by Aileen Erin
The rest of the conversation went normally enough. They asked about classes and my friends, and ignored all things Dastien-related.
After a bit, I walked them to the parking lot with Mr. Dawson supervising so I wouldn’t accidentally wolf-out on them. They’d brought me my car, just in case I needed it for some reason. My parents said their good-byes, promising to come back and visit whenever I wanted them to.
It was harder to say good-bye to Axel. He was going to college, and I wouldn’t see him for months. I knew that he was always going to go, but the reality proved to be a bit harder than I expected.
Axel held out the keys to my car. “I picked out an awesome car for you.”
I snatched them from his hand. “You better have been good to her.”
He pulled me in for a hug. “I might be farther away, but I’ll always be here for you.”
“Thanks. Love you.”
“Me too.”
My heart was heavy as I watched their car disappear from sight.
Mr. Dawson put his arm around me, and turned me back toward school. “Come on. Let’s get you some ice cream. I hear it can help at a time like this.”
“That’d be good. Thanks.”
When we got back to the cafeteria, he disappeared into the kitchen. He came back carrying two light brown pints with gold lids. “Here you go.” He slid one to me.
“Blue Bell?”
He set his spoon down. “Please tell me you’ve had Blue Bell.”
I shook my head. “But I like Cookies ‘n’ Cream, so I’m sure this is fine.”
“Blue Bell is more than just fine. It’s the Cookies ‘n’ Cream. Trust me. I’m a connoisseur of all things ice cream.”
I pulled off the top. It looked like ordinary Cookies ‘n’ Cream to me. “If it’s so amazeballs, why haven’t I heard of it before?”
“Because you’re from California. They make it in Brenham, Texas and they only deliver it themselves to locations that they can easily get to in their refrigerated trucks. Although when I’ve lived other places, I’ve had it shipped to me from the factory. Costly but necessary.”
I shook my head. Dude was out of his mind. I took a bite and moaned. “Holy shit. This is good.”
“Told you.”
“So you and ice cream, huh?” It made him more of a real person, instead of this odd authority figure.
“Food. All kinds. When you’ve got to eat so much of it, you get to know the difference between good, bad, and excellent.” He pointed to the ice cream with his spoon. “This is excellent.”
“So do you cook too?”
He nodded. “Most wolves do. Especially those my age.”
That made sense. I wanted to ask him how old he was, but he beat me to the next question.
“Can you cook?” he asked me.
I shrugged. “Mexican food, for sure. With a recipe—anything else.”
We got into a conversation about Mexican food, most importantly the differences between Mexican food among the border states.
A pint of Blue Bell Cookies ‘n’ Cream later and I was feeling better.
I stared down at the empty carton. “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”
Mr. Dawson laughed. “I can. You’ve got to eat more. And you’re about to burn all that off, so it’s not even going to do you any good. Let’s go.”
I patted my stomach. “Just when I thought I had a nice food baby going on, you gotta ruin it.”
As we walked to class, I was more relaxed. Everything felt a little more okay.
But then again, it could’ve just been an ice cream high.
Chapter Twenty-Six
That evening we were watching the news on Meredith’s TV. It’d become a nightly habit. Every time we huddled around and waited to see how close the vampires were, but this time there was no mention of the “killers.”
“Maybe the Cazadores finally found them?” Meredith said as she muted the sound.
“We would’ve heard,” Shannon said. “Yesterday they were only fifty miles away from here.”
“But they won’t come here, right?” I said.
“I hope not, but they must be close.” Shannon sighed. “If the Cazadores are having this much trouble the school will have to relocate again.”
“Again?”
“It moved in the fifties,” Meredith said when Shannon didn’t answer. “It was in the Northeast, but the town got too big. It’s never had to move because of vamps finding us. You’d almost think they had help.”
I chewed on my lip as I thought. Maybe from the rogue Mr. Dawson had mentioned when I overheard him talking? But what if Mr. Hoel had something to do with this?
