Page 13 of New Nebraska Home (New Nebraska)
Callum
DON’T TRUST WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW
A fter Malik left the kitchen, for a second, I considered dropping it—letting the shifter get away without answering our question. Then I saw the fear in Brock’s eyes. No one, not a master vampire, not any kind of elemental, no matter how strong they were, could withstand the blast that the kid gave and not even feel it. The kid was untrained, but that blast of power was full of fear and panic. It was a blast fueled by survival instincts, which meant it was pure magic and power.
I had even known a few fire children in my day; they were extremely powerful fire elementals that could do the most spectacular things with the flame. Even they would not have been able to withstand a blast that burned off their clothes without at least getting their eyebrows and any other body hair singed.
Unfortunately, thanks to that kid’s blast, I knew exactly how much body hair Malik had and all of it looked perfectly un-singed. Also, what creature could spit fire? I didn’t even know that was a thing. Judging by Brock’s gaze, he didn’t either.
Water elementals and fire elementals may have gotten along as well as vampires and wolves, but they knew enough. If Brock was worried, there was a reason to be.
So, I followed Malik into his room, where he was sliding on a pair of jeans. Still showing me far too much of his body. There was only one man’s ass I wanted to admire, and it wasn’t Malik’s.
“Can I help you?” he asked over his shoulder.
“Yeah,” I said. “I need to know what you are.”
“I’m annoyed at having my privacy invaded.” He turned and rolled his eyes, and I had to stop my fangs from coming out in a sign of aggression. I didn’t want to exacerbate the situation, but he was so fucking aggravating. The worst time to piss off a vampire was when he was hungry, and my reserves were depleted before that little criminal threw his brick.
“What are you?” I asked again.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” He tried giving me a shit-eating grin as Liz came into the doorway and stood next to me.
“Then show me.” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the door. I wasn’t about to go anywhere, and he needed to know that.
“Come on,” Liz said, putting her hand on my arm. The hunger receded. It was the oddest thing. My fangs still itched to come out and to sink into her throat, but it wasn’t a necessity, it was a yearning. “Give the man his space. He pays for this room just like you and Brock pay for the basement.”
“That’s right, listen to our landlady. This is my personal space, so kindly fuck off.”
“No, not until I know what you are. How do I know you aren’t with whoever is harassing Liz?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” He asked, tossing the shirt that was in his hands on the bed. Turning to face me directly and puffing out his chest. He was squaring me up and although I had no intentions of starting a physical altercation, I would end one.
“Nope.”
“Guys, please?” Liz asked, the exasperated voice of reason.
“Fuck, okay. I’ll shift and prove that I am far more capable of taking care of her and protecting her than you ever will be.” He unbuttoned his jeans and kicked them back to the floor, completely nude again. Was this really necessary?
“I should—” Liz said, looking at the floor.
“No, it’s okay, angel, stay and see what all the fuss is about.” He gave her a heated look and I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to push him for it or not.
I’d determine that based on what came next.
“You can come closer too,” he called to Brock who was lingering in the hall behind us. Then he started his shift.
Watching any shifter move into their animal form was always a little discombobulating. Even as someone who had known shifters were real their entire life, watching the shift was strange, and it felt like reality was warping reality around you. It also felt like an invasion, like you were watching something not meant for your eyes.
It started with his skin shifting from its sun-tanned bronze, turning darker and then scaly.
For a moment, I was worried that he was a basilisk that would change into a giant poisonous snake. If that were the case, I would need to grab Liz and Brock and get them as far away as possible. Basilisks were never to be trusted. They had the unique ability of getting into your brain and breaking it. They could change your perception of the world; they could change your entire identity on a whim.
Even if all basilisks weren’t evil, that was far too much power for anyone to have. Thank goodness they were rare.
His eyes changed to a bright golden color, and his irises elongated at the top and bottom into slits. My hands immediately went to Liz’s hips, ready to grab her and run, when he went down to all fours and wings formed on his back.
Basilisks didn’t have wings.
It only took a few minutes, but when he was in his entirely shifted form, I was speechless.
He was a dragon. An actual fresh-from-mythology dragon.
“What in the fire lizard fuck,” Brock said, as this dragon about the size of a great dane stared us down. Half the size as before, but all the arrogance.
“He’s so beautiful,” Liz said on a breath.
