From Deities (7 page)

“Mason,” I called
softly. I didn’t want to see him like this; it was not his fault, but I knew he would blame himself. If I could help it, I would lighten the mood for him. “Here I am. All good and ready.”

Mason stood up just as I reached him. Framing my face with his hands, he pulled me in for a long kiss. Then he unzipped my hooded sweater and checked for the wound on my arm. Since I was wearing a T-shirt underneath, he could clearly see that the wound had completely healed…even though he really didn’t know where the wounds were in the first place. Luckily, seeing the soft smoothness of my intact skin made his frown turn into something of a smile.

Zipping my sweater back up, he exhaled a sigh of relief. “It’s like it never happened! Good.”

“How about you? Are you okay?” I asked. The worried expression on his face finally vanished.

“I’m fine. I’ll take a shower later. Right now, we need to talk to our guests.”

“You’re right.” I was trying to avoid going downstairs, but I knew the faster I got this talk out of the way, the faster my dad would be out of the house.

When I headed
downstairs, everyone was seated with a warm mug of some kind of drink, except for my dad. Amanda was talking to Noah, somewhat flirting through her body gestures. As soon as my dad spotted me, he stood up.

“How are you?” Victor asked, looking and sounding a bit nervous. “You look…you’re walking like nothing happened.” He seemed confused.

“I think you need to sit,” I suggested, sitting on the opposite side of him, next to Mason. “I’ll explain something that happened to me.” After I explained about the unfortunate accident with Remus, though I left out lots of gruesome parts of Remus attacking me, my dad could do nothing but nod his head in understanding.

“Can you do that?” I asked, gazing at my dad with a questioning look. “Drink blood and absorb their powers?”

“No,” my dad replied. “I can’t heal like everyone else does either. It’s amazing how quickly you can heal.” Then his eyes lit up. “Maybe you can drink the blood of one of them and gain their powers.”

“What? No! It doesn’t work like that,” I huffed angrily. “If I do, I’ll end up taking their life, too. I’m absorbing their energy.” I wasn’t sure if what I had said was true, but I didn’t want to take that chance.

“Then maybe you can drink the vulture’s blood and absorb their strength and speed.”

Everyone stopped moving; even the mug heading toward Noah’s lips stopped. It was dead silent as their eyes flicked back and forth, from my dad to me.

“I didn’t think of that.” I grimaced. Drinking blood was disgusting enough, but I didn’t know if I could stomach drinking blood from something so hideous and monstrous.

“It could be dangerous,” Mason intervened. “Yes, she will absorb their powers, but there is a possibility that she could take in something evil, too. We have no idea what we are doing. I don’t think it’s a good idea to experiment on her life like that.”

“Look what happened to her,” my dad spat. “She can’t defend herself. This is just the beginning. What if—?”

“You’re not thinking rationally.” Mason stood up. I could tell he was agitated by the sight of his fingertips flickering small bolts of electricity. “I understand you care for her safety, but so do I. This is not the way. I don’t approve.” Mason’s last sentence was strong and final.

My dad sized Mason up, standing with a challenging stare. “You don’t approve?” He raised his tone, surprising me that he had. “I don’t think I need your permission, young man. I’m her father. And I think we should try to make her stronger, just in case none of us are around to help her.”

Noah and Tim stood up, going to stand protectively by my dad’s side. They must have seen the sparks on Mason’s hand, too. That caused Everett, Amanda, and Nick to stand next to Mason.

I’d had enough. I didn’t like the way my father was talking to Mason, and I definitely didn’t like how he was becoming demanding about my life. If anything, it was my decision to make. Feeling my muscles tense from anger, I stood between them and glared into my dad’s eyes. “You don’t have the right to tell me what to do anymore. When you walked out the door, you walked out of my life. You can’t make me do anything.”

It was the first time I’d expressed how I felt to my dad, and it saddened me to talk to him like that. Not wanting to cry in front of him, I ran up the stairs and stopped at the top, behind the shadows where no one could see me. Folding my arms to my chest to hold myself together so I wouldn’t cry, I stepped out enough to listen.

