Preschool Teachers Don't Cuss

1.    Meant to Live

I walked up the cement steps to the house I rent. I live in a bad neighborhood so my key was already out and ready. But I stepped on something, something that hadn’t been on my porch when I’d left for work this morning. Kneeling down I turned my keychain flashlight on the object that appeared to be a dagger. Since it didn’t have any blood on it I hoped it wasn’t an abandoned murder weapon, though the odds in my neighborhood were that it had been used for something illegal...such as murder.

Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I felt myself reaching for it. I closed my hand around the cold hilt and felt the strangest sensation, as if something just clicked into place. Using the light of the flashlight I examined it further and noted a name on the blade, Morrígan. Maybe it was the owner’s name. In that case it wouldn’t make much since for it to be used as a murder weapon because the police would have a much easier time tracing it back to its owner.

Just then I heard footsteps, it sounded like someone running, which is never a good thing on my street. We don’t have joggers, we have kids evading police or pit bulls and neither were something you wanted to be out on your front porch for. I had to find my key all over again because I’d been too busy with the knife. Stupid stupid Starrla, so busy with a possible murder weapon you get yourself killed. Now if that isn’t irony I don’t know what is.

My head shot up from my frantic search for my house key as the footsteps stopped and sounded a little too close for comfort. Just as I’d been afraid of, a man out of breath and with holes in his shirt that I was nearly positive were from bullets stood in my driveway. Well for a second anyway, in the next instant he was in front of me. His green eyes shown bright in the darkness which was definitely not normal, but I barely had time to register the weird eyes before he spoke.

“Don’t make a sound, and do not fight me,” his voice was smooth and warm, part of me actually wanted to obey him, then I remembered the dagger I held in my hand, I wasn’t helpless. He didn’t look like he had any weapons except his size which was definitely a weapon considering he had a good ten inches and at least a hundred pounds on me.

“Stay back,” I threatened.

His brow creased as he appeared momentarily confused, but he didn’t listen. Instead he lunged at me.  I screamed as I held the dagger out to protect myself. Please God don’t let me have to kill him and please please don’t let him kill me. I felt it the moment the knife sunk into his chest. It went in surprisingly easy, I’d expected more resistance. His body went limp with dead weight as it fell on top of me. I stumbled backwards into my door and then shoved his weight off of me.

“Shit, shit shit.” He looked dead. I was pretty positive he was dead. There was a lot of blood coming out of the wound, but it was black, or maybe it was just too dark and I couldn’t see it clearly. His eyes were open and his face was frozen in a look of both shock and horror. I was too afraid to touch him, for fear he wouldn’t actually be dead and try to attack me.

I was digging in my purse for my phone to call the police when a black Crown Victoria without it’s headlights on pulled into my driveway. Creepy. I quickly punched in the numbers for 911.

“We found him,” the man who exited from the driver’s side said as he walked towards me. His gun was drawn and aimed at the body.

“I – I’m calling th – the p – police,” I stammered, hoping that would stop him in his tracks.

It didn’t, instead he looked over his shoulder and said something I couldn’t hear to the other man who had stepped out of the car. The second man also had his gun trained on the body. I was pretty sure I’d killed since he hadn’t made a sound after I’d stabbed him. Kind of ironic as he’d told me not to make a sound. I shook my head, what was wrong with me. Since when had become so morbid.

It was then that I realized my phone wasn’t ringing. What the hell? I redialed the number and still nothing. It wouldn’t call.

“Ma’am, could you please put the knife down on the ground and step away from the body.”

I was definitely not putting the knife down, how did I know they weren’t just as crazy as him. I shook my head. The men kept approaching until they stood over the man’s body. “Is he dead?” I heard myself ask, but my voice sounded strange as if I was operating on autopilot.

“He’s not moving,” the second man said.

“Yes I can see that, what I don’t understand it why he’s not moving when his head is still attached got any insights?” I thought I saw the second man give the driver an irritated look. “Shit you know that’s not what I meant West.”

West. I committed the name to memory so that later when I was being questioned by the real police I could give some actual information and maybe not go to jail for murder.

“You did this?” The second man questioned. “Excuse me, were you the one who stabbed him?” he asked again.

It took a little while for my brain to register that he was talking to me but by then my mouth had decided to quit working so it didn’t matter.

“She’s in shock.” The driver commented.

“I can see that.” The second man, West, sounded aggravated.

My legs felt as though I’d been running on the treadmill for hours. I felt them buckle underneath me but before I could slide to the ground I felt to pairs of strong arms on either side of me lifting me up.

“I’ll call it in, you get her to the car,” I heard the driver say as I was lifted up into someone’s arms. I looked up. It was West, the second guy. His jaw was set, I guess he wasn’t too happy about having to carry me…to his car. Crap they were kidnapping me.

“I didn’t mean to kill him.”

West looked down and for the first time I noticed that his eyes were lit up just like the crazy guys had been. I was right these guys were psychos just like the guy I’d killed and now they were taking me hostage. “No!” I screamed. “Let me go!”

“Easy now.” West put me down as my fingers tightened around the dagger.

“You’re not taking me anywhere.”

“What’s got her spooked?” I heard the driver ask from behind me. I felt something strike the back of my head and my vision began to blur.

“You didn’t have to do that I could have handled her,” I heard West say right before everything went black.

___________

“How do you expect me to find out anything about it when every time I pick it up it teleports right back to her?” I heard woman say.

My head throbbed and my hand instinctively went to rub it where it hurt. I felt the knot the size of my fist on the back of my head. “Jeez did you hit me with a sledgehammer.” I blinked my eyes as I sat up. I was sitting on what looked and felt like a hospital bed in some sort of lab. The man who’d helped kidnap me stood in front of me looking as unhappy as the last time I’d seen expect this time no glowing eyes. I searched my brain for what the other man had called him, West. The woman who had been talking when I woke up was standing over me with a concerned look contorting her features as she chewed on a pen. It was kind of weird, all three of us were blonde, except with varying shades. Mine is more red then blonde, the woman’s was honey blonde, and the man West was golden blonde with a few red flecks in his beard.

“She’s awake so why don’t you try asking her,” West spat out before turning on his heel and waking out of the room.

I felt my chest relax when he closed the door. I’d have a much better time escaping if it was just her and I alone. Plus I had my dagger, which lay on my lap. There was no longer any blood on it so they must have cleaned. I wondered why they would give me back the knife if they were holding me captive and then I remembered what the woman had said when I was waking up about something teleporting back to someone. Had she meant me?

“Right, a lot of help he was.” The woman muttered to herself. “So, hi, welcome back, you took quite a fall their.”

Fall? I raised my eyebrows, “I might have been out for a while but I’m fairly sure I didn’t fall, if memory serves that guy West, his friend knocked me out, from behind I might head.”

“Well good, at least you’re not suffering from memory loss.” She didn’t seem to be phased a bit about the circumstances of which I had been brought here by, wherever here was. I reached down and closed my fingers around the hilt of the dagger, feeling again that sensation of fitting. At that the woman took a step back. “Yes, I’d like to ask you about your knife.”

“It’s a dagger.”

“Er dagger then. Anyways it seems to be very attached to you. I was able to take it away long enough to clean it but when I tried to study it, it uh found its way back to you.”

I narrowed my eyes. When she had thought I was asleep she’d said it teleported. “Where am I?”

“My lab?” She evaded.

“And where,” I slipped off the bed and onto the tiled floor, “is here.”

She took another step back. “Honestly I can’t tell you, so would you mind putting the knife down so I don’t feel like you could trip and stab me.”

I rolled my eyes at the idea of me tripping and stabbing her with the dagger. “Let me get this straight, first I kill a guy who moves faster than any person I’ve ever seen and before he attacked me he looked like he was running from someone, then two guys show up and kidnap me, oh yeah and one of them knocks me out, I wake up here and you want me to put down my only way of defending myself?”

She laughed, actually it was more of a giggle and she snorted too. Not exactly kidnapper stuff. “Um yeah I guess that’s the gist of it, welcome to Depoy.”

“Depoy? Is that supposed to mean something?”

“Department of Paranormal Objects of Interest,” she spelled it out “D.P.O.I” I can it Depoy.”

“And you do what exactly?”

“We study ancient objects that were in the possessions of vampires, werewolves or other supernatural creatures.”

For some reason, at this point the idea didn’t seem that crazy. “What was that thing that attacked me?”

“A vampire, and you killed him with the knife, er dagger of yours, which is impossible. Well impossible based on everything we know about how to kill vampires. So far the only way to kill them is by cutting off their heads with a silver blade. Silver wounds them but isn’t fatal.”

“So you want to test the dagger to figure out what it’s made of.”

“That’s part of it, but it looks like it’s just you’re basic blade. What I’m more interested in is why it’s so attached to you.”

I shrugged, “Honestly, I’ve never seen it before tonight. It was on my porch when I came home I just picked it up right before the man, I mean vampire showed up. Is that other guy West, is he a vampire too? Because his eyes glowed like the vampire’s did.”

