Love & War Book 1 in The Arcadia Falls Chronicles

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  ~~~***~~~

  I opened my eyes the next morning and could tell I hadn’t gotten enough sleep. My eyes were dry and itchy, and my legs felt like they were filled with lead. I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 6:35. I knew I needed to get moving or else Drew would pound on my door and holler for me to hurry. I threw back the covers and headed for the shower to wash away the cobwebs in my brain.

  Once the bathroom was sufficiently steamy and the hot water was running over me, I didn’t want to get out, but eventually our pathetic water heater forced me to shut it off or freeze. Knowing we were going hiking, I wore my boot-style tennis shoes with the heavy treads rather than my normal workout shoes and decided on jeans instead of yoga pants.

  Trying to hurry, I ran a brush through my dark hair without really caring what it looked like, and then I twisted it into two braids so my beanie would fit onto my head. No sooner had I slipped the pink beanie on than I heard a knock at my bedroom door. Quietly, so as not to wake Alice who still slept in my bed, I crept to the door and cracked it open.

  Drew had also chosen to wear jeans and a sweatshirt instead of workout clothes. A few strands of hair peeked out from under his beanie hat. It was amazing how that hat changed his whole look. Even the green in his eyes looked more intense.

  "I’m ready," I whispered. "Just let me grab a jacket."

  "I’ll wait for you downstairs," he whispered, and he took off down the hallway.

  I hastily strapped on my shoulder holster and secured my gun in its place. Knowing it was extremely cold out, I grabbed my hoodie with the furry lining inside and zipped it up over my holster.

  I met Drew downstairs in the living room where the early morning news flashed brightly against the darkness. I paused for a moment and watched him without him realizing it. He stood in front of the television, blocking most of my view of the newscasters and their reports.

  I hoped that whatever was between us lasted. It seemed I didn’t have much luck when it came to people I loved staying in my life. Before my mother died, I didn’t have many friends. The few friends I had made over the years, I'd had to leave when we would move… and we had moved a lot.

  Drew turned and saw me staring at him. I felt the heat rise up to my cheeks and, surprisingly, he actually blushed too. It was pretty strange for him not to know I had been standing there.

  "Hey," he said, grabbing the remote and clicking the television off.

  "Hey," I whispered.

  "Here." He bent over, retrieved a to-go mug off the coffee table, and extended it to me.

  I accepted it and sniffed the opening. "Coffee?"

  "Yeah, I know how much you like that crap."

  "It’s not crap! It helps give me my super powers."

  "Sure, it does," he swung his backpack over his shoulder, "at the same time it’s eating your stomach away. Let’s go."

  I didn’t care if he liked coffee or not. I took a big swig of the warm liquid and grabbed my own backpack before I followed him out the door.

  The sun was rising, bathing the earth in warmth against the brisk, cold air. Drew reached into his jacket and took out his sunglasses. He put them on, covering his pretty green eyes, but protecting them against the brightness of the sun that reflected off the snow.

  We started off through town at a rather slow pace so I could drink my coffee. While we walked, I thought about the Talon Building. If the board was going to refuse to acknowledge our warnings to prepare for attack, we had to take it upon ourselves to protect the community and our families. We could not just sit back and let the vampires win when we had a proper warning.

  "What are you thinking about?"

  I glanced at Drew’s sudden question, and he raised his eyebrows above his sunglasses.

  "You’re looking very serious."

  I laughed a little bit. "What? You’re the only one who is allowed to sport a look of intensity?"

  He shrugged. "Fine, don’t tell me."

  I tipped my cup, finishing off the last drop of coffee. I really wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to him about the whole idea until I had an actual plan. On the other hand, it didn’t matter. Drew would have to be in on it to execute any plan we came up with.

  After making sure my cup was empty, I stopped and took my backpack off.

  "I don’t know. I just don’t think we should sit back and wait, just because the board doesn’t want to believe us."

  I shoved the mug into my bag and swung the bag back onto my back. I looked over to see his expression. I had fully expected to see his face full of criticism or even disappointment. Drew was normally a guy who played by the rules, especially when it had anything to do with the board.

