Sixteen Going on Undead (20 page)

The elders were all face down on the ground except Jett, who was wobbling on his feet in front of my dad. I got up and walked over to them. My dad looked scary with his brown skin all
glowy
, and his fangs out. Veins bulged in his forehead and neck. I felt mine, praying I wouldn’t look like that—ever.

Jett’s drooping eyes shifted from my dad to me. “You can’t protect her forever. Someone is going to find out
who
she is and what she can do, and they’re going to come after her. She’ll be hunted for eternity. You’re the last of the day walkers.” He lifted a heavy hand to his neck, and I noticed blood on his fingers when he brought them down to look at them. “At least let us use her once, to change ourselves. We can grow our numbers and be a fighting force against everyone else out there.”

My dad shook his head. “Not going to happen. I’ve seen your research. You’d make my daughter a guinea pig. She’d suffer forever. I’ll put all of you in the grave before I let you get her. Now, pick up your people and go.”

I couldn’t believe him. “You’re going to let them live? After what they did? They’re not going to stop, Dad, and I’m not living like a prisoner either.” I was about to jump Jett and finish it even if my stomach was exploding with butterflies at the thought. I wasn’t going to give up my life for these people or my dad either. Not like they wanted.

In the middle of my leap forward, my dad caught me and pushed me back. “No, Tanesha. I’m handling this. Don’t worry.”

I
was
worried, and with good reason. Jett acted like he was grateful for my dad letting him go. He turned away, his eyes on the ground and a frown on his ashen face. But just that quick, he came back, flying at my dad one last time. What an idiot. My dad caught him in one hand by the neck. He squeezed, and I had to look away, but the next thing I knew Jett was on the ground unmoving. I was pretty sure homeboy wasn’t getting up again this century.

The other elders came around slowly like they had been unconscious. They all looked over at Jett and then at me and my dad. None of them showed any emotion like they couldn’t care less that he was dead, but I wasn’t fooled. Now that I was fully one of them, I picked up what they were feeling. Some felt hopeless. Others felt relieved. Most were scared of my dad, and they all helped each other and limped out of the clearing. A slight wind blew through the trees. I knew they were off to find blood so they could rebuild their strength. I just hoped that nobody would get it into their head that they could ever beat my dad.

Pride swelled in my chest, and I felt like I could forgive him for lying to me all these years. I realized he had only been trying to protect me. Not really liking all the hugging and kissing stuff with my parents, I tossed it aside just this once and threw myself into his arms. He crushed me in a tight hug and kissed the top of my head. He was not like the other vampires. He was warm, and his hard muscles felt like any other man’s who worked out. Not like Lorcan who felt like steel.

While I stayed there, feeling safe and content for the first time in seemingly forever, I wondered what he would think about me dating Lorcan. After all Lorcan had been a part of the enemy’s coven. He had allowed Blake to take me to them. Then I sighed. Shoot, I was the undead now. My dad couldn’t actually tell me what to do. That was for the living.

“Tanesha,” my dad growled over my head, “your mind is still an open book, you know!”

I chuckled. “Oh, snap.”

He held me back from him and glared at me. “We’ll talk later about him.” He pointed with his chin over my shoulder.

“Uh, yeah,” I agreed, nervous. “Sure, Dad.”

He let me go and rolled his shoulders while walking toward the edge of the clearing. I just stood there watching him go, when he called back over his shoulder, “Get your friend, Tanesha, and let’s go. I’m taking you back to my house. I don’t feel like
glamouring
your mother so she doesn’t ask questions about us showing up at this time.”

I frowned. “Uh, Dad, just how many times have you done that to Ma?”

“You don’t want to know.”

* * * *

Back in school, I sat at my desk in homeroom glancing out the window at the bright, sunny day. That was one good thing about who I was. Even though I lived off of blood, it wasn’t the trip I thought it would be because like my father, I could exist in the day just fine, and I could still eat regular food. The only problem was sometimes I had trouble filtering out humans’ thoughts, and I didn’t know my own strength. I mean for real, how do you act all cute and feminine with hot guys around when you could bench press their entire bodies with one pinky?

I yanked on my short uniform skirt, hoping the teacher wouldn’t notice its length, and crossed my legs. Leaning toward Ronnie at the next desk, I asked, “So I don’t get it. If a vampire can force a grunt to be a slave, then how did your sister betray that? Why did she double cross my dad?”

Ronnie didn’t look like he wanted to answer, and I tried to feel around in his head to get the answers myself, but grunt minds were different than humans. It was all hazy. His eyebrows lowered over his clear brown eyes, and he frowned to let me know he knew what I was trying to do. At least I could see his eyes now that I had insisted he lose the glasses. Grunts didn’t need them any more than vampires did. We were working on his nerd image too. It was fun. I could make over Ronnie to whatever I wanted, even though it annoyed him that I treated him like my new toy. Whatever, he was still my best friend, so we were cool.

“Well?” I asked him again.

He sighed. “If a vampire can force a grunt to drink his blood, he can then force the grunt to obey him. That will last forever unless the master releases him or another vampire forces him to drink
his
blood.”

My eyes widened. “Whoa. For real?”

He nodded.

“So you think Jett did that to Mrs. Knowles, I mean your sister?”

“Yeah.” He looked so sad, I patted his hand. Mrs. Knowles had disappeared, and my dad hadn’t been able to track her down. I found out that the person she had been speaking to in the grocery store that day was my dad, but by then she’d already become Jett’s slave, and she was just trying to set me up. Also, every time I thought I was somewhere alone, Ronnie had been there. That’s why he had been up around the doctor’s office. He’d even known the vampires were out. Stupid
me
had run off so many times not knowing I was leaving my protection. Well, that was all over for now. I was glad. I needed a break.

“Look at that skirt, those legs. I’m going to get a feel and a kiss at lunch. No doubt.”

I turned to see whose dirty thoughts I was picking up, to find this fine boy staring at me. He had smooth dark chocolate skin and big brown eyes, framed with thick black lashes. He slouched at his desk, his legs spread wide and big feet blocking the aisle like he was the you know what. He narrowed his eyes, licked his lips, and greeted me with a raise of his chin.

I swung around a little to face him but gave him a little attitude with my expression. His excitement tickled my senses. And then the door to the classroom swung open, and in walked Lorcan, commanding, sexy, and not giving a crap that he was late. The bell was about to ring for first period.

The trench coat was gone, and I had to admit he looked good in the school uniform, even if I did hate it most of the time. His blue-green eyes scanned the room, and he spotted me, and then he spotted the boy who was interested in me. I knew by the hardening of
Lorcan’s
expression that he had scoured the poor human’s mind and didn’t like what he read there.

Lorcan had the nerve to stomp up the aisle and stop at my desk, lean over, and kiss me right there in front of everybody. After that, he snapped his fingers at this little scrawny kid, and the boy shuffled out of the seat next to me. Lorcan dragged the desk and chair over and parked in it with his arm slung around me. The mental buzzing all around the room was at a high, and I couldn’t seem to block it out. What was I thinking letting Lorcan drink my blood so he could spend about six or seven hours in daylight?

This school year was going to be a real trip, and I was looking forward to every minute of it.

The End