PHENOMENAL GIRL 5

by A. J. Menden

  “Yell ‘I’m a big whore’ next time, Mindy.”

  “Look who’s talking, Simon.”

  He gave her a glare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re the one bedding B-list starlets and groupies while at the same time serving as Kate’s plaything when she gets bored with Paul. I’m the one who hasn’t gotten laid in ages.”

  The guy at the next table over was frantically waving at his waiter.

  “And this is her when she’s not drunk,” Toby said to me.

  “It isn’t like that with me and Kate anymore.” Simon gave me a quick look.

  Mindy noticed. “Quit gawking at Lainey. She’s got a man.”

  “Like I could forget.”

  I sighed, trying my best to ignore Simon. “Yeah, I’ve got a man alright. One I haven’t talked to in weeks.”

  Simon seemed to perk up at that. “Really?”

  Toby put his hand up in front of Simon’s face. “Shut up. Haven’t you called him, Lainey?”

  “Yeah, at least once a week. And every single time the phone is either busy, rings without anyone picking up, or Mayhew answers but Wes is supposedly not there.”

  “It sounds to me like he’s dodging you,” Simon said, his tone trying to contain sympathy and failing. “I’m sorry, Lainey, but some guys aren’t man enough to do the breaking up themselves.”

  Mindy turned cold blue eyes on him. “Simon. Go to hell.”

  “Honestly, how you ever manage to get laid is beyond me,” Toby said to him. Then to me: “He’s just busy, Lainey. You know Rath’s been over there every day, working on preventing that apocalypse spell.”

  “I know.” I sighed. “I just don’t know how this is going to work out.”

  Just then the waitress showed up with a tray of drinks. “A variety for you to choose from,” she told Mindy. “Compliments of him, him, him, him, and him.” She pointed out guys at nearby tables who all raised their glasses at her.

  “Thanks.” Mindy fingered one drink and a businessman perked up. “Too conservative.” She moved on to the next. “Too immature. Too creepy.” She paused over a vodka tonic and glanced at the corresponding guy. “Just right.” She took a drink and the other men all groaned. She winked at the sender, a guy that bore a passing resemblance to Luke. “I’m going to go thank him. See you, guys.”

  Toby looked at me. “Is it just me, or did he remind you of someone?”

  “It’s not just you.” I sighed. “She needs to make a move on the actual guy instead of wasting her time on substitutes.”

  “She’s aggressive when it comes to barflies, but with Luke she goes back to being a timid little girl.”

  I downed the rest of my drink. “I’m over this place. What about you guys?”

  “I’m not picking up any vibes,” Toby said. “Want to hit the Cabaret?”

  “Nah, I have a headache.” I said. “But go with my blessings.”

  “I’ll catch a cab with you, Lainey,” Simon said. “I’m ready to pack it in too.”

  Toby raised an eyebrow at me in a silent question, and we headed for the door.

  No, I really didn’t want to share a cab with Simon, but there wasn’t much harm he could do in that short amount of time.

  “It’s fine, Toby. Have fun.” I kissed him on the cheek. “Go pick up a hot model or something.”

  “If you’re sure,” Toby said with another glance at Simon.

  “Why are you leering at me?” Simon asked. “Because you know I don’t go that way.”

  Toby sighed. “Please. I’ll see you kids later.” He walked off in the opposite direction as a cab pulled up in front of the restaurant.

  Simon opened the door for me. “Shall we?”

  I didn’t have a choice.

  We rode in the cab in silence for a while, and I relaxed. Thank God. I thought Simon was going to hit on me.

  “I understand you want your relationship to work out, Lainey. But you can’t force it if it’s not meant to be.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” And here I’d thought he was going to keep quiet.

  “If you were my girlfriend, I wouldn’t let a month go by without talking to you. Hell, I wouldn’t let a month go by without touching you, even if we were miles apart. I’d find a way to schedule in a little time for you.”

  I hated Simon. I hated him more when he made sense.

