Vampire (Alpha Claim 8-Final Enforcement): New Adult Paranormal Romance (Vampire Alpha Claim)

by Eros, Marata

  Some unpleasant noises of squishing and muffled howls reached us. Right.

  I shook my head, ignoring it. “We all know what you are now. Playing with fire is a pretty important skill, pal, and you're doing a fine job of managing it.”

  Brett tugged on Carson’s shirt.

  “Let's get outta here. Let him figure his own crap out.”

  Carson shrugged. “Yeah, I was done here anyway. Have fun with that,” he said, motioning at the zombie brawl.

  “See ya, Hart. Jade .” He blew her a kiss.

  “Go guzzle bleach, ya squirrel,” Jade replied.

  I laughed.

  Carson waved her off and started walking away. After a last glance at the one-sided battle, Brett followed him.

  Jade's dad continued to attempt to pry himself out of the mountain of zombies. They would tumble away like bowling pins, then Clyde would straddle him, and it would start all over again.

  “Stop,” I said.

  The zombies froze. One fell over mid-struggle. Über cool.

  Jade's dad lurched unsteadily to his feet, his considerable size a factor on smoothness, along with the booze.

  “You,” I said, and the zombies all looked at me. “Not you guys.”

  They continued to stare at me with steady devotion. Creepy .

  I turned back to Jade's dad. “You better just give up.”

  “I ain't givin' up, but I can see when things get challengin',” he slurred.

  This guy.

  “You have one last chance, girlie. Come with your daddy.” He held his hand out to Jade.

  “No,” she said quietly.

  “I see how you're gonna be. I'll fight that bitch sister of mine and get my kid back where she belongs—under my roof!” He smacked a meaty fist into a meatier palm. His nose was slightly bulbous, a fine webbing of broken capillaries adorning the end.

  “And you !” He jabbed a thick finger right in my chest.

  My zombies tensed.

  “I won't forget what ya did to me today. You're not normal. This”—he jerked his thumb in the direction of the zombies—“ain't normal. Sometime when you're not lookin', I'll be there... waitin'. And there won't be no help from any of them,” he said, pointing a finger at Team-Rot.

  He didn't intimidate me. It wasn't having the zombies around or false bravado. He was a grown man—Dad's age, for God's sake—who had probably been a bully in school, and as an adult, he was a child-beating drunk. I didn't have a drop of respect for him.

  “Don't you come near Jade. You don't know what I can do. You're not gonna hurt her... ever.” I gave him a little shove, just hard enough to make him step back.

  He gave a furtive look at the group of patient zombies. He wasn't going to take them on again.

  His eyes narrowed. “You haven't seen the last of me.” He stared at Jade. “You especially, little lady.” He stumbled off, weaving in a more or less straight line.

  Playing with zombies would sober a guy up.

  ***

  That went well.

  The only relief was Carson's ability was almost as troubling as mine. He would be looked at as a teach-and-contain for sure.

  I turned to Jade. “I gotta get these guys back in the ground.”

  She looked up at me, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

  The Js looked horrified. Girl crying! Girl crying!

  “What's wrong?” I asked.

  A fat tear rode a slow path down her face, and she did one of those hitching breaths that people do when crying might make way to sobbing. “I'm so embarrassed!”

  Genuinely confused, I asked, “Why?”

  “Because he's my dad, and he's drunk and so stupid.”

  Absolutely.

  Jade hands covered her face.

  I shrugged, gently prying them off. I looked into eyes that swam with fresh tears. “Don't worry about him. He isn't going to do the right thing ever. You worrying about it won't change the way he acts.”

  “Can't pick your family,” Jonesy chimed in unhelpfully.

  Jade swiped at her face, nodding quickly. “You're right.”

  “See? That's what I'm talkin' about.” Jonesy did a dance step to emphasize his point.

  Jade's eyes narrowed. “Don't push it.”

  John smiled, I laughed and the moment passed.

  “Let's get your zombies back in the dirt,” Jade said.

  I held out my hand, and she took it in a tight grip. Two things happened at once, the zombies moved to their respective graves, and I felt a low thrum—not voices, but similar to an electrical current.

