Shift of Time (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 1) (13 page)

He refused to be deterred. “If you tell me, I’ll go away.”

She raised her head from the plate they shared and focused on him. “Inna Brinlee.”

“Inna. I’ve never heard a name like that before. It’s pretty, like you.”

She appeared to cringe. “I thought you said you would go away.”

“I lied.” He grinned. “I’m twelve. Wanna be my girlfriend?”

I was close in my guess of his age.

“Kid, I’ll hand it to you, you’ve got guts. I’m eighteen, and I don’t like boys.”

His eyes widened. “You don’t like…
boys
?”

“Not like that, stupid!”

I couldn’t help chuckling. They entertained well.

“I mean,” Inna said, “all boys are liars, and you just proved you’re the same as the rest.”

“I’m sorry.” He popped up to his knees in the booth. “Give me another chance.”

A waitress appeared at my side. “Ma’am, do you want—”

Warning bells went off in my head, and I thrust her aside. “Excuse me!”

There were two demons headed our way fast, and I needed to get those kids out of there. I whisked along the narrow aisle between the row of booths and the counter with stools in front of it to arrive at Inna and the boy’s table. Both of them peered up at me in surprise, but Inna’s face contorted in abject terror. I had no time to figure out why.

“We’ve got to get out of here, kids,” I told them. “Something’s coming you don’t want to meet.”

“Who are you?” the boy demanded.

Inna shook her head wildly. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

The demons were on us. I sensed them right outside the door. I knew by the energy coming from them they weren’t imps, and while I had improved in fighting, I couldn’t handle two demons, protect the kids, and keep other humans from getting hurt. Without a second thought, I scooped up both Inna and the boy and tucked them under my arms.

“Hey, what are you doing?” a man occupying a stool yelled. “I think she’s abducting those kids right in front of witnesses. Call the cops. Stop right there!”

Inna and the boy wriggled and protested. They were no match for my strength, but it was tricky holding them secure without hurting them.

“We’re going,” I snapped, but the bell over the door jingled, and in strode the two demons. They spotted us straight off.

“Ken,” the boy called with excitement. “Help me. This woman’s crazy.”

Ken? He was right. The demon Nathan had sent to wherever he came from was back again. How in the world did that work? Was there a cooling off period before they could return, or did they get permission again? Either way, Ken obviously recognized me, because he flashed that evil grin, and it hinted at taking revenge. I couldn’t tell him it was a demon-hating werewolf that hurt him not me, but it didn’t matter.

“They’re demons, sweetheart,” I said to the boy as I backed up. “Don’t trust them.”

“Ken’s our bodyguard! You don’t know what you’re talking about. Put me down!”

I continued to back up, tightening my grip. Inna grabbed onto booth backs, dragging at them to get away. A hand fell onto my shoulder, but I knew it was the human man without looking. He couldn’t hurt me, so I kept my gaze on Ken and his partner.

“We’ve got our orders,” Ken growled in a voice that stilled both Inna and the boy in an instant. Craggy and deep, it didn’t sound human, but I sensed lingering doubt in the boy. He knew Ken. He didn’t know me. “You’re not leaving here.”

Brimstone licked the air, and I wrinkled my nose. The scent grew stronger, and then screams erupted all around me as fire danced at Ken’s fingertips. He raised his arms, and I got the impression he didn’t care about the boy. We were all about to be fried. I whipped away on the balls of one foot and bolted toward the back door. Unfortunately, getting through it without taking off either the boy or girl’s heads meant I couldn’t use my full speed.

I put as much in as I could control with the added weight and thrust out the door onto to the street. Behind us, the impact of an explosion sent the three of us careening onto the ground. I leaped to my feet and snatched Inna and the boy up again to take off running.

“Put me down, put me down,” Inna screamed, and the terror in her voice tore through me.

“We have to get away, Inna. Please hold on for a little longer.”

“Now!” Her high pitch said she was losing it, and I managed to get a few blocks off the main roads before I complied. I examined the street behind us and then shoved the two of them into the shadows. Inna reached out to drag the boy to her and wrapped her arms around him. The entire time, she stared at me, and I began to realize she knew what I was. How she knew, I wasn’t sure.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” I said. “Trust me.”

“Why should we trust you, v—”

“Don’t.” I cut across her and looked at the boy. He shook with fear, and his eyes were filled with disillusion. The man he might have called friend and bodyguard was a demon the entire time he had known him. On top of that, Ken had obviously decided the boy was a loose end to be tied up to cover his boss’s activities.

