by Safari Spell
Shaking frantically, I searched for my phone. When I couldn’t find it, I grabbed Sage’s jacket. I didn’t know how fast the guys could make it, but we needed them. I found his phone and looked back to the violent scuffle still raging. Sage had Nico by the arm. He broke it, making him scream. He hurled him into Mannix, and they became a clump of bodies.
Mannix was quick to push Nico away to lunge at Sage, and both of them cut their nails against the other’s bare skin. I stood frozen in the moment, unable to do anything but watch. They swiped at each other until wells of blood gushed from both. Horrendous glowing welts and slashes formed across the skin where clawed hands had been. How they were still standing was a miracle. Sage took Mannix by the leg and pulled hard enough for a loud pop, dislocating his hip.
Mannix collapsed to the ground with a throaty growl. Limping heavily, he retreated to where a huddled Nico was waiting. They swayed and shivered as they shamelessly cursed Sage’s name. Sage was cut, but his wounds were already closing and theirs weren’t. I think they still wanted to fight, but it didn’t look like they physically could. With a parting glare, Nico and Mannix gathered themselves up and disappeared into the woods. Sage waited until he was sure they were gone before he faced me.
“It’s safe now,” he coaxed, gesturing for me to come out.
I looked to where Valerie had been laying, but she was gone. I gasped, looking left and right to see where she went.
“I think they killed –”
He moved quickly around the area, searching for movement. When he didn’t find any, he came back and rested his hands on his hips.
“I’m so sorry,” he sighed, dropping his head.
I wiped my nose.
“But her family, Sage.”
He didn’t know what to say to that, so he just looked at me. I wouldn’t move from the statue. It felt safe being sheltered by a large stone. Sage bent down to scoop up his jacket and shirt off the ground. I fixated on the dark entrance of the wood trail, still a bundle of nerves. I feared they were hiding there just out of sight. The murderers.
“Will they come back?”
Sage shook his head and made his way over to me.
“No. It’ll take them time to heal.”
As he walked, I watched the blood on his skin seep back inside him as though it had a mind of its own. It was eerie to watch.
“How does it do that?” I asked.
His hand went across his dry chest as he stopped.
“It just does.”
Once all the blood had gone back inside him, he pulled on his shirt and let it drop over his fully healed body. I couldn’t grasp what I was seeing. How could blood act like that? It was like the blood was magnetized to something inside him and it returned regardless of how much was spilt. I shivered against the statue, the winter air finally catching in my throat and lungs after the adrenaline faded. I began to stumble over my thoughts and my thoughts began to stumble over my lips.
“You just... you’re already healed? I mean, I thought you have the band as, like, bodyguards because you’re wanted and everyone’s trying to kill you and all, but you’re…you don’t even need them, I mean –”
“Hold out your arms,” he said, gesturing to them.
I let go of the statue and stretched my arms out.
“Ok, like a scarecrow? Sage, that was amazing. You weren’t even scared.”
He wasn’t acknowledging me. He seemed somewhere else as he slid his jacket over one of my arms, then the other. It was too big, obviously, but I didn’t mind. He pulled it tight and looked down at me.
“I was terrified. I thought he sent them to take you. There could’ve been a hundred of them and I wouldn’t have known. I just want to keep you as long as I can,” he finally admitted, bringing a shaking hand to my cheek lightly.
I reached up and took his hand, steadying it. For once, I would soothe Sage. That’s one for the record books.
“Keep me?” I asked, stroking his fingers.
“You’re not afraid of me, are you?”
I brushed his arms next, going over every curve and muscle as I took in a deep breath.
“I’m not afraid.”
He watched me studying his arms and sighed in relief.
“In my darkest moments, it’s my father in the mirror. It’s what keeps me from going too far.”
He closed his eyes, ashamed. I shook my head. I didn’t want to talk about his father. I wanted to ignore the shaken up version of Sage forecasting the impending doom. So I did the mature thing. I changed the subject.
“What’s it like to be that strong?” I asked, feeling the muscles jump under his skin.
He tipped my chin up and touched a finger to the middle of my chest. My heart thumped against it.
“You should know.”
He just took my hand and led us along the cracked sidewalk back like nothing ever happened.
30
The band house was supposed to be safe. The problem was that there were dozens of strangers making bad decisions as far out as the curb. The couches lining the porch were hardly able to bear the load of idiots on them, and the drinking games they were all playing were sure to be the end of someone’s life and/or dignity. Sage took my hand as we started the walk up the lawn to the front door – which was unhinged and all but removed. I felt safe with him as we walked through the crowd. Mika met us near the door with two beers in hand. He held them high over the crowd.
“Heyyyy, make yourselves at home.”
Sage let go of my hand and took Mika close.
“A bad time to draw attention to us, Mika.”
He rolled his eyes. Bloodshot eyes.
“We’ve been here for months playing shows. They know. Besides, never miss an opportunity to make some new fans, right? Saving the world one fan at a time? We’re just trying to do our part.”
It was weird having tension between those two. Sage stole a quick concerned glance at me as two teenage girls stumbled over to Mika. He handed them the beers and nodded, putting his arms around both.
