by Kat Cotton
“It’s no attraction.” I screwed up my face in disgust. Mr. Quiller was like a thousand years old. Literally, since he was an ancient vampire. “I just need information from him.”
“Well, not an attraction attraction. But still, you should stay away from that man. He tried to kill us, remember.”
Like I’d forget that. “But he had good reason.”
“Don’t tell yourself that. Don’t justify what he did.” Britney shook her head so violently I thought it’d fly off her shoulders. “He’d have taken out every single one of us but his target was Ren. And Ren had nothing to do with the death. Sure, Mr. Quiller was grieving over his son’s death but revenge is never the answer.”
I wondered how Britney would feel if she found out what I’d done. Because, I couldn’t lie to myself, even if I’d killed Ren’s father to save us, there’d been a small bit of revenge in there too. I’d hate to see her friendship turn to hate. I’d never had a girl friend before and I liked hanging out with her.
“Let’s head to the stables,” I said. “I want to keep tutoring Ren, whether he likes it or not.”
“Didn’t you know? Ren and Lucas are training together this afternoon.”
Suddenly the wind around us seemed icy cold. Too cold for me to stand. I turned to go back to the school.
The beep of our watches cut through the still air. Britney and I exchanged glances. Two attacks in one day? That had never happened before. Not ever. It had to be a drill.
Chapter 7
THE TWO OF US RACED inside, me turning into a breathless red-faced mess while Britney hardly had a hair out of place.
“What’s up?” I asked Mr. Norton, sure this was his twisted idea of the best time for a training drill. Mr. Norton loved training drills way too much.
“Another demon.”
My heart sank. Better an annoying drill than another attack.
“Do you think this is a fresh attack or that we didn’t patrol carefully enough after this morning’s fight?” Seth asked.
Mr. Norton shrugged. “Hard to tell and not so important right now. The main thing is to stop this attack and make sure there are no more monsters in the woods.”
Ren and Lucas run down the corridor to join us, both still in their gym clothes.
“Cherry and Ren, you stay somewhere central this time. Maybe near the stables. The others can sweep the woods but I want the two of you going in for the kill.”
When he said kill, I had to control myself. If Ren and I worked together, I most definitely couldn’t let my blood lust get the better of me. Ren needed to see the new, improved Cherry.
But then, if this demon was anything like this morning’s, Ren could easily make the kill while I held off.
“The rest of you, don’t approach the demons. We don’t want any more incidents like Mark’s this morning.”
Oh yeah, Mark hadn’t joined us. Was his injury that bad? It wasn’t like him to miss a fight, even if he had to limp.
Mr. Norton handed out weapons. “Seth and Britney, you two stick together. You can cover more ground than the others. Lucas, full wolf senses alert.”
“Can I stay with Ren and Cherry?” Nova cringed into the corner. “I feel my talents would be best served like that.”
Mr. Norton blinked like he’d forgotten Nova was part of the group. “You can stay with me. Your telepathy powers are the strongest so you can keep me informed of what the others are doing.”
Nova grinned, the color starting to return to his face. I kind of wished I had that option too. If I stayed inside, there’d be no temptation to kill, no chance of losing control. But Mr. Norton would never allow that.
I zipped up my hoodie as Ren and I walked to the stables, pulling the hood up. The night had turned even colder. Ren walked beside me in his gym shorts and t-shirt, not noticing the cold.
“So, you and Lucas are hanging out now?”
“Is that a problem?”
I shivered. “No, not at all. Should it be?”
I thrust my hands into my pockets and put my head down. I had to let this go. I couldn’t stop the two of them from being friends and feeling bad about it didn’t help at all. And, mostly, I didn’t want to get into a fight with Ren.
We got to the stables and I leaned against the wooden wall.
“Let’s wait inside. It’ll be warmer for you.”
I nodded and followed him in. The stables might be warmer but they were also smellier. Still, I wanted to stick close to Ren.
