Parahuman (Parahuman Series) Read online

  “Hey, we just want to have a little chat with you. Don’t run away.” It wasn’t hard to hear the glee in his voice at the prospect of Devan being threatened by him.

  “I’m not running,” he replied, reaching the truck and opening the door. “I think you’re just mistaken at what vehicle I’m driving.”

  Jarrod’s sneer transformed to anger as he realized his little stand-off wasn’t going as planned.

  As Devan situated himself behind the wheel the group reformed themselves around the truck with Jarrod strolling up to the door.

  “You know if you keep bothering me like this I’m going to think you’re missing me at work and I might have to rethink my job placement.” Devan said, rolling down the window and leaning out to address him. Normally Devan wouldn’t have engaged in dialogue with someone bent on initiating a fight with him, but he wanted Jarrod to understand his view of their implicit arrangement. If Jarrod wasn’t going to leave him alone than what was the point of declining the job?

  “The job wasn’t the only thing I wanted you to stay away from.” He stated in a steely tone.

  “It’s unrealistic to think I can quit school.” Although, that thought would have been a desirable…before.

  “I want you to stay away from Laney at school too.”

  “I can’t help it that she’s intelligent and I’m intelligent and that we share many of the same intellectual classes.” Devan knew these words would only escalate the situation, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

  An angry flush covered Jarrod’s face; he didn’t like Devan’s inference that he was lacking in the intellect department, but then a smirk replaced it.

  “How was your ride home last night?” He inquired.

  He was subtly referring to the slashed tire he had imparted. Devan had wondered if he was going to take credit for it.

  “Acceptable,” Devan replied nonchalantly.

  “I know how rough the roads are around here; they can be murder on your tires,” he said spitefully.

  “It was nothing I wasn’t prepared for,” Devan asserted calmly.

  That wiped the grin off his face. He was unsure if Devan had missed his subtle insinuation that it was by his handiwork Devan had received the defective tire.

  “I was the one who did it,” he said bluntly, forgoing the indirect route.

  Devan gave him a look of condescension. “Yes, I caught the inference.”

  This increased his fury, and uncertainty. The guys behind him were looking confused at the direction of the conversation, seemingly ignorant of Jarrod’s actions the night before.

  “Just remember, being seen with Laney could become very expensive for you.” Jarrod threatened, rallying from a conversation that didn’t seem to be going the way he thought it would.

  Devan could feel the blood beginning to hum through his veins; he had let this go on for too long. Jarrod wasn’t going to let it go. Going against every rule they had about avoiding confrontations Devan stepped out of the truck and straightened to his full height of 6’10” which had everyone backing up. They didn’t go far, not when they thought they had the numbers. Not that it would have helped them.

  “I’m sure I’m not the only one who could end up having their tires destroyed.” Devan commented in return. By showing that he wasn’t going to be intimidated by Jarrod or his friends Devan had hopes of bringing this sideshow to an end.

  Jarrod’s friends might not know what was going on but it appeared they were going to back their friend if it came to a fight. They formed a semi-circle around Devan with the truck at his back in an intimidation attempt. He in no way felt intimidated.

  Devan hadn’t had to utilize his fighting skills in a long time. So far he had been able to avoid violent confrontation by keeping to himself, but that didn’t mean he was at a disadvantage. He’d been taught many different forms of martial arts at the facility. They’d all been coordinated and in a controlled setting but the concepts were still there, and he’d continued practicing them over the years…for future protection. Devan’s previous combatants had been military trained soldiers, not high school boys, so he would need to make sure he didn’t harm them too badly.

  “We can make life here really difficult for you.” Jarrod stated grimly taking a fighting stance.

  “But it’s been such a joy so far,” Devan remarked acerbically. The testosterone and pheromones emanating from every male increased considerably. He could also smell what each one of them had for lunch, the cologne they were wearing, and that one of them had a candy bar in their pocket—possibly a snickers bar.

  A fight would definitely be cause for relocation. He tensed in preparation.

  Devan didn’t look but he heard the sound of a vehicle pulling into the parking lot of the library. The entrance was behind him and he wasn’t going to take his eyes off the individuals in front of him.

  Jarrod and his friends switched their attention to the new vehicle and their expressions exhibited frustration and unease. Whoever it was it looked like it was going to curtail the beat down scheduled on their agenda for today.

  “Damn,” Jarrod mumbled under his breath; discreetly waving his pals to back off.

  Devan glanced over his shoulder to see who Jarrod was unhappy to see.

  Laney and Hali; what were the chances?

  Screeching to a halt in front of Brett’s truck they clambered out of Hali’s car. Their faces wore identical expressions of fury. Seems Devan was going to be rescued by two fire breathing teenage girls.

  “What’s going on?” Laney asked. The question came out sounding almost flippant as she looked each guy in the face ending at Jarrod but there was a definite bite to her tone, and her eyes were spitting fire.

  “Nothing’s going on; we were just talking.” Jarrod replied unconvincingly, doing his best to appear guiltless in the face of such an obvious lie.

