Refuge (48 page)

“And Mom took Daisy to our place,” Roland
added.

“Thanks,” I told them hoarsely.

Tristan stood. “Why don’t we let Sara and
Nate have some time alone together? I’m sure they have a lot to
talk about.”

“Wait. What about Ben? Is he okay?” I asked,
remembering the warrior I’d knocked out.

“Ben is fine, although he is a bit put out
about being taken down so easily. He understands you were very
distraught and not thinking straight.” Tristan smiled, but there
was disapproval in his words. I had a feeling that once I was
better, I was going to get a lecture about using my power on
another Mohiri.

I nodded, chastened. “I’ll apologize to him
as soon as I see him.”

“I think Ben would rather you not bring it up
again,” Nikolas said with a wry smile. “Maybe I should be the one
to apologize to him for helping you hone that particular skill in
the first place.”

Tristan’s gaze flicked between me and
Nikolas. “Perhaps I should learn exactly what goes on in your
training sessions. But right now, Sara needs to rest and talk to
Nate. We’ll discuss her training in a few days.”

“Can I go back to my room? We’d be a lot more
comfortable there.”

“You should stay here, close to the healers,
for a few more hours,” Nikolas said before Tristan could respond. I
recognized his determined tone, and for once I didn’t want to argue
with him.

“Okay, but only for a few hours,” I conceded.
“Then I need to get out of this ward. I’ve spent way too much time
here the last month.”

“I’ve given Nate the apartment next to mine,”
Tristan told me. “It has two large bedrooms, so you can move in
with him if you want to.”

While I wanted to be close to Nate, the
thought of sharing the same floor with him, Tristan, and Nikolas
was too much for me. Under their constant watch, I’d never have any
freedom. Besides, I liked having my own space and being near Jordan
and the others. And what would I do with the imps if I moved?

I looked at Nate. “If you don’t mind, I’d
like to stay with the other trainees. We’ll see each other all the
time anyway.”

He nodded and gave me a knowing smile. If
anyone knew how much I liked my privacy, it was Nate.

Roland and Peter were reluctant to leave
until Nate told them they could have me after dinner. I grumbled
that they made me sound like a toy, and they all laughed. The boys
left talking about what was on the menu for lunch, and they were
stoked when Tristan told them they could request steak if they
wanted. Was it really only a few months ago my werewolf friends
couldn’t imagine associating with the Mohiri? And now they were
visiting a Mohiri stronghold and eating meals with them every
day.

Nikolas was the last to leave, and I suddenly
felt shy being alone in the same room with him and Nate, like
bringing home a boy for the first time. Only Nikolas was no boy and
I didn’t know where to begin to describe our relationship to
Nate.

“I’ll be close if you need anything.” He
leaned over me, and my stomach did a little flip. But he only
touched his lips to my forehead. “Later, you and I are going to
talk about what will happen if you ever pull something like that
again.” Straightening, he nodded to Nate and left.

Nate raised an eyebrow at me, and I let out a
heavy sigh. We had a
lot
to catch up on.

“You might as well sit down. This could take
a while.”

“So, you only found out a few months ago that
your two best friends were werewolves?” Jordan looked at Roland and
Peter who were sprawled out on my bed next to me. “And you two had
no idea what Sara was?”

I laughed because I knew how odd it must
sound to not know your two best friends were werewolves.
“Werewolves are very good at hiding their secrets, and even I
thought I was human until I met Nikolas.”

“Don’t they smell like dog or something when
they get wet?”

“Jordan,” I scolded, and her mouth twitched.
The three of them had been making little digs like that at each
other all day, and I was getting tired of playing referee.

“And then you found out you are half undine,
which is why you can do all the freaky shit you do, and how you
were able to make your uncle human again?” I nodded, and she swore.
“Half demon, half Fae. That is messed up. No wonder you didn’t tell
anyone.”

