by Jeff Hale
I was almost looking forward to it.
EIGHTEEN
The book that Lucien had given me wasn’t exactly a training manual. It was a journal, kept by some long dead Sentinel as he went through his training under Merlin’s tutelage. But the Sentinel had been methodical in his notations and I found it highly informative, allowing me to learn how to control my powers even further.
March went out and April rolled through, and school had seemingly changed overnight. Dave was still a wreck most of the time. He missed Nina something horrid, but he kept stating that he’d never take her back. I wasn’t so sure. If Nina convinced him that she was truly sorry, he might just cave.
Nina, however, was nowhere to be seen, and the one time I tried to call her house I was told she had gone to Washington to visit relatives. Kat lived in Washington and I had to wonder if Nina’s relatives lived anywhere near. Probably not. Washington was a decent sized state after all. Nina’s mother told me that Nina would be back sometime before graduation. Missing school for her was no huge deal since she already had more than enough credits to graduate.
Jessie and Malcolm were around, as always, but they seemed subdued of late. Conversations generally dealt with the changes going on in the world. Everyone seemed to have a sense that a big change was in the air and things would never be the same. Little did they know that their feelings were dead on. Nothing would be the same ever again. I kept an eye on current events and checked in with Chris Weaver from time to time, making sure they didn’t need me for anything while I was working my case. He assured me that everything was running smoothly. Smoother than before Dan had taken over as Lord Councilor, in fact. It seemed that MAGE benefited from Chris being in charge.
As April neared an end, Nina came back to school and at some point she and Dave had talked and they were back together tentatively. That was, as long as Nina kept her legs crossed. It came as no surprise to me, and as long as Nina didn’t fuck things up again, I was happy for them. Dave was being cautious, refusing to move back in with her, but he was hopeful things would work out. They were even actually going to Prom together.
Prom. And me without a date. I wasn’t sure if it upset me or not. I’d never really wanted to go, but I knew that if I missed out on it I would regret it later in life. That line of thought led back to the original problem. I had no one to go with now anyway. Or did I? A plan started to formulate in my mind. I hit my largely untouched bank account and pulled out the money I would need. I knew what I wanted to do wasn’t going to be cheap, but I had a feeling it would be worth it.
Two days before Prom I took a flight to the Tri-Cities with the intention of having Kat fly back with me to be my Prom date. If she would have me. I wasn’t about to spoil the surprise and call her to ask her her address, so I’d made judicious use of my FBI credentials to find out and crossed my fingers that she hadn’t gained a boyfriend since she’d left. I wore my nicest clothes, pretty much a suit with no tie, and had a limo service pick me up at the airport. I gave the driver Kat’s address, hoping he knew the town well enough to find it without exact directions.
We ended up in a portion of town known as Richland, though I couldn’t really tell where one town started and another began. We continued through it on I-182 until we were way out on the outskirts where city turned to fields, orchards and vineyards. The driver took an exit off the highway onto a road that led further out into the farming areas, then turned onto a private road lined on either side by spring green grape vines. The end of the road forked off into a driveway and another road that wound around to a large metal building. The driver took us up the driveway and parked in front of a big house that would rival some of the larger, ritzier houses in the Summerlin area. It was cinnamon colored, two stories, but with obvious basement windows for a lower level. A sloping drive led up to a three car garage, and a small fountain sat in the middle of an immaculately kept front lawn that wound its way behind the house to spread into a large backyard, all landscaped with small trees and flowers.
And I’d called her a farm girl? I guess she’d tried to correct me, but I had still been trying to give her the brush off at that point. But nothing in her attitude or manner had given me the idea that her family had money, and lots of it by the look of things. After shaking off my momentary stupefaction, I walked up the pathway that led to the front door, knocked, and waited nervously.
A few minutes later an older woman answered the door. Her blue eyes looked tired and bloodshot, her blonde hair shoulder length and well taken care of. She was about the same height as Kat, although she seemed somehow smaller, frailer. I could only assume it was her mother.
