Birth of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm) (9 page)

“As if that’s an excuse,” the other girl said. She opened her mouth to share more of her opinion about my attendance when the hostess of the party hurried over.

“Erika, hi,” Blossom Coster said, inserting herself between Sheila and me. “I’m so glad you could make it. Who’s your friend?”

“You know Haley,” Erika said. “She moved here a couple of months ago.”

“Haley. Oh, hi.” Blossom flashed me a big smile. “I’m sorry. Of course I know who you are. I just didn’t recognize you.”

“Hi,” I said, immediately feeling grateful toward the hostess for elbowing Sheila out of the way. “I know I wasn’t exactly invited, but thanks for having me.”

“It’s not exactly a fancy invitation-type party,” Blossom assured me. “You go to Tiburon and you’re friends with Erika, so that’s good enough for me.” She gestured toward a table with an actual tablecloth that was ladened with food. “Help yourself to something to eat. There’s punch, but watch out because it has a special kick. And I think some of the guys brought beer, but you’ll have to ask them if you want one of those,” she said.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, scanning the party for Tommy. I couldn’t see him, but there were quite a few guys running around the backyard, so I couldn’t tell if he was already there.

“Okay, well, have fun,” Blossom said, then darted off to welcome some new guests.

As I walked over to the refreshments table, I could feel Sheila was staring at me like I was something gross stuck to the bottom of her shoe. It came as a surprise, but it turned out that I had a nemesis. I didn’t know why she was my nemesis because before her trying to get me booted from the party I hadn’t even exchanged two words with her, but that was beside the point. She apparently liked Tommy, and I was dating Tommy, so that was reason enough, I guess. That kind of behavior was something I really hated about a lot of girls.

I was starting to place Sheila in my mind. I was pretty sure we had English together. Because I was new, I didn’t know everyone in every class. But one new student in a small-town high school is easy enough for everyone else to memorize.

“You going to have any punch?” Erika asked. I hadn’t realized she’d walked up next to me.

I looked down at the table. “There’s an actual punch bowl,” I couldn’t help but exclaim. “With matching cups.”

“Yeah, Blossom’s mom has a catering business, so they have all the gear,” she told me. “But the punch has got a lot of booze in it, just so you know.”

“Oh.” I had been reaching for a cup just for the novelty of using a punch bowl but stopped. “I hope you don’t think I’m too big of a dork, but I don’t really drink much. I mean,” I amended, “I never have.”

“Yeah,” Erika said, nodding and clasping her hands behind her back. “Me neither. I mean, I tried some vodka once, and I felt like total crap for like a week. I’ve never really tried anything since then.”

We both looked at the bowl some more. Finally, I said, “Let’s put some Sprite in the cups and throw in some fruit to make it fancy. We can always have some actual punch later if we want.” Then I thought of something and added, “But I probably won’t anyway because I’m driving.”

“Great idea,” Erika said in a low voice, grabbing a liter bottle of Sprite off the table and kind of shielding it with her body as she opened it. “I hope you don’t think I’m insecure, but I really hate it when people make fun of me for not drinking.”

I gave her a smile of understanding. Erika was so pretty. Plus, she was a model. And she somehow thought she was insecure. I leaned forward and said in a low voice, “I seriously doubt you could be more insecure than me.”

After we filled our cups, one of the girls who were possibly named Laura came bounding over. “Have you noticed there are some dangerously hot guys here tonight?” she asked in an overly bright voice.

I did another scan of the party for Tommy. Was he hiding behind the garbage bins or what? But as I was scanning, I did happen to notice two ridiculously attractive guys standing to one side of the patio appearing aloof and all male model-y. They looked like transplants from a teen movie where the characters are all supposed to be sixteen, but the actors playing the characters are super buff and obviously more like twenty-four. Besides the fact that they were on the pale side, they both looked like they could model underwear for Calvin Klein.

One had dark hair and appeared to be dating a girl named Aurora from my class. At least I assumed they were dating because she kept looking up at him with love-struck eyes, and he had his arm around her. His lips were full; his dark hair was ruffled; and he wore a blue-gray cable-knit sweater with dark pants. I could tell from halfway across the party his clothes were expensive.

The other had blond hair that obviously hung past his chin, but he wore it pulled back in a low ponytail. He wasn’t clean shaven, and he was wearing a motorcycle jacket with some type of old-timey looking white linen shirt underneath that I was sure cost more than my entire wardrobe combined. I guess he was going for some kind of biker look because he had on dark jeans and black boots. It was definitely not the way any of the boys dressed at Tiburon High.

If given the choice between dark and brooding or blond and brooding, I would have definitely gone blond. He was definitely pulling off the bad-boy look. Not that I would ever stand a chance with either guy, but guys drooled all the time over hot chicks that they never stood a chance in hell of dating, so I didn’t see why I couldn’t play make-believe for a moment.

“Who are they?” Erika asked, obviously as stunned by their appearance as I was.

“The one with the black hair is dating Aurora Keys,” Maybe-Laura reported. “The other one is his cousin visiting for Christmas.”

“Wow,” Erika breathed out in a whisper, quickly running a hand over her long, silky hair. “They are so inappropriately good looking.” And this was from the prettiest girl I had ever met.

