My new nature?
“I...can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Is it the upcoming holiday?” she asked, hesitant. “Are you missing your parents?”
“No.” To be honest, I hadn’t given Thanksgiving a single thought.
Another pause, this one writhing with tension.
“Ali, you’re shutting me out and it’s hurting me.”
Yes, I could hear the pain in her voice.
I stepped up to the door, reached for the knob, stopped myself. Hot tears cascaded down my cheeks. “I’m sorry,” I repeated. “I would rather die than hurt you, but if I open that door I could hurt you worse. I just... I need a day to work through this, okay?”
Several minutes passed in silence before she said, “You’ve got one day.” Footsteps resounded.
I picked up the tray, placed it inside my room, my stomach a twisted mess. I couldn’t bring myself to eat.
Finally eternity came to an end and eleven-thirty arrived. I loaded myself with weapons and sneaked through the secret passages Mr. Ankh had built throughout the house. He’d wanted his daughter to have an escape route if ever it proved necessary—not that she would know what chased her.
Reeve. I frowned. My nose wrinkled after I inhaled. I smelled her perfume. She must have used the passage, and quite recently.
Huh. The passage led to a hatch just beyond the front yard, seconds from the road. Still. I’d have to be careful. Mr. Ankh had cameras everywhere and—as I eased my out, I caught movement several yards away.
Gaze zooming in, I palmed a blade. Was that...Reeve? Had to be. Dark hair swished as a slender girl matching Reeve’s height and build walked north. She’d sneaked out.
As I followed her through the shadows, I dialed Bronx.
“What?” he snarled.
“Reeve snuck out. I’m a few yards behind her. I just thought you’d like to know.”
He spewed a mouthful of curses. In the background, I heard a girl giggling.
“You’re with someone?” I asked, shocked.
At the same time he said, “Where are you?”
I gave him our current location, and he hung up.
A car drove past, and Reeve darted behind a tree trunk. I did the same, only to stiffen when the car slowed, stopped.
Reeve stepped from the shadows. “Ethan?”
“It’s me, sweetheart.”
Sweetheart. Hello, new boyfriend.
“Thank goodness! I realized the car was slowing down, and I almost peed my pants.” She walked around the car and opened the passenger side door. “I thought you were meeting me at 7-Eleven.”
“You were late, and I worried.”
Bronx, who was in spirit form, moved through the trees and swept up beside me. The hair he’d dyed blue was now green, but it wasn’t spiked. Tonight, it shagged over his forehead. There were several lipstick stains on the collar of his shirt—and not all of them were the same color.
“She just got into the car,” I said, beyond grateful a slayer’s ability to see spirits extended to human ones. Although...
Would this make my dark urges worse?
I tensed. Backed away.
No hunger pangs.
I stopped, unsure. I was...better? Once more safe to be around?
“Whatever.”
I heard the self-castigation in his voice and flinched.
“Sorry,” I said on a sigh. “I didn’t mean that.”
He shrugged. “Do you really believe I’d be with anyone else if I could be with Reeve?”
No. I didn’t. And when I thought about it, I understood. Sometimes the loneliness probably got to be too much and anyone seemed better than no one. He had no parents. They’d dropped him off in a forest, at night, when he was just a kid, hoping the wild animals would kill and dispose of him. He just wanted to be wanted, to have someone to call his own.
Earlier, as unstable as I’d been, I might even have settled on comfort from Gavin.
The driver—Ethan—turned the car around. Bronx stiffened, gearing to pursue.
He shouldn’t do this on his own. I knew that. He could call for backup, but I also knew he wouldn’t.
I looked behind me, in the direction I needed to go. I looked back at Bronx, at the anger and frustration shining from his features. He was distracted. He would probably get into trouble.
As the car sped away, Bronx arrowed forward.
I couldn’t leave him.
With a mental push, my spirit left my body, which would remain hidden in the trees. I trailed after him, maintaining proper speed, just as Gavin and Mackenzie had taught me, keeping up without a problem.
