Blood Crave 2 (40 page)
Authors: Jennifer Knight
Tags: #Social Issues, #Love & Romance, #Vampires, #College Students, #Juvenile Fiction, #Paranormal, #General, #Romance, #Werewolves, #Dating & Sex, #Fiction, #Occult & Supernatural
No answer.
I started pacing to keep the tears from taking over. Heather wasn’t just my friend, she was my
human
friend. And that meant something to me—it meant everything. If Heather died, it was almost as if my humanity died with her. I had next to no other human friends, no real ties to the human world besides perhaps school and my mother. For some reason, and maybe it was just because Heather was my age, I just felt that if she was gone, it wouldn’t be long before I followed in her wake. It was selfish, but I had to face the facts: I attracted vampires. Whether it was because of my otherness or whatever, I had an uncanny ability to get mixed up in their world.
human
friend. And that meant something to me—it meant everything. If Heather died, it was almost as if my humanity died with her. I had next to no other human friends, no real ties to the human world besides perhaps school and my mother. For some reason, and maybe it was just because Heather was my age, I just felt that if she was gone, it wouldn’t be long before I followed in her wake. It was selfish, but I had to face the facts: I attracted vampires. Whether it was because of my otherness or whatever, I had an uncanny ability to get mixed up in their world.
And I had zero protection now. I’d sworn off all supernatural creatures. Not a smart move for a vampire magnet.
I had this horrible, sinking feeling that the attack on Heather’s car had been because of me. The vampires knew me, knew my gift. They had already tried to turn me twice—first Vincent and then Silas. What were the odds that the same car I would be getting into would also be the one that the vampires targeted? It was just too much of a coincidence.
I had to acknowledge the truth: the vampires were coming for me. Derek had refused to go back to them, and in order to lure him in, they were doing just as my mystery attacker said they would. They wanted to use me as leverage. Because they needed Derek. He was the key to the uprising, and without him they were doomed.
So if the vampires found me, the war was essentially over before it had even begun.
And here I was. A sitting duck.
Late that afternoon, I sat blankly at my desk, staring at the barren white wall until my cell phone blared through the silence. I dove for it, hoping to see Heather’s name on my screen.
Not Heather, but still someone who might know something.
“Danni, hi,” I said, exhaling into the phone. Why hadn’t I called her sooner?
“So you heard?” she asked.
“Yes. It was on the news. I was supposed to be in that car, Danni. I was supposed to be there.”
“Yeah, I know.” Her voice was rough—haggard. “You’re one lucky chick.”
“They didn’t say anything about Heather, but she had to have been there—it was her car. She’s not with you, is she?”
“I didn’t see her at all last night,” Danni said. “So do you think it was the serial killer dude?”
No, I think it’s the vampires.
“Yeah,” I said. “Why wouldn’t it be him?”
“Well, I mean, the victims were boys. He always kills girls.”
“First time for everything,” I said, running my hand over my tired eyes.
“Yeah,” Danni said pensively. “Maybe he didn’t have a choice but to kill the dudes. Maybe they saw him attack Heather and Jessica, and he had to kill them to keep them from talking.”
I swallowed hard. “So you think he killed Heather?”
“Seems so, babe.”
Suddenly I was furious at her casual tone. I knew it was just
her
, but it was so callous. “You don’t give a shit about her at all do you? She was just another stoner to you, right?”
her
, but it was so callous. “You don’t give a shit about her at all do you? She was just another stoner to you, right?”
“Hey,” her voice came harshly now. “She might have been a client, but she was my friend, too.”
“Right. A friend you let get high out of her mind practically every night for the past four months. Her brain’s probably scrambled eggs by now thanks to you.”
“Heather makes her own choices.”
“Yeah, and you facilitate them.”
She was quiet for a moment. “I’ll admit I shouldn’t have let her have a taste that first night in Zydeco’s. She was a mess and I played into it. That was my screw-up. But after the first time, there was no point refusing her. She was hooked. She would have gotten it from someone else if I didn’t sell to her.”
“So as long as she’s turning into an addict, you might as well make some money in the process? Nice, Danni. I can tell you really care about her.”
“That’s not what I meant. Jesus, you’re such a pain in the ass.”
“Did you even talk to her like I asked?”
“I never got the chance.”
I was tempted to throw the phone across the room, but something kept me holding it to my ear—I wanted her to apologize. Wanted us to be friends, even though she was borderline dangerous. She was all I had.
Pathetic. . . .
“All I meant before,” Danni said, and I could hear her forcing her voice to be level, “was that if she was going to do the drugs anyway, at least I knew they were safe. Relatively.”
“Oh yeah, because this mystery drug you guys take is so safe,” I said, dripping sarcasm. “You still won’t even tell me the name of it.”
“Not the point,” Danni said, avoiding giving me a name, yet again.
“Then what’s the point, Danni?” I was tired of fighting. So, so tired....
“The point is that I care if Heather is dead or not, all right? I know I come off all tough and shit, but when a friend dies—or might be dead—it’s enough to crack the shell. For anyone. So just . . . just stop acting like you’re the only one who cares about her. And Ryan and Jessica, too.”
I blinked at my white wall, as it finally sunk in that three people were actually dead and that two of them had been Danni’s friends.
She was silent for a moment. “It just doesn’t feel real, you know? About Heather, I mean. Like, it’s not real until there’s a body, as sick as that sounds. I have a feeling Heather’s probably dead, but I don’t know. Maybe she’s not.”
It was a possibility. If the vampires wanted me, then taking Heather was a good way to lure me out of my room. Vincent had done it before with Derek. And it had worked. Too well. If the vampires weren’t after me and the attack last night was a coincidence, they might have taken her so they could turn her for their army. Either way, she could be alive. And if that was true, I had until sundown to find her.
