A Night Without Stars (25 page)

“How do you know it was her?” he bit out.

I plucked out the note I’d stuffed into the waistband of my leggings and gave it to him. He read it quickly, and I knew he’d finished when he hissed a curse. Crumpling the note into a tiny ball, he threw it on the ground and grinded it down into the dirt with his boot heel.

“I was saving that,” I said mildly.

“Stupid girl,” he snarled. Spittle flew from his mouth as his eyes flashed. He was as furious as I’d ever seen him, and I couldn’t help but stumble back a step. Cornstalks closed in around me, rustling quietly as silky green leaves brushed against my neck and shoulders.

“I’m not stupid.”

“And I say you are. Does your life really mean so little to you?”

I didn’t think, I just reacted. My hand jerked and before I had time to fully comprehend what I was doing the gun I’d had strapped to my waist was between us, leveled straight at Maximus’ chest. Our eyes met and held. I clicked off the safety.

He slowly lifted his arms, palms facing towards me. “Good reflexes.”

“I was taught by the best.” I started to lower the gun.

Rookie mistake.

Maximus was behind me and had my arm twisted up behind my back and the gun out of my hand before I had time to yell. “Never,” he whispered in my ear, “drop your defenses. You think you can stop Angelique with a gun? She’ll be on you in a second.”

“Maybe,” I gritted out, “maybe not.”

He dropped my arm and handed me my gun. I slipped it carefully back in its holster and, rubbing my shoulder, turned to face him. His eyes seemed to glow silver, but I knew it was only a trick of the fading light. “Have I ever told you you’re a jerk?”

His mouth curved. “Only every day since you met me.”

“Well you are.”

“Turn around and go back to the hotel, Lola.” His thumb brushed against my arm, and this time his touch was inexplicably gentle. “I’ll get Travis.”

“No.” I hadn’t let myself be swayed by his hardness, and I wasn’t about to let him change my mind with softness. “I already had this conversation with my dad, so all you’re doing is wasting time. You know I’m the only reason she took him in the first place. All of this is my fault.”

“Lola—”

“All of it,” I repeated. “If you want to help then come with me, but you can’t stop me. Nothing can.”

If Maximus’ dark scowl was any indication he didn’t like it, but one stubborn person recognized another. Short of knocking me unconscious – which I wouldn’t put past him – there was no way he was getting me to turn around. His eyebrows darted together. “You are the most irrational, pigheaded, foolish—”

“Please stop,” I sighed, holding up my hand. “All these compliments are making me dizzy.”

The corners of his mouth twitched. “I was drawn to you in the beginning because I thought you were like Daniela, but I was wrong. There’s no one like you, Lola.” His smile faded. “Are you certain you want to do this? There’s no going back. No way to guarantee your safety. Angelique is as dangerous as they come and far deadlier than most.”

Something in his expression had my eyes narrowing. “She’s the one you’ve been hunting,” I guessed. “That’s where you’ve been every night. That’s why you haven’t been around very much during the day. You’ve been hunting her. For me.”

Maximus gave a short, clipped nod. “Yes.”

“You’ve been risking your life for me.”

“Yes.”

I took a deep breath. “Then you have to understand why I would risk my life for Travis.”

He didn’t say anything, but his eyes, dark and brooding, spoke volumes.

“Come on.” I held out my hand. “It’s almost sunset.”

He hesitated before he locked his fingers with mine. Our palms touched. Our thumbs entwined. He squeezed, and I squeezed back.

Side by side we struck off towards the high school, navigating the sidewalks with military precision. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was how people on death row felt. I imagined some were resigned to their fate, while others fought and struggled for every last breath.

I was in middle. More determined than resigned. Ready to fight, but not at the expense of Travis’ life.

When we reached the high school I stumbled up over the yellow curb and stopped short, my breath quickening and my pulse beginning to race. Maximus stayed beside me, somber and stoic as ever. Still I drew strength from his very presence, and knew I was better off because of it. Our shoulders brushed and I managed a tiny smile.

“I’m glad you’re here,” I whispered.