“I thought about what you said.” Ren grabbed a fork and leaned on it. that didn’t make things easy for me, since Ren plus fork had been the star of my more lurid thoughts lately. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to go home for semester break.”
Yikes. That didn’t work with my plan at all. Even if I got the information I needed from Mr. Quiller, I wanted the chance to spend the break with Ren. But then we’d both be stuck at the school together if he didn’t go home.
Unless he went home with Lucas. Would Lucas invite him? He’d never invited me to his house for the break and we’d been best friends. I didn’t want to ask. I didn’t want to look like I cared.
I nodded, tempted to tell him about my plan to find his mother. But Ren could be prideful and I didn’t want him to straight out forbid me to do this.
Ren grabbed my arm. “They’ve found one of the demons.”
We ran from the stables, Ren leading the way. We headed down a narrow path that I’d never seen before.
“Tarragon,” Ren panted.
We stopped on the outskirts of a clearing. I couldn’t see Tarragon but assumed he’d followed Mr. Norton’s orders and had hidden himself somewhere close by. A hell beast stomped around, flattening bushes and making the trees tremble. A single horn like a rhinoceros’s protruded from his forehead. A big, two-legged rhinoceros covered in scaly armor. Much more high level than the other demon.
Lucas and Britney would’ve been able to classify this beast right down to his bloodlines. I just called him scary rhino beast.
“How are we going to approach this guy?” I ducked behind a tree as the demon squared us in his sights. “We can’t get too close.”
The demon stomped again, sending a tremor through the ground as if to emphasize my words.
Ren reached for my hand. We’d need to be touching to defeat this demon. I’d join my power with his but I needed to keep it low-key. I didn’t want Ren feeling what I felt, I didn’t want to let him in.
I sucked in my breath, trying to release my energy in a slow trickle but nothing... not one tiny spark.
Ren raised his eyebrows. I clenched my jaw, screwing everything down inside me. If I let go and blasted this beast, sure we’d win the fight but I’d have proven to Ren just how dark I was.
I tried to let a small fraction of my power leak out. Enough to stun the demon but not enough to kill him, but I didn’t have that level of control. I’d tried, I’d practiced and worked with Mr. Norton but control wasn’t my forte.
The connection between Ren and I sizzled, tickling my skin, but the energy didn’t flow.
The demon roared and stomped. The ground shook so hard that a branch fell from one of the trees.
“Just kill him already,” Tarragon shouted from above us.
“You’re blocking me,” Ren said.
“I’m trying.” I wasn’t blocking, I was repressing. Repressing was good. I needed to lock it all down, the urge to kill, even if it was just a demon
“This isn’t working.” Ren dropped my hand and got out his knife. “I’ll do this myself.”
I exhaled. That worked for me.
“Cherry, stop playing around or you’ll get us all killed,” Tarragon yelled.
What did people want from me, anyway? My job here was to hunt and kill nightmare creatures but if I went too far, they said I crossed the line. My head pounded and my vision swam. I had no idea, no idea about anything.
All my life I’d been told I was a bad person. Through all those foster
homes and care centers. My entire concept of good and bad had been skewed.
I didn’t do well with grey areas. I needed clear guidelines. But, in this world, those guidelines didn’t exist.
I bent over, hands on my knees.
“Cherry!” Tarragon yelled again.
“What?” I straightened myself up, sick of his nagging. Ren was perfectly capable of dealing with this.
Only Ren moved to the left of me, narrowing in on the demon. But scary rhino beast ignored Ren.
Scary rhino beast lowered its head, steam billowing from its nostrils and that horn aimed straight for my face.
The demon ran. Picking up speed. Right at me.
Tarragon yelled, no words just hollering. The woods went quiet. And the beast snorted.
I’d be impaled. I’d be speared right through the head... unless...
I held out my hand and bit hard on my cheek. “Enough already.”
Light flashed from my palm, hitting the demon and surging through it until it glowed blue. It fell to the ground, incinerating as it fell, with only the horn remaining.
