20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  Thinking of that, Briony looked over to the table where Carol and her two companions had sat. The young men were gone, suggesting that perhaps the female werewolf had doubled back as they had left. Presumably, they had been werewolves too. After all, who else ate raw hamburgers?

  If they were, then they had been a lot nicer than their friend. Which begged the question once more of whether all these creatures were as evil as they seemed. If they didn’t have at least some control, then wouldn’t it be impossible for them to hide? Wouldn’t they be rampaging out in the open, rather than hiding in the shadows? Despite her fears about Aunt Sophie’s reaction, Briony resolved to ask her about it once she got back to the inn.

  It didn’t go quite as badly as Briony had thought. Aunt Sophie didn’t actually hit the roof, for example, though she did give Briony a careful look and sat her down at the kitchen table.

  “You’re asking if werewolves and vampires can ever be good?”

  “I suppose so,” Briony said. She related what had happened that day.

  “One of them attacked you, Briony.”

  “And two of them didn’t. They were actually kind of nice. At least, one of them tried to calm the female one down.”

  “But he didn’t do anything to stop her when she came after you,” Aunt Sophie pointed out. “He could just have been trying to make sure that nothing happened in a public place. Remember, they aren’t stupid.”

  Briony nodded, even so, she couldn’t help wondering. “It’s just that they seemed so normal, and if anyone can get infected, then that must mean at least some good people do.”

  “That’s true,” Aunt Sophie said. She moved over to the kitchen counter, turning on the kitchen’s kettle. “And maybe you’re right. I have thought about this a lot over the years. Maybe they are just nice, ordinary people in an awkward situation. But one thing they will never be is normal.”

  “No?”

  “Think about it, Briony. They become what they are, and suddenly they have a whole world of new hungers and instincts to deal with. It’s too much for most of them. For almost all of them. That is why we hunt them. They might not want to hurt anyone now, but can we say that a week from now, or a year, they won’t be ripping someone’s throat out?”

  It seemed a harsh way to put it, but Briony thought back to the vampires and werewolves that had attacked her since her arrival in town. Whatever they had been when they had been human, when they had attacked, they had been ruled by far darker instincts.

  Aunt Sophie took her hand. “It can be hard, at first. You find yourself thinking of them, and what it must be like to be hunted down. Be strong though. Remember what it must be like for their victims. For the people who just… disappear.”

  Aunt Sophie didn’t actually say “for your parents” but Briony knew that was what she meant. She was right, of course. How could you trust someone when you knew what they might do at any moment? You couldn’t. Even so, there was a part of Briony that rebelled at the idea of just hunting people down and killing them. How did that make them any better than the monsters?

  “It’s good to see that your lessons are paying off, anyway,” Aunt Sophie said. “Fighting that werewolf off without a scratch. Well done.”

  “Um…,” muttered Briony, shifting uncomfortably. “Actually, I didn’t do it alone. I was in a lot of trouble until another hunter showed up.”

  “What other hunter?”

  “His name’s Kevin. You must know him. He’s kind of tall, and broad-shouldered. Dark-haired. He picked up that wolf like it was nothing. He must spend a lot of time training.”

  Briony knew the moment Aunt Sophie looked puzzled that something had to be wrong.

  “Kevin, you say?”

  “That’s the name he gave me. Why, is there something wrong? Is he, like, someone I shouldn’t be hanging around?”

  “It’s not that,” Aunt Sophie said. “It’s just that, as far as I know, the Wicked Woods Preservation Society doesn’t have anyone in it named Kevin.”

  Chapter 11

  There wasn’t much point, in the end, in speculating on who Kevin might be. He had shown up, he had saved Briony, and there was no reason to suspect that she would ever see him again. Admittedly, there was a part of her that felt a little disappointed by that last thought, but Briony did her best to quash it. She even went along with it when her great aunt suggested that what she probably needed was an early night, heading to sleep a good couple of hours before she normally would have.

