The Coveted (The Unearthly) (4 page)

Maggie gave me the stink eye.

“Alright, alright,” I huffed. I jogged up to the chief constable, who didn’t appear to notice that I hadn’t been following him.

We didn’t speak until I entered his office.

I took a seat and gazed about the room. It was disappointingly ordinary. I would’ve thought that the guy in charge of policing the supernatural community would just ooze otherness. But nope. He had just your standard plaques and photographs, along with a business card holder and a marble paperweight.

Chief Constable Morgan sat down behind his desk. “Gabrielle, I wanted to discuss this investigation with you privately.”

I studied the man in front of me. I had no idea what type of supernatural he was.

“The community is going to hang you.”

I physically jolted at his words. “Excuse me?” I asked.

“Not literally
—
but you might wish it after shitstorm they’re going to put you through. You’re the newest vampire. And it’s no secret that you haven’t been meeting with your coven.”

I raised my eyebrows. “I didn’t realize that was common knowledge.”

Chief Constable Morgan leaned back in his chair. “I don’t blame you for choosing to avoid the coven
—
assisting in the death of dozens of vampires couldn’t have endeared you to them.”

Chief Constable Morgan: the epitome of tactfulness. Not.

“However,” he continued, “the community will be concerned
—
and the Politia is already concerned
—
that you aren’t learning to control your abilities appropriately.”

“You think I’m guilty.” I knew it. I knew they felt this way.

“No, no. You have an alibi and we’ve found no evidence that would link you to the crime.” His answer was not really the vote of confidence I needed to hear. “But the supernatural community will assume that you, the youngest, least experienced vampire, are behind the attacks.”

“But you’ve proven I’m not a suspect.”

The chief constable lifted his shoulders. “Public opinion can run counter to and flourish in spite of the facts. If that happens, your education and employment are not guaranteed.”

If he was saying what I thought he was, then my continued work at the Politia and my enrollment in Peel Academy rested on solving this case and preventing the supernatural community from flaying me. A sense of déjà vu washed over me. This wasn’t the first time my genetics had posed such a problem.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“You need to reconnect to your coven. You need to get ahold of Andre.”

***

Chief Constable Morgan kept talking, but I still hadn’t gotten past his words.
You need to get ahold of Andre.
The thought filled me with both excitement and dread.

“Gabrielle? Are you listening to me?”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry, what?”

“We want you to reconnect with the coven, both so that you can manage your cravings and so that you can keep an eye on the local vampires.”

Now that was just funny. “You want me to keep an eye on the local vampires? The ones that probably want to eat me?”

“It may seem difficult, but
—
”

I laughed, even though the situation wasn’t funny. “It’s not going to be difficult. Learning how to drive a manual transmission is difficult. What you’re asking me to do is suicide.”

“We need to catch a killer,” he said.

“You’re throwing me to the wolves.”

“Not wolves, Miss Fiori. Vampires.”

“Whatever. Same difference.” He opened his mouth to contradict me, so I rushed on. “The point is, what you’re asking is impossible, and it will probably put my life in jeopardy.”

“Miss Fiori,” his condescending tone grated me, “the truce between vampires and the House of Keys is up for forfeit. This investigation is primarily the coven’s concern, and now they’re making it ours. If these deaths continue, I’m afraid the truce will eventually have no choice but to dissolve.”

I twisted my hands in my lap. “What happens if the truce dissolves?”

“Your kind will be hunted.”

***

I walked out of Castle Rushen in a daze. The sky had a predawn glow to it, bathing the stone buildings around me in shades of violet. I could smell the ocean in the air, and I could hear the sounds of fishermen setting out for a day.

Castletown was almost unbearably beautiful, and it seemed wrong that I could only feel bleak.

I had no options. I might be putting my life in danger by interacting with my coven, but if I didn’t at least try to find the killer, my life and the lives of other vampires could be at stake.

A shiver passed over me. Was that long ago prophecy now coming true? Was my existence heralding the extermination of vampires?

