Wisdom mba-4

by Аманда Хокинг

  “I didn’t know most of Jane’s friends,” Mr. Kress said, more to himself than us. “I didn’t know very much about what went on in her life. But I did know this is where she’d end up if she wasn’t careful, and Jane was never careful.”

  “Nathaniel. Please.” Blythe put her hand in his arm, but he shook it off. She turned back to me, smiling that same sad smile. “Go ahead and have a look at her room, Alice.

  You can take anything that means something to you. I’m sure it would bring Jane happiness to know that you have it.”

  “It won’t bring Jane anything, Blythe!” Mr. Kress snapped, and both Bobby and I shrunk back. “She’s dead! She doesn’t feel anything!”

  “You know the way to Jane’s room,” Blythe said to me. She lowered his eyes and stepped to the side of the hall, so we could walk passed her.

  “Thank you,” I mumbled and slid past her, staying as close to the wall as I could.

  I wanted to run down to Jane’s room, the way we had has children and hid under the bed when her father started yelling. We’d lay under her princess bed with flashlights and tell each other stories about how we’d grow up and be rescued by princes and knights in shining armor. Only Jane’s had never come. Nobody ever rescued her.

  As soon as we made it to Jane’s room, I shut the door behind us, blocking out the sound of her father shouting. Blythe said very little, only quiet words of comfort, but nothing could calm him. Although, for once, I couldn’t really blame him. He had just lost his only child.

  “This is not what I expected from Jane’s room,” Bobby said, looking around at the pale pink walls.

  The bed in the center was the same four-post princess bed she’d always had, and fairy lights ran around the posts. She had a white vanity against one wall, covered in makeup. Her desk in the corner had a laptop and a few framed photos, but the rest of the décor felt very little girl.

  “Her mom decorated the room right before she died, so Jane never really wanted to change it.” I gestured to the worn down princess lamp on her nightstand. The pink boa that’d been used as fringe had almost come off entirely.

  “I see.” Bobby went over to the nightstand and picked up a picture. “Is this Jane with Justin Timberlake?”

  “Yeah, she met him after a concert a couple years ago.” I went over to her desk and touched a picture of the two of us at a dance from our freshman year. My hair looked ridiculous because I’d let her do it.

  “That’s pretty fancy.” He set the picture down and looked at me. “So… what are we doing here?”

  “I don’t know.” I looked away from the pictures to survey the room. “I thought I might find something here.”

  “Was Jane even living here before she died?” Bobby asked. “I mean, when she left rehab?”

  “I think so.” I chewed the inside of my cheek, trying to remember what I’d read on the internet. I could go ask her parents, but from the sounds of Mr. Kress’s yelling, now wouldn’t be a good time.

  “Why did she even leave rehab?” Bobby asked. “Didn’t she leave early?”

  “Yeah, she did,” I nodded. “But I don’t know why. The last time I talked to her, she said she was working the program and doing good. Maybe she relapsed or something.”

  “How can you relapse on vampire bites? It’s not like somebody could sneak it in or something.”

  “I don’t know. She left while I was in Australia. I never should’ve went.” I shook my head and went over to her closet. She didn’t have one quite as big as mine, but she had shoved twice as many clothes in it. I opened the doors to find shoes and skirts jumping out at me.

  “You think if you’d been here, she wouldn’t have left?” Bobby asked. I glanced back at him and saw him opening her nightstand drawer and rooting around in it.

  “I don’t know.” I sifted through her clothes, but there were too many for me to really look at. Sighing, I turned around and looked back at Bobby. “The only thing I know is that I don’t know what happened to Jane.”

  “Good news.” Bobby reached into her dresser drawer and pulled out a cell phone. “I think I’ve got her phone.”

  “Holy shit.” I ran over and grabbed it from him. I clicked and touched it all over, but nothing happened. The screen stayed black. “What’s wrong with it? It won’t turn on.”

  “Well, it’s been sitting in the drawer for at least two weeks, so the battery is probably dead,” Bobby pointed out.

