The Phantom Oracle (Vampire Innocent Book 5)

by Matthew S. Cox

  Still, watching the shadowy forms of clouds glide across the night sky is a net improvement in my mood. I really don’t know why I find thinking about the past is sad at all. Even if my life had continued in the normal way, it’s not like I would’ve been running around with my friends all day long anymore. College, job, career, life… all that stuff is just as fatal to the carefree days of childhood as a giant effing knife.

  I look at it in a new light. Dalton hit the giant pause button on my existence at just about the perfect time. I can do anything as a young-looking eighteen year old… except maybe rent a car. But who cares? If I feel like it, I can pass myself off as being too young for responsibility. When my mood shifts, I can act older. It’s like being a kid and an adult at the same time. And, best of all, I’ll never wind up in my forties wondering why my ass is twice the size it was when I’d been in high school. Or maybe not. Mom’s not doing too bad in that regard. Guess there is an upside to my family’s genetics. We might not rock athletic muscles or sexy curves, but we tend to stay skinny.

  The moon beckons me like I could fly straight up and grab it. I think once Hunter’s asleep, I’ll go night flying.

  A few minutes into my enjoyment of the quiet night sky, I get the sensation that someone’s watching me. Expecting Hunter, I ignore it for a minute or two, but when I don’t sense him getting closer to the car, I sit up and look around. In the weird sort of way the world is to my vampiric eyes, nothing—except for the sky—is dark. I see as far as a normal person can during the day even without any light at all, though in the absence of actual light, colors are super washed out and hard to distinguish. A handful of people wander the shopping center, though none are paying attention to me. The watched feeling continues, so I keep looking around, but can’t figure out who or what is looking at me.

  Eventually I give up and lay back down, my head against the car’s rear window. I sigh at the Moon, but it doesn’t help me figure out who’s staring at me. After a while, the slow scuffing of shoes draws near. I smile, waiting for Hunter to walk around and scoop me up, kiss me, or say something cute and cheesy… but he hops in the car.

  And starts the engine.

  Really?

  When we start moving, I roll onto my front, then glide up and over the roof, to peer upside down at him through the windshield.

  “Holy shit!” shouts Hunter, slamming on the brakes.

  The car stops short, but I don’t go flying since he hadn’t been going that fast.

  I drift to the right, land, and let myself in the passenger side. “Wow, you must be tired. Didn’t see me?”

  Still clutching his chest, he shakes his head. “No… didn’t see you. And yeah, little fried.”

  “If you need sleep, we can hang out later.”

  He reaches over and takes my hand. “Nah, it’s cool. I really need some time with you to relax. Sleep’s overrated.”

  “Don’t go missing too much sleep or everything else will get worse.”

  Hunter leans into a kiss. I scoot closer, close my eyes, and enjoy the moment. Right when it starts getting good, the car lurches forward. He yelps and pulls away, jabbing on the brakes before we roll into a light post. “Whoa… Oops.”

  “Umm. Maybe we shouldn’t make out with the car in drive.”

  “Yeah. Good idea. Are all college girls smart like you?” Grinning, he backs away from the pole, shifts, and steers around it toward the exit.

  I laugh.

  “Sorry. That was dumb of me. Should’ve at least put it in park first. Whenever I’m around you, it’s like I’m in a dream… and I’m afraid of waking up.”

  A little warmth rushes to my cheeks. “Are you sure it isn’t lack of actual sleep? Your first class is like at eight, and you work almost to eleven. When do you do homework?”

  “Uhh, mostly on the weekend, or on my break here. I don’t have an early class on Thursday either, so I have a couple hours then, too.”

  “Sounds romantic.” I twirl some hair around my finger. “Working your way through college… like something our parents did.”

  He chuckles. “I wish. Financial aid is paying for most of it. I’m working more to help my mom cover the mortgage and buy food. It’s not much, but it’s making the difference.”

  “Oh… wow…” I blink, taken by sudden guilt… I don’t even really know what going to school costs. My parents took care of all that stuff. But yeah, I guess it is way more than what a kid our age could possibly make waiting tables.

