by Kim Faulks
She just nodded, watching as I made my way to upstairs my room. Maybe I’d got this all wrong...maybe the friend zone with Judas and his pack was just where we were meant to stay. I slipped into my room, hit the lights and headed for the shower.
I lost my thoughts amongst the hot spray on my back. It wasn’t the cascading water from my shower back home, but the heat was enough to soothe the twinge of disappointment. I stepped out, dried myself and slipped on something cotton and warm. Faint howls echoed through the night air. I dragged a brush through my hair and walked to the balcony.
The moon was full and low in the sky. I drew in the cool air and felt life in my lungs as I stretched my fingers stretched overhead. In this moment, it felt like I could almost touch the silver rays.
A sharp howl ripped through the night, closer, making me flinch and draw my hands in. A flash of white scurried from the dark woods.
On a night of the full moon, the Beasts were out to play.
I switched on the small desk lamp and turned off the overhead lights before climbing into bed.
Nefarious Leathers...the Ancient...the Wolves. They haunted me as I opened the cover of this big ass book and scanned the Latin. Necronomicon...the book of the Dead…
The words had power, spelled pages stole me away, I flicked through one after another, losing track of time until the pale silver touch of the moon pulled away.
Sleep called. I closed the book, and shoved the heavy thing to the edge of the bed before I switched off the light.
Laughter echoed somewhere in the distance as I closed my eyes. I sank into the darkness, and was ripped away from the worries of this world...returning instead to the night of my party, where the champagne glasses clinked and darkness waited with bared fangs.
Nails clawed against the window in my dream...scratch...scratch…scratch...scratch…
I brushed the hand away... Stop it. Stop making that sound.
Scratch...scratch....scratch…
The squeal of nails on glass was piercing. I thrashed, rising to the surface and turning over.
Scratch.
I wrenched open my eyes and stilled. That sound...that sound wasn’t in my dream.
Scraaatttcchhhh.
I shoved up from my bed. “Goddamn Wolves...playing hard to get and then wake me in the middle of the damn night.”
Anger lashed inside me as I strode to the balcony doors, twisted the handle and then yanked. Darkness tumbled inside with a whimper. I reached out, grasping the body as a creature fell into my arms.
“Please…” the creature of midnight whispered and lifted iridescent orange eyes to mine. “Morwenna Livingstone please help me.”
Chapter Four
All That Glitters Isn’t Gold
The silvery hue of the moon clung to the creature. Tiny white fangs glinted, protruding below its lip as it whispered, “I’m sorry to intrude.”
I caught the familiar whiff of old blood on cold breath as I held him, my fingers touching nothing more than skin and bone.
“Are you hurt?” I stumbled into the room and collapsed against the mattress. “Is someone chasing you?”
Faint howls clung to the night. The beasts were outside, still hunting.
Chuck, I should get Chuck. I reached for my phone, fingers dancing across the screen for his name.
“Morwenna,” the Vampire creature whispered, drawing my focus to him.
His amber eyes were like lights pinned in the darkness. Thin lips, a long nose, and pasty skin. He sat, hunched, a small hump curling over his back.
“How do you know my name?” It was too dark to study his expression, so I crouched in front of him. “Tell me what's going on?”
He shook his head, the hood sliding off his head, revealing shaggy hair. “I had to come and see you. It's important.”
Thoughts spun in my mind. I gripped his arm, so bony I feared it might shatter if I squeezed too hard. “Talk to me.”
A tiny pink tongue skirted pale lips. “A glass of water, please. I'm thirsty.”
I jumped to my feet, crossed the room and flipped on the bathroom light. “You don’t have to be afraid,” I called. “No one’s going to hurt you here.”
Thoughts raced as I grabbed a glass from the shelf above the basin, dumped my toothbrush and toothpaste into the sink before I rinsed the tumbler.
A steady stream of water hit the bottom of the glass. I filled it to the top and switched it off.
