Snow, Blood, and Envy

by Haus, Jean

  Um…Wow. The thudding of my heart goes into overdrive. My throat tightens and I can almost feel that word, love, between us as we stare at each other in the muted light.

  Though I’m speechless, I close the centimeter between our lips and kiss him hard. I pour the elation his words cause into the kiss. He presses me against the wall. I clutch at his neck and taste tea and lemon on his breath. Taste the words he said on his tongue.

  He pulls away with a gasp. “I need to get you home. You have school tomorrow.”

  I let out the tightness in my throat. “I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you too.”

  His arms and weight crush me for a moment. “I had hoped,” he says against my collarbone. “Even though I don’t deserve it.” The words burn into my skin.

  My fingers tighten around his neck. “Don’t deserve it? Without you I wouldn’t be here.”

  He shakes his head and holds me even tighter. A sigh of contentment escapes me as we stand there amid the elation and relief of our declarations. It may take me a while to get him to believe that he’s honorable, but I have my whole life now don’t I?

  Jai steps back and breaks the spell. His eyes shine in the light from the streetlight outside the window. “I have something for you.”

  “What?” I ask, almost laughing at the idea of him shopping.

  From the top drawer of a dresser, he hands me a mirror with a small frame that twists and twirls in artistic loops of gold and silver. I stare at the glass that should have housed my soul. If not for him, my home for eternity. I catch my reflection. Ugh. I look like crap. Besides the fact that my light skin doesn’t go well with bleached hair, the bags under my eyes are mauve. After my ordeal, I look tired, haggard, and so not good. I look different on the outside, but my inside is even more different. I haven’t gone back to the happy-go-lucky-girl I once wished so fervently for, rather someone stronger, someone ready to embrace world with all it has to offer good and bad.

  I smile and tuck the mirror under my arm. “You ready?” I ask not caring what I look like. Jai said he’s in love with me. Who cares what I look like? I grab the door and glance over my shoulder. “Come on. The sooner we’re in front of my building, the sooner I get another kiss.”

  Other Titles by Jean Haus

  Under a Blood Moon

  Sleeping Handsome~ a novelette

  After Midnight

  Turn the page for a sample of After Midnight

  Visit Jean

  Haus atWebsite: http://jeanhaus.com/jeanh/

  Facebook: JeanHaus

  Twitter: JeanHaus

  After Midnight

  Dustan Reid has just received his own personal fairy. Straight out of an enchanted forest.

  He just doesn’t know it.

  Instead, he thinks Harmony is the most annoying, pushy girl he’s ever met. Not that Dustan meets or much less talks to girls. He’s too busy trying to keep his grades up and working at his step-dad’s motorcycle garage—while his stepbrothers work at the art of hanging out. But the freedom graduation will finally bring isn’t too far off.

  Harmony’s determined to find true love for Dustan, with or without his consent. He may be a little rough around the edges, but she can totally see the killer looks lurking behind the shaggy hair and thick glasses. So she sets her matchmaking sights on the most popular girl in school. Hardworking Dustan only deserves like the best. Besides, with magic up her pink sleeve, this job should be way easy.

  But nothing comes without a price.

  Especially true love.

  Prolong

  The darkness of this world hides enchantment from the human eye, except for the few unfortunate souls who lose their way in the dark. Sucked into shadow they are forgotten by the rest of mankind. In one such shrouded place, a silent figure glides through the faint moonlight piercing the canopy of trees. Fog swirls as he floats. The figure, a twisting mound of curling leaves, hovers at an ancient cypress. Hands like twigs reach out. An owl screeches in the distance while the tear and snap of bark echoes in the night. Shavings pile on the gnarled roots twisting over the dry ground until the leafy figure glides back into the shadows and waits. He does not relish this task, it utterly irritates him, but duty demands he performs it.

  As he hovers in the gloomy forest, a green mist slowly spills from the newly torn hollow of the tree. Soft jade light swells and billows and mixes with the dense fog in the air. Stretching and stabbing the eerie light breaks into the night. Lovely and graceful it releases into this world and wafts downward. Between the bark and the forest floor, flesh is formed and she lands with a thud and an, “Ouch!”

