by Jeff Hale
“Okay, students, I think it’s safe to say that school is out for the day, maybe the rest of the year. I want you to get your things from your lockers and head straight home. Don’t stop for anything unless it’s something that looks like it will hurt you… then don’t stop, just run, understand?” Ms. Featherstone switched off the TV and moved to sit behind her desk again, trying to conceal worry. “Be careful, all of you.”
We left then, Cody grabbing my hand and dragging me first to my locker, then to his. I didn’t see Kris or Nate anywhere, but I already knew that we might run into problems in the parking lot; I had felt the familiar zing of my Darien radar going off a couple hours ago and it hadn’t gone away, so I knew he was waiting for me, probably worried and furious.
We headed out into the quad area, where students and faculty were both hurrying about frantically, then got to the parking lot. Cars were pulling out at all speeds, making the parking lot a dangerous place to be, and sure enough, I spied Darien’s motorcycle actually parked up on the sidewalk, Darien sitting in the grass a few feet away. He stood as we got near, giving Cody a disapproving look, me a worried one.
“He doesn’t give up, does he,” Cody said to me when he saw Darien. “He’s not going to kick my ass, is he?”
“No, he’s not.” I so was not going to put up with this today. I appreciated the fact that he was worried, I appreciated that the world had gone bonkers, but I was a big girl and I could take care of myself.
I rubbed at the scar on my neck again. Okay, maybe not entirely, but that vampire was dead and I should be safe now. “Just let’s head to your car.” I steered him in that direction.
I had just belted in when I heard the tap on the passenger window. I expelled a breath, rolling down the window for fear that he might just break it. “Yes, Darien?”
He leaned on the frame, staring at me through the open window with a frustrated look. “It’s dangerous out there right now, Kat, I really wish you’d let me take you home.”
“We’ll be fine. Things are messed up, but it’s not like we’re in L.A. or Seattle where it’s really fucked up.” Or Las Vegas, the thought crept through my head and I shivered. I was very worried about Aerick.
He closed his eyes, gave a brief shake of his head, then opened them again to pin me with his gaze. “He’s human, Kat, he can’t protect you if it comes down to it and you know it, not from supernaturals.”
“Listen, Darien is it?” Cody leaned around me to glare at Darien. “Kat doesn’t seem to want to have much to do with you anymore, understand? I am perfectly capable of keeping her safe so you can just run along back to wherever you came from, okay?”
I groaned. Cody had no idea what he was provoking. I felt the Alpha aura flare off of Darien, heard Cody’s intake of breath, saw Darien’s eyes darken.
“Like you kept her safe at that party? You want me to go?” Darien directed the latter question towards me and I nodded tightly. “Fine, I’ll go, but I think maybe in light of what’s happened today, you might want to let him know what really happened on Saturday night… and what you really are.” He turned and strode off, starting the motorcycle with an angry kick and roaring out of the parking lot.
“What did he mean by that? And what did he mean by ‘he’s human’?” Cody asked, bewildered now.
I stared out into the parking lot, watching the few remaining students and teachers milling about as they prepared to leave. Most everyone had gone already, braving the roads to get home. I wasn’t sure I wanted to answer Cody, but now that Darien had him asking questions, I knew I was either going to have to tell him the truth, or lie to him. I hated lying if I didn’t have to.
“Kat?”
I sighed, still trying to decide how to answer him.
“Come on, Kat, whatever it is, you can tell me. We’re not going anywhere until you do.”
I turned toward him, chewed my lip, tapped my finger on my thigh, threw my gaze upwards, then looked at him again. “You gotta promise not to freak, okay?”
He made a crossing motion over his heart. “Just tell me what’s going on, Kat. Tell me why you have some guy who’s scarier than shit stalking you and making cryptic remarks.”
“Darien’s not human, Cody.”
He was silent a moment, then laughed loudly. “Yeah, right.”
“I’m not joking.”
