The Wicked Woods

by Kailin Gow

  That was enough to make Briony smile in return, but she shook her head. “I think I am giving up on dating. It’s not like I have time for it. I’m too busy working, most of the time.”

  Maisy rolled her eyes. “Oh come on! What kind of teenager are you? You’ve got to have at least some fun, you know.”

  Briony wasn’t sure how that applied to her life, given everything else going on in it, but she promised that she would at least try. Mostly, she promised it so that Maisy wouldn’t try anything silly like trying to set her up with someone. With a bit of effort, Briony managed to get through the day, and headed off to work as usual.

  Kevin was there already when she showed up, and Briony felt her eyebrows rise as she passed his table.

  “Two days in a row? That must be some kind of record for you.”

  “What can I say? I like the company here.”

  “Do you? It’s not like you exactly stick about for it.”

  Kevin looked thoughtful for a moment. “Then maybe I should.”

  “I will believe that when I see it. Do you want the usual?”

  Kevin nodded, and Briony hurried off to the kitchen to give his order to Pete. He was still there when she got back, which was a start at least. He was even still there twenty minutes later, having eaten the burger. Shouldn’t he have run off by now?

  In fact, Kevin stayed there for the next few hours, working his way through a succession of milkshakes as Briony kept up her service to the other customers. Whenever she looked over, his eyes were on her, and occasionally he would smile. It was almost disconcerting, having him sit there after the way he had just disappeared before.

  Even George seemed to notice, asking Briony at one point if he was bothering her. Briony found herself shaking her head.

  “No. He’s actually kind of cute, doing this.”

  “Cute?” George gave her the look of someone who had never used the word before in his life. “If you say so. Just be careful. I mean, he’s older than you.”

  “Only by two or three years.”

  “That’s a long time, at your age.” George paused. “Oh, would you listen to me? I’m turning into my old man.”

  Briony hugged him, which made George squirm uncomfortably. “And very grateful we all are too. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

  “Sure you will. I’ll tell you what, take out the trash and you can leave a little early tonight.”

  That struck Briony as a good deal, given that she took the trash out most nights anyway. She got the bags and hauled them out to the dumpster. By the time she got there, Kevin was leaning on it.

  “You don’t want to do that,” Briony said. “You don’t know what’s in it.”

  “The same stuff that’s in that bag, probably.”

  Briony winced and threw the thing into the dumpster. “How did you know I’d be back here?”

  “I heard your boss say it. Would you maybe like to go somewhere after this?”

  Briony had been half expecting it. “Um… maybe.”

  “There’s something I would like to show you.”

  “Not the best line in the world,” Briony observed.

  Kevin shook his head. “Not really. Please? I think you’ll like this, and you look like you could do with cheering up.”

  He had seen through the false smile? Most of the customers didn’t look closely enough. For some reason, that made Briony feel happier than she had for most of the day. And Kevin had saved her life.

  “Sure, I’ll come with you. Um… after I’ve washed my hands.”

  It did not take long, and nor did the trip to the spot Kevin had in mind. They walked it, and as they did so, Briony found herself actually getting a feel for the town. Some towns needed to be walked around, it seemed. Their stroll ended at a small lake, built off to one side of the town square. Briony had passed it every day on her way to work, but had never really looked at it. There were ducks out on the water, along with the bigger shapes of swans.

  “What are swans doing here?” Briony asked.

  “It’s home for them. Here, you’ll see them better through these.” Kevin passed her a small pair of binoculars. Obviously he had planned ahead. Through the binoculars, the swans were beautiful. They glided together in pairs, seeming almost to dance across the surface of the water. “They mate for life, you know.”

  “Really? I thought that was just something people said.”

  Kevin shook his head. “They mate for life, and wherever they find a mate, that’s home. I guess for these swans, their hearts lie in Wicked.”

  Briony smiled at that. It was romantic, in a way. “How do you know all this, anyway?”

