe not quite up to the level of Middleton Village witches, but a close second.”

Audry stared more at him. “Oh my… so then, why did you…?

“Marry Silvia?” Randon chuckled, following the logical train of her thoughts. “You mean besides the fact that she is a beautiful and intelligent woman with a dynamite sense of humor? Or that we hit it off instantly?”

Feeling better, Audry chuckled with a nod.

“Honestly…” he sighed. “It was an added bonus, yet a scary risk, to marry a skilled witch like her. I mean she could go back and abuse me the same way my mother and sister did.”

Startled, Audry drew in a breath. She had guessed right about the abuse.

“But, she is also the best protection against them if, and/or when they break out of prison,” he murmured.

This time she stared. “What?”

Nodding, Randon explained, “Yeah. The last time I saw them, it was in court. They got twenty years to life. Dad can leave witness protection now, if he wants.”

The sound of waves and the ocean wind filled the silence that came with her shock.

“What did they do to you?” Audry breathed out, getting closer.

He chuckled painfully. “The question really is, how did I survive?”

She stared.

“I won’t go into details, but just so you know, they frequently experimented on me as they practiced their magic, and I am now under a curse which will most likely never be lifted until the moment of their deaths. And maybe not even then.” He sighed with a chuckle. “I’ve just been able to use the curse to my benefit, not unlike Bobo.” With a kind smile, Randon then explained more, “I had been hiding from them since I was a little kid. When they caught up to me, I was studying veterinarian medicine. And they tried to kill me that time—human sacrifice for a powerful spell.”

She drew in a breath.

“Luckily, I had already called in Rick for help the moment I saw the signs that witches were gathering in my town…. You see, the cats started to disappear. That’s the first clue.” He cringed. “Witches do not care about nature or life. It’s all about power. 

“But anyway, Rick called his friends in the Seven.” Randon shook his head. “They saved my life.”

 “What is the Seven?” She watched his face, as her heart pounded. This felt important.

Meeting her gaze, Randon nodded gravely. “You have one of their cards, right?

She nodded.

He smiled, assured. “You could say their job is to keep the supernatural world in check. Kind of like… border patrol between the worlds. So don’t lose that card.”

“Border patrol?” She shook her head. “You mean they deport people?”

Randon nodded, chuckling. “Yeah. In a way. You see, they’re different from the SRA in that they don’t try to kill. They aim to save. They understand the supernatural better than most anyone—or at least try to. They’re more forgiving. In fact, I’d say they each have one foot in the supernatural, though I could not tell you the details. I don’t know their stories, as I don’t really know them very well. To be honest, they all kind of freak me out. Most of them don’t feel like they are from our time.”

They freaked her out too, similar reason. Despite being people of light, each one of the Seven whom she had met had given off the feeling that they were not quite what they seemed, and freakishly powerful—like a nuclear bomb. One tap and BOOM!

“And they saved you,” Audry murmured, her thoughts still on that last impression.

He nodded. “Them and Rick. Rick got there first, actually. He risked his life to save me. He exposed himself as the wolf to those witches and put himself at severe risk. He has got to be the most loyal friend I’ve ever had.” But then Randon suddenly paled. He put his hands over his mouth. “—Oh! don’t let Troy know I said that!”

She blinked, confused.

Blushing, Randon ducked his head between his shoulders, cringing. “Troy’s my best friend, and I know you’re going to have some interaction with him if your brother Doug continues to do blood work with him. Troy and I have a unique friendship that’s… complicated. And he’s a little petty sometimes—especially when it involves Rick.”

Nodding, she stared. She didn’t know Troy very well, but she had gathered that one detail.

“Ok… that was serious TMI.” Randon continued to blush. He peeked over his shoulder. “Um… what I really came here to say was, Silvia misses you. And, well, we’d like to invite you over for dinner some time. We can answer any questions you have and—”

“No.” Taking a step back and shaking her head, Audry sighed again, closing her eyes. “I don’t think Rick intended for me to jump back into the thick of it when he showed me what he was. He meant the reverse.”

Randon’s face fell. His eyes drooped with disappointment.

“As much as I like Silvia…” Audry let her voice drift. Silence and the hush of the sea prevailed. “And I do think you are good people. I just….”

He nodded, struggling to cover up his disappointment. “It’s ok. You’re right. Rick would not want you to get entangled in our mess. I’m being selfish. I’d like to see Silvia happy, but your ultimate safety matters. And I would not be returning Rick a favor if I put you at risk.”

Her cheeks colored. She lifted her eyes to him considering how grieved he sounded. Randon’s eyes certainly were. His blues seemed bluer, even a little damp.

Nodding once more to her, Randon waved and turned to go. He walked away. “See you around, maybe.”

She heaved a sigh and trudged back to the cabin. What else was there to do?

 

That afternoon, Vicky came back from a beach walk, claiming the neighboring cabin was now empty. All the windows were shuttered and the cars gone. Vivian and Vanessa verified it. They had gone together for one last sister romp before the evening, and Vicky had wanted to introduce people. Apparently she had remembered Selena Davenport from the party and thought her sisters might be interested in getting to know her. She said as much when she came in, mostly accusatory at Audry.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were friends with Selena Davenport?”

Audry blushed, looking up from the book she was reading. “What?”

“I talked with her last night,” Vicky said, a degree put out. “You know, before I passed out. So embarrassing, by the way. I was going to apologize to her today.”

Audry exchanged a look with Vincent, not sure Vicky meant that brief exchange when Selena convinced her to go home. Audry said, “I hardly knew her.”

“That’s not what she said,” Vicky replied, walking to the

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 06.11.2020
ISBN: 978-3-7554-7909-3

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