When the Dead Come a Knockin' Read online

  “I’m hoping to, but with the way things are going I might have to skip this year.” He whispered back.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. He sighed.

  “You remember that science project?” He asked, his hand starting to run up and down my back.

  “Yeah, for that scholarship,” I said. One of his hands moved around the back of my neck and rubbed the muscles there. I dropped my head to his chest instantly. He snickered.

  “There are some problems with it.” He said still massaging my neck. “I might have to can the whole thing and start over.” I made a moany noise to let him know I’d heard him. His fingers felt like magic. I focused on what he had said.

  “I’m sorry. I know you’ve been busting your ass on it.” I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t understand it enough to try and help him figure it out. I suddenly wished I was Miles. Or, Miles smart at least. I felt his lips on the back of my neck before his fingers let go. I looked back up at him. “I wish there was something I could do to help.” His warm eyes ran over my face as he gave me a small, sad smile.

  “Me too, Sunshine.” He pulled me close again and rested his forehead on mine as he danced with me. It wasn’t long before my cell vibrated. I pulled it out and checked.

  Ethan: Your turn. Game room, poker table.

  I sighed and looked up at Dylan.

  “I need to go take Isaac duty,” I grumbled. He raised an eyebrow. “Isaac picks fights when he’s drunk, so we watch for the signs then yank him out before it happens.” He shook his head and sighed. “Wanna come with?” He nodded. Before I could walk off, he pulled me back and kissed me. It was a hard, desperate kiss on the dance floor. It felt like our kiss the other night in the parking lot. Just reversed. My body filled with heat as his mouth kept moving on mine. I kissed him back, forgetting where we were. He didn’t, thankfully. He eased back and looked down at me. “Wow.” I was trying to get my thinking... thing... moving again after that kiss. He smiled and chuckled.

  “Just, needed to do that.” He whispered, leaning down and kissing my forehead. I smiled. Okay, boyfriend… amazing kisser. I loved kissing him. It took me a couple of minutes to get my wits back. I blinked hard and looked around.

  “Okay, um... yeah... Isaac duty... yeah…” I mumbled before turning away and heading through the crowd. Dylan kept hold of my hand laughing the whole way. We joined the poker game with Isaac. Dylan sat across from me throwing me these, flirty winks and smiles for the next hour. It kept making me smile. The guy was nuts. Or crazy about me. Was there really a difference anymore? I decided there wasn’t. I looked over and saw that Isaac had gone quiet. Not good.

  “Cookie Monster, go for a walk,” I said firmly as I reached for another card. Isaac looked up at me and met my eyes. I winked at him. He gave me a half grin and nodded. He got up and went to take that walk. Dylan raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged.

  “And if he didn’t go?” He asked smirking. I smiled.

  “Then it wouldn’t have been a suggestion,” I admitted unrepentantly. “I’d make him go, and the guys would be following,” Dylan smirked. I picked up my soda and found it empty.

  “I’m getting another soda. You want one?” I asked looking at him across the poker table.

  “Yeah, thanks Sunshine.” He gave me a warm smile that warmed me to my toes. Soda, definitely soda. No beer tonight, not a good idea. I got up and dropped the cans into the trash then went to the big cooler across the room. I pulled out the sodas and was heading back when some guy stepped out of a group of people into my path. I went to walk around, and he moved with me. I looked up smiling, thinking it was an accident. He had short cropped black hair and brown eyes; that was all I got before he leaned in closer to my face until I could smell the tequila on his breath.

  “Hey, fire crotch.” His words were slurred, but I heard the fucker. My temper flashed. I pulled back instantly wanting blood. I dropped the cans, balled my fist, reached back and clocked the bastard across the face. He went down hard. I wasn’t done yet. That fucker was never going to say that to me again. I walked over to him still on the ground, and I kept punching my fist into his face until I heard his nose break. I saw red. I still wasn’t done. A big hand grabbed my arm and spun me around. I felt a big shoulder in my stomach, and suddenly I was upside down. A big hand was on the back of my knee keeping me on his shoulder. I smelled leather and engine grease.

  “Zeke! Put me down! I’m gonna kill that fucker!” I shouted, I started smacking his back and tried kicking to get him to let me go. He didn’t even bother answering me. “I’m going to break that fucker’s balls!” I shouted pushing myself up on his back to see the others following. Dylan was checking on the asshole I’d hit.

