Kitty and the Silver Bullet
Page 32

"Yeah. And if it weren't for the show and T. J. and leaving, I'd still be like that. She said that's why Carl turned her. He wanted someone like that again."
"Jesus." For a long moment we sat quietly, letting the doom settle over us. Then he said, "I want you to take the gun. Keep it with you. We'll worry about the permit later."
"Ben—"
"He'll come after you, sooner or later. You have to be able to stop him. And don't just keep it in the glove box in the car. Get a purse, carry it with you."
I drew a deep, frustrated breath. "Guns aren't always the answer."
"Not always. Sometimes, they are." He offered a galling smile.
"Who's the alpha wolf here?"
"Don't packs usually have two alphas?"
He was getting cheeky. I kind of liked it. I squeezed his hand and kissed him. "Thanks. I have to go make some calls."
Jenny slept for ten hours. The next day, she had the look of a fugitive—sunken eyes, permanent frown. But she held herself a little straighter, and she wasn't crying.
I knew of a couple of places where lycanthropes lived and didn't have packs. There were werewolves there who'd look after her. They could help her find a job, get her on her feet. I'd waited until morning to call them, but I made one call before dawn. I knew at least one vampire who could find a place in her household for a wayward cub.
I'd developed this network of friends without even realizing it. Ahmed, an amiable old werewolf, and Alette, a surprisingly humane vampire, in Washington, D.C., both offered to take her in, if I could get her out there. Ahmed gave me a couple of more names, lycanthropes in Los Angeles and Seattle who would help her, if she wanted to go there instead. He said that problems like this came up fairly often, but a few people had found a way to deal with it. Battered lycanthrope shelters. Who'd have guessed?
At last, here was a problem I could fix. Here was someone I could well and truly help. When Jenny woke up around lunchtime, I presented her with a page full of names and phone numbers.
"Do you want to go to Seattle, L.A., or Washington, D.C.?"
She looked at the page warily. "What?"
I tried to sound kind. "If you don't want Carl to be able to get to you, you have to leave town. I have contacts. The ones in D.C., I know them and trust them. They gave me these other contacts, so they're good. You can go, and you won't be alone. The people there are friends, they'll help you."
She stared at the table, and at the glass of orange juice that was all she'd wanted for her late breakfast. The finality of it must have sounded startling. I couldn't imagine what was going on in her head, with so much to think about.
"It's what I did," I said. "I left. Things'll be easier—they'll seem clearer when Carl isn't around."
She swallowed, and still her voice cracked. "This woman in Washington, the vampire—you said she's nice?"
"Yeah, she is. Maybe a little snooty, but aren't they all? She likes taking care of people."
"I think I'd like to go there," Jenny said. "To stay with her."
Alette was female, and wasn't a werewolf. I wasn't surprised Jenny made that choice. "Then we'll get it all set up. See? It's easy."
She sniffed, and I was afraid she'd start crying again. I didn't want her to start crying again. She was going to get me started. But she smiled, for the first time she smiled, a thin and shy expression.
"Thanks," she said. "Everything people say about you—Becky said you'd help."
"I'm happy to," I said, and I was. It felt like winning, and I didn't have to fight anyone, and no one had to die.
Over the next few days, we set everything up. In that time, I wouldn't let her leave the condo, and I wouldn't leave her alone. Ben or I stayed with her the whole time. Usually me. Ben made her nervous, and I couldn't blame her. I was constantly looking out the window, checking the streets, jumping whenever the phone rang. I expected Carl to show up any minute. He didn't.
Ben cleaned a couple of handguns and wore gloves while he loaded them with silver bullets.
I bought Jenny's plane ticket, gave her some extra clothes, and put her on the phone with Alette so the two could get acquainted. Jenny's expression was constantly numb, almost shocky, like she'd survived a disaster. She'd given herself over to strangers and had succumbed to fatalism. For my part, I wouldn't be happy until she was on the plane and away.
The best I could do was walk her to security. We lingered at the end of the line snaking its way to the metal detectors and X-ray machines.
"You have my phone number. Call me if you need anything, anything at all. If it doesn't work with Alette, we'll find something else. You have a lot of choices, okay? Everything’ll look better when you get to a new place."
I wanted her to be happy and excited, but she still looked terrified. "I've never been this scared. Not even the first time I shifted."
"It's going to be okay."
"But I think I miss Carl. Is that weird?"
How I could I convince her that she was doing the right thing? "Part of you always will. I still do sometimes." Though the Carl I missed—the strong, protective Carl, the sex, the feeling of being adored—had faded to a very faint shadow. I mostly remembered Carl the domineering, Carl the angry. "But you have a right to your own life. You don't belong to him."
She nodded, her expression still uncertain.
"Call me when you get there, okay?" I said. "Make sure you meet Ahmed. He runs this bar, it's amazing—"
"I know. You've told me about it ten times now." She flashed a smile. It made her face light up. I could see why Carl had zeroed in on her. It just added fuel to the fire, though, seeing how completely he'd managed to bury her personality.
"Yeah. I have to admit, I think I'm kind of jealous. You get to start out on this great adventure."
"It feels like stepping off a cliff."
"Kind of does, doesn't it? You just have to remember your parachute."
We hugged. It was a human gesture, not a wolf one. She had to be able to draw on the human side—the side that knew she could live without Carl—if she was going to get through this.
I watched her disappear down the escalator leading to the trains that ran to the concourse. You needed a ticket to go any farther. I took that as a consolation. No one who could hurt her knew she was here. No one could get to her. She was safe now.