Better Off Red (10 page)

“Outta bed, maggot.” And like that, the Cleo I knew and loved was back. “We got a full day ahead of us. Breakfast is at oh-nine

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hundred sharp. You will be on time or you will not eat and you will get left.”

“Are you done?” Camila asked.

“Yeah, thanks. I’ve been wanting to yell at the new girls all summer,” Cleo said.

“I bet you have.”

“Breakfast is in thirty. Here are your clothes.” Paige held up a black canvas bag with the white letters “ABO” stitched on with bright red threading. I looked at the sheet covering my boobs. I would have hopped out of bed to take the bag, but I was still naked.

Camila took it from Paige and put in on the dresser.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“She’ll be up in thirty minutes,” Camila told them.

“Okay,” Cleo replied. And then she and Paige waited.

“Good-bye,” Camila said as she started closing the door. Paige huffed and rolled her eyes, and Cleo actually pouted. I got a weird tight feeling in my throat. “I’ll see you both tonight.”

“Fine,” they both whined. Camila laughed to herself as she shut the door all the way. She came back over to the bed and sat beside me. “What was that all about?” I asked, trying not to sound jealous, which I instantly realized I was. She must have sensed it because she tried to distract me by drawing her fingertips across my shoulder.

“Nothing,” she said. “They just missed me last night.”

“Did I keep you away from them?”

“No. I’m fed. They’re just needy. Ignore them.” Before I could ask who’d fed her properly, she kissed me, another painfully slow, warm, wet kiss. I couldn’t remember what day it was when she pulled away. She smoothed my hair away from my face, gazing between my lips and my eyes. I wanted her again, but I didn’t have time.

“So what does a vampire do during the day?” I asked.

“I sleep for a few hours. I get some work done—”

“Work?”

“Someone’s gotta pay for all those necklaces. I own a few businesses downtown. I call down there and make sure everything’s okay while I’m trapped here. I check in with Types of Hope.”

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“So the foundation is legit?”

“Doing good works is one of the best ways to blend in. Except with Types of Hope, there is no catch. We like our humans healthy and we want to help the humans who aren’t.”

I don’t know why the thought of her being trapped inside all day made me upset, but it did, almost selfishly. I’d walked around clueless to what made up my DNA for eighteen years. What else kept Camila from normal human behavior? I wasn’t much for silver jewelry, but I loved garlic. What if I was experiencing some sort of delayed reaction? What if there was some sort of puberty I hadn’t reached yet? I had more than thirty minutes’ worth of questions.

“You really can’t go out in the daytime?”

“I can. Just not in this form.”

“What do you mean?”

Camila thought for a moment before she answered. “Our…

nature allows us to shift form. We can take the shape of other living creatures, but we can only go out in the daytime in an animal form.”

“Wow.” Of course I’d never tried, but maybe if I did, I could—

I looked up as she combed her fingers through my hair. “Don’t worry, Red. Clearly, the sun doesn’t affect you. And though the shifting is something you can control it’s not as amazing as it sounds. If you get trapped somewhere as a cat or a blue jay, you’re stuck that way until nightfall. And then of course, when you shift back, you’re naked.”

“Yeah, I can see where that would have its drawbacks.” Even if I did prefer her in the buff.

“We’ll figure you out, okay? Have fun with the girls, and later you can ask me anything you want to know.”

“Okay.”

“Come. Let me show you the bathroom.”

I followed Camila back out to her living room. Apparently, the door all the way to the left opened to an enormous black-tiled bathroom. Double glass doors opened to a shower that ran the length of an entire wall. Every single member of ABO could fit inside that thing.

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Camila walked silently across the midnight floor and pressed a small button hidden along the wall. A hot spray came from thousands of tiny showerheads in the ceiling.

“Shampoo and soap in the shower. Towels in the closet, and there’s toothpaste right there.” She pointed around the room before turning back to me. She took a step closer. I bit my lip to keep my lungs in my chest.

“I’d join you, but what I have in mind would take more than thirty minutes.”

I swallowed. “Can’t be late for breakfast.”

“No, Red. You can’t.” She took a step closer, letting her delicious cinnamon scent rush cross my lips.

