“I need to go home.” She tried to pull her arm away, but he hung on tighter.

“I know I’m older, and that scares you, but that’s no reason to be shy.” He smiled at her, but there was something menacing in the smile that made her recoil.

Thanks to her siren strength, she could overpower him, but just then he caught her off guard. He pushed her back against the brick wall of a building, putting an arm on either side of her and pinning her there with his body.

“Move,” Gemma insisted. “Jason. Please. Move.”

Just because she could overpower him didn’t mean she wanted to. It would be easier and create much less of a scene if he just stepped away on his own. Not that there was anyone there to watch the scene. The alley was deserted.

“Move?” He laughed darkly. “Honey, I’ll show you some moves.”

He rubbed his body up against hers, and something flared inside her. It wasn’t the lust she’d felt before, not like back at the house with Sawyer. At first it reminded her of when she went swimming, when the ocean hit her flesh and her body began to transform. It was that same kind of tingle running through her.

But instead of feeling the tingle in her legs, she felt it in her arms, and her mouth. Her lips trembled, and her vision changed. She couldn’t explain it exactly, but it was almost as if her eyes shifted and her pupils dilated, so she could see better in the dark.

Jason had been rubbing himself on her and trying to kiss her neck, his mouth moving gruffly against her flesh as with one hand he clumsily pawed at her chest. He looked up, maybe to see if Gemma was enjoying this as much as he was, and his eyes widened.

“What the fuck…?” he muttered, and those were the last words Gemma heard him say.

SEVENTEEN

Repercussions

“I did something bad,” Gemma said, her voice quavering as she spoke. “Something really, really bad.”

She stood in the foyer of Sawyer’s house, her arms covered in blood up to her elbows. Most of it had dried on the drive home, but some of it still dripped wet on the white marble floors. Her clothes were splattered red, and her mouth was filled with a sweet metallic taste that was somehow both delicious and nauseating.

When she’d parked the car haphazardly on Sawyer’s front lawn after a frantic drive home, she’d caught a glimpse of herself in the rearview mirror. The entire bottom half of her mouth was covered in blood, except for the lines that were clean from her tears. She’d been sobbing so hard as she drove, it was amazing that she’d been able to see where she was going, let alone remember how to get there.

The commotion of her car skidding through the front yard had drawn everyone to see what was up. Sawyer was already in the foyer when Gemma entered the house, and Lexi and Thea arrived shortly after.

“Are you okay?” Sawyer rushed over to her, inspecting her for wounds. His concern made sense, since she was covered in blood, but none of it was her own. Still, she was in such a state of shock, she let Sawyer touch her and look her over.

“So you finally ate?” Penn smiled, walking into the room. She stared at Gemma with a bemused expression.

“I told you she would come back,” Lexi said proudly as she went over to Gemma.

“You did, but she’s a mess,” Penn said.

“She’s fine, you nitwit. It’s not her blood,” Lexi said as she pushed Sawyer away and looped her arm around Gemma’s shoulders.

“Whose blood is it?” Sawyer asked, sounding confused.

“That’s a very good question.” Penn walked up to Gemma, standing directly in front of her. Gemma just wanted to collapse and sob. “Where’s the body?”

“The body?” Gemma asked, dazed.

“Yes, you killed someone and ate their heart,” Penn said, as if it should be obvious. “Now, where is the body?”

“I, um…” Gemma gulped back her vomit and tried to think. “I don’t know. It was outside a steakhouse in town. It happened in the alley next to it.”

“A steakhouse?” Penn turned to Sawyer. “Do you know where she’s talking about?”

“Marcel’s Steakhouse?” Sawyer asked.

“I think so, maybe.” Gemma nodded numbly. “I don’t know for sure.”

“Go clean it up,” Penn directed Sawyer. “Take care of the mess before anybody finds it.”

“His name is Jason,” Gemma told him, as if that would help him find the body somehow.

“Nobody cares what his name is,” Penn said. “Just take care of it.”

“Okay.” Sawyer nodded and hurried out the front door to follow Penn’s wishes.

“I’m sorry,” Gemma said as silent tears slid down her cheeks. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know where to go.”

“You did the right thing coming back,” Penn said. “But next time, take the body with you. You can’t just go leaving your scraps around. It makes the humans suspicious, and that’s a headache you don’t want to deal with.”

“The convertible is covered in blood!” Sawyer called from the front yard.

“Then take one of the other cars in the garage!” Penn shouted at him, and rolled her eyes. “He’s so lucky that he’s handsome and rich, because he is a friggin’ moron.”

“He is cute, though.” Lexi squeezed Gemma’s shoulder, trying to reassure her. “We should get you cleaned up, huh?”