The Better to Bite

  Um, okay. Granny Helen sure had mastered the art of creepy.

  She waved me forward. “Been seeing monsters in the dark, have you, child?”

  I dropped into the chair in front of her. “You know what’s happening in Haven, don’t you?” Time to cut through the crap. I slapped my twenty on the table. “This money isn’t for a reading. It’s for answers.”

  Her trembling hand covered the cash. “You sure you really want to hear the truth?”

  “I don’t want to hear it.” I want to pretend that a boy can’t change into a wolf and that folks aren’t dying. “But something bad is happening here, and it has to stop.”

  She nodded but asked, “You think you’re the one to stop it?”

  Now that made me pause.

  She smiled. The smile never reached her eyes. “Still unsure, are you?”

  I realized she was doing it again. Walking me in circles with her questions. I shoved out a hard breath. “Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?”

  “Because you wouldn’t have believed me. Sometimes, we have to see things with our own eyes before we can believe in the impossible.”

  A boy turning into a wolf should certainly count as impossible. My head began to throb. “How did you know my mother?”

  “She came to me, same as you. Wanting answers. Help.”

  “Did you help her?”

  “Some can’t be helped.”

  My eyes narrowed.

  She made a faint tut-tut sound and said, “You don’t realize what Haven is yet, do you?”

  Her question caught me off-guard. “Cassidy told me that it was founded by some folks who thought they were witches—”

  “Didn’t think. They were.” Her stare bored into mine. “They were lost and looking for a safe place to lay their heads.”

  Lost. I’d caught the faint emphasis she put on the word and suddenly I went on high alert.

  “Have you ever been lost, Anna?”

  I shook my head.

  “I didn’t think so.” Satisfaction hummed in her words. “One of their own led them here. Straight through the wilderness, she led them right to this spot. She promised them it was safe.”

  “A haven,” I whispered.

  “And for a time, they were safe. But those who knew their secrets, those they’d trusted so foolishly with a truth most can’t handle…they followed them here.”

  You can’t trust either of us.

  The temperature in the room seemed to dip about ten degrees. “I’m guessing this story doesn’t end happily.”

  Her lashes lowered. “Most stories don’t.”

  Happily ever afters were just for kids. I knew that. I’d learned that lesson when I saw my mother’s bloody body get zipped up into a black body bag.

  “They were followed, hunted, when they should have been safe.” Granny Helen’s voice deepened. “Then the killings started.”

  All I could see then was my mother’s body.

  “So they cursed their enemies. Those who’d spilled the blood at their haven would be revealed as the monsters they truly were.”

  I knew where this was going. My hands slapped onto the table. “You’re saying—”

  “If they were going to slaughter like animals, then they would become animals.”

  A week ago, I would have laughed at her dramatic announcement. A week ago, I would have jumped up and left.

  Now, I could only sit there, with my heart slamming into my chest. “The beasts are still here.” Wolves.

  “The curse passed through the bloodlines.” Granny Helen’s gnarled hands fluttered in the air. “Hard to see it at first. They all seem just like everyone else. But beneath the skin, they’re different.” She paused, then said, “Just as you’re different.”

  “Who all knows about this?” I demanded, jumping to my feet. Werewolves. Freaking werewolves. And they had been living in Haven for centuries?

  “The old families who’ve been here since the beginning. They know. Some fled, hoping to escape, but there’s no escaping. A witch’s curse is forever.”

  Wait. There could be dozens of wolves running around? Perfect. Nightmare.

  Hell.

  “And they’re…evil?” I forced myself to ask this question even as I thought about Rafe and about him kissing me. Don’t be evil, please don’t be—

  “No. Not all of them are dark inside.”

  My shoulders sagged with relief.

  “Many have adapted. It’s their way of life now. All they know. But others…there are always those who feel the call of the beast too strongly. The thirst for blood and death can consume them. Those…” Her gaze took on a far-away stare. “Those are the ones we must fear.”

