Succubus Happens

Chapter Three

The rest of the week passes without incident. I’m not sure what has been said about me throughout the school, but no one bothers me the way that I was bothered on my first day. I’m slowly getting used to the school, getting to and from my classes. People don’t bother me anymore, but they still watch. They’re always watching. Carter has been a godsend to me, being my only solace in this school. I shouldn’t depend on him as much as I do, or like the way it feels when he’s around, but I can’t help it. He makes me happy. I don’t even know what he wants from me. It could just be southern hospitality and maybe he’d act this way with anyone else who was new in town. I need to stop thinking about it as often as I do. It’s giving me a headache.

I show up at the game a few minutes before tip-off. Part of me thought about not showing up, but even if I’m nervous about going out to The Den with everyone, I can’t let my dad down. Mom is already here, sitting behind the team wearing a brand new North Grove basketball t-shirt and I make my way over to her. I opted to wear a green shirt to show my support for the team. I also chose to wear a skirt just in case tonight is a date. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but what does it hurt to want to look nice for myself once in a while?

Dad grins when he sees me. “Thanks for coming, kiddo,” he says, giving me a side hug.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Mom hugs me when I sit down and when she pulls back, she narrows her eyes at me, noticing my face. “What’s with the mascara?” she asks.

I blush under her scrutinizing gaze. “I was invited to go out with the team after the game.”

“Oh?” She sounds pleased. Really, genuinely pleased that I’m not going to be stuck in the house and that I’m making friends. “Do you know how late you’ll be?”

“No,” I say. “But if it gets to be too late, I’ll call.”

She pats my leg. “Okay honey,” she says. “I’m glad you’re making friends.”

I don’t tell her that it’s just the one friend. I look out onto the court and feel my insides burn when I see Carter staring in my direction. I turn around to see if there’s someone he’s looking at, when I turn back, he lifts his hand to wave at me.

Oh. He was looking at me. I feel a blush creep up my neck and I bite my lip, suppressing the grin that threatens to split my face in two. I brush my hair behind my ear and look down at my hands. I feel like if I keep eye contact with Carter any longer, I might spontaneously combust right here in the gym.

“Daphne.”

I look up and the butterflies start fluttering around in my stomach when I see Carter in front of me. “Hey,” I say, smiling shyly.

“You came.” He sounds breathless and the sound of his voice causes my skin to burn hotter. How is it possible that he elicits this type of reaction from me?

“Yeah,” I am unable to keep my eyes away from his face and his smile. “I said I’d be here.”

“You still coming tonight?” he asks.

I nod. My mom clears her throat and I am pulled from my trance and look at her. “Oh,” I say. “Mom, this is Carter Sinclair. One of dad’s secret weapons.”

He shakes her hand. “Ma’am,” he says, offering her a dazzling smile.

Oh jeez. I am so far out of my depth here.

“Good luck to you boys tonight,” My mom says.

“Thank you.”

“Carter! Get on the court!” my dad snaps at him.

Carter turns to look back at my dad and I see the back of his neck redden. “Gotta go,” he says, grinning at us.

“Carter?” My mom says.

He looks up at her, his eyes shifting to mine, nervously. Nervous! What does he have to be nervous about? “Ma’am?”

“Don’t keep her out too late, okay?”

The same dazzling smile is on his lips again. “Of course not,” he says. “See ya.”

I groan and put my head in my hands as he runs into the court. The sound of the whistle signals the start of the game and I look up at my mother. “Are you trying to embarrass me?”

“How was that embarrassing?” she asks me.

“Telling him not to keep me out late,” I say. “It’s not a date.”

“Well, how was I supposed to know that?”

“I think I would have told you if it were a date or not.”

“I saw the way he was looking at you, Daphne,” she says. “You may not think it’s a date, but he does.”

“Oh my god, no he doesn’t!” I hiss at her.

“Hi, Daphne!”

I stiffen at the sound of Natalie’s voice. She sits down next to me and leans over, holding out a hand to my mother. “Hi, you must be Mrs. Martin. I’m Natalie Monroe.”

My mom takes her hand. “It’s nice to meet you,” she says. “Are you two friends?”

I open my mouth to speak, to deny this claim, but Natalie interrupts me.

“Definitely!” Natalie says, her voice full of excitement and totally plastic. How could I have not picked up on her doll like qualities when I first met her? “We met on her first day. She’s been such a blessing to North Grove.”

“A blessing?” I repeat.

Even my mom looks surprised. “Really? And how’s that?”

I turn my attention back to the court, trying to tune out the conversation that is going on over me. I don’t know what game Natalie is playing, but I’d much rather concentrate on the one happening on the court. I have known for years that my dad is one of the best basketball coaches in the state, and why he takes jobs at small schools always amazes me, but when I see those five boys on the floor together working in perfect sync, I can’t move my eyes.

