Read Fangs for Freaks Online

Authors: Serena Robar

Tags: #Vampires, #Fiction, #Horror, #Best friends, #Horror & Ghost Stories, #Juvenile Fiction, #Social Issues, #School & Education, #Friendship, #Fantasy & Magic, #Horror stories, #Universities and colleges

Fangs for Freaks (5 page)

BOOK: Fangs for Freaks
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“Set it up for tomorrow night. I’ll have them meet you at the concierge service desk at closing. Thank you,
Margaret
.”
I heard the decisive click of being hung up on and then the loud buzzing of the dial tone, trying its best to sound rude as well. I had to admit that Margaret Durham brought out the worst in me. It was childish to treat her like that but I’d spent the summer playing it nice, trying to get her to like me, and in return she kept me waiting for hours when I had an appointment with Mr. Holloway
and
she deliberately messed up the construction time lines so the house took twice as long to complete. She was a bigot to the bone and I decided I wasn’t going to let her yank my chain anymore.
“Mrs. Durham is not a vampire you want as an enemy. She holds a position of power with the Tribunal,” Thomas tried to warn me.
“Dude, she answers their phones. She’s not all that. Anyway, Mr. Holloway isn’t going to let her get away with harming me or this project,” I assured him haughtily.
“Why is that, exactly?” Thomas prodded, not for the first time.
I didn’t like this part. The part in our relationship where I kept secrets from Thomas. I mean, there are secrets, like how much you really weigh, and secrets, like I killed Holloway’s rogue vampire son and now I’d kind of taken his place in the family. No one knew that Charles Winthrop, the rogue vampire who changed me into an Undead, was really the son of Tribunal leader C.W. Holloway. Well, almost no one. I kept his secret and he created the half-blood training and reintroduction into vampire society program.
“Guess he just feels bad for persecuting my people for hundreds of years.” I gave Thomas my best innocent smile and he grunted at me. I don’t think he was buying it but he could hardly accuse me of lying about the intentions of the leader of our vampire society, now could he?
It was at that moment that the front doorbell rang. And rang again. And rang yet again before I could even get the ten feet to the door. Sheesh, hold your horses already.
I opened the door, ready to chew out the overambitious doorbell ringer when the sight that greeted me actually struck me speechless. And I can tell you that rarely, if ever, happens.
On the porch sat a dozen or so suitcases, trunks, hatboxes and totes practically over-flowing with stuff. On the curb was a—could it be? Yes it was—a white limousine with dignitary flags flapping in the night breeze.
I counted at least four men scrambling to remove even more stuff from the car and helping someone onto the sunporch. Thomas stood behind me and I felt him shudder at the amount of luggage our new resident had brought.
“Ileana Margaret Mary Mircea Romanav,” Thomas whispered in my ear.
“Is that your idea of sweet talk?” I asked him, half-joking.
“Uh, no. That’s the name of your new guest. She is part British, part Romanian and it appears she is also part of the royal family.”
“You know, when the Tribunal sent the message out that we would train other clans’ half-bloods I didn’t think Romania would crate up one of their nobility and ship them to us.”
Thomas nodded in agreement. It was very odd indeed. It didn’t look as though Ms. Romanav wanted for any material comforts. Compared to how Lucy and Angie arrived, that had my half-blood senses tingling. Something was not right here.
We didn’t have time for any more discussion as the person in question sashayed up the concrete steps and announced herself.
“I am Ileana Romanav. Who is in charge here?” Her gaze swept past me in immediate dismissal and landed on Thomas. When her face softened into charmed delight it took all my self-control not to go medieval on her noble self.
“I am.” I stepped forward to shake her hand, which she didn’t immediately take because she seemed unable to comprehend that Thomas was not introducing himself and welcoming her inside.
I stood there, with my hand extended for what seemed like eternity. I repeated, loudly, “I am. Welcome to Psi Phi House, Ileana. My name is Colby Blanchard and this is my boyfriend, Thomas.”
