Dark Muse: An Indie Paranormal Sampler Page 7

  Chapter Seven: Blood Warrior

  Later that night, I was sitting back in my room, just staring at the wall. I wasn’t sure what to think about all the events of the day. Or maybe I was just afraid to. It was all too strange. I felt like I was missing something big here. I didn’t like that feeling.

  First of all, Nelly and my Mother were keeping something from me. I wasn’t sure what, but I was sure it was something. What the hell had my Mother meant by “inherited your strength”? Even weirder than that was the secret spot she’d taken me in the forest today. I was starting to worry about her. Maybe she was really losing it.

  I’d sort of always assumed that she had some mild case of paranoid schizophrenia. Didn’t people with that condition tend to think someone was after them? I’m no doctor. I didn’t know.

  But, even stronger than my worry for my Mother was my worry for someone else. Me. I’d always known I was different from other people. I just tended to get angrier than most; thinking things that people probably shouldn’t be thinking, or at least would never admit to. But, I’d always been able to control myself. I’d never considered myself a danger to others. I was starting to rethink that.

  I glanced over at the clock sitting on my dresser. It was just past two in the morning. I wished I could get some sleep, but lately, I’d been feeling restless at night. Usually, I could read until I fell asleep. Somehow I knew that reading wasn’t going to stop my mind from turning over.

  Lying back on my bed, I stared at the ceiling. At least it was a change in scenery from the wall.  It was dark in my room, but I had always been able to see reasonably well in the dark. My Mother said it was because she fed me lots of carrots when I was young. Knowing her, she probably had.

  Just then, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, near the window. My senses went on high alert. I slipped off the bed and snuck over so that I was standing beside the window, my back against the wall. My Mother’s room and mine were on the first floor. Only Nelly had a bedroom upstairs. My Mother never explained why, but I assumed it had something to do with keeping Nelly safe. I didn’t mind.

  My window was open, and I immediately regretted this. My room tended to hold in heat, so I usually kept it open once the weather began to get warmer. Still, it was stupid. I doubted my Mother slept with her window open.

  A shadow moved across the floor. I stilled. It irritated me to think that someone might be sneaking around my house in the middle of the night. It made me nervous too, but my instincts overrode that. And, before I knew what I was doing, I’d swung around, grabbed the intruder by the front of his shirt, and hauled him through the window.

  I knew it was a him because he was heavy, but the adrenaline that was coursing through me seemed to lend me super-strength, and I managed to throw him to the floor with impressive force. I drew my fist back to hit him, but he dodged the blow and grabbed my wrist. I drew my other hand back, intending to hit him again.

  “Alexa! Alexa, it’s me,” he whispered fiercely.

  I stopped mid-swing, recognizing the drawl of his voice. “Jackson? What the hell are you doing here? I almost punched you in the face!”

  He chuckled softly. “Yeah, I noticed.”

  I flopped back onto the bed and inhaled deeply. It seemed to take a minute for me to realize there was no longer a threat. Shoving my hair out of my face, I said, “I would have felt really bad if I had knocked you out too.”

  Jackson made a show of dusting himself off, then walked over and sat down next to me on the bed. It dipped with his weight. “I know, I heard about that. Wish I had been there to see it. Good thing I’m not such a weak opponent.”

  I didn’t really want to get into that, so I ignored that comment. “Why are you here, Jack? How did you know where I live?”

  “I wanted to come and check on you. I was worried after I’d heard what happened. I really should have been there for you.” His green eyes fixed on me. He looked like he was serious, and my agitation faded a little, but I didn’t miss the fact that he’d ignored my second question.

  “Well, thanks, but I’m fine… Did you hear anything about how Riley is doing?”

  “Yeah, I guess he’s got a broken nose and a concussion.” He shrugged like this was no big deal.

  Noticing what must have been my horrified face, he said, “He’ll be fine, though. I’m sure he’ll be fine. Besides, I heard he swung at you first. He deserves what he got.”

  I wasn’t sure I agreed. “What else did you hear?”

  He flashed an easy smile. “That you were amazing… and fast. Some of the kids are even afraid of you. Well, more afraid of you than they were before.”

  I scoffed. “People aren’t afraid of me.” Who was I kidding? I was starting to be afraid of me.

  Jack stood up and walked over to the window. “Course they are. It’s in their nature.”

  My brow furrowed at that. Had everyone taken a crazy pill today?

  “Well, darling,” he said. “I gotta go, but I’m glad you’re okay. He turned to the window to leave, and then stopped and turned back to me. “Don’t worry, Lexie. You did the right thing. You did what you had to.”

  He was starting to sound like my Mother.

  Chapter Eight: Blood Warrior