by Duval Alex
‘You know it!’ Paige called back. She pulled open the passenger door and climbed into the front seat next to Belle, while Jason, Adam, and Sienna took the back.
Zach hopped out of the back of the Hummer and went over to Paige’s window. ‘Let’s make sure we have each other’s cell numbers in case the cars get separated,’ he said. ‘I’m assuming you’re not still using the international number.’
‘I got a new number the instant I got back to the States,’ Paige confirmed.
‘Paranoid much?’ Brad called from the Hummer.
Erin yawned next to him in the back seat. ‘Seriously. We just drive in a straight line from here to Vegas. How could we possibly lose each other?’
Zach ignored them and checked his phone against Paige’s. When they were done, he climbed back into the Hummer, and Van Dyke peeled out.
‘Vegas!’ Paige cheered as Belle took off after him.
Jason took Sienna’s hand and squeezed it. He could hardly wait to see the lights and crowds of the famous city. ‘I can’t believe my parents are letting me go to Vegas,’ he said.
‘Why wouldn’t they, with me here to chaperone you little kiddies?’ Paige joked.
‘Oh, that reminds me, nobody tell my father that Paige is with us,’ Adam put in. ‘He’s only letting me come because Jason is going. And, apparently, Jason is a fine upstanding boy.’
‘Your father loves me,’ Paige said with a dismissive wave.
‘He does say you were the most polite juvenile delinquent he’s ever known,’ Adam agreed. ‘And that he thinks you’re going to do very well once you get over your youthful high spirits.’
Paige turned in her seat. ‘You read my police reports!’
‘Every last one,’ Adam admitted. ‘I was thinking of doing a movie with a hot girl as the main character. She has a wild streak, but really she’s just misunderstood. I figured your history might inspire me.’
‘Are you kidding? I never even got arrested. Your dad just escorted me home a lot,’ Paige said.
‘I know, but it was fun reading anyway.’ Adam took a long swig of his coffee. ‘Hey, Jason, where’s your sister? How come she didn’t come along?’
‘She already had plans for spring break,’ Jason replied. ‘She and Kristy decided they wanted to hang in Malibu for the week, because, and I quote, “Why go to some strange place to meet hot guys when hot guys from strange places are going to be coming to Malibu for spring break?”’
‘I like their thinking,’ Adam said. ‘It’s very efficient. Maybe I should’ve stayed home and waited for all the hot girls from strange places to descend on me.’
‘It’s not too late,’ Sienna said. ‘We aren’t even out of Los Angeles yet. We can just drop you off.’
‘A tempting offer.’ Adam pretended to look thoughtful. ‘But there’s a CSI mega-shoot in the Mojave around Las Vegas this week. I’ve got to see that. Gil Grissom, in the flesh.’
‘He’s fictional, you know,’ Jason said. ‘You’ll only get to see the actor.’
‘Yes, but I have a vivid imagination. He’ll still be Grissom to me.’
‘How do you know about this mega-shoot?’ Belle asked suspiciously from the driver’s seat.
‘I saw it on CSIFiles.com,’ Adam replied. ‘Why, is that geeky?’
‘That’s a rhetorical question,’ Sienna told him.
‘CSI is boring,’ Belle commented. ‘I like CSI: Miami better. At least it has the beach.’
Adam clutched his heart. ‘Blasphemy!’ he declared.
‘You all need lives,’ Paige said cheerfully. ‘Thank God I got home in time to rescue you from your slavery to the TV schedule.’
Sienna yawned and leant her head on Jason’s shoulder. ‘Wake me up if anything interesting happens.’
You’re snuggling up against me, that’s interesting, Jason thought. He leant his head on hers and closed his eyes, letting her warmth lull him to sleep.
‘Crap!’ Belle’s voice startled Jason awake. He sat up quickly, automatically glancing out of the window. Flat desert stretched as far as he could see.
‘What’s going on?’ Sienna mumbled sleepily beside him.
‘I can’t see Van Dyke,’ Belle muttered.
The voices woke Adam, on the other side of Sienna. ‘Are we there?’ he asked. ‘How long was I sleeping?’
‘All of you slackers have been asleep for two hours,’ Paige told them. She was turned in the passenger seat, peering out the back window. ‘Van Dyke’s been behind us the whole time.’