"Speak of the devil and he doth appear.” West’s voice rang out from the other side of the room and I spun around, putting my guard up.

“You’re so dramatic,” I heard the woman whose name I still didn’t know say.

“And you’re too talkative.” West retorted.

The woman shrugged, “Fire me.” I raised my eyebrows, either she really didn’t care about her job, or they were friends, or even more likely they were related.

“I’ve told you everything I know about the dagger,” I spoke to the woman, “so you don’t need me anymore.

“We need the knife.”

“For the last time it’s a dagger, and it’s not mine I think it belongs to some woman named Morrígan.”

“I think she’s telling the truth, you should just let her go.”

With lightening quickness he was right in front of me, his blue eyes lit up like a night light. “Have you told us everything about the dagger.” Is voice was just as persuasive as the crazy vampire had been right before he attacked me.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to do but I told you everything I know about this knife. I think it’s time you answered my questions. I took a step forward feeling a surge of confidence knowing that the dagger I held in my hand could kill vampires and that the man towering over me with his angry blue eyes all a glow was most likely a vampire.

“Jonny!” The woman called out. I looked up to see if someone else had entered the room and in a split second the hand holding the dagger was twisted behind my back painfully and he put pressure on my hand so that I had to drop the dagger.

“Ouch!”

“You’re so stupid, you know that. The woman stomped over to me and picked up the knife. What if she’d cut you, that might be all it takes to kill someone with this.”

My hand was still behind my back but suddenly the dagger was back in my grasp. “What the hell.” Both West and swore at the same time.

“Yeah, I already told you, it doesn’t like being away from her for very long.”

“So I guess that would be a yes on you being a vampire. A vampire who hunts other vampires? I’m pretty sure Blade beat you to it.”

“Can I trust you not to try to stab me with this knife if I let you go?” West asked from behind me.

“Can you promise to let me leave?” I countered.

“Yes I give you my word that you can leave.”

“Then I promise not to stab you, for now.” I thought the last part was a nice touch. I didn’t want him thinking I really trusted him, seeing as he could change his mind any minute. But true to his word he let go of me “By the way what time is it because I really can’t afford to miss work?”

The woman laughed, “It’s ten minutes past noon, so I think it’s safe to say you’re taking a sick day.”

I ran my free hand through my hair and sighed, “If I had a sick day I’d be sure to use it.” I explained bitterly. “So as much fun as this was I have to go, if you’d please show me the way out I’ll just get out of your hair.”

“Wait, I still need to study the knife.”

“That isn’t my problem, my problem is that a no call no show equals no job at my work.”

“We will pay you for your time.” West spoke up.

I turned to face him, “How much?”

“How much do you make an hour working as a preschool teacher?” He knew what I did for a living? This was getting way to creepy. As if he knew what I was thinking he smiled though it didn’t seem genuine, “you’re work ID was in your purse.” Okay total breech of privacy, I’ve got tampons in there!

“Nice,” I pretended like I wasn’t totally irritated he’d gone through my purse, “I make fifteen dollars an hour at the preschool, but a day’s worth of pay isn’t going to do much when I’m fired.”

“We’ll take care of it”

“You’ll ‘take care of it’” I used air quotes as I mocked him. “Are you kidding me, could you get any more cliché. How exactly are you going to ‘take care of it’?”

“I’ll have one of our MDs on staff right you a note saying you were attacked last night and weren’t allowed to leave the hospital until 6pm today.”

I sighed, he was right that would ‘take care of it.’ I was exhausted and just wanted to get this over with. I felt like I’d stepped into some alternate universe, things like this only happened in books. “What do you need me to do?”

“I need to analyze what type of metals the knife is made out of.”

“I’ll leave you women to you work.” West was out the door before I could look up.

“Definitely vampire.” I said to no one in particular.

“Yes, he is but every time you bring it up he gets angry so maybe you could stop calling him that.” Her words had a bite to them.

“I’m confused, he is a vampire right? So why can’t I call him one.”

“Doesn’t matter, I shouldn’t have said anything. He’s right I talk too much. Anyway,” she held out her hand, “I’m T, at least that’s what everyone around here calls me.”

I took her hand, “I’m Starrla.”

“Cool name.”

I rolled my eyes, “It sure wasn’t in elementary school.”

2.    The Call

T, or Tara as I later learned was her name did every test imaginable to the dagger. But it was ordinary in every way, all we discovered was that it had been forged from tool steel, which is the kind of steel used to make tools or weapons because it’s harder. We did a search on the name inscribed on the blade and it was apparently Irish for phantom queen. According to our Tara’s sources Morrígan was a Celtic war goddess. Tara doesn’t believe in goddesses but she seemed to think that this Morrígan was more likely a member of what B.R.I.C.K. refers to as the Fallen.

Based on all her research, during the first war in heaven there were two groups of angels cast out of heaven. The first were those loyal to Lucifer and the second were those that had chosen not to fight on either side. Because they hadn’t chosen Lucifer’s side they were not doomed to spend an eternity in hell, instead they were given a second chance to prove themselves on Earth. Some of the angels chose to work with the humans and even had children with them, while others stayed within their own race of angels. The latter is how B.R.I.C.K. believes vampires were created, as the children of two of the Fallen.

Much to my surprise I didn’t have as much trouble believing her, what she said made sense. Having been interested in mythology all my life it just seem to fit that the beings civilizations worshipped as Gods were really Fallen. So it also kind of made since that my dagger could have belonged to one of them, but why it had chosen me I had no idea and frankly I was getting a little worried that it was the only weapon ever known to kill a vampire without cutting off its head. Because if it was so rare then they’d obviously want to use it to kill other vampires, but the catch was that the dagger didn’t want to be anywhere else but with me. And oddly enough I didn’t feel comfortable being without it either, which was weird considering I’d never been interested in weapons. That was more my best friend Lexi’s forte, she’s the expert marksman, or woman.

So here I was sitting on the bed I’d woken on waiting to be “debriefed” as Tara put it. My legs dangled over the bed and I was swinging them back and forth when I heard the door open. The dagger, or Morrígan as Tara and I had started calling it, was sitting on the bed a few inches away from my hand where I could easily pick it up if I needed to. Both of them walked in, West and the guy I’d thought of as the driver but who Tara had told me was Dylan.

He and West were striking example of opposites. Although they both were fit, West definitely had a bulkier build and was a few inches taller than Dylan. Then there were their features, West definitely acted the part of the broody vampire but his blonde hair and trimmed beard made him look more Viking then vampire. Whereas Dylan was darker with olive tinted skin, dark brown hair and clean shaven. They were like good cop bad cop except I had a feeling both were bad.

“Tara told me you’re taking the news quite well.” Dylan congratulated me as he walked up to the bed. I didn’t get up, just inched my fingers a little closer to Morrígan.

“Well considering I had a lot of first hand proof to work with it wasn’t that had to let her fit the pieces into place for me.”

“Good, good” Dylan nodded and scratched his chin as if he was trying to decide how to phrase something he knew I wouldn’t be happy about.

“Oh and my head’s fine, no memory loss just a bump the size of Texas if you were wondering.” His eyes shot up and connected with mine. Remorse flashed in them but I wasn’t going to let him off that easy.

“Yeah, about that, I was worried you might freak out and stab West with the knife like you stabbed the other vampire.” I raised my eyebrows for a second, so I’d been right he was a vampire. “I couldn’t risk that so I…”

“Knocked me unconscious even though I’d just killed the vampire you two had let get away and had nearly had me for dinner.”

Dylan choked on a laugh and covered his mouth. “Err yes something like that. So would you like to take a tour of Harker & Helsing?”

I jumped up, “That’s where we are?” Harker & Helsing. was a Seattle based weapons manufacturing company for the government.

“Yes, but I assure you weapons manufacturing is only one aspect of what we do here. West, why don’t you give Ms. Russell a tour of the facility.” Something passed between Dylan and West but I didn’t know what it was. Whatever they were planning I wasn’t going anywhere without Morrígan so I picked her up off the bed and walked over to West. He didn’t look happy to be on babysitting duty but he didn’t complain, leading me to believe Dylan was his superior. “Try not to get stabbed okay.” I glanced back at Dylan to see if he’d been serious but he was smiling. Looking up at West’s face I could see he hadn’t found the joke very funny.

We stood in silence in an elevator that was taking us to the second floor. I fidgeted with the blade. If this thing was going to be stuck with me I’d need to get a sheath. “You seem to be very attached to that thing, are you sure you only just found it last night?”

“You seem to be still irritated that I didn’t obey you when you’re eyes got all glowy, is that some weird vampire manipulation thing. Because the other vampire tried it on me right before he died.”

“Is that supposed to be a threat?”

It wasn’t exactly a threat, I just wanted him to know that the fact he was a big scary vampire didn’t scare me, well it did a little, but I was the one holding the vampire killing dagger. “You can take it however you want, you kidnapped me remember.”

“Yes I do remember I remember picking you up when your feet gave out and I remember you go all crazy on me.”

