Darker Days (15 page)

Chapter Twenty

“Meredith,” I repeated.

“In the flesh.” She twirled several times, then turned to Vida. With a chuckle, she said, “Are you sure she’s a Darker? She’s much scrawnier than the last two.”

“Last two—hell in a hailstorm!” The wheels in my brain, admittedly spinning a bit slower than normal, started piecing it all together. Meredith was a witch. A powerful one. Time and the ravages of age had nothing on her. “It was you in 1910
and
1959…”

Meredith sighed. “Not as fast as the last two either, I see. If you’d done your homework, you would have found I was an only child. After I disappeared, my parents had—an unfortunate accident. No further pitter-patter of Wells feet. I’m the only remaining Wells witch.”

“No way.” I had to remind myself to close my mouth. Mom was going to have a field day with this one. We were used to weird, but this was in a league all its own.

“Yes, way,” a new voice said. I turned and saw Kendra making her way toward us. Attention fixed on Meredith, she wore a determined scowl. “She’s telling you the truth.” She stopped beside me, eyes narrowed on the other witch.

My gaze swiveled back to Meredith. “So you
killed
your own parents?”

“You say kill, I say ended their suffering. To-ma-to, to-mah-to. They were young and took my disappearance hard. There was talk of another child—like I could be
replaced
. I had to make sure that didn’t happen. I don’t share well.” She giggled and winked at Kendra. “I’m
only
human after all.”

“How did he not recognize you?”

“Oh, baby—I’m a witch.” She snapped her fingers. Like someone dumped an invisible bucket of bleach over her head, her dark roots brightened. The blond crept downward until it reached the tip of her hair. Blue eyes shimmered and changed. The shape became narrower. The color darkened. Hear heart-shaped face lengthened, cheekbones becoming higher and more defined with the subtle hint of a flush. After a few moments, it was a totally different person standing there, giving me the stink eye. “I can make you see
whatever
I want.”

Beside me, Kendra snorted. It was a cross between awe and envy. “If you’re all powerful, you think you’d at least get rid of the split ends.”

For a moment, something flashed in Meredith’s eyes, but it passed quickly, giving way to amusement. She leaned forward, and just when I thought things couldn’t get any weirder, took a big whiff of Kendra. “A Belfair. How interesting—and sad.”

“Do I wanna know why she just sniffed you?” I leaned close and whispered to Kendra.

But Kendra didn’t hear me. I didn’t know the whole story, but there were some knots in the trunk of her family tree. The Belfairs were very defensive about their history. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You used to be an impressive lot.” Meredith shook her head and began to circle us. “Powerful and revered. Look how far you’ve fallen…”

“Huh,” I said, trying to derail the direction the conversation had taken. Kendra was one of those rare, happy, shiny people, but she had her buttons, same as anyone else. The only difference was, when she got going, it usually ended badly—for her. “If you ask me, you did Lukas a favor.”

Meredith tilted her head to the side, long hair swaying gracefully back and forth. “Oh?”

“Yeah. Locking him inside that box was way better than spending life with you. You’re flat out cow-shit crazy.”

Kendra snickered, and Meredith lost her grin. Stalking forward, she growled, “Lukas is mine.”

For a minute, all I could do was stare. “Lukas is yours? Are you
serious
?”

She held her ground, saying nothing.

“I don’t know how dating was in your day, but stick a guy in a box for over a hundred years and he’s not going to greet you with flowers and candy. A hatchet, maybe. And a continuous loop of Bob Saget skits—but
not
flowers and candy.”

She laughed. The sound was annoying, and it made my fingers itch to smack her. “I made a mistake. I’m here to rectify it.”

“There isn’t enough chocolate milk on the planet to
rectify
what you did to him.”

“You’re underestimating the effect I have on him. Lukas worshiped the ground I walked on. He’ll be begging me to take him back.”

Holy crap. This chick was crackers.

“Huh,” Kendra said with a frown. “They say it’s the first thing to go…”

Meredith whirled on her. “What?”

“The mind. I mean, you’re how old? That’s gotta be the reason for this delusion.”

The humor returned to Meredith’s grin and she squared her shoulders, turning back to me and all but dismissing Kendra. “You’re playing with fire, and you don’t even know it. Your number’s almost up.”