My imagination was taking my dislike for the Hoel’s and turning it into some crazy plot against St. Ailbe’s. I clearly needed more sleep. “I’m going to bed.”
Shannon ignored me and Meredith said good night. They whispered theories as I got ready for bed, but I tried not to listen too much. Just because I had great hearing didn’t mean I should use it all the time. People still needed privacy.
I was on the verge of sleep when St. Ailbe’s version of a siren—a modulating low-pitched hum—cut thorough campus.
Howls echoed through the night. Answering ones came from the dorm.
What the hell was going on?
The smell of rotten eggs filled my room.
“Oh my God.” I heard Meredith say from her room. “They’re here!”
Everything was still for a moment, before doors in the dorms slammed open. Girls were shouting in their rooms.
I ran to my window. At least thirty people were running though the courtyard.
No. Not running. Gliding.
“Vampires.” I whispered to myself as I pressed my nose against the glass. The cold bit into my skin but I couldn’t look away. Both werewolves and vampires moved silently, but this kind of silence turned my stomach. It wasn’t natural.
How were they moving like that?
I gasped as one of the dark figures stepped into the light. It swirled around, and then stopped. It was searching for something in the windows. Meredith yelled something, but I couldn’t make it out.
Its gaze pierced me—red eyes called to me.
Everything slowed. I could hear my heart beat and count the time between each thump-thump.
A voice in my head ordered me to open the window, and I did.
All I could see was red. It filled my vision as it got closer, larger.
Cold wrapped around me and I floated to the ground.
“Tessa!” Meredith shouted from far away.
The sound stirred something in me, but it was quickly shoved aside.
Red eyes stared out from the darkness of his hood.
Cold fingers dug into my arms. He sniffed me. “Witch blood,” it hissed. The vampire shoved my head to the side and something hot dropped on my neck. It burned like acid.
“Teresa Elizabeth McCaide!” Meredith yelled as another drop fell onto my skin.
Suddenly I was too aware of the pain. Of the stench. Of the cold hands grasping me.
I snapped out of the trance and screamed.
The howls answered my scream, but they were too far away.
I was alone in the courtyard. Vampires surrounded me, hovering in the air. Their long black coats swirled around their feet. Their faces were half-decayed.
His teeth grazed my neck as I struggled to break free.
“Awake now? I love the taste of scared witch.”
I choked on his putrid breath.
The vampire threw me and was on me—pinning my arms and legs—before I could even register hitting the ground. I screamed again as I twisted, trying to break his hold, but couldn’t get free. The fighting I’d been learning all week didn’t help me one bit. Even with my new strength, I was helpless.
A tear rolled down my face as I started to flip out.
I wasn’t proud of it, but I used the only weapon I had. “Dastien!” I yelled louder than I ever had before, ho
ping my voice would somehow reach him. I knew I’d die right then if he didn’t come. If he was too far away.
A pained howl echoed through the courtyard.
The vampire’s teeth scraped my neck, not yet breaking the skin, like he was teasing me. I whimpered.
Dastien was going to be too late. My skin was ice cold with fear. If I got out of this okay, I was going to start paying attention in martial arts class.
And then I heard him. “Tessa!” He grabbed the vampire and tossed him into the nearest tree. Bark splintered down, and the vampire slid to the ground.
Three more vampires jumped onto Dastien.
I tried to get up to help, but another vampire jumped on me.
I punched him, but it didn’t faze him. He pressing me into the ground, and I shoved my fingers in his eye sockets. Black ooze streamed from the holes where its eyes used to be, and it screamed, rearing back.
A gray wolf leapt—grasping the vampire’s neck in his jaws, and slammed it into the ground beside me.
Holy shit.
I rolled away from them as chaos broke out around me. It was a flurry of movement as wolves and vampires moved almost faster than I could track. I tried to spot a way to get through them and back to the dorm, but every time I tried to get up, a vampire would step toward me. There were too many of them, and I was attracting them when I moved. I crouched down on the ground, trying to make myself the smallest target possible.
