“Ghosts exist,” I assured.
Cat blinked. “Pravda?”
“Yeah. You didn’t know about ghosts?” I asked.
Cat’s face was pinched. “Ghosts are—creepy. They can be anywhere. Like spiders.”
“Tell me about it.” I sighed, remembering how my mom’s ghost could be watching me almost anytime. “You guys better get to class,” I said, slowly getting to my feet. “I need a minute.”
“I’ll stay,” Cat suggested.
I looked into the mirror. There was simply no normal. I glanced at Cat. Having a werewolf babysitting only helped reinforce the fact. “A minute alone,” I specified.
“I will drop my things off at class and circle around to make sure you are where you need to be,” Cat said.
A moment later they left me in peace.
It only took me a couple minutes, standing clutching the sink and focusing on breathing, to adjust to my new, new—how many news was it now?—new normal. Occasional appearances of my mother’s ghost, a werewolf boyfriend, a jock energy vampire ex-boyfriend, psycho ex-best friend, and a world that included zombies (ewww) but no unicorns. Things were starting to royally suck.
Barely in the hallway, I saw him barrel toward me.
“Your fault!” Marvin snapped, shoving me back. My head bounced off the wall with the impact.
“What the hell,” I growled, rubbing the back of my head. “What the hell are you talking about?” Ow.
“My girlfriend and that—that—Rusakova!” he fumed. “Her at his house—probably in his bed—”
“Whoa,” I said, my hands patting the air to try and calm him as he raged before me, pacing and cursing in the otherwise quiet hallway. My vision swam. “You’re overreacting.” I glanced up and down the hall for some wayward staff member or roaming substitute teacher.
Why did I have to be in the hall farthest from any of Junction’s half-dozen offices when Marvin decided to go ballistic?
“Don’t tell me I’m overreacting,” he snarled. “She was my girlfriend. My lover … my everything!” His mouth moved, but no words came out. He just gnawed the air in a rage that bordered on psychotic.
I was finding too many reasons to use that word.
He shoved me again.
Ow.
Okay, maybe he was just south of the border of psychotic. Damn. I’d dealt with CIA agents trying to stop me from saving werewolves, Russian Mafia members trying to kill me to take the werewolves, and now I was faced with Amy’s distraught ex-boyfriend.
A guy who thought it was okay to beat somebody he loved. What was acceptable damage to do to someone he loathed?
My head throbbed. I touched it again and noticed my fingers came away bloody. Not good. Where was Cat? Wasn’t she coming back on some sort of patrol?
“Come to think of it,” Marvin mumbled, “you’re to blame for Sarah not being with her boyfriend, too. And for Jenny and Derek’s split—and Jenny’s ruined nose job, and…”
“Oh, hell, Marvin,” I said through a fog. “Why not blame me for the piss-poor economy, too?” I swayed, and he pressed his nose to mine, snarling like a rabid beast.
“How stupid are you, Jessica? Taunting me? Where the hell’s your protector now, huh? Probably off like your pal Max, humping somebody else’s girlfriend!” he roared.
My head rocked, cheek stinging from a fresh hit.
For a second I managed to focus on Marvin. I raised my arm, rolled my fingers into a fist—and watched him disappear. “Huh?”
“Jess,” someone said, and I sighed, feeling a hand warm and tender on my arm. But the voice … “Jess,” he whispered. The voice didn’t fit the name he called me.…
Derek’s face wavered before me.
“Jessica,” I insisted.
“Whatever,” he said. “You’re hurt. Let me help you.…”
I slid down the wall, Derek’s fingers twisted in my hair, hand cradling my cheek, smiling. He glowed in my sight, like the first star of morning. He reached over and my eyes followed, seeing Marvin lying limp on the floor.
“You knocked him out.”
“Yeah, baby.”
“I’m not anybody’s—”
Derek’s hand grasped Marvin’s wrist and I felt his other hand crawl around to the back of my head where my hair was hot and sticky. Marvin convulsed.
My vision cleared.
“Tell me what you are,” I whispered, my eyelids peeling back in fear. A werewolf, I could handle. But, this …
His mouth clamped onto mine and my fear surged out of me, flowing into him like poison.
