Dangerous Creatures (Book 3, Pure Series)

by Catherine Mesick

  James smiled again. "Very genuinely, you need make no excuses on my account. But I would advise you to come into the house. If my mom finds you out here, she will freak out. And my mom is really good at freaking out. It's one of her most notable talents."

  "I couldn't really blame her," I said. "I might freak out a little, too, if I found somebody sleeping in a car outside my house."

  I got out of the car then and stretched.

  "Nobody else is up yet," James said. "Come on in, and I'll make you some scrambled eggs. I make really good scrambled eggs, even if I do say so myself. They're actually a great hangover cure—not that I would know anything about that."

  I had to smile at that, and James and I went into the house. We headed toward the kitchen, but I stopped at the stairs.

  "Thanks for the offer of breakfast," I said, "but I really think I'd better go up and take a shower instead. I had—kind of an eventful night."

  James looked amused. "You know, I noticed that your car disappeared last night. You've only been here one night, and you're already sneaking out."

  "It's not really like that," I said. "There was a party at the Neverovs' house last night—"

  My voice trailed off. I had planned on trying to make the party sound innocuous, but even an abridged version wouldn't work—I hadn't actually been invited, and I'd only gotten in by impersonating a member of the wait staff.

  "Say no more," James said. "The Neverovs? Impressive. That must have been quite a party."

  "Yes—it really was."

  "You know," James said, "I'll tell you this from experience. If you take a shower upstairs you might wake the others. But there's a small shower stall in the basement. If you take a shower there, you can do it without waking anybody. And really, what's nicer than letting everyone sleep in on a Saturday morning?"

  "That's a good point," I said. "I really wouldn't mind letting everybody sleep for a little while."

  James smiled. "I'll have breakfast ready by the time you're done."

  I tiptoed upstairs to get a few things, and then I went down to the basement to take a shower. But as I turned the water on, I decided to give William a call. Now that the danger was past, I thought he should know about the red-eyed creature that had come after me last night. William's phone rang several times and then went to voicemail, and I asked him to call me back—I couldn't really explain what happened in one brief message.

  I showered and dressed quickly, and James was as good as his word. He had a plate of scrambled eggs and pancakes waiting for me when I came upstairs.

  "And the crowning touch," James said as I sat down at the kitchen table. "Real maple syrup. Not the lesser stuff you get at those other joints."

  I accepted the small glass bottle from him and poured a ribbon of the dark amber liquid over the pancakes.

  "You should try a little of it on the eggs, too," James said.

  We began to eat, and the quiet of the early morning was nice.

  "The eggs are good," I said.

  "Breakfast is my specialty," James replied.

  "Thanks for doing this," I said.

  "Don't mention it." James paused, and the tone of his voice changed. "You know, I'm sure they've all said this—"

  I glanced over at him. His head was down as he stabbed at his pancakes.

  "I hope she's okay," he said. "Your grandmother, I mean."

  "Thanks," I said.

  "I'm sure they've been fussing over you. I didn't want to put you on the spot like that."

  "They're not so bad," I said.

  James glanced up at me. Then he gave me a small smile.

  "Maybe you're right. Maybe they aren't."

  We finished breakfast, and not long after, Simon came downstairs to the kitchen. He was soon followed by his parents, and as they appeared, James evaporated.

  "How did you sleep, Katie?" Mrs. Krstic asked as she sat down at the table.

  "I slept very well, thanks."

  She looked me over critically. "You look a little tired and pale."

  I could well imagine that that was true.

  "I'm fine, really," I said. "It's just that I-I—"

  Mrs. Krstic interrupted. "There's no need to explain. It's only natural for you to be anxious. But don't worry, dear. We'll look out for you."

  As it turned out, Mrs. Krstic had an entire day of activities planned out for me. Some of the activities were practical—like stopping by the police station to have GM officially declared missing.

