Bizarre Life of Sydney Sedrick

by Mandi Casey

  “Your wishes are clear. Your requirements will, of course, be discussed with Kieran as he will be the one deciding how many Knights he sends to watch over you, no matter what you want. You may do well to keep that in mind. What Kieran dictates encompasses your will as well, not just the vampires of his coven. Your wants are not our priority. Whatever Kieran says is what goes. It will be Kieran who decides who is assigned to you this evening while you and your sister enjoy your adventures.”

  I didn’t like the sneer in his eyes when he said that last bit.

  Aaron took one more glance around the store, ran a finger along one of the shelves and inspected it intently. I was glad I had dusted and that there was nothing for him to fault me on my lack of care with cleaning.

  Then he said with clear disdain, “They will be waiting for you and your sister to leave your house. They will also follow you to your house once you have closed down your little store. Do not try and shake them. They will be there only for your and your sister’s protection. If they feel you are in harm’s way, you will be removed from the situation and brought to safety. Do you understand?”

  The message was clear. Kieran was planning on running my world, telling me what do. That was not acceptable. But I’m a level-headed person, most of the time, so it would be foolish to refuse his offer for someone to watch over my sister and keep her safe while she was with me.

  Chapter 10

  The black sedan sat parked inconspicuously down the road from where Aunt Judith’s driveway met the street. It was fairly easy to spot, and when my headlights flashed across the car, more than one person’s silhouette shown inside. Kieran must have felt it necessary to send more Knights than was agreed upon. So much for telling him how it was going to be. Aaron had explained that a Knight in the vampire realm was similar to a bodyguard who watched over important government figures in my world, which was fast becoming integrated with theirs. Their responsibilities also included the safekeeping and transportation of the Selected, among other things.

  I parked my car next to Brianna’s and went into the house.

  Aunt Judith was waiting for me inside, just past the front door. “Sydney, we need to talk. There have been new developments you should know about before you go out into the night.” She glanced toward the door leading to the kitchen.

  I really didn’t like the sound of that. How much could a girl take in one day?

  “What sort of developments?”

  Aunt Judith leaned in and, as quietly as she could, said, “Meredith called me early this evening. She said there were some sort of attacks on humans, and the police are unable to determine the cause of death on the poor souls. The bodies were found in a dumpster behind the shopping plaza on 60 Street. Sydney, the bodies were mutilated, as if a werewolf attacked them, but there was not a single drop of blood left in the bodies.”

  My gut felt like a ball of lead when she said there wasn’t a drop of blood left. That must mean the attacks were made by vampires. But from what Blake had said, vampires didn’t mutilate the bodies of their victims, and they rarely ever killed humans. If the attacks were made by werewolves, which would explain the part about the bodies being mutilated, how were the bodies completely drained since that wasn’t the wolves’ way of doing business? The problem was it was a full moon outside, so either set of rogues could be the guilty party. But the presentation of the crimes didn’t fit either, specifically. I assumed by Aunt Judith’s quiet voice that Brianna was in the kitchen.

  I put my hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring, but gentle, squeeze. “Please don’t worry. Kieran assigned some of his men to watch over us tonight. I’m not going to let these attacks get in the way of taking my little sister out on the town for some seriously needed girl time. She needs to have fun and let loose.”

  When she looked at me like a crazy person was talking to her, I knew what she was thinking. Brianna made sure there was always a lot of fun in her life.

  “Michael couldn’t explain why he wasn’t able to be with her tonight, so she’s quite hurt and confused. I’m going to take her out so she can get her mind off of him. If anyone tries anything, I’m betting the vampires assigned to watch over us won’t let anything happen to either her or me.”

  Aunt Judith followed me into the kitchen where we found Brianna digging into her favorite Tiger Claw ice cream right out of the container. She was using my favorite ice cream spoon, the one that heated and made the ice cream perfectly soft and ready to be eaten. The smell of the caramel and chocolate that were swirled throughout the ice cream was enticing me.

