The level of noise took on a new volume as they stepped inside the establishment. At once, Jack was hit with the smell of strong beer and liquor. The faint aroma of roasting meat was also in the air, but only as an afterthought to the hoppy smell of beer.
Abigail peeled off into the crowd in search of answers.
The inside of the bar was a mix of tables and chairs, a long bar top on the far end of the wall, and a lounging area with an empty fireplace. The occupants ranged from men and women dressed as elegantly as Jack and Abigail, to those wearing faded jeans and simple tops.
“Need some help, handsome?”
Jack turned to see a young girl about his own age. She was blonde with her hair in pigtails and a skirt so short it made Jack stutter. “I … uh, I was just looking for a table and a menu.”
“Sure thing, doll.” The girl pointed to her nametag first, then to the tables in the room. “My name’s Amanda. It’s self-seating here. The menus are on the tables. Feel free to help yourself. I’ll give you a few minutes to check out the options, then I’ll be by to get your order.”
“Thanks.” Jack smiled, feeling his face turn red as the girl winked at him.
Things were definitely different in New Hope compared to his life in the Outland. Before, Jack could go weeks without seeing another person besides his father, much less an attractive girl his own age. These thoughts led to Marcus, the father he had loved and lost to the wolf-like beast in Burrow Den.
Jack found a table near the corner of the room with a pair of stained menus. He concentrated on reading the list of offered food instead of fixating on memories of a dead father.
Whether it was intuition once more or stupid luck, Jack looked up toward the bar just in time to see the young waitress, Amanda, who had flirted with him a moment before, talking to two soldiers. She nodded in agreement with them, pointing toward Jack.
How Jack had missed the pair when he first entered the building was beyond him. Their faces were turned away, but they looked like they were off-duty, the normal, pristine buttoned uniforms loose at the collars and shirts untucked.
A jolt of panic seized at Jack’s heart. It looked like his disguise had proven useless and he’d have to call on his ability over magic sooner than he’d like.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sloan
She was really no closer to answers than she was before. The bottom line? She was still changing, and no one would really know the extent of her transformation until she was finished. It was a scary time in her life, but there was nothing to be done about it. She was angry, frustrated, and more than ready to take her vengeance on the queen. But that would have to wait. Right now, she was going on a date.
Sloan waited on the front of the porch, a hundred different things running through her mind. She knew she should apologize to Aareth, she just wasn’t ready quite yet. She knew she should be preparing a plan to see what happened to Jack and the Ahab sisters, but how could she leave Term now? They were about to feel the wrath from a bloodbath she helped to incite.
“You look pissed.” Kade sauntered up the long walkway with a backpack over his shoulders. “Dates are supposed to be happy, kind of exciting events. Unless you’re going on a blind date, then it’s pretty much a roll of the dice. But let’s face it, if you’re going on a blind date, you’re asking for trouble.”
Sloan was so busy with her thoughts of the future, she had missed Kade’s arrival altogether. She noticed him now. It was hard to miss the attractive cut of his jaw and the way his golden eyes practically twinkled with mischief.
“Sorry, I’m not pissed.” Sloan shook herself free from the many “what ifs” of the future. “I am excited to spend time with you on our non-blind date. I’m just not very good at showing emotion.”
“It’s okay.” With a tilt of his head, Kade motioned for her to follow. “You’re allowed to be preoccupied. There’s a lot going on right now.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Want to talk about it?” Kade asked as the two strolled out of the estate gates and down the dirt street. “I’ve been told I’m a great listener.”
Sloan looked over at Kade, who winked at her with a smile.
“I’m good, actually.” Sloan wasn’t sure where they were headed, but she kept pace with Kade as they maneuvered through Term. “It would be nice to get out of my own head for a while. Do you mind if we talk about you?”
“Not at all.” Kade adjusted the backpack on his shoulders. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, I know you’re a shifter by the color of your eyes, but what kind of animal do you turn into?”
“Aw, no you don’t.” Kade shook his head, giving Sloan a rueful grin. “Not that fast. You have to at least buy a guy a drink before you start getting all intimate with me.”
Sloan rolled her eyes and found herself actually smiling at Kade’s ridiculousness. The two had already reached the outskirts of Term. The woods bordering the city opened up around them.
The woods here were different from any Sloan had remembered seeing before. When she and Aareth had holed up just outside of Term, she remembered feeling the same things. The trees were thick and close together, the massive canopy nearly able to block out the sky.
Many people would be hesitant to journey through such a place, but not Sloan. She had felt a sense of wonder. Even now, something like excitement tickled her spine as she and Kade walked toward the dense woods.
The reason Sloan was happy to smell the heavy pine scent and hear the many small animals rustling through the brush hit her like an epiphany. She had been raised in New Hope her entire life. In the queen’s army, she had run missions outside of the city, of course, but they were never long missions. They never had her gone for more than a handful of nights.
“Come on.” Kade interrupted Sloan from her thoughts. “There’s a spot I go to be alone every once in a while, just to relax and think. It’s perfect for us. You have that really silly smile on your face again.”
