Natural Selection (7 page)

“
Sorry, Lia. I can’t help
you. Mom made us promise not to tell, and until she releases me
from it, my lips are sealed.”

I nodded, trying not to let my
disappointment show, but it made me a little sad. My brother and I
were moving into a new phase of our relationship, and I didn’t know
if I liked it. Fortunately, I was saved from contemplating it by
Evelyn arriving at the door with a bag of glue in extensions.
Tomorrow’s theme—crazy hair. She had big plans for my poor
hair.

I SAT AT the kitchen counter on a cold
morning in late October reading the paper and waiting for everyone
else to stir. The weeks passed in a mundane shuffle of school,
homework and school again. After spirit week was finally over, I
somehow got cajoled into going to the homecoming dance. When my Mom
realized, she began to fuss and carry on. Before I knew it, I wore
a fancy purple dress, my hair piled on top of my head, and enough
makeup I wouldn’t need identification to prove I was in high
school. I sat on the bleachers most the night, though Xander drug
me out for a couple of dances. I caught Nathanial watching me
several times, a secretive smile on his face, but he never came
near me. I finally escaped after an hour and a half, hitching a
ride home with some people I barely knew just to get out of
there.

The remainder of the month was bland
with no real place markers in my memories. With Halloween at the
end of the week, I was being drug to costume shops where I
pretended to look at costumes until Evelyn picked one out for me.
As with everything, I wasn’t really into the whole Halloween thing.
But I always wound up having fun with Evelyn, so I was ok with
it.

Taking a bite of my oatmeal, I turned
the page. As I scanned the local stories, the lingering oatmeal in
my mouth tasted sour, and I had a hard time swallowing. My mouth
was suddenly dry as I read the short article.

It was more than Mariah had gotten,
but I wished the story told me more. I wondered if the same symbol
had been used, if it was the same killer. Maybe it was just a
freaky coincidence, but I doubted it.

Xander came shuffling in the kitchen,
his eyes barely open. My brother had a penchant for childish
pajamas. Today he wore bright blue ones with different sport balls
on them and an open blue robe. He went to the coffee pot and picked
it up, attempting to pour a cup before he realized it was empty and
frowned. “Why is the rum always gone?” he muttered in his best
Captain Jack Sparrow imitation as he riffled through cabinets. I
stood and started the Columbian I knew he liked, and he gave me a
sleepy grin. As it began to drip, he removed the pot and held his
cup under the basket until it filed. A little coffee hissed on the
burner as he replaced the pot and came to read over my shoulder,
sipping the strong black brew. I’m not a coffee drinker myself.
I’ve never understood how something could smell so good and taste
so horrible. Unless you drowned it in syrups and sugars, like a
caramel Frappuccino from Starbucks, I wasn’t going near the stuff.
I sipped at my milk and waited to see if he would say anything
about the article, but after a quick scan he moved off, leaning on
the counter and yawning.

“
So how was the ‘studying’
last night?” I asked with a smirk. He gave me a cocky grin, and I
suddenly didn’t want to know. Why was I the only member of this
family with better morals than an alley cat? Deciding to change the
subject, I folded the paper with the little blurb about Jessica’s
death on top and tossed it in front of him. “I think it’s happened
again.”

He skimmed the article, stifling
another yawn behind his hand. “I think I’ve been there. The owner
was some sort of water sprite or something.”

My curiosity peaked. “Is there a way
to tell when I’m meeting an Otherworlder, or do they have to tell
me?” I had gotten no new information on the subject and was dying
to know more. What I found in books and on the internet wasn’t
helping, though I had gained a new interest in paranormal
fiction.

“
There’s usually a sense of
connection between all Otherworlders, and in time, you'll be able
to feel them. What class they are first, then eventually exactly
what they are. You probably could figure it out now if you focus
when you feel a connection to someone else.” I thought about the
sense I’d had with Mariah—like I found a kindred spirit. “Once you
feel the connection and learn to figure the class, it just takes
practice.”

“
Class?” I asked, praying
he wouldn’t clam up. He grimaced at me and sighed, but kept going.
I allowed myself a silent celebration. “The Otherworld is divided
into classes. One class is demon, that’s where Sariah and I fall.
We tend to be the physically strongest, but are generally parasitic
in nature, feeding off energy.”

“
Wait, you’re a psychic
parasite? Like Sariah?” I asked, cocking my head.

“
Yes, mine is less obvious.
I can feed on any human emotion. When I’m around them, it’s really
hard to resist. It’s like putting you in a room full of chocolate
and asking you not to eat any. It’s why I have so few friends.
Humans get a creeped out feeling when I feed. I get most of my
sustenance from the girls I go out with. They, eventually, can’t
handle being around me and we break up, but it gives me plenty.
Intense emotions taste better to me, like pizza compared to mashed
turnips. And with teenage girls, everything they feel is
intense…”

I was a little repulsed by his
confession, but deliberately froze my features so it wouldn’t show.
When you think about it, eating the charred carcass of a dead
animal was pretty creepy too, but I had no problem with a nice
steak. “Can you feed off of me or Sariah?”

