Chapter Ten
An hour later, Aradia crunched her empty Fanta can in frustration and stomped off toward the food table. Half of it was stocked with chips, pretzels, and near-empty pizza boxes. The other half of the table was covered in puke. Somebody had thoughtfully removed whatever food had been stationed on that side.
Aradia grimaced as she reached into a bowl of Doritos, and prayed that they’d had been spared from the partygoer's drunken rampage. After stuffing a handful into her mouth, she chewed thoughtfully and cast her eyes around the room.
Jayce’s house was impressive. It was large and well-decorated. Aradia wondered if his dad had handled the décor, or maybe they’d hired a professional decorator. She also wondered whether his mom was in the picture at all. She’d done some sleuthing, but couldn’t find anything too telling. All the artwork was of elephants or abstract shapes, not family portraits, and she didn’t dare invade the master bedroom to check the closets. That was mostly out of respect for Jayce’s family’s privacy, but also because the bedrooms seemed to be in pretty much constant use.
Aradia glimpsed the tiki bar by the pool. Ah, well, when in Rome... she thought, and strolled out toward it.
A group of guys and girls, most of whom she did not recognize, was hanging by the bar. One was pouring several rum and pineapple juice cocktails, mostly rum with little more than a splash of pineapple. Before Aradia had a chance to speak, the boy mixing drinks thrust one into her hands. She noticed the guys were all drinking canned beer, and suddenly the extra-high alcohol content in the fruity mixed drinks made sense to her.
A loud cry of elation seized her attention. She turned and saw five drunken football players trying to tackle one another into the pool. One of them suddenly broke away from the others, doubled up, and started heaving his stomach into the bushes.
Aradia stared at the chilly drink in her hand, then at the drunk dorks on parade, then back at the drink.
"Forget this. If I’m going make a fool of myself, I’ll go on a reality show where at least I get paid."
"Wise choice," a lightly accented voice chirped behind her.
Aradia spun around to find Roy smiling at her.
"Roy, hey!" Aradia cried out happily. "How are you? What are you doing here?"
Roy shrugged and said, "Trying to have a good time."
Aradia laughed and asked, "How’s that going for you?"
Roy cocked his head to the side, grinning sheepishly.
"Let’s say I’m hoping it will turn around for me. I’m at a party that my brothers dragged me to, where I don't know anybody. Instead of making out with a hot girl like most guys here, I’m standing outside bothering a girl who probably hates me."
"Say what?" Aradia's eyes flew open in surprise.
"I know, pathetic, isn't it?" Roy chuckled. Aradia couldn’t tell if this was some play he was making on her, or if he was really that down on himself. Maybe somewhere in between.
Aradia shook her head and said, "No, what I meant was, why do you think I hate you?"
"You were polite and all at the track, but the next day you didn’t want to have lunch with me."
"Roy," Aradia argued, "I was sitting with my friends."
"Friends," Roy scoffed. "Sure.”
“I know you’re thinking something. Go ahead and say it.”
“If you didn’t want to sit with me, you could have just said it. That crowd, they are so not your friends. They are geeks, they are…” Roy trailed off when he caught the look Aradia was shooting him. “I’m not helping myself here any, am I?"
"Roy," Aradia said sternly, "I do not say bad things about your friends, so please don’t say bad things about mine. The guys are smart and sweet. They’re a little icky, at times, I’ll admit that, and I’m already sick of Felix telling me about all the different colored Lantern Corps, but they’re good people. And Rhonda’s cool! She’s a bit nerdy, but so am I. They’re wonderful people and unlike you, they don’t judge others so superficially. I mean, that’s what is wrong with America. You can’t just–"
“Alright! Alright!” said Roy, holding up his hands as if admitting defeat. “Chill, Oprah Winfrey! Chill!”
Aradia grinned and tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear. Eventually, she shrugged and asked him, “Look, let's just start over, okay?”
“Only if that means you forgive me for being kind of a jerk,” Roy said as he smiled in response.
“Okay, so who is that?” Aradia asked.
Roy squinted in the direction she was pointing. “That’s Amber O’Shay. She’s part of the Salem High marching band. She’s also Crystal’s best friend since pre-school.”
After a bit of chit chat, Roy had started giving Aradia the lay of the land on who was at the party.
“And who’s Crystal?”
“Jayce’s girlfriend. They’ve been together for a while now.”
Aradia nodded, trying to learn as many of the personalities as she could as quickly as she could. A tall kid with dull red hair walked past them precariously carrying five beers. Aradia asked, “Who was that?”
“Oh, that was Connaer.”
“Irish?”