  “It never fails,” the figure says, floating above her.

  The re-born girl rubs her bruised forehead. “Then why don’t you ever help me out.”

  “After your last debacle, you’re lucky to be out.”

  The girl lets out a huff. Her eyes shift from the twisty shadows of the other trees and the slight glow each one holds. Others banished for crimes against her will. She pushes herself from the dry ground and straightens the leaves growing from her skin. “Even after all this time she needs me.”

  “Yes, like a hole in her aura.” The shape of dripping leaves floats away.

  Dust billows as the girl stomps in the dirt after him. “I bet no one has equaled me in my absence.”

  “Ah yes, but then no one attempted metamorphosis.”

  The girl stops, arms straight at her sides. “That was never proven! He wanted to make a declaration.”

  The leafed body stops in a beam of moonlight. Wooden lips twist in a scowl. “Since when is proof needed. You spend too much time in the human world when you are let out.” He moves under the shadow of a tree and becomes invisible. “She’s our law, court, and judge.”

  Sharp cackles sound as the girl kicks leaves with each step forward. “Her power isn’t limitless.”

  “It never would have worked,” the green mass says, gliding ahead.

  “You don’t know that!”

  “When are you going to learn?” A malicious chuckle sounds in the darkness. “No one falls in love with cupid, stupid.”

  The girl’s green eyes flash with anger. Their glow brightens the darkness. Though she knows he’s too fast, she bends then hurls a rock. He rises without glancing back and the stone bounces off a tree. The breeze catches his snicker as he glides away. Resisting the urge to grab another rock, she chases him eager to escape the loneliness hanging like humidity in the air around the glowing trees.

  They proceed through the night far away from the Garden of the Banished. Him hovering. Her stomping. Through thick foliage and tall grasses and swamp water reaching her knees.

  Ahead the forest glows crimson.

  The girl stops with a hand to her cheek. “Whoa, like she really does need me.”

  “Why else would you be released?” The figure drifts under massive trees that form a cave made of branches and leaves. The girl cautiously follows. Fear and anticipation shiver on her re-formed skin.

  Under long tendrils of moss, she sits on her living throne. Leaves shift, branches twine together, and glossy black insects sprawl in a cascade as she raises a hand and gestures the girl forward. Red colored moss hangs from her form. Skin once alabaster has a scarlet twinge. Full lips once pink are dark burgundy. Eyes once green appear murderous. Crimson radiates from her, yet the shimmer cannot conceal her wondrous beauty. Through all the ages no human has ever, in paint or marble or ink, guessed the perfection of human form blended with nature in such a way that power, terrifying and awe striking, pulses from her.

  Now engulfed in rage, she needs the strength of love to balance her power.

  Behind the throne, the leafy figure hovers with a lowered head, respectful in the presence of her dominance. Other creatures created from her power kneel at the base of her mountainous throne with heads bowed.

  The girl treads slowly until she bows before her queen. Eye level with a huge, hairy spider, watching her from a crevice in the throne
, the girl waits for the command to rise.

  “It is evident I am in need of your services.” The queen’s voice booms. Its cadence beats with the power of nature. “Nonetheless be aware if you cross my purpose again, your prison will be your home for eternity. You will remain in the Garden of the Banished forever.” The spider raises its front legs, opens its glistening fangs. The queen shifts forward in her seat. The moss of her dress whispers into the silence of the night. “Will you serve me?”

  The girl doesn’t raise her head. “I will.”

  The spider begins to spin a web.

  “Then rise!”

  The girl stands.

  The web grows and shimmers.

  “Behold the quarry I have chosen.” The queen waves her hand across the netting and an image appears on the spun silk. The girl bends closer to watch the boy in the mist of the web. His life, his drudgery, and his loneliness are pictured on the silken screen in fast moving images. Once the web grows misty, she straightens and smiles in the pulse of red radiance give off by her queen.