I had to agree. I needed to find Tommy. And make him keep his word. And try to make some kind of life out of my last few months in high school. I didn’t need to feel all self-conscious because there were super-hot dudes strutting around. They needed to just go to New York or Paris or wherever, rather than cruising high school parties in the middle of Ohio. It was kind of weird.

“You should talk to him,” Maybe-Laura was saying, urging Erika in the blond’s direction. “If you got together, think how hot your babies would be.”

“They wouldn’t be that hot,” Ashley said, appearing at my elbow from out of nowhere. When Maybe-Laura and I gave her a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look, she hurriedly added, “Well, not as hot as if he did it with me,” and then laughed a little to show that she was totally kidding.

“I think he can hear us,” I said in a quiet voice, my jaws clenched. The blond hottie started looking in our direction.

“So what if he can?” Ashley said. “I’m sure he owns a mirror. He probably already knows he’s hot.” My cousin obviously didn’t know the definition of the word “discrete.”

“Good evening, ladies,” the gorgeous blond said as he approached the food table. “How are you enjoying the punch?”

“It’s great,” Ashley told him, even though it was very obvious she didn’t have a cup in her hand. “Why don’t I pour you some?” She eagerly grabbed the ladle hooked over the side of the punch bowl.

“Thank you,” he said in reply. “That’s very kind of you.”

I could see how things would go if they started dating. Ashley would become his obedient little servant, doing every little thing for him in order to date him. Then, once she felt secure that he cared, she would start complaining that he expected her to serve him, even though she was the one that had trained him that way.

A few more females showed up from out of the woodwork, including Sheila and the second Maybe-Laura.

“So you’re a Vanderlind?” Ashley asked, trying to position her body to exclude the rest of the girls, even though I was sure he had headed in our direction to speak to Erika.

“That’s right,” he said as he accepted the dripping glass of punch she handed him. “But I haven’t visited in quite a long time.”

“Who are the Vanderlinds?” I asked Erika in a quiet voice. I’d said it so quietly that I knew he couldn’t hear me, but he still glanced in our direction. Probably to check out Erika some more. The twinkle lights were making her look even more gorgeous and exotic than usual.

“They’re that mega-rich family that lives in that crazy castle on the river,” she whispered.

I had seen the castle. It was one of the few interesting things about Tiburon. It was apparently a genuine medieval fortress from Europe that had been moved stone by stone to America sometime back in the twenties or thirties. “The family is super reclusive, though,” she added. “I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a Vanderlind before this, and I’ve lived here practically my whole life. It’s like spotting a chupacabra or something.”

I thought I saw the handsome blond smirk. Maybe he could hear us. Did the unusually good looking have super-powered hearing or something?

I finally spotted Tommy sprinting across the backyard. A couple of the guys were tossing cans of soda around like they were running plays for football. I was stung that he didn’t come over to greet me. I tried to convince myself that maybe he just hadn’t seen me yet.

Chapter 13

Dorian

I was receiving much more attention from the females at the mortal party than I would have at any vampire ball or pleasure retreat. Not that I didn’t attract the opposite sex of the undead—that had never been a problem for me as a human or an immortal—but vampiresses tended to play it cool, not swarm all over a fellow like the young ladies of Tiburon. It felt a bit like I’d stumbled into a flock of twittering birds.

There was one mortal female who immediately caught my eye. She wasn’t like the other girls in appearance or manner. She had long, silky black hair—the kind that is so black it almost appears to have blue lowlights underneath. Her eyes were wide and a bright blue, but a slight epicanthic fold to her eyelids indicated that she was a magical mix of Caucasian and Asian. She would have made a wonderful vampiress, and I felt a little quiver of excitement just thinking about the possibilities. Not that I was looking to become a maker any time in the next century, but it was exciting to think about showing such a beauty all the wonders of the undead world.

Much to the girl’s credit, she was not one of the females vying so desperately for my attention. I wasn’t even using my influence to control their behavior, and yet still there were a few girls dancing around in front of me in hopes of displaying their bodies to the best advantage. None of them were graceful enough to appear enticing, but I appreciated the effort—if only for my own amusement.

I gleaned that the beauty’s name was Erika. She stood to one side with a friend—part of the group but decidedly on the edge. I watched her covertly as the other girls tried to engage me in conversation. How did such an exotic creature end up in the middle of Ohio? I had to wonder. I yearned to know her better but knew I was just being foolish. Besides this brief moment, our worlds would never touch again. And all the better for her.

I realized that I was thinking noble thoughts and had to laugh at myself. I must have been feeling a little drunk on the heady scent of youthful blood that was surrounding me.

Where young ladies cluster, young gentlemen will soon follow. It wasn’t long until the mortal males started trying to infiltrate the harem that had collected around me. A few of them even had the audacity to get mildly confrontational with me. I let it all roll off me like water while stepping out of the tub. I knew none of them was being intentionally suicidal. I could have easily ripped the throats out of two or three of the boys and enjoyed the delights that flowed so richly under the mortal skin. But a killing spree was a vulgar affair and would have been rather rude to our hostess, not to mention my cousin’s mortal pet, who had been kind enough to include me in the invitation.