Temptation (23 page)

Mae-Linn, he thought. What happened to her? He pictured her shiny black hair, her bright smile.

Where is she?

“Slow down,” he told the officers as they reached the edge of town. “It's only a little farther.”

He stared at the smooth, silvery beach. “Right about here,” he said. “Stop.”

Billy climbed out of the patrol car. He slid down a small dune, cold sand spilling into his shoes. The police officers were right behind him, the beams from their powerful flashlights making wide yellow circles on the sand.

Billy glanced along the shoreline in both directions. “I think we walked over here.”

The ocean breeze brushed back Billy's black hair. He could smell the sea. Salt air, decaying seaweed.

Mae-Linn, he thought, where did you go?

The two police officers spread out behind him, casting their lights in every direction.

Billy scanned the beach. Shadows hid within shadows.

Dangerous, he thought. The beach is dangerous at night.

A dark mound rose in front of him.

A pile of sand?

Billy started toward it. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the beams of the police officers' flashlights. They moved down the beach, away from him.

“I found something!” he called to the police officers. He heard their footfalls as they hurried toward him.

Billy scooped away some of the sand with his hands, the cool, wet clumps spilling out between his fingers.

He touched something.

Something hard and smooth.

He brushed away the sand.

Something square.

Leather. A purse.

A purse?

“What did you find?” the policeman asked, shining his flashlight on Billy.

Billy gasped. “Mae-Linn?”

He shoveled the sand away, working frantically with both hands.

He stopped when his hand touched something cold. Cold and soft.

Billy leaned closer. Peered down.

“No—!”

He turned away. Felt his stomach lurch. And started to vomit.

Soft skin glowed white in the moonlight.

Billy recognized an arm. Mae-Linn's arm.

The officers helped to comfort Billy. Then they worked to uncover the rest of her body.

Her arms stretched out to the sides as if she were trying to make a snow angel in the sand. Strands of her shimmery dark hair covered one side of her face.

“Mae-Linn! Mae-Linn!” Billy choked out.

The officers pulled him back, away from Mae-Linn's body. “Don't touch anything,” the policewoman warned.

Trembling, Billy stared at Mae-Linn. Her eyes were open, staring up at the night sky. So empty. So vacant.

Her mouth was wide open, and filled with sand. Her nostrils were filled with sand, too.

I have to know, Billy thought. I have to find out how she died.

He gazed at the police officers. They stood above Mae-Linn, speaking quietly. They weren't watching Billy.

In one quick movement, he threw himself onto the sand next to Mae-Linn. He heard the officers cry out as he reached for her shiny black hair. Pushed it away from her face. Away from her neck.

Billy studied her white throat.

In the moonlight he saw them. Two small puncture marks.

And a tiny drop of dried blood.

“No!” Billy cried, backing away from the body. “I don't believe it! Just like Joelle!”

The policeman pulled Billy back as his partner rushed to examine Mae-Linn's body. Billy barely noticed the weight of the man's hand on his arm. The two puncture marks lingered in his mind.

Vampires! The vampires did this, he thought. Mae-Linn would be alive right now if it weren't for
them
!

First Joelle, and now Mae-Linn. They have to be stopped! I swear I'll destroy them, Billy pledged to himself once again. I'll find them. And I'll kill them. Every last one of them.

•   •   •   •   •

Still feeling dazed, Billy sat in the cold sand. Other police officers arrived. They staked off the beach around Mae-Linn's body and strung yellow police lines around her. Finally one of them called Billy over to a cruiser.

Billy remained silent on the drive to police headquarters. The dark town whirred by as if in a dream.

The police station stood at the intersection of Main Street and
Ocean Avenue. An old stone building. Bars covered the upstairs windows.

That's where the jail is, Billy thought.

He shuddered.

I'm the last one to see Mae-Linn alive, he realized. Does that make me a suspect?

