Third Strike

by Heather Brewer

  Joss took in a deep breath and blew it out slowly, feeling a little less alone in his confusion. “Got it.”

  Morgan sighed. “We could both be in a lot of trouble for this little chat, Joss.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” There was so much that Joss wanted to say to Morgan, so much that he wanted to ask. But someone could be listening. Almost in an afterthought, he asked, “How’s your brother?”

  Joss could almost hear Morgan smile on the other end. “He’s good, Joss. How’s your friend?”

  Friend. He was asking about Vlad. Joss furrowed his brow. Was Vlad his friend? Was Morgan insinuating that he was? “I . . . don’t know.”

  “Maybe, next time you see him, you should find out.”

  Joss parted his lips to say that he would, but Paty walked in then with a full basket of laundry and dropped it on the floor beside the couch. Joss hit the End button and set her phone discretely back on the counter where he’d taken it from. His conversation with Morgan, for the moment, was finished.

  “Listen, Joss.” She returned to her spot in the kitchen and lowered her voice until Joss had to strain to hear it. “From here on out, I want you to debrief me every night, until the killer’s been found and dealt with. And I think it’s a good idea if you stick fairly close to your cousin. You just never know what danger he might find himself in, you know?”

  “Sure.” Joss furrowed his brow. Paty had never seemed so concerned about Henry before. How strange. “If you think that’s best.”

  “I do.” She darted her eyes around the room briefly, as if concerned that someone might hear their exchange. At this, Joss stood and made his way to the door.

  “Thanks for the sandwich. I’d better get back. My mom’s probably wondering where I went.” It wasn’t true, of course. But there was something strange about the way that Paty was acting that made Joss want to put some distance between the two of them. Why was she acting like Henry could be in danger? Did she know something that Joss didn’t?

  He thought about their exchange on the walk home, but it wasn’t long before his thoughts switched gears. As he walked in the door, Henry rushed by him and out the door. Joss looked at his mom, who was sitting at the kitchen table, staring into a hot cup of tea, and said, “What’s his hurry?”

  “Hmm?” She glanced up at him, as if she hadn’t been fully aware of his presence at all until just that moment. “Oh . . . Henry’s got a date this afternoon. He’s taking some girl to see a movie, I think.”

  Concern burned on Joss’s edges like flame on paper. “What girl?”

  She dipped her tea bag into the cup and then wrung it out and set it on the saucer. “I think he said her name is Kat. Or Kathy. Or Katherine. Something like that.”

  Without another word to his mom, Joss headed out the door, letting the screen bang closed. Grounded or not, he was leaving this house.

  He caught up to Henry just passed the mailbox. Henry looked freshly showered and ready for an afternoon with the fairer sex. “What are you doing?”

  Henry smirked as they walked toward town. “Wishing I had transportation other than my feet.”

  “You’re going to a movie?”

  Henry shrugged. “Yeah. Mangled Zombie Pirates from Outer Space comes out today. Catching a matinee.”

  “With who?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m meeting Kat there.”

  Joss stepped in front of his cousin and stopped him with a hand to the chest. He had to say something, had to protect Henry from the potential danger that he was putting himself in by entering a dark room with Kat. What if she meant to kill Henry, just to get back at Joss for Sirus’s demise? The theater would be a good place to do it. “Henry, you can’t go out with Kat. You don’t understand. She’s just using you to get to me.”

  “Well, look who just gnawed his way through the straps.” Henry shook his head and moved around his cousin. “Seriously, Joss. That’s not even remotely possible.”

  “She thought I killed her dad a few summers ago and she’s been out for revenge ever since.”

  “And she hopes to accomplish this by making out with your cousin in a dark theater?” Henry slowed his steps for a moment, as if considering this possibility. Then, as if reaching a conclusion, he smiled and continued walking. “I’m game.”