I crouched down to the boy and stroked his arm. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you. Those demons aren’t going to get you.”

The boy swallowed. “H-how did you know they were demons?”

Inna appeared doubtful of my assurances, but she didn’t try again to reveal my secret. She kept sharp hold of the boy, but I noticed again she avoided placing her palms on him. Her movements were jerky, but maybe this was the way her fear presented itself. She gave off waves of it that was for sure, so I didn’t question it too much.

“They’re here,” she cried, but I had already detected the demons, and I kicked myself for not forcing the kids to keep moving. Even if the boy figured out what I was because of my speed, it was better to save all of our lives.

My poor judgment aside, I had no choice but to fight. I pointed to Inna. “Hold onto him, and keep him safe.”

“Wait,” the boy yelled, but I ran out to meet the demons.

I sent Ken into an iron grate over a storefront, but it didn’t do enough damage to send him back to where he came from. He countered with a blow to my gut. I bit down on my jaw, doubling over. His companion moved up behind, but I managed to recover enough to sidestep his swing. Ken lunged at me again, but I dropped to the ground. I kicked out. He jumped and slammed down on my leg. I howled. The friend wrapped an arm about my neck and dragged me backward along the ground. I reached behind me to get a hold of him but couldn’t get a good grip.

Ken stood above me, sneering. He crouched, and I kicked him in the chin. His head snapped back, but he had planted his feet. The grin never left his face. He extended a hand, and a paler, slender one grasped his wrist.

“Inna, no,” I cried.

He glanced over at her. She’d left the boy alone to try to help me. Ken chuckled. “Cute, you think you can take on someone like me, little girl?”

“Inna, get back,” I ordered and punched at Ken at the same time his friend dragged me back. Enough was enough. I reached over my head and pulled hard. The second demon hurtled through the air to land against a parked car. The alarm blared into the night air. By the time I gained my feet, Ken had flung Inna in the same direction I had thrown him. I heard the crunch of her bones and her tiny cry.
No, she’s only human!

“You bastard!” I flipped forward, knowing when I impacted with Ken my kick would have much more force. My feet landed in his pelvis and sent him head over heel into the street. Good thing for him we were on a street with no traffic at that time of night.

I used his and his partner’s disorientation and pain to rush to Inna’s side. She lay like a broken doll, upside down and one arm trapped beneath her body. If I moved her, I might cause more damage. What was I going to do?

“Why didn’t it work with them?” she whispered.

I brushed her hair from her eyes. “Why didn’t what work?”

The boy fell to his knees beside Inna, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Inna, I’m sorry. This is my fault.”

“No way, kid.” She tried to smile and failed.

“I’ll go with them,” he offered. “You two run away.”

“No.” Inna reached out to me, and I extended my own hand toward her.

“Don’t move. I’ll take care of them,” I promised.

Our fingers touched and then our palms, and an odd shock went through me. I blinked and stared at the girl who had so obviously broken several bones.

Now she sat up, wincing. She touched her stomach and worked her arm. “Dude. Totally cool.”

“Inna?” both the boy and I said.

Inna was on her feet and facing off against Ken’s partner. She reached down to the heavy boots she wore and drew something from inside one of them. A glint of steel flashed in the streetlights. Inna smirked. “Come on, V. Let’s take care of them. Kid, stay back.”

“V?” I wrinkled my nose but joined her. “Fine, but then you are explaining yourself.”

The fight dragged on until I wondered if I would recover with each attack. While Inna now displayed the unmistakable strength of a vampire, and she handled the pocketknife she carried fairly well, she hadn’t been trained. More than once, I found I had to come to her rescue. That isn’t to say she wasn’t a big help. While she slashed at Ken’s partner, and he dodged her high-speed attacks, I was able to hold off Ken. In the end, it was the sound of sirens that made the demons retreat.

“This isn’t the last of it, Rue,” Ken warned. “We’ll come back, and we will get the boy.”

“Not if I can help it,” I shot back.

Red and blue lights flashed at the end of the street, and Ken growled. He signaled to his partner, and just like that, they winked out of sight. I whirled to face Inna. “We’ve got to go
now
.”

She grabbed the kid, and we ran through side streets and back alleys until the sirens were in the distance. When I was sure we were safe, we slowed our pace and walked. Inna had stashed her knife in her boot again, and the boy, subdued, held her hand. The fact that he didn’t complain or pull away told me they had seen more violence than either of them were used to. Not that I was much better, but I had faced the demons before. The fire was new to me, and I was glad after what Ken did to the diner, he didn’t display that particular ability during the fight.

