Cali grinned and turned to Leesa. “Do I know how to pick ‘em, or what?”
“Pick what?” Caitlyn asked, stepping through the doorway and completing their foursome for the night. She was wearing a tight black and white diamond patterned sweater over a short black leather skirt and black nylons. Her four-inch heels made her a slightly taller than Leesa, who was wearing flats.
“Men,” Cali said, linking her arm through Andy’s.
Caitlin grinned. “In that shirt, he certainly looks good enough to eat. Which reminds me, I’m hungry.”
“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Andy said. “Let’s go.”
There was a short line in front of The Joint, so even though they had passes, they had to wait outside for a few moments while the less lucky kids paid the small cover charge. When they got to the front of the line, Leesa saw a familiar face seated on a stool beside the door, collecting the cover charges and passes. It was Frank, a guy from Andy’s frat. Leesa had first met him at the Halloween party.
“There must be some mistake here,” Frank said playfully. “What are three such lovely ladies doing with this loser?”
Andy grinned and held his fist out for a fist bump. “Jealousy does not become you, my friend,” he said.
“Have fun,” Frank said, waving them past.
Inside, the place was about half full. One table near the front was filled by a group of seven or eight really large guys—jocks from the football team, Leesa guessed. The hostess guided Leesa and her friends to a table next to the big guys. Leesa hoped the jocks were not going to get rowdy as the evening wore on—they were already the noisiest table in the room.
The hostess handed everyone a menu and skittered away to seat the next party. Leesa gave the menu only a cursory glance. The chicken sandwich was pretty tasty last time, making her choice easy. She wondered if the picture on Andy’s shirt might have played a subliminal role in her selection.
A minute or two later, a waiter glided up to the table.
“What can I get you guys?”
They all gave their orders, including a jumbo basket of fries for everyone to share.
“Coming right up,” the waiter said. He hurried away toward the kitchen.
Leesa’s chicken sandwich was even better than she remembered—the spicy Dijon sauce was totally delicious. The chunky fries were tasty, too. Looking at everyone’s very clean plates, Leesa guessed that the other food was just as good.
The waiter began clearing the dishes away almost as soon as they were finished eating. His timing was perfect, because the MC was heading toward the stage.
His welcome speech was basically the same as the last time, as far as Leesa could remember. So was his introduction of the first guest, Tony Phillips. The crowd cheered as Phillips made his way to the stage with his guitar. Clearly, there were plenty of regulars here who knew what song Phillips was going to sing.
He launched into his traditional opening number, his custom written rendition of “I Love The Joint.” He was barely into the song before a number of people were singing along with him. Leesa found herself humming to the melody. When he was done, Phillips received an enthusiastic round of applause as he left the stage.
The next performer was an older guy in his forties, dressed in a black button-downed shirt and dark blue jeans. His curly black hair was flecked with gray and hung to his shoulders. He took a minute to set up a large music player and then grabbed the old guitar from the back of the stage. He hooked the strap over his shoulder and strummed the instrument a few times.
“This old girl isn’t quite enough to do justice to the song I want to play for you,” he said. “Back in the day, I had a four piece band behind me.” He reached over and patted the top of the music player. “Tonight, this baby will have to do.”
He strummed another couple of chords. “Any of you kids ever hear of something called…” he paused for effect, and then shouted: “rock and roll?”
Boisterous cheers erupted from the audience. He flipped a switch on the music player and launched into a rousing rendition of Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” By the time he was done, the crowd was clapping and singing along, and a dozen kids were dancing in any open spaces they could find.
He left the stage to thunderous applause, a huge smile on his sweat-soaked face. Leesa could tell he was thrilled to have relived some piece of his past. She wondered who was going to have the guts to go on after him. He would be a hard act to follow.
Some groans from the back of the room provided her first clue. She twisted her head around and saw a familiar sight—the nerdy comedian in the loud suit who had bombed so badly the last time she was here. The groans grew louder as he neared the stage. Obviously, a good portion of the audience had seen him perform before. They were not all that anxious to hear him again.
