Taken (Book #2 of the Vampire Legends) (10 page)

“Yeah, totally.”

“So, then, I’ll meet you
there. I’ll text you when we pull in.”

“Fab! Can’t wait. Should be
a fun night.”

“Oh and by the way, Evan is
bringing the vodka, should I put in an order for you?”

Rachel stopped, and silence
filled the line. She didn’t like the taste of alcohol and didn’t want to sneak
out of the house, and drink. Things were going too far, she thought to herself.
She really didn’t like that her new friends drank all the time, but she figured
that’s just what kids did in Westchester.

“Rachel?” Emily asked. “Are
you there?”

“Oh, sorry! I’m here.”
Rachel said, realizing she’d gotten lost in her thoughts.

“So? Whaddaya say?” Emily
asked again.

“I’m gonna pass, Em. Not
feeling so hot.”

“Ok, if you change your
mind, text me.”

“See ya later!”

As they hung up the phone,
Rachel continued her search for the perfect outfit for her night out at the
movies. As she pushed the hangers across the bar in her closet one by one, she
took a mental inventory of all the clothes she had. She didn’t realize how many
she’d accumulated over the years. Many of her clothes, she realized, probably
didn’t fit her anymore. She remembered wearing many of them in middle school.

Then, she spotted it: her
most favorite Urban Outfitters, black Sparkle and Fade boyfriend blazer with
her old beat up Gap corduroys. Now, all she needed was a cute tee to wear under
the blazer. She opened up her drawer and pulled out her MTV worn in t-shirt
that she’d bought on eBay.

Now that her outfit was
complete, all she had to do was execute the plan she’d come up with to get out
of the house. She walked downstairs and saw both of her parents in the kitchen
preparing dinner. She could tell they were still very angry with her by the way
they looked at her. “Rachel, what are you doing down here?” her dad asked.

“Oh, just wanted to see if
you needed any help.”

“We’re fine,” her mom
answered. “Only five more minutes until dinner.”

“Ok, I’ll come back then.”

“Actually, could you set the
table for us,” her mom asked.

“Yes, absolutely,” Rachel
answered.

“You’re in a good mood
today, Rachel,” her dad said as he looked at her with questioning eyes.

“Eh, no different than
usual, and actually I’m not feeling so well tonight.”

Rachel set the table and
then purposely started to cough loudly so her parents would hear.

“Are you coming down with
something, Darling?” her mom asked.

“I don’t know, I’m really
not feeling well.”

“You look pale,” her mom
said as she came over to put her hand on her forehead.

“You feel OK, but you don’t
look so good.”

Rachel coughed and let out a
wine, “If you don’t mind, I think I will take my dinner up to my room and go
right to bed. I could use a good night sleep.”

“That’s a great idea, Honey,”
said her mom. “Please bring your plate down in the morning.”

“I will Ma,” Rachel said as
she began to fill a plate full of chicken and rice.

“Thanks for dinner, Dad. It
looks yummy,” Rachel said as she carried it out of the kitchen.

“Feel better darling and get
some rest.”

As Rachel walked upstairs,
she could hear her parents’ whispers coming from the kitchen. She couldn’t make
out what they were saying, but she heard the words “
too harsh,”
come
from her mom’s mouth. She wondered if they were discussing her punishment.

Either way, she was ecstatic
that she was going to the movies tonight with her friends. She felt numb to the
feeling of remorse and guilt, as it related to lying to her parents. She did
feel bad, but felt that she was being treated unfairly in this situation and
thus didn’t deserve the punishment handed to her. If she’d done something wrong
to deserve the punishment, she would follow through with it, but since she was
simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, she didn’t feel that she deserved
this.

As she got to her bedroom,
she saw her sister’s door open. She waited for her to exit and then gave her a
thumbs up signal.

“I told them I’m sick and am
going to bed,” Rachel said.

“Perfect,” said Sarah.

“Come get me when you’re
ready,” Rachel whispered.

“Will do. We’ll be leaving
in about thirty minutes,” Sarah replied.

At that moment Mark came out
of his bedroom and saw the two whispering. Rachel and Sarah stopped speaking
and looked at him. The three siblings stood there staring at each other for a
moment and then Rachel said, “I’m going to bed guys, I’m sick. See you in the
morning.”

“Feel better,” Sarah said as
she winked at Rachel.

“Ditto,” said Mark as she
bolted down the steps for dinner.

Rachel went into her room,
scarfed down her dinner, and began getting ready for her night out.

She went into her bathroom,
put on her Urban Decay powder blue eye shadow and curled her eyelashes. She
then used her Volum’ Express Maybelline mascara and batted her eyelashes. She
couldn’t believe how good she looked, especially for being “sick”

She put on her outfit and
sat on her bed waiting for Sarah to let her know it’s time to go. A few minutes
later she heard a knock on her bedroom door. Rachel’s heart stopped as the
doorknob opened. She was hoping it wasn’t anyone but her sister as she sat
there perfectly coiffed and ready to go.

“Hey! You ready?” her sister’s
voice rang through the door.

“Oh yeah,” Rachel answered.

Sarah opened up her door and
waved her to come out. Rachel turned off her bedroom lights and closed the door
firmly behind her. She didn’t want to accidentally leave it open just in case
her parents came upstairs.

“OK, I’m going to distract
Mom and Dad in the kitchen and you go out the front door and wait on the side
of the house. I will come out in a few minutes when my friends pull up.”

“OK,” Rachel said as she
grabbed her jacket and converse from the foyer closet.

“Sarah, is that you?” her
mom called out from the kitchen. “Can you come in here?”

