Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2)

by Kunz, C. A.

  Walking up behind Cat’s group, Kirsten discreetly reached up and ripped out some straggling hairs poking out from underneath Duffie’s swim cap.

  “Oww! Bloody hell!” Duffie exclaimed, turning around to face Kirsten. Kirsten gave an innocent look and shrugged her shoulders. Duffie glared, watching as Kirsten rejoined her group and then turned her focus back to Cat.

  “Watch this,” Kirsten whispered to Jessica and Tonya. Nonchalantly, Kirsten walked over to the pool, and dunked her hand that was full of Duffie’s hair into the water. “Ewww! I found some of Duffie’s trashy weave in the pool!” she cried, pulling her hand out of the water so everyone could see. Snickers could be heard throughout the area. A tense Duffie scowled at Kirsten as she stood there with an evil grin and the strands of weave in her hand. Duffie began to move toward her, but then was gently pushed aside by Cat who proceeded to storm over to stand toe-to-toe with Kirsten.

  “What’s your deal?” Cat asked forcefully.

  “Oh look, it’s a freak standing up for her freak friend!” Kirsten replied with a laugh and then glanced over at her group. Without hesitation, Cat shoved Kirsten into the pool just as Coach Hutchins emerged from the locker room. The girls were startled by the deafening sound of the coach’s whistle as it filled the pool area.

  “Cat! Kirsten! In my office, now!” Coach Hutchins roared. Cat glared at Kirsten splashing around, screaming for her two lackeys to pull her out. After two failed attempts, Kirsten muttered, “useless,” and pulled Tanya and Jessica into the pool.

  Sitting in the Coach’s office, Cat fidgeted with her swimsuit while Kirsten put on a nonchalant attitude, staring at her manicure. Coach Hutchins closed her office door and then sat heavily in her chair behind her desk. “Now, what’s going on between you two? And don’t tell me nothing,” she said, pointing at them. They both sat in silence dodging her stares. “Okay, if that’s how you want it. You two can stay after practice and swim laps!”

  “Coach, that’s so unfair!”

  “I think it’s a fitting punishment,” Kirsten said sweetly, looking at Cat.

  “Oh Kirsten, be quiet! Save your ass-kissing for someone else,” Coach Hutchins fired back. Both girls slouched in their chairs, crossed their arms, and looked away from each other.

  Reaching the wall, Cat and Kirsten both came up for air and looked at their coach. “Another!” she yelled at them and then blew her whistle. Cat’s arms and legs were tired. She was really beginning to regret pushing Kirsten in the pool. Her breathing had become labored and her muscles ached, as she reached out again for the wall.

  “Okay, hit the showers you two! Maybe now you’ll act more like teammates!” Coach Hutchins ordered. Pulling themselves out of the pool, both girls walked to the showers, feeling like their feet were encased in concrete. Cat went into the first set of showers and Kirsten walked to the last set, too tired to make a snappy comment at Cat as she passed. Turning on the hot water, Cat let it wash over her to massage her aching muscles. Toweling herself off, she headed toward her locker.

  “Kirsten, I’m sorry for pushing you in the pool,” Cat said begrudgingly. She waited for an answer. “Kirsten?” A shiver of fear ran down Cat’s spine at the silence. “Kirsten?!” she shouted loudly, her voice echoing through the dimly lit locker room.

  “What?!” Kirsten answered, popping out from behind a few rows of lockers ahead of Cat and startling her.

  “Nothing,” Cat replied.

  “You’re such a freak,” Kirsten said smugly, rolling her eyes while still towel drying her hair.

  “Whatever,” Cat murmured. Opening her locker, Cat grabbed her clothes and pulled them on quickly. Her cell phone beeped signaling a message. Grabbing her cell from her messenger bag she read the text:

  I thought Cats hated water!

  Her eyes grew wide when she saw the text was from Linda. Cat called out to Kirsten. There was no answer. Quickly making a beeline for Kirsten’s locker, “I really think we should-” Cat began and then stopped as she heard Kirsten talking. Rounding the corner, she saw her busily getting dressed and a curly haired blonde was sitting on the bench behind her, her back to Cat. “Kirsten?” Cat asked cautiously.

