Monster

by Yolanda Olson

  “I don’t really care,” he said casually.

  “What?” I screamed. I leapt to my feet and my rage came instantly with me. I went at him and he sidestepped me easily. Turning I let out snarl and ran at him again but he just stepped to the left. His hand shot out and caught me just as I was about to go face first into the ground.

  “I know what your problem is now, doll. You can control your anger but when you attack you don’t have any discipline.” He pulled me up to a standing position and kissed me on the nose.

  “Cody are you trying to drive me crazy?” I asked my body still shaking from my almost permanent disfigurement.

  “Nope. I’m trying to help you like you wanted me too. But I don’t think you’re up for my brand of help. Not yet anyway. So let’s work on my problem first then we’ll work on yours okay? Let’s get out of this place. The silence is starting to creep me out.”

  He put an arm around my shoulders again and walked me out of the cemetery.

  As we approached the last few rows I saw a familiar face waiting on the outside of the gates looking around.

  “Shane?” I whispered to myself.

  I knew he heard my whisper he heard me because his head jerked in my direction and he waved. I noticed that he also looked like he was holding his breath.

  I ran out of the gates and hugged him so hard that we went back a few steps, him laughing as he tried to steady us both.

  “Long time, eh?” he said in his deep voice.

  “Oh my God, I can’t believe it! I thought that you guys were gone, but then Drake showed up one day and I just, I didn’t know. I couldn’t believe that you guys —I wouldn’t!” I hugged him again tightly.

  He gave me another squeeze and held me there for a moment. “I knew you wouldn’t give up on us,” he said softly.

  “What’s all this?”

  We let go of each other and turned to see Cody looking at us curiously. He had his jacket on again only this time the sleeves were rolled up above his elbows. It made him look like he was ready for a fight.

  “Cody, this is Shane. He’s one of the oldest friends I have here in Devils Lake,” I said gesturing to him.

  Shane smiled and held out his hand to Cody who hesitated for a moment before shaking it, “Nice to meet you.”

  “Yeah. Same,” Cody said looking back at me.

  “Hey do you want to come back to my place?” I asked Shane. “Drake’s there.

  And you guys have a new brother, Chase. I’m sure that he’d like to meet you and Drake would be happy as hell to know that you’re okay.”

  “I already passed by it,” he said looking slightly embarrassed. “I didn’t stop or anything, I ... uh ... well I caught the scent of that vampire that came into the shop with you that day. Didn’t know that Drake was there too otherwise I definitely would’ve stopped.”

  “Yeah Kaeden’s in there too,” I said suddenly feeling Cody’s arms around my shoulders. Boys, I thought to myself with amusement. “But he’s okay. He’s actually helping us out. I think you should talk to him.”

  “I don’t know,” he said doubtfully.

  “Wait. Shane let me ask you something. Remember when he handed you off to someone in the building? Someone who was talking about a deal? Who was it?”

  He looked down uncomfortably at his feet. I waved a hand in front of his face to get his attention again and he looked up at me for a moment then off into the distance. It was obvious that he didn’t want to tell me.

  Cody looked at him intently then grinned, “I can tell you who they were handed off to.”

  Shane looked at him and scowled which in turn made him laugh. I felt Cody shift from one foot to the other next to me. I knew he was dying to tell me who it was but that’s something that I really wanted to hear from Shane, so I shook my head slightly at him.

  “Is he your boyfriend?” Shane asked suddenly pointing at Cody.

  “No, he’s my friend though.”

  “Her very good close personal friend,” Cody said pulling me closer. If he squeezes me any tighter my insides are going to explode.

  “Oh. Heh. Hey is it true that this Kaeden guy is ...you know?” Shane asked crossing his arms.

  “Is what?”

  “You know, the first.”

  “Oh! Yeah the way he tells it. I don’t have any reason to doubt it though. I mean I wish I knew for sure but I don’t think there’s a reason to lie about something like that you know.”

