No Man's Land (20 page)

Blind instinct alone led Kelly back to the trailer. Her mind wandered, thinking of her childhood, the years when she was a Candidate hoping to be chosen to turn, busy days at the casino. Awareness would return, and she’d find herself wondering how long she’d been tramping through the leaves, and how she’d even gotten to where she was. Snow started to fall in earnest, masking the heat signatures from the animals and casting the moonless night into dark shadows. The patch of maples came into view, as well as the dead vampire impaled to a tree.

Kelly paused beside the corpse. She couldn’t exactly leave him here for the neighbors to find. Jaq had said she was the only one that ventured into the woods, but this was dangerously close to the tree line. A sharp–eyed human might see the outline of a body against a tree and investigate. Blanket and tuna casserole would have to wait. First, she needed to do something with this body.

Bracing her foot against the tree, she tugged at the arrow. Wedged firmly in the tree, she was unable to pull it loose. Kelly yanked and twisted, each effort adding to the gore that coated her and the ground under the dead vampire. Finally she picked up a good–sized rock and broke the arrow off, sliding the body from it and onto the ground.

Sorry, Jaq. You’ve got one less arrow
, she though ruefully. The vampire’s body was splayed in a wet mess on the forest floor. At this point she doubted she could carry the thing. Perhaps she should just drag it further into the woods and leave it there. It’s not like it really mattered anymore, and her blanket and tuna casserole were calling. Lost in thought, she was startled to hear someone clearing their throat only a few feet away.

“You looked like you needed a hand,” Jaq said gruffly. “Sorry I killed him. He wasn’t very cooperative when I tried to bring him back alive, and I didn’t have much choice in the matter.”

Kelly stared her mouth open. She was here. In spite of everything she’d said, in spite of not seeing her at all for the last few days, Jaq had come through for her. The werewolf stood before her, a pick axe in one hand and a body slung over her shoulder. With a shrug, she dumped the body face up onto the ground. Wes stared up at her, his face a mask of surprise and horror, his chest nothing but a bloody hole.

“Next one I’ll manage to keep alive for you to question,” the woman said confidently. “I’m sure these guys let someone know you were here before they set out. There will be more soon enough.”

Kelly made a noise, unable to speak. She leaned over, trying to clear her head of the dizziness. She was dying. It wouldn’t matter if Jaq killed the next one or not; she wouldn’t be alive to question it.

“Should we dig a hole?” Jaq asked, her voice sounding like it was coming from inside a tunnel. “It will go faster with the two of us.”

Kelly shook her head and stood straight, trying to focus her fuzzy eyesight on the woman before her. She was too weak to dig anything. After her mad dash through the forest and the fight with Wes, she was barely strong enough to stand. But she had an idea, something preferable to a blanket and comfort food.

Her family didn’t want her back. Facing her death had brought that home loud and clear. They were just toying with her. The Kincaids were the enemy, and even if she could access the money, she’d never make it to Vegas alive in time to beg the Rochelle family for asylum. She’d die tonight, but maybe she could at least feel like she had died in her own land.

“Is that offer of home still open?” she asked, gritting her teeth as a wave of pain nearly doubled her over. “Cause I could really use one about now.”

Jaq dropped the pickaxe and threw her arms around Kelly. “Yes, that offer is always open. I’m sorry, honey. So sorry.”

“I’m the one that’s sorry,” Kelly mumbled against the other woman’s shirt. She felt herself relax, her weight collapsing into the werewolf. It was nice to rest there for a moment, to know she’d die at home where at least one person cared about her.
More than one
, she thought, remembering the humans who’d invaded her trailer. Still, she wasn’t dead yet, and there was one more thing she wanted to do before she left this life behind.

“How far is it to the Virginia state line?”

Jaq pulled away to look at her, holding her shoulders for a moment before letting go. “Probably eight miles. It’s about fifteen miles to Berryville.”

Eight miles was too far to walk carrying two dead bodies.

“Is there a strip club in Berryville?”

“I don’t know.” Jaq looked at her curiously. “It’s about twenty–five miles to Winchester. I’ll bet there’s one there.”

Kelly thought for a moment. “Do you have access to a car?”

“I have a truck we can use.” Jaq reached down and tossed Wes’ body across her shoulder, then walked over and effortlessly did the same with the other vampire. Balancing their weight, she bent down and retrieved her pick axe.

