Here Comes The Bride, Part 4

"What's happening?" Her master wasn't asking to be clever, but because he could feel Renee freaking out in the car. The tie to her Master was true. She really wasn't having a good evening. What she was feeling was racing back to her sire as a massive rush of emotions, feelings and total overwhelming hunger. She pitied any stray humans near him because her hungers would override his control if she wasn't able to stuff her fears down soon.

She totally hated auto accidents. The chance that she'd possibly be pinned underneath the fiery wreck was busy haunting her brain while she tried to refrain from throttling Jessie just because she was still stirring the pot. They should have been off the freeway and long out of range of harm instead of her coasting along playing passenger in a really nasty deadly game of bumper cars in moderate traffic. Another tag from the truck shadowing them and they were heading directly for the center divider. Jessie was fanged out and wild-eyed. It wasn't ideal. It was time for her to step up and push.

"Have to go. Trying not to die here." She clicked off her cell phone knowing she'd pay for it later. Renee had just intentionally hung up on her Master. She was completely screwed later, but for now she had to concentrate on surviving. Rush hour was always a bitch -- and this one wasn't disappointing -- from the skidding and crashing being left behind them the debris field wasn't going to be pretty anytime soon. Jessie screamed hysterically and pulled briskly into yet another lane with more gestures and honks from nearby cars narrowly missing a few slower cars.

So far Renee had resisted screaming but it was getting close. As it was Jessie was busy freaking out enough for the both of them. Her cell phone trilled again but she ignored it, knowing very well that this time it was definitely her Master. Given one accidental cell disconnect and her deliberate hang up, she was in trouble if she survived the mad truck driver slapping bumpers with them on the freeway. The meeting later with her Master wasn't going to be good but there was nothing she could do at the moment. Another smash of metal and she bit her tongue. Drawing her own blood she grew furious.

"Screw this!" Renee reached over and pulled the wheel hard and then, accompanied by many squealing tires from cars dodging them and massive horn blaring punctuating their hatred of Renee's driving skills, the vampires were launched across two lanes of traffic to the opposite shoulder -- the one not in the center divider but the other shoulder with more access to the world at large. Their diligent pursuer screeched over and ended up ahead of them a good twenty feet. They were at least ten miles further down the highway from where they'd first been hit. The freeway was already stopping back there where the other cars had crashed,so the traffic flow wasn't as thick as it had been initially. Less human witnesses were always better.

Renee flew out of the well-bruised black SUV to the equally damaged truck. The large oversized silver Dodge Ram, aptly named she thought, was ticking and steaming by the freeway. So far nobody had exited the vehicle. She didn't care. She was furious and ready to draw blood.

Fangs pushing her lips out, she kept her mouth shut and went for the driver side door. With little regard for the passing traffic she tore the door off the hinges and slammed it to the ground. Metal, plastic and glass flew while she stood ready to tear off the driver's head. Stunned she looked at the driver.

"Buddy? What the fuck!" She yanked out the man and threw him to the ground. He was alone. He was also a werewolf. "Renee! I didn't know you were in Jessie's Suburban." His voice cracked and she knew he was telling her the truth. His grin was toothy but not nearly as scary as the one she was flashing him. Fear rolled off him with his own over-the-top testosterone. Werewolves weren't overly in control as a rule, but Buddy had pushed it up a notch. Mentally sighing, she knew exactly what this was all about because Jessie and Buddy had been a couple on and off for over five years. They had broken off their fiery relationship a few months ago.

"So you were what? Like just trying to get Jessie's attention?" Renee watched the younger werewolf blush. He looked at her while dusting off the scraps from the door. Shrugging he picked up the largest parts and easily tossed them in the bed of his truck. Once done, he turned back to her and tried to look innocent -- not as if he'd spent the past fifteen minutes trying to take them out.

Fur began to peek out of his open shirt and his eyes glowed a bit. She tried to refrain from smacking him up side the head. Her hand itched with the need to cuff him into the middle of traffic. He was like a stupid young pup and needed a good beating. It wasn't her job. The only good thing about the accident was that there hadn't been any other vehicles involved near them. Nobody played Good Samaritan and drove over to see what the problem was. The crashes left behind their two vehicles weren't automatically attributed to them. In California it wasn't unusual for multiple non-related accidents to happen during the same time. The freeway had nearly resumed normal speeds, other than a few cars slowing down to seventy-five to gawk at the damage on both autos pulled over onto the shoulder and laugh at their misfortune. Since they were on the shoulder that earned them appreciation from a few of the commuters between the jeers and laughter.

"Jessie, get your damn ass over here, now. This is your problem, not mine!" Spinning, she punched in a return call to her Master.

