Before the Storm

by Claire Ashgrove

  Damn, damn, damn!

  “Hey, Kale.” I set a hand on his shoulder, uncertain what to do or how to help. His mouth was doing this chewing thing, and his eyes had rolled back into his head. Wasn’t there some sort of risk of swallowing one’s tongue? Or was that just an old wives tale?

  What if he stopped breathing or his heart stopped? Was that possible? Could he die right here?

  My heart began to race as panic overrode all concerns about who this guy was and what he wanted with me. I hadn’t meant to harm him. Certainly not to kill him. Yeah, he was a hindrance. But…crap!

  I gripped his shoulder more tightly. “Kale, can you hear me? You can’t die. Got it? No dying.”

  Time passed like someone locked us in stasis. Where my sister went, I had no idea. If someone else passed by, I couldn’t say. It was just me and this big, handsome blond guy isolated in a little bubble of static existence. His body spasmed, doing its best to dislodge me and thrust his face back into the leaves and damp earth. Every muscle I possessed strained against the effort of holding him in place so he wouldn’t suffocate.

  Eventually, his convulsions ebbed. He punched the air one last time, his left leg jerked hard, and he lay still. Uneven, hoarse breaths rasped from his bloodied lips.

  “Kale?” Ever so gently, I shook his shoulder.

  He gave no indication he felt the light push. Just lay there unmoving, his body as limp as a wet dishrag.

  Now what? Glancing around the woods, I searched to see if anyone had witnessed what happened. My sister no longer lurked in the circle of thorn bushes. The close lightning strike must have sent her racing for shelter. She was probably trying to figure out how a clear sky could produce an electrical bolt.

  “Kale Norwood, you have to wake up.” I shook him again.

  No dice. He was totally comatose. And I needed to get out of here. But I couldn’t just leave him lying on the ground for anyone to stumble onto. Not to mention the fact that I had somehow summoned the lightning meant the atmosphere was significantly unstable. If it started to rain or storm, I didn’t want to bear the responsibility for further harm coming to him.

  Why me?

  Holding in a groan, I sat back on my heels and huffed a lock of black hair that had escaped my ponytail out of my face. “You have to wake up, man. Seriously. I can’t leave you here, and I sure as hell can’t take you with me.” No way could I drag him anywhere—looking at him now, he had to be at least six foot tall, and the width of his shoulders nearly doubled mine. No wonder he’d been able to hold me in place. This guy was nothing but hard muscle.

  He’d have been cute if I hadn’t wanted to kick his ass so badly. I so didn’t need this today.

  The sound of boots clomping through the woods snapped my attention toward the tree line near the front of Allen’s property. Masculine voices echoed through the surrounding stillness. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but their sharp directives held a sense of urgency.

  My gaze skipped to Kale. His buddies maybe? More of my uncle’s security guards?

  I ought to make a dash for cover and let them stumble onto him. But if I did, and they took him back with them, no telling what he might tell his cohorts. The last thing I needed was some guy who unexplainably knew my name spreading the word about my weird abilities. If I intended to stay unknown, no way could I let him talk. Staying in place and letting them discover me on their own, however, was out of the question.

  I surveyed my surroundings and spied a pine tree branch not far from where I’d fallen when Kale crashed into my backside. The way the smooth grey bark curled up at the severed end, exposing the soft white center beneath, revealed it had crashed to the ground when the lightning struck. Perfect.

  As the voices neared, I hurried to the limb. It was heavy, but not so much so that a good heave failed to budge it. Using the strength in my legs, I dragged it closer to Kale’s sleeping form. Close enough the pine needles blocked out his upper body and most of his faded blue jeans. The rest of his legs and his boots lay perpendicular to a huge oak tree, and the fading twilight cast a dark shadow over the ground. It would have to work.

  “She’s out here—you heard him say she was. She couldn’t have gone far,” one of the trio of men muttered.

  Through the trees, I could just make out the standard-issue navy work jackets Allen’s security detail wore. And if I could see them, they’d see me if I didn’t get myself hidden as well. I ducked down behind Kale’s back, then as quietly as I could, inched onto my side and stretched out, using his big body to hide my own.