Inside, a detective named Mullins grilled him, asking the same questions over and over. Where had he met Mae-Linn? When had he last seen her? Finally, about an hour before dawn, the detective let him go.

Billy walked along Main Street, passing the closed shops. No one out at that hour. Except him.

He walked faster, eager to get away from the police station, eager to get home. He wondered whether he had convinced the police of his innocence.

No way, he concluded. Detective Mullins considers me the prime suspect.

Billy thought about the barred windows on the second floor of the police station. And about Mae-Linn. And Joelle.

He shivered.

I'm going to find the vampires, he vowed. These aren't empty words. I'm going to destroy them.

He knew how to do it. He had spent a lot of time reading about vampires this past year. A lot of time preparing to kill them. He planned his revenge as he walked.

Sunlight destroys vampires. Fire does, too.

Or a wooden stake through the heart.

All I have to do is find them, Billy thought. That's the hard part.

But he knew what to look for. Vampires couldn't go out during the daylight. They couldn't eat regular food—only blood. They couldn't be seen in photographs or in mirrors.

I have all summer, Billy thought. All summer to find out which kids are vampires . . .

•   •   •   •   •

April stared up at the evening sky. She was annoyed.

Where are they? she wondered. Why are they always so late? I want to go into town and find the boys.

She pushed her straight blond hair out of her eyes and sighed. Kylie and Irene never seemed to hurry—no matter how hungry they were.

April pulled off her sandals. The cool sand worked its way between her toes, slid over the tops of her feet.

A whirring noise filled the air.

April watched as two bats twirled and became spinning cylinders, drawing up the beach sand and whipping it into miniature tornados.

Whirling side by side.

Dune grass thrashed the air. The wind whistled.

April shielded her eyes from the flying sand.

The whirling stopped suddenly. Sand fell back to the ground. The swaying grass became still.

Kylie and Irene stood on the beach, facing each other.

“It's about time,” April snapped.

They ignored her and kept staring at each other.

“Mae-Linn went out on only one date with Billy,” Irene scolded. “I can't believe you're so desperate to win our bet that you would kill her for that. You know what can happen if humans start to die.”

“I
didn't
kill her,” Kylie protested. “I didn't even go to the beach last night.”

“Liar!” Irene replied. “You killed that girl. You're a liar, Kylie.”

Kylie's eyes blazed. “Take that back,” she growled.

Oh wow, April thought. These two will fight all night if I don't do something.

“The police will close the beach if we're not careful!” Irene screamed. “The food will go away! And you risked that just so you could go out with Billy and win the bet. Are you stupid or what?”

“I told you,” Kylie snarled, “I didn't go near the beach.”

April could feel Kylie's fury. It seemed to radiate from her, hot and intense. She took a step back.

Kylie hissed. Her fangs slid down.

Irene let out an ear-piercing screech. Her fangs lowered over her lips. Her face twisted in rage.

A chill of fear made April shudder. “Stop it!” she shrieked. “Both of you! Stop it!”

“Keep out of this!” Kylie growled.

To April's surprise, they turned on her—and attacked, snarling and hissing.

April tried to back away. But they held her tightly in place. Two pairs of fangs closed in on April's throat.

“What—what are you going to do?” she cried.

“I have no nectar!” April cried. “You
know
I'm one of you!”

To her surprise, Irene and Kylie both tossed back their heads in laughter.

“You should've seen the look on your face, April!” Kylie declared.

“April Fools'!” Irene declared. “Get it? It's April Fools' Day in June!”

They both laughed again, enjoying their joke.

April snarled and raised her long fingernails. “I'll s-s-slash you both to pieces!” she hissed furiously.

“Hey—it was just a joke,” Kylie replied. “Put your claws back in. You don't have to totally lose it!”

“We're
all
losing it,” Irene moaned. “Because we're so hungry.” She sighed. “Last night I was so desperate, I had to kill another dog.”

Kylie and April shook their heads grimly.

