Then, on the eve of my thirty-fourth birthday, a man came to visit. He offered Tomas and me our freedom. But so much more. He offered us eternity. Suspicious, I refused at first, but then Tomas agreed. The man went into Tomas’s cell, and all I heard was a scuffle, then slurping sounds, then silence. It was all I could do not to faint from fear when our visitor entered my cell.
He’d killed Tomas, I was certain, and so I had nothing else to live for. If not this man, it would be another to take my life, and I no longer had endless conversations with my new friend to keep me from losing my mind entirely. Let death come. Let it be quick.
But he didn’t attack. Instead, he asked me again if I would come with him into forever.
From the next room, I heard Tomas’s voice. It was but a whisper. “Come with me, Otis,” he said.
Though I hesitated, I eventually nodded to our guest and he leaped on me, biting into my neck. The rest is a blur. I passed out, but when I came to, I was in Siberia, and Tomas was at my side.
Fast-forward many, many years, to the day he told me of his plans to flee Elysia for the love of a human. The last thing he said to me was, “This ring is all that I am, Otis. But as it is a part of me, so are you.”
Then he handed me the signet ring . . . and walked out of my life forever.
Please take care of this ring, Vladimir. It belonged to your father, and it meant as much to him—and to me—as I am sure it will to you.
Yours in Eternity,
Otis
Vlad picked the envelope up again and tilted the open end over his cupped palm. Out tumbled a black ring made of stone, with a crest as its insignia. With tears brimming in his eyes, he slipped the small ring onto his pinkie. Despite the fact that he wasn’t sure whether or not his uncle could hear him, Vlad reached out with his mind and said, “ Thank you , Otis. This means more to me than any stupid car.”
Then he doused the candle, closed his eyes, and cried.
10
CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH
IGNATIUS TIGHTENED HIS JAW AS HE WATCHED Tomas’s son step out of the shadows near the high school and make his way down the sidewalk toward his home. He’d lost the boy for several hours, and only half expected he’d broken into the school—for what purpose, he neither knew nor cared. What was important was that he’d found the boy again, and the sky was overcast, protecting him from the rays of the sun as they reflected off the moon.
He moved in behind the boy, licking anxious lips. As he’d done with his last prey, he’d grab him by a handful of hair and drag him into the darkness, taking his time peeling back the boy’s flesh with his blade, making him suffer. It would be exquisite, and he could hardly wait to begin.
With every step, he closed the gap between them. The boy moved along at a casual pace, occasionally glancing to the left or the right, never seeming to think to check behind him. His posture screamed of awkwardness. Ignatius stretched his hand out, his fingers brushing against the boy’s soft black hair.
But as the tresses slipped between his fingers, the clouds shifted, uncovering the moon. Ignatius moved as quickly and silently as he could, flying with vampiric speed, to the safety of a nearby shed. Cursing, he watched out the small window as the boy brushed the back of his head with his palm and looked back in wonderment, as if trying to identify just what or who had touched him. After a nervous pause, he hurried his steps. In a moment, he was out of Ignatius’s line of sight.
Bitter fury boiled within the hunter. Fury that would only be tamed by Vladimir Tod’s suffering.
11
THE PRICE OF A STOLEN MOMENT
EDDIE WAS IN AN UNUSUALLY CHIPPER MOOD as he waved a photograph in front of Vlad’s nose.
Vlad snatched the picture and took a look, bristling at the fact that it had come from Eddie. The image was dark but crisp. Vlad making his way down the sidewalk at night. Behind him by a matter of feet was a man. Vlad shrugged. It was no one he knew, probably some drunk out for a sobering stroll after a night at the town’s only bar. “So?”
Eddie spoke in a singsong voice. “So it looks like I’m not your only shadow.”
Henry slammed his locker door and plucked the photo from Vlad’s hand. He tossed it down the hallway Frisbee-style and glared at Eddie. “Fetch.”
With a scowl, Eddie walked off, stopping only to pluck his beloved picture from the floor.
Henry turned back to Vlad. “Anyway, you were saying?”
