The Bonding Ritual (Girls Wearing Black: Book Four) (17 page)

“
Helena, were you able to hear the entire conversation? Did you hear everything Ryan and I said?”

“Of course I did. You both were great! A vampire came looking for proof of your guilt, and walked out believing you were innocent! Now do you believe me that we should stay? Now do you agree that maybe it isn’t as dire as
you thought?”

The relief that came over Jill was almost too much to bear, and her first reaction was to doubt it was true. When she tried to speak again, she found herself
fumbling with her words.

“So we didn’t…I mean…the last time I sent an emergency message…I thought I wasn’t saying anything to Bernadet
te, but actually, I was.”

“Jill, this was nothing like your encounter with Bernadette,” Helena said. “Sergio didn’t coax anything out of you or Ryan. I heard every word you said. We all did! Do you know what this—oh, hang on. Nicky wants to get on the line.”

There was some shuffling on the other end, then Nicky came on.

“Jill, what’s going on with Ryan?” she said. “From what we heard through your phone, he sounded
alright. Is he?”

“Ryan is fine.”

“So why did he leave the safe house without telling anyone?”

“Maybe I should let you talk to him,” Jill said. “I think I’m done talking for tonight.”

She held out the phone for Ryan. “Nicky wants to talk to you,” she said.

“Oh, okay.” He took the phone. “Hello, Nicky?”

As Jill watched Ryan walk across the room with the phone against his ear, she realized just how tired she was. More than a week had passed since she had a full night’s sleep. Fear and excitement had kept her lively, but now, as she allowed herself to think that maybe what Helena said was true, that maybe she really did look a vampire in the eye and lie to him, that maybe she was safe, at least for now, her body couldn’t help but beg for the rest it had been denied for days.

She found her way to a couch in the corner of Ryan’s room and sat down. As she listened to Ryan talk to Nicky, she began to drift.

“So I had this idea,” Ryan said. “A way we could cover up for my absence since Renata’s party, and explain to everyone at school why Jill gave the Ransom money to Samantha. And, if we do it right, we get my parents and Jill’s to give us each blank checks to take…”

Jill’s eyes were already closed. She was very curious how Nicky would react to Ryan’s big idea, but she was too tired to stay up and listen.

The next morning she found herself stretched out on the couch. She was alone in the bedroom. The clock on Ryan’s nightstand said it was nine-thirty in the morning.

Her phone buzzed. She found it atop the comforter on Ryan’s neatly made bed.

63 unread messages.

“What the hell?” she whispered.

The phone buzzed agai
n with a new text from Jenny Young.

Mattie just told me the most incredible bit of gossip about you and Ryan. Is it true? When can we talk?

Jill scrolled down the screen to the text before, from Karmela Sweet.

Hi Jill. I’ve
been wanting to talk to you since Renata’s party. This morning I’m hearing some pretty amazing stuff about you and Ryan. Can you call me today?

Before Karmela’s text was one from Sam Featherstone.

Hi Jill. I know we haven’t been that tight, but it’s clear to me you’re the one to know at school. Please accept my apologies for not recognizing that sooner.

Before that, a text from Mattie.

Where are you? Will you call me please?

One after another, starting at six in the morning and continuing every few minutes, the text messages had come rolling in. Most were requests for her to call or get together later. Some mentioned Ryan and wanted Jill’s confirmation that she and Ryan had indeed pulled a fast one on everybody at school. Others were long-winded bits of excited nonsense that Jill could only skim.

She left the bedroom and went downstairs. Ryan was waiting for her in the living room.

“Let’s go to the kitchen,” he said. “Shamus can get you some breakfast.”

At the breakfast table, Jill showed Ryan her phone, which was still buzzing three or four times a minute.

“When my mom wants to spread some gossip, she knows exactly who to call,” Ryan said.

By the time Jill was finished with the eggs, bacon, and toast Shamus had made for her, the message count on her phone was at eighty-six. She didn’t bother counting individual names on the messages (some people, like Mattie, had messaged her dozens of times), but she estimated that well over half the class had tried to get in touch with her.

“The plan’s going to work,” Ryan said. “People are excited at what you’ve done.”

“At what they think I’ve done,” said Jill.

“And now that Sergio has cleared us all of suspicion, there’s really nothing standing in our way.”

“He hasn’t cleared all of us,” Jill said. “Nicky might be able to look at a vampire and lie, but Phillip and Helena can’t.”

“Sergio was at their house last night,” Ryan said. “He saw them before he saw us. The Bloom family has been checked off his list too.”

“Sergio was at the Bloom mansion?”

“That’s what Nicky told me.”

Seeing the puzzled look on Jill’s face, Ryan added, “Last night, on the phone. You handed me the phone, remember?”

“Yes I remember, but…what the hell is going on? Why was everyone at the mansion? I thought that place was a mess.” Visions of horrible security camera foot
age flashed in Jill’s mind, Gia, Kendall, and Dante fighting a vampire and losing.

“Helena said they got it cleaned up enough that Sergio never noticed anything.”

“You talked to Helena too?”

“Yeah, Nicky wasn’t really in the mood for a long conversation. She liked the story though.”

“What story?”

“Our cover story! I told her all about it, and how my parents bought it. She thought it sounded good.”

“Really? Nicky was okay with this plan where you and I pretend to be a couple all semester?”

“She said it was brilliant.”

Jill set her fork down on her plate. “Is everyone going crazy?” she muttered.

“What’s that?”

“I just don’t believe this. I don’t believe any of it. Sergio was in the Bloom house last night?”

“Apparently so,” Ryan said. “I think he came here after he finished there.”

