Refuge

Chapter 1-2

I turned away from the window with a sigh and hunted for a pair of jeans and a shirt in my ridiculously huge closet. Who needs a closet the size of a small bedroom anyway? My clothes took up half a rack and two shelves. A few days ago, the rest of my boxes from home had arrived, and most of them still sat unopened on the floor of the closet. That still left almost three-quarters of the closet bare. Claire, the woman who had shown me around the day I arrived, told me they had set up a line of credit for me to buy anything I needed, but so far I hadn’t bothered. It wasn’t as if I had anywhere to go, and my old clothes served me well enough. Besides, I felt weird about spending Mohiri money when I barely knew them.

I grabbed a warm coat and a paperback from my nightstand. The book was one of Nate’s and I’d read it before, but reading it again made me feel a little less homesick. I tucked the book in my pocket as I left my room.

As I descended the stairs, the murmur of voices grew louder. It was lunchtime, but the last place I wanted to be was in the crowded dining hall. Instead, I left by the door in the training wing that opened to a courtyard at the rear of the building. To my right was the wide, deep river that bordered one side of the property. I started that way, but the call of the woods was stronger. Besides, I always had the feeling someone was watching me when I went near the river. No doubt they were making sure I did not fall in and drown myself.

I passed a group of warriors carrying bows and swords, and they nodded politely but didn’t speak to me. As beautiful as Westhorne was, I was constantly reminded that it was a military holding. The Mohiri had dozens of compounds across the US alone, and at least ten of them were like this one. The rest were community compounds that were even more fortified than Westhorne, but were less involved in military operations. I did not have to ask why I hadn’t been sent to one of the Mohiri communities. No one wanted to take a chance of the Master attacking a compound full of kids if he ever figured out I was alive. So I came here instead.

Home sweet home.

The scent of pine surrounded me when I entered the woods. Overhead, I could see only patches of blue sky through the canopy of branches, but the sun still managed to seep through, its rays casting a dappled pattern of light across the ground. It was so quiet here, and the only sounds came from the birds in the branches above my head. I took a deep breath, imagining I was in the woods back home in New Hastings, and I could almost pretend Remy or one of his little cousins was about to sneak up on me like they used to.

I shook off my melancholy because the woods were too beautiful to allow sadness to mar them. Sticking my hands in my pockets, I wandered aimlessly, content just to be outdoors and alone for a while. It will get easier, I told myself like I did every day. They had a lot more rules here than I was used to, but the people were not unkind, even if they were different. Just because I didn’t feel at home here, it wasn’t fair of me to judge the whole Mohiri race after less than two weeks.

You mean it’s not fair to judge them because of him.

Thinking about him would only make me angry, so I made an effort to focus on anything but him. I stepped into a small sunny glade where the air felt ten degrees warmer than in the shade of the big trees. It was a chilly day, almost too cold to sit outside, but it was infinitely better than being inside. I closed my eyes and raised my face to the sun, listening to the quiet sounds of the forest and breathing in its rich, earthy smell. Yes, this will do nicely, I thought as I stretched out in the grass with my book.

I barely got through two chapters before a small brown rabbit hobbled into view and stopped at the edge of the trees. Even when I’m not using my power, it seems to broadcast to animals and other creatures, letting them know I am not a threat. But gentler creatures like rabbits are still a bit wary. I laid my book by my side and reached for my power, sending a stream of it toward the rabbit. His nose twitched, and he sniffed the air for a minute before he started moving forward. I let him come to me, not moving even when he touched his nose to my hand. I let power flow from my hand into him until he lay against my side trustingly.

I sat up slowly, so I did not startle him, and laid my hand on his back to feel for the source of his injury. It didn’t take long to find the swelling and inflammation in one of his hind legs. I moved my hand until it closed around the injured leg and felt around for the extent of the damage. “Don’t worry, little guy. I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”

A familiar heat welled in my chest and flowed down my arm to my hand where it sought out the injury, enclosing it in a healing fire that easily knit the hairline crack in the bone and burned away the swelling. I felt the leg return to its normal size, and I withdrew my power and lifted my hand from the rabbit. “There you go, as good as new.” I’d like to see Callum do that. I might not be warrior material, but I had other gifts. Perhaps I’d be better off if I stuck to healing and left the killing to the real warriors.

The rabbit shifted his weight and took a few hesitant hops before he decided his leg was working right again. “See you around,” I called to him as he went happily on his way. I lay back in the grass again to recover from the healing, and I was surprised to realize I wasn’t feeling drained at all. Strange, even a small healing usually required a little recovery time. If anything, I felt energized, restless.

I got to my feet and started walking again. There was a small lake less than a mile from the estate. I’d seen it on a map in the library, but the first time I tried to go to the lake I was detained. Maybe this time I’d get lucky.

