The Waning Moon Read online

  She took it and shook. Raw power emanated from her. Definitely a shifter.

  “Mary,” she said. “Jaguar.” She turned back to Isaac. “All the modifications you requested have been made. My payment?”

  “I can pay,” I said. Isaac looked at me, and I shut up. I didn’t want to get in the way of a weird shifter dominance thing.

  He pulled out a sealed envelope—too thick to just be cash.

  “The information you requested.”

  Mary opened the envelope and pulled out several pieces of lined paper. The handwriting was cramped and slanted and covered both sides of each page. Mary skimmed the first couple of pages, gave me an appraising look, and folded the missive up and returned it to the envelope. “Paid in full,” she said. “Will you run with us on the full moon?”

  “No. We are leaving town today. If you would consider throwing in a freebie, I would like to know if there is a close, reputable place to buy a camper.”

  “That information will cost you nothing more.” Mary moved over to a messy desk and found a post-it note. She wrote down a name and address and handed it to Isaac. “Tell them I sent you. You’ll get a discount, and I’ll get a referral bonus.”

  “Thank you. Be careful.”

  “I’ll take it under consideration.”

  We took a moment to look over the modifications, then threw our packs in the back and gently placed the bowling ball bag under our new smugglers’ panel. Isaac looked up the address of the RV dealer on his phone, and we were off. I stood silently while Isaac haggled the purchase price of our new little camper and held out my debit card when asked. I hated feeling like a helpless female, but whenever I opened my mouth, the salesman looked at me as if I was a new and mildly odd species of insect. I consoled myself by imagining turning into a dragon and, after making him piss his pants in fear, lighting him on fire.

  We stopped in Cincinnati for dinner, and I made quick work of a hot roast beef open faced sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy. I considered ordering seconds but decided against it when I saw Florence’s mouth quirk. Why did everyone think my appetite was weird? Dammit! I was feeding a dragon.

  “You’re right,” Florence said, startling me. I hadn’t realized I was projecting. “Your appetite shouldn’t be amusing. Even if you weren’t feeding a dragon and continually shielding us—which burns a lot of calories—your appetite shouldn’t be noticeable or remarkable. I’ve never noted how much Isaac eats, and he has to be eating at least as much as you—especially around the full moon.”

  I was slightly mollified. When the waitress returned, Florence ordered me apple pie a la mode, and I forgave her.

  The sun was low in the sky when we exited the diner and Florence got in the driver’s seat. She drove south out of town, then pulled into a campground at Big Bone Lick State Park.

  After setting up the camper, we built a fire in the pit and watched the stars come out. There were only a few other campers in the park, and we’d parked as far away from them as possible. When it was fully dark, and the park ranger had made his last round, I headed into the trees, found a clearing, slipped off my clothes, and shifted. After stretching out my wings, I took flight. It had been a while since I’d flown, and it felt amazing. I was mindful of the lights of populated areas, and stayed away, not wanting anyone to see me silhouetted against the sky.

  As I flew, I thought about how to get in touch with Arduinna. Even though I’d ordered her to stay away, my father, whoever he was, had commanded her to keep an eye on me. She had to be nearby. The realization was a lot more comforting than I would’ve thought, considering how we’d first met. I’d had fantasies about beating Finn up lately, so I understood the urge.

  After an hour of flight, I winged my way back to the Ohio River and tried to remember exactly where I’d taken off from. There were a lot of wooded areas around. Cincinnati’s lights were to the northeast. I was in the right vicinity, but couldn’t find the clearing from which I’d left. I flew lower, looking for a campground surrounded by fiberglass mammoths. I wasn’t relishing the idea of asking for directions—especially since my clothes were still in the clearing.

  Finally, after flying for too long much too low, I saw displays marking the Big Bone Lick State Park. I flew back towards the river to the trees and looked for a clearing. I landed, looked around, and realized I wasn’t in the right one. Dammit. Now I was going to have to walk around naked until I found my clothes and my companions.

