Vampire's Kiss (33 page)

And now this daylight scrutiny was making me feel exposed. “What?” I demanded.

“Your hair—it’s like sunlight.”

I gaped. The compliment—if that was what it was—was totally unexpected. “Excuse me?”

“I’ve been many long years without sunlight,” he said gravely. “A man craves it.”

The statement implied a few things, and I didn’t understand any of them. It gutted me, making me feel more vulnerable than I had in any fighting ring. I found my tongue. “That’s just the bond talking.”

He smiled broadly then, enjoying my obvious discomfort. “Probably. But if I’m going to suffer a bond, I may as well enjoy myself.”

“Suffer? If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead. And if it weren’t for the bond, I’d…” I petered out, reminding myself to beware of our connection. Had it made me so comfortable, I’d almost confessed my original plans for escape?

He raised a brow.
“You’d?”
His knowing look told me he’d either guessed the truth or felt it somehow. “I think we have something in common, you and I.”

“Whatever could that be?”

“We both prefer going it alone.”

This was dangerous territory, and I needed to tread carefully. “You don’t know me,” I told him warily.

“True enough.” He looked past me, and his face became a blank slate. “It’s time.”

I turned to see Alcántara walking down the beach toward us, with some kid in tow. As they got closer, I saw that he’d tied the guy’s hands behind his back.

“What the—?”

“Hush.” Carden stepped in front of me and called to Alcántara, “We’re ready to push off.”

Alcántara strode straight to the boat, shoving it into the water. Carden joined him, and I took the opportunity to study our new passenger. He was no more than fifteen, sixteen tops, and his obvious terror was disturbing.

“Hey,” I said to him.

He cast me a skittish glance. “Who are you people?”

Who were we? Now there was a good question. “Don’t worry,” I said, unsure what else to say. “It’s cool.”

He hopped from foot to foot, shivering. I saw he had a pair of baby fangs, like a brand-new Trainee might. I hoped I was right, and it really was cool.

Alcántara beckoned us into the boat. This time it was Carden who rowed us out to the trawler, while Alcántara glowered silently at the boy. “You are a pretty one,” he told him finally. “
Qué lindo
. And a pretty boy like you would capture quite a ransom.”

The kid looked ready to pee his pants.

“But I see no need for such crassness,” he continued, his tone generous and grand. “I would rather you please enjoy our hospitality. I have many questions about the way of life on your island. You gentlemen seem to have quite the compelling array of female visitors.”

My blood ran cold. It
was
the Lilac thing that had him acting this way.

We rowed alongside the larger boat, and Alcántara stood, sweeping his arm as if welcoming the kid onto a Carnival
Cruise instead of a stinky old fishing boat. “You don’t mind going for a little ride.” It was a statement, not a question.

Once aboard, Alcántara dragged the kid belowdecks, and instinctively I began to follow. Carden stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. We stood frozen like that until Alcántara disappeared down the stairs into the shadows.

“You’ll want to be elsewhere,” Carden murmured.

My mouth went dry. I remembered the terror I’d seen in that kid’s eyes. I tried not to think about it as I listened to his screams.

All night.

We made our way back home, the boy shrieking so loudly I could hear him over the chugging of the trawler. I don’t know what, if anything, Alcántara was able to torture out of him. I tried not to think about how he was just a kid like Yas, or Josh. Or me.

He was dead by morning.

I
hustled to the dining hall, needing to talk to someone. I was home again, yet I’d never felt so displaced in all my life. I knew I couldn’t tell anyone about the bond, but still, I needed to talk to
someone
about
something
—anything to feel real, to normalize this unsettling and, frankly, invasive relationship in which I found myself.

I skipped the lunch line, grabbing only my allotted shooter of the drink, and made a beeline for Emma. But when she and Yasuo spotted me and flinched apart, something inside me cracked, just a little. They had a real affection for each other, whereas I seemed destined to find myself in disturbing entanglements with vampires.

But then, for the umpteenth time, I wondered what would happen when Yas became a full-fledged vampire. I’d found myself with a front-row seat to their deadly game, and it was all too clear they played for keeps.

I shoved it all aside, though, pasting a pleasant expression on my face. And it wasn’t so hard, really. I’d been prepared for good-bye forever, and was genuinely happy to see them. “Hey,” I said.

Emma gave me one of her quiet smiles. “Hey yourself.”

“Welcome back, homegirl.” Yasuo patted the empty seat next to him. “Sit down—we’ll celebrate your triumphant return.”

I gave him a sly look. “What, no parade? No gifts for the returning warrior?”

“Looks like you got one better.” Yas waggled his eyebrows. “Seems your reward is a new vampire buddy.”

I stiffened. Had he sensed the bond? What did they know? I searched their eyes; then my shoulders eased. They didn’t know anything. And of course they didn’t—how could they?

I forced my mouth into an easy smile. “Yeah, Car—Master McCloud is okay.”

Yasuo caught my almost slipup and gave me a probing look, wickedness dancing in his eyes.

But his expression was wiped clear when Emma announced, “He’s quite attractive.”

I gave a casual shrug, but inside I was bristling. Was it jealousy that made my insides feel so jangly? Whatever it was, it was weird, and I didn’t like it.

