Rise of the Fallen 1 - My Soul to Keep (11 page)

Nodding, I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket. Lately, I’d made
a habit of sticking it in there disguised as a library card. I pulled it out and
it morphed back into the crystal sphere I'd first seen when Clarisse had given it
to me.

“Here it is.”

“Hang on to it. You’re running the show tonight. From now on you’re
on your own.”

I nodded and we walked around the side of the house along the driveway.
The garage sat offset from the house in the back. Almost tripping on the garbage
cans caused Clarisse to roll her eyes and Brett to peek around the back of the garage
at the two strangers in his yard. “W…w…who are you?”

“Brett Johnson?” I made his name a question. He nodded. “We haven’t
got all night, what’s your wish?”

He looked confused. I probably looked the same way when Clarisse asked
me what my wish was. “Excuse me?” He stepped fully around the corner and glanced
at the house to make sure we were alone.

“One wish, one soul, that’s the deal. What is it you want?” I sounded
just like Clarisse. I glanced over at her and she seemed impressed by how I was
handling the situation.

“Anything?”

“Anything, Brett. Let me guess, you want to be a vampire?” I already
knew the answer. I could feel it in his head.

“Really? I can be a vampire? Won’t I like get caught or burned at school?”
Bret was a smart cookie.

“We have things to protect you. Is that your wish? Do you want to be
a vampire? We can even make you the sparkly kind…”

“No! Real vampires don’t sparkle. I want to be a real vampire. I want
to drink blood, be pale, and live forever. Can you make me handsome?”

“Yes,” Clarisse answered for me.

“Then yes. I want to be a vampire!”

I didn’t even have to ask Clarisse what to do. I didn’t even have to
ask Brett for clarification as to what the word vampire meant to him. I pulled the
image and the abilities straight from his mind and felt the magic around us gather.

Instead of pulling it into me and guiding it into Brett, I pulled it
out of the air and flung it at him like he was the target in a game of dodge-ball.
I even saw it strike his chest in a shower of blue sparks.

He cried out when it hit him and fell to the ground, quite dead.

“Jeez, Connor. What the hell did you do?” Clarisse ran past me and
knelt at Brett’s side.

I didn’t get what she meant, so I walked over to his prone form. I
saw his skin turn pale and every blemish visible on his face melted away. His skin
became like porcelain and his greasy, short hair grew longer and almost glowed under
the light of the garage floodlights. His nails grew longer and the chewed edges
smoothed into neat ovals. His mouth opened exposing glistening fangs. I raised my
eyebrows in appreciation at what I'd done. Brett was now a perfect vampire.

“He seems okay to me,” I said to the top of Clarisse’s head as she
studied the changes happening to Brett.

“It should have taken days. How the hell did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Hurl the magic at him like a weapon. No Seeker has ever been able
to do that before. We usually just touch them with the magic and it does all the
work over time.”

“You’re asking the wrong guy. I’m the noob, remember?”

“Well, be more careful in the future.” She stood up and stayed there
until Brett coughed and sat up. Immediately he noticed his hands and skin color
and smiled like he'd gotten a puppy for Christmas.

“Thank you!”

“Don’t thank him yet,” Clarisse started. “First of all, to your parents
and friends you must remain normal. Worm, give him the orb.”

I reached in my pocket and pulled out the sphere. I brought it down
to Brett’s wrist and set it there, watching it as it turned into a broad, somewhat
heavy metal looking watch with a black band and a skull on the face. As soon as
it wrapped itself around his wrist, his skin took on a healthier color and his normal,
grungy look returned.

“Cool,” Brett said as soon as he noticed.

“It is. Keep it with you at all times. It not only makes you look human,
it actually stops the sun from burning you into a charcoal briquette. Savvy?”

“Completely, ma’am.” That earned him an eye roll from Clarisse.

“You need to feed, but you can’t kill any humans! That’s rule
numero
uno
and trust me, you don’t want to break rule number one. Ever.”

Even I shuddered at Clarisse’s speech. She hadn’t given it to me and
I briefly wondered why. I probably didn’t want to know the answer anyway.

Brett nodded and gulped more than a little. “When do you get my soul?”
Maybe he was even smarter than I gave him credit for.

“Don’t end up dead, and don’t break rule number one,” she called over
her shoulder as she walked down the driveway.

I gave Brett a quick wave and followed Clarisse. “You want a ride home,
worm?”

“Sure.”

We walked past the house. Her Harley had vanished, but her bug sat
out in the street. She needed to show me how to do that.

“Get in.”

“Is it locked?” I couldn’t help myself. I had to ask. She gave me the
bird and I lifted the handle, letting myself in before she did. I looked at her
and her eyes were glowing as she slid into her seat.

“Good work back there. Not bad for a newbie.”

“Thanks,” I said and closed the door.

We rode in silence back to le chateau du Sullivan. When she pulled
up to the driveway all I got was a heartfelt and enthusiastic, “Get out.”

“Is everything okay, Clarisse?”

“Peachy keen, now get the hell out of my car. Tomorrow is Saturday.
Expect to train most of the day. Sunday, too.”

“I can’t Sunday, I have a date.”

I heard her head snap as she finally turned to look at me. Before I
could even register the impact of her fist against my face, it blasted me out of
the opened door of the little pink Bug.

Lying on the side of the road, I watched in confusion as she drove
away.

Chapter 12

“Are you ready, worm?”

Saturday was trash day. One of the few chores I had around the house
was garbage duty. Not only did I have to empty the trash in the house, I had to
make sure the bins outside were raccoon proof at all times, and haul it all out
to the curb twice a week.
Such a glamorous life I lead
.

