Craved

As soon as I made contact with Bridget, the warehouse awoke and was active. My eyes widened when I saw Bridget laying on one of the cots and a needle sticking out of her arm. Her skin was paler than a vampire’s. She was lying in her bra and a pair of jeans and had bruises on her arms. I looked over to my spirit friend and noticed that her face wavered in and out but, as I watched, I noticed the sadness consume her face, she was crying. I gripped her hand tighter and drew my attention back to the other Bridget. She gave a shallow cough and then her arm fell limply at her side.



A man walked out of the office over to where she lay. He pressed his ear to her chest and listened for a few seconds before removing the needle and retrieving the bags full of Bridget’s blood. I was so furious at what I was seeing, that I lunged for the man but fell straight through him and landed on my face on the other side of him.



I picked myself up and followed him toward the back of the warehouse where I saw six other men sitting around a table full of bottles and funnels. It was a blood filling station. Nausea instantly overwhelmed my stomach as I watched the men filling brew orders. All of the men looked ordinary and unfamiliar, all except one. The man I’d seen before in jeans and the zip-up hoodie stood next to the table with a clipboard and checked off names. When he looked up however, his face was blocked to me. Weird. Where his face should have been was a mass of black, like those identity blobs you see in front of peoples’ faces on the news, the ones that don’t want to be identified.



I pointed a finger at the hidden man and turned to Bridget.



“Who is that?”



“Always hidden from us,” she said, her voice garbled as if she were speaking underwater. The only way he could hide who he was would be to cast a spell. Was the leader of the brew distribution a warlock? Not knowing was killing me! I had seen the man a few times now and still had no clue who or what he was.



Movement behind me made me turn to see a man lift Bridget’s dead body up and over his shoulder where he carried her to a door. I followed and saw that a van was waiting just outside the building where the man threw Bridget into the back. The van took off. I already knew where her body would end up, in Willow Creek Park. The whole place was absolutely horrible. These men were heartless cowards that deserved to be staked.



My anger was bubbling when I began to feel dizzy again. The air felt like it was being sucked out of the room me along with it. It felt as if I were floating toward the door when oblivion struck and everything went black, again.



13



The next morning, I woke up on my bedroom floor, right where I had passed out the night before. I was groggy and lethargic but I managed to stand up and make my way to the kitchen where I sat before reaching for the telephone. I didn’t know how, but I knew we had to find that warehouse, because it would lead us to the person behind the operation.



I dialed Micah’s number and waited for him to answer. After the third ring, a woman’s voice greeted me.



“Hello?”



“Hi,” I said, pausing. “I need to speak with Micah.”



“One moment,” the woman said with uncertainty.



The woman was most likely Jamie, Micah’s new flame. I thought about what Micah told me the night before and wondered if Jamie felt the same detachment towards Micah as he did towards her. I shook my head, it wasn’t my business anymore and I shouldn’t care what kind of relationship they had. Aiden, I need to focus on my relationship with Aiden.



“Hello?” Micah said into the phone.



“It’s Gwen. Are you busy today?” I said.



“The pack is having a cookout, but nothing important, why?”



Werewolves loved to eat. I’d been to many pack cookouts and remembered how fun they were. They would change into their wolf forms and play football. Big wolves that crashed into each other as they caught the football in their large mouths, it was amazing to watch. Being around weres was fun; most were laid back, good ol’ boys, so much different from vampires.



“I saw the warehouse again last night and I thought we could drive around and try to find it…or if you’re busy, maybe Wyatt can come with me?” I felt strange asking Micah to spend the day with me when his current girlfriend was probably standing within hearing distance, but I hadn’t called him for romantic purposes. If it were nighttime, I would have called Aiden to go with me, even if I was still slightly ticked at him for standing me up at the Gala.



“Wyatt is busy. What do you mean you saw the warehouse again last night?” Micah asked with curiosity.



“Bridget Downey’s ghost keeps pulling me into the realm of death and showing me things. Last night she showed me the warehouse I’d seen in Amy Harper’s memories and it was horrible. We have to find it, Micah.”



“What makes you think we’ll be able to?” he countered. I shrugged my shoulders, suddenly realizing that he couldn’t see me.



“It has to be close to Flora since the bodies are showing up here. It’s not like they’re going to drive too far away from their headquarters.” I didn’t know this for sure but it made sense, time was money and they wouldn’t want to spend a lot of time driving to dump bodies.



