Dead Is a Battlefield

by Marlene Perez

  She stared at me for a long moment. “Sure, thanks.”

  We took our seats.

  “I’m Jessica Walsh,” I said. “And this is my friend Eva.”

  “I’m Raven,” she said.

  “I’ll go get us something to drink,” Eva offered.

  There was complete silence until Eva came back with a pitcher of soda and set it down, almost spilling it on Raven, but Raven grabbed it.

  “You have very quick reflexes,” I said.

  She shrugged.

  “Are you going to be starting Nightshade High next week?” Eva asked.

  “Yes,” Raven replied. “My aunt works there.”

  I started to ask who her aunt was, but was distracted by the sight of Flo sitting at a table nearby.

  “What’s she doing here?” I asked Eva, but Raven answered.

  “Flo? She’s dating the drummer of Side Effects May Vary, didn’t you know?”

  I most certainly did not know. I couldn’t avoid Flo, no matter what I did.

  Bethany and Tiffany came up to us, all smiles. “We’ve been looking all over for you guys.”

  “You have?”

  “Of course,” Bethany said. “And we’re being so rude to your friend. I’m Bethany Harris, Eva’s older sister. And you’re Raven Gray, right?”

  “Right,” Raven said.

  Eva and I looked at each other. How did Bethany know who Raven was? She never paid attention to freshmen, except maybe to criticize them like she did to me.

  “That means Dominic Gray is your brother?” Tiffany asked. She was trying to sound casual, and failing. That explained the sudden friendliness.

  “Yes,” Raven said.

  “Who is Dominic Gray?” Eva whispered.

  “My brother,” Raven said wryly. “And also the new lead singer of Side Effects May Vary.”

  I was surprised to hear the band had a new singer. My brother used to go to their shows all the time and he gave me one of their recordings for my birthday. “I liked the old singer,” I said. “Camille Clark has a gorgeous voice. I can’t believe she quit.” Then I realized how it sounded and added, “I mean, I’m sure your brother is a great singer, too.”

  I was pretty sure Raven was trying not to laugh at me when she said, “It’s kind of a refreshing change.”

  “What is?”

  “To meet someone who isn’t nice to me just because of my brother,” she said quietly. “Speaking of whom . . . It looks like they’re on.”

  She was right. The spotlight came on and we turned our attention to the stage. There was no announcement; the band just came out and took their places.

  “Hi, I’m Dominic and we’re Side Effects May Vary.”

  I couldn’t tear my eyes away from this singer. He had high cheekbones, a long thin nose, and gorgeous blue eyes that you’d notice clear across the room. Dominic’s hair looked like he’d just gotten out of bed and come to the gig, but I knew enough about boys to suspect that he’d spent an hour, and a liberal amount of hair products, to get that just-right careless look.

  I hated that I was reacting the same way as all the rest of the girls in Nightshade. To be honest, I was probably reacting the same way as every girl in the state along with a good portion of the boys. I sat there mesmerized until the band announced a break.

  Eva leaned in so that no one else could hear. “Still like the old singer better?” she teased softly.

  I cleared my throat. “He’s all right,” I finally managed to say.

  “Who’s all right?” a voice said behind me. I figured out who it was by the way Tiffany and Bethany acted like they’d been electrified.

  “You, Dominic,” Raven said as her brother sauntered up to our table. “Jessica here likes the old lead singer better.”

  “Is that so?” he asked. His skin was still glistening with sweat from being under the spotlights.

  I mumbled something and then sank in my seat, utterly mortified. What was the matter with me? I was normally much more confident around guys.

  Bethany and Tiffany glared at me when they didn’t think Dominic was looking. I don’t know what they were so upset about. I’d made an idiot of myself and insulted him. Hardly the best first impression.

  “What exactly did you like about the old lead singer?” he asked.

  I floundered for a minute while I tried to remember exactly what it was that I had liked about Camille. “Her voice was old-fashioned,” I said. “Sort of bluesy.”

