Haven (31 page)

“And you’re saying Dr. Blackwell is one too?” Cece asked, her brow furrowed. “Maybe that’s why we all think he’s cool, even though he’s actually a little creepy, if you think about it.”

“He’s got that whole ‘grandfatherly’ thing going on,” Sophie said. “He totally reminds me of Grandpa Patterson.”

Kate’s gaze shot over to Sophie. “Hey, he reminds me of my grandpa too.”

I nodded. It made sense—his grandfatherly appeal was probably what drew students to him, made them feel safe in his presence. “And all this time, Aidan thought Blackwell was protecting him,” I continued. “But now it looks like he’s handing him over to his enemies. This Friday, according to my vision.”

I suddenly realized that Marissa hadn’t said a single word since I’d started talking. She just sat there the entire time, totally silent. Just as I was wondering what she was thinking, her eyes met mine, and she nodded.

“Violet’s telling the truth,” she said suddenly.

Everyone turned to stare at her, eyes widened with surprise.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Marissa,” Kate scoffed. “You actually believe this crap?”

“Yeah, I do. What I don’t understand is why you don’t. Do you honestly think Violet would lie about something like this? Besides, I’ve got this feeling . . .” She trailed off, and I saw her shiver. “It feels like the truth. Like somehow I’ve always known, somewhere in the back of my mind.”

I wanted to hug her. Who would have thought Marissa of all people would end up defending me against the rest of them? Tears gathered in my eyes.

“Well, I believe her too,” Cece said, standing up and reaching for my hand. “I mean, is it really such a stretch? There’s all kinds of weird stuff going on here at Winterhaven, including kids who can shape-shift. Are vampires really all that more out there?”

“Yeah, they are!” Kate protested.

“No, Cece’s right,” Sophie said. “I mean, why not? I wonder if I could sense it. You know, like an illness or something?”

I nodded, squeezing Cece’s hand and then releasing it. “Probably. He says it’s some sort of blood-borne infection, a parasite or something. Like malaria. Have you ever touched Dr. Blackwell?”

Sophie shook her head. “Not once. Never had a reason to.”

“So what do we do?” Marissa asked. “What’s the plan?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead. Aidan didn’t even think you’d believe me.”

“I believe you,” Marissa said.

“Me too.” Cece.

“Yep, me too.” Sophie.

That just left Kate. “I think I must have lost my mind, but yeah, me too.”

“What about Jack—do you think he would help us?” I asked her.

Kate shrugged. “I could ask. He and Aidan spend a lot of time together. Who knows, maybe he already suspects it.”

“Joshua!” I said, letting out my breath in a rush. I’d totally forgotten about Joshua, the shape-shifter. Hadn’t he said that he owed me one—me and Aidan both? Now was the time to call in that favor. After all, he’d seen Aidan in action, seen the red eyes, the fangs. It wouldn’t be that hard to convince him.

“Who’s Joshua?” Marissa and Sophie asked in unison.

“He’s one of the shifters. Aidan and I once saved him from some jerk who was bullying him, and in return he promised to help us out if I ever needed anything. Remember that time I was talking to one of them in the dining hall? The short, blond guy? Kinda cute? That was Joshua.”

“So that makes, what? Eight of us?” Marissa held up her
fingers, ticking them off. “Against how many of them? Do we even know?”

“Julius, and two female vampires. Plus Blackwell. I think that’s it.”

“So we outnumber them two to one,” Cece said. “That sounds like pretty good odds, right?”

“Yeah, but keep in mind that they’re . . . well, vampires. They’ve got powers way beyond ours. And Aidan’s weakened by the elixir.”

“But you said you’re some kind of vampire slayer,” Marissa said. “What exactly does that mean, anyway?”

“That I can kill them. But hopefully it won’t come to that.”

Kate shook her head, looking skeptical. “You think we can just chase them away? A bunch of badass vampires on a mission?”

“I have no idea. All I know is that we’ve got to try.” Tears burned behind my eyelids, blurring my vision. “I can’t . . . I can’t just let them kill Aidan. Or worse, make
me
kill him. Because that’s their plan, you know. If you won’t help, we’ll have to fight them alone.”

Sophie glanced down at her watch. “Uh-oh, guys, ten minutes till curfew. We’ve got to go. Just tell us what to do, and we’ll do it.”

