Shiver (Night Roamers) (18 page)

What was with all the hot vampires?

“What’s going on here?” he asked Caleb, “A party, mate? And I wasn’t even invited?”

I recognized the Australian a
ccent and knew right away; it had to be Drake, the guy Susan had gone out with a while back. Looking at his chiseled muscles and sexy grin, I totally understood how she’d been drawn to him.

Caleb cleared his throat. “Friends of Celeste’s. They were just leaving.”

“Oh, no! Don’t leave on my account,” he smiled, staring at me with interest. “I just blew into town and would love a little fresh company.”

“Did yo
u hear about Susan?” I blurted out.

His eyebrows shot up.
“Susan?” he asked, studying my face.

“
Yeah, the waitress you were talking to in the diner last night?” snapped Nathan. “The one you were flirting with?”

Drake frowned. “I wasn’t in any diner last night, sorry, cobber.”

My brother scowled. “The name is Nathan and yes, I did see you last night talking to Susan. Right before she was murdered.”

Drake’s face darkened.
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I just got into town early this morning.”

“Bullshit,” said Nathan.

Drake stepped forward until he was in Nathan’s face. “You callin’ me a liar,
cobber
?”

“I guess I am,” snapped
my brother, his jaw clenched. “
Fucker
.”

Celeste got between them. “
Okay, that’s enough. Cool your jets.”

“I have to agree,” said Caleb. “There isn’t time for this
, and Nathan,” he smiled, “I wouldn’t start picking any more fights with Roamers. Your mother would kill me if I let anything bad happen to you.”

Duncan stepped forward
and patted Nathan on the back. “Let’s get out of here, come on. They’re not going to give up one of their own. This was a wasted trip.”

Although they were both still sta
ring at each other with obvious rage, Drake and Nathan stepped away from each other.

“
This really was a waste of time,” I huffed. “Obviously, nobody here is going to admit to anything.”

Drake
, who seemed to have already forgotten his beef with Nathan, sidled up to me and smiled. “I’ll admit one thing, Ethan has very good taste.”

“What do you mean?”
I asked, staring at his amused expression.

“When he thought you were in danger, he dropped everything to come back
here to Shore Lake. Christ, you were all the bloke talked about in New York City. It was getting bloody annoying,” he said, touching a strand of my hair. “But now,” he smiled. “I guess I can understand his interest.”

Nathan grabbed my arm
and pulled me away. “Okay, enough. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

“Goodbye, Nathan,” called
Celeste, as he pushed me through the doorway. “Don’t forget about tomorrow night. Call me!”

Nathan glanced back and shook his head as we left the house. “I don’t like the way that asshole was looking at you. With our luck, he’ll be trying to pick up where Ethan left off.”

“Oh, crap,” I said. “I hope not.”

“
I wish these vampires would just leave our family alone,” he mumbled.

“Even Celeste?” I asked
as we reached the car.

He
scowled at me over the roof of his Mustang. “Yeah, even her.”

“Um, s
o, what did she mean about tomorrow night?”

“
I told you we were going to Club Nightshade Friday night. But, I doubt I’ll be going back after all of this bullshit.”

“I don’t blame you,” I said.
“Stay away from her, Nathan.”

“Wait up!” c
alled Duncan from the top of the porch. A fraction of a second later, he was standing next to us by the car wearing his sunglasses.

“Dude,” cried Nathan. “How
in the hell did you do that?”

Duncan shrugged.
“I guess I don’t really know.”

I looked at my watch;
it was getting close to three. “We have to get back to the cabin. I told Rosie I’d be back at the diner at four.”

“Chill out, we’ll make it,”
said Nathan.

“Can you drop me off at the marina?” asked Duncan
as we pulled away from the mansion.

“No problem, bro.”

I sat in the back and stared out the window, thinking about everything that had happened in the last couple of days. Duncan had turned into a vampire, I’d lost my virginity to one, and tomorrow, my mother was going to Vegas and would surely return as one of them. It was a living nightmare.

“What are we going to do about mom?” I asked
, biting my thumbnail.

“I’ve been thinking,” said Nathan. “That she needs to know the truth
, and now that Duncan’s a vampire, he can back us up.”

“I’ll help as much as I can,” he said.

“What if she really has cancer?” I asked.

“If she does, then mom can decide what
she
wants to do. Not give the choice to some creature of the night, no offense, Duncan.”

He smiled and shook his head
. “None taken.”

