Bloodlust

by Alex Duval

  She grimaced, and he was relieved to see that her teeth had gone back to normal. No fangs. “There’s something called ‘bloodlust,’” Sienna said quietly, seriously. “It’s kind of an addiction—to blood. If a vampire’s in the grip of bloodlust, he doesn’t stop drinking. He can’t.”

  “So the human dies,” Jason concluded. “The vampire keeps drinking until the human has lost too much blood to survive.”

  “It hasn’t happened here in decades,” Sienna said. “It’s forbidden by our families. It’s against everything we believe in. You have to trust me on this, Jason. We all have tight control over our urges.”

  He gave a short, humorless laugh. “Obviously not all of you.”

  Worry filled Sienna’s face. “Zach is furious about what happened to Carrie,” she said. “He’s going to take care of it. Don’t worry. He’ll bring down whoever killed her.”

  “Zach. Zach will take care of it,” Jason repeated. He pictured the dark-eyed guy he’d met at school. He hadn’t looked as if he cared much about anyone on the face of the earth except himself. But Jason had to admit that he had looked capable—more than capable—of taking care of things. Zach gave the impression that he was in charge of just about everything that crossed his path. But he was still a vampire. And Jason saw no reason to trust a vampire—especially one he barely even knew. “And Zach cares why?” he asked.

  “We all care,” Sienna snapped. “Because Carrie didn’t deserve to die. The same way you would care if some human had murdered her. We care even more because it’s one of us and that’s unacceptable. That makes it our responsibility, and that’s why it will be taken care of—by us, by Zach. Because he’s the strongest. Believe me, Jason. Whoever killed Carrie won’t go unpunished.”

  “Sienna, dinner!” Mrs. Devereux called, stepping out into the backyard. She glanced at Jason and smiled graciously. “Would you like to join us, Jason?” she asked.

  “No. Thank you.” Jason stood up and tried to smile. But the idea of eating with a family who liked to feed on humans turned his stomach.

  “Are you sure? We’re having the most delicious risotto,” Mrs. Devereux said. “Our cook is world-class.”

  “No,” Jason said abruptly. Usually he was good with parents. But usually those parents weren’t also vampires. He couldn’t help wondering how Mrs. Devereux felt about him. Would she want him hanging around Sienna?

  “I, uh, my parents will be looking for me,” he added. He tried to force a smile, but his upper lips stuck to his dry gums, and he was afraid it had come out looking more like a sneer.

  Sienna walked him to the front door. She touched his arm lightly. “Hey,” she said quietly. “You okay with all this?”

  He stared into her gorgeous eyes and felt his heart beat faster, the way it always did in her presence. She’s not human, he told himself. How could he be having these feelings for a vampire? It was so wrong. He tried to rein in his body, to stop the automatic attraction he felt for her. But he couldn’t. His body didn’t care what his brain thought. His body wanted Sienna whether she was a vampire or not. “No. I’m not okay,” he admitted.

  Sienna looked upset, and Jason realized he’d hurt her again. Maybe even more than he had that night on the boat. But she’d asked, and the truth had come out.

  “I just need to think about all this,” he said gently. That got a tiny smile, but Jason wondered if he was lying. His body seemed to have made a judgment about Sienna. But his brain still wasn’t sure that he could trust her.

  It was too much. He had to get out.

  He hurried to his car and peeled out without a backward glance. The sun beat down, bathing the whole of Malibu in a cosmic spotlight. Maybe it was all a dream. Yeah, that made sense. More sense than anything else. A place like DeVere Heights couldn’t really exist, Jason thought. It was too extreme. Too dazzling. Too weird. It couldn’t be real. Any minute now, he would wake up in Michigan, where everything was normal. Where the weather wasn’t always sunny. Where the girls were a little less magnificent but a lot more human.

  Where your friends didn’t turn out to be vampires.

  Twelve

  “I’m sorry, is that a vegetable sandwich?” Adam asked at lunch the next day. “Have you gone so native that you’re a vegetarian now?”

  Jason peered at the grilled mush in his pita. “I’m not in the mood to eat anything that bleeds,” he muttered. He forced himself to meet Adam’s gaze. “I talked to Sienna yesterday.”