  Being able to smell the distinct ingredients separately made me pause. My sniffer hadn’t exactly been super sensitive before. Was being the Selected the cause? Come to think of it, the wonderful, individual aromas floating in the air at Morris’ house should have been my first clue something had definitely changed.

  Brianna lifted her spoon toward us in greeting before scooping up a large glob and shoving it into her mouth. Over to my left, the tantalizing aroma of spaghetti sauce simmering on the stove drew me over to investigate. I took a deep breath. It was wonderful separating and appreciating the different seasonings: garlic, salt, oregano, butter? I didn’t know she put butter in her sauce. Nothing beat a warm meal of Italian food when the weather was freezing cold outside. No matter how many layers you put on, the cold air still stung right to the skin. Hot chocolate was a close second.

  Aunt Judith dished me up a heaping pile of noodles topped off with sauce and a slab of garlic bread covered with melted cheese, and we sat at the table together.

  We all sat there in silence while Brianna sulked in her ice cream, and every last bit of my sauce was mopped up with the garlic bread. Aunt Judith always waited for me to get done with the store to have dinner ready. Pasta was my favorite food to eat in preparation for a night on the town.

  Aunt Judith was the first to break the silence. “Brianna, your mother called today, wondering when you were planning on making the trip back home. She mentioned that she may be going on a vacation with your father and wanted to know if you would watch the house for a while.”

  “I have to talk to Michael and make sure he’ll be ready, but I’m pretty sure we’re leaving sometime tomorrow afternoon.” After mentioning Michael, Brianna’s eyebrows cinched together, and she stuffed another heaping spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. Yeah, she definitely needed some distracting tonight. Hopefully Michael would figure out a better way of explaining his absence in the future than him just having ‘stuff’ to do. It was hard watching my usually over cheery sister mope and sulk because he wasn’t around.

  While rinsing off the spaghetti sauce and breadcrumbs from my plate and putting it into the dishwasher, they continued their light chatter. It was time to get ready for a night of drinking and dancing. After showering, I wrapped an oversized, fluffy, purple bath towel around me and went over to the bathroom window facing the front of the house to take a peak. The black sedan was still parked in the same spot as before.

  Closing the drapes to cover the window, all of a sudden my blood pressure plummeted to what felt like nothing. Lightheaded and dizzy weren’t strong enough words to describe how I felt. The overwhelming sense of sickening heat sucked the air from my lungs and dropped me to my knees. It became unbearably hot in the bathroom, and moving to the door to open it was nearly impossible. Cold air, that would make me feel better.

  The feeling was similar to when Blake had come into the store and then again at the werewolf den. But there was a distinct difference. This time, the heat was not warm and welcoming like Blake’s. It was tainted with a toxin. The nearby wolf must be a random rogue in the area. There hadn’t been enough time since becoming the Selected for me to know if it made a difference since the moon was currently full and high in the sky compared to being near a wolf in their human form when there wasn’t a full moon. But whoever the wolf was, they definitely didn’t belong to Morris’ pack. From the sickening feeling the rogue was causing me, they
had harmful intentions toward the occupants of our house.

  Vampires were unable to sense the presence of a werewolf unless they were in the same enclosed vicinity with each other. That was another reason the wolves and vampires each wanted me on their side. That was besides each of their prophecies, of which neither sounded good to me. It was the first time I’d felt the presence of either, with them on the outside and me on the inside of a building. Was it possible my sensing abilities were growing already?

  I opened the bathroom door and immediately started to feel better. The air was starting to cool down while I stayed slumped on my knees, gulping in the fresh air from the hallway. What did it mean, having a rogue werewolf prowling around the house? Why would they come so close to my home?

  Well, they weren’t going to ruin my night with Brianna. After a few more minutes, the nausea and feverish wave faded, allowing me to stand again without dropping to the floor. The urge to vomit dinner all over the white tiled floor of the bathroom wasn’t as strong. Whoever the rogue was must have seen the car with the vampire Knights waiting outside, and decided whatever they wanted wasn’t worth the trouble the Knights promised if they tried to enter the house. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing having them close at hand after all.

