After a few more minutes I could feel my body reforming. It was always a strange sensation. Tingles erupted all over, from within and outward. It was like having your foot fall asleep but on the inside out. It felt kind of gross to be honest. It was definitely not pleasant.
Once the sensation faded, Trevor and I were standing in a darkened corner of Heather's room. We got lucky. The room was empty.
"Now what?" I asked.
"Now we wait for her I guess."
Frowning, I sat on her bed. "I'm kind of disappointed we didn't get to scare the beejesus out of her coming out of the shadows and going all gangsta on her ass."
Trevor snorted. "Gangsta?"
"Yeah, check it home slice." I stood and crouched down into my best gangsta pose with downward peace signs and everything. I even gave my most pouty pout face ever.
He shook his head. "Scary." He picked up a jar of lotion from what I liked to call Heather's beauty station. There were so many oils and lotions and bottles of scent, a whole machine could've been lubed up and good to go. He unscrewed the lid and smelled it.
"Don't." I reached for it and took it from him.
"Why?"
"Because what if you like her smell? 90% of attraction is based on scent, you know?"
He scoffed at him. "Believe me, no amount of awesome odor is going to make me think this girl is attractive. She is totally not my type."
I eyed him. "I didn't know you had a type."
"Yeah, I like surly, pouty, little bulldogs who smell like vanilla." He reached for me and pulled me close to nuzzle his face into my hair.
"Aww, you called me a little bulldog. I love those dogs. They are so damn cute."
"Just like you."
I craned my neck up to kiss him just as the doorknob turned on the door. Heather was talking beyond it. I could hear her mouse-like voice that cheese-grated my nerves. I grabbed Trevor's hand and we dived into the closet. Luckily it was a walk-in, so we didn't step on anything, even when I closed the door softly behind us.
She walked into the room chatting on her cell phone, completely oblivious to the intruders watching her through the slats in her closet doors. She was damn lucky, it was just us lying in wait for her and not some deranged serial killer. She'd be a goner for sure. Depending on what she confessed to me, she still might be a goner. It would depend on how generous I was feeling.
"Oh my God, I know right, Clayton is such a skid-mark. I mean as if I'd ever go to prom with him."
She must've been talking to either Megan or Lauren, her plastic posse BFFs. Sighing, I leaned into Trevor's ear and said, "We could be here awhile. She's a talker."
Heather turned toward the closet and frowned.
I clamped a hand over my mouth. Damn it. I might've blown our stealth attack. Trevor glared at him. I just shrugged in return.
"I got to go, Meg. Text me later." With her phone still in her hand, Heather approached the closet.
I sucked in a breath and waited. Trevor grabbed my hand and squeezed. It was now or never and I wasn’t about to let her go on the offensive. Counting under my breath, I got to three, then pushed open the closet door.
Heather stumbled back nearly tripping on a pair of shoes and landing on her ass. Instead I was on her instantly and had her by the arms, turning her and tossing her onto her bed. It might not have been the classiest maneuver but I didn’t want to throw her on the floor or up against the wall. Too noisy. This way I could sit on her and clamp my hand over her mouth before she could scream bloody murder.
“Don’t scream.” I leaned down into her face. “Don’t effing scream.”
Her eyes were wide, but she didn’t look like she was going to freak out. She actually looked kind of angry instead of scared. Slowly, I took my hand away from her mouth.
“Get off me, freak show.”
“No. I’m sitting on you so we can talk.”
She tried pushing me off again, but I was so much stronger than she was. And I wasn’t going anywhere. “I’m not getting off of you, so quit fighting. Just lay back and relax.”
“I can’t believe you broke into my house and waited in my closest to pounce on me. You are insane.”
I shrugged.
“You could’ve caught me at lunch or hey, even picked up the phone and called me.”
“And would you have listened?” She didn’t respond. “Exactly. This way I have your undivided attention.”
