Blood Type (29 page)

I had only been in John’s house twice before and never to the upper floor. I made my way to the steep, wooden staircase and gripped the banister for support, slowly making my way to the upstairs rooms.

The first one I came to was sparsely furnished
.
A bed sat along one wall, its
covers
a twisted and
tangled mess
.
A dresser pressed against the opposite wall
,
the d
rawers left ajar, as
though someone had packed up and left in a hurry. There was a bathroom to my immediate left, but it was the door at the end of the hallway that
got
my attention.

I pushed it open and at once felt John’s presence all around me. I could smell him here, the
unique
scent of his skin
that was
so overwhelming a choking cry caught in my throat and I had to sit down in order to
catch
my breath. I cl
enched the duvet in my fist
s
until my heartbeat returned to normal
.

I scanned the room and my eyes fell on a framed photograph of John standing between a man and a woman. It was a posed picture, done in a studio. The words
Olan Mills
were embossed in gold font in the bottom left corner.

The man and woman were
strikingly
similar in appearance to John, especially the woman, who had the same dark hair and vivid green eyes. Curious, I picked up the frame and popped out the cardboard backing. Scrawled in black ink was “Miriam
, Landon,
and John
Kelly
—June 1996.”

I replaced the backing and turned the photo over to study it. John hadn’t aged a day, and yet the picture had been taken over sixteen years ago. It must have been right before John was turned.

When had it happened exactly? How did he come across Ian in the first place? What had become of his parents, Miriam and Landon Kelly? There were so many questions that I hoped John
would be able to answer for me one day, and one day soon.
These were things I wanted, and needed, to know.

I replaced the photo on the table and opened the drawer. There were only two items: a composition notebook, like the ones we used in school, and an ink pen. I opened the cover of the notebook and
felt my brows knit in confusion
.

Every page contained nothing but a list of names, with what I assumed was the person’s age, and a date printed next to them.
Abigail Tyler, 17, 9-13-97; Kristy Deerfield, 17, 10-21-97; J
acob
Rosenbaum, 18, 10-27-97
. . .

The list went on for pages and pages, the dates becoming more recent with each new entry. Finally, a name captured my attention:
Dylan Edwards, 17, 5-21-12
. I knew Dylan. He went to my school. We had fourth period AP English together. And then another name
near
the bottom:
Jill Honeycutt, 17, 6-07-12
. I turned the page.
Elijah Stein, 18, 6-17-12. Chloe Barnett, 18, 6-29-12. Michael
Jeffreys
, 17, 7-5-12.
There was just one more entry after that:
Blake Ehlert, 17, 7-28-12
.

That was the day by the lake; the first day that we really talked to each other; the day I started to fall in love with him.
All because he put ideas into my head.

I stared at my name until it
blurred
on the page and the realization of what the book was finally dawned on me. Every person in there had O negative blood, just like me. Every one of
them had been manipulated by John into becoming a Donor.
Just like me.

I slammed the book closed and shoved it
back
in
to
the drawer
where it belonged
.
“Dammit, John.
How could you make me love you?”
I whispered.
“It was all a lie, wasn’t it?
Just a big fat lie
.
”

And yet, John had never so much as hung out or even spoke to anyone else at school, except for the odd occasion when I saw him with Margaret and Thomas
. . .
or Dylan and Jill. Now I knew the reason why.

John had always been quiet and kept to himself. He’d never shown any sort of interest in any other girl before.
Except me
, I thought, remembering all those times I’d caught him staring.

I collapsed against the bed and screamed out loud. “Where the hell are you, Ian?” 

Just then my cell rang and I answered it without bothering to
first
check the
number. “Why aren’t you in bed?”

I sat up.
“
Mom.
Why are you home?”

“Answer my question.”

“I
, uh.
I
needed some air.
Yeah . . .
”

“Blake Edwards Ehlert. You better get yourself home
now
.”
The
line went dead.

“Crap on a stick,” I muttered.

I got up and smoothed the covers of John’s bed. Then I made my way downstairs and scribbled a note for Ian on the sheer
chance that he might
actually
return and
find
it. I locked the door and returned the key under the mat. Then I got in my car and drove home
to face my mother
.

October 30

“I said I don’t want to hear it.
”
Mom
covered her ears
as I trailed her into the kitchen.

“You don’t want to hear what?” my father asked from behind the newspaper.