  I lay still as a mouse, listening to the approaching footsteps. Praying my camouflaged pants would do the trick and didn’t look out of place. Hoping beyond all hope Kale didn’t choose now to wake up.

  “This is crazy, Chris. She could have gone anywhere—if she was even out here. What the hell makes him think she’s alive anyway? It’s been seven years,” a different guard muttered. Displeasure rang clear in his voice.

  “We sure as hell aren’t going to find her if you keep running your mouth. Hush up,” the first one answered.

  “Yeah. I don’t want to be smoked shish-ka-bob, thank you,” the third man chided quietly. “The weather’s bad enough. Did you see that lightning? Out of nowhere, man.”

  Me. They were talking about me. I swallowed hard, clenched my hands into tight fists.

  “I said, shut the hell up,” the first one, presumably Chris, barked. His voice rang out right beside me, and his boots came to a dead stop on the other side of the pine bough, directly in front of Kale’s face.

  Keep going. Keep moving. I could feel the perspiration gathering between my fingers, and it required all my will power to keep my hands still. I’d been close to these guys countless times, but in all the years I’d been watching over my sister, not once had they directly referenced me. Who had put things together and discovered the storm and I were connected? My uncle? If so… who told him? My aunt? Surely she wouldn’t have. She’d helped to hide me away and dropped me off at the bus station, where I was supposed to catch the nearest bus to Oklahoma City. I hadn’t, of course, but why would she have gone to that trouble just to rat me out?

  It didn’t make sense.

  “This is nuts, Chris.” Another pair of boots stopped close to the original set. This one’s cologne floated on the breeze, something sweet in an alluring kind of way. It reminded me of Tony, a guy I’d holed up with for a little while, until he wanted a hell of a lot more from our casual relationship than I was willing to give. Things like shared secrets, trust, and intimacy that went beyond physical.

  I shoved the memory aside, tuning in on what they were saying once more.

  “You know he’ll send us out again if we go back now.”

  “Yeah, well, good luck with that. I’m not busting my ass looking for a ghost with another storm approaching. Let’s go back. She could be anywhere out here, and it’s too dark to see,” the second man grumbled.

  “I can smell her, Phaeton.” Chris’s boots moved, rusting the leaves once more. “She’s not that far away.”

  Smell me? I wasn’t wearing any perfume, my clothes were clean, but hadn’t recently been washed, and while I was pretty certain I didn’t stink, I hadn’t bathed in a day or two, so it couldn’t be shampoo. By all rights, I should smell like the woods, given the three days I’d been hanging around out here.

  A chill drifted down my spine. I didn’t like the sound of that declaration. Never mind that he was standing less than four feet away from me, and if he poked around this tree branch too much, he’d certainly find me and Kale both.

  “If she’s been here at all, you could smell her residue,” the voice I recognized as Phaeton’s replied. “C’mon, man, let’s give it up. It’s too dark.”

  “Do you hear that?” Chris asked. “Sounds like someone’s panting.”

  I groaned inwardly. I might have hidden Kale, but he was still breathing hoarsely. I could barely hear th
e sound myself, but to someone who’s racing heart wasn’t filling their ears, he was probably making a huge racket. Damn it! I should have just left him here and taken my chances that he’d talk.

  “Hey!” From a distance, the third man called out. “I found something over here.”

  My eyes went wide. My jacket! I’d left it tucked behind a tree trunk when the static electricity in the air made me too hot. Oh, damn. They’d never go away now.

  The two pairs of boots moved off at a rhythmic jog. More branches snapped beneath their weight.

  To my horror, Kale’s left leg shifted.

  No, no, no! Desperate to keep him still, I eased my own leg over his calf, hoping the weight would keep him from stirring more. When he did wake up, I was so kicking his ass—he was rapidly becoming a liability. This whole mess was his fault. I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t be lying on the ground, and my clothes wouldn’t be wet all along my left side, if he had taken my head butt seriously.

  “Dumbass. That’s Faye’s. It reeks of her,” Chris growled. “Can’t you tell the two apart?”