  “Oh really, next you’re going to tell me you were inviting him to tea party and then makeovers after.” Laney retorted furiously. “Do I look that stupid?”

  “If this was supposed to be some kind of welcome wagon you guys seem to be lacking in the welcoming part.” Hali scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back against her car.

  Two of the guys actually look embarrassed as the girls admonished them. Their eyes darted to Jarrod looking for some kind of support.

  “So you’re automatically taking his side.” Jarrod complained, moving toward her. This had the hairs on Devan’s arms standing on end. He really didn’t like it when Jarrod got close to her. Devan moved in her direction instinctively and her fiery gaze flashed in his direction before returning to Jarrod. Hali also looked his way but shook her head as a warning to not interfere. Devan restrained myself…barely.

  “You’re kidding! There are four of you and one of him; whatever kind of rationalization could you make that would justify what I see here?” She asked incredibly, waving her arms around at the assembly.

  One by one Jarrod’s three friends began to back away toward his truck as though worried Laney might aim her wrath in their direction. It was kind of humorous.

  Jarrod was directly in front of Laney, whispering to her. “Please, you have to understand; ever since this guy came into the picture you’ve been acting differently.”

  “I’m not the one acting different; you’re the one’s who’s been mean and nasty and behaving as though you own me, and I’m not going to put up with it. I suggest you take a hard look at your behavior these last two days and when you can see clearly again then we’ll talk.” Laney’s face was red and unyielding. Devan wasn’t able see Jarrod’s face but the clenched fists at his sides were an indication that he didn’t like what he was hearing. Devan was having a difficult time not interfering seeing Jarrod standing so near Laney in his aggressive mood.

  Jarrod’s friends had retreated to the truck and appeared tired of waiting; they honked the horn to get him to hurry up. Jarrod spun on his heels; the look he directed toward Devan said retributio
n was inevitable.

  The three of them watched the truck speed out of the parking lot with the two guys in the back bed hanging on for dear life.

  Laney’s fire still appeared to be smoldering, because the look she sent his way still had a lot of heat to it. It sent a little buzz through him and he wasn’t sure if it was from alarm or anticipation.

  She turned and Devan thought that was that, but her words said otherwise.

  “Hali, can you give me a minute?”

  The buzz amped up higher.

  “No problem, sister. I’ll just be in here listening to some music at a volume where other sounds will be impossible to penetrate.” She threw a wink his way before stowing herself behind the wheel and cranking up the music to a degree that was bound to cause permanent hearing damage. His ears rang a little bit from outside the vehicle.

  Laney inhaled deeply before turning to face him. “I’m really sorry for the way Jarrod has been acting. It would appear that he’s been under some misapprehensions.” Laney’s eyes were sizzling, her face red.

  “You don’t need to apologize for him, and I can handle myself.”

  “You shouldn’t have to be handling it at all. He really does have a good side but lately it’s been hidden behind this other side of him.” Her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion.

  “Really, don’t worry about,” Devan stressed. “Hopefully I won’t see him around too often.”

  Her eyebrows furrowed even more in response to his comment. “Is the way you been acting around me…is it because of Jarrod?” She asked. Her incredible green eyes appeared to probe his glasses for an answer.

  Of course it was because of Jarrod, but Devan wasn’t going to tell her that. In reality, his conduct in the beginning had been out of character, Jarrod had just caused him to revert back to type…unsociable and distant. It was probably best that way anyway, there was no point getting attached when they could leave at any time. Another pang went off in his chest cavity.

  “What do you mean?” Devan asked, injecting false confusion into his tone.

  “You just seem…I don’t know…to be acting differently. I mean, I don’t know you well enough to know your moods of course, but you seem to be waffling, as though something is directing you moods.” Laney’s tenor had lowered, rose, and then lowered again as she attempted to get her meaning across. Devan could smell her embarrassment, and it wasn’t helping him in remaining distant with her when all he wanted to do was relieve it.

  “If it seems like that, I am sorry.” Devan heard the emphasis in his ‘sorry’ and realized he needed to get out of here before he lost the ground he’d made in pushing her away. She was drawing him back in and he had a deep desire to let it happen.

  “Sooo, do often hang out on the top of buildings or is it just school buildings?” Laney asked out of the blue with a small grin.

  Devan winced inwardly at her question. He had wondered if she would bring that up. It had been foolish of him to jump down from the building in view of her. He had no explanation for why he had done it. The only good thing was that she hadn’t seen how he had jumped down, because if a person were to hang from his hands down the side it wasn’t too far of a fall, and with any luck, that was what she thought. The question gave him more of a push to get out of there.

  “It’s quiet.” He replied shortly.

  Over Laney’s head he could see Hali doing an imitation of a drummer on the steering wheel as she sang along with the music blasting inside the car. “I should probably get going and I’m sure Hali’s eardrums need a break by now.”

  “Always running away.”

  If Devan’s hearing wasn’t so sensitive Laney’s whisper would have probably gone unnoticed, as it was his eyes swiveled to her involuntarily.

