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

by Eros, Marata

  “Doing any corpses lately?” Carson asked like the girl he was.

  “Piss off. Thought you called a truce, Hamilton,” I said, thinking about the drive-by and flip-off session at Gramps.

  “Nah, I'd have to find someone interesting or more stupid than you. Besides, I've got skills now, you're no match for me. Or that crazy bitch girlfriend of yours.”

  “Leave Jade out of it, dickhead.”

  Carson smiled. “Make me.”

  Griswold was suddenly there. “Well, some things never change. Is there going to be an issue needing my attention here, boys?”

  “No, Miss Griswold,” but my voice said, yes.

  Her eyes narrowed on my face. “Tell me in a way that I'll believe next time, Mr. Hart.”

  She swung that square head with the beady eyes on Carson. “And you...” she had her finger hovering underneath his nose because damn , had he grown over the summer, “I don't care who your relatives are, in this class your butt is mine and I know what you mutter underneath your breath when you think you're so smart. Stay stupid and you'll stay off my radar. Got me?” she asked, placing her hands on her plump hips. Why were PE teachers hogs anyway? Made zero sense.

  Carson laughed and leaned into her, their noses almost touching and he said, “Whatever...”

  I couldn't believe a teacher talked to him that way and that he talked that way back. She was a tough he-she, I'd give her that. “Take your attitude straight to the office, Hamilton.”

  “Fine, whatever...” he said again, making a show of starting a little flame in his hand and blowing her a kiss.

  “Go!” she almost yelled, pointing at the door. He went but looked over his shoulder at me, grinning. Wow, what a way to start freshman year. Then he gave me the middle finger salute as soon as she'd turned her back.

  I guess there was some comfort in his consistency. If he'd been nice, something would have been up.

  Jade looked over at me. I just mouthed, later .

  After PE ended and that first day of school was finally over, I could relax. The whole crew was in PE so we just went by our lockers and threw backpacks in and took out pulse-pads. Our parents had a lot of thumbprint signatures to make for all the BS paperwork about rules, discipline and syllabus stuff.

  We moped around outside the school, missing Jonesy. Finally, Sophie said, whipping out her pulse, “I'm gonna just pulse him.”

  We all had the new pulse phones now. My parents had gotten mine for my birthday last October, but like everything, prices had come down and all the kids had them. They were such an improvement over the old method: texting. Who'd want to enter everything with their fingers? Now we could just depress our thumb on the pulse-pad, and think our conversations and they appeared.

  Damn handy.

  We huddled around her while she pulsed the J-man.

  Hey Soph! - MJ

  Hey Jonesy, whatcha doin'? -SM

  Well, survived the dumb-ass first day of school and had my man Bry at my back so all's good. What about my boys, what are they doin'? - MJ

  “Tell him to meet us at the hide-a-way,” John said.

  “When?” she asked, looking at me.

  I held up four fingers.

  Soph, are you holding down your thumb, I'm getting big-time feedback - MJ

  Sophie lifted her thumb, all her internal dialogue was all mixed up with answering us. Oops.

  They’re right here...they wanna meet at the dump. -SM

  You goin' with? -MJ

  A light blush rose on her cheeks and she shooed us away to finish the pulse without an audience.

  Interesting.

  “He's comin' by with Bry in the car,” she said.

  We pulsed the Parental Authority but for Jade it was her aunt (couldn't live with her dad because he was a total Psycho and her mom was dead). And Alex, well... I think he lived with his grandparents.

  Bry rolled up in his car while we were discussing transportation.

  Perfect timing.

  He and Jonesy got out of his car, the thing steaming like a casserole out of an oven. “Hey dude, looks like your car is imploding,” John remarked.

  “Nah, she's still running,” he said, whacking a hand on the hood to emphasize its sturdiness and a hubcap popped off, rolling down the road that led out of the school. We all watched it as it made its way into the main street where cars started swerving to avoid it.

  Jonesy looked on with interest. “Do ya need that for it to run?”

  “Nope,” Bry said.

