Claimed by the Beast - Part One (3 page)

“You need help?” he asked. “Or do you want
to go for another ride?”

“What? No!” Crystal tried to jump off the
bike. The reality was her stumbling and almost falling thanks to
her aching body and missing shoe. She reached out and ended up
grabbing onto his outstretched leg to keep from hitting the ground
again. She straightened, her face burning for a different
reason.

“You okay?”

She nodded. “Um, yeah. I’ll be fine.”

He raised an eyebrow. It was a bizarre look
that made her laugh. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s been a crazy night.
Um, thanks. For the ride. And for…um, whatever that was back
there.”

He nodded.

Crystal turned and started walking up to her
house. Was that it? She’d almost been eaten and then nearly been
turned into roadkill. Finally, this beautiful man drove her home
and she was running from him. She shook her head and sighed. He’d
smelled so rough and manly. It was a good smell, one that made her
want to nuzzle up to him again.

“Hey!”

Crystal turned to see he’d already backed
his motorcycle around in the driveway. “Hey,” she said back.
“Thanks again.”

“You need to feel the power between your
legs again, just let me know.”

She grinned. “Okay. I will.”

He nodded and thumbed the starter. A moment
later, he drove off in a rumble that sent chills through her body.
She turned back to the house with a smile that wouldn’t go away in
spite of the pain it caused her cheek.

He wanted to see her again! She wondered how
long she should wait until she—

“Shit!” Crystal swore. She didn’t have his
number. Even worse, she didn’t even know his name!

Crystal woke up the next morning to the
sounds of birds chirping outside. She groaned and rolled over,
right into a beam of sunshine that warmed her face and made it
impossible to pretend it was still night. She yanked her blankets
up over her head but it was too late. She was awake. And her
bladder was about to burst.

Crystal groaned and threw the covers back.
She stepped on something on her floor and cried out as the pain in
her heel shot up her leg. She stumbled forward and limped out into
the hallway, thinking dark thoughts about whatever hair clip or
earring she must have dropped.

She finished up in the bathroom and picked
up her foot to look at it. She felt like whatever she’d stepped on
was still stuck in her heel. She blinked and stared at it, not
understanding what she saw.

On the inside of her heel, she saw oval
splotches that were pink and red. They weren’t bleeding, but the
spots looked like the skin was thin and only recently healed. Along
the bottom of her heel, another curving line of them joined up with
the marks on the inside. There were two of them that were more than
just an angry pink: they were crusted over with dried blood.

Crystal went to pick at the scab with her
fingernails and noticed how chipped and ragged they looked.
Yesterday’s paint was scraped off and ruined already. She scowled
at the waste and refocused on her heel. She peeled the scab away,
drawing a hiss as it pulled at the living tissue beneath. She
watched as a spot of blood welled up and started to run down the
bottom of her foot.

She grabbed some toilet paper and blotted it
up before it could drop to the floor. She kept the paper pressed
against the wound, enduring the sting until it faded. When the
bloody paper was pulled away, her eyes widened. It looked like the
other spots on her foot, the skin pink and unbroken.

“What the f—” She trailed off and remembered
more of her aches from last night. It brought back more memories.
The bikers and the one in particular who picked her up like she was
a kitten. Then there was the source of the strange marks on her
foot.

“Oh my God,” she whispered as she remembered
the growl and saw again the flash of teeth and eyes in the
darkness. “It bit me!”

She twisted her leg and stared at her knee.
It was bruised and dirty, but that was it. Hadn’t she rubbed it raw
on the road last night and bloodied her pants? She turned to look
at her arm but no amount of twisting let her get a good look at her
elbow. She pouted and tried straightening it and bending it. It was
stiff and felt a little sore, but it worked.

Crystal reached across and pushed her
fingers against her shoulder. It felt tender when she poked it. She
stood up and pulled her nightshirt off so she could twist her head
and look at it. Her skin was tinted with a faded yellow and blue
from a bruise. A bruise that looked a couple of days old.