Leesa had to give the guy credit. He didn’t seem to let the catcalls and groans bother him. He either had the thickest skin in the world, or he thought the derision was in some twisted way an approval of his act. His jokes were new, but were equally as dumb as the last time. She wondered if he wrote the stuff himself or got it from some website—stupidjokes.com, maybe.
The big guys up front heckled him mercilessly after every punch line. It was mean and obnoxious and most of their comments were only funny to themselves. Finally, the biggest guy, a brute with shoulders as wide as an SUV, yelled something really crude, something not fit even for the liberal college crowd.
Andy leaned over and politely told the guy to keep it clean, that there were ladies present. Leesa cringed as the giant pushed his chair away from the table, his features twisted into an angry scowl. As he began to hoist himself to his feet, his elbow swung out and struck Leesa in the upper arm, almost knocking her out of her chair. The guy paid no attention to what he’d just done, but before he could fully straighten up, a slender, black clad form suddenly appeared next to him. The newcomer put his hand on the brute’s shoulder, pushing him back down onto his chair.
Leesa gasped, recognizing the guy in black was Stefan. She didn’t even want to think about what might be about to happen.
A couple of waiters were converging on the table, but before they could arrive Stefan leaned down, his hand still on the guy’s shoulder, and whispered something into his ear. The guy nodded vigorously and threw his hands up in a meek gesture of surrender. He said something to his buddies, who all nodded back at him. In unison, they got up and quietly left the room.
The audience erupted into applause almost as loud as the rock and roll guy got. Leesa could see Stefan was not overly happy with the attention. He sank into one of the recently vacated chairs and slid it over between Leesa and Cali.
Stefan’s arrival left Leesa momentarily speechless. What was he doing here? Had he been following her? Did he know about Rave’s fire? If she got the chance, she was determined to ask him the first two questions, and to see if she could learn anything indirectly about the third. She would have to get him alone, though.
“Uh, Stefan, this is Andy and Caitlin,” she finally managed to say. “You already know Cali.”
“Indeed I do,” Stefan said, smiling at Cali.
Cali held out her hand to him. Stefan dutifully kissed it.
Cali grinned. “Don’t be jealous,” she said to Andy. “It’s just a thing Stefan and I do. He loves it, and so I put up with it.”
Stefan chuckled. Andy just rolled his eyes, well used to Cali’s outrageous and flirtatious ways.
Caitlin’s eyes were fixed on Stefan, taking in his pale appearance. The would be comedian picked up where he left off, but no one at the table was paying him any attention.
“I didn’t know football players were afraid of goth guys,” Caitlin said. “What did you say to that cretin? I thought he was going to murder you.”
“It wasn’t so much what I said as how I said it,” Stefan replied.
He put his hand on Leesa’s shoulder. She felt the coolness of his skin even through her shirt.
“There are a bunch of nerve endings right here,” he explained for Caitlin and Andy’s benefit. Leesa and Cali knew he didn’t need any nerve endings to cause pain. His vampire strength was more than enough. Leesa could just imagine the icy pain that must have shot through the guy’s shoulder. She just hoped Stefan didn’t have plans to do anything more to him later on.
“When squeezed, it’s quite painful,” Stefan continued. “I persuaded him I could break his shoulder if I squeezed hard enough, and then what would his coach say?”
“I’m surprised you got involved, though,” Leesa said. “I didn’t know you had a soft spot for bad comedians.”
Stefan laughed. “I don’t, I assure you. But when he knocked into you, I couldn’t help myself. Some sort of foolish protective instinct, I guess.”
Leesa risked looking directly into his eyes for a moment. Luckily, they were black mirrors now, not bottomless pools. But the mirrors revealed nothing of what was going on inside his head.
“Yeah, I guess,” she said. “Anyhow, thanks. I’m surprised to see you here, though.”
