Shimmer (Wicked Woods #2)

by Kailin Gow

  Briony could see Fallon biting back an angry response. “We still can’t go to a hospital,” he said. “Which leaves one thing, doesn’t it? Vampire blood.”

  “Vampire blood?” Briony echoed.

  Kevin answered her. “Get enough in you, and it will turn you into one of them. Less than that, though, and it will help someone heal.”

  Fallon made a face. “Just don’t think that this is going to be a regular thing. Not after taking Briony from me.” He bit down on his own wrist, and blood started to flow. “If she weren’t watching, I’d leave you to die.”

  “If Briony weren’t watching, one of us would die,” Kevin agreed.

  Chapter 12

  Fallon and Kevin both left after Fallon had healed his brother, leaving Briony to get things at the inn back into good shape. Aunt Sophie arrived about halfway though, helping Briony to put things right once she got over the shock of seeing her home like that. It was one of the first times Briony had ever seen her great aunt rattled.

  “Where were you?” Briony asked.

  “I’d just popped out for some things,” Aunt Sophie replied. “It was a good thing I wasn’t here, by the looks of it. What happened?”

  Briony told her about Pietre and Kevin. For some reason, though, she did not tell her great aunt about Jake. Maybe it was the thought of trying to tell her that Uncle Pete was dead, or maybe it was just worry over what Aunt Sophie might do if she learned that Briony’s brother was some kind of vampire/werewolf hybrid.

  “It was just as well the boy was here, then,” Aunt Sophie said, “though I wish he’d made less of a mess.”

  “Fallon’s back too.” Briony tried to say it flatly, but it didn’t really come out that way. Aunt Sophie had the tact not to press too hard though.

  “That’s going to make things complicated. Not that they were ever simple. Come on. Things will look better after a good night’s rest.”

  They didn’t. Not really, anyway. After all, no amount of sleep could do away with the fact that vampires were targeting them. As Briony went to school, she kept glancing back over her shoulder, all too aware that there was nothing to stop the creatures from striking while she was out. There was no way that Pietre would just give up after all these years.

  Once she was at school, though, Briony forced herself to push those thoughts away. It wasn’t like she could do anything from there, and Aunt Sophie could look after herself. Besides, there were plenty of other things to focus on. Fallon, for one. Briony had not expected to see him, but he was there in the hall as though he had never been away, chatting to Maisy and Steve. When Briony got close enough, he slipped an arm around her shoulders and kept talking about some sci-fi show to the others. It was the kind of casual closeness that Briony might have expected back before he had left at homecoming, breaking Briony’s heart and before Kevin.

  Then, it had felt normal, even reassuring. Now though, it felt strange to Briony, even forced. Not that it seemed that way on Fallon’s part, but he couldn’t just walk back in and really expect things to be as they were, could he? Apparently, he could. At least, he treated Briony exactly as he had before he’d left, even going so far as to steal a brief kiss from her before he set off for his first class. Briony didn’t have time to complain.

  “So,” Steve said, “are you two back together or what?”

  Briony did not have an answer for that. Thankfully though, Maisy chose that moment to provide a distraction.

  “Briony, are you trying out for the cheerleading squad after school?”

  “That’s today?” Automatically, Briony’s eyes sought out Pepper Freeman, the head cheerleader. Surrounded by her usual gaggle of friends, the blonde-haired cheerleader wasn’t hard to spot. She laughed at a joke that was probably at someone else’s expense. On the fringes of the group, Claire, Briony’s one friend amongst them, laughed along even though it was obvious that the dark-haired girl didn’t really get the joke. But then, Briony suspected that Claire didn’t get a lot of things.

  “Yes,” Maisy said. “You are trying out, aren’t you? Claire talked me into giving it a try. Even dragged me along to some practice where I had to learn the routine for the try out. She was so… enthusiastic about it.”

