by CS Yelle
“I have to stop doing this,” I cried.
“It’s fine, my shirts dry,” Allister soothed.
I groaned a chuckle and lifted my head to look at him. “I mean, I need to accept my lot in life and keep my family and friends safe, not sit here and cry about it.” I wiped my cheeks and eyes.
“I’ll be by your side as will my parents and Angelina,” Allister assured me.
“Angelina?” I raised an eyebrow.
“She’ll come around. Give her time.”
“I doubt that very much.” I shook my head, and then paused, looking at him. “Did you say you don’t want to live without me?”
“Yes,” he said, becoming still, holding his breath.
“Wow.” I leaned in and wrapped my arms around him as he exhaled. His strong arms encircled me and I sighed within their comfort.
“So are we okay?” He pulled back to look down at me as I turned my face up to his.
“I guess, but it’s time for me to start deciding things for myself.”
“Sure, no problem.”
“I mean, I fought cancer head on and will fight this too.” I frowned at the reference finding it hard to believe such a short time ago, I was going to die and now…
“What’s wrong?”
“I guess I didn’t actually beat cancer, but I’m going to protect my friends. I won’t let anything happen to them.”
“I know you won’t.” Allister smiled down at me. He lowered his lips to mine and my emotions surged, getting away from me. He pulled away but I leaned into him, keeping our lips together for as long as possible. Our lips separated at last, leaving me yearning for more.
“What?” I groaned in exasperation, looking at his confused expression.
“Nothing, I just remembered I should check on Angelina since Kendal was watching our house last night.”
“Yeah, you should go.” I was focused on breathing.
“Call me if you dream of him again tonight.”
“Sure, now get going.” I gave him a playful shove away from me, my foul mood gone.
He shimmered out of the shed, his white smile the last thing I saw.
I snuck back to my room just as my phone buzzed in my pocket as a text message came in from Allister.
Sleep well. I cringed, feeling guilty. I knew sleeping well wasn’t at the top of my list for tonight.
I climbed into bed, concentrating on the last image of Kendal I had; him standing in the middle of the street by Cassie’s house right before he shimmered. A short time later, I felt myself drift and then the nightmare began.
I stared at the moon, full and bright overhead. I walked along a street I didn’t recognize and past houses foreign to me. Understanding, I looked through Kendal’s eyes; the scent of lilac came to me and I braced for anything.
This night was different. He walked into an isolated park and sat on a bench facing a swing set. The wind blew as the swings squeaked back and forth giving an eerie, scary movie feeling to the setting. My vision turned to the left as a man approached, a long black coat wrapped around him and a wool hat pulled down over his head obscured both his form and appearance. He sat next to Kendal and smiled, the moon glinting off a silver tooth in his mouth.
“Why did you want to see me?” I heard Kendal’s familiar voice.
“I think we can help each other,” the man replied.
“Don’t need your help.”
“Oh, I think you do.” The man smiled again.
“How so?”
“We understand some rules are being broken around here and we mean to bring those who are perpetrating the crimes to justice.”
“What kind of rules?”
“Come on, friend. We’re aware of your taste for angels.” The man raised a hand to silence Kendal’s objections before they could be voiced. “Don’t make this harder on yourself.”
“Don’t know nothing about that,” Kendal said.
“I believe you do and that’s the reason for my visit.”
“Nope, you’re talking to the wrong guy.”
“I don’t believe so. I have it from very good authority there is an Eternal in this area taking guardians. I’m confident that Eternal is you.” He motioned with his hand and two men stepped out of the shadows.
“Wait.” Kendal held up his hand.
The men stopped and turned to the man with the silver tooth, questioning. The man gave a nod and the men relaxed their aggressive stance only slightly.
“What if another crime has been committed, something forbidden by the council?” Kendal continued, a slight tremor in his voice.
“Then we’ll investigate that allegation as well, although it doesn’t diminish what you’ve been doing.” The man shook his head.
“What if the crime involved the Parks family?”
The man turned, eyes narrowing as he studied Kendal for a moment. “What kind of crime?”
“The touching of the dead,” Kendal watched the man closely for his reaction.
The man’s eyes shot wide and a grin crept across his face as his tongue reached up to rub against his silver tooth reflexively.
In my dream world I felt a chill rush down my spine.
“If there is proof of said crime, I would be very interested in making a deal with whomever brings me sufficient evidence for a conviction with the council.”
“You let me go and I’ll get you evidence,” Kendal assured him. He stood and walked away. I felt a tingle, and my dream with Kendal ended.
I sat up, reached over, clicked on my light, and then flopped back down on my pillow. My bedding was soaked with my sweat and my t-shirt stuck to my skin. Kendal planned to give proof to this man that Allister touched me. That alone terrified me. Then, I wondered what evidence that might be and felt another shudder rattle through me.
Chapter 14 I sat awake the rest of the night, recalling the man with the silver tooth. His manner made me uneasy. The way he grinned when Kendal told him the crime involved the Parks family. The information appeared to bring him joy, euphoria, like bringing the Parks down was personal.
I still stared at my ceiling when the alarm went off the next morning. I reached over and slapped the button with a moan, rolled out of bed, and headed to the shower.
