Chapter 106: Fall of Blood
Why did I bother going to school that Monday morning? Call it habit, sucker for punishment, whatever you want, but up I was, showered even, and off I went.
Yeah, probably one of the dumbest moves I've ever made. Ever.
No one waited for me in the nook by the front door. Big surprise. And not a soul stood by my locker to say they were sorry, either. Still not a shocker. What was the worst? How they hovered in their new favorite spot, my former friends, Benjamin lording over them with that sickening smile of his.
I had to walk past them to go to Chemistry. Someone snickered. My memories of bullying at pretty much every school I'd ever attended came rushing back and, like the coward I hadn't been in a long time, I ran.
Slumped in my seat, I struggled with tears. I'd only imagined that snicker. I was sure of it. They knew how much it hurt, would never, ever bully me. They just wouldn't.
Right. Like I knew them at all anymore.
My test was a total fail. I think Mr. Prusse actually handed it back with only two fingers, letting it drop to my desk with a sullen smack. One look at the bright red 'F' at the top was all I needed.
Yup. Great day ahead. Guaranteed. After all, it couldn't get much worse, right?
Sometimes I thought I would never learn.
I ran into Brad outside class. Finally, a friendly face. But when his green eyes met mine they were so full of hurt I was speechless. He must have been too because he didn't say a word to me, just walked away.
Not even my magically attached ex-boyfriend was into me today.
I was almost to English when a hand snaked out and grabbed my arm, pulling me through the crowd. I let out a squeak of surprise, coming face to face with Blood.
He looked bad and smelled worse. Like, no shower for days, I guessed. His thick black hair hung in greasy strands around his face, and for the first time ever I noticed he had roots. Who would have guessed the Goth King of Tranquility High was a dirty blond?
Blood hadn't even bothered to refresh his makeup. It caked in patches around his eyes and mouth, large chunks flaking away as his whole face scrunching in sadness.
"Syd, dude," he said, deep voice shaking, "you have to help me bring her back."
My heart shattered for him in that moment. He suffered, clearly suffered. I wished there was something I could do to ease his misery, but I was the last person he needed to turn to for help.
"They're not talking to me," I said, surprised by the level of bitterness in my voice. "Pain least of all. Sorry, Mia." I rolled my eyes. It felt good to vent to someone who understood.
But Blood was too wrapped up in his own stuff to be of much emotional use to me.
"I can't stand it," he whispered. "I want to kill that guy, you know? End him." Blood's right fist met his left palm with a meaty smack and ground around like it was Benjamin's face.
This was very bad. The last thing Blood needed right now was a suspension for fighting. But I had nothing to offer to hold him back. I barely had the focus to talk myself down when I saw the smiling weasel.
Layered on top of Meira and Sebastian being missing and the blood clan leader's nasty brother in the mix and I had too much of my own stuff to handle to help him even a little.
The bell rang. Blood groaned like the sound sealed his doom and lurched away. It took me a minute to pull it together after he left, my emotions stirred to the surface so I had to turn toward the wall and do my best to dab at my tears with the sleeve of my sweater.
Which meant I was late. And Ms. Fiat quite happily, in her horrid way, lavished me with detention because of it.
I so hated that woman.
Naturally, she insisted I stay after school that very day to serve my sentence. Which meant I spent an hour and a half after everyone else left cleaning what seemed like every single chalkboard eraser in the entire school.
By the time I dragged myself home I was covered in white powder and full of whininess.
Did I find any comfort in my own home? That would be too good to be true. Instead I was met with a hastily written letter on a sheet of paper obviously torn out of something that smelled like, well, paper.
Have a meeting. Took your grandmother.
Mom
As abrupt as the rest of my life.
Something warm rubbed against my legs. I couldn't help it. I dropped my book bag and scooped Sassy up into my arms, pressing my face into his warm fur, welcoming the deep and vibrating sound of his purr.
"Hungry?" I looked up and met his amber eyes.
"I could eat." He seemed better. Less angsty and more himself.
We shared a quiet dinner of tuna salad. I even let him pick off my plate when he was done with his.
For some reason, I just didn't have much of an appetite.
Sassy sighed at last and started cleaning his whiskers. I rested my elbows on the table and my chin on my hands and just watched him. There was a hypnotic rhythm to it, the slow swipe of his pink tongue over his paw, then the scrubbing circle he made against his cheek. I was so lost in the peacefulness of the motion, I actually jumped when he spoke.
"I hate not being able to do anything." Sassy dropped his paw and sighed. "This is the first time I've ever felt so useless."
I stroked his head, scratching his ear. He leaned into it with a rumble of contentment.
"I'm sure that's not true," I said.
He shook himself, tail twitching. "You're right," he said. "There was one other time. A long time ago." His eyes narrowed as he thought about it.
"What happened?" Anything to distract me from what was going on. And I realized Sassy rarely spoke of the past. This was a prime opportunity.
"I'd only been with your family a short time," he said. "About twenty years or so."
That was a short time?
"One of your ancestors," he said, and hesitated. His tail twitched then thumped once, twice, three times against the table. "You remind me of her."
I wasn't sure that was a good thing.
"What was her name?" I wracked my brain for family history.
"Auburdeen," he said. Stopped again. "It doesn't matter."
I was about to prod him for more information when my demon spoke up.
Who cares about the past, she said. I want to know what we're doing to save Meira.
Sassy nodded. Had he heard her? Or did I speak aloud? It had better been the former or she was breaking the rules already.
You're right, Sassy said right to her in my head, so I knew she kept her end of the bargain. So far. But she felt very angry and aggressive so I knew our little truce wouldn't last much longer. But there is nothing we can do.
Have you tried? Okay, very weird to have a conversation going on in my mind I didn't seem to be a part of. Time to change that.
"Mom said she did, through Dad." I couldn't bear to add my inner voice to the mess.
True. My demon flexed and stretched against me. But we haven't.
"Yes we did," I said, feeling very offended. "The night she went missing."
But not since. Not really. It came out like an accusation. If she hadn't been inside me I would have smacked her.
Maybe you'd like to stop fighting about it and try? Good old Sassy and his sense of snark.
I grumbled while my demon snarled and we finally connected enough to reach out for Meira. In my heart I knew it was useless, but for a moment a spark of hope grew inside me. Who knew what we would find? Sure, Dad failed, but maybe my sister's circumstances changed since then. And we were sisters, after all. I always thought there was a connection between us, beyond our shared parents.
With a shallow, held breath I reached out to look for Meira.
And encountered the touch of a vampire. I almost flinched away. Not because it was a vampire, per se. But because the feeling of him was so familiar, and yet all kinds of wrong.
The worst part? He waited for me in my back yard.
***
