by Vicki Leigh
Kayla nodded. “Sure.”
Matt smiled and stepped inside the door. Kayla led him through the house to the kitchen and took a vase out of a cupboard. “So, what’s up with the flowers?”
“Oh, you know. Just thought your mom would like them.”
Kayla giggled. “You know her well.” She turned around to hand the vase to him and stopped. The flowers were on the counter, and Matt stood just inches from her. A slow smile rose on his face. Kayla’s heart raced. “Um, if you’ll just let me get to the flowers, I can, you know.”
Matt grabbed her wrist as she tried to push past him. “The flowers can wait. They’re not the real reason I’m here. You are.”
“Let me go.” Kayla stared right into his eyes though the hairs on her arms rose and her palms sweated.
But he didn’t. Instead, he slammed her against the kitchen counter and tried to plant his lips on hers. The vase fell to the floor and shattered.
“No!” she shouted and turned her face. Kayla shoved Matt’s face away from hers.
He growled in annoyance. “Don’t fight me, Kayla. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Matt leaned in to kiss her again, but Kayla slapped him.
“Behave!” He hit her back, punching her in the eye.
Kayla squealed and tried to struggle out of Matt’s hold, but he pushed her harder until the edge of the counter dug into her back to the point of pain.
“Let me go! Help!” she screamed.
“Shut up!” He hit her again.
She didn’t quiet. Instead her screams turned into cries. She squirmed, slapped him and kicked his shins, but all she seemed to do was fuel his desire. His lips found her neck as he held her wrists against the cold marble of the countertops, and he kissed up her chin to her lips.
Then he slid his tongue into her mouth. Kayla bit down, and Matt jumped back with a curse. “You little bitch!” He took one hand off of her to slap her.
She reacted quickly and brought her knee up, hitting him between the legs as hard as she could. His moment of shock was all she needed. Kayla squirmed out of his grasp and ran through her house and up the stairs, knowing her mother’s gun was in the desk drawer in her room. After being home alone all the time, she’d stolen it from her mom’s safe and tucked it away in her bedroom as a safety precaution.
Her paranoia was about to pay off.
With shaky hands, Kayla grabbed the revolver out of her desk. She turned around, her finger on the trigger. Matt entered the room, his face red and his teeth bared. The knife Kayla had been using to cut her vegetables was in his right hand.
Kayla pulled the trigger, her heart racing in her chest. Matt jumped as the bullet flew past his head. Kayla whimpered and pulled the trigger again. The bullet missed.
Four more times she shot at him, and Matt shrunk away each time. But Kayla’s hands were too shaky. The gun had a wicked kick, and she never once hit her target. Her chin trembled as Matt stalked toward her, a fiendish smirk on his face. She grabbed a metal trophy off her desk and held the award like a baseball player at the plate, ready to strike when he neared her. Her palms were clammy and her legs weak. When he was close enough, she swung.
And missed.
Matt’s dagger entered her left side. Kayla dropped the trophy with a scream as blood poured from her body. He grabbed her arms and flung her onto the floor. Kayla sobbed, both at the burning pain in her stomach and the fear coursing through her veins. She held her hands out in front of her, praying she would die before her mother’s boyfriend raped her.
Warm, awkward tingles ran from the tips of her toes into her palms, like her body had been asleep but was now waking up. Matt stood near her feet, unbuckling his belt. Kayla sobbed, begging God for help. Then, without warning, Matt went up in flames.
I ripped my hand out of Tabbi’s and jumped from my chair like I’d sat on something sharp. My shaking hands raked through my hair, and I paced around the room, my heart pounding in my ears. The room blurred. I wanted to drag Matt out of Hell and kill him again. At least he’d gotten what he deserved.
“Daniel?” Tabbi asked.
“Give me a moment.” I took a deep breath and tried to slow my pulse.
“She really did produce those flames, didn’t she? I hadn’t felt it before, but this time, it was like it came from inside her,” Tabbi said.
I nodded. Kayla had set fire to her attacker. She was telling Dr. Malcolm the truth.