I was pretty sure Malik heard her because his front two legs started going up and down, reminding me of a cat kneading a pillow. Then his body shrank. He went from the size of a large dog down to the size of a house cat. To the best of my knowledge, there wasn’t a single shifter or even a myth of a shifter that mentioned being able to alter their size at will. I had to admit that was a nifty little trick.
“Oh my god,” Brock said, pushing past me into the room. “He is pretty cute.”
Brock leaned down to pick him up and got a tiny little fire ball about the size of a ping-pong ball spat at him. He jumped back, but Malik kept spitting balls just for Brock to have to dodge them and put out the fire.
“Would you boys please stop trying to light my house on fire,” Liz said, like a disappointed mother, putting her hands on her hips.
Both Brock and Malik looked thoroughly chastised, and Brock muttered something under his breath and Malik put his little scaly head down like he was sorry.
Liz took a step closer to him, reaching out her hand as if to pet him. I wanted to grab her hand and pull her away, not knowing if dragons were dangerous, if they had any abilities like basilisks or other things that I had to worry about.
Malik didn’t just let her pet the top of his head. He crawled up her arm, making her giggle, and then wrapped his long thin tail around her neck as he rested on her shoulders.
I needed to make some calls; I needed to do some research and find out who else knew about this, and what there was to know.
“I’m going to go check the woods to make sure there’s no one else lurking out there. Can you stay with them and make sure he doesn’t start any more fires or, I don’t know, eat someone he shouldn’t?” I asked Brock.
Liz was too busy running her fingers over Malik’s head to hear me, but Malik let out a huff that sent a tendril of smoke up.
“Yeah, I got it,” Brock said, leading Liz back out to the living room where they could sit comfortably. “You go use those crazy bat ears for some good.”
I ran outside, straight out of the back door into the forest. I could still smell the kid, with his sandalwood shavings and fresh piss down his leg. The trail was faint enough to tell me he had run through these woods the moment we let him go, but he was long gone. In fact, I shouldn’t have been able to smell that, not so clearly and distinctly to pull out the individual scents.
Using my vampire speed while I was so hungry was a rookie mistake, and I was no rookie vampire. My master vamp heritage made me far stronger and far more dangerous when I was hungry, but I didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel the need to drink, so I just didn’t.
To be sure there was no one left in the woods, no threats to Liz, Leif or Brock, I ran a quick perimeter around the area, first following the path the little assailant took. It led about a mile out where it was clear he’d been picked up by some friends in a truck or car. I could still smell the exhaust, but they were gone. There wasn’t another soul anywhere near Liz’s property. Even the neighbors were out.
Once I was satisfied that she would remain safe, I grabbed my phone to make a couple of calls.
I hated reaching out to my former coven. When Pandora and I had split, I knew we needed physical space, and she got the coven; her nephew would be its leader when he was old enough. I tried not to call or ask favors from anyone in the coven, knowing she would hear about it, and I did not want to further rub our separation in her face. She didn’t deserve that. I didn’t hate her. I didn’t even dislike her, I just didn’t love her the way she needed me to love her, and she felt the same. But just because it wasn’t true love, didn’t mean that the end of a friendship didn’t sting.
“Hello?” Miles, my former coven mate, well-connected ambassador with other covens, and long-time friend, answered.
“Miles, it’s Callum. I just have a quick question for you.”
“Okay…” He sounded hesitant, like he wasn’t sure if you wanted to help me or not. I didn’t blame him. If I were in his shoes, I’m not sure I’d have helped me either.
“Have you heard rumors about any mythical creatures showing up in New Nebraska?”
“Mythical?”
“Mythical,” I confirmed. “Or are there any extremely rare creatures in New Nebraska?”
“Well, several Fae and more halflings than originally thought existed are in New Nebraska. And we’re getting some weird shifters. If I’m not mistaken, a family of gator shifters from Louisiana has moved in. But nothing about unicorns or a flock of phoenix, if that is what you mean.”
“Okay.” That wasn’t helpful. I sat down on a fallen tree and leaned against another. “How about this? What about creatures we previously thought to be extinct?”
“Are you asking about extinct creatures in New Nebraska? That kind of defeats the definition of extinct.”
“Humor me, in general, what kinds of supernatural creatures do we know to be extinct?”
“Well, the last of the Tasmanian devil shifters died out a few decades ago. Pretty sure the snow leopards are, if not extinct, extremely endangered. And of course there’re the Daughters of Salem. But I’m not entirely sure they ever really existed.”
