Outcast (Moonlight Wolves Book 4)

by Jasmine B. Waters

  I texted Steven, asking if I could meet up with him after school. He took a long time to get back to me. By the time he replied, school was about to end. I got dressed in jeans and a heavy sweater, then raced over to the D’Amicos’ house.

  Mrs. D’Amico let me in. She gave me a tight smile, and I felt another wave of guilt wash over me. I hadn’t seen her since that day at the hospital. Whenever Steven and I had gotten together since then, we’d gone out. I still felt really uncomfortable in the D’Amico house, but my need to talk to Steven was greater than my need to keep my head down – at least, for now.

  Andrea was sitting in the living room, bundled up like an invalid. She’d been out of the hospital for a few weeks, but she was still in a cast from her waist to her foot. Despite this, she didn’t look unhappy. In fact, she looked calm, almost serene.

  “Hi,” I said nervously, sitting on the other end of the couch. “How are you, Andrea?”

  Andrea gave me a pinched smile. “I’m fine,” she said. “The tutor that’s been coming has been better than going to actual school.” She laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “I keep telling Mom that I don’t want to go back when my leg is healed.”

  ‘Please, God, let her stay homeschooled,’ I thought, wondering if that would improve things with Monica. Monica had been gone again – for over a month this time – and I couldn’t shake the feeling that Andrea knew something about her disappearance.

  Thankfully, Steven came rushing into the room just as Andrea was about to ask me something else. When he saw me, he raised his eyebrows.

  “Hey,” Steven said shortly. “What’s up?”

  “Not much,” I lied. “I was hoping we could go somewhere, you know, maybe just for a drive.”

  Steven looked uncomfortable. “I really shouldn’t leave right now,” he said. He glanced over his shoulder at Andrea. “Mom’s going out to the store.”

  Andrea gave me a martyr-like smile. “Steven takes such good care of me,” she said. “Steven, would you mind bringing me a glass of water?”

  “Can I have one, too?” I interjected.

  “Sure,” Steven said. He darted into the kitchen and came back a few seconds later, holding a glass of ice water. He held it out to Andrea in a very tender way, almost like he was afraid she would break. “Here you go,” Steven said. “Tell me if there’s too much ice in that for you.”

  I frowned. “Can I have one, too?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Steven said. He jerked his head toward the kitchen. “Glasses are in the second cabinet to the left of the fridge.”

  I frowned. Steven and Andrea talked in hushed voices while I was in the kitchen. I knew it was wrong to feel so irritated, but I couldn’t help it – why was he waiting on her like this? Couldn’t she sit on the couch for forty-five fucking minutes while their mom went to the store?

  When I came back, Andrea was laughing and Steven looked guilty. He reached behind Andrea and fluffed the couch pillows.

  “You want a blanket or anything?”

  Andrea shook her head. “I’m fine.”

  “Heating pad?” Steven suggested. “You cold?”

  “I’m fine,” Andrea repeated.

  “What about a snack?”

  Andrea giggled. “No, thanks,” she said.

  I resisted the urge to groan. “Hey, Steven, can I talk to you for a second?”

  Steven grinned and turned toward me. “Yeah, sure. What’s up?”

  I swallowed uncomfortably. “I mean, in the kitchen. You know, just a few minutes of privacy.”

  Steven threw Andrea a nervous look. “I don’t know,” he said. “I really hate to leave her alone.”

  “She’ll be fine for two minutes,” I said, my voice edged with exasperation.

  “Of course, I will,” Andrea said sweetly. She gave Steven a diabolical smile. “Go on, Steven. I’ll be right here.” She laughed again. “I mean, it’s not like I can get up.”

  Steven looked genuinely irritated as he followed me into the kitchen.

  “What?” Steven asked plainly. “What is so important that you can’t talk to me about it in front of my sister?”

  I frowned. “It’s not that,” I said quickly. “It’s just…oh, I don’t know. Some dream I had, about Monica. I’m really worried about her, and what’s happening.”

  Steven narrowed his eyes. “Monica is the reason my sister got hurt,” he said defensively. “I don’t really wanna talk about her right now.”

