Chapter 1 Chapter 1

Running naked, I dove tackling the young werewolf around the waist. We tumbled across the grass in an awkward heap. When we finally came to a stop we laid tangled up trying to catch our breaths. Well he tried to. Being a vampire my breathing never changed. However, my legs were already screaming from the sprint I'd just done. I thought back to how I ended up in this position.  It'd all started with a 6 a.m. phone call demanding my presence and me going....

The smells and sounds of the forest filled my senses as I stepped through the portal.  I looked up at the tree canopy above me as a felt the portal close. Sighing deeply I took stock of where I was. Old tall trees. Check. Leaf covered ground. Check.  Insects galore. Check. I had been summoned to a forest. Good to know my senses all agreed.

Judging from the coordinates I had been given I was somewhere in Tennessee. I felt my agitation increase at the thought. Another deep breath told me there was a werewolf nearby but out of sight. Lurking. Perhaps it was afraid of little ole me. A not so nice smile stretched across my face as I looked in the direction of the wolf. He thought he was hidden behind the….. whatever kind of bush that was, I wasn’t a botanist. Obviously he forgot my vampire senses. His heartbeat sped up and he smelt of fear. Hmmm. I wonder if my fangs are showing.  I ran my tongue along my teeth just to check. Nope. No fangage.

"Jeremiah! Show yourself!" I yelled into the woods. He knew it was unwise to annoy me. First by calling and demanding I come to these coordinates. I don't take orders well. Everyone knows this. Second by not being here to meet me? He was just asking for me to smite him. I have the power of two Olympian gods. Smiting is easy. Keeping the powers of Aphrodite and Aries from fighting with each other? That was a little harder. But I've had several centuries to get the hang of it. "Unless you want me to entertain myself with that young pup over there that smells so invitingly of fear!"

It was an empty threat. Werewolves taste like wet dog. Vampires only feed on them to be insulting. But, it was effective since I could hear someone coming towards me in what sounded like human form. After a moment Jeremiah stepped out of the foliage. I hadn't seen him for a while. His black hair had more silver and his hazel eyes seemed faded. But I was pretty sure he was wearing the same flannel shirt and jeans as last time. He looked me over and gave me a little smirking smile. Not sure why. Just because my ebony hair was pulled up into a fuzzy ponytail that almost reached the middle of my back and wait, I looked down to see what I was wearing. Oh dear. In my haste I'd thrown on my black leather pants and a pink silk blouse. At least I did have boots on. Granted they were brown. Was it acceptable to wear brown boots with black leather pants? More importantly, when had I bought a pink silk blouse? Oh well. I narrowed my blue eyes at him.

"So, what was so important I had to get my, what was it you said? Blood sucking corpse out here now?" I gave him my death glare as I quoted him. If this wasn't life and death I was going to have to hurt him. I didn’t care for being woken up at the butt crack of dawn.

"There's something you need to see." He nodded his head to the right and then started walking that direction. I gave him a dirty look and then followed. The buzzing of all the mosquitos following us was highly annoying. But I smirked at them. My blood held no interest for them. The parasites were going to have to find somewhere else to feed. Hopefully in unspeakable places on Jeremiah.

As we walked through the trees I tried to keep the limbs from snagging on my shirt. Silk was so not the appropriate material for trekking through the freaking forest.  The scent of werewolf lingered in the air. Several of them had been through here recently. Beside me Jeremiah was getting tenser the further we walked. A couple yards in we walked around a downed tree and stopped.

Lying on the ground in a heap was a male body. A few werewolves were hanging around in wolf form. Like they were standing guard.  I took a deep breath and felt my brow wrinkle in confusion. Stepping closer I took another breath and cocked an ear towards the body. Stopping beside him, I crouched down and stared at him intently.

"You can't smell him either can you?" Jeremiah asked matter of factly. I looked at him from the corner of my eye and shook my head. My nose was less than six inches from him and he had no scent. I couldn't feel any heat coming off his skin, heard no heartbeat or breathing. All of this meant he was dead except for the scent. Even dead he should have had some kind of smell.

As I contemplated what all this meant I heard my phone go off in pocket. Pulling it out I unlocked the screen before I looked down at it. I immediately cleared the screen after a quick glance. Thankful I couldn't flush like a human. I looked around quickly to see if anyone had seen the text message with the emoji's with the hearts for eyes and the ones making kissy faces. Since no one was laughing or choking I was pretty sure I was in the clear. I shoved my phone back in my pocket and went back to examining the dead body.

Closing my eyes I took a deep breath and caught the faintest trace of magic. Opening my eyes I walked a small circle around the body. Jeremiah stood still watching, waiting for me to finish my inspection. I stopped near the dead guy's feet and looked at him. "Someone opened a portal here.”