“Is he?” I asked in earnest.
I stood at attention as the cafeteria emptied, tempted to run to the parking lot and look for him at the wooded tree line or even worse, text him.
I’d already learned from past experience that I couldn’t rely on anyone but myself to do what needed to be done. And now with Scarlett taking things into her own hands, leaving me wavering, I fought becoming completely irrational. Only I had the love Nicholas needed to recover and the bait to lure him in. I just needed a way to talk to him where I was protected and he couldn’t leave—like my car. If he crossed a threshold owned by me, and I uninvited him, he’d be frozen.
My jaw dropped at the thought. I’d formulated a plan. One I could control and with my new cell phone, I could call and entice him into the trap.
Scarlett and Phil could work on converting Alora while I helped Nicholas. Perfect.
Chapter Thirty
School couldn’t end fast enough. At the bell’s shrill ring, I headed directly for my car and drove straight home. Scarlett would have to catch up with me . . . if guarding me was still a high priority.
No one happened to be there when I arrived, which made my escape easier. I snagged a quick bite of string cheese and crackers, changed for work, and left Phil (and Scarlett, if she was curious) a note on my windowsill explaining when I’d be home. My shift ended at eight and I hoped, since it would be dark, Phil would come back looking for me with reports of what the coven was up to.
The little voice inside suggested I at least needed to let Phil know my plan for trapping Nicholas before moving forward. This, of course required the use of my car, but would be foolproof once Nicholas got inside. Timing would be of the essence to stay inconspicuous to Dad.
While driving to work, my heart skipped a beat as I thought about picking up my new phone and placing the dreaded call—our first conversation in days. Unsure of Nicholas’ reaction, I decide to call after my shift just in case. Drama or not, work needed all my focus tonight so my cash register would balance, or I’d be looking for a new job.
Memories flashed through my head as I walked inside the cell phone store, playing hula-hoop with my tummy. I feared with only a receipt they wouldn’t allow me to pick up my new phone without Nicholas with me. Luckily the guy who helped us on Monday was working today, allowing for a problem-free transaction. When he asked where Nicholas was, I cringed and forced a smile, letting him know Nicholas was out of town. He accepted my story without consequence. Little did he know though, I was on the verge of tears.
With the sleek little phone in my hand, I rushed out of the store across the parking lot to the deli, trying to keep myself together. Besides the acrid odor in the air of burned bread, because Vanessa set the ovens for the wrong time, my shift trundled along as expected. Like a zombie, I took the food orders while the electronic connection to Nicholas burned a hole in my pocket.
As the time drew closer to eight o’clock, my heart began to thump like a jack rabbit’s foot. Would Nicholas take the call? Would he be glad to hear from me? The anticipation clung to my bones and my hands trembled while I counted out my cash drawer. Thankfully, I balanced to the penny.
When I walked out of the store, I looked around, secretly hoping Phil would be outside to escort me home (giving me an opportunity to practice my “uninviting” trick), but was only greeted with a brisk evening filled with stars. I bit my lip and rushed to my car, unable to appreciate the beauty.
In the safety of my front seat, the cold feeling-less air wafted over my damp fingers as I pressed each number deliberately. My throat thickened right before pressing send. I held the device to my ear as my heartbeats shook my body with each heavy thump.
“Hey, Baby,” a man purred on the other end after the first ring.
I sucked in a quick confused breath. “Sorry, I must have the wrong number.”
“Oh, but you don’t, Julia. Miss me?”
I hesitated. “Nicholas?”
“In the flesh and at your service.” His cockiness rubbed like sandpaper in my stomach.
“How—How’d you know it was me?”
“Caller ID, Love. I programmed this in the day we bought the phone. Remember?”
I thought back, only remembering the nervousness I’d felt instead, anxious for the vampire hunt together to begin. The one that blew up in my face.
“Anyhow, I’m so glad you called.”
“Don’t trust him, Parker,” I heard in the background.
“Shut up you piss ant!”
