Beauty and Beasts Read online

  "I need some fresh air," I said and got up. I ran outside and sat on the swing, a tear leaving the corner of my eye. Was I ever going to get out of this place? Was I ever going to be able to make decisions about my own life? My parents practically had everything planned out, didn't they? They had me married off already. They had decided I was going to become a vampire. Didn't they care at all about what I wanted?

  Apparently not.

  I sat on the swing, feeling awful, and to add to my misery, I could hear the Smiths in the backyard across the street. They were laughing and playing loud rock music.

  Chapter Forty-One

  You call that head-banging? Watch me. This is head-banging."

  Ruelle pushed Jayden aside, then swung her long hair through the air several times. Jayden stared at her while the music drowned out everything. Ruelle laughed and leaned on him.

  "That made me dizzy."

  Then they both laughed. Jayden couldn't stop. He felt so good in Ruelle's company, much to his surprise. He hadn't expected to like her at all, but he did. She was funny to be with and sweet. So wonderfully down to earth. And she liked to do stuff. She didn't like to sit still. They had played basketball with Logan, even though Logan constantly tried to knock Jayden down, then they had eaten their steaks and, afterward, Ruelle had gone on the trampoline and they had jumped together. Now, her dad had turned up the music and they were all dancing, showing off their crazy moves. Even their parents.

  It had been a long time since Jayden had this much fun. Not since before he had found out that his parents were werewolves. It felt like an eternity.

  As the clock approached midnight, they were getting ready to leave. Much to his surprise, Jayden was sad to see Ruelle go. He walked her out to the driveway, where he held the door to the car for her. She was about to get in when she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

  "I had a great time."

  "Me too," he said and found himself smiling from ear to ear.

  "Let's do it again," she said. "Sometime soon."

  He stared at her as she got into the car and they drove off, honking the horn loudly as they drove down the street. Jayden was waving at them, Ruelle waving back, arm stretched out the window. Jayden let out an exhale—mostly in relief because it hadn't been as terrible as he had feared it would be, not at all—then he turned around and spotted Robyn sitting in her front yard on her old swing, staring in his direction.

  His heart dropped. Robyn. He had almost forgotten about her. How could he? He felt bad. It was just that…well, he had a lot of fun tonight. He smiled in her direction but wasn't sure if she saw him. He felt his dad's hand on his shoulder.

  "That Ruelle sure is something, isn't she? She even beat you at basketball. Heck, she beat all of us. No one beats the Smiths at basketball. That's our game, ha-ha."

  Jayden nodded, feeling guilty. "She was good at it."

  "And at dancing," his mother said. "She is a really good dancer."

  "That usually means she is good at other stuff too, son," his dad said, laughing. "Always go for the best dancer in the crowd. Your mom is an excellent dancer too."

  "Too much information, Dad," Jayden said and walked ahead of them while the two of them chuckled, exchanged a look, and Jayden's dad put an arm on his mother's shoulder. Jayden stopped and looked at them from the doorway as they chatted happily and lovingly walked back into the house together. What they had, he wanted. How they looked at one another was what he wanted with the love of his life. They had fun, they laughed a lot, had the same interests, and liked the same things.

  Would he ever get that with Robyn?

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Melanie felt like screaming. The lack of fresh air, the inability to get out at night or even breathe properly inside the web made the hours long and unbearable. She tried to scream, but nothing but muffled sounds emerged from behind the sticky web. She was so hot in there, sweating badly. Melanie thought about snow and running in it, feeling the cool breeze on her face, when there was movement in front of her cocoon. A crack emerged in the web. The bright light blinded her, and she closed her eyes, then gasped for air as the web was removed from her face.

  "Feels nice to breathe freely again, doesn’t it?" Mr. Aran said.

  She opened her eyes and looked into his. She breathed heavily and felt almost like panicking because feeling the fresh air once again made her fearful of losing it. She still couldn't move any parts of her body, and it was driving her crazy.

  "I could let you out, you know," he said. "You must be pretty hungry by now and maybe slightly restless?"

  Melanie swallowed hard. She was so thirsty. He only gave her water once a day and sometimes he would even feed her a piece of raw meat, but that wasn't every day. He wanted her to starve; he wanted her to scream for him to cut her loose. ‘Cause he would only do so if she started to speak.

  "You can't keep me here forever," she grunted.

  "Actually, I can," he said. "I have all the time in the world."

  He lifted up a bottle of water and let her drink from a straw. "But you could save us a whole lot of time and trouble if you would only tell me what I want to know. I know there are supers living here on this street. I found one, but I know there are more. My spiders tell me so. All you have to do is tell me who they are, and this will all be over."

  "And then what? What will happen to me?" Melanie asked.

  She was close to breaking and he knew it. Being inside the cocoon all day was about to kill her. She couldn't stand it anymore. She wouldn't want to get Amy or any of the other kids in trouble.

  Mr. Aran shrugged. "I’m trying to catch a killer. One of the supers has gone rogue, and I know he is a wolf. Or she. But it isn't you because you were one of his victims. Or you were supposed to be."

  "What's a super?" she asked, almost choking because she was drinking so fast. She took a break.