Something lurched in my chest. Kayla needed to know she wasn’t crazy. Staying away from her now was going to be even more impossible than before.
I never should’ve taken Tabbi’s hand.
amantha was waiting for me when I returned to my flat. She sat on the sofa and, as usual, watched Judge Judy. She idolized that woman a little too much sometimes.
“Make yourself at home,” I said.
Her head whipped around at the sound of my voice. “Where have you been?”
I grabbed a Coke out of the fridge before responding. “Visiting Kayla.”
Samantha turned off the TV. “You need to be careful, Daniel. If anyone were to find out you were there alone and outside of her sleeping pattern, they might—”
“No one’s going to find out, Sam. And besides, Kayla doesn’t know I’m there.”
“Fine. I was only trying to help. Giovanni has spies everywhere. Why are you so interested in her, anyway?”
I glared at her, already angry with myself for developing unwanted feelings. She didn’t need to judge me, too.
Samantha held her hands up in defeat. “Whatever. Tabbi’s replacement is Hendrik, by the way. Thought I’d warn you.”
I groaned on the inside. Hendrik was a wanker, and he was one of Giovanni’s favorites. The two of them had to have been lovers. Giovanni’s preference for men was no secret.
“Thanks for the heads up,” I said.
“Yeah.” Samantha walked to the door to leave. “Oh, it’s your turn to report in to Giovanni. Tomorrow morning, he’ll expect to see you in Rome.”
I let her leave without saying another word.
At exactly nine o’clock, I showed up in Kayla’s room to do my job. Samantha, Seth and Hendrik were already there. Kayla twisted her hair into a ponytail and flipped off the light. I must’ve missed the nurse coming in to give her medicine. She crawled under her bed sheets, lay on her back and closed her eyes.
“I hope you protect me better than you protected your last Weaver,” Hendrik said to me.
I gripped one of the daggers on my belt. “Keep talking and see what happens when my blade misses.”
Samantha glared at me. Seth coughed to hide his chuckle. I fought the smirk that wanted to show, especially when Hendrik’s face turned red.
Before Hendrik could reply, Kayla’s breathing slowed. “Better get to work, mate,” I said, waving Hendrik away.
Hendrik’s face turned a brighter shade of red, then he positioned himself over Kayla’s body.
Above the bed, Hendrik’s dream played. In it, Kayla wore a soft yellow, strapless gown. Her hair was curled over one shoulder, and her smile lit up the room.
Kayla walked down the stairs of her house to a large foyer where a boy in a tuxedo waited for her. He eyed Kayla like she was just another girl he expected to bed before the night was over. An eagerness to smack that arrogant grin off his face jolted through my body, especially when he placed a hand between Kayla’s shoulder blades and led her out the door.
Stop it, Daniel! She should’ve been able to dream about her junior prom, or wherever the hell she was going. I shouldn’t have cared that she was being led out her front door looking like that with a boy who wasn’t me.
The first Nightmare dropped into Kayla’s room from the ceiling like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. Its surprise attack caught me off guard for a moment, but I jumped into action and grabbed its foot, pulling the monster as far from the bed as possible. The Nightmare flipped around to attack me, and I dug my blade under its jaw. The beast screeched in pain
before collapsing to the floor, its hands grasped around its neck as black blood sprayed from the creature’s throat. I wiped my hand and my blade on my handkerchief and kicked the bastard to the corner of the room for later disposal.
Samantha watched my every move. I was about to tell her to mind her own business when a Nightmare crawled through the wall behind Seth.
“Seth, drop!” I yelled.
He fell to the ground without hesitation, and I threw my dagger between the Nightmare’s eyes.
“Everybody move closer to the bed and face out. They’re getting wiser.”
Samantha and Seth obeyed my instructions. I stood at the foot of the bed with Samantha on my left and Seth on my right. Hendrik was already facing the headboard, so he’d shout if any tried to get in that way.
Two more Nightmares came in a similar fashion as the first, then three more entered through the walls. I grabbed one from the ceiling and threw it into the Nightmare on the far side of the room. Then I grabbed the other beast and threw it into the one directly across from Samantha. They crashed into each other like a bowling ball into a pin.
