CHAPTER EIGHT
Oliver was freezing when he woke up. He was also not in his room. He looked around the strange hotel room and realized it was covered in ice.
Oh, Hades, he thought. He sat up and said, "Hey, Sis. It's been a while."
Geneva Blackrain stepped into view then, turning visible. Her long blonde hair was a stark contrast against her black sweater and tight blue jeans, as was the red lipstick she tended to favor. She was rocking a pair of cowboy boots as usual. Her icy blue eyes looked him over as if she could see into his soul. Maybe she could; His older sister had many talents.
"Oliver Blackrain, as I live and breathe!" She declared after a moment. "You were the last person I expected to run into in New York City."
"Can't a guy sightsee?" He asked innocently.
"Not this guy. You've always got a plan. What are you up to, Ollie?"
"I had a vision and couldn't resist coming out to play," he replied, keeping his tone casual. "Why are you in town, Gen?"
"Grandmother wishes for the family to capture a vampire for her. I'm fairly certain you knew that already."
"What could Helena possibly want with a vampire? They're beneath us, aren't they?"
"This vampire is special, Ollie. Grandmother wants her under our control, and soon. The question, Little Brother, is whether or not you're going to help us bring her home."
As the air was suddenly sucked from Oliver's lungs, he realized Geneva hadn't come alone. He focused until he was able to break free from Elliot's hold.
"Is that any way to greet your big brother, Elliot?" He asked dryly once he was able to breathe again.
"Well, when that brother leaves you and the rest of the family behind, he doesn't really count anymore," Elliot replied. His anger radiated off of him in waves. Oliver was mildly surprised by it.
"It's not like you were a little kid when I left, El. You were nineteen," Oliver pointed out.
"And apparently, I had more loyalty to the family than you did."
"We're warlocks, Elliot. Loyalty's not exactly our strong suit."
"Tell us where we can find the vampire and I'll forget we found you."
"What about you, Sis? Will you forget you found me, too?" Oliver asked.
"If you hand over the vamp, we'll let you live your merry little life," Geneva replied, her drawl thicker than ever as she turned incredibly serious. "But if you screw us over, I swear on every dark deity in the Universe, we will hunt you down and slaughter you. Slowly."
Oliver knew Geneva well enough to know she meant every word of her threat. He also knew he should tell his siblings where Maddie was and return to his house in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, as tempting as returning to his sanctuary was, it wasn't an option. Not anymore. Not since he'd found Zanna, and not since he'd actually met Maddie. He couldn't bring himself to betray her, even though he barely knew the girl.
"Well, I guess we're at a stalemate, guys... You see, I can't give y'all what you want. I don't know where she is."
"You're lying," Elliot said sharply.
"What makes you so sure, El?" Oliver asked calmly.
"You suck at it."
"I resent that! I happen to be an excellent liar! Our father taught me how to lie before I even learned to read."
"He's lying, Gen," Elliot insisted. "Right?"
"I never could tell with Oliver," Geneva admitted. "He's impossible to read."
"Aunt Josephine's missing," Elliot said. "Did you have anything to do with that, Ollie?"
"Auntie Josephine's in town? You don't say! I haven't seen her in two years. How is she?" Oliver replied.
"This is getting us nowhere," Geneva said with a frown. "Oliver, tell us what we want to know before I dispose of you myself."
Oliver focused. He could feel the ground beneath the hotel. He could sense the dirt, and that was a good thing. As he focused on the dirt, he willed life to grow. A very strong vine soon burst from the ground and climbed up the side of the building before entering the room through the open window and wrapping around Oliver.
"Shit!" Geneva said as the vine pulled Oliver right out of the window.
Oliver kept his focus as the vine rapidly pulled him toward the ground. It set him down gently before retreating back into the earth. "Thanks," he called after it. He took off running before Geneva and Elliot could follow him.
He was in excellent shape, but he had no idea where to go. He couldn't return to where he'd been staying, since Geneva obviously knew where that was. He couldn't go to Maddie without leading them straight to her. For the same reason, he couldn't go to Zanna.
"Damnit," he mumbled. Left with no other choice, Oliver took a form he knew his family would not expect... He shifted into a fox and continued to run as fast as he could. He kept going, not sure where he was going to end up. His muscles ached, but he knew he couldn't stop. He tried his best to keep hidden from the eyes of tourists, and the jaded New Yorkers didn't seem too phased by the fact that a fox was running around on the streets of the City.