  For some reason, perhaps the part where Briony had laid awake thinking about werewolves and vampires, angry girls in diners and strange young men who came along just when she needed them, the early night didn’t exactly refresh her. She went to school feeling almost as tired as she had on her first day there.

  Maybe that was why Briony missed the posters at first, though given how brightly colored they were, and the way they were plastered across every available surface, it seemed hard to believe that she could have. Briony stopped, reading. It was an announcement for the school’s homecoming dance, a week away, written in bright tones that made it hard to look at.

  “I don’t know why you’re looking at that.” Briony hadn’t heard Pepper approach. “It’s not like anyone would be stupid enough to want to go with you. Or maybe you’re going to go with those freaks you call friends? Make a threesome of it? I’m sure you would make a perfect third wheel.”

  Briony sighed. She didn’t need this. “Whereas you will, no doubt, be the center of attention.”

  “Of course.” Pepper stepped closer. Without her entourage around her, she seemed smaller, but not much nicer. “I know you’re jealous. A jealous little hopeless pathetic new girl with no family but a crazy aunt.”

  A flash of anger spiked through Briony then, and her fists clenched. After everything Aunt Sophie had taught her, it would be so easy to teach this stupid girl a lesson in manners. Unfortunately, Pepper spotted what was on the horizon.

  “You’re actually thinking about hitting me, aren’t you? Go ahead. I would love to see you suspended. Maybe even arrested. Maybe you would make some friends who were more your type down in the jail, rather than hanging around here, trying to pick up my friends.”

  The important thing, Briony knew, was to stay calm. It was a lot easier now that Pepper had given her a clue what this was really about.

  “You don’t like the thought that people might like someone other than you, do you? What is it? Afraid that given a choice, the people you’ve been pushing around will go elsewhere?”

  Pepper’s eyes flashed, and she brought one hand around in what was probably meant to be a slap. Briony caught her wrist easily, not striking out, not twisting it. Just holding it while looking at Pepper as levelly as she could.

  “Go away, Pepper. Just go away.”

  The other girl twisted against Briony’s grip for a moment, but she wasn’t strong enough to break it. Typical. The one person Briony wished was a real monster, wasn’t. Briony stared angrily into Pepper’s eyes. Just months ago before her family’s disappearance when Briony’s high school life seemed perfect, she was like Pepper, the Queen Bee of her school. All that can change in a matter of minutes. Though Briony was never mean to others just for the sake of being mean, she understood Pepper…the insecurity that comes from not being the prettiest, the best, the center of attention. Briony left it just a second longer before letting go.

  “I’ll get you for this,” Pepper promised, and Briony shook her head.

  “No, you won’t. Or do you think it would go down well with the principal, learning that you’ve been bullying me?”

  “No one would believe you.”

  Pepper hurried off anyway, and Briony let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. That was the thing about people like Pepper. They were only strong so long as you let them be. They certainly didn’t like the thought that their actions might have consequences. Briony doubted that she would try anything again soon. If she did, Briony would welcome
the chance to show Pepper not to mess with a slayer.

  Not that it made her feel much better. Briony trudged along the halls to her locker, opening it with a leaden clang. Pepper was right. She would be on her own this homecoming. Once, Briony had looked forward to that kind of dance in the knowledge that it would be the most important social night of her year. Now… how many guys would risk the wrath of Pepper by asking her out? How many guys even knew her enough to want to?

  “Hello, Briony.” Fallon stepped up next to her with a warm smile.

  “Is this the day for people sneaking up on me or something?”

  “Who else has done it?”

  “Oh, just Pepper. She was… being her usual self, I suppose.”

  Briony felt tears sting her eyes, and she started to turn away from Fallon. His hand brushed her cheek, turning Briony back to face him.

  “Hey, what is it?”

  “Nothing,” Briony tried.