Knowing Samantha could handle those two and Seth would quickly dispose of his Nightmare, I ran at the two on the far side of the room. I threw my remaining dagger into the back of one of the Nightmare’s heads as it stood. The beast flopped to the ground, and the other—who was missing an ear—hissed a warning at me. But I didn’t back down.
I ducked when the Nightmare swiped at my face with clawed hands, and I jabbed the monster in the stomach. The butt of my hand punched the creature in the nose when it bent over with a groan. The Nightmare’s head tipped backward, and I used that moment to kick its legs out from under it. The beast fell to the floor with a yelp of surprise.
I tore my dagger out of the dead Nightmare’s head while the one-eared guy scrambled to its feet. Black blood oozed from the creature’s nose. It screeched at me like an angry hawk that couldn’t catch its prey, and I waited for the Nightmare to strike.
“Come on, bitch. Hit me.”
Instead of swiping at me again like I expected, the monster tried to tackle me. But I recovered quickly, using the Nightmare’s momentum to toss it over my shoulder. The beast fell to the ground behind me. I turned around and straddled its back, kneeling on the creature’s arms to keep it from getting up. From beneath me, the Nightmare squirmed and squealed, and in one quick movement, I wrapped my arms around its head and twisted, snapping the monster’s neck.
“God, Daniel. A dagger would’ve done the trick,” Samantha said. She and Seth dragged the other dead Nightmares to where mine laid on the floor. I helped them pile the heavy bodies, then Seth took a lighter out of his pocket and lit the corpses on fire. Their demonic blood burned hot and fast. We stepped back to avoid any accidental burns.
“Daniel has a natural flare for the barbaric,” Seth said.
“I do not.”
“Then do you want to tell me what that was?” Samantha asked.
I didn’t reply. I’d taken out my irritation on the Nightmares, transferring the anger mounting for myself toward them. Kayla had become an itch I couldn’t scratch. Tomorrow I would tell Giovanni to take me off her protection. As much as I hated to admit, I was emotionally compromised.
“Will you guys be okay if I pop out? My shoulder’s killing me,” I lied. Bartholomew’s serum had worked well, but I couldn’t stay here anymore. They’d ring me if things got out of hand.
“Sure,” Seth replied. He stared at me like he knew I was hiding something. Avoiding eye contact, I vanished.
I leaned against the side of the shower as hot water pounded my back. How long I’d been standing there, I didn’t know. Somewhere along the way, I just stopped thinking altogether.
Turning around, I rinsed the shampoo out of my wavy hair—that now hung to the top of my ears—and turned off the water. When I stepped out, I wrapped a towel around my waist and stared at myself in the mirror. My blue eyes were framed with black circles. I looked as shitty as I felt.
When I opened the door and entered the living room, Seth sat on the sofa, staring at me.
“Blast,” I said, jumping. “What the hell are you doing here?” The sun wouldn’t come up for hours. He should be helping Samantha catch, especially now that I wasn’t there.
“After we killed the round of Nightmares last night, no more showed up. Sam said she’d text if she needed help.”
Shaking my head, I crossed through the living room, closing the bedroom door behind me. After throwing on gym shorts and a T-shirt, I reemerged. Seth stood against the sofa, facing the bedroom.
“This is getting awkward,” I said.
“What’s going on with you, man? I’ve never seen you fight like that.”
Ignoring him, I grabbed a beer out of the fridge.
“Daniel, I’m not leavin’ you alone until you spill.”
I slammed the fridge door shut. “What do you want me to say?”
“I don’t know. Try the truth, maybe?”
I chugged my beer. Seth crossed the room and slammed the fridge shut when I reached for another, prompting a glare from me.
“It’s the girl, isn’t it?” he asked. “Sam told me you’d been spending extra time watching her.”
Raising my hands in exasperation, I pushed past him, running my hands through my hair.