“What the hell was that?” Ren slammed his fist into a tree. “Were you stalling for dramatic effect there? This isn’t a stupid game.”
“Huh? What? The thing was charging me. I had to kill it or I’d be a Cherry kebab.”
“Sure.” He walked toward me, his jaw clenched.
He wanted to get angry. Fine. Because all the fighting urge I’d repressed sprang to the surface. I’d killed the demon. In a moment of kill or be killed. I tried to remember the things my anger management counselor had taught me. Deep breaths, happy thoughts.
But screw Ren. He accused me of playing games, what about all the stupid games he’d been playing recently. Ren and his new best buddy Lucas blocking me out. Ren refusing my help but making me feel guilty about it. Every stupid thing he’d done in the last week or so.
“You’ve got a problem with me.” I poked him in the chest. “I get that. I totally get it. Because of — that thing with your father. So, talk to me. Because I have no idea, no idea at all what’s going on with you.”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Tell me, already,” I poked Ren again. “Don’t hold back.”
Ren shook his head slowly, more like he wanted to dislodge an annoying insect than to deny what I was saying.
Anger buzzed inside me. I could think of a million reasons for Ren to be angry but I needed to know what specifically he had an issue with. I hated this hot/cold treatment. I hated being shut out. And I really hated him not accepting my help.
I pushed him. “Talk to me.”
“It’s fine.” Ren took a step back. “I told you. Nothing’s wrong.”
“Nothing wrong? Nothing wrong?” My voice rose with anger.
“Hey guys.” Tarragon walked over to the pile of demon ashes. “You don’t mind if I take this?” He picked up the demon horn, holding it with the tips of his thumb and forefinger.
“Do what you want with it.” I turned back to Ren. I wouldn’t drop this until I knew what he was thinking. “Don’t lie to me, Ren.”
He started walking off. “You crossed the line. You know what you did. And, to be honest, that scares me a little. I have no idea what you’re capable of and I don’t want to get too close.”
My body shook like I’d been hit. I needed to make him see that I wasn’t the person he thought I was. I struggled enough myself with the darkness inside me but I tried to change. I tried to be the new, improved Cherry.
“But just two minutes ago, you yelled at me for holding back. You can’t have it both ways, buddy. I can’t do a thing right.”
“The woods are clear. We’re regrouping inside.” With that, Ren took off back to the school at such a fast pace, I struggled to keep up.
“What was that about?” said Tarragon. “You can’t let a lover’s tiff interfere with hunting.”
“Shut up,” I screamed. It was always my fault, never Ren’s. “You don’t know a damn thing. And what the hell do you want with that demon horn anyway? You’d better not be planning on making some rapey love spell.”
I stomped off. I wouldn’t go back to the scholarship room. I needed to be alone. My anger burned so fiercely that if I had to talk to any of them, I’d burst into tears.
So much for the new, improved Cherry. She’d combusted back there with the rhino demon.
When I reached the elite floor, Oscar jumped out at me.
I struck out at him, my heart hammering. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“That’s a fine way to treat someone doing you a favor.” Oscar smiled his creepy smile and held out a sheet of paper. “I got what you wanted, though.”
“Sorry.” For once, Oscar didn’t deserve to be punched. “And thanks.”
I didn’t stick around to chat. I went straight to my room and unfolded the paper. Mr. Quiller’s contact details.
Chapter 8
I QUICKLY SHOT OFF an email to Mr. Quiller, knowing that if I waited, I’d overthink the whole situation. My stomach dropped as I hit the send button. I didn’t trust that man one bit but then I had this weird power over vampires so maybe he’d be compelled to help me.
I could only wish.
I might need some collateral for this meeting. I only had one thing that Mr. Quiller might be interested in. Farran’s ring. That ring had saved me when Mr. Worthington’s insane minions tried to fry my brains out. I’d put it somewhere safe.
Opening my bedside drawer, I searched through the pile of crap in there, my mind only half on what I was doing.
