I looked up at him. Inside my chest my heart was racing, but suddenly my head was clear as a bell and I knew what I had to do. “We need Maximus.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Operation Rescue Travis Commences
We could not find Maximus. It seemed he, like Travis, had simply… disappeared. As the hours began to tick by, each one bringing sundown closer and closer, the pit in the bottom of my stomach grew bigger and bigger. There was no question I knew what I had to do. I just didn’t want to do it.
I didn’t want to walk towards my death like the proverbial lamb meekly lining up to be slaughtered. Yet what choice did I have? Angelique had Travis. There was no denying that point. I don’t know how she found me, or why she didn’t kill me when she had, but that didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except getting Travis back. This time I wouldn’t run the other way.
Dad spent the entire day trying to change my mind. He yelled, cajoled, and when that didn’t work threatened to ground me.
Finally I looked up from table where I had spread all of Maximus’s presents out and rolled my eyes at him.
“Seriously? Dad, I’m going. Stop wasting your breath.” I turned my attention back to the guns. I had decided to take two with me along with a whole slew of bullets. I was still debating on whether or not to bring a knife, since chances were I would slice off my own thumb before I got it anywhere near Angelique.
The breeze ruffled my hair and I sighed, tilting my face up at the clear blue sky. If I was going to face the dark, I wanted to spend as much time in the light as I could, which was why I had moved Operation Save Travis out to the picnic tables behind the hotel.
They were old and dilapidated, but the memories that had been created on them were a soothing balm for the nerves that snapped and danced in my belly like live wires.
How many family cookouts had been held back here? How many children had devoured cheeseburgers and begged for more ketchup for their hotdogs? How many couples had sat side by side, sharing laughter and silly stories?
“Lola, you can’t do this. It’s insane. Going out at night is crazy. You know what those things can do,” said Dad, chasing away my happy thoughts.
“What do you want me to do? Just abandon Travis? You know I can’t do that.”
His eyes pleaded with me to reconsider. “Travis wouldn’t want you to do this. He wouldn’t want you to risk your life for him.”
“Really?” My eyebrows shot up. “Because if some Drinker came in the middle of the night and kidnapped me I sure as hell would want him to come to my rescue.”
“That’s… that’s different,” he mumbled, shifting uncomfortably from side to side.
I picked up one of the smaller guns and cocked it, squinting along the sight. Not for the first time I wondered where Maximus had gotten his small arsenal of weapons.
The more I thought about it the more convinced I became that he was part of some top secret government organization. Maybe he had been assigned to our town, or maybe he had just been passing through when the Drinkers started their attack. The reason why he was here didn’t matter. All that mattered was he seemed to be the only person who knew what the hell was going on – even if he wouldn’t tell me.
“I’m doing this with or without your approval, Dad.”
“Then I’m going with you,” he said.
I bobbled the gun in surprise and slammed it down on the table. “Absolutely not. You wouldn’t be able to do anything even if you did come. You’d just distract me.” Harsh, but true. Dad had not partaken in any of Maximus’s defense lessons. He was worse with a gun than I was with a knife, and that was saying something.
Covering his face with his hands, Dad sank down on one of the benches. The rotting wood groaned under his weight, but held. He stared down between his knees as he said, more to himself than to me, “I thought we were safe. We were so careful every night. I don’t know how they found us. I don’t know why they’re doing this.”
The guilt was like a rash on my skin. A rash I kept itching and itching, but could never get rid of. Dad assumed – and I let him continue doing so – that Angelique had picked us at random. How could I tell him, especially now, that I was the reason she had found us?
I should have gotten rid of the scars on my hand days ago, but I had selfishly kept them, knowing what they could do. If not for me Travis never would have been taken. There was no question of my going to get him back, even if it meant taking his place.
“It’s going to be dusk soon,” I said, shading my eyes against the sun as it crawled towards the distant mountains. “I should get going.”
