Sweet Blood of Mine (27 page)

"Wel, you're gonna put that energy to good use.

Buldozer left on three."

The huddle broke. The left side of the Bobcats'

defense looked like a brick wal. The right side looked like an iron curtain. Their guys were huge. They al looked to be Nathan's size. To top it off, I wasn't feeling so great.

The incessant churning in my guts grew worse. I heard the hike count and ran forward on automatic. Two massive defensive linemen buried our offensive line. The Bobcat linebackers leapt over the line, making a beeline for me. I dodged back to the right, nearly slipping in the grass before my cleats found purchase. The situation on that side was even worse. A sea of green jerseys poured over a gap in even worse. A sea of green jerseys poured over a gap in our line. I had nowhere to go but the center.

Bryan managed to help our center push a guy the size of a silverback gorila to the side. I slipped into the gap. I heard the smack of helmet on helmet and saw stars.

A gong rang in my ears. My feet flew from underneath me and my back kissed the earth with a thud. Bryan helped me up. My legs felt like mush. I limped back to the huddle. In the distance, I heard someone shout my name.

"Hold the damned line," Bryan said. "Not even Justin can break through their entire defense."

Technicaly, I could, at least when I had a ful tank.

Ravenous hunger roled over me in waves of nausea. I gagged.

"You okay, Case?" asked one of the linemen.

"I'm not feeling so good," I said.

"Buck up, soldier," Bryan said with a grin. "Let's push this through and you can take a break."

I nodded.

We lined up. I focused everything I had on the end zone and on my legs. The bal came. I surged forward.

Something huge and green dove in my way. I jumped and heard a roar from the crowd as I hurtled over the Joly Green Giant. A linebacker came at me from the side. I stiff-armed him and he went down. Then something crushed me from the other side.

A feminine blood-streaked face stared at me, eyes wide and overflowing with terror. Ragged breaths tore from the woman's throat as she gripped my shirt and puled me closer. I looked down at her legs and stifled a shout. Torn ribbons of flesh, blood, and bone were al that remained of her legs. A crimson trail led down a sidewalk and into a house that seemed terribly familiar. I leaned toward the woman and strained my ears to understand the faint words coming from her mouth.

"…forty-three eleven," she said gasping for breath.

"They must be stopped. But the others don't want—"

I jerked awake to the sharp odor of ammonia. A dul roar echoed in my ears and I smeled dirt and grass.

The blurry figures hovering over me sharpened into focus.

"He's okay. Just had the wind knocked out of him,"

said a guy in a medic uniform.

Bryan and one of the other guys helped me stand up. The crowd cheered.

"And he's gonna be okay," said the hilbily announcer.

They set me down on the bench and Bil Chauncey, the normal halfback, took my place. The bench creaked.

On my left sat Coach Burgundy with a grin plastered on his face. He put an arm around me.

"Son, if you lose this game for us, I promise you wil not like the consequences." Not a trace of friendliness existed in that grin.

"I honestly don't feel good," I said. "I'm not faking it."

We watched as the Bobcats sacked Bryan for a loss. Coach Wise screamed for special teams to try for a field goal.

Coach Burgundy squeezed my shoulder. "Boy, I don't care if you just crapped your britches. Just stay downwind of me and score. The sheriff and his boys have a lot riding on this game, not to mention a few other people who would not be happy to lose. You get what you need from Coach Howard. He's got some stuff that'l patch you right on up."

I groaned and looked over at the miling herd of coaches on the sideline. Whatever Coach Howard had wouldn't help me. That much I knew. I felt like I had stepped into a redneck version of The Godfather. And that dream—it had seemed too vivid to be my imagination and very close to the nightmares I'd had about the baby and the pregnant woman. I must have had a few nuts in my head knocked loose from that last hit.

Special teams kicked the field goal. Our defense took the field. At least we had big louts like Nathan, I figured. The Bobcats' offense didn't look nearly as impressive as their defense, but they had a quick runner and their quarterback was a passing threat. Bryan, on the other hand, was only good for short passes. He had a good arm, just no accuracy.