  Bethany and Tiffany snickered. “Side Effects May Vary isn’t a blues band,” Bethany said sharply.

  “I know that,” I said. “Her voice sounded a little sad, even when she sang happy songs. I liked it.”

  “I did, too,” he said. He gave me a flirty little smile. “But I hope you’ll like the new lead singer as much.”

  “We’ll see,” I said, suddenly confident. I sent a flirty smile right back. This I knew how to do. Flirting was practically my major.

  “Are you going to stay until the end of the show?” he asked.

  Before I could answer, a swarm of girls approached, and Dominic’s attention turned to his fans.

  “Look at the way they’re crawling all over him,” Tiffany said. “Disgraceful.”

  “What are we waiting for?” Bethany replied. “Let’s go.”

  They jumped up and joined the girls gathering around Dominic.

  “I didn’t mean to offend your brother,” I told Raven.

  “Dominic? He’s hard to offend,” she replied. “Besides, it was worth it. You’re probably the only girl he’s met since we moved here who hasn’t fawned all over him.”

  “Jessica’s used to boys fawning over her,” Eva piped in.

  I frowned at her. “I am not.”

  “Are too,” Eva said. She jerked her head in Connor’s direction.

  The band had returned to the stage, except for Dominic, who was having a hard time extricating himself from his groupies.

  Finally, Flo left her table and went over to the girls. She said something I couldn’t hear and they all scattered, and Dominic was able to reach the stage.

  “You know, he’s a good singer and all,” I commented to Eva. “But I don’t see what the big deal is.”

  I kind of did, but it was driving me nuts that Bethany and Tiffany were acting so boy crazy.

  Raven overheard and gave me a knowing look. “Just wait,” she said. “You haven’t heard him sing a love song yet. You’ll fall for him just like all the rest after that. You won’t be able to help yourself.”

  “Ick,” I said. “That doesn’t sound like real love to me.” I wanted someone who loves me, too. Not someone I have to put up on a pedestal and chase with a bunch of other girls.

  I looked around the club and my gaze happened to settle on Daisy and Ryan, who were holding hands in a corner, oblivious to the rest of the world. “I want what they have.”

  Raven followed my glance. “Hmm, he’s cute,” she said. “But obviously crazy in love.”

  “That’s what I want. A boy who is crazy for me.”

  As if reading my mind, Dominic broke into a cover of Madonna’s “Crazy for You.”

  “That’s not on the set list,” Raven muttered, but I ignored her. I watched Dominic’s performance and thought about how cute he was. Luckily, Side Effects May Vary didn’t play any other love songs that night or I would have thrown my number onstage just like the other girls.

  CHAPTER THREE

  After the show, Eva and I couldn’t find Bethany and Tiffany anywhere. The club emptied out, but there still was no sign of them.

  “Do you think they’re outside waiting for us?” I asked Eva.

  “You stay here,” she said. “I’ll go check.”

  “We could give you a ride home,” Raven offered.

  “They wouldn’t have left us,” I said. But I wasn’t so sure.

  A male voice interrupted our conversation. “Yeah, I’m sure it was just a miscommunication,” Dominic said sarcastically. “Not like yo
u planned it or anything.” What had happened to the flirty, friendly boy from before?

  “Planned what?” I snapped. “Being stranded? Hardly.”

  “Look, girls try this stuff all the time,” he said. “We’ll give you a ride home, but you’re sitting in the back.”

  “Because there isn’t room in the front because your fat head is taking up all the space?” I replied. “I hate to break it to you, but I’m not trying to spend time with you. We’ll get a ride home from my neighbor.” If Daisy was still there, I knew that she would give Eva and me a lift. Or Nicholas, but who knew what time he’d get off work.

  Dominic gave a disbelieving snort.

  “Dominic!” Raven chastised him. “Don’t be so rude!” She gave me an apologetic look.

  “I’d rather walk,” I muttered.

  “Suit yourself,” he said as I stalked off.

  I found Eva at the front door. “Did you find them?”

  “Bethany’s car is gone,” she said. “I can’t believe they left us here.”

