“How long ago was that?”
“Three weeks.” She looked down at her hands.
“Are you still seeing each other?” Violet asked, trying to gage her emotions.
Before answering, she drew her bottom lip into her mouth. “He won’t speak to me.” Shaking her head, she lifted her hand to her forehead. “But that’s not the point. Valley High is a school for vampires throughout the California regions. I am under the suspicion that whoever doesn’t do well at the school becomes a slave, but the successful ones become something else.”
“Why do you think that?”
“A lot of reasons, but for one, I’m wondering if the maids and maybe even the guards here were originally a part of Lord Viparado’s coven like we are because I found a necklace with the name, Bronwyn, written in a diamond setting inside of the pocket of one of our fur coats.”
“What does that mean?”
She leaned in closer. “One of the maids here has the same name. It’s an unusual name and I’m thinking why in the world would a servant leave a necklace worth so much money in one of our coats? How would she even get such a thing? The servants never leave the house.”
“So you’re guessing that she used to be just like us?”
“Yes. I think she might have worn these clothes and even had the necklace made. Madame Viparado lets us buy jewelry and clothing if we think it will help us with our goals.”
“Our goals?”
She waved her hand. “You’ll learn them at school. Anyway, Bronwyn might have worn the coat out one night to a party or club, took off her necklace, and forgot it in the pocket. A maid would never have jewelry like that. But this is all just speculation. Maybe the necklace was owned by another girl named Bronwyn.”
Violet scoffed. “If so, what happened to her?”
“My point exactly,” Su-Jin said. “It’s unlikely there were two Bronwyns that lived with the Viparados.”
Violet was worried Lord Viparado might get angry that they hadn’t left for school yet. “We can talk about this another time, but I think we should go.”
“Yeah, right.” Su-Jin sprang off the edge of her recliner bed. “We should. It’s not time for school yet, but you need to learn how to ride your motorcycle.”
Chapter Seven
Once out in the shady driveway, Su-Jin showed Violet her motorcycle. It looked like the others: big and tough like a Harley, but a new line called Vaders. These bikes had the wide, chrome appearances of Harleys, but were as fast as Ninjas with six speed transmissions.
“Wow!” Violet said with wide eyes. “This thing looks mean.” Then she laughed. “Never in a million years would I expect to own a motorcycle.”
“Get on,” Su-Jin said, tossing her a helmet with an ample visor. “We wear protection during the daylight to keep the sun off our faces. The Fatals and the Dirts will be meeting us out here soon and I want to teach you how to ride.”
“How the heck am I going to maneuver this thing?”
“It’s easy.”
Violet’s chin jutted back. “You sure about that?”
Laughing a little, she nodded. “You know how to ride a bike, right?”
“Yeah, sure.” She put her hand on her hip as she looked at the beast.
“Well it’s pretty much the same. This is an automatic so you don’t have to worry about switching gears.” She started pointing out various parts of the bike. “Here’s the key to start it, here’s the gas and here’s the brakes.”
“Okay,” Violet said feeling a little nervous, but not wanting to show it. As far as she was concerned, you had to be tough in this coven to survive and she didn’t want to come across as prissy. And anyway, she rationalized to herself: after dealing with the dead bodies this morning, riding a Vader should be much less intimidating.
Knitting her thin black eyebrows together, Su-Jin snapped her fingers several times to hurry her along. “Get on.” The slightest smirk showed on her beautiful face.
Violet climbed on, feeling very small in comparison to the animal she was expected to control. Now or never, she thought, knowing she really didn’t have a choice. She started the engine and it growled under her legs.
Before her mom abandoned them and took off for India, her family sometimes trailered all-terrain vehicles and mini-motorcycles designed for children out to the desert and rode through the trails and dunes, so she wasn’t entirely out of sorts with this sort of thing. But those days were long gone and by no means had she ever ridden a street bike by herself.
“Now, I’m going to have you just cruise around on the dirt out to the barn and then circle back to me.”
Her hands shaking slightly, Violet pressed the gas way too hard and the Vader jumped forward so fast that she flew right off the back onto the ground.
“Damn,” Su-Jin yelled, running over to her. “Get up off your ass and pick up that bike.”
To Violet’s surprise, she wasn’t hurt much. She got up and dusted off her black clothing and picked up the heavy motorcycle off its side, thinking how much easier life was having super vampire strength. The engine was still growling like it was pissed off at her incompetence. But she swung her leg over and tried again, this time giving the thing less gas. The monster sort of wobbled a little at the slow pace and she kept her shoes dragging on the ground too much, but the more she practiced, the better she got.
After a few more spills to the ground and some practice runs up and down the driveway, the Dirts and the Fatals walked out of the old house and got on their bikes ready to leave for school. Violet shuddered when she saw the Dirts. They were knocking each other around, rough housing.
