BITTEN (Book #3 of the Vampire Legends) (12 page)

She loathed this suburb and all her thoughts were blocking out the cheers and screams of the kids on the school sports team she could hear from miles away. She cleared her mind and opened her ears to listen to the hustle and bustle of the end of the day at AHS high school.

“C’mon! This way!” Violet shouted to her subjects, who didn’t hear what she did because they didn’t have supersonic hearing.

The seven of them flew quickly over the center of town and on towards the high school, hoping to find Rachel still there.

“Here we are!” Violet said.

“Where? Where is it?” asked one of the subjects.

“There you idiot! Don’t you see that hideous pile of bricks?” Violet retorted.

“Yes, I apologize. I do see it, Violet. Thank you for pointing it out to me so wisely,” the subject responded in shame.

“Shut up!” Violet said, not wanting to listen to her cower anymore.

The seven vampires dropped out of the sky like large black raindrops onto the flat roof of the two-story school building. Violet knew their thud probably startled the poor little humans inside, but she could care less—in fact, she was happy about that. She hoped that the people inside were shaking in their boots.

She jumped down off the roof in front of the main entrance to the school and pranced in, with her subjects quietly following, not giving it a second of thought. As she opened the door a strong breeze picked and the fallen leaves blew in behind her, crunching loudly under their feet as they walked in.

“May I help you?” the secretary called out.

Violet had already passed the front office without stopping to check in with the secretary, who acted like the security guard of the school.

“EXCUSE ME!” the secretary called louder. “COME BACK HERE!”

Violet turned her head and decided she’d go back and play with this woman a little bit.

“Oh me?” Violet said, pretending not to realize what had happened.

“Yes! You forgot to sign in!” the secretary added.

Violet walked over with her pack of subjects right behind her, as if connected by magnets. Violet saw a small silver bell on the top of the counter in front of the secretary and went over and started tapping it loudly with her finger. The sounds grew louder and louder as she stood there ringing it in the secretary’s face.

“That’s enough!” the secretary said, trying not to get angry.

Violet stopped ringing the bell, and stood there waiting for her to say something. She glared at her as though she could see the inside of her brain, which she could tell the secretary didn’t like much. So she continued to do it.

“Who are you and how can we help you today?” the secretary asked, doing her job professionally.

“We are here from the prep school down the street,” Violet heard herself lie, “and we are looking for the intramural chess team.”

“Intramural chess team?” the secretary asked, looking down at her papers.

“Yup! I think a girl named Rachel Wood is running it, might you know where I could find her?” Violet asked in a calm and unrecognizable tone.

“Rachel Wood, the new girl, yes, let me look up her schedule, I should have it right here,” the secretary said, looking through her filing cabinet and pulling out a manila folder with Rachel’s name on it.

“Here it is!” the secretary said, scrolling her fingers down the page.

Violet looked on her desk at the cup of steaming coffee that sat there filled to the brim and knew she had to do something fast in order to get her hands on Rachel’s schedule. She glared at the coffee cup, making it spin on its ends and then spill all over the secretary who ran out of the office screaming and shouting in pain as the coffee burned through her skin.

Violet reached through the window, snatched the schedule and began marching down the hallway in search of Rachel.

The smell and sights of this high school made Violet livid. She wanted revenge on her past and knew she had to get it, here and now. She walked into Mr. Allen’s classroom to find him sitting at his desk, grading papers.

“Why hello there!” Violet murmured.

“Excuse me, can I help you?”

“Yeah, you can help me! You can tell me why my high school history teacher was such a prick to me growing up,” Violet said, watching Mr. Allen’s eyes widen in horror.

“I’m sorry, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Mr. Allen said, not wanting to participate in this conversation.

“What? Cat got your tongue?” Violet asked. “You history teachers are all the same, you think you can hide in the past, but really you can’t,” Violet said angrily as she looked down at the papers on his desk and started touching them with her fingers.

“You know, I never understood why you are all suck jerks. Could it be because you think you have power over us? Is it because you think you’re smarter than us? Tell me,” she asked looking down at Rachel’s schedule to find his name. “Mr. Allen, tell me!”

