Page 14 of Dark

“You’ve seen him?”

I twisted my hair into a knot, letting it fall over one shoulder. “You know that feeling you get when you know you’re being watched? You’re standing in line at a food truck and your skin starts to crawl. You go out to the corner to grab the mail and… ugh. You probably think I’m crazy.”

“Borderline chocolate addict for sure.”

I flipped him off.

“As for vamps, those scum-sucking prickheads are a separate species. You’re either born one or you’re not. Lycanthropy is caused by a virus that’s spread to humans through biting, needle exchange or unprotected sex. It modifies our human DNA, allowing us to absorb energy from moonlight and use it to shift forms. Shifters are fully integrated into human society for the most part. We hold jobs, look like anyone you’d pass on the street. Vamps work the criminal underbelly of the major cities. You won’t see them out during the day—”

“So the sun thing is true?”

“Sure.” Ethan flipped his bottle cap. “It’s one of the few ways to kill them. Their governing body has strict laws in place about secrecy, just like ours, but the young ones break off from their covens all the time, start getting sloppy, draining too much so their victims are left with permanent cognitive issues, or even dead. Before they were outed, it always used to look like someone was drugging people out in the clubs. Now the feds are looking into everything.”

“Let me guess, including the emergency rooms?” I rubbed my arm where the message had been. HOSPITALS NOT SAFE.

“Yeah, ER’s are a hot spot at the moment. The government knows we’re out there now, hiding in plain sight. It’s the whole reason behind the push for the Nationwide Database Act.”

“Thought that wasn’t going anywhere what with the watchdog groups screaming about Big Brother.”

“So far it hasn’t gained steam. But with a blood profile and a positive ID, we’d be sitting ducks. They’d be able to pick us out of the general population, set up checkpoints, run fingerprints and haul people in.”

“Damn,” I breathed.

“Yeah. Moment that happens, it’s a game changer, and both sides know it.”

We fell silent. The air conditioner hummed in the background. Ethan cracked his wrist, reaching down to adjust the straps on his leather cuff.

“Your friends in your band didn’t see anything the night you were attacked?”

I uncapped my water. “Who says I play in a band?”

“Hypothetically.”

“Stalker.”

“Remind me why I missed you?”

“Someone has to save you from your emo grunge playlists.”

He snorted. “Why do I feel like you’ve spent the last three years raging against the establishment and existing on nothing but Mexican Coke and chocolate muffins?”

“And cheeseburgers. Don’t forget the cheeseburgers.”

He huffed. “Fine, Cal. Happy?”

I hid a smirk.

“Changing a human by force isn’t forbidden under were law. Kind of a hot-button issue, especially after that YouTube video got leaked. You’ve got the right-wing groups up in arms railing about the threat to our way of life, always sure we’re about to be wiped out. And the more moderate voices pointing out we’re not doing ourselves any favors when half the were population has an origin story like yours.”

“So why is it still allowed?”

He shrugged. “We’ve got our own political messes, same as the human world. For the time being it’s been left up to each pack to decide whether or not to ban forced changing within their territory. We don’t allow it here in Blood Moon, but let’s just say some of the guys down in Austin aren’t exactly on our Christmas card list.”

“So why would someone change me and leave me there?”

Ethan leaned back against the industrial refrigerator, crossing one ankle over the other. “Doesn’t add up. The vast majority of shifters are law-abiding citizens who view forced changing as barbaric. And even the ones who don’t aren’t gonna be running around biting humans at random. Changing someone is an act of possession. It’s territorial. Primal. Newly-made wolves are the responsibility of their sires and have to be registered and approved by the appropriate Territorial Council within a month of creation. Everyone’s been on high alert ever since YouTube-gate and no one’s taking any chances. The Council has been cracking down on cases of accidental infection, sires who got too careless, you name it. No one wants a bunch of newly-turned weres going feral and exposing us to the world.”

And then I got it. “They’re going to come after me?”