Chapter 16
Eli didn't know how long it took before Tuur knocked on the door. Not long. He opened it and gave him a wobbly smile.
"Romeo said I could borrow the car, but I'm to drop you a block away from where the human land begins." He grimaced. "He doesn't want me to get injured and says he can't afford to have the car shot at either."
"Of course." Shit, would they shoot at Romeo's car? He was sure most people in town recognized it as his. He wanted to ask if Thano was here. Could Tuur tell?
Tuur watched him for a few seconds too long. "It means you have to carry your things."
Right, so not fourteen birds, eight rabbits, and several bags.
"I'll grab my clothes." He turned around and jogged toward the stairs.
His bags were still mostly packed. He'd grabbed clean underwear when he'd gone to shower, but that was it.
He zipped up the open bag and grabbed it along with the bag he had yet to touch.
His head was spinning. This was too much back and forth, and he hadn't had a chance to reflect.
What was he doing? Did this mean he'd never see Thano again?
He looked around the room. "Thano?" He could barely hear his own whisper, but he didn't want Tuur to hear him speak if Thano wasn't here. Nothing happened. No flickering, no appearing, no voice answering. Fuck.
He walked down the stairs. Tuur was standing by the kitchen table, leafing through a book. Eli walked closer. The garden book. It must've been what Thano went to get. A book about how to start a garden. For Eli, since Thano didn't need to eat solid food.
He'd hold someone close and sink his fangs into their skin.
Eli wasn't sure he wanted Thano to bite him, but he sure as hell didn't want him biting anyone else.
His gaze caught on the half-eaten bowl of oatmeal he'd left on the table.
Oatmeal Thano had made for him because he wanted him to eat more.
The ache in his chest grew sharper.
"Were you gonna dig a garden bed?"
"I...eh...We didn't have time to talk about it." He dropped the bags and grabbed the now-cold oatmeal. He shoveled it into his mouth, swallowing one spoonful after the other without tasting it. He couldn't afford to waste food.
When he'd scraped up the last of it and went to wash the bowl, Tuur closed the book with a thud. "Thano has room for a garden. No one lives near here."
Eli glanced at him over his shoulder. "No?
" It had taken a good fifteen minutes to walk from Romeo's to here.
He guessed it wasn't anything that bothered the others, but a human living a fifteen-minute walk away from their closest neighbor was unheard of.
There weren't those kinds of spaces in the settlements.
Maybe somewhere like Fisherman's Lake. He didn't know how far apart the farms were.
Tuur shook his head.
"Where does everyone else live then?"
"In their dens."
Eli smiled. "But not near Thano?"
"Best keep your distance from the vampires."
Eli tried to determine if he was joking or not. Did shifters fear vampires?
"Ready to go?" Tuur grabbed his bags, and at first, Eli was about to protest, but Tuur was several times stronger than he was. If he offered to carry the bags, Eli should let him. There would be carrying in his future soon enough.
"I'm ready." He wasn't, and where the fuck was Thano? He glanced around the room one last time, hoping he'd materialize.
Reluctantly, Eli left the windmill behind and trudged after Tuur through the forest toward Romeo's house. There was a gnawing sensation in his gut. What was he doing?
Crows followed them. Some stayed in the air the entire time while some hopped from branch to branch to keep pace with them. Eli glanced around. Was Byrd there? He'd been a friend, sort of, but now he wouldn't be allowed into Last Hope again.
The trees grew sparser, and Eli stepped out onto a lawn. The decrepit cabins came into view, and he heard a laugh. Romeo's. Ciar stood next to him, a smile playing on his lips, and another sort of pang shot through Eli. They looked happy. Both of them. Carefree.
A shadow fell over him, then the biggest bird he'd ever seen dropped to the ground.
Draven shifted into human shape, and despite Eli having seen it once before, he couldn't help but gape.
It was amazing. Though startling to stand face to face with a naked man who didn't give a damn about lacking clothes.
“You're leaving?" Draven narrowed his eyes.
“Yes, I have to look after the shop."
Draven nodded. “Since we aren't allowed into Last Hope anymore, we won't make the meat deliveries."
Right. Fuck. “No, I guess...makes sense." He wouldn't have any meat, or only meat on occasion. He'd have to talk to Joshua. Maybe there would be meat to be had from Fisherman's Lake, and maybe he could get fish more regularly from Finn Pretty. Maybe.
