"Sara, it's nothing to worry about," Ashe's blue eyes studied her face. "I just see things, now and then. It's what I am. Randy, if you take her to your mother after this, you need to tell Sara that she's a werewolf first."
"Ashe," Randy hissed. That was information he wasn't prepared to give. Sara need never know.
"Dude, Sara's a shifter. A small one. I've already dealt with one shifter today who might make a meal for the Pack. Sara's another one of those."
Sara was now staring at Randy in shock. "Your mother's a werewolf?" she squeaked. "You're not a wolf, Randy, your scent is human. How did you know about my dad?" She turned to Ashe, her eyes troubled. "And we shouldn't be talking about this in a public place!"
"I have us shielded, nobody will hear," Ashe muttered, knowing Sara was upset and Randy angry.
"Ashe, how in the name of hell?" Randy stared at Ashe.
"Dude, we'll have a talk soon. You don't remember a lot of things because the vampires don't want it."
"There are vampires?" Sara hissed.
"My dad is a vampire," Ashe sighed. "At least the one I think of as my dad. I really don't know who my real father is. Or my mother. The waiter's coming," he added. Randy drew in a breath—the waiter was approaching from behind Ashe. How could he know?
"But," Sara began. She couldn't decide whether to stay or get up and walk out. How did this sixteen-year-old know anything about her? How?
"Baby, don't," Randy reached out a hand and covered hers with his. Sara sat back with a sigh, still trying to get her heart to beat normally again.
Don't worry, I'm just different, Ashe sent mindspeech to Sara, who jerked in her seat while the waiter poured water into glasses and prepared to take drink orders.
* * *
"I've got eight coming in next weekend," Bear informed Lewis, passing a soft drink to the shifter. They sat in Bear's makeshift office inside his Star Cove home. "Some of them are Old Ones."
"You managed to get them to agree to a meeting?" Lewis popped the tab on the soda can to drink.
"I know a couple of them really well. They convinced a third one to come with them," Bear nodded. "I'd like a representative from every faction, if I can get it."
"How old are the two that you know?" Lewis asked.
"One is nearly four hundred," Bear said. "The other is around three hundred, I think."
"My dad told me stories about the Old Ones when I was little," Lewis said. "He told me that a shapeshifter married a wizard and that's where the Old Ones came from."
"I don't know what happened, truthfully, and they won't talk about it," Bear said. "But something happened to give them longer lives. What I do know in each case was they had shifters for mothers. No information at all on the fathers."
"And no way to find out," Lewis muttered. "I wish I could make it back for that meeting, though, but I've been away from work too long as it is. If Mr. Winkler hadn't gotten Matt Michaels on the phone, I might have some tall explaining to do over this without letting anything slip."
"Those two boys are scheduled for termination and rightly so," Bear nodded. "And there's something else going on, I just don't know what it is."
"That Ashe kid is something else."
"To put it mildly. I'll get you back to Winkler's tonight; you don't need to be anywhere near Star Cove when the vampires rise." Lewis stared in shock at Bear's words.
* * *
"Sara, you're safe, I promise," Randy had dragged Ashe along to his mother's home, just in case. Ashe made no comment as Randy reassured his girlfriend. He'd watched Sali as he drove past with Dori in his car as Ashe had ridden into Star Cove in Randy's back seat. Sali was likely taking Dori to a movie, with pizza planned afterward. Ashe sighed. Those things didn't seem to be in the cards for him. Marco, too, was out on a date with Cori.
Randy used a key to get in the front door of Dawn Smith's Star Cove home, calling out to her as he walked inside, followed by Sara, who walked timidly as if she were stepping on eggshells. Ashe patted her shoulder reassuringly as she looked around, sniffing the werewolf scent, most likely.
"So," Dawn met them in the media room, her eyes going straight to Sara while her nostrils flared at Sara's scent. "What's your animal, girl?"
* * *
"Wildrif, you will stop this incessant weeping and inform me as to which installation will be easiest to breach? And you will also use your contacts to find human explosives. I have no care what kind. My soldiers will relocate inside this base thing, plant the explosives and then leave immediately. We will see how they accept retaliation from the Dark Elemaiya." Baltis hissed the last words while Wildrif sniffled and wiped his nose on a sleeve. Baltis exercised his last bit of patience as the quarter-blood then wiped his mismatched eyes and stared up at the Dark King.
