by Holly Hook
"Take Olivia home. Now," Dominic orders Riley, who also rises from the table.
"Who could have killed the gardener?" Riley asks.
"Just do as I say," Dominic orders.
Riley faces me but no relief fills his eyes. There's just tension and a question I fear I'll have to answer. "Come on. You don't want to be here."
Understatement of the Year. Riley seizes my hand and guides me around the table and out the front door. Food lies forgotten as everyone else exits the house. There's something tense in Riley's walk now, something angry, and I fear I know what that is.
Me.
He's got to know what I did.
We cross the dark parking lot now, approaching the vehicles, and Riley clicks on a remote to start one of the cars. I don't catch the make or model, just that it's black and shiny. The rest of the Truebloods circle the house, and before I get inside, a spotlight turns on, illuminating the side of the brick manor. A man lies there, garden hose in one hand, and even though he's facedown, the red paint that isn't paint now stains the grass around him crimson. My stomach rumbles as the sweet, spicy smell hits me, and I turn away and get in the car, escaping from the horror.
"Don't look," Riley says, starting the car and backing out. "I can't believe this. I can't believe any of this."
I put on my seat belt. The Beaumonts can no longer blame me for the murders--I couldn't have killed the poor gardener--but that doesn't take all the danger off me. I came within inches of death. While the Nightside book is still missing from the library, my life is in danger, and I'm going to have to keep my guard up.
Chapter Fourteen
Riley remains silent as he drives. The way he stomps the accelerator after every turn makes me grip the edges of my seat, and not in a good way. He works his jaw like he's waiting for me to say something, and when I don't, he starts the lovely conversation.
"Why did you take my keycard?"
What else could I have done? And where else could I have gotten one but from his backpack? He gave me a bit of trust by leaving his backpack at school and I broke it. He's got every right to be angry.
My stomach turns. "You wouldn't tell me anything about Nightsides and since you left me alone, I had to find something out."
"Well, I don't know much about them," Riley says. His growl softens a bit. "Look, just stay out of this. It's safer if you just return the book to the vault and forget about it."
"So you do know about Nightsides. And I'm supposed to just walk around oblivious for the rest of my life?" My blood roars in my ears.
"It'll be better that way. Trust me," Riley says.
"What is your problem? If you'd just told me what you know in the first place, I wouldn't have had to do this!"
He stops at a red light which glares down at us like an angry cyclops eye. "I'm pissed because I'm trying to protect you and you keep putting yourself in all this danger. I can only protect you from my family, and even that's iffy. I can't protect you from yourself."
"Then just tell me what I'm dealing with!"
Riley pulls into my driveway so fast that I fall back into my seat. "Here. To make it easy, just give me the book right now. Plus my keycard. You can't be caught with that, Olivia."
I half-expect him to get up and search the Derp House, but he doesn't. "I'll get the keycard. I can't believe you want me to stay in the dark."
Riley eyes my house, opening and closing his hands on the steering wheel. If he wants to raid my place, there's not much I can do to stop him. But instead, he nods. "Now."
I get out, shaking not just with rage, but with terror. This feels like betrayal. It is betrayal, from both of us, to both of us. Riley remains in my driveway while I unlock the door. I know that it's possible the Beaumonts could show up here--they know who I am for certain now. But now they have a murder to deal with.
The keycard's in my backpack and no one's tampered with it while I was gone. Nabbing it, I open my window while Riley gets out of his car.
"Here," I shout, tossing it down to the grass.
Mature, I know, but rage has overtaken me. That hunger fills my body again, making my skin itch. And I just hunted last night. I'm burning down my energy and wasting it on anger. But I can't stop.
Riley marches to the card and seizes it. "I can't believe this. What kind of a mess did I get into?"
"Screw off!" I shout. Who's going to hear me besides Riley?
He gets in the car and takes off, squealing down the road. He can go deal with the latest murder while I finally sit down and figure out what the heck I am. At least the Beaumonts have taken their suspicion off me. For now.