“What the – ? Not again.” I came to a halt when my scalp began to tingle and my hair crackled like it was charged with static. My palms and the bottoms of my feet started to grow warm and itchy, and currents raced along the skin of my arms beneath the sleeves of my coat. A rustling sound made me look down to see the dead leaves around my feet quiver, even though there was no wind.

As quickly as it had started, it was gone. What is going on? It was the second time I’d experienced something like this in the last four days. I suspected it was an undine thing because Aine had told me my powers were still developing, but there was no one I could ask about it. I wished I knew how to contact her. She promised to visit me soon, but I had a feeling that the Fae had a different concept of time than everyone else. For her, soon might mean a few weeks or a few years. I had no idea.

“Ugh!” I yelped as a spot in the center of my chest began to itch and a cold knot formed beneath my breastbone. This was new. The coldness was not painful but it did feel uncomfortable, and it alarmed me that it was exactly where I’d been stabbed a month ago. Aine said the faeries had healed me completely, but what if she was wrong? Even the faeries had admitted they were not sure how my body would react to the vampire blood that had been on the knife.

Rubbing my chest, I resumed walking and hoped the cold knot would go away. I turned and started back toward the stronghold, and to my immense relief, the knot began to ease. Whatever it was, it seemed to be going away on its own.

“Someone’s been a bad girl again.”

I jumped a foot in the air and spun around to face the man who had so easily snuck up on me. The red-haired warrior standing less than five feet away shook his head and gave me his “you know you’re not supposed to be out here” look.

“I really wish you wouldn’t do that,” I grumbled.

“Do what?” asked another voice, and I let out a small squeal as I whirled around again to find a grinning mirror image of the red head. “Damn it, guys! Stop it!”

Laughter filled the woods as the twin warriors moved to stand side-by-side in front of me. Seamus and Niall were so identical that I doubted even their mother could tell them apart. They were the same size with bright green eyes, spiky red hair, and boyishly handsome faces. Right now they sported identical smirks.

“Now where would you be off to on this fine day?” asked the one I thought was Niall.

“Just taking a walk and I was already heading back. You can go back to patrolling or whatever it is you do out here.”

“Well, unless you are planning to spend the night in the mountains, you’re headed in the wrong direction,” said the other who might or might not be Seamus.

Mountains? I must have been thrown off by all the weirdness I’d been experiencing a little while ago. It wasn’t like me to get turned around in the woods.

“Come on, back you go.” The twins moved to flank me, and I held up a hand to stop them.

“I can make it back on my own. Just point me in the right direction.”

“Sorry, lass, we have our orders.”

“Oh come on, you guys, not again.” My plea fell on deaf ears, and I found myself being escorted along a trail I hadn’t even known was there. The twins were watchful as if danger was hiding behind every tree, walking with me between them like a wayward child . . . or a prisoner.

“I was only getting some fresh air. You can stop treating me like I’m some fugitive.”

The twin on my right spoke – I’d given up trying to tell them apart. “Isn’t that what she said the first time, brother?”

“Aye, and we were near fool enough to be taken in by that sweet smile.”

“That was over a week ago. How long are you going to hold that against me?”

“And what about three days ago?” asked the twin on my left.

“I told you I just wanted to hang out by the lake for a while. Where is the harm in that?”

The right twin snickered. “Like the last time you went to hang out by a lake, huh?”

“How do you know about that?”

He gave me a lopsided grin. “We’ve heard lots of stories about you.”

“Which is why you won’t be pulling the same trick with us,” added his brother. “Though I am starting to feel a wee bit sympathetic to those guys.”

The trees thinned and I saw the stone walls of the sprawling building I now called home. We passed the edge of the woods and stepped onto the wide green lawn. “I think I can make it from here,” I told them.

Neither of them took the hint, and they stayed on either side of me as we walked toward the building. I folded my arms and went with them. No one had told me when I came here that being under Mohiri protection meant being treated like someone in a juvenile detention center. The twins were always good-natured about it, but they were still my guards no matter how you looked at it.

We neared the courtyard outside the training wing where two men stood talking, and as we approached they turned to watch us with knowing looks. Two more men walked around a corner, and I recognized them as Callum and the blond man who had shown up in training earlier. Callum gave me an amused nod, but the blond man’s expression was unreadable.

I pulled away from the twins without a word and marched toward the door, trying to hide my anger and embarrassment. I’d promised to give this place a try, but I couldn’t take much more of this. If this was going to be my life from now on, I wanted out.

I was almost at the stone archway of the courtyard when I heard shouts and saw the two men in the courtyard staring behind me with horrified expressions. What now? My heart raced as I whirled, expecting to find an army of vampires descending upon us.

At first, all I saw was Seamus and Niall drawing their swords along with Callum and his companion. “Run, lass!” yelled one of the twins. He jerked his head to the left to look at something. I followed his gaze and gasped at the sight of two monstrous creatures bearing down on us.

Bearing down on me.