Hotblood (27 page)

“
No, he has that cool face, how’s this?” I examined her scowl carefully, then shook my head. Her features shifted, and I ended up falling over I was laughing so hard. As far as I remembered Snowy had never been funny. Snowy pulled down my skirt.

“
Hi Dariana, Snowy.” I saw Smoke with Ash a step behind him. Snowy smiled at him pleasantly, but there was an undercurrent of disapproval in her.

I sat up and smoothed down the skirt, feeling ridiculous, but happy. I grinned at Smoke. “Hi. Are you ready to get sick?”

He grinned back and gave me a hand up. We walked through the booths, not holding hands. All the adults carefully guarded the end of summer festival, making sure the kids didn’t do anything but have a good time. Snowy did her best, but she couldn’t help muttering that someone should have put some thought into a cohesive color scheme. Smoke came back with something about obsessive compulsive, and I grinned, stopping to watch someone toss a ring on a milk jug. As we wandered through the festivities, I felt relaxed. I loved the smell of popcorn and cotton candy, the sun warm on the pavement, kids running through the crowds screaming, with sticky hands outstretched. I smiled around me at all the people who were comfortably familiar. It felt good, more than good. It felt great. With Snowy’s running commentary about who was doing what with who, who had flunked out of math last year, and had to retake it, who had gotten grounded when they’d gotten caught making out, and Smoke’s sarcastic come-backs, I got an intimate look at Sanders that delighted me. I loved the color. My mother’s house didn’t look all that different to me from my former vision of it, but the rest of the town did. Snowy might complain about the lack of a color scheme, but I found it wonderful. I twirled around in my sundress to look up at the Ferris wheel. I felt like a part of these happy people, my people, the town of Sanders.

I’d had my fill of popcorn, ice slushies, and strawberry flavored licorice. We stood in line for the tilt-a-whirl. Once I was on the ride, I stood there, tied in, and wondered if I was going to throw up, but then the wind blew my hair around, and I felt a growing sense of freedom and found myself laughing.

“
Let’s do that again,” I said as we all got off.

“
No, thank you,” Snowy said and Ash nodded. Smoke gave me a weak smile then we were in line again. I dragged him on three more times. After the fourth ride, he was standing on one leg, adjusting his sandal when Valerie stumbled into him.

“
Woah,” he exclaimed, holding her up awkwardly.

“
Smoke, darling,” she said gazing at him. “I hurt my ankle. Will you help me to my blanket? I’m dying to watch the fireworks.”

Smoke looked at me, his eyes wider than I’d ever seen them. I shrugged and felt slightly sick. “Go on if you want. I’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll go on the tilt-a-whirl a few more times.”

“
I…” He looked down at Valerie who was leaning more and more of her weight on him.

“
Later, Smoke,” I said and turned into the crowd letting it swallow me.

“
I would never abandon my date,” Harris’ voice broke in behind me.

I turned and looked at him. He looked fine enough except for around his eyes. They were blurry and a little unfocused. He smelled like old mop water, like alcohol.

“
Are you drunk?” I asked.

He laughed and shrugged. “Just enough to take off the edge. The other day what you did was totally hot. If Snowy hadn’t come along and busted us up…”

“
You’d be in a hospital,” Lewis said grabbing Harris around the neck in a friendly chokehold. “I’d see to it.” He let Harris go and stepped to the side so he was between Harris and me. Harris rubbed his throat and looked like he had a hard time swallowing.

“
I’m just being friendly,” he said glaring at Lewis. “Between you and Osmond, Dari doesn’t have any fun.”

I stood there wondering what kind of fun he thought I could have without Lewis or Osmond then decided I didn’t want to know. “It’s true, Harris. With you I really could have fun, but it would be over so quickly there really wouldn’t be much point.”

Lewis and Harris both gave me startled looks then Lewis started laughing. I didn’t see what was funny about how long it would take to rip out his throat.

