by Mari Mancusi
Not that I’m going to let him win so easily this time.
“Are you ready, Little Slayer?” he asks patronizingly. “I wouldn’t want to dare begin before you were completely ready. Should I count to three? Maybe a hundred?”
I roll my eyes. “Bring it, Slayer Boy,” I snarl. “If you think you can.”
“Oh, I know I can.”
He charges forward, so quick I have no choice but to duck his strike. Once down on the ground, I throw my arms around his shins and yank them forward with all my might. His momentum interrupted, he lurches backward, slamming down on the field, butt first. He lets out a cry of surprise—guess he figured he’d have it as easy as he did before. But I’m ready for him now.
He rolls over and leaps easily to his feet. His eyes are dancing with laughter. “Oh, you’re more fun than I thought, Little Slayer,” he purrs, circling me with the stake clutched firmly in his hand. “I am going to enjoy taking you down.”
“Enjoy this,” I reply saucily, giving him the bird, feeling better already. This is kind of fun.
I follow his moves, studying carefully, watching and waiting for weaknesses, as Teifert taught me to do. All the recent cheerleading has made me limber and strong, and I know I can take him. I just need to wait for the right—
Corbin strikes again, jabbing the stake in my direction. I respond with a roundhouse kick, slamming my foot into his extended arm. He howls and the stake goes flying down the field. He dives after it, but I’m too quick, cartwheeling toward the stake (and yes, showing off a little!) and grabbing it mid-second-cartwheel. When I flip back to a standing position, he’s right in front of me. Without even a pause, I shove him squarely in the chest, pushing him back. Then I throw myself on top of him, using my entire body weight to bring him down.
A moment later, I’m straddling him, my hands pinning his shoulders to the grass, my mouth at his neck for the mock vampire bite. I’ve won!
Or have I? As my lips graze his neck, I freeze. He’s so warm. And he smells really good. Like vanilla, mixed with sandalwood. I pull back a bit, watching the artery in his neck pulse, circulating blood through his body. My stomach groans in protest and I feel my fangs slide into position. God, I’m so hungry. If only I could take a small nibble. I lean in, opening my mouth wide ...
Corbin moans.
I sit up with a start, my face on fire and my breathing labored. What the hell am I doing? I don’t drink real blood—especially not directly from a human. Especially not from a human Slayer in Training attending a school run by Slayer Inc. One bite and I’d be dusted before I could even swallow down the sweet stuff.
“Rayne . . .”
I realize, suddenly, that Corbin’s staring up at me, his eyes glazed and his breathing as heavy as mine. His arrogance has faded away, replaced by some kind of deep admiration, mixed with desire. Is he okay? Oh no, did I accidentally vampire scent him when I was daydreaming about his blood? Vampires have very enticing pheromones, you see, designed to bewitch hapless mortals if they’re not careful.
And I, wrapped up in my bloodlust, was so not careful just then.
Embarrassed and horrified, I roll off of Corbin and scramble to my feet. “I ... um ... I win!” I say, while waving a hand around my body, trying to fan away any residual scent, praying my teeth will retract before anyone sees them.
Corbin just stares up at me, totally bewitched.
Suddenly I find myself surrounded by the other Alphas. “Wow, that was rockin’,” Varuka cries.
“Yeah, we’ve never seen anyone take down Corbin before,” Mara agrees.
“You’re one tough slayer chick.”
“Maybe you’ll be our next Alpha.”
I smile helplessly, not able to speak and hide my fangs at the same time. I steal another worried glance down at Corbin. Is he okay?
“Hey Corbin,” Peter says, nudging him with his foot. “You got beat by Home School.”
The spell seems to break and Corbin scrambles to his feet. He glares at me with vile hatred deep in his emerald eyes. Guess the vampire scent has worn off. And he’s so not looking pleased about the new girl kicking his ass in front of his friends.
“Good job, Little Slayer,” he manages to grind out, while brushing himself off. “But I’m afraid next time you won’t be so lucky.” He gathers his friends and together they head down the field.
