Destined to Kill: A Destined Novel (Destined Novels Book 1) (8 page)

Immortality. Humans would sell their soul for it. Immortals would steal souls to keep it. Infinite life is too seductive and powerful to resist. But, immortality is more like a bad drug habit than a gift. Immortals can't give it up because after living for so long, they don't know how to face death. You see, living forever isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure, you have your pros, but it's the cons that can make an Immortal wish for a death that will never come.

"Ana Gale?"

Mr. Galloway's monotone voice grates on my nerves as he calls attendance.

"Here," I answer in the same manner. If he's not excited about teaching, I'm not going to be excited to be taught by him. Besides, this is history class. It's a subject that is so excruciatingly easy for me that it's tedious. Luckily for me it's film day so I can spend the hour reading my entertainment magazines. Sure, it's a frivolous thing, but hey, I'm a teenager, what do you expect?

When the lights in the room are turned off, I scoot my chair closer to the window for the sunlight, and begin thumbing through the latest stories of the rich and famous.

"Who's doing who these days?"

I look up at Zac Connor and smile. "Are we talking about celebrities or people in this school?" I ask slyly.

Zac is the hottie of Westchester High with his sun bleached hair, surfer boy good looks and golden eyes. He isn't exactly my type, but I enjoy flirting with him. He has a nice smile and it always lights up when he's around me.

"The only people's sex life I have interest in is yours and mine. And only if it's with each other." He chuckles, clearly appreciating his cleverness.

I roll my eyes. "Cute, Zac." Not to be conceited, but I'm used to guys showing interest in me. I'm not exactly your typical teenager, especially here in sunny, plastic California. My English accent makes me a bit more mysterious and exotic to those here. My hair is still long and dark–an enigma itself in a school full of blondes or those who pay to be blonde–as for my eyes, well, I no longer try to hide what being Cursed does to them - though I still take papa's elixir every once in a while to dim the red rim. Cursed Ones - or the effects of being Cursed - never existed for this generation, so I'm not worried about being 'discovered'. Besides, I like the fact that my eyes often reflect whatever color I happen to be wearing that day. Today, I have on a red tank top with faded jeans. My eyes held a red tint to them and that always catches attention from those around me.

My full lips are another feature the guys thought were fascinating - which Zac was currently demonstrating by alternating staring at them and my boobs.

"Hey, the invitation is always open," he replies.

"So you tell me every day. And, as I keep telling you, 'not going to happen'."

"Come on! What's holding you back? I'm hot, you're hot. It's a match made in heaven!"

"And that's exactly why it'll never happen, Zac," I shot back. "You're too into yourself. How can any girl compete with that?"

I hear a few snickers around us and Zac mumbles something I don't quite catch. But, my attention is not on him anymore. I have that feeling of being watched, and I glance up to notice that Mr. Galloway is staring at me. The look on his face is odd to say the least, and when I turn my full gaze on him, he doesn't even make the effort to look away. Maybe he thinks I can't see him in the dark classroom. But, I can. And, the way he's looking at me is making me uncomfortable.

"Could that class
be
any more boring?" The bell finally rings and Amanda catches up with me as I hurry out the door. As usual she's complaining. Amanda has been my best friend since I moved here two years ago. I love her, but she complains about practically
everything
! Everything is too boring or too hard or too this and too that. I try to tell her to just take life in stride, and not let things that don't really matter get to her. But, then I'm 'too uncaring' and never on her side. Sigh.

"Probably not," I reply, hoping I said the right thing to appease her. When she slides me a sideways glance and grins I grin back and take a small breath of relief. I am still feeling a bit unnerved by Mr. Galloway to pay much attention to Amanda anyway. I am trying to take my own advice of not letting things get to me, but there was something too familiar in the look. I just don't know what it was.

"Hello? Earth to Ana." Amanda stands next to her locker–not sure how we got there–her hand on her hip and her toe tapping. "I just told you the greatest news ever and you're ignoring me!"

I put my weird teacher out of my mind and focus on my best friend who is clearly annoyed with me. "I'm not ignoring you, Amanda," I say, trying to sound sincere. "I just spaced out for a minute. What was the greatest news ever?"

She just stands there for another moment and stares at me. I match her stare, smile and wait. Amanda never stays annoyed at me for long, but she always makes sure I know when I screw up.

"I
said
Robby asked me to the movies on Friday." She stops tapping her toe and squeals in delight. "Can you believe it! I mean, you said he would, but I didn't believe you!"

"I keep telling you I'm always right, but you never listen." I grin at her and do her little happy dance with her in the middle of the hallway. It's a little foolish, but it's worth it to see how happy she is (plus it gives me extra points in the best friend category and I need all of those I can get).

"Yeah, yeah, you're always right, Ana." She rolls her eyes a little, but she's still smiling from ear to ear. "So, what should we see? I mean, I know I can't go see a 'chick-flick'. That's what I have you for." She bumps my hip with hers as we walk towards the cafeteria for lunch. "I don't really like action or horror movies, but I don't really care what we see 'cause I'm going to the movies with Robby!"

