Craved (7 page)

I walked over to where they stood,
with Aura’s bag on my shoulder. Upon approaching, I noticed that
the woman was older than Amy Harper. She looked to be in her later
twenties or early thirties. She had short blonde hair and was just
as pale as Amy had been. She was wearing jeans and a green sweater
that was ripped in various places.

“Hey Gwen, thanks for coming,” Wyatt
said. I gave him a sad smile, not really in the mood for
pleasantries. It had only been a of couple days since Amy Harper’s
body was found and now another woman lay before us, having met the
same fate. I had to wonder when and if this was going to
stop.

“Who found her?” I mumbled.

“Jasper Binx. He was running through
the park and smelled her,” Micah said. Jasper Binx was part of the
Flora werewolves and could have easily smelled the woman’s body in
wolf form.

I nodded my head. “Do we know who she
is?”

“Not yet,” Wyatt answered, “Would you
like to try and read her memories?”

I nodded and set Aura’s carrier on the
dewy grass. I kissed the top of her head and knelt in front of the
mystery woman. Her body looked like it had just been tossed,
leaving her legs splayed, and one of her arms lay above her head
while the other arm lay limply at her side. Anger bubbled within me
like a volcano ready to erupt, but I quashed it. I needed to focus
to find out what happened.

I placed my palms against her temples
and blanked out my mind. I concentrated on the steady hum of energy
that flowed from Aura and channeled it into the woman’s mind,
acting as the conduit.

Bright flashes danced within my view
forcing me to squint my eyes. The darkness of the park gave way to
a scene of a sunset-soaked park. Purple and orange smeared the sky
and the woman pulled out a digital SLR camera to snap a picture of
the beautiful landscape.

A twig snapped in the near distance
and she turned her head to investigate. There was a couple walking
on the blacktop trail and a man playing fetch with his dog, but no
one was her. She turned her attention back to the beauty before her
and snapped a few more pictures before putting the camera back into
its bag. I noticed the name, Bridget Downing, was written on the
inside flap of her bag.

The park disappeared and a flash of
scenes rapidly played in my mind. I couldn’t get a handle on any
one thing but her fear overtook my senses and made me fall back on
my butt, causing the connection to wane. I was breathing hard, to
the point of hyperventilating. Wyatt knelt where I sat on the wet
grass and offered me a bottled water. My breathing slowly regained
normalcy, but my hands were shaking slightly.

“Are you alright?” Wyatt asked with
concern. I took a drink from the bottle and a couple of deep
breaths before I could answer. Looking into the woman’s memories
had affected me a lot more than Amy Harper’s had.

“Yeah, I’m fine. This woman hasn’t
been dead long, her memories were strong,” I said with heavy
breathing.

“Did you get a name or location?”
Micah asked.

“I saw the name Bridget Downing on her
camera bag but I’m not entirely sure if that was her name. She was
in a park at first, but then it changed, and all I saw were
incoherent memory flashes.”

Wyatt thought for a minute and then
said, “You said she hasn’t been dead long?”

I nodded my head with complete
certainty.

“I think we should change and try to
catch a scent. The murderer’s scent will still be strong enough and
if we’re lucky, they could still be around somewhere,” Wyatt said
to Micah. Micah nodded and began to take off his clothes, with
Wyatt mimicking his actions. The change from human to werewolf
always played hell on their clothes so they stripped to avoid
having to replace the damaged ones.

I regained my footing and picked up
Aura’s pet carrier. I petted her head and told her she was a good
girl. She rewarded me with a head nudge and loud
purring.

Micah and Wyatt were already stripped
down to their boxers and I averted my gaze from their exposed skin.
I didn’t want Micah getting the wrong idea, should I enjoy the view
too long. Both of their bodies were impressive. Broad shoulders
that tapered to a thin muscled stomach and strong muscular
legs.

“Am I done here?” I asked.

