The Shelf (Dead-End Ave) Page 9

  He was always so serious, she mused. You could never know exactly what was going on in Korey Parsons’s head. Bri felt a tiny pang of regret that the evening was over. If she was going to be honest with herself, she had to admit that on the way home, she’d been fantasizing that Korey was her boyfriend. Dropping her home after a romantic night. In his smooth, convertible, sporty jeep.

  Dream on, Bri, dream on. Disgusted with herself, she pushed those wistful thoughts away. It was time to go. Reluctantly, Bri placed her hand on the door handle and turned to face him. “Korey, thanks again….” Why did she feel so disappointed to be leaving him?

  Bri stared ahead at the quiet house, where her parents were inside, supposedly sleeping. Not that they would still be sleeping if they were awakened by Korey idling motor.

  Her eyes roved to the dark street behind Korey’s head. There was another problem facing her. Getting back into her house without her parents finding out. There was no way that she could go back up the tree that she scaled. The only other option was to use the front door, which always squeaked annoyingly when pushed open.

  If either one of her parents heard the squeaking door, and her father probably would, then they would also hear the purr of Korey’s engine. Looking out the window, her father would clearly see that it was neither Shanice nor Deanna bringing her home at…

  Bri checked her watch.

  ….four-thirty in the morning. Oh, she was SO grounded!

  “You have a dog, Bri?”

  “Huh? Uh….what?” Bri snapped back to reality. “Um, yea, I do,” she said absently.

  Korey raised one brow. “I think he’s outside.”

  She shook her head. “No way. It’s too late for that. Mr. Pups is always inside by seven pm. Right about now, he’s probably curled up tight in his basket in the kitchen.”

  “Hhmm.” Distractedly, Korey motioned to her house. “You might to take a glance up there and tell me if one of those is Mr. Pups.”

  Following his arm, Bri’s jaw dropped as she saw two, enormous, slobbering creatures with bright red eyes on her lawn. The creatures were truly hideous, with huge gaping mouths that could swallow a normal dog sideways, just in a single gulp. Providing, of course, the monsters could swallow anything past the several rows of spiky, glistening teeth. The skin covering their oversized heads was as smooth as a baby’s bottom, yet gross because of it. Stretched too tight, the sleek, alabaster skin looked unnatural, unearthly. At the shoulder, both demon dogs stood tall, almost reaching Bri’s own height. And they saw her, clearly, because suddenly they were racing forward toward the jeep, and she remembered that the top on the jeep was down.

  “What are those things?” she gasped.

  “Guessing not your dog,” Korey muttered.

  “Drive!” she screamed, slapping at Korey’s hand on the gear. He was already trying to put the car in reverse, but for some reason, the car seemed to be frozen in place. A familiar chill settled over Bri and her mind gibbered.

  ‘Not him…not that thing again…,’

  “Oh no,” she whimpered. “Korey…,”

  “I’m trying, I’m trying,” he muttered impatiently, slamming his foot repeatedly against the gas. Nothing was happening, and the demon dogs were growing closer and closer. They were going to die, Bri just knew.

  With not a moment to spare, the jeep leapt forward, the built-up fuel surge giving them an edge. They raced forward, up the street, taking a corner, Bri swore, on two wheels. Stupidly, she tossed a glance back at her pursuers, to find the ugly demon-dogs hot on their trails. If anything, they seemed to be gaining as she watched in dismay.

  One dog leapt and Bri screamed. “Punch it!”

  “Say that again and you’re driving!” Korey yelled over the rush of wind from the open top. The creature sailed through the air and with its huge, yellowed teeth, seized the roll bars of the jeep. Saliva, dripping from its mouth, sizzled through the back seats like acid.

  Hastily, Bri grabbed a backpack sitting on the backseat and swung with all her might at the creature. Over and over, she beat the thing. Just when she thought that it was to no avail, and they would soon be chow, the massive jaws loosened and the dog bounced across the street, its huge bulk slamming into a light post.

  The Jeep kept speeding, leaving the strange animal lying stunned in their wake. Soon, they couldn’t see any of the creatures in the rearview mirror, and Bri was still astounded that they’d even managed to escape. Until she thought about the fact that Rikgso had left his little pets waiting for her. At her house.

  ‘He knows where I live.’

  An apprehensive coldness ran through her.

  “Where are we going?” she called, over the noise of rushing air.

  “My place. The last time I checked, I didn’t have anything like those monsters in the neighborhood.”

  Silence filled the vehicle for the rest of the drive. Finally, they were turning into a neighborhood several blocks away from Dead-End Avenue, and she was relieved. The most distance she could put between herself and those things, the better. They swung into a garage, Korey tossed a remote in her lap, and she jumped up to close the door as he cut the engine. They were in relative safety for now.

  Korey turned to her with his penetrating gaze. “It’s past time for you to start telling me what’s up.”

  CHAPTER

  15

  Korey paused before he unlocked the door. “Be quiet. My dad is sleeping.”