“Maybe you should count again,” I countered, taking a step closer. Kendra was right beside me. “Because after we send the Sins back to the box, I’m coming after you.”

Meredith’s grin widened even further. She leaned forward. “Oh, honey, I’d love to see you try.” Then she nodded to Kendra. “And even more than that, I’d love to see
you
try. Suppose you could pull a rabbit out of a hat—or would that be asking a bit too much?”

Kendra twitched like she wanted to move forward, but I grabbed her arm as the bell rang. Moments later, the hallway filled with students. They swarmed around us, oblivious to the electricity sparking between our stare down. For a few moments, no one moved. I’d always loved my job. Kicking Otherworlder ass and taking names. But I’d never felt such an urge to lay the smackdown on someone as I did with Meredith. The girl just brought out the crazy in me. Suddenly I was really glad Lukas wasn’t there.

Surprisingly, Meredith backed down first. With a smile, she said, “This
is
going to be fun. It was well worth the wait.”

“So was there a point to this whole show? You’re not just here to ask me to be your Facebook friend?”

The second bell rang and the halls cleared—but we weren’t alone anymore. Several others had joined the party.

“Gang’s all here,” Vida purred. She pointed to the tall woman on the end. “Let me introduce you around. I think you’ve seen some of their handiwork around town? That hot ticket is Envy.”

The woman—maybe somewhere in her early thirties with bleach-blond hair and pouty pink lips—winked and blew me a kiss. “I just
love
your jacket.”

“Next, we have Gluttony, and standing next to him, well that little tyke is Greed.” An overweight older man stood with his arms resting on the shoulders of a small child. The little girl couldn’t have been more than eight, complete with shiny Mary Janes, snow-white knee-high socks, and a worn teddy bear hanging from her left hand.

The little girl glared at me. “And Tony. Let’s not forget about Tony.”

“She’s already met Tony, Ava,” Meredith said in a light tone, then turned to glare at me. “We’re going to need him back, by the way.”

From the back of the group, a small framed redhead pushed forward.

“This is the one you’ll really want to meet,” Vida said, excited. “Something tells me you and Amari have a
lot
in common.”

The woman stepped up and flashed us a wicked grin. “Oh, yes. She’s just
full
of me.”

It had to be Pride. Everyone else was accounted for. Huh. I was actually kind of insulted.

She reached out to touch me. With an echoing slap, Meredith knocked her hand away. “Hands off,” she snapped. With a nod to Vida, she turned and started in the other direction. One by one, they followed. Like a conga line of evil sheep.

Over her shoulder, Meredith called, “That
is
really a nice jacket, by the way. We’ll be seeing you again real soon, Jessie Darker. Real soon.”

I watched them disappear around the corner. The urge to book like a little kid in a room full of clowns was overwhelming, but I held it together. I took Kendra by the arm and backed down the hall slowly until I made it to the exit—I didn’t trust Meredith not to come at me from behind as soon as my back was turned.

I couldn’t get out of that school fast enough. I didn’t even bother being discreet about it. Normally, I’d have taken my time to be sure I wasn’t caught—Dubois had it in for me already—but not this time. And considering how blasé some of the teachers were acting today—Sloth hangover, I guessed—I didn’t think anyone else would either.

Once we made it several blocks away, I unleashed question hell on Kendra. “Your mom said they couldn’t find anything on the Wells line.”

Kendra’s face turned bright red. “Don’t blame her, Jessie. You know the coven has rules.”

Then it started to sink in. “Wait—you’re saying Cassidy
lied
to us?” Cassidy Belfair had never been a fan of the Darker family, but I couldn’t help feeling betrayed. Kendra and I had been friends since kindergarten. She should love us by association if nothing else!

Kendra looked uncomfortable. “The coven is scared of this chick. Like, terrified. After Mom went to bed last night, I snuck downstairs to peek at the information she’d found. I didn’t understand it all at first. There were like six names—all with birth and death records. And then I found the pictures.”

“All Meredith,” I confirmed.

Kendra nodded. “Back in the eighteen hundreds, she was strong, but nothing too special. What the Elders today would call a mid-level witch. But in 1882, something changed. Suddenly, her magic was off the charts.”

