Love & War Book 1 in the Arcadia Falls Chronicles (7 page)

“Well, don’t you two look nice!” Drew and
Oscar both looked up when Christina announced our entrance.

She was right. They both wore nice pairs of
jeans and their combat boots, but Oscar had on a white
short-sleeved, button-down shirt and Drew had on a black one. He
had his blond hair styled in a sort of punk look. It wasn’t very
long, so he normally just let it lay down.

Both of them looked up when we had entered
the room. It was an awkward moment, because both guys took an
excruciatingly long time examining us. I didn’t dress up that
often. I liked to look cute, but I didn’t normally take a lot of
time with all that primping some 'normal' girls did.

“Let us in there, you guys.” I squeezed in
between them. “We need a few things.”

“What do you need?” Drew slammed a loaded
magazine into his gun and lifted his shirt so he could holster it.
He had a double holster, a gun on each side. His holster also had
special-made pockets on the straps for his throwing stars.

“Alice needs a gun. She doesn’t have her own
yet.”

Alice frowned. “I wish I could take a sword,
but I don’t think that would fly.”

I smiled, picturing Alice waltzing into a
club with a sword strapped to her hip. It seemed more like a way to
land herself a night in jail than to keep herself safe.

Drew handed me a .380, a small silver
handgun that was extremely lightweight.

“Here take this one.”

“Oh, this is perfect for her.” I checked the
magazine, replaced it and handed it to Alice. “Here. This should
fit in your purse.”

“Thanks.” She accepted the gun, holding it
like it was a grenade, and tucked it into her purse. Drew loaded an
extra magazine for her and gave her that, too.

“Just in case,” he told her.

She nodded, knowing she had to be
prepared.

“Can we go now?” Christina stood by the
staircase with her bag over her shoulder and one hand on her hip,
looking bored.

“Calm down,” Drew told her. “We'll leave
soon enough.”

Luke came around the corner just then and
narrowed his eyes when he saw us all crowded over the arsenal in
the closet. “What are you guys doing?”

I didn’t like lying to Luke, and I wasn’t
about to start.

“We’re going to find that guy from the news,
the vigilante vampire killer.”

Luke narrowed his eyebrows. “And you know
where to find him?”

“Christina has a source.” Drew folded the
closet doors shut. “Do I look like I’m packing?” He smoothed down
his shirt. “Or should I wear a jacket?”

“You look great!” I told him with a
grin.

Christina rolled her eyes. “Oh,
please
. Seriously, can we go now?” She jingled her keys.
“I’m driving.”

Luke examined us carefully, a group who
claimed to be going out on a mission but looked like we were headed
to a party. I gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

“Don’t worry. We will be fine,” I told
him.

He nodded. “I know. Call if you need
anything.”

Oscar slid his leather jacket on and held
Alice’s jacket for her. We might have looked great, but it was
still freezing out there and we needed coats. Christina had already
gone out to start her car.

“I don’t know why we have to ride with her,”
I mumbled. I put on the thigh length leather jacket I had found in
my mother’s things.

Drew held the door open for me, shooing me
out. “Because she is the only one with a car we can all fit in. We
can’t go in my truck or on Oscar’s bike."

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, but still, hanging
out with Christina isn’t my idea of the ideal evening.”

