Blood of a Werewolf (24 page)

Chapter 17

Darby lay in bed with Harry all night, wishing she could clear the air before leaving on Saturday. She was scared she had somehow destroyed something in their relationship that maybe she couldn’t fix. The tears came hard in her pillow. Harry tried to amuse her with his purring and cuteness, but there was nothing he could do to undo what she had done unintentionally. How could she have been so inconsiderate?
 
She knew the responsibility Devon felt for Blake, because she too felt it for Rowan.
 
She knew too in her heart, that she would have never let the giant string bean risk going to jail.
 
It would have hit her in the night or later on, but she would have never let him do it.
 
They were just talking ‘What If’s’ not reality, but how could Devon have known that?
 
After all, they hadn’t known each other very long. He couldn’t possibly know.

She tried three times to talk to him in the morning before leaving. He wouldn’t take her calls and he wouldn’t answer the door. In a last ditch effort, she wrote him a letter.
 
In it she apologized for suggesting any such thing, and said she never would have let Blake go through with it. She told him that they were family to her. She would never allow any of them to put themselves in danger. She had hoped he’d known that about her already, but she understood that he may not have.
 
She spoke of the love she felt for him - how it was embedded in her bones, her soul, and in her very being.
 
She hoped that they could talk when she and Blake came back. She also relayed that she didn’t feel right about leaving things this way, but all of this was so important to Blake and Rowan for their future together.
 
She wanted to make things up to their family by doing this for Blake.

She gave the letter to Blake to take to Devon before they left.
 

“What is it?”
 
Blake asked.

“Well, your brother won’t see me and he won’t take my calls so I wrote him a letter apologizing.
 
I don’t feel right leaving without setting things straight between us and well, I felt this was my only option given his demeanor.”

“I think you are reading too much into this. He’ll cool off.”

“It’s important to me, Blake. Just, please, give it to him.”

“All right. If it’s that important to you.”

Blake headed to the house with all intentions of giving Devon the letter, but as he walked inside, his thoughts became cloudy and unsure as to whether he should.
 
If he did, Devon would most likely call off this trip to Colorado or at least postpone it.
 
This would be unacceptable. Blake had become obsessed with this problem.
 
He didn’t realize how much so, until he went to his room to pack. He stared at the blue envelope for a long time, trying to decide what he should do. No – not what he SHOULD do, because that would be giving the letter to Devon, but what he WANTED to do. He wanted to make things right. Fix all of Rowan’s problems and go back to the way things were. The only way that was going to happen was if they went to Colorado.
 
He needed Darby’s strength for this.
 
He couldn’t do it on his own.
 
It had to be done.
 
He picked up the envelope and put in the top drawer of his dresser in the far back. He finished packing and grabbed his bag and left the house.

With Blake pushing her every step of the way, Darby reluctantly got in the car to head for the airport. She had a terrible feeling about all this, but what could she do? They were already out of the driveway and down the street.
 

Darby checked her phone for messages or texts. Nothing.
 

“You did give Devon the letter, right, Blake?”

“Of course I did.
 
Why would you ask me such a thing?”

“I’m sorry.
 
I just expected he’d respond. Did he say anything to you?”

“I didn’t hang out to watch him read it.
 
I just handed it to him and left. Maybe he hasn’t read it yet; after all, he was working.”

“Right. That’s probably it.”

Blake talked non-stop all the way to the airport. He had a notebook of ideas, leads, and notes.
 
The flight wasn’t very long to Denver and before they knew it they were there, renting a car, and booked in a hotel.
 
She tried to stay focused, but Darby couldn’t help drifting back to thoughts about Devon.
 
She tried to text him all through the day, but he wouldn’t respond to any of the pleas.

The first three leads were a bust.
 
Darby felt that they had driven every inch of Denver and Boulder and most everywhere in between.
 
She was exhausted, distracted, and more than anything, heartbroken.
 
She had barely spoken all day, but Blake didn’t need her input, he was on autopilot going about five hundred miles per hour in his own little world. She just happened to be along for the ride.
 
Even if she were to speak to him, he wouldn’t have heard her.

One day turned into two, then three, then a week.
 
Lead after lead fell though the cracks.
 
It was getting close to the full moon and Darby ached to get back home to set things right with Devon and to be with her sister through this scary time. But Blake pushed her to stay diligent to the task.

After a week passed with not so much as one lead panning out, she turned to Blake and asked him point blank why this was so important to him.
 
He wouldn’t say exactly, only that he had to find a cure for her; he had to make things right.

She asked, “I know you are scared, Blake, and I am too. But, aside from her turning into a wolf a couple days of the month, what is so horrible about this?
 
In some ways, it’s not all that different from being a vampire.
 
Who knows, there may be no cure. Either way, Rowan is still Rowan, no matter what she is. Just like you and your brother may be vampires, but you’re also just Devon and Blake.”
 

He wouldn’t answer.
 
He was angry and frustrated and above all scared.
 
He took off for a while, leaving Darby at the hotel.
 
Darby didn’t know where he had gone, but she thought she would take this opportunity to text Devon again. Still nothing.
 
She knew he was mad, but she thought she had explained things to him in the letter.
 
She didn’t understand why he was still so mad.
 
She decided to call Rowan.
 
