Behind her, Evan plus his parents and siblings raced up the front steps to her side. They collided with the vampires that spilled out of the mansion. Kicking and spinning and hitting, Pearl fought with every trick she’d ever learned. On either side of her, Evan’s family stabbed and sliced with their horn-swords.
Out of the corner of her eye, Pearl saw a flash of red orange. Fire surged into a ring around the mansion, brightness racing around the perimeter. “Go now!” Pearl shouted to Evan and his family. “I’ll hold them as long as I can!”
“Not leaving you!” Evan said.
“Can’t cross the flames anyway,” Pearl said. She spotted Uncle Stefan inside. His gaze fixed on her, and his face twisted into an ugly mask. “Go, you idiot!” she ordered Evan.
Uncle Stefan raced toward her, knocking vampires out of the way. Pearl readied herself as she blocked another vampire’s attack. If she was lucky, she’d last long enough for Evan and his family to escape.
“Ride on me,” Evan ordered. Stepping backward off the steps, he shimmered, and a unicorn stood beside her. She leaped onto his back, and he galloped away from the mansion.
She glanced over her shoulder. Uncle Stefan charged down the steps. Behind him, Cousin Jeremiah ran on all fours.
“Faster!” she shouted.
Evan leaped over the flames. Pearl squeezed her legs as high onto his back as she could. She felt the heat lick at her.
With a thud, he landed on the other side.
Pearl twisted again to see behind her. Flames roared into the air. By the roses, though, the fire sputtered only two feet high. “More fire!” she cried as Uncle Stefan raced toward the roses.
Bethany hauled a branch toward the roses. Matt tossed gasoline on the branch and onto the rosebushes. Fire raced through the green leaves, crackling and popping, but in the split second before the flame roared upward, Uncle Stefan leaped over the trench.
He knocked Bethany aside. She flew backward and crashed hard on the gravel driveway. She didn’t move. He charged toward Pearl.
On the back of the unicorn Evan, Pearl prepared to leap to meet him in three, two . . .
She heard a twang.
A stake protruded from Uncle Stefan’s chest. He fell forward. The stake hit the driveway and rammed through his body. He crumbled to ash.
From the roof of Bethany’s minivan, Zeke cheered. “Stake crossbow! Made of awesome!”
Jeremiah howled. Hate filled his eyes as he ran toward them, his sire’s killers. Leaping, he threw himself through the fire. Flames curled around him, claiming him. Red-orange fire engulfed his body as if his skin were gasoline. He screamed like a dying pig, a horrible sound that rose above the beat of the music inside.
All the vampires on the lawn stopped.
On the front steps Aunt Fiona began to keen again, a rising banshee wail. Mother stood beside her. Through the flames, Pearl met her eyes. Then Mother turned her back on her only born daughter and walked into the mansion. Other vampires turned and bolted inside.
“Go!” Pearl shouted to the students. “They’re heading for the tunnel!”
Matt helped Bethany to her feet. She stumbled toward the minivan, clutching her side. He hoisted her in. Sandy, Evan’s mother, strode toward Evan. “Keep everyone moving. We’ll lead the cars to safety and rendezvous with you at home. Understood?”
Unicorn Evan whinnied at her.
Sandy patted his mane, and then Evan’s parents took off with a cadre of his brothers and sisters, running as fast as vampires into the night.
Pearl continued to herd students into cars and issue instructions: Go to the closest house you know, lock the doors, let no one in, don’t leave until sunrise. A row of cars sped single file down the narrow, winding driveway.
Last to go was the minivan with Bethany, Zeke, Matt, Tara, Kelli, and three others. As they started down the driveway, Pearl glanced back at the mansion.
Across the flames, Daddy approached the ring of fire. “Pearl. Stop this. Come home.”
“I can’t,” Pearl said. “I’m sorry.”
He studied her. “You really are. How interesting.”
Behind him, only two or three vampires remained. Any minute now the night could be crawling with very pissed-off vamps. Out of words, she stared at Daddy. “I’ll see you again,” she said.
“I hope you won’t,” he said sadly.
Beneath her, the unicorn Evan broke into a walk, then a trot, then a gallop. Halfway down the driveway, he caught up to the minivan and raced alongside it. Night wind in her face, Pearl held on as he ran away from the mansion, the fire, and her past.