  I gave a mental “flex” and the energy moved through me, swirling. Then it found the thread that couldn't be seen, but was linked to each corpse.

  With explosive sighs, the breath slid out of the zombies’ bodies. Clyde lingered longest, wearing an expression that went beyond devotion. Bright intelligence burn in his eyes. I shoved the last of that lingering otherness down to them and thought, Die.

  The corpses collapsed on top of their graves as if unconsciousness hit them on the head like a hammer. The earth rolled over them in a blanket of water poured backwards, and they were hidden once again.

  Jade released my hand. “That is such a weird sensation. It makes my teeth ache.” She rubbed her hand on her jeans.

  The whispering was back but manageable. Feeding the power made it quiet to a dull roar, even in the middle of a cemetery. I realized I'd taken the edge off.

  I walked over to Clyde's grave. Something nagged at me, but I didn’t know why. I was having a brain fart. The parents called it teen fog.

  “Let's get outta here,” Jonesy said.

  Nobody had to ask me twice.

  I'd missed supper, a big, bad one in my house. I pulsed my parents on the way back to deflect the wrath of Mom. The three of us got our stories straight before going our separate ways.

  I walked Jade to her house then jogged home. Once inside, I went straight to the kitchen and sat at the table, ready to eat. Dad was sitting at the table, and Mom started heating up my supper. I told them we had just been blowing off some steam because of the AP Test coming up and we’d lost track of time. I'd headed off disaster, so I wasn't ready to tell them about all the other stuff.

  Dad started explaining again about how I had to have the inhibitor with food.

  “Dad, are you worried I’m gonna OD or something?”

  Mom set a bowl of chili in front of me. It had the yummy Mexican cheese on top and a huge hunk of cornbread on the side.

  “Dad just forgets sometimes that you're such an accomplished pill popper.”

  My eyes rolled up to meet hers with the spoon halfway to my open mouth. “How'd that go over with all the other adults? Pill popper? Nice.”

  “I guess I'll be serious about it when I have to be. Right now humor is the lesser of two evils.”

  “What's the other one?” I asked.

  “Anxiety.”

  Oh. I hadn't given a lot of thought to my parents being worried. “The cops still cruising by?”

  Dad nodded. “Yes. Officers Gale and Ward were just here, as a matter of fact.”

  “You know, Caleb,” Mom said, “you would probably do better to refer them as officers rather than cops.”

  Total word-Nazi.

  I took a big swig of milk and asked Mom for the jalapeños and some honey. She passed the honey, and I turned the bottle upside down. They watched as my cornbread was obscured by a molten mass of goodness.

  I put my nose above the bread and took a whiff. Bliss.

  Dad asked, “You having some cornbread with that honey, pal?”

  I grinned and nodded as I blew on everything pre-shovel.

  “Okay, so I want you to get up early for a good breakfast, take the pill, then you can scoot to school. I think I’ll halve the pill, though.”

  “Not gonna make me high, Dad?”

  “Yes, that's the total idea.” He smiled.

  “It's nicely ironic that Caleb doesn't appear to be
blessed with a scientific aptitude, but he’s talented nonetheless,” Mom said, A Point Coming.

  Dad frowned. “I know how you feel about all this, Ali, that we are all meant to be completely unique so the balance works for the cohesive whole. But human nature is very predictable.”

  I swallowed a bite of cornbread. “So you could predict I'd be a zombie raiser?”

  Mom corrected, “Cadaver manipulator.”

  I rolled my eyes. Whatever.

  Dad’s face flushed. “No.” He made a steeple with his fingers. “I certainly didn't anticipate this.”

  That made me stop eating.

  “What did you think I'd be?”

  “Your mother and I had a lot of theories. In the last few years, every parent has waited for the Aptitude Tests or the manifestation of a talent to rear its head. In your case, we didn't need the test.”

  “Thank goodness for that,” Mom said. “What if it had been flushed out in the AP Test, then he'd have been whisked away or worse.”

  “'Or worse'?”