  Again with the smell thing—what the hell? I didn’t like it at all. It didn’t make sense. And if they could seriously smell me, I was a sitting duck, waiting for the roaster.

  A ghostly canine howl broke over the sound of wind playing in the treetops. In an instant, every part of me went rigid. My heart might have even stopped. In all the time I’d spent in these dense woods, I had never, never, heard anything like that. Wolves weren’t strangers out here, nor were coyotes. I’d even encountered a cougar once or twice. But that sound didn’t mirror any of those familiar wildlife voices. Like particles of ice, fear slithered down my spine, and my blood ran cold.

  “Shit, that’s Surana,” Chris grumbled. “I don’t want to be out here with her around.”

  “Yeah, no kidding. Let’s get the hell out of here,” the third man concurred.

  In three seconds flat, their boots crashed through the undergrowth, barreled past my hiding place, and disappeared back the way they’d come from, leaving me virtually alone with that haunting noise.

  For a moment, I wished they’d discovered me.

  When the forest grew still again, I huffed out a hard breath and eased to a crouch. I didn’t know who, or what Surana might be, but I damn sure didn’t want to find out. Not if she had anything to do with that creepy noise. What to do though with Kale?

  Chill. It’s probably someone with a dog. It had to be, right? I mean, it was completely natural for people to walk their dogs through the woods with a thunderstorm approaching.

  Keep telling yourself that, Halle.

  So maybe it wasn’t the soundest logic in the world, but faced with my current predicament, I had little choice. I wasn’t about to leave Kale, not until I had some answers. Too many weird things had happened in one short span of time. His knowing my name, my uncle’s security detail scouting for me, men with hypersensitive noses—it all started when Kale showed up.

  I pushed hard on his shoulder then bent toward his ear. “Wake. Up!”

  No dice. He didn’t even flinch.

  Sighing, I shoved the branch off his body and fixed my falling-apart ponytail. Creepy howl or not, it didn’t look like I was going anywhere anytime soon. Guess it was time to get comfortable. With a little luck, if whatever made that chilling sound stumbled onto me, I might be able to protect myself with another of those random, uncontrolled lightning bolts.

  Not likely, but a little hope for once couldn’t hurt.

  Three

  It was near midnight when Kale finally stirred and opened his eyes. Four hours I sat watching him, cursing him, and damn it, worrying. My uncle’s house had emptied out like it usually did around ten, as he and his security detail left my aunt and sister alone and went off to do whatever it was they did through all hours of the night. Somehow, I’d never been able to completely track them. They headed across town, out the east side, and into Ardmore. Since my…ah, requisitioned…car had broken down, tracking them outside of the Applegate suburb became significantly impossible. At this time of night, my sister was already abed.

  I never heard that creepy howl again.

  Figuring I was as safe as I ever had been in the heart of Arbuckle country, I started a small pit fire to ward off the increasing chill of fall and waited for my ward to fully wake up. Funny how would-be captured becomes captor.

  Kale let out a groan and pushed up onto his elbows. He blinked several times, as if trying to make sense of his surroundings in the glow of firelight. I had to admit, albeit begrudgingly, sleep looked good on him. Or maybe his face just held that sort of groggy softness all the time. He gave off this air that if a woman was stretched out alongside him, he’d wake her up tenderly. And much as I hated to admit it, few women would regret opening their eyes to find that sky-blue gaze inches away.

  Ugh. Handsome here really knew how to prickle my nerves.

  I tossed a twig I’d been playing with into the tiny fire. “’Bout time you woke up.”

  “Jesus.” Kale pushed himself into a sitting position. He ran his hands down his face then stuffed his fingers through his disheveled ash-blond hair. “What the hell happened?”

  I arched an eyebrow. “You’re kidding me, right? Lighting bolt—all that good stuff?”

  A frown settled into his features, and he stared at the flickering flames. “You should warn a guy, or something.”

  “Me?” It was my turn to blink. “In case you really don’t remember, you were chasing me. It’s not my fault you got more than you asked for.”

