The Afterlife of the Party

by Marlene Perez

  “If he has ingested their blood but they have not ingested his, there is still a chance to save them,” Rose said.

  “And if they’ve had some of his blood?”

  “It’s hopeless,” Bobbie Jean said.

  Thorn made a scoffing noise. Rose frowned at her, but Thorn said, “It’s not hopeless, just almost hopeless.”

  “What?” I asked her. “Tell me what can be done if Skyler’s already drunk Travis’s blood.”

  “You can kill him,” she said. “If you kill the sire, all his progeny will return to human.”

  I nodded. “Then that’s what I’ll do,” I said.

  Skyler might not make it through the summer. I had to find her and save her from Travis now.

  That seemed to deflate Rose a tiny bit, but she soldiered on. “What else have you determined?”

  “We both hooked up with Travis,” Bobbie Jean said.

  I shuddered. Oh hell no. “I didn’t hook up with Travis.” I shook my head for added emphasis. “He just bit me without permission.”

  “Then what happened?” Rose asked.

  “Then I kneed him in the balls,” I replied with satisfaction. “But my best friend was bitten, too. The Drainers didn’t want to let us leave, but we did.”

  “I got bit at his gig in Austin and then again last night,” Bobbie Jean said.

  “My friend had fangs,” I said.

  “What color were her eyes?” Thorn blurted out. “All red and squinty like a rat’s?”

  “Her eyes?” I asked. “Normal color. Brown.” I wasn’t ready to tell them my secrets.

  “That is good news,” she said.

  Rose fished a thick file out of her purse and scribbled madly. The pen had silver ink. I tried to read over her shoulder, but she blocked my view. “So what else?”

  “Skyler was bit when we were at the party here last night,” I said. But then I thought of the weird way Skyler had been acting. “It’s possible it was more than one time.

  “She’s my best friend,” I continued stubbornly. “I’m not going back home without her.”

  “Perhaps there’s hope for her,” Rose said. “As long as she doesn’t drink any of the prince’s blood.”

  “Gross,” I said, making a face. “Who’s the prince?”

  I’d just started to get my head around the idea of vampires, and now Rose was telling me there was a hierarchy?

  “He goes by the name Travis,” she said. “His father is the king of the vampires. California realm.”

  “His royal blood is probably swimming with communicable disease,” I replied. “But my friend Skyler thinks she’s in love with him. And that he loves her.”

  Thorn studied my face. “The prince thinks of women only two ways,” she said. “For feeding and for f—”

  I interrupted her before she could finish that sentence. “I’ve no intention of staying here and waiting,” I said.

  “You are a Mariotti witch.” Rose narrowed her eyes. “But you still do not know what you are getting yourself into.”

  How did she know I was a Mariotti? Who were these girls?

  Things were getting less clear the more I learned—but saving Skyler was more important than anything right now. “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Skyler is my best friend.”

  “Then be prepared to face the consequences,” she said.

  I tried to ignore the dread pooling in my stomach at what I’d find when we finally caught up with Skyler. If that jerk had hurt her, I was going to find a spell that would make his fangs as useful as flip-flops in Siberia and see how long he survived.

  Chapter Six

  “Tansy, where are you?” I heard Vaughn’s voice calling me.

  “Who is that?” Thorn asked.

  Good question. Who was Vaughn, exactly? Friend? Potential boyfriend?

  While I was dithering about labels, Thorn whipped out a wicked-looking dagger.

  “He’s a friend,” I answered hastily as Vaughn walked into the room.

  Bobbie Jean looked him up and down. “He’s bitable.”

  I glared at her. “Don’t even think about it.”

  Vaughn ignored everyone but me. “Sorry that took so long,” he said. “Everything okay here?”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “What did your dad say about you leaving?”

  Vaughn lifted an eyebrow back. “He was pissed at first, but everything’s okay now. He got Angela and Rohan to cover our shifts.”

  The other girls watched us like our conversation was a yellow tennis ball we were batting back and forth.

  “Hi, I’m Vaughn,” he said and gave them all a wave. They didn’t wave back or even introduce themselves. Thorn was still holding the dagger like she wanted him to make a wrong move. “Ohh…kay…”

  “Is he your boyfriend?” Bobbie Jean asked, stepping over to him.

  I said no quickly and maybe a little too loudly. Vaughn raised an eyebrow at me again but didn’t say anything.

  “You should give him a chance.” Bobbie Jean winked. “If you don’t, I will.” Her top lip curled up just enough to reveal a fang, her eyes intent on him, hungry.

  Not happening.

  The sisters seemed to lose interest in Vaughn and me and returned to arguing about who would get to make Travis pay.

  “I have ways of making him talk,” Thorn said. “The prince won’t get away with this.”

  “I’m going, too,” Bobbie Jean said stubbornly.

  “We can travel much faster without you,” Thorn said.

  “What my sister means to say—” Rose started to add, but Thorn interrupted her.

  “Your sister can speak for herself. And I said what I meant. The prince’s castoff will slow us down.”

  I sat on the floor and listened to the argument going on all around me.

