My stomach growled with desire and not for the first time that morning. But not for normal food. My pursuit of Stacey and narrow escape from the huge cat last night had left me famished but I'd been too tired and depressed to go looking for another victim. After seeing the way Elyssa had looked at me this morning, I decided I didn't want to refill that soul-sucking reservoir. I didn't want football. I didn't want fame. I didn't want all the fake friendships my peers had to offer.

I just wanted her.

I could hardly concentrate on my homework between my insides aching and thoughts of the girl I loved. I wondered if she really did love me. She'd practically admitted she did—or had loved me. But I was slowly becoming the monster she feared. Especially after all the things I'd done to sate the raging beast inside me. I'm sure the vast majority of other guys would think I was crazy for not whoring it up with every hot chick I came across. I would trade it all for the girl with the violet eyes.

The school held a pep rally right after lunch. The fun just never stops.

After all the nonsense was done, I quickly changed back into my street clothes from the new football jersey which reeked of fresh vinyl. Students were still filing out of the gym. I chased Elyssa down the hallway and grabbed her arm. She tried to pull away, but I held on and dragged her into an empty projector room. She took my thumb and bent it to the side. Pain lanced up my arm. I yelped and jerked it away.

"You're so damned mean," I said.

She pushed my chest hard and sent me back against the wall. "How many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone?"

"You love me and I know it," I shot back. "I've seen you looking at me."

She snorted. "Oh yeah? That's all you've got? Pathetic."

"I can't stop thinking about you. You're all that keeps me sane."

She slapped me. My ears rang and I staggered into the wall. "Leave. Me. Alone. I don't know how much clearer I can make it. You are scum. Filth of the earth. Do not touch me again."

I grabbed her and tried to kiss her. My lips met hers about the same time her knee met my stomach. I went down in a heap, groaning and gasping for breath. She knelt beside me.

"Are you okay?"

I tried to laugh, but it hurt too much. "No, I'm not."

"Good," she said. "Maybe your felycan girlfriend can kiss it all better."

Chapter 22

After I regained my breath, I lay back on the floor and stared at the ceiling. "I give up," I said. I wallowed in self-pity for a moment then remembered I had to get to class. So I wallowed in self-pity while I walked to class, proving I can multi-task when the situation warrants it.

I thought back to the last thing she'd said to me and searched for "felycan" on my cell phone. According to a couple of different sources, a felycan was the feline version of a werewolf. A werecat. Felycan sounded a lot cooler than werecat. I had been on the right track. One mystery down, a million to go. I had never seen Stacey change into a cat, but after everything that had happened to me, I didn't doubt for a moment she could. Although it was a very disturbing image, it would probably look pretty neat.

After Chemistry, I trudged down the hallway, my mind barely aware of my surroundings. Someone touched my elbow. I glanced right. Katie, pretty as ever, smiled at me, her green eyes sparkling.

"Hey, you," she said with a perky grin.

"Are we speaking again?" I asked in a skip-the-bull tone. I was sick of everyone acting like my new best friends when they didn't even know who in the hell I was. The old me might have found it pretty cool. The new me who had almost been devoured by a mutant house cat and who had a felycan stalker and a vampire ex-girlfriend was becoming less and less amused with high school politics.

"I'm so sorry for being so terrible to you," she said, taking my arm in hers. Her skin felt warm and soothing against mine. How many times had I fantasized about her embrace? How many times had I wished she was mine?

"It's okay," I said. Elyssa's angry face flashed into my mind. Screw you, I said using telepathic brainwaves. Not that I had suddenly figured out how to communicate telepathically, but I wanted to make my feelings known to my heart which hadn't gotten the message yet. It was time to move on.

"Walk me to class?" she asked.

"What about Brad?"

She pursed her lovely pouty lips. "We broke up for good."

Whatever. It really didn't matter so much to me. I held out my arm and we walked down the hall. When we reached her class, she gave me a sultry look.

"You've added some muscle. It's sexy." She touched my firm and no longer flabby biceps. Pressed a hand against my right pectoral.

Her shimmering halo of burning sexual desire beckoned to me. My essence reached for hers. I fought against the hollow craving and the beast. The tip of one tendril caressed her halo. A tiny trickle of refreshing energy flowed into me. My body demanded more. I resisted, reeling back the traitorous tendril until it felt safe to move. Katie had been talking about something the entire time and didn't seem to notice the intrusion.