  I reached out with my mind. “Florence? Can you hear me?” I didn’t hear anything back, but I wasn’t always the best at receiving. “If you can, please grab my clothes and come find me. I’m close, but don’t know exactly where I am.”

  While I was waiting, I tried to expand my senses. I should be able to smell them. I remembered tasting the air yesterday and opened my mouth, letting the cooling night air flow over my tongue. I could taste the trees and the river. I could taste campfire. And there was Isaac. I headed towards him and soon heard voices. I stopped and called out as quietly as I could without whispering, “Isaac?”

  The voices changed directions and came towards me. Moments later, two shapes emerged from the darkness, and Florence held out the bundle that was my clothes.

  “Thanks for coming to find me,” I said.

  “You’re welcome,” Isaac said. “Did you get lost?”

  “Yes. My nighttime navigational skills need some work. For a moment, I was worried I was going to have to land on a highway and ask for directions.”

  Florence unsuccessfully attempted to stifle a laugh. “That would’ve been a sight.”

  “I don’t know what would’ve been more newsworthy—the nude girl wanting to go camping or the big green and purple dragon scaring the crap out of the drivers.”

  “I know what I’m more intrigued by,” Isaac said.

  “No,” Florence said. “We are all sharing a camper, and that is the end of that line of thought, Isaac Walker.”

  He grinned, bowed, and said, “As you command.” We went back to the campground, and I told them my theory about calling Arduinna.

  “Should we do it now, or wait until Raj finds us?”

  “I can solve that dilemma for you.”

  A grin crept over my face. Damn vampire, why was I happy to hear his voice?

  “Because you and I are inevitable,” his voice caressed me.

  “Stop reading my mind,” I replied.

  “Not when you’re thinking such complimentary things about me.”

  “Asshole,” I thought at him. His soft laugh made my toes curl.

  “Hey, Raj,” Isaac said. “So glad you found us.”

  Raj laughed out loud. “Your joy at seeing me is almost frightening.”

  Chapter Six

  AN HOUR LATER, fully dressed and sitting at the campsite picnic table, I was ready to talk. Before I could ask how he’d found us so quickly, my thoughts were hijacked by worry. Where will he sleep? In the camper with us? What about daylight? Should I get a coffin?

  “Do not trouble yourself about my sleeping arrangements,” Raj said. “I don’t sleep at night, and I won’t be sharing your little recreational vehicle.” His lip curled.

  “Not much of an outdoorsman?”

  “On the contrary, I enjoy the outdoors. I don’t want to be cooped up in a primitive camper with a bunch of delicious smelling supernaturals. You never know what my…instincts…might drive me to taste.”

  I blushed and was pissed at myself. And Raj. “Stay out of my head, Raj.”

  “Make me,” he challenged.

  I stopped walking and assessed my shields. They looked strong enough from inside, but there must be a crack if Raj was able to worm himself into my mind.

  “I’m not worming, you’re projecting.”

  “It’s true,” Florence confirmed. “The more you try to lock it down, the louder it’s getting. Relax. Don’t worry about it for right now. You dropped your shields when you got lost, and it might take a bit to rebuild them. You’ll g
et better at this, I promise. Soon it will be second nature.”

  I told myself to stop worrying about what Raj was going to pick up from my mind. Instead, I spent a few moments thinking about Isaac and all the delightfully nasty things I was planning on doing with him next time we had some privacy.

  “I’m sorry I told you to quit working on your shields,” Florence said. “Please, for the love of the Goddess, stop.”

  Raj laughed, “I’m rather enjoying it.”

  “Pervert,” I said.

  He projected back at me the same image of Isaac and me entwined in the heat of passion as I’d imagined, but this time, there was another person in my fantasy—a second pair of lips burned kisses across my body. Heat simmer low in my belly and I had to concentrated to control my thoughts. Florence stalked off into the night, muttering about uncontrolled libidos, leaving me with two men who both knew how turned on I was. Raj was picking it up from my mind and Isaac could smell my arousal.