Yas scowled. “Who’s attractive? That vampire, you mean?”

Emma nodded.

“
Dude
,”
Yas exclaimed with a smirk. “The guy walks around wearing a black skirt.”

“It’s a kilt,” I corrected, my face straight.

He leaned toward me on his elbows. “It’s a
skirt
.”

I was on the defensive now, my feelings inexplicably intense and out of control, as if I were PMS-ing or something. I folded my napkin into tiny squares, feigning indifference. “Whatever it is, it’s hot.”

Emma nodded again, but the playful gleam in her eyes told me all she really cared about was sassing her Trainee boyfriend.

“Whatever,” he said, trying his hardest to look indifferent.

It snapped me out it, and I laughed, mimicking him.
“
Whatever.
”

The moment had passed, but it left me unsettled. Ronan once warned how taking too much of the blood made someone volatile—what happened when a girl drank directly from the source? Because I knew a little bit of Carden slipped into that kiss he gave me.

I changed the subject, making a conscious effort to pull out of this moodiness. “Hey, you should thank me. This island was getting boring, and here I am spicing things up a bit.”

“We’re still waiting to hear where you went,” said Yasuo.

“And what you did,” Emma added.

“Mysterious, exciting things,” I said, trying to sound aloof, and added with a tease in my voice, “But I bet nothing even happened here.”

They exchanged a meaningful glance, and it lurched me back into reality. I
knew
that look.

I took a deep breath. “What?” When neither answered me, I demanded again,
“What?”

Yas gave Emma a pleading look. “If you don’t tell her, I will.”

“I’m telling, I’m telling.” She met my eyes with a disturbingly sympathetic expression. “It’s Josh.”

Gooseflesh rippled my skin, and the chill reached deep inside. Had Josh been forced to pay the price for siding with me? I sank my head in my hand. “Oh God.”

“Don’t worry,” Emma said quickly. “He’s okay.”

“What do you mean he’s okay? Okay from
what
? What happened?”

Yas nodded toward the front door. “He can tell you himself.”

Josh was limping our way, and relief rushed like a hot wave through me, so strong it gave me a little shudder.

But when he got closer, I saw how he was covered in cuts.
Covered
.

That easygoing, seemingly ever-tanned face was riddled with scabs in angry shades of red and brown and pink. They reached all the way to the neckline of his sweater, and I knew with chilling clarity that what I saw represented only the tiniest fraction of his injuries.

“The fabled Drew, back among us. I’d say
gidday
, but I don’t think my body could handle another hit.” He gave me a smile, which the thick gash on his upper lip twisted. He eased into the seat across from me, obviously in pain.

“What the hell happened?” My voice came out breathier than I’d intended.

“Good to see you, too.” His smile wavered, and he held my eyes for a long moment before morphing into cool-boy once more. “I thought Yas here should get a turn at being the pretty one.”

It made me laugh and frown at the same time. “Seriously. Who did this?”

“Random people.” He shrugged, and pain made a muscle
in his cheek twitch. “Someone decided I’d make a prime demo dummy for Draug-staking techniques.”

“They
practiced
on you? The Guidons?” I sat up straight, scanning the room. “Which ones? I’ll kill them.”

He reached across the table, putting a hand on my arm. “Stand down, D.”

Yasuo tossed his sandwich down, pushing away his tray with a decisive shove. “Don’t worry about my man Josh. He’ll be the last one standing.”

The last one standing.
It was a long-term game we were playing here on
Eyja næturinnar
—like one extended Directorate Challenge. The realization gave me a chill. “Stand down? How can I stand down? This is my fault. Oh my God, I am so sorry.”

“
Not
,”
Josh said in a sharp tone. “So not your fault, so don’t even go there. It’s just the order of things.”

“As much as I appreciate the brave act”—I leaned closer, lowering my voice—“you know things would’ve been
ordered
differently if you hadn’t inserted yourself between me and Masha’s hazing.”

“It was my choice,” he said in an uncharacteristically heavy voice.

I flopped back in my chair, unable to process it all. “Holy crap. I leave for, what—thirty-six hours?—and everything falls apart.”

“All is entropy and chaos in your absence,” he said with that swollen half smile.

“I’m sorry,” I repeated.

“Drop it, Drew. Even if this is some Guidon’s idea of retribution, I was not about to watch some dickhead take a leak on
you. Seriously. Nonissue.” He pointed to Yasuo’s tray. “You eating that?”

“Be my guest.” Yas handed him an untouched triangle from his sandwich. “Whoever came up with the idea of buttering roast beef should be shot.”

“Hey, here’s something that’ll cheer you up,” Josh said over a mouthful of food. “Did you hear? The dance is on.”

I swung my head to face him full on—all the better for him to appreciate my signature flat, dead-eyed look. “Thanks. Like I really needed to hear that.”

“Next week,” Emma said.

Yas added grandly, “To celebrate the end of the Dimming and a return to darkness.”

“Oh goodie.” So much for normalcy—lunch had been one big dose of
irregularity
, and I had to get out of there. I stood, cramming my rumpled napkin into my empty glass and snatching it up to clear it. “Look, guys, I can’t take any more news. I’m outta here before you tell me—I don’t know—that I’m going to have to sing karaoke at vampire prom or something.”