Riley shoved again with his arm against John’s throat. “What she is is none of your business.”
He gave a gasp for air, but managed to rasp, “Is she even human?”
My heart sank. Short of wearing gloves constantly for the next week so he never got to see how quickly the damage he had caused healed, I would need to come clean. The fact he could comprehend that someone might exist who wasn’t human perhaps made his mind a little more open.
“Let him go, Riley.”
My boyfriend glanced back at me. “No way, Icy. I should kill him for what he just did to you.”
I have to admit, I was tempted to let him. “No, let’s just get out of here. Enough bad stuff has happened.”
John didn’t say anything as Riley released his arm and backed away. I kept my injured, but quickly healing hand behind my back so my professor wouldn’t see the proof he needed. As I passed the desk, I reached out my uninjured hand and snatched the paperwork off the desk. I hadn’t forgotten the reason I’d come to his office in the first place.
Riley and I left the room, and hurried down the corridor. I only knew that I wanted to get away from the school. We burst out into the open air, and I was thankful not to see a single sign of fog. If I’d had to deal with that again, I think I’d have lost my mind.
Riley’s bike was parked in the lot, and without needing to discuss it, we headed over to the vehicle. Riley swung his leg over the bike, and I climbed on the back, wrapping my arms around his waist. My hand still stung, but already felt better.
I took comfort in the roar and thrum of the bike beneath me, the wind whipping my hair as he drove away from campus and toward his home. Inside, I allowed myself to relax, resting my chin on his shoulder, just happy to be back with him. But so many worries jumbled around my head, I barely knew how to distinguish them.
We reached Riley’s trailer. Tension still radiated from Riley’s body, and I knew he was still furious. I was more worried than angry.
He stormed into the trailer, me following close behind. “I can’t believe that teacher thought he would get away with stabbing a fucking knife in the back of your hand.”
“It was a letter opener.”
“Whatever. He’s not going to get away with it.”
I sighed and sat down on the narrow couch. “There’s bigger things to worry about, Riley. He did what he did because he knows what I am, or at least he knows I’m not totally human. At some point very soon, this is all going to come out, and I don’t know what’s going to happen when it does.”
Secrecy was one of the main rules I lived by in Los Angeles. A few people here knew what I was, but they were all people I had believed I could trust. What a professor would do with this information, I had no idea, but I figured it wouldn’t be good.
His face hardened. “So we get rid of him.”
“I can’t go around killing people who cause me problems.”
He cocked one of his thick, dark eyebrows. “No?”
I glared at him. “No!”
Riley stepped forward and reached down to grab my hand. He pulled me up to standing, pulling my body hard against his. “I’ll kill anyone who is a threat to you. I mean that, Icy.”
I had to admit it was good to know someone had my back, but at the same time, I didn’t want John Spencer dead. “I don’t want you going around killing people for me. I’m more than capable of killing someone myself if I want.”
He leaned into me and kissed my neck, sending shivers down my body. “Why do you always have to be such a hard-ass?”
I smiled as his kisses traveled up my throat, across my jaw, and onto my mouth. Before I could answer, my body was melting into his and his hands found their way beneath my shirt and against my skin.
In a sudden flurry of movement, we rid each other of our clothes and he pushed me backward so we ended up on the narrow coach in a tangle of limbs. His mouth left mine to move down my body, kissing my breasts and heading lower between my legs. I squirmed against him as his tongue worked my most sensitive area, and the worries of the last couple of days fled my mind. All I thought about was the pleasure that now had me in its grip, and exactly what Riley was doing with his mouth.
He built me up, until my breaths came frantic, my chest heaving. His hand reached up to cup my breast, his finger pinching my nipple and enhancing my arousal. Before I had the chance to come, his mouth left me and he rose over my body, positioning himself.
“I think you know how to soften me up,” I said.