  Vaughn sat beside me and held my hand. “Tansy, I’m sorry it took so long. My dad was going on and on about his new girlfriend.” He rolled his eyes.

  I squeezed his back. “It’s okay.” I hoped my hands weren’t sweaty, but holding his hand was a lot. I’d probably faint if he ever kissed me.

  My phone buzzed with a text from Sky, and my pulse thudded in my ears as I scrambled to open the message. Maybe she’d sent me her location? But all it said was: Don’t try to find me.

  That was never going to happen. Vaughn and I would find her, whether she liked it or not. My best friend was in trouble, and no text message would stop me from doing whatever it took to help her.

  “Skyler’s trying to get us to leave her alone,” I told Vaughn. I showed him the text, and he swore under his breath.

  “What’s she up to?” he asked.

  I pulled up The Drainers’ Instagram. There was a picture of Skyler and another girl snuggled up to Travis and Ozzie. They were somewhere gloomy and sitting on what looked like coffins.

  Rose peered over my shoulder. “Is that your friend?”

  I nodded.

  I put a hand up to my neck, everything I’d learned—especially those words, striga vie—swirling around in my head.

  Rose came over to me. “Let me see your bites,” she said.

  I shook my head. “Bite. Singular.”

  Vaughn nudged me. “Tansy, you should show them. Maybe they can help.”

  “Fine.” I craned my neck and pointed to the mark. “Is that what yours looks like?”

  Everyone in the room but me gasped.

  “What? What is it?” They were all staring at my neck.

  “I don’t have a bite like that,” Bobbie Jean said.

  “Like what?” I asked, truly alarmed now. I mean, how much worse could it be?

  She wordlessly handed me the compact from her purse.

  My bite marks were now perfect circles and glowing gold.

  Even Thorn looked shocked. Sh
e stared at the mark and then woke her cell phone. “I need to make some calls,” she said before walking out of the room.

  “Do you know where The Drainers are staying?” I asked Bobbie Jean.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” Bobbie Jean replied. She whipped out her phone and started typing madly.

  “When were you born?” Rose asked out of the blue. Thorn had finished her call already and returned.

  Nosy much?

  “Her birthday is April first,” Vaughn said. He shot me a look and winked. That was not my birthday. I glared at him, but then realized he was just messing with them. He wasn’t going to give a stranger my birthday. Next they’d be asking for my social and the pin number to my checking account.

  “Was there anything unusual about your birth?”

  “Nothing I can think of,” I said.

  For the first time, I wondered if there was something more to my birth that Granny had concealed from me. “Why do you want to know, anyway?”

  “It is better that you do not know more until I can verify a few facts,” Rose replied.

  That didn’t sound ominous at all.

  “What if I kill Travis?” I asked. “That’s how they do it in the movies, and you said it would make Skyler human again. Kill the head vampire, reverse the transformation.”

  “You can’t just kill Travis,” Bobbie Jean said, her eyes as wide as saucers.

  “Why not?” Why did she care if I killed him?

  “It’s not exactly easy, for starters.”

  “He compels people to give him blood.” If my rage alone were enough to kill him, he’d be pushing up daisies. “He did that to you, didn’t he? And probably a bunch of other people, too,” I said to Bobbie Jean. “Why shouldn’t I kill him?” I looked at Thorn for confirmation.

  She shrugged. “You could try. But it’s true: vampires aren’t that easy to kill.”

  “And you should worry about yourself,” Rose said.

  “I’m not going to turn into a vampire,” I said, horrified by the idea. “But he fed on Bobbie Jean,” I said. I turned to her and started to ask, “How are you feeling?” but she was already gone.

  “Anything else you want to tell us?” I asked Thorn, who seemed to be more forthcoming.

  Vaughn stopped his pacing long enough to ask, “What if we just find Sky, grab her, and go?”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Because that worked so well last night?”

  “You may have a point,” he conceded.

  “That’s a terrible plan,” Thorn said. “Bleeders often bond with their makers emotionally.”

  “Do not use that degrading term,” Rose snapped at her sister. “They are human beings.”

  “They were human beings,” Thorn said. “Now they are mindless food sources.”

  “Harsh,” I said. “Anything else we should know?”

  “Vampires cannot go into the sunlight or they die,” Rose said, speaking to me as if I were a toddler.

  “That’s true?” It might help explain why the fan club president had picked up Skyler instead of Travis.

  “Popular culture gets a few things right,” Rose said.

  “Most vamps can’t enjoy the sunshine,” Thorn said. “But there have been a few daywalker reports.”

  Her sister frowned at her. “Unsubstantiated rumors.” She sniffed.

  So some of the things in Granny Mariotti’s books had been true. I was glad I’d thrown them into my bag before leaving.

  “Please do not tell anyone I gave this to you—the committee would not be pleased.” Rose rummaged in a tote and then handed me a manila file.

  “Then why are you giving it to me?” I asked, but it was her sister, Thorn, who replied.

  “Because you’re going to need all the help you can get.”

  Chapter Seven

  We said goodbye to our new friends, but they followed us outside.