  I already feared them. “Those are the ones killing the hikers? Killing Sissy?” I began to pace around the small room, my body tight with nervous energy. “I have to tell my dad. I mean, he might not believe me, but I have to tell him what he’s up against—”

  Don’t tell anyone. Rafe’s voice. In my head. I shoved that voice back even as Granny Helen’s soft laughter filled my ears.

  “Oh, child…” The laughter faded and she just seemed sad. “You truly think Ben Lambert doesn’t know? His family has been in this town for centuries. He knows everything.”

  My heart stopped slamming into my chest. In fact, it seemed to stop beating entirely.

  Granny Helen shook her head. “Who do you think cursed the hunters who came to Haven?”

  I turned and ran for the door.

  “Be careful, child…” Her voice followed me. “And don’t let any wolves in your door.”

  Too late.

  I shoved back the curtains. Jenny was at the cash register, a plastic bag gripped tightly in her hands. Cassidy smiled at her like a cat with cream.

  I rushed by them both. “We’ve got to go,” I told Jenny as I grabbed her arm and pulled. “I’ve got to find my dad.”

  And get the truth from him.

  No matter how ugly it was.

  ***

  But my dad wasn’t at the station. Deputy Jon, his sandy hair mussed and his green eyes tired, told me that he’d gone out for a scout in the woods with one of the rangers.

  They were still recovering the bodies of the dead wolves.

  I dropped Jenny off at her house. She stared at me with worried eyes but didn’t question me.

  Then I went home as fast as I could.

  I had to find my dad.

  Sure, most girls would probably just call their dad on their cell phones. I wasn’t most girls. I had a much faster connection. Besides, I didn’t want to talk to him over the phone. For this little father-daughter chat, I wanted to see him in person.

  The better to catch any lies he might try to give me.

  I parked my car, stared into the woods, and just thought—

  Where are you, dad?

  I saw him in my mind, standing by a stream. The water rushed over the pale white bones that had been tossed into that shallow stream.

  The image connected immediately in my head. The hiker. Susie Harper. He’d found the body. I cried out and covered my eyes, but it wasn’t my eyes that were doing the seeing. Not even close. Why, why did I have to—

  “Anna!”

  Hands were on me. Hard, tight, pulling my arms down. My eyes flew open, and I found Rafe in front of me.

  I lifted my knee and kicked him in the groin as hard as I could. He doubled over, and I turned and ran for the house.

  Don’t let any wolves in your door.

  “Anna, wait!”

  My dad had gotten me a new can of mace. Stupidly, I’d left it in the bag on the porch. I grabbed my bag and yanked out the mace. I held it in front of me. “The last time I sprayed a wolf…” And I still didn’t know what special brew my dad was giving me, but no way was it your garden variety pepper spray. Not if Dad really knew the score in this town. “The wolf I sprayed started to burn.”

  He’d doubled over, but as I stared at him, Rafe’s head rose, and his
eyes found mine. “You don’t need that,” he gritted as he straightened. “I’m not here to hurt you.”

  “Why are you here?” He’d given me a nice cold shoulder routine after that whole bit of insanity during lunch.

  His hands fisted. “I haven’t been honest with you.”

  My fingers tightened around the mace. “I don’t exactly need that newsflash. I realized the truth last night when I learned the whole werewolf bit.”

  Rafe’s lips—lips that I stupidly remembered too well against my own—hardened. “You asked me about the other wolves in this town.”

  I didn’t like where this was going. I already had a suspicion and…

  Rafe shook his head. “Whatever you do, don’t trust Brent, okay?”

  No, I definitely didn’t like this. “Brent’s never done anything to me.”

  “He hasn’t done anything, yet.”

  “Are you saying—is he like you?” I asked but I already knew. No one could heal as fast as he had. No one.

  Rafe stared back at me. He made no move to come closer. He just watched me with that steady gaze that saw too much. “You’re afraid of me.” He seemed confused. “But not him?”