  “He’s the real deal,” Cody said. We both turned to look at him. “What? I just thought I’d verify that since you guys are wondering. You know, just trying to be helpful and stuff,” he said with a shrug.

  “Well how would you know?” Shane said giving Cody a level stare.

  “I’m old,” he replied simply. For some reason that struck me as incredibly funny and I doubled over with laughter. That seemed to be his response to most things asked of him. Wiping tears from my eyes I looked up at him and saw that he was grinning at me. Shane on the other hand didn’t look amused. At all.

  “Sorry,” I said to Shane, struggling to control the laughter, “You get used to him.”

  “I’m sure,” he said. “Look I’m gonna head out for the rest of the evening. I haven’t eaten in a couple of days and it’s making me testy.”

  “Wait. Come with me back to my place. The rest of the guys were going to hunt tonight too. I’m sure they haven’t gone yet.”

  He hesitated for a second. I smiled so reassuringly at him that he let out his breath and nodded. The three of us walked in relative silence. Cody had me by the hand and was swinging it in an exaggerated manner. Shane looked at him and shook his head. But other than that it was a fairly quiet walk back.

  When we approached the gate to my home, Cody tensed up. “Maybe I should go wait for you at the park,” he said looking at the door.

  “What? No. This is my home and I can have any guests that I want,” I said pulling him through the gate.

  “NO WAY!” Came the shout from the door.

  The three of us looked up and saw that Drake, Chase, and Kaeden were standing suddenly in the doorway. Shane grinned and waved at them prompting Drake to jump off the stairs and run down the walkway. He grabbed Shane by the shoulders and gave him a brotherly shake and they both laughed. They gave each other a quick tight hug as they talked over each other at the same time. Keeping a protective arm around Shane, Drake walked him up the walk and introduced him to Chase who smiled and shook his hand. Kaeden was leaned against the banister watching the scene with an amused look on his face. His eyes then traveled over to me and Cody and he waved.

  “See?” I said to Cody out of the side of my mouth, “Told you he’s cool. Let’s go.”

  “Nah. I’ll see you around though. Maybe later on,” he said leaning over and kissing me on the cheek. “See ya!”

  I watched him disappear down the street and shook my head. Turning around I headed toward the porch and Kaeden smiled down at me. The other three were talking to each other animatedly catching up on things.

  “Where’s he going?” Kae asked me.

  “No clue. He seems to think you don’t want him around. Any idea why?”

  I searched his face for any signs of deception when he spoke.

  “It’s not that I don’t want him around. I just didn’t want anyone around while you were sleeping. He wasn’t the only one that came by to see you. I turned away Ryker and Remy too. I guess he took it personally,” he said with a shrug.

  The problem was that I didn’t know Kaeden or Cody well enough to know if that was true. I mean Kae hadn’t lied to me that I knew of so far, and neither had Cody. Neither of them seemed to have any personal gain in this and it was my mess they were helping me with.

  “What the hell is that?” asked Chase.

  I turned to follow his gaze, and Kaeden dropped his arms and stared in the direction we were looking in. I saw the sky light up for just a moment in a series of beautiful colors. I felt like I had just seen Au
rora Borealis.

  Then it happened again, only this time it was accompanied by very loud, very angry yell. Oh God. I immediately took off running in the direction of the skylights. I ran as fast I could without forcing myself to run as fast I usually do. If he needed help I wanted to get there with some kind of energy left.

  I took a left around the side of the street and ran. I could heard my three immortals running behind me staying close, when Chase suddenly shouted out.

  “Over there guys! By the tree line!”

  I looked up and saw another explosion of lights. If he doesn’t control himself, all the humans are going to notice and come see what this spectacle is. The four of us turned slightly to the left in precision and headed toward the trees.

  “Kaeden! I’m gonna need a little help here!” I shouted to him.

  Nodding he picked up speed and grabbed me by the back of my shorts and launched me into the air. It was funny how when we were all in our fighting frames of minds we knew what the other was talking about without having to say much.

