Kindled (Book 3 The Kindred Series) (5 page)

   The pencil in her hand snapped, cracking loudly in the silent classroom. She felt the heads turning toward her but she ignored them. Gathering her things, she rose swiftly, not caring that the bell hadn
’
t rung yet. No one stopped her as she hurried from the classroom, but she did hear a chair skid back, and she knew that Melissa was coming behind her.

   Disgust and anger boil
ed
through her, she shoved the door of the girl
’
s bathroom open. It
crashed against the wall with a resounding thud.
Slamming her books on top of the counter by the sink, she spun toward Melissa as she entered slowly. “I don’t need a damn watch dog!” she exploded, fury boiling through her.

   Melissa quirked a
dark eye
brow but simply folded her arms over her chest as she leaned against the wall.
Her onyx eyes
were
inquisitive and sad as she studied Cassie; her black hair fell around her shoulders in gentle waves to the middle of her back.
“Maybe not, but you’re going to have one.”
   Cassie glared fiercely at her, fighting the urge to
rip the sink from the wall, something she felt she could actually do in the mood that she was in
. She settled for gripping the sink tight, taking gulping breaths of air as she tried to calm her racing heart and shaking body.
How on earth was she ever going to survive this? She wasn’t
,
that was how.

   Turning the cold water on,
Cassie
slipped her glasses off and
splashed her face, hoping to revive herself at least a little.
She turned the water
off
as she lifted her head slowly;
she
hat
ed
the sight of th
e girl staring back at her. Hands fisting, Cassie had to fight the urge to smash her fist into it, destroying the image that she hated so much.

   Blinking rapidly, she lifted her glasses from the sink,
and
slipp
ed
them on. The dark lenses eased the burning in her eyes
,
but they did not ease her pain
.
Every part of her body
ached and hurt lately. She didn’t know what was
wrong
with her
, well except for the obvious. Shuddering, she grabbed hold of her books, trying to ignore the bone deep, aching
chill that
had become a constant part of her
.

 
   “No one would blame you if you went home,” Melissa said softly. Cassie shook her head
and
pull
ed
her hood tighter around her face.
It did not make her invisible as she longed to be, but she hoped that it helped to hide her at least a little.
“Cassie…”
   She sidestepped Melissa, pulling the door open she escaped into the now crowd
ed hall. Blending into the masses
, she made her
way slowly down the hall with Melissa close on her heels. Sighing in resignation, she slipped into her next class, relieved when Melissa did not attempt to
try and
start taking Calculus with her.

  
It was a long, slow, tortuous day. She felt like she was
walking
through quicksand as she wandered through the halls, moving stiffly, ignoring the students that surrounded her. Cassie slid limply into her seat at lunch
.
F
olding her arms over her chest
,
she kept her head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone else.

   “Do you want me to get you some lunch?”
She shook her head in response to Chris’s question
. “You have to eat.”

   She shot him a dark look. He stared fiercely back at her, his
eye
brows drawn tightly together, his eyes narrowed. “I’m fine,” she grumbled.

  
He shook his head
and
shov
ed
his tray aside
in frustration
. Loud laughter drifted through the cafeteria, drawing Cassie’s attention.
Marcy and her group of followers were gathered around one of the back tables, laughing and talking eagerly. Cassie watched them, confused and
fascinated by their behavior. Then, they broke apart slightly
,
causing
an opening in the table that they had swarmed.

   Cassie’s heart lurched,
her hands fisted, pain and anger
tore through
her in equal measures. Devon was in the center of the group, sitting casually
in his chair
, his long legs stretched before him. He was leaning back against the table, his arm resting upon it as he flashed a beautiful, heart stopping grin at Kara.
His black hair fell around his magnificent
face, highlighting the bright emerald color of his eyes. Eyes she could see in vivid detail, even from her position of fifty feet away. No matter how much she didn
’
t want to see him, she still couldn
’
t help but admire how gorgeous he was.

   Kara
fluttered her lashes
at him
, practically falling over herself as she leaned forward.
Devon leaned slightly toward her, i
t hadn’t taken him long to move on.

   Cassie’s
chest clenched tightly
, rage
suffused her
as it
rush
ed
up in violent waves that threatened to consume her. Unable to breathe, a fierce shudder began to wrack its way through he
r body.
Her vision blurred with the red haze suddenly suffusing everything around her.
“Cassie,” Chris whispered
.

   She turned slowly toward him. His eyes were wide, his face ashen as he stared at her in open mouthed horror.
Shaking, confused, infuriated Cassie struggled to keep control of the volatile emotions crashing thro
ugh her. Chris scanned her face;
a small trem
or
work
ed its way
through him. Slowly, he reached toward her, his hand
quivering
.

