by Trisha Telep
Ryan’s eyes opened and fluttered. He mumbled incoherently.
“Hey, Stereotype,” Becky called with a smile. “I hear you didn’t eat lunch. Did you get banned from the cafeteria, so that now I have to feed your sorry butt?”
Ryan didn’t reply, but his eyes seemed to recognize something.
Becky closed her own eyes and pressed her wrist against Ryan’s mouth. She looked away, over her shoulder and waited.
I can’t believe I’m doing this.
Believe it, she heard Syd’s voice in her mind.
Becky opened her eyes to stare at him. Syd couldn’t help but grin back at her.
“You have much to learn, little Healer,” said the blond vampire.
“Ouch!” Becky gasped as Ryan’s fangs pierced her wrist.
Then the pain faded, and she felt nothing. She really expected to feel something … but there wasn’t anything at all. She didn’t feel weak or dizzy, or like something was being taken away from her. On the contrary, she felt really, really good. Helpful and … and …
“Nurturing?” Sydney said out loud.
Becky blushed and nodded. “I guess that’s as good a word for it as any.”
Nana came to rest her hands on Becky’s shoulders.
“You’re strong,” Nana said softly. “Stronger even than I was, I think. He won’t take much, this first time, but he’ll need more over the next couple of days.”
“Days?” Becky echoed. “Doesn’t this take—I don’t know—just a few minutes?”
“This isn’t Hollywood, little Healer,” Sydney said with a roll of his dark blue eyes. “You don’t get bitten by a vampire then change in moments to bite your friends.”
“Well … no offense, but isn’t that kind of what just happened?” Becky countered. She pointed to the wrist Ryan had pressed to his mouth.
“Point taken,” Sydney replied. “However, he won’t remember himself for a couple of days.”
Sydney glanced up at Nana.
“Though something tells me you’re accustomed to people not remembering themselves.”
Becky felt Nana’s hands on her shoulders tighten slightly before Ryan dropped her wrist and began to tremble.
“That’s enough,” she heard Nana say. “Move away now.”
Becky did as she was told, and Sydney reached for the damp cloth again as Ryan’s trembling escalated into convulsions.
“Is it going to be like this … until he’s … um … converted, or whatever?” Becky asked.
Nana nodded. “Mmmhmm. But don’t worry. He’s with us now, and safe. Comfortable. But it’s also very late, and you have school tomorrow.”
Becky looked horrified.
“Nana,” she reasoned. “You can’t possibly—”
Nana held up a hand, a familiar gesture that said she was through talking about a subject.
“I can,” Nana said firmly. “Syd will stay and help me, won’t you, Syd? That’s a good boy. Becky, you can help in the evenings, after your chores and schoolwork are done, not before. It will be a lot of hard work, but you’ll likely be trained enough in a year or so of hard study that we can let Syd go about his business as usual. That’s not too long, is it, Syd?”
“A year?” Becky squeaked.
Syd voiced the same protest.
Nana looked stern.
“Sydney Alexander, you came seeking a Healer, and you’ve found one untrained. Rebecca Charlotte, you have a great deal to learn and a vast amount of power to harness. You’ll be lucky if a year is all it takes. And that’s just the bare minimum! Remember, you should have been studying intently these last ten years. Most Healers begin at age five. I’m sorry this is late, but if it’s what you both want, it’s all or nothing.”
Syd looked mutinous.
Becky was just as unhappy, but asked, “Will you be more like your old self with him around?”
She jerked her head in Syd’s direction.
Nana nodded. Syd rolled his eyes.
“Then that’s worth a year of Blondie and hard work to me.” Becky smiled a little.
The vampire groaned. “And I suppose, since I owe you my own existence more than once over, a year isn’t so long a time, especially if it is given to train the granddaughter of Martha Althea in the art of Healing. Provided, that is, she works hard and doesn’t waste my valuable time.”
“Provided Blondie here doesn’t go around provoking hellhounds into biting any more of my classmates!” Becky stuck out her tongue at Syd.
If vampires could blush, Sydney would have been crimson. Martha glared at him.
“Provoking hellhounds?” Nana said crisply.