  I saw the ground underneath me getting closer and closer as gravity was angrily pulling me back down to the earth. I dropped to one knee then got up and kept running. I needed to be able to get to him first and with Kaeden’s help that time was cut in half. When I got close enough that I heard the sounds of battle, I put my head down and ran faster.

  A little shocked, I realized where I was. In the clearing where Kaeden had instructed Drake to leave Ava. But in the middle of the clearing was something much worse.

  Cody and Paige locked in vicious fight.

  I stopped running and just stared. What the hell happened to Paige that suddenly she was able to fight someone as strong as Cody? Behind me I heard the footsteps of Kae, Drake, and Chase slowing down and then stopping after having flanked me on either side.

  Cody grunted again and pushed against her, making her lose ground, but as he did the sky light up again. I knew the only thing to do would be to take him out of the fight and take his place. With a cry that I’m sure would’ve made Kaeden proud I ran in and dug my shoulder into her chest, knocking her into the ground.

  In his surprise Cody pin wheeled and almost lost his footing. Then in anger he ran over to me and pushed me back.

  “Back off. You’re not going to be able to take her,” he said.

  “And you’re painting pretty pictures in the sky. Calm down or let me handle this,” I said shoving him out of the way.

  Paige stood and looked at me, with pure anger raging in her eyes. She let out a scream and came running at us full speed. I took a deep breath and readied myself for the clash that was going to happen when suddenly she stopped charging us. A friendly smile spread across her face.

  “I wouldn’t have known ya,” she said looking at me.

  I eyed her cautiously. Something was definitely wrong. And then I noticed what the problem was; her eyes were light blue. They looked like Skiles’ eyes.

  “Back off,” I said to Cody giving him a shove. “You’re the one who’s not going to be able to handle this.” I don’t even know if I am, I thought grimly to myself.

  Laughing he came over and stood next to me and said, “Together.”

  I nodded, maybe now we’d have a chance. I looked at Paige and thought of myself in that first year that I had been changed. So much uncontrollable rage and anger and a need for destruction. God I was an insatiable monster and I knew that even though she was hiding behind a friendly smile, it was just a ruse.

  “Oh come on Finnegan,” she said starting to slowly come toward us. “Just me and you. We’re friends aren’t we? Leave the half breed out of it.” I felt Cody stiffen next to me so I put a hand on his forearm to calm him down. “Don’t worry,” she continued looking at him, “after I’ve torn her to shreds, you’re next.”

  “Then let’s dance,” I said motioning him to back up.

  Paige smiled a cruel bitter smile. In a way I was sad, she looked nothing like the scared girl that had been so close to Kendall. Instead she looked like a vicious animal that was ready and willing to fight to the death.

  She steadied herself and got into a fighting position. I steeled myself and did the same.

  “This isn’t going to be necessary,” Kaeden said appearing in between the two of us. Once again he had his hands clasped behind his back and was wearing his studious expression.

  “No one asked for your opinion, parasite,” Paige spat at him angrily.

  “Take no offense to anything I’m going to say,” he whispered looking at me.

  When I nodded he turned to Paige, “I may be a parasite, but at least in a way, I’m alive. You’re nothing but the shell of something that was once alive ...”

  “Yeah!” Cody interrupted clapping loudly.

  Kaeden turned to look at him for a moment obviously trying not to smile, then turned back to Paige. “You smell of rotted flesh. Even I, being a parasite, would not come this close to you if it wasn’t necessary. Only maggots would come close enough to you and that would be to feast on you. Flies are attracted to your stench. A walking compost pile that belongs in the ground. You are nothing. You are an atrocity. And if you touch any of my friends, I will end you.”

  By this point, Kaeden was so enraged that his entire body was shaking. His voice still calm, masked his anger but his body definitely was giving him away. Paige on the other hand looked like she had just been slapped in the face. Looks like sometimes violence really wasn’t the answer.

  “I’ll be back,” she said in a low seething tone, “and when I come back I won’t be alone. And you’re going to be in for a wicked surprise,” she said smiling at me evilly.

