62 | TRIGGERED

Everything feels wrong. Like I’ve stepped into an alternate reality where the worse things in the world are slapping me in the face. I sit on the edge of my bed, staring at the scratched up wood flooring, searching each of the deep claw marks for something - anything - that will tell me this isn’t real.

Running from the family who wanted me dead, I could deal with.

Finding out I was a vamp-Wolven hybrid…okay. I freaked a bit with that one, but still…alive-ish. I dealt.

Discovering he United States King of Vampires is crazier than my psycho grandmother and wants to drink me dry so he can gain my power and life-force? Yeah, no. That was - *is* - still on my shit list.

Getting confronted by an Ancient? Learning Blue and I jump-started the apocalypse…still working on dealing with that too.

But none of that compares to the last one.

Learning Mom’s dying.

There are no words.

I thought I could deal with it yesterday, when I was working things out with Blue, but now that I’m alone again… Now that everything’s roaring loud in my head and prospect of sleep is more daunting than jumping into a volcano… My fingers are tracing the blue-green crystal hanging from the end of the chain around my neck. It would be so nice to not-feel this intensity in me. The overbearing chaos of sorrow, fear, and loss.

The ever-present ache in my chest has risen in strength too, feeling more like my heart is breaking with each beat.

The thing with Mikyle only added to my list of fears. The King is mad. Evil incarnate. And he wants me dead.

Needing to be moving, I get off my ass and leave the Coven as quietly as I can. The merry-go-round of shit in my head is slowly becoming a whirling tornado and I really just don’t want to be in an enclosed space right now. So I wander around the woods, letting my senses work together automatically while I try to get my thoughts sorted.

It’s not like I’ve been sleeping these days anyway. Aside from last night.

The chill of the middle of November settles into my muscles, but thanks to the amulet, I feel the steady warmth of my Wolven side keeping the bite of autumn from affecting me. The darkness has my night-vision kicking in as I stealthily navigate through the familiar tangle of foliage. The sounds and scents of animal life, nocturnal creatures like owls, the occasional mouse and squirrel, and foxes activate the more predatory part of my brain.

I have to actively fight the urge to shift and get lost in the hunt.

I need to sort the maelstrom in my head before it breaks me. Already, I can feel the fracturing of my thoughts, the too panicky claustrophobic weight settling in me - making me want to run from my problems yet again. I fight it all. I struggle with everything, acknowledging each part of this tangled mess until I feel like it’s almost straightened out.

Or at least…that’s what I think.

Before I know it, another scent has caught my attention and I follow it on instinct. The forest gives way to roads and before I know it I find myself on the edges of a real collision. Two steaming hunks of metal are twisted together like they were forced together by some giant, flickering headlights periodically illuminate the surrounding road. And something cloyingly sweet wafts across the breeze over the scent of burned rubber and heated metal.

*Thu-thump*. My old friend whispers it’s tune in my head. *Thu-thump. Thu-thump*. It sings a promise of something so sweet, so precious- The heated stone against my breastbone makes me hiss, cringing away ask the amulet around my neck reminds me of control. I swallow the saliva that had pooled in my mouth at the scent of fresh blood, trying hard not to lick my lips as the smell of it stirs my thirst.

“Is somebody there?” A voice calls from somewhere inside the twisted metal. The larger of the two once-vehicles. A form moves in the driver’s seat, a curse and half-choked sob or regret. I’m moving before I can think better of my actions.

“I’m here.” I hear myself saying, reaching for the warped side of the car door and giving the thing an experimental tug. It doesn’t budge an inch. There’s a twenty-something-woman sitting in the driver’s seat, a dazed look in her light brown eyes as she sees me.

“The other car-” She starts, her eyelids fluttering rapidly as she looks from me to the other car. “They came out of nowhere-”

“Stay calm. I’ll call for help,” I tell her, ignoring the curiosity burning in my mind at her words. I pull my phone from my pocket and dial the emergency line. “What’s your name?” I ask the woman, trying to keep us both distracted while I wait for the call to connect. The smell of blood, rich and hot, is heavy in the air. The woman’s got to be injured, but I don’t dare try to move her now - for both of our sakes.

