by Lynne Ewing
“No chance,” he said, answering her thought.
“Good.” She let out a satisfied sigh, then spread her fingers through her hair, trying to work an old spell on him.
“Where to first?” he asked.
“Let’s hit the club scene in Silver Lake,” Cassandra suggested. “There’s a new place I want to check out.”
He did a U-turn into traffic and shot toward the east side of town.
Cassandra rolled down her window. Wind rumbled into the car and caught her hair. She was quiet, but when she looked at him he could feel her desire. “It’s good to be back with you,” she said softly. “I’ve missed you.”
He nodded, but couldn’t give her the answer she needed. He didn’t feel the same. He was with her only because of Serena.
She seemed to understand his silence. “I’ve told you before,” she said, not bothering to hide her pain. “I’m patient. I can wait.” Then she leaned forward and turned on the music. She nodded her head with the beat as they continued to drive.
Finally, they parked and got out of the car. Stanton looked down the deserted street. “Where’s the club?” he asked.
“Don’t be so suspicious,” she answered. Her mood seemed cheerful again. She took his hand. “It’s hidden.”
She started walking, pulling him along. “No sign is going to advertise this club. You have to know about it to find it and,” she added smugly. “You have to know the right people to hear about it.”
Soon music filled the shady street. The thumping beat grew louder when they turned down a dark alley lined with newly planted palm trees. Spiky fronds bristled against their legs as they continued to a large open plaza. The music was loud now.
In a pit near the entrance B-boys in track suits and helmets did head spins and kung-fu flips.
A line had formed and kids waited restlessly behind red velvet ropes to go in. Two large men wearing black suits guarded the door.
Cassandra touched Stanton’s chest lightly. “Work your magic.”
They walked to the front of the line. Stanton darted into the mind of the larger security guard whose fist was filled with dollar bills.
The other guard frisked a thin white boy, checking his jeans for weapons.
The one with the money smiled suddenly as if he had just remembered an old friend. “Stanton, my man,” he said and waved them in. He signaled the other not to do a weapon’s check.
Both guards stood back with admiring smiles and let them pass.
The kids in line stared enviously, already assuming Stanton and Cassandra were record producers or music scouts.
“You haven’t lost your touch,” Cassandra smirked as they hurried through a dark hallway to a large room.
Inside the music hit Stanton hard, rocking through his chest. He liked the new sound. It was fast and heavy on the guitar. He scanned the crowd.
“All these hard-core rocker babes hanging out,” Cassandra shouted in his ear. “It should be easy for you to find one who wants a little dark adventure.”
He turned to her. “You’re not jealous?” He taunted her spitefully. “I thought you would be.”
She shook back her hair. Her earrings dangled against her soft throat. “Of them?” she asked with an arrogant snicker. “Open your eyes and look at me.”
He nodded and couldn’t conceal a smile. He couldn’t deny that she was stunning.
“I knew you’d notice,” she teased and ran a finger down his cheek, then touched his lip. “Fly high.” She strutted away with a swing of her hips, knowing the guys lined against the wall were all staring at her.
Stanton laughed. When she had still been a Follower, the rich-looking guys in their silver-studded belts and clean, pressed jeans had been her target. She liked to play games with them. In the old days she had had the power to go into their minds and make them forget a few dollars on the table. Or sometimes she would send them out to buy her gifts. Now she had to outwit them, but that didn’t look like it was going to be a problem either.
Stanton grabbed a Pepsi from a heavy-metal guy who had just purchased one at the canteen.
“Hey!” He thrust his skinny chest forward.
“You don’t want to fight me,” Stanton said simply, then plucked the anger from the guy’s mind and brought forth false memories.
Finally, Stanton lifted the Pepsi in a salute. “Thanks, Gilly,” he said, easily finding the guy’s name.
“Sure, dude, any time.” Gilly nodded and smiled as if he and Stanton were the best of friends.
Stanton found a table in the back. He sat down, flung his legs up, and rested his shoes on the table’s edge. Immediately, three girls joined him, but his attention was on the next band setting up. Soon it began to play.
The girls sitting at the table looked at Stanton. He smiled, letting his mind tease around their thoughts. They had picked him out because they liked the way he looked. But he didn’t pick up any fear or hesitation to awaken his desire.
“Want to dance?” the boldest one asked.
Stanton shook his head. When he didn’t respond to their inviting looks, they left his table and pushed through the crowd.
Then a girl band in spandex and halter tops took the stage. The tousel-haired lead singer made his back shiver when she broke into song. Her tattoos seemed to crawl up and down her arms as she played her guitar.
Stanton thought about taking her and let his mind weave into her thoughts. She turned her head, eyes wide, and stared back at him with animal need of her own.
Girls in miniskirts and slinky tops danced near him, and he studied each one in turn, sliding into their minds briefly, reading troubles and woes, seeing broken hearts and boyfriends. None of them fired his imagination or his need.
A girl with braces and sweat glistening around her brow plopped into the chair across from him and daringly took a sip of his Pepsi. Her eyes looked at him with invitation. He eased inside her thoughts, then pushed deeper into her memories. He snapped from her mind. She was too eager. Let some Initiate find her. The girl seemed to sense his rejection and left.