“You don’t have to do this.” He let go of my hand and skimmed his fingers through my ponytail. “You came this far. Stay here and I’ll get Travis. You can survive this, Lola. I know you think you can’t. I know you think you don’t deserve to. But you’re wrong.”

My voice surprisingly steady, I said, “What’s the point of surviving if you don’t fight for it?”

Maximus turned his head. I met his gaze evenly, not looking away even when it felt as though he was reaching down into the very depths of my soul. Apparently satisfied with what I kept hidden in the deepest, darkest parts of me, he pulled out his gun and clicked off the safety. I did the same with mine. “Well then,” he said with the faintest of smiles, “let’s go kick some drinker ass.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

A is for Angelique

The very second the sun dipped down below the horizon, the electricity in the high school turned on. Caught unaware Maximus and I shielded our eyes as the world around us erupted with light. The hallways, the cafeteria, the classrooms, even the bathrooms lit up with a fluorescent intensity I wasn’t accustomed to after two weeks of living in the dark.

“Let your eyes adjust,” Maximus murmured beside me.

We stopped in the middle of the hallway. My eyes darted up and down the rows of lockers. The gym was on our right. The main office on our left. It was eerie to see the school so empty. Unnatural, even. The hairs on the back of my neck rose and my palms grew slick with sweat, making it hard to hold the gun. I peeked sideways at Maximus to see how he was holding up. Not surprisingly he looked calm, cool, and collected. Maybe even a little cocky, if the tilt of his head was any indication.

“Breathe in and out,” he said quietly, “and stay beside me.”

Air I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding trapped in my cheeks escaped in a loud
whoosh
. I looked down to the end of the hall, half expecting Angelique to pop out like some macabre jack-in-the-box, but nothing stirred. If she was here she wasn’t showing herself.

Yet.

Maximus started walking again and I followed his lead. When we passed by my old locker – good old number fifty-eight – I couldn’t help but trace my fingers across the cool metal. My nails skidded along the vents as I looked down the row of lockers. There were so many of them. Waiting for a new school year that would never happen. Waiting for students that would never return.

I thought of the quiet girl with glasses whose locker had been next to mine. She used to have the most beautiful pencil drawings taped to the inside of her locker. I’d always meant to tell her how much I liked them. Now I would never get the chance.

I thought of the jock that’d had the locker across the hall. He’d been loud and obnoxious, the quintessential football player. Yet even though our social circles ran on different planets he always used to smile at me whenever our eyes happened to meet. I never admitted it to anyone, but sometimes those smiles were the high point of my entire day.

And I even thought of Preppy Bitch and her army of Barbie clones. Her locker had been seven down from me, the one decorated with silver heart stickers. We were never destined to be friends, but that didn’t mean I wanted her die. At least not outside my very vivid imagination.

Yet chances were she
was
dead. Chances were they all were. Every last one of them. The teachers too. Murdered for no reason other than the sick pleasure of creatures that shouldn’t have existed outside the pages of a horror story. 

“Lola, you need to keep up.”

I shook my head, snapping myself awake. Looking ahead I saw I’d fallen a good ten feet behind Maximus. Another rookie mistake. He waited impatiently for me to catch up, annoyance visible in the line creasing his forehead.

I’d almost caught up to him when a door slammed. The sound of it ricocheted down the hall, loud as a gunshot. I couldn’t help myself. I screamed, a high-pitched wail of fear that Maximus abruptly cut off with the palm of his hand.

“Quiet,” he hissed. His pointer finger curved along my top lip. His thumb buried itself in my cheek. He lowered his head, resting his temple against mine. Our eyes met and I saw myself reflected in his pupils. My face was white. My eyes huge and unblinking. I looked absolutely terrified.

So much for being a badass. One measly door slams shut and I was ready to pass out. What was I going to do when it actually came time to face Angelique? Pee my pants?

It was a distinct possibility.

“Use your fear. Control it. Make it work for you. Better?” When I nodded, Maximus slowly lowered his hand. “You can do this, Lola. For Travis.”

For Travis
.