Vlad sighed and leaned up against his locker. He clutched his new journal in his hands. It had become his constant companion since his birthday a week and a half before. “Nelly seriously thinks I’m going to have Meredith for dinner.”
Henry shook his head. “ That’s ridiculous.”
Vlad groaned. “I know!”
“Meredith is way too small for dinner. If anything, she’d be lunch, or maybe a big breakfast.”
“I’m serious, Henry. What am I gonna do?”
But suddenly Henry didn’t seem very invested in the conversation. Melissa Hart walked by them, and with every step she took, Henry’s frown deepened. Finally she disappeared into a nearby classroom, and Henry shut his locker, his shoulders sagging, his jovial demeanor subdued. “I don’t know, Vlad. I really don’t.”
Vlad deliberated for a moment whether Henry was answering his question or simply musing about his troubles with Melissa, but he didn’t have long to speculate. Meredith stepped into view at the end of the hall, looking pretty as ever, and, with a wink, she gestured with a bent finger for him to follow her.
With a glance at Henry, he headed down the hall, barely taking the time to breathe. “See ya.”
Meredith opened up the janitor’s closet. Raising an eyebrow, Vlad followed her inside.
It was dark, but Meredith’s hands found his shoulders. “Hi.”
Vlad smiled. “You brought me into a broom closet to say hi?”
“No. I brought you here so I could do this.”
She pressed her soft lips against his, and Vlad felt like he was floating. In a blink, he realized that he was. No more than an inch or two off the ground, but still. He was thankful for the darkness. Bringing himself back down, he kept kissing Meredith until the sound of her heartbeat and her warm proximity became too much to bear. He pulled back, gently but quickly, glad once more for the darkness—and not just because of his fangs. He was also blushing furiously. And his hunger . . . his hunger was crying out, begging to be satiated.
Vlad slowed his breathing, but it hardly helped. Much longer in such close proximity and Meredith would be in very real danger. And the sick thing was that part of Vlad wanted to keep her in the closet with him. Maybe Nelly was right. Maybe he was viewing Meredith as a food source more than a girlfriend.
He shook his head. There had to be a way to protect her, to keep her safe without pushing her away.
First step: Get out of the closet.
He could almost hear Meredith smiling. “ That was nice. Between my dad and your aunt, we hardly get any time alone together.”
The door flung open, revealing a rather perturbed-looking Principal Snelgrove. “I certainly hope it was, Ms. Brookstone. Because it may be your last.”
Vlad gulped and snapped his mouth shut, covering his fangs. He and Meredith exchanged startled glances. Meredith looked shocked and embarrassed. Vlad was both of those, but also immensely relieved.
Principal Snelgrove barked two words that made them both jump. “Office! NOW!”
Principal Snelgrove had turned purple by the time they reached his office, and as he paced back and forth behind his desk, his shade of purple deepened. Vlad sank down in his seat, amazed that a person could look so much like an eggplant. Meredith sat in the chair to his right, staring straight ahead, wide-eyed. He doubted she’d ever had the misfortune of ending up in the Chair of Doom—Vlad’s nickname for any chair in the principal’s office that didn’t belong to the principal. He wanted to squeeze her hand, to reassure her in some small way, but he was almost certain that Snelgrov
e’s skull would split open if he touched Meredith at all.
The purple color lessened as Snelgrove drew a deep breath before speaking. “I would expect this type of behavior from Mr. Tod here. But you, Ms. Brookstone, are one of our best students. And to pull a stunt like this . . . I must say, I’m very disappointed. You should be careful of the kind of company you keep, Ms. Brookstone. It may lead you down a road that it would be unwise to follow.”
Vlad resisted rolling his eyes, but it wasn’t easy.
Snelgrove clasped his hands behind his back and twitched his nose—all the rat was missing were whiskers. “I should suspend you both.”
Vlad stiffened in his seat. That was the last thing he needed. But he wouldn’t have to fret about it for long, because Nelly was going to murder him. If anyone could prove that the Pravus could be killed, it was an angry guardian who found out he’d been suspended for making out in a broom closet at school instead of learning about the joys of worm dissection. He sank down in his seat and silently hoped for a miracle.
