Blood Awakening (Blood Prophecy Trilogy)

by Jamie Manning

  “Um, last time I checked,” Lacey said with her signature snooty expression, “this is a free country. So I’ll go wherever I please.”

  I stared back at her for an indeterminable amount of time before Erik’s voice broke my concentration. “Okay, this has been fun,” he said. “But I think we need to get moving.”

  “Yeah,” Chance said, agreeing with his enemy.

  “So none of you are worried that I’m gonna run back to Principal Monroe and tell him you skipped?” Lacey asked.

  Though the thought had crossed my mind, and I knew that if anyone would be mean enough to do it, it would be her, I wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of being right. “Do what you want,” I said. “Wouldn’t matter anyway.”

  “And why is that?” she asked, crossing her arms over her too-large chest. “You think you’re too good to get in trouble?”

  I looked at Chance, who actually seemed to care about what she was threatening.“No, I don’t,” I said, almost crossing my arms, too. “I’m just not scared of you.”

  Another creepy laugh. “Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you.”

  “Geez, will you guys give it a rest already?” Erik said. “I mean, as hot as the thought of you two going at it is, we don’t have time for this right now.”

  “I must agree with the young hunter.” Sebastian came up behind us; so much for Chance’s constant scoping of the campus. “I do believe you all have much more pressing things to attend to?”

  “Okay,” I said with frustration, “is anybody else gonna pop out on us?” My head was reeling at the drastic turn of events. First Erik was attacked, then Kayla went missing, and now Lacey had become part of the equation. My mind was overwhelmed to say the least. “Where the hell have you been, Sebastian?”

  He just stood there, looking holier-than-thou—which was really funny, since he was the complete opposite of holy. “Do not fret, dear Ava. I made it here safely—isn’t that what matters most?”

  “Ugh, don’t even.” Just the thought of him made me ill; actually seeing and talking to him was almost too much. “You should’ve been here hours ago. We needed you.”

  “Well, I am here now. And I am fully prepared to aid in your search for young Ms. Harper’s father.”

  “Well, finding Mr. Harper is the least of our worries now.” I took him by the arm and pulled him away from Lacey’s prying ears. “Kayla’s missing.”

  “Missing?”

  “She was kidnapped. By vampires.”

  “And you know this how?”

  “They left a note. To meet them in New York City at midnight.”

  “Hmm,” he said. “That does change things.”

  “And what is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means, I think we may need some reinforcements.”

  “Tell me about it. But Aldric’s the only one I know who can help, and he’s MIA.” That was an entirely different set of stress. I mean, where was he? After all that had gone down over the past few weeks, I couldn’t believe that he’d bailed on us. On me.

  “As if.”

  He did not just say that.

  “Seriously?”

  “What? Is that not what all the kids say?”

  “Sure. About a decade ago. I couldn’t be farther away from popular, and even I know that.”

  “Then perhaps you would be interested in giving me a lesson in pop culture teen dialect?”

  I rolled my eyes. “As if.” Sebastian laughed. He actually laughed. It was shocking. And creepy. And I hoped it never happened again. “As fun as this look into your personality is, we need to figure out what to do.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “If Aldric isn’t the one you wanna call for help, then who is?”

  The corner of his mouth lifted into a half grin. “No need for you to worry about such things, Avaline. You have far too much to worry about as it is.”

  I stepped closer to him, almost nose-to-nose. “I told you never to call me that again.” I hated the name Avaline…even more so coming from his evil mouth.

  “There’s that feisty spirit I love.”

  “You make me sick.” I so regretted inviting him along. If I hadn’t thought we might need him, he would be far away from here, from me. Or, he’d be lurking in the shadows somewhere, waiting to attack again.

  “Harsh words to give someone who is merely lending a helping hand, Ava. You should watch your tongue.”

  “And you should watch your back.” I walked away from him, but turned back. “And stay the hell away from me.”

  “Perhaps I should just meet you in New York?”