“Changed? What changed?”

“No clue. The Elders don’t know, either. All I know is that they’re terrified of her.”

Whatever it was didn’t really matter. All that concerned me was getting her to free Lukas somehow. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful you told me, but what will they do if they find out?”

Kendra shrugged, then flashed a sad smile. “What can they do—take away my magic? Big deal. I suck at it anyway.”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed tight. “It won’t always be that way. I think, eventually, you’re going to be badass. Just like Cassidy.”

“That’ll be the day.” She sighed and kicked at a stone. “I’d settle for being able to turn soda to beer.”

“It’ll happen, Ken. I have faith.”

“I’m glad one of us does. I can’t help being jealous. My little cousin Mindy has more juice than I do.” She shook her head. “But, anyway. Time to dish. I wanna know more about your tall, dark sin.”

I couldn’t hold back my smile. “Assuming you mean Lukas.”

She nodded enthusiastically and the tip of one of the horns peeked out from under her blonde curls. “What’s he like?”

There was no need to put any amount of thought into my answer. The response came as naturally as breathing. “He’s annoying and stubborn.”

“So, the perfect match for you, then?”

“Smart ass.” I snickered, punching her lightly in the arm. “He’s also sweet, and under all his stuffy grandpa tendencies, he’s actually pretty funny. Oh. And he’s an amazing kisser.”

“OhMyGod!” I knew that’d get a reaction from her, which is why I saved the tidbit of information for maximum effect. She was hopping up and down like a five-year-old at the toy store. “How could you keep that from me? Spill. Right. Now.”

I giggled, caught up in her enthusiasm. The deepest parts of my mind chided me for it. There was no future with Lukas. A relationship from the box was more long distance than I’d be able to handle. But I wanted this moment with my best friend. For as much as I hated normal, I realized it wasn’t as overrated as I’d been making it out to be. Normal could be just as exciting as
para
normal. “All I’m gonna say is, thank God he’s not Lust.”

“Amen to that, sistah!”

I don’t know what it was, but something told me to turn around. When I did, I saw we weren’t alone. There was someone behind us. Several someones, actually. And they were getting closer with each step. At first I didn’t think anything of it. It was just group of people walking down the road on a pretty fall day. But as they closed in, it was easy to see just how out of place they were. Girls like that would never be walking down the street in The Pit.

Girls like that would never be
walking
anywhere—unless there was an audience.

Perfect hair and sky-high skirts, these girls were runway wannabes in stripper chic—and I had no doubt that they were following me.

“Hey,” one of them shouted. “Wait up.”

I didn’t stop. Hell, I didn’t even slow down. I leaned close and grabbed Kendra by the arm. “Don’t turn around. We have company.”

“Company?” she squeaked, letting me tug her along.

“Hey,” the same voice snapped. “I’m talking to you.” She rushed forward and grabbed my arm, spinning me around. Kendra came with me by default.

I flashed her my best innocent smile. The one I used on Mom when she caught me nosing through the filing cabinet at the agency. “Me? Sorry. Totally didn’t hear ya. What’s up?”

There were three of them. All blond and of the Bimbo Bitch school of fashion. Any minute now, I expected to see one of those annoying toy doggies pop its head from each designer purse. Where was Smokey—that’s what I’d started calling my demonic doggie stalker—when you actually needed him?

“I really like your jacket,” the tallest one said. She ran perfectly manicured fingers through her long hair. “Can I try it on?”

I balked, sure I hadn’t heard her correctly. A sidelong glance at Kendra revealed she was just as stumped as I was. “You want to try on my leather jacket?”

She offered me a wolf in sheepskin smile. 100 percent predatory. “Please.”

Kendra folded her arms. “You don’t seem like the leather type.” With a dismissive shrug, she started walking again.

I turned and started after her.

Behind us, three sets of heels clinked the ground in unison.

“That was rude,” one of the others said, jumping out in front of me. She had on a tight white t-shirt that said
bitch
in pink and white rhinestones, and when she grabbed my arm, her fingernails dug into the skin. “My friend likes your jacket. You should give it to her.”

“Your friend can buy one of her very own. I hear the biker Barbie look is hot right now.” I wrenched free and took a step back.