The House (12 page)

I left the
kitchen still laughing but slightly worried about what Stripes
might do to get me back. I debated for a minute about where the
least crowded place would be. Normally it would be the meeting room
but with Marie away people tended to use it more for board games
than anything else. Something that Marie normally frowned on. On a
whim I turned left instead of right and to my surprise found that
the only person in the TV room was Eddie. He was reading.

“You know we
call this the TV room right?”

“Nobody was in
here,” Eddie replied in an offhand way but his face told a
different story. He looked distinctly annoyed. It must be a good
book.

“Whatever … do you
try
to avoid any contact with the rest of us or does
it just happen that way?” I asked flippantly. I was in a good mood
and I knew that if I stayed in Eddie’s company more than a few
moments it was likely to dissipate.

“After your
display yesterday is it really a surprise?” I raised my eyebrows at
him. I didn’t think that I’d really scared anyone. In fact I was
sure of it; Eddie was probably the only one who hadn’t seen us all
fight before.

“Come on, we
were only playing. That’s not real fighting.” Well, the fighting
was real but we’d never really hurt each other so I wasn’t really
lying.

“I know.” And
he stood up, tucked his book under his arm and took two steps
towards the door before I got in front of him. I must have moved
faster than I intended because he took three steps backwards and
promptly caught his legs on the edge of the chair he’d just
vacated. He scrambled in the air for a moment before he fell, that
way people do when they know it’s useless but they can’t help but
try to keep their balance and end up looking even more ridiculous.
In fact, he looked rather graceful and snapped straight back onto
his feet so fast an unobservant human wouldn’t have noticed.

“My God, could
you move any faster!” He sounded way past annoyed now. I wondered
if he was one of those people who go really into their books and
carried them everywhere. I’d known a few and they all reacted very
strongly when you interrupted them.

“Probably.” I
shrugged and smiled at him. “You want to learn?” I could
practically see the cogs turning in his head as his instincts to
avoid getting close to anyone warred with his desire to be able to
do the same tricks the rest of us could.

“Will you
actually teach me anything?” he asked in a hushed voice.
“If it is possible for you to do it then I can teach you. Well,
between us we can teach you; if you want to learn to fight I
suggest you ask James.” I shrugged, “I’m not a miracle worker.”
Actually, since I had almost no fighting experience, I couldn’t
even teach a child.

“Never said
you were. And I don’t need to learn to fight.” He sounded
incredibly indignant at this, perhaps he was proud of his fighting
skills. It was never something I’d actually needed to know. I
thought about that as my mind flashed back to the vampyre. Perhaps
a few lessons wouldn’t go amiss.

“Very well,
when do you want to start?” I asked. I vaguely realised that I was
still standing over him and took several steps back. I half
expected him to say “right now.” But I’d forgotten the audience we
had around the house.

“When
everybody has gone home.” He pulled his book back up and had the
look of a cat curling up on the seat as he started reading again. I
spared a moment to think that he actually looked sweet like that.
It made a nice change from his usual surly.

I debated
sitting down and putting the TV on, then thought better of it; I
didn’t want to face Marie when she got back if I got so close to
getting Eddie to trust us and pushed him away again. A sign of
maturity at last perhaps, though I doubted it. I sometimes thought
that our slow aging made us act like children much of the time. I
made my way out to the garden instead; there had been talk of a
rugby match. I was always up for that although I wasn’t sure my
ribs were right at that moment. There was still a slight tenderness
from the day before. The break must have been worse than I’d
thought; I was probably lucky not to have punctured a lung.

I met Stripes
just outside the door and her grin told me that the boys were doing
something stupid. I’m not being sexist. The only girls left were
Stripes and myself and the girls in general are less ridiculous, I
think it relates to the distinct lack of testosterone, or maybe
that we really do mature faster. Not that you could tell by me.