  “No harm, no foul then!” Jonesy said, unfazed.

  Sophie and Jade looked doubtful. “What if that happens to a tire.”

  We were all quiet for a second, then Tiff said, “All the restraints work?”

  Right. That'd work, I guess.

  We all climbed in and made our way to Kent Refuse. We could discuss the day in detail and figure out a new scheme. Well Jonesy could figure out a new scheme.

  We drove all the back roads so the cops wouldn't get excited about eight kids. (Even though Tiff said restraints, there just weren't enough so we were flirting with death...) Oh well.

  Bry's car rolled up in front of the familiar fence and we piled out, all of us stretching out the kinks from the tight quarters of the car.

  John said, “That isn't going to work, we need someone else to drive too or some of us ride our bikes. I feel like I can't breathe.”

  “Shudup ya complainer!” Jonesy rallied, popping every bone in his body until Tiff told him to knock it off. He ignored her totally and did it until I told him to knock it off.

  He did, smiling.

  “Our dude Bry's got the wheels, he's King Transportation until one of you morons can get your license.”

  We all rolled our eyes.

  “Ah-doy. Some of us aren’t even fifteen yet,” Sophie said.

  “I am,” Alex piped in.

  We all stared at him, he was smaller than everyone except Jade.

  “Seriously?” Jonesy asked, all tact.

  Alex sighed, pushing up his glasses. “Yeah... summer birthday. Studies have shown that males do better if they're on that cusp of the age range for attending school if they are slightly older. It can be an academic advantage.”

  John was nodding while Bry and Jonesy looked at Alex suspiciously.

  “Okay. Let me get this straight, you're what, three months older than me so you have an ʻacademic advantageʼ,” Jonesy said.

  John interrupted, “Don't try to figure it out Jonesy, he'll drive sooner, that's the cool part.”

  Jonesy nodded. “I guess. Do ya have your permit at least?”

  Alex nodded. “Of course.”

  Jonesy screwed up his face and mimicked Alex, “ ʻOf courseʼ.”

  Alex looked confused and Jonesy slapped him on the back. “Listen nerd-head,” and he winked at John, who had opened his mouth to protest, “we only need contributing members to our little soiree here, so you,” he pointed to him, winking, “have to put out or get out.”

  John had his head buried in his hands, so I plowed forward, explaining while Bry tried not to laugh and the girls glared at Jonesy, who blithely didn't notice as usual.

  “What Jonesy's saying, dude, is you being smart isn't enough, we have John here.” John threw up his hands, stalking off.

  Huh, I guess I was making it worse as I saw Alex's narrow shoulders slump. “And you are unclassified. .. so, we have to be cautious.”

  “Right, my bro Caleb here,” he pointed to me and I did a mock-bow, “is doing the undead program. Soph can spy on the world.” She leveled a dirty look his way. “Jade knows how everyone's feeling, Bry's got the wheels and takes the beatings.” That got Bry grinning. “John keeps the dickheads on a leash like the dogs they are and... Tiff is on the same wavelength as my Zombie-man, Caleb.”

  Jonesy finished his speech, spreading his arms wide, feeling very full of himself when Jade said, “You're being a jerk, Jonesy.”

  “Yeah, that,” Sophie said.

&n
bsp; “Yeah, Jones... can you rein in your self-love for like, two seconds and see something from somebody else's perspective?” Tiff asked.

  Jonesy looked puzzled for a second then said, “Ah... no. Not really.”

  John groaned out loud.

  Alex didn't say anything, he just walked over to Bry's car and putting his hand under the car, he grabbed the frame and lifted the car to the height of his head .

  With one hand.

  The girls gasped and Bry shouted, “Hey—! What the hell! Can you, ah—put my car down?!”

  John and I had our mouths hanging open when Jonesy said, “Sounds like our man Alex has been holding out on us.”

  Unclassified, my ass.

  Alex looked at Bry, and like he was putting a teacup on a saucer, he gently put the car down.

  It gave a little bounce, settling quickly.

  Nobody said anything for a minute, but Jonesy's wheels were turning, palming his chin thoughtfully. “I guess you'll do.”