  Adam swallowed hard. “And?”

  Jason glanced around. He’d purposely led Adam over to a deserted table inside the cafeteria, rather than going out to their usual spot. He couldn’t chance their constant tablemate, Luke Archer, overhearing this conversation. Luckily, almost nobody ever ate inside. They had the place to themselves.

  “And…you’re right. She says there are vampires in the Heights. She’s one of them. And Brad, like you thought.” Jason said.

  “I’m sorry, but…what?” Adam cried. “Are you telling me that you just went up to Sienna and asked her if she was a vampire?”

  “Uh, no. I told her that you thought Brad was a vampire,” Jason said.

  “What?” Adam practically shrieked. His skin turned even paler than usual.

  “Well, maybe I didn’t say that exactly,” Jason replied quickly. “I just said that you thought…that you thought there might be vampires. In DeVere Heights.”

  “Oh, my God,” Adam said, looking shell-shocked. “They’re going to kick my ass all the way to the loony bin!”

  “No, they’re not,” Jason assured him. “I mean, Sienna didn’t even seem surprised. She just showed me her fangs and basically said you were right.”

  “Oh.” Adam thought about that for a moment. “Oh. So I’m right. I’m not crazy. There are vampires.”

  “Yes,” Jason confirmed.

  “Good. Cool. I mean, not good. But, you know, good.” Adam took a deep breath and seemed to calm down a little. “Sienna and Brad. How many others?”

  “A lot of them. For all I know, everyone in DeVere Heights is a monster,” Jason spat.

  “No way.” Adam shook his head. “I’ve known Sienna since first grade. Brad, too. They’re not monsters.”

  “She told me she’s a vampire,” Jason said. “She had fangs, for God’s sake. Fangs in a human head—that equals monster, right?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that a lot,” Adam answered. “When I started to piece things together, I kept getting back to a basic truth: Malibu is a spectacular place to live. If vampires were monsters, then it wouldn’t be. People would be turning up dead every night, no one would go out after dark, and the real estate prices would be much, much lower.”

  “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.” Jason dropped his sandwich back onto his tray. “You’re the one who told me that a vampire killed Carrie. If that’s not the behavior of a monster, I don’t know what is!”

  “It is,” Adam agreed. “So one vampire is a monster—not the whole lot.”

  “So it’ll be like The Wizard of Oz? We’ll all go around asking, ‘Are you a good vampire or a bad vampire?’?”

  Adam shrugged. “You have to understand, man. Everyone who made my list of…of vampire suspects, I guess you’d call it, came from a family that is important to this town. Every single charity in Malibu has a Devereux or a Moreau or a Lafrenière on the board,” Adam explained. “And the DeVere Center—that big brick building up on Cliffside Court? They’re doing research into blood replacements, real cutting-edge stuff. Obviously they’re trying to find a way to free themselves from having to drink human blood.”

  “You’re telling me these vampires are out in the open, researching blood, and nobody cares?” Jason had a hard time believing that.

  “Nah. They usually do things anonymously,” Adam said. “But when I started to suspect that they were…well, unusual…I checked into their company holdings and their bank records. My old man would be proud to know I inherited his research skills. I fo
und all kinds of links between the DeVere Heights families and charities, museums, hospitals. Basically—everything good in Malibu? Funded by vampires!”

  Jason just stared at him.

  “I know what you’re thinking. Adam Turnball, freak with too much time on his hands,” Adam said. “But you gotta believe me. I’ve done my homework.”

  “But one of these philanthropists killed Carrie!” Jason declared. He just couldn’t let it go.

  Adam ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “This is the first death I’ve ever heard of that has a vampire feel to it. You have to understand—they’re not all bad. I mean, most of them aren’t bad.”

  “Tell that to Carrie,” Jason said.

  “Please, just stop saying her name, okay?” Adam asked. “I have nightmares about her. Sometimes even when I’m awake. Those shots I got of Brad and Lauren—they were what totally convinced me my theory was right. If I’d just had the cojones to accept the truth a little earlier, I might have saved her.”