  But some of the other activities, like shopping and antiquing, seemed to be designed just to keep me busy. I had a feeling Mrs. Krstic didn't want me to have any time to dwell on my troubles.

  She had agreed to let me have some time alone later in the evening at my house—time that I was actually going to use to meet with William—but until then, I had to get through the rest of the day. And I really needed time to think right now—I had to plan what my next move was going to be.

  So, as Mr. and Mrs. Krstic, Simon, and I drove over to an antiques market after breakfast, I sat quietly in the back as the others talked, and tried to make sense of what had happened last night.

  The fact that Maksim Neverov had a vampire in his freezer was deeply disturbing. Of course, if I was being fair, I had to admit that it was possible that Maksim wasn't responsible for the vampire's presence in the house. Theoretically, Irina and Ms. Finch were both potential candidates, though I felt reasonably certain that neither one of them was involved. And I certainly couldn't rule out Irina's father, Ivan—I didn't really know anything about him. I also couldn't rule out any of the staff that might work at the house—I didn't know anything about them, either.

  But Maksim was the one who was in love with GM—and he was also the one who'd been sleeping in the basement. Any way I looked at it, Maksim seemed the most likely culprit.

  And then there was the red-eyed creature that had come after me last night. Was it possible it had come from Maksim's house? Was it the same creature I had seen in the basement?

  I discarded that idea quickly. The vampire I'd seen in the basement didn't have red eyes—I'd seen them clearly enough. And from the looks of him, he hadn't moved in a long time. Besides, if he'd come from the Neverovs' house, he should have been behind me—not in front of me. And while it was certainly possible for a vampire to get ahead of me, there was no way he could have known ahead of time that I would be going to the Old Grove. Whoever it was in the road had been waiting for me.

  I wondered then—could the red-eyed man have been the Hunter?

  The idea made me draw in my breath sharply, and Simon looked over at me.

  "Are you okay?" he asked.

  "Yes," I said quickly, glancing out the window. Fortunately, we had just arrived at the antiques market. "I'm just surprised at how big the market is."

  Mrs. Krstic turned and smiled at me. "Yes, it's a nice one. I have a feeling we're going to be very lucky today."

  The antiques market was outdoors, so as we walked out amongst the crowd of stalls and tables from all different types of vendors, I hung back a little and glanced at my phone.

  William still hadn't called me back.

  I tried calling him again, but there was still no answer.

  William and I had already arranged to meet up at my house this evening, and I had to hope that seeing him then would be soon enough—I didn't want him running into the red-eyed creature without any warning.

  I put my phone away, and as I did so, Simon glanced back at me. When he realized how far behind I was, he stopped and came back to walk beside me.

  "Were you hoping for a message from your grandmother?" Simon asked.

  I smiled at him. "That would have been nice."

  He glanced up at his parents. "You know, my dad always pretends that coming to these antiques markets is for my mom, but it's actually for him. My dad likes to collect model train sets, and markets like these are a great place to find stuff. My mom actually likes new stuff—she's not so into antiques. But
she always goes with my dad because it makes him happy."

  "That's sweet of her," I said.

  "People watch out for one another when they're a family," Simon said.

  "Yes, I suppose they do."

  Simon continued. "My parents mean a lot to me. I don't know what I'd do if I lost them. And I don't know what I'd do if I lost you."

  "Simon—" I began.

  He interrupted. "You're going to be careful, aren't you?"

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "I mean, you're planning to go off by yourself today, aren't you? That's what my mom said."

  "I need to go back and get a few things," I said. "And I just need to spend some time in my own home."

  "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Simon asked. "To do that alone? What if the same psycho who took your grandmother comes after you?"

  "I think everything will be fine," I said.

  Simon smiled ruefully. "You aren't going to be alone, are you? You're going to see that—that William, aren't you?"

  I glanced at Simon sharply—I hadn't expected him to be so perceptive.

  "Oh, Simon," I said.

  He nodded. "That's a yes, isn't it? I guess I'm lucky that you chose to stay with us and not with him. I think of you as part of my family, Katie. I would go through anything for you."

