Bad Blood (2 page)

“Sorry, Aud, I’m going to have to pass,” I tell her, trying to keep my voice light. “Next time.”

“Sure. Whatever. Later.” Audrey hangs up the phone.

I stare down at the disconnected cell, feeling sad. Audrey’s the only one who still calls me these days. The only one who hasn’t given up on me from my old life, pre-vampire. The rest of my friends dropped off over the summer, when I was so in love with Magnus and we were hanging out every day and I had no time to call them back. Sure, they still say hi in passing in the hallways, but I’m never invited out with them. I only see the photos the next day, tagged on Facebook, without me in them.

I have my sister, I suppose, but she’s a vampire now and so into her new world—always attending coven events and seminars that I can’t get into due to my still-mortal status. (And wouldn’t want to even if I could. I mean, Blood Letting 101, anyone?) And Jareth has plenty of time to spend with her, not being the Master and all.

My cell rings again. This time I look at the caller ID before answering. My heart leaps to my throat as I realize it’s Magnus. He’s calling! Thank God. I was beginning to think I’d be spending yet another night alone in my room.

“Hey, baby,” I coo into the phone. “I was just thinking about you.”

“Good thoughts, I hope,” he teases and I can hear a smile in his voice. He’s in a good mood, thank God. He’s been so grumpy lately, with all that he’s been dealing with. I never know how he’s going to be when I talk to him.

“Oh yes, very good thoughts,” I purr. “Am I going to get to see you tonight?”

There’s silence on the end of the phone. Crap. I shouldn’t have asked him that. I shouldn’t have pushed. Isn’t that what the self-help books say? Let him make the first move? Does that still apply after you’ve been going out for nearly six months?

“Um, actually tonight I have some meetings,” he confesses at last, sounding regretful. “But I was thinking . . . tomorrow night?”

My heart sinks. Out of the entire lonely week, tomorrow is the only night I have plans. I’m supposed to go see my sister cheer at the football game. My whole family’s going to be there and there’s no way Mom’s going to give me a pass on this one. She even made reservations at Olive Garden, my favorite restaurant.

“Er, tomorrow’s not so good,” I confess. “It’s homecoming and I’m stuck with the fam watching Rayne cheer.”

“A football game?” I can hear the distaste in his voice. Damn it.

“I’m free any other night!” I add, hopefully. “Sunday? Monday? Any night next week?”

“Sorry, Sun. I’ve got meetings up until the convention and then we’re heading out on Tuesday afternoon. I’ll be gone through Sunday.”

I let out a frustrated sigh. So Saturday night it is. I wonder how much Mom would kill me if I bailed . . .

“Wait, why don’t you come with us?” I ask, an idea coming to me. “We’re going to Olive Garden and then the game. It’ll be fun.”

Yeah, Sunny, I’m sure it’d be a great time for him. As a vampire, he doesn’t eat
and he hates football more than life itself.

“How about . . .” He’s thinking. “How about I meet you after the game? It can’t go too late, right? We’ll spend some time together then.”

“Sure. Perfect!” I agree eagerly. “Awesome.” Mom has to be cool with that. Do the family thing, then the boyfriend thing. Perfect.

“What if . . .” Magnus sounds hesitant, which speeds up my heart rate all over again. “What if I got us a room?”

I almost drop the phone. “A room?” I squeak. “Like a . . . hotel room?”

I can hear his amusement on the other end of the phone. “Yes, Sunny. Like a hotel room.” He pauses, then adds, “No strings attached, of course. Just a quiet, romantic place where we can spend some time alone together. Candles, flowers, a silver plate of strawberries . . . how does that sound?”

It sounds heavenly. And just what we need to reconnect. To make things right.

“We’ll have a great night, just you and me,” Magnus promises. “And we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to . . . It’s not about that. It’s about spending time with my girl, who I love very much.”

My heart melts at his words. “Oh, Magnus,” I whisper into the phone. “I love you, too. And it all sounds perfect. I can’t wait.”

2

We’re down by three, fourth quarter, fourth down, and Mike has the ball. Only seconds to go and the clock on the scoreboard counts down relentlessly. Mike backs up, looks for an opening . . .

On the sidelines, Rayne and the other cheerleaders are going crazy—yelling and dancing and jumping up and down. “I never thought I’d see the day,” Mom mutters from my side. She and David are cuddled under a big stadium blanket and looking nauseatingly cute as they feed each other cotton candy. “If I’d had to guess, I would have put all odds on you up there, Sunny. Never Rayne. I mean, not that I’m complaining. I think it’s great. Just . . .”

