Claimed by the Beast - Part One (2 page)

She started walking again, her eyes shooting
into the darkness and glancing back and forth, trying to pick out
details. She felt like things were moving as she saw them out of
the corners of her eyes, yet when she turned there was nothing
there.

She whipped her head back around to the
front and heard herself gasp. Over the sound of her low wedges
scuffing the loose dirt on the side of the road, she heard the
sound of the stream up ahead. Middlebrook Creek, the only thing of
interest in the entire town. It fed a swamp a few miles downstream
that emptied into the Mississippi River on the other side.

She stared ahead at the bridge over the
creek. Construction a few years back had rebuilt it one lane at a
time and now it was supposed to be good for a hundred years more.
She passed the weight limit sign without even bothering to read it.
She’d seen it enough times to wonder what could possibly visit her
town that would weigh more than eighty-seven tons.

Crystal made it to the edge of the bridge
before she stopped and stared at it. Other than her own breath, she
could only hear the water rushing underneath her feet. She put her
hand on the railing and looked over the edge into the black
water.

It was deeper than it used to be. Not deep
enough to swim in, but they’d dug the creek out when they replaced
the bridge. Before, it had been shallow enough that kids used to
catch crawdads and frogs. Now it was waist-deep and swift enough
that nobody was allowed underneath it anymore. Some fences had even
been put up to keep people out after a kid died earlier that year.
He slipped and went under and they never did find his body as he
was washed downstream.

Crystal leaned out and saw the chain-link
fence to keep people out. She also saw where it had been dug out
and could be pulled back. Kids were still kids, after all. She
nibbled her lip for a moment and then looked up at the water. It
was so dark it looked bottomless. Empty. Endless. She imagined the
boy who drowned felt that all around him.

She shivered and hugged her arms closer. She
was upset, not suicidal. She started to step back when she heard
something come from under the bridge. Something that sounded like a
splash, which wasn’t surprising. What followed sounded like an
animal growling.

Crystal gasped and took a step back, her
wedge scuffing across the loose pebbles on the edge of the road.
Maybe it wasn’t kids who had pulled the fence back. Maybe an animal
had dug it out. Except she wasn’t sure what kind of animal would
have done it. A woodchuck or badger, maybe? Or a dog. Yes, that was
it, probably a dog.

She heard another growl, but this was from
her right. It was distant and steady. She turned and saw two eyes
sparkling in the darkness. She gasped and took a step back,
slipping and nearly sliding down the side of the bank towards the
river. Crystal’s arm grabbed the railing and she held on while her
other hand came up in front of her face.

The growling grew louder as the eyes
approached and then multiplied. She realized what an idiot she was
a moment later. It wasn’t an animal; it was a motorcycle. Several
of them. She watched as they roared closer and thundered across the
bridge, riding side by side. She counted five of them as they
passed her with no more than a glance from the drivers and a wave
from a woman riding as passenger on the lead bike. Her hair, so
blond it looked white, blew in the wind behind her.

They were gone before she could see any
more. The noise of the bikes disappeared as fast as it had
appeared. She stared after their taillights and then turned to
glance at her footing. She wondered how close she’d come to
slipping off and falling.

Another growl, this one from the animal
under the bridge, distracted her. She gasped and tried to see more.
She had almost a foot before the bank sloped too sharp for her to
stand on, so she slid her foot down farther and peered out. The
growl turned savage, from a warning to a threat. She swallowed and
started to pull herself back.

Was it a rabid dog? A wolf or a coyote? Her
imagination got the best of her as she imagined a massive wolf with
snarling teeth. She whimpered and turned to get away from whatever
it was beneath her. It could have been an angry chipmunk with a
megaphone for all she knew. She had to get away!

Something rattled the chain fence, stealing
her breath from her and making her heart drop. Was it coming for
her? Was this what had killed the little boy? Maybe it wasn’t an
accident—maybe he’d been eaten alive!