   Cassie threw her arm up, knocking his hand aside. Shoving the chair
backward it skittered out from under her, slamming into the back of another one. She didn’t stop to
apologize;
she didn’t look back at Chris
.
S
he didn’t even grab her books. Moving swiftly through the cafeteria, she navigated the sea of bodies with ease.
Mainly because
they scattered to get out of her way.

  Melissa was coming toward her as she moved past.
Melissa
didn’t miss a beat, but simply turned on her heel and followed Cassie as she made her way swiftly out of the school.

CHAPTER
3

   Devon stood stiffly, watching helplessly as Cassie escaped the cafet
eria, Melissa following
behind. He turned toward Chris, who looked positively ill
as he gazed at Devon in open mouthed horror
. Devon shrugged past Marcy, completely tuning her and her group out as he moved swiftly toward Chris.

   “W
ell that didn’t go as I had hoped,”
Chris
mumbled
.
Devon shook his head, his gaze darting back to the table he had been sitting at.
His heart twisted, guilt fill
ed
him at the hu
rt he had just caused Cassie
. And yet,
he couldn’t stop the
small amount of hope
that flickered through him
. She had been jealous, she had been angered. Perhaps she
did
still care.

  
“
At least there was some reaction,
” Devon
said softly, trying hard to bury the hope rolling through him. He could not take having his heart stampeded over again. Once this whole mess with Isla and Julian was over, he didn
’
t know what he was going to do. He would have to fully face the fact that he had lost the only person he had ever loved, and he was not sure that he could handle that. At least, right now, he had
Julian and Isla
to focus his anger and hurt on, and once he got a hold of them
he was
going to
make them
pay for every miserable thing they had ever done.
 

  
Especially hurting Cassie.

   Chris still
looked shaken
, but
the
color was returning to his face.
“She was
infuriated
!
It’s what she always is now, but it was even stronger and harsher.
It was deadly Devon, almost inhuman,” Chris mumbled, his voice distant and thoughtful
. “Not what I had hoped
for
at all
, and far different than I thought her reaction would be
.”
   Devon
turned away from Chris, hating the desolate look in his eyes
, hating the words he had
just uttered
. If Chris lost hope, then Devon knew it would be over. There would be no reaching Cassie, no helping her. She would be lost to them forever.
The word inhuman clung to him, sending a shudder of horror down his spine. Maybe Chris was beginning to pick up on the thing that Devon feared most.

  
He took
note
of
Chris’s half eaten lunch and the notably missing plate of food where Cassie had been sitting. “When was the last time she ate?” he asked softly.

   Chris shrugged. “I don’t know.”

   Devon’s frown intensified, his worry gnaw
ed
at him.
She was going to completely collapse if she didn’t start taking better care of herself. Longing filled him, he wanted to take care of her, wanted to comfort her, wanted to be the one making sure that she was
safe and healthy
. “Are you going after her?”

   Chris sighed
as he
r
an
his hand through his hair.
“Yeah.”
   “Give me a call if you need me, for anything.”

   “I will.”
   Chris slipped into the crowd, nearly barreling people over in his rush to get out. Devon watched him go, feeling helpless and vulnerable.
Marcy approached from across the cafeteria. Before she could reach him, Devon slipped
away
, losing himself amongst the crush of bodies. He’d had enough of school today.

***

   Cassie slammed her fists into the punching bag, pummeling it with repeated violence.
Chris grunted with the force of the blows, but he held tight to the bag. She tried to release all of her
anger and frustration on the bag, tried to purge the fury that ate at her, but try as she might she couldn
’
t
shake it.

   In fact, the more she hit the bag, the madder she got. A shout of frustration escaped her as she spun, delivering a swift roundhouse to the center of the bag. The force of the blow shoved the bag back a good four feet. Chris gru
nted, losing his hold on it
as he was knocked into the garage wall. Cassie gulped in large quantities
of air, shaking and heaving, rattled by the fury seeping through her.

   Chris rubbed his ribs as he stepped away from the wall.
“Sorry,” Cassie muttered, turning
away from him. She tugged at h
er bandana,
pulling
it free to let her hair spill down.
Pacing like a caged tiger
to the door
, she
star
ed
into
the kitchen. Luther was
o
n the phone,
his glasses in hand as he paced
restlessly back and forth
, listening to the other person
.

  
Cassie narrowed her eyes, straining to hear what
t
he
other person on the line
was saying. She
was unable to make out
the other person’s voice or words through the cell phone, but Luther seemed disturbed by what they were saying.
H
er eyes narrow
ed
as
Luther
mentioned Hunters
from
the past
. The conversation confused her, what did Hunters that were dead and gone matter? Luther glanced up, noting her in the doorway. He s
topped pacing, his eyes widened
slightly. “I have to go,” he said abruptly and hung up.