The Allies of Old, Book Two Renewal: Chapter Five "Dazed and Confused"

Book Cover created in acrylic by the extremely talented @therealpaul

If you have not read the first book of the series, "Reborn", it is advisable you do so before reading "Renewal" or you will be lost. This link will provide you with a series summary as well as all sixty-eight chapters of Reborn

Chapter Five

Anna walked slowly down her dock looking out at water made rough by winter winds which had begun in earnest. She huddled into her coat as she sat down at the edge and took in a lungful of the invigorating air. The sky was clear and dark and seemed to house more stars than usual, though it was likely her new abilities were the reason for that.

Jenna had gone straight to bed when they arrived, but she didn't tire easily anymore, so here she was. She sighed and let her thoughts wander from one subject to the next as she listened to the waves slap against the retaining wall by the shore.

She’d had to take Jenna’s wrist yesterday since there were no males around to sustain her and oddly the act had seemed more alien to her in that moment than it had at any time besides that first time on the plane. Though she'd taken Jenna's wrist once before, that had been part of a plan not for sustenance which somehow made it different. Thinking about it made her fangs extract and she ran her tongue along them and sighed.

Her life had been such a whirlwind over the past few months that in a way she’d never had time to fully analyze her situation. What she was and what it ultimately meant. Most people would probably have spent weeks locked in a room trying to comprehend it while she’d opted for the “go with the flow” method. She wondered about herself and how easily she’d accepted her new life. And she wondered if Jess would do the same. Her friend would certainly have an enormous advantage since she had already become accustomed to the existence of vampires.

She stared across the lake at the lights on the distant shore remembering how she used to sit in this exact spot and wonder about the people who lived there. Now if she wanted she could bring the landscape forward and find out, but at the moment she didn’t feel like playing with her abilities.

She looked back up at the sky and realized she now wondered about the beings who lived in those lights instead. Whether there was a planet in some distant solar system thriving with Faerians. This shift from the lights across the lake to the lights across the sky was a poetic metaphor for how much her life had changed, beginning with her first sighting of a shadow man, ending with her transformation into an alien species.

A hybrid, she thought and smirked.

The fact that animal blood repulsed her was baffling. Michael had said something about an enzyme in their fangs that mixed with the blood they drank and how he thought that it must be a different enzyme for her, one that did better with human blood. It was beyond her, she was a right-brained individual. Science of any kind had always eluded her.

She bent her head down as Jared’s image popped into it, disrupting all other thought. She mentally ran her hands over the muscles rippling across his large chest and abdomen then slid them up to his massive shoulders and down to his enormous biceps. She rested them there and looked up into a face so stunning in its savage beauty that it took her breath away. With eyes the color of ice and diamonds, full and sensual lips that held just a hint of cruelty and multi-colored gold and blonde and amber hair that her fingers itched to run through….she squeezed her lids tighter and forced the image away but it lingered in the back of her mind.

She opened her eyes again and looked at her small hands wondering if he pictured her, and if so what he saw. A tiny little elfling, that’s what, she thought self-deprecatingly. No wonder he didn’t want her, a male who looked like him needed a supermodel on his arm, a woman with long legs and a classically beautiful face. Not some teeny little Tinkerbell who had to stretch up on tiptoes to grasp his shoulders. She barely stood higher than his waistline and he could probably palm her head like a basketball.

His hands had been enormous. An image of them covering her breasts while he took her from behind popped unbidden into her thoughts and she shivered. Everything about him was enormous, especially his….she shook her head violently. Too late. An image of his penis flashed across her brain.

She stood and stretched. Why couldn’t her superpowers have included communicating with her mind? She could concentrate and call out to him, cry out for him. And if that didn’t work she could sing “Henry the eighth I am” or "You are my Sunshine" into his head until he conceded to see her. But alas she had no such power. He could sense her feelings if he were near, but that was it.

He had probably run to the ends of the earth to avoid her and she couldn’t blame him.

