Nightshade: Kiss of Death (Book #1)

The rest of the day is a blur of curious tourists and some towns people wandering in and out of the door. My mind some how made it's way back to earlier when I saw those eyes- those bright jade eyes- watching me as if analyzing the very way that my muscles moved. Who was it? I know for a fact that I've never seen anyone with that intense of a stare. The bell to the door chimed, knocking me out of my daydream and regaining my focus on the new customer. Time seemed to speed up as my shift hours passed and soon I'm being picked up by Mads in his navy blue Chevy Camaro.

"Where we headed to now, the library or my house?"

I chucked my skateboard to the backseat with my bag and huffed, "Your place definitely. I know your parents miss their other child."

Mads' bright smile lights up the space between us as he laughs at my small tease. The Whites have been more of a parent role to me than my aunt has, and for it I'm grateful. Hell, they practically treated me as their long lost daughter. They welcomed me with open arms as soon as Mads and I became friends, now I even feel more at home with them than in my actual house.

"Yeah my mom was asking where her daughter went when you stopped coming over all of the time. She hasn't been off my back since then. 'Mathias, you're home! O-oh, no Vivian today? Where has my girl disappeared to?'" He fake mocked his mom in a not-so-girly attempt of sounding like a lady.

"Whoa buddy, might want to work on your falsetto a bit."

He glanced over at me and gave me a look, "Oh please I could totally pass for a girl. Shave my legs, put me in a dress and wig, and give me boobs- I'll be set! Wouldn't even be able to tell it's me."

I made fake gagging sounds, "That was not an image that I wanted in my mind."

We laughed together for the rest of the short ride and within minutes he pulled into the driveway of a beautiful two story house. No it wasn't one of those Martha Stewart, white picket fence, cookie cutter homes that you see in magazines. The house was painted baby blue with a darker blue trimming, while the door was pure mahogany. I smiled as I stepped out of his car and made my way to the front steps, but before I could even knock the door swung open revealing a beautiful woman. Her face was all sharp features that were framed with light silky blond hair that fell in waves. From a distance she would seem hard and maybe even a little cold, but I knew her better than that. A bright, familiar smile beamed at me as her soft blue eyes looked me over.

"Vivian, sweetheart we missed you so much! Where. Have. You. Been?" Mrs. White, or Aideen as she likes to be called, demanded in a light hearted tone as I was engulfed in a hug.

"Yes, where have you been? We thought you had finally gotten fed up with Mathias and his pranks," another voice says from behind Aideen and I almost burst from the amount of happiness in my chest. As soon as she let go I moved to the right to see into the house. My smile grew as I saw a tall, lean man standing in the hallway with pitch black hair and pale, almost silver, gray eyes. I had actually thought that he was Mads' older brother when I had first met him. His face was, well still kind of is, young which made it seem like he held the secrets to the fountain of youth behind those grey orbs. Mr. white was always a mystery to me, of course that was then and this is now. His face has aged some, but those eyes still hold secrets that I have yet to unravel.

He took his hands out of the pockets of his jeans and held them out in a welcoming gesture, "Well, don't I get a hug too? Or did you not miss me as much as I hoped you would?"

I immediately launched myself at him nearly taking us both to the ground with the force.

"Of course I missed you! Are you delusional?"

"Okay that's enough guys, I get that you missed Vivian more that your own son but it still hurts," Mads feigned hurt as he placed his hand over his heart, "Besides we've got work to do."

Mr. White let me go and clapped his son on the shoulder before disappearing back into his study down the hall to our left. Aideen went back into the kitchen to finish cooking what I guessed was dinner as Mads and I made our way upstairs to his room.

"So any ideas on what we should search first?"

I just gave a shrug as I circled his room, taking in all of the differences since the last time I saw it. Well actually there weren't many, but there were slight changes that I could only see if I really tried. The once maroon walls were now painted a deep navy and splattered with posters of book series' and T.V shows. His king sized bed had a new black duvet with matching pillows that contrasted with the new color surrounding them.

"Like it? I got tired of the old look so I decided to change it up a bit."

I turned towards Mads' desk where he was lounging in his computer chair lazily typing on his laptop.

"Yeah, it's nice. Different, but nice," I smiled, "So find anything?"

He clicked on a website link and started to read out loud, "Fatal car accident on October seventeenth. Two fatalities, one in critical condition... no but that was last year."

"Try yesterdays date, her shadow wasn't that big so she couldn't have been dead for that long."

After a few more clicks from the keyboard he sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Nothin', did you get her name?"

"Oh geez, I should've asked her to stop screaming at me for a sec so I could get her whole life story. While I was at it I should have asked if she wanted to meet up for tea later too!"

He gave me a side glance and huffed out, "Ok smartass so you didn't get her name. Did you find out anything about her? Like anything at all?"

My mind started reeling as I thought long and hard about what exactly she had told me. Let's see, well she called me crazy and basically insulted my whole mentality, but other than that she just freaked out about-

"Rian!"

Mads leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Rian, it's her boyfriends name. Don't give me that look just type it in!"

A few minutes of selective searching and we were near our ends meet. Nothing about a Rian dying in a fatal car crash with his girlfriend, or even any car crashes at all recently. Well we're knee deep in crappy ideas now aren't we. An hour later and some dinner, we still nothing to show for our relentless searching. My legs dangled over the edge of the bed while Mads continued his quest of finding exactly who this girl is.

Just as I was about to drift into an extremely deep slumber I felt something hit my thigh. Me being me, I chose to ignore the annoyance but unfortunately someone else had other plans.

Hit.

"Pts,Viv."

Hit.

"I think I found something."

Hit.

"Vivian~."

Hit,

"Vivian Rayne Carson, if you do not get up right now I can, and will, shave off your hair and eyebrows."

