“I am fine, fine, fine.” Mom waved me off, then she leaned and kissed me brusquely on the temple. “The night has been too long, and I’m staying at Gideon’s so I don’t take it out on you. I love you.”
Rather abruptly, her haze seemed to vanish, and her gray eyes widened and flashed with intensity. She gripped my arms so tightly, I knew her fingers would leave red marks on my flesh. “Stay inside, qamari. Promise me you’ll stay inside tonight.”
“Sure, Mom.” I nodded. “I promise.”
Then her eyes locked onto Gabe. “You will protect her?” Her eyes narrowed, and Gabe stood unwavering under the force of her gaze. “There is a darkness within you, but there is strength, and there is goodness too. So you will protect her.”
“Mom.” I tried to keep my voice light and playful. “I don’t need any protection.”
“I won’t let anything bad happen to Mara as long as I’m around,” he told my mom firmly, ignoring my embarrassed protests.
“That’s all I can ask.” Mom seemed to relax then and finally let go of my arms. She touched my face gently and gave me a pained smile before telling me to be good, and then she rushed away, her shawl flowing behind her like a cape.
“I’m sorry about that,” I said softly, watching my mother retreat into the sanctuary of Gideon’s trailer, where he could soothe her pain and quiet the demons that tormented her. “She’s a good mom, and she means well. She just has … spells.”
That was the easiest way I could think to describe the episodes my mom experienced when the spirits had become too much for her and drained all her energy. And telling Gabe all about how my mom was a necromancer that conversed with the dead would break the illusion of normalcy I was fighting for.
“She loves you a lot,” Gabe commented, but his voice sounded detached, and I looked up at his face and I could see that my mom had rattled him. Under the waning moon, his eyes were dark, and he took an uneasy breath.
“She does,” I agreed, then decided to change the subject by motioning to the trailer behind me. “I have the place all to myself if you want to come in for a while.”
With some effort, Gabe shook his head and cast off his distress, so when he looked down at me, his easy smile returned. “I did promise your mom that I would keep you safe, so as your official bodyguard, it is my duty to stay by your side all night long.”
I laughed, but I took his hand again and led him inside my home.
42. the lovers
“Have you always lived in this trailer?” Gabe asked.
“No, we’ve had this Winnebago for five years.” I had my back to him as I adjusted the radio until I landed on Tears for Fears singing about being head over heels, and I turned back to face him.
He leaned back against the cracked counter with his arms out beside him, causing his white T-shirt to pull taut against his chest and biceps. He was looking around, appraising my home without any of the judgment or contempt I’d been afraid of.
Instead, there was this odd fascination playing in the burnt honey of his eyes. His hair had wilted from being under the top hat, so a few dark golden strands fell across his forehead, and I couldn’t think of a time when I’d ever seen anyone sexier.
“Why do you look so amazed?” I asked, slowly walking over to him as music wafted out through the speakers around us.
He shrugged and offered me a sheepish smile. “I don’t know. I’m just taking it all in.”
“I know it’s rundown, but I didn’t think it was that amazing,” I teased, and for once, I was just joking—not trying to cover up my insecurities.
With Gabe, I was beginning to realize that I didn’t need to feel ashamed or embarrassed. Everything he saw about me, everything he learned, he just accepted. He never judged or shamed me. He just held his arms and heart open for me.
“No, no, it’s not that,” Gabe hurried to explain. “It’s just … this is where you live. Where you fill your time and keep all your secrets. I just wanna take it all in, I guess.”
“You’re wondering how I fill my time?” I asked, stopping so I was mere inches from him. “Read books. Listen to music. Play cards. Kiss boys.”
“Kiss boys?” Gabe asked with an arched eyebrow.
“Sometimes,” I admitted with a sly smile.
“Like now?” He leaned down and kissed me softly, his lips barely brushing against mine. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him and kissing me in that subdued way that only made me want him more.