"Call off the troops. It's just Jessie's ex." She listened to her Master shout out orders and call back the family executioners. This was another mistake beyond her control she'd end up paying for in the long run. It seemed that's all that she'd been doing for the past few months.

Containing her own anger she let him vent. Jessie went to see Buddy and Renee wandered over to his Dodge Ram. Despite the distance she could still hear the mushy talk, wet sloppy moist noises and deliberately tuned it out while she semi-listened to her boss. The sucking sounds weren't from Jessie draining Buddy but serious kissing. Renee was still hungry and that wasn't helping her control any.

"Get back home, Renee and call me soon." Those were his final words before he hung up leaving her head ringing.

Looking at the lip locked couple she snarled, "Toss me your keys, Jessie. Let Buddy take you home." There was some mumbling and sloppy wet sounds Renee didn't even want to try to understand.

Without disengaging Jessie complied. Given her tongue was inches down his throat she didn't much care. Her fangs were out but she wasn't drawing blood just sucking face with Buddy. His chest hair had grown and he wasn't fully furred but getting too close for her to watch. Werewolves weren't the most stable of the supernatural set and Jessie's sexual hunger was pulling out all the wrong things from her supposedly ex-boyfriend.

That was the other reason Jessie had been chosen as her maid-of-honor. She was closely associated with the werewolf clan that Renee was marrying into far too soon. The squirms and giggles let her know that Jessie was safe, car damage aside. The werewolves she'd met over the years tended to overreact to the simplest of misunderstanding. She assumed that Buddy was well insured; the part of werewolf clan he belonged to was actually locally one of the largest insurance companies in the business. Jessie would have to explain the damage to her Master Vampire once Renee headed home.

By then Renee was more than ready to run off and let Jessie fill out forms and explain to her Master what she did and why. Her duties as maid-of-honor for the day were done as far as Renee was concerned. Besides, she still had to grovel at her Master's feet for all the chaos of the evening. She shuddered slightly at the idea of groveling. She wasn't good at it but didn't get much choice. Things had gone so far astray it wasn't even amusing. As one of the older of the vampires around she was considered fully responsible. If Jessie had been of her Master's family Renee could have even meted out the punishment. She still was thinking of pushing for a say in how Jessie would pay but wanted to just get home. One disaster at a time was all she was in the mood for until she got some blood in her.

Once in the car her cell phone trilled again. It wasn't her Master for a change, thankfully. Instead it was her werewolf intended. And she was still without a dress.

"Hi, what's up, Carlos?" She pictured him clearly as she navigated the roads to her house. The SUV ticked and groaned but reluctantly complied with her rough steering. It wasn't her vehicle and she wasn't in a mood to coddle the car. A shudder and screech let her know that not every bit of the Suburban was precisely road-worthy. But considering the abuse of the past few hours she wasn't holding her breath. Vampires didn't expect miracles as a rule.

Renee continued towards her home while her fiancee Carlos struggled to talk to her. He'd called her so she couldn't much help the situation. He wasn't shy per se but he seemed rather reserved. Their wedding was becoming so huge that she was pretty shocked he even called. Since they had announced their impending wedding everything had become more and more complicated. The idea of a sit down dinner alone was something nobody was even willing to discuss for a few good reasons.

Vampires merging their clans with werewolves' packs wasn't even part of anyone's worldview ten years ago in supernatural circles. It was the dawning of a new age. Renee didn't know how she had become part of the revolution but thankfully Carlos was pretty cool from what she'd seen. The entire idea of even being married still was sucking something from her she hadn't expected. It wasn't like she'd grown up in an era of marrying for love in the romantic style. She's been born during a time where families aligned for prosperity, border disputes and merging of dynasties. Hers was little more than that but still she wasn't sure what exactly was expected. And it seemed neither was Carlos.

"Was the shopping trip a success?" Carlos asked. His voice snuck into her ear and the static made it sound rougher than normal. Cell phones had their place, but still there was something alien about the whole electronic revolution. She preferred the revolutions with guns, blades and fangs.

"Depends on your definition of a success. If by that you mean did I find something to wear? Then the answer is no. If you mean, did I survive the mall? The answer is nearly. I didn't drain the car-jackers trying to steal Jessie's SUV. And when Buddy came to play bumper cars with us on the freeway I didn't die. Then that was good too. Any of that work for you?" Renee was more than a little edgy.

Carlos absorbed her answers and the line crackled more with the distance. She rounded another curve and hoped the cell towers didn't cut off their call. Renee was glad to think of him safe at home in his lush green territory until the wedding approached. The wedding preparations were easier with him out of town and she could buy the crap needed for the proper wedding without him chiming in and saying what he liked. No need to tempt fate much less angry vampires and werewolves. The wedding alone was challenging the various factions -- she didn't need the added stress of fangs and furs clashing in the dark over her.

To be continued ...