Vampire Beach Hunted (4 page)

‘You’ve both been good friends to us,’ Zach added.

Now Jason got it. This wasn’t just about the end of senior year. This was about appreciation. This was about Zach wanting them to know that he appreciated their help with vampire crises past, and wished them well in the future.

Jason met Zach’s gaze and gave a small nod, then took a sip of the wine. It was rich and not too sweet. ‘It’s good,’ Jason said, hoping Zach would get that he was talking about more than the wine. ‘Awesome.’

‘Truly,’ Adam added.

Jason figured that this was about as much of a ‘moment’ as any of them could take. ‘So where are you heading in the fall?’ he asked Zach.

‘D.C.’

Did that mean a college in the D.C. area? Or . . . ? Jason waited for more info, but Zach just took another sip of wine. The guy was back to his usual enigmatic self. He never gave away much. Tonight’s exchange with the wine had probably been one of their longer conversations.

‘I’m going to—’ Jason began.

‘CalTech,’ Zach finished for him.

Jason and Adam exchanged a look. Zach always seemed to know everything. He probably knew where the two of them were going to be going to college before either of them had even sent in their applications. It was just part of what made Zach Lafrenière Zach Lafrenière.

Jason sat in silence for a while, thinking about what a wild ride it had been since he’d found out the dangerous secret that all the most popular kids at DeVere Heights High shared.

‘Eat a pickle,’ Van Dyke demanded, yanking Jason away from his thoughts. ‘You too, Turnball.’ He thrust a pickle jar toward them.

‘I’m not eating a pickle,’ Jason answered. ‘I’m drinking wine, and I just had a beer.’

‘Me too,’ Adam said.

‘I need somebody to eat these pickles,’ Van Dyke yelled to the room at large. ‘I’m making a batch of witch doctors and I need the juice.’

‘Witch doctors?’ Jason asked.

‘Every kind of alcohol available mixed with the juice of the pickle,’ Adam explained.

Zach got to his feet. ‘This will require supervision. I don’t want to have to drive anyone to the hospital.’ He followed Van Dyke over to the bar where a crowd was already forming.

‘I think the party has just made the jump to warp speed,’ Adam commented.

A few hours later, the party had wound down to whatever was the lowest speed. Not that Brad and Van Dyke had noticed this. They were back on the basketball court, and back in the competitive zone again, as captains of the teams in a three-on-three. Jason, supposedly on Brad’s team, had not seen much of the ball. And since Brad didn’t look like passing the ball to him – or anyone else – any time this year, Jason was enjoying the warm breeze, the stars, the quiet happiness of being at the tail end of the party with just his closest friends.

Jason noticed that Adam had finally finished ‘saying’ goodbye to Brianna, so he ducked off the court – probably unnoticed – and headed over to his friend.

‘That lipstick’s a good color on you,’ Jason joked.

Adam wiped his mouth with a grin.

‘So I’m guessing you and Bree had a good time,’ Sienna commented as she, Maggie and Belle – the other supposed team members – came over to join them.

‘Yeah,’ Adam said, blushing a little. ‘She had to take off, though. She’s helping a friend on a shoot at four a.m. tomorrow.’

‘I got a chance to talk to her, and I’ve decided to give her my stamp of approval,’ Belle told him. ‘I’m proud of you.’

‘Way to go, Van Dyke!’ Maggie shouted as Van Dyke dunked the ball and swung from the rim.

Jason noticed that they’d really kicked the play into high gear now that Brianna had left. She had been the last human – well, the last
uninitiated
human – at the party.

‘Are those two ever going to give it up?’ Sienna asked, watching Brad grab the basketball. ‘Do they really care so much who is the Supreme Sports Champion of DeVere High?’

‘I guess so,’ Belle said as Brad bounded toward the opposite basket, dribbling the ball, then leapt into the air, did a triple flip, and slammed the ball home on his way back to the ground.

‘Traveling!’ Jason called out, rolling his hands in a circle. ‘I did not see any dribbling going on during your final approach to the basket.’

‘Yeah, no points for that one. The ball goes back to Van Dyke,’ Maggie agreed.

‘How was it traveling if my feet weren’t on the ground?’ Brad protested. ‘I didn’t take any steps.’

‘Oh, shit!’ Adam muttered.

Jason followed his gaze and saw Brianna a few feet away, staring at the basketball court.

‘Oh, shit,’ Jason repeated. Had she seen the vampires acting like . . . vampires?

Four

JASON FELT SIENNA
tense beside him. He knew she was thinking exactly the same thing he was. Had Brianna seen enough to realize that Brad couldn’t possibly be human?

