Shimmer (Wicked Woods #2) Read online

  So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that Briony settled into her seat next to Maisy. She turned to ask if it would be all right to copy notes from this class too, and while her eyes were off the front of the class, a ripple went through the other students. Well, the female students at least.

  Briony turned to try to see what all the fuss was about, and felt her mouth drop open. Kevin was there, standing at the front of the class in a pale button-down shirt and dark slacks that made him look, if anything, even more handsome than he usually did. Briony could feel his eyes on her, and she tried to think of anything else besides the last time they held each other. With his hair pulled back, and his eyes gleaming with mischief and mystery, he looked devilishly handsome. The other girls in the class certainly seemed to notice as he took his place at the front. Even Pepper seemed to be looking at him with an interested, even calculating, smile. It would probably be the first time ever that she bothered paying attention in class.

  “Hello class,” Kevin said. “Mr. Kramer had to leave due to a family emergency, so I’ll be your substitute teacher for a few days.”

  That one actually got a cheer from some of the girls. Briony could not help a small pang of jealousy. Even if she hadn’t been ready for things to move as fast as they had been with Kevin, that didn’t mean that she was willing to let the likes of Pepper ogle him. That was her job.

  “Okay, class. Settle down and we’ll get started.”

  The lesson seemed to pass in double time for Briony. Kevin’s voice was delicious to listen to, and to her surprise, he seemed to know exactly what he was talking about. But then, hadn’t he said that he was planning to go on to become a veterinarian? Whenever he asked questions, hands shot up, eager to answer.

  All too soon, the class was done with, and people filed out. Well, most of them did. A surprising number of girls seemed to have found questions that they desperately needed to ask after class, so Briony had to wait a while before she was alone in the classroom with Kevin. When the last of her classmates left, she kissed him without thinking about it, wanting to make up for the abrupt way things had ended the night before. Kevin seemed to have the same idea, and it was a while before they were able to step back from one another.

  “We shouldn’t,” Briony said. “What will the school say if they think you’re seducing its pupils?”

  “I’m not sure I care,” Kevin said. “It’s only been one night, and already I miss you.”

  That was sweet. Even so… “What are you doing here, Kevin? Besides playing up to teenage girls’ fantasies of gorgeous young teachers, I mean.”

  “I’m gorgeous?” Kevin grinned.

  “Don’t say that like you don’t know it.”

  The grin broadened, then disappeared as suddenly as it had come. Kevin looked earnest. “I said that I would keep you safe, Briony, and I meant it. I can’t exactly do that if I’m not close.”

  “How did you even persuade the school to hire you? I mean, you’re barely nineteen. Aren’t you supposed to have graduated from college to be teaching?”

  Kevin smiled slowly. “I was at Harvard by sixteen.”

  “What?”

  “Just call me the family prodigy. I was about to graduate when…”

  “When you got turned into a werewolf,” Briony finished for him.

  Kevin nodded.

  “So you lost everything?”

  “I wouldn’t say everything,” Kevin said, slipping an arm around Briony. “After all, I found you, didn’t I? You bring out more in me than I might have believed, Briony. My soft side, my animal side. Everything.” He paused and then whispered softly, his warm breath caressing her ear. “I think I love you.”

  Briony opened her mouth to reply, but she did not get the chance. Kevin’s mouth was on hers again, and that was more than enough to drive all thoughts of what she had been about to say out of her head.

  .

  Chapter 9

  After school, Briony went home to change for work. Home. That had such a great sound to it, and it was what the Edge Inn had become, thanks to Aunt Sophie’s efforts. Being back there after staying with Kevin was like seeing an old friend whom Briony had not even known that she had missed.

  Not that she would be seeing the place for long today. Her shift at the diner started soon, so there would only really be time to shower, change, and rush back out of the door. Briony hustled in, calling out to let Aunt Sophie know that she was back. There wasn’t any reply.

  That was odd. Briony had taken her great aunt’s car to school, so it wasn’t like she’d driven anywhere. In any case, there was the inn to run, so Aunt Sophie should be busy with that. Maybe that was it. Maybe a guest had shown up while Briony was at school, and Aunt Sophie was busy taking care of them.

  Somehow though, Briony didn’t believe it. Aunt Sophie had found a spare silver cross hidden in a drawer, and given it to Briony to replace the one she’d had to abandon in the woods. Briony clutched it tightly as she moved through the inn, looking for her great aunt. There did not seem to be anyone there, though at the same time, there did not seem to be any sign of disruption. All the rooms were arranged with the same pin-sharp neatness Aunt Sophie liked. All the furniture was where it should be. Having seen Aunt Sophie fight, Briony had to believe that there would be some serious signs of damage if anyone tried to attack her here.

  Briony was up in one of the guest bedrooms when a sound came to her from outside, the scrapes and shuffling of someone, or something, moving around outside the front entrance. Briony edged over to the window, being careful to keep out of sight and using the curtain to shield her as she peered down to where the sound seemed to be coming from.

  Shadows shifted around the inn as something darted between the trees beyond it. Briony knew as well as anyone what that meant. It had happened on her first night there, when two vampires in old-fashioned clothing had tried to force their way in, only to be driven off by her great aunt. Now, of course, Aunt Sophie was not there to protect her, but Briony knew a lot more than she had then. She could fight a lot better, too.

