CHAPTER FOUR
Who was she? What was she doing out here? How had she managed to break through the bloodlust like that? Her voice, something about her voice stroked down the rage that bubbled in his blood. It was soothing, calming, and inflaming, all at once. He knew he had been aiming for the child. It was instinct, go for the youngest, easiest to kill, better meat. But her mother had stepped between him and his prey and thrown some kind of energy toward him. He had gone from blind, red wrath to clarity the second it hit.
His fur and skin tingled from the remains of that power that had arced across his body like lightening. It had shocked into his brain, breaking the repetitive chanting to hunt and kill, interrupting that madness and giving him back his mind. It was the first time since he had opened his eyes in this form that he could truly think clearly. He knew he had not always been a beast, but he couldn’t remember anything more than that. He felt like he was supposed to be something else, something like her, with two legs and a voice.
Emotions that were almost foreign to him rushed through his brain—regret, guilt, no small amount of interest in this tall female that had shocked the living hell out of him, quite literally. He could almost taste her power on his tongue. It was sweet and potent. It called to him, summoning the man from within the beast. He felt like he was seeing sunlight for the first time in months, the darkness in his mind pushed back by her very presence.
He lay there watching as the woman picked up the girl child. He tilted his head to the side, breathing in deeply. The woman smelled like vanilla and cinnamon, sweet and soft. The child’s scent tingled his nose. She smelled like the forest and maple syrup, all young and innocent. Fear hung around her like a cloud, and he had caused it. Guilt burned in his stomach. He had not been thinking; there had been nothing but the painful need to hunt, kill, feed.
He lowered his head to the floor and watched as the protective mother moved back, keeping her eyes locked on him the whole time. The farther she backed away from him, the less and less he felt in control. He wanted to follow her, chase her, and make sure she didn’t leave him, didn’t let the madness consume him again. He let out a lone whine and she scowled at him.
“Look, if you are not going to speak to me that’s fine, but we’re leaving. And you can stop that noise, I have no sympathy for you.” Her voice rolled into his brain, clearing the shadows. He inched forward on his belly, desperate to get just a little bit closer.
“No, you stay there. You have terrified my daughter and given me a near heart attack. We’re going to leave now.” The female backed up one more step and he whined again. Guilt. How long had it been since he could put a name to the emotions that ran rampant in his body? He wanted to show her how sorry he was for scaring her. But she just shook her head and backed away again before making a break for the trees.
He watched her leave. Running from him was a bad idea, running meant chasing, and chasing meant catching. Her scent lingered in the air. She would be easy to follow. All he knew was he had to follow her. Already the buzzing was returning to his brain, and he didn’t want to lose this measure of clarity so quickly. He needed her to help him remember who he was and why he felt like this form was wrong.
He stood and shook out his coat. Slowly, he began to trail the female and her young. Keeping to the shadows, he felt them reaching for him, hiding him from sight and sound, which was perfect. His quarry was on edge, and for good reason.
She finally stopped running and looked back in his direction. He knew she did not see him, with the shadows gathered around him like a blanket. But that little girl, she looked right at him. Her ice blue eyes speared right into his soul, and he felt an ache there for the first time in months. He expected her to inform her mother he was following, but she just watched him in total silence. Then her mother was moving again, finally coming out into a large clearing where a two-story cabin nestled back against the forest. He lay down under a large bush to watch as the female gently put her daughter down and knelt before her.
“Are you okay, Belle? Come on, honey, say something to me.” Layla was nearly insane with worry for Annabelle. She hadn’t said a word since that wolf/thing had come charging from the trees, intent on taking her child as prey. If she never saw that animal again it would be a blessing. His eyes sent chills over her skin.
Her arm was starting to go numb from the power she had thrown at him. She needed Lexi to look at it, and soon. Layla brushed her daughter’s fuzzy hair back, turning her gaze to look where her child’s eyes were locked. She didn’t see anything but she could feel his eyes on her, which was crazy. She would have seen a beast that big if he had followed. Annabelle finally blinked and looked at her mother, nodding quickly.
“I’m okay. He was a very big dog. I didn’t think he would be that big.” Her voice was so innocent that Layla had to sit back to look closely at her child.
“What do you mean you didn’t think he would be that big?” Her heart pounded in her chest. Knowing her child had inherited some of her odd abilities was concern enough, but she also seemed to have abilities all her own.
“The dog from my dream, I thought he would be smaller. He is a bit scary though—big teeth—but he has pretty eyes, doesn’t he, Mommy?”
Pretty eyes? Layla felt like she was about to pass out. The damn beast had almost taken her daughter down in one attack and she was saying how pretty those insane eyes of his were? Brushing her own hair back, she sat on the damp earth and shook her head. She felt nausea rising in her stomach; today could have been a tragedy, she might have lost her child.
“It’s okay, Mommy, he didn’t mean it.” Annabelle moved then, wrapping her little arms around her mother.
“Child, you are going to give me a heart attack. How can you know? I didn’t even know, and I am Dr. Doolittle!” She hugged her child tight, breathing in her unique scent that always calmed her soul.