I worried about the demons returning, and the night had grown so late, the sun would rise soon. We needed shelter, and the only place I knew of was my apartment. “You two will stay with me tonight,” I said.

Neither of them responded, and we headed in that direction. While we walked, I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and was surprised to find it undamaged. With a couple clicks, I speed-dialed Nathan.

“Hello, gorgeous. Did you change your mind about us dating, or do you have a job for me? Either would be great.”

I rolled my eyes. “I have a job, Nathan. I need you to protect us for the day.”

“Us?”

“Will you do it?”

“Of course.”

“Great. Meet me at my apartment.” I disconnected and peered at the others. Their weary faces reflected in the moonlight. “Come on. We need to take cover.”

B
y the time
we reached my apartment, I carried the sleepy little boy on my back. Inna walked in silence at my side, and together we ascended the stairs to my door. I set the boy down and checked the street, but it didn’t appear that we had been followed.

“I’ll make a pallet on the floor,” I said and turned the boy’s shoulders toward the bathroom. “You go clean up and get ready for bed.” He moaned but shuffled on unsteady feet to do my bidding. When he was out of earshot, I turned to Inna. “You really are a vampire, aren’t you? One minute you were human, now you’re not.”

Inna hugged herself and turned away from me. She didn’t offer an explanation, and I saw how her eyelids drooped. The coming daylight sapped her strength, and she was giving in to it. I wouldn’t get much out of her until we both rested.

“All right, we’ll talk tomorrow night,” I said. “You can rest, and don’t worry. When Nathan gets here, he’ll look after us until we wake up.”

She yawned and scrubbed at her eyes. In that moment, she appeared no older than the boy. “Who’s Nathan?”

A knock on the door interrupted our conversation, and Inna spun too fast and destroyed a lamp. She winced, casting me a look of apology, but already the energy she had displayed disappeared. I smelled Nathan coming, but she hadn’t been paying attention.

“Your knight in shining armor is here for you,” Nathan announced when I opened the door. Inna spotted the mountain of a man and stared. The werewolf winked at her. “Hey, I’m Nathan.”

Nathan had to be about thirty, maybe more if werewolves aged slower than humans. He
looked
thirty. I had no way of knowing without him saying so. Either way he shouldn’t be flashing seductive smiles at impressionable young girls, and my glare told him so. He widened his eyes, all innocence.

“You can’t be that desperate for a girlfriend,” I muttered.

“A girlfriend?” Inna repeated. If she could have, I believed she would have blushed. I’d forgotten she would hear whatever we said, especially in my tiny apartment.

“Outside,” I ordered him. “This place is too little for you. We can’t breathe.”

“When do you breathe?”

“I’m too tired for your snark, Nathan. Please, just watch.”

“Yes, ma’am. I won’t sleep all day. No one will get past me, and I would just love for a demon to try.”

I shuffled him toward the door before he got himself worked up again and slammed it in his face. Having Nathan as an ally was a good thing, and I regretted a little not allowing him to help me with the case.

No, Rue, you’re just tired. Everything will be better tonight.

B
etter
, I’d thought. What a laugh. Normally, nothing woke me during the day until I was fully charged and the danger of the sun had disappeared. Perhaps some internal warning went off in my head. Either way, I stirred the moment I heard the doorknob turning. Inna, standing on tiptoe, was obviously trying to slip out of the apartment in broad daylight.

“Inna, no,” I shouted.

She, like a typical teenager ignored me, and opened the door anyway. My instincts sent me backward to the farthest corner of the apartment, crouched and hissing against the light. Inna may have had instincts as a vampire, but she was slower to react and way too close to the door to do anything other than scream in pain. Flames leaped to life on her clothes, and she raised her arms to cover her face, but they began to burn, too. Her fangs descended, her bearing one of intense agony.

In the next instant, Nathan was there. He wrapped his arms around Inna, pushed her backward and slammed the door. With the sunlight doused, he rushed her over to my bed and laid her down. Fear released me, and I fell down at their sides to check the girl over. Her clothes were in much of the same state as mine had been when I got caught out in the sun.

“She needs blood,” I said.

“Werewolf blood will make her sick,” Nathan said, “or I would give it to her.”

I gaped at him. “Really?”

“Really. Sorry. The best to offer her would be human blood.”