“Let’s all meet tomorrow, after sixth period. With Aidan.
I’ll try and get Joshua to join us too. Kate, you talk to Jack. Do you know where the chapel is?”

“Ugh, that creepy old place?” Marissa said with a mock shiver.

“That’s where Aidan and I usually hang out. It’s private; we never see anyone else around there. I think it’s as good a place as any to meet.”

Sophie reached for the doorknob. “Hey, at least now we know where to find you two.”

“Yeah, but if the chapel’s a-rockin’, don’t come a-knockin’,” Kate teased.

I laughed uneasily, but relief filled me as they filed out, all but Cece. Thank God they believed me. There was hope after all.

As soon as we were alone, Cece and I quickly changed into our pajamas and climbed into our beds. For the longest time, neither of us spoke, and I wondered what was going through her head.

Finally she broke the strained silence. “I can’t believe you kept all this crazy stuff a secret for so long. I mean, weren’t you going nuts?”

“A little. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you before now. It’s just . . . well, they’re Aidan’s secrets, really, and if it wasn’t a life-or-death situation—”

“No,” Cece interrupted. “I totally understand. I just feel
bad that you’ve had to go through all of this alone.”

“Well, I had Aidan. Some of the time, at least,” I added.

“What was the deal with that picture? You know, the one Jenna gave you on Valentine’s Day. I thought you two broke up over that.”

I took a deep breath, wondering if I should tell her.
Why not?
“That picture was a painting of the opera dancer I mentioned. The woman he was living with when he was made a vampire, the one who got killed.”

“But . . . but she looks just like you!” Cece stammered.

“Yeah, exactly. But he left that part out when he told me his story.” My face got hot just thinking about it. Even now I couldn’t entirely erase my doubts where Isabel was concerned. Just thinking about her made me angry.

“But what does it mean? Is it just some random coincidence, or . . . or what?”

I shook my head, staring at the ceiling, watching the shadows play across the plaster. “I have no idea. Aidan has some theories, but he doesn’t know either.”

“Well, I can see why he wouldn’t tell you. I mean, I’m sure he figured that you’d think he only liked you because you looked like her, or something like that.”

“Yeah,” I said, wincing. “That’s pretty much exactly what I thought when I found out.”

“But now you don’t?” she asked, sounding hopeful.

A slow smile spread across my face. “No, I’m pretty sure he likes me for me. At least, I think I am.”

“But . . . but how’s it ever going to work out between you two? I mean, he’s a vampire and you’re not. He’s immortal, right? Or is that just legend stuff?”

“No, it’s true. But he’s working on a cure, remember? He thinks he’s pretty close to getting it right.”

“But if he doesn’t?” Cece asked. “You’re pretty much the same age now, right? What if it takes him ten or twenty years to cure it? You’ll be that much older, and he’ll still be, what? Sixteen, seventeen?”

“Seventeen. He’s . . . he was seventeen when it happened.” My chest tightened. There was nothing worse than hearing your own fears spoken aloud. “I just have to hope he finds the cure fast, that’s all. Anyway, we’ve got Friday to get through first. One thing at a time.” Because if things went badly on Friday, the rest of it was all moot, wasn’t it?

Sweat broke out all over my body, and I shivered.
Don’t think about it now,
I told myself. “We really should go to sleep,” I said, my voice shaky. “It’s going to be a long week.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Cece said. “’Night, Violet.”

“Good night, Cee.”

* * *

“I think that’s enough for today,” Aidan said, folding his arms across his chest. “I’ve got some work to do tonight, but can everyone meet back here tomorrow, same time?”

There was murmuring, and heads nodded in unison. I think everyone was still a little afraid of him, and they hadn’t even seen the fangs or the red eyes. Except Joshua, I realized, watching him pick up his backpack and sling it over one shoulder. Yet he didn’t seem frightened. Not at all.

Neither did Jack, now that I thought about it. Then again, Jack had been working side by side with Aidan in the chem lab for years, so I guess he knew he had nothing to fear. If Aidan had wanted to hurt him, he’d had plenty of opportunity before now. Kate had said he’d barely batted an eyelash when she’d told him.

In fact, Jack was standing next to Aidan now. “Couldn’t we aerosolize it somehow?” Jack was saying, and I sidled up closer, hoping to hear a little better. “We can lure them in here and then somehow release it into the air, maybe through the ducts?”

