Chapter 17: Chapter 17

The scenery was really breathtaking. Erin smiled and leaned against the glass and pressed both hands on the window, just to leave smudges and feel as though she’d won a tiny battle. Outside, evergreens, ferns, wild grasses, brambles, and wildflowers painted a wilderness canvas full of colors too vibrant to be real. It was springtime, and apparently the rains that had been coasting across the country had done this place good.

Sebastian drove her past a flat cliff ledge where curious, giant machines stood still and abandoned, the arm of one stuck in the air as if its operator had stopped mid-chore when they cut out for the workday.

“Julian owns these castles and estates??”Sebastian said.

“Of course he does.”

A muscle twitched in Seb's jaw. Good. She hoped she was as annoying to him as he was to her.

“Few years ago, pine beetles started killing off the trees. Mostly the weak and old ones at first, but that’s what happened to all the dead ones you see.”

Outside, there was a mash-up of brown interspersed in the green. Dead trees, and all because of a bug. Huh.

“Mr. Ferrari has a protective nature, so he began gathering in these mountains shifters he respected to cut down the dead lumber and replant as they went along. There are three crews that live here. They call them the distinct shifters. They clear the land in sections and deliver the lumber to the Lowlander Crew, who own the sawmill down in Some distant place Other people, and real hard workers. It helps Julian keep his land healthy, and in turn, he gives these folks who don’t fit anywhere else jobs and homes.”

"Wow, I didn't know that vampires were in accord with other shifters like that.. I thought they were supposed to be like enemies."

"Nah.. Those are just rumored myths. supernatural beings were not created to be enemies. They were created to dominate. What a vampire would do alone, it couldn't be as perfect as what a vampire, a werewolf and a witch could do together. Besides, Julian is no ordinary vampire. He is a warlock."

"What is a warlock?"

"A warlock is a mystical being. The greatest of supernaturals. They could spin the earth the way he wanted to with so much as a snap of his fingers. They are much like a God. A superior." Seb explained.

Erin's mouth formed an O.

"Why does he have those ghosts..?" Erin couldn't help asking. She couldn't shake off what she had seen.

Seb stared at her, unsure of what to say.

It was then that she saw the sign over the road. The Mobile Park. Sebastian slowed and came to a stop in front of a high, bricked fire pit where several people were gathered around a grill, talking and laughing. Behind them was a semi-circle of singlewide trailers. Erin couldn’t guess their age since they’d been covered in cedar shingles and fixed up with screened-in porches. All but the one on the end. That one had a new porch built off the side, but the trailer itself looked less cared for than the others. Chipped cream paint and green shudders, a splintered front door that looked as if some sort of rodent had tried to chew its way through, and the numbers beside the doorframe were barely hanging on by a rusty, bent-up nail. 1010. Chills blasted up her arms, and she rubbed them to bring warmth back into her skin.

“Why are we stopping?” she asked as a tall man without a shirt approached. His entire torso was covered with crisscrossing scars, but he wore a greeting smile.

Ignoring her, Sebastian rolled down his window and gave the guy a mannish handshake. One of those that ended with a fist bump. Hmm. Maybe Seb wasn’t as big a fuddy-duddy as she’d deemed him. “Hey, Matt,” Seb greeted through an answering grin.

Matt leaned onto the door frame, big triceps flexing as he asked, “You here to party with the riff-raff? Get on out here. We have brisket cooking and beer on ice.” The blue-eyed man’s nostrils flared, and he slid a gaze to the back seat. “Holy shit, you’ve got a crier.”

Mortified by his observation, Erin wiped her eyes.

“Willa!” he called behind him. “I can’t do tears, Nerd. This one is all you. Seb, get your ass out of the car and grab a drink.”

Sebastian tossed her a cocky grin, rolled up the window and kicked his door open as Matt sauntered back to the others.

“Where are you going?”

“To party with the riff-raff.” Seb pocketed the keys and shut the driver-side door. “You can come out here and meet the group and eat some delicious barbecue, or you can stay in there and pout.”

“I don't know if I'll feel safe with animal shifters,” she called as he walked away.

“Boar shifter,” he called over his shoulder.

Erin crossed her arms over her chest and growled. Sea cucumber, boar, or hamster, the man was still a grade-A douche-wagon.

She startled when a tiny woman with black, thick-rimmed glasses and hair dyed an unnatural shade of bright red opened the door right next to her. She sniffed the air and grinned, then pointed her finger at Erin. “A normal human. On the mountains, wow.”

Erin huffed a surprised laugh and scented the air. The mini-woman was also a bear shifter, and a dominant female, like herself. Respect. “Um... Well,” she drawled.

“I’m Willa, and I’m coming in because I’ve never been in Julian's car and those jackasses are going to be so jealous.”

“I’m Erin Dexter.”

Willa climbed over her lap and shut the door, then wiggled to the front and hit the lock button right as a dark-haired man lifted the door handle. “Hey! I want to see in there, too.”

