The Lady of the Valley

TLotV Chapter 10

10.

Prowling the streets wasn't something vampires actually had to do often. Hunting humans was easy, especially in bigger cities, which was why vampires flocked to them. Just living in a big city gave one access to a huge number of people. Disposable access, Samuel called it. The clerk at the gas station. The stock boy taking a smoke behind a store. A bell hop or bored soccer mom at the playground.

If you wanted a particular type of prey, Derek thought to himself, you learned where to find them and curated an image that attracted them. Like druggies? You became a dealer, and occasionally slid someone a freebie for a bite. Like college coeds? You frequented bars and learned where Greek Row was. It was easy to be anonymous in a big city, with each neighborhood like its own little village. If people in one block got suspicious you just moved across town for a year. Humans had short lives and shorter memories.

Not so in Mystic Valley. Derek felt watched more here than he had anywhere else. Even back in his human days, when he'd been stalked by a vampire.

He chose primarily to fly around the city as he prowled. His brother Samuel had been gifted with shapeshifting powers. It wasn't uncommon for a vampire, as he or she aged, to develop an alternate form. He had one. Ellie didn't. Samuel had three. The hawk had come first, about the same time as Derek developed his crow form. The dog came about ten years later. The rodent came right after that. It wasn't a rat really. The shape was wrong and the tail and feet had hair. It was some combination of a rat and stole. Maybe a polecat or ferret. Probably because Samuel couldn't actually picture himself as a true rodent. Which was why Deek called it the rat form.

Most people didn't think of rats as predators, only vermin. But they were, in fact, vicious hunters in the wild. Like very tiny bears. A smaller form like that might have been better for skulking the streets. But Derek really did enjoy the view from above.

Mystic Valley didn't appear to have separate social scenes. There was no club scene. No dive bar sector. Even the druggies didn't live on the streets so much as in someone's basement or in the cheap apartments behind a gas station. The closest thing to a scene was college versus not college. Even that was shaky. Single moms took evening classes after work and plenty of middle aged men took a class or two to enhance their resume. A lot of the town worked at the college as well.

And so many people appeared to know each other, waving out of car windows to people on the street, or clustering together briefly to gab at an outdoor dining area. People here paid attention to other people to the same degree that people in Chicago tried to ignore each other. It took some adjusting to.

At first he thought maybe a Ripper had come through town and targeted the street life of Mystic Valley. But again, there were no prostitutes walking these streets, or druggies passed out in alleys, so the likelihood of that was slim. So he flew over the city, like pacing, though he wasn't sure if it helped him think, or if he just hoped he might stumble on some clue.

Instead he caught sight of a familiar blonde ponytail below. Ari. She stepped out of the police station, literally on Main Street, and paused for several long moments to fiddle with her phone. Then she cut through the narrow walkway between the building and the one next to it. A moment after a second familiar form separated from the late midday downtown crowd and followed. Ellie was as dark as Ari was light. Derek did not like his sister stalking Ari.

He followed.

Ari proceeded to take literally every bad path she could through the downtown area. If there was an alley, she cut through it instead of walking along the street. Twice she paused outside of any other human's line of sight to play with that damn phone again. She ducked under an overpass and he damn near panicked. But she surfaced on the other side, only to walk--slowly, with her eyes on the phone again--into a mostly empty parking garage. He was going to have to teach her some basic public safety.

Ellie paused, then became a blur. Fuck. Fuck. Derek dove after them.

He started transforming while still in the dive. His timing couldn't have been better. Ari hadn't gone far into the parking garage and Elli had engaged as soon as she was out of sight. Derek collided with the dark shape of his sister and rolled them away, across the concrete. He took most of the force on his shoulder which crunched beneath them. No matter. Already blood and adrenaline surged in his veins.

He spotted a flash of light just before Ellie buried a blade between his ribs. He used their momentum to throw Ellie away. She landed like a cat on a foot and her knee, one hand hit the ground for stability and the other pulled a second blade from her belt. Her eyes flashed red and she snarled.

Derek rolled to his feet, bared his fangs and hissed back. Ellie charged. She turned to the side at the last moment, no doubt trying to slide behind him so she could get the advantage and knife him in the back. He caught her shoulder again and flung her, throwing her off her feet and into a concrete support pillar eight feet away. The pillar cracked.

Ellie rolled to her feet a little slower. His shoulder burned as his body started to heal. Ellie stared him down, deciding. Derek saw the choice a moment too late. He pulled the knife from his ribs and threw it. But Ellie blurred again and took a running leap out of the window and was gone.

Derek snarled in her wake and straightened from his defensive pose. A pink t-shirt flew at his face.

"Dammit, Derek, what are you doing?"

Derek caught the t-shirt with a whirl of his arm. It was almost as confusing as the annoyance playing over Ari's face.

"You've ruined it."

He couldn't help just standing there, being confused. "Ruined you getting jumped by some psycho bitch in an empty parking garage?"

"Ruined me ambushing the woman who's been following me for a week, you mean." Ari walked over and picked up the knife he'd thrown.

She was just leaving him with more questions.

"You were walking through alleys and into," he gestured at the empty concrete space around him, "here on purpose? No. Absolutely not. I'm not letting you run around using yourself as bait. Alone! You have no idea who she was."

Ari shot him a scathing look and stood, blade in hand. She waved it at him. "I'm not bait. And I'm not alone. Where did you come from, anyway?"

"He flew in, all ready to rescue you."

He knew the voice, and the scent, before he turned.

"It was pretty dramatic. And a little romantic," Astrid said. Her words were amused, but something swam behind her eyes. Derek didn't like it, and for one mad moment wanted to go throw himself at her feet and beg forgiveness. For what, he wasn't sure, but he didn't want her feeling whatever it was that she was hiding behind that forced smile.

Ari took her shirt back from him. Astrid stood still between them and the exit. Her braid was twisted back and pinned up where it would be hard to grab a hold of. She wore a leather vest and matching shin and arm guards. And a sword was strapped to her back.

"Both of you?" Derek asked.

Astrid studied him for another moment. "I think we should probably talk."

Then she turned and walked away.