  “He gets caught up in his work,” I said, but I wondered. Did he think I didn’t want to be with him anymore?.

  “Is that his excuse?” He snorted. “If he wanted to, he would make an effort. He just doesn’t want to. Look, I understand some women can be overwhelmed by men with power, and like him or not—and you know I’m in the ‘not’ category—the Reincarnist does pack some power. It’s understandable that in your naïve state, you mistook attraction to power for feelings of love, and he, arrogant ass that he is, took advantage of you.”

  “Just stop, Simon.”

  “He’s not here, Lainey, and I am. I can make you forget all about him.” He tried to kiss me but I dodged just in time.

  “Now who’s trying to take advantage of me?” I threw open the cab door as we pulled up in front of the building. “Try it again and I’ll break your arm.” I got out, slamming the door behind me and not stopping until I was alone in my room.

  My eyes caught on the phone.

  My hand hovered over it, wanting to call him.

  No, I had left countless messages. He had to be the one who made the next move.

  I fell asleep facing the phone, willing it to ring.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  I was walking along a tree-lined park. The colors were off, which wasn’t a surprise, since this was a dream. The crescent moon was too bright and had a red tint. There were no nighttime noises around me—no crickets, no wind in the electric-green trees, no traffic sounds in the background. My boots didn’t even click on the paved path.

  Suddenly I was facing a dark passageway, a water tunnel under a bridge. I hate it when dreams skip locations on you.

  I tried to peer into the darkness of the tunnel but couldn’t see anything.

  But I could hear something breathing.

  Backing up, I kept my eyes on the tunnel, expecting some sort of monster to come charging out at me.

  Hands gripped my shoulders and I cried out as I was whirled around. I faced a pale man. No, he wasn’t pale; his skin was more silver than white. Not like a metal robot, but almost like diamonds. Long red hair hung to his waist, blowing in a breeze I couldn’t feel. His blood-red eyes bored into mine.

  I could feel evil radiating off of him like smoke. I struggled in vain against his vise-like grip. I tried to scream, but in typical dreamlike fashion, I couldn’t. I tried ordering myself to wake up. His unnatural eyes still bored into mine.

  He opened his mouth and a cloud of black flies poured out, making me gag. He raised one hand and I saw red razor-sharp talons where his fingers should be. My struggle increased as they rose in the creepy red moonlight and then descended into my chest. I was paralyzed, couldn’t move or scream, as his claws ripped me open, forcing my rib cage apart as the swarm of flies flew into my chest and heart.

  He laughed, a chilling sound without mirth. His hand dropped to my chest, healing it in an instant before grabbing me by the back of the head and forcing his mouth onto mine. I felt flies go down my throat into my lungs. They were filling me, obliterating me, changing me…

  Then I felt different. Stronger. Better.

  Deadly.

  I grabbed the stranger, pulling him into an embrace, and began kissing him back. With a growl, he took me to the ground and began doing things to me that made me scream, made me…

  I woke up, covered in sweat.

  I was in my bed at the EHJ headquarters, alone. And I felt scared, sick, and ashamed of myself.

  The phone rang, shrill in the silence. Cursing, I fumbled for it, hands shaking.

  “H-hello?”

  There
was silence on the other end for a moment, then: “Lainey?”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, I’d been sure my evil stranger was on the other line. “Wes? What time is it?”

  “I don’t know. Are you okay?” He sounded just as flustered as I was.

  “Yeah. I just had a bad nightmare, that’s all.”

  “I know.”

  “You know? How did…” Too late, I remembered our soul-dream connection. My face flamed. “I don’t know who that was, but it was horrible.”

  “It was my fault. It was my dream you experienced.” He sounded shaken. “It was the prophecy. The Dragon.”

  “That was the Dragon?”

  “The Dragon will try to corrupt the innocent soul to destroy it. If he does, the dark soul will be his servant, and the world will be plunged into darkness. At least, that’s the part of the prophecy I’ve recently translated. That scenario that just played out in our dream—that’s the dark end of our story.”

