Darker Days

Chapter Seventeen

This was murky water. On one hand, the text could be a trick. The memory of his chilling laugh and confident stare as he pulled away earlier flashed through my mind. But on the other hand, what if it wasn’t? I had no way of knowing what the effect of direct contact with a Sin was. For all I knew, he was shriveling up from the inside out and in terrible pain.

My first instinct had been to ignore the text. But the longer I sat there thinking about it, the more I wondered what Mom would’ve done in my position. She’d go, that’s what. If there was any chance Garrett—or anyone else—was in real danger, then she’d go. She wouldn’t want me to go, but as far as I was concerned, that was splitting hairs. I didn’t want her to know about Vida yet, and that meant handling this myself. If I asked for help, then I’d have to explain. If I explained, there would be some kind of lecture.

Garrett had lived two blocks away from me since the fourth grade. We’d never been friends—mainly because we didn’t travel the same social circles. Hell, until last month when the agency took his Mom’s case, we’d never even spoken other than the time he’d stolen my cookie in fifth grade. But I’d spent some time with him since then. He wasn’t my idea of optimal stimulating company—the guy was obsessed with football and old cars—but he wasn’t horrible.

Garrett’s house was a cute Victorian with a nicely manicured lawn surrounded by huge flowerbeds. It was approaching fall so everything was starting to die off, and still it somehow managed to look amazing. Bright red and gold leaves gathered around the edges, giving the whole scene an autumn tone. We had tons of trees out behind the office—but they were all pine. The most they dropped were pinecones and huge blobs of sap that stuck to everything.

I made my way up the steps, and with a deep breath, knocked on the front door. “Garrett?”

After a few minutes, when I got no response, worry started creeping in. Images of him writhing in pain, curled up in a corner of the house and unable to speak, flounced through my brain. Imagine my surprise when I turned the doorknob and found it unlocked.

Upon pushing through, I was greeted by a homey room drenched in warm inviting colors and decorated with birds and flowers. A lot of flowers. Disturbed blared from speakers bolted to the walls on either end of the room, causing the small knick-knacks on the mantle to shimmy and rattle.

I made my way through the living room and into the kitchen. Other than the music, there was no sign of life. From there, I searched the den and master bedroom. Still, nothing. With each step, I grew more and more concerned. What if I’d taken too long to come? “Garrett? You here?”

I was about to start up the stairs to the second level when the music went silent. I whirled around to see him standing in the doorway between the hall and the kitchen wearing a devious grin. “You came.”

I had no clue where he’d come from—or how he’d managed to sneak past me. Granted I wasn’t hyper aware like Mom, but a civie high school student shouldn’t have gotten the drop on me. I knew right away something was wrong. Maybe his smile was just a little too wide. Maybe it was the strange pitch in his voice.

Or it might have been the way he crossed the room in three easy steps and pinned me to the wall with his body.

I sucked in a breath and tried not to gag. Newports and orange soda again. “This isn’t funny anymore, Garrett.” I pushed against him, but he only smiled.

“I’m glad you finally realize that.” He nuzzled my ear.

My blood ran cold. Every nerve in my body twitched. This was wrong. Twisted. Garrett was one hell of a hottie, but not once had I ever entertained a what if fantasy. It wasn’t just that I didn’t date—it was more like even if I did, Garrett wouldn’t have been my type.

“Listen to me,” I said, pushing a little harder. He didn’t budge. Desperate times—desperate measures. I’d go with something I didn’t use often. The truth. “Remember Vida? That foreign chick from the caf the other day? She wasn’t human. She hit you with some kind of nookie beam. That’s where this is coming from. You’re not really into me—you just think you are.”

He chuckled. “This is just one of the things I love about you. Nookie beam? Please. Just face it—” He slid the tips of his fingers down my neck and just inside the shoulder of my shirt. “You want this as much as I do.”

“Wait—want what?”

“You feel it, don’t you?” He moved against me. Warm breath puffed across my neck and tickled my ear.

Something solid pressed against my stomach.

Oh, I felt it all right. And it was making my skin crawl.

My heart banged into overdrive. Desperate now, I lashed out anywhere I could. Elbow to the neck. Kick to the shin. Nothing fazed him. If anything, he liked it.

God.

“Tell me you don’t ever think about me.”

“I don’t ever think about you,” I said without hesitation.

