Darkest Day (27 page)

Arms held on to me. “Mac, it’s okay.” Winn’s voice soothed even as pain seared my heart.

“No, it’s not. That’s like all our time together.” I faced Winn, my heart pounding and hurting in my chest.

He spun me around so we faced each other. “Then, we’ll make the most of the eleven days after.”

With his hands on my cheeks, I shook my head. “No. I change my mind. I don’t want this. Just let her do whatever! She wins. I don’t care!”

“It is too late, Mackenzie,” Nahir said. “Both parties agreed.”

Fury bubbled up until the need to strangle someone, namely Nahir, filled my mind.

“Go, Mac,” Winn said. “Go with Suze and kick down some trees or something.”

I almost wanted to laugh, but the sound would have been more like a strangled hyena than anything human or non-human.

A hand—not Winn’s—took mine. It pulled me away from him, our fingertips sliding against each other until we held on no longer, and I walked backwards, guided by Suze until we reached the doors.

Our gazes never unlocked.

The moment, passing as it did, made me think of what would come.

• • •

Suze guided me until we reached the outer doors. “You go with me. Winn can get himself home.”

I spun and ran for my car. If Suze followed, I didn’t hear him, but he ended up in the passenger seat, all squished like a Roly poly. After a rev of the engine, I raced through the opposite parking spot, down the road and through the guardhouse gate, happy it had already been raised—a credit to Suze’s forward thinking.

Around, down and faster than I should have driven, I floored the accelerator and sped my way through town and to the cemetery.

No matter what, someone would be there, ready for a fight. Vampire. Demon. Goblin. One of the night creatures. Something with bite. Someone evil.

I jerked the car to a stop and jumped out, slamming the door behind me. Into the cemetery, I ran, running right to the middle. “If you want me, come and get me.”

I hadn’t fought in ages and as the blood pumped through my veins and I breathed in and exhaled, choosing Suze’s Destroyer demon form, my body sizzled with electricity, with power, and with a need for vengeance.

It would be good to feel this for a long time.

“Come on! You know you want me.” Adrenaline rushed through my veins, filling me with an excitement I hadn’t had in far too long. “Or are you all chicken?” Around me life moved on, cars drove by Primrose, and Suze sat on a headstone, one knee draped over the other, his hands clasped around them. “Why isn’t anyone coming?” I asked him.

His head bobbled. “You outed yourself with blondie and with the tribunal form. So, now everyone knows who you are and what you are. And … you’re too close to the decision date. So, no one wants to kill you now. If they did, they’d be fried up and eaten. Or that’s what I’d do to them anyway.”

I jumped up, stretching my legs, landing hard and grabbing a stick. “How—no, never mind.” It spun through the air, cutting the black with a whoosh as a shadow stepped in from around my tree.

“Hello, Mackenzie.”

“Awe, Dad. What’re you doing here?”

“You’re looking for an opponent. I’m willing.”

You can’t fight me. You’re human. I’d crush you like a—”

He spun around and snatched the stick right out of my hands. “I may not be a vampire, or even a witch, but I have my talents.”

Suze stood. “Whoa, Mac. That was … a little too easy. You’re losing your touch. And he’s only human.”

“How did you know where to find me, and why are you here?” I asked.

Rory lifted his chin a bit. “I have my ways.”

Mom.
“I don’t want to fight you. I want—” The stick smacked me in the side. “Ow.”

Even in the dark, under the light of the moon, he smiled. “Come on, Mac. Did you know you were named for my mother? She was a right charmer with a wicked left hook.”

My anger deflated a notch. “How would I know that? No one tells me jack.”

He moved closer. “Her last name was Mackenzie. She married a Thorne and thus you were given just a little of me and a lot of your mother.” Another notch of perpetual irritation faded. He came closer still. When he stood in front of me, he said, “Now it’s my turn to help train you a little.”

Before I could act, his leg swung around and behind my knees.

My body lifted from the ground and landed with a
thunk
.

Suze’s laugh would have been heard on the other side of town.

I scrambled to a stand. “I’ll hurt you. You should just leave.”

