Craved (24 page)

“What’s wrong?” I thought he was
feeling guilty about what I had endured, that maybe he needed time
to forgive himself. I thought that maybe losing my magic had put
him in a bad mood, like an addict getting all pissy when they’re
without their drug. What I didn’t expect was him pulling the car
off to the side of the road and hopping out, slamming the door
behind him. I turned in my seat to see where he went and noticed he
was leaning against the back of the car. I opened my door and
climbed out of his sporty Cadillac coupe, walking toward the
back.

There was a full moon, high in the sky
that cast a silver glow on our little town. In the distance, I
could hear the werewolves howling as they hunted their dinner. They
didn’t need a full moon to change, but they couldn’t fight the
change during one. I kept far away from Micah during that time, it
left him moody.

“Aiden?” I whispered. He looked up at
me through a strand of his dark hair, his eyes showing that
whatever he was about to say, was going to be bad. I lifted my hand
to put on his shoulder but he pushed off the car and walked a
couple feet away from me.

“Gwen,” he began. I crossed my arms
across my chest, needing the security they offered as I waited for
him to say whatever he needed to say.

“I’m so sorry that you had to go
through that tonight. I’m sorry that I was the cause of it and most
of all, I’m sorry I let you down.” I walked over to him and wrapped
my arms around his slim waist, resting my head on his shoulder. I
loved the way his arms seemed to comfort me, the way no others
could. One of his hands played with the strands of my hair while
the other one rubbed my back. I closed my eyes, pausing a second to
absorb the moment.

“If you were a smart woman, you’d run
as far away from me as possible and never look back,” he said
softly into my ear. I smiled and silently laughed, more to myself
than for his benefit.

“I‘d rather be dumb, if it means I get
to be with you,” I said. “What happened tonight was as much my
fault as it was yours. If I hadn’t fed you blood, then I wouldn’t
have had to go through the pain of getting it back.” I pulled away
from him so that I could look into his eyes, a sudden thought
demanding attention. “Is Ian a brew addict also?” Even though Fiona
hated me, I still wanted to make sure she was safe.

“Ian who?” Aiden asked
casually.

“Ian Despereaux, your friend. The one
you sent to pick me up for the Gala when you stood me up, which I
haven’t forgiven you for, by the way.” I was smiling because I knew
that there wasn’t much Aiden could do that I wouldn’t forgive him
for, but I quickly lost my humor when he looked at me with
confusion.

“You know, Ian,” I said again, hoping
the third time would knock some sense into Aiden’s memory. When he
didn’t reveal that he knew the name, a sudden dread snaked its way
through my body and settled into the pit of my stomach.

Aiden and I headed to Vain. That was the only
place I could think of when it came to finding Fiona. I tried her
cell but she wasn’t answering my calls. If something happened to
her, I’d never forgive myself for allowing her to leave with Ian. I
knew I should have trusted my gut feeling and now, because I
didn’t, something bad could happen to my best friend.

We made our way through the back door
and I rushed ahead of Aiden toward the front of the club to search
for Fiona. Vain was really busy with visiting humans wanting to
experience a real life vampire club. I heard moaning coming from a
curtained room. Vain allowed feedings, and while vampires could
glamour humans into doing almost anything, Vain had strict consent
rules. The vampires that wanted to feed off any humans had to check
in with a receptionist and only after confirming that the human was
willing and not under the vampire’s hypnosis, could they feed in a
private room.

I stood up on my tiptoes to see if I
could see any blondes that resembled Fiona, but none of them looked
familiar. Pushing through the club goers, I scanned everyone’s face
in hopes of finding either Ian or Fiona. A man with a large beer
gut slapped my ass and before I could zap him, he screamed out in
pain. I turned to see that Aiden had his hand twisted behind his
back.

“Apologize to the lady,” he snarled.
The man winced with watery eyes and looked like he might piss his
pants.

“I…I’m…sorry…I didn’t…mean to offend
you,” The man stuttered. I nodded. I really didn’t have time to
deal with a human who had had too many drinks and was feeling
frisky. Aiden released the man, who collapsed in a nearby chair
with shaky hands.

“That was a little extreme,” I told
Aiden.

“I happen to hold you in very high
regard. Have you seen Fiona?”

I shook my head. “No. What if we don’t
find her? If something happens…” Tears began to fill my eyes and
threatened to spill as thoughts of the worst case scenario played
through my mind. I had seen, through the memories of Bridget,
exactly what the brew dealers were capable of. I couldn’t deal with
the idea of Fiona going through that.

“We’ll find her,” Aiden
said.

“How? How are we supposed to find her
when she won’t take my calls?” I knew he didn’t have the answer but
was just trying to make me feel better. Right now seemed like a
good time to be optimistic. I had to believe that Fiona was okay
and that Ian wasn’t who I feared he was.

I saw a head of blonde hair near the
private rooms and dashed like a madwoman across the dance floor. I
got a lot of curses and snide remarks from the partiers but I
didn’t care. I reached the private rooms and pulled back the
curtain of the room I had seen the blonde enter. A tall black man
was sitting on the couch while the blonde stood in front of him.
When she turned around, she gave me a fang-filled smile.

“Sorry, I thought you were someone
else.” I left the room feeling completely lost. I tried Fiona’s
cell phone one more time but my call went unanswered again. I never
really knew what hopelessness and despair felt like until now; my
optimism had clearly hauled ass out the window.