‘Well, he’s not there now,’ Belle said. ‘And that SUV is totally tailgating me. I don’t know when he got behind us. He must’ve cut in front of Van Dyke.’
Paige dialed Zach on her cell. A second later, Zach’s voice came over the speaker. ‘Paige.’
‘Zach? Where are you guys?’ she asked.
‘Sorry, we pulled over for a minute. Van Dyke thought we blew a tire, but it must’ve just been a rock hitting us or something. We’re on the way now. Just go slow and we’ll soon catch up.’
‘OK,’ Paige replied, and hung up.
‘Going slow is easier said than done,’ Belle complained, hitting the brakes. ‘This SUV is still right on my butt.’
‘You’re supposed to slow down when somebody is tailgating,’ Paige replied. ‘It makes them realize they’re behaving badly.’
‘OK.’ Belle slowed some more.
Jason shook the sleep out of his head and looked around. The highway was only one lane in each direction here, with desert on both sides. Out the back window of the Escalade, he could see a black SUV following closely. But the windows were tinted, so he couldn’t see the driver.
Belle slowed to a crawl. ‘Why doesn’t this guy just pass me already?’ she asked. ‘There’s nobody coming the other way.’
‘Hang on.’ Paige hit a button on the dashboard, and the sunroof slid open. She unclicked her seatbelt and stood on the seat so that she could stick her head out of the sunroof.
‘Paige!’ Sienna protested.
‘Go ahead and pass!’ Paige yelled to the SUV. She waved her arms to encourage them.
After a moment, the SUV pulled into the other lane, sped up, and roared past the Escalade. ‘There’s Van Dyke,’ Belle announced, checking the rear-view mirror.
‘Hi, everyone!’ Paige yelled to their friends in the other car.
‘Paige, sit down,’ Sienna begged. ‘They can’t hear you, anyway.’
Paige plopped back down in her seat and put the seatbelt back on. ‘Well, that was exciting,’ she joked.
‘Not worth waking up for, though,’ Adam said, settling back to sleep.
‘I guess we should’ve gotten more coffee,’ Belle commented.
‘The desert is making us sleepy. It’s boring,’ Sienna said.
‘Not to me. I’ve never seen it before,’ Jason said. ‘When we moved from Michigan, we flew over the desert. I think it’s cool this close up.’ He gazed out of the window, taking in the variations of brown and red in the rocks surrounding them. He’d always assumed that the desert would be sandy, but in fact it was mostly just rocky ground and short, scrubby plants.
And a black SUV with tinted windows.
‘Hey!’ he exclaimed as they passed the SUV, which was now parked on the roadside. ‘Isn’t that the car that just passed us?’
‘Where?’ Belle asked.
‘Pulled over on the side,’ Jason said.
Belle glanced in the rear-view. ‘Could be. I didn’t really notice it.’
‘Lots of people stop to stretch their legs in the desert,’ Paige said. ‘It’s a long drive with no rest stops.’
Jason frowned. He was positive that it had been the same SUV. Why would it have pulled over so soon after passing them? he wondered. He figured the only reason to pass another car was because you wanted to go fast.
Unless they never wanted to pass us at all, a voice whispered in his mind. Unless they were following us on purpose, and now they’ve pulled over to wait for u
s.
‘Something wrong, Jason?’ Sienna asked, studying his face.
‘No,’ he said quickly. ‘Nothing’s wrong.’
He hoped it was the truth.
Five
‘MICHIGAN BOY’S FIRST glimpse of the Strip,’ Adam said in a deep narrator voice, his camcorder trained on Jason’s face.
‘Hey!’ Belle cried from the driver’s seat. ‘I thought I said no filming during spring break!’
Adam dropped the camera and gaped at her. ‘That rule can’t possibly count now that we’re spending spring break in Vegas. There is much to record here, woman!’
‘I’m forced to agree with Adam on this one,’ Jason put in. ‘This place is incredible.’ He rolled down the window to get a better view. And there, about six metres away, was a pyramid. With a sphinx in front of it. And an obelisk. ‘That pyramid is huge!’
‘It’s a hotel,’ Sienna told him. ‘Most of the rooms are inside the pyramid, and you have to take an elevator that goes on a slant in order to get to them.’
Jason grinned. ‘Cool ride!’