“You’re going to keep calling me ‘Red,’ aren’t you?”

“Unless you ask me to stop.” I didn’t want to. “That shower is heaven. Don’t take too long.” She slid past me and out the door without kissing me. I don’t think I’ve ever showered that fast. I had to get back to her.

❖

In the bag Paige brought me was a new toothbrush, travel size bottles of my favorite lotion and deodorant, and some clothes.

Another tracksuit. It would have been cute if it wasn’t white. What was with all the tracksuits and all the white? I was starting to think I’d joined a cult, which I supposed I had. The ruby hanging around my neck was proof enough that I had given in, traded my brain and my blood for sex and then some.

The terrycloth jacket had my name stitched in elegant cursive on the breast. I looked at the red lettering for a while before putting it on. I wanted to know what I had gotten myself into. I had to find out what was going on with my body. I had to know how deep this vampire/human relationship ran. I wouldn’t find that out standing in my vampire’s bathroom. I found some white underwear in the bottom of the bag, then finished getting dressed. I was still trying to figure out Paige and her less than cheery attitude, but I would thank her for the new brush and the hair ties.

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When I got back to the bedroom, Amy was sitting on the foot of the bed, wearing the same white tracksuit, watching Camila get dressed. Seeing her was a bigger relief than I’d expected. My night with Camila had been nothing short of perfect, but Amy was my one connection to the real world. Knowing she was in one piece made me realize just how afraid I had been for both of our safety.

Amy smiled brightly. “Hey.”

“Hey. Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. I crashed in Danni’s room last night.” She looked between Camila and me. “Cleo said you slept down here.”

“Yeah. I did,” I muttered. Come on, Amy. Go ahead. Embarrass me in front of Camila.

She turned right back to Camila. “See, what did I tell you? Not even a full day and she’s already teacher’s pet.” I took a deep breath and reminded myself that starting a catfight in the middle of the floor wouldn’t be a good idea.

Camila finished zipping a pair of dark skinny jeans. Her thick thighs looked perfect in them. “Your roommate was telling me how serious you are about your studies,” Camila said.

“I just want to do well. That’s all.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. There is a minimum GPA to be in ABO, but I’m sure Amy knows that as well.” She winked at me before pulling on a red tank top. “I’ll show you out.”

Camila led us down a different hallway to an elevator. She told us it led to a concealed walk-in space hidden inside the kitchen pantry. We’d find Danni easily once we got there. The door opened smoothly, and as soon as Amy and I were inside, Camila punched in a series of numbers into a keypad on the wall. She backed out of the doorway and waggled her fingers at us, flirting some more with a flash of her fangs.

As soon as the doors closed, Amy was on me.

“Oh my God. Okay. Tell me now. What happened?”

“I’ll tell you when we get back to the dorm.”

“What? No. Tell me now.”

“No.” She followed my finger as I pointed to a small camera mounted in the corner of the ceiling.

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“Ugh. Fine, but when we get back to the dorm, you better spill.” The door opened into the pantry in the kitchen. Danni was there waiting for us, a perfect reason to keep quiet.

❖

“We have to lay out some ground rules.” Cleo paced around the kitchen. The thirteen of us were lined up in front of an enormous breakfast buffet. My stomach was trying to eat itself, but we weren’t getting anywhere near the mountains of croissants and cubed melon until Cleo was finished. Danni, Barb, and Paige sat on the counter by the fridge, stern looks plastered on their faces.

“There are two ways to get kicked out of Alpha Beta Omega.

The first way is to talk about what goes on on the bottom floor of Alpha Beta Omega. You do not mention our sister-queens to anyone.

Not your friends, not your mom, not your editor. Outside of this house, they don’t exist. You talk and you’re out. You talk to the wrong person and Camila will have you killed. Benny, am I lying?”

“No, Cleo,” Benny replied quietly.

“Are we clear?” Cleo asked.

“Yes,” we responded together.

“Good. Now here are a few other things you should remember.

Curfew is nine o’clock. Every night. During the week, if you’re not at work or on campus studying, you’re here at the house or you’re in your dorm room, studying. On the weekends, it doesn’t matter where you are, you check in at nine o’clock. Is that clear?”