Just like a guy to a have a skewed memory of how things went down. “How was I supposed to know you were the ‘good guys’?” I put air quotes around good guys as I wasn’t sure how good he or Dylan really was. That would remain to be seen.

“We’re here,” he gestured for me to exit the elevator first. How polite.

“Welcome to the Department of Munitions,” the air smelled of metal and smoke and everywhere I looked someone was hard at work on a machine or carrying a container to a new area. “This is where we make out weapons and weapons for the government. We have a contract with them that gives us jurisdiction over all paranormal activities while in return we supply them with new technology.”

“Why are you telling me this, wouldn’t you want to keep this kind of stuff secret?”

“Ordinarily yes. Do you want to look around?”

I made an uninterested face, “Do I have a choice?”

“Or course.”

“Well then no, I’d like to get this ‘tour’ over with as soon as possible.”

“Well then let’s get back on the elevator.” Again he gestured for me to go first.

Our next stop was floor number two, the Human and Paranormal Relations Department. I laughed when I’d first heard the name, but he was completely serious, as always. It looked like a cross between the DMV and a homeless shelter. “This is the division responsible for relocating people or paranormals who have aided Harker & Helsing or are at risk from other paranormals.” West explained.

“So people like me.” I looked around. There were people waiting in line to get their picture taken, and men and women in dark blue uniforms shuffling people this way and that. There were offices in the back and a long line of people waiting to get into one. A few people glanced over at me with worry and fear in their eyes. I guess a lady walking around with a dagger wasn’t exactly a comforting sight. One woman pulled her teenage daughter closer after I caught her staring at me. “So do I get a new identity or something?”

“No, that is not why we stopped here; I am just giving you the tour.”

“I don’t understand. Why do I need to go on a tour, shouldn’t be going back to my old life or starting a new one?”

“Let’s get back in the elevator,” he took my elbow in his hand and I whirled around to face him, dagger in hand, causing the people behind us to gasp. His blue eyes began to glow again, “This is neither the time nor the place for such a scene,” he spoke through clenched teeth.

I looked around and so that everyone was looking at us. The mother with the teenage daughter looked like she was shaking. I was so stupid. All these people had gone through situations like I had, probably worse since they hadn’t had a magic dagger to protect them, and here I was frightening them.

I put my hand down and let him lead me to the elevator. Once the door closed I looked over at him. His eyes were still glowing and a muscle in his jaw was ticking. I’d really pissed him off. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare them and I shouldn’t have threatened you with Morrígan.”

The muscle in his jaw stopped ticking and he looked away from the spot on the elevator doors he’d been staring intently at and straight at me. “Morrígan?”

“Uh, the dagger. Tara and I started calling it Morrígan, since that’s the name that’s inscribed on it.”

“May I?” He held his hand out for Morrígan. I was reluctant to hand it over, but remembering how it had returned to me the last time he’d taken it I placed it carefully into his hand. “Interesting that a Fallen would create a knife capable of killing vampires.”

“I don’t think she had any vampire children, from everything we found out Morrígan only had children with humans.”

“Did it occur to Tara that the knife might actually be Morrígan?”

I felt my eyebrows crease. Was he crazy? “How can a dagger be a person?”

“A revenant is a person whose body is occupied by a Fallen, and we know the fallen can inhabit animals, so why not objects as well.” Until today I hadn’t known any of this existed so how was I supposed to know if a Fallen could put their spirit into an object. “That would explain why it has become so attached to you. It isn’t just a dagger, it has a mind of its, or her own and for some reason she’s decided she likes you. Which brings me to another issue, what to do with you.” The way he phrased it made me feel like I was nuisance. I was sure they were very irritated that Morrígan had chosen me because they were obviously so interested in it.

“We can’t let you go.” My heartbeat sped up and Morrígan shot back into my hand. “Don’t start that again. I’m just stating a fact. We can’t lose that dagg – Morrígan. Despite the fact that it can’t be used long range it is an impressive weapon for killing vampires and it makes you immune to vampire persuasion. And we’re not even sure if that’s all it does. If it is a revenant it could hold unknown possibilities. And then there’s the fact that it chose you, a preschool teacher from Federal Way.” He scratched his beard and I couldn’t help but notice that despite the fact that he was a vampire he was incredible good looking, when he wasn’t scowling down at me.

“You are sure that you’ve never seen it before today?”

“Yes,” I sighed exasperated. “We already covered this.”

“Why did it choose to show up now and right before a vampire attacked you?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know maybe it can see the future.”

His eyes lite up, not all glowy but regular ah-ha lighting up. “I have heard that some Fallen had the ability to predict the future, maybe the dagger can too.”

I smiled, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” I didn’t actually read Hamlet but I’ve watched and read enough science fiction to here it quoted enough.

For the first time since I’d met him I watched West smile. It spread across his face like an unexpected rainbow brightening a stormy sky. “Yes there definitely are.” He bit his cheek but kept smiling. I couldn’t stop smiling myself. I was proud that I’d been able to quote that line so well.

“Sorry I couldn’t help it, I’m kinda a sci-fi buff.”

“I guess that explains why you’ve been taking all this so well.”

“I don’t think I’ve been taking it that well, considering I’ve threatened to stab you too many times to count. I blame it on the war goddess’s dagger,” I teased, “it’s clouding my judgment.”

He was still smiling when the elevator doors opened to floor six, we’d skipped floor three through five, so much for the tour. “For some reason I have a feeling it’s actually the opposite.”

I had just been teasing so I wasn’t sure what he meant. “What do you mean?”

He took my elbow, and led me out, “Maybe there’s more war goddess in you then you’d like to admit. And maybe that’s what resonated with the dagger.”

I shrugged, “Doubt it; I’m usually a push over. Lex, my best friend, she used to boss me around all the time and it took me forever to stand up to her.”

“It was just a thought. Anyways, welcome to Searchlight. The Supernatural Espionage Analysis and Reconnaissance, Critical Humanitarian Logistics Intelligence, Global Hazard Team.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Well I can definitely see why you call it Searchlight, that’s a mouthful. So is this what you and that Dylan guy do?”

“Yes we do, and we were hoping you would agree to help us.”

I scrunched my eyebrows together, “Help, how?”

“When you hold that dagger you’re immune to vampire persuasion so next to me you would be the most trusted agent we have.”

“Oh yeah, because it wouldn’t work on you since you’re a vampire too.”

“Exactly.”

“Couldn’t I just loan it to you guys, I really don’t think I’d be much help to you. I was always too klutzy for sports in high school and in volleyball I’d duck from the ball.”

He grimaced and swallowed, “Be that as it may, I think we’ve seen enough of the dagger to realize that it has formed a bond with you and only you, if we try to separate the two of you it’s just going to find its way back to you.”

I rubbed my forehead, “This is all way to surreal, vampires, fallen angels, possessed daggers, and now you want me to help you hunt vampires with my possessed dagger? What if I just say no, and want to go back to my regular life.”

I licked my lips and thought about what I had just said. Could I really ever go back; just forget about all this and go back to dealing with whiny kids and parents who think their brats are angels. For the first time in my life I wasn’t average. I was privy to knowledge most people went their whole lives without knowing and here I was thinking about throwing it all away. It’s not as if I have family to worry about. There was no one except Lexi to worry about me, and she’d been pretty preoccupied with her new boyfriend she’s been living with in Shelton.

I heard West inhale and looked up, his eyes were troubled, “If your choice is no then we will let you go?”

I put a hand on my hip and narrowed my eyes, why was he changing his tune now, “I thought you said you couldn’t let me go.”

“As much as we don’t like the idea of losing your dagger, we’re still the good guys and we can’t hold you hostage, you’d be no good to us like that anyway.”

I smiled despite the tense situation, “Why because I might go nuts and stab you.”

His lips tried to smile but I watched him fight it, “There is that.” He must like being a vampire stereotype.

I rubbed the back of my very tense neck. It was obvious they were only interested in me because of Morrígan, but if I said no I would be saying no to saving other people who weren’t as lucky as me from vampires. “Does it pay?”

Miracle of miracle he laughed, “Does it pay?” He ran a hand through his short hair. “Yes, Starrla it pays very very well.”

“And what are the chanced I die?”

“Just pray you’re luckier than me.”

I examined his face for any signs of teasing. Nope, he looked completely serious. “So what you died and they turned you into a vampire.”

“Not exactly, I was fatally wounded and dying and until me they had no idea that large amounts of vampire blood would do more than heal you but actually turn you into a vampire.”

“Oh,” I frowned, “so it was an accident.”

“A pretty big accident, but they were just trying to save me. We had been using vampire blood on wounds with no problem, so it was nobody’s fault.”

“Well that explains why you look so angsty.”

He raised one golden eyebrow and stared down at me, “Excuse me?”

“You’ve been all Edward Cullen and Angel, it’s pretty cliché. I mean yes you’re a vampire but at least you’re not dead. Your life isn’t over. And hey maybe you’ll find your Bella, since it didn’t work out so well for Buffy and Angel.”