  “Tell me there’s a happy end.”

  “There is. The other possibility is that the dark soul and the light will come together to destroy the Dragon.”

  “Next time, dream of that.” I looked at the clock. It was four in the morning, but there was no way I was going back to sleep. I didn’t want to be caught in a nightmare loop with that playing over and over.

  “I’ll try to do better next time,” he said, sounding a bit more like himself.

  “Wes, why haven’t you called me back?” I said, angry now that the terror was wearing off. “I’ve left like a million messages.”

  “Did you not experience that dream? That’s what I’ve been buried in, Lainey, scenarios like that and worse. Trying to find out what the Dragon is planning to do for his spell to bring back the Ancient Ones, and bashing my head against the brick wall that is Fantazia, trying to get information out of her. Meanwhile, you’ve been showing up in the papers with Simon Leasure.”

  “So we’ve both been stuck with exes. It doesn’t mean I enjoyed it any more than you did.”

  “Did you just call Fantazia my ex?” He sounded disgusted.

  “Please, Wes. Even if you don’t remember the specifics, it’s obvious you two have a history.”

  “And it’s not what you think, Lainey. Fantazia is my daughter.”

  My tired brain tried to process this information and couldn’t. “Huh?”

  “She’s my daughter from before the Dark Ages. She’s the most like me—unlike Ben and Toby’s family, she inherited my longevity, except she doesn’t reincarnate; she just doesn’t age. Ever. Probably it has something to do with her mother, who was a magic-user too.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. So you’re the only one who has been in the company of someone you’ve dated.”

  “It was one date, and you were the guy whose bed I was in at the end of the night, not him. Simon keeps sticking to me like a leech, trying to prove you’re some arrogant guy who used me because he could.”

  “Simon’s trying to prove I’m like him?” He laughed.

  “Well, you’re not acting much better!” I snapped. “Never calling me back and having creepy sex dreams of me with an evil guy!”

  Wes sighed. “Let’s not talk right now when we’re both shaken and exhausted. Nothing good will come of it. I’ll be sending you something for protection until I can track down where the Dragon is. Be very careful, Lainey. Be on guard at all times.”

  “Fine. Go back to your research. Save the world.” I was glum as I hung up the phone. Wesley and I weren’t getting along, and someone evil wanted to get it on with me to corrupt my soul and destroy the world.

  And I couldn’t sleep.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  I walked into Rath’s office with a stack of papers. “Here’s the latest press releases, a bunch of invitations that sound promising, and a few mock schedules for you to consider.”

  I am secretary, hear me roar. God, my student loans are wasted money.

  Rath looked up. “Oh, Lainey. Good. I have something for you.” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a manila envelope. “I’m sorry, I’m a bit absent-minded. I meant to give this to you after I last visited Wesley, but then I had that conference with the President and the council meeting with the ambassadors from Galaxy Seven, and it slipped my mind.”

  I took the envelope with a wary look. If Wesley had sent a note with his son to break up with me, I would just have to kill him.

  There was a bulge at the end of the envelope, and as I tilted it, something fell out into my palm. I looked down, dropping the envelope.

  It was a flat silver ‘O’ at the end of a long chain. Holding it up for inspection, I could see a faint whisper of writing appear and then disappear, depending on what angle I held it to the light. I ran my finger over the circle—there was no engraving. Magic writing?

  “What is it?” I asked, holding it out.

  “A circle of protection,” Rath said. “As long as you wear it, no one’s magic other than the one who created it can affect you. You’re meant to wear it over your heart.”

  I slid it on, letting it drop underneath my clothes to settle between my breasts. I felt a tingle as the magic took effect, almost as if Wesley himself were there.

  “Very few spell-casters can create a circle of protection,” Rath said. “It’s a big deal to be given one, and just as big to wear one. It means you trust the spell-caster who has given it with your life.”

  I fingered the chain. “How is Wesley?”