As she questioned him, she lifted him up out of his chair with her hands and held him above her as he hung there, shaking his legs in fear.

“I’m sorry, what do you want to know? I’ll tell you anything!” Mr. Allen said cowardly.

“I want to know a lot of things but first you can start by telling me about Rachel Wood. I see she’s a student of yours,” Violet said, looking down at her schedule.

“Yes, Ms. Wood is in my homeroom. She is a bright girl, but doesn’t apply herself. She’s been going through a lot with her recent move and I think it’s really taken a toll on her,” Mr. Allen said.

“Where is she?” Violet asked, looking him deep in his eyes as if to hypnotize him.

“Um, I don’t know,” Mr. Allen, said. “It’s after school so I really don’t know where my students are at this hour.”

“WHERE IS SHE!” Violet yelled, as if it would change his answer.

“Well, I did hear her talking to her friend Rob after class about getting together with him, but I honestly don’t know what they planned,” Mr. Allen said, racking his brain.

Violet let go of Mr. Allen and he came flying down to the ground and hit the floor with a thud.

“Where’s this Rob character then?” Violet asked, holding her hand out as if to do it all again.

“He’s on the football team, try there!” Mr. Allen said, his voice quivering.

Violet brushed her arm across his desk, throwing all of his papers soaring into the air and hitting the floor in a mess. She walked out with her crew behind her.

Violet stormed down the hall, knocking over everything and everyone in her way, tripping innocent kids as they walked past and laughing as they fell to the ground face first. She walked by the secretary’s office again on her way to the football field to find Rob and purposely rang the bell loudly in her face and then walked away. She was officially terrorizing the entire school, and everyone left inside.

As she got out to the field she could see the football team and the girls cheerleading team all huddled together chatting. She listened for a moment before she walked over so she could get a clear-cut vision of who Rob was. She heard a girl’s voice calling his name and yelling at him.

“How could you do this to me, Rob? I don’t understand how every time you see her you fall for her even harder. What is it with this Rachel girl you like so much? What does she have that I don’t?” Arielle asked.

Violet knew she had found her key to Rachel and thought it might be fun to play with these two for a minute.

“Hello there Rob!” Violet said, as she stood there on the field.

“Um, Hi. Who are you?” Rob asked.

“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know me!” Violet said, stroking her hair in a flirtatious way, seeing the anger swell up in Arielle’s eyes.

“Uhh, I don’t know you!” Rob replied.

“Oh stop pretending last night didn’t mean anything to you!” Violet said. “Is this the girl you’re worried will find out about us?” Violet asked, pointing to Arielle.

She watched his face go blank and then back to a sheer look of confusion.

“Or are you worried about Rachel? Now I remember, you’re worried about Rachel. You told me you loved her,” Violet said, stirring the pot even more.

“Who are you, you freak?” Arielle asked, pissed off.

“Who are you, you freak?” Violet mocked her.

She could tell Arielle was getting so angry and watched as Arielle put up her hand to slap her. Violet’s strength kicked in and she intercepted her hand with lightning speed and grabbed her by her arm and flung her over her shoulder, watching her land on her back.

The field grew silent as the fight grew more intense.

“What’s your problem, chick?” Rob asked. “I don’t even know you so can you tell me what this is all about?”

“It’s about your little love interest. I’m after her and I think you can help me find her,” Violet said.

“Love interest?” Rob questioned.

“Yes, Rachel,” Violet whispered in his ear.

“I’m not helping you with anything, why don’t you mind your own business,” Rob said.

Violet watched as Arielle got up off the ground and sneakily marched over behind Violet’s back, raised both her hands up to slam her over the head. Violet quickly turned around and intercepted her blow with a laugh, then launched her into the air, through one of the end posts and watched as she fell into a swamp on the other side.

“You’re nuts!” Rob said. “How did you do that?”

“I have many mysterious powers,” Violet whispered again.

“Who are you?” Rob asked again.

“It’s irrelevant, my friend,” Violet answered. “It’s Rachel I’m after and you need to bring me to her or else, you’re next.”

“You couldn’t do anything to me,” Rob said.