He went silent again. Finally, “You aren’t kidding, are you? What the hell is he then?”
“He’s a werewolf.” I said it quick, before I could take it back.
“No shit?”
“No shit.” I chewed my lip again.
“And Saturday? What did he mean about what really happened?”
In for a penny, in for a pound, I thought. “It wasn’t a drunk that attacked me, that knocked you out. It was a vampire.”
He started to laugh again, saw the dead serious look on my face and stopped. “I’m sorry, Kat. I mean, I know what happened today, I saw the news, saw all the fucked up shit that’s going on, saw Ms. Featherstone turn into I haven’t a clue what, but it hasn’t one hundred percent clicked up here.” He tapped his head. “So let’s see if I have this straight. The guy you were dating is a werewolf. The guy who attacked you on Saturday is a vampire. Right?”
“Was a vampire, but yeah. See, look.” I tilted my neck to the side, pointing out the silvery scar.
“He bit you?” Cody sounded shocked. “Jesus Christ, Kat! Wait a minute, was?”
“Yeah, he’s dead now. Darien and some of my other friends took care of him.”
“Non-human friends?”
“Yeah.” I could see where this was going.
“He said ‘what you really are’. Are you human, Kat?” Cody was looking at me as though I was something dangerous now, and that was the look I was afraid of.
“No,” I said softly, feeling tears start to build.
He moved as far away from me as possible, his back to the inside of the driver’s door, contemplating me as you would something you weren’t sure wasn’t going to bite you.
“What are you?” he asked softly.
“Werecat.” And the tears spilled down my cheeks.
“Werecat. That’s like a werewolf, only you turn into a cat?” He was still tense.
I nodded, wiping tears from my eyes. “But I haven’t shifted yet the first time, I’m new, young. But I can feel it, it’ll be soon now.”
“So do you… eat people?”
“What?! No! Cody! Whyever would you think that?” I stared at him, appalled.
“I’ve seen my share of horror movies.”
“Well they’re wrong! Mostly anyway.”
“Mostly?”
“Well, shifters, werecreatures, are dangerous. Don’t go thinking they aren’t. But I wouldn’t hurt anyone, ever.”
Melanie’s head thudding into the floor, the desire to damage her. Okay, a teensy lie.
“But that guy, Darien, he would, right? Hurt someone?”
I dipped my head in affirmation.
Cody’s eyes zeroed in on me. “But you won’t hurt me, or you would have by now.”
“Of course I wouldn’t, that’s—”
But I was cut off as he lunged across the seat at me, his lips meeting mine in a kiss filled with an intensity I’d never felt from him before. He pressed me against the seatback, one hand in my hair, the other roaming over the front of my shirt. He was being extremely aggressive all of a sudden, and it took a moment for it to dawn on me why.
He knew I was supernatural now, possibly dangerous, and it made me even more attractive to him.
I returned his kiss for a few moments, not exactly immune to him myself, before I remembered that the world was in upheaval and that making out in a car was not necessarily the safest thing at the moment.
“Cody, hey.” I pulled away from him, trying to get his attention on my voice. “We need to get out of here, get home. This isn’t the best place for this.”
His face was flushed, his eyes bright, but he no
dded at me, scooting back behind the wheel and starting the car. We made it to my house without any mishaps, although we could see police cars scurrying about, ambulances on their way to the hospital, fire trucks here and there. Dark smoke rose in plumes from various places, but we weren’t close enough to see what was on fire. There were a few street corner zealots bearing signs that read ‘The end of the world is here!’ or things of equal nature.
My mother came running out the door as we pulled into the driveway, a look of relief on her face, Kris not far behind her. Kris looked like she had been crying, the circles under her eyes made worse.
“I’ll still see you Friday, okay, Cody? After graduation, if they don’t cancel it, but if they do, well then around eight? As long as things don’t go to shit any worse than they already have?”
He leaned over and kissed me again. “Sure thing. I’ll pick you up here if graduation is cancelled.”
