The Arcadia Falls Chronicles: Omnibus (Books 1-6)

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  “I’m sorry about the thing with Christina and Zander. I don’t even know why it bothered me so much.”

  “Duh!” I swung my hand out. “It bothered you because you care about her. Idiot!”

  “Okay, fine, then I don’t know why I still care. I definitely don’t love her. That is only for you.”

  “I know that you love me, Drew—and I love you, too—which is exactly why I don’t understand why we can’t ask Gavin to join us. I have to watch you be around Christina all the time and deal with your little hissy fits about her, so you should be able to do this one thing.”

  I had decided the argument was going the wrong way; it was time to direct it back to the whole point of Gavin and the Talon Building.

  “I should, but I still think we don’t need him.”

  Ugh! He could be so stubborn. “Then you are a big idiot.”

  He narrowed his eyes and his face turned a deep shade of red. “Maybe I am an idiot,” he whispered and stomped over the mats toward the doors, leaving me standing there wishing that I was the one who had stormed off.

  I watched him go. I glanced over toward the weapons area to find Oscar and Alice staring at me in confusion. I gave them a thumbs down sign before hurrying to the locker room, where I threw on my jeans and a sweatshirt over my work-out clothes.

  Why in the world hadn’t I gotten my driver’s license yet? I just wanted to get away from everyone ... and fast. Angry at myself for yet another reason, I furiously ripped open my backpack, extracted my cell phone, and called the only person I knew who would take me where I wanted to go.

  ~~~***~~~

  Christina screeched to a halt in front of the gym in her little red car and tapped her horn a couple of times.

  I hurried out from under the overhang at the front door of the gym and opened the passenger door. Christina raised a questioning eyebrow as I slid into the seat beside her.

  “Why did you call me? Doesn’t your boyfriend cart you around everywhere?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” I told her, “You know that I wouldn’t have called you if I had any other options.”

  “Whatever.” She flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder and sped out onto the road.

  When we arrived at Zander’s I wondered why I had chosen to run to his place. I barely knew him and I certainly wasn’t running to him for advice or brotherly love. I just needed to get away and I had nowhere else to go.

  Zander opened the door looking like he had just gone to bed. His hair was sticking up all over the place and he wore flannel pajama pants without a shirt. This was the first time I’d seen him without a shirt, except that time when Drew and I burst in on him and Christina, so I’d never realized that he had a tattoo of a cross on the left side of his chest. “Hey, Chloe ... Christina, what are you guys up to?”

  “Chloe is having a distressed little sister moment.” Christina gave Zander a smile and slipped past him into his apartment.

  Zander stared back at me with a confused expression. “Huh?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I just needed to get away.” I followed Christina’s lead and went around him to get into the apartment before he could tell me to leave.

  “Well come on in,” he muttered as he kicked the door shut.

  I plopped down onto his ancient looking couch and threw my bag on the coffee table. Christina was in the kitchen rooting around in his refrigerator and singing to herself in a low voice.

  Zander glanced back and forth between the two of us, and must have gathered that we were not going to be going anywhere anytime soon. “I’m going to go put some clothes on,” he mumbled to no one in particular, stumbling off down the hallway toward his bedroom. At that moment I saw the other tattoos that I had failed to notice before. On each shoulder blade was a large, black, but beautiful angel wing. The details of the feathers were so intricate that I knew it must have taken the artist hours to finish them. At the center of his back, between the wings, sat a broad sword, its hilt rising up almost to his neck and the tip of the blade reaching down to his belt line.

  “Warrior angel,” I murmured, watching him slam open the door to his room.

  Again, I wondered what the heck I was doing there. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell to check and see if Drew had texted me. Nope. There was one from Alice checking to see where I went and when I was going to be home, though. I texted back telling her only that I was fine and I would be home later in the evening. I didn’t want her telling Drew where I was; if he wanted to know he could find out on his own.