  “Yeah, perhaps.” I made it back to the others before giving Sebastian a second glance. He had pulled a phone from his pocket and was already talking to someone, but still gave me a creepy smile and a wink before turning and walking away. I wanted to know who he had called, who would be showing up unannounced, but I was glad that he was gone. Chance had been right; inviting Sebastian was a mistake.

  “Who is that?” Lacey asked once I made it back to her.

  “That is somebody I want you to stay away from, got it?” I didn’t really care about Lacey—okay, not at all—but I didn’t want her to be near Sebastian. The last thing I needed was her death on my conscience.

  “Like I take orders from you.”

  “Do what you want, listen to me or don’t listen to me, I don’t much care. Just stay away from him.”

  “Wow, bitchy much?”

  I had to grab my own arm to keep from hitting her; instead, I smiled. “You bring out the best in me.”

  “Well, I try.” She smiled back with the same I-hope-you-die grin that I’m sure was on my face, too.

  “Don’t you need to go brush your hair or something?” I was done with her. In every way.

  “Well, you’re just a bag of fun today, aren’t you?” Her bouncing ponytail was making me nauseous. I gave her another one of those grins. “I just want to know what’s going on around here. You all seem to be hiding something.”

  “I can’t really explain that right now,” I said, rubbing my temples to ward off an impending headache. “You just need to go home.”

  “I don’t need to do anything you tell me to,” she snapped. “My mom and I just got here. I have an appointment with the dean of admissions, and a tour of campus scheduled. No way am I leaving now.” Even though she’d never admit it, the palest shade of fear crossed Lacey’s perfect skin. She was scared. That made two of us.

  “Fine, then,” I snapped back. “Do what you want. Just don’t follow us.” Cue headache.

  “Fine.” She glanced around the group, her eyes pausing briefly on each of us. Chance and Erik stood across from me, looking about as useless as dentures on a vampire. “So, are you and the Stooges over there a two-thirds hot trio now or what?”

  “There she is,” I said, almost laughing. “I thought for a second that you’d been abducted and replaced by an actual human.” Lacey just stared at me. “No such luck.”

  “You’re the last person who should be judging me, you freak.”

  “Maybe you’d like your nose broken again?” I snapped. “I don’t mind, if that’s what you want.”

  Several seconds passed before she finally spoke again. “I just wanna get out of here.”

  “We all do,” Chance said, crossing our little circle and standing between Lacey and me. His back was to me, wide enough to shield my eyes from the go-to-Hell glare I knew was on Lacey’s face. “But maybe Ava’s right,” he said to her, his voice soft and low. “Maybe you and your mom should just go home.”

  “Why?” Lacey asked, that ridiculous, airheaded tone back in her voice. She would’ve seen me rolling my eyes if Chance weren’t in the way. “I don’t understand what you guys are up to.” I imagined a lot of hair-twirling going on; a quick glan
ce around Chance’s back proved me right. She was so consistent.

  “Why do you even care?” I asked.

  “I don’t give a crap about you,” she said, glaring at me around Chance’s shoulder. “I’m worried about you, Chance.” She slowly lifted her hand to his arm, her fingers gently caressing his bicep. I wanted to rip them from her body.

  “I’ll be fine,” Chance said. “We all will.”

  Just then, Lacey’s lookalike mom interrupted our little discussion.

  “Excuse me, you guys,” she said, “but could I possibly steal my daughter away for a second?” Her similarity to her daughter ended with the looks; her sweet demeanor and kind words were the stark opposite of Lacey’s sarcasm and snobbishness.

  “Absolutely,” I said, hoping it wasn’t too obvious.

  “Ugh, what is it, Mom?” Lacey snapped, turning on her heels to face her mother.

  “I’m sorry, honey, but I have to go. The jury just reached a verdict.”

  “Wow,” Lacey said. “That was fast.”

