Last Summer
It turned out the guy they’d thought was dead might not be, so Rory hadn’t been able to help figure out where the vampires were. I wasn’t completely clear on everything, but we’d handed the vampire tracking back to Greg and Cal and returned to the car.
The trip to Mineral Wells, where the dryads lived, took around three hours.
This town and the land around it was part of the area Ellis oversaw as District Monitor, which was how he knew these dryads already.
They owned a sort of resort-slash-retreat with an inn and cabins on the property.
It was beautiful, but Pia was not a fan.
“I don’t want to live here! I want to stay with you and Ms. Jackson!” Luckily no one had opened their doors yet, so hopefully her voice hadn’t carried outside the car.
Shit, I didn’t blame her. She’d lost her mother and been held captive.
She wanted to make her own decisions and stay with people she knew she could trust. I turned in my seat.
“Chica, remember what we talked about. You’re going to meet these people, and you’re going to be polite to them.
Ms. Jackson will know whether you belong here or not.
If they don’t like this place for you, we’ll figure something else out. ”
Ms. Jackson, who’d stayed in their pig form for the car ride, transformed into their tiger form. They opened their mouth and gave a kind of garbled mini-roar.
Ellis chuckled. “Good job, Ms. Jackson! You’ve been working on your vocal cords!” He opened his door and got out of the car, then pushed the seat forward so Ms. Jackson could get out. The “Service Animal” vest was gone, but they were still wearing the tiara.
Pouting, Pia reluctantly exited the SUV.
A tall, middle-aged woman in jeans and a flowered blouse came out of the inn. “Ellis! Hi! It’s good to see you!” She hesitated on catching sight of Ms. Jackson, but then she rushed down the steps.
Ellis hugged her, then introduced her to the rest of us as Clementine. He left Pia for last, and Clementine knelt down on one knee. “Hi, Pia. I’m so sorry to hear about your mom. She sounds like she was a brave lady.”
Pia glared. “She was.”
Clementine ignored her expression. “I’d like to introduce you to my family, but there are a lot of us, so we thought it’d be less stressful if we were outdoors.
There’s a lovely picnic area down that path, and we’ve set up some food and drinks for all of you.
It’s a little early for dinner right now, but we can hang out as long as you want to.
We have rooms ready for all of you to spend the night. ”
Pia didn’t respond, but Ellis, Rory, and Shane pretended to be excited.
Ellis put a hand on Pia’s shoulder, and Ms. Jackson walked on her other side as we all followed Clementine down a path through a small forest. Woods?
Hell, if Pia was going to remain in my life, I needed to learn all the proper tree words.
Clementine gestured at our surroundings. “We have fifty acres here with forty-four campsites and twenty cabins. Our busiest time is the summer, of course, because everyone loves the lake for fishing, boating, and swimming. Do you like to swim, Pia?”
She didn’t answer, and Ms. Jackson bumped her with their shoulder. “Yes,” she admitted grudgingly.
Up ahead, an older man waited where the path we were on crossed another one.
“Hello! Welcome to our home!” He didn’t blink at Ms. Jackson, and he completely ignored the rest of us, focusing only on Pia.
“Hey, there, little miss. I’m Levi. You must be Pia!
We’re very happy to have you here.” He joined Clementine at the head of our little parade, talking loudly about the drinks and food laid out at the picnic area.
“It’s just around this bend. Here we are! ”
The “picnic area” was huge, like the size of a football field.
Twenty-four people, dryads I assumed, were waiting for us, standing in small groups next to various picnic tables scattered around the perimeter of the open area.
Some people waved, but no one approached.
Still, Ms. Jackson increased their size.
The tiger was at least a third larger than they’d been before.
Clementine noticed and took a step back. But gamely she said, “Uh, Pia, I’d like to introduce you to my family, if that’s all right.”
Rory’s smile was forced. No way he wanted Pia to live with these strangers. “Of course. Why don’t you and Ms. Jackson go with Clementine, Pia, and the rest of us will make our way around at our own pace?”
After giving the four of us a glare that promised our imminent demise, Pia turned her back.
She kept one hand firmly in the fur between Ms. Jackson’s shoulders as Clementine took her over to the first group of dryads.
They offered her some apple juice, and I snickered when she made a face and asked for a soda.
“She’ll be okay. Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.” I headed for the nearest table, which had platters of fruit and cheese laid out.
Ellis made an apologetic face as he gestured for Rory to join me.
“You go with Manny. I need to say hi to everyone here.” I guessed that made sense, since he was their District Monitor and all.
Shane went with him, leaving a whole table of food for me and Rory.
We kept an eye on Pia, who spoke to everyone she met, but she rarely smiled. Ms. Jackson stayed glued to her side.
“I want Pia to stay in Houston.”
I elbowed Rory in the side. “Duh. She doesn’t belong here. She belongs with you and Ellis and Shane.”
He glared, exasperated. “We’re not together.”
I rolled my eyes. “Not yet, maybe. But both of them have been eye-fucking you when your back is turned. Plus, you can’t really keep Pia in your one-bedroom condo. At Shane’s house she’d have her own bedroom.”
He grimaced. “It’s not really in a great neighborhood.”
I blinked rapidly to keep from rolling my eyes again. “That’s a completely solvable problem, dumbass.”
After a while everyone else stopped at the far end of the clearing, so Rory and I walked across to meet up with them. Ellis was taking a phone call off to the side, but Shane was handing water bottles to Pia and Clementine.