“You change out of those bloody clothes and meet me at my house. I’ll put these two in my truck and grab some supplies.” Jaq paused, a faint smile at the corner of her mouth. “Are we going to a strip club after we take care of these guys? I’ve never been to one, and I don’t know what to wear.”

She’d missed that smile. Really, really missed that smile.

“No.” Kelly couldn’t help but laugh. This whole situation was absurd, but the feeling of joy she had at having Jaq by her side once again was indescribable. When the werewolf was around, Kelly felt more like fighting and less like dying. “We’re going to dump the bodies at a strip club and head back. I’ve got a promising evening ahead of me with a blanket and tuna casserole.”

“Sounds good to me. I might join you.” Jaq strode off as if the two vampires on her shoulder weighed nothing, while Kelly stared after her. Werewolves were downright scary. No,
Jaq
was scary. Wonderful scary. Killing vampires like she was swatting flies, completely nonchalant about the idea of body disposal. Where had Jaq been dumping all those vampire bodies? Kelly giggled, thinking of all the deer bologna in the other woman’s freezer. Jaq wasn’t
that
scary.

22

K
elly rode shotgun in Jaq’s old truck; the vampire bodies in huge garbage bags rode in the back, weighted down with tools and bricks. Jaq told her they were taking back roads to avoid the highway.

“It’s early morning, and there’ll be lots of police catching drunks,” she explained. “Better to be on the safe side.”

Kelly nodded. They sat in silence, the only noise the whirring of the truck’s tires on the road
. Tired. So very tired.
Kelly leaned her head against the truck window, feeling strangely disconnected. Her body seemed to be filled with lead weights. It had taken every ounce of strength to pull herself up into Jaq’s lifted truck. But it was her head, floating above her like a helium balloon that was the strangest of sensations. Head here. Body there. What would happen if she floated right out above the truck and drifted away? Already she felt a blurry sense of peace at the idea.

Jaq stirred in the driver’s seat, taking her eyes from the road to cast a concerned glance Kelly’s way. “You look like complete and total crap.”

“Thanks.” She couldn’t manage a smile let alone make a witty comeback about her lack of make–up. Head, floating away.

“I didn’t realize …I mean the last two days you’ve really gone downhill.”

There were all kinds of witty rejoinders to make, but even if she’d been able to put words together in her head, Kelly doubted she could manage to get them out of her mouth.

“You’re getting weaker, and I can tell you don’t have much longer. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do.” The werewolf pounded the steering wheel with a fist. It bent slightly. She must do this a lot, because the steering wheel looked like it hadn’t been completely round in several years.

“Screw it. I’m getting you a human. Just this one time, that’s all. I’ll grab him or her, and hold them down while you cut them up and drink. I’ll heal them. I’ll deny everything; claim that they’re some psycho that imagined the whole thing.”

“Then in three days I’m back to this,” Kelly forced out.

“Then we’ll do it again in three days.” There was terrible pain in the werewolf’s voice, and Kelly knew she would be breaking every moral she held dear.

“No. Won’t let you betray your pack’s trust.”

It wouldn’t work anyway, and she saw that same realization in Jaq’s eyes. They could get away with it maybe once, but over and over again? Humans with the same bizarre story of being attacked by a blood–sucking girl in a dark alley, with an accomplice that healed? Kelly didn’t think the werewolves would overlook it the first time it happened.

The truck abruptly pulled over to the side of the road in a spray of gravel, and Jaq slammed it into park, turning to face Kelly.

“We’ve got to tell them,” Jaq said, her voice catching. “Margaret is a nurse at the VA hospital in Martinsburg. She could probably sneak some human blood out for you. They all care about you, but they can’t help you if they don’t know. I’m not gonna tell them your secret. I know what it’s like to need to hide what you are, but sometimes you got to trust people to help you.”

Kelly stared out the window. She’d broken a lot of rules, but she’d never betrayed her people to the humans. How could they tolerate her presence if they knew she needed to feed on them to survive? A predator. A parasite. Cue the doom music and fire up the torches.

“Ok,” Jaq said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “Drink those dead vampires then. They still have some blood left in them. Enough to get you by. I know you said you don’t do that sort of thing, but if it will help you live, you need to.”