“You’re able to choose your form based on your opponent type, right?” He circled around me, inching his way around headstones as I tracked him with my eyes.

“Yeah, so.”

“Then, fight me. I’ve trained in the martial arts. Bring on your best in a manner which would be my opposing force.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want you hurt.”

“You won’t hurt me. I—”

“Don’t promise. Ever. Never promise anything. It’s dangerous.” Even as I asked him not to, I circled as he did. With another inhale and an exhale, I released the inner demon and returned to my human form. If he wanted a fight, I’d give him one, but I’d be fair.

“I wasn’t going to promise. I was going to say, I’ll tell you if you are.” That stick he’d stolen from me flew at me like a knife.

I dodged, diving toward the ground and rolling behind a headstone. As big as they all were, it would hide me with ease. “You really want to do this?”

“It’s what I’m here for.” His voice came from the left. “And it’s the least I can do. Sometimes, talking on a chair isn’t the answer, and tonight, I believe you when you say you need this.” As he spoke, his voice came from my back and afterward, from the right.

“It’s your funeral.” I stood, prepared to launch a rock at his feet.

He, too, stood right in front of the headstone. His hands reached out and grabbed my extended arm, twisting until I faced the opposite direction.

Damn. He’s fast.
With a pull, I launched myself forward, bringing my dad with me, up and over my head. He must have spun in midair as he landed on both feet on the ground.

“How?” I asked.

“Lots of training.” He went into a crouch; I did the same.

Still, something inside me didn’t want to exert all my strength. After all, I’d just met him. Losing him didn’t fall on my priorities list. We moved opposite each other, left and right. Right and left.

He egged me on with a wave of his hands. “Come on, Mac. Get it out of your system.”

Suze appeared at our side as if by magic, two staffs in-hand. “She likes sword fighting.” He tossed one to my dad and one to me.

Dad spun it around, sending whizzing sounds through the air. I mirrored his actions, backing up and repositioning myself. On a thrust, I jabbed it toward him.

The ding of metal vibrated the air around us. Our staffs slid against one another, pressing forward until I pushed him back. “See? I’m stronger.”

He swung out. His twist barely missed my nose, the air rushing by no more than a centimeter away. “Holy—”

“Don’t say it!” Suze called out.

I laughed even as I jabbed. My dad parried. I thrust. He met me in the center. Around and around we went, sending the sound of metal into the air and hitting a few headstones in the process.

“Gonna have to fix that,” Suze would say every once in a while.

We moved through the cemetery, along the open walkways, not treading on any of the tombs.

Jab. Parry. Spin. Thrust. Repeat.

Over and over, we circled and jumped, landed and fell.

Every time I stood, my dad did, too.

Sweat coated my brow. My muscles ached. Breath heaved in my chest.

The same reflected back at me.

In my dad.

My dad.

Dad.

A human willing to risk his life for a girl he had little time to spend with. Yet, he’d offered me time. He’d given me what I wanted even though he and I both knew not much remained between us.

I stopped and held up my hand, shaking from the exertion.

Dad did the same, inhaling and exhaling air at a pace to match a hummingbird.

“Uncle,” I said.

“What?” Suze said. “You’re giving up? Mac Thorne is giving up?”

My dad’s lips curved to one side. “Why?”

“Because I figured out what this little event is telling me.”

“And what’s that?” Dad asked wiping under his nose with the back of his hand.

“Any time I get to spend with Winn is good. Right?”

Dad plunked the end of the staff into the soil, a grin replacing his previous neutral expression. He gave me a nod. “And my work here is done.”

I stabbed my heel into the ground. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He inhaled deeply as if trying to regulate this breathing. “One more thing.”

My eyebrows winged up.

“I wanted you to know that your sister is in the in-between.”

If my eyes could have bugged out of my head, they would have. “How—”

“Your mother, of course.”

The wash of relief that ran through me couldn’t have ended my horrible day better.

25

Mac

Thirty-eight days to go …

Learning a lesson the hard way seemed to be my way of life. I’d tried to take back the signature, to change my mind, to make the Council give me a new sheet, where I could write down new names or even forget the whole deal.

They’d refused.

Even my dad’s regular old human workout didn’t take away my irritation at myself, but it helped overall.