  “Call her cell,” I suggested. “I’ll see if I can find Daisy.”

  I didn’t see Daisy or Ryan in the club, so I ran out, hoping to catch them in the parking lot. I got there just in time to see Ryan’s car make a left turn and exit the lot.

  I went back into the club, where Dominic approached me. “Look, I’m sorry,” he said. “Let me give you a ride home.”

  “Why? So you can tell all your friends that some stupid freshmen girls wouldn’t leave you alone? No thanks.”

  Dominic blushed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s been a tough day.”

  I hesitated. I didn’t see how dealing with girls throwing themselves at him could have been that tough, but at least he was apologizing. We were kind of stranded, so I was about to accept his offer.

  Flo came up to us and had obviously heard our argument. “I’m going that way. I’ll give Jessica and Eva a ride home,” she said.

  “Great,” Eva said, obviously relieved to have that settled.

  Although I’d been trying to avoid Flo, this was better than taking a ride home with Dominic Gray.

  We walked out into the parking lot with the band, Flo, and Raven. I suppressed a snicker when I saw a group of girls standing by what was obviously Dominic’s car.

  “Raven, it was nice to meet you,” I said. “Maybe we could hang out sometime?”

  “Maybe,” she said noncommittally. “I’m pretty busy.”

  “I’ll see you in school, then,” I said. I knew a blowoff when I heard one.

  Eva and I piled into Flo’s white van, which had a Slim’s Diner sign on its side. I sat in the back seat and Eva took the front. I assumed the van would smell like old hamburgers and fried onions, but it smelled like apple pie.

  Flo kissed her boyfriend goodbye and I looked away. Their happiness was something precious and private. But the view out the other side window wasn’t much better. A very pretty blonde was talking to Dominic, who didn’t seem to be paying attention. He looked over and saw me watching them and gave me a little wave. I turned away, embarrassed to be caught staring.

  Flo finally got in the van and we left.

  “Can you believe the nerve of that guy?” I fumed.

  “Who?” Eva said. She had a short attention span, unless monsters or mutants were involved.

  “Dominic Gray,” I replied. “He flipped out on me, when those girls were practically drooling on him.”

  “Despite all the attention, he hasn’t had it easy lately,” Flo said.

  I forgot, for a minute, to be nervous around her. “Girls were falling all over him and he was eating it up. And then he practically accused us of lying in order to spend a few minutes with him. As if.”

  “Why do you think he and Raven came here to live with Katrina Phillips?” she asked. “Because they didn’t have anywhere else to go. Their dad died recently. So go a little easy on him.”

  “I didn’t know,” I said.

  “Well, now you do,” she replied.

  I also now knew who his aunt was. Nurse Phillips, the school nurse at Nightshade High, who also happened to be the bass player in Side Effects May Vary.

  When Flo dropped Eva off, she waited until she was safely in the house, then said, “Jessica, come up front.”

  I moved into the front seat reluctantly. Why hadn’t I thought to ask her to drop me off first?

  “I want to talk to you.”

  I had been dreading this. “About Grad Night?”

  “Yes,” she said. “But not just Grad Night. Other things, too. Why don’t you stop by the diner tomorrow at around three?”

  “I want to forget it ever happened,” I said. “It was horrible.”

  Her face softened. “I know,” she said. “But there’s a way we can help stop anything like that from happening in Nightshade ever again. Just come to the diner and I will explain everything. Raven will be there as well.”

  My curiosity got the better of me and I nodded. “I’ll be there.”

  “Cheer up,” Flo said, and started the car again. “I’ll buy you a milk shake.”

  I knew she’d just hunt me down if I didn’t show up. And I had a feeling I didn’t want that to happen.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Sunday morning, Katie woke me by bouncing on my bed. “Breakfast time,” she said. “Mom sent me up to tell you she needs help.”

  I looked at my clock and groaned. “She never lets me sleep in,” I groused. Meals were always a major production at our house. Mom organized breakfast like a drill sergeant and everybody had a job to do.