“Hello, this may be a bit strange, but is Kat home? I’m a friend of hers from school in Las Vegas,” I said as politely as I could. The faint scent of beer came to me.
The woman nodded, smiling a little, then turned and called out, “Katelyn Amber Shaughnessy, there’s someone at the door for you!” Her words were slurred the tiniest bit and directed towards the wide spiral staircase that dominated the foyer behind her, her tone a little manic. It was a bit early in the evening, but I remembered Kat mentioning that her mom was an alcoholic. Her mother looked at me again. “You don’t ride a motorcycle, do you?” she asked me somewhat suspiciously.
I was disconcerted by the question but shook my head. “No, ma’am.”
She pursed her lips and nodded to herself. “Good. Why don’t you come inside? She should be down in just a minute. Was nice to meet you.” She patted my arm and then went through a set of doors off the foyer to the right, leaving me alone by the front door.
A few minutes later, I heard footsteps coming down the staircase. It was a spiral, so I couldn’t see the source of the footsteps yet, though I figured it was probably Kat. A moment later and she came into view. I was nowhere near prepared for this, in any way, shape or form.
The second she saw me, she froze in place on the step. Her red hair was loose about her face, and she wore a plain light-blue t-shirt and blue jeans. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of her. I had forgotten what sort of an effect she had on me.
“Aerick? What are you doing here?” Kat asked, her mouth slightly open in shock.
“Well… that is um…” I couldn’t get the words out. Great. Now I start faltering like a love-struck moron. “Will you go to Prom with me?” I blurted out.
“What? How? Wha…?” She just stared at me, blue eyes wide like she had just seen a Sasquatch walk through her door.
Come to think of it, that was entirely possible with what was going on these days. I took a quick glance over my shoulder just to be sure. As I turned to regard her again she was already almost in my face, jumping and hugging me and wrapping her legs around my waist. I snaked an arm around her to keep her from falling.
“Yes, of course I’ll go to Prom with you!” she squealed into my ear, her tone telling me that she was extremely happy.
I sighed heavily in relief. I’d almost thought maybe one of the guys up here had finally wizened up, or she was going to say no. “Well, good. Grab some overnight stuff, we need to leave now,” I said.
She hopped back down to the floor and nodded, grinning crazily at me, then ran full tilt up the stairs. Several minutes later she came back down, still at breakneck speed, with a full duffle bag that she dropped at my feet. “Just a sec, gotta make sure it’s okay with Mom. I may be almost nineteen, but she worries.” She went into the room I’d seen her mom go into and I could hear them talking. I didn’t even have to eavesdrop, her mother’s words overly loud, telling Kat that she could go, but only because her step-dad was out of town, and for her to be careful.
The trip back to Vegas was faster than the trip to Washington, probably due to the fact that I had Kat to keep me company. We talked almost the entire trip, with me filling her in on what had been going on since she left, and with her telling me how much she missed Vegas and everyone there, and how her friends in school had commented on how much she had changed for the better w
hile she was gone.
Once we got to Vegas and got Kat settled in to a nice hotel down on the Strip, Nina absconded with her to go on a dress and accessory shopping trip that took the rest of the night, as well as most of the next day. Then, without warning it seemed, the night was upon us.
Dave and I were both getting ready. I’d picked up a traditional black tux earlier in the day, and with no way to know what Kat would be wearing, had just gone with a silver cummerbund to match the theme of the dance, Love in Space. It was a corny name, but it got the point across. When I was done, I headed out to the living room and found Dave sitting on the couch watching TV. He had gone with a dark suit, complete with jacket. I was still getting used to his shorter hair; that had been scary enough. But now he had it styled reminiscent of JFK and it was a whole different level of creepiness that I decided against commenting on. There was a knock on the door a few minutes later. Dave got up to answer it and there was a man standing there in a suit.