  “Hey, don’t look at me like that.”

  “Sorry. Umm. Like what?”

  “Guilty.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “You don’t have to feel guilty for having two parents with killer jobs. It doesn’t bother me at all. I used to worry your parents might not think I was good enough for you, but they’re really cool.”

  “Hah! Yeah, they are kinda cool. But, this isn’t the 1800s where you need to get my father’s permission to date me.”

  Hunter wrings his hand on the wheel. “I know, but they still could’ve nagged at you about dating the poor kid from the wrong part of town.”

  That gets an eye roll. “You’re not in the wrong part of town. And my parents like you.” I draw his hand up to my chest and hug it. “Sorry your dad’s the way he is.”

  “That’s all on him. Not your fault.”

  “I could, umm… help out if you want, so you didn’t need to burn yourself out going to school full time and working.”

  He sneaks a few quick glances at me while driving until a red light offers the chance for a longer stare. “Help? Sarah, you don’t need to give us money or anything. We’re doing okay.”

  “Not what I meant. I could, you know, maybe persuade someone to hire your mother at a better job or something.”

  “Oh.” He looks forward again when the light changes. “That’s an idea. But Mom still doesn’t know about your, umm, special talents. Not sure how that would work. Wouldn’t you need to be like with her in the interview or whatever?”

  “Umm. Not sure. Never used my powers for sinister dolphins before.” As soon as I say that, I blush again. Ugh, I am such a damn dork sometimes!

  “No idea what you just said.”

  I cringe like someone caught me pushing on a pull door. “Something stupid I came up with when I was like eleven. My dad thinks it’s hilarious, so it kinda stuck.”

  Hunter slows, and turns left into my cul-de-sac. “What, so like dolphin ninjas?”

  “Hah. No… Nefarious porpoises.” I cringe.

  He stares at me, dazed.

  “Oh, wow. You’re tired. Nefarious purposes? Never used my powers for nefarious—”

  “I got it. I’m not making this face because I’m tired. That was really bad.”

  “Well, I did come up with that when I was a kid.” I fold my arms and look off to the side.

  “It’s cute.” He grins. “I can see why your dad keeps using it.”

  “Sierra thinks it’s lame. It makes Sophia giggle, and Sam keeps saying it to annoy Sierra.”

  Hunter laughs.

  We get out of the car and make our way inside, pausing by the shelf to ditch our shoes.

  “Hey, you two,” says Dad from the couch.

  Oh no. Please no. My father’s deadpan serious tone is a portent of something super embarrassing coming out of his mouth.

  “Hey, Mr. Wright.” Hunter waves.

  “And what are you two planning to do down there in the total privacy of my daughter’s bedroom?” asks Dad, still not looking over at us.

  Okay, I can do one of two things here: crawl into a proverbial little hole and try to stop existing, or throw the embarrassment back at him and say something really raunchy.

  “We were gonna watch a movie.” Hunter smiles. “But we might be going down there for sinister dolphins.”

  Or option three: Hunter says something mortifying.

  Dad coughs and peers over the couch at us.

  “Did I use that right?” whispers Hunter.

&n
bsp; “Yeah.” I grab him by the arm and pull him past the living room into the kitchen, and down the basement steps.

  He follows without a word until we’re in my room and the door’s closed. “Sorry, was trying to be funny. Didn’t know it was like something special.”

  “It’s fine.” I rest my head against his shoulder. “I’m not blushing because you said those words. You basically just told my father we’re going to do stuff.”

  “Sorry.”

  I finally manage to laugh at the look on my dad’s face. “Don’t be. He deserves it for all the times he embarrasses me.”

  He flops on the bed and starts surfing Netflix while I change into just a long T-shirt, then curl up beside him. The repetitive ping, ping, ping of him searching for a movie ends with him selecting some random indie comedy about drunk people at a college. I allow about a three minute wait before I start kissing the side of his neck.

  “Hungry?” asks Hunter.

  “Yeah, but not for that… I’m not gonna bite you.”

  He brushes a hand over my head, pulling me into a deep kiss. It’s pretty obvious he’s not fully into it, and I know it’s not the movie distracting him.