I heard a car horn honk as I came down the stairs and rushed to the door, opening it to see Allister leaning against his car. Angelina stared out the passenger window with indifference. I closed the door behind me and walked to the car, texting feverishly to Trish I didn’t need a ride.
“Morning.” Allister smiled and leaned down to give me a light kiss on the lips.
“Morning.” I blushed and then frowned at my own reaction.
“Please, do I have to be a witness to that?” Angelina sighed from the car.
“Yep,” Allister said, opening the car door and ushering his sister out of the front seat.
Angelina sauntered out of the car and slid into the back seat, not looking at me as I got in. Allister eased behind the steering wheel and we rolled into the school parking lot a moment later, pulling up next to Trish’s Jeep as she and the girls got out.
“Hey Britt,” Elisa smiled.
“Hi,” I said back, grateful she didn’t seem upset after yesterday’s information dump.
Trish and Cassie waved as they hurried into the school.
“What’s up with them?” I asked Elisa as she pulled her backpack from the Wrangler.
She shrugged, unconcerned. “They had to meet the boyfriends this morning.”
“What about you?”
“Tommy had an early practice today. No rush for me.”
We walked into the school, students staring and whispering. I smiled, walking next to Allister as Angelina paced ahead, not looking back.
“What’s her beef?” Elisa asked.
“She has her reasons for not liking me much,” I said, understanding Angelina’s resentment. My existence put her brother and family in danger as well as mine.
Sitting in Calculus
later that morning, the cold reality slapped me in the face as a female substitute stood at the front of the class where Mr. Kinsley stood just a few days earlier. Kendal’s existence now made a lasting impact on my life, along with every student in school. The sooner we stopped him, the better.
Lunch became a spectacle as my friends and I joined Allister and Angelina at their table. The other students stared as we ate our lunch, whispering between glances over at our table. Angelina’s face showed nothing but distaste as we sat down, but Allister smiled and welcomed us.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” I smiled back.
Elisa, Trish, and Cassie sat down, nodding to Allister while carefully avoiding Angelina’s dirty looks.
To make matters worse, Jeb, Tommy, and Carl all sat down with us as well, turning Angelina’s mere disgusted look into appalled. The boys looked at her for a moment and then turned their attention to the rest of the table, ignoring her disdain completely.
Allister visited with everyone, smiling and asking questions of the guys. Jeb, about his music, Tommy about the team’s chances in the upcoming game, and Carl about the knowledge bowl competition he participated in.
I sat watching, fascinated how this appeared outwardly normal, recognizing the bizarreness of it all. Allister could be friendly with the guys, yet never friends on the level of the amigos and me. Knowing he would eventually watch them go into the ground. I couldn’t help but feel sadness for him. Sorrow washed through me as I realized once the girls were gone, my friendships would also become much like that, merely superficial.
Angelina stormed off just before the bell and our heads turned to watch her leave. Her attitude remained pretty much the same when we met up at the car after school. She slid into the back seat without a word and remained silent the entire ride to my house.
Allister hurried around the car, helped me out, and walked me to the door. Angelina moved to the front seat and turned her back to us.
I stared at her as Allister and I stood by the porch.
“Don’t worry about her.” He looked back at his sister.
“I wish we could be friends,” I sighed.
“She’ll get over it.”
“Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes.
Allister leaned down, gave me a kiss, and smiled as he pulled away. “See you later.” He walked back to the car as I climbed the steps, looking over my shoulder as they drove off.
Dad worked late again so Mom and I ate a salad and I excused myself to my room to get my homework done. Walking through the living room, the local paper had an article on Mr. Kinsley. I lifted the pages and read how they found poor Mr. Kinsley at the school, correcting papers where he’d had a heart attack and died.
So they still thought Kendal’s murders were heart attacks. No one suspected we had a mass murderer in Grand Rapids, just a rash of heart attacks. I set the paper down and headed to my room. We needed to stop him before he could hurt anyone else.
I crawled into bed around 10:00pm and tried to get to sleep.
I’m not sure when I fell asleep, but the dream came quickly. I walked down a dark alley, strangely familiar, yet too dark to identify. I looked from side to side, no one in sight. I stopped behind a house, the upstairs, completely dark, while a few lights shone on the bottom floor. I slipped into the yard, finding a dark corner behind a shed, hidden from prying eyes.
Just as the tingling began, panic gripped me. I recognized the yard and the house. Mine. My room materialized before me as the smell of lilac came to me and I stared through Kendal’s eyes at my bed as I slept. He crept closer even as my mind screamed for me to wake up, to just, wake up.
My eyes flew open and I sat up. Kendal, only a step from me, jumped back in surprise. Regaining his composure he moved closer.
“Stop,” I shouted, my heart racing.
He smiled, his teeth shining white in the dim light from the lamp on my desk and he kept coming.
“I’m warning you, stop,” I said again, hearing the panic in my voice.
He put a raised finger to his lips, silencing me. “We wouldn’t want Mommy or Daddy to come in and find me here, would we?”
Oh my God, I forgot. They couldn’t help me when dealing with Eternals. They were more vulnerable than I was.
