Blood Vice

by Angela Roquet

  “Oh!” Laura jumped and dropped a paper grocery sack. She’d made it up the driveway and onto the porch with three of them squeezed in a bear hug. “Shit,” she grumbled. “I hope that one didn’t have the eggs in it.”

  “Sorry.” I scooped up the rogue bag and inspected its contents as Laura wobbled past me. “I thought you were someone else.”

  Her cheeks flushed, and her brows drew together. “I saw Vin as he was leaving. What did he want?”

  “To make me crazy,” I said, only half-joking. “Can you believe that he’s still trying to convince me that we slept together the night of senior prom? The jerk didn’t even have the balls to ask me to go. I turned down Max Collins waiting for Vin to ask, and he never did.”

  “Didn’t Max Collins turn out to be gay?” Laura said over her shoulder as we headed into the kitchen and past Mandy, who was sitting at the dining table with a sandwich and a bag of chips.

  “So? Collins was hot—still is—and he could dance,” I said. “It would have been the best night ever. Instead, I was stuck at home, sobbing into a bowl of popcorn while watching All Dogs Go to Heaven with Mom.” I dumped the grocery sack on the kitchen counter a little too forcefully, and Laura made a pained face. “There weren’t any eggs in there,” I said defensively. When her face didn’t change, I checked the bag again just to be sure.

  “Um, Vin did actually ask you to go to prom,” Laura said, setting her bags down beside mine and wringing her hands together.

  “What? No, he didn’t. I would have remembered that.” I hated to admit it, but once upon a time, I’d actually had a crush on the jerk.

  Laura tossed a lock of her newly blond hair over her shoulder and cleared her throat. “Since we’re mending bridges and cleaning out closets and all, I suppose there’s something I should tell you.”

  My stomach fluttered, and my fingers dug into the bag of blood that was clutched in my hand. “Laura?” I said in a warning voice. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

  She cleared her throat again as if she had been preparing this monologue for some time. Like, possibly for ten years. Her eyes struggled to meet mine, but when they did, she made her confession. “I slept with Vin the night of prom.”

  Chapter Twelve

  I was going to be sick. I was sure of it. “You did what?”

  “Oh, snap.” Mandy paused her face-stuffing and pushed back from the table to get a better view of us, almost as if she anticipated a cat fight. I hadn’t crossed the possibility off my list yet.

  “I’m so sorry.” Tears welled in Laura’s eyes, but she had the good sense to back away from me and circled the breakfast bar, putting a barrier between us. “Jason Tanner had just dumped me, and he’d convinced the entire football team that I had chlamydia. No one—no one—had asked me to senior prom.” Laura sniffled, and her face contorted with shame. “I was on the ballot for prom queen one week, and then the joke of the school the next. I was the captain of the cheerleading squad and voted most likely to become a star, and then I was a dateless laughingstock.”

  “But you did become a star,” I said, struggling to keep my sympathy in check. Laura crying was like kryptonite, and she knew it. But it wasn’t enough to excuse what she’d done this time. “A few bad weeks doesn’t justify sleeping with your sister’s crush. That’s low. That’s lower than low.”

  “I know,” she said, resentment shadowing her words. “I was just so…so jealous. I was the most popular girl in school, and yet, somehow, I couldn’t land a single suitor for prom. But my nerdy sister had two?”

  “So you thought you’d help yourself? You entitled cow!” I slapped the blood bag on the counter before I ruptured it and gripped the lip of the sink with both hands. “Why Vin? Why not go with Collins?”

  Laura shrugged. “Max had already asked you. When Vin asked me, assuming I was you, I figured that was my only chance.”

  “But you didn’t even go to prom. So what was the point?”

  “I chickened out,” Laura said, covering her face with her hands. “When you didn’t cave and accept Max’s offer, I felt like such an asshole.”

  I snorted. “Sounds like the shoe fit.”

  “Yeah.” She sighed and looked up at me again. “I felt too guilty to go through with it, and I knew if I did—if I pretended to be you—someone would eventually figure it out. Then I’d be an even bigger joke than I already was. I’d be remembered as pathetic Laura Skye, the girl who was so desperate that she impersonated her nerdy sister so she could steal her even nerdier prom date.”

