Sanctuary's Fiend Read online

  Sanctuary's Fiend

  by

  Andrew Lynch

  Copyright © 2016 by Andrew Lynch

  All rights reserved.

  Book design by Andrew Lynch

  Cover design by Mandy Jurgens / Hayes Ng

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is provided DRM free due to “scruples” from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Visit my website at www.lynchwriting.com

  ISBN - 978-0-9935892-2-5

  Dedication

  To me.

  Because I did this all by myself!

  Real Dedication

  To my parents, without whom life would be a much bleaker place.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication 3

  Real Dedication 4

  Chapter 1 7

  Chapter 2 10

  Chapter 3 14

  Chapter 4 17

  Chapter 5 21

  Chapter 6 30

  Chapter 7 36

  Chapter 8 41

  Chapter 9 50

  Chapter 10 55

  Chapter 11 59

  Chapter 12 63

  Chapter 13 68

  Chapter 14 73

  Chapter 15 77

  Chapter 16 83

  Chapter 17 86

  Chapter 18 88

  Chapter 19 91

  Chapter 20 97

  Chapter 21 101

  Chapter 22 108

  Chapter 23 114

  Chapter 24 121

  Chapter 25 127

  Chapter 26 132

  Chapter 27 143

  Chapter 29 155

  Chapter 30 159

  Chapter 31 163

  Note from the Author 167

  About the Author 168

  Chapter 1

  Reliquiae

  The tiles on the wall were yellow, white, and blue. Very normal tiles, in the very normal girl’s restroom, in the very normal colors of the very normal high school.

  I wasn’t trying to look at those tiles though. I was trying to look at the girl standing in front of them. But I could see right through her. She wasn’t so very normal, and neither was I.

  “Come on, stop it!” I told her.

  “It’s just us, don’t worry,” said Erin.

  “A human could come in any second!” I moved to punch her arm, but my hand passed straight through.

  She had only been able to control her shifting from physical form to incorporeal since last week, and she kept doing it even when she shouldn’t. Like right now, in the restroom at Sanctuary High School.

  “Yes, they could, Relic. Scary, huh?”

  I sighed. “Call me Rel. Or if you have to, then it’s Rel-ick-ay.” I’d only met her recently, since she’d found her abilities, but it was still annoying that every single person I’d met always managed to find a new way to mess my name up. I blamed my parents!

  “Sure, sure, Relic.” Her chances of becoming a best friend were looking slim.

  “What about you?” she asked.

  I looked at myself in the mirror, and pushed my straight, bat black hair behind my ear. Let’s be clear, yes, I used to call it raven black. But, you know, vampire. So it’s probably bat black if anything. Which means dark brown. And no, it’s not naturally straight. Honestly, I’m like a vampire without the vampire bits. Even my eyes. Yeah, they’re really brown, but they don’t change color, or glow, or anything cool. Also, I’ve never felt the urge to drink blood.

  And obviously, I can see myself in the mirror.

  I bared my teeth at my reflection “No fangs yet.”

  “I’m sure it’ll happen soon,” Erin said, reassuringly. “What did your parents say?”

  All the supernaturals who can pass in human society start finding their abilities around our age. Erin could walk through walls or be invisible. Vampires could… “They haven’t told me.” I was adopted, so my parents weren’t vampires. They hadn’t told me much about what a vampire should be able to do.

  “That sucks. But you’ll be at the bunker this evening, right?”

  I faked a smile. “I can’t think of a reason not.” Believe me, if I could, I would. But my best friend, Ariel, wanted to go.

  “I think I’m going to–”

  The door to the restrooms swung open. I heard a little cry of surprise from Erin, but when I looked back at her, she was solid again. I gave her a hard stare, letting her know I’d told her so.

  It was a couple of cheerleaders, so me and Erin left quickly, ignoring the giggles which weren’t aimed at us. Or so I told myself.

  Peter and Bhav had been waiting outside. The best guy friends anyone could ask for. But they were human, and after the last few months of us coming into our abilities, I saw why not many supe adults had human friends.

  Richard was with them. The new guy. The British guy. “Thanks, mate. Goodbye,” Richard said, and then ambled off.

  Erin raised her eyebrows at me, grabbed my arm, and started walking me towards our homeroom. Peter and Bhav jogged forward to keep up with us.

  “What was that about, guys?” Erin asked. “Making friends but not sharing with us, huh?”

  I didn’t want them to share. I wanted Richard all to myself. He was from England, and he was definitely the cutest boy I’d ever seen.

  “Nothing. Just being friendly.” Peter shrugged.

  “Oh yeah?” Bhav asked. “Maybe you’d be better at making friends if you stopped drooling.”

  “Don’t listen to him. He’s just jealous,” Peter told Erin and me. “He was only asking for directions to the cafeteria. Have you guys seen him around?”

  “Only barely,” Erin admitted. “But I’d like to see a lot more of him.”

  “So would we,” Bhav and Peter said in unison.

  “He just knows how to dress well,” Bhav said. “Can’t complain about a snappy dresser joining the school. At least that will make two of us.”

