Page 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

It was the first time Kade had been alone in a room with Skeeter, and the silence was becoming unbearable.

He glanced hopefully toward the living room. Theo had said he was going to pick a DVD from the Sloans’ old-school collection, which surely wouldn’t take long. But they’d been here for several minutes already, and Theo hadn’t followed him into the kitchen.

“Soooo,” Kade said as the tin foil finally started to expand over the popcorn pan. “Like, you can hang out with Liss and it doesn’t affect you at all?”

Skeeter blinked at him. She had a finger in her mouth, gnawing the nail. Kade wondered if she, too, had discovered that nail-chewing got even more disgusting when they grew back so fast. No more careless nibbles. It was a dedicated chew, every time.

“Pretty much,” she said. “So, um. What are you doing for college?”

“Huh?”

“I just don’t know much about you,” Skeeter continued apologetically. “I just thought…um, never mind.”

“No, it’s fine.” Kade blinked hard, jumping tracks from the vampire crap that had been consuming his life for a year and back to normal life shit. That was what they were doing this for, right? Normal. Mundane. Taking their mind off the imminent doom.

“I want to try fashion school,” Kade admitted. “Maybe.”

He braced himself for a snicker. But Skeeter brightened.

“Oh, cool! Felicity said you do all your own clothes. Some of Theo’s, too. I’m going to apply for some out of state schools and see if I can get scholarships. I don’t know what I’ll major in yet. Mom says I should go to law school, but that sounds like a lot. If I don’t get scholarships I’ll just stay in town and work a while. Save some money.”

She bit her lip, falling quiet. Kade had never heard her talk so much at once. When they were in the woods together, they had to stay quiet so they didn’t chase the animals away.

“It’s weird,” she said shyly, as if she expected Kade to shut her down any moment now. “This time last month I was worried about if I should take up a sport to make my extracurriculars look good to colleges.”

“Your extracurriculars are already pretty damn good,” Kade said, thinking about the debate club and the chess club and a few other clubs Felicity had mentioned while Kade wasn’t paying attention, instead watching Felicity’s blood drain from her wrist into a mug.

“You could do a sport,” Kade continued. “You could be a pro athlete.”

Skeeter sighed. “It wouldn’t be real. And I don’t know if sports are for me anyway. Last time I played a team sport I told our goalie I was going to sue her for being so bad at her job.”

Kade laughed at her embarrassed expression. “Shit. Maybe you should be a lawyer.”

She stared at him. Then she ducked her head, turning to the popcorn pan again. Kade shrank back, assuming it was a signal that the conversation was over. Did she think his laugh was weird? Both Theo and Felicity had admitted they were surprised when Kade had a laugh that was different from the harsh, contemptuous bark he’d let out at school. Until recently, nobody except Sundance had heard his stupid giggle in a very long time.

The tin foil swelled, popcorn crackling underneath. Kade’s fingers twitched as he thought of burns and flowers and death.

Skeeter asked, “Why aren’t you this nice at school?”

Kade stared at her, lost for words.

Skeeter winced apologetically. “At school you’re always, um, growly? You kind of freaked me out, honestly. Theo too, for different reasons. Now you’re…I don’t know. You’re pretty cool.”

She shrugged again, shoulders climbing like she wanted to vanish into them. Kade could relate—something about that small compliment made him want to find a dark corner to hide in. He didn’t get a lot of compliments. He still got flustered when Theo said something nice about him, to Theo’s continued delight.

Kade cleared his throat. “Yeah, well. Gotta play up the Monster persona, right? Otherwise the fair folk of Lock High will walk all over me.”

“Um. Sure.” She gave him a timid smile. “It just…sounds kind of tiring.”

Kade almost laughed again. His school laugh, dark and bitter. He’d been shoved around his whole life, so he’d turned himself into something sharp so at least he could have the satisfaction of watching them bleed. It was exhausting, being something people cut themselves on.

“No offense,” Skeeter continued, biting her continuously regrowing nails again, the polish long since gnawed off.

