Chapter 22 #2
When night fell and most of the lights were turned off inside the building, I walked outside. The same volunteer woman who’d let me use the computer stood to the side of the doors, leaning on the wall. She was shivering, wrapped in a cardigan over her green apron.
“Hi, do you need an extra blanket?” She lifted a coffee cup and took a sip.
She was the only one who was in the building at this hour. There were no security guards, and the doors were unlocked.
“No, I’m okay,” I said and darted my gaze toward the streets and buildings surrounding us. “Are you on a night shift?”
She nodded. “It’s usually very quiet here at night.”
But that wasn’t what the woman from the top bunk bed had said.
As I scanned my surroundings, my gaze fell on a dark figure in the distance. His back leaned against a tree on the sidewalk across from me. Not too far away from this man, leaning his shoulder on the lamppost, stood another man.
The light illuminated his face and body. He looked tall and muscular, and my instinct didn’t alarm me of any supernatural presence. I’d have to guess he was a human. And so was the other man at the tree.
It was quiet outside, and this wasn’t the part of town where people came out to party. Everyone had left their offices by now and was back home, but what were these two men doing here right in front of the shelter?
“Do you know of these two men?” I said.
The woman followed my gaze and smiled. “Oh, these men. Yes, although sometimes I see new faces. If you work in the shelter long enough, you start noticing stuff. They are always here, mostly at night. But they never come in the shelter or bother us.”
The man at the lamppost turned, and we locked gazes. His eyes narrowed at me, and he didn’t move his gaze away. He stubbornly watched me like a hawk.
Were these the men my bunk bed friend was afraid of? The strangers looked creepy, but they appeared as if they were on guard, not lurking to capture anyone. And they were human.
I started crossing the street when the man at the lamppost scowled at me, nodded at the other man, and they ran for it.
I didn’t think they were harmless, but these strangers didn’t strike me as cold-blooded murderers. Who were they?
I returned to my bunk bed and checked on the woman above my mattress. She was fast asleep, hugging a tote bag to her side as if her whole life depended on it.
In the morning when I checked my email, my heart started pounding at the sight of Tammy’s response. Her message was short, and knowing her, I’d say she didn’t want to give away much information in her reply in case my email was monitored.
She didn’t say much at all. Tammy had only included a time, which I assumed was the time of arrival of her flight today.
I must have thanked the volunteer woman hundreds of times before I left for the bus stop. She gave me enough money for tickets. Having used the public transportation in London, I quickly figured out the bus schedule and routes from the map at the stop.
About two hours before Tammy’s arrival, I caught the first bus to the airport.
My dad would have found out I was no longer in the kingdom by now. Mom would keep my secret, though. Would he think I was kidnapped, or would he believe I ran away? I’d go with the latter based on my track record.
I rubbed the tight spot over my heart. I squeezed my eyes shut and reopened them immediately. I would return to the kingdom. This time around, I wouldn’t be a coward. I wouldn’t run away from my destiny. And now Mom had given me a purpose and something to distract my reeling mind.
I was restless, waiting in the lobby for Tammy to appear. Only one escalator went down for international arrivals, and I stared at it, scanning each person who got on it.
My heart beat fast, but when goose bumps rose on my forearms, my blood froze in my veins. I felt a supernatural presence around me.
I darted my gaze around the open space. Too many people were dragging their luggage, rushing so that I couldn’t spot the supernatural. I couldn’t tell if he or she was a vampire or a werewolf.
Maybe it was just a person who would pass by. But my stomach knotted uncomfortably. My instincts, for which I mentally thanked my biological witch mother, indicated that I was in trouble.
An unsettling feeling formed in my chest, and I readied myself to bolt. But I couldn’t.
I looked up at the escalator and caught sight of a waving Tammy. But she wasn’t smiling. Her face looked pale, and she was pointing at something.
I followed to where her finger aimed and gasped.
Torin.
My heart did the usual hiccup thing behind its cage. He knew me too well. He scanned the people around and scented the air with his flared nostrils.
I looked back at Tammy’s horrified face and mouthed, “That way.”
She was descending on the escalator and stepped down, hiding behind a person.
Torin hadn’t seen her yet, but his nostrils flared, and in no time, he would scent his mate.
I dashed in the opposite direction of Torin toward the baggage claim area and hid behind a massive sign.
When brown boots appeared in my sight, I jolted.
“Tammy,” I said and hugged her.
We embraced for a long moment, but then she released me.
“What kind of trouble did you get yourself into, girl?” She tilted her head and smiled.
“I missed you so much.” I hugged her again.
“I missed you too.”
Suddenly, her body froze, and she pulled away from me slowly while watching behind my shoulder.
“Give me your hand, Bree,” she said in a low voice.
I did as she ordered. Her face turned into a scowl, and I didn’t have to ask what she was looking at.
“He found us,” was the last thing she said before she twirled on her heels and ran toward the exit doors while pulling me behind her.
I glanced over my shoulder, my eyes locking with furious crimson ones. Torin was close.
I should have been the angry one. Why was he frowning at me?
“Anna,” he shouted, and curious gazes fell on Tammy and me.
We sprinted toward the sidewalk’s end, but the busy streets began once it ended. What was Tammy running to?
“There,” she said breathlessly.
A cab driver leaned against his car. He was probably on a break, carelessly swiping on his phone.
“Hey, I’ll pay you double if you take us right now,” Tammy shouted at him from some distance.
He lifted his gaze, his eyes widening, probably as he spotted the massive man who chased us. The driver dropped his phone in his pocket, opened the back door, and dashed to the driver’s seat. Tammy and I slid in and shut the door.
“Go, please. Go fast,” I said.