  That sounded like Claire. That kind of enthusiasm had been more or less how Briony had found herself talked into going to one of the school’s football games with Claire and her friend Tracey…the game where Briony had ended up killing her first vampire. That seemed like such a long time ago now. Back before Tracey had been killed.

  “So, are you going?” Maisy insisted.

  Briony nodded automatically, even though she had missed out on learning the routine. She was not going to miss out on a chance to try out just because her life happened to be full of supernatural creatures. After all, she had been one of the stars of the team back at her old school.

  “Absolutely. Even if I’d probably have to lock Pepper in a cupboard somewhere to get in.”

  They had English class after that. Fallon was not in Briony’s first class, but in the second, it was again like he had never been away. He didn’t even seem to be behind in any of his work, which didn’t strike Briony as very fair. After all, it had taken her a lot of effort to catch up for all the days she had missed. Fallon continued to treat Briony as though recent events hadn’t happened, too. He sat next to her in class, and caught her eye whenever he could, and generally acted like he was still her boyfriend. Like Kevin did not exist.

  It was so obvious that by lunchtime, even Maisy was ready to comment on it. She cornered Briony in the lunchroom, away from everyone else.

  “This thing with Fallon is getting weird,” she said. “I mean, it’s like he’s just assuming that things are back to normal, just like that.”

  “I know,” Briony said.

  “So, is that what you want?”

  “I… don’t know.”

  “Ok,” Maisy said, “well, how do you feel about Kevin?”

  “I don’t know,” Briony said again. She was more than aware that it was any kind of answer to the question. “I was almost ready to get back together with Fallon when we were all taken hostage by Pietre, but since then? Kevin has been there. He was there when we thought Fallon wasn’t coming back. He was there when I needed somewhere to hide. He was there, and Fallon wasn’t. I know it wasn’t his fault, but I had to move on or…”

  Maisy looked like she might say something, but stopped herself, nodding back over Briony’s shoulder. “Hi, Steve. Hi, Fallon.”

  The two boys showed up with their lunches, and Fallon was friendly. Briony watched him carefully, looking for some sign that there was something else underneath it, but there didn’t seem to be anything but a genuine desire for things to be all right again.

  “You know,” Fallon said after a minute of minor chat about who was doing what in the school, “we should all go out together. Maybe tonight?”

  “Like a double date?” Maisy asked.

  “Exactly.”

  Briony was already shaking her head. “I can’t. I have to work down at George’s diner. I have a lot of missed time to make up.”

  “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind,” Fallon said, but then seemed to think about it. “Okay, maybe he would. But what about if we did something on the weekend? There’s that amusement park for the tourists. I’ve never been there. It could be fun. It might be nice to do something that’s just fun for once.”

  Briony tried to think of a way out of it automatically, but nothing came to mind.

  “It could be good,” Steve said. “I’ve never been either.”

  “I don’t think anyone who’s actually from Wicked has been there,” Maisy said. “It’s kind of the rule with these things, isn’t it? If you live there, you don’t go to them.”

  “I don’t know…” Briony began.

  “Come on, Briony,” Fallon said. “You need something that isn’t about vampires, or werewolves, or work. You have to have some time for fun.”

  To Briony
’s surprise, Maisy and Steve both nodded. Whose side were they on?

  “You do look like you could do with a good day out,” Maisy said.

  Briony put up her hands in surrender. “All right. All right. I’ll go.”

  The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, and the four of them hurried to their next class. Biology. It was only when they were halfway there that Briony remembered just who would be teaching it. Her stomach started to knot. Somehow, she doubted that a lesson featuring Fallon and Kevin in the same room would be fun.

  It was every bit as bad as Briony had feared. The moment Fallon sat down next to her, his hand ‘accidentally’ brushing hers, Kevin’s eyes narrowed. From there, things only got worse. Kevin asked questions relating to previous lessons, and then picked Fallon to answer them, regardless of whether he had raised his hand. He delivered his lesson in short, clipped sentences, a scowl never leaving his face. When one of the boys towards the back whispered something to a neighbor, Kevin shot him such a furious look that the boy practically yelped in fear.

