Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (44 page)

   “Devon, I’m so glad that you’re here! I wanted to talk to you about your nomination.” Devon
regretfully tore his gaze from Cassie. Marcy was standing before him, her pretty face lit with a bright, eager smile. Though she was as annoying as a gnat, he managed to offer her a small smile
in return
. “I think that you are going to win, and since there is a good possibility that I will win queen, I think we should coordinate our outfits, or maybe even go together.”

   He frowned at her, not at all surprised by her brazenness
,
or the fact that she would not accept his refusal of her
.
He had come across more than a few women like her in his long lifetime.
He
was
surprised
by the fact that she
still
could
n
’
t realize that
Cassie was the only woman he wanted.
The only one he even
saw
anymore.

   “I don’t think so Marcy.” He moved to walk around her, but she sidestepped
quickly,
putting herself back in his way. Aggravation spurted through
him;
he just wanted to get to Cassie
, to touch her, to ease the crawling, burning sensation that
enclosed him w
henever they were apart
.

   “Well why not?”
S
he planted her hands on her hips, her delicate brow furrow
ed
angrily.

  
“Because I will be taking Cassie
to the dance
.”

  
“After what happened yesterday?”

   He frowned at her in confusion. “What happened yesterday?”

   “With Mark Young,” she reminded him impatiently. “That was awful. I can’t believe she led him on so badly. I always liked Cassandra, but I
never
realize
d
what an awful person she
truly
is. I can’t believe you would want to be associated with someone like that.
I mean…”

   “Enough!” he cut in sharply, his gaze darting swiftly to Cassie. She was still standing by Chris’s car, her
eyes
fixed upon them.
Though s
he was well out of hearing range, she was frowning intently
, her eyes were narrowed fiercely
. He turned his attention back to Marcy, trying to control the anger surging through him. “Yesterday was not her fault, and I don’t want to hear one bad word
you have to say about her.
Ever!
”
   Marcy’s eyes widened, her mouth parted
slightly.
H
e moved swiftly around her, disgusted by her
pettiness and cruelty. Cassie
watched him w
arily as he approached, he
r
bright smile
was
gone. “What was that about?” Melissa asked softly, nodding toward where Marcy still
stood
with
her mouth agape.

  
“Nothing.”

  
Th
e
last thing he wanted was for
Cassie to know
anything
t
hat Marcy
had said to him. Though Melissa did not look appeased, sh
e did not press him farther. Cassie gazed up at him, a wounded look in her eyes.
H
e glanced back at where Marcy stood
,
about fifty feet away
.
A
group of girls
was
now gathered around her
, seemingly trying to console her
. Though
he
could hear what they were saying, and did not like it, there was no way that Cassie could hear them above the noise of the
other
students, and the radios. No human could.

  
Hurt radiated from her
as she continued to stare at Marcy
, but there was also a spark of anger in her gaze.
Though she could not hear them, she
must have assumed
that they were talking about
her
.
T
hat had to be it
, he decided
.
Otherwise, i
f she could hear them
,
then
that would make her something
…
Well, it would make her something
other than human.

  
Devon studied
her carefully, trying to decipher the mystery that she suddenly seemed to offer.
She was most certainly not
a
vampire, he would have known that instantly, and she would not be here. Not in broad daylight
,
and not with a bunch of high
school students. He was the exception to the rule, on both counts,
for the most part
. He also would have smelled it on her, would have sensed it in her blood.

   No, she was
definitely
not one of his
kind
.
But then
,
what was she? She couldn’t be a Hunter,
he’d heard that
the
y
had all been killed off, and he
suspected that
he would have
sensed
that
in her
too
.
But if she had heard his conversation…

  
The though
t
trailed off in the
face of the distress she emitted. W
rapp
ing
his hand gently around her neck,
he
pull
ed
her close in an attempt to ease the pain enshroud
ing
her.
She had to
be
human
,
that was all she could be. He was making far more of it then he should.

  
G
lanc
ing
around the car,
he was
surprised to realize that it was only Chris and Melissa standing
with her
. Usually there was a crowd gathered around, mostly males
,
causing a raucous as they humiliated themselves
while
v
ying
for her attention. Today, there was a wide berth around
t
he
m
as gl
ances and whispers were cast Cassie’s
way.
Even with him over here, the girls did not approach.