“I’m not using the boy,” I snapped as Inna moaned. “And you’re wrong. The best to give her is mine.”

I raised my arm to my mouth, lowered my fangs, and then bit down. Blood bubbled on my skin, and I offered it to Inna. Her pain-filled eyes widened, and she pushed my arm away shaking her head.

“You have to, sweetheart, or you’ll suffer until you heal.”

She continued to fight me, and I didn’t want to force her. True, as vampires, we healed much faster than humans, but being burned with sunlight and at our weakest time of the day meant Inna would suffer far worse and take longer to be right again. Why was she fighting me?

“M-m-monsters!”

I froze. In all the fanfare, I had completely forgotten the boy. Nathan and I spun around at his frightened voice to find him kneeling beside the armchair, a blanket clutched to his throat.

Nathan reached out a hand toward him. “It’s okay, kid. Don’t be scared. They’re not going to hurt you.”

The boy pressed against the wall, refusing to let Nathan’s hand touch him. “You’re all monsters! All of you.”

A sound brought my head around to Inna to find she struggled to rise. “Hang…on...” She panted. “I’m not.”

Unfortunately, she’d spoken with fangs descended and eyes red as her body fought to heal. The boy whimpered, and just like that, he was gone.

“What the heck?” Nathan jumped to his feet and spun left and right, scanning the tiny apartment. “Where’s he hiding?”

“There’s nowhere to hide in here,” I said, but I went about looking, too, even searching beneath the bed. Nathan ran to the door, about to open it, but he stopped just in time. If the boy had gone out, Inna and I would have felt the pain of the light. “He vanished into thin air.”

The truth hit me. The shift of time wasn’t a what but a
who
, and everybody knew it except for me. When the reality of what I was dealing with became clear, I also made the connection of the boy’s scent. I hadn’t just smelled him in the house that night. His scent was the only human one on the box that Milo had given me—the object that Bill had called a cage, and when he used that strange power he had, the scent of sweet rain filled the air.

I wanted to continue to work this thing out. More than that, I desired to find Milo and force him to explain himself. I couldn’t do either. Sleepiness overtook me, and I dropped to the floor like a stone. The last I heard before I drifted off was Nathan’s voice.

“Don’t worry, ladies. I’m here, and I’ll watch until you wake.”

W
hen I woke
, Nathan wasn’t in the apartment. I sniffed and picked up his scent outside, that along with a scuffle.

“Dude, he’s pretty incredible.” Inna sat on her knees near the open door, feet bare, black tights torn in too many spots. Would she ever learn? At least the sun had gone down.

I joined her and peered out the door in time to see Nathan leap in wolf form into a man’s chest. His bite ended the fight probably before it started. “I guess he is pretty cool, but that was just an imp.”

“Ugh!” Inna covered her nose, and rocked back from the door. This close, I saw that the skin on her forearms was better but not fully healed.

I shut the door and stooped in front of her. “Inna, you need to feed. You can come with me to hunt.”

Her eyes widened, and she lowered her hands from her face. “No way. I’m not doing that. It’s disgusting.”

“You’re a vampire,” I reminded her and pointed to her wounds. “And those would be gone in an instant if you do.”

“I’m not a vampire.”

“Everything about you says vampire.”

“Yeah, well you’re wrong!” She rose and walked across the room to pull her boots from beneath the bed. “I’m out of here.”

“You won’t survive out there if you don’t drink. And look, you can’t even retract your fangs. You’ll scare the humans and reveal our existence.”

“I’m human!”

I folded my arms across my chest and waited. She appeared ready to dig her heels in but relented. Good choice because I was used to dealing with a stubborn teen.

“I’m human,” she said again, “but I have an ability. I can borrow anyone’s power.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

She nodded. “Well, now you have. It’s not just me getting the use of their ability. I actually
become
whatever they are. So with you, I became a vampire.”

“With our same limitations,” I whispered.

She winced when she shifted her shoulder and found that it still hurt.

“I’m guessing you keep your same memories and mindset?” I said. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have walked into the sun.”

Inna ducked her head in embarrassment. “I sensed I shouldn’t do it, but I wanted to…”

“See Nathan.” Teenage hormones rivaled vampire instincts. Quite interesting, but she had been through enough, so I didn’t scold her for her choice. “Well what’s done is done, but you’re about to make another mistake, Inna.”

She looked at me questioningly.

“You can’t resist the hunger. You have to feed, or you will hurt someone. There’s no negotiating that.”