  His words weren’t an answer. Or maybe they were. Either way, I still wasn’t dropping my mace. “What do you want from me?” I demanded because there had to be something, some reason that he’d sought me out.

  I was the new girl in town, and suddenly, the two hottest guys in the school were both showing me way too much attention.

  Because I was drop dead gorgeous? Um, no.

  Because they were freaking werewolves, and they wanted something from me.

  I caught the slight flare of Rafe’s eyes and realized I’d hit close to the truth.

  “I know about this town,” I told him. Part of me wanted to run inside and slam the door, but a much bigger part wanted to race down the porch steps and shake the truth from him. I managed not to move at all. “Granny Helen told me. Witches started this place, huh? And let me guess—your family, Brent’s family—they would have been the hunters who followed the witches here.”

  He nodded.

  Progress. “So what do you think? Because some ancient ancestor of mine thought she was a witch, I can—”

  “She didn’t think she was a witch. She was.” Flat. “And because of your mistake today, the others will know you’re just like her.”

  My brows shot up. “My mistake?”

  He took one stalking step toward me. Then another. I held my ground and my mace. “You really think Valerie took your necklace?”

  I blinked at him. “It was in her locker.”

  “Um.” A non-committal growl, then, “And how’d you know that?”

  I stared back at him.

  Anger flashed across his face. “You were ready to tell Brent everything, but you can’t trust me at all, can you?”

  Before I could answer, he expelled a hard breath. “I don’t need you to tell me. I already know your secrets, Anna. You’re just like she was. Can’t get lost, can you? Not in the woods the first night we met, not even after the wreck when you were weak and bleeding.”

  “No.” My whisper, and I realized I was finally confessing to someone, just not the boy I’d anticipated. “I can’t get lost.”

  “And nothing’s lost from you,” Rafe added, nodding. “That’s how you knew where Sissy’s body was and how you found your necklace.”

  “I’m different like that,” I muttered.

  “No.” Snapped out. Then, softer, “You’ve very, very special like that.”

  Oh, wait. That was…nice. I slowly lowered the mace.

  “It was a set-up today. Someone else suspected what you could do, but that person wanted proof.” He shoved his hand through his hair. “You gave ‘em that proof, right in front of the whole school.”

  My stomach knotted. “Just how many wolves are running around Haven High? I mean, other than you and—” Brent. Dang it. Just when I thought I’d found the perfect, All-American guy…

  An All-American guy who got very furry.

  “It’s not like we have group meetings.” Rafe poured on the sarcasm now. “And when we shift, our scents change. I can’t tell which wolves are running in those woods, and I sure can’t match their scents to any folks in the daylight.”

  Well, that was just sucky. “You truly don’t know?”

  “Families move away. Some come back. Some run far. Some names change over time. I can’t know all the original hunters, and I don’t know how many…wolves…there might be in this town.”

  Great. That knot in my stomach twisted even tighter. “You do know that one of those wolves,” one, maybe a lot more, “is killing.”

  “I’m trying to stop him! I was tracking him in the woods, the first time I found you.”

  When I’d almost been a meal.

  His hand dropped. “I just wish you hadn’t shown them all the truth today.”

  He kept coming back to that. “Why? So they know I’m weird and I can find things.” Didn’t get much weirder than changing into an animal in her book. Who were the wolves to judge? “What’s the big deal?”

  His eyes sharpened on me. “Who told you about Haven’s past?”

  The guy just couldn’t answer my questions simply. Like someone else I knew. “Granny Helen.”

  He grunted, as if he’d expected that answer. “And she didn’t tell you how the curse can supposedly be broken?”

  Why was the air suddenly feeling so much cooler? “No, we, uh, skipped that part.” Or I ran out before she could tell me because I wanted to find my dad, ASAP. But dear old dad is out in the woods fishing a skeleton out of a stream.

  “The curse can only be broken by a witch with great power, as much power as the witch who made the original curse.”