He gave a wicked smile and shifted his hips, pushing into me. I gasped and gripped his shoulders, my legs wrapped around him. We found our rhythm and both reached our peak before tumbling off the edge.
Chapter
16
Iwas dreaming again.
I recognized the sensations this time, the way I ran with my breath bursting from my lungs, my feet hitting the ground in a jarring way that reverberated through the rest of my body. To my left lay the beach and ocean, and I ran down toward the sand, just as Melissa had that first night.
I glanced back over my shoulder to catch a glimpse of whoever was chasing me, but it was dark, and my glance was too brief to tell. But I was certain I was being chased, I had no doubt in my mind. If someone was chasing me again, that meant someone else was being hunted by the same person who had killed Melissa and hurt Kayla.
I was on the beach again. Why the beach? I didn’t understand why the killer kept bringing his victims down here. But then I saw it, the fog floating in from the water, and getting closer with every passing second.
The fog! There was something about the fog I needed to know.
Wake up! I screamed in my head. You need to wake up!
But I was trapped inside whoever’s body I was seeing through. I searched inside the person’s head to try to get a sense of their identity, perhaps make contact and try to communicate, but their consciousness was a ball of blind panic, and I got no sense of them being aware another person had somehow tapped into their head. I had to assume either Laurel or Dana was running, and from my experience with Dana, my best guess would be Laurel.
I wanted to cry. Laurel was my best friend in Sage Springs, other than Riley, and I couldn’t stand the idea that I might be witness to her death without being able to do something about it. Why didn’t she use her magic to protect herself? Wasn’t there enough time? I knew she had powers of her own, even if they weren’t as strong as when she was in the circle. She’d still have enough to be able to ward off an attacker.
The thought came to me; perhaps that’s what Kayla did. Maybe that’s why the attacker hadn’t been able to finish the job—because she’d used some kind of magic on them.
I stumbled onto the beach, my feet sinking into the sand. Why had she come here, knowing it was where Melissa had died?
I needed to wake up. It was the only way I could help, though I had no idea if I would make it in time. Please, Laurel, help me, I pleaded in my head, praying I’d get through to her. I wanted to pinch myself, or slap myself around the face, but my hands were not my own.
The fog grew closer, edging onto the sand now, blocking my view of the ocean.
Go away! I wanted to scream at it. Leave us alone!
But it continued to sweep across the beach, engulfing my feet and legs, and finally my body. Hands grabbed me from behind, and I twisted and fell.
My ankle smacked against a sharp rock, spearing pain up my leg, but not before I caught sight of my attacker’s face …
I bolted upright and didn’t pause for a second. Not even bothering to wake Riley, I jumped out of bed. Grabbing my clothes from where they’d been strewn across the floor, I tugged them on as I ran to the door. The door was locked—extra security due to the killer at large—and I fumbled at the lock, before it clicked open.
“Icy?” Riley’s confused, sleep-thickened voice called from the bedroom, but I couldn’t pause long enough to explain what had happened. I needed to get to the beach.
I ha
d expected fog to be thick around the trailer, but, assuming that part of my dream was real as well, it hadn’t made it this far inland. I believed the fog had something to do with what was hunting the girls. I had no idea what or how, but it couldn’t be a coincidence that it had made an appearance every time someone had been killed.
No, I didn’t know Laurel was dead. I might still have time to save her.
I ran faster than I ever had in my life. My feet felt as if they blurred beneath me, my arms pumping at my sides. Fresh waves of pain rolled through my body as I jarred all of my healing bones and muscles with every step, but I didn’t let a little pain slow me down. Even when I heard the roar of a motorbike behind me, I didn’t reduce my speed.
Riley pulled his bike alongside me. “What are you doing?” he yelled at me. “Get on!”
I glanced at him, not even slowing my pace, but the bike would be quicker, and I was bound to grow tired soon. I slowed to allow the bike to move slightly ahead of me, and then with a leap I didn’t even know I was capable of, spring-like, I jumped onto the back. It wobbled under the impact, the front wheel veering one way and then the other as Riley over-steered, but he was a professional and managed to keep the bike under control.