She pulled herself back up to the railing
and started to scramble away. Wedges weren’t running shoes but she
would have run a marathon in high heels to get away from whatever
the hell was behind her.

“Shi—oof!” She gasped as her right foot
twisted and she fell forward. Her knee slammed into the rough
pavement, ripping her jeans and making her knee erupt in agony. She
slapped her left shoulder and right elbow next but that pain was
forgotten when her cheek hit the asphalt and rubbed her skin
raw.

Crystal rolled over and stared up, her
vision blurry and dark. She heard someone crying. Was it her? And
something else. Something growling and breathing heavy. She blinked
as fast as she could and tried to make sense of what was happening.
She pushed herself back, sliding across the road to gain some time.
She needed to get up and run. That much made sense. She could deal
with her face and arm and knee later. Her foot felt funny, too—kind
of numb but with a sting to it, like she’d cut off circulation to
it.

She rolled back onto her hands and knees and
staggered to her feet. Her right knee felt like someone was
sticking needles in it but she had to go. She clutched her right
arm against her side and took a few steps that left her limping and
crying out. She couldn’t make it—it hurt too much! She suddenly
caught a new and wretched smell. It made her think of rotting
meat.

A howl pierced the night and sent a shiver
down her spine. She stopped breathing for a moment and started to
turn her head back just as she heard the sound of an animal
fighting another one. Was it her animal? The one that was after
her? It sounded like more than that. Were there two of them under
the bridge?

She risked a look and saw dark shapes
rolling on the bridge. She made out fur and a flash of white teeth.
Eyes sparkled with a light that seemed like something straight out
of hell. Crystal wanted to scream but she couldn’t find her breath.
Something grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

“Go!”

Crystal stared into the wild eyes of a woman
with flaming red hair flowing down her back. She tugged Crystal as
though she was a little kid instead of a teenager who ate too many
meals out of a drive-through window. Crystal stumbled and cried
out, but the pain in her knee was numbing already. She staggered a
few steps and looked back again.

She stopped and stared as the woman slipped
her leather vest off her shoulders and reached down to rip her
skirt off. She jumped forward, her image blurring in the darkness.
She landed on all fours and jumped again, except she looked
different. Did she just—

Crystal was spun around again. She stared
into the chest and neck of a man who might as well have been a
mountain. Before she could say anything, she felt him grab her
waist and pick her up. Her stomach felt like she’d left it behind
until she landed on his shoulder and realized she was staring at
his leather-clad back.

She screamed and started punching him as he
turned and started to run.

Crystal yelped as the brute carrying her
upended her and set her down. She staggered and would have fallen
except for his hands keeping her upright. She shook her head and
lifted her head to look at him. She opened her mouth but the words
didn’t come to her.

He was amazing. He reminded her of a bigger
Adam Levine, with his strong jaw line and dark scruff darkening his
face. His eyes were blue, but not a blue like she’d ever seen
before. They were bright, almost bright enough to glow in the dark.
Cornflower blue, maybe?

“I said, are you all right?”

She shook her head. He’d been talking? Why
hadn’t she heard him? And his voice—it was raspy and deep and it
made her knees weak. At least she thought it was his voice. Her
entire body felt sore and loose. So was she all right?

She shook her head. “No!” she blurted. “What
just happened? I was—something—what was that?”

He opened his mouth but she spun and pointed
back down the road. “And what was that woman? Not who—what? She
just took off her clothes and—and—and I don’t know!”

She turned back around to face him and saw
him glancing around. She watched him for a moment and realized that
he’d looked ageless at first, but now that she saw him searching
for answers, he looked younger. Older than her, probably, but not
by much. She swallowed and glanced down, and then realized part of
why she felt off-balance. Her shoe was missing!

“Where’s my shoe? I need my shoe! Those were
expensive wedges!”

He shook his head. “It’s gone,” he said.

“Gone? No, I tripped and it fell off. That’s
all! It’s just back down there.”