It started as a chuckle and then it turned into a full blown laugh, causing several heads to turn out way, but he didn’t seem to care. He bit the inside of his lip, “You really are a into all that sci-fi stuff aren’t you?”

“Most definitely.” I agreed.

“So shouldn’t this be like a dream come true for you?”

“Uh not exactly,” I tapped the blade against my jeans, “it’s fun reading about it but I doubt it’s that fun running around chasing vampires while all the time their looking at me like I’m food.”

His eyes gleamed with mischief, “Trust me I’m not looking to eat you.”

I raised an eyebrow and tossed Morrígan between my hands, “Yeah, let’s not forget who’s carrying the vampire killing dagger here.”

He smiled and shook his head, “No, never, so is that a yes.”

I took a deep breath and let it out. “It’s a, we’ll see how it goes.”

“Fair enough,” he held one hand out and placed his other hand feather light against the small of my back as he lead me deeper into the Searchlight, “let me introduce you to our team.”

A shiver went down my spine. This was it; farewell to ordinary, my life was now becoming extraordinary.

3.    Between the Lines

My body slammed against the unforgiving mat, it had been two weeks and I was still my klutzy self. I wasn’t cut out for this. West, only his sister Tara called him Jonny, everyone in Searchlight called him West, offered me his hand. But I ignored it as I pushed myself back up. “This isn’t working.”

“We’re still getting you in shape.”

I rolled my eyes, “I don’t think my ‘shape’ is the problem okay.” His mouth quirked up at my words but I ignored it, I wasn’t in a joking mood, “I have muscles, maybe not as ginormous as yours, but I worked out before this. I jog, I do sit-ups; I’m in shape. The problem is that I’m always tripping. If you’re expecting me to be good at hand to hand combat it’s just not going to happen.” He crossed his arms over his bare chest and I forced myself to keep my eyes above his neck. He didn’t like what I was saying, but somebody had to say it. “I’ve been thinking and I have a different idea.”

“And what would that be? Quitting? Because that’s not an option.”

“Actually I think you’ve forgotten, it actually is an option is I want it to be.” I glared, “but that wasn’t what I was talking about.” I stalked off to the weapons room, knowing he would follow me. I’d left Morrígan in my locker but I’d become better at calling her to me in the past few weeks. I closed my eyes and felt the dagger in my hand – in a few seconds she was in my grip.

“Nice trick.”

“Thanks,” I shot a smile behind me, and kept walking the door at the back of the large room labeled Throwing Range. There was a sign in and out sheet so you wouldn’t bust in on somebody in the middle of an exercise. No one was currently signed in, so I quickly scrawled my name and the time of entry and opened the door.

“Knife throwing?” I heard West question behind me.

“Stay behind me,” I told him as I took a deep breath, checked to make sure he’d obeyed me, and then let the dagger fly towards the highest target.

“Holy shit.”

“Right,” I laughed and held out my hand and called Morrígan back into my hand.

“Damn that’s amazing. Why didn’t you tell me you had such good aim?”

“I don’t.” Putting Morrígan down, I grabbed one of the throwing knives in a wooden bin next to me. “Watch.” I released the knife the same way I’d done to Morrígan and didn’t even come close to hitting the target. The knife bounced as it hit the floor at the bottom of the targets. Grabbing Morrígan I aimed for a new target, one lower to the ground but slightly angled away from me. She curved and flew right into the bull’s-eye. “It’s not me, it Morrígan, I don’t think she can miss.”

West rubbed his beard in thought but I wasn’t feeling very patient, “So? What do you think?”

“I think it will be very useful, but I don’t want you to rely on all your targets being far enough away that you don’t have to use any hand to hand combat skills.

“That is bull and you know it. There’s absolutely no way I’m going to win in that kind of situation. If a vampire is close enough for me to karate kick him then he’s close enough to bite me.”

“But you did win in that kind of situation.”

I shook my head. I was so thoroughly frustrated I wanted to scream. I thought he’d see it from my point of view. I wasn’t getting any better at all his exercises and drills, but I could do this and he was just dismissing it. “You know what I need a break. I’m going home.”

He crossed his arms, “It’s only three.”

His guilt wasn’t going to work on me anymore. “So then dock my pay. I’m going home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The Throwing Range was small and his large body was taking up most of the door. “Would you please move your ass so I can go?”

I stared at me for a moment as is he was assessing how pissed I was and what he could get away with. I wasn’t in the mood. Morrígan appeared in my hand instantly, “Move, now.” Still he didn’t move, I’m serious.”

“You’re seriously going back to your old but faithful method of threatening me which your magic dagger and expecting me to just jump when you say jump?”

“I said please.” I still held the knife in a threatening pose.

“Well that’s not good enough.” His jaw started ticking. Jeez, I just wanted to get out of here did he have to make such a big deal out of it. “You’re not a little girl you can’t just get mad and leave every time things don’t go your way.”

I swallowed. That was below the belt, but I couldn’t help feeling like he was right. I put the knife back into the sheath I’d attached to my yoga pants. “Sorry, but I really need a break okay so just let me go.” He nodded and moved out of my way.

_________

In my car I dialed Lex’s number.

“Hello?”

“Hey are you busy?” I asked trying not to sound to pathetic and needy, though she would see through it like always.

“No of course not, what do you need?”

“I mean are you busy, as in can I come over? Remember how you said there was an extra cabin for me if I wanted to use it?”

“Yeah, of course you can stay there, is there something going on?”

I laughed, “Actually a lot is going on and you probably won’t even believe me, but you’re just going to have to.” She was silent for a minute. “Lex?”

“Yeah I’m here. Actually there was some stuff I kinda have to talk to you about. Like big stuff.”

“Mine’s big to like dinosaur big.”

She laughed, “Yeah mine’s only werewolf big?”

“Huh?” Was she serious?

“I’ll explain when you get here. Are you on your way now?”

“Yup just leaving work.” I pulled out of my parking space and headed for the freeway.

“The daycare?”

“No my new job, it’s all part of what I need to talk to you about.”

“It sounds like we’ll have a lot to talk about. If you’re staying the night there’s a party tonight. Just to blow off some steam. I think we might need it after our talk.”

“Sounds good, you’re still in that little town right outside of Shelton right? I have that address on my phone.”

“Yup I’m still in Bourgault.”

“Kay, see you in an hour or so.”

“Bye.”

I put the phone down and merged onto the freeway heading toward Shelton.

It was getting dark by the time I pulled up to Lexi’s log cabin that she shared with her boyfriend. She’d moved here about six months ago and ever since then we hadn’t been talking much. We’d go weeks without calling each other, which after being friends for ten years isn’t unheard of but she’s my only friend so I was curious to see what was keeping her so busy down here. Especially since she was the one who always wanted to live in the city so she could be closer to the mall.

I stepped out of my beat up Toyota which despite my giant salary increase I hadn’t found the time to replace. I hadn’t packed any clothes, or a toothbrush so I prayed there was a store in the tiny town that had something in my size and a some toiletries. Dylan would be pissed when I didn’t show up for work tomorrow, but it wasn’t like he could fire me. West on the other hand might show up at my house and bang on the door until I got dressed and came to work like he did the last time I tried to play hooky. Hence the whole no packing-no plan-just drive, approach; he wouldn’t be expecting that.

A tall man with shoulder length jet black hair came out of the cabin to greet me, judging by his rugged good looks I guessed he was Lexi’s boyfriend. She’d said he was gorgeous but now that I saw him I could definitely see why she’s changed her mind about living in the city. Lexi and I have always agreed that the muscley, wood chopping, throw himself in front of a bullet for you type of guy is way sexier than the skinny guys emo boys who could fit into the same size of jeans as us.

Lexi popped out of the cabin next and ran towards me, almost knocking me down with a hug. “Oh my Gawd you have no idea how much I’ve missed you!” I hugged her back just as vigorously until we both were hugged out and we let go of each other. “Oh Star, this is my boyfriend.” She ran over and put her arm in his and I noticed he blushed a little at her attention. “Gabriel, meet my best friend in the whole world Starrla.”

Gabriel held out his hand and I walked the short distance between us and shook his. “Nice to meet you Starrla, I’ve heard a lot about you.” Then his gaze caught the dagger I hand in the sheath I’d attached to my yoga pants. “Interesting knife.”

“Actually it’s a dagger,” I explained needlessly earning me a raised brown eyebrow from Gabriel and bulging eyes from Lexi. “um I’ll explain, can we,” I motioned with my head towards her cabin.”

“Oh yeah of course,” she turned towards Gabriel stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “See you later sweetie.”

He smiled, and I could tell that they were both really smitten with each other, which in it of itself is a miracle for Lex, one guy for six months, practically unheard of to her. “Have fun.”

Lexi watched him as he watched off and I jabbed her in the ribs, “Damn you are sprung on him.”

She blushed and closed her eyes, “You have no idea,” grabbing my arm she pulled me towards the door.