This is what Natalie meant the first day when she said that they were the basketball team. I can’t imagine anyone else on the court working like they do. I’ve seen a lot of teams play, but none have been this good. I understand Carter’s reaction when I asked him what happens if they lose. There is no possible way that they could lose, not moving the way that they do together.

“Daphne.”

My mom’s voice pulls me out of my transfixed state and I look over at her. “Yeah, sorry. What’s up?”

“If you wanted to stay out later tonight, Natalie offered to let you spend the night at her place.”

I look at Natalie who has a pleasant smile on her face. “Oh, no…” I say. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”

Mom nudges me and I wonder if that’s because she’s just so excited for me to have been invited to a slumber party. “You should go…it’ll be fun.”

I sigh. “Fine.”

Natalie squeals and I force a smile on my lips. “We’re going to have such a great time!”

“Yay.” I say shaking my fists like they’re pom-poms.

“I’ve gotta go check with some other girls, but I’ll see you tonight at The Den!” Natalie says. “It was so great to meet you, Mrs. Martin.”

“You, too.” Mom says with a smile.

When Natalie is gone, I let out the breath I had been holding since she showed up.

“She seems nice,” Mom says.

“Oh yeah,” I say offering her a smile. If she only knew the truth. “She’s a peach.”

I watch Natalie as she crosses to the other side of the gym and I notice that Alex is also watching her. She nods at him and he grins, turning his gaze to find me. My breath catches in my throat. I have no idea what they’re planning for me, but I can honestly say that I have never been as scared as I am right now. Is that crazy?

At halftime, I tell my mom that I’m going to get a snack, but instead I leave the building to catch my breath and try to relax. I need to get out of my head. The night air is warm outside, but given the fact that my blood has run cold, it’s a nice change. I close my eyes and lean against the brick building.

“Daphne?”

My eyes flash open and I see Carter standing in front of me. “What are you doing out here?” I ask him, shaking my head. “You should be in the locker room.”

“You looked scared and I wanted to come check on you.”

“I’m fine,” I tell him, placing a smile on my lips. “Totally fine.”

He takes a step toward me. “No, you’re not. Tell me what’s wrong.”

I shake my head. “I don’t want to ruin your game,” I tell him. “We can talk later.”

He narrows his eyes at me. “Daph…”

“I’m fine,” I repeat. “You guys are doing great.”

I put a smile on my lips before stepping forward and pressing them to his cheek. “See you after the game.”

I’m surprised I am able to walk away from him, when all that I want to do is tell him what happened back in the gym. But that would be selfish of me. I don’t want to distract him from his game. I may be scared, but I wouldn’t want to ruin his night. Especially when it could just be my imagination running wild on me. After a few moments I make it back into the gym and rejoin my mother. She’s so excited about the game that she doesn’t notice the expression on my face. Which is a great thing, because I don’t really feel like talking about it. Especially not here. And not with her.

☽

It’s no surprise that the North Grove Titans completely emasculate the other team with a margin of thirty-seven points. My father and mother will be celebrating tonight and I will be putting on a brave face as I try to interact with my newfound peers. I park about a block away from The Den, since there is no closer parking available. I didn’t realize that quite as many people would show up to celebrate the victory. Then again, I keep forgetting that North Grove basketball is the best thing this town has to offer. I could just drive home right now and tell my mom that I didn’t feel well and call it a night. I doubt with the amount of people that are at the diner that I will be missed. I don’t even have any friends…there is no one here who will miss me.

I take a much needed breath before getting out of my car and walking down the street toward the loud and busy diner. As expected, no one notices me when I walk through the door, they are all busy reliving the last shot made by Knox. There’s a loud cheer as I make it up to the counter and order a plate of fries.

“Daphne, you made it!”

I cringe inwardly and plaster a smile on my face to turn toward Natalie. I can’t let her know that she affects me quite as much as she does. “Hey!” I say.

“Have you seen Alex?” she asks, eying me curiously. “I think he may have been looking for you.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat. I’m sure he has. And for what, I don’t think I want to know the answer to that. “No,” I say. “I just got here, actually.”

“Well, I’ll keep a look out. He wanted to talk to you…privately!” she winks at me before disappearing into the crowd.

I am glad when I get my food so I can turn back and concentrate on that for the time being instead of what could be going on. I deliberately take my time finishing the plate of fries. By the time they’re all gone, no one since Natalie has come up to me. I glance up at the clock. Twenty minutes. I survived twenty minutes. That means I can sneak out now and no one will even know that I was here in the first place. I put down some cash on the counter before slipping through the crowd into the dark night that awaits me outside. I start the walk back toward my car when I hear Alex’s voice. There’s something different about the way he sounds. It’s more threatening than the last time I had talked to him and it sends chills down my spine.

