Winter Wolf Read online

  I decided to ignore the book’s lust for blood and murder. So far as I could tell, it wanted to keep me alive, and dead people couldn’t threaten me. “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”

  ~Exactly.~

  “If I wanted to find someone who disappeared a long time ago, could I?” I kept my voice to a whisper, worried about waking the others. While the book could read my mind when it wanted, if I spoke, it had to listen. If I didn’t, it could choose to ignore my questions.

  I wanted to be done with being ignored and feeling helpless. I was tired of the gut-wrenching guilt I carried around with me just because I existed. With three people in the world who knew what I was, and hadn’t tried to kill me right away because of it, maybe I didn’t have to be alone all of the time.

  After giving me a few minutes to think, it said, ~If you want to find someone who doesn’t want to be found, you need something of theirs. Do you have something they owned? Anything at all? It would work best if you had their hair, nail trimmings, or blood. Do they have a direct descendant?~

  Shaking my head, I sank down on the couch. My stomach gurgled its displeasure at me. After over a day without a real meal, I was fit to kill—and the idea of eating whatever got in my way wasn’t entirely repulsive.

  ~They’re influencing you.~ The book was amused. It didn’t seem all that concerned.

  I flipped a rude gesture at it. “You’d be hungry too. Oh, that’s right. You can’t get hungry. I’d call room service, but they’d wake up.”

  ~Bitch,~ the book said with fondness.

  “Hungry bitch,” I mumbled, getting up to prowl around the suite in search of something to nibble on. I found a little refrigerator tucked in a corner, but it proved empty, save for a small container of coffee cream. When my search of the sitting room failed, I expanded my efforts to the second bedroom, where I found a stash of chocolates and granola bars. With the worst of my hunger satiated by sweets, I decided to go through the files, which had been left on the table.

  Most of it I already knew, though there were several pages of research notes on the nature of the plague, and what I read terrified me.

  Ebola was something best left to scary movies and secluded cases in Africa, but the notes pointed at ebolavirus zaire as a close match for what infected the werewolves—except it didn’t infect humans. The notes also implied it didn’t infect real wolves either. I took the files to the office, where I found several dictionaries, including a medical reference book. Someone had flagged a bunch of pages with slips of paper. Reading through the file took time; whoever had written it liked medical jargon, and I spent more time looking up definitions than anything else.

  What I learned matched what my father had said on the phone—and what Scott had experienced. The Fenerec were in a lot of trouble and were out of time.

  The only good news I found was that unlike ebolavirus zaire, the plague infecting the Fenerec had a very, very long incubation time. It wouldn’t save them, but it bought time for the newly infected. Using the office’s fax machine, I made copies of the medical files. I flipped over one of the sheets. Something occurred to me, and I spent a long time staring at the blank page in front of me.

  If the incubation period was so long for the disease, why weren’t the Fenerec creating more of their kind to save themselves from extinction?

  ~Good question,~ the book commented. I squeaked, spinning in my chair. I’d left the book on the dining table, out of sight, though apparently not out of mind. ~You need me,~ it reminded me when I considered burning it.

  I acknowledged the truth with a nod. “That is why I haven’t lit you on fire yet.”

  ~Appreciated,~ it said in a wry tone.

  I’d never get used to the book using my voice. Disgusted, I went back to work. Until I knew what I was up against, I couldn’t help the Fenerec. Even if I did know the enemy, I wasn’t sure if I could do anything to save them.

  ~We’ll figure something out,~ the book promised, though I heard the doubt in its voice. ~If we don’t like the rules of the game, we’ll make new ones.~

  “Got to know the rules first,” I muttered, and reread the medical file for the fifth time, searching for some magical clue that would tell me what I needed to do to save the Fenerec from extinction.

  I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t find anything.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The morning crawled by and the pile of sleepers on the king-sized bed didn’t stir. By noon, I was sick of chocolate and wanted real food. While I stomped my way to the bedroom, I couldn’t bring myself to stay irritated at the pair of Fenerec and the witch. It looked like they had found some semblance of peace in their sleep.