  About halfway through, Briony found a note sliding across in front of her. Just one glance at Fallon told her who had pushed it her way. Since when did my brother teach high school, it read.

  Briony wrote the words He’s here to protect me. Pietre could strike anywhere underneath, and pushed it back to him. Fallon’s expression tightened as he read it, and he screwed up the piece of paper. When Kevin chose that moment to ask him yet another question, Fallon’s reply was in a cold tone that Briony was sure even the other students understood what was going on.

  When the bell finally went for the end of class, Fallon didn’t move from his seat. Briony stayed put too, knowing that she could not just leave the two of them alone together as everyone else left. That was the kind of move that would lead to a fight. Maisy raised a questioning eyebrow, obviously wanting to know if she should stay too, but Briony shook her head.

  “I’ll see you at tryouts,” she promised.

  “You’d better be there.” Maisy looked serious. “I’m not doing that alone.”

  She left then, and finally, it was just Kevin, Fallon and Briony in the classroom. The tension was palpable.

  “If you two fight here,” Briony warned, “it will cause so much trouble.”

  “Like he doesn’t deserve it,” Fallon snapped back. “Coming here on the pretext of protecting you, pretending to be a teacher, and all so he can steal you away from me.”

  “I’m not the one who ran off,” Kevin said. “Whatever there was between the two of you, I’m the one who has been protecting Briony. She’s mine now.”

  Briony brought her hand down on a desk so sharply she thought it might break. “Stop it, the pair of you. For your information, I don’t belong to anyone.”

  “Sorry,” Kevin said, looking away.

  “Sorry,” Fallon echoed.

  Briony took a breath. “Fallon, I’m glad you’re back, but for a long while, you weren’t here. Kevin came here to protect me, and he did a good job. We can’t just pretend things are like they were before.” She sighed. Now, you’re coming with me, because I’m not leaving the two of you alone together.”

  She walked out of the class, and Fallon followed. He stopped her halfway down the hall. “I’m not asking for things to be the way they were,” he said, “but I know you feel for me, Briony. I know what was between us in the woods, and before the vampires took us. I just want a chance, Briony.”

  Briony could not bring herself to say no. Couldn’t do anything but nod. Fallon started to say something, but Briony stopped him.

  “I have to get to tryouts.”

  She ran, and so arrived only a couple of minutes late, to general glares from everyone except Claire and Maisy. It went… well, better than she had expected, given that she didn’t know the routine and the head cheerleader had it in for her. Even so, Briony was hardly surprised when the last cheerleading spot didn’t go to her. She actually smiled when Maisy got it.

  Even so, there was a part of her that could not help cracking just a little as the others welcomed her friend to the team. Once, that would have been her almost automatically. Now… was there any part of her life that Pietre and those like him couldn’t damage? Briony sat on the bleachers and watched the others, and vowed that the next time she saw the master vampire, this would be just one of the reasons she would stake him.

  Chapter 13

  As soon as she’d had the chance to congratulate Maisy on getting into the cheerleading squad, Briony rushed from the gym. The last thing she needed was to spend her time with the likes of Pepper gloating that she wasn’t good enough. Briony certainly didn’t want anyone seeing the tears that were starting to glaze over her vision.

  It was stupid, getting upset like this over cheerleading. Running out of a gym and leaning back against the wall and crying, just because she hadn’t got into some team. Stupid, after all that had happened. It wasn’t like someone had taken her family from her again. It wasn’t like someone had died.

  Getting angry about it did not help though. If anything, it made things worse. Briony found herself getting upset because she was getting upset, and that was the stupidest part of all of it. Could things get any worse?

  “Briony? What’s wrong?”

  Oh great. She had to think it, didn’t she? And now here was Kevin, just in time to see her crying over nothing. Like that was attractive.

