Xandra was right. He was one of those really nice guys. He cared too much about those around him.
He stepped aside. “Yeah, okay, fine.”
I walked inside with Xandra right behind me. He was about to close the door when Jed’s hand slid inside, pushing it back open. He had no trouble with that, almost bowling Derrick over.
“What the —” Derrick barely got that out before his mouth froze in place, hanging open at the sight of an Amishman in full attire, suspenders and all, standing in his entryway.
Jed looked right at Derrick and his eyes brightened like a puppy meeting a stranger. “Sup?” he asked.
I snorted. Amish kid trying to be street. Lockwood slipped inside the door that Derrick was trying to close once more.
“You brought an entourage?” Derrick gave me a leveling look. “Who are these guys?”
“He's from your dad's old ordnung.” I nodded at Jed. “And he’s from the land of Faerie,” I said.
Lockwood’s gaze whipped around to me and he stared daggers at me. Polite daggers, because this was Lockwood, but still. Daggers.
“Yeah, okay, whatever,” Derrick said as he peered out to make sure that there wasn’t anyone else out there to surprise him. He closed the door.
I gave Lockwood a knowing, sarcastic sort of look as Derrick walked passed me. I knew what I was doing. Lockwood just shook his head.
Yep. I told the truth again and was not believed.
Derrick’s house was stunning. It was open to a large, lavish living room. On the far end of the house, there were windows that looked out over one of the many inlets from Tampa Bay that snaked their way inland. Large, overstuffed sofas that were just like ones I’d seen at Crate and Barrel filled the room, along with bookshelves lined with books, photos and other tasteful knick-knacks. Everything screamed “beachy”, in shades of blue, grey, tan and white.
Derrick’s mom must have really had an eye for design.
I heard high heels clacking on the polished walnut floors and the loud, sharp sound was accompanied by a high, clear voice.
“Sweetie, who was at the door?” A very pretty woman appeared from down the hall on the wall on the left with a cell phone pressed to her ear. She had long, flowing blonde hair the same color as Derrick’s and brilliantly blue eyes. Her makeup must have taken her hours, because it looked as flawless as a beauty vlogger’s and she wore a black, knee-length dress that made her look like she had stepped out of a magazine. A pretty floral scarf was tied loosely around her neck.
When she saw all of us standing by the door, her blue eyes widened. “Um…I'm going to have to call you back.” She hung up her call and smiled hesitantly. “Hi. Who are you?”
“They’re friends from school, Mom,” Derrick said, staring around at us.
She turned her eyes on each of us in turn, her eyebrow arching higher with each sweep.
“I can buy that with this girl and the one with the blue hair,” she said, pointing at Xandra and I. “Not sure the middle-aged guy and the Amish boy go to your school.”
“I’m Cassie Howell,” I said. “This is Xandra. We do go to school with Derrick. You're right about the other two, though. This is Lockwood and Jed.”
Lockwood inclined his head. “Pleasure to meet you, my lady.”
She seemed a little less wary of us. She licked her lips, her eyes narrowing. “I’m Corinna, Derrick’s mom,” she said, folding her arms over her chest. “So...what’re you all doing here?”
Derrick’s eyes flashed. “Nothing good.”
“I thought you said these were your friends?” Her eyes narrowed as she honed in on her son.
“Cassie was being all buddy-buddy with me today, but it’s only because she was trying to make me look like an idiot,” Derrick said.
“I wasn’t trying to make you look like an idiot —” I said.
“And then, on our way home,” Derrick said, “when Dad showed up, she tried to fight him, then tried to tell me some weird stuff about Dad.”
“Like what?” Corinna asked, arching her brow, looking back and forth between Derrick and I.
Derrick chuckled, shooting me an amused look. “She thinks that Dad’s a werewolf.”
Corinna’s shoulders stiffened for a moment and she shot me a hard look. Her fingers twisted the silky material of her scarf. She looked over at Jed and then back at me, then let out a slow breath. “Well, yes…of course he is.”
