‘You were the one who made us sing karaoke!’ she cried. She held her stomach from laughing so hard.
I tried to concentrate on the conversation but I wondered if Claudia was still interested in portraits as she had been before. In this world, Tony and the Three Piece were friends, as they had not been before.
Fire had said that she didn’t think I should tell anyone about my past, but I would do what I had to do. Besides, I didn’t want people getting involved accidentally. They might get hurt. The last time I purposely left Tony out of my life it got him killed.
Tony burped loudly and scooped more turkey chilli into his mouth.
‘Gross!’ Kate and Claudia said in unison.
My ally would be a messy Japanese artist who had died for me once a long time ago. But this time I would not let him die. This time I would tell him the truth straight off so he did not have to seek it out behind my back.
I needed Tony on my side.
CHAPTER 5
That night, an hour after curfew, I tucked the ruby-hilted dagger into my belt and snuck out the window in the laundry room at the end of the corridor. I walked the length of Turner Building to Quartz, the boys’ dorm. My intention was first to honour Vicken out on the beach with a simple ritual and then knock on Tony’s window. When I turned the corner to head down to the beach, Tony was standing there with a telescope pointed at the sky.
Just as I took a step, a security guard approached him. I pressed my back against the brick wall of the building to stay in the shadows. The guard looked through Tony’s telescope and patted him on the shoulder before leaving.
I checked the perimeter again. When there was no sign of the guard, I stepped out and on to the green. I made sure to step loudly so as not to startle Tony.
‘Oh, hey there, rule-breaker,’ he said. ‘You just missed Lenny the night guard. I bet he would have loved to see you. You actually would have given him something to do.’
‘It’s after curfew for you too,’ I replied. I pointed at the sky; I didn’t need the telescope. ‘That’s Ursa Major,’ I said.
He dug in his pocket. ‘I know that already. I’m studying the stars. I have special approval.’
He held out a curfew extension form stating that Tony Sasaki could be out until midnight.
He adjusted the telescope again. ‘You saw my celestial themes. I can’t get the whites right.’
‘They looked good to me.’
He peered into the telescope’s viewfinder. ‘Usually the closer I am to the bay, the brighter the stars,’ he said. ‘The ocean reflects them, gives the white a salty kind of glow. Damn lampposts and emergency call boxes drown out the light. Hey! Want to walk to town beach?’ he suggested. ‘I need a road buddy. The bay isn’t doing the night sky justice tonight.’
I raised my eyebrows at his nerve. ‘I don’t think your pass will work there.’ He laughed loudly, throwing his head back. Man, I had missed that.
‘You’re funny,’ he said.
‘I try,’ I replied, but I was the opposite of funny.
Security cameras had been installed on campus since Justin’s disappearance from Wickham. Tony pointed them out to me.
Town beach was an absolute no for me anyway. It was way too open. Anyone could attack me there. If I wanted to have a private conversation with Tony, it would have to be right here on campus where there were people.
‘Be a rebel,’ Tony said, sensing my hesitation. ‘If I get this right it will kill Claudia in studio. I’d give anything to see her stupid face when Professor Joseph says I’m a visionary. She thinks Claudia’s self-portraits are visionary. I’m the one with the talent, Lenah. Me.’
His enthusiasm was contagious and I was desperate for him to like me as he had once before.
‘You want to crush poor Claudia Hawthorne?’ I asked.
He dropped his chin to his chest. ‘She’s just so freakin’ good.’
I could speak to Tony on Main Street, and if we went in the direction of town, the restaurants and pub might still be open. Cars drove by often enough. Tony could run back on to campus, or away from me – whatever worked for him, depending on his reaction to the truth. You know, when I told him that I was once a Vampire Queen and killed thousands.
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘Take me off campus and get me expelled.’
‘Perfect, Len!’
I gasped, but tried not to seem too excited. Tony had called me by my nickname. I loved it and hoped he would use it all the time as he once had.
