Marked in Flesh
Page 79

He stopped suddenly and spun around. In smoke form, the Sanguinati had no scent. They made no sound. But he’d sensed something in the dark.
<Are you running from something?> Vlad asked.
<Maybe I’m just running for the fun of it.>
<You move differently when you’re having fun.>
Did he? Why hadn’t he known that?
He settled into a trot until he came to one of the creeks. He swam to the other side, shook the water out of his fur, then shifted to human and sat on the bank. A moment later, Vlad flowed across the water, shifted, and joined him.
“Why didn’t you tell me the Sanguinati were going to take over Talulah Falls?” Simon said.
“Until I felt confident that the terra indigene who were already there wanted to leave, I wasn’t supposed to say anything.” Vlad stared at the creek. “Sanguinati have ruled the Toland Courtyard since the first humans built houses on the land that became the city. We’ve seen Toland bloat around us, fill itself to bursting with humans. To abandon that Courtyard . . . It feels wrong. Like you would feel if all the Wolves were driven out of the Northwest and High North.”
“But you didn’t leave because of humans.”
“No, but we won’t be going back there.”
Simon studied his friend. “It makes you sad.”
“Yes. But I like it here, so the loss of Toland doesn’t feel as sharp for me.”
“Why Talulah Falls? Wouldn’t Stavros prefer settling in Hubbney, where the region’s government is located?”
“We’re already strongly established in Hubbney. Many of the Toland Sanguinati will resettle there, but Stavros . . .”
“His being there would mean a fight for dominance.”
“Not something we need at any time, but especially right now.” Vlad smiled. “Besides, I think Grandfather is doing a little of what humans call matchmaking.”
Simon blinked. Blinked again. “He’s bringing Stavros here to find a mate? Who?” The second he asked, he knew. “Nyx. What does she think about that?”
Vlad shrugged. “Grandfather is providing an opportunity since Nyx has shown no interest in the males here.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to mate yet.”
Vlad laughed softly. “But it’s good to be available when a female changes her mind.”
Simon growled. “Are we talking about Nyx?”
“Of course.”
“Meg has been very quiet since her visit to the Pony Barn this afternoon.”
“Did Jester say why?”
“He was very quiet too.”
“That’s not good. The Coyote is rarely quiet when he knows something the rest of us don’t.”
“Henry picked up the Elders’ scent on the outskirts of Talulah Falls and on the way home. He thinks they’re just curious, just poking around.”
“He would know better than I would,” Vlad said.
“He thinks we’ll be okay, and humans will be okay. He doesn’t think the Elders are considering extinction anymore.”
“You think he’s wrong?”
“I think I’d like to know why Meg is so quiet.” And why she kept rubbing the right side of her jaw when she thought I wasn’t looking.
CHAPTER 27
Thaisday, Juin 21
Jesse stocked the store shelves with canned soups, tomato sauce and tomato paste, and a variety of canned fruits and vegetables. In the back room, she had big plastic bins that were airtight and mouse-proof. One held five-pound bags of flour; another held bags of sugar, both white and brown; and the third held boxes of pasta that she couldn’t fit on the shelves out front. The fourth she had filled with bags of rice and packages of egg noodles.
Hopefully the supplies would still be good when the people in Prairie Gold needed them.
Enough supplies to last until next spring, Tolya had told her after she’d mentioned her feeling that Prairie Gold might be denied access to other supplies, the same way the bookstore in Bennett had stopped her from buying new books for her store. Food. Medicines. What females need when they come into season and become snappish.
Somehow, having a vampire mention PMS and menses as part of the preparation checklist was more unnerving than having him push her to order food that could be cached for the coming months.
And not just food. Clothes too—everything from underwear and socks to jeans and T-shirts and sweaters and coats. Shoes. Boots. Anything that could be outgrown or worn out.
Something was coming. Everyone in Prairie Gold felt it. The terra indigene knew what they were preparing for, but they weren’t sharing specifics.
More bison had been shot—someone’s idea of malicious fun. The adult Wolves, especially those who were the hunters and guards, were away from their settlement, roaming to find the human culprits and put an end to this waste of food.
Food wasn’t the only thing being wasted. Someone had poured gasoline down prairie dog holes and set them alight. The fire spread over acres of grassland, coming within yards of the settlement’s food crops. Then the wind changed direction, blowing the fire back on itself, saving Prairie Gold’s fresh food for the coming year.
She and Phil Mailer, the postmaster and editor of the Prairie Gold Reporter, had driven to Bennett to report the incident, but no one had seen anything. What was the law enforcement in Bennett supposed to do? The fire didn’t happen in town or on any human land.
She had hoped she was wrong about preparing for isolation, but that isolation had already begun with frightening speed. The Intuits couldn’t make purchases in any of the Bennett shops. You had to show your residence card in order to buy anything. When Truman Skye and Billy Rider, two men from Prairie Gold’s ranch, had asked if that rule applied to people stopping overnight or visiting for a day or two, they were roughed up by a gang of men. After returning home, Truman had told Jesse and Phil—and Joe Wolfgard and Tolya Sanguinati—that the sheriff had been writing out a parking ticket within sight of the fight and didn’t notice two men being attacked by eight. As it was, Truman and Billy escaped with a few scrapes, some bruised ribs, and a couple of black eyes because a tree in the town square uprooted suddenly and crushed the cab of a pickup parked on the street.