“Get to the beach!” I yelled in his ear. “It’s happening again!”
He seemed to know exactly what I was talking about. He revved the throttle and the bike roared forward, making me cling tighter to the seat. Wind whipped through my hair, and we left the track and headed onto the main road, down toward the beach.
“Look!” I yelled in his ear. “The fog!”
The sight of it hanging like a thick cloud over the beach made my blood run cold. Laurel was beneath the fog somewhere, possibly hurt, most likely dead. I fought against tears. I couldn’t stand to lose anyone else.
Riley skidded the bike to a halt at the top of the beach.
“Can you get rid of the fog?” I cried to him.
He nodded, his jaw tight. As I’d seen him do a couple of days ago, he lowered his head and closed his eyes. He started to speak words beneath his breath, and then lifted his hands. A wind came from nowhere, ruffling my hair, and a pathway emerged in the fog, leading a gap across the sand and down to the sea. But there was no sign of a body lying on the beach. I tried to picture in my head exactly where I’d been during the dream, how close the cliffs had been and how far from the ocean. I’d hit my ankle on a rock, so I must have been closer to the cliffs.
I lifted my hand and pointed. “Try over there.”
Riley opened his eyes to follow where I was pointing, and then swept his hand in that direction, using the wind to push back the thick, white cloud.
The sand appeared like a silver slash in the small amount of moonlight which managed to break through the fog due to the area Riley had cleared. There, near the cliffs, lay the darker shape of a body.
“Oh, God, Laurel!”
I left Riley at the top of the beach, hoping he was strong enough to keep back the fog. I ran, my heels kicking up the sand, my heart pounding. The person was a girl, I could tell from the long hair spread around their face, but as I grew closer I realized my suspicion of it being Laurel was wrong.
I skidded to my knees beside her. “Brooke!”
Without even touching her, I knew my roommate was dead. I couldn’t hear her heart beat, or the breath leaving her body. Even though she must have only been dead a short while, her body was already cooling. The specific scent death had surrounded her like an aura.
A wail escaped my throat and I leaned over her, placing my forehead against her inert shoulder. Sobs shuddered through my body. I had failed her. I hadn’t saved her. I could have been faster, could have woken myself earlier. When she’d told me the previous day that she felt like someone was following her, I could have done more. This was my fault!
“I’m so sorry,” I told her, between sobs. “I’m so, so sorry.”
I lost track of time, but the next thing I was aware of was Riley crouched beside me and his hand on my shoulder.
I lifted my head, my eyes wide. “The fog!” If Riley was here, who was keeping it back? The killer might still be hidden somewhere in its depths, and if it killed Brooke, then anyone could be at risk.
“It’s okay. It’s gone now.”
I sniffed. “We have to call the police, and an ambulance.” I wasn’t sure. Did you even need to call an ambulance for someone who was already dead?
Suddenly, I remembered something from the dream. Brooke had been running, and someone had caught her and pulled her back around, and in that moment, I’d caught a glimpse of his face.
With a gasp, I covered my mouth with my hands.
Riley frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“I saw who did it! I saw them in my dream. It was Dr. Spencer.”
Riley blinked at me in surprise. “Your professor? John? Are you sure? I mean, he’s obviously a little unhinged—he stabbed you in the hand, for Jesus’ sake—but a killer?”
“I only know what I saw. It was his face!”
“You can get dreams wrong, though, can’t you? Wasn’t it Dana you suspected before? And what about what happened on the roof? Didn’t you say someone pushed you, but John Spencer was already on the ground when you fell?”
I shook my head, wanting to cry. “I don’t know anymore. I’m so confused.”
He pulled me into his arms. “Hey, don’t cry. We’ll figure it out.”
“We have to! Before anyone else gets hurt!”