“Yeah, we’ll be awhile so you can head
home. You okay to drive?” Wyatt asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, waving off
his concerns.

“Okay, thank you, Gwen. We’ll see you
tomorrow.”

I said my goodbyes and headed for my
Jeep. Once I got in the driver’s seat, Wyatt and Micah were already
transformed into wolves. Wyatt, in wolf form, was a rich brown
color with red hints to his fur, while Micah’s wolf form was a
caramel color with white decorating the tip of his tail. Seeing his
wolf brought sad memories back to me that I quickly kicked to the
curb, before starting my Jeep.

************

Once back home, I hopped in the shower
to ease the tension of my vision. I had only experienced it that
strongly one other time, and I wasn’t looking forward to it
again.

The images of her memories occupied my
mind while the hot water pounded against my back. I tried to
remember more details but they happened too quickly. Whoever had
killed her hadn’t wasted anytime, which wasn’t good; it meant they
needed more of their supply.

Wyatt had said that brew was
addictive. If that was the case, then this dealer had a strong
following already. Nausea set in my stomach at the thought of their
supply being the very blood that ran through my veins. I hadn’t
ever been bitten by a vampire and now I was dating one. My fear
made me question whether I should break all ties with Aiden, but
that was my anxiety running wild with my thoughts. Supposedly brew
only affected young vampires and Aiden, at 315 years old, posed no
threat to my blood or me and made the thought vanish from my
cluttered mind.

I sauntered out to the kitchen in my
bright blue robe and almost got hit upside the head with a Pepsi
can. Fiona cringed at the near miss. I blew out a breath and shook
my head, opening the fridge to get my own Pepsi.

“Sorry,” she said. I waved off her
apologies and sat at the table with her. She was flipping through a
bride catalog and I arched my eyebrows with worry.

“Don’t tell me Liam popped the
question already? Just because your father says you should be
married doesn’t mean you automatically have to. At least date the
guy for six months before you say yes,” I said, worried my best
friend was making a monumental mistake.

“Will you relax? I’m looking for a
dress for the Founder’s Gala, geez, Gwen,” she said. I silently
thanked God and sent her an embarrassed smile, “Sorry. I know
you’re smarter than that.”

“Damn right,” she said with a head
nod, “So, you’re working with the FBD again?”

“Yeah,” I said simply.

“How are you doing with seeing Micah
again?”

Fiona knew how upset I was when Micah
dumped me and, like a true best friend, she helped me drown my
sorrows with large amounts of alcohol. Never mind the hangover from
hell the next morning, her intentions had been good.

“I’m fine. He actually apologized
earlier today. I didn’t realize how much resentment I held against
him, but after the apology it was like a weight had been lifted,” I
said.

Fiona smiled. “So since Micah said he
was sorry for breaking your heart, you opened yourself up to Aiden,
literally?”

My jaw dropped and Fiona laughed
harder. I had always been attracted to Aiden but stayed a safe
distance from him. The closure Micah had given me had lowered my
protective shields a little bit.

“The furthest I’ve gone with Aiden is
what you saw tonight, thank you very much!” I said, defending
myself.

“Yeah,yeah, so does he kiss as good as
he looks?” she wiggled her eyebrows and I snorted at her lack of
boundaries.

“Better,” I said, smiling in
remembrance, “Anyway, how the heck are you going to get a dress out
of a catalog by Saturday?”

Realizing that I wouldn’t elaborate
any further on Aiden’s talents, she held the catalog up to show me
a long pastel green gown with a deep v-neck.

“I just need a picture of the gown I
want so Andy can make it. It only takes him a day and he already
knows my measurements from all the clothes I buy from him. What do
you think?”

Andy was a wiz when it came to
creating something from nothing. Like most fairies, he had creative
genius.

“It’s beautiful and you’ll look
amazing in it,” I smiled at her. Aura jumped on my lap and I ran my
hands through her thick, long fur. Petting her comforted me and
after the day I had, I needed all the comfort I could
get.