We ghosted through other cars, and yeah, it freaked me out every time.
“Where’s Cole?” I asked, barely panting.
“Taking care of Veronica.”
I flinched as if I’d been punched.
“You really messed up, Ali,” he continued, unaware of the pain his words had caused. “Beating on one of your own is never okay.” His gaze raked over me, and he finally became aware. “He’s not with her for that. He doesn’t like her the way you think.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“To you, I think it does.” But he offered no other words of encouragement.
About ten minutes later, the car parked in the driveway of a secluded house. Ethan emerged—leanly muscled, with blond hair and a handsome face—then rushed around to open Reeve’s door.
“Thank you,” she said with a grin.
He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “My pleasure, sweetheart.”
Bronx growled low in his throat, a feral sound. He stalked forward, as if he planned to attack the guy, but crashed into a tree and ricocheted backward. He came up sputtering.
“Blood Lines.” He looked left, right. “The guy has Blood Lines.”
So...the guy knew about the zombies. And yet he couldn’t see them. Otherwise he would have seen us. And if he’d seen us, he would have reacted.
Ethan ushered Reeve into the house. Bronx trailed close to their heels, but the door closed before he could sweep inside, and he once again ricocheted backward. He cursed.
Bronx tried to bypass the walls and windows to no avail. We paced the front yard in unison, waiting for Reeve to come out, ticking off the nearly unbearable seconds.
“I have his address,” Bronx snarled. “I’ll find out who he is. Every detail. Every girl he’s ever banged.”
Only he didn’t use the word
Watching him, I knew this was how a boy should react to the idea of being separated from his girl. The way I’d wanted Cole to react.
The way Cole hadn’t reacted.
Had he ever felt so strongly for a girl? Had it ever bothered him to walk away from one? Or was self-preservation wrapped so tightly around him it strangled any of the deeper feelings he had?
I wondered what he thought of me—if he thought of me at all.
“Ali,” Bronx snapped, and I jolted back to awareness.
“Yes?”
“Go home. I’ve got this.”
“No.”
“You’re making little growling noises in the back of your throat, and it’s distracting me. Not in a good way.”
Fear began to claw at me, because I knew what those growls meant. I had to do a better job of focusing—or else. I squared my shoulders. “I’ve already let one slayer down today. I’m not letting another. I’m staying.”
He glanced at me, and I could see a new gleam of respect in his eyes. But all he said was “Whatever. Do what you want.”
That respect...
It meant more to me than money.
And I knew how to get more. The list.
“No, I’m calm,” I said. “From now on, I’m going to be a walking sedative.”
Rot in Peace
The next morning, I climbed into Reeve’s Porsche and bucked my seat belt. Our ten-minute drive to school couldn’t end fast enough. I was ready to hide in the back of my first class and fall asleep.
She clearly concurred, gunning the engine as she shot from the garage. I wanted to rapid-fire questions at her, now that we were alone, but I was too tired. I leaned against the door instead, the sunlight streaming through the window warming me, lulling me.
Singing along to the radio, she merged into traffic. There were shadows under her eyes, and for once, she wore wrinkled clothing, as if she’d just rolled from bed and called it good.
I happened to know that she had.
As promised, I hadn’t left Bronx alone. I’d waited for Reeve to exit Ethan’s house. And she had, at 3:00 a.m. Ethan had driven her home, dropped her off in the same spot he’d picked her up and kissed her on the mouth before driving away. Bronx hadn’t said another word. His body language had said plenty, though.
Ethan was lucky to be alive.
The first moment I’d been alone, I’d called Dr. Bendari to reschedule, but the number had been unavailable. I had screeched with frustration, knowing I’d blown my best chance to talk with the only person with concrete answers.
Then I’d chastised myself for letting an emotion get the better of me.
“What the—”
“Bronx,” she screeched, tearing off her belt and stepping into the daylight.
Just in front of her car, right in the middle of the road, was Bronx’s old, rusted truck. He leaned against the hood, arms crossed.
I should have expected this.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.