If he had been near when her friends had been taken and still managed to ignore her pain and fear she couldn’t imagine what would ever bring him running. She gave the turbulent black water one last look then blurred back to the house hoping she could get some sleep.

**

The next morning Anna and Jenna sat outside on the patio with coffee and cigarettes. It was chilly out and the brisk air pulled the smoke away from them in a constant stream.

The stress of facing her family was apparent as Jenna stubbed out one only to light up another.

“Chain smoking?” Anna ribbed.

“Echh, I know.”

“So have you decided on what you’re going to say?”

Jenna glared at her, “Are you enjoying this?”

Anna’s look of startled hurt caused Jenna to sigh. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. I’m just stressed out. But yes, I basically know what I’m going to say.”

She didn’t elaborate and Anna decided not to push.

“Well I suppose,” Jenna stood up and groaned.

“Just think, once you get it over with you can put it behind you. Actually, I was thinking about going out to Terry’s Tavern tonight.”

“Oooh, yeah, that actually sounds good. Well if I don’t get back before you leave I’ll meet you there.”

“All right babe, good luck.”

Anna spent the day in the woods behind her house alternating between blurring and leaping through the trees. She'd never realized just how much state park land there was around her until now, miles and miles without a soul in sight. It was nice to not think too much, and the time flew by which had been her goal.

When eight o’clock rolled around she went back to the house and took a nice long shower, after which she spent an inordinate amount of time deciding what to wear. She wasn’t usually that picky, but tonight she wanted to feel pretty, needed to.

When she’d finally settled on an outfit she stood in front of the full length mirror nibbling on her lip. Dark hip hugging designer jeans, narrow black boots, a pale pink and green blouse that didn’t cover her navel and tied around her neck, she decided the ensemble made her look…cute. Maybe a little sexy, but not enough for what she was after. She pulled out the straightening iron and added a little more makeup. Once that was done she reassessed.

Still more cute than sexy but it would have to do.

She had no idea who she was trying to impress except in some deluded part of her brain she hoped if she repeated her last bar escapade maybe HE would show up. In New York. In her little town. Fat fucking chance.

Jenna still hadn’t come back and she wondered if she should call and make sure everything was okay. She decided against it, unsure of whether she'd want the interruption. If she didn’t turn up at the bar by eleven, then she’d call.

She walked out onto her front porch and for the first time in her life she wasn’t comforted by her surroundings. She frowned darkly at the lake which was just visible through the last of the multi-colored and mottled brown leaves clinging to the branches of trees along the bank. The scenery might have been attractive if the sky wasn’t so overcast, a stark contrast to the star filled sky of the previous night. She wondered if the weather might be adding to her increasingly negative vibe.

She sat down on the porch swing and found the familiar creak of the hinges were grating on her nerves rather than calming them. Because of HIM she thought miserably. She had to admit he was fast becoming an obsession. Who was she kidding? She was already fully obsessed, process complete.

Feeling antsy, she decided a little pre-gaming was in order and headed back indoors to raid the liquor cabinet. She felt a flash of irritation at having misplaced her fake ID. In Europe she didn’t have that concern but the over twenty-one law was loud and proud in the states, which in her mind was completely ridiculous. You could die in a war but you couldn’t have a drink? Something was terribly wrong with that logic.

Her hopes of him being drawn to her when she was inebriated and dancing clung to her mind tenaciously. And this time no one would be there to drive him away...as soon as the thought was out she cringed in guilt. It hadn’t been Jess’s fault, he could’ve waited until she was sober and asked if her friend had spoke the truth. Instead he’d disappeared and not returned.

Fuck him, she thought suddenly as she poured rum straight down her throat, maybe I don’t want him to show up.

Maybe she just wanted to pretend to be normal for a night. She grabbed a fifth of whiskey and put it in her purse, legal age problems be damned, and then downed a few more gulps of rum. Hammered was the name of her game tonight and she intended to win.

