THE HOSTILE CHICK from the cafeteria strode inside with a moaning, lethargic boy, his arm thrown over her shoulders for support. He was pale, like someone blew chalk powder over his contorted face.
They left a trail of blood on the floor. I led them to the kitchen, the girl shouting for something to sit on. A roasted scent wafted in the air as they passed by. I pulled out a recliner chair from the closet so he could almost lie down. She dropped him heavily, panting.
"What's going on?" I asked, wondering if I should call an ambulance.
"I need scissors," the girl said.
I swallowed and found a pair tucked into a drawer, then handed it over. She seized the guy's shirt and cut it up from bottom to top as I watched, uneasy. When she split the jacket open, I wanted to gag. There was a hole in the boy's chest. A black, charred hole sluiced with dark blood and veins popping out like chords. The skin around it was damaged.
"I'm going to need a towel, too," she added, looking at me for the first time.
I ran to the nearest bathroom, running back to offer one to her. She balled it and pressed it onto the 'hole'. I wanted to scream for answers, but kept my mouth sewed shut. She reached over and tapped the boy's cheek.
"Stay with me, Ben. Don't close your eyes." The girl turned to me once more, lips pressed with contempt, as if wishing she didn't have to speak to me. "Take out everything in your fridge that has sugar in it. Ice cream, chocolate, fruit, you name it. Take it all out and call Luc, tell him he better get his ass down here."
Gritting my teeth, I executed her orders. Ben looked like he'd pass out any second. He moaned in pain whenever his companion changed the spot on the towel, making my stomach queasy. She tried to force some food down his throat, which I found ridiculous.
Luc showed up in ten short minutes and swooshed alongside Ben in a blur. He exchanged a brief look with the girl as she stepped back.
A second later, he started the healing mojo again. He placed his palms on the agonizing boy's shoulders and closed his eyes. The light emanated from his hands, slow and peaceful, flowing down Ben's chest, glowing underneath his skin.
The sight was beautiful to watch. It lit up my entire kitchen ceiling with a soft white hue.
I stood witness behind the counter, feeling like I was too much and that I shouldn't be here. When it was over, Ben's head flopped and he grunted uncoherent words. The gaping space had been closed, with only a sunken patch of skin to demonstrate there had been some kind of trauma.
"Devin, what happened?" Luc asked.
"We spread out," the girl explained. "I took one side and he took another to cover more ground. Then I saw lights in the distance and heard screaming, so I headed over to see what Ben was doing."
"And? How did he get like this?"
"It was an ambush," groaned Ben. "I heard shouts. I found a dead body. One of those parasites was lurking, then two, then three, then... I was cornered, and together they make one hell of a light beam—singed right through me."
I stepped forward, my breath stalling. "You found a body?"
All three heads turned in sync as if I had no right to talk.
Devin's upper lip curled. "How about you let us get to that point, little—"
"Hey," Luc urged. "Ben's hurt, there's a body out there, and all you can think of is to start a fight? Priorities."
I nearly gaped, thinking that had to be the most considerate thing that came out of his mouth since I met him.
Devin clucked her tongue. "It's obvious that they're getting impatient. They're making other victims if little miss princess over here is under security lock-down."
"Glad you got that out of the way fast enough."
She flipped him off and reached for an apple, biting into it. "I wonder who's going to go down next just to keep watch over your human."
"Could you guys not talk about me like I'm not here?" I waved my hands above my head, trying to ignore the ugly feeling in my gut after being called referred to as a pet. Or being told that this was my fault. "Because I am."
Ben lifted his neck. "Pass the chocolate?"
Luc grabbed a Kit Kat and opened it for him. For some time, we only heard him breaking the candy bar and munching. I was astonished to see his cheeks transform into a healthier shade.
Devin stalked across the kitchen and practically threw at my face the blood-drenched towel. I barely caught it, had I not raised my arms quickly enough. That was the breaking point.
I shot her a dirty look, something awful crawling up in me. "Gee, how nice of you."
I didn't wait for her reaction, instead I got up and rushed into the bathroom, soaking the towel in cold sink water. I needed to get away from them—from all of it—before I'd lose it. When I got to rinsing, and there was a light knock on the door.
"Come in."
Luc cracked the door open and closed it back, eyeing the sink filled with icy, dark water. "You all right?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Somehow all I could think of was to come back to the kitchen and throttle Devin. I didn't understand this sudden... violence.
He clearly didn't believe me.
"Don't mind her. She pisses people off for a living."
"That's why you get along."
I twisted and rubbed the towel. It helped blow off a bit of the steam. My hands were tinted in darkness, bringing unpleasant flashbacks.
"Sunshine... Whatever it is, you can talk it out. I want to know what's on your mind."
"And tell what?" A telltale sting broke my voice.
Not now, not in front of him, please...
