Dark Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy) (7 page)

She held a bowl of popcorn
,
one of my strawberry Fantas (Yeah yeah
,
I know. Not cool for a dude) and was actually laughing at
one of
my favorite show
s
. She sat with her feet propped up on
M
om
’
s glass coffee table; but she was considerate enough to position a pillow between the glass and the black combat boots she always wore with every outfit. My first notion was to kick her out. I took my Naruto seriously. Somebody laughing at it that way heated me up.
Right. This girl could walk through walls. Force wasn’t an option.

“
Oh my. These black box things amaze me
,”
she blurted and threw her head back
,
laughing at Sas
u
ke and Naruto taking out their frustration on one another.

Yeah
,
so all of this was getting out of hand. I had one girl assigning me to school functions as her obliviously stupid date; and the other one
,
the ghostly diva
,
stalking me.

I stood there and gawked
,
closed my eyes
,
counted to ten the way I always did
,
and waited. I opened my eyes. The
Walker
stood within inches of my face.
“
Shit!
”
I blurted and stumbled backward. I didn
’
t even hear a shuffle of popcorn
,
or anything.

“
Why do you tease me like that?
”
I asked.

“
I don
’
t know. You make it easy
,
and fun
,”
she
snickered
and took a step back
.

“
Stalking somebody in the boys
’
locker room is
one thing
,
but giving a guy a heart attack is
fun?
”
I asked. She smiled
,
a
ridiculously sexy
one
that set the bells off in my head.

“
You
’
re not like the other Walkers
,
”
I said.

“
That
’
s pretty obvious
,
I think.
”

“
Are you like my guardian angel
,
or something?
”

She rolled her eyes upward and said
,
“
Be more original, Caleb.
Will you feel better if I just say that I am?
”

“
Possibly. I
’
d feel even better if you just tell me why you keep popping up
,
warning me about some kind of dark dudes
,
and then leaving.
”

“
You can
’
t handle the truth. You
’
re not ready
,”
she said.

“
So have you been watching my dad
’
s
DVDs
too?
I know where that line came
from,
”
I teased
,
feeling agitated.

“
Things are about to change.
”

“
How?
”

“
Wait and see
,”
she said.

“
For what?
”
I urged
,
closing the distance between us. Her body held some kind of magnetic energy that drew me to it like a drug. But why?

Lights flashed through the living room
’
s windows. A terrified look passed over her face. She took my hand in hers. Her touch heated my
skin
and a slight buzz of what felt like electricity surged through my arm.

I doubled over a tad.
“
Whoa! What are you doing?
”

“
All of your answers will be revealed soon enough
,
Caleb Wood. I promise
,”
she whispered
,
her lips grazing my ear and setting my soul on fire. At once she released my hand and headed toward the back door. She opened it
,
gave me a slight smile
,
and walked out
into the night
.

I stood there wondering what the hell was going on
.
Most of all I wanted to know why she used doors now instead of simply evaporating through the walls like she used to
do
.

* * *

Something about my
new
guardian
angel
without a name being able to show up whenever and wherever she pleased unnerved me. Don
’
t get me wrong
,
like every hot-blooded guy
,
I enjoyed the extra attention. But I wanted
it
to be on my own terms.
 

Erica had been acting nonchalant since I rejected her drama offer a couple of days ago. She spoke to me and everything
,
but it was nothing
like
the gooey
eyes she made the first few times we spent together. And then she started to completely ignore me
,
all because I
felt funny
about the
All Souls
Dance
.
Okay
,
so yeah
,
I avoided her on all of that. She had no right to go and set us up that way. My bad attitude was her fault
,
right?
Alright
,
maybe I can be a jerk; but I always managed to set things right in the end.

My life was suddenly way out there. The most conceited girl ever had turned out to be cool. And the most annoying
,
but super sexy
Walker
chick was stalking me. But I had to admit that Erica ignoring me set my chest on fire. Why? I
had
no idea.
I never suffered from anxiety
before; but I guess even the
big
dogs can be molded just as Erica suggested.

I needed a distraction in a bad way.

Kyle and Shani stood across the hall engrossed in each other
,
ignoring me
,
and making me feel needy.
“
Don
’
t worry. Girls like that always get over themselves at some point
,”
the
Walker
said as she leaned on the locker next to mine. My heart didn
’
t just skip a few beats. I swear it stopped altogether.

“
Why do you do that crap?
”
I snapped.

“
The s
ame reason you wear a navy blue
shirt every day
,
because I want to. She shrugged and beamed a smug grin at me
,
her ruby red lips drawing my attention to them.
“
It
’
s your own fault
,
anyway.
”

“
My fault? How so?
”
I asked.

“
Don
’
t you know anything about
guardians
? They react to body temperature. You watching your little cheerleader stroll by
,
sent your temp flying off the celestial radars
,
babes.
”

I smirked and scoffed a laugh. She was the kind of person I enjoyed: light-hearted and somewhat dirty minded.

I moved a tad closer to her and folded my arms
,
forgetting that we stood in a hallway with hundreds of other students walking by.
I turned my head just a tad. I didn’t want people to think I was talking to my locker.
“
You like that
,
don
’
t you? Feeling my body heat all over you that way.
”

She narrowed her eyes. Today they seemed brighter than usual
,
but still crazy hypnotic.
“
Careful there
,
player. Drooling over too many girls at once can be risky. You might find it hard to cool that bomb of a body temp thing down. You just might explode
,”
she said and faded away.

* * *

“
I think that a guy who hangs out in gardens is kinda sexy
,”
Erica said as she prepared to change out of her training gear. We had reduced her private sessions to
once a week
. The
main
program would end for everyone in
another month
.

I shook my head. Did she really think I believed her?
“
Seriously. Are you trying to make up for drafting me as a date and then ignoring me all week?
”
I asked.

“
Nope. You should feel flattered anyway
,”
she teased.

“
Yeah
,
right. Try not to be so humble
,
Miss Jensen.
”

“
J
ust
kidding. I
’
m glad to be your date. And I
’
m sorry that I told people about us without running it by you first. But I…
”
A strange faraway look clouded her features.

“
You wanted to make your ex jealous
,
didn
’t
you?
I know that you
’
re using me. That
’
s cool. I can play along. I just like to know when I
’
m in danger of having my nose reconstructed
,”
I explained.

She gave me a strange look
,
her shoulders tensed.
“
I
’
m not using you
,
Caleb. Why would I do that?
”

Control man. Don
’
t let her fool you.
“
Do
you
really want to know what I think
?
”

“
Please.
”

“
Your type doesn
’
t go for my kind
,”
I blurted.

“
What do you mean by
‘
your kind
’
? You make it sound like you
’
re an alien
,
or something
,”
she said quietly.

“
Nerdy
,
odd
,
loner. Somebody who doesn
’
t give a crap about what
the in-crowd thinks of my car.
That
’
s me
,”
I said.

“
You mean that midnight blue Challenger sitting
out
in the parking lot? That
’
s you
rs
,
right?
”
She smirked and shuffled on her feet.

“Maybe. But it’s not a BMW 3 Series or anything snooty like that.”

“Whatever. It’s still sexy as hell, though.” She scoffed and playfully rolled her eyes.
I never
expected to get to know such a down-to-earth
version of this girl. She gave me a taste of something I lost when Tammy left town. It was hard to find the right word.
“
Oh
,
and let me just add a few things.
”

“
Go on
,”
I urged
,
unable to stop the silly grin spreading across my lips.