Because of the scraping noise of plastic on concrete from hauling the
bins out to the curb, I didn’t hear Clarisse sneak up on me. I turned around and
saw no sign of her car or motorcycle, just her standing there in jeans and a T-shirt.
She looked like standing five feet away from me was the last place in the universe
she wanted to be.

“Good morning to you, too, Clarisse.” I turned around and started walking
toward the house.

Her footsteps behind me let me know she wouldn’t be leaving anytime
soon. I did my best not to run inside and slam the door in her face. The truth was
Clarisse scared the hell out of me. Unstable didn’t even begin to describe her,
nor did bipolar. You didn’t just walk around punching people in the face and smashing
trees into them. It’s just not right. Her hand on my shoulder stopped me as I reached
for the door.

“Connor, wait.”

I stopped moving forward, but I didn’t turn around. “Why?” I really
wanted to know. I hoped she had a good reason for me not to leave her standing there.

“I’m sorry.”

I turned around. Slowly. Of all the things I'd been expecting to come
flying out of her mouth, an apology wasn’t one of them. “What did you say?”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” A billion other things flashed through my head to say.
The realization I might actually be the first person Clarisse had apologized to
in the last thousand years told me to keep my mouth shut.

“No, it’s not, but one apology is all you get. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, Clarisse.”

“Oh, I won’t. Ever,” she finished without batting an eyelash. “Are
you ready?”

“For what?”

“Training.”

I sighed and held up a finger. It was just my index finger and not
the one I wanted to give her. She cocked an eyebrow and I opened the door leading
into our small kitchen. Mom sat at the Formica kitchen counter drinking coffee and
reading the Cedar Hills Tribune. “Hey, Mom?”

She stopped mid sip and turned to look at me over her shoulder. She
could see Clarisse standing on the back stoop behind me and looked pleased. “Yes,
honey?”

“I’m gonna head to the mall with Claire. Is that okay?”

“Are you going to introduce me first?” I could tell by her voice, it
wasn’t a request.

I looked behind me and saw Clarisse looking quite amused and pleased
with herself. “Want to meet my mom?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” she whispered and pushed
past me through the narrow outer door. “Hi, Mrs. Sullivan, I’m Claire.” She crossed
the distance and held out her hand for Mom to shake.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, dear.” I groaned at the “dear”. Mom
called everybody “dear”.

“Well, we gotta get going, Mom. We’ll be back later. Soon. Very soon.”

“Take your time, kiddo. Do you need any money?”

“I’m good,” I replied wanting to get out of there more than anything
else I’ve ever wanted in my life. I turned to leave but Clarisse half grabbed my
arm.

“Did you tell your mom?” I saw the wicked gleam in her eye and groaned.

“Tell my mom what?” I really didn’t want to know. I really, really,
really didn’t want to know.

“That you’re taking me to the Halloween dance at school, silly.”

“I am?” My heart sank somewhere below my bellybutton. Jessie’s face
crumpled into tears in my head. She would never forgive me, especially after my
endless assurances yesterday that I had absolutely no feelings for Claire whatsoever.

“Don’t tell me you forgot already!” The laughter in her eyes made me
want to throw her halfway across town.

“How could I possibly forget you, Claire? You’re my reason for living,”
I said with as much venom as I could muster.

“Connor, what’s the matter with your eyes?” Mom sounded concerned.
I looked at her wondering what she was talking about.

“What?”

She stood up and walked over to me. In a classic "mom" move,
she took my head in her hands and turned it from side to side. She looked very confused.
“That is weird. I could have sworn your eyes were red.”

Realization hit and I knew we needed to get out of there. I didn’t
have my orb anymore and if Clarisse insisted on pissing me off, it better be several
miles away from my mom and dad. “Must have been the light from the ceiling fan,
Mom. You ready to go, Claire?”

“Sure, wo…Connor.”

“Well, you two kids have fun,” Mom said and smiled, letting go of my
face.

“Thanks, Mom.” I turned and motioned for Clarisse to lead the way.
It’s childish I admit, but as soon as she turned around I stuck my tongue out at
her. As soon as we were outside and away from the back door, I couldn’t hold it
in anymore. “What the hell were you thinking, Clarisse?”

“Whatcha mean, worm?” I wanted to wipe the smile off her face with
a belt sander or maybe even one of those commercial metal grinders that could cut
through bank vaults. That might be better.

“Telling my mom I’m taking you to the Halloween dance! I’m not going,”
I said slowly.

“With me?”

“At all! I can’t dance, I don’t dance, and I won’t dance! You had no
right.”

“And here I thought I might be doing you a favor. I’m sorry, worm.
Here, I’ll go tell your mother you don’t want to go with me…” She turned and started
walking back toward the house. I knew she was bluffing, so I called it. I let her
walk up the steps, put her hand on the handle, push it down, open the door, start
to walk inside…maybe she wasn’t bluffing. In a panic, I ran back into the house.
Mom sat there, mug of coffee in her hand, and listened intently to whatever Clarisse
had been saying.

“Hey, Connor, I’m doing what you told me.”

“Claire, I was only joking. Mom, don’t pay any attention to my friend
her
e
. I think her parents forgot to medicate her this morning.”

Mom looked at me like I was the one who skipped their medication. “I’m
confused. You don’t want a ride to the dance?”

“No, we don’t. It should be nice out, I think a nice walk to the school
might be good for the two of us,” I spat out and ignored the smug look on Clarisse’s
face as I gently took her arm and led her through the back door. Again.

“Gotcha,” she whispered.

“Kiss my ass,” was all I could come up with.

* * *

The staff Clarisse conjured out of mid-air swept in an arc that knocked
both my legs from underneath me and left me lying on my back looking up at her.
She brought the staff down with enough speed I barely brought mine up in time to
stop her from cracking my skull open.