  “What were you going to do?—rent a van with speakers and blast the news all over town?” Jason said, and then realized he wasn’t helping. He lowered his voice. “I just mean, it’s not your fault. You didn’t kill her. A vampire did. Let’s focus on that.”

  “Okay. Well, whoever killed her isn’t like Sienna or Brad,” Adam said. “The vampire that killed Carrie is evil. Sienna and Brad simply aren’t.”

  Jason sighed. “That’s what Sienna said. She thinks whoever did it is some kind of rogue vampire. One that’s gone feral. She said it was called bloodlust.”

  “Bloodlust?”

  “Yeah. It’s like an addiction. When vampires have bloodlust, they can’t stop drinking. They keep going until they’ve drained so much blood that the human dies.”

  Adam’s face went even paler.

  “She said it hasn’t happened in decades.”

  “Well, we can’t let it happen again,” Adam replied. “My dad told me that the cops picked up Scott Challon—you know, the guy who was making out with Carrie at the party?”

  Jason nodded.

  “Well, lots of people saw them together. I guess they told the cops. And, of course, I even have video footage of it,” Adam said. “The cops figure Scott might know what happened to Carrie. He might be the last one who saw her alive.”

  “So they think he might’ve killed her,” Jason translated.

  “He’s the only suspect they have,” Adam answered. “And I think they’re right.”

  “So Scott’s a vampire?” Jason asked.

  “I think so. I’ve been filming everybody, trying to get proof.” He shook his head and smiled faintly. “You know, it never occurred to me to just go ask one of them. You’re not bad for a novice.”

  “Glad I could help,” Jason said wryly. “So the cops have Scott. Will they charge him?”

  “Doubtful,” Adam said. “And his family is so rich, he’ll be sprung in no time. But that doesn’t matter. I’m going to find out if he did it. And if he killed Carrie, I will personally make sure he never kills again.”

  Jason took in his friend’s frame. Adam looked like he’d never lifted a weight in his life. But his eyes were deadly serious. “You’re talking about a murderous vampire,” Jason reminded him. “How are you planning to stop him?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Adam admitted.

  “Look, Sienna said Zach is pretty pissed off about this whole Carrie thing and he’s going to take care of it. And you said the police are circling Scott,” Jason pointed out. “Let them handle it.”

  “I don’t trust Zach, and the police aren’t going to be able to make anything stick,” Adam said flatly. “At the moment, they think somebody gave Carrie the drugs that killed her. But pretty soon they’ll find out that there weren’t any drugs in her system and then they’ll drop the case. We’re the only humans who know Carrie’s murderer was a vampire.”

  Jason frowned. The guy had a point. He eyed Adam, who was drinking Yoo-Hoo through a curly plastic straw. Drinking it ironically through a curly plastic straw, Jason corrected himself. Adam was a good guy. He was smart, he noticed things, and he knew his way around a camera. Clearly, he’d also picked up a lot about investigating from his dad. But in a fight, he’d be butchered, and Jason couldn’t let that happen. He sighed.

  “If you’re really going to go after this vampire,” Jason said, “then I’m going with you.”

  Thirteen

  “Heads up!” Adam yelled the next morning. Jason glanced up from his locker to see a piece of paper folded into a triangle flying at him through the air. He caught it right before it hit his eye.

  “What’s this?”

  “The list.” Adam lowered his voice as he came closer. “I’ve been working on it for a couple of months, ever since I started to suspect…”

  “Oh.” It was Adam’s list of suspected vampires, then. Well, Jason knew a few who should definitely be on there. Starting with Sienna.

  Sienna. As if to taunt him, a wisp of her perfume reached his nose. Incredible how he could pick out her scent even in a crowd of people. His body reacted to her, as usual, with a rush of adrenaline. He glanced up as she walked by, to see her chatting with Belle as if nothing were wrong. She didn’t even look in his direction.

  He hadn’t spoken to her in the two days since she told him her secret. He didn’t know if he wanted to. Didn’t know if she wanted him to, either.

  His body ached to go after her, to go talk to her, to hold her in his arms.

  But his mind couldn’t shake the image of those fangs. Maybe she wasn’t evil. But she also wasn’t human.