  I pointed a finger at her over the counter. “If this is an apology, I recommend that you stop calling me a nerd. I might not have been a cheerleader, but let me remind you that we’re identical twins. I was every bit as hot as you were. Bitch.”

  “Sorry.” Laura blushed again and folded her arms. “I didn’t mean it like that. You were just…smart. Smarter than me anyway.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Like that’s an accomplishment.”

  Laura’s jaw clenched, and she lifted her chin, but she didn’t return the insult. “I deserved that.”

  “Yup,” I agreed, nowhere near finished with her.

  “I guess this makes us even.” She held out a hand, palm up. “I mean, you went and got yourself killed. I just slept with some guy you had a crush on.”

  “Not even close. I didn’t die on purpose!”

  “It wasn’t like he was your boyfriend. You never even went on a date with him.” She couldn’t be serious. Could she?

  Our eyes locked in a staring match, but before Laura had the chance to yield and look away first, Mandy huffed out an amused laugh and bit off a chunk of her sandwich.

  “If I had a sister and she banged my crush, I’d eat her,” she said. “I’d eat him, too.” Laura and I both gaped at her. “What?” Mandy said. “I’m just saying. In wolf form, obviously,” she added as an afterthought.

  “Oh, well, in that case…” I curled up my nose at her and grabbed the blood bag off the counter. It was hard not to feel like a hypocrite as I turned it over in my hand, trying to figure out the best way to proceed. A kitchen knife would be messy, but I could never seem to find the scissors when I needed them. I pinched at the stopper in the neck of the bag and attempted to unscrew it.

  “Where did that come from?” Laura asked as if she’d only just noticed it.

  “Your lover boy. Tramp.”

  Laura groaned and folded her arms. I was expecting some more groveling, but before she made it that far, her pitiful face blanched. “He knows? Why does he know? I thought you couldn’t stand him?”

  “I can’t! Thanks to you.” I gave her a dirty look, the first of many I was sure I’d be subjecting her to over the next few days. Or weeks. “He couldn’t figure out that he was screwing my twin and not me but, somehow, he guessed that I’m a vampire. Figures.”

  I gave up on decorum and chomped down on the corner of the bag. My canines extended instinctively and punctured the thin plastic. Cold blood gushed into my mouth. Cold human blood. It was considerably better than cow. A shiver rattled my shoulders, and I moaned, shamelessly forgetting that I was standing in my kitchen in front of my sister and Mandy.

  “That is so gross,” Laura whined, covering her eyes with one hand.

  Mandy grunted her agreement, apparently forgetting that she’d eaten a whole freaking vampire just a couple of nights ago. So what if she’d been in wolf form? Did that really make it any more kosher? Even Duncan, curled up under Mandy’s chair and licking crumbs off the floor, lifted his head to make a distasteful noise at me.

  I slurped at the bag, draining it within seconds, and then held it upside down, encouraging the last few drops into my mouth like Laura and I used to do with ice pops when we were kids. I debated cutting it open and licking the sticky remnants off the inside, but from Mandy’s alarmed expression, I guessed I’d already gotten weird enough.

  I crumpled the empty bag and waited for Laura to uncover her eyes. “Any other deep, dark secr
ets you’d like to divulge now that I’m well fed and less likely to bite you?”

  Her eyes widened. “You wouldn’t,” she said, looking unsure enough about the answer that I took offense.

  “Depends,” I snapped. “Who else has said my name while you were boning them?”

  “No one.” Laura pressed a palm to her chest. “I swear. I’ll even tell Vin myself if that’s what you want. We’re still young. You could have another chance with him—”

  “Ugh!” I threw the empty blood bag at her and huffed. “I don’t want your sloppy seconds. Or your chlamydia. Besides, I just spent the last ten years hating him. That’s not something I can just shut off like that.” I snapped my fingers in her face.

  Laura’s eyes watered again, and she swallowed and looked away from me. “I didn’t think so.”

