“It’s nice having people in your corner. What we are can be so lonely.”
“Only if you isolate yourself.”
“Making friends has never been easy for me. Even when I think I have them, I still feel like the only person on the planet.” I don’t know if it was the cold or her emotions, but there was a tremble in her voice.
I cocked my head to the side and said, “You came all this way to help me find someone who means everything to me. You can consider me forever in your corner.”
Sweetly, she smiled.
“Why did you agree to come?” I asked, curiously. “If you don’t mind me asking.” I had been so eager to get on the road that the thought never really crossed my mind.
“I owe Cora. She’s been nothing but nice to me, and good-hearted, genuine people are a rarity these days. People are usually so out for themselves or spiteful, but not her. She really cares about the people in her life and you can feel it when she’s talking to you. I guess the idea that there are so many cruel-hearted people in the world thriving while she’s in danger didn’t sit right with me.”
My stomach was overcome with a sudden case of nausea. Something about Dana running down the reasons Cora was this amazing person made it all click in my brain, and for one horrible moment, it was beginning to set in that she really was missing. The idea that we might not find her was a thought I never even entertained, but now, it was festering in my brain like a cancer.
I wanted to smash my fist into every tree in sight so the bleeding of my hand was the most painful thing I was feeling, and not the tight, dreadful sensation in my chest.
“We’re gonna find her,” I said out loud. Not as a response to Dana, but as a declaration to the universe.
“I know we are,” she replied. “If someone like Cora doesn’t get her happy ending, what hope do the rest of us have?”
I quietly chuckled. “You know, I don’t know why you’re so quiet. You’re about the only person here that makes any sense.”
“It’s not like I don’t talk, it’s just that I do it all in my head. I’d rather not waste my words and feelings on people who don’t care about them.”
I chuckled again. “We have that in common. Until I met Cora, I just wanted everyone to leave me alone. Well, shit, I still want people to leave me alone.”
Dana giggled.
I continued. “I guess you could say I was more of a recluse. I was fine with living in my cabin all by myself, hunting, eating, sleeping, doing the same thing day in and day out. If it weren’t for Cora barging into my house in the middle of the night screaming about werewolves, I’d probably be—”
“Nowhere?”
“It’s crazy how the smallest turn in life can alter your entire path.”
“I get the feeling we both have similar thoughts about our condition. It’s like a double-edged sword in a lot of ways. Without it, we wouldn’t have certain people in our lives, but with it…with it comes pain. A lot of pain.” The unsteadiness in her voice returned.
“It’s still bad for you?” Transformations were never easy, nor were they ever painless, but it was a pain you grew accustomed to. You dealt with it. But Dana’s condition somehow seemed more fragile. She went far too long without help.
Dana took a deep, shaky breath inward and said, “It’s like my body forgets every time, and when it happens, it goes into shock. I can feel every inch of me being pulled apart.”
“It doesn’t always have to be that way. There are things you can do to help.”
“Maybe I don’t want help.”
“Why would you say a crazy thing like that?”
“I’ve killed people in that form, Max. I don’t even remember their faces, but they were someone to somebody, and I’m responsible for the suffering their families are going through. Maybe this pain is what I deserve.”
I shook my head. “That’s bullshit. You wanna know how I know it’s bullshit? Because you would never ever apply that logic on someone else. I can tell just from talking to you.”
“It’s easy to say that when you’ve never killed anyone.”
“And neither have you. The real Dana,” I began, pointing at her heart. “The real Dana sits in the backseat of a car full of assholes just so she can save the life of one human being.” She closed her eyes and held in an appreciative smile. “Remember that.”
“I’m trying,” she admitted.
“Good. Now come on, let’s find Cora before I freeze my balls off.”
To my surprise, I actually got a laugh out of her.
Chapter Seven
DAGGETT
Her hair was so shiny and black that I could see the reflection of the moonlight in her strands as we walked down the edge of the empty road. The glow of the moon gave her locks a blue hue, which somehow made her skin look paler than the snow that was beneath our feet. All I thought about was how she looked like some kind of magnificent anime drawing, and I wanted to sketch her. I wasn’t all that great of an artist, though, and Priscilla’s looks deserved one.
“Do I have something on my face?” Priscilla dryly asked as she peeked out of the corner of her eye and looked at me suspiciously.
I was puzzled. “Something on your face?” I repeated.
“You’re staring at me like