  Looking him over, Bhav was almost certainly right. He was the best dressed guy in school. With the sun beating down like it usually did here in California, he managed to get away with loose white linen all over, including his turban, which contrasted perfectly with his brown skin.

  “Are you trying to tell me something?” Peter asked, looking down at his jean shorts and black t-shirt.

  “You have such great skin tone to work with, and you’re just wasting it.”

  “I matched my t-shirt to it. Isn’t that enough?”

  Bhav sighed. “Anyway. Richard just seems like a nice guy. Have you met him, Rel?”

  Question time. Did I admit that the second I saw him I fell a little bit in love with him? No. That would be weird. Also, I didn’t know if you could only be a little bit in love with someone. Better change that to completely, head over heels, haven’t had a day without pretending he’s my boyfriend since I met him, in love with him.

  “Yeah. I was the one that had to show him around his first day.”

  They all gasped.

  “And you didn’t tell me?!” Erin held her hand to her chest in mock hurt. At least, I hoped she was pretending.

  “He seems nice, I guess.” I brushed the question away. It was hard enough to seem normal around my human friends due to the whole I’m a vampire thing. I didn’t want them to think I was weird for other reasons too. The fact that for all practical purposes
I was basically a human right now, didn’t matter. Things could change.

  My phone buzzed and I checked the screen.

  “I’ve got to go, guys. Meeting.”

  They waved goodbye and kept walking. The space I’d left allowed Peter and Bhav to move closer together and hold hands as they walked.

  Chapter 2

  Reliquiae

  “Let the coven assemble!”

  Jessica always made things so dramatic. It wasn’t like we were witches. It was just a school council meeting. And why were the lights in the gymnasium off? It must have been hard for her to see.

  “Tonight, we make our final decision…” Why was she leaving such a long pause? We all knew the question, she’d texted us just before we came to the gym hall. “Can we let the new kid be part of the football team?”

  The janitor turned the lights on and started sweeping.

  Jessica liked to play these things up. She wasn’t even a supe. Just a normal human. And no supes I knew of met like this anyway. I mean, what were they going to do? Cast magical spells? Boy, did Hollywood mess up on that. I’d never heard of any old guy chanting and throwing lightning balls all over the place. Although I guess they did sometimes wear big, dark, shadowy hoods, but those were just normal hoodies. Supes did occasionally get up to weird stuff, but not magic. Not magic like that, anyway.

  “I don’t know what you guys think,” Sasha said. “But he keeps calling it rugby. Like, what even is that?”

  She had a point. Richard had moved to Sanctuary only a month ago. He was from England, and… wow. I mean, sure, I’d heard that accent on TV, but in person it was totally unfair. He could say things and they just sounded right. Even his name was British. Richard. Ugh.

  “Maybe it’s soccer?” Jessica asked.

  “I guess. Maybe ‘rugby’ is what they call lacrosse.” Sasha rolled her eyes.

  Seeing this was going nowhere and everyone was getting hung up on what rugby was – I had googled it earlier when he’d asked if we had a team for it on the first day – I stepped in. “Umm, maybe–”

  Sasha cut me off and stuck her hand in the air. “We don’t need anyone else on the team. I vote for no.”

  She hadn’t heard me. Right?

  Jessica stuck her hand up. “I vote yes. Ariel?”

  The girl to my left looked at me. Her hair was a radiant blonde that beat even Jessica’s. She was my only friend on this council, and I was only there because she’d suggested it. This wasn’t my kind of thing at all. I just wanted to do my school work and get out of here. But Ariel was always into “activities” and doing “things”. However, she was a Siren – her voice could enrapture anyone and make them do her bidding. Like all the other supernaturals our age, she couldn’t control her powers properly. So she never spoke. And yes, her parents had a sense of humour when they named her.

  She raised her hand and hummed an affirmative.

  “Rellie?” Jessica looked at me.

  I didn’t like being called Rellie, but even that was better than Reliquiae. What had my parents even been thinking?

  I looked at all three of them in turn. Ariel was smiling at me, happy to be involved and doing things. Jessica was smiling because she wanted me to vote her way. And then Sasha was scowling at me like she always did. I don’t know why, but I guess when you’re the most beautiful girl in school, you don’t need a winning personality. Being nice is optional for beautiful people.

  Oh, I didn’t know what to vote! If he joined the team, then he’d be around all the bouncy cheerleaders and I’d never stand a chance. But did I really stand a chance even if he wasn’t on the team? I’d never felt this way about a boy before, but was it fair of me to sabotage his opportunity to be on the football team. He’d passed the tryouts, so he obviously wanted to be on it.

  I mean, I could always use my powers on him and seduce him to my will or something. Except I don’t have any powers yet. Also seducing is what succubi do, not vampires. I think. Don’t worry, I don’t drink blood either. Yet. Anyway, it’s forbidden for any supe to use their powers on humans. The SCIM – Supernatural Covert Integration Masquerade – would be pissed.

