Page 266 of The Blairville Legacies

Julian's jawline relaxed.

“Get changed.” I opened my mouth slightly to say something, but Julian raised his hand. “Andno, you don't stink.”

I looked at him, startled.

Had he read my mind?

“And when you're done, you'll come out.”

I looked at him questioningly. He just smiled, a twinkle in his eye.

“It's time you get to know the beautiful side of Blairville.”

The fact that I'd let myself be talked into that had been a miracle. Julian was eitherconvincingormanipulative, maybe a bit of both.

It had taken me an indescribablefifteen minutesto getdressed, as my body seemed to have significantly reduced its ability to function, slowing everything down. To cut a long story short:I felt like shit.

And now I was sitting in the passenger seat of Julian's rusty red pickup truck, hoping he had a little more common sense than Larissa and wouldn't take me toward my death again.

We were currently driving through a part of downtown that brought us closer to the harbor, but instead of going straighttothe harbor, Julian turned onto a surrounding road that led uphill into the golden deciduous forest of the city, where the Victorian mansions were beginning to look classier and more historic.

“Where exactlydo you want to go with me?” I asked impatiently.

“Has your curiosity led you to go with Larissa to the DeLoughreys' area?” came his counter-question.

I couldn't help but punch him in the shoulder, but all I got in response was the typical Julian grin. Could he do anything else?

“She's a good friend, and sometimes she just has very... headstrong ideas. And thanks toher, I now know that maybe oneshouldn'tgo into this area after all,” I defended her.

Of course, I wouldn't evendreamof going back there.

“The Copelands' territory, their forest... Is it safe there?”

“Theoretically,you’re safe there,” Julian said as he tried to concentrate on the road.

“Theoretically?”I dug deeper, guessing that his answer was based on the recent events at the Fogs Forest border. The news hadn't stopped warning against entering the woods, as someone had disappeared again. This time it was a student fromBlairville High.

I wondered if I should tell Julian about my suspicion that these two strange vampire men might be behind it. But I was still trying to process the fact that vampires actually existed.

More and more trees rushed past next to us, occasionally a few villas.

I remembered this road. Mum had brought me here to Moenia. But just before I could look for the witch's house, Julian turned into a side road, which was more of a rough forest path.

“Actually, the contract ensured the peaceful coexistence of the families. This also means that you are forbidden from attacking, injuring or killing people from the other families. Including regular human citizens.”

For whatever reason, I had to think of Alarik Copeland's book, which was also aboutsecuring the coexistence of hostile families. The book had reminded me a lot of this city, and I had wondered whether the author had belonged to one of the species.

“So, there's a treaty between the Copelands and the Blairs?” I asked with interest.

“Yes, something like that. But it's more than that. If you take it literally, it's a treaty between the Quatura, the Senseque and the Ruisangors, separating them territorially to keep the peace.”

I remembered the car ride with Julian to the university a few days ago, where he had explained to me what exactly theseRuisangorswere.

All I knew so far was that there weretwo different kinds of them:Legacy Ruisangorsand so-calledChanged. TheLegaciesstopped aging at some point and had dangerous powers, theChangeddid not age from the point of their transformation. The sun had an effect on their skin or their gifts, and they were extremely fast, stronger than humans, though not as strong as werewolves.

Everything about them sounded like what vampires were like in those countless horror stories. But what concerned me much more, and what scared the hell out of me, was the fact that they fed on human blood. Julian had assured me that the DeLoughreys lived from donated blood, but something inside me didn't want to believe that, especially after the attack in the forest.

“They all have their territory where they can do what they want, on the condition that no humans or members of the other species are harmed, of course.”