I pressed my body against his, and he pulled back. I stared up expectantly at him, at the smile playing on his lips and the devilish glint in his eyes that I was falling for.
“You know what room I’ve really been dying to see?” he asked huskily. “Your bedroom.”
“I have seen yours a few times, so it does only seem fair,” I replied with a smile.
I took his hand, leading him back through the beaded curtain to my small room at the back of the Winnebago. For his part, Gabe did attempt to check it out—looking at all the books and scarves and jewelry and posters that covered the space.
But then I grabbed his hand, meaning to pull him to me, but the icy dagger twisted inside my chest, sending a freezing pain shooting through me.
“Mara?” Gabe asked, but before he could say more, I pulled him to me. I wouldn’t let the cold stop me—not this time. I wanted to be with him, and I wouldn’t let anything get in my way.
I kissed him as deeply as I could, hoping to melt the ice that ached inside my chest, and I pulled him back onto the bed with me.
Then his mouth was on mine, hungry and strong. My arms were around him, pressing into the firm muscles of his back, and I wrapped my legs around him. The ice in my chest still ached painfully, but I ignored it and focused solely on the way I felt as Gabe touched me.
His hands were slipping under my clothes. His fingers were bold and hot as they explored my body, running over the tender flesh of my belly before finding my breasts beneath my bra.
It was apparent that clothes were only getting in our way, and we parted long enough to strip them off. I barely took the time to appraise his body because I was so eager to feel him against me.
Then we were together again, and his mouth trailed down from my lips to my neck. His teeth scraped deliciously against my flesh as he moved down, sending pleasurable shivers through me. With his arms around me, I could feel his muscles as they barely held back from crushing me with their strength.
I wanted him—no, I needed him, needed to feel all of him. My body was aching for him.
I pulled away from him, and as I did, he gave me this wonderful helpless puppy look that belied the ferociousness of the hunger in his eyes and, for some reason, that made me like him so much more.
“One second,” I promised him, and I leaned over to fumble through my nightstand drawer until I finally found a condom.
Relief washed over his face, and a few quick seconds later, it was on, and then his mouth was on mine. He kissed me for a moment, holding on to the last few seconds that we were separate, and then he slid inside me. A soft moan escaped his lips, and I closed my eyes.
The heat from him seemed to radiate all through me, and the ice that stabbed through my heart finally went away. It didn’t just melt—it was as if Gabe set me ablaze from within, and all I could feel and think and be was him.
I dug my fingers into his back, and when he finished, he let out a low, guttural sound, reminding me of a soft growl.
He rolled onto his back, then pulled me into his arms. He kissed the top of my head, and I listened to the steady rhythm of his heart in his chest.
“I’m falling in love with you, Mara,” he said softly.
“Me too,” I whispered. In the delirium of the afterglow, I let myself really feel it—how much I cared for Gabe and how I wanted to spend all of forever with him if I could.
And then my mom’s voice was echoing in my mind. “There is a darkness within you, but there is strength, and there is goodness too,” she’d told
Gabe with the strange assertion as she’d eyed him up.
Lying in his arms against the firm contours of his body, I felt his undeniable strength. And I thought I could feel the goodness in him—in the gentleness of his touch as he stroked my hair and murmured how much he cared for me.
But soon the iciness in my chest began to take hold again, sending a painful shiver through me. I couldn’t help but wonder about the darkness my mom had seen within him.
I’d known about it too, from the first moment I saw him. Deep down inside, I’d felt like I should be afraid of him, and despite all that, I’d never felt safer anywhere else than in his arms right now.
This couldn’t last forever, no matter how desperately I wanted it to, so I just closed my eyes and tried to savor the feel of his arms around me and the sound of his heart beating.
But it only lasted a few moments before I heard Luka, screaming for dear life.
43. mend
“Mara, what are you doing?” Gabe demanded, his words pinched with fear.
I’d leapt out of bed and grabbed my dress from where it lay rumpled on the floor, and now I struggled to pull it on over my head.