"Ben is injured because of me." And once the cap popped off, there was no putting it back on. "I can't do one move without being a target of gossip or followed everywhere. I can't go out. I can't sleep. These monsters want to kill me so bad they're circling my house. And now there's this body in the forest? How much money could we bet that whoever that was would not be dead if it weren't for me? Do you still want me to go on? Because I can if you don't see my point."
Luc took in every word in complete silence. The image of Ben's chest resurfaced, and guilt sprang at me full force. I hadn't had the time to process it until now. Devin, as much as I hated her already, was probably right.
"It's not fair," I whispered, clutching the sink. "It's just not fair to do all this to keep me from ending up like that person who died tonight. Why do I get to live and not someone else? And now Ben is going to live with this mark on his chest for protecting a stranger?"
"Ben will heal. This—it doesn't help to think like that."
Well, too fricking late.
My elbows turned numb from all the squeezing and the cold. "I want this over before more people get hurt. We... We have to call the police and report the body for the family..."
Luc shook his head, jaw tight. "They won't be able to figure out a thing. When a Wanderer is done feeding off of someone, their victim is unidentifiable. Trust me, it looks bad. And they won't be able to determine the cause of death, either."
I tried hard not to imagine stuff. "Then what happens?"
He retrieved my hands from the water, his skin burning in comparison with mine. Warmth broke out, swathing my fingers and knuckles.
"Their family eventually reports them as missing, and their face ends up on the news. That's how we know who had been attacked. Otherwise, we can't tell."
That sounded horrendous.
"I'm so tired of all this," I said. "I don't want to stay this way."
He tilted his head, bemused. "Like what?"
I shrugged, looking away. "I don't know... It's like a switch inside that turns on and I can't turn off. I'm not... usually so angry..."
I hadn't been this impulsive before moving here. I stopped talking, having said too much already. Luc stared at me, entirely still, as the faucet continued to eject water into the sink.
"I'm not making any damn sense."
"It's a normal, mentally-sound response to be upset over what's going on, if you ask me," he said.
A part of me couldn't believe the act, but I feared that if I pointed it out he'd switch back to asshole mode. It reminded me of the Luc that made me spend the night at his place to make sure I'd be fine. The Luc that would stay up to talk in front of the fireplace.
"Why are you all doing this for me? What about that person in the woods?"
He leaned against the sink counter and turned off the faucet, sighing. Beyond the bathroom door, I heard Devin and Ben chatting lowly.
"We can't tell who's going to be next. We don't know who gets lured or winds up in a wrong spot. I was out patrolling when I heard that Wanderer chasing after you the first night. Most people aren't that lucky. But since you escaped alive and I knew it was going to hunt you, I thought... just maybe I could prevent one dead body."
I didn't like how that made me feel in the moment, but right then I saw him differently. Up until now, I imagined he might be doing this because of the Wanderers and they were sticking to me. There was so much to complain about him. A whole list. But beneath it, there was something else I was scratching the surface of.
A nerve-wracking laugh bubbled out of my throat, and I wiped under my lashes. "Didn't think it'd be that hard, huh?"
He merely smiled, but it wasn't cheery. "Wanderers are persistent, but not stubborn to the extreme. Stupid or not, they would have let go by now. It's not worth the trouble."
"Then why...?"
"I don't know. There's something about you that drives them crazy."
His thumbs began tracing slow circles over the back of my remaining hand, as though to soothe me. In a far corner of my mind, the gesture seemed misplaced and odd coming from him,
I lifted my gaze, about to say something, and nearly butted head with his.
His mesmerizing eyes dipped to the lower part of my face and hung there. He'd stared sometimes, but never like this.
"Uh. Staring," I mumbled and almost slapped myself. Words. Sentences. Full, clear sentences. I needed to use those asap. "You stare a lot."
A wide curl of his lips churned the tiny amber dots near his pupils. I didn't understand what in the world was so hilarious. "I'm thinking..."
"About what?"
Gingerly, he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his brows furrowing. That did bad things to my knees. I was too stricken to think of moving away.
Luc had that effect—the unnerving power to stop someone in their tracks. When he entered a classroom with that casual-alert stride, he just soaked up the space. I always knew which corner he stood in; hall, room or cafeteria, even without looking. Hallway kids never missed a chance to watch him pass by.
Seeing him appear was being drawn into quicksand and getting mired.
"I can't figure you out," he murmured.
How ironic. Maybe it was the mystery of his real nature, but I've never met anyone more fascinating than him. Bad temper or not. "I don't see why."
"Of course, you don't..." And he leaned forward, mingling our breaths together, pushing past the proximity barrier further than ever before.
A subtle, pleasant smell reached my nostrils. It was fresh, like a whiff of piny air with a tinge of aftershave. Unable to look away, I stared directly at his lips, the way they curved up. How would those feel on mine?
When he slipped his fingers under my jaw, I knew I was going to find out. I let him guide me, until I noticed a change. The lack of conversation coming from the kitchen.
The front door clicked. Someone unlocked it and entered. Luc pulled back, hearing the same thing I did. My eyes widened.
"Crap. My dad's home."
No. Oh, no.
✩