Sarah dashed into the
kitchen so her parents wouldn’t come out and see the two of them standing
there. Now that the coast was clear, Rachel slowly opened the front door to the
house, pulling it ever so softly so it didn’t make any noises or squeaks. She
squeezed through a small opening and shut the door quietly behind her. She ran
tiptoeing down the walkway to her house and hid to the side of the house and
waited.

Rachel heard the front door
slam and the sound of her sisters Steve Madden heels walking down the walkway.
At that exact moment, she also heard the revving engine of a Mercedes G500 pull
down their driveway. Rachel saw Sarah motion to her, to stay where she was as
Sarah hopped into the car to make sure the coast was clear. Sarah gave her a
thumbs up and she ran into the back seat of the car and slammed the door shut
as she squished her way into the back seat, which already had three other AHS
seniors in it.

“See, I told you it’d be
easy!” Sarah said as she turned to give Rachel a high-five.

“That was flawless!” Rachel
said back.

The driver of the car turned
up the radio, which was already blaring in Rachel’s ear. The station was set to
97.1 hip-hop and R&B, which Rachel despised. She’d rather listen to
bubblegum pop than R&B any day of the week. The car reversed out of the
driveway and then quickly skidded forward, and off they went down the road on
their way to the movies.

The ride was short,
thankfully for Rachel because she was crammed in the back right next to the
excruciatingly loud, aftermarket subwoofer and speakers. She thought she was
going to be deaf when she got out of the car. Thankfully, the car arrived in
one piece and everyone hopped out of the car.

“I’ll see you after the
movies, Rach— text me if you need a ride home or anything,” Sarah said.

“Thanks, Sis, will do!”

Rachel took out her cell
phone to text Emily but then heard her friend’s voices coming from the parking
lot. “Rachel, Rachel, Rachel!!!!” they were chanting as the car pulled into the
spot near her.

“Hey Guys! I’m here!” Rachel
said.

“Yeah, can’t believe you
snuck out again. Twice in one day!” Liv said.

“I know, I know. I could
write a book on the subject,” Rachel said back, as she let out a small laugh.

As she stood there and
waited for all her friends to get out of the car she heard throngs of kids in
the parking lot all talking, laughing and hollering. She realized that tonight
was the big AHS movie night and everyone who was anyone at AHS was there.

She walked through the
double doors of the theater and got in line to buy a ticket. They were all
going to see a 3D movie, and luckily it wasn’t rated R, so she wouldn’t have to
worry about being carded by the movie bouncer. As she stood on line, she heard
a familiar voice behind her. She turned around and saw the entire AHS football
team waiting in line to buy tickets.

“Listen guys, let it go
already, it wasn’t her fault,” the voice said.

Rachel saw Rob talking to a
few of the players who kept turning and looking at Rachel. She felt thankful
that he was sticking up for her, after everything that had happened that night
at the dance. But he was right. It wasn’t her fault.

“Hey Rach,” Rob said with a
smile as he moved up in line closer to her.

“Oh, hi Rob,” she said
pretending not to have heard his conversation.

“You excited for the movie?
It’s supposed to be trippy, I’m psyched,” Rob said with a smile.

“Yeah, trippy?” Rachel asked
naively.

“Trippy, like you’re on
drugs or somethin’,” Rob said and let out a laugh.

“Oh, right! Duh, I knew
that,” Rachel said trying not to look dumb.

Rachel could tell that Rob
still liked her. She could tell by the way he looked at her and by the way he
acted around her that he was still into her. She couldn’t really understand why
though, given the circumstances of the previous days.

“Want to sit together?” Rob
asked.

Rachel didn’t know what to
think. She had liked Rob for a while, but after he stood her up, she lost all
interest in him. She didn’t want to date a guy like that, but perhaps he had
changed. She wavered in her head whether or not to give him a second shot and
decided, why not. Benji hadn’t reached out to her in days, and maybe she could
use a rebound.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Rachel,
said cracking a smile. “Come sit with us thought. I don’t want to leave my
friends.”

Rachel turned around to her
friends and whispered to them what had just happened. They didn’t seem to mind
that Rachel had offered for Rob to sit with them.

As the group entered the
theater, they took their seats in the back row. They opened up their 3D glasses
and started taking pictures with their cell phone cameras.

“I’m posting this to
Facebook!” Jen said as she began pressing buttons on her iPhone.

“Tag me!” said Emily.

“Me, too,” said Taryn.

“I’m tagging everyone, don’t
worry!” Jen said.

As the lights dimmed and the
previews began, Rachel could feel Rob’s arm wrap around her shoulders. He held
a soda in his other hand, sipping it casually with a straw. Rachel felt a
little awkward about the situation, but didn’t push him off. Rob was acting as
if nothing had happened between them, as he put his other hand on her leg. The
movie began and Rob’s hand was slowly moving up her thigh.

She didn’t know what to do.
She felt that it was too much, too soon, but at the same time, she was afraid
that if she pushed his hand away, things might be over between them. She closed
her eyes and breathed deep, wishing that Benji were here to take her away from
all of this.

Chapter Twelve

Benji sped down Route 22 on
his motorcycle, the cool fall breezes rushing through his hair. It was getting
dark out and the road was becoming desolate. All he could think about was
Rachel. He knew that he had to see her one more time before he left for his
ancestral home at Lyndvia Castle.

He was worried, though,
because he hadn’t heard from Rachel since he’d told her his secret. He didn’t
know how she felt about him now and that scared him. He wanted desperately for
Rachel to be with him and to share his passions with him, but all he could
think about was the look on her face after he told her he was a vampire. She
looked at him as though she’d never seen him before, like he was a stranger. He
felt a complete shift in Rachel that night. He felt like she went from complete
and utter passion to sheer fear and hatred. He didn’t know what to make of it.