  I looked around her room and spotted the charger next to the desk. I plugged in the phone and sat down in the chair. By the time I got the damn thing on, my heart felt like it would beat out of my chest. Bobby stood behind me, looking at it over my shoulder.

  She had a few missed calls stored up, most of them from people she used to party with, but three were from an unknown caller. She didn’t have voicemails, so that didn’t help, and I moved on to her text messages. Before the sixteenth of January, she’d received a couple messages, all from people I knew, but she hadn’t sent any out.

  “Why wasn’t she replying to their texts?” Bobby asked, reading over my shoulder.

  “She was in rehab until the sixteenth. She didn’t have her phone with her,” I said.

  “When she replied, that’s when she got out.”

  The text messages from people she knew were all about going out or partying, and Jane hadn’t responded to any of them. The only messages she responded to were from an unknown caller, and those messages made my blood run cold.

  Are you out yet? The unknown number had texted.

  Who is this? Jane texted back.

  You know who this is. I want you to meet me.

  Where? Jane replied.

  Outside of the gas station on 8th street.

  I’ll be there soon. Jane texted.

  I’ll be waiting.

  And that was it. There were no more text messages in her phone.

  “That’s it?” Bobby asked.

  “That’s it.” I stood up, and he reached for the phone, so I handed it to him. “That gas station is only a few blocks from here. She must’ve been at home.”

  “So she knew who it was?” Bobby played around on her phone, searching for more hidden messages or some clue that we didn’t see.

  “Yeah.” I walked over to Jane’s window, realizing she’d willingly left to meet her killer, and she’d probably died a few blocks from her home. “Call it.”

  “What?”

  “Call the number,” I turned back to Bobby. “Call and see who answers.”

  “What if I don’t know who answers?” he asked.

  “Then ask who it is. Just call the number and try to sound tough.”

  “Okay?” He took a deep breath and hit the call button the phone. I watched him, barely able to breathe myself, and waited while he held the phone to his ear. His face fell and he shook his head. “We’re sorry. The number you have reached is no longer in service.”

  “Dammit,” I groaned and looked back at the window. “She knew who it was. She left with them. And she got killed right down this street! And I have no idea-” Then I saw something on the street corner, below her bedroom window. Something moved in the shadows, and I realized that the streetlight was out. All the other lights on the street were lit up fine, but the one outside of Jane’s room was out. It didn’t mean anything really. Vampires made sure the streetlight was always out outside of V, but a light going out didn’t mean anything in and of itself.

  But I had this feeling. I couldn’t explain it exactly, but it was something inside my veins. Something almost tingly but painful too. As soon as I’d caught sight of something moving outside, I’d felt it.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Bobby asked.

  “Somebody’s down there.”

  “Where?” He came up next to me to look outside, and I saw it again. It had moved to the side, so it was almost out of my line of vision, but I knew it was out there.

  “Meet me downstairs,” I told Bobby as I opened the bedroom window. I pulled out the s
creen, bending it in half to get it out quickly.

  “What? What are you doing?”

  “It’ll take me too long to go through the apartment. Just meet me downstairs.” I climbed through the window, crouching down on the ledge.

  “What’ll I tell her parents when you’re not with me?”

  “I don’t know. Think of something,” I said, and I leapt off her window.

  I would’ve been fine landing on the ground, but I jumped out towards the street lamp.

  I wanted some element of surprise, even if it was a small one. My hands wrapped around the lamppost, and I looked down at the ground. The figure was looking up at me.

  But as soon as our eyes met, I knew who it was, and he knew me. Jonathan began to run, and I pressed my feet to the pole so I could jump off. I landed right behind him. Pain reverberated through my legs, but I was running the instant my feet hit the ground.

  I only gave chase for a second because then I was on him. I grabbed his shoulder and threw him into the wall. His skull cracked back against it. He tried to push at me, but I was stronger than him. I’d barely stood a chance against him the last time we tangled, but now I had the strength and I knew how to use it.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I growled. Pressing my arm to his chest, I held him against the wall. Jonathan could keep fighting, but he knew he couldn’t win.

