Daemons in the Mist (The Marked Ones Trilogy: Book One) (5 page)

7

Dreaming Out Loud

Friday, January 13th

PATRICK

W
hen Nualla had asked if I wanted to get out of here, I hadn’t considered that she had meant to another state. Which was why it had come as a total shock when I found myself standing near a ticket counter in SFO staring at Nualla as she watched the flight information flash across the screens.

After our daring escape from the mall, we had blazed a trail out of the city and down 101 to the SFO Airport. I was so caught up in the laughter of diving into a car just as Michael came out the mall doors after us that I didn’t even notice we were going to the airport. I actually got all the way into the terminal before I even acknowledged anything
other
than I was with Nualla and we weren’t at school. Even when I finally looked around and saw where we were I thought it was a joke, until I remembered I was with a bunch of super rich kids. Out of town to them meant something
completely
different.

But I was already in too deep by this point and I
really
didn’t want to bail. I just prayed that they would at least keep it in the country because I didn’t
actually
have a passport. As I fidgeted nervously I silently calculated how much money I had in my bank account. I really didn’t want to have to look like a dork for being too broke to buy my ticket to the crazy place they were planning to run off to.

“So where are we going cuz?” Nikki asked Nualla, who was still staring up at the flight board.

“Wherever has a flight leaving first,” Nualla answered without looking away from the board.

Nikki raised an eyebrow. “We running from something?”

Parents. Homework. Nualla’s stalker punk. Life.
Any one of these things seemed like perfectly logical things to run from.

Nualla eyed me covertly. “Naw, the fun is in the surprise.” She whipped her head back around to look at the board causing her hair to fling out just like in a movie.

God she’s beautiful.

How the hell had I gotten so lucky to end up here with them—with her? Maybe I had been hit by a bus and I was in a coma, dreaming, or dead. Naw, as unbelievable as this all was, I knew it was reality because, A: my fantasies weren’t this delusional, and B: I had absolutely no idea what the inside of an airport looked like in real life—well until now.

While I was contemplating my sanity and luck, Nualla had apparently made her decision because she walked over to the ticket counter to purchase our tickets.

Shawn looked up at the flight board. “My money’s on New York.”

“Hawaii,” Nikki chimed in cheerfully.

“LA,” I guessed without even looking.

Nualla returned a few minutes later holding four tickets and thrust them toward us. “Vegas,” she said with finality.

I don’t know why I had been so cocky in the bookstore. I never thought I would be saying those things to her; not even in my wildest dreams. Maybe that was
why
I had said it; my brain was convinced I was dreaming.
You really can’t fuck up in a dream, so what’s to lose, right?
Is what was running through my head as I waited for the girls to change from their school uniforms into normal clothes.

I leaned against the wall and let my head fall back, letting out a deep breath.

“Sorry I didn’t bring you anything dude, Nikki didn’t mention you would be coming,” Shawn said, apologetically.

I looked at him with a half-smile. He was much taller than me—like Connor, somewhere in the 6’1” to 6’4” range. Though unlike Connor, Shawn wasn’t wiry like a runner; he had the broad shoulders and a solid build of a warrior with a sharply planed face like a cheetah. A tangle of wavy blond hair roughly the same shade of blond as Nikki’s, spilled over his forehead nearly to his eyes and curled over the tops of his ears.

“Don’t worry about it; I don’t think
she
even knew I was coming.”

Shawn cocked his head to one side and smiled a crooked smile at me. “You’re playing it cool, but you’re scared shitless aren’t you?”

“Is it that obvious?” I asked, with a self-deprecating smile.

“Naw, if you weren’t scared I’d know you were a conceited wank.”

“
What
?” I said, nearly choking.

“The biggest pricks act all smooth in front of girls because they think they’re the shit. You, on the other hand…”

“Ah. But
you
seem calm, what’s that say about you?”

“
Me
? Well, I’ve known those two my whole life. They know about all the stupid shit I’ve ever done. Hard to be nervous anymore at that point,” Shawn answered, looking into the distance.

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Look, don’t worry about it so much. Just relax,” he advised, looking back at me with a smile.

“Easy for you to say,” I said, running my hand through my hair.

“Just think about it like hanging out with friends after school, nothing serious.”

“I really don’t hang out with my friends that much after school. Honestly, most of the time I’m alone.”

“Dude
seriously
? That’s really sad.”