  I sighed. “It’s not about that,” I said quickly. “And your sister’s going to be fine,” I added. “She broke her leg. People break their legs. It happens sometimes.”

  Steven glared. “What are you saying, exactly?”

  I stared at him. ‘I’m saying that I think you have a weird relationship,’ I thought angrily in my head. ‘I’m saying that I still haven’t forgotten that stupid, creepy photo that Andrea texted you!’

  I shrugged, feeling lame. “I…I don’t know. I mean, you don’t really have to wait on her all the time, Steven. She’ll be fine.”

  Steven shook his head. “I don’t believe you,” he snarled. “I thought you were supportive, Elizabeth. You’re being so selfish right now. I don’t understand. What the heck has gotten into you?”

  Tears stung my eyes. I slammed my glass of water down on the counter and turned on my heels, stalking out of the D’Amicos’ house. Just before I shut the door behind me, I heard Andrea calling out in confusion.

  ‘Fuck you,’ I thought as I stormed back toward my house. ‘I don’t know what you’re doing, but I’m onto you, Andrea, and I’m not gonna let you get away with this.’

  ---

  When I got home, I was shocked to see my parents in the kitchen. Normally, they didn’t get home for hours after work.

  “Hey,” I said nervously. “What’s going on?” For a moment, I was terrified that Mom was going to tell me she’d heard from the D’Amicos.

  Instead, Mom shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “Your father called me and told me about this…I don’t know. What was it, sweetie?”

  My dad cleared his throat. “There’s a town meeting tonight,” he said. “Downtown, at the church.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “A town meeting about what?”

  “We don’t know, exactly,” Dad said. “We thought you might know. Did something happen at school?”

  I shook my head. “I hope not,” I said quickly. “Do you know who’s holding it?”

  Dad picked up his phone and scrolled through, looking for something. “The D’Amicos,” he said. “That makes sense. I guess it is their church and all.”

  I frowned. “And it doesn’t say anything else?”

  Dad shook his head. “No,” he said. “Do you want to go? I can drop you off.”

  I sighed. “Not really,” I admitted. “But I kind of think I should. Things have been really weird around here lately.”

  Dad nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Come on.”

  Dad and I were silent in the car as he drove toward the church. A sense of dread was building up inside of me, and I felt unable to shake it, unable to do anything other than merely sit there and digest everything as it happened.

  Dad pulled in front of the church and set the car to park. “Are you okay going in there?”

  I frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be? What’s wrong?”

  Dad sighed. “I don’t know,” he said. “Just call when you’re ready to come home, and I’ll pick you up, okay?”

  I nodded. As I climbed out of the car and walked into the nave of the church, my feeling of dread grew. Soon, I felt numb and shaky and chilled to the bone.

  Inside, the church was packed. The pews were filled with all kinds of people from all over town. There was only one family noticeably absent: the Boers.

  Andrea was standing behind the pulpit, resting her hands on her crutches. She didn’t look pained or even uncomfortable. She looked joyous, radiant – happier than I’d seen her in years.

  “I called this meeting
to talk about the state of our town,” Andrea said. Her thin voice carried over the microphone and filled the church.

  There was a smattering of applause. As quickly as I could, I slipped into a pew at the back, scooting toward the edge.

  “There is evil in our town,” Andrea said. Her voice sounded odd – almost like she was proud of what was happening in Jaffrey.

  “Amen!”

  “Amen!”

  There was a loud, scattered cheering from the audience. Listening to the cheers made the blood in my veins turn to ice.

  “There is evil here,” Andrea repeated. She leaned in close and scanned the crowd, turning her face slowly from side to side. There was an odd gleam in her eyes – a gleam that made her appear much older than her childlike face.

  “Banish the evil,” someone shouted loudly. “Let us live in peace!”

  Andrea sniffed. “There are witches here,” she said softly into the microphone. “There are witches here, tonight, in this town!”

