Tempest

by Laura Marie

  Sure as hell, there he was, sipping coffee with his hip against the counter, reading the paper as if he belonged here.

  “Morning, sweet cheeks,” he said when he looked up and noticed me. “Coffee?”

  I nodded because even though it was Victor and I didn’t like him, I wanted freshly brewed coffee. Saying no would only hurt me, not him.

  Victor poured me coffee and handed me the cup. I stirred in my own sugar and milk.

  “What are we going to do today?” he asked.

  I wasn’t planning on doing anything with him.

  “I was going to head out and see a friend,” I said.

  “I’ll drive you.”

  I shook my head. “I always take the bus.”

  “So? Let me save you the fare.”

  God, I couldn’t get rid of this guy. Whenever he came over, he acted like we were best buds. And I wasn’t in the mood for him. Not today. I had other things I wanted to do.

  I couldn’t get him to leave me alone. I wasn’t really going to visit a friend. I wanted to get back to the forest where the murder had taken place. It wasn’t far from the chapel where the vampires met, and that didn’t seem like a coincidence. The police and press had warned everyone to stay away from there.

  Which was exactly why I wanted to go.

  When I was in Victor’s car, I told him to take me to the Lazy Eye Diner.

  “This is where you meet your friends?” Victor asked, leaning forward to look at the place through the windscreen.

  “Yeah,” I said, even though I would never meet anywhere here, except Old Sal. But I wanted Victor to drop me off and leave. I opened the door and climbed out.

  “Call me when you need a lift,” he said.

  “I’ll be fine,” I said. “I’ll make my own way home.”

  I closed the door before Victor could say anything and walked to the diner. I heard the car turn around and looked over my shoulder when he pulled away, waiting until he rounded the bend before I walked on, not going into the diner.

  The forest on the other side of the road was technically already vampire territory, even though it wasn’t off-limits to anyone else. But the moment I put my foot on the vampire soil, I could feel their magic.

  Chloe’s power had flared up twice to taunt me, and I recognized the magic now when it shuddered under my feet and whispered through the trees.

  It was strange how different this magic felt to the magic that surrounded the Windermere coven. I knew that the wolves had a place similar to this, too. And the Fae, although theirs was in the ocean. I guess all the preternatural creatures had their spot. Like a clubhouse for monsters.

  The further I moved into the trees, the stronger the magic became. It pressed against me, the magic brushing against my skin like velvet. I shivered, the feeling almost intrusive, as if it was trying to smell me, to taste me.

  How apt.

  The crime scene was blocked off with yellow police tape, ribbons that had been wrapped around trees and forgotten, flapping in the wind. I couldn’t imagine what they were still looking for if the scene had already been investigated, but the yellow tape was a great marker, telling me I was in the right place.

  Again, I wondered why the police were involved at all. When Maggie had disappeared, the police had seemed apathetic. It had something to do with the witches and the cloaks to keep the tourists in the dark, putting a damper on the humans without being able to be selective about what they could and couldn’t do.

  I ducked under the tape, ignoring the proverbial Keep Out sign that came with the yellow tape. Rules were made to be broken, right?

  The magic was even stronger the moment I ducked under the police tape, and I knew that the spot where the murder had taken place was close.

  A few steps further, and I found the dark patch of blood on the ground, the only evidence that someone had lost a life. I kneeled by the patch of blood, the darker brown patch that tainted the earth, a silent scream. I lowered my hand to the ground but didn’t touch the blood. I instinctively knew that it would be wrong, too, that it would do something to me.

  I closed my eyes and focused on the magic, on what I felt. Maybe I could feel something more than just the vampire magic. Something that would point me in a direction.

  But I couldn’t. The power was so strong I nearly choked on it, and I could feel the terror and the violence and the wrongness of killing someone like this. But I couldn’t tell that this was anything more than vampire magic.

  This was bad news. It was terrible that someone had died, of course, but I had hoped that being here at the crime scene would offer me some answers. Instead, I had found nothing but proof that the police had been right; it had definitely been a vampire attack.

  I turned around and headed back to the diner. There was nothing more for me to find here. I was disappointed that I hadn’t been able to help Chloe by coming here. A wind picked up and with that, magic blue around as if it was dust in the air. I shivered and rubbed my arms. It was clear that I was far from home, a witch a long way from her territory.

  When I emerged from the trees, I saw Victor’s car in the parking lot. I rolled my eyes. Why was he back here? Could he not just leave me alone? I was irritated by Victor’s involvement in my life. It wasn’t that I was his long-lost daughter that he was trying to connect with. He was trying to get in with his girlfriend’s daughter. Maybe he thought that my mom would like him more.

  Which was hardly possible; my mom was like a lovesick teenager around him.

  When I walked to the car, Victor opened the door and stepped out.

  “Where were you?” he demanded.

  “I went for a walk in the woods,” I said. “My friend canceled last minute.” The lie came easily.

  “I told you to call me when you need me.” He seemed angry with me, something that he wasn’t entitled to be at all.

  “And if I needed you, I would have,” I said. “You’re not my dad, Victor. I can still do what I want without answering to you.”

