Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (25 page)

Cat gasped. “Coach!” she cried out as she knelt down and felt for a pulse. She was still alive. Standing up, Cat glared at the three girls, her fingernails digging into her palms. She noticed Linda was not looking as blood thirsty as the other two, in fact she avoided eye contact with Cat altogether.

“Tag! You’re it!” Becca yelled, tossing Kirsten forcefully at her. Cat caught Kirsten and struggled slightly to help her stand upright. Grabbing hold of Kirsten’s hand, she took off running away from the girls. Wicked laughter echoed throughout the locker room.

“What’s going on?” Kirsten asked breathlessly, trying to keep up.

Cat paused and looked around for a place to hide. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Cat replied hurriedly. The sound of fingernails lightly scratching lockers seemed to grow louder and louder.

“Cat…Cat…we’re coming to get you,” Amy whispered eerily.

Spying the sports equipment cage, Cat dragged Kirsten over to it. “Hide in here, I’ll come back for you when it’s safe.”

“No! Forget it, I’m staying with you! There’s no way you’re putting me in a cage while you get to run around!”

Cat palmed Kirsten’s face, “Sorry, but this is for your own good,” she said apologetically as she forcefully shoved Kirsten into the cage, causing her to crash into the shelves holding the basketballs. The shelves toppled over and Kirsten fell to the floor unconscious. Cat apologized again, and then locked the padlock on the cage door. As she turned around, Cat came face to face with Amy, who was grinning menacingly.

“Fetch!” she yelled as she backhanded Cat, sending her flying down a row of lockers, slamming into the ones at the far end. Cat looked up wearily, groaning, her vision blurred. “Aww, I’m sorry. Was that too hard?” Amy asked as she ran her hand along the side of Cat’s face. Suddenly, Amy was thrown backward. Cat could hear a struggle happening before her in the distance, but couldn’t make out anything. She heard something smash into a locker, making it squeak under the pressure. Hearing the painful grunts that followed, Cat tried to focus on what was going on, but her vision blurred again, and then nothing, just darkness.

“Cat? Cat?!” A muffled voice called out to her. Blinking, Cat slowly opened her eyes. “Cat, you alright?”

“Yeah,” she strained out, smiling wobbly when she recognized Ryan’s voice. Her eyes focused and she was happy to see those baby blues staring back at her.

“What the hell happened here?”

“Did you…fight them off?” she asked.

“Who?”

“The three missing girls.”

“What? Exactly how hard did you hit your head?”

“No, they were here, Ryan…they’re vampires…even Linda,” she murmured, trying to shake the dizziness she was feeling.

“Cat, are you sure they were vampires?”

“Totally sure,” she replied. Ryan carefully helped Cat to her feet. Pressing on the locker, he tried to smooth out the dent she had made, slowly molding it back to its original shape…somewhat. Standing, Cat put her arm around Ryan’s shoulder as he helped her sit down on the bench. “What are you doing here?”

“Hannah told me you had a fight with Kirsten and Coach Hutchins made you stay after practice. So, I decided to wait for you. Then I heard all the commotion, like someone fighting, and rushed in to find you here,” he explained.

Cat’s eyes grew wide, “Oh Coach…and Kirsten! We need to check on them!” Helping her up, they both scrambled over to the sports equipment cage to find Kirsten. Breaking the lock and opening the cage door, Ryan and Cat saw movement under one of the shelves that had fallen over. Ryan lifted up the shelf with one hand and tossed it aside. A quiet groan came from the pile of basketballs. Reaching in, Ryan pulled Kirsten out. She slowly opened her eyes. Looking around, Kirsten realized she hadn’t been dreaming, and began freaking out.

“Vampires! Where are the vampires?!” Kirsten asked frantically. Ryan glanced at Cat with a look of concern.

“There are no such things as vampires,” Cat replied, chuckling nervously.

“What do you mean? We were just attacked by them, just before you pushed me into this cage…hey! You pushed me in here!” she stated angrily.

“No, I didn’t. You must’ve fallen in the cage and knocked yourself out. We came running when we heard the crash,” Cat lied, as Kirsten looked at her with questioning eyes.

“Ryan, what are you doing in the girls’ locker room?” Coach Hutchins asked as she came around the corner, rubbing her head.

“Uh, well,” Cat began to explain, but then Ryan put his hand on her arm and squeezed gently. She turned to look at him and he shook his head. Moving toward Coach Hutchins, Ryan looked deeply into her eyes and whispered something Cat couldn’t hear. Coach Hutchins nodded and walked back toward her office, looking as if in a trance.

“What did you say to her, Ryan?” Cat asked.

“I took care of it, don’t worry,” he replied, smiling reassuringly.

“Will someone please explain to me what’s going on here?” Kirsten asked in frustration.

Ryan turned to her, his eyes jet black. “Everything’s fine, Kirsten. You had a little accident and we came to help you. Get your things and go home,” he said. Kirsten stiffened, her eyes glazed over in a trance. She gathered her stuff from her locker and left, not looking back.

“You just used your vamp mind tricks, didn’t you?!” Cat asked in disbelief. Ryan looked at her with a trickle of blood running down from his nose. “Ryan, your nose, it’s bleeding!” He smirked and then wiped the blood away.

