Electric (7 page)

"She wasn't in there. And when I asked the bartender he said no girl like that had come in."

"Okay, maybe she just snuck in somehow."

"Did you actually see her go in?"

I scrunched my mouth. "Ah, no. I had a little issue with a bag lady in the alleyway."

"So, we lost her?"

"Yes, but don't make it sound like it’s my fault."

"I didn't say that Sale."

"Yeah, but I know your tones."

He gave me a side look as he continued to pull me down the sidewalk. "Let's get back to the car and figure out something else."

That's when I noticed that his palm was sweaty and he shook a little. I yanked him to a stop. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Trevor I know you and I can tell when you're scared. You look like you saw a ghost."

He licked his lips, his gaze darting all over the place.  "I saw him."

"Who?"

"Him."

"Oh." all the blood rushed from my head and I felt faint. I grabbed onto his arm. "Did he see you?"

He nodded.

"Damn."

"He smiled at me."

I shivered knowing what that smile looked like. "Did you see Seth or Quinn?"

"No, just Merlin in the corner drinking a draft beer."

"That sounds messed up."

"It was."

We started walking again, this time he didn't need to pull me; I had a renewed spring in my step. Fear did that to a person. By the time we made it back to the car, I was almost running. We passed the street Heather had parked on and lo and behold, her car was gone.

"How did she get by us?" I asked.  "We would've seen her if she doubled back."

"The question we should be asking is, why did she double back? You only do that if you think someone is following you."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

We reached Trevor's car and got in. Although it was a nice day, Id didn’t roll down the window. I was still shivering inside my jacket. Merlin had that effect on me.  Trevor started the car and pulled into traffic.

Then something horrible dawned on me. "Do you think she purposely led us down here?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Well one thing is for sure. Heather is definitely part of this."

He nodded. "Yeah, it looks like it."

I clenched my fist. "I'm going to nail that bitch to the wall."

"Sale, you need to be careful."

"Why? That bitch was no match for me when I was human, and now that I'm not..."

He reached across the seat and grabbed my hand. "When you're angry you start to lose control. Although she may deserve it, you can't hurt her."

I knew what he was saying to me made sense. But I didn't want to hear it. I wanted to hurt Heather. Badly.

"Fine. I won't hurt her. Much. Just a teeny tiny bit." I turned to him and gave him my pouty face.

Smiling, he shook his head. "And that's why I love you. Always the reasonable one."

After Trevor took me home, (Mom insisted he stay for supper), we holed up in my room to figure out our next move and to play Portal.  I had homework to do, but I really didn't feel up to it at that moment. What were good grades going to do for me at this point, anyway? It wasn't like I was going to be a doctor or anything. Not in my condition.

"We should pay her a home visit," I said.

"Oh yeah, she's really going to let us in."

"No, I mean a visit."

He looked at me. "You've been inside her house?"

"Yup, in her bedroom even."

"I thought this girl was your nemesis."

"She is. But Jamie, Chloe and I crashed one of her parties and we had to stop him from jacking off with a pair of her panties onto her bed."

Trevor coughed, nearly spewing out the drink of Coke he'd just taken. "Jamie is one sick dude."

"I know." I smiled. "I miss him so much."

He nudged me in the side. "He'll come around."

My joy at talking about old times with Jamie faded. And I shook my head. "No, I think we're done. I really don’t' think he can get past this. And I know how he feels.  In way it would be like me forgiving Thane for hurting me."

"It's not the same, babe. Your attack was unintentional. You didn't know what was happening to you. Thane knew exactly what he was doing every second of every day. He was an evil sonofabitch."

"Maybe, but it doesn't matter. I hurt Jamie in ways that I can't apologize for. He's scarred for life."

Trevor set down the Xbox controller and put his arm around me. "It'll be all right, babe."

"Thanks but the only way I'm gonna feel better is if we pay Heather a little visit."

He laughed. "All right let's go freak this bitch out."

––––––––

H
olding hands, Trevor and I melted into the shadows in my room. I concentrated hard on the image of Heather's bedroom in my mind. I just hoped she hadn't rearranged any of her furniture of we might materialize on top of something or in something.  And it would really suck if she had a room full of people or her parents were there. Not sure how we were going to explain that.