  “Ally, calm down until we get you outside,” Asher called to me. I flipped him off. The guys laughed. Oh, laugh it up shit heads, wait till I’m on the ground again.

  “Put me the fuck down Zeke!” I started hitting him in the back with my fist; I wasn’t managing to get much momentum. He didn’t seem to feel it at all. The air got cold as Zeke strode outside I stopped fighting and just hung there. There was no point the shit head was too strong for me. Isaac joined the others as they followed. When we were almost across the lawn to the cars, he finally put me down. I immediately tried to go back inside. But the guys had spread out in a line to keep me from getting past them. So, I paced fuming. Riley was watching from the front porch. I was shaking I was so pissed off.

  “What did he do, Lexie?” Zeke barked at me. I was so angry I answered without thinking.

  “He called me fire crotch.” I snapped. Zeke’s face grew hard, his eyes darkening. He turned and headed back towards the house, furious. Oh no! If I didn’t get to kill him, Zeke sure as hell wasn’t going to get to.

  “Riley! Stop him!” I shouted.

  “How?” Riley asked moving to the porch stairs.

  “Block him! Grab him! Fuck, kiss him! He’s not going to hurt you!” Zeke had reached the porch. Riley stepped in front of him. Zeke tried to go left; she went left. He tried right; she went right. He glared down at her. She smiled. Zeke’s jaw was still clenched when he looked over at me.

  “You fucking cheat Lexie!” Zeke shouted.

  “No shit!” I shot back sarcastically. “If I don’t get to kick his ass then you sure as hell don’t!”

  Dylan walked out of the house his face dark as he passed Zeke and Riley. His eyes were on me as he crossed the lawn. When he got here, the others backed off.

  “You got her?” Ethan asked. Dylan nodded, his jaw clenching. The guys went back in the house; they wouldn’t go far. When they were out of sight, Dylan turned back to me, his face furious. What the...?

  “What the hell, Lexie?” He all but shouted at me. “You broke that guy's nose.”

  “He called me fire crotch.” I shot back. His face went blank.

  “He did?” I nodded. His face relaxed, his eyes were still storming.

  “Yeah, that’s why I hit him.” I pointed out sarcastically. I stopped pacing and pulled on my coat the guys had brought with them. I needed to stay outside till my temper cooled off.

  “Good.” He sighed sounding tired. “Alright Sunshine, let’s get out of here.” I nodded. He took my hand and headed back through the cars to his truck. While we were waiting for the truck to warm up, I texted the guys letting them know Dylan was taking me home. The drive back to Asher’s was quiet, though Dylan kept hold of my hand the whole way. I was too busy feeling the bruises on my knuckles to talk. My fucking right hand hurt. Dylan pulled up to Asher’s and shut off the truck. He was still quiet as we went up to the door. Hades was already barking at me. I smiled. That was my fierce little baby.

  “You’ll finally get to meet Hades.” I smiled as I unlocked the door.

  “That’d be nice.” Dylan sounded distracted. Probably worrying about the drive home. I opened the door, and my black ball of love scrambled to me and jumped up to rest his paws on my knees.

  “Hey, baby,” I sai
d sweetly to him as I bent down to pick him up. He went sniff crazy on my face. Can dogs tell if you’ve been kissing someone? I stepped further into the house and turned on the lights. Dylan followed me into the living room. I held Hades against my chest and turned toward Dylan. “Hades, this is Dylan. Don’t lick him to death.” Dylan snorted as he looked at my ball of love.

  “What breed is he?” He asked smiling as he reached out and petted Hades’ head.

  “Neapolitan Mastiff,” I answered. Dylan stopped petting Hades to look at me with a raised eyebrow. “Apparently, he’s going to outweigh me. But Zeke’s going to help me train him, so he’ll listen when he’s that big.” Hades whined. “And he needs to go out. Give me a minute.”

  “No problem.” Dylan still sounded distracted, I put it out of my mind and took Hades out back to do his business. When he was done, he started jumping into little piles of snow and dug until they were destroyed then he would move onto another pile. I was laughing as I brought him back into the house. I put him down in the kitchen, and he ran to his food bowl. I headed back to the foyer and started taking off my jacket.

