Monster

by Yolanda Olson

  “Um you were supposed to come stand here,” he said holding his arms out in front of him.

  “I’m more comfortable here,” I said slapping the wooden railing.

  “I do something wrong, Finn?” he asked looking at me curiously. I just shook my head. We’d have a chat about his version of mock fighting later.

  “Hey,” he said softly. When I turned to look at him, I could tell he was going to kiss me so I just turned my head again then hopped off the railing.

  “Alright so Kae, do you think that I’m ready for this or should we have another round?”

  “Wait a second,” Cody said interrupting me and grabbing me by the arm, “What’s the matter?”

  I pulled out of his grip giving him a cold stare, and then I turned back to Kaeden who looked like he was weighing the options of what to do. Then he smiled at me.

  “Run,” he said as his eyes turned onyx. Laughing I jumped off the porch and ran as far as the front gate when I felt someone grab me by the arm to a halt.

  “Wait,” Cody said holding out a hand to stop Kaeden. Obediently, he stopped and blew out his breath impatiently.

  “What’s going on here? All of a sudden you’re all ‘don’t touch me’”, Cody said looking back at me.

  “Oh I’m sorry,” I said sarcastically, “but trying to actually kill me when we’re supposed to practicing kind of rips the sizzle out of our ‘friendship,’” I said miming quotation marks in the air.

  “Oh come on, you can’t be mad about that. I’m just trying to help,” he said throwing his hands in the air.

  “Cody, Kaeden stopped when I had him on the ground. Ryker stopped when I had him on the ground. Remy stopped when she had me in the whip when she could’ve ripped me in half with that thing. You kept going even though I could barely move. You aren’t exactly helping me if you wind up killing me,” I said angrily.

  “Alright, so I got a little carried away –“

  “A little?” I screamed at him, “That demonic power in you was trying to kill me Cody! If you can’t control yourself then stay the hell away from me when we’re practicing. I can’t do what I have to do if I’m dead!”

  He stepped back looking like he’d been slapped in the face. Then he looked down and looked at Kaeden who was standing at a distance watching us closely.

  “I’ll see you around kid,” he said running a finger down the side of my face. I looked at him and saw as he nodded at Kae. Then he walked over to the gate, hopped it, and disappeared.

  “Cody,” I said starting after him. I felt a hand tighten on my shoulder.

  “Stay here. I’ll go talk to him,” Kaeden said.

  I rolled my eyes and looked at the house. Everyone turned their faces when I looked over almost as if to say “I wasn't looking”; it made me chuckle. I wandered up the stairs and over to the new gypsy girl, determined to find out who she was.

  “So,” I said propping myself up against the railing next to where she was standing, “What's your name?”

  “Are you talking to me?” she asked looking surprised.

  “Sure am,” I said crossing my arms over my chest. “I've never seen you before. Not before today and suddenly here you are. You weren't at the fairgrounds that I remember and still you're strong enough to stop Cody. At the risk of sounding redundant. What's your name?”

  “Um, Phoebe,” she said her face flushing.

  “Not sure?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

  “No, I'm sure. My name is Phoebe and you haven't seen me before because I just caught up to the tribe. Ask Ryker; he's known me my whole life.”

  “Everything alright over here?” Ryker asked approaching us.

  “Seems so,” I said still looking at Phoebe, “I was just introducing myself is all. How long have you known her anyway, Ryker?” I asked turning my attention to him.

  “Long enough,” he replied before going back to rejoin Remy.

  “Not that great of an answer,” I said looking back at her. “Listen, this is going to be a pretty bad fight the way Cody tells it. If you want in, that's fine, but just so you know people are going to die. And so long as it's not one of them,” I said gesturing to the group, “then I really don't care who it is. Got it?”

  She looked at me giving me a level stare, then nodded and went back to the group. I watched her and saw that she stole a look in my direction. Clearly I had gotten to her which was the point. I wasn't going to make it a habit of having random strangers joining this pointless melee. Hell I didn't even want the people that were in it, in it, but those are the breaks I guess.