“Of course he —” Derrick said and then blanched. “Wait, what?”
Her answer surprised me and everyone else in my little posse as much as it surprised Derrick. He looked like he was going through all of the stages of grief. He was in denial, gaping at his mom. And then he looked angry and then confused. He sort of closed in on himself, staring at the floor, scratching his chin.
“I – wait. How —”
“You knew?” I asked.
Corinna shook her head. “It’s one of the reasons that we’re getting divorced.”
“Werewolves aren’t even real,” Derrick said, but his voice held a thick desperation. I didn’t blame him, not really. I'd been the same way about vampires. Deny it until the last possible second.
A siren blared in the distance, cutting through the awkward silence in the room.
“Come on,” Corinna said. “Why don’t you guys have a seat? I’ll go get some water and some snacks.” She sighed. “I guess we have some stuff to talk about.”
“All right,” I said.
“Sure,” Xandra said.
“No,” Derrick said sharply. “No. Mom, this is crazy. Do you even hear yourself?” He chased after her into the kitchen.
We all sat down on the cushy couches. Xandra stared at me as we heard Derrick raise his voice in the next room. It didn't sound like it was going well in there.
“That was quite a surprise,” Lockwood said under his breath to me.
“Admittedly I don't know much about marriage firsthand,” I said, “but as a woman, don't you think you'd notice if your husband got all growly and hirsute for three nights a month?”
“I think so,” Xandra said, nodding. “I'm not down with the hair. I'd like a husband who waxes.”
Jed was leaning forward, eyes slit in interest. “You want your man to wax? To wax what, his chest?”
Xandra thought about it a second. “Among other things.”
Jed looked like he wanted to pursue that further and I thanked the heavens Corinna returned before he could. She was bearing a pretty wooden tray that held a swirling glass carafe filled with water, a few glasses and a plate stacked high with cookies. She set the tray down in front of us, tossing her silk scarf over her shoulder as she did. She poured us each a glass and passed them around.
“Thanks,” I said as she handed it to me.
She settled herself down on the couch opposite me, her back straight and poised like a model.
Derrick shuffled back in to stand just beside the couch, glaring intermittently at us all. He didn't sit, didn't say anything, just looked around like he would have rather been anywhere but here.
Corinna looked up at him. “Oh, come on, Derrick. Sit down. This isn’t like you.”
“Yeah, because this is ridiculous,” he said. “Should I call an ambulance or the police? Which one would get you to a psychologist quicker?”
“I understand why you don’t believe it,” she said. “I didn’t believe it at first, either. Not for a while. Even after I saw…” A distant look appeared in her eyes and my heart clenched.
What was she reliving in that moment?
“How did you find out about Tommy?” she asked, turning back to me, cheeks flushed.
“I have my own experience with the supernatural,” I said.
Derrick was glancing back and forth between us and his mom, as if he was experiencing some sort of out of body experience. Too many people in my life had given me that look lately.
Corinna sighed, looking at Jed. “You’re a werewolf, too, then?”
Jed's
eyes lit up. “Yes, ma’am. For almost two years now.”
“I’m sorry you all got dragged into this.” Corinna patted the couch beside her again, looking up at Derrick. “Sit down. It’s time you learned the truth about everything.”
Derrick hesitated, but a lot of the anger had disappeared from his face. The high spots of color in his cheeks had subsided and he was looking more like a little kid who was lost in the grocery store, trying to grapple with this werewolf thing.
She took his hand in her own and looked right at him. “I haven’t told anyone this, so you’ll have to forgive me if I…struggle a little.”
Derrick looked down at his knees. I felt like I was intruding on something. This was something that they should work out on their own, but since I was pretty much the only one willing and able to help them, I was stuck listening.
Cassie Howell, supernatural creature counselor. I should have Dad put that on a plaque for my bedroom door.
