Read Online Specters: A Monster Squad Novel - 8 by Heath Stallcup - Free Book Online Page B

into her pocket. She continued to drive, panic rising in her heart as she considered the possibilities. If her father lost his mind because of the drug she brought him. Wait, did she just call it a ‘drug’? She laughed mockingly at herself. “I’m losing it.” It was no drug. Evan was right. It’s a curse. And she brought it upon her family herself. She snuck it out of the supply, sealed it in the case, and drove all the way here to give it to her father herself.
    Laura slowed the Jeep as tears stung her eyes, trails running down her cheeks. How could she have allowed herself to do such a thing? She loved her father. She was a daddy’s girl…and she felt like she’d turned on him. He was ready to give up. He was ready to pass on. To be with her mother in whatever afterlife there was, and she had swooped in with promises of a better way. Live forever, take little black pills to stave off the side-effects. Be strong again. Be healthy. Stay alive so that we can have you around, so that we don’t have to feel guilty for not spending as much time together as we could have when you were alive and healthy.
    She swiped at her eyes and had to slow the Jeep even more. The tears were pouring now and she was angry with herself. She brought the curse to her family home. Told her brother secrets that she swore she would never burden any of her family with. She did things that she had sworn she would never do. Had she crossed some unseen line in the sand between good and evil? Had the line between the two always been so blurred?
    She took her exit and turned toward her father’s house. She sniffed back the tears and tried to get a hold on herself as she closed the distance. She was a CIA operative at one time. She was the executive officer for the Monster Squad. Now she felt like a lost child trying to deal with the end of the world. Fear was her enemy, and it was winning.
    She hit the driveway to her family home and pulled the Jeep slowly up, her eyes looking for any sign that her dad had been through there. Surely he couldn’t have gotten this far? He had to still be back at the hospital somewhere. Maybe he stopped for a soda or something? She glanced in the rear view mirror and cringed. While she was here, she could at least try to freshen up. She didn’t want to look like this when she finally did find him.
    She parked the Jeep and went inside. She hit the bathroom first and splashed cold water on her face, praying the coolness would reduce the redness and swelling around her eyes. She looked up into the mirror and shook her head. “You look like shit, Youngblood.”
    She dried her face and stepped out of the bathroom, intent on grabbing a juice before hitting the road again. As she stepped into the kitchen her father stood in front of the sink sipping a cup of coffee. “About time you got home.”
    Laura froze, her mouth open. “How did you get here so fast?”
    He gave her a questioning look. “I took a cab. How else?” He held out a mug to her. “Coffee?”
    Laura all but collapsed in the chair at the counter. “Dad, we need to talk.”
     
    *****
     
    Kalen sat in the darkness, his eyes watching the light under his door. He watched a shadow pass by and pause. It appeared to him that it came closer to his door for just a moment then disappear entirely. He strained his ears and heard Brooke’s door close. He let out the breath he was holding and lay back on his bunk. His mind tried not to think of her, of what happened in the shower. He tried not to think of the ‘experience’ that he had.
    He tried not to wonder if she may have experienced the same thing. He couldn’t explain it. It wasn’t a dream this time. Both of them had been awake. Tired, battle worn, and possibly exhausted, but not asleep. How could they share a dream if they weren’t sleeping?
    He turned and faced the wall they shared. His hand rose instinctively and he pressed his palm flat to the wall. “I wish I could feel you,” his voice a