“Weird?” I prompt.

She nods, looking relieved that she didn’t have to say it. Having Rayne as a child would be hard on any mom. If only she knew the real reason her freaky daughter first picked up the pom-poms . . .

We turn back to the game.

Mike sees Trevor enter the end zone. He’s wide open.

As red uniforms converge on our quarterback, Mike throws. Trevor leaps into the air and manages to catch the ball—a split second before he’s tackled to the ground. Touchdown. The crowd leaps up in unison, a chaos of blue jackets, hats, and sweaters—cheering and clapping and whooping the old wolf pack howl.

“Whoo! Yeah! Go Mike and Trevor!” yell the cheerleaders. Mandy does a back flip. Shantel and Nancy bounce up and down. Rayne does . . . something . . . that looks like a cross between a split and a dog lifting its leg to pee. She’s sweating profusely, I notice. She may have gotten spirit, but she’s still a bit weak on the physical fitness. Maybe this will teach her to quit smoking.

“Let’s go congratulate Rayne!” Mom says, as the Wolves are pronounced victors of the night. We scramble down the bleachers and spill out onto the field with the rest of the crowd. Mom waves Rayne over with the kind of huge sweeping gestures that moms are innately gifted with to embarrass their offspring.

“Hey, Mom,” Rayne greets, shaking a pom-pom in her direction. Mom embraces her tightly and my sister hugs her back. Aw. I’m glad to see them getting along again. After Mom pulled a
Trading Spaces
on Rayne’s bedroom and moved her into my room so David could have hers, things were pretty dicey between them.

“Wow, Rayne. You were amazing. Really amazing,” Mom gushes, clearly overwhelmed by motherly pride. “I’m so impressed. I had no idea you could do those kinds of moves.”

“Well, it did take some practice,” Rayne says with a bashful grin. She doesn’t take compliments well. Probably because she doesn’t get too many in her typical role as the bad girl.

“Yeah, you were really something,” David says, walking up behind Mom. “A total natural.”

“Isn’t she?” I say, wanting to encourage her. “I keep telling her that but she refuses to believe me.”

“Can I speak to you for a minute, Rayne?”

We all whirl around. Mr. Teifert, the drama teacher and vice president of Slayer Inc., the company Rayne freelances for, is standing there. Hmm, I wonder what crazy assignment he’ll give her this time? Demon lord about to be let loose? A banshee screeching in, set on nothing short of our total destruction? Or perhaps some leprechauns have swung into town, after their Lucky Charms?

“Well,” Rayne says with some reluctance, glancing back at the fam. She’s probably not ready for a new assignment either. After all, she just got finished saving the town from cheerleading werewolves. You’d think she’d get a couple comp days or something after a major accomplishment like that. Or, I don’t know, a pay-check at the very least. After all, as she loves to remind me, even chicks with destinies have bills to pay, black lipstick to buy.

“We’ll be right over here,” David assures her, not about to get in the way of his Slayer Inc. boss talking shop. He may be developing fatherly feelings for Rayne and me, but at the end of the day he’s still a company man. He and Mom and I take a few steps back. I try to stay close enough to listen, but I can’t quite make out Teifert’s words. Darn.

Rayne rejoins us a moment later. She has a big grin on her face. Hmm. Usually a conversation with Teifert has her swearing and spitting. This really is a weird night.

“Was that Sunny’s drama coach?” Mom asks her. Of course, she’s completely clueless about Teifert’s secret identity. “What did he want?” Mom knows that while Rayne may be a drama queen, I’m the one actually performing in the plays.

“Nothing much,” Rayne bluffs. “Tried to convince me I’d make a kick-ass Morgan Le Fay in his King Arthur play. Which I would. But I told him I’m pretty overcommitted at the moment.”

“So you’re staying on the . . .
team
?” I ask, meaning Slayer Inc., not the Wolves cheering squad. Though, come to think of it, I’m curious about the answer to that, as well.

“Yeah,” Rayne says. “I think so. At least for a bit. Why not, right? After all, they definitely need me.”

“Well congratulations again, Rayne,” my mom says, completely missing the undertones of the convo as usual. She kisses Rayne on the forehead. “I’m really proud of you.” She turns to David. “Are you ready to hit the road? I think the girls have some celebrating to do.”