“Well, I do emerge from my hole every now and then,” Stefan said, smiling. “It was just a bonus to run into you.”
Leesa wondered whether that was really true. Once again, Stefan’s eyes gave away nothing.
“How do you guys know each other?” Andy asked.
Leesa fought to keep her expression casual. She could just imagine Andy and Caitlin’s reaction if she matter-of-factly told them that Stefan had tried to make her his vampire consort, and then had rescued Cali from female vampire who had once held Bradley captive as a blood slave. It would almost be worth it to see the looks on their faces.
“Stefan was in my Vampire Science class,” she said instead, figuring that might provide some cover should anything about vampires slip out from either of them, or even from Cali. “There were a lot of goths in it.”
“That figures,” Caitlin said. “No offense, Stefan. You seem cool.”
“None taken.” Stefan smiled again. “Cool could be my middle name.”
The comedian finally finished his act, bringing a smattering of polite applause. Leesa was pretty sure the applause was more at his fortitude at making it through all the needling than in appreciation of his talent. The guy didn’t seem to mind, though. He looked genuinely pleased. The MC was clapping loudly as he headed for the stage.
Stefan took advantage of the commotion to say a quick good-bye and melt from the room. As Leesa watched him go, she was left with her questions unanswered about his presence here. Just what she needed, she thought wryly—more unanswered questions.
31. SPECULATION
Saturday morning, Leesa was sitting at her desk leafing through a magazine when Cali bounced into the room. She was wearing the same outfit as the night before; the only difference in her appearance was a lack of makeup and no scrunchies separating her green and orange locks from the rest of her hair. Clearly, she hadn’t been home since they left The Joint. Leesa was pretty sure she knew what had brought Cali here before she had even returned to her own room.
Cali sat down on the edge of Leesa’s bed.
“So, what was that all about with Stefan last night?” she asked. “I wanted to talk to you about it last night, but Andy had other plans.” She grinned. “Boys have needs, you know.”
Leesa closed the magazine and spun around in her chair. She held out her hand out to stop Cali from saying any more.
“Puleeze,” she said, “spare me the details of Andy’s needs.”
Cali’s grin widened. “You sure? It was pretty hot.”
“I’m sure.” Leesa shook her head slowly. “Believe me, I’m sure.”
Cali shrugged. “Okay, your loss. I just thought you might want to learn something.”
“Yeah, well thanks for the offer, but no.”
“So, back to Stefan. What do you think he was doing there? As much as I’d like to think it, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t there to see me.”
Leesa smiled. “No, probably not.”
“So, the question is, do you think he was following you?”
“I was wondering the same thing. I don’t know why he would be, but who knows what goes on behind those black eyes of his. I couldn’t exactly come out and ask him with Andy and Caitlin there. I was hoping I might get a chance later, but he disappeared too quick.”
“I wonder if it had anything to do with Rave not being around,” Cali mused.
Leesa stood up and paced over to the side window. Outside, it was bright and sunny—definitely not vampire weather. She turned back to Cali.
“I don’t know. Obviously, Stefan wouldn’t come anywhere near me if Rave was there, but I don’t see how he would know that Rave is gone for awhile.”
Cali got up and joined Leesa by the window.
“Well, I guess it could be a coincidence. He does like to hang around on campus now and then.” She grinned. “Maybe he just likes open mic night.”
“Yeah, maybe. But if it was a coincidence, it was pretty big one.”
Further speculation was ended by a soft knock on the open door. Leesa turned around to see Jenna standing in the doorway.
“Jenna,” she said happily. “C’mon in.”
Jenna hesitated. “I was in the area and thought I’d stop by and help you with your, uh…homework. But you have company. I can come back another time.”
Leesa moved toward the doorway and grabbed Jenna’s wrist, gently pulling her into the room.
“No, no. Come in. We weren’t really doing anything.”
Cali stepped forward, her brow knitted in suspicion as she took in Jenna’s silver hair and ageless features. Jenna seemed equally unsure about Cali’s appearance.
