Bloodlust

by Alex Duval

  She sighed. “Look—”

  “Did I interrupt some big vampire conference?”

  “We’re trying to figure out what happened to Carrie,” Sienna murmured, glancing over her shoulder. “I told you, Zach wants to take care of it.”

  “Well, good luck.” Jason reached for the doorknob.

  “Wait,” Sienna said, stepping closer to him. “I’m glad you came. I didn’t expect to see you here again.”

  The closeness of her made his head swim. “I didn’t expect to be here again,” he admitted, smiling in spite of himself. “But I had to see you.”

  Sienna smiled back and took another step toward him, and immediately Jason felt himself swept away—by her apple-vanilla scent that reminded him of the ocean, the wild, vivid beauty of her face, and the incredible sweetness of her smile. If he didn’t touch her, he thought he might go crazy. Without thinking, Jason reached out and slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her close. Before he could stop himself, his mouth was on hers.

  He felt Sienna’s body tense in surprise, but then slowly her arms moved up around his neck. She opened her lips, inviting him in, deepening the kiss, her tongue, briefly, meeting his.

  Then, abruptly, she pulled away. Her dark eyes troubled now, confused.

  Jason smiled, turned, and left the house. He felt Sienna watching him as he walked to his VW and got in. And he couldn’t stop himself from grinning; it was nice to know that he could confuse Sienna that way.

  Too wired to head home, he went for a drive. He loved living in a state where he could actually make use of having a convertible even in the fall. The sun sparkled on the ocean as he sped along the Pacific Coast Highway. In the water, he could see a few surfers making the most of the late-afternoon sunshine.

  Jason breathed in the salty ocean air and felt himself begin to unwind. There’d been a weird vibe over at Sienna’s, no doubt, but no one had threatened him. No fangs had made an appearance. It was probably just like Sienna said: The vampires were talking about their rogue member, whoever he was. Trying to figure out what to do. Trying to help. But they clearly didn’t want an outsider like him getting involved.

  By the time Jason turned back toward DeVere Heights, the last rays of the sun were turning the sea to gold. Jason’s cell rang. He glanced at the number: Adam.

  “How’s it going?” Jason asked as soon as he hit talk.

  “We’ve got a problem.” Adam sounded freaked.

  “What?”

  “It’s Scott. He just went into The Dreamhouse.”

  “Where?” Jason asked.

  “It’s a club in town. But that’s not the problem. Jason, he had a girl with him. What if he’s going to kill her?”

  Fifteen

  Jason pulled over to the side of the road. He needed to concentrate. “Calm down,” he told Adam. “How do you know she’s not some friend of his—another vampire, even?”

  “I’ve never seen her before,” Adam said. “And, besides, he just picked her up on Santa Monica Pier. That’s where he went after school. He met her there, they started flirting, then they went to The Dreamhouse together.”

  Jason’s throat felt tight. “If he wanted to kill her, why wouldn’t he just take her to an alley or something?” he asked.

  “I don’t know, maybe he likes the thrill,” Adam spat. “He didn’t kill Carrie in some dark alley.”

  “Good point,” Jason acknowledged. He figured The Dreamhouse was probably pretty dark and crowded, just like Belle’s yacht had been. Nobody had noticed Carrie’s death there, and nobody would notice another girl’s death at the club. “All right, look, we don’t know for sure that Scott is the rogue vampire,” he said, as much to reassure himself as Adam. “I’ll meet you at the club and we’ll watch him together. If it seems like he’s going to bite anyone, we’ll stop him.”

  “How are we going to get in?” Adam asked. “We’re not legal.”

  “Don’t worry, neither is he,” Jason reminded him. “Just wait for me.”

  He hung up and pulled the VW back out onto the road. He didn’t plan to drink tonight, but he figured he’d better leave the car home, just in case. Luckily, his parents were out at a business dinner for the evening, so he didn’t have to explain where he was going in such a rush.

  “Dani!” he yelled as he tossed the car keys onto the counter.

  No answer.

  “Danielle?” He glanced around and spotted a giant pink Post-it on the fridge. He grabbed it and read, “Gone to Kristy’s to study. May sleep over. Dani, XOXO.”