“
No, Otherworlders are
different. Some classes can be used in a pinch, but it’s like
eating bark or shoe leather—unpleasant and not as nourishing as
real food.”

I nodded, a little relieved to know my
brother wasn’t snacking off my turmoil. “What are the other
classes?” I asked, changing the subject before I began to feel
physically ill.

“
You got the undead,” he
said, ticking them off on his fingers. “They're humans who died and
became reanimated somehow. They generally have to drain the life
from humans to stay alive, whether it’s a vampire drinking blood or
a ghost draining a human’s life energy to stay on this
plane.”

Another finger joined the other two.
“Next you got your harbingers. Mostly that’s angels who are able to
channel the spiritual energy of the universe, which they often
refer to as ‘holy energy’ or something like that. Get any idea of
what you know about angels from television and mythology out of
your head because they're probably the most misunderstood of all
Otherworlders. They tend to insert themselves into human events to
influence the outcome and are generally forces of good. But they’re
just like you and me, a little more than human. They have no better
clue about some grand design or destiny than the rest of
us.

He added his pinky, so only his thumb
lay folded against his palm. “Then you got your fringe elements.
These Otherworlders live on the fringes of human society. Their
abilities directly affect human affairs—like banshee and cupids.
There’s the nature spirits, who can harness the energy of the earth
like you will be able to one day. You got the beasts: wendigos,
harpies, and minotaurs. They don’t usually appear human, so they
live in isolation and are getting rare, with the exception of
shifters who are fully human all but three nights a month. And then
the seventh class is the human based Otherworlders, witches mostly.
The chances of you running into another Otherworlder are pretty
high, since so many of us are blending into the human world these
days.

“
If you never take another
word of advice from me, Amelia, take this. Never trust a demon
outside this family. They're truly evil and wish for nothing more
than to cause pain and suffering. I’ve felt the blood lust myself,
and I’m only half demon. Sariah and I are the exception, not the
rule. If you ever see one, run. Promise me? ”

I promised him I would even as I
wondered if I would recognize one if I saw it. He seemed satisfied
and let it go. I hurried to finish my oatmeal and put the dishes in
the sink before dashing to my room to get ready. I changed into
jeans and a green peasant blouse Mom insisted would look great on
me. I clipped the sides of my hair back, put on socks and my green
Chuck Taylors, and was good to go.

By the time Evelyn had forced me to
the third Halloween store, I was regretting agreeing to this. I
couldn’t help but wonder if she was just prolonging the torment by
parading me around in the skimpiest costumes because she was
enjoying herself, or if she was simply a sadist. But finally she
selected a tight Robin Hood outfit with a corseted halter, a lacy
white scrap of fabric covering her cleavage, skintight pants, and
knee high leather boots. For me, she selected a dress with a short
ruffled skirt, a corset-like vest thingy over a scrap of a peasant
blouse. It was a Little Red Riding Hood costume, but the obligatory
cape only came to my lower back. With black petty coats under it,
the dress just showed the red and black tops of the white stockings
she made me get as well. I looked ridiculous, but there was no
point arguing with Evie when her mind was made up. I thought I was
going to kill myself wearing the six inch, black open toe shoes
with cute red bows she picked for me. I wasn’t certain my folks
would let me out of the house in the outfit. Bonus?

We stopped at my favorite steakhouse
for dinner. I made it about halfway through my medium rare ribeye
before remembering my earlier conversation with Xander and feeling
my stomach turn.

“
Evelyn, do you believe in
magic?”

“
Like fairies and unicorns
and yellow brick roads?”

“
No, more like… some of the
stuff from stories might be true. Like werewolves—or maybe
demons.”

“
Why? Did you get bit by a
dog during the full moon?” Erica asked with a grin.

I exhaled loudly through my nose,
impatience tightening my features. “What if I told you I wasn’t
human?”

“
I’d ask what planet you’re
from.” She shrugged, shaking her head a little. “Come on. Lia! Are
you really serious with this?” Her eyes lingered in a hard study of
my face. “Look, I don’t know if I believe in all that stuff or not.
I know it’s weird how so many different cultures have the same
legends, even though they never had any contact. Like vampires.
Everybody has one. But that doesn’t mean it’s true! You need to do
all your research before you go charging off to slay the beasts,
Lia.”

“
Slay the beast?” What the
hell was she talking about? I was trying my hardest to figure out
if I could tell her what my parents said, but now I wasn’t sure. If
I told her what I was, would she feel the need to "slay" me? Her
mouth twisted like she’d said something she hadn’t meant to, and
she clammed up. The rest of our dinner was quiet with a few stilted
attempts at conversation which were eventually abandoned as
something hung between us for the first time in our lives. We’d
never kept secrets, and I wondered if this time our secrets might
tear us apart.

We still hadn’t said anything when her
dad picked us up after dinner. I didn’t think the ride home would
ever end. I stared out the window into the darkness and wondered if
anything would ever be the same again.