  Christina wandered into the living room with a bag of potato chips and a glass of water in her hands.

  “I didn’t think that you liked chips.”

  She smirked. “I do like them, they just aren’t very good for you so I don’t eat them that often, but Zander doesn’t keep much ... well, any healthy food here.” She pulled out a chip and popped it into her mouth.

  “Oh, I see.” I fiddled with my phone, not knowing what else to do.

  “So what’s going on? You and Drew have a fight?”

  I waited until she had made herself comfortable in the chair on the other side of the coffee table before answering. “I don’t feel comfortable discussing that with you.”

  “Oh, come on, Chloe. Like I really care anyway.”

  “Then why do you want to know?” I countered.

  She shrugged. “Trying to help, I guess.”

  “Trying to help with what?” Zander came out wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt, not an inch of tattoo showing anywhere. It looked like he had attempted to fix his hair but failed. Neither Christina nor I answered him and he ignored the fact that we didn’t. “Well, what do you guys want to do then?”

  Again no answer.

  “You ladies sure know how to show a guy a good time,” he told us as he bent over by the entertainment center, opened a drawer, and pulled out a few controllers. “Video games it is then.” He tossed us each a crazy looking contraption with about a zillion buttons on it.

  “I don’t know how to play any video games,” I said, turning the controller over in my hands.

  “I’ll teach you.” He clicked on the television. “You will like this game.”

  Christina nodded and pointed at me. “You ready to get your ass kicked?”

  For several hours I learned how to kill zombies, find weapons, exchange weapons, read those dumb little maps in the corner of the T.V., and various other virtual survival methods.

  “See, I told you that you would get the hang of it.” Zander paused the game and got up to go into the kitchen. He came back with a three glasses of ice, a couple cans of soda, and a bottle of whiskey.

  He poured one and offered it to Christina.

  “No, thanks.” She shook her head “I’m driving,” she explained.

  “It’s up to you.” He shrugged and held it out to me. Hesitantly, I took the glass with only a slight nod as a thank you. Never in my life had I even had more than just a taste of wine or beer. He sat back with his own drink and took a long swig, killing about half of the drink.

  I felt the cold condensation on my fingertips and knew that I shouldn’t drink it. That would be the right thing to do. However, I always tried to do the right thing and usually screwed it up in one way or another. So, maybe it was time to purposely break the rules a little. I lifted the glass to my lips and chugged back almost the entire drink at once. I tried hard not to choke or gag. The drink was obviously strong, but it didn’t taste good at all. It tasted like what I imagined paint thinner might taste like.

  “Slow down, Chloe!” Christina nagged at me.

  “What?” I wiped dribbles of the mixture off of my chin.

  “If you drink that too fast, you will regret it.”

  “I can do whatever I want,” I huffed at her, and to prove it I finished off what was left in the glass. The ice clinked together when I lowered the glass away from my lips and set it on the table.

  She shoo
k her head and got up from her spot in the recliner. “I’ve got to go to the bathroom,”

  While she was out of the room, I held my glass out to Zander, who raised an eyebrow. “Fill ‘er up,” I demanded.

  “Don’t you think that you should at least wait until you are feeling the effects of the first one?” he asked, but was already pouring the amber liquid into the glass.

  I was feeling the effects of the first one already and it felt damn good. Not that it suddenly felt like everything was all right, but I did feel the tension I’d been holding hostage in my shoulders release and I finally felt like I could relax.

  “Here you go.” Zander finished the drink and handed it over to me.

  “Awesome.” I took a testing swig of the new drink, which was just as bad as the last one, and then settled back against the couch with my controller. Christina returned from her trip to the bathroom right then, and I wasn’t so far gone that I didn’t see her give Zander a reprimanding glance. He also saw it and shrugged her off.

  “Let’s kick some zombie ass!” Zander declared, grabbing up his own controller.