I got out of the car, waved at him as he pulled away, and tried to breathe as my mother enveloped me in a painful hug. “Mom! I’m okay, sheesh!”
“I was so worried when you didn’t come home immediately after it happened!” she exclaimed, hurrying me toward the house. “I called your Darien and he headed over to the school. He told me that you were still there, he called me again to tell me Cody was bringing you home.”
We entered the house and she bolted the door behind us. I followed her into the kitchen, where she had dinner cooking and the small television on the corner of the breakfast bar turned on. Kris sat on one of the stools and gave me a wan smile. Something was wrong.
“Kris? What’s going on?”
She shrugged half-heartedly, sniffling back tears. “My folks freaked out when it happened. I got home and they already had the car packed with as much stuff as they could get into it. They were going to drive to my grandparents, away from the bigger city, where they figured it would be safe, and they wanted me to come along.”
And yet she was here. “You didn’t go?” Not that I would have wanted her to, she was my best friend, but they were her parents after all.
She shook her head. “I couldn’t, Kat, I just couldn’t. I told them I was staying… and they left without me, didn’t really try to convince me. I’ll miss them, but you know I was never really close to them.” She held up a key, what looked like a safe deposit box key. “My mom gave me this though, before she left. Told me to take whatever I needed out of it. Guess that means she cared at least a little.” She wiped at her eyes, stifling more tears. “Your mom said I could stay here.”
“Like I ever would have turned you away, Krista.” My mom went over and pulled Kris into a hug. “You’re my second daughter.” She turned to me. “So why did it take so long for you to get home?”
I told them about Ms. Featherstone, and then what Ms. Featherstone had told us about this thing called the Barrier, and how she had kept us in the classroom for as long as she could for the initial chaos to die down, and that we had watched the news. Of course, all of us already knew that fantastical things already existed, so it wasn’t near as much of a shock as it had been to others.
We spent the rest of the evening keeping an eye on the news, and it felt like we had been watching the news forever anymore. Kris had shown up with a couple of suitcases with her clothes and belongings and we got her settled into the spare room, now officially Kris’s bedroom. She had some more things back at her parent’s house that we would get tomorrow with the car, such as her computer and stereo.
Things had calmed down the next day, at least in our area, although from news reports, there were places across the world, especially some of the more major cities, that resembled small war zones.
We made the quick trip to Kris’s now empty home to retrieve the rest of her things. The bank that housed the safe deposit box was closed, so it was something we would have to attend to later. It was a good thing we’d made that shopping trip the day before; there was still some looting going on and most businesses were closed.
We stayed at home for as much of it as we could, glued to the TV and the madness it showed. Apparently, a new cult religion had risen, one that believed that God had abandoned the earth, and humans as well. It called itself, unoriginally enough, The Abandoned.
But instead of just wallowing in sin now that they believed no one was around to send them to hell, they believed there was nothing left to strive for and existence was pointless. It was a death cult, one that revolved around ritual suicide, and one of the news reports was saying that seventeen people had killed themselves in New York by leaping en masse from the top of an apartment complex. Three of them had been under the age of ten.
A second group had also surfaced, this one more militant than religious, which referred to themselves as the Movement for Purity. They declared that all supernatural creatures were corrupt, unclean, unpure, and in need of moral cleansing. Their idea of moral cleansing was death by whatever means they felt like at the time and there were reports of murders of supernaturals. Not that it was really counted as murder yet; we had no rights until the new constitution the government was working on with the supernatural leadership went through, and then I wasn’t sure what would be covered.
Graduation wasn’t cancelled, but it was postponed until ‘our safety could be assured’. I had felt Darien’s radar ping presence several times since Wednesday evening, proof that he was at least in the area checking up on me, so it came as no surprise when he showed up not long before eight o’clock on Friday night.