Dastien was fighting his way back to me in his human form. He wore only a pair of gray sweatpants.
Only one vampire stood between us. Dastien charged at it, but an auburn wolf jumped in between them, taking the vampire to the ground.
This was my chance. I got up and ran as fast as I could, meeting Dastien halfway. A warm arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me from the ground as he ran back toward the building. He threw open the door to the girl’s dorm. “Stay inside. No matter what.” He gave me a tight smile. “I’ll be back.” He stepped back into the courtyard. “Seniors, outside now. The rest of you, stay in the dorms.”
The sound of cloth ripping filled the night as people raced out of the buildings, shifting mid-sprint.
Now I felt like a total wuss. The rest of my class was outside fighting, and here I was hiding. This was all kinds of lame.
“What is it with you and windows?” Meredith met me at the stairs. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know.” I didn’t have time to wonder why she wasn’t out there with the rest of the seniors. I raced up the stairs, taking two at a time. I had to get back to my window so I could see what was going on outside. The thought that Dastien or one of the others could get hurt—possibly because of me—made me sick.
One of the vampires separated from the group and circled around, trying to surprise-attack Dastien.
“Behind you!” I yelled, leaning out my window.
Dastien shifted instantly into a white and gray wolf. He lunged and tore into its neck. Black sludge spewed from the vampire. Its head rolled off and it crumpled to the ground. Meredith cheered from behind me.
A blond colored wolf jumped into the fight.
“That’s Chris,” Meredith said.
A large brown wolf ran into the courtyard, followed by two more–a black and a white wolf. My hands shook as I watched them fight.
The vampires moved with quick, slashing movements.
A yelp rang in my ears. One of the vampires had torn Chris’ leg. His blond fur stained with red.
The brown wolf ripped into a vampire, ripping off its leg.
“That’s Mr. Dawson,” Meredith said.
I had no idea how she could tell them apart, but I took her word for it.
Before it could rise, wolf-Dawson slashed a paw at the vampire’s neck, severing the head.
My throat was dry as I watched the gore.
The other vampires fled, taking off through the woods. The wolves howled and all but two followed them into the tree line.
Mr. Miller, the chemistry teacher, ran out from the medical building with a bag in his hand. “I’ll finish. Go!” he said.
Mr. Dawson and Dastien disappeared after the escaping vampires.
Mr. Miller opened the bag and took out a bottle. Then he punched through the chest of a vampire, and ripped out a ball of black goo. He dumped the bottle on the vamp and lit a match.
I turned away from the window as my dinner started to come back up. “That’s disgusting.”
Shaking, I sat down hard on the ground.
“Totally,” Meredith said.
My breaths started to come easier after a few minutes. But then the worry for Dastien seeped in. I hugged my knees into my chest.
Holy shit, that was close.
I owed Dastien my life.
There was a knock on the open door. Dr. Gonazales didn’t wait for me to answer. “Are you okay?”
I started to say yes, but hesitated. “I don’t know.” My neck still ached. I ran my fingers over it. “Something burned me.”
The doctor set her bag next to me. “Vampire venom. Toxic stuff. But he didn’t bite you, so that’s good. If it gets into your blood stream, then you’ve got a bigger problem.” She cleaned my neck with an alcohol swipe and spread sticky goo over the spot. “Keep this covered and dry for tonight,” she said as she taped on a bandage. “It should be fine by tomorrow.”
“I thought werewolves healed quickly.”
“This is a supernatural injury. It’ll heal slower.”
Just when I thought I’d get some use out of the whole werewolf thing, it failed me. Typical. “Is Chris going to be okay?”
“He ran off with the others, most likely making his injury worse. But he’ll be fine once I fix him up.”