My phone went off and I quickly tried
to flip it open but my hands were too excited and it dropped to the
floor and slid down the hallway. I ran in a bent over position to
retrieve my ringing cell phone and swiped it up, opened it, and
pressed it to my ear.

“Hello?” I said, my voice breathless.
“Fiona?” I hadn’t looked at the caller I.D. in my mad dash to
answer my phone.

“Gwen, it’s Micah,” his voice was
somber at best.

“Micah?” My eyebrows pushed together
with my confusion. I had been anticipating Fiona on the other end,
so Micah’s voice caught me off guard. I gripped the phone tighter.
Micah only called when he needed me to read a dead body. I silently
prayed he hadn’t called about Fiona.

“Yeah,” he continued, hesitant to
speak. “Gwen, we need for you to meet us at the entrance of town,
on the north side.” I could tell he was hiding something. His voice
held the heaviness of sadness that turned my blood an icy
cold.

“What’s going on, Micah?” I whispered
as I stared blankly at the wall in front of me.

“We’ll talk when you get here.” I
nodded my head without realizing that he couldn’t see it and
flipped my phone shut. An icy breeze gripped my neck, sending
shivers to dance along my spine. We were inside, but I recognized
that breeze. I’d felt it whenever I saw Bridget. It was
death.

Aiden drove to the northern entrance
of town and I stared blankly at the darkened landscape as it
blurred past my window. When the car stopped, I noticed Micah and
Wyatt standing by a large oak tree with their arms crossed and
heads hung. I pushed the car door open and sluggishly stepped out.
Aiden grabbed my hand but the gesture did nothing for me. I told
him about the conversation with Micah and, although he didn’t say
it, I could tell he was worried. We walked through the tall grass
and over to where Micah and Wyatt stood. There was a body, but
unlike the others, this one had a sheet draped over it.

When I made eye contact with Wyatt, I
knew who was under the sheet. He gave me a sad confirmation with a
nod of his head and I collapsed to my knees as tears blurred my
vision. Aiden’s arms went around me as I sobbed against his
shoulder.

“I have to see her,” I said, looking
up with desperation. Maybe they’d gotten it wrong. Maybe it was
just someone that looked like her. Micah looked at Wyatt and then
down at me. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Gwen. She doesn’t
look like the others.”

My breath caught in my throat and my
entire body began to shake. I placed my hands out in front of me
and dug my fingers into the moist earth, needing to steady myself
with something solid. I took deep gulps of air into my lungs but it
didn’t fill the void that settled in the pit of my stomach. I
crawled over to where the body lay and with unsure hands, folded
the sheet back.

My hand instantly dropped away from
the sheet when Fiona’s face greeted me. It actually was her, my
best friend. It hadn’t been a case of mistaken identity like my
subconscious prayed for. Her blonde hair gracefully lay flat while
her face was turned away from me. She didn’t look pale, like the
other bodies. I turned her face toward me and red caught my
peripheral. Her neck looked like an animal had taken a large chunk
out of it. Dark blood colored her otherwise perfect skin, the
contrast being unbearable.

Aiden pulled me up off the ground and
into his arms where I collapsed against him, unsure if my legs
could hold me up. I grabbed fistfuls of his shirt while I screamed
into his chest.

“You shouldn’t have let her see that!
What the hell were you guys thinking?” Aiden yelled at the two
detectives. It wasn’t their fault; I’d been the one who pulled the
sheet away, the one who needed proof.

I wiped the salty tears away from my
eyes and cheeks and took a deep breath to calm myself. It was
useless of course. Fiona’s body hovered in my peripheral, making
calming down nearly impossible.

“It was Ian Despereaux,” I said to no
one in particular. Of course, I didn’t have proof that Ian had
killed Fiona, but I knew in my gut that he was
responsible.

“Is that the man you were with at the
Gala?” Micah asked. I nodded my head as I suddenly remembered Ian’s
lips being on mine. Nausea turned my stomach, threatening to make
me vomit. It had been one big game to him, the story about Aiden
working late, their friendship, and accompanying me to the Gala. I
wasn’t exactly sure why he was playing with me, but I vowed to
myself that if it were the last thing I did, I’d find
out.

Wyatt pulled out a small radio and
sent a message to one of his staff to bring in Ian Despereaux. That
was easier said than done, he wasn’t from Flora and we had no idea
how to find him or get a hold of him. I knew that Fiona’s death was
a message to me personally. Ian knew that I’d see her. Every time I
was around him I felt as if he were watching me with an interest I
didn’t appreciate.

Wyatt’s radio went off and he held the
button to talk into it. When he was done, he clipped it to his belt
and said, “Ian’s at the police station and he wants to talk to
Gwen.” I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion and anger at the
thought of even seeing the man responsible for Fiona’s
death.

“You don’t have to talk to
him, Gwen,” Aiden said. I looked up at him and wondered how he
expected me
not
to talk to him, to find out what he wanted; it was the least
I could do for my dead best friend.

“Yes I do,” I told him
sternly.

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

Fiona’s body had been moved to the
morgue while Aiden and I accompanied Wyatt and Micah to the police
station. It seemed like the night was endless. Not only had I dealt
with Fiona hating me, but I also discovered my so-called-boyfriend
was addicted to brew, went through torture to save him from
himself, and found out that my best friend had been murdered. As I
walked down the sterile hallway towards the holding cells, I knew
this night was nowhere close to being over. I prayed for the sun to
move on fast forward and give me an excuse why I couldn’t see Ian,
but we still had three hours until the sun rose.