Draven shrugged. “I liked having money, but Ciar says Romeo can't go to the bank now, so what's the point? I guess we'll hunt for Romeo. Everyone else can get their own food."
Tuur was walking again, apparently having lost interest in what Draven had to say. He walked up to the car, opened the trunk, and put the bags inside.
“Take care, Eli. Too bad you couldn't stay for story night." Then feathers formed over his body and he shrank. Eli watched him. It was hard not to. When else in life would he be standing next to an eagle-owl?
Tuur got into the car, and Eli hurried over to the passenger door. He waved at Romeo and Ciar before he got in. Was it the last time he saw them? He shook his head and fastened the seatbelt. “Ready."
Tuur grunted and started the car. They drove in silence, Eli looking out the window. There were crows in the trees, but he didn't know if they were supernatural crows or ordinary crows. “When will you have the meeting?"
“When I get back, I suspect."
“And what will you talk about?"
Tuur shrugged. “I suspect Thano will forbid everyone to go into Last Hope. Word has already gone out, but he'll demand all leaders make sure their people follow the rules."
Eli tried not to feel, but it hurt his soul to think there would be no others in Last Hope.
People feared them, and they should, but Last Hope was a small settlement surrounded by wild country.
It wasn't like the bigger settlements where people could pretend the others didn't exist. Where humans could go their entire lives without knowingly looking at a supernatural.
Others had been present in Last Hope for as long as Eli could remember, it was part of the settlement's makeup.
“Is Thano a good leader?"
Tuur looked away from the road for a second to study him. “Yes."
“What makes him good?"
At first, Tuur didn't respond. Silence stretched for so long Eli didn't think he would reply, but then he did.
“He's fair. Most leaders favor their own species, but he never has. The opposite. He's hard on the vampires, has strict rules about how they're allowed to feed, and so on. Which of course makes the vampires dislike him."
“They dislike him?"
Tuur shrugged. “He looks out for everyone. He could go about his life and not care about anything, but he took the job on the board to make sure they wouldn't launch a surprise attack. Humans might be fun to watch from afar, but no one wants to be in meetings with them."
“But you were on the board. You made sure you had majority on the board last year."
Tuur made a half-hearted shrug this time. “I wanted to have some money, so I could trade with humans. I didn't realize how little I'd be able to do with it."
“Right." Eli nodded.
“As for being in majority, they hurt Emeric. It was only Romeo begging us not to take out the entire settlement that saved it. After it became clear they'd deceived Thano, we figured it safest if we made the decisions."
It had been. “So why did you give the power back to the humans?"
“It's a human settlement. If you want to kill yourselves, you should have the power to do so.
I think Thano grew tired of the meaningless squabbles around the table.
Humans are like crows. The other leaders agreed.
The bears never go into town, why should we concern ourselves with what the humans do? "
Eli studied his profile. “But what's the difference between what happened last year and what's happening now? It might not have been one of your crows who was shot outside my shop, but it could've been."
“It's on the paved road."
Frustration built inside Eli, and he didn't know why.
It had always been the rule. Humans ruled on the paved road, others ruled off the paved road, but he didn't trust humans.
It should be the other way around. He shouldn't trust Thano, shouldn't trust Tuur or Byrd or Ciar or Draven, but he trusted them far more than he did the people on the board.
“But it still could've been one of you who got hurt. "
“It wasn't, and now we know not to come into town.
" He slowed the car before coming to a stop next to a house with an overgrown garden and cracked windows.
One of the lanes was still paved, but the rest had been removed, including the sidewalks.
This was the only road into Last Hope from this side of the settlement.
“You're dropping me off here?" There might be old houses, but this wasn't human territory.
Tuur pointed at a house farther in on the road, and Eli spotted movement. “Who's there?"
“No idea, but I noticed metal glinting, and Romeo said not to get his car shot at."
“Fuck." Eli rubbed a hand over his face.
It was still about a mile to the town center.
No human should be out here. This was wild country.
The thought hadn't more than formed before there was a shout.
Eli stared as a man rose from behind a bush.
A form shimmered into visibility behind him as a dark-haired woman fastened her lips to the man's neck.
Tuur started the car again. “I guess we can go a little farther."
