“If it helps, you looked good. Not that you don’t now.”
Dana bit her bottom lip and curled her hair behind her ear. “Thanks.”
“So, who was she? The girl in the photo?”
Her lashes hung low over her cheeks and for a moment she looked very sad. “Her name was Jaide. We met the summer before our senior year in high school. We were inseparable then.”
“Were?”
“We had a falling out, I guess.” I could tell from the crinkle between her eyes that Dana didn’t even believe her own words. “With her family, really. They, uh, didn’t want me hanging around her because I was a bad influence.”
I laughed. “That was every parent of my friends. Their moms had heart attacks every time their daughters hung out with me. I didn’t help matters by driving my car onto the front lawn of the schoolyard either. But it was worth it just to see the principal’s face. Red and bloated like a tomato.”
I was laughing, but Dana was barely smiling. She cleared her throat and said, “She wasn’t just my friend.”
It took me a second, but I eventually got what she meant.
“Oh,” I said. “She was your…?”
“Yeah.”
A part of me was surprised by the revelation, but yet it wasn’t all that shocking the more I thought about it. I wondered if everyone else knew and if Priscilla convinced herself Dana was into her yet. Priscilla was the type to think anything with a sex drive would want to fuck her. Priscilla wasn’t ugly, but she wasn’t all that either. The chick had to get over herself.
“Was she not out?” I asked.
Dana shook her head. “Neither of us were. But her mom could see what was growing between us, and she put a stop to it.”
“That was a long time ago, though, right? You could always get in contact with her. It’s not like her parents can say shit now.”
“I don’t think she wants me disrupting her life. Last I heard, she was living in the city with a man.”
“So she’s still in the closet,” I said with a nod.
Dana shrugged. “Or I was just a phase. An experiment. Something to make her conservative parents angry.”
I was guilty of more than a few drunken nights out with my friends kissing up on them and messing around just for the hell of it. It never even crossed my mind that someone could get hurt in the process.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I’m not. I learned a lot about myself that summer.”
“If she was just using you, why do you keep her picture? I would have torn it up by now.”
“Just because it wasn’t real for her doesn’t mean it wasn’t real for me.”
I couldn’t relate to that kind of thinking. My marriage falling apart left me bitter and angry that just the sight of him made my blood boil. “I burned most of my wedding pictures,” I whispered. “Nothing good came from that marriage.”
“Not one thing?”
“Maybe I did learn one thing…that you can feel completely alone even with your husband sleeping beside you.”
“That’s the worst kind of loneliness. You have people to fill out these roles in your life, but yet you’re still empty inside. Hollow, even.”
It wasn’t just a thing to say. She understood me. I could feel it.
“You’ve been in a relationship like that?” I asked.
“Not a romantic one, no. Just my friends. If I dated boys and had the right hair I thought we’d have more in common that we could talk about, but it never helped much. How do you gush about men you’re going out with when really you think their sister is cute?”
I didn’t think she was trying to be funny, but I laughed anyway. And she smiled at me. Her smiles were always so sad and hesitant, and I just wanted to tell her everything would be okay.
“I should probably get back to looking for the marshmallows,” Dana said.
“Do you even have marshmallows? Be honest.”
“Probably not, but Cora’s so nice I don’t want to disappoint her.”
I chuckled. “I doubt she cares.”
“Well, just in case.” She smiled and then pranced toward the kitchen, her brown hair bouncing around on her shoulders with every step she took. I watched her for a minute or two and for a second forgot why I was even standing by the desk. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how shiny Dana’s hair was. It was sort of hypnotic.
I exhaled and reached into the drawer for a lighter, and then returned to Cora and Priscilla. To continue our wait.
Chapter Twenty-Three
DAGGETT
To my knowledge, no one followed us to the shop.
Max and I broke into the building with virtually no trouble, as well, because the place didn’t even have an alarm. I felt guilty that we were stealing, because it looked to be a small family business that sold car parts and other car-related products, as well as having a garage in the back where they could repair vehicles.
The smell of tires and car oil was everywhere, and it made me think of Lincoln. He was always tinkering around with vehicles in his spare time.
After we shifted back into our human forms, we started to get dressed. “I sure am tired of looking at another dude’s package,” I admitted, as I stood there in nothing but my boxers and socks.
“You’re the one that makes it awkward by staring,” Max replied as he put his shirt over his head.
“You think anyone followed us?”
“I hope so.”
I squinted at him. “Why would you hope for something like that?”
“Because it means they’re not back at the apartment messing with the girls.”
Typical Max, all manly and ready for a fight to protect his girl. Meanwhile, I was trying not to shit my pants. Good thing Priscilla wasn’t with us.
With her on my mind, I asked, “Hey, Max, do you think it’s at all plausible that Priscilla likes me?”
He clicked his tongue. “So you’re actually into her?”
“You say that like she’s grotesque.”
“No, I say that like she’s a handful. A few hours with her and her brand of sass, or whatever the hell you want to call it, and I need to pop an Aspirin.”
“I kind of like that.”
