The Death Series: A Dark Dystopian Fantasy Box Set: (Books 1-3) (45 page)

“I wanted to see Jade and with school and the police thing...”

“Yeah, tell us about that,” Jonesy said.

“We're not supposed to, numb-nuts,” Tiff said.

“Hey,” he mumbled behind Sophie's hair. “Stop busting my balls over this, I wanna know details.” He blew a chunk of her hair out of the way and shot Tiff the,
get screwed
look.

She turned around in a huff with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Anyway,” I said slowly, giving them The Look, “she said Brett, Carson and a bunch of their friends were at Brett's and she thought it'd be bad if I came over.”

“Probably got that right,” John said in his sure way.

“They're ass-hats, it's
their plan
to make people miserable,” Jonesy said.

I leaned back and he turned around, Tiff had dropped her arms and was listening. “Carson Hamilton? Are you kidding? He was bad before he could torch-the-world but now...
wow
.”

“He still needs an accelerant, right?” John said.

Alex nodded. “But a jerk like that... Hell, he'll do anything to get what he needs.”

“Hate to break it to you guys but their little posse has expanded,” Bry said.

Silence filled the car.

“Who?” I asked.

Bry shifted in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable. “Spit it out, Bry,” Tiff said.

I looked over at Jonesy who had his arm around Sophie and she leaned back against him. Kinda cozy.

“Christi’s brother, for one,” Bry continued.

Tiff slapped her forehead.

Who was that?

Tiff elaborated, “
Barbie
.”

Oh her, that figures. She was a bitch on wheels so her brother must be
terrific,
or whatever the counterpart was to that. Huh.

“Who's she?” Sophie asked reasonably.

“She's a chick my brother digs that has the same IQ as Mick’s hamster,” Tiff said, smacking her wad of gum.

“Who's Mick?” John asked, trying to keep the cast of characters straight. It had a way of unraveling.

“My little brother, Michael,” Bry said.

“That kid I saw today?” I asked.

“No, it's another one,” Tiff answered.

Geez.

Jonesy waved this away. “Who cares about the girl? What does her brother have to do with anything? Who gives a ripe, hairy rat's ass?”

A grin slowly unfolded on Tiff's face and Alex shook his head, saying, “You've got a way with words, Jones, I'll give ya that.”

Jonesy smiled. He knew it.

Bry dropped the bomb, “He's a fire-starter too and he's older.”

“More control. More finesse,” John said.

“Yeah,” Alex agreed with resignation.

“This can't be good,” I said. “And I don't like those ass-clowns being around Jade.”

Jonesy looked at me. “Don't worry, Brett won't let anything happen to her.”

I whipped my head around to him and I heard John sigh.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked him, my heart speeding.

Jonesy shrugged. “Just what I've been hearing around.” He twirled a finger in the air and Sophie avoided my eyes.

“Sophie,” I all but yelled, and she flinched, Jonesy narrowing his eyes at me. “What's going on?”

“Well, she didn't want to cause trouble...” she began.

I could practically feel my blood start to boil. I was gonna maim him if he'd done something to Jade.

She saw my expression and shrank back from me some, and Jonesy said, “Cool it, Hart. It's not Sophie, dude, it's Brett. Keep your focus.”

Right.

I mentally told myself to calm down.

It sure wasn't working.

She continued, “He's been trying to see her lately.”

“When?” I barked out and Jonesy gave me a warning glare.

“Sorry...” I said. “When?”

“Just since your Gramps' house.”

Oh
nice,
the middle finger parade and screech-out-of-there episode
.

“What does any of that have to do with Jade?”

Sophie shook her head. “We don't know exactly but she just tells him she thinks it's better if they don't talk.”

But it was in her eyes.

“What else?” I said tersely.

“He's been hanging around her bedroom window.”

Eff-me.

“Dude, he's some kinda perverted stalker-type,” Jonesy said helpfully.

Yeah, that.

“Maybe he's just trying to apologize,” Alex said.

We all looked at him.

“Or maybe not,” he said.

Brett was definitely not the apologetic type.

