Bizarre Life of Sydney Sedrick (6 page)

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Heat flushed my body and my spine tightened into a coil. A red rage colored my vision.

The speakers vibrated against the wall of the club making him lean in close to be heard. The heat coming from his angular jaw-line spread warmth over my face, then traveled down to my breasts as if he had encircled them with his own hands.

The way my body reacted to him shocked me.

“Don’t get all stressed out. When Michael was at my house, he said he was going out tonight and invited me along with him and his girlfriend. He didn’t mention you were going to be here when we made our plans. By the way, your sister seems nice.”

I wanted to slap the sneer right off his face. He was taunting me, clearly enjoying the fact that he was pissing me off about meeting my sister.

He put out his hand as if expecting me to take it in my own. When he didn’t get the reaction he wanted, he grabbed my hand in his and started shaking it in a rough show of greeting.

“By the way, when we spoke in your store earlier, there wasn’t time to introduce myself, not that you were exactly cordial or anything. My name’s Blake.”

I screamed at him to make myself heard. “So what do you and Michael want? Why don’t you just leave us alone?”

Blake started laughing like he had just heard a really funny joke. There wasn’t anything funny about what we were talking about. It exasperated me that as he was laughing, he leaned his head back, and even his neck was sexy. His broad shoulders looked wider than at the store. The smell of his aftershave, even with all the people around wearing their various body odor masking sprays, hit me like an aphrodisiac. He was impossible to deal with!

“Wow,” he said in a low voice against my ear. “You’re all business and straight to the point, aren’t you? Why don’t we step outside by the fire? Being in here makes me feel a bit caged in.”

He had yet to release my arm from his grip. Not knowing where we were going and having to let him lead the way pulled on my last nerve. Besides the current company, the club was a pretty cool place to hang out at. It would have been even better if there weren’t two werewolves prowling around in it.

Blake led us outside onto the second floor patio. In the center was a large stone fire pit, and on the outskirts of the patio sat small tables and chairs overlooking the city street. There weren’t a lot of people outside, being that it was typical February weather for Wisconsin and quite cold. Blake moved us close to the fire pit where there were ledges to sit on, allowing us to enjoy the warmth of the fire. Not that cold seemed to bother werewolves. Out of the three I’d met so far, not one had worn a coat, despite the never-ending falling snow. Did they even own outerwear? I’d have to find out.

The doors were closed to the inside of the club, muffling the music, so we didn’t have to shout.

“Blake, what do you want with my sister?”

He smiled.

“I like your fire, Sydney. Your sister’s fine. She’s in there dancing with my cousin.” He pointed toward the door we had just walked through.

“Cousin?”

Blake resituated himself on the stone ledge. He clearly felt comfortable enough to move his leg so his knee was touching mine. I needed answers, so I didn’t argue. Thinking about why it didn’t bother me as much as it should have would have to be contemplated another time. The heat from his body infused mine, causing conflicting feelings to form deep within my body, including an ache that was starting to grow in my stomach and downward.

“Sydney, Michael is the son of my father’s brother.”

“So, your dad is the top dog? No pun intended, of course.” Having the chance to return that same snarky sneer he had given me earlier felt very satisfying.

“Ha! Your witty humor is very becoming.” He smiled, really smiled, showing the brightest teeth and warmest expression I’ve ever seen. Why was he so darn sexy? Staying mad at him was going to be difficult when he looked at me like that, and that wasn’t fair. Blake and his family were involved with seducing my sister over to the dark side to try and lure me into their trap. If they would require my willing participation was yet to be seen. If they planned on winning me over by infiltrating my family, they had another think coming.

“I’m new to all of this, like as in a few days knowing that your kind even existed, and I’m trying to get my bearings on the whole thing. You’ve got to admit whatever Michael wants with my sister looks suspicious from my point of view and it makes me wonder what it all has to do with me.”

Blake looked deep into my eyes. The flames gave his face a warm, but dangerous, look. My instincts told me no matter what ambient lighting was around, he would look just as frightening as he did now. His sex appeal made him more of a threat to my resolve to stay away from him.

“I think my cousin is just like any other young man who finds a pretty girl he wants to be with. He said he really likes her. What more is there to say?”

“Don’t give me any bull that their meeting was completely coincidental. How is it that Michael met my sister down in Chicago?”

“Michael goes to the same college as your sister. Surprised? Yes, even we heathens get higher education, Sydney.”

Clearly Blake felt spurned by something I’d said. Was it possible he had a chip on his shoulder? Was he a victim of stereotype with humans who knew what he really was?

“I didn’t mean anything by that. It’s hard to believe they met purely by accident. It’s possible Michael was planted down there to get close to members of my family. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Sydney. It’s not like that. My cousin really likes your sister. Just leave it at that.”

Blake said that a little too harshly for there not to be some truth to my thoughts. So, it very well may be true Michael was planted down in Chicago. His feelings for Brianna may be genuine now, but his original intentions may have been less than admirable.

I didn’t like Blake’s tone, and there was no reason to have to deal with anymore of this fun, weird stuff than absolutely necessary. I shot to my feet and faced him.

Blake stared up into my eyes. I refused to blink, or be drawn in by the swirls of danger lurking there. I wanted him to know that I didn’t want anything to do with his freakish life, nor did I want Brianna to have anything to do with it, so I said, “You may have lived this life for a long time, but I’m new in town, so give me a learning curve, would you? I’m leaving, and I’m taking my sister with me. You and your cousin can go hunt poor defenseless people or animals or whatever it is you people eat somewhere else.”