“You would,” he replied, scoffing. “And to answer your question, I have no clue who she does or doesn’t like. Cora is supposedly her best friend, and she acts like a total bitch to her. I’m not even gonna try to figure that girl out.”
“So my odds are good, then?”
“Yeah, sure,” he said dismissively and then pulled up his pants. “All right, I gotta find us a new battery. Do me a favor and look for any cameras. If you see one, break it.”
“All right.”
“Check outside too.”
I almost swallowed my tongue. “You want me to go outside? By myself?”
“We were just out there and the coast was clear.”
“Yeah, five minutes ago. A lot can happen in five minutes.”
“You’re gonna be fine, Daggett.”
“You can’t really know that.”
He said nothing, because he knew I was right. “Just do me a favor and do a quick sweep of the area,” he said, a bit apologetically. Probably because I was about to die out there. “Then you can come back in and we’ll leave together.”
I couldn’t be a coward forever, so I agreed. After all, the parking lot wasn’t too big, so I knew looking for cameras would only take a minute. I wasn’t much useful inside the shop, anyway. I knew nothing about cars, only that they ran off gas and a good one helps you get pretty girls.
I didn’t let Max in on it, but my body was in a lot of pain as I left the shop. This was my second shift of the day and we were most likely going to do it again to get back to the apartment. Aga taught us that changing our forms this many times in a day isn’t the wisest decision, especially when you’re so new to it like I was. I had only been able to control my transformations for a few months, so my body was still fragile afterward.
<
br /> Because I was burning up, the cold air felt nice when I went outside. I spotted one camera and threw a rock at it, but then realized it was only a street light. I could be pretty dense sometimes. I then leaned against the exterior of the shop to catch my breath and relax. Even my joints were cracking.
A rustling sound echoed in the distance, and it sounded like someone was walking through leaves or bushes. I stood up straight and prepared myself to run back into the store.
And then I saw something.
From the woods, a womanly figure approached. She was staggering and periodically resting against the trees like she was exhausted. The closer she drew to me the louder her sobs became. “Help me,” she cried. She finally stood beneath the moonlight and I could see she was a voluptuous woman dressed in a black dress, but her neck and hair were covered in blood.
“Oh, shit…did someone do that to you?” I called out.
I knew she had to be another victim.
She approached me slowly, her feet seemingly gliding over the inches of snow beneath us. Her arms, back, and most of her chest were exposed to the cold air, yet she didn’t shiver.
“Why aren’t you wearing a coat? Aren’t you freezing?”
“Rickey,” she hissed, still moving toward me.
I took a step backward and accidentally rammed myself into the outside wall of the building. She floated right up to me, cutting the distance between us down to mere inches. “How do you know my name?”
I was asking, but I already knew. I felt it in the pit of my stomach.
She was right up to me, moaning and licking her lips as she rubbed her hands across my shoulders and down my arms. Her touch was like ice. She slithered in close to my ear and whispered, “You’d be surprised by what I know. I could tell you things that would keep you up at night.”
A weird aroma crept into my nose. It was the smell of death.
“Please don’t kill me,” I said. “I’m no good to you dead.”
“Then be good to me alive.”
Which one was this? She was blonde, so it had to be Veronica or Tiffany. From her huge tits in my face, I guessed it was Veronica.
Veronica coiled her fingers around the collar of my winter coat and pulled me toward her. “Where’s your little friend?” Her breath was on my face, but it created no heat.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“The small one with the big mouth. We need her cousin. Give us the cousin, and I might leave enough blood in your veins for you to live off of.”
I was frightened, but I wouldn’t give in. “Her cousin’s dead.”
Veronica grinned and replied, “Technically, so am I.” Her hand trailed down my chest, my stomach and to my groin, and her fingers clutched onto my dick and squeezed as hard as she could. “But can something dead do this?”
My toes curled and my eyes flipped to the back of my head, and she never relented in playing and kneading me like I was a ball of clay.
Oh, sweet Jesus, she literally had me by the balls.
Into my ear, she whispered, “Give us the girl and we can do this all night. You’d be amazed at the stamina I have now.” The feel of her icy breath on my earlobe sent chills through my body. “We can feast and fuck till we can’t move.”
It was like I was in a trance. Her words, her breath, her body pressed against mine…it all felt like witchcraft that I couldn’t escape from.
Veronica brushed her hands through the hair on the back of my head and pulled my lips to hers. Her tongue slid inside my mouth and wrestled with mine, but all I could taste was iron.
Blood.
It was enough to snap me out of this fog, and I shoved my hands against her hard and threw her to the ground. For a moment, she rolled in the snow, and then she sat up and began cackling. “You stay away from me!” I yelled.
It suddenly hit me that if Veronica were out here messing with me, that someone was most likely trying to mess with Max inside. “Max!” I screamed. “Max!” I went running toward the shop entrance, and even though I left Veronica far behind me, I could still hear her insane laughter echoing against the winter breeze.
