Bianca De Lumière : High Suspense Urban Fantasy Romance (The Re'em Prophecy Book 1)

by Lisette Prendé

  He could have been a homeless guy. Anyone passing by may well have thought so. His clothes were ripped, tatty, and dusty. His dark hair was as disheveled as the rest of him. But he wasn’t unattractive. Not in the slightest. A flutter of butterflies darted into my stomach and then quickly down to my groin before they disappeared.

  He stood there by the trees, eyes still fixed on mine. Was he really looking at me? Was that voice really his? As if to answer me, he raised a hand in a peaceful wave and smiled. A jolt of electricity zapped through my veins, igniting my skin with a tingle.

  His aura tumbled into brooding wisps and the smile faded. “Bianca, you are not safe here. They are coming for you.”

  Who was they? My heart thumped in my chest. As I stared into those cool blue eyes, images flickered through my mind: Something big and dark and quick running through the trees. Old Coutts, pale and shaken. My mother’s voice in my ears: “Bianca promise me you’ll stay out of the forest, okay?”

  A loud beep came from behind, breaking our eye contact.

  I looked up. The line of cars ahead of me had disappeared. I was holding up the queue. The horn-happy guy behind me beeped again and yelled something charming out of his window. The handsome owner of the blue eyes had vanished. Typical. I breathed out and put my foot on the gas.

  Chapter Three

  As I turned into the school parking lot, I felt faint. Almost sick. I parked Terence in one of the few remaining spots (right next to the dumpsters) and killed the engine. I sat for a moment, listening to the metallic click of the cooling engine.

  What the hell just happened? Didn’t I have enough to deal with as it was? Being me was enough of a challenge without crazy, hot guys talking into my head.

  I looked down at my Hello Kitty watch. “Oh, great!” I reached for my backpack and hauled myself out of the car. But there was no point rushing. I had already missed first bell.

  As I pushed open the door to the office foyer, I plastered a large smile onto my face; my best attempt at a bright cheery attitude. I padded up to the reception window to find Marilyn waiting for me. She narrowed her small, piggy eyes. Her dark brown aura hovered lazily around her potato-like form. She was in a bad mood. Again. It emanated from her aura like pungent perfume on an elderly woman.

  “Morning, Marilyn,” I sang, the fake smile making my cheeks ache.

  “Traffic again, Bianca?” She raised her eyebrows. “Haven’t we learned to get up earlier yet? You’d think someone like you would have enough trouble as it is. Why make it worse for yourself being late so often?”

  Someone like me? I narrowed my eyes back at her.

  Clutching the pen with chubby fingers, she filled out the late slip. That’s when I noticed her wedding ring was missing; the pale stripe across her finger stood out starkly.

  She slid the small piece of paper across the counter. Her dark brown aura smudged towards me, loping clumsily like drunk smoke. I tried not to inhale. I didn’t need to take on anyone else’s problems at the moment.

  But as soon as her aura met mine, I felt it. Heartache. A longing for someone called Neil. And then I saw him too. Neil: A balding man in his fifties with a potbelly and a bad patch of dermatitis on his left wrist. Neil who had left her for Judy, his secretary.

  “Um, hello? You can go now!” Marilyn looked at me with a condescending expression on her face. Like she thought I was a little “special.” Or just stupid.

  “I’m sorry about Neil,” I said, the words on my lips before I could stop them.

  Her eyes grew wide as her aura pulsed bright pink and wrung itself in pain.

  Damnit, Bianca! I thought. Why can’t you keep your mouth shut? I turned, heading for the door.

  “You know,” Marilyn called after me, her words firing into my back like daggers. “That’s the fifth time you’ve been late this month, Bianca. You know what that means don’t you?”

  I turned to find her eyeing me coldly.

  “Detention,” she said.

  I opened my mouth, but there was no point in speaking.

  I sensed Principal Eldritch’s tell-tale aura before he spoke. “Did I hear someone say detention?” he said, his voice like molasses.