Kelly gagged. Gross. She couldn’t drink vampire blood, even that of her enemy. Her stomach rebelled at the thought.

The woman beside her took a deep breath. “Then drink from me. I have a knife, and you don’t have to worry about hurting me. I’m not sure my blood will be okay. It might make you sick or kill you, but a little bit will probably be fine. Besides, the odds are better than what you’re facing now.”

Kelly shook her head.

“You stupid, stubborn vampire!” Jaq slammed her hands on the steering wheel, cracking it with the force of the blow. “Just take my blood.”

Kelly again shook her head. Jaq was a friend — her only friend. She didn’t eat friends. Besides, the balloon–head feeling was beginning to be rather nice.

“It’s okay,” Jaq said, a carefully contrived note of hurt in her voice. “I know I’m not human, that I’m not what you like when it comes to blood type.”

Kelly almost laughed. Werewolves were also manipulative. Who knew? She pulled her floating mind back and forced herself to focus. She at least owed Jaq a reason.

“No.” The glass of the truck window was cool on her cheek. “You’re my best friend. The only friend I’ve ever had.” Thoughts of George crossed her mind, but that had been different — a flurry of reckless passion and desperation. He’d been a ray of sunshine, but Jaq was like her right arm. “Friends aren’t food. I can’t do that to you.”

Jaq reached under the seat for something. Suddenly the scent of blood filled the air. Strange blood. Sharp as ice, with cloves and the bite of exotic black and red pepper. “Best friends help each other. Please. I don’t want you to die,” she begged Kelly.

Jaq
was
her best friend. Caring for her after her own family left her for dead, filling her fridge with cow blood, watching out for her, helping her, defending her when she had no one else in the world to turn to. Kelly couldn’t recall anyone ever drinking werewolf blood before. What would it taste like? Would it kill her, or do nothing, leaving her just as weak and on the edge of starvation as she was now? Kelly struggled to lift her head and put her lips over Jaq’s spotted wrist, determined to take only a mouthful.

It tasted of honey on the coldest snow, numbing the sides of her throat as she swallowed. An explosion hit behind Kelly’s eyes, sending sparks racing down through her nervous system. There was a wash of color and noise overwhelming her senses. Her heart froze in place and then galloped out of control.

Gasping for air, Kelly pulled her mouth away. Sound roared in her ears, like she’d had too much oxygen, like she was on sensory overload. Her night vision crashed as her pupils dilated to their full diameter. She’d drunk from crack addicts and never had such a rush. For a moment she thought she’d die, that every cell in her body would rupture. Then gradually her heart resumed its normal rhythm; her breathing slowed. Kelly stared at her hands. It was as if every nerve ending was lit up and alive.

“Are you okay?” Jaq asked, her voice rising in panic. The werewolf gripped her arm, and gently shook her. “Kelly, speak to me.”

“What
are
you?” Kelly stared at her hands in amazement, flexing the fingers. She was powerful, invincible. Nothing could harm her. Not even the Master with all his ancient power. There’s no way werewolves had blood like this. Vampires would have drained them all dry centuries ago if they had.

“I’m a First,” Jaq whispered. “No one can know. No one.”

“First what?” Kelly rubbed her fingers along the dashboard of the truck, marveling at the feel.

Jaq shifted in her seat, looking around as if there were someone to hear them on the deserted road. “First. A Nephilim. The offspring of an angel and a human.”

Kelly turned her attention from her hands to the woman beside her. “Wait. I thought you said you were a werewolf.”

“I am. My children will be like the other werewolves, but Firsts are different. That’s why no one can ever know. If the angels catch me, our whole species is at risk.”

Well, yeah. Angels were not supposed to be making naughty with humans, and any offspring would have a death sentence hanging over their heads. A link between Nephilim and the werewolves would lead to their genocide. The whole heavy–handed existence contract was due to their undecided status — either a quirk of human evolution or the product of illicit passion. But that wasn’t what grabbed hold of Kelly’s thoughts.

“Children? Who are you having children with? Is this a duty? An obligation that you have to further the werewolf race?” Her hands sparked against the dashboard of the car, or maybe it was just her screwed up vision. Either way, the thought of Jaq married to the highest bidder and surrounded by a dozen pups filled her with anxiety and a slow burn of anger.