Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (41 page)

   “Drive,” he ordered in a gruff voice.

   Luther jolted slightly, shifted the car into drive
,
and slammed on the gas. Cassie was thrown
a
gainst the seat, but she did not lose her grip on Chris’s
quivering
hand.
Luther peeled
down the
road
, kicking up a spray of dirt and rocks that rattled off the undercarriage of the car. They fishtailed, the back wheels los
t
traction as the car spun sideways. Cassie had a brief glimpse of headstones only inches from the car before
the wheels finally
caught on the road once more.

   Luther sped down the loosely graveled road at speeds far beyond what was safe, but nowhere near fast enough
for Cass
ie
.
H
e barely hesitat
ed
before
he
shot onto the main road. Chris shuddered again, but his eyes seemed to clear slightly, and his face had regained some color.

   “Are you ok?” she asked sharply.

  
He nodded, inhaling shakily as he nodded again.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine.”

   He sounded as if he were trying to
re
assure himself as much as her. “What happened?”

   Another tremor wracked through him, his hand convuls
ed
upon hers. “I caught a glimpse of it. It let me inside for a moment, I think
,
on purpose. I wasn’t trying to probe it when suddenly I
found myself sucked in. The maliciousness
…”

   He broke
off,
his gaze fl
ew
towar
d the window. “It was just awful
. Whatever that thing is, it
’
s
enjoying toying with us, playing with us, batting us around until it
’
s ready to pounce. It takes joy in the hunt, and it is hunting us, stalking us.
” He shuddered again, his whole body heav
ed
with the convulsions that wracked him. “We can’t abandon anyone,” he whispered.

   “And we’re not going to,” Cassie assured him, trying to ignore the pain his clenching hand caused her.

   “It’s playing with us for
now, but when it’s ready, it
is
going to kill us. Before then though, it’s going to wreak a lot of havoc on this town.” He turned slowly toward her, his eyes oddly bright in the dim interior of the car
. “It
is
going to destroy us.”

   Though Cassie could not get words past the lump
of terror
in her throat
,
she knew that Chris was right.

CHAPTER 18
 

   “Looks like you have company.”

   Cassie’s mouth
parted
slightly a
t the sight of
the
sleek
Cha
llen
ger sitting in her driveway
.
At the vast amount of relief that filled her, she realized she
had
truly feared she would not see
Devon
tonight
, or
ever again
. But
t
here he was
,
sitting at her house, doing God only knew what with her grandma. “I’ll be,” she murmured.

   Chris managed to give her a shaky
smile
, but it was nowhere near the normal, self assured, cocky grin
that she loved. Nor was there the familiar, jovial light in his
usually
merry eyes.
She
was truly frightened that she may never see either again. His eyes looked older, more worn and tired than she had ever seen them. His
confident
aura seemed to have vanished, replaced by one that seemed beaten. She didn
’
t want this Chris to stay, but she was terrified that
this was who he was going to be from now on
.
H
e seemed to have aged twenty years in the past hour.

  
For the first time
Cassie was truly grateful that she
had not received
any of the “gifts” that had been bestowed upon Chris and Melissa. It had to be draining and
painful
to know far more about the world than one desired to.
What Chris had seen tonight, what he had been drawn into
,
had wounded him badly. It was impossible to know just how deep those wounds went.

   “Chris…”

   “I had better get going,” he interrupted, turning away from her as he shut off the car.

   “Are you going to come over tonight?”
she asked worriedly, despairing over his abrupt dismissal of her.

   He sat silently for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I had better stay with
my
mom
.
S
he may need my protection.”

   Cassie glanced at
his
house
.
A
ll the lights were on, music
and loud laughter
poured from the open windows. There were five cars in the drive that Cassie did not recognize.
A party
was
in full swing
.
T
hese were the nights that Chris
always fled from.

   “Did you tell her what was going on?”

  
He shrugged absently, his hand already rest
ed
on the door handle.
“Yes, but you know her, if she can drink it away
tha
n
it doesn’t exist.”

   “Chris…”

   “Go on Cassie, I’ll be fine. You have company.”

   “After he leaves…”

   He turned back to her, the haunted look in his eyes robbing her o
f her breath. “I’ll be ok
.”