That got my attention. "God what is it?"

A knowing smile played on his lips as he swiveled back to facing his laptop with a guiding hand. I slowly crept over to look at what he thought was so damn important. After rapidly blinking the sleep from my eyes I felt them grow wide at what was on the screen.

A girl with long honey gold hair and sky blue eyes stared back at me as I took in her features. It was her. Her. Well the not dead version of her anyway. I read the article just below her picture and sucked in a sharp breath. 'Michaela Johnson, 19 was killed in a fatal car accident involving her and another person in the car. Johnson was in the passenger seat of a red pickup truck when it was suddenly ran off the road. The driver who's identification is still unknown is currently being treated for critical wounds though he is now in the ICU. The cause of the accident is still unknown to police officials and an investigation is underway.'

"I take it that's her? What a shame, she was beautiful." Mads' brow creased as studied the girls face.

"Yeah, do you know what hospital he's being kept at?"

"No but I can sure find out," he mumbled while typing something else into the search engine, " How about I take you home so you can actually get some sleep before we attempt to find this ghost girl? I'll finish this after I get back."

I gave him a grateful smile and ruffled his slightly shaggy hair, "Thanks, I don't get why I've been so tired lately. I mean it's barely going to be nine thirty at night."

He just shrugged one shoulder before grabbing his jacket and heading down stairs with me following.

"You're leaving already? Can't you please stay the night, I would really love to know how your classes and job are going," Aideen's voice carried down the hall and I turned around to see both her and Mr. White leaning slightly out of the doorway to the study.

I nod and smiled sadly, "Yeah, I wish I could though. But my aunt's been on me about staying out late even though I'm probably safer here than in my own house."

"Well Okay, but you have to promise to come back tomorrow and actually talk to me a bit."

I did as she said and promised to spend time with her tomorrow before Mr. White pulled me aside and gave me a hug.

"Be careful Vivian, there's a lot out there that you don't know how to handle yet," there was something in his face that I couldn't quite place as he continued, " And remember, just because there's eyes watching, it doesn't mean that they are a threat."

I opened my mouth to ask what he meant but Mads pulled on my arm a little to lead me to the door, "Alright dad that's enough, don't scare her away."

I found myself glancing at Mads when I heard the tone of his voice. Joking but with a hint of warning laced somewhere deep in it's meaning. His jaw was set and I couldn't help but notice the thin line of annoyance that his mouth curved into. I bid my secondary parents goodbye before climbing back inside of the car. My hand gripped the seat as Mads pealed out of the driveway and sped down the road.

"Whoa speed racer, what's got you in a hurry?" I tried to joke. My laughter fading from my lips as I saw his eyes narrowed in what looked like irritation.

He must have noticed me staring at him because almost immediately his sea glass blue orbs softened and a small smile played on his face. Talk about a complete one eighty in the mood department.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about what exactly to search for when I get home. It's a bit tedious."

I was about to respond when I noticed him tap his middle and index finger on his thigh. He's lying. That's always Mads' tell when he's nervous or lying. I chose to ignore it for now since he always tells me if something's wrong on his own, I won't pry. Fifteen minutes and the first awkward car ride with Mads in a long time, we're parked in front of my aunt's house. Once again my train of thought decides to replay the strange events of today. From the ghost girl, to the potential stalker, to Mr. White and his weird advice (if I can even call it that), and now to Mads and his whiplash mood swings.

I opened the passenger door and quickly grabbed my things out of the back before making my way up the driveway. My feet stopped dead in their tracks as I locked gazes with something that maked my blood run cold. Peering from the shadows of my neighbors roof is a hunched over, pitch black figure with jade green eyes. And they're watching me. The sound of another car door opening and then closing fell silent upon my ears as every fiber of my rational thinking screamed at me to run. Still my feet didn't move, not even when the figure stood up to it's full height and took a step towards me.

"Are you ok Viv?"

I let out a shriek as someone's hand clasped itself around my shoulder. I raised my fists up and attempted to punch whoever was behind me when Mads slightly shocked face came into view and narrowly missed my assault. I grabbed a hold of his torso and clenched my jaw in an attempt to make my teeth stop chattering.

"D-did you see them? Are they still there?" The sound of how terrified my voice was made me cringe a little as it snaked into my ears. I've always hated sounding or even looking weak. If you're weak, people take pity upon you and pity is the last thing I needed.

"See what? There's nothing there Vivian."

I should have felt somewhat relieved at his words, but the fact that even though he said them Mads still pushed me behind him a bit. As if he was trying to hide me from something, or someone.

Slowly I turned around so I could peek at the shadowed area and started laughing. No it wasn't just a giggle, I full on started having a laughing fit. Unlike the last time, the eyes disappeared. Jesus Christ I'm going insane, maybe I really do need some sleep.

"Uh, why are you laughing?"

I just shook my head and thanked Mads for the ride before walking the rest of the way up to my door. Most of the lights were off and on the kitchen table I found a note from my aunt that said she was working the night shift at the hospital and to not wait up. I raised an eyebrow and crumbled up the piece of paper before tossing it into the garbage. After deciding to take a shower in the morning instead of right now I changed into my Iron man T-Shirt and black pajama bottoms and went to bed.

Sleep consumed me as soon as my head hit the pillow and not long after my peaceful slumber turned into a dark dream. Everything around me turned pitch black as I fell through what honestly felt like space and time itself. A strange sense of nostalgia overtook my body as my eyes took everything in. They closed as a feeling of complete warmness shrouded me as a bell-like voice chimed in my ears.

"Vivian Carson, you were born and reborn for a reason. May you use your gift and strength to protect this world from the great force of evil that wants to dismantle and destroy it. I trust in you the life of all those not only close to you. Torva messor vivit, Vivian."

The grim reaper lives