Finally, Cassandra came back to him. “Girls have been flirting with you all night and you haven’t done anything. Don’t you even remember how?”
“I’m not going to,” he stated. “I’ve changed my mind.”
She tilted her head. A sly smile crept across her face. “I haven’t changed mine.”
“I didn’t think you would.” He resigned himself to what he was going to have to do.
She paused. “Just like the old days, you’re waiting for angels. You’re not going to find any here, so I’m going to choose for you. That one over there.”
He followed her finger. She pointed to Maryann. What was she doing here?
Maryann waved. She wore a see-through dress, and a push-up bra. Even from across the room he could feel her discomfort and embarrassment over the way she was dressed.
“Doesn’t she look wicked?” Cassandra teased.
“Did you tell her to come here?”
“I might have nudged her,” she confessed.
Stanton realized then that Cassandra had followed him to the Halloween party in West Hollywood. Had she also seen Malcolm?
“Is she good enough?” Cassandra asked. Then she caught his look and shrugged. “I already told you that I’ve been following you. You liked her on Halloween night. Consider her my present to you.”
He glanced back at Maryann and remembered her memories. She was a good person, the kind he liked to bend and turn. The other part of him awakened now with a slow lazy stretch. His heartbeat quickened. He had denied himself too long.
Cassandra caught the way he was looking at Maryann. “I had to show her how to dress,” she said, laughing. “You can’t imagine what she was going to wear—but that dress makes her sizzle.” She licked her thumb, pressed it on her hip and made a hissing sound.
Stanton stood. Already his body filled with fiery anticipation. He jostled through the dancers until he stood next to
Maryann.
She looked up at him and smiled. “Hi, I was hoping I would see you again.”
“I thought your father wouldn’t approve.” His eyes lingered over the thin green dress with beads sewn across the top. He turned her around to see the back of it. She was blushing when she faced him again.
She cleared her throat. “Did I actually tell you about my father?”
“No, I just knew.” He brushed back her hair, then let his hand slide down her neck and rest on her shoulder, his thumb rubbing her collarbone. “You look good in that dress.”
She relaxed and cast her eyes down before she looked at him again.
He loved her purity of heart. Memories of other nights breathed through him, making his craving stronger.
“You’re looking at me funny.” She giggled. He caught a memory of her pressing her face into her pillow the night before and pretending she was kissing him.
“You want a kiss?” he asked with a malicious smile.
She nodded, her face turning crimson with self-consciousness.
“You’ve never been kissed before, have you?” he asked, knowing that she hadn’t.
Her eyes darted away. “Of course I have,” she lied.
“Don’t lie to me.”
She started to deny it again, but changed her mind and shook her head. “No,” she admitted.
The music stopped and the room filled with the sound of beer cans emptying. Kids shoved around them, heading for the bathrooms.
Stanton took her hand and pulled her back to a dark corner behind the tables where they could be alone. The singer on stage played a riff on her guitar. The notes vibrated through Stanton. He moved his feet in time to the beat.
Maryann watched him. “You’re a good dancer.” She seemed surprised. “I thought the other night you didn’t know how to dance.”
He put his hands on her waist and pulled her to him. “I can dance. There isn’t anything I can’t do. I’m a Follower.”
“A Follower?” She smiled and danced close to him. “What’s that?”
He let his hands slide up her sides. “I’m going to show you.”
The night pulsed through him. He knew she saw something different in his eyes by the way she jerked back. He held her tight. “Don’t you know when a guy wants to kiss you?”
She swallowed and seemed unsure.
“Put your arms around me,” he ordered softly.
Her hands slipped tentatively up his chest and clasped his neck. He pulled her body next to his and she closed her eyes in anticipation.
What little resistance remained inside him slipped down into a cold abyss where his soul had once been. He eased into her mind with a suddenness that surprised her. Her eyes burst open with a shock and she stared at him. He saw the astonishment on her face and cherished the sensuous fear exploding inside her. She tried to break away from him.
“Too late,” he whispered and held her with his eyes. Each time she tried to pull away, he drew her to him until he had her spellbound.
He could hear her whimpering, but it was as if she were far away.
Now sweet one, turn and face the Atrox. She struggled against his caressing, but soon she stopped fighting and her fear left her. The lies of the Atrox soothed her and filled her with promises.
Stanton smiled triumphantly and pressed his hand over her mouth so she couldn’t cry out when she finally saw the bleak future that awaited her.
Her communion with the Atrox filled his emptiness, but he knew the ecstasy he felt from devouring her luxurious hope would only last for a short time. Soon, the aching need would return, but for now it was satisfied. He wondered now why he had denied himself for so long. He was a creature of night and he relished his evil existence.
“Soon,” he whispered against her cheek. “Soon you will see the way and become a Follower. I’ll guide you and help you.”
She was too confused to answer him. Her eyes looked haunted. He caught a tear running down her cheek with the tip of his finger.
Then, a strange feeling came over him. He felt other eyes. He turned, and through the crush of dancers he saw Serena, staring back at him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
JIMENA, CATTY, AND Vanessa joined Serena and stood beside her, their amulets glowing.
