Vampire Beach: High Stakes (2 page)

So it helped if he was a vampire with great eyesight, great balance, superhuman strength, and the ability to heal fast if he hurt himself on the rocks
, Jason thought.

Paige just shrugged. ‘I can do it, so a guy who wants to be with me should be able to do it, too.’

‘Adam’s father has a thing about that jetty,’ Jason said.

‘Yeah, because people slip and fall and crack their heads open. Or they get swept off it and drown,’ Sienna said. ‘The sheriff looks bad when people start dying in his town.’

Paige just shrugged again, a wicked little gleam in her eye. ‘Nobody drowned. I was always there to save them.’

‘And to get caught by the sheriff so Mom could have a heart attack every time he brought you home in the cop car,’ Sienna pointed out.

Jason watched as the two sisters laughed. They looked so much alike that they could pass for twins. But the more he saw them together, the more he noticed their differences. Paige was constantly in motion, playing with her hair, talking with her hands, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she spoke. Sienna was the exact opposite, as calm as still water. It was one of the things Jason loved about her – you could never be sure exactly what was going on beneath the surface.

‘You still haven’t told me what you’re doing here,’ Sienna was saying. ‘You’re supposed to be in school for at least another month. And I thought you were then going backpacking round Europe for the summer.’

‘Yeah …’ Paige hesitated for an instant, then her dark eyes lit up. ‘Wait, I forgot! I bought you something.’ She flipped through the four shopping bags on her arm and held out one that said ‘Mystère’.

‘Weren’t we just in there?’ Jason asked.

‘Yes,’ Sienna replied, her voice filled with excitement. She grabbed the bag from her sister and pulled
out
a red dress, its silky skirt spilling over her hands. ‘Oh. My. God! You got me the red dress!’

‘Isn’t it killer?’ Paige exclaimed. ‘I was in there earlier and the second I saw it, I knew it would look incredible on you.’

Sienna flung her arms around Paige’s neck. ‘I don’t know how I survived without you this year.’

‘Neither do I.’ Paige laughed. ‘Have you ever been to El Corazon?’

‘That place on Ellice?’ Sienna asked. ‘Uh, no. It’s a hangout for bikers.’

‘Yes. But the salads are to die for. I’m not kidding.’ Paige cocked her head to the side. ‘You’re not afraid of a few guys on bikes, are you, Jason?’

‘With you two there to protect me? No way,’ Jason replied.

‘Good. You’re driving.’ Paige looped her arm through Sienna’s and headed off down the sidewalk.

Jason shook his head and followed the Devereux girls. It had been a wild ride since the moment he met Sienna. And with her sister back in town, he had a feeling it was about to get even wilder …

‘FREEMAN!’ ADAM CALLED
out the instant Jason’s feet hit the sand at Surfrider beach. ‘I hear Paige is back in town.’

Jason gaped at him. ‘I literally just dropped Sienna and her sister at home, and we didn’t see a single other person from DeVere High the entire time we were at lunch,’ he said. ‘So how can you possibly know that Paige is back?’

‘I’m connected, what can I say?’ Adam shrugged and switched his folded beach towel from one arm to the other. ‘So what’s she doing here? Even in Paris, college goes until May, or so I’m told.’

‘I don’t know,’ Jason admitted. ‘Sienna wasn’t expecting her, that’s for sure. You should’ve seen her face when she spotted Paige.’

‘She’s probably just being mysterious,’ Adam replied. ‘You know, show up when you’re least expected. It’s a classic
femme fatale
move.’

‘No movie talk. It’s spring break,’ Jason told him.
Adam
could barely go for two minutes without referencing one film or another. In fact, he was usually filming everything he saw while he was busy spouting the references. ‘Where’s your camcorder, anyway?’ Jason asked.

‘You told me no filming during spring break, and I am nothing if not obedient,’ Adam explained.

‘I didn’t tell you that, Belle did,’ Jason pointed out. ‘No filming, no movie talk, no dorkiness—’

‘
Geek
iness,’ Adam corrected him. ‘It’s a fine distinction. The dork is a social outcast. The geek is merely a connoisseur of a specific—’

‘That, right there, is geekiness,’ Jason interrupted. ‘Stop it.’

