The note left me in tears.
My Dearest Dawn,
I write this because I am dying. I don’t know how much more I can take before I just give in. I know what Miranda’s plans are, and I’m doing everything in my power to keep to my plan; making sure you and my family are safe. I had a dream of an angel last night, but I was able to hide her from my memories as Miranda fed. She is the one that is giving this to you now. Your face is what gets me through this. Your memory is what keeps me going.
I hope you have made some progress on the assignment that you have been given. As soon as you assemble the four, she’s going to return to Midvale. She said that she would be able to feel your power once all of you come together. I only have this one sheet of paper left, and it’s getting dark. I will contact you again soon. I still love you, my beautiful angel. –Wesley.
****
I fell asleep somewhere around four a.m., only to wake up to an excited Nadine, ready to spend the day being poked and prodded. She put her dress in my closet and handed me the coffee that she had brought with her. I was going to have to survive the day on two hours of sleep.
“Have you talked to Aaron lately?” she asked me as I rubbed my eyes and sipped the hot liquid gold.
“I talked to him yesterday at school,” I responded. My mind was mush, and the lack of sleep was messing with my thought processes.
“Do you know what time they are going to be here?” she asked. She was far too perky for this early in the morning.
“He said about seven.” I yawned.
“Alright. Well, get up and get dressed. We got to go.” She yanked the blankets from me and clapped in my face.
I wanted to punch her.
I got up slowly and moved to my closet, looking for the right shirt. It needed to have a wide enough neck so that when I took it off to put on my dress, my hair wouldn’t catch.
“Aren’t you just so excited?” she squealed.
“Yeah, as excited as a heart attack,” I grumbled, pulling out a black shirt that appeared to have enough neck room.
I went back to my dresser and found a pair of black yoga pants and my vans. I was as ready as I was going to be.
“Perfect.” Nadine squealed again and grabbed my arm to get me out of my room.
“You good to go, girls?” my mother asked as Nadine yanked me through the kitchen.
“Yes, Mrs. Weathers,” Nadine said happily.
I could tell by the look on my mother’s face she was highly amused. I glared at her as I was dragged unwillingly out the door and forced into the passenger seat of Nadine’s Civic.
“I’ve missed you guys these last weeks,” she said as she pulled out onto the highway. “It’s horrible what’s happening in Midvale.” She sighed. “Four bodies in the last few weeks.” She shook her head.
“Wait, four bodies?” I asked, my interest engaged.
“Yeah, some old lady was found in her home this morning. Her throat was torn open.” Nadine’s mood became serious. “The police have no idea who killed her, but it looks like you have a serial killer in town.”
Xic’s theory of a were-vamp didn’t seem so far-fetched anymore. Something was attacking these people because they had elemental shards inside of them. That something needed to be found before it took out the whole town. At the same time, I was shocked at the number of people in town who apparently harbored element shards.
“I hadn’t heard about that one,” I said, fumbling with my phone.
I texted Shawn furiously. He had come in after I had fallen asleep and I hadn’t had the chance to see him that morning.
Me: Fourth dead. The old lady in town.
It took him just a minute to return my message.
Shawn: Just heard, heading there in ten.
If anyone was going to find out if this was a connected killing, it was going to be Shawn.
“So, Adam said that your brother moved here,” Nadine said breezily, changing the subject (something she was good at). “I didn’t even know you had a brother.”
“Neither did I until recently,” I replied, forcing a smile. “You’ll meet him tonight as he’s coming with us.”
“Oh, really? That’s great.”
“So, what are we getting done?” I asked as we turned onto the interstate. If she didn’t want to dive into my conspiracy theories about what was going on in Midvale, then I wasn’t going to push her.
“I figured a massage, wax, eyebrow threading, sauna, nails, and hair. My mom called ahead and paid for everything. She’s heard me talk so much about you; she thinks of you like another daughter.” She giggled.
If Nadine’s mother was anything like her, I was instantly worried. I didn’t think I could handle that much perkiness in one sitting. Nadine was enough of a handful just by herself.
“That’s a lot of stuff,” I said dryly. “Well, thank your mom for me. I’ll buy our lunch.” All things considered, it felt nice to have a girlfriend, even if it was someone as happy-go-lucky as Nadine.
“Deal. I think we get a half hour between the sauna and our hair.”
****
The moment we walked through the door we were whisked away. The massage was nice. I felt thoroughly de-stressed by the time it was over. However, the eyebrow threading was not my idea of fun at all. That shit hurt! They looked pretty good at the end though; I had to admit. I could have gone without the leg wax. Honestly, I couldn’t understand why women subjected themselves to such torture. I didn’t enjoy sweating inside the sauna either, but it was nice to sit back and relax after so much attention.
“Isn’t this awesome?” Nadine inquired. She was glowing after being pampered.
“Yeah, I guess.” I leaned