Mom
poured a cup of coffee and took a sip, wincing as the hot liquid burned its way down her throat.
She fanned her mouth, a look of irritation on her face.
“She claims she doesn’t feel well.
Again
.”

My father
lowered his paper and studied me. “Well, she is looking a bit rough around the edges this morning.”

“Thanks a lot, Daddy. Just what every girl wants to hear.”

He looked wounded. “I’m only trying to help
your ca
se here, Blake
.”

“She is
n’t
staying home, Bill.
If Blake doesn’t get back on track, and soon, she won’t graduate with the rest of her class.
And after that stunt she pulled yesterday
. . .
”

“
I told you I needed air. Besides, i
t’s not even the end of October yet. Graduation is a million years away.”

Mom huffed.
“It most certainly is not.”

I slumped into a chair. “But I have a bad headache. And I think I have a fever.”

“Come here,” she
ordered
. Her hand w
ent immediately to my forehead.
“You do not have a fever. You’re cool as rain.
Cold, in fact.”

“
Which means I should stay home in bed
.
”

She gave me a calculating
gl
are. “
Does the fact that you want to stay home have anything to do with John
?
Maybe you two want to skip school together?
”

“What? No!” I glanced at my father, who had lowered the newspaper once again, suddenly interested in the conversation now that it had something to do with a boy.

“Because if it does,” my mother continued, “if you’re staying home from school just so you can hook up with John behind our backs . . .” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head. “I really do like
him
, but I am
not
ready to be a grandmother. At least tell me you’re being careful.”

I put
up
both hands to stop her. “Whoa! Just what the heck are you getting at?
Not to mention, look at me!
”

My father cleared his throat and
rose
abruptly, scraping the legs of the chair against the floor. He checked his watch. “I’m
going to be late for work.” He planted a kiss on the top of my head and then gave my mom a quick peck on the cheek.

When my father had cleared the room, I turned on my mom. “I am not having sex with John, or anyone for that matter. And it hurts my feelings that you would automatically go there. Don’t you trust me?”

“You’re a teenage girl, Blake.
He’s a teenage boy. Every
parent’s
mind
goes there
whether they want it to or not. Just wait until you have kids. You’ll
understand
.”

“I’m not ever having kids.” Mom raised a brow but didn’t say anything. “So does that mean I can stay home?”

“No, it does not. If you insist on not going to school today, you can grab your books and head to the office with me.
But you’d better hurry.
”

“What? Why
do I have to go with you
?”

Mom closed her eyes and took a deep breath
.
I
had a feeling
I wasn’t going to win this argument. “Blake, I have a stinking suspicion you’re doing something you’re not
supposed
to be doing. I don’t have time to worry about you today, so go get your things and meet me in the car. End of discussion.”   

“Fine!”
I stormed out of the kitchen and grabbed my bulging backpack sitting on the foyer bench.

I
grew
increasingly antsy wondering
about John
at the Abernathy mansion. How long would he last without any blood? He’d never told me how long vampires could go without tossing one back, but I didn’t think it was
more than a few days
.
And how
would I
track down Ian
with
my mom
h
olding
me hostage in her office all day?
If Josiah was right, I had less than a day left.

Wait a minute
. There were two vampires who could tell me about John
easily enough
.
I rushed outside
and met my mom at the car
. “I changed my mind. I’m going to school.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “If you’re tricking me, Blake—”

“I’m not!”

I held my breath as she stared at me. “Are you sure?
Because I’m tired of playing games.
”

It had begun to mist and I pulled up the hood of my coat.
“Yeah.
I mean, y
ou’re right. If I miss too much school, I might not graduate. I could
n’t
stand another year there.”

Mom’s expression softened. “At least try to make it through lunch. If you’re still feeling poorly by then, give me a call and I’ll excuse you. But you’ll have to come straight to the office. No more playing hooky!”

“Okay. Thanks, Mom.” I leaned in and gave her a quick hug.

I
went through the motions until third-period Art
, which seemed to take forever getting there
. As soon as Margaret walked into the room, I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the far corner
.
W
e stood partially hidden behind a shelving unit with students’ failed pottery projects on display. We got a few strange looks, but I
had gotten
used to that by now.

“Blake Ehlert. How are you today?”

I leaned in close and hissed at
her
,
“Cut the small talk, Margaret. I want to know about John.”

She held up her hand, pretending to examine her cuticles or a chipped nail or whatever. “Can you please be more specific?”