  “This,” Fallon countered, brushing a tear away with his thumb, “is not nothing.” He took Briony by the hand, leading her to a seat and crouching beside her. “Now, are you going to tell me what’s wrong? I can’t imagine it is just Pepper. There’s no way someone as stupid as that would get to you on her own.”

  Briony wasn’t sure. Pepper was more than nasty enough. But Fallon was right about one thing. There was more than just that swirling around in her head. “It’s this, Fallon. All of this. This place. This town. It’s so crazy, and so dangerous.”

  “It’s all of that,” Fallon agreed.

  “And I wouldn’t mind that on its own,” Briony added, “if everything else could make some kind of sense. But it doesn’t. Things just keep piling up. There’s moving here, and Pepper, and things attacking me for no reason, and my family…”

  Briony tailed off as more tears came. Fallon took her hand.

  “I met them, you know,” he said.

  “You did?”

  “I was staying up at the Edge Inn for a few days. I didn’t hear that they had disappeared until afterwards, but it was terrible news. They seemed like nice people. They kept an eye on my brother and me. I’m sorry.”

  Briony didn’t know what to say to that. She didn’t think that she could talk about her family without more tears making an appearance, and she didn’t want to do that in front of Fallon, let alone the rest of the school. She concentrated instead on the other thing there.

  “You have a brother?”

  Fallon was silent for a moment. “I hope so.”

  “What does that mean?” Briony asked.

  “He went missing around the same time as your parents. I haven’t been able to find him since.”

  “That’s…” Briony didn’t have the words.

  Fallon smiled wanly. “It is, isn’t it?”

  “And you’ve been looking for him?” Briony asked. “That’s why you are really in town? Not something about making up classes?”

  Fallon shrugged. “With so many dangerous creatures around, I needed an excuse that wouldn’t attract attention. And I do need the extra credit. This way, I get to stick around, no one bothers me, and I can keep searching. Though I’m beginning to think-”

  Briony put a finger to his lips to silence him. “Don’t say it. There is always hope.”

  Fallon shook his head. “If there is one thing I have learned since coming here, Briony, it is that there is almost never hope. Not for me, anyway.”

  Briony sighed. What a pair they made, joined together in gloominess. And no wonder Fallon didn’t want much to do with the popular crowd. That kind of bright, pointless chatter was exactly the kind of thing that would grate on Briony in her current state, and she couldn’t imagine that things could be much better for Fallon. Losing a brother like that. Knowing that he was probably dead.

  “There is one upside,” Fallon said.

  “What’s that?”

  “At least I know how you feel, Briony. You aren’t alone. Though somehow I suspect that you could never truly be alone.”

  “What does that mean?” Briony found herself becoming defensive. Did Fallon mean that she was one of those shallow, attention-seeking types like Pepper?

  “I just mean that you have already attracted friends to you, Briony. Those girls who come over from Pepper’s little group to talk to you. Maisy, Steve… me. I know you’re used to more than that, to adulation and respect, but is that such a good thing? Me, I’d rather have real friends any day.”

  That was probably true, Briony thought. Of course, she also suspected that Fallon could have his pick of any friends he wanted. She had already seen how most of the other girls in the school looked at him. Even most of the guys got along with him. Besides, as great as Briony’s new friends were, that still left one or two problems.

  “What is it?” Fallon asked, and Briony guessed that something must have shown on her face.

  “I’m just thinking that friends are great, but Maisy is hardly going to lend me Steve for the homecoming dance, and Claire, Tracey, Ross and Bill will probably be going together. Pepper was right about that. I can either go on my own or end up spoiling the party for someone else.”

  Fallon stood, drawing Briony to her feet as he did it. “That one is easily solved.” He smiled warmly, his blue eyes staring into hers. “Would you like to go to the dance with me, Briony?”

  “Oh no… Fallon, I couldn’t ask you to-”

  “You’re not. I’m asking you. That’s how these things work, isn’t it?”