  "Oh, Simon," I said again.

  As I glanced around, trying to think of something to say, I saw a flash of gold—a flicker of light—and it reminded me for just a moment of the star-filled dreams that I was having every night now.

  Simon turned. "What is it? What are you looking at?"

  "It's that stall over there," I said. "I thought I saw something shining out of it."

  "Let's go have a look," Simon replied. "If you see something you like, we should definitely go check it out."

  The stall was one of the largest around, and it was actually more like a tent than a stall—it had a canvas roof and sides, and the entrance was a flap that was tied open. As we drew closer to it, I could see that the stall was lined with mirrors, and one very large mirror was sitting on a stand close to the entrance. The mirror was positioned in such a way that it just caught the morning sunlight, and I figured that that mirror was what had caught my eye.

  As Simon and I ducked inside the tent, another brilliant shaft of light flashed across my eyes, forcing me to blink.

  Inside the tent it was dark, and it took a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the gloom. No one else was inside, so Simon and I walked around, just the two of us, our images reflected back to us in shadowy profusion from the mirrors that surrounded us.

  Hanging from stands all along the canvas walls were the larger mirrors, and there were also a few full-length mirrors that rested on the ground. We continued on toward the back where there were smaller mirrors lying face down on tables. Many of the smaller mirrors were decorated with shapes and patterns—flowers, stars, birds—and they were all arranged by color. The mirrors ran from bright shades of red and gold, through blue and green and purple, all the way down to more subdued shades of pale pink, pearl, and silver.

  As I looked, my hand hovered over a small, round mirror that had a dragonfly embroidered on its tiny silk case.

  I picked the mirror up. The dragonfly on the case was picked out in gold thread, and as I slipped the mirror out of its cover, I could see that the frame had silver and gold shards imbedded in it, and the back had a pattern of diamond shapes that were also tiny mirrors.

  Simon came to stand beside me. "Do you like that one?"

  "It's very pretty," I said. "And I was just thinking that I should start carrying a mirror. I must be the only girl in school who doesn't do that already."

  Simon smiled at me. "You don't need to check on your appearance. You always look good."

  "Thanks," I said, setting the mirror back down. "Besides, it's probably really expensive."

  "There's no price on it?" Simon asked.

  "No."

  "Well, it can't hurt to ask about it." Simon turned to glance around the tent.

  As he did so, a tall, willowy woman stepped inside, carrying a cup of coffee. She stopped suddenly.

  "Hello?" she said. "Is someone in here?"

  "Yes, hello," Simon said. "We were just looking at this mirror over here."

  The woman smiled. "Sorry, I can't see you just yet—it's a little dark in here. But I did think I'd heard something—it's good to know I'm not hallucinating."

  The woman moved toward a table and switched on a tall lamp. Then she continued on around the tent, switching on other lamps, and the ornate mirrors all around us sprang to glittering life.

  "That's better," the woman said. "Now which mirror were you looking at?"

  "This one over here," Simon said, indicating the small mirror in the dragonfly case.

  The woman stepped over to us and looked down at the mirror.

  She frowned. "Oh, that thing. How did that get in here? My daughter must have slipped that in—she helped me set up this morning."

  The woman sighed. "My daughter found that mirror at one of the sales we went to last week, and she was convinced it was valuable. It is very pretty, but it isn't actually worth very much. Those things were mass-produced. You can find them at any yard sale. It really doesn't belong in here with the other pieces—the other mirrors are real antiques."

  "How much do you want for it?" I asked.

  The woman demurred. "Oh, I don't really think I could sell that. It's not up to the standards of my other stock."

  "Will you take five dollars for it?"

  The woman waved a dismissive hand. "I don't even think it's worth that. Since it genuinely seems to interest you, how about two dollars?"

  I smiled. "You drive a hard bargain. Done."

  We completed our transaction, and the woman glanced at the mirror as she handed it over to me.

