Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
A llison
We reach Taos before sundown. There are mountains in the distance, but we’re so remote that no one would have spotted a giant owl flying a VW bus over the snow-dusted mesa.
Fiona’s on her phone, tracking our progress. Declan’s in the backseat, muttering to himself and sipping on his flask. Being airborne doesn’t suit him.
I could fly like this forever. The owl’s wings are soft, rustling overhead. And the world is filled with his sweet, cotton-y scent.
It’s incredible. As soon as Laurie sets us down, I’ll tell him how I feel about him. It’s been hard to open up with any shifter but Fiona, but I can be brave.
“We’re close to the coordinates Mr. F sent us,” Fiona says. “It’s up ahead.” She points to a field. I can sense the creatures on the earth, from the smallest mouse to the eagles chasing updrafts above us.
“Set it down now,” Parker calls up to Laurie. A few minutes later, the bus bumps gently to the ground. Fiona rushes to open the bus door, and I’m right on her heels. We race over to the owl who’s just landed nearby. The feathers shrink and disappear as Laurie shifts back.
“Oh,” Fiona skids to a stop. I peer around her, and my eyes widen.
Laurie’s naked. Very lean and tall, with neat muscles lining his long torso and limbs. His hair is sticking up on end, and his eyes are very wide.
Parker hands him a hat, and Laurie sets it over his dick. Too bad. I quite liked the sight of it.
“Damn, Laurie,” Fiona says. “That was awesome.” We all crowd around him, but don’t touch, in case his skin is sensitive from shifting from man to bird and back again.
I end up facing him and push to tiptoe, so I can slide his Coke-bottle glasses back onto his face.
“You did it,” I whisper.
He blinks down at me. His eyelashes seem extra long. There’s a tiny bit of fluff stuck to one of them.
“Tired?” I ask him. His head falls forward in a nod, but then hangs there like his neck can’t hold it up anymore. I stay close, and when he puts an arm around me, I relax. He’s okay.
My hero. My animal is very shy, but she’s peeking out, basking in the thick, feathery scent of Laurie’s owl.
Declan tosses Laurie a blanket, and he wraps it around himself like a toga. “So where are we anyway?” Declan asks.
“The coordinates Mr. F sent us,” Fiona says.
“Then where’s the gift?”
“What is the gift?” I ask again. “A car? A watch? A giant statue of him?”
“Or a giant dildo,” Fiona sniggers, and Parker and Declan look so scandalized that I giggle.
“Selene’d like that,” I say, and both Fiona and I crack up. We’re wired from two days of being chased, not to mention the magical flight. And it’s obvious our friends are too intimidated by Mr. F to think of what he and Selene get up to in the vampire BDSM club.
“It’s this way,” I say when I’ve calmed down. We all head across the fields, Fiona carrying my backpack, so I can support Laurie as best I can. He’s too tall and lanky for me to carry him, but I keep his arm around my shoulders and guide him when he stumbles.
We cross a few dirt roads, but mostly keep to the snowy fields filled with sagebrush. The invasive plant spreads out for miles, a silvery sea. A pungent herbal scent fills the air.
As we get closer to the rocky hills ahead, a long, low building comes into sight, and another scent grows stronger.
“What’s that smell?” Declan sniffs the air. “Cattle? Sheep?”
“Deer,” I say. “This way.”
The sun has sunk lower, turning the metal siding of the barn-like building into a blaze of golden light. We hike towards it, crossing a final gravel road. There’s a bunch of hay bales stacked into a circle.
Declan lopes ahead to investigate and does a double take at what he sees. “Jaysus, Mary and Joseph!”
“What is it?” Parker asks, and we all trot around to see what put that surprised look on Declan’s face.
It’s a creche with person-sized statues for the nativity figures, and real straw in the big wooden manger.
“Jaysus,” Declan points out. “Mary, and Joseph.”
“Oh my god,” Parker shakes his head.
“Exactly.”
“Almost there,” I say, and lead everyone past the creche to the black-painted fence.
Parker helps Laurie climb over it, but once they’re over, Laurie sinks to the ground, his eyes fluttering shut.
I lean over him, noting the pallor in his taut cheeks. “Will he be all right?”
“Aye.” Declan leans down and adjusts the blanket around him. “Don’t worry about him.”
“It took a lot out of him to shift and fly all this way then shift back,” Parker says. “He’ll sleep it off and be good as new.”
“He saved us,” I say, reluctant to leave him.
“He did.” There’s a glimmer of a smile around Parker’s mouth.
“He did it for you, lass,” Declan says.
I hide my own smile deep inside me. The warmth of it is a tiny sun, heating every part of me. Which is good because as the sun drops, it’s getting much colder.
Fiona shivers and wraps her arms around herself. “Come on. The sooner we finish this, the sooner we can get back to Tucson.”
Right. That’s my cue. “Stay here.” I walk a few yards away from the group of them towards the herd of deer. They’re smaller than a mule or white-tailed deer. Fully grown, they’re only two or three feet high. A few of them turn their heads, revealing their tiny white fangs, incongruous on their narrow faces.
“What the feck,” Declan sputters.
I raise my arms and call the deer to me. They trot over immediately, surrounding me happily. They stay on the side of me opposite Declan and Parker, though. They can smell the canine in my friends. They don't get too close to Fiona, either.
“What’s with the fangs?” she asks. “Are they shifters?”
“No. Just vampire deer. Selene thinks they’re cute.” One of the deer butts my side, and I run a gentle hand over its head. “Mr. F. found this herd at a zoo that was going out of business. They were set to be sold to the highest bidder or slaughtered. He’s going to find a way to rehabilitate them and set them free.”
“Let me get this straight,” Parker says. “The king of the vampires bought a block of vampire deer–”
“A herd of vampire deer,” I correct. “Or a rangale.”
“A herd… because his mate thinks they’re cute?”
“Yes.”
Parker runs a hand through his thick gray hair, muttering something about “crazy fucking vampires with more money than God.”
“What now?” Fiona asks.
“We need to load them up on the trailer and haul them to Tucson.”
“I’ll go get us a vehicle of some sort,” Declan says.
“I’ll come with you,” Fiona says and sets my backpack down next to me.
“We’ll wait here. Watch over Laurie and” —Parker grimaces— “The deer.”
I pet a few more of the deer and let the scent of my call disperse a little. When it’s time to load them in the trailer, I’ll make sure they come willingly, and lull them to sleep for the trip. Fiona says I’m better than Xanax.
Parker heads back to the creche where Laurie’s sleeping and hunkers down out of the wind. I settle next to him, tucking the blanket around him. It’s cold now. The temperature’s dropped several degrees.
Sunset stains the sky.
Something howls nearby. A coyote. The deer raise their heads and startle, scurrying to the far end of the field.
“What’s that?” Parker raises his head and blinks blearily in the direction of the barn. He was asleep, I realize. Last night he stayed in the chair with his hat over his face. I thought he was sleeping then, but he couldn’t have been very comfortable.
There’s a faint noise inside the barn. Probably a mouse or something. But then, a cold, earthy scent sweeps over us.
Parker scrambles to his feet.
“What is it?” I ask. Chills are running up my arms. My animal knows something’s wrong, but I don’t know what.
“Vampires,” he says, just as two dark shapes separate from the shadows and blur towards us.