It was too much. The blame, the guilt, the fear I now carried. I worked for the Politia, but it wouldn’t protect me from the community’s backlash, nor would it exempt me from persecution, if the truce dissolved.

And then what? What did that mean exactly? That I and others like me would be imprisoned?
Killed
?

No amount of action on my part could forgive my genetics. I kicked a nearby trashcan. It’s aluminum shell crumpled in on my foot.

“Damnit!” I shouted, yanking my foot out.

A droplet of water hit the ground in front of me. At first I thought it might be rain, but then I noticed the wetness on my face.

I swiped away my tears. Rosy teardrops smeared along my hand. Why
would
anyone worry about a girl who cried bloody tears?

I pulled out my phone, the set of my mouth grim. I scrolled down until I saw the contact I wished to call, the two emoticon hearts still next to his name.

Screw the Politia.
I wasn’t doing this for them. I was doing it for myself and for the other lost souls who called themselves vampires. Because good and evil weren’t inborn traits. They were choices we made.

I stared at the contact only for a second before clicking
Send
. And then, for the first time in almost two months, I heard my soulmate’s voice.

Chapter 4

“Gabrielle?”

For a moment I couldn’t speak at all. I wasn’t sure he’d even pick up since the sun had almost risen. His voice sounded hopeful, worried, and reluctant all at once.

And hearing it undid every stupid, idiotic barrier I’d built over the last two months.

“Andre.” My voice broke in the middle of his name. Thank goodness he couldn’t see me because I could feel more hot tears snake down my face, and the world turned pink.

I meant to say,
I need your help
. But my traitorous mouth formed different words. “I miss you.”

My face flushed. If only I could snatch back words.

I waited a beat. The silence must’ve been only a second or two, but to me, I felt I’d lived a lifetime in that pause. Then he spoke, his voice rough. “I’ve missed you since the moment you slid out of my arms.”

I pressed the palm of my hand to my mouth to hold back a choked sob. More tears slipped down my cheeks. Since when was I this way? I couldn’t believe people enjoyed this
—
love. It hurt worse than my gun shot wounds had.

“Can we meet up?” I asked.

“Of course.” Who was this Andre, this open, agreeable man? How was I supposed to reconcile him with the emotionless killer I saw that evening at Bishopcourt? Or the frustrating, bossy vampire I met two months ago?

He was probably wondering the same thing about me. Who the broken girl on the phone was. I cringed at the thought.

“Listen Gabrielle,” my heart fluttered at the way he said my name, “the sun’s coming up, so I have to go. You’ll hear from me again this evening. But until then
—
stay safe.”

“You too.”

The call ended just as the first rays of the sun rose on the horizon. I stared at my phone. There was at least one person who worried about the girl with the bloody tears.

***

School that day started off rough, and it only got worse as the day drew on. By the time I walked into my history class, I expected the whispered and suspicious looks I received.

The entire school was wondering whether I was the killer.

Today it was almost worse than that first day of class. Back then, my classmates only had their superstitions and deep set beliefs to judge me by. Now, however, someone had been attacked by a vampire, and a vampire was amongst them. I could hear their fluttering pulses, and their fear smelled thick and terrible.

I felt my fangs slide out at the smell; they’d been doing that off and on since I walked into Peel Castle. I kept my mouth closed as I moved to my seat.

I shucked off my bag and slouched into my chair. Hell couldn’t be any worse than this.

I didn’t have to look when Caleb entered the room. The same collective adrenaline rush occurred every day the minute he sauntered into the room.

He dropped a newspaper on his desk and slid into the seat next to me. “Well, shit has really hit the fan this time,” he said.

Usually once Caleb and I had taken our seats, the class would gradually return back to normal. Not today. The smell of fear lingered in the air. My fangs were going to be out all freaking day if this continued.

I picked up the supernatural community’s newspaper from his desk and read the headline.

