Forgotten (8 page)

Katrina struggled out of the rose bush, her dress ripping in several places so that her petticoats peered through.

“How do you know?” Katrina cried.

“Because he’s always with me, even when he changes into a wolf! I know where he is and what he’s doing!”

“You’re lying!”

“I’m not!”

“No one is ever with somebody else for twenty-four hours a day. It’s impossible, unless you’re not from this world! Like some kind of
monster
!”

Marcus looked away from Katrina. Her words were like a hard slap to the face.

“Not something like a monster. A vampire,” Marcus’ eyes showed a strange calmness.

I’m going mad, I must be!
Katrina thought, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
There’s no such things as werewolves and vampires; they’re just creatures from mythology and folktales. They’re not real.

“There are no such things as vampires,” she said aloud.

“Katrina, you’re wrong. Me, Emily and Jonathan are proof that things like vampires and werewolves do exist. As do shifters, ghosts, witches and fey folk, such as leprechauns.” Marcus closed his eyes, suddenly appearing tired. “I really wish I could erase tonight.” He sighed. “But I can’t do mind sweeps. Well, not yet anyway.”

“Mind sweeps?” Katrina repeated.

“Yes, mind sweeps are when you can read someone’s mind then erase all the bad bits that have happened in the past twenty-four hours.”

Emily cut across then. “Marcus, you’re stalling!” Her voice was silky, icy. “You know what we have to do; she has heard too much!”

“So what if I’m stalling!” Marcus snapped.

It is now or never
, Katrina thought.

Making sure no one’s attention was on her, she bolted.

Katrina started to run for the apple orchard as fast as she could, her blood pumping hard in her veins, her heart hammering in her chest, trying to escape. She weaved through the trees, nearly tripping over exposed roots and branches.

I’ve got to escape
, Katrina thought,
I’ve got to warn Suzanne before it’s too late.

A sound behind her made Katrina stop dead in her tracks. Stopping, she swiveled, fighting desperately to control her breathing. Then she gasped and began to tread backwards – and met the trunk of a tree.

There’s something in those bushes and it’s no squirrel
, Katrina thought, frantically looking for something to use as a weapon. She noticed a branch thick enough to use that could cause some damage.
Or at least a broken bone
, she pondered to herself, and yanked it hard from the tree.

From out of sight, Jonathan watched. Fear emanated from the girl. His mouth watered.

No. She is Suzanne’s sister. I cannot think like this!
Jonathan mentally shook himself, but it was too late: the wolf had already taken over, and it was hungry.

“I know someone’s there!” Katrina shouted. “Why don’t you show yourself?”

Jonathan began to chuckle to himself, but it came out like a low growl.

“I’m not scared of you!” Katrina called.

“So you’re not afraid?” Jonathan replied, stepping from his cover, a smirk in his voice.

Katrina stared. This thing heading toward her sounded like Jonathan – but it was a huge, lumbering wolf. Its silver eyes shone unnaturally bright, almost glowing, in moonlight that illuminated between the trees.

Jonathan bared his fangs. Part of him knew it was wrong but he couldn’t stop himself.

“Stay back! I’m warning you!” Katrina cautioned, swinging her branch like a sword.

Jonathan stopped advancing and sat down on his haunches, tilting his head to one side. “Do you really think that you can do any real damage with that twig you’re holding? It’s pathetic –
you’re
pathetic.” Jonathan paused. “Or, rather, you’re
lunch
.”

“I’m not afraid of you; you’re nothing more than a rabid dog!” Katrina said defiantly, trying not to show her fear.

“I could rip your throat out in about five seconds and you wouldn’t even have time to take in your next breath, let alone lift that branch high enough to take a good swing at me. And if you
did
manage to kill me, which I seriously doubt, I would return to my human form, which would mean that you would be in a whole lot of trouble. And besides … how would you explain it to Suzanne?”