I groaned when
I looked out towards the trees. There was a small car sat just this
side of the tree line and the boys were taking it in turns to try
to lift it. They never seem to be able to keep from competing with
each other whenever we all got together. I was slightly
disappointed that Shayana hadn’t been able to stick around; she’d
wipe the floor with the lot of them. I wasn’t into trying to
out-compete the boys at something like this. I generally either
overexerted myself and got hurt or did really well. If I did well
all the guys just pointed out that it was because I was true-born
and therefore had an unfair advantage.

“How’s he
doing?” I asked Stripes. She was staring intently at the
competition but clearly staying out of the way. The easiest way to
avoid getting talked into the childish games is to avoid them.

“Alright,
they’re up to four and a half minutes and if they make it to five
there’s the old 4x4.” Stripes shook her head but I could see the
smile twitch at the corners of her mouth. James was probably
winning then, or close to. I looked out to see who was there. If
James was winning I doubted he would be for long. He was one of the
best people I’d ever met at tracking, if not the best. His fighting
skills were incredible as well but he didn’t go in for strength
training. He needed stealth to track the hunters.

“Come on,
let’s get a closer look.” We appeared next to the boys a second
later, severely annoying Hunter who dropped the little car on his
foot in surprise. I pitied him - the damn thing was heavy. At least
he hadn’t thrown it at us though. That had happened only once and I
was lucky to have avoided going to the hospital.

“Bit nervous
there Hunter,” I laughed. He glared at me and came to join the
spectators. We were growing in number; most of the guys were
starting to tire and you could see in their faces that the ones
without the real competitive streak would bow out soon. Or rather
the ones that couldn’t risk injury would call it; they could do the
lift but it was a risk. A lot of shifters tended to have reasonably
physical jobs and there weren’t many that could afford a leave of
absence for injury. Much like the rest of the country really.

“Could you not
have waited thirty seconds?” he groaned.

“Nope. You
need to be less skittish, we don’t bite,” I snapped at him with my
teeth partially shifted. My full lion teeth have four canines over
five centimetres long, which wouldn’t have fit in my normal mouth.
I suppose I looked like what a vampyre is conventionally seen as -
which is probably where some of the legend came from - with canines
about two centimetres long.

“Maybe you
need to be more skittish,” he growled and I smiled widely,
revealing my teeth even more and lengthening them to the maximum I
can still hold in my mouth. I look really strange with my mouth
closed when I do that though.

“You wouldn’t
like me nearly as much if I was.” I felt Stripes grip my arm and
nod towards the competition. They’d moved onto the 4x4 that had to
weigh over two tonnes. And even with enhanced strength that is a
lot of weight to hold above your head for five minutes or longer if
they made it that far. I’d heard of times when they were up to an
hour but I doubted it. They just all had enough ego to pretend that
they did.

“Are you
coming to the club tonight?” Hunter asked as we gazed out towards
the competitors. There were only three left now. The rest, about
six of them, were standing around looking defeated. I nearly
laughed at the look of them, they did look rather pathetic.

“Doubt it.
I’ve got to be here to man the door.” I grinned up at him, my teeth
back to normal. “You still intent on getting me drunk?”

“Ha, I’m not
entirely sure it’s even possible. Nah, there’s always a couple of
the guys asking for you.” He said it casually but I had a feeling
there was something else behind the statement. Maybe none of the
girls were asking after him.

“I’ll just bet
there are.” I tried to make my voice sound offhand. In truth, I
always got a little bit of an ego boost from it. I just didn’t want
Hunter to know, he’d make fun of me.

“You getting
sick of it?” Hunter asked.

“Sick of
what?” I asked, glancing at him before turning back to watch the
competition. His face was surprisingly thoughtful. I didn’t think
I’d ever seen him look so pensive. It was unnerving. I didn’t like
to think that he was growing up on me. I liked Hunter just the way
he was; I’d miss him if he went all serious on me.

“Everything.”
He was staring towards the competition where Alex looked like he
was about to lose his human form. I really hoped he didn’t drop the
car on his head. I hate having to make up stories at the hospital.
I don’t think Hunter was really seeing any of it though. I sort of
knew what he was thinking, there comes a time when most of us
wonder if we need to start acting like a grown-up. A lot question
their decision to become a shifter, and then they start to think
about things like family. Then we lose them to the older lot, the
ones Marie spends her time with.