  "Supernatural," he said. "Supernatural creatures…like you."

  Melanie looked past him and spotted a wall behind him plastered with photos of everyone living on the street and articles about the wolf who had killed three people so far.

  "He's a killer, Melanie," he said. "He needs to be punished for what he is doing. I am the police. I am just trying to solve a murder case. Why are you protecting him?"

  "I’m not," she said.

  "He's gone rogue," he hissed. "That's why I’m here. To find him. Eliminate him."

  "But you said you wanted to know about every super," Melanie said. "Not just the killer."

  He paused. "Yeah, well…it's my job to find them."

  "You're not really with the police, are you?"

  "Where I come from, I am," he said, then opened his mouth and spat out another spout of web, covering Melanie's face once again, almost choking her.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Dinner went so slowly I could scream. By the time we reached dessert, I gulped it all down, not caring that it tasted awful, just to get it over with and hopefully soon send the Pritchards home. I felt terrible. It hadn't helped that I had watched that girl, Ruelle, kiss Jayden before she left. It was on the cheek, yes, but still. It was a kiss. And worst of all was the look on his face when she did it that hurt me. That goofy cute look was usually only for me. That longing in his eyes, that sparkling. He had never even looked at me like that. At least I didn't think so.

  You're being paranoid, Robyn. Jayden loves you, and he hates being engaged to that girl just as much as you hate having to hang around Duncan. Of course, he does.

  "So that is settled, then," I heard Delia say, pulling me out of my train of thought.

  I hadn't listened to the conversation since it was usually so boring, but they were now all looking at me, and I felt all the blood leave my face.

  What had I missed?

  "Sorry, what?" I asked.

  "Robyn, please do learn to listen," my mom scoffed. "If you're going to do this internship right, then you'll have to listen when people are talking to you. Ah, the teenagers
."

  Camille placed a hand on my mom's. "It'll pass. We went through it with Duncan's older sister. She's fine now. Lives in London with her husband and has a great career in marketing."

  I almost dropped my jaw. "Internship?"

  "Yes, we can't wait to have you at the company this summer. Duncan will make sure you're well adjusted."

  For once, my mom was right. I really should learn to listen. Now they had planned my summer without me knowing it?

  "It's only a small local TV station that I actually bought for the fun of it when it was about to shut down many years ago and since made quite the success," his dad said, "but I’m sure you'll find it fun. As an intern, you will get to do a few stories of your own."

  I gaped. I didn't know what to say. I wanted to do journalism in college, so, yes, it was a great offer, but working for Duncan's dad? Was that a good idea? And with Duncan by my side? That definitely wasn't.

  "I…I…"

  "She's thrilled," my mom said.

  I was. A little bit at least. It would mean I would get to go out of the house every day and get away from my crazy family. It would also be a good way to learn the work of a journalist and maybe prepare me for the future. It wasn't a bad idea, the only bad part was that Duncan was in it, but I had a feeling I wasn't going to get rid of him anytime soon anyway. And maybe he didn't have to be a big part of it.

  I smiled for the first time all evening. "Thank you."

  "You're welcome," his mom said and looked at her watch. "Oh, my, we really should be getting home. It's late."

  They got up and we walked them outside. Duncan held the door for me, and I snorted slightly, then passed him without looking in his direction. Our parents were already by their limo when he grabbed my arm. We stood face to face, and I looked into his eyes for the first time tonight.

  "Robyn…I…"

  "The only thing I want to hear from your mouth right now is the reassurance that you didn't kill Stacy."

  "I can't talk about that…"

  I shook my head. "I can't believe you. You killed her. You betrayed me and then you…killed her. And now you want my forgiveness. You have the nerve to stand there and ask me to forgive you because you didn't have a choice you say? I ain't buying it."

  "Robyn…"

  "I don't want to hear it," I said angrily.

  "Please?"

  I pointed my finger at him. I tried to keep my voice down so our parents wouldn't hear us, but it was hard. I was that angry.

  "No. Duncan, I can never forgive you. You betrayed me. Do you realize that? You used me. Do you have any idea how that made me feel? How crushed I was? How do you expect me ever to trust you again? Helping me get an internship is nice and all, but it doesn’t really change the fact that you betrayed me."

  "But…"

  "No."

  He grabbed my arm, hard. It made me turn and face him. He pulled me close. He was a lot stronger than me and I couldn't get away. He placed his mouth close to my face and breathed heavily.

  "I only did what I did because I had to…because…"

  I shook my head, my heart throbbing in my chest. Why did being this close to him make me want him to kiss me? Why were my emotions betraying me so terribly right now? I was mad at him—no, I was furious—this was not the time to think about his lips and how he had kissed me the last time we were this close. Why didn't he repulse me? I hated myself for not being stronger. He leaned forward, and his lips barely touched mine, they just brushed against them and I felt his icy breath on my face.

  I closed my eyes, my body trembling slightly while finding my last strength to resist him. I kept my eyes closed when I pushed him away, forcefully.

  "I told you. I don't want to hear it. There is no excuse. There is nothing you can say that will make me change my mind. Nothing, Duncan, you hear me?"

