Blood of the Maple

He snorted, amused, but it didn’t help his fury. People got out of his way; they understood what an angry vampire was capable of in this town and weren’t about to let him take his rage out on their flesh.

“Parker.”

Ah. Now, there was someone he could fight. “Dragos.”

“I understand you’ve been butting up against the bit of prejudice we seem to have in this town.” Dragos stepped close, but not close enough to feel Parker’s claws. The street had emptied, people ducking into doorways or businesses to get out of their way. “I want it stated for the record that I do not agree with the way some people treat your singele sotiei.”

There was a masculine gasp behind him. “Someone mated that freak?”

His beast broke its leash, eager for the taste of blood. Before the speaker had finished, Parker had him by the throat and up against the wall, leaving him no time to react. Dragos sighed, resigned to the coming fight. Parker had no problems handing out object lessons. He smiled, allowing his fangs to show. “What did you say about my wife?” He clenched his hand around the man’s throat until he could barely breathe.

Dragos tried to pry Parker’s fingers from the man’s throat but backed off at Parker’s snarl. “Jason was Amara’s prom date in high school, or so she thought. He thought it would be amusing to win her over, ask her out, then show his friends how she changed when she became angry. He left her half-naked on Glinda’s doorstep and took another were to the prom instead.”

Parker literally saw red. His claws pricked the were’s skin, and blood welled from the puncture wounds. “Really?” Parker tilted his head. “And who is Jason’s mate?”

Jason gulped, his Adam’s apple moving under Parker’s palm.

“Jason has no mate yet.”

“Pity.” Parker pulled Jason close but kept his feet off the ground. “However, I’m sure that will someday be remedied. He is quite the attractive young man, isn’t he? I wonder how he would feel if someone treated her the way Amara has been?”

He tightened his grip, one sharp claw dangerously close to Jason’s jugular. One move and Jason would never have the opportunity to mate, probably the only thing that kept him from shifting.

It was time to end this town’s strange animosity toward Amara. He pitched his voice so that it could be heard clear across the town, using his vampiric powers to whisper into every home, every dark alley, every corner of Maggie’s Grove. “Know this. Amara is mine. Mine to protect. My sotiei. Anyone who even looks at her wrong will deal with me, and I will not be compassionate. I will make you pay in ways you’ve never dreamed.” Jason trembled as he stared into Parker’s eyes. “You won’t be able to hide from me. I will find you in your deepest nightmares. I am your worst fear. And when I finally collect the debt owed, before you die, you’ll know exactly how Amara has felt all these years. You will know what it is to be a true freak. Do we understand each other?”

A nearby tree exploded into a billion shards, piercing the night with stinging, lethal projectiles. Parker hit the dirt, shielding Jason with his body. Screams erupted around him, cries of pain mingling with the thwapthwapthwap sounds as the rapidly moving shrapnel hit the buildings, cars…and people.

When it was over, the silence was deafening. Parker lifted himself off Jason and took in the situation.

People were on the ground, most bleeding, several crying. Two weren’t moving, including Ken, the ice-cream parlor boy who’d been so sweet to Amara.

“Fuck.” He glanced over at the terrified were. “You all right?”

Jason nodded. That was all he needed to hear. He dashed over to the fallen boy and rolled him over. “Ken!”

Blood trickled from a wound in the boy’s chest. He’d been pierced through the heart, killed instantly. Not even the Kiss could save him. He was already gone. Parker bowed his head. Terri was responsible for this, and it was only the beginning. He gritted his teeth and prayed he found her before she hurt anyone else.

“Parker.”

He lifted his head to find Dragos standing over him, grief-stricken as he stared down at the dead young man. “Terri did this. I know it.”

“We need to convince them of that.” Dragos gestured toward the townspeople who were slowly rising to their feet. “Because of your argument with Jason, they’re going to blame Amara, even though she wasn’t here.”

Oh hell to the no. Amara had suffered enough grief from these people; they needed to learn the truth before they hurt her any further. “We need to hold a town meeting, let everyone know who Terri is. If she’s capable of this, she’s capable of anything.” They needed to know Ken had died because of Parker’s inability to kill Terri. Once she’d only targeted the women he cared for; her attack on an entire community made no sense.

Sense or no, this time she’d gone too far. It was time to remember that he might be cursed to drink green, leafy blood, but when it came down to it? He was a vampire.

It was time to go hunting the hunter.

Amara lifted the receiver on the third ring. “Hello?”

“You killed my boy.”

“What?” Why would Scott Madison say something so vile?

“My boy is dead, Amara. Dead. And you killed him.” His grief pounded at her.

It couldn’t be true. Ken couldn’t be dead. “I’ve been home all day. You can ask Brian. He’s been here with me.”

Brian entered the room at that moment and sent her a questioning look. Amara gestured for him to pick up the extension.

“Then how did you do it?”

“Do what? Scott, I swear to you I haven’t been out today.” She heard a click; Brian had picked up the phone. “What’s going on?”

“Ken is dead. Your…lover attacked Jason near the farmers’ market, and a tree exploded right behind him. One of the splinters killed my boy.”

Amara sank to the ground. Parker had attacked Jason? Ken was dead? “Dear Goddess.”

“Why, Amara? Why?”

“I didn’t do this, but I know who did.”

“Who?” Scott sounded almost feral.

“Terri. The woman who cursed Parker.”

“Why would she kill my boy?”

She whimpered. Dear Goddess, was this what he truly thought of her? “Why would I? I loved Ken, Scott. You know that.” Hell, Amara loved all the Madisons, and she’d thought they cared for her too. That feeling would never be the same now that Scott had accused her of killing Ken. Her heart ripped in two with loss and betrayal.

“You’re the only person capable of doing what happened in the market earlier. And I will never forgive you for it.”

But how could he not know that she was, above all else, a dryad? “I would never kill a tree. And I would never have hurt Ken.” She was sobbing now, barely coherent. She hung up the phone, but it was useless. There was no point in trying to convince the town she wasn’t a danger to them. She’d never harm a hair on their stupid fucking heads.

But it was time to find that fucking weed and pull her. Permanently.

Parker was damn near incoherent with rage. He’d come home to find Amara inconsolable and Brian weeping. Scott Madison had called Amara and blamed her for the deaths before he’d even left the market. It had taken him half the night to get Amara to sleep. The only reason he wasn’t out hunting the man who’d hurt her so badly was because he understood the man’s grief had been talking, not his sense. And Parker knew that when Scott came to understand the damage he’d done to an innocent woman, he’d be doubly grieved. But he found it hard to forgive and knew Amara would never forget. If it weren’t for her tree, he’d take her from this place and move her to where she could live in peace.