The high school was in the middle of town. It was one of the oldest buildings on record, but recent renovations had given the old brick behemoth a modern facelift. I hadn’t planned on stepping foot through the front doors – painted maroon in honor of the school’s colors – until September 2nd, when classes were scheduled to begin. Things changed, I supposed. Especially when blood drinking demons attacked.
“Do you even have a plan?” Dad asked.
If showing up at the school and offering myself up to Angelique in exchange for Travis counted as a plan then yes, I had one. “Of course I have a plan. I’m not stupid. And I know how to defend myself.” Well, at least one of those things was correct. I hoped.
“I don’t like it.” Dad stood and crossed his arms. “We could just go. Find a way to leave town. There has to be other people out there. People who know what is going on. People who can help us get Travis back without you having to risk your life.”
“Or,” I countered, “it’s even worse out there than it is here. No, Dad. I’m sorry, but I’m going to help Travis. I have to. And you can’t stop me.”
“I never could, could I?” he said. A rueful grin tugged at one side of his mouth. “Fine, Lola. I’ll wait for you at the hotel but if you’re not back in one hour I’m coming after you and that geek.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “His name is Travis.”
“I know. He’s still a geek. I never could figure out why you two got along so well, but I’m glad he’s been there for you Lola.” He cleared his throat, dropped his eyes, and mumbled, “Especially when your family couldn’t be.”
It was as close to an apology for his behavior as he had ever come before. “Yeah, well, it’s not your fault Mom took off across the country.”
“Yes,” he said simply. “It was.”
A strained silence fell between us.
Part of me was glad that Dad was finally taking responsibility for his actions. The other part of me was annoyed that it had taken me marching off to my untimely death for him to do it. Why couldn’t I come from a normal family? A family where the child didn’t have to be the adult and the adult didn’t act like the child? This was why I needed to save Travis. Not because he was my best friend, not because it was the right thing to do, but because without him, I had nothing. Dad may have been related to me by blood, but Travis was my real family. And when your family was in danger you did everything possible to save them, no questions asked. Especially if you were the reason they were in danger in the first place.
Clapping his hands briskly together Dad nodded towards the setting sun. “All right kiddo. You better get going. Remember, you don’t have to do this.”
As if I would back out now. Perusing the picnic table one last time I selected the smallest of the handguns and stuffed it in my back pocket I picked another – the one Maximus had given me the first night I met him – and held it loosely in my right hand, just like he had taught me. “See you soon Dad.”
We probably should have hugged. It was one of those occasions, but neither of us moved towards the other, and even though it meant I was a horrible person, I was secretly grateful.
I waited until Dad had turned around and headed back into the hotel before I struck out across the cornfield, following the path we had etched out between the stalks with our daily ventures into town.
When Maximus appeared at the edge o
f the field, as if he had been waiting for me the entire time, I didn’t even jump. He fell in step beside me, matching me stride for stride while those piercing blue eyes studied me head to toe.
“Why are you carrying a gun?” he said casually, as if he were asking why I had decided to wear a red t-shirt.
“Because of this.” Without pausing I fished Angelique’s note out from the back pocket of my jeans and handed it to him. He read it in the span of a few seconds, and I knew he had finished it when his curses filled the air. Crumpling the paper into a ball, he threw it on the ground and grinded it down beneath his boot heel.
“Hey,” I complained. “That’s mine.”
In a flash he was in front of me, his hands on my shoulders, his face in my face, his eyes burning into my eyes. “Stupid girl, does your life mean so little to you?”
I didn’t think, I just reacted. My hand jerked and the gun was between us, leveled straight at his chest. To his credit, he didn’t even blink.
“Good reflexes,” he said, lifting his hands from my shoulders in a gesture of surrender.
“I was taught by the best.” I slowly lowered the gun. Rookie move. Maximus was behind me and had my arm twisted up behind my back and the gun out of my hand before I had time to yell.