  “What now, freak?” Kirsten replied smugly. The blonde girl slowly turned around and smirked at Cat. It took her a few moments, but Cat eventually realized who the girl was. Her picture was plastered on many of the flyers posted about town. It was Becca, one of the missing girls. “Don’t mind her, Becca, she’s a weirdo!” Kirsten said, rolling her eyes. Two fangs descended from Becca’s gums adding an evil touch to her grin. “So Becca, what are you doing here anyway? You’re not still pissed about what I did at regionals two years ago are you?” she asked absently.

  “Kirsten, I think we should leave,” Cat said nervously. Ignoring her, Kirsten kept rambling.

  “Because I won that race fair and square!” Kirsten said while digging through her locker. Becca rose to her feet, anger filling her face. She moved up behind Kirsten and growled. “Gawd, Becca, you should really get that checked,” she said as she continued rummaging through her locker.

  “Kirsten, run!” Cat yelled.

  Kirsten turned, “Cat, I’m really getting tired of your-” Becca grabbed Kirsten by the throat and slammed her up against the locker. “Let go of me, you psycho!” she shrieked. Seeing Becca’s fangs glistening in the fluorescent lights, Kirsten let out a blood curdling scream. “Cat, help me!” she cried. Cat moved forward to intervene, but then Becca turned to her and hissed, waving her index finger back and forth. Two more figures emerged from the shadows, stepping into the light. Cat saw it was Amy, the other missing girl, and Linda. Amy was dragging something behind her. It was a body. Tightening her grip on the body’s shirt, Amy brought it up effortlessly with one hand, and threw the person at Cat’s feet.

  Cat gasped. “Coach!” she cried out as she knelt down and felt for a pulse. She was still alive. Standing up, Cat glared at the three girls, her fingernails digging into her palms. She noticed Linda was not looking as blood thirsty as the other two, in fact she avoided eye contact with Cat altogether.

  “Tag! You’re it!” Becca yelled, tossing Kirsten forcefully at her. Cat caught Kirsten and struggled slightly to help her stand upright. Grabbing hold of Kirsten’s hand, she took off running away from the girls. Wicked laughter echoed throughout the locker room.

  “What’s going on?” Kirsten asked breathlessly, trying to keep up.

  Cat paused and looked around for a place to hide. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Cat replied hurriedly. The sound of fingernails lightly scratching lockers seemed to grow louder and louder.

  “Cat…Cat…we’re coming to get you,” Amy whispered eerily.

  Spying the sports equipment cage, Cat dragged Kirsten over to it. “Hide in here, I’ll come back for you when it’s safe.”

  “No! Forget it, I’m staying with you! There’s no way you’re putting me in a cage while you get to run around!”

  Cat palmed Kirsten’s face, “Sorry, but this is for your own good,” she said apologetically as she forcefully shoved Kirsten into the cage, causing her to crash into the shelves holding the basketballs. The shelves toppled over and Kirsten fell to the floor unconscious. Cat apologized again, and then locked the padlock on the cage door. As she turned around, Cat came face to face with Amy, who was grinning menacingly.

  “Fetch!” she yelled as she backhanded Cat, sending her flying down a row of lockers, slamming into the ones at the far end. Cat looked up wearily, groaning, her vision blurred. “Aww, I’m sorry. Was that too hard?” Amy asked as she ran her hand along the side of Cat’s face. Suddenly, Amy was thrown backward. Cat could hear a struggle happening before her in the distance, but couldn’t make out anything. She heard something smash into a locker, making it squeak under the pressure. Hearing the painful grunts that followed, Cat tried to focus on what was going on, but her vision blurred again, and then nothing, just darkness.

  “Cat? Cat?!” A muffled
voice called out to her. Blinking, Cat slowly opened her eyes. “Cat, you alright?”

  “Yeah,” she strained out, smiling wobbly when she recognized Ryan’s voice. Her eyes focused and she was happy to see those baby blues staring back at her.

  “What the hell happened here?”

  “Did you…fight them off?” she asked.

  “Who?”

  “The three missing girls.”

  “What? Exactly how hard did you hit your head?”

  “No, they were here, Ryan…they’re vampires…even Linda,” she murmured, trying to shake the dizziness she was feeling.

  “Cat, are you sure they were vampires?”