“I can resist.” She moved to grab my arm, probably not realizing the speed with which she moved or the force with which she pulled. Good thing I had a good counter, or she would have ripped it out of its socket.

“You can’t,” I argued.

“Just for three days. Please, um…”

“Rue,” I supplied. “Rue Darrow.”

“Rue, help me resist. Then I’ll be back to normal. My ability lasts only three days. I’m not too good with it yet. That’s why I don’t usually touch people. I wanted to help you out with that fight yesterday. Trust me. In three days, I’ll be human again.”

I didn’t know if I believed her. She seemed sincere, but there was no increase in pulse rate for me to judge or any other physical signs to tell if she spoke the truth. As I looked into the eyes that were still red and saw the fangs that must be throbbing for blood, all I saw was vampire. I heard nothing from her chest. She wasn’t breathing. Her skin didn’t hold the deathly paleness mine held, but there had been a change from the way it had appeared when I first saw her in the diner.

For all intents and purposes, this young girl was vampire. Yet, she was telling me all of it would go away, and she would become human again in just three days.
Lucky her.

“Before three days is up, you will have killed—”

“I—”

“So,” I interrupted, “I’m going to ask Nathan to do one more thing for me.”

Inna clutched her hands together, leaning toward me with hope.

“I’ll ask him to keep you safe until the time is up. If you don’t turn back, you will join me on a hunt. End of story.”

Inna smiled. She had no idea how evil and deadly she appeared at that moment. “Thank you, Rue. You’ll see. I’m never drinking blood. It sounds nasty. Uh, no offense.”

“None taken. I am what I am.”

“So I get to spend time with Nathan.”

I rolled my eyes. “I thought you didn’t like boys.”

She wrinkled her brow. “How did you…? Oh, you were listening when I was talking to that kid.”

“Do you know him, Inna? I think he’s in trouble, and I want to help.”

She shrugged, but her gaze left my face and dropped to my throat. I wasn’t worried. There wasn’t a pulse there to tempt her. Instinct just told her it was a good place to feed. I snapped my fingers before her eyes, and she blinked.

“No, I don’t know him. Dude just came along and started flirting with me. Like I would go out with a kid that young.”

I smiled. “Well, Nathan is too old for you.”

“We’re both adults.”

“He’s werewolf.”

“I know!” She made an odd sound in her throat that might have been a chirp of excitement, but she was thirsty. “Isn’t it cool? I’m going to talk to him about what it’s like. I’m meeting all kinds of people since I left.”

“Left where?”

She hesitated. Was she a runaway? Well, even if she was, I believed she spoke the truth that she was eighteen. She was free to go wherever she chose—after the three days. I wouldn’t allow her to risk uncovering the vampire existence. Besides, if there were other vampires in New Orleans, one of them might take exception to her actions, too. Safer to keep her under wraps.

“Inna, you’re sure you don’t know anything about the boy or where he came from?”

“Nothing. The first time I saw him was at the diner, but I know the look of someone running. He looked like he was running away.”

That’s what I was afraid of. The door opened, and Nathan strode in. Inna had sat chatting with me calmly the moment before he arrived, and the next she pounced on him, struggling to get to his neck. Nathan caught her by the shoulders inches from his throat and calmly turned her around to guide her to the armchair. He pushed her into it and held her down with one hand. The man was pretty strong.

He winked at me and grinned. “I’m impressive, right? Boyfriend material?”

“No. She’s young and hungry.” I dug my wallet from my purse and peeled off a few bills from the thinning stack. I needed more hours at the bar. This job with Milo might be ending soon, leaving me unpaid. “Please, Nathan, I need you to look after her for a few days.”

He took the money I offered and stuffed it into his pocket. That’s when I realized he was dressed. When he fought the demons in the alley, he was in wolf form. Nathan noticed me looking and chuckled.

“I’m not completely without manners. I have an extra stash outside. Plus, I smelled them coming from far enough away, I could undress without ripping my clothes.”

“I thought you said it’s hard to change if the moon isn’t full.”

“
Harder.
And demons always set me off.”

“Every time?”

“Pretty much.”

“You’re impossible, Nathan. Anyway, will you do it? I’ll pay you. If you can keep her somewhere hidden from humans and of course away from sunlight, that would be wonderful.”

He tapped his chin. “I might know a place. A friend of mine owes me a favor, too. His apartment is in the same complex as mine but lower level, and trust me, sunlight never hits the joint.”