  Well, except for that time he ignored all the rules and came to save me from my psycho father.

  This time, instead of the criticism or disappointment I'd expected, I saw confirmation.

  "I agree," he said. We picked up the pace again. "Actually, I’m a little shocked they didn’t believe Luke. Us, yeah. But, Luke? I just don’t get it."

  "I know!" I threw my hands up. "He’s been with them forever. I wonder if they think he’s getting old, or maybe they think he's too close because of all that happened with Trevor before."

  Drew shook his head. "We all vouched for what we saw."

  "I know, but maybe they think he’s losing it, and that’s why he believes us."

  Again, he shook his head. "I just don’t understand why they would ignore such a blatant warning."

  I adjusted my beanie on my head. "So you think we need a plan?"

  "Yes, I do, but it’s not going to be easy without the other hunters backing us."

  I sighed out of pure exhaustion at the thought of trying to convince the other hunters to help us.

  "I know, but we will find a way."

  I tried to be optimistic—not for him—mostly for myself.

  We had crossed town on the streets and finally hit the edge of the woods where we found the trail we wanted and headed up. For a while, it was quiet. That’s how Drew worked. He wasn’t talkative most of the time and did that whole I’m-a-broody-man thing. It was perfectly fine with me, because I liked to do my own share of brooding.

  Carefully, we crunched over the icy trails. Not many used the trail up to the falls, so it had not worn down to the ground like the well-used trails would have. It was covered in a thick layer of snow, with ice underneath it. Drew led the way, letting me know where the more dangerous spots were located.

  Eventually, I heard the first evidence of the waterfall. The roaring slowly grew from a whisper to a loud churning. I was relieved that we were almost there. I loved being near the falls, no matter what the weather happened to be. The trail ended, opening up to a small area of land that surrounded the waterfall. I stopped and took off my bag, because I thought we would stop.

  "What are you doing?" Drew stood next to me, looking amused.

  "Aren’t we stopping?"

  "Nope, we’re going up farther."

  I could have slapped him for the stupid grin he had on his face. Apparently, my willingness to stop and hang out by the pretty waterfall was funny to him.

  "Fine, let’s go." Reluctantly I slid my backpack on again. We had gone a little way past the falls before, but not too far due to the snow, so this would be new.

  The terrain was considerably rougher beyond the waterfall. The trail veered up steeper as we moved on. Rocks jutted out of the ice, and the snow was much deeper than it was on the other trail. Our feet sank all the way down, soaking our jeans to mid-calf and making me even colder.

  Eventually, the trail opened into a wide field, or what would have been a field if it hadn’t been covered in snow.

  "Here we are." Drew shed his backpack and withdrew two bottles of water. He threw one of them to me, and I caught it easily.

  "Where’s here?"

  Drew tilted his head. "Check it out."

  He stood back up and started toward the tree line. I followed, wondering what
the heck he had in mind. I wasn’t dumb enough to think this hiking trip was for enjoyment. I knew something was up and, as it turned out, I could hear it before I could see it. It was water, not the roaring waterfall sound, but more like babbling brook.

  Drew pushed some of the tree branches aside, then took my hand and pulled me through. I expected to see more trees, a never ending forest of trees, but what I saw took my breath away.

  "Oh, my. It’s beautiful," I managed to whisper softly.

  There was the water I’d heard, a beautiful creek, not a tiny little creek one could hop across, but not quite big enough to be called a river. Trees hung over the top of the water like their branches were trying to reach out and touch it. The current rushed quickly over the rocks that jutted up out of the water, creating a decent amount of rapids on its way to where I assumed it would meet the waterfall.

  Along the river, there were several large rocks that sat high out of the water. These huge boulders had relatively flat tops. They seemed almost out of place in the scene.

  "Why are we here?" I asked.

  Drew squeezed my hand.

  "We are going to work on your superpowers today." He grinned.

  "Don’t you think it would make more sense to work on fighting? I’m getting really good with my fire power."