  I resisted the urge to lick my fingers, picked up my napkin instead, and started working over my hands.

  “Just look at the Parker boy,” Mom said.

  “What about him?” I asked. “I've never heard anything about him.”

  “Exactly,” Dad stated.

  CHAPTER 19

  My parents weren’t thrilled when I unceremoniously stuffed the pill in my front pocket. I told them if anyone got the lame idea of checking our backpacks, they wouldn't find the pill. It made sense.

  Mom huffed, and Dad mumbled something about my constitutional rights.

  I was on my sixth pancake, having already plowed through half a pound of bacon.

  Mom grimaced.

  “Caleb, stop shoveling your food.”

  “Mom! Come have a pancake and stop panicking about etiquette.” I took a swig of milk and the whole load slid down the pipe.

  She rolled her eyes. It might have been impressive, but I'd seen Tiff Weller do it. No one could compete.

  I shoveled in my last bite. “Thanks for the breakfast, Mom.”

  My hair fell into my eyes, so I whipped my head back.

  Mom looked at me and my hair then back to my plate. She gave a big sigh and turned around to put the next batch of pancakes on a plate.

  “Ah... hon?” Dad called.

  “I think I want something lighter.” He patted his belly which was barely over the belt.

  I said, “I'll suck those up, Mom.”

  “Are you sure? You've had six already.”

  “Yeah, Mom, still hungry.” I stood and jerked up my shirt, displaying my flat stomach and ribs.

  Dad laughed. “Wow! Doing some dieting?”

  “No, doing some growing, I think,” Mom said, looking at me critically.

  After I ate the next batch of pancakes, I put my dishes in the sink. Mom came over and gave me a hug, which I ducked out of as soon as I could without hurting her feelings. Mom was cool but no touchy.

  Dad gave me a hard clap on the shoulder. “Do you remember the protocol for the pill taking?”

  “Yes,” I told him. “I figured forty times is enough reminders for the next hundred years.”

  “I didn't remind you that many times, Caleb.”

  Mom and I guffawed.

  Dad threw up his hands. “Okay, okay, I surrender. I guess I mentioned it a few times.” When we laughed again, he added, “Ah... more than a few times.”

  I walked to the door, throwing on my backpack and headed outside. A drizzle settled over me, and I was instantly wet, freaky weather. I drug myself to school.

  My thoughts crowded inside my head like cobwebs. The Js and Jade were gonna meet at my locker, and then we had alphabetical buildings for the testing.

  I ripped open the door and entered the foyer. I used my foot to prop the door open so a girl could slide through. Her hoodie obscured her face . She let it slam behind her with a satisfying clatter.

  She flipped her hood back. “Hey, Hart,” Tiff said. “Done any playing in the graveyard sandbox lately?”

  I grinned. A light bruise lay beneath one eye. I wondered how she'd explained that to her parents.

  She read my face and said, “They don't know.”

  “Who?”

  “My parents, bright one.”

  I looked around while kids surged back and forth, the constant noise of their talking in the background.

  I leaned closer to her. “Are you nervous?”

  “Hell, yeah. I don't want any attention for this. Maybe I'll just hit a couple of points. I'll get noticed but not noticed , if ya know what I mean.”

  I did.

  “I was thinking about what happened. It’s damn good that we're not testing in the same building. Since we're like... ” She frowned.

  “An old radio?” I supplied.

  “Somethin' like that. Whatever it is, I don't want to pop some false-positive crap. Ya know, hit as an all-five just because you're in the room.” Her eyes narrowed. “Ya know, Hart, you're okay... for a boy.”

  I frowned at her backwards compliment. “Thanks... I guess.”

  She looked around furtively then whispered, “But just because we're both AFTD doesn't mean we have to be in the same frying pan.”

  She straightened and started to turn away.

  “Wait. Can I count on you?”

  “Well, yeah. I just meant that I don't want to be corralled in some creepy place because of getting sucked into your undead drama.”

  Tell me how you really feel.

  Aloud I said, “Gotcha.”

  “See ya later and good luck.” She flipped her hood back, skulking into the crowd.