  It didn’t take long to get ready. I quickly blow dried my hair, applied a fresh layer of makeup, dressed, and then finished with my straightening iron. I took a final look at my refection to make sure everything was where it should be. The dark circles under my eyes seemed a little less puffy with a new layer of foundation on and some fresh eye shadow with a hint of mascara.

  Grandma was right. All of this was quite overwhelming. I felt lucky Aunt Judith was around to talk about things with. It would have been nice to somehow let Grandma know how helpful her journal was becoming. The thought of starting my own journal for the next Selected crossed my mind. Someday my granddaughter may need my words of wisdom. It was possible that may not happen considering crazy monsters seemed to be hunting me at this very moment. Would keeping my granddaughter in the dark, hoping her abilities wouldn’t be triggered until she was old enough to handle it, be a good idea? Would involving her in a scary world from day one of her life so she knew what was coming her way be better than what my mother did? Letting her live totally vulnerable, like my mother had made me, without any idea there were supernatural beings who thought the Selected was the key to changing their world, and that of their enemies, wasn’t my style.

  There was no way my granddaughter would be the unknowing target of some rogue vampire or werewolf without being able to protect herself. My mother was going to sit and hear my opinion on the matter when my anger cooled enough to talk to her without screaming. My guess was she already knew it was coming because she hadn’t even called since the attack. Aunt Judith was keeping her updated, but it wasn’t time yet to talk to her about it myself.

  I walked into the kitchen after catching my breath.

  Brianna draped an arm around our aunt’s shoulders. “Aunt Judith, don’t worry about us. We’re big girls. We can handle the nightlife of Kenosha. Seriously, we are from Chicago, you know. I’m sure it’s way more dangerous down there than it is up here.”

  Under her breath, Aunt Judith sadly said, “If you only knew child, if you only knew.”

  Brianna’s face lit up when she saw me. “Hey, you ready to shake some booty?”

  “I’m ready for anything.”

  “Let’s get moving, then.” Brianna jumped out of the kitchen chair and went into the living room. I soon heard the sound of her digging for the keys in her purse to start her car from inside with the remote key start. My car didn’t have that option, but the seat heaters totally made up for it. Heated seats beat any type of automobile accessory available, in my opinion.

  I leaned over to Aunt Judith and whispered, “You put the wards on the house you were talking about earlier, right?”

  She looked at me with a sparkle of mischief in her eyes and replied, “Yes, we worked up a good one this morning while you were at the store.”

  “Good, don’t leave the house alone tonight. We’re still going out, but we have vampires that will be looking after us. Something happened upstairs after my shower, Aunt Judith. Something evil is close by, and if anything happens to you, I don’t know what I’d do, so don’t leave the house alone, okay?”

  Fear and understanding dotted across her face. “You can sense them? Sydney, it took years for my mother to be able to sense the presence of the Others, and she never let on how strong she was at it. For you, it has been less than a week!”

  “Years? That seems like an awful long time to be waiting for that to happen. Anyways, we’re leaving, so promise me you’ll be careful and you’ll stay in for the night? We have enough to worry about without one of us getting hurt.”

  “All right. You be careful and don’t let anything happen to either of you, or your mother will have my hide on a stick before the night is over.”

  I smiled and gave her a reassuring hug. “You’re the best aunt anyone could ever hope to have.” I pushed the kitchen door open and waved to her, trying to set her mind at ease. Hopefully she wouldn’t worry too much about us. Brianna was waiting by the front door, her tan leather purse slung over her shoulder, cell phone in hand.