Kade opened his mouth to insist it was fine. Then he froze.

Blood in the air. Just a little bit, but enough to make his mouth water.

“What?” Skeeter asked.

Kade forced a smile. “You don’t smell that?”

“Smell what?” Skeeter paused, cocking her head. “Oh. Felicity must’ve hurt herself again. She trains really hard, I keep telling her to cool it.”

The pan let out a worrying pop.

“Oh damn.” Skeeter lurched toward the popcorn.

Kade watched her lift it off the stovetop, despairing. Why was he still so hungry ? Why did a faint whiff of blood make him spiral when Skeeter barely noticed it, humming as she bustled around the kitchen grabbing a bowl for the popcorn only one of them was able to eat?

The tantalizing scent drifted closer. Voices came with it, Theo’s tense and trying not to be, Felicity’s dismissive and impatient.

Kade gripped the countertop behind him.

“I told you, I like my scars,” Felicity said as she reached the kitchen doorway, holding a chocolate protein shake. Her hair was wet and she had on the baggy sushi PJs she wore when she was bloated. Yet another bandage gleamed on her upper arm, specks of red dotting the white fabric.

Kade held his breath. It didn’t help. The scent invaded him anyway, crawling down his throat and squeezing his dead heart. He didn’t just want it, he needed it. No matter how much he told himself he was full, he knew what he needed, and it was right under Felicity’s scarred skin, waiting for him to?—

“Babe,” Theo said. “Watch the strength.”

Kade blinked. Theo was standing in front of him, smiling stiffly. He was holding a Rocky Horror DVD, thanks to Beverly Sloan having Opinions on preserving physical media.

Theo motioned behind him. Kade turned.

The countertop behind him was cracked. Ten dents from Kade’s sharp, hard fingers.

“Shit,” Kade said. “Sorry.”

“We’re gonna remodel in the fall anyway,” Felicity said with a hesitant grin. “You’re basically helping us.”

She tugged at her bandage, her grin brightening when she noticed the bowl Skeeter was holding. “Aw, popcorn for the token human? I’m touched!”

“You have to eat all of it,” Skeeter said, in a weird voice that made Kade feel he was missing an inside joke.

“So you can live vicariously through me? Ugh, I guess .” Felicity tucked her protein shake under her arm and swiped the bowl, throwing a handful of popcorn into her mouth. “Come on, gang. Night’s a’wasting, and I have a lot of nails to get through.”

She reached for Kade’s hand, possibly to critique how his were always peeling.

Kade stepped back so fast he backed into the counter. The sink rattled behind him, metal buckling.

Kade winced. The Sloans were rich, they could replace whatever he’d just broken. He just wished he could stop breaking their house.

“I’m actually gonna go for a walk,” he said, too loud. “I need some air.”

“No you don’t,” Felicity said, looking utterly unconcerned by the state of her kitchen.

“Figure of speech, Liss.”

“Well, we can’t put it off,” Felicity said. “Me and Mom are going to the Emmerson house at eight.”

“That’s tonight?”

“Yup. Mom’s distracting, I’m sneaking. Hopefully I find something more useful than the dad’s eighties porn collection this time.”

Kade rubbed his forehead, trying to shove down the persistent pulse emanating under Felicity’s warm skin. “Whatever. Start the movie without me, I’ve seen it already.”

He tried to ignore Theo’s worried gaze as he stepped past him, but Theo caught his sleeve.

“I’m fine, sunshine,” Kade lied. “Promise. I just need a smoke.”

Theo frowned. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“Nope,” Kade said, and sauntered out.

He paced through the woods, chain-smoking cigarettes. One for every long inhale.

“Shit,” he whispered, crushing a seventh cigarette under his boot. “Shit, shit, bloody goddamn shit .”