“Do you know my Dad?” I strode from the bathroom, glass in hand, and then stopped in the middle of my room. “Hello?”
The room was empty. Curtains flapping...but the creature was gone.
Like he’d never been here at all.
“Okay, that's freaking weird.” I lifted the glass to my lips and drank the water, before I took a tentative step toward the balcony.
“Hey, little Vamp...where are you?” I called softly.
There was no sign of him, and down below only shadows gathered in the grounds.
Distant howls shattered the quiet. I stepped inside and locked the glass door. “You wake me, get me all worried and then take off,” I muttered, heading through my room to check the hallway. Nothing. The only sound was Ava’s snores in the room next to mine. The Kraken sounded like a damn bear.
“What would make you run like that?”
But there was nothing out here, nothing but shadows and quiet. I turned back to my room and stepped inside before locking the door.
The closet was clean, all my designer clothes still in plastic wrap.
Darkness descended as I hit the switch. I headed for my bed, kicked something soft and felt it tumble. Shit. The pile of clothes I meant to put away. I'd clean it tomorrow. Tonight, I needed sleep. I’d deal with everything else in the morning.
The creature lingered inside my head as I closed my eyes. Chuck would know what it had been about. The Vamp knew almost everything, including how to be an overbearing pain in my ass. I rolled over, drawing the blanket to my chin and closed my eyes. Sleep came fast.
Blinding light speared through my lids. I cracked open my eyes to the glare. "What the fuck!" I squinted against the brightness. "Helene turn off the light!"
But there was no response. I pushed my legs out of bed and pulled myself upright, rubbing my eyes. There was no Helene...no, anyone, actually. Just the light, piercing like the midday sun without my sacred ring for protection. I wrenched my hand high, covering my eyes. Why the heck was it so bright?
But the light didn’t just bore into me...it almost...danced.
I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the sparkle and turned to my bedside table.
The surface was studded with hundreds of precious stones. Sunlight glinted on the edges, throwing multi-colored light in every direction. What the hell? I reached over, my fingers sinking into the brilliance only to find my bed shimmered and sparkled underneath me.
They were everywhere.
The walls. The floor. The ceiling, and the furniture, even my damn phone shone—made of jewels. “What the fuck. This is so weird.”
Panic crept along my spine as my bare feet touched the gems.
I stepped toward the door, ready to leave this room behind. But there was no handle, and there was no key. I lifted my head, searching sparkling wardrobes, and star studded walls.
“Ava!” I called. “Ava, I need your help!”
The balcony. I turned to the curtain now heavy and stuck, weighed down with jewels. I stepped outside to find the jewels had taken over the landscape too. The lawn, the trees, branches dripping with enormous red rubies.
"Holy fuck, the school morphed into the Bejeweled game."
I moved to the edge of my balcony and stared into the darkness of Ava’s room. “Ava...Ava can you hear me?”
“No, she can’t.” A deep, guttural snarl came from behind me, before the voice whispered next to my ear. “Careful Vampire... You just might lose your head.”
Instinct kicked in. Fangs grew over my lips as I spun, fists curled,
ready to lash out.
But my world whirled with me, so fast, I stumbled and then fell.
A scream ripped free as I woke with a jolt. I stared at the end of my bed as the sun’s morning rays spilled in between the gaps of the curtains. Just a dream. Just a crazy, goddamn dream. I slumped backwards, my head bouncing as it hit the pillow.
“Goddamn. What the hell was in the blood I drank last night?”
Whatever it was, it was trippy.
Classes. Wolves, Ava...my class with goddamn Leathers. I groaned and kicked the sheets from my body and then rolled. I slid my feet from the bed and stepped on the mess of half folded clothes. The memory of the Vamp creature came back to me.
Maybe that was just part of the dream. God knows it was all crazy enough.
Weird creatures. Visits in the middle of the night.
Careful Vampire...you just might lose your head.