  I sat on the railing and leaned my head against a wooden beam. Losing myself in my thoughts, I wondered when Paige would actually come back and who she was coming with. The obvious answer was Skiles but he likes to make 'em and break 'em so I wasn't sure it would be him. I wonder what the two of them together could do.

  Two monsters, one disciplined while the other newly formed lacking concentration.

  I felt a smile spread across my face. The best strategy would be to let the gypsies have Paige and obviously Skiles was mine.

  “Look what I've got,” Kaeden's voice called out interrupting my thoughts. I turned my head slightly to the side and saw that he had brought Cody back true to his word.

  We locked eyes and he looked sadly away. Kaeden looked at me and gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled back faintly and looked at Cody again who was sitting glumly on the stairs. Getting up I headed over to Kaeden and put a hand on his arm to get his attention. When he looked down at me I motioned for him to follow me into the house. I lead the way into the ballroom and slid the doors closed behind us.

  “So what happened?” I asked.

  “Nothing. He's fine, just a little upset is all,” he said sliding his glasses back onto his face. He blinked a couple of times then looked at me.

  “What's he upset about?” I knew I was persisting, but I wanted to know.

  “That you pulled away from him when he was trying to kiss you. That you left when I told you to and that you yelled at him,” he said checking off the reasons on his fingers.

  “Oh Lord,” I said in exasperation.

  “That's exactly what I thought,” he said laughing.

  “Look can you tell him to come here please? We need everyone's head into this and if he's not focused, he's not going to be much help. I'd hate for him to get killed because of me.”

  Nodding he walked out of the room. I decided to start a fire in the fireplace in an attempt to dry off some of the rain that was spattering on me when I was sitting on the railing. I didn't know what I was going to say to Cody, but I just hoped that whatever came out of my mouth would be enough.

  A couple of minutes later I heard a soft knocking at the door. “Come in,” I called out, tossing another log onto the fire.

  “You wanted to see me?” Cody asked poking his head through the doors.

  “Yeah. Have a seat, I'm just trying to get this going,” I said not turning around.

  I heard the sounds of the doors sliding open all the way, then closing. His heavy footsteps echoed throughout the room as he made his way to the big sofa chair that Kaeden had sat in the first night he was here.

  Wanting to heighten the suspense, I poked at the flames for a little while longer. Cody cleared his throat behind me. I smirked to myself, then turned around to face him.

  “So what's going on? Why'd you leave?” I asked sitting by the fire.

  Shrugging he turned his face away from me. I reached down next to me and grabbed one of the smaller logs and snapped it in half and then snapped that one in half. When I had a small pile of twigs next to me, I chucked one at him.

  He cleared his throat again but still refused to look at me. I threw another one and saw the side of his mouth twitch. Obviously he wanted to laugh so I threw another.

  “Cut it out,” he said swatting it away laughing.

  I smiled and put the pieces back down next to me. Even though he had laughed, he still hadn't looked
at me. I decided at that moment that if he wanted to play hardball, I was going to win.

  I walked over to him and with my arms behind my back leaned down into his face. That definitely did it; he looked at me but with sad eyes.

  “Talk to me Cody.”

  He looked away for a second then held a hand out to me. Grabbing his hand I sat across his lap and crossed my legs on the sofa arm. I felt his hand as it gently brushed over my hair and leaned my head on his shoulder.

  “I wanna tell you a story, dolly. Can I do that?” He asked in a soft voice. I nodded and closed my eyes.

  “I remember the night you were born,” he started. “I remember looking up at the night sky and seeing the stars suddenly align in an odd formation. It was really something to see,” he said with a soft chuckle and waving his hand in the air. “I sat there in Galway and stared at the sky wondering what could've caused it, ya know? I remember the commotion it caused too. I saw both sides shooting around in the sky trying to figure out what was going on and to tell you the truth it made me smile to see them scrambling around. It took me no more than a day to get to Marble and I remember looking in the nursery window at Aspen Valley Hospital and seeing you so small and perfect. The demon in me felt an insane lust for you.”

