Bait

by Kasi Blake

By the time Bay-Lee reached the castle that evening it was getting dark. Lights burned bright in a multitude of windows. She let herself in and walked through the downstairs rooms until she found Nick in the last place she expected. Sitting in front of a flat-screen the size of one you’d find in a modest theater, Nick was watching a reality show. It was one of the shows where aspiring singers perform for judges in the hopes of becoming famous overnight.

  Nick looked comfortable on the plush red velvet theater style chair—there were four rows of them—his left arm resting along the back of the seat next to him as if he had an invisible date while his other hand held a bucket of popcorn. For a moment she observed him unnoticed and contemplated what her life would have been like if she’d grown up in the castle, if she’d been Van Helsing’s daughter.

  Breaking the silence, she said, “You’ve got to be kidding. This is what you do with your spare time?”

  Using the remote, he lowered the volume on an enthusiastic female singer and tilted the popcorn bucket in Bay-Lee’s direction when she was close enough to grab some. It smelled delicious covered in melted butter. She couldn’t resist. Dipping her hand into the box, she settled into the seat next to him. “Are we alone?”

  “We are, and this is a good show for your information.” She ate it while listening to him list his reasons for watching it. “Mike and I discovered it when we were on tour three years ago. We usually watch it together, but he’s with Jordan tonight. Sometimes it’s hard to spot true talent. A person can have a good voice without any control or they can be lacking charisma. Mike and I pick three people we think will make it to the end. Then we bet on who will go home each week.”

  She reached over and grabbed another handful of popcorn. “Sounds like fun.”

  He pointed at a girl in the back row, waiting her turn. “She’s the one to beat. I’m sure of it.”

  “How did you get started in music?” Bay-Lee asked. “One day I started hearing your name constantly. Then I started seeing your face everywhere.”

  “I hate to admit it, but... uh, Van sort of bought us our careers. He shelled out a ton of money to make it seem as if we were already famous. People in the States thought we were famous in Europe, and people in Europe thought we were already famous in America.”

  “That is so wrong,” she said, unable to stop herself. Softening the accusation, she added, “It’s not your fault. Van is the one who cheated.”

  “He might have built the ladder for us, but we worked our butts off to stay on top. If we weren’t good, we would have crashed and burned a long time ago.”

  She stared into his shocking green eyes and saw a lost soul. They were two of a kind. She believed it now more than ever. Her hand slid over his. It was time for the truth. Doubts hit her like tiny darts. Telling him about her mom was not going to be easy. If he didn’t understand her need for justice, she wasn’t sure she could be his girlfriend.

  “Pretending to be Van’s daughter to keep the real girl safe wasn’t exactly charity on my part.”

  “What are you saying?” His eyes sharpened on her face.

  “I came here with a plan,” she said, giving the truth to him in small fractions.

  “What kind of plan?”

  “I wanted vengeance.” She stood up and walked to the muted screen. There was a woman crying now, probably after being told she was on her way home, her dream in ashes. Bay-Lee’s mind took her on a frightening rollercoaster ride. There had to be a way to explain everything to Nick without sounding like a crazy person. “I need justice for my mom.”

  Nick looked at her with concern. “What happened to your...”

  She cut him off with a violent slash of her hand. Eyes filling with tears, she struggled with emotions long dormant. They rose to the surface and threatened to bring her to her knees. Taking a deep breath, she fought for the strength to continue. She looked at the screen instead of at him as she explained, “My mother was killed by a pack of werewolves when I was five.”

  “Do you know why they killed her? I mean, usually werewolves stick to people who won’t be missed or people hiking in the woods or broken down on the side of the road.”

  “They were searching for something and thought she was hiding it.”

  Nick jumped out of his seat, crossed the room, and led her back to the chairs. “Sit down and tell me everything. Don’t leave anything out.”

  Being able to talk about it was amazing. For years she’d kept it to herself. Unable to share it with friends at school, she’d locked it down deep. Connor had even refused to discuss it. After all, it was his sister who had died that night so the two of them stumbled through life together, avoiding the subject of Bay-Lee’s mom every step of the way.

  The present faded into the background, even Nick as she drifted into the past. Within seconds she was a five-year-old girl again standing in mommy’s kitchen, chocolate on her face. Her mom pulled another tray of cookies from the oven. Bay-Lee told the story of her mother’s death in a quiet voice that seemed to be coming from a great distance.

  “I don’t remember much about my mother, but I’ll never forget the details of the night she died. The smell stuck with me, chocolate chip cookies and blood. To this day I can’t bear to be in the same room with fresh-baked cookies. They make me physically ill.” She paused to get a grip on her emotions. “It was an ordinary night, quiet… until they came. I don’t know what tipped my mom off.”

  Nick interrupted. “Was she a hunter?”

