by Scott Tracey
It was apparently the wrong thing to say. Trey let go of my arm so fast he nearly shoved me back, and his jaw clenched. “You don’t have any idea of what you’re getting into, do you? Well, it may not be your fight, but I’d do anything for my family.”
I turned toward the door, closing my eyes. It took several deep breaths before I could speak without fearing my voice would crack. “I need to rest,” I said over my shoulder.
Trey didn’t say anything, and I went inside. By the time I turned back, he was already gone.
¤ ¤ ¤
Sometime during the night, I’d almost strangled myself with the Egyptian cotton sheets. I dreamt the same dream, over and over again. A hunt. A creature on four legs, sometimes two, canvassed the perimeter of the city. Lucien was there, whispering something in a language I didn’t understand. Sometimes his hands were covering my eyes, and sometimes not.
I don’t know how long I slept, but it was still light outside when I cracked my eyes open. After the spell, I hadn’t needed the glasses. Something had gone wrong, or really really right. For the first time, I could see like any normal person. Even if I still saw more than any person should.
But the images that greeted me were blistering colors and shapes that chiseled at my thoughts. The pain started almost immediately, a night’s worth of freedom exacting its revenge. Someone was drilling nails through my brain, out my eyes, and through every square inch of my body.
It was sheer luck my pills were on the nightstand. My hands shook as I tried to get the pills out. The usual dosage was two, but as bad as it was, I planned to take four.
At least a dozen pills spilled out the side of my hand and onto the ground. I swallowed the ones I did have dry, the taste of them sticking in my throat. Then I fell back on the bed, so exhausted I could barely stay awake, and in so much pain I thought I’d never sleep again. It felt like days before I passed out again, slipping underneath the radar of the migraine.
Nineteen
The next thing I knew, my cell phone was humming on the nightstand. The sheets underneath me were slick with sweat, and while I was a little achy, I actually felt a lot better.
Brunch? Jade’s name was prominently displayed on the caller ID.
Brunch? I typed back. Maybe Jade had skipped school too. Going back to sleep had done wonders; I barely felt the after-effects of the migraine.
Rich kid meal. You have gossip. 11?
She’d heard already, about Trey. I sighed. Avoiding Jade didn’t work, that much I’d learned on my own. School?
Saturday. U sleep thru Friday?
Oh. Shit. My first week of school, and I’d missed a day and a half. Out of a possible four. That wasn’t good. I hadn’t even called Lucien to let him know. While I was thinking, Jade sent another text: 11:30? I sent a positive reply, and climbed out of bed.
It was several minutes before Jade sent a text letting me know where to meet her, time I spent in the bathroom trying to coax life back into my rough-looking face.
Jade was already pacing at the door of the bagel place when I finally made it outside. I was so hungry, I almost stopped off for something to eat on the way. But I didn’t want to keep Jade waiting.
The moment she saw me, a light went off. “You’ve been sneaky,” she said instead of a greeting.
I shrugged my shoulders, looking away. “I’m always sneaky. Haven’t you figured it out yet?”
“Just say I was right, and we’ll call it even,” Jade said flippantly, holding the door open for me. “After you give me the details.”
“You were right?” I shook my head. The words tasted strange on my lips. “I don’t think I can say that. Not in good conscience. Why were you right?”
Jade’s annoyance manifested itself with a brutal flick to the back of my ear. “I told you days ago I knew the perfect person for you. You didn’t want to hear about it, remember?”
“I’m not talking about this,” I said, hoping to avoid the topic of Trey and me.
Jade led me to a table where there was already an assortment of muffins, coffee, and little strawberry-colored pastries. “Of course you are. You think because it’s my brother that I’m not going to get the dish?”
“Ooh, coffee,” I said, sliding into a chair.
Jade pulled the cup out from in front of me and settled it on her side of the table. “Sorry, no changing the subject. Breakfast is contingent on gossip. The currency is non-negotiable.”
“Breakfast? I thought this was brunch?” Jade waved a hand away at the question, so I pressed on. “What’d I miss yesterday at school?”
Jade picked up a piece of biscotti. The hard-crusted bread was like a ruler in her hands. In a few moments, she’d probably start rapping my knuckles with it. “How’d you and my brother meet?”
I snatched up a bagel before she could say anything. Ripping a giant piece off, I stuffed it in my mouth. It gave me a few seconds of much-needed time to think. “We kinda ran into each other. He’s got this hero complex. It’s kind of annoying.”
“You have no idea,” Jade laughed. She scooted the coffee a little closer to me. “He thinks he’s the only one that can save Belle Dam from a fate worse than death.” I almost choked on the bagel, thinking she was serious, before I saw her roll her eyes. “So, how long before he asked you out?”
“He didn’t.” After a long moment and Jade’s surprised stare, I finally shrugged. “We just hung out a few times. He’s kinda stalkerish.”
Jade shook her head and exhaled upwards, causing her bangs to raise slightly. “That boy gives me such a headache sometimes. I don’t care what he is, there’s a proper way to date.” Her eyes lit up with sudden insight. “Braden, you’re dating an older guy. Good for you!”
