Page 6

CHAPTER

SIX

Kade spent the rest of the weekend nursing bottles of Gatorade and googling vampires and burn scars. He borrowed one of Sundance’s scarves, weaving it around his head and lower face and calling it a fashion statement when she caught him in the kitchen.

“Whatever you say,” she told him. “But I want it back.”

He agreed. Then he went to wash out the blood spots that had transferred from his bite wound. He spent a long time with the scarf off, staring into his bedroom mirror with the door locked.

The bruising was bad . The world’s worst hickey with puncture wounds in the middle. Not just two neat holes, either—Theo had bitten with all his teeth, leaving a rosy ring of red. And outside it, a puffy circle where his lips had been. Then on the other side of his face were five neat finger marks, spanning from the underside of his jaw to the bottom of his ear. The ones on his jaw weren’t that deep—they would blister and then heal. But the one on his neck was so dark it was almost black, and after a few hours it hurt so much Kade considered drinking to make it go away, even though he’d just throw it all up. Stupid blood loss.

It didn’t stop him from daydreaming of Theo’s mouth on his neck. It was the venom, he decided. It had to be. Once the pain went away, the venom made it the best high he’d ever had. Like what he imagined heroin was like. He’d always promised his aunt he’d never try it, but she never said anything about vampire bites.

Where to buy vampire venom had twenty million hits on Google. Kade gave up after the fifth page.

He kept his scarf tight around his neck and jaw all through homeroom on Monday. He wasn’t an idiot—a guy wearing a green summer scarf in high school wasn’t going to have it on him long, especially one as low on the totem pole as Kade “Monster” Renfield.

He kept his head down. When he saw Aaron Fletcher and Felicity Sloan come his way in the hallway, he walked on the other side.

They followed. Kade’s prey instinct lit up. He walked faster, ducking around a corner. But at the end of the day, he was a lanky kid who couldn’t run a mile no matter how much time you gave him, and Aaron was on the basketball team.

Aaron grunted as he heaved Kade up against a locker. Felicity stood at his side, looking uncharacteristically exhausted. Her eyebags showed even through her makeup, her smile razor-sharp to distract from it.

“So?” Aaron asked. “Did you do it?”

“Do what?” Kade snarled. A crowd was forming. Never a good sign. Adrenaline flowed through Kade’s veins, readying him for a fight.

Aaron smirked. “Kill old man Lemmings.”

Kade froze, the fight draining out of him. In all his panic he’d forgotten to look up the guy Theo had been yelling about.

“ That didn’t look promising,” Felicity said, not as excited as he expected. She was only half watching him, her gaze darting over to her boyfriend with an expression Kade couldn’t decipher.

She nodded at Kade and said in a terrible British accent: “Hey, guv’nor.”

“Guv’nor,” he replied, wishing for the thousandth time that she wasn’t so awful so he could actually like her as a person.

Aaron gave Kade a shake, dragging his attention back to the angry guy in his face. “Didn’t expect you to fold so easily, Monster. Should we call somebody?”

“Nope,” Kade snapped, straining against his hold. No use. He’d have to start kicking or go limp. “Come on, I’m not in the mood. Everybody go home, folks! Monster show’s over!”

“I don’t think so.” Aaron’s green eyes glinted. “Everybody says the wound is…weird. Not very knifey. You left the party right before he died. What’d you do?”

“Weird,” Kade repeated, an icy chill coming over him. Oh shit, did Theo kill a guy after he ran off into the woods?

“Look,” he tried, glancing around at the crowd that was forming. He stared at Felicity pleadingly. “Usually I’d play along but this is serious shit, mate. And I’m not really in the mood.”

Aaron dug his finger into the bandage on Kade’s jaw. The scarf had slipped down when Aaron shoved him into the locker.

Kade cried out as the burn marks flared with agony.

Felicity startled, stepping back.

“Whoa,” Aaron said. He looked surprised, like he hadn’t expected it to hurt so much. For a moment he almost looked guilty. Then his grin came back, not as big as before.

“Did the old man fight back?” Aaron whispered. “Didn’t expect that, but I also didn’t expect him to come out of his house. They said they went all the way outside his gate before he got shanked. How’d you talk him into it?”