  “Oh, please. You know I wasn’t talking about us.” I sighed out a frustrated breath and rubbed a hand over my face.

  I couldn’t deal with her crying right now. And I couldn’t stomach this rage without lashing out at her. I needed to get out of the house for a while, and maybe find some way to dispel the anxiety tying my insides into knots. The fresh blood had helped—I felt limber and warm, almost like a real person again.

  “It’s pushing eleven,” Mandy said, standing up from the table and wiping her hands down the front of my yoga pants. “I’m ready to find my girls. Are you coming with me or not?” She glanced away from me long enough to growl at Duncan when he licked a crumb off her foot.

  “We can take the Bronco back to the crime scene.” I shot Laura a wary glance. Her eyebrows knitted together as she looked up at me.

  “I charged your backup phone. Please take it with you,” she said.

  I nodded, already forgiving her despite my better judgment.

  We were sisters, after all.

  * * * * *

  Mandy looked cute in Maggie’s old off-duty vest with its little, buttoned pockets and fur lining. Of course, I’d never tell her that. And certainly not while she was in wolf form and staring at me from the passenger seat like she wanted to eat my face off. At least I wouldn’t have to listen to her mouth off for a while, which allowed me plenty of time to think about Laura’s bombshell and to wallow in the new wave of guilt that came with it.

  I’d been a total bitch to Vin. No, I’d been something that began with a capital C. I mean, it wasn’t exactly my fault, but still. I felt bad. I needed to apologize and explain things at the very least. Did that mean I was up for his courting antics? Eh. The jury was still out.

  Vin was a nice enough guy, but like I’d told Laura—I couldn’t go from hating him for ten years to being wooed overnight. My high school crush had fizzled out a long time ago. Maybe too long ago to be rekindled. There was also the small matter of me being one of the undead now. And the awkward fact that I hadn’t been good at dating when I was alive. How was I supposed to manage it as a bloodsucker with such a tight daylight curfew?

  Vin knowing my secret was just one straw on the camel’s back. I was torn about how I should feel about it. On the one hand, it was one more person in danger because of me. One more name on a list growing much too long, much too fast. On the other hand, I wouldn’t have to lie to him to get around all my new vices and limitations. And I had really, really enjoyed the blood bag he’d brought me. I certainly wouldn’t mind that becoming a regular thing. But was that enough reason to date him? It seemed…wrong. Even worse than dating him out of guilt for the way I’d treated him all these years.

  Ever since I’d died, life had become so damned complicated. I felt like I was just hanging on for the ride, and the destination was anyone’s guess.

  The traffic thinned out long before the Bronco reached the industrial park with the warehouse Will and I had staked out. A single security light illuminated the uneven pavement. Weeds and tree saplings pushed up through the cracks and clung to the rusty sheet metal and crumbling cinder blocks fashioned into warehouses that hadn’t been used—at least not for anything legal—for decades, and yellow police tape marked off the door leading down to the basement where everything had gone so horribly wrong.

  The moon was a slice shy of full. It added a blue tint to the scene, claiming dominance over the pale security light. I parked the Bronco between the same two buildings Will and I had used for cover and killed the engine. It was too late to think better of it.

  Wait, Skye. Will’s voice surfaced in my mind. We don’t know how many are down there. Get back in the car, and we’ll call for backup.

  What if they’re too late? What if there are girls down there? We have to do something.

  I’d let panic get the best of me. And glory, and pride, and wrath. Hell, I’d covered half of the seven deadly sins without a second thought.

  The Bronco shook, and a sharp, grating noise broke the silence. My gaze snapped to Mandy. She whined and licked her muzzle before pulling her paw away from her open door, the edge of which was now jammed against one of the buildings the Bronco was sandwiched between. If I hadn’t known she was a person under all that fur, I would have been surprised that she’d managed to open the door without assistance. And even more surprised that she hadn’t just jumped through the open window.

  I sighed and scrunched my lips to one side. “Subtle.”

  She growled at me and then hopped out of the truck. I grabbed the Browning out of the glovebox and tucked it into the waistband of my jeans before joining her. I had my Glock in a bra holster under my right arm. I wasn’t sure either of them would do me any good if we encountered another vampire, considering how well that had gone the last time, but there were werewolves and these special humans Mandy had mentioned. I was betting I’d stand a better chance against them.