  "It is very pretty," she said. "I guess people always like something that shines."

  Simon and I left the tent, and I slipped the mirror into the pocket of my jeans—it was so small and slim that it wasn't even noticeable.

  "See?" Simon said. "It never hurts to ask."

  We found Simon's parents in the crowd—Mrs. Krstic had begun to get a little frantic when she couldn't find us—and the four of us continued on through the market. Mr. Krstic stopped several times to look at some antique train sets, but he didn't find anything that really appealed to him.

  We went shopping at the mall next, and Mrs. Krstic bought linens and towels. After that we had lunch. Then we went shopping again—this time in Elspeth Grove's revitalized downtown area. We went to a lot of boutiques, and Mrs. Krstic tried to get me interested in shopping for clothes, but I wasn't really in the mood—the day was wearing away, and I knew that I would see William soon.

  And then after we'd been through all the shops, it was time to go to the police station to file an official report to have GM declared missing. I called her just to be sure—first on the landline at home and then on her cell—but as I had expected, there was no answer.

  Filing the official report took us about an hour. Afterward, I felt strangely empty and alone.

  As we drove back to the Krstics' house, I fell into a sort of daze, and I was startled to look up and realize that we had arrived.

  "Are you sure you won't change your mind, dear?" Mrs. Krstic asked as I got out of the car.

  "Change my mind?" I said.

  "About going back to your house alone."

  "Oh, no," I said. Mrs. Krstic's words seemed to shake me out of my trance, and I quickly pulled my car keys out of my pocket. "I'll be fine. I really will be. I just need to spend a little time back in my own house. Thanks for taking me out today. I really appreciate it."

  "Mom's right," Simon said. "I think you should reconsider going over there. I've got a bad feeling about this."

  "I'll be back here later tonight," I said. "There's no need to worry."

  "I'm sure Katie will be fine, you two," Mr. Krstic said. "And
you've got your cell phone, right, Katie?"

  "Katie's grandmother had a cell phone, too," Simon interjected. "That didn't stop her from disappearing."

  "It's just for a little while," I said. "You'll barely know I was gone."

  "Katie—" Mrs. Krstic began.

  I interrupted. "I've got my cell phone right here in my pocket, just like Mr. Krstic said. I'll be fine for an hour or two."

  "Be sure to call us if you feel troubled about anything," Simon said. "Anything at all. We'll come right over."

  "Thanks for your concern," I said. "I really appreciate your looking out for me. I'll be back soon. Really."

  I turned and hurried to GM's car. As I buckled myself in and drove off, I felt a sense of relief—I was going to see William very soon.

  I reached the house and parked in GM's usual spot. I stood for a moment, looking up at the house I had lived in for most of my life. Since my parents had died, it had always been just GM and me—it was strange to think of the house without her.

  I went inside and set my keys down on the table, and I realized then that I'd left my backpack in the Krstics' car—I only had the contents of my pockets with me.

  I figured that that probably didn't matter very much, and I went to make myself a cup of tea—doing that reminded me of GM. Then I sat down at the kitchen table and glanced at the clock on my phone. I didn't have too much longer until William arrived.

  As I waited, I took out the little mirror I had purchased earlier in the day. The little gold dragonfly on the silk case really was pretty, and the gold and silver frame of the mirror caught the light from every angle as I slipped it out.

  I found myself gazing into the mirror, and as I did so, I thought I saw a light flickering in its depths. The light seemed to draw me in, and I felt myself sinking.

  Soon I found myself in a universe of stars.

  I drifted through the familiar dream again until I reached the slab of stone with the white cloth lying across it. This time, I drew closer, and I saw that there was a hand lying on the cloth—a small, white hand like that of a young girl—

  There was a sudden, loud knock, and my eyes flew open. I was sitting at the kitchen table, and the mirror had slipped from my hand to the floor. I felt more than a little disoriented as I bent down to pick it up.