I swallowed hard. The horrific scenario on the other end of the phone played out clearly through the wireless line. “Is Phil there?”
“Well, now that spoils my surprise,” Nicholas said sarcastically. “Yes, for now.”
“For now?” I asked, my palms growing slick under the phone.
“Did you know that my traitor brother is a follower of God these days? Seems a little ironic considering . . . anyway, he’s about to meet his maker for the first time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Dead, caput, adios, gone . . . need I go on?”
My breath quickened, leaving me light headed. “You can’t. He’s invincible to you.”
“To me, yes. To the sun, I’m afraid not.”
“Don’t you dare come here, Parker,” Phil barked out, a tad muffled in his delivery.
Nicholas cackled. “Yeah, don’t you dare come here.”
The sickening swagger in Nicholas’ voice left me sick to my stomach.
“So what do you want?” I asked, trying to sound commanding, hearing my voice fall flat.
“You, of course.”
“Just me?”
“Well . . . among other things. Bring me my mother’s necklace and we’ll negotiate his release, preferably before sunrise . . . or else.” A hideous gurgling noise came from the back of his throat.
“And if I can’t make it, won’t Alora have an issue if you kill Phil?”
“Hmmm—”
“Yes!” Phil interjected.
“Cain did kill his brother,” Nicholas mused.
“You have higher favor than me, Nick, and you know it,” Phil argued. “Parker, don’t come—it’s a trap.”
“It’s a trap,” Nicholas said in a mocking falsetto.
“Where are you?” I interrupted. The constant bickering between the two put my nerves on edge, unable to use my powers to feel out the situation over the phone.
“At the same place you eluded me last time,” Nicholas said with a deep throaty voice.
My stomach pitched. “The storage place?”
“Bingo.”
“Can’t we just meet at Mr. Pickles?” I asked apprehensively.
“We could, but Phil’s unable to attend. He hasn’t paid his bail yet.”
I heard Phil cuss intermixed with metal clanging against metal in the background. “Let me out of here you coward.”
“See you later, Babe. Come alone.”
The phone went dead.
Without thinking, I revved the engine and sped out of the parking lot towards home. Scarlett would have to help me if we were going to get Phil out of this mess. Trap or not, I wouldn’t let him fry to death.
Luke’s Blazer was parked out front meaning he and, quite possibly, Dad were home, complicating matters a little. I’d already figured I’d need to sneak out later and get to the storage facility somehow, all without driving my car. How that would happen, I wasn’t sure. But the thought to borrow Luke’s keys came to mind.
Without checking in, I dashed through the door and tore upstairs, blowing past Dad in the process.
“Hi,” I called half-way up the stairs.
“You have a friend. . .” Just as Dad spoke, I halted. Someone else was in the house. Someone filled with angst.
I turned, hoping to see the face of the stranger whose anxiety was billowing up the stairway. “Who?”
“Tyler? I think. Says you two have a project due tomorrow?” Dad’s face buffeted with confusion.
“He’s been waiting.”
“Oh, right,” I forced my face to light up even though we didn’t have any classes together. “Let me change. Tell him I’ll be right down.”
I ran to my room and slammed the door, leaning my back against it like I’d just run into the end zone. Dismay filled me as the note I’d written to Phil wafted from the window’s ledge onto the floor, unread.
“Scarlett,” I whispered, hoping I could send her ahead of me to free Phil. No one answered.
I pressed my hand against my forehead, unsure why Tyler would stop by, not to mention shocked he knew where I lived. His mysterious ill-timed arrival made making plans to save Phil difficult and, in my distracted state, I couldn’t begin to think about helping him with homework. I needed to get him out quickly and figure out a plan to hightail it to the beach.
I changed, brushed my teeth and darted back downstairs.
“Hey,” I said as I walked into the living room.
Tyler bounced off the couch, still wearing his practice jersey. His hair was matted down from excessive sweat, but his calm exterior came off as being confident. On the inside, he unraveled like a loose yarn on a cable knit sweater.
