Blood Debt (Touched Series Book 1) (25 page)

“You aren’t funny!”

“Oh, come on, I’m hysterical.  You should see yourself right now
.  I
t looks like that little vein on the side of your head is getting ready to
rupture
.”

“Don’t kid about stuff like that.  You can’t date
h
umans.”

“Brent, I’m an adult.
  I can date anyone I want.  I just can’t commit to anyone until Gage Richardson finds someone
else to marry
him.”

“Isn’t the whole purpose of dating to find a husband?”

“Uh, no.  Dating is about going out and having fun with someone
who
likes doing the same things you do.  Once you get to the point that you can’t live without that person – that’s when marriage discussions begin.”

“You don’t have to date.  You’ve got me.  We
like
doing the same things
,
and you don’t have to worry about me having romantic feelings for you.”

“That’s not dating, that’s hanging out with my brother
, and no offense
,
but if that’s what I have to look forward to for the next five years
,
I need to find a fast moving car and a tree
.
  Liking someone in a romantic way isn’t a bad thing.
”

“It is when you can’t act on
i
t.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to do it the normal way?  Find a girl you like, regardless of who her grandparents were?  Go out and have fun.”

“I can’t.”

“You won’t.  Do you see her, over there, in the green
c
apris?” There was a gorgeous brunette
who
was sitting at a table, reading a book and sipping on an
I
cee, off by herself, oblivious to the action all around her.  “Go talk to her.  She won’t bite you
.  Y
ou might even find that she’s fun to hang out with.”

“Have you heard anything I’ve said?”

“Yeah, and I think it’s a crock of crap.  Love can’t be dictated or treated like a business deal.  It’s in your heart
.  I
f you don’t follow your heart
,
how are you ever going to be happy?”

“I’d be so happy to know that I was responsible for our
blood line
coming to an end.”

“Bruce already took one for the team.  You four are free to do whatever you want.”

“You’re right, and I want to do things the traditional way.”

“Okay, but don’t look down your nose at me for not buying into the whole
blood line
thing.”

Brent wasn’t as angry as he had been
,
but I guessed he knew he wasn’t going to win this argument
,
so he stopped trying.  As we were walking toward the gate, the girl in the green
c
apris
looked up from her book and smiled at Brent
;
he lost his stride and nearly tripped.  I jabbed him in the rib with my elbow and offered to get her number for him.

His only response to me was a glare
.  H
ad it come from anyone else,
it
would have shrunk me two inches on the spot.
 

Brent didn’t want to go anywhere else.  We got in
to
the car
;
he turned up the stereo and headed straight back to the house.  I tried to read his mind, not certain that I wanted to know what he was thinking
,
but I kept coming up empty.  I got the feeling that he was going to say something important, but we were in the driveway
,
and he still hadn’t said a word.  I wondered if I touched him, like I did Drake, maybe I could
read his mind, too
. 
I lost my nerve – I wasn’t sure what he’d think of me purposely trying to read his mind
.  T
omorrow I’d have to ask Gretchen about etiquette when it came to listening to other’s thoughts
. 

As he shut off the car
,
I broke the silence, “I asked Gretchen about the Lost Herd today.”

“You what?!”

“You didn’t tell me I wasn’t supposed to.”

Brent let out a heavy sigh,
“What’d she say?”

“She told me I wasn’t supposed to ask and some stuff about a Centaur named Rupert that killed his own kids.”

“Rupert?  She said his name was Rupert?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I need to show you something.”

Chapter
20

We were standing in Brent’s room. 
His was masculine, no flowers
or
vases on any of the surfaces
,
but one thing
caught
my attention.  He, too, had a fireplace in his room
,
and above the mantle hung an identical print to the one in my room
:
t
he same white mare
set
on rolling hills.  It felt like it was significant
,
but this wasn’t what he’d brought me in to see.
  A large
tapestry
hung on the wall with a family tree embroidered on it
.  T
he trunk of the tree showed two names, Rupert and
Genève,
with
hundreds of
branches.  I noticed one
near the top left
bore William and Gretchen Strayer’s names and each of their sons branched out from them. 

“That could just be a coincidence.”

“Oh yeah?  Mom hides it every time we have guests at the house.  It’s like she
doesn’t want anyone to see it
or something.
Here look at this.
”
  Brent rolled the tapestry up
.  W
hen it was rolled to the top
,
little ties hung down to secure it in place.  It looked like an enormous scroll
,
and a print of a dog asleep
hung on the wall
underneath
the tapestry
.

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

“The
L
ost
H
erd didn’t become human the way all the other Centaurs did.”

“Are you nuts?”

“What’
s so nuts about it?
  It explains a lot.”

“Gretchen told me Centaurs were never really part horse.  They were just super fast
,
so people drew our ancestors as part horse.”

