Danville Horror: A Pat Wyatt Novel (The Pat Wyatt Series Book 3) (5 page)

“You’re too old for me,” I repeated clearly. He was getting annoying.

“It’s only four years, Pat,” he sighed. “Besides, you let me kiss you last week, and I can’t think of anything else.”

I had let him kiss me only because he was asking so much. But it was nice, and I did feel something for him. “It was okay,” I admitted.

He nudged my shoulder. “See? I’m not the big, bad wolf. I just love you.” He placed his hand on my waist and pulled me to him. Then, making sure Jess didn’t see him, he kissed me again, and I nearly melted. “Come to prom with me?” he asked, but I shook my head, and he sighed. “Stubborn. Then say you’ll wait for me. That when I come back from college, we can be together.”

“Okay,” I conceded with a sigh, “I’ll wait for you. Now go ask Jessie to prom before she pitches a fit.”

He nodded, smiling that bright, handsome smile of his. Then he took Buddy’s leash and tapped Jessica on the shoulder.

Someone was ringing the doorbell as I was wiping my hands on my jeans. I came back to the present so fast that I lost my balance and nearly tripped. Once I shook all those old feelings off, I made my way to the front door as quickly as I could. I opened it to find a very handsome African American gentleman on the front porch. He was dressed to the nines in a blue tie and navy blue suit. He was very tall, and his hair was clipped close to his head. His skin was the color of milk chocolate, and I couldn’t help but notice that he had golden eyes. Not brown with a hint of gold, actually
gold
. He kind of looked like a hawk.

“Patricia Anne Wyatt, correct?” he asked in a deep and musical voice.

“Yes,” I answered, mesmerized by his eyes. “Who are you?”

“I’m Mike’s friend.” He avoided answering, but there was something about his demeanor that made me kind of trust him.

Those eyes
…
“Mike never talked about you,” I managed to say through my awe.

He laughed a little. “I’ll get him for that later.”

I shook myself. “Would you like to come in?”

“Yes,” he replied, looking around, “but right now you need to come out.”

“Why?” I asked. But before he could explain, he grabbed me gently by my arm. After a second, there was this loud crash, and I turned to see the Christmas tree had come crashing down where I once stood.

I looked up at Mike’s friend and could feel my face scrunch in confusion. “What are you?”

“I’m Andrew McNeil,” he finally told me. “And I’m clairvoyant.”

I don’t know whether it was the fact that a tree almost fell on me or the stress of the day, but before I could say another word, I passed out.

chapter

SIX

After Andrew had splashed some water on my face, waking me up from a dead faint, he helped me put the Christmas tree back in the living room, making sure that nothing was broken or scratched. Luckily, there was only minor damage to the house, but there were pine needles everywhere, so while I swept up the mess, I kept wondering why I had fainted. Was it because I was tired? Or was it the fact that I had seen Mike die by Kathryn’s hands and all the stress from this morning in the dress shop was catching up to me? Maybe it was due to the injures that still hadn’t healed. Whatever it was, it really started to worry me. I hated fainting. I had no control when it happened, and I seemed to be doing it a lot lately.

“You know,” Andrew said from behind me, and I jumped, “fainting is a perfectly normal reaction to stress.”

I glared at him. “What? I thought you said you were clairvoyant, not a mind reader.”

“Oh, I am,” he said, smiling at me a little. “But, uh, you were mumbling to yourself.”

“Was I?” I asked, worried. And here I thought that I was just having an internal conversation.

“Yeah, but it’s no big deal,” he answered with a shrug, “I do it all the time.” He got on his knees, dustpan in hand, and I swept the needles into it gently. Then he got up, taking the trash with him.

I started to think again, this time I made sure it was only in my head. Why was he here? Why had Mike sent him? I decided it would just be better to ask him. “Andrew?”

“Huh?” he replied, walking back to me.

“Why are you here?”

“Um…” he paused, looking down at his shiny shoes, “Mike sent me to check on you. You know, to see if you were okay.”

I pursed my lips and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Uh-huh,” I said skeptically. “Why are you
really
here?”

He looked at me a little shocked. “Well, shit. How did you know I was lying?”

“I guessed. And if Mike hasn’t told you, I’m a very good guesser. You also just confirmed it.” That whole guessing thing was true. I always had these feelings when something was off, and after Andrew answered me, I just knew he wasn’t telling me the truth.

