Aftermath (37 page)

Ben's Story

“We should probably get a table. I don’t want to get stuck with someone we don’t like,” Stephanie said when we walked into the decorated field house.

Molly agreed, and TJ and I followed like puppets.

After the girls analyzed which area they preferred and selected which table to drop their purses at, they headed to the ladies’ room and left us on guard. Lucas strolled over with Trent.

“Where’s Emma?” TJ asked before I did.

“Eh… she’s somewhere,” Lucas answered, not making eye contact with either of us.

Good. Maybe she wised up and dumped his ass.

Benjamin!
Molly screeched in my head.

Okay, okay,
I answered in defeat.

She walked in beside me. Seemed irritated,
Bianca answered.
Not sure where she is now. I’m in the loo.

Emma and I are to the left of the dance floor,
Claire reported.
She’s fine. She doesn’t think much of Lucas, though.

Join the club,
I said and then realized I was in this seventeen-year-old skin far too long. I was beginning to use lingo from my teenage era.

Claire laughed. I peered into her thoughts and saw Emma smile. The girls were complaining about Lucas. I found myself unable to break the connection, enjoying every last negative word Emma said.

When Stephanie and Molly came back from the bathroom, they immediately headed to the dance floor. It was like earlier at the Inn. They were in a world of their own, and TJ and I were simply decorations they lugged along.

“I’m getting something to drink,” I said.

“We can spike it, if you want. I’ve got stuff in the car,” Lucas added.

“Nah, man. I’m fine,” I answered, though TJ looked willing. “Besides, the cop at the door will get suspicious.” I gestured toward the security guard the school had on duty. TJ was a nice enough guy. Hell, he put up with Molly, so he couldn’t be all that bad. But when I saw him and Lucas leave the dance despite my gentle warning, I realized peer pressure was more convincing than common sense.

I was tired of these teenagers. If it weren’t for Emma, I’d have skipped the dance and tracked Ray. It still bothered me that I wasn’t able to retain any data when I shook his hand, and Jorgenson proved useless in explaining why.

Sorry, Ben. I have no idea. We’ve got nothing,
was all Jorgenson said. No wonder Commander E showed up.

I hung out by the concession window, made small talk with Drew and Justin, and watched the teenagers grind on the dance floor, song after song. Back when I was alive, you could have been arrested for what these kids called dancing today. I was relieved Emma never danced with Lucas. I might have killed him if he touched her.

Hanging with a group of guys had its perks during the dance. It meant Stephanie danced with her friends and left me alone. I watched Emma and enjoyed the cold shoulder she gave Lucas. He headed to the parking lot more than once. First with TJ, and then with Trent. It got to the point that even the human rent-a-cop noticed. I was ready to smack him upside the head if he didn’t figure it out.

By the third trip, the security guard finally told Lucas that the doors would be locked for the rest of the evening. “If you leave after this, you won’t be allowed back in. Got it?”

Lucas nodded and looked apologetic. Once out of earshot, Lucas became the prick we were used to. “That fat fucker can’t stop us. Wait until I tell Ray. He and his buddy, Abe, will put him in his place.”

Trent laughed a gut-busting grunt, and the two knuckleheads fist-bumped. It was modern-day backslaps. They rejoined our group at a table, cracked jokes, and were their usual selves. Most guys liked them. Girls cringed.

I kept to myself, nodding and laughing at appropriate times, but not really paying attention.

Everything about Lucas bothered me—his blood sample that mutated to look normal, his mother’s bizarre memories, and Ray’s lack of download. And then there was the abundance of hybrid scents. Was it every time Lucas was around? I couldn’t recall. Though sitting at the dance with Lucas nearby, I didn’t notice any peculiar odor.

What about Ray’s friend? Lucas mentioned someone named Abe. Who was Abe?

Just when I thought I was onto something, the DJ dimmed the lights and slowed down the thumping beat to a mellow song, a sign the dance was coming to an end. I guzzled another bottle of water, watching people pair up and head to the dance floor. TJ asked Molly. Trent grabbed Bianca’s hand. Hannah asked Justin, and Drew whispered in Claire’s ear. Lucas went to the parking lot the minute Emma turned him down. Stephanie followed.

