Dark Calling (7 page)

“Don’t run,
”
he says.
  She nods as if it’s her choice.  Nick stares at her.  Studies her.  Let’s go.  Keely
moves to knee him in the groin. 
Nick blocks effortlessly.  She
took
self defense classes.  She kno
ws many men expect that move so
s
he s
tomps on his foot.  Swings her arm blindly as hard a
s she can.  Feels it connect.  She d
oesn’t waste time looking back.  Just runs like hell.  Makes it to her car before it occurs to her that she probably should have gone back in the
school.  Before she realizes
she doesn’t have her
keys because Nick has her back
pack. 

“Shit!”  She stomps her foot in frustration. 

Gravel crunches.  Keely spins.  To her left, Nick.  To her right, dark eyes.

“Keely, I am not going to hurt you.  Come here to me.  Now,” Nick hisses at her.  She thinks
this
is not a very reassuring voice.

“You are safe with me, but you must hurry.  Come to me,” dark eyes calls.  His voice is warm and soothing.  It sends a chill down Keely’s spine.

“Why is this happening?  What do you want?”

“He wants you, Keely.  Because it’s close.  Your birthday.”  Nick steps closer to her.  She moves away, taking a step in the direction of the other boy.

“Yes, I want you, Keely,” dark eyes says.
 
“
You have no idea how special you are.  Please, come with me.”

Keely sees someone moving in their direction.  She isn’t sure at first, but she thinks it might be
…
  Could she be that lucky?  She hasn’t had the best track record.  Afraid to draw attention, she looks away.  Her head swinging back and forth between the boys.

“Just stay away from me.  Both of you.”

“Keely, I am only trying to help you, damn it.  You are so stubborn,” Nick spits.

“If she i
s
too much for you to handle, I will
take her off your hands, Wallace.”

“I bet you would.  And then do what?  Give her over to your father?”

“Yes.”

Keely is certain now.  She braces herself.  Her fingers curl, forming fists.  “Screw you both.”  Keely runs as fast as she’s ever run.  She knows Nick can catch her.  Assumes dark eyes can too.  She just needs to get to him.  To Bryon.  He is less than fifty feet away.  She can make it.  She is nearly there. 

Gravel sprays behind her.  She can hear it hit the legs of her pursuers.  Bryon stops in front of her.  Pulls something from under his shirt.  Sun hits it.  Reflects in her e
yes.  She stops abruptly, knowing
what it is.  She
’
s seen it before, many times
. 

Dark eyes appears in front of her suddenly and
Keely
is pushed from behind.  Her face hits the ground.  There is a body on top of her.  Forcing her down.  She can taste blood and dirt in her mouth.  She looks up through her hair.  Sees the
four bladed
throwing star leave Bryon’s h
and. 
Hears the z
ip as it passes through the air
.  The sickening thwack as it makes contact with flesh and bo
ne. 
She manages to turn over just enough to see dark eyes fall to his kne
es.  His features locked in a permanent state of shock.  He falls forward and explodes into a wave of shimmering white dust.  It looks like snow
.

Keely’s head is pushed down to the ground as the dust rushes over her.
  She gasps.  Chokes on blood.  Can’t breathe because there is too much weight on her. 

Nick lifts himself off
her.  Puts his hand out to help her up.  Keely flips over.  Backs away, crab crawling.  Scrambles to her feet.  Rushes to
Bryon.  Hugs herself to him.  This is t
he first time she’s hugged a man—including her own father—since the attack.  Bryon hugs her tightly to him.  Rubs her back reassuringly.

“What was he?” she whispers.

“
That
was
Asmoday.
Prince of D
emons,” Bryon says confidently.  Keely draws back.  Something in his voice isn’t right.  Shouldn’t he be as scared as she is?
  Shouldn’t he be freaked out about what he just witnessed?  About
what he just did?

“Wait.  What?
  How do you know what he
was?
”

“
Is.  H
e’s not dead.  Just back underground,” Nick says.

“Bryon?”  Keely pushes him with her finger tips.  A look of discomfort colors his face.  She pushes again.  “Bryon?”  Now a look of pity.  This makes Keely furious.  She slaps
at his chest. 
“
Who are you
?”

He does nothing to defend himself.  Stands still and takes it. 
“Keely, I’m sorry.”

She gawks at him.  “You’re sorry? 
You’re sorry
?”
 
She steps
back
.  “Why are you sorry, Bryon?
”

“I know about you, Keely.  I’ve always known.”  Bryon walks around her.  Retrieves his throwing star.

“You know about me?  What?  What do you know?”
She feels like a parrot and h
er mouth tastes horrible.  She wishes she had a drink to wash the dirty, metallic taste away.

“That you were attacked.  That you were attacked by a monster and you survived.”

Keely moves away, not sure where to go.  Nick pulls the bottle of juice from her pack and
tries to hand
it to her.  She hesitates.  She doesn’t want anything from him, even if it was hers to begin with.  He pushes it into her hand.

“
How can you possibly know that?”  She gulps the juice quickly, careful not to take her eyes off of the guys.

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way.  We made a mistake.  I’m only a Watcher. 
My job is eyes.  Nick, he’s the Guardian. 
Your
Guardian.”  He shakes his head.