Vampire Attack at the Douglas Cemetery

Below the title was an image of the taped off cemetery. I skimmed the story. Its author hadn’t placed suspicion on any one person, but the journalist had made it clear that he believed there was unrest within the coven. He mentioned my name, Andre’s, and Theodore’s. The article went into the numerous vampire deaths that occurred the night Bishopcourt burned, and he discussed the possible rifts that must’ve caused.

Somehow the reader was supposed to believe that this unrest led to vampire aggression. Apparently, the inhuman beasts that we were, when we got angry, our vampiric nature led us to commit horrific murders.

I threw the paper back on Caleb’s desk.

He leaned towards me and I looked at him. I heard his heart speed up. “We’re going to figure this out Gabrielle.” I could tell from the adrenaline rolling off of him and something fainter beneath that smell that he had more than just a simple crush on me.

I winced. I knew he liked me. But now I could tell that this was turning into something more than just
like
. I didn’t know how to stop it, and I didn’t know how to still stay his friend and partner if I tried.

I studied the headline on his desk. What I did know was that he and his family were important and respected members of the supernatural community. His feelings for me might be all that kept the Politia and my classmates from turning on me.

And as soon as I broke his heart, my world would come crashing down.

***

I watched the sun sink as I worked at my desk. I tried to focus on my homework for my politics of supernatural species class, but my mind kept going back to Andre, the murders, and my classmates’ outrage.

Behind me the door opened and Oliver walked in.

“Hey beautiful,” he said. “I wanted to check on you.” He plopped on my bed and fished around for my stash of chocolates. “You doing okay?” he asked, his back to me.

“Oh, just fine. Nothing that I haven’t already experienced.” That was a lie. The fear that oozed off my classmates was stronger and more cloying than ever before.

I closed my laptop and watched him grope around some more.

“You’re not going to find the chocolates,” I said. “You ate them all the last time you were here.”

He paused to give me a disbelieving look. “No way. I don’t eat that much.”

“Oh really?” This little fairy was in denial.

“Hmph,” he said, folding his arms and squinting his eyes at me, “that’s right Sabertooth.”

“Did you just call me
Sabertooth
?”

“This body is a lean, mean, man-loving machine,” Oliver said by way of answer. “I don’t just get great abs by laying around and eating chocolates all day.” He got up and peered under Leanne’s bed.

“Well I know that,” I said. “You burn all your calories gossiping. It takes a lot of energy to talk that much.”

“Now that’s just rude,” he said, pulling out an industrial size bag of Halloween candy from underneath Leanne’s bed. “Jackpot. I have just found the mother lode.”

I eyed the candy and thought about the seer club Leanne was a part of. She was there at this moment, pulling together some school activity to celebrate Samhain. The candy was probably meant for that activity. “I think she might be saving that.”

Oliver made himself comfortable on my bed. “There’s a Leanne-sized hole in the corner here,” he said, pointing to a fist-sized tear in the plastic. “Which means she’s not really serious about saving it. Plus, like I said, I only eat a few chocolates at a time.”

Before I could guffaw at this, my phone went off. I snatched it up. Oliver’s attention was now honed on me.

“Hello?”

“Where were we?” Andre said.

“I believe you were telling me to be careful just before the sun rose.” Oliver had scooted down my bed to be as close to the conversation as possible. He was now shoveling candy into his mouth at an alarming rate.

“What is it you wanted to discuss?”

I lowered my voice. “I think you already know.”

The other end of the line was quiet. Finally, “There are a great many things we need to discuss. What in particular would you like to talk about?”

“I think it would be better if we met up in person.” I bit a nail as I said this. I wasn’t sure how seeing Andre would affect me.

“I’ll be over there in an hour.”

“Uh, Andre, on the way over, you should probably pick up a newspaper.”

***

Almost exactly an hour later, there was a rap on the door.

Oliver squealed. “It’s your hunk of burning love!”

I threw Leanne’s pillow at him as I made my way to the door. “Can you please do me a favor and try to tone down your comments?”