  “I could ask you the same thing.” He glared down at me, his eyes as cold and emotionless as ever.

  “Jane was my best friend! And you killed her!” I shouted, and I kneed him in the groin. He grimaced, but only for a second.

  “I didn’t kill her! She belonged to me, and I want to find out who did kill her!”

  Jonathan shouted back, and his breath smelled of rotting meat. He’d eaten recently, but smelling it on him was disgusting. Everything about him made me feel gross, and the blood in my veins burned.

  “Liar!” I kneed him again, harder this time, and his face twisted for a moment.

  “I’m not lying! Why would I kill Jane? She tasted delicious.” Jonathan smiled at me, and it took all my restraint to rip out his throat.

  “You hated her. You used her, and you treated her like meat. Why would you be loitering outside her apartment unless you killed her?”

  “For the same reason you are,” he said. “Somebody stole her from me, and I want to find out who it is. Nobody takes anything from me. You know that.”

  I eyed him up, deciding whether or not he was telling the truth. He was the sort of bastard that would kill Jane, but return to the scene of the crime to get his jollies on remembering killing her. But even if he got some thrill off it, what good would standing outside her window do?

  Unless he was telling the truth. He didn’t like being stolen from, I knew that much. If he wanted revenge, he had to find out who the killer was, and I’d ended up here because I was running out of places to look.

  “You better not be lying to me,” I warned him, pressing my arm harder to his chest.

  “I’ll rip out your heart with my bare hands.” His dark eyes searched mine, and he saw I was telling the truth, so he nodded.

  “I’m not lying.”

  “So what do you know?” I asked.

  “You don’t need to pin me here. I’m not running, and you could catch me if I did,” he smirked.

  Reluctantly, I dropped my arm and took a step back from him. Whether he killed Jane or not, I still didn’t like him. He straightened out his clothes and cocked his head at me.

  “How did you get so strong?” Jonathan asked.

  “Practice.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “But you shouldn’t be stronger than me, not yet. You’re still a baby.” He narrowed his eyes, trying to get a read on me, and I didn’t like it. “There’s something… different about you.”

  “Yeah, well, we’re not here to talk about me,” I snapped. “What do you know about Jane?”

  “Not that much.” He shook his head. “Not anything at all, really. She was murdered, and when I find out who did it, I’ll kill him.”

  “Do you think it was a vampire?” I asked.

  “Doubtful. We conform to human rules.” His voice dripped with venom when he said the word human. “We don’t like to draw attention to ourselves more than need be.” He pointed over to the streetlight. “On the subject of which, weren’t you worried that you’re theatrics would catch some attention?”

  “It’s dark and cold. Everyone’s inside.” I glanced around after he said it, realizing he had a point. I’d been lucky that nobody had seen me jumping out of a five-story window and landing unscathed.

  “Yes, god forbid a human realize what we are,” Jonathan said sardonically. “Then we’d have to answer to their ‘higher’ authority.”

  “Yeah, whatever.” I ran a hand through my hair and ignored his tirade. “I’m around the clubs a lot, and I’m keeping my eye on you. If you find out anything about Jane, you better tell me.”

  “Of course,” he smiled, and I’m not sure if I believed that either.

  I heard Bobby panting behind me, his heart pounding like mad, but I didn’t turn around until Jonathan was long gone. I didn’t want to take my eyes off him.

  “Who was that?” Bobby asked, working to catch his breath.

  “That’s Jonathan. You remember? He used to ‘date’ Jane, and he tried to kill you,” I said.

  “Oh yeah.” Bobby rubbed at his side and nodded. “I just never got a really good look at him.”

  “Well, now, you have,” I said and turned to walk back towards the car.

  “What was he doing here?” Bobby asked.

  “He says he’s doing the same thing we are, but I don’t know,” I shook my head. “I’m not sure if I can believe anything he says.”