  “What’s wrong?” I whisper once our lips part.

  “Is your dad gonna come down here to check on us?”

  “Nah. I doubt it. He likes to embarrass me with words… and old pictures. He doesn’t want to see what he thinks is going on in here.” I tease at his chin with my finger. “Besides. If he does decide to sneak up on us, I’ll hear him before he’s at the door.”

  The next hour or so goes by in a blur of movie, cuddling, kissing, increasingly intense pawing… and finally, off comes my T-shirt. Of course, by that time, he’s only in his boxers… and they land on top of my shirt. Our hands roam, his lips go exploring. My amped up senses make even the texture of the sheets at my back an overwhelmingly intense experience. I can almost perceive the ridges of his fingerprints on the hand sliding up the inside of my leg.

  It takes all I can do not to scream out in ecstasy when his fingertips make contact.

  He continues kissing me while his touch sets off fireworks inside my head.

  I’m so lost to the heat of the moment that I don’t hear the patter of small feet crossing the basement until mere seconds remain. Fast as a blur, I twist around, grab the blanket, and pull a Count Dracula cape maneuver, covering us to the neck. It’s so fast Hunter doesn’t have time to react before Sophia opens the door and peers in.

  “Sare?” She doesn’t wait for an answer, slipping inside and closing the door. Yeah, she looks totes adorbs in her pink nightgown but I’m half tempted to stuff her in my clothes hamper at the moment.

  Hunter freezes at the sound of her voice… and gradually removes his fingers. The sensation of them retreating triggers a shudder. Oh, wow. Just a wee bit awkward.

  “Yeah?” I manage, trying to hide how wound up I am. My brain’s jammed on the brakes, but my body is still going.

  “I’m scared. I think there’s something in my room.” She sniffles.

  “What’s in your room?” I half-whisper.

  “I dunno. Something scary. I think it’s watching me.”

  I sigh, letting my head fall on Hunter’s chest. “Okay. I’ll check.”

  Sophia stands there.

  “Umm. Gimme a sec?”

  “I’m scared,” whimpers Sophia. “I don’t wanna be alone. ’Specially in the basement.”

  Ugh. Fine. Whatever. Not like she hasn’t seen me naked before. My siblings have amazingly bad timing when showers are involved. I peer up at her. She’s at least turned her back on the bed. I slip out from under the blanket and pull my giant T-shirt on so fast, she couldn’t have caught me if she tried.

  Alas, Hunter’s excitement is still kinda obvious.

  I pat the point of the tent.

  He rolls on his side. “Oof.”

  “Sorry,” I whisper.

  “It’s cool.” He grins. “Go kill the closet monster.”

  I head for the door.

  Sophia reaches to take my hand, but I dodge her grip.

  “Hang on a sec. Wait here.”

  She blinks at me in alarmed shock.

  I run out to the basement bathroom, wash my hands, then hurry back to my room. Then I take her hand. Fortunately, she doesn’t ask why I did that. The house is dark. My parents rarely stay up much past eleven, so it’s pretty late. I lead the way down the hall to the room that used to house both my sisters before Sierra moved into my old room.

  No idea if my vampire upgrade came with extra senses, but I don’t pick up on anything unusual. Sophia whines a little, but follows me in. Of course, to her, the room is pitch dark save for a bit of moonlight coming in the window.

  “Where was it?” I whisper, mostly not to wake either of the other two sibs or the parents.

  “I dunno.” She gazes around. “Felt like someone was in here watching me, but invisible.”

  Motion near the floor catches my eye. One of Sam’s frogs hops out from under the bed, then hops again, landing right on Sophia’s bare foot. Shit! If she sees that, she’s going to wake the entire neighborhood up. As desperate as if a flaming crossbow bolt flew toward my heart, I throw my reflexes to the max, diving to snag the little amphibian before she can finish looking down at the cold, slimy thing touching her skin.

  I’m upright again with the frog held behind my back so fast she doesn’t even perceive that I moved.

