She glanced over her shoulder, then looked back at me, frowning. “That guy. The one who got you out of the road. Who is he?”
The vampire
who turned me. “He’s a friend. My, uh, bodyguard. Kind of.” Crap, that sounded ridiculous!
Sara seemed to agree. “Bodyguard?”
“Yeah, uh, Dad hired him when he left. To watch out for me.”
“Well, he’s not doing a very good job!” She glared at Rhys’s back.
“It’s not his fault. Don’t get mad, Sara.”
She turned on me. Face red and tears pooling in her eyes. “Don’t you tell me not to get mad! You were almost killed! Who was that woman? Why would she throw you into the street like that? As soon as she got in your face I had
Jude call the cops. They’d better catch her. I don’t see her anywhere.”
I hoped she had distracted herself enough that I wouldn’t have to answer the main question. I didn’t thank her for calling the cops. It probably just created further issue. More witnesses.
“Who was she?”
So much for avoiding that. Time to lie. “I don’t know. She didn’t say. Maybe she has a problem with my father. That kind of stuff happens, you know.” There. That was a good lie.
On top of everything else, though, I remembered how much I missed Dad. I couldn’t mourn him here, because no one knew the truth. Instead, I thanked him silently for giving me a good excuse to use. He would have been proud of my resourcefulness.
My lie mollified Sara well enough. She stopped pestering me. The three of us were quiet for a while, and I spent the time listening to Rhys talk to the cops. I couldn’t really pay close attention, though. All I caught were snippets. Something about jurisdiction and investigative rights.
Sara perked up suddenly. “I’m going to get a medic over here.” She ran off before I could stop her.
Crap
.
“
Jude, please go stop her. I don’t want to be poked and prodded.”
“Sorry, Kass. I’m with her on this. You need to be seen by someone.”
I groaned and went through all the curse words I knew. Silently. In my head. It wouldn’t have been nice to say them aloud.
I needed to get out of there. “Rhys.” I didn’t have the strength to yell, but I didn’t need to. I knew he heard me.
Unfortunately, the police still demanded his attention, and Sara returned with the paramedic.
Middle-
aged with a bit of a gut, he got on the ground beside me with a kit full of stuff that wouldn’t be able to help me. “Kassandra, right?” he said, clarifying like he didn’t know. “Do you hurt anywhere? Can you move?”
He reached for my wrist and I jerked it away. “I’m fine.”
“I know you’re scared, hon, but I need to just check a few things out.” He grabbed my wrist while he was still talking and set his fingers where my pulse should have been.
For a moment he looked confused, and in that instant, I pulled away again.
“That’s funny,” he murmured. I saw him reach for my neck.
“Thank you, sir. I’ll take it from here.” Rhys’s hand clapped against the man’s shoulder.
The medic craned his neck to look up at him. “I couldn’t find her pulse. If it’s that thready, then—”
Rhys reached down and took my wrist, expertly feeling for the pulse he wouldn’t find. “Her pulse is strong,” he said. “She’s a difficult patient. You must have just missed it before.” He coaxed the man back to his feet and out of the way, then wrapped an arm around my waist and lifted me from the sidewalk. I swayed a little on my feet, so I ungracefully leaned into Rhys’s solid form for balance.
The medic was persistent. “She should be taken to the hospital.”
“We’re well equipped to deal with anything she may need,” Rhys said, producing a leather wallet of sorts from his pocket. The sun glinted off something shiny when he flipped it open.
Clearly, whatever he had shown the man put the argument to rest. The medic swallowed his next comment and nodded curtly. “As you say, sir.”
“Thank you for your dedication,” Rhys said, sickeningly polite. The older man left without another word. Now all we had to deal with were my friends.
Rhys was extremely polite to them as well. “I’m going to take Kassandra home now. Feel free to come by and check on her sometime tomorrow.”
Sara looked like she would argue, but Millie appeared out of nowhere, gently placing an arm around Sara’s shoulders. “If you wouldn’t mind,” she said sweetly, “I’d like to take your statements on the incident.”
Jude stopped staring at Rhys long enough to see me nod at him that it was all right. “Sure,” he said, gripping Sara’s hand. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Kass.”