“What do you want? And who is he?” She gestured toward Trevor, who was fiddling with something on her desk.
“He’s my boyfriend and my backup.”
Trevor finger waved at her.
She glared at me. “I always thought you were a lesbian.”
“Whatever. I’m not here to discuss my sexual preferences.”
“Then what the hell do you want?” She squirmed under me. “And can you move your knee, it’s pressed on my bladder.”
I repositioned myself, then leaned down into her face again. “We want to know about Merlin.”
“Merlin?”
“Yes, we know you’ve been talking to him. What’s he promised you, hey? Immortality?”
She frowned. “Are you high on something? I have no idea what you are talking about. Who’s Merlin?” She bucked under me. “Get the hell off me, I’m done with this freakshow.”
But I wasn’t letting her go anywhere. Although I was tiny, I’d been called a munchkin most of my life, I was hella stronger than she was. With my cambion powers behind me, I pressed on her shoulders and kept her on the bed. I positioned my legs firmly on either side of her and pressed.
By the look in her eyes, I could tell she was very surprised by my strength, and the way they kept bugging out, I was probably pressing too hard with my legs. I loosened up a little, I didn’t want to crush her. Not yet anyway. Not until we had our answers.
“What is he giving you? Why are you helping him?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Quit lying to me.” Fury swirled around inside me. I was tired of playing around with this girl. Lives were in danger. Trevor’s, Jamie’s, Chloe’s. These were people who mattered to me. And this bitch threatened that.
The air around her face grew hazy. There was now a crimson glow over her head. Red was my favorite color. It had the best taste. Like cherry jelly beans.
Heather’s eyes grew wide and liquid as she stared up at me. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”
Trevor moved over to the bed. “Salem, control it.”
I ignored him. I didn’t want to control it. I wanted to let it out to play.
“Don’t play stupid. You already know what I am.” I sneered at her, showing off my kitten teeth. All the better to shred you to pieces, my dear.
She shook her head, and I could smell her fear now. It was tart in my nostrils. I leaned down near her neck and inhaled deeply. I couldn’t deny that I was hungry. It gnawed at my stomach. I needed to feed like I needed my next breath to live.
“What are you?”
“Why did you tell Merlin about Deanna Moser? She died because of you. She’s rotting in a morgue because you have a big effing mouth.”
Tears sprang in her eyes. They rolled down her temples as she struggled beneath me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anyone named Merlin. Why are you doing this?”
“Why did you go downtown? Were you luring us to him?”
“You followed me? Why would you do that?”
“What were you doing there?”
“I had an appointment.” Her voice shook.
“Salem, stop.” Trevor’s hand was on my shoulder.
I didn’t want to stop. Satisfaction was so close. I licked my lips. I wouldn’t be denied any longer. I had to feed the beast inside me. It screamed in my ears to sate its insatiable craving for life.
As Trevor tried to pull me off, I leaned over Heather’s mouth ready to suck her dry.
“Stop. Please don’t hurt me.”
I
stared into the liquid blue of her eyes. And I saw myself reflected in them.
I hovered over her like a black eyed demon. Which was exactly what I was.
Biting down on my lips, I closed my eyes and tried to breathe deeply. Trevor had me now, pulling me off Heather, yanking me from the bed. He dumped me on the floor, but didn’t abandon me. He crouched next to me and put a cool hand to the back of my neck.
“Salem?”
I didn’t want to open my eyes and look at him. I didn’t want to see the disappointment in them. The questioning of my actions. And I especially didn’t want to see pity in them. That I couldn’t handle.
I could hear Heather breathing heavily on the bed. Her intakes of air in between her quiet sobs, made me finally open my eyes. I’d nearly done to her what Thane had done to me. No matter what kind of person she was or what she’d done, she didn’t deserve that.
I turned and looked at her. She stared wide-eyed at me, tears still rolling down her cheeks.