“
Whatever,” I muttered and turned towards the Ferris wheel. I got in line and tried not to notice that Lewis was standing behind me. I handed my ticket to the guy and stepped into the cage. He gestured Lewis through to sit beside me.

“
Two to a cart,” he answered the expression on my face.

“
Great.” I turned to look out over the parking lot as the basket swung up.

“
Nice night,” he murmured. When I looked at him, he was looking over his side. The expression on his face was peculiar when he looked up at me. “I love this,” he said sounding surprised. He rocked back and forth then nodded again. “It’s fun.” He grinned at me and I couldn’t help returning the smile.

“
I should have taken you on the tilt-a-whirl. I wore everybody else out.”

“
Next time,” he said easily and settled back to watch the night sky and the lights below us. The first firework went off making everything green. “Nice,” Lewis said quietly. I looked at him, his face in shifting shadows as the Ferris wheel went round and round. He looked relaxed enough he could fall asleep any minute. I leaned back and found the tension slipping out of me. Ever since I’d gotten into Satan’s car to come back to Sanders, I’d been a tightly coiled spring. Sitting in the darkness watching fireworks with Lewis was exactly what I needed. The crowd below made exclamations of wonder at each burst and I found my attention rapt at the color, the explosions of sound and energy that looked close enough to touch when we were on the top of the wheel. The finale came and went, and the lights came on. The Ferris wheel rolled to a stop and Lewis climbed out and held a hand to me. I had a hard time moving after the stillness and stumbled over my feet. He put an arm around me to balance me like he’d done it a million times before. I looked up at him and wanted nothing more than to reach on my tiptoes and press a kiss to his cheek. I no sooner thought it than I leaned towards him and brushed my lips against his face. He froze and I pulled back, wondering what had come over me.

I forced a smile. “Thanks for the ride.” I turned away trying to get lost in the crowd. Heat burned my face and a new sensation coiled in my stomach. It was silly, but it was my first kiss and I couldn’t imagine it going any better. Maybe if he’d smiled at me and held my hand instead of staring at me like he was in shock would have been nice, but I couldn’t say it would be nicer. The more I thought about it the more I felt like the natural impulse of it, like it had felt when he put his arm around me made the entire thing all right. Kissing was entirely out of my domain, but it seemed like even friends could kiss cheeks. French people did it all the time. I wanted to spin around and giggle, but I managed to only skip a few times before I settled down to a mature walk.

At home in the kitchen I found something to eat among the many leftovers in the fridge.

“
Was the boy you were with the one who challenged Satan?” my mother asked.

I froze while my mind raced for something to say. “Which boy?” I winced when I’d said it. Only one boy was insane enough, or brilliant enough to challenge Satan and live through it.

She looked at me for a long time before she looked away. “I think it would be neighborly to invite Old Peter over for dinner on Sunday. What do you think he’d like?”

I stared at her and felt my heart race in my chest. “Dad said it’s a good idea I stay away from him. He’s dangerous.”

“
Oh really?” she looked almost surprised. “Well, I’m sure we’ll be careful. You’d better get to bed. I think we should make an early morning of it tomorrow.”

I winced when I remembered the shopping expedition. A day with Snowy was exactly what I didn’t need.

“
How was the fair?” Satan stood in the doorway and took his time looking back and forth at us. “Looks like you had fun.”

I shrugged and headed for the stairs. “Too much fun.”

In my room I didn’t bother to turn on the light. I lay there watching the stars outside the window. I could hear the voices from downstairs since no one was bothering to keep quiet.

“
You’re going to lose her if you…” Satan’s growl was cut off by my mother’s voice.

“
All you care about is Slide. She’s my daughter. I’ve already lost one child to the House. I’m not going to sacrifice any more for that. I haven’t seen any of you for twenty years, and you think you can just show up and take up where you left off?”

“
I’m not the House, but you’re blind if you don’t see what’s coming.”

“
What’s coming Satan?”

“
War.”