“I mean, if we had known he was coming, but the house wasn’t ready, was it? No, all the weaponry got used on Melissa and no one had gone in to prep it again. Not to mention all the hunters. We wanted to have at least half a dozen vampire hunters in the house to greet Sergio when he arrived. Everything we’ve done—we did it all to get Sergio Alonzo into that house and he just shows up and we’re not ready!”

“Well, yeah, it’s not like anybody tried to kill him last night,” Ryan said. Then he let out a little laugh, as if the idea was the silliest thing he’d ever heard. As if the whole point of the mission was ridiculous.

Jill had to remind herself that Ryan was new to all this, and it wasn’t fair to be angry at him.

“I just wish we had known,” she said. “We could have done something.”

“Right, right,” said Ryan in a dismissive tone.

Jill wanted to stand up and smack him. Where did he get off acting like none of this was a big deal? Where did any of them? Nicky and Helena and Phillip, and now Ryan—they had Sergio in the house and just let him walk away! All the work, all the money, all the time, years of time, and four Network agents already dead—it was all about luring Sergio into that house.

It made her sick to think about.

“Whatever,” Jill said. “Just…whatever!
Remind me about when Sergio was here, in your house. Before he left, did Sergio say something to us about a party at Daciana’s?”

“He did.”

“Maybe we could make a go for him there,” Jill said. “A last ditch effort to finish this job before we bolt.”

“What? You mean like, try to kill him?”

“That’s why we’re all here, Ryan!”

“Are you nuts? Trying to kill Sergio in Daciana’s house, that’s absurd!”

“You don’t know how hard it is to get close to him! Vampire hunters have been trying for decades just to find him! Do you know how crazy it is that we had two encounters with him last night? How totally unheard of that is?”

“There’s no way anyone’s bringing weapons to Daciana’s party. That would totally screw up Nicky’s chance of winning Coronation.”

“Screw up Nicky’s chance of winning? Ryan, do you even know what we’re trying to do here?”

“I know we’ve got a plan, and the best way to make a plan work is to stick to it.”

“The plan was to leave, in case you’ve forgotten,” said Jill. “And I know your little story seems to be working out fine, but you were never supposed to be involved like this. You were never supposed to be involved at all! People have died, Ryan! People who dedicated their lives to fighting the clan! You don’t even know who they are!”

“Nicky told me about your friends,” Ryan said. “It’s sad, but it comes with the territory. Jill, I get it. You’re scared. You’ve been through a lot.”

Jill stood up. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Why am I even having this conversation with you? I’m done with this!”

She stormed out of the kitchen. “Shamus, where are you?” she yelled. “I need my car!”

Shamus came running from down the hall. “Right here, Miss,” he said. “Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine,” Jill said. “It’s just time for me to go.”

Ryan was chasing after her.

“Jill, wait,” he said. “I didn’t meant to make you angry. Did I say something wrong?”

“You’ve said plenty,” said Jill. “Shamus, my keys please.”

“Right here, ma’am,” Shamus said, pulling the keys from a wall cabinet.

“Are you going to Bethesda?” Ryan said. “Because I think they’ll want to start planning for Daciana’s party.”

“I don’t know where I’m going,
” Jill said.

Where she ended up going was her parents’ house, a place she thought she would never see again. No one was home when she came through the front door. Her parents had been in Seattle to meet with clients for the better part of the week. Her mother…

“Ugh, my mother,” she whispered.

Her mother was a complicating factor in all of this, one that nobody else understood. If they were going to stick around, they’d have to figure out what to do
with Carolyn Wentworth, who knew enough to get herself in trouble if she wasn’t careful.

Jill spent the next hour pacing around the home, trying to think through all that was happening. Helena, Phillip, Ryan, and Nicky were all so intent on sticking around—they were already settling in for another semester at Thorndike.

And while the news that they would be invited to walk into Daciana’s mansion was indeed intriguing for the Network, trying to stay in town beyond that party just didn’t make sense to Jill. Setting aside all the dangers that awaited them now, and the difficulty of winning Coronation for Nicky, there was the simple matter of the final, most important step of the mission itself. Winning Coronation had always been a means to an end. The real goal was to get Sergio alone in a house that was full of vampire hunters.

But that very house had now allowed two vampires to walk out unharmed. The first was Melissa Mayhew, who came in and killed every vampire hunter waiting for her.

The second was Sergio, the vampire the house was built for. They got Sergio into the house and nothing happened.

Whatever chance they had to kill Sergio was doomed now. Jill was certain of it.

Not that the mission was a failure—three dead vampires and a treasure trove of stolen data made the adventure worth it—but it was time to collect their winnings and get out of here.

Or maybe, get out after this party at Daciana’s. Yes, as Jill wandered the house, that was how she reconciled the divergent thoughts in her mind.

Daciana has invited two Network agents to come into her house. We can’t pass that up. But after the party’s over, so is the mission.

She’d find a way to convince the others. Perhaps they would be more willing to see reason after they spent time in Daciana’s mansion. After they got close to the queen of the clan.

Ryan, in particular, would change his tune after an evening at Daciana’s house. Hours of nail-biting anxiety, always wondering if a vampire is right behind you, ready to look in your eyes and steal your thoughts—that’s what the Homecoming Masquerade and the Rose Ransom parties had been to Jill. That’s what Daciana’s party would be to Ryan.

He’d see. Right now Ryan was high on the idea of rebelling against the clan. He was in the same mindspace now that Jill had occupied freshman year, when she was a hotheaded kid who went onto forbidden message boards and wrote long diatribes about the need for revolution.

Jill went out the back door and walked into the woods behind her house, thinking about the 14-year-old version of herself who wrote those passionate rants on the Internet. The Marsh Hawk. Did she have any clue what was in store for her back in those days? Did she have even the slightest idea about the path she was about to go down?