Catch Me When I Fall (18 page)

Tabbi patted my hand. “We’ll help you look out for her. Don’t worry.”

I nodded and stood up straight. “Her movie will be over soon. Do me a favor and keep a watch outside until she falls asleep.”

Seth, Samantha and Tabbi all nodded in agreement and went their separate ways through the walls of the house. With a sigh, I returned to the living room as the old man in the movie said goodnight to his grandson and the credits rolled.

Meredith turned to her daughter. “Well, that was fun. Did you want any more pizza?”

Kayla shook her head and sat up straight in her seat. “I’m good, thanks.”

Meredith stood and grabbed their plates. “Kayla, you’re home now. You don’t have to be so polite. I’m not your nurse.” She entered the kitchen to clean up the food.

I stood in the living room, watching Kayla. She moved from the sofa to the grand piano and ran her fingertips along the keys. She eyed the music that sat in a wicker basket next to it. Part of me hoped she would sit down and play, but I knew she wouldn’t.

Thirty seconds later, Meredith walked back in, purse in hand and her doctor’s coat tossed over her arm. “I’m sorry, honey, but one of my patients woke up unable to move half of his face. I’m going to need to run to the hospital for a couple of hours. Are you going to be okay here alone?”

Kayla nodded “yes” to her mother.

“Are you sure? Because if you’re not, I can see if Doctor—”

“I’m fine, Mom.” Kayla’s voice was cold.

With a frown, her mother stepped toward the door. “Call me if you need anything.” As soon as her car peeled out of the driveway, I revealed myself. Kayla walked into my arms.

“I hate it here,” she said.

“I know.” I changed the subject right away. “I saw you eyeballing the piano music. Do you play?”

She shrugged and stepped back, tucking her hair behind her ears. “Not since my dad died. He was the pianist in the family.”

“Well, what if I played with you? Do you know the harmony for ‘Heart and Soul?’”

The corners of her eyes rose in a smile. “You seriously want me to duet with you playing
that
song?”

“Hey, now what’s wrong with that song? It’s a classic.”

She laughed. “Yeah, if you also call ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ a classic.”

Grabbing her hand, I dragged her to the piano bench with a smile. “Sit.”

She rolled her eyes and sat.

I joined her on the other side of the bench and elbowed her. “Now play.”

She sighed and placed her right hand on the keys. Then she pressed them, providing the familiar melody. I joined her in the duet, jazzing up the baseline at the right spots. She laughed and changed the melody to throw me off.

“Hey, now that’s not fair,” I said.

“Keep up!” She smiled.

We continued to play, trying to outsmart each other until Samantha appeared, the sound of her voice startling me. “Daniel, you need to see this.”

Kayla stopped playing, my jumpiness shocking her too. “There’s someone else here, isn’t there?”

I nodded. “I’ll be right back.” I followed Samantha out the front door. The sky was dark, so dark I couldn’t see the moon. That alone struck me as odd. But then, something stirred out of the corner of my eye. Squinting, I stared off into the distance, waiting for the slightest movement. When I caught it, the blood drained from my face.

There were Nightmares everywhere, waiting to strike, like soldiers preparing to battle. I’d never seen anything like this in my two hundred years. We’d be lucky to all get out of here alive.

Samantha, Seth and Tabbi watched my face for a sign of what to do. I jumped through the options in my head. But only one of them seemed safe.

“Tabbi, go ahead of us and let Bartholomew know we’re coming. Seth, Samantha, I want you to follow me into the house right now. We need to get Kayla to Rome.”

ayla leapt off the piano bench when I re-entered the room with Samantha and Seth behind me. “What’s going on?”

“We’re leaving,” I replied.

“What do you mean ‘we’re leaving?’”

“I need you to trust me. Go upstairs and pack whatever you need, but we need to leave now.”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

Scaring her was not my intent, but I didn’t know what else to do. She
had
to stay safe. I grabbed her hand. “Kayla—”

She snatched her hand out of my grasp. “No, don’t ‘Kayla’ me. I want to know what’s going on!”

I snapped, more out of fear for her than anger, and pointed to the front door. “There are Nightmares floating around your house right now, waiting to strike the moment you close your eyes. If I don’t get you somewhere safe, we won’t be able to stop them all. We will get hurt, and you will have the worst night of your life. I can’t let that happen. So, either you go upstairs right now and pack, or I will take you to Rome without your things.”

Her eyes filled with tears, but she stormed out of the room before any of them had a chance to fall. I sighed and scolded myself, then followed her up the stairs. When I entered her bedroom, she was tossing clothes into a suitcase. Her cheeks were streaked with tears.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean for that to come off so harsh.”

She ignored me and piled books and art supplies into her suitcase.

I walked over to her and grabbed her arm. “Kayla, look at me.”

She turned and slapped me across the face. I grunted at the impact and the stinging pain that lingered.

“I’m not a child, Daniel.”

Before I had a chance to respond, a loud bang sounded from downstairs. Then Samantha yelled, “Daniel! Get out of here, now!”

Kayla looked at me, her eyes wide with fear. I grabbed her hand, planning to evaporate, but before I had a chance, I was slammed from behind. My body ricocheted off the wall, and I yelped when I landed on my injured arm.