“You believed her?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I already told you.”

“Because I was born?  Did it ever occur to you that maybe most Centaur men don’t have affairs?  The ones that do are probably smart enough to wear condoms.”

We both heard footsteps outside his door and froze.  It didn’t seem like we were doing anything covert
,
but Brent got nervous and motioned for us to
stay silent.  We heard the footsteps walking
further
down the hall
,
and Brent
pointed to the door, covertly trying to sneak out of his own room.  He, more so than any other person I’d ever met, needed to find a girl – he was a borderline freak.

Monday night was a night with the whole family
,
even Bruce and Hannah.  I was surprised to see Brent pull out board games
,
and everyone decided on C
ra
nium.  I’d never played
,
but it was fun
,
and we played three
rounds
before I started to see yawns around the table.

I’d left my phone out in Brent’s car and went out to retrieve it.  As I locked the door
to the car
, Hannah surprised me by
clearing her throat; she’d been
just a few feet away.  “Oh, geeze, I didn’t realize you were right there.  How’s married life treating you?”

“Good so far, two days down
,
another fifty or so years to go.”  When she smiled she had this way about her, like she carried a few rays of sunshine with her just in case she needed them.

“So where are you and Bruce living?”

“A house just a few miles down the road.  You should stop by and visit tomorrow.”

“Uh, okay.  Sounds good.”

“Camille, it’s none of my business, but – I . . .
you know. . .
never mind.”

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m not sure.  I keep getting strange visions about you.  Be careful, okay?”

“Strange visions, like what?”

“They’re different every time I try to see your future.”

“Ha, that’s the same thing Gretchen told me.  I’ve always been a free spirit
. 
Gretchen says it’s like the heavens forgot to write my destiny.”

Hannah gave me a nervous smile, “Yeah, I can’t describe it.  Maybe it’s because this life is so new to you or something.  I woke up this morning and had a vision of you in a garden crying.  I’d never seen the garden before
.  I
t looked a little like the one at Middleton
P
lantation, but it wasn’t one I’d ever been to before.
”

“Why was I crying?”

She chewed her lower lip as if deciding whether she could tell me.  “I’m not sure
.  I
t seemed like someone important had died or something.  Like I said
,
it was
just a
quick
flash
.  Once I see a vision
,
I can usually recall it and try to make it more vivid, but . . . when I did that with this one
,
it changed.  I can’t describe it
,
but I feel like something bad might happen to you.  Just be careful
,
okay?”

“Thanks
,
Hannah.  Do you know who died?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know.  There was this big guy standing there watching you.  It was just weird.”

Goosebumps formed on my arm
. 
I felt
tingles all over
and wanted to press her for more information
.
  Some of the
C
entaur nonsense seemed like a bunch of old traditions just for the sake of having traditions, but Hannah’s warning gave me pause.  I wondered
who it could have been
who
died.  If it had been someone in my family
,
she’d be warning them, not me, right?

As I reached for the front door
,
my phone rang.   It was Daniel.
  Hannah waved and went back to the house without me as I answered the phone,
“Hi, Daniel.”

“
Hey, Hot Lips. 
You didn’t call me for a ride from the airport.  Everything must have turned out okay.”

Brent stepped out on the porch where I was talking to Daniel. 
“I didn’t talk to her today.”

“Uh huh. 
Bad news doesn’t get better with age
.  S
top avoiding her.
”

“I’m not avoiding her.”
  Brent gave me a strange look.  I wished there was an international hand signal for GO BACK IN
TO
THE HOUSE!

“Lying to both of us isn’t the best choice either.”

“I’m not lying to her
. 
I haven’t talked to her!”

“
Did you try calling her?”

“I haven’t had a minute to myself all day.  I will.”

“
Call her now
, Cami
.”

“This isn’t something I can say over the phone.”

“Why not?  You told me over the phone.”

I lowered my voice,
“It wasn’t your fiancé.”  I saw Brent listening to my half of the conversation.  It wouldn’t take long for him to piece it together.  “Look, I gotta go.  I
’ll
call you tomorrow
, okay?
”

“Don’t chicken out, Cami.”  I hung up
before he could get anything else out
.  Great, if Brent puts this together, I’ll never hear the end of it.  I
put my head down and walked straight through the door, up the stairs
,
and to my room
,
so I could avoid Brent.  As I lay the
re
looking at the ceiling,
I
thought about what Hannah
had
said
.  T
he more I thought about it
,
the less plausible it became.  I didn’t know anyone with a big garden.  Even if I did
,
the only person I ever thought I couldn’t live without was already dead.  Maybe that was it.  Maybe it would be like Brent told me and someone would send my mother’s spirit away.  Losing her for good after I was so close to having her again would
destroy me
.