  “Totally sure,” she replied. Ryan carefully helped Cat to her feet. Pressing on the locker, he tried to smooth out the dent she had made, slowly molding it back to its original shape…somewhat. Standing, Cat put her arm around Ryan’s shoulder as he helped her sit down on the bench. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hannah told me you had a fight with Kirsten and Coach Hutchins made you stay after practice. So, I decided to wait for you. Then I heard all the commotion, like someone fighting, and rushed in to find you here,” he explained.

  Cat’s eyes grew wide, “Oh Coach…and Kirsten! We need to check on them!” Helping her up, they both scrambled over to the sports equipment cage to find Kirsten. Breaking the lock and opening the cage door, Ryan and Cat saw movement under one of the shelves that had fallen over. Ryan lifted up the shelf with one hand and tossed it aside. A quiet groan came from the pile of basketballs. Reaching in, Ryan pulled Kirsten out. She slowly opened her eyes. Looking around, Kirsten realized she hadn’t been dreaming, and began freaking out.

  “Vampires! Where are the vampires?!” Kirsten asked frantically. Ryan glanced at Cat with a look of concern.

  “There are no such things as vampires,” Cat replied, chuckling nervously.

  “What do you mean? We were just attacked by them, just before you pushed me into this cage…hey! You pushed me in here!” she stated angrily.

  “No, I didn’t. You must’ve fallen in the cage and knocked yourself out. We came running when we heard the crash,” Cat lied, as Kirsten looked at her with questioning eyes.

  “Ryan, what are you doing in the girls’ locker room?” Coach Hutchins asked as she came around the corner, rubbing her head.

  “Uh, well,” Cat began to explain, but then Ryan put his hand on her arm and squeezed gently. She turned to look at him and he shook his head. Moving toward Coach Hutchins, Ryan looked deeply into her eyes and whispered something Cat couldn’t hear. Coach Hutchins nodded and walked back toward her office, looking as if in a trance.

  “What did you say to her, Ryan?” Cat asked.

  “I took care of it, don’t worry,” he replied, smiling reassuringly.

  “Will someone please explain to me what’s going on here?” Kirsten asked in frustration.

  Ryan turned to her, his eyes jet black. “Everything’s fine, Kirsten. You had a little accident and we came to help you. Get your things and go home,” he said. Kirsten stiffened, her eyes glazed over in a trance. She gathered her stuff from her locker and left, not looking back.

  “You just used your vamp mind tricks, didn’t you?!” Cat asked in disbelief. Ryan looked at her with a trickle of blood running down from his nose. “Ryan, your nose, it’s bleeding!” He smirked and then wiped the blood away.

  “I guess it is. I might have overdone it a bit,” he replied and then stumbled, falling into her arms. Propping him up, Cat sat him down on the bench next to the equipment cage.

  “Ryan, are you okay?” Cat asked with worry in her voice. He nodded while rubbing his head, trying to ease the pressure. “Well, this is a switch, huh? I’m usually the one getting all light-headed and falling on the floor,” she remarked, giggling softly. He began to chuckle but then groaned.

  “I’ve never done that before…it was kind of intense. We’re actually forbidden to control someone’s memory like that. But I had to…there was no other choice,” he explained. “Unfortunately, we have bigger problems than stopping Kirsten from spreading our secret,” he continued, looking at Cat with concern in his eyes.

  “I’ll say,” she responded dismally. Reaching into his pocket, Ryan withdrew a small silver canister. He popped the top off with shaky hands and dumped a large blood red pill onto his palm. “Hey, that looks like the pills I take.”

  “Yeah, remember how I said our coven here is special, well this little baby is the reason,” Ryan stated, examining the pill, holding it up to the fluorescent lights. In the light it had a deep red glow to it. “Dr. Bane has all us vampires on it. So it doesn’t surprise me that you take them too,”

  “And if you don’t take them…then what?” Cat asked.

  He chuckled. “I don’t know. That’s never happened before. All I know is they curb our appetite, and that my mom is very adamant about us taking them.”

  “Hey Ryan, how is it you and your coven can walk in the sun? I thought sunlight was like a vamp’s kryptonite? I mean, I know why I can, because I’m still half-human.”

  “Well, just between you and I, these pills we take, are like some kind of blood steroid. It makes us like the living undead…if that makes any sense?” Ryan replied.