“What are the Daughters of Salem?” I had never heard of the term before.
“You know, the daughters of the witches in Salem, Massachusetts, before the whole hanging, drowning and burning thing.”
“I thought that was humans killing other humans?”
“It was, but there was a coven of witches in Salem that were supposedly not entirely human. There was something about them that was weird. Some people said it was a gift from the Fae, others a curse, blah blah blah blah. They had this weird thing where they never actually got powers until they found their circle.”
“Circle?”
“Yeah, some texts refer to their circle as their family. Other texts refer to it as their mating partners. I don’t know exactly what the thing is, but they were never really that powerful. When they found their circle, they would get some abilities that would be impressive by human standards but inconsequential by our standards. That wasn’t what made them weird.”
I sat in silence for a moment, waiting for him to continue. Then I remembered I was talking to Miles, and he had to be prompted for everything.
“Okay, what made them weird?”
“Their circles comprised supernaturals, all different types, and when the circle was complete, the circle got stronger. Some sources refer to it as having new abilities, others talk about an enhancement for abilities they already had. Who knows. But the coven disbanded in the 1800s and bred strictly with humans, so they bred themselves out of existence.”
“You’re right, that is weird, but not the type of weird I’m looking for,” I said, pinching my brow, trying to release some of the tension.
“Well, how am I supposed to know what you’re looking for? You haven’t asked a direct question yet. Tell me what you’re looking for.”
I almost screamed dragons into the phone until I realized how absolutely ridiculous that was. But was it ridiculous? There was a tiny dragon currently on Liz’s shoulders. Also, I wasn’t sure I wanted anyone else to know about him. Supernaturals thought dragons were mythological, or if they had once existed, they were extinct now. And maybe there was a reason for that. It wasn’t really my place to go spreading Malik’s secret. At least not until I knew what his intentions were. I had to remember he’d saved Liz from a pack of feral wolves, and he’d made sure that little brick thrower would never come back. I wasn’t sure if I trusted him, but for the moment, it was enough.
My fangs started aching, and I realized I had put off drinking far too long. The hunger came back with an intensity and I wasn’t sure it was safe for me to go to a diner. The risk of murdering some poor girl was just far too high. Instead, there was a bottle of O Negative in the refrigerator back in the house. I would down that to see if it sated my thirst enough to make feeding from a source safer.
Part of me ached to go to sink my fangs into Brock instead, but I wasn’t sure what had happened earlier and what it meant. Hell, I was so hungry I wasn’t even sure if I’d glamoured my friend. That was something he and I were going to have to talk about, but not while I was running on an empty stomach.
I ran back to the house, not slowing down until I was approaching the back door. When I opened it, Brock and Malik were gone, and Liz was sitting alone at the kitchen table with a large glass of water in front of her.
“I convinced Brock and Malik to take Leif to the movies,” she said.
“They left you here all alone, after everything?”
She smiled up at me, “It was hard to convince them, but I told them I needed to ask you some stuff, and Leif insisted.”
“He can be persuasive. What do you need to talk about?” I went to the fridge and found the bottle. I hated this stuff. It had the nutrients I required, but it just tasted dead. It didn’t satisfy in the same way blood from the source did.
“Before, we were talking about the blood diners?”
“Okay?” Where was she going with this?
“There really aren’t a lot of jobs open right now, and I need to know if it’s something I can stomach.”
“What are you asking?” I set the bottle of blood down on the table in front of her. She got to her feet and brushed her hair to one side.
“I’m asking if you’re hungry, if you can give me an idea of what it would be like at those diners. How I would be treated and what is and isn’t allowed?”
“You want me to bite you?” I could see her veins pulsing in her neck, her heart was racing, and there was the smallest bead of sweat below her ear, rolling down to her clavicle.
It made my mouth water.
“You said it doesn’t hurt, that it’s like a drug? Or do the vampires make it feel good? I need to know what that feels like and if it’s something that I can do, and I rather do that with someone that I know isn’t going to just rip my throat out.”
I took a step closer to her, and she got on her feet, facing me.
“And what makes you think I won’t rip out your throat, little dove?”
“Because if you do, you’ll be homeless.”
“I guess that’s a fair point. But I could just take your home.” My eyes were focused on that little flickering pulse on the side of her neck as I took another step closer.
“Please,” she whispered, and it was the sweetest plea I’d ever heard. How could I refuse?