He smiled, shaking his head a little. “You’re good.”

“So,” I prompted, “why are you really here?”

“You had a vision earlier today?” he asked, and I nodded. I admit I was a little freaked out he knew about it, but what did I expect from a psychic. “Well…” he paused again, this time taking a breath, “that’s why I’m here. I had the same one. So I called Wolf, and he suggested, since he’s persona non grata, that I get here just to see what was goin’ on.”

“Well, when you figure that out, I would love to know.”

“Pat?” he said, and I just looked at him. “You shouldn’t worry about it. The damn thing probably won’t come true anyway.” I nodded, sighing, and he got down on his knees once more as I swept the remainder of the needles in the dustpan. Suddenly, my cell phone rang.

“I’ll get it,” Andrew announced, placing the dustpan down so he could run upstairs to get it off my bed. The second he came back, he handed it to me.

I smiled at him in thanks, finally answering. “Hello?”

“Pat, did Andy get there?” Mike asked from the other end.

“Yes,” I snapped, “he did. Why couldn’t you have called him?”

“He doesn’t own a phone,” he explained. “He says they mess with his abilities.”

“Good to know,” I sighed. “Anything else?”

“You mad at me?” he sounded concerned, and I couldn’t tell if it was for himself or me.

“Why would I be mad at you? I mean, all I’m trying to do is get away from all this supernatural nonsense, and you keep on sending it my way. Is there anyone else who the werewolves and the vampires can bother? Or is it just me?” I was screaming, and I hadn’t meant to, but I was just so frustrated.

“Nope,” Andrew said from the kitchen, smiling at me.

And I couldn’t help myself. I just laughed.

“This is Andrew,” I introduced him to Cindy, right after I explained why some of the plastic ornaments on the tree were dented. Cindy had walked into a bit of a mess, and she wanted to make sure that I was all right. She also wanted to know who the very dapper, her words exactly, man was sitting at my father’s kitchen table. I explained that he was a friend of Mike’s and that he saved my life.

“Well,” Cindy said with a smile, “it’s nice to meet you, Andrew. I’m Cindy, Pat’s father’s fiancée.”

“Nice to meet you too,” he replied, standing. But when he held his hand out to shake hers, she pulled him into a hug, whispering something in his ear. He nodded and said, “No problem.” I assumed she was thanking him.

She pulled back smiling. “You have to stay here with us.”

“Oh no,” he protested. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“It’s not an imposition,” I chimed in. “Right, Cindy?” She nodded in agreement. “And besides,” I continued, “we’ve got plenty of room. You can sleep in the guest room.”

“Great idea,” Cindy said. “But could you guys help me. The florist decided to track me down today and give me some samples of the centerpieces. They’re in my trunk and a bit heavy.”

“No problem,” Andrew replied with keenness and rushed out with Cindy and me trailing behind.

Once we got all three arrangements in the house, Cindy decided to take them out of their boxes and look at them, just to see which one she liked best. “I don’t know,” she sighed as she pulled the last one out, placing it on the kitchen median. “I just don’t know. What do you think, Pat?”

“I’m not very good at with flowers, Cindy.” The fact of the matter was they all looked sort of the same to me. The first had white roses with sparkly snowflakes, the second was white roses with white and silver trim around the bowl, and the last one was just plain white roses.

“Well, I think this one’s…” her voice trailed off, and she looked mesmerized.

“Cindy,” Andrew yelled, taking the flowers with the snowflakes and chucking them out the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. Cindy immediately collapsed, but before she hit the floor, Andrew caught her.

“What the hell was that?” I asked as he picked her up.

“Where should I put her?” he breathed.

“Couch,” I replied, and he walked down the hall and into the living room. When he came back, I repeated, “What the hell was that, Andrew?”

He huffed in frustration. “Someone put a curse on the flowers.”

“What? Who?”

He shrugged. “It was too blurry, I don’t know.”

My heart began to race. “Do you think it has anything to do with earlier?”

He grimaced. “Maybe. I’m not sure.”

There was a flash of lightening, and the already gray sky grew so dark that it looked like night. Andrew had forgotten to close the back door all the way, and before either one of us could reach it, Samuel was standing outside the doorway. His ice blue eyes stared into mine as he smirked at me. He wore his usual all black, making him look even more menacing in the dim light.

