Bloodlust (11 page)

Adam’s body jerked in surprise. “Didn’t hear you come in,” he muttered.

“Got here as fast as I could,” Jason replied. “What you got for me?”

“It could be dangerous for you to see,” Adam said, his voice so low, Jason almost couldn’t make out the words.

“I don’t give a crap. Show me,” Jason told him. He was a lot more worried about Adam than about anything he might see on the film. His friend was acting pretty crazy.

Adam brought his hands to the keyboard, then hesitated. “You know how I’ve been making this movie….”

“Yeah?”

“Well, for a while—since before you got here—it mostly hasn’t been a movie. It’s been…well, research, I guess you’d call it,” Adam went on. “Because while making the movie, I started noticing things….” He stared at the monitor. An image of Carrie and Scott Challon was frozen on the screen, Carrie and Scott on the bed in one of the
Moulin Rouge
’s cabins. “Things somebody like me shouldn’t see,” Adam finally added.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Somebody like you?” Jason asked. He wanted to cover the image of Carrie and Scott with his hands. Adam was in even worse shape than Jason had thought. He didn’t need to be looking at that right now.

“There are two groups at DeVere. Everyone knows it,” Adam said. “I don’t know why it took me so long to see exactly what they were…I suspected, made lists, took notes, and kept filming. But I didn’t say anything. I should have told Carrie, warned her.”

“Look, maybe it would be better if you just showed me what you want to show me,” Jason suggested gently. Once he had facts, maybe he could figure out how to help Adam. Right now, he had no idea what was going on in his friend’s head.

“Okay.” Adam’s fingers flew over the keyboard, and a new image appeared on the screen: Brad and Lauren stretched out on one of the lounge chairs on the fore-deck of the yacht. Both dripping with water, clearly just out of the hot tub.

“I saw the coming attractions for this. Didn’t make me want to see the movie,” Jason said uneasily. The joke was limp, and he knew it, but he had to say something to hide the wave of humiliation that crashed over him as he remembered what a fool he’d been scolding Brad like some wrinkled-up prude while Sienna was—

Focus!
Jason ordered himself.
This isn’t about you.
“What am I supposed to be seeing?” he asked Adam. Because it couldn’t be Brad hovering over the base of Lauren’s throat, which is all Jason saw on the monitor. The action crept forward, frame by frame, on super slo-mo.

“Wait,” Adam said. “It’s coming up. Right…here.” On the screen, Brad raised his head. “Look at his mouth and her neck,” Adam instructed, hitting a button on the keyboard to freeze the scene.

Jason leaned closer to the monitor. Something dripped from Brad’s mouth—something red—and Lauren’s throat was smeared with crimson. “Is that blood?” he asked.

“You see a ketchup bottle anywhere?” Adam replied. He grabbed the police photo of Carrie’s arm from a folder on the table and shoved it into Jason’s hand. “You tell me. Don’t you think those marks could have been made by teeth instead of a needle?”

Jason suddenly wished he hadn’t had that smoothie at lunch. It was trying to come back up. He swallowed hard. “You…you think Brad
bit
—”

Adam didn’t let him finish. “There was blood on his mouth and on Lauren’s neck. You saw it.”

“Yeah, but…” Jason found all this a bit too bizarre. “Why would Brad want to bite someone? That’s crazy.”

Adam hit a few keys, and the scene replayed itself: Brad at Lauren’s throat; Brad glancing up with blood on his lips. “Look at it,” Adam insisted. “Just
look.
” He replayed the scene again.

Jason stared at the monitor, leaning in close to make sure he was getting a good look at Brad and Lauren. There was definitely blood—on
her
neck and
his
mouth. “One more time,” Jason muttered.

Adam replayed it, pausing the image when Brad faced the camera, Lauren’s blood on his mouth. Jason’s stomach clenched. Adam was right: Brad had definitely bitten her.

Jason pushed his chair back, wanting some distance between himself and the image on screen. He felt a wave of revulsion toward Brad. “You’ve got to show this to your dad,” he said quickly. “Brad’s some kind of twisted freak. You think he killed Carrie after he bit her? Maybe she freaked and he knocked her out and—”

“No. You’re not getting it,” Adam interrupted. He ran his hands through his already messy hair, leaving it standing straight up. “I didn’t get it, either, at first. It’s too weird. It’s hard to take in.”