She seemed to snap out of her daze at the mention of “boyfriend” and looked at me once again. This time taking a moment to really see me.
Sure, my hair was blonde and straight, stopping just past my shoulders and her hair was a honey gold with spiral curls that seemed to go on forever. I can say that I didn’t feel intimidated by her porcelain pale skin, or her Mediterranean green eyes, which I doubted had anything to do with colored contacts. Nope, I’m sure she was checking me out and wishing she had a few freckles to break up the monotony of a flawless complexion and admiring my glowing yellow eyes. Okay, who am I kidding? She was fab and I felt drab. Gee, I hated her already.
She stared at my hand as though I were offering a snake for inspection.
“I see.” She gave a tight little smile. “This trip has simply exhausted me, could you kindly show me to my suite?”
“Suite?” I asked, pulling my hand back in distracted confusion. Wow, the luggage just kept coming out of the back of the car. It reminded me of the scene in
Mary Poppins
when Julie Andrews kept pulling limitless things from her amazing carpetbag.
“Yes, suite.” She frowned at me and spoke more slowly.
“My apartment for my visit.”
At the word “visit,” Thomas and I exchanged a look.
“You have a room, which you will be sharing with two other sisters. There is no suite.”
“No suite?” It was her time to sound confused.
“I’m afraid not.”
“But what about my things?” She gestured to the growing mound of stuff accumulating around her.
“We can probably store most of it, since you brought it with you. Some of the other girls arrived with slightly less, uh, stuff so we might be able to pack most of it in the back room.” Heck, we didn’t have a housemother so we could use that room for the time being.
“Pack it away?! Oh no, that simply won’t do. I brought only my essentials. I need all of it.”
“I see,” I murmured, beginning to realize that Ms. Romanav was fast becoming a pain in my backside I didn’t really need right now.
“Might I suggest you give Ileana a tour of the house while her men wait with the luggage and then we can make an informed decision on where to put her things?” Thomas politely suggested, the eternal diplomat.
“Agreed.” Ileana clapped her hands in enthusiasm. I stepped back and she immediately moved forward, taking Thomas’s arm and entering Psi Phi House. I was effectively placed in the role of tour guide, again. She spoke little through the tour of the main floor, merely nodding as I showed each room, her face carefully masked to show only polite interest.
The veneer cracked upon entering the upstairs bedrooms, when I reminded her that House rules indicated she wouldn’t be sleeping in the room, merely housing her clothes and things with two other girls.
“This simply won’t do. I brought my housemaid Sophie and she stays with me at all times.”
We looked at each other, both of us waiting for the other to back down, while Thomas uneasily shifted his weight back and forth on his feet. His obvious unease punctured my stubbornness. I realized I was the one in charge. It was up to me, the Protector, to play diplomat and make this situation work. Sometimes being in charge bites.
“Ileana, why don’t you pick out a room? We’ll put your luggage, trunks and such downstairs to store in the housemother’s room. I believe we will have enough space in the beginning that Sophie may have a room as well; you could store your additional clothes and such with her.”
“Very well,” she agreed, noting my tight smile. She probably sensed that was as much as I was going to offer. Smart girl. Obvious pain in the butt, but smart. And she should be satisfied because she now had two rooms to store her things. That might not be a suite, but it was more than everyone else had.
Four
“
T
ell me why you’re a pickup service again?”
I grabbed my lightweight sweater from the coatrack and my purse while Thomas walked to the door.
“You saw how Lucy and Angie arrived? Thomas was checking into it when he discovered there are two half-bloods being held in some house in Paradise Point, California. The person who has them refuses to give them up. Piper, they are probably chained in some dark basement somewhere having God knows what done to them. We’re going to free them and bring them back.”
Piper still didn’t look convinced, or impressed.
“So why can’t Thomas go get them? Why do you have to go? And more importantly, why do I have to stay and babysit Psi Phi House?” She definitely needed more convincing.
