How to Live and Die in Crescent Rock (Crescent Rock Series)

by Bree Wolf

  “Alright then, see you around,” she said and walked over to the table reserved for the cheerleading squad. Taking her place at the head, Quinn quickly found herself drawn into a discussion about whether or not to come up with a new routine for their next game against Dunbourg in a few weeks.

  “It’s just, once performed a routine is old news,” Caroline said. “No one will want to see it.”

  “She’s right,” Danielle agreed. “Most people will probably go and get a refill of their sodas and … I don’t know, more popcorn. We should definitely come up with something new.”

  Apparently they had reached somewhat of a tie because suddenly all faces turned to Quinn, waiting for her to decide what would be best.

  Not in the mood for a serious discussion, Quinn just shrugged. “Don’t you think that all this is a moot point? In the end, it’s basically Coach Grainer’s decision.”

  Julia frowned at her. “Yeah, but we do have a say in the matter. She does listen to us … now and then. Or at least take it into consideration.”

  “Fine,” Quinn said. “Then just vote on it.”

  They all stared at her.

  “What?” she asked.

  Leaning over, Julia lowered her voice to a whisper. “Is everything alright? You’re not being all bossy?”

  Quinn stared back at her.

  Raising her hands in a pacifying gesture, Julia said, “Hey, I’m just concerned. You seem to be a bit disinterested lately. Are you sure you’re alright?”

  Quinn shrugged. “I’m fine. I’m just … a bit stressed. That’s all.”

  Julia still frowned at her but nodded. Turning to the rest of the table, she said, “Let’s think about it some more and talk it through again tomorrow. There is no rush.”

  The girls nodded, but their faces held confusion and some even a hint of concern. Quinn knew she had to get back to her old self. Any display of weakness could eventually cost her her position. It upset her deeply, especially since she’d felt so great the last few days.

  “Hey, look who just walked in,” Julia whispered, giving Quinn a nudge.

  Peering over her shoulder, she saw Arnaud walking up to the counter. As he passed their table, he caught her eye, and there was a nearly imperceptible nod of his head.

  Julia grinned but before she could comment on the situation, Quinn hissed under her breath, “Not a word.”

  Julia laughed and, nodding her head to the left, indicating the other girls at their table, she said, “But you see what I mean, don’t you?”

  What Quinn saw was every member of her cheerleading squad staring at Arnaud, their eyes following him. Almost every member that was. “Where is Amanda?” she asked, still annoyed with her double, but grateful for the change of topic she offered.

  Julia’s eyebrows rose and she shook her head. “I so see what you’re doing.”

  “She said she’d be late,” Caroline answered. “She said she had to change.”

  “Great!” Quinn moaned.

  “Hey, maybe she finally got it,” Julia said.

  “I’m not that lucky. She probably just went home to get a matching sweater or something.” Although the air felt like fresh from out of the oven, some places were air-conditioned to such a degree that putting on a sweater was advisable when going inside. Quinn’s own sweater hung over the back of her chair since her parents maintained a more reasonable difference between inside and outside temperature.

  “Any idea what he is doing here?” Julia whispered, still looking at Arnaud who stood at the counter, waiting.

  “How should I know?” Quinn snapped. “Maybe he wants take-out. Why else do people come here?” She desperately hoped he wouldn’t stay, or Julia’s teasing would go on indefinitely.

  From the kitchen her mother appeared, dressed in her white chef uniform that made her even more seem like a general issuing commands. She greeted Arnaud with a pleased smile and they exchanged a few words. Unfortunately, from where she sat, Quinn couldn’t hear what they were saying. She only hoped he would refrain from mentioning anything of their encounter the previous Saturday. Quinn wasn’t sure if her mother would be all that happy about how she had thanked him. But the expression on her mother’s face didn’t change and no meaningful glances were cast in her direction. After a while her mother rushed back into the kitchen, only to come back a moment later, carrying a brown bag. Relieved, Quinn saw her assumption confirmed. Arnaud wouldn’t stay and as though on cue he turned to leave. Walking by her table, he once again caught her eye and that mocking half-smile was back on his face.

