Birth of the Vampire (The Vanderlind Realm) (12 page)

After about twenty minutes of hiding in the bathroom, I felt I had pulled myself together enough to actually face the party again. I wasn’t going to stay or anything. I was just going to find Erika and tell her I was leaving in case she wanted a ride. Ashely and the Maybe-Lauras could find their own way home. All I needed to do was not burst into tears until I was in my car and at least a few blocks away from the party. Then I would have Christmas and the rest of winter vacation to lick my wounds and feel like an asshole.

There were a lot of kids at the party. It wasn’t packed, but there were at least a couple of dozen Tiburon High students milling around, talking loud, and chugging beer. At that moment, I felt like I hated them all. Where the hell was Erika?

I suddenly realized that I had a phone and that texting technology existed. I could hide in my car and text Erika. If she wanted a ride home, she could let me know. Otherwise, I could just take off. It sure beat skulking around the party. I couldn’t see Erika anywhere, but I kept feeling like that Dorian dude was monitoring me. He’d probably heard that I was a wanton woman or something, and he was thinking about making a move if it didn’t look like he could score with any of my supposed friends.

It was rude, but I decided to blow off thanking the hostess for a wonderful time. First of all, I hadn’t had a wonderful time. And besides, I sincerely doubted I would attend another of Blossom’s parties ever again. Or any party for that matter. At least not while I was still in high school. I was stupid for even thinking that maybe I could have some fun before I graduated. I needed to go back to my original plan of keeping my head down and just getting my damn diploma.

As I slipped out the side gate and started heading down the front walk, I heard some kids laughing. I immediately cut across the lawn and into the shadows. I really didn’t want to have to say anything to anyone. All I wanted was my bed.

There were about half a dozen teenagers standing around a car with the doors wide open. I suddenly realized it was Tommy’s car. The kids were all laughing, and I heard Tommy say, “I’m telling you, that’s vag blood. It’s totally from her vag.”

If at that exact moment the earth had just swallowed me up, I would have been grateful. But I knew I would never be that lucky. Instead, I just turned and ran for my car.

“Oh, my God,” I heard a girl shriek with glee. “There she is.”

There were howls of laughter, and I heard another girl call out, “Slut!”

“Sheila,” some guy said. “Take it easy.” But then I couldn’t hear anything else because the blood was pounding too loudly in my ears.

Once inside my car, I didn’t even give it time to warm up. Instead, I just took off with the tires squealing. I had no idea where I was going; I just knew I had to get the hell out of there. I couldn’t go back to Uncle Kevin’s. That was for sure. And I definitely couldn’t go back to school. Not ever. I’d have to find someplace to live and get my GED online or something. I didn’t have a ton of money saved up, but I had a couple of hundred dollars in the bank and a bank card. That would at least get me to Chicago. There were plenty of diners in Chicago where I could probably get a job. I would just work in a diner and sleep in my car until I could figure something out. But staying in Tiburon and facing all those assholes at school was not something I could bear.

It’s not a big deal. I can handle living in my car
, I told myself, even though the tears wouldn’t stop rolling down my cheeks. I stomped on the gas again, determined to get the hell out of town. It wouldn’t be that much worse living in my car than it was living with Uncle Kevin. And it wasn’t like I was leaving behind a ton of friends.

There was Debbie. She had been nothing but good to me, and I hated to leave her in the lurch. She had me pretty heavily scheduled over winter break because I really had nothing better to do. The thought of putting Debbie in a jam almost made me turn the car around. I took my job responsibilities pretty seriously. But then I thought about kids from school coming into the diner to laugh at me and whisper about me after I had taken their order. I couldn’t handle that. It would be just too humiliating. I would end up getting arrested for putting rat poison in their burgers or something. It would suck to screw over Debbie, but I would send her a long letter explaining everything, and I knew she would understand. Her exterior was that of a weather-beaten biker chick, but I knew she had a compassionate heart.