He laughed. “Not like poison,” he insisted, bending for another kiss. And then he disappeared, too. Ripped away.
The roar I heard put Marvin’s poor imitation of rage to shame.
Pietr.
“Hey, man,” Derek chuckled. “It’s not like she’s putting up a fight.…”
My sight snapped into focus. Derek had his hands up.
Pietr’s balled fists attached to the steel rods that were his arms. “She didn’t know what you are,” he seethed, lips peeling back from his teeth.
“Holy shit.” Derek laughed. “You never told her!”
Something dangerous flashed in Pietr’s eyes. Something bright and red. Bloodthirsty.
“You let me get my hands on her—I mean, all over her—” He leered. “You can’t possibly protect her all the time, and you don’t even tell her. Your own girlfriend!” He shook his head. “Stupid bastard. What do you think secrets do? Protect people?”
Pietr howled, and the classrooms emptied into the hall.
“Huh. Witnesses.” Derek grinned.
Pietr flinched. His options had just become severely limited.
“I’ve always preferred show to tell,” Derek hissed, eyes narrowing, hair glinting in the thin hallway light like an awful halo. “Let’s see what Little Miss Investigative Reporter thinks after a show, huh?” He turned to the crowd, shouting, “Fight, fight, fight, fight!” as he punched at the ceiling with a raised fist, punctuating the words.
They echoed him, a wild mob itching for excitement on a nasty autumn day, carrying his urgent cry, raising its volume to deafening proportions. The teachers tried everything to get them back into classes—to get past them and break it up. But it seemed all of Junction High wanted to see the football star and the new guy face off.
I knew what Pietr was capable of. Derek should have been an easy takedown. But as he turned back to Pietr and away from the chanting crowd, I doubted my werewolf boyfriend could handle him. Something was different about Derek. Something darker and more powerful. It was like he’d grown. Taller. Broader. More vicious.
They were matched.
Something sank in the pit of my stomach as he flew at Pietr, colliding with him like a linebacker, not the lighter weight receiver he really was.
The air billowed out of Pietr with the impact, and I saw the surprise in his eyes as his feet were swept out from under him and he rocketed backward.
The crowd roared.
With a bone-jarring crash they landed, floor tiles cracking like thin ice beneath Pietr’s back. The crowd surged forward with a cry of “Yes!” as I screamed the opposition’s part.
Pietr pulled his legs up beneath him as Derek started swinging wild punches. I heard a snap as Derek connected with Pietr’s cheek.
I sucked in a breath, sickened by the sound.
Pietr’s eyes flared with pain, sparking with violent red light. Growling, he shook back the change, forced back the wolf, and choked down the truth of his existence as Derek wailed on him. And then his weight shifted—so subtly, I nearly missed it—and Derek went flying through the air, flung by Pietr’s muscular legs.
There was a crunch as Derek hit the wall—the crowd gasped—and he slid down its length, settling at its base, head lolling.
Out.
We were all going to have such headaches tomorrow … if we survived one another that long.
I dashed to Pietr, still lying
on his back on the cool tile floor, eyes blinking back the red, fingers twitching as he covered his face with an arm and fought for control.
I straddled his chest and pulled his hands away. I pushed the hair back from his eyes and stared at his savaged face. “Why?”
“I can’t really fight back, can I?” he muttered, turning his face from me. “If I did…”
I stroked his forehead and whispered little things, soothing words.
Max and Cat rushed past, herding the protesting crowd back into classrooms. The teachers lingered a moment, and I heard a bellow from behind them.
VP Perlson. “Everyone back in your classes! I’ll handle this.” The teachers were swept away, and I heard Perlson’s walkie-talkie activate. “Yes, EMTs.”
A static-filled reply.
“No. Nothing like that,” Perlson responded. “A bad fight.”
I was desperate to get Pietr’s mind off things—like the fact he was a powerful werewolf who didn’t dare fight back publicly in his strongest form.