  I turned around and walked away. I could hear him growling behind me. "You're not even going to hear me out?"

  "Nope," I said and continued to walk away. "You chose your side, and it isn't mine."

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Did you think I wouldn't know?"

  Jazmine stared at her mother. They were eating pizza for dinner. Her mother hadn't been able to cook since the loss of Jazmine's father, and they had run out of lasagnas from the neighbors, finally. Jazmine wasn't sure she would be able to eat another lasagna ever again.

  Jazmine stopped chewing. "What do you mean?"

  "You came home from school and slept all afternoon. You're still exhausted. And I see on Facebook that some kid from your class was admitted to the hospital because a worm crawled out of her eye? Now, all the moms are panicking because they think it is contagious. Some are keeping their kids home from school because of it."

  Jazmine shrugged. "So what?"

  "You think that just because I’m grieving the loss of my husband, I wouldn't be able to figure out what is going on?"

  Jazmine swallowed the bite in her mouth without chewing it. "I…I don't know what you're…"

  "You found the book, didn't you? In the attic?"

  Jazmine's heart sank. "I…"

  Her mother slammed her fist onto the table and Jazmine jumped.

  "I told you to leave it alone. This is what got your dad killed. This is exactly what got him in trouble."

  "But…but…"

  She shook her head, her eyes blazing. "I will not have you practicing any of this anymore, do you hear me?"

  "But…Mom…How will I…have you seen the animals following me? And my eyes and my nails? I can't hide it very well. And this kid, this girl she was making…she was spreading stories about Dad…bad stories about him being a criminal, was I supposed to just let her?"

  Jazmine was crying now and wiped a tear from her cheek.

  Her mother was grinding her teeth like she always did when she was angry. "You cannot practice witchcraft anymore. You hear me? It's over. It's way too dangerous."

  "But, Mom? I just discovered what I am, what we are…how am I supposed to just…"

  Her mother slammed her fist onto the table again, and this time it made the entire table shake. "You just have to. It was what we were. It is not who we are anymore. I will not hear a word about it, nor will I ever see you do any of it anymore, let alone mention it. You have to forget everything you read in the book and everything else. You must forget what you saw your dad do. It's over. And you never ever go into the attic anymore, you hear me? Things are about to change around here. I have to get a job and we have to live normal lives. It's the only way to survive, you hear me? There are people out there like Mr. Aran who are only waiting for us to show ourselves, for us to make one little mistake, and then BAM! They'll get you. He's not the only one, you know. We can't risk them finding us, you hear me? And right now, that creepy man who killed your father, who sucked his soul out, is watching us, watching our every move. One mess-up and you're out. There is no mercy; there are no second chances. Do you hear me? You must forget everything you think you saw and you must forget everything you have learned about yourself and what you can do. We must blend in. It's the only way to survive in this world."

  Jazmine gaped. Her mother was so angry it looked like her hair was on fire.

  Is it on fire? It is! There is actual smoke coming from it!

  "Mom, your…"

  "I don't want to hear even one word from you, Jazmine. You go to your room and think about what you have done to that poor girl."

  "But Mom…your hai…"

  "NOW!"

  Jazmine got up while thick smoke emerged from her mother's hair and crispy flames stuck out between her curls. She rushed to her room just as the fire alarm went off in the kitchen. Seconds later, she heard her mother run into the bathroom and the shower turn on, followed by her mother's screams of rage coming from behind the bathroom door.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  She had made Beef Stroganoff, but barely eaten any of it. It was staring at her from the plate while Amy sat at the counter, pushing the food
around on her plate with her fork, trying to force herself to eat. But every time she put something in her mouth, it felt like it was growing to triple in size, and she felt like throwing up.

  She had read about this on the website where she learned about the cancer tumors and what treatment options she had. They could remove them, it said, but once they had reached the size they had on Amy, it was probably too late. The cancer had most certainly spread to her lymph nodes by now and soon would metastasize to the rest of her organs. It also said that usually there was no pain when the lumps arrived, but as soon as they became painful, it was too late. They were so big they were pressing on her nerves and muscles, and that was why it became painful. She knew she could have them removed by surgery and later have radiation and maybe chemo, but she was too scared to go to the doctor. She had always been terrified of doctors, a fear her parents always called very irrational, but what fear wasn't, right? Now, she was more terrified than ever. It was easier just to pretend like nothing was happening. If she died, she died. She might as well be hit by a car, right? It wasn't like she was immortal before the tumors arrived. Everyone lived with the probability of dying sooner rather than later, right?

  "Well, except for Robyn's' vampire family, I guess," she mumbled addressed to one of the puppies that somehow had found its way to the kitchen counter and kept slipping on the granite countertop. "But even they can be killed by a werewolf like that pastor was. No one is safe."

  She heard a sound and turned her head to look. She saw Billie Jean entering the kitchen. She was out of her bed and walking about like she was never even hurt, nudging her small puppies around, sometimes grabbing them by the neck and moving them. Amy exhaled. She enjoyed watching Billie Jean with her babies. She was so calm and so loving toward them. Amy could use a mother like that right now.