That left me.

Emma sat at a table alone, staring at her hands in her lap. She looked up as if she knew I was watching her. Her eyes lit up when they met mine, and I suddenly didn’t care I brought Stephanie to the dance. I stood and crossed the room, Emma’s eyes on me.

“Do you want to dance?” I asked.

“I… ah… I probably shouldn’t. I mean, I’m here with Lucas,” Emma answered, even though her thoughts screamed yes.

“I know, but I don’t see him anywhere,” I said, turning to look around in mockery. She did the same, and then smiled at me. It was the same expression Elizabeth used to give me every time I told a joke. “So, what do you say?”

Her eyes sparkled like they did when we were young. “Sure.”

I reached for her hand and led her to the middle of the dance floor. Surrounded by her peers and all of our friends, I stopped, turned, and pulled her gently toward me. She didn’t say a word, but I read her thoughts and gauged her heart rate. Emma was nervous.

Wanting to make a good impression, I kept a respectable distance between us.

“Lucas shouldn’t have left you alone,” I said.

She shrugged on the outside. Inside, her pulse increased.

I scanned the voices I heard in my head and settled in on his. Lucas was exactly where I expected him to be—in his car, smoking a joint. Within seconds, Stephanie joined him. She took a hit and then another.

“I think he went out for a smoke,” Emma mumbled.

She smelled of jasmine. As much as I wanted to pull her tight, I resisted. I couldn’t risk coming on too strong. Then again, being weak wasn’t in my nature either.

“Exactly what do you see in him?” I asked the question I wondered for weeks.

Her body stiffened after the words came out. Suddenly, I regretted my forwardness.

“He’s not that bad,” she answered after she composed her thoughts.

We swayed to the song, close enough that I could whisper in her ear. “You’re right, he’s not bad. He’s just stupid.” Her tension eased, but didn’t go away completely. “I wouldn’t have left your side if I were your date tonight. Lucas is lucky to have you.”

She sighed in my arms. “Lucas is just my date tonight. We’re not… going out.” She explained, like I had asked. Of course, I was happy to hear the words aloud.

“With the look he gives you, I’m pretty sure the whole school thinks you’re a couple.” I knew she didn’t want to be his girlfriend. I pulled back enough to see her face.

“Well, you’re here with Stephanie. Won’t she be jealous that we’re dancing?” she asked.

“Yes, she will.” Stephanie would be angry.

“And you don’t care?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Where is she anyway?” Emma scanned the dance floor.

“She’s outside… having a smoke,” I said with a look she understood.

“Huh.” She nodded. “Does that bother you?”

“No.”

“No to which part? Her smoking a joint, or hanging out with Lucas?”

“Either. I could care less what Stephanie Carlson does.”

“Then why did you ask her to the dance?”

“I didn’t.”

“But—”

“She asked me, and I felt obligated to say yes. She wasn’t my choice for a date tonight.” I hesitated for a moment, and then continued. “The girl I wanted to bring already had a date.”

She caught on.

“Right now, I’d say I’m the happiest guy in the room.”

“Sometimes you can actually be sweet.” Her eyes held mine.

“Aren’t I always?” I chuckled, knowing how I treated her when we first met.

She looked at the floor. Emma was just as beautiful in this life as she was in the last.

“I guess I made a mistake by not asking you to the dance,” I said when the song began its last chorus. “Once the song’s over, you’ll go back to Lucas instead of staying here with me.”

Her heart rate increased, and her cheeks began to glow. A light pink hue filtered through her ivory skin.

“I wish you would have asked.”

Before the moment was lost, before I could change my mind, I shielded my thoughts and kissed her. Her lips were as delicate as I remembered, and I was sixteen all over again, with the prettiest girl in school in my arms.

My palms got sweaty, and I forgot about everything but her.

Emma's Story

I tingled when Ben’s lips met mine.