  This one ought to be way easy, she thinks as her queen reaches for her. With the touch of red hued hands, the power of the forest fills the girl.

  Part One:

  In His World

  Chapter 1

  In the distance, a bell rings. I’m lying in something wet. No wait, just my face is wet and smashed against a cold surface. Damn. I fell asleep in Trig. Again. I need this credit to graduate and more importantly to get the hell out of my house, my job, and my life. I force my eyes open and conspicuously try to wipe my drool with my arm. A tap sounds on the desk. Great. The hottest girl in school gets to frown at my slobber. Again. I sit up, adjust my glasses, and push my scraggly hair from my forehead. “Hey Mirana,” I say wistfully like an idiot.

  “Hi,” she says, tugging a long strand of dark hair behind her ear. Long lashes sweep down as she checks out the desk and frowns at the wet smears.

  While students going to their desks snicker at my sleepy appearance, I realize she’s gorgeous even with a nose wrinkled in disgust. “Sorry,” I say like usual and grab my books from the dusty floor. Standing, I draw in my daily intake of vanilla and citrus that hangs in the air around her.

  She tries to offer me a smile. It’s more of a grimace. That’s the thing about Mirana. She might not know my name—if she refers to me at all, it’s probably the lanky guy with too long brown hair and thick glasses that drools on her second hour desk. She possibly thinks I’m the school’s biggest loser. She’s out of my league—hell, she’s out of everyone’s league, including her boyfriend Eric ‘Jock’ Cross. But Mirana Mayes is just plain nice.

  Her constant shadow and opposite, Rachel, sneers at me. “What do you do, stay up all night playing online video games or something?” I wish. Playing video games until two in the morning would rock, but no, that’s when I try to study. Her sneer widens. “Or are you surfing the web, perv?”

  “Rachel!” Mirana hisses which keeps my retort from coming out. But Rachel still gives me the evil eye as I race out of class.

  Out in the hall, I run to my second hour, but I’m predicting a tardy and another lunch detention. At least I can sleep in lunch detention without looking like a loser. Rounding a corner, I run straight into a wall of muscle. Books fly everywhere. Papers flap like birds taking flight before thuds echo in the empty hallway.

  “Hey, watch where you’re going!”

  “Yeah, yeah, sorry,” I say, bending to pick up the mess.

  A wall of muscle flexes. “Yeah, your sorry ass is going pick up my books.”

  I stand and face the tall, head shaved mass in front of me. Chad or is it Chaz? I might not know his name, but he’s a super jock, state champion in wrestling or something. Though I’m tall and lean muscle, he’s taller and huge muscle. “Look, it was an accident—“

  “Pick up,” he grabs my shirt and tugs me to his eye level, “my books.”

  His breath is hot stank. His eyes bulge from their sockets. I’m on my tiptoes and my shirt is getting stretched into a 2X. I don’t have time for his crap. “Let me go,” I say, wrapping my hand around his.

  The bell rings. Great. I’m going to get an ass kicking and a lunch detention.

  “You gonna pick up my books?”

  While he jeers at me, I imagine getting my ass kicked—hey, I might get in a few good hits—getting suspended for fighting, getting kicked off the track team, and not getting a sports scholarship, but I can’t imagine picking up this guy’s books as he stands over me like a prick from a teeny bopper movie. I take enough crap at home. I’m not going to take it from this wannabe. “No.”

  He clenches his teeth and tugs at me harder. My worn t-shirt is about to tear when someone below us says, “Hello. I was wondering if one of you could help me.”

  We both look down. A girl with spiked white-blonde hair smiles and flutters her lashes at us. For a moment, I’m caught in her green-eyed stare. Then Chaz/Chad absently tightens his hold and I’m choking.

  He gives her a blank expression. “Whada ya need?”

  With his attention on her, I tug on his chokehold while gasping for air.

  Her fluttering lashes stop and she stares at him with narrowed eyes so bright they practically glow. She pulls out a school map from between her books. “Maybe you could like release him and tell me how to get to my next class? Today’s my first day here and I’m like totally lost.”