“Yeah I know,” I agreed, leaning my head back against the wall again. I don’t know why I was being so honest about how truly lame I was; it wasn’t going to help me.

“But I really can’t say I’m much better. I mostly hang out with those two girls. Can’t remember ever having many guy friends,” Shawn admitted, folding his arms across his chest.

“I’d be your friend,” I blurted out without giving it much thought.

Wow did I really just say that out loud? God he probably thinks I’m even lamer now than he did before.

“
Really
? Coolness, friendship accepted,” Shawn said, with a huge grin.

Wait, what?

But I really didn’t have time to think about it long because something hit me in the chest. I looked down at the floor at some clothes that had apparently been thrown at me.

“Nualla, you’re supposed to say ‘think fast’
before
you do that, not just throw things at people,” Shawn said as he pushed away from the wall.

“What are these?” I asked, bending down to pick up the clothing.

“They’re
clothes
silly. You didn’t think we would really make you go to Vegas in your Bayside Academy uniform did you?”

Actually that’s completely what I had thought, but thanks for having a higher opinion of me than I do.

I looked at the clothes again; they were super stylish designer casual and probably cost a small fortune since we were at an airport. “Thanks. How much were they, I’ll pay you back,” I said, looking up.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nualla said with a broad smile. “Think of it as payment for letting me kidnap you this weekend.”

“Okay, then how much were the tickets?”

“Don’t kidnappers usually pay for the transportation of the kidnapped?” Nualla asked as she leaned in closer—
dangerously
closer.

“Um…yeah, but really I can’t just—”

“Patrick, you’re never going to win this so just give up,” Shawn said, nudging me.

“Okay,” I said uneasily.

“Now go change, our plane’s gonna start boarding soon,” Nualla said with a smile as she pushed me toward the restrooms.

I took a few steps then stopped.
Wait, weekend?

8

Raise Your Glass

Friday, January 13th

PATRICK

V
egas was…
shiny
. That was really the only word for it. I honestly didn’t think I had ever seen so many lights in my life. It seemed like they basically lit up every inch of the city they possibly could. Their power bills must have been astronomical. It felt like we had entered a theme park for adults. I just couldn’t help but stare out the window as we passed a pyramid, castle, and even the Statue of Liberty. I had seen this place a lot of times on TV, but it just didn’t do it justice.

I didn’t ask where we were going, and honestly, I didn’t even notice where we were until a bouncer asked for ID’s.

Crap!

I didn’t have a fake ID. I turned to Nualla to mention this, but without missing a beat she handed the bouncer four ID’s and smiled. He looked at them for a second looking a little dazed. I thought we were screwed at that point; any second he was going to call the cops. I mean that’s what they did when minors tried to get into nightclubs, right? But to my utter disbelief he handed the ID’s back to her and stepped aside to let us pass.

Just inside the door a smiling hostess took our bags and handed all of us little keychain key cards.

“What’s this?” I asked, looking at it questioningly.

“It’s your Eclipse card; it tracks your drink purchases, so you don’t have to carry around your belongings while you’re here,” the hostess answered, with a cheery smile.

“
Really
?” I said, examining the card more closely. “That’s awesome.”

“Just tap it here and press your thumb in the sensor,” she said as she gestured to a machine beside her. “Oh, and please don’t lose it, or we will be forced to charge you the maximum limit.”

“Oh really, what’s that?” I asked as I pressed my thumb against the reader.

“You
really
don’t want to know,” Nualla said, pushing me gently away from the door.

“Enjoy your night, Miss Galathea,” the hostess called behind us.

I wondered just how many times you had to come to a place like this before they remembered your name.

Being that I was in highschool and had obviously never
been
to a club before, I only had movies and episodes of
CSI
to go from. I was pretty sure most clubs didn’t
actually
look like the ones on TV; however, this one totally did.

Light up dance floors, multiple levels, swirling flashing lights, music you could feel through your body. Oh, and swarms of people, pressed together; their bodies pulsing with the music. I tried not to gape at it all like an idiot as we wove through the crowds of people to an empty table.

A drink girl passed us, and Nualla said something to her I couldn’t hear above the music. The girl nodded and walked off.

“Pretty awesome place,” I said loudly as I looked around.

“You’ve never been to a club before, have you?” Shawn asked, with a smirk.

“Nope.”

“Awesome! Then this should be even
more
fun,” Shawn said, smiling mischievously. Something in his expression told me he was sharing a private joke with himself.