I suddenly thought of Erika. Was she one of the kids gawking at the car seats? I couldn’t remember if she had been there or not. I was pretty sure she wasn’t. Or at least I hoped she wasn’t. It wasn’t like we had been friends for a long time or anything, but she was the only person at Tiburon High who had bothered to give me the time of day. Besides, she knew the truth about Tommy. She knew he was a lying asshole. And I appreciated her doing my makeup and everything. Even if I didn’t have a boyfriend, it would have been nice to have a friend. And there I was repaying her kindness by stealing her sweater and leaving her without a ride. That definitely wasn’t cool.

Keeping my eyes on the road, I fumbled for my phone. I would just text her that I had to leave and then mail her back her sweater when I had the chance. I was glad I had it because it was much nicer than anything I owned. It would make me look less seedy when I filled out job applications in Chicago. I was sure no one would be that excited to hire a teenage runaway living in her car. I had to attempt to appear as normal as possible.

Trying to keep one eye on the road as I deadheaded for the highway, I trained the other on my phone, pulling up Erika’s number. “Hey,” I tapped out on my phone. “You were right. Tommy is a lying sack. He told everyone about what we did. I’m so humiliated I could …” It was as I was texting the word “die” that I remembered I needed to pay better attention to the road. That’s when I felt my tires go from pavement to gravel.

I dropped my phone as I jerked the wheel to get my car back on the road. But something went wrong, and instead of returning safely, I found myself careening on two wheels and in danger of flipping. I cranked the wheel the other way to steer out of it, which would have worked great if a tree hadn't suddenly appeared in front of my windshield.

I had been so busy crying and driving and trying to text Erika, that I hadn’t bothered to fasten my seat belt—a fact that I realized when I felt the glass of the windshield shatter around my face as I was propelled out of the front of the car.

Everything seemed to be moving very slowly. I could see tiny shards of glass suspended in the air all around me. It was like I was floating in the zero gravity of outer space. The light from a nearby street lamp illuminated the pieces of glass, and part of my brain took time to marvel at their beauty.

There was pain. It was excruciating pain, actually. But it was a pain that I was more aware of as existing than a pain that I actually felt.

People always tell you, “Don’t text and drive. Don’t text and drive,” and you kind of listen, but you don’t really listen. And you especially don’t listen when you are upset and fleeing a party where your rat-faced fake boyfriend has just humiliated you in front of the entire school. It was true that the entire student body hadn’t been standing outside Tommy’s mom’s car, but Tiburon was a small school in a small town. I knew by tomorrow morning everyone in the entire school would know that Tommy Sherman had devirginized me, and I had bled on the seats of his mother’s Mercury Sable.

The tree was getting closer as I floated along. I could see it looming in front of me. There was no way I could twist my body to avoid it. I was going to smash into the tree, and that would be the end of Haley Scott. I knew my mom would be upset. She was crazy, but I knew she loved me. That was about it, really, as far as people actually caring. Some kids at school would feign being upset. Some girls might even cry. But they wouldn’t be crying for me. Not really. They’d be crying for attention or for the love of drama or for fear of their own deaths. But they wouldn’t be crying for Haley Scott. And that Sheila chick would still probably call me a slut. She was the kind of girl that never felt remorse.

A thought occurred to me. Tomorrow was Christmas. I was about to die, and tomorrow would be Christmas.

That was okay, I decided. I’d always hated Christmas.

Chapter 18

Dorian

I probably should have left with my cousin and his charming mate. That would have been the sane thing to do. But I admit I was intrigued by the little drama playing out between the humans, and I wanted to see how it would end. Plus, I was concerned for Haley. She had the scent of blood on her, and Jessie was convinced there was a rogue vampire lurking about. I didn’t want to see such a sharp mind be transformed into a quick snack for the undead. I would see her home. It was the gentlemanly thing to do.