“You didn’t tell me she was a Seer as well,” Sydney mumbled, embarrassed.
Martha looked at Becky, a bit surprised at her granddaughter’s new talent. It was an uncommon gift among Healers, but not unheard of. It had been three generations since there had been a Seer in her own line. Becky’s great-great grandmother, Agnes, had been one.
“You show up here, with a wounded boy—” Nana began sharply. It always made Becky cringe when Nana took that tone.
Sydney held up a hand.
“Can we please not talk about it?” he asked contritely. “I know this is my fault. The truce hasn’t been broken. Some of us still … you know … get up to mischief … for old times’ sake. Usually no one gets hurt. But still—what if the truce had been broken? What then? We’d have no Healer in this part of the world, and shifting through the planes is dangerous with those who are wounded …”
Sydney caught Nana’s look of disgust and trailed off, looking completely ashamed.
“Two years. For your serious lack of judgment,” Nana said imperiously.
“Yes, Ma’am.” Syd hung his head. “Two years indebted to your service. To train your replacement.”
“Good,” Nana said with a frustrated sigh. “At least one of us will have their wits about them for a while. Rebecca? Bedtime. It’s well past midnight, and a school night.”
Becky didn’t have to be told twice as she hurried out of the hidden Healing “enclave,” as Sydney had called it, and down to her own bedroom.
Two years. Two years of Nana being herself again. Wow. And Blondie was kind of cute. Okay … more than kind of. He was totally cute.
And she couldn’t wait to tell Robin all about him.
Acknowledgements
“Falling to Ash” © by Karen Mahoney. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“Shelter Island” © by Melissa de la Cruz. First published in The Number of the Beast: 666, September 2007.
“Sword Point” © by Maria V. Snyder. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Coldest Girl in Coldtown” © by Holly Black. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“Undead Is Very Hot Right Now” © by Sarah Rees Brennan. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“Kat” © by KLA Fricke Inc. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“The Thirteenth Step” © by Martha E. Bray. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“All Hallows” © by Rachel Caine. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“Wet Teeth” © by Cecil Castellucci. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“Other Boys” © by Cassandra Clare. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“Passing” © by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguié. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the authors.
“Ambition” © by Lili St. Crow. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
“All Wounds” © by Dina James. First publication, original to
this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
Author Biographies
KELLEY ARMSTRONG has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make her produce “normal” stories failed. Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She’s the author of the New York Times bestselling Women of the Otherworld paranormal suspense series, and the Darkest Powers young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series.
www.kelleyarmstrong.com
HOLLY BLACK writes contemporary fantasy novels for teens and younger readers. Her books include the Modern Faerie Tale books, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and her graphic novel series, The Good Neighbors. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with her husband, Theo, in a Tudoresque house with a secret library.
www.blackholly.com
LIBBA BRAY is the author of the New York Times bestselling Gemma Doyle Trilogy, which includes the novels, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing. She has also written several short stories, some plays, one or two letters of complaint, and an occasional grocery list. She lives in New York City with her husband, son, and two bizarre cats. When she’s not writing, Libba works on her Evil Author Overlord™ plan for world domination, which she will get to just as soon as she figures out the proper wardrobe.
www.libbabray.com
SARAH REES BRENNAN was born and raised in Ireland by the sea, where her teachers valiantly tried to make her fluent in Irish (she wants you to know it’s not called Gaelic) but she chose to read books under her desk in class instead. After college she lived briefly in New York and somehow survived in spite of her habit of hitching lifts in fire engines. Since then she has returned to Ireland to write. Her Irish is still woeful, but she feels the books under the desk were worth it. The Demon’s Lexicon, her first novel, was published in summer 2009.
www.sarahreesbrennan.com
RACHEL CAINE is the author of more than twenty-five novels, including the urban fantasy Weather Warden series, and the young adult urban fantasy Morganville Vampires. In 2009, she launches a new urban fantasy series called Outcast Season. She lives in Fort Worth, Texas with her husband—fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad—and a whole bunch of unusual pets.