I kept my eyes closed shut as we passed through the shadow-ways. I didn't want to see what was down there this time. Ignorance was the best policy in this situation. Neither of us were quite ready to face Merlin again.

I knew Trevor would never admit it, but I could tell he was still freaked out about seeing Merlin up close and personal. I could relate. The cambion had an unearthly quality about it, that sent shivers up and down my back. He seemed almost alien in nature. Not of this world. Not for this world.

After a few more minutes I could feel my body reforming. It was always a strange sensation. Tingles erupted all over, from within and outward. It was like having your foot fall asleep but on the inside out. It felt kind of gross to be honest. It was definitely not pleasant.

Once the sensation faded, Trevor and I were standing in a darkened corner of Heather's room. We got lucky. The room was empty.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now we wait for her I guess."

Frowning, I sat on her bed. "I'm kind of disappointed we didn't get to scare the beejesus out of her coming out of the shadows and going all gangsta on her ass."

Trevor snorted. "Gangsta?"

"Yeah, check it home slice." I stood and crouched down into my best gangsta pose with downward peace signs and everything. I even gave my most pouty pout face ever.

He shook his head. "Scary."  He picked up a jar of lotion from what I liked to call Heather's beauty station.  There were so many oils and lotions and bottles of scent, a whole machine could've been lubed up and good to go. He unscrewed the lid and smelled it.

"Don't." I reached for it and took it from him.

"Why?"

"Because what if you like her smell? 90% of attraction is based on scent, you know?"

He scoffed at him. "Believe me, no amount of awesome odor is going to make me think this girl is attractive. She is totally not my type."

I eyed him. "I didn't know you had a type."

"Yeah, I like surly, pouty, little bulldogs who smell like vanilla." He reached for me and pulled me close to nuzzle his face into my hair.

"Aww, you called me a little bulldog. I love those dogs. They are so damn cute."

"Just like you."

I craned my neck up to kiss him just as the doorknob turned on the door. Heather was talking beyond it.  I could hear her mouse-like voice that cheese-grated my nerves.  I grabbed Trevor's hand and we dived into the closet.  Luckily it was a walk-in, so we didn't step on anything, even when I closed the door softly behind us.

She walked into the room chatting on her cell phone, completely oblivious to the intruders watching her through the slats in her closet doors. She was damn lucky, it was just us lying in wait for her and not some deranged serial killer. She'd be a goner for sure.  Depending on what she confessed to me, she still might be a goner.  It would depend on how generous I was feeling.

"Oh my God, I know right, Clayton is such a skid-mark. I mean as if I'd ever go to prom with him."

She must've been talking to either Megan or Lauren, her plastic posse BFFs. Sighing, I leaned into Trevor's ear and said, "We could be here awhile. She's a talker."

Heather turned toward the closet and frowned.

I clamped a hand over my mouth. Damn it. I might've blown our stealth attack.  Trevor glared at him.  I just shrugged in return.

"I got to go, Meg. Text me later." With her phone still in her hand, Heather approached the closet.

I sucked in a breath and waited. Trevor grabbed my hand and squeezed. It was now or never and I wasn’t about to let her go on the offensive.  Counting under my breath, I got to three, then pushed open the closet door.

Heather stumbled back nearly tripping on a pair of shoes and landing on her ass. Instead I was on her instantly and had her by the arms, turning her and tossing her onto her bed. It might not have been the classiest maneuver but I didn’t want to throw her on the floor or up against the wall.  Too noisy. This way I could sit on her and clamp my hand over her mouth before she could scream bloody murder.

“Don’t scream.” I leaned down into her face. “Don’t effing scream.”

Her eyes were wide, but she didn’t look like she was going to freak out. She actually looked kind of angry instead of scared.  Slowly, I took my hand away from her mouth.

“Get off me, freak show.”

“No. I’m sitting on you so we can talk.”

She tried pushing me off again, but I was so much stronger than she was. And I wasn’t going anywhere.  “I’m not getting off of you, so quit fighting. Just lay back and relax.”