I spun with the echo, my heart hammering, and searched the room. Nothing there, okay? Not a fucking thing. I hurried toward the bathroom, carving through the pile of clothes and kicked something...hard.
Agony shot up my foot like a jolt of electricity. I wailed, collapsing half onto my bed and slid to the floor as I grabbed my ankle. “For the love of a goat nut. Fuck!”
I curled in on myself, rolling back and forth until the pain eased. Tears welled in my eyes. I pawed through the clothes, found the corner of the bedframe and then something soft.
“What the Hell?” I groped the bag, finding the strings which drew the end tight and forgot all about my pain for a second.
It was a bag...a purple bag not much bigger than my fist, but something clinked and jumped inside. “Where the hell did you come from?”
I shoved against the floor with one foot and hobbled to my desk before I sank into the seat. My entire toe pulsed with pain.
But the agony wasn’t all that consumed me...it was the bag. I twisted the thing in my hand, finding a sigil sewn into one side. An upside down triangle with the ends curling outward, and a V at the base, crossing over the curls. I ran a finger over the pattern, one I’d never seen before, and knew what it was…it was a Witch’s sigil.
A sharp shot of energy zapped through my finger. I jolted in my seat, knocked backwards, the chair rocking with me.
“Oww!” The tip of my index finger burned red before the pain eased. I limped to the bathroom and stuck my hand under running water.
What in the world?
I dabbed the burn with my towel and glanced at the bag. Don’t touch it. The words filled me. But the dream haunted me...the damn dream, more than some freaking blood-spiked trip. It almost felt like a...prophecy.
Like it’d all been real.
The little creature in the middle of the night.
The sparkling—I took a step, crossing my bedroom—perfect, jewels. I reached for the tie strings, touching at first. This time where was no stinging burn...this time there was only a throb...throb...throb...like the bag had a pulse of its own.
I opened the string and looked inside.
Something sparkled. Something glinted.
I tipped the bag, watching as diamonds spilled from inside the pouch. Tens of them...hundreds of them, glinted from the morning sun, crashing light through my room in the most dazzling rays.
I plucked one up, holding it between my fingers. A tremor hummed against my skin, making me drop the stone and stumble backward out of my chair. Without looking back, I headed out of my room and banged on Ava’s door.
She opened it, still in her pyjama dress with tiny mermaids on it. Adorable. Her blonde hair stuck outward, and she slouched.
“This better be life or death, or I’m going all Kraken on your ass.” She rubbed sleep out of her eyes.
I grabbed her wrist. “You need to see this. Now.”
“What is it?”
“You’ll see.” I dragged her into my room and closed the door behind us.
She glanced around the place. “Okay, so your room is a pigsty. Oh, and you’re planning on getting a goldfish for a pet?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The clear stones.” She pointed to the table. “I used to have those at home for the tank where I kept my pet crab.”
“Ava, those are diamonds.” And I let loose a long rant about the night’s events, my dream, and this bag that almost ripped off my pinkie toe.
“No fucking way!” She raced to the table and picked up a handful, staring at them. “Do you think they’re real?”
“I doubt some hunchback Vamp would visit me to give me fake ones.”
“Shit.” She flopped into my seat, staring at her open palm. “They’re beautiful.”
When she reached for the bag, I called out, “Careful.”
She flinched, grasping the purple bag, her fingers tracing the sigil stitched into the front of the bag.
“Doesn’t that burn?”
Shaking her head, she scooped all the stones back inside and tied it up. “Did you know that some diamonds were formed in outer space. And apparently, they're found in the mines in Africa and South America, after being deposited by an asteroid that collided with earth. So, these could be alien diamonds. What if they are more valuable and someone is trying to set you up? Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“How do you even know about the space stuff?”
She glanced up at me, one eyebrow arching higher than the other. “I read articles online. You ought to try it sometime.”
“Not everything online is real.” Like the lies I’d read on Vamp Daily about my family. We never sacrificed humans in our backyard. We weren’t savages. We got blood delivered by a courier. “Anyway, what am I meant to do with the stones? Maybe I just hand them over to Chuck.”
