by Laura Marie
“School is fine,” I said blankly. “Just preparing for tests and stuff like that. Nothing new.”
“You haven’t been spending a lot of time with Chloe,” Victor pointed out.
I pulled up my shoulders. “She’s been sick.”
My mom looked at me, and I knew she didn’t believe me. But she wasn’t going to argue with me in front of Victor. It was tense enough as it was. She hated that I didn’t treat him right and she knew I wouldn’t watch my mouth just because he was here.
But she was the one that had wanted to introduce him to me, to bring him into my life. Bet she regretted it now.
Yelps and cries around us drew my attention. Everyone was looking at the television screen above the coffee station in the corner. Some of them lifted their hands to their mouths, some were horror-stricken, and some looked downright angry.
When I looked at the screen, my mom and Victor turning in their seats so they could see, too, I realized what was going on.
It was another murder. Shit.
“This is terrible,” Victor said.
And it was. I wondered what was going through Chloe’s mind. At least she didn’t have access to the news where she was now that her phone had died. That was the only plus side I could see to this right now.
“I don’t want you to see that girl again,” my mom said, turning to me.
“What?” I asked, incredulous. I couldn’t believe my mom was doing this.
“You heard me,” she said.
“That’s not going to happen,” I said. “She’s my best friend.”
“Not anymore,” my mom said.
I was furious. I could feel the power inside me rise. It wasn’t magic I was familiar with, but I knew it was mine. And I had never been this angry before; it was anger that was born from unfairness.
The weather changed. Clouds grew in the sky, expanding. They blocked out the sunlight and a wind picked up, driving the humid, tropical air away. In its place, the world became dull and grim.
This had never happened before.
“Your mom is just trying to look out for you, Rabbit,” Victor said in a gentle voice.
I closed my eyes and tried to reel in my magic. If I didn’t, I would do something drastic, and it was the worst time to do it.
The atmosphere around me trembled, loaded with potential. I knew that my magic was within reach, that if I did something now, it would react sevenfold. But I had to be the bigger person.
Instead of freaking out, fighting with my mom and saying horrible things, I kept my mouth shut and smiled through the rest of the morning until it was time to go home.
The weather didn’t change. The warmth returned a little, the humidity was restored, but the clouds were still thick.
When we arrived home, Dmitri stood in front of our door.
When the sun was away, the vampires came out to play.
My mom climbed out of the car with a grown. Victor followed her. Did they know he was a vampire? After everything that had happened, I wondered if she would chase him off her property.
If she knew what he was.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“I’m here to talk to Emily, if that’s alright with you,” Dmitri said.
It was only now that the sun had withdrawn that he’d decided to venture out and see me. I wondered what he would have done otherwise. Waited until nighttime? Stolen me away?
“What’s this about?” my mom asked.
“It’s about the vampire murders, if I have to be honest,” Dmitri said. “I’m talking to all the teenagers about this.”
My mom looked like she wanted to argue, but Dmitri did something to her. I had no idea what—I couldn’t see it. But one moment she was suspicious and the next she agreed and walked into the house with Victor on her heels as if nothing was wrong.
I wasn’t fooled. I crossed my arms defensively over my chest and waited for him to speak first.
“Where is Chloe?” he asked.
I pulled up my shoulders. “I’m not allowed to hang out with her.”
It wasn’t even a lie. I was proud of myself.
Dmitri narrowed his eyes at me, and I felt his magic brushing over my body as if he was looking for something. My magic? The truth? My intentions?
“I’m worried about her, Emily. I’m sure you can understand why.”
I shook my head. “I can’t.”
Dmitri sighed and sat down on the porch in front of my house casually. If his magic didn’t have the hair on my neck trying to crawl down my spine, I would have felt comfortable with him, maybe even opened up to him.
But something about this guy gave me the creeps. It didn’t get better the more I saw of him, either.
“Aren’t you far from vampire territory?” I asked.
Dmitri laughed, and it was a warm sound.
“Sometimes we need to reach out to others if we want to make this world a better place.”
I had no idea what he was trying to say to me. He looked at his hands for a while without speaking. I was starting to wonder if we were just going to be caught in this loaded silence. I wasn’t going to sit down next to him, which I was sure he wanted me to do.
“Do you know what we started as?” Dmitri finally asked.
I just stared at him. How the hell was I supposed to answer that question?
“Monsters,” he said simply when I didn’t answer him. “We were pests, to be frank. Mosquitos that could kill you, and usually did.” He chuckled. “It’s actually funny if you think about it.”
“I don’t see the humor,” I said.
“Yes, after all the murders, I guess it’s not so entertaining. We’ve come a long way since the beginning. We’re educated now, and the way we feed has changed a lot. We can co-exist with other creatures now without drawing too much blood.” Dmitri said.
He paused as if it was for effect.