What am I going to do?
I felt caged. If I continued to do wel, I would only trap myself further in this mess. But this was going way beyond my friends getting bad grades. No teling how gangster things would become if crooked cops lost money because of me. I groaned.

The crowd on our side booed and hissed as the Bobcats scored. I tried to open myself up to the emotional energy around me but it was too distant and too negative.

The best I could do was sense the nearby disappointment wash over me like rancid milk. It brought a sour grimace to my face.

Bryan grabbed my shoulder. "You okay to come back in?"

I nodded.

I nodded.

Bryan handed me the bal three times. Al three times I got flattened. Coach Burgundy shot me a look that made my heart palpitate with fear. Elyssa could probably take care of herself, I reasoned, but not Ash or Nyte. And who else would these bozos go after? To make matters worse, my teammates gave me hurt looks of betrayal. Like I was intentionaly playing badly so they'd lose. How had I gone from despising these people to feeling terrible about hurting their feelings?

I wanted to scream in frustration, but it wouldn't do any good. The crowd on our side had gone silent. I spotted Stacey stil atop the broadcasting booth, smiling in a mischievous way. She puckered her lips and kissed the air.

I spotted Ash and Nyte. Ash bit his fingernails. Nyte gnawed on a corn dog. A few rows to their right, Katie's sad green eyes looked at me. She blew me a kiss. Jenny and Annie sat next to her. They snickered and laughed about something. I looked for Elyssa. I didn't see her. I was hoping maybe we'd lock eyes. She'd smile and inspire me to greatness. "I love you," she'd mouth silently and blow me a kiss. After that, nothing would stop me. Not even the ogres pounding us to mush on the footbal field.

Am I an idiot or what?

The Bobcats scored three more times. Their defensive line crushed me more times than I wanted to remember or probably would remember due to brain damage from the constant battering. Coach Burgundy was beside himself with rage by the time half-time finaly arrived and the team left the field.

"Just what I thought," Nathan said as he shoved past me and into the locker room. "You ain't worth crap, Case."

Bryan gave me a sympathetic look and went into the locker room. I let everyone else go in then slipped away to the side. I threw my helmet down and stared at the parking lot thirty yards away. Now that I played footbal, it seemed I measured everything in yards. I could just run away.

Right now. Why should I stick around?

I could warn Ash and Nyte, and tel them to warn Elyssa. Then I would vanish. Mom was gone, Dad was good as gone, and my life here as I knew it was over. I stalked back and forth at the edge of the parking lot. Why did my conscience burden me so? I walked toward the cars. Nobody was watching me. I puled off my uniform and left a trail of jersey, shoulder pads, and helmet behind me. I decided to keep on the pants and cleats for decency's sake.

I looked for Stacey, hoping she'd show up so I could cave in to her demands and get on with my depressing life as whatever I was. I looked atop the broadcasting booth but couldn't make out any movement in the shadows.

Something warm prickled my senses in the darkness to my left. A large air conditioning unit sat silent in the cool fal air. Giggles echoed from behind it. I sneaked over and peeked around the edge. My former best friend Harry and his girlfriend, who I recognized as Saly Palmer, were making out. She slapped Harry's hands away as he tried to unbutton her shirt.

"Come on, baby. You know I love you," he said.

Ravenous tendrils shot from me like heat-seeking missiles. I couldn't stop them. I felt the heat from Saly's mind, her molten sensuality like lavender-scented steam in the air. I breathed it in as my essence locked onto hers.

She gasped. Her eyes went wide. She ripped open her shirt, revealing a lacy white bra. Buttons showered the concrete. Saly grabbed Harry by the shirt. Puled him on top of her as she puled his T-shirt over his head.

"Holy crap!" he said, shocked. "What changed your mind?"