Violet noticed dried blood on Spider’s hands that he didn’t even bother to wash off. That spider web tattoo on his face as well as the shaved head that all of the Dirts sported bothered her. She couldn’t believe Angie would like a guy like him. He was scary looking. Who would want a boy with nothing on his head but prickles to touch and a face like a mask? Sure, everything else about his appearance was perfect, even model-like, but he frightened her. Maybe the shaved head wouldn’t have bothered her if he had any sort of goodness inside, which from what she could tell, he did not.
And that boy Jason with the ruddy complexion who gave her sister Ariel a ride on his motorcycle to the pizza place shortly after her conversion, was picking his teeth with a knife. Such poor manners. He seemed to think he was all that. What a self-possessed idiot.
Another guy, who she assumed was Eric by the way Su-Jin looked at him with her hand on her mouth, had a gash down the side of his cheek all the way to his collarbone. Maybe one of the girls stitched it up because it was sutured sloppily with pink thread. He didn’t even look at Su-Jin.
Violet wondered what was going on in his head. Did he even like her new friend? If he did, he was hiding his feelings well. That made her wonder why he felt he needed to do that.
And two other guys followed behind. One had sad eyes that made Violet wonder what he had been through until this point. In her mind, she nicknamed him James Dean because he looked like a suffering “rebel without a cause.” The other one had a mad look on his face like a bulldog. At that moment, she gave him the nickname Bulldog. When he saw her, his dark eyes lit up. She looked away just as he licked his lips. Her breath sped up a little out of discomfort. She was still getting used to the Fatals and the Dirts were even more intimidating. Would she have to spend eternity with these gangs?
She tried to ignore them all and just wait on her bike with the engine idling. But once everyone was on their Vaders, they were off in engine roar. Violet was worried her motorcycle would tip over onto one of the others as they passed her by. She had been told vampires could die from accidents just like humans though their bodies were much stronger and sturdier providing them more protection. Her pulse raced as her hands sweat on the grips. In no time, she was lagging way behind.
Her throat was starting to itch. Maybe that possum didn’t hold enough blood for her. It was probably because she vomit
ed up some of it in the kitchen. She thought about turning off the road and snagging another animal, but Su-Jin circled back to ride with her while the others headed in a group to Wicked Valley High.
Once Violet and Su-Jin arrived at their destination, guards passed them through some gates. The high school was hidden inside a forest setting with monstrous stone walls so high surrounding it that nobody from the outside could see in. The parking lot, filled with all sorts of motorcycles and expensive sports cars, was shaded by trees and a huge overhead tarp. Violet followed Su-Jin and parked by the Dirts’ and Fatals’ bikes.
After she got off her motorcycle, Su-Jin motioned Violet over and they walked into the long rectangular indoor school. She looked preoccupied and worried, probably over Eric. “I’ll show you to the office so you can get your class schedule and then you’ll meet up with the gang at midday break.”
Violet’s pulse pounded in her ears. It was shocking to see so many vampires all in one building. And likely because there weren’t humans around, they were acting according to their natural selves using their strengths and powers off handedly.
A few boys raced each other overhead, swinging across the ceiling from beam to beam like they were playing on playground equipment cast up in the sky. Some girls stopped as stiff as statues in the middle of the hall each with an ear lifted and with one foot extended out in front of the other like they had paused midstride to listen to something and froze in that position. Leaning against a side rail, a guy with long wild hair stared unwaveringly at a female browsing the open library below. The manner was in the way an animal watches its prey before it springs. His eyes never blinked as he remained fixated on her for minutes.
In general, most everyone juxtaposed slow movements with super speed action. For example, teenagers would walk down the hall leisurely and then suddenly dart across in quadruple time into their classrooms or down some stairs. And instead of taking the elevators some kids would simply jump from floor to floor with the grace of ballerinas.
And in general, all the students were utterly gorgeous in their own unique ways and styles. The girls had faces of angels and the boys looked like models. There were different types of cliques. In that way, Valley High seemed just like any human high school. Yet each group had a dangerous air. Some seemed more refined than others who appeared more unruly. One boy Violet was observing gave her the impression of a good old boy with a down home southern accent and friendly personality the way Bill Clinton came across while in presidency, but she got the feeling it was all just an act to get what he wanted out of his peers.
“So here’s the office.” Su-Jin held out her hand at the glass room. “Just tell them you’re a new student from Viparado’s coven. They’ll take care of you.”
Violet’s pulse rate hadn’t let up. “Okay, thanks,” she whispered as she looked around and behind her. She was on edge, not sure what to expect. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but a part of her got the feeling she could get knifed in the back if she didn’t watch out for herself. Everyone seemed so irregular. The energy and unpredictable movements around her put her on guard.
“Catch you later,” Su-Jin called as she rushed at super speed down a hall and then jumped up to another floor.
Turning away, Violet stepped inside the office. Aside from a perfectly sculpted man behind a counter looking at a computer screen, nobody else was in there. “Hi, I’m Violet Paris. I’m new and… uh, uh…from the Viparado house.”
