Chapter 35 – Christmas Surprises

It was hard to imagine a time in my life when I'd actually be tense and nervous over the holiday break. I mean, two weeks away from school, Christmas presents, and no homework. What's not to love? And pretty much the pros havegone in the same order as above.

Pro 1: No school! And the best part of that was when I go back there'll be no guards, no Mr. Darnell, and no people within the halls that would want to kill us… as far as I knew.

Pro 2: Christmas this year was awesome! Usually all my gifts revolved around my horse or new riding gear, but this year I got this sleek, silver digital camera. I could see myself using it at shows and around the farm in general. But what made Christmas that much more special was when we gave Fang his own laptop so he wouldn't have to compete with Ella for our computer, and also for him to update his blog more frequently. Let me tell you, he was so surprised that he was speechless. (Yeah, that was the punch line. I know I'm a little off today).

Pro 3: Normally I'd have nothing to do over said break with the exception of farm work, and as far as I knew I had no homework to finish, reports to write, books to read. It should have been a very relaxing break, right?

Somehow I manage making vacation into a tense, nerve-racking, apocalyptic event.

I really surprise myself sometimes.

Mom and Ella didn't really understand why Fang and I were always on guard, staying in a room with the other two members of the home at all times. I was doubtful that the guards were going to attack us, but Fang kept insisting that we should always be prepared. It had been several days since we chased them out of school and nothing had happened so far. The smug, know-it-all part of me was about ready to do a victory dance in Fang's face — and let me tell you, it's not a pretty sight — because if they were so hungry for revenge they would have struck by now.

However, there was one thing that made this particular night stand out in comparison to other bad times I've had before: Mom was asked out on a date by Justin Truman, her old colleague I met at her vet's office.

Not only didn't I want her to go out, since I didn't really trust the guy, but I was worried sick that something might happen to her, despite believing that we were safe from the guards' wrath. I had a gut feeling that today was going to be bad, and the Voice didn't help by sending me images, coordinates, calculations, and some other things I couldn't quite decipher while I was trying to sleep. So on top of being worried sick, I was also sleep deprived.

I was sitting in the living room, waiting for Mom to come out so I could give her a nice little talking to, when a voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Max."

I turned around to see Fang standing right behind the sofa, leaning over so his face was close to mine. "What do you want?" I asked, willing myself to keep from turning my head away.

He threw an object on the cushion and it took me a second to realize what it was. The recorder. "I listened to it last night," he said as he maneuvered around the couch to sit on the other end from me. "Plugged it into my new laptop." He smirked, clearly liking his new toy. "Most of the feedback was interfered with by the sounds of chairs moving and objects banging against the table, but when I slowed it down I could make out some details."

"Like what?" I was intrigued. We hadn't listened to it at first because we were still concerned about an attack, but I think the curiosity was eating at him to hear what we had found. If i would have had the recorder with me I would have listened to it the day we got home.

"I think it was Mr. Darnell talking to someone he addressed at 'the Director'. They were tracking someone whose codename was 2075."

"You think that's you?" He nodded, and I sat back, inhaling deeply. It was hard to take in that someone wanted Fang, but what I didn't understand was why they didn't want me or James. Are we not important enough? They didn't know I had powers, so they probably didn't know about him either. "What else did he say?"

"Just that they were 'close', whatever that's supposed to mean, and that they were hoping to begin some operation shortly."

"That's all so cryptic. Even when they have their own room to be secretive they still air on the side of caution."

"I think they suspected someone was watching. It is a small school and secrets aren't easy to keep."

I laughed but stopped as soon as Mom came out of the hallway. She was wearing a cashmere sweater, flowing knee-length skirt, and fountain-like earrings. I had to say she looked gorgeous, which made me wonder why she was going through all the trouble of looking nice. "You look good," I said softly, trying to hide my irritation.

"Thanks honey."

Ella came bounding down the steps and whistled at the sight of Mom. "Wow, what are you all dressed up for?" she wondered. I grimaced; I never told Ella about Justin. Frankly, I really didn't know why Mom was seeing him to begin with. Were they dating? Just catching up? Planning some terroristic, psychotic plot that was going to take over the world through Itex? I just didn't know and I didn't want to worry Ella over nothing.

"I'm seeing an old friend," Mom said, grabbing her coat from a hanger by the door. "I'll be back at around ten, so don't throw any wild parties, alright?"

