Evanescent (5 page)

“Morning to
you
, beautiful.” Those
stone grey lenses watch me with a lustful intensity that sends a
sizzle over my flesh.

“So, what are you reading?” I ask, slipping
my bag under the desk and plucking out a notebook.

“‘I Sing the Body Electric.’”

“Whitman,” I say without skipping a beat.
“If you’re looking for something sensual I prefer, Goethe.”

“‘The Dance of the Dead.’” Cooper’s eyes
widen as if I had placed him in a trance.

“You’re familiar.” I’d be lying if I said it
didn’t fill me with an erotic fever at the thought of Coop being so
intimately familiar with poetry.

“My poet speaks of blood.” He grafts his
gaze over me like he’s peeling back my skin. Its painful, like he
sees me but too much.

I know where’s he’s going with his blood
lust. Coop has more than enjoyed the less than orthodox bodily
fluid extraction I’ve performed on him. He’s the Celestra I need to
drink from to pry into Wesley’s thoughts in the event he spills all
of his deep dark secrets, but he never does.

“It’s still working.” It’s been plain as
vanilla listening in on Wesley’s private musings. “I can still hear
his thoughts.” Wes is one hundred percent devoted to me. He loves
me with a fierceness that rivals the old version of himself, and I
didn’t think that was possible.

“It’ll wear off soon.” It comes out dry. “A
guy can hope, right?” Coop tucks a smile in the side of his cheek
as the class starts to fill with bodies.

I reach down and interlace our fingers.

Coop
. I let out a sigh.

He gives a wry smile.
Where is the douche
anyway?

Ensign meeting.

His forehead wrinkles into three neat
lines.

Ephemeral doesn’t have Ensigns. It’s
probably a Count thing. This is good. It means he’s trusting you
with more information. Ask him about it. See if you can join.

I will.
It never occurred to me Wes
was doing something that concerned extracurricular evil before
breakfast. Speaking of breakfast…
I saw Hattie this morning.
Don’t you think it’s weird she’s reappeared after all these
years?

Hattie and her sister were taken by the
Counts over sixty years ago. The rest of her unfortunate family
were turned into Spectators without their consent—killed and
resurrected for sport. Only the resurrections didn’t last. They
decomposed to a partial rigor state and remained so ever
since—bedraggled and decaying with time.

I don’t think their mother was taken
.
Cooper corrects my private thoughts.

That’s right, they mentioned their
father, brother, and sister.
My thoughts turn to little
Lacey—my sweet sister who bottled up her excitement over the fact
she was about to turn ten, and now I have no idea if she’s still
alive, let alone made it to her birthday.

Marky’s been after me to have you over.
You up for a movie?
Cooper knows his little sister quells
something deep inside of me. I love Marky as if she were my own
flesh and blood.

I would really like that
. It takes
everything in me to keep from tearing up at the thought. This new
reality was a malignancy, and Cooper and Marky were the balm.

Coop gives my hand a firm squeeze as if to
say thank you.

Mr. Edinger walks in with his cool, ironic
swagger, his dark hair slicked back with the tracks from his comb
still visible. He gives a private nod in my direction, and this
unnerves me.

“Morning class.” It purrs from him with a
palpable wickedness that makes my hair stand on end. “Our next
collective reading assignment is
Animal Farm
by George
Orwell.”

Animal Farm
, I balk.

Coop starts to turn around then pauses.
One more thing
. His eyes darken as he dips his chin.
I’m
going to ask Grayson to homecoming
.

Cooper

Mr. Edinger takes us down the allegorical
road of Orwell’s political thriller while Laken burns a hole
through my back the entire live-long hour.

I had to hold back a smile when I saw the
look on her face. The idea of me asking Grayson to homecoming
wasn’t what she was expecting. Not that I want to take Grayson. I’d
much rather go with Laken, and I do plan on stealing a moment, but
Grayson makes things believable. It gets Wes off my back and clears
the path for Laken to get wherever it is their holding our
families.

The bell rings, and a rush of bodies flood
out the door.

Crap. I zoned out—not that Edinger has ever
had anything enlightening to say. I could pass his class by showing
up for tests and doing the work at home.