‘Wow!’ Brianna said, her voice coming out choked. ‘Does that guy do gymnastics?’

Belle let out a burst of hysterical laughter.

Adam said, ‘Yeah, you know these rich kids. Their parents start them with the lessons almost at birth. Me, I’m lucky my dad came up with enough cash for a Happy Meal once in a while.’

‘Poor deprived Malibu child,’ Maggie cooed.

‘It’s true about Brad, though,’ Jason added. ‘He won his first gymnastics trophy when he was . . . What was it, Brad? Four?’ he called.

‘Three and a half,’ Brad answered, strolling over to the group, Van Dyke at his side.

‘Most Improved Tiny Tumbler,’ Van Dyke told Brianna. ‘His mom still has the trophy.’

‘No, Most Improved was you,’ Brad reminded him. ‘I got Terrific Tiny Tumbler. Van Dyke got his award for finally mastering the somersault. It took him a whole year, but he stuck with it.’

‘I can still hardly do a somersault,’ Brianna confessed. ‘I’m not exactly the athletic type. Miniature golf is the only sport I excel in. That’s why I’m making Adam take me on Saturday.’

‘Did you leave something in the house?’ Brad asked, sounding like a concerned host, and not at all like he was freaked and wanted her gone.

‘Yeah. My jacket. I’m pretty sure I left it in the kitchen,’ Brianna said.

‘I’ll go with you and check,’ Adam told her, and they headed off. As soon as they were out of sight, everybody dropped their fake smiles.

‘Do you think she bought the gymnastics thing?’ Van Dyke’s voice was low and urgent.

‘I think so,’ Sienna answered. ‘She’s the one who came up with it.’

‘I thought everyone was gone. Everybody . . . you know.’ Brad shook his head, clearly annoyed with himself.

‘We all did,’ Van Dyke said. ‘I was screwing around as much as you. Anyway, no harm, no foul, right?’

‘Right,’ Maggie answered.

‘You ready to head off?’ Jason asked Sienna. The party definitely felt done now.

She nodded.

‘Your parents didn’t by any chance have a late-night appointment that would leave your house empty, did they?’ he asked as they headed to her car.

‘We’re out of luck for tonight,’ she answered, wrapping her arm around his waist. ‘But dessert is definitely on the menu sometime soon.’

‘You’re lucky I’m such a good friend,’ Jason told Adam quietly as they slowly trailed Brianna and Sienna to the third hole of the Sunshine Castle Miniature Golf course on Saturday afternoon. ‘There are very few people I would play putt-putt golf for.’

‘I’m with you, bro. If I wanted to induce a bout of narcolepsy, this is where I’d come,’ Adam answered. ‘Except, today, Brianna’s with me and she loves this place. And I owe her one because she promised to go see a screening of
A Clockwork Orange
with me tonight, even though she hates violent movies. Speaking of the blood and gore, wanna watch
Reservoir Dogs
with me after school on Monday? I don’t suppose you’ve seen it, since it didn’t come out yesterday, but I know you’ll dig it. And we need some male bonding time.’

‘Sure,’ Jason said. ‘But you have to provide snacks. Lots of snacks. Because now you owe
me
.’ He nodded his head in the direction of a smiling lavender and yellow dragon off in the distance at the thirteenth hole. ‘This place is a candy-colored nightmare.’

‘We’re up, guys,’ Sienna called, waving them forward. ‘Jason, do you think you could help me line up my shot?’ she asked, in complete flirt mode.

‘What was I complaining about again?’ Jason asked Adam.

‘Dude, I don’t know,’ Adam answered as they hurried to join the girls.

‘Thanks for doing this,’ Jason said in Sienna’s ear as he wrapped his arms around her and placed his hands over hers on the golf club. ‘I know it’s not your thing.’

‘Who says it’s not?’ she whispered back, giving Jason a flirtatious smile.

Then it was Jason’s shot. He focused on trying to get his orange golf ball over the little bridge and through the spinning blades of the windmill.

‘Yes! The Force is certainly with
you
today, Jason,’ Brianna cried. ‘I think you sent that ball into warp speed!’

Adam laughed. ‘I think you mean
light
speed,’ he said.

‘D’oh!’ Brianna smacked her forehead with her hand.

‘What are you guys talking about?’ Sienna asked.

‘ “Warp speed” is
Star Trek.
But the “Force” is
Star Wars
,’ Adam explained. ‘Therefore, nobody using the Force could ever, under any circumstances, send anything into warp speed – without the universe of cinema imploding.’