"Okay," the three of us said in unison.

"Oh, well, there goes my plan," Fang muttered under his breath. I chuckled.

"Call if you need anything. I left you some money if you want to order a pizza. The number's marked in the phone book as you know, Max. I expect change, but don't forget to tip the delivery man."

I nodded, not really listening to her. Fang and I shared a knowing glance; we didn't want anything to happen to my mom while she was away. Maybe we could tell her one of us was sick and she'd come home immediately, but I didn't want to be rude either. I was torn between being a good daughter (ha!) and doing whatever I could to keep her safe.

"Behave, love you," she said as she left through the door. I bounded up from the sofa and watched her car pass out from the driveway safely before I went back to Ella and Fang with a sigh.

"Freedom!" Ella screeched. "I'll go throw on some music." She ran upstairs, turned on some mainstream rock song, and had the music blaring from the foyer.

I rolled my eyes and slumped back on the sofa.

"Worried about your mom?" Even though it was addressed like a question Fang already knew the answer to that.

"I just had this feeling all day that something bad was gonna happen, and I don't want it to happen to her. It'll be worse that we can do nothing about it."

He nodded. "I think she'll be fine as long as she stays in public areas."

"Yeah, I guess so." I sighed again and closed my eyes for a moment, trying to block out the music from upstairs.

"I'll order pizza," Fang offered, rising from the sofa and slinking off silently into the kitchen. I listened to him talking over the phone to the shop as Ella descended the steps again, singing "I'll keep you my dirty little secret. Don't tell anyone or you'll be just another regret."

"Ugh, how can you listen to a song about lying and deception," I complained, pulling my eyes open to glare at her.

"Don't be a hater since you don't like mainstream music. There's a reason that it's popular."

"Yeah, yeah, the music, not the lyrics. I swear if half the people who listened to that crap actually read the words they'd be appalled by it."

"Uh, huh, and you'd think that some of those country stars would be Emo by the depressing lyrics they right. Jeez, who cares if your girlfriend left you? Get over it! You're rich and famous; a new one will pop up eventually."

I rolled my eyes, but arguing half-heartedly like this was fun.

"Pizza will be here in twenty minutes," Fang said, rejoining us in the living room. We all sat around the TV and watched an episode of "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" If you were to ask me that question right now I'd say tell you flat out that I am most definitely not smarter than a fifth grader. I don't even remember learning some of this stuff in elementary school!

"What is the digit in the hundredths position for the number 341.927?" Jeff Foxworthy, the host, asked a blond newscaster, the contestant. She'd been struggling through several rounds of questions which were pretty basic, but once you stopped learning about them it was hard remembering, especially with her occupation.

"Um… well, I was thinking maybe three…" she guessed, talking her thought process aloud.

"Jeez, how stupid can people be?" I muttered, taking a swig of coke.

"Yeah, everyone knows it's the number two," Ella said. "She doesn't even have a save left if she puts in the wrong answer, which it looks like she's about to do."

The bell rang and I felt my stomach growl in delight. It took them long enough. I got up, grabbed a twenty off the counter, and headed for the door. The delicious taste of melted cheese was already dancing on my tongue as I licked my lips. Yeah, that just gives you an idea about how hungry I was.

I opened the door and greeted the deliverer, until I realized that the man was holding no pizza box. He was tall, lean, and extremely handsome, and I felt my all my ties to reality cut off just then.

"Delivery?" he growled with a big grin that suddenly morphed from perfect white teeth into large, ugly, yellow incisors. His eyes turned a bright gold and stared at me… well, hungrily. My eyes widened in shock.

"Guys, go upstairs now!" I ordered, and just as Fang saw who was standing there, a loud crashing sound exploded from our kitchen. Ella screamed.

As I was about to run to her I felt fuzzy, calloused hands grab mine and yank me out of the way. "Go upstairs." This time Fang took my message, and I was pretty angry at him for stealing my mojo. I said it first. Ella nodded and darted to her room as two more ugly, fury men poured in from the kitchen.

I can't even describe to you what I was feeling right now. The obvious ones were shock, fear, confusion, disappointment — I mean, I thought I was actually going to be right about this. But the thing that surprised me the most was the urge to fight, how it seemed like an instinct to fend off these attackers. At school it had been different — we were on unknown territory, so the first response is flight. This was my home, and I was seeing red.

