Descendant

by S. M. Gaither

  A reasonable lie, considering our dog was an even bigger klutz than I was.

  The only problem was that he was currently outside, and he had been for the past several hours.

  Hopefully Lora didn’t know that. And hopefully, Lora would just stay in her room—the last thing I wanted was her getting mixed up in all of this in any way, shape or form.

  “You know Mom doesn’t like him sleeping in the house,” Lora called back.

  “Right, I was just going to put him outside!”

  After a moment of holding my breath and waiting—thankfully in vain—for her to come out and confront me, I slid the glass door open. I reached down and grabbed the dropped poker on my way through it.

  “You!” I said in an angry whisper, once the door was safely shut behind me.

  “Were you expecting someone else?” Kael asked, eying the poker with amusement.

  For a second I was too busy staring into his eyes to reply; maybe it was just the way the moonlight was shining off them, but they seemed to be glowing. A chill ran through me as I glared at him. I gave my head a hard shake back into focus.

  “I wasn’t expecting anyone, because it’s twelve-thirty in the morning,” I said, straining to keep my voice down.

  “I told you I’d be seeing you soon, didn’t I? And I can’t help the timing—it’s not my fault your mother mostly works night shifts.”

  “My mother…” My eyes widened. “Oh. If she knew you were here, you would be in so much trouble, you know that?” I jabbed him in the chest with the poker for emphasis.

  “Are you going to tell her I was here?” he asked as he grabbed my weapon and pushed it away.

  “I—”

  Okay, so maybe he had me there.

  “Didn’t think so,” he said dryly.

  “Whatever. Look: why are you here, anyway? And why did you follow me earlier today? And what message did you send my mom? She wouldn’t tell me, and it’s been bugging me all day.” The questions just kept pouring out, like water released from a dam. I had plenty more to fire at him too. But just then, the scream of a distant siren reminded me of one question that took priority over all the others: “Wait… you’re here? And you’re okay?”

  “What?”

  “Your car— that wreck— I thought…”

  “Oh, that. Yeah. I’m fine. Obviously.”

  “What happened?”

  He frowned, and he was quiet for a long time.

  “Well?” I finally pressured.

  He let out an aggravated sigh. “Look, it’s not really important but… remember how I told you to stay away from Sera?”

  I nodded slowly.

  He looked at me expectantly.

  “Wait—are you saying the wreck was somehow her fault?”

  “Oh, well done. I guess you can be clever when you want to be.”

  It took every ounce of personal restraint I had to ignore the quip.

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” I said impatiently. “My mom and I were at the road like a minute after it happened, and you weren’t there, and there was definitely no Sera, either.”

  “Right.” He didn’t elaborate.

  I could feel my temper flaring. “Right? Is that all you’re going to say? I mean, don’t beat around the bush or anything—it’s not like I need sleep.”

  “There are more important things than sleep at the moment,” he said.

  “For you, maybe—but I feel like crap, so sleep is kind of high on my priority list right now. So how about you just tell me what happened to Sera and then go away? Preferably forever?”

  “Why do you care what happened to her?”

  “Care is a strong word. I’m just trying to make sense of you and her.”

  He folded his arms across his chest and gazed skyward, a thoughtful look on his face. “To be fair, I guess I kind of had that wreck coming,” he said after a few moments of silence.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I did the same thing to her a few weeks ago,” he said, bringing his gaze back down to meet mine. “So apparently it’s kind of a running joke between us now—making each other wreck our cars.”

  Surely he was kidding.

  “That’s probably the worst joke I’ve ever heard,” I said.

  He shrugged.

  Oh my god, this guy was insane. Why was I still standing here talking to him? I should’ve been running inside and barricading the door shut behind me.

  “Question.” I inhaled deeply. Exhaled slowly. “Are you a serial killer of some sort?”

  “Did you just…I mean, who just blatantly asks that sort of thing in polite conversation?”

  “Just answer the question.”

  “If I was, do you think I would say yes?” He looked like he was torn between erupting into dubious laughter and turning and walking away himself.

  I narrowed my gaze.

  “I’m not a serial killer,” he sighed. “And I also don’t really have time for these dumb questions right now, so give it a rest, please.”

  I started to back away—but then his eyes fixed on mine, and suddenly I couldn’t move.

  Because I wanted to stare forever and look away at the same time. Because his eyes were supposed to be pale blue, I remembered, but in the moonlight they looked almost completely white.

  They were… mesmerizing.

  I didn’t like it one bit.

  I felt drawn to them. Powerless. And something told me I was going to listen to what he had to say whether I liked it or not, and that if I ran away from him now I would regret it forever—even if I didn’t understand why.

  So I didn’t move. Instead, I took another deep breath and said, “Okay. Fine. Let’s start over with the whole trying to make sense of all this crap thing, shall we?”

  He looked distracted all of a sudden. “We should probably wait for Vanessa before we say anything else.”

  He was really testing my patience. “When is Vanessa getting—” My words fell short as the sound of footsteps filled the night air. I gave Kael a skeptical look. “Is that her?”

  He nodded, his eyes still scanning the yard.

  “How can you tell? I don’t see anybody.”

