DUCHAS (The Drive Within, Book 2 in Baile series)

Chapter 14 Creepy is an Understatement

Isla

"We want to have a girls night in." April and Alick had been arguing for twenty minutes.

"We're down to three now, we're the three musketeers." Alick's eyes flicked to mine while I scrolled through my news feed on my phone while lying on April's bed.

"Alick, this is an arse free zone. I know you consider yourself one of the ladies but you haven't got the balls." April leaned her arm in the doorway.

"You don't think I can get past you?" His eyes glinted challengingly.

"Bite me."

I leaned on my elbow as I watched April and Alick engage in a fight that had become ritual over the years. Alick threw a few good punches but April was faster, weaving and kicking him in the groin. He toppled, hitting the ground hard.

"Told you you're not one of the ladies." April grinned triumphantly.

"That's unfair." Alick whimpered on the floor, curled up in a fetal position.

"Say goodbye to your future progeny." I spoke with my eyes glued to my phone.

"We will see you at school on Monday." April dragged Alick by his ankles out the door of her bedroom. "Be thankful I didn't choose the window." She slammed the door, locking it shut. "Now." She turned around to face me. "Where were we?"

"We were bitching about life."

"Oh, that's right." She joined me on her bed. "Let's continue with my mother's creepy leech of a boyfriend."

"His eyes wander a lot." I remarked.

"You don't know the half of it. I caught him watching me stretching the other day."

"What's his deal?"

April shook her head. "Immortal Vampires are the worst, they prey on all ages because they have lost all sense of their own age."

"How did he become immortal?"

April shrugged. "Some ceremony that has an eighty percent chance of death."
"That's kind of ironic."

"Tell me about it." She tossed her silky red hair over her shoulder.

There was a knock on the door. "Dinner's ready girls!" April's mother called.

"Don't worry about the leech, I'll never let him eat you." April took my hand in hers. Her choice of words kind of unnerved me as we made our way down the stairs and into the dining room.

"We were just talking 'bout the Byrne's conjoined Christmas dinner." My father beamed my way as I took a seat opposite him.

"I'm sorry I forgot to mention it." It had slipped my mind.

"Don't worry, I have extended the invitation list." April's mother spoke as she loaded the table with plates of steaming and delicious food and drinks. I couldn't help but notice the decanter holding a rather indiscreet red substance in the middle of the table.

"It'll be a great time to celebrate." My mother smiled.

"It marks a very important time of year." April's mother gave her daughter a very pointed look.

April rolled her eyes, trying to mask her growing fury.

"How many people will be attending again?" My mother questioned.

"About a thousand."

I ate my meal silently, tuning out the conversations around me. I was eating away peacefully until I felt a foot brush up against my leg beneath the table. I slowly looked up, seeing it wasn't my father or April beside me. I toyed with the food on my plate as the foot moved higher up my leg.

I pushed out my chain abruptly. "I'm sorry, I'm not feeling too well." I left the table, hurrying up the stairs and into the bathroom. I ran the cold tap in the sink, splashing my face with water. When I opened my eyes gold and blue irises stared back at me. I ran a hand through my hair as it gradually shortened in length. My shoulders began to broaden and my legs lengthen. I felt my face with my hands as it molded itself. My eyes shifted last, a deep hazel.

I could suddenly hear April breathing on the other side of the door, her ear pressed against the wood.

"Are you going to throw me out the window?" I asked in a voice that wasn't my own.

April opened the door, a large smile on her face. "Let's have some fun with this." She whipped out her phone. We took dozens of photos. I posed like the statue of David in Alick's body and even posed without a shirt on.

"Wow." I poked at the six-pack. It was so strange being inside another's body, especially someone of the opposite sex.

"This is great." April sent all the photos to Alick. "Come with me." She took my hand, pulling me out into the hallway and straight into her mother's boyfriend.

"April and Alick." He smirked, glancing at our hands that were interlocked.

"Excuse me." April pushed past him; I felt his eyes on my back before April locked us in her room. "I hate that man." She leapt up onto her bed.

"Aren't you worried what he's going to think?"

"About what?"

I gestured to my body-or Alick's body-it was really confusing.

April shrugged. "Everyone knows Alick isn't my type."

"I guess I'll change back then." I closed my eyes, sucking in a deep breath. I pictured my Faerie reflection, long pastel blue hair, yellow and blue irises and porcelain skin. My limbs slowly began to shrink and my facial structure revert back to its original shape. By the time I opened my eyes and let out the breath I had been holding I was back to the body I came in.

"Look at how confused he is." April held her phone close to my face. "He's like, 'is this photo shop or voodoo blood magic?'" She laughed.

"Tell him it's blood magic." I laughed along with her as we made fun of Alick until we fell asleep.

The pavilion was uncharacteristically quiet as I wandered right through, stepping out a back door and into the harsh sunlight. I blinked away spots, walking blind for a few metres before my eyes adjusted. People milled about the zoo; children held balloons and fairy floss while animal handlers performed great shows with animals behind iron bars.

I jumped at the sound of a tiger roaring to my left. I watched as the great feline climbed halfway up a large tree, it's claws sinking deep into the trunk. I continued walking past the fence, pausing at the sight of April's mother's boyfriend standing before an enclosure. He chuckled to himself, tossing peanuts over the fence.

I moved to stand beside him, looking over the fence to see a dark brown wolf padding about its enclosure, a chain linking a collar around his neck to a tree. I recognised his yellow eyes.

'Alick.' I breathed.

His ear twitched in my direction before his eyes met my own.

'April and Alick.' The man beside me grinned with pointed incisors. 'Star crossed lovers.' He reached out to me, taking a strand of long red hair and twirling it around his finger. 'So tragic.' He tugged and I bit my lip to stop a yelp. 'Too tragic for your erotic novels.' With a firm push I toppled over the fence, falling hard onto my shoulder in the enclosure. I rolled over, settling on my side to watch him fire a gun. The bullet sailed over my head, colliding with the lock binding Alick's chain to the tree. He laughed as Alick charged towards me, his golden eyes unforgiving as his jaws sunk deep into my chest.