Birth of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm) (11 page)

He squinted at me, cringing a little with his shoulders still hunched. “That’s pretty close.”

“You are an asshole!” I yelled. “You are a lying, piece of shit asshole!”

“Calm down,” he said, lowering his voice. “I told you it’s not that big of a deal.”

“It’s a huge deal,” I insisted. “You’re a lying piece of shit.”

“Get over it,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I’m going back to the party.”

I stepped in front of him to block his path. I wasn’t going to let him get away with using me and then trying to throw me away like a soiled wad of tissue. “No, you’re not.”

That’s when he shoved me. And not just a small shove so he could get past. He shoved me so hard I fell backward, flat on my ass, the palms of my hands scraping against the cement.

Chapter 15

Tommy

What was up with chicks? They were always getting so wound up about everything. I couldn’t believe Haley was getting in my face about us dating. I mean, yeah, I might have said some things last night that might have made her think we were dating or something, but I couldn’t believe she took me seriously.

I mean, I was horny. I’ll tell just about any chick I’m in love with her when I’m horny. Haley should have known that. And why are chicks all worked up about love anyway? I just wanted to get laid.

Haley was okay and everything, but it wasn’t like I was going to choose her over Sheila. I mean, come on. Sheila was super hot and popular, and I’d wanted to get with her since the sixth grade. She always acted like she thought she was too good for me or something, but lately she’s been acting all flirty and touching my chest when she talks to me. Stuff like that. So I knew that something might happen there.

But in the meantime, I didn’t see any reason not to try to get some off of Haley. I mean, she’s not a total dog or anything. And who knows, I might have wanted to date her if the whole Sheila thing hadn’t come up. But I couldn’t believe Haley got all confrontational. I mean, like get out of my face. She shouldn’t have put out if sex was that big of a deal to her. I mean, it wasn’t my fault if I had needs.

Chapter 16

Dorian

I wasn’t sure that anyone had ever compared me to a chupacabra before. I’d been called a lot of things over the years. Satan got thrown around quite frequently—as both an insult and a compliment. I’d even been called Prince Charming once or twice. But definitely not a chupacabra. I had to admit, I was intrigued. The Eurasian beauty was proving to have a bit of spark.

Her friend—whom I had not previously taken note of—
 encouraged her to come closer. I had thought I was being discrete, but the girl had obviously noticed me glancing in their direction. She wasn’t so bad herself. Not a beauty like Erika—as I discovered her name in fact to be—but attractive enough in her own right. She didn’t appear to be artificially sweetened like a lot of the young ladies at the party. And she was bright. Much brighter than I expected. It’s not many young people who think about immortality beyond that they could party for eternity while neatly avoiding the great unknown that is death.

But there was some kind of little human drama going on between this girl whose name was Haley and one of the boys. She was upset with him for some reason, and he was acting cavalier. I had observed enough interactions between males and females to know that he had somehow promised her something—probably to do with intimacy—and was now attempting to squirm out of his commitment. When Haley dragged the young man off to a corner of the party to have a private conversation, all the other guests started whispering and shooting each other significant looks. I heard one of the dancing girls say the word “slut” and flash a malicious smile. That made the crowd start whispering even more. I’ve always found it a shortcoming of the human race that boys are admired for being with a lot of girls, but girls are labeled as harlots for being with even one boy. It was more understandable back when I was a human, but there was not very effective birth control at the time. It disgusted me that a private conversation between an intelligent girl and a mildly brutish boy would cause such a fervor of gossip and speculation.

I would like to say that the undead were above such torrid behavior, but it would be untrue. Gossip was still a food on which vampires dined. And I think on some level it could be much worse. Our numbers weren’t large enough that simply moving to a new community would erase a person’s past indiscretions.

Soon enough, the girls started chattering again in an attempt to draw my attention, but I was distracted, barely able to pretend I was interested in the words tumbling out of their mouths. I heard some distant expletives and then a faint whiff of blood. The brutish boy had somehow physically hurt Haley. I could read it on his face as he came around the corner of the house.

And where was she? The scent of blood wasn’t very strong, so I knew he had only done her a small amount of harm. But who was he that he thought such behavior was appropriate? That was no way to treat a young lady.