“Don’t you dare utter my sister’s name! You have no right! And I would gladly suffer the trouble if it meant my sister was safe!”

“I wouldn’t count on it!” Emily’s voice drifted through the trees.

Katrina looked up into the branches of the tree as Emily glared back down at her, smiling.

“Please don’t take this personally,” the icy voice said, “but it’s a case of kill or be killed, and I can assure you, I’m not going to be the latter.”

“Kill you? I want nothing to do with any of you! I won’t tell anyone what any of you are, I swear it, but leave me and my sister alone! We’ve done nothing to you, we aren’t a threat,” Katrina’s voice was laced with desperation and just a hint of annoyance.

“They always say that, right before they hand you over to be condemned. I have seen it happen too many times to trust anyone at their word.”

“I can give you more than my word. Do what you have to do to me, but leave my family out of this. Forget about Suzanne, she won’t come after you. Father and mother will make sure she is safe if they believe one of their daughters was murdered by a footpad.”

“You would willingly die to protect your sister?”

“I’d do anything to protect her, even if it meant death. We might squabble or complain about one another, but she means the world to me and I will do anything I can to make sure she doesn’t come to harm. Give me your word that none of you will go near her again and I will come quietly.”

“She really must mean a lot to you for you to give up so easily.” There was a hint of sympathy in the girl’s voice. “I can even understand what you’re feeling …”

“No, you can’t. How can you? You’re a monster!” Katrina cut in.

“It wasn’t always this way. I had a sister called Elizabeth. The vampire that changed me murdered her. She was only ten years old. I wanted to protect her. I pleaded with the vampire to let her and our mother go, just as you have done tonight. He didn’t. In fact, he made me
watch
before he turned me into, as you say, a monster.” Emily jumped down from the branch she was perched on.

“Then why are you with one of them?”

“Marcus took me in when I had lost all hope. I owe him. When we are together we can look out for one another and that’s all Marcus wants to do tonight. We are not the vicious creatures you believe us to be.”

“It’s hard to believe that when you all what me dead!”

“Marcus is protective of us. You don’t understand how often we’ve been persecuted by letting the wrong person go. I believe you when you say you won’t tell anyone, though. You remind me of me, back when I was about to lose everything.” Emily leaned toward Katrina and whispered, “I will talk to them. Maybe it doesn’t have to be like this after all.”

“I can’t trust any of you, but if they won’t listen can you at least promise me you will make sure Suzanne comes to no harm? I can’t leave her thinking that I didn’t do everything possible to keep her safe.”

Emily opened her mouth to answer – and then said, “Now where has Jonathan gone?” She looked genuinely confused – and then her features suddenly changed and filled with horror.

“What’s wrong?” Katrina asked.

“It’s a trap!”

Fear pulsed in Katrina’s stomach. “What do you mean?”

“Damn them! They knew I would be sympathetic toward you and have used the time to plan their next move. You’ve got to go. Now!” Emily said, pulling Katrina by the arm.

“Emily!” Katrina started to protest.

“You’ve got get to back to the house. I can see in your eyes that you only want to protect your sister and I understand what that is like so please go before I change my mind. Get to safety before –” Emily started, but was interrupted as Jonathan pounced from nowhere, knocking Emily into a nearby tree.

Katrina gasped and knelt down next to her, then rolled her onto her back. Blood covered Emily’s face from a gash on her forehead.

“Emily!”

“Run!” Emily whispered, before her eyes rolled back and she fell into unconsciousness.

Katrina turned back toward Jonathan. “You’ve killed her!” Katrina’s voice was low, almost a whisper, and if Jonathan wasn’t a werewolf he knew he wouldn’t have heard what Katrina had just said.

“She’s not dead; she’s just unconscious. In a couple of hours she’ll be awake with one massive headache.” Jonathan chuckled, “And she’ll be out for my blood.” Jonathan frowned as he pondered the mood Emily would be in when she regained consciousness. Katrina stared at the incredulous sight and thought of how she would laugh at the very notion of a frowning wolf were she not faced with the horror of her own situation.