I waved my hand in front of her face so that she would be forced to look at me.
I so didn’t have time for this.
“
How is he?
”

She leaned in with a slight smile
so that
our faces were an inch apart.
“Not well at all. The young ones are always so hungry.”

“But I don’t know where Ian is!” I whispered back, my voice pitching higher.

Her blue eyes stared deep into
mine
.
“Then find him.”

H
ysteria
was
building up and threatening to bubble out.
“But how am I supposed to find him if I don’t know where he is?”

“Ladies,” the teacher called.
“Ladies.
Please take your seats. The bell
’s already rung.
”

I reluctantly trudged back to my table and checked my phone for any missed calls from Ian, but there were none. There was a text from Zach asking again about the dance, and one from Olivia who wanted to know
if I wanted
to go to Starbucks after school. Apparently there was this “really cute guy” who had made her
a
Caramel Macchiato the other day
and she was thinking about asking him out
. I ignored them both.

Margaret slipped out at the end of class before I had a chance to talk to her again, but I figured I might have better luck with her brother, Thomas.
He
was friends
with one of the girls on my squad and
had
always been really nice to me. Luckily, we both had lunch fourth period. The only problem was so did Gabe,
and he homed-in on me the moment I walked through the cafeteria doors.

“Well,
look
what the cat dragged in,” he said as I attempted to scoot past.

“Move,” I said, not making eye contact. “I don’t have time for your crap today.”

He stepped in front of me, preventing me from going anywhere.
“Oh
,
my God.
You really
have
gone crazy. Hey, get a load of this!” He waved to get the attention of some of the other football jocks.
They
’d
all
turned on me once they found out I
broke
up with Zach
, never mind the fact most of us had known each other since elementary school
.

Gabe yanked me to his chest and pulled my hair away from my face to expose the tattoo on my neck. I’d completely forgotten to put the bandage on this morning
.
No wonder my teachers had been giving me odd looks all morning long
and asking if everything was okay
.

I struggled against him.
“
What do you think you’re doing?
Get your hands off me!”

Gabe’s
grip tightened and he shoved me ahead of him, parading me from table to table as if I were some side-show freak. People star
ed
and whisper
ed
and outright laugh
ed in my face
. Zero tolerance for bullying, my foot! Where was a teacher when you really needed one?

“Let go!” I
continued to
struggle
and tried to ground my heel into his foot
, which only made
Gabe
angry
.
He shook me until my teeth rattled.

“She said to let go
.
” 

My head whipped around.
Thomas.

“Piss off,” Gabe said.

Without warning, Thomas picked up an empty chair and slammed it so hard into the floor its metal legs buckled.
If
people weren’t
staring at us already, that definitely
got
their
attention.
Thomas
, despite being much smaller than Gabe,
took a step toward us. “Go ahead and tell me to piss off again. I dare you.”

Gabe’s grip on me slackened.
“Oh, yeah?
And just who the hell do you think you are?”

Thomas came even closer.
“No one you want to mess with.”

Gabe laughed, though
somewhat uncertainly. “You’re that weirdo’s brother aren’t you
?
I say t
hat makes you weird by default.
”

Thomas
bared his fangs
. “
L
et go.”

Gabe
’s eyes widened and he
took a small step back, dragging me with him.
“Stay out of it,
you
asshole
freak
!
”

Thomas’s lip
s parted in a nasty snarl.
“
I’m giving you exactly one more chance.
”

All of a sudden
,
Gabe let go and pushed me from behind, sending me careening into Thomas’s chest. “
You doing
him, too?” Gabe yelled, loudly enough so that everyone could hear.

Thomas steadied me, and I rounded on Gabe. I was too angry to even cry.
“You’re the biggest jerk ever
!
The smartest thing Olivia ever did was break up with you.”

Gabe pointed a finger at me.
“You leave Olivia out of this.”

I
smirked
,
gaining
back some of my confidence. “Ah. Is the poor baby going to cry?”

Thomas touched my shoulder and whispered into my ear. “Don’t antagonize him. I
really
don’t want to have to hurt him if he goes ballistic.”

Without warning
,
Gabe
lunged at Thomas
. I barely had enough time to scoot out of the way. “
You, h
urt me? What’s a little
ass pimple
like you going to do?”
He pushed
Thomas’s shoulders so hard t
hat he rocked back on his heels.