“Didn’t do anything,” Kade gritted. His eyes watered. He blinked hard .

Felicity peered at the bandages peeking out from Kade’s scarf. Her snub nose wrinkled.

“Um,” she said. “Aaron?”

But Aaron was already talking over her, grip tight on Kade’s jacket. “Aw, you feeling guilty?”

He wasn’t going to let up, Kade realized. He’d have to go all in.

He grabbed Aaron’s cheeks and bared his teeth. “If you really think I killed a guy over the weekend, do you really want to be doing this? Who knows what I could do, Fletcher? Could coax you out your back door next.”

A gasp went up in the gathering crowd. Nervous laughter.

Felicity let out a shocked huff and nothing else. Disappointing. Kade had hoped it would be a good enough dig that she changed sides for a few seconds, like she had been known to do if the diss was good enough. Loyalty was nothing to Felicity in the face of a good joke.

Aaron’s eyes widened. For a second it was just shock. Then something appeared behind it, dark and dangerous. A memory flashed back: Aaron’s face at his ear, beery breath against his cheek. I think somebody’s gonna die tonight.

“I don’t think you realize—” Aaron stopped as a big hand landed on his shoulder.

“We need to get to class,” said Theo Fairgood. “Save it for lunch.”

Theo looked…normal. A little pale, like he hadn’t go tten enough sun. But his curls were intact, his eyes clear. No blackness bleeding into them like when he’d woken up after the lake, or when he bit Kade in his room.

Kade let go of Aaron’s face and kicked him lightly in the knee. “Yeah, go on, Aaron. Be a good lackey and follow your golden boy.”

“I can’t be late again,” Theo said as Aaron whipped back to glare at Kade. “Come on, man.”

Felicity nudged Aaron with her forehead. “Babe. Your parents will be pissed.”

Aaron stood perfectly still. Then, all at once, he dropped Kade’s jacket and walked off, slinging his arm over Felicity’s slim shoulders. Theo followed them. Kade almost expected a glance, for that guilty look from the weekend to return, or for Theo to toss him some kind of thinly veiled threat.

But Theo just kept walking. Kade watched that bright, fluffy hair turn the corner and thought, maybe that’s it. The whole craziness was just one weekend. I never have to talk to Theo Fairgood unless he’s tripping me in the hallway.

An hour later, Theo dragged him into a closet.

“Oh god don’t kill me,” Kade babbled, all instinct and primal fear. “Don’t get me wrong, mate, that was the best high ever, but if you killed Lemmings that’s not a great hit on your track record. ”

“I didn’t kill Jeremiah Lemmings,” Theo hissed. He looked confused, like he’d expected Kade to growl at him. He moved back, but there wasn’t much room to move around in a broom cupboard. His sneaker immediately clanged into a mop bucket.

Theo swore. “Look, I don’t remember what happened after I hit the water. I woke up with a dead deer on me.”

“A deer ?”

Theo shushed him.

Kade slapped the wall of the broom closet. “Who’s gonna hear us in here?”

“There’s a teacher down the hall.” Theo tilted his head, listening. Kade watched him, caught between incredulity, fear, and deep excitement. His neck throbbed.

Theo’s gaze returned to him. “I thought you might have done something to me. Or that you’d know what happened. So I came over, and…look, I’m sorry for biting you.”

Do it again , Kade thought.

“And…burning you.” Theo winced at the bandages peeking through the wilting scarf. “I don’t know what that was. I didn’t burn my parents when I touched them. Or Felicity, or Aaron. Or the other deer I ate.”

“Do you…feel better? After the deers?”

“Kinda.” Theo made a face, tongue moving in his mouth. “They taste gross, and it doesn’t fill me up properly. Like eating brussels sprouts when you want a steak.”

I’m the steak , Kade thought giddily. “Did I taste nice?”

Theo’s jaw worked. When he spoke, his voice was as flat as Aaron’s. “It was fine.”

