Unquenchable Desire (19 page)

Just
before I grabbed the syringe, my heart swelled and overflowed with love for
Brian; then came incredible pain—I twisted and jerked in the throes of
body-racking spasms. Then, exhausted, I stilled to catch my breath. The wolf
within me vaporized, and I saw the ghostly form escape my nostrils and
disappear out the window.

Oh,
my God! My love for Brian has cured me!

Unbelievable,
although I’ve lost the wolf’s strength, I feel braver, stronger.

How
lucky I am. I’ve just walked through a special door that few people ever walk
though.
A door where love is forever.
 

“Whatever were you thinking?” Dad
asked, ripping her out of her reverie. He met her gaze with dark, angry eyes. “By
God’s miracle you’re going to live. But do you have any idea how stupid
shooting that serum into your veins was?”

“I didn’t plan it. It just seemed
right at the time. And it worked. So why are you so mad?”

“Because your
interference ruined the test.
We don’t know if it was your sacrifice for
Brian that rid your body of the curse or if the serum was responsible. We still
need someone to test the serum.”

“Oh, Daddy, please not Brian.”

“No, not Brian.
I have other plans for him.”

Her heart pounded. “I don’t like
the sound of that.”

“Forget Brian for a minute and
think about what you did. Don’t you realize that until Reeves is destroyed,
that without the wolf inside you, you’re more vulnerable than ever?”

She gasped. Was she? She felt
stronger. “If so, how is that different from you and Mom?”

“I can take care of us. Don’t worry
your pretty head about that.”

She didn’t worry about his
abilities, really. Her dad was as close to Superman as a human could get. “So
what’s your plan?”

“To keep you all safe while I focus
my attention on the identification and destruction of Reeves. Now that you’re
recovering I’ll start forming a team to help me. Dealing with the walking dead
is too risky to handle alone.”

“This may sound ridiculous, she
said, but what if Reeves has morphed into Kyle? He always disappears for hours
during a full moon. And he can be very spooky sometimes.”

Dad laughed. “Are you kidding me?
Skinny, mild-mannered Kyle?
You said it yourself—the black
wolf is big, muscular. I think that serum scrambled your thinking.”

“I said it sounded ridiculous, but
consider it for a moment. Every werewolf I know increases in size and strength
when they morph into a wolf. I adore Kyle, but what if his gentle characteristics
made him ripe for takeover? Just think about it.”

****

Dad had only been gone a few
seconds when
Victoria
stuck her head into the room. “Hi, baby sister. How are you feeling?”

She wore black cut-offs and a pink
midriff with Viva Las Vegas in rhinestones emblazoned across her voluptuous
breasts. Her raven hair was caught back in a French braid and she sported a
golden tan.

Valerie twisted a tangle of her
lemony blonde hair, feeling pale and washed out in comparison. “After Dad’s mind-whipping
lecture, I’m ready to get out of here and back to work.”

“He has a right to be upset. You
did a really stupid thing.”

“Thanks, Sis. Now everyone has told
me that. Since you’ve all properly chastised me, it would be great if everyone
would get the heck off my back.”

“It isn’t just about you. After
your hair-brained trick, Dad will never let me near the lab, let alone
volunteer to take the serum. You know I can’t have a baby until I get the cure.”

“At least you have a husband who
loves you. Isn’t that enough?”

“Would it be enough for you and
Brian?”

“It’d be a great start.”

Valerie sighed. Sadly, it wasn’t
something she visualized happening soon. As long as Brian had the curse, they
had to fight their feeling for one another. Although she was cured, he wasn’t.
So was it the serum that cured
me,
or my sacrifice for him
? A cold awareness crept into
her consciousness.
He’d sacrificed for me
by saving my life in the barrio, so why wasn’t he cured? Is it because his
emotional love isn’t deep enough?

****

With Rory shouting, “Don’t do
this,” in his head, Reeves drove toward March Air Force Base. He’d located a
guy who’d sell his soul for a mere two thousand. The dimwit warned that getting
explosives from the base would be too risky right now, but with his help it’d
be no hassle to steal the dynamite from the civilian construction crew working
on the flood control channel near the back gate.

