Beasts and Magic Read online

  My mom turned with a hiss.

  "What?"

  Then she froze. I looked up and spotted Mr. Aran. His round face didn't look happy at all. When he wasn't smiling or grinning, it looked like he had no mouth at all.

  "Mrs. Jones…" he repeated. "We need to talk."

  "I don't think…"

  He gave her a look that made my mother stop talking.

  "Now, Mrs. Jones."

  She turned her head like an owl and looked at me without even moving her torso.

  "Robyn. Go inside," she said, her voice sizzling in anger. "Mr. Aran and I shall have a little grown-up chat."

  "But, Mom…" I protested slightly because my legs were so tired I wasn't sure I could stand up.

  "NOW!"

  I got up and hurried inside. I walked to the kitchen and started to wash and clean my wound. It hurt like crazy, and I grimaced when I heard my mother's voice through the open window.

  "But we had a deal."

  "Not anymore, Mrs. Jones."

  My mother hissed at him, angrily. "I gave her to you. It's not my problem that you couldn't hold onto her properly and she ran away. I held up my end of the bargain."

  The spider on Mr. Aran's neck hissed back at her, and my mother pulled away.

  "That may very well be," he said, but I have come to realize there is a lot more going on here in your little neighborhood than just a rogue wolf. If I am to get to the bottom at this, then no one is safe, and everyone is subject to investigation. Now, I know perfectly well what you and your family are, and as long as you stay within the rules, then I can't touch you. But all it takes is one slip-up, Mrs. Jones. Only one. I am here as a friend, to warn you. One slip-up and I am taking you down."

  "You can't do that," my mother said. It was the first time I had ever heard her stirred up like this; it almost sounded like she was scared. It made my heart race. My mom was never afraid of anything. Except for germs and unhealthy food, that was, but that was more an obsession than anything else. This was real fear.

  "Just watch me," he said.

  "We're here legally. We were in the program."

  "I know you were, Mrs. Jones, but that doesn’t give you the right to break the law while you're here. Take Norman Jefferson from number twenty; he was here legally too. Nice guy and a family man. But he broke the law. I know it was to save his daughter, but it makes no difference. You reveal your identity to humans, you go. You practice any of your supernatural nature, and you're out. I am allowed to take your soul. That's the law, and you know it. Now, people around here have been breaking the laws for years, and I am here to clean up. I intend to stay till my job is done."

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Amy stared at her dad. He was still lying on the couch, burning up. She and her mother took turns keeping an eye on him and wetting his forehead to try and break the fever. Right now, Amy's mother was sitting by his side, kissing his hand that she was holding between hers. Melanie had gone upstairs to sleep after she had been out hunting all night for the first time.

  "Come on, Jim," Amy's mom mumbled. "Please, make it. We can't do this without you. We can't."

  Amy walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. Her mother looked up, a tired look on her face.

  "I’ve made some chicken pot pie," Amy said and handed her a plate. "Actually, I made enough for an entire army, so let me know if you can eat more than this."

  Her mother chuckled. "You're worried. I know. I am too."

  Amy sat down next to her, her hands folded in her lap, worry nagging in her stomach. "He's going to make it, right?"

  Her mother sighed deeply. "You're a big girl, so I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Fact is, I don't know. Your dad has been using a lot of his blood lately. I told him that he needs to save it for emergencies like this. He can't just go around healing everyone. But he won't listen. If he sees a need, if he sees anyone wounded or sick, he can't say no."

  Amy cleared her throat while her mother took a bite of the food.

  "Uh, this is good," she said. "I might actually take you up on that second portion."

  "You're not really selling shoes for a living, are you?" Amy asked.

  Her mother took another bite then chuckled. "Did you really believe we were?"

  "I did. I truly did."

  "Really? Even with all those shoe-selling emergencies? I mean how much of an emergency can there be in the world of shoes?" She laughed.

  Amy had always loved her mother's laughter. It was so light, yet so comforting. It made Amy chuckle as well.

  "I guess that does sound a little crazy now that you put it that way."

  Amy's mom sniffled and took another bite.

  "So, what do you do? When you're away on trips?" Amy asked.

  Her mother gave her look of concern. "Oh, baby. There is so much hurt in this world. Too much for us to even take. But we do our best. Mostly in the third world countries. They have no medicine there and die from stuff that no one does in these parts of the world."

  Amy's face lit up. "So, you're like…like superheroes?"

  Her mother laughed again. "I don't know if you can call us that. It doesn’t feel that way. We might be able to save one little child from death, while thousands die right next to us. It often feels more like a failure. Plus, we have to be careful not to be seen. We're not allowed to use our magic. No humans can know who or what we are. If we are seen practicing any of our magic, then we end up like…well, like Jazmine's dad."

  "But…but you're helping people?" Amy asked, suddenly feeling proud.

  Her mother sighed and swallowed another bite. "Doesn't matter. The law states we're not allowed to practice any form of magic, including healing. It's silly, I agree, but we don't make the law. But that’s why we’ve never told you what we were or what you would become once you grew up. The less you knew, the better."

  "Yet, you still do it?" Amy said, slightly terrified. "And risk your lives?"

