Snowflakes started to come down on us. I side-eyed Lydia to see if she wanted to go back to the town, but she was adamantly studying the ground and didn’t seem to notice. Whatever else she would turn out to be, she was as tough as anyone I knew when it came to the weather. With snow covering the ground, we were looking for steam. It would be the only indicator there was something below. The heat from the underground lair steamed through when it snowed.

“What’s it like? Where you’re from?”

Which place? I almost asked her then thought better about it. She hadn’t done anything—yet—to earn hostility from me. “I’ve lived in three places. My first eighteen years was in a Vampire facility, and the last few were split between habitats both above and below ground. They’ve all been different from each other.”

Lydia paled. Now that was interesting. What part of my answer had made her upset? She cleared her throat. “I hate Vampires.”

Didn’t everyone?

“Do you have a lot of encounters with them?” On our own, Micah and I hadn’t seen any, which wasn’t that strange. Vampires liked to hunt, but it was easier to do so when there was either a caged food supply or a large group of humans living in one particular area together. The two of us by ourselves might be a curiosity but probably not worth the effort to hunt unless they were starving. A town like Lydia’s? It would attract attention. I hadn’t felt a Vampire presence since we’d arrived, which might not be weird. Maybe it was just an off night. Genesis didn’t have those. We were always fighting.

She shook her head. “We almost never see Vampires. But when we have, I just… hate them.”

“Hating them is a good emotion. I can teach you to fight them, too. Before I leave you’ll be all set.”

Lydia let out a long breath, and a gust of fog appeared where she’d exhaled. Seeing our breath in the cold… it was something I could do without. “Maybe you won’t want to leave. Maybe you’ll like it here.”

“I don’t like anywhere, Lydia. That’s part of my deal. Trust me, by the time I leave, you’ll be glad to be rid of me.” I offered her my hand. “We’re not finding anything. Let’s go.”

She took my hand without hesitation, which just showed how little she knew me. “We should keep looking. I love that idea that people could be living beneath our feet.”

“I don’t think you have a habitat down there. You’d know by now. People come up from habitats. They have to. Either to fight the monsters or to scrounge for supplies they can’t make or grow. It’s possible you have a science facility being run by a sociopath. We’ll see.”

She stopped moving. “You say the strangest things. I only understand maybe three-quarters of the things you say about the world. But I love that you’ve left your home. I love that you arrived here.”

“And I can’t decide if you’re just being nice to me because all of the guys have vanished.”

Her smile faded, but she didn’t let go of my hand. In fact, she squeezed my fingers. “They’re cowards. Every last one of them. None of them would ever, and I mean ever, jump on a Werewolf. You’re… amazing. And thank you for speaking the truth, for telling me what you wondered. It’s so much easier if we all just do that. If we somehow say what’s real even if it’s hard.”

I didn’t understand this woman. Not even a little bit.

Micah and I sat across a long table facing six women who constituted Geronimo’s council. I didn’t know how many of them were on the council regularly or who had joined since the men went missing. It was time for some answers. They needed to know us and we them. If Micah and I were going to take on a mission to help these people, then everyone needed to be sure we were a good fit.

The woman with the cane spoke first. “You must have questions.”

Micah called out. “Can we start with names? It’s always so much more polite to address each other using them, or so my mother always taught me.”

All five of the women, who ranged from the ages of fifty to sixty, blushed. There it was. Micah and the blushing women—of all ages. Internally, I rolled my eyes. My mother had been too busy teaching me how to survive in the Vampire facility to worry too much about manners.

My friend—was that what he had become?—communicated again. “I’m Micah Lyons, and this is Deacon Evans. We come from a place called Genesis.” Before I could interrupt, he kicked me. How did he know I was going to? “It’s about two weeks walk east of here. Well, if you’re going at the pace that we were. Although we weren’t always together, the last few years Deacon and I lived in that place. May I please know your names?”

I had come and gone a bit but that was neither here nor there for Micah’s story apparently.

The same woman as earlier answered him. “I’m Dinah,” she said then indicated the other five women in order of which they were sitting. “These are Gracie, Taryn, Bonnie, Wendy and Charlotte.”

Gracie had red hair and blue eyes. She seemed the youngest of the group. Taryn had deep lines around her eyes and squinted a lot. I bet glasses weren’t an option around here. I was sure I could tell the next three apart better if I cared to but Bonnie, Wendy, and Charlotte all looked very similar to me. Little old women with gray hair. Micah had them all tittering in their seats.

Having done his charm number, he sat back in his chair. “Why don’t you all tell us what’s going on? Deacon and I are strangers. I’d imagine you don’t get too many here. You’re the first people we’ve met since we left home. I was raised to help others when I could; it's part of our Warrior code. We’d like to help, if we can.”