“Detention. Both of you. That much is obvious and warranted. Thank your lucky stars I’m such a kind and forgiving individual.” Snelgrove slanted his little mouse eyes. “I’ll be calling your parents, Ms. Brookstone, absolutely. And Mr. Tod, you can bet your bottom dollar that your guardian and I will discuss this situation at length.”
Vlad wasn’t aware that he had a bottom dollar, or even a top dollar for that matter, but he did know that he’d like to be cremated, if at all possible, once Nelly heard from Snelgrove. It seemed like a nice blending of human and vampire funerary traditions.
Snelgrove seemed to be waiting for them to speak, but neither did. Vlad mused that he’d like Henry to give his eulogy.
“Ms. Brookstone, you’ll have detention this Tuesday and Thursday for two hours after school. Mr. Tod, your detention will begin today after school, and continue on Wednesday.” Snelgrove snorted before waving them away. “And I do not want to see a repeat of this type of behavior in the future. Am I clear?”
Meredith mumbled, “Yes, sir.”
Vlad simply held the door open for her in silence. He wasn’t about to give ol’ rat face the satisfaction of a reply.
Plus, he couldn’t exactly focus on there actually being a future anyway, what with his imminent demise on the horizon.
The remainder of the school day passed by in a haze of homework assignments, headaches, and an assortment of mind-numbing quizzes—all of which seemed to be pop quizzes which were pretty much like the regular quizzes except that when they were given, they made your eyeballs pop out of your head and explode. By the time the final bell had rung, Vlad had mentally prepared his last will and testament. He decided to bequeath Henry his video games. And, if she survived her own set of parental wrath, he’d leave Meredith his favorite hoodie and every last one of his books.
Speaking of Meredith . . .
Vlad looked up and down the hall but didn’t see her anywhere. Maybe her parents had picked her up early. Or maybe she was avoiding him, for fear of more detention-inducing kisses. Or not. Vlad highly doubted he was that irresistible.
He dropped his physical science book inside his locker and sighed before grabbing his backpack and slipping his homework inside. When he closed the door, he nodded to Henry, who’d been high-fiving him since he’d heard about his and Meredith’s closet adventures. Vlad’s hand was practically slapped raw, and he blushed every time Henry did it. Whoever had invented the Neanderthal celebration of the high five needed to be dragged out into the street and slapped to death by someone with elephantitis of the hand.
Okay. That might be a bit extreme. But Vlad wasn’t exactly feeling celebratory at the moment.
He slunk down the hall through the thinning crowd to the library, opened the double doors, and went inside. He stopped the passing librarian and said, “Excuse me. I’m not sure I’m in the right place. I’m here for detention.”
The librarian, Mrs. Moppet, smiled warmly and pointed to a table near the computer section. “Right over there. It looks like you’ll have company today.”
“ Thank you.” Vlad moved to the table and stopped in his tracks before dropping his backpack on the table. He sighed, low and loud, resisting the urge to swear really loudly at the predicament he was in. Not the thing with Meredith or how Nelly was going to kill him when he got home. Oh no. What had Vlad’s stomach in knots was . . . his company.
Eddie Poe threw him a glance, and Vlad would have guessed that Eddie was just as displeased about sharing a detention if it wasn’t for the eager glint in Eddie’s eyes.
The two sat in stony silence until Mrs. Moppet joined them a few minutes later. “Well, boys, it looks like it’s just the three of us today. Principal Snelgrove had an afternoon appointment that couldn’t be missed.”
Vlad imagined that that appointment included a stop at the cheese store, but he kept his humor to himself, allowing only a small smirk to crack his features.
Mrs. Moppet said, “I trust you boys can keep it down to a dull roar over here while I finish cataloging some new books? You can do homework or study, if you’d like. I’m not really sure what the principal had in mind.”
As she walked away, Vlad and Eddie exchanged bewildered glances. Eddie looked just as surprised as Vlad felt. Present company excluded, this looked to be the most pleasant detention ever experienced by mankind. Further proof that librarians should run the world—or at least be in charge of detention at Bathory High.