  Her mother sighed, deeply. "I can't just watch people suffer and die. That's just not who I am. I know other supers usually don't see humans as equal to us, and in many ways, we are far superior, but that doesn’t mean we should just watch while they suffer or even inflict pain on them, in my opinion. But I’m not sure I can continue without your father. I need him, Amy."

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  "Maybe she found someone. Like a new guy or something."

  Adrian was sitting across the table from Jazmine during lunch. She had decided to forgive him for acting like an idiot the other night, mostly because she missed him and missed hanging out with him. And she felt lonely without him.

  "What's the big deal anyway?" he continued. "You used to moan about her being too sad, and now you're annoyed that she’s too happy? It makes no sense."

  Jazmine had told Adrian how she was concerned about her mother. She had been so cheerful lately; it was getting a little annoying and strange since she had been so sad before it was almost impossible to even talk to her. Now, she was suddenly cooking every day and smiling and even singing. And on top of it all, there were the nightly excursions. What was she doing out there all alone? The thought hadn't occurred to Jazmine before Adrian had mentioned it just now, but now it was all she could think of.

  Had her mother met someone? Was that why she was suddenly so cheerful? Was she meeting him at night, keeping it a secret from her daughter because she knew she would think it was way too early?

  Because that's exactly what she did think. Their dad had barely been in the ground for a month. She couldn't possibly be in love with someone else already, could she?

  "So, what if she is with some dude?" Adrian said. "She's not moping around anymore. You should be happy for her."

  "Well, I’m not," Jazmine said and looked at her sandwich. She had suddenly lost her appetite.

  The strangest part about her mother's newfound happiness wasn't so much the nightly excursions, even though they were quite odd; no, it was the fact that Jazmine had seen her do witchcraft i
n the attic again. Even after forbidding Jazmine ever to go up there and never to do any witchcraft again because of what happened to her father; now she was suddenly back at it herself? She had even told Jazmine this very morning that if she wanted to borrow the book and train a little, she could.

  It made no sense.

  "Anyway," Adrian said. "I’m out of here."

  "What?" she said. "It's only lunch? You're skipping classes…again?"

  "Yeah, well, I got bored."

  She sighed. "You're not going home to hang with those cousins of yours, are you?"

  He grinned. "What's it to you if I am?"

  "I don't like it," she said. "I don't like you hanging out with them, getting…high."

  He chuckled, then bent over and kissed her. As their lips parted, he whispered. "You're not the boss of me." He winked and got up, swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

  "See you later."

  Chapter Forty

  My brother came home early from school and parked his car in the driveway. I hadn't seen my mother since she came into the house, growling loudly after speaking to Mr. Aran, then storming to her gym-room where she had been working out for at least an hour now.

  I watched from my room as Adrian pulled up, then got out. He took one glance at the house but didn't come inside. Instead, he turned around and walked to the bus. He knocked, and a few seconds passed before the door sighed open and Huey stuck his head out. At least I thought it was him; I wasn't very good at telling them apart.

  My brother bumped fists with him, then followed him inside the bus, and the door closed behind him. I stared at that stupid bus for a few minutes, then decided I didn't have to care what they were doing in there and returned to my schoolwork. I was almost done for the day.

  I tried to ignore it. I really did, but there was this strange voice inside me that wouldn't shut up. It was the curious one, the one that wanted me to go check out what they were up to inside that bus. So, I did. I got up and snuck down the stairs and out the front door.

  The closer I got to the bus, the louder I could hear that moaning again that I had heard the other day. This time, it sounded different, almost like muffled screams.

  What the heck is going on in there? What are they up to?

  I snuck closer and stood by the door with the tinted windows and listened. I could hear them laughing and goofing around. But I could also hear the screams. They were definitely coming from inside that bus.

  I walked along the bus and tried to look in the windows, but they were closed, and the curtains were rolled down, so I couldn't see anything. I walked around the bus and found a window in the back where the curtain hadn't been closed properly. I peeked inside and saw my brother. He was sitting in a chair with armrests, a bag of blood in his hands, drinking from it, giggling loudly between sips. Our cousins were doing the same, each sitting in their own chairs. In the fifth chair, I spotted someone I had never seen before. A young boy, even paler than the vampires in my family. He was small and skinny and looked almost deflated, his cheeks hollow. He reminded me of those men in pictures of concentration camps I had seen in my history books in school from World War II. I gasped when I realized he was strapped down and gagged, screaming his lungs out behind the cloth in his mouth.

  What are they doing to him? Are they pumping blood out of him?

  I shrieked in terror, the sound making one of my cousins stop what he was doing and look my way.

  I bent down, hoping they didn't see me. I heard the voices grow agitated inside the bus and then footsteps followed. I stared at Jazmine's house across the cul-de-sac and started to walk toward it.

  "Robyn?"

  I turned to look. They were all there. All three cousins and my brother. They were so high their eyes seemed to be rolling.

  "Yeah?" I asked, pretending like I wasn't scared.

  One of the triplets, this time I was pretty sure it actually was Huey, approached me, swaying from side to side, his speaking slurred.