Ms. Jackson stared at Ellis like his phone call was fascinating, so I did the same. He stood stock still, gazing around the clearing with a worried expression. He said, “Yes?” Then after a moment, “Vampires?”
Everyone nearby turned as one. Ellis spun in a circle, staring at the trees, and we all did the same. Shit. What could a puny human like me do against vampires?
“Got it. Call you in a few.” Ellis hung up the phone and addressed Ms. Jackson. “Keep Pia safe.” They nodded and loped over to stand by her side.
He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. The rest of the dryads stopped talking and gave him their attention. “Everybody! A Seer had a vision that the vampires are coming here! Right now!”
Oh, fuck. I went to Pia, who’d wrapped her arms around herself. I pulled her into a hug. “It’ll be okay. Ms. Jackson will keep you safe.” I wasn’t promising much help, but I’d do what I could.
Some of the dryads began running for the trail back to the inn.
Ellis yelled for them to stop. “The vampires attack from the forest. You can merge with a tree, but don’t walk through the woods in your humanoid form.
That’s what the vampires want. Either keep to the middle of the clearing or go into a tree.
If we stay in a group, we’ll be protected. ”
Ms. Jackson did the herding thing with Pia, nudging her into the center of the clearing. I followed with Shane, Rory, and Ellis. Clementine and Levi joined us, but the rest of the dryads vanished into trees.
“I want to see these bastards for myself,” Clementine hissed. She held up a bread knife. At least she’d been smart enough to grab a weapon. I had nothing.
Shane and Ellis changed. It wasn’t super obvious if you didn’t know them, but they looked bigger somehow, more muscled, and their eyes glowed. And, holy fuck, they had claws!
I was staring as Shane put his hands on my shoulders and moved me so I was part of a circle of adults around Pia and Ms. Jackson. Pia, Clementine, and Levi suddenly sprouted thorns from their skin, which was almost as freaky as Shane and Ellis’ claws and glowing eyes.
“Wow,” I said. “Seems like that’d be a pretty good defense against vampires. Why would they bother targeting you if you can do that?”
Levi grimaced. “Probably because they know the thorns disappear when we’re unconscious.”
I was sorry I’d asked. “Oh. Got it.”
Well, I didn’t have a weapon, but at least I could record this. I pulled out my phone and started a video, panning around the clearing. “What are we talking about here? Are they like Dracula? Can they turn into bats?”
Shane shook his head. “No one’s seen them turn into bats. They can make fog somehow, and they have fangs.”
“And they can cut your magic off from other people, it sounds like,” Rory added.
I wanted to ask what that meant, but the forest went silent. No bird sounds, nothing except the wind. I panned my phone, but I didn’t see anything.
Rory sucked in a breath. “The ghosts say there are eight of them.”
Shit. We were sitting out here in the open, waiting to be picked off. I couldn’t fight, and no way could I run faster than a vampire.
Ms. Jackson crouched down and nudged Pia until she got on their back. Hopefully they’d be able to outrun the vampires.
But instead of leaving, Ms. Jackson walked a little ways away and...
expanded. They not only got even bigger, they changed from a tiger to a fucking dragon, dark green with huge wings and smoke coming out of their nostrils.
They stepped toward us until the six of us on the ground were under their belly, caged by their legs.
They spread their wings and roared. Okay, it was more like a big moan, but it was loud. And there was even smoke.
Ms. Jackson’s tail gave us pretty good shelter on that end, so Ellis and Shane put themselves, claws at the ready, at the front of our group. I stood behind Ellis, still trying to film whatever ended up happening. Whoever watched it would have to deal with my shaky hands.
Shane pointed to his right as fog rolled out from the trees. A lot of fog. How much fog did one vampire make? My heart was practically beating out of my chest, and even though we were underneath Ms. Jackson, I still felt vulnerable and exposed.
Ms. Jackson twisted toward the fog, holding their wings up and trying for another roar.
We were all looking in that direction, so I didn’t even see the vampire who grabbed me.
An arm went around my waist, and I was lifted off my feet.
I shouted, my phone falling to the ground as I struggled and clawed at the guy’s forearm across my belly.
He was running for the trees, Ellis under his other arm.
He was massive, tall and wide-shouldered, but still faster than I’d be able to run unburdened.
I kicked my feet, trying to trip him, but he was holding me almost horizontal to the ground, and I just ended up kicking Ellis.
I was facing away from the vampire, which made it impossible for me to reach his face.
I tried clawing for his junk, but I couldn’t get a grip because it was behind me.
A female vampire came up beside us, not having any trouble keeping pace.
She took me from the first vampire, but she clamped my arms to my sides, and I could barely move at all.
Then she bent her head toward me before raising it again and shouting, “Human!” She shifted her hold on me and lifted one clawed hand, which freed my left arm.
But before I could do more than pull my fist back to punch her, she gouged her claws into my belly.
The pain was overwhelming, a hot fire through my abdomen.
I screamed as she tossed me to the ground, rolling to my back and flattening my hands over the wound.
But there was too much blood, and I could feel my intestines.
I had probably a minute left to live. Fuck, I wished I’d called my mom this morning.
“Manny!” Rory fell to his knees beside me, whipping his shirt over his head and pressing it to my belly. The pain was gone. My body was mostly numb. “Stay with me!” No can do, guapo, sorry. Maybe I’d hang around as a ghost for a while so I could talk to Rory.
I heard Pia screaming my name. I opened my mouth to tell Rory I loved him, and I wanted him to tell my mom I loved her, but a wave of dizziness washed over me, and I was gone.