  I sat up and looked at him with a weird expression. He started to laugh and leaned my head back on his shoulder.

  “Let me explain. I know it sounds creepy, but remember how far I can see. I saw you the way you were when you were still alive, and older. And for a moment I felt like I couldn't breathe. It was weird since I've never felt that before. Anyway I watched you while you grew up every day becoming more and more enamored with you. Did you ever wonder why your scrapes and bruises never hurt when you fell down? Or why it never hurt you when your pets died the way it hurt everyone else?” he asked with a distant smile. “Ever wonder how you were able to save your sister in the Quarry? I knew that I shouldn't have interfered with your life but I wanted to keep you safe. I feel terrible that I walked away from you for the second time.”

  “The second time?” I asked curiously, “Cody you've never walked away from me before today.”

  “Yes I did. One time,” he cleared his throat, “That night in Marble when you went to that amusement park, I saw you with Skiles. Even though you didn't know me I felt so hurt that you were so attracted to him. I felt like you were ditching me for someone new. I know how crazy it sounds, but that's how I felt. Man did my heart break when I saw you two walking through the place. I wanted to call out to you but you would've probably thought I was crazy so I just watched you two get on the Ferris Wheel and I left. If I had stayed, maybe ...” his voice trailed off.

  “You can't blame yourself for that,” I said in a soothing tone. I can't believe that happen to me. “Skiles was going to do what he was going to do regardless. I've finally came to terms with that when I tracked him here.”

  “Hm,” he said putting his cheek against my head. “Can I tell you something else?”

  “Shoot,” I said.

  “The demon in me lusts after you, the angel in me loves you.”

  I sat up and looked at him. That was definitely not something I wanted to hear. Not because he was what he was, but because I knew that was going to screw with my head when we were in battle.

  “At least I think it does,” he said with his boyish grin returning. “It's another feeling I've never had before. Let me explain it to you.”

  “No that's okay,” I said laughing nervously. “I think I know what you're talking about.”

  “How?” he asked pushing me up to a seating position.

  “Because. The second time you kissed me it felt like my body caught an electric shock. I don't know if that's love or what it is, but I think I know what you're feeling.”

  “So where do we go from here?” he asked looking into my eyes.

  “You're the psychic. You tell me,” I said with a laugh and he laughed too.

  “For now, we'll keep it hidden. I mean a peck here and there isn't going to hurt anyone, but I don't think they'll be ready for us just yet. Besides, we both still need to figure out why you're getting electric shocks and why just being around you takes my breath away,” he said with a chuckle.

  I nodded. Then I did something I never had the courage to do. Live or reanimated. I grabbed his face and I kissed him. He returned this kiss with such force that I felt my breath being taken away from me. I rearranged myself so that I was facing him. I grabbed him by his hair and pulled hard as we kissed the most passionate kiss I had ever had in existence. When we finally pulled apart we were both breathing heavy. Our foreheads were still touching and he ran his hand through my hair and smiled.

  “Let's go,” I whispered getting on my feet and pulling him up with my hands.

  Still smiling he leaned down and kissed me softly once more and we left the ballroom. As we walked through the corridors of the house I heard a commotion outside so I picked up speed, dragging him along behind me.

  When we got to the porch, I saw the vampires were ready to attack the gypsies. What could've possibly happened in the ten minutes I was gone?

  “Whoa, whoa! What's going on?” I asked stepping in between them.

  “That one's a fake,” Shane snarled pointing at Phoebe.

  “Step back,” Ryker shouted at them in anger.

  “I'll handle this please,” I said putting my hands over my ears. When both sides finally stood down, I shoved Phoebe to the ground and held her down with my foot.

  “Let's finish our conversation from earlier. I'm Finn, you're Phoebe. Now I want to know who you really are.”

  “Finnegan,” Ryker shouted stepping toward me.