  A loud jeering sounded from the audience, and I shivered. Surely, someone was going to stand up and call her out for being so crazy, right? At any moment, I half expected Monica to burst through the doors, yelling about how all of this was complete bullshit.

  Instead, to my horror, a group of people stood up and cheered. “Destroy the witches! Burn them! Banish them from our town!”

  “We must embrace God,” Andrea thundered into the mic. “We must turn our faces from the evil and back toward the light, back toward the goodness!”

  I glanced up and almost gasped when I saw Steven sitting just a few feet behind Andrea at the altar. He shifted and looked vaguely uncomfortable, but nowhere near as uncomfortable as I felt. For the first time, I wondered what exactly it was about Steven that had drawn me in.

  “We must fight the evil!” Andrea yelled, her voice rising to a frantic pitch. “We must banish the witches!”

  “Kill the witches! Kill the witches!”

  Now, the congregation was stomping, clapping, and thumping their hands against the wooden backs of the pews. Sucking in a deep breath, I stood up and raced out of the church.

  It was freezing outside, but the chill of the air felt like nothing after being inside that church and listening to Andrea rant like a crazy person. The worst part was, why was everyone humoring her? This was the twenty-first century…what the fuck was going on?

  Chapter Six

  Monica

  As soon as I figured out that Henrik had been manipulating my parents, I packed a bag and ran into the woods. Henrik and Ligeia had told me that whenever I needed the coven, all I had to do was think about them and their energy. But this time, it wasn’t proving so simple. I wandered for hours before I smelled the familiar, tangy scent of the herbs and rushes used by the witches.

  Henrik didn’t seem surprised to see me. He was sitting in front of the hearth, poking at something in a large cauldron. It smelled delicious, but I made a vow not to eat or drink anything offered to me by the coven. I was done with them, and I wasn’t going to let myself get sucked back into their ways.

  “I know why you are here,” Henrik said. He didn’t glance up from the cauldron, but merely reached closer to stir it.

  “Good,” I said. “That means we can get this over with. I’m done.”

  Henrik chuckled under his breath. “This is not that simple, Monica. You have obligations. You cannot escape as easily as you think.”

  I groaned. “I don’t give a shit,” I said honestly. “I’m never coming back here again. This is too crazy. It’s changing too many things in my life.”

  Henrik finally turned to face me, raising one eyebrow. In the light of the fire, he almost looked young.

  “You think that we are to blame for all of the upsets in life?” Henrik chuckled.

  “Yeah,” I said. I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly feeling foolish. “I do. Ever since the first time you kidnapped me, things have been completely crazy, and I’m sick of it! I want things to go back to normal.” Tears came to my eyes, and I sniffled. “My parents don’t even care about me because of your stupid spell! They don’t even care when I’m gone for weeks at a time!”

  Henrik narrowed his eyes. “It isn’t fair to pin that on me, Monica,” he said calmly. “Your parents have always been like that. I was only able to sway them with the power of suggestion. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  I felt like someone had punched me in the gut, but I didn’t dare react.

  “It’s true, Monica,” Henrik said. “I wouldn’t be able to change them completely. I’m not that powerful.”

  My shoulders sagged, and I closed my eyes, sighing heavily. “I don’t care,” I whispered hotly. “I’m not doing this anymore. I just want my regular life back.”

  “You’ve never had a normal life,” Henrik said coldly. “You’ve been destined for this for hundreds of years, Monica. You are the true heir to the coven, and nothing will change that. No amount of anger on your part will reduce your role.”

  I glared at him. “I hate this,” I mumbled. “I’m going home, and I’m never coming back here ever again. And if you try to make me, well, fine. Then I guess you might as well kill me.” I grabbed Henrik’s athame from the table and held the blade to my neck. The tip was so sharp I didn’t even feel it slice my skin, but seconds later, warm blood was pooling around my collarbone.

  “Go ahead and try,” Henrik said. He shrugged. “You can’t kill yourself, Monica. You’re immortal.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s fucking insane,” I snapped. I gritted my teeth, pressing the knife harder into my skin. No matter how hard I pushed, the blade wouldn’t budge. Groaning in exasperation, I threw the athame to the floor.