Dinah nodded. “We get very good feelings from you. We really do. As you can see, we have a lot of big problems. Our men are missing, and the Werewolves continue to pick us off one at a time.”

“Can you tell us more about the man missing thing?” I interrupted whatever Micah would have said. I didn’t want small talk. I wanted answers.

“We woke up two months ago, and all the men were gone. No trace of them.” After she finished, Dinah thinned out her lips in a scowl. “No indication of Werewolves or any foul play. Just gone.” She opened and closed her mouth.

I’d learned to trust my gut over the years. I wasn’t sure how I knew that she was holding back, but she was. The woman was hiding something. But then again, so was Lydia. There was something going on in this town, and it involved something about the men that no one wanted to say aloud. I wondered if Micah had noticed.

“We’re looking into possibilities for that,” Micah answered. “We can help you fight monsters. We can make you more secure. And now I’m going to tell you about us.”

He was? Why was that entirely necessary? Before I could do anything about it, Micah continued. He explained the nuts and bolts of our life. How he had been taken from the time long ago, from when the oldest among those here had been babies. It was hard to listen to and even worse to imagine, considering it hadn’t been my own story.

They’d been put unwillingly into stasis and revived eighty some odd years later with fake memories and new abilities. For a long time, they’d existed that way, fighting and seeing no hope. Then Isaac Icahn tried to kill Micah’s sister-in-law, Rachel. Her misadventure above ground with Werewolves and Vampires brought truth to life. Micah and the others had their memories back. And still not a thing they could do about the facets of their lives that meant they were always at risk of being killed or turned into a Vampire.

“As for Deacon,” he finally added, “he joined us about two years ago. He was raised in a Vampire facility. Somehow he survived, and he’s with us now. He’s the toughest guy I’ve ever known.”

I was? He had to be putting that on. I turned to look at him straight on. Micah had all the looks of truth about him. Then again, he lied really well. Always had. How else could he get all those women to sleep with him all the time?

They stared at him like he had two heads. Yes, stasis, cloning—which he’d only touched on—and Vampire facilities were a lot to take for a group of people who didn’t have running water or electricity.

“I’d think it all nonsense,” Dinah answered. “If so much of it didn’t match what my father told me growing up. It’s like you’ve come from the past to save our future.”

I held up my hand. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I don’t have a great track record of saving anyone.”

“Not true.” Micah’s expression was hard. “You have a tremendous record of it. Deacon doesn’t get himself yet. We’re working on that. You can feel free to ignore fifty percent of what he says.”

I slammed my hand on the table. “Damn it, Micah…”

“And,” he interrupted, “forgive him his language.”

Micah was telling them to not listen to me about myself? Now that was just… The door to the room opened, and Lydia poked her head in. “I’m sorry to interrupt. Grandma, are they staying?”

Dinah sighed. “If they are willing to try to help us… I think it might be an advantageous situation that we should make use of.”

How did Lydia glow like that? It was like the sunlight moved through her hair. Did that only happen when she was happy? I got to my feet to follow her out of the room.

“Deacon? I don’t know if we’re done,” Micah called after me.

I was. I took the steps two at a time. She hadn’t over-exaggerated. It seemed like the whole town had come to stand outside the council meeting. Women of all ages with young children and young boys waited to see what we were doing. She’d told us all the men from sixteen and up. That made everyone here younger than that. Were people considered grown here at sixteen? They were in Genesis. Lydia grabbed my hand. “They’re going to be so happy.”

We’d see about that. “Hey,” I called out to them. “Who wants to learn how to fight? Raise your hand.”

“Oh, me.” Lydia raised hers so abruptly she almost hit me in the face. I laughed. That was kind of adorable, and the fact that I thought the world adorable meant I needed to get control of myself right then and there. She took my hand again. Why was I so okay with her doing that?

No one else volunteered. Yep. That was to be expected. “If you’re worried you can’t do it because you’re female, or young, or getting older, you can. The strongest fighter I ever saw was a girl not much younger than me. She was sixteen the first time I saw her take on monsters, and let me say, her fighting skills were a thing of beauty. I’ll ask again, who wants to beat back the Werewolves and say no more of the way life has been going?”

This time a dozen hands raised. That would do because it had to be done.

Micah came up next to me. “That’s a good number for you to teach.”

I didn’t like his turn of phrase. “You’re not getting out of this. We’re doing this together.”

“Afraid not, brother.” He grinned. “I’m going to see about getting them a fence that can alert them there are Werewolves around. They don’t have electricity but I have some ideas of things we can do. Old fashioned stuff. Frankly, the stuff Chad and I used to put in our forts to keep Tia away from our stuff, in Before. I’m going to try some things. You teach. I’m building.”

I grabbed his arm. “They need you. I’m not a teacher.”

“Sure you are. Keith taught it to you a lot more recently than he did to me.”