  Briony knew that she couldn’t just stand there and let him do that. “Fallon, this is incredibly kind of you, but I know there must be plenty of people who want to go with you. I’m not going to have you asking me just because it is what you think you should do. I’m not going to be some kind of pity date because of everything that has happened to me recently.”

  “Briony?”

  “Yes?”

  “Would you mind coming to your senses for a moment, please?”

  “What? I don’t understand.”

  Fallon looked at her oddly, his head to one side. “You really don’t, do you? What I mean is that I’m not asking you to the dance because of your family, or because you don’t have anyone to go with, or even because it might be fun to see the look on Pepper Freeman’s face when we show up together.”

  “You aren’t?” It probably said a lot about the state Briony was in at the moment that she was even asking. Once, she might have taken it for granted that the gorgeous guy would want to go out with her. Not at the moment.

  “No. I’m asking you to the dance because I want to, because you are the most beautiful girl in this school, because you’re one of the only ones I can talk to, that I can relate to…considering our families, and because I find you irresistible. So how about it? Will you go to the dance with me?”

  Briony didn’t have to think about it for long. Fallon was so kind, and perfect, and thoughtful. It also helped that he was the most handsome boy in school, probably all of Wicked. The only guy who had come close to rivaling Fallon’s looks, but in a darkly different way, had been Kevin, the college guy from the diner. When Briony thought of Kevin with his dark masculine good looks, she actually blushed. What was the chance that he would ask her out, let alone be back in town? He wasn’t standing in front of Briony, asking her out now, while Fallon, with his gorgeous blonde Viking king looks, polite manners, and sweet smile was standing inches away from her, looking intently into her eyes, waiting for her answer.

  “I would love to.”

  Fallon’s face moved closer then and his lips was soft against hers. Briony wrapped her arms around his neck, while his arms found its way around her waist pulling her close. They stood like that kissing for how long, she didn’t know, but she felt safe within his arms as safe and secure as she hadn’t felt in a long time. When they finally pulled back, both of them were breathless. Fallon reached out a finger to trace her face, and look into her eyes. “You don’t know how much I wanted to kiss you,” he said. “Ever since I’
ve seen you months ago…”

  Chapter 12

  The days to homecoming passed, for Briony, in a haze of excitement and activity. She briefly saw Fallon every day at school and each time they met, they have had stolen kisses here and there. Fallon was one of the best kissers Briony have had, not that she had many, but he always left her feeling breathless and wanting more after they kissed. Briony was definitely falling for Fallon, whose presence near her was always comforting and secure, yet there was something there, too. Since the day of their first kiss, Briony had wondered what he meant by wanting to kiss her months ago? Until that day, she had only known Fallon for a few weeks, not months. But Briony never got around to ask him what he meant, as her days got busier and busier, and she quickly forgot about it. There was her schoolwork, her work at the diner, and the continued presence of her lessons with her aunt, but new things vied for her attention too.

  There was the task of finding the right dress, for one thing. Briony certainly didn’t have anything to wear in her closet. Aunt Sophie was unexpectedly generous on that score, saying that she would pay for one and sending Briony off into town to find something that would work. When Briony suggested that Aunt Sophie might like to help her look, the older woman lit up, and they spent most of a day trailing around looking for something perfect.

  What they actually found was Maisy, trying on dresses that didn’t really suit her in one of the local stores, and frowning while she did it.

  “Why does nothing look right?” she demanded, as Briony passed. “It’s me, isn’t it? I’m too short and nerdy to ever look good.”

  Briony put an arm around her. “You look fine. It’s just a question of finding something that suits you. Come on. I’ll help.”

  They had a great time then, trying on different things, and to Briony’s surprise, Aunt Sophie seemed fine with Maisy around. If anything, she seemed happy that Briony was getting along with someone, and she actually chipped in with some fashion advice for Maisy too, though she spent most of her time skimming through the racks of clothes looking for something for Briony.