I was already dressed for my date with Cody, chattering with Kris about what we might find to do, all things considered, when my mother let Darien in and there was a knock on Kris’s bedroom door. I opened it and just glared at him, Kris pretending not to eavesdrop behind me. To my surprise, Matt was standing behind him, along with Alex.
“This is not giving me space, Darien,” I said in irritation.
He held his hands up as if in surrender and I was surprised to see some regret in his eyes. “I know, Kat. But I also know that you are planning on going out tonight and I don’t think it’s the wisest move.”
“You just don’t want me going out with Cody.”
“I won’t lie to you and tell you I’m happy about it, but at this point I’m more worried about your safety.”
“We’ll be fine. Things have calmed down, there’s a curfew in place, there are extra police patrols. It’s only a date, Darien.”
“Please reconsider, Kat.” His voice was low, all arrogance gone out of it, and I almost gave in. But it was my life and I was tired of him making my decisions for me, telling me what to do, treating me like a baby.
“No, Darien. Just back off and quit trying to run my life, okay? If you ever want me to consider any kind of relationship with you somewhere down the line, I need this. Let me grow up on my own, please?” I asked, my voice soft, pleading.
He looked defeated, but he finally gave me a curt nod, his head tipping to the side as someone knocked on the front door. “I’ll be waiting for you when you get back, just to make sure you get home okay, nothing more.”
“Fine,” I bit out, “but can you at least go wait in the family room? I don’t want Cody to see you.”
He didn’t say anything, just turned on his heel and headed for the stairs, leaving Matt and Alex in the hall. I told Kris I was leaving and pushed past them. My mom was sitting on the couch when I came down and she gave me a stern look, but didn’t say anything. A hand on my shoulder stopped me.
“I really think you should listen to Darien, Kat,” Matt told me.
I turned on him, my gaze scathing. “I wish you all would quit telling me what to do, who to see, where I can and cannot go! I appreciate that you are worried about me, I really do, but damn, let me do things on me own for once. I won’t break.” I glanced at Alex, but he was staying out of it. I saw the concern on his face, but I think he knew that nothing he said would make a difference.
“Look, go on your date then, but just let me follow discre
etly behind, I can keep an eye on you and—”
“No. I do not need to be babysat.”
“Kat, you don’t understand—”
“Matt?” It was my mother who spoke up. “Just let her go. Don’t follow her, don’t stop her.” She didn’t look happy about saying it, but she had been the one maintaining that I was an adult for the last year and that I needed to lead my own life. “I’m not crazy about it either, but she needs to make her own mistakes.”
“Thank you, Mom.” I flashed her a grateful smile.
“Don’t thank me, just come home safe.”
I hugged her, gave Matt and Alex both reproving glances, and headed for the door, blocking the view and slipping out to shut it behind me. Cody looked slightly confused, but I just took his hand and dragged him towards his car.
“Is that…?” He pointed towards Darien’s motorcycle.
“Yes, just ignore it and let’s get out of here.”
He did and we left and I felt myself relax as the house got further away.
There wasn’t much to do, date wise. Several of the businesses had reopened, knowing that people needed entertainment to blow off stress, so we were stuck with bowling at the local bowling alley-casino-lounge. We bowled for about an hour, sharing the lane with a few others, before Cody coaxed me to leave. We had about an hour left until the citywide curfew, and he wanted to go somewhere private.
So we drove over to Leslie Groves Park, figuring not too many people would be there. It was empty, surprisingly enough, and Cody found a place somewhat off the beaten path to park his car.
No sooner had he turned the engine off, than he pulled me into his arms, kissing me deeply. We made out for several minutes, his hands finding their way under my blouse, discovering my breasts. It still didn’t feel as good as it did with Darien, but it felt good enough.
He pulled away long enough to indicate the back seat with his head, helping me climb between the front bucket seats first before following me, and then he had me on my back on the seat, his body pressing into mine, one hand finding its way back into my blouse while the other slid up my thigh under my denim skirt.