  He turned to me, wearing a skeptical look identical to my own. “But you can hear her?”

  “Of course I can,” I said. “I’m not deaf.”

  He started to say something, but then he just nodded again instead. The footsteps were growing louder now, and he turned back to watching the distance. I followed his example, feeling even more confused by the second; those footsteps were awfully loud for the tiny person I remembered as Vanessa.

  “Where is she?” I asked. I was getting restless, and while Kael stood completely still beside me, I wandered up and down the porch, searching the yard for signs of life. The footsteps grew louder still, but now the sound of the siren I’d heard earlier was growing closer too, drowning them out.

  “There,” Kael said suddenly, causing me to jump. He nodded toward the trees. My gaze followed and, sure enough, a second later a figure emerged from the shadows and swiftly made its way across the yard.

  In the light of the three-fourths moon, Vanessa’s pale blonde hair shimmered as it fanned out behind her. Like Kael, her eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight, although not nearly as brightly. She smiled warmly at me as she approached.

  “How are you, Alex?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  “Fine,” I lied.

  The concerned look on her face told me she didn’t believe I was fine at all.

  “Is everything taken care of?” Kael asked, looking anxiously back toward the trees.

  “Yes.” Vanessa didn’t take her eyes off me as she spoke. “Will stayed behind with Eli to help him keep an eye out. But as of right now, we’re in the clear.”

  “Good,” Kael said.

  Vanessa nodded, and turned to him for the first time. “Have you…?” she trailed off purposely.

  He shook his head. “Not yet. I—we— heard you coming. So I d
ecided to wait for you.”

  Vanessa made a face. “Because you want me to do all the talking?”

  “Precisely.”

  A sudden flush of red lit up Vanessa’s otherwise pale complexion. “Okay, so first you wreck my car—”

  “Not my fault.”

  “And then you insist on coming along even though—”

  “I was bored.”

  “And then you run off and leave me in the middle of the forest—”

  “I can’t help it you’re slow.”

  “I swear Kael, sometimes you—”

  I felt a little awkward standing between them and their bickering, so I wandered over to the side of the porch and did my best to ignore them. It wasn’t hard finding something else to hold my attention, either: those sirens were close enough now that every wail caused a sharp pain to shoot through my ears. I pressed my hands against the sides of my head and turned the direction the noise was coming from.

  There were two police cars pulling into my driveway.

  “Wow. This just gets better and better,” I said, voice barely a whisper as I stared at the reflection of blue lights against the trees.

  “Why are the police here?” I heard Vanessa ask.

  I didn’t answer, even though I had a pretty good guess.

  I threw a quick glance toward my sister’s room and, sure enough, the blinds were inched up just high enough for her to peek out.

  “Well this is wonderful,” Vanessa said.

  “They’re just the police, Vanessa,” Kael replied calmly. “We can handle them.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Um— no. No. We are not handling anybody! Don’t you think our kind have had enough publicity over the past few weeks?” The pitch of her voice was getting higher, like it had when she was upset at the lake the other day.

  Kael seemed to find it amusing.

  “Relax. I was kidding,” he said calmly. But the look on his face was clearly a disappointed one.

  Two car doors slammed in succession.

  “They’re coming,” Vanessa gasped.

  “Then we’re leaving,” Kael said.

  “What about…” I felt Vanessa’s eyes on me, and for the millionth time that night I considered running back into the house and bolting the door shut behind me. But again, something kept me rooted in place. Curiosity? Insanity?

  I think it might’ve been a little of both.

  “She’s coming with us,” Kael said.

  “Um, no I’m definitely not.”

  The look he gave me was pure predator for a fraction of a second before it settled back into that usual confident smirk. Then he turned and bolted toward the woods.

  “You’re crazy if you think I’m dumb enough to—”

  Vanessa was suddenly no less than an inch from my face, cutting me off. “I’m really, really, really sorry about this, Alex.”

  “Vanessa! Hurry up!”

  “We’re coming, Kael!” Vanessa screeched. Then she bent down and swept my legs out from underneath me. “I’d let you run yourself, but I’m afraid you’re not nearly fast enough to keep up.”

  I started to argue, but then she shot off across the yard, and the wind was rushing into my face so fast that it was impossible to even open my mouth.

  6

  elias

  “Will you please put me down?” I said for about the tenth time. “I’m pretty sure we can slow down now—there’s no way they’re going to catch up to us.”

  Yes, I was still being carried along like stolen luggage.

  And no, it wasn’t for lack of trying to fight my way free.

  Several miles ago, I’d attempted to jump down and escape the two of them, and it had gone poorly, which is why I’d now decided I had nothing to lose by asking politely for my release.

  What else was I going to do?

  They were both freakishly fast and freakishly strong, and I had no idea what the hell they planned on doing with me—but I knew that escaping them wasn’t likely to happen unless I got lucky, or unless I could somehow outsmart them. And I was attempting to come up with a way to do the latter with every step we took, but a lack of sleep and that odd sickness that had been plaguing me all day was making it kind of difficult to formulate any genius plans.

  Vanessa was weirdly nice for a kidnapper, at least.