‘Fine.’ Adam looked resigned for about two seconds. Then he brightened. ‘Wait, if Belle isn’t here to see me being geeky, do I still have to obey her?’

‘I can’t promise not to rat you out,’ Jason said. ‘The vampires can always tell when I’m lying, and if she asks me …’

‘Oh, fine,’ Adam grumbled. ‘No film talk.’

Jason clapped him on the back, then peered out over the white sand of the beach to the swell of the blue-gray water. Stellar. The sun would be up for another few hours, and there was plenty of time for surfing.

‘Incoming!’ A volleyball flew through the air and landed at Adam’s feet.

‘Nice catch, Turnball,’ Brad Moreau joked, jogging down the wooden steps from the cliff to the beach.

‘I don’t do balls,’ Adam said. ‘Not unless there are
bonita chiquitas
present.’

‘Well, the only girl here is Brad,’ Michael Van Dyke put in, following Brad down the stairs. ‘And he’s not very
bonita
.’

‘I am, too,’ Brad protested. He scooped up the ball. ‘Everybody’s gonna be here soon. You guys up for a game?’

‘Sure,’ Jason replied.

‘Nope,’ Adam said at the same time.

‘OK then.’ Brad and Van Dyke headed over to put up the volleyball net.

‘If you’re not gonna play, and you don’t have your camera, what are you going to do?’ Jason asked.

‘Don’t you worry about me, I’ve got a plan. You see, my ignorant friend, where the male of the species gather to show off their hunting and fighting skills’ – he nodded toward Van Dyke, who now had Brad in a playful headlock – ‘the females will soon follow. And when they arrive, I will be there to study them. Closely.’ Adam marched over to a spot just out of volleyball range and unfurled his beach towel with a flourish.

Jason left him to it and headed over to the net. Aaron Harberts and Kyle Priesmeyer from the swim team came jogging up the beach to play. Jason was glad to see them. Sometimes the games got a little
too
crowded with vampires, and it was hard to keep up. Jason was a good athlete, but the vampires were faster, stronger, and more agile than any human – even him! It would be nice to have some other humans in the mix.

‘Boys against girls!’ somebody yelled behind him. Jason turned to see Maggie Roy waving from the wooden steps. Erin Henry was right behind her.

‘There’s only two of you,’ Brad called back.

‘So? We’ll kick your butts anyway.’ Maggie hurried over to Van Dyke and jumped up to hug him, wrapping her long, tanned legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

‘That makes your threat real convincing,’ Erin said wryly.

Maggie grinned. ‘Just cause I’m dating him doesn’t mean I’m afraid to kick his ass!’

‘Please. I rule at volleyball.’ Van Dyke put her down and held out his hands for the ball.

‘Obviously you two need to be on different teams,’ Jason said. ‘How about me, Van Dyke, and Brad against the girls. Oh, and Harberts and Priesmeyer.’

Harberts smiled tiredly. ‘Nah, I’ll sit this one out. That way the teams are even.’ He went over and flopped in the sand next to Adam.

Jason peered at him, noticing the dude’s pale skin and the bags under his eyes.
I wonder who he went out with last night
, Jason thought.
Erin, maybe?
It was easy to spot the humans who had been recently fed on by a vampire, if you knew what to look for. When a vampire was feeding on you, it felt amazing, like the best make-out session of all time. But afterwards, you felt exhausted. Happy, but exhausted. Harberts seemed to be in the happy place. And he had the whole week of spring break to recover.

‘I hear Paige is home,’ Brad commented as he served the ball.

Jason glanced at him, surprised. ‘Fast grapevine.’

‘You know it.’ Brad laughed. ‘You should be used to that by now – everyone in DeVere Heights knows one another’s business.’

The ball came flying at Jason, so he set it up for Van Dyke to spike it. ‘She’s a trip, huh?’

‘Who, Paige? You can’t even imagine,’ Brad replied. ‘She once tricked the entire soccer team into shaving their heads on the same day. And believe me, it wasn’t pretty.’

‘Not everyone has a head as beautifully shaped
as
mine,’ the shaven-headed Priesmeyer put in.