Vlad pulled his new leather notebook from his backpack and began a new journal entry—nothing even remotely vampiric, on the chance Eddie caught a glimpse. Instead, he wrote about him and Meredith, and just how much he’d enjoyed their stolen moment. He left out his urge to bite her and made a mental note to write that in later, in private.
The entire time, he could feel Eddie’s eyes on him.
Vlad shot Eddie a look of irritation. “Don’t you have something better to do than stare at me?”
To his immense surprise, the corners of Eddie’s mouth rose in a smirk. “I was just thinking . . . it’s pretty amazing how well you blend in with humans.”
Vlad’s stomach sank. His fingers fumbled over the pen he was holding and it tumbled to the ground, but he didn’t bend over to retrieve it. He held Eddie’s gaze in fearful surprise. Maybe it was stupid, but he had really thought Eddie would have let go of that whole Vlad-is-a-monster thing by now.
He parted his lips to offer up his usual protest, but Eddie shook his head with an air of confidence that made Vlad squirm. “No need to deny it, Vlad. I’m quite convinced that you’re not human. And after some long nights of research and watching you . . . I think I know what you are.”
Vlad’s heartbeat picked up its pace, and he had to struggle to calm his panicked breathing. “Why are you doing this, Eddie? You used to be an okay guy. But now . . . you’re just obnoxious.”
Eddie tightened his jaw. “I wasn’t an okay guy. I was a loser. But I’m done being a loser, Vlad. And if you get hurt on my way to becoming a winner . . . well, that can’t be helped.”
Vlad shook his head. “You’re not a loser, Eddie. You’re not what people say you are. You’re whatever you make yourself out to be.”
“I wish that were true. But it’s not.” Eddie shook his head sadly. Eventually the corner of his lips rose in a small smile. “Luckily, I’ve found the road to success. It’s paved with your secrets.”
Vlad stuffed his notebook inside his backpack angrily. “You’d better back off, Eddie. I’m getting really tired of all of your bizarre theories.”
Eddie chuckled. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. Your pale skin, the way you always bring your lunch to school . . .”
Vlad’s heart was racing in panic. Eddie knew. How could he know? Somewhere, somehow Vlad had royally screwed up, and now this determined little weasel knew what he was. He stood up and threw his bag over his shoulder in a frightened huff. He was leaving detention early, and he’d happily deal with
the consequences, no matter what Nelly or Snelgrove or anybody else had to say about it.
Eddie leaned back in his seat, arms crossing his chest, not so much as a thread of doubt weaving through his soft-spoken words. “You’re a vampire, Vladimir Tod. And I’m going to expose you to the world.”
Vlad didn’t think. He reacted with all the anger, hurt, and shaking fear that was coursing through his veins and pushed into Eddie’s mind, shoving the boy back as far as he could. He slipped out just in time to watch Eddie tilt back in his chair and hit the floor, whacking his head against wood. Eddie yelped. Vlad all but ran out the door.
As he pushed open the front door of the school, he noticed that his hands were trembling. He wasn’t sure what he was more afraid of—that Eddie knew that he was a vampire or that he’d wanted to hurt Eddie far worse than he had.
He brushed the threat of tears from his eyes, shoved his still-shaking hands into his pockets, and headed for home.
12
A DRUDGE’S LOYALTY
HENRY DROPPED HIS VOICE to a horrified, but confused, whisper. “A knife? Or a dagger?”
They’d been talking the entire walk to school about Vlad’s recent rash of nightmares. Doing so had somehow brought Henry out of his weird shell, something that Vlad was enormously grateful for. Maybe Henry had been flaking out lately, but when Vlad needed him, his drudge was there. Vlad had told him all about Eddie’s accusations last week, and Henry had been absolutely sympathetic. Things seemed completely back to normal.
Vlad wrinkled his forehead in uncertainty. “What’s the difference?”
Henry shrugged, as if it were obvious. “One’s for eating; one’s for stabbing.”
“I don’t . . . know. It was a blade, double-edged with a cylindrical handle. I think it was ivory or bone or something.” The image of the weapon glinting in the candle’s low light flitted through Vlad’s imagination, sending a shiver down his spine.