  Jason forced himself to turn away. He closed his locker and began walking in the opposite direction. His first class was on the other side of the school. Adam walked with him. Jason unfolded the list and glanced at it as he went. Moreau. Challon. Devereux. Lafrenière. There was a line drawn underneath those four, then the names Henry and Van Dyke.

  “Those top four are also the names of the top contributors to every charity and cultural resource in Malibu,” Adam said. “Sienna’s mother just hosted a gala to raise money for the hospital. Brad’s father’s company just committed to sponsoring a year-round Malibu symphony series on the beach, free to the public, with free barbecue and all. Scott’s parents—”

  “I get it,” Jason said. “This list…it’s a who’s who of the Heights. There isn’t anybody on here who doesn’t live behind the gates.”

  “Hey, it takes a big pile of dough to live forever,” Adam said as he dodged a big guy barreling down the hall. “If they do. Live forever, I mean. Did you ask Sienna that?”

  “Yes, and they don’t—although they do live longer than humans. She also confirmed that she can’t turn into a bat, or smoke. Oh—and no sleeping in coffins,” Jason added. He glanced down at the list again. “So this is a Heights thing. No outsiders.”

  “You and your family might be the token humans. Congrats,” Adam agreed. Jason didn’t love the idea of being trapped in a small gated area with who knew how many of the beautiful and bloodthirsty.

  “The families, they created the Heights,” Adam continued hurriedly as Jason veered over to his classroom door. Adam’s first class was three rooms away. “And lots of those families have French roots—consider the surnames: Devereux, Lafrenière, Moreau, et cetera. The Devereuxs still own vineyards in France and in the Napa Valley. They’re one of the oldest families in this area—where do you think DeVere Heights gets its name? The Devereuxs and the Lafrenières have been here the longest—well over a hundred years—but it’s been almost as long for the other families. And in California time, that’s forever. Pretty much nothing in L.A. is over fifty years old.”

  “Is everyone on this list a confirmed V?” Jason asked, pausing outside the classroom.

  “Well, I was pretty sure Brad was when I saw that blood on his mouth. Sienna outed herself and confirmed him,” Adam said, “as well as Erin Henry and Michael Van Dyke—or, at least, she didn’t say no w
hen you brought them up. I don’t have proof about Scott, but…”

  “But he was all over Carrie, and she got bitten,” Jason finished for him, leaving out the dead part; it wasn’t like either of them could forget that not-so-minor detail. “What about Dominic, that guy I had the run-in with at Brad’s party?”

  “You mean the Dominic who would have beat you into the ground if Brad hadn’t come to the rescue?” Adam countered.

  “Please. I was holding my own.”

  “True. You lasted a lot longer than Matt,” Adam agreed. “I’m just busting on you.”

  “But that was a weird situation,” Jason said. “I wonder if superstrength is a vampire thing. Because there is no way that kind of power should have been coming out of Dominic’s runt body.”

  “You’ve got a point. Although ‘runt’ might be exaggerating a tad,” Adam said. “His dad’s a partner in a high-powered law firm, and his mother’s on the school board of governors. I guess he goes on the list.”

  “Maybe that’s why Sienna freaked out when I tried to take Dominic down,” Jason said, suddenly seeing the fight in a whole new light. “She knows he’s a vampire and she was terrified he’d kill me.”

  “’Cause it would have ended the party early,” Adam said. “If we add Dominic to the list, does that mean we automatically add Belle?”

  “Can you be the best friend of one vampire and the girlfriend of another and not be dentally enhanced yourself?” Jason asked. “Do they let humans that far into their circle?” Would Sienna ever let someone like me in that far? he couldn’t help adding to himself. And what would happen if she did?

  “Doubtful.” Adam took the list away from Jason and started adding names, including Belle’s. “And, besides, Belle’s surname is Rémy—that’s very French.” He hesitated, looking up at Jason. “Should we consider that Carrie could have been killed by Belle or Erin or someone of the female persuasion?”

  “I think the last few days have proven that pretty much anything is possible,” Jason said.

  “Point, got one, you have,” Adam answered. He narrowed his eyes at Jason. “You have seen a Star Wars movie, I assume.”