  I'd been so into my conversation I'd missed everyone standing by my locker. Three faces peered at me through the mess of kids. John had his usual expression of silent mode, and weather had stirred his shock of orange hair into a tornado. Jonesy was smiling.

  Jade made my breath catch in my throat like an errant bubble. She wore coal-black jeans and All Stars with laces as black as the jeans. A brilliant green camisole stole all attention inside the V-neck of a tight black T-shirt that ended at the swell of her hips. She gave a subtle flick of her head, and her hair swept away over one shoulder.

  I realized I had stopped moving forward. With a low chuckle, I resumed my progress across the commons. Jade's smile seemed just for me.

  We shuffled around nervously. The test meant a lot to all of us. So far, I was the only one who had the big guns. Well, Carson could burn the place down, but he didn't have any cool drugs that would buy him time. He was going away to the same school as all paranormals.

  An evil idea began to take shape in my mind.

  Jonesy picked up on it immediately. “You've thought of something cool.” Leave it to him to scope the potential for trouble.

  “Yeah. Here we were hoping to distract the dorks from making trouble for me, but Carson has his own.”

  John stroked his chin thoughtfully.

  “Let's play it cool today,” he said, looking at Jonesy.

  Jonesy glared at him.

  “Let's try not to make a ruckus,” John clarified.

  “A fracas,” Jade added.

  Jonesy appeared deeply confused.

  “What they mean is, don't blurt out anything in the middle of testing to get us in trouble,” I said.

  “Well, hell no.” Jonesy put a hand to his chest, offended. “I wouldn't do that.” His eyebrows dumped above his eyes. “Thanks for the faith, ya wankers.”

  We all did eye-rolls. Yeah, that was so going to happen; Jonesy not talking out of turn. Jonesy following along and playing well with others.

  Jonesy having a filter.

  Jade said, “You're a great guy, Jones, but I have noticed that you aren't always self-aware.”

  After a short staring contest, Jonesy slumped. “Okay, I guess I'll try to concentrate on the test.”

  “Well that's the concept,” John said.

  The pr
incipal walked out into the commons, manually ringing the class bell. Suddenly, my awesome bacon and pancake breakfast sat like a cold lump in my belly, waiting for expulsion.

  Jade held out her, hand and I took it. The Js glanced over at me nervously.

  Principal Avers began in his monotonous voice saying, “People, listen closely to your building assignments. All pulse accessories are not allowed in the testing facilities. There will be mandatory breaks every fifty minutes.”

  He droned on about some other unimportant stuff. I tuned him out as I played on my pulse. Then, I started listening when he got to building assignments.

  “Last names beginning in A through H will test in Building Alpha. Last names beginning in I through P will test in Building Bravo. Names beginning in Q through Z will test in Building Charlie.”

  I did some mental sorting: Jade, Sophie, and Jonesy in Bravo, along with Brett. I would be with Carson in Alpha, while John and Tiff were in Charlie.

  My eyes met John's over Jade's head. He was thinking the same thing I was; Carson with me and Brett with the girls. Sucky.

  Principal Avers added, “Disperse to your respective buildings. You have five minutes. Line up outside the doors to be scanned.”

  Pretending to cough into my hand, I jammed the pill in my mouth and dry swallowed it.

  I turned to Jonesy. “Can you sit next to the girls?”

  He nodded, serious for once. “Yeah, I know Brett's in there.”

  “I think it'll be okay, but he's riding on the edge. I don't know what'll set him off.”

  He nodded and walked toward Bravo.

  Jade pressed her lips to my cheek. The sensation was like butterfly wings on my skin. The school had a rule against PDA, but she had chanced it anyway. I smiled down at her, squeezing her hand as her fingers slid slowly out of mine. I watched her walk away, Sophie flanking her out of nowhere.

  John came up beside me. “She'll be okay.”

  That was one of those lies I let John tell. An untruth of comfort. Nothing was going to be okay.

  “Good luck.”

  “You too,” I replied and walked over to the scanning line.

  ***

  The slim paddle hovered behind my ear for about two seconds, then the school nurse said, “Hart, cleared.”