“Okay,” I said, suddenly very tired. “Thanks.”
Millie led them both away, asking questions immediately.
I sank further into Rhys. He flipped the leather wallet he still had in his hand closed, then slipped it back into his pocket.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A badge that basically says I outrank everyone.”
“Oh. Do I get one of those?”
“Not yet.” He scooped me up into his arms and started walking.
I closed my eyes and tried to forget everything that had happened. My muscles ached now, and I could feel the bruises darkening on my skin. At least the thirst had gone away.
“I told Sara you’re my bodyguard,” I said stupidly, the rhythm of Rhys’s steps lulling me to sleep.
He huffed. “I’m not a very good one then.”
“Eh, you did okay.”
Silence.
“I forgive you,” I said.
“For what?”
“For making me go to school. I was mad at you all day for it, but I’m not anymore.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
“I know.”
“Go to sleep, Kassandra.”
“I guess I don’t have to worry about not waking up, right?”
“You’re absolutely fine. The car, however…”
“I broke the wall, too.”
“What wall? When?”
“The one by the sidewalk. When Tabitha was trying to make me go after the girl. I kinda punched it.”
“You’re a destructive little thing today, aren’t you?”
“Sorry.”
“It’s a good thing. Go to sleep. I have you now.”
My heart beat. “I know.”
Chapter Twelve: War and Pieces
I woke to the sounds of a heated argument. Lots of raised voices. Curses, too. I tried to roll over, but gave up. I felt like I’d been run over by a freight train. Everything hurt. I dragged my sore eyelids open. It was dark outside my window, and the clock beside my bed said
two thirty-one in big red numbers. I’d been asleep for a good ten hours. I didn’t even remember reaching the house.
I remembered everything before that, though. I groaned and let my eyes slip shut again.
“You awake?” Warren’s voice was little more than a whisper.
“Yeah.” Carefully, I rolled my head to the side and opened my eyes again. He sat in my desk chair, pulled up beside my bed. “So are you.”
He laughed. “Yes, well, you could keep better hours for me.”
Laughing hurt when I tried it. So I stopped. “Sorry. I’ll try to be more considerate.” With a deep breath, I forced my arms to move and pushed myself up into a sitting position. It hurt. My ribs, especially. Of course, my ribs were what had stopped the car, so that made sense.
“You want some help?”
I painfully reached back and propped my pillow against the headboard, then leaned against them both. “No, I’m okay. Thanks, though. You didn’t have to wait up for me.”
Warren rolled the chair closer. “I’m under orders.”
“Oh. That’s nice.” I needed some aspirin. Though it probably wouldn’t have helped much. I wasn’t sure I had a real circulatory system anymore. “Where’s Rhys?”
“Downstairs arguing with everyone else.”
Duh. Why would he have been here when I woke up? Stupid, Kassandra. “What are they arguing about?”
“Everything.”
I wanted to be a part of that. I had to know what was really going on. Malachi and Tabitha had been up to something. Something more than just disagreeing with the general and his family’s personal beliefs. “Did they find Malachi and Tabitha?” I held my breath, and swung my legs over the side of my bed. As soon as my feet hit the floor I stopped and let out a silent scream of pain.
“No, I don’t believe so. What are you doing?”
“Getting up. I’ve got to walk this off.”
Warren stood, kicking back the chair and positioning himself right in front of me. “I think you’re supposed to stay here.”
“Too bad. Now, are you going to help me up, or get out of my way?”
Grudgingly, he held out his hands.
“Thank you.” I took his help and pulled myself to my feet. My muscles strained and stretched. Really, it was the same pain I used to get after dancing too hard. The kind when your legs just didn’t want to move properly. I could live through it. Walk on it. I’d feel better if I did.
Waiting for the initial shock of holding my weight to taper off, I looked down and noticed for the first time that I was wearing my pajamas. “Who changed me?”
When I got no quick answer I looked back at Warren. He looked decidedly uncomfortable.
“Warren. Who?”
“Aurelia.”
Surprising, she didn’t exactly seem like the caretaker type, but Millie had been at the crash, and Madge had been with Cade. That doctor, Gianna, had been out, too. No one was left.
“And Rhys.”