Hearing that name made my chest tighten, and for a second, I couldn’t breathe. Yes, he’d taught me. I’d come to Genesis, trailing after Rachel like a lost puppy. She’d even told me she was dating a Werewolf, and it hadn’t put me off. Then when she and the dog had broken up, she hadn’t been ready to date anyone. I was alone. I mean, she was my friend, but she had lots of friends and it was obvious, right away, that she wanted to be a Lyons. Micah and she were pals. Chad kept being there whenever I’d turn around. Tia, their younger sister, never left her side. I didn’t have anyone.

Keith had shown up. Offered to teach me. Told me I was a Warrior, too. I’d believed him, and he’d done it. In one summer, he’d given me no bullshit and made me into the capable, less fearful version of myself that I still was. Or tried to be.

And for his effort, I’d stood behind him and done nothing when he was killed. I’d stood there and time had seemed to inch by, achingly slow. Icahn raised his knife and slit Keith’s throat. With all the blood I’d seen in my life, all the times I’d watched Vampires take people’s lives by ripping out their throats, I’d never seen a human do it to another human before. I’d never forget. I saw it in my dreams. The sounds and the lack of sounds, somehow both. It was in that moment I’d known… Icahn had lied to me. I’d picked wrong. My memories that had been taken returned. I was wrong, and Keith had died. Maybe I hadn’t killed him, but I hadn’t saved him either.

Micah raised his eyebrows before he narrowed his eyes. Yeah, he knew I’d cued back in to what a real piece of shit I turned out to be. It was why they didn’t want me in Genesis anymore. It was why my family, such that they were, couldn’t look me in the eyes.

“Hey.” Micah lowered his voice. “You didn’t kill him. I don’t know how many times you need to hear that, but I’ll keep saying it. No one thinks you did. Were we pissed as hell at you for a bit? Sure. But not over that. Okay? Now pull yourself together and start working with these people. If not for their sake, how about for yours? How about because that is what Keith would have told us to do. You wanted to do this. That’s a tribute to him right there.”

I nodded. He was right. I didn’t get to be up a creek over this. Tiffani, Keith’s wife, got to be destroyed. Some day when his kid was old enough to realize he never knew his dad, he got to be ripped apart. I had to pull it together. What I’d done, I’d done. There were no do-overs. Not since Rachel destroyed the cloning machines anyway. Another time I’d been on the wrong side of history.

It was right then I realized that Lydia had never let go of my hand.

I looked over at her, and she nodded at me. I wasn’t sure what she was agreeing to, but I was glad she was there to do it.

What was it about this place? I’d been there less than a day, and it was screwing with my head. A lot.

We didn’t have weapons, not like the kind I’d simply been handed at Genesis. In retrospect, that had been a really nice introduction to monster fighting. Keith had always been adamant we know how to make our own if need be. We didn’t have to use the professional grade ones they produced underground.

Kitchen knives would do, and a stake could be constructed out of anything wooden. Before we could fight anything, we needed tools. So we got busy making them. Knives were sharpened on rocks. I worked on building extensions to go on the handles of the knives so they could have a longer range. The butcher’s wife showed up with a few larger blades, and I was glad for them.

“How’s this?” Lydia showed me hers. It was well done.

I smiled at her. “Perfect.”

“Thanks.” She plopped down next to me on the part of the ground we’d cleared of snow and started helping with the rest of the blades. In addition to Lydia, we had ten girls around her age, three of whom had already asked me about Micah—he worked fast—and two teenage boys under the age of sixteen. So far, no one over the age of twenty-two had shown up. That was fine, I supposed. Fighting did take a lot out of the people who did it. Maybe it was better if it was reserved for the younger generation.

Lydia yawned, and I smiled. She was easy to be near. “Have you slept yet?”

“I think it’s starting to hit me.”

I gently nudged her foot with my own. “Go sleep. We’re not fighting today. This will be it. You’ve done more than your part.”

She nodded. “Could you take a break? Walk me back?”

Was she nervous? I looked up at the sky. We’d worked all day. The moon would be out soon. It was probably a good idea to send everyone home in pairs. I rose. “Listen, start winding down. No one walks alone. I’m going to walk Lydia home then come back. If someone else is alone, I’ll get you home.”

Lydia jumped to her feet. “They’ll be fine. Won’t you? Everyone? They’ll all be fine.”

She grabbed my hand, and someone whose name I thought was Bette called out to her. “Sure, we’ll be fine. Good luck getting home.”

“I’ll get her there.”

I was missing something, and I didn’t know what. When I’d lived with the Vampires, things like this never happened. We were the most sought after, powerful family in the place. I always understood what people said. Then later, I hadn’t cared if I got the innuendo at Genesis since I mostly wanted all of them to stop talking to me anyway.

