The Keeper's Vow (22 page)

Katie wanted to explode. She didn’t really
care, but she did. She cared so much. Her and Brian always had a
friendship where they walked on a thin line. At times she’d think
she was his closet-friend, but then he’d do something like hug on
her in front of everyone and throw all of his attention on her. It
was always a fine line they walked on. Were they best-friends or
two people who grew-up together?

“So you knew and didn’t tell me? You’ve let
me go on thinking he’s just been a jerk when, in fact, I’m the only
one who didn’t know he was trying to cut me loose?”

“It’s not like that, Kay. What did you want
me to say? Brian’s a douche? Brian’s a jerk? I hate Brian? I
already say that. You just never listen to me. In fact, all you
ever do is complain to me about Brian. But I guess I can understand
that, because it’s not like you want to tell me anything else.”

Was Allison serious right now? She was
obviously still angry about Katie not telling her that her dad
threw her out, until a week after the fact. It was months ago
though, she needed to let it go.

“Whatever, Allison,” Katie said. She didn’t
want to talk about it anymore. She didn’t care that Allison looked
hurt. Katie didn’t even care that she was being a bit unfair.

She finished her assignment for the class
period, and all of her math homework in the duration of class. She
didn’t say another word to Allison for the rest of the day.

CHAPTER TEN

Katie spent the
rest of the day at her own pity party. Without Tristan there to
distract her, she watched Brian laugh with his new group of friends
in Chemistry: Christi, who she hated; Michael, the most annoying
kid in the world; and Ethan, who called her weird last year for no
reason.

She had to fix it. There was an empty pit in
her stomach. Brian
was
her best-friend. They’d had a messed
up few months, but it couldn’t have been just her. There must have
been something else going on. At home he avoided his parents more
than her. It was normal for him to barely talk to them, but it was
different now.

Katie made up her mind. She was going to get
him to hang out with her after school. She wouldn’t take no for an
answer.

The final bell rang for them to finally be
done with Practical Applications and Steve Sensei. Though, to her
delight, today was swimming. An excellent end to the school week.
Katie climbed out of the pool and cornered Brian before he could
get out of the pool.

“Come with me Downtown?”

He ignored her, looking for another step
ladder.

“Brian, come on,” she bent down and grabbed
his arm, his muscles were warm from the countless laps they had to
do. He didn’t pull it away. “Please. I just want us to go back to
being friends. I don’t know what happened.”

His green eyes looked her over. She wanted
to tap on his nose like she used to, but she held in the impulse.
When did she start doing that? Stoping her impulses around him?

“Your new best-friend isn’t here today so
you need a fall back?” he said, griping the ladder. Why was
everyone doing that? Calling Tristan her
new best-friend.
She just barely accepted them being friends today.
Good
grief.

“Brian, you can’t be serious. He’s my
partner. Just like you have to spend a ton of time with Allison I
have to spend a ton of time with Tristan. Katie was glad Allison
was already in the locker rooms and out of ear-shot. Besides, it’s
you
who has been avoiding
me
.” Katie softened her
tone “I’m sorry. About before.”

“Fine. I’ll meet you on the steps in
twenty-minutes,” he said finally.

Katie opened her mouth ready to plead her
case before she realized he’d actually agreed.

She went into the lockers and changed,
reapplying her deodorant and putting her damp hair in a high
pony-tail. Her heart skipped a beat as she waited on the steps.
What if he stood her up?

To her relief, he came down the stairs and
stopped next to her. “Pizza?” he said.

She nodded.

On their walk, they talked about all the old
things: The secrets of the TV show
Lost
, Gandolf’s lack of
power, the ridiculous essay she had to do on the mating habits of
trolls, Mr. Rhineheart’s new obsession with audiotapes in the
classroom…but something was off. They were—off sync.

She crunched leaves on the side walk as
walked to their favorite pizza shop, The Pie Hole. As they ate,
things felt a little better, but they both danced around the
problem. Why had they stopped being friends? Brian didn’t bring it
up and Katie tried harder than ever to avoid it.

They left after sitting for a while and
walked using the same route they did all last summer. Most of the
stores were closing up, it was late, but they were kind of having
fun.

They stopped in front of a Dudley’s Music
Store and she burst into a fit of giggles. The last time they were
here, Brian was trying to learn the guitar; he was so bad his
lessons teacher asked him if he were interested in the drums
instead. Whenever he tried playing for her, she’d take it from him.
“If you care about humanity, you’ll never pick it up again,”
she’d tell him.

“What?” Brian said, smiling. She stopped
laughing as she looked into his eyes. It was gone. The little light
that shined in them whenever he looked at her. The way his eyes
formed little half circles when he smiled. How he bit on his bottom
lip right before he completely showed his teeth. It was all gone.
He was smiling at her like she was no one special. Just a girl. A
stranger.

“We should head back,” he said. A slight
coolness nipped at her spine. The sun was falling down and the sky
turned a dim blue.“It’s getting kind of cold.”

Katie nodded. Nothing would ever be the same
between them again. And she’d never know why. As they walked past
all the closed signs, she knew she might as well be walking with a
stranger. They took a short cut through an alley as the sun sunk
completely into the horizon, taking the last bit of warmth with
it.

“How sweet.” A silky voice said. They turned
around. A tall slender man stood maybe thirty feet away. He had
blonde hair, milky smooth skin, and wore a long black jacket that
molded his frame.

Brian cursed under his breath.

“Woah, no need to be nasty kid.”

“What do you want?” Brian said, his voice
deeper than usual.