Maybe she could explain Blake’s behavior, or maybe she could just help her understand why Devon wouldn’t talk to her.

Rowan told her that she was surprised that she hadn’t seen Devon at all. She had knocked on the door a few times, but he either wasn’t there, or didn’t answer.
 
Rowan had been helpful in explaining some things about Blake.
 
He had tried not to make a big deal about it, but it was apparent to Rowan that the werewolf thing was an issue for him.
 
She too wasn’t sure why, as he didn’t explain his reasons.
 
Darby had asked how Rowan was feeling now that the moon was getting close to full.
 
She had said that it was definitely affecting her and if Darby and Blake weren’t back in time, she had hoped that Devon would be there to help control her.
 

Darby tried not to tell Rowan just how heartbroken she had been about Devon’s behavior, nor could she bring herself to tell her how she had cried herself to sleep every night since she had been away from him. The big sister in her wouldn’t let her say just how much pain she was in. She figured though, as well as they knew each other, Rowan probably had an idea how badly Darby was feeling.
 

They said their goodnights and hung up.
 
Darby lay in bed and cried herself to sleep once more.

The next morning, Darby woke up to a knock on her hotel door.
 
It was Blake, in a hurry to go.
 

“I’ve got a lead on Benjamin’s brother, Dean.
 
I’ve got an address here for the outskirts of a town called Longmont; that’s just about a half an hour from here.
 
Come on, get your stuff, let’s go.”

“Yeah, okay!
 
Where’d you come up with the lead?”

“Ummm…I was messing around on my computer and came across it.”

“Yeah? Where?”

“Ummmm. I….don’t exactly remember. Have you talked to Devon yet?” Blake said.

“He won’t return my calls, texts, or emails. I just don’t understand.” She couldn’t help it; she started crying. She tried to hide it from him, but she couldn’t. After getting control of her emotions, she asked again, “Where exactly did you get the information?”

“Nowhere. Leave it alone, Darby.”

She stared out the passenger side window, crying.
 
There was no stopping it now. To keep Rowan in the loop, Darby texted her about the new lead – Dean Wolfe.

It was a long half hour drive in complete silence. Their destination was way on the outskirts of town.
 
There wasn’t another house for miles.
 
The house was butted up to some wooded foothills, but the house looked abandoned. There was a porch swing hanging from one chain and the screen door was permanently halfway open. The yellow paint was peeling and a broken window was mended with duct tape. Blake appeared uneasy and wouldn’t go near the house, so Darby headed for the front porch.
 
She knocked on the doorjamb since the door was open.
 

“Hello? Hello. My name is Darby O’Rielly.
 
Is Dean Wolfe here? Hello? I was hoping to talk to Dean about his brother, Benjamin.”

She heard a stir in the house, probably a stray animal looking for food.
 
She knocked again and looked over her shoulder at Blake and shrugged her shoulders as if to say
I don’t think anyone is here
. She didn’t understand why Blake was staying so far back, but he urged her to try again.
 
She opened the screen door a little wider so she could pass through and yelled “Hello?” as she took a step in.
 

A hot, strong hand grabbed her throat from inside the door and pulled her. Another hot hand had somehow gotten hold of both her wrists and was holding them painfully behind her back.
 
She couldn’t use her defense bubble because he was too close to her. She could barely speak with the grip he had on her throat, but she tried, “Dean? Dean Wolfe? I wanted to just ask you a few questions.
 
I’m not with the police or anything like that.
 
I knew of your brother.”

The hand got tighter on her throat, and a hiss of a voice said, “What do you really want? Why did you bring that thing with you?”

“What thing?” she squeaked.

The nails of the hot hand dug into her throat.
 
She was sure there must be blood drawn.
 
“The vampire. Did you bring it here?”

“Well, we…I…brought him. Yes.”

“Then you will have to die,” the voice said and the hand squeezed so hard she saw stars.
 
She wasn’t sure how she managed it, but she said, “Your brother, please, need…to ask…” and things started to get gray.
 
Just then the hand loosened a tiny bit.

“My brother is dead. What could you want to know about him?”

She heard a noise that sounded like bones popping and clothes ripping…
Oh God, he’s changing
.

“Wait, wait, don’t change. Please don’t change into a werewolf yet. I need to ask you something. My sister’s life is in your hands.”

“No, your life is in my hands.”

“Yes, it is, but so is my sister’s.”

“Explain yourself. What does my brother have to do with your sister?”

“Have you ever heard of a man named Terence Paine?”

He made a low guttural noise and tightened his grip again.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” she squeaked. “Then you also know that he killed your brother, but what you may not know is that he drained your brother of his blood.”

“You better be going somewhere with this fast, because you are pissing me off.”

“Sorry! Sorry! We, the vampire and I, ran into him a couple of days ago when he kidnapped my sister.”

“I’m bored,” he said and then squeezed his hand so tight on her throat, she saw stars again and this time she felt the blood trickle down her neck.

“Wait! He injected her with your brother’s blood.”

“What? What do you mean?” He loosened his grip and she gasped this time, coughing up a little blood, and falling towards him.

“It’s true. Three, maybe four injections.”

“Why? Why would anyone do that?”

“He thought she was a vampire and that it would be fun to see the bloods fight it out.”