“Because we want to get in and get out and to do that, it would be easier to free them during the day. You know, when the vampires are sleeping? Thomas knows the area and has the credentials. Also, he’s Blooded and other vamps listen to him.” I looked toward him dubiously. “Well, that’s his theory anyway.”
“So you guys are grabbing a nocturnal flight, getting your captives and flying home tomorrow evening. You’ll be back in no time?” It was weird to see Piper so jittery.
“Relax. Everything will be fine. The girls will sleep and all you have to do is make sure they get to Nordstrom on time. Mrs. Durham will meet you at the concierge desk and take everyone around. Get yourself something pretty. The Tribunal owes you a new outfit for helping me anyway.” At least,
I
thought they did.
Thomas snapped his cell phone shut and spoke up. “Carl is on his way. He’ll be with you until morning and back again for the shopping trip. I don’t expect much activity during the day. You should be safe.”
“Safe? You think I’m worried about being safe? These girls are whacked. And that snooty English chick is in a category all her own. I’m not worried about my safety. I’m worried about my
sanity
.”
I grabbed both her shoulders and looked deep in her eyes. “I believe in you.”
Then I sort of chucked her on the upper arm with my fist as a form of moral support and escaped Psi Phi House with Thomas. To be honest, I was feeling more than a little bit relieved to get away from my new sorority sisters.
I’d expected things to be different. Well, to be honest, I expected things to be a lot different. I guess I was living in a bit of a fantasy world, assuming they would be grateful I’d brought them to college and under my wing, to learn the ways of the vampire world. They all seemed pretty annoyed to be there. And I couldn’t blame them.
I certainly wasn’t pleased when I was attacked and turned into the walking Undead, so throw in a relocate without any say in the matter and—whammo!—it’s safe to say I had a house of ticked off sisters. And I was leaving them with Piper. I tried not to look back at her when I got into Thomas’s car. She still stood at the doorway, staring in disbelief that I was actually leaving and worse still, leaving her in charge.
I made a mental note to pick her up a souvenir from Paradise Point. Something fun and beachy with shells to help make it up to her. Carl picked us up and we sped along to Sea-Tac International Airport to catch our flight into LAX. We still had a couple hours’ drive ahead of us once we landed. Luckily it was a short flight; we should have plenty of time to get to a vampire safe house so Thomas didn’t fry in the morning sun. Traveling with a full-blooded vampire really made vacationing a little less spontaneous.
Once we made it through security and onto the plane, it was time to get serious.
“So, tell me everything you know about this evil slave-trader vampire.”
“Well, Cookie Flanneg—”
“Cookie?
Cookie?!
The evil slave trader’s name is Cookie?” My voice raised an octave and the lady in front of us looked over the back of the seat disapprovingly.
“As I was saying, Cookie Flannegan”—he gave me a warning look when he saw the expression on my face—“runs a sort of resort for vacationing vampires. She has two half-blood slaves who she is apparently unwilling to release into our custody.”
“What does she do with them?” I asked
“Unclear. She’s had one for awhile now and recently acquired”—I snorted at his choice of words—“another.”
“I thought it was illegal to make half-bloods.”
“For the general vampire population, yes.”
“But Cookie is an exception to the rule?”
“You have to understand that many vampires on the Council and in the Tribunal enjoy the hospitality of Cookie. She is somewhat of a favored full-blood. Certain allowances have been made. A sort of don’t-ask-and-don’t-tell policy.”
“Okay, so say Mr. Holloway makes his way down to sunny California for a little R & R and gets his kicks at Ms. Cookie’s Vampire Emporium. He sees some chained-up half-blood that’s forced to do who knows what sort of evil and degrading things—he just turns a blind eye?” I was incredulous to say the least.
“I think we should reserve judgment until we have all the facts.”
“The facts? We have the facts! Cookie the Creep is enslaving half-blood vampires and the Council doesn’t care! In fact, they’re all ‘Hey Cookie, that’s okay. Thanks for the good time.’ ”
BOOK: Fangs for Freaks
11.77Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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