Beauties and Beasts Read online

  I had to tell my childhood to myself piece by piece all the time to try and have it make sense; although even that still didn’t fill in the blanks. There was so much I couldn’t remember, and it bothered me. If I found dad though, maybe he could help with that. That was a big if. If he didn’t want anything to do with me, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.

  So there I lay completely alone in the world, tears streaming down my face, my jaw aching from being clenched for so long. I rolled onto my side and winced, wondering how many bruises I’d need to cover up in the morning.

  Chapter Three, Conan

  I left the mall shortly after I had bumped into Kathryn, feeling like an idiot after we had made eye contact. I shouldn’t have been so obvious. Oh well, it was too late now. Unfortunately, Vladimir had insisted that I not do this deed alone.

  “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Conan, you know that,” he had said to me as we carefully planned this out. “I just think it would be best if you brought some backup along, you know? Just in case the worst should happen.”

  “I’m not sure what would be worse, ru nning into Aidan while trying to kidnap his daughter, or having to be with these idiots for the next four weeks. Valko was an old friend of mine; At least I knew that he had his head screwed on straight. The two younger ones were insufferable, and bombarded me with questions as soon as I entered the motel room

  “So, did you see the girl?” Liam asked, sitting up as soon as he saw me.

  “Yeah,” I grunted half-heartedly.

  “Is she hot?” Sawyer asked, cracking one eye open.

  “Maybe.”

  “What kind of answer is maybe?” he asked, rolling his eyes.

  “Why didn’t you bring her back?” Liam turned the TV off and gave me his full attention.

  “Is she ugly?” Sawyer asked, sitting up and stretching.

  “No, she’s not ugly. And I didn’t bring her back because she was with friends. You know what tonight is. I don’t want to take any chances.”

  “Conan, we can all control ourselves pretty well even if it—”

  “I’m not taking any chances.” I cut Liam off midsentecne, not in the mood to argue.

  “So what does she look like?”

  “Oh for pity’s sake, Sawyer, if you’re that curious go look for yourself! Just don’t get caught.”

  At this point, even Liam was scowling at Sawyer.

  “Where’s Valko?” I asked, trying not to sound as annoyed as I felt.

  “He went for a walk. Said he’d be back by dinner,” Liam mumbled lazily, laying back down and closing his eyes. “Wake me when it’s time to get her.”

  “That’s not going to be anytime soon. I want to observe her a little more first to try and figure out the best time to pounce.”

  “But that’s no fun,” Sawyer groaned.

  “I have my reasons,” I replied before laying down for a quick nap.

  When I awoke, the boys were gone and I was alone in the motel room. They had left the blinds wide open, so the room was fairly well lit even though it was the middle of the night. With a heavy sigh, I rolled out of bed and crossed the room to the window. The full moon hung high in the sky, its silvery beams lighting my path as clearly as the noonday sun. Something deep inside me began to stir, and before I grew too restless, I pulled the curtains closed.

  Tomorrow. I thought to myself as I lay back down on the bed. Tomorrow, if all goes well, we’ll go through with the plan.

  Chapter Four, Kathryn

  The next morning when I went down to make breakfast, I was greeted by a bright purple sticky note on the fridge telling me that Stephanie had decided to go on the cruise with them and to not expect them back until next Wednesday.

  “Good riddance,” I m uttered, grabbing a banana to eat before heading out for a run.

  My broken toe was really bothering me, but after about fifteen minutes, it started to feel numb. The rest of my body felt sore from George shoving me around last night, but I was still able to run my usual six miles.

  I showered when I got back to the house, taking time to inspect the fingerprint shaped bruises on my shoulder. There was also a shadow of a bruise on my jaw and on my cheek from when my face had smacked against the banister. The only reason I didn’t fight back, was the fact that he stood head and shoulders taller than me. Only once had I tried hitting him back, and it did not end well.

  I slathered on some flesh colored makeup, doing my best to blend it well enough that I didn’t have to answer any unwanted questions.