  “I was going to become a veterinarian,” Kevin said. “Hey, don’t laugh. I was. At least until I showed up here with my brother.”

  “So what changed?” Briony asked.

  “Everything. It all seems like a long time ago now, even though it’s just a couple of months.”

  “I know what you mean,” Briony said.

  “I know you do.” Kevin paused, staring out at the swans. “Briony, do you believe in destiny?”

  Briony thought about it, and then nodded. “My great aunt tells me that it’s my destiny to be here.”

  “She sounds like a wise woman. I don’t. Or I didn’t. Now though… oh, I’m not doing this right.”

  He kissed her then. It wasn’t like the way Fallon had kissed her. There was nothing tentative about it. It was hard, passionate, and extremely good. It was all Briony could do to keep from melting under the intensity of it. When Kevin pulled back, she found herself gasping for breath.

  “Meeting you felt like it was meant to happen, Briony. Like we were meant to… I’m getting this wrong again, aren’t-”

  Briony silenced him with a kiss of her own. She understood it. She didn’t need the words. She could feel the attraction just as strongly as he did, and right then it was just enough to feel his arms around her, his lips on hers.

  Chapter 17

  It took Briony a few seconds to recognize the sound of her phone when it came, she was that caught up in the moment. Briefly, she considered ignoring it, but the ringing continued, and Briony knew she had to answer. After all, there weren’t that many people who had her number, and Briony knew that most of them wouldn’t call without a good reason.

  It was Aunt Sophie. When Briony answered, her voice sounded tense.

  “I need you to come back to the Inn, Briony. Something has happened.”

  “What?”

  “Preservation Society business. Come back at once.”

  Briony hung up and then turned to Kevin. “I have to go. It is kind of urgent. Though maybe… would you like to help out? It sounds like an extra hunter could come in useful.”

  Kevin shook his head. “I am not sure that they would appreciate me just showing up. If you need extra help, I’ll be around.” Kevin kissed Briony again before they parted, cupping her face in his hand and looking earnestly into her eyes, “I’ll definitely be around.”

  Briony jogged back to the diner, got in Aunt Sophie’s car, and headed back to the Inn as quickly as she could. George’s car was already there when she got there. He must have left in a hurry.

  In fact, all the members of the diner’s staff were there, along with half a dozen other people Briony didn’t know. They sat in the Edge Inn’s lounge, all clearly nervous. Aunt Sophie stood at the front. She looked up as Briony arrived.

  “Good, we are all here. I won’t waste your time with pleasantries. There has been a vampire attack. A fatal one.”

  Briony had been half-expecting some kind of collective gasp to go around the room, but everyone stared intensely straight at Aunt Sophie, expecting her to go on. “Do we know who?” Briony asked. A few of the society members looked over to her at that, like she shouldn’t be interrupting.

  Aunt Sophie nodded. “A girl from the local school by the name of Tracey Welston. I have a picture here somewhere.”

  Until she raised the photograph, B
riony didn’t get it. Even then, it was hard to connect the features of the dead girl in it to someone she knew, but once she did…

  “Tracey? Tracey’s dead?”

  That got another disapproving look from a couple of the strangers there, but an interested one from her great aunt.

  “You knew her?”

  “She was my friend. Well, kind of. We would hang out when Pepper wasn’t around. She was one of the girls who invited me to the football game.”

  Briony said it flatly, still hardly able to believe it. She had spoken to Tracey just… well, probably more than a couple of days ago, because Pepper had been hanging around a lot, and Tracey tended to be a bit more careful about that kind of thing than Claire, but not that long ago, anyway. How could she just be dead?

  “Do her family know?” Briony asked.

  “Not yet,” one of the society members said. “For now, they just think she is missing. We will make it look like it was an accident. It’s better that way.”

  Some accident. Briony could not help wondering what it was about her that meant things happened to the people around her. Her family had died, and Tracey had died, and Fallon had turned out to be… An awful thought struck Briony. Had Fallon been involved? She didn’t want to think so, didn’t want to believe it for a moment, but what if he had? He had said himself that his control was not perfect.