Nathan
turned on his iPod and cranked up a recent song he’d downloaded by “Train.” I closed my eyes and listened to the lyrics, wishing I could escape the mess we were in. “You know,” I hollered after a while. “I think Caleb really loves her.”

Nathan
turned down the music. “Yeah, well, so do we, and our intentions are good. I’m not so sure about Caleb’s.”

We dropped Duncan off
at the marina first.

“I’ll see you tonight,” he said
, as I got out of the car to hop into the front seat. “I think we should talk, too.”

I sighed
. “Duncan, you know, I really need some time to think about everything. My head is spinning right now.”

He grabbed my hand an
d I noticed his was getting cool again. “I don’t expect anything from you,” he said. “I just have a few things that I’d like to get off my chest.”

I stared at his face, which seemed
much paler than earlier. “Duncan, your skin, it’s getting cold.”

He frowned
and he released my hand. “Yeah, I know.”

I sighed.
The thought of him having to drink blood to stay alive for the rest of his life made me physically ill. Not to mention how he’d actually acquired it the previous night. “What are you going to do?”

He licked his lips
and looked away. “It’s not your problem.”

“Duncan,” I whispered.

He shook his head and stepped back. “I’ll see you later.” Then, before I could say anything more, he was gone in a flash.

“Jesus,” said Nathan as I got in
next to him. “That speed of light shit is really unnerving.”

“
Actually, he’s getting weaker and needs to feed again,” I mumbled.

Nathan swore
under his breath.

“We have to help him,” I said. “There’s got to be some other way.
Duncan is so sweet, I’m sure this whole thing must be driving him insane.”

“I tell you one thing,” said Nathan. “I’m not going near Celeste anymore. The hell if she’s biting me two more times. I don’t care how hot she is.”

“Thank God. I’m so glad you finally believe me.”

“Yeah. I feel like an asshole now, giving you so much shit before.”

“Hey, you said it, not me.”

When we arrived
, home, I quickly changed into my uniform and grabbed the car keys.

“You sure you don’t want a ride
?” asked Nathan. He was in the kitchen eating a big bowl of ice cream.

“No, I’m sure I’
ll be fine,” I said. As I watched him eat, I knew he’d never make it as a vampire. He’d drive a stake through his own heart if he couldn’t eat pizza or cookie dough ice cream anymore.

“I wonder…”
I murmured.

“What?”

“I wonder if piercing a wooden stake through a Roamer’s heart would even kill them. They don’t appear to be afraid of crosses, holy water, or garlic. Celeste told me that those were all bogus assumptions.”

He snort
ed. “Well, they’d definitely go down if you cut off their heads, I’d bet anything on that assumption.”

“You’re talking
zombies,” I said. “You’re supposed to cut off their heads and that stops them.”

“Zombies, vampires, hell,
I’m sure it would work with either.”

I
shook my head. “I can’t believe we’re even having this conversation.”

He
grabbed the ice cream out of the freezer and proceeded to refill his bowl. “No shit.”

“We should probably figure
out how to kill them, just in case.”

He nodded solemnly.
“Yeah. Come home as soon as you can. I’ll make sure mom doesn’t slip out to Caleb’s house again after she’s done with work.”

“Okay
.”

“Call me if you need anything!” he hollered as I left the cabin.

Rosie was ecstatic when she saw me walk through the front door of the diner. “Thank God,” she said. “I need a cigarette and we’ve been swamped all day.”

“How’s your wrist?” asked Darlene, who was one of the older waitresses.

I moved it around. “A little tender but… I think I’ll be okay.”

Darlene nodded. “Good,
because it seems like we’ve had many more people stopping in today, now that Susan’s gone. I think folks are curious about what happened to her and think they might find the answers here.”

I nodded. “I guess
I don’t blame them. God, I’m going to miss her,” I said, my eyes misting over. “She was such a sweetheart.”

“Same here, honey. Coming, Hank!” she hollered towards an older customer who was holding a cup in the air
.

We were busy the entire evening a
nd by the time nine o’clock arrived, both my feet, as well as my wrist were sore.

“Go home and put ice on that wrist of yours,” said Rosie
, studying my wrist at the end of my shift.

“I will,” I said.

She patted me on the back. “Thanks for coming in tonight, Nikki. I really appreciate it.”

I nodded. “Looks like you’re going to need to hire someone soon.”

“I know. This is getting ridiculous; first Amy and now Susan? I’m going to have to hire bouncers to walk you girls to your car. In fact, I’ll have Herb do it right now if you’d like?”