“I’m warning you,” I whispered feebly.
“I’m just here to finish the job Allister and Angelina interrupted,” he grinned.
“You can’t hurt me,” I bluffed.
“Is that what they told you?” he laughed. “All I have to do is pull your heart out. It’s quite painful, from what I’ve witnessed, and very final.” He raised his hand in front of him and came closer still until lilac pervaded my senses.
“Why? Why are you doing this?” I cried.
Coming up short, he blinked. “After I tried taking your angel I had strange feelings. At first, I didn’t understand. Not until seeing you at that party. I was drawn there; it must have been because of you. I know we are linked somehow. The strange feeling is you, inside my head. That must end, you see, it interferers with my plans.”
“Your plans to kill more angels?” I sneered.
My anger failed to affect him. “Angels are like a drug, giving us euphoria and strength. I like it too much to quit and, with other Eternals in this area, I can bring the blame down on the Parks and relocate somewhere else. I win either way.”
“What about the man with the silver tooth?” I stalled, growing desperate.
“The man you are referring to said I could remain a free man if I bring him evidence of Allister’s crime. You’re evidence alive or dead. And with you dead, there is no witness to tell them I’m the one taking the guardians. As you can see I’ve given this a lot of thought.” He smiled and lunged.
I caught his wrist, his hand hovering above my chest. I strained to keep him from touching me, grunting with exertion. He pressed his weight down over me and his hand inched closer. His fingertips touched my bare skin as my t-shirt slid down in the struggle. Pain erupted in my chest and I felt a jolt of searing pain. I screamed out then bit my lip, remembering Mom downstairs.
The taste of blood filled my mouth as I struggled to hold his hand at bay; I felt my teeth go through my lip.
I was weakening rapidly, Kendal’s hand pressing even harder against my skin. Using my last ounce of strength, I kicked up against his stomach, pushing him up and off of me. Without warning, something flashed over my bed and collided with Kendal, hurtling him across the room, and smashing him into my dresser, toppling the lamp. The fallen light created gruesome shadows of their struggle on my pale bedroom walls.
I rolled over in time to see Kendal vanish and left Allister standing with his back to me, shoulders rising and falling as he panted from the exertion. He spun around, rushed to my bed, and knelt at my side.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah, fine,” I gasped, still feeling the burning on my skin. I looked down to see five red fingerprints on my chest, between my breasts.
“How’d you know?”
“I sensed something was wrong. When I got here I found Kendal over you.” Allister couldn’t contain the anger in his voice.
“You didn’t call first.” I touched the red marks on my skin and flinching at their tenderness.
“I save your life and you’re worried I didn’t call first?” he smirked.
“I guess it’s okay this one time,” I told him, blushing.
A knock at my door startled us. “Honey, are you okay?” Mom asked through the closed door.
“Yeah, fine.”
“What was that noise?”
“I had a nightmare and knocked over my lamp,” I replied, trying to exude nothing but calm in my voice.
“Do you want me to come in and help you clean it up?” The door knob turned as she started to come in.
I scurried to the door as Allister shimmered out of sight. Catching the door as it opened, I put my body in the opening to block her view of the trashed room.
&
nbsp; “I’ve got it. Sorry to scare you.” I spoke quickly.
She leaned to the side to look past me and I moved my head to obstruct her view. “That’s okay, as long as you’re okay.” Though she appeared dubious, she let it go. Maybe it was the hour, regardless, I didn’t question my good fortune.
“I’m good. Just want to get back to bed,” I said easing the door closed, shrinking the opening.
“Good night,” she replied, sounding uncertain, as I closed the door.
“Night.”
I latched the lock and turned back to find Allister standing right behind me. I jumped and put a shocked hand to my chest, cringing as it brushed Kendal’s fingerprints.
“I can heal you, if you’d like,” he offered, nodding at the marks on my chest.
“Oh no. Remember the last time you healed me? Look at where that’s gotten us.” I walked past him and sat down on the bed.
“Not much more trouble I can get us into then, is there?” He raised an eyebrow.
I shrugged, laid back, and moved my hand as he sat next to me and eased his hands onto my injuries. His skin felt cool and soothing compared to the heat coming off Kendal’s marks. The pain increased and I sucked air through my clenched teeth, and then, the pain
disappeared.
I looked up at him as he leaned over me. He stared into my eyes, his hand still touching my chest. I could feel the edge of his hand touching either breast as it pressed against me and my heart quickened.
His incredible eyes, so full of passion, love and desire, all mixed together, seemed to transfer into me. I reached a hand up behind his head, weaving my fingers into his thick hair, grasping it in my fist as I pulled him down to me and pressed his lips to mine. My heart raced, the touch of his lips driving all thoughts of discomfort from my mind, my need for him overwhelmed me.
He tried to pull away but I pulled harder, keeping his lips pressed hard to mine. He gave in to it and his tongue darted into my mouth, flicking against mine, and drawing a moan from deep in my throat. After all too short a time, he forcefully pulled away, panting. I gasped at the sudden separation.
“I need to warn Angelina that Kendal is in the area and he’s grown bolder,” he said as he straightened, pulling his hand from me with some reluctance.