“The thing is, Emily, we still have to control our urges. We still have to do what needs to be done to curb our thirst, or there will be a bloodbath. Inherently, we’re all monsters. And I’m worried that your friend isn’t doing what she needs to pull back her animalistic urges.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what you’re saying.” But that was a lie. I knew exactly what he was saying. He was suggesting that Chloe was a monster, after all.
“I need you to talk to me if there’s something you think I should know about Chloe. You’re her friend. Sometimes that means doing something for their own good, even if it’s not something they would agree with.”
I wore my best poker face. “I can’t think of anything to tell you.”
Dmitri looked at me for a long time. I knew he was trying to do something to me. His eyes were weird, as if they were bottomless pits that coaxed me into falling into them. Except, I didn’t. Maybe it was my magic that stopped me from doing it.
“Chloe isn’t a monster,” I said after a moment. “She’s a great person, and she would never hurt anyone, let alone kill them.”
“But she’s been losing control. I know you want to look out for her, but just because you want to believe that she doesn’t have a problem doesn’t make it true, Emily.”
“Well, I guess I couldn’t say,” I said tightly. “I already told you, I’m not allowed to see her. My mom happens to agree with you.”
“Smart for a human,” he said.
I was immediately angry. Who was he to talk about my mom that way? Sure, we got stuck, but she was still my mom. I felt my power surge, a reaction to the magic that sat before me, and Dmitri laughed.
“I can’t imagine the witches like this new stunt you’re pulling,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
He shook his head, slapped his thighs and stood.
“I know you think you’re helping her by not telling me what I need to know. But if you change your mind, you know where to find me. Please, don’t let this go any further just because you’re not willing to choose sides.”
He started w
alking away from me.
“Who says I haven’t already chosen sides?” I called after him.
Dmitri looked over his shoulder at me.
“I thought you knew better than that,” he said.
I didn’t answer him. Because I did know better. Dmitri wasn’t here because I wanted to help Chloe. I didn’t believe it for one second.
At least, that was one good thing. If he came to me, he didn’t know where she was.
When I walked into the house, I heard my mom and Victor talking and laughing in the kitchen. I walked to my room and dialed Chloe’s home number.
Mrs. Gardner answered.
“You can’t trust Dmitri to fix whatever went wrong between you and Chloe,” I said.
“Emily?”
“He was here to find out where she is. Do you think she’ll want to come home if she thinks you’re going to hand her over to him?”
“Where is Chloe, Emily? Please, we just want to help her.”
I nearly buckled. They wanted to be there for her. And all she needed to do was to talk to the people who cared, the people who could help her. But telling Mrs. Gardner where Chloe was would be a bad idea.
Maybe, if she had asked before setting Dmitri on her trail, I would have trusted her with that information. But she had sent the bulldog to my house to find out where Chloe was.
And that was a new low. I had always respected Chloe’s mom, but I was starting to realize that she was all about pleasing the clan more than she was willing to be there for her daughter.
“Emily?” Mrs. Gardner said again. “Please, it’s our little girl.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, “but Chloe isn’t ready to come home yet.”
I put down the phone. Maybe it had been a bad idea to call Chloe’s home. But I was furious that they could betray their own daughter by getting Dmitri to look for her, to pull her part so that he could put her back together in a way that took away everything that made her Chloe.
I took a deep breath and told myself I had done the right thing not telling the vamps where Chloe was, even though they could help her, even though they could change everything that was going wrong.
But to tell them where she was would be to accept on some level that I believed she was capable of killing someone, even if it was when she lost control. And I wasn’t willing to believe that about her.
I would hide her until I could prove that she was innocent and she could go back to the life where she belonged.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Reece knocked on my door after supper that same night.
“Who is that?” my mom called when I opened the door.
“A friend from school,” I called over my shoulder and stepped outside, closing the door behind me.
“We have to get out there again,” Reece said. He looked worried. He was breathing hard as if he had been running, and sadness clung to his clothes like a cologne. “She’ll blame herself for this.”
He was talking about the new murder, and he was right. The moment she found out about it, she would be convinced it was her.
“She’s not the only one that will think it was her,” I said. “The Master Vampire was here today, asking me to give her up, preaching to me about what a monster she is.”
“Why do they think it’s her?” Reece asked with a frown. “How can they turn to their own clan to look for the killer?”
I pulled up my shoulders. “If you ask me, they’re using her as a cover-up. Maybe it’s someone else. Whoever it has to be is? in town, or it wouldn’t keep happening.”
“And they’re bribing the police, too, I’m sure of it,” Reece said.
I thought about how Dmitri had convinced my mom to do something without saying a word to her. It had taken nothing more than a look—the same look he had tried to give me, if I had to guess.
But my mom was human, so she had fallen for it. And I wasn’t.
“You’re right, we have to figure out what’s going on,” I said.
“I’ll be back to get you tonight,” Reece said. “Be ready at midnight.”
I nodded. We would go out and do what we had done before. We had to find something new.