  “Don’t do this, Henry. Please. I’m asking you not to.” He tugged his cousin’s sleeve until Henry stopped to face him. Joss was relieved to see honest consideration there. Henry seemed torn between a pretty face and family loyalty. Joss shook his head, keeping his voice soft. “You should just choose your friends more wisely, y’know?”

  A glimmer of anger crossed Henry’s eyes then and Joss instantly regretted his own words. Henry shook him off and crossed the street to the awaiting theater. As he did so, he shouted over his shoulder, “You almost had me, Joss. But no.”

  Waiting for him at the ticket window was Kat. She was dressed in cutoff jean shorts, Converse sneakers that had seen better days, and a T-shirt that read “What I really need are Minions.” As she and Henry disappeared into the theater, she smiled and gave Joss a little wave.

  Joss didn’t pause, not even for a microsecond. Instead, he crossed the street to the ticket booth, dug a crumpled ten-dollar bill from out of his jeans pocket, and slapped it on the counter. “One for the Mangled Teenage Zombie Pilots flick, or whatever it’s called.”

  The boy inside the ticket booth rolled his eyes. “You mean Mangled Zombie Pirates from Outer Space. Come on, dude. If you’re not gonna take the genre seriously, at least get the title right.”

  Fighting the urge to throw a sarcastic quip the guy’s way, Joss quietly accepted his ticket and moved to the door of the theater. A bored-looking girl in a uniform that was two sizes too big for her took his ticket and ripped off the stub at the end before letting him inside. She pointed behind herself to the left and sighed her directions, “Theater five. That way.”

  Passing through the people who were buying snacks at the snack counter or just hanging out, waiting for friends or whatever Hollywood masterpiece was coming up next in theaters one through eight, Joss made his way to theater five and moved inside. It was very dark and the previews were already playing, but it didn’t take long for him to locate Henry and Kat. Mostly because they were attached at the face.

  He took a seat three rows behind them, telling himself that it would be a smart idea to just watch how things played out, rather than jump in the middle of their date and prove Henry’s Joss-is-a-jerk theory right. After the preview for a sappy romantic comedy about a divorced couple inheriting a bunny farm, they played a gorgeous trailer about a boy who falls for a witch or something in this messed up southern town and another trailer about this girl who fought giant blue monsters off with only a katana. Joss was a million percent positive that he was going to pass on the bunnies, but witches and katanas sounded just like what the doctor ordered.

  After the previews, the movie finally began, but Joss couldn’t stop himself from keeping a close eye on Henry and Kat. On one hand, it was weird to see them kissing, to see his two worlds colliding—once again through his cousin. On the other, it sent a wave of sadness through him. He wished so badly that he could, just for a few hours, forget about vampires and the Society’s rules, and all that came with being a Slayer and just snuggle with a pretty girl in a dark movie theater, not knowing or caring what might be waiting for them outside in the light of day. He wished so terribly that he could just be a normal teenager, and not be forced to keep those he cared about at arms’ length. It would be nice not to constantly be on the verge of an argument with Henry. It would be nice to be cuddled up with Meredith in the movie theater, her head on his shoulder, the real world a million miles from their collective thoughts. It would be so nice that it pained Joss to even think of it for a brief moment. Because it could never happen. There would never be peace. There
would never be a moment like that between him and Meredith. Never.

  He slumped in his seat and forced his eyes to the screen, so jealous and bitter and just plain sad that all he wanted was to forget about Henry and Kat for five minutes and just lose himself in the make-believe of Hollywood. So he did for a while. But his Slayer mind kept dragging his attention back to the seemingly happy couple, just in case something started to go horrifically wrong and Joss had a chance to rescue Henry from Kat’s sordid plans. After some time though, during one of those stints where Joss found himself lost in the film and the impressive special effects, he glanced down at their seats and found them missing. Panic spread through his chest and he jumped up from his seat, hurrying out of theater five and out of the movie theater altogether.

  The sun blinded him as he burst through the doors, but his eyes adjusted quickly. He searched the area, but found no trace, no sign of either Kat or his cousin. Moving back to the ticket booth, he looked at the boy inside. “Hey, have you seen a couple walk out of here? She was wearing some shirt that said something about Minions . . . ?”