  Bri nodded, wondering if she would live long enough to meet Korey’s family. She wouldn’t mind doing so; not that she and Korey were together or anything, but still. At least, meeting someone in his family would be a good sign.

  She followed him down a hall, past a closed door. Korey put his fingers to his lips and motioned her silent as they went by. The next door was his room and he shut the door behind them. Moving silently to the open window, he quickly drew the curtains closed and Bri took that as an okay to turn the light on.

  Her stomach rumbled, and embarrassed, she clapped one hand over it.

  Korey smiled and in a low voice, said, “Missed dinner?”

  ‘Hey, monsters coming after you is enough to make anyone forget to eat.’ But aloud, all she said was, “Kind of.”

  He stood. “I’ll get you something. What do you like?”

  “Oh, it’s okay,” she said quickly. “I’m fine.”

  “Well, like I said, my dad is asleep in the next room and I sure don’t want him to wake up with all the rumbling your stomach’s doing. It’s best we let him sleep, so it’s best that I feed you. Wait here.”

  He started to leave the room, but Bri stopped him with one hand. “In a little while. Ok?” Why was Korey so concerned about not waking his father up? Yes, it was a little late for visitors, but usually guys didn’t worry about things like that. Of course, guys were usually pre-occupied with getting their guests naked, but that so wasn’t an issue here.

  Still glancing around his room, Bri wondered who else was in the house. “Will your parents mind you having guests over this late?”

  “My dad and step-mom, you mean. And yeah, probably.”

  “Oh.” She wasn’t sure if she should ask, but did anyway. “What about your real mom?” Not at all what she should be focused on at the moment, but she was curious about his personal life.

  “My parents are divorced and originally my sisters and I used to live with my mom. That all changed when my mother got a boyfriend that couldn’t stand my guts. Believe me, the feeling was mutual. My dad had just moved out here. So I moved out here to live with him instead.” Head down as he relayed his story, Korey busied himself with taking off his shoes.

  “What about your sisters?”

  “They still live with Mom and that idiot.”

  Bri smiled at his wording. “So does it suck, having to move in the middle of the school year?” It felt nice, just kicking back and talking, even in the midst of the danger she faced.

  Korey stretched out on his bed. “Not really. M
y dad’s an archaeologist. Both my parents are, actually. No matter what parent you’re with, moving is inevitable. It was worse when they were together, too.”

  “Oh.” She paused, thinking about his words, and Korey kept silent. He was waiting for her to tell her story and she knew it. She just wasn’t sure where to start. “What happened tonight-,”

  ‘-was unbelievable, I know. And Korey, you’re going to think I’m nuts, if you don’t already.’

  Shaking her head, she dropped her gaze to her lap. “You won’t believe me if I tell you,” she mumbled in a low voice.

  “Bri, just trust me. Whatever it is, I’ll listen and I’ll believe you, if you tell me.”

  His eyes met hers, and in them, she saw honesty and openness. A tired sigh escaped her throat. “All right. Those things that were chasing us belong to ….a demon.” Glancing at him quickly, she waited for a snort, or a roll of the eyes, or something. Korey didn’t do any of that. He just waited for her to continue. So she did.

  “The thing is, this demon wants to kill me. Like, literally, actually kill me.” Here, her voice dropped to a whisper. “I saw him take out my heart. I mean, it was magic or just some kind of crazy scare tactic, but still…..,” she sighed. “He murdered my best friend Aeryal.”

  “Why?” Korey’s voice was sharp.

  “Why did he murder her? I honestly don’t know. Days before she died, she said something about being afraid to die. Really, I don’t know how she knew it would happen, but she did. Things had been happening to her, bad things. With the last attack, she was in the hospital for months. Plus, I’ve been having dreams.”

  Now an amused smile stretched across his face. “Everyone has dreams, Bri. I had one last night, in fact. It was about a girl named Bri who was mean to me the very first time that I met her.”

  “I wasn’t mean to you,” she snapped, glaring at his smug face. “You were meant to me!”

  Grabbing the hand that pointed an angry finger at him, Korey laughed. Lowering her hand to the bed, he winked. “I’m kidding with you, Bri. Just trying to lighten the mood, you know? Get you to not look so serious for a change. Tell me about the dreams.”

  But he didn’t release her hand; in fact, he kept their twined fingers resting lightly on his thigh as she continued.

  “Anyway, so somehow, Aeryal’s family is part of a curse and when she and I swapped our blood, I became part of her family. Her blood sister. He told me that I belong to him now, and that he’s going to kill me. And I believe him because Aeryal’s dead. Also, ‘cause really, I know that it was a silly magical illusion to frighten me, but seeing him holding my heart was the worst thing that I’ve ever seen. Any demon that can plant that image in a person’s head is worth being afraid of.”

  Tapping her knuckles lightly as he thought, Korey didn’t even seem to remember that he held her hand. Bri did, though; it was the most nerve-wracking feeling: tender, exciting, and awkward, all rolled into one.

  “Do you think that he wants the same thing from you as from Aeryal? Don’t sound so.”