There was a long stretch of silence until my dad spoke. “Sky is right, but there was a good reason for my actions.” There was a pause. “Perhaps you’re right. I just want to make sure she’s safe in case something happens to me. I sound like a broken record, but I’ve been protecting her from afar, afraid that I could hurt her. I just hope that someday she’ll forgive me. If you need me, you can call any one of us. Hopefully soon, when you’re all ready to trust me, you can visit my place and meet the rest of the group.”

Mason cleared his throat. “Sure. I think it would be a good idea to know who’s on our side. I’ll set up the meeting after Skylar and I have a talk. Don’t worry, Victor. My family and I can handle it on this end. If we can’t, we’ll let you know.”

“Thank you,” my dad said. “I’d better go now. I’ve upset Sky. I didn’t mean to.”

I retreated a couple of steps and hid in the dark shadows again. Tears—which I had no idea were pooling in my eyes—started streaming down my cheeks. I wanted to run to my dad and thank him for being there, for making sure I was safe, but I couldn’t. Pride, anger, and hurt got in the way. I needed time…time to forgive, time to heal, and time to forget.

Knowing Mason was on his way up to me, I headed back to his bedroom, attempting to stop the tears from falling.

I dove into my
studies, wanting to escape. Pretending what I’d gone through hadn’t happened was a way for me to cope with it all. Mason wanted me to drop out for the semester until things were safe, but I didn’t want to. Not only would it look bad on my record, there was no way I was going to let the monsters ruin my life. Mason finally gave in, but under strict rules.

1. Can’t go out alone after dark.

2. Always have my cell phone with me.

3. Be around people.

4. No talking to boys.

I laughed at rule number four. His jealousy and concern about my safety was adorable.

“Hey Skylar,” Emily shouted from the living room.

I opened my bedroom door and peered down. “What is it, Emily?” Hearing Emily climb the stairs must mean something pretty serious, and I wondered if I had done something to offend her.

“Hey.” She smiled, standing in front of me, fidgeting with her hair. “I don’t know if I told you, but I’m in a sorority…well, I’m pledging. I wanted to have a party at our place. Something small, with few of my pledging sisters and some frat boys. Is that okay?” Her eyes were pleading.

“Sure. When?” I figured it would be on the weekend and I could go to Mason’s house to escape the noise.

“I know this is short notice, but….” She cringed a little from guilt. “Tonight. And you can come. I mean…you’re already here. It will be fun.”

Not that I was planning on joining them, but I didn’t want her to feel bad. I also guessed it would be good for me, since this was what normal college kids did. “Sure. That’s fine.”

Emily gave a sigh of relief, beaming a grateful smile. “Thanks, Skylar. You’re the best roommate anyone could have. If you’re not serious with Mason, I could introduce you to some cute frat boys.”

“I’m good,” I said. If the frat rumors were true, they just cared about getting inside girls’ panties.

Instead of closing my door, I kept it ajar. When my phone buzzed, I knew it was a text from Mason. I quickly headed to my desk, but when I looked at the screen, it was from someone else.

Hey Skylar. It’s me, Ian.

How did he…oh yeah, at the library, when he had punched in his number. Pretty sly. Gotta watch out for him.

Hello.

Do you need help with statistics?

I’m fine. Thank you for asking.

See you at the party.

What party? I thought for a moment, racking my brain. Recalling a party he’d invited me to, I was sure I had told him that I couldn’t make it.

I went out
to get dinner and headed back home. The peaceful sky glistened with only a few stars tonight. Thank goodness the rain had settled down, but there was a heavy storm coming next week. At least that was what the news reporter had predicted. The parking lot was not far from the dorm, but I could already hear the bass pumping.

A part of me was excited. It would be my first college party. Yet, I couldn’t see Emily as a sorority type of girl…no, I took it back. Stereotypically speaking, she fit right in, at least for the Delta group. However, what did I know about sororities anyway? I would not judge since I liked my roommate…sometimes.