He stopped running when a young woman paused in front of him. "Easy," she said soothingly. She knelt down, taking a stance that wasn't threatening. "What's wrong, little one? Are you lost? We don't get many foxes around here."
His fox studied her and recognized something in her energy. Friend, he thought. Trust.
Faerie, Oliver countered. Do not trust. They're tricky, and we don't know her.
No. Friend. Good, his fox insisted. Since Oliver was in his lycanthrope form, the fox had the final say, and he rubbed his head against the woman's leg.
"Follow me," she said. "I'll get you somewhere safe."
The fox eagerly followed her into a building. Oliver tried to focus on his surroundings, but all the fox cared about was letting the woman pet him.
"You're safe here," she promised. Then, she shocked Oliver by adding, "You can change back. No one will see you, and this is a sanctuary for your kind."
As exhaustion overwhelmed his adrenaline, Oliver slowly shifted back into his human form. "Alright, Fox Man... I'm Tina. Who the hell are you?" She asked.
"I'm Oliver," he replied. "Thanks for the help..."
"Have you had fur for long? Because the only lycanthropes who can get away with running around in their animal forms in the middle of the day in Manhattan are the wererats. No one blinks an eye at rats, but foxes are rare in general, let alone in broad daylight."
"I became a werefox two years ago," Oliver admitted. "I haven't really been out in public in my fox form except in the woods in Pennsylvania, but I sort of ran into a situation... It was an emergency." He paused. "Where are we?"
"This is a veterinary clinic. I run it with my boss, Harmony Hill. Don't worry, she's the Wolf Alpha. She won't mind if you take cover here for a little bit."
"Won't her wolf be bothered by a fox invading her space?"
"Not really. The lycanthrope community works together here. The wolves, leopards, and rats basically run the City, but they help the rest of the species of lycanthropes, too." She paused thoughtfully. "You said you're from Pennsylvania, but you drawl like you're from down South."
"I was born and raised in Georgia. I moved to Pennsylvania after I was infected as a werefox. My family wouldn't exactly understand. They'll kill me if they find out."
"They sound like assholes."
He laughed. "Yeah, they kind of are sometimes... Most of them are evil, actually. I only trust one of them right now, and she lives here."
The front door swung open. The woman who walked in carried herself with the kind of confidence that made it clear she was in charge. "Hey, Harmony," Tina greeted her. "This is Oliver. He's a werefox, and I brought him here because he was roaming the streets freely in all his furry glory."
Harmony shook her head. "It's never dull around here," she said with a laugh. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Oliver. I'm ordering breakfast before we open up for the day... What would you like?"
"Scrambled eggs and pancakes, please," Tina replied before Oliver could think of a response.
"Great. I'll have my usual baconeggandcheese on a roll," Harmony decided. She said it quickly, as if it was all one word.
"Come again?" Oliver asked.
"Let me translate for the Southerner," Tina said. Extremely slowly, she added, "She wants a baaaa-con, eeeeeg, and cheeeeese on a rooooollll."
Harmony laughed. "It's the staple breakfast of most New Yorkers," she explained.
"Not the vegetarians," Tina chimed in.
"Are you a vegetarian?" Oliver asked.
"I talk to animals, dude. What do you think?" She shook her head. "I mean, shit... How fucked up would it be to have a nice, happy chat about life with a pig one minute and then eat his cousin the next? I'm not a monster, for crying out loud!"
"I suppose you've got a point there," he admitted.
"So, what do you want for breakfast, Oliver?" Harmony asked again.
"I'll take waffles," he said. "With fruit," he added quickly. "Hold the bacon today."
"No problem. I'll order."
"Alright, but I'm paying." He pulled out his wallet, which had thankfully been in his pants when Geneva abducted him.
"Don't worry about that," Harmony protested.
"I'm from Georgia, Ma'am. I was raised to believe in chivalry. Now, Miss Tina saved my behind today, and you're allowing me sanctuary in your clinic. The least I can do is pay for breakfast."
"The least you can do is call me Harmony," she said with a laugh. "I'm not ready to be a 'Ma'am' yet."
"Harmony," he agreed. "So, what's it like being the Alpha of a pack of City wolves?"
"It's pretty great," she replied. "Ever since New York became a sanctuary for lycanthropes, things have improved for our kind. The Master Vampire is actually very sympathetic to our cause."
"That's unusual. I thought vampires and lycanthropes were supposed to hate each other."