  The twins crossed the street and stood by a nondescript sedan, and it was clear they were arguing, even though I couldn’t hear what they were saying. The unflappable Rose threw her hands up in the air, and Thorn responded with a rude gesture before storming to the driver’s side and getting in. It looked like Thorn made her sister stand there waiting for Thorn to unlock the door, which she took her sweet time about. Baller move.

  I gave Rose a little wave as we got into the Deathtrap.

  Vaughn started up the car. “Ready to go? Or should we wait for them to leave?”

  “Let’s go,” I answered, still stunned.

  My phone rang. Not a text—it was my grandmother calling. How did she find out I was gone already?

  “I can’t believe you left without telling me,” she said.

  I can’t believe you lied to me about my own mother. “Hi to you, too,” I said. “And I left a note.”

  “I found it,” she said. “That’s why I’m calling. What were you thinking, Tansy Morgan Mariotti?”

  Granny was middle-naming me. She must be really pissed.

  I ignored the question and replied with one of my own. “Why are you home so early?”

  “Author missed her plane,” she replied. “We’re rescheduling. Now, explain to me what you were thinking by taking off after a bunch of vampires.”

  “I was thinking that my best friend in the entire world needs my help,” I said. “And Vaughn’s with me.”

  “Of course he is.” She laughed.

  “What’s that mean?”

  “That boy ever miss a chance to get up close and personal with you?” Her tone was teasing.

  “Granny!” I moaned. “Quit trying to embarrass me.”

  She snorted again. Granny’s snorts all sounded different and conveyed a variety of emotions. This one made me blush.

  I glanced at Vaughn and then looked away.

  Granny didn’t say anything for a long time. “You promise to call me every night?”

  “I promise,” I replied.

  “And you’ll keep your necklace on you at all times,” she said. “You can’t give it to Skyler or anyone else.”

  Why was Granny so insistent? I knew those charms protected me, but I was a Mariotti witch, more powerful than Skyler, who was only human.

  “Those are my conditions,” she said. “Take it or leave it. And be safe when you’re sharing a bed with Vaughn tonight. Ta-ta!” She hung up.

  She was so embarrassing…but the thought of Vaughn and me alone did make me shiver.

  We had agreed Vaughn would drive the first shift. I liked the idea because that way I got to pick the music. I scrolled through the track list on my phone until I found the perfect road trip playlist, which included my favorite Billie Eilish song.

  We were only on the freeway for twenty minutes before we had to slow down. “Traffic.” I groaned the word out.

  “It’s L.A. There’s always traffic.” Vaughn adjusted the air vents and the temperature controls, making sure cool air was hitting us both. I didn’t have the heart to remind him the Deathtrap didn’t do well in bumper-to-bumper traffic and with the air full blast. Not yet, at least.

  But even the carpool lane was stopped. I sighed. We were likely going to be here a while.

  My only comfort was knowing that The Drainers would stop to perform. We’d catch up to them, and I’d somehow snip some hair, cast a separation spell, and break the hold he had on my best friend. I’d do whatever it took. Even if it meant killing Travis.

  I had to.

  …

  While Vaughn inched us forward, I got out my phone and did some research on The Drainers. They were popular, but there were a lot of comments about how they were best live.

  I downloaded a couple of songs, and Vaughn and I listened. I wanted to see if he had the same reaction as I did. Before the first song was over, we agreed with the reviews. Travis singing on a recor
ding was an experience I did not want to repeat.

  Why did I have such different reactions to The Drainers’ music? Vampires had a variety of powers, including the ability to mesmerize and compel people. Being a descended witch must offer some protection. And clearly a recording didn’t have the same compulsion, since Vaughn seemed to be unaffected as well.

  “That’s why everyone thinks they sound great live, but their recorded music sucks. Because they have to be near their victims for it to work.”

  Vaughn shot me a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”

  “When they play live, their music is haunting,” I said. “Beautiful. Compelling.”

  “In other words, not this,” Vaughn deadpanned.

  I burst out laughing. “Definitely not this.”

  I noticed my nails were overgrown and got out a nail file from my bag. I filed them down to a reasonable length and then hit up social media streams again.

  Their Instagram feed was obnoxious. A girl named Natasha oversaw it, and she featured herself in a lot of the posts. In one photo, she was hanging on Travis’s arm; the next, it was the drummer she was all over. There were a lot of #Bleeders references, too.

  I wrinkled my nose. “I need brain bleach.” I tossed my phone on the console.

  “Any pics of Skyler?” Vaughn asked.

  “Only a few,” I admitted. “There’s nothing that stands out, except that I’m pretty sure she’s with Natasha, the president of The Drainers’ fan club.”

  “Look further back,” he suggested. “Maybe about six weeks earlier.”

  “But Sky only started talking about Travis a few weeks ago,” I argued.

  “I think she met him a while back,” he said. He kept his eyes on the road, but there was something in his tone that worried me.

  “Skyler tells me everything.”

  He hesitated, then said, “She doesn’t tell you everything. In fact, I don’t think she’s been telling either of us half of what’s been going on with her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She’s been acting funny for weeks,” he finally said.