“I got a few
years left in me. Shayana’s still going strong and she’s thirty
this year. I just have responsibilities here, can’t have some poor
shifter showing up to find the place empty. Marie would have my
neck.” I found myself staring out to the trees as well, seeing past
the competition which would end in about ten seconds anyway. I did
not want to discuss this, especially not with Hunter.

“But Shayana
has her family and her job.” Hunter was interrupted by the crash
that signalled Alex had finally dropped the car, thankfully not on
his head. The cheer that went up told me that he’d won the
competition; I honestly couldn’t bring myself to care.

“Hey, Trix has
family too,” Stripes put in. “If you need a change of scenery
that’s fine, maybe we can help, but don’t try bringing the rest of
us down with you. Some of us like our lives here.” I remembered
that Stripes could be sensitive when it came to questioning past
decisions. It made me think that maybe she hadn’t had much of a
choice. We’d never fully discussed her transformation, just as we
never fully discussed my childhood.

“Wow, Stripes.
Come on, I was just wondering. You gotta grow up sometime and I
don’t know anyone who’s had a harder time of it than Trix. It can
be lonely in this world with its skyscrapers and endless cities. At
least I’ve got the skies … where’s Trix gonna run?”

“I do alright,
I’m true-born remember? I don’t have to shift,” I said. This line
of questioning was starting to make me uncomfortable.

“But that
doesn’t mean you don’t want to does it?” Hunter was pushing it, and
his voice suggested that he knew that, but he didn’t seem able to
stop himself.

“I can run
here, that’s the reason we have so much space that’s not
overlooked. So we can run.” I looked forlornly at Stripes; we
hardly ever ran. On the full moon I rarely shifted because it’s
always best to have someone with hands to answer the door in case
anyone stops by. I was finding it increasingly difficult to find
the time to run without the full moon. Our impromptu party had
lightened my spirits enough though that I didn’t mind too much.

“Fine,
whatever. I’m going home for a shower; I can’t be bothered to wait
in line here,” Hunter replied stiffly and off he went without so
much as a backwards glance. Sometimes I forgot how lonely it can
get when you live mostly with humans. Too many secrets to keep.
Though if I was honest I’d never really lived with humans; I went
to a human boarding school but I hardly ever spent significant time
with humans. Not that the other witches ever really included me
either. True-born shifters are rare and precious in our world but
kids are cruel and any difference is enough for them.

Stripes just
smiled at me and patted my arm absently before wandering off. I was
left standing alone on the grass. There was a real danger that I
could give in to thoughts like that. I couldn’t afford to, I had to
keep going. I reminded myself that I was only twenty-two. Hunter
was older, he wasn’t true-born. It was different. This melancholy
didn’t have to affect me. I just had to keep telling myself that.
There was nothing to be done about it; I couldn’t change the way I
was born and I wouldn’t want to.

“Hey, Trix.” I
felt Alex come up behind me and wrap his arms around me. It was far
too intimate a greeting for someone I don’t know all that well but,
hey, I could understand why he was in high spirits. The whispering
in my ear was just a step too far. “Do I get a prize for
winning?”

“What did you
expect for your prize?” I whispered back. Shooting down
over-ambitious males is so much more fun if I play along for a bit
first. The anger that Hunter’s little talk had established was
bubbling just under the surface and I wasn’t in the mood to deal
with Alex. I only ever saw him at parties and was struggling to
remember anything meaningful about him.

“I was hoping
that maybe you’d take pity on me,” he said, out loud this time
because I’d pushed back enough that he couldn’t reach my ear to
whisper. Not that I wouldn’t have heard him anyway, it just didn’t
have the same effect.

I laughed and
turned in his arms, which is harder than it sounds because he was
holding me very tightly. He’s also almost a foot taller than me so
turning put my face next to his chest. I had to take a step back to
be able to look up at his face, and in all fairness he let me. Even
if he didn’t let me go. What I did then I can’t excuse even though
I was still down from Hunter’s comments.