The drink girl placed some shots in front of us, and Nualla tapped her card on the drink tray sensor. It flashed green, and the girl walked away, disappearing into the throng of people.

“Bottoms up,” Shawn said as he raised his shot glass.

I just stared at mine. People—mostly parents—liked to pretend that high school kids didn’t drink. They were completely wrong of course, but they could keep deluding themselves if they liked. I was by no means a lush or a teenage alcoholic, but I also was not a stranger to the stuff, either. I had thought that my parents might have noticed at some point that their liquor cabinet was getting depleted, but like everything else, they didn’t. But then again they would have had to have been home more to probably notice.

“You do drink, right, Patrick?” Nualla asked, in a worried voice.

I smiled up at her. “Of course, just not normally in public.”

I looked back at the shot glass. Once I took one drink there would be no going back; the evening would take a completely different direction, I just knew it. But was I ready to go down that path? I looked up at Nualla, into her stunningly beautiful eyes. I didn’t really have to think about it after that.

I took a deep breath, and raised my glass up to join theirs. A grin spread across all their faces, and we all downed our shots.

The shot burned its way down my throat warming my chest. “What
is
this?” I asked, looking at the glass.

“Tequila,” Nikki answered grinning.

“Good tequila,” Shawn amended with a huge grin as he nudged me with his elbow.

I decided it was best not to ask how much “good tequila” cost in a place like this.

A shot or two later Nualla finally grabbed my hand and dragged me into the throng of people on the dance floor. The lights washed everyone in a golden-red light like—well an eclipse actually. People moved against each other, bodies slick with sweat. I was sure there must have been air conditioning running at full-blast, but it really wasn’t doing all that much to ease the heat out on the dance floor.

As Nualla began to pulse along with the music, I thanked everything holy that I actually
knew
how to dance. She moved with the music hypnotically, and I tried to burn the image in my mind. I was sure I was never going to get this lucky again, and I wanted to remember this forever.

Someone brushed up against me and I turned; Nikki and Shawn had joined us on the dance floor. Something in their movements—their eyes—told me they were more than
just
friends, but I doubted they had figured that out yet. It was interesting to see a different side of them all, the one they didn’t show at school. I had been a silent observer for so long that being invited into their private world was a little overwhelming. Overwhelming but welcome; it was nice to be on the inside for once.

Nualla grabbed my hand and pulled me a little closer. I nearly froze, but then I released all my fear and just went with it. I let the music wash over me, directing my movements. My body moved closely to hers, a cushion of hot air the only thing keeping us from touching.

The music went through several changes before Nualla pushed me softly away and turned her head to Nikki. “Ready, Nikki?”

Nikki smiled broadly as if they were sharing a private joke. “Yep.”

“Three…two…one,” the girls said softly.

And then the music changed, and they were standing in the center of the dance floor. Their hips swiveled, arms thrust, feet stepped in perfect unison. Their precise movements would rival any professional dance squad and put any cheer team to shame. Their bodies pulsed with the music. Body rolls, hip pops, and spins that fit the music perfectly as if made for it.

Nikki was hot and a good dancer in her own right, but she had nothing on Nualla. Nualla’s hips rolled and popped in time with music. No, she didn’t move with the music—she
was
the music. Nualla was song in liquid form; undulating in smooth sensuous movements. She was sex appeal incarnate. It rolled off her in nearly visible waves, affecting everyone around her. All the guys stared at her and so did half the women.

A guy elbowed me gently and leaned in. “She’s hella hot.”

My protective defenses kicked in. “She’s with me.”

The guy folded his arms and looked me up and down, appraising. “You’re damn lucky. That girl is
never
here with anyone. She always just seems to be dancing for herself.”

“What do you mean?”

He unfolded his arms and pointed at Nualla. “Look at her eyes. She’s looking straight at
you
. She never looks at anyone when she dances.”

“Really?” I said, looking back at Nualla as she spun, her hair flowing out in a beautiful wave of soft black spirals.

“Yeah…look, she’s a little sex rocket. You better be careful, or you might get burned.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said without looking at him, but no answer came. I looked next to me, the guy was gone. I looked back at the girls and was hit full force by Nualla’s captivating eyes. They glowed as if illuminated from within.

The girls popped their hips and dropped to the floor as the song ended. I just kinda gaped at them as everyone else cheered. I somehow got the feeling they did this a lot. Just how often did they come to places like this anyways?