She shook her head and stepped in front of
the mirror. Her foot was tender now but the pain from earlier was
gone. The girl looking back at her in the mirror gasped. She was a
wreck! Her left eye looked puffy and bruised, the colors spreading
down to her cheek. Her hair was a tangled mess and her makeup had
run and was smeared all over her face from all the crying she’d
done.

“What happened to me?” she wondered.

Well, she knew what happened. She’d been
there, after all! But it didn’t make sense. She’d cut her cheek and
her knee—she knew it! But now they looked fine? Other than the
bruises. She let her eyes drop in the vanity mirror and sighed.
Some things didn’t change. She still looked like she could refer to
herself as Shamu’s mama.

“But I can’t heal that quick,” she argued
with herself. “Wouldn’t I have to eat or burn a lot of calories or
something?”

She turned to the scale in the bathroom and
stepped on it. She held her breath and willed herself to be
lighter. Just like every morning, except this time she knew it
would be different. She knew she would be changed. Something had
happened to her. Something scary and maybe, just maybe,
wonderful!

The digital readout flashed a final answer
and she let out her breath in a disgusted sigh. She was down a
little, but still closer to two hundred than one hundred. Sure, she
was a tall girl, but not that tall. In her wedges last night, she’d
probably been six feet tall. The dark stranger who saved her had
towered over her and made her feel like a little kid.

Crystal was jerked from her thoughts by her
phone ringing back in her bedroom. She turned and started to dash
for it when she realized she was only wearing her underwear. She
looked back at her nightshirt and shifted her balance to go for it
when the second verse of the Lady Gaga song that was the ringtone
she used for Beth started. She turned and dashed down the hall. Her
leg felt funny but it did what she told it to and kept her from
planting her face on the floor—again.

She made it to her phone and answered with
an angry, “Ow! This better be worth it.”

“Ow?” Beth asked. “Are you okay?”

Crystal could hear the concern in her voice.
“Yeah, I guess. I just woke up and had to run to answer the phone.
I remember why I don’t run.”

“Why? Oh, never mind.”

“Yeah, never mind,” Crystal said with a
flash of irritation. Like she needed to be reminded that she was
big up top. “What’s up? How was the party? Sorry I bailed, I—”

“Crys, where are you?”

“What? I’m home.”

“Why aren’t you at school? They forgot all
about you after you ditched me.”

“I didn’t ditch you, I—school? It’s
Saturday—why would I be at school?”

“Oh my God! You’re kidding me, right? Crys,
it’s Monday. First period is about to start.”

Crystal jerked her phone away from her face
and stared at it. Beth was right; it was Monday. “Holy crap,” she
mumbled. “I slept all weekend?”

“Did I just hear you say you slept all
weekend?” Beth asked.

“Yeah, uh, I guess I did.”

“You seemed a little weird at the party.
Wow, I had no idea. I guess that’s why you didn’t answer my calls
or texts?”

“Um, yeah,” Crystal said. “Crap, I’ve gotta
get dressed and get to school!”

“Hurry up. Do you need me to come get
you?”

“No, I’ll make it.”

“Okay. See you soon!”

Crystal smiled and hung up. She unlocked her
phone and stared at it. She’d missed twelve calls and sixteen text
messages. Most of them were from Beth but she’d gotten a couple
from her mom, including some voicemails. “Wow,” she muttered while
shaking her head. She turned and moved to her dresser and started
pulling out clothes. She stopped with one leg in her pants and
realized she needed a shower. Especially if she’d slept away two
days!

Her arms clutching fresh clothes against
her, she dashed back to the bathroom and cranked on the water. She
brushed her teeth while the shower heated up and caught her
reflection in the mirror. The bruises on her face made her pause.
“Lots of makeup and sunglasses,” she mumbled around her toothbrush.
That and a good story about how she tripped and fell on her way
home from the party.

Crystal made it to school a few minutes
after her third class started. She walked in breathing hard but not
quite panting from walking over a mile to get there. Fortunately
for her, walking to school took her into town and away from the
bridge. She wasn’t ready to cross over that again, especially on
foot!

Beth met her at the front of the school and
jumped up from the curb she’d been sitting on as soon as she saw
her. “Crys! What is going on?”

“Nothing. I just—”

“Oh my God! What happened to you?”