Laken waits as I scoop up my books before we
head out.

“So you up for something midweek?” I ask,
trying to ignore the hurt look stamped across her face. Laken is so
damn beautiful I feel like an ass for causing her any pain. But I’d
be a liar if I didn’t say it sent the adrenaline in me surging.
Something about Laken’s disapproval assures me she has feelings for
more than just my neck, and selfishly I want it that way.
“Wednesday night?”

“Wednesday’s fine.” Her bottom lip extends,
her skin breaks out in patches like she’s about to indulge in a
nice long cry. Crap. I just want to hold her and tell her I’d
rather hang myself by the balls than take Grayson to the
library,
let alone to the formal, but I can’t. Although, I’m
pretty sure I’m going to make Laken feel better in my fantasies
tonight. Too bad I couldn’t make them real. Comfort her all night
long the way I want to.

She cuts a hard look across the way, and I
follow her eyes to Grayson with her blonde hair frizzed out like a
haystack, her lips painted bright red like a warning siren.

“I guess you’d better make your move.” Her
eyes drag heavy across the floor as she takes a step in the
opposite direction.

“Hey—” I push in until we’re less than a
breath away. “You know if things were different…” I’m not sure what
to say next. I know for a fact she’s still in love with Wes. It’s
kind of hard to swallow the idea she’s getting physical with him.
Just the thought of her lips meshed against his, makes me want to
snap his neck. I’m not sure why I feel so protective over her. All
I know is I wish she were mine—that it was my body, my lips she was
crushing up against. But, for now, this is what we have—physical
distance—Grayson hovering in the background. “Laken”—I push out her
name with a stone of grief lodged in my throat—“you’re still with
him.”

“You’re right.” She presses her lips
together and gives a quick nod.

“And you might always want to be with
him—that’s okay.” The hell it is, but I’ll be the last person to
force myself on her. “That’s what life is about, having the right
to choose, to make decisions that have the ability to span your
entire existence, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.
Sometimes love doesn’t give the easy answer. It doesn’t make it
wrong though. Good things are worth fighting for.” Like you and me
I want to add, but don’t.

Her pale eyes widen. Her face crumbles as if
this were too much to bear.

Grayson stomps over and plants herself
between us.

“Is this a private conference? Lover’s
only?” She bats her heavily made up eyes with lashes thick as
shredded felt.

“I was just leaving.” Laken scowls at her
before heading out the door.

“What the hell do you see in her?” Grayson
pets her leather bag as we thread through the hall.

“She’s just a friend.” Too bad that’s the
God’s honest truth.

“More like a
special
friend—a friend
with benefits. It’s obvious you’ve got it bad for her. Don’t try to
deny it.” Her lips part in disgust. She presses out her chest as if
she’s trying give me a couple of good reasons to take my mind off
Laken.

“How about you?” I twist the conversation
back in her direction. “You got any special friends?” I’m not up
for denying any feelings I have for Laken, so I change the
subject.

“Just one.” Her dark eyes narrow in on mine.
I know what she’s thinking. I was with Grayson more than once. I
came close to thinking about a serious relationship, but that was
before I found out Flynn Masterson was screwing around with her on
the side, sometimes on the same night. That revelation stopped any
potential relationship cold in its tracks. Then after a long, hot
summer, Laken showed up dazed and confused and shed a light over
who I wanted to be with, and for damn sure it wasn’t Grayson.

“So, do you have anything set up for
homecoming yet?” I stuff my hand in my pocket and watch as her lips
part like reopening a wound.

“Are you asking me to the dance?” Her brows
wiggle like long, black worms.

“Yes.” I nod into her.

Her features contort as tears spring to her
eyes.

Shit. The last thing I want is to toy with
Grayson’s feelings. I knew this had “crappy idea” written all over
it.

“I have the perfect dress! It’s turquoise
with a big bow that hangs over my ass. Of course, you’ll get to
unravel it later when I gift myself to you.” She dips her red nails
into my chest while licking her lips like sealing a deal. “You can
either wear turquoise and black, or just black, no white. And I’ll
need a trio of roses for my corsage. Pick up your boutonnière at
the same time, would you?” She takes a few steps back still lost in
thought. “We need a limo—a private one for just you and me. Make
sure to score a full bar. This is going to be awesome!” She bounces
down the hall, disappearing in the swell of bodies.