  I stumbled back as the implications of his words and that hard stare sank in. “Whoa. Hold on, take a breath, okay? I’m not—”

  “You can find things, just like Elizabeth. The same power…you proved that to them all.” He looked back at me with a hooded gaze. “There haven’t been witches in Haven—witches from the original bloodline, because for the curse to be broken, it has to be in the blood—for decades. We all thought the power line had died out.”

  “Then I came into town,” I managed to say through numb lips. I’m not a witch. I’m not. I’m different. Psychic. Not a witch. I don’t even use a broom to clean.

  “Then you came into town,” he repeated softly, his eyes on mine, “and everything changed.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know what to do. “I can’t help you.” I didn’t know what he wanted from me. “I don’t know anything about magic or curses. I just…I find things, okay? That’s all.”

  Did he look disappointed? Angry? I couldn’t say for sure.

  “Wh-what about Granny Helen?” She was a witch, right? I could feel her power.

  “She’s not descended from the witches who cursed this town. Helen’s power comes from somewhere else. She can’t help us.” His face hardened as he stared at me. “They know what you are now. There’s no more hiding for you.” His head inclined toward me. “So be very, very careful when you walk into the woods, and never leave your silver behind.”

  He turned away.

  “Rafe!”

  He didn’t look back.

  “I’m not a witch. I-I know things, but trust me on this, I’m not a witch.” We needed to just be clear about that. Being…different…was hard enough. Being a witch? No, thank you.

  He kept walking.

  “Rafe! I’m not!”

  For a moment, he did glance back. “You’re more than you think.” His jaw hardened, and I thought he growled, “I just hate that it’s you.”

  He left me there, and I stared into the woods and knew what it felt like to be hunted.

  Chapter Eleven

  They gave us candles as we entered the football stadium. Long, white candles. Jenny stood beside me, and I saw her stare down at the candle. Her e
yes teared up a bit. “No one should die this young.”

  I swallowed the lump that wanted to rise in my throat and followed her through the crowd. Maybe I should have stayed at home. After my little chat with Rafe, I sure hadn’t felt like going to a football game, but…

  But I felt like I owed Sissy.

  It looked like the entire school had come out for her—the stadium was freaking packed. The candles were for her. The band was playing a tribute to her. This night was about Sissy.

  I hadn’t been able to stay away.

  When we got to the stands, some kids passed around lighters, and we lit our candles. Then the principal came out on to the field. The band lined up behind him.

  Mr. Knoxley looked solemn, and very, very pale under the bright lights. “We lost one of our students this week.” His deep voice filled the speakers. “A freshman at Haven High, Sissy Hamilton was taken from us far too soon.”

  His words seemed to echo Jenny’s. I glanced at her and saw her swiping a tear from the corner of her eye.

  My candle burned brighter.

  “Sissy will not be forgotten,” Mr. Knoxley said, and I realized he was holding a lit candle in his left hand. His right hand curled tightly around the microphone. “Her memory will live on in those who loved her.”

  My own eyes were starting to well. I blinked quickly and tried not to remember the smell of death.

  Mr. Knoxley lifted his candle higher. “Tonight, we take a moment to remember Sissy. Remember her as she was—young, smart, and beautiful. A gift to all those who knew her.”

  The band began to play behind him. A slow, mournful beat that fit the somber mood of the crowd.

  A drop of hot wax fell onto my hand. I swallowed but didn’t make a sound.

  My candlelight burned so bright.

  Sissy Hamilton.

  I could hear the sniffles from a few girls behind me. I glanced back and recognized them as freshmen. Girls who’d no doubt been friends with Sissy.

  It shouldn’t have happened.

  I pulled my gaze away and stared up at the moon. Big, round, nearly full. Just another few days and it would be full.

  The band’s song slowly faded into silence. The thick, heavy kind of silence that wrapped around you.

  I’m sorry, Sissy. I slowly lowered my candle. Would I ever find someone who was lost before it was too late?