  Isaac, who had only been getting half of the conversation, was glaring at Raj.

  “Okay, everyone,” I said before Isaac could say anything to further deteriorate this conversation. “Let’s get it together. We need to talk about Grigori. We need to discuss plans. I need to call Arduinna. And we need to pick up a coffin for fang boy over here since he won’t fit in a ball bag.”

  “There’s one other thing we need to do,” Raj said.

  “We’re not having a campground orgy.”

  “It’s hardly an orgy if there are only three of us. Trust me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “No sex.”

  “You put a stake in my heart. However, that’s not what I was going to suggest. Instead of finding me a coffin, which I do not need, I was going to suggest I take a drop of blood from each of your companions. I was able to find you quickly because your blood runs in my veins. If I had more—not that I’m suggesting a second taste, of course—I could have found you even sooner. A third taste would allow me to appear at your side. It would allow us to communicate at a distance. Then the only thing that could separate us would be the veil between worlds.

  “A taste of each of your companions would allow me to find them, too, if they were lost or we were somehow separated on this quest.”

  “You’re not coming with us,” Isaac said. “So, it’s not necessary.”

  “I’ll be joining your merry band. I’m going to need upgraded accommodations, though. This is all rather…barbaric.”

  “You must know, based on what’s going on in Portland, that this is going to be high living in a year’s time,” Florence said, reappearing with an armful of firewood. While she worked on the fire, I hit the cooler.

  “Anyone else want a beer?” Isaac and Florence replied in the affirmative, Raj declined. I opened three beers and took them back to the fire.

  “Okay, conversation time. Where should we start?” I asked.

  “Tell me about Grigori,” Raj said.

  “Do you want me to get the head now?”

  “Not until you finish the story.”

  I related our first encounter with Grigori and then talked about how he’d waited for Isaac to exit the motel room, bitten him and sent him on a long errand, and then attempted to compel me to go with him. When I got to the battle scene, Raj leaned forward. “How did you know to burn his heart after you decapitated him?”

  “The first time I nearly decapitated him, he flipped his head back onto his body and laughed at me. Told me he was invincible.”

  “The Black Knight always triumphs,” Raj said.

  I laughed. “Isaac can quote Buffy at me, and you can quote Monty Python? You guys are awesome. Florence—can you pull some geeky quotes out to make this group perfect?”

  “I’ll work on it.”

  “Anyway, after I told him he was a loony—my exact words, of course—I cut out his heart. He verbally expressed his displeasure, which was creepy as fuck. I decided burning his heart would stop him, or at least slow him down long enough to get some help. I burned it in the bathtub. His headless body kept coming until his heart disintegrated. Then his body turned to ash, but his head did not. After Isaac returned, we borrowed a vacuum and a few Ziplocks. We have three bags of body ashes, a baggie of heart ashes, and his head in a bowling ball bag.”

  “Show me the head.”

  I grabbed the ball bag—heh—from the secret compartment and brought it back. Raj raised an eyebrow at the garishly pink and skull covered bag and unzipped it.

  “This is Rasputin. Do you know how many people have attempted to kill him over the years?”

  “Not exact numbers, but he did brag a bit about how a lot of people had tried to take him out and failed. Is he dead?”

  “I’ve never seen a head survive, even on the oldest of vampires, but you say the rest of him is ashes?”

  “Yes.”

  “We should probably scatter the ashes in different bodies of moving water as we continue on this trip, but let’s keep the head as insurance.”

  “There is no ‘we’ on this trip, vampire,” Isaac said.

  Raj looked at him. “You are going to need me,” he said. “You will end up in New Orleans at some point. There is a gate there. You will need me to navigate the territory of the vampire queen.”

  “How do you know there is a gate in New Orleans?” I asked. “I don’t have that information, and I should be the only one who does. I don’t even know where the next gate is, although I do know it isn’t in New Orleans.”

  “Have you ever been, any of you?” Raj expanded his gaze to include Florence and Isaac.