Taking a deep breath—since I didn’t know a single soul besides Emily—I walked in. The music vibrated loudly through the air. The bass boomed, and I felt as though the place thumped like a beating heart.

Observing the people around me, I saw that they took up every inch of our place. Being that our dorm wasn’t that big in the first place, Emily’s version of a small party seemed a lot larger. A group to the side was dancing, another was taking shots of drinks, and a few people were sitting on top of each other on the sofa, and on the stairs.

“Skylar,” Emily said loudly over the music, holding a red cup in her hand. Placing her hand on my back, she led me into the living room. “Everyone, this is Skylar, my roommate. Isn’t she the cutest?”

“Hey, Skylar,” I heard from the crowd around me.

Waving my hand shyly, I smiled at the group of girls standing adjacent to Emily. They must have been her closest friends.

“Want something to drink?” Emily asked.

I hadn’t noticed until now, but Emily was somewhat tipsy, and her breath stunk of alcohol. At least she was home, but where was Dex, her boyfriend?

“No, thank you. I’ll be back. I need to make a few phone calls,” I said, using that as an excuse to get away. This was not my type of crowd. Heading toward the stairs, I sensed all eyes on me, especially the guys, and it felt as though they were visually undressing me. A few even approached me, but I pointed my hand up. That was a mistake. One boy thought I meant for him to follow me and so he did, right behind me, groping me.

“Hey,” I snapped and turned, feeling irritated. “I’m not that type of girl. Get lost.”

Getting the message, the guy raised both of his hands.

Exhaling a heavy breath, I shook my head and closed the door behind me. I fumbled inside my purse to look for my cell phone so I could call my mom and Mason, but stopped when Ian’s familiar smell tingled my nose. Before I could even wonder why it’d invaded my space, there was a soft knock on the door.

“Come in.” I didn’t need to ask; I was almost certain who it was.

The door cracked opened. “Hey,” Ian greeted. “Why are you upstairs? Are you antisocial or something?”

“Something,” I snorted, and then paused. Why was he here? “When you texted ‘see you at the party,’ did you mean this party?”

Ian shut the door behind him with his feet while holding two red cups in his hands. “Which party did you think I meant? Actually, I’m at all the parties,” he chuckled. Pacing several steps toward me, he handed me a cup. “Here. I got this for you.”

I looked at the cup he’d offered. “Thanks, but I don’t drink alcohol.”

“It’s not alcohol, silly. It’s just punch.” He was staring at me with his charming grin.

It would be easy to let him down if he wasn’t so darn good-looking and amiable. Grabbing the cup out of his hand, I set it down on my desk. “Thanks.” I smiled. “Enjoy the party. I’ve got some studying to do.”

“Do you need help?” His tone was too playful.

“No, thanks.” I laughed lightly; I had to give him some credit for trying.

“Then how about a toast before I go.”

“A toast for what?”

He grinned. “To our new friendship. Hurry up before my arm falls off. I’m not asking you to sleep with me. It’s just punch. You
do
drink punch, don’t you?”

I grabbed the cup. If it would make him leave, I would do it. “Okay, here.”

“To us…our friendship. To new beginnings, to the future…and to potential.” He clanked my cup and gulped down his drink. Instead of doing the same, I smelled for anything unusual and took only a tiny sip.

“I took a sip. I’ll drink the rest later when I’m thirsty.” I placed it back down again.

“Okay, so how about one dance?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “I think you know that I have a boyfriend.”

Taking a step toward me, his beautiful blue eyes reminding me of the ocean, gazed deeply into mine. “If I were your boyfriend, I would never let you out of my sight.”

That was totally a pick up line. A dangerous wave of some kind of unexplained energy jolted through me. I recalled feeling the same way at the bar, when he tried to pick me up. Now, for some reason, I shuddered from this feeling. He hadn’t done anything to make me feel this way, so where did this energy come from?

“I need to make a phone call. If you’ll excuse me,” I mumbled, frantically looking inside my purse again. Hoping he would get the clue, I turned away from him. Where was my phone!

“Sky.”

I heard my name and froze.