“I didn’t know Leesa was having trouble with her schoolwork,” Cali said. “I wonder why she hasn’t asked me for any help. I’m quite the brainiac, you know.”
“Ha! Stop it, Cali,” Leesa said, laughing. “Brainiac, yeah, right. Horniac, more like.”
Cali grinned. “Yeah, that, too.”
She extended her hand to Jenna and the two exchanged a quick handshake.
“Don’t mind me,” Cali said. “I’m just funnin’ you. My girl Leesa has lots of secrets—some she tells me, some she doesn’t.” She looked at Leesa. “I’m guessing this is one you’re not going to tell me, right?”
Leesa gave Cali a “who, me?” look. Even though she trusted Cali completely, she wasn’t going to give her any hint about Jenna being anything special, especially with Jenna as careful and guarded as she was.
“Jenna and I are just going to work on some stuff,” Leesa said, not lying but not giving anything away, either. “Do you mind?”
“No problem,” Cali said. “I need to get back to my room anyhow.” She turned to Jenna. “It was nice meeting you. Any friend of Leesa’s is a friend of mine. Honestly.”
“Thank you,” Jenna said.
Cali headed for the doorway, where she paused for moment.
“Have fun working on your ‘stuff,’ you two,” she said, smiling and then pulling the door closed behind her.
“She seems like quite the character,” Jenna said.
“She is,” Leesa replied. “She’s totally fun. She’s my best friend.”
A wistful look filled Jenna’s silver-grey eyes. “I’ve never had a best friend,” she said. “It must be wonderful.”
“It’s great. I never had one either, until Cali. If she wasn’t as outgoing as she is, I probably still wouldn’t have one.”
“Shall we get to work?” Jenna asked. “I’ll lock the door.”
Leesa gently grabbed Jenna’s arm. “No, wait. Let me do it. From here.”
Jenna nodded in understanding. She placed her hand on Leesa’s shoulder and let her energy flow through it.
“Go ahead,” she said.
Leesa stared at the lock’s brass thumbturn, willing it to move from horizontal to vertical. By itself, the small metal part would not be much of a challenge, even in her weak
ened condition, but it was connected to a larger locking mechanism inside the door. She liked the idea of trying to move something she could only partially see.
The thumbturn vibrated for a moment and then flipped to a vertical position as the lock engaged with an audible click. Leesa smiled.
“Well done,” Jenna said. “What’s next?”
Leesa spent the next two hours moving small things, creating short energy beams, producing mild heat and faint light. Despite the rather limited successes, by the time she was done she was mentally exhausted, but still pleased. Practicing with Jenna’s help was always so much more productive than doing magic on her own. Her thoughts returned to the ankle weights analogy—she hoped all this work while her magic was weakened would pay big dividends when it finally returned to its normal strength. She refused to think about what she would do if it never came back.
“This is tiring for me,” Jenna said, “so I can only guess how draining it must be for you. After all, you’re the one doing all the real work. I’m just sending general energy into you.”
Leesa grabbed a half-empty bottle of water from atop her refrigerator and sat down on her bed. She eased herself across the mattress until her back was leaning against the wall, then she took a big drink.
“It’s exhausting,” she said after she swallowed. “More so than I would have imagined. I have to believe it’s going to pay off though.”
“Let’s hope so.” Jenna pulled Leesa’s desk chair close to the bed and sat down. “You’re working so hard, Leesa. Do we know each other well enough yet for you to tell me what the urgency is? I’m guessing it must have something to do with the wizard you and your mentor fought.”
Leesa had forgotten that Jenna knew little more than what she had observed in her owl form from up in the tree. Jenna had said on their first meeting that to be trusted, you have to trust. Leesa knew that was true. Jenna had helped her practice without asking anything in return up until now. The witch might make a useful ally, but only if they trusted each other enough to share at least some of their secrets.
Fearless (The Blue Fire Saga) Page 17
