Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (45 page)

   Cassie walked proudly beside him, her chin t
hrust
defiantly
forward
. She stared straight ahead, not bothering to look at anyone else. If it weren’t for her death grip upon his hand, he would have thought that none of this affected her
at all
.
But her tight hold
,
and the small tremor wracking her
,
told him that she was hurt by the cold hostility of her classmates.

   It took all he had not to destroy every one of them.

***

   Cassie walked stiffly through the cafeteria. She tried to ignore the whispers and comments that followed her, but most people were not
discreet. In fact, she knew that every one of them wanted her to hear what they had to say. And none of it was good.

   She had been called every name in the book today, a few of which she had never even heard of. Titters and whispers preceded
,
and followed
,
everywhere she went. Though she
tried to play it off as if it
didn’t bother her, inside she was a mass of raw emotion and seething nerve endings. She had never been hated
before; she had never expected to be hated. Disliked, maybe, but not hated.

   And she was
hated
. It beat against her in waves of anger that made her stomach turn
,
and her body ache. She had
n’t
thought that people could turn against someone so quickly, and so effectively. And she didn’t even know what she had d
one wrong. Mark had attacked
her
, not the other way around. She had done nothing to merit this treatment
,
and because of that fact
s
he
was swinging
between fierce bouts of anger, and trying hard not to cry as she
struggled to
ke
e
p up a nonchalant appearance.

  
Her hands shook
slightly;
she had to take a calming breath in order to steady her tray. She was greatly relieved that Chris was already at the table, his distant gaze scanning the crowd.
Dropping her tray on the table, she slid limply into the seat beside him. His tray was loaded with mounds of food that he
had not
touch
ed yet
, which was highly unusual for him.

   “You look exhausted,” he said softly.

   “Rough day,” she muttered, shoving the tray away from her. She wasn’t in the least bit hungry;
other than habit
she didn’t even know why she had
bothered to
st
an
d in line
.

  
“And these are the people that you want to stay and protect.”

   Her eyes widened at the cynicism
,
and anger
,
in his voice. “Chris.
” He turned toward her;
the bleak look in his eyes
was
almost more than she could bear. “They need us,” she finished lamely.

   “And they are showing you that need now.”

   “Chris, you wanted to stay too.”

   “That was before.”

  
“Before what?”

  
“Before I saw into what is out there, before I saw into a soul of pure
malice
and
deviance
. Before
all
the
se people
turned against you like a pack of rabid, hungry
hyenas
.”

   She was stunned breathless for a moment, to
o
shocked to move.
“You want to leave?” she managed to choke out.

   His hard gaze scanned the cafeteria one more time. Finally, his shoulders slumped as he shook his head. “No, I don’t want to leave. I don’t understand what is going on
with everyone
, but we have to protect them. I know that
, I’m just aggravated with these idiots
.” He turne
d back to her, his hand clasped
hers
tightly.
His action caused t
he buzz
in
the cafeteria
to
increase, becoming a dull roar in her ears that
was impossible
to ignore. “
But
I also caught a glimpse of what that monster is out there Cass
,
and
all
it wants
is
to
play with us
,
torture us,
and
then
kill
us
.
There
is no stopping that kind of determination
.
”
             

   A chill swept down her back, her hand tightened around his. She could feel
the fear that ran through him. What he had seen
last night
had changed him. It had permeated his bones, seep
ed
into his soul. Her hand tightened
around his, trying to give him strength
as she
sought
desperately to ease the pain he radiated.

  
“
We
can,” she said more firmly than she actually felt.
“Together, we can do anything Chris. We have survived so much, we can, we
will,
survive this.”

   “When did you become the optimistic one?”
His smile was wan, but she saw an easing in his eyes that relaxed her slightly.
She laughed softly as she leaned against his side.

  
“How many men does she want?”

   Cassie turned at the nasty hiss, her gaze lock
ed
fiercely with Marcy’s. Deliberately, defiantly, she lifted Chris’s hand and squeezed it
hard
er. She turned
slowly back around,
trying to control the
anger humming through her body
as she focused on Chris again.

 
“Sure you want to stick around?” Chris’s
eye
brows were raised
inquisitively,
a teasing light reappear
ed
in his
sapphire
eyes. No matter how awful this day had been
for her
that gleam
in his eyes
made
it all
worth it.

