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by Lena Diaz
Excerpt...
“I need
you to promise you will stay here and not make a sound.”
Was he
crazy?
He shook
her lightly and whispered, “It is for your protection. If
you scream or draw attention to yourself, you will be in
danger. Do you understand?”
No. She
didn’t understand. What was he talking about? The only
danger she was in, was from him.
Rafael
made a disgusted noise behind her. Was that a growl?
“I guess
we have to do this the hard way.”
Ariana
squeezed her eyes shut and her heart slammed in her chest.
The hand over her mouth clamped down even harder as he
slowly sat up so that he was holding her trapped on the
cold, hard ground between his legs. He held her so tightly
she could barely breathe.
“Open
your eyes, little fool.”
Her eyes
flew open and she recoiled in shock at what she saw. They
were in the forest, sitting on the ground behind a thick
pine tree and some palmetto bushes. No more than thirty feet
away, directly across the clearing, were four men. The
metallic scent of blood filled the air. A woman was lying on
the ground at their feet, her hair so matted with blood that
Ariana couldn’t tell what color it was. A dirty gag was
stuffed into her mouth, held in place with duct tape. More
of the tape bound her wrists together, but her legs were
free. She took advantage of that mistake by swinging them
out in a powerful kick that knocked one of the men onto the
ground.
His
companions laughed and he jumped to his feet, delivering a
vicious kick to the woman’s ribs. She doubled over in pain
and Ariana whimpered behind the hand that covered her mouth.
Rafael
leaned down and whispered, “Now do you understand?”
Ariana
nodded frantically. That poor
woman. Why wasn’t Rafael helping her?
A heavy
sigh sounded in her ear. “I am going to remove my hand from
your mouth. Promise me you will not make a sound.”
She
nodded.
He slowly
released the pressure of his hand. When she remained silent,
he eased his hold around her waist. She drew her first deep
breath since waking up.
She
almost squeaked in surprise when he picked her up and gently
placed her on the ground beside him.
At the
sound of a muffled cry, she glanced toward the woman. One of
the men was laughing as he poked a sharp stick into her leg,
drawing blood. Horrified, she turned back to Rafael.
He was
gone.
An angry
shriek rent the night. Ariana jerked around just as one of
the men sailed across the clearing. It was the man with the
stick. He landed with a solid crack as his spine and head
whipped against the ground. He didn’t get up.
Rafael
crouched in a protective stance over the woman’s body as the
three remaining men circled around him.
Light
from the full moon shone down into the clearing, but
Ariana’s mind refused to believe what she was seeing.
The men
were snarling like animals, their sharp, long fangs shining
in the moonlight. Ariana’s mouth dropped open and her gaze
whipped back to Rafael. Fangs burst from his gums as two of
the men charged toward him.
She
whimpered and the last man turned his head and looked
directly at her.
She
placed her hand over her mouth, belatedly realizing she had
just made herself a target.
Scrambling backwards, she sobbed in terror as the man ran
toward her, his fangs dripping saliva like a rabid dog. She
turned around and lunged to her feet, but before she could
take a step, she was knocked down. She fell hard, crying out
in pain when her jaw cracked against the ground.
She
curled into a fetal position and wrapped her hands
protectively over her head as she waited for the man to rip
her to shreds with his fangs.
Loud
snarls, cracks and shrieks of pain filled the night, but no
one touched her. She lay trembling, afraid to move.
When a
hand lightly shook her shoulder, she screamed and jerked
away.
“Hush.
You are safe now.”
She
stilled at the sound of Rafael’s gently crooning voice. He
rubbed his hand up and down her back in soothing strokes
while he brushed her hair away from her face.
She
risked a quick glance at him and shuddered with relief.
No fangs.
It must
have been a trick of the moon.
She sat
up and flipped the rest of her thick, brown hair over her
shoulders.
He
reached out and tenderly stroked her bruised jaw. “You are
hurt.”
She
trembled, her skin tingling with a strange, comforting
warmth beneath his fingers. “It’s not that bad. I bumped it
against the ground when I fell.”
He drew
his hand back and she wiggled her jaw. “How strange. It
suddenly feels much better. I could have sworn it was
broken.”
“Stay
here.” He stood and walked back toward the clearing. Ariana
peered through the shrubs and saw that all four men were
lying on the ground, apparently unconscious. Amazing. How
could one man win against odds like that?
The woman
was still lying on the ground, curled up in a ball. Rafael
was leaning down beside her, carefully running his hands
along her body, apparently feeling for injuries.
Ariana
suddenly realized she could probably run away unseen. He was
busy with the other woman. She hesitated when she heard a
moan of pain, her self-preservation instincts warring with
her desire to help the woman.
“If you
run, I’ll just catch you again. You might as well see for
yourself that she is going to be okay. Then you can stop
worrying about her.”
Okay,
that was too weird. It was almost like he knew what she was
thinking.
“Are you
coming or not?”
She
sighed and stood up, brushing the dirt and pine needles from
her jeans as she trudged toward the clearing. The man was a
real pain in the --"
“Ariana!”