One of the young women started dancing around in front of me again, and I really wished she would stop. I was beginning to feel embarrassed for her. There was something to be said for decorum. I thought that maybe if I took a seat a little away from the females then things would settle down. With one ear still cocked for an indication of what had happened to Haley, I found an empty chair.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I heard someone hiss in my ear. Looking up, I was quite surprised to find it was Jessie’s mortal friend.

“What?” I asked. I had been rather transfixed on the return of the brute and the disappearance of Haley, so I had no idea why she was confronting me.

“You’re using your influence on Sheila,” she said, nodding in the direction of the dancing girl. She had not bothered to check her tone, even though she knew perfectly well I was a creature of the night.

I had to chuckle. Aurora was quite spirited, and I admired that. “I am doing no such thing,” I informed her. “Manipulating the simpleminded holds no challenge for me.” I waved a dismissive hand in the dancing girl’s direction. “She’s doing this of her own accord.”

“Look out,” a young man called as he came thundering through the cluster of girls. He was attempting to catch a soda can that somebody had lobbed into the crowd. The can bounced out of his hands and slammed down on the patio, spraying soda all over Aurora and myself.

“You idiot!” I snarled at him.

The buffoon looked at the two of us, dripping with soda, and did very little to conceal his amusement. “Sorry, dude,” he said, before turning to lope off.

But I wasn’t about to tolerate that sort of behavior. I quickly grabbed him by the arm and yanked him back to stand in front of us. “Sorry, dude?” I said, feeling the heat of anger rising in my chest. “That’s what passes for good manners these days? You splash this young lady and myself with soda, and the only thing you think to do is say ‘Sorry, dude.’ Do I understand you correctly?”

“Yeah,” the kid said. “You understand me, Lord Fauntleroy. It’s just a party foul. What do you expect me to do?”

I knew the young buck had no idea that I could snap his spine with very little exertion on my part, but that was still no excuse for his behavior. He obviously needed a few lessons in etiquette. “I expect you to apologize sincerely and then ask the young lady if you can get her a towel or something to assist her,” I said with a snarl.

“I’m fine,” Aurora insisted, but I knew that wasn’t the truth. She was dripping from head to toe, and it was a cold night. She could have easily caught a chill. “I brought a change of clothes with me anyway,” she hastily added as if she feared I was going to rip out the young man’s throat.

The boy struggled, but I wouldn’t release his arm. I glared into his eyes, letting the heat of my feelings be seen in my own. “I’m sorry,” the boy finally said after a few moments. “I was being inconsiderate.”

I released him. “Thank you,” I said. “I accept your apology.”

The young man walked away rather quickly, even though I was sure his ego was smarting.

“I think we need to get going,” Jessie said, appearing at my elbow. “My mother is expecting us.”

“I think I’ll stay here awhile longer, if you don’t mind,” I told the two of them as I watched the departing young man for a few seconds longer. I felt my cousin was on the verge of protesting, so I quickly assured him, “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on your little friends.”

Chapter 17

Haley

I spent some time crying in the bathroom. I felt like such a fool. I had listened to Tommy’s words and not paid attention to his actions. That was like Dating Dudes 101. He’d used me, and I was so desperate for any affection from anyone that I’d let him do it. I was so angry I wanted to punch him repeatedly in the face. But mostly, I was ashamed. Not for what I did, but because I let him use me. I should have known better. I should have never trusted him.

The cement from Blossom’s patio had left little cuts in the palms of my hands. Plus, my butt was killing me from where it had smacked the pavement. I couldn’t believe Tommy had shoved me. A guy saying that he loved a girl in order to get into her pants? Yes, I could believe that. But actually shoving her to the ground to get away from her after she confronted him? That was cowardly by any standards.

I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I was going to make Tommy Sherman regret treating me like a piece of trash. I had to think of a way to humiliate him. Or screw up his knee so he couldn’t play football anymore. There had to be something. I felt so ineffectual and outraged that I wanted to run him over with my car. I knew I couldn’t—I wasn’t a psychopath or anything—but I was so filled with rage that it felt like a possibility.