“Ignore her,” Drew told me and shut the door
behind us.

~~~***~~~

It was clear and cold out. The night sky was
bright with stars and a huge almost-full moon. For me, there was no
such thing as a perfect night any more. The darkness brought
vampires, and as long as they were around, the night would be my
enemy, too.

Alice sat in the front next to Christina,
while I sat in the back in between Oscar and Drew. The city was
always crowded, day or night, so the traffic was thick. It seemed
to take forever, but we finally arrived downtown. We found a place
to park about a block from the club. I guess that wasn’t too bad,
considering the busy street. There was no line outside the club
like I'd on television. The club was just a hole in the wall.

“Christina, are you sure we can go in
there?”

She led the way, about five steps in front
of us.

She sighed. “Yes, Chloe, I’m sure. Why would
I have brought you here if you couldn’t go in?”

I frowned. “It’s just that it looks, well…
trashy and adult.”

“It is trashy. We aren’t exactly in the most
upscale part of town. There is a guy just inside the door who will
check your ID, so get it out so he doesn’t see your gun. He will
stamp your hand so it says you’re underage so the bartender won’t
serve you booze.”

The deep bass of the techno music met us
long before we arrived at the entrance. I opened my purse and took
out my ID before we got to the door. It was a little creepy. The
door didn’t even have a sign on it telling us the name of the club.
I wondered what people called the place if it didn’t have a
name.

With my ID in one hand, I took Drew’s hand
in my other and took a deep breath when he pulled open the heavy
door to let us in. The air was heavy with the salty scent of sweat.
A gargantuan man with his head shaved bald stood just inside the
door. He wore a black tee shirt that stated he was security.

“Hey, Mike.” Christina waved.

“Christina!” Mike lifted his massive arm and
gave her a side hug. “Where’ve you been girl?”

She returned his hug.

“Just been busy.” She gestured to us. “I
brought my friends this time.”

I could not believe she actually hung out
here. I glanced at Drew and raised my eyebrows in question. He just
shrugged in response. I guess he didn’t know anything about it
either.

“Okay, crew, I’m going to need to see your
IDs.” Mike held out his hand, and without asking for her ID, he
stamped the back of Christina’s hand. It was a fluorescent pink
stamp with large black letters that said ‘Minor’.

I lifted my arm, ID in hand and let Mike
look at it and give me a stamp, too. We all got one except for
Alice and Oscar.

“There you go. You’re all set,” Mike told
us.

“Thanks, Mike. This way, you guys.”

We moved on, into the belly of the club. I’d
never been any place like it before. It was both fascinating and
frightening at the same time. The place was mostly dark, except for
flashing colored lights and some dim hanging lamps above the bar
and the tables.

Somehow, we managed to squeeze through the
hot sweaty bodies and follow Christina to the far wall, where there
were several sets of couches and coffee tables. Anxious to get away
from the crowd, I lunged for the couch and sat on the black,
velvety cushions. Everyone else, except for Drew, followed. We
crammed ourselves into the small area. Drew preferred to stand
where he could see everything going on.

“So what now?” I yelled over the music at
Christina.

She leaned over the coffee table from her
spot on the couch across from me.

“Just keep your eyes peeled for anything
that looks suspicious,” she yelled.

Great, guess I better get out my big
magnifying glass and search for clues.

“I’m going to get something to drink,” I
hollered at Drew. He held his hand out, indicating he would go with
me.

After another round of pushing and shoving
through the crowd, we finally made it to the bar.

“What’ll it be?” the bartender asked after
he finally made his way over to us.

“Two sodas,” Drew told him, reaching for his
wallet.

“Make that four.”

Oscar appeared behind us, holding up a
twenty dollar bill.

The bartender nodded and quickly poured the
fizzy beverages.

“Here you are,” he hollered.

“Thanks!” I yelled back, trying to make sure
he heard me.

I reached for the drinks, which happened to
be in classy plastic cups, and turned to face the crowd.

“So what are we looking for, exactly?” I
asked, handing Drew his drink.

He shrugged. “Hard to say.”

He plucked the straw out of his drink and
flipped it onto the bar. “Just keep your eyes peeled for suspicious
behavior.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “You know, someone who acts the
way a vigilante vampire hunter might act.”

“This is so weird.” I sighed, leaning back
against the bar.

Oscar leaned back next to me. “Christina
sure is vague about her
tip
.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, tell me about
it.”

Drew shook his head. “Christina might not
tell us everything, but she is usually right. She has friends all