  After breakfast, I helped with the laundry. We always had tons of it. Sean was gone to college, but that still left me and my six younger sisters at home.

  As I grabbed clothes out of the hamper in Sarah’s room, I spotted one of my shirts. She was a year younger than me and almost the same size. My clothes disappeared from my closet on a regular basis. Since I hadn’t been able to wear anything sleeveless lately, I didn’t mind when she borrowed tank tops, but it would be annoying if she started snagging my fall clothes—the stuff with long, concealing sleeves.

  After Mom and I finished the laundry, I said, “I thought I’d head to Slim’s. Unless you need me for something?”

  “Run along, honey,” she said. “You’ve been such a big help.”

  When I got to Slim’s, Raven and a girl I didn’t recognize were sitting at the counter with Flo. There weren’t any other customers in the place.

  “Sorry I’m late,” I said. I took the stool next to Raven.

  “What kind of shake do you want?” Flo asked me as she got up and moved behind the counter.

  “I don’t really eat sweets,” I said.

  She frowned at me. “It’s tradition.”

  Tradition for what? Raven and the other girl both had shakes in front of them, so I said, “I’ll have a strawberry shake, thanks.”

  After Flo made the shake, she got out a can of whipping cream and topped it with a huge dollop of the stuff.

  “That’s probably my daily caloric allowance,” I protested.

  Flo gave me a smile. “Don’t worry. You’ll be burning it off.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that.

  Raven said, “Jessica, this is Andrea. Andy, Jessica.” She didn’t offer any other information.

  Andy was a statuesque girl with curly blond hair, but it was the tattoo on her left bicep that I really noticed. It looked just like mine.

  She caught me staring. “Nice, huh?”

  “I have one, too,” I said.

  “Me, too,” Raven said.

  “Are all our tattoos in the same place? Same shape?” Now I was really intrigued.

  “I have a unicorn here,” Andy said. She pointed to a spot on her shoulder. “And an evil eye on my hip.”

  “I just have the one on my upper arm,” I said. “The swirly one.”

  “It’s a whirlwind,” Flo said quietly. “And we all have one of those. It’s the mark of a virago. It�
��s easier to just let people think it’s a regular old tattoo.”

  “So you’re a virago, too?” Andy asked me.

  “What’s a virago?”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” Flo said. “You all have the marks because you are all viragos, women warriors who fight when their city is in trouble.”

  Raven and I exchanged a look. She was clearly thinking the same thing as I was, which was that Flo was crazy. Or that it was a prank. I looked around for a camera, but there wasn’t one there.

  “Flo, you have a lot of tattoos,” I commented. It was a stupid thing to say, but my brain was having trouble processing the information.

  Andy shot me a dirty look. “You don’t know anything about being a virago, do you?”

  “And you do?”

  “I know that you get the first tattoo as a novice and then a new one every year you are an active virago. That’s why Flo has five. She’ll have seven tattoos when she retires.”

  “How do you know so much about it?” I asked her.

  She shrugged. “I’ve always known I was a virago. I’ve been on active duty for almost three years.”

  “Good,” Flo said. “Then, you should be in tiptop condition. You can help me get Raven and Jessica into shape.”

  “I am in shape,” I protested. “Besides, I haven’t agreed to become a virago.”

  “You don’t have to agree or disagree,” Flo said. “You are.”

  “What if I don’t want to fight?” Raven suddenly said.

  “You don’t want to fight?” Flo and Andy stared at her like she’d grown another head.

  “I don’t believe in it,” Raven said. “I’m a pacifist.”

  Andy snorted. “You won’t be when a vampire is trying to suck out your blood.”

  I shot her a curious look. “Are you from Nightshade? I haven’t seen you around before.”

  “I just moved here. Nightshade isn’t the only place where vampires live, you know,” she said. “And some of them aren’t nearly as friendly as the ones here.”

  “So you’ve fought before?” Raven asked.

  “Lots of times,” Andy replied. “We move around a lot for my dad’s job. You’d be surprised at how much evil is out there.”