Bloody Little Secrets
Page 25
Chapter 16
I was worried about Drake from the moment he got into my car. I offered to drive him to school on his first morning as a vampire and made sure to pack extra blood bags, bringing both coolers in the back of the Mustang. I’d had the luxury, if you want to call it that, of adjusting to my new situation before dropping myself into hallways full of warm tasty people. My eyes flitted over to him continuously on our drive to school, even though he seemed cool and in control. I knew better. It wasn’t that easy.
“What’s wrong with you?” He squeezed my hand as we pulled into the parking lot.
“Nothing.” I paused and glanced at him again after parking the car. “I don’t know—you seem awful calm about this. You have to walk around people today. Lots of people. How was it at home last night?”
“Weird being that the first thing I noticed about my family was that they smelled like all my favorite foods. Italian beef. Chicago hot dogs. Cheese fries. It was painful, but I was able to keep it together with the extra blood you gave me. I’m already out, I’ll need to stock up after school.”
I pulled into a parking spot in the back of the lot.
“Already? I guess boy vampires eat more than girl vampires do. Jeez. We’ll have to hit up the clinic then. We might want to go to a different town. I don’t want people here to start noticing how much blood is missing from the Urgent Care. They may try to catch us. Or the other vamps might get wind if it’s in the paper. I don’t want them to come after you too. They have to believe you died.”
I squeezed his hand, leaning in close to his face. He was so handsome before—he was nearly impossible to take my eyes off of now. Morgan would be unstoppable. Ugh.
“I’m here for you today, any time. Just run out to the car if you have to, lay low, and send me a text. The supply in the back should handle lunch, and be sure to save me a bag or two.” I placed my hand on his cheek. “If this is too much, we could just go, blow off the day.”
“That is so tempting.” He pressed his lips to mine, soft and perfect. His hands slipped around my waist and pulled me closer. I inhaled, still disappointed that the rich, chocolaty smell that had been a part of him since we’d met was gone. He pulled back and I sighed.
“But if I don’t show at school and my ma finds out, she’ll kill me.” He laughed at his own words. “Okay, obviously an overstatement, she’ll be really, really pissed. And since she doesn’t know her son has acquired immortality and the strength of a superhero, it’s best not to make her mad. She might ground me.”
I laughed out loud and pulled back from his embrace. “We better get in there before we’re late then.”
We walked among the students headed towards the main doors and were absorbed in the crowd. A heap of mouth-watering scents washed over us. I looked at him sideways, watching his eyes widen as he was hit with the sensation. I pulled him aside from the flow of the crowd down a side hallway.
“Are you okay?” I stood on my tiptoes and looked into his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be alright. I’m full, and you told me that helps. I just have to not let it get to me.” His voice shook a little as he tried to convince himself. “I can do this.”
“Yeah, but if you can’t, people could get hurt,” I said.
His eyes pleaded with me. “Come on Vick, it’ll be alright. Let’s just go to class.” He pulled me by the hand and we rejoined the throng of students, making our way to English class. As I predicted, Morgan was on him like wallpaper on a wall the minute we walked in the door to English.
“What happened to you on Saturday, Drake?” Morgan cooed. I rolled my eyes. “You missed out on all the fun!”
“Oh, uh, yeah, sorry about that. We had to go. Monty’s ma needed him at home. Total bummer.” He nodded apologetically.
“After you guys left, we all got really drunk and then ran around outside in the snow. We made snowmen and snow angels and everything. Best blizzard party ever!” Morgan flipped her hair nervously.
“Sounds like it.” He took out his copy of Dracula and I copied him, pulling it from my purse.
“Ahem.” Mrs. Evon cleared her throat. “Ms. Rakow, let’s please refrain from speaking publically about your weekend activities unless you’d like to share the details with the principal’s office.” She gave her a stern and disapproving look before launching into the lecture on our reading from Dracula.
I observed Morgan with wide eyes. As much as I’d felt like killing her on Saturday night, the reality of her or any other guests at that party walking out into a vampire showdown would have made for a mega disaster. None of them had any idea what kind of monsters lurked in the dark streets of Bartlett, let alone behind them in class.