over the place.”

Oscar swished his soda with the straw, but
then he opted to toss it on the bar like Drew had. “How? Don’t you
guys usually stick to yourselves? I mean, to your own
community?”

Alice approached while Drew rolled his eyes.
“Oscar, we can go outside the community when we aren’t on a
mission. We aren’t locked in.”

“I know that,” Oscar fired back with slanted
eyes. “I just mean, most of you don’t want to go out into the
city.”

He handed Alice her soda.

Drew shook his head. “No, we don’t, but that
doesn’t mean we don’t know anyone else. As for Christina, she is
one who actually likes to frequent the cities. We shouldn’t
complain. Her contacts have helped us with a lot of missions.”

Man, he was always defending her. I guess
that’s was just how it was for the folks in Arcadia Falls who have
known each other their entire lives. Still, it bugged me, mostly
because I knew Christina and Drew had dated. But, hey, what could I
do?

Oscar decided to let the topic of Christina
drop and stayed silent.

“Come on, you guys,” Alice beckoned with a
wave of her hand. “Let’s go sit down.”

We squeezed through the crowd and tried not
to spill our drinks. Suddenly, I felt the back of my neck tingle.
It’s hard to explain, but it wasn’t the normal vampire tingle,
although it was similar. I stopped in the crowd and looked around.
All I could see were bouncing bodies and flashing lights. I looked
to Drew for confirmation of the vampire tingle, but he didn’t
appear to notice.

“Wait!” I grabbed the back of Drew’s shirt
and stopped. “Something isn’t right.”

“What is it?” he scanned the crowd to look
for evidence of my claim.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I just feel
something—” My voice dwindled off mid-word when my gaze settled on
a guy with dark hair and a leather jacket. He danced with a drink
held high in his hand, and there were hot slutty-looking girls
pretty much rubbing themselves all over him.

“Ugh.”

“What?” Oscar had been checking out the
crowd, too.

Again, I shook my head.

“I don’t know.” I didn’t know what the heck
the tingle meant, but for some reason, I just knew he was the guy
we were looking for.

I pointed at him. “That guy, we need to keep
an eye on him.”

“Screw that, I’m going to talk to him.”
Christina had pretty much materialized beside me. “He’s hot anyway,
so what’s it going hurt either way?”

She smiled and flipped her hair before she
pushed back into the crowd of dancing bodies.

Oscar quickly followed with Alice’s hand
grasped firmly in his.

“I’m not going to miss this,” he declared.
They disappeared into the crowd.

Drew shrugged and followed Oscar. I had no
choice but to grab onto Drew so I didn’t lose them. I let him pull
me along while we wrangled our way to where Christina was about to
interrogate the dark-haired stranger.

Finally, Christina came into view. She had
managed to acquire a spot beside him. She danced close to him, and
in true Christina style, she was completely inappropriate. She
reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt in her fist and
yanked him toward her.

Now that I was able to get a better look at
him, I could tell already he was a typical bad boy. Dark brown eyes
twinkled with sarcasm, and his black hair was cut into a trendy
sort of spiked-up style. His leather jacket was open to reveal the
white tee shirt Christina still held in her fist.

I watched closely while his hand, the hand
that wasn’t holding his drink, slithered down to Christina's hip.
He grinned down at her.

Discreetly, Christina grasped his hand
before it reached her thigh, where her knives were strapped. She
lifted his hand up and placed it on her shoulder. She smiled up at
him in return.

Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I
wished I could be as confident around guys as she was.

Drew circled behind me, bringing his arms
around my waist. I sucked in my breath. Even though Drew and I had
been together for a while, I still felt butterflies in my stomach
when he touched me like that.

“Why don’t we dance?” he whispered. I could
feel his breath on my neck.

“Seriously?” I was shocked he would suggest
such a thing. Drew wasn’t really the dancing kind of guy.

I had gone to a dance with Drew once shortly
after we'd first started to date, and we had mostly stood around
and drank punch all night. I hated to admit, and I never would to
him, that I had had a better time when I had gone with Gavin to the
New Year's Bash the year before. Gavin and I had only been at the
dance for a short time, but it had been wonderful. I could still
see the glitter and sparkly stuff that looked like it had exploded
in the gym.

Dammit! I can’t think about Gavin while
dancing with Drew,
I reminded myself.

“Yeah, seriously.” Drew moved with the music
behind me and then circled around so he stood in front of me. He
leaned in close until his lips touched my ear. “We need to look
busy, instead of just staring at them.”