He said it so quietly I wasn’t sure I had heard him right. I couldn’t have heard him right. “What?”
“Rhys helped, too.”
I felt my face heat up. “Rhys, too?” Oh God, oh God. What had I worn for underwear yesterday? I couldn’t remember. I hoped I’d picked something relatively new, and maybe even a bit pretty. Oh God.
“Well, he had to. You wouldn’t let go of him. And you…freaked a bit when he tried to leave the room.”
Oh God. Floor, open up and swallow me now. I hid my face in my hands.
“It’s understandable, though!” Warren sounded frantic to console me. “You had a traumatic experience. You got hit by a car, and assaulted by a couple of mean vampires. Anyone else would have been the same way.”
Sure. Aurelia wouldn’t have gone into shock. She would have killed Tabitha without a second thought, I was sure of that. The general, too. Millie, Madge, they would have put up a better fight. Cade would have kicked butt. Rhys never would have blubbered like I did.
I was young, weak, and helpless. It sucked.
“Thanks, Warren. It’s not true, but thanks for trying.”
He didn’t argue.
“Are they in the study again?”
“Yes. Do you want to feed before you go down there? Rhys said it might be a good idea.”
I cringed. “No offence, but the last thing I want right now is blood.”
“Okay. Can I at least help you get downstairs? You look like you might fall over.”
I limped towards my door. “If you think you can catch me, sure.”
When I opened my door the arguing got louder. Nothing they said was understandable, though, even when I did my best to concentrate. Warren kept close and I gripped the railing tight as I took each step, working my way down to the ground floor.
Stairs always sucked when your muscles hurt like this. My muscles snapped back like rubber bands when released of my body weight. At the bottom I took a moment to let some of the ache recede, then started the long journey to the study at the back of the house. They hadn’t closed the door, and I could see Millie’s white slacks and navy top next to Aurelia’s gorgeous green dress. Both of them were tense. Aurelia’s arms were crossed, her chin high, and Millie’s arms rapidly illustrated each word that came out of her mouth. They spoke so fast, I still couldn’t understand. But once I got within five feet, I heard Warren turn around and go the other way. Then something strange happened. Their voices warped into unrecognizable sound for one brief moment, then stretched out.
I could hear every single word perfectly.
“It’s an act of war.” Aurelia.
“We cannot jump to such conclusions.” The general.
“What else could it be, Julius?” Millie. “They’ve made no secret of their aggression this time. They attacked in broad daylight, with dozens of humans as witnesses.”
“I agree with Millie,” Cade said. “I know you don’t like to think ill of them because of the relationship we once had, but you know the truth. They’ve turned against us, and they’re using their knowledge of us to strike deep.”
The general grumbled, a low sound similar to what a grizzly bear might sound like. “You’re right. This is unacceptable.”
“I say we issue the order for their deaths. They have broken our law.” Aurelia moved out of my immediate view, so I crept forward a bit more, still keeping out of the doorway.
“I agree,” the general said. “But that means I must appeal to the rest of the council.”
I recognized Madge’s scoff. “I doubt anyone will have a problem with it.” She sounded almost bitter about it.
“The council is divided nowadays, Madge. Both viewpoints have almost equal say. Malachi and his clan of miscreants have supporters.”
“Not when it comes to breaking the law. It is nonnegotiable.” Aurelia’s tone was clipped and angry.
“I know that as well as you do, my love,” the general said. “But the world is changing.”
“Kassandra is here.” Rhys.
All conversation ceased.
Traitor. I had been learning a lot.
Millie appeared in the doorway, bright and cheerful like the sun. I knew it was an act. I’d heard her before. “Up and about already, are you? How do you feel?”
“Like I got hit by a car.” I stepped into the doorway, having no need to hang back any longer. “What’s going on?”
“Just discussing what should be done next.”
“Discussing isn’t the word. I heard you all the way upstairs. I’m surprised you haven’t woken the entire house.” Even if they had, no one would have come investigating. I was the only one dumb enough to do that. “I can stay, right? I want to know what that was all about.” I looked at Rhys instead of Millie. Everyone always defaulted to him when it came to me anyway.
I hadn’t counted on feeling overwhelmingly safe again as soon as my eyes met his. I hadn’t realized how shaken up I had still been.