www.rachelcaine.com
CECIL CASTELLUCCI has published three novels for young adults—Boy Proof, The Queen of Cool and Beige, all from Candlewick Press. She also wrote the graphic novels The PLAIN Janes and Janes in Love, illustrated by Jim Rugg, the latter of which was the launch title for DC Comics’ Minx line of graphic novels for young adults. She has had short stories in Wizards of the Coast’s Magic in the Mirrorstone anthology and Candlewick Press’s Cabinet of Curiosities. She is the co-editor (with Holly Black) of the anthology Geektastic. Her new YA novel, Rose Sees Red will be published in 2010. Her books have been on ALA’s BBYA, Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, and Great Graphic Novels for Teens lists, as well as the NYPL Books for the Teen Age, and the Amelia Bloomer list. In addition to writing books, she writes plays, makes movies, and occasionally rocks out.
www.misscecil.com
CASSANDRA CLARE is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass. City of Bones was a 2007 Locus Award finalist for Best First Novel and an ALA Teens Top Ten 2008 winner. She is also the author of the upcoming YA fantasy trilogy, The Infernal Devices. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her boyfriend and two cats.
www.cassandraclare.com
MELISSA DE LA CRUZ is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many books for teens. To find out more about Dylan’s story, read her Blue Bloods series. The fourth book, The Van Alen Legacy is due October 2009. Her latest works also include The Strip, the sequel to Angels on Sunset Boulevard, and the first book in a new series, Girl Stays in the Picture. Melissa divides her time between Los Angeles, Palm Springs and New York and has spent many summers (but so far only one winter weekend) on Shelter Island, where she has yet to meet a vampire. But she’s always on the lookout for one in danger.
www.melissa-delacruz.com
NANCY HOLDER has sold approximately eighty novels and two hundred short stories, essays, and articles. She has received four Bram Stoker awards for her occult fiction, and serves on the Clarion Foundation Board. She and Debbie Viguié have written five novels in the New York Times bestselling Wicked saga together. This is their first published collaborative short story.
www.nancyholder.com
DINA JAMES After having three short stories published in vampire romance anthologies (The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 1 & 2 and The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance), all set in the mysterious world of the Destrati, she decided to try her hand at writing something for a young adult audience. The result is the story in this collection, “All Wounds.” Based on this story, a full-length novel soon emerged, introducing other vampires, hellhound puppies, and one very independent werewolf. The story featured in this book is, quite literally, just the beginning.
www.dinajames.com
KAREN MAHONEY has been a Tarot reader, a college counsellor, a dating agency consultant, and a bookseller. Ever since she was six years old what she really wanted to be was Wonder Woman, but has instead settled for being a writer, which she thinks is the most fun you can have without bulletproof bracelets. She reads way too many books, hates bullies, and loves her two cats (even though they only have seven legs between them). She does nothing to hide the fact that she is a total geek. If she could be a character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she would have to be Buffy so she could kiss both Angel and Spike. She is British, but hopes that you do not hold this against her.
www.karenmahoney.net
MARIA V. SNYDER switched careers from meteorologist to novelist when she began writing the award-winning and bestselling Study series (Poison Study, Magic Study, and Fire Study) about a young woman forced to become a poison taster. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Maria dreamed of chasing tornados, but lacked the skills to forecast their location. Writing, however, let Maria control the weather, which she happily does via a Stormdancer in her book Storm Glass. Maria enjoys hands-on researching for her stories. She had a blast learning how to fence and fight for this creepy vampire tale.
www.mariavsnyder.com
LILI ST. CROW is the author of the Dante Valentine and Jill Kismet series, as well as the new YA series, Strange Angels. She lives in Vancouver, Washington, with three children, a husband, a variable number of cats, and other assorted strays.
www.lilithsaintcrow.com
DEBBIE VIGUIÉ is the author of several books including Midnight Pearls and Scarlet Moon. She co-authored the New York Times bestselling Wicked series with Nancy Holder. Most of Debbie’s books have a strong element of the supernatural to them. Debbie has been writing for most of her life and holds a B.A. in English and a Masters in Creative Writing. When Debbie is not busy writing she enjoys acting and traveling with her husband, Scott. They live in Hawaii.
www.debbieviguie.com