  ~They were up late watching over you. They were worried,~ the book whispered to me. I scowled. While I was used to Dominic’s overbearing ways, I wasn’t used to the idea of anyone looking out for me—except for me. Could I trust them with my secret? My doubts remained. Determined not to be a burden to anyone, I decided I would be cheerful—someone the two Fenerec and the witch wouldn’t mind being stuck with.

  ~I think you can trust them. Alex’s life is in your hands, and they know it. To them, a wizard isn’t evil. It could mean salvation. It may not be true, but many believe a wizard can do anything.~

  If I failed, I’d lose my family, and Richard would lose his—and if I wasn’t careful, Amber would lose her life for not telling the Inquisition of my existence. Even if I succeeded, I’d never be able to stop running from the Inquisition and its wolves and witches.

  ~You could always disappear again,~ the book suggested, though there was hesitancy in its voice. ~I can teach you how.~

  I was so, so tired of running. I stood straighter, grabbed hold of the duvet, and pulled on it as hard as I could. Richard and Alex tumbled to the floor, while Amber made a startled mewling noise.

  The two Fenerec continued to sleep. “Are you serious?” I asked, prodding Alex with my toe. He mumbled and rolled over onto his brother. “There will be corpses if I don’t have lunch soon.”

  Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, Amber lurched upright and stared at me. “What time is it?”

  “Noon.”

  The witch grumbled, grabbed a pillow, and threw it at me. I caught it, took hold of the corner, and proceeded to beat Richard and Alex awake with it.

  “You’ve been sleeping long enough. Up, up,” I ordered, emphasizing my demand by smacking them with the pillow again.

  Richard woke first, sitting up and snatching the pillow out of my hands. There was a wolf-yellow gleam in his brown eyes, but when he stared at me, he smiled a little, and sleepily flopped back onto the floor.

  “Go back to bed, Nicole,” Alex mumbled, curling up next to his brother. “It’s not time to get up yet.”

  “But it’s noon,” I protested, poking the Fenerec with my toe. “If I eat another piece of chocolate, I’m going to develop diabetes.”

  “So call room service.” Richard’s voice was muffled by the pillow.

  “Fenerec like to think they’re nocturnal,” Amber said, and to my relief, she swung her legs off the bed. “It’s fine, Nicole. I’ll take you out for something nice to eat. Let these old dogs rest their poor achy bones.”

  There was something about Amber’s tone that caught my attention. When I looked at her, she shook her head a little. I pointed at the other room, and she nodded.

  Richard growled a little, but before he could get up, Amber circled the bed and nudged him with her foot. “I’ll take good care of her, don’t worry. If anyone does anything stupid, I’ll take care of them if she doesn’t first.”

  “That’s right,” I replied, pulling the duvet off the bed and dropping it over the brothers. “Go back to sleep. And I thought I had trouble getting up some mornings.”

  “You’re in a good mood,” Amber said, heading to the suitcases she had brought the night before. She pulled out some clothes for herself before throwing some of my things at me. “Feeling better?”

  “I’m fi
ne. Bored, though. If I read over that medical file one more time, my eyes were going to rot out of my head.” I wrinkled my nose. “I’ll go back to digging after lunch.”

  “I might be able to help with that,” she said. We dressed, and to my relief, my messenger bag was among the things Amber had pilfered from my apartment. I stuffed the book inside along with all six of my focal stones and the debens. If something happened while we were out, maybe my precaution would be enough to help me protect myself.

  ~It’ll do.~

  I refused to reply to the book. Talking to myself would be a very quick way to convince Amber I wasn’t as stable as she thought I was. I waited until we were alone in the elevator before saying, “You wanted to talk about something without the Fenerec hearing. What?”

  “You need to learn how to protect yourself.”

  My laughter was bitter. “That’s the understatement of the year, Amber.”