I could have asked him to recite the scientific classification or taxonomy of biological species, or asked for his help solving a word problem including a train and a coconut-carrying swallow. But it was much easier, much more satisfying, to kiss his worries away. I fixed my lips on his, struggling to soothe him with more than simple words. My tongue slipped between his lips and I felt his teeth prick it, sharpening. I drew back, the coppery flavor of blood tainting my mouth as I searched his face.
His eyes were squeezed shut in concentration. They relaxed, opening to peer up at me. “Jess, don’t,” he pleaded, his eyes blaring red in warning. “You’ll break my control,” he groaned.
“Dammit, Pietr,” I cried, tears rolling down my face to break on his. I leaned over him and as he reached up to move me aside, I caught his hands, slipping my fingers between his, and pushed his hands back over his head.
And I kissed him.
“Yee-aahh.” Max plucked me off Pietr like I was nothing. “As much as he’s enjoying that, his changing won’t help anything,” he confided.
Pietr lay there a moment more, nostrils flared, panting faintly as he held the change at bay. His fingertips twitched as if mine and his were still intertwined.
“Issues,” Max said, setting me back on my feet. “You two have issues.”
Perlson grabbed Pietr by the arm, tugging him to his feet. “Well, well, pup,” I thought he muttered. “I see we’re still thick in trouble, but getting smarter. Maybe there’s a use for you yet.”
The nurse showed up with the EMTs, splitting their attention between Marvin and Derek.
“You,” Perlson muttered to Cat, Max, and me. “Follow me.”
Cat wrapped an arm around my shoulders, turning me away, but I stopped, seeing Derek’s eyes flicker open for a moment. He slumped to the side, his arm stretching out. I doubted anyone else noticed his fingers touch Marvin’s ankle.
Marvin shuddered. And Derek fed.
Vampire. I froze a moment in the hallway, letting the word do laps in my head. I had read every book out there. I’d dreamed of vampires; I’d written short stories about them.
And now, I realized, I didn’t like the reality at all.
“Let’s go,” Cat urged. “Perlson’s office has to be safer than here.”
“Where were you, Cat?” I asked.
She looked down. “Getting detention for arguing with Belden because I needed to leave the class. To come for you.”
“You’re still my hero.”
She snorted. “Being a hero and attending high school is not so easy.”
“Oh, my God!” Amy had arrived. “What the hell happened?” She grabbed me in a fierce hug.
“Girl fight,” Max drawled. “Jessie and your ex.”
“Shit!”
“Language,” Cat reminded tersely.
“Derek and Pietr didn’t want to be left out of the action, either,” Max added.
“How the hell—heck—do I miss this sh—” Amy glanced at Cat. “Stuff?”
“I think you’re the only one actually attending classes around here,” I said, my eyes on Pietr and Perlson, just ahead.
She hugged me again. “You can borrow my notes.”
“Miss Karlsen,” Perlson warned Amy. “You’ll have no decent notes to give if you don’t get back to class. Now.”
“Yes, sir,” Amy griped, trotting off.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Max insisted on driving me home with Amy, Cat, and Pietr along for the ride. As Max made an excuse to Amy so he could do a quick perimeter run, Pietr and Cat hung close to me, watched by Annabelle Lee.
“I heard about the fight,” Annabelle Lee mentioned, her eyes searching Pietr’s battered but already healing face. “Pietr Rusakova’s suspended for fighting. It’s all over Junction. You attacked Derek?”
“That’s not the whole story,” he muttered.
“Rumors never are,” Annabelle Lee agreed. “And Jessie”—she paused and whispered—“you look like crap, by the way.”
“Thanks.”
“Jessie was the victim?”
Nods all around. “I didn’t even get to throw a punch.”
“But at least you aren’t suspended,” Annabelle Lee muttered. “So everybody’s wondering why the”—she jerked her fingers in the air—“hot young Russian guy was fighting the”—again she motioned—“football star. Over my sister. A farm girl.”
“And what did you say?” Cat wondered aloud.
“I said they’re doing it because my sister’s pretty damn—”
I looked at her.
“Darn—awesome.”
“Hey. Where are Hunter and Maggie?”
“Wanda stopped by to take them for grooming.”
“Grooming?” I asked. “Wanda?” I glanced around. Something felt wrong.
“I’ll stay,” Pietr volunteered.