“Never,” he whispered in my ear, “let down your defenses.” He pushed my arm up a little higher, enough to cause a twinge of pain to rocket up through my shoulder blade, before he released it.
Rubbing my shoulder, I whipped around and glared. “Have I ever told you you’re a real asshole?”
“Every day since you met me,” Maximus said easily. Something sparked in those lake blue eyes of his – humor? affection? – before he jerked his chin towards the cornfield and his expression turned formidable. “Now turn around and go back to the hotel. I’ll get Travis for you.”
“No.” I crossed my arms. “I already had this conversation with my dad, so all you’re doing is wasting time. If you want to help me then come along, but you can’t stop me. Nothing can.”
His eyebrows drew together to form a dark V above the bridge of his nose. “You are the most stubborn, irrational, pigheaded-”
“Please stop,” I sighed, holding up my hand. “All these compliments are making me dizzy.”
Maximus tried, but he couldn’t quite contain the smile that lifted the corners of his mouth. He ran a hand through his hair, tugging at the ends, while I did my best to ignore the little flutter that tugged at my heart. Maximus was simply too damn handsome for his own good. And mysterious. And intelligent. And handsome.
I looked away, annoyed with myself. Here I was only minutes away from almost certain death and I was ogling a boy. Stupid teenage hormones. “Come on,” I said tightly. “Let’s go.”
Maximus easily adjusted his long stride to my short one so we walked side by side. “I can’t guarantee you’re safety,” he warned. “Angelique is very powerful and you’ve angered her.”
I huffed out a breath. “How do you know that? How do you even know who she is? How do you know anything?”
“Knowledge is its own source of power.” His forearm brushed against mine. I wondered if the contact had been accidental. It doesn’t matter, I told myself sternly. Nothing matters but getting Travis back and trying not to die in the process.
We reached the school sooner than I would have liked. I stopped short to stare at the letters etched across the front entrance.
FAIRHILLS HIGH SCHOOL
I was supposed to start my senior year in the fall. Easy classes. Graduation practice. College interviews. Senior skip day. All taken away in the blink of an eye.
Maximus reached out and linked his fingers with mine. This time there was definitely nothing accidental about it. “Stay here, Lola,” he said softly. “I’ll get Travis.”
“What’s the point of surviving if you don’t fight for it?” I asked.
Maximus’s head swiveled. His searched my face, gaze inscrutable. Finally, apparently satisfied with what he saw, he slipped his hand free and held out my gun. “Well then, let’s go kick some Drinker ass.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Angelique
The lights were on inside the school. The hallways, the cafeteria, every classroom – even the bathrooms were all illuminated with a searing glow that hurt my eyes. I had grown accustomed to the darkness so quickly I had forgotten how weak human’s eyes must be that we required every little nook and cranny to be lit up like it was high noon.
Side by side Maximus and I strolled down the middle of the main hallway. I peeked sideways at him under my lashes. As always he looked calm. Confident. Cocky, even, if I judged him by the slight swagger of his hips. I wished I felt the same.
Instead my palms were sweating so much it was hard to keep a good grip on the gun Maximus had returned to me and my heart was thumping so loudly it was a wonder Angelique didn’t hear us coming a mile away. Or maybe she did. She struck me as a cat and mouse kind of predator. One who watched her prey walk by, let them start to feel safe, and then WHAM shredded them to pieces with her claws.
We passed by my old locker. I couldn’t help but slow down in front of it and let my fingertips slide across the cool metal. So many lockers. So many students. So many classmates and friends and teachers. Had any of them survived?
The sound of a door slamming ricocheted down the hall, piercing the eerie silence.
I couldn’t help it. I screamed. The same thing happened when I saw a snake slithering through the grass. Someone could tell me it was there, but one glimpse of its wiggling body and I would scream anyways.
Maximus reacted with a bit more maturity. Wrapping his arm around my waist he pushed me behind him, shielding me with his body. “Stay back,” he said tersely, as if I was thinking about running off down the hall by myself.