“Something happened to Luka,” I told Gabe, and probably sensing that he wouldn’t be able to stop me, he grabbed his jeans and hurried to get them on. “I have to help.”
“Mara—” Gabe began, but I was already rushing toward the door. “Wait!”
I didn’t want him coming with me—I didn’t want him getting hurt or tangled up with whatever was happening around here. So instead of running out into the night, and possibly getting us both killed in a valiant but stupid attempt to protect Luka, I ran to the front of the Winnebago and looked out the windshield.
Roxie and Hutch were huddled in the doorway of Hutch and Luka’s trailer, and they appeared to have turned on every light, causing the warm yellow light to glow in the humidity around them.
They both stared off to their right, toward the sound of Luka’s screams, so I followed their gaze. For a long second, I saw nothing, and then the outline of two figures appeared in the darkness, coming out from the swamp behind the campsite—one taller and burly, the other smaller and limping. Luka and Gideon.
“What the hell happened to him?” Gabe asked, his voice in my ear as he leaned over to peer out the window.
I glanced back at him, taken off guard by his presence and the fact that he could see anything. It was too dark where they were for me to see much of anything, other than their general shapes.
“I don’t know,” I replied, and opened the door. Since Gideon was here, and Luka appeared to be walking some, I decided it was safe enough for me to venture outside.
As they walked into the campsite, the light from the streetlight finally hit them. Gideon had his shotgun over one shoulder and an arm around Luka, helping to keep him on his feet, and Luka was drenched in blood.
“Oh my god!” Roxie ran over and slipped her arm around his waist. “Are you okay?”
Roxie and Gideon led him over to the picnic table parked right up against his motorhome. He winced as they helped ease him down onto the bench. Roxie sat down beside him, while Gideon, Gabe, and I stood in a semicircle in front of Luka.
Up close, his injuries were still barely visible underneath his tattered, blood-soaked clothing, but I caught a glimpse of a few very nasty gashes. Luka held his arm across his stomach, and I suspected that he was helping to keep the organs inside until his body self-healed all the way.
“Do you need anything?” I asked.
“Just some towels to clean up,” Luka said, brushing off injuries that looked like they would’ve been fatal on anyone else. “I think I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll get some,” Hutch piped up, eager to be doing something besides wringing his hands in the doorway of his own trailer. He was still recuperating from his own injuries, which was probably why he hadn’t run out to lend a hand.
“Do you want me to call an ambulance or something?” Gabe asked in a faraway voice, and Luka looked up at him with a start.
“No, I’ll be fine,” Luka replied, and did his best to mask his pain. Like most everyone else in the camp, Luka tried to keep his extrasensory healing ability a secret from outsiders. It was easier than attempting to explain something that could not be explained.
“It’s worse than it looks,” Luka added with a weak smile, since Gabe didn’t look convinced.
“What happened?” I asked, trying to detract from the fact that Luka looked like he belonged in a morgue or an ER at the very least.
But from where I was standing, I could already see the laceration across his chest starting to heal—the edges of the wound slowly moved toward each other, as if magnetized, and within moments the flesh would all be fused together as if it had never been torn apart.
I moved, trying to block Gabe’s view in case he was looking, but his eyes were darting around everywhere, probably searching the campsite for signs of the creature that had attacked Luka.
“What the hell were you doing out here?” Gideon asked, like the world-weary parent he’d slowly become. “I told you all to stay in at night.”
“Hutch was in the bathroom, and I really had to take a piss,” Luka explained. “I only went out behind our trailer, and then that thing—attacked me.”
Hutch returned just in time to hand Luka a stack of old towels and ask, “Was it a bear?”
“For the hundredth time, Hutch, there are no bears around here,” Roxie reminded him, sounding more matter-of-fact than exasperated.
Luka shook his head as he pressed towels against his more egregious injuries. “I don’t know what it was. I didn’t really get a look at it. It was dark and it happened so fast. It grabbed me and dragged me out into the woods, and it was gonna kill me, until Gideon showed up with his shotgun and chased it off.”