  “Ah, ah,” said Cody pushing him back. I didn't even know where he was on the porch but I was thankful he was close enough to back Ryker off. I looked up at him and smiled but I noticed that he was looking at Phoebe with a chastising look.

  “I told you this wouldn't work,” he said grinning at her.

  “What?” I asked spinning to look at him.

  “I knew that guy was up to no good,” Drake muttered looking at Cody.

  “Cody,” I said patiently, “Tell me what's going on and don't lie to me.”

  “Sure, let her up though,” he said with a smile. I removed my foot from Phoebe's chest and she got up and walked over to Cody.

  “Sorry Pheebs, Finn likes to go hard when she goes in,” he said laughing.

  “I've noticed! At least I don't have to pretend anymore,” she said pulling her gypsy clothes off reveling a white t-shirt and black jeans.

  “Cody,” I said ominously.

  “Huh? Oh yeah. Pheebs is my sister. Weird right?” he said with a laugh.

  “Anyway she can do this mind controlling thing that made the gypsies believe she was one of them and always had been. I thought we might need some help so I asked her to join in,” he said with a satisfied grin.

  “You guys don't look anything alike,” I said staring at him.

  “Yeah I look more like mom and she looks more like dad. You'd think with it would be the other way around, but nope! Anyway Pheebs,” he said turning to her, “now that they know it'll be easier from here on out.”

  “That's why you reacted the way you did when she walked in to the house, isn't it?” I asked with that scene flashing before me again in my mind.

  “Mhm. She's a great fighter though. Learned from the best,” he said flexing his muscles.

  “The most vain anyway,” she said giving him a shove. “Look I'm not here to butt in on your fight or anything but when Cody asked me to help I knew it was because it was going to be something major. But I definitely won't stay if you decide you don't want me too.”

  I looked at her and then at Cody who was studying my face with a hopeful look. I turned to Ryker and Kaeden and motioned for them to follow me.

  “Mind controlling can be very useful to us,” Kae said in a whisper.

  “Yes, obviously she can do that very well,”
Ryker whispered back bitterly.

  “Finnegan, what do you think?” Kaeden asked.

  He and Ryker both turned to look at me expectantly. On the one hand it did help to have a mind controlling angel, demon person. On the other hand, she was Cody's sister and he wanted her there. I weighed my thoughts thinking about my own sister. She couldn't be here to help us so why should his sister have that privilege? No, that's not her fault, I reprimanded myself. If it wasn't really for Kendall we wouldn't be doing all these skirmishes to begin with.

  “I say we keep her. If it gets to be too much, then we'll ditch them both,” I said finally.

  “Agreed,” Kaeden said and Ryker nodded.

  “Okay, we talked about it and you can stay,” I said looking at Phoebe. She and Cody high-fived each other and grinned. “Before you guys celebrate, we have a condition.”

  They both looked at me. “In the event that this proves to be unnecessary,” I said choosing my words carefully, “then you both go. Understood?”

  “Sure thing, dolly,” Cody said coming over to us. He gave me a tight hug and whispered a “thank you” into my ear.

  So there we were. A brother and sister who had demonic and angelic forces inside of them. The world’s first vampire, two fledglings, and an established vamp. A gypsy king and his right hand warrior. And one of me. I felt that we had really good chances of surviving whatever it was that Cody had said was coming at us.

  “I think we should all sleep for the rest of the day. Night’s coming so we’ll need to feed. I don’t have to yet, but I’m sure some of you are hungry.”

  There were nods of agreement and I looked at Ryker and Remy, “Hey, I want you both to stay here. It’s too dangerous for you to go back to the fairgrounds now when you smell so much like us. There are rooms all over this place that I haven’t even been in that you are welcomed too.”

  Ryker smiled and thanked me as he and Remy disappeared into the house. Kaeden smiled at me and also went in.

  “Well little mama, it’s time to hit the hay. We’ll see you in a few hours,” Drake said as Chase and Shane followed him. I laughed and told them to sleep well.