Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Daphne
George and I had slept late. So, after a light lunch, I headed to downtown Darkaway to kill time before nightfall. I’d browsed through the shops, and bought some cute earrings and another bag of saltwater taffy.
Last thing I wanted was to be on the beach, hear a seaplane, then look up and wonder if it was Travis and Mia. No. I didn’t want to subject myself to that kind of negativity. I had enough on my plate already.
Now, as I passed under the wrought-iron sign to Wickedville with the tagline Enter at Your Own Peril, I felt the temperature drop significantly.
Another thing I noticed, other than my goosebumps, was that the cobblestone streets were narrower here, the buildings much older and seedier than in the other part of town.
A gloomy mist swirled in alleyways and dark corners. Streetlights, the ones that were actually working, did little in the way of exterior illumination. I was glad I didn’t have far to go.
At the clip-clop sound of hooves, I looked over to see a carriage being pulled by two enormous black horses. It stopped in front of a pub adorned with stone gargoyles. From this angle, I couldn’t see who—or what—was getting out.
This had better be worth it, because this entire place was giving me the creeps. Before I could change my mind, I set off for Nightmare Alley, which was supposed to be a few blocks down on the left. I’d waited long enough to get some answers about this stupid, mysterious book.
I passed a junk dealer, a pawnshop, a bail bondsman, and a shabby haberdashery that sold “capes and canes for the distinguished vampire gentleman.” It felt as if I’d stepped into another time and place. An eerie version of London at the turn of the last century, perhaps.
The back of my neck prickled a few times, and not just when I passed a shop that sold coffins. I glanced around but saw nothing out of the ordinary—if ordinary included people wearing robes and/or capes, a lion, two panthers, and several dogs that probably weren’t actual dogs.
Sudden movement over my shoulder drew my attention. I turned to see a dark figure darting into a nearby doorway. Another chill raced up my spine. Was someone following me?
I hugged my beach bag tight to my body and quickened my pace, wishing for a parka and a can of pepper spray. Although I didn’t know if the latter would do any good warding off monsters if one happened to be following me.
Up ahead, I spotted a post with crooked signs pointing in various directions: Transylvania (6150 miles), Tower of London (4920 miles) and Nightmare Alley (10 steps).
I proceeded with caution into the narrow alleyway.
Music pulsed from an open door where a couple was locked in a romantic embrace. Wait. That was no kiss, I realized with a shiver, noting the curve of a woman’s neck. Must be a crimson club. I tried not to stare and forced myself to keep going.
I didn’t get more than a few feet when a figure stepped out of the shadows and blocked me.
“Well, hello there.” Despite the high-pitched voice, he was a rather large-girthed man with bleached blond hair, shifty eyes, and a red-lined cape that drug on the ground. Though I didn’t know much about vampire fashion, it seemed a bit long for him. He could easily trip over that thing.
I swallowed nervously, clinging to the hope that what the Sisters had told me about paranormal-on-human crime was accurate. That it didn’t happen often.
Reaching into my beach bag for something I could use to defend myself, I tried not to make eye contact with the vampire and stepped out of his way. However, the man moved with me and wouldn’t let me pass.
He lifted his chin and sniffed the air. “You’re a virgin, am I right?”
“Excuse me?” Anger coursed through my veins like a flash flood. I took a step forward and jabbed him with my room key right in his flabby chest. “Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?”
Stumbling backward, the man cried out in pain, which gave me a smug sense of satisfaction.
“You staked me!”
He was being overly dramatic. My room key was still lodged between my knuckles. But I wasn’t about to argue with an outraged vampire.
Before I could turn on my heels and get the heck out of Dodge, a large animal brushed past me and knocked the man to the ground.
A huge dire wolf, bigger than the ones I’d seen at the ferry, stood on the man’s chest and snarled.
His silver fur glistened in the pale light, as did his razor-sharp fangs that were inches from the guy’s neck.
“Hey, you two,” said a stern female voice. “Break it up.” Her tone had the casual authority of someone who saw a lot of bullshit and wasn’t about to put up with more.
Saliva dripping from his fangs, the dire wolf didn’t move and was still poised to rip out the guy’s throat. I covered my eyes because I didn’t want to see any carnage, but I peered through my fingers because I was genuinely curious about what was going to happen.
“You.” The no-nonsense voice belonged to a middle-aged woman with a septum piercing who stepped into view and pointed at the vampire. “I’ll call your Maker. And you.” She pointed to the wolf. “I’ll call your Alpha.”
Much to my utter shock, the dire wolf morphed before my eyes into a furious Travis.
While I stood there, questioning all of my life choices that had led me to this, he yanked the vampire to his feet and shoved him against the brick wall. “You stay the fuck away from her.”
Travis in his human form was just as deadly as his wolf.
“I didn’t do anything,” the guy whined, his voice a bit higher pitched than it had been a moment ago. “I swear.”
“I heard what you said, you piece of shit.”
The vampire laughed nervously. “I can tell she’s never been bitten. Didn’t see any harm in pointing that out.”
Travis bared his human teeth, and I swear, they still looked canine.
“Okay, that’s enough, you two,” said another authoritative voice. This time, a burly, bald man in a sheriff’s uniform strode toward us. After a brief word with Travis, the sheriff hauled the vampire away.
Travis brushed off his clothes and stalked toward me, the golden glow of his wolf-eyes both enrapturing and extremely menacing.
“W-what just happened?” I asked.
He ran a hand through his messy hair and glowered down at me. “You almost became a snack for a hungry vampire, that’s what happened.”
I didn’t mean that. What I meant was I couldn’t believe I had just seen him change from his werewolf form into his human form.
One minute he was a wolf, and then poof, just like that, he morphed back into a human.
Fully clothed. Not at all like the gruesome transformations in pretty much every werewolf movie I’d ever seen.
This was...almost magical.
“What are you doing skulking around Wickedville, Daphne?” Travis’s tone was entirely too accusatory.
“Skulking?” The warm and fuzzy thoughts I had about him rescuing me from that sleazy vampire evaporated. “For your information, it’s none of your business what I’m doing here.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, the yellow was gone. “In case you hadn’t noticed, this isn’t the best part of town.”
Okay, he had me there. But skulking?
I chewed my lower lip. I really wanted to tell him what brought me here, but as I clutched my beach bag, heavy with the spell book inside, bile rose in the back of my throat.
Although I didn’t want to lie, I couldn’t tell him the truth either. The last thing I wanted was to get sick in front of Travis. Our relationship wasn’t exactly at the hold-my-hair-out-of-my-face-so-I-don’t-barf-on-it stage. Surprising how intimate a little vomit could be.