“I guess it is. I might have overdone it a bit,” he replied and then stumbled, falling into her arms. Propping him up, Cat sat him down on the bench next to the equipment cage.

“Ryan, are you okay?” Cat asked with worry in her voice. He nodded while rubbing his head, trying to ease the pressure. “Well, this is a switch, huh? I’m usually the one getting all light-headed and falling on the floor,” she remarked, giggling softly. He began to chuckle but then groaned.

“I’ve never done that before…it was kind of intense. We’re actually forbidden to control someone’s memory like that. But I had to…there was no other choice,” he explained. “Unfortunately, we have bigger problems than stopping Kirsten from spreading our secret,” he continued, looking at Cat with concern in his eyes.

“I’ll say,” she responded dismally. Reaching into his pocket, Ryan withdrew a small silver canister. He popped the top off with shaky hands and dumped a large blood red pill onto his palm. “Hey, that looks like the pills I take.”

 “Yeah, remember how I said our coven here is special, well this
little
baby is the reason,” Ryan stated, examining the pill, holding it up to the fluorescent lights. In the light it had a deep red glow to it. “Dr. Bane has all us vampires on it. So it doesn’t surprise me that you take them too,”

“And if you don’t take them…then what?” Cat asked.

He chuckled. “I don’t know. That’s never happened before. All I know is they curb our appetite, and that my mom is very adamant about us taking them.” 

“Hey Ryan, how is it you and your coven can walk in the sun? I thought sunlight was like a vamp’s kryptonite? I mean, I know why I can, because I’m still half-human.”

“Well, just between you and I, these pills we take, are like some kind of blood steroid. It makes us like the living undead…if that makes any sense?” Ryan replied.

“Kind of...but then that would mean you’re just-”

“Like you?” Ryan completed her sentence. “Yeah, that’s our secret. None of our brethren know that our whole coven here in Astoria are all like the Children they want to destroy. Actually, no one knows that us youngsters even exist. Our parents have hidden us away from our brethren, in hopes that we can all lead
normal
lives. Which is why you can’t tell anyone what I’ve told you, okay?”

“Scout’s honor, my lips are sealed,” she replied. “This is all just so crazy! To think I thought none of this existed, but here it all is, right here in Astoria,” she continued, slightly laughing.

“Yep, this place is like one big cornucopia of the supernatural,” he joked.

“Ryan, have you ever…you know, drank blood?”

“You mean like bite someone? No, why?” he replied and then popped the pill in his mouth.

“Just curious.” 

 “Mom, dad! I’m home!” Cat announced walking through the front door.

“So, laps for fighting, huh?” Taylor smirked, shaking his head. Rachel and Sam came into the foyer, both looking disappointed. Cat dodged their glares.

“Catherine Colvin! I thought we raised you better than that,” Rachel reprimanded. “And Kirsten? Of all people to fight with.”

“Mom, I can explain-”

“There’s no explanation for this, Cat. I want you to march up to your room and think about what you’ve done,” Rachel said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Cat, you really should be more careful. You don’t need to be drawing unnecessary attention your way. The last thing we need is for someone to find out what you are. Especially a gossip queen like Kirsten,” Sam explained while cleaning his glasses with his shirt. Cat giggled at the fact her dad used the phrase gossip queen, but then quickly apologized, putting on a serious face as no one else was smiling.

Rachel pointed up to the stairs and Cat slouched with a slight huff, as she made her way up to her room. Closing the bedroom door behind her, Cat kicked off her shoes, threw down her messenger bag, and flopped down on her bed exhausted. Rolling over, she looked up at the ceiling thinking about what could have happened if that person hadn’t intervened.
I wonder who helped me?
Hearing a faint squeak outside of her window, Cat sat up quickly. She heard the sound again and moved cautiously toward it, grabbing a shoe off the floor along the way. Peering out the window, Cat saw Ryan sitting on the bench just outside. He seemed to be in deep thought while he studied the forest as if waiting for something. Opening the window, “Ryan, what are you doing? Have you been here this whole time?”

“Yeah. I thought I’d sit watch for a while,” he replied, smiling at her, his beautiful eyes glistening in the moonlight.

“Need some company?” she asked, returning his smile.

“Don’t you need to get some sleep?”

“Not really, I’ve kind of become an insomniac.”

“Yeah, that happens. It comes with the whole being a vampire thing,” he said with a chuckle and then patted the bench. Cat sat down next to him. He wrapped his arm around her as she snuggled up close, burying her head into his shoulder. “You know, I was really worried about you tonight. We really need to be careful, Cat. Cat?” he asked when he heard quiet snoring coming from her. “Insomniac, huh?” he joked. Scooping her up into his arms, Ryan carried Cat into her room, her body wriggling slightly as if to protest. Kissing her forehead, he tucked her into bed.

“You really do love her, don’t you?” Taylor asked from Cat’s doorway. Ryan tensed, looking up at him in shock.

“How did you-”

Taylor tapped on his nose, “Keen sense of smell, remember?”

“Oh. I was just leaving,” he replied, turning to the window.

“Hey, you didn’t answer my question!” Ryan turned back to face Taylor.

“Yes, I really do love her,” he whispered, as Cat tossed and turned slightly in bed.