  “Huh. That better be the truth,” Jason muttered. He didn’t want to think about her out at some party, being a nice snack for a vampire. At least he knew she’d be nowhere near Scott Challon. He called a cab, changed into jeans and a black T-shirt, and ran back outside just as the cab arrived.

  It took ten minutes to get to The Dreamhouse. Adam was waiting out front. “How are we going to get in? I don’t have a fake ID,” he said anxiously.

  “I’m not sure. Let’s just go check it out.” Jason strode confidently to the door. At every club he’d ever been to, he’d found that if you just looked like you knew what you were doing, they’d let you in. Hopefully it would work the same here. “Hey,” he said to the bouncer, his eyes already roaming the inside of the club to show that he wasn’t nervous about being carded. “Two of us. What’s the cover?”

  “Hey, Freeman. Ten bucks each.” Jason looked up, surprised. The bouncer was Luke Archer.

  “Luke, thank God,” Adam said. “I was worried we wouldn’t get in.”

  Luke cracked a smile and glanced around. “No worries,” he said. “You do still have to pay, though.”

  Jason handed over a twenty, taking in Luke’s muscular arms. He’d never noticed before how built the guy was. Luke wasn’t on any sports teams, so Jason just assumed he wasn’t athletic. But obviously he worked out—maybe so he could keep this job. After all, you couldn’t be a bouncer unless you were big enough to be intimidating.

  “Thanks, man,” he said. Luke nodded.

  The club was packed, but with a different crowd from the parties in DeVere Heights. Mostly college-age kids. The lights were dim. House music pulsed through huge speakers on the walls, and writhing bodies crowded the tiny dance floor. Deep booths lined the sides of the place, big enough for six or seven people to sit. In the back room there was a pool table—though nothing close to the museum piece at Brad’s—and a few dartboards.

  Jason pushed his way through the crowd, scanning the faces for Scott Challon. Adam followed, peering at the people in the deep booths. At the back of the room, Jason spotted a wide double door. It led out onto a huge deck over the beach. People hung around in little clumps out here, smoking and talking away from the loud music inside. He did a quick check for Scott, but saw no sign of him.

  “Let’s go back inside,” Adam said. “Scott’s not out here.”

  “Yeah.” Jason went back in and led the way over to the other side of the room.

  “There he is,” Adam murmured.

  Jason followed his friend’s gaze and spotted Scott. He sat in a corner booth, all the way at the back, his arm around a pretty, red-haired girl. A few other guys sat toward the front of the booth, playing some drinking game. Jason thought he recognized them from school, but it was hard to see them clearly in the dark of the club.

  “Grab that table,” he told Adam, pointing to a small table about fifteen feet from Scott’s booth. “We’ll hang here and keep an eye on him.”

  “What are we going to do if he attacks her?” Adam asked. “He’s got friends with him. We can’t take them all.”

  “Buffalo, buffalo, buffalo!” the guys at Scott’s table began to chant.

  “Hopefully he won’t attack her,” Jason said, raising his voice to be heard over the buffalo boys. “If he does, we make a scene, get everybody looking in his direction. He won’t do anything public.”

  Adam nodded. “I wish I had my camera,” he said. “Then I could get
proof.”

  Jason laughed. “I don’t think the club owners would appreciate you filming a high school kid hanging out in their place.” He stood up. “I’m going to get some beers so they don’t come kick us out.” He made his way back through the crowd to the long wooden bar near the entrance. He glanced over at Luke to nod hello. But Luke didn’t notice—his attention was focused somewhere toward the back of the place. Jason turned to follow his line of sight and noted, to his surprise, that Luke was watching Scott Challon.

  “Help you?” the girl behind the bar yelled over the music.

  Jason turned, taking in her platinum-blond pigtails and her pierced eyebrow. “Yeah, uh, two Super Bocks.”

  She grabbed a couple bottles, opened them, and handed them over. Jason dropped some cash on the bar and picked up the beers. He glanced back at Luke, but some other beefy dude now stood guard at the door. Must be Luke’s break time, Jason decided as he elbowed his way through the crowd. But at the edge of the dance floor, he spotted Luke again. Not dancing, not even talking to anyone, just standing there—and still watching Scott Challon.

