Claimed by the Beast - Part One (6 page)

Crystal looked up at her, intent on playing
it cool. Gwen’s grin told her the woman knew her secret. She’d love
the crude meal more than the most expensive dinner she’d ever
eaten. She ignored her smile and said, “There, I ate.”

“Do you want more?”

Crystal forced herself to shake her head.
“I’m fine.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“Whatever.”

Gwen shook her head. “We don’t lie to one
another, young lady. That’s the first rule you need to learn.”

“I’m not one of you,” Crystal protested.
“I’m just a kid in high school!”

Gwen frowned. “You’re right and you’re
wrong.”

“All right, you seem to know so much—you
tell me what’s going on.”

“The Beast that bit you got your scent and
tasted your blood. He won’t stop until he has you and makes you
his.”

“You mean kills me and eats me?”

“Probably,” Gwen said matter-of-factly. “But
that’s only if you can’t survive being bred.”

Crystal’s jaw fell open.

Gwen nodded. “He’s not like us.”

“What’s he like then?”

Gwen smiled. “A beast. Cunning, strong, and
deadly, but not like us. He can’t shift, like we can.”

“Shift? You mean, um, like what Ember
did?”

“Yes.”

“So wait, you mean that thing under the
bridge—the Beast—it’s always like that?”

“Yes.”

“What about all this talk about being
poisoned?”

She nodded. “It will weaken you after a
while, make you easier to find. That way he can find you and—”

“And breed me?” Crystal whispered.

Gwen nodded. “Unless you’re too weak. Then
he’ll just kill you.”

“So I’m screwed any way you look at it.”

Gwen winced.

Crystal frowned and realized her choice of
words. She groaned. “That’s not what I meant, but I guess it’s
true.”

“Yes,” Gwen agreed.

“But you said I could fight it?”

“We have to kill him,” Gwen said. “Then
he’ll stop hunting you. We hurt him the other night but he’ll be
recovered soon, if not already.”

“Won’t I still be poisoned?”

“Yes, but we’ll try to help you beat the
poison. It’s been done before.”

“Oh, cool. Um, okay. What do I have to
do?”

“Spend as much time with us as you can.
You’ll need our strength and knowledge and protection.”

“What about school? And my mom? And thanks,
but as cool as Hank is, I’m not going to just start staying here
with him.”

Gwen sighed. “Ember will stay with you
then.”

“What?” Crystal said while shaking her head.
Maybe the trailer wouldn’t be so bad. She could almost stretch out
on the loveseat…

“She won’t be happy about it either,” Gwen
agreed. “Would you like to reconsider?”

Crystal groaned. “No. but how’s she going to
go to school with me? And my mom’s not going to be happy having
some strange girl hanging out. Especially one who dresses like she
does!”

“You’ll have to figure it out,” Gwen said.
“Or we can just leave you to—”

“No!” Crystal blurted. “I’ll, um, I’ll
figure something out. Jesus, this is messed up!”

Gwen smiled and stood up. “You should come
out with me. You need to be there when I tell the others.”

“I thought Guntar was the leader?”

“He is,” Gwen said with a twinkle in her
eyes.

“Is he going to agree to all of this?”

“Yes,” she said. “I’m his mate.”

“Oh,” Crystal said, even though she didn’t
understand. “Um, what if he doesn’t want to do it that way?”

“I’m his mate,” she repeated. “He’ll do what
I tell him. Haven’t you ever had a boy wrapped around your finger
before?”

Crystal winced. She remembered how Hank had
deferred to her when she asked him to leave. She suspected there
was more to it, but Gwen was already opening the door. She took a
breath to steady herself and stood up to follow her.

She hoped Ember had changed back and put her
clothes on, at least.

Crystal opened the front door and saw her
mom sitting at her desk, working on some paperwork. “Hey, Mom, um,
I’ve got kind of a big favor to ask.”

Brandy Davis looked up from her stack of
bills and smiled. “What’s wrong? Is—oh, hello. I’m Crystal’s mom.
Please, call me Brandy.”

Crystal turned and saw Ember smile. “Brandy?
Hi. I’m Ember.”

“Amber?”

“Ember,” the redhead said with a touch of
edge to her voice.

“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s an unusual name. Very
pretty though,” Crystal’s mom added.