Feeling confident, Reeves took the
rear cut-off road, past acres of dried weed fields. “If you go through with
this stupid nighttime implosion,” Rory shouted inside his head, “you’ll not
only blow away the Lamont family and those they held dear, but my chances to
have Valerie and her Dad’s wealth.”

“You never had a chance with
Valerie from the start,” Reeves said.

But then it hit him. He
was
acting impulsively. If he went
through with this, he’d lose his rightful heritage—the mansion and all the
golden assets.

“Dammit, if you’d stay quiet up
there, I could think more clearly.” Lazar had never given him trouble. He
wished he had another host. The ideal would be someone inside the mansion, like
Kyle. From what he’d experienced while trying to enter Brian, he figured his
host needed to have a wide streak of evil in his soul. It might make morphing
possible if Kyle had an evil side hidden deep within, a side he’d never shown
to anyone, even himself.

Can
I even conjure up the power to change bodies?
Reeves wondered. So far the
Devil had picked his hosts. “Hey, Devil, Buddy, help me out here. Get me a new host
and I’ll show you just how evil I can be.” Maybe his present host had to die
first. “Hey, Rory, how do you feel about suicide?”

“If I were dead,” Rory said, “you’d
be dead, too, Numbskull. Think about that.”

“I figured you wouldn’t go for it. But
you forget, I’m the walking dead and with me anything is possible.”

Reeves smiled evilly. What if I blow
up the foundation office with both Valerie and Brian inside? That ought to make
Damon crack and crumble.

****

Valerie and Brian headed for the office before first light to make up
for the time she’d missed. Mom would bring Kindra a little later to meet with
and be accepted into the system by Child Welfare. She felt sure after her talk
with Kindra that the child would never mention their morphing. The little
darling would only tell about the evil wolf who killed her mother. Valerie
didn’t even want to think about the murder or letting Kindra go. She wished she
could keep her but she would keep in touch and be her go-to-friend. Then a
thought came to her. Maybe if she got her own house in order, there would be
the possiblity of fostering or even adoption. Valerie glanced over at Brian. “You
could’ve slept in,” she said. “With our ex-prize fighter night watchman there. I
have no fear of going in before the others. No unauthorized person could get
past Gordon.”

“Get it through your head, Valerie. I’m your bodyguard and shadow until
our team takes Reeves out of the picture.”

“What if it never happens?”

“Then you’re stuck with me, day in and out.”

“That could get a bit stifling.”

“Am I so hard to take?”

“Not exactly.” She smiled coyly. “I’d like you to have another reason
to cling close besides the fact Dad pays you to be my Siamese twin.”

“Are you kidding me? I care about you.”

But do you care enough
? Why didn’t his wolf leave him when he
sacrificed his life for her?
Maybe Brian needed to feel his forfeiture on a deeper level
to cement their relationship. But wasn’t she expecting too much of him? Confusion
swam in her mind. What did she really want? She wanted to do her best for the
foundation, to protect her family—and Brian to feel the same passion and love
for her that she felt for him.
Aware
she was behaving totally unreasonable and childish, she forced her doubts away.

She intended to have a plan for Kindra laid out by the time Mom arrived
with the child so the little sweetie’s transfer into the State system would be
smooth and result in her getting settled into a safe haven. Kindra would need
restorative c
ounseling. Valerie knew she needed info on
the girl’s baby brother. If possible, she hoped they could arrange to keep the
children in the same home. And placing them anywhere would be difficult for
different reasons. The baby because he was a crack baby and Kindra because she
was an older child with a history of abuse.

As she pulled into the parking lot, her neck
prickled. The parking area and the building were dark. A shiver slipped down
her spine.

Brian stiffened. “Why are the lights off?”

She gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I
don’t know. They’re on a timer. Maybe some glich tripped the switches. Gordon
might be having trouble correcting the problem in the dark.”