  I sighed and plastered my fake smile back on. “Morning, Mr. Eldritch. Sorry I’m late,” I said, looking up at his thin bird-like face. I held up my late slip and waved it about. “Well, I’ve got my late slip so I better—”

  “Mmm,” he cut me off. He eyed me uncomfortably, running a hand through his mop of dark hair, so thick it was suspected to be a toupee. There was currently a $200 reward for whoever dared to pull it off.

  “Mmm, late indeed, Miss Taylor. Late again.” He articulated the words with precision, as if he enjoyed them a little too much. His dusty black aura had reached mine. I fought the urge to wince at the familiar tang of rotting flesh.

  Usually, people’s auras revealed emotions or conjured images of loved ones. Not Eldritch’s. His aura was vacant. He had one—I sensed that much—but the only images I ever received were dead creatures, like roadkill. I didn’t know what it meant but it gave me the creeps.

  “And why is it that you are late so often, Miss Taylor?”

  “Well, I don’t think I’m late that often—” I started.

  “Miss Taylor! How do you expect to secure yourself an athletics scholarship if you insist on being late so frequently?” He rolled his eyes. “Typical of you sportspeople. Do as you please then expect your coach to sort it out for you when your grades are below average.”

  I looked at the floor. He had a point. But it wasn’t easy waking on time when you spent half the night running naked through the forest.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” I managed. “I’ll make a plan to make sure I’m on time from now on.”

  “Mmm, well you’ll have plenty of time to plan in detention today.”

  I sighed. Not only would detention look terrible on my scholarship application but I had track practice after school and he knew it. “Um, sir? I have track team after school today, I really can’t—”

  “That is not my problem, Miss Taylor!” he snapped. “You should have thought about that before you chose to be late this morning.”

  I wanted to tell him to shove his detention up his ass. I wanted to rip off his toupee and shove that up there too. But I thought better of it and smiled my fake smile again.

  He eyed me for a moment, then turned on his heel and walked off back to his lair.

  Marilyn smiled victoriously at me from behind the protective glass barrier of the office, which now made a lot of sense.

  Chapter Four

  “Morning, Bianca!” Mr. Warren called with a large, warm smile. “Trouble with that darn traffic again huh?”

  “Yeah, sorry I’m late.” I offered him my late slip.

  “No worries, you haven’t missed much. We’re just getting started on the depiction of the centaur in Greek ceramics!” His orange aura hummed with nerdy excitement. “There’s a seat down the back with Fae. That is, if you can manage to get one of her admirers to move.”

  Fae was exactly the person I wanted to see. She always made a bad day better.

  I picked my way through the mass of swirling color, bracing myself as inevitably the auras began to intermingle with my own. My heartbeat quickened as the melee of feelings washed over me: shame, hatred, envy, joy, sorrow.

  I eyed Jess, the cheerleader who’d commented on the picture of Khaleesi, and was pleased to feel her aura flood with guilt as I passed.

  Sure enough, Fae was surrounded by boys. She sat flanked by Scott and David, who were leaning in eagerly to listen. On either side of them sat another admirer, also leaning in to get as close to Fae as possible. I rolled my eyes. The whole scene looked like Da Vinci’s The Last Supper, with Fae in the center as a red-headed lady Jesus. Her gold aura swirled above the colorful melee, shining bright
er than the others.

  As she finished her story, Fae threw her head back and laughed, exposing a mouth full of small, pearl-like teeth. The boys all laughed along with her. David even slapped his thigh for effect.

  I can’t quite explain what makes Fae so attractive. She’s beautiful, but there’s more to it than that. Whatever it is, it certainly works in her favor. It definitely helped her YouTube channel and Instagram following grow exponentially in just over a year.

  I swung my backpack off my shoulder and dumped it on the floor next to Fae’s.

  “Bee!” Fae sang, her eyes lighting up.

  “Hey Fae, I am so glad to see you.” I stood there awkwardly for a moment, waiting to see if any of the boys would offer to move.

  None of them did.

  “Hey guys, do you think you could scooch over?” I said, “Maybe shift down a bit, to one of those desks?” I gestured to at least five completely free desks further down the line. All three of them ignored my request, except for Caleb.