  “Check it,” Jason said, setting the beers on the table. He nodded over his shoulder to Luke.

  “What?” Adam asked.

  “Luke’s been eyeballing Scott the entire time I was gone,” Jason told him. “You think he’s suspicious too?”

  Adam shrugged. “Could be. He may not suspect Scott’s a vampire, but Scott did try to shift the blame for Carrie’s death onto Luke. Maybe Luke heard about that and wants to make sure Scott gets taken downtown.”

  “Yeah. Or maybe he’s seen Scott here before,” Jason said grimly. “Maybe he’s seen him pick up other girls—or hurt them.”

  Luke suddenly turned away and headed toward the back of the club.

  “I’m going to follow him,” Jason said. “Maybe he can tell us something useful.”

  “You’re not going to say anything about vampires, are you?” Adam asked anxiously.

  “No, I’ll just see if I can get him talking about Scott,” Jason said. “If he’s suspicious of the guy, he might mention something we don’t know.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll stay here and keep an eye on that girl. And the vampire she’s sitting with.” Adam took a swig of his beer and settled into his seat.

  Jason headed toward the back of the club again, peering through the bodies for any sign of Luke. How could he lose sight of such a big guy? But Luke was gone. Jason glanced out onto the deck. No sign of him. He wasn’t near the pool table, either. The only other place was the men’s room. Jason pushed open the swing door and went in.

  It was even darker in here—two out of three lights were broken—but it only took Jason a few moments to realize that the room was empty, except for Scott Challon.

  Jason was so surprised to see Scott that he just stared.

  “Hey,” Scott said, catching his eye in the mirror.

  Jason recovered quickly. “Hey,” he said, making sure to sound bored. He ambled over to the sinks, where Scott was checking his hair in the mirror. Jason turned on the water, splashed some on his face, then ran his hand through his own hair. He glanced at the stalls, just to see if Luke had gone into one of them, but no one was there.

  He gave Scott a nod and went back out into the club. Immediately, he scanned the crowd for Adam, expecting him to have followed Scott over. He noticed a thin, sandy-haired guy playing darts, but when he turned toward the dim lights, Jason could see it wasn’t his friend. Where was Adam?

  A sudden fear struck him: What if Scott had jumped Adam? It would’ve been easy enough for Scott to spot Adam watching him.

  How long does it take a vampire to kill someone? Jason wondered frantically. Sienna hadn’t told him that. He shoved his way through the crowd, desperate to get back to his table. If Adam wasn’t there…

  But Adam was there. Converse sneakers up on the neighboring chair, drinking his beer as if nothing was wrong. Jason let out a sigh of relief and dropped into his chair.

  Adam gave him a once-over. “You look like crap, my friend,” he commented.

  “Why are you still here?” Jason asked. “You were supposed to be following Scott.”

  “I am following Scott.” Adam raised his beer toward the corner booth. “He hasn’t moved.”

  “What?” Jason squinted across the room at Scott Challon, who remained sitting exactly where he’d been when Jason left. Scott’s arm was still around the redhead, and now they were kissing.

  “So far, it’s been pretty tame,” Adam said. “He hasn’t gone anywhere near her neck. Or arm. Or looked like biting her at all. The second he does, I figure I’ll hurl my beer bottle at him. That should get everyone’s attention.”

  “But…” Jason stopped, baffled. “Are you sure he didn’t get up at all?”

  “Of course I’m sure,” Adam said. “I never took my eyes off him.”

  Sixteen

  Jason had begun to wonder if he was losing his mind. He’d just been in the bathroom with Scott, not Luke. He was certain of it. And yet, here was Scott, sitting where he’d been sitting all evening and Adam said he hadn’t moved! Jason glanced across to see that Luke had returned to working the door. So confusing.

  Dani said Scott and Luke look alike, he reminded himself. Guess she was right.

  “Here we go,” Adam said. “Scott’s getting up.”

  Jason spun back toward the corner booth. Scott was inching his way along the bench to get up. His friends were already standing, waiting for him. The redhead slid along the bench behind him.

  “We’ve got to follow them,” Adam said, moving to get up too.