These had to be the wolf-men Fang was talking about before. I even felt like I'd seen them before, in a dream or another lifetime. Man, were they gross.

I scrambled to my feet and jumped on the one who'd come in through the front door. It caught him off guard and he went sprawling to the floor with me on top of him. I was surprised by my own strength. Maybe it was adrenaline — I'd heard stories of people who'd been able to lift cars off of an adrenaline rush, and no I'm not just talking about Twilight. Continuing with the theme, I lifted the furry head and pounded it against the floor several times. He growled and threw me off his shoulder like a ragdoll. I landed on my back, feeling the immediate pain from impact, but got back up quickly.

I could hear Fang behind me wrapped up in his own battle. I didn't want to check on him and turn my back to the other one. It was like being on auto-pilot; I wasn't particularly aware of everything that was happening, but I was just going with the flow. All that farm work finally paid off, eh?

That's right, Max, go with the flow.

Ah, Voice. It's been a while. Were you visiting relatives for the holidays? I had no idea how I was managing sarcastic remarks while dodging fast, furry fists.

This is hardly the time for jokes. Stay focused or else.

Or else what? Would it kill you to be more specific? I yelped (an embarrassing habit I was trying to break) as a leg came at my head and I ducked, only to hear it make contact with a lamp that clattered to the floor in broken pieces. Oh, god, Mom was going to flip when she got home.

There was no reply from the Voice, not that I expected one really. Oh well, I was playing a little game I liked to call Max-kwon-do, which basically said that anything goes in fighting. I kicked out at the wolf's groin and he howled in pain. Then I stabbed two fingers into its eyes. He doubled over, one hand clutching down low and another across his face. I didn't think he'd be getting up for a while.

I ran over to Fang who was getting swiped at left and right by two wolves. He was bleeding from his mouth and had his shirt sliced on the side. I charged from behind, elbowing a muscular abdomen, which let me tell you, it freaking hurt. I cursed under my breath and jumped back as a clawed hand tried raking me.

Fang and I were pressed back-to-back, breathing hard, as the two wolves approached. My fists were clenched, awaiting the strike, while the back of my mind wondered if Ella was okay upstairs. Suddenly the two stopped as a hum filled the air. Growling, the one reached into a ripped pant pocket and pulled out a cell phone. I knew Fang was just as confused as I was, but we were being cautious; it could be a trap. He placed the phone back and looked at his cohorts.

"Striker wants us back," he rumbled. "They know where he is and it's good enough." The two, and one double-over wolf, ran out through the back door, disappearing into the night. Fang and I followed, looking for any trace of them, but they were completely gone. We fumbled back inside, and I was suddenly feeling the soreness from our fight.

"We should call my mom," I said as I looked at the glass coating the floor.

Fang nodded, looking very pale and shaken. I had never seen him like this, even that time when he came home injured from the first encounter. The air between us was tense. There was something he wanted to say but was holding it in.

"What's going on?" I sighed, just wanting to get this over with.

I looked into his black eyes, seeing the deepness, the strange spark that was glittering underneath. But it wasn't the same light as when he'd smile at me, but it seemed desperate, almost crazed.

Then his words struck a nail through my heart.

"Max, I need to leave. Right now."

Sorry for the cliffie, but I had to end or else this chapter would get too long. This is draft 2, and I was much more pleased with this one than the first. And I don't claim to be a country/mainstream expert, so I was going off of stereotypes I know from them. Don't mean to offend anyone. Um.. yeah, next time I update I hope it'll be for Ghost of Me. I really neglect that story.

Since I posted the last chapter I have had 45 reviews (18 for last chapter). You guys rock!! :D I hope everyone liked this despite the suckish ending. Oh, and the best is yet to come (you can trust me on that). As far as betas/co-authors go, I'll let you know next week once school starts. I'll have tons of time to think during the first week of school... haha. I believe XDHeATheRox was reviewer number 400, so you can choose what you want to celebrate with. Um, I keep forgetting to look back and see who nicknamed me 'life biter', but let me tell you I love it! So kuddos to whoever came up with it!

This week is hectic so I definitely won't be updating too much. And since I'm just that stupid, I keep thinking Labor Day weekend is next weekend as opposed to two weeks from now, so actually I'll be in New York this upcoming Sunday and Monday. I hope the hotel has internet. :P

REVIEW PLEASE!!!