The driver skidded out of his parking place when Torin reached the car. The taxi driver moved to the farthest lane to the left, away from Torin, and merged into the busy traffic exiting the airport.
Although Torin ran on the street for a moment, he had to give up. The loud honking and cursing echoed behind us, and it faded with each mile we drove away.
I finally looked at the man behind the wheel. He was around Dad’s age, but more of his hair was gray, including his thick eyebrows and beard. He glanced at me and Tammy from the rearview mirror.
“I have three daughters. One of them had an ex-boyfriend who turned out to be a stalker until I dealt with him,” he said and smiled a satisfied grin.
“Thank you for helping us,” Tammy said, and he nodded.
“Where to, ladies?”
“Downtown,” I said.
I asked Tammy for her phone, and we looked up an inexpensive motel around the shelter area.
“You slept in a shelter.” She shook her head. “You have a lot to tell me.”
On our ride to the motel, I told her about the strange men in front of the shelter.
“But you can’t get involved with everyone’s troubles, Bree.”
I hadn’t told Tammy the secret of the supernatural existence, but I would.
“I know, but there is more I suspect. I’ll tell you at the motel.”
The woman at the shelter had said that she couldn’t remember what happened or where she was at night. And other people from the shelter disappeared altogether. I suspected vampires were involved. Vampires who used their compulsion power on unsuspecting innocent humans from the shelter.
I still couldn’t explain what the two human men did while standing outside the shelter at night, but there weren’t coincidences.
Tammy handed me my old wallet, which I’d left behind in London. I had money on my debit card, and since I planned to return to the kingdom soon, I didn’t care if anyone tracked my bank activities.
I gave her a grateful look, and she smiled. The cab driver pulled into a narrow parking lot. Tammy paid, and we got out.
The motel stood in the middle between two tall office buildings. The room doors opened toward the parking lot. We walked to the office, which had a red sign indicating Vacancy illuminated on the window.
Once we got the key to a room on the first floor, Tammy and I took turns taking showers. While I was in the bathroom, she must have gone to the vending machine outside. When I emerged, Tammy had spread candy, chips, and water bottles out on the bed.
We munched on our snacks silently, and Tammy stuck potato chips and two blocks of a chocolate bar into her mouth. Her cheeks puffed out like a hamster’s, and she dramatically rolled her eyes.
“So good,” she mumbled.
Tammy and I had our fill of junk food back in London when we did movie nights in my apartment, but I’d never seen her mix foods like that.
Had her food preferences also changed after Torin’s compulsion? I sighed. I had to tell her what she’d gone through.
“I have so much to tell you, Tammy, that I don’t even know where to begin,” I said, shaking my head.
She handed me the bag of chips. I slid my fingers inside to find one lonely chip. Tammy grinned at me.
“How about you start at the time when we met in college,” she said.
I scooted to the head of the bed and leaned against two fluffy pillows.
“I’ve never understood something. I turned down the students who asked me for study groups or to grab coffee,” I said and smiled at my best friend.
“I also turned you down, but you never gave up on me. You just wouldn’t take no for an answer.
I never understood why you wanted to befriend me so much. ”
She put down the chocolate bar, straightened up, and crossed her legs. “Because I saw in your eyes that you needed me.”
My chest warmed. “But then remember what I told you. I couldn’t share everything about my family, and you still stuck around.”
“Because you needed time. Friendship takes time.”
The backs of my eyes burned. I had no doubt Tammy would believe my words.
“Ready for my wild story?” I asked, smiling.
“I’ve always listened to your mythology stories.”
“But this time, this is real, Tammy.”
While discussing my werewolf family and kingdom, Tammy munched on snacks and placed the unopened ones on her nightstand. She lay on her side and kept listening, eyes alert, lips turned up in a smile.
I told her everything. About having two mates, how the dream realm worked, and that I was half witch. At the end, Tammy was still smiling.
“Aren’t you freaked out that I’m a witch?”
She scoffed. “Better a witch than a helpless Princess waiting for the Prince.”
I laughed. Then I got to the part where Torin had compelled her after the incident at the fake vampire club. Her smile finally disappeared.
“Don’t worry about me, Bree. I feel fine.
I don’t have headaches or any hallucinations.
But I’m not into vampire stuff anymore. Thank goodness.
I’m not angry at Torin for compelling me, but if he hurts you, I’ll…
well, I’m not sure how I could hurt a half vampire, half werewolf… ” She let out a small laugh.
I slumped on my side in bed and faced my best friend. “Your fascination with everything vamp-ish was over the top.”
“I think I know why I was the way I was. That feeling hasn’t gone away. I was so busy making a living, starting a business, making rent, studying, that I longed for adventure. I’ve always felt that something was missing in my life. And it was the sense of excitement, the thrill.”
“You don’t think it has to do with your parents?”
Tammy grew up in foster care and orphanages.
“I have no desire to find out about my real parents, Bree. But I’m very curious about the supernatural world you described. It sounds amazing.”
I blinked. “Seriously? I just told you how dangerous it is.”
“Yeah, but you’re a part of it. And I want to be a part of your life, so I’m here. Thank you for telling me the truth.”
I let out a heavy sigh. It was as if I had never left London. Distance hadn’t changed our relationship.
“I’m so glad you’re here. So what’s next?” she asked.
“We’ll go back to the shelter tomorrow and talk to one of the strange human men there.”
But I would have to return to the kingdom as soon as possible. Although Torin wasn’t in its territory anymore, Victoria could still attack the werewolves.
Tammy placed her palms under her cheek and yawned. “How are you going to get close enough to one of them? Didn’t they run away last time?”
“I’m going to capture him.”
Tammy grinned. “And I’ll help you.”