‘What’s she doing back so early, anyway?’ Van Dyke asked. ‘She flunk out of college?’

‘She probably just got bored in Paris. You know Paige,’ Brad told him. They both laughed.

Jason opened his mouth to ask what they were talking about. Then Maggie leapt up and slammed the ball straight at him, and Jason forgot all about Sienna’s big sister. The game kicked up a notch, and it took all his concentration just to keep up with the fast and furious volleys. By the time the game was over, even the vampires looked beat.

‘Attention, attention!’ Adam called suddenly. ‘As your Surfrider Beach social director, I have an announcement to make. The queen and her court have just arrived.’

‘What’s he talking about?’ Brad asked Jason.

‘I’m never really sure,’ Jason told him.

‘Paige!’ Erin shrieked. She and Maggie took off across the sand at a run. Jason turned to see Paige bounding down the steps toward them, with Belle Rémy right on her heels. Sienna followed more slowly, walking with Zach Lafrenière.

‘How can I not have my camera for this?’ Adam complained, coming up to Jason as the other guys headed over to greet Paige. ‘I mean, look at them.
They’re
like a primetime soap in action. Beautiful girls, strapping guys – all with shiny hair and white teeth.’

Jason nodded, gazing at the group. ‘Didn’t you tell me Zach went to Paige’s prom with her when he was just a freshman?’ he asked.

‘Thereby cementing his reputation as the single coolest human being on the planet,’ Adam agreed. ‘Well, not that he’s a human. He’s a vampire. He’s a superhuman. Wait, are they human? I never thought about that before. They’re not
not
human, right? I mean, they’re not a different species, are they? Are they?’

Jason just raised his eyebrows.

‘I’m being geeky, huh?’ Adam asked. ‘Right. I’ll take it down a notch.’

Zach stood next to Paige as she hugged all the others. He was actually smiling.
Have I ever seen him smile before?
Jason wondered. ‘Do you think he’s still into her?’ he said.

‘Hmm, tough call,’ Adam replied. ‘He does look suspiciously happy and relaxed. But I’m not sure there was ever anything romantic between them. Their families are such old friends, I kinda figured she took him to prom because he was safe.’

‘Paige doesn’t strike me as somebody who likes to take the safe option,’ Jason said as Harberts wandered back over.

‘You got that right,’ Harberts told Jason. ‘That girl is so hot she’s dangerous. Must run in the family.’ He dropped down onto Adam’s towel and closed his eyes.

‘That’s my towel,’ Adam pointed out.

Harberts was already asleep.

Adam turned back to Jason. ‘The thing is, two weeks before her prom, Paige caused a mini-riot during a charity fundraiser,’ he went on. ‘Apparently she’d agreed to go to the prom with three different guys, and that was the day they all found out. Paige didn’t really care, she just wanted to be able to wear three different dresses. She figured she’d go with one for cocktail hour, one for the dance, and one for the after parties.’

‘So she wasn’t dating any of them?’ Jason asked.

‘Nope. She always liked to keep her options open. I don’t remember ever hearing that she had an actual boyfriend. Do you, Aaron?’ He nudged Harberts with his bare foot. Harberts kept sleeping.

‘Let me guess. The three guys found out, and they all banded together and refused to go with her?’ Jason said.

Adam snorted. ‘No, that’s what would’ve happened if it was an old John Hughes movie. Actually, in that version they would’ve banded together and forced her to pick just one of them. And then she would’ve picked her geeky-yet-adorable best friend and gone with him instead.’

‘Did she have a geeky-yet-adorable best friend?’ Jason asked.

‘No, I was too young for her to notice back then,’ Adam replied.

‘OK, focus. What actually did happen?’ Jason asked.

‘They all got into a really loud fight and ruined Mrs Devereux’s silent auction for the International Red Cross. So Paige got grounded for a week, and she was so pissed off that she refused to go to prom with any of them. She took Zach instead.’ Adam’s eyes grew wide. ‘Holy cow, could Zach have been the geeky-yet-adorable best friend?’

Jason glanced over at Zach, who looked like a young Keanu Reeves on a particularly good day.

‘I know what you’re thinking,’ Adam said. ‘You’re thinking that, if he was, the rest of us might as well just kill ourselves.’