Aidan nodded. “That’s not a bad idea. It’ll help level our abilities.”

Jack nodded. “Okay, I’ll meet you in the lab right after dinner. I think it’ll be easy to do; I’ll just compress the molecules, and . . .”

I moved away, bored by the science-speak. Instead I retrieved my bag from the corner, trying not to look at the
“gift” Aidan had presented me with when we’d first arrived at the chapel today.

A real stake, not like the blunt-end practice one I’d used before. This hawthorn stake—smooth and shiny—was sharpened to a deadly point on one end. Aidan had even crafted me a special holster-type thing to carry it in. Silly, really, because it wasn’t like I could just walk around with the thing banging against my hip. This wasn’t the Wild West.

“You need a jacket, Violet,” Aidan said, beside me now. Jack was striding back down the chapel’s center aisle, toward Kate. “You’ll have to wear your raincoat or something long enough to cover it.”

“What if it’s not raining?” I asked, hating the sight of that thing.

“Doesn’t matter. I want you wearing it at all times from now on. You can’t allow yourself to get caught unaware, okay? I have to go to the lab now.”

“That’s okay, I have the SAT prep class right after dinner,” I said with a shrug. “Though I was kind of thinking of just skipping it.” There really wasn’t any point in my going—it’s not like I was going to be able to concentrate. The SAT seemed like such an unimportant abstraction compared to the very real danger that lay ahead.

Aidan shook his head. “Don’t skip it. Just go on about your
business, as if nothing is amiss. We’ve got three more days to work out the details of the plan. You can spare an hour for your class.”

“What are you, my mother?” I muttered.

“Besides”—his mouth curved into a beautiful smile— “according to your friends’ animated conversation over there, someone they’re calling ‘Dr. Hottie’ is the instructor. Dr. Byrne, I presume? You wouldn’t want to miss out.”

I looked over his shoulder to where Sophie, Marissa, and Cece were gathered, chattering animatedly, just as he said. Forget mortal danger; there was Dr. Hottie to discuss.

“You can hear them from all the way over here?” I asked, surprised. The entire length of the chapel separated us from them.

“Easily,” he replied. “And that’s with reduced capabilities.”

“Which means Julius and his little harem will be able to hear us from even farther away,” I said with a sigh. “Great.”

“Exactly.”

“Violet, you coming?” Cece called out.

“Be right there,” I yelled back.

Aidan leaned close to my ear. “They’re wondering if we’re going to kiss good-bye.”

Almost involuntarily, I licked my lips. It had been
so
long. “Are we?”

His head dipped down toward my neck, his lips brushing across the sensitive skin below my ear. Gooseflesh prickled my skin, making me shiver.

I heard him chuckle, and then he moved away. “I think I just scared them all half to death. Go on, so they don’t think I’ve taken a bite.”

Disappointment washed over me, and my cheeks grew hot. “Gee, thanks.”

“No distractions, Violet,” he said, serious now. “And don’t forget your stake.”

He held it out to me. I took it, surprised at how
right
it felt in my hands, despite my reluctance.

“Until tomorrow, love,” he murmured in his best Lord Brompton voice.

“I’ll be sure and give Dr. Hottie your regards,” I said, shoving the stake into its holder and giving him my dirtiest look.

His eyes met mine for the briefest of seconds, and I could have sworn I saw a flicker of jealousy there.

Good.

F
riday began just like any other day. I got up, took a shower, brushed my teeth, got dressed, went to breakfast. All usual stuff, except for strapping on the stake. I found that if I tied a sweater around my waist and arranged it just right, it covered the entire stake and holster. Still, I wore my khaki Burberry trench coat, a Christmas gift from Patsy, when I wasn’t in class. At least while I walked around, I had double the concealment.

We had six classes to get through before the plan went into motion, and then everything was carefully choreographed, right down to the last detail. Everyone had a job. Cece would project to Julius, or at least attempt to. Then she would report
back on his movements. Once they were located, Joshua would move with the enemy, shifting into camouflaging shapes when necessary. Apparently he was entirely capable of doing that, as crazy as it sounded.

Jack was in charge of the aerosolized elixir, which he would release into the chapel once Julius and the females entered. Kate and Marissa would remain with me. I worried the most about this, because in my vision I’d seen both of them held against their will by the females. I made a mental note to talk to Aidan about that.