Then Kylie turned to April. “Speaking of helpless creatures,” she said, “how did it go with Jay last night?”

April couldn't hide her smile. “You two don't stand a chance,” she replied coyly. “I'll win the bet before you even get started.”

•   •   •   •   •

The next evening, Billy grabbed the phone as soon as he got home from work. He hadn't been able to reach Jay all day.

Jay's mom answered the phone.

“He's in his room,” she told Billy. “He's been a little under the weather all day. I don't know what's wrong with him. Just a sec. I'll get him.”

Billy heard the clink of the phone being put down. A few moments later, Jay came on the line.

“Hi. You hear about Mae-Linn?” Jay asked.

“Yeah, I heard.” I didn't just
hear,
Billy thought. I saw her, too. “She was okay when we said goodnight on the beach. That's the last time I saw her. The police questioned me for hours. Like I'm some kind of killer. It was unreal.”

“It's so weird,” Jay said. “I mean, she was alive last night. And now . . .”

Jay's words trailed off. They both fell silent.

Billy wondered whether he should tell Jay about the bite marks on Mae-Linn's neck. Would his friend believe him?

“Uh—your mom says you're sick or something,” Billy said.

“Yeah, I've been tired all day,” Jay replied. “
Really
tired. Like I haven't slept for a week and a half.”

“You sick?”

“I don't know. I'm just wrecked. And weak, like I can't even move.”

Billy drew in a breath. “Hope it isn't the flu. Are you going to make it to play rehearsal?”

“I'll try to get there. I want to see April again.”

“You two got a thing going?”

“Maybe,” Jay replied. “Sort of, I guess. I hope.”

“Then I'll see you at the theater,” Billy said. He hung up and stared out the window. I don't like this, he thought. No way do I like this. It sounds too familiar.

Joelle had always been tired last summer. Really tired. It got worse and worse as the summer went on. She walked around like a zombie. Pale. Dazed. Lost.

Until the vampire got greedy and drank too much.

And killed her.

Billy sighed. Maybe Joelle had been lucky. If she hadn't died, she would have become one of them. Death had to be better than that.

Abruptly he slammed his fist down on the table. “I won't let them have Jay,” he growled through clenched teeth. “I won't let them kill another friend.”

He paced up and down the room. If he was right, if a vampire was sipping Jay's blood, the vampire had to be someone close to Jay, close enough to bite his neck.

April.

Billy tried to picture April. Her long blond hair. Her pale skin. I'll watch April, he thought. I'll look for the signs. And if she's a vampire, I'll do what I came here to do.

I'll destroy her.

Billy grabbed his script and banged out the door. He decided to stop by Nate's place on the way to the theater. If Nate was still there, they could walk to play rehearsal together.

Really dark tonight, Billy thought. Clouds filled the night sky, blocking out the moon and stars. Shadows seemed to seep out of the spaces between cottages.

Spooky, he thought. A good night for vampires to hunt.

He was glad when he reached Nate's place.

The condo was a new two-story brick building that looked as if it had been put in Sandy Hollow by mistake. Everything else in town was wood or stone. Nate's condo building didn't look as if it belonged on a beach at all!

The condo had a little park out front, with trees, a couple of swings, and a love seat. It was so dark Billy could hardly tell where he was going.

A loud snapping sound came from the trees.

Billy stopped. Listened. Silence now.

But he had heard something. Like a person hiding in the trees. Or a vampire.

Billy started for the condo, then hesitated. Someone . . . some
thing
was here. Watching him. He was sure of it. He could
feel
it.

Vampires.

Could they know why I'm here? Do they realize someone is hunting them? Will they try to kill me before I kill them?

He heard the snapping sound again. Billy whirled to face it. Nothing in the trees. Only darkness.

It's nothing, he told himself. Your imagination, that's all.

Black shadows lurked along the side of the condo. As he passed the spot where the darkness seemed deepest, he heard a scrape. Like a foot moving. Only a few feet away.