Helpless (Blue Fire Saga) (23 page)

35. afterthought

L
eesa stood with her back to her mirror, her head twisted around so she could check out her outfit from the back. The tapered tail of her new black silk shirt was long enough to easily cover her butt, yet the V-cut on the sides revealed plenty of her long legs. The black leather boots and the tight dark red leggings really did make her legs look hot. The diamond pattern on the leggings looked good, too, though Cali was right—hearts really would have been perfect for tonight. Considering that the outfit had cost her less than fifteen dollars—not counting the boots, which she already owned—she certainly couldn’t complain.

She turned around and faced the mirror. Her long blond hair curled loosely over her shoulders and she wore just enough blue eye shadow to make her crystal blue eyes really stand out. A bit of mascara lengthened and darkened her lashes.

Leesa was amazed at how far she had come since September. She had arrived at Weston a shy, somewhat timid girl who wore drab clothes and no makeup, and who had never been very confident in her looks. Thanks to Cali’s help with the girlie stuff, and Rave’s loving attentions—not to mention all the things she’d been through with vampires and such—she had blossomed into a much more confident young woman, one who could look in the mirror and honestly tell herself she looked pretty darn hot. Now if she could just break that habit of twirling her fingers in her hair….

She smiled at her reflection. Suddenly, her contented smile widened into one of pure joy. One moment there was nothing behind her in the mirror, and then out of nowhere Rave was standing behind her, smiling. He was wearing black jeans and a black leather jacket. Under the jacket, he wore a dark red pullover shirt with a one button braided collar. The jacket was just for show, Leesa knew, so people would not ask questions about his ability to withstand the cold, but he looked amazing in it.

“Hot outfit,” Rave said from behind her, moving his eyes slowly down her body. “Looks great.”

Leesa spun around and fell into his arms.

“Hi, handsome,” she said, kissing his cheek.

“If you get any more beautiful,” Rave said, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stand it.”

Leesa blushed, but she loved it when he said things like that. She stepped back out of his arms and did a slow pirouette for him, flipping the back of her shirt up flirtatiously to reveal her butt, something she could never have imagined doing a few months ago. She finished her show with a slight curtsy.

Rave laughed.

“Stop it, please,” he begged. He fluttered his fingers against his chest. “I’m not sure my poor heart can take much more.”

Leesa laughed. “Oh, I’m sure a big strong guy like you can handle it.” She moved forward and gave him another hug.

“You two need to get a room,” Cali said from the doorway. “Oh, wait…this is your room. My bad.”

Leesa let go of Rave and turned to face Cali, who was posed provocatively in the doorway with her legs spread wide apart and one hand reaching up against the door frame.

Leesa’s eyes almost popped out of her head. Cali’s body was encased from neck to ankles in a tight, crimson colored body suit crafted of shiny leather. At least a dozen wide red metal zippers slashed at crazy angles across her arms, legs and torso. A vertical zipper in the center of her chest was unzipped halfway down to her navel, exposing her slim sexy neckline and the edges of a bright red bra. On her feet she wore the short red boots she had purchased with Leesa yesterday. The outfit was totally outrageous, even for Cali, but Leesa had to admit it highlighted every one of Cali’s sexy curves.

“You like?” Cali asked as she slithered into the room with a little extra sway to her hips.

Leesa smiled and shook her head in disbelief. “You look like Catwoman. All you need is the headpiece and eye mask.”

“It came with the head mask, but I cut it off,” Cali said. “I thought that might be just a bit too much.”

“You think?” Leesa shook her head again. “Are you really wearing that? I thought Valentine’s Day was about romance, not sex.”

“Is there a difference?” Cali asked, grinning. “But you bet I’m wearing it. I’ve been waiting for months for the chance to wear this baby. I got it on sale from a costume shop right after Halloween. I figured the color would make it perfect for Valentine’s Day. And it’s even more perfect for a party with the Borderlines.”