“She’s not our snitch, Sale,” Trevor said. “Look.” He showed me a pamphlet about STDs. On it was a stamp from the free clinic downtown. “This is why she went downtown. “She didn’t go to meet Merlin. She has no idea who he is.”
I nodded. I’d realized that some time before this. She hadn’t acted like someone who knew Merlin and what he was. What Trevor and I were. She looked at me now like I was a monster from her nightmares. And maybe I was.
“I’m sorry,” I said so quietly I could barely hear my own voice.
Heather didn’t respond, she just stared at me, fear making her immobile and inactive.
Trevor ran a hand over my head. “I’ll take care of it.”
I didn’t say anything as he sat next to Heather on the bed. She flinched away from him, but he set a gentle hand on her cheek. “It’s all right, Heather. I’m not going to hurt you.”
I watched as he semi-glamoured her. It wasn’t like what a vampire could do, but it was similar. Trevor made it so we were here and asked her questions, but he erased the images of me, beasting out on her. He eased the extreme panic she’d been feeling. He’d left her with the indignant anger she’d initially felt when we’d first burst out of the closet.
When he was finished, he stood. Heather sat up, and glared down at me. “Get the hell out! I should call the cops on you, you junkie whore.”
Trevor reached down and helped me to my feet. “We’re going. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”
He pulled me toward the window. Before he opened it, and we went through it, I turned and looked at her again. She was glaring at me. But deep in her eyes, I saw a trickle of fear. The fear of what I could’ve done to her. Of what I wanted to do to her. Trevor had made her forget, but I could see that the sensation was still there.
I had a suspicion that Heather would never bother me again at school or anywhere else. Every time she looked at me, an odd unsettling feeling would settle over her, and she would have to fight down the urge to run from me.
Despite the horrible thing I nearly did to her, I pulled away from Trevor, and rushed back to her. Startled, she took a step back. I flung my arms around her and hugged her tight. At first she struggled to get away, but I held her so long that she stopped fighting and stood there stiff.
When I pulled back, she sneered, “This doesn’t change a thing, weirdo. We’ll never be friends.”
“I don’t want to be your friend. I just don’t want to kill you either.”
I smiled, realizing that was a big step for me in regards to Heather. I returned to Trevor’s side and we went out the window.
Chapter Ten
“We’re back to square one.” I fiddled with the hang nail on my thumb as Trevor and I sat cross-legged on my bed. “We don’t know any more than we did yesterday.”
“We know for sure that Merlin is behind the attack, and we know where to find him.”
“I suppose, but we still don’t know where he’s getting his intel.”
“I think we need to look at the obvious.”
“What do you mean?”
He gave me a look. Like I was being stupid look. I knew what he was trying to say.
“Jamie would never tell Merlin anything. He’s scared of me. Could you imagine if he ever saw Merlin?” I got off the bed and went over to my dresser. I picked up the pair of nail clippers there and snipped off the hang nail, before I tore it off and it bled everywhere which was my usual habit.
“Sale...”
“No way. No effing way, Jamie would never have a hand in hurting Deanna Moser.”
“He wouldn’t have known what Merlin was going to do with that info.”
I shook my head. “Nope. Don’t believe it. Not going down that path.”
“Like with Heather, maybe it’s not Merlin that’s getting the info.”
“Jamie knows about Seth and Quinn. He would stay far far away from them both.” I put my hand up to stop him from saying anything more. “Conversation is over.”
“I’m not trying to be a jerk, but we need to look at every possible lead.”
“Fine. We looked. Now we can move on.” I sat back on the bed. “What we need to discuss is how to kill Merlin.”
He stood. “I think it’s time for me to go.”
“Fine. Go. We have a bit of a disagreement, so you bail?”
He looked at me, his eyebrow arched. “You’re being...”
“A bitch?”
“No, that wasn’t what I was going to say. Do you really think I would call you that?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “No.”