   Before she could
say anything more, he flung the
door open and climbed swiftly from the car. Cassie was to
o
stunned to move for a moment. Then
,
she
threw
her door open and joined him in the brisk fall
night
. She desperately needed the refreshing air as she greedily inhaled gulps of it
.
She could not rid herself
of the
worry
that she was losing
Chris
.
She
feared that she had already lost the innocent, relatively carefree man he had always been.
The best friend she had always known and relied on. She needed to reach him before he retreated far
ther
into himself.

   “Chris…”

  
“I’ll see you in the morning.”

   He didn’t look at her as he shoved his hands in his pockets and hurried forward. She watched him disappear into the house, her heart
breaking for
him
. Whether any of them wanted it, or not,
they had been forced to grow up
even more rapidly to
night
, and Chris had received the blunt force of it.

   Cassie closed
t
he car door, tears slid
silently down her face as she made her way slowly back to her house. She paused at the door, wiping away her tears as she valiantly
tried
to regain control of herself. It took her a few minutes, but eventually the tears dried up
and she felt stable enough to enter
. Taking a deep breath she shoved the door open,
and
stepp
ed
into the bright
,
airy kitchen.
The warm aura of the
room
seemed out of place with the dark cloud surrounding her.

   Her grandmother was nowhere to be seen
.
T
he wonderful scent of roasted chicken and banana bread filled the air. Cassie
’s
stomach rumbled eagerly in response
.
B
ut she
was far mor
e ravenous to see
him
then she was for
food.
M
ov
ing
swiftly through the kitchen,
she eagerly
follow
ed
the drifting voices coming from the dining room.

   Stepping through the threshold, she blinked in surprise to find her grandmother and Devon sitting at the oak table. A plate of banana bread and a deck of cards s
a
t between them.
Her grandmother glanced
up,
a bright smile lit her pretty face
as her eyes gleamed with amusement
.

   “Cassandra, you’re home!” The vast relief in her voice caused Cassie a twinge of guilt
. “Your friend stopped by.”

 
Cassie braced herself before turning her full attention
to
Devon. Her heart knocked
against
her ribs
and
her breath froze
as his emerald eyes
seared
into her. He was sitting casually in the chair
;
his cards
were
held loosely in his
long fingered
hand
, his long legs stretched before him
. Though his posture was one of relaxation she could fe
el the tension vibrating
through
him
.
There was
a hum of power
in him
that was out of place with a
normal
human, but she couldn
’
t resist
it
.

   “Cassie.” She loved the sound of his voice, the melodic flow of it
. It did not wipe away the awful events of the night, but it helped to soothe some of the
raw
hurt
, guilt, and fear
that had taken up residence in her soul.

   “I told you she’d be home before ten, that’s when the library closes.” Her grandma threw a card onto the table, reaching forward
she
move
d
some pegs on the cribbage board. “Your dinner is still warming in the oven dear, why don’t you grab it while I finish beating your friend in cribbage.”

   Cassie’s eyes flew back to Devon, widening in surprise. He was playing her grandma in cribbage? She stared at him in disbelief as he grinned back at her. “She thinks she’s going to beat me, but she’s wrong.”

   “
Oh, but I will
.”

   Cassie shook her head, turning
slowly
away. The whole night had been surreal, but this part of it seemed absolutely ludicrous. The object of her obsession, solace, and turmoil was sitting at her dining room table playing cribbage with her
grandmother
for crying out loud! She wondered if she had
somehow
managed to fall asleep
in the cemetery, she felt that would make more sense than this.

   Though she was no longer hungry, she robotically gathered the warm plate of
chicken from the oven. The extra plate still sitting there, waiting for Chris, caused a tug at her heart. Her gaze darted to the window, but nothing had changed across the street.
Turning
stiffly
away, she
gather
ed
silverware and napkins. She was reaching for a glass when she felt him against her
.
She started slightly, for he had been as silent as a ghost, but the feel of him was instantly soothing to her raw nerves.
H
is chest
pressed
lightly a
gainst her shoulder, his hand reach
ed
slowly
around
her
to grab two glasses from the cabinet.

   Cassie
instinctively
melted against him, needing the strength of his body to wash away the ragged wounds of the night.
S
eem
ing
to sense her
fierce
need
,
h
e brushed he
r hair gently back;
his long fingers caress
ed
her neck as he kissed her
temple
gently. “How did studying go?”