  *~*~*

  Abel dropped Sara off around seven that night. I knew that they shared a car, but I wasn’t expecting him to drop her off. My heart flew up in my throat as soon as I laid eyes on him. He must have just come from work. His clothes were covered in dirt, and he still had some wood shavings in his hair. I opened the door and waved at him, right before Sara tackled me.

  “Kathryn!” she squealed, squeezing me as if she hadn’t seen me in weeks.

  “Good to see you too, but you’re crushing my rib cage,” I choked out.

  “Sorry!” She giggled. I inhaled dramatically when she let go and Abel chuckled. I looked at him and smiled, his beautiful, nut-brown eyes sparkling in the fading daylight. He smiled back and my face grew warm.

  “You didn’t get in too much trouble last night, did you?” Sara asked, biting her lip and chewing on one of her braided pigtails.

  “Naw, George’s bark is worse than his bite,” I lied, unable to meet either of their eyes. I saw a brief flash of concern on Abel’s face, which he quickly covered with a smile that I could tell was forced. Sara just went on chatting.

  “Okay, good. I brought movies, c’mon! Oh, bye, Abel,” Sara said, standing on her tip toes and ruffling his hair. He rolled his eyes and ran his hands through it to “fix” it.

  “I hate it when she does that,” he grumbled.

  “She’s a mess,” I laughed, shaking my head and trying to step backward in the house. I was too busy looking at Abel that I forgot about the step up into the house. One second I was playing it cool, and the next I was on my butt, feeling like an absolute moron.

  “Are you okay?” Abel asked, offering me a hand up.

  “I’m fine thanks. The only thing hurt is my pride.” I laughed again, trying to pretend that I couldn’t feel myself blush. Why did I have to be such an idiot around him? Abel nodded and waved good-bye once more.

  “Are you coming?” Sara called impatiently.

  “Yeah I’m here.” I hobbled into the house like an old person.

  “Okay, so, what do you wanna watch?” I asked Sara, seeing that she had already laid about a dozen or so movies out on the living room floor.

  “Well how about you pick a movie and I’ll get us some snacks.” I made my way over to the freezer and pulling out the chocolate ice cream. By the time I had scooped out two bowls and went back to the living room, a chick-flick was on and Sara was eagerly waiting for me to come in so she could start the movie.

  We sat there for two whole hours of lame acting and a predictable storyline. I knew what almost every character would say before they said it even though I had only seen the movie once before.

  When the credits started to roll, Sara was practically sobbing, while I remained not so surprisingly dry eyed.

  “How can you be so heartless? It’s so, sad!” Sara said through her tears.

  “I dunno. I’m just not moved by it.” I said with a yawn.

  “Ooh! It’s 11:11, make a wish!” Sara said, squeezing her eyes shut tight and wrinkling her freckled nose. With a sigh, I closed my eyes too. I wish that I could go on an adventure.

  “What did you wish for?” I asked after the clock switched to 11:12.

  “If I tell you it won’t come true,” Sara said solemnly.

  “Let me guess, you wished to meet ‘Prince Charming’ on your first day of college, am I right?”

  “No! Well…maybe.”

  We both burst out laughing.


  “Fine. You figured out my wish, now you have to tell me what you wished for.” There was no way I was telling what I had wished. It wasn’t even a real wish, it was just the first thing that came to my mind.

  “I wish I had more ice cream,” I said evasively, getting up off the floor and heading back over to the freezer.

  “Oh Kathryn,” Sara laughed, shaking her head. Thank God she was so easily distracted.

  “And this,” I took a huge spoonful of ice cream and held it up for Sara to see. “Is why I’m fat.” I obnoxiously licked the ice cream off the spoon and smiled at Sara.

  “Oh shut up. You are not fat,” she scolded.

  “I do have a bit of chub-a-lub, but I am completely okay with that.” I patted my belly pooch, and Sara just rolled her eyes.

  “ You’re not fat, and it’s your turn to pick a movie.”