She parked close to the entrance, grabbed a
flashlight from the glove compartment, and used her keys to enter the building.
Brian followed right behind her. Inside, she flipped the light switch. Nothing.
She rushed to the main switch box in the supply room and pushed the lever up. Still
nothing. She heard a crash in the far back office. “Gordon, is that you?” She
grapped a letter opener from her desk and headed toward the noise, Brian on her
heels. In the hallway, she tripped over a body. She flashed the light toward
the face. She gasped. It was Gordon, his throat torn out. Blood spatters were
everywhere.

She heard another sound. “Oh, God. The killer
werewolf might still be in the building.” She lifted the flashlight and saw
movement in the shadows. “There he is. Let’s get him!”

Brian grabbed her arm. “No,” he whispered in
a low commanding voice. “Let’s make him come to us.” He thrust her into the
nearest office and drew her inside. Quickly he dialed 911. “We need the police
on this one.” After reporting the murder, he dialed Damon. “We’re at the
foundation. He’s here. I called the police. We might need the team. Tell your
mom not to bring Kindra.”

****

At the mansion, Damon and Hugh ran to Hugh’s
truck. Damon alerted Rick but left him behind to watch over Kindra and the
women.

“Blast it,’ Hugh said, looking at his slit
tires. Rick’s motorcycle tires were slashed, too. There was no time to waste.
Damon opened the garage. The tires on all the vehicles were slit. He called his
office. “Get the chopper here now!”

He and Hugh shifted from foot to foot until
they saw the glint of silver and heard the hum of propellers as the craft
lowered into the yard. They climbed aboard. “Lift off.”

****

Hugging Kindra close, Angela watched the
craft rise quickly into the air. Her stomach, a jumble of knots.

“What’s going on,”
Victoria
asked.

“They found the foundation nightwatchman with
his throat ripped out. They think Reeves is still in the building. Your Dad and
Uncle are attempting to corner him.”

“What about Rick?”

“Your dad left him here to protect us.”

Victoria
raked her thickening hair. “Did anyone call
the police?”

“Yes, but that worries me, too. What if under
stress, Brian and Hugh morph into

wolves? Brian did last time he faced Reeves. The
police will think he or Hugh killed the nightwatchman.”

She turned to face her daughter and her heart
lurched. Victoria’s fingernails were growing into daggers. “Don’t do this,
Victoria
. Not now.”

****

“Damn you, Brain. I resent being jerked
around and treated like a dumb blonde incapable of making decisions for myself.
So quit playing boss. I make the decisions in this off—”

Brian put his hand over her mouth. “Quiet,”
he whispered. “ I hear ticking coming from the vents.”

She listened and heard nothing. Without her
wolf hearing, she had to trust his. She yanked his hand away from her mouth. “We’d
better check it out.” They were both whispering now.

Brian shook his head. “It might only be a
trap like a clock placed near the vents to bring us to him.”

In the quiet of the small room their whispers
sounded like shouts. “There’s too much at risk to ignore it, “she said.

“Nothing is that important. If we
investigate, we might be risking out lives.”

“Stay or go, either way is a risk. What if he
expects us to run, and he’s waiting outside to jump us?” She glared at him. “If
it’ll make you feel better, I’ll call for professional backup.” She dial 911
and requested a bomb squad. “Now, let’s check it out. We won’t touch anything. We’ll
just locate it for the bomb squad.”

“Let me get you out of here. That way, at
least we won’t be sitting ducks in a building with a ticking bomb.”

“Leave if you want to. I’m going to see if
there really is a bomb.”

“Damn it. I don’t want you going down there without me. And I can’t leave
you here unprotected. At least stay behind me.”

****

Brian’s tension rose. Fear for her safety made him go against his best
judgement. Valerie interfered when he tried to take the serum. Why? Did she
think he couldn’t handle it? Her lack of belief in him was a blow to his ego. Could
he trust her now to believe he’d keep her safe? Probably not. If he didn’t
follow through and locate the ticking, she’d go alone.