“Yes.”

“At nine p.m., you text someone, you call someone and tell us exactly where you are. What time should we hear from you?”

“Nine p.m.”

“Excellent. Not nine-oh-one, not nine-oh-two. Nine. If you are out after nine and you are walking back to your dorm, you will call one of us first and someone will escort you.” I think that bit applied to all of us. We were all freshman, and Maryland University didn’t let freshman keep cars on campus. “A few of us might come meet you or one of the OBA boys will. I know you are all strong,

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independent women, but this is a big campus in the middle of a big city. Even I don’t walk around at night alone. That brings me to the next item on the list. Boys.”

I could feel Amy beside me trying not to giggle.

“You can date whoever you want. Yeah, things get a little freaky when the sister-queens feed, but not all of us like to bump clit twenty-four seven. I know I do, but that’s not the point. Date whoever you like. Come back here with VD and you’re out. As of last night, we know you’re all clean. It should stay that way. The sister-queens cannot contract our diseases, but we play together too much to be giving each other the clap. Plus, that’s just fucking gross.”

That time, I laughed. Cleo ignored my weak attempt to make it sound like a cough.

“Until you move into this house, which you are all allowed to do next semester, you are not allowed down into the sister-queens’

quarters unescorted. This is our playhouse, that space is their permanent home, and you will respect it. Is that understood?”

“Yes.”

“The rubies around your neck do not come off. Consider it your Med-Alert bracelet. If you get hurt, hit by a car, fall down some stairs, drink yourself half to death at Chi Nu house, you’ll be taken to a hospital that is bound to our sister-queens. Seriously, don’t take it off. If you know your turn to feed is coming up, do not drink or take any illegal substances. Our sister-queens can taste it in our system and I’ve been told it makes our blood taste like piss.”

Just then a short, wide Hispanic woman waddled into the kitchen. Her hair was cut close to her head and dyed an unnatural yellow. She sidled right up to Cleo who draped her arm around the woman’s chubby shoulders.

“This is Florencia. She’s our housemother. She’s not here to cook for you. She’s not here to clean up after you. She speaks English when she feels like it. If she likes you, she might ask you to join her in a game of Hearts. If she doesn’t, just stay out of her way.”

Florencia jabbed Cleo in the stomach and muttered something in Spanish I couldn’t understand. My Spanish was decent, but she was speaking too softly.

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“Okay, okay. The university says we have to have a housemother, but we don’t exactly need one. Flor used to feed Omi’s maker and we love her to bits. And it’s funny to watch the other housemothers try to be PC around her. But seriously, don’t get on her nerves. She’s good people.”

“Buenos días,” Florencia muttered to us before she shuffled away. Danni hopped off the counter and grabbed a black bag. I remembered it from the day before. She and Paige walked down the line and started handing us our cell phones as Cleo rattled off the last of her instructions.

“Eat your breakfast, make whatever calls you need to make.

Ginger, text your brother and tell him you’re not dead.” Amy did giggle then. “We’re hitting the spa in an hour.”

No one said anything; they just lined up at the buffet and started scrolling through their phones. I wasn’t going to be the only one to tell Cleo I already had plans.

“Crap,” I muttered. I had to call my lab partner Greg and cancel.

I had two texts—one from Mom telling me she was glad I’d decided to join a sorority, and one from Todd saying he hoped I got lucky. Considering the rules Cleo had just laid out, I’d have to tell him no. He’d start asking questions and then I’d have to make some stuff up and then he’d ask more questions.

I checked my voice mail. There was only one and it was from Greg. He sounded like crap.

“Hey, Ginger. It’s Greg. I had some shit come up today. Let me know if you can meet up tomorrow. Later.”

I shot him a text letting him know I was busy too and we could reschedule for tomorrow.

I loaded my plate and headed into the dining room. The table had been set just for the thirteen of us. I took a seat next to Amy and Benny sat on my other side. Then we all took a few minutes to reintroduce ourselves. As we went around the table, it was clear most of us had nothing much in common. We repeated our names, threw out information about our majors and where we were from, but there was still a nervous vibe among the group. We were all the