   “I’m sure,” Cassie replied, grinning brightly.

  
“Jerks,” Melissa muttered slamming her tray on the table.
“Bunch of idiotic, useless
,
jerks!”

  
Cassie and Chris grinned at each other before turning toward Me
lissa. Her jaw was locked tight;
her eyes spit black fire as she glared around the cafeteria.
“Tell us how you really feel,” Chris said,
issuing the first
laugh
Cassie
had heard from him
all day
.

  
Cassie chuckled along with him, squeezing his hand tighter. He was going to be alright, she was certain of that now. Whatever he had experienced last night had rattled him greatly, but he was going to be alright.
His spirit was too strong to be beaten down for long.
Devon was suddenly behind her, his hands
gently grasp
ed
her shoulders. Relief poured through her, her tense shoulders sagg
ed
as he gently massaged her.
She turned toward him as he b
en
t
over her
,
brush
ing
a quick kiss
on
her cheek
.
H
is breath
was
sweet and tantalizing
;
it
warm
ed
her to the tips of her toes.

   His eyes darted to
t
he hand tightly entwined with Chris’s on top of the table. Lifting a questioning
eye
brow, he turned toward Chris. Cassie stiffened slightly, unsure how Devon would handle
her connection with Chris. He kne
w that they were friends,
but he
probably
didn
’
t realize just how good of friends they were,
or
how strong the bond between them was.

   “Trying to steal my girl?” he inquired, his tone far lighter than Cassie had expected from him.

   Chris grinned back at him, snorting slightly as he shook back his shaggy blond hair.
“
No worries there s
he’s to
o
much of a pain in the ass for my liking.”

   Cassie shot him a fierce look as he
released her hand. He grinned back at her before eagerly pulling his tray over to attack his tuna fish sandwich. Devon chuckled softly as he slid into the seat beside her, turning sideways to face her. A dull flush of excitement crept through her as he leaned toward her, his closeness causing her body to heat.

   “How are you doing?”
he asked softly
, wrapping his hand around the back of her neck to massage her gently
.

  
It took her a few moments to answer, as the thump of her heart made speaking difficult. “Fine,
”
she murmured.

 
And she was surprised to realize that with Chris’s smile, Melissa’s unwavering loyalty,
and his solid presence, she
was
fine. Nothing else mattered, not the cruel whispers, not the waves of anger
and hatred, not even the monster that lurked within their town. As long as she had these three standing beside her, she could survive anything.

   She hoped.

C
HAPTER
20

   Cassie’s stomach curdled as if she had
eaten something
rotten. A ball of nausea had wedged itself into her throat, choking her.
She leaned over the counter, breathing heavily, her gaze locked upon the large headline before her.

   THIRTEENTH
PERSON REPORTED MISSING FROM
HYANN
IS.

  
H
er blood pump
ed
heavily in her veins
, feeling almost painful
as it lumbered through her system
as she read the article
. The
woman had gone missing from a bar on Main Street; no one had seen her since.
And they probably wouldn’t again, Cassie realized with a sinking sensation in her stomach.

  
It was smart, whatever was out there it was smart.
I
t was definitely covering its tracks.
And it was their fault that it was still out there killing, destroying innocent people
, and their familie
s. It was her, Chris, and Melissa’s responsibility as Hunter’s to protect the innocent, and they were failing miserably at the task.
Thirteen
was far
too many
people,
and these were only the ones that
had
be
en
reported
, and weren’t
already reported as
dead.
T
here were probably
even
more that had
gone un
reported
, that had no one out there to love and miss them
.

   Her hands trembled as she closed the paper, her gaze dart
ed
to the bright day beyond the kitchen windows. The brig
ht sunlight
was completely
out of place
with the emotions rolling through her
. It should be dark out, cold, foreboding. It should match the hollow chill that had encased her
from head to toe
.

   Taking a step away from the counter, she began to move slowly from the room when something about the article clicked into her mind. Turning slowly back, her throat went dry; her
heart seemed to stop beating as her legs became suddenly shaky, wooden. She reached out quickly, grasping hold of the counter before she fell to the ground.