  Just as before Quinn felt a strong urge to hit him. Usually she was not a violent person. Usually her wit was all she needed to solve a situation to her satisfaction so that she was relieved when her slightly aggressive tendencies left with him.

  “Quinn,” her mother suddenly called, waving her over. When she came to stand at the counter, her mother shoved a box of apple pie at her. “See if you can catch him,” she ordered.

  “What?” Quinn asked wide-eyed, knowing exactly who her mother was talking about. “Why me?”

  Her mother frowned, annoyed. “Why not? Now go!”

  Cursing under her breath, Quinn took the box and headed for the door, hoping that she wouldn’t catch up with him.

  Walking down the front steps, she stopped, looking up and down the street, here and there cast in light from the streetlamps framing it. She didn’t see him anywhere and breathed a sigh of relief, when her eyes suddenly fell on a brown paper bag. It stood maybe twenty feet to her left on the sidewalk by a narrow alley running between the houses and stores, cutting through to Hayes Street.

  Without a doubt she knew it was a bag holding food from her parents’ diner, the one her mother had handed to Arnaud only a few minutes ago. Unsure what to make of this, she walked over and picked it up, looking around. But there was no one there. Taking another step, she peered around the corner into the dark alley, framed by houses on both sides, only wide enough to allow one car through at a time.

  At first all she saw was darkness. Then eerie shadows slowly separated themselves from the blob of black, taking the shape of garbage containers and back doors. A cat emerged from the gloomy nothing, walking past Quinn without paying her any attention. When she turned to look into the alley again, the clouds shifted and moonlight poured in, allowing her eyes to finally see the two people that had been hidden by the shadows before.

  Quinn’s eyes widened when she recognized them.

  Amanda, her pale face slightly turned upward, stood motionless, gazing as though in trance at Arnaud. He had a hand around the back of her neck, looking into her eyes.

  For a reason Quinn couldn’t name the situation struck her as odd and she couldn’t tear her eyes away. Standing motionless herself, she watched as Arnaud slowly tilted Amanda’s head to the right, while his other arm came around her waist, pulling her closer. Then he bent down to her neck, his upper lip curling back a little. Quinn’s breath caught in her throat when she saw that his upper canines were protruding beyond the edges of his incisors.

  But she had no time to recover from her shock because in the next instant he sunk his teeth into Amanda’s neck.

  Quinn stood and watched, feeling paralyzed.

  Chapter 11 – Dead and Kicking

  Quinn didn’t know how long she just stood there, watching. But she knew that what she was seeing couldn’t possibly be what was happening only a few feet in front of her. There had to be something wrong with her eyes and yet they continued to show her what couldn’t be real.

  Still holding Amanda in a tight embrace, Arnaud slowly lifted his head. Once again Quinn’s eyes widened as she saw his pointy canines. But what finally broke her paralysis was the small trickle of blood on Amanda’s neck, slowly running downward from the lower of the two puncture marks.

  As though by reflex, Quinn pulled herself back around the corner. For a moment she stared at the bag of food in her hand. Then her eyes shifted to the box of apple pie, she held in
the other, and knew that her mother would be mad if she didn’t give it to Arnaud. But the moment that thought passed through her mind, Quinn shook her head at its absurdity.

  Without hesitating, she walked over to the trash can by the entrance to her parents’ diner and threw them both in. The ruckus startled her, sending shivers down her back. Without looking back, she rushed inside, all of a sudden feeling watched. The darkness outside had become threatening, hiding all sorts of terrifying nightmares.

  After the looming silence outside, Quinn suddenly found herself in the bright, cheerful diner with people’s chatter reaching her ear from all directions. What she had just witnessed seemed even more surreal. But her mind wouldn’t let it go, replaying the images before her eyes, just like her dreams had tortured her at night, making her see the accident again and again.