Having a permanent shadow between the hours of two-thirty and eight a.m., though, had already become a nuisance.

“Come on, Suze. You can trust me not to drive over to Winn’s. It’s not like he doesn’t have bodyguards keeping us apart, too.”

Suze shook his head. “No can do, my friend. You, Winn and Blondie have to stay far, far away from each other. Can’t help it when you’re in school. You got lucky there. Even the Council can’t yank you from your education.”

I smiled up at Suze. “Fine. Whatever. I can deal.”

• • •

Thirty-seven long days left …

“What’s going on with you and Winn?” Caroline asked Tuesday morning.

“Um … nothing, why?”

“Because neither one of you will look at each other, yet you brush shoulders when you pass. It’s like you want to be together, but you won’t.”

Far too observant.

I made sure not to reach out and hold Winn’s hand or grab him for a kiss, but I didn’t realize we’d spent so much time and effort trying to not spend time together. That had to be why every time I looked his way, Maddie sent her evil-eyed glare at me.

While in our last class of the day, I whispered, “We should find a way to sneak out and around our handlers. Yes? No? Maybe so?”

A smile filled Winn’s face, and as soon as it did, Maddie’s hand reached into the air, shaking like some dog with fleas.

“Yes, Maddie?” Mr. C. said.

“May I be excused? I forgot that the Senior Council needed to meet today for last minute graduation preparations.”

Winn’s head tipped up.

Maddie turned in my direction and smirked.

“Yes, absolutely.” Mr. C. faced Winn. “You, too, Mr. Thomas. Carry on.”

A pained expression ran over Winn’s features as my heart hit my stomach. If Maddie were near me, I’d have strangled her. “Go on,” I said. “Feel free to slip her something to knock her out.”

Winn chuckled and packed his books. On a sigh, I went back to mine, preparing for a second really long night.

• • •

Thirty-six incredibly long days left …

“I can’t do this, Suze!” I stormed around his crypt that had been decorated, for some odd reason, in pink doilies. Every time I wanted to scream, even opening my eyes to the sight made me both want to laugh and gag.

“Yes, you can. You’ve already made it through three days, now you only have—”

“Thirty-gazillion more, Suze!” On the plush pink rug, my stomping didn’t even do any good.

“You could go talk to your dad … you know, to get it out of your system.”

I shook my head. “No. He’s already done what he could. I just want to be with Winn.” My shoulders slumped.

“How badly do you want that?”

My head snapped up. “What do you mean how badly?”

Suze sat still. “Oh, just asking.”

• • •

Thirty-five pointless days to wait …

“Psst.” Winn held out a piece of paper, folded up between his fingers.

I slipped it from him and opened it. On it, he’d written: ‘I miss you’.

Little tiny butterflies took flight in my heart, making it thump all weird-like.

• • •

Thirty beyond ridiculous days …

“No, Mac! You can’t go over there.” Suze held me still, my butt stuck to my favorite chair while every inch of my body wanted to be somewhere else. “You’ve made it a whole eight days. A week and a day. You even survived the weekend.”

“Yeah, but I was frickin’ bored out of my mind.”

“But you did it. Don’t break the rules and make the situation even worse.”

“What if I do?” I asked.

Suze let go and tapped a finger on his chin. “Well, sometimes, when one party doesn’t do what they’re supposed to, the other gets a foul ball.”

“A what? This isn’t baseball, Suze.”

“What’s that term, then? Oh! Forfeit. Not foul ball.”

“You mean, they’ll rule in favor of the other because I didn’t follow the rules?”

He nodded. “That’s what I’ve heard, anyway.”

“Ugh.” I dropped my head to the table with a thud. “Maybe that would be better. Then, at least, it would be over with.”

Winn

Nine days done means twenty-nine days left. I can do this.

My weekend had sucked. After Zoe died, I’d had Mac to keep me company. Without Mac, all the feelings, emotions, everything that I’d managed to push down, bubbled up to the top. Two whole days without school meant two whole days without her. No phone. No texts. No communication of any kind.

“How was your weekend?” Maddie asked as we walked into our first class of the day.