Freaky Fangs Read online

  Kade didn’t look convinced but nodded. “Okay. Finish up. I’m ready to hit the hay.”

  “I thought you wanted romance.”

  “Oh, I’m going to romance your socks off.”

  I smiled, some of the dread that had been coursing through me lifting. It probably was just kids, I told myself. We’d inadvertently (and temporarily) taken over more than one party spot through the years and those we displaced were never happy. They also weren’t a threat. “I’m really looking forward to that.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  3

  Three

  I dreamed I was back at the site of the accident. That was hardly surprising. I’d been bothered by the scene since we’d found it. Still, the dream had a few quirks I wasn’t expecting.

  I stood at the bottom of the ravine, my gaze going to the road above. I heard the steady traffic, the hum of tires on pavement, but the danger wasn’t from up there. It was from the trees.

  I felt eyes on me, multiple sets. Something dangerous lurked behind the fluttering foliage. As the leaves shifted with the increasing breeze, I heard something ... whispering.

  Go away.

  You don’t belong here.

  This place belongs to us.

  I steeled myself against an irrational bout of fear. Normally the dreams that often plagued me left me feeling unsettled rather than afraid. This time my stomach twisted and my heart rate picked up a notch.

  Something very dangerous was hiding in the trees.

  “Hello?” I don’t know why I called out. I recognized I was in a dream, something most people couldn’t grasp as they were trapped in their subconscious. I never had that problem. I felt the danger pooling around me. “Who’s there?”

  I wasn’t expecting an answer. I didn’t get one, but I remained determined.

  I stopped by the wrecked vehicle and crouched down to peer inside. There were four bodies. A man and woman, both frozen in death, their eyes open, giving them terrifying countenances. It was the children in the backseat that truly unsettled me, though. A boy and a girl. Both appeared younger than ten. The girl clutched a stuffed bear in her hands. Her mouth was open, as if silently screaming for help.

  Had they been aware when they went over the embankment? If so, why hadn’t the man at least tried to hit the brakes? It would’ve been a natural reflex. If he’d fallen asleep and then wakened as the truck began to careen over the side he would’ve tried to stop the forward momentum.

  Go away.

  You won’t like it if you stay.

  Go away.

  I looked back to the trees and squinted. There wasn’t much light to work with. It was night in the dreamscape, which I found intriguing because we’d discovered the vehicle during the day.

  “Who are you?” I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important about the wreck that I was missing. “What do you want?”

  Go away.

  This is our place.

  Death will come if you try to stay.

  The whispers were starting to grate. I straightened and stared into the trees, my heart skipping a beat when I caught a hint of movement. There was definitely something in there. It wasn’t my imagination going into overdrive.

  “I’ve had enough of this.” I strode toward the trees with purpose. I wasn’t about to let fear overtake me in my own mind. This was a dream, for crying out loud. I controlled the outcome. I was in charge. I ... .

  The moment I pushed back the first branch I was assailed by snapping teeth and hissing. I jerked back as if I’d been bitten, which was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the teeth. My heart hammered and I scrambled to put distance between the creature and me. I was too late.

  I felt more creatures — monsters of some sort — moving in behind me before I could turn. All I saw were more teeth. There had to be at least twenty sets of teeth, and their gleaming white took over my brain as I bolted to a sitting position in my bed.

  “Poet?” Kade stirred next to me. He was naked, only the sheet covering his lower half. His eyes were shrouded in sleep, but he’d obviously woken with me, because concern etched lines into his face. “What’s wrong?”

  My heart was still hammering so fast I momentarily worried it would pound right out of my chest. I forced myself to take a deep, calming breath. I dragged a hand through my snarled hair and clutched the sheet tightly against my chest as I struggled to anchor to reality.

  “It’s nothing,” I said after a beat. “Just a dream.”

  Kade didn’t look convinced as he rolled to a sitting position next to me. “Looks like it was one heck of a dream.” He trailed his hand down my bare back, hissing when his warm hand came in contact with my cold skin. “You’re freezing.” He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight. “You’re okay.”

  He was used to the dreams. We’d been together for months, and crazy dreams were simply part of the package. Sometimes I think they affected him worse than me, but only because he couldn’t travel with me and kill whatever terrorized me in my subconscious.

  “I’m okay,” I agreed, smiling for his benefit. It was a half-hearted effort, but he looked relieved all the same. “It was just a really weird dream.”

  He rolled to his back, pulling me with him. I was tucked in tightly at his side so he could share his warmth, and his fingers were gentle as they feathered my dark hair from my face. “What was it about?”

  I could’ve brushed him off. It would’ve been the easiest thing to do. But we were a unit, something we both stressed daily. When he hurt or struggled with his newfound powers, I wanted to know about it. The same was true for me. We were invested in each other to the point that when one of us hurt so did the other.

  “It was weird more than anything else,” I offered, resting my head on his chest as he stroked the back of my head. “I saw the wreck again. It was a couple and two small kids. One of them had a stuffed bear.” I don’t know why the bear bothered me so much, but it was one of the images that stuck in my head.