“Where are you going?” Alex asks me, a slow grin adorning his features.

I swallow. “Home.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean?”

He takes a step toward me. “You’re not going anywhere.”

My heart starts to race and I look around for someone, anyone, to see what is going on. But there is no one. I take a step back, but Alex keeps coming toward me.

“What do you want from me?” I ask him. My back hits the side of the building and panic sets in. I have nowhere to go.

“You know what I want,” he says, running a hand down my arm.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask him, my voice is a whisper. I can’t speak any louder because I know that I won’t be able to keep my voice from shaking.

“Because you said no,” Alex says closing the space between us. His body is pressed up against mine and I feel like I’m going to be sick.

“Get off me,” I hiss at him.

“No,” he says, draping an arm around my waist. “Now I do quite like how that words sounds.”

He presses his lips to my neck and I shiver under his touch. I’m definitely going to be sick.

“Hey!”

We both turn in the direction of the voice and I use the distraction to knee Alex in the groin and deliver the right hook my dad’s been teaching me, directly to his head. I watch, with a small sense of pride, as he falls to the ground.

“Daphne!” I turn again and I see Carter running toward me. The look on his face is almost feral and I shrink away from him, scared.

His expression softens when he reaches me and he takes my hand. “Are you okay?” he asks, pulling me into his arms. I bury my face into his shoulder and pull away when his body starts to shake.

“Are you cold?” I ask him, curiously.

He stares at me. “You’re the one that’s shaking, Daph,” he smiles at me sadly before he turns his attention to Alex on the ground.

He hasn’t moved since I hit him, but Carter leans over to check if he’s conscious. He laughs as he straightens and looks at me. “You did quite a number on him,” he says. “I’m impressed.”

“Yeah, well,” I say, looking down at my hand. It’s turned red and I can feel the sting of pain all the way up my arm. “Can we go?”

The amusement is gone from his face. “Yes, definitely,” he shrugs off his jacket and drapes it over my shoulders. It smells like him and just the scent of him soothes my body in ways that I never thought possible. He takes my hand and leads me to a faded blue pickup truck.

“Where do you want to go?” Carter asks me once we’re inside.

I close my eyes and shake my head. “I don’t know,” I say. “I can’t go home.”

“Why not?”

“Because Natalie thought it would be a good idea to talk to my mother at the game.”

“What?” his voice is harsh again. I look at him out of the corner of my eye. He looks livid. “Why didn’t you tell me something was wrong when I asked you?”

“Because you needed to concentrate on the game,” I say. “I couldn’t let you be distracted by something that may not even mean anything.”

“You feel pretty stupid now, don’t you?” Carter snaps as he pulls onto the main street.

I feel heat rush onto my face and I turn to look out of the window. How can he be so sweet one second and then be like this the next? I swallow as I watch the lights of the town fade away in the background and we start to head into darker territory.

I lift my head and look at him. “Where are you taking me?”

“My family has a cabin out here,” he says. He’s calm again. “People rarely come out here, and I figured that you’d want to be somewhere away from people right now.”

“But not away from you,” I murmur, surprising even myself.

He glances at me and reaches over the console to take my hand. “I saw your car outside but I couldn’t find you inside,” he says. “Then I noticed that Alex was missing too so I went out to find you.”

“We didn’t go out together, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I tell him.

“No,” he says softly. “I wasn’t thinking that.”

“He came onto me,” I say. “He was so mad that I had turned him down, like it was the most outrageous thing to ever happen to him.” My breath catches in the throat, so I take a breath to try to keep myself from crying. “How is he allowed to get away with stuff like this?”

Carter squeezes my hand. “He isn’t,” he says. “He’ll deal with the consequences Monday morning.”

“Monday?” I repeat. “You’re not going to see him before then?”

He looks confused. “And leave you by yourself? Hell no.”

“Well, I can’t be at the cabin all weekend,” I say. “I don’t even have a change of clothes.”

He takes his hand away from me before turning down a street that I didn’t even see. “My sister has some clothes at the cabin that you can wear.”

“You have a sister?” I ask, incredulous. Surely this would have come up in gossip my first day.

“Yeah, her name’s Kate,” he says. “She’s off at college right now, but she comes home every other weekend.”

“She won’t mind?” I ask.

“Not once she hears about the circumstances,” he says. “Kate hates Alex more than anything.”

“That makes two of us.”

“Three.”

“Isn’t he your best friend?”

“He’s a part of my team,” he says. “Doesn’t mean that I have to like him.”

“But you guys get along so well when you’re on the court.”

“That’s when we’re playing,” Carter explains. “It’s a completely different world when we’re on the court.”