When I left my room at midnight, sneaking down the passage, I heard my mom and Victor talking in her bedroom. They were still awake. I tried not to wonder if it was pillow talk. Knowing that he was in there with her crept me out enough.
If my mom came to check on me, she would know I had snuck out. But it was a risk I would have to take. I had an appointment with Reece, and I knew he would be there already.
Despite my mom being awake, I managed to get away. She was distracted by Victor. Small blessings, I guess.
Reece was in the truck, waiting for me.
“We’re going to the new place,” he said.
“It won’t be abandoned like the other one. The investigation is still open.”
“It’s the only way we’ll be able to find out what’s going on.”
He was right. Unless we went to the freshest crime scene, we couldn't find any more than we already had. It was a necessary evil.
When we arrived, the place was lit up as if it were still being investigated. Floodlights turned the patch of woods into daytime, and the yellow police tape screamed at me, a line of warning around the area.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked.
Reece nodded and started stripping, in an instant he was gone.
I turned around. I had seen enough the first time around not to need to look again. Besides, I was terrified something was going to go wrong. Instead of using my magic to clear the way for him to find something new, I used my magic to search for anyone approaching.
I wasn’t sure how I would be able to warn Reece when someone did, but I had to do something.
Reece was gone for what felt like forever. I doubted it was nearly as long as he’d been searching the other scene; he knew what he was looking for now. But I was worried we would get caught, and the entire time he was gone, I could taste my heart in my throat and hear my rasped breathing in my own ears.
When Reece returned, he stepped out of the trees, already dressed again. I jumped, my body going cold before I realized it was he.
“Scare me half to death, why don’t you?” I snapped.
“Sorry,” Reece said. He looked grim.
“And?”
He shook his head. “It’s not good, Em. Her scent was all over the place.”
“You’re sure it wasn’t someone else?”
Reece hesitated. “I don’t know. I mean, it smelled like her. I don’t know what else to say. I could be wrong.”
God, I hoped he was.
I was suddenly worried. What if it really had been Chloe? I had refused to admit to it, to say that it was possible, but what if it was? What if Chloe really had reverted to her roots and turned into a monster because she hadn’t followed the rules, the way Dmitri had said?
No. I wasn’t going to believe that. He had tried to get into my head with that little speech, and it was working. But he was wrong. I wouldn’t let him win.
“We have to get out of here,” I said to Reece.
He nodded, but he didn’t make a move to leave. Instead, he turned back to the trees he had just emerged from and took a deep breath. It was as if he were sniffing the air, looking for something that might be different this time around.
“It can’t be her, can it, Emily?” Reece asked.
His voice was like that of a child, small, defeated as if he had just realized the monsters under the bed might be real.
“It can’t be,” I said firmly. “I won’t believe it.”
But my faith was buckling and so was Reece’s. What were we going to do if it was all true?
“Hey! Stop right where you are! Hands above your head!” A man jumped out from behind the trees, a gun in his hands, and it was trained steadily on us.
Reece and I both did what he asked. Maybe I could use my magic or something, but it was too late for Reece.
“You’re trespassing. This is a crime scene,” the officer said when he realized we were just teenagers.
“Sorry, officer,” Reece said. “We’ll be on our way.”
“Oh, no you don’t,” the officer said, coming closer. “You’re coming with me.”
He produced a set of cuffs.
“You’re not using that,” I said.
“You bet I am,” the officer said. “We’re not taking any chances. Especially not with your kind.”
I frowned. “Excuse me?”
“You’re not human.”
“How do you know?” I asked.
Why was everyone acting like being different was a crime? I thought that Safety Beach was a place where everyone was accepted.
“Because he’s a wolf. I can see it in his eyes. And why would he hang around with a human?”
Okay, Reece’s eyes were still shining, and the theory was a sound one.
I sighed and let him cuff us. Reece could just break free of his, I was sure. Wolves were crazy strong, even in human form.
And maybe I could figure out a spell to get out of mine. We wouldn’t have to go to the station with this guy.
“Let’s go,” I said to Reece.
He nodded and tried to snap through the cuffs. But the cuffs stayed in place as if he were just human.
The officer laughed. “You lot always try. It’s silver, Wolf boy.”
Shit. Silver was the most cliché weakness a werewolf could have, but there it was.
I focused on my cuffs, trying to work my magic. But there was nothing. It was as if I were human, too.
The officer smiled at us. “How about we go down to the station and call your parents?”
That was going to go down well with my mom and Victor. I glanced at Reece. He didn’t look worried or scared. He looked bored. How many times had he done this?
“Did you know that would be silver?” I asked him in a low voice when the officer escorted us back to his car.
Reece nodded. “But I gotta try, right? Maybe one day I’ll get through.”
“How many times have you been arrested?”
Reece pulled up his shoulders. “Enough times that this isn’t scary anymore. My parents know the drill, too. My stepdad will shout at me some. My mom will look disappointed. I’ll just end up doing it again.”