“Just tell me,” Jason demanded impatiently. He was getting freaked out. He could tell something messed up was going on here, but he couldn’t find the connection Adam wanted him to make. “What’s the deal?”

Adam took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the picture of Carrie. “That other group at school I was talking about—the rock stars of DeVere Heights? Brad is one of them. And so is whoever—whatever—killed Carrie.” He shifted his gaze to look Jason straight in the eye. “They’re vampires.”

J
ason laughed. He didn’t mean to, but he couldn’t stop himself. The horror of finding Carrie’s body, the anger of having to describe it over and over to morbidly curious people all day, and now Adam going totally off the deep end. It was all too much. He felt a little hysterical.

“Vampires?” He couldn’t even say the word without laughing harder.

“Go ahead. Get it out of your system,” Adam muttered.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.” Jason managed to get himself under control. “I agree that Brad is…There’s something wrong with the guy, definitely. And maybe he did even have something to do with Carrie’s death. But he can’t be a…vampire. I mean, come on. You’ve seen too many movies, man. There are no vampires in real life.”

“I spent months telling myself the same thing,” Adam answered. “If I’d just accepted the truth a little earlier, Carrie might still be alive.” He shut off the monitor. “So what’s it going to take to open your mind?” He stabbed his finger at the police photo of Carrie’s arm. “How about two little puncture marks like these, on Lauren’s neck? Because she has them. I guarantee it.”

“I admit that would be pretty damning evidence,” Jason agreed slowly, mostly to humor his friend, who was clearly losing it. “Um, in fact, we should confirm it. If Lauren does have the marks, that will show a connection between Brad and Carrie. Essential info. Not about vampires, but still essential. Any thoughts on where to find Lauren?”

“Yeah. She has—and this isn’t all that uncommon among DeVere High students who live
outside
the gates—a job,” Adam answered. “I’ll show you the way. You can follow me.”

“If I can keep up with your superfly Vespa,” Jason said, glad to hear Adam sounding more Adam-like. It was the first time all day that he’d made a rich kid–poor kid joke.

Less than ten minutes later, Jason found himself in front of Under G’s, a lingerie store.

“We’re going in there?” he asked.

“Just remember they only carry European labels,” Adam advised.

“I don’t really need a new bra anyway,” Jason said as he opened the door and stepped inside, to be greeted with an astounding array of bras and panties and other items he didn’t want.

“Can I help you?” asked a frighteningly thin woman with slicked-back hair. She looked the boys up and down and wrinkled her tiny nose as if she smelled something bad.

“Is Lauren around?” Jason asked.

The woman frowned. “She’s not allowed visitors at work.”

Adam slapped Jason on the shoulder. “This is her cousin from Michigan,” he said firmly. The thin woman looked dubious, but before she could say anything, Lauren bustled over.

“Cousin Jason,” she said, putting on a big fake smile for her boss. “I thought we were going to meet up after I got off work.”

“Change of plan,” Jason said. His eyes immediately went to Lauren’s throat, but a necklace with large painted beads blocked his view.

The boss woman gave the three of them a warning look and moved away.

“You guys are going to get me in trouble,” Lauren whispered. “What are you even doing here?”

Jason said the first thing that sprang into his mind. “I just wanted to apologize for being such a idiot at Belle’s party this weekend.”

“Oh, okay.” Lauren frowned. “Honestly, I don’t even remember talking to you that night.”

“You didn’t. I meant that scene while you were in the hot tub with Brad,” Jason explained.

Lauren smiled. “That explains it. You don’t really expect me to remember anything that happened while I was in the hot tub with him, do you?”

“You don’t remember when Jason—,” Adam began.

“She said she doesn’t remember,” Jason interrupted. He really didn’t want to hear a replay of his bad behavior, especially since Lauren didn’t even recall it. Maybe she’d had too much to drink. Jason knew
he
had. He’d had to practically squeeze his memories of the party out of his brain. Even Dani had been fuzzy, and she was still sticking to the not-drinking story.

“So I accept your apology. And don’t do it again, whatever it was. Now please get out of here,” Lauren said in a rush.

Jason shot a look at Adam. How were they going to—

Adam took action before Jason could finish the thought. “We’re gone. But you gotta tell me where you got that necklace. My mom’s birthday is coming up, and she loves stuff with beads.”