  She had turned away to scrutinize Hali so she missed his startled look in her direction. Devan wanted to refute her words, but he couldn’t…they were true.

  “I don’t know, she appears to be enjoying herself,” Laney negated, turning back to him. “And I know for a fact that she could do that for at least another hour.” She quirked one eyebrow; it was like she was trying to say ‘got another excuse for me’.

  If she wanted another one he could oblige.

  “Listening to music like that is very detrimental to hearing and I don’t want to be aligned with damaging hers.”

  She grinned and drawled. “Very good.”

  Devan couldn’t stop the twitch of his lip. She saw it because her grin widen to a smile. Devan had allowed myself to be drawn in. Stupid, stupid.

  “I have to go.” Devan turned to get in the truck.

  “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow.” She called after him. There were too many inflections in her tone for Devan to establish her mood as he drove away.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Devan followed the tracks north for about five miles and noticed that they circled around toward the house again. This was the second day in a row that Devan had come across the wolves tracks and from their behavior it appeared they were scouting the area looking for something. Their prints would circle around as though searching for a scent and then continue on in whatever direction they detected that scent went.

  Inhaling the packs musk, Devan estimated they had last been in the area about five hours ago and by their course it appeared they were shadowing his steps from a few days prior, but as it was only the second day since he’d first noticed them he couldn’t be definite.

  What was really catching his attention was the exaggerated level of markings the pack was leaving behind. Were they trying to warn him away or were they just marking their territory…extensively

  He spent about thirty minutes examining their tracks and markings before time necessitated he head back...Devan had another day of school to get ready for. Spinning on his heels he ran the six miles back to the house.

  Emerging from the woods at a sprint Devan halted in the clearing at the back of the house. His breathing was labored testifying to the twenty some miles he’d run, but he took note that his muscles seemed barely strained from the workout, and that wasn’t counting the training exercises in the trees he had done half way through.

  Toweling off from his shower fifteen minutes later Devan took some quick measurements. Every week he recorded data of how his body was developing…just to make sure he was evolving normally.

  Since taking them last week they seem to have altered. This wasn’t too alarming because he was in a growing stage, but the degree was a significant. His height had increased another quarter of an inch since last week and his arms had also lengthened and filled out more around the biceps and forearms. Devan’s legs had also gained more girth. Waking up the last two mornings Devan had noticed some discomfort in his joints and he realized now it was from growing pains.

  Devan didn’t let himself get too panicked about this because all teenagers went through this, but any change in his body always had him worried, and he definitely didn’t need to be getting taller.

  It was useless to worry as he could do nothing about it. Getting dressed in long shorts and another plain dark t-shirt Devan ate his breakfast, made his lunch, and set out for school.

  Driving past Laney’s house Devan unconsciously slowed and then consciously accelerated without permitting himself a look in that direction. He may have felt compelled to repair her bridge yesterday, spending thousands of dollars and nine hours on the restoration, but he also felt it was imperative to keep distance between them.

  He lined up with all the other vehicles arriving for the school day. With one road leading to all three stages of school; elementary, middle, and high school, there was a congestion of cars, trucks, and buses lined up waiting.

  Parking in the exact spot as yesterday Devan took a deep breath before stepping out for another day of peer pressure, hormone overload, and teen angst.

  With time came familiarity and one day wasn’t sufficient time for the kids of Silverton to stop their ogling. Keeping his eyes straight forward Devan walke
d to the front doors with tunnel vision, but then halted half way there abruptly.

  The wolves!

  He could smell them in the air; the same pack that had been around his house the last two days. Devan gazed into the north woods piercing its denseness for any sign of them. The scent was faint; he hoped it was because they were long gone rather than just far off. Another scent drifted to him preparing him before she spoke.

  “Looking off into the distance again?” Laney had walked up beside him; her green eyes filled with intense curiosity.

  “Uh..yeah…I do do that sometimes.” Devan fumbled, trying to get his bearings. He began walking forward again realizing he had been standing there drawing more attention to himself. Laney fell into step beside him.

  “What were you looking for this time?”

  Her tone was jaunty, but he thought there might have been a hint of seriousness mixed in with it. She was probably just humoring him.

  “I wasn’t looking for anything.” However, his gaze returned to the forest which didn’t yield much credence to his words. The smell of the wolves seemed to be getting stronger and he wasn’t sure if it was because of the wind or if the pack was moving closer. It seemed highly improbable that a pack of wolves was this close to such a highly populated area.

  “Are you sure about that, you seem awfully interested in something out there?” She asked.

  Before Devan was able to reply screams erupted from the north end of the building. Laney, him, and everyone else swiveled in that direction to see what was happening.

  Except for the screams everything seemed frozen for a minute as people stopped in their tracks and looked around for the commotion, but then people near the north entrance began running and screaming. That’s when Devan saw the wolf pack.

  Most of the people around him were not able to see the wolves over the heads of everyone else in the parking lot, but because he was a head taller than all of them it wasn’t a problem. Those who couldn’t see were either unnerved or interested by the screaming and weren’t sure if they should head for cover or find out what the commotion was about.