Jason sank the ball and Bree clapped.

‘One under par,’ Adam announced. ‘You keep this up, you might just win.’

‘Do we eat crap food here or go out to a real place?’ Jason asked when they’d finished the eighteenth hole. He’d come in with the lowest score, and the others had decided that, since he’d had the pleasure of beating them, he could buy them lunch.

‘Oooh, delicious, delicious crap food please,’ Brianna cried, clasping her hands together in front of her.

‘This is my kind of girl,’ Jason said.

‘Mine too,’ Adam agreed as they walked to the outdoor food court between the mini-golf and the bumper boats. ‘Except for that.’ He gestured to the slogan on Brianna’s T-shirt, which read ‘Independent Filmmakers Do It Alone’.

Brianna and Sienna exchanged a you-know-boys look and laughed.

‘Well, you’re an independent filmmaker too, Adam,’ Brianna told him. ‘So what happens when two independent filmmakers get together? Do they still do it alone? Or does some kind of collaboration take place?’

‘I’m very interested in collaboration,’ Adam said weakly. He was clearly almost too overwhelmed by the collaboration idea for speech.

‘We’ll let them discuss and save a table while we go select an assortment of crap,’ Sienna suggested to Jason. ‘Any requests?’

‘I like the greasy-salty kind especially,’ Brianna said.

‘They’re very cute together,’ Sienna commented as she and Jason got in line at the kiosk that seemed to have the highest grease and salt quotient.

‘As cute as us?’ Jason asked.

‘No one is as cute as us,’ Sienna countered.

Jason grinned. ‘Did you notice Adam’s reaction when he caught Brianna mixing up
Star Wars
and
Star Trek
?’ he asked. ‘He laughed.
Laughed!
If I’d done that, I would have been forced to watch every
Star Wars
and
Star Trek
movie before Adam would allow me to resume our friendship. And, only then, after I passed a quiz,’ Jason said.

‘Adam can be a little extreme,’ Sienna commented.

‘He’s a film geek. It’s his nature,’ Jason said. ‘The weird thing is, Brianna’s a film geek too. By their standards, that was a rookie mistake to make.’

‘No one can know every movie fact by heart,’ Sienna answered. ‘Not even Adam.’

‘We’re not talking just any movie fact. We’re talking—’

Sienna cracked up.

‘What?’ Jason asked.

‘Adam’s rubbing off on you,’ Sienna told him. ‘You’re becoming a geek, too!’

‘No way,’ Jason shot back.

‘You were a breath away from giving me a lecture on movie facts. Admit it.’ Sienna gave him a gentle poke in the stomach. ‘I don’t know if I can start college with a geek boyfriend.’

‘I was just trying to explain why it was weird that Bree made that goof.’ A sudden thought made Jason grin. ‘Maybe Adam’s taste is a little too
popular
for Bree. Maybe she only likes “films”. Not movies. You know, I bet she only watches things with subtitles, or interesting lighting effects, or whatever. Maybe she hasn’t even seen all the
Star Wars
movies!’ he exclaimed.

‘You don’t have to sound so happy about it,’ Sienna told him.

‘I just love the idea of their first fight being about
Adam’s
bad taste in movies. It’s funny to me. All I hear from him is how he can’t believe I haven’t seen this or that movie. Now Brianna will be telling him she can’t believe he actually likes, I don’t know,
The Matrix
. Although she has seen
Independence Day
, but maybe that was a fluke. I’m hoping.’

Sienna shook her head at him. ‘You’re evil.’

‘No, I’m not,’ Jason protested. ‘I don’t want them to break up over it or anything. I just like the idea of Adam being on the other side of an Adam-style movie tirade.’

‘Evil,’ Sienna repeated, laughing.

‘How was the mini-golf?’ Dani asked when Jason walked into the kitchen.

‘I won,’ he told her.

She made an exaggerated I’m-impressed face.

‘What’s the deal here, Mom?’ Jason asked. His mother was sitting at the table, flipping through a copy of O magazine. ‘No cookies, no brownies, no baked goodies of any kind? I thought you were on a campaign to remind me how good life at home is, so that I’m sure to come back from college every weekend.’

‘Mom got good news. It made her forget all about you and your nest-leaving,’ Danielle explained.

Jason sat down in the empty chair between his mother and his sister. ‘What kind of news?’

‘I finally heard from your Aunt Bianca,’ Mrs Freeman exclaimed, beaming. ‘You know how worried I’ve been. I haven’t heard from her in months. She hasn’t returned a single call.’