“Scottish. Family moved to America about six years ago, I think. Cool accents. Connaer’s a senior. He’s been trying to set up a Salem male derby league since his freshman year. So far, it’s just him. He keeps trying though.”
“Gotta give him an A for effort, I suppose. What about that guy?” she asked, pointing at another student.
Roy gulped back the last of his soda, and crushed the can in his hand. “That is Dylan Warner. He’s the captain of the track team and Amber’s new boyfriend.”
“Everybody seems to have a boyfriend,” Aradia grumbled.
Roy shifted his gaze awkwardly towards the pool.
Aradia shrugged. “Oh well. If they are happy, then I guess I’m happy. However,” she leaned in and whispered into Roy’s ear, “somebody better tell him that the hickey on his neck is pretty conspicuous.”
“What do you...” Roy then narrowed his eyes and noticed the purplish bruise shining on the boy’s neck.
“I suppose it should be no surprise to me that the girl has got a great grip with her teeth. Being part of a marching band, she must get plenty of practice biting long hard objects.”
Roy chortled loudly while Aradia rushed on, “But somebody better remind her that giving your boyfriend a hickey is a completely different experience than playing the French horn.”
Roy’s laughter grew even louder and seemed to cut clear across the entire backyard. Indeed, it was so obnoxious that a couple people even turned to stare at them. Aradia always enjoyed it when people laughed at her jokes, but not when that laughter earned her annoyed stares. Eager to distract Roy and his loud laughter, she pointed out another random person. “Who is he?”
Almost instantly, Roy's laughter died away. “That’s Tad Levy.”
“What’s so serious about Tad Levy?”
Roy explained, “Nothing, really. It’s just that he works at Stanley Hardware. Or he worked there, I guess, for the murder victim.”
Aradia’s eyes widened. “Murder victim... you don’t mean...?”
“The Vampire Murder,” Roy finished for her. “Yeah.”
“Hmm,” Aradia replied.
“Hey, you hungry?” Roy asked. He turned and made for the kitchen. Aradia hurried to catch up with him.
“You know, everybody in Salem has been talking about it,” Roy said grimly as he grabbed a Granny Smith from a bowl and began to chomp on it. “The Vampire Murder.”
“Yeah,” Aradia replied, pouring herself a glass of water. “You know, what I find weird is that everyone is talking about it to each other, but no one is willing to talk to the authorities.”
“It’s kind of obvious why,” Roy swallowed the chunk of apple he’d been chewing.
“Oh? Why’s that,” Aradia asked.
“Well, according to the victim’s business partner, I think his name is Derec
k Carringock or Dereck Carrot Top or something like that–”
“Caradoc. Dereck Caradoc,” Aradia replied. She’d also seen him on the news.
“Well, he was on TV saying the business was failing and Mr. Stanley was deeply in debt. And Tad,” he pointed at Tad Levy, who was now grinding on the dance floor, “told me once that he suspected Mr. Stanley was involved in something shady.”
Aradia wasn’t quite sold on this explanation.
“So, naturally, if someone talks, then dirty secrets come out and people start to lose money. No one wants to do that, am I right?”
Aradia raised an eyebrow. “So you think his murder had something to do with his business.”
“That’s my guess,” Roy admitted with a shrug.
“Then why hasn’t anyone said so?” Aradia pointed out. “People have been murdered for things like that before, and in more bizarre ways. Yet no one here in Salem has been willing to say anything to the police. Surely, it can't be just because they want to avoid losing money.”
Roy didn’t answer her. He just looked away, trying to avoid her interrogative stare. Attempting to look casual, he tossed his apple core into the open trash can set in the center of the kitchen. He knows more than he’s letting on. Something weird is going on here, Aradia thought as she peered at the boy. Something really weird.
The two quickly changed the subject after that, and ended up hanging out together in the kitchen for a while. Even in that room, the music was loud, so Aradia imagined it must have been positively blaring in the living room where her fellow students were dancing.
Finishing her water, she turned to place the glass in the sink and nearly bumped right into Dax.
“Oh, hi,” Aradia said, obviously flustered.
“Hello,” Dax responded.
He only spoke a single word, but his voice was deep and bold and grabbed hold of Aradia as if she were hypnotized. She knew from class that he spoke with a British accent, but he sounded entirely different now that his amazing voice was directed at her.
Aradia stared up at him, absorbed by his presence. He looked as handsome as Aradia had ever seen him. He wore a dark gray shirt with three buttons at the collar and a black leather jacket over it, dark blue jeans, and low, black boots. Even in the dimly lit kitchen, his wavy hair shone like gold.
With his golden hair and pale skin, he looks just like an angel, Aradia thought.
Aradia was taken from her reverie by the arrival of a newcomer. Another boy, this one with a black crew cut and a dark goatee, appeared next to Dax.