  His voice infiltrated her brain like a shock of cold water. She was surprised to find her face damp from a steady stream of tears. Her blurred vision slowly brought Nick’s face into focus, and she released a shaky breath. The question took a second trip through her mind. “No,” she said. Then she admitted, “I don’t know. Van doesn’t talk about her.”

  Returning to her story, she said, “Somehow my mom knew the pack was breaking into the house before they found us. She carried me to the living room and put me in a special hiding place. Connor had dug a hole through the floor and into the dirt beneath our house, making it the perfect size for me. I could stand up in the hole beneath the couch, my feet on the dirt bottom and fingers gripping the hardwood floor surrounding it. There was a spring that tipped the couch back far enough for me to climb inside. It was a great hiding place. No one could see me unless they lay down in front of the couch and looked beneath it with a flashlight in their hands, but I hated it down there because it smelled horrible. I think Connor fixed it that way on purpose to keep werewolves from being able to catch my scent.”

  Bay-Lee paused, fearful of delving too deep into the past, but knowing she had to do it. “My mom warned me not to make a sound.”

  Her mother’s frantic voice echoed in her head. “You stay in there no matter what you hear. Do you understand me? If you come out before I tell you to, I will take all your toys away and burn them! I’ll burn your Sally doll, and I’ll spank you with the belt!”

  They had trained for this, month after month. Her mother often stuck her inside the hole and put the couch down over her so she could get used to it. If she stayed put, she got rewarded. If she didn’t, she got spanked and lost a treasured toy. But this time was different. Her mom’s eyes were bulging, body trembling. Little Bay-Lee whimpered as her mom lowered the couch. She could see through a crack of space between the furniture and the floor. Her mom’s shoes hurried to the kitchen as if she smelled burning cookies.

  A thunderous crash made the tears flow faster. Loud voices followed. Her mother screamed. Bay-Lee shivered with cold and fear, straining to see through the narrow space. Although she was frightened at what she might see, not knowing anything was far worse. Several pairs of muddy boots scurried in various directions, too many to count.

  She peeked around the chair leg so she could see into the kitchen as men surrounded her frightened mother. Since the kitchen was several feet from the couch and
the doorway large, she could see everything as if watching a small television screen.

  One of the men had her mom by the throat. He slammed her against the refrigerator and demanded, “Where is it?”

  “Where is what?” her mom cried.

  “You know what we want. We know Van Helsing hid it with someone on his board. Tell us where he hid it, and I will allow you to live.”

  Nick’s hand squeezed hers in the present, reassuring her. The simple touch brought her back from the past. She wasn’t hiding beneath the couch anymore, and her mother wasn’t about to die. She smiled at him through the tears before continuing.

  “They kept insisting she knew what they were looking for, but she didn’t. I swear she didn’t know anything or she would have given it to them. They tried to beat it out of her. They hit her, burned her with matches, and even pulled one of her fingernails out. The screams… I’ll never forget the screams.”

  “I am so sorry you lost your mother.” He brushed hanging hair from her face. “Did you see them kill her?”

  She wasn’t ready to go there yet. Ignoring the question, she continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “It went on and on. There was blood on the floor beneath the chair they tied her to and it seemed like it would never end. Then one of them found my stuffed bear. They started laughing and told my mom they’d find me and kill me if she didn’t tell them where to find it.”

  “What did your mom do?”

  “She pleaded for my life. I don’t remember hearing her beg for anything before, but she begged for my life. She promised to take them to ‘it’ if they would untie her and walk into the backyard with her. Supposedly, she had a map in the shed that would lead them to it. On their way out she waved a hand behind her back at me, gesturing for me to make a run for it.

  “My mom and Connor trained me for emergencies. If something bad happened, I was supposed to go hide in the trunk of the car until either my mom or Uncle Connor let me out. The car was magic. That’s what they said, magic, but now I know it probably had spells on it to keep evil things away.

  “Connor had put a lever in the hole under the couch so I could get out when I needed to. I ran to the back door, stood on a chair, and looked out the glass in time to see them dragging my mom to the shed. She barely had the strength to walk. I saw one of their heads snap up. He turned and stared straight at me after catching my scent. Two of them split from the rest of the pack to come for me. My mother screamed and fought against the ones holding her. The two coming for me changed into wolves right in front of my eyes.

  “I fell off the chair in a panic to get away from the nightmare. It was the most horrific thing I’d ever seen, giant wolves, monsters, and they were real. In seconds I was running out the front door. Because my mom and Uncle Connor trained me to escape from predators, I knew exactly what to do. Connor had set up obstacles like a fallen log, a covered pit, and assorted things to trip over. I knew where every one of them was located. One of the wolves fell into the pit while chasing me and the other was caught in a bear trap.”

  Nick looked relieved. “You didn’t see your mom die then.”

