The Silver Soldier

XXIII

I wasn't out for long, I know that. But by the time I'm conscious enough for my senses to start working, I immediately hear voices.

Laura and Juliette.

"My parents will find you."

"I'm counting on it." I can almost hear the amusement in Laura's voice. "Do you know how many bullets it takes to kill a dog?" She asks with a grin. "One. Right here." She taps Juliette's forehead.

"You're sick." Juliette grits her teeth.

Laura ignores her comment. "From what I've heard, your kind isn't so different. You're just an oversized mutt." I feel Laura's attention shift to me, she tilts her head. "Is he one of you too?"

Juliette doesn't answer.

But Laura knows how to read people. She smirks. "I take it back. He's too cute to be supernatural." A pause. "Does he even know what you are?"

Again, Juliette stays silent.

"I guess I'll just have to wake him up and see."

Juliette is about to argue when I feel cold water hit my face. I play along, letting my eyes shoot open as I gasp for air. My breathing is heavy as I slump against the restraints, my hair dripping wet. I raise my head, flicking the hair out of my face. I first look at Laura, glaring at her as if to say that was uncalled for. Then I glance at Juliette.

Her eyes are wide. Scared, even.

"Juliette, what-" I pretend to be equally as scared, looking from her to Laura as if I don't recognize the latter of the two. I also pretend to not notice the way Laura is looking at me. There is lust in her eyes. Desire. She just wants to get under Juliette's skin.

And it's working.

I can sense Juliette's blood pressure rising.

"Well, aren't you a pretty little thing." Laura comes closer to me, I can tell she's enjoying this. She knows I always hated when she said stuff like that. But she does it all the time just to make me mad. But right now, she isn't doing it for me. All she wants is to make Juliette jealous.

Laura steps closer to me, Juliette fights the restraints. "Stay away from him you bitch."

I look Laura directly in the eyes before turning my head away, acting exactly how Juliette would expect me to. For the second time today, Laura uses her fingers to guide my chin back to face her. "And what's your name?" I glance at Juliette before Laura grips my chin tighter, a warning. I wince. "Look at me." She mocks what I had said to her earlier. "Answer the question."

"Cole." I manage. "My name is Cole."

"Good." She smiles, one of those smiles that would scare the shit out of anyone other than me. "Now Cole, do you believe in monsters?"

At that, I pause. After a moment of thought, I shake my head.

Laura laughs, looking over at Juliette. I do the same, finding her staring back at us, almost nervous. She shakes her head at Laura, silently pleading. Obviously, Laura doesn't listen. "Monsters are tricky creatures, Cole." She says. "You can never tell the difference between them and us until it's too late." She straightens, walking back over to Juliette. "You see, they look like us, they act like us... Hell, they even talk like us. But there is always one way you can tell."

Juliette is no longer looking at me.

Her heart is beating too fast.

Laura takes a fist-full of Juliette's loose hair, tugging her head back. "All you have to do is make them angry." She lets go, I listen to Juliette actively try to calm herself. But she fails to keep her pulse down as Laura walks back over to me. I flinch away as Laura brushes her hand along my cheek, her calluses tracing my skin. She runs her fingers through my hair, an action she has done many times before.

Well, this is one way to make Juliette mad.

But not mad enough to shift.

And Laura realizes that, which is why she doesn't hesitate to press her lips to mine.

The kiss shocks me, I hadn't expected it. I didn't think Laura would go this far to get back at me. I do anything to stop her. I also don't want to look as though I'm kissing her back - not in front of Juliette.

Laura pulls away, grinning as she wipes her lips with the back of her hand.

The restraints must not have been tight enough, because within the next few seconds, Juliette has Laura pinned against the blackboard. Her claws are on Laura's throat, teeth bared. But Laura expected it. The blade of her knife is pressed to Juliette's neck, hard enough to draw a line of blood.

"There she is." Laura sneers, pushing herself off the wall and forcing Juliette backwards with the blade. Juliette seems to knows what's good for her, because she doesn't resist. And she shouldn't, not unless she wants to die on the floor of our chemistry classroom. "Sit back down and stay down. Understand?"

It is only then that Juliette seems to realize that she shifted, and that I saw her do it. She goes pale, staring up at Laura with hate instead of looking over at me. Her blood is boiling, both in regret and anger. She won't meet my gaze, and I'm guessing she will avoid doing so unless she has no other choice.

Just then, I hear a door on the other side of the school shut. So does Juliette and Laura.

"Dad! Dad I'm here!" Juliette screams, Laura doesn't stop her from calling out. She stands back, arms crossed with a smug look on her face. Two pairs of footsteps run towards the classroom, Juliette's parents. They stop at the open doorway, but they don't come in. They can't.

Michael Horivan reaches out, pressing his hand against the mountain ash barrier. He looks slightly annoyed, mostly worried. "It's okay, Jules, Everything is going to be alright. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Agent Horivan." A different voice says. I instantly recognize it.

That fucking bastard.

Laura doesn't seem shocked. I don't know how she was the only one to know someone else besides the Horivan's was in that hallway. With four supernatural beings, it should have been impossible for someone to come within a hundred feet of the school without us knowing. But, apparently not.

I don't have to see the boy to know who he is.

He has my old baseball bat.

Mrs. Horivan is the first to go, she hits the ground hard after being hit across the head. Her husband turns, but he isn't fast enough. The baseball bat makes contact with the side of his head with a painful whack. He, too, crumples to the floor.

Juliette screams, standing up as if she were to run to them, but Laura points the knife in her direction. She sits back down, a tear running down her cheek.

Their attacker comes out of the shadows.

He steps over the mountain ash line effortlessly. As soon as I see his face, I want to get up and strangle his halfbreed werewolf ass. He is half werecyote, half werewolf. And I hate him. But I can't show it, not with Juliette in the room.

I'm not supposed to know him.