  “What happened?” Briony asked, not daring to ask what she really wanted to know. Aunt Sophie seemed to hear the unspoken question too, though.

  “It was a group of vampires, dear. At least four of them. Probably more. To drink all of someone’s blood in a single sitting takes several of the creatures.”

  She said it in such a matter of fact way. Like there wasn’t one of Briony’s friends lying dead. Like this was all just normal, somehow. Briony couldn’t think like that, because she couldn’t help thinking about how things would be at school now. How would Claire take the news? The two of them had been inseparable.

  “What do we do now?” Briony asked.

  “Are you sure she should be involved?” one of the others asked. “She’s not even fully trained.”

  Briony turned a glare on him that she hadn’t known she possessed. “I’ll stop being involved when people around me stop dying.”

  Aunt Sophie nodded. “Well said. Split into the usual pairings for the hunt. George, will you partner with my niece?”

  The former soldier nodded. “Gladly.”

  They didn’t rush out after that. Presumably, things did not end well when you rushed after vampires with no preparation. Instead, they went over the likely areas of the wood the vampires might be in, acquired weapons, and went over the importance of keeping in contact. Only after that did they trail off into the growing darkness together, flashlights and stakes ready.

  George moved through the forest smoothly, with the care of someone who was obviously used to it, and Briony found herself wondering what kind of things he had done in the army. Except for the light beaming from their flashlight, the forest was pitch black, the air heavy like molasses. Briony scrambled after George, holding a short sword. Being a surer shot than Briony, the former soldier had a crossbow slung over his shoulder.

  “Where are we?” Briony whispered to him

  George put his finger to his lips. “Don’t talk unless you have to. We need to listen. Vampires can move very-”

  He spun and fired at a shape in the darkness. Briony was about to ask what he was doing, but then she saw the shadows gathering in the trees. They were under attack!

  Briony brought up her short sword in time to plunge it through a vampire’s shoulder, but that just made it scream and pull back. She slashed at another, looking for an opening that would let her thrust to the heart. How many of them were there? Briony could not tell in the darkness. All she could do was hear the quick swoosh of the air of approaching vampires gathering around them. It went on all around them, surrounding George and her. So many of them, getting closer and closer.

  George shot up a flare, creating enough light for Briony to make out all the vampires surrounding them. And then, the one vampire Briony had been hoping not to see was there.

  “Fallon…”

  Briony had barely breathed the word before he was beside her, twisting Briony’s arm behind her back hard enough that she yelped and dropped the blade. Briony could see a pair of vampires pinning George, a third tying his hands.

  “Don’t struggle, little vampire slayer,” Fallon said, loud enough that the other vampires laughed at it. “I’ll only hurt you if you do.”

  Briony started to drive an elbow back, but Fallon caught it, holding her while another of the vampires tied her wrists.

  “Why, Fallon?” she demanded.

  “Why not? After all, if I can’t control my instincts, I might as well give into them.”

  “You know this human, Fallon?” Another of the vampires, a girl who didn’t look any older than Briony, asked.

  “I’ve been toying with her a little, Lily, yes.”

  It hurt to hear him put it so bluntly. Toying with her? Had that been all it had been to him?

  “Well then, let’s toy with her some more, shall we?” Lily suggested, grinning and coming over to seductively place a hand on Fallon’s arm.

  “Like you did with Tracey, you mean?” Briony shot back. She glared at Fallon. “Like you did?”

  “Oh, Fallon didn’t arrive in time for that one,” the female vampire said. “Still, he’s here now.”

  “Our master is not, though,” Fallon said. “He will be angry if we don’t let him know. I’ll go and tell him.”

  Lily shook her head. “No, let the others go. You can stay here and get reacquainted with your little pet.”

