Creature of Habit: Book Two (Creature of Habit #2) (19 page)

Chapter 36

Amelia

“Can you please tell me what that was all about back there?”

Sebastian stared straight ahead, never once looking in my direction. “Didn’t Grant tell you?”

“About how you can transform yourself into something different? And that you use magic? Because hell, no. He didn’t tell me that.”

“It’s not magic. Not really,” he said, grimacing.

“Then what?” My hands shook and were caked in drying blood. I wasn’t sure if it was mine or the vampire’s.

“I can create illusions. On myself and other things. When we got attacked I thought it may help to make myself bigger than I really am.”

Illusions. Right. Telekinesis. Compulsion. There wasn’t much I could do but roll with it. “Okay, I guess. What did you do to the Jeep?”

“I just cloaked it. From the outside it looked empty. It was a long shot since they had already seen you, but fledglings have notoriously short attention spans. I thought it may buy us some time.”

The wind whipped through the broken windows, my hair flying into my eyes. I tried to get a good look at him. He still won’t look at me and even though he saved my life, the feeling that there is tension between us grows. “It’s like no matter how much I learn about you guys there’s always something else lurking under the surface.”

My comment gained a laugh but it wasn’t a friendly one. Between the post-fight exhaustion and my worry about Grant, something in me snapped and I twisted to look at Sebastian. “Look, thanks for saving me back there. It’s pretty clear you only did it because of Grant. I get it. You don’t like me or like my relationship with Grant—or just the fact that I’m human. But treating me like crap won’t make me stop loving him.”

His hands clenched tight on the steering wheel and I thought his jaw may snap, but he didn’t reply. Sebastian simply stared out the window like I didn’t exist. Soon we arrived at Grant’s home and he pulled to a fast stop at the front curb.

“You’re not coming in?”

He shook his head and the front door opened. Genevieve stepped outside.

“You’ll be safe here.”

I exited the car and a pile of glass fell from my dress, scattering to the ground. “What about you?”

“Don’t worry about me.”

Genevieve ran down the stairs and looked us up and down. The look of panic on her face didn’t do much to calm my nerves. “What happened? Are you okay?” She sniffed. “Amelia, are you hurt?”

“I’m okay. I think.”

She turned to Sebastian but he’d already revved the engine and peeled away from the curb. “Okay then, guess he’s got something to do.”

“He saved me. Both of us.”

She nodded and wrapped her arm around my shoulder. A surprising gesture. She hurried us into the house and locked the door behind us, employing Grant’s extensive system.

There was nothing for us to do now but wait.

Chapter 37

Grant

The children moved closer, their small feet snapping branches on the forest floor.  As they crossed into the clearing the sheer horror of the situation crashed down on us. Beyond the tell-tale signs they’d transformed, they were filthy, their clothing disheveled, and hands dark with mud. They’d probably been out here for days. Starving and lacking supervision. Evidence of fights between the fledglings was obvious—viscous bite marks up and down their arms and legs.

Ryan was the first to speak. “What the hell do we do?”

Because that was the question.

“We can’t leave.” I stated the obvious. We couldn’t just walk away from an entire camp of children, transformed into vampires. We couldn’t allow them to slip through the woods and stumble upon society. We couldn’t allow the public to know—not the truth. We had no choice but to terminate them. To clean up the wake of Caleb’s utter lack of mercy and righteousness. 

“We’re losing time,” Elijah said, and that was the truth. Caleb had forced our hand—forcing us to choose between what was right and our family. I refused to allow that to happen.

“Go, we can handle this,” I told him.

“Grant, there’s no way you two can do this alone.”

I slammed both hands against his chest. “Go! Get her!”

He nodded and made a break toward the forest. The fledglings saw him move and seeking food or a fight they raced in his direction. Ryan barreled in front of him, knocking the fledglings to the side. One by one they toppled but were immediately replaced by another, equally starved child.

Elijah skidded to a stop, unable to get through the growing hoard of vampires. Before I could react I heard a sound behind me and turned to find a handful of fledglings approaching.

“Back off,” I told the kids, praying they would listen. I needed time to figure out how to deal with them all. The children snapped their teeth, biting at the air. A scuffle broke out between two of them and they fell to the ground forgetting me and attacking one another. Three others dove at my legs and waist. I swatted them away, tossing them back toward the lodge.

“Grant!” Ryan shouted over their heads.  I spun and found him surrounded, also batting them away, like a batter in a cage. “We gotta do something!”

He was right, we couldn’t do this all night. Elijah couldn’t get away and we were losing valuable time. I narrowed my eyes at the large lodge up ahead. It looked like a meeting place—probably where the campers all gathered together.