“We should go look for her,” I said.
“For sure,” she agreed instantly. “I’ll be there in five. I’d say don’t be late, but I know you will be anyway.”
She hung up and I raced around the room getting dressed and pulling my hair into a harried ponytail. Ten minutes later, I met Danni at the driveway outside my building. The weather was beginning to warm up, but the sky was still that sheet of white instead of spring-blue. Danni didn’t seem to mind the chill in the air, though, because the top on her convertible was down and she wore only a thin camisole in bright green.
I jumped into her car, giving her a brief smile.
She nodded at me and started off down the road.
“Where to?” she asked.
I gripped the edges of the leather seat, biting my lip absently. “I guess we should check out the wreck?”
“Nah. That’ll be swarming with cops and news crews.”
“Still? You think?”
“Oh, hell yeah. This case is top news. The public is in an uproar over it—they’ll be all over that place for days. Nah, why don’t we start wherever you were supposed to be going?”
“Zydeco’s,” I said reluctantly. I despised the place. Every time I went there something catastrophic happened. But then again, the vampires seemed to like it in that silly club—probably because of all the drunk, easy prey—so it was a good starting point.
Danni turned toward the club. “It’s not open yet,” she informed me as she turned on the radio.
“What time does it open?” I asked, checking the clock. It was five—two hours until sunset.
“Seven,” she said.
I made a face. “We’ll just look out back for now.”
“You don’t wanna wait for it to open? We could ask the club staff if they saw her or something.”
“No. I can’t, ah . . . stay out that late.”
Danni chuckled skeptically. “Okay, granny, what aren’t you telling me? Why the curfew?”
“No reason, I just need to do some studying.”
“Liar. Exams were last week. You’re officially on summer vacay.”
I looked over at her profile, watching the creases along her almond-shaped eyes as she watched the road. “How do you know when my exams were?”
“Because I’ve been stalking you.”
“Shut up.”
“You told me the other day, remember? When I met you on campus?”
“Right—when you harassed me into this stupid double date in the first place.”
“Harassed is a strong word,” Danni said thoughtfully. “More like forced.”
“I’m going to take a summer class anyway,” I said absently. “So I can stay in my dorm room during the break.” There were two weeks between the spring and summer semesters, and I seriously didn’t want to go back to California for them. If I took a summer class I could stay. This place—this hell I’d come to call home—was my only tie to Lucas. I wasn’t ready to leave it yet.
Danni didn’t respond, so I stared out the windshield and saw that we’d come to Zydeco’s parking lot on the side of the building. We exited the car and walked around the empty lot.
“Nothing here but the smell of coagulated vomit and exhaust fumes,” Danni said, leaning against the trunk of her car.
I circled around the lot, looking for what, I didn’t know. I glanced up at the side of the brick building and saw a security camera facing the lot. I pointed at it. “I wonder if that shows anything.”
“Maybe,” Danni said disinterestedly.
I folded my arms across my chest. “You could be a little more helpful.”
“What do you want me to do? There’s nothing here.”
I shifted my weight, glaring away from her. “I know. Besides, it seems like they got intercepted by the vam—the killer before they came here. They were on the way to pick me up.”
Danni shrugged making the afternoon sun flash on her silky shirt and leave a white spot in my vision. “So what’d you wanna do?”
I circled around the lot once more, thinking about the vampires—where they’d likely take their prey. If they’d killed her, they’d have just left her with the others, which made me think they’d either successfully turned her or were keeping her to get to me. Hopefully, it was the latter. And if so, they’d take her to their lair.
Well, the only lair I knew of was Vincent’s and last I knew, it had been turned into a vampire-feeding-frenzy thingy. It seemed like a stretch that they’d still be there after the pack raided the place twice, but it was worth a shot. I had nothing else to go on.
“There’s some place I want to check out,” I said, going back to the car. “Come on, I’ll direct you.”
T
wenty minutes later, I’d successfully gotten us to the barn. Without the snow surrounding it, the whole thing looked strikingly dull. On the night Derek had been turned, the barn had been a dark, foreboding structure stabbing a sea of white powder. Now it blended in with the deadened, green-mottled grass. It was old and filthy—lonely looking like a stray dog.
wenty minutes later, I’d successfully gotten us to the barn. Without the snow surrounding it, the whole thing looked strikingly dull. On the night Derek had been turned, the barn had been a dark, foreboding structure stabbing a sea of white powder. Now it blended in with the deadened, green-mottled grass. It was old and filthy—lonely looking like a stray dog.
As Danni stopped the car in front of it, an assault of terrifying memories raced through my brain. Vincent’s pointed leer, the flash of his knife as he killed that unnamed werewolf—his maniacal face just before he bit Derek. And more recently, those decomposing dead girls piled in the corner of the barn like a garbage heap.... I swallowed hard, shoving away the memories. Vincent was dead now—truly dead. He couldn’t hurt me anymore. And with the sun firmly in the sky, no other vampire would either.
“So is this where you’re going to kill me?” Danni said lightly.
I fought off a grin. She didn’t know how close she was to the true purpose of this run-down barn. “No,” I said. “I went to a party here once.”
“And . . . you were hoping someone left some beer around?”
I cut her a look.
“What?” she said. “I could totally use a drink right now.”
“Will you be serious for a minute?” But I was smiling now.
“Okay then, Sherlock. Why are we here?”
I cooked up a story quickly, trying my best to keep it sounding plausible. “I heard one of the murdered girls was found around here.” Kind of true. Not only had there been a dozen dead bodies here, but Vincent had killed a girl on Halloween night—same night I’d found out what he and Lucas were. She hadn’t been found here, but whatever. It made more sense than me telling Danni we were here because it had once been a vampire lair-turned frenzy house.
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