“What do you want me to say? I’ve never had this problem before. I can’t stop thinking about her. I can’t stay away. Hell, I went corporeal by accident once!” He knew what happened when we revealed ourselves—our time as a Protector ended. Permanently. I continued, “I’m tired, Seth. Tomorrow I’m asking Giovanni to bench me before I do something stupid.”
He walked into the living room, his hands extended out in front of him. “Now, wait. Don’t go doin’ that.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and raised my eyebrows, asking him silently if he had a better idea.
Seth dropped his hands and sighed. “Look, don’t give up yet. You won’t last long if Giovanni puts you to work behind a desk. We’ll figure somethin’ out.”
For minutes we stared at each other, then finally I nodded. I’d give him one more night.
Just one.
y fists beat the punching bag mercilessly. I’d tried to sleep after my conversation with Seth, but Kayla’s hazel eyes taunted me, reminding me of my inability to do my job. I’d evaporated straight to our mansion’s gym, knowing if I didn’t start punching something soon, I was going to explode. As I expected, the room was completely empty. Protectors usually slept during the day, even when they were on leave from assignment.
I punched and kicked like my life depended on it, not bothering to wrap my hands or put on gloves. I wanted to feel the pain. No, I needed to feel the pain. When my shirt began to stick, I tore it off, and I didn’t stop beating the bag until my arms felt like they were going to fall off.
I let myself take a break when my knuckles throbbed. They were raw, my hands having left bloody streaks on the bag. Then, I noticed I wasn’t alone.
“What do you want, Sam?”
She stepped out of the shadows. “To talk to you. I know what you’re going to do.”
Ignoring her, I punched the bag again. Pain shot from my hands down my arms, but I didn’t care. The pain kept me from thinking.
“After all these years, Daniel, you’ve never backed down from a challenge. Now, all the sudden, you want to be benched? I don’t understand.”
Damn it, Seth. I didn’t answer her.
“Daniel, talk to me.”
“No.” I threw another punch.
“Would you just stop for one minute!”
Sweat dripped down my chest as I turned to face her. “Sam, I appreciate your concern. But it’s done with. Let me be.”
She shook her head. “No, Daniel. It’s not done with.” Her voice shook. “Because we—I—need you.”
It didn’t take me long to read her face. Seth was right. Samantha still hadn’t moved on from our night
. After I picked up my shirt from the floor, I walked around a weight machine to where she stood and placed my hands on her arms. “You’ve proven yourself to be a good friend and a great Catcher. I promise you’ll do fine without me.”
“But if Giovanni benches you, he’ll remove you as my mentor.”
“You don’t need a mentor anymore. I’ve seen you fight. You’re fierce on your own. You’ll be okay.”
Samantha paused, seeming to understand that she wasn’t going to make me change my mind. Then, before I had a chance to evaporate, her hands pulled my face to hers, and her full lips pressed against mine.
A gentleman would’ve stepped away. But right now, I didn’t care about being a gentleman. Samantha was a beautiful woman. Even though I’d never felt about her the way she felt about me, not noticing her beauty was impossible.
Dropping my shirt, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer to me. I kissed her back and gently pressed her against the wall where she had been hiding in the shadows. Our lips opened and closed together. Her hands moved from my face down my chest to my stomach. They glided around to my back, pulling the lower half of my body against hers.
I jumped back like I had been zapped with a Taser. This wasn’t right. I had no real feelings for her, and she didn’t deserve to be treated like this.
Samantha’s large, brown eyes followed my every movement. I ran my hand down my face. “I’m sorry. This isn’t… I can’t.” I walked to where I’d left my shirt and picked it off the floor. Before I evaporated to my apartment, I turned to look at her. Samantha’s lips were tight, and her hands gripped her pant legs.
“Please forgive me,” I said before I disappeared.
At 8:55 p.m., I returned to Kayla’s room. Seth and Samantha were already there. They eyed me with sadness, but neither said anything. I resumed my usual position and leaned against the back wall, crossing my arms over my chest.
Given Hendrik standing by Kayla’s headboard, Bartholomew must not have cleared Tabbi for battle yet. All the better. It’d be too hard to say goodbye to her.