Garrett doesn't say much as we cruise down the highway out of Idaho and into Montana, aside from singing along with the occasional song on the radio.
I watch him out of the corner of my eye.
"I know you keep looking at me," he says suddenly. I jump at his voice. I had no idea he could tell I keep looking at him. I thought I was being stealthy about it. "What's up?" he asks.
"Sorry. I'm simply curious what para faction you're from."
"Haven't figured it out yet?" he laughs. I shake my head.
"No." I don't know why he finds this funny. I scowl lightly, not really angry, more annoyed.
"I'm a vampire." He smiles, lifting the side of his lips and flashing his fangs. Again, I'm struck by his beauty as the sunlight glistens off his fangs. Oddly, I'm not repulsed by the fact that he could easily kill me with them. Then another worrying thought occurs to me.
"Vampire? Doesn't the sunlight hurt you?"
"Normally, yes. I'd be a crispy critter if it wasn't for this ring." He holds up his hand and shows the silver ring with the green and red stone.
"What makes that ring so special?" I ask him, studying the ring closer.
"It's not the ring so much as it is the stone. Not to mention the magic behind it. This is called a blood stone. In magic, it is a healing stone. It also helps with intuition and creativity. For vampires, combined with a certain spell from a witch, it allows me to walk in the sunlight. My ex made this for me so we could enjoy more than just the night together."
"That would mean Jamie is vampire."
"Yep."
"So, my brother has been dating a vampire this whole time? Do you think he knew?"
"Doubtful. We don't usually advertise what we are. We don't generally date outside of paranormals. Most don't date outside of other vampires. Something about muddying the bloodlines. I find that to be incredibly shortsighted, though. I mean there's only so many vampire families and many are related in one fashion or another. I don't fancy dating a cousin or something like that."
I nod slowly, taking in everything he's saying. While what he's saying is important, especially the part of dating outside their own species. Faction? Whatever you wanna call it. There's only one detail that stands out for me.
"Your ex is a witch?" Joshua said that witches were real, I just didn't think of them as anything other than the cackling old crones in Shakespear's MacBeth. I definitely never imagined a vampire and a witch dating.
I don't know why I'm probing, but I just feel that I want to know everything I can about Garrett.
"Yeah, Alexis is a wiz with stone magicks." His smile is dreamy, and his eyes are distant as though his thoughts are somewhere else. Somewhere, like with Alexis. My heart stutters a bit, then sinks.
"Why'd you guys break up? If you don't mind me asking."
"It's not like it's a big secret or anything. We just had different paths we were on. It didn't help that Alexis' parents were against our dating." I give him a questioning look. "They didn't want a vampire and a witch together," he adds when he sees my face. He looks over his shoulder to check the lane next to us, flips his turn signal on, moves over to left lane, and guns the engine, propelling us forward. The speed at which we fly down the highway should frighten me, but for some odd reason, it doesn't.
"We need to find a place to stay overnight. Somewhere you can transform and won't hurt anyone."
"Including you?"
"Ha!" he gives one short laugh. "As if you could. I've taken out more changelings that challenge me than years you've been alive."
"You... You kill changelings?" I swallow hard.
"Only if they attack me first. I don't hunt them like some other paras."
"Wait, what do you mean hunt them?"
"The vampire king, my father, has offered a reward for changeling hides. It borders on the obscene if you ask me." He must have caught the horrified look on my face because he adds, "Don't worry. I promised Josh I'd keep an eye on you. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
I let out a pent-up breath I wasn't aware I was holding. I turn and smile at Garrett. He smiles back, flashing his fangs again.
I look up at the sky. It's not quite dark yet, but it is getting there soon. I'm worried that we won't find a place before I start to transform.
"These old farms will sometimes have bomb or tornado shelters under the barns." Garrett tells me, scanning the landscape. "You just have to know what to look for." He continues scanning the area around us. Suddenly, he shouts, "There!" He whips the car to the right, to the annoyance of the other drivers if the barrage of horns is any indication, barely missing the exit ramp. I give Garrett a stern look, but he is all smiles. He reminds me of a kid in a candy store who's just been told he has no limit of things he can get.
We travel down the dirt road just a mile off the exit for what feels like forever. Garrett's smile never wavers.