“Back off, Jason. I’ll paint you a picture later.”

Jason jiggled the handle with a miffed expression that marred his handsome features. “Now that’s just rude,” he huffed as he released the door and stomped off.

Erin was trying not to laugh, because really, she wanted to hold onto her anger for a little while longer, but Willa opened the cap of a tiny liquor bottle from a hidden mini bar and handed it to her. “One for you and one for me and— I will eat you!” she yelled when Jason tried the door one last time.

When he cupped his hands over his eyebrows and stared into the dark tinted window, Erin told him blandly, “I’m crying.”

“Ew, no.” Jason left and didn’t look back.

“Nicely done. Girl tears. Sends men skittering away every time. Cheers,” Willa said through a bright grin as she held up her miniature bottle of vodka.

Erin tinked hers against Willa’s and shook her head before she slammed the shot of throat-scorching liquid. Why the hell not? She could use a stiff drink after the day she’d had.

“Sooo, Erin Dexter, why ya cryin’?” Willa asked, slouching back in the seat and resting her rainbow converse sneakers on the headrest in front of her.

Erin pursed her lips, uninterested in sharing how naïve she’d been. “Why are you wearing glasses?”

“Oh, these.” Willa shoved them farther up her nose, nerd-style. “Matt, my mate, is into real geeky shit, so when I want him frisky, I pull out the glasses. They have no magnification. They’re for sex-appeal only.”

“Huh. I like that,” Erin admitted as the edges of her vision went fuzzy, and she got that weightless feeling only a good shot of vodka could give her.

“What’s this?” Willa asked, pulling the rumpled binding contract from Erin's lap.

That damning paperwork should’ve been embarrassing, but she would never see Willa again after today, and frankly, Seb had turned off her give-a-damn switch. “That would be part of the reason I’m crying.”

“Hmmm... A human on the mountains on no uncertain terms. There must be a reason... ,” Willa murmured, flipping to the second page with a distracted look as she read. “Holy shit. Is this what I think it is? And ew, please tell me his pitch didn’t actually involve him calling you a breeder.”

“That’s me. Breeder to…whatever terrifying shifter he is hiding inside of him.”

Willa’s eyebrows arched high, and her chestnut brown eyes went round. “Dragon, boo. This is a contract to boink the warlock who is a vampire and also a dragon.”

Erin gripped the empty bottle in her hand as if the tiny thing would anchor her to this world. “I’m sorry. I just thought you said dragon.”

“Like that sexpot tattoo you’re rockin’ on your shoulder blade. Fire fire, pew pew.”

“He breathes fire?”

"Dragons breathe fire so... Yes why not?"

"But he's a vampire!" Erin all but yelled. This was beginning to get too unbelievable. He was a vampire but had a dragon in him??!

"Vampire warlock hun. Sheesh, I would wish he would explain all these to you because it's hard to comprehend." Willa mused. Regret showing on her face.

"Shoot me... I'm understanding." Erin urged.

"You see... Julian Ferrari is a warlock. He was a warlock long before he became a vampire. He was bitten not by his choice. A warlock is a mystical being."

"Heard that before—"

"No! You don't understand. His whole being is magic. He has the magic to create anything, to destroy and to become anything. Shape-shifting comes with every warlocks. So, he is a demon, a dragon shifter, a wizard and plenty other stuffs I don't know."

"I.. I didn't know..."

“Uh, Erin,” Willa said in a business tone as she smoothed the contract over her lap. “Why, perchance, has Seb brought you here?”

“Probably to try and convince me to stay. And because he’s a dick bent on ruining this day even further.”

Willa cleared her throat and pointed to a tall man with jet black hair and dark eyes. He looked vaguely familiar, but Erin couldn’t put her finger on why until Willa explained, “That’s my alpha, Creel, and he’s related to Julian. I’d bet my worms Seb brought you here to get any questions you have answered by that man.”

Erin narrowed her eyes at the driver, who had shimmied out of his suit jacket and rolled his sleeves up to his forearms. He was currently tilting his head back and glugging a beer as though he hadn’t just tricked her into traveling all the way from somewhere to be a rental womb for a freaking vampire warlock. She was the queen of being dooped. “Son of a biscuit eater.”

“Mmm, I love biscuits,” Willa murmured, but when Erin looked over at her, Willa was staring at Matt with a hungry smile.

On that note, Erin unlocked the door and slipped out of the car, determined not to let Seb win whatever game he was playing.

A beer and some brisket, and she would be on her way back to her quarters and well on her way to putting this mortifying situation behind her, take Jake and Feesh then leave. She sighed as her thoughts went back to her family. Sebastian had said they had been placed in the human-affairs chambers. Apparently, they would be safer there.

Erin trusted Julian’s judgment. But that didn’t mean she wished to be without her family. Jake was her only blood and Feesh was in this situation only because of her. She couldn’t stay in this place without them.

****