Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series) (6 page)

   She was greatly afraid that if she
di
dn
’
t mend it
soon
, it would swallow her whole.

   Cassie shoved aside her morose thoughts
, sick of them
.
S
ick
of
herself
even
.
Wallowing in her misery, and loneliness, was not going to ease it.

   “Are you going to tell us
what you saw
?” Chris demanded, leaning forward on his knee.

  
Melissa shook her head as she
sat
back in her seat, shoving the remains of
her salad aside. “Nope, i
t doesn’t involve you so there’s no need for you to
know
about it.”

   Chris groaned
in disappointment, but
his frustration
did not affect his appetite as he took a big bite of his bacon cheeseburger. Grease dropped onto his paper plate but he paid it little mind as his attention focused on Marcy
again
. “She is cute.”

   Cassie glanced over at
Marcy
, tilting her head as she studied the petite brunette
.
Despite her over exuberance,
she was a pretty girl.
“Does it matter?”

  
Chris
grinned down at her as he shook back his mop of blond hair.
“Not at all.”

   Cassie couldn’t help but laugh
at him, loving the bright sparkle in his
sapphire
eyes, and the cocky grin that flashed across his handsome face. She
leaned against his leg, relishing in the easy comfort, strength, and reassurance he gave her. He had been her best friend, her rock, since she was born.
Though many people thought they were
a couple
,
or soon would be,
there had never been anything other than sibling
-
like feelings between them.

  
Chris pat
ted
her back for a brief moment before turning his attention back to his cheeseburger
,
and Marcy.
The hair on the back of
Cassie’s
neck suddenly stood up, a tingle swep
t
down her spine that was neither pleasant
n
or unpleasant.
With
sudden certain
ty she
knew
that someone was staring at her, watching her. Straightening away from
Chris,
she frowned as
her gaze rapidly scanned the forest, but she could see nothing
,
and no one
,
within its dark depths.

   Turning slowly, Cassie
was surprised to realize
that he
r
throat had gone dry, and her heart was trip hammering with
excitement.
She didn’t know what was causing the strange reaction inside her body, but she couldn’t stop it either.
She was certain that there was something out there, and that it was waiting for her.

  
She froze, her gaze latched
onto a
man
standing a
t the edge of the building closest to the road
. He was
highlighted by the splash of light pouring out of B’s and S’s
, his features indiscernible in the
shadows
that
play
ed
over him
.
He was completely
still
,
his hands
shoved
in
to
the pockets of his leather jacket
.
Even t
hough the shadows
kept him half hidden
,
she could see t
he
startling
,
brilliant
,
emerald
green
of his eyes
.
Th
ose eyes
were
oddly
alight in the
dark
surround
ing
him
,
a dark that
caress
ed
his hard, unmoving body
.
  
 

  
To
Cassie’s
utter
amazement,
t
he world around her suddenly
gr
ou
nd to a
n
abrupt
halt
.
E
verything
around her
fell away
, the crowd disappeared
;
Chris and Melissa no longer exist
ed
a
s
he
became the central point of her world.
A
ll she could see
, all she could
feel
,
was him.
He
was inside of her, flowing through her veins, burning into her extremities
, filling her. His presence ease
d
the painful
hole she had been living with.
Though it made no sense to her, and she certainly couldn
’
t explain it
,
he
somehow
helped to
heal everything that had bee
n hurting, and broken, and
wrong
within her.

   Unknowingly, tears
sprang to her eyes. She would be ok; everything would be ok
as long as
he
was here.
The thought blazed into her mind, seared through her heart, and though it seemed crazy she knew that it was completely right.
She didn
’
t understand
how
he ma
d
e everything right, but he did.
S
he
needed
him, the realization slammed into her with the force of a sledge hammer. It was
a
terrifying thought, confusing and unsettling
.
However,
she knew
that
th
e thought
was
completely
true. She knew it
with the same certainty that she knew she needed air
to survive
.

   “It’s about time,” Melissa said softly.

   With those
three
words the world snapped back
into
frightening, lurching
focus
.
The force of it
le
ft
Cassie
stunned and breathless
.
Her hand trembled as she w
ip
ed
away the singl
e tear that
had
unknowingly
slid down her cheek.
She was
completely
shaken by the
bizarre
encounter
, unnerved, and
yet
completely exhilarated
.
Though she tried, s
he
could
not break eye contact with the strange
r.
If she look
ed
away
it
would only
re
open the giant hole within her. H
e
didn’t
seem to want to
look away either,
as his eyes
never left hers
.
His piercing gaze kept her pinned to the spot.

   Though she had no special gifts,
no abilities like Chris and Melissa,
sh
e knew
instantly
that her life would never be the same again.
She
knew
that the presence of this strange man marked a significant change in her life.
             

   Complete and utter panic
tore through her
.

CHAPTER 2

  
“Bout time for what?”
Chris asked
, sucking fiercely at his chocolate shake
as he lifted a dark blond eyebrow quizzically at Melissa
.

  
“Oh, uh, it’s about time to go,” Melissa answered absently
.
She
neatly
wip
ed
her hands before
tossing her napkin aside
.

   Cassie spun wildly in her seat,
desperately
needing to flee, needing to run
.
She
had
to get as far away from here, a
nd
him
, as possible. “Yes it is,
”
she
eagerly agreed
.

   L
eap
ing
to her feet,
she
ignor
ed
the surprised looks that both
Melissa and Chris shot her.
She h
astily g
rabbed
her tray
and
toss
ed
the plates haphazardly on
to
it. “Hey!” Chris cried
as she grabbed his few remaining fries and threw them onto the heap.

   “It’s late, we ha
ve to go,
”
she said urgently, her voice trembl
ing
slightly
.
To her utter surprise
,
and horror, so were her hands.

  
What was the matter with her? She didn’t know this
man;
she didn’
t
know
that he
meant anything to her. She simply knew that he affected her on a physical level
, so why was she acting like a loony? Why was she so certain that he was going to drastically change her life?

   She had no way of knowing for sure, but something inside of her, something instinctual and primal was screaming at her that he would. And t
hat was s
omething that
she did not want to happen
.
It was something
s
he could not
allow
to happen.

  
Her life had already been
turned upside down
once
;
she couldn’t go through
it
again
, she didn’t think she was strong enough to survive it
. Just four short years ago s
he had been a perfectly happy thirteen year old
girl
. Now she was a Hunter, spending far too much time in cemeteries,
and killing vampires
.
Vampires
for crying out loud!
They were
s
omething she had thought
of as
a myth
, something made up for movies and books
in order to entertain people
,
or scare them
.
They certainly weren’t anything
she had ever
considered
real
.
N
e
ither had she ever
entertain
ed
the notion
that she would be
expected to kill them,
all
the
w
hile knowing
that she would
inevitably
lose
the fight
one day.

  
No, she
absolutely
did not want her life to change
drastically
again
.
S
he
had just gotten it straightened out, just gotten it to the point where she could accept her heritage, even if she didn’t like it.
And she knew that this man
c
ould
completely change her life. She had wanted a change, something different, but not this, not this big
, and not
him
. And she knew that h
is presence would be a
big
change
.
  
   “Cassie…”