Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (45 page)

Dawn was breaking and Cat could see the shape of Dr. Bane lying in front of her. He was considerably smaller in size and shivering uncontrollably. She rose stiffly to her feet and made her way to him, relieved when she saw fingers instead of claws peeking out from under the blankets.
What should I do?  Should I wake him up? Or leave him and hope he doesn’t remember I was here? But I have sooo many questions!
Cat argued with herself.

“Dr. Bane? Dr. Bane, it’s Cat. You need to get up or you’re going to freeze to death out here.” She jumped back as he moaned and started to sit up. Cat quickly turned her back to him, embarrassed that he was very naked under the blankets.

“Catherine, what? Why…oh, I didn’t. Yes I did.” She heard his anguished voice as he remembered what had happened.

“Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me. I won’t tell a soul. I promise. Now, do you have any clothes? I didn’t see any in your car. But then again, I didn’t check your medical bag. Maybe you’ve got some in there?” she rambled on, keeping her eyes averted as she reached into his bag. She sighed, relieved when she found a pair of scrubs inside. “Here put these on, and then we’ll get out of here.” He grabbed the clothes from her hand, her eyes still averted.

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Cat shook her head.

“I must say you’re taking this rather well.” He put his hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around. She was relieved that he was now dressed, barefoot, and all goose-pimply, but dressed nonetheless.

“Please, Dr. Bane. I found out I’m adopted, a half-vampire, have to take blood pills every day, and have a white witch for a science teacher. So what’s the big deal about you being a werewolf?” Her smile wobbled as he raised her chin so her eyes met his.

“I always thought you were a tough young woman and now I’ve proven myself right. Thanks for watching over me. I was careless. We’re only forced to change once a year on the Wolf Moon, but last night I had an emergency, and I cut it pretty close…really close.”

“We? There are others? Of course there are. You wouldn’t be alone, that wouldn’t make sense. Wolves travel in packs,  right?”

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag. Excuse the pun. But I guess you had to find out at some point, huh? I just wish it had been under more controlled circumstances.”

“Yeah, people keep telling me that,” Cat joked.

Dr. Bane laughed. “Now, I’m freezing and my feet are numb, so let’s go and straighten this all out.” He took Cat’s arm and they made their way to the cars. “Leave your Jeep, I’ll send someone back for it. I think there are some people you need to see.” Cat buckled herself in the passenger seat and felt grateful when he set the car’s heater to full blast.

Uncle Aldon’s mansion looked like a fairy-tale castle with all the brilliant white snow covering the turrets, roofs, and gardens. Dr. Bane drove his car up the freshly-shoveled driveway and parked by the large-arched heavy oak front doors. Puzzled, Cat took his hand as he held her car door open and pulled her to her feet. “Why are we here?” Cat began to shake, not from the cold, but from fear of what she might learn behind those doors. “I don’t think I want to go in and see Uncle Aldon right now. I think I need to go home,” she said. Her voice shook as bad as her whole body.

“It’ll be fine, Cat, trust me.” Dr. Bane’s beautiful golden brown eyes met hers and she felt a warm feeling come over her.

“Harold! We were worried sick! What happened?”  Aldon’s voice came from the doorway behind Dr. Bane. He turned and Aldon saw Cat standing there.

“Aldon, it would seem we’ve waited too long,” Dr. Bane said resignedly.

“Yes, I see that we have. Well, let’s get this over with. Come on in, Cat. You’ll catch your death of cold out here,” his warm robust voice washed over her. Cat allowed Dr. Bane to lead her into the foyer as her eyes stayed glued to Aldon’s worried face.

“I really need to get home and get ready for school. I’ve got a test today, and I haven’t studied, and I know I’m going to fail, and my car is back in the woods, and Dr. Bane is a werewolf, and I haven’t taken my meds, and…I think I need to sit down,” Cat rambled and felt her legs give out from under her.

Dr. Bane quickly picked her up, carrying her through the ballroom door which was being held open by Aldon. The first thing Cat noticed was that the ballroom was quiet despite the crowd of people standing before her. She saw several members of the football team, their parents, and even her high school’s principal, Ms. Landers.
I can’t believe all of these people are werewolves. What the hell’s going on!
Cat thought crossly.
Dr. Bane held Cat tighter as she gasped when she saw Sam, Rachel, and Taylor moving toward them. As her Dad reached out to take her, she shied away from him and clung closer to Harold. Realizing the truth, a sudden rush of anger swept through Cat.
How dare they do this to me again
!

“Dr. Bane, please put me down,” Cat said quietly and felt herself being lowered to the floor. She straightened out her clothes and then looked up. Everyone stood there like statues. “So, let me get this straight,” her voice echoed through the room, “this past year I thought I was losing my mind, seeing weird things, and fainting a lot. Which, I was told was due to a weird blood disease. Then I found out I was adopted and told I’m half something that I thought was only a myth! Then you tell me there are people or whatever out there who want me dead. Then I realize my boyfriend is kind of like me, and, to top it all off, I secretly trained really hard to be able to protect all of you. Only now I find out you all don’t need my protection! You can do fine on your own! Because you’re all freakin’ werewolves! Well I think…I think…oh hell, I don’t know what to think. I’m mad. Really mad! And right now I don’t want to get into this. So, Dr. Bane you’re going to drive me back to my Jeep, and then I’m going home. And if I don’t wake up in my bed and find this was all a dream, I’m going to school. No, don’t say a word, don’t follow me,” Cat stated, staring everyone down. Turning to Trish, “You too? And Aunt  Druanna?” They both nodded their heads. “Oh this is too much, I need to go home. Harold, I’ll be waiting in the car. I think after what I did for you last night, you could do this one thing for me,” she said. Cat walked out of the room and found Elsie standing by the front door. Moving quickly passed her, Cat wrenched open the door before Elsie could.

Sitting in Dr. Bane’s car, waiting for him to come out, Cat let herself slump into the seat.
My whole life’s been a lie
. She watched as Dr. Bane came through the mansion’s front door and made his way to the driver’s side of the car. His handsome face was strained. Aldon stood in the doorway a forced smile on his lips. “Sorry about the Harold bit,” Cat blurted out. “I’m usually not so disrespectful. I hope you can forgive that.”

“Of course, Cat. I only hope you can find it in your heart to forgive us. Aldon wanted you to have this back, and I think-”

“Take me home, please. I don’t have time to discuss this right now. I need normal.” She heard Dr. Bane sigh as he started the car. They rode the rest of the way in silence with Cat holding tightly onto the journal she thought she had lost in her lap.

Arriving home, Cat entered the empty house feeling sadness instead of anger. She wanted her life back. The way it was before she started high school.
How could they have kept this from me?  How am I going to face them? All of them?  Not to mention the fact werewolves and vampires don’t get along. At least not in any of the books or movies I’ve ever seen.
Everything began to dawn on her. The tension between Isaac’s and Taylor’s group, the way Ryan had acted when Cat first brought him home…Little memories came back of things that hadn’t quite made sense before, but now made perfect sense.

Where do I go from here?  Act like everything’s alright? I know they were just trying to protect me, that they love me, but how? Werewolves can’t possibly love a half-vampire. But they knew when they adopted me, and they took me anyway. Look what they’ve given me and how do I act? How do I show my thanks? By acting like a moron. A total immature moron!
Cat stood up from the stair she had been sitting on and started for the front door with the intention of having Dr. Bane take her back to Aldon’s to make amends. She was surprised when the front door opened and her family stood in front of her, their anxious faces waiting for her to respond. Cat lunged forward and put her arms around them, bursting into tears. She sobbed as they hugged her tightly.