“There’s a quiet room in the back. I’d offer mine,” he said, shrugging.
Sage blinked hard.
“But your room is the kitchen.”
Sage and I looked over at a sleeping bag under the kitchen table. Without a word, Mika winked before disappearing in the crowd. I looked at Sage, who took my hand and kissed it. Someone pushed past us in a hurry, forcing Sage violently against me. He glared after them.
“Now you know why I live alone,” he said.
We started trying to make our way back out, but we didn’t get far. Mika began playing guitar on top of the kitchen table and everyone trampled their way inside to hear more. When Ash joined in with a drumbeat from another corner of the house, the crowd began to burst at the seams of the rooms. The song must have been one the crowd recognized because they started singing in drunk, off-key tones. Sage turned his narrowed eyes towards Mika.
“Where’s the singer?” someone called.
The crowd got louder as they cheered at Mika playing wild guitar on the table. There was a strange air about the place, and even though I didn’t know what was wrong, I knew something was off. Girls dragged their hands across Mika’s thighs as he strummed the guitar and threw back his head to sing notes everyone else tried to mimic.
“What’s wrong?” I asked Sage, trying to be heard through the crescendo and party noises.
“Mika,” Sage said, ignoring me.
They were looking at each other the same way Sage and Mannix usually did. Mika gave a wink and a smirk as he jerked the guitar across his body for a loud, echoing note. He mouthed the words “can’t hear you” to Sage.
When the crowd started swaying and yelling for the singer again, Sage whisked me into a side room that I could only assume was a makeshift studio. There were a few microphone stands and large headphones leaning against a tall stool. A drum set guarded the corner and several guitars were ly
ing around. Foam padding all along the walls made it muffled from the party chaos.
“What’s wrong? Something’s wrong, right?”
“Yeah, listen –”
Sage stopped and turned his head quickly like he heard something. Whatever it was, it was urgent. He sprint out of the room to the next one. With no attempt at subtlety, he kicked open the door. It was pitch black in there, but he had no trouble seeing whatever it was that made him angry. He stood in the doorway, blocking my path, but I was able to see under his arm. It was Ash and a girl. They were lying together in the rectangular line of light from the hallway. Ash’s lips were red, his eyes bloodshot just like Mika’s. The girl on the floor didn’t move. I couldn’t tell if she was dead, and it made my heart stop.
Sage looked into the room harder and pushed open the door and flipped on the light. Oh God. It wasn’t just a girl. There were several people in the room, and there was more than one pool of blood. The walls began to spin as it crossed my mind that I was looking at a mass murder scene. Without thinking, I shut the door behind us so no one would see. Great. I was an accomplice. I slammed my back against the door.
“Are these people dead?”
“Oh, calm down, Pollyanna,” Ash muttered.
I couldn’t stop looking at the bodies in the room. How could they carry on a conversation in the middle of that? Sage listened to Ash bark while he calmly went around to each of them, testing for life. He would touch them on the foreheads and a soft light would go out of him into them. Soon after, they would stir.
I silently watched Ash, who was still slouched against the closet on the floor half-clothed. He wiped back his dark bangs from his face and rubbed his tongue against his teeth. He was licking the remnants of blood off them like they were cookie crumbs. He didn’t even look my way; he had nothing but disdain for Sage.
“Look at you, bràthair – the portrait of self-control. You know the price we’ll pay for being here, so don’t you dare look at us like that. Leave us poor bastards alone.”
Sage stood up from the last one and slowly faced Ash. He was furious, but he kept it reined in. Barely. Even Sage had limits. I was afraid of what would happen, so I wrapped my arms around Sage’s neck and buried my face in his chest.
“Take me home, Sage. Sage?”
It took me saying his name twice, but his attention finally broke and he nodded. Ash scoffed as he got to his feet. He was acting like a belligerent drunk, but I knew there was no way he could be. It’s not like they could get drunk. Sage took me under his arm and watched as Ash tried to steady himself against the wall. When we left the room, Sage closed the door behind him.
“I have to stay. I have to stop this before too much damage is done.”
“Don’t. They’ll just drag you down. Please.”
I gripped him at the elbows thinking I could force him to leave with me. He didn’t budge.
“You saw what happened in there. Two of them were almost dead. If I’m not here, there will be bodies in the morning. Bodies I can’t heal. What we’re doing will be in vain if I leave them like this now.”
Sage stopped and looked over my shoulder. A bunch of drunk, ridiculous girls were watching us. I began to panic. I didn’t want him to be alone with girls like that. Not when everyone was acting strange.
“Sage, you aren’t responsible for them. Don’t stay. I’m begging you.”
I looked back and saw Mika making out with multiple girls. Ugh. It made me feel sick. Then I remembered Ash in a room full of people bleeding to death. The party was only an excuse for the band to binge drink on blood. Sage was special, but he said himself that he was still human…and he wasn’t above things like that, not when they were so readily available.
“Trust me. Try.”
“How long will you stay? Will you come over after?”
“I’ll meet you at the car. Just give me a minute here,” he said, disappearing back into the crowd.
When I was leaving, I saw Tom standing near the door, so I pulled him aside. He was always the most levelheaded, the most reasonable. I could reason with him. Usually.