  “I know. And now I have to rush back to court. I’m sorry I can’t go on the tour with you.” Now I knew who she was chatting away with on the phone. Lacey’s mom was a lawyer? Never would’ve guessed it. Maybe Lacey was adopted. By a woman who looked just like her. Yeah, Ava, that makes sense.

  “No prob,” Lacey said with a shrug of her shoulders. “My friends will keep me company.” I immediately looked to Erik and Chance, knowing there was no way in hell she meant us.

  “Oh, that’ll be fun!” Her mom smiled and pulled Lacey into a quick but heartfelt hug. “Okay sweetheart, you call me after you’re done, okay? The courthouse is only a few miles from here, so I won’t be far away. Maybe we can grab some dinner in the city before heading home. That’ll be fun, huh?”

  “Okay, Mom, later.” Lacey dismissed her mother like she was the makeup counter girl at the local mall and, though I never thought it possible, I hated her even more. I didn’t even know my mom, but I liked to think that I wouldn’t shun her in front of others if I ever had the chance to meet her. Lacey kept her back turned as her mom waved goodbye to all of us and speed-walked across the campus toward the visitor parking.

  “She seems nice,” Erik said after she was gone.

  “Yeah,” I agreed, looking to Lacey. “What happened to you?”

  Lacey smirked. “I take after my dad. He doesn’t put up with crap from people, either.”

  “Sounds like a great guy.” I was laying the sarcasm on pretty thick.

  “He’s the best.” Her smile said she didn’t pick up on it. That, or she really was a clueless blonde.

  “Hey,” she said, turning her attention back to Chance. “Why don’t you come hang out with me the rest of the day? You could keep me company while I tour the campus.”

  “I can’t.” I could feel Chance’s reluctance, hanging in the air like a bad odor. Did he want to go with her? “We have to find someone—”

  “—that’s enough, Chance.” I had to stop him before he blurted out something he shouldn’t.

  “Take it easy,” he said, looking over his shoulder at me. “I wasn’t gonna say anything. But we don’t have time to waste.”

  “I know that,” I said. “But the less people involved, the better.”

  “Involved in what?” Lacey asked, stepping from behind Chance’s large frame and staring me down. “What the hell’s going on here?” Her eyes circled and circled before realization crossed her face. She looked around at us again, though this time in search of something. “Wait a minute,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “Where’s the fourth Musketeer? Aren’t you guys joined at the hip?” Chance, Erik and I just looked at each other. “Okay, hold on. Kayla’s the one you’ve been talking about? She’s the ‘someone’ you have to find?”

  DISCOVERY ZONE

  It took every ounce of restraint I had in me to not smack Chance for opening his mouth. The last thing we needed was someone else involved in this…and now we had the biggest mouth in Massachusetts learning things she shouldn’t. “Just keep quiet,” I said to Lacey.

  “Keep quiet?” she responded. “Are you serious? A girl is missing and you want me to keep quiet?” My eyes were locked on hers. “Geez, you are a freak.” She took a step back and turned to Chance. “And you,” she said to him. “You want me to just ‘keep quiet,’ too? Let Kayla stay missing?”

  “She’s not missing,” Chance said. “She was taken. And we’re going to get her.”

  “What?” Lacey’s face went white. “Taken? She was taken? You mean, kidnapped?”

  “Um, yeah,” I finally said. “She was kidnapped.”

  “Oh my God.” Lacey stumbled back a bit and Chance rushed to her side. I watched in shock as he lifted her hand into his and walked her to a tiny bench behind us. Was I seriously jealous that he was being nice to her? Was I that shallow and self-centered?

  Looked that way.

  “Who took her?” Lacey finally asked. She was clearly milking Chance’s chivalry for every ounce, doing everything short of collapsing into his lap. I wanted to snatch her up from her seat next to him and shake her until she grew a brain.

  “We can’t tell you that,” I blurted out before Chance had time to open his mouth and spill more of our secrets. “No way.”

  “Ava’s right,” Erik said, coming to stand next to me. Chance finally looked at me, then at Erik. Who was jealous now?