  “I can help you with that, but you’ll need to trust me.” Amber winced as the elevator filled up, and she didn’t say anything else. I kept my mouth shut.

  The book had warned me when I first acquired it of one simple truth: anyone could be an Inquisitor. Amber being one was bad enough, but if she could help me, I’d sleep with the enemy for a while. The book didn’t seem to object to the idea, which comforted me a little. I didn’t think the book was infallible, but its judgment and common sense had kept me alive so far.

  “Let’s find somewhere off the strip where we can talk.” Amber linked her arm with mine and pulled me along beside her. The elegance of the hotel made way for an indoor parking garage occupied by hundreds of vehicles. “Something to remember if you ever come to Vegas again. Valet service is great, but if you park your own car, you can escape a lot faster.” She glanced over her shoulder. “That, plus the Inquisition loves to plant people as valets. It’s an easy and cheap way to look for targets. Fenerec are often wealthy. Since they can’t hunt people, they hunt money. And the rogues often hunt both. Sometimes they get careless and the valets figure out who they are so they can be brought down.”

  I shuddered. Valet service was a common thing among the rich and the famous. Who wanted to park their own car when it was easy to toss the keys to someone else? It was a smart policy—and another reason to fear the Inquisition. “Why are you telling me this?”

  “If you want to live long enough to help Alex, you need to know. How long have you been…?”

  “Five or six years, give or take a few months,” I mumbled.

  ~You’re not like the Fenerec, who make a choice to become what they are. You were always a wizard. You had the need and the power, so you awakened. I simply helped you get there faster. There are many wizards in the world, but they live and die without knowing it.~

  I tightened my hold on my messenger bag and thought about the book’s words. Did my parents know what they had spawned?

  ~You’re not a fish or a monster. You weren’t spawned.~

  “That long? Most…” Amber swallowed, shook her head, and pulled a set of car keys out of her pocket. She hit a button and a car nearby beeped. Like Richard’s car, it was sporty, but large enough to have a backseat.

  I opened the passenger door and got inside, buckling up. The inside smelled new. “Most probably don’t live very long, do they?”

  Amber swallowed. “They don’t. Months, if they’re lucky. More often than not, days. It’s easy to spot a wizard, Nicole.”

  “Power outages. Strange spikes in electricity consumption. Cell phones that don’t lose their charge,” I said, watching her out of the corner of my eye. “Lights flicker, electronics turn on and off at random. It’s like something straight out of a horror flick.”

  She stared back at me with a puzzled expression. “Yes. So how did you avoid getting caught?”

  “Got a cell phone?”

  She reached into her pocket and handed it to me. It was the same one from L.A., and I cringed a little at the memory of the bookstore. I unlocked it with a swipe of my finger. “Cell phones are funny things. Run a few apps, and they run out of battery pretty quick. But give a cell phone to a wizard and she can learn to control her powers because she’s too busy charging her phone to meddle much with anything else. They’re greedy.”

  When I handed it back, the charge held stable near full. She stared at it, and at the battery monitoring icon. “It’s still charging and you’re not touching it.”

  I shrugged. “Don’t ask me, Amber. I don’t know how I do it. Once I touch a device, or the person holding it, I can manipulate it, so long as it’s nearby. I wasn’t the one who played with the lights in the mall, though. I don’t know how to tell who else is a wizard. I mean, I could’ve done it easily enough, but it wasn’t me. I’m aware of when I’m doing something. I have to be. I figured out the trick to it quick. I was lucky, I guess. My first major mishap was blamed on faulty electric wiring. I lived in a really crappy apartment back then.”

  “Most get caught because they take electricity, then they have nowhere else to store it. Boom. Explosion, fire, thunderstorms. We’re taught what to look for, so we can protect people.”

  I nodded. “I’m usually using it on something, usually my cell phone. When I’m at home, I power my television and appliances. Someone looking at my bill might notice a little lower than normal consumption.”

  “A little lower than normal consumption?”

