The Rules of the Red - 2014 Watty Award Winner |✓|

Chapter Sixteen - Part One

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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If I had been Human, I think I would have been scared to walk alone on the streets of Harbor at night. Something about the grey town was mysterious and enchanting during the day, but daunting and lonely at night. Strangers who might spare you at least a small wave and a nod during the day, bustled along, turned up their jacket and pretended not to notice as they passed you on the street. But I didn’t mind it. I was too mistrustful of strangers anyway to spare much thought for such injuries.

The yellow streetlamps cut odd triangles of light across the shallow puddles that were created from an earlier light rain. It was a short walk, with less than a mile to reach the Piney Cove Stream that cut through the city, and eventually the old, oak bridge was there to greet me from its home above the water. And I could see Eve from a distance off, leaning casually against the stone wall of the bridge, to gaze into the cold stream below as she waited.

“Tsk, tsk. You’re late honeybun.” she said as I approached. She didn’t look up right away, but I could see a folder between her still-gloved hands.

“Well, I’m here now,” I replied coolly. “And you’ve got something I want.”

“Oh, you mean the evidence?” she asked, wagging the folder in what was meant to be an enticing manner. “Well, it’s right here waiting for you.”

“I’m not talking about that, Eve, and you know it. I’m talking about the ring you stole from me. It’s dangerous, and you need to give it back.”

“Have you made a decision then?” she asked, studying me with an interest that was calculated and cold.

“Yeah, I have…”

In the back of mind, the decision had been there all along, right from the very start. I knew what needed to be done, no matter what the decision might cost me.

 “And after thinking about it, Ethan deserves to suffer at least a little. He played you, Eve, to get what he needed, and then tossed you aside like a toy he had just broken. You were easily replaced, just like I was easily dispensable. He puts himself above others, and you have a right to want that vengeance.”

“Then you really do get it.” Eve said in a husky voice, blinking rapidly several times to stem the sudden flow of angry tears. She sighed, wiped her eyes with a hand, and then straightened her back and shoulders – tall for the moment. “You understand that I deserve this. He used me, and now Naomi, you can help me make him pay. We can both make him suffer –”

“Except you know I can’t,” I said, in a low voice. But Eve just kept looking at me with that same, frigid austerity and no change in expression, as if she had expected this from me the whole time.

“If I help you, I’ll not only be destroying Mathew Raines’ reputation as a Pack Leader, but I’ll be putting my relationship with my Champion at risk. And I need him in my corner, not against me. Plus, that’s just bad karma anyway, you know?”

Eve looked down, and then sighed in sadness. But when she looked up and showed her face again, there was a pronounced anger there to replace her chilliness.

“Oh, I knew you’d flake out on me, sugar. You let old Doe Eyes get to you from the very beginning. Which is odd, because you claim he didn’t even have to use his dick to do it… yet I digress. The point, is that I knew you’d be too weak to do what needs to be done on your own, so I took out a little insurance.”

Eve placed the folder between her teeth, and then, using the fingers of her left hand, she removed the glove from her right. And when she held up that hand to reveal the Countess’ ring on the forefinger of her right hand, glinting in the moonlight, I looked calmly back at her. I had to force myself to remain poised. Showing fear would only make this worse.

“Eve, that ring is cursed.” I warned. “It causes insanity. And now you can’t take it off until I can try to get you some help.”

“Help?” Eve repeated in a mocking tone. “Um, no thanks. I think I’ll just hold on to this a while longer. Just until you do what has to be done.”

“Damnit, I don’t wanna fight you Eve.” I replied, finally beginning to raise my voice. “But I refuse to betray Ethan, and you’re not leaving my sight with that ring.”

My human nails turned black, elongating into lethal claws several inches long. And I felt my teeth re-grow, painfully, in jaws that were still too human to comfortably house a set of powerful wolf’s teeth. And yet, here they were. I gnashed them angrily, growling and flexing hands that were prepared to slash and strike.

“Oh, shoot. I guess I should have clarified – I’m really more of a lover, not a fighter, sweetheart. I just don’t like to get my hands dirty – really spoils the manicure. But, I’m sure one of them would be happy to oblige you…”

Eve looked over her shoulder to the bank of trees that dotted the streams edge. Three dark figures with lethal-looking bows had stepped from the shadow of the trees. They had gone unnoticed and undetected until now, circumventing even my honed animal senses. And I couldn’t make out their faces – they were still too deep in the shadow of the night, but I could make out other characteristics. The one in the middle was tall and very broad, so I knew him to be a man. He stood, between his companions with his bow positioned at chest level. But the figure to his left was much shorter and of a slimmer stature – a girl – with a bow situated at her side. And the last figure was to the right of the middle man, tall like him, but not so muscular. His bow was aimed directly at me, illustrating that he may not have been the leader, but he had the itchiest trigger finger of the three.

I felt the air go out of my sails, and immediately I was left with no choice but to un-shift.

“Who are they?” I hissed, buzzing with anger because I already knew the answer.

“Oh, you remember how I told you that the Elder had some Hunter friends in town, don’t you?” came Eve’s breezy, unconcerned drawl. “Yeah, well, that would be them. I thought the Hunters would be pretty knowledgeable on the subject of rings, and it just so happens that this one is pretty special. They said something about it possessing magical qualities, being dangerous, I shouldn’t have it, they should confiscate it, yadda yadda yadda… Then they asked me where I got it, Naomi, and when your name came up, suddenly they were very interested in you. And turns out they’ve been wanting to meet you, so little old me and my big mouth arranged a trade. I get to keep the ring, in exchange for your word that you’ll help them with whatever it is that they need. See how it all works out? Trust me, it’s a win-win situation here!”

“Right,” I said with a cynical smile of my own. “You get to sell me out to the Hunters, and then expect me to do your dirty work. Sounds legit.”

“You’re the only one making this difficult, dearie.” Eve replied, with hollow eyes. “Give the Hunters your promise that you’ll help, give the folder to Charles, and you’ll get your ugly ring back. Wow, I am so relieved this wasn’t a proposal from Ethan – I knew you’d have better taste in rings than that.”

Eve walked forward and tossed the folder of evidence at my feet, smirking as she passed me by.