Once inside I could see that Lexi had been decorating. It had the same feel her Seattle apartment had, except for the giant deer antlers hanging on the wall and a lot of paintings of wolves. She saw where my eyes had traveled too and laughed. “He won’t let me get rid of them no matter how hard I try. I even went on strike, but it only lasted a day and a half.”

I chocked on a laugh, “Yeah I think you were just punishing yourself there.”

“That’s exactly what I realized. So I made him buy me a new couch, new bed, and he’s redoing the cabinets in the kitchen.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Sounds serious.”

“It is, really serious. I think, I mean I don’t want to jinx anything but if he asked me to marry him today I’d say yes, it’s just I think he’s waiting for something or maybe I am I don’t know, but you first. You drove all the way down here so you get to dish first.”

“We should probably sit down.” I walked over to the comfy but elegant looking dark brown couch and plopped down on it. “Nice.”

Lexi plopped down next to me and beamed with pride, “Thanks.”

“So...” I wasn’t sure how to start. “Um I know this is going to sound crazy but…” I took a deep breath, “okay here goes. About a month ago I was coming home from work and I found this dagger on my doorstep.” I pulled the dagger out of its sheath and handed it to her.

“Whoa.”

“Yeah, very whoa, like whoa to the tenth whoa.” She laughed at my attempt to use my nonexistent math knowledge in sentence. “So right after I picked it up this guy comes runs down my street and then stops and comes towards me and his eyes are all glowy.”

Lexi’s eyes widened, “Did he have fangs.”

“What?”

“Nothing it just, never mind. Go on.”

I was beginning to think Lexi had learned something about what goes bump in the night during our time apart as well. “I didn’t see any fangs, but that’s not because he didn’t have any, I just wasn’t really paying attention, glowy eyes kind of had me freaking out. Anyway he tells me not to make any noise and I totally wanted to do what he said but I didn’t and that surprised him, but not for long because then he jumped on me, well not on me, but at me. And I stabbed him with the knife because I was holding it out in front of me.”

“Oh my gawd you killed him?” Lexi looked down at the knife with renewed interest.

“Yeah”

“With just this knife.”

“Yeah.”

“Shit, that’s one serious knife.”

“Actually it’s a dagger.” I corrected. “But that’s not the end, so then these two guys show up, Dylan and West, and their all telling me to put down the knife and I’m like no, because I don’t know who the hell they are, for all I know they could be with the guy I just stabbed.”

“Definitely.”

“But then I get all shaky from shock and I almost faint and they keep me wrong falling and one guy, West picks me up and starts carrying me to their car.”

“Ah! Oh my gawd did they kidnap you.” Lexi grabbed my hand. “Did they hurt you? I will hunt them down and put a bullet between their eyes if they touched you.” Lex is the only one besides the cops who knew what happened when I was in foster care, so she has a reason to be extra protective of me.

“Yes the kidnapped me, but no one hurt me, well actually Dylan knocked me out from behind because I wasn’t going willingly and I was threatening West with the dagger.”

Lexi’s grip tightened on my hand, “Do you want me to hurt him?”

I laughed, “No he’s okay, he was just trying to protect West because my dagger kills vampires and hey wait a minute why are you taking all of this so well.”

Lexi bit her lip, “Um…well Gabe is a werewolf, everyone here is actually, except for me.”

My mouth fell open. Tara had told me about werewolves but I couldn’t believe my best friend was actually dating one. I shook my head, “So I’m working with a vampire to hunt rogue vampires and werewolves and you’re dating one. What the hell happened to our ordinary lives? I was a preschool teacher and you were a barista.”

Lexi laughed, “I’m still a barista, but wait you’re working with them, as what?”

“That’s part of the reason why I came here. So they made me an agent. Don’t laugh I know how silly it sounds, me an agent when I couldn’t even walk the balance beam without tripping and putting my cho-cha out of commission for a week.”

“Oh my gawd that was so funny, I couldn’t stop laughing, and when you had to hold ice on your crouch in the nurse’s office, oh I wish I could have taken a picture.”

I glared, “Anyways, as you can guess it’s not going very well. They basically only want me because the dagger is possessed by this fallen angel named Morrígan and for some reason she only likes me. If I give it to someone or it gets taken away it just shows back up, either in my hand or right next to me.”

“Wow, weird.” Lexi looked down at the knife again. “Should I give it back?”

“No it’ll come back if I need it.”

She felt the blade, “It doesn’t feel very sharp.”

“Yeah it’s so weird, it never cuts me even if I pick it up by the blade but it slices through vampires as if they were air.”

“I wonder what it would do to a werewolf.”

“I don’t know I haven’t really field tested it. That’s what they are trying to get me ready for. But Lex it’s not working. I’m always tripping over myself and West is always like “C’mon you can do it.” and yeah he’s being supportive but I’ve had enough. It’s not working, I’m not going to be some super agent kicking butt and taking names.”

Lexi laughed, “Yeah I have a hard time seeing that happening in this lifetime.”

“Exactly, but he just won’t give up.”

Lexi poked the tip of the blade with her finger and nothing happened, “That is so weird.” Then she looked up and shook her head, “It’s kind of sweet that he believes in you.”

“No actually it’s not, when you have to go through the same drills every freaking day and every day fail miserable and end up on your back.” Lexi raised her brown eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, “Gross.”

“Why is this West guy a jerk or ugly or something?”

“No he’s actually pretty dam hot, he’s got this whole Viking vampire thing that definitely works for and if it wasn’t for how much her irritates me I might have a crush on him, but thankfully he drives me so crazy that half the time I forget how fucking hot he is.”

Lexi giggled and patted my arm, “Wow I feel for you babe it must be so awful to deal with a gorgeous guy all day who believes in you.”

I glared, “Seriously Lex. Anyway I found a way around the whole me actually using fighting skills. When I throw the dagger I always hit whatever target I aim for. And then I can call it out of the target and back in my hand. It’s perfect, that way I won’t have to worry about actually fighting vampires, which is ridiculous right, me fighting vampires?”

Lex nodded, “I get what you mean, but he’s probably just looking out for you. It couldn’t hurt to learn. I mean I’d hate if anything happened to you and you could have prevented it my just being more prepared.”

I leaned my head back on the couch and sighed loudly, “But it’s not working. Oh well I’ll just take a break and see if that makes things any better.”

Lexi patted my hand, “Good, don’t give up.”

“So?” I hinted. “You’re in love with a werewolf how did that happen. “Long story, but basically we met on accident and he wouldn’t let me leave because I knew too much, well not just that I’d kind of inadvertently been involved in one of my dad’s get rich schemes where he was going to skin a werewolf and sell the pelt.”

“Shit, I bet the werewolves weren’t very happy.”

Lexi shook her head, “Definitely not, especially since Gabe’s little sister was killed by one of those pent hunters.”

“Oh that’s awful.”

“Yeah so that was the main reason that he wouldn’t let me leave. Because I’d been helping my dad even though I didn’t know what he was planning, I thought we were just going hunting together like old times.”

I rubbed Lexi’s shoulder. After he mom died of breast cancer her dad went wacky. He stopped being for her and started drinking a lot. I could see why she’d jump at the opportunity to spend time with him again, hunting was their thing back before her mom died. “So basically we were both kidnapped and didn’t tell each other about it. We suck.”

“I know right?”

“So how did you fall for him?”

“I guess when I realized he wasn’t as scary as I thought he was and not nearly as mean.” Lexi twisted her mouth in thought. “Wait that’s not right. He is scary, but only when he’s protecting his family and he’s also really sweet and very gentle.”

“Well good, you deserve a good guy, finally.”

“It’s so weird, I’ve never had a relationship that lasted this long and I really really love him Star, like more than I ever thought was possible.”

“So what’s the problem? Is it that he’s a werewolf, I heard they don’t age past adulthood or if you get turned you get younger, like to the point right when your body has finished growing.”

“Yeah that’s all true,” Lexi bit her lip, “But I’d go through it for him, if he asked me to marry him.”

“You’d change,” I swallowed the giant lump that had suddenly formed in my throat, “into a werewolf. Lex that’s huge. Does he know that?”

“No and I think that’s why he hasn’t asked me to marry him because no one here has mates who aren’t werewolves, and I think he’s afraid to ask me if I would.”

“So why don’t you just tell him that you would.”

“I keep trying but every time I’m about to I freeze up and think what if he doesn’t want to marry me at all, what if this is just temporary. Werewolves mate for life Star, so if maybe he hasn’t asked me because he isn’t sure if he wasn’t to be with me forever.”

“Or maybe he just doesn’t want to make you feel like you have to change for him and he thinks you would feel like that if he asked you.”

“Ah!” Lexi shook her head. “It’s driving me crazy!” She sighed. “But it helps that you’re here.”

“It helps me too. I’m glad I came. I still can’t believe we’re such good liars.”

“We didn’t exactly lie which just chose not disclose certain pertinent information.”

“Says the liar.”

Lexi laughed, “Whatever, so are you sure you don’t have a thing for this West guy and maybe that’s what’s getting you so frustrated.”