  I knew Caleb from the track team, though I’d rarely talked to him. I rarely talked to anyone other than Fae, to be honest.

  “Hey Bianca.” He smiled up at me, tucking his long bangs out of his eyes. His moss-green aura swirled around him. “You can have my seat if you want. I don’t mind moving.”

  I hadn’t really noticed before, but he was actually kinda good looking. Hot even. Since when had Caleb been hot? The last time I checked, he was just a weedy kid running alongside me at training.

  I tried to swallow but my throat felt dry. “Thanks, Caleb,” I managed. “But I’d rather sit next to Fae. I really need to talk to her about something.”

  “Oh, I get it. Secret girl stuff, huh?” he said with a wink.

  The wink took me by surprise. My stomach fluttered. “Something like that.” I waited but neither Scott nor David made to move. I sighed. “Scott? David? Kyle?”

  David and Kyle continued to ignore me. But Scott’s eyes snapped up as if he’d just woken from a trance. “Oh, hey, Bianca!” he said. “Didn’t even see you come in.”

  “Seriously?” I said, raising my eyebrows in disbelief.

  “Oh hey!” Kyle finally looked up, his mouth set in a large grin. “If it isn’t Pentacle’s White Walker!” He laughed.

  “Hey,” Caleb said. “Not cool man.”

  “Really not cool, Kyle,” Fae added.

  “C’mon, I’m joking!” he said. “I thought the account was stupid. Total dick move by whoever set it up.”

  “Total dick move,” David added, his deep brown eyes still on Fae.

  “I mean seriously, Bianca,” Kyle went on. “You look nothing like a White Walker. Or that Khaleesi chick for that matter.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  “I’d say you look way more like that girl from iZombie.”

  “Dude!” Scott boomed from beside Fae, though still not making any attempt to move.

  “No, wait! Hear me out!” Kyle went on, holding his palms up defensively. “Liv Moore is hot! Like super-hot. I mean it totally as a compliment.”

  “Despite the fact that she’s like… a zombie?” I said, with more sass in my voice than I’d intended.

  “Absolutely!” Kyle said. “I mean the White Walkers are like, dead and gross. Khaleesi is blonde but not that pale. Liv Moore on the other hand…”

  “Just stop talking, man.” Scott shook his head. “You’re just digging yourself in further.”

  “You really are,” Caleb said, standing to pile his books.

  Fae looked up at me and winced, her face apologetic.

  “But speaking of zombies,” Kyle went on, “Zombiegeddon is playing in town. Who wants to check it out this weekend?” He looked around at the others, then me too. “Fae…Bianca?”

  “I’m not really into scary movies,” Fae replied, her nose crinkling at the bridge.

  “I’ll be there to keep you safe.” Kyle smiled at Fae. “Unfortunately though, David has to work.” He nudged David with his elbow. “Pentacle’s tourism economy relies on you, man.”

  “Well actually,” David said with a smirk. “I’m on a sabbatical.”

  “You are?” Kyle said, turning to look at him.

  “Yeah. I got a call from Mrs. Litster the other day. She said she’s closing the Vortex Mystery Shack to do urgent repairs or something.”

  “Repairs?” Caleb chimed in. “On that old place? Isn’t it a little late for that?”

  Scott laughed. “Yeah, what are they gonna do? Finally make the floor level? Try to fix that wonky magnetic pull beneath the earth?”

  We all laughed.

  David, like a few other select teenagers of Pentacle, managed to score a job at the Vortex Mystery Shack. The old building had been on the land for over a hundred years. At some point it slid off its foundations completely, landing askew. Locals claimed it was “the miraculous vortex at work,” so it stayed where it slid until it was made into the lucrative tourist trap it is today. Now David gets paid to make balls roll “uphill” and brooms stand “on their own.”

  A cold chill invaded my stomach. I had a feeling I knew why Mrs. Litster had closed the Mystery Shack. “How long is she closing it for?” I asked David.