  “Kind of...but then that would mean you’re just-”

  “Like you?” Ryan completed her sentence. “Yeah, that’s our secret. None of our brethren know that our whole coven here in Astoria are all like the Children they want to destroy. Actually, no one knows that us youngsters even exist. Our parents have hidden us away from our brethren, in hopes that we can all lead normal lives. Which is why you can’t tell anyone what I’ve told you, okay?”

  “Scout’s honor, my lips are sealed,” she replied. “This is all just so crazy! To think I thought none of this existed, but here it all is, right here in Astoria,” she continued, slightly laughing.

  “Yep, this place is like one big cornucopia of the supernatural,” he joked.

  “Ryan, have you ever…you know, drank blood?”

  “You mean like bite someone? No, why?” he replied and then popped the pill in his mouth.

  “Just curious.”

  “Mom, dad! I’m home!” Cat announced walking through the front door.

  “So, laps for fighting, huh?” Taylor smirked, shaking his head. Rachel and Sam came into the foyer, both looking disappointed. Cat dodged their glares.

  “Catherine Colvin! I thought we raised you better than that,” Rachel reprimanded. “And Kirsten? Of all people to fight with.”

  “Mom, I can explain-”

  “There’s no explanation for this, Cat. I want you to march up to your room and think about what you’ve done,” Rachel said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Cat, you really should be more careful. You don’t need to be drawing unnecessary attention your way. The last thing we need is for someone to find out what you are. Especially a gossip queen like Kirsten,” Sam explained while cleaning his glasses with his shirt. Cat giggled at the fact her dad used the phrase gossip queen, but then quickly apologized, putting on a serious face as no one else was smiling.

  Rachel pointed up to the stairs and Cat slouched with a slight huff, as she made her way up to her room. Closing the bedroom door behind her, Cat kicked off her shoes, threw down her messenger bag, and flopped down on her bed exhausted. Rolling over, she looked up at the ceiling thinking about what could have happened if that person hadn’t intervened. I wonder who helped me? Hearing a faint squeak outside of her window, Cat sat up quickly. She heard the sound again and moved cautiously toward it, grabbing a shoe off the floor along the way. Peering out the window, Cat saw Ryan sitting on the bench just outside. He seemed to be in deep thought while he studied the forest as if waiting for something. Opening the window, “Ryan, what are you doing? Have you been here this whole time?”

  “Yeah. I thought I’d sit watch for a while,” he replied, smiling at her, his beautiful eyes glistening in
the moonlight.

  “Need some company?” she asked, returning his smile.

  “Don’t you need to get some sleep?”

  “Not really, I’ve kind of become an insomniac.”

  “Yeah, that happens. It comes with the whole being a vampire thing,” he said with a chuckle and then patted the bench. Cat sat down next to him. He wrapped his arm around her as she snuggled up close, burying her head into his shoulder. “You know, I was really worried about you tonight. We really need to be careful, Cat. Cat?” he asked when he heard quiet snoring coming from her. “Insomniac, huh?” he joked. Scooping her up into his arms, Ryan carried Cat into her room, her body wriggling slightly as if to protest. Kissing her forehead, he tucked her into bed.

  “You really do love her, don’t you?” Taylor asked from Cat’s doorway. Ryan tensed, looking up at him in shock.

  “How did you-”

  Taylor tapped on his nose, “Keen sense of smell, remember?”

  “Oh. I was just leaving,” he replied, turning to the window.

  “Hey, you didn’t answer my question!” Ryan turned back to face Taylor.

  “Yes, I really do love her,” he whispered, as Cat tossed and turned slightly in bed.

  “Well, you know what will happen to you if you ever hurt her, right?” Taylor asked.

  “I do. But I’ll never hurt her, or let anything else hurt her either,” he replied.

  “Good, we’re on the same page then. See you at practice tomorrow. And you’re going to need to hustle more, or Brandon will take your spot next season,” he joked, grinning.

  Ryan smirked. “Will do.”

  Taylor walked out of the room closing the door behind him. He looked down the staircase to see Rachel and Sam standing together. He signaled to them that everything was fine and made his way down the stairs.

  “I’m so proud of you, dear. You handled that like a true older brother,” Rachel gushed. Sam put his arm around him and smiled.

  Ryan looked at Cat, a slight smile on his face. Turning off the bedside lava lamp, he exited through the window. Sitting back down on the wrought-iron bench outside, he waited, watching for any signs of movement in the forest which was illuminated by the moon above.