Lauren didn’t have a chance to answer. Adam slid one finger under the necklace and, a half a second later, beads were bouncing all over the floor. Lauren dropped to the ground and frantically began trying to gather them up. Jason knelt down next to her as if to help, but he ignored the beads. His attention was firmly focused on Lauren’s neck….

And there, without a doubt, were two tiny red marks. Marks identical to the ones on Carrie Smith’s arm.

Jason scrambled backward and felt something crack under his foot: a bead. “Sor—”

“I don’t need any more help. Or apologies. Just leave,” Lauren hissed. Jason and Adam bolted out of the door and practically ran over to their vehicles.

“See. You saw them, right? The same marks. The bite,” Adam said.

“I saw the marks,” Jason confirmed. “I’m not sure what made them. But I saw them.” And he knew that meant that there was a connection between Brad and Carrie.

Jason felt like his head might explode. Brad had always seemed like such a decent guy. But it seemed he was sick enough to want to get girls drunk and then bite them—maybe
kill
them! Jason couldn’t believe he’d been trying to stay away from Sienna out of loyalty to Brad. Hell, he should be warning her….

I have to warn her!
Jason thought with a jolt. If Brad was dangerous, then Sienna was probably in danger. And, for all he knew, Sienna was with Brad right this very second. He had to get to her.

“Adam, I think you should take this to your dad,” Jason said urgently.

“I can’t even get
you
to believe me,” Adam burst out in frustration. “And my dad’s a lot less open-minded than you are. If I say the word ‘vampire,’ he’s going to have me climbing a mountain at one of those camps for troubled boys!”

“So don’t use the V word,” Jason said, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. “Just show him the tape. And tell him what we saw on Lauren. Show him the link between her and Carrie and Brad.”

“No way. The second there’s even a hint of legal trouble involving anyone from DeVere Heights, the celebrity lawyers come out, it gets hushed up, and it goes away,” Adam protested. “I need time to get proof that no one can laugh at.”

“Okay. Fair enough. You know this place a lot better than I do,” Jason said. “But, look, I’ve got something I have to do right now. We’ll talk about this some more another time, right?”

“Fine,” Adam said. “Where are you going?”

But Jason didn’t answer. He didn’t have time. He dashed over to the VW and jumped in. The tires squealed as he pulled out of the parking lot. Sienna didn’t live far away—nothing was far away in Malibu—but it felt as if it took hours to get up the hill, through the gates, and round to her house. He drove all the way up the driveway, getting as close to the door as he could.

A woman who was clearly Sienna’s mom—same dark hair and eyes—opened the front door before he could knock.

“Is Sienna here?” Jason demanded.

Mrs. Devereux didn’t answer. She just looked Jason up and down as if deciding whether or not to call security.

Jason did a fast backpedal. “I’m Jason Freeman. My family and I just moved into the Heights. I’m in a couple of classes with Sienna. Is she here, please?”

“Sienna didn’t tell me she was expecting anyone,” Mrs. Devereux said slowly.

Jason forced himself to smile. To try to look a little less like a lunatic. “She isn’t. I just thought I’d stop by. In Michigan, that was okay. I’m still trying to figure out the rules for California.”

Mrs. Devereux finally cracked a smile and stepped back, allowing Jason into the house. “Sienna’s out by the pool. Straight through the house and out the glass doors,” she instructed.

“Thanks.” Jason kept himself to a walk as he made his way through the house and out of the French doors. The day was hot, and there was no breeze to cool things down. The water in the pool stood perfectly still, reflecting the cloudless sky and the unforgiving sun. Sienna lay on a wooden lounge chair with a plush pillow. Just the sight of her made Jason’s heart leap.

Sienna looked surprised to see him. She pushed herself up onto her elbows. “Jason!”

“Is Brad here?” he asked. The last thing he wanted was for Brad to come walking in on them.

“You came to
my
house to see Brad?” Sienna pulled off her sunglasses and put them on the marble table in front of her. A pitcher of water and a glass sat on the table, bleeding condensation onto the marble.

“No. I came to see you,” Jason said in a rush. “Is he here?”

Sienna shook her head. “What’s going on? You’re hyperventilating. What’s the matter?” she asked, her voice warming up with concern. She pointed to the chair next to hers. “Sit.” Jason sat. “Okay. Now talk.”