“Camile Fontain.” She blurts, her eyes doing that fluttery thing again, and then I note the pallor to her skin. In this light, I had thought her light skin was just her skin tone, but on closer inspection, I realize there’s an ashen undertone to her tan skin. “I…I have to call my sister-” She says softly, a frown creasing her brows.

“*Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?*” A calm voice from my phone asks.

“There’s been a car crash,” I tell the operator, fighting to keep the words from exploding out of my mouth too loudly, but I can’t keep the fear from my voice. I search the area for street markers, making sure to keep the injured woman, Camile, in my line of sight. No one’s stirred from the other car, and by the heavy smell of blood in the air…I’m not sure if they’re alive. I can’t hear any other heartbeat aside from my own and Camile’s. And even her heart’s making some funny sounds. The beats are becoming slower-uneven…

I relay this to the operator, telling them I’ve stumbled across the scene while out for a walk. We’re just outside Kiwina, on a road between Kiwina and Port Greene. Luckily, there’s a highway marker not too far away that I give to the operator. When they try to ask my name, I give them Camile’s. By the time I’m done giving information, the operator lets me know someone’s on the way, but I’m only half-listening.

Camile’s eyes have started to go distant, her breathing shallow and thick-sounding. I let out a string of curses and tug on the door.

“Camile?” I tap the woman’s shoulder, trying not to jostle her, but her head lolls anyway with the force of my hand. Then it jerks up and the woman’s brown eyes meet mine, blinking too slowly.

“Mh?” She hums in a groggy voice, her eyes focusing and unfocusing. The sound of her heart is muddled, sluggish. I lean into the car, noting the dark stains spreading up the woman’s shirt and the object imbedded in her side.

“Hey, Camile,” I pat the woman’s cheek, alarm spiking through me and making my senses flare even brighter. She blinks at me, her face contorting into annoyance, though she barely moves to stop me as I continue to try and keep her attention. “Shit, hey! Don’t go into the light!” I hiss at her, my mouth feeling too-full as I lean back out of the car and wrench on the door again, this time putting in more force. The metal squeals, giving an inch before it jams again. “Camile? Hey, what’s your sister’s name? Do you remember her number?” I try to prod the woman, keep her conscious as her head lulls again.

“Lisa.” Camile mumbles, shaking her head and frown deepening. “Lisa,” She repeats, looking at me as I finally manage to rip the door opened. The warped metal makes a funny yowling sound, making me cringe a little as the boom of it in my ears practically rattles my brain. I freeze as the movement of it makes the scent of fresh blood slam into me. “Her number…” Camile starts slowly, one red-stained hand reaching up to cup her forehead. I cringe back, my lungs burning suddenly at the sight of the fresh blood.

*Thu-thup-thu-thup*. Her heart whispers it’s sickly sweet hymn in my ears, the burning pain of thirst sets my throat at jaw alight. A soft green light reflects back at me from Camile’s eyes as she looks at me. She blinks slowly at me for a long minute before shaking her head and blinking some more, her nose wrinkling. Her mouth opens and closes a fw times as I stay stock-still, fighting the wish within me to rip her throat out and take what remains of her blood from her leaking body-

“I think I’m seeing things…” Camile hums after a moment, head lulling back against the headrest and arm dropping into her lap. The simple burnt-orange dress she was wearing is stained dark red now, the spreading color deepening the shade to near-black. I find myself watching it to closely, leaning in to study the progressing stain-

“Red,” A calloused hand settles on my forearm, gently tugging me away from the bleeding woman and into a solid form. I make the mistake of breathing into the skin now inches from my mouth. The tips of my exposed fangs scrape against a solid collarbone and the new heartbeat I hear gives a little extra-*thump*. Parchment and pine…and blood. “Red, we need to go.” Blue’s voice breathes into my ear, the heat of his breath warming the side of my face. I shiver as the thirst in me starts morphing into a different hunger, the stone now blazing hot against my chest.

What really pulls me from the bloodlust-haze, though, is the sound of sirens getting closer.