She tossed her purse onto the passenger seat and got behind the wheel. The alcohol was already taking effect and a pleasantly warm buzz filled her head. She felt her spirits lift at the prospect of living like she was an ordinary teenage girl and backed down the driveway thinking she would more than likely run into people she knew. She turned the radio up loud and started singing to the music, getting herself in the mood.

Her phone rang and she balanced the steering wheel on her knee as she fished around in her purse for it. Good thing it wasn’t snowing, an accident would be inconvenient at the moment. She giggled and answered in a sing song voice.

“Hellloo?”

“Hey…”

“Jenna! Are you okay?”

“Umm, yeah, are you still at home?”

“Nope, on route to the Tavern.”

“Are you drunk already?”

“Nope, but working on it.”

“Okay, I'll run down to your house and get ready then meet you there.”

“Awesome!”

"I've been meaning to thank you for the car-" Jenna started.

"Stop! Not another word or you'll ruin my buzz!"

Jenna huffed a laugh out, "Right. See you soon."

Anna hit end and cranked the music again, the pop station buoying her spirits.

She pulled into the parking lot which was already pretty crowded and uncapped her whiskey, downing a few gulps before sliding it back in her purse. She bounced out of her car and as soon as she hit the doorway she was accosted by kids she’d went to school with. Apparently they weren’t being too strict on the age thing since several of them were from her class.

After making some small talk she went up to the counter. The middle-aged woman standing behind it didn’t even blink when she ordered a whiskey sour, taking her money and sliding the drink across the smooth wooden surface.

She drank it quickly then sucked down two more before swiveling in her bar stool and running her legs into someone in the process. She started to apologize until she looked up and saw who it was. Leo Giovanni, damn. The last time she’d seen him Austin had laid him out on her deck stairs for making a bet about getting in her pants.

He stared down at her seeming uncertain of how to react to her presence and she decided to give him a break by smiling brightly up at him.

He returned the smile, visibly relaxing. “How’ve you been, beautiful?” he asked smoothly, plucking her drink from her hand and taking her arm. She let him lead her over to his table where he set her cup down.

“Fabulous, you?”

“Can’t complain. You look a little tipsy, been pre-gamin’ it?”

She laughed. “Is it that obvious?”

He held his fingers an inch apart and grinned and she remembered why everyone had been in love with him in high school. He really was an attractive guy, although if her vamps were here he wouldn’t hold a candle.

He introduced her to the others at the table, friends of his from college, and she soon found herself listening to a ridiculous debate about saving the spiny antelope and why that was more important than the abortion issue in the upcoming election.

When she finished her drink Leo leaned over and whispered, “Dance?”

She was more than happy to escape the political argument and let him pull her out onto the dance floor. The music was of the club variety, techno with a loud bass, and he wasted no time pulling her in close to grind with him. At this point her head was in a floaty place and she found she didn’t mind what they were doing. In fact she began thinking very seriously that perhaps her reason for being in New York was to do what Jared obviously wanted…break the bond.

She looked up into his face, again thinking that he was not nearly as handsome as she’d once found him. But he was still perfect for the job, no strings, just sex. He spun her over to the bar and they did two shots, the floating sensation turning to giddiness. Her thoughts became fractured and she pushed them aside letting the music fill her mind as they danced.

She noted Jenna’s arrival with a grin and barely registered the surprised expression on her friend’s face. A couple minutes later Jenna was whispering something in her ear and she furrowed her brows. “Huh?”

“You’re really drunk aren’t you?”

“I think so.” Leo pulled her around the other way and Jenna frowned harshly at him. He ignored her bringing Anna in closer and planting a light kiss on her neck.

Jenna made a valiant attempt to get Anna to follow her to the bar, but gave up when it became apparent she wasn’t currently capable of reading her cues. She made her way to the counter thinking she would just have to keep an eye on the situation. Freakin’ Leo of all people, what could Anna be thinking?

She ordered a beer and took a sip, swinging around in the stool to survey the crowd. She saw a number of people she knew and was just about to make her way to a table when the door to the bar swung open... and Austin walked in.

Generously created for me by @son-of-satire