  Still, she jumps back with an eep, stares at her foot for a second, then whines at me. “Something cold touched my foot! I think it’s a ghost.”

  “Probably just a breeze. It’s kinda chilly. Get in bed and be warm.”

  Ribbit.

  Sophia cringes. Fortunately, she doesn’t scream… but she does leap onto the bed and pull her feet in. “Where is it?”

  Ribbit.

  “I got him.” I pull my arm out from behind my back, showing off the frog.

  “Eww,” whispers Sophia. “You’re touching it.”

  “It’s only a frog.”

  She sticks her tongue out.

  “C’mon. Back to bed. There’s nothing here.”

  “Did a frog wake me up or is there a ghost?” She scoots under the covers and pulls them up to her chin.

  I shrug. “Could be either one.”

  She glares at me with a ‘you’re really not helping’ expression.

  “Look… if there is a ghost here, it can’t hurt you.” I hold up the frog. “Neither can this little guy.”

  Ribbit.

  She pulls the blankets over her face. “Eww.”

  I stick my head into the closet just to be sure, then check under the bed. “All clear.”

  “Thanks for looking. Sorry to bug you.”

  “It’s okay. If you’re really scared, go ahead and bug me whenever you need to.” I ruffle her hair.

  Sophia sits up and clamps her arms around me. “You sure there’s nothing here?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” She lays back down. “Tell Hunter I’m sorry. And I didn’t see you guys kissing. It’s dark.”

  I snicker. “Go to sleep.”

  She grins.

  After Sophia closes her eyes, I creep across the hall to Sam’s room, deposit the jailbreak frog back in his terrarium, and head back to my room. Hunter’s lying on his side with his head propped up in his hand like he’s posing for a Greek statue. I nudge the door shut, briefly complain about the lack of a lock, and pull my shirt off again.

  “Sorry about that. Just a frog.”

  “A frog?”

  I crawl into bed. His chest at my back is so warm I could just let him hold me for hours and be the happiest girl in the world. “Yeah… my brother’s got a pair of them. They’ve been kinda creepy ever since we went to the caves. Feels like they’re looking at me with intelligence way past what a frog should have sometimes.”

  “That’s weird.”

  “Yeah… I’ve been feeling watched a lot latel
y. Those frogs did that to me, but it happened in the parking lot behind the restaurant before. Wonder if it’s all in my head.”

  He kisses my ear. “There’s no one alive who can sneak up on you.”

  I smirk. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. If something sneaks up on me, it won’t be someone who’s alive.”

  “At least your sister’s safe.”

  “Yeah.”

  I roll toward him and kiss him on the lips. “Now… where were we?”

  We stare into each other’s eyes for a moment.

  “It’s pretty late. You should spend the night.”

  “I have to be at school early.”

  “Really?” I raise an eyebrow. “You won’t wake me up when you leave in the morning.”

  He cringes ever so slightly.

  “Oh… sorry. I didn’t even think about that.”

  “About what?” He tilts his head, genuinely confused.

  “I look a bit creepy when I’m asleep.”

  “No, that’s not it at all. You’re still the most beautiful woman in the world, even then. Really, you don’t look bad at all. Just a bit pale, not like a corpse at all.”

  “Aww, Hunter Lawrence, that’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

  His grin says he wants to laugh at my remark but isn’t sure if I meant it seriously. As soon as I start giggling, he buries his face in the crook of my neck and laughs. The mood returns, and we proceed to use my bedroom for some rather sinister dolphins.

  6

  No Small Amount of Screaming

  When consciousness returns to me, Hunter’s gone, I’m somehow back in my T-shirt, and, oh yeah, it’s Wednesday.

  Heh. Hump day. Oops. Guess we did that a little early.

  So far, vampiric life (such as it is) comes with the truly bizarre ability to go from dead asleep to wide awake in an instant. Except in one or two cases where I’d had my ass handed to me in a fight, my usual morning grogginess is a thing of the past. Given what Hunter and I did, I’m in sore need of a shower. I check the iPhone and grin at the little rain icon. It’s 2:33, so I have a couple minutes before the littles are home from school.