  Laughing at the surprise in Amber’s voice, I settled back against the leather seat, staring out the window at the huge casinos as she drove down the strip. “I knew what would happen if the Inquisition found out about me. I still don’t know why I didn’t kill you yesterday when you did that… thing.”

  “You’re not the type,” Amber said, her eyes fixed on the heavy traffic.

  I hitched my thumb at one of the side streets. “Wouldn’t it be faster if we got off this street?”

  “Faster doesn’t mean better. Gives us time to talk.”

  Considering Las Vegas Boulevard was crawling, I figured she had a lot to talk about. The pedestrians were out pacing us. My stomach gurgled a protest. “I’ll survive, I hope.”

  Amber drummed her fingers on the steering wheel while waiting for the light to change to green. “You’re as bad as a Fenerec when hungry. All right, food first. What are you in the mood for?”

  “Anything, as long as it’s cooked.”

  I enjoyed listening to Amber’s airy, sweet laugh.

  ~~*~~

  Instead of leaving the Strip to find food, Amber parked her car at Mandalay Bay and took us to the buffet. Once satiated, she wasn’t happy with leaving the hotel without seeing the sights. I followed in her wake, pleasantly full and content to do what she wanted.

  I had reasons to dislike predators, but I couldn’t help but like the Shark Reef: there was something majestic and wonderfully lethal about sharks.

  We didn’t talk much, not until we returned to the safety of her car.

  “Tourists do touristy things,” Amber explained as I buckled in. “Richard told your agent fellow that you were in town for a family matter and that you would be seeing the sights while you were here.”

  “I am still amazed he pulled that off,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Dominic doesn’t like stuff like that. He’d normally insist to talk to his client.”

  “Richard didn’t tell me the specifics, I’m afraid. Just that he dealt with your agent, and the excuse given so I could play along. So, I’m a family friend who is showing you around.”

  I shivered. “The Inquisition could be watching me.”

  “Oh, they’re definitely watching you. And I’ll lie to them so well that not even a Fenerec will be able to catch me at it. You do know that, right? Don’t lie to a Fenerec. They can smell it on you.” Amber drove off the Strip, heading out of the city into the desert. “They think you’re a Normal, though. You’re just an unfortunate woman who happens to look like someone a few years older than you.”

  Lisa’s picture still surprised me. We w
ere the same age, but she looked older. I hadn’t aged much, not since acquiring the book. I had scars, but she looked worn out and far older.

  We didn’t look much like twins, not anymore.

  “Lisa,” I said, staring out over the bleak landscape.

  “Yes. There are those who would like nothing more than for Lisa to die. I can understand why. People think that without her around, there wouldn’t be as many deaths. They’re wrong, though. Someone would just replace her. She’s one of the Inquisition’s executioners and she does her job very, very well. Someone got her picture and spread it around. There are those who want her dead, and there are those who just want her. You’re caught in the crossfire. You happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time at the mall. For that, I’m sorry. It… couldn’t have been easy for you. It didn’t help I overreacted at the hotel, either.”

  Richard had mentioned my sister’s involvement with the Inquisition, but Amber’s label of executioner startled and frightened me. I didn’t want to believe my sister was capable of such a thing, but at the same time, she was a Fenerec. Violence followed in their wake. Violence too often led to death, but I didn’t want to believe she hunted death so willingly.

  ~Some people run away. Some show their anger by hunting worthy foes,~ the book told me. All I could hear in its voice was pity.

  “I reacted the same way. I think it’s fair to say we’re even. But this is just great. So not only is she dying from plague, Lisa’s on the supernatural’s version of America’s Most Wanted.” I sighed and leaned my temple against the window. “Is there any good news at all?”

  “When she doesn’t want to be found, no one finds her. She’s not a Fenerec to be crossed. She’s cunning, and she has great control, too. She doesn’t even need to have a witch.”

  I tilted my head so I could stare at Amber. “What do you mean by that?”

  “You really don’t know much about Fenerec, do you? Or the Inquisition, for that matter.” Amber frowned and deep lines crossed her brow.