  I raised my hand. “I prefer Rel, but umm, yes.” I couldn’t take his dream away from him.

  Sasha huffed and puffed. “You guys always do this to me. Fine, whatever!” And she stormed out of the hall.

  “Thanks babes,” Jessica said with her brilliantly white smile, and left as well.

  I turned to Ariel. “Better get to class. I mean, why do we even get to decide these things? It doesn’t really make sense. Those two are the popular ones with their own hidden agendas and secret societies about which boy gets to be on the football team. We don’t have anything like that! I mean, apart from the whole… okay we have something like that, but it’s not the point.”

  She was bouncing up and down, excited just to have taken part in a decision. I so didn’t understand why. I slouched and dragged my heels. Had I made the right choice? What were my chances with Richard now?

  My phone buzzed. It was Ariel, right next to me. What’s wrong?

  Apparently smart phones had helped the siren community immensely. “I dunno.” I hadn’t told her about my feelings for Richard. I’d only just decided it was for real. “Nothing. Let’s wait for Erin and the guys.”

  Come on!

  “No. It’s stupid.” She punched my arm. “Ow! Jeez, okay. It’s about Richard.”

  He likes to just be called Rick.

  Oh great. I was in love with him, we’d only spoken once, and I didn’t even know what he liked to be called. How pathetic.

  “Okay, Rick. I just…” I waved my arms in the air. “You know. Think he’s kind of…”

  Omg you like him :D

  I sighed. “Yeah. Oh God, I think he’s amazing.”

  She hugged me, jumping up and down. It’s so great that you can like someone even when they look like that. I mean, that nose? And forehead!

  I looked at her in shock. “What are you talki–” I realized she was joking and scowled at her.

  She giggled silently at just how hilarious she was, but then asked, Why are you sad?

  People in the hall were wondering why it looked like my best friend was practically humping me with joy. I pushed her off. She always got way too excited. I really didn’t want people looking at me as I was about to cry.

  “Stop it. I just voted away any chance I ever had with him. He’s going to be surrounded by nothing but sexy cheerleaders now. I mean, they’re all so…”

  Beautiful.

  “Yeah.”

  And flexible.

  I stopped and flung my back against a locker and whimpered. “What am I gonna do?”

  Ariel saw how much I was hurting and leaned against the locker next to me. I think I know what you can do.

  A spark of hope? I held back any more whimpers. “Yeah?”

  You’re not a cheerleader. Nowhere near flexible enough. I shot her a glare. But I heard Jessica saying his dad’s looking for someone to help him get up to speed with schoolwork. You know, ‘cos it’s different from in England.

  I saw what she meant. “And… and I could be that tutor. Right?”

  A huge grin spread across her face, happy again. She grabbed my hand and started skipping to class, dragging me along.

  She was right. God, Ariel was brilliant! I could be his tutor. Then he’d have to spend lots of time with me. And only me! But what could I tutor him at? I liked reading. I could teach him English! Wait, he was English. Maybe he could tutor me? No, that didn’t make sense. Math? Science? Oh, whatever. I’d just let the teacher decide. The new teacher at school. The English teacher.

  Rick’s dad.

  Chapter 3

  Reliquiae

  “Well, what did he say?” my mom asked, after I’d told her about my plan.

  I lifted my head up from the marble counter top. “I’m not actually sure,” I admitted.

  I had been scared and a bit nervous. Let’s just
say that if Rick grew up to be like his dad, then I’d never have anything to complain about. And still, that accent!

  I’d told my mom all about this too. And my dad. They were demons, and they’d adopted me when my real parents had… well, I’d never known my real parents. My mother had given me up at birth. All I knew was that they were both Vampires. Yes, vampires can have kids the regular, human way. Apparently. I’d never met another one, so I don’t know if that’s weird or not, but it doesn’t always involve blood everywhere. Or maybe it did, I didn’t know. Either way, these parents were my real parents as far as I was concerned.

  My parents were made for each other. My mother a succubus, and my father an incubus. Sex demons. They fed off the essence of humans, and apparently humans were much tastier when they were… excited. Needless to say, my parents were very open about sex. So why wouldn’t I tell them about my crush on Rick?

  And when I told them about my nervousness talking to Rick’s dad, Mr. Anderton, they both nodded knowingly and agreed amongst themselves that he would be a ‘very tasty treat’.

  Yes, it was weird, but I’d gotten used to it. Still not an image I wanted in my head, though.

  My dad walked over to the kitchen counter, munching from a bowl of cereal. Dry cereal. At five in the afternoon. And motioned for me to continue.

  “So, he said that yes, I could tutor Rick.” I held my hands out to stop my parents being too enthusiastic. “And he thanked me for offering. Buuuut. He was very specific about what he wanted me to help him with.”

  “Well?” they asked together.

  “He wants me to teach him to be ‘American’.”

  My dad choked on his cereal. Serves him right for trying to eat it dry. And for laughing.

  As he walked around the kitchen having a coughing fit, my mom poured me some more milk into a glass. “So, you need to teach him about what exactly?”