Plus, I was pretty sure she and Erika had arrived together. I wasn’t going to harm Erika, but I did have idle thoughts of turning her into an immortal beauty. Not with any serious intent, mind you, but it was fun to think about. I could use the thoughts to while away the hours when I couldn’t find any rest and had to just lie in my coffin, staring at the lid.

But things didn’t go as I’d planned. The nonsense from the brutish boy had Haley so upset that she was sneaking out of the party alone. I wanted to stay and keep watch over Erika. If I was a rogue vampire, she would have definitely tempted me. But something compelled me to follow Haley. I had become quickly addicted to watching her mortal exploits, and I wanted to know what she was going to do next.

She was probably just heading home to cry into her pillow. But I somehow felt there was more to the story. I wanted to know where she lived and what she did with her time. She expressed thoughts that were so different from her peers. If I believed in something as foolish as reincarnation, I would say that she was an old soul.

An old soul that had absolutely no idea how to drive.

Something had gone wrong while Haley was leaving the house. I’d followed her at a discrete distance as she’d slipped out of the gate. There was a bunch of kids standing around outside somebody’s car. They were all laughing and pointing at something. Whatever it was, it had made Haley horribly upset. One of the girls noticed her, and the kids all laughed and jeered as she ran for her car.

I couldn’t figure it out. There was some talk of blood, and I could smell the aroma of dried blood in the air. But then Haley was in her car and driving like a bat out of hell, so I didn’t have time to investigate further.

I stuck to the tree line, flying low in order to easily follow the girl’s car as she careened along. Haley seemed to have forgotten that the goal of driving was to keep the vehicle between the lines painted on the road. Her car kept drifting to one side and then the other. She must have been drunk or asleep or something because there was no way she was paying attention to the road. She was being so reckless I was beginning to wonder if I should do something to stop her.

And then, before my very eyes, she veered off the road, swerved for a moment, and then crashed into a tree. It all took place in just a few seconds. I dived for the car, although at that point I’m not sure what I thought I could accomplish. Haley’s body came bursting through the windshield and smacked against the tree with a sickening thud.

There was blood everywhere. Haley’s skull had been crushed, her pretty face nothing more than a squishy pulp. Every part of her seemed to be oozing red. She was going to bleed out and die. It was only going to be a matter of minutes. And even if she didn’t die, she was definitely going to have irreparable brain damage. There was no doubt in my mind. There was so much red everywhere. I felt my own blood begin to sing.

I landed on the ground next to the car. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how things had gone so wrong so quickly. I considered searching for the girl’s phone and calling 911. That would have been a very mortal thing to do, and it pleased me that I still had such an impulse. Even if it did flash past rather quickly.

It would have been so easy just to gorge myself. Haley’s fresh, young blood was just pouring out of her and seeping into the soil. She wasn’t going to need it for much longer, and I hadn’t supped directly from a young woman in weeks. I felt temptation grab hold of me.

I approached the girl and squatted down. She moaned softly, hovering somewhere between life and death. “Haley,” I said to her. “I am going to drink from you now. You’re dying anyway, and this will end your suffering all the faster.”

She made a sound, words forming on her torn lips. Flecks of blood sprayed through the air as she exhaled. I wasn’t sure if I’d heard her right, but it sounded very much like she’d said, “It’s doesn’t matter.”

Chapter 19

Haley

When I woke up, I felt soil pressing on my face. Everything was pitch black. I instantly knew that I had been buried alive. Some serial killer must have attacked me and buried me alive. I started to scream, but that only got dirt in my mouth. I couldn’t breathe. I was going to suffocate. I started flailing my arms and legs, trying to get to the surface. If I was lucky, I’d only been stuck in a shallow grave.

I felt something move next to me. An arm gripped me across my chest and growled, “Stop moving. We’re not that deep.”

I screamed again and then started choking on the wad of dirt I’d inhaled. “I can’t breathe,” I said between coughs. “I can’t breathe.”

“You don’t need to breathe,” the voice informed me. “You just think you do out of habit. Now calm down.”