‘I like the Eiffel Tower better,’ Belle said. ‘The whole Paris Hotel is my favorite hangout in Vegas.’
‘Ugh, I don’t need to see Paris again, even in miniature form,’ Paige commented. There was a sour tone in her voice that surprised Jason.
Apparently Sienna caught it, too. ‘Why? What was so bad about Paris?’ she asked.
Paige turned and shrugged. ‘Nothing. I just like New York New York better. It has a replica of the Statue of Liberty out front,’ she told Jason. ‘And a really fun rollercoaster that goes all around the hotel.’
‘A rollercoaster in a hotel?’ he asked skeptically.
‘Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it,’ Adam said.
‘This city is insane,’ Jason decided. ‘There’s a little Egypt, a little Paris, a little New York – and they’re all just hotels!’
‘There’s also one that’s like Venice and one that’s like ancient Rome …’ Sienna told him.
‘Which one are we staying in?’ Jason asked.
‘The best one of all,’ Paige replied. ‘Zach made the arrangements – and there’s no charge for any of us either.’
‘No way,’ Adam gasped a minute later, when Belle turned the Escalade into a wide circular driveway. ‘The Rouge et Noir?’
‘Let’s party,’ Paige said, giggling. She flung open her door and jumped out even before the black-uniformed valet could help her.
Jason let the guy open his door for him, then he turned to help Sienna out. ‘The Rouge et Noir Casino Hotel Resort,’ he read, staring at the tall neon sign on the Strip.
‘We’ll get the bags, sir,’ the valet told him. ‘You go on in.’
Paige and Belle were already on their way, with Adam ten steps behind, filming them. Jason took Sienna’s hand and they followed their friends. Behind the Escalade, he spotted Van Dyke’s Hummer with another valet unloading it.
As they stepped in to the hotel, Jason nearly gasped. The place was stunning. Jet-black shiny marble floors stretched as far as he could see. Heavy red drapes hugged the floor-to-ceiling windows, and red brocade ottomans with thick black fringe dotted the lobby. Off to one side, a scalloped entryway led to the casino. Jason caught a glimpse of gaming tables and slot machines. A cocktail waitress wearing a can-can skirt walked by.
‘Mr Lafrenière!’ called a thin man in a tuxedo. ‘Welcome!’ The guy rushed out from behind the huge obsidian reception desk, grabbed Zach’s hand, and pumped it enthusiastically. ‘We’re honored to have you back with us.’ His eyes traveled over the group. ‘And all of your party, of course. I’m Joseph Chalmers, the manager here.’
He shook everybody’s hands, then turned back to Zach. ‘So. What would you like from me?’
‘Just the six rooms we spoke about for now,’ Zach said, following Mr Chalmers over to the desk.
Adam came over to Jason. ‘Nice place, huh?’
‘I think that might be a Van Gogh on the wall,’ Jason said. ‘A real one.’
‘Probably. This is the most expensive resort on the Strip. They can afford the good art.’
‘Can I get you anything while you wait?’ another can-can waitress asked, appearing from nowhere. ‘If you’d like to take a seat in our VIP lounge, I’d be happy to bring in some drinks.’
‘That sounds wonderful,’ Paige told her. The waitress led the way over to a room hidden by a thick curtain. Inside were a bunch of overstuffed chairs and couches, and a huge window that looked out over the Strip. Paige hurled herself onto a chaise and grinned.
‘Are we seriously in a lounge while we wait for five minutes to check in?’ Jason asked. ‘Really? You need a lounge for that?’
‘Sure,’ Adam said. ‘Maybe you should install a lounge like this in your house. You know, for when you have to wait for your sister to get out of the bathroom in the morning.’
‘That takes a lot longer than five minutes,’ Jason told him.
The waitress came in and set down a heavy gold tray. On it were tall glasses and sparkling crystal-studded bottles of mineral water.
The others gathered around, grabbing drinks.
‘Cool. Bling H2O,’ Brad remarked.
‘What else would you expect in Vegas?’ Erin laughed.
Jason hung back.
‘Having some culture shock?’ Adam asked quietly, sitting next to him.
‘A little,’ Jason admitted. ‘I kinda figured we’d be staying at a cheap motel five miles off the Strip. But the way the hotel manager greeted Zach, it was like he’s royalty or something. I mean, he’s still just a high-school kid.’