"It was all my fault," she said with a sad smile. Then she kissed me. It wasn't just a peck on the lips but a full-on tongue tango.

I trembled as my hunger fought for control while my body reacted predictably. Holy crap! Katie kissed me! For real!

She came up for breath and made an appreciative little moan. "You've changed." She pecked me on the lips again. "I like it."

"You'll be at the game?" I asked in a hoarse voice as I mentally stuffed the groping, hungry tendrils back into their cage.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, hot stuff." She winked.

I left her and went to class, a skip in my step. I didn't feel like a million bucks—more like half a million. But I felt a lot better than I had after Elyssa kneed me in the guts. At least she'd had the decency not to crush my manhood with that powerful sexy leg of hers.

I also felt slightly better now that I'd taken in a tiny bit of energy from Katie. I halted in my tracks as it occurred to me that I hadn't had to ravish Katie to get my fix. Somehow, I'd managed to keep only a tiny tap into her energy without opening the floodgates. I had barely kept control over it, but maybe that was because of my still powerful attraction for her. Maybe it would be easier if I tried it with someone who I didn't think was sexy.

It could very well be the answer to my problem or the key to my nightmares. Just as I had fed on the laughing guys that one day, it might be possible to feed from positive emotions emanating from other people without tapping in so deeply that they ripped off their clothes. I took a seat in Calculus class and glanced at my classmates. I decided to practice feeding but quickly discovered the general mood was so dour and serious that I wasn't sure if it would work.

The only person with a positive vibe was Cindy Mueller, one of the smartest girls in school. She was a teacher's pet through and through. Every time the teacher posed a question, her hand shot up and waved excitedly. It wasn't ideal, but she was my best bet. I linked with her and tried to limit the flow to a trickle. But the hunger betrayed me almost immediately and ripped open the floodgates. She leapt up, looking desperately around the room all while moaning and rubbing her hips.

Mr. Hubble, the teacher, was so shocked that he just stood there watching while I desperately tried to close the connection before she noticed me ducking behind my book. Alan Weaver sat right behind her. He stared at her with a terrified expression. I felt his terror and tried to latch onto it hoping an opposite emotion might shake loose Cindy's psychic grip. For an instant, I felt Alan's fear and Cindy's sexual desire collide. Both their presences vanished from my mind. Cindy and Alan faced each other. She attacked him with her lips.

I had to give him credit. He didn't pass out. Cindy was skinny, wore thick nerdy glasses, and styled her hair in a fashion more suitable to the fifties, but she was probably kind of cute underneath all that geek chic. Alan leapt to his feet and locked lips with her until they were breathless and in danger of fully disrobing. Cindy gripped Alan's shirt and ripped it open, scattering buttons everywhere. Students scrambled out of their desks, yelling, shrieking, and desperate to escape the madness. Mr. Hubble finally came to his senses and shouted at them. He rushed over to pry them apart.

Guilt dug at my insides. I had started this insane fiasco. I grabbed Alan and pulled him away from her. He wriggled like a snared rabbit, but my strength overwhelmed him. The couple stopped struggling and stood there, panting with lust and gazing passionately into each other's eyes. I felt horrible. What had I done? Had I just completely wrecked their brains?

"Really, you two," said Mr. Hubble in a huff. "I understand about hormones, but this is just uncalled for."

"I want you," Cindy said to Alan.

"You are a sexual goddess," Alan replied, his eyes ablaze.

I wondered if I had somehow connected them to each other, causing a mutual lust, or if Alan really liked her.

"That's so romantic," said Cheryl Horne, Cindy's best friend, from the back of the room.

As Alan and Cindy continued to exclaim their intense need for each other, the bell rang. I helped Alan get his stuff, but maintained a firm grip on his arm. I was certain if left to their own devices, he and Cindy would enact some memorable pornographic scenes that would scar the rest of us for life. I walked Alan to his next class. About halfway there, he started shaking his head as though clearing it of cobwebs.

"Wow," he said, halting in the hallway.

"Wow what?" I asked.

"That was intense. I've always had a thing for Cindy, but I couldn't control myself back there."

"Hormones," I said sagely.

He whistled. "Turbo-charged hormones."

I looked behind us and saw Mr. Hubble at the far end of the hall leading a similarly dazed Cindy our way. "Do you two have this class together?" I realized with a shock it was Home Economics and flashed back to the fight with Nathan. "Why in the world are you taking Home Ec?"