“There was always something…different about Tommy,” Corinna said. “At first, it was like a puzzle for me to figure out, the closer I would get, the better I figured I'd understand him. But he never really let me get close to him. Even when I shared everything about me, he kept me at arms-length.”
She frowned and after a pause during which none of us dared speak, she went on. “I started to notice the pattern. He would take a weekend every month to go fishing and drinking with his friends. I figured it was a reasonable thing to give him an outlet. 'Give your man some space', my mother told me, 'so he won’t cheat on you'.”
I could see her eyes tightening and her lips pursing. Tears were probably not far off. “It took me a long time – a shamefully long time, really – to realize that every weekend he went out was on the full moon.”
Derrick looked like the words she spoke had struck a physical blow to him.
She shook her head. “I know how crazy it sounds, Derrick. It sounded crazy in my head the first time I thought. Eventually, just after Derrick turned eleven, I dropped him off at my parents’ house and followed my husband. I was tired of him lying to me, coming home a mess…and then I saw…” Her voice trailed off and she looked over at Derrick apologetically.
“I saw what he turned into,” she said. “I caught him just as he was transforming. It was…horrible. I never would’ve believed it unless I saw it with my own eyes. The way his body…contorted. The howling...” She shuddered and reached up to her scarf again and pulling it away from her neck.
Four pale, jagged scars lay long lines across her breastbone. Her fingers trembling, she gently touched them.
Derrick gaped at her and at the scars. “Did Dad...was that from him...?”
She nodded solemnly.
“How?” Derrick asked. “It looks like…”
I knew what he was going to say. Like claw marks.
“He didn’t bite me, thank God,” she said. “But I barely escaped. Our relationship was never the same after that.” She shuddered. “Once I saw him for what he was, he stopped...trying to restrain the beast around us.” She pulled her scarf back in place, concealing the scars again. “Now you know my story. Why don’t you tell me yours? Like why you’re really here.”
“Cassie knew what Dad is,” Derrick said, mumbling. He looked up at me. “How?”
“I've been around the paranormal block a time or two now,” I said. “What's more important than how I know is that I know where he is – sort of.”
Corinna’s eyes sharpened and she stared at me. “You do?”
I nodded. “Yeah. We heard he’s staying with one of his friends in Clearwater.”
Corinna pinched the bridge of her nose. “Don’t tell me. It’s Eric, isn’t it?”
“Who's Eric?” Derrick asked.
Corinna ignored him. “How did you find this out?”
“We talked to Derrick’s grandfather.”
Derrick raised his head slowly, staring at me like I was an alien. “Um…what? I have a grandfather?” He looked to his mom. “I thought he was dead?”
“No,” Corinna said. “But he is a werewolf.”
“Also, kind of a jerk,” Xandra said.
“Wait, the Amish are werewolves?” Derrick asked.
“The hardest working werewolves you’ll ever meet,” Jed said, grinning from ear to ear, sitting up straight, tugging proudly on his suspender straps.
Corinna turned her attention back to me. “You still haven't answered my question – why are you involved in this? Why put yourself at risk for something that has nothing to do with you?”
I looked at her searching face and I sighed. “I don't know,” I said. I shot Lockwood a glance out of the corner of my eye and said, “Why is there no paranormal expert in Tampa besides me? Someone who’s willing to stick their neck out? I can’t be the only one who has connections to vampires and faeries and werewolves.” Lockwood just shrugged. I turned back to her. “Well, whatever the reason, since I’m the only one who can, I want to try and help.”
Corinna sighed, shaking her head. “You’re a better person than I am,” she said. “After what I’ve seen…I can’t imagine wanting to get involved with anything like it ever again. That’s why I walked out on it.”
I put on a smile and it froze in place. Walk away from all this paranormal nuttiness? Walk away from vampires and werewolves and fae and all the problems they seemed to bring to our world?
If only it were that easy.
