Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (4 page)

   “What else is new?” Cassie inquired
lightly
.

   His handsome face lit u
p
as he
thr
e
w his arm
s
casually around
both
t
he
i
r shoulder
s
. “B
’s
and S’s,
” he suggested.

   “Ugh you’re going to b
ecome a giant puddle of grease i
f you keep eating at that place,” Melissa groaned.

   Chris shrugged
as they began to make their way through the darkened cemetery. “
What can I say? I love my grease
.”
He smiled brightly, pulling them tighter against his side
. “I’m a growing boy.”

   “You’re arteries are growing closed!”
Melissa retorted.

   Chris rolled his eyes
and
lean
ed
closer to Cassie.
“Please rescue me from the vegetarian
Nazi.”

   Cassie chuckled softly
and
sh
oo
k
her head
at him. “You’re on your own
with
this one.
”
 

 
 
Cassie tried to keep her gaze focused straight ahead, but d
espite her best intentions not to
,
she
glanced
back to
the
edge of the dark cemetery
,
and the thick woods
. Though it was quiet now, it was from there that the two vampires had
emerged
tonight
.
She didn’t know why, but for some reason vampires were attracted to the cemetery. She thought it might be because they had never had a proper burial of their own, but she had no way to know what the monsters thought
,
or why they acted like they did.

  
She spent far to
o
many of her nights with Chris and Melissa, stalking out the cemetery and waiting to see what might pop out of the woods. She also spent far too many nights hanging out around restaurants
,
and busy places
,
trying to keep people safe from the monsters
that
lurk
ed
in the night. By reading the papers and keeping an eye on the news
,
they were usually able to discern when a vampire was hunting in the area.

   When reports of
strange disappearances
,
or wild animal attacks
started to surface
,
the
y
all knew they were going to be in for long nights
,
and long weeks
,
until
the
things causing the disappearances
and deaths
w
ere
caught and destroyed. “Wild animal” was often the
term used to describe anything that the authorities couldn
’
t fully explain, or understand
, in the area
.
To the
three of them
,
i
t usually meant vampire
,
as there were few dangerous wild animals on Cape Cod.
Cassie didn’t know what the authorities told themselves
in order to
go to sleep
after these attacks
,
and their poor explanation about the deaths.
Nor did she particularly care.

S
he sometimes envied them their blissful, deep rooted denial
though
.
S
he could never experience it
again
.
When
s
he read about the “wild animal” attacks
, there was no peaceful denial
for her to
sl
ip into
.
There was only hunting, stalking, skulking, and death.

  
A momentary flash of guilt shot through her, shaking her slightly with its ferocity. She
was
not the one that
had
killed the
se monsters
first
, she remind
ed
herself forcefully. That had been
some
other
monster
, not
her
.
The lives
of the vampires they hunted
had been
forfeit
long
before the three of them
ever
c
a
me along. If the
men
they had killed
tonight
had not been stopped
, they would have caused
even
more death and destruction.
More innocent live
s would have been lost; they
had
done the right thing here. Though she kept telling herself this, it did not ease the knot of guilt that
encircled her.
 

   Cassie’s gaze darted over the darke
n
ed
headstones.
T
he night was
quiet
,
but
she couldn’t help the chill that crept down her spine. She spent half of
her nights in
this
cemete
ry
,
but she
never
g
o
t used to the coldness that envelope
d
it
, the
pain
that suffused
it
.
L
oss
and anguish
permeated the air
,
linger
ing
remnants
from the living
that had been
left behind to mourn their
lost
loved ones.

   Making their way slowly out of the wrought iron gate, Cassie allowed
them
to l
ead
her down the quiet street toward the center of town. The sidewalk was
dark
;
streetlights
ha
d not
been placed this far away from
the center of
town. Cassie glanced toward the woods surr
ounding them, her eyes narrowed
as she studied the darkened recesses. An owl hooted, fluttering from the branches of an oak to a maple
.
T
he leaves of the trees
were
a bright green against the dark night.
Nothing else stirred, not even a mouse emerged. It seemed
that even
the
animals
sensed the
gloom in the air
and did not want to come out
.

  
R
each
ing
the end of the road,
they
ma
de
a right
toward the large
rotary
mark
ing
the center
of town. From the giant
rotary
five roads branched off
,
leading toward back streets
and
residential homes
.
B
ut the first fifty to a hundred feet of each
road
w
as
packed with stores, restaurants, and bars.

 
T
hey
finally
r
each
ed
the s
treetlights
that
lit the sidewalks and roads
. A few cars were driving around the rotary, their headlights bounc
ed
across the pavement, music filter
ed
from
their
open windows.
People wander
ed
the streets,
enjoying the
places still open at this time of night
.

   Though it was almost nine
,
there was still a large crowd gathered around B’s and S’s. The front of the burger place was
bright
against the dark night.
A
n old wooden
sign
hung from the side of the building
,
the name
Burger’s and Shake’s
was
spelled out in bright red lettering
.
Burger’
s and Shake’s
wasn’t a very original name,
but
it was
the
two things the
restaurant
did best
. It was also
the two things that most people stuck t
o
,
as the rest of the menu
was a
little iffy at times. That
was
the main reason
why
B’s and S’s
had been designated
the
teen h
ang out for the past twenty
years
,
as
people
over the age of twenty one
rarely
ate there again.

   “What do you guys want?” Chris asked,
removing
his arm
s
from
their
shoulder
s
.

   “S
trawberry shake and fries,” Cassie
answered.

   “Garden salad, but make sure that it is freshly washed
,
and no
dressing,
”
Melissa told him.

   Chris
and Cassie rolled their eyes. Chris
was still shaking his head as he wound his way
s
wiftly through the crowd
gathered around the outdoor picnic tables. It wouldn’t be long before
the tables w
ere
taken in
,
and the outdoor area w
as c
losed for the winter. Until then
,
everyone was enjoying the last bit of good weather that September had to offer.

   Cassie and Melissa made their way to one of the few empty tables
in the back
. Eager gree
tings followed their every step as people turned toward them.
They returned them politely, but neither of them stopped to
talk
.
Cassie barely got her butt on the seat before Marcy
Hodgins
, the class president
,
was standing beside her.

   “Hey Cassie, I was wondering if you had started planning for the homecoming dance.”
   Cassie fought the urge to groan and roll her eyes.
She had been head of the dance committee
s
ince freshman year, but every year it became harder and harder to find the time to dedicate to planning the dances. And this year she simply didn
’
t feel like doing it
at
all. She had not planned on running for the dance committee again, but earlier this year she had been automatically voted in.

  
“Homecoming isn
’
t for another two months Marcy,
”
she gently reminded the girl.

   Marcy fidgeted slightly, her hands clasp
ed
and unclasp
ed
before her as Cassie’s answer obviously ir
k
ed her.
“Yes, but it will need a theme, decorations
, fliers.”

   Cassie sighed heavily. “Maybe you should just find someone else this year…”

   “But you’re the best!” Marcy
interrupted loudly. “You did
a great
job last year
,
and now that we’re seniors don’t you think we deserve the best memories possible!”

   Cassie shot Melissa
,
a just shoot me now
,
look
.
Melissa
smiled brightly
,
annoyingly
,
in return. “Of course I do Marcy, but I
’
m really busy this year…”