“So, anyhow, uh, Ember is the problem,”
Crystal interrupted. She ignored the almost silent growl from the
redhead and continued. “She moved into town recently and her dad
had to fly back out West to take care of some things. Since it’s a
new town and school, I wondered if she could stay with us?”

Brandy frowned. “I didn’t know you had a new
friend.”

“Mom, it’s not like we see each other all
that much!”

Brandy nodded. “I know, and I’m sorry. We’re
short-handed at the hospital and I figured the more shifts I can
pick up, the easier it will be to help you pay for college.”

“I said I’d figure—”

Ember pushed past Crystal, interrupting her.
“I’m sorry to bother you, Brandy. I promise you won’t even know I’m
here.”

Crystal had to fight to keep herself from
scowling. “Yeah, she’ll even sleep on the rug in my room if she
needs to.”

She saw Ember’s shoulders stiffen and knew
she’d struck home. Her mother sighed and nodded. “No, no, that’s
fine. She’s not a dog! If I’m working, you can sleep in my bed and
Ember can have yours.”

Crystal fought back a laugh and asked, “What
if you’re not?”

Brandy winked at her and nodded towards the
couch. “Then you can be a good hostess and take the couch.”

Ember turned to look at Crystal and smirked.
“I think I’m going to like it here,” she said.

Crystal forced a smile on her face. “Come
on,
Amber
, let’s go.”

She led the way upstairs to her bedroom and
heard Ember following behind. Ember looked around and smirked.
“Pink?”

“What’s wrong with pink?”

“Nothing,” Ember said. “It’s the same color
as a deer after I’ve torn out their throat and they’ve bled
out.”

“Jesus!” Crystal gasped. “That’s sick!”

Ember shut the door behind her. “Call me
Amber again and I’ll tear your face off. Then you can match your
walls.”

Crystal backed up a step and felt her bed
against her leg. She sat on it and pulled her phone out of her
purse so she could plug it in. It was nothing more than an excuse
to not look at the woman who scared the hell out of her.

“Don’t worry,” Ember said. “It won’t take
long.”

Crystal jerked her head up. “What won’t take
long?”

Ember smiled. “He’ll come soon. He’s
probably already healed.”

“You’re supposed to protect me, I thought?”
Crystal asked. “So far you’ve threatened to rip my face off and
reminded me there’s some creepy monster after me.”

“The real world isn’t princesses and
slippers,” Ember said.

Crystal clamped her lips shut and fumbled
with her phone, finally plugging it in. “I know that,” she mumbled.
“My life hasn’t been easy, you know.”

Ember laughed. “I bet you’ve been through
hell.”

Crystal spun to face her and stood up. By
the time she was standing, Ember was right in front of her. Crystal
hesitated and then remembered how Ember was taunting her. “Before
or after I was almost run off the road by a biker gang so I could
be bitten by something from a bad horror movie?”

“You don’t know anything,” Ember snarled.
“You’re a baby. Your fate was sealed when you walked down that
road. We prolonged your life, that’s all.”

“I’m a baby?” Crystal scoffed. “You’re what,
six months older than me?”

The redhead snorted. “Six months and a dozen
years.”

Crystal’s jaw dropped again. When she
gathered her thoughts, she said, “No way! You’re not—”

Ember sighed and said, “Sit down.”

“No.”

Crystal grunted when her back and head
bounced off the wall behind her. She rocked forward and caught
herself with her arms on her bed. She straightened and sat on her
comforter. “You hit me!”

“I don’t like you,” Ember spat. “But I have
to keep your worthless ass alive, so you do what I tell you, when I
tell you.”

Crystal opened her mouth but Ember thrust a
finger at her. A finger with a nail that looked a little longer and
a little more curved and pointed than it should have.

“You don’t ask questions. You act and then
later, if you’re still alive, you can try to figure out what’s
going on,” Ember explained. “Now, why I’m older than you but I look
better? I changed when I was sixteen.”

“Changed?”

Ember fixed her with a stare and then
clamped her teeth together. Crystal winced. “We age, but not as
fast. It’s a fountain of youth. We’re stronger, faster, heal
quicker, can see and smell better, and pretty much can run circles
around any norm in the world.”

“Norm?” Crystal asked. “What’s that?”

“Normal person.”

“Oh. So, uh, that sounds pretty good. But
you live in dingy trailers. Are you guys like gypsies or
something?”