“Hey. Sorry I’m late, but I wanted to go over the outline we’re supposed to turn in tomorrow for History.” His pleading eyes begged me to go along with his story.
“Sure,” I said, my curiosity peaked. He had a doozy of a story to tell me and Katie was written all over it. “Let’s go to my room.”
“You can study in here,” my dad called from the kitchen, obviously eavesdropping.
“I’d rather go somewhere quiet, if you don’t mind,” I quipped back, feeling Tyler’s agitation double at Dad’s suggestion. “Come on.” I motioned to Tyler.
Tyler in tow, I took the stairs by twos, hastening our ascent to keep Dad from demanding we stay downstairs.
“Just keep your door open,” he called out.
“Geez,” I mumbled under my breath, feeling like I was ten again. “Oh-kay,” I sing-songed back.
Tyler followed me in, but moved to the back of my room, just within eyesight of the window. He nervously shifted his weigh from foot to foot and kept glancing outside.
“What’s really up?” I asked, sensing first to see if Dad was close by, then closed my door to a crack.
“I—I saw her again,” he said quickly, his attention on the window.
“When?”
“Just now. After practice. I left and she was there, by my car, looking really good . . . and she started flirting with me and kinda put the vibe out there. And then she—”
He fidgeted some more and pressed his hand against his left forearm. He winced, radiating a twinge of discomfort.
I cocked my head, then walked over and pushed back his sleeve. Two semi-circular punctures lined the inside of his arm. I looked into Tyler’s eyes with concern. He only shrugged.
“I don’t know what happened, but I really liked it,” he said, feeling ashamed. “I think she bit me.”
“Geez,” I said, suddenly feeling the need to sit down, my butt finding the edge of my mattress.
I ran my hand through my bangs and contemplated how much to tell him.
“How come you’re not freaking out about this?” he asked, brimming with suspicion.
“Because I know stuff you don’t want to know,” I whispered, feeling just as ashamed. “That’s why I had to talk to you earlier. When I heard you’d seen her, I was worried she’d do something like this. You’ve been her obsession for quite some time now and I seriously think she’s behind breaking you and Mandy up.”
Tyler jerked his head back. “What?”
“I think she sent those texts. And she also rearranged her schedule and took college courses to graduate early with you. She’s even going to the same college.” I pressed my eyebrows together at his blank stare. “Dude, she’s been stalking you all year. You didn’t know?”
“Whoa, really?”
I rolled my eyes. Stupid boys.
“But now that she’s all vampy. . .” I paused and looked into his eyes as they started to glaze over with information overload.
“Wow, this is weird.”
“Sorry,” I said, kind of glad he took the news better than I did when I found out vampires weren’t mythical beings. The last thing I needed was for him to go berserk with my dad downstairs. He looked at me, then the floor, then back again, slowly processing his new reality.
“How did she become a—what is she actually?” he finally asked.
“Vampire,” I stated frankly. “Luckily she didn’t infect you ‘cause she’s a different type of—” I avoided saying the V word again, hoping it would help him assimilate the details. “She’s sterile, I guess. Normally, a bite would be enough to change you into one. So, you’re cool.”
“Whoa,” he said and slumped to the floor. Katie must have drained a lot of blood earlier.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just . . . a little light headed.”
I’ll say. I sat on the floor and put my arm on his shoulder. Tyler turned out to be a genuinely likeable person, unlike a lot of the jocks I knew. “It’ll be okay. I’ve got friends working on the problem.”
“More vampires?”
I gulped, wishing for once Scarlett could be here to interpret and help—maybe even mind swipe him. “Kind of. Remember Phil?”
“The guy that died in that fire?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t a fire.”
“He’s not a—”
“Yes, he’s like Katie, but good.”
Tyler scrubbed his hand down the front of his face. “Man.”
Suddenly curiosity bounded into the room, stopping our counseling session. “Crap,” I said, scrambling to my book bag and ripping out my binder and a pen. “Quick, pretend we’re doing homework.”