Did everyone feel like this with the one who had turned them? Or was it something else?
I had a feeling it was something else.
“Yes, you can stay,” he said. “It involves you directly now.”
I slipped all the way into the study. Millie shut the door.
“So fill me in. Why am I a target?”
Aurelia took a seat across the room, beside Madge who twirled a thin silver—something—between her fingers. I couldn’t tell what it was. Cade and the general stood around the same table they had the other day, only now where there had only been one box, there were six.
I crept all the way to Rhys’s side.
“You are a target, my dear, because you are the youngest and newest member of my family,” the general said. He maintained eye contact with me, tracing the edge of one of the boxes. “And as such, you are the easiest to pick off.”
“Fabulous.”
“But the issue will not remain for much longer. We will settle it.”
“It’s just a theory,” I said, “and granted I don’t know much about anything, but I got the feeling they weren’t trying to kill me.”
“No. They were not.”
“What law did they break?”
“The only law. Do not endanger or otherwise expose our existence to the human populous.”
I had been right. Go me. But my muscles screamed at me. I sat in the closest chair. “Why would they want to do that?”
The general glanced at the boxes, then took a seat himself, right beside Aurelia. She took his hand in hers without ceremony. “There are those in our world who believe a change is needed. That vampires should cease living in hiding and should instead become the dominant species of this planet. Others, like myself, feel the world has functioned well under the current conditions and there is no need to displace the humans and their governments.”
“But you have,” I said. “You replaced my father, and I know there are more of you, all over the world, all taking over the major governments.”
“With every intention of giving them back once the world is stable again.”
Rhys and I had already been over this, so I let it go. “So they were using me to start trouble.”
“Using you to create a catalyst, yes.”
“So what happens now?”
Rhys answered. “First, you go nowhere on your own.”
“Fine by me. I didn’t want to go to school anyway.” I shifted in my seat, feeling each and every bruise. I could see a few now, on my legs.
“You’re still going to school,” Rhys said. “We can’t let them think they’ve scared us into hiding.”
I rolled my eyes. “I get a day off to recuperate, right?”
“No one expects you to go back right away after an accident like that.”
Speaking of which. “And how are we explaining all that?” I couldn’t wait to hear this. It would be priceless. I could see the tabloid headline,
Supergirl Mangles Car like Cheese!
I must have giggled or something, because Rhys looked at me like I was crazy.
“Most of the witnesses have been convinced they didn’t really see what they thought they saw. After Cade got back he and I went to the impound lot and reshaped the car so it no longer has a Kassandra-shaped dent. Don’t look at me like that. You could manage it, too, if you took the time to really learn to control your strength.”
Supergirl Molds Car
like Balloon Animal!
Yeah, right. “You reshaped the car?”
“We pulled the dent out a bit, yes.”
I tried to imagine Rhys and Cade at the impound lot, pulling and pushing at the car with hands and feet. It was rather comical, cartoonish even. I would have liked to have seen that. “And people are going to believe that?”
“Julius is in charge of everything now. They’ll believe what he tells them to believe.”
“Wow. I feel like I’m in a bad movie.”
The general waved a hand at me. “The alternative is the truth, and no one would willingly believe that. Our fabricated story will be more welcome.”
“I guess so.” I flexed my arms, stretching and feeling the stiff pull. “So the story is what? That I wasn’t really hit by the car? That it hadn’t been going as fast?”
“Something to that effect, yes,” the general said. “We’ll claim the driver managed to stop the car just shy of hitting you.”
That reminded me. “Is the driver okay?” I didn’t even know if it had been a man or a woman.
“He should be fine. A few minor cuts, bruises, and a concussion. The head injury will work in our favor. He shouldn’t remember much of the details.”
That made me feel better. I would have felt terrible if I had killed the man from slamming into his car. “Anything else I need to know? Before I go back to school, or my friends show up or something?”
The general shook his head. “Those are the basics of the story we will tell. You, too, have a good excuse for being unclear on the details. It was quite the shock.”
Shock was an understatement. Strangely enough, I was torn between being freaked out and perversely impressed. After all, I smashed a car. I had to admit, that was pretty cool.