“Daniel!” Kayla yelled.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her running for me, but I pointed to the bed. She needed to hide herself from the crossfire. “Get under your bed!” I jumped up from the floor, ready to fight. My arm throbbed, but I couldn’t stop for a second.

When I turned around, a Nightmare stood in the middle of the room, facing Kayla and blocking her way to the bed. I leapt at the beast, grabbing its arm and jerking back. We fell to the ground, my knees in its spine. The Nightmare screeched when I yanked its shoulder out of its socket. Kayla, seeing her opening, ran for cover.

Reaching to my waist to grab my dagger, I swore under my breath when I remembered I hadn’t slipped on my weapon belt after waking up in Rome. With no other choice, I wrapped my injured arm around the hellion’s neck and leaned back with my knees planted firmly under its shoulder blades. The Nightmare’s body thrashed under me as I crushed its windpipe, and when the hellion finally died, I took a deep breath. The pain in my arm was agonizing.

Then Kayla’s piercing scream shook me to my core.

I flipped my head around to see her ripped out from under the bed by another Nightmare. The beast dug its claws into her ankle, leaving behind a smear of blood as it dragged her across the floor. My heart stopped in my chest. Never before had a Nightmare approached a conscious human, let alone attacked one. This wasn’t right, wasn’t natural. Something—or someone—had to be controlling them, forcing them to do more than feed off people’s fears.

I panicked momentarily, uncertain how to get the monster off Kayla without hurting her, then snapped into action. If I didn’t do something now, she would slip through my fingers. My heart pounded in my chest, and I jumped off the dead Nightmare. “Stop fighting or you’ll bleed out,” I warned Kayla.

She stopped squirming and covered her face with her hands, sobs shaking her body. On Kayla’s bed, from when I had emptied her desk, was a heavy, metal award. The same one she’d tried to use on Matt. I sprinted to the bed, grabbed the statue and swung.

The medal’s stone platform smacked the beast in the side of its chin. The Nightmare let go of Kayla, its claws slicing deep gashes into her ankle, and fell backward. Kayla screamed as blood poured out of her body.
Shit.

I didn’t have time to kill the Nightmare. I dropped to my knees, digging my arms under Kayla, and evaporated us to Rome.

We landed with a thud in Bartholomew’s office. He and Tabbi ran to us, Kayla in my arms as I knelt on the floor. I moved my arm out from under her knees to brush the hair off her face.

“I got you. You’re going to be okay.” The words were as much for my benefit as for hers. She shook her head and cried out in pain.

Tabbi dropped to her knees and placed Kayla’s foot in her lap. She slid up the leg of Kayla’s pajamas to expose the wound and gagged. My jaw clenched. The Nightmare had cut clean through to the bone. Her artery was severed.

“Daniel, I’m sorry I didn’t listen. I should’ve listened,” Kayla said. Her words came out staggered between sobs and hyperventilating.

“Don’t talk like that. You’re going to be fine.”

Bartholomew grabbed a blanket off the back of one of his office chairs. “Tabbi, wrap this around the wound and put as much pressure on it as you can. I need supplies.” He disappeared.

Tabbi did as he instructed, her hands shaking.

“Samantha and Seth—did they come back?” I asked.

Tabbi nodded. “They ran to Giovanni as soon as they saw you weren’t here.”

Kayla grabbed my wrist, pulling my attention back to her. Her eyes stared into mine, the silent words of affection passing from her mind to mine. Then her eyelids fluttered closed—whether from pain or blood loss, I didn’t know—and her grip slipped from my wrist.

“No, no, no. Kayla, keep your eyes open. Look at me. You can’t go to sleep. Hey, look at me.” I shook her head gently.

Her eyes opened.

“That’s it. Keep your eyes open. Hey, look at me. I need you to fight. Stay awake.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but instead a single tear rolled down her cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb.

“I know, I know. Please hang on just a few more minutes.” A lump formed in my throat, and I swallowed.
Damn you, Daniel. Keep it together.

A second later Bartholomew appeared with Trishna—the same witch who’d healed Tabbi—in one hand and an IV stand in the other. A bag of O Negative blood hung on the stand. Bartholomew dropped the witch’s hand and leaned over Kayla to stick an IV needle in her arm. He attached one end of a rubber cord to the needle and the other to the blood bag. Then he unclipped the bag and let the blood flow. Red liquid ran through the tube and into her body.

“Did you rob a hospital?” Tabbi asked.

“They won’t miss these,” he replied. “Tabbi, switch spots with Trishna. She can save Kayla.”

Trishna slipped under Kayla’s ankle. She spoke with a strong, Indian accent. “I can’t replace the blood she lost, but I can heal her. This will hurt, so you must keep a firm grasp on her. Do not permit her to fight me.”

I nodded and moved my hand from Kayla’s cheek to her arm, prepared to hold her still while Trishna did her work. She plucked a smooth, white stone out of a leather bag and held it in both hands over Kayla’s ankle. She closed her eyes and spoke Latin.

“
Spirituum, te invoco. Cinis est pulvis ex ossibus, da mihi potestatem curandi saxo.
”