  “I’m staying too,” another of the vampires said gruffly. It was the one Briony had stabbed in the shoulder. He licked his fangs.“I owe her.”

  Briony saw the look the vampire gave her, raking his red-hot eyes over her from head to toe. She felt dirty, shuddering at the pure evil waiting to lunge at her. The other vampires scattered according to some unseen plan, leaving Briony and George alone with him, Lily, and Fallon. Lily ran her hand along Fallon’s shoulder.

  “What shall we play then?”

  “Oh, all kinds of things,” Fallon said. He stalked towards Briony.

  “Keep away from me!”

  “No.” Fallon smirked as he said it, pressing her back against a tree. His beautiful blue eyes bore into hers. Briony’s eyes filled with unshed tears. Was Fallon going to kill her after everything? How stupid of her to have trusted him enough to love him before. Aunt Sophie was right…a romantic relationship between a vampire and a slayer would always end badly. His mouth opened, giving her an impressive view of his fangs. His mouth went to her neck… Briony closed her eyes, hoping that if Fallon was going to kill her, he’d be quick.

  He placed the gentlest of kisses on Briony’s throat as his hands went behind her, snapping the rope holding her with ease. His hands kept hers pressed there for a moment, until Briony got the message.

  “Oh, you are a tease, Fallon,” Lily said. “Making the poor thing wait like that.”

  “Perhaps you would like to begin things then?” Fallon suggested.

  Lily brushed past him. “Nothing too damaging, of course. Just a taste.” She moved close to Briony, but Briony wasn’t watching. Instead, she was focused on Fallon as he picked up Briony’s fallen sword in one movement, spinning towards the third vampire, the male she had stabbed.

  “What?” was all the vampire had time for before the sword plunged under his ribs, up and into the heart. He fell back, cold flames already claiming him as he died. A second or two more, and there was nothing left of him.

  Fallon lunged for Lily, but the female vampire was already reacting. She spun out of the way of the blow, kicking out at Fallon and catching him in the knee. He did not fall, but he did have to scramble back. Apparently from nowhere, Lily acquired a couple of wicked looking knives.


  “Oh, how sweet. Trying to protect your little human. It will not work though. I am older than you are, Fallon, and we both know what that means, don’t we? Don’t we?”

  “It means you are stronger and faster,” Fallon said. He still raised the sword, circling until he was facing Briony. Or, to look at it another way, until the other vampire’s back was to her.

  “That’s right,” Lily said. “Don’t worry though, I’m not going to kill you. Only the Master gets to do that. Besides, I’ll want you alive while I hurt this human of yours so much that you beg me to kill…oh.”

  The last sound came out as a gasp. Briony had slid the crucifix from around her neck, activated the long blade, and slid it up into the spot where she thought the heart was. Since Lily flamed with that cold fire, Briony guessed that she had hit the right spot.

  “That’s for Tracey.”

  Somehow though, it didn’t feel very satisfying. It certainly didn’t do anything to bring her friend back. All Briony could do was move over and cut George’s bindings. The ex-soldier looked over to Fallon and started to scramble for his crossbow.

  “You won’t need that,” Briony said.

  George paused for a moment. “How do we know?” He eyed Fallon critically.

  Fallon walked over to Briony, slipping his arm around her, holding her close. “Because, sir, I love Briony. I would never do anything to harm her.”

  Briony’s heart swell, hearing Fallon’s words. Looking at Fallon’s handsome face, full of love and earnestness, Briony wanted to lean into him and just let Fallon hold her. Fallon looked down at her, his cheeks brushing hers. “Briony…I’m sorry for leaving. I miss you.”

  “I missed you, too,” Briony whispered, all her feelings for Fallon rushing back into her with full intensity.

  George’s gruff voice penetrated the thick air of passion between the two, and Briony instinctively pulled away from Fallon. “I believe you, vampire, although I’m not sure how a slayer could be dating a vampire.” He addressed Briony, “Does Sophie know?”