Funnily enough, I discovered the voice was right. I could breathe. Or I didn’t need to breathe. I wasn’t sure which, but I did realize I wasn’t about to suffocate. “Who are you?” I demanded, “What’s going on.” When he didn’t answer right away, I added, “Why are we down here? What did you do to me?”

“Calm down and breathe,” the voice said sternly.

“You just said I didn’t have to breathe,” I informed him, feeling panicked again. “Let me go. I’m getting the hell out of here.”

“Calm down!” the voice thundered, gripping me even more fiercely. “I was just using a figure of speech. The sun hasn’t set yet. If you try to leave now, you’ll fry both of us.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. How was I going to fry someone? It didn’t make any sense. I took a moment to fight down my panic and finally asked, “Who are you?”

“I am Dorian Vanderlind,” he told me. “I am your maker.”

Dorian Vanderlind? I tried to place the name. It was vaguely familiar. Did I know him somehow? That still didn’t explain why we were both huddled in some damn hole in the ground. And what the hell was a maker? I took a quick mental inventory and realized I still had on all my clothes. That was good. After my fiasco with Tommy, I really didn’t need another creep taking advantage of me while I was passed out or something.

The name Tommy jarred something loose in my head. I remembered that Tommy was a complete asshole who had used me and then humiliated me. That was something that was hard to forget. I’d been at a party, and he was there being a jerk. And there was the super hot but kind of creepy Dorian guy. I remembered him, too. Then I’d been driving. And trying to text Erika. And then there was the tree. I remembered the tree.

“Don’t text and drive,” I mumbled as all the memories came flooding back.

“Is that what you were doing?” he said, sounding slightly amused. “I couldn’t figure it out. I knew it had to be something incredibly stupid.”

I had a headache. In fact, I was starving, and my entire body hurt. It was no surprise. I had collided with a tree. I had to wonder why I was lying in the ground instead of some hospital bed in intensive care. Or on a slab in the morgue. I remembered going through the windshield. I remembered face planting into the tree. And it had been a sizeable tree. Like an oak or something. I really had to wonder why I wasn’t dead.

“So, why are we taking this dirt nap?” I asked him. “And when can we get up?”

“The sun will be setting soon,” he informed me. “Can’t you feel it?”

“Um … no,” I said. Dorian was obviously a weird dude.

“You will learn,” he said, as if there was no doubt in his mind. “Just give it a few more minutes, and it will be safe for us to rise.”

I actually didn’t want to lie in a hole in the ground with some creepy hot guy. I wanted to go home and get something to eat, then lie on my bed and not think about anything for as long as I could. My car was probably trashed, so there was no way that it was going to be able to take me to Chicago. I had to come up with a new plan to get the hell out of town.

It was probably past midnight. It was probably Christmas, and I was stuck in a hole in the ground. But then I thought about Dorian saying we were waiting for the sun to set. That didn’t make sense. The sun had already set before I went to Blossom’s party.

“What time is it?” I asked.

“A little after five,” was his reply.

That didn’t make a lot of sense either, so I had a follow-up question. “What day is it?”

“December 25th,” Dorian told me. “Happy Christmas.”

“Um ... Thanks?” I said. Had we seriously been lying in a hole for the last twenty hours or more?

“I think we can get up now,” Dorian said, releasing me and shifting his weight to sit up. “But be careful. You’re going to feel very different, and it takes some getting used to.”

As I sat up, my head emerged from the earth. I had this intense sensation that at first I couldn’t identify. It was as if I could feel all of my surroundings. Then I realized I could smell everything—the earth, the trees, the plants, the sunset. Yes, I actually felt like I could smell the last fading rays of the day. My head started throbbing, and my body felt like the time when I had fallen asleep on a towel at the public pool. I’d been burnt to a lobster red and was in horrible pain for days. “What the hell is happening?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Don’t look at the final rays of the sun,” Dorian told me. He had gotten to his feet and was extending his hand to help me up. “It will be easier in just another minute or two.”