  Brianna drove us downtown to the same nightclub we went to with Michael when Blake showed up. While we were parking on the side street down from the club, the vampires arrived, pulling up three cars down in the opposite direction. They waited to get out of their car until we were at the club entrance showing the doorman our identification. Before we crossed the club’s threshold, they were coming down the sidewalk. There were two of them, and neither one was Aaron, which was fine by me. His arrogance and condescending demeanor wasn’t exactly fun to be around, and we didn’t need him to find a reason to spoil the mood of the evening.

  Both vampires had on similar black suits and sunglasses like Aaron, but, unlike Aaron, they were also wearing long wool trench coats that hit their heels as they strode down the snow covered sidewalk. The coats were probably to conceal weapons.

  Why did they bother concealing their weapons since they were able to control every human’s mind and manipulate their memories they ran into? It wasn’t like they were trying to hide anything from the wolves. I’d have to ask Blake or Aaron that question, to see if it had anything to do with sheer numbers and effort. It would also be interesting to know if all vampires had the ability to control the minds of humans or just specific ones, like Aaron.

  The atmosphere of the nightclub on the first floor was just as welcoming as it had been the first night I’d been there. The dark wood paneling was soothing against the soft glow of the candles that were lit on each of the tables strewn around the borders of the room. We headed straight to the bar and ordered drinks. With a beer in my hand, I looked toward the front door of the club. Our secret chaperones were indeed standing there in the shadows with their sunglasses firmly in place, covering their glowing red eyes from any unwanted attention.

  Brianna grabbed my arm and led me up the staircase along the far wall. The thump of the music and stomping of the dancers’ feet met us as we topped the landing. The lighting was dark with the exception of the multiple strobe lights flitting across the dance floor making the dancers appear as if they were moving in slow motion.

  Bopping along to the music, we danced our way to a recently vacated table on the outer edge of the dance floor. We plopped down on the stools and had just finished downing our first drinks when an old friend of Brie’s came over to our table and screamed, “I can’t believe it! Brianna, what are you doing in our humble little town? Once we heard you were starting medical school, we figured we’d never see you again!”

  I recognized Shelly from when we were little and spent the summers with Grandma and Aunt Judith. Shelly was one of the closest neighbors to the house and used to come over to play often since she was gifted with nothing but big brothers in her family. Excusing myself f
rom the table, I told the girls I’d be right back with a fresh round of drinks so they could have time to catch up.

  Walking around the dance floor, trying to keep to the shadows to make sure Brianna and Shelly didn’t see my destination, I stalked the dark areas to find my sunglass-wearing escorts.

  I tapped the one closest to me on the shoulder. “Excuse me, no, you’re not exactly invisible. Aaron told me you’d be here, so don’t be alarmed that your super sneaky skills aren’t actually all that good. Anyways, before we left my Aunt Judith’s house, did you guys notice there was a wild wolf on the loose, prowling outside on my property?”

  They glanced at each other, and the one that appeared to be younger in age, which wasn’t saying much considering vampires didn’t age past the day they were turned, took a step forward and bowed his head.

  “Miss Sydney, my name is Liam, and this is Shane. What do you mean there was a wolf by your living quarters?”

  His accent, and the way he talked, spoke volumes. He was definitely older than the mere twenty some years old his physical body appeared.

  “Yeah, somehow my Selected senses picked up the wolf’s presence from somewhere outside of the house, but they were definitely somewhere on the property. The feeling wasn’t pleasant, like when...”

  His eyebrows raised above his glasses, waiting for me to finish with that statement. “Never mind about that. Anyways, this wolf gave off a different kind of sensation, like his essence was covered with a layer of evil I’ve never felt before. Do you know what any of that means?”

  Liam said, “I have heard of such a thing. Maria Sky mentioned it many years ago. She said when a rogue wolf or vampire was around, the air changed, that it was almost painful for her to be near them.”

  “Yes!” Not really meaning to scream in his ear, but I was so happy. The joy when someone else understood at least a little of what was going on was a wondrous feeling. It made me feel a little less like a circus-sideshow freak when he said my grandmother felt the same thing. “Yes, the presence of the wolf literally brought me to my knees in pain, making me feel really sick!”