“What do you think
“How did you—argh! It doesn’t matter.” She grabbed a rock and threw it at him.
Reflexes honed, he ducked.
She shook her head, as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just done. More calmly, she said, “He’s not some strange guy, he’s my boyfriend, and what I do with him isn’t your business.”
“Everything about you is my business.”
Her back went ramrod straight. “Screw you. I’m not doing this with you, Bronx. Not anymore.” She turned.
He grabbed her arm, spun her around. “Did you sleep with him?”
Very calmly, she said, “I told you. What I do with him is none of your business.”
“And I told you everything about you is my business, but neither of us seems to be listening.”
The forced calm vanished as she jerked away. “You can’t do this to me. Can’t pretend you care. Tomorrow, after I’ve dumped him, you’ll change your mind.” She shoved him, a puny action, really, when comparing a six-foot-five gigantor to a five-foot-five fairy princess, but he released her anyway.
“Does Daddy Dearest know about him?” he asked quietly.
She pointed her finger in his face. “No, and you won’t say a word. You don’t get to play any part in my love life. We’ve been sniffing around each other since junior high. You were so sweet to me at first. You made me things. You were my first kiss. Then suddenly you wouldn’t look at me, wouldn’t even talk to me—until I turned my sights to someone else and tried to move on. You’d come on strong, and I’d always fall back into your arms, but it wouldn’t take long for you to start ignoring me all over again, and I’m tired of it.”
I shouldn’t be listening to this. I would have hated it if anyone had heard my arguments with Cole, especially the final one.
Trying to distract myself, I turned up the radio. Taylor Swift, “I Knew You Were Trouble.” Fitting. I texted Nana. Can we talk later? Just U & me?
If my emotions started to go haywire, I’d adios.
Her: I would love that.
Me: I’m sorry I’ve been so weird lately, & I’m sorry about the fight w/the girl.
Her: We can talk about the reason at dinner. And just to make you happy, I promise I won’t spend too much on groceries.
I laughed.
Her: BTW, do you want to tell me why I found a note in your room saying “Did this to myself”? WHAT DID YOU DO?
Uh-oh.
Me: Almost @ school. Gotta go. Love you!
Hey. Not a word of that was a lie.
“—can’t be with you the way I want,” Bronx was saying, drawing my attention back to the conversation.
“Why?” Reeve demanded. “For once, give me a straight answer. You do, and I’ll never see Ethan again.”
Bronx pressed his lips together.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Bitterness tinged her tone.
Reeve stomped to the car. Bronx stomped to his. His tires squealed as he turned the vehicle around. Dirt sprayed as he shot forward.
“That boy,” Reeve said, her body trembling.
“He cares about you.”
“Yeah, just not enough.”
I reached over, patted her hand. “Believe me, I get it.”
She tossed me a sad smile before resuming the drive.
A few minutes later, she was parking in her usual spot. The lot could be overflowing, but no one, not even teachers, would dare encroach on her territory. Not because of her or her father’s money, but because of Bronx. I heard someone made the mistake of parking here only once; Bronx had hot-wired the car and crashed it into the trees the students had spray-painted gold and black to proudly display our school colors.
Silent, we strode over the tiger paws mowed into the grass and headed inside the building.
Trina and Mackenzie were leaning against a locker, snarling at anyone stupid enough to approach them. When I walked past—
“You have to talk to Cole,” Trina began.
“I never thought I’d say this,” Mackenzie said, “but I want you to do more than talk to him. I want you to seduce the hell out of him. I don’t know how much more post-Ali drama I can take.”
“O-kay. Cue my exit,” Reeve said, branching away from us. “See you at lunch, Ali.”
“Yeah. See ya.” I sighed. “What’s the problem?”
Trina twisted the ring in her eyebrow. “For starters, he’s meaner than my stepdad’s Yorkie.”
“Your stepdad has a Yorkie?”
Mackenzie slashed a hand through the air. “Forget the tiny terror dog. Cole lashes out at everything we say, and has for weeks.”