  Even so, Briony jumped when she heard the doorbell. She had to force herself to stay calm, not to panic. With a tight knot of fear in her stomach, she hurried downstairs, opening the door just enough on the chain to peer out. There didn’t seem to be anyone around.

  There was, however, something on the doorstep. It took Briony a moment to recognize the crumpled cloth there, but when she did, she had the door open in a flash to snatch up the jacket that lay there. Her jacket. The one she had given to Fallon as he ran to confuse their trails. It was grubby from everything that had happened in the forest, but that was not the worst of it. That part came when she saw the reddish black stains down one side. The kind of stains that could only be blood.

  That made Briony glance around again, in anger this time. Was someone watching this? Watching to see how much it would hurt her to see that jacket stained with Fallon’s blood? Was there someone out there who knew what had happened to him, and whose only response to it had been this? Had they already done something to Aunt Sophie?

  Briony knew that the smart thing to do would be to go back inside, bolt the doors, and call for help. With luck, George or one of the other Preservation Society members would be there quickly. For once though, she didn’t want to do the sensible thing. She’d had enough of being scared by these things, and she wasn’t about to let the vampire who might know what happened to Fallon get away while she sat inside cowering.

  Briony pulled the crucifix from around her neck and activated the catch to extend it into a silver blade. Compared with all the things that had been taken from the Preservation Society’s arsenal, it wasn’t much of a weapon, but wasn’t Aunt Sophie always saying that surprise was a better weapon than all of those put together? What vampire would expect her to chase it through the woods? Would expect Briony to jump out on it in the trees?

  Her mind made up, Briony sprinted forwards, reaching the tree line quickly. Ahead, she t
hought she could make out the shape of her prey, darting from tree to tree, shadow to shadow. It was quick, but it looked small. Smaller than her. Briony knew that did not necessarily mean she had the advantage in strength, not when dealing with vampires, but it might be an advantage nonetheless.

  Briony crept forward, moving as silently as her sneakers would let her. She knew that it was vital not to make any sound if she wanted to take the creature by surprise, and she needed to do that. She needed the chance to question it, and for that she would need to incapacitate it quickly. That meant a surprise attack. Using the trees for cover, Briony slipped closer.

  She was just yards away now, as close as she could reasonably get without alerting the thing. It was indeed smaller than her, slightly built, with short dark hair. It wore old-fashioned clothes that were slightly too big for it, as though they had been borrowed from a slightly less undersized vampire. Briony tensed herself to attack.

  At that point, the vampire turned, ever so slightly, and Briony saw his face. She almost dropped her weapon.

  “Jake?”

  It came out before Briony could stop herself. Then again, given that her little brother was standing just a short way away, pale and clear-eyed and quite obviously a vampire, Briony felt that she was probably entitled to be a little bit shocked. The feeling seemed to be mutual, because Jake jumped at the sight of her, landing in what was probably supposed to be a fighting stance. Of course, the fact that Briony was holding a weapon that could kill him probably had something to do with it.

  “Jake? It’s ok. It’s me, Briony.”

  That didn’t really have the desired effect, because Jake bared his fangs, snarling in a way that didn’t really fit with the thirteen-year-old brother Briony knew and loved. Not even on the occasions when Briony had been in his room without asking.

  “Jake, seriously,” Briony said. She lowered the silver blade. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

  “But I might hurt you, Briony,” her brother said. “You have to stay back!”

  Briony shook her head. “You’re not going to hurt me. I’m your sister.”

  “That doesn’t matter. I am so hungry. I’m always so hungry.” That was little more than a whine, though it was an achingly familiar one. How many times had Briony heard it when their mom and dad hadn’t let Jake do something?

  “Jake-”

  “No, Briony. Stay back. I can’t control it. They tell me it is worse for me because I’m not an adult, like that’s supposed to help. Like I’m ever going to get any older.”

  Briony felt the first hint of tears at that. It was bad enough that her little brother had been turned into one of these creatures, but to spend the rest of eternity trapped at thirteen? To have all a vampire’s hungers as well as all the madly ranging hormones that came with being that age? Briony could barely imagine it. Her brother was still at the awkward stage before his first real growth spurt, still small and awkward. Worse, he would stay like that forever.

  “I’m not going to come closer, Jake. Not if you don’t want me to.” Briony paused before asking the obvious questions. “Are Mom and Dad okay? Are they vampires too?”

  Pietre had said it, of course, but Briony wanted to hear it from someone she trusted. Despite what he was now, that included Jake. When her brother nodded, Briony did her best not to show any hurt.

  “What about Uncle Pete?”

  Jake shook his head. “I don’t know why Pietre turned Mom and Dad, but whatever it was, he didn’t want Uncle Pete around. He killed him, Briony.”

  That wasn’t something Briony had been hoping for. She found herself wondering how she would break the news to Aunt Sophie. For now though, there were other things she needed to know.

  “Jake, are you living with Pietre? Doing what he tells you?”

