Masquerade (54 page)

“
What’s that?” Sam asked,
his eyes still twinkling with mischief.

I began putting the spilled items back
into the box. “Just some stuff for your new place.”

“
Heven,” he said
exasperated. “That’s a huge box.”

“
I didn’t buy all of it.
Gran let me go through the stuff in the attic and take a few
things.”

He seemed skeptical.

“
Look.” I pointed to an
item not in a box. “This microwave is way better and newer than the
one in your place now. I don’t think that thing even
works.”

He laughed. “It doesn’t even have
buttons.” He wound his fingers through mine. “You’re so good to
me.”

“
I’m glad you think so.
Now, haul this stuff to the truck.” I smiled sweetly at him and
batted my eyes.

He crammed everything into the cab so
it wouldn’t get wet and only stopped once when he saw the cans of
paint. I batted my eyes again and patted his butt. He grinned and
shook his head. When the truck was loaded, he came back with a
crooked grin and the next thing I knew, I was thrown over his
shoulder and deposited in the truck right next to him. To my
intense delight I had to sit extra close to him on the way to his
place because of all the stuff.

When we arrived at his
place, Logan opened the door and stuck his head out. I waved up to
him and he waved back. The rain had stopped, but the dark clouds
still hung low, threatening to
open back
up at any moment. Sam got out and loaded his arms full of boxes and
trudged up the stairs and into the apartment
.
Filled with excitement, I got
out
on his side and went around the
hood to the passenger side and reached in to grab
the two cans of paint. When I pulled back out I gasped noticing a
big black crow that had perched itself on the side of the truck. It
was creepy with flat, beady eyes and it opened its large pointy
beak to let out a loud squawking sound. I jumped back and dropped
the thingy that opened up the cans. With
a
muttered curse and a glare in the direction of the bird I bent to
retrieve it. When I straightened the bird was gone. In its place
sat a man.

He was
naked
.

He had longer hair than I have and it
was full of knots and leaves.

His toes, which were propped against
the side of the truck, were unnaturally curved and looked like
claws.

What was most disturbing was his aura.
It was white. I knew for certain that it was not pure. White was
the worst color an aura could be.

I shrieked again this time
letting go of the paint cans, and they rolled out onto the street.
That bird just changed into a man?
CRAP
. Was that even possible? Sam
could change, so why couldn’t others?
Double Crap
. And why was he looking
at me with contempt and anticipation? I watched him warily, unsure
what to say and do.

“
Give me the map,” the man
hissed.

“
I – I don’t know what
you’re talking about.” I lied, trying not to glance in the
direction of the front seat where the scroll lay
unprotected.

He cocked his head and stared at me.
His eyes flashed red. “Liar.” His voice was scratchy and high
pitched, just like I would imagine a bird’s might be if it could
talk.

“
No, really.” I looked up
toward the apartment wondering what this thing would do if I
screamed. I pushed my hand through my hair and looked back at the
man. “I don’t have whatever it is you want.”

I backed up a step, and he
hopped down from his seat. Without a word he opened his mouth and
this weird sort of yellowish-brown mist rolled out. It swirled
around me making it hard to breathe. I coughed and tried to run but
my movements were slow and sloppy. “Sam,” I called, but it echoed
around me, the weird mist was trapping in my sounds, not letting
them out.
Sam.

The mist grew thicker and
thicker, making it hard to see. My vision started clouding, and I
knew I had only seconds before I passed out. But then there was a
hand reaching through the mist and wrapping around my arm and
pulling me free. I gagged and coughed as fresh air filled my
lungs.
Through watering eyes I looked for
the bird-man, wondering what he would do next.

Sam appeared through the mist, grabbed
my face and forced me to look up at him. “What
happened?”

“
There’s someone there,” I
said, pointing in the direction where the naked bird-man had sat,
my voice hoarse from the weird mist.

Sam shoved me behind him
and turned. The bird-man stepped through the mist he had just
released
–
seemingly unaffected by its power – and grinned. “Give it to
me,” he hissed. As he spoke more mist floated out of his lips and
reached for us. Sam was about to jump forward, but Logan shot out
from the side and slammed his fist into the man’s chest and the
bird-man
disintegrated before our
eyes.

“
What the
hell was that thing?” Sam asked as we all stared at the spot he had
been standing in
.

I shook my head and looked at Logan.
He was watching me. “How did you know how to kill that
thing?”

“
Yeah,
bro. That was awesome.” Sam said proudly and Logan
beamed
.

“
There’s
this game that I play
on the internet… there’s a guy on there like him. It’s how you
destroy him. Figured it was worth a shot.”

“
A video game?” I
echoed.

Sam laughed. “The World Wide Web saves
the day.”

Logan shrugged again and went to pick
up the paint cans lying in the street. He took them without another
word up to the apartment.

Sam waited until he had disappeared
inside the apartment then looked down at me. “What the hell was
that thing?”

Whatever that thing
was…it’s only the beginning.