Nualla stood up in one fluid movement, looking at me from beneath her lashes. And then everything fell away; there was nothing but her. I had never seen anything so sexy and enchanting in my life.
Never
. She glided over to me and reached out a hand to run her finger down my chest. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. It suddenly felt very warm;
too
warm.

Nualla pulled me dangerously close and brought her face close to mine. Her lips brushed against my ear as she let out a breath. It was hot and full of temptation. An electric shock ran through my body making my vision sway in and out. I caught a glimpse of something—something curved near her ear, but as I tried to focus on it, it shimmered farther from my vision.

I looked away then looked back at her, this time trying to avoid her eyes. My pulse seemed to be running a fifty yard dash, and it was hard to remember to breathe. “I’ll…be right back.”

I nearly ran to the men’s room passing one of the drink girls as I went. I snatched a shot off her tray, as I tapped my card to it. I didn’t look to see if it turned green, I figured if it didn’t she would find me. I downed it in a few seconds flat and clunked it down on a table as I passed. I turned a corner and pushed open the door into the blessedly cool restroom.

Breathing hard I braced myself with my arms over the sink. What had I done? Nualla had always seemed so cool and reserved in school, but somehow I had unleashed a tigress. If I wasn’t careful, I would give in to her
more
than tempting body language. Before Monday, Nualla had never really paid attention to me, and now she seemed to have eyes for nothing
but
me.

I threw cold water on my face, running it back through my hair. I could do this. I looked at myself in the mirror and walked back out into the sweltering club.

When I got back to Nualla they were all back at the table doing shots with a few other clubbers. I snatched up one of the glasses and did one with them.

Nualla looked at me questioningly, “You okay?”

“Never better, just a little warm.” Who was I kidding? I was powerless to resist her.

“I know! I wish I could take off more clothes,” she shouted over the music as she tugged on her tank top to illustrate her point.

My brain screamed
danger
, but I ignored it.

Nikki laughed. “I’m sure the
guys
wouldn’t mind Nualla.” She was more than wasted. Just how many drinks had they had while I was gone?

I swallowed hard and gestured to the dance floor. “What was that about?”

Nualla moved closer, pressing against me. “Oh the dance routine?”

I looked down into her eyes, which was a big mistake. “Yeah.”

“Oh, me and Nikki take dance for our PE credits. Why, what do you do?”

“I just go to the boring ordinary gym. Apparently, not nearly as useful as what you do.”

Nikki chimed in loudly. “She’s
very
flexible.”

“I am! Want to see?” Nualla asked, with a huge grin.

“I—” I was doomed; that’s what I was. Either they were fucking with me, or they were smashed beyond all reason. Or
both
.

The music changed, and Nualla squealed, “Oh I love this song. Come dance with me.”

I looked at her and then the dance floor and then downed another shot for good measure. This turned out to be an incredibly
bad
idea, of course. I took a step and the world began to turn out of kilter.

If you’ve ever been drunk, you know that there’s a point when you’ve had too much and everything stops making any real sense. You start to feel like you’re floating or walking through a dream. Yeah, I had hit
that
point.

Nualla pulled me to the dance floor and put my hands on her thrusting, popping, and swaying hips. I continued to sway with the music as I looked down at her. I was beyond resisting her and maybe she knew it.

She looked up at me questioningly. “What?”

“There’s something not quite normal about you isn’t there?”

“Yeah,” she answered, confirming my conclusions.

“Care to enlighten me?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry—can’t.”

“Why?”

“You’d have to marry me first,” she replied in a teasing voice.

“Okay.” I wasn’t sure why I had said that, it had just kind of popped out of my mouth, and in the fog of this drunken dream it began to make more and more sense.

She stopped dancing and just stared at me. “
Excuse me
?”

I tried to work through the fog in my head, but gave up and said the first thing that came to mind. “Were you bluffing again?”

“No…” Nualla admitted very slowly, a smirk spreading across her face.

“Then let’s go,” I said as I took a step toward the door pulling her along, a big dumb grin on my face. I didn’t really know why everything seemed incredibly funny when you were drunk, it just did.

“
Now
?” she asked as she looked over at Nikki and Shawn who were amidst a conversation with some fellow clubbers, all of them laughing so hard they were nearly gasping.

“Sure, why not. What have we got to lose?” I said, with a shrug.

“Okay.” She smiled broadly at me, and we wove our way toward the door.

As we broke out from the club and dashed into the cool night air I had never felt more alive. We ran down the street toward the future, laughing like idiots. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been this happy—this free.