  Victor’s anger climbed before he took a deep breath and blew it out again. I saw him deflate in front of me, letting go of the negative emotions as if it were balloons that he released into the air.

  “I know that,” he said. “I’m just trying to look out for you. Your mother is worried.”

  “What, because I’m friends with a vampire?”

  Victor shook his head. “I’m sure it’s not that.”

  Which meant that it was exactly that. My mom had talked to Victor about Chloe. It only pissed me off more. Who I was friends with had nothing to do with the attack. Victor was sticking his nose into business that had nothing to do with him, and I felt betrayed that my mom had discussed my friendship with Chloe with Victor.

  “Come on, how about you and I head back into town and get some ice cream?”

  Victor was jovial, smiling at me. I didn’t miss that he drummed his fingers on the car door. It was a happy smile, but his comfortable attitude was a mask. Underneath, he was antsy about something.

  I narrowed my eyes. “Do you know how old I am?” He was treating me like I was a child. Pet names? Ice cream? What was next?

  “Practically a lady,” Victor said with a grin.

  I rolled my eyes. I didn’t need this. Victor was set on being friends with me, and I hated it. I wanted him to be in the background, a name my mom only mentioned and I didn’t know personally.

  “I’d rather just go home,” I said.

  “That’s fine, we can pick up takeaways on the way back. Surprise your mom, so that she doesn’t have to cook for a change.”

  I didn’t tell him that my mom always got takeaways, the whole cooking thing was brand new and probably wouldn’t last very long.

  Victor climbed into the car. I sighed and opened the door. If I turned around and walked away now, claiming I was going to take the bus, it would be a slap in the face. Victor was already here, and to reject a ride home would be a declaration that I really couldn’t stand him. No doubt that
would reach my mom.

  She was already irritated with me and how I felt about Victor.

  Victor pulled out of the parking lot and headed back home. I watched the woods as they slid by, the trees turning into a blur as Victor picked up speed.

  “So, tell me about Chloe. Have you been friends for long? She’s your best friend, right?”

  “Yeah,” I said. I didn’t really want to tell him anything else.

  “It must have been hard to move to a new place,” Victor carried on when I didn’t offer more information. “I’ve lived in Safety Beach my whole life. I don’t know what it’s like to uproot yourself and start over.”

  I looked at him. “Is it weird?”

  “What?” He asked, glancing at me before turning his attention back to the road.

  “Being a human in a town that crawls with preternatural creatures?”

  Victor pulled up his shoulders casually. “I guess when it’s all you ever known, it’s not strange. I can’t say I can relate to them, though.” He glanced at me again.

  “But you get along with them?” I asked.

  Victor pulled up his shoulders again, nonchalant, casual. The front was a good one. “If nothing goes wrong, then absolutely.”

  He was hedging now.

  “But when something goes wrong? Like, say, a vampire murder?”

  Victor took a deep breath as if he was taking the time to think about my question.

  “Let’s just say I don’t think that anyone should forget that underneath the pretty clothes and smiling faces, the people that look just like us are inherently monsters.”

  I turned my head away from Victor.

  “Good to know,” I said tightly.

  Victor was very jolly, and he wanted to be my friend. In fact, he looked like he wanted to be friends with everyone. He wanted to be well-liked.

  Well, I had news for him. He wasn’t going to be well liked by me.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The second death happened on Sunday afternoon. I was home, sitting in the living room in front of the television, working on an assignment but only paying half attention. I was more interested in the show I was watching.

  Victor and my mom were on the couch opposite me, fussing with each other as if they were new to the whole dating thing. I would have gotten up and left, but I had been here first, and I didn’t want Victor to think that I was going to sacrifice anything in my life just because he was around. I didn’t get the feeling that it bothered him and my mom either way, but I was stubborn, and I didn’t want to budge.

  My show was interrupted by a breaking news bulletin. My mom and Victor stopped paying attention to each other and turned to the screen, too.

  A vampire attack, bloodier and more vicious than before. This time, it had been a local.

  “Oh, no,” I breathed. This was bad news. The killer had obviously not been passing through. And what would Chloe make of this? She had already been so panicked.

  I hoped to God that Chloe hadn’t blacked out again, that the murder had happened while she knew exactly where she was so that she would know it wasn’t her doing something so heinous.

  “This is terrible,” Victor said. When I looked up at them, my mom was looking right at me.

  She didn’t have to say the words for me to know what she was thinking. She was unhappy about me being friends with a vampire. But I was going to fight her opinion of Chloe. My friend would never do something so awful. It was unfair of my mom to discriminate against her, to label her as a killer just because someone had made a mistake. My serial killer analogy came to mind again, but my mom hadn’t agreed with that the first time.

  My phone rang, and I stood up, walking to my room. I had expected Chloe to call.

  “Please come over,” Chloe said. She wasn’t hysterical the way she had been the first time, and I was relieved.

  I would be there for her if she needed me, but I was glad she wasn’t freaking out.

  “I’ll be there in a bit,” I said. “I just need to get permission from my mom. Victor is here.”