“Oh.”

“If he wasn’t out cold, I would have kicked his ass,” he says. “I still have half a mind to go back and finish the job.”

I reach out and squeeze his hand. “Please don’t.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

He kills the engine and turns to look at me. “You’re safe with me.”

And I believe him. For some reason that is unbeknownst to me, I without a doubt believe him. Even though I have just met him five days ago, I feel like Carter knows me better than anyone. And it terrifies me. The feeling completely overwhelms me, so I just nod and I follow him out of the truck to the cabin.

“Take a seat on the couch,” Carter says. “Let me get a fire going.”

I sit down on the couch and wrap my arms around myself and keep my eyes on him as tosses wood into the fireplace. “Why are you so nice to me?”

He turns back to look at me, curiously. “Why would you ask me something like that?”

“Because I’m genuinely curious.”

“Curious about why I’m being nice to you?”

“Especially when it seems like no one else at the school wants anything to do with me.”

“That’s partially Natalie’s fault.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” I ask. “How is it that she’s mad at me for turning down a guy that she’s still in love with and the rest of the school treats me like I’m contaminated or something?”

Carter doesn’t say anything for a few moments. I figure he’s not going to answer me, when he gets up from the ground and comes to sit next to me. He stares down at his hands and I can tell he’s nervous about something

“What is it?”

“Our town…it’s not like other places you’ve been through.”

“What are you talking about? What does that mean?”

He runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t even think I’m supposed to be saying anything to you.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you kidding?” I ask. “You can’t just lead into something like that and not say anything. Tell me. Please.”

Carter chews on his lip before turning to look at me. “Our town gets missed by a lot of people.”

“So I’ve noticed.”

He laughs and rubs the back of his neck. “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“Now you’re making me nervous. You take me to a secluded cabin in the middle of nowhere and now you’re calling yourself crazy? Things aren’t looking too good for me right now.”

“The city has what you would call an enchantment around it.”

I stare at him blankly. He’s got to be joking. “What.” It doesn’t even come out as a question, I’m so confused.

“We’re…how do I say this…?” Carter pauses. “The entire population of North Grove is strictly supernatural.”

“What?” Now I’m sure I’ve heard him incorrectly.

“Okay, that’s not actually right. Um, most of the population is supernatural.”

Laughter bubbles up inside of me. “You are crazy.”

“No one leaves North Grove because we’re safe here. Most humans can’t come into the town because of the enchantments. The only humans that can come through are the parents of a supernatural being.”

“Humans? Supernatural being?” I stand up and move toward the fire, and away from Carter. “Please tell me you’re drunk or high or something.”

“I can’t get high…or drunk. That’s a downfall of being a werewolf.”

I spin around and stare at him. I can’t even find the words to say anything to him. “I...you…hmmm.”

Carter grins at me. “Your dad came through town looking for a job and we were mighty surprised to find out that he was able to find us.” He comes over to me and leads me over to the couch again. I don’t even have it in me to stop him. I don’t have it in me to try to argue with what he’s even talking about right now. It both does and does not many sense. I don’t know what to believe. “We gave him the job, because it meant he had a kid who was like the rest of us. And we protect our own.”

I blink at him. “What…does that mean?” I ask.  “What does that mean I am?”

Carter shrugs at me. “Who knows? Werewolves are not the only creatures in North Grove.”

“How many are there?”

“You sure you wanna dive into that?”

I shake my head. “No,” I say. “But why are the students treating me like I’m a leper?”

“Because your parents are human.”

I’m offended at the thought. “So I’m not good enough or something? Is that what this is?”

“No, no,” Carter says. “I mean, that doesn’t matter to me.”

“But it matters to other people.”

“Some of them, yeah.”

“So this treatment isn’t going to go away?”

He shakes his head. “No.”

“And there’s nothing I can do?”

“What do you want to do?”

“Honestly? I feel like getting drunk. But apparently that is just not an option anymore,” I say blinking back tears.

“Hey,” Carter says softly, scooting closer to me on the couch and pulling me against him. “I know it’s a lot to take in, but you’ve gotta trust me. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Those words remind me of what had happened earlier tonight. And why I’m here in the first place. And now I suddenly know why the town is so freaking weird. I’m weird too. But just because I have answers, doesn’t mean I’m suddenly okay with all of the changes. There’s just too much to take in and I honestly don’t know how I’m supposed to handle going back to school on Monday morning. “What does he want with me?”

Carter stiffens. “It doesn’t matter,” he says. “He’s not getting it.”

I chose out a laugh. “What are you my bodyguard now?”

He presses his lips to the side of my head. “I’ll be whatever you need me to be, Daphne.”

“You don’t even know what I am.”

“You’re you, and right now, that’s all I care about.”