“Never!” Oliver said, but his words were drowned out by the thrum of energy coming from the other side of the door.

I’d felt the current for the last minute or so, but now it was almost unbearable. Like a magnet, the closer I got to my counterpoint, the stronger the pull.

I opened the door, and my breath caught in my throat.

Andre stood in front of me taking up the doorway, and the vision of him almost brought me to my knees. Dark, wavy locks of hair framed those high cheekbones, square jaw, and arching lips that I’d dearly missed. But what captivated me were his glittering eyes. At this moment, they looked the same as they had in the painting that hung above his bed
—
the remorseful Andre who’d fought in the crusades.

Before I knew what I was doing, my fingers reached up and grazed his cheek.

He too brought his hand up to my face and wiped away a stray tear with his thumb.

“I hope this means you’re happy to see me,” he said, his voice low.

I didn’t respond; I couldn’t. I tried to remember that why I’d kept my distance for so long
—
he scared me. Only now, as he stood here and wiped away my tears, that reasoning seemed awfully fickle.

A voice cleared his throat behind me. “Trust me, she is happy to see you,” Oliver said. “Thought I’d throw that out there since she’s a mute right now.”

The spell was broken, and the rest of the world came back into focus.

Andre glanced over my shoulder at Oliver. The moment he did so, the remorse was gone, replaced by the powerful, self-assured man I’d first met.

I stepped to the side so that Andre could come in while I grabbed my coat and bag. He sauntered in, his gaze focused on the fairy sprawled out on my bed.

The two had met once, after Andre found Oliver, Leanne, and I in the woods near the entrance to Otherworld. That same location was now taped off, the scene of a horrific crime.

“Andre, you remember Oliver,” I said.

Oliver shook off the loose candy wrappers littered along his body and got up to take Andre’s hand.

“How could I forget?” Andre said, taking Oliver’s hand. Oliver was memorable like that.

“Gabrielle’s said
so
much about you,” Oliver said. “You know, since you two parted ways.”

Andre glanced at me and raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t worry,” I said to Andre. “None of it was flattering.”

He frowned, and I slipped on a jacket and slung my book bag over my shoulder. “’Kay, I’m ready to go.” I turned to Oliver. “Are you leaving right now too?”

“Hell no I’m not leaving,” Oliver said, walking back to my bed and making himself comfortable. “Sexy, naked men are showing up here at all hours of the day. As if I’d pass up that opportunity.”

Andre narrowed his eyes. “What’s this?”

I almost groaned. So much for progress. Andre hadn’t been here five minutes and the possessiveness was back in his voice.

Oliver smiled mischievously. “Oh Gabrielle has had a string of admirers who’ve shown up in this room buck naked
—
probably thought flashing her would land them a date.”

I put a hand to my face and began massaging my temples. This was so not how I wanted the reunion with Andre to begin.

“Really?” Andre said, his voice deceptively calm. Oliver, for his part, failed to notice how menacing Andre had become.

“That’s not even the best part,” Oliver said, still enjoying himself. “One showed up in her bed last night demanding to have sex with her.”

A muscle in Andre’s jaw jumped.

“When she said no, he didn’t take her rejection too well, so she had to throw him across the room.”

“Oliver, just
—
stop talking,” I said. He must’ve heard all of that from Leanne since I never mentioned these details.

“Did he hurt you?” Andre asked me. His voice was soft and lethal. His body tensed and that muscle in his jaw jumped again.

“Andre, no, calm down.” I practically pushed him out the door. It was time to go.

“Bye Oliver!”

“Bye! Have a good evening. Oh, and if you two do the nasty, I want to know
—
” I slammed the door on his words.

“Sorry about that,” I said to Andre.

His eyebrow was raised. “‘If we do the nasty?’ I didn’t realize you were
that
happy to see me.”

“Oh please, eat a slice of humble pie. You’re not getting lucky tonight.”