Crystal sighed and shook her head. “I fell
on my way home,” she lied. Well, it wasn’t exactly a lie, but
there’d been a lot more to it. A lot more that didn’t make sense to
her.

Beth reached out and picked up her
sunglasses before she could stop her. “Jesus! That’s terrible! You
look like you got in a fight. Are you sure you fell? Your mom
didn’t—”

“No!” Crystal stopped her. “My mom is
worried about me, but she let me sleep. She had a busy weekend at
the hospital, working twelves.”

Beth stared at her for a long moment and
shook her head. “I can’t believe you slept all weekend.”

“Me either,” Crystal admitted. “I probably
hit the ground harder than I thought.”

“You mean, like, a concussion?”

Crystal nodded.

“Damn! You should get checked out at the
hospital. Maybe you’ve got brain damage or something.”

Crystal smirked. “Don’t worry. I’ll still
help you with your chemistry final.”

Beth laughed. “Come on, we’re going to get
in trouble for being late.”

Crystal shrugged. “You are. I’m eighteen—I
can write myself an excuse.”

Beth wrinkled her nose and then flipped
Crystal off. Both girls laughed and walked into school and up the
stairs towards their classes. With only three stairs left, Crystal
had the sudden feeling of being kicked in the gut. She grunted and
grabbed onto the railing to keep from falling.

“Crys!” Beth cried out. She spun and reached
for her arm. “What’s wrong?”

Crystal shook her head and forced a breath
between her lips. She strained slowly and ignored the pulling in
her stomach. “I don’t know. It’s gone now. Felt weird, though.”

“Your stomach?”

“Yes.”

Beth frowned and then gasped. “You slept all
weekend!”

Crystal raised an eyebrow. “Really? I hadn’t
noticed.”

“No, dummy, think about it! You haven’t
eaten!”

“Oh.” Crystal blushed and nodded. She held
her hand over her belly as she felt it tremble again. “Well, I
could stand to lose a few meals.”

“Stop it! You’re beautiful!”

“Sure, for a water-retaining sea cow.”

Beth pressed her lips together and crossed
her arms. “Knock it off,” she snapped. “You’re not like that.
You’re—”

“Ladies, is there a problem?”

Both girls turned to see Assistant Principal
Robbie staring at them from the open doorway of the main office.
They turned to look at each other and then back at him.

“No, sir,” Beth mumbled. “Just running late
for class.”

He frowned and opened his mouth to speak but
Crystal had the sudden inspiration to use her predicament for her
benefit. She reached up to her glasses and lifted them up. “Sorry,
Mr. Robbie. I had an accident this weekend and I’ve been out of it.
Took me awhile to get around this morning and make it in. Beth was
just making sure I was okay.”

He clamped his lips shut as he studied her.
His eyes narrowed and then widened. “Are you all right?”

Crystal nodded. “Fine now. It was a stupid
thing but I ended up with a concussion.”

“Okay, well, step in here and we’ll write
some passes for you so you don’t get in trouble. Did you both miss
your morning classes?”

“Just me,” Crystal said. “Beth didn’t know
about it until I called her and asked her to help me out.”

“I see,” he said. He glanced at Beth and
offered a thin smile. “I appreciate your loyalty to your friend,
but don’t make a habit of this.”

“No, sir!” Beth vowed.

He nodded and motioned for them to follow
him. A few minutes later, they were on their way with passes. They
stopped at a junction of hallways, Crystal turning towards her
English class while Beth had history waiting for her. Beth looked
at Crystal and reached up to adjust her glasses. “Don’t do anything
like this again, all right?”

Crystal forced herself to laugh. “I don’t
know, I kind of like beating my head against things. You should try
it sometime.”

“Stop it!” Beth said after she laughed with
her. “I mean, accidents happen. Just don’t ignore my calls.”

“Ignore—Beth, I was sleeping!”

Beth shrugged. “So? Don’t let it happen. I
almost lost you once. I’m not going to risk it again!”

Crystal shook her head. “You’re crazy, you
know that?”

Beth pressed her lips together and hugged
her books to her chest. “Whatever. Be careful, okay? Love you.”