  “He’s good. Busy. Always trying to track down the Dragon, pick up some kind of clue. It’s good you’re with us, Lainey, otherwise I would have told him to send you here by now. It’s getting dangerous for you to be out and about alone. The Dragon still needs you.”

  “No missions for me?” I asked glumly. Not that there had been any danger in that happening.

  “No. It’s best you stay with monitor duty.”

  “Great.”

  “We’ve all had to suffer a year of monotony, Lainey,” Rath said. “You’ll be off with the rest of us in no time, and someone else will be doing the busywork.”

  “Let’s hope we’re still around by then.” I turned to go. “When you see Wesley again, tell him I said thanks.”

  “Of course.” Rath went back to his stack of papers. “You could always call him yourself.”

  “He never answers.”

  “He’s distracted—” Rath broke off and we both whirled as sirens started shrieking in the house. Simultaneously we headed to war room.

  “What is it?” Rath called out to Paul, who was bent over a monitor.

  “Riot at the Holding Tank,” he said. “Couple of guards dead. No one’s escaped yet…”

  “But we’d better get over there,” Rath said. “Suit up, people, let’s go. Lainey…”

  “I know. Watch the monitors.” I gave him a salute. “Yes, sir.”

  “Better be careful, Kate, Mindy,” Simon said. “Those criminals haven’t seen a woman in years. Or are you more their type now, Toby?”

  “Simon, make yourself useful and shut up,” Luke said, shuffling him along.

  “Pretty boys like you are fresh meat in the joint,” Toby said to Simon.

  “Professionalism!” Rath growled, shooing them all out of the room. Leaving me alone with the monitors yet again.

  I got out my spell-book, ready to put my time to good use. I practiced shields on myself and on various inanimate objects around the room. Getting bored with that, I gave up and decided to surf the Internet for any new mentions of the Dragon.

  I had just clicked on yet another Web page that looked harmless enough but led to porn, when I heard the door whisper open behind me. I quickly clicked off the Internet and spun around.

  “Wow, you guys are back early…” I trailed off, not believing my eyes.

  “So, this is what saving the world looks like. Funny, it looks a bit like monitor duty.”

  It was Wesley!

  He was
giving me a teasing smile. Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen him for a month, and had barely talked to him since I left, but my skin suddenly felt hyper-sensitive.

  “Wes.” I found I could speak. “What are you doing here?”

  “We’re down to the wire. The Dragon’s plan has to go into effect before the next full moon or not at all. I decided it was safer for you to have me here. And being surrounded by other heroes couldn’t hurt.”

  “Why haven’t you come to see me? Why did you barely talk to me?” I moved around the table.

  “Apocalypse, remember? Besides, I was giving you some space,” he said, and the space between us took on new meaning. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

  “I did.” I moved to stand right in front of him, so close I could reach out and touch him. But I didn’t, not yet.

  “And now?”

  “You’re too far away.”

  “I’m right here.”

  “It’s still too far.” I leaned in.

  He met me, tangling one hand in my loose hair, the other going to my back as he pulled me in for a mind-altering kiss. I clutched at his shirt, keeping him close. Our bodies pressed together and I found him as turned on as I was.

  “I lied,” he said against my mouth. “The Dragon’s apocalypse does have to happen soon, but that’s not why I came here. I missed you too much.”

  “Show me.” I kissed him harder and he reversed positions, backing me up against the wall, pinning me against it while still kissing me. I practically tried to climb him, angling our bodies for a better fit. His hands were going places that were setting me on fire.

  He groaned into my mouth and took a step back, grabbing my hand in his. “Which way is your room?”

  We made it there just in time.

  “You must have really missed me,” I giggled.

  “I could say the same thing,” Wesley replied with a smile, running a hand over my hip. “Maybe there is something to that ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ saying.”

  I felt my heart flutter. “I like it better when you’re with me.”

  “Me too. And not just for the obvious reasons.” His hand traveled lower, and I giggled again.