  The guy blinked. At first Joss wasn’t certain that he’d been listening, but then—as if he spent most of his days walking around in a kind of half coma—the guy said, “Oh them? Yeah. I think they went behind the theater.”

  “Thanks.” Hurrying around the building, the two sides of Joss’s brain began having an argument. One side, the Slayer side, was convinced that Joss would find Henry dead at the vengeful hands of Kat. The other side said that that was a paranoid thought process and the most he was likely to find were two teenagers making out in the alley behind the theater. Joss just wished that they’d both shut up and let him do the thinking on his own from here on out.

  He also realized that that made no sense at all.

  As Joss rounded the building, he saw Henry facing Kat with his hands held up in front of him. Kat was brandishing a switchblade knife, its blade glinting in the midday sun. Henry gasped as he spoke. “Is this because I bit your tongue?”

  “Are you dense?” She shook her head, but held her grip on the weapon in her hand. “I don’t want to do this, Henry. You’re a really sweet guy. But you’re also someone Joss cares about and losing you will tear him apart. And that’s exactly what your cousin deserves. Pain. Like no other. Like the pain that he inflicted on me. Killing him isn’t enough. I wouldn’t feel better after simply taking his life. I have to hurt him. Because he hurt me in the worst way imaginable. You have no idea what he’s done to me, the pain I’ve felt.”

  “Joss told me not to trust you. He said he killed your dad or something.” The last sentence came out sounding more like a question. Joss lurked at the corner of the building, strategizing. But eavesdropping, too.

  Kat’s eyes immediately welled with tears. It would have been amazing to reunite her with her father. But whatever lurked in the woods had taken his life, and now Kat would never believe Joss that he hadn’t actually killed Sirus.

  As Kat wiped at her eyes with her free hand, she said, “He did. Sirus was a vampire and Joss killed him. Because it’s what they do. Slayers. They can’t see past their rules and murderous solutions. They’re evil. All of them.”

  “Not Joss.” Henry dropped his hands and shook his head, his tone confident. It surprised the hell out of Joss to hear his words. But it surprised him more to hear Henry’s conviction. “My cousin may be a lot of things. He may make some really messed up choices now and again. But he’s one of the good guys. He just can’t see it yet. Because that stupid Slayer Society has him so confused.”

  Kat snorted. “Believe what you want, Henry. Slayers aren’t any good at all. Vampires, on the other hand—”

  “Not all vampires are good, Kat. I mean, my best friend is a vampire and he’s awesome. But there are plenty of evil vampires in the world. Just like there are both good and bad Slayers in the world. Just like there are good and bad people in the world. There’s no difference.” Henry was trying to reach her, to make her see the world the way that he did. In that moment, Joss realized that his cousin, for all of his stupid faults, was one of the smartest people that Joss had ever known.

  She set her jaw then and, after a moment, moved closer. With every step she took, Joss’s heart picked up its pace. Stealthily, he stepped away from the building, matching her pace. She had her eyes locked on Henry the entire time. Without warning, she bolted forward and grabbed Henry by the wrist with her free hand. In one fluid motion, she flipped him over her shoulder. Henry went down, landing on his back in the dirt, sending up a smattering of dust.

  Kat had clearly been training. Hard.

  A worried tickle crawled up Joss’s spine. It grew the moment that Kat climbed on top of Henry and moved the knife from her left hand to her right hand. Kat was stronger than he’d imagined. Not as strong as a vampire, but maybe as strong as a Slayer. Plus, she was fast. Maybe too fast. It was going to be a challenge for him to subdue her. Surprise would have to be on his side.

  “I have to do this. I’m sorry.” She said to Henry that she was sorry, but her movements suggested that she was anything but. She pulled her arm back to thrust the blade into Henry’s chest. The metal gleamed in the sunlight, a sharp threat in the broad light of day. Henry stirred, but he was clearly dazed.