He grabbed her arm as she started to walk.
She stopped and tugged against him without any success. She
imagined his grip was like what a handcuff would feel like, only
stronger.

“Leave it,” he said.

She spun and pointed her finger at him.
“Leave it? Look, um, dude. I don’t know who you or your freaky
friends are but I have to get home. My clothes are ruined and I
feel like I’ve been in a car wreck. My friends at the party I just
left are going to be looking for me and so are my parents.”

He grunted and nodded with his head back
behind him. “Where do you live? I’ll take you home.”

“Oh, sure!” she said. “That makes sense.
Just show this big freaky biker guy with the nudist friend who
likes wrestling bears where I live.”

He snickered. “Bears? Hardly.”

“Oh yeah? Then what was that?” She held her
hand up and shook her head. “No, never mind. I don’t want to know.
Just let me go home, please?”

He shrugged. “Take the other shoe off,” he
suggested.

She looked down and saw her torn jeans
darkened with her blood. Her knee stung now that she acknowledged
it and it brought back the memories of how she’d landed on her arm
and scraped her face. She brought her left hand up and touched the
warmth spot on her cheek, making it burn. Her fingers came away
wet.

“Oh my God!”

“Oh shit,” he muttered as she stumbled and
started breathing hard.

“Oh my God!” Crystal whispered again. “I’m
bleeding. My face! Oh God, my arm hurts! Is it broke?”

“You’re gonna live,” he said. “Just calm
down.”

“Calm down? I just—I just—”

He groaned and moved so fast she barely saw
him in time to scream. The world tipped sideways on her again and
then righted itself. She was staring at his leather-clad chest. She
looked up at his face and saw him staring down at her. She craned
her neck around and realized he’d picked her up again. It was a
princess carry this time, at least.

“Calm down,” he repeated.

“You—”

“And be quiet,” he told her.

Crystal clamped her mouth shut against her
better judgment. This man was crazy strong. If he wanted to hurt
her, he could. She settled against him and listened to him
breathing. The air moving in and out of his thick chest rumbled
like the speakers in Chad’s house. Crystal glanced up and noticed
that his leather vest was open but he wore a white t-shirt
underneath it. Above the V-neck of the t-shirt, she saw thick black
hair curling out.

A few moments later, he shifted and set her
down. Crystal flailed until she realized she was sitting on the
back of a motorcycle. “Oh no!” she said. “I can’t—my mom would kill
me!”

“At least that’ll buy you a few extra
minutes,” he said before he lifted his leg and slid it over the
seat in front of her. He settled into the seat and dropped the bike
a few inches on its suspension. “Hold on tight.”

Crystal swallowed and grabbed his sides. The
bike rumbled to life beneath her and then the transmission clunked
as he put it in gear. She started to lean over to look and see if
something had broken when he gave the bike some gas and it lurched
forward. Crystal screamed and wrapped her arms around his
belly.

She wasn’t sure if the rumbling she felt was
him laughing at her or the engine beneath them.

They rode for a few minutes, heading back
down the road and passing the yard she’d cut through to leave the
party behind. She started to relax and dared to lift her head up
from where she’d tucked it in his back when he turned his head and
spoke.

“Where do you live?”

“Back the other way.” She shouted to be
heard over the wind.

He winced. “I can hear fine.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“Is there another way to your place?”

“Another way? Sure, um, turn left up
ahead.”

He grunted and drove on, turning when she
indicated. Her first turn almost ended up with her falling off the
bike. He slowed down and stopped the bike before turning his head
to look at her out of one eye. “Lean into the turns.”

“Oh, I didn’t know. Won’t we fall?”

“Only if you lean too far.”

“How will I know?”

“You’ll know.”

Crystal bit her lip and then nodded. He sped
back up and drove through town at a smooth and steady speed. The
exhaust rumbled behind them but it didn’t sound too loud. Not loud
enough to raise any fuss, at least.

She gave him turn-by-turn directions to her
house and then sat on the back of his bike when he pulled into her
driveway and put the kickstand down.