“So, to recap this dandy little disaster,” John began and I raised an eyebrow at his words, “we have Brett stalking Jade, your brainless girlfriend's older brother has taken Carson the Corrupt under his wing and he is a how-many-points-fire-starter?”

Bry held up five fingers.

Perfect.

“Any more good news, Bro?” Tiff asked caustically.

He was quiet for a minute and that made me nervous-as-hell.

“Yeah, it looks like Carson's got a girlfriend.”

God...who'd go out with him?

“No accounting for taste,” Alex said.

No shit.

Bry pulled up to Jade's place and we sat in the sweltering, cramped car when he expounded, “She's AFTD.”

Oh, just beautiful
.
Tiff turned around and looked at me, staring at each other we thought about
that
group of kids, growing larger. And the disquiet of having one of our own on
their
side.

Who was it? I thought as I exited the car, the door squealing on its hinges and hanging at a crooked angle.

Just then, Jade bounded out the front door, the glare of the sun blinding us like bleached bones off its whiteness, twilight beginning to encroach, shrouding the bushes that clung to the foundation.

She looked into my face and knew in about three and half seconds something was terribly wrong.

Part of it was that we had a new threat and she
hadn't told me about it.

CHAPTER 9

Jade slowed as she drew closer, her face searching mine. “What?” she asked.

My arms were crossed over my chest and I had a fleeting thought that a fight with my girlfriends was not on my to-do list but I needed a little damn
help
when it came to protecting her. Jade not telling me about Brett wasn't helping.

She was hard to be mad at though. I eyed her up, digging on how awesome she looked in her tight green T and bright white zippered hoodie. My anger wavered. Then I thought about what the
potential
of Brett was and it solidified again.

“Sophie told me about Brett.” I said simply, my anger at her dishonesty-by-omission making my body stiff. The others stood around the car, awkwardly trying to look anywhere but at us.

“Oh Caleb,” she said, approaching me. I stepped back. If she touched me, I was toast. She hesitated and dropped the hand that had been reaching out for me. “I didn't want to say anything. It's no big deal.”

No big deal.

“It
is
a big deal. Brett is seriously effed-up and just wants someone to be sympathetic. It doesn't need to be you.”

“I don't want to be mean and I
do
feel bad for him,” she said, her eyes pleading with me.

My heart twisted.

I hoped she wasn't touching him to get the Brett-intel. 'Cuz I wasn't down with that. How could she feel bad after what went down last year?

She stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Please, Caleb, it's just not in me to treat him bad. He hasn't tried to hurt me.”

Yet.

Suddenly, we heard scuffling and raised voices and turned at the same moment.

Through the portal of the open gate I could see my friends facing off with Carson and Brett who stood at the edge of Jade's fence perimeter. Two guys flanked the ass-clowns, Ceci (from my AFTD class) and Barbie were also there.

I looked at Bry and could see from his face he was battling emotion. Here was his
hot
(bitchy with a capital “B”) girlfriend who had showed up in the battle zone with her brother
.

Things were not looking up.

Jade and I looked at each other, our unfinished business lingering between us uneasily, and walked out of the gate together.

I was immediately struck by how much older the other two guys were. Juniors? I didn't know for sure but I was damn glad that I had gone to Judo practice even when I wanted to do everything else instead. Last year made me realize a few things: I wouldn't always have the dead at my back, that my friends, and Jade needed me to be more.

More than just a puppet master of the dead.

Bry, the Js and Alex moved up behind me and the girls behind them.

A silence filled the void of the moment, the lot of us guys taking  the measure of one another, the older two guys looking over Bry the longest.

The one on Carson's right said, “Why are you slummin', Weller? Gotta hang out with the kiddies?”

Barbie (okay
Christi,
I thought reluctantly), glared at him and said, “Don't jump his crap, Brody. He's with his sister, right baby?”

Baby?

I could feel Tiff's eye roll, no paranormal assistance needed. Sophie snickered and Christi narrowed her eyes.

This was going well.