"I must consider this," Wildrif dropped his gaze, staring at his shoes instead. The Dark King had not taken thought for Wildrif's comfort or mode of dress—Wildrif's shoes were nearly worn out, as was his clothing. The quarter-blood seer could only think of his time with Obediah Tanner, who was now deceased. Obediah hadn't treated him respectfully either, but at least Wildrif had been dressed better and had gotten regular meals. Now he was forced to beg for his dinner from the cooks in the Dark King's camp.
The deserts of Arizona could be just as unforgiving as anything Wildrif had ever seen, and it made him wish for the relocation talent that the half and full Elemaiya possessed. He cursed his half-blood mother for birthing him as a quarter-blood and thanked the day she'd died in battle against the Bright ones.
"Think quickly, Wildrif; I wish for the human authorities to know my justice is swift. They shall pay for my brother's life," Baltis flipped his dark-red robe and stalked away from the filthy seer.
"Yes, but my justice runs long and deep," Wildrif muttered when no one could hear. "Long and deep."
* * *
"Ashe, find an excuse to get us out of here," Randy muttered softly as his mother puttered about the kitchen, talking over Sara at every opportunity. Sara had sunk into quiet misery as Dawn spoke of this or that. Randy was shocked when Sara didn't want to give her animal away to his mother, but Dawn kept chipping away at the pretty veterinarian until Sara admitted she was a rabbit. Ashe knew that feeling—as the bumblebee bat, he recognized the ridicule when your animal didn't stack up to larger, stronger predators.
"Look, I promised Mr. Winkler I'd be home soon," Ashe said, looking pointedly at the watch Matt Michaels had given him. "Randy, I really need to go. Don't need to get Mr. Winkler or Trace all riled up," he added.
"We'll go, then. Mom, thanks for the sodas," Randy leaned over to peck his mother on the cheek. Sara waited until they were out the door to breathe a relieved sigh.
"Baby, I didn't know it was gonna be like that, I promise," Randy placed an arm about Sara's shoulders and led her to his small Chevy.
"Look, I can get myself home," Ashe said as Randy and Sara climbed into the car. "Sara, really, don't let this bother you. If it'll help, I'll show you my animal. Trust me, yours is nothing to be ashamed of," Ashe said.
"You don't have to," Sara said, but Ashe was already flapping before her face, his clothing dropping onto the concrete drive in a heap.
"Oh, my gosh, it's a bumblebee bat," Sara laughed and clapped her hands. Ashe, smiling mentally, knew that as a veterinarian, Sara would know exactly what he was. "They're endangered," she added. Ashe knew that, too.
Go with Randy, Ashe sent mindspeech to her. Things will work out. I promise. Ashe flapped away on the ocean breeze, leaving Randy, Sara and his clothing behind.
"I'll get it," Randy sighed. Lifting Ashe's clothes from the driveway, he tossed them into the back seat of his car. "Let's go, sweetheart. I owe you a drink, and it'll be something a little stiffer than soda."
* * *
"Kid, I don't think I've ever seen you come home nekkid before," Trace grinned as Ashe walked out of his closet, dressed only in cargo shorts.
Pulling his watch and cell to him from the back of Randy's vehicle, Ashe tossed both on the bed and then summoned a shirt from the closet. Ashe was dressed again quickly, shoving the cell in his pocket and buckling the watchband around his wrist. "Ashe, I wish I knew how you do that," Trace sighed, surprised again when a pair of shoes sailed out of Ashe's closet and landed in the young man's hand.
"It's easy—a few Elemaiya can do it—it's called summoning," Ashe explained. "And that reminds me, I have to pay Sali's speeding ticket online and send a gift to a friend."
"Sal got a speeding ticket? Does his father know?" Trace made himself comfortable on the new chair inside Ashe's bedroom.
"I don't know. It'll be classic Sali to tell Marcus DeLuca everything he can about me and leave a little matter like a speeding ticket out of the narration," Ashe flopped onto the side of his new bed and ran fingers through slightly curly brown hair.
"Ashe, he was your friend—a good one, once upon a time," Trace pointed out.
"Yeah. I wish I could get the old Sali back. Now, all I have is the new Sali, no parents and strange vampires who report every move they see me make to the Head of the Council."
"How do you know that?" Trace asked, watching Ashe closely.
"I can mist, remember? They can't see, hear or smell me while I'm like that. I can hover right over their heads while they spill everything they know right to Wlodek. The old bastard." Ashe bounced off the bed and went to stare out his bedroom window. The moon, nearly full, hung low over the gulf water. Ashe could see the waves piling up on the shore below. With his acute hearing, he could hear them as well.