The quickest way off campus was to walk parallel to the greenhouse and creep through a short stretch of woods to Main Street. I followed behind Tony though I hesitated at the end of Turner and checked the shadows for anyone lurking.
‘What?’ Tony said. ‘Oh . . .’ He nodded. ‘I see what’s happening here.’ He kept nodding like he held all the secrets in the universe and I was the dumbest human alive. ‘Is this your first time sneaking off campus?’
‘Um . . .’
Not the most brilliant of answers, I admit. I stalled and continued searching the woods, not for Justin but for someone who might want to impale me with an arrow. Maybe the mystery archer figured I’d never be so foolish as to leave campus. But with Tony in the moonlight smiling at me, there was no way I could say no to him.
‘So is it?’ he asked again. ‘Is it your first time going AWOL? Did you go to a boarding school before this? Claudia said she heard a rumour you went to a British—’
‘This is my first boarding school,’ I said stopping him before he used more acronyms and expressions I didn’t understand. ‘Don’t need to get kicked out my first week.’
‘Oh, you won’t. We get caught all the time. It’s part of the unofficial Wickham initiation.’
We snuck over the path, kept our backs to the greenhouse and hesitated at the end of the building. The Main Street lamps filtered a pearly glow through the full branches of the Wickham woods. We were close to the stone wall that surrounded campus. I touched the dagger tucked in my belt.
A smile lingered on Tony’s mouth as he tiptoed towards the stone wall ahead. I fell behind to cover him, spinning to check if anyone was tailing us, though the woods truly seemed empty and the wind was light. I wished for my vampire sight, which allowed me to see in infinitesimal detail. The edge of the constellation Pegasus peeked through the breaks in the leaves above. Pegasus always showed me the safest way whether I was a vampire or a human.
I climbed over the six-foot wall and dropped on to Main Street next to Tony. We were pretty close to Lovers Bay Cemetery, which was halfway down Main Street. I inhaled the salty ocean air.
‘Congrats! You’re officially a Wickham student. I’d drink a beer with you on the town beach, but all I brought is my pencil.’
‘I hate beer. And actually,’ I said, tucking my hair behind my ears, ‘I came out tonight to talk to you.’
We were about a hundred and fifty feet from the Wickham gates. If we needed to, we could probably make it back to campus without having to climb the wall a second time.
‘Will you chill? If I had thought you would be this nervous, I wouldn’t have taken you off campus. Note to self: Lenah Beaudonte is a crappy road buddy.’
I checked the length of the stone wall for anyone else that might be lurking about.
‘Are you OK?’
‘I need to tell you something.’
‘You need to talk to me?’ Tony said. ‘In the middle of the night? Oh . . .’ He shuffled his feet on the sidewalk. ‘Because I’m with . . . kind of, I mean it’s not official or anything, but I’m with Tracy.’
‘No, you dimwit, I don’t want to date you.’
‘Why the hell not?’
‘Come on, road buddy,’ I said, and led him away from the beach and back towards the Wickham gates. He stopped me by touching my shoulder.
‘Beach is the other way,’ he said.
Damn it. Being close to Wickham was more important than going near that beach. I was just going to have to get straight to
the point. Tony believed in the supernatural. He told me so when we first met. But that was a lifetime ago.
‘So . . . are you ever gonna talk or are you just gonna look like you’re working out a calculus problem?’
I threw him my ‘Tony, you’re an idiot’ look, but he didn’t recognize it. I hadn’t been able to give him that look in so long.
‘All right. Here goes. This might seem weird,’ I said, ‘but do you ever feel that perhaps there’s more to the world? Like ghosts or werewolves?’ I started with the simplest question I could muster.
Tony leaned a hand against the stone wall. ‘Is this because I’m studying the stars? Because I don’t really believe in astrology.’
An unnaturally cool wind rustled the branches above us, shaking some of the leaves to the ground.
As usual, Tony’s hat was on backwards. He must have seen how serious I was because he frowned and said, ‘What do you mean? Ghosts or werewolves? Be specific.’