  John sighed again.

  Bry said, “Ah, this rounds out the group nicely?”

  Tiff barked out a laugh.

  “No offense, Alex, but you don't look... ah...” Sophie started.

  “No, he doesn't, but he is ,” Jade said.

  We all nodded but it was John that said it best, “Maybe we're some kind of variety-magnet or something.”

  Bry nodded. “But, I haven't heard anything about...”

  “Super-human strength,” John added.

  “Yeah,” he looked down on his fingers, ticking off the different paranormal abilities, “A-P,” he nodded to Sophie, “Empath, Zombie-empathizer...”

  “Hey!” Tiff and I said together.

  Bry laughed, and kept cataloging, “Null.” He winked at John. “Smart-ass,” he finished, pointing to Jonesy.

  Jonesy smiled, “Everyone has their job, Weller.” They had a moment while I was thinking of what this would mean.

  “Have you told the teacher that you're most definitely, classified. ”

  “No, they're on a need-to-know basis,” Alex said.

  Okay. Who was I to bitch about keeping paranormal skills under wraps?

  “Well, let's not stand around with our thumbs up our asses, let's get to the hide-a-way and discuss crap,” Bry said.

  “I like it,” Jonesy agreed.

  We trooped off to the hide-a-way with Alex in tow.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I came home to Onyx meeting me at the door. Swinging my backpack on the chair I hucked my shoes off in the foyer and cruised into the kitchen to check for food.

  “Hey, pal,” Mom said.

  “Hey,” I said, rooting around in the pantry.

  Mom didn't even turn. “Don't get in there and toss anything back. I'll have supper ready at 5:30.”

  Damn.

  “ You can have a small slice of banana bread to tide you over but no more.”

  Thank God because my stomach was a roaring inferno.

  I sliced a puny bit off the loaf and plopped down on the chair at the kitchen table.

  Onyx sidled up to me, wagging his tail, hopeful. I put a crumb aside to save for later.

  “How was your first day of high school?”

  “Boring,” I said, absently stroking Onyx's black head.

  “What about your AFTD teacher?”

  “Smith? He's okay.” That reminded me, he'd never told us how many points he was...

  The Dog thought the Boy smelled different and wonderful today, he would press his face against the Boy...

  Onyx was being annoying with the sniffing.

  “Knock it off, Onyx.” I said, displacing his nose from my jeans, where it had been glued moments before. He gave me the you're-being-cruel look and wagged his tail. Oh brother, I slipped him the crumb while Mom wasn't looking.

  Wag-thunk-wag.

  “That reminds me, do you have paperwork for me to pulse?” she turned, giving me her full attention.

  “Yeah, it's in the backpack.”

  “Okay, don't forget because they'll penalize us.”

  I think I had that down now.

  I walked over to the backpack on the chair and hung it up on the hook before Mom could rant and got the pulse-pad out and handed it to her.

  She immediately opened it, depressing her thumb on the pad.

  The luminescent green letters sprang to life: Authorized, legal guardian of Caleb Hart, Alicia, mother.

  I walked away, she had it.

  “Hey,” she called out and I looked back, “was it okay without Jonesy?”

  I thought about it, deciding it blew. “Not really. Kinda boring without the Jonester.”

  She nodded. “He'll have another Aptitude Test at Kent Lake, right?”

  “Yeah, but none of us think he's gonna pop anything.”

  “Going,” she corrected automatically.

  I shrugged, thinking back to the hide-a-way conversations earlier.

  *

  “Come on, it's not that bad, Jonesy,” Bry said.

  “Speak for yourself, Weller. No strangeness, no freak-club.” Jonesy indicated all of us sitting around. “No crappy jerks to try and entice into traps.”

  Speaking of which. “Saw Carson today, definitely not on with the truce.”

  “Yeah, what happened Caleb?” Jade asked.

  “Just vague threats but he back-talked Griswold and got a trip to the office.”

  “Nice! Right out-of-the-box? Not bad for the first day of school.” Jonesy said, not without admiration.