He stood and put his face close to mine, his body coiled with tension. He appeared close to striking me, and in that moment, his power frightened me. That wasn’t a good thing. During that small movement, his eyes changed from a deep warm brown color to the same gold-bronzed hue like earlier in the store that morning.

“For your information, we don’t hunt people. And as for hunting poor defenseless animals, we are no different than the humans who go out in the woods every year with their guns and bows and take down whatever has wings or moves on four legs. Take care of yourself, Sydney. Vampires are out there at night, and don’t fool yourself, they are out there hunting you. We found you with little trouble. They are very resourceful, and they’ll do anything to have you and your abilities at their disposal. You may not realize it now, but you’ll take a side. Hopefully for your sake, it will be the right one.”

With that, Blake turned toward the door of the club, his expression tight. Undoubtedly being accused of hunting defenseless humans had struck a nerve. So maybe they didn’t hunt and eat people? Werewolves and their habits weren’t exactly well-known facts to the general public. There was nothing to be done about his stung feelings. Getting out of the club and taking my sister with me was my only agenda for the moment. All this bizarre information was really stressful and getting up for work early in the morning was already going to be painful. A few hours of sleep would be welcomed in my book. Plus, there was a long, deep conversation involving Michael and what my sister’s plans were with him that needed to happen, whether she liked it or not.

I didn’t want to analyze what Blake had said about vampires hunting me for my abilities. Those abilities had yet to develop, and it still didn’t make a whole lot of sense why it was me that had them. Aunt Judith had a lot of explaining to do, and by all the recent appearances of the wolves, it needed to be soon. If my life was in danger, then so were hers and Brianna’s. Did my mother keep us in the Chicago suburbs for so long because of all of this? Was she hiding us in plain sight to keep us safe and naïve for as long as possible? The thought of hearing my mother’s excuses wasn’t very alluring. The injustice of the situation made me want to scream. Her keeping something of such great significance from us was borderline unforgivable. My mother had betrayed me, and we have already been disconnected for quite a while. It was about to get worse.

Brianna and Michael were still in the same general area of the club as they had been before Blake escorted me out onto the patio. They were still unaware of anyone or anything around them, only having eyes for each other. I was so wound tight inside, I felt like lashing out at everyone in the club. I unceremoniously stomped over to where they were slow dancing and grabbed Brianna’s arm. “We’re done here, it’s time to go.”

Brianna looked shocked, as if she was pulled out a trance.

She leaned close to me and said, “Sydney, why don’t you go ahead if you want to go home? You should get some rest anyway since you have to get up so early. I’m staying here with Michael, so you don’t need to wait up.” She grinned at me, trying to give me that conspiratorial look as if to tell me that she was fine, not to worry about her, and she fully intended on spending the night, the whole night, with Michael.

I didn’t have the time or the patience to be nice about it. A person could only tolerate so much stress in one day, and that included dealing with werewolves and having to be the big sister who knew what was best for Brianna without being able to tell her why that was.

“Brianna, it’s time to go. Are you going to come home with me or not?”

The hurt look on her face told me my tone was too sharp. She didn’t know what was going on, and it wasn’t her fault my life seemed to be falling apart at the seams. She couldn’t do anything about what was happening. She didn’t know about Michael and his family, or that there were vampires and werewolves in the world that were now my responsibility to worry about.

“No, Sydney, I’m staying here with Michael, okay?”

Well, no, it wasn’t okay, but my gut instinct told me Michael and Blake would make sure nothing happened to her. At least for right now. They needed me. When whatever they wanted from me got out in the open, my little sister would hear about as much as was safe to tell her. For the moment, all that was going to happen was me going home and going to bed.

Disappointment weighed heavy on my heart. Brianna clearly liked Michael a great deal, but we were sisters, and to me that meant everything. She wasn’t to be blamed for wanting to stick around and enjoy her new boyfriend in the really cool club, instead of hanging out with me. All I felt like doing was wallowing in the pitiful existence that was fast becoming my life. Now wasn’t the right time to tell her about me being the Selected.

“All right, I’m leaving. I’ll be at the store all day tomorrow, so come see me before you leave town.”

Brianna’s shoulders relaxed, expressing her relief that I wasn’t going to argue about her staying. She didn’t understand her dating Michael and staying at the club wasn’t okay with me. The truth, exactly what that was, eluded me. If there ever came a time when the truth came out about the werewolves, and if their intentions were less than honorable, they would have to deal with me not playing so nice.

I hugged my sister in front of Michael. While her back was to him we had an interchange of words without actually saying them,
If you hurt her, you will be hunted down, no matter how many of your scruffy friends you send after me
. After that, there was nothing to do but leave.

As I headed out of the club, I had the distinct feeling Blake was watching me, but I didn’t see hide nor hair of him. I knew I should have felt grateful that he stayed away, but a part of me felt at a loss. Why would I feel like that? Who would want a scruffy werewolf anyway? Sighing, I thought of the way Brianna and Michael had moved together, practically making love on the dance floor. My sister wanted to be with a werewolf, that’s who.

Back at home in the kitchen, Aunt Judith asked, “Where is Brianna?”

“Aunt Judith, she’s fine. She was at the club with Michael. She’ll be okay. I’m confused about what he wants with her, but it seems Michael might actually care for her a great deal. Can werewolves be normal, everyday members of society? Can they have normal relationships with humans without telling them their secret?”