Vampire Beach: High Stakes (10 page)

‘That’s a trick question,’ Brad said. ‘If you choose the spa, we’ll all think you’re a loser. Men don’t do spas.’

Jason thought about that. Sienna in a little spa towel and not much else? That sounded like a good deal to him. ‘What does the manly day consist of?’

‘Van Dyke wants to go down to the MGM Grand Arena. Apparently there’s a press conference for the big title fight this weekend,’ Brad said.

‘Hey! Sometimes the fighters get into it at those press conferences,’ Van Dyke said with his mouth full of muffins. ‘That would be a really cool thing to see.’

‘And afterwards, we can do a little rock climbing out in the desert,’ Brad went on. ‘Work up a sweat after all that partying last night.’

Jason nodded. Rock climbing definitely sounded fun. ‘What happens at the spa?’

‘Um, salt rubs and chemical peels,’ Sienna admitted.

‘That sounds painful,’ Jason said.

‘Yeah, but afterwards there are massages and manicures.’

That settled it. ‘Manly day it is,’ he told Brad. ‘See you girls at dinner.’

‘Let’s meet in the VIP lounge in the lobby,’ Paige said. ‘Eight o’clock. Last one there has to buy me a sinful chocolate dessert!’

Sienna came over and gave him a long kiss. ‘I’ll be all freshly scrubbed and massaged,’ she murmured. ‘Can’t wait.’

‘Me neither,’ Jason agreed, watching her leave with her sister. No matter what the day was like, tonight promised to be amazing.

‘Wow!’ Van Dyke said just after eight o’clock that night. ‘She looks incredible.’ He clapped Jason on the back. ‘You’re a lucky man, Freeman.’

I definitely am
, Jason thought, watching Sienna walk across the lobby toward the VIP lounge where they’d waited while Zach checked in. Either she was letting her true face show, or the spa treatments were every bit as good as she claimed. Her skin was glowing, her black hair shone like obsidian, and her luscious lips were as red as ripe cherries. He had to kiss her. Right now.

Jason walked over to meet her and pulled her into his arms. ‘Let’s blow off everyone else and have a romantic dinner by ourselves,’ he suggested, planting kisses up her neck to her ear.

Sienna smiled delightedly. ‘Now that would be an evening to remember,’ she said. ‘Unfortunately, our friends would never let us get away with it.’ She gestured over his shoulder, and Jason turned to see Erin, Belle, and Van Dyke all watching them with amusement.

‘Stop being so mushy, Freeman,’ Van Dyke called. ‘You’re making me look bad with Maggie. Now I’m
going
to have to be all gooey and romantic when she shows up.’

‘Why did we come with them again?’ Jason asked jokingly. He pulled away, but kept hold of Sienna’s hand. ‘You look nice and relaxed.’

‘The spa was great,’ she said. ‘And it was nice to spend some one-on-one time with Paige. She hasn’t been herself since she got back from Paris.’

Jason nodded. He’d had a feeling that was true. ‘Well, I can’t say rock climbing was very relaxing,’ he told her. ‘It was about a hundred degrees out there. But the views were killer.’

The private elevator opened across the lobby, and Brad and Maggie appeared. ‘Zach called,’ Brad told the others when he reached them. ‘He said he’s busy tonight.’

‘Doing what?’ Belle asked.

Brad shrugged. ‘Who knows? It’s typical Zach.’

‘He does enjoy being mysterious,’ Jason agreed.

‘Where’s Adam?’ Maggie asked. ‘And Paige?’

‘Adam isn’t back from the shoot yet,’ Jason said. ‘I’m sure he’s going to stay there until every single actor, cameraman, and grip has packed up and gone home.’

‘Where’s your sister?’ Erin asked Sienna. ‘Isn’t she late?’

‘I guess.’ Sienna checked her watch. ‘Wow. It’s almost eight thirty.’

‘Paige is never late,’ Brad said, an edge of worry creeping into his voice.

‘I know.’ Sienna frowned. ‘She was just planning to take a shower and get dressed for dinner. I don’t know why it would be taking so long.’

‘Maybe she fell asleep,’ Jason suggested. ‘She has been partying pretty hard, even since before we came to Vegas.’