“I’m not dating anyone,” I said irritably. “We were just … hanging out and then we kissed.” It wasn’t a total lie.
“Trust me, I know better than anyone else how Gentry can get under your skin.”
I straightened up, relaxing the muscles in my face, in my best Stepford Wife impression. “Hello, my name is Gentry, and I’m so very important.”
Jade giggled, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. “Someone tried calling him Jenny once, and Trey sucker-punched the kid underneath the monkey bars. My mother was in a fury when she found out.” When the laughter died out, her expression sobered. “So what happened?”
“I told you—”
“That you don’t want to talk about it. Remember how I always get my way? If you’re not going to own up to your little tryst, I’ll find out from him. I’m sure he’ll have a lot of juicy dirt for me.”
I could feel my face starting to grow hot, and I grabbed the ice water in front of me. “It’s not like that.”
“Like what? Like my brother finally found somebody that interests him? You may not know him very well, but this is a pretty big deal for him.”
“So you don’t care that he’s gay?”
Jade gave me a strange look. It was a mix of pity and understanding, but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. “Of course not. He’s my big brother. As long as he’s not taking guys away from me, then we’ve got no problem. He’s who he is. That’s all that matters. He’s still the same brother that used to roll his eyes when I invited him to high tea.”
The image of Trey sitting at a tea party was too much, and I started laughing again. Hanging out with Jade was good for relaxing, remembering what it felt like to be normal. I didn’t want to lose this.
“Is it because of your family?” she asked quietly.
It was an innocent question, but it still struck me like a slap. It was stupid to even talk about any of this—with Jade of all people—because things were so much more complicated than anyone else knew.
“I don’t know,” I said, even though I did. “Maybe. It’s just not som
ething I can think about right now.”
“You should talk to him. He’s been almost human the last few days.”
“He’s usually something else?”
Jade was pensive, using a fork to push around pieces of her bagel. Who ate a bagel with a fork?
“Aside from one very small part of his life, he’s not the most independent person I know. One of us had to have been adopted. The way my mother looks at me sometimes, I know it’s not him.”
“Maybe I’ll talk to him,” I offered.
Jade nodded, her lips slowly curving into a smug smile. “I knew you would.” She glanced toward the door. My stomach ran cold.
She didn’t. She wouldn’t have. “He’s not … on his way here now, is he?” I asked weakly.
To her benefit, Jade had the decency to look uncomfortable as she shifted in her seat. “I might have said you were meeting me for brunch,” she said.
That wasn’t so bad. I wanted to breathe easy, but something in the way she was sitting suggested more. “And?”
“And that you wanted to talk to him about the other night.” She looked away. “And that you were pretty upset.”
“Jade!” I pushed out my chair and stood up. “He’s coming here?”
“Well, I don’t know if he’s actually coming, but he seemed interested.” Jade glanced at the door again and I turned, half fearfully. But it wasn’t Trey walking inside. It was a pair of young girls I barely recognized.
Jade bit down on her lower lip and shrugged it off. “Anyway. He’ll be here soon. You should probably call him.”
¤ ¤ ¤
“Thanks for meeting me,” Trey said. The sky was overcast, leaving the park looking darker than it should have. I had found him sitting on top of a picnic table in one of the pavilions, dressed in a dark gray shirt and jeans.
“Sure.” What else could I say? Even before approaching, I could feel the tension rising. After last night—the other night my mind was quick to correct—everything was only getting more confused in my brain. Losing a day wasn’t helping any. “Did anything happen last night?” That was my main concern—that losing an entire day meant the hound would have really hurt someone.
“No,” he said, his eyes narrowed. “I kept driving around town, but there was no sign of it.”
Trey didn’t say anything for a moment. He was studying a little boy on the swings across from us. The boy’s mother was settled under one of the trees, watching him with a casual eye. Anyone that passed might have thought the book in her lap was more appealing, but I saw the way her eyes barely ever connected with the page. Her attention was on her child.
“Why’d you do it?” I knew it was a loaded question, but I asked it anyway. I hadn’t had a lot of down time to think about the kiss, but finding out that Trey was Catherine’s son had made me nervous.
“What really brought you to Belle Dam?” Trey countered.
I fumbled, closing my mouth before something wrong slipped out. Focus, Braden. I shoved my hands in my pockets. “I told you already,” I said. Trey cut me off.
“The truth.”
This serious, somber Trey was disquieting. It wasn’t helping the tension either, which seemed to swell even more.
“It’s complicated.”
“It’s always complicated,” he said. He reached out, grabbing my hand. “But I can’t help you until you tell me what’s going on.”
“You recognized it that night, didn’t you. You said I had the Widow’s eyes. Grace’s?” I waited for his hesitant nod. “The things I see are like some sort of beautiful monstrosity. I can pick out shades of green in a forest that only wolves see. But put me in a room where someone was murdered, and I soak up every ounce of violence there was. I can’t control it most of the time.”