“Sale, I need to get some sleep. I have to get up extra early tomorrow for work. Okay?”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine.” Except I didn’t believe him. He was leaving because he didn’t want to fight with me. I didn’t blame him really, I didn’t want to fight with me either. Yet I was. Inside. Every effing day.
He put his hand on my head. “Get some sleep. We’ll figure this shit out tomorrow.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded, but I didn’t look at him.
He tilted my head back, and leaned down until he was an inch away from my face. “I love you. Remember that.”
I wanted to stay mad at him, but really I couldn’t. Not when he was looking into my eyes the way he was. “Love you too,” I mumbled.
Gently he pressed his lips to mine, then it was hard and hot. He kissed me thoroughly until my head was swimming. After a kiss like that, a girl kind of forgets whatever she was mad about in the first place.
I walked Trevor to the front door. He waved to my mom who was in the living room watching more Walking Dead. “Night Lynn.”
She waved back, then grabbed a handful of popcorn and went back to her Daryl Dixon ogling.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He hugged me, then was gone. I closed and locked the door behind him.
“Everything all right, baby doll? You two have a fight?” my mom asked.
“Nah, we’re good.”
“Do you need a mama hug?”
I smiled. My mother was odd and weird and marched to her own beat, and I absolutely loved her for it. Other parents always looked at her funny when she showed up at parent teacher meetings with her spiky pink hair and big bad-ass leather boots and ripped up jeans. Everyone thought she had to be a bad parent because she still dressed like a teenager, but for me it just made it easier to relate to her. In some ways, she was still on my level.
“Yes.”
She got up from the sofa and enveloped me in her arms. She hugged me tight, and smacked my butt three times, as was her custom. “There. Feel better?”
“Always.”
She kissed me on the top of the head, which was funny since she could barely reach, she was so short. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right? I won’t ever judge you.”
“I know, Mom.”
She grabbed my face in her hands. “I’m serious. Anything. I will never love you less. Ever.”
I stared into her eyes a
nd saw the honest truth there. I knew without a doubt she would love me no matter what. Even if I became a criminal, or a monster. It would feel so good to tell her the truth about me. It would be one less secret I needed to carry around. I could unburden myself on her. She would carry it for me without judgment.
“Mom...”
“Yeah?”
I opened my mouth to let the words out, when Kyle came flying out of his room. “Salem, you will never guess who died.”
I took a step back from my mother and looked at Kyle. “Who?” Although I already knew what name he was going to say and my stomach churned remembering her sunk-in corpse.
“That girl you were asking me about. Deanna Moser.”
My mom frowned. “Who’s that? Did you two know her?”
My legs were a little shaky, so I sat down on the nearby chair.
“I knew her from school,” Kyle said. “And Sale was asking about her the other day for some project she’s doing for the yearbook committee.”
“Was it an accident?”
“They think she was killed.”
“Jesus.” My mom looked down at me, then back to Kyle. “That’s horrible. Do you need to talk about it?”
Kyle shook his head. “I’m okay. It’s just weird, you know? I’ve never known anyone my age that’s died.”
“Sale, are you okay?”
I didn’t look up at her. Because, no I wasn’t okay. I was far from okay.
I clenched my hands, digging my nails into my palms. That gave a little relief to the pain in my heart, and in my soul. Closing my eyes, I tried to push it all away. I didn’t want to deal with it any more. It was too much. It was crushing me into a little Salem ball.
The air around me started to heat. It was like someone had opened an oven door. But I suspected the heat was coming from me. From the cambion bursting to break free of my human constraints. Life would be so much easier if I didn’t give a damn. If I could just float though the shadows and take what I needed to survive. Without worry. Without care.
“Baby doll?”
I could hear the worry in my mom’s voice. She was always so worried about me. I don’t know how she did it. It must’ve been exhausting to do that 24/7. Especially after my little incident with being sick and turning into a cambion, and my disappearance for a couple of weeks.
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