Ruffling his fur, Jonathan turned his attention onto Katrina, “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. Then, stopping, he looked toward the trees behind and added, “He is!”

Before Katrina had time to turn to where Jonathan was looking a pair of hands dragged her backwards into the heavy shrubbery. Before she could scream, a hand clamped down around her mouth.

“Don’t scream!” a man whispered in Katrina’s ear.

Marcus
, Katrina thought, confused, trying to turn her head so she could see her attacker.

“And don’t struggle; it will hurt a lot less if you stop struggling!” Marcus growled, loosening his grip slightly.

“Why are you doing this?” Katrina pleaded.

“Because I have to,” Marcus replied sadly.

“I won’t tell, Marcus, I promise,” Katrina pleaded.

“I can’t take that chance. I have to protect Emily and Jonathan.”

Marcus turned Katrina roughly, so she could see them. Emily was still unconscious. Her long ebony hair covered a part of her face and was matted with blood from the wound on her forehead. Katrina tried to look away but Marcus forced her to look again. Reluctantly, Katrina looked at Jonathan who was now laid near Emily with his head resting on her stomach, still in his wolf-form, his eyes showing anguish over Emily. But there was something else, something Katrina couldn’t quite make out.

Confusion
, Katrina thought suddenly,
that’s what I see; he’s confused because he’s still part human and that is why he’s so protective over Emily.

Jonathan emitted a low growl and bared his fangs slightly, just showing the long, sharp tips.

“I don’t want to look anymore!” Katrina cried, trying again to struggle out of Marcus’ grasp.

Marcus tightened his grip, “Katrina, it’s time.”

“Time for what?” Katrina asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

“Oblivion,” Marcus replied simply.

Gently Marcus tilted Katrina’s head until he could see the veins in her neck and bit down. She tensed and waited for the pain, but none came. Katrina started to become slightly disorientated as Marcus slowly drained her of her blood, afterwards letting her drop to the ground. Before Katrina lost total consciousness she heard Marcus say something and could taste a bittersweet tinny liquid in her mouth.

Jonathan threw his head back and howled mournfully toward the moon.

“Suzanne!” Katrina whispered weakly.

Then Katrina fell into the deepest and darkest sleep she had ever known …

Katrina sat bolt upright in her bed, gasping for air. Then, when she could finally manage to catch her breath, she started to scream.

Jessica woke suddenly to hear Katrina’s terrified screams coming from the next room and her dog, Shelby, barking frantically at her bedroom door.

Jessica rolled to face the alarm clock on her nightstand. It read 2:57 a.m.

She groaned silently and stumbled out of bed to see what was wrong. Once at the bedroom door, Jessica knelt down and picked up Shelby, who had started to scratch at the door to be let out of the bedroom.

“Shh,” Jessica whispered into Shelby’s ear to quieten him, then tapped his nose affectionately with her right index finger. “We don’t want to wake everyone now, do we?” She placed the dog back down.

Jessica’s mother was already in Katrina’s bedroom when Jessica arrived, rocking the sweating girl back and forth. “What’s wrong?” Jessica asked.

“Nothing, Jessica. Everything’s fine; Katrina just had a nightmare, that’s all. Why don’t you go back to bed?” Mrs. Sinclair answered.

“Is there anything I can get you, Katrina? A glass of water? Or a cold compress for your forehead?” Jessica offered.

Katrina shook her head mutely, and with a small encouraging smile in her direction, Jessica left the room.

As soon as Jessica was out of sight, Katrina turned to Mrs. Sinclair. “Mom, I’m fine.”

“Okay, sweetheart,” Mrs. Sinclair said. She let go of her foster daughter carefully and moved for the door. “I do worry about you and Jessica sometimes …” Trailing off, she switched off the light and left the room.