‘With a seat on the DeVere Heights Vampire Council,’ Adam reminded him.
Jason was surprised. ‘You think that matters? We’re nowhere near Malibu.’
Adam shrugged. ‘My guess? Zach’s family knows the owners of this hotel. For all I know, they may be the owners of this hotel. Look, Paige said he’d sorted out the rooms so there’s gotta be some kinda connection. Anyway, our friends are international jet-setters, my man. Enjoy it.’
‘I’ve got our room keys,’ Zach announced, stepping through the curtain. ‘Paige, you and I have the two penthouse suites. The rest of you are on the 17th floor, just below us. Brad and Van Dyke, you’re in 1701. Erin and Maggie, 02. Sienna, are you with Jason or Belle?’
‘Belle,’ Sienna replied, shooting Jason an apologetic look. She leant forward to whisper in his ear, ‘Otherwise it would be Belle and Adam, and Belle’s just not up for a male roommate right now.’
Jason nodded.
‘But you know I’d rather be in a room with you,’ she added, her breath hot on his neck.
Adam cleared his throat loudly. ‘So it’s me and Freeman. Excellent.’
Sienna pulled away from Jason, smiling. ‘What’s our room number, Zach?’
‘1703.’ He handed her a key card, then gave the last one to Adam. ‘I say we get settled in and meet in the hotel restaurant for dinner in an hour. Sound good?’
‘Sounds perfect,’ Paige replied.
‘Just so I know, in a hotel where the manager wears a tux, is there a dress code for this restaurant?’ Adam asked.
‘Of course,’ Zach replied. ‘Didn’t you bring your tux?’
‘Uh …’ Adam looked panicked.
‘Just kidding,’ Zach told him. ‘Whatever you have is fine. They’re not going to expect us to play by their rules.’
‘This is so much fun,’ Paige squealed. She grabbed Zach and kissed him on the cheek. ‘Thank you for arranging it.’
‘Not a problem.’ Zach pulled back the curtain and led them all toward an elevator marked ‘Private’. Inside, there was no control panel. Zach just pulled out his key card, waved it over the sensor, and the elevator shot up. ‘Brad, your key.’
‘Oh.’ Brad pulled out his key card and waved that over the sensor, too.
‘It knows which floor to stop on based on our keys,’ Zach explained. ‘You can also use the keys
as money while you’re in the hotel.’
Everybody nodded, and Jason got the feeling that even the vampires were a little impressed with this place. The elevator glided to a stop on the 17th floor to let people out.
‘See you downstairs,’ Zach said as the doors shut on him and Paige.
The hallway was done in shades of red and black, just like the lobby. When they got to their rooms, Sienna gave Jason a lingering kiss.
‘Just to hold you until dinner,’ she murmured.
Adam was already sprawled on one of the two huge beds when Jason got into the room. ‘You know, this bed is bigger than my entire room,’ he commented.
Jason took a look around. To the right were the beds, each set on a raised dais of pale gray marble, and there was a huge bathroom with two sinks, a shower, and a gigantic tub. To the left was a living area with couches, a wide-screen TV on the wall, and a bar. The entire room bowed out in a big U shape, and the curve of the U was a bank of windows. Jason wandered over to take a look.
‘I think I can see every hotel on the Strip from here,’ he said.
Adam joined him at the window and let out a soft whistle. ‘If this is what the regular rooms are like, I can’t wait to see Zach’s penthouse suite. Speaking of which, maybe I should iron my T-shirt before dinner. I know Zach said it doesn’t matter, but …’
‘Did you even bring a jacket?’ Jason asked, amused.
‘I’m not really sure what I brought,’ Adam admitted. ‘We were at the party late last night, and then we left so early today that I kind of packed in my sleep.’ Adam went over to his suitcase, which the bellhops had placed on a stand at the foot of the bed. He opened it up and stared at the contents thoughtfully.
Jason peered over his shoulder. The suitcase contained a camcorder and all its various accoutrements, right down to a folded tripod. And a bunch of shirts crammed in around the lenses, wires, and other pieces of equipment. ‘You used your clothes for packing material,’ he said.
‘Well, I had to cushion the camera somehow,’ Adam said reasonably.
Jason reached in and pulled out a wadded-up cotton shirt. When he shook it out, it turned out to be a perfectly decent button-down, with about a million wrinkles.