Micah was too quiet for my liking and I suddenly felt stupid for calling him. “Never mind, I can go by myself.” I’d be safe during the day, since vampires weren’t active until nightfall. If the man with the hidden face was a warlock, though, I could run into some trouble, but I wasn’t going to tell Micah that.



“Can you meet me here in an hour?” Micah finally asked.



“Really Micah, I can go by myself. I didn’t mean to interrupt your day. It’s just…I need to put an end to this, I need to catch the bastard behind this.” I suddenly felt really tired, like I did the other day. Walking with the dead was exhausting.



“You don’t think I want to catch this asshole? Meet me in an hour at my house.” His voice said that it was a done deal and I heard the click of the phone. Well, looks like I would be visiting the Flora weres today.



I had to be in top shape if I was going to track down a warehouse and possibly a warlock so I grabbed the baggie of teabags Ms. Ozland gave me and plopped one into a mug of hot water. It smelled of spices, cinnamon and possibly nutmeg. The smell however, did not match the taste; it was horrible. I bit back the bile that threatened to surge and quickly downed the cup of tea, rinsing my mouth with a glass of orange juice right after. I coughed and gagged but didn’t vomit, thank the Goddess!



Within seconds, I felt my energy returning, so much so, that I could feel the familiar hum of magic within me radiate against my skin. The tea might have been disgusting, but it worked fantastically.



After hopping into the shower, I dressed in jeans and a white sweater and slipped on a pair of brown leather boots. October was normally decent in Missouri, but this year, it had been abnormally cold. I brushed my hair into a side ponytail and was ready to leave. I checked Fiona’s room before I left, but it was empty. I jotted down a note for her to call me when she got in and taped it to her door. If she were mad at me from last night for supposedly hitting on the guy she was interested in, then she’d most likely be over it by today. Or, at least once she talked to me, she would understand that I hadn’t kissed Ian. I magically filled Aura’s food and water bowls and then picked her up and snuggled her against my chest. She was too anxious to eat, so I set her down and left.



*******



To humans, Flora looked like a cornfield, owing to the enchantment spell that’s cast over it. In truth, Flora was pretty big. The werewolves owned a small part on the outskirts of town where the forests were thick, allowing them plenty of running room. It took about fifteen minutes to reach the weres’ territory and as soon as I hit their area, my nerves leapt like jumping beans and I had to take deep breaths to calm myself. The whole pack knew why Micah and I weren’t together anymore. They knew that it wouldn’t last when we first started dating, even when I didn’t.



There was only one were I did not want to see and that was Micah’s father, the man who pressured his son into being with a were woman, instead of me. I knew the entire fault couldn’t be laid on Micah’s father’s shoulders. Micah was a big boy, after all, and fully capable of making his own decisions, but I was more comfortable putting most of the blame on his father.



Micah lived in a small ranch style house with a large tree filled yard. He had remodeled it since I had seen it. It now had wood siding, new windows, and a large porch on the front. I didn’t know if Jamie was living with him yet, but I suspected the remodeling had been for her.



I pulled my car into his driveway and got out before my nerves overcame me and made me turn right back around. I shouldn’t have been so nervous around Micah anymore but his words from the night before had left me confused and piqued my anxiety. The front door was open, leaving the screen door as the only obstacle blocking my path. I knocked twice and waited uneasily and, just my luck, Jamie answered the door. Her brown hair had hints of auburn and was pulled half up in a barrette. Her eyes were the same amber color as Micah’s and she was around five-foot-five. She was pretty, though and had the same edginess most weres had. She may look sweet but she could easily rip a head off.



“You must be the infamous Gwen,” she said with a smile. I looked away, unsure of how I was supposed to respond.



“Yes, I’m Gwen. Not sure I’m infamous though.”



“You’re the witch who captured the wolf’s heart. So much so, that he almost gave it all up for you?” Her tone wasn’t snide or rude. I arched my eyebrows in shock. It was the first time I had heard anything of the sort and wasn’t sure how I felt about it, because in the end, he hadn’t chosen me over his alpha father and politics.



“Oh…well…almost doesn’t count,” I said with complete honesty. Micah almost giving everything up didn’t matter to me; the thought didn’t mean much when it wasn’t followed by an action.



“I like you,” Jamie said with a grin. I smiled back and felt my anxiety slowly disappear.