  With a frown, she just studied him. “Why not? What does he want? Just to murder Aeryal’s family. That’s what he’s doing. That’s what he told me he would do to me, too.”

  Turning her arm over gently so that the demon brands were on full display, Korey ran his fingers lightly over the raised skin. “When did these appear?”

  Bri couldn’t guess how he knew that the markings had to do with her strange story, but she didn’t deny it. It felt good to get it all off of her chest. “The first night that I saw the demon. Aeryal had them, too. I don’t know what they mean or anything, they just appeared one day, and since then, have gotten bigger and bigger.”

  As she finished her story, Korey said nothing, just released her hand and stood. She gave him a strange look as he approached her silently. Then he knelt, without a word, and placed his ear against her chest.

  Bri almost shrieked as his warm skin touched hers. Every nerve-ending in her body snapped at his nearness and she prayed that he wouldn’t recoil and ask her why her heart was suddenly doing 200 beats a minute.

  “What are you listening too?” she finally found her voice to ask.

  “Nothing.” He stood. “Literally.”

  “Huh?”

  Korey eased himself down on the bed next to her. “Your heart isn’t there, Bri. There is nothing beating in your chest.”

  She froze in the middle of a full-body stretch. “Wh-what?”

  “It’s true.”

  And it was just like that, with those two simple words, everything broke. All of the pent-up stress and terror rushed at her, crippling her. Anxiety flooded her brain and Bri sagged, bone-weary of it all. She would have, in fact, slid all the way to floor, if not for two strong arms that pulled her against a muscular chest.

  “It’s okay,” Korey murmured. “You’re going to be okay.”

  Tears broke the surface and streamed down her face, even as she shook her head angrily. To his shirted chest, she mumbled, “No. It’s not. How could it ever be okay again?”

  The vibrations beneath her ear as he spoke were a calming sensation. “It will be okay, Bri,” he repeatedly firmly. “I promise.” His arms tightened around her and Bri just snuggled there for a while, heart pounding.

  In the midst of everything she was facing, she wondered if he could tell how attracted she was to him. Because she was. And standing there, in the dim light of his bedroom, in his arms, was playing havoc with her emotions.

  ‘You’re going to die, Bri. A demon already stole your heart. Your life is so messed up already, don’t even think for one second that he likes you like that.’ The harsh mental check was exactly what she needed right then. With a sigh, she pushed away from the safety of his arms.

  She was certain that she was imagining his slight hesitation to let her go.

  “So,” she rubbed her palms on her jeans nervously, “missing heart aside, what to do next?”

  Korey’s eyes followed her movement and for a few seconds he said nothing. The weight of his stare unnerved her and Bri shifted.

  “Korey, you with me?”

  As if nothing had just happened between them, he started talking, expression as serious as ever. “In the morning, we need to check some things out. At the Regional Department of Ancient Studies, there are artifacts and texts that deal with demons and curses, especially those that pass down through family lines.”

  In astonishment, she stared. “Those kinds of things actually exist? I mean, departments that study curses?”

  His shrug was carefully executed. “You’d be surprised what archaeologists get into.”

  ‘Clearly,’ she thought, still surprised, but she just raised her brows and said nothing.

  “Until then, we get some rest.”

  Honestly, she hadn’t thought of it until just then, but she was exhausted and it would be great to just fall into bed and snuggle under the covers…..

  A slow smile spread across his face as Korey seemed to notice the long glance she took around the room. Now she was really feeling the press of the heavy curtains shutting them in the room together. And he’d already said that his siblings didn’t live with him, so there was no chance that he had an extra bed tucked away in the closet. The space between her shoulder blades hurt and Bri wished for the soft release into comfy sheets. But it was Korey’s bedroom, and Korey’s bed, and she couldn’t ask him to let her have the bed, and it wasn’t like them sharing was even an option and…..

  Her dilemma was solved as she noticed what he was doing. Having already dragged a pillow and comforter from the bed, Korey was spreading them out on the floor below the bed. “Here. I’ll sleep down here, you take the bed.”

  Now Bri felt guilty. “No, you don’t have t-,”

  His gaze stopped her. “Unless you want to share the bed? Personally, I don’t have a problem with it,” and here, he flashed a full-blown gorgeous smile, “but I’m pretty sure that you do. Sooo, if I were you, I would jus
t take the bed and not worry about it.”

  ‘When he puts it like that….’ All she could do was crawl under the sheet he’d left and settle herself on the pillow. Korey’s pillow. Taking a deep inhale of it, she tried to commit his scent to memory. It was the first time that she had ever been in a guy’s bed, and she wanted to remember the moment, even if he wasn’t in it at the time. Lying there, Bri couldn’t help remembering the ‘girls’ night’ at Shanice’s house. Chas and Shanice, Deanna and Rob.

  ‘God, I’m such a lame,’ swam through her head. There was no way either of her friends would have passed up the chance to sleep with Korey, if they were in her shoes. Yet Bri did. She twisted again, trying to get comfortable. It was tough with the tight jeans and tank that she had worn tonight. Every time she turned, a waistband or shoulder strap cut in somewhere. If only she could change….