  “Do you think that’s real or did your mind fill in the gaps?”

  It was a fair question. “I don’t know. We can look it up after breakfast.”

  “Okay.” He brushed his lips over my forehead. “Is that all of it?”

  “No.” I thought back to the dream. “I heard something in the trees by the truck. I went to check it out. I ... there were a lot of teeth.”

  “Teeth?” His eyebrows drew together. “Like ... monster teeth?”

  “I guess. I didn’t focus on them that much. I was caught off guard. There were also whispers to stay away, warnings. I don’t know what to make of it.”

  “You’ve had dreams before that turned out to be just dreams.”

  “Yes, but those usually revolve around you and me on a beach.”

  He smiled. “Who doesn’t love a beach?”

  “Right?” I grinned at him because we both seemed to need it, and then sobered. “It was a little freaky, but I’m okay.”

  “Our lives are often freaky.” He didn’t move to climb out of bed, instead nestling deeper and holding me tight. “Do you think any part of it was real?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll do some research after breakfast.”

  ONCE I FINISHED WITH THE BREAKFAST cleanup I went looking for Luke. He and Cole had been late for the meal and they’d spent the entire thirty minutes we were all together whispering and laughing. Luke hadn’t as much as wished me a good morning, and it grated.

  Kade was checking the fairgrounds to make sure nothing had been disturbed during the night. It was obvious that my dream bothered him. I wanted to tell him everything was going to be okay, convince him that he needn’t worry, but I wasn’t sure I believed that myself so I didn’t put in the effort. I needed time to research the accident so I could make up my mind. Before that, though, there were things that had to be done, including our weekly grocery shopping trip. Luke pitched a fit whenever he wasn’t included, which is why I needed to track him down.

  I found him with Cole in the empty animal tent. They were sitting at the table at the center of the space and had a laptop open. Cole was operating the computer as Luke sat next to him and watched. Their backs were to me, which allowed me to study them without interruption for a few seconds.

  “You’re not working fast enough,” Luke complained, oblivious to my presence. “Let me do it.”

  “Stop being a pain.” Cole lightly swatted at Luke’s hand when my friend tried to take over whatever they were working on. “I know what I’m doing. Give me a second. It’s not my fault your internet is so wonky.”

  “They’re portable hubs,” Luke explained. “We have several of them and they usually bolster one another. We haven’t gotten around to booting them yet. Getting in late last night threw us off.”

  “Just give me a second.”

  I folded my arms over my chest and narrowed my eyes. They were clearly up to something. There was no reason for them to be hiding in the animal tents.

  “Here we go,” Cole announced. “Here’s the newspaper article about the accident. Let’s see what they have here.”

  My frown grew more pronounced. They were researching the accident, too. That was interesting ... and maybe a little annoying. No, it was definitely annoying.

  “We know it was a family,” Luke offered. “We need to figure out what they know about how the accident happened. There has to be something.”

  “Just a second.” Cole didn’t sound testy as much as distracted. “I need a second to read.”

  I decided to make my presence known. “It was a father and a mother. Two kids, a boy and a girl. They were both young, under ten, and the girl was holding a teddy bear when she died. All their eyes were open.”

  Luke jerked as if he’d been scorched by something hot. The guilty look he flashed me was enough to make me realize they’d been hiding what they were doing from me specifically. The realization was a small tear.

  Cole was smoother. “How do you know that?” he asked, unruffled.

  “I had a dream.”

  “A dream?” He cocked an eyebrow. “How do you know it’s real if you dreamed it?”

  “It’s happened before.”

  “It has,” Luke agreed, slowly getting to his feet. “What are you doing out here?”

  “You mean because you obviously came in here to hide from me?” I was bothered a great deal by what was going on but tried to hold it together. “I came looking for you. We’re leaving to shop in about twenty minutes.”

  “Oh.” Luke turned sheepish. “Thanks for telling me. I ... um ... we weren’t doing anything.”

  “Right. You were hiding in the animal tent searching for information on the accident from yesterday ... but you weren’t doing anything.”

  “We were simply chasing an angle,” Cole volunteered, his gaze speculative as it landed on me. “I can’t shake the feeling that the accident scene appeared off. Maybe it’s just the cop in me, but I’m bothered. We simply wanted to see what they were making public.”

  “I believe I said that I was bothered by the scene before you,” I grumbled.

  His lips quirked, almost as if he was trying to hold back a smile. “I think we said it at the same time. It doesn’t matter who said it first. I agree with you. The accident scene doesn’t feel right.”

  “And what are you going to do about it?” I challenged. “I mean ... you’re out of your jurisdiction. It’s not as if you can muscle your way onto the investigation team.”

  “I know that.” He didn’t raise his voice. His eyes didn’t flash with annoyance. He was perfectly calm ... which only served to further fire me up. “I don’t know that we can do anything. I just feel ... uneasy. I guess that’s the right word. I swear that I felt people watching me from afar last night after the sun set.”

  My mouth dropped open. Now he was trying to steal my creepy feeling. “I said that first!”

  Cole looked taken aback. “Not to me you didn’t.”