Mrs. Ramirez took a step into the room. “Girls, stay in the dorm. We’re under lockdown. Windows bolted. Curtains closed. No matter what you hear going on outside. Understood?”
“Absolutely, Ms. Ramirez,” Meredith said.
“Good.” She left. A second later we heard her knocking next door, spreading the word.
Dr. Gonzales shut the window, clicked the lock and pulled the curtains tight. “You didn’t read the book?”
“What book?”
She stepped over to my desk and picked up the thin volume—The Werewolf’s Bible.
I shrugged. “It’s been a bit of a rough week.” I probably should’ve put on gloves and read the damned thing, but no one expects a vampire invasion. “How come it hypnotized me so easily?”
“You met his gaze?”
I nodded.
Meredith slapped my shoulder. “Next time, don’t do that.”
“We’re not as weak as humans,” Dr. Gonzales said. “It’s like when someone punches you when you’re not ready. It takes you by surprise. But if you are braced for it, it’ll graze on by. Just stay away from the window and never ever meet their gaze unprepared.” She placed the book back on my desk. “Please try to read this. It explains a lot.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“I guess maybe we should get ready for bed?” Meredith said when Dr. Gonzales left.
Bed? Was she kidding? Vampires attacked the school. One nearly killed me. Dastien and Mr. Dawson and the rest were out there. Fighting. Not to mention the adrenaline still working its way through me. “I don’t think I can sleep.”
“It must be weird for you to see that. But really, it’s going to be fine. They can’t come out during the day, and the Cazadores will come soon and watch over us at night.” She squatted in front of me. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I pulled my hair back and saw my hands shaking. “I don’t know.” I thought for a second. “What else can vampires do?”
“You mean besides controlling your body if you meet their gaze and drain all the blood from you?”
Holy shit. “Yeah, besides that.”
“Some of them are said to have magical powers, not that I’ve seen it. Their saliva is poisonous to us, but usually if you’re close enough to find that out you
’re going to be dead soon. You got lucky.” She paused. “And they glide over the ground, so they don’t make sound. And they can glamour humans into thinking they don’t look nasty. Also, they can leap really high. And—”
I waved my hand through the air. “Enough. I don’t think my puny ex-human brain can take any more tonight.”
Meredith laughed. “Listen. How about you get ready for bed, and then we’ll watch a movie in my room? Something fun and silly.”
I grabbed some pajamas, but kept looking toward my window. I didn’t dare go near it. That feeling when I looked at the vampire, like that thing had control over me, chilled me. It invaded my brain. I never wanted to feel that again.
I pulled on some shorts and a tank, and snatched a pillow off my bed.
“Sixteen Candles or Mean Girls?” Meredith said as I walked into her room.
“Mean Girls.”
“Done.”
I snuggled down on her fluffy rug and hugged my pillow.
I swore I could hear Dastien howling in the distance.
Mr. Dawson had been right. Too much of this was a coincidence. I come here and then the vampires. As much as I didn’t want it to be about me, what if it was? Or what if I was the excuse?
What if Mr. Hoel was the rogue? And Imogene was helping him?
I hoped I was wrong. That this blew over, but if it didn’t—then I’d made some pretty powerful enemies already. I was going to have to start watching my back.
***
The sound of scratching pulled me from my dreams. Little nails clawing. Followed by a very soft whining noise. How had I gotten back in my room? Were the vampires back? I looked at the window, but the curtains were still tightly closed. It was coming from my door.
No way they could get inside. Or so I hoped.
Maybe if I ignored it, it would go away.
More scratching and whining. That sounded dog-like. Or wolf-like.
I put a pillow on top of my head.
More scratching and whining.
I grabbed a tissue, ripped it in half, and shoved it in my ears. I sandwiched my head back in between the pillows.
More scratching and whining.
I threw off the covers and stomped over to the door.
On the other side was Dastien in wolf-form. He came up to my waist, and looked like he weighed a ton. Amber eyes stared at me.