“Tom, Ash is hurting people.”
He wiped blood from his own lips before giving me a dry response.
“Relax.”
“I’m sorry, what? This isn’t right. You can’t treat people like a buffet!”
Tom sighed and took me by the shoulder, leading me out on the lawn.
“Careful now. You can’t say stuff like that.”
“What is going on? Ash almost killed a roomful of people in there!”
He glanced around to be sure no one heard and then grabbed at the back of his neck, wringing it in frustration.
“We can’t fight our hunger all the time. We are what we are. No one’s gonna die.”
“Well, that’s why you have the roadie, right? Isn’t that what you said?”
Tom looked down at me like I was a little kid asking for more candy.
“Are you serious? One roadie? There are four of us.”
“You’re being disgusting right now. I can’t believe you’re ok with this.”
He cracked his neck and let his arm drop to the side.
“Talor, this is hard to say, but you need to leave. Sage can’t feed with you here and he needs to. He’s weak and he won’t tell you that. Someone needs to.”
That hurt – imagining Sage feeding off some girls. I’d already seen it once and I never wanted it to happen again. Maybe I was Pollyanna. Maybe. But Sage was mine. I twirled his keys in my hand nervously, unable to get the thoughts out of my head. Tom’s tone softened. I could tell he didn’t want to hurt my feelings.
“Talor, he can’t get what he needs from you. Please just go.”
I finally found my voice.
“Was this a setup so he could feed? He doesn’t want to. You know that.”
“You’re right, he doesn’t. But he needs to. He’s being hunted every second of every day. He needs strength. If you care about him, you’ll look away.”
“I do care about him, so I won’t look away. You shouldn’t, either.”
“You need to go now.”
I took a step back and bit my lip. Tom was never like this. He was more polite as a werewolf almost eating me in the woods. He knew it hurt when he said that, so he pushed his palm against his forehead and took a deep breath.
“Look, Talor. You know I don’t like saying these kinds of things. We all like you. You know that, right? It’s just…we were born men and monsters, and we have to feed the latter sometimes. We don’t like it either.”
“Then don’t do it.”
He shrugged.
“Don’t eat, don’t drink. Tell me how you feel after a few days of that. Weeks. You’d be dead. We just become dangerous and dark and can’t control the evo. We aren’t proud of it.”
I shut up then. He was right. I was treating them like they had a choice. While they were supernatural, they still had limitations. I just looked away, tempered. Tom’s tone had finally turned sympathetic.
“If there was any other way, you know we’d do it. None of us believe in feeding on humans. But eventually our bodies reject syphoned blood. It’s not how we’re meant to feed. It’s intimate, feeding on someone. We aren’t beasts tearing at flesh, Talor. It’s personal, no matter how vicious it looks. It’s like sex,” he admitted, smiling when he said that.
I shut my eyes tightly and waited before speaking.
“I say if you’re going to be different from your fathers, then be different.”
Tom looked wounded, his eyes glistening. I didn’t know then that he wasn’t wounded because of what I said. He was sad because of what he was about to say.
“You know nothing about our fathers, Talor. But you will. God save you, you will.”
I shook my head at him and wrapped my jacket around. I turned and left, noticing the debauchery all around me. Sage was somewhere in the mass, but I didn’t try to find him.
If he wanted to forget himself for the night, I wouldn’t remind him. I didn’t want to leave Sage, but I was afraid of what he was doing. Maybe they were right and it wasn’t my place to keep them in check. When I got around the corner to Sage’s car, a sick, pale figure came shuffling out from the bushes. Had it been Halloween instead of just before New Year’s, I would’ve believed someone dressed up as a zombie.
“Talor,” it croaked, familiar and hoarse.
When I looked at the face, I could barely find words. Spencer? He had been missing for months. The police all but pronounced him dead. A myriad of emotions rolled around inside me. Whatever was closest to the top came spilling out. It turned out to be anger.
“Oh my God, Spencer? How dare you show your face! You know they almost arrested me because of you? Where have you been?”
As he stepped closer, I noticed strange crisscrossed whiplashes on his neck. There were deep red circles around his eyes like bruises and blood. He was thin. Way too thin. It looked as if he’d been starved for months. His once beautiful, sharp blue eyes were a hollow, drab shade – like oceans drying up. He had to steady himself against a tree to stay standing. I didn’t know whether to help him or get in the car and drive away from all of them.
“What happened to you?” I asked, the anger fading. I was worried about him. He needed a doctor, like, now.
He waved my question away in the air like he was physically trying to slap it.
“No t-time.”
I stepped closer to him, holding out my hand.
“Sage is inside. He can help you. You look so terrible.”
He leaned over and retched with such a wicked sound that it resonated in my own bones. I took another step towards him. He was not okay. Definitely not okay.
“Spencer, wait here. I’ll go get Sage.”
“No.”
Spencer dropped to his knees with a sigh, one that felt as delicate as my own emotional state. I could see his bones through his skin. I started to run back inside, but Spencer caught my leg. He shook and coughed.
“Bring me to water.”
“Bring you some water? Ok, let me go and I’ll –”