* * * *
Thano followed the car as Tuur drove Eli toward Last Hope. Darcia, one of the vampires, traveled with him, and he assumed Emeric and a few others were already in town. Thano didn't need to feed, but he wanted to make sure Eli got to his home okay.
When Tuur stopped the car, Thano looked around. They were still in breed territory.
“There is a man in that garden." Darcia didn't drop her shadows, but Thano sensed her right next to him.
“Do you need to feed?"
She didn't reply, but a second later the man shouted, then gurgled. Thano waited while she ate. Tuur started the car anew but drove more slowly than he had before.
“Do I kill him?"
“He's off the paved road."
There was a crushing sound as she twisted the man's head, then she moved closer to him before gathering the shadows anew. “Do you think there are more around?"
“They never come here."
“Getting bold."
He hummed. He might be willing to allow them to run Last Hope as they saw fit, but he would not allow them to expand their area. “Be on alert. If you see someone, take them out. They're in our territory."
“Should we drag him back onto the paved road?"
Not onto. It might make some believe they'd been the aggressor, and Thano wanted everyone--Eli--to know it wasn't the case. “Grab him and dump him a few steps outside the border."
She grinned, and Thano allowed an inward sigh.
“I'll follow the car."
She nodded, then she was gone.
Tuur drove slowly, and Thano kept looking into the deserted gardens.
There were a lot of houses here from the time when Last Hope had been named something else.
It was more or less no man's land. It belonged to them, but those who weren't human-passing weren't allowed here, and the crows flew into the town to watch the humans, the vampires shadow walked past it to get to their prey.
There might be things in these buildings people could use. Maybe something Eli would want.
He sighed and continued forward.
When Tuur slowed the car anew, Thano scanned the surroundings.
He couldn't see anyone, and the edge of where the paved road became wider than a single lane was within sight, indicating they'd reached a human settlement.
The passenger door opened, and Eli stepped out.
He looked around, but he didn't see Thano. It was for the best.
He walked around the car to the trunk and grabbed two bags. The bags that had been in Thano's bedroom not too long ago. The bags he'd planned to unpack as soon as he'd made room for Eli's clothes in his closet.
Once Eli had closed the trunk, Tuur turned the car around and drove off in the direction of the ranch. Eli remained in the same spot, watching the car disappear. His shoulders slumped, then he grabbed the bags and started walking.
Thano followed, unseen and unheard.
The moment Eli put a foot over the town border, a man with a gun stepped forward.
“Where have you been?" He didn't aim at Eli, but he waved the gun in his direction. Thano curled his hands into fists in an attempt to stop himself from attacking the man.
“Eh...I was at a meeting with Romeo Gallo."
“The traitor?"
Thano moved closer until he was within touching distance of Eli. If the man moved wrong, he'd rip his throat out.
“Traitor? Romeo is human."
“But lays with animals," the man sneered.
Eli didn't reply, instead, he looked around, as if trying to determine how much danger he was in. He never should've come here. Thano should've barricaded him in his bedroom and tied him to his bed. Eli might have hated him for it, but at least he'd been safe.
“Can I go?"
The man shrugged. “I'm not sure. You're working with them, right?"
“No. It was what the meeting was about. Romeo terminated our deal, and said he can't deliver any meat to Last Hope now that others aren't allowed here."
The man frowned, then he shrugged. “I'll let the sheriff know." He waved for Eli to move, but he hesitated.
“The sheriff?"
“Yes, the sheriff is the one dealing with the others."
Eli nodded and moved down the street. Thano followed, noting how there were men with guns at every street corner near the border to the wild country, but they grew sparser the closer they came to the town core. Maybe Eli would be safe if he never went anywhere but between his house and the shop.
He lingered by the gatepost to Eli's house. Watched him walk up the stairs and unlock the front door. Before he opened it, he turned around and searched the air. Thano didn't move, didn't so much as breathe.
“Thano?" His whisper was barely audible. Thano didn't reply, didn't make himself known. Eli sighed and walked inside. Thano didn't move for several minutes, then he shadow walked to the border checkpoint.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he became aware of loud voices. Darcia had dropped the body about fifteen feet from the men on the gravel where no human should be. Thano grinned and passed the gun-waving men as they discussed if they should go grab the body or not.
Thano would've liked to stay and watch, but he needed to head back. The others were waiting for him to start the meeting.
* * * *