I pulled out the cell phone Riley had given me, but his hand on my arm stopped me from doing anything else.
“Wait a minute. What are you going to tell the police? This is going to look crazily suspicious after you and Laurel found Kayla as well. And if you point them in the direction of your tutor, he could easily tell people about his suspicion about you.”
“No one would believe him.”
“Maybe not, but if they also suspect you of murder and grievous bodily harm, they might run some tests or something.” He shook his head. “I don’t know exactly. I’m just telling you this won’t look good.”
“We can’t leave her here!”
“I’m not suggesting we do.” He glanced down at the cell in my hand. “That phone is a burner cell. It’s prepaid, and unregistered, so it can’t be traced back to you. I think we should call the cops and place an anonymous tip.”
I chewed on my lower lip. What he was saying made sense. I didn’t want to be suspected for anyone’s death, even if, deep down, I felt partially responsible.
“Okay,” I relented. “We’ll do it your way.”
I placed the call. Making my voice low and growly, I said, “There’s another body on the beach,” and then I hung up.
Riley cocked an eyebrow. “Short and sweet.”
“What else could I say?”
I hoped no one had driven past and spotted Riley’s bike during the time we’d spent on the sand. I didn’t want him to have to explain that away, and it would only put more suspicion on him. But it was the early hours now, I guessed around four in the morning, and the rest of Sage Springs slept soundly.
Hand in hand, we hurried back to his bike. I didn’t want to go just yet, but the police would be here any moment and we couldn’t risk being around when they arrived. It felt so wrong to abandon Brooke’s body on the beach—after all, her killer might still be around, watching, and waiting for us to leave—but we didn’t have any other choice.
Riley swung his leg over the bike’s seat, and I took my place on the back. The engine thrummed to life beneath us, and he turned it in a tight circle and roared back the way we’d come. Riley drove us back up Ocean Drive, leaving the beach, and Brooke’s body, behind us. Within minutes, we were hidden by the windswept bushes that lined the cliff, their branches flattened and deformed from the brunt of the offshore wind. I clung to Riley’s waist, resisting the urge to look back and see if the authorities had arrived yet.
I wondered when my parents would get wind of
this and demand that I come home. They didn’t have a leg to stand on, though. I’d lived my whole life trying to avoid trouble of some kind or another—be it other vampires, witches, or God knew what else. My parents had always done their best to keep me safe, but we’d still managed to get involved in a lot of trouble. The rest of the world carried on regardless, totally unaware of this other existence which lived, side-by-side to their regular, ordinary lives. My parents could try to drag me home, but I didn’t believe Los Angeles was any safer than Sage Springs, even taking into account what was happening now. Plus, and perhaps most importantly, Los Angeles didn’t have Riley in it. I loved my folks, but I could live without them. I didn’t think I could live without him.
Chapter
17
Despite the disturbed night, I wasn’t able to get back to sleep. Though Riley slept soundly—as he was prone to do—I took myself off into the living area, and set up my laptop. I still had the information about the election to rewrite into an acceptable story, which I would get to Dana when I got into school in a few hours. I wanted to take my mind off the memory of Brooke’s fragile, motionless face as she lay, dead on the beach.
Though I tried to concentrate on the profiles of the people running for election, my mind turned the events of the last few days over and over. I didn’t know what to think. Brooke wasn’t part of the circle, which meant my earlier theory about someone trying to destroy them was wrong, unless, of course, Brooke was a case of mistaken identity and the killer had believed her to be one of the witches.
And the killer? I had seen Dr. Spencer in my dream. Was it really him? But then where did that leave my suspicions about Dana? Was Dr. Spencer able to lure the girls out of their beds in the middle of the night? Were they likely to have gone with him, no questions asked? I remembered the insight I’d gotten into Dana when we’d first met, how she’d been fighting with Dr. Spencer. Could the two of them be working together to kill the girls?
Twisted Magic (The Dhampyre Chronicles Book 2) Page 13