  “That little bugger apparently hates snow piles. He destroyed three of them and was going for more.” I said over my shoulder as I put my jacket on the banister as usual.

  “Oh, yeah?” Dylan said absently. I walked back into the living room to find him pacing.

  “Yeah,” I narrowed my eyes at him. His face was pale. “Are you okay?” He stopped pacing to look at me.

  “Lexie, this isn’t working.” I went still. Did he just say…?

  “What?” My heart was already aching, but I just needed to be sure I heard him right. Because this was a hit, I didn’t see coming.

  “The fucking distance is too much, the driving and never seeing each other.” He started rambling. I looked at him as my heart clenched tight. He was breaking up with me? He wouldn’t look at me as he explained how we would never see each other when school started anyway so we might as well end it now. It felt like I’d been kicked in the chest. I wrapped my arms around my stomach as if that was going to fucking help. Thankfully by the time he was done with that speech I was pissed. Otherwise I would have been crying.

  “Bullshit,” I called him on it. He finally looked at me again. My eyes were filling anyway. Fuck! “This isn’t about distance. It’s about what happened at the bowling alley. My seizures.” I took a shaky breath as I watched him struggle with how to answer that. I didn’t let him. He spoke, now it was my turn. “You saw how bad they could get. And you flipped the fuck out. Right?” I felt a tear roll down my face, but I didn’t look away from him. “Tell me I’m wrong, and I’ll believe you.” I refused to look away.

  “You're not wrong.” His voice was quiet. I took a breath through the tightness in my chest. “You just have a lot of problems, Lexie and I can’t take care of you all the time. I’ve got my own shit going on at home.” That felt like a kick to the gut. I nodded.

  “I get it.” My voice cracked. Fuck. I was so pissed at him; he fucking kept telling me he wasn’t going to leave. He kept telling me he was staying. And I had fucking started believing him. And now, one messy thing happens, and he’s out the fucking door. I took a breath. “Why did you even come down tonight? You could have fucking told me this on the phone?” He swallowed hard.

  “I wanted one more good memory, before….” His voice was thick now. Like he had something to be fucking upset about. Anger burned through me.

  “Well, thank you, for fucking with me all night so you could have a good fucking memory!” I snapped at him. I couldn’t fucking believe this. “I just spent all night thinking we were fine, and that I was fal-.” I stopped myself. No, he didn’t get to hear that. I looked at him again. His face was pained, drawn. “And you were already gone.” His throated worked hard as he swallowed. He looked at the foyer over my shoulder.

  “It doesn’t mean I don’t care about yo-”

  “That’s exactly what it means Dylan,” I told him, my voice almost calm. But inside I was raging. “You're breaking up with me because I have seizures.” I scoffed. “And if that is all it took for you to stop caring about me this much, then fuck off.” I felt another tear fall, and this time he saw it. He stepped closer, the lines on his face becoming deeper.

  “Sunshine-”

  “Don’t you fucking dare,” I growled at him. He closed his eyes then looked down at the floor. He started taking deep breaths. “Don’t ever fucking call me that again.” I stepped away from him and wiped my face. He needed to leave, and he seemed to know it. He was walking by me out to the foyer when he stopped by me.

  “I’m sorry Su... Lexie.” He whispered softly, his voice thick. Why was he fucking upset? He was the one doing this. He probably just realized he hurt me. Dylan wasn’t unfeeling... just an asshole.

  “Drive safe,” I muttered looking down at the wood floor. He closed the front door behind him. I kept it together until I heard his truck drive off. I gasped as the pain hit full force. My chest felt like it was on fire, and my stomach was rolling so much I thought I was going to puke. Tears fell down my face, and I couldn’t seem to stop them. I sat down on the couch. I just needed a couple of minutes to... I pulled my tissues out and blew my nose. I struggled to get myself under control. That fucking asshole. He lied to me! He said he’d be there for me. Then to come down here and fucking... pretend all night that things were fine. Then bam. He dumped me, just like that. I snorted. How could someone fucking do that to another person? No wonder he fucking kissed me that way when he first saw me. And every fucking chance he had tonight. He knew he wasn’t going to get another one. I pushed the pain back, yeah, I was going to have to deal with it but not here. Not now. Right now, I had to go upstairs and work on the link to the Veil. As always, the fucking dead took priority. I sat there until I had control of myself again. It took some time. It wasn’t a lot of control, but it was what I had.