  “Why didn’t you just kill him then?”

  “Because.” I stopped and looked at Bobby. “I don’t know if he did it. And even though he’s a bastard, I’m not gonna kill him if I’m not sure. I don’t want innocent blood on my hands, even if it’s a vampire’s.”

  “I understand,” Bobby said, and we started walking again.

  “What did you tell Jane’s parents when you left?” I asked.

  “Nothing. They were too busy yelling to notice me, so I just ran out the front door. And then I ran all the way down here, and I couldn’t find you for a minute.” He took a deep breath. “That’s why I’m so short of breath.”

  “We should hurry home before Jack and Milo realize we’re gone,” I said. “Then we’ll both be in deep shit.”

  Neither of us said much on the car ride home. I think Bobby was still trying to catch his breath, and I told him he needed to start training with me if he wanted to keep going out like this. I didn’t want him getting hurt or killed.

  The rest of the time, I was lost in thought. Jane knew her killer. But that didn’t mean that much. She’d been running around with all sorts of vampires, and while Jonathan had been her main squeeze, that didn’t mean she didn’t know other vampires. And if she relapsed and wanted to get bitten again, she would’ve been desperate to get in contact with anyone.

  Or maybe it was something else entirely. Maybe it wasn’t even a vampire, like Jonathan said. A human is just as capable of murder.

  “Have you decided if you believe Jonathan yet?” Bobby asked as I pulled into the garage at the house.

  “No. I don’t know if I ever will,” I sighed and shut off the car. “I might never know what really happened to her.”

  “We’ll find out who did it,” he reassured me, looking at me seriously. “We can do this.”

  “I hope you’re right.” I got out of the car and noticed the Jetta was in the garage too.

  “Milo’s home from school. What are you gonna tell him we were doing?”

  “What are you gonna tell Jack?” Bobby countered.

  “It’s a crappy day. I picked you up from school, so you didn’t have to take the bus,” I said as we walked to the house. “How does that
sound?”

  “You’ve done it before, so sure,” he shrugged.

  “Good.”

  Bobby was in front of me, and he opened the garage door to walk into the house.

  Jack was home, so he wasn’t worried about deflecting Matilda. Unfortunately, he had a much larger problem waiting for him.

  He’d only made it two steps into the house before Daisy flew at Bobby, knocking him backwards before he could even scream.

  14

  I lunged at Daisy, burying my fingers in soft blond hair and yanking her head back before she could sink her teeth into his neck. She screamed as I lifted her up, but I didn’t care. I wanted to make sure Bobby was safe before dealing with her.

  “Whoa! Alice! Easy!” Jack yelled. He rushed over and took Daisy from me, so I let go of her. She buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing, and he held her to him.

  I stood there in shock as he rubbed her back, comforting her. Milo helped Bobby to his feet, and he didn’t have a scratch on him. Other than scaring the hell out of him, Daisy hadn’t hurt Bobby at all.

  “Is everything okay?” Mae called from another room.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine,” Peter told her, and I looked over, noticing him for the first time. He stood off to the side, watching Jack and Daisy to make sure everything was okay. “How is she?”

  “She’s fine,” Jack said, stroking Daisy’s hair. He tilted his head, trying to get a look at her face. “You’re okay, aren’t you, Daisy?” She nodded, sniffling.

  “Okay. Seriously. What the hell is going on here?” I asked, gaping at them all.

  “What do you mean?” Jack asked, pulling his gaze from Daisy to me. “Peter’s here.” He pointed his thumb back at Peter, who glanced over at me but didn’t let his eyes linger. “Mae and Ezra are talking in the other room. We don’t wanna disturb them.”

  “She almost killed Bobby, and you’re comforting her?” I gestured to Daisy, who only snuggled deeper to him when I shouted. “You were just as against her as I was!”

  “Alice, she can hear,” Jack glared at me.

  “She wasn’t attacking Bobby,” Peter said, almost apologetic. “She was just excited, and you… scared her.”