My mother’s laugh had a slightly hysterical tint to it before it disappeared. “There’s always war.” Her voice was hard. “I was disowned by the family, and I disowned them. I don’t see how after my son dies, you think you can stick your claws into her.”

“
I’m not the house,” Satan growled.

“
Oh no, of course not. You’re just, what, the good-natured uncle she never even saw before the funeral. I accepted your role as protector as a debt you owed me after Devlin, not as an opportunity for you to corrupt my daughter.”

“
Corrupt?”

“
Or kill. You treat her like one of those Hotbloods you were so fond of.”

“
Well she is a Hotblood, and you treat her with no respect. She’s a teenager. She needs some space.”

“
She’s my daughter, who didn’t have a soul for ten years. The way I see it, she’s a six year old, just growing up. She’s not ready for a boy.”

“
She dreams him Helen.”

I sat up in bed shocked at Satan’s words. When had my dad told him about that?

“
Is that supposed to make a difference?” My mother did not seem surprised by this information.

“
What if they’re soul mates?”

I didn’t want to hear any more. I slid open my window and leaned out into the night that had turned wild, the wind whipping my hair around my face, but I could still hear their voices. I didn’t want to hear them talking about me. She thought I was a six-year-old? I fought down the shudder of heat, but I was losing it. I clutched the window frame, trying to calm down. I heard a scream that went through me. He was there. I looked out into the woods, illuminated by a bright bolt of lightning. I didn’t think; I jumped.

11Punks and Paintings

I don’t remember hitting the grass. I ran through the slanting rain between the shapes of evergreens on my way to the woods. I forgot my family, myself—everything. As I neared the border before it gave way to trees, a shape in the darkness hurled itself at me, and the contact knocked me on my back. My breath was gone while I stared into the curved fangs, and glowing eyes of a demon hound. A flash of lightning and a boom of thunder shook the ground but it stayed on my chest. There was another scream from the forest, and I twisted getting beneath the hound and sent her flying. She landed lightly and sprang back at me. I dodged her, but realized that she was pushing me further from the woods. I ran directly towards her and fought her, wrestling out from under her when she pinned me. I pinned her, and it felt like she was playing. I wasn’t playing. A scream from the woods filled me with a desperate illogical need to get past her. I dodged around her, but she seemed to know what I was going to do before I did. I ended up even closer to the house than I’d been before. Was it the same dog from my dad’s woods? What had he called her, Ruby?

I was wrestling when the light came on. I blinked through the rain on my face as Ruby growled at me and I took a step back towards the house. She crouched, waiting for me to make my move, but then she lifted her head towards the patio and the sliding doors. She seemed to hesitate a moment, then sprang from where we were on the grass back into the woods. I was sweaty and panting. The lightning seemed to be getting farther away, and I looked down, and saw scorched grass, smelled it, and felt burning under my bare feet.

“
What was that?” Satan asked walking towards me through the rain.

I looked at him, and tried to focus a little more. Everything had happened so fast. “None of your business.”

He got a scowl on his face but before he said anything my mother came to the door. “Dariana, what are you doing out here?” She sounded worried.

“
Almost getting struck by lightning,” I muttered and walked through the door past her. I was pleased to note that I didn’t take a bite out of either one of them. Wrestling with Ruby had filled me with something like I felt when I was with the Nether creature. I shook my head trying to clear it as I made my way back up the stairs aware of the wet footprints I left behind me. Why would I be so desperately compelled to find the Nether after I’d had such a great time with Lewis on the Ferris wheel?

That night my dreams were haunted by visions of demonic red eyes, sometimes in the monster the Nether rode, but more often from the hound. I woke up with a headache, and took the glass of autumn Satan handed me at breakfast gratefully.

My mother wore a nice black suit, and looked at me expectantly. What? I looked down at myself. What was wrong with my dress and boots? After the large breakfast I sat in her large black car. My head ached, probably from thunder.

When we picked up Snowy, she climbed in beside me. “Did you have fun at the festival?” She asked, with a mischievous smile. Oh great, she was going to bring up the festival now?