  “That girl needs to chill out,” Cody said coming back to my side. “Come on guys, we've got a lot work to do. Someone call the gypsies, we've got a war to prep for.”

  10. The New Girl

  (Day Eleven)

  No one got any sleep that day. We were all too wired. Drake had taken it upon himself to multiply and send his clone to get the gypsies. In the meantime while we all waited, Kaeden was talking quietly with Chase, Shane, and the real Drake. I sat on a corner couch next to Cody who had an arm draped lazily around my shoulder and a leg up on the coffee table. Kaeden had asked Cody to join the group he was talking to, but he refused to go if I wasn't included in the caucus.

  So we sat there waiting for the rest of the group to show up. Cody held my hand and occasionally intertwined his fingers with mine. I was going to have to have a little talk with him. Either we were friends or we were something else. These mixed signals were driving me nuts.

  About thirty minutes later, Drake's clone reappeared followed by Ryker, Remy, and some girl I couldn't remember seeing before. I sat up and looked her over. I didn't know who she was and why she was in my home but no one seemed to notice or care. Next to me Cody chuckled softly then let out a sigh and ran his hands through his hair. I continued to look her over curiously. She was obviously very pretty. Long, curly ash brown hair, light green eyes that seemed to tell you her story if you dared to look deep enough. She’s very small. Barely scraping over five feet tall and a tiny frame to match her height. I could tell just by looking at her that she's as agile as a snow leopard. She noticed me watching her and gave me a crooked smile. Then she settled up a little closer to Ryker.

  “So what is it exactly that we are doing,” Ryker asked Kaeden. The way he stood there so territorial reminded me of the story Kae told me. I couldn't help but imagine Ryker as that angry little boy that Kaeden knew so many years ago.

  “According to that one over there,” he said pointing at Cody, “we need to regroup and think about a strategy. Another fight is on the horizon, only this time we don't know when.”

  I stood up and walked over to the group, “Look there's no reason for any more fights. I came here for one purpose. One. And now this has turned into a big problem. No one has to do anything. I can take care of this by myself. I'll find Paige and Ava. Then I'll go to Skiles and just tell him
that he can have me. That way no one else will be in any danger.”

  “Yeah, that's likely,” Cody scoffed from the couch. Swinging his legs off the coffee table he came over to us. “Like it or not, this is going to play out. And there's no way in hell that I'm going to let you do it alone. Everyone else can leave if they want though.”

  Kaeden let out a long suffering sigh and put his head in his hand. “When are you going to understand that we have to do this together? No one, human or otherwise, can finish this alone now. I've chosen to help Finnegan because Ava is my doing. Ryker and his gypsies help because they want to protect their people. Drake, Chase, and Shane fight because they feel they have too. Why are you here?”

  “Because I saw this coming,” he said calmly. “Ever since Skiles came to Devils Lake, I knew that this was going to happen. If we can just get through the spares and let her tell him what she wants to do, which by the way is not going with him,” he said looking at me, “then we can all go about our existences. But don't forget. You still have to do something about those three.”

  The three vampires turned to look at Cody.

  He shrugged, “Hey those aren't my rules. Those are his,” he said pointing at Kaeden.

  They all turned to Kaeden with expectant looks on their faces. Kae glared at Cody, apparently he had wanted them to forget that part. I rolled my eyes, I could tell that this wasn't going to get us anywhere. We were way too disorganized and too different to try to cooperate or listen to each other.

  I stood there watching them hopelessly as an argument broke out. Kaeden was telling Cody that he wasn't needed, and Ryker was telling Kaeden that we needed all the help we could get. Remy and the other gypsy girl were arguing with the three amigos over there because they were being told that we didn't need any more girls in the melee.

  In a fit of anger, I punched the coffee table so hard that I split it in two. Everyone immediately fell silent and turned to stare at me. I pulled my arm out of the hole I had made and the table collapsed to the floor.

  “This is how this is going to go down,” I said looking back at them. “I am going to decide who does what. I say we need everyone and damn it I say who's going to stay and who isn't!”