The night was cold, but Lydia’s hand was warm in my own. I should tell her to put her gloves back on. Flurries dropped down on us as they had on and off all day long. The landscape in the early evening was white. I’d never really thought it was pretty before. Tonight, for whatever reason, it was.

“Thanks for today.” Lydia smiled at me. “I can see how this is going to shape up. I’m really excited.”

“Today is just a very early step. Tomorrow will be harder.”

She nodded. “You’ll lock your doors tonight?”

“What?” Her question was such an abrupt switch from where we’d been I wasn’t sure at first what she meant. “Ah, sure. Is there a lock? We don’t lock them in Genesis, on the tents, because we need to be able to get out and fight.”

She stopped moving. “All of our men vanished in the middle of the night. I don’t want that to happen to you.”

A piece of her hair had fallen into her eyes, and I brushed it aside. She needed to be able to see. “Is that why you stayed up all last night? You thought Micah and I might vanish?”

“I basically forced you guys here. I wish I hadn’t. You came to help me with Charlie. I… I like you. I think you know that from how I’ve been acting, and I’m not usually like this. I’m not this girl who just acts crazy around men. Mostly, I don’t bother with them like this. I want you to be okay. That’s all.”

I hugged her. It was a strange thing for me to do, but I did it, and she let me. Her arms came around my waist, and she hung on, burying her face in my chest. I wanted to get her warm. A few seconds would likely not make a difference. So the hug was okay.

“I’m not vanishing. I can promise you if I was ever going to vanish, it would have happened before now.”

She rubbed her head against me. “You appeared out of nowhere. Why shouldn’t you go that way, too?”

“I won’t leave without saying goodbye. Okay?”

She sniffed. “I suppose it will have to do.”

“Lydia.” I wasn’t sure how to say this. “I’m not the someone you should like. I keep telling you I’m not a good guy. Listen to me, okay? You need a good man who deserves you.”

Her gaze was steady on my own. “Don’t presume to know if I’m good or bad yet. I’m not… perfect. We all have a past. Even in a place like this.”

When we finally got to her small home, she reached up and kissed my cheek. It was so unexpected, so warm, so… sweet that I froze where I stood. She smiled. “Good night, Deacon.”

Lydia went inside and closed the door. I didn’t move for a few long moments. What a strange, upsetting, wonderful day.

I walked into the honeymoon cabin where they’d put Micah and me to find Micah snoring on the bed. It was early, but we’d had very little sleep the night before. I had no idea what he’d been up to either. I turned and locked the door to the cabin.

I didn’t believe we’d be taken or vanish or whatever. I guessed I couldn’t be too careful. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to Micah, not if he was that out of it. Tomorrow, I was going to find out about the showers. Even if they were cold. I needed one.

Sleep didn’t come, and I ended up sitting in the dark, listening to the sounds around me. Micah’s breathing evened out. Somewhere a wolf howled. Was it a Werewolf or a regular one? I didn’t feel anything, not yet anyway.

I got to my feet and walked to the window to stare outside. It wasn’t a Full Moon yet. The Werewolves had to shift on Full Moons. Even Alphas. Other times they could shift as they wanted or not shift. A Werewolf shifted on a non-Full Moon was making a statement. It didn’t even want to pretend to be human.

What was bothering me? I looked down the road at what I now knew was Lydia’s place she shared with her mom. The men had just vanished…

Why couldn’t I get my head where I needed it go? This was a nice place. A town where Werewolves took a portion of the population and everyone just accepted it, like they might the flu. They were three generations from, as Micah called it, the apocalypse. Two weeks from a place much more advanced than this, if not really as modern as the earth once was. The men were gone.

The Vampires weren’t here, or at least not currently.

What was it? Something was so close. So on the tip of my brain, but I couldn’t make it appear, couldn’t work out the puzzle. What. In. The. Hell. Was. Wrong. Here?

“Hey,” Micah called out in the darkness. “Your thinking woke me up. I swear I could hear it.”

“Fuck off. You were snoring so loud you could have brought down the roof.” I shook my head.

Micah groaned. “Didn’t mean to fall asleep, especially with my shoes on. What’s wrong? Training go okay?”

“Yep.” I leaned my forehead against the window. “Something’s on the tip of my brain. I don’t have it. Driving me nuts.”

Micah threw a pillow at me. “Sleep.”

“Where are the Vampires?” This wasn’t the crux of my issue but it was worth bringing up. “Shouldn’t they be here?”

“Yes. That’s weird and bothersome. For now, let’s assume we’ll feel them when or if they come. We’ll deal then. Sleep. Remember? You have to in between battles or you can’t fight again. Even when the night is long. Even when the adrenaline wants you up.”

I knew he was right. “Scoot over.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.” He did as I asked, shoving the pillow between us like the night before. “You snore too, buddy. Just so you know.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Did you get your fort security done?”

“Started.”

I’d ask him more. Tomorrow.