* * * * *
I'm not stupid, of course. I close my window, lock it, and also shut the curtains. Riley never mentioned Truebloods not being able to enter a house unless invited, but I can't imagine that myth is true.
It's hard to focus on changing my clothes back to an old sweater and jeans before I flop down on my bed and open the book. Mom won't be home for hours still--the emergency vet is said to get the busiest when they first open and then again when people wake up in the early morning--so I have time to read it. I hope.
The Nightside Race has been typed with an old manual typewriter by an author named C.C. Beaumont. So it was written by one of their own. The binding smells like dried mold and the paper is yellowed, despite the gold trim on the edges. I let out a breath and start skimming, flipping through the pages partly due to my own impatience and partly due to my simmering anger at Riley. God, I can't focus.
But as the hours pass, I'm able to absorb some information.
Truebloods and Nightsides are all over the world, not just in Moon's Peak. There's a whole chapter on the organization of the races, and I learn, again, that Truebloods are group vampires, who always gather in covens. They're all turned at thirteen according to something called the Ancient Law, can't reproduce the normal way, and nab orphans to bring into their ranks. Riley's story is confirmed.
Nightsides, the book says, are loners. They tend to travel on their own and do not form covens. That matches with Riley telling his father about a rogue Nightside coming through.
In the next chapter, titled Abominations (which makes me shudder), the author goes more into Nightsides.
I grab my notebook and start taking notes like Lily does, as painful as it is.
Nightsides, while they made excellent servants in the past, have proven to be a threat to the Trueblood kind. Not only do they carry more potential power than Truebloods thanks to their unfortunate mutation, but they have the potential to replace Truebloods in the natural order.
I pause on that block of text.
Nightsides, more powerful than Truebloods?
That doesn't seem possible. But then I think of Riley and I hunting, and my ability to take down the deer when Riley made a fool of himself. Could it be possible?
Though not proven by science, Nightsides are rumored to have the powers of mind control and telepathy, abilities no Trueblood has yet manifested. These abilities are present in some human vampire lore, and may be the direct result of encounters with Nightsides in ancient times. There are also ancient rumors of Nightsides having the ability to use blood magic with training, not only against humans but against Truebloods.
The pencil falls from my hand.
Blood magic?
What the heck?
I swallow. Now I know why the Beaumonts are so set on eliminating Nightsides. They fear me.
* * * * *
Mom's back from her shift when I wake the next morning, no closer to catching the killer. It's Saturday again, and I hear the coffee maker hissing in the kitchen. It's a welcome sound, even as I find Mom in a mixed mood when I dress and greet her.
"Shall I make you breakfast?" I ask.
"Yes. I forgot how sad of a job working at an emergency vet can be," Mom says, sitting down at the kitchen table.
The itch is gone, thankfully, and I'm able to make Mom some scrambled eggs and toast. She smiles when I hand her the food. My phon
e chirps. Out of habit, I keep it in my pocket and check, but no texts have come through. After last night, it's not as if Riley will contact me.
We might never talk again.
More color flows into Mom's cheeks as she eats her food. I'm glad I can help. I must hide that something's bothering me, because she doesn't ask if Riley and I had a fight. Mom goes to lie down, leaving me alone. After I clean up, I go out for a walk. The sun's out today, making it less likely the Beaumonts will come after me. Even right after feeding, Riley doesn't like it that much.
I walk all the way to town, blowing off steam, and when I reach the little coffee shop, Lily walks out, alone, clutching her Conspiracy Notebook. She even has it labeled with a sticker now, as if she wants to convince everyone to stay away from the crazy.
Our gazes meet. She grins.
"You know, you can stop pretending to be crazy," I say. "You deserve to have some friends."
Lily frowns. "Oh, I wish it were that simple."