I realized Fiona was asking me
something but it sounded muffled and drowned out by white noise.
The scenery of the kitchen slowly began to be sucked inward with
darkness following it. My heartbeat thumped against my ribcage like
a captive animal fighting to escape. My fingers clenched Aura’s fur
as if she were my anchor to reality but my kitchen kept
disappearing until all that was left was darkness.

A gray figure sluggishly stepped
forward, standing out like a spotlight against the blackness. Its
head was hung and its hand outstretched, as if inviting me to touch
it, but my dread had frozen me in the chair I remained seated in.
Strobe-like flashes disoriented me, changing the blackened abyss
into an abandoned house. Tattered curtains blew against the
yellowing walls and the smell was redolent of mold. Stacks of old
magazines and newspapers occupied various spots.

I caught movement out of my peripheral
vision, and looked in the direction of the staircase. The gray
figure was standing on the stairs, looking at me. When I didn’t
move toward it, it continued up the steps, as if floating. I
swallowed the lump of dread that had lodged itself in my throat and
cautiously followed. The stairs groaned with each step I took,
threatening to collapse under my weight. When I came to the second
floor landing, the figure wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Unrelenting,
I made my way down the hallway. The wallpaper was peeling in
various places and a thick layer of dust blanketed
everything.

There were three bedrooms and a
bathroom on this floor. I pushed the doors open to make sure no one
was waiting at the ready to attack me, but only eerie silence
greeted me. The last bedroom I went into was decorated in feminine
tones; white wallpaper with small rosettes encased the walls, and a
twin-sized canopy bed that jutted out from the far wall. I moved
closer to the dresser and picked up a picture of a woman. She
looked to be in her teens but I didn’t recognize her.

Something passed quickly by the door,
making me swing around. I caught a glimpse of shadow so I hurried
to the door and just as I peeked my head out, the figure
disappeared into the second bedroom. I took a deep breath and slow
steps, making my way to where the apparition had gone. It was
standing in the corner, facing the wall. It looked to be
five-foot-four but any other distinctive features were washed out
in a cloud of dark gray.

“Hello?” I said in a small voice, but
only silence responded.

“Who are you?” I tried again. It
slowly looked over its shoulder at me and I had to tell myself that
my heart couldn’t literally bust through my ribcage, although it
was trying its damnedest. Whatever the thing was, it scared the
hell out of me.

Before I could blink, it was standing
a couple feet in front of me, with its hand outstretched like
before. Deciding I should go along with whatever this thing wanted
if I wanted answers, I reached out to touch it. Ice cold prickles
erupted all through my body once I made contact, causing my hair to
stand on end.

“Please don’t hurt me.”

The voice was in my head
but I knew it had come from the ghostly outline that was currently
grasping my hand. Panic and sadness washed through me, eroding any
rational thoughts I had. My mind ran amok with paranoia that I
couldn’t understand.
Someone has been
watching me…they’re going to kill me…

Although the thoughts ran wild in my
head, I didn’t understand why I was thinking them. The figure let
go of my hand and stood stock still in front of me, waiting for me
to understand.

“Gwen,”
a familiar female voice said. It sounded like someone was
speaking down at me, so I looked up at the cracked ceiling, but
nothing and no one was there.

I brought my attention back to the
shadow, but it was starting to waver in and out of solidity. “I
don’t understand,” I told it, afraid it’d disappear
again.

“Gwen
,” another voice said, only this time it was a male voice. I
looked around but only the shadow and I occupied the
room.

The ghostly entity was almost a white
gray now, fading, so that I could see the room through it. I tried
to grab its hand again, but my fingers fell through it, leaving a
cold breeze to caress my skin.

“Wait, who are you?” I tried asking
again but it was already disappearing. I looked around for the
owners of the other voices but they were nowhere to be found. When
I looked back at the ghost, it was gone.