I watch them go, feeling my fangs finally retract. Lucky? He doesn’t know how lucky he just was. And as for next time? Well, the hunger is growing. And I don’t know how I’m going to be able to stop myself.
8
“Oh my God, everything in my entire body hurts,” Sunny moans as she limps down the cafeteria aisle, tray of food in hand. She sits down across from me and Lilli, who has invited us to her table to eat with her and her friends.
“I thought you were in a class with twelve-year-olds,” I remark, pushing my food around my plate to make it look like I’m eating. I ordered a burger extra, extra rare and tried to suck the blood out of it before the others showed up, but it just made me puke. If I don’t find Blood Synthetic soon, I’m in big trouble.
“Yeah. Try huge, strong, ridiculously well-trained twelve-year-olds,” she moans, holding out an arm so I can see all the blue-and-black bruises already starting to form. “Who don’t have a drop of respect for their elders.” She sighs.
“How did you get to be a slayer?” one of the girls at the table asks curiously. “If you’re totally not into the fighting thing?”
“Long story. Don’t ask,” Sunny mutters, shoveling a big spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth.
“Hey Rayne, do you want to come grab some more Kool-Aid with me?” Lilli asks, after slurping down the last of her drink. Man, the girl’s addicted to the stuff. “You must be really thirsty after all that practice out on the field.”
“No thanks, I’m good,” I reply, pretending to take a sip of my water, not wanting to hurt her feelings. Even as a mortal, Kool-Aid was never my thing.
Lilli shrugs and jumps up from her seat. “Suit yourself,” she says as she skips down the aisle.
“Don’t look now,” hisses her friend Evelyn to my right, “but Corbin’s looking over here.”
Of course, she said don’t look, which always makes me automatically turn around to do just that. I see Corbin and his friends sitting a few tables away, their table piled high with food. Sure enough, the Alpha slayer has turned away from the group and is watching me intently with longing green eyes. When he catches me looking, he scowls and turns away.
I shiver involuntarily. What have I done to him? And is there a way to undo it? If only Jareth were here. He’d know what to do.
“I heard you took him down this morning,” Evelyn says, forcing my attention back to my new friends. “No one’s ever done that before.”
“Yeah, everyone at school is talking about it,” adds Amber, another one of the lunchtime gang. “You’re, like, famous already.”
Great. And here I was supposed to be keeping a low profile. What was I thinking, taking down the big bad Alpha slayer? Seriously, forget slaying—finding trouble should be my full-time job. I’m certainly good at it.
We spend the afternoon inside, listening to lectures on vampire history, vampire politics, vampires in literature, etc. By the two P.M. study hall break, I’m already all vamped out. I mean, I don’t even think actual vampires know as much about their kind as these monotone Slay School teachers do. Or maybe it’s just that vamps prefer to learn at their leisure, seeing as they’ve got more than a couple lifetimes to soak it all in. Mortal slay students are the ones who have to cram.
In any case, study hall is held in a beautiful, musty old library with stained-glass windows, well-worn wooden desks, and walls lined floor to ceiling with ancient books. There are a few computers scattered here and there, but since none of them connect to the Internet, I don’t bother checking them out.
Instead, I spend the hour wandering through the stacks, running my hands over the rows
of hardcover tomes, breathing in that delicious old book scent. Nothing here has been written after the 1900s and I kind of like that. I pull out a crumbling first edition of Wuthering Heights and flip through it, sighing contentedly. I’ve always found the story of Heathcliff and Catherine so romantic.
After a few minutes, I put back the book and continue exploring. The next aisle is filled with “Otherworld Nonfiction,” according to a metal plaque at the end of the row. My interest piqued, I step into the row, surrounding myself with large, thick hardcovers depicting vampires, werewolves, angels, and ...
Fairies.
Ooh. Talk about required reading. I start grabbing fairy books off the shelves until my arms are weighted down and I can barely see over the stack. Then I drag them off to a quiet corner, where I find a small, moth-eaten armchair next to a tiny table and Tiffany lamp. I set the books down and curl up in the chair, pulling my feet up and under me. Then I grab the first book and start paging through.