It started in the pit of my stomach and crept up and through me like a volcano’s eruption. Tiny sparks of electricity ran down my arms and to the tips of my fingers. It was unlike any other feeling I had. Matt’s kiss was a dud compared to this.

I didn’t know it was coming. One minute we were talking, flirting. Then the next, his soft, warm lips introduced themselves to mine, and I was lightheaded and dizzy when we parted.

The corners of his mouth turned upright into a full smile that reached his eyes. Dimples I never noticed before made an appearance.

“You look really spiffy tonight,” he said in a soft voice.

“Huh?” I wasn’t sure I understood.

He cleared his throat and repeated his words. “You look really pretty tonight.”

The room felt as hot as a sauna.  My cheeks were warm, and I didn’t know what to say.

“I mean it,” he whispered in my ear, as we swayed to the music.

I was uncomfortable. Aunt Barb said I looked nice and Dad often said stuff like that, but I never heard those words from a boy before, a
very
cute boy.

When his brown eyes peered into mine again, they touched my soul in a way that made my heart skip a beat. I wondered if this was what falling in love felt like.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I managed to mumble.

The dimples returned with a full-size grin. Seconds later, our lips met again. This time, I was ready and anxious. Kissing him was my new favorite thing to do. He moved his hand from the small of my back to my neck as our lips opened, and I felt his breath in my mouth. His tongue grazed mine casually, as if proving it could, before retreating and sealing the kiss.

When the song ended, I was breathless. I squinted as the lights brightened, and the DJ announced the dance was over. Couples scattered, leaving Ben and I alone in the middle of the dance floor.

“Do I need to let you get back to Lucas?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t want to go with him. I’m not even sure he’ll give me a ride to Trent’s.” Thoughts of our argument came flooding back, and I knew Lucas would be pissed if he saw me with Ben. Not that I cared. I just hoped Aunt Barb and Neal wouldn’t be upset with me, too.

“I can take you there,” he said, his hand on my back. “And I can take you home later. I mean, if you need me to.”

“I’m staying at Claire’s. Well, at your house, that is.” I felt the all-too-familiar heat rise up my neck, and I hoped he didn’t notice how red I probably looked.

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he touched my cheek and gave me a quick kiss. My knees went weak, and I noticed Drew and TJ headed toward us. I wasn’t comfortable with PDA back when Matt kissed me at the lake party. And this was double the attention, given I came with Lucas, and his closest buddies saw me kiss Ben.

“Where’s Lucas?” Ben asked the guys when they reached us.

“I think he left,” Drew said to Ben, then looked at me with a tight-lipped expression.

“Sorry, Em,” TJ said with a smirk. “But it looks like you’ll be alright.” He raised his eyebrows quickly and winked.

I looked at my feet, and then realized I had nothing to be embarrassed about. I met his gaze and returned the wink. “Yup, I’m just fine. I guess that means he left with Stephanie?”

TJ pointed his forefinger at me and said, “You’re right. I knew you were pretty bright. That’s why I wondered what you saw in him in the first place.”

We both laughed.

Ben's Story

The hybrid aroma was overwhelming when Emma and I walked out to the parking lot.

I gripped Emma’s hand and scanned the premises as best I could without leaving my human body. Emma’s pulse rate increased and she smiled after my gesture, but I was too focused on where the hybrids were to delve into her thoughts. As long as she was safe beside me, that was all that mattered.

There were odors of at least two hybrids, but the further away from the building we walked, the less scent I smelled.

Molly, stick close,”
I said when she left the building.
“I’m not sure if they’re just out of sight or already gone. Where’s Bianca?”

She left with Trent,
Claire answered and got into Drew’s car on the left side of the lot, next to the tennis courts.
There’s no sign of hybrids over here,
she added.

“Looks like Lucas is still here,” Emma said, pointing toward the opposite side of the parking lot, about twenty spaces from my Toyota. Lucas leaned against the passenger door of his car with Stephanie facing him.

“You ready for this?” I asked Emma.