“You’re lying,” he said, sliding his other hand down my back and over my butt. He looped his thumb into my back pocket, fingers grazing the right cheek.

That was it.

There was no thinking—just reaction. I pushed off the wall and knocked us both to the ground. By the look on his face as we landed in a tangled heap, he thought I’d given in.

He got the proper message when I kneed him in the nuts.

He curled into a fetal position, hissing in pain. “I’m so sorry—but you’ll thank me for that later!”

On my feet and out the door, I didn’t make it far before a blood-chilling roar shattered the silence.

“Jessie!”

Garrett came barreling out in a flurry of hormone-fueled rage. There was no way I could outrun him in a straight race. He was faster than I was—the football team’s running back—but I also knew he was a klutz, and one of the few useful things I’d inherited from my dad was his unnatural grace.

I needed a way to lose him. Obstacles. I took off into the woods at a speed just under run like hell. Behind me, the brush exploded as Garrett followed, not far behind.

“Get back here!” he screamed. I’d never heard a voice full of so much venom. For the first time ever, I was actually scared—of something human.

Scratch that. I was terrified. So terrified that I could almost taste it. Like something metallic and foul I couldn’t spit out. I loved the rush of the job. How the adrenaline got pumping as the chase started and you fought to take down the baddie, but this was different. My heart hammered in a way that made me think my ribs might explode at any minute, and the blood pounding in my ears made it hard to concentrate. Every muscle in my body spazzed and my brain demanded my legs move faster—only they didn’t. Couldn’t.

I managed to stay ahead of him, but just barely. A few times he got so close, I could feel the disturbance in the air as he made a swipe for me. I opened my mouth to scream—but no sound came. Of course not. My body couldn’t spare the breath. Or maybe I was too afraid. Fear did funky things to the body, didn’t it? God knew I’d seen some things.

Deeper and deeper, I plunged through the brush and soared over fallen trees and rocks. Garrett kept pace, never falling more than ten or twelve feet behind.

“Don’t be like this, baby,” he called. He didn’t sound like he was out of breath. Me? I was gasping for air. I couldn’t keep this pace much longer. “I need to be with you!”

I hadn’t been out on these trails in a long time, but I knew we must be getting close to the cliffs. I’d started to double back, thinking maybe I could outrun him, with the obstacle course of the forest having hopefully worn him out a little, when my sneaker caught in an exposed tree root. I went down hard, sliding in the mud and brush. Up. Get up, Jessie! I ignored the stinging in my hip and throbbing in my wrist, and clamored to my feet.

I only got two steps.

Something crashed from behind, knocking me back to the ground. Again I tried to scream, to make a sound—any sound—but the only result was a mouth full of dirt and dead leaves. Violently spitting and gasping for air, I struggled against the weight settling on top of me. It was useless. I managed to flip onto my back, but Garrett was seated confidently across my waist, legs pinning mine into the forest floor.

“It’s him, isn’t it? He’s the reason you don’t want me.” Eyes blazing, the tone of his voice chilled the air to an almost arctic level. He leaned closer, slamming his hands down on either side of my head. Bits of dirt and twigs flicked into the air, making me flinch.

It took me a second to realize the him he was talking about was Lukas—who was supposed to be my cousin.

I pushed up with my knees, but got nowhere. His face was inches from mine. I inhaled, but it felt funny. Shaky. Like there were a million nervous butterflies all flapping away just beneath my rib cage. “Garrett—you’re not yourself. You don’t really feel this way about me. Think about it. You were chasing Holly a week ago. You were convinced she was the meaning of life!”

He faltered. Brow furrowed and lips twisted in a scowl. “Holly—”

I nodded. “Yes, Holly. Your girlfriend. Then, two weeks ago you were drooling over Amy Gilmer. Remember? If you had this epic love for me, don’t you think you would have known?”

He straightened, confused. “I was interested in hooking up with her. At Joe Carson’s party.”

“That’s right!”

The dark in his eyes seemed to lift and he leaned back, giving me some space. The expression on his face was a mix of terrified and horror. “I dunno what’s wrong with me, Jess. I’d never hurt anyone… I’d never hurt you.”