  “Awesome.” I grabbed one of my all time favorite involving crop circles, baby monitors, and tin foil hats.

  “Nothing too scary, right?” Sara asked sheepishly.

  “Nah, it’s only PG-13. I swear, it’s not scary at all.” *~*~*

  “Pssssst! Kathryn, wake up.” I felt someone poke my cheek and lift my eyelids to try and see if I was awake. I moaned and rolled over. “Kathryn, wake up! The power’s out and I think I hear someone in the house.”

  I groaned and pulled my iPod out to check the time. “Sara, its 2:30 in the morning, go back to sleep. It’s probably just the cat.”

  “It sounds too loud to be Buddy. Please, Kathryn!”

  I sighed and got out of bed. I knew Sara wouldn’t let me sleep unless we checked the whole house. I reached under the bed to get my flashlight and screamed, pretending to be dragged under the bed. Sara jumped and shrieked. I started to laugh and she growled at me

  “Not funny,” she whisper-yelled, stomping her foot.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

  “Do you think you can walk a little…quieter?” Sara whispered.

  I exhaled and opened the door. For Sara’s sake, I did try and walk on my heel to muffle the sound of my limping. The sooner we got this done, the sooner I could get back in my nice warm bed.

  It was eerily quiet except the pitter patter of rain hitting on the windows. Sara whimpered as we went from room to room, jumping at every little thing she thought was a possible murderer. Although I must admit that even I was a little on edge when it came time to search the basement.

  Sara’s fingers dug into the bruises on my shoulder skin, squealing as we turned the corner and saw a coat hanger— which to Sara apparently resembled an axe murderer.

  “Will you please stop that?” I asked as her nails dug into my skin.

  “Sorry, but this is just like a horror movie with the blackout and rain…and the fact your parents aren’t home. No, wait! Don’t go up there!” she said, her voice frantic as I started to turn the knob on the door leading upstairs.

  “Do you mind?” I asked, slightly irritated.

  “Sorry,” she whispered.

  When we walked back upstairs into the kitchen we found Buddy sitting on the counter. His ears were flat, and his marmalade fur was sticking straight up. A low growl came from the back of his throat, and he scratched my arm when I tried to pet him.

  “See, it was probably just Buddy. He’s afraid of

  thunderstorms. So now that we know the house is safe, can we go back upstairs—”

  The upstairs floorboards creaked. The cat turned his head and hissed softly.

  “Did you just hear…” Sara whispered softly.

  “Call your brother right now, and tell him to come and pick us up.” I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to convince myself that it was just the house settling.

  “Why can’t we call the police?” she asked, her voice trembling.

  “If it turns out to be something stupid, do you really want the police here? Abel can come. It’s probably nothing.” I wiped my sweaty hands on my pants.

  “Can you come with me?” she whimpered.

  “No, I’m going to go see what’s up there. Here, take this.” I dug through the junk drawer and handed her a little flashlight. She reluctantly grabbed the phone off the counter and began dialing Abel’s number.

  I turned my flashlight off to make sure that I wouldn’t alert whoever—or—whatever—was upstairs. Not that the zombielike walk-stumble-limphop thing that I had going on wasn’t loud enough to wake the dead.

  The hair on the back of my neck pricked up as I heard something moving around in my room. My hands shook and my heart started beating a mile a minute when I saw the tall, dark figure standing in my room. They turned and I shone my flashlight right in their eyes.

  “Ow!” A deep voice grumbled.

  Fight or flight kicked in, and without thinking, I found myself whacking the intruder on the head with the flashlight. He swore and I dashed out of the room, not waiting around to hear the other lovely things that he had to say.

  I took the steps three at a time and then hopped over the railing almost crushing my friend. She screamed at the top of her lungs, but I quickly covered her mouth with my hand.

  “Shut up and run!” I grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the house, into the pouring rain. My heart pounded as I dragged my sobbing friend down the road.

  We were both completely soaked in a matter of minutes and shivering in the cool night air. I saw headlights ahead, and now it was my turn to scream with Sara as the person swerved out of the way and just missed hitting us. The door clicked open, and another tall figure hopped out of the truck.