“I’m here with the VIP Party limo service. Is there an Aerick Kerensky home?” the man asked briskly.
“Yeah, right here. I think we’re good to go. Dave?” I said, making my way to the door.
“Yeah, let’s do this,” he replied.
“Right this way then,” the man said, leading us down the stairs.
We made our way down to the parking area, and the driver opened the door for us to get in. Dave reached over and turned on the stereo the moment we got settled. He fiddled with the stations until he was happy, which left us listening to Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”. I looked around and immediately noticed the small champagne bar across the way from me. We directed the driver to Nina’s apartment. She and Kat were both getting ready there, and when I made to get out of the limo as well, Dave just shook his head at me.
“Nina said for me to tell you that Kat wants you to wait in the limo. Something about you already made the trip to get her and she wants to come to you? Anyway, I’ll be right back.” Several minutes later he came back with Nina on his arm, and she was looking fashionably slutty. I knew there had to be a catch if she was actually deigning to go to the Prom.
She was all in white, as though she were trying to make a claim of innocence nobody believed she had: white leather skirt, super short in the front but falling to her ankles in the back; white lacey bra; and white vinyl thigh high platform boots. She would be lucky if the chaperones didn’t kick her out.
I just shook my head in disbelief over her audacity. Sure, she looked fucking hot, but I knew Dave had been hoping she might tone it down for tonight and actually wear something formal and, well, normal. When they got in, he shot me a disappointed look. He’d told me he had talked at length with her about this sort of thing. Looked like she was going to go out of her way to make her statement regardless.
“Where’s Kat?” I asked. “Did she change her mind? Should I go get her?”
“Oh, she’ll be along any minute now. She was doing some last minute touch ups. She wants to be perfect for you.” Nina winked at me. “And by the way, I’m happy you’re giving her another chance. She’s so ecstatic about the idea of being with you. Did she mention she applied to UNLV? She might be moving down here this fall.”
“Really? Well, if she manages that…” I let the thought hang as I looked out and saw Kat making her way to the limo.
She was gorgeous, wearing a black gown that clung to her curves. The sides were slit up to the hips, which I noticed only when she took a step, otherwise it hung in such a way that you couldn’t tell. The top portion had a very low, cleavage showing neckline, giving the illusion of more skin showing than actually was. The material glittered in the light, but nothing compared to glow of her smile and the sparkle in her eyes as she got to the open door of the limo and saw me.
“Um. Wow…” was all I could muster, leaning out and offering my hand to help her in.
“Hi, Rick.” She put her hand in mine and let me guide her into the limo. Once she was seated, I handed her a corsage that Raven had grudgingly procured for me from the fae realms. It was a blue and teal rose.
“Oh wow, it’s beautiful. And it’s not dyed. Where’d you find a rose this color?” Kat rubbed one petal gently between her thumb and forefinger.
“Found it blooming on a rosebush outside someone’s house. All the others were red, except that one. Weird, huh?” I lied smoothly.
“Well, with everything else going on, seems par for the course anymore.”
“No kidding,” I said, giving Dave and Nina a knowing look. I slipped my arm over Kat’s shoulder and she leaned into me as the limo pulled away and headed for the hotel. It wasn’t long before Nina and Dave devolved into a bout of tickling, giggling, kissing, and whispering.
“What’s up with her outfit?” Kat whispered into my ear. “I mean, I was there when she picked it out, but she wouldn’t tell me why she would wear something like that to a school dance. She just shrugged and smiled at me. I was hoping you could give me some insight since you’ve known her for longer.”
“I’m not sure. I know Dave was hoping she would tone it down. I don’t know, maybe that is toned down from what she was originally planning,” I whispered back, snorting lightly.
“Not likely. I think her bra is partially see-through.”
“Wouldn’t surprise me. I was trying not to look.” I was pretty sure Kat was right, but I had been doing my best to not confirm it.
“Oh? Why?”