Bry swallowed, here was the time when you spoke plainly. “Yeah, Christi, Tiff is here but these guys are still my dudes.” He shrugged.

I could have hugged him. But I didn't. I stood, legs spread apart, my arms crossed on my chest, saying nothing.

Jade broke the uneasy silence, “I told you, Brett, that Caleb and I are going to see each other. We're the same, we're both paranormals, it makes sense. Ya know, us being together.”

Brett's intense brown eyes looked her over possessively and it fired up every guy instinct I had and ones I didn't. He acted like
he
was the one dating Jade, not me. He needed an attitude adjustment for sure.

I was
so
volunteering.

Little known fact: guys always do a mental scan on another guy. The question is always the same: could I take him if I needed? Am I the fiercest dog in the fight?

I didn't know.

I was checkin' out Brody and if
Barbie
was tall, he was much taller, over six feet, even a little taller than Bry. The other guy just screamed bad news; he was shorter but built like Jonesy. He had the physical potential. Strong and fast. I didn't like it.

The Js didn't either and Alex looked positively green.

Alex!
He was like, kick-ass strong! But, I guess he wasn't wanting to give it all away yet. Geez.

“It's never gonna make sense, Jade. He's bad for you...with all his frickin' undead creepers. You need to be around someone that's a mundane. That's where the balance is at,” Brett said in a way that told me he was repeating himself.

Huh. I didn't like Brett making any kind of remote sense and Jade listening to any of it either. Tiff huffed at the comment about the undead. I was insulted too. Like he was “all that” because he was a mundane. But he was eying my girl and she was Empath so he used that excuse when it worked for his arguments. Great.

“Let Jade think for herself. You don't need to be doing any convincing,” I said.

“Yeah, man, that's über-uncool. Ya know she's dating Caleb. Stop lurking around in dark corners trying to make moves,” Jonesy said.

John and Alex nodded.

Carson said, “It's a free country, assholes, he can be and talk to whoever he wants, you chumps can't do shit about it.”

Bry turned to Brody. “You guys are older, let Brett, Caleb and Jade figure it out. And,” he looked at them, “you're hanging around them why? They're freshman.”

Good point, as Brody had been the one to call us “kiddies.”

Brody and his pal shuffled around, finally the other dude said, “There aren't a lot of Fire-starters. We're a tight group...you feel me?”

Bry didn't, saying, “What does that matter? You can see what kind of guy he is, Diego? He started every piece of crap circumstance with Hart last year, said he'd be neutral this year. Yet, here he is, stirring up the shit again. He just loves the smell, like a fly to sewage.”

Yeah, that.

Carson's hands balled into fists and Ceci backed away from him, looking at me, fear standing in her eyes. My face asked her the question:
why?
But that was the age-old thing, nice girls dug bad dudes. It defied wisdom but happened anyway.

Carson gave her a look and she cowed away from him. It made me sick. His face swung back to mine.

Bry was staring at Christi but she was standing by her brother.

Nice loyalty too.

“Listen...” Jade began, her hands twirling about her nervously. “Brett, I wanted to try and help you a little because, I know that stuff is bad at your place.”

Brett gave her an ugly look and I could feel my blood percolate. “You don't need to explain why you're nice Jade, he doesn't appreciate it,” I said.

“Yeah he does, a little
too much
,” Jonesy said and Sophie nodded.

See,
I
was
on to something.

“Yeah, I do, Caleb,” Jade said, moving away from me a little.

Huh, this was a disturbing development.

Brett stepped forward to meet her and that's when my resolve broke, I simply couldn't let her be that close to him. He was entirely too familiar with violence as the answer and I didn't want Jade in the path of it.

Brett's eyes flicked to mine then landed on her. “But, we can't be friends the way you want. I love him,” she said with quiet intensity.

“You think you do,” Brett clarified, saying it to her and looking at me.

She shook her head. “No, I do. He makes me feel more like... more like...
what I'm supposed to be
. That's a good thing right? When someone else can make you feel complete?”

“Listen, I hate to break up this love-fest, and I know you girls are all romantic fools...” Diego began, “but I'm pullin' the boredom card. Carson, you said he was gonna come over here, get this girl,” he looked at Jade. “Jane? Julie...?”