I knocked my head against the couch cushion repeatedly, “No, I’m not sure.” I sighed. “I think I kind of do have a thing for him, but he’s so hung on hating himself I doubt he even has time to notice me. And besides what we he notice? I suck at everything he tries to teach me.”

“He hates himself?”

“Yeah he’s all Edward Cullen and I refuse to be his Bella.”

“Wait I’m confused, does that mean you wouldn’t turn into a vampire for him?”

“Well that too, but I meant I’m not going to get all crazy obsessed and gloss over all of his obvious flaws.”

“Oh, also good. So he doesn’t like being a vampire?”

“Basically, I think he’s spent so much time hating them that when he got turned into one on accident he wasn’t really able to deal with it without hating himself. Like I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s a monster.”

“How did he get turned?”

“It was an accident, I guess a little vampire blood equals good and a lot turns you into one of them.”

Lexi made a face, “Um did he say how much?”

“No he was pretty vague.”

Lexi shook her head. “How useful”

We continued catching up for a few more hours and then Lexi took me on a tour of the small town. There were less than fifty houses in the whole town, but they had two stores, one for clothes and one for groceries. And thanks to Lexi they also had a coffee shop, Wolf It Down. Lexi was pretty proud of the name as she had come up with it all on her own. Most of the werewolves worked as iron workers and made a lot of money at it, some were construction works, but nearly all of them worked with their hands and used their ability to lift heavy objects easier than regular people to their advantage.

_________

 “Okay I’m ready,” I walked out of the bathroom and into the living room where Lexi and Gabe had been busy making out. “But maybe I should take a little more time.”

Lexi and Gabe pulled away from each other and Lexi giggled, “No we’re ready, let’s go.” They both stood up and Lexi grabbed me arm so that she was in between Gabe and I.

“So what kind of a party is this?”

“It’s the annual Wolf Moon Party.” Gabriel answered.

“Oh. I wish you’d told me Lex, it seems like kind of a werewolf thing.”

“It’s really not,” Gabriel spoke up again “We don’t wolf out and howl at the moon, it’s just an excuse to have a big party in the town square and get drunk.”

“Oh well in that case I’m down; I could definitely use a drink.”

Lexi stopped our little troupe from moving forward before we stepped over the doorstep. “Wait did I remember to give you the key to the empty cabin.”

“Yup, I patted the back pocket of the jean skirt I was wearing.”

“And I see you brought your dagger.” Gabriel commented on the sheath that I’d attached to the belt buckle of the skirt.

“She can’t exactly leave without it and it’s safer in there then in her hand.”

“Got it.” Gabriel bent down and gave Lexi a kiss on the cheek. I was surprised at how easily he trusted he explanation. He must really love her.

We didn’t need to drive to the center of town; it was only a short walk away. As we approached the party I could see that the fire pit had been lit and some people were roasting marshmallows and hot dogs on the fire. There were punch bowls on tables and coolers of all shapes and sizes filled with alcohol and pop.

“Our table is the best.” Lexi exclaimed as she dragged us over to “her” table. “I made Gabriel go out and get all out favorites. Vanilla vodka, Pepsi…”

“Oo Jack Daniels,” I interrupted. “Yup, just like high school.”

“High school?” Gabriel raised an eyebrow at Lexi and I and we giggled.

“Yeah we weren’t exactly model students, but I’m sure you weren’t expecting that.”

“With you I expect nothing.” Gabriel commented dryly.

I grabbed a plastic cup from a stack of them and mixed the vanilla vodka and Pepsi. “Mm”  I took a drink. “Perfect. Are you ready to lose?” I asked Lexi.

“Uh-uh bitch you’re going down this time.” Lexi shot back as she mixed herself a red headed slut.

“Am I missing something?” Gabriel asked as he pulled a beer from the cooler.

“We have a game we play when we drink,” Lexi started to explain.

“It’s more like a race,” I said as I took another sip out of my cup.

“A race?” Gabriel questioned as he popped the top off the beer without using a bottle opener.

“Basically we both try to drink more than the other person, until we get kind of drunk and then we ride the buzz.”

“And you played this game in high school?” Gabriel asked, his tone clearly filled with disapproval.

“No, no no, we didn’t start playing this until we were old enough to start going to bars.” I explained. “We weren’t that bad in high school.”

Lexi raised her eyebrows, but didn’t say anything.

Somewhere music was turned on, I looked around for it. “That’s JD. He’s our local DJ.”

“JD the DJ,” I laughed “I guess it works.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel laughed with me, “we all tease him that he was born for it. But now he’s made it his trademark. He even DJs in Seattle, makes pretty good money at it.”

“Fancy, meeting you here,” I heard West’s voice from behind me and I choked on my drink. Lexi had to slap my back repeatedly before I could breathe normal again.

The fire cast shadows on his face, making him look more dangerous than usually, though I knew that at his core we was very dangerous, he just kept it very well hidden behind a polite mask.

“Jonathan!” Gabriel exclaimed and reached forward to grab West’s hand and slap him on the back. “It’s good to see you.”

I looked from West to Gabriel in confusion, “Wait a minute, you two know each other?”

“Of course,” West answered, “You didn’t think I followed you here did you?”

I narrowed my eyes at him though I doubted he could tell in the darkness. “And why am I out of the loop?” Lexi asked, expecting an answer.

“Um, remember how I said I work for those people who do that stuff?” Wow, could I be any vague? But I didn’t want anyone who wasn’t supposed to know to overhear and know what we were talking about. “Well Jonathan Westenra or as everyone at work calls him, West, and works with me.”

“Oh he’s that guy,” Lexi smiled and looked him over. “Definitely cuter than you led on.”

I rolled my eyes and looked over to see what Gabriel thought of his girlfriend checking out his friend. He either wasn’t paying any attention or wasn’t worried because he looked just as calm as ever.

“You and Jonathan work together?” Gabriel asked me.

“Yeah, if you can call it that, I haven’t really done anything of use yet.”

“That’s not true; she killed a rogue vamp on her first night.” West supplied proving that it didn’t matter who heard what we did for a living. Gabriel’s eyes grew wide as if he’s underestimated me.

I shook my head, “He’s exaggerating, and it was more the dagger than me.”

“So I’m guessing there’s something special about that it that Lexi will fill me in on later,” Gabriel caught Lexi’s gaze and smiled knowingly at her.

“Bet on it,” she smiled back.

“And how did you become find your way to wolf town?” West asked me.

“I invited her,” Lexi answered for me and held out her hand to be introduced. “Lexi Hart, and Star’s best friend.”

“Ah, I guess that explains why it was so easy for Starrla to come to grips with the whole supernatural thing what with her best friend living with a werewolf pack.” Gabriel commented as caught a beer Gabriel threw to him.

“Actually Star didn’t know about the whole werewolf thing until tonight. And I’m technically not living with the pack, just the Alpha.”

Lexi hadn’t mentioned Gabriel was the Alpha, but maybe that explained why he was taking his time in asking her to marry him, as the Alpha I guessed that any mate he chose would affect the entire pack.

“Touché,” said West.

I took a sip from my cup and watched him. I still didn’t believe that he’d driven all the way to Bourgault just to visit an old friend. It was all a little too coincidental.

“You picked a good day to visit.” Gabriel commented. “It’s the Wolf Moon Party.”

“So I can see.” West answered.

“You’re losing,” Lexi commented before drinking the entire contents of her cup in one swing.

“Hey no fair!” I downed my drink just as quickly. Earning myself a surprised look from West. Good, let him be surprised. He’s never seen me let loose. Not that I do it all that often.

“I feel like shots, what about you?” Lexi asked as she began pouring some expensive tequila into four shot glances.

I turned my back on the boys and grabbed a shot glass. “What do you have to chase them with?”

“It looks like just Pepsi…” she scanned the table “Wait I have lime and salt.” Lexi said as she leaned over the table and pulled a bowl of limes and a salt shaker from the opposite side of the table.

“Sounds good enough to me.” I licked the spot between my thumb and index finger, shook some salt on the spot, and grabbed the lime wedge in the same have that had the salt on it. “Ready?” I picked up my shot.

“Set go!” Lexi exclaimed and we both downed the first and second shots of tequila and then chased them down with the salt and lime wedge.

“Whew,” I shook my head in a futile attempt to clear the string of tingles running from ear to ear, “it’s safe to say I’m still a light weight.”

Lexi laughed, “You’re such an easy date.” C’mon, she grabbed my arm, “Let’s dance.” She pulled me away from the table where Gabriel and West still stood and over to the fire where everyone was dancing to a popular Carrie Underwood song.

Lexi and began dancing together just like old time. I dropped down to the ground and swayed my way back up. My head was full of tingles but the good kind – I hadn’t over done it. We kept dancing song after song only stopping briefly when I made us both trip and fall to the ground laughing. After a while we made it back to Lexi and Gabriel’s table where Gabriel and West looked to be standing in exactly the same spots where we left them.