Cali was probably right about that, Leesa thought. The Borderlines was the nickname given to the guys in Andy’s fraternity, which was technically Beta Psi Delta—BPD. BPD also stood for Borderline Personality Disorder, and the frat members tried to live up to their wild nickname, especially at their parties.

“What do you think, Rave?” Cali asked.

Rave hesitated for a moment. “I think it suits you,” he said diplomatically.

“Ha, ha…such a gentleman. I think it suits me, too.”

“Aren’t you going to bake in that thing once we get inside?” Leesa asked. “It’s going to be awful warm in there with all those people.”

“Nope. Not at all.” Cali pulled down one of the zippers on her upper arm, exposing her bare skin underneath. “These things aren’t just for show—they all work.” She unzipped another one high on her thigh. “See, instant ventilation.”

And instant sex appeal, too, Leesa thought, but she didn’t voice her observation. Leave it to Cali to find an outfit that could be ripped or unripped depending on her whims, or on the temperature.

Cali opened one of the zippers that ran diagonally across her right hip. “The hotter it gets tonight, the more skin I get to show.” She grinned and ran a fingertip slowly up the exposed skin of her hip.

“Hey, save that stuff for the party,” Leesa said, trying but failing to restrain her smile.

Cali laughed. “Are you two ready to go?”

“Yeah. Let me just grab my jacket.” Leesa pulled her parka from the closet and draped it over her arm.

“By the way,” Cali said. “You look really good, Leesa.”

“Ha! I love being an afterthought.”

Leesa smiled. She really didn’t mind at all that Cali would be attracting all the attention. She had Rave, and that was all she needed. She linked her arm in his.

“Let’s go,” she said.

36. memories

T
he evening air was crisp but not uncomfortable. Leesa, Cali and Rave walked three abreast down the sidewalk with Rave in the middle, heading for Fraternity Row. Streetlights fashioned to look like hundred-year-old gas lamps poured golden light onto the sidewalk and onto the tiny piles of snow along the edge of the street that were all that remained of the big snowstorm. 

Leesa and Rave held hands while they walked, and since Cali knew about Rave’s volkaane nature, he let out enough of his heat to keep her warm as well.

“This is so cool,” Cali said. “It’s like walking with one of those portable quartz heaters beside me.”

“Only this heater is touchable,” Leesa said, rubbing up against Rave’s side.

They heard the festivities before they even turned the corner onto Fraternity Row. Thumping dance music seemed almost to vibrate the sidewalk, and the tumult of voices and laughter was nearly as loud. No one would have any trouble finding the Borderline’s party tonight, that was for sure, Leesa thought.

The BPD house was white with green trim, located near the center of the string of huge wooden houses that made up Fraternity Row. Three big green Greek letters—beta, psi and delta—were attached above the raised front entrance. Light spilled from all but one of the dozen or so front windows. A bed sheet painted with a giant red heart flapped beneath one of the upper windows. A small crowd of kids milled about on the front lawn and sidewalk, but the bulk of the noise emanated from inside the old house.

Cali led them around to the side of the house. Andy’s frat brothers all knew her, so there was no need to join the long line of kids waiting to get in through the front door. The line at the side door was much shorter, all special guests of the fraternity. They still needed to show ID if they wanted one of the hand stamps marking them as old enough to drink, but the stamp was really just a formality. The BPD’s would usually serve you drinks whether you were stamped or not, but the stamps helped to keep the university authorities happy.

As they waited in line, Leesa’s heart grew warm as she remembered the last time she’d been to a party here. This was the place where Rave had spoken to her for the first time, warning her to stay away from Stefan, because he was a vampire. She hadn’t known whether to believe Rave or not, but she was thrilled just to be talking to him. How long ago that seemed!

The two guys flanking the doorway at the top of the stairs were clearly upperclassmen, good-looking in a preppie sort of way, confident in their manner and enjoying their position of authority. The BPD’s usually wore casual tan sport coats open over black T-shirts adorned with designs of their choosing, but tonight they were dressed in red blazers they must have special ordered for the party. Instead of individual designs, both black T-shirts sported big red hearts on the front. The guys grinned when they recognized Cali.