Chapter Twenty-Four
MAX
I wasn’t gonna sit there and pretend I’d never stolen anything in my life, but shoving a duffle bag full of parts and equipment that was worth more than my month’s rent felt a bit shitty. But that shitty feeling wasn’t strong enough to override my drive to survive. Cora was back in that apartment, and the more time I wasted feeling guilty, the higher the chances were that something bad would happen to her in the meantime. To all of them.
A loud bang and the clanking sound of a metal object startled me from behind. It sounded like someone had dropped a wrench to the concrete floor. I turned around and looked, but saw nothing out of place. I stood in a wide-open garage with shelves and racks on the walls, and two cars parked in the center with their hoods popped open. I contemplated stealing one of them, but I had no idea why they weren’t running. It was best to deal with my own car since I knew its issues.
I went back to filling up my bag and then zipped it shut tight, but my senses were going crazy the entire time. The hairs on the back of my neck raised and I felt—no, I knew—that someone was watching me. And it sure as hell wasn’t Daggett.
I slowly turned back around and felt the pit of my stomach go sour. The hood to one of the cars was now closed, and she was seated on the roof with her feet planted on the hood. Her purple skirt was speckled with blood and fanned out over the windshield.
I’d prepared myself to see her, but it was still surreal as fuck to have her in front of me.
“Surprised to see me, Maxwell?” she asked as she leaned back and crossed her legs at the ankle.
We were really about to have a normal conversation like we both weren’t these wicked ass creatures, and like I wasn’t here because she tore my car to shreds and sought to kill Melanie and Cora. I knew Molly, though. She always had to drag shit out.
I took a deep breath and answered, “Yes and no.”
“Your lack of surprise means someone’s told you about me. Your girlfriend, maybe?” She said it so spitefully. Even in death, she still had that resentment. “Speaking of your girlfriend, where might she be?”
That was the confirmation I needed. They hadn’t found Cora yet.
I nonchalantly shrugged. “Beats me. Hawaii, maybe.”
Molly threw her head back and smiled, her fangs on full display. “What kind of idiot do you take me for? Do you really not remember how I am? It’s like you forgot all about me.”
“Believe me, I haven’t.”
“I’m touched. Does my brother get the same treatment or was he swept under the rug like the filth that you always saw him as?” This time, she wasn’t smiling.
“I never had beef with your brother. I just couldn’t say the same for his side.”
“Because he protected me from the trash that wanted to hurt me. He’d do anything for me. He loved me. You certainly didn’t.” With a casual chuckle, she added, “I suppose it makes sense now with you exposing how basic your taste is.”
I could defend Cora’s honor, or I could try to talk Molly down so no one got hurt. I knew which one I wanted to do, but I also knew which one I needed to do.
“Why are you here, Molly? You come here to kill me?”
Her mouth twisted into a side smirk. “Not you.”
“You’re not getting your hands on Melanie.”
“Why do you even care, Max? She’s nobody to you. Oh, no, that’s right, she's somebody to Cora. And how could I forget how noble and wonderful Max Reid is? Rescuing the damsels and fighting the bad guys! You’re such a goddamn charmer, aren’t you?”
“I charmed you once, didn’t I?”
Molly’s face fell and her eyes blackened. “That was a long time ago. I was a whole other person. You have no idea who I am now.”
“I know you’re out there killing people for the sheer fun of it. What happened to the go
od Catholic girl who wanted to raise money for churches? She’s not inside you at all?”
“She died.”
“So did Melanie. But she’s choosing a different path.”
“You gonna try to sleep with her too, Max? Is that why you’re so protective?”
“You gotta let that shit between us go, Molly. It’s done. It sucks that you got hurt and I’m sorry you’re the way that you are now, but you’re batshit crazy if you think that justifies what you’re doing now.”
She laughed. “Typical Max. Your ego always was your biggest asset. As much as I can’t stand the sight of you, this isn’t about you. It’s about something much grander.”
“Right. Your master. He comes and kills Melanie, gets to walk in the sun, and…what exactly do you get out of it?”
“Don’t worry about what I get.”
“Maybe you should.”
“He’s going to be the most powerful predator on this planet. More powerful than your empty-headed species. And I’ll be at his side, reaping the benefits. No woman or man can hurt me again.”
“Until he has no further use for you.”
Molly went very still, and I saw a shine to her eyes. When her jaw tightened, I knew she was holding in her aggravation. “Not every man spits a woman back out when they’re done with her,” she hissed. “But I know you never could relate.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I was a piece of shit back then. I might still be, but at least I’m trying to turn my life around.”
“Because of her, right?”
I threw my head back and rolled my eyes.
“She’s just a special little snowflake, isn’t she?” she continued. “What is it about her? This stupid, tiny person who doesn’t know when to shut up. She’s not special, Max. She never has been.”
“It’s a good thing I don’t give a shit about your opinion.”
“You’re talking to me like I couldn’t end you right now.”
“You’re talking to me like I’d let that happen.”
Molly slyly smirked. “Where is she, Max?”
Lunar Rebirth (Lunar Rampage Trilogy Book 3) Page 16