  Chapter Five, Abel

  The buzzing of my phone woke me out of a dead sleep. It was 2:43 in the morning, who would be calling this late?

  I let it go to voicemail as my eyelids slowly closed as I began to drift off to sleep again. A few seconds later, the buzzing began all over again. Heaving a heavy sigh, I sat up and grabbed my phone off of the side table. Why would Sara be calling me now? I just wanted to go upstairs and go to bed, but I answered anyway.

  “Hello?” I answered groggily.

  “Abel! Oh thank God. You have to come and pick us up! We heard footsteps and all this thumping and I’m really scared! Please come quickly, I’m really—” I heard a loud crash in the background and then Sara screamed.

  “Hello, Sara? Sara?!”

  She didn’t answer. I grabbed my keys and ran out to the car. It was raining pretty hard. I got soaked just running to my truck. The road was slick, and it was hard to see through the downpour.

  I was barely hit the brakes in time when I saw two people running in the middle of the road. There stood Kathryn and Sara two feet away from the hood of my car. I opened the door and hopped out.

  “What the hell is going on?” I asked as they scrambled into the car. Sara dove in the backseat, and left Kathryn to ride shotgun. She was shivering and her teeth chattered. Sara was crying in the back seat, so I didn’t expect any answers from her. I turned to Kathryn who was hugging herself, and selfconsciously try to pull her tank top up higher.

  “What happened Kathryn?” I asked, glancing at her.

  “Someone was in the house. We heard a noise and checked the house and then we thought it was fine but we heard something else and I told her to call you while I checked upstairs again and he was standing in my room. ” Kathryn blurted all of this out extremely fast. I barely caught what she said.

  “W-wait…who did you see?” I asked.

  “I don’t know, I didn’t see his face. But he was in my room.”

  “What movie did you guys end up watching?” I asked.

  “Signs…” Kathryn said. I sighed and rubbed my eyes, having a hard time keeping them open.

  “You were probably just imagining it, guys. I don’t think anyone was in the house. Sara, did you see him too?”

  “No…and we had chocolate ice cream before bed…that could have given us weird dreams.” Sara added quietly.

  “It wasn’t a dream. Why would we have had the same dream anyw
ay? And who cut the power?”

  “But we checked the whole house and there was nobody, plus this storm is bad maybe that’s why the power was out.”

  Kathryn huffed, clearly not convinced by either theory.

  “Well, look, I have to get up in about three hours to go to work, so I’d like to get some sleep before then; but I promise I will go check the house tomorrow to see if there are any signs that someone broke in. Alright?” I asked as we pulled in the driveway.

  They both nodded and ran in the house, scurrying up to Sara’s room and quietly shutting the door. I sighed and went over to shut the TV off then stumbled upstairs to my bedroom and collapsed on the bed, dreading the minute that my alarm clock would go off and I would have to get up and go to work.

  Chapter Six, Kathryn

  Sara lent me some dry pajamas, and I changed in the bathroom. I was afraid that she may see the bruises on my shoulders and arms, now that the makeup had washed off in the rain. She fell asleep shortly after we were safe in her room, but I spent the next few hours reliving the night.

  Had I been imagining it all? No, I couldn’t have; I heard a smack when I hit him on the head with the flashlight…and the sound of his voice. Deep and raspy...it seemed vaguely familiar. He had to be real.

  Oh well, Abel would see tomorrow when he checked the house. There had to be muddy footprints or a broken window or something. He would see.

  *~*~* The next morning we were still shaken up so Sara asked if I could stay with them another night and go with them to the airport. I was relieved that I didn’t have to ask her if I could stay.

  After that we made pancakes and tried to talk about normal things, but I still couldn’t get the memories of last night out of my head.

  “I’m really gonna miss you.” I told her when we had finally finished getting her stuff packed. “I know, I’ll miss you too. But I’ll be home for Thanksgivi ng and Christmas!”