  We proceeded to kill more zombies for the next hour or so while I chugged down mixed drinks. Quickly, I went from feeling nice and relaxed to feeling energetic and excited.

  “We should go do something.” I tossed my controller aside. “Let’s go to that club where we found Zander.” My comment was directed at Christina.

  “No.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “Well, for one, you have school in the morning. For two, it isn’t safe to go out when you’ve been drinking like this.”

  “Since when are you Miss Oh So Responsible? Huh? I thought you were supposed to be fun.”

  Christina sighed. “No one ever said I was fun, Chloe.”

  Zander popped into the conversation, probably to save Christina. “Besides, I have to go hunting tonight so I don’t have time to go out anyway.”

  Just then, the door flew open and Drew strode over the threshold.

  Surprised, I felt the glass I held in my hand slide from my fingers, sloshing the liquid onto my jeans. The glass continued its path down and landed softly on the carpet.

  Drew took one look at the whiskey bottle on the table. Suddenly, his icy green eyes flashed over me. “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.

  Zander jumped up, flinging his controller aside. “Has knocking ever even occurred to you?”

  I stood and felt my body sway, along with my vision, but I shoved it aside, wanting to let loose some of my anger on Drew. “Better yet, did it occur to you that I am here because I was getting away from you and I don’t want to see you? So, you should leave.” I waved my hand at the door in a dismissive manner. I knew my voice was slurring and I probably looked totally trashed, but I didn’t care.

  Drew narrowed his eyes. “The hell I am. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Seriously, Drew, just go. I’m not leaving with you.”

  I heard the sharp intake of his breath as his eyes flicked from me to Christina to Zander. “What, are you going to stay here and drink all night? Yeah, that will fix all your problems.”

  “No, but it will get me away from my controlling jerk boyfriend,” I countered.

  “Just leave her alone, man,” Zander spoke up and Drew’s head snapped toward him.

  “Shut up and stay out of this. Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”

  Zander took a couple steps forward, minimizing the gap between them. “She is my sister.”

  “Really ... tough guy, you barely know her and now you’re putting on a big brother act.”

  Christina stood up and stepped between the two guys because they looked like they were getting ready to rip each other apart. “That’s enough,” she ordered.

  Zander yanked away from Christina. “Screw that, he comes in here and starts ordering people around like we are his little minions.” Then he shoved Drew’s shoulder. “Get out now or I’m gonna kick your ass out!”

  “Oh hell no!” Drew shoved him back and lunged forward. Christina wedged herself between the two of them even further. “Stop it!”

  I’d had it with the both of them. “Neither of you get to tell me what I can and can’t do,” I slurred. “If I want to drink that is my decision.” To prove my point, I reached out and grabbed the bottle of whiskey off the coffee table. Putting it to my lips, I tipped it back and let the strong liquid slide down my throat. I drank all of what was left in the bottle, which happened to be a good inch, at least. My eyes began to tear and my stomach churned when the whiskey hit it.

  “Chloe, stop!” Drew, Zander, and Christina shouted in unison. Drew abandoned the shuffle with Zander and rushed toward me.

  I slammed the empty bottle back down on the table. Through my fuzzy vision I watched the bottle tip from one side to the other until it lost its fight with gravity and fell over, landing on the coffee table with an unimpressive clank. I swallowed back the vomit that rose in my throat and took a deep breath to help settle my stomach.

  The three of them stood there staring at me with their mouths hanging open, none of them able to say a word after watching me put down all that booze. Honestly, they were probably just waiting for me to fall down so that it would be easier on them and they could just carry me out of there.

  “How did you know I was here anyway?” My voice sounded like I was in some kind of tunnel or something.

  Drew shrugged. “You don’t really know that many people, Chloe. You’re not that hard to find.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Christina move toward the kitchen and it dawned on me.

  “You!” I pointed at her. “You called him.”

  She reached up and flipped her hair like it was no big deal. “So?”