“We have to,” Ember said. She turned and
looked around the room and focused on a lava lamp. She reached over
and turned it on and watched it as a red light radiated from the
liquid while it warmed up. She turned to look at Crystal and
finished her explanation. “We’re monsters.”

“Monsters? You make it sound like a
gift.”

“You can return a gift,” Ember said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Ember shrugged. “You don’t need to worry
about it.”

“I don’t? Seems like I’ve got a lot to worry
about, if what you and your friends tell me is true!”

“Of course it’s true.”

“How do I know? Maybe you’re just trying to
scare me.”

Ember glowered at her. “Yeah, because
scaring kids is our thing. We get off on it.” Ember shook her head
and narrowed her eyes into slits. “Do I need to shift again to
remind you how real this is?”

Crystal leaned back until she touched the
wall. She shook her head and forced her heart out of her throat.
“No,” she squeaked. She winced and forced herself to prove she
wasn’t as scared as she really was. “Then I’d have to explain to my
mom why a dog shed all over the floor.”

Ember’s fists clenched at her sides and
trembled. In a menacing tone, she growled, “You’ve got balls, but
you’re stupid. I’m the only person between you and a fate worse
than death. You should show me some respect.”

Crystal swallowed and nodded. “You’re right,
I’m sorry. I’m just not much of an ass-kisser, I gue—”

“Nobody’s saying kiss my ass. Just don’t be
so catty. You know what wolves do to cats, right?” Ember asked with
a glint in her eyes. “And if you even think about turning the
ass-kissing line into a joke about me licking myself, I swear to
whatever god you worship that you’ll need to be more afraid of me
than you do what’s waiting for you out there.”

Crystal grimaced. “Heard that joke
before?”

“I’ve heard them all.”

She nodded. “Okay, um—”

A knock at Crystal’s door interrupted her.
Her mom stuck her head in and smiled. The smile faded when she saw
how Ember was standing. “Is there something wrong, girls?”

Ember relaxed while Crystal shook her head.
“No, just a misunderstanding. We’re cool now.”

Brandy tilted her head. She saw the smiles
on both girls’ faces and pursed her lips together. “Okay, well, if
there is, I don’t want any trouble in here, okay? And speaking of
trouble, I didn’t realize the motorcycle I heard was yours,
Ember.”

Ember turned to face her. “Oh, sorry. Is
that a problem?”

Brandy frowned and looked at Crystal. “You
rode on it with her?”

“Kind of had to get home somehow.”

She shook her head. “I’ve seen a lot of
people hurt on motorcycles.”

Ember stiffened and then relaxed. “Brandy,
I’m a good driver. Very defensive—it’s almost always the people in
cars that cause accidents, so I know what to look for. I’ve been
riding my whole life and never laid my bike down once.”

“There’s always a first,” Brandy said. “I
didn’t see any helmets on it.”

“No helmet law here,” Ember said.

“You’re both under twenty-one,” Brandy said.
“So there is a helmet law.”

Ember opened her mouth but Crystal hurried
to keep her cover. “Oh, I didn’t know that. I’m sorry. Uh, I’ve got
my bicycle helmet. Will that work?”

Brandy snorted and then twisted her head. “I
don’t know. I don’t think so, but maybe. It’s definitely not good
enough in my opinion. If you’re going to ride it, you need real
helmets. Both of you.”

“I don’t see how you can make me do that,”
Ember grumbled.

“You’re staying at my house? My rules,” she
said. She shrugged her shoulders. “Sorry, but you’re a very pretty
young girl, and I don’t want to see you in the hospital.”

“You won’t.”

Crystal got up from the bed and nodded.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get Beth to give us a ride in the morning and
we’ll get helmets before we ride again. Right, Ember?”

“What?” Ember frowned and stared at Crystal
a long moment before she sighed. “All right.”

“Great,” Brandy said. “And it’s getting
late. Crissy, I put some blankets downstairs on the couch for
you.”

Ember bit off a short laugh, earning a glare
from Crystal.

“I’m going to bed. I’ve got to be in early
tomorrow. Good night, girls.”

“Night, Mom,” Crystal said and waited for
the door to shut. She turned to a grinning Ember and said, “You do
not get to call me Crissy. Ever!”

“You look nice today. Want any breakfast?”
Crystal asked the next morning when Ember came down the stairs,
wearing her trademark black skirt with a tight-fitting white top.
It took Crystal a moment to recognize it as one of her tops from
two years ago.