  As fast as he could move, Joss ran toward Kat. He had to remove her from the equation, protect his cousin, but do so without causing her any permanent damage. Kat wasn’t evil—despite what her immediate actions might suggest—but she was confused. And she was dangerous.

  Hoping she had not yet noticed him trailing her, Joss grabbed her wrist and snapped it back, breaking it smoothly. Kat let out a small cry of surprise and pain, immediately holding her wrist to her chest and cradling it in her free hand. The knife fell to the ground, and Joss kicked it away.

  For a moment, Joss thought that he’d neutralized the situation completely. But then Kat jumped up, turned on him, and kicked her foot high, aiming for his chest. At the last second, he dodged her advance and spun away from her. Kat, it seemed, wouldn’t be so easily deterred.

  As he spun around and reached for her, Henry appeared behind her. He picked Kat up in a wrestling move that would have made John Cena proud, flipping her over his shoulder. Kat hit the brick wall of the building and fell into an unconscious heap.

  Joss stood there marveling at how he’d thought his cousin had needed protection, and so relieved that he hadn’t had to hurt Kat any more than he had. Henry was standing there, looking more than a little upset. Joss patted Henry on the shoulder. “You okay?”

  Henry released a sigh, shaking his head at Kat’s unconscious form. “She was going to kill me, Joss. You saw. I had no choice.”

  “Hey.” He made sure that Henry was looking at him before he spoke again. His cousin’s fingers were trembling. Joss’s weren’t. “You had no choice. She was going to kill you, Henry. But we stopped her. You stopped her.”

  Henry’s eyes found Kat once again. He nodded slowly. “Yeah. You’re right. Are you . . . are you okay?”

  Joss nodded. He was okay. He was better than okay. He was finally beginning to understand his cousin.

  A breeze blew through the alley and, as it did, Henry seemed to lose his footing. He fell over in a pile beside Kat, and before Joss could inquire, something had Joss by the throat. It lifted him high into the air, flying over buildings and trees, until finally, it dropped him into the woods. The invisible force tossed him against a tree trunk, and then another, until Joss’s lungs seized and his every muscle hurt. At last, it threw him against a large oak and his skull cracked against the wood. Darkness overtook Joss. And all that was waiting for him in that darkness was confusion.

  15

  DREAM TIME

  Light swirled slowly around Joss once again and, as he looked up at his attacker, a strange calm overtook him. A calm that came solely from understanding that he was once more locked inside
a dream.

  Cecile stood over him, dressed in a pretty white dress, a blue silk ribbon tied around her waist, with matching ribbons in her hair, tangled in her blond curls. Her feet were bare, her hands clean, and her eyes . . .

  Joss furrowed his brow a bit at the strangeness of what he saw. Cecile’s eyes were not black at all. They were not soulless tunnels that sent a terrified chill through his core. Her eyes were blue. Crystalline blue, as they’d been when she was still alive. And beautiful.

  As he gazed up at her, he noticed that her eyes were narrowed at him, almost fierce, as if she weren’t entirely happy to see him. He parted his lips to say something—anything would have done, simply to break the unnerving silence—but when he did, she opened her mouth, revealing two fangs hidden within. She snapped her teeth at him in a threatening bite and Joss closed his mouth again, settling back against the tree behind him. This was the strangest dream he’d ever had about his little sister, and he was seriously looking forward to waking up.

  They remained that way for several minutes, each examining the other in silence, until finally Joss could bear the quiet no more. In dreams past, asking Cecile a question had launched his subconscious into all sorts of horrific images, but Joss knew that this was simply a part of his dreams, and the way that they were meant to play out. So with a slow, deep breath, he prepared himself for the nightmarish inevitable, and said, “What are you doing here, Cecile?”

  Tilting her head to the side, as if she were a little taken aback to hear her name leave his lips, Cecile spoke—her voice sweet and lyrical, despite the fact that her words were ominous and dark. “I have a job to do. A very important job that Em gave me.”