I drove home, and as I approached the house I realized more fully that Dad and Crowe had been right about the perimeter protection—it had gone soft. I hoped maybe I could replace it myself instead of asking Dad to do it, but for now I needed to save my energy for more urgent things. I called out for my mom as I walked through the living room, but then realized she probably hadn’t gotten back from working the lunch shift at Denny’s. Thinking about personal barrier spells and vault hexes, I entered my room and turned toward my closet.
Hands snaked around my waist and pulled me back. With a shriek, I jabbed at my attacker with my elbow and stomped down, hoping to crush a few toes.
“Ow!” he said, and let me go.
I whirled around, and my mouth dropped open. The minty scent of my own magic filled my nose, probably caused by my surprise. “Darek?”
“Yeah,” he said weakly, rubbing at his abs. “Sorry for startling you.”
“Where the hell have you been?”
He gingerly pulled off his aviator sunglasses, revealing two black eyes and a gash across his left eyebrow that had been closed with three stitches. “Hospital.”
“What happened?”
He winced at the shrill sound of my voice and then gestured to the bed. “Do you mind?”
I watched as he collapsed on the bed and then sat on the edge of it. It looked like every part of him hurt. “I’ve been worried about you. Why didn’t you answer my texts? And do you know where Alex is? A few people saw her leave the festival with you last night, and she hasn’t been seen since.”
His brow furrowed. “Really?” He frowned. “That’s messed up.”
“No kidding. But did you see her?”
“Yeah. I walked her to her car. But then she drove off, and that was the last time I saw her.” With a grimace, he turned onto his back and laid his arm over his eyes to block out the sunlight streaming through my window.
I probably should have been relieved that my best friend hadn’t shacked up with my… honestly I didn’t know what Darek was. I only knew that if she hadn’t been with him, she was still missing. “Hey—how did you end up in the hospital?”
“Oh, thanks for your concern,” he said drily. Then he let out a pained chuckle. “You haven’t talked to Crowe?”
“Huh?”
“I figured he would have told everyone. But I guess maybe he wanted to keep it between us.”
“Darek, just tell me what happened.”
He lifted his arm off his face. “Crowe saw my connection with you. I thought he kind of looked at us funny when I came into the beer tent last night.”
I thought back. “I guess he might have.”
“Oh, trust me. After I walked Alex to her car, I was taking a shortcut from the parking lot to the Stalkers tent when he stepped out from behind a tree. Blocked the path. Dude is big.”
“Crowe was hiding in the woods, waiting for you?”
“Who knows if he was waiting for me? Maybe he was spying or looking out for someone else. Whatever. He took the opportunity when it wandered up the path like a clueless idiot.” There was a bitter twist to his voice. “He told me I didn’t belong there. At first I thought he meant on that part of the land, and I apologized. Then he made it clear what he really meant.” Darek’s blue eyes were stark. “He told me to stay away from you.”
My stomach dropped. “Oh.”
“I told him to fuck off.” Darek let out a weary sigh. “He didn’t take it well.”
“He beat you up?”
“He told me he could kick my ass with a simple blink of his eyes, but he preferred to do it the old-fashioned way.” Darek rubbed at his jaw, which was bruised and swollen. “He did a damn good job, if you ask me.”
“That doesn’t sound like Crowe. I know he has a temper, but—”
“I’m a Deathstalker, Jemmie,” Darek snapped. “And I was a little too obviously interested in you, I guess.”
Everything inside me wanted to argue. Surely Crowe wouldn’t have… but the tiniest whisper of doubt crept in. Suddenly I remembered what Crowe had said about him this morning, how Darek just pissed him off, how he should have killed him when he had the chance. Was this what he meant? Had he actually used me as an excuse to beat on Darek? “Does Killian know?”
Darek pulled several small objects from his pocket and dropped them on my bedspread. I peered at the shattered remains of Darek’s phone. “Honestly, I’m not sure what happened after the fifth or sixth time he hit me. I woke up in a ditch at the side of Highway Ten just over the city limit. When I crawled out, a passing driver stopped and called an ambulance. I’ve been in the ER getting stitched up. I hitched a ride here when they let me out. I thought you…” He looked away. “I hoped you would be worried.” He held his hand out, palm up.
I slipped my hand into his, and he squeezed my fingers. “I don’t know what to say, except that I’m sorry if I played a part in this.”
“Did you tell the president of the Devils to go after me?”
“I think you know the answer to that.”
“Then this isn’t your fault at all. Just… I don’t want to cause trouble, Jemmie. Killian made it clear to all of us before we rode up here that he wanted us to behave. He’s worked for years to resurrect this club after what happened to Henry and the others, and I’d say he’s just about done it. So the last thing I want to do is start some kind of war.”
“Letting Killian know you’re safe is probably the best thing you can do, then.”
He let go of my hand. “I guess I will. It’s just…”
“What?”
“It’s so fucking humiliating, Jem. I try to have a good attitude. I’ve tried for years. But sometimes it feels like more than I can bear.”
“Having so little magic, you mean?”
“I wanted to fight back. I want to fight back. I’m not weak.”
“I know you’re not, Darek.” My heart ached for him, for the tortured look on his face. “I know it’s hard.”
“You can’t know how it feels,” he whispered. “And I’ve had to do this alone. I’ve always been alone. At least your dad is still alive.”
“I’m sorry. I know you miss your parents a lot.”
“You know, it’s funny. My dad died on the same stretch of road that took out Michael Medici. Quite the coincidence.”
“I didn’t know.”
He shrugged. “Didn’t seem worth mentioning. Killian knew my dad really well—they were raised together. So he got a nice couple to take me in. Used to come visit me from time to time.” He chuckled. “I guess he wanted to keep an eye on me. Make sure I was brought up right.” His sad smile faded. “But like I’ve told you, they were drecks, Jem. They didn’t understand me. Sometimes I wondered if he did that on purpose.”
“Because he knew you didn’t have a dominant power?”
“You said it, not me,” he grumbled. “It took a lot of convincing to get him to let me prospect. I finally talked him into it, though. I’m gonna prove myself to him.”
“You will. And I’m not saying I know how you feel, but I do know what it’s like to feel alone, and to be different from others around you. I know it sucks.”
He sat up, not meeting my gaze. “Since I can’t text Killian, I guess I’d better get back to the grounds.”
“Are you going to confront Crowe?” I knew Crowe was tough, and I knew he hated the Deathstalkers and suspected they had a hand in Michael’s death, but Darek was no threat to him. His only crime had been looking at me.
I wouldn’t have thought Crowe cared about that. He thought I was a distraction and nothing more.
“The last thing I want is to play a part in starting another war between the Stalkers and the Devils,” Darek said. “It’s the opposite of what my club needs, and I pledged to protect my club. A man’s got to be able to take a beating, and that’s one thing I can do.” He smiled, then winced as it pulled at a cut on his cheek. “Pretty well, at least.”