“We need to talk,” he said, his deep voice making me shiver. “Now.”

“Whoa,” Andrew breathed, “I’m psychic, and even I didn’t see that one comin’.”

I glared at Samuel. “I did.”

“I need to speak with you,” Samuel said, this time he sounded angry, all traces of a smile gone from his face.

“I heard you before, Samuel,” I hissed. “There’s no need to get huffy with me.”

“Well, maybe if you did what you were told the first time—”

“You son-of-a-bitch,” Andrew yelled at him, but I put my hand up.

“Andrew,” I sighed, “I got this. Just see if Cindy is okay, all right?” He nodded, leaving Samuel and me alone. Walking out into the backyard, I closed the door behind me for more privacy. “What?” I asked him as he backed away from me. His caramel colored skin looked a bit pale, and his black hair was disheveled, but other than that, he looked like the same pain in the ass as usual.

“Kathryn sent me to tell you something,” he whispered as if anyone could hear us.

“What? That she put a curse on the flowers Cindy just got?”

“I beg your pardon? I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Sure you don’t,” I huffed. “And I have fairy wings and a pink tutu.”

“And I would love to see them,” he replied, smirking again, “but now is not the time for jokes. This is important, Patricia.” He grabbed hold of my left wrist, and I tried to pull away, but he was too strong.

“Let go of me, Samuel,” I screamed at him.

He shook his head, his grip tightening. “You must hear what I have to say first.”

I tried to pull my hand away again, but his grip was like a vice, and I sneered as pain shot up my arm through to my neck. “You’re hurting me, Samuel.”

“I am not letting go,” he growled.

“Fine,” I breathed, trying to keep the pain out of my voice. “What is it?”

“You are not safe,” he replied, staring into my eyes. It always seemed as though he was looking into my soul when he did that, and I hated it.

“Why am I not safe?” I asked and whimpered as his grip grew tighter again. Then I heard the audible crack, and I couldn’t help but grimace in excruciating pain.

“Because,” he continued, but before he finished, someone opened the door behind us.

“Is there a problem out here?” Pops voice came from inside the house.

“Everything is all right, Mr. Wyatt,” Samuel answered, looking down at me with a smirk.

“Pat?”

“Yeah, Pops,” I replied, looking over my shoulder at him, “everything’s fine.”

“You sure?” my father asked, looking worried.

“For now,” I replied, and Pops nodded. It was always what I said when Jim and I were fighting, so he knew that I would tell him all about it later.

“Okay,” he said and then looked at Samuel. “You coming to the wedding, son?”

“I would not miss it for the world, Mr. Wyatt. Thank you for inviting me.”

“No problem,” Pops replied, “just remember to get Jessica here on time to get her fitting for her dress. Cindy’s worried about it.”

“I will.”

My father nodded again. “Well, I’ll leave you two alone.” But when he walked away, he left the door open. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Samuel saw this and growled. I turned my attention back to him, and he looked like a caged animal. “So much for privacy, we will speak of this later.”

“Can’t wait,” I said sarcastically, but still breathless from the pain.

In an instant, he let go of my wrist, and as soon as he was gone, I crumpled to the ground, letting out a silent scream of agony. “Pops,” I cried, and he came running.

He kneeled in front of me. “Baby girl, what’s wrong?”

“Hospital,” I whimpered, holding my left hand to my chest.

Pops nodded, helping me off the ground.

“What happened?” Andrew asked as my father walked me through the house.

“It doesn’t matter right now,” Pops said sternly.

“We need to go to the hospital,” I answered him, almost crying.

“Oh my God,” Andrew breathed, looking at me with concern. “What can I do?”

“Can I trust you to stay here with Cindy, and tell her that we went to the hospital when she wakes up?” Pops asked him skeptically.

“You sure can, Sir,” Andrew answered without hesitation. “We’ll meet you there later.”

My father looked at me for approval, and I nodded. “Okay,” Pops replied with a sigh, letting me go for a second to get our coats and his keys. Then he wrapped my coat around my shoulder and led me to the car, giving Andrew his ‘you better not let me down’ stare the entire way. Finally, we got into the car, and Pops drove like a bat out of hell to the hospital. He even ran a red light or two, but no cop dared stop him; he was a father on a mission to get his baby girl out of pain.

This was just turning out to be a banner day.