I glance at my watch. Magnus was supposed to be here a half hour ago. Where is he? He’d better not stand me up . . .

David nods. “Bye, guys. Rayne, good job.” He offers a quick handshake (he’s not quite at “hug” stage yet) and then he and Mom turn to leave. Once alone, I grin at my sister. “A vampire, vampire slayer cheerleader,” I say.

“Who would have thought?”

“Yup. That’s me. Multitalented.” She laughs. “Actually Teifert was just trying to get me to quit the Slayer biz. I guess Bertha the vampire slayer’s all recovered from those blood pressure issues and ready to get back into business. But I told him he should keep me on retainer. You never know, he might need me.”

“Well, I know I feel safer knowing you’re still on patrol,” I assure her. We’re silent for a moment and then I realize I should tell her about tonight. She’s going to be psyched that I made the decision without bugging her about it. “By the way,” I say, lowering my voice. “I’ve decided to do it.”

“Do what?” Rayne asks, feigning complete innocence. As if she doesn’t know exactly what I’m talking about. She just likes to see me squirm.

“It,” I say, my face reddening. “You know, with Magnus.”

“Ahhh,” she says, realizing what I mean. “My little twin is going to lose her innocence once and for all.”

I punch her in the shoulder. “Don’t put it like that!”

“I’m sorry,” she says mockingly. “My sister is going to bonk her boyfriend for the first time.”

“Rayne! I’m telling you a huge thing! And you—”

She laughs. “I’m just teasing, Sun. I think it’s great. You and Magnus are a wonderful couple. He’s completely loyal and devoted to you and he loves you with all his heart. It’s obvious just by watching you two together. And if you think you’re ready and have really given it a lot of thought, then I say go for it.”

I beam. “I mean, I know we’re not blood mates like you and Jareth. We’re not linked by blood to stay together forever with no one able to tear us apart. But we’re really close. I love him so much, Rayne. I don’t even know how to explain it.”

Luckily I don’t have to because Rayne’s BF, the drool-worthy vampire Jareth, chooses that moment to approach from across the field. He’s wearing a navy blue, tailored Armani suit and dark sunglasses, even though clearly there’s no sun in the sky. He’s all Jude Law meets David Beckham, sans tattoos. Guess this means Rayne finally wore him down on the whole beach bum/ surfer ensemble he donned all summer and has convinced him to embrace his inner metrosexual. Normally I’d be against such a blatant abuse of girlfriend power, but I have to admit, he does look good.

“Hello, my darling,” Jareth says in his deep English-accented voice. He wraps his arms around Rayne and pulls her close, planting a way-too-PDA-for-thefootball-field kiss on her mouth. A total “ew” moment, but I’ll let it slide this time, namely because I’m just so relieved they’re not bickering like an old married couple for two seconds. Poor Jareth. I’d stab a wooden stake through my own heart before I’d have agreed to be blood mates with my crazy, controlfreak sister. I don’t know how he puts up with her. He must have the patience of a saint, if not the soul.

“Hey now, don’t start the party without me!”

I whirl around, my eyes lighting up as I see Magnus approaching. He made it!

My heart starts palpitating too fast in my chest and my palms become sweaty.
Not long now
, a voice reminds me.
This is it.

“Did you rent the room?” I whisper as he wraps his arms around me. Magnus nods. “It’s all set, my love.”

He leans down and kisses me. Now that the tables are turned, I so don’t mind the PDA. His cool lips feel so good, brushing softly against mine. I cuddle a little closer, so very happy that I will be able to kiss this vampire for the rest of my life. Everything is going to be fine. This night will be beautiful and perfect. And nothing can stop us from—

“Magnus?”

We break from our kiss and turn around in the direction of the voice calling my boyfriend’s name. Crossing the field is a tall, porcelain doll-faced girl with huge, green, almost catlike eyes and a red bow mouth. She has long red hair falling down to her waist and she’s wearing a slinky little black dress with platform heels.

Who the hell is she?

I glance back at Magnus and realize his normally pale face has gone stark white. Does he know this girl? And why is her sudden presence upsetting him so much?

“There you are, Magnus,” the girl purrs. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. I’m so glad I finally caught up with you, my love.”

Her love? Her LOVE? What the hell is going on here? I look at Magnus, then the girl, then back at Magnus again. “Um, why did she just call you her love?” I demand. And here I thought my heart was beating fast before. Now it’s the tempo of a hardcore techno song.