  I picked up Hades and headed upstairs. Tonight, I decided just to cut out the middleman and work in the bathroom. No point in going to Asher’s room. I was just going to end up in here anyway. I snorted. I always do. I set Hades down and leaned against the tub. I took a breath, closed my eyes and dropped to my center.

  It was quick and easy; I was on the white sandy plain and under that golden sky almost immediately. I looked around at the empty sand. Yeah. That felt about right. I snorted then thought about the Veil. I was whisked to the edge of my center; the link I was building and the open field of stars. It was beautiful. I walked the bridge till I reached the end of what I had managed. I had a good thirty feet to go. Well, with the way I felt tonight, I didn’t give a fuck. I pressed my palms together and pushed against the fabric of the world. Pain tore through me as I pushed, every nerve burning. I growled through my teeth. Today was not the day to fuck with me. I kept moving ignoring the knives dragging along my nerves. I just pushed and pushed. I couldn’t help but think about Dylan and the way he left me. The fucking fake he’d been all night. The lies I believed. It helped me keep going. I passed my usual stopping point; then I passed my next. I was a few feet further when I got dizzy. I stopped pushing. I felt the wetness on my face and knew I had a bloody nose in the real world. Like always. Didn’t fucking matter, I looked out over the distance I had left. I had covered a third of the distance left. I had to stop. I closed my eyes and focused. I went back and up.

  I opened my eyes, and the world spun. I would have closed them, but my stomach lurched. I moved to the toilet and was sick, again and again. I held my own hair back as I emptied everything I had and destroyed any desire to eat ever again. My body felt like it had exploded, my vision was fading in and out with my pulse. When I was done puking, I tried to sit up. But the room tilted, and I was back on the tile. Fuck. It felt like the world was on a boat in rough seas. It kept rising, dropping, throwing me from side to side. I closed my eyes and reached for the toilet paper. Took me a few tries. The cold tile felt good against my cheek, so I just stayed there. No point in
getting up right now. I couldn’t. I just laid there waiting till my nose stopped bleeding. When it was done, I figured I should get up. I could do this on my own after all, right? I snickered at myself as I sat up and the world spun like a tilt-a-whirl. I held on to the tub and waited for it to stop. It didn’t. It kept spinning. Of fucking course. I tried to get to my feet. The world gave a lurch, and I hit the tile again. Fuck it. I gave up. I stretched out on the tile enjoying the cold against my face. I’ll just stay here and die. Then everyone's problems would be solved. My head kept throbbing; I could hear my pulse in my ears. Stupid fucking Lexie, can’t even get your ass to the next room without help. This Necromancy shit was just going to keep coming and coming. It was never going to go away. It was going to drag me down, and I was going to take the boys with me. I felt tears falling and didn’t give a shit. They had to fucking sleep next to me so that I can sleep. You broken shit! I’ve taken over their lives. I felt something wet on my face. I opened my eyes to the tilting and spinning world to find Hades licking my forehead. I smiled. I’ll probably destroy your life too. I closed my eyes again.

  Too many problems. I snorted and immediately regretted it. My face felt like I took a hit, at least my nose didn’t start bleeding again. Dylan was right. I did have too many fucking issues. My temper and tendency towards violence alone were hard to take. Add in the other bullshit…. No one could handle that shit. Not all the time. It was too much. The guys had to juggle me already. I needed to stop letting them. They needed to stop babysitting me… They needed to enjoy their lives. I didn’t have much time left anyway. Every woman in my family had died before they were thirty. The dead just took over their lives. They either went out being jumped or committing suicide. Claire hadn't been the first, but she’ll be the last. No kids for me. I gave a sick twisted laugh that echoed off the tile and bounced around the walls. I couldn’t even have that. Why the fuck was I bothering with anything? I’m seventeen and half my life was gone. I didn’t stop laughing. I became light headed. That was probably a bad thing, but right now I didn’t give a fuck. I just laid on the floor in pain, and for the first time in my life, I didn’t care if anyone found me or not. I needed to let the guys go. I had to let them go... for them... It was better if I was alone... the guys wouldn’t get hurt. They could go back to their regularly scheduled lives. I giggled at that. Regularly scheduled... hehe... normal. They could have normal. While I laid there for however long, it was, I ran dark circles in my head.