Stanton hated the wounded look on Serena’s face almost as much as he hated the smirk on Cassandra’s. He knew in an instant that Cassandra had set him up. Anger spread through him like thick, hot tar.
“Serena,” he yelled and tried to send a thought to her, but she repelled it. He had done this to protect her, couldn’t she see? He tried to reach her again with his mind, but she slammed his thoughts away.
Dancers bobbed around him, getting in his way, but even from this distance he could feel the fierce anger building inside Serena. She felt betrayed. Then Jimena leaned against her and together their power crackled across the room. He deflected their hit. He was too powerful for them to fight, but he understood that they had to try to save Maryann and they wouldn’t back down.
Serena, Stanton called again and opened his mind so she could enter it and see the truth.
Serena ignored him and shoved through the dancers, Jimena, Catty, and Vanessa behind her. When they were closer, all four stood together and locked arms. Their force exploded across the room in a blinding flash. Stanton split their barrage before it reached him. The room convulsed and hundreds of sparks spun in the air.
Kids stopped dancing and watched. Even the musicians were spellbound by the fiery lights.
“Light show!” the lead singer yelled into the mike.
Then the music started again. Dancers crowded the floor as bits of fire continued flying around the room.
Serena stared angrily at Stanton through the shower of embers. He could feel how hurt she was. She glanced at Jimena, Vanessa, and Catty. They knew that they were no match for him, but the looks on their faces said they would not turn away.
All four pushed through the dancers with raw determination until they were almost beside him. Their moon amulets glowed in his eyes. He blinked and turned away.
“I’ll never forgive you.” Serena grabbed Maryann’s hand and jerked her away from Stanton; then all four girls pushed through the crowd, pulling Maryann with them.
“Serena!” Stanton yelled. He tried to follow her, but dancers pressed tightly around him. He cried out her name again and when she didn’t turn back, he elbowed through the crush of kids after her.
When he stepped through the front door he found Jimena waiting for him.
“I warned you,” she whispered, and the air split with a jolt he hadn’t expected. It shattered into his head before he could block it.
Stanton staggered back, unable to regain his balance as Jimena’s power came at him with another smashing wave.
Jimena glared at Stanton, daring him to attack, then she turned, ran through the break dancers and down the corridor, the palm fronds brushing against her jeans.
Stanton ran after her.
When he reached the street, Serena was helping Maryann into the back seat of Jimena’s car.
“Serena,” he pleaded. “Listen to me.”
Her head whipped around. “I don’t want to hear your lies.”
Vanessa, Catty, and Jimena turned to face him. He could feel them preparing for battle. They were not supposed to attack first, but he knew they didn’t always follow their own rules. He glanced warily at Jimena, then spread his arms wide and walked slowly toward Serena, his mind open, vulnerable, and begging her to listen. She wouldn’t even look at him.
“Let me explain, Serena,” he said. “You have the power to look in my mind and see what happened. Just look. You’ll understand if you do.”
“I don’t want to,” she answered simply, but he could feel the quiver of tears in her voice. “I’m done.”
He stepped closer. A desolate ache spread through his chest. “Serena…”
“You heard her,” Jimena shouted. “Vete! Get away. She doesn’t wan
t any more of your mentiras. All you’ve every done is lie.”
He took one last step forward.
“Serena, I had to do it to protect you,” he tried to explain. “That’s the way it started. Cassandra saw us together. She was going to expose us to the Atrox.”
Serena shook her head. “I don’t want that kind of protection. That’s not what I stand for.”
He understood immediately that he should have been braver. “But that’s what I am. What you saw in there. You’ve always known I’m a Follower and that’s what Followers do. The Atrox demands it.”
Tears shimmered in Serena’s eyes. “Then I guess I couldn’t have ever really liked you.”
Vanessa looked at him with pity, but Catty seemed anxious to get away.
“It’s over.” Jimena stated flatly. “Leave her alone.”
“Is that what you want?” Stanton stared at Serena. He had become her enemy again. Old battle lines were redrawn. “I’m lost without you, Serena,” he pleaded.
Vanessa looked at him, then turned away, angered to think of the number of times she had stood up for him.
Jimena started to open the driver’s side door but stopped suddenly, her hand flying to her forehead.
“Are you all right, Jimena?” Serena asked.
“Are you having a premonition?” Catty looked worried.
Jimena shook her head as if trying to rid herself of the image.
“What did you see?” Vanessa asked.
Jimena stood and looked over the car at Stanton with new hate in her eyes. “I had another premonition about Stanton.”
“Worse than the last one?” Vanessa’s anxiety seemed to be increasing.
“Yes,” Jimena said slowly. Her eyes held his in challenge.
Vanessa broke in. “Let’s go then. Before any more start coming true.” She slid into the car next to Maryann and Catty squeezed in after her.
Stanton tried to push into Jimena’s mind to see her premonition, but when he did she shot a wave of anger at him. At last she jumped into the car and turned the ignition. The twin pipes roared.
Suddenly Stanton was afraid that he would never see Serena again. He ran to the car and pounded on the passenger-side window.