He draped his arm on the object of Aradia's affection and asked, "Hey Dac, what’s up?"
Dax responded, "Oh, nothing. I was just talking to statue girl here."
Aradia's time on cloud nine seemed to be up.
Her expression hardened and she snapped, "What do you mean by ‘statue girl’?"
Roy hung back for the moment, but stayed near.
"When I noticed you staring at me, my first inclination was ‘stalker girl.’ I thought 'statue girl' seemed a bit more pleasant."
"Staring? No way. I’m not the one who’s been staring," Aradia protested.
"Well," Dax explained, "since day one in Algebra you have done nothing but stare at me. It’s okay. Really, I could do far worse as stalkers go. I felt I owed you a deservedly unique moniker."
"My name is Aradia," she said defensively.
"That’s a lot prettier than statue girl," Dax admitted. Aradia hoped that her cheeks were already flushed enough from anger that her blushing was not too obvious. Dax took a step to his side and the new arrival took his arm off his shoulders. "Xan, meet Aradia, the statue, or stalker girl, take your pick. Aradia, this is my dear brother Xan."
Aradia practically saw red. She was frustrated that again she had found a complete jerk so attractive.
Roy stepped up to Aradia’s side, and she was glad to have a comforting person involved. Like a dog sensing a predator, his eyes narrowed as he shot the brothers a venomous glare. Dax and Xan responded in kind.
They way Roy was tensed, she suspected he was either barely holding himself back or about to pounce. She was still angered by Dax’s comment, but definitely didn’t want a fight to break out, especially over her. Aradia shouted, feigning excitement, "Oh, I love this song! C'mon Roy, let's go dance."
She grabbed Roy's hand and dragged him toward Jayce's living room turned dance floor.
Xan chuckled and said, "I think she likes you."
Dax shifted his shoulders slightly in a shrug and thoughtfully repeated, "I could do worse."
“Could?” Xan asked playfully.
Dax grinned his acknowledgement at having been outplayed. “Have, Xan. I have.”
Dax broke off the conversation and turned away from his brother, but began to wish he’d maintained the verbal sparring when his gaze quickly shifted back to Aradia. She had succeeded in pulling Roy onto the dance floor. Dax fought to keep his fangs retracted.
By now Aradia was hardly even concerned over her staring peers. She felt like they were being more obvious at this point as well, or maybe she’d just gotten better at spotting them. Specifically, the Too Perfectly Freaky people, as Aradia had decided to call them, watched as she and Roy started dancing to the early nineties song “Connected" by the Stereo MC's.
She was dancing with Roy, but she was still thinking of Dax. She turned her head to the left and saw him staring as well, and he definitely made no effort to conceal it. Grinning wickedly, she began to dance more provocatively with Roy. Roy grinned and danced awkwardly along with her, not noticing where she was directing her gaze. She watched with surprising pleasure as Dax mouthed along with the song, “I see through you.” She got closer to Roy, so close that her body rubbed against his. Roy, much to his own dismay, blushed. Aradia threw her head back and laughed.
As they danced, Aradia grew less and less comfortable. Dax was not the only of the too-freaky-perfect people puffing out his chest. Nearly all the freaky boys stiffened and eyed her and Roy, less like kids at a party and more like predators calculating a kill. The girls, too, had steel in their eyes, looking lethal like lionesses defending their babies.
Aradia found the atmosphere growing tense.
Apparently Roy did too. He grabbed Aradia's hand and said, "Let’s get out of here."
Aradia, however, planted her feet firmly, and despite Roy’s strength, she did not budge.
"After this song," she said.
Roy looked back at her and grinned sheepishly.
They did not leave after that song. Eventually it was just the two of them on the dance floor slow dancing to “Smooth Operator” by Sade. Roy's head was tilted down, and his forehead pressed against Aradia's.
"So are you having a good time?" Roy finally asked her.
"Since I started hanging with you? Yeah," said Aradia, grinning broadly.
Roy smiled back in response.
Dax stood statuesque at the entryway to the kitchen. He had not moved from the spot since Roy and Aradia started dancing, and he had not for a moment diverted his gaze.
Xan was across the room flirting with Jayce's girlfriend. He kept most of his attention focused on his flirting tactics, but he was cognizant enough of his surroundings to note his brother’s unusual behavior. Xan was perfectly perplexed by why Dax was acting so strangely.
Aradia was something exotic, that much was obvious; she was therefore interesting. She was not, however, to Xan, fascinating. Yet, Xan knew his brother well enough to know that Dax tended to notice details which others might miss. Xan decided that as long as Dax was focused on Aradia, he’d remain focused on his brother.