"New York's not your typical city for supernaturals. We do things differently around here." She offered him another smile before heading off to order breakfast.
He considered her late statement and nodded. You certainly do, he thought.
+++
Zanna woke up feeling incredibly warm. For a moment, she was confused. Then, she remembered that she'd fallen asleep with Zoey in her bed. The previous night's adventure hadn't ended in sex, but they'd made out for a while before exhaustion won out and they fell asleep.
Zanna couldn't remember the last time she'd slept in the same bed as another woman. She usually went to her one night stands' homes, never bringing them back to her place, and she never spent the night. Everything was different with Zoey, but she realized she kind of liked that.
Zoey's content sigh told Zanna she was awake. "Good morning," she said with the sexiest smile Zanna had ever seen.
"Right... Hi," Zanna replied a bit awkwardly. What was she supposed to say to a girl she'd slept beside but hadn't fucked? This was new territory for her.
"So, our first date was definitely fun," Zoey continued with a laugh. "I can't wait for our second one."
"Second?" Zanna repeated.
"Yeah! You're my girlfriend now, remember? That means we need to have more than one date."
"Listen, Zoey... I'm not really the dating type."
"Have you ever tried it?"
"Well, not exactly... I don't usually let people in."
"So don't let people in... Just start with one person." She looked into Zanna's eyes and added, "Let's just try and see what happens."
"I guess I can try... I mean, a second date might not be such a bad thing."
"Exactly!" Zoey paused as her phone rang. "Crap, it's my boss... Give me a minute." She stepped away to answer the call.
Zanna took the opportunity to move into the bathroom and clean herself up a bit. Once she felt presentable and slightly more human, she walked back into her bedroom.
Zoey was sitting on the bed. She looked worried, which put Zanna back on alert. "What's going on?" She asked.
"I've got an assignment," Zoey replied. "Eric's calling in the entire team. The vampires will have to join us after the sun goes down, but he needs everyone else now."
"What's the assignment?" Zanna asked curiously.
"It's a murder case."
"Wait, you guys work on murder cases?" Zanna asked in surprise.
"Sometimes, yeah. Eric has a contact in the police department who calls us in for help on certain cases the mortals can't really handle. We actually have a forensic psychologist on our team... You met her last night. It's Lisa, the bouncer at Club Dionysus. She's actually pretty amazing when you get to know her."
"I'll take your word for it. How did a vampire get a degree in forensic psychology?"
"She had it before she got turned. Lisa used to work as a profiler for the FBI at Quantico. From what I've heard, a case went wrong and she ended up with fangs."
"That sucks."
"Yeah, and now, so does she," Zoey joked.
"Did you just make a vampire pun?" Zanna asked.
"Technically, you did. I just took advantage of it."
Zanna shook her head. "So, you've got to go. Do you have time for coffee?"
"I always have time for coffee," Zoey replied.
Zanna headed to her trusty coffee maker and popped in a K-cup. She quickly brewed a cup for Zoey before brewing one for herself. "How do you take it?" She asked.
"Hot and sweet," Zoey replied with a flirtatious smirk.
Zanna prepared the drinks before sitting down to consume hers. She watched Zoey, wondering what she was supposed to do next. Thankfully, Zoey saved her the trouble of worrying about the proper protocol.
"So, I'll probably be busy all night, but maybe we can have that second date tomorrow," she suggested. "If you're free?"
"I'm free," Zanna replied a little too quickly. What are you, a high school girl with a crush? She scolded herself. Get it together, Zanna!
"Great," Zoey said. "We'll meet at the club again, and this time, hopefully we can finish the date the way we planned it."
"That sounds good," Zanna agreed. As Zoey moved toward the door, Zanna opened it for her. "Be careful," she said suddenly.
"Eric always makes sure that we are," Zoey replied. "Well, except for Jeremy. He's kind of impossible to control," she added with a laugh.
"I just... I have a weird feeling, Zoey. So, be a little more careful than usual, alright?"
Zoey hesitated as she studied Zanna's concerned expression. "Okay," she promised. "I'll be extra careful today." She gave Zanna a quick kiss. It seemed like a natural act, as if they'd done it a thousand times before and would do it a thousand more.
Zanna couldn't understand why she was reacting so strongly to everything Zoey did, but she felt like she'd woken up after a decade of being fast asleep and was only now seeing the world for what it was.
What the fuck is wrong with me? She wondered. As she watched Zoey walk away, she couldn't shake the feeling that something huge was coming, and things might never be the same.