She nodded.

The aroma increased the closer we got to Lucas.

There’s no residual scent here,
Molly said. She was at TJ’s car next to mine.

Lucas nodded when Emma and I reached him. Stephanie turned to look at us, her eyes bloodshot. The sweet, sickly smell of cotton candy lingered around Lucas’ car, but there was no sign of a hybrid.

“You going with Ben?” Lucas asked Emma, glaring at her. He glanced at our hands. Our fingers were intertwined.

“Yes.”

Lucas took a drag from a cigarette and tossed the remaining half to the ground. The tobacco smoke blew back toward us with the light breeze. I stepped to the side to get out of its path and prevent inhaling the second-hand nicotine that could slow my abilities. I was happy I drank as much water as I did. It diluted the toxins that humans absorbed every day.

“You’ve got my bag in the back,” Emma spoke up. I was surprised and impressed with her confidence. It was a change in her demeanor that I noticed long before I kissed her.

Lucas nodded to Emma and then said to me, “Steph doesn’t need a ride.”

With the mention of her name, Stephanie glanced up.

“I figured,” I answered.

Another brief whiff of bitter apple filtered in like a Granny Smith on a cold, fall day. Its crisp bite touched my nostrils, and then diminished before my brain registered the direction it came from.

“It’s just that… well, Lucas asked me,” Stephanie whined. Lucas pulled her into his arms. He nuzzled his nose into her neck, and she squealed.

He had no idea I couldn’t care less.

I looked at Emma and squeezed her hand. Her returned smirk read more than disgust. She understood we were both off the hook. I opened the driver’s side rear door and grabbed the bag on the seat. “This yours?”

“Yes,” Emma answered.

After shutting the door, I reached for Emma’s hand and we walked toward my Cruiser where Molly and TJ waited.

“Good. Now Stephanie and I have space to spread out in the backseat!” Lucas yelled.

Emma tensed for a second until I put my arm around her. Lucas’ thoughts bounced from making Emma jealous with Stephanie to being angry with me.

It appeared to be the first time Lucas was rejected.

Teenagers walking to their cars noticed us. Humans gossiped, while immortals monitored Lucas’ behavior and measured his vitals. When Lucas’ thoughts were angry, they were borderline violent and his adrenaline spiked. As the rage peaked in Lucas, so did concentrated droplets of the bittersweet hybrid odor. Yet, there was no sign of its source.

We’re getting abnormal readings,
Jorgenson said, observing the situation from the safety of our agency headquarters.
Now’d be the time to get a blood sample.

Impossible. Besides, there’s at least three different hybrid scents. They intensify and dissipate quickly.
Molly and Claire concurred.
It appears to be circulating around Lucas. But he’s not a hybrid. I confirmed his soul,
I told Jorgenson.

Emma and I reached my Toyota, and I tossed her bag in the back seat.

“Are you okay?” Molly asked. To my surprise, she greeted Emma with a hug.

“Yes. Perfect,” Emma said. “Thanks, Molly.”

See, Benjamin. I can be nice. Besides, it’s about flipping time you kissed her. We’ve been waiting for this for how long?

This is cause for celebration,
Claire added.

I turned away to prevent Emma from noticing my grin.

“Hey, you guys heading to Trent’s party?” Molly questioned.

“Yeah, I think so. Right, Ben?” Emma answered.

“Yup. Let’s go.” I noticed Lucas and Stephanie already left, and so did all trace of the sickly sweet odor.

As I started the engine, I wondered if the hybrids were protecting someone. And if so, who? The more I thought about it, the more I realized the comings and goings of their presence even at the Inn. The concentration of scents began as parents congregated for pictures. Was one of them worthy of hybrid protection?

Pete, can you chart all of Victor’s sightings—dates, times, and locations? And do a comparison against Charlene Tillman’s past?
I asked as I pulled out of the school lot.
Wait. And add Ray Tillman’s whereabouts, too.
I reached for Emma’s hand.

What have you got in mind?
Jorgenson asked.

Call it a hunch.