  He shrugged. “Not sure. All I know is that she’s been acting pretty weird lately. She saw some kind of animal around the place not long ago. And you know Gail: ‘The vortex repels animals.’” He mocked Mrs. Litster’s tell-tale twang. “‘Any creature that’s hanging around here can’t be normal.’” He laughed. “Maybe she’s getting old.”

  Growing up in our town, we all knew the stories of the vortex. Supposedly Native Americans had referred to the area as forbidden land, as their horses wouldn’t go near it. A few years back a film crew came to debunk the myths, and that one at least they couldn’t disprove. Even their horses refused to go near the vortex site.

  With David’s words, the cold chill moved up to my throat. Mrs. Litster was spooked by the strange creature she’d seen. Just like old Coutts, who was now missing. My mom’s plea for me to stay out of the forest was beginning to seem more and more justified.

  “Dude,” Kyle said. “How do you sleep at night, stealing money from tourists like that? Everyone knows that place is bogus.”

  David shrugged. “Some of us actually need to save up for college.”

  “Yeah man,” said Scott. “Not all our dads are doctors.”

  “Who says it’s bogus?” Caleb added. “Well sure, the Mystery Shack is a little gimmicky—sorry David.”

  David shrugged again as Caleb went on.

  “But the rest of it is legit.”

  “You really believe that stuff?” Scott asked.

  “Sure do.” Caleb gave a decisive nod. “Call me crazy, but every time I’ve been out there I swear I felt seasick. Like I was being rocked around or sucked down a drainpipe, even though I was standing dead still.”

  I hadn’t spent much time at the vortex myself. Typical case of never visiting your own town’s tourist attractions.

  “Then there was the time I tried to take my dog for a walk out there,” Caleb went on. “He stopped dead as soon as we got to the vortex site. Wouldn’t budge until I turned around and went back the other way.”

  “Weird,” Scott said.

  “Super weird,” Fae added.

  Caleb shrugged. “Just because we can’t explain it, doesn’t mean it’s not real.” He sent me a glance. “I’m pretty open-minded when it comes to the paranormal.”

  “Whatever!” Kyle said after a beat. “You paid him to say that stuff, huh David? Trying to get us to spend our good money on that hoax. Make commission on our entry fee, huh?”

  “Damn,” David replied dryly. “You got me.”

  Fae giggled, then stopped as she caught my eye. She always knew when I needed to talk. She turned to the boys. “Sorry gu
ys, you’ll all have to move, Bee and I need to talk. Privately.”

  Slowly they picked up their bits and pieces and shuffled down to the free table. I sat down next to Fae, and my weight released into the cold, plastic chair.

  “You okay?” Fae asked, twirling a long lock of red hair around a finger. “You look tired. Did you you know again last night?”

  I nodded. “I’m a mess. And this morning’s been crazy.”

  “Try not to think about the Insta—”

  “Fae, that’s not even half of the crazy!”

  Fae’s finger stopped twirling and her eyes grew wide. She leaned in closer. “Tell me everything!”

  I lowered my voice as I filled Fae in on the events of the morning; waking in the woods, old Coutts and my mother’s concern, and finally the crazy/hot guy on the side of the road.

  “OMG!” Fae said in a whisper. “So this was more than the usual stuff, more than just seeing his aura?”

  I nodded. Fae was the only person, other than my mom, who knew about my gift. “Yeah. I could actually hear him speaking into my head.”

  “What did he say?”

  I squinted, trying to recall his words. “He said I’m in danger, that I need to be careful, and that they, whoever that is, are coming for me.”

  “Weird,” Fae said with a faraway expression.

  “You’re telling me!”

  I looked up to the front of the class. Mr. Warren was showing pictures of old plates and vases, all depicting centaurs. Men with muscular arms and strong torsos that blended into velveteen horse bodies.

  “So this thing Coutts saw, do you think it’s the same creature Mrs. Litster saw at the Mystery Shack?” Fae said.

  “Sounds like it, huh?”

  Fae’s mouth opened. “That’s why she’s shut the Mystery Shack. Not for repairs. Because of this…thing.”

  I nodded.

  “What do you think it is?”

  I shrugged. “Whatever it is, it’s big. Big and dark and very quick.”