  Mandy sniffed the ground along the foundation of the warehouse, cuing up my fuzzy memory again. I realized I’d made it to the basement door first as my fingers closed around the gritty handle. The yellow police tape crinkled as Mandy nudged me aside and slipped under it.

  Wait for me, rookie. I go in first.

  I touched my shoulder, remembering the feel of Will’s hand as he pulled me away from the stairwell and moved ahead of me, disappearing into the dark. The smell of wet mold was suffocating. A steady drip echoed from somewhere nearby, and the temperature was at least twenty degrees cooler than the sweltering night air outside.

  How could anyone think this was a good place to sex it up? Even with underage werewolf girls? The thought bothered me. Think, I commanded my brain. But before I arrived at the all too obvious answer, a thump sounded from overhead. Mandy’s yellow eyes met mine, and she panted, anticipation sending the hairs along her back up.

  Of course. The Scarlett Inn was upstairs. Not down here in this creepy empty basement. The vampire had been a decoy. And I’d fallen for it and gotten myself and Will killed in the process.

  I lifted my hoodie and drew the Glock before motioning for Mandy to follow me to the opposite set of stairs tucked in the back corner. She darted ahead, her paws soundless on the dusty, concrete floor.

  There was police tape marking this entrance off, too. I knew the PD had probably scoured the whole building, but they hadn’t had a werewolf who knew what scents were worth tracking. And they probably hadn’t encountered any suspects while they went about their business in the daylight.

  My heart pumped violently in my chest, my pulse beating out a steady rhythm that was almost human. I wondered if the O negative had something to do with that, or if it was just the adrenaline building in my veins. My vision turned red again, and the color transferred to my memories, staining Will’s vacant expression as he lay dead on the basement floor.

  Mandy waited at the foot of the stairs, but I hesitated, frozen in time. Ghost shots echoed through my mind. So many of them that I had to wonder if a box of fireworks had been set off. Then I heard Will’s gun click empty.

  Get out of here, Skye! Run!

  Will had known something wasn’t right. But I couldn’t just leave him down here.
I inched through the dark, moving around the dented remains of a rusty furnace unit, my sweaty fingers clenched around my gun. Moonlight filtered through a small, dirty window high on the wall. It cut a ribbon of visibility across the basement, painting a rectangle of light on the dusty floor.

  That’s where I found Will, his whole body lifted up into the air, shaking as if he were being electrocuted. The vampire—Raphael, my sire—held my partner’s back against his chest. His face was hidden in shadow, pressed into the side of Will’s neck. But I could see Will’s face. The terror and despair in his swollen eyes. The glowing white of his teeth as his scream died. As he died. As I let him die.

  I couldn’t move, at least not beyond the panicked tremble that shook my body in time with Will’s. The sound—the gnashing and sucking of skin and sinew—did something to my psyche. I was petrified, glued to the spot by disbelief and confusion. If I couldn’t trust my own eyes, what else was there to do?

  Die. That’s what I can do, I thought as the creature cast Will’s lifeless body to the floor. I blinked, and then he was on me. I hadn’t even seen him move. The surprise of Raphael’s attack triggered my training, and my finger began to work again, squeezing off a series of rounds that did about as much as Will’s had. Which was nothing. A few seconds later, I was dead, too.

  Mandy made an impatient snort from the base of the stairs and tapped a paw on the bottom step. I shook my head to clear it, pushing the grief and shame out of my mind for the time being. I knew what I was up against now. I wouldn’t fail again. I can’t fail again, I thought, sticking close to Mandy as we ascended the stairs.

  Werewolf or not, she was just a girl. And she was counting on me. Along with a few dozen more just like her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The warehouse hadn’t looked any different than the rest of the abandoned buildings in the industrial park. At least not from the outside. And Mathis hadn’t mentioned what else they’d discovered at the scene. I knew it was his job to keep the details of the case confidential, but I was still annoyed with him for withholding so much.