  “I’m sorry Alex,” she said, “but we just need to—”

  “Make sure,” I interrupted, finishing the sentence she’d been uttering over and over during our trek. “I know,” I groaned. “But we must’ve gone like twenty miles by now. I doubt we’re even within county limits anymore.”

  “You’re right,” Kael said as he came up beside us. “We crossed into Avery County about ten minutes ago. But we’ve gone more like thirty-five miles.”

  “How are you guys so fast?” I asked.

  “How are you so calm?” Kael replied. “You realize you’re being kidnapped, right?”

  “Kael…” Vanessa began warningly.

  “I’m just saying, she didn’t put up much of a fight. I expected more.”

  “Would you like me to punch you in the face and make up for it?” I offered sweetly.

  A muscle worked in his jaw as he looked back to the path ahead; I would almost swear he was trying to hide a smile—a real one, even.

  “I’ll hold him still while you swing if you want,” Vanessa suggested dryly.

  “But honestly…how?” he asked again, ignoring her and looking back at me with a curious gleam in his eye.

  For a moment, I couldn’t focus on his question— I was too busy being amazed by his ability to run so fast and still avoid plowing into any trees, even as he kept his gaze mostly focused on me.

  “I told you earlier that I was exhausted. I’m not calm. I’m just …sick or something. So I wasn’t thinking about fighting.”

  I don’t know why that sounded like a lie.

  I did feel sick and completely wiped out, but…

  Was that really the only reason I didn’t put up more of a fight?

  It wasn’t like me not to go down swinging, regardless of how I felt.

  So maybe there was another reason. Maybe I was just so desperate for answers at this point that I was willing to give in and let them ‘kidnap’ me so I could have a chance at finding them. And yes, that seemed like an incredibly stupid and reckless way to go about getting answers— I realized that.

  “But back to my question,” I said, attempting to redirect the conversation away from my crazy thoughts. “Why are you two so freakishly fast?”

  Kael studied me for a long moment, and I fought the urge to lower my eyes to avoid that searching glare.

  “Vanessa,” he finally said, turning away. “We’re getting close. I’ll run on ahead and make sure everything’s clear, and let them know we’re coming since they won’t all recognize the girl.”

  My eyes narrowed, but before I could protest, Kael’s figure became nothing more than a blur that quickly disappeared from sight.

  “Well he’s incredibly annoying.”

  “He’s Kael,” Vanessa said. “That’s just how he is. In fact, I’m surprised he even talked to you in the first place. Normally, he just ignores people he doesn’t know—and sometimes even the ones he does.”

  “I think I would’ve preferred that.”

  Vanessa laughed as she slowed to a jog, and then a steady walk, and then, finally, a stop. “Okay, I guess I can give in—he’s right, we are getting close. It’s probably safe to go a little slower now, if you want to walk.”

  “I desperately do,” I said, jumping down without hesitation.

  My legs, numb from the ride, shook uncertainly as I hit the ground. Vanessa waited patiently while I regained my balance, and then we continued side-by-side up the path. She seemed oblivious to my presence, a dreamy look on her face as she took in the beauty of the slightly-overgrown path we were following, occasionally stopping to inhale the scent of the honeysuckle and rhododendron lining that path.

  I kept
stealing glances at her, trying to plot my next move. Kael was long gone. I’d only have to outsmart her, now, and maybe I could sneak away somehow?

  But then I remembered the way this tiny woman had lifted that massive wolf-creature up by its throat, and the way she’d stared it down without even flinching.

  A shudder ripped through me.

  I hugged my arms against myself, and I kept walking forward.

  I grew up in the mountains, and I’d done my fair share of hiking, so keeping up with Vanessa was easy enough at first. But I wasn’t exactly well-equipped for mountain climbing at the moment; I was still wearing the t-shirt and sweats I’d fallen asleep in, and had nothing on my feet but the cheap plastic flip-flops that had been by the back door.

  “How much farther?” I called as Vanessa stopped to wait for me yet again. I attempted to scale a particularly steep rock in my path and failed miserably; I lost my footing and ended up breaking the fall with my knee. “Flip-flops are definitely not a good choice for rock-climbing.”

  “I could carry you again, if you like?”

  “I’m good, thanks,” I said with a huff. I tried again, and this time I managed to pull myself up over the steep rock and onto more level-footing.

  Vanessa pointed, and I could see where the path curved to the left a short distance ahead. “Just around the corner,” she said, “and then just a few minutes after that and we’ll be there.”

  “Right. But where is there, exactly?”

  “We’re going home. I want you to meet a good friend of mine. His name is Elias.”

  “And why are we going to see this guy?”

  “Since we couldn’t exactly hang out at your place and talk, we decided ours would be the safest place to take you. When we told Eli we were coming back, he insisted on meeting you, and talking to you—which works out well, because he can probably answer any questions you have better than Kael or I could, anyway. And he likes explaining things. He’s kind of nerdy like that.”

  After the bend, we took a sharp right down another path, which led to an area with more trees than rocks. The ground was much more level here, and so we moved quicker. Within minutes we were standing at the bottom of a steep, grassy hill.