Time to get a little family history.
The Sidhe (pronounced Shee) are also known as the “People of the Mounds,” and they evidently go way back in Irish and Scottish history. They live in fairyland, a dimension beyond our own world, under a monarchial system; kings and queens living in the lap of luxury in beautiful otherworldly palaces. There are several different courts and none of them can ever seem to get along.
Besides their wings, they look just like regular people, as opposed to the pint-size pixies that make up a lot of the old fairy tales. But their powers go way beyond those of men. Besides being able to fly, some of them can also change shape at will. Pretty cool, if you ask me.
What’s not so cool is how petty some of them seem to be. Like, for centuries Irish families have attempted to appease mischievous sprites by leaving little bowls of milk out for them at night. (Evidently, fairies are big on dairy as well as nectar.) If they forget—or the cat gets to the milk first—the thirsty fairy will get so mad they’ll actually go and steal the family’s baby and replace it with a green-tinged, vicious changeling child instead.
Like I said, so not cool.
The text goes on. Some fairies are unable to tell a lie, others can chat with animals and turn invisible. And most of them are deathly allergic to iron. I turn the page, my eyes widening as I find the section of text I’ve been looking for: “How to start your fairy transformation.” Evidently, in addition to the elbow kissing thing, teen fairies take part in this big, fancy ceremony when they turn sixteen to kick-start the process. (Talk about a sweet sixteen!) But in extreme cases, the text seems to indicate, you can start the transformation by yourself, as long as you know the right invocation to accompany the elbow kissing part. And luckily for me, they’ve got it all transcribed in the book.
I look around the library: No one’s nearby. I wonder if I should actually go through with this. After all, there’s no turning back, as Mom said. And do I really want to be a fairy for the rest of my life? I mean, I’m already a vampire. And a slayer. That’s a lot in and of itself.
Then I think back to Sunny’s anguished face. Her desperate wish to remain mortal. She’s my sister, as much of a pain in the ass as she can be sometimes. And it’s my job to protect her.
So really, what choice do I have?
I look back down at the book, whispering the incantation to myself, while repeatedly kissing each elbow and praying no one walks by—as, let’s face it, I must look freaking ridiculous to say the least. But luckily the place remains empty and I finish the ritual, uninterrupted, with a little twirl, as per the book.
I plop down on my chair, feeling more than a little bit embarrassed. Did I really just do a jig in the middle of the library, thinking it would turn me into a fairy? Seriously, Rayne, you’re losing it, definitely losing it.
But just as I’m about to close my book and go home, the room starts to spin. I grab on to the sides of my chair, my heart in my throat. Is something happening? Did the ritual work? I try to look down at the book, but the text seems to waver in and out of focus. I try to stand, but my legs are too weak to hold my weight. My heart pounds in my chest and my breath comes in short gasps. What’s going on? Am I becoming a fairy at last?
Before I can know for sure, I find myself succumbing to the blackness.
“Excuse me? Miss?”
Feeling a rough hand on my shoulder, I wake with a start. A beady-eyed man with a big nose and an even bigger potbelly peers down at me. He’s dressed in light blue coveralls and is holding a broom.
“Sorry, miss,” he says. “Library’s closed. And it’s well past curfew. You’d better get back to the dorm before Johan catches you.”
Wow, how long was I out for? I scramble to my feet, forgetting I have a pile of books still on my lap, and they all go crashing to the floor. The janitor looks down, his eyes widening as he catches a glimpse of them.
“Fairies?” he asks, looking up at me suspiciously.
“Um, yeah. I have a ... project,” I reply, not knowing why I suddenly feel so nervous. What do I care what some janitor sees me reading? “An essay about the history of the Sidhe.”
The janitor gives me a hard stare—like he doesn’t believe me—and I squirm under his gaze. Am I in trouble here? Did I just give myself away? I try to surreptitiously glance over my shoulder to see if I’ve suddenly sprouted wings. I don’t see anything, but still ...