"It is. Just ditch the notebook. You don't even believe in that stuff. Want to do something this afternoon? Maybe we could go to a movie. I saw there was a little theater in town." Yeah, surprise, but a small theater exists that has like two screens and two small auditoriums.
"The problem would be convincing my parents. They don't like me to go out and let my guard down."
I check to make sure no one else is near us on the sidewalk. "Geez. There's a truce and all, and you're worried?"
"The murderer," Lily reminds me in a low voice. "We might not be fighting the Beaumonts, but there's always the possibility of something else happening. The truce could break at any time." She nods like I should know.
"And it's close, right?" I ask, tensing.
"If my parents don't know, they won't make war break back out," Lily says. "I can try to convince them to take me to the theater, but they'll want to drive me. In fact, they're over across the street right now." She nods at a store reluctantly.
"Oh."
"I can ask them if we can see a movie at eight. Just meet at the theater. If I tell them you're waiting there for sure, they might loosen up just so I don't end up being rude."
"Good plan."
* * * * *
There are two movies playing at Moon's Peak Cinema, an old theater built in the twenties and only still standing because it's the only one for over a hundred miles. There's a romantic comedy that's been out forever and probably already out on DVD, and there's a nature documentary. The place is small but not busy, and it's dark by the time Lily gets through the doors, huffing.
"The movie starts in two minutes," I say, glad I won't have to eat this big tub of popcorn alone.
"Well, my parents didn't want to me to come, so I had to tell them you'd need a ride home. That appealed to them. What movie?"
I motion to the board. "Guess."
"Oh." Lily smiles.
The movie isn't too bad, and we finish off the whole tub of popcorn during the hour and a half that we sit there. Only a few other people are in the small theater, and all in all, we have a good time. My stress level drops a few points by the time we walk back out into the lobby.
The itch, however, is spreading across my skin. "Hey. I think I'll walk home from here. It's not that far." I lift an eyebrow, hoping it tells Lily what I mean.
We stop in the middle of the building, staring at each other. She frowns. "Oh. Are you sure?"
"When the other option is having your parents take me home, yes."
"They'll be mad I lied to them," she says.
"They'll be even madder if I do something in the car." My stomach rumbles despite all the popcorn.
"Good point. You're a local so you should be okay."
We split at the front entrance, and Lily heads to a car parked on the side of the road. I leave her to deal with her parents alone. Not great, but the craving's growing by the minute. I still have to learn how to prevent it from happening at the wrong time.
It's another reason I hate that Riley's gone. I turn the corner to the theater and cut down the alley that connects this side street to the main one.
"Hey. Look what we have here."
In my hurry, I've let my guard down.
Two dark figures stand there, fanning out to block the way forward.
The growling guy with the dark hair, and the redhead woman, Margaret, who invited me into the Beaumont mansion the night before. She smiles at me, but there's nothing kind in it.
I freeze. If I run, they'll give chase.
It's already too late for that.
"What's up?" I ask, trying to sound stupid. All the heat leaves my face and my knees shake.
The growling guy steps in front of the woman. He smiles. And his fangs are showing.
"We've seen you in the woods," he says.
Oh.
They know.
A shudder races over me. I'm supposed to be powerful. But I don't feel it. "What is your problem?" I blurt. I'm going to be the next murder. What's one more?
The woman approaches, shoes clicking against pavement. "There must be more than one of you." She, too, has pointed teeth. The two approach like stalking cats. They'll rip me apart. I'll end up like the lady in the cafe and the poor gardener.
"What do you mean?" Everything tells me to act stupid. "Are you the killers? Stop acting like freaks!"
Start screaming.
I back away like a girl in a horror movie, shrieking at the top of my lungs. It's not tough. It's not glamorous. And I'm not even sure why I'm doing it. The growling guy crouches, eyes full of hate, and prepares to pounce. Prepares to kill. I backpedal. Can I outrun them?
Two figures rush into the alley. "Duck!" a man shouts.