“It’s the woods, I think.” Sloan trudged alongside Kade, closing her eyes for a moment to allow her sense of smell and hearing to gain a better appreciation for her surroundings. “I never realized how much I like the woods.”
Sloan had to bite her tongue. She did remember the last time she was in the actual woods, during the Burrow Den expedition. But it was obvious Kade had no love for the queen or anyone in her army. Was Sloan lying to him, then? He had never asked her directly if she had ever been a part of the army.
“Well, you’ve come to the right place.” Kade smiled over at Sloan, flashing her his orange eyes that almost glowed in the dark. “The woods around Term are famous, and haunted.”
“Haunted?” Sloan raised an eyebrow in his direction.
“Oh, yeah, you didn’t hear?” Kade left the path and began climbing a small hill that sloped up to their left. “The woods around Term house only the scariest ghosts and ghouls in the Outland. You never know when one is going to jump out. Don’t worry, though, if one does startle you, you’re more than welcome to jump into my arms. I work out.”
“You’re ridiculous.” Sloan chuckled, shaking her head. “Are you ever serious?”
“I try not to be, if I can help it. Life’s too short to be all doom-and-gloom every day. We’re here for such a short time, I don’t want my days to be riddled with worry.”
Sloan followed Kade through the underbrush, thinking on his words. He was right. Unfortunately, Sloan didn’t have the luxury not to worry. She had a whole city to protect, friends to save, and most daunting of all, a queen to overthrow.
Within a few minutes of trudging off the road and up the sloping hill, Kade stopped at a clearing no more than twenty yards wide.
The spot overlooked the town of Term. Torches and lanterns with flickering flames dotted the town, making it look like one giant birthday cake. It seemed the mage technology hadn’t advanced this far into the Outland quite yet.
The town opened up below them, w
hile the sky did the same above. Thousands of tiny stars shone their hearts out as if each one was trying its very best to stand out from the rest. Meanwhile, the moon hung in the cloudless sky, looking down on the city as if to say: “You’ve got nothing on us.”
While Sloan was enjoying the scene, Kade went to work. Shrugging off his backpack, he removed a thick, white-and-black blanket and food items.
“We’re having a picnic?” Sloan asked, surprised.
“Yep.” Kade smoothed down the rumpled parts of the blanket. “I hope you like sandwiches and chips. I had our cook at The Shifter put a few options together for us.”
Sloan found herself amused. Not only had she never had a picnic before, but she also didn’t even recognize herself anymore. Days ago, she would have been walking the palace, in command of thousands of soldiers. She would be sleeping in her king-sized bed and attending banquets and feasts.
The strangest part was, Sloan didn’t miss that at all. As she took a seat on the blanket next to Kade, she realized at that moment there was nowhere else she would rather be.
“All right.” Kade spread the food out in front of them. He pointed to items, some of which Sloan was familiar, others she had never seen. “You’ve got your peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, your mystery meat salad sandwich, and your turkey sandwich. There’s a ton of different chips, and I brought a bottle of wine, as well.”
“Wine with peanut butter and jelly?” Sloan selected one of the cellophane-wrapped sandwiches that oozed with the brown-and-red of peanut butter and what she assumed was strawberry jelly.
“Don’t judge me.” Kade reached for the wine bottle. He produced a wine key from his pocket and went to work. A few seconds later, the cork came out with a pop. “And if you haven’t tried it yet, you should give it a shot.”
Sloan gave Kade a rueful grin as she unwrapped the sandwich. Usually, she loved food of all flavors. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was a favorite of hers, but for some reason it didn’t seem appetizing just now.
Sloan tried to think back to when the last time she had eaten. Had she eaten anything at all that day? Was it the day before when she had met Kade at The Shifter? Was that the last time she had eaten?
It was the strangest feeling Sloan had come against in the last few hours. Her mind was telling her she should like the food in her hand, and her memories and even eyes were telling her she needed to eat, but Sloan just wasn’t hungry and the otherwise delicious sandwich was somehow becoming less appetizing by the moment.
“Something wrong?” Kade filled two glasses with the deep red wine. “There’re other options if you’re not feeling the peanut butter and jelly paired with wine goodness.”
“No, it’s not that.” Sloan scrunched her brow, forcing herself to take a bite out of the sandwich. All of the flavors were still there; however, it wasn’t what her body was craving at the moment. “Sorry, I guess I’m not as hungry as I thought.”
“You have, uh, here.” Kade reached over and brushed the bottom of her lip. His thumb came away with a glob of the peanut butter. He hesitated before he brought his thumb to his own mouth. “You don’t have cooties or anything I should be aware of, do you?”
Sloan was still trying to recover from feeling his warm hand on her face. When was the last time she had been touched by a man? And not with a punch to her face? She and Aareth had kissed, but it was clear whatever Kade and she shared, it was something completely different.
“Oh … I … uh…” Sloan was trying to come up with an excuse as to why Kade should not put the glob of peanut butter in his mouth. Until she was completely sure that whatever was going on with her anatomy was not contagious through body fluids, she couldn’t risk Kade getting the vampire elixir.
“I was just kidding about the cooties.” Kade moved his thumb to his lips. “It’s okay. It was a joke.”