Sam gave me a little shake. “What did
it want, Heven?”

I went to the truck and
pulled out the bronze cylinder. Sam’s jaw tightened and with a
curse he hauled me into his side.
So are
those the kinds of things that are going to be coming after you
now? I got rid of one stalker for her to be replaced with God knows
what.

My eyes fastened to the spot where
that bird-man had been. How many more were out there like him? How
many more were worse? I shuddered and forced my gaze away, looking
up toward the apartment. Logan was watching us through the
window.

I couldn’t help but wonder if Sam and
I understood exactly what we had promised to do.

The Hope

“
She wasn’t supposed to be
involved,” he said wearily.

“
She has a greater destiny
than what you wanted for her.”

“
Airis,” he
warned.

“
She has shown great
strength and courage.”

“
She’s a child. You gave
her something that both worlds are fighting for. How do you expect
her to survive?”

“
She has
protection.”

He let out a hard laugh. “Are you
kidding? He’s a child too. And he was created by the
enemy.”

“
He might be twisted by
sin, but he was created by God, and he loves her. Even you can see
that. We both know that a love that powerful can slay
evil.”

He sighed, knowing that he’d lost his
fight. “I hope you’re right, because more evil is
coming.”

“
Negativity does not belong
here; all will be well. You’ll see.”

He didn’t look convinced.

I smiled. “After all, she has the best
protector she could have, someone with a heart from God, but
abilities the enemies from Hell have. Who better to get the job
done?”

Heven

The night had long since turned dark.
Outside my window, night life sang a mellow song and helped to
soothe some of my nerves. I stared a long time at the reflection in
the mirror. Who was this girl? Long ago I thought I knew. How naïve
I had been. My attack changed the way I looked and the way I felt.
I realized that everything I thought I understood about myself
wasn’t really who I was. I made peace with that with the girl in
the mirror.

But I wasn’t her anymore.

I wasn’t either of those girls
anymore. I guess you could say that I was a hybrid of them, certain
parts all smooshed together. And there were new parts,
too.

I gathered my heavy mass of hair up
and secured it high on my head. “Who am I?” I wondered out loud.
The next few months would test me; there would be others who would
try to break me – to kill me. My hand went to my wrist to check the
clasp on my bracelet, even though I knew that it was fine. I didn’t
know why I was chosen, but it felt right.

Silently, Sam appeared behind me. We
stared at each other through the mirror without speaking. I was
reminded of the last time we did this when I’d kept half my face
from the reflection. I remembered thinking how utterly gorgeous he
was and how we just didn’t fit. It seemed like a lifetime
ago.

He was still beyond gorgeous, far more
beautiful than I thought myself to be. But this time as we stared
in the mirror…we fit. I was becoming the girl that deserved him.
That knowledge gave me strength and courage to face the danger I
knew was coming.

“
You need to stop leaving
your window open at night. It isn’t safe.” Sam’s voice was deep and
low. His eyes were the color of dark honey.

“
I didn’t think you’d come
tonight.”

His eyes darkened. “All the more
reason to lock the window.”

“
But you did come.” I
turned away from our reflections and lifted my face.

“
I may have a new
apartment, but my home is with you.” He didn’t touch me. He didn’t
have to. His words were the softest caress he could
give.

“
Come to bed,” I beckoned,
walking toward it.

I felt his strong hands on my
shoulders as he turned me. “Everything’s going to be fine,” he
murmured, his face drawing close to mine.

I nodded, eyes drifting closed. I
wasn’t worried about what was to come because it didn’t matter.
Deep down inside me I felt that I could handle it. I could handle
anything. I no longer had to hide behind Sam but I could stand
beside him. He had unique abilities that made him who he was…but so
did I. I was just beginning to realize just how much of myself I
had overlooked, how much of myself I hid from. Well, no more. From
now on I was going to be the girl that everyone else seemed to see.
I was going to be strong and capable. I would be
courageous.

This was the new me.

Cambria Hebert grew up in a small town
in rural Maryland. She is married to a United States Marine and has
lived in South Carolina, Pennsylvania and her current state of
North Carolina. She is the mother of two young children with big
personalities, is in love with Starbucks (give the girl a latte!)
and she is obsessed with werewolves. Cambria also has an irrational
fear of chickens (Ewww! Gross) and she loves to read and review
books. Her favorite book genre is YA paranormal, and she can be
found stalking that section at her local Barnes and Nobles (which
happens to be her favorite place ever!).

Masquerade
is her first published novel, but she has many
more books waiting to be published and devoured by her fans,
including the sequel to
Masquerade
.

Cambria also co-hosts a
live, internet blog radio talk show,
JournalJabber
,
(www.blogtalkradio.com/journaljabber) where she dishes about books,
publishing and everything in between: hair in a can, toilet snakes,
chicken phobias, etc..

You can find Cambria on Facebook,
Goodreads (she is a moderator of the Creative Reviews
group).

You can also drop by her website
www.cambriahebert.com.