Tense silence, and then…
Laughter.
It rang through the hall, gleeful and menacing all at the same time. Vomit rose in the back of my throat and I swallowed it reflexively, trying not to gag on the taste. Angelique. I would recognize that laugh anywhere. After all, it in my dreams every night.
Someone whimpered. It wasn’t until Maximus looked over his shoulder that I realized it had been me. Eyes dark with concern, he traced his fingertips under my jaw, lifting my chin until our eyes met, mine wide and terrified, his dark and solemn.
“You’re going to be fine Lola,” he vowed. “I would never let anything happen to you.”
Panic rolled over me like a black thundercloud, extinguishing the light that had shimmered briefly in the form of courage. Courage I didn’t have. Courage I had never had. “I can’t do this,” I gasped, shaking my head from side to side. “I can’t. I can’t. I’m too scared.”
Maximus simply folded me in his arms and cradled my head against his chest like I was a child. His hands skimmed across my back, running up and down in a gesture meant to comfort and soothe. “You’re the bravest one of them all,” he whispered against my ear. “You always have been.”
“Isn’t this so sweet. It brings tears to my eyes” a voice drawled, thick as honey. Angelique. She was here. She had found us.
I jerked free from Maximus’s embrace. He ducked and spun, a natural fighter, a practiced killer. Unfortunately I wasn’t quite as graceful under pressure.
The gun in my hand bucked as it discharged. I shrieked and flung it away from me. The bullet I had shot wildly into the air zinged past Angelique’s head by mere inches before plowing into the wall at the end of the hallway.
“Bitch!” she cried, her ice blue eyes flaring. “You could have shot me!”
“That would be the general idea,” I said shakily.
Angelique’s hands flicked down the sides of her skin tight red sequined gown, her nails glittering black under the fluorescent lights. She had certainly dressed up for the occasion, I thought as I studied her. Floor length dress, glossy brown hair curled into ringlets, cherry red lips. If I didn’t know any better I would assume she was going
to the prom.
Catching me staring, Angelique’s mouth curled in a sneer, revealing the silver fangs that marked her as a monster. “I don’t recall writing two invitations,” she said, glancing over at Maximus who stood beside me, every muscle in his body tensed and ready to spring.
“I’m crashing the party,” he said.
“That’s not very nice,” Angelique pouted. She stepped forward. Maximus did the same. I stood rooted to the spot, unable to move as they began to circle each other, their eyes locked with the deadly intensity of two wolves squaring off for the kill.
Shoot her, I begged Maximus silently. Just kill her and get it over with. But when I glanced down at his hands I saw they were empty of any weapon and my gun, the one I had foolishly tossed away from me like an idiot, was on the other side of Angelique, well out of reach. I still had the smaller one, but I didn’t want to play all my cards. Not yet. Not until I knew where Travis was.
“You marked her,” Maximus said to Angelique, so softly I could barely hear.
“I should have killed her like I did the rest.” Angelique’s shoulders jerked in a little shrug. “But she was so delightfully willful. It would have been a shame not to play with her first.”
Maximus made a low growling noise in his throat. “She is not a toy.”
A smile spread slowly across Angelique’s face and in that moment, even though she was everything evil and ugly and wrong, she was beautiful too. “Ah, but she is Maximus.”
Maximus? How did she know his name?
“There is no reason for you to get involved,” Angelique continued. “The girl is here. Obviously she has agreed to my terms. Herself for the weakling. What else is there to discuss?”
“Where is Travis?” I said loudly. “Is he here? Is he okay? What have you done to him?”
In unison they stopped and spun to face me. Maximus looked furious. Angelique simply laughed and brought her hands together.
“See?” she beamed over her fingertips. “So deliciously unafraid. I haven’t had a pet like that in ages, Maximus. And to find one in the first town… Why, that’s unprecedented!”
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