  “I know you are weary,” Henrik said. “That will not change. But I promise, you will learn to cope better with these stresses.”

  “I’m not doing this anymore,” I said. But I could already feel my resolve weakening. I glared at Henrik. ‘Damn you,’ I thought. ‘You may be able to manipulate my parents, but you can’t manipulate me!’

  Henrik’s lips curled into a faint smile. “You are correct,” he said slowly. “I cannot manipulate you. I can only make you see what will happen when you refuse to obey your destiny.”

  I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  Henrik used an iron poker to lift the cauldron from the fire before setting it down on the stone hearth.

  “Come here, child.” Henrik beckoned toward the fire. I swallowed a lump in my throat and walked closer until I could feel the heat of the flames burning my face. Henrik gave me a stern look, then reached into his pockets and tossed a handful of herbs onto the flames. Purple clouds of smoke billowed through the room, stinging my eyes, and I coughed until I felt like I’d spit up my lungs.

  When I opened my eyes again, I saw modern-day Jaffrey. There were cars and people walking with cell phones on the streets I recognized. I gasped as the scene shifted to the inside of a church. Andrea’s petite figure was standing at the pulpit, glaring angrily and screaming. I couldn’t make out the words – everything was hazy – but the congregation was going crazy for whatever she was saying. Everyone was screaming and cheering and fervently clapping their hands.

  Andrea smiled wickedly. “Go forth,” she called loudly. “Go forth and do what you must!”

  Everyone stormed out of the church. I gasped when I saw they were carrying flashlights and weapons – guns, knives, and even a few crossbows. The view shifted to the road outside of my parents’ home. Everyone was screaming and running down the road, waving their guns in the air.

  “No!” I cried loudly. The scene shifted to my kitchen. Jamie and Brian were sitting at the table, their mouths moving. My ears were filled with the sounds of glass shattering, of guns being fired.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I covered my eyes, holding my hands tightly to my face. “No!” I cried out again. “I won’t watch this!”

  Henrik clapped his hands. The smell of smoke stung my throat and ey
es once more, but the sounds died down. When I could hear nothing but the roaring flames, I slowly pulled my hands away.

  “What … what was that?” I asked in a choked whisper. “What’s going on?”

  Henrik looked at me very seriously. “That is what will happen if you don’t pledge your loyalty to the coven.”

  I shook my head. “No,” I said quickly. “No. There’s no way that’s gonna happen!” I squinted. “Are you crazy? This isn’t the seventeenth century anymore! Things like that don’t happen!”

  Ligeia stepped out of the shadows, and I gasped.

  “Why do you always have to do that?” I grumbled. “Would it kill you not to surprise me once in a while?”

  Ligeia raised her eyebrows. “It isn’t intentional,” she said dryly. “Perhaps you should learn to pay more attention to your surroundings, Monica.” She shook her head sadly. “I am beginning to think that extra time you spent with us was wasted. You have not learned a single thing.”

  “That’s not fair,” I shot back. “Everything is going fucking crazy at home. What I am supposed to do?”

  Ligeia narrowed her eyes. “You must do as Henrik says,” she said calmly. “You must pledge your life to the coven. You must devote yourself to helping us rid the true evil of the world.”

  I swallowed. “You know, you sound just like Andrea,” I muttered.

  Ligeia’s nostrils flared in anger. “I resent that comment,” she said icily. “I do not understand the problem, Monica. What is your hesitation? From where does it come?”

  “Does it matter?” I tangled my hands in my hair and yanked until my scalp ached.

  “Yes,” Ligeia and Henrik spoke in unison.

  “I just want things to go back to normal,” I said. “I don’t care what has to happen.”

  “Henrik has shown you what will happen if you do not help us,” Ligeia said. “Monica, we are not trying to punish you. But you are strong, and if we survive, it will be because of you.”

  “That’s a heavy thing to lay on me,” I grumbled. “Why me, huh? Why not anyone else?”

  “I think you know the answer,” Henrik said gently. “You have always been known as something of a prodigy, have you not?”