Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (22 page)

   “Yes.”

   She smiled wanl
y at him before turning and hurrying away.
Glancing
briefly back
she
hesitated for a moment
,
seemingly torn,
before joining her friends and slipping into the beat up Mustang. Melissa and Chris
watch
ed him for a moment more, their eyes fiercely intense
, piercing
, and slightly unnerving
.
There was something strange about those two
, something
that he could not quite put his finger on
.
B
ut
strangely enough
,
their oddness
was
vagu
ely familiar
to him
.

   H
e
studied the
car
as they pulled out of the parking lot, wracking his brain
for what it was about
Chris and Melissa
that plagued him. Deciding to put it aside for now, he
head
ed
to where he had
parked
his car.
A group of students had gathered around it,
most of them were female. He nodded and briefly returned their greetings, but barely paid them any attention as he hit the button on his remote. The car beeped
in response a
nd
the locks popped open.

  
“Devon!
Devon!”

   He turned as Marcy hurried up to him, smiling brightly as she adjusted her books in her arms. “Marcy,” he greeted tonelessly.

   She chose to ignore his lack of a warm greeting as she reached out to touch his arm lightly. He moved
away from her grasp.
“I was wondering if
you
w
ould
give me a ride home
.”

   He frowned at her, his eyes darting back toward the Mustang that was stuck in traffic at the entranceway of the school. He knew what Marcy was angling for, knew that she wanted to be seen pulling out of this parking lot with him. And though he was new to high
school, he had quickly
learned
how fast gossip and rumors spread through the small social network. He didn
’
t want those rumors starting about him. Not now that he had finally reached Cassie, not now that she was finally talking to him, and acknowledging his existence.

   “What’s the matter with your car?”

   She frowned at him, her leaf colored eyes narrowing slightly. It was apparent she had not expected any kind of hesitance on his
part. “Well I usually ride with Kara, but her car isn’t starting.”

   Devon moved even further away from her, his hand rested lightly on his door handle. He didn’t want to leave the girl stranded, but he also didn
’
t want to let her in his car. He knew his affect on women, but there were some that were drawn to him even more than others. Marcy appeared to be one of those girls
.
I
t would not end well if he let her pursuit of him continue.

   “I’m sorry Marcy, but there is something that I must do.
I’m sure one of your other friends could give you a ride.
” It was not a lie; he did need to find a place to stay. He was tired of hotel rooms and floating about. He hadn’t had any intention of
remaining
when he
first
arrived in this town
, now he had
no
intention of leaving.

   Marcy’s eyes narrowed slightly, anger sparked through them. She turned briefly, her gaze darting toward the Mustang that was now at the front of the line. “I saw you speaking with Cassie.”

   Devon stiffened, his hand slid away from
the door handle. Even if he had been
human, he never could have missed the hostility in her tone, or her gaze. “Yes.”

   She chose to ignore the warning in his tone as her gaze slid slowly back to him. “
It would probably be best if you stayed away from her.”

   “And why is that?” he grated through clenched teeth.

   Marcy shrugged as she plastered a falsely sweet smile on her face. “You could do better.”

   “Like you?”

   She blinked in surprise, than her smile widened. “Well
,
you never know,” she responded, lowering her eyelashes flirtatiously.
“If you play your cards right.”

   Devon stepped closer to her, bending down to make sure that his words were not overheard by the group surrounding them. He
knew he had to nip this in the bud now, but he did not wish to humiliate the girl. “That is never going to
happen
Marcy. I’m sorry
,
but I have no interest in you.”

   She gazed up at him, her eyes wide with surprise before they narrowed furiously. He decided that was his cue to leave, before she lost her composure
completely
. Swinging his car door open, he slipped
swiftly inside.