Annabelle Lee shook her head. “Dad won’t have it after he hears about the fight. Amy and Max could stay, maybe Cat, but you”—she frowned at Pietr—“would get in massive trouble if Dad finds you here now.”
He leaned over her and patted her head. “Perhaps you will put in a good word for me.”
She tilted her head. “Maybe. If you’re doing what’s right by my sister,” she offered.
One more protector.
“He is,” I assured. “Taking care of me’s not an easy job.”
“Amen,” Pietr and Annabelle Lee said in unison.
“Unfortunately, if I must go, we all must go. Max drives,” Pietr pointed out with a shrug. But his eyes held worry.
Max jogged around the corner of the house, stopping short when he saw Amy’s expression. “I had to…”
She frowned. “Jessie lies. Are you going to start? If you wanted to go for a run, I would have gone,” she added, noting his damp shirt and hair.
“Maybe someday,” he agreed.
I shot him a look of warning, but I was beyond preaching about leaving Amy alone. The way she looked at him, I had no right to tell him to stay back. Max would do his best to be good to her. Good intentions. What a road they paved. “So, you guys gonna go?”
Max nodded. The coast was clear.
Pietr grabbed me for a quick kiss. “I’m only a phone call away,” he assured me.
“I know.”
As they drove off, I told Annabelle Lee, “I’m going to do the horses.”
She nodded.
“Going for a book?” I asked.
“Eh.” She shrugged. “I was thinking about borrowing one of your monster movies.”
“Go ahead,” I offered. “I’ve pretty much had my fill of Hollywood werewolves.” I strolled across the broad field separating our house from the barns, missing Hunter’s and Maggie’s eager, ever-sniffing presences.
When his hands grabbed me, there was no time to react. Images volleyed at me so fast my head spun and my stomach shook. Each one, Derek … always Derek … His breath was sweet and hot on my face, fingers digging into my ar
ms brutally. “One more chance, Jessica,” he whispered. “Let’s get things right this time, shall we? Let’s give that boyfriend of yours a good show. We’ll start by getting Rio,” he whispered, “and go for a nice ride by the window so Annabelle Lee calls him…”
Fingers dug through my mind, pulling at it and letting things I’d seen and done run through them like sand. My knees buckled and I whimpered, eyes itching and blurred.
“Okay, okay,” he whispered. “A little too much…” He adjusted the way he raked through my mind, gentler now that I’d nearly collapsed in a heap. “Yes. He guaranteed he was only a phone call away. Let’s see if that’s true.”
I heard Rio snort, a distant sound, and felt myself being lifted into the saddle. “Harnek thinks I failed the company, do you know that? But the way I see it, if I control you—I control the cure. And if I control the cure … well, I haven’t failed, have I? So maybe I can still drive a wedge between you two,” he cooed. “I mean, love and passion—it doesn’t last. A heart can be splintered if hit hard enough.”
Derek slid up behind me, bumping me into his lap and taking the reins. “And I do have some experience with this sort of thing.…” The reins snapped, his legs flexed, and I knew from the swaying of my hips that Rio was on the move.
“Excellent,” he said, words blowing into my ear to scatter my brain. “She’s seen us. Yep. Phone in hand … Now we have what? Ten minutes. Very good.” The swaying stopped. “Hmm. Maybe I should rethink this,” he muttered, staring into the shell of my skull. “The barn does have some useful things.… Let’s return, shall we? Such a good horse,” he muttered. “Too bad.”
We came to a stop and he dropped me down from the saddle, my legs only holding me briefly before I flopped like a rag doll into the straw. He was tying Rio’s reins to a post as my eyes began to clear, my brain began to resolidify. My body uncooperative, I tried to heave myself away from him.
“Uh-oh—not yet,” he mumbled, grabbing my arm and pulling me to my feet. He wrapped himself around me, squeezing me so tight even breathing was a battle.
I flailed a moment, hands thudding against his chest. “Jess,” he whispered.
“Don’t call me that.” The words slurred across my tongue. “Only two people have ever—ever”—I struggled, blinking, brain stuttering to find the words—“called me that.”
Secrets and Shadows Page 28