Dana looked at the gray carpeted floor, her face red.
Suddenly, Priscilla gasped and her eyes enlarged. “Is that what the bloody steak was about? You were getting it for your blood-sucking cousin?”
Cora pointed at her. “First, that’s rude. Second, you guys know about that?”
“We did some snooping.”
Cora nodded her head, impressed. “Man, you guys are really thorough.”
Proudly, Priscilla said, “We are.”
Daggett shook his head. “We’re really not.”
“Take the fucking compliment, Waldo,” she barked at him as she slapped his chest with the back of her hand. Daggett winced and fell back like Priscilla’s fist weighed a ton. Jesus, Daggett really needed to grow a set.
“Can you guys just shut up for a second?” I bitched. Both Daggett and Priscilla stared at me, shocked that I told them to zip it. I barely had a moment to think because they were running their mouths nonstop. I moved closer to Cora and asked, “Are you all right? You said they were trying to kill you.”
She flung her head back and sort of rolled her eyes at herself. “I shouldn’t have worded it that way. They’re after Melanie, not me.”
“You did kill Molly’s brother,” Priscilla said. “You saw how grossly close they were. She probably wants to boil your head for dinner.”
“Shut it,” I snapped.
“Priscilla’s probably not wrong, though,” Cora said. “From everything Melanie’s told me, they’re out for blood. They didn’t come back right.”
“Have you actually seen them?”
Fear took over her eyes. “From a distance. We saw them trashing my car when we were hiding out.” Her obnoxious, bright yellow Volkswagen was destroyed? I poked fun at her for it all the time, but it was almost a shame to think it was forever gone. “Max, it’s surreal. To see them walking around, to see them alive again…you’re not prepared for it until you see it.”
Cora looked so small and fragile, and all I wanted to do was scoop her up and take her away from this. My head told me to chill the fuck out and let her speak so we all knew what was going on, but my body just wanted to drag her into another room and tell everyone to fuck off for ten minutes. God, I missed her.
Priscilla, being the typical buzz kill, had to speak up and make things worse. “Man, Molly is gonna have such an ax to grind. You put her brother down and stole her ex-boyfriend? I’d hate to be you right now.”
I shot her a pissed off glare. “Are you allergic to silence or something? For the love of God, shut up, please.”
“You gonna let Prince Charming talk to me like that?” Priscilla asked, but Cora said nothing. Priscilla then turned to Daggett and said, “How about you? You want to fight for my honor?”
“Huh?” Daggett asked, spaced out. Priscilla rolled her eyes, because she knew she wasn’t getting anything out of him. “Sorry, I was just going over everything in my head. I wonder what kind of abilities these things have.”
“We already know one,” Dana added, quietly. I almost forgot she was standing there.
“What’s that?” Cora asked.
“Some kind of hypnosis or mind control. Molly was able to force me into turning.”
Cora’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding. You okay?”
“Mostly.”
“God, that’s not horrifying or anything.”
Priscilla folded her arms and asked, “So, how do we fight against that? We wear sunglasses or something?”
“It’s not like they’re Medusa, Priscilla,” Cora replied.
Daggett added, “Technically, that wouldn’t work with Medusa. If you looked at her directly, sunglasses or not, you’d turn into stone.”
“I never really understood that. How would anyone know if that were true? The people that turn into stone are dead, they can’t relay that information.”
“Yeah, but anyone who witnessed them dying would.”
“But how would they know it was from eye contact? Wouldn’t they just assume she could shoot stone beams out of her eyes?”
“Stone beams?”
I grumbled. “Is this really a conversation we need to be having right now?”
“No, but it doesn’t hurt,” Daggett replied with a shrug.
I was over this juvenile conversation the second it began. I reached out and took Cora by the hand, and asked, “Can we talk in the other room?” At that moment, I didn’t give a shit about the rest of the room. Cora was my main priority. I needed to be alone with her. I craved it like I craved air, and the longer we delayed it, the more unbearable our physical distance became.
Her eyes softened as she replied, “Okay.”
Chapter Eighteen
CORA
Max had me by the hand as he practically ran into Dana’s bedroom. Once we were inside and the door slammed behind us, I prepared myself for the scolding of a lifetime. He had been searching for me for God only knows how long, probably running through a million different scenarios where I was dead in a ditch somewhere (something my mom loved to say whenever I stayed out after eight). I knew I was a big dummy for letting him worry like that, but if he’d let me explain better, I knew he’d understand.
“Max, I know you’re mad,” I said, and before the next sentence could even come out, Max pulled me to his body and crushed his mouth against mine. His kiss was hungry, intense, and all-consuming. Max’s hands dragged across my waist, to my upper back, and then back down to my butt, all the while holding me so close there wasn’t even an inch dividing