  I don’t know if it was the alcohol or my fire, but hot anger bubbled through me and I felt my body heat up. Without my summoning it, the fire shot out of my hands.

  All three of them jumped back in alarm.

  “Oh shit!” Zander cried out. “What the hell was that?”

  “Damn it, Chloe!” Christina screamed, rushing out of the room.

  I looked down to see what she could be so angry about, and saw that I had set the carpet on fire. The two patches of flames were spreading fast across the floor.

  Christina returned with a fire extinguisher. She yanked the pin out and sprayed white foam over the product of my anger until they were completely gone. Now only foam-covered, charred carpet remained.

  Zander sighed and shook his head. “Why is it that whenever the two of you are around something in my apartment gets damaged? And please explain to me exactly why my little sister is shooting flames out of her hands.”

  “Later.” Christina touched his arm softly.

  I had remained in the same place and stayed silent since the moment the unwanted fire released, but my anger hadn’t subsided. Not knowing what else to do, I spun around and ran out the door.

  The frigid fresh air felt amazing on my skin. I ran as fast as I could, trying to outrun the pain and anger. I felt hot tears begin to slip down my icy cold cheeks as I weaved across sidewalks, looking like the drunk I was. I fell twice for no apparent reason except that the whiskey unbalanced me. I turned corners on random streets, hoping to lose Drew, who I knew was bound to be following me.

  I had no idea how long I’d been running when I felt the warning tingle on the back of my neck. I slowed to a walk; my chest burned from running so much and my body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. I opened my super hearing and listened for the soft footsteps of the lurking vampire.

  I was still drunk. No amount of running was going to work of the quantity of booze I’d put down.

  Crap, crap, crap.

  This was so not the time to be fighting a vampire. Even through my blurred vision and fuzzy thoughts I knew my movements would be slow. I had put myself in a dangerous position because of my own stupidity. Running away only occurred to me as a
flash of thought. That just wasn’t how I worked anymore. I was a Hunter.

  Damn it, no, I was a hypocrite. Here I was thinking about how I never ran from a fight, but I run away from my problems all the time.

  The footsteps were softer than most humans could ever achieve. I was sure he could smell me. I probably stank to high heaven with all the sweat and pumping blood. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my heart, and prepared to face off.

  He rounded the corner casually as if he were out for a Sunday stroll. He didn’t look much older than me, with his jeans and dark blue button up shirt. His blond hair was spiked up a bit on top and his eyes were glowing with hunger.

  “Well, well ...” He clucked his tongue and leaned against the brick wall with one hand. “If it isn’t a helpless little dove.”

  I remained frozen, unwilling to run. You are the Hunter, I told myself, he is the hunted.

  The blond vampire tilted his head. “Would you like me to help you fly away, little dove?”

  I lifted my palm and formed an orb of flames within it. “Not a chance,” I spat back at him.

  He merely smiled, seemingly happy with the challenge. “How interesting, one of the legendary Hunters who bear special powers.” He swooped into a mock bow. “It will be an honor to kill you. Even sweeter to drink from you,” he added.

  “You won’t get that close to me.” I pulled back to toss the fireball at him, but he was quicker. He was behind me in a second, holding my wrist in one hand and his other arm wrapped around my body, holding me captive. “Is that so?” he countered, bringing his lips so close to my ear that I could feel his breath on my neck.

  I’d had enough messing around with this guy. Instead of responding and playing his game, I closed my eyes and summoned the fire within me. I felt the familiar warmth and focused on what I wanted it to do.

  Screams erupted from the vampire as my entire body burst into flames. He pulled away from me and took off running, leaving a trail of smoke from his burning clothes. Realizing he was on fire, he threw himself to the ground in true stop, drop, and roll fashion.

  While he was rolling around on the cement, trying to extinguish his burning clothes, I called back my fire until only one swirling sphere was left in my hand. Then I fearlessly strode over to tower above him.