  “I said it to Kade.”

  “Which means Cole didn’t hear it,” Luke pointed out, his expression hard to read. “Are you feeling okay?” He raised his hand and pressed it to my forehead. “You look a little off.”

  “The dream was weird,” I shot back, slapping at his wrist. I was feeling out of sorts. It was jealousy fueling me when it came to Cole. There was no doubt about that. I was brutally honest with myself when the need arose and I was clearly out of control when it came to Luke’s love life. I simply had no idea why. “I’m still trying to process it.”

  “You’ve had dreams before,” Luke argued. “They don’t usually turn you into a raging bitch.”

  That was true. “I know.” I rubbed my forehead. “I’m feeling off my game.” I sank into one of the random chairs placed around the tent. The space was supposed to look as if people were regularly in and out, tending to the animals and carrying out other tasks. On the rare occasions that a state official showed up to check on our animals, we usually had time to get the shifters in the cages before they made it to the back of the fairgrounds. Otherwise, we made the tent look lived in while almost completely ignoring it.

  “Well, that’s okay.” Luke lightly rubbed my shoulders. The angle of Cole’s gaze told me the two men were communicating silently with their eyes over my head. “You’re allowed a bad day here and there. Tell me about the dream.”

  Because it seemed like part of our normal routine, I did just that. When I was finished, Luke was flummoxed.

  “What kind of teeth?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. They were just teeth.”

  “Were they attached to bodies? If not, I can see why that would be the worst dream ever. Imagine having floating teeth all around you, snapping all the time.” He shuddered. “Ugh.”

  “They were attached to people,” I countered. “Er, well, shadows. I didn’t see any faces.”

  “But you heard whispering?” Cole asked.

  I nodded. “Why? Does that mean something to you?”

  “I don’t know. It could mean a great number of things. You’re the psychic. What do you think it means?”

  “If I knew I wouldn’t be this crabby.” I shot him a smile because I felt as if I owed it to him. “I’m sorry for jumping all over you.” I mostly meant it. “I had a rough night and you made a handy target.”

  “It’s okay.” He waved off my apology. “Everyone is allowed a bad day.”

  As far as he was concerned, I’d had a full week of bad. Now was not the time to dwell on it, though. “I think it wasn’t an accident.” I decided to just go for it. There was no sense holding back now. “I think something else happened, an attack of some sort, and the accident was used to cover it up.”

  “I agree with you,” Cole offered, “but I’m not sure how we prove that. I’m not even sure we should be focused on proving it. It seems the most important thing is finding out exactly what happened.”

  “Do you think it’s something we’ve dealt with before?” Luke asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t recognize the creatures in my dreams. In fact, it was difficult to focus on them. They were blurry and ... well ... I was afraid. I never grow fearful in my dreams, but I did in this one.”

  “What does Kade say?” Cole asked.

  “He’s still new to the paranormal game. He’s crossed paths with only a few creatures. I mean ... he’s great when it comes to a fight. He’s extremely helpful and eager to learn. But he doesn’t have a vast knowledge base on this stuff.”

  “You do,” Luke noted. “You’ve crossed paths with a lot of paranormals.”

  “I have,” Cole confirmed, “but I’m not sure what could’ve done this. Most of my interactions have been with shifters, an occasional demon here or there, and witches. The incubus was a first for me, but I did a lot of research and felt comfortable fighting it.”

  “It could be almost anything,” I said. “We need more information, but I don’t know how we’re going to get it if these things remain hidden. I felt someone watching me last night. I tried to brush it off as kids coming out to party or something, but there was something malevolent about the presence.”

  “I felt it, too.” Cole flashed a brief smile. “I guess we’ll just have to keep our eyes open.”

  “I guess.” I heaved out a sigh and then forced myself to stand. “I came looking for you because we’re going shopping, Luke. I know you hate being cut out when we head to town. Do you want to go with us?”

  Luke nodded without hesitation. “Absolutely.”

  It made me feel better that we would have one normal outing.

  “Cole’s coming, too,” Luke added, causing my heart to drop. “We’ll make it a foursome. It will be fun.”

  I could think of a few other words to describe it. “So fun,” I echoed, frustration bubbling through me. “Be at Kade’s truck in twenty minutes. That’s when we’re leaving.”

  Luke offered up a mock salute. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  4

  Four

  I found Cole sitting in my spot when I arrived at Kade’s truck. I stood there, like a complete and total idiot, and stared at him for a full thirty seconds. I figured Luke and Cole would sit in the back and I would get the passenger seat ... but that didn’t look to be the case.

  “They’re blaming it on a storm,” Cole supplied, inclining his head toward the radio. “That’s what the reporter is saying, but that doesn’t sound right.”

  “It sounds weird,” Kade admitted. “Maybe we should do some research. Poet had a bad nightmare last night. She won’t say it but I know she’s unsettled.”

  Oh, well, that was just great. Kade was talking about my private affairs in front of the newbie. Well ... awesome.

  As if sensing me watching them, Kade lifted his eyes and smiled. “There she is. Ready to head out?”

  “That depends. Are you guys done talking about me?”