“Because I figured you’d get upset if I did. That, and she’s been a friend for too long for me to look at her like that.”
“Don’t give me that.” She stuck her tongue out at me a little. “She’s still hot, even if you have been friends for a long time. You look, I know you do. It’s okay. I know who you’ll come home with, if nothing else because she is with your best friend.”
“Time was, she was my best friend, if you can believe it,” I said a bit sadly. “She’s changed too much. Dave wasn’t the only one not able to keep up with her.”
“Maybe she has some issues she is trying to work through?” Kat suggested helpfully.
“Now you’re starting to sound like the Katelyn I know,” I said, laughing.
“I haven’t changed that much,” she protested.
“Please don’t.” I kissed her on the cheek and she smiled at me as she took my hand in hers.
Soon enough we pulled into the parking garage of the New York, New York. We piled out and headed inside to the convention room with all the other students here for Prom. The decorations inside had been done extremely well, if simply, and black sheets covered the ceiling and walls. Small holes had been punched in the sheets and through them had been pushed those whitish-blue LED lights like what you find at Christmas. It had the effect of making the ceiling and walls look like the night sky. The tables had been draped with black table cloths sprinkled with silver glitter.
The dance was already in full swing when we arrived, the live band doing a cover of the Smashing Pumpkin’s “Tonight, Tonight”. When I looked to see who the band was, I could hardly believe my eyes. It was none other than The Vixens of Drakkan, an all-female goth and alternative band formed by four sisters. Their name was on the list of up and comers and they were rapidly gaining fame. They still played small shows like this from time to time, but from the rumors going around they had recently signed with RCA Records. The Vixens’ own songs tended to be dark and moody, usually about some supernatural creature or other. I suspected they were supernatural themselves, but I’d never found a reason to look into it.
“Oh, wow, I can’t believe they’re here!” Nina exclaimed, halting to stare up at the stage. Vixens of Drakkan was currently Nina’s favorite band.
“Wow, no fucking kidding,” I said. There was an empty table near the stage and I guided us towards it. “Why the hell would a yuppie school like ours spring to get them to play our Prom? Not that I’m complaining mind you.”
“Well, they are popular outside of their demographic,” D
ave said. “They get playtime on pop stations as well as rock stations. One of their songs even gets regular rotation on a country station.” He was our resident expert on all things Drakkan, mainly because he had a hopelessly huge crush on Kyra La’Morte, the lead guitarist. It was a toss-up as to whether the sisters’ last name was real or made up for publicity.
“I actually didn’t know that,” I said, sitting down and glancing up at the stage.
Dave was in Heaven. He pointed to the lead singer, whose hair was almost as red as Kat’s. “That’s Kandee.” His arm shifted to indicate the drummer, a girl I could barely see over the drum set, and I only caught a glimpse of green and purple hair over one eye. “That’s Krysa. The girl with the wicked looking bass guitar is Kaycee.” All I could see was the top of her head, covered with short silver hair, as she bent intently over the instrument. “And that,” Dave let out a longing sigh as he gestured grandly towards the lead guitarist, her purple streaked blonde hair poking out from either side of her head in pigtails, “is Kyra.”
Nina poked Dave on the shoulder and I tried to hide my amusement. All four sisters were dressed exactly alike, in stiletto heeled boots, leather shorts, and leather halters with the crest of a silver dragon emblazoned across the front. Dave’s overt pointing hadn’t gone unnoticed by them and Kyra strutted closer to the edge of the stage, looking down on us. I heard Dave gulp as she smiled at me, almost in a knowing fashion, and I just smiled back weakly and waved. I’d seen a few pictures, but she looked smaller in real life. Then it hit me. Here was my chance to find out if they were supernatural.
I kicked on my Aetheric Sight and really looked at them. What I saw confirmed my suspicions, but in a surprising way. Black miasmic energy surrounded each of them and permeated their essences. This meant one thing and one thing only. They were vampires. Maybe their last name wasn’t for publicity after all.