“Hot outfit, Cali,” one of the doormen said.

“Sizzling,” confirmed his buddy.

“Thanks.” Cali nodded at Leesa and Rave. “These guys are with me.”

“Have fun,” the first door guy said, waving them past.

Inside, the huge main room was jammed with people, many of them dancing in the middle, throwing their arms in the air and gyrating wildly to the music. Pink’s powerful voice was belting “Please Don’t Leave Me” from four large speakers mounted to the top of the wall in each corner of the room. Leesa thought that was just like the Borderlines—to find love songs for the holiday that were twisted in one way or another. When Pink’s song faded into Nelly Furtado’s “Promiscuous,” Leesa knew exactly what kind of party they were in for.

Despite the open door and windows, the air was hot from the crush of so many bodies. Cali grabbed Leesa by the arm, pulling her down so she could talk into her ear.

“I’m gonna go find Andy,” she said, almost shouting to be heard above the music. She nodded toward a doorway on the opposite side of the room. “Let’s meet up back there. It won’t be quite so loud and crazy.”

“Okay,” Leesa mouthed, nodding to show her agreement in case Cali couldn’t hear her.

Leesa watched Cali thread her way through the crowd toward a stairway leading up to the second floor. Lots of guys twisted their necks around to follow her with hungry eyes as she squeezed by, and Leesa was pretty sure Cali happily noticed every one of them. Cali gave no overt reaction to the attention, though.

Leesa took Rave’s arm and led him along the edge of the room where the jumble of bodies was less thick. Finally, they made it to the back room, a dining area where the table had been pushed against the wall to make more space. It was slightly less crowded here and the music was not quite so loud.

“Are we having fun yet?” Rave asked her, smiling.

Leesa squeezed his arm tighter and gave him a long kiss on the cheek.

“Mmmm…I am now,” she said, smiling back. She pulled him toward the back door, which was propped open. Deliciously cold air floated in through the doorway. Along with the cold air, warm memories washed over her as she looked down toward the bottom of the stairs.

“Do you remember the last time you were here?” she asked.

Rave got a puzzled look on his face. “Have I been here before?” he asked.

Leesa could not believe he didn’t remember, but then saw the twinkle in his eyes. She punched him lightly on the arm.

“You’re so mean,” she said, but she couldn’t help smiling.

“Of course I remember. I was sitting back there in the trees, watching you.” He nodded toward some trees far back across the huge yard, beyond the reach of any lights from the house.

“Stalking me, you mean,” Leesa teased.

Rave grinned. “Okay, stalking you. You looked beautiful, standing at the bottom of the stairs with the moonlight glinting off your hair. Then I saw you start talking to Stefan, so I had to get him to leave so I could come warn you.”

“
You
got him to leave?” Leesa asked. “You never told me that.”

“I let out a tiny trace of my fire, just enough to let Stefan know there was a volkaane nearby. I knew he wouldn’t want to risk any kind of confrontation with so many people around, so I was hoping it would be enough to get him to leave.”

“He did leave pretty abruptly,” Leesa recalled. “I never understood why. Then you showed up and told me Stefan was a vampire. I thought you were crazy.” She smiled. “Boy, have I learned a lot since then.”

Cali’s voice interrupted them. “There you guys are.”

Leesa and Rave turned around. Cali was standing there with Andy, holding his hand. Andy was wearing the standard BPD red blazer and black heart T-shirt. His thick black hair was mussed, and Leesa guessed Cali had already gotten her hands into it.

“Hi, Leesa,” Andy said. He extended his hand to Rave. “Hey, Rave, good to see you again.”

Rave shook Andy’s hand. “You, too.”

“The party too hot for you guys already?” Cali asked, grinning. “Thinking of escaping?”

Leesa noticed that four of Cali’s zippers were already open.

“It is kind of warm in there,” Leesa said. “But no, we weren’t thinking of escaping. Rave and I were reminiscing.” She looked down toward the bottom of the stairs. “That’s the first place he ever spoke to me.”

“Really?” Cali said. “I didn’t know that.”