I listen to her babble on and on about what she was going to wear, how to wear her hair, how she didn't know if she could eat in front of him. Amanda has had a crush on Robby since the second grade and now that he's finally asked her out she was all but floating.

"Amanda." I don't want to interrupt her euphoria, but I notice that Mr. Galloway is in the cafeteria. Normally it wouldn't be weird to see teachers in the cafeteria during lunch, but never Mr. Galloway. He is notorious for bringing a ham and cheese sandwich, plain potato chips and a Diet Coke in a plain paper bag. Every day. Every day, except today. Today he is standing near the door, watching. He's watching me with that same odd look he had earlier in his class. Amanda is still talking, obviously oblivious to Mr. Galloway or my interruption. "Amanda!" I hiss sharply.

She looks at me with an odd expression, but
that
look I understand. I heard the power in my voice, too. I hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but I needed to get through her endless babble. "What? What's wrong?"

"Don't look, but Mr. Galloway is in here." We're standing in line waiting for our turn to see what today's mystery food was, and I nod slightly towards the double doors of the lunchroom.

Amanda takes her time and nonchalantly glances in the direction I nodded. She looks a little surprised to see him, but I don't think it was a good enough excuse to cut into her 'Robby talk' from the displeased look on her face. "So what? Maybe he forgot his lunch."

"He has his lunch in his hand, but he's just standing there," I tell her.

"Well, maybe he just wanted to have some company today," she says, even though she doesn't believe it either. Mr. Galloway never wants company.

"It's not just that he's here, really, it's the way he's looking at me," I whisper. "He started this whole staring at me thing in History class, now he's followed me here."

"Are you sure you're not just imagining things, Ana? I mean, sure you're hot, and, no, I'm not into you, I'm into Robby, but still. Mr. Galloway is a teacher."

We walk towards our table and I steal another glance in his direction. Yep, he's still staring at me.

"Ha ha. Thanks for that, Amanda, but I'm not imagining it." We sit down and I make sure Amanda is in a position to look over my shoulder and see that I'm not imagining anything. "Look at him. He's still watching me, isn't he?"

Amanda peeks over my shoulder and I see her eyes widen. "Omigod, he totally
is
!" She peers at me suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"What did
I
do? I didn't
do
anything!" Okay, so I was reading a gossip mag in his class, sure, but what was he going to do? Give me detention when I could read magazines every day in his class and still have a perfect grade?

"He's just staring at you. It's kinda creepy." Amanda shivered a little.

"It's more than kinda creepy," I tell her. In fact, I'm getting kinda irritated at being watched like a hawk. I turn then, my eyes meeting his and feel a jolt of recognition. There's something there, something I recognize from a distant past. Of course, that is completely impossible. But, it's enough to bring that distant past rushing to my present. "
Impossible.
"

"What?" I hear Amanda's question penetrate my thoughts and I turn back to her, breaking the connection to my history.

"Nothing. Let's go. This is getting a little too freaky."

"But, I didn't eat!"

"I'll buy you a burger at Jake's," I grab my tray and start to get up from my seat when I feel a sharp pain in my stomach. The pain disappears as quickly as it came on, but it leaves me with such a sick feeling of dread. Worse, I can still feel his eyes on me.

"Ana, I'm hungry now. I mean, this isn't the greatest food and I'd
kill
for a burger from Jake's, but I can't wait 'til after school!"

"I know, we're going now." Now it's my turn to get annoyed with Amanda and her stalling. I just want to get out of there and away from Mr. Galloway.

"We can't skip school!"

"Amanda, we're seniors. It's a rite of passage to skip school." I sigh when she just sat there. "Fine. I'm going. You can stay here and eat your mystery food if you want. I'll think about you when I'm eating a big, juicy burger..."

"Okay, fine! I'm coming. But, if I get in trouble and my parents ground me and I miss my date with Robby I will
never
forgive you!"

I throw my keys on the table as I enter my small one bedroom apartment. It's not the accommodations I am used to, but I went for modest and humble. It suits the lifestyle I portray here in California. I have to sacrifice in a few areas, like my kitchen is too small. Hell, the whole apartment is smaller than the kitchen I am accustomed to cooking in. But, I find that I enjoy the cramped apartment. It's very homey. I decorated it in a modern contemporary style. Earth tones on the walls, splashes of color in throw pillows I threw on the microfiber sofa, and curtains that I hung floor to ceiling. A Lucite table and chairs gave the space an impression of openness. Built-in bookshelves carries my favorite books, and also houses my flat screen TV. I love it.

All of my friends thought it was cool that I lived alone. Not many high schoolers do. They, of course, don't know my whole story, only that I was emancipated and that's the reason I can live by myself and not be in a foster home. At least that's what I told them. To get into the real story would mean having to explain much more than I could. I already have to deal with my friends feeling sorry for me knowing my parents were no longer alive. Of course, they are all curious as to how they died, but are courteous enough not to ask me about it too much. Only Amanda has asked me about them, and I made up a story of how they were killed in a car accident. What else could I say? They were murdered and I set them on fire?