I waved my hand in the direction of the building and shouted, “This way—follow me!”

I pushed through the sea of children, kicking them off my body as I moved to the lodge. Once I broke free I raced ahead, Elijah and Ryan close on my trail.

At the top of the steps, Elijah said, “What are you doing? This just traps us in the middle of the campground.”

“I have a plan. See if you can find something flammable.”

They scattered and I went to the back of the building, finding what I was looking for. The kitchen. I ran over to the large, industrial sized stove and studied the front. Red levers indicated the gas, and I switched them on, one at a time. A hiss came from the stove top as the noxious odor quickly filled the room.

I met the others in the main room. The fledglings had started pushing their way into the front door. Gesturing to the others, we made our way to the back of the building, toward a double set of glass doors.

Elijah sniffed the air. “Did you light the gas?”

Ryan looked down at the lighter fluid and matches in his hands and said, “Planning on blowing us all up?”

“No. I plan on blowing
them
up.” They both gave me skeptical looks. “We have no choice. We have to make their deaths look like some sort of horrific tragedy.”

“Like, entire boys camp demolished by explosion?” Elijah said, shaking his head. Two cans of gasoline sat at his feet. It would be enough.

“Got a better idea?”

“No.” He sighed. “And if we die trying?”

“Then we did our jobs. Protecting humans. Keeping our secret safe.”

“Let’s do this then,” Ryan said, taking out a couple of kids nearby, snapping their necks to temporality immobilize them.

“Elijah, go out the back window. Make sure everyone is inside and pour gasoline all around the building.”

We fought relentlessly, biding time until everyone was inside. The room was at maximum capacity and packed into such tight quarters, the fledglings forgot about us and began fighting one another. I spotted a boy in the crowd walking toward me. His eyes were pitch black and nothing took him off track. He seemed completely focused. On me.

“What’s that kid doing?” Ryan asked.

“I don’t know.”

I heard a tap behind us and Elijah’s face appeared in the window. “They’re all in.”

Ryan jumped and landed cat-like on the ground. He looked up at me and I said, “Just a minute.”

“One minute,” he said, dividing the supplies to light the fire.

I redirected my attention to the boy, the only one not in the fray. The others tugged at his shirt, snapped their teeth in his direction, but he kept moving, never taking his eyes off me.

“Grant!” I heard Elijah shout but I couldn’t take my eyes off the kid.

The boy approached. I saw his dark wavy hair and scuffed hiking boots. He wore a T-shirt that said, ‘Camp Greenwood’ with an image of a beaver across the chest. He moved closer, bumping into those fighting around him. When he finally stopped, my back was pressed against the window and I could almost feel the hunger trembling through his body as he attempted to maintain control.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“Tick-tock.”

I frowned. “What did you say?”

“Tick-tock. Tick-tock.” He smiled, flesh caught between his teeth. “Time is running out.”

“Look, kid, you’re the one running out of time. Where is she?”

The kid looked away from my neck and tapped his temple. “I already told you.”

Jesus. Caleb scrambled his head.

“Tick-tock,” he chanted. “She looked very scared.”

“Who? Olivia?”

He nodded. “She looked sad. Not like the others.”

“What others?”

“The other people that did this to me.”

I shook him, hoping to shake some sense in him but his eyes glazed and he muttered under his breath. A thought popped in my head and I asked, “Is he in your head? Now? Is Caleb talking to you?”

The boy laughed, high pitched and hysterical. “He said it would take you forever to figure it out. Because you’re so arrogant. He wants you to know that he’s coming for Amelia and then he’ll kill the rest of your family, too.”

At the mention of Amelia’s name my patience wore to its final thread. With my hands clasped around his neck, I jumped out the window, crashing through the glass and landing hard on the ground.

“We have to do this,” Elijah said. His eyes never left me and the kid.

“Give me the lighter fluid,” I said.

Ryan handed it over and with one hand still restraining the kid, I poured the accelerant all over his head. He fought against me, but I held tight.

“Now,” I growled and Ryan lit a match. I picked the fledgling up and tossed him back into the broken window. We started running before he landed—before he even knew what was happening. With a fast flick, Ryan tossed the match and followed him, landing on his wet, dripping body.

We were at the edge of the forest when he burst into flames.

We were halfway down the mountain when the building exploded, shaking the ground under our feet.

A vehicle passed us as we raced down the gravel road and Ryan realized first that it was Sebastian in his banged up Jeep. Fear reared inside. The last time I saw the Jeep it had been in one piece and I’d put Amelia inside.

“Hey!” Ryan shouted, chasing after this brother.

I started to follow but Elijah’s hand clamped around my elbow and stopped me. “What did he say?” he asked.