“What about you?” Roxie asked, looking up at Gideon with her wide blue eyes. “Do you still think it was a coyote?”
“No, it wasn’t any animal that I’ve ever seen,” Gideon said with a sigh.
“What about a werewolf?” Hutch suggested. “Or maybe a were-bear?”
Gideon shot an uneasy glance toward Gabe, who was still an outsider. He hadn’t grown up in a world like we had, and to an outsider, we’d seem insane for entertaining the idea of a were-beast.
“Everyone should get inside,” Gideon commanded, his British accent coming out gruff. “Just because the animal is gone doesn’t mean it won’t come back.”
“Luka, why don’t we get you inside so you can rest and get cleaned up?” Roxie suggested.
I offered to help Luka inside, but Roxie had it under control. Luka had already begun healing enough that he didn’t seem to be in as much pain, and it appeared easier for him to move. Of course, he had still lost a lot of blood, so he was weak and leaned on Roxie as she helped him up into his trailer.
“I should, um, I should actually get home,” Gabe said, once Roxie and Hutch had gotten Luka inside his trailer. “My mom will be worried.”
“Are you okay?” I reached out, touching his hand gently. He didn’t pull away, but he didn’t take my hand in his, either.
“Yeah, yeah…” Gabe said, but he wouldn’t look at me. He just kept staring off into the darkness around us. “Blood just doesn’t sit well with me.”
“I’ll walk you to your car.”
He shook his head. “No, no, it’s just over there.” He pointed back to where his Mustang was parked at the edge of the campsite, right at the end of the streetlamp’s reach. “I’ll be fine. You can watch me from here. Stay here and stay safe.”
I looked up at him uncertainly. “Okay?”
“Stay safe,” he repeated, then he kissed me on the forehead.
He turned away without looking at me. I stayed outside, watching him until he got into his car and sped off.
Gideon was standing just outside his trailer, wiping the blood from his hands. Once Gabe was out of sight, Gideon cleared his throat loudly, which was his in
direct way of summoning me.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I approached him.
“I’ll be fine.” He lifted his head, staring off at the empty spot where Gabe’s car had been. “I didn’t want to say anything while your … friend was here, but Hutch was wrong.”
“Hutch is wrong a lot.”
Gideon managed a weak smirk. “Be that as it may, I’m talking about his suggestion of werewolves. It’s something I’d considered myself, but I’ve had a few run-ins with werewolves myself, and this is definitely no werewolf.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Werewolves are powerful. They have substance.” He held up his hands, trying to convey their heft. “Whatever attacked Luka, it was like chasing a nightmare. I could never really see it, even when it was right in front of me.”
44. sanguine
“Okay, so I got liver and beans,” Roxie said, as she came into the trailer carrying a brown grocery bag. “I tried to get him bananas, but they didn’t have any. Small-town grocery stores are lame.”
I sat on the bench inside Luka and Hutch’s trailer, the same way I had been all night since I’d talked to Gideon. Luka stayed up a bit, going into more detail about how he’d been certain that he would die and the creature was absolutely relentless as it tore at him. But eventually he’d passed out, and he’d been snoring softly in his bed at the back of the trailer ever since.
I slept some, tossing and turning fitfully on the bench, and once the sun finally poked its way through the curtains, Roxie got up, rousing from Seth’s bunk in the back. Since Luka had lost a lot of blood, she went to the store to get foods to help him replenish. He could self-heal, but he couldn’t replace things he’d lost—like a tooth he’d lost in a bar fight years ago.
“You’re up early.” Hutch yawned in his bed above the driver’s seat, and he leaned his head over so he could look down at us. “Did you guys sleep?”
“I slept some,” I replied, suppressing my own yawn.
“It was a scary night,” Roxie said as she made room in the small fridge for Luka’s supplies. “It was hard to sleep after that.”
Freeks Page 21