“Come dance with me baby.” Lexi hooked her arms around Gabriel’s neck and pulled him back to the fire.

Not wanting to be a third wheel I stayed at the table and fixed myself another Pepsi and Vodka. The tingles had dissipated and I was almost sober again.

“You sure looked graceful out there,” West pointed to the fire with his beer. I had a feeling it was the same exact beer he’d been drinking when I’d left.

“Mm” I said over my drink. “Yes I was definitely graceful when I almost landed us both in the fire.”

“That was more the alcohol’s fault then your legs.” He countered.

I shrugged, “You’re free to believe what you want, just answer me one thing. Why did you follow me here?” Maybe I wasn’t as sober as I thought I was – my lips aren’t usually so loose.

“Follow you?” He feigned innocence but not very well.

“Yes, you followed me. I wanna know why?” I took a long swig from my cup and walked over close enough to West that I could look into his eyes and see if he was bullshitting me.

He shrugged and emptied the last of his beer down his throat, “I guess I was curious.”

“I told you I was going home, what was there to be curious about?” I watched his face carefully.

He scratched his beard for a moment before answering, “Well we having a tracking device installed in your car so…”

“You what!” I interrupted. “You guys have been tracking me?”

“No, it’s only there in case you get kidnapped or something.” He tried to explain.

“And that ‘something’ is you feeling curious.”

“Well I saw you leave the parking lot and head straight for the interstate when you ran off today so I doubted you were going home.” West explained – further infuriating me.

I took another swig of my drink and stood on my tip toes in attempt to be at eyelevel with him. It didn’t work, I only reached his neck. “So you stalked me.”

He rubbed the back of his neck looking uncomfortable at being caught. “I guess it could look like that. But I saw an angry woman with a magic dagger heading straight towards a pack of wolves.”

“Wolves you are friends with.” I countered.

“Yes, wolves, I am friends with, I had no idea your friend was living with the Alpha and that you’d have a reason of your own for visiting them. We still don’t know what exactly this dagger does. For we know it could be influencing you right now for its own agenda. I mean it did show up at just the right time to save your life.”

He had a point but I was too busy enjoying arguing with him, “So you followed me because you were worried about me?”

“Yes,” he answered as if he would say yes to anything that would make him look less like a stalker and more like one of the good guys.

I took another drink, “Do you track down all your agents when you’re worried about them?”

He began rubbing the back of his neck again, “Well no, but as I said you situation is different.”

“Mm,” I agreed, “So what’s your plan?”

“I’m spending the night here, what’s your plan? To stand here looking stoic for the rest of the night and then drive yourself back to Seattle just in time to be early for work?”

“No my plan was to drive both of us back to Seattle just in time to be early for work.”

I shook my head, “No dice, I’ve made friendly with the werewolves, and I have my magic dagger, you’re not kidnapping me again.”

Something dark flashed in his eyes – instead of scaring me it made me want to keep pushing him so I could see it again. “You don’t think I could?”

“No, they aren’t going to let you take me anywhere. Have you forgotten, my best friend is the Alpha’s girlfriend?”

“I hate to ruin your whole sense of security, but that me and that Alpha you think you’re so chummy with happened to have grown up together so yes, I think he’ll let me kidnap you.”

I pouted, “Your no fun.”

He laughed, “And you might be a just a little too much fun at the moment.”

I shook my head, “Not even. Wanna do shots?”

He shook his head at me, “See what I mean?”

I rolled my eyes, “C’mon you can’t be a stereotype forever, live a little.”

He leaned in close enough that I could smell the faint hint of beer on his breath and see that his blue eyes had begun to glow, “And what makes you think I haven’t?”

I swallowed and gathered my courage. I could do this. But before I could kiss him, he leaned in an inch closer and caught my lips in his as he pulled me hard against his chest. He was solid and warm, but I’d already learned that vampires weren’t pale cold creatures – they just lacked a heartbeat and didn’t need to breathe except to talk and possibly kiss. I melted into the kiss savoring the feeling of his lips branded against mine and his beard scraping against my chin. Then he pulled away. I felt cold and abandoned all at once.

“We shouldn’t be doing this, especially not with you in your current condition.”

“Well maybe you should have a drink? And a real drink this time, not another beer.” I suggested.

He shook his and licked his lips. “I wish I could.”

“And why can’t you? What’s so wrong with having a drink and kissing me again?”

“One, you’re not uh,” I watched as he struggled with how to politely say that he thought I was drunk, “in your right, um…”

“I’m not drunk.” I interrupted.

He gave me a patronizing look, “That’s what all drunk people say.”

“I thought that was what all crazy people say?”

“Crazy, drunk – there’s not a big distinction between them.” He offered.

Hmm, well since he wasn’t going to kiss me again and clearly thought I was too inebriated to make my own decisions there wasn’t anything more we had to say to each other. If he wanted to stay here be boring that was up to him but I was going to have fun, I deserved it. I finished off the contents of my cup quickly and then set it down on the table.

“What are you doing?” He looked like he was worried I was going to do something crazy.

“I’m going to dance, I like this song.” I replied as I turned my head and made my way over to the fire were Lexi was grinding up against her boyfriend.

When I got to the fire I noticed nearly everyone who was dancing had someone to dance with and I felt kind of foolish for walking all the way out there. “What don’t tell me you’re rethinking your brilliant plan to make me jealous by dancing out here all by yourself?”

I whirled around to face West – I hadn’t expected him to follow me, “Actually yes,” I sulked, “I love dancing, but it’s more fun with Lexi and she’s busy, so…” I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do. I didn’t feel like heading to bed, and I didn’t feel like dancing by myself.

“So?” He placed to hands on my hips and pulled me against his hips.

I raised my eyebrows and looked up at him in shock, “You want to dance? With me?”

“What? Don’t think I can keep up?”

I took a deep breath to try to get over my nerves over having him as a dance partner. I’m not used to dancing with guys – usually if I’m dancing it’s just dance with Lexi. I let my hips catch the beat of the music and sway against his hands which were still holding on to my hips and then slowly turned around so that my back was pressed against his chest. It was easier to dance when I wasn’t being distracted by his eyes watching me. Letting my body sway to the music I started to loosen up and I dropped down to the floor slowly. I pressed my butt against him provocatively as I pulled myself back up and then leaned backwards – molding my body to his as his hands moved my hips in rhythm with his.

I could feel his warm breath against my neck and out of nowhere I suddenly felt bold. Turning around, I faced him, our hips stayed locked together. His blue eyes had begun to glow, but he didn’t look angry. “Do you have any idea how hot you are?” I asked as I looked up at him.

I watched as his lips quirked upward and he began to smile, “You should be scared of me, not hitting on me.”

I blushed, I wasn’t used to making the first move, or any move at all. I didn’t let guys touch me and I until him I hadn’t been interested in touching guys, but here I was practically molded to him telling him how hot he was. Maybe he was right; maybe the dagger did have some sort of effect on me. Instead of feeling embarrassed, I dropped down to the floor again and pulled myself slowly back up, not letting go of his gaze the entire time. “And what do I have to be afraid of?” Oh there was a lot to be afraid of, fears he had no idea I even had, but tonight they weren’t holding me back.

His expression had become serious, “You know what I am, what I’m capable of. That should be enough.”

And at that moment I realized that the reason I wasn’t afraid of him, the reason I felt so brave around him was because we were the same. He was afraid of who he was, afraid that he was really a monster just waiting to be let loose and I was afraid that because of a real monster I had become less than a person, that I’d never be able to have a normal life with a normal boyfriend. Hell I’d never even had a boyfriend that lasted longer than the first time they tried to feel me up yet here I was letting him touch me and here he was letting me get close to him even though he was afraid he might hurt me. We had both been letting our fear dominate us.

I stood up on my tippy toes and leaned into his lips, watching as he took in breath, “What are you?” I asked right before my lips found his. His hand went behind my neck and pulled my lips closer as if he couldn’t get enough of the kiss. Then, I felt them slide down my back and lift my butt up and I wrapped my legs around hips as he held me. Since his hands were busy holding me up I sunk my hands into the short hair behind his ears and pulled him closer – opening my mouth and letting his tongue play with mine.

Our kiss turned softer as he started to pull away and dropped a short kiss against my lips before pullin his head up. “Where are you staying?”

I was out of breath and my held felt all spinny, “I, um, I’m staying…” I looked around trying to figure out which direction my cabin was headed. “well everything looks the same.”

He laughed against my shoulder, kissing the bare skin. His lips felt cool against my passion warmed skin. “We could always go back to my place.”

It was my turn to laugh, “Yeah, I’m not falling for that one. I told you I’m taking a break.” An awful thought occurred to me, “This wasn’t all part of some elaborate plot to try and seduce me into going back to work tomorrow.”

He kissed my shoulder gently and then lifted his head to meet my eyes. They were still bright and glowing. He shook his head no, “I’m not sure what my plan was except to make sure I hadn’t pissed you off bad enough that you wouldn’t come back.”