It brought Kade crashing back to reality: he was stuck in a closet with a jock who wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire. Sure, he’d brought Kade snacks and water after he mauled him. And Kade wanted to get mauled again. But this wasn’t…safe. He wasn’t safe. Theo had killed someone this weekend. For all Kade’s reckless behavior, he did have a sense of self-preservation. It sounded a lot like his aunt sighing in the back of his head when he drank too much or flung himself at a bully when he could’ve just run. You’re not really going to do this, are you?

Kade pulled back as far as he could. “Did Lemmings actually die from a bite? Or was it, like…a weird stab wound?”

“The official story is that he got knifed,” Theo said, strained. “But…I don’t know. The timing is…and nobody gets killed in Lock . He got attacked around two a.m. I don’t remember what I was doing then.”

“Chasing deer, hopefully. Did you see who, uh, turned you?”

Theo shook his head. “It was a guy. I didn’t recognize him, he was all…growly. He called me…sith?”

“Maybe he’s a Star Wars fan. ”

“What? No. It sounded familiar, though.” Theo paused. He scratched his head, thick fingers raking through those fluffy blond curls that made Kade think of boy bands. “Do you want to look into it? With me? Lemmings’s murder, and all the…vampire stuff?”

This is it, Kade thought deliriously. It’s happening. My backstory is over, the story is finally starting. It’s starting in a broom closet and everything stinks like cleaning fluid and floor polish, but it’s HAPPENING. Why couldn’t it have happened with a guy who was less of an asshole?

It didn’t stop the thread of excitement from leaking into his voice. “You’re bringing me along on your little vampire adventure of discovery?”

“What? No, come on.” Theo ran another hand through his hair, hissing when he almost knocked over a spray bottle. “I can’t ask anyone else . Nobody knows.”

“And nobody will know.” Kade gave him a two-fingered lesbian salute. “I’ll take your secret to the grave. Which will be very far away.”

“Sure,” Theo said distractedly.

Kade watched him tug on his lustrous fringe and wondered if anyone had told Theo about worry beads.

“Well,” Kade said. “I should…” He was reaching for the doorknob when Theo spoke up.

“You really dragged me out of the lake?”

Kade glanced up. Or, he glanced over . They were actually the same height, though it was easy to forget with all the tripping in halls and being shoved into walls and pulled into closets .

Theo still looked tense. Like he was waiting for Kade to snarl or laugh in his face. Kade thought about it. Then he remembered gagging next to Theo’s cold, drenched body, sobbing and wondering how he was going to explain any of this to the cops. Suddenly Theo had sat up, and Kade had screamed. Babbled something about an ambulance, about waterlogged lungs, about how he should’ve tried CPR. And Theo had just…stared at him, his brown eyes all pupil. He’d shuddered, leaned in, and for a second the fear had come back, Kade’s entire body screaming at him to run.

But he hadn’t. And Theo had shuddered again, head whipping around toward a rustle in the bushes. He’d stumbled toward it. He was sprinting by the time he vanished into the trees, ignoring Kade calling after him, asking what the hell was going on.

It would’ve been terrifying, waking up after that. It would’ve been terrifying being dragged up in the air, being gnawed on and dropped a hundred feet into a lake.

Kade’s weekend had been scary. But Theo’s must’ve been worse.

“Yeah,” Kade admitted. “I…yeah.”

Theo was silent. Then he said, “Surprised you could do it. You look like a toothpick.”

“Hey, under this skinny form lies a musclebound beast .” Kade thought about flexing, but he was tired and Theo was a dick and it was too small in this closet anyway. “I had an adrenaline rush, Fairgood. Google it. ”

If Theo understood the reference, he didn’t show it. He just nodded, like he would actually look into adrenaline rushes, and stared down at his sneakers.

“Thank you,” he mumbled. “You didn’t have to.”

Kade had to take a second. Apparently big and bashful did it for him. Even when it was attached to a jock.

“Return the favor sometime,” he told him, and reached again for the door. “Uh. Is the coast clear?”

Theo nodded.

“Good. Meet me behind the science building after school.” Kade flicked him another salute and strode out, hands in his jeans pockets, whistling, craving a cigarette so badly his teeth itched. It didn’t matter how hard he was playing cool, he realized as he strolled toward class. Theo and his new vampire ears had to hear his heart thundering in his chest.