‘Well, both actually. Perhaps there are, um . . .’ I fished for something viable, a gateway to the conversation I really wanted to have. ‘Ghosts, shape-shifters, vampires, you know, things like that. Supernatural creatures.’
‘Yeah, I guess. I haven’t really thought about it.’
‘But you think it’s possible.’
‘Sure,’ he said, frowning again. ‘Is this really what you wanted to talk about?’
The wind whipped again, icier this time. Oh no. A sudden chill or drop in temperature was usually a sign that very powerful magic was being performed close by. We were in the middle of Lovers Bay Main Street. Down the opposite end, away from the shops and cafe, the beach met a small parking lot.
The wind blew again and a branch snapped. I pulled Tony towards me just in time; the bough fell directly where he had been standing. Wide trees lined each side of Main Street and their great branches made a tunnel of leaves. We would have to stay in the centre of the road. I glanced back at the Lovers Bay pub and the small figures standing outside. I could barely make out their silhouettes.
We were alone.
‘What the hell?’ Tony said, looking up at the tree in disbelief. ‘Good reflexes, Lenah.’
Something moved down near the beach. I squinted. Was it . . . fog? I gasped. I hated being right.
‘What?’ Tony asked.
Liquorice-coloured clouds unfurled over the ground. The clouds slithered with purpose. As they moved, the light from one street lamp was extinguished.
And then another.
Each light clicked off as the cloud crawled over the ground towards Tony and me.
I grabbed the front of Tony’s shirt. ‘Climb over the stone wall,’ I said. ‘Go. Now.’
‘What?’
‘I said, go!’ Tony didn’t budge.
‘What is that?’ he asked, squinting down the dark street. My hand was still gripping his shirt.
‘Run,’ I pulled Tony hard. ‘Run!’ I cried.
The clouds swirled over and over like a wave rolling backwards. It was protecting something, shielding an object at its centre.
That strange black cloud grew even bigger until in seconds it was the size of a modern car. It was ushering someone forward, someone who hovered deep within those midnight fibres of cloud.
‘Yeah . . .’ Tony said. He finally registered just how serious this had become. ‘Yeah, let’s run.’
He grabbed my hand and we ran. We needed to get to people. To crowds.
We only made it a few feet before we had to stop short.
Two male vampires jumped over the stone wall and on to Main Street. They immediately corralled us, blocking our way. Still hand in hand, Tony and I attempted to run around them, but these vampires were quick, trained.
We spun and found ourselves facing the black cloud directly behind us. It rotated in one spot over and over. An icy gust blew my hair around my face, and Tony’s hat flew off his head. He didn’t try to run or chase it. The smoky clouds dissipated like a low-lying fog.
The charcoal-tinted tendrils of the clouds unfurled and evaporated away. Justin stepped out from the centre of the darkness. He spread his fingers wide and held them taut. His hard eyes locked on mine. The last of the black clouds lowered him to the ground and faded away.
‘Justin?’ Tony said, disbelief in his voice.
I just stood there, blinking stupidly. Justin’s porcelain skin was unnaturally smooth and waxy. He cocked his head and even that movement was cat-like, manipulative. ‘You’re still beautiful,’ he purred, his voice trying to lure me in. ‘Just as I hoped. The medieval world hasn’t ruined your looks completely.’
His features were so symmetrical that it was eerie. His good looks that had intoxicated me as a human seemed surreal now.
‘Justin, what happened? Where have you been?’ Tony took a step forward. Justin’s head whipped towards him with a robotic snap, his lips parted and his fangs sliding down.
‘What are you?’ Tony asked. The two vampire henchmen grabbed his arms. ‘Hey, stop it!’ Tony struggled but the vampires were too strong. They forced him to the ground in a headlock.
I had to do something. Anything. I whipped out the dagger even though I didn’t have the advantage.
‘Give me a break,’ Justin said.
At a casual wave of his hand, my dagger flew into the air and clattered on the street. I lifted my chin; he wouldn’t scare me away just yet.
‘Tony Sasaki,’ Justin said, but he was looking at me. ‘Pathetic that you would find him again. We all know what happened the last time, Lenah.’