I exhaled. Some of the pressure in my chest disappeared and the tension in my muscles started to melt away. The blood still rushed like a freighter in my ears, but my heartbeat was slowing down. “It’s okay. I’m—”

“I’ve got this heavy lump in my chest,” he continued, ignoring me. “This blackness that’s poisoning things.” His hands flew to his temples and he closed his eyes for a moment. “I can’t think straight.”

“It’s not you. Something happ—”

But Garrett wasn’t coming up for air. Eyes open again, he said, “I won’t get angry again. I promise. We need to be together. It’s destiny.”

My throat was dry. “I choose my own destiny, and I’m sorry, I don’t choose you.”

He trailed his finger from my shoulder, all the way down to my wrist. It left sick goose bumps in its wake. “You will.”

His fingers lingered there for a moment before moving to the button of my jeans.

“I know you’re scared, but I’ll be careful.”

I could hardly hear him. My heart started up again, hammering against my ribs. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t happen. “Garrett, please—”

He slipped the button through the hole. When his fingers went for the zipper, I started to scream.

Thrashing. Kicking. Clawing. Anything to keep from remaining still. I was screaming incoherently—no words—just sound. Awful, ear-damaging sound. Anything that might attract attention. It bounced off the trees and echoed though the forest. My muscles were on fire, straining and pulling to get free.

But it was useless. Like a bimbo from a bad horror flick, I’d run us into the woods. Away from his house. Away from people. We were secluded.

Idiot. I was an idiot.

I continued to thrash, pinned down by strong hands wrapped securely around my neck to keep me in place. Through my hair, I could see his eyes. The icy, almost inhuman sound of his voice was nothing compared to the spark of madness I saw gleaming there. This person wore his face—had his body on like a cheap suit—but it wasn’t Garrett.

The zipper slipped a few teeth and I stilled.

“You’ll see,” he whispered in my ear. Funny how at that moment, I thought about Lukas and the way I’d felt when he’d whispered in my ear. Amazing how the same thing, done under such different circumstances, could have such a vastly different effect.

I tried to push him away again, but my energy was gone. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Instead of the wild thrashing, I should have conserved.

“We’ll be so good together,” Garrett continued. “We were meant to be.”

And then he was gone.

The pressure of his body lifted and the space where he’d been was nothing more than chilly, empty air.

“Where I come from,” a dark voice snarled. “You treat a woman with respect.”

Garrett crashed through the trees and landed somewhere to my right. It was too dark to see, but I knew that voice. Lukas.

“You never raise your voice,” Lukas hissed, his dark silhouette advancing. “You never use foul language.”

He grabbed Garrett by the shirt front and spun him around. Slamming him up against the nearest tree, he said, “And you never lay hands on her.”

For a moment, all I could do was watch. Watch and think. About running myself into the middle of nowhere. About what had almost happened. About what Lukas might be capable of doing to Garrett… Everything felt watery and surreal, but I still knew right from wrong. Regardless of how twisted my insides felt, this hadn’t been Garrett’s fault.

Hip throbbing and wrist on fire, I staggered to my feet just in time to stop him. Garrett was limp in his arms, head lolling awkwardly to the side. His eyes were closed and, even in the dark, I could see the trail of red leaking from his nose and the right corner of his lip.

“Lukas—Stop…” I grabbed his arm as he was about to strike again. My heart hammered so hard that I was sure it would explode from my chest, and I could barely breathe, but I managed to say, “Vida. It was Vida. She touched him in the cafeteria yesterday, remember? He wasn’t thinking straight. He was infected.”

The muscles in his arm twitched, but he didn’t lower his fist.

“Nothing happened. I’m okay.”

He turned to me, eyes wide and mouth agape. For a second, he actually looked angry. Not at Garrett, but at me. “Nothing happened?”

“He knocked me to the ground. That’s all. You got here before it could go any further.” I tugged on his arm again, this time harder, hoping to God he couldn’t hear the terror I felt. “You got here in time.”

Lukas took a deep breath and held it. Slowly, he blew out through pressed lips and lowered his hand. I grabbed it and squeezed, afraid he’d lash out again.

His fingers wrapped tight around mine. He was squeezing so hard, I thought my fingers might pop off. “You’re all right?”

I nodded. “I’m all right.” Truthfully, I was numb, but telling Lukas that would only make things worse.

With my free hand, I tugged the cuff of his shirt. “Let’s get him back to the office. Mom will know what to do with him ’til this wears off.”