  “Get out no matter what,” Chloe said. That last sentence made it sound a lot more urgent than I had thought. She wasn’t hysterical, but maybe she wasn’t completely calm, either.

  “I will,” I said, determined to defy Victor and my mom if they decided to try to keep me in. The best way to get out of the house, though, would be not to tell them that I was going to Chloe’s.

  When I walked into the living room again, my mom and Victor were talking in hushed tones. They stopped talking when I walked in, making it obvious that they were talking about me.

  “I have to go to the library,” I lied. “I need to do some research for my assignment.” I nodded toward books that still lay on the other couch.

  “I’ll drive you,” Victor said.

  “Please don’t,” I said before I could stop myself. I knew it had come out rude.

  “Emily,” my mom reprimanded.

  “I just need the fresh air. I want to walk,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

  Victor forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t worry about it,” he said.

  I nodded curtly and walked back to my room to grab my things. I got out of the house okay. Somehow, I had thought my mom would find another reason to stop me. But she was with Victor, and she was easily distracted by him.

  It only took me a couple of minutes to reach Chloe’s house. When I knocked on the door, she opened.

  “I came as quickly as I could,” I said.

  Chloe looked terrible. She had dark circles underneath her eyes, and her cheeks were hollow, as if she hadn’t eaten for months. But I had seen her on Friday, and she had seemed okay. Then again, it was easy to patch those things with makeup, of which Chloe wore a ton.

  “My parents aren’t here. We have to move quickly.” She turned around, and I followed her into the house, frowning. Move quickly? Why?

  When I walked into Chloe’s room a bag was open on the bed, and Chloe had already half-filled it with clothes.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, putting two and two together and not liking the answer.

  “I’m running away,” Chloe said. “There was another murder. I killed another one.”

  I shook my head. “Chloe, it wasn’t you. You can’t keep believing it was, that’s not fair.”

  “But you don’t know that, Em. You don’t know where I go when I black out. I don’t even know that.”

  “Did you black out again?” I asked softly.

  Chloe nodded, throwing more clothes into her bag.

  “I have to get out of here. My mom wants me to see Dmitri, and I don’t know what he’s going to do to me.”

  “Maybe he just wants to talk,” I said. But I knew why Chloe wanted to get away. When I had heard Dmitri talk to her mom, I hadn’t liked what he’d implied, either. The guy was downright creepy, too.

  Chloe didn’t answer me, and I didn’t push for her to say something. She was serious about running away.

  “Where will you go?” I asked.

  “I was hoping you could help me with that,” Chloe said, turning around to face me. “I need your help, Emily. I need you to hide me. Save me from the vampires until I can figure this out.”

  “Can’t you just talk to your parents? Tell someone that you’re having a problem, ask for help?”

  Chloe frowned, angry. But her eyes welled up with tears, and I realized that what I saw wasn’t anger, it was fear.

  “But what if it was me?” She asked. “What if I really killed those people? My parents will never forgive me. And God knows what the rest of the clan will do to me.”

  I knew this was a bad idea. Chloe needed help from people who knew how to handle this. I wasn’t equipped to take care of vampire thirst. But Chloe was my best friend, and I knew that she would do the same for me if I were in a situation where I needed to get away. No matter what, Chloe would be there for me. So I would do the same for her.

  “I think I know where you can
go,” I said.

  Chloe finished packing, and we left her house before her parents returned. We climbed on the bus and rode to the other side of town where I led her down the dirt path that led to Pebble Beach.

  The weather was changing. The sky became overcast, and the breeze picked up, rustling the dry grass that grew on the dunes and blowing the sand across the beach.

  I took Chloe to the abandoned house that sat squat at the back of the beach against the trees as if it was trying to look for cover. Once upon a time, the house had been magnificent. I could only imagine how grand the place must have been. But now it was nothing more than a shell of what it once was.

  “Are you sure no one is going to find me here?” Chloe asked when I pushed open the wooden door. The door creaked on rusted hinges.

  “Absolutely,” I said. “No one has been here in years. I spend a lot of time on this beach, and no one ever comes. I’m sure you’ll be safe.”

  It was the first time I had gone into the house, but I knew that Chloe wouldn’t be disturbed here. It was the perfect place to hide, the kind of place I would have gone to if I ran away from home, too.

  The house was entirely made of wood, wooden planks throughout the ground floor. Despite being completely abandoned, the windows were still all intact, keeping the cold wind from the sea at bay. The wood had silvered through time, and the planks creaked as we walked from room to room.

  “This place is amazing,” Chloe said. “It must have been beautiful. Can we go upstairs?”

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “This place is quite run down; I don’t know if it’s safe. But there are plenty of rooms on the ground floor.”

  I noticed the toilet in one door and pushed it open. The water at the bottom of the toilet was brown, but when I flushed it, the water ran clear.

  “I doubt you’ll have electricity, but there is running water.”

  Chloe turned to me. “Thank you for this,” she said. “You have no idea how much it means.”

  “I still think this is a bad idea,” I said.

  “I know.”

  “There is no way you killed those people, Chlo. I think it’s just a coincidence. And I think if you speak to someone, that will come out. This can’t be the answer.”