He shelled out another cigarette, hand shaking as he lit up. He wanted to go back into Felicity’s kitchen and start smashing things. He wanted to grab Theo and shake him, yell at him that he didn’t need to be watched like a puppy who might piss on the carpet. Or, y’know, savage the next person to walk past. He wanted to sink his fangs into something, he wanted to rip it apart. Most of it wasn’t even bloodlust. It was just Kade , that old Renfield urge to destroy everything around him and then himself. It was older than the hunger. It had been here before he even existed?—

A low, shitty whistle pulled Kade out of his thought spiral.

Finn Harley was strolling through the woods, a shovel slung over his shoulder and a determined look on his stupid, smug face.

Kade ducked behind a thick tree before Finn could notice him.

“What the hell?” He muttered. The last time he went into the woods with a shovel, it was to bury Mr. Fletcher. Everybody was staying out of the woods since high schoolers started getting kidnapped, and Finn was prancing through, devil-may-care? Something was up.

Kade pulled out his phone and started typing: FINN DOING WEIRD SHIT IN THE WOODS, COME NOW .

He hit send. A reply came in less than ten seconds later:

Coming. Don’t do anything stupid til I get there .

“Right,” Kade whispered. “I’ll just save the stupid until after you show up. Thanks, babe.”

Finn stopped. Tilted his head.

Kade froze. He didn’t say it that loud, right? He was too far away for Finn to hear that. There was no way?—

Finn hoisted the shovel, waving ineffectually.

“Hey!” he called. “I thought I was gonna have to find it on my own. Am I close? I brought the shovel!”

A warm, friendly voice echoed through the woods, filling Kade with dread.

“I can see that,” said Carol Fairgood as she stepped into view. She was wearing a peach pantsuit, her hair styled into her husband’s trademark curls, which Kade had never seen her without.

“You’re close,” she continued. “A little bit this way.”

“Cool,” said Finn easily.

Kade tailed them, reeling. Finn was acting so normal ; did he know what was going on? Was he a psychopath who was totally okay with whatever freaky shit Carol was leading him toward? She had to be leading him somewhere bad, why else would Victor’s second-in-command be out in the woods with Finn Harley on a random school day evening?

“Sooo,” Finn said after an awkwardly silent walk, struggling under the weight of the shovel. “How was your trip?”

“Invigorating,” she replied, coming to a stop on a seemingly innocuous patch of forest floor. “You can start here.”

“Cool!” Finn stopped, letting the shovel fall off his shoulder. He took a second to stretch, muscles popping before he picked the shovel back up, holding it like he’d never dug a hole in his damn life. He drove the blade into the dirt, glaring accusingly when it only earned him a tiny spoonful of dirt.

“Thanks for this,” Finn continued, grunting with effort. “I was going to have to jump through so many hoops, you have no idea. People will be talking about this party forever .”

“Fingers crossed,” Carol replied.

Kade got out his phone again. His fingers were shaking. Was it the spear under that dirt? The dress? Some other shit they had no clue they should’ve been looking for? How did he even phrase this? Hey babe, your mom’s back in town. No, she didn’t come to see you, she’s helping some kid dig a hole in the woods for dubiously nefarious purposes. I’m crouching in some bushes twenty feet away, hurry up.

But before he could press send, an overwhelming scent made him freeze.

He looked up, dead stomach filling with dread as he saw exactly what he’d been expecting.

Finn examined his finger, annoyed. The smallest drop of blood beaded on his fingertip.

“Shit,” he sighed.

Carol looked up. She had been examining the forest, scanning in a way that made Kade instantly nervous.

“What is it?”

“Nothing. Just cut myself. Shoveling is hard .” Finn shook his hand. A drop of blood landed in the dirt.

“Not that hard,” he continued. “Like, I can do it…”

The rest of Finn’s defense faded out, replaced by his deafeningly loud heartbeat slamming in Kade’s ears.

Don’t, Kade begged.

But he could feel the monster inside him baring its teeth. Could feel his own body betraying him, his new instincts taking over as he dropped into a crouch. Could hear himself growling, snarling, ready to destroy something.

Ready to hunt.