  Kale reached over and scooped up a handful of dirt. He tossed it onto the fire, sputtering out a good half of the flames. “Put that out. It’s not safe.”

  This was too much. Beyond the fact he’d sidetracked me from my mission of exterminating my uncle, I’d just spent four, never-ending hours watching over this guy. Now he wanted to lecture me on safety. I let out a snort of disbelief. “Fat lot of thanks I get for keeping watch over your ass. Talk about ungrateful.” I stood to stretch my cramped legs and walked the line of trees behind me.

  “You hit me with a lightning bolt!”

  “So you do remember. Why don’t you try remembering why you tackled me in the first place? Then maybe we can go our separate ways. I have things to do.”

  “Like kill your uncle the same way you killed your dad?”

  Kale’s low, calculated voice halted me in place. He knew. No one knew. No one except my aunt. And in the time I’d spent out here thinking, I’d come to the solid conclusion she wouldn’t tell. Slowly, I turned to look at Kale. “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me, Halle.” He tossed another fistful of dirt onto the fire. It snapped and died, leaving us in the thick dark of the woods. Only a faint light from the overhead stars peeked through the dense canopy. “The camarilla sent me to find you. We’ve known for a long time.”

  “Camarilla?” I echoed dumbly. Again with the things I didn’t understand. This was starting to feel like some bad episode of The Twilight Zone. And I was starting to wish I had more control over my powers. Right about now a warning rumble of thunder could work to my advantage.

  “Your people. Witches like you.” He paused then added, “Like me.”

  Oh, no, no, no. No. This was not happening. I had to be dreaming. And this guy still hadn’t bothered to thank me yet. I folded my arms over my breasts and scowled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He let out a quiet chuckle. “They warned me you wouldn’t be easy to deal with.”

  “They who?”

  “Halle.” Kale sighed. “We can’t have this conversation here. There are too many ears around. Come with me, and I’ll explain in private.”

  It was all I could do to not burst out with a derisive laugh. Seven years of living on the streets taught a girl that private encounters with would-be kindly strangers usually left girls dead. “Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not going anywhere
with you.”

  “I’m afraid you don’t have much choice.” He rose to his feet, his voice strangely low and hushed.

  Instinct warned me to step back as he approached. My heart kicked several beats, and I reached for the knife I usually kept in my back pocket. My fingers fumbled with the button that held the pocket closed. Before I could work it free, Kale had invaded my personal space. One large hand reached for me.

  I whirled to run.

  He caught me by the wrist. I skidded to a stop after less than a foot. Panic infused me, and I jerked on my arm. I couldn’t overpower this guy, not like the skinny, crack-addicted street thugs who gave me trouble now and then. Everything clicked into place in one, heart-stopping burst of reality. He had been chasing me. Now he had me. And I couldn’t get away.

  I was not going to die out here in the woods, damn it!

  With all my strength, I kicked my leg back, hoping to connect with some vital part of his body and he’d drop to the ground. Instead, my heel jammed into his calf, but he’d moved so close I couldn’t have possibly done him significant damage. He didn’t even let out a grunt.

  Instead, he moved into me, wound both arms around my torso, and trapped my back against his chest. “Halle, be still,” he whispered, “Look.” Releasing one arm, he pointed at the hilltop in front of us.

  I lifted my gaze and met the unblinking stare of two, glowing red eyes. I had to be imagining things. Or the absence of light was playing tricks on my eyes. I blinked, shook my head, and looked again.

  Now, two sets stared down at us.

  Kale’s hand fisted around mine. His hushed voice filled my ears. “Run!”

  I stumbled as he jerked me sideways. But two steps later, I matched his ground-covering stride, my long legs an easy pairing with his. Sapling branches snapped against my shoulders, whipped alongside my cheek. I didn’t feel them.

  For the first time in my life, I was afraid.

  * * *

  I didn’t know how long we raced through the brush. All that registered was pounding of my heart in my ears and the fact that every time I looked over my shoulder, those eyes followed. Up small rises, around crooked bends, down into a rocky creek bed, Kale led us on a course that had no definable direction.