"You seem awfully happy," I remark.
"This is fun. I never have a chance to just get out and drive like this. Beartown isn't that big and there's almost no reason to leave the surrounding areas. So, this is like a vacation for me."
"Okay, well, as long as you don't kill us with your driving, have at it."
He laughs again. "Dude, my reflexes are quicker than a cobra's. Not to mention, I'm practically indestructible and changelings are incredibly difficult to kill." I have nothing to say to that, so I keep my mouth shut.
He pulls off the dirt road towards an old barn that has definitely seen better days. What's left of the roof is being held up by one wooden beam. To say that this barn is a fixer-upper, is a vast understatement.
We get out of the car and walk towards the barn. I'm a bit apprehensive as we approach the doors, which are hanging precariously by the top hinges.
"Perfect."
"Perfect? This thing looks like it can't withstand a light breeze. Never mind a new changeling wrecking up the place."
"This type of old barn should..." He pokes his head inside and scans the place. "Ah ha. Yep. See there," He points to the center left of the floor. There's a metal door embedded in the floor. "That's gotta be an old bomb shelter or tornado cellar."
He muscles the door aside and disappears through the gloom. I reluctantly follow him from the sun-drenched outside into the eerie entryway. I look around at the inside of the barn. Dust floats lazily through the air, highlighted as it hits the sunlight filtering down through the broken roof. To my right is discarded farm equipment. I can see a tractor and what looks like part of a plow. There're also tons of hand tools such as pitch forks, hoes, and shovels.
"Over here, man." Garrett is surveying the metal door I saw a few moments ago. I jog over to give him a hand.
"We gotta move this thing. Sad to say, but I'm not strong enough on my own. Together, we should be able to move it." He waves a hand at a large crate with mysterious, yet incredibly heavy, items in it. We go over to the side of the crate that is on the corner of the metal door. We each put a shoulder to the crate and shove. It takes more strength than I thought it would take with a vampire and a changeling pushing, but we're able to inch it off the door.
Garrett turns and lifts the door up. Just inside, there is a ladder going down. He doesn't hesitate; he just clambers down the ladder.
"Well? You coming?" He calls up to me from the darkness. I swallow the lump in my throat. I'm not really looking forward to the reason we need the bomb shelter or storm cellar or whatever the hell this thing is.
"Yeah, I guess." I heave a sigh as I descend the ladder down into the dark, dank room below. "Not like I have much of a choice." I mutter under my breath.
A light appears from the bottom of the ladder. Garrett shines a flashlight up towards me, then he sweeps the light to look around. As far as shelters are concerned, this one is pretty barren. There're a few wooden crates stacked in the far corner, what looks like some giant canned foods, and a rusty cot with a threadbare mattress that looks like it was from World War I.
"Hmmm, yeah. I think this will do just fine." Garrett remarks. I notice that the walls are solid concrete and the only way in or out is the ladder we just came down. He looks at his watch. "Well, we only have about an hour till the moon rises. Why don't we have some food and then you can get settled down here."
"Food?" I ask as my stomach grumbles. "That sounds like a good idea."
"Cool. Be right back." With that, he zooms out of the shelter so fast he's nothing but a blur. Before I have to contemplate where he's getting food from out here, he's back beside me in the shelter.
"Here. Hope you don't have any allergies. I got you a burger and fries. With a large chocolate shake, because who doesn't love chocolate." He says with a grin as he hands me a bag with a familiar yellow logo on it, and stained with grease, and a large drink. I smell the meat in the burger, and my mouth waters. I sit on the sad excuse for a bunk and dig it. The burger is gone in three gigantic bites. I slow down a little as I munch on fries and notice that Garrett hasn't gotten himself something to eat.
"What are you eating?"
"Oh, you mean, what do vampires eat?" I blush when I realize how that sounds.
"I didn't mean..."
"Don't worry about it. I know what you meant. No, I don't eat regular food. Yes, I drink blood. No, I don't kill people. Yes, most of my diet is animal blood. Does that answer all your questions?"
"Not even close, but it's a start." I say around a mouthful of fries. I reach for my shake before a thought occurs to me. Canines are deathly allergic to chocolate. This thought swirls in my mine for a minute or two before I ask, "Can chocolate hurt me like it hurts dogs?"