“I wanted to tell you. I really did.” I found
out yesterday that my secret was no longer a secret thanks to my
miraculous feat with Nate. People who thought I was a little odd
before openly stared at me now, and more than one conversation
stopped when I walked into a room. Apparently, Tristan had called
everyone together in the dining hall last night to dispel any
rumors and given them an abbreviated version of the truth. I was
glad I didn’t have to hide what I was anymore, but I could do
without the instant celebrity status.

Jordan waved a hand. “No, I get it. I’d
probably want to keep something like that to myself, too.”

“I guess now we know why the vampires want
you so bad,” Roland said. “If you can make them human again, they
must be shaking in their boots.”

“No kidding.” Peter sat up. “My dad says
there is nothing that scares a vampire more than mortality.”

Those who hunt you will ultimately give you the power
to become the thing they fear the most.

The Hale witch’s prediction had not been
about my ability to kill vampires, but my ability to make them
mortal. But the vampires didn’t give me that power; I was born this
way. Wasn’t I?

I remembered what Aine had said to me the day
we met by the lake.
We were unsure of how your body would react to the vampire
blood it absorbed.
Aine thought the cold sensation in my
chest was a side effect of the vampire blood in my system, but what
if that wasn’t the only side effect? What if Eli’s blood had
changed me somehow and made it possible not only for me to
understand vamhir demons but to restore a vampire’s humanity? But
the Master could not possibly have known this would happen to
me.

“If the Master ever finds out Nate is human
again, he’ll know what I can do and he’ll go after everyone I care
about. I don’t want anything to happen to you guys.”

Roland plumped up the pillow under his head.
“Don’t worry about us. Vamps would be nuts to mess with a pack as
big as ours.”

“How big is your pack?” Jordan asked.

“There are forty-five of us in New Hastings,
but we have family spread out across Maine,” Peter answered. “About
a hundred and ninety of us in all.”

“Biggest pack in the US,” Roland added
proudly.

Jordan leaned her arms on the counter in my
kitchenette where she had been raiding my small refrigerator. “So,
do you guys have to worry about fleas and ticks?”

“Jordan!”

“What? It’s a valid question. They do have
fur half the time.”

I shook my head at her, and she shrugged.
“How often will I get a chance to ask a werewolf questions?”

Roland ignored her question. “We haven’t seen
much of Nate today. How is he doing with all of this?”

“He seems okay, but I think it’s going to
take him a while to take it all in.” Yesterday, Nate and I had
talked for hours. He told me about the female vampire, Ava Bryant,
who had approached him, posing as a reporter from New York. It
wasn’t hard for the beautiful vampire to compel him to go with her.
He’d never met her Master, but her love for the other vampire had
passed to Nate when she made him. I’d told him over and over how
sorry I was for what he went through until he ordered me to stop
apologizing. He said it would be different here, but the whole
bachelor pad thing wasn’t working for him anyway and now he would
be near me.

He had been more interested in my life here,
more particularly, what was going on between me and Nikolas.
Unsurprisingly, he was not happy to learn about the whole bond
thing and he said I was way too young to commit to someone. I had
to reassure him that I wasn’t jumping into anything. I told him
Nikolas understood my feelings and we were taking it slow. That
seemed to mollify Nate a little, although he did say he and Nikolas
were going to have a man-to-man talk. No amount of pleading on my
part would dissuade him.

Nikolas stopped by last night and today to
see how I was doing, but for the most part, he was giving me space
to be with Nate and my friends. We hadn’t been alone together since
our moment by the river before Roland and Peter arrived, and I
often found myself wondering where he was and what he was doing.
When I talked to him today he said he would see me tonight, and I
got butterflies whenever I thought about being alone with him
again.

“Nate will be fine,” Roland assured me. “He
can write anywhere, so it’s not like he’s giving up that.”

I brightened. “That’s true.” I got off the
bed and logged into my laptop, hoping to see an email from David.
One of the first things I’d done when I got back to my room last
night was ask him to find what he could about a female vampire
named Ava Bryant. Tristan had his people searching for her, too,
and I’d already made him swear to bring her in alive if he found
her. I had a very personal score to settle with the vampire who had
tried to take Nate from me.