  At first she just stood there, paralyzed like before, but then it hit her. Amanda. If what she had seen was real … although it couldn’t be … then her friend was in danger, maybe even dead already. Again shivers ran over her body and her hands started trembling.

  “Oh, my god, Amanda! What should I do?” she mumbled to herself, trying to sort through the clutter in her head.

  “About what?” came a cheerful voice from behind her.

  Quinn spun around.

  “Are you alright?” Amanda asked, a worried frown on her face. “You look kinda pale.”

  “I’m fine,” Quinn stammered, unable to stop staring. She swallowed hard, trying to pull herself together. “Are you alright?”

  Amanda shrugged. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Looking her over, Quinn noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Again Amanda was wearing the same kind of airy summer dress Quinn had chosen that morning for herself. Same for the hair-do. And while Amanda had not had a sweater at school, she had one now.

  Carefully peering at her neck, Quinn didn’t see a single scratch. There were no puncture marks. There was nothing. And although this development did not bode well for her sanity, Quinn felt herself relax. Whatever had happened, it had been something different than her eyes had led her to belief.

  “Are you coming?” Amanda asked, pointing at their table.

  Quinn nodded, catching her breath. “In a minute. You go ahead.”

  Amanda turned and, watching her walk towards the others, Quinn’s eyes suddenly spotted a small red smudge on the left strap of her dress, just below her ear. From one second to the next, her heart started hammering like a sledge-hammer again.

  Still shaking, Quinn took her seat at the table and trying to be nonchalant asked, “What happened there?” pointing at the red stain.

  Craning her neck to see, Amanda shrugged. “Don’t know.” She looked mildly embarrassed at having a flaw in her wardrobe pointed out to her.

  “You don’t remember?” Quinn asked, grabbing her glass of water and gulping it down.

  Amanda shook her head. “Guess not. Why are you asking?”

  “No reason,” Quinn said, becoming aware that not only Amanda was staring at her.

  “Are you alright?” Julia asked. “You look pale. Maybe you should go home and lie down.”

  A part of her wondered how much time would need to pass for them to forget about the accident. “Maybe you’re right,” she said instead, feeling the desperate need to be alone. After asking Julia to let her mother know she had left, Quinn headed outside, breathing in the night air. It had cooled down a little and the light breeze brushing over her flustered face was soothing.

  Walking to her car though, Quinn suddenly felt like she wasn’t alone. Afraid that there was something, or rather someone, hiding in the shadows, watching her, her pace quickened. It took her a while to unlock the door though. First her hands were shaking so much that she dropped the key. Then they seemed unable to fit it into the lock of the old jeep. By the time she managed to open the door and sank into the driver’s seat, hectically locking the doors, Quinn was drenched in sweat, her heart beating in an erratic rhythm.

  Once she got home, she locked herself in her room, pacing the floor after lowering all the blinds and turning on every light. With the adrenaline still rushing through her system, she was unable to keep still.

  “This didn’t happen,” she said to herself, unable to believe her own words. “It was a dream, a hallucination, a … I don’t know, maybe there was something wrong with the food. Yeah, maybe I got food poisoning. I hallucinated because of food poisoning.” But no matter how convinced her voice sounded, her mind refused to believe her own explanations. Scared to relive her memories but unable to stop the images from coming, Quinn closed her eyes and tried to remember. Had it been a trick of light? Anything other than the obvious that couldn’t possibly be real?

  Playing her memories again and again before her eyes, Quinn always saw the same thing. She saw Arnaud’s sharp, pointy canines, like those of a feline, sinking into Amanda’s neck. Her friend’s eyes had been empty, staring ahead, completely unresponsive. And then there had been that small trickle of blood running down her neck. The rational part of Quinn’s mind, that was completely unaffected by the looming threat of insanity or the fear of what people might think if she told them what she’d seen, added up all these factors and came to a simple conclusion. Arnaud was a vampire.