I squared my shoulders. Took a deep, calming breath. “For Travis,” I repeated. I could be brave for him. I
would
be brave for him... if it was the last thing I did. Arm steady, aim true, I raised my gun. “Let’s go get him back.” 

We got to the end of the hall and turned left, following the main corridor. The lights remained on, the quiet hum of electricity unwavering. The silence was a thick, palpable thing, weighing heavily down on my shoulders. I couldn’t help but feel every step I took was another step closer to death. We were ensnaring ourselves deeper and deeper into a labyrinth of Angelique’s own making, and I prayed Maximus would be able to find the way out.

When I heard the laughter I froze in my tracks. It rang down the hall, gleeful and menacing all at the same time. Bile rose in the back of my throat and I swallowed it reflexively, trying not to gag on the taste.

Angelique.

She was finally ready to come out and play.

Someone whimpered. It wasn’t until Maximus took my hand that I realized it had been me. “You’re stronger than you think,” he said fiercely. “Braver than you know. You can face the darkness, Lola. And when it’s over we’ll step into the light together. All of us.”

“Isn’t this the sweetest thing. It brings tears to my eyes. It really does.” Angelique’s purring voice carried across the hall, slithering through the air like an undulating serpent. Like an actress taking center stage she slid out of the shadows and struck a pose: hand on hip, one leg thrust out, head thrown back.

She ran her fingertips down the side of her skintight red sequined gown, her nails glittering black beneath the fluorescent lights. Her sleek brown hair was elaborately curled. Her makeup flawless and topped off with lips painted the color of blood. She could have stepped straight out of the pages of a fashion magazine, and even as I trembled at the sight of her I couldn’t help but be awed by her beauty.

“I don’t recall extending a second invitation,” she said coyly.

Maximus stepped up. “I’m crashing the party.”

“That’s not very polite,” she said, her lips pushing out in a pout. 

Maximus moved with lightening quickness. One moment he was beside me, the next he was sprinting towards Angelique with the speed of a freight train, his arms blurring at his sides. She bared her teeth, silver fangs glinting under the lights as she crouched down, preparing to spring…

The gun bucked in my hand as it discharged. The bullet flew through the air, missing Angelique’s face by mere inches and embedding itself in the wall behind her head, creating a perfectly round hole in the brick. Maximus rolled to the side, flattening himself against the door to the science lab. When he looked back at me his expression was nothing short of incredulous. Angelique’s reaction was a little less controlled.

“Bitch!” she cried, her ice blue eyes flashing with malice. “You could have
shot
me!”

“That was the general idea,” I said shakily.

Angelique pointed one black tipped fingernail at me. “I’ll deal with
you
in a minute,” she hissed before her gaze snapped back to Maximus.

He pushed away from the door. They began to circle each other in the middle of the hallway while I watched, rooted to the spot. Like two feral wolves squaring off for battle they snarled and snapped, their hackles rising as they sized each other up.

Shoot her
, I willed Maximus silently.
Just kill her so we can find Travis and go home.
But when I looked at his hands I saw they were devoid of any weapon and my gun, the one I’d tossed away from me like a panic stricken idiot, had slid well out of reach.

“You marked her,” Maximus said, his voice ominously low.

“I should have killed her like I did the rest.” Angelique’s bare shoulders jerked in a careless little shrug.  “But she was so delightfully willful. It would have been a shame not to play with her first.”

Maximus growled low in his throat. “She’s not a toy.”

A smile spread slowly across Angelique’s face. “Ah, but that’s exactly what she is, Maximus.”

Maximus
? How the hell did she know his name?

“There really is no reason for you to get involved,” Angelique continued. “The girl is here. Obviously she has agreed to my terms. Herself for the boy. What else is there to discuss?”

The boy.

Travis
.

“Where is he?” I said loudly. “What have you done to him?”

Angelique’s gaze was withering. “There’s no need to shout. My hearing is exceptional, thank you very much.”

“There’s no need to kidnap people and threaten their lives, but I don’t see that stopping you,” I retorted.

As though on cue both Angelique and Maximus stopped circling and turned to face me. Maximus looked furious. Angelique looked positively delighted.