A new mail notification popped up just as
someone knocked on the door. I went to answer the door and was
surprised when Michael entered my room, wide-eyed and out of
breath.

“Sara, I’m glad I found you,” he panted,
ignoring everyone else. “Sahir sent me to get you.”

“Is it Minuet again?”

“No, it’s the hellhounds. They got out again
and took off into the woods.”

“What?” I shoved my feet into a pair of
boots. “How the hell did they get out?” I’d taken Roland and Peter
to meet them a few hours ago, and I was careful to lock their cage
as I always did. And no one besides Sahir and I ever went near them
or had keys to their cage.

“I don’t know, but they’re on the loose,”
Michael said fearfully. “They wouldn’t hurt anyone, would
they?”

“No, of course not,” I replied sharply as I
grabbed my coat.
Would they?
The hellhounds behaved when they were
with me, but they weren’t exactly house pets.

I hurried to the door and turned to look at
the others. “You guys stay here. I’ll take care of it and be back
as soon as I can.”

Roland and Peter were already off the bed.
“Screw that,” Roland said, pulling on his boots. “You’re not going
to run around in the woods alone.”

Jordan stood and darted out the door. “Where
are you going?” I called after her.

“To get my coat.”

Michael left the room, and I followed him.
“You guys really don’t have to come,” I told Roland and Peter.
“Nothing will hurt me with Hugo and Woolf around.”

“Not like we have anything better to do,”
Peter replied as he entered Roland’s room and grabbed their
coats.

Jordan came out of her room and shut her
door. “Come on, people. Let’s go round up Sara’s little doggies
before they eat someone.”

The five of us raced down the stairs, nearly
running over two people on the way. Outside, it was a cold, clear
night, and the full moon cast a soft bluish glow over the day-old
snow on the ground. Our combined breath fogged the air around us as
we started across the grounds toward the woods.

I turned to Michael. “Which way did they
go?”

He pointed to a spot, and I saw it was the
same place we usually entered the woods when I took them for walks.
They were most likely following my scent. Still, it was strange
they should go that way when my scent was probably a lot stronger
between the menagerie and the main building.

I stopped at the edge of the woods and
strained to see through the darkness. The thick branches blocked
most of the moonlight, and I could barely make out the ghostly
gleam of snow on the ground. “Hugo! Woolf!” I called, but there was
no answering bark. They could be halfway to the lake by now. I
hoped they didn’t hurt one of the sentries patrolling the
woods.

Groaning, I turned toward the menagerie.
“We’re going to need a flashlight.”

“Here, take mine.” Michael pulled a short
black flashlight from his pocket and handed it to me. I flicked it
on and the powerful beam slid over the ground, cutting through the
inky blackness beneath the trees.

“Let’s go,” I told them. “And don’t blame me
if you freeze your butts off.”

I entered the woods and headed in the
direction of the lake with the four of them behind me. Less than
fifty yards in, I spotted large footprints in the snow, and I knew
they belonged to the hellhounds. The only problem was I couldn’t
tell if the impressions were fresh or from our walk this afternoon.
I looked for my boot prints but couldn’t see any. That wasn’t
surprising because Hugo and Woolf ran around so much they probably
obliterated my prints. Stopping, I whistled, and called for them
again.

“Damn, it’s cold out here,” I muttered,
blowing on my hands and wishing I’d remembered gloves.

Roland snorted. “Nice of your friend, Sahir,
to stay warm and cozy inside while you trek through the woods.”

“Sahir wouldn’t – ” I broke off as it hit me
what had been niggling at me since we came outside. I turned to
Michael. “Where is Sahir anyway?”

Michael shrugged. “I think he – ”

He grunted in pain when I grabbed his arm in
a death grip. I gasped and cold air stung my lungs, but that was
nothing compared to the lump of ice forming in my chest.

“Vampire!” I spun to the others and cried,
“Run!”

“Please, don’t leave on our account,” said a
husky feminine voice as a blond vampire appeared out of nowhere to
stand in front of us. “We only just got here.”

Her words barely registered before I felt a
slight disturbance in the air and four more vampires stepped out
from the trees to surround us.