She didn't answer. She was too busy pecking his scrawny hair-speckled chest with kisses. She reached for his belt. Fear blossomed on his face. White-eyed and his belt. Fear blossomed on his face. White-eyed and trembling, he wrestled her for the belt buckle.

"Are you sure, baby?"

"Shut up and kiss me," she demanded.

He did as he was told, one hand protecting his belt buckle. Energy, pure and delicious, flowed into me as they made out. Their emotions swirled together, a tornado of psychic energy flooding my ravenous psyche and filing it within minutes. I broke the connection with Saly, feeling ful and satisfied on the one hand, and a little disgusted for causing and witnessing an almost pornographic scene.

Harry had been my friend. It was just gross seeing him and his pale scrawny body trying to get it on with a girl.

"I'm not ready." Harry broke away from Saly's latest attempt to remove his belt, his eyes filed with despair and fright. "I—I thought I was."

"You scaredy-cat," she said. "Al that big talk, and now you tel me you're not ready?"

I left them to continue their argument and made my way back to the locker room. I snatched my gear off the pavement and strapped it back on. I wasn't going to abandon my real friends. I was going to figure this thing out and see it through to the end. It's easy to be an optimist on a ful, um, psychic stomach, or whatever the heck it was storing the il-gotten energy. I stood outside the locker room and watched the marching bands cavort on the field for the rest of half-time.

The team emerged from the locker room. Coach Burgundy obviously hadn't given them a cheery pep talk because they looked like a bunch of sad pandas. Some of the guys gave me encouraging slaps or punches to the shoulder. Nathan growled at me.

"You best make up for this mess, boy," said Coach Burgundy from behind me, his hand pressing heavily on my shoulder pad. He hawked, snorted, and then spat into the dirt.

I knocked his arm off my shoulder and turned to face him. "I'l do my job," I said. "But let's get one thing straight. If anything happens to my friends, you'l be making a very dangerous enemy."

He laughed like a country boy on moonshine. "Son, you're about as scary as a house cat."

You have no idea how scary cats can be,
jackass.

I trotted back onto the field to receive the bal as the Bobcats kicked off. The bal fel short of me and into the waiting arms of David James, the usual receiver. He pitched the bal back to me a split second before a tsunami of green jerseys washed over him. I found the biggest, meanest looking guy on the other team and charged right at him. A smile lit his face. He had to be six and a half feet tal.

He lowered his head and reached for me with thick meaty arms. I lowered my shoulder and rammed him. He grunted and bowled into the guys behind him. They went down like dominoes. I dodged right past a guy in mid-dive.

From there it was clear sailing. I coasted to the end zone while the crowd went crazy. The country coot on the PA system shouted my name like Christmas had just arrived.

The big guy I'd run over was stil picking himself up.

He staggered around in a drunken haze for a moment before finding his way off the field. I walked over to Coach Burgundy.

"Put me on defense."

He spat. "Defense?"

"Yeah. Seeing how effective they've been, I figure they need a boost."

He nodded. "Johnson, you're out. Case, get in there."

Trip Johnson gave me a look of relief as he left the field. "Crush them," he said, bumping fists with me as I took over his spot on the line.

Trip towered over me, and the Bobcat lineman Trip towered over me, and the Bobcat lineman across from me made Trip look like a Chihuahua. He smiled as I lined up in the shadow of his hulking mass.

Apparently he'd missed what I'd done to his teammates on my kickoff return.

"What the hel are you doing out here?" Nathan said, grabbing my shoulder pad and spinning me around.

"I'm helping, obviously. So unless you have a problem with that, back off."

Nathan clenched his jaw but did as I asked.

The Bobcats hiked the bal. I darted between my guy and the center and tackled the quarterback before he could even back away. I decided if I did that every time, my mutant abilities would be way too obvious. The next play, I cleared a hole in the line. Nathan roared through and sacked the quarterback again. From then on it was wash, rinse, repeat. Nathan's sack stats were going to be epic.