   “I have become a pariah,” she said softly, giving him a wan smile.

   He glanced back at the crowds ga
thered together;
her tried
hard but
was
unable to ignore the whispers directed her way. Somehow, what had happened in the cafeteria yesterday had been twisted
,
and turned against her. He didn’t know how it had happened, for he wasn’t entirely sure how the minds of teenagers worked, but somehow they had
cast her in
to
the role of villain
, and they were keeping her there. He thought it
was
partly due to jealousy on behalf of the girls, and resentment on behalf of the boys, but he also knew that he played a large role in it.

   Due to what he was, he had a stronge
r
allure
to
women. He was like
a
Venus flytrap
,
luring in its prey, moments before snagging it and draining the life from it. Though he did not kill anymore
, the powerful lure was still there,
ever present
,
and
unable to be turned off
.
This draw had pulled in a good amount of the female population
in town
, and had also caused anger and resentment toward Cassie to fester. They wanted what she had, and they did not like the fact that she had it.

   And the boys did not like the fact that she had rebuked them all, disdaining their advances
over and over, and then
accepting his. Their pride had been wounded, their ego’s bashed, and they were not happy about it. Though many of them had never liked him, they had also turned on her
now
. Anger curdled inside him
.
H
e did not care what they thought of him, but
she did not deserve their disdain and
spite
.

   His protective urges surged forth. He wanted to take her from here, shelter her from the cold
anger that radiated from them
. Protect her from the inane cruelty of the foolish human race. However, he knew
that
he could not. Though his life was not tied up in these people, and this school, hers was. She had to live out this part of her life, had to fulfill her dreams and her hopes,
and her future. Unfortunately, he had caused her this
pain, and he wanted nothing more
than to
take her away
in order to
keep her safe
from it
.

  
“Ridiculous,” Chris muttered.

   Devon glanced over at him
as he
pull
ed
Cassie a step closer, wrapping his arms
tenderly around her
waist
.
Chris met his gaze, his eyes distant and far older than they had been yesterday. Devon was shocked by the expression in those eyes,
and
the hopeless
ness
that filled them. He didn
’
t know what had happened to Chris between yesterday and today
to cause such a change
, but he was certain that it was far worse than what
was going on with
the student body now.

  
Cassie shrugged, her fingers curl
ed
into h
is
back. “It’s alright,” she said softly. “Let them believe what they want.”

   Melissa sighed heavily and
ben
t
into the car to grab her backpack. “They’re a bunch of jealous idiots Cass.”
 
Cassie bit into her bottom lip;
her eyes
were
troubled as she managed a brief
nod. “Well, whatever they are, I don’t care. I never wanted to be homecoming queen anyway.”

   “We know.”

   Cassie and Melissa ex
changed a small smile before Cassie
turned to look up at him, her eyes
gleaming with a
teasing
light
. “
I won’t make you coordinate, but y
ou probably
will
win king
.”

   Devon started, his hands tighten
ed
upon her. He glanced back to where Marcy
still
stood, tuning his ears
in order
to hear what they were saying. He had to sort through all of the background noise before pinpoint
ing
the exact conversation. It took him only
a
second to do this, but
no
human ever
could
.
It was not within their capabilities. Only one of his
kind
would be able to pick up
the conversation, and Cassie mo
st definitely
was n
ot
a vampire
. The sweet blood pumping through her veins was a constant, tortuous, tempting reminder of that fact.

   He glanced back down at her.
Her head was resting trustingly against his shoulder,
her hand on his waist
. She could
not
have heard that conversation
, it was impossible
;
it was only a coincidence that she had
mock
ed
Marcy’s statement
.

   “Marcy always did want it though,”
Melissa
said softly.

   “Yes,” Chris
agreed.

  
“And now she has it. Good for her, she’ll do better with it than I
would
.” Cassie uncurled her hand from his
waistband
as the bell rang loudly, echoing throughout the parking lot.
“Time for school.”
   He gathered her books from the roof of the car, tucking them beneath his arm as he led her into the large brick building.
Students stopped to watch as
they passed
,
they
whisper
ed
loudly behind their hands
. Melissa walked beside her, her shoulders thrown back proudly, her dark eyes raking over the worst offenders. Many of them shrank from her scathing
gla
r
e
.