“I can’t believe you broke into my house and waited in my closest to pounce on me. You are insane.”

I shrugged.

“You could’ve caught me at lunch or hey, even picked up the phone and called me.”

“And would you have listened?”  She didn’t respond. “Exactly. This way I have your undivided attention.”

“What do you want? And who is he?” She gestured toward Trevor, who was fiddling with something on her desk.

“He’s my boyfriend and my backup.”

Trevor finger waved at her.

She glared at me. “I always thought you were a lesbian.”

“Whatever. I’m not here to discuss my sexual preferences.”

“Then what the hell do you want?”  She squirmed under me. “And can you move your knee, it’s pressed on my bladder.”

I repositioned myself, then leaned down into her face again. “We want to know about Merlin.”

“Merlin?”

“Yes, we know you’ve been talking to him. What’s he promised you, hey? Immortality?”

She frowned. “Are you high on something? I have no idea what you are talking about. Who’s Merlin?” She bucked under me. “Get the hell off me, I’m done with this freakshow.”

But I wasn’t letting her go anywhere. Although I was tiny, I’d been called a munchkin most of my life, I was hella stronger than she was. With my cambion powers behind me, I pressed on her shoulders and kept her on the bed. I positioned my legs firmly on either side of her and pressed.

By the look in her eyes, I could tell she was very surprised by my strength, and the way they kept bugging out, I was probably pressing too hard with my legs.  I loosened up a little, I didn’t want to crush her. Not yet anyway. Not until we had our answers.

“What is he giving you? Why are you helping him?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Quit lying to me.” Fury swirled around inside me. I was tired of playing around with this girl. Lives were in danger. Trevor’s, Jamie’s, Chloe’s. These were people who mattered to me. And this bitch threatened that.

The air around her face grew hazy. There was now a crimson glow over her head. Red was my favorite color. It had the best taste. Like cherry jelly beans.

Heather’s eyes grew wide and liquid as she stared up at me. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”

Trevor moved over to the bed. “Salem, control it.”

I ignored him. I didn’t want to control it. I wanted to let it out to play.

“Don’t play stupid. You already know what I am.” I sneered at her, showing off my kitten teeth. All the better to shred you to pieces, my dear.

She shook her head, and I could smell her fear now. It was tart in my nostrils. I leaned down near her neck and inhaled deeply. I couldn’t deny that I was hungry. It gnawed at my stomach. I needed to feed like I needed my next breath to live.

“What are you?”

“Why did you tell Merlin about Deanna Moser? She died because of you. She’s rotting in a morgue because you have a big effing mouth.”

Tears sprang in her eyes. They rolled down her temples as she struggled beneath me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.  I don’t know anyone named Merlin.  Why are you doing this?”

“Why did you go downtown? Were you luring us to him?”

“You followed me? Why would you do that?”

“What were you doing there?”

“I had an appointment.” Her voice shook.

“Salem, stop.” Trevor’s hand was on my shoulder.

I didn’t want to stop. Satisfaction was so close. I licked my lips. I wouldn’t be denied any longer. I had to feed the beast inside me. It screamed in my ears to sate its insatiable craving for life.

As Trevor tried to pull me off, I leaned over Heather’s mouth ready to suck her dry.

“Stop. Please don’t hurt me.”

I stared into the liquid blue of her eyes. And I saw myself reflected in them.

I hovered over her like a black eyed demon. Which was exactly what I was.

Biting down on my lips, I closed my eyes and tried to breathe deeply. Trevor had me now, pulling me off Heather, yanking me from the bed. He dumped me on the floor, but didn’t abandon me. He crouched next to me and put a cool hand to the back of my neck.

“Salem?”

I didn’t want to open my eyes and look at him. I didn’t want to see the disappointment in them. The questioning of my actions. And I especially didn’t want to see pity in them. That I couldn’t handle.

I could hear Heather breathing heavily on the bed. Her intakes of air in between her quiet sobs, made me finally open my eyes. I’d nearly done to her what Thane had done to me. No matter what kind of person she was or what she’d done, she didn’t deserve that.