"Nah, don't worry about that. Your basic anatomy is still relatively human. I wouldn't try it while you're in your wolf form though. Ya know, just in case." He's smiling at me. While I want to trust him, his declaration that he's killed changelings in the past makes me wary. In the end, I decide to trust that Joshua would tear his arms off if anything happens to me.
I take a tentative sip of the thick, chocolatey drink. I don't feel any discomfort, and it tastes just like I remember, so I gulp it down.
Garrett checks his watch again.
"It's just about showtime. I'm gonna head up. I'll remove the ladder and lock the door from above, that way you won't be able to get out. Don't worry, I'll be back to get you in the morning. Then tomorrow, we'll reach Beartown."
I nod as he turns to leave. He scrambles up the ladder and disappears through the door. I see the ladder being pulled and then the door is slammed shut. I gulp. Why do I have a sinking feeling that I'm gonna die in this hole? I try to shake the thought from my head.
Looking around in the dark, I realize I can see just a little bit. There's very little light source, just what eeks through the crack in the door. My changeling eyes must be able to use any amount light, no matter how little.
I finish with my dinner, such as it was, and decide that I should probably prepare for the transformation. I don't want to ruin these clothes like the ones I did last night. I begin to undress when I hear a loud engine above me. I pause, glancing in the direction of the sound. It sounds like a truck, or maybe a tractor. The ceiling shakes slightly as a sound like a heavy object being dragged blocks out some of the light.
"Hey!" I yell when I can no longer hear the engine. "What you doing up there?"
"No worries, dude." Garrett's voice is muffled. "I'm just moving the huge crate back into place. Just in case your wolf decides to try to escape."
I nod to myself, because of course that makes sense.
"Okay. Just don't get any funny ideas." I yell back. I faintly hear his laugh.
I finish getting undressed and I feel really weird just standing in the middle of the room naked. Before I have a chance to figure out just what I want to do to pass the time, I feel the changes begin.
This time, the sharp pain I felt in my mid-section doesn't hit me. Instead, it's a much more manageable slow, dull pain that radiates from my belly out to the tips of my fingers and toes. By the time the pain has reached my fingers and toes, I feel my spine changing. It starts to lengthen. The process is painful, but bearable, more like being stretched on one of those medieval torture devices, but it stops before damage is done.
My spine grows past my tail bone as muscle and fur cover it to form my tail. My thighs thicken with muscle even as the femur and tibia bones rearrange themselves, shortening to form the lower part of my wolf leg. My feet shrink but thicken. My toenails thicken then grow slightly past my toes to form my claws. The same thing happens with my arms and hands.
The hip bones shift and change shape causing me to fall forward on all fours. Thankfully, the paw pads had formed, and my fall wasn't that bad.
My head is the last thing to change this time. My ears slide to the top of my head with a strange squelching sound. They grow in size and become pointed. My eyes change shape at the same time as my nose. My teeth grow in size and become pointed and sharp. My mouth starts to hurt as more teeth crowd in too small of a space. Finally, my muzzle juts out of my face and the pain of my teeth jockeying for space is relieved.
Fur sprouts all over my body. I shake off and stand at my full height. I lift my head and bay at the moon that I can't see.
"Hey, man. Keep it down." I hear a voice from above my head. This greatly upsets me, and I growl loudly in the direction of the voice and attempt to reach it by jumping at the door.
I hit it a couple of times with my shoulder, but it doesn't budge on inch. The ceiling here is significantly lower than the previous one, so I take my massive paw and swipe a couple of times in an attempt to reach it. My claws just fall short. I huff and sit back on my haunches.
I scan the area that I'm in. I can't smell anything threatening, just the overwhelming scent of dust and mold. I snort to get the rancid smell out of my nose.
I get up and walk over to the stacks of cans and other things on the wooden shelves. I sniff at them, but there's nothing interesting there, so I swipe at the shelves with my paw. The cans and junk there go flying in all directions. They make a satisfyingly crashing sound when they hit the floor and walls. Some bounce over to the cot. I follow it, acting like a puppy playing with a new toy.
Since my belly is full, I have no need to go out to find food, and I am perfectly content to just play here in this dank little cave.