I wouldn’t let that happen. Not this time. I would die before they hurt Tony, or worse, transformed him into a vampire.
Justin took a step closer to me and I backed away. Fire’s necklace seemed to warm at the base of my throat, reminding me of my secret power. I would throw it the second Tony’s life was at risk.
‘Let me go!’ Tony cried. One of Justin’s vampires had his boot on Tony’s back.
Justin leaned into me, and the hundreds of times he had wrapped his arms around my body were replaced with a tight clutch as his cold fingers gripped my wrist.
‘Don’t hurt him; he hasn’t done anything,’ I said. I tried to rip my arm away again, but Justin’s fingers were like a vice.
Tony cried out in pain.
‘Tell those thugs not to hurt him!’ I yelled.
Justin yanked me towards him. I appraised his face and shook my head a little in disbelief. His fangs had retracted, but he did not seem human to me. Justin’s eyes had been green, but as a vampire the colour seemed artificial. His skin, that had once been smooth, was frozen and buffed away. The little scar on his chin was gone too. He had got it when his brother threw a fork at him when he was eight. The human history had been polished out when the vampire took over. The freckles were gone. Even the three holes at the tops of his ears were sealed.
‘Why are you looking at me like that? Aren’t you happy to see me?’ he asked, and I pulled back from his new features.
‘You killed Suleen,’ I said. His blood stained my bracelet and I would not forget why I wore that talisman.
‘Come on, Lenah. Suleen? That old crazy?’ He laughed at the sky.
That old crazy? I pushed my hands against Justin’s chest, fighting against his grasp. I wanted to kick him and bring him to the ground. My arms burned from the strain of pushing away so hard.
‘I’m too strong . . .’ he said with a hollow chuckle. I stopped fighting. Justin watched me with that eerie pleasure that vampires have once they know they can control you.
‘You destroyed Suleen. He died in my arms,’ I said. The grief was still too close to me.
I couldn’t turn my head in time. Justin kissed me, pressing his lips against mine. His mouth tasted metallic and rotten. He had feasted on blood, and recently.
He threw me to the ground and the sting of the fall rattled me from my backside up through my neck. What the hell? Did he want to kiss me or attack me? I refused to cry out. I wouldn’t give
Justin the satisfaction.
His eyebrows met and he sneered. ‘How dare you be disgusted with me? I can read your feelings. What the hell is wrong with you? One bite and we’ll be together just as it should have been before Rhode came back. This is what you wanted.’
‘I never wanted this for you. You’re mad.’
Tony half raised himself from the ground, but one of the vampires shoved him back down with his foot.
‘How did you stay like this?’ I asked.
‘I thought you could answer that,’ he said, and crossed his arms over his chest. He seemed taller somehow than when he had been human.
‘I don’t know any better than you do. Fine. I’m here. Summoned from the medieval world just as you planned. Now what do you want from me?’ I asked.
Justin’s smile fell and he yanked me up from the ground.
‘What do I want from you? I became this, learned how to manipulate the elements and build a coven, for you.’
‘But I was sent back, Justin. I was sent back from here. I was never planning to return to the modern day. I was certainly never becoming a vampire again.’
He grabbed my arm and dragged me under the artificial light of the street lamp.
I had once loved the full pout of his lips and the sprinkle of freckles on his nose. There had to be some shred of his personality left inside. Somewhere. He couldn’t have become so devoid of emotion so quickly. It usually took years for a vampire to go this mad. The mind waned over time, not immediately.
I tried to reason with him. ‘Why did you think that I would want to be a vampire again after what you saw me go through?’ I asked. ‘Being a vampire nearly destroyed me.’
He took a moment to answer.
‘Because I am,’ he said gently.
I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know the words to choose.
He searched for something in my face. He said very slowly, ‘You . . .’ his words were quiet, ‘don’t love me, do you?’
I weighed my options. If I lied, he would be able to tell through his extrasensory perception, just as he had when he kissed me. I closed my eyes.