‘Yeah, but so has everyone else.’ Sienna pulled out her cell phone. ‘I’m going to call her.’ She dialed, and gave Jason a smile as she waited for Paige to pick up.

Suddenly the blood drained from Sienna’s face.

‘What?’ Jason asked, concerned. ‘Sienna? What’s wrong?’

‘Paige’s phone …’ she said. ‘The message says that it’s been disconnected. But she’s been using that phone all week.’ Sienna’s eyes clouded with fear. ‘Something’s wrong!’

Jason nodded. ‘Let’s go check on her.’ He grabbed Sienna’s hand, and they jogged back over to the elevator. Moments later, they were knocking on the door of Paige’s penthouse suite.

There was no answer.

‘Paige?’ Sienna called through the door. ‘Paige! Are you in there?’

Still nothing.

Jason banged on the door.

‘Who … who’s there?’ Paige’s voice called from the other side.

Jason felt a rush of relief. Paige had probably just slept through all their knocking. She was there and she was fine. But then again … Her voice sounded frightened. More than frightened. Terrified.

‘Who is that?’ Paige demanded again.

‘It’s me, Sienna. And Jason,’ Sienna called back. ‘Let us in.’

After a moment, the door swung open. Sienna went right in, so Jason followed. Paige looked awful: pale and drawn, with sunken cheeks. She wore only a bathrobe, and her long dark hair was wet and clearly hadn’t been combed. She didn’t even say anything, just closed the door behind them and sat down on her bed.

Jason noticed that her hands were trembling. ‘Paige, are you sick?’ he asked gently. ‘You don’t look so good.’

Sienna went over and felt her sister’s head to see if she was feverish, but Paige shook her off. ‘The bathroom,’ she said. She drew her legs up underneath her and didn’t say anything else.

Jason strode over to the bathroom and glanced around. Everything looked perfectly normal.

Sienna came up behind him. ‘What’s going on?’ she murmured.

‘I have no idea.’ He turned back to Paige. ‘There’s nothing here, Paige. What’s wrong?’

Paige leapt to her feet with an energy that surprised Jason, rushed over to the bathroom, flipped on all the lights, and turned the hot faucet in the sink all the way on. Then she stalked over to the shower and turned that on full blast, too, spinning the handle all the way to ‘Hot’. Steam poured out of the open shower door.

‘Paige, I don’t understand,’ Sienna said. ‘What’s this all about?’

Paige didn’t answer. Instead, she pointed at the mirror that took up the entire wall behind the sink. It was already steamed up from all the heat.

And then Jason saw it: words, written on the mirror in the condensation that the steam had created … ‘
See you soon
’.

SIENNA GASPED.

‘Someone was here,’ Paige whispered, frightened, as she walked back to her bed. ‘Somebody was inside my hotel room!’

Jason nodded grimly as Sienna rushed over to the bed and threw her arms around her sister.

‘Oh, Paige, no wonder you’re all freaked out!’ Sienna exclaimed.

‘“See you soon”,’ Jason read aloud. He turned to Paige. ‘What does that mean?’

Paige bit her lip and looked down at her hands.

‘Is it a threat?’ Jason asked gently. He had a feeling Paige knew more about this than she was letting on.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Paige nodded. ‘It’s … it’s kind of a threat.’

‘From who?’ Sienna demanded. ‘Who’s threatening you?’

Paige took a deep breath. ‘In Paris, there was this
guy.
I met him almost as soon as I got there for college, and we started dating.’

Sienna nodded.

‘And it got pretty serious pretty fast,’ Paige went on.

Jason noticed Sienna’s surprised expression. He remembered Adam’s story about the three prom dates, and how Paige never dated anyone seriously. Somehow he got the feeling that Paige hadn’t meant the situation in Paris to get serious, either. Even now, she looked a little confused as she talked about it.
In Malibu, Paige was always in control of her relationships
, Jason thought.
But it was different in Paris
.

‘Who was this guy?’ Sienna asked.

Paige looked her in the eye. ‘His name is Marc. Marc Lessard.’

Sienna gasped.

‘Who’s he?’ Jason asked.

‘Lessard,’ Sienna said. ‘As in,
the
Lessards?’