Ren and I still had to work together and I wasn’t sure how we could keep on doing that. I didn’t understand his behavior at all but somehow, I had to convince him that I was still me. I hadn’t gone completely dark.
Well, I didn’t think I’d gone dark. Maybe you didn’t know that kind of thing yourself. But it wasn’t like I was going around torturing animals or doing evil stuff.
I searched through the wardrobe, through the pockets of all my clothes, the word “evil” echoing in my brain. What did it even mean?
I’d lived with a lot of foster parents who didn’t think they were evil. They thought they were doing the right thing, even if the right thing meant using their belts or their fists. They’d said they did those things for my own good, to teach me a lesson. In their own minds, they were totally swell people.
That ring was nowhere to be found. Not in the bathroom. Not under the bed. Not anywhere on the bookcase. I didn’t own enough stuff for something to be so utterly lost.
Why was Ren so judgmental, anyway? I’d offered to give up this sweet room and my soft, cushy bed and all the money that went with it to Ren. Surely that counted for something. Even if he’d refused, I’d made the offer. And I was trying to find his mother, to fix things. Surely that gave me a heap of “not evil” points. It might not cancel out killing his father but it’d remove this burden of debt hanging over me.
The ring wasn’t inside any of my boots. It wasn’t in my underwear drawer. Things had been a bit fuzzy when I’d been rescued from that creepy house, what with the torture and the mind games and all. I might’ve given the ring to Mr. Norton but maybe not.
I needed answers, honest answers about my morality. If I talked to Mr. Norton or Britney, they’d only try to reassure me. I had no way of figuring the truth out by myself but I didn’t want someone lying to save my feelings. My head spun with the thoughts racing through it but one urgent thought cut through the noise. In all the drama of the day, I’d eaten nothing since breakfast. No wonder I felt like passing out.
I didn’t want to leave my room but, before I could order some food to be sent up, my phone beeped.
Mr. Quiller wanted to meet me. Now.
I sure hadn’t expected him to respond so soon.
I messaged him back. There’d better be food involved.
Before I put my phone down, I figured I should clarify. Real food, not vampire food.
He
got back to me real fast.
Meet me at the school gates. We’ll talk over dinner.
It was awfully late for dinner and I really needed to sleep but then I guess vampires didn’t keep regular hours. And I really needed to talk to him. If he wanted to meet now, I needed to keep him happy.
I wasn’t exactly dressed for meeting someone fancy like Mr. Quiller. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who’d call by the local hamburger joint.
I got out my cherry dress, the only thing I owned that wasn’t super casual. I’d washed out the blood stains and Britney had mended the tears so you could barely see them. I held it up against me. I might be a bit cold but —
I threw the dress on the floor. Heckity heck, I couldn’t wear that dress. I could not wear it.
The last time I’d worn it, the only time, had been the school dance where I’d kicked Mr. Quiller’s butt. I didn’t know much about social etiquette but I knew that wearing that dress to ask for a favor would be a bad, bad idea.
But I had nothing else except jeans and worn out hoodies. I could ask Britney to loan me something, only nothing she had would fit. Maybe I could just put my school uniform back on.
A knock at the door stopped me from hunting through my wardrobe for a non-existent outfit.
Angela.
“Hi.” She smiled and wiggled her fingers in a cutesy wave. “Thought any more about our study group?”
“Nope.” I started closing the door then opened it again. I need something to wear real fast and, as much as I hated to ask, Angela was my only option. “Hey, Angela, do you have a dress I could borrow?”
She put her head on the side. “What for?”
Good question. Again, a dicey social situation. I couldn’t exactly say that I was sneaking out to meet the man whose son she’d killed. I didn’t even want to tell her that I was sneaking out of the school.
“Ah... I have to hang out with Oscar and...”
“Got just the thing.” She raced off
“Not too revealing,” I yelled after her. Angela loved showing off her body. That wasn’t a look I felt comfortable with at any time let alone when going to dinner with an older man. I mean, I wasn’t going that far to convince him to help me.