“You don’t want to test me,” Violet said.

“Oh yeah? Prove it then, what will you do to me if I don’t bring you to Rachel?” Rob asked. His football friends came up beside him, surrounding him, all staring back at Violet threateningly.

“You really don’t want to know,” Violet said, warning him.

“Yes, I do want to know tough gal. Bring it on. Try it!” Rob said, acting tough in front of his teammates.

With that, Violet go so riled up that she lifted Rob up off his feet, swung her robe around him and flew into the air. Rob’s cries and shrieks nearly made her go deaf, and she couldn’t believe how scared he got so quickly.

“Let me go! Put me down!” Rob cried.

“You asked for this,” Violet said.

“You’re a freak!” Rob said. “Stop this!”

“Don’t antagonize me now,” Violet said. “It’s not in your best interest.”

“Yeah, well no matter what you do, I’m not bringing you to Rachel, so you can forget about that,” Rob said.

Violet flew far away until they were in a desolate area, just the two of them. She landed on the roof of a tall building and stared at him, almost putting him into a trance. She could tell that his body was becoming weak and subdued, and she knew she could take him now. She knew if she got him on her side, they could unite their powers and end this war together. She knew he would be a huge asset to the Greslin Coven and with that, she leaned in slowly, her fangs protruding as the saliva dripped down out of her mouth onto Rob’s neck. She could see the fear in his eyes, but he was speechless. There was no turning back now.

Her beat red eyes stared into his and then, within moments, she sunk her teeth deep into Rob’s neck as his body quaked and convulsed.

She knew their team had just been solidified.

Chapter Fourteen

Rachel trudged up to Emily’s house with her heavy bags in tow, hoping that she wasn’t too early for their getting ready party. She rang the doorbell and waited for Emily to answer.

She couldn’t believe what had just happened to her but knew deep down her parents were right. She was a threat to the family, and she didn’t want them to suffer for what she’d done.

“Hey girl, just in time!” Emily said when she opened the door. “I’m just going through all our old Halloween costumes, trying to figure out what to wear!”

“OMG! I totally forgot. I didn’t get a costume to wear,” Rachel said. “Guess, I could go as myself? That’s kinda scary!” she said with a laugh.

“No, don’t be silly,” Emily, said. “You can borrow. We have so many costumes!”

“Cool!” Rachel said. “When are the others coming?”

“They should be here any minute. I just ordered pizza. Hope you’re hungry!” Emily said.

Thinking of pizza and eating actually made her realize she would be ready to feed shortly. She tried to push those feelings out of her head, though, since she knew it wouldn’t be the best time to sneak out and kill an animal. The girls would definitely know she was up to something if she left to do that.

“Rach?” Emily said. “Are you ok?”

“Oh yeah! Sorry, Pizza’s great!” Rachel said, snapping out of her daze.

“Look at this! This is super cute. Do you want to be a 70s roller chick?” Emily asked, holding up a tie died bell-bottom suit.

“Um...maybe. What else you got?” Rachel asked, not wanting to commit to that far-out look.

“Come look for yourself, we have a lot. Clown, Witch, Mr. Potato Head, Santa Claus, Vampire…it’s your call!” Emily said holding each up.

“Vampire?” Rachel asked.

“Yeah! Vampire. Fangs and all!” Emily said, holding it high so Rachel could see it.

Suddenly, Rachel felt devious. She was a vampire and yet she was talking about dressing like a vampire for Halloween. Something felt off about this, but she was drawn to the costume.

“Yeah, vampire it is!” Rachel said, snatching the costume out of her hands.

RING.

The doorbell rang and in walked the rest of the girls with their costumes, makeup, curling irons and wigs in their arms. It looked like they had just robbed a costume store, they had so much stuff spilling out of their arms.

“Hey ladies!” Emily said. “Let’s go up to my room and get ready! This is going to be the best night ever!”

“Yeah!” the girls cheered as they walked upstairs to her bedroom.

“Hey Rach, how long have you been here? I thought you were going to catch a ride with us?” Taryn asked.

“Oh yeah, sorry, drama at home. I’ve been here about a half hour I guess,” Rachel said.