  John made a noise in the back of his throat, it sounded suspiciously like a swear word.

  “What Caleb is saying,” he said with a tone of voice that clearly said, sharpen up, doofus, “he is on our radar as possible trouble.”

  “He was never off mine,” Bry said with gravity.

  “Who's Carson?” Alex asked.

  We all turned to him.

  “What?” he shrugged. “I just moved here last year.”

  “A total issue,” John expounded.

  “Clearly... but?” He threw a questioning look at me.

  “He's a fire-starter that hates me and keeps sucking up other losers to stand up and take notice of our group.”

  “Why? I mean, of all the kids to worry about, you're just—”

  “Normal,” Sophie stated.

  Jade nodded, agreeing.

  That was about the highest compliment I'd had in a long time.

  “Except for the,” John put his thumb and index finger really close together, “the little zombie-contingent.”

  There was that.

  Alex nodded. “Okay, does it have anything to do with your dad?”

  Tiff looked at him. “Pretty insightful.”

  “I have my moments,” he squeaked out.

  “Yes, Carson just has to be the most popular, rich, perfect guy,” I clarified.

  “I think he's a dick,” Tiff said.

  I smiled, she did have a way with tellinʼ it.

  Jonesy nodded and John had agreed as explanations went that was spot-on.

  “I don't know, it's been like fifteen years since my dad did the mapping of the genome, who cares anymore, really?”

  They all looked at me.

  “I'm just gonna say it. We're all paranormals because of what your dad started,” Jade said the obvious.

  “It just keeps coming back to that. If he hadn't discovered the markers...” she held her arms out, like, we'd all be mundane.

  Jonesy, who had zero desire for introspection said, “Anyway, back to my important first day of school.”

  Tiff rolled her eyes and Sophie looked on with interest.

  “Everything sucks donkey dicks except for Math, and Science is okay too. The rest—hell—I feel like one of Caleb's zombies in there.”

  I frowned, was there something bad about being one of my zombies?

  He saw my face, waving away my displeased expression. “But, here's the thing, they've moved up the,” he did airquotes, “ʻyou-may-ha
ve-a-righteous-paranormal-ability testʼ to this Friday.”

  Really?

  “I guess we can hope,” Sophie said quietly.

  Jonesy gave his full-toothed grin at her, a sparkle in his eyes.

  She grinned back.

  Bry interrupted our conjecture, “What about the cop-angle, Hart?”

  I looked at Tiff, who shrugged.

  “I thought you were gonna call?” I said to her.

  “Nah, let's do it together. Besides, you're the shit and all.”

  Huh. I didn't know about that, but I wanted to help out.

  “Okay, when I get home, I'll let The Parents in on the plan.”

  “Your mom's going to have a bunny.”

  “Why do you guys always say your parents are going to have some random animal?” Alex asked.

  Jonesy looked at him. “Gotta keep up with the verbiage, pal. Gotta be a thinker,” he said, tapping his nappy head with a finger.

  John had to turn and look somewhere else to keep from busting out laughing.

  Tiff saved it. “You're such an intellectual force, Jonesy.”

  He glared at her, “I can be—ya know, you Weller's—”

  I lifted up a palm. “They're mouthy but they put out, Jonesy.”

  “True,” John said.

  “I guess,” Jonesy said grudgingly.

  I summarized, “We need to meet back here and find out what's happening with Jonesy. And I will have answers about what Tiff and I are gonna do about the child-killing-creeper and how to stop him. And, John ...?”

  He turned to me, the ghost of a smile still hovering on his lips.

  “Fill Alex in on everything, he needs to be brought up-to-speed. With the way things work around us, anything could happen and I don't want him to be a mushroom.”

  Alex raised an eyebrow.

  “Kept in the dark and fed shit,” Jonesy said without preamble.

  Nice.

  Bry laughed. “You guys.”

  “They have their charms,” Tiff elaborated.

  “Okay, Friday then?”

  It was settled, we'd have answers and direction for the year, and it didn't include schoolwork.