The world snaps into brilliance as my hunting instinct awakens, and I see that the man, a guy with freckles like Lily's, is raising a small crossbow. I smell the spiciness of his blood and something metallic that might be fear.
I throw myself to the ground, facing concrete.
The bow fires.
"Max!" the Beaumont woman shouts.
A bolt thunks into flesh and Max's feet scrape concrete. My ears pick up every detail. The gurgling of his gasp. The flailing of his limbs. The man, who must be Lily's father, has shot him in the heart.
Part of me remembered the hunters nearby. I might survive.
But the woman growls.
I dare to look up. She charges not me, but the pair of hunters in the mouth of the alleyway. The woman leaps over me, hissing with her fingernails bared. But the second hunter, a woman, draws a blade that gleams in the pale light and plows it into the woman's chest with a well-rehearsed motion. The world stops for a second, and the female hunter trembles with the effort. Then the man fires a few more bolts into my would-be killer. The second hunter releases the blade. The vampire falls, rolls, and stills, bolts sticking out of her torso.
I might throw up.
If the hunters hadn't showed, I might have had to attack them. If I didn't die, I would have had to kill.
I lie there, breathing out, senses dulling back to a human level. I have to put a lid on it or the Riveras will know what I am. And I'm be next on the Kill List.
"Girl," the man says, stepping over the redhead's body while keeping the bow aimed at the darkness ahead. "Are you okay? Jesus, I never thought they'd try to attack a local."
"She's new to town," Lily says from behind the couple. "Just moved here, and the Beaumonts probably thought she was visiting."
I push myself up, forcing the itch back down. I can no longer smell the Riveras' blood so that's a plus. I've got to keep that suppressed until I get home.
"Likely. This is bad," the woman says. For just killing people, they sound pretty professional. They are professionals. "Lily, get back into the car. We'll call your uncle to clear the bodies before anyone sees, especially the other Beaumonts."
"Yes," Lily says, but not before she looks over her parents' shoulders. Her eyes are huge. Terrified.
Only luck saved me tonight.
<
br /> But the truce between the hunters and the Beaumonts has been broken and all because of me.
"Get back on the main street," the man orders me. He doesn't extend a hand. Instead, he maintains his guard, waiting for more vampires to pop out of the alley. "Now. Get in our car."
He snaps me out of it. I run back onto the main drag. Lily has retreated to the SUV. The woman follows, pocketing her terrifying knife as we leave the bodies behind. She's got a leather coat on, I notice, that hides her weapons.
"What just happened?" I asked.
"We'll explain on the way," the man says, following.
Despite knowing these people would kill me if they learn the truth, I climb inside and take a seat besides Lily. Then I wrap my arms around myself.
Could I have killed the two Beaumonts myself and kept the truce intact?
I don't know. I'm untrained. And the thought horrifies me anyway. That would make me more like them. Less human.
But now war might follow.
And Riley might die.
"Shit," I mutter, which adds to the realism of my act.
"We know." Lily's mother gets into the car. "I'm Ella. This is my husband, Mike. We're hunters." She pauses. "Vampire hunters."
Lily watches me as her father starts the SUV. I look around. There are suitcases in the very back, and two have been thrust open. Lily's parents drive around with a weapons cache on hand.
I need to react. "You're what?"
"I'll explain as we take her home," Mike says. "What were you doing, walking down an alley?"
"This is a small town, right?" I ask. "And vampires? Come on."
"Give her a break," Lily says, pushing out the words.
"I'm sorry," Mike says. He passes the crossbow back to Lily like it's nothing. She puts it back in an open suitcase, locking it. Good for her. "You just saw proof of their existence tonight. A coven of vampires lives here in Moon's Peak but they don't typically attack townspeople. They must have mistaken you for an out-of-towner. The Beaumonts try to cover up their activities here, so this was unusual."
I shift in my seat as the buildings go by. They're dark. No one else is around. I have to keep up my act. "What? Are you kidding? You have to go around killing vampires? This is insane. They couldn't have been--"