Shit.

That wasn’t exactly what I had envisioned.
Hell, I don’t know what I envisioned. I just thought it was a good
way to get Wes off my ass after he gave me the,
get-yourself-laid-by-anybody-but-my-girlfriend speech last weekend.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if Wes never had her? If it was me she shared
her intimate moments with when all this bullshit was said and
done?

Outside, the fog curls its icy fingers
around my neck as if it were Wes himself. The sky says rain, but it
feels like an arctic blizzard is about to erupt.

In the distance, situated neatly on senior
lawn, Laken catches my eye as Wes draws her into a kiss. Laken
pulls back and laughs. Her voice echoes across the yard and
trembles right through my bones, sends my mood plummeting a
thousand degrees as I take them in—Laken and Wes as the perfect
couple. She pecks a kiss over his lips all too voluntarily. She’s
still into him. I’m just a reality fix when she needs it with some
blood on the side.

I blow out a breath and head back toward the
English building. I ditch the doors and head around to the side
where nary a soul is wandering.

“Heart broken and alone?” A small female
voice calls from the overgrown hedges.

A twin set of bodies morph from nothing. The
Tobias sisters in their sickly frames, wash in and out of existence
like a bad dream. Two balding girls, with long hair in
patches—their clothes hang off their skeletal frames. Their bare
legs, nothing but skin over bone.

“Pulling double-duty?” I make my over
without reservation. Two long-dead Celestra only wish they had the
power to scare me. The only thing that scares me is never having
Laken the way Wes does. I wish it didn’t. I wish I didn’t care, but
I do. And if all I get is hurt in the end, then I want to feel
that, too. I’ll take anything Laken gives me, the pain right along
with the pleasure. Sometimes heartache is all you get out of life,
and yet in all things we’re told to give thanks. I’m starting to
feel the irony.

The Tobias sisters blink into one another in
their disheveled state before transforming into the beauty queens
they once were, with a decent amount of meat on their bones, their
rags traded for full skirts, tight sweaters that accentuate their
God-given curves. Their pale hair curls around their necks, full
and glossy, ripe for a shampoo commercial.

“Cooper, what is this double-duty?” Hattie
takes a step forward. “We prefer you speak plain and clear. We
don’t like being made to feel like simpletons. We held the highest
scores on all our exams, we won’t be pitied for fools.”

A dull laugh rattles through me. Figures—the
ego’s still in tact.

“Double-duty,” I start, “you know, flesh and
bones today, a poltergeist tomorrow. You’re Laken’s new house
sister, or did you forget?” I direct it toward Hattie since her
sister’s vocal cords are on strike.

They examine one another for a very long
time, engaging in a telepathic conversation, no doubt.

“I’m not Laken’s house sister, Cooper.”
Hattie takes a tempered breath. “A Fem is.”

Wesley

Sickles fall from the sky as I dart through
the storm and into the library, a half-hour late for my shift. The
tall ornate ceiling in the tundra gives me pause with its intricate
mosaics. The muted tones of the stained glass call out and demand
for me to admire them, but Laken beams a smile at me from the
counter and outshines any beauty they could ever hope to offer.

She looks so damn hot with her white shirt
unbuttoned to her cleavage. Her tongue wets her lips just for me. I
wish I could rake the books off the counter, hell—the go-back cart,
and love her like I want to. She mentioned “all night long” was at
the top of her list, so I’m pretty sure the library is off limits
for now, unless I make arrangements. Although with my luck someone
will walk in, and that someone will be Cooper.

“Sorry I’m late.” I steal a kiss before
making my way around the marble counter. “Practice ran late. You
should come down sometime if you want to hang out—watch me beam a
couple guys in the head for the fun of it.”

“I’d love to watch you commit bodily harm to
others.” She gives a little laugh, and her teeth glitter in the
light. Everything about Laken shines.