“And you saw something?”
I nodded, but couldn’t elaborate. I wasn’t sure how much to tell him.
“Your uncle never came to Belle Dam, did he?” It wasn’t really a question.
“No,” I said, looking down at the ground between us. “I think something would have happened to him, if I’d stayed.”
“Something bad?”
“He would have died,” I said, sounding more assured.
I could feel the pressure of his thumb slowly rubbing in a circle on my hand. He stepped off the picnic table.
“Someone would have killed him? Like with magic?”
“Yes. Or with something they summoned with magic.” I shook my head. “How much do you know about it? The magic.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Enough. I know what it is, and what it can do. My mother never taught us much about it, but I picked it up by hanging around her. I don’t have the gift like she does. Like you do,” he added. “But I’ve seen enough of it to recognize it.”
I didn’t have anything to say after that, so I pulled away and then hugged myself. He reached out, tilting my chin up, and stared at me. “I kissed you because I wanted to,” he said, lowering his mouth to mine. It was a short, nearly chaste kiss, which Trey followed up with some sweet nothings. “What are we doing about that thing? You’re going to try and kill it, right?”
We? “Kinda have to,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I just wasn’t sure what that would entail. Or even how to go about it. “That thing’s nearly immune to magic.”
“Not entirely. You held it back at the cemetery, and you managed to hide us from it.” His lips pressed against my neck. “Did I say thank you for that?”
“I have to go,” I said weakly. Leaving was not even close to what I wanted to do, though. “I need to do some research before tonight.”
“Then I’ll come with you,” Trey said.
On one hand, that thrilled me to no end. On the other, I knew it was a fine line I was dancing along. I’d keep lying to Trey, as long as I could, to keep my secret from him. I couldn’t stay away from him either, as much as I kept telling myself I should.
What if this was the only chance I got? I didn’t want to blow it.
Twenty
Our first stop was Gregory’s. The comic shop was about as busy as I remembered it, but this time there wasn’t anyone manning the front counter.
“He’s probably upstairs playing on his website,” Trey murmured.
We headed through the back and up the stairs. Sure enough, Gregory was ensconced at a small table near the windows looking out over the street. “Back already?” He swiveled around in his chair, facing us.
“Do you have a copy of Montserrat’s Grimoire?” I asked, stepping forward. It was the book that had the legend of the hellhound in it, and from what I knew from Uncle John, it was also a fairly common tome in magical circles.
Gregory’s eyes lit up, and without giving an answer he swiveled around and started typing. He didn’t look thrilled to see me. No surprise there.
“Hey, he asked you a question.” Trey was getting angry.
“Yes, yes, I heard the first time. My hearing is quite exceptional, as a matter of fact.” Gregory’s fingers slowed as he typed and talked at the same time. “Two reports of a spectral dog roaming the outskirts of town. I don’t believe in coincidence.”
So whatever the wolf was, it hadn’t managed to kill the last hellhound. Part of me had hoped it would be that easy, that the wolf would have killed all of them. But the leader was smart—I’d seen that firsthand.
Trey looked at me quizzically, not understanding the connection. I sighed and explained. “Montserrat collected myths and legends from the magical world. The legend about the hellhound is one of his particularly notable entries.” Gregory knew that too, apparently. I made a mental note to pay more attention when I was here—Gregory didn’t just sell the books, he clearly knew his way around the supernatural.
“So what’s he doing?” Trey mouthed silently a
t me.
My new sunglasses were starting to slide, so I pushed them back up my face. “He’s using that as confirmation, posting to his Internet buddies.”
“It’s an Internet forum,” Gregory sniped. “One that knew you were in town only a few hours later, so I wouldn’t deride it too much.”
“Right,” Trey drawled.
God only knows how long Gregory was going to be busy confirming the sightings of the mysterious doglike creatures from last night. It reminded me that I’d lost a day, and anything could have happened in the meantime. “No one was hurt last night, right?”
Gregory favored us with a brief glance. “Lucky for you.” He only glanced at Trey for a second, but the look he gave me was longer. And a little afraid, I thought.
I didn’t like the way he always acted like he knew so much. He was just some comic book shop owner. “Do you have the book or not?”
“Look on the shelves. You might want to take the fresh meat home to meet your Mother, Gentry. She was here bright and early yesterday, thanks to that little display in the cemetery. Your new witch friend stirred up quite the little magical CGI. She’s in a bit of a tizzy.”
“I already planned on introducing him,” Trey said slowly.
“See that you do. Won’t look good, Catherine waltzing around town when he’s right under her nose.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” My heart was suddenly racing. The last thing I needed was another bus incident.
“Belle Dam has a bit of a reputation. Witches don’t come here. Almost ever,” Trey murmured.
“Most take a wide berth to avoid us. This area’s been claimed since it was founded,” Gregory said, his eyes flickering toward Trey.
“There’s no room for outsiders,” Trey continued. “That’s the impression they’re given. A few have tried challenging that fact over the years, but not anymore.”
“Why?” I directed my attention to the store owner.