  "It’s not your fire power we are going to concentrate on."

  I scrunched up my nose. "Huh?"

  He led me to a rock by the water that was big enough for us both to sit on. "You already know that you have other gifts aside from the fire— like your fast healing—so we need to tap into the other powers."

  I shook my head. "I wouldn’t even know where to begin to do that."

  "I do," Drew told me. "Do you remember when we were training last week and you tried to do the jump kick?"

  I nodded.

  "Well, your jump was incredibly high. I mean… you made it look simple to jump that high without even trying. Imagine what you could do if you practiced jumping long distances?"

  "I thought I was just in excellent physical condition." I stuck my lower lip out, pretending to pout. "Why are we doing it here? Why not just back at the gym? It seems like I should be able to practice jumping anywhere, but you picked way up in the snow and ice-covered mountains."

  "Think about it, Chloe. Even though everyone knows about your fire power, we don’t want to flaunt your other gifts. They can be quite effective when the element of surprise is added. At the gym, everyone can see you. Who knows who that can get back to?"

  He was right, like he freaking always was. Ugh

  "Okay, so what do you want me to do?"

  "You see those rocks over there?"

  Oh, man. I didn’t have a good feeling about this at all.

  "Uh huh?" I said.

  "You think you can jump them?"

  "Oh, no!" I waved my hands out in front of me. "There is no way I’m jumping those, no way!"

  He had to be crazy if he thought I was going to do that.

  "If we start on the snow, when you feel confident enough, we can move to the rocks."

  "I don’t think I will ever be confident enough to do that."

  "Chloe, I feel like you need to be pushed to accomplish things like this."

  I raised my eyebrows, not really understanding.

  "You see, every time you have ever done anything you thought wouldn’t be possible, it was in a time of need. So, it’s either this, or I can go trap a vampire and let him loose on you. Now that would be motivating!"

  "You wouldn’t do that." I shoved his shoulder.

  "Oh, yes, I would! Don’t doubt me!"

  "Fine, I’ll do the jumping, but without the rocks for now."

  The next thing I knew, I was sprinting across the snow in a full-out run, mentally preparing myself to jump from the twig Drew had placed as a starting point to the twig he placed where he wanted me to land. As soon as my foot hit the mark, I pushed off with my feet and did a sort of flying-ballerina jump. My landing was about two feet short of where I was supposed to land, and I felt my leg give a bit, so I fell into a roll.

  "Damn." I sat up and brushed the snow out of my hair and off my clothes.

  "Again." Drew motioned his hand upward.

  Man, he had become mean-ole-trainer guy again. I didn’t really like mean-trainer guy. I didn’t say anything. I was strong, and I would get this. I jogged far back from the starting point and sprinted toward it again. This time, when I pushed off, I did another flying-ballerina jump, but before the landing, I brought my feet together, bent at the knee and tucked them up underneath. I still missed the mark, but this time I stuck it and landed on my feet.

  "Better!" Drew called out, nodding at me. I returned the nod with a wide grin and made my way back to the starting point again.

  Over and over we did the drill. It seemed endless. Even when I finally hit the landing mark, he moved it back and made me try to hit that one. I jumped and jumped until I thought my legs were going to fall off.

  After hours of running, jumping and conquering distances I never thought possible, Drew called break time.

  "Come on, let’s sit down over here." He patted a large rock next to the bank of the river that would accommodate both of us.

  I plopped down onto the rock and lay back a little bit. He reached into his bag and came out with a couple of sandwiches. "Sorry, it’s peanut butter and jelly."

  I sat up and accepted the sandwich he offered. "No worries, I love PB&J."

  I took it out of its little baggie and devoured it in mere seconds. Drew had barely had time to chew his first bite. When I looked up at him, I saw that distinct look of shock.

  "Don’t judge," I told him. "I’m hungry. What else you got in there?"

  He reached into his bag again, and this time he pulled out a red apple and handed it to me, as well as another bottle of water.

  "Thanks." I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek and then took a huge bite of my apple.