“I just know. Grammy Annie told me so last night.” Her words were innocent but they made the hole in Layla’s heart burn. She missed her mother’s council, and it was almost painful that she had not seen this spirit of her mother like her daughter had.
“I think Grammy might be wrong about this one. Come on, let’s get inside, it might snow tonight.” The chance of snow did the trick and Annabelle let out an excited scream and turned, running into the house like a banshee on a mission.
The door was thrown open and her small hellion of a daughter ran up the stairs. Lexi managed to move out of the way as Annabelle barreled past her into the house. She held the door open, frowning at Layla as she knelt in the driveway.
“What’s wrong? You felt scared earlier but it vanished so I figured you were okay.” Lexi headed over to her sister and offered her hand, helping her up.
“Just… something in the forest. I am not sure what it is. I still feel his eyes on me, Lex, I swear it.” Layla looked around the clearing again as her sister scowled and did the same.
“Well if that ‘something’ comes here I will unload a double barrel into its head. Come on, I cleaned up. What? I thought you wanted me to clean the kitchen?” Lexi pouted as her sister sighed and shook her head.
“You always put the dishes away in the wrong place, and you never clear out the garbage, and let’s not even mention you have a phobia of the bits of food left in the bottom of the sink.”
Lexi huffed and followed behind her sister. “Of course I do, it is icky and squidgy and just ewwww.” Layla watched her sister literally almost gag at the idea of having to remove old wet food from the plug hole. Lexi shivered and rubbed her arms quickly.
Layla chuckled and shook her head. Her sister did come with a few quirks of her own, and she loved her for it. Letting Lexi move past her, she turned and looked back out, her eyes locking on the forest edge. He was out there, she knew it. Why he had not come out of hiding she didn’t know. But his eyes were on her. Why had he followed her home? She was sure whatever he was, his lapse in hunting judgment was over, and now he seemed to be intrigued by her. Her hand tightened on the door and she stepped into the cabin.
“Stay away,” she whispered to the forest.
“Stay away.”
Her voice reached his ears, stroking down his back like the flutter of fingers. He couldn’t, goddamn him, he couldn’t turn and leave now. She had done something to him when she threw out her magic and shocked his body. Not only that, but he felt a drive to protect—not just her, but that small young of hers.
He had been shocked when a second female had come out, almost identical to the one that smelled like vanilla. Only this female had slightly darker hair, was built differently, and walked with a pure stubborn confidence. To his eyes, those two women might be twins but they were vastly different from each other. His eyes were locked on only one female right now, her body silhouetted by the light within the cabin.
In the back of his brain he could feel the buzzing of madness trying to regain its hold on him. The pain was a slow pulsing behind his eyes, but it was nothing he couldn’t deal with. He considered leaving but fear gripped him. If he left, he might forget she was here. The madness would consume him again, and he might hurt her or her child. That would be unacceptable. He needed her to help him. He needed her voice to drive away the rage.
Lifting his large head, he slowly padded from the bushes and began to scan the clearing. It was large with a gravel driveway heading off into the woods. Off to one side sat a rundown barn where he could scent all kinds of animals, some of them not even of this mortal world. Slowly, he headed in that direction, a soft light emitting from within the barn.
He pushed his nose through the door and sat down, taking in the scene of large pens and a few stables, most holding some kind of animal. It didn’t take long for them to notice him. Those that were natural prey shrank back, making sounds of warning as they felt a predator in their midst. He ignored them, focusing his flame eyes on the large white stallion that watched him with silver eyes, shimmering large white wings folded up on his back, a nasty looking wound on his hind leg.
You do not belong, Dimoni. You are wrong. The stallion walked to the door and poked his head from his stall, flicking his huge wings out and folding them against his back.
He felt the beast speaking with him. His brain tingled with the sensation. He followed that path of communication, reaching for words. He could almost remember words.
I. Do. Not remember. He shook his head hard, the words forming slowly.
You are cursed, I can smell it, as do all creatures of the world. You should leave. The pegasus stomped his foot against the stable floor, snorting loudly.
I cannot. Need to stay, need her.
The stallion reared in his stable and snorted again, sending all the animals in the barn into a frenzy.
She is Seer, Speaker of Beasts. You will stay away, Dimoni!
The wolf shook his head.
I cannot. Their conversation was cut short as he heard a door at the other end of the barn opening and the voice of the twin sister filling the room. The wolf darted into an empty stall, dropping low to the ground to hide in the shadows as the one who did not smell of vanilla entered.
“What’s wrong with everyone? If you hurt yourselves again I’m not fixing it.” The not-vanilla one looked around the barn quickly. She walked to the stable that held the pegasus and stroked down his magnificent face slowly.
“Easy now, what’s going on?” The winged beast snorted and scraped at the floor again but let the little human touch him. The wolf watched his ears flicking forward as a soft glow encompassed her hand as she stroked down the beast’s long nose. The stallion settled and the woman’s bright eyes began to scan the barn. She was a smart one. She knew something was up. He would have to watch out for this one, she might get in the way of his plan to be near the female he needed. No one would get in his way. He could not allow that to happen.