by Kat Cotton
“If he’s fifteen minutes late, we can leave.” Lucas grinned. “I’m sure that’s a school rule.”
“If he’s fifteen minutes late, we get tacos,” Tarragon said. “That’s the rule I want to see enforced.”
My stomach rumbled in agreement.
“You two are holding hands under the table. I totally know it.” Seth screwed up his nose. “I hate romance.”
Seth was only snarky because of Mark’s man-crush on Ricky. That wasn’t my problem but I put my hands on the table to prove I wasn’t secretly hand-holding. As if I’d do that in training. Maybe, later, I’d go to the stables with Ren, and maybe there’d be kissing involved, but right now, my focus was on training one hundred per cent. Not one thought of kissing crossed my mind. Well, maybe one. Or two. I liked kissing Ren a lot.
The door swung open. I groaned and buried my head in my arms.
I didn’t even need all this hardcore physical training. My body would stay like this forever. If I’d known in advance that I’d become all vampirey, I’d have lost a few pounds off my butt first. But that butt was mine for eternity.
I looked up as everyone gasped.
“Mr. Norton!” He shouldn’t be released from hospital this soon.
He hobbled into the room, moving slowly and leaning on a cane. I’d thought I’d gotten used to his pale, gaunt face from my hospital visits but his frailty hit me in the stomach. I held my breath as he walked across the room, as though my breathing would be enough to topple him.
Really, I wanted to rush and throw my arms around him but I was scared I’d break him. I didn’t know my own strength lately.
Instead, I got out my phone and ordered tacos, secret tacos to be delivered up from the kitchen. This was an event to be celebrated.
Mr. Norton sat down, leaning his cane against the table. It fell to the floor so I jumped up and got it for him,
“Cherry, fifty black marks.”
“For picking up your cane?”
No way. I’d never do him a favor again.
“For letting yourself be turned. I’m not even sure if that’s allowed.” Mr. Norton frowned. “I’ll have to check the school rules on that.”
Okay, that was kind of a fair call. “But Farran —”
“Natural vampires are different from turned,” Lucas said.
I glared at him. Fifty black points was a lot. We were kind of friends again so he could keep his mouth shut on things like that.
“But I saved Ren and myself. You’d have been really sad to come back to school and find us dead.”
Mr. Norton sighed. “Okay, ten black marks, but don’t do it again.”
Before I could protest, I caught the glint in his eyes. He was making a joke. I got it.
“But all of you get an additional hundred black marks.” He banged his cane on the table so loud, we all jumped. “We do not summon things back from other dimensions. Sorry, Ren, but no exceptions.”
Noise erupted around me. Excuses and justifications. But Mr. Norton was right. We shouldn’t have messed with that stuff. Mr. Quiller shouldn’t have encouraged it either.
Then everyone spoke at once, filling him in on all the things that’d happened since he’d been gone. I wanted them to shut up. I didn’t want to share Mr. Norton with them. Even though I’d gone to the hospital to visit as much as I could, there wasn’t any privacy there.
Instead, I ran to get the tacos.
Everyone cheered when I walked back in, the smell wafting around the room.
“Did you get pulled pork?” Lucas asked.
“Duh! Of course.” The smell of that pork wafted to my nose, teasing me. I set the tray on the table and ripped into them.
“I’m pretty sure that feeding frenzy is part of the vampirism,” Mark said.
“I’m pretty sure she ate like that before, actually,” Ren answered.
It didn’t take long for that tray of tacos to disappear.
“Ah, Mr. Norton, you’ve got guacamole on your face,” I said.
Then grinned to myself as he pulled his handkerchief from his pocket. I got him good.
When the others finally left, I hung around.
“I know you don’t ever tell me stuff but I need to know. My parents, how much do you know about them?”
Mr. Norton ran his fingers through his hair. “I met them once.”
He’d never told me that.
“They wanted to kill me, right? They knew...”
Mr. Norton hobbled over and awkwardly put his arm around me.
“Your parents loved you. Don’t let what happened twist your mind. Mrs. Worthington was a very disturbed woman. She had issues before she went to Sunnyhills and being there didn’t help one bit. The night they died, they were trying to hide you, to protect you. That’s all I know.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
“I should’ve been here to guide you all.”
The two of us sat together for a long time, staring at nothing. I wanted to thank Mr. Norton, to tell him he was the parent I never thought I’d have but the words didn’t come out. Somehow, I think he knew.
Finally, he poked me in the side. “Shouldn’t you be meeting up with your boyfriend?”
I nodded and ran from the room.
Ren waited outside, leaning against the wall.
“What are we doing today?” I asked.
“You know what I’m doing. I love you, poor girl, but you’ll only be second in my life.”
“And you’ll only be second best to delicious food.” I punched his arm. “I’ll walk to the stables with you, I guess.”
“You could come riding with me some time.”
I shook my head. No way would I do that. Horses were scary with giant teeth. Even immortality couldn’t save you from horse bites.
Clouds darkened the sky as we walked to the stables but I never felt the cold any more. Ren put his arm around me and I slipped my hand in his back pocket.
“So, what were your conspiracy theories about me?” he asked.
“I can’t remember.” Then I ran ahead of him, laughing. “Ren Worthington is a pus-filled boil on the buttocks of society.”
Ren caught me and wrapped me in his arms. “Prepare to be kissed by a pus-filled boil then.”
When his lips met mine, all the worries I had about my past and my future and the world around me vanished. I only had this moment.
.
Thanks for reading Shadow Girl. I hope you enjoyed Cherry and Ren’s adventures.
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ABOUT ME:
I write character-driven Urban Fantasy with kick ass chicks and hot guys.
I’m also a digital nomad, although I hate that term because it makes me sound like a wanky hipster. Which I’m not. Okay, I am a bit snobby about coffee and I sometimes wear twee vintage dresses but that doesn’t make me a hipster.
On my travels, I love visiting weird and macabre places. Mummified hands that remove curses, museums of infectious diseases, collections of taxidermied frogs riding Penny Farthings - hell yeah!
I love hearing from readers so if you’ve got questions about my books, cool locations I can visit or just want to say hi, email me - [email protected] or visit my website – http://www.katcotton.com.