Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (49 page)

“Who is this?” Cat asked forcefully. The caller hung up and all she heard was the dial tone. Her hand shook as she placed the phone back onto the receiver.
It was them, I know it,
Cat thought.

“Hey, Mom sent me to tell you it’s time for presents,” Taylor called down the hall. Noticing the look on her face, “Something wrong?”

“Oh, no, nothing’s wrong,” Cat replied, forcing an unconvincing smile.

“Well, come on, then. Presents are waiting!”

 “Alright Cat, spill it,” Ryan said while lying on her bed later that night.

“Spill what?” she asked.

“Who called you? Your mood changed considerably after you got off the phone.”

“How do you know me so well?” she asked, looking deep into his blue eyes. Ryan gave her a questioning look with an eyebrow raised as she tried to change the subject. Cat shied away, “I think it was the three girls.”

“What? And you waited until now to tell me?!”

“Hey, it’s my birthday, and I just wanted one day to be
normal
, and not have everyone freak out like you’re doing now.”

“I’m sorry, but these girls are dangerous. You need to come to me when this kind of thing happens. We’re in this together, remember?” Ryan said, combing his hand through her fiery red curly locks.

“I know Ryan, I know,” she replied, snuggling up close to him and burying her head into his firm chest.

The next day after school, Cat followed Ryan to the cave in her Jeep. He had insisted on an emergency training session, wanting Cat to be fully prepared for what may lay ahead. As they made their way down to the beach holding hands, Cat pulled him to a stop. She sighed. “Why can’t we just be a normal couple walking along the beach?”

“Because life doesn’t always turn out the way we want it to, Cat. Growing up, I often thought that way myself, craving to be normal. I could only truly accept myself when I hung around Isaac and my fellow brethren. But Cat, do you really think anyone has a
normal
life? Not everything is as it seems.”

“Yeah, that’s one heck of an understatement. Here I thought you were just a normal math tutor, but now you’re my vampire trainer,” Cat stated.

“I hope that’s not all I am to you,” he said, pulling her close.

“No, you know what I mean,” she said, giving him a love tap on his chest. He grinned as she giggled softly. “I mean what does a person like Kirsten have to worry about? Her hair being out of place? What outfit to wear to school? I don’t see her training because people are out to kill her.”

“Kirsten’s shallow and insecure. A cloned, hollow shell of a person. You, at least, are special.”

“That’s what I’m told anyway. But can you really blame a girl for sometimes wanting to be just like everyone else?”

“Come on, let’s go get your aggressions out,” he said gently guiding her toward the cave.

“You should be scared, Mr. Beckford, I’ve got a lot of pent-up emotion just waiting to come out,” she joked. “Let’s do this!”

“Now that’s the Cat I like to see!”

Debbie Fuller ran down the long hallway toward her daughter’s room after being awoken by her blood-curdling screams. Flinging open the door and turning on the light, she made her way to Kirsten’s side. Kirsten was sitting up in bed, her eyes wide with fear and her knees tucked up against her chest, “Honey, what’s wrong?”

“Oh Mom, it was horrible…those eyes, those jet black eyes!”

“What, sweetheart? Did you have a nightmare?”

“I had the most horrid dream about Cat Colvin again,” she huffed while rubbing her head, trying to ease an oncoming headache.

“Who’s Cat Colvin?” Debbie asked blankly.

“She’s just a girl at school, on the swim team.” 

“Who are her parents? I don’t recollect that name.”

“Her mom is Rachel who owns the flower shop in town, and her dad Samuel, is a professor at the college,” Stan Fuller replied, coming up behind his wife.

“Oh,
those
Colvins! I swear that woman needs a makeover, and he looks like your typical dowdy professor. Dull people, no wonder they didn’t ring a bell. Now sweetie, why are you dreaming about this insignificant girl?” Debbie asked, giving her daughter a puzzled look.

 “I don’t know…anyway, back to me. I keep having these awful dreams about her and her teeth. Long white teeth and weird black eyes. It feels like a memory, not a dream, but I can’t seem to remem-”

“Hush now, of course it’s just a dream. I’ve seen people in this town with crooked teeth, but none with long teeth and weird eyes. But then again, I’d probably avoid such individuals.”

Stan rolled his eyes at his wife’s blatant snobbery. “Your mother’s right, Kirsten. It’s just a dream and you need to keep telling yourself that.”

“Now honey, do you want me to ring for Gracie to heat up some milk for you?” Debbie asked.

“Yuck, Mom, I haven’t liked hot milk since I was little.”

“Well, we could go and make some cocoa for you, couldn’t we, Deb?” Seeing her open her mouth to protest, Stan continued, “Why wake up Gracie when we’re perfectly capable of boiling water? Will you be okay, honey, until we come back?” Kirsten nodded.

“I guess we could. Ooh, maybe we have some of those little marshmallows to add to it.” Debbie stood up from the bed and made her way to the door. Her daughter’s distress was completely gone from her mind, and she was now focused on making cocoa.