“I just want to talk to your friend, It’s
Katie, right?” Brian looked at her and she shook her head. She
didn’t know him. Not at all—deja vu. The last time someone knew her
name and just wanted to talk, Tristan got stabbed.

“Get lost,” Brian said.

The man walked close to Katie ignoring
Brian. The speed in which he glided toward her wasn’t humanly
possible. His graceful movements were just like Tristan’s. She
backed up after seeing his eyes. Right before he stepped from the
shadows they glinted silver. He was a vampire and there was no
mistaking it. There was something else about him. The way he
smelled?

Brian pulled a knife out of his pocket.

“You’re really nice on the eyes,” he
laughed. “Why don’t you take a walk with me?”

“I’d rather not,” Katie said, her chest
constricted. She was a caged bird being watched. Except, there were
no bars.

“Of course you don’t,” the vampire said,
sighing. “No one ever does until someone gets hurt.”

Before Katie could blink he moved. Brian
tried to move away but the man moved like a shadow—instantly. He
punched Brian in his stomach, but Brian managed to cut his arm
before dropping the knife and hitting the ground hard.

Brian coughed.

Katie moved for the knife and stood in front
of Brian. Her legs twitched with fear. What was she doing.

“Really? That wasn’t enough to make you
think twice?”

The vampire pulled out a gun.

Small, like one Lucinda taught her to shoot.
There was a silencer on the end. She panicked, she couldn’t just
leave Brian on the ground, and even if she ran he’d catch her. Or
shoot her. She fought every urge to wet herself and beg for
mercy.

“I don’t know what you want,” she cried.
Maybe she should just agree to talk to him? No. Her insides said
no.

He laughed and shot to the right of her. She
ducked shaking so hard she thought she was going to vomit. He told
her to get up. She jerked her body up even though it screamed for
her to stay down. She cried.

“That was a warning. Cut the crap. You come
with me quietly and I won’t kill your friend.”

“Please—” she shuttered, still gripping her
knife.

“Don’t fuck with me girl. It’s been a long
day and I’m losing patience. Come with me or I’ll kill your
friend.” He flicked his gun at Brian’s limp body.

“
I’m coming,”
she heard in her head.
Tristan?

She tried to stand up straight. Maybe she
could talk to him long enough to distract him. What was she
thinking? What could she possibly do? She could hardly keep herself
from peeing.

“Do you want me to kill him?” He steadied
the gun on Brian.

“I’LL COME,” Katie shouted.

He lowered his gun and laughed. Laughed.

“You know. You’re a pretty girl. I bet you
have soft thighs.”

She lost her nerve and turned to run. The
gun went off muffled from the silencer like she’d heard a few times
before. The side of her ribcage split and burned as she smacked
into the ground. Her breath was knocked out of her and she tasted
dirt and road. She turned away from him closing her eyes.

“Quick little thing aren’t you? It’s no fun
if you just lay—" he was cut off by his own scream.

Katie turned, watching, as a colossal dog
bit his arm. He dropped his gun as the momentum of the dog threw
them past her and down the alley. She stood up fully aware of the
slicing pain in her side. She grabbed her side, ready to grab Brian
and run.

She wasn’t sure when Brian had come to, but
when she looked behind her, he was up and griping the pistol in his
hand. He aimed it at the vampire and dog tumbling in the alley.

The vampire ripped open the dogs shoulder
and it fell back. A howl vibrated throughout Katie’s body, and she
was thrown forward as a another muffled gunshot sliced through her
ears. This time she didn’t feel it. She saw it. Bits of red burst
out of her stomach. She fell to her knees as a frenzy of pain
blossomed in her. She screamed out, and Tristan answered back.

“Katalina!” Tristan ran to her. He grabbed
her and immediately grabbed the knife she and Brian had dropped on
the ground. With speed she’d never seen him use before, he tackled
the vampire off of the dog and they crashed into the wall. Tristan
was on top of him stabbing repeatedly.

Right before he delivered the final blow he
stopped and the vampire laughed, gurgling up blood.

“Tristan. Let me go now, and maybe I’ll
forgive you for being a traitorous coward. Maybe I’ll let you watch
me play with her. I—" Tristan never let him finish.

Tristan cut his head off. The body spasmed
and went limp as Tristan hacked at it. Katie looked away trying to
convince herself that it was his life or theirs. Is this what being
a guardian meant? Kill or be killed? Tristan hadn’t even
hesitated.

She screamed as her body spasmed. The
massive dog limped to her and growled. At least what she thought
was a dog. It should have occurred to her earlier that it was a
werewolf. It was grizzly. It’s eyes a hazel color. Human.

It sniffed her and let out a low grumble.
“Thanks,” Katie barely said between spasms of pain. Blood flowed
freely from her stomach and into her hands.

The wolf bounded off into the shadows.

Tristan stood in the middle of the alley
watching her. Wind cut through and whipped his hair. It blew his
fury and blood lust in her face. His eyes glinted silver and he
began to blind in with the darkness. She winced.

“Where did he shoot you?” he growled.

“My side,” she bite out.

“No, I took care of that one,” his voice was
dark. “Where did
Brian
shoot you?” She could feel the blood
pulsing through it but she didn’t want to think about it. She
didn’t want him to know, not when he looked the way he did now. Not
after he just cut a man’s head off. Not while she could feel his
thirst for blood. His thirst for death.

He moved to her with monster speed. A boy
she had never seen before stood before her, not Tristan.

He snarled and in a flash, he was gone and
on Brian who had been standing in the same spot. He was frozen.
Just staring at her.

Tristan threw him against the alley wall
with one hand. “You worthless piece of shit,” he yelled. “How could
you shoot her? You could have killed us.”