“Jade, dip-shit,” I said.

“Watch your mouth, kiddo,” he said, that look in his eyes. You know the one:
shut up or suffer.

“Make me.”

Bry looked at me. “Caleb...”

“Nah, Caleb's right. These dudes come over here, peeing in corners, and we're just supposed to swallow their crap. I don't think so,” Jonesy said.

The girls looked at each other nervously, even Barbie looked at Bry. Even in her very small, Pooh-sized brain she was seeing the potential for things to go wild.

I could feel it in the air; it had a swollen silence that buzzed with life.

Maybe things would have shut down then because Diego was deliberating on how he could save face and put me in my place without a brawl.

But violence is its own beast and finds its way through a willing host.

Brett reached out and grabbed Jade, hauling her up against him. He was so fast about it she couldn't even respond and he latched his mouth onto hers, cranking her head back while he did it, his hand fisted in her hair while she struggled against him.

A red haze fell over my vision like a shroud and I walked around the back of Brett while he was man-handling Jade and took the flat part of the sole of my foot and slammed it into the back of his knee,  effectively making his knees buckle underneath him.

He took Jade to the ground with him, my efforts to free her and hurt him failing. He threw her on the ground and rolled over on top of her.

I roared in rage, flew from my position and tackled him. When I landed, a foot connected with my ribcage forcing the wind from my body and that's when I heard the girls start screaming. I could see Jade trying to crawl away and Brett still after her.

Diego's face swam in front of mine right before his fist connected with my jaw, and then Bry was hauling him off. Meanwhile John was getting pounded by Brody while his dumb-ass sister was screaming over and over again. God, she was like Griswold. My ears rang as I sought Jade out. She was still fighting Brett, who had both her wrists above her head and was hauling her off somewhere in the yard like a sack of potatoes.

I rose up on all fours, spitting out blood, rising to my feet, I started an unsteady trot to Jade and Carson got in front of me.

He had a lighter and ignited it at the same time that a fireball appeared in his hand. “Brody!” he screamed.

That gave Brett pause, while Jade screamed for me beneath him.

Brody was busy, Jonesy hammering his sides with both fists, rocketing punches like heavy metal music, while John lolled on the ground, nose bleeding. But Brody was a junior, and Jonesy was giving it his all when Brody landed a punch that laid him out.

Bry and Brody looked at each other for a brief moment before  Bry and Diego began hammering each other.

Tiff wasn't going to take that lying down and launched herself on Diego, doing what girls do: she bit his shoulder like the gum she chewed, worrying on him like a dog with a bone.

He threw her off, turning on her, he backhanded her so hard she flew about three feet and Bry roared like a wounded animal. His sister lay on the ground dazed with Diego looming over her.

I let the power out. I had been trying to contain the situation,
manage it
but there was no managing this. When guys started abusing the girls, that's when we brought out the guns.

The undead guns
.

Like fingers reaching... they sought, feeling with the greatest of finesse and speed for anything close that could help. The power knew what it needed, what would neutralize this threat and there was always the dead.

They were always here
.

It found what it needed and the power squeezed around them like a mighty fist, pulsating once, ripping them out of the ground...they came to the summons.

I could feel them moving toward me; coming home.

Heat built around me and I smelled something. My hair was starting to burn. Alex came at me in a full sprint, throwing his hoodie over my head and I was momentarily blinded, but my face wasn't burning which was an improvement. Still all I could think about was Jade. As Alex fell on me, cloaking my head in his hoodie, trying to put out Carson's fireball, I heard John scream, “Caleb!”

I tore the hoodie off, some of my hair clinging to it like ashen fingers. Brett had hauled Jade up to her feet, one arm around her waist and she stared at me with eyes that were wide and frantic.

I looked at where her gaze was and my breath stilled:

The gophers were back and behind them,
Indians
.

All the kids stood in various stages of beat-up, looking at the undead spectacle before us. I looked at Ceci and Tiff, (who was still on the ground).