  I gawk at the girl. Really, I don’t need some pint-sized girl saving me from a real life Hulk. He slowly pulls his gaze from her and glances at me as if he forgot I’m clenched in his meaty fist. “Ah, sure.” He releases me so fast I almost fall.

  With some female attention, he completely forgets about me. They bend over the map and discuss how to get to the science wing. I snag my scattered books, which form a circle around us, then take off. I’m about halfway down the hall, late for class again, when, “Hey wait up!” echoes from behind. A spiked head bobs toward me as she runs.

  “Hi! Where are you heading?” She jogs to keep up with my brisk walk.

  Why she wants to know is beyond me, but I say, “Anatomy.”

  She waves a schedule. “Oh, me too!” She smiles wide. “I’m Harmony. You know like in singing.”

  Rimmed in blue her eyes resemble a cartoon raccoon. Huge pink hoops jingle from her ears. Her spiky hair could poke an eye out. And the neon green of her shirt is blinding. Obviously, odd new girl is out to make friends. Opening the classroom door, I only nod at her.

  Mrs. James steps away from her computer and holds out a pink paper. “Hello Mr. Reid, come get your lunch detention slip.”

  “Oh, he was helping me,” Harmony says from the doorway. “I’m new today and got way lost.” Several students look up from their books to stare at her. I’m sure they looked because of the new comment. However, her hair and bright clothes hold their stare.

  The pink slip pauses mid-air. “And who are you?”

  “Harmony Hill.” She waves the schedule again. “I started today.”

  “Dustan go sit down.” Mrs. James sets the pink slip on her desk. “Let me see that schedule.” She plucks the paper from Harmony as I go to my seat. “Hmm…No one emailed me about a new student, but it appears you do have this class.” She regards the classroom. “Since you already know Dustan, why don’t you have a seat behind him? He’ll tell you what you should be doing just don’t pick up his tardy habits.”

  Harmony grins at the students staring at her and makes her way to the back of the room. Once she sits, I point to the anatomy book on her desk then point to the blackboard. “Copy those words and look them up. Keep them in a notebook or folder to hand in at the end of the marking period. After that, start on the assignment listed at the bottom.” Whatever her intentions, her smile’s far too friendly. I don’t have time for homework, much less friends.

  “Okay, Dustan. Thanks for the info.” She hikes up her too low tank top and I can’t help noticing she does have nice cleavage. Too bad, I do
n’t have time for girls. “I guess that means you just owe me one.” I arch a brow. “I saved you from Gigantor and from a detention. That’s worth at least lunch.”

  My eyebrow rises higher. This girl has got some lady balls. “Too bad I have lunch detention today, and I don’t believe I ever asked for your help.”

  “What-ever,” she says with a white smile that almost matches her hair. Plastic bracelets clank with a wave of her hand and the scent of flowers hangs in the air. “We can always do lunch tomorrow.”

  I turn around with the shake of my head. Strange and pushy.

  Chapter 2

  There’s one thing in my life I always want. One thing I crave constantly. One thing I can’t get enough of. Food. Between the bare cupboards at my house and the state of my funds, my stomach doesn’t know the word discriminate. There is practically nothing I won’t eat. Things like beets or blue cheese or liver—things most people scoff at—I inhale. And I have a feeling if I wasn’t a human garbage can or if I were a picky eater, I would have never grown to six feet tall.

  Right now, I stare at a half-wrapped sub sandwich and wonder how long it’s been sitting in the bottom drawer of the fridge. The paper wrapped around the bread is crumpled and faded, the end sticking out hard and crunchy. The only other option, the moldy fast food burger on the shelf, isn’t an option. My stomach rumbles despite the funk of the burger. In defeat, I pull out the half-eaten sandwich, tear off the bitten end, and take a huge bite. I’d guess four days. I kick the grease covered fridge door shut and take another bite. Really, except for the mushy vegetables, it doesn’t taste too bad.