  “Wait a sec. I don’t think the girl’s going with them,” Jason replied. “Look.” The red-haired girl was writing on Scott’s hand with a ballpoint pen. Probably giving him her number, Jason thought. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Scott, then wandered off into the crowd.

  Scott and his buddies headed for the door.

  “Still, we have to go after him,” Adam insisted. “He might go pick up another girl somewhere else.”

  Jason nodded slowly. True enough. But his confusion between Scott and Luke bothered him. “You go ahead,” he told Adam. “I’m going to stay here. I want to keep an eye on Luke.”

  “Luke?” Adam repeated. “Why? He’s not a suspect. He’s not even a vampire!”

  “I know, but there’s something strange going on,” Jason said. “I can’t explain it.”

  “If anything, Luke’s on our side,” Adam pointed out. “He seems to suspect Scott too.”

  “You’re going to lose Scott if you don’t go now,” Jason said.

  “Okay.” Adam gave him one last, confused look. “You sure you want to stay here?”

  “Yeah. Call me if anything bad happens.”

  Adam nodded and went off after Scott. Jason saw him slap hands with Luke on the way out. Luke looked perfectly relaxed.

  Jason went over to the bar and found a seat. He ordered another beer and settled down to watch Luke, feeling like an idiot. Adam was right: Luke had always seemed like a pretty normal guy, and Jason had no reason to suspect him of anything. In fact, he didn’t even know what he did suspect. But he had an uneasy feeling in his stomach, and it had something to do with Luke.

  “When’s last call?” he asked the pigtailed bartender.

  “Two,” she answered. “Why? You in it for the long haul?”

  “I think so,” he replied, glancing at his watch. It was only midnight, and Luke probably had to work the door until closing.

  Jason turned on his stool to look out over the whole club. The redhead who’d been with Scott was now dancing with a group of girls on the dance floor. Luke leaned against the door frame, taking money and checking IDs. Jason sighed and took a sip of beer. It was going to be a long night.

  At one thirty, the red-haired girl brushed past him, heading for the door. Jason watched her go, hoping she didn’t plan to meet up with Scott. He pulled out his cell and checked for messages. Nothi
ng. No word from Adam since he’d left.

  When he looked up again, Luke was gone.

  Jason leaped off his stool and rushed over to the door. Just outside, he could see Luke talking to the other bouncer. The other guy nodded, then they banged fists in farewell and Luke took off toward the parking lot.

  Surprised, Jason followed him. How am I supposed to trail him without a car? he wondered. Jason smiled wryly. He wasn’t so hot at this detective stuff. Guess he’d never grow up to be a private eye. But he could at least see what direction Luke drove off in.

  He kept back twenty feet or more, not wanting Luke to notice he was being followed. Luke walked all the way to the edge of the parking lot, where there were no lights, and faded into the darkness behind a huge H2.

  Jason broke into a jog, trying to catch up. When he reached the SUV, he stopped and inched his way around it, using it for cover.

  There! Luke was leaning against a Toyota—who knew they allowed Toyotas in Malibu?—five feet away. But he wasn’t alone. The redhead from the club was with him, keys dangling from her hand as she laughed at something Luke said.

  The Toyota must be her car, Jason thought. But what is she doing with Luke?

  Their voices were low, so he couldn’t make out the words, but the tone was clearly flirtatious. Jason shook his head. So this was why Luke had been watching Scott—Scott was hitting on the girl he liked. It didn’t explain the men’s room confusion, of course, but then it had been dark in there. Jason decided he’d just made a mistake—and he felt like kicking himself. He’d wasted all night here watching a guy who was just jealous.

  He almost felt like laughing. Between Sienna telling him about the vampires and Adam getting so caught up in his investigation of Scott, he’d seriously started imagining things. Like Luke turning into Scott Challon in the bathroom.

  I’m going to call a cab to go home, he decided. Enough Van Helsing for one night.

  “Come on,” Luke’s voice broke into his thoughts. “The view is great from there.”

  Jason plastered himself against the H2, hoping they wouldn’t see him. He didn’t want to have to explain to Luke why he was hanging out in the middle of a deserted parking lot.