‘Yes,’ Paige whispered. ‘His father is Pierre Lessard.’

‘Who are the Lessards?’ Jason demanded.

‘They’re one of the Thirteen Families,’ Sienna told him. ‘See, back when the vampire clans first decided to organize, there were thirteen particularly powerful families who got together and formed the first High Council. It was hundreds of years ago, in Paris.’

‘And these Lessards are still around?’ Jason asked.

Paige nodded. ‘Yes. Most of the original families died out over the years; there are only four left—’

‘Three,’ Sienna corrected her. She looked at Jason. ‘Your Aunt Bianca’s husband was a member of the fourth family. He was the last of his bloodline.’

‘And he didn’t have any kids,’ Jason said. He’d always known that, but all of a sudden some other things began to fall into place. ‘He didn’t leave an heir, except Bianca. That’s why she was so obsessed with turning Dani and me into vampires, to make sure that her late husband’s family didn’t die out!’

Sienna nodded. ‘You have to understand, Jason. There are a lot of vampire families. But the Thirteen Families were the most powerful. They had the
most
powerful vampire abilities, so their word became law. Anyone descended from those families is, well, special.’

He looked from Sienna to her sister and back. ‘You’re descended from them,’ he guessed. How could they not be?

‘We are,’ Paige confirmed. ‘So are the Lafrenières. So are most of the vampire families in DeVere Heights. But our families are descendants of other branches of the Thirteen Families, branches that married other vampires who weren’t of the Thirteen. None of us are pure. Not compared to Marc Lessard.’

‘The Lessards are one of the original Thirteen
Families,’
Sienna explained, ‘
and
they’ve only ever married women from the Thirteen Families. They’re one of the most revered clans among us.’ Sienna explained.

‘Marc’s father, Pierre, is a really high-ranking French diplomat,’ Paige said. ‘He has more connections than anybody else in the vampire community.’

‘Wow!’ Jason thought about the kind of connections the Devereux family possessed, and about the major pull Zach’s family had. It was hard to imagine an even more powerful and connected family.

‘Paige, to be dating Marc Lessard … that’s a pretty big deal,’ Sienna said. ‘It’s like going out with Prince William or something.’

‘That’s what I thought, at first.’ Paige laughed bitterly. ‘But it didn’t turn out to be so romantic and great. He was a complete psycho.’

‘What?’ Sienna cried.

‘Not at first, I guess. I don’t know.’ Paige pushed her wet hair back from her face. ‘He was really into me, always sending flowers, buying me things, calling all the time. And he was a Lessard! He took me to state dinners, and his father introduced me to all kinds of famous people. It was like living in a movie or something. But after a while, I felt a little smothered. You know I like my space.’

‘Sure,’ Sienna said.

‘Well, Marc wasn’t so happy about that. He thought I should be with him all the time. He even wanted me to drop out of school because it was taking up too much of my attention.’

‘Is this why you didn’t come home for Christmas?’ Sienna asked.

Paige nodded. ‘He couldn’t bear to be away from me, he said. And he was incredibly jealous. Once Zach sent me a text message on my phone and Marc found it. He totally lost it. He threw my phone into the Seine!’

‘But you’ve known Zach since we were babies,’ Sienna said, frowning.

‘Exactly, but Marc didn’t want me talking to any other guys,’ Paige sighed. She got up and began pacing nervously about the room. ‘Anyway, I finally dumped him.’

‘Good,’ Jason said. ‘He sounds like an overbearing jerk. I don’t care if he is the vampire Prince William.’

‘Yeah. But he wouldn’t accept it,’ Paige said.

‘What do you mean?’ Sienna asked.

‘He just refused to let me break up with him. He acted as if it had never happened. He kept showing up at my apartment, leaving me voicemails, sending me flowers, like I’d never said it was over.’

‘Freaky!’ Sienna exclaimed, glancing at Jason.

He nodded. ‘Did you try to break up with him again?’ he asked Paige.

‘Of course I did! Every single time he contacted me, I told him it was over. After a while, I stopped even trying to be nice about it. But he just kept telling me he loved me. I changed my phone number, I refused to see him … It didn’t stop him.’