Chapter
THIRTY-ONE
“Faster!” Pearl called to the minivan. If the vampires had breached the tunnels, Bethany and the others would never make it to Evan’s house. Clutching Evan’s mane with one hand, she leaned toward the minivan and pounded on the window. “Find a closer safe haven!”
In the driver’s seat, Tara nodded. Her hands gripped the steering wheel so hard that her knuckles looked like exposed bone. Beside her, Bethany slumped against the passenger window. Eyes half open, she breathed shallowly, cringing with every inhale. Zeke, Matt, and the others were crammed into the back of the minivan. One of them, Kelli from the sound of it, was shrieking like a scared cat.
As they reached the end of the mansion’s winding driveway, five vampires burst into view: one of Jadrien’s cousins, three vamps Pearl didn’t know, and Cousin Antoinette in her prom dress. From inside the minivan, Zeke shouted, “Evasive maneuvers!”
“What?” Tara said.
“Avoid them!”
She swerved to the right as unicorn Evan broke to the left. Pearl shouted in his ear, “I can hold them! Stay with Tara!” But he didn’t listen. He leaped over the nearest fence. Racing through a backyard, he increased speed so that wind hit her face and stung her eyes. Four of the vampires chased them, all except Antoinette. Veering toward a house, Evan leaped onto a roof and over it. One of the vampires fell behind. The other three scrambled over the roof and then hit the ground running. Pearl clung to Evan’s mane. “Get back to the minivan, you stupid horse!” She knew what Antoinette would do once she caught the minivan.
He pounded down the street and across lawns. At the end of the cul-de-sac, he plunged into a patch of woods. Branches flew at her face. She ducked her head. Behind her, she heard the remaining three vampires trample bushes. Evan ran faster, weaving between the trees. In seconds the forest was a brown blur around them, and she could no longer hear the sounds of their pursuers. This was how she’d always failed to catch Evan—he was fast, faster than the cars she liked to drive. Under any other circumstances, she would have loved this. Evan burst back onto the road.
They raced alone through the streets and the woods.
“Okay, fine, you lost them! But Antoinette is still with Bethany and the others.” She hoped Tara had floored it. She didn’t know if that clunker had enough juice to outrun a pissed-off vampire, though, even one in heels and a tacky dress. She tried to think what safe haven they could have chosen. “Go to Ashlyn’s!” she shouted in Evan’s ear.
He switched course.
A few minutes later they emerged onto Ashlyn’s street. Ahead, Pearl saw that the minivan was parked sideways on the lawn by the front door, crushing the daffodils. Zeke and Matt were on opposite sides of Bethany, helping her up the steps to the porch. Tara pounded on the door, shouting for Ashlyn.
A shape crouched on top of the minivan.
One of the boys screamed and pointed at it.
Reaching the lawn, Pearl flung herself off Evan’s back. She landed in a crouch, sprang up, and ran toward the minivan.
She threw herself between the minivan and the porch, shielding the humans.
The front door opened, and Ashlyn poked her head outside. “Tara? Is prom over already?”
Tara shoved inside, and the others piled in with her. Evan transformed into a human, scooped up Bethany, and carried her up the remaining steps and into the house.
r /> Guarding them, Pearl backed up the stairs. The shadow on the minivan didn’t move. As soon as she was sure the humans were inside, Pearl turned and sprinted for the door. She halted on the threshold—the air was solid in front of her, as if it were a wall instead of an open doorway. “Ashlyn, invite me in!”
The bottle blonde tilted her head as if considering it. Pearl saw a hint of Ashlyn’s old self behind her hollow eyes. “Oh, I don’t think so. This is your fault.” Ashlyn shut the door.
Evan yanked the door open. “Invite her in!”
A faint smile on her lips, Ashlyn shook her head.
Tara, Bethany, Zeke, Matt . . . all of them pleaded with her.
The shadows on top of the minivan laughed. Pearl spun around in a crouch as Cousin Charlaine drew herself to her full height on the roof of the minivan. Cousin Antoinette sat in the driver’s seat. “Ooh, poor Pearly, stuck outside like a mangy dog. How very appropriate.”