Keely glances at
Nick.  He is standing tall.  Back straight.  Proud.  Somehow, Guardian fits him in a bizarre kind of way.  “Watcher.”

“I watch.  For danger.  For specials.”

“He looks.  I protect,” Nick adds as if he is helping.

“I
was meant to be the far away
.  The guy you ignore.  Nick
was supposed to be the close
.  You were supposed to be friends.  That way he could be with you all the time.  We didn’t know you changed.  We didn’t realize—and then it was too late.  You showed up with dyed hair and black nail polish.”  He smiles at that.
  Gestures toward her.
  “So I became that
guy.  I had to.  But Keely, I really am your friend.  I really care about you.”  Bryon rubs his face with both hands.  Waits for a response.

“You had to.  Because you’re a Watcher.”  She points at Bryon.  “Because I was attacked.”  She raises her eyebrows.  “When you say monster—that I was attacked by a monster—you really mean
…
monster
.  Don’t you?”

Bryon nods.

“
Oh my God
.  You are a complete lunatic.”  She jerks her backpack from Nick’s hand.  “You both are.”

“And you are an ungrateful spoiled brat,” Nick says through his teeth.

Keely shrugs.  “Sorry.  Thanks so much.”

“You know we’re not crazy.  And neither are you.  You know it’s real.”  Nick stares
her down.  She looks away first
because she
does
know.  Deep down she feels the truth of it.

“O.k.  Let’s pretend for
a
minute that you guys haven’t read too many comic
books and this is really true-
”

“It is true,” Nick interrupts.

“Right.  So then, why m
e?  What do monsters
want with
me
?”

Nick and Bryon share a look.  Keely has a pretty good idea what that look means.  They don’t
want
to tell her.  Or they don’t know how much they
should
tell her.  Either way, she knows she won’t be getting the whole truth.

“Fine.  Whatever.  I knew this was bull shit anyways.”  She starts to walk away.  Stops.  Turns back to Bryon.  “Out of everything, you betraying me is the worst of it.  Just stay away from me.”

“Keely.”

“I mean it.  Both of you.  Stay the hell away from me.”

“We can’t.  Whether you like it or not, we have to protect you,” Nick says softly.

“H
u
mph.  What?  Is it your job?”

“Yes.”

Keely blinks.  “Well, then you’re fired.”

Five:

Nick follows
behind
Keely
’s Honda
at a safe distance
,
careful
not
to
be seen.  Her driving is erratic.
He sighs
.  Most people would think it’
s due to the day she had.  Or maybe she’s lost in thought, on scary information overload.  But Nick knows better.  He knows this is just the way she drives.  Has d
riven this way for the last year
.  She changes lanes without signaling.  At least she didn’t cut somebody off
this time
.  Nick doesn’t bother to follow the lane
change;
he knows she’
ll merge back any minute
.
  She does this every day.  He’
s fairly certain she suffers from a mild form of OCD.

Nick pushes the scan button on the radio.  Rolls his fingers around the cap of his water to remove the lid one handed.  Sips it as Keely switches lanes.
  His lips curve.  Knowing her so well is comforting. 

He slows as her turn approaches.  He doesn’t want to be too close on her street.  He cannot believe he had been able to follow
her
every day for
a year
without her noticing.  It amazes him how she can catch every detail in her artwork, but is completely unobservant when it comes to herself.  She only sees what she wants to see.  His fingers tighten on the steering wheel.  She better get over this stubborn streak soon.  She better let her eyes open
to the truth
.

Nick pulls his car over to the side of the road as Keely continues on to her house a few driveways up.  He w
atches her hurry up to the porch
.  “You f
orgot your book bag,” he murmurs
to himself.  Laughs quietly as she turns around and runs back to her car.

Sh
e leans across the driver’s side
and tugs the bag from its spot in the passenger seat.  Nick doesn’t even wonder anymore why she doesn’t realize that if she just went t
o the passenger side of the car, that is closer to her house,
it would save her time and effort.  Something like that use
d
to bother him.  Now he ignores it. 
Now he is accustomed to the f
act that Keely makes everything,
even a mundane ta
sk such as getting her book bag,
difficult. 

She heads back to the door.  Puts a foot on the first step.  Hand on the railing.  Stops.  Turns her head to the left.  Right.  Pulls her foot back.

“What is it?  What do you see?”  Nick sits up.  Eyes scan the yard around Keely.  “Did you hear something?”
 

Ke
ely is backing up slowly.  She’
s looking for something.  Stirring in the bushes a few fe
et away startles her.  Nick jumps
out of the car.  Keel
y laughs.  Kneels.  Nick pauses,
his heart is racing.  “Lively.  Stupid mutt.”  He stalks back to the car.  Slams the door.  “You almost got yourself killed.”

Keely is rub
bing the dog’s stomach.  She says
something Nick can’t
hear.  R
uffles Lively’s ears.
He licks dried blood from her palms.
S
he s
tands up and pats her leg as she heads back to the door. 
She f
ishes for the right
key.  Nick sighs as she finall
y makes it into the house.  He’
s putting the car into gear as she shuts the door.  “Safe and sound.”

Nick drives,
recalling the details of the day.  He’s tired.  Keely can make one day feel like seven.  Teen.