  “Not exactly.” Jake didn’t seem happy to be talking about it, but it just seemed like the usual unhappiness of a brother being questioned by his elder sister. Briony found that she almost missed it. “He made us, and there’s a connection there, but… well, things aren’t exactly simple now. There’s trouble brewing, and not everyone agrees with him.”

  “What do you mean?” Briony asked.

  Jake shrugged.

  “Jake, it might be important.”

  “I mean that vampires might be pretty dangerous, but there are supposed to be rules. The thirst is… it is more than almost anything, but it isn’t everything. There are things most vampires do not do. One of them is that you only turn people who are in their prime. No one wants to be old forever.”

  “Or thirteen,” Briony said softly.

  “Or thirteen,” Jake echoed. “But Pietre broke that rule, and now not everyone is happy with him. Of course, I’m still stuck like this.”

  “Oh, Jake.” Briony opened her arms and took a step forward, wanting to fold her brother up in a hug and tell him that everything would be all right. “I’ve missed you, you know. All of you. When you first went missing, it was like everything just… collapsed.”

  Briony took another step forwards, but Jake practically leapt backwards. “Briony, I said don’t! I’m starving. I will rip you apart. I won’t be able to stop myself.”

  Briony tried not to let the hurt she felt at that show on her face, but she obviously didn’t do a very good job of it, because Jake winced.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I have to go now.” He darted towards the nearest trees, but stopped a few paces from them. “We still feel, you know.”

  “I know,” Briony said, thinking of Fallon.

  “Under all the hunger, we’re still us. We still love you.”

  Jake made to leave. Briony almost forgot what she had followed him for.

  “Wait,” she called after him, just in time. “This jacket you brought. Do you know where the vampire who was wearing it is?”

  Jake shook his head. “I found it abandoned in the forest. I brought it over because I recognized it. I thought that if your jacket was here, then you would be. I guess I wanted to see you.” He hesitated for a moment. “They say I shouldn’t want that. That it is better to make a clean break. I’m supposed to keep away from you, from Aunt Sophie, from everybody.”

  Briony wanted to say that it was okay. That it was so much better knowing that he wasn’t completely gone. She wanted to say it, but there wasn’t a chance, because Jake chose that moment to sprint off, deeper into the woods.

  Chapter 10

  Briony could only stand and stare as her little brother sprinted away into the trees, low branches snapping and leaves falling as he hurried from her. Seeing him like that was a wrench, after all, who wanted their brother to be a vampire? Still, it was far better than him being dead. At least this way, there was some hope.

  For a moment, Briony considered running after her brother, but she stopped herself. Jake was long gone by now, the trees swallowing all signs of him almost as soon as he had run from her. At the speed he had been running, Jake could be anywhere by now.

  Besides that, there was a small part of Briony that did not want to risk running after Jake when he had only just told her how hungry he felt. What if he really couldn’t control himself? What then? Briony felt ashamed to think that about her own brother, but she could not help it. In any case, she was thinking about him as much as herself. Briony could only guess how Jake would feel if he ended up biting her by accident, but she knew it wasn’t something her little brother would be able to put aside lightly.

  No, the best thing to do was definitely to head back to the Edge Inn. Maybe Aunt Sophie would be home by now. If so, she would definitely want to hear everything. Briony turned to walk back, and it occurred to her just how far she must have run into the woods in her need to show Jake that she had not been afraid. That had been stupid. What if there were other vampires out there? Did Briony really want to hand them an advantage by walking straight into a place where she would not be able to spot them coming?

  Almost exactly on cue, a twig broke somewhere not far from her. It wasn’t
easy to pin down the exact direction in the woods, because the trees made the sound echo through them until it sounded like it came from everywhere at once, but Briony got the distinct impression that whoever it was had managed to get between her and home.

  Something moved up in one of the trees, a good ten feet above her, largely hidden by the foliage. Briony didn’t even try to convince herself that it might just be a bird. Birds were not that big. She clutched her silver-bladed crucifix tightly, reminding herself that she wasn’t unarmed. Wasn’t helpless. Any vampire or werewolf jumping down from that tree would find itself running straight into a silver blade coming up to meet it.

  What then, though? Briony could probably handle a single vampire, but what if there turned out to be more than one? She saw something move in the tree, and as it leapt down, she made her decision. She ran.

  Briony cut sideways into the trees, not wanting to let herself be chased deeper in the forest, but knowing that the creature would try to keep between her and the inn. Running through the forest was not easy, and Briony had to concentrate every step of the way to avoid the debris of low plants, tangled roots and fallen branches that threatened to trip her. Falling would not be good. Not when she could hear running footsteps behind her, trampling through the undergrowth.

  They were getting closer, too. Briony started to zigzag through the trees, trying to make it harder for whatever was chasing her to judge which way she would be going next, deliberately picking out the hardest route she could in the hopes that it would be slowed down enough for her to get clear.

  Luck wasn’t with Briony. She felt her foot catch on a tree root, and only just stopped herself from sprawling headlong. The stumble was enough. Briony tried to dodge sideways as the footsteps closed the last strides, but it wasn’t enough. Strong arms closed around her in a tackle that bore both her and her pursuer to the ground.