“All
right, I’m on my way!” Geesh. He was acting like her husband
instead of her abductor. As she walked toward him, she
wondered why she felt so comfortable around him. It didn’t
make sense. He had literally drugged her, or something, and
kidnapped her. She should be terrified. Instead, the concern
uppermost in her mind was whether or not he had been hurt
during the fight with those horrible men.
Maybe
seeing him protect her and the other woman had made her drop
her defenses and identify with him. One of those things
where you identify with your kidnapper.
Right.
She
shrugged away her confused thoughts, determined not to
analyze her feelings toward him. He was fashioning a splint
around the woman’s ankle.
Ariana’s
gaze traveled up the woman’s leg, noting with surprise that
the woman wasn’t hurt as badly as she had thought. She
didn’t appear to be bleeding anymore. No bruises either. In
fact, other than the ankle, she didn’t even look hurt.
“Ariana?
Is that really you?”
She
glanced sharply at the woman. “I’m sorry? Do I know you?”
The
woman’s mouth dropped open and she looked at Rafael. “Is she
who I think she is?”
He
shrugged. “I don’t know. Yet.”
“Could
someone please tell me what is going on here?” Ariana
demanded. “Why aren’t you badly hurt? Not that I want you to
be hurt, don’t take that the wrong way. But there is blood
everywhere and I don’t see a single cut on you. And how do
you know my name? For that matter, why am I even here? Would
someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
She ran
out of breath and simply glared at both of them.
The woman
turned a startled glance at Rafael, and burst out laughing.
She reached out her hand toward Ariana. “Hi, I’m Monique.
Pleased to meet you, although I have a strong feeling we’ve
met before. Unless you’re a metamorph like me, that is.” She
winked.
Ariana
automatically shook her hand, then asked, “A what?”
“You
know, a shape-shifter.”
“A shape
. . . you mean, like a werewolf?”
She
grimaced. “Ugh. No, not like that. I don’t do the animal
thing. Only human forms for me. I don’t like wolves.” She
looked at Rafael. “Well, most wolves anyway.”
Ariana’s
mouth dropped open as she stared at the two people in front
of her. Now she knew why she hadn’t been terrified of
Rafael. He wasn’t some psychotic weirdo out to kill her. He
was just a psycho, period.
“I think
you’re frightening her, Monique.”
“Oh no,
not at all. Why should I be frightened? I’m in the woods in
the middle of the night with a couple of escapees from the
funny farm. Oh right, from what she said I guess
you’re a werewolf, so you would be the escapee from the
local humane society. Got it. No problems here.”
He
gritted his teeth, “I am not a werewolf.”
“No? Then
you must be a meta-- I'm sorry. Monique, what did you say
you were?”
Monique’s
eyes sparkled with amusement. “A metamorph. I can shift into
any human form for a short period of time.”
“Right.”
She turned to Rafael, whose expression was growing darker by
the minute. “You’re not a wolf-man, so you must be a
metamorph. Have I got everything straight now?”
“No, you
don’t.” He stood and pulled Monique to her feet. She placed
her weight on her ankle and smiled.
“It feels
great, Rafael. I’m sure it will be fine by morning. Thanks
again. You’re always there when I get into a scrape.”
“Leaving
so soon? Why don’t you shift shapes for me, show off a bit.
I’d just love to see that.”
Monique
glanced at Rafael, then back at her. “Um, I don’t think so.
I really need to get home and put this leg up.”
“Oh come
on. I’m sure wolf-man here would enjoy the show just as much
as me.”
Monique’s
eyes flew open. She sputtered, “He’s not a wolf-man, honey.
He’s a vampire.”
“Guardian, not vampire. Guardian,” Rafael corrected
through clenched teeth.
Ariana
clapped her hands together. “Well, that settles it. This is
really cozy. The Guardian, whatever the hell that is, the
metamorph and the human.”
“I
wouldn’t be so sure about the human part,” Rafael muttered
beneath his breath as he started dragging the bodies of the
four men together into a pile, temporarily distracting her
from her tirade.
“What are
you doing? Aren’t you hurting them, throwing them on top of
each other like that?”
Rafael
looked at her, his eyebrows climbing into his hairline.
“Hurting them?”
“Yes.
When they wake up, that’s really going to be painful, the
way you’re throwing them around.”
He shook
his head and rolled his eyes, then deliberately dropped the
body of the last man on top of the pile. “Trust me. They
won’t feel a thing.”
“Well, it
was nice . . . chatting with you . . . Ariana. But like I
said, I have to go.”
“Wait.
Aren’t you going to shift for me? I’d really like to see
that.” She folded her arms across her chest, a smug look on
her face.
Monique
paused, then looked at Rafael. He was staring at Ariana with
an exasperated look on his face. When he met Monique’s
questioning stare, he threw his hands in the air. “Go ahead.
She asked for it.”
Grinning
like a child about to perform a trick, Monique’s body was
suddenly enveloped in a bright green light. The light
crackled and flared before fading away. In its place stood
an exact replica of Ariana, with a proud grin on her face.
“Ta da!”
Rafael
was stacking wood on top of the bodies, preparing them to be
burned.
“Um,
Rafael?”
“Yes,
Monique?” he asked, without looking up.
“Catch
her.”
He turned
with lightening speed and caught Ariana as her eyes rolled
up in her head and she dropped in a dead faint.
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