CHAPTER 10

  
Cassie moved slowly beside Chris,
her feet dragg
ed
along the sidewalk.
It used to be after
a night of training
that she would
fe
e
l invigorated
and pumped
. Tonight, she felt bone
weary and beaten.
Though the night off had been needed, s
he
was still
unable to
concentrate on any moves, could not throw
a
stake, or even defend the blows that Chris and Melissa had thrown at her. She
had been the
best
of the three of them
in training
and
fighting
,
but
now
she looked like a
floundering
newbie
.
S
he
was
just
grateful
it had not been a real fight
,
or
she would be dead right now
.

   Luther
was still
frustrated with her lack of concentration
,
and ability
, but his irritation
was
nothing compared to hers
.
Her entire body ached, but not from the beaten she had taken tonight. She ached for
him
. She ached to see him,
and
to touch him again. It was a physical itch that
had gone deeper than her
skin;
it
had imbedded itself
into the marrow of her bones
and
taken hold of her soul.

  
S
he would never be free of him again.

   Confusion, fear, and distress tore through her
at the thought, and the certainty that accompanied it
.
For the past four years s
he had tried to keep things as simple as possible
, but they were not simple anymore
.
She had
spent the past years
concentrat
ing
on four things
,
and four things only
. And those things had been
f
amily, school, training,
and
hunting. Those four things
were
all
that
had
gotten her through
the
years
.
Her focus upon them had not allowed her
time
to think about anything else,
they had
especially
kept her from thinking about
the future she
could never have.
She
had no
dreams
of
college, did not even
plan to
attend
,
and she had stopped daydreaming long ago of
marriage,
a family, and children.

   Now though, she could not stop thinking about
the
future she couldn
’t
have,
the future that had been
stolen
from her four years ago.
Sh
e could not stop thinking of Devon
, and
could not stop her mind from
wander
ing
and dream
ing
. She did not think of marriage and children, she would never allow her
self to dream that far.
But
today
her mind had wandered to dates, and dances, and even tomorrow. She
was actually
looking forward to
tomorrow
,
simply because
she was l
ooking forward to seeing him again.

  
Before Devon, s
he
had
never thought of tomorrow
.
S
he
had
simply lived day to day, moment to moment, for she never knew when that
moment
c
ould be her last. But he had made her forget all of that, and
it had shaken her entire world. To hope could be dangerous; she had learned that long ago. Hope only led to disappointment and hurt. She was tired of being
hurt;
it was much easier to
stay safely walled
away from the world, saf
ely protected from emotional pain
.

   But
somehow
he had
managed to tear that wall
away
. She didn’t understand how it had happened, but
she knew that she could not keep him out. That he had officially wedged himself into her existence.

  
For now anyway.

   She could not allow herself to hope to far into the future, not past tomorrow at least
,
for that was already a huge leap. It would be to
o
painful when she lost it all
.
A
nd she would
lose him,
just as she h
ad lost so many things that
mattered to her.

  
T
here were already plans for the three of them, and Luther, to leave after
graduation. Thoug
h Cape Cod received its fair share
of vampires, thanks to
t
ourist season, there were many other places that had a much higher concentration.
Areas where they were needed more.
On average
they only killed ten
vampires
a year, most in the summer
. Though
last year it had been fifteen
, and this year
they were
on track to beat that record
.

  
Luther
believed
that after graduation they would be trained well enough to go
where they were needed more
,
to
offer their help and protection
somewhere else
. Cassie didn
’
t think much about it, she
wanted to make it
to graduation,
she would
like
to graduate,
but she did not pla
n for it
.
Neither
did
she
panic at the thought of leaving the only town, and the only life she had ever
known;
for she didn
’
t know if she would
ever
live to see it happen.
She would worry about it
if
the day came, not a
minute
sooner.

   But today, for one brief moment, she had found herself hoping, and dreaming, and planning for tomorrow. Then, she had gone to trai
ning tonight and
was forced to remember
why she had kept herself so shut off
in the first place
.
S
he
was still
completely distracted and uncoordinated. If she had been in the field, she would have been killed.
And she would have put Chris and Melissa in danger
also
.