  We ate in silence until Drew finished his sandwich. "So you want to try the rocks today?"

  I scanned the boulders in question and doubt filtered through me. I shook my head. "Honestly, I probably would try if those boulders weren’t covered in ice and snow. It’s too dangerous."

  I heard him sigh a little. "All right, I get that."

  I knew what he was thinking. I was a fast healer. My bullet wound had healed completely in just a few short days, so any injury I might sustain doing this should be no problem. I’d heal up fast if I broke a bone or two, but I knew he would never say that to me. He cared about my safety, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hard core when it came to the training part of him. I would imagine sometimes his feelings for me and his need to train me conflicted with each other.

  "Drew?"

  "Hmmm?"

  "I think that we should take out the Talon Building."

  "We’ve talked about that already, Chloe. It can’t be done."

  "Yes, it can!" I insisted. "If we take that place out, we take out half the vampire resources for the city. We have to."

  "But the board…"

  I cut him off. "I don’t give a crap what the board has to say about it."

  "I know, but how would that be explained? We can’t just take out a building in the middle of the city. Innocent people could get hurt, even killed."

  "If we bomb it, it could be passed off as some kind of attack. Bombings happen all the time. For all anyone knows, it could be some disgruntled employee."

  He appeared to contemplate my idea, finally, but I still didn’t have him.

  "And the possibility of innocent people getting hurt is slim if we do it at like two or three in the morning. Not many who aren’t vampires are out at that time of night."

  "True. But we can't let someone innocent be hurt, intentionally, even if it's to rid the world of dozens of vampires and their resources. We just can't." He slid off the rock. "Do you want to head home?"

  "Yes! I’m freezing." All th
at sweat and rolling in the snow made my clothes sopping wet, so the cold was even worse than it would have normally been. I followed his lead and slid off the rock, too.

  "Why didn’t you tell me you were cold?" He grabbed both my hands and pulled me forward so that he could wrap his arms around me.

  "Because I didn’t want to look like a pansy," I mumbled into his chest.

  "I don’t think you’re a pansy at all." He pulled back and grinned.

  "Stop lying." I tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip around me. "Let me go!"

  I laughed, trying to wiggle out of his embrace.

  He laughed, too. "No way."

  I struggled a bit more, but decided to change my tactic. I fell still and then stared up into his awesome green eyes. Our gazes locked, and he leaned down while I rose onto my tiptoes. When our lips met, I felt my whole body warm all the way down to my feet. It was like that every time we kissed. It was perfect.

  As soon as I felt his grip loosen, I pushed him back and ran.

  "Sucker!" I called out over my shoulder as I bounded through the bushes and back onto the trail. I didn’t stop to see if he was behind me. I knew he was because I could hear his footsteps crunching over the snow when he caught up with me.

  I sped over the trails at a dangerously fast pace, but then slowed when I remembered Drew did not have super-healing powers like I did. If he broke a bone, or worse, he would not be fine in the next couple of days.

  "Nice try," he said when he caught up with me.

  I batted my eyelashes at him dramatically. "I don’t know what you mean."

  "Yeah, right." He approached me and pulled me forward by the sleeves of my sweatshirt. "Now give me my kiss so we can get moving."

  I wanted to make some smarty-pants remark to taunt him some more, but I couldn’t. He took my chin, tilted my head up so I could look into his eyes, and brought his lips to mine.

  Kissing Drew was one of those things that I could do all day long. It was like everything disappeared. All the bad stuff, the war with vampires, all the training, all the loss, it was gone for those brief moments.

  It was the strangest thing. My body reacted to Drew’s touch and kiss like he was fanning the fire that burned inside me. I still had to focus my energy when the heat got too intense. The last thing I wanted to do was set him on fire.

  "Let’s get back," I whispered against his cheek.

  He pulled out of my embrace and turned his head away so I wasn’t able to look him in the eye.

  "Yeah, let’s go," his voice was different, sort of low and growly.

  "Come on." I started off down the trail, letting him follow me down.