  Her mouth opened and closed, reluctant to disclose the rest of the story. “I didn’t go to my mom’s car like I was supposed to.” She clenched and unclenched her hands. “I circled around the fenced in yard instead, sure my mom had gotten away and was waiting for me. I climbed a tree near the fence and looked into the backyard. The leader lifted my mom by her neck and screamed for me to come out of hiding. He said if I didn’t obey, he was going to kill her, but she shouted for me to follow the plan.” Bay-Lee shuddered. “If I’d known what those things were going to do to her, I would have—”

  “You would have gotten yourself killed along with your mom. They would have killed your both. She still would have died. You did the right thing.”

  “The leader threw my mom down on the grass, and the other wolves jumped on her.” Bay-Lee’s body trembled violently, and she screamed the rest of the story. “They ripped her apart! Blood splattered their faces! Parts of my mother flew across the yard!”

  “Stop!” Nick lightly shook her before yanking her to her feet for a tight embrace. Caressing the nape of her neck beneath the fall of dark hair, he spoke low in her ear. “It happened years ago. Remember that. You’re safe now, you’re with me, and you’re mom isn’t in pain anymore. She’s in a better place.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  Instead of answering, he held on tight. They remained in that position for what seemed an eternity. It was comforting at first, but after a while her legs and arms grew tired. She pushed him away and said, “I made a deal with Van when I was nine. I overheard him talking about the need to keep his daughter safe no matter what. The answer seemed simple to me. I would pretend to be her and go on the run with Connor if Van would agree to train me. He told me he would let me into the school someday and allow me to continue to train under the best hunters in the world, hunters like you.”

  “Then what?”

  “As soon as Van thinks I’m good enough, I’m going to track down the werewolf pack responsible for my mother’s death and kill them all, every last one.” Saying it out loud was such a relief, a great weight lifted from her shoulders. “Falling in love was not part of the plan. You weren’t part of the plan.”

  Nick’s lips curved. “You weren’t part of my plan either.”

  “Can I ask you a personal question?”

  “Sure.”

  “Will you tell me about your parents, how you learned about the prophecy, everything?” Thanks to Keisha she already knew part of his story.

  A mask descended over his face, turning his expression from concern to a blank stare. His hands slid into the pockets of his jeans. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  Bay-Lee stared at him, stunned and hurt. “If you can’t trust me, if you can’t open up to me, we can’t be together. It won’t work.”

  Even as she said it she knew she was overreacting, but she couldn’t stop the words from flowing out of her mouth.

  Now he looked stunned. “You don’t mean that.”

  Without another word Bay-Lee stalked out of the room and left the castle, tears in her eyes. She was upset over her mother’s death, not over Nick’s refusal to share. But even as she told her legs to turn around so she could apologize, they continued to flee. Feeling stupid, she hurried across the field to the ominous black building. When she made it inside, she caught Gavin on his cell, his back to her.

  He was saying, “…nothing to worry about. I’m keeping an eye on her.”

  Instinctively knowing he was talking about her, she went around the long way to reach her dorm room. She was so preoccupied she didn’t realize someone was sobbing in the distance until she pushed her dorm room door open and found another dead roommate. Then she remembered hearing someone crying the night Tessa had died.

  Bay-Lee stood frozen in the doorway, her mind unable or unwilling to make sense of what she was seeing. Her roommate was sprawled across the width of her bed, head hanging off the side at an awkward angle and unblinking eyes staring lifelessly at the ceiling. The girl was dead. Movement out of the corner of Bay-Lee’s eye captured her attention. Startled, she jumped backwards. Her spine hit the wall with a dull thud.

  A girl stood near the closet door, an exact replica of Serena, and for a moment Bay-Lee thought she was seeing the girl’s spirit. It took a second to realize she was looking at Serena’s deceased twin sister, another wraith. The girl faded into nothingness as if she’d never been there. On a hunch Bay-Lee found Serena’s purse and dug through the contents, searching for the girl’s wallet. She checked her license. Today was Serena’s birthday.

  She ran into the hallway and yelled for help. Students spilled into the corridor and the alarm went off, a jarring sound in the dead of night. Gavin was there as if he’d been waiting for his cue. His arms wrapped aroun
d her before she could tell him she didn’t need him to hold her. She felt horrible about Serena, but they weren’t close. This death wouldn’t be as hard for her to deal with as Tessa’s.

  Gavin insisted on soothing her with softly spoken words.

  She glanced over Gavin’s shoulder and saw Nick staring at them with cold eyes. There was a pinched look to his mouth. After glaring at her, he walked away. She wanted to call after him, chase him down so she could explain, but she couldn’t do it. They had a secret to keep. If she chased him, someone would guess they were together. She hoped Nick wouldn’t do anything stupid before she could clear the air.

  Chapter Twenty

  A DEATH, A GHOUL, AND A KIDNAPPING