  “None of this makes sense,” Lacey said, finally pulling her hand from Chance’s and brushing a few stray strands of hair from her face. If only the Laceybots could see her now. “You know, I’ve known something was up with you guys since the first day you showed up.” She pointed one of her long, bony fingers at me before looking around the group again. “All the sneaking around and whispers. You all are into something criminal, I just know it. And now you’re telling me Kayla is missing—taken—but you can’t say who took her, is that right?”

  “That about covers it,” Erik said.

  “Am I the only one who thinks we just stepped into an episode of The Twilight Zone?”

  I’ve been living in The Twilight Zone since I woke up in that coffin.

  “I know it all sounds crazy,” I said, trying to ignore thoughts of my living burial. “Believe me, I do. And I would give anything if you hadn’t shown up here today.” In more ways than I was willing to express at the moment.

  “Ditto,” Lacey said.

  “I’m sorry you’re mixed up in this. I really am. I tried to tell you to just go home and leave us alone.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t take orders from you.” She glared up at me from her seat next to Chance. “And I can’t say I’m sorry for this when I don’t even know what this is.” She stood up from the bench, gripping the open collar of her overcoat tight around her neck to block out the bitter wind.

  “I know.” What more could I say? I didn’t trust Lacey for anything, so there was no way I could fill her in on what was truly going on. Knowing the horrible luck I had, she would probably run to the nearest TV station and blab away my life.

  “So what happens now?” she asked.

  “Now,” Chance said, standing up next to her. “We need to get you home.”

  What does he mean, “we?”

  “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.” The two of them smiled at each other. A wave of jealous heat blasted through the harsh, late-winter wind and swept over me, and I took a deep breath to hopefully quell the anger rising inside.

  I barely caught the scent of death before the vampire from earlier came barreling out of the woods toward us.

  “Get her out of here!” I screamed and tossed Erik toward Lacey just as the vampire from earlier plowed through Chance and slammed into me. I didn’t have time to worry about being seen by humans, my attention focused on keeping the snarling fangs in his mouth from sinking int
o my skin. He pinned me to the ground, sitting on my chest and throwing my arms above my head. I wriggled beneath him, trying to free myself, but he was strong. Too strong.

  He leaned down, his face inches from mine. “I told you to leave.” Venom dripped from his fangs, narrowly missing my skin. The smell of burning fabric hung in the air as the acidic goo splattered on my shirt.

  “I don’t like to do what I’m told.” I kept twisting and squirming beneath his large frame, hoping for the tiniest bit of wiggle room.

  “That’s gonna cost you.” He opened his mouth wide and lunged for my throat. This was it. I was going to die. I closed my eyes and prepared to feel his fangs. What I didn’t prepare for was to be let go so abruptly. I opened my eyes just in time to see Chance toss the vampire off of me.

  “Get up,” he said, rushing back to me. “We have to get out of here.” He pulled me to my feet and dragged me toward the woods skirting the campus. I barely had time to notice the faces of shocked students whipping out cell phones and doing their best to snap pictures of the supernatural freak show they had just witnessed. Just what I needed, my face plastered on the news.

  “Where’s Erik and Lacey?” I asked, trying as best I could to shield my face from the numerous cameras as we cut through the trees.

  “Waiting on us. I told them to run. We can’t do this here.” He still held my hand tightly in his as he cut through trees and brush.

  “Can’t do what?” I trailed behind, my focus switching from him to the path behind us, just waiting for the vampire—or a horde of camera-wielding college students—to pop up at any second.

  “We can’t kill him in front of everybody.”

  “We can’t kill him, period.”

  He finally stopped running, dropping my hand in the process. “What?”

  “We can’t. We need to follow him, to find out where they’re hiding Kayla.”

  “No way. It’s too risky.”

  “I wasn’t asking your permission.” I stepped around him and moved through the woods. I only made it a few yards before running into Erik and Lacey.