“No,” she blurted and dumped the tied bag on the table. “As much as it pains me to say so, last time you told Chuck anything, it caused a world of troubles. We hand it over to Principal Stone. It’s her campus and she can take care of it.”
The suggestion made sense, except that hunchback Vamp knew my full name and then I was there in that strange dream. But I didn’t want problems, so I nodded. “Let’s hand them over to her.”
“Perfect.” She turned toward the door. “I’ll be back in two hours after more sleep and at a more reasonable time.”
My mouth opened to call her back, to get this done now, but she’d already vanished into the hallway and shut the door behind her.
I glanced back at the bag of diamonds, the instinct in my gut churning. I stared at the top of my finger, bright red from the burn. What exactly did this mean?
Chapter Five
Where There’s Smoke There’s Usually Mr. Leathers
Homecoming Black and White Ball. The posters were everywhere.
“What are you going as, for the school dance?” Ava murmured and shoved the last chunk of muesli bar into her mouth.
I turned and looked at her with one brow raised. “You know for someone enlightened with all the mysteries of the universe, you sure are a little thick sometimes.”
“What?” she muttered. “I thought you might want to change it up, from the normal, stuck-up pain in the ass you usually are.”
I lifted my hand and flipped her the bird.
“Anyway.” She ignored the motion, just as she always did. “I guess the real question is, which one are you going to go with?”
“Which one what? I have no idea what you mean.” I muttered staring at the hallway as Judas, Bond, and Nero lifted their gazes toward me. Energy flared through my chest.
“The dance. The Wolves? Duh.”
I had more than the damn dance on my mind. “I don’t know. But what I do know is I need to figure this out.”
“Maybe we could cash them in? Buy a damn island.” Ava murmured.
“No way.” My hand dropped to the diamonds in my pocket. “Not gonna happen, not until we work this out.”
“We?” she muttered. “I swear if I have to eat someone...or anyone, again, I’m cutting off t
he friendship.”
“What about Chuck?” I threw back with a sneer. “You cut off the friendship and he comes with me.”
She stopped dead in the middle of the hall. “You wouldn’t…”
“Oh, I would.” I smiled. “I most certainly would. So you, my kickass, snores like a damn trucky, best friend, are helping me figure this out.”
I caught a scent, someone masculine and canine.
“Figure what out?” Judas murmured in front of me. Bond and Nero stood on either side. It was always the way with them.
Judas didn’t glance at Ava, only held my gaze, searching for something.
“I missed you at the cafeteria last night,” I murmured, wanting him to know I’d turned up, even if he didn’t.
“Didn’t think you’d want to go after such an exhaustive first class with that tattooed dip-shit for a teacher,” he snarled, those brooding dark eyes glinted as the other Wolves turned to their Alpha.
“That’s Leathers, to you.” Ava stepped up and glared at Judas...well, tried to anyway. “Mr. Nefarious Leathers.”
Judas flinched and turned to her. “You’ve got to be shitting me, right?”
I sighed at the smile on her lips and groaned inwardly. “Okay, okay...it’s hilarious, I get it.”
“Nefarious Leathers,” Bond murmured, and Nero chuckled.
“That’s your competition, buddy.” Ava giggled and lifted a hand, poking Judas in the center of his chest.
“There’s no competition,” I teased.
“Damn right there isn’t,” Judas murmured and seized my gaze. “Not from him...or anyone for that matter.”
“I’m gonna leave you guys right there.” Ava blew me a kiss and then strode away.
She loved throwing bombs before she left. It was starting to become her favorite past time.
“Now, getting back to the question, what are you and Ava up to this time, and what needs ‘figuring out’.” He hooked his fingers in the air with the quotation marks.
I glanced to the others. I’d trusted them with my life...twice, and they’d not let me down, so why did this feel different? Why did this feel like I was handing over a lot more than a bag of priceless jewels?