Tyler pawed into his own bag, taking out his book.
I cleared my throat. “So, I think Mr. Marshall would like something more like this for the outline . . . Oh, hey, Dad.”
With a fake smile to cover his concern, Dad pushed open the door and brought with him a tray of cookies. “Thought you’d like something to snack on.”
Tyler’s eyes lit up as his hunger hit the scene. “Yeah, thanks, Mr. Parker.”
He scarfed five before I even got to eat one.
“How are things coming along?” Dad asked, emitting thankfulness, I’m sure because he didn’t find us making out or something.
“Pretty good, almost finished,” I smiled. “Tyler’s just about to go since it’s late.” I let out a quick yawn though the time was only nine o’clock.
Tyler took the hint, shoved his book into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Thanks, Julia and awesome cookies, Mr. Parker.”
I caught his arm as he was about to leave. On a piece of scrap paper, I scrawled out my phone number and placed the slip into Tyler’s hand. He looked at it and smiled before putting the number in his pocket. Together, we trudged out my bedroom door towards the stairs. Dad followed transmitting curious disquiet.
“We’ll talk soon?”
“Yeah,” Tyler said. With a wave he was gone.
“Nice kid,” Dad said and put his arm over my shoulder at the front door.
“Yeah,” I said, thinking now might be an opportune time to throw him off track. “I like him a lot.”
“Do you?” He turned his head and studied me quizzically, closing the front door. “What about that other fella?”
“Huh?” I artificially displayed my confusion.
“Your brother said you were hanging with the fellow who helped you home when you had your accident.”
“Oh, yeah, him.” I snorted. “We were, but not anymore.”
“Did something happen?”
“Naw. We’re just friends.”
“Ah-h,” he said in relief.
Just then, Luke walked past us and buzzed up the stairs, giving off some serious skepticism. Just out of sight of Dad, he turned and glared at me,
obviously listening in on our conversation. I wanted to make a face back at him but couldn’t without Dad noticing.
Dad gave a few pats to my back before he made his way to his office. “Need to get some work done. We’ll talk later?”
“Sure,” I said, heading up the stairs. I needed to make a stop before I snuck out.
Through Luke’s half-opened door, I spotted a Vans covered foot hanging off the bed, twitching to an unheard beat. Mustering up my courage, I stormed down the hall into his room.
“What’s your problem,” I said with one hand on my hip.
He put down the music magazine and removed his iPod earbuds. “Excuse me?”
“You and your attitude. Acting all pissy.”
“Am I?” He rolled his eyes then resumed reading.
I walked over and forced the magazine down with a little too much force, ripping the page from the seam.
“Hey!”
“I’m talking to you,” I barked.
“Geez,” He got up and pushed me aside on his way to his desk. He carefully reaffixed the page with some tape. “What’s your deal, Julia?”
“If anyone should be mad, it should be me. You big fink.”
“Don’t blame me,” he said, instantly feeling guilty. “Dad was worried. I just told him the truth for your own good.”
“Well, because of you, I’m on a GPS leash now.”
“So.”
“So? Dad knows everywhere I go now.”
Luke snickered.
I contemplated forcing him to give me his keys, threatening to tell Dad about Amber if he didn’t. But then he’d know I was sneaking out tonight and might tell Dad anyway. Besides, his big secret really wasn’t much to blackmail him with.
“What?” he finally asked.
“Nothing.” I stomped out of his room.
Lying on my bed, I stared at the ceiling, internally cursing at Scarlett. Where the heck was she anyway? Without her, trying to rescue Phil would be darn near impossible. I looked at the stupid new phone, tempted to smash it into smithereens against the wall. The anxiety of waiting was killing me.
The thought to ask Tyler crossed my mind a few times, but my better judgment warned me not to get him further involved. Scarlett would need to work her amnesia magic if Katie kept her regular little visits.
The Sapphire Talisman Page 24