“Mm,” I considered his answer any my chest relaxed. If this was going to have any chance at all of working out I was going to have to trust him. “So then why did you kiss me?” I asked, honestly curious why he had started this. Yes I’d been attracted to him but I wouldn’t have acted on it – well maybe I would have – I had been feeling extraordinarily brave tonight.

He removed one hand from where it had been holding me up. I guess he was strong enough he only needed one hand to lift me. His hand came up and tucked a stray hair behind my ear, grazing my cheek and leaving a trail of burning flesh in its wake. I sucked in a breath, having been unprepared for the effect his touch had on me. “I kissed you,” his hand went behind my neck, pulling my lips within an inch of his own, “because I couldn’t not kiss you any longer.” I closed my eyes s he pulled me into a kiss. “So about that cabin?”

I laughed against his mouth, “What do you think is going to happen in this cabin because we haven’t even been on a date and you’ve already gotten farther than any boyfriend I’ve ever had.” I froze unable to meet his eyes and staring intently at the shadows on his beard – I hadn’t meant to reveal that. I didn’t need him using kid gloves with me so he wouldn’t hurt me.

I felt his hand underneath me chin lifting it upwards so that I could meet his gaze again and he could see what I was thinking. I didn’t budge. I wasn’t ready to see what was in his eyes anymore than I was ready for him to see the pain that had just entered my own eyes. “Starrla,” he whispered as he leaned his head down so that we were eyelevel. His eyes weren’t glowing any more. Did that mean he wasn’t turned on anymore? I wasn’t sure, but the change hurt and brought with it old feelings of inadequacy.

I shook my head as I felt tears beginning to well in my eyes, “This was a bad idea.”

“Do you want me to drive you home?”

I shook my head again, my chest feeling heavy with pain. “No I want to find the cabin, my stuff is there.” The last thing I felt like doing was spending the night in a strange cabin by myself instead of sleeping in my own comfortable bed, but I didn’t want to sit through an entire hour of him trying to figure out what was wrong with me that I was twenty-three and had never made out with a boy. What I wanted was to find Lexi and make her sleep with me tonight like old times, she’d know how to deal with my sadness without making me feel like there was something wrong with me, which there obviously was, I was under no delusions that I was a normal girl.

“Okay,” he put me down. “I’ll help you.”

“You don’t have to,” I argued.

“Yes I do.” He said firmly. I sighed as we walked away from the fire. for once I didn’t feel like arguing with him.

“So which way.” He asked as we had gotten far enough away from the fire that I could see houses again.

“Um…” I pressed my lips together in thought. The cabin had been only a few houses away from Lexi’s so it had to be back in the same direction we came…which I was pretty sure was a ways down the dirt road we were on. “Now that my head isn’t all fuzzy I think we just keep going straight.”

“Perfect,” he held out his hand for me too hold. I looked at it for a moment, not quite sure what to do. Did this mean he was still interested, or just being his polite self? “What? I promise I won’t bite.”

Coming from him that was actually funny, considering we both knew very well that he could in fact bite me. Relaxed by his joke, I took his hand and I felt better, warmer, and safer all at the same time.

We walked in silence until I stopped in front of the small log cabin I was staying in for the night. “This is it.”  I told him, our hands still attached.

“So,” he rubbed my knuckle with his finger making tiny tingles rise up from my belly. “Do I get to kiss you goodnight? I chewed my cheek in deliberation and then nodded slowly. Still holding onto my hand he took a step forward. I closed my eyes and leaned against the cabin door. I felt his lips graze my cheek and he trailed gently kisses down my jaw until he reached my lips. It was like nothing had happened to ruin it earlier. I felt courage rise up inside of me as I lifted the hand he wasn’t holding to his neck to pull him closer to my lips – because I couldn’t seem to get close enough. His tongue parted my lips and bit his lip gently. Remembering where we were I gave him a small kiss on the lips and lifted my head.

“Do you want to come in?” It was then that I saw his eyes were blazing bright blue again.

He nodded, “If you want me to.”

“I do…”

I chewed on my bottom lip and he brushed it with his index finger, “It drives me crazy when you do that.”

I blushed, “It’s just that, I don’t what you to think that it means that I want to have sex, because that’s not going to happen.”

He didn’t seem surprised instead he just nodded once, “Got it.”

I studied him skeptically, “You don’t mind? Or do you think I’ll change my mind?”

I he laughed softly, “Neither, I don’t know you well enough to just have sex with you.”

“Oh,” now I felt embarrassed for insinuating that he would want to have sex with me.

As if he realized what I was thinking he smiled, “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just not something I give in to.” I guess that made sense, I was just used to all Lexi’s stories where the guys were always trying to see how far they could get. “You have a key right?” He gestured toward the door.

“Oh,” I shook my head to wake myself up, “right.” I retrieved the key from back pocket.

“I thought I felt something in there.” He teased and I rolled my eyes.

Unlocking the door I opened it and walked in, “Now if I were I light switch where would I be?”

“Right here,” West answered from behind me as he flicked on the light.

I smiled, “Welcome to my humble abode.” It was smaller than my apartment and it set up like a studio apartment with the living room and kitchen right next to each other and the bedroom up stairs over the small balcony.

“Actually I’ve stayed here before.” West commented as he walked in further and sat down on the couch.

“Good,” I beamed, “then you’ll be able to tell me where everything is.”

“Well,” he patted the couch with a silly expression on his face, “This is the couch.”

“Yes,” I laughed as I walked over to the tattered green sofa and that down next to him, “I can see that. So,” I asked, “what do we do now?”

“Now,” he looked up as if he was thinking hard about how to answer, “Now we play the question game.”

I stared at him incredulously. Was he serious because that was definitely not the answer I was expecting?

“You do know how to play right.” I shook my head no. I didn’t have a lot of experience with normal date type stuff. “It’s easy, we both ask each other questions and we either answer or say pass if it’s too personal. I’ll start.” My chest tightened as I wondered if he’d ask why I had such little experience with guys. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

Now there was a tricky question, technically I could say no and be done with it, but I wanted to be honest. If there was one thing I knew, for a relationship to work you needed honesty. “I do but I don’t.” He frowned, obviously confused. “I was a foster kid so I had brothers and sisters and parents.”

He nodded, “I get it. So do you still see any of them?”

I shook my head and sighed. Their names had been changed, like mine after the whole incident and they’d been placed in new homes so I hadn’t seen then since I was thirteen. “No we got split up right before I got put in a new foster home in federal way.”

“Did you have any brothers or sisters there?”

“Yeah, one a sister, named Amy, but I didn’t really get to know her, I spent basically every night at Lexi’s house once we became friends and my foster parents didn’t mind as long as they got to keep their check.”

“Is it my turn now?” I asked.

“Go for it.”

“Well I already know you have a sister, since I’ve met her, but how did both of you get involved in this whole paranormal vampire stuff. I mean was there an add out in the paper one day and you’re like hey this looks like the job for me, I could kill vampires.”

He laughed, “Um no, nothing like that. Actually it’s a family business. Mine, Gabe’s and Dylan’s great grandparents started the business in the 1900s after they found out about vampires and werewolves, well actually Gabe’s family is from a long line a werewolves, his great grandfather Abraham van Helsing was a scientist trying to find a cure for what he thought was a disease.”

“What about your great grandparents?”

“Mine was a woman who was attacked by a vampire and saved by Gabe’s great grandfather in his wolf form.”

“So they all just decided, hey let’s start a business?” I guess I could understand that, I mean I’d been willing to believe all this craziness after my encounter with a vampire.

“Something like that. Is it my turn now?” I nodded. “So you’ve never made out with a guy, but you’ve kissed?”

I felt my face flush read with heat – I knew it would come to this. I took a deep breath before answering, “Basically, yeah. I’ve kissed but always stopped it from going too far.” I felt his eyes studying me for clues as to why. “No it wasn’t because I didn’t think it was right to make out, although I am a Christian.”

“Well that takes care of my follow up question on whether it was because of religious beliefs. And so am I, a Christian that is.” I laughed and shook my head. “What? He asked sounding confused over what was so funny.

“It’s just, it sounds strange doesn’t it, a Christian vampire. You’re supposed to shun God and fear crosses and holy water.”

“Thankfully those are just myths, I assure you I do not burst into flames when I go to church on Sundays.”

“You go to church?”

“Yup, every Sunday or else my mom will have my hide.”

I smiled, “That’s nice – I like that. I go to church too, but not every Sunday.”

 West shook his head and tsked me, “We’ll have to fix that.” I laughed; glad the conversation had turned light. “So was it their breathe,” he brought us back to the question about kissing, “high school boys always have bad breath.”

I choked, “Um and how would you know what high school boy’s breath smells like?”

“I have a younger sister,” her reminded me.

“Oh, well,” I sighed. “No it wasn’t their breath, although my first kiss did taste like dog poop.”

“I knew it,” he muttered under his breath, but I ignored him, wanting to get this part over with so he could decide if he wanted to still pursue this relationship.