Chapter 17
My heart was heavy as we got back in the Maserati and headed away from Derrick’s house. The sun had long ago set and the streetlights were creating pools of bright light along the sidewalks. Lockwood was quiet in the front seat and Xandra was humming quietly beside me.
Everyone seemed to want to give me some space as we drove. I wasn’t sure why, but it gave me a chance to kind of clear my head, think through everything that I’d learned.
Corinna had seen her husband change…and then he attacked her.
I was grateful that Mill had never attacked me. I had bled all over him when we were in New York and had never seen so much as a hint of the monster I knew lay beneath the surface. I’d always known I could trust him, that he was on my side.
I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have the man that I loved turn on me in an instant and then have to flee from him. I’d never be able to look at him the same way again.
It wasn’t really much of a surprise to hear that she was leaving him.
And Derrick…to not only hear the truth about his dad and his relationship with his mom, but also to find out that he had a living grandparent that he never knew? It was a lot to take in and I figured that he was in for a long, sleepless night. Though it was doubtful it'd be his first, given the events of yesterday.
I wanted to text him and apologize, but I didn’t have his number and doubted he'd appreciate it if I did. It would ring hollow. After all, I was part of the reason that he was hearing about these things now. If I hadn’t gotten involved, he'd have still been in the dark. While I'd learned the value of not living a lie, given the hell he was living, he probably didn't feel the same – yet.
“What do you think this Eric is like?” Xandra asked. “Derrick’s mom didn’t seem all that…excited about him.”
“I got the same vibe,” I said. “We should tread carefully. Maybe hold our cards close to our chest, you know?”
Lockwood glanced at me through the rearview mirror. “Do we truly want to go chasing after him? Mr. Bauer sounds particularly...dangerous.”
“Life's dangerous, Lockwood,” I said. “You can cut your finger shaving your legs and get an infection that kills you.”
“This is why I don't do that,” Xandra said.
Jed turned around. “But you want a man who's hairless?” His eyes narrowed and his lips puckered. “Isn't that what you'd call a double standard?”
“So?” Xandra asked. “Like men haven't gotten all the double standards for most of human history.” She settled her arms in front of
her. “I feel like a little settling of the scales is in order. In my favor, for once.”
Jed just stared at her, face all screwed up like he was trying to decide what to make of that.
“And like I told Corinna,” I said, “there is no one else to help, Lockwood. If I don’t step in and help, no one else is going to. Derrick and his mom are going to be at Mr. Bauer's mercy and whatever happens, it’ll my fault.”
Lockwood applied the brakes and brought the car to the side of the road before putting it in park. That done, he turned around to look at me. “Cassandra, it would not be your fault if something were to happen. This problem was spawned long before you entered the picture.”
“Yeah.” I folded my arms over my chest. “But now I do know and I can’t turn my back. Do you know why? Because there is no one else to help. I keep expecting someone to just step up and take this from me. Someone with more experience, with better protection. ‘Oh, hi, Cassie. We appreciate your help, but we got this. Go back to your teenage girl-ery.’ And then I could just sit back, knowing that the whole situation was in way better hands than mine.”
Lockwood’s face fell. That told me everything I needed to know about the state of help in the paranormal world.
“I didn’t ask for this,” I said. “But I can’t sleep at night knowing that there's something I could do to help and I'm not doing it.”
Xandra was staring at me with wide eyes. “That’s really intense. You’ve got guts, girl.”
“Thanks, but I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,” I said. “It's all worked out so far, but meeting Byron changed things forever in a lot of ways. It was like an awakening. And I can't go back to sleep knowing what's out there.”
“Mmhmm,” Jed said. “That's life. Can we get after this guy now? I got chores to do.”
“Take us there, Lockwood,” I said. This was not the time to wallow in pity. I could do that later.
Lockwood blinked at me, tilting his head to the side. “I already have.”
Heir of the Dog (Liars and Vampires Book 6) Page 8