  He folded her into his arms, holding her close enough that Briony could feel the strength of his muscles with every ragged breath. This close, she could pick up the scent of his skin, rich with soap, and work, and undertones of the forest. Briony wished that she could stay like that forever.

  “What is it, Briony?” Kevin repeated, gently tilting Briony’s head until her gaze met his. “You can tell me, you know.”

  Briony shook her head. “It’s stupid.”

  “Somehow, I doubt that,” Kevin said.

  “I’m crying because I didn’t make the cheerleading squad. Is that stupid enough?” Briony pulled back from him, slumping back against the wall and letting herself slide down it until she was sitting.

  Kevin was silent for a moment as he moved to sit beside her. “That’s not all of it though, is it?”

  Until he said it, Briony didn’t realize that it was true. She nodded. “It’s like… I can’t have anything normal anymore, Kevin. I used to have this nice life. Family. Friends. I was in the cheerleading squad, and no one tried to pick on me the way Pepper does. Then I had to come here.”

  “What’s wrong with here?” Kevin asked.

  “Everything. It is like everything I care about has been taken away from me. And it never stops. First my family is supposed to be dead. Then they’re vampires, and it turns out a master vampire has it in for Aunt Sophie. Then my brother turns out to be some kind of hybrid vampire and werewolf, who can’t control himself because of it. Even when I start to make friends, I find myself worrying about what will happen to them. I mean, look at what happened to Tracey.”

  Kevin reached out for her hand. The feeling of his fingers entwined with hers was all Briony could focus on for the next few seconds.

  “Tracey’s death wasn’t your fault, Briony.”

  “Wasn’t it?” Briony demanded. “How do we know? Pietre has been targeting everything around me, from George’s Diner to my family. Why not my friends? Not that I have friends at the moment.” Briony winced as she heard herself. “Okay, so I’m feeling really sorry for myself right now.”

  Kevin smiled. “Just a little. But it’s all right to be upset sometimes, Briony. You just have to remember that this wasn’t your fault. It was Pietre’s, and he isn’t even after you. He’s after your great-aunt.”

  “I guess,” Briony said.

  “You know it, because it’s the truth. It isn’t even Aunt Sophie’s fault. She can’t control what someone like Pietre will do, so why should you think that you can?”

  Briony shook her head. “I don’t think that. It’s just�
� stuff like this, it should be separate, somehow. Fighting vampires, and werewolves, and the rest of it, it actually sounds kind of cool, right up to the point where it means that I don’t get to have friends. Right up to the point where I can’t have a normal life. Sometimes, I wish that things were back to the way they were when I lived back in Florida.”

  Kevin kissed her then. It seemed like a big risk to Briony, kissing her out in the hall where anyone could see, but he didn’t seem to care. “Things change, Briony. You can’t stop them, and you’ll drive yourself crazy if you try.”

  “So I should just accept what Pietre has done?” Briony demanded.

  Kevin shook his head. “I’m not saying that. Pietre has done unforgivable things to a lot of people, myself and Fallon included. He will pay for that. But no matter what we do, it won’t make the world the way it was before all this began. All we can do is try to stop him from making things worse.”

  “And in the meantime, I’ve got to try not to be the girl who breaks down because she can’t make the cheerleading squad?” Briony guessed.

  It got a brief laugh from Kevin, who reached out to brush the last of the tears from her cheek. “Why would I tell you to be brave about it? You’re already one of the bravest girls I know.”

  “Only one of?”

  “You’re special, Briony. So you didn’t make the cheerleading squad? So what? My guess is that you can achieve almost anything if you try. And I think you should try to find something, because right now, what you need most is something normal in your life.”

  Briony raised an eyebrow. Where was she going to get anything normal in Wicked? The town was to normal what she was to particle physics. “You had something in mind?”

  Kevin smiled, and started to fish in his pockets. “Maybe.”

  “What are you looking for?”

  “It’s a surprise,” Kevin said.

  “I’m not in the mood for surprises, Kevin.”