Nightmare (The Noctalis Chronicles 2)

She snorts, crossing her arms. “I figured.” She lets out a huge breath, expelling all the air in her lungs. “I probably don't want to know, anyway. She probably thinks I brought you up here for something scandalous and not virtuous.”

“She does.”

“Oh well.” Her manner is casual, but it does bother her. On top of everything else, it is beginning to become too much again. My hands have started to shake again, but I am strong enough to hide it.

“We should go back down. She probably thinks I'm having my way with you.” Her voice is thick with desire, but she doesn't touch me. Afraid of what happened earlier. Of losing control and losing me. I need to give her some time with her family.

I follow her back downstairs. Jenny and Claire have their heads together as they giggle over a shared joke.

“Everything okay?”

“Fine,” Ava says, smiling. Only I know how not fine she is. I decide to make my exit.

“I should get home. My mother is expecting me. I have homework.”

“Yeah, sure,” Ava says, hiding a small smile. “I'll call you later.” She sends a rush of heat and love toward me. I send my adoration back.

“It was nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Peter.” Jenny does not move to shake my hand. I nod to Claire and leave through the front door.

“Wait a second. How is he getting home?” Jenny's voice reaches to me after I've closed the door.

“He's going to run,” Ava says, smiling again.

Chapter Fourteen

Ava

“How far away does he live?” Aj says.

“About fifteen miles.”

“He's going to run fifteen miles?” Her eyebrows slide up her forehead.

“No, his mom will pick him up.” It hurts to lie to her like this. But I have no choice. I can't do the Noctalis Talk with one more person this week. It's just not going to happen.

“Hm,” she says, stacking the empty dishes from the cake. I'd managed to demolish mine after Peter left. Even with the smell of Aj's blood making my head swirl.

“How is your lovelife?” I say, going to the sink to help her. Aj slams her fist into my leg. Violence is our most often used form of affection.

“None of your business. You're the one who's keeping secrets about their lovelife.”

I roll my eyes and shove her with my shoulder. “Come on, I need something normal to talk about. Please give me something normal.” I put my hands together and throw in a good pout. Did pouts ever work on anyone in real life?

Aj lets out a big heavy sigh. Oh, this should be good. At least we're not talking about me anymore.

“Oh, do tell,” Mom says, leaning on the counter and putting her chin in her hands. We're both waiting on the edges of our seats.

Her face blooms red as she says, “well, there is this grad student.”

“Hold up, a student. You robbing the cradle Aj?” I jostle her again. Or try to.

She exhales loudly. “See? This is why I didn't tell you. He's 33. He worked for his father's business for years until it went under. He always wanted to go to college, but he felt like he had to support his parents. He's a wonderful man. You'd really like him.” She bites her lip to hide a smile. Oh yeah, she's got it bad.

“Good looking?”

This time she's the one doing the jostling and I'm almost thrown to the floor by her strength. I really need to start kickboxing.

“Would I settle for anything less? Tall, gorgeous brown eyes. Still has all his hair.” She sighs again. This time it's one of those girly sighs. “He has fabulous hair.” Hair is an important quality in a man.

“Anything under that hair?”

“He's wicked smart,” she says, using a Maine accent to turn the phrase into 'wikid smaht.'

“Right wicked smart,” I say back, turning on my own latent accent. The normalcy of washing the dishes and talking about the values of men with good hair was just what I needed. Sometimes I got a little too focused on Peter and our crazy situation. I might be a noctalis someday, but for now I was human. And I needed to remind myself.

Jenny decides to stay for dinner, which Dad is late to, and helps us make burritos.

“You still a tree hugger?”

“Uh, if by that you mean vegetarian, yes.” I'm busy chopping tomatoes while she pretends to watch the sweet potato and black bean mixture. Aj may be good at many things, but cooking is not one of them.

“What about eggs? They're baby chickens.” I've been over this with Tex and Jamie a million times.

“Not unfertilized ones.”

“Still.” I was getting tired and I was getting snappy. Plus the blood smell had been driving me nuts all day. With Dad home, I was teetering on an edge and about to fall off. The being human had lasted for a few hours. Because I wasn't one of those anymore either. I was stuck between two worlds, with one foot precariously set in each. I send out a silent plea to Peter and seconds later there was a knock on the door.

“Perfect timing,” I say when I open it. I smile at him, and then he says the worst words in the English language other than, “we need to talk.”

“We have a problem,” he says.

“Define problem,” I say.

“Ivan is here.”

“Define here.” A shadow steps from behind Peter.

“Hello again, darling.”

Oh.

Shit.

Peter

My natural inclination toward violence is multiplied tenfold when Ivan stands next to me. I'd briefly gone to meet Viktor to apprise him of our plan to visit Cal again.

We had taken a short run around the woods behind Ava's house only to find him waiting for us near the end of the driveway.

“Enjoy your run?” His face curled into a smile. It was a mystery how he managed it so easily.

“What are you doing here?”

He blinked. “I thought I would visit my brothers. What's wrong with that? We are family.”

“What do you want?” He laughed, throwing his head back. It infuriated me that he could laugh so easily and I could not.

“You know what I want.” I say nothing. “You took something from me. Something I can never get back. And I want you to pay for it.” I have heard the words so many times before they had ceased to have meaning.

“Destroying me won't bring her back.”

“I. Know. That.” He was on an edge and I kept bringing him closer. Ava's baiting had worn off on me. I was becoming more human. It seems to be in their nature to pick fights. Or perhaps I was finally expressing one of the most human of all emotions. Anger.