“Ah, yes. The man said without looking up. I was expecting you, Violet Ann Paris. He handed her a class schedule. Suddenly, his eyes flicked up. “Meet Radley in the rose fields by your father’s house at midnight.”
“What?” Her head jerked up, wondering if she had heard him right.
“I’ll only say it once,” the man mumbled as his eyes returned to his computer screen.
Violet gulped and nodded as she rushed out of the office realizing he was right not to repeat himself for fear of someone overhearing him. Radley wanted to see her? Her heart was slamming against her chest now. Who was that man? And why was he giving her a message from Radley? So many questions raced through her mind now. How in the world would she sneak out of the Viparado’s house? What if she was caught? She could hardly think straight as she hurried through the halls trying to find her first class.
When she arrived at her classroom in a sort of subdued panic for fear of being late, she sat in the middle row at an attached wooden desk and chair. Before she had entered the room she had planned that. Her reasoning was that sitting in the front might draw too much attention to her and sitting in the back row was where trouble makers tended to congregate. She wanted to go unnoticed and unharmed.
But after she sat down, she wasn’t so sure it would have mattered where she sat. It was a mixed class of both boys and girls. In most ways it didn’t seem all that different than a normal human classroom except that everyone was perfectly silent and sitting at their desks with their hands folded atop and their eyes cast straight ahead at the blank white bored. When she glanced at some of the students’ eyes, she saw similar sociopathic stares, cold, and calculating, but perfectly still.
She glanced down at her schedule slip. Until now, she had only read the room number. Apparently, this class was called “The Art of Killing.” An ache formed in the center of her chest and rose up to her neck. Quickly, she folded her hands atop the desk like the others and tried to convey the same icy glare ahead. But mostly, she just felt dizzy and nauseous now and a part of her wanted so desperately to cry.
Focusing straight ahead, her palms sweating, Violet heard the teacher enter. From the corner of her eye, she saw him walk past his desk and before the whiteboard. “We have a new student,” he said in a stony voice as he scratched his long neck. He was a tall, wiry man with short brown hair, attractive as were all vampires, but he was older, probably in his early forties. He snatched the class schedule from Violet’s desk top as she glanced at his fierce blue eyes.
He showed no signs of anger, but suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, he socked Violet on the side of the face.
She fell out of her seat onto the floor. Hell is your mama! That hurt.
“Don’t ever look me in the eyes again, young lady.” She noticed, his glare was extreme before she quickly cast her eyes to the floor.
It felt like a brick had just hit her in the jaw. Her head spun. The pain was shocking. He was so much stronger than her father. At once, Violet scrambled to her feet and back into her chair without looking at the man. She kept her eyes focused straight ahead on the center of the white board and didn’t let on to her suffering.
For the rest of the class period she hardly knew what the teacher was saying. So many emotions were running through her. She wanted to get out of this place so badly that her heart ached.
Mr. Wright, as was his name, seemed to be talking about how to lure victims out of a nightclub into an alley. Apparently, there were many methods each with applicable terms. But most important, the hunter should not be seen with the victim before he or she leaves the bar. Once in the alley, the killing methods varied. Some were quite sadistic and aimed at heightening the vampire’s pleasure at the expense of the human. And other methods were more merciful. Those were to be used when time restraints applied.
What bothered Violet most was when he gave the homework assignment. “Write out a one page description of your killing tonight, highlighting the methods used.”
Apparently, she was expected to kill a human being and then write about it for a grade. Anger burned through her. As much as she yearned to kill that guy at the rest stop shortly after she converted, she knew it was wrong. If she had to drink, she wanted to sustain herself on animal’s blood instead. Now this man was making that impossible.
The next couple of classes weren’t quite as bad as she had expected. One was a class on nightclub dancing where she learned some impressive moves that she wasn’t very good at yet. Mr. Max, as he called himself, made a point of pushing the less
is more concept. He called it the “sexy-subtle.” Apparently, smooth, rhythmic moves were more alluring to victims than showy, fast ones. They had to practice with partners seeming aloof as they performed each routine.
The other class was “Seducing with Music.” They were learning how to play the guitar. Apparently, they would learn a variety of musical instruments and then specialize in two or more. Even with her band experience at Roseville High, she was terrible with the guitar. She managed to go mostly unnoticed that day, only pretending to pluck the strings. One student played off key and he was made to lick the floor in front of the class until one tile square was a shade lighter.
Maybe she could have almost enjoyed some aspects of dance and music if she wasn’t so upset about having to kill a person that night. Her throat was already moving past the itching stage and into the burning stage. And her mind was so mixed up about Radley. Somehow she had to find a way to meet him in the rose fields. Maybe he would run away with her. Oh, how she missed him.
Heavenly Blood (Roseville Vampires, #2) Page 7