  However, the part of Quinn which did care about her sanity and the opinion of others felt terribly disturbed by the thought alone. Some things were just too preposterous to even think. She couldn’t imagine ever saying it out loud.

  When she heard the rest of her family come home, Quinn finally turned off the lights and went to bed quietly. She didn’t want to talk to any of them because she didn’t know what to say. There was only one thing on her mind and it was the one thing she could never tell them.

  Tossing and turning long past midnight, Quinn finally fell asleep, only to be tormented by an endless replay of the events in the dark alley around the corner from her parents’ diner – a place that had always felt like a second home to her. When she woke in the morning, she felt drained and her head throbbed from all the activity that had kept it busy even when her eyes had been closed.

  On her way to school Quinn was so distracted that she almost ran a red light. The world around her seemed so far away that her mind had trouble holding on to it. That sense of detachedness followed her through the rest of the day, causing her friends and teachers alike to repeatedly inquire after her health.

  At the end of the day, standing at the top of the pyramid during cheerleading practice, she couldn’t keep steady and actually toppled off. She landed on Danielle, who howled in pain, grabbing her ankle. As the others headed out or hit the showers, Coach Grainer pulled her aside. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked. “You don’t look so good.”

  “I know I’m pale,” Quinn snapped, unable to bear the concern threatening to suffocate her from all sides any longer.

  Coach Grainer’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Tell me what happened,” she ordered.

  For a moment Quinn actually contemplated telling her what she had seen, but the fear of being laughed at or worse, committed, held her back. So instead she played the card that everyone had been shoving at her for the past week.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t feel so good,” she said, putting a hand to her head. “Sometimes I get a little dizzy and feel …I don’t know, just a little off.”

  Coach Grainer nodded. “I guess that’s normal after what you’ve been through. So, get yourself home and rest. And don’t come back to practice until you really feel up to it. You hear me?”

  Quinn gave her a weak smile, grateful to be let off the hook. But when she turned to leave, there was something on her coach’s face that made her think that she didn’t completely believe her and was just playing along.

  Grabbing her gym bag, Quinn walked across the dark parking lot to her car, standing lonely under one of the oak trees growing in abundance to the west of the school building. With tired hands she fitted the key into the lock of the old jeep a
nd, opening the door, tossed her bag onto the passenger seat.

  “Hi there,” a dark voice suddenly spoke out from behind her. It startled Quinn to such a degree that she banged her knee into the side of her car. Crying out in pain, she spun around, finding herself face to face with Arnaud, who was leaning leisurely against her jeep. “Are you always this jumpy?” he asked, the same smug smile on his face that she’d seen so many times now.

  Instantly the pain in her knee was suppressed by a nagging fear, paralyzing her. She just stood there, one hand on the open car door, steadying herself, and stared at him. A small wave of relief washed over her as she noticed that his canines appeared to be normal-looking and there was no blood dripping from them. Her mind had done a fine job of terrifying her with all kinds of doomsday images.

  “You don’t seem quite like yourself,” he said. “Is something wrong?” His voice held a hint of concern, but there was that mocking gleam in his eyes again, telling Quinn that he was playing with her.

  “What…,” she started, but stopped when she noticed how shaky her voice was. Taking a deep breath, she tried again. “What are you doing here?”

  He shrugged. “Felt a little restless. Thought I’d go for a snack.” His eyebrows slightly rose at the last word and for a moment she expected him to wink at her.

  He knows, her mind whispered. He knows you know, and he will kill you.

  “Did you have a good time at the diner last night?” he asked innocently, just making conversation. “I saw you with your friends.”

  Still staring at him, Quinn nodded and without a conscious thought took a step backward, closer to the driver’s seat.

  Arnaud watched her carefully and upon her retreating movement slid closer, closing the distance between them. “On my way out, I ran into your friend,” he said, and her heart almost stopped. “She’s … quite tasty.”

  Quinn’s breath came in short, gasping breaths now and she started to see spots before her eyes. Her knees became wobbly and she wasn’t sure which way was up any more.