The janitor shrugs and starts picking up the books. “I’ll re-shelve them for you,” he tells me. “You’d better get back to your dorm.”
I nod and grab my coat, hurrying toward the library entrance, completely creeped out. I look back at the janitor, who has taken a seat in the armchair and is paging through my books. I shake my head. Seriously, paranoid much, Rayne? I mean, who cares if the janitor knows what I’m reading? Or anyone else, for that matter? It’s not like someone’s going to be all “Hey she’s reading a book about fairies—I bet she actually is one!”
Still, I can’t shake the nervousness as I slip out of the library and start heading up the cobblestone path toward the door. The campus is quiet and dark, all good slayers have long since gone to bed.
Except for one building where the lights are blazing and I can see shadows moving through cracks of boarded-up windows. A strange hum of electricity dances in the air, igniting my vampire senses. Little hairs prickle my arms and a chill crawls down my back as I study the building curiously, wondering what on Earth could be going on in there. Are there really Alpha slayers training for secret ops inside? And if so, why are they doing it late at night? Do they have some sort of secret they don’t want the rest of the slayers to see?
I take a step closer, curiosity overwhelming me. Suddenly the front door creaks open and a solitary figure steps out, dragging a large bag. I leap aside, trying to retreat to the shadows, but the figure’s eyes are already locked on me. Crap. I’ve been spotted.
“Rayne McDonald?” it demands. “What are you doing out here?”
Oh great. It’s Headmistress Roberta, of all people. The last person on Earth I wanted to run into after curfew. After all, she’s practically looking for an excuse to nano me anyway and here I go, handing her one on a silver platter.
“Um, sorry, I just fell asleep in the library,” I stammer. “I didn’t mean ... I’m ... I’m heading back to the dorm now.”
The headmistress narrows her eyes at me, pursing her lips together in a deep frown. At first I think she’s going to say something, but then she seems to change her mind. She shakes her head and points up the hill.
“Very well,” she says. “But get inside immediately. And don’t let me catch you out after dark again.” She pauses, then adds in a menacing voice, “Or else.”
I don’t try to argue and head up the hill double time. As I go, I can feel her hard stare behind me. In fact, if eyes could really burn holes in someone’s back I’m pretty sure I’d be Swiss cheese right about now.
I pull open the dorm room door and slip inside, not able to resist the urge to take one la
st peek down the hill before I close it again, even though I’m pretty sure it’ll turn me into a pillar of salt if the headmistress catches me doing so. Luckily, Roberta has evidently tired of watching my retreat and is back to dragging the large bag down the street toward the sanitation building at the very end of the road.
I squint at the bag. Is that what I think it is? And did it really just ... move?
I bolt into the dorm, not caring as the door slams behind me, probably waking half of Slay School. Leaning against the wall, I suck in a shaky breath, my thoughts whirling like crazy in my head.
’Cause that bag she was carrying? It looked a lot like a body bag. And whatever was inside? It didn’t seem all that dead.
What the hell is really going on at Night School?
9
Argh, my back! I wake up the next morning, feeling like two knives are simultaneously stabbing me between my shoulder blades. Seriously, I’m starting to think there’s some kind of Princess and the Pea thing going on with my mattress. (Since I technically am a fairy princess, after all!) I mean, sure, I’ve worked out a lot lately on the training field, but I’m also in pretty good shape from being a cheerleader. There’s no way I should be this sore.
I glance over and see Sunny is already awake, lying in bed, staring at her useless cell phone, probably flipping through old texts from Magnus. “Hey, Sun!” I call to her. “Will you take a look at my back for a second? Tell me if I have any weird bruises?” I climb out of bed and walk over to her side of the room, turning around and lifting my shirt over my head so she can get a good look.
“Oh my God!” she shrieks. I whirl around, just in time to see her stumble backward onto her bed, trembling hands covering her wide open mouth, her eyes as big as saucers.