Leesa smiled. What was she supposed to have told Cali back then? That she had been talking to a vampire, and then the gorgeous guy from her Vampire Science class had come by to warn her? She had simply told Cali she had talked to a couple cute guys outside.

“You were so into Andy—and those Jager Bomb things—that you never asked me for any details.”

Cali grinned. “Speaking of drinks, me and Andy are going to get some. You two want anything?”

“Just a bottle of water,” Leesa said. “Unopened,” she added, smiling. At the first party, Cali had warned Leesa about having to watch out for frat guys trying to drug her drinks.

“Ha, ha,” Cali laughed. “I’m glad to see you remember your lessons.” She looked at Rave for a moment then turned back to Leesa. “I don’t think you need to worry about any guys messing with you tonight, though. Not with Rave here. Rave, you want anything?”

“Water would be great,” Rave said.

“Okay, two waters coming up for the wild and crazy partiers,” Cali said. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“Don’t worry,” Leesa said. “We won’t.”

Cali and Andy headed toward the room which had been set up as a bar area. Leesa and Rave remained where they were, standing with their arms around each other’s back. Pearl Jam’s “Last Kiss” started playing from the other room. Leesa smiled wryly when she recognized the song, remembering how close she had come to a “last kiss” when Rave had lost control of his fire. Somebody should write a song about
that
, she thought. She snuggled a little more tightly against Rave. Maybe she’d shoot Eddie Vedder a tweet.

Some of the kids here in the back room had begun to dance and Leesa watched jealously. With her bad leg, dancing was something she had never been able to enjoy. Luckily, Rave wasn’t into dancing, either. They’d only danced once, a wonderful slow dance to Coldplay’s “Yellow” back at the big Halloween party. Slow dancing with Rave was almost as amazing as kissing him—and a lot safer. She wondered whether the BPD’s would be playing any slow songs tonight. Probably much later, she guessed, when the frat boys were trying to put the final romantic touches on whoever they had chosen for the night. For now, they wanted all the girls dancing and partying wildly.

Cali and Andy returned a few minutes later. Each of them was carrying a large red plastic cup. By the smile on Cali’s face, Leesa knew the drink was probably a strong one—Andy’s connections here would see to that.

“I hope that’s not a Jager Bomb,” Leesa said.

Cali shook her head. “Nope. Just a rum and coke. And I do mean
rum
and coke—not coke and rum.” She grinned and linked her free arm with Andy’s. “Thanks to my personal bartender here.”

Andy kissed Cali on the lips. “I love a girl who likes her drinks strong,” he said to Leesa and Rave. “It makes kissing them extra tasty.”

“Oh, yeah?” Cali said. She lifted her cup to her mouth and held it there for at least ten seconds, soaking her lips with her drink. “Try it now, frat boy.”

Andy obliged her with a much longer kiss. Leesa turned her head away, not wanting to watch. She couldn’t wait for the day she and Rave could kiss like that.

“Oh, I almost forgot,” Cali said after she and Andy broke their kiss. “We’ve got a surprise for you two. It may take a couple of minutes, though.”

Leesa wondered what kind of surprise Cali could have cooked up in the short time they had been separated. She just hoped it wasn’t anything embarrassing. Cali’s idea of fun was not always the same as other people’s—especially Leesa.

The surprise came two songs later. Leesa recognized “Yellow” from the first few chords. By the smile on his face, Leesa knew Rave recognized it as well.

“I know this is kind of your song,” Cali said. “At least as far as dancing is concerned.” She winked at Leesa. “So get to it.”

Rave turned to Leesa and opened up his arms. She slipped easily into his embrace, resting her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his waist. He leaned his head against hers and they began swaying slowly to the music.

Rave’s volkaane heat flowed into her, flooding her body with delicious, almost indescribable warmth, as if someone had opened her veins and replaced her blood with sweet, warm syrup. She would not have been surprised one bit if her skin was glowing from the magical heat inside her, but she knew it wasn’t. Nobody watching would have the least idea how absolutely amazing this felt.