“Hi, cousins,” Pearl said. She strolled down the steps and stopped on the brick walkway. “Looking for me?”
“Not really,” Antoinette said. “Just peckish.”
Charlaine snarled.
“Okay, I lied,” Antoinette said. “For some reason, Charlaine doesn’t like you much. Come to think of it, I don’t like you much anymore either.”
Charlaine launched herself off the minivan roof toward Pearl.
Pearl held still as her cousin dived, fangs out and arms reaching toward her. At the last second, she dodged. Charlaine impacted on the bricks. Before she could recover, Pearl kicked at her stomach hard enough to flip her over onto her back like a turtle. Jumping on her, Pearl grabbed Charlaine’s arm and twisted it. She heard a crack. As Charlaine shrieked from the break, Pearl bit her neck. As her cousin thrashed and struggled under her, Pearl sucked until Charlaine lost consciousness. Pearl released her into the damaged daffodils.
“Wow,” Antoinette said. “That was really interesting. You do realize she isn’t dead, right? If you don’t kill her, she’ll probably hunt you forever. She’s like that.”
“She’ll get over it,” Pearl said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She felt the blood buzz inside of her. Feeling powerful, she stalked toward the minivan and yanked open the door.
Antoinette faked a shriek. “Ooh, Pearly, I’m so scared! Don’t hurt me!”
“Behind you!” Evan shouted.
She heard Evan run down the porch steps as she spun and ducked underneath Jadrien’s fist. Jadrien’s knuckles impacted on the minivan door, denting it. Jadrien kicked backward as Evan lunged for him. He caught Evan in the knee, and Evan collapsed on the walkway.
“Boy for me!” Antoinette said. She swung herself out the car window and landed near Evan. Evan jumped to his feet in time to dodge her kick. She laughed and then skipped around him. “Come play, pretty boy.” She jabbed at him. Evan knocked her fist aside. Pearl shifted her attention to Jadrien.
He smiled at her. “Jewel of my heart, just what do you think you are doing?”
“Among other things, I’m breaking up with you,” she said.
“Very dramatic,” Jadrien said. “Couldn’t you have just texted me?” His tone was friendly, even conversational, but the porch light glinted off his fangs, and he had a streak of blood running down his arm that glistened, fresh and wet. She doubted it was his. “You didn’t need to try to assassinate the king to impress me. You failed, by the way. His Majesty escaped. By now he’s halfway to Massachusetts.”
“Go home, Jadrien,” Pearl said. “I’d really rather not kill you.”
He shook his head in mock pity. “Oh, Pearly, it’s a shame to end things this way. We had fun, didn’t we? But if I don’t take you out, it’s my reputation that will suffer. Guilt by association. Can’t have that.”
Without any further warning, he struck. He whipped out every move she’d ever seen him make: leap kicks, spinning kicks, punches, jabs. She blocked and dodged, and she struck back. They danced across Ashlyn’s lawn, punching and kicking so fast that wind whipped around them. They were their own tornado, spinning around each other.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the driveway: Evan lay on the pavement. He wasn’t moving. Laughing, Antoinette kicked at his side.
Enough, Pearl thought. “It’s over,” she said.
“Not by a long shot, dewdrop,” Jadrien said. “We aren’t in the practice ring. You can’t beat—”
She unleashed a flurry of kicks and punches. No fancy tricks. No spins. No leaps. With fast, economical strikes, she pounded Jadrien to his knees. “Just for the record, you never let me win,” Pearl said. “I’m simply better than you.” She hit him one more time, and he crumpled to the side, unconscious on the lawn. “Deserve better too.”
Leaping over him, she raced to Evan.
In a delighted voice, Antoinette said, “Pearly! Come play with me!”
Ignoring her, Pearl knelt beside Evan. He cracked open his eyes to look at her. “Get your horn ready,” she whispered in his ear. Hidden from Antoinette by his body, he extended his horn from his wrist.
“I can’t move,” he said.
“I’ll move for you.”
As Antoinette lunged toward Pearl, Pearl somersaulted over Evan and lifted his arm with the horn.
It plunged into Antoinette’s heart.
“Heal her,” Pearl ordered.