Why hadn’t she asked Edison if what she had was transferable via saliva? Sloan panicked and did the first thing she could think of: she grabbed Kade’s hand and shoved his thumb into her own mouth.
Sloan and Kade froze. Sloan looked at him with panicked eyes as she sucked off the peanut butter, Kade’s eyes just as large as he tried to figure out what she was doing.
“Are you giving me some kind of not-so-subtle signal, here?” Kade laughed out loud. “I’m not really sure what’s going on. It’s weird, but I kinda like it.”
“Sorry … no … I guess I was just hungrier than I thought. You know, don’t mess with a girl’s food.” Sloan grabbed a napkin and handed it to Kade. She motioned to his thumb. “Sorry, kinda slobbery. You should probably clean that off.”
“Okay.” Kade had said the word so slowly, Sloan was doubting her odds of being asked out again.
“So, tell me about you.” Sloan did her best to hide the heat she felt in her face by raising a glass of wine to her lips.
“Not much to tell.” Kade bit into a sandwich. He chewed for a while, thinking on her request. “Actually, that’s a lie. There’s a ton to tell, but I don’t want to dump on you, this being our first date and all.
“Seriously?” Sloan drained her wine glass. “I just sucked your thumb, you can afford to be a little dumpy on me right now.”
“Yeah, you did just do that, didn’t you? Well, my long, sad story starts with my family being taken away from me during a raid. I couldn’t have been more than five or six. My father and mother, sister and brother and I had lived in the Outland, pretty quiet and peaceful, all things considered. Gossip was coming in about the queen’s soldiers doing raids. We didn’t believe them. It was always something that someone had heard from someone else; there was no concrete evidence that these raids were actually happening.”
Kade reached down and drained his own glass. His bright orange eyes seemed to dim in the moon’s light, if that was even possible.
“I didn’t believe it, either, until they came for us one night. My father and mother fought back, but couldn’t fend them off. I remember there being blood everywhere. I hid in a closet, but eventually they were killed or taken, maybe both. I screamed when I saw my mother being dragged across our tiny family room floor. I just couldn’t keep it in. They tried to grab me, too, but I ran. I don’t think they really cared about a kid when they already had the rest of my family. I ran and ran, and kept running. Over the years, I tried to find them. I even went to New Hope for help, but everyone brushed me off. The closest I ever got to finding them where just more whispers, bar talk of the queen doing experiments on residents of the Outland, but that was it. Eventually, I set up shop in Term, and here I am.”
Sloan’s stomach twisted. Not only was she finding herself liking Kade more and more, but it was now also obvious they could never be together. Not after what had happened to his family. Not when Sloan knew exactly what had happened to his family. It was obvious the queen’s sister had been recruiting for her experiments for a very long time now.
“Sorry.” Kade studied Sloan’s face. “I told you it was a lot.”
“No, no.” Sloan shook her head, trying to think of the right words for the occasion. “It’s not that. I’m an orphan, as well. Your story was just bringing back memories for me.”
“I’m sorry.” Kade refilled their glasses with the sweet wine. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” Sloan sipped at her wine. Once again, her mind was telling her she should enjoy the beverage more than her taste buds or stomach did. “I never knew my parents. I grew up in the system, bounced around from orphanage to orphanage.”
“That must have been rough.” Kade swirled the liquid in his glass, staring at the wine as if in that small maelstrom all of his questions could be answered. “What happened to you once you were old enough to leave the orphanage?”
Sloan knew this line of questioning was bound to happen. As much as she hated having to tell him, she understood Kade had to know about her history in the queen’s army. Holding back any further
would be lying.
“Kade, there’s something you have to know about me.” Sloan cleared her throat. She caught his penetrating gaze. “I’m not the same person I was a few days ago. My life has changed drastically.”
“We all change.” Kade shook his head, trying to ease her troubled heart. “I’m not the same person I was last year, even last month. We’re supposed to do that, as we grow, learn, and evolve into the best interpretations of ourselves we can be.”
“I agree with all of that, but I was in the ar—”
Sloan didn’t get the words out. There was a deafening impact in the trees off to their right, like a meteor striking the earth. More crashing immediately followed as something large made its way toward them.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sloan
“Get behind me.” Kade stood, facing the oncoming sound. In one of his hands, he carried the empty bottle of wine.
“Yeah, I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.” Sloan stood right next to Kade. “Actually, you should probably be the one getting behind me.”
Before the conversation could go on any longer, the stomping in the forest came closer. Whatever it was had no concept of moving quietly around the trees. Sloan squinted into the darkness the forest’s canopy provided. She was able to make out a form: massive shoulders with folded wings and greyish skin.
“You can put down the bottle.” Sloan relaxed. “It’s Kimberly.”
“We were kind of on a date, here.” Kade tossed the wine bottle to the side as the gargoyle exited the tree line and stood in front of them. “Can this wait?”
Kimberly’s wounds from her fight with Sloan had been erased as if they had never happened. She wore the same brown leather skirt and sports bra as the day before. Her gaze shifted from Kade to Sloan.
The Complete Vampire Project Series: (Books 1 - 5) Page 46