  "What are you doing out here?"

  "I was just…on my way to see if my friend Jazmine had come home from school yet."

  "Were you now?" he said and came uncomfortably close. He leaned over and sniffed my skin.

  "Oh, the human sweat when they are scared. Filled with adrenaline. Intoxicating."

  "Makes the blood taste even better," another of the triplets said, coming up behind him.

  "Like a drug," the third one said.

  The first one, whom I still believed to be Huey, leaned forward and placed his mouth really close to my neck. I gasped and pulled away, but he grabbed me and held me, so I couldn't move. Then he licked my neck. I felt disgusted. That was when I saw the fangs growing out, and I realized he was too high to control himself. He grew claws and, as they all three surrounded me, I feared this was it. I was going to be bitten and either die from it because they sucked me dry or become one of them.

  Chapter Forty-One

  His last class of the day was canceled, and Jayden had just returned from school. He was about to park his bike when he saw it. He walked a few steps closer to make sure he was seeing things right. He was.

  What are they doing to Robyn?

  He didn't have to think about it twice. He ran inside, grabbed his baseball bat, and stormed into the cul-de-sac, roaring loudly.

  The three vampires stopped as they heard him, then turned to look. They let go of Robyn.

  "Now, what do we have here?" one of them asked, approaching him, circling him, sniffing him.

  "Another scared human, huh?"

  They were all three by him now. Jayden swung his bat to keep them away from him, but they didn't move. Instead, he hit one of them on the head, shattering the bat into a thousand pieces. The head of the vampire remained intact, and the guy just smiled.

  All three roared, then jumped him.

  "NO! Jayden, NO!" Robyn yelled.

  Jayden kicked and screamed as he tried to fight the three vampires off, but they were way too strong. He couldn't. He screamed and yelled for help as he felt one of them put a hand on his throat and pin him to the ground. Another then leaned forward, fangs emerging, and placed them on his throat.

  Jayden screamed even louder than before. In the background, he could hear Adrian yelling at them to stop, but they didn't care. They didn't listen; their lust for his blood was too strong, their manic blazing eyes glaring at him, telling him they had lost all control.

  "This is going to be good," one of them whispered as he poked the skin on Jayden's neck and Jayden screamed in pain and fear. He could hear Robyn screaming in the distance.

  "STOP, YOU IDIOTS, STOP!

  Jayden closed his eyes as he was certain the teeth pierced his skin. He didn't even see him. He only heard his growl as he leaped at them.

  When Jayden opened his eyes next, he saw Logan on top of one of them, throwing punches, making him scream and squirm while the two others backed off before Logan, growling and hissing, approached them and scared them away till they ran back to the house, whimpering like dogs.

  Jayden was still panting heavily and felt the skin on his throat. There was no blood. His brother roared toward them once again to make sure they realized they had to stay away, then went to check on Jayden.

  "Is there any blood? Did they suck any of your blood? Answer me!"

  Jayden felt his throat again, then shook his head. "I-I don't think so."

  Logan exhaled. "Good."

  Jayden looked up at his brother, flabbergasted. "You…you saved me?"

  "Yeah, well, don't get cocky. I could easily have let them kill you and, had the circumstances been different, I might have, but I am not letting no stinking ugly vampires kill anyone from my family or even worse make them into one of them. The last thing we need around here is more nasty vampires."

  "Th-thanks?"

  His brother scoffed and walked away. "Yeah…well…"

  Jayden sat up and his eyes met Robyn's. She stared at him from the other side of the cul-de-sac when
her mother came out into the driveway. She took one glance at Jayden, then walked toward her daughter, clicking her high heels on the asphalt, her steps angry and determined.

  "Robyn? What are you doing out there? Come inside. Now!"

  Chapter Forty-Two

  "What are you crying for now, child?"

  My mother stared at me like I was an idiot. "You really ought to toughen up, girl. What were you doing with that boy? I must say, I didn't care for the way you two were looking at one another."

  I couldn't stop crying. I had been so scared, so terrified for Jayden and I had felt so helpless. There was nothing I could do to stop my cousins from biting him and maybe killing him. Even Adrian had tried to stop them, but they were so high it was no use.

  "What happened out there?" she said.

  "It was the triplets," I said, then realized I couldn't really tell her the entire story without revealing that I knew they were vampires. I couldn't risk her knowing it since I feared what she might do. Would she turn me into a vampire in my sleep ahead of time since I already knew?

  She sighed, annoyed. "Not them again. What did they do this time?"

  "They…they attacked Jayden."

  I didn't dare to tell her they attacked me first since I would only reveal that I knew what they were…that I had seen them.

  She looked concerned. "Really? Well…I have…" she exhaled angrily. "I guess I should have a chat with them, then." She walked away, mumbling the way she always did when she was furious. "This is not the time for them to act like idiots. This is so not the time."

  I ran to my room, crying, feeling awful. I glanced out the window toward Jayden's house, where I watched him and his brother walk back inside. Less than a minute later, I spotted Jayden's mother come rushing out of her house, running across the cul-de-sac, and knocking on our door. My mother went outside. I opened the window to be able to listen to their conversation.