White light flowed from Evan’s horn. It buried itself in Antoinette’s chest as her eyes glazed and her body slumped forward.
Evan’s eyes closed, and the light faded. Pearl kicked Antoinette off his horn. Antoinette collapsed on the driveway, but she didn’t disintegrate.
Pearl touched Evan’s neck to check his pulse. Still okay. She lifted her head to look at the house. All of the humans were pressed against the windows and wedged into the doorway, just inside the threshold. “I need rope,” she called.
“Excuse me, move, please,” Bethany said. She hobbled to the front of the pack. “Bungees. Back of minivan.” She pointed and then sagged against the porch wall.
Pearl fetched them. One at a time, she trussed up Antoinette, Jadrien, and Charlaine and tossed them in the back of the minivan. Carefully, she lifted Evan and laid him in the passenger seat. His head lolled to the side, but he continued to breathe evenly, albeit shallowly.
Limping toward the minivan, Bethany said, “Help me in.”
“Stay here,” Pearl told her. “It’ll be safer. You can go home at sunrise.”
“I won’t abandon you. You saved our lives. That makes us close now. We’re made family.” Though each movement caused her to wince, Bethany reached out to grasp Pearl’s arm. “My new sister.”
“Whatever,” Pearl said. But she carefully lifted Bethany into the minivan. She then pointed her finger at Zeke and Matt. “You two, stay here. Keep everyone safe until dawn.”
Matt nodded. Zeke saluted.
Coming outside onto the porch, Tara said, “Are you sure? You could—”
Pearl pointed. “Go inside and stay inside. We have school on Monday. Try not to die before then.” She climbed into the driver’s seat. “Buckle up, Bethany.” Bethany snapped a buckle around the unconscious Evan and then around herself, wincing with every movement.
Pearl peeled out of the driveway.
She dumped Jadrien, Antoinette, and Charlaine in the safest place she could think of: in the dumpsters behind the burnt shell of the Dairy Hut. They’d be protected from sunlight and could return home next nightfall. For poetry’s sake, she would have preferred to leave them on the porch of the Family’s house as she’d been left, but that would have been a stupid risk.
Leaving the Dairy Hut, she drove faster than she’d ever driven to Evan’s house. The minivan shook on the turns. Tires squealing, she spun into the Karkadanns’ driveway, after flattening a shrub.
Easing herself out of the minivan, Bethany limped toward the house. Pearl scooped up the still-unconscious Evan and carried him to the front door. She wondered what she’d do if Evan’s fami
ly rescinded their invitation to her. She wouldn’t blame them if they did. After all, their youngest son lay limp in her arms.
But Evan’s mother threw the door open, and within seconds Pearl, Evan, and Bethany were inside. As Sandy took her
son, Pearl locked the door behind them.
Chapter
THIRTY-TWO
On Monday Pearl drove Bethany to school in the minivan. Reporters lined the street, but the police kept them off school property.
So far, the popular theory in the press was that a few kids had used the prom’s theme to perpetrate a prank. The prank had spun out of control when the student body panicked. Alternate theories included drug-induced gangs and rival football teams.
Pearl had stuck to the prank story when she was interviewed, and the bulk of the junior class had followed her lead. The few who did tell the truth had been instantly discredited by “expert” psychologists and trauma specialists, though some websites believed them.
She wondered how quickly the students would begin to believe the lies. People, Pearl thought, can be so stupid. Their need to protect their precious little minds from the truth . . . She parked and watched the students spill out of the school buses and cars.
“Weird that everything looks so normal,” Bethany said. “I feel like the world should have changed.” One of the students trampled a patch of daffodils. Others jostled as they squeezed through the school doors. Muffled laughter and chatter wafted across the parking lot.
Someone knocked on Bethany’s window, and she jumped.
“Tense much?” Pearl asked.
Bethany rolled down her window. Tara poked her head in. “Everyone still alive?”
“Evan’s not well enough for school yet,” Bethany said. “But he’ll be fine.”
“Sweet!” Tara said. “Come on, first bell is going to ring. We’ve got a lot to do before then.” She didn’t stay to explain what she meant by “a lot to do.” Instead, she sauntered across the parking lot to meet Kelli, who waved at the minivan.
“I suppose the world did change a little,” Bethany said.