“We’re running out of time.”

Tick-tock.

~*~

Sebastian assured me she was fine. Safe. She was at home with Genevieve. 

He spoke with sincerity. I believed him, but I also smelled her blood on the upholstery of the front seat. I found it imbedded in the sharp points of the shattered glass on the floorboards. Something terrible had happened.

At the house, Genevieve and Miles met us in the kitchen. One look at Elijah’s face, our dirty clothes, and healing wounds told them things had gone too far. We hadn’t found Olivia.

“Where is she?” I asked, the second I walked in the door.

“She’s fine,” Genevieve replied. “Upstairs.”

I started to move toward the stairs but Miles stopped me and said, “There’s no way to keep this from The Council.”

“No,” I agreed. “We did our best to cover it up, but what Caleb did was beyond depraved. So many families were affected by this. So many lives lost.”

“Why did he do it?” Genevieve asked. She seemed truly confused.

“He’s a sadistic bastard. He needed a diversion—something big to keep us all occupied while he took Olivia.”

“Plus he thinks it’s funny,” Ryan added.

“Amelia’s upstairs?” I clarified, having held off as long as I could. The truth was that I was conflicted about seeing her. Part of me wanted to bask in the last moment we had together. I didn’t want to do what had to be done.

“Yes. She needed to clean up,” Genevieve said, eyeing me.

I looked down at my hands, my clothes. Every inch of my body reeked of death and smoke. My shoes were drenched in lighter fluid.

I started up the stairs, leaving the others to deal with The Council. Miles grabbed my arm and said, "We're headed back to Black Mountain. Make sure the house is secure."

“You’ll talk to the Shifters about helping us find Olivia?”

“Yes, and meet with them soon. I’ll call you when I have new information. This camp thing is going to be a PR nightmare.”

I glanced over his shoulder at Elijah who looked so tense—so sad—I thought he may crumble right there in the kitchen. I nodded in his direction and said, “Take care of him.”

“Of course,” Miles said, but Ryan caught my eye and I knew he had it under control. We would find Olivia and destroy Caleb, but first I had something to do.

"Yes. I'll see you tomorrow. I need to deal with some things here," I explained.

Again I turned to leave, but Sebastian pulled me aside and said, "She's tough, Grant, more than you think. She held her own tonight.”

His words should have made me feel better but it only solidified that Amelia was amazing. Unique. She was perfect and all I had brought into her life was pain and suffering.

The coven left and I secured the house, ignoring the lure of her heartbeat. Quickly I showered, removing any evidence of the fight with the fledglings. I wiped the fog off the mirror, inspecting the fading scars from their sharp teeth and nails. We had no choice, I told myself. Regardless, I felt out of options. Completely out of control.  Caleb had completely shaken my faith in myself.

Drying off, I entered the dressing room. I pulled on T-shirt and a pair of pants before heading to Amelia's room. I could hear the steady rhythm of her heart and soft breathing from the hallway. I dreaded the talk I knew we must have, every silent step bringing me that much closer to her.

As was usual, Amelia didn't wake when I entered. I quietly lowered myself to the chair facing the bed and assessed her wounds. Small cuts peppered her face, clearly from where the car window shattered. Hot bruises lined her arms and throat. I didn’t like it—not one but she seemed okay. She’d fought a vampire and won. A feeling of pride beat out the worry in my chest.

Sighing, I sat back in the seat and observed her in a heavy silence. Watching Amelia sleep was as close to true rest as I'd ever had in this life. My body slowed to her pacing, and I found myself matching my breaths to her steady, lulling rhythms.

I loved this woman so entirely, with every fiber of my being, and finally knew the joy of having it returned with certainty. Her declaration over at the Biltmore gardens had filled every hole in my century-old soul. She mended the scars and vacancies that I hadn't even known to exist. I felt a profound sense of hope standing over the magnificent grounds that, for once. I was swimming instead of drowning.

All of that changed with one phone call.

The love that had filled me earlier in the evening began to ache painfully. I'd been foolish to think I could have her. That I could simply grasp that possibility and believe she had any chance of remaining safe. Sure she came out ahead in the attack tonight but if Olivia couldn't protect herself, there was little hope for Amelia in Caleb’s maddening game.

On the Jeep ride home, after seeing the true extent of Caleb’s ability to destroy the lives of so many just to get to me, I made a decision. There was no way I could risk her falling to his whims. I had to cut her free before he dragged her to hell with the rest of us. I thought I could protect her. That she would be safe with me or one of the others. I had a coven, not a gang of fighters. I’d spent weeks locking her away under the guise of safety, but in reality, I had only been delaying the inevitable. As long as she was with me, her life was at risk, in constant danger.