  “I haven’t,” Florence said.

  “Shifters aren’t welcome in New Orleans,” Isaac said.

  “The rumor is one of the cemeteries has a magic leak. It’s a trickle now, but those who are sensitive to such things can feel it. Things are moving that haven’t moved in centuries. Our queen is nervous, and she is never nervous. I haven’t been there recently, but I went to the site of the last gate before you opened it, and I could feel it leaking when I was on top of it. It felt like sunbathing—warm and deadly.”

  “Maybe you could fly around to all the burial mounds in this region and look for another leak,” I said.

  “And miss the fun of the road trip?”

  “We travel during the day. You could zip around at night while we’re sleeping, and then rest in your coffin during the day.”

  Raj’s eyes narrowed. “I do not sleep in a coffin. And I’m not a zippy errand boy.” I laughed. “Are you teasing me?” he asked. I had the sense people didn’t tease him often.

  “A little,” I admitted, holding my finger and thumb close together.

  “You’re not serious about letting him come with us,” Isaac said.

  “We’ll work out the accommodation issue,” I said, “but we’ll need him in New Orleans. He’s right about that.”

  “We could call him when we get there.”

  “Only if the cellular network is still active. Who knows what technologies will still be working when we get there?”

  “I could drink from you twice more to seal our connection, then you could call me without technology,” Raj suggested.

  “No thanks,” I said at the same time Isaac offered a much stronger no. I looked at Isaac, hoping my glare was enough to remind him he didn’t get to fight my battles for me.

  “Ah, well. It was worth a try. Your companions should let me taste them in case we are ever separated.”

  Isaac’s no was even more emphatic this time. Florence, however, offered up her wrist. Raj looked surprised, then took her hand, bent over it as if he was going to press a kiss to the inside of her wrist, and then it was over. I didn’t see any blood.

  “Of course not,” Raj said. “I’m not a messy eater.”

  That reminded me of what Grigori had said and what Raj had promised to talk about when we were no longer on the phone. “What did my blood do to you? You said your sunlight immunity is the product of age—you’re about a thousand, ri
ght?”

  “I am almost 1100 years old.”

  I wanted to hear more of the story, but I sensed—probably due to the warning look from Raj that was apparent even in firelight—questions about his past would not be welcomed now.

  “Maybe someday,” Raj said in my head. I redoubled my efforts to shield.

  “By the time one reaches their first millennium, most vampires have decent sunlight immunity. I prefer not to be out during the middle of the day as the sun makes me uncomfortable, but unless you staked me out in the Thar Desert at high noon—and it would be difficult to convince me to cooperate—I will not expire.”

  “And the effects of my blood? What are they and why did Grigori think sunlight immunity was one of them? Surely he should’ve known that was an age thing.”

  “Rasputin was a bit different,” Raj said. That earned three contemptuous snorts from his audience. He held up a hand. “I mean, you have discovered some of the ways in which he was different, but he did not have a sire. No one knows who turned him. Rasputin himself claimed to be born the way he was. He said he was Koschei the Deathless and no man could kill him.”

  “You are no man,” Florence intoned. “Can I stay in the Nerd Herd now?”

  “It’s good to know you’re a Lord of the Rings fan.” I smiled and reveled in the fact that although I was burdened with an overabundance of obnoxiously old immortals, they were geeky.

  “Back to the subject at hand,” Isaac said.

  “Yes, of course,” Raj said. “Grigori claimed to be Koschei, a true immortal with no vampiric sire. No one ever came forward to claim him, and it was widely assumed either whoever was responsible was too afraid of the retribution that would be visited upon him when the rest of us found out he’d turned someone so insane or Rasputin killed his sire upon rising for the first time. Either way, Rasputin spent his first years mad with power and blood lust, and no one can quite tell when in the timeline he was changed since he was a product of madness and blood lust for much of his known life. He knows nothing of our ways, of our history, and has resisted—rather forcefully—any attempts to educate him.”