Overworld Chronicles Books 1-2: Sweet Blood of Mine & Dark Light of Mine (26 page)

I took a sip of the beer and grimaced before looking him in the eyes. "That would be putting it mildly."

He nodded. "I hated you."

"Are we best buds now?"

"I wouldn't go that far." He chuckled and gulped down half his beer. "I guess the point is, I'm…" he mumbled something.

I cupped a hand to an ear. "I didn't quite catch that."

A growl rumbled in his throat. "I'm sorry."

Hearing an apology from Nathan felt really good. At the same time, it hardly covered all the mistreatment he'd put me, my friends, and countless other kids through.
Baby steps
, I told myself.
Baby steps.
"I think the person who needs an apology more than me is Katie."

His face went scarlet and I thought for sure I'd just pushed the wrong button. But when his eyes focused on his beer I knew for sure it wasn't anger he was feeling but embarrassment.

"I—I suck with women." Nathan gave me a sad puppy-dog look. Actually it was more of a sick Rottweiler look considering how big his head was.

"But you're a football player," I said as if one of the laws of physics were being broken. Didn't women flock to football players?

"How do you do it?" He gazed wistfully at Katie through the sliding glass door as she gabbed with her friends. "You stole her right out from under Brad Nichols, and that dude gets chicks just for having a motorcycle."

I gave him a confused look. Was this the same Nathan I'd always known or had an alien scooped out his brains and replaced them with some random dork's gray matter? Katie had dragged me through hell and I still wasn't entirely sure why she'd suddenly fallen for me. "I can tell you one thing for sure."

Interest kindled in his eyes. "What's that?"

"Girls don't like it when boys try to force them into kissing them."

He blushed even redder. "Yeah, I figured that one out."

"Girls also don't like nice pushover guys no matter what they say. The way I see it, you have to be somewhere in between."

"Not a nice guy but not a total asshole?"

"Exactly." I honestly didn't have a clue what I was talking about, but if it made Nathan a better human being, who was I to argue? "But first I think you need to apologize to Katie."

"And that way, I'm not a total asshole." He slapped me on the shoulder. "Case, you're fricken devious, man. So we're good, right?"

I nodded. "Sure. Let bygones be bygones, I always say." I'd actually never said that once in my life, but figured it made me seem magnanimous.

He leaned against the brick siding. "What ever happened to you and that Goth chick?"

"Things didn't work out," I said, my voice rough with emotion.

"
Women
," he said, as if that explained everything in the universe. Maybe it did. His face brightened. "Hey, I want to try out your advice." He led me to a group of cheerleaders who were giggling and talking about shopping for shoes. There were some older girls there too, alumni who were in college but had apparently not made the cut as college cheerleaders.

I started talking to a pretty brunette named Mandy. She had a strong Italian nose, huge eyes and smelled of vodka and peach-scented perfume. She gabbed excitedly to me about college and rushing for a sorority while she slammed down shot after shot. I mostly nodded and said "Uhuh" and "Mhm" to whatever she said.

Nathan, meanwhile, was trying out my patented "Not a Total Asshole" approach by alternatively complimenting a girl and then telling her that her shoes were ugly—or something like that. Amazingly, it seemed to be working on at least one of them. Or maybe the rollercoaster of emotions had simply short-circuited her brain.

Katie appeared from nowhere and grabbed my arm. "Who are your friends?" she asked in a slightly slurred voice. The odor of something like cough syrup lingered on her breath.

I introduced her.

"Justin is amazing at football," Mandy said, struggling to keep her balance. She'd taken four shots in the space of ten minutes. "He ran over those huge guys like they were nothing. Pow!" She smacked one hand off the other for illustration and nearly toppled her drunk little self in the process.

Katie smiled, holding onto my arm for support. "He's amazing all right."

Mandy grabbed my other arm around the bicep. "Flex it!"

I suppressed a sigh but flexed.

"Girl, look at that body," she said with an appreciative note to her voice.

Katie's smile turned venomous. "He works out."

"When are you graduating?" asked Vanda, one of Mandy's college friends.

"Same time I do," Katie said as I opened my mouth to speak.

"We're going back to my parents' place for a more intimate party," Mandy said. "You should come, Justin. It'll mainly be a college crowd, but you're totally cool."

"Come, please," Vanda said, blinking her big eyes flirtatiously.

Katie's grip on my arm intensified. "We have other plans."

Before I could ask her what those plans were, she dragged me away and out the front door.

"We have other plans?" I asked.

"Yes…we do." She wobbled a little as we stood in the chilly air.

"How much did you drink?"

"Ugh. Too much. Someone gave us shots of something green. Annie threw up all over Jenny."

"Good times," I said, trying not to chortle with glee.

Katie kissed me. She was a good kisser. She tasted like an apothecary's mixing bowl, thanks to whatever the heck had been in those shots. I didn't care. I still cared about her and wanted her despite the rough journey to this moment.

Elyssa's lips are so much softer.

I squeezed my eyes shut and banished her from my traitorous mind. Elyssa had dumped me. She had blown our chance to have something amazing. I could still have that with Katie. After all, it hadn't been too long since I'd thought I was in love with her. Maybe the universe was making things right for me this once.

"Are your parents home?" she asked.

"Nope."

"Want to…"

I nodded.

I drove the short distance to my house while Katie nipped my earlobe and kissed my neck. My mind reeled with what we were about to do.
She slept with Brad Nichols.
My stomach twisted at the thought. I was a virgin. She wasn't. Should it matter?

"Was Brad your first?" I asked. The question surprised me because I hadn't meant to voice it.

She nodded and snuggled up to me. "We only did it once. It was a horrible mistake, Justin."

Yeah, no kidding.

We reached my house and went straight toward the bedroom. Katie wanted to sleep with me and I wasn't even using my supernatural persuasion on her. She was the first girl who wanted to be with me for real.

Except for Elyssa
. A barb of pain stabbed my heart. I ignored it.

We went inside. Dad didn't seem to be around. His bedroom door hung wide open and aside from the smooching noises Katie and I were making, the house was silent. We slipped into my room. Katie pushed me on the bed and lay atop me. She grinned wide and kissed me.

The image of her and Brad Nichols flashed into my mind again. I banished it and pressed her harder against me. I ran my hand down her back and to the back of her thigh. She shivered. I trembled. This was what I had always wanted. Tonight, Katie would be mine and I would be hers. This was meant to be.

Katie sat up and pulled her shirt off. Her breasts, still trapped in a lacy black bra, jiggled.
Is this for real?
I had to be dreaming.

My sexual sense awoke and pawed at the mental gates I had thrown up to keep it at bay. I tried to push its insistent presence away as Katie's hands worked along my chest and sent chills racing down my skin. I could concentrate on one or the other but not both. She pressed her bare skin against my chest as one of her wandering hands found something very sensitive.

The beast broke loose. It groped for her essence before I could stop it. Her sensuality entwined itself around mine like white glowing vines as our bodies writhed against each other.

"Oh, yes," she moaned, her green eyes filled with lust.

I rolled us over so she was underneath me. Her hand gripped the button on my jeans and tugged.

Another hand, a bigger hand, gripped my shoulder in an iron vice and ripped me off her. I sailed several feet back and slammed into the wall with a bone-jarring crash, knocking the pictures off the walls and shaking the ceiling fan. I bounced off the wall, off the top of my chest of drawers, and landed on my back. I looked up.

A demonic face stared back at me.

Dad was home.

Chapter 24

Blue fire literally blazed in Dad's eyes and rage contorted his face. I had never seen him with such a horrendous expression. His face hardly looked human, as if there were two versions of his face, one overlaying another.

Katie let out a tiny peep and passed out as an unseen force sliced through our connection. Dad turned his gaze back on me, his eyes emitting a cold dark fury. "What in the hell do you think you're doing?" he said through clenched teeth.

"Ouch," was all I could muster as I pulled myself off the floor. I looked at him and felt real fear, the kind where you're in a dream but moving in slow motion. "What's going on?" I squeaked out.

Dad paced the room, looking at Katie, then back at me. The glow in his eyes faded but his face remained livid. "Take her home."

"Won't she remember what happened?"

He sniffed. "She's so drunk I doubt she'll remember anything. Especially not after I cut you off."

"You're the one who did that?" I asked.

He said nothing but turned and left, closing the door behind him.

I threw on my shirt and slid Katie's back on. Otherwise, she still had on most of her clothes, amazingly. I was still trembling from fright and from the abrupt end to my carnal adventure.

I hefted Katie over my shoulder and loaded her into the Jetta. Dad stood near the doorway his face calm but sad.

"What's going on, Dad?"

"I'll tell you when you get back. Now go."

I hopped in the car and drove to Katie's house. It was late and the windows were all dark. I hoped fervently I didn't wake anyone up because her parents would
freak
. I took the keys from Katie's bag

I slid the key into the lock and slowly twisted it. The deadbolt opened without a sound. The lock on the doorknob responded with a low click. I eased open the door. The hinges squeaked. My heart thudded. I paused and listened with my enhanced hearing. I heard slow breathing. No walking or anything else to indicate someone was up and about. I put Katie over my shoulder and crept up the stairs, my intrusion aided by a nightlight in the upstairs hall and in the only bedroom with an open door. I figured out quickly that the open room was hers. The excessive amount of pink on the walls confirmed it. What was it with girls and pink?

After depositing her under the covers, I made good my escape, engaging the bottom lock as I left.

Dad was pacing in the foyer when I got home. He placed his hands on my shoulders and stared at me, studying me like I was a science experiment gone wrong.

"It's about time you showed up," I said. "I need some answers."

He took a step back. "Yeah. I guess we need to have the talk after all."

"In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a little past needing to know about the birds and the bees."

"I'm well aware of that, son. This is a different talk."

Dad seemed vastly altered. Confidence and authority radiated from him as opposed to drunkenness and apathy. Usually, Mom was the one I thought of as wearing the family pants.

I grabbed a glass of water and took a seat at the table. "Man, I'm all ears. Please tell me you know what I am and why I can seduce women with brain waves. And
please
don't tell me I'm a faerie."

"I almost don't know where to start." He shook his head. "I honestly didn't think you would become like us. Like me. You're kind of a late bloomer."

"Wait a cotton-picking minute. You have the same abilities?" I guess it should have occurred to me after the way he'd tossed me across the room. Glowing eyes should have been a clue as well. On the upside, that probably meant my eyes could glow too which was really cool. I imagined flicking the glow off and on in the dark so I could scare the pants off kids at Halloween.

"Of course I do," he said. "You are, after all, my son."

"And Mom's like us too?"

"Ah," he said with a sigh. "Your mother is another matter altogether."

"Okay, well find a starting point and fill me in. Am I a vamprey? A fader?"

He put a finger to his chin and gazed at the wall behind me for a moment, then seemed to come to some conclusion. "You are an incubus."

The word sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. "Okay, that doesn't help at all."

"We're the male version of a succubus."

The string quartet in my head struck a note of horror. I expected to see lightning outside and hear the roar of thunder as a spooky organ played in the background. I jumped up from my chair and nearly toppled the table. "We're demons?" I couldn't think of anything worse. I'd rather be an evil faerie than a demon!

"Calm down, Justin. It's not as bad as you think."

I started hyperventilating. "We're demons, Dad. Demons! Oh my God—can I even say that anymore without worrying about getting struck by hellfire? Or is it heavenfire?"

"Sit down," he said with a firm note in his voice.

I dropped into my chair. Pain gripped my heart with steel talons. Elyssa had been right about me. I was a monster, one-hundred percent evil, doomed to Hell.

"We're not pure demons, not in the sense myth has portrayed us. We are in fact very much like humans—on the outside anyway—though our needs are more like vampires. "

"I was dating a vampire." My heart hurt with the thought of Elyssa.

He quirked an eyebrow. "You
dated
a vampire? Are you sure?"

"I saw her fangs, Dad. Right after she kicked my butt."

Dad quirked both eyebrows. "Son, vampires don't date our kind. They feed on them." He blew out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "I think you had better start at the beginning. I get the feeling you've gotten yourself in quite a mess."