Dark Spirits by Rebekkah Ford Page B

humans and could easily be broken.”
    I smiled, relieved he felt the same way as I. “Exactly. Did Tree tell you what I did to him last night?”
    Brayden laughed. “He did. I wish I could have seen it. Here you are five-foot nothi--”
    “Three,” I said, having the need to add those inches to his statement.
    “Three,” he amended to satisfy me. I couldn’t help but grin. Being with Brayden like this felt like old times. I was enjoying myself. “And here’s Tree, six-foot five. I would have loved to have seen you take him down.”
    “Well, I hope it worked because both Tree and Carrie are stubborn as hell.”
    He kicked at a pile of dried leaves in our path. They popped up like jumping beans, making rustling noises, scattering about. “They are,” he agreed, “but they have to realize by now they can’t be a part of this.”
    We were at the halfway point to my house when my ears began to ring.
    Crap.
    We stopped and looked around. Then a thought occurred to me, a thought I’d never considered.
    My blood ran cold.
    “Brayden,” I said below a whisper, knowing he could hear me. “What if it’s an ancient dark spirit we can’t cast out?”
    He took my hand. “Then we both attack him. But remember, Paige, try to reason with him first and don’t let your guard down.”
    “Okay,” I said, feeling my heart slamming against my chest. I saw a beam of light bouncing between the shadows of the trees. It got brighter. I held my breath. A guy and a girl stepped out of the trees. They were both smirking, and I recognized them right away. I released the air from my lungs and squared my shoulders.
    “Let’s see what they want first,” Brayden said, watching them walking toward us in a cocky, snide manner. “I think they’re young though.”
    “They are. They’re part of Ayperos’ group,” I told him out the corner of my mouth.
    “Wow. I must be in Lady Luck’s favor for me to run into you, two nights in a row,” the platinum blonde with the short, spiky hair said. Her eyes shifted on Brayden, and they roamed over his body, stopping on his hand holding mine. She wagged a finger at us. “You two are bad, sneaking behind Mr. Caswell’s back, getting a little something, something on the side.” A laser beam of light flashed across her brown eyes.
    I released Brayden’s hand. “It’s not like that,” I said, but then realized she was trying to get inside my head to mess with me. I slipped my hand back into his. “Anyway, I don’t give a crap what you think.”
    Her black lips turned into a vicious smile. “Just when I was starting to like you, you had to open your stupid mouth and ruin it.”
    I could smell the alcohol on them, which explained why the dark-haired guy–the one who was holding the binoculars last night–kept swaying. He tried to keep a steady grip on the flashlight, but the beam was erratically circling the ground with his swaying motions. They must have been partying deeper in the woods and happen to come across us, I thought.
    “Were you two partying?” Brayden asked the guy, obviously thinking along the same lines. He said it like it was the coolest thing ever.
    “Yeah, man,” the guy said with a laugh, jerking the light in Brayden’s face, making him squint. Brayden’s hand went up, shielding his eyes. “I just took some creeper, and it’s creeping up right now.” The guy laughed again, and a laser beam flashed across his glazed eyes. “Do you want to party with us?”
    The blonde gestured sharply at him. “You idiot! They’re immortals,